Fluff for new small-corp service, An exterminator corp Options

[cetiah]

I want to include an all-purpose Extermination company in my game. I want it to provide services for anything a client is willing to pay for from insects to spirits to SINless people. Unfortunately, those are the only three things I could think of right now.

Any ideas for additional extermination services and prices?

[Moon-Hawk]

Ghouls. Vampires? Devil rats. Freaky awakened cockroaches? I imagine all manner of pests have awakened forms that require some special skills.

[Mistwalker]

Up until you said SINless people, I thought it wasn't a bad idea.

You would have some cross purpose items (insecticide for roaches and insect spirits, etc..). You may even be able to use spirits with powers like noxious breath to help clear out normal infestations.

But, once you start in on murder, and advertise that you will commit murder, things get a lot more sticky. SINless are abused all the time by corps, but none actively advertise it, promote it, or even acknowledge that they do.

Besides, how do they determine if someone is SINless before they kill them? run a DNA test? Even if it was publicly acceptable to exterminate SINless, what happens the first time they kill some Corp VIP's kid, who was out on a bender or a runaway? You thing that the VIP will care how it happened? They will want revenge, either thru the courts because you murdered a SINner, or thru shadow ops to make your extermination company pay or go under.

Well, that is my take on it.

[DireRadiant]

Universal Pest Control , of course!

[Moon-Hawk]

Regarding the extermination of SINless: Hey, those squatters shouldn't have been in that building while it was being fumigated anyway. Sure, the chemicals are extremely toxic. But we put up a "do not enter" sign.

It's hard to prove the deaths weren't accidental. And who'd bother trying anyway. They just have to make a slight but deliberately ineffectual effort to get people out in order to escape any real liability.
Sure, that excuse wouldn't work if they killed a bunch of rich people, but who's going to care?
Well, eventually someone will, and therein lie the plot hooks.

[Butterblume]

[Serial_Peacemake...]

Well I could see the removal of Squatters being a reliable service, and maybe a little bit of extremination. I suppose it depends on how you run it. After all if they work a way to quickly get a place declared extraterretorial. Then really they can do whatever the hell they want really. I mean it does drive home that life sucks, and some people's lives are really cheap. However if they are killing bug spirits would they be a bunch of old firewatch team members perhaps?

[knasser]

A very slight tangent, but if you've ever seen an early film by Sam Raimi called "Crimewave" (which I have tried to get hold of for ages), it has a pest control company that doubles as a hit service. The schtick is that they use the same tool (a long, brass-tipped, sparking with electricity pole) to kill everything. They just ratchet the dial around from "rat" to "human." :D I couldn't see them as an actual corp for the reasons others have stated, but I could see the same two seedy characters working out of the same seedy back alley office in Shadowrun. In fact, it's such an awesome idea, I'm going to write them up! :D

(And for anyone who has seen the film, I think the best bit is where one of the rat catchers, during a moving car top battle with the lead, ratchets the dial from "rat" to "human" up to "HERO!" It's a great film.")

[Thane36425]

You wouldn't necessarily need to kill the SINless squatters. Just send in a high force spirit with the Fear power and out they go.

For most of the other things you could use standard bounty prices, with a extra charges for the more dangerous critters like insect and toxic spirits.

[Mistwalker]

Well, from the original post, it was exterminate SINless, not evict the SINless

big difference

[Kyoto Kid]

...man if any anyone can solve the Devil Rat problem, he or she should receive the Nobel Prize in Science by unanimous vote.

[cetiah]

Yeah, well I wanted to leave the means of extermination of the SINless open to debate. (If that's what we're calling it these days...) It could be eviction or whatever - they're certainly not going to go in there with gang-level firepower. I like the idea of the fear spirit though. I don't know what you would call that besides Extermination - unless you wanted to give it some cutsy name like "cleaners" or something.

I'm not sure if they should really be able to take out bug spirits and the like. That seems like some other domain, altogether. What do you guys think?

I doubt they'd be able to clean up toxic waste or radiation and the like, either.

But anything else that would be considered a nuissance or trouble for a property manager should be fair game. I *love* the idea of applying this service for devil rats and ghouls. I wonder if awakened plants would be difficult to get rid of and need an exterminator? I'm sure there would also be some sort of ghostbusing division for dealing with uninvited urban spirits still sleeping in your astral bed.

I'm thinking they should be able to clear out squatters, but I don't know about full-on gangs. They should at least have the firepower and resources that docwagon has though. "Armed Extermination Response"?

Do you guys not like the term extermination? Any other term I should be using instead? What about the name for the corp? I was thinking Poison Control Center, just for the pun, maybe as an individual department of the company.

What are the standard bounty prices you mentioned?

[cetiah]

Oh, and thanks for all your help! :)

[Tomothy]

Someone already mentioned "Pest Control" which I think doubles quite well as a euphism.

