=== Exohumans | NPC ===

====== MARTIN “THE TINKERER” GAGNON ======

{{ :martin_the_tinkerer_gagnon_gg_scenic_2d.jpeg?200|}}
===== Race and Faction =====

  * **Species:** [[the_humans|ExoHuman]]
  * **Born:** Aboard the spaceship [[last_frontier|Last Frontier]] (exact year unverified in public records)
  * **Affiliation:** Technical Partner to the [[office_for_special_operations|Office for Special Operations (OfSO)]]; rejected would-be lecturer at [[last_frontier_university|Last Frontier University]]
  * **Place of Residence:** [[new_kourou|New Kourou]] — sleeps at his daughter’s home; during the [[free_state_of_settlers|Free State of Settlers]], he worked most hours in a camouflaged back-yard workshop behind the OfSO HQ

===== Background =====

Martin Gagnon is a soft-spoken genius of the bench vise and coil winder. Once an aspiring lecturer at Last Frontier University, he was passed over after faculty deemed him “unfit for the lectern.” [[ezrah_scherkenstein|Ezrah Scherkenstein]] noticed what the faculty missed: a methodical, quietly brilliant DIY mind that could turn scrap into field-ready tools. She brought him into the OfSO orbit in 2626.

Through the [[beta_age|Beta Age]], Gagnon kept a camouflaged workshop in the OfSO’s back yard — a weather-stained shed that looked like a wood store from the lane and a jungle of jigs, presses, and micro-forges on the inside. There he fabricated bespoke nonlethal weapons, armor, and investigative tools for OfSO subcontractors, and he prototyped supplemental tech that extended Ezrah’s botanical forensics: pollen aspirators, seed-tag launchers, scent baffles, and [[luminofera|Lumi]] trip-traps. He disliked titles; “Tinkerer” stuck because he never stopped.

After the [[federal_confederation|Federal Confederation’s]] founding, private skunkworks became legally awkward. In the [[the_gamma_age|Gamma Age]] he retired the shed, naps often, and claims his eyes “aren’t what they were.” But if Ezrah asks — and the cause feels right — the old magic returns at a kitchen table, late, with the lamps turned low.

===== Roles by Age =====

==== Beta Age ====
  * **Skunkworks Fabricator (2626–2631):** Built custom gear for OfSO briefs: myco-laminate vests, collapsible shields, analog wire-recorders, covert holsters, nonlethal stun-tether tools, and botanical instruments to support Ezrah’s methods.
  * **Back-Channel Fixer:** Tuned and repaired tools for trusted OfSO operatives; occasionally serviced a friendly Trooper’s broken field kit off the books.

==== Gamma Age ====
  * **Retired, Ad Hoc Maker:** No formal workshop; produces one-off prototypes only when necessary, favoring analog, low-signature designs he can assemble in short period of time from household stock. Frequently sleepy, always precise.

===== Personality =====

  * **Traits:** Patient, meticulous, shyly humorous, stubborn about safety
  * **Behavior:** Murmurs to his tools; sketches before speaking; tests twice, deploys once
  * **Values:** Craft over credit; nonlethal first; keep Ezrah’s people alive; family privacy

===== Physical Attributes =====

  * **Build:** Slight, stooped from bench work; steady hands, scarred knuckles
  * **Appearance:** Shop apron, magnifier goggles perched on forehead, resin- and graphite-stained fingertips
  * **Tells:** Hums when problem-solving; pockets full of screws, tags, and folded graph paper

===== Combat Statistics =====

  * **Armor Class (AC):** 12 (reinforced shop apron; improvised plates)
  * **Hit Points (HP):** 18
  * **Speed:** Normal

==== Actions ====
  * **Stun-Tether Coil (Ranged, 20 ft):** Launches a weighted line that delivers a brief shock on contact (attack +4; 1d4 bludgeoning + DC 12 CON save or **stunned until end of target’s next turn**; nonlethal).
  * **Flash-Smoke Capsule (Utility, 10 ft radius):** Pops a bright flash and dense smoke; creatures in radius must succeed on DC 12 CON save or be **blinded** until start of their next turn; area becomes lightly obscured for 1 minute or until dispersed.
  * **Toolburst (Melee, 5 ft):** A flurry with a compact pry-bar (attack +3; 1d4 bludgeoning); on hit, may shove target 5 ft.

===== Special Abilities =====

  * **Workshop Fabricator:** Given 1 hour and basic materials, can craft a single-use investigative tool (lock wedge, seal-impression kit, stealth tag, etc.) granting +2 to a related skill check once.
  * **Rapid Mod:** As an action, attach a situational add-on to a willing ally’s gear (e.g., shock-damp pad, line anchor) for the next encounter (+1 AC or advantage on one relevant check; DM discretion).
  * **Quiet Step:** Gains advantage on Stealth checks only while moving through workshops, alleys, or cluttered service spaces he can “read” like blueprints.

===== Motivations and Goals =====

==== Beta Age Motivation ====
Prove utility through craft, keep OfSO field teams equipped with safer, smarter tools; be home for supper with his daughter’s family.

==== Gamma Age Motivation ====
Keep his head down; pass on craft where it saves lives; answer Ezrah’s calls when the ledger and his conscience both say “yes.”



===== Ties & Relationships =====

  * **Ezrah Scherkenstein:** Long-standing professional bond; he builds to her ethical standards (“prepared pacifist”). Helps realize her botanical forensics with custom devices.
  * **OfSO Operatives:** Supplies bespoke kit to vetted subcontractors; expects logs and gear returns.
  * **Family:** Sleeps at his daughter’s house; fiercely protective of their anonymity.
  * **Back-Lot Era:** Beta Age workshop hid behind the [[headquarters_of_the_office_for_special_operations|OfSO HQ]] — camouflaged as a wood store. In Gamma Age, the shed is gone.

===== Sample Gear He Can Provide =====
  * **Myco-Laminate Vest:** Light, flexible plate; +1 AC; resists slashing.
  * **Seed-Tag Launcher:** Marks targets with traceable bio-tags (usable with Ezrah’s herbarium).
  * **Lumi Trip-Trap:** Bioluminescent cord reveals passage in dark corridors.
  * **Stun-Tether Coil:** Nonlethal chase-ender (see Actions).
  * **Seal-Stamp Forensics Kit:** Reads heat and pressure variance on broken wax/soil seals for advantage on a single Investigation check.



===== Tactical Advice for Dungeon Masters =====

Use Martin to gate powerful tools behind time, materials, and favors rather than coin. He excels at “one neat trick” items that reframe an encounter — a seed-tag launcher to track a courier, a stun-tether to end a chase nonlethally, a myco-laminate plate that tips an AC check. In the Gamma Age, make access the challenge: convincing a sleepy retiree to dust off the craft — perhaps by protecting his family or retrieving contraband plans someone stole from his old shed.
===== Related Pages and Further Information =====

  * [[office_for_special_operations|Office for Special Operations (OfSO)]]
  * [[headquarters_of_the_office_for_special_operations|Headquarters of the OfSO]]
  * [[ezrah_scherkenstein|Ezrah Scherkenstein]]
  * [[last_frontier_university|Last Frontier University]]
  * [[federal_library_of_new_kourou|Federal Library of New Kourou]]

**Known Freelancers of the Office for Special Operations:** 

  * [[Lexa Rourke|Lexa Rourke]]
  * [[Elias Kim|Elias Kim]]
  * [[Rogan Sokolov|Rogan Sokolov]]
  * [[Hana Lee|Hana Lee]]
  * [[Kweku Amari|Kweku Amari]]