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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
An ex-Guard ratling quartermaster who noticed and forged paperwork she wasn't supposed to notice or forge.

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Hedningen
May 4, 2013

Enough sideburns to last a lifetime.

RiotGearEpsilon posted:

A tech-priest who washed out of the cult in shame because he's allergic to augmetics.

Edit: Lassie. Literally just a really really good dog.

Cyber-mastiffs are an option available in the miscellaneous equipment section. So a Good Dog is entirely possible.

Ratoslov
Feb 15, 2012

Now prepare yourselves! You're the guests of honor at the Greatest Kung Fu Cannibal BBQ Ever!

A Sister of Battle that really only signed on for the flamethrowers.

Hostile V
May 31, 2013

Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

Ogryn cricket-player.

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.

Ratoslov posted:

A Sister of Battle that really only signed on for the flamethrowers.

I'm almost certain that's like, half of them.

Cooked Auto
Aug 4, 2007

If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!






Neotech 2
Part 34: Loadsa money.



Dosh!

Money makes the world go around. The lust for money is what drives everybody, from the lowly worker to the high corporate boss. Regardless of how much money you might have, most people want more of it. More often it’s the richest that are the greediest and stingiest.
But money isn’t all bad, it’s the ‘blood’ in the whole economic system and without it everything would collapse and plunge the world in chaos.
There are five types of currency active in 2059.
  • Cash: Coins and bills are still being used but becoming more and more uncommon. They can most be found in the third world and when doing illegal transactions. In some areas cash is forbidden.
  • Credit card with privacy: The most common type of card is the type where each transaction is confirmed and registered by the bank. The benefit with these cards is that they are hard to forge and the money doesn’t disappear if you lose it.
  • Credit card with registration: There are also cards that offer total personal security as the money is being registered at the bank. Each purchase remains anonymous, not even the bank can see who the money is transferred to. Despite this the money doesn’t disappear if you manage to lose the card. But this card can be limited as some countries have enacted laws to limit the usage of these cards to prevent corruption.
  • Charge card: Otherwise known as cashcard. In this case the money is registered onto the card itself. If you manage to lose this card the money is gone. The personal security is pretty low because the bank can always see who got the money from the start and who finally redeem them.
  • E-cash: Electronic money that is not stashed in an account or some charge card. The currency consists of unique electronic bills with unique serial numbers that is stored in your computer or some other storage media. E-Cash is used to pay for various services that is bought online. With the help of a payment terminal or via your home terminal you can move E-cash from charge or credit cards.
So they’re bitcoin then? Guess this game was ahead of its time in some regards.

Plastic cards in regular credit card format can be used for multiple purposes. The most common ones are charge card, credit card, ID-card, drivers license, key card, data card, music card and video card. The cards are more than just identification, they contain data, information and usually a small microprocessor that handle all the cards various functions and communicates with the surrounding world.
All these different applications would easily lead that the common man would have to carry a large number of cards. Luckily you can combine most card functions to a combicard. The most common thing is that all key cards are combined into a combikey. Other functions that can be combined is ID-card, drivers license and charge card.
To be able to combine a card you need to buy a blank combicard that contains a microprocessor, display, keypad, IR-link and internal memory. A combicard costs 40 euro but can be used repeatedly. The transfer itself can be done via hand computer or a home terminal. The newest thing on the market is the so called autocards that contain a fingerprint reader that identifies the user and sends the right PIN code. These cost 240 euro.

Hold up, how on earth is all that supposed to fit on something as big as a real life credit card? Just how small is that keypad when it has to compete with space with a display as well?

The text tells us how to pay with a card. If you’ve ever used one in real life you now the procedure so I’m not sure why it needs to tell us this. The only difference is that you can use a fingerprint to skip the PIN code. Or the transaction number if its an anonymous transaction.
I can only imagine there have been GM’s who have wanted their players to go through this routine every time they use their card, just because it’s mentioned in the rules.