[Thane36425]

Bounties listed for the Seattle area, the few that actually have a number with them, are very low. Ghouls go for 100 nuyen for males and 150 for females. I think they were set this low so that beginning characters would be forced to take runs rather than bounty hunt for their money.

Shadows of North America for Third Edition had a detailed chart for Quebec that I modified for use in the CAS. First the canon material followed by my house rules.

To Bounty Hunt, you need a liscense. These are (all money values converted to nuyen):

Class E: 25 Nuyen
Class D: 50
Class C: 250
Class B: 500
Class A: 2,500
Class S and X: 5,000

The bounties are as follows. To collect the bounty, you must bring 90% of the pelt plus the whole head.

Class E: Devil Rat, Surged Vorporal Beaver, Etc.: 25 Nuyen per pelt.
Class D: Barghest, Cockatrice, Demon Rat, Ghoul, etc.: 250 per pelt.
Class C: Basilisk, Eyekiller, Griffin, Harpy, etc.: 1,000 per pelt.
Class B: Banshee, Wendgio, Vampire, etc.: 5,000 per pelt
Class A: Horned Bear, Night Manta, Piasma, Shambler, etc.: 10,000 per pelt.
Class S: Free Spirit, Toxic Spirit, Insect Spirit, etc.: 25,000 per pelt.
Class X: Wyvern, Kraken, Megalon, Juggernaut, etc.: 50,000 per pelt.

My house rules for the CAS.

Hunting seasons for "game species" exist. A permit is still required to hunt them, costs half as much as the listed prices, and the season may be based on numbers taken rather than a period of time, depending on the critter's numbers, breeding cycle, etc. Game species would include but are not limited to: Griffin, piasma, wyvern, kraken, sea serpents, behemoths. These are species that people would be interested in hunting but don't directly (usually) pose a threat to metahumans. This way, that CAS kills two birds with one stone: it controls the critter's numbers (both from getting to large and being hunted to extinction) and makes a lot of money on the deal.

Professionals may be called in on off seasons to handle dangerous game critters. These bounties are sometimes for live captures so the critter can be relocated, sold to a zoo, etc. Professional liscenses are also required to collect non-game bounties and also counts for game species. The price is as listed and includes a background check and a waver absolving the state of resposibility for death or injury of the hunter or their party incurred while on the hunt. Only professionals may hold a Class S or X liscence. There are no tests to determine if an applicant is qualified. As long as they pay and are willing to take their chances, they get a permit. If they step out of line, however, they can be prosecuted.

All liscences must be renewed annually. A company can form for the purpose of hunting bounties, but there is no special provision for this. Each hunter much be liscensed and those without a proper liscense can be fined or prosecuted if caught on a hunt without one.

The bounty for toxic spirits is for the Shaman, since it is very hard to prove a kill on a spirit. For insect spirits, bounties are paid for the shaman, flesh and true form pelts and Queens. There is no bounty for destroying cocoons, though it is expected that they will be done and all hives must be reported and inspected by government officials to ensure its complete destruction.

[Serial_Peacemake...]

You know if you are willing to whack squatters why not get paid twice? Organlegging pays doesn't it? Go in do a non-lethal on the squatters, and then have your friendly neighborhood tanamous branch take them away.

[Jack Kain]

The squatter issue would be handled by lonestar, or equivalent.(that or other SINless). They may be SINless but killing them is still murder. Now you may say why would Lonestar care?

Look at it this way, Lonestar decides to go after this small-corp that killed some squatting SINless. First they gain good PR. Second they eliminate competition. Any of those contracts could easily be issued to Lonestar. Lastly once they've arrested the people working in this small-corp. They get to confiscate all there gear.

Remember that Ghoul hunting is illegal in 2074 in many nations including the UCAS.


Oh and you for got hell hounds on your list. No one wants a pack of hell hounds laying about there back yard.

wiki.dumpshock is back on line and has its own list of bounties listed here
http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Harmfu..._Paranimals_Act

It appears however that only Quebec actively trades in para-hunting.

[apollo124]

Well, you could specialize in Paranormal Investigations and Eliminations. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Start with Awakened critters like devil rats, blackberry cats and similar critters on the low end. Middle level I would consider the HMHVV infected, sheddim, and lower power spirits. High end, you're talking about toxics, blood mages and spirits, and heavy hitting awakened things, like wyverns.

Especially in CalFree, the Barrens or nearby, you might offer deals on mutant critters, pricing based on what it mutated from and what it can do now.

I would tend to stay away from advertising "hits for hire" on the billboards. The Star (contrary to popular opinion) can read. Now what your operators do "off the books" or "on their own time" is another matter.

[Jack Kain]

[imperialus]

why does the extermination of SINless remind me of those Capital One commertials where the exterminator is walking through the house while all these men in suits are running around with armloads of cash saying "Yep, you got bankers."