Niel Strellan is an NPC controlled by Lamb in the Terraforming Ake plot.

Niel is an aging man with Germanic features and greying brown hair. He has almost-black brown eyes and a penchant for smoking tobacco has given his teeth a yellow gleam. Years of working at a desk have given the middle-aged engineer a bit of a paunch, but he rarely eats much so it's barely noticeable.

Niel has penned over seven-hundred starship designs over the course of his lifetime. His component designs number in the thousands. While this is an impressive figure, the actual number of adopted designs is but a humble sixteen. And of those, only two are for devices larger than a toaster. The first was Origin's tiny economy businesscraft: the Mule Ultralight Freighter. The second, and much more recent, is a special device that Niel is called The Atmospheric Purification System. APS for short, the system is instrumental in the terraforming of Ake. As such, Strellan will be accompanying the second terraforming team to the surface of Ake in person. After all, the first prototype APS went missing or was destroyed under mysterious circumstances. It's up to the designer himself to ensure that the second prototype survives the harsh wasteland that is Ake.

• Communications: Fluent in Trade
• Mechanical: Niel is an engineering genius. Or at least he thinks he is. In his defense, every single design he's penned would work perfectly fine if somebody would take the time to actually build the things.
• Knowledge: When he's not making new things, one of Niel's favorite things to do is peruse exploded diagrams and machining manuals whilst stuffing himself with takeout. Therefore, he has an intimate knowledge of both commonly produced machines and the menus of nearby restaurants.
• Humanities: Strellan was never much one for conversation, however he has always been a decent poet when he could be bothered to write.
• Mathematics: Whether it's a natural talent or a force of engineering habit, Niel is a skilled mathematician capable of working out sophisticated problems in his head quickly and effortlessly.
• Mechanical: They call him the fastest drafter on Dawn Station. It's rumored that he can create a blueprint so fast that other, lazier engineers will pay him to sit down with a drafting program and sort their work out.
• Culinary: While not a chef by any means, Niel is a connoisseur of all but the finest foods. From traditional Yamataian takeout, to Elysian gyros, to Iroma kebabs, he's tried it and made no statement one way or the other about it. He can identify just about any named food item in the galaxy.

Niel Strellan has the following items:

• 1 Origin Industries uniform
• 1 table-sized datapad with drafting software
• 33 datapads, filled with the collected works of years of designing starships and components
• 4 sets khaki Coveralls
• 1 toolbox, filled with worn implements
• 1 plastic model, Mule Ultralight Freighter
• 1 utility knife
• 1 Origin Industries SEP II