Then it proceeds to tell us what the procedure is when you get money on your card. Why?! :psyduck:
Neotech!

There are still large amounts of coins and bills in circulation across the world. The bulls are usually made out of paper and the coins are in metal or plastic. Unlike any electronic transactions these are in principle untraceable. Because hard currency is used mainly for illegal transactions this means that bills are illegal in multiple countries in the west and many major cities. Paper money is also easy to steal and cumbersome to handle. Bills are usually fitted with magnetstrips, holograms and stamps only visible in UV light to prevent counterfeiting.
Would’ve thought that something like that wouldn’t be an issue for crime syndicates considering how powerful they are supposedly but there is no mention about them being able to deal with that handily. So I guess they just don’t deal with counterfeiting and just play by the rules or something.

Bills and coins are made by a large amount of smaller banks and governments in the third world. In the industrialised world only a few, sizeable and trustworthy bank organisations that print and distribute bills.
There are three types of currency that is accepted almost globally, the European Euro, the Japanese Neo-Yen or New-Yen and the American Standard dollar.
I refuse to call it the New-Yen on principle because it feels like a dumb reference to Shadowrun.
In some countries you need to pay with some of the currencies if you want to deal in desirable goods.

Internationally there is a small number of currencies that are used to trade with. There is a table mentioning which ones. Most notable ones are Texas Dollar, California Free Dollar and Q-francs. The latter is for Quebec. Some of them come in coins and bills. There is also an exchange rate for the listed currencies but some are exposed to varying degrees of inflation. Ugh, why.
Then there are hundreds of other of other currencies of more or less dubious nature. When using electronic transactions then it’s easy to just convert to the local currency whenever you pay.

To conduct business transactions with all kinds of credit and charge cards you need a cash register. It comes with all the kinds of functions you recognize from one like laser scanner but also fingerprint reader, DNC-link and built in mobile phone line. These usually cost 1200 euro.
For some reason I’m now imagining a mobster standing behind something you find in a grocery shop with the players lining up behind each other as each of their job payments are processed.

To make business transactions on the field you need a portable terminal. They come with a keypad, card scanner, fingerprint scanner, DNC link and a built in mobile phone link. It’s driven by a minicell and costs between 1500 to 2000 euro.

I can’t imagine a player ever bothering to get one of those. Now the mobster is blipping everyone’s card instead with a hand scanner which makes things even more hilarious to me. I mean the suitcase full of cash is illegal anyway and most means of electronic transactions are tracked so it’s not like there’s that many options to get paid for dirty work without getting a crapton of heat thrown your direction.

Then follows a whole section about loaning money and various types of loans. It even goes as far as mentioning what interest you’ll be dealing with. It’s all pretty boring and uninteresting.

Then we get a section about… Investments. Really?! Why does this have to have rules?! :psyduck:
There is a table dealing with difficulties when dealing with stocks. You roll checks against the Economy skill to figure out how much you win or lose at this. Also lots of percentages. Those are always fun.

Uuuuugh, gently caress this chapter. It’s awful and utterly pointless to the whole. It fully expects that you want to play cyberpunk stockbroker as a campaign.

Next time: What have I got in my pocket?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Given the last few chapters Im beginning to think Neotech isnt cyberpunk so much as cybertheman

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Barudak posted:

cybertheman

Cyberfogey

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.
Sounds like it's taking the same route that steampunk did pretty much immediately then.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Sounds like it's taking the same route that steampunk did pretty much immediately then.

It's cringeworthy because it's true.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

What Fire Has Wrought: The Politics of Mortality

House Nellens, the Dragons of the Blood Resurgent, have no dominant Aspect. Their colors are brown and silver, and they meet each year outside the sprawling ancestral home of the founder Nellens to tell the story of his life, on his birthday. It is an epic song of flowery verses that tells the tale of a pious warrior and the queen he loved, a love that transcended social rules but ended in disaster. The best versions include war, assassins and self-sacrifice, and it is almost purely fictional. The Scarlet Empress took many lovers and consorts over her centuries-long reign, though few were ever as controversial as Nellens. He wasn't a warrior - he was a politician, a mortal delegate in the Lesser Chamber of the Deliberative who spent his time advocated for un-Exalted Dynasts.

