2bit
Mar 12 2007, 02:59 PM
This is the master OOC thread for the game
"Witch Hunt". If you're interested in joining the game in progress, please post in the thread
"Recruiting: Witch Hunt". Enrollment is currently:
CLOSEDIn this game, the player characters are
mundanes tasked with fighting Awakened opposition as militant members (known as
Alphas) of the anti-awakened policlub
Sons of Apollo. The year is 2070, and ever since the infamous
terrorist mage cult "Winternight" destroyed the world's information infrastructure five years ago, a growing fear of magic and the awakened has taken root in first world countries across the globe. Magicians in the UCAS must register their talent with the government, and Congress has tightened the reins on what they legally can and cannot do. As if life wasn't hard enough for those with the Talent, they might also be unlucky enough to come across one of
these guys in a dark alley:
The AlphasOrion (Cakeman) - human, animal handler
High Rise (yoippari) - ork, hacker/rigger
Null (Glyph) - human, street samurai
Malleus (imperialus) - elf, face
On hold:
Nobody!
2bit
Mar 12 2007, 02:59 PM
The New Stuff that Came to Pass
In this setting, Winternight was a terrorist mage cult and received nearly all the blame for the attack in 2065. In the wake of the second Crash, anti-Awakened sentiment experiences a strong resurgence. In 2066, the Magician Registration Act is passed, requiring awakened citizens of the UCAS to register their status with the government. Public spellcasting of any kind is prohibited. Licensed magic use is limited to the areas of Security, Health Services, and Entertainment, and even these endure heavy overwatch. Although magical education programs continue, they are effectively neutered.
Vaults of magical knowledge are lost during the Crash, and by the time the new Matrix comes online, very little of it returns to the public domain. What is left remains mostly in corporate, shadow, government, and foreign hands. Although information is still attainable, most of it is illegal to use, as are the methods ultimately used to acquire it.
With the new matrix come technomancers, which are still rumors at this point in time. It is well known in the shadows that people who can "hack with their freaky radio brains" exist, but just who and what they are remains a mystery. People in the know are afraid that magicians have learned techniques that let them perform sorcery and conjuring in virtual space. Others believe these people are the next evolutionary step. Because of the ever present awakened stigma, no one's talking.
2bit
Mar 12 2007, 03:00 PM
Magic Outside the UCAS
Megacorporations
Megacorps held onto most of their respective caches of magic knowledge. For the sake of politics and PR, both internal and external, corps have cut way back on their visibility in the magical goods market, with some leaving it altogether. There is still good money to be made in the security sector of this market. All of the Big Ten, with the exception of Evo and Wuxing, have passed laws similar to that of the UCAS, mostly to appease the public and governments of their host countries. Internally, however, not much has changed.
Awakened employees of megacorps have been affected less than others. Their abilities are already on file with their employer. Their personal advancement has always taken a backseat to the needs of the company. They are watched a little more closely, but in most companies, "due diligence" in this matter doesn't mean much.
The NAN
The Native American Nations suffered a political setback with their refusal to adopt any new law to restrict the use of magic. They have gained a reputation as the "Free Magic" nations because of this, and relations between the individual NAN members have never been better. There is a great shamanic fellowship happening there now, and some say they're on the verge of a native american renaissance. While non-shamanic practitioners are allowed to do their own thing, they receive their share of suspicion, and there is a growing desire to make shamanism the Official Tradition of the Native American Nations (whatever that means!).
2bit
Mar 12 2007, 03:00 PM
The Sons of Apollo
The Sons of Apollo is an anti-awakened policlub based in FDC, with major presence in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans, Detroit, and St. Louis. It has gained significant influence in recent years, feeding into the paranoia that has gripped the post-crash world. The policlub preaches materialism and trust in physical things. Its members cherish wealth, physical and mental health, skilled workmanship, but are truly cemented together by the anti-awakened movement.
QUOTE (Richard Eaves) |
"Magic is an abomination against Nature. It corrupts the minds and bodies of those who practice it. No one can practice magic without being affected by its corrupting power. Just look at the mad zealots of Winternight. It warps natural laws, damaging the fabric of the universe. You need only look to the assassination of late President Dunkhelzahn for proof of that.
