Traveller OGL: Alienist

A full career path for the Traveller OGL

Many people are fascinated by alien cultures but for some it becomes an obsession and for a few, exceptional people they become a part of the culture that fascinates them. Accepted in a way that most never could be.

Caught between their own people and their obsession, the Alienist is a bridge between disparate cultures separated by light years, psychology and even biology.

Xenophiles are those who are truly in love with the alien and wish to become a part of it. They might be scouts or soldiers who have ‘gone native’ while stationed in alien dominated space or they may simply have become enchanted with the aliens through the image that they have in the media, seeing them as the embodiment of a concept or as something in their own species that has been lost or diminished. In extreme cases a Xenophile may be suffering from a mental illness, believing that they truly are a member of this alien culture that has become trapped in a human body. They seek to soothe their craving for belonging by finding a new home in an alien culture.

Xenoethnologists are scientists who specifically study the cultures of alien species. Rather than the dry, biological facts or a broad study of intelligent beings as a whole, they zero in on an alien culture and study it intensively, living amongst it and learning to translate meaning between that species and their own. The build bridges between different species and cultures that sometimes don’t even share base biology or senses, let alone concepts.

Tourists Tourists are fascinated by alien cultures in a more general sense. They want to experience as many of these cultures and viewpoints as they can, to travel far and wide seeking novel experiences and seeing strange wonders. They wander from port to port, trying to get off the beaten track, away from the well travelled and to lose themselves on alien worlds. Tourists often find themselves in trouble but this adds a frisson of excitement to their travels and and gives those who return to civilisation interesting stories to tell.