Nellens argued that the blood of the Dragons in the veins of the un-Exalted members of the Houses placed them ahead of peasants and patricians, spiritually. As such, they should be valued for more than just their role as potential parents of future Dragon-Blooded and should be treated as socially above the patricians legally, given their Dragon-proven enlightenment. This stance was, of course, wildly unpopular with the Dragon-Blooded senators. While Nellens carefully wrote all of his speeches to avoid problems, he still enraged and offended many, and it was assumed that one of his political rivals would have him murdered if the Empress herself didn't. Instead, she took him into her bed. Centuries after his death, she founded a Great House using his name, uniting several patrician Houses and outcaste families into one unit. Whether this was intended to honor Nellens as the father of Sesus or to serve purely as a political move to throw the other Houses off-balance is still unknown.

House Nellens has no single leader. Instead, it is run by an assembly known as the Most August Conclave. Three of the Conclave are Dragon-Blooded, including the calculating matriarch Nellens Gazal, and four are mortal. Other members of the Conclave include the famous orator and mortal senator of the Greater Chamber Nellens Odem, the Dragon-Blooded merchant Nellens Ikona who is believed by the mortal businesspeople of the Blessed Isle and the mortal sorcerer Nellens Sabine, who runs the House's marriage negotiations. As far as the rest of the Realm cares, the three Dragon-Bloods are the leaders of the House. In reality, House Nellens gives equal weight to all seven members of the Conclave.

House Nellens is often derided as thin-blooded dilettantes, even mongrels. Every Nellens knows they are disliked and mocked. As early as primary school, they have to deal with the condescension and insults of their peers. Being Nellens is a huge social handicap, but a wise Dragon-Blood turns it into an advantage, allowing detractors to dismiss them in order to outmaneuver their foes. House Nellens is unique among the Houses in that its upper ranks are mostly mortal. To improve Exaltation rates, the Most August Conclave has designed and implemented an aggressive marriage-seeking strategy that is considered so vital to the House's interests that they will occasionally reject proposals coming from outcaste Dragon-Bloods or even thin-blooded members of other Great Houses in favor of mortal Dynasts with stronger pedigrees. The House focuses on matches that strengthen the blood in general rather than cultivating any specific Aspect.

House Nellens is extremely invested in the bureaucracy and commerce of the Blessed ISle, and most of their mortal membership is raised from birth to serve in the ministries, offices and trading houses that ensure the Realm runs smoothly. Nellens children are tested at age five to determine their aptitudes, then run through a three-year program to strengthen those talents before entering primary school. By the time they graduate secondary school, they are well prepared for a professional position that suits their abilities. Those that Exalt are expected to perform above and beyond the members of other Great Houses. Some achieve ranking positions in the Thousand Scales, like their mortal brethren, but most of these Exalts are expected to become heroes of the Realm. Many serve in the legions or join the Immaculate Order. Others serve within the House as surrogates for their un-Exalted elders or as the public face of the House at Realm parties.

House Nellens is shockingly wealthy and is in fact one of the few Houses to hold no heavy debts with House Ragara. They are, in fact, growing even richer despite the current chaos in the Threshold and on the Isle. Their success is fueled by the many Nellens within the Thousand Scales, who make it very, very easy for their family to get permits, applications and financing agreements approved. While all Houses diversify their investing, House Nellens takes it above and beyond. Most f their investments are in the minor industries of the Blessed Isle, and their wealth is derived from the sheer number of them. They are involved in practically every community and enterprise on the Blessed Isle, ranging from farms and mines to the whaling fleets of the North to the fish processing plants to the salt mines to the textile factories to the fruit groves to shipping to mercantile consortiums. Everything falls under the Nellens investment umbrella, on and off the Isle. They explore every direction but the West, buying and trading in nearly every major city and many minor ones. Their greatest strength, however, is their network of favors owed by other Dynasts, patrician families, foreign nobility and merchants. Their influence in the financial, commercial and political sectors can make life very easy for their friends...and while they don't flaunt it, they can make life very difficult for their enemies.

