Night Witches: Character Concepts

I love the Powered by the Apocalypse Game Night Witches by Bull Pulpit Games.  Unfortunately I don't get a lot of opportunity to play it.  Due to a lack of players and interest from the players that I do have.  I also don't get a lot of opportunities to actually play as a player.  So I thought I'd write up some character concepts that pop into my head after cursory glances over the Playbooks.  All of these characters use prompts from their respective Playbooks.  The only thing that is new about them is how I've interpreted those choices to make characters that I find interesting.

Junior Lieutenant Yulia Salenkova
Sex: Female
Uniform: Ill-fitting
Body: Broken
Eyes: Expressive
Home Town: Bryansk
Who you write to back home: Your dead Child
Yulia is a Sparrow a bird prone to flying away from its problems.  She comes from Bryansk a town that was overrun by the Hitlerite Bandits early on in the war.  During the initial invasion she lost her young daughter and was separated from her husband (who perhaps can show up a soldier or a partisan later on in the game).  Yulia is a Dreamer, she lives in her own world.  A world where her daughter is safe and well staying with relatives far from the front.  Mentally she is broken and defeated, deep down she joined the 588th as a way to commit suicide by War.  I imagine her using the move Reach Out a lot to write letters to dead daughter.  Accumulating a bundle of unsent letters that her comrades might discover in her foot-locker in the event of her death.  As a game progresses she might evolve to become a Protector and constantly volunteer to act as Vedomaya for other aircraft.  A huge inspiration for this character is that of Calamity Jane as portrayed by Larry McMurtry in his book Buffalo Girls.

Sergeant Polina "Polya" Makarova
Sex: Female
Uniform: Sloppy
Body: Tough
Eyes: Laughing
Home Town: Zhelenogorsk
Who you write to back home: your baby sister Valya
Polya is from Zhelenogorsk, compared to Saratov or some of the other places in Western Russia it's in the middle of no-where.  Her father wanted two sons, but ended up with Polya and her baby sister Valya.  She received her training as a pilot from the local youth agricultural club.  Polya is a Hawk and something of tom-boy.  I see her starting out as an Adventurer and slowly becoming a Misanthrope.  Only avoiding disciplinary action on account of her skill at the stick and a chestful of medals.  The one thing I decided when I came up with her concept was that she wouldn't be a rank climber.  Meaning she wouldn't sleep with higher ups to advance her career.  For all of her wild behaviour Polya is an incredibly chaste girl.  In fact having grown up in the country she knows to be suspicious of boys that sweet talk.  Since usually all they want is a roll in the hay.

Junior Lieutenant Dariya "Dasha" Yegorova 
Sex: Female
Uniform: Regulation
Body: Graceful
Face: Honest
Home Town: Moscow
Who you write to back home: "The Editor"
Dasha is an Owl and a Zealot.  A bit of a cliche when it comes to Night Witches.  What makes her special is the reasoning for this combination.  She's an undercover correspondent for Pravda, the Soviet Propaganda newspaper.  I don't see Dasha as being a Zealot in the traditional sense of an unflinching fanatic.  I more see her as an enthusiastic student that truly believes in Marxism.  Perhaps not realizing that the reality of the Soviet State is not the same as what she reads and writes in her literature.  A huge inspiration for the character is Joseph Fiennes character in Enemy at the Gates.  I see Dasha as latching onto a Ace Pilot among the group (someone playing the Hawk Playbook would do nicely) and reporting on their exploits.  For an advancement the Raven move Permanent File would be a great way of simulating her articles in Pravda.  

So there you have it three Natural Born Soviet Airwomen.  Feel free to use these concepts in your own game if you like.  If you like this post be sure to comment and +1, who knows I might write a sequel.