[Ravensoracle]

@Zweiblumen - I understand some of the heavy hardware. But if we are trying to make ourselves look like shadowrunners on a job rather that legit Firewatch, is Milspec the best choice? It may be needed in some cases but we'll need to be on the down low most of the time if we are considered more undercover. Or am I misunderstanding that point?

@Koshnek - If we are paired or really anybody that has the mental issues like Insomnia or ADHD, then I think that may add a depth to the story. We would not only be fighting with our own problems but trying to handle the partner's as well.

@All - What are we doing for our cover ID's. Right now I have a cover of Jack Jeffries; Fake SIN rating 4. A private investigator/ bodyguard that seems pretty standard for a runner's cover.

@Ryo - Here is the latest incarnation. I still have some polishing to do. Mainly background and  contacts.

 

[Zweiblumen]

@Zweiblumen - I understand some of the heavy hardware. But if we are trying to make ourselves look like shadowrunners on a job rather that legit Firewatch, is Milspec the best choice? It may be needed in some cases but we'll need to be on the down low most of the time if we are considered more undercover. Or am I misunderstanding that point?

He loves his big toys.  He also knows he can't "sneak" in anywhere wearing the mil-spec.  One thing that he'd want to work on is making the milspec look like something else.  But we've no rules for armor modifications at this point.  But he's definitely kitted out to do that if it were possible.  That said, he's also got his rapid transit suit for more low-key situations.

[Ryo]

Looking good, Raven.

And yes, you basically are 'under cover,' as it were. As I said in the beginning, the jobs you get are the kinds of things that shadowrunners would do, but are things Ares wouldn't trust to outsource, so they're using you guys as a kind of 'in house' shadowrunners. You are legally dead, your Corporate SINs will not come up on SIN scans, and you aren't marching around in armor with 'Firewatch' patches on the shoulder. You are largely using your own personal gear, which is why you guys all bought stuff, however you will be able to requisition gear from Ares if you guys stay in house, depending on the mission. This will work similar to a typical Availability test, where you roll Negotiation for the gear in question, except you're negotiating with Leonard, the Requisitions Officer. You explain why you need the gear, and promise to bring it back unharmed. The item is effectively lent to you for the length of a run, and returned upon completion. And god help you if you have to tell Lenny that you broke or lost his gear.

You will also occasionally be assigned specific gear, depending on the mission. For example, if they discover an Insect Spirit hive and are sending you in, you bet your ass Milspec Armor is on the gear list for that mission, as well as a shitload of FAB and other anti-spirit and anti-bug equipment.

One thing that he'd want to work on is making the milspec look like something else.  But we've no rules for armor modifications at this point.  But he's definitely kitted out to do that if it were possible. 

I have a system for modifying and creating gear. I'm sure Waffe would use it extensively, considering you loaded him up on Technical skills.

[Ravensoracle]

Sooo.... Getting a reputation of never bringing gear back in decent shape (Like Bond has with Q) would be a bad thing then. LOL

[Zweiblumen]

Waffe as a pretty good corp contact, I've got it in there as a mr. Johnson, would it be reasonable for that to be Lenny?  Seems like he and Gunter would be work associates at the least.

[Ryo]

Waffe as a pretty good corp contact, I've got it in there as a mr. Johnson, would it be reasonable for that to be Lenny?  Seems like he and Gunter would be work associates at the least.

Oh, I should probably cover what you can spend on Contacts. Instead of the standard 7 point maximum, you can spend 12 points per contact. Lenny is Connection 8, so the highest loyalty you can get with him is 4.

Everyone will get Lenny as a contact for free at Loyalty 1 / Connection 8 if you don't pay for a higher loyalty. There are also several other NPCs you'll all have available as contacts, which you can choose to spend contact points/karma on to be more buddy-buddy with them.

These include:

Commander Roger Ellis - Loyalty 1 / Connection 10. Aged Human. He's an old hardened veteran of the UCAS army before transferring to Knight Errant as a high ranking officer. He's in charge of the special forces unit you've been assigned to, and is the man to whom everyone involved in your team answers to. He's the boss, the one who briefs you for missions and chews you out when you fuck up.