The Nellens have never been a military House. Despite their amazing success in politics and business, they've always seen their lack of military strength as a deficiency they've needed to correct. They frequently requested the Empress grant them ability to raise a House legion and even went so far as to build an entire garrison complex near their city of Juche, but it always proved useless. With the Empress gone and the legions divided up, they've managed to acquire two legions by careful favor trading, bribes and debt forgiveness. Both are poorly equipped, understrength and lacking in adequate command staff, which is probably why they could get two at all. However, House Nellens is used to the long game. This is an investment in the future, the foundation for greater forces. Currently, the House is in negotiations with several others to secure the release of their members serving in other legions. Intolerant commanders in othe Houses have also been using the chance to arrange transfers for their outcaste subordinates to the Nellens legions, which the House loves. They've even begun approaching disgraced, discharged or dismissed outcaste officers to fill their command ranks, offering money, support or marriage to earn their loyalty.

Every Nellens child learns the House's core philosophy: if a woman is your enemy, you have not found the proper leverage. This is what drives their ambitions and allows them to bear all the insults hurled upon them without care. While every House is a rival, that's no reason to avoid profitable alliance. Only a few Houses are truly worthy of the hatred of House Nellens. The members of House Sesus consider the fact that the House named for Sesus' father has so many mortal members to be a grave insult, and they view the Nellens marriage program to be an attempt to usurp their pedigree. Since the earliest days of its existence, House Nellens has been foe to House Sesus in every respect, with the Sesus sending in infiltrators, spies and even assassins to disrupt Nellens plans.

While the Nellens have done little outright to antagonize House Ledaal, their neighbors resent them for their wealth, which they believe came at the expense of Arjuf Dominion. The Conclave has made multiple overtures of friendship, but negotiations are delicate. Likewise, the wealth of Nellens has been a constant annoyance to House Ragara, which resents their inability to place Nellens scions in debt and chafe at this challenge to their mercantile dominance. Individual Ragaras often seek out solutions, which range from partnerships to undermining Nellens efforts in the threshold to trying to suborn unhappy Nellens scions. House V'neef is also something of an enemy, as when the Empress elevated V'neef, she awarded the new House with assets stripped from Nellens in an effort to make the two youngest Houses rivals. OVer the decades, they have sabotaged and undermined each other constantly in an unbroken cycle of feuding. An alliance might be sueful, but the Conclave is very split on their views of V'neef.

Nellens has reached out recently to House Tepet, knowing the pains of being scorned. The Conclave believe that the Tepet leaders might appreciate their empahty and alliance, and it's certainly true that Nellens has the funds to outfit legions but lacks in military command experience, while House Tepet commanders are short on money, manpower and work right now and could be willing to lend their expertise in an effort to regain lost respect...but they'd probably prefer more respectable patrons. Nellens also has strong ties of friendship throughout the patrician houses and other wealthy mortals, much closer than any other Great House can claim. They hand out financial aid to struggling merchants, smooth bureaucratic snarls in the Thousand Scales and find many other ways to use their influence to gain the support of the un-Exalted. They may not have the power or direct influence of the other Houses in the battle for the throne, but the Conclave believes that their control over the masses may give them a position of importance with whoever ends up winning.

