Cha Dawn

Prophet **Cha Dawn** is the leader of The Cult of Planet.

## Background

Very little is known about Cha Dawn; available data comes from deprogrammed adherents whose information is colored by the Cult's indoctrination techniques.

Cha Dawn was born to a Gaian woman in the midst of one of the first inter-factional battles. His mother was never able to identify the father, and claimed that finding herself pregnant was a complete surprise. She was unable to care for the infant, and abandoned him in a field of xenofungus. Soon afterward, he was found by some of the Environmental Malcontents, who adopted him as their own. According to the lore of the Cult, the native life forms did not harm the child, and he possessed no breathing mask, although the length of his exposure was also unknown. The Malcontents raised the child as a kind of messiah for his supposed rapport with Planet, and he did demonstrate extremely accelerated mental development. After a period of several years, the faction declared Dawn its leader and began the task of cleansing Planet from any 'foreign' defilements.

When Cha Dawn first showed unusual talent as a cult leader, many colonists assumed that the Environmental Malcontents had simply "programmed" the boy to act as a figurehead. Cha Dawn himself claimed that his teachings were dictated to him by the "voices" of Planet. At first, this statement was greeted with ridicule, but then the other factions developed psionic technology and became aware of the dormant Planetmind. In the end, most colonists admitted that the Planet Cult was receiving some kind of communication from Planet, but typically speculated that the Prophet was deliberately distorting the content in order to maintain his power over the Cult.

Traditional Cult lore holds that Cha Dawn is in fact a human manifestation of the Voice of Planet, a boy created by Planet to act as a communicator with the other factions.
Regardless of the veracity of this belief, Dawn certainly believes in his authority as a Prophet, and seems to have no qualms about the means he uses to achieve his ends. The Cult freely builds mines and factories, all in the service of their mission, and Cult doctrine holds that these blights will be destroyed as the last act of Planet's purification.

Whatever the true state of affairs, Cha Dawn certainly appears to believe in his own divine nature. His worldview is completely dominated by his awareness of Planet's sacred will, and he appears to have had nothing of a normal childhood. He will stop at nothing to assert his authority over the Cult, or to maintain the Cult's dominance over neighboring factions. He is extremely aggressive in his dealings with other factions, and regards his divine mission as more important than any number of lives.

Cha Dawn is apparently a biological sport, caught permanently in a pre-adolescent stage of physical development. As a result, he has been designed as an adult with low physical attributes, not as a child. In any case, neither his own followers nor any other faction treat him as a child.

### GURPS stats

* Human (?) male; age 7; 4'9", 60 lbs.; pale yellow skin, very short black hair, orange eyes.
* ST 6 [-301; DX 8 [-15]; IQ 13 [30]; HT 8 [-15].
* Speed 4.00; Move 4. Dodge 4.
* Advantages: Charisma +3 [15]; Extra Encumbrance [51; Fearlessness +2 [41; Filter Lungs [51; Mind Worm Sympathy [10]; Religious Rank 6 (Prophet) [30]; Telepathy 5 [25]; Unusual Background ("Child of Planet") [20).
* Disadavantages: Fanaticism (Planet Cult) [-15]; Intolerance (Religious) [-10]; Overconfidence [-10]; Unnatural Feature (Orange eyes) [-5].
* Quirks: Aggressively confrontational; Enjoys elaborate ceremonies; Ruthless. [-3]
* Skills: Bard-17 [4]\*; History-12 [2|; Intimidation-12 [ 1 ] ; Leadership-18 [6]\*; Literature-11 [1]; Meditation-12 [2]; Performance/Ritual (Planet Cult)-13 [21; Politics-13 |2|; Savoir-Faire-13-[1]; Survival (Plains)-13 [21; Tactics-11 [ 11; Teaching-14 [4]; Theology (Planet Cult)-13/19 [6]; Writing- 12 [1]. Psi Skills: Emotion Sense-13 [4]; Telereceive12 [2]; Telesend-12 [2]; Xenoempathy-14 [6].
* Languages: English (native)-13 [0].

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