Dr. Diana Adler - Loyalty 2 / Connection 7. Human. Dr. Adler is the lead scientist in charge of the research within the facility. She's an exceptional human with multiple PhDs in everything from biogenetics to quantum physics. She's the smartest person you've ever met, to the point that she kind of drifts in and out, lost in thought, and comes off as a bit neurotic and weird. As far as you're aware, she doesn't sleep, and she's such a high profile scientist in Ares that she hasn't been allowed to leave Ares extraterritorial facilities in over a decade out of fear that she'd be immediately extracted.

Leonard "Lenny" Mendoza - Loyalty 1 / Connection 8. Dwarf. Lenny is the Requisitions Officer, in charge of the armory, the foundry, the warehouses and all Ares gear in the facility. If you need to use a piece of equipment or request a piece of gear that Commander Ellis did not specifically authorize you to use, you have to ask Lenny. Best to ask nicely.

Jordan Stieber - Loyalty 3 / Connection 6. Elf. Jordan is a Firewatch pilot and rigger that signed on to this super secret mission to be your glorified chauffeur, ferrying you from the base in the California Free State to whatever far off destination the job requires. He can operate just about any vehicle, but is pretty useless outside of it. He doesn't participate in a mission, he's just there to drop you off and pick you back up when it's time to return to base.

If you want increase loyalty for any of these characters, just pay for them like you would a normal contact, including their Connection ratings. You can also have any of your contacts be additional personnel within the facility not named here, such as scientists, engineers, field agents, dispatchers, etc.

[Scawire]

I was thinking when it comes to our cover we could say we are a small buisness that works as PIs and bodyguards. Since I have a Fake License for PIing and Ravensoracle said they have a PI and bodyguard license for their Fake SIN.

One question. Are we staying with ARES? From the sounds of it most of you wanted to stay. I'm fine with either way.

I'll get on to modding Stix with the Contact limit and Extra Karma.

[Ryo]

From the sound of it, you're staying with Ares. Which is nice, because I get to have fun with the Facility and its personnel without them immediately being your enemies trying to hunt you down.

Recruitment is now closed and all four of you are officially accepted into the game. Congrats!

Bonded Pair: Detective and Thorn.

Working as members of Firewatch Team Three, Detective and Thorn confronted a decker in an Ares lab, where a prototype device exploded. They were declared KIA, and woke up in The Facility with a mindlink. Waffe and Stix are both members of the staff in the Facility, and have been assigned to Detective and Thorn as support members on field missions, in addition to their normal duties.

The Facility officially does not exist. Internally within Ares and in all documents and budget reports that exist relating to it, it is referred to as the Inyokern Waste Facility, and is claimed to be part of the Inyokern Testing Site. Unofficially, it is an underground structure with 5 levels built beneath a mountain somewhere within the 1000 square miles of Ares extraterritorial land in the California Free State. It is codenamed 'Cygnus.'

Detective and Thorn were brought to Cygnus after the accident that befell them on Operation Lost Call. This occurred several months ago. Waffe and Stix were already members of the Cygnus facility prior to this event, and may or may not have been familiar with them before this happened. The project of testing and deploying these two has been codenamed Project Kindred Bond.

Detective
Job Title: Special Operations Agent
Special: Bonded to Thorn

Thorn
Job Title: Special Operations Agent
Special: Bonded to Detective

Waffe
Job Title: Head of Engineering / Special Operations Agent
Special: Is the lead Engineer of Cygnus, and has unlimited access to the workshops, materials and facilities within Cygnus to work. Can delegate projects to his three assistants, allowing him to go into the field. You can choose the Loyalty of your three assistants. One of them is Super Competent (almost your equal in skills and attributes) and the other two are normal (Good, but not as good as you). You have a total pool of 9 free loyalty points to assign between them, so you could have one of them really like you while the other two hate you (6, 2, 1) have all three average (3,3,3) or any combination you want. They count as Contacts with Connection 4 and the Loyalty you assign them. Which one ends up being the Super Competent one will be randomly assigned after you pick their Loyalties.