Juche Prefecture is the Nellens headquarters, and its capital, Juche, is home to most of the family. The Conclave is based out of the Villa of Seven Doorways, a massive manse that houses the Nellens libraries and treasuries. They have invested heavily in the prefecture and city, and the centuries of cold war with the Sesus has made sure the border fortresses are strong and the backroads are not known to outsiders. Juche is one of the Blessed Isle's major trade and religious centers, and just about everything there has the House's investments involved somehow. Despite their ambitions, they have few other holdings. Rival Houses see this as a sign of weakness, which is what they'd prefer. The Nellens are good at finding troubled satrapies and offering them financial aid in meeting their tithing duties. They've helped pay many tributes over the years, and so they have many contacts in all directions except the West, keeping them well informed on the actions of the other Houses.

Nellens remains a controversial figure, even centuries after his death. His advocacy for un-Exalted Dynasts earned him much hatred, but he was also a key figure in pushing several major pieces of legislation, such as the yearly limit on emancipation of slavery, which served as a compromise that ended the threat of a short-lived abolitionist movement. (What, you thought he was a completely good person?) Nellens was renowned as a charismatic and cunning compromise broker as well as a political firebrand. Nellens Sabine, at 28, was the youngest ever to sit on the Most August Conclave. She has always had an intuitive grasp of the occult and was raised to be ambitious. Her sorcerous skills have opened many doors for the family. She's now in her sixties and runs the House marriage program, working tirelessly to improve their Exaltation rates. Privately, she is also seeking ways to awaken her own dragon's blood. Her lineage is impeccable, her bloodline as pure as any the House has ever had, but she never Exalted, which she considers a personal failing. Her quest is slightly insane and possibly heretical, but she persists - if not for her own sake, than for her nineteen-year-old daughter.

Nellens Leferi has done business with all kinds of people - Threshold despots, mighty warlords and even the subterranean Mountain Folk. When she's not out adventuring and seeking new profits and trading partners, she serves as the Conclave's proxy in commercial intersts, using her massive business skills and equally massive martial arts skills to bargain with those too proud to deal with mortals. Most recently, she's been heading to Great Forks to hire Exigent mercenaries in order to reinforce the Nellens legions. Nellens Uliyah, meanwhile, is a modestly ranking official in the Righteous and Accountable Ministry of Weights and Measures, the bureau that enforces standardized weights and measures in the Realm. While mortal, her ingenuity is matched only by her audacity in using her position as a weapon. She is more than happy to prosecute Cynis drug dealers who weight their scales, using her surveying power to bleed House Sesus of territory slowly, and fining House Mnemon for the tiniest discrepancies in their blueprints. She's got a price on her head, naturally, and her survival is ensured by her god-blooded lover and bodyguard, Seventh Winter.

Next time: House Peleps

Dawgstar
Jul 15, 2017

Mors Rattus posted:

I mean, in any game I'd GM? Yeah if you want to learn sorcery from Grandma Mnemon, she will happily be your mentor and give you nice cookies and sit up with you when you're sick and hold your hand and teach you how to curse your foes and place Grandma Mnemon on the throne of the world.

e: to me this is half the fun of playing Dynasts. Yes, your relatives probably include some people who want terrible things or do awful poo poo or stomp their boot on the colonial faces of the Threshold.

But they love you and care about you and want you to be happy, genuinely and truly, and your friendships and camaraderies and feuds and passions matter. Being Dragon-Blooded is like being in a pro wrestling soap opera with elemental powers.

Now I see Mnemon as not unlike, say, Don Corleone. Everything she does is for her family, and she genuinely loves them, it's just what she does is sometimes not pretty. That's pretty cool. Would play a House Mnemon DB and pay 5 points for Mentor 10/10.

Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

Barudak posted:

Given the last few chapters Im beginning to think Neotech isnt cyberpunk so much as cybertheman

Cyberconservative

Also, I feel a lot of Neotech is someone's Cyberpunk 2020 campaign that they expanded and filed off the serial numbers before publishing.

Cooked Auto
Aug 4, 2007

If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!




Young Freud posted:

Also, I feel a lot of Neotech is someone's Cyberpunk 2020 campaign that they expanded and filed off the serial numbers before publishing.

