Hello, and welcome back to Tuesday at Quark’s! Today, we’re going to be looking at our final Breen NPC for the month. I’ll admit that the Breen have probably been the most difficult group of NPCs to get variation on but I’m proud to say that even this staple archetype has some twists that might spice up your campaign.
Wik Lun is your classic slaving jerk: a harsh taskmaster and racial supremacist. She makes an easy villain for your campaign and is an interesting option if you want to have a relatively low-ranking nemesis for your group instead of the thot-rank Breen we’ve been looking at: a Duras sister rather than a Chancellor Gowron, if you will.
One thing to consider with Breen slave colonies (and Reman enslavement and Vidiian chattel and so on) is a consent discussion like lines and veils. If you aren’t sold on the idea of safety at your table, my first question would be “Why not?” I’d refer further skepticism to this excellent article by Phil Vecchione over at Gnome Stew.
Whatever your view on safety at the table generally, I think we can all agree that slavery is a pretty touchy subject. There are lots of different ways to portray slavery in a game and you need to figure out what the best one is for your campaign. Star Trek benefits from a fairly idealized setting with high-minded morals so there aren’t too many people living in trauma or suffering from abuse. In a culture that supports slavery, however, that is changed and you want people at the table to have fun. Are they comfortable with desperate slaves who are eroding body and soul or would they like to see a defiant population that is kept in check but ready to fight? Do they want to see a Breen guard beating a rebellious slave, hearing the crack of bone and the wail of the slave’s child as they watch, or do they want a crackling “pain stick” to bring them to their knees with an angry growl?
Sure, enslaved people are treated to horrific situations and abuse that covers the full gamut of mental, physical, sexual, and beyond but this is a game with a story that we all want to tell. Just talk to your group beforehand and see what people are comfortable roleplaying.
There are many ways to include Wik Lun into your campaign, but here are some plot hooks to get you started.
- An undercover Starfleet Intelligence agent is captured by the Breen and held under the authority of Wik Lun. Starfleet doesn’t want to risk open war by sending a big force so they want the crew to cosmetically disguise themselves as Cardassian military looking to buy additional labor and find the missing officer.
- Wik Lun has been arrested on Bajor for crimes against sentient beings. She arrived, however, to exchange messages between Starfleet Command and Thot Sedl. The crew is put into the unenviable position of negotiating the release of a monster.
- When Wik Lun’s transport vessel and the crew’s shuttlecraft are caught in an ion storm, both ships crash on the same uncharted planet. They face off against each other, trying to repair their ships’ emergency beacons even as Wik Lun and her overseers try to add the crew to their slave population.
Click on the image below for the PDF.