Stix
Job Title: Lead Matrix Spider / Special Operations Agent
Special: Is the Lead Matrix Spider for the Cygnus Host, granting him Owner level marks for the entire facility from Levels B1 through B3, and the ability to launch IC in the host. Also has security clearance in various other Ares hosts, granting basic access to files that lowly shadowrunners would have to hack for, including Knight Errant's databases.


Feel free to continue discussing your characters amongst yourselves here, working out your backgrounds and how well you know each other and interact. Once you guys are finished with your sheets and have finalized your characters, I'll start the OoC and IC threads.

It's also worth noting, only Detective and Thorn are KIA with fake deaths. Waffe and Stix are still considered alive and are on the official Ares payroll, allowing them to take qualities like Dependents, and have Contacts from their past.

[Ravensoracle]

Are we getting all the contacts listed if we leave them as set? How long have we been out in the field? Could Detective and Thorn have made some contacts in their undercover work? I was thinking of getting a couple of contacts outside the facility that think he is a SINless runner. If they find out about his cover SIN then it will just reinforce the idea.

[Ryo]

Are we getting all the contacts listed if we leave them as set? How long have we been out in the field? Could Detective and Thorn have made some contacts in their undercover work? I was thinking of getting a couple of contacts outside the facility that think he is a SINless runner. If they find out about his cover SIN then it will just reinforce the idea.

If you spend no points on them, you get the four contacts I listed at those values for free, yes.

You have not yet gone out in the field, being limited to tests in and out of the facility, so the first IC mission is your first mission. You can have some contacts outside of the facility if you knew them prior to your accident, either from a fake name or a shadowrunner alias. You simply haven't been in touch for a few months, which is plenty common in the shadows when people have to lay low.

[Ravensoracle]

I have an idea and have added some contacts that go along with this sub-plot line.

Roughly 2 months before the accident, the Detective (Whose name was really John Aresco) spent 6 months as part of a Knight Errant task Force. His job was to play the part of a runner as a undercover operative. He spent 6 months in the guise of "Jester". Jester was an explosive expert. The job was to infiltrate a cell of runner's that had been getting out of hand and starting to become real loose cannons. They had used a hacked city bus full of innocents as a shield to escape a robbery at a triad underground gambling house.  Once he was in, a well placed bit of explosives took care of the group. All authorized by his handlers of course.

One contact he made as Jester was Jax. Jax is a well known fixer among the Shadows of Seattle. Jax is Connection 8 Loyalty 4.
Another is a bartender at Dantes Inferno. Eddy aka "Drinks" He puts on a hell of a show when he tends bar. His specialty is flaming drinks and juggling bottles. Eddy is Conn 3 Loy 2

[Ryo]

I have an idea and have added some contacts that go along with this sub-plot line.

Roughly 2 months before the accident, the Detective (Whose name was really John Aresco) spent 6 months as part of a Knight Errant task Force. His job was to play the part of a runner as a undercover operative. He spent 6 months in the guise of "Jester". Jester was an explosive expert. The job was to infiltrate a cell of runner's that had been getting out of hand and starting to become real loose cannons. They had used a hacked city bus full of innocents as a shield to escape a robbery at a triad underground gambling house.  Once he was in, a well placed bit of explosives took care of the group. All authorized by his handlers of course.

One contact he made as Jester was Jax. Jax is a well known fixer among the Shadows of Seattle. Jax is Connection 8 Loyalty 4.
Another is a bartender at Dantes Inferno. Eddy aka "Drinks" He puts on a hell of a show when he tends bar. His specialty is flaming drinks and juggling bottles. Eddy is Conn 3 Loy 2

I like it. Sounds good to me.

You can call them up and they'll basically say 'long time no see,' and will either assume you were laying low or left town for greener pastures. Maybe they heard rumors you blew yourself up or retired after a particularly good run, but they otherwise won't bat an eye when you return.

[Koshnek]

Hmm. So basically, we are shadowrunners, but official corp Shadowrunners.  It sounds like well need legit SIN's and licenses then. That's fine. Ill just have to reallocate some funds for good licenses.