"The material world is besieged by extraplanar forces seeking to corrupt and destroy it. . . and Magic is their gateway. Just see what happened in Chicago. Spirits from the outer planes are seeking out those touched by magic sensitivity, promising them power in return for loyalty. Mark my words . . . they have their own agenda." |
The Appolonian references come from the fact that Apollo was god of, among other things, science and medicine; by extension, technology. They use the symbol of the sun to represent enlightenment, as well as shedding light on things hidden in darkness (ie., secrets, corruption, bad guys). They also use the staff of Aesclepius in their community outreach programs. The policlub boasts a diverse membership, despite the male-centric language. They come from all economic and social walks of life, both genders, and all metatypes. It helps immensely that they have the perfect face: Richard Eaves, an extremely charismatic dwarf with regal, chiseled features who is at once a noble king commanding respect and the mean old grandfather you can't help but love. Richard earned his financial independence as an architect, then a real estate investor, and finally as CEO of an architectural firm before selling it, taking the helm of his favorite charity, and turning it into the major policlub it is today.
Though it denies an identity as a "church", ("Were the Freemasons a church?", asks Eaves,) the Sons have many trappings of a religion: a code for living, rallies led by one of their demagogues, and more than a few zealous followers. Their path to enlightenment is based in better living through technology, wealth, and materialism.
QUOTE (Richard Eaves) |
"I find that I prize few things in a person more than great skill... the professional who hones his craft to a monomolecular point. When they create, you know it is perfection, and to witness their labor is to see the height of metahuman achievement. |
Of course, where there's smoke, there's fire, and all the anti-awakened rhetoric isn't for nothing. The Sons enlist the services of members skilled in shadow ops. These mercenaries, known as Alphas, are mundanes skilled in dealing with awakened opposition. Their work is completely freelance. Alphas may be hired by the policlub to do work that furthers its goals; but just as often, the policlub is hired by other organizations to do their dirty work in exchange for favors and influence. The policlub doesn't entertain rumors and accusations that it employs these people in hate crimes, assassination, and blackmail. Crimes perpetrated against the awakened, it claims, are just a reflection of the will of the people, and their frustration that the government isn't doing enough to solve the problem.
The ops contact in Seattle is a man named Alfred Ancient. Alphas start the game with this contact for free; treat him as a Mr. Johnson, connection 4, loyalty 2. Alfred is a human who, as the name implies, is very, very old. He always travels with a pair of bodyguard trolls, and is one of the Seattle chapter's top men.
The Seattle chapter of the Sons of Apollo has a compound in Seattle proper, but has offices in Bellevue, Tacoma, and Ft. Lewis as well, and safehouses in every district. The other offices serve mainly as little outposts for community outreach.
2bit
Mar 12 2007, 03:01 PM
Posting Instructions
"Speech" [cyan]
<Coms (spoken)> [yellow]
<Coms (subvocal)> [violet]
<Text Message> [black]
Thoughts [darkkhaki]
Memories [lightgrey]
No sigs in the IC thread, please!
Post a Place, Time [orange] only if your scene is different from the one in the post above yours.
Due to story considerations, none of your characters will begin the game with close ties to one another. All of you, however, know each other, or at the least, know of each other. You may have worked together as Alphas before, seen each other at rallies, have the same friends, etc. None of you are what you would call friends.
Ok - please check in, introduce yourselves, and figure out relationships. Once we have a final body count, make sure we haven't lost any of the original four, we can begin the IC.
Trigger
Mar 12 2007, 07:08 PM
I am going to be away from my computer for awhile (due to technical difficulties) and I won't be able to post for awhile. I will try and update as often as I can, but I can make no guarantees on it. Sorry for the trouble. Thanks.
Cakeman
Mar 13 2007, 06:03 PM
Found the thread! I'll introduce my character by posting his background. It's subject to change as we move along if we want to have our characters know each other.
[ Spoiler ]
A name! (This is always the hardest part for me...)
Orion grew up as Harry Smith, and still uses that name outside of the Alphas. He's a young human male, skin tone and features suggests a heritage from central america. Indeed his father moved to Seattle from Aztlan and settled down here. Harry's father worked hard, something difficult to do sometimes but always imprinted into his children that a proper human does an honest days work, supports his family and his friends, and generally doesn't complain or rant but endures. Harry has a sister and had an older brother, maybe he still has btw, but Harry's father and mother (a local girl) were devoted members of the Humanis Policlub. When Harry's bigger brother goblinized he was cast out and has not been seen since then. Harry's mother felt so guilty that she fell ill, and succumbed to a "metahuman spread" disease a few yeas later when Harry was in his teens. Harry was a devout policlub member as a child, but his fathers hard work allowed him to attend school and he adopted a more liberal point of view. When his brother left, he secretly decided this was not for him. So Harry finished school and then promptly left home.
