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Tran posted:Show these dregs that the Prosper dynasty is something to fear once more. Also this. Deniability is simply polite.
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Feb 19, 2015 05:17
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I feel like C is maybe our best bet. "Obstructing business" is a rule that's left open to flexible interpretation and we don't have a ton of power (comparatively) to allow us to just blithely do whatever we want without consequence...we aren't a Winterscale, at least not yet...but with some schmoozing, some bribing (courtesy of the Mechanicus' expense account), and our brand new heretekal servoskull buddy to maybe do some surreptitious hacking for us on the side, I think we could swing it. Obviously we don't want to go indebting ourselves to anyone in the process, but cutthroats being cutthroats I'm sure someone on Footfall would be happy to help arrange for a competitor's downfall...so long as we take precautions for the inevitable betrayal (see; servoskull, heretekal).
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Feb 19, 2015 06:30
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Arrange for a Footfall gang to start a gang war with the backing of mercenaries, paid through uncertain sources, with the goal of having the gang make people dissapear and later appear as servitors. Nobody will notice a few thousand people vanishing in the chaos. *edit* At the same time, we volunteer to take prisoners off the hands of the local non-inquisitorial authorities in order to reduce the strain the gang war is causing on their facilities. So. E chin up everything sucks fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Feb 19, 2015 |
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Feb 19, 2015 06:35
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b
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Feb 19, 2015 07:08
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Kai Tave posted:I feel like C is maybe our best bet. "Obstructing business" is a rule that's left open to flexible interpretation and we don't have a ton of power (comparatively) to allow us to just blithely do whatever we want without consequence...we aren't a Winterscale, at least not yet...but with some schmoozing, some bribing (courtesy of the Mechanicus' expense account), and our brand new heretekal servoskull buddy to maybe do some surreptitious hacking for us on the side, I think we could swing it. Obviously we don't want to go indebting ourselves to anyone in the process, but cutthroats being cutthroats I'm sure someone on Footfall would be happy to help arrange for a competitor's downfall...so long as we take precautions for the inevitable betrayal (see; servoskull, heretekal). This. I feel that given the resources we now have we can easily gather enough intel on the surrounding area to procure the necessary human resources without getting implicated heavily in either slavery or bad relations with Footfall.
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Feb 19, 2015 07:20
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Kai Tave posted:I feel like C is maybe our best bet. "Obstructing business" is a rule that's left open to flexible interpretation and we don't have a ton of power (comparatively) to allow us to just blithely do whatever we want without consequence...we aren't a Winterscale, at least not yet...but with some schmoozing, some bribing (courtesy of the Mechanicus' expense account), and our brand new heretekal servoskull buddy to maybe do some surreptitious hacking for us on the side, I think we could swing it. Obviously we don't want to go indebting ourselves to anyone in the process, but cutthroats being cutthroats I'm sure someone on Footfall would be happy to help arrange for a competitor's downfall...so long as we take precautions for the inevitable betrayal (see; servoskull, heretekal). Sure, this
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Feb 19, 2015 07:31
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Lets go Clubbing
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Feb 19, 2015 08:19
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FireSight posted:Arrange for a Footfall gang to start a gang war with the backing of mercenaries, paid through uncertain sources, with the goal of having the gang make people dissapear and later appear as servitors. Nobody will notice a few thousand people vanishing in the chaos. +1 Dealing with the unwashed masses is best left to a subcontractor. 
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Feb 19, 2015 09:21
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FireSight's plan is more or less in line with what I was thinking as well...we don't need to personally go down to Footfall and club 5,000 people on the head, we just need to arrange things so that the opportunity for 5,000 people to be rounded up becomes available to us and nobody's around to yell at us for "obstructing business" (because they're too busy being turned into servitors, you see). Subcontracting and deniability are always useful practices but it's sort of up in the air how many options we have in that regard at the moment.
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Feb 19, 2015 10:20
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Footfall doesn't really have police or anything like that. If people get rounded up it's because they're going to be sold to Chaos Reavers.
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Feb 19, 2015 14:10
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All the more reason to forcibly impress them, it's our duty to deny chaos reenforcements. Free will is a small price to pay for salvation.
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Feb 19, 2015 14:15
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B.
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Feb 19, 2015 15:17
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Can't we just put an ad out on space craigslist for 5000 new recruits for a bold new expedition into the expanse? Fame! Wealth! Glory! You will help me achieve it! Slightly better than average wages and rations! Failing that, yeah, the arming/hiring gangs to kidnap us some of their rivals plan works too.
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Feb 19, 2015 15:22
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sullat posted:Can't we just put an ad out on space craigslist for 5000 new recruits for a bold new expedition into the expanse? Fame! Wealth! Glory! You will help me achieve it! Slightly better than average wages and rations! Failing that, yeah, the arming/hiring gangs to kidnap us some of their rivals plan works too. Typically the only people who would be willing to sign up for something like that would be missionaries. I suppose they wouldn't be surprised at the idea of going into cold storage for the duration of the journey either.
