Cast Sheet

Dramatic Personae

This “cast sheet” contains descriptions of White Leviathan’s eight player characters. Players should work with the keeper to select a character that best suits their interests and roleplaying style. These are public descriptions; once a character has been assigned, the player will receive a detailed character sheet an extended description. Every character has secrets, and not everything is what it seems!

Required Player Characters

The following four player characters are integral to the plot of White Leviathan. While the campaign may progress without one of these characters, the overall drama would be greatly diminished.

Mr. Joseph Coffin (Second Mate)
American, 28. Birthplace: Nantucket, 1816. You are a kind-hearted Quaker, generally well-liked, and more perceptive and sensitive than the average officer. A whaleman since you were 14, you hail from the same branch of Coffins that produced Kingsport’s first great whaling captain, Barzillai Coffin of the Anna. A careful and intelligent officer, you are apprehensive about this voyage, as it’s your first with Captain Joab—not to mention the fact that the previous second mate, Elijah Watts, returned from the last voyage a raving lunatic! You have heard rumors that Joab is a talented but unusual captain, and you’re nervous about establishing a position in his hierarchy of command. There’s also your dreams to consider. Like many members of your family, you are a very vivid dreamer; but these dreams have taken on a darker character, and have become more portentous. Are they warning you of something?

Player Notes
Mr. Coffin is appropriate for players who want to take command responsibilities. You are third in charge of the Quiddity, but being new to Kingsport, you must also work to build trust! This scenario is designed to push Coffin to a breaking point, and his decisions may decide the fate of the entire crew.

Ulysses Everett Dixon (Boatsteerer/Harpooneer)
American, 33. Birthplace: Philadelphia, 1811. A former lieutenant from a family with a long Navy tradition, you proudly served onboard the USS Leviathan, a 44-gun frigate that distinguished itself in the War of 1812. One strange night in 1831, you were gravely injured during a “training accident” on a remote Pacific Island. Well, that’s the official story, anyway. The truth is something quite different, but you were sworn to secrecy. Unfortunately, this wretched oath cannot silence your conscience, and you live with the horrible fact of your failure. Discharged from the Navy with a broken leg and shattered nerves, you convalesced in Philadelphia until you felt ready to return to sea. Possessed by a desire to punish yourself, you accepted the most perilous and filthy role the sea had to offer—you became a whaler. After a few voyages hunting the namesake of your former frigate, you’ve become a senior harpooneer, testing your cracked mettle every time you face the monster’s jaws. And you will keep butchering whales until their blood washes away your shame.

Player Notes
Dixon is a traditional “fighter” type of character, but one with a tormented soul. Being a harpooneer or “boatsteerer” means he’s part of the action, and has the possibility of making command decisions. This scenario is designed to unearth his troubled past and sorely test his character.

Dr. Montgomery St. John Lowell (Naturalist)
British, 45. Birthplace: London, 1799. Independently wealthy, your first few books on species development established your reputation as a brilliant but controversial naturalist, and eventually secured you a position at Cambridge. After a research voyage to the Galápagos Islands turned sour, your career began a long slide downhill. When your increasing eccentricities resulted in your discharge from Cambridge, you relocated to Miskatonic University, where you’re planning a treatise on evolution. You have shipped out with the Quiddity to experience whales first-hand, and you also hope to encounter a giant squid!

Player Notes
Dr. Lowell is a classic Lovecraftian archetype—the esoteric academic on the verge of discovering the Mythos. He is a character with plenty of secrets, some unknown even to himself, and is designed for players who enjoy the more arcane aspects of Call of Cthulhu. He is also somewhat morally ambivalent. Being an independent academic, Lowell also presents players with an opportunity to switch the character’s gender, race, or nationality.

Leland Chappell Morgan (Ship’s Blacksmith)
American, 29. Birthplace: Dulac, Louisiana, 1815. You come from a degenerate clan with roots deep in the bayou, a family with a dark history of inbreeding and pagan sacrifice. When it was clear they expected you to carry on the family traditions, you escaped to Missouri and became apprenticed to a blacksmith. Deciding to ply your trade at sea, you signed onto a Kingsport whaler in 1836 and never looked back. Still, the sea has been a harsh mistress, and your life on the Quiddity has been troubled. Although you’ve earned a modest degree of fame by inventing a better harpoon, you find it difficult to enjoy the company of your fellow sailors, and they clearly feel the same way about you! You are destined to be a loner, it seems; and your isolation has nurtured a growing sense of misanthropy.

Player Notes
As the ship’s blacksmith, Morgan is a vital part of the crew, and is not expected to risk his life hunting whales. Nevertheless, Morgan is a deeply conflicted soul, and should be selected by a player looking for a roleplaying challenge.

Additional Player Characters

The following four characters are “wild cards.” Although each has a rich background, none are essential to the command structure of the Quiddity. If not selected as a player character, Quakaloo may be run as nonplayer character or simply substituted with a different harpooneer, while Tobias Beckett, Milton Redburn, and Rachel Ward are simply omitted from the game.

