The Aethernaut Collection adapts a variety of characters from 19th-century literature into the world of Trinity Continuum: Aether. Here’s the first such character: Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Captain Nemo
“What lesser minds think of me is irrelevant. I’m Nemo and answer to nobody but myself.”
Churning through the oceans like a god from within his technological wonder, the Nautilus, Captain Nemo is a genius of dark moods and contradictions. One moment, Nemo devotes himself to humanity’s benefit with all his determination, only to withdraw in frustration when the people around him fail to comprehend his brilliance and principles. Staunchly anti-imperialist, Nemo boldly risks his life for the oppressed and yet, upon the mysterious island he calls home and on his ship, he brooks no dissent against his rule.
Nemo describes himself as a nobody, a shadow without a past, but in a previous life he was born Prince Dakkar of Bundelkhand. After the British brutally suppressed his people in 1857, he fled — leaving his home, family, and name behind. The young man found succor and a new identity among Bornean pirates. Under Captain Sandokan’s command, he raided countless ships and expeditions, using looted European gold to finance the construction of a sub-oceanic vessel he personally designed. When at last the Nautilus was ready, the former prince bid the surface world farewell, to slide beneath the waves as Captain Nemo.
The magnificent Nautilus sank imperial warships and merchant traders alike for years, magnifying Nemo’s plundered riches even as European powers sought the sea monster disrupting their colonial wealth. Nemo explored the oceans’ depths between attacks, discovering entrancing sea grottos, his own island hideaway, and even wondrous Atlantis.
Nemo’s tropical island, reachable by happenstance or Aether Gates, serves well both as base and paradisiacal prison for captives. It was here that Nemo met and fell in love with Anielka, a Polish refugee he’d rescued from the Black Sea. Some years later Anielka had their child, Robur. Though immensely proud of his son, the sea’s call never abandoned Nemo, and he regularly left Anielka to raise Robur among the island’s other inhabitants for months — or years — at a time. When Nemo learned a violent storm killed Anielka while he was away, he grew distraught. In his bitterness, he blamed his then-teenage son for not saving her and returned to the Nautilus in silent, wrathful, grief.
Since the Martian invasion, Nemo found himself in the unusual position of assisting European imperialists against the conquering forces from beyond the stars, well aware the Martians embrace their role of technologically superior invaders and scourge of the weak Nemo despises with all his being. His aid has turned the red tide of war many times, although it still infuriates him that his ungrateful allies have dubbed the Martian sea vessels after his own. Today, though few call him friend, Nemo remains a willing — if proud and dangerous — ally of the surface world, but the wise know better than to test his patience or betray him; while the war against Martians might eventually end, Nemo knows no peace nor allegiance.
Aethernaut Tier: Squire
Primary Pool: 9 (Commanding Presence, Technological Brilliance)
Secondary Pool: 7 (Experienced Fighter, Cunning Navigator, Knowledgeable Artist)
Desperation Pool: 5
Enhancement: +4 (Authority, Freedom, Machines)
Defense: 4
Health: 6
Initiative: 7
Edges: Artifact •••, Artistic Talent •, Iron Will •••, Loaded, Nobility •, Tough Cookie, Wealth •••••, Wondrous Item (Nautilus)
Inspiration: 5
Gifts: After-School Special, Don’t Mess With Me, Evil Overlord, Quick Fix, Rosetta Stone, Rousing Speech, Sporting Opponent, Unrelenting