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Feb 19, 2015 17:20
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B
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Feb 19, 2015 17:42
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I really should caution against B. For all that the Mechanicus are going to mindwipe the new servitors, it's probably not beyond the wit of the inquisition to implant psychic suggestions that would survive the process. We don't want unidentifiable, mobile and deadly inquisition agents roaming the ship we're on, or reporting back on the raising of our ship.
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Feb 19, 2015 18:00
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What does Crispy think? We rescued him, may as well get his advice. Where do most of the other servitors come from? Presumably we're gonna need a crew at some point and it'd be nice not to rule out options for populating our new ship by pissing off the metaphysical Footfall Police.
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Feb 19, 2015 19:10
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:What does Crispy think? We rescued him, may as well get his advice. Where do most of the other servitors come from? Given that this is based on British Naval traditions, I think we have the authority to press-gang any unemployed people on Footfall to serve on our crew. And if they're out drinking somewhere, well, hopefully they have their space W-2s on them, otherwise they look unemployed to me! (Granted, other captains may be annoyed about it if we accidentally press some of their crew and they find out, but who bothers looking into crew replacement statistics anyways?)
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Feb 19, 2015 19:40
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The concern is less about press ganging people in general and more about taking so many people that others with business interests feel affected. Like taking all the workers from the dock yards and leaving a bunch of merchant traders with repairs.
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Feb 19, 2015 20:10
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Offer to buy peoples' unwanted grandparents, partners and children.
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Feb 19, 2015 20:38
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Offer to buy their skulls. They're not using them. Well, not using them properly.
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Feb 19, 2015 20:41
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I was going to mock up some really clever, convoluted plan involving multiple shell companies and some really spectacular lying, but Plan FireSight is much more elegant. Also, Beer4theBeerGod, is there a chance we could see our character sheet/our ship sheet?
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Feb 19, 2015 20:47
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Slightly Lions posted:I was going to mock up some really clever, convoluted plan involving multiple shell companies and some really spectacular lying, but Plan FireSight is much more elegant. Sure, I will put them up.
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Feb 19, 2015 21:15
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D) Time to go put our resources to use, anger some criminals, and demonstrate that we aren't to be hosed with. Doubtless our peers will be impressed with our ferocity.
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Feb 19, 2015 22:54
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I updated the OP with the stats of the ship as well as the character.
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Feb 20, 2015 02:29
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I updated the OP with the stats of the ship as well as the character. You're the best! Man, we should pick up Deceive quickly. I'm already thinking of the shopping we'll have to do for our ship, I'm so hype right now.
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Feb 20, 2015 04:21
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Prosper Compound, Footfall Crispy hovers before you, mechadendrites swaying as the servo skull finishes calibrating his repulsorlift. Your rub your eyes as you stare once again at the charts and options before you. A myriad of options lay before you, some legal, some reprehensible, some incredibly dangerous. Discussions have stretched from consorting with the Inquisition to buying out the entire stock of the Red Schola, or even hiring a bait ship to be filled with murder servitors and your own armsmen. That last idea seemed particularly interesting, as you are sure the Mechanicus would be eager to reclaim a holy vessel of the Omnissiah away from the clutches of criminals and heretics. You sigh. “What do you think?” +++ Me? +++ “Yeah, you. I don’t know what the hell you are, but I’m exhausted and maybe an outside perspective would be good for me. So what do you think?” +++ I think you lack the authority to directly harvest the necessary resources without facing social consequences outside your ability to handle them. Directly purchasing the raw material would be viable, but ultimately provide a major benefit to organizations that don’t necessarily align with your interests. Analysis of your financial records indicates you are not very prevalent in the slave trade. +++ “You analyzed our finances?” +++ I got bored. Are you aware that 70% of your net worth has been allocated towards a single colony? +++ “Yes, I am. So what would further our interests?” +++ The Prosper Dynasty has suffered recently from hostile acquisitions from rival factions, most notably other dynasties and commercial interests. Perhaps finding a source of profit for one of those factions and leveraging competing entities would serve you well. +++ “Enemy of my enemy and all that?” +++ A more accurate summation would be ‘Leveraging the business interests in opposition of those organizations that have proven antagonistic to me in the past may prove beneficial for my short and long term goals.’ +++ “I think your summary was longer than your original statement.” +++ It was 73.68% of the original length. Next time leave the math to me. +++ You chuckle, enjoying the moment of levity in spite of the serious nature of the business at hand. “Numbers aside, the idea is intriguing. We find who in Footfall has either directly or indirectly benefitted at the expense of the Dynasty, find where they are weakest, and leverage their enemies and our own newfound association to a mutually beneficial end.” +++ Indeed. +++ You look over the charts, a second wind energizing you now that you have the beginnings of a plan. Your circumstances have left a void in the management of the Dynasty. Other Traders may have hundreds, or even thousands of subordinate family members assigned to various tasks and responsibilities. Your lineage was utterly and completely purged, and in the absence countless menials have taken advantage of the lack of oversight to line their own pockets. Others have found themselves victim to fraud or duplicity, or outright armed conflict. Over the course of nearly half a century an institution that spanned entire sectors has shrunk down to a single system. When you first looked at the figures it was an insurmountable, depressing challenge. Now the problem is confined. Instead of focusing on the damage to the Dynasty, you focus on those who have benefitted at your expense. You further constrain things by eliminating entities that you cannot hurt immediately, as well as groups who are either outside your power to harm or wouldn’t provide the manpower you need. Plans form, machinations of your own, and you find yourself looking at two viable solutions. What plan do you choose? A. The Marigold Trader House is one of three houses that supplies Prosperity’s Reach, and the contract in place is both iron clad and indisputably in favor of the Dynasty. Hard times have forced the Marigolds to shrink their operations, and you suspect that they’re offsetting some of those losses by cooperating with pirates. It would be trivial to ship some “priceless heirlooms” and see what happens when the boarders hijack a cargo hold full of murder-servitors and armsmen. B. Footfall is not the only amalgamation of asteroids orbiting Furibundus. Vast tracks of mineral wealth exist all through the system, and the Mining Clans are responsible for its extraction. A recent shift in the balance of power has seen your Dynasty being gouged by exorbitant prices while competing interests have much more amenable agreements. Hire the right people to hire the right mercenaries to back the right Clan and all of your problems should disappear. C. Insert awesome alternative nefarious plan here. Vote: http://goo.gl/mLlbG9 Results: http://goo.gl/ZpHS76
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Feb 21, 2015 04:04
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Por que no los dos?
