Icebreaker Questions

Nobles

Mason

Jaq Mason: Which of your scars looks the coolest and what is the story behind it? Probably a tossup between the missing arm and the eye. A lot of people assume those are the same injury. The arm was a long time before. Arm was crushed by a falling gantry when I was working on the Tetrahedron as a junior engineer. They eye, though, that were after I became Vizer. Working on one of the prototypes that would eventually become our clockwork golems. Calibrated a power source wrongly. The explosion sent a bladed cogwheel right down the side of my head.

Dargent-Laureat

Victor Dargent-Laureat: What is a dream you once had and what made you give up on it? Also, why did you want it in the first place? There was a period in my youth when I had thought perhaps to follow in my father’s footsteps in the clerical arts. But, alas it seems, perhaps due to some subtlety of temperament, I was in spite of my studies unable to acquire the necessary spiritual connection to the Rich Man’s powers of divinity. As such I have resigned myself to serving in more worldly ways.
Victor Dargent-Laureat: If you had to spend a massive fortune on one week, but only on temporary experiences and consumable goods, how would you spend it? I suppose a week is not too short notice to organise a series of business trips to the various elemental stars. Any remainer I suppose can be invested in single-use scrolls or perhaps a stockpile of exotic teas.

Ironside

Balthazar Ironside: What is an honour you would like to receive one day and do you think you are on the path to obtaining it? Ah, Colonel Sepoy has the whole Big Game Lodge charmed by his collection of deathworm teeth from the Screaming Desert. But even he’s never seen a full-grown scarlet deathworm except from far away. I intend to be the first member to bring one back and mount it and if not me, it’ll be my boy! I’ve got a plan!
Balthazar Ironside: Who is the most challenging opponent you’ve ever faced and what did you learn from your encounters with them? Ah, killing men is easy my boy. Every man has his lessons to teach certainly, but if you want a real challenge, you go out to the plane of earth and you commit yourself to the hunt of the great black rhinoceros they call Bucephalus. The largest chthonic dire rhino that blasted plane has ever been known to produce. Scourge of the local genies; Hide like pure obsidian; Blood like acid. What did I learn when I brought his head back and mounted him upon my wall. Why to never give up and never surrender. If it bleeds you can kill it. And if it doesn’t bleed, you can break it open anyway. Bahahah!

Stargazer

Leopold Stargazer: What’s a part of the world, you have heard is really dangerous to traverse. Do you think you could manage to pass through safely and what could motivate you to take that risk? Heheheh. Truth is ye don’t even need to head out there to find some particularly dangerous regions te traverse. There be cities under cities under cities down beneath our feet here. Places down there even me old pappy never dared to venture below. Could I? Heh. Maybe once. Would I? Depends what I thought I might find.
Andromeda Stargazer: What is something most people desire that you feel is more trouble than it’s worth? Wealth and social influence, as ends, distinct from merely a means to access knowledge.
Castor Stargazer: Among your companions, who would you prefer to marry, share a bed with for one night and betray? I am… at present already married. Uh, fairly comfortably. But I suppose in an ideal hypothetical where I was not in… um, I suppose, uh, Hugo. [clears throat]. Hugo. I suppose it would have to be my father by the last one, which would be readily achieved by either of the first two.

Dargent

Richard Dargent: Which aspects of your daily routine do you look forward to the most and why do you enjoy these things so much? The final count, when I maintain the books in the evening. It allows me to confirm and monitor my success.
Guinevera Dargent: What’s something you would hate to do for real but find fun to imagine yourself doing, and why do you feel this way? I do sometimes enjoy imagining myself showing my dear sister the fruits of my labours. But in reality, that would require speaking to my dear sister. Which from experience, I would seldom consider worthwhile.
Silvester Fidtan: Outside the tools of your trade, what is a personal effect that you carry that means something to you and where did you get it? It is often advantageous to travel light in my role. But I do keep a silver moustache comb and clippers beneath my breastplate, which was a silver wedding anniversary gift from my wife, Clarissa.

