137 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
137 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
# Dean Hector Estrada
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> DM-facing NPC writeup. The kids love him; you know better.
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---
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## Role
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- **Title:** Dean of Student Life & Activities
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- **Age:** late 30s to early 40s
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- **Public Image:** The fun one. Organizes pep rallies, oversees clubs and Mageball, gives big “Welcome, Adventurers!” speeches on day one.
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- **Real Job:** Pressure valve between students and admin, and the guy who has to sell Larkvale’s restrictions in a way kids will actually swallow.
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---
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## What Students Know
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- He’s everywhere:
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- On the Mageball field,
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- At club fairs,
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- On the stage hyping up events.
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- He:
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- Knows names,
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- Remembers siblings,
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- Shows up to performances and games.
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- He’s quick with a joke and a “You got this, kid,” even when he’s exhausted.
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- Rumors:
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- He used to adventure before “settling down in education.”
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- He and another staff member had a messy thing years ago.
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- He once nearly punched an Oversight projection off the wall.
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---
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## What He Wants
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### Surface Goals
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- A campus that **feels alive**:
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- Strong sports teams, good shows, active clubs.
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- Students who **bond with the school** instead of just surviving it.
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- Enough win-stories to:
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- Keep donors happy,
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- Justify his budgets,
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- Balance out Larkvale’s constant doom-and-gloom.
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### Deeper Goals
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- To protect “his kids” from:
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- Admin overreach,
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- Oversight paranoia,
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- Their own worst impulses.
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- To prove (to himself and others) that:
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- He’s more than a glorified cheerleader.
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- He can keep a community together under serious magical strain.
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---
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## Methods & Tactics
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- **Charm first:**
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- “Hey, champ, how about we redirect that energy into something less expulsion-y?”
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- **Deals second:**
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- “You want the Mageball field? I need you passing Arcane Theory.”
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- “You want club funds? You’re volunteering at the safety seminar.”
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- **Selective blindness:**
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- Looks the other way on minor stuff if it keeps the bigger picture stable.
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- Cracks down hard when someone endangers others or the school’s future.
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- In staff meetings:
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- Translates Larkvale/D’serris-speak into “student language.”
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- Fights for leniency where he can, picks his battles where he can’t.
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---
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## Relationship to Oversight & Admin
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- **Larkvale:**
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- Old colleague, frequent adversary.
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- Resents Larkvale’s tone and priorities, but knows he needs him to keep the lights on.
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- **D’serris:**
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- Thinks he’s a necessary evil at best, sociopath at worst.
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- Loathes being told to sacrifice student experience “for the graph.”
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- Frequently stuck between:
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- “Keep kids safe and happy”
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- “Keep the node stable and the board off our backs.”
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---
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## Relationship to the PCs
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- **Initial view:**
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- They’re a mess, but they’re his kind of mess:
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- Big personalities,
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- Taking risks,
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- Clearly going to shape the campus whether he likes it or not.
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- He likes them but won’t say so directly in front of staff.
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### How He Might Use Them
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- As **spark plugs**:
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- Putting them on committees, giving them “student voice” roles.
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- Knowing damn well they’ll cause drama but hoping it’s the right kind.
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- As **canaries in the coal mine**:
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- If they start complaining about “weird vibes,” he pays attention.
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- As **poster kids**:
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- If/when they do something heroic, he will absolutely slap their faces on every flyer and fundraiser.
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---
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## Secrets & Pressure Points (DM Only)
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- He’s hiding how scared he is of another Korrin situation:
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- He’s read enough Oversight briefings to know the stakes.
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- He’s clinging to “normal school vibes” harder than is healthy.
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- He has real dirt:
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- Past relationship with another staff member that would look bad if dragged into the Oversight spotlight.
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- A minor but technically illegal stunt from his own adventuring youth that Oversight could use against him.
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- He will break rules to protect:
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- Students he thinks have been failed by the system,
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- Staff he believes in.
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---
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## How to Play Estrada
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- **Voice:** Warm, a little tired, lots of “kid,” “champ,” “bud,” but sharper and more articulate when admin is present.
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- **Body language:** Hands-on shoulders, animated when talking about sports/clubs, rubs his face when dealing with Oversight.
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- **Key Lines:**
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- “You screwed up. We’re going to fix it. Together. And you’re going to hate me for how boring that process is.”
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- “Larkvale wants your head. I want your homework turned in and nobody dead. Help me out here.”
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- “If you’re going to blow something up, at least have the decency to win a championship first.”
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- **Pivot:** When pushed, the dad voice comes out:
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- No jokes, no soft edges, “I need you to listen to me, because this is not a drill.”
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