Harry worked where he could, carrying crates or serving in restaurants. Life was hard but he did what he could. One day he passed by a rally, people talking about just the things his father had preached: skill, an honest days work and they said material wealth would follow. He stopped, someone noticed and recruited him to the Sons of Apollo - it wasn't that hard, as Harry's personal views were more or less aligned. He remembered Winternight and how frightened he'd been when all that happened and all this anti-magic made sense, mae a lot of sense and so he adopted that view too.
With the help of the policlub he moved to a block close to the Seattle headquarters entirely populated by members. The place was clean and well kept, everybody knew their neighbors, everybody helped each other and everyone worked hard. It's a nice place and a perfect example of how the Sons wish things to be.
Harry has a nice way and a likable look, and even participated in some rallies. He talked to people and helped recruit them, and the members upstairs noticed him. He was pointed in the direction of the Alphas and spent some time getting tested and passed (since he believes in the policlubs doctrine, is morally flexible and listens to the higher-ups) and is now a member under the name "Orion". He took the name himself as he enjoys stalking and tracking, and he thinks about learning how to use a bow some day when he has some spare time. And motivation.
He always liked the dogs hanging around the schools back yard when he was a teen, and to everyones amazement they didn't rend him limb from limb. He spent a lot of time with them during his upbringing, ran the streets at night and even picked up a puppy. His parents didn't let him keep it, but when he moved out the first thing he did after getting a place to live was getting two dogs. Now they're three grown up and he has two puppies, a few birds and a large aquarium.
Now Orion is 21 years old, currently between girlfriends and lives with his animals in a somewhat nice part of town. He constantly munches on Azzie snacks and complains about a headache if he has to go without.
Hmm... sure I've forgotten things. Just ask me and I'll fill it in.
imperialus
Mar 14 2007, 05:51 AM
Waiting for approval from 2Bit on my background but here is a draft at least.
[ Spoiler ]
So ya wanna know about Malleus? Meh, you’ve been tipping well I guess I could tell you some of what I know. First off his name is Marcus, but don’t let that get out. He’s somewhere around 27 years old now. He grew up with his sister here in Redmond. Dunno what’s up with their parents, hell I doubt he does, never talks about em at least. Him and his sister were small time hustlers, they’d run card scams, trade bits of tech and sell whatever they could scavenge off the street. Only thing that made them any different than every other pair of street kids in the plex was that his sister, Labrador was a dog shaman. She only knew a few spells but she helped run their scams and the two were fiercely loyal to each other.
About 7 years ago though that all changed, Lab caught wind of some stash of Yak BTL’s that had been dumped in Puyallup and they both went into Glow City to try and track them down. A clan of feral ghouls attacked them and somehow they got separated. Malleus made it back to Redmond about a day later, a bit scratched up, but none the worse for wear. Lab though was missing for a week and when she finally made it back to their squat something about her had changed. She was aggressive, even towards her brother, and their scams, which usually ended with the pair running as fast as they could and disappearing in the warren of alleys that made up Redmond started turning into fistfights and worse.
Things came to a head one day when Lab stabbed a friend of theirs after she got caught stealing a dehydrated soyburger from him. Malleus confronted her and within a few minutes it had escalated in a full scale screaming match. It was only then that Labs new nature finally revealed itself full force. Something had happened to Dog during that week she was lost in Glow City, he’d become a toxic and like the feral dog that she became, she turned on those who’d previously deserved her undying loyalty. Unfortunately for Malleus he almost found out too late. Lab summoned a spirit of beasts that took the form of a rabid pit bull and sicced it on Malleus. As Malleus wrestled with the dog he frantically threw a brick at his sister in an attempt to get her to call the spirit off. It struck her in the head and she collapsed to the ground. Several of their other friends managed to beat the spirit until it dissipated saving Malleus’ life. Unfortunatly the same could not be said for his sister. The brick had shattered her skull knocking her into a coma that she never woke up from. She died about a week later.