Bakerstreet

Cobbler Bakerstreet: Who is the most challenging opponent you have ever faced and what did you learn from your encounter with them? I don’t talk about her anymore. Btu what she taught me, was you can’t afford to trust anyone on the streets of this city. You meet someone who seems neither fallen or mean, you just know you’ve met a very good liar.
Cody Bakerstreet: Best meal you've ever had? Diogenese banquet on founders day. Varieties on founder dishes. Brandy-potted shrimp. White wine in the lobster thermadore. Elven liquer pavlova thing. Burbon drinking contest. “Three years ago, I won the golden nose.”
Cody Bakerstreet: Who would you haunt if you died tomorrow and became a ghost? North Town Racketball Sorority, bro! You will find me invisibly hovering in the changing before and after every game.

Baharat

Jessop Baharat: What pet would you most like to have? Some of the older elven texts mention a sort of plant creature they call a leshy imbued with a druidic magic over flowers and the like. A pet that doubles as a gardener would be not only a talking point but quite practical.

Brasseyes

Grimoire Brasseyes: What is the best compliment you have received and who gave it to you? My father has frequently said I’m an incorrigible hotspur. Although he doesn’t think that’s a compliment.

Jackalslicers

Fennec Jackalslicer: Who among your companions would you most like to give a makeover and trust to give you a makeover and why? I feel like, if I could coax Agamemnon out of his armour and uniform he might actually be happier. If I was going to let one of them makeover me. Rouge, I guess? Grimoire’s tastes are controversial, Agamemnon is very influenced by his family and C-Cody… I wouldn’t trust to not include some sort of prank.

Shajara

Hali Shajara: Which historical event do you feel most people have a misconception about and what do they get wrong? A lot of people mistakenly believe that the trade of interplanar recreational substances only began with the opening of trade agreements in the age of the humans. Actually, if you know where to look, almost every culture had its own ways of summoning such things from worlds beyond our own. They just tended not to be quite so industrious about it.
Hali Shajara: Who do you think is the most famous and most infamous person who has ever lived and how do you feel about them? I don’t know that there’s anyone anywhere who hasn’t at least heard of the Amira so she has to at least take the top for positive fame. At least in my conversational circles, I don’t think they come any more infamous than Kashmir the Banished, the last of the Suli who discovered the magic heart of the city. And spoke, they say, with the Lord of All Divs, which led him to become a rather reprehensible villain, I understand. Seems like an interesting fellow.

Non-Nobles

Beozar: What do you imagine your companions will be doing in 5 years’ time? I don’t know all the patchwork empire’s plans. Very few do. But everyone can tell that the system’s starting to crumble and the nobles are scared. I’m not an idiot I know… some of us probably die. But the fight doesn’t end ‘til we take the city and those of us that do make it, ten years’ time, with everything redistributed and everyone finally free, they get to make their own paths. Ramstein’s probably still keeping the gardens. I think Johann joked they’d like to be a real hairdresser one day. Klannis wants to be a gardener. Lakewood wants to be a writer. Never asked Chime. If I’m still around, I might an be artist.
Johann(a): Do you have an endpoint or destination in mind for your journey? What would you do after you reached it? New world we build from the ashes of the old. And I could spend what’s left of my finding out who I can be when I’m allowed to. Maybe I find a partner, settle down. Maybe I become a hairdresser. No power left but the power of the masses; no king but the patchwork king.
Tito: If you were granted a scholarship to any school in the world, what would you want to study and why? I think I’m pretty spiritually in tune already. But if I could study theology for real, I could probably open up some whole new perspectives.
Whitecape: What is the most critical lesson you have learned from a close friend and from a family member. And did you learn this lesson in one event or over time? Elder Banderlog spent years teaching me how to cultivate the right sort of roots in the right places. It was after that that my sister showed me how to believe in the future even when you’re having to grow it from scratch.