NPC: Artem Rieman
Overview
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Role | Dock Supervisor (Cover) / OEG Handler (True) |
| Alignment | Lawful Evil |
| Affiliation | One Earth Government (Secret), Lucido Miners Guild (Public) |
Portrait
Profile
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Artem Rieman |
| Species | Human (Cyborg) |
| Age | 38 |
| Physical Description | Handsome in a sleazy way. He wears high-collared, expensive synth-silk shirts to hide the base of his mechanical neck—a sleek, chrome prosthetic that replaces his cervical spine and voice box. His voice is smooth, deep, and slightly over-processed. He always smells faintly of expensive, real coffee. |
| Personality Traits | Calculating, Affable, Duplicitous. He plays the role of the stressed but helpful logistics manager perfectly. He is always willing to “make a deal” or “look the other way,” masking his fanatical loyalty to the OEG behind a veil of greed. |
| Known Weaknesses | Women: He has a wandering eye and often tries to charm his way into information, sometimes dropping his guard around a pretty face. Arrogance: He believes the “dirt-grubbers” on the station are intellectually beneath him. |
Background
Artem arrived at Beaven Point a decade ago, ostensibly as a logistics consultant for a failing mining conglomerate. He quickly integrated himself into the chaotic bureaucracy of the Station, eventually securing the position of Dock Supervisor for Docking Bay 7.
In reality, he is a sleeper agent for the One Earth Government, tasked with establishing a smuggling beachhead in the Lucido system. Years ago, he was responsible for the “disappearance” of Isabel Workhel’s parents after they refused to install OEG transponders on a shipment of ore. He has watched Isabel grow up, maintaining a sickeningly sweet “uncle” persona to monitor her, ensuring she never finds the truth.
Currently, he is the prime mover behind the station’s unrest, flooding the black market with weapons to destabilize the Guild’s control.
Skills and Abilities
- Silver Tongue: Expert liar and negotiator. He can convince a starving miner to sell his last oxygen tank for a lottery ticket.
- Logistics Master: He can make cargo vanish from manifests and reappear three sectors away.
- Cyborg Physiology: His mechanical neck houses a vocal modulator (allowing him to mimic voices) and a hidden encrypted comms-link directly to OEG handlers.
- Combat: He rarely fights, but carries a high-end concealed holdout blaster and knows how to use it.
Equipment and Resources
Notable Equipment:
- Voice Modulator: Integrated into his neck; grants advantage on Deception checks involving mimicry.
- Holdout Blaster: Hidden in a sleeve holster.
- The “Black Ledger”: A datapad containing blackmail material on half the Guild officials in the sector.
Resources:
- Docking Bay 7: His personal fiefdom. He controls who lands and who leaves.
- Smuggling Network: A web of corrupt pilots and bribed guards.
- OEG Funds: Access to significant off-book credits for bribery and sabotage.
Goals and Motivations
- Primary: Secure the “Leerenstein” gem for the OEG to fund a new offensive in the sector.
- Secondary: Frame Lennart Ziehm (his underling) for his own smuggling operations to throw the UPN off his trail.
- Long-Term: Prepare the Lucido System for eventual OEG occupation/liberation.
Key Relationships
Allies
| Name | Reason |
|---|---|
| OEG Command | His true masters. He reports to a handler in the Helion Sector. |
| Corrupt Guild Guards | He pays their bar tabs and bribes them to leave scanners off at Bay 7. |
| Lennart Ziehm | |
| Hamed Abdel-Samad | Narcotics Fence in the Coross System, in the local Gray Bazarr |
Enemies
| Name | Reason |
|---|---|
| Frederike Bannink | The bartender sees too much. He knows she suspects him, and he is waiting for the right moment to arrange an “accident” for her. |
| Isabel Workhel | The loose end. If she ever decodes her parents’ old drives, she will know he killed them. |
| Lt. Mitchel Jackson | The UPN officer is the only lawman too “by-the-book” to be bribed. |
Romantic Interest
None (Currently). Though he frequently flirts with female patrons at The Pulsing Phaser, it is usually a manipulation tactic.
Typical Activities
- “The Coffee Break”: Drinking real, smuggled coffee at a corner booth in the Pulsing Phaser while observing the room.
- The Dead Drop: Visiting the unisex bathroom in the Phaser to slip data chips into the loose ventilation grate.
- The “Uncle” Act: Stopping by Isabel’s workshop to bring her “treats” (spare parts) and subtly fish for information on what she’s found in scrapped ships.
Story Hooks
- The Double Cross: Artem approaches the PCs in a panic. He claims his underling, Lennart Ziehm, is an OEG spy smuggling weapons. He hires the PCs to “capture” Lennart and bring the evidence to him. In reality, Artem is the spy, and he is setting the PCs up to eliminate his patsy.
- The Leerenstein Hand-off: The PCs witness Artem buying the Leerenstein gem in the shadows of Docking Bay 7. If they confront him, he claims it’s a sting operation for the Guild—but he tries to leave immediately.
- Loose Lips: Artem gets drunk (or feigns it) and hits on a PC, accidentally revealing he knows a secret entrance to the New Albion ruins.
Additional Details
Artem has a nervous tic where he rotates his neck 10 degrees to the right and clicks the servos when he is lying.