Since then Malleus has held a deep and abiding distrust of mages and an outright hatered of toxics. After all if his sister, one of the strongest people he knew could become a toxic shaman what could be said of all the other mages out there. He sees mages as ticking time bombs until their magic can be burnt out of them. He has a tough time blaming the mages themselves instead viewing magic as a curse that must be cured. Toxic’s are abominations and he’ll go out of his way to hunt down and destroy them but he views average mages or shamans with a combination of pity and concern. He began using his skills and street smarts for the Sons of Apollo and his connections with Seattles underground has made his rise within the policlub almost meteoric.
Malleus lives in a nice apartment in downtown Seattle somewhere. He keeps a Welsh Corgi named Lab to remind himself of his sister as she was. For the past two years he has had a rather stormy on again off again relationship with a Topless waitress at some higher end club in the buisness district. I think they’re more off than on right now, I havn’t seen her come by with him in a few weeks but they always end up back together. He’s sometimes in here with a cop… can’t remember his name off the top of my head though.
Malleus is 27 years old. He is average height for an elf and keeps his hair in a neat business like cut. His left forearm has a latticework of scars across it, reminders of when his sister’s spirit attacked him. He usually dresses like a professional, black suit dark glasses and stylish gloves but it has only been a few years since he got off the streets so he still remembers how to dress down without sticking out like an elf in the ork underground.
yoippari
Mar 14 2007, 07:10 AM
My current backgroud was written as a concept but 2bit wanted a bit more so I tagged on some extra information. Nothing as specific or creative as your's though. I'll post my background tomorrow after I've added flavor.
2bit
Mar 14 2007, 11:55 AM
Just so you know, a lengthy description like that is great, but by no means required

. Hopefully Glyph will check in with Null soon.
2bit
Mar 14 2007, 04:49 PM
I just wanted to add, kind of in opposition to what I just said, that your characters' backgrounds are really important to this game and I appreciate everyone fleshing them out so thoroughly. I don't need them to be extremely long (Glyph did the "50 questions" thing) but the more details, the better.
imperialus
Mar 14 2007, 06:57 PM
Oh, out of curiosity, do you use the house rule that gives you natural Chax2 in free contact points? I only ask because I know lots of GM's that do.
2bit
Mar 14 2007, 08:00 PM
Something like that, yes, in the recruitment thread I mentioned that characters get Alfred Ancient as a free Mr. J contact, and their CHA in additional free contact BPs.
Glyph
Mar 15 2007, 02:27 AM
Here's Null - kind of the short version, since our characters aren't supposed to know each other that well.
[ Spoiler ]
Null
Description
Null is a tall but thin young man, long-limbed with a wiry build. His hair is dyed a stark white, Unkempt and spikey. His cybereyes are cyan, and sometimes he forgets to blink for too long, creeping people out. He has an old scar on his forehead. He usually wears business casual clothing, except in areas where it would stand out, where he dresses down with palpable relief - he is more accustomed to street punk clothing, but feels that being well-dressed is part of accepting the credo of the Sons of Appollo. This has notably improved his hygiene, too, but despite his nappy attire, he is still often a bit rumpled and unkempt looking.
Background
You have heard that Null was a chiphead squatter on the downward spiral towards burnout, before being brought into the Sons of Appollo. He certainly seems to have adopted the credo of the Sons of Appollo with a born-again kind of zeal. He may not be a BTL addict any longer, but he still seems a bit "off" - facial tics, manic-depressive episodes, odd little habits, and a tendency to either drone pedantically about things that he doesn't quite seem to understand (Sun Tzu quotes when they don't really apply to the situation, etc.), or to mumble incoherently. He is shy to the point of incoherency around women in any kind of relaxed social situation. He has adopted a health food kick, going on about his protein shakes and supplements, but occasionally he will snap and binge on junk food at a Stuffer shack.
He gained his position as an Alpha by displaying the ability to follow sometimes distasteful orders without question, and by demonstrating an aptitude for remorseless violence when needed. He is rumored to have received extensive bodywork - at the very least, he has cybereyes and enhanced reflexes, as well as a ghastly weapon - a monofilament whip hidden in a fingertip compartment.
