I make no apologies for the tiny bit of railroading in that post. That said...Any OOC questions re that monster-post?

There are absolutely no stupid questions here - ask away.

Epic post of awesomeness!

I kinda want to see the actual letters of marque if you did write them up, if not, it's no biggie. It is something that my character will inspect in detail.

Seconded, great post!

For clarification, my char has all his gear with him in a couple of bags. Plus he sensing Magic actively during the chat with Captn Walker, if anyone is magically active, please say so. Thanks!

Ultra post go!

You know, I just now thought it might be likely that at least one person might find themselves seasick at first. I suppose not anyone that has worked on a ship before, and likely not anyone with cyberears... anyway.

Alright, my turn for a post.

Woo social faux pas.

Data Search 1 + Browse 6 + Neocortical 3 + PuSHeD 1 = 11 (11d6.hits(5)=3)

MusicMan: I would first need to see a complete historical example (in plaintext, not an image - docs from the era are painfully hard to read when simply photographed) of a Letter of Marque, perhaps a US one from the War of 1812. The Congress, after all, can be a very historical body when it chooses to be, and I suspect they would simply have dug out an old Letter of Marque from the archives, reprinted it, modified it to fit the chnaged circumstances, "filled in the blanks", and gone over it with a fine-toothed comb before issuing it. (In other words, all that I can find about an LoM is about the concept, not mentioning the form of the actual LoMs...Which could be very important for our purposes; I don't know whether they mentioned specific ships or whether they mentioned specific targets, for example. I had to basically guess at the amount of the taking by the government, because I could find nothing on it specifically.)

Karoline: What's the roll for?

Edit: Okay Karoline, I just found out what you were searching for.

The acts were passed during a closed session of each chamber of Congress, sessions for which the journal and resolutions passed have not been revealed. Indeed, the press on the sessions is mostly jaw-dropped that there were "secret sessions", and even moreso that nothing's leaked beyond that they may be related to "the situation in the Atlantic", as the Congressional Record (the official journal of the Congress, containing verbatim transcripts of everything said and done on the floor of each house, plus the text of resolutions passed, amendments, etc.) puts it.

The roll is to find data about what sort of acts where passed six weeks ago, specifically about what would be putting this into motion.

As for the letters, I believe they were issued to people, not ships, and designated the person holding it as being allowed to operate a ship and crew in specific waters, and attack targets of the types outlined in the marque (Usually ships of any kind flying under a particular flag or not flying under a particular flag).

I'm guessing that in this case it would have been issued to the captain, and he in turn would be delegating the use of the letter down to us. In other words he is bound by the limits of the marque, and we are bound by those and any limits that he himself places on us (Though we would only be legally punishable for the former)

Edit: Fun, didn't expect to find much, but figured it was worth a shot.

The captain possibly, but that makes your situation doubly complex, as this is still a shadowrun...being run by the UCAS Navy.

Here's what I think will happen, but I'm giving myself the morning and part of the afternoon to think about it: The Congress delegated the power of issuance to specific persons to the President (in her capacity as President), subject to the approval of the Armed Services Committees (or possibly the intel committees) of each House. The President then, as President, delegates the LoMs down to Captain Walker, with the attached limits of "no slave trade, and if you do we beat you up til you die and go to hell, fuckers" - a limitation Congress probably didn't think needed to be added, in their naivete.
---

Ah, so you're searching for what may have *led to* the decision to issue the things? Okay, much easier. This is the situation as laid out in public:

Throughout 2071 and 2072, tensions with Aztlan have been at a fever pitch over a whole host of issues. The UCAS is basically not-really-on-speaking-terms with the Azzies, and the CAS is officially at war with em (see the split of Texas, the Ochre Line around Austin, etc), so there's an incentive to move against em. Subtly, because there's *no way in hell* the UCAS on its own would want to take on Aztlan/Aztechnology in open war. They'd possibly win, especially with CAS support, but it would likely be Pyrrhic. At the same time, the UCAS has been unpleasantly surprised by numerous small things taking place in the OPAREA, most especially the heating up of tensions between Aztlan and Amazonia.

Good stuff. Seems like all the posting gets done while I'm asleep, lol. I'll toss up a post tonight when I get home from work.

-milk.

Astral Perception Test for Iago

Astral Perception Test (6d6.hits(5)=4)

Having a general look around, not assensing auras but looking for potential dangers. I know it's a bit generic but he's also gauging security.


Great post by the way!

*bows at the compliments* I try, folks.

On that note, Marwynn: The ship, as you might expect, is not warded. There are a few spirits scurrying around the Astral, but neither Walker, Roberts, nor any of the guards appears to have the Talent.