Yeah that's probably it considering there are similarities scattered here and there when it comes to mechanics.
There is a bit of "But what if we can do it better?" over all of this.
(Turns out the answer is a solid no.)

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

What Fire Has Wrought: Heroic Naval Dragons

House Peleps, the Water That Wreaths the Crown of Centuries, is one of the oldest Houses, beloved by the people of the Realm. It is a Water-Aspect House, its colors blue and black, and to every person on the Blessed Isle, there are three kinds of Peleps. One is the dashing sea captain, calmly shouting orders even in the midst of the storm. One is the incorruptible judge, who will never pass down a judgment until the truth is revealed. And the third is the daring adventurer who always arrives just in the nick of time. House Peleps is the romantic ideal of danger, adventure and honor. The family has a long nautical tradition, producing many sailors, and there is no symbol seen on more sails than the Peleps mon. They are the fist of the Realm's naval might, commanders of the Imperial Navy in its totality.

The name Peleps is a byword for both worldly knowledge and virtue in the Realm. They are beacons of Imperial honor and shining lights of adventure. They are reliable and steadfast, so that all other Houses must look up to them, even if they don't want to. Of course, the truth is more complex. For every true hero of House Peleps, there's some disgraced scion shoved to a post where no one will notice them. House Peleps may be a romantic House, but it is also one of the most ruthless, even to its own, even by Dynastic standards. Success is the only thing, and what other Houses hand out to their children as birthright must be earned in House Peleps. Success brings opulent rewards and power, however.

Success cannot be bought. Merit is all, for the Peleps. Even the most inauspicious, thin-blooded birth can rise to the greatest heights with enough skill, connections, conviction and luck. The Peleps often speak of 'the trade winds' as a reference to fate and luck, and they tend to believe that luck is earned. If the trade winds do not favor you, you must be unworthy, while if you can take advantage of them, that's a skill. It means that growing up Peleps can be cold, lonely and even hostile, but the rewards for success will make you a legend. The House's chief concerns are the Navy and the judiciary, and joining either is the fastest way to success in the House. Their focus on merit over nepotism means their judges are renowned for skill and competence, inspiring both fear and respect...which the less scrupulous ones are more than happy to take full advantage of.

The House is governed by the Rightly Guided Admiralty Board, which also sits in charge of the Imperial Navy. It is made of fifteen high admirals, each elected to 25 year terms. The current roster includes matriarch Peleps Lai, the self-declared judge of pirates Peleps Orimu and the senator Peleps Mulat Kai. Every Peleps that has Exalted or holds the rank of captain or higher in the Navy has a vote for the board, and in theory, any Peleps is eligible to be elected. In practice, the board is exclusively Dragon-Blooded women. After all, to guide the House in the Realm's politics, you must have the shrewdest of minds. The vote isn't to ensure that everyone has a say, but to prove that the winners have the scheming minds to outwit the other Houses. The Admiralty Board is currently unable to reach any accord on the matter of the Throne, but are seeking poential candidates in the House to combat their declining fortunes - whether that means the Scarlet Throne or a new Western one.

The wealth of House Peleps traditionally came from their duties on the Inland Sea. All tribute crosses that sea accompanied by escorts of the Merchant Fleet, who receive a fraction of each shipment. This money allowed the PEleps to handle the costs of constructing, supplying and maintaining the massive Imperial Navy, and their wealth was simply accepted, with few ever thinking they could lose it. However, in the Realm year 754, the Empress stripped the Peleps of the Merchant Fleet and its lucrative duties, granting them to newly formed House V'neef. Much of Peleps' income vanished into the pockets of young upstarts.

Now, the House must rely on new funding to handle the massive costs of the world's largest naval force. They retain a large stipend from the Imperial Treasury, despite the best efforts of the Dwliberative in reducing it, and they've had to crack down hard on their satrapies - better to strip those bare than to cut the military budgets, given how close the civil war is. Once the fighting starts, they can conquer the V'neef satrapies to replace their own ones that they're milking dry. The massive tributes are having a devastating cost on the Peleps holdings, and the House is also encouraging its scions to go into business ventures, while reserving the right to tax them. This has actually worked fairly well, at least, as his the aggressive stand the House is now taking on piracy, seizing contraband and ships to bolster its failing fortunes. The coffers are at an all-time low, though, and the Admiralty Board's definition of 'pirate' is growing rather loose.