Those who have worked with him can attest to his ability in combat, and he is decent at jobs that require some sneaking around, too. He follows orders well, but sometimes can seem a bit lost when he doesn't have any orders
Null lives in an upscale place in Ballard, and tries to keep his biz far away from there. His apartment is fairly spatious, well-furnished if a bit spartan, and obsessively neat (the housekeeping bot does a good job, although it occasionally gets stuck in a corner and has to be nudged out).
imperialus
Mar 15 2007, 04:38 AM
QUOTE (2bit) |
Something like that, yes, in the recruitment thread I mentioned that characters get Alfred Ancient as a free Mr. J contact, and their CHA in additional free contact BPs. |
ahh ok cool.
I added a Street Doc at 2/2 and a Corp Lawer at 1/2. The lawer mostly deals with small companies that can't afford to have their own lawer on retainer so he's not likely to know much about corps with a rating of A or better, hence the connection rating 2.
2bit
Mar 15 2007, 12:07 PM
I don't think anyone took First Aid, so that street doc will come in handy.
imperialus
Mar 15 2007, 02:52 PM
Ooo... In light of that I dropped my pistols to 2, got myself First aid 1 and bought a rating 6 medkit leaving me with 410

left. Hey at least I'm not defaulting.
Trigger
Mar 15 2007, 09:16 PM
Next time I have a chance to get on a computer I will post up information on Tyler, as I do not hae my information on him with me at the moment. But I am still interested in this game, so please don't couint me out yet.
2bit
Mar 15 2007, 10:09 PM
What's your time frame look like? Better to start without you and introduce you along the way?
yoippari
Mar 15 2007, 11:18 PM
I'm still working on background, mostly making it backgroundy instead of a list of personality traits.
Are there any other blatent skill holes? armory? cybertechnology? navigation? heavy weapons? Well, I guess navigation is the only one of those needed.
2bit
Mar 16 2007, 02:18 PM
You'll be the one the needs Heavy Weapons, Mr. Rigger. I don't consider any of those others to be critical skills.
Armorer - this is necessary for someone to have (unless you don't mind buying new gear often), but that someone could be a contact.
Cybertech - rarely needed, and any good Medcial contact will be able to provide it.
Navigation - Not often needed, can be defaulted to Intuition, and Mapsofts add dice to this test (30

for 6 dice!)
Ok: Null's done; I think Malleus is done now but I'd like you to give me your final draft; Orion is getting his skills and gear shifted around; Tariq is filling out his background and getting skill & gear tweaks. Please have these done by Sunday. I'll post the IC thread as soon as I have everyone's background and char. sheets. If there are minor gear tweaks to still be made, that's ok, we can start anyhow.
I'll introduce Trigger's character, Tyler, along the way when he's able to post regularly again.
2bit
Mar 16 2007, 07:44 PM
yoippari's character will be known as High Rise.
2bit
Mar 16 2007, 07:45 PM
Work out any common background you folks have by this weekend. The IC thread will go up Monday.
imperialus
Mar 16 2007, 07:51 PM
As far as common background goes one of Malleus' contacts is a bartender named Tinman at a bar called the Yellow Brick Road. The bar is owned either by the Poli-club or one of its supporters and Malleus tends to hang out there quite a bit.
Malleus' other contacts are;
Skeeze: a Street Fence/petty dealer (drugs, guns ect.), used to fence Malleus' stuff when he was a kid.
Lieutenant Ryans: A Vice Detective, helped Malleus get off the street.
Mars: an ork ganger and friend from Malleus' streetkid days.
Stitch: a Streetdoc, fixed Malleus up after the incident with his sister.
Mr. Campbell a minor corprate lawer, Malleus only recently met him at the Yellow Brick Road.
Kassandra: Topless waitress at a different bar in downtown Seattle, Malleus' on/off girlfriend.
Cakeman
Mar 16 2007, 10:48 PM
Well I caved in and got First Aid 1 too, so maybe we wont bleed to death while taking a cab back to the street doc

Seemed like the sensible thing to do, now with our patron greek god and all.
Common background:
Orion is still quite young and will follow the lead of someone taking charge in a situation. He likes to party, and spends a night or two per week downtown in some semi-nice club. He tries to be of help to the policlub by helping out at public meetings, talk to interested people etc so if someone else does that too, maybe a passing knowledge because of that?