Walker doesn't appear to notice the concentration shift that comes with going Astral, but Roberts does - and after fixing Melisandre with a silent glare for her blurting things out, he fixes you with one, too. It's reproving, but not hostile. Think the glare your teacher would give you in school for speaking out of turn - a distinct "knock it off" kind of glare. (He expected you to do something like that, he's not a fool. But still.)

Melisandre? You mean Jane? I don't think Melisandre has said anything yet.

Bleh, Jane, yes, lo siento.

I am not going senile, I swear.

Karoline brought up something interesting to me: Seasickness. Does the use of AR effect it any?

First some background: seasickness is essentially a kind of motion sickness.

The way AR is described to work in the fluff, things stick out to me:

1. If you were to get motion sickness, you'd essentially have simsense vertigo.

2. I do think AR, especially given how constantly it's said to be used in fluff, would impact the rates of incidence of simsense vertigo and motion sickness. They'd be a lot lower, and you'd know a lot sooner if you were susceptible to it - you'd essentially be hit with it the first time you used AR.

http://www.piratedocuments.com/Letters%20o...hooner_1814.htm

Here's one with the text copied in addition to the picture.

And Penta must have known that Melisandre was the sort that was going to say something.

Is it just me, or is Whizbang way too prepared with all this nautical chatter and letters of Marque stuff?

My Google fu is strong.

Whizbang: Damn, you're good. I'll give 1 karma for doing my research for me...Only because I refuse to give karma in non-integers.

And dammit, the Letter of Marque format seen there is *horrible* for a shadowrun. MusicMan, presume you can see the Letter of Marque...But I'm not going to type it out. It's a different format than what Whizbang posted; Namely, it doesn't specify the captain and lieutenant, and the "owner" has yet to be filled in. (It'll be a shell company. One of many that the government uses for cover purposes.)

I honestly think it'd require a both Maritime Law and UCAS Law rolls, plus a history roll, to notice any deficencies in the document...At absurd thresholds. It's been, by 2072, nearly *250* years since the United States issued a Letter of Marque last. It'd take an absurd amount of research.

Sorry for the delay in getting my post up, it got long. But I'm supposed to be facey! Its my job we aren't getting screwed, right? RIGHT!?

I'm not sure how many social checks you want to force Zalermo to make for behaving the way he is, Penta, so I figured I'd just give you my dice pools:
Etiquitte, Con, or Negotiate: 5 (charisma) + 4 (skill) + 1 (trustworthy) + 1 (improved skill power) + 3 (kinesics) + 2 (tailored pheromones) = 16 Dice (+ 2 for first impression with the captain and most of the other runners)
Leadership = same as above - improved skill power = 15 Dice (againt +2 for first impression)

Also: as the Captain is getting questioned I wish to keep a close eye on his motives, which would be a sense motive check of: 5 (intuition) + 4 (negotiation skill) + 1 (trustworthy) + 1 (improved negotiation power) = 11 Dice

Finally, during my final negotiation, if the captain looks like he is willing to budge even a little on the fees and loan details, I want to spend a point of edge to re-roll failures. Gotta prove my usefulness early so that I can rest on my laurels later!

Sorry, Penta, there are a lot of potential checks you could ask me to make. If there are any I skipped feel free to holler!

I'm actually going to skip the rolling (mostly). I don't want to have to do more NPC-statting than I have to, for one. Post in reply will be up...soon. I'd usually let everybody react, but CD asked so many questions (and such good questions) as to cause me to want to reply straightaway.

Great post, CD.

I'm afraid military service has clampered down Iago's tongue. There's stuff I'd ask but not him, he's a year out of the service. The truth is, he made up his mind to sign on with this after he was approached. Not too far out of his comfort zone.

Maybe eventually he'll break free from that indoctrination, but for now he's still a good lil' soldier.

@MusicMan - Hasn't your character heard of aerial drone surveillance? Such drones are very difficult to detect with small radar signatures and with small profiles. Visually they are very difficult if nigh impossible to fine; real-world Predator UAVs can't be seen from the ground. (Saw a 60 Minutes segment on this.) Plus in a busy Urban Sixth world environment where drones are flying about all the time, it would be hard to pick out a surveillance drone from any other flying about. In addition, it would be easy for a drone with the right equipment to pickup conversations and images from the ground. Finally, while one can be safe that the UCAS compound is fairly secure, there is no guarantee that someone followed any of us to the meet and is quietly observing.

