Sample Characters - Istanbul

Sample characters for a Near East game run out of the Manzikert Hotel. You can find the rules of the game here - still a work in progress.

Anton Rassam, archaeologist. Chaldean Catholic, born in Mosul. Caught selling artifacts from Nineveh on the black market to fund the publication of his theory that giants are real and survived the Biblical flood. Banned by the Colonial Office from all dig sites within the British empire. Flamboyant. Kills rats with a scimitar. Dodgy uncles all across the Levant. Still quietly consulted by the Brits from time to time.

STR 2 - DEX 0 - ACA 3 - TEC 0 - CHA 0 - CNC 2

Specialties - Middle Eastern history, the black market.

Lydia Cosmatos, smuggler. Tough. Tattooed. Fisherman’s cap. Born in Smyrna. Knows every island and hidden cove in the Aegean. Brother is a monk on Mount Athos. Currently without a boat - got it impounded by Soviet policemen in Sevastopol when they discovered a cargo of illegal Portuguese sausages in the hold. Saving up to buy a new one. There’s a Turkish naval captain who has sworn to see her dead.

STR 2 - DEX 2 - ACA 0 - TEC 3 - CHA 0 - CNC 0

Specialties - seamanship, fighting dirty.

Mehmet Osman, sniper. Killed two hundred ANZACs at Gallipoli. Had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised with shock after a misfired Turkish shell landed too close to his forward position and scarred his face with shrapnel. Sees the ghosts of his victims, slowly walking towards him. Doesn’t like sleeping too long in one place. Tried to go back to farming in Anatolia after the war, but couldn’t settle down.

STR 2 - DEX 3 - ACA 0 - TEC 2 - CHA 0 - CNC 0

Specialties - shooting, military equipment.

Oksana Tomenko, psychic. Claims to be a White Russian countess and to have left a fortune in jewels hidden on the grounds of her abandoned Ukrainian estates. Was in fact a housemaid. Does tarot readings for wealthy English ladies on vacation and highly-placed government officials, who believe every word of it. Pushed her husband down a well before she left the Ukraine - wishes she could be sure he’s dead.

STR 0 - DEX 2 - ACA 0 - TEC 2 - CHA 3 - CNC 0

Specialties - cold reading, sleight of hand.

Nesreen Faroukhi, acrobat and jewel thief. Born in Alexandria. Got her start as a nightclub belly dancer, singling out the richest clients, getting their addresses. Had to flee Egypt after stabbing an old man who came at her with a shotgun while she was going through his drawers. Does an act dressed as Cleopatra, in gold paint, with a three-metre long African rock python named Boris. Sarcastic. Smokes.

STR 0 - DEX 3 - ACA 0 - TEC 0 - CHA 2 - CNC 2

Specialties - acrobatics, the entertainment industry.

Pierre Cavillard, artist. Here in Istanbul to capture the perfect quality of the light over the Bosphorus. Has turned to forgery to make ends meet. Produces exact copies of illustrated manuscripts from the reign of Murad III - sells them to Kemalist politicians who would butcher him if they found out. Son of a Lyonnais silk trader - believes himself to be a direct male-line descendant of Prester John.

STR 0 - DEX 2 - ACA 2 - TEC 3 - CHA 0 - CNC 0

Specialties - forgery, art history.