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Feb 21, 2015 04:28
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LowellDND posted:Por que no los dos? It's unlikely that the Machine Cult would bankroll a mercenary Mining Clan war and lend you enough murder-servitors to pacify a starship full of pirates, especially when both options are projected to produce sufficient human resources to resupply the ship. But if you can figure out a way to make it work I'm all ears.
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Feb 21, 2015 04:31
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B
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Feb 21, 2015 05:00
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B (and I voted in the poll) I feel like A sounds more fun but B sounds more like what you do when trying to build an empire.
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Feb 21, 2015 05:05
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If anyone has any suggestions or criticisms regarding my writing, I'm all for hearing them. I'm really enjoying this so far!
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Feb 21, 2015 05:12
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Brownview posted:B (and I voted in the poll) I like this reasoning so I vote B
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Feb 21, 2015 05:14
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:If anyone has any suggestions or criticisms regarding my writing, I'm all for hearing them. I'm really enjoying this so far! I really enjoy it, format and choices both. I prefer making big decisions and then getting rewarded with lots of text and story. Sure there's an underlying game system but here I am going to try to make decisions based on what feels thematically appropriate rather than power gaming (largely because I don't know jack about the system). Bigger updates vs micromanaging is how I like to participate in these sorts of threads. I'm very interested so far. 
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Feb 21, 2015 05:19
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B, because as much fun as watching the internal feeds from the other option would be, we must take a broader, longer-term view as regards our financial health. edit: I agree, I'm absolutely loving this.
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Feb 21, 2015 05:29
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B works for me, and your writing inspired me to do my own CYOA  So theres that
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Feb 21, 2015 05:42
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Brownview posted:I really enjoy it, format and choices both. I prefer making big decisions and then getting rewarded with lots of text and story. Sure there's an underlying game system but here I am going to try to make decisions based on what feels thematically appropriate rather than power gaming (largely because I don't know jack about the system). Bigger updates vs micromanaging is how I like to participate in these sorts of threads. I'm very interested so far. I actually hesitated to post the stats because in all honesty I'm not using them too much. I'm much more interested in a thematic, large picture element (hence picking a Rogue Trader!) as opposed to rolling dice. Figuring out the mechanics of my Ork game was a pretty big detriment to my enjoyment.
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Feb 21, 2015 05:42
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B. We can remind the Marigolds of their obligations later, when we've got a successfully waged shadow war we can gesture meaningfully at. Plus having a Miner Clan on our side will help us once we get the ship up and are looking for alliances for whatever clan we have in the clankin quarters. I've enjoyed the writing quite a lot.
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Feb 21, 2015 05:47
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B. "Hi. I represent a consortium of out-of-system mining interests, and we feel that your incessant infighting and price wars have lowered the price of mineralium far below what it should be. We would like to help you consolidate your hold on the mining operations here so that we can negotiate the price of mineralium upwards to where it should be. You can repay our investment by, I don't know, providing us with some captured labor for some of our more hazardous mining facilities." They capture a mine intact for us, we turn the miners over to, uh, job-retraining with the Mechanicus, and everyone's happy. Especially the people who have those annoying "critical thinking worrying" parts of their brains replaced with happy-drugs. E: We'd have to route it through some cut-out figure on Footfall, but one shouldn't be too hard to find. And then we can invite him up for tea with the Mechanicus. Five thousand and one servitors, now! sullat fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 05:56
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I actually hesitated to post the stats because in all honesty I'm not using them too much. I'm much more interested in a thematic, large picture element (hence picking a Rogue Trader!) as opposed to rolling dice. Figuring out the mechanics of my Ork game was a pretty big detriment to my enjoyment. I dig it. Keep the decision-making high level for the voters and it'll hopefully stay flexible and fun for you!
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Feb 21, 2015 06:11
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