Not sure what Budoka is talking about exactly, but no worries, I thought your post was fine. You are getting him to officially delineate his opinions on things. If he doesn't want to do that, then in a sense he has already gives us valuable information. I thought your questions were good, don't freak out about MusicMan's char. Like Marwynn he seems pretty fresh out, any breach of protocol is going to freak them out.

Thanks for the props Marwynn, just trying to cover our rears. My character has worked tengentially to more then one military in the past. I'm hoping he knows (even if I don't) how hard he can push the officer's before getting pushed back. On top of this, Zalermo is still outside of his command structure...so taking a few liberties and playing up the braggart aspect to our J is fun

I'm sure that the UCAS personell have a white-noise jammer going and are flying their own drones. Also, we're not in an urban area, we're out on a pier, and one that is fairly secure. My character is fully aware that the UCAS Navy is hiring shadow ops and holding military ceremonies in full dress uniform in a highly traveled Caribbean League city. Would you do that if you weren't DEAD SURE that your security is air-tight?

You also have to remember that my character was rank-equivalent to a staff-sergeant, and work with one of the more hardcore units in his nation. CD is right, and if you look at the subtext of my post and the message that Alexander sent to Robert, you'd see that.

The pier, from my understanding, is practically a tourist attraction. That hardly seems secure, of course I could be mistaken on this point, it was somewhat ambiguous. Obviously where are specialty ship is parked it at a more secure location of the pier. But UCAS and Carib. League are on...not good, but not too bad terms right now. Its possible that they have docked her legitimately. It would ALSO be entirely possible for this to all be some sort of set up designed to murder all of us. Eh, either way, keep those eyes open kiddes!

The foot of the pier is touristy.

The pier itself is locked down tight by the cops. For all they know, what's hidden behind that fog bank is a sub.

Well, there are armed guards at some point along the pier who are issuing challenges to anyone who reaches that point... so... fun.

Yeah, thanks for the reminder. Once we're ready to move inside, I'll have guards come back.

Brief notes on each position being selected for. Also, in Parentheses, my OOC notes about who volunteered for the position before.

CO: Commanding Officer. Responsible to the UCAS for everything that happens aboard ship. Master/Mistress-After-God of the vessel, known as "Captain" when aboard, regardless of their substantive rank (if any). Has power to enact non-judicial punishments under the UCMJ. (Knight Saber vol'd for this OOCly.)
XO: The XO is typically responsible for the management of day-to-day activities, such as maintenance and logistics, freeing the unit commander to concentrate on tactical planning and execution. The XO also takes charge in the absence of the CO. OOCly will act as face and similar for the crew. You report to the UCAS with the CO as a team. (CD volunteered for this OOCly.)
Purser: The accountant. In this campaign, I don't see this involving more than very basic double-entry bookkeeping ICly; making sure to record all money coming in from any source, and all money going out to anyone, for the various accounts you'll be dealing with. ICly, you don't need anything more than basic math skills and a head for details - any common accounting software (provided with the ship) will do the rest, essentially acting as an Accounting autosoft at level 3. Need not be the OOC Purser, the person who coordinates with me on the financials of the campaign (basically making sure the money math is right), who currently is Karoline. (It would be nice if they were the same person! But I won't require it.) Also, ICly personally responsible for making sure the UCAS government gets its share of the profits. Do not expect most of the IC responsibilities to come up everyday in the campaign - really, this position is so that ICly, *someone* is handling the money.

Holy crap, you guys posted a ton while I was at work.

-milk.

We still love you, Milk Ducks.

Heads up guys, the server is going down tonight for maintenance. Everyone plan accordingly!

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=850570

Yikes... I didn't see that. Thanks for the warning!

Some more info on Walker. Only for those characters who might have call to know UCAS military insignia. I'll forgo any rolls to recognize.

Rank: O-6 (Captain)
He wears the Special Warfare Badge as his warfare qualification pin, above his ribbon bars, and his shoulderboards feature the star of a line officer. Below his ribbon bars is the Naval Parachutist insignia. Below that is the Command-at-Sea Insignia.

His ribbon bar is extensive, but I'll note the following: Legion of Merit (2 awards), Bronze Star (with Valor device).

In the Army, a captain is only an O-3. It has been known to create confusion. A naval captain has the same rank as a colonel in the other service branches.

Hence why I quoted his paygrade.

I just wanted to quickly note the difference for those who might not know...

I'm so awesome Dumpshock wanted more of me...

(Double Post)

Consider it doubly AND TRIPLY noted.