Orions contacts include his childhood friend Genbu who now has a foot firmly placed with the yakuza, a policlub guardsman (James) who handles critters for the policlub and a (yet) nameless bouncer who Orion can pay to be able to skip the line at the club.
yoippari
Mar 17 2007, 04:02 AM
Err, why would a rigger need HW skill? I have gunnery.
Ok, my background.
[ Spoiler ]
Tariq rarely uses his real name in public. Within the Sons of Apollo he goes by Joseph M'Kenzie, though when working he uses the name High Rise, a nick name given to him due to how he lives. He prefers to live in upscale high rises in at least A districts. He also tends to dress like an A district wage slave, part of fitting into the identity he says, but he seems to be at home in his suit and designer sunglasses.
When he was growing up his parents were "Professional Nerds" as they put it. They lived on Ares land, went to Ares matrix clubs, their lives were Ares. This doesn't mean they were as ignorant as the wage slaves they monitored. They knew about the subtle propaganda, the information control, and a few other things that they weren't supposed to.
When the crash in '65 happened the world was thrown into chaos. They had a couple of choices, stay at Ares and live for the company, or get out of the life and regain some of their freedom. The crash is the only thing that made this possible. Biometric readers, the Grid, RFID readers, just about anything that could have detected them was dead. That was fine for Tariqs parents, they were leaving a controlled life. All Tariq knew was that his life is being turned upside down. He was being dragged out of town and nothing was working.
About when they reached Sonomish he had had enough. That is where he got off. He's 16, and can handle himself. They might have wanted to leave but he didn't. So they left Alfred with him. They continued into the cascades and set up shop with the Cascade Orks. Currently they run a remote data backup site.
As news got out about the crash and people realized mages were behind it the awakened became the new group it was ok to hate. Now, 5 years later, that hate is still around in most people and everyone else just distrusts mages. Tariq sees mages as someone that need to be monitored, similar to what his parents did to people at desks he does to people in ritual lodges. When one is up to no good he figures out a way of stopping them, usually with well disguised drones. Until he joined the Sons of Apollo.
The Sons of Apollo approched Tariq after geeking a toxic mage they had their eye on. He was quick and with this one as subtle as a troll. They convinced him to join them as a Alpha, one of their front line against all the Winternights out there.
Common background:
Most of his time is split between the matrix and tinkering. His parents who run the backup server for the cascade orks are professionally trained deckers and have some of their own hacker/ork/ares security contacts.
He is also in good standing with a local junk yard who supplies him with parts, sometimes in return for fixing the odd drone or vehicle.
Within the Sons he gathers information. Jobs that he wasn't on directly he may have gathered the intel leading up to it.
imperialus
Mar 17 2007, 05:33 AM
@Cakeman:
It's entiarly possible that Malleus and Orion might know each other from either the Yellow Brick Road or the club that Kasandra works at. Malleus is a bit of an alchoholic so he spends a lot of time in various clubs.
Glyph
Mar 17 2007, 08:05 AM
Null doesn't have the first aid skill, but he does have a rating: 6 medkit.
He is unlikely to be a regular patron of The Yellow Brick Road unless he is meeting someone there- if you have seen him there at all, it will probably be sitting in a corner, looking uncomfortable and nursing a club soda.
However, he is very likely to have met both Malleus (the face) and Orion (likes to help out) at the public meetings or rallies, which he enjoys attending.
His contacts are:
Loogie: overweight troll blogger who tracks anti-awakened efforts and their detractors.
Mack Frosser: Fixer in CAS-style white suits, runs a junk shop, more fence than anything.
High Rise might be someone who knows Loogie (not as a contact, but just as someone sympathetic to the cause who is online a lot), and through him know a bit about Null. Null may also might have been briefed by him before a mission or two.
2bit
Mar 17 2007, 10:48 AM
QUOTE |
Err, why would a rigger need HW skill? I have gunnery. |
Right you are >_<
Cakeman
Mar 17 2007, 08:12 PM
@Imperialus
More likely the club where Kassandra works, I got the impression it was more of a nightclub. Orion doesn't hang around pubs (yet), but let's say we know each other from some clubs downtown.
The Sons of Apollo must have some logo, Orion can wear a pin on his clothes wherever he goes as an identifier to other members and maybe someone gets curious and asks. They must definately have them at the rallies...