I'm curious about something. If we are sent into Renraku to reacquire an asset "extracted" from Ares then we would be in deep doodoo if anyone finds out (usual). If we're operating somewhere that KE happens to be the contracted law enforcement, however, paperwork might just be fudged. Maybe evidence doesn't exist or just disappears (unusual without some good rolls and a badass contact)?

Would KE and Ares as a whole instead decide to burn the team? There is no way they would risk taking the PR hit and legal blowback from a sanctioned run on another company.

I didn't have an intent for my SIN, but I could easily make it for an awakened PI. Equally likely is magical protection. I think I can pick up some points of banishing and disenchanting with the extra karma points while still being able to shore up my weaknesses. Whether we are a PI company or private security (why not both?), it makes sense for one member to be specialized in the astral. My SIN is definitely from before the accident. I'm going to have at least one contact from before.

Is that the plan? Match our SINs up together as each being a member of the business for a cover?

If I have a fixer in Seattle, is it possible/likely for him to get goods to me in the CFS? Seattle is a drive and two? nation changes away.

[Ryo]

Hmm. So basically, we are shadowrunners, but official corp Shadowrunners.  It sounds like well need legit SIN's and licenses then. That's fine. Ill just have to reallocate some funds for good licenses.

Yes, you're basically runners. You and Detective are functionally SINless out in the world, since Ares faked your death and your Corporate SINs don't come up on scans anymore. So if you need to go anywhere that expects you to have a SIN, you need a fake SIN.

I'm curious about something. If we are sent into Renraku to reacquire an asset "extracted" from Ares then we would be in deep doodoo if anyone finds out (usual). If we're operating somewhere that KE happens to be the contracted law enforcement, however, paperwork might just be fudged. Maybe evidence doesn't exist or just disappears (unusual without some good rolls and a badass contact)?

Would KE and Ares as a whole instead decide to burn the team? There is no way they would risk taking the PR hit and legal blowback from a sanctioned run on another company.

Which is why you wouldn't let Renraku find out, and that's part of why your SINs don't come up on scans. If anybody captures you, Ares never heard of you, and you're expected to not get caught and to escape if you do. As for KE, they will have no idea who you are either. Your SINs won't come up, and Cygnus is so secret that you aren't going to encounter Ares security in the field that will have any idea what you're talking about. If you do something illegal and are at risk of getting arrested, you can call up Ellis and he'll make it go away, but expect to get your ass chewed out when you get back to base.

So even with Ares security, the go-to policy is 'don't get caught.' You are, after all, supposed to be a super secret team that doesn't officially exist, so even getting in-house clearance isn't straight forward or guaranteed. Stix does have access to a variety of systems and can hack his way through most of Ares security to clear any records you guys do, but this is also an issue where you should do your best to not leave evidence so that your superiors don't have to explain who you are and where you've been to people who aren't supposed to know you exist.

Fuck up bad and Ares will cut its losses. Your team isn't worth getting the Corporate Court on their ass.

I didn't have an intent for my SIN, but I could easily make it for an awakened PI. Equally likely is magical protection. I think I can pick up some points of banishing and disenchanting with the extra karma points while still being able to shore up my weaknesses. Whether we are a PI company or private security (why not both?), it makes sense for one member to be specialized in the astral. My SIN is definitely from before the accident. I'm going to have at least one contact from before.

Is that the plan? Match our SINs up together as each being a member of the business for a cover?

However you guys wanna do your SINs works for me.

If I have a fixer in Seattle, is it possible/likely for him to get goods to me in the CFS? Seattle is a drive and two? nation changes away.

Yes, you can get gear through an external fixer. There's high speed rail between Seattle and CalFree, as well as fairly regular shipping between the two, so delivery is a thing. Cygnus doesn't exactly have an address, but you could arrange to have goods shipped to you in CalFree and then go get them.

[Ravensoracle]

The attached pdf should be the finished character sheet stat-wise for John "Detective" Aresco. I am still refining his personality and expanding on the background but nothing I have posted in those regards will be changed.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4czx3oRKpEIWEo0bGZ0ZlZXekE/edit?usp=sharing