MARTIN “THE TINKERER” GAGNON

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

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 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, 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 Lumi trip-traps. He disliked titles; “Tinkerer” stuck because he never stopped.

After the Federal Confederation’s founding, private skunkworks became legally awkward. In the 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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

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

• 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.

• 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.

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

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

• 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 OfSO HQ — camouflaged as a wood store. In Gamma Age, the shed is gone.

• 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.

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.

• Office for Special Operations (OfSO)
• Headquarters of the OfSO
• Ezrah Scherkenstein
• Last Frontier University
• Federal Library of New Kourou

Known Freelancers of the Office for Special Operations:

• Lexa Rourke
• Elias Kim
• Rogan Sokolov
• Hana Lee
• Kweku Amari