@Glyph
Null and Orion have met at rallies where they joined forces to hand out flyers and talk to people (or providing security..)
@2bit
The Alphas, as an organisation within the Sons, do they have any sort of meetings etc? Or is Alfred the spider in the web and all the Alphas are unaware of eachother until they've met on a run?
Let's see how this works with timezones and all. I'll try to check in on the IC thread in the morning before school and then in the evening, but if you all find that I... what's a good english expression? am a stopper? Hold you all back? Gah! You know what I mean, in that event just say so and I'll quietly drop out. Or get spectacularly shot
yoippari
Mar 17 2007, 11:45 PM
also @2bit
Are we THE alphas for the Sons in seattle or are we a few of many? What is public opinion? Lonestar opinion? Are we as legit as "sanctioned" shadowrunners working for a corp or more like gangers with a mission?
2bit
Mar 18 2007, 04:04 AM
QUOTE (Alfred Ancient) |
Can we count on you to do what is necessary? |
You are a handful out of many. You estimate maybe two dozen of you in Seattle, but you don't know anyone who knows them all. The public doesn't know about you. Even most policlub members don't know about you. Some have heard rumors. People like Richard Eaves will deny your existance until they're blue in the face. Lone Star, at least in Seattle, has been discouraged from following up investigations into rumors of covert ops linked to the Sons of Apollo. Your average beat cop will never have heard of Alphas. A lot of shadowrunners will have heard of them, but unless they butted heads with alphas personally, they would consider you dangerous mundane zealots.
Because you don't officially exist, there aren't really any alphas meetings. They may meet informaly, or Alfred may call a meeting of several at once, but for the sake of deniability and keeping a low profile, the alphas are decentralized.
Cakeman
Mar 18 2007, 04:40 AM
QUOTE |
they would consider you dangerous mundane zealots |
Dangerous. Well, that's something atleast. It could have been worse
2bit
Mar 19 2007, 04:17 PM
IC has been posted.
2bit
Mar 19 2007, 04:31 PM
The Yellow Brick Road
The Yellow Brick Road is a bar/lounge on the north side of Seattle (Downtown) District. It's a standalone one-story building on a street corner. The main entrance is on the corner. Parking is on the street. There is a tube station about two blocks away. A line of yellow-gold neon runs down each side of the building. The sidewalk in front of the main entrance looks like bricks of gold, and the walls on either side of the main entrance are luminous bars of gold. Above the entrance is a holo display of a spinning "YBR" logo. AROs displaying hours of operation, drink specials, and upcoming musical gigs are available near the door.
The interior decor is done up in a gold brick style, and has no relevence to the Wizard of Oz. It's all about the flash of gold, and lines that suggest speed. The patrons it attracts are typically single, middle class professionals.
You have done meets with Alfred at the YBR before. You know that the bar is owned by Sons of Apollo members and its employees are either members or people sympathetic to the cause.
imperialus
Mar 19 2007, 08:10 PM
Starting Cash roll (high lifestyle):
4d6=1414x500=

7000
Malleus leaves his Hammerli in the car but makes sure his Streetline is secured in his arm slide holster (this is assuming that he has brought the streetline to the YBR before without incident, if it'll land him in trouble he'll leave it behind too).
2bit
Mar 19 2007, 08:28 PM
Judging from past experiences, that falls within the frame of "business casual".
imperialus
Mar 19 2007, 08:42 PM
Perception test: (on crowd)
1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=2 (3 hits to notice anything unusal)
20

spent on 2 drinks total remaining 6980

Edit: Only 500

will be available on Malleus' Sony at any given time. The rest is in a different account that can only be accessed through his Transys. Whenever Malleus has the chance he'll transfer money over to the Sony. The Transys also has his rating 6 SIN attached to it identifying him as an accountant working for a average sized personal accounting firm (Something like H&R block). It's also this SIN that has his apartment and car registered. The Sony has a rating 3 SIN attached that claims he is a data entry clerk for a small IT company.
2bit
Mar 19 2007, 09:35 PM
Thanks for keeping track of your cash, imperialus.
@imperialus:
[ Spoiler ]
There's always something unusual going on at a bar this crowded. You notice:
- A cute young elf waitress watches you talk to Greta. You don't recognize her.
- A human man standing near the bathroom holds an ice pack on his crotch.