Even with all that, it's not enough. They're running low on funds to pay tuition costs for their children, and other Houses are both disappointed and pleased to see the famous Peleps parties, so full of rare goods, decline in both number and opulence. Donations from Dynasts trying to earn their favor are still coming in, but not in nearly the amounts they need. The House is bleeding money, and they're considering desperate measures, ranging from raiding other satrapies to demanding tribute from any merchant ship they find. It may be that they'll even grow desperate enough to start selling off parts of the Navy to remain in the black. The main plan they have to deal with this is conquest. They know that their control of the Imperial Navy invites scrutiny and that open aggression will make enemies of the whole Dynasty. Thus, they move slowly - a trade post here, a naval base there, looking for any legitimate reason to expand their power in the West without drawing suspicion. With enough time, they hope, they could establish a Western Empire, more true to the will and legacy of the Empress and the Immaculate Philosophy than the corrupt Realm that presently exists.

When the legions were divided up, House Peleps claimed four by virtue of their high standing and power in the Deliberative. Since then, these legions have been seeded with Peleps commanders, bolstering loyalty but causing morale and effectiveness to plummet. Most of the command positions are held by former junior officers with little if any experience, and the more traditional members of the House are disgusted by this blatant nepotism. Even so, the Admiralty Board has, if with distaste, approved of it. Three legions currently drill on the Isle of Wrack, while the fourth is slowly being sent West, about a hundred soldiers at a time, over the course of the last year.

The House's true military power is and has always been the Imperial Navy, a force of thousands of vessels divided into five elementally-designated fleets. While most sailors and marines are peasant volunteers, the officers are patricians and Dynasts that attend the Realm's military academies and the serve as apprentices to officers for a few years before being raised to command rank. Most Dragon-Blooded Peleps officers hail from the House of Bells, with the occasional outcaste trained at Pasiap's Stair marrying into the family and earning a commission. Almost all of the admirals are Peleps women, and Dragon-Blooded rise in the ranks faster than mortals with more leeway for their actions...but when they fail, they fall harder and faster than mortals, too. A disgraced Dragon-Blood is often shunted aggressively to some job that will leave them useful but never seen.

The naval manpower of House Peleps is possibly equal to the entire force of all the legions combined. The other Houses are quite aware of this and always wary of Peleps maneuvers near their holdings. If the House were to deploy its forces unwisely or lose its reputation for honor, the Navy is one of the few things in Creation that might unify the Realm...against them. They are fully aware of this fact, so the Admiralty Board discourages young Peleps from blustering and making idle threats of naval intervention. The Navy is a weapon to be wielded delicately in these uncertain times. However, the third aspect of their military power is usually overlooked. Yes, House PEleps is admired and feared by many Dynasts, but many also see them as the pinnacle of the Realm's glory. A war against them could easily seem to be a direct assault on the Imperial ideals and virtue, which would bring massive numbers of idealistic Dragon-Bloods to their side. The problem is that the House's dreams of Western Empire risk compromising its reputation if they are exposed, which has been a source of much internal debate on the Admiralty Board.

House Peleps has many admirers but few allies. House Mnemon is closest, but it's mostly out of convenience and a warm but distant regard for shared virtue. Peleps is, of course, in debt to House Ragara, like most Houses. They also hold Nellens and Cynis in quiet contempt. They prefer doing business with Cynis over Ragara, but Nellens disgusts the Peleps. Once, they respected House Tepet, but now, most Peleps scions believe Tepet has revealed weakness and should have the decency to roll over and die soon. That way, they can be eulogized, remmebered as great and not drain the Realm like some kind of military lamprey.

