Well, they are a bit of a lot of things...

"The role of a Salvager is a combination of a lot of things really..." I began as I start to show them brief examples. "They are part junk man, part mercenary, part personal shopper, part farmer, part hunter, but mostly they are adventurers."

Colonies live and die by the luck and skill of their salvagers.

Salvagers leave the colony 'into the wilds' looking for things that their colony wants or needs: especially food, sturdy or fashionable clothing, tools, working computers and other appliances, weapons, ammunition, daily necessities like dish soap, toilet paper, shampoo, and toothpaste, and valuables such as gold, silver, copper and and gemstones. They of course are also on the look out for the rarer and more significant finds that I have mentioned previously, 'images', 'keys', 'frames', parts to make 'token racks', and so forth, but mostly what they bring back to their colony are the kind of stuff you would find sitting in storage units, garages, basements and attics, because ANYTHING a colony has they either traded for, made themselves, or was brought back by a salvaging team.

A good salvaging team consists of three parts: Door Minders, which we have already discussed: Porters, who carry the things they find back to the colony: and 'Teamsters', what most people think of when they think of the salvaging team: it's leaders, front men, warriors, mages, and dowsers. Your typical team consists of 6 individuals, with six predefined roles that need to be filled to make the team 'complete': Face, Lantern, Fist, Pillar, Wand, and Mirror.

The 'Face' is the public relations member of the team, though on the surface they appear to be the leader of the team most of the time that is actually someone else, such as the Lantern or Fist, while almost all the time secretly or not so secretly it is the Mirror who is the core of the team more than any other member, and the loss of a team's mirror can herald it's **** knell unless it is part of a larger organization which can find them a new mirror they all can work with. Getting back to the subject at hand: the face is the silver tongued devil who convinces people looking for salvagers to bring back something specific that your team can get the job done, and then that it HAS gotten the job done when you bring them something that IS what they actually asked for but NOT what they really wanted. Any 'Face' worth her salt in an established colony will speak three or four languages word for word without book or device and be practiced in poetry, philosophy, sex appeal, debating tactics and 'fast talk', as well as having a good amount of points in the, Appearance, Voice, and Charisma advantages and at least some skill with both unarmed and ranged combat abilities, especially 'throwing'.

The 'Lantern' is the team's dowser, key master, and trivia expert. The 'Lantern' lights the team's way in dark times and dark places, finding a path forward to what they need and back to where they need to get it too. Any 'Lantern' worth her salt in an established colony will have a 'Type 3' Silver Key for the 'basement' or 'ground floor' level, and a handful of useful type 2 bronze keys for the local 'attic' and other type than the one for which she has the 'type 3' as well as at least 1 working 'type 2' Silver which she will move heaven and earth to keep the path open too: generalized 'magery' of at least 1, a half dozen or more types of 'Seek ____' spells at a high enough skill to be wholly reliable: especially 'Seek Food', and it's prerequisites: and a handful of 'knowledge' type skills which allow the erudition to dazzle with her depth and breadth of knowledge.

The 'Fist' is the team's close combat expert. Though guns are plentiful in this world the nature of it's spaces and networks means close quarters fighting is inevitable at some point, and it is a basic truth that guns run out of bullets which being able to find more of is far from guaranteed (not to mention the terrible things that can happen if a bullet punches through a wall or locked door): in point of fact the bow and arrow still rules in the arena of ranged combat simply because making or finding new ammunition for it is so much easier and in many situations the spent arrow can be recovered and reused. In an established colony any 'Fist' worth his salt will have high ratings in HT, DX, ST and a number of skills in both unarmed and armed combat, especially with his favorite weapon, whatever that may be, and some training in tactics, strategy, and leadership, as well as with TL 7 handguns, just in case they find one loaded and usable.

The 'Pillar' is the 'support structure' of the group, and at least on paper it's traditional leader. They are the one that makes sure everyone packs food and extra socks, has enough space in their packs to bring back the good stuff, and doesn't do anything stupid or reckless. In most groups this role is filled by the team's representative of the clergy: their priest or priestess, who will have Clerical Investment, Religious Rank of 1 or 2 levels, training in Theology, Religious Ritual, Philosophy, Heraldry and several other non-combat skills as well as combat skills relating to their god/goddess's favored weapon, and a special arrangement of advantages and disadvantages which always include an at least -10pt 'Code of Honor: (The Cleric's Religion)' disadvantage and 10pt 'Magery 1 (Conditional on obeying their Code of Honor)' advantage, representative of the 'Bargain With Heaven' that they have undertaken as part of becoming a member of the clergy, and probably a small measure of Status.

The 'Wand' is something of a misnomer. Though normally the role is filled by the most powerful combat caster they can recruit the role's actual description is their ranged combatant and 'crowd control' person which can be done with various mechanisms including cryo bombs, 'adhesive dispersal' packets, pistols, bows/crossbows, and flash/bang grenades. The role of 'wand' attracts the most diverse individuals of any member of the standard 6 person team, and it has often been remarked that “There is no such thing as an 'ordinary wand'.”

The 'Mirror' is a peculiarity of the standard team in that their role is not directly related to securing the job, getting to the goods, or defeating anything that might be guarding them, but instead they are the person who keeps the team together and provides psychological support and emotional counseling for the team: the term 'mirror' coming from the phrase “He holds up a mirror to our behavior and by so doing helps us act in such a way that we will like what we see.” said by Laurel Loveless, first known holder of the 'Human' skeleton key, speaking of the first generally accepted 'Mirror' on record, Albus Marconi du Shane, in year 12 ADI (After the Dawn of the Internet). Over the 500 years or so since the term was coined a 'mirror's role has expanded from being a counseling expert and source of good advice to include that of matchmaker, remembrancer, expert second opinion on the value of things the team finds, profiler, dispute mediator, interviewer of new recruits, confessor, and backup to the group's 'Face'; playing the opposite number to their 'good cop'/'bad cop'. Not all Mirrors are equally skilled at all of these roles but those in an established settlement considered worthy of the tittle will have at least some formal training in all of them and true expertise in at least 2. They should take the skills Psychology, Psychiatry, Profiling, Sense Motive, Sex Appeal, Memory (If they do not have the 'Eidetic' advantage.), Dreaming, Counselor, Any 'Academic Skill' which can grant a useful default to a class of 'Appraisal', Current Affairs and Theology. They furthermore would be well advised to have a high IQ and the some level of the advantages, Appearance, Voice, Charisma, hopefully 'Eidetic Memory' but above all Common Sense and 'Unphaseable': without those last two advantages a mirror is rarely worthy of the term.

“Wait a second Simon, there are only four of us, and this world is clearly designed for a 7 person gaming group: what gives?” Marcus Carpathian asked, suspicious.

“I couldn't get a large enough party together to run the full group and as I realized that started spinning out a narrative for a smaller group that could do it together and hopefully find the missing two from their own group of contacts...” I declared, and everyone nodded reluctantly...

“What is this narrative?” Madoka asked, but I held up a hand.

“There are actually several versions, to finalize it I need everyone to finish character creation and to do that I need to go back and fill you all in on your starting area.” I explained.