- Two men stagger out the door after you enter, singing what sounds like a corporate anthem. You don't know the song (or company).
Cakeman
Mar 19 2007, 09:44 PM
Starting cash for Orion is 1500
rollHe's wearing a longcoat over some regular clothes to the meeting - not a suit, but an ok shirt for his lifestyle. No gun as he feels safe and among friends, but he has his flash-pak in a pocket.
Btw: I assume I've walked past Greta into the back room as per imperialus post. I have no objection to people using orion a little or putting words in his mouth, it often makes for a better floww in the story if I don't have to micromanage him all the time

This last paragraph was the edit.
yoippari
Mar 19 2007, 11:49 PM
Starting cash for Tariq is
1700Tariq is wearing his day-to-day style clothes (business casual, same as everyone else in his neighborhood). No weapons on him but Alfred and the dalmatian are in the van along with some of his other gear.
2bit
Mar 20 2007, 01:54 AM
So you did go with the van? I need your final sheet, btw yoippari.
imperialus
Mar 20 2007, 02:04 AM
For those of us in the meet room already, is Alfred there already or do we have time for small talk and introductions?
yoippari
Mar 20 2007, 02:08 AM
I sent you a link to it a few days ago, that should stay current with whatever changes I make. I'll resend it if you don't have it anymore.
I went with the van.
Glyph
Mar 20 2007, 06:17 AM
Null will be packing light for this meeting - just his armored vest and the hammerli in the hidden arm slide, loaded with regular ammo, with two spare clips (also regular ammo) on his person.
2bit
Mar 20 2007, 10:55 AM
got the link, yoippari. weird, earlier when i checked it, the spreadsheet was there but the values were missing. it's ok now.
Alfred will be in the room when you enter. I'll post the next scene in the meeting room later today.
yoippari
Mar 20 2007, 04:19 PM
Ya, I used it as a base for a blank sheet and it autosaved. When I went back to it I was able to revert to a previous version (aka "mass oops").
2bit
Mar 20 2007, 06:21 PM
The
Sons of Apollo pay their Alphas bounties for unregistered awakened metahumans. The bounty is based on these factors
(subject to change, will edit as we go) which must be proven, either by the Alphas (video, records, etc.) or by the policlub at one of their facilities. Evidence provided by the Alphas is subject to review.
1- Condition - Dead: 2500
, alive 8000
Tests can be run on the recently deceased to determine if they're magically active or not.
2- Demonstrated Powers - Adept: 500 Astral Seer: 500 Sorcerer: 750 Conjurer/Possesser: 1000 This is ranked according to threat level, as seen by the policlub. Drugs can be administered to a live patient that force the subject into astral perception, if they are capable of it. While in this state, certain flora that change color in the presence of astral entities reveal the subject's dual nature.
3 - Advancement - Initiate: 5000 Travelled to a Metaplane: 3000 Those who delve deeper into the madness of Magic are deemed more unstable and dangerous, especially those who have visited the homes of extraplanar entities. This information is usually gleaned through interrogation and seizure of subject's property, including verifiable personal records.
4 - Greater Threats - Blood Mage: 10,000/60,000 Toxic Shaman: 15,000/100,000 Insect Shaman: 20,000/200,000The listed bounties are
Dead/Alive and replace the normal bounty for awakened.
Cakeman
Mar 20 2007, 07:25 PM
Running tests on them? Seems mighty dangerous to me, the corruption might spread... the only good mage is a dead mage
imperialus
Mar 21 2007, 05:03 AM
[Malleus' World View]No, provided they are registered and licenced by the goverenment their threat can be minimized. Magic is a fact of life and mages can't help being born with their... abilities. Some may even prove useful in the service of humanity. Control, not extermination must be key to our dealings with the awakened. Of course, should they attempt to risist registration then they are a threat and should be dealt with in the same way as you would deal with a devil rat or other awakened threat.[/Maleus' world view]
Malleus is very much a realist. He has a difficult time hating all mages, after all his sister was one and he knows enough about magic to realize that now that it's out of the bag no one can simply shove it back in. His goal is primarally to ensure that mages abilities are used for the good of mankind as a whole, not the whims of the practitioners or worse yet their totoms. If mages suffer persecution or even if a few "innocent" ones get caught in the crossfire, too bad. That's the price for a better world.