Tobias Beckett (Seaman/Journalist)
American, 26. Birthplace: Arkham, 1818. Born Tophet Gedney Blaine, you are the nephew of Graham Blaine, the editor of the Kingsport Chronicle. A gifted journalist with a penchant for exposing corruption, your quest to uncover the festering underbelly of the Miskatonic Valley has led you to some distinctly unusual adventures. In 1839 you went “under cover” as a seaman, exposing a slave-trading operation with connections to Essex County. After a period researching esoteric religious movements, you discovered a diabolical Arkham cult responsible for the murder of several children. The experience almost shattered your health! After recovering, you’ve decided to return to sea. Uncle Graham has shared his suspicions regarding a Kingsport whaling company, Sleet, Baker & Blood. They are engaged in some decidedly strange business, possibly involving a smuggling ring among the Pacific Islands. Shipping out as able seaman “Tobias Beckett,” you are determined to discover the truth!

Player Notes
Beckett is a traditional Call of Cthulhu character, an “investigator” in every sense of the word. A simple deck hand, Beckett is removed from command decisions, but gets to experience the rough-and-rowdy ways of the forecastle. However, Beckett will be selected as an oarsman on a whaling crew, so he’ll see plenty of action! Beckett should be selected by a player who enjoys the danger of snooping around in dangerous places.

Quakaloo (Boatsteerer/Harpooneer)
Vokoan Islander, 24. Birthplace: Kokovoko, 1820. A native of the South Pacific Islands, when you were a boy you were selected for training by a wandering shaman. You spent a year in the jungle receiving mystical tattoos and learning about the natural world. Returning to your people, you became a hunter of whales and sharks, rowing out to battle the great fish in your tribe’s wooden boats. After a neighboring tribe warred against your people and brought tragedy to your family, you decided to depart the islands. You presented yourself to the captain of a Yankee whaling ship as a harpooner. A series of visions has led you to Kingsport, and you sense that your destiny lies on the whaleship Quiddity. You are good natured and friendly, and have a curiosity to learn all you can about the world, although your appearance tends to upset Christians—you are covered with tattoos and tend to walk around naked. Although you respect your old gods, you are curious to learn more about the “Invisible White God,” whom you feel owes you an explanation for his terrible behavior.

Player Notes
Loosely based on the character Queequeg from Melville’s Moby-Dick, Quakaloo is a warrior-philosopher, and combines tremendous fighting prowess with shamanistic powers. Being a harpooneer or “boatsteerer” means Quakaloo’s part of the action, and has the possibility of making command decisions.

Milton Wellingborough Redburn (Seaman/Novelist)
American, 26. Birthplace: New York City, 1818. Son of a dissipated Hudson Valley merchant, you are intelligent and creative, yet abound with a healthy streak of robust vigor, and so it surprised no one when you left home to seek out adventure. Signing the articles of a merchant ship when you were 15, you plied the waves between New York and Liverpool, learning the lot of the sailor first-hand. From there you began island-hopping across the Pacific, mingling with natives and experiencing all varieties of seafaring life. Returning to New York, you turned your exploits into three best-selling novels (and one dismal failure). Once again hearing the call of the sea, you’ve signed onto the Quiddity to experience life as a whaleman. You plan to use your adventures as material for your masterpiece, a great American novel expressing your thoughts about mankind and his place in the cosmos.

Player Notes
A fictionalized Herman Melville, Redburn represents a classic Call of Cthulhu archetype: the creative artist with a boundless sense of curiosity. Of all the player characters, Redburn has the least secrets, and may be selected by a player who enjoys complete freedom. Although Redburn prefers to think his way out of a situation, he’ll be selected as an oarsman on a whaling crew, so he’ll see plenty of action!

Rachel Ward (Stowaway/Witch)
American, 19. Birthplace: Nantucket, 1825. Your father was a whaler and your mother was a witch. He taught you to love the sea, and she taught you the Craft. After your father was lost at sea, your mother began an opium-fueled decline that resulted in her suicide. Escaping your abusive relatives, you ran away to Kingsport in search of adventure. After a time prowling the wharves, you fell in with Lady Jezebel and began working at her brothel, the Starry Busk. It was a hard life, but Jezebel was more than she seemed, and she prepared you for a cruel and indifferent world. And yet, night after night you heard your parents calling from the sea, and you longed to leave the wicked land behind. A few weeks ago, something happened that changed your life. Surprising even yourself, you decided to stow away on the Quiddity. You realize the next few years will be difficult, but you have a few tricks up your sleeve, and you know how to survive.

Player Notes
Sailors don’t like women onboard their ships, especially red-headed stowaways, and Rachel must learn to navigate a hostile world. A troubled soul with many secrets, Rachel may begin in hardship, but has the potential to become extremely influential. She is also the player character with the most magical power. Rachel should be selected by a player who is up for the challenge, enjoys playing morally-ambivalent characters, and is willing to develop arcane skills in witchcraft.

White Leviathan
[White Leviathan TOC]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 22 August 2021
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]