Finally got around to posting. Sorry it took a while, seems like the bulk of stuff that gets written is done while I'm at work or asleep, and before I can write anything, I have to read through like a whole page of RP just to see where we're at. At this point, Al's feeling totally out of place. He figures it's best to just keep his mouth shut; he's not interested in taking on any particular responsibility, and I'd imagine he's kind of feeling out-classed by a lot of the other members of the team. He's not ex-mil or anything, just an ork runner from Miami that may have gotten in over his head on this one.

-milk.

Good post Milk Duks; I especially like the use of Ork Slang!

Since I've been only familiarized with the watered down slang of SR4, do you have a good reference for the Ork slang?

Don't feel too bad, Milk Ducks, Alexander's citizenship is clear across the world from anything we'll be doing... he's feeling just as out of place as Al.

No worries, Budo. I get most of my Or'zet here.

Just as a quick reference for that post: "Buunga" is sort of like the middle finger; "skraacha" represents a way of living that is uncompromisingly extreme, powerful, and often-times violent; "ujnorts" is used to indicate non-orks, or "people who don't get it"; and "djoto" is the act of running the shadows. When I first started writing this character, I didn't want to go full-on with the Or'zet; I know it isn't everyone's thing. But the character knows it, and because of Orxploitation, a lot of the language has been adopted by non-orks for everyday use. I figured even if people don't want to look up exactly what I'm talking about, they'll still get a feel for what I mean after hearing it a couple of times with the proper context.

... and I'm off to bed. You lads take it easy.

-milk.

Okay. I know we're still missing a few posters. I'd like to urge them to hurry up.

I moved us into the brief "nominations" phase. Post ICly if you're interested.

OOCly, we've already found volunteers for each position (Karoline for purser, Knight Saber for CO, and CD for XO). Purser and XO, in a ship's company this small, may be combined with other slots, appointed by the CO. I'll let you all decide on those.

That doesn't mean you can't volunteer for the elected slots anyway, though!
---

The other positions mentioned. I'm ripping these descriptions, to an extent, off what I figure might work best in a mishmash of naval and merchant positions, plus adding positions to fit the sixth world. I may overspecify...Actually, I probably will. If you think I am, say so, and say how you'd reorganize it. One person can hold multiple posts, no more than 3. CO and XO count as a post - Purser does not, purser is just a duty on top of your other duties.

Engineering Officer: Responsible for the maintenance of the ship and all subcrafts, including drones. Mr. Fixit. Scotty.

Gunnery Officer: Operates shipboard armaments, assists in the planning and executiojn of boarding actions.

Marine CO: Leads boarding assaults, plans for defense against boarders.

Thaumaturgical Officer: Handles magical matters.

Intelligence Officer: Responsible for the collection, analysis, and presentation of intelligence. In this campaign, Intel is Everybody's Job, but this officer actually sets out what to look for every so often, passes intel on to higher headquarters, and does analysis for the Captain.

Chief Mate: Responsible for the cargo holds and safe transport of cargo.

Quartermaster: Responsible for fuel, provision, ammo supply, etc. The Supplies guy. Responsible OOCly for keeping track of usage consistent with Karoline's formulas for water and fuel, because if I have to you're going to experience random supply losses when I forget to decrement for a while.

Medical Officer: Wish we had BK's character to act as ship's surgeon...,But this position is responsible for the health, well-being, sanitation, and hygiene of the crew.

Navigation Officer: Responsible for charts (mostly electronic these days, though the Fedallah is equipped with a full set of paper and electronic charts), finding the position of the vessel (including through methods other than GPS, if the GPS breaks or is degraded), and setting up the "float plan" (like a flight plan, but floating!:)) for the day's movements.

Communications Officer: Responsible for encryption, decryption, hacking, and generally handling the comms of the ship, along with electronic warfare.

I'd volunteer Iago for Thaumaturgical Officer and perhaps Intel as well, he can do some analysis but lacks perhaps the experience for it. He does have Astral Projection and a few spells to help him out in scouting so there is that for the collection part.

Zalermo will volunteer for Navigation and Intel, but he might not be the best suited for either. His logic is a little on the low side and he doesn't have many skills relating to navigation. He will likely, however, be gathering plenty of intel.

I'll throw in Simon as Engineering Officer and/or Gunnery Officer.

I'm thinking Gunnery, Navigation, and Communication for Melisandre. She'll be the one directly rigging the ship, so will probably be the best to handle ships guns directly, not to mention navigation and communication. Considered intel, but she's good at gathering intel, but she needs someone to point out what they'd think is valuable to look for.

I'll put Alexander in as the Marine CO, it is that he has the most IC experience in. He'd also be okay as a quartermaster.

I'll nominate John for Marine CO and Chief Mate. In addition, looking over the Char bios, I also second MusicMan's char for Marine CO due to his experience.