Welcome to another edition of Tuesdays at Quark’s, continuing with characters in the Mirror Universe. All this month for Mirror Universe May I’ll be revisiting past entries to look at their Mirror Universe counterparts. Today we’re going back to see Chris Park, a fling from your PC’s days in the Imperial Academy!
In the prime universe, Chris Park is a blast from the past who has gone their own way. When the player character who used to date them meet up with Chris again it’ll be in different circumstances where they have to negotiate their own feelings and their past. Well let’s turn all that up to eleven. The Chris Park of the Mirror Universe is a traitor who is working with the Terran Empire’s enemies so sorting through past feelings and personal ties is even harder in that universe.
Being a traitor to a despotic and cruel regime is one of those thorny issues in an RPG. If your players are portraying Mirror Universe characters loyal to the Empire they are going to hate Chris, but your players (unless they’re total jerks) will probably sympathize with Chris Park’s tactics whether their treason is helping the Cardassians or the Vulcans. On the other hand, the Cardassians are just as harsh in the Mirror Universe as they are in the prime universe. Someone working to destroy the Terran Empire and hand the keys over to the (potentially worse) Cardassians and Klingons is still a terrible person.
There are lots of directions to go with this but here are a few plot hooks to get you started.
- Admiral Alynna Nechayev, in her effort to rid the Terran Empire of weaklings and traitors, has discovered that Chris Park has someone still in the Imperial Navy sending them information. While one team from the PCs’ ship tries to track down Chris Park on a remote colony the other travels to the I.S.S. Sato to find the hidden traitor.
- A major breach in the Imperial Security Database on Earth pushes the Empire to take Chris Park seriously. They switch the player characters’ mission, effectively immediately, and send them to track down Park before the traitor can meet with the Cardassians. First, though, they have to pick up one of the best intelligence agents in the Terran Empire: Mailys Sault.
- The player character who dated Chris Park in the Imperial Academy receives an alarming message. Though still on the run, Park has come to regret selling the Empire’s secrets. They have learned from their Cardassian handlers that a devastating attack is planned, something that will lead to the deaths of tens of millions of Terrans, and they want to get details to the Empire so that it can be stopped. Can the player character figure out whether this intelligence is genuine in time?
Click on the image below for the PDF.
This is cool. A nice twist on a character I liked the prime version of, already. 🙂
Definitely look forward to seeing what comes next in Mirror Universe May, and seeing what stories people come up with using this darker version of Chris. 🙂
Thanks! I’m having a great time reworking these guys…
An interesting idea that has come to mind for a Mirror Campaign involving Mirror Chris Park: What if they weren’t the only one to turn traitor? And the ‘ex-fling’ tag lacked the ‘ex’ part?
The thought here is, the night before Chris went traitor, they came to the PC they were dating, and explained everything: what they were planning to do, their reasoning, etc. And they asked the PC to join them, though probably still for somewhat selfish purposes, being deeply in love with the PC and not wanting to throw that away. And the PC accepts the offer.
This would most likely be a two-person campaign (GM and one Player), and would very quickly become an ‘us against the world’ scenario as the PC and Chris have to avoid Terran kill teams, and yet at the same time make sure that the KCA honors any agreements made. Adding other PCs would go in two ways: One, the other PCs are an Imperial kill team, leading to cat-and-mouse PvP between them and the PC with Chris. Or two, the entire group has gone traitor for whatever reason, and have stolen a ship to do so.
Thoughts?
That would be an awesome one-on-one campaign! Maybe the other characters are non-Human freedom fighters. A campaign of taking down the cruel Terran Empire only to realize halfway through that the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance might be worse…
Yes!! And maybe, at the end, with no other options presenting themselves, finding a way to cross to the other universe (‘Prime’) and seeking asylum with the Federation. 🙂
That would certainly be fun. 😀
Oooo… A reverse Mirror Universe situation! You can do a handful of sessions with a desperate band of rebels in the Mirror Universe then everything goes wrong. They cross to the prime universe and meet strange, peaceful versions of their former enemies…
Of they find something that could change the conflict (like the Defiant) then they have to find their way back. This could be simple or it could be a Sliders/Exiles situation where they have to visit crazy variations before they find their home reality.
Honestly, I’d love to play a Mirror Campaign like we’ve been discussing here, with my Main Character taking the role of Chris’ lover/partner, but I’ve been unable to find a GM. Do you guys have a Discord Server I could join? I also have Roll20 if you want to use that for the dicebot.
I can do solo or group, and already have a few other willing players for a group campaign, but it’s up to you what we do, if you’re up for GMing. 🙂