House Cathak is the other military juggernaut of the Realm, and both Houses are quite aware that together, they have the power to seize the throne - and in doing so unite the Dynasty against them. The Cathaks seem to fear the consequences of this, but House Peleps savors the challenge. Still, Cathak Cainan has announced his neutrality, so relations between the pair are careful, cordial and distant, as they know they may well end up on opposite sides. Neither wants that war, but any misunderstanding could cause it. The true enemy, though, is definitely House V'neef. They humiliated the Peleps. V'neef herself is a young, daring and ambitious woman who competes directly with the Peleps areas of expertise. Her House lacks the sea power to directly assault the Navy, but an open war could destroy Peleps finances and reputation even in victory. Thus, the two Houses engage in games of brinksmanship in the West, trying to compete for resources and strategic holdings while finding legal excuses to sink each others' ships. Eventually, someone is going to slip up or be too threatened to care about pretense. The war is inevitable.

Voice-of-the-Tides Prefecture is the House's headquarters on the Blessed Isle, along the far western shore. Their estate is on the Isle of Wrack, perched over broken cliffs and overlooking the Blessed Isle drydocks on one side and the sea on the other. The Admiralty Board rules from here, entertaining both their own scions and those Dynasts seeking their favor. They have also commanded the satrapy Sarkarn for centuries. It is an island of pearl divers west of Thorns, which brings in exotic fish and pink pearls. With the Thorns trade failing and the demands for tribute growing ever greater, Sarkarn is sinking into despair and poverty, and its queen is desperately turning towards the autocrat of Thorns, Red Iron Rebuke, whose envoys offer the protection of Mask of Winters. More valuable is the Wavecrest Archieplago, a set of rich volcanic islands that produce exotic and expensive fruits for Dynastic tables. The shipyards there work to repair and replace the aging and damaged vessels of the Water Fleet, expanding their deep-water capabilities. Recent sabotage suggests that the V'neef have become aware of these efforts. The increased tribute demands are cutting into the archipelago's food supply, and the local royalty pressures their leader, the Feathered One, to start raiding their neighbors to solve the problem. Some even speak of rebellion. Meanwhile, the hero-priestess Kamach Aki has declared herself the Chosen of Hamoji and is spreading messages against the Immaculates, pushing her people to return to the worship of their volcano god.

Peleps was the second daughter of the Empress and probably the widest traveled of any of her siblings. She went in every Direction, and wherever she went, she made admirers and enemies, for she was a righteous adventurer and prone to seizing and conquering things she found value in. Her greatest rival and lover was always the ocean. In death, she was interred in her ship, the Spear of Daana'd, which was then scuttled off the Isle of Wrack. The PEleps still pay homage to her tomb each year, and its seals are tended to by local Dragon-Blooded monks. Some claim they can hear banging noises from it during Calibration. The current matriarch and unofficial leader of the Admiralty Board is her daughter, Peleps Lai. Lai's deeds are renowned in plays and books across Creation, but she has largely retired. She speaks up only when she feels the need to correct people, and she still believes that the Empress will return. She refuses to even consider the idea of another Empress until proven otherwise, and while she is old now, she's still got the martial skill to defeat the upstarts that try to defy her. She does support the idea of a Western Empire, however, and dreams of the day she can personally present new conquests to the Scarlet Empress.

Peleps Aramida, admiral of the Water Fleet, is a spiritual woman with a knack for translating lofty spiritual concepts in a way her sailors can appreciate and understand. Her sermons in honor of the dead are heartfelt, and she loves her crew like a strict, distant but caring mother. They love her back, even though she is never stingy with the lash. She is a genius of naval tactics, with her victories against both the Fair Folk and sea demons making her the romantic ideal of the Peleps officer, beloved by the courts for her cleverness and daring. She supports an alliance with house Tepet, believing that they are not in fact dying and could serve as the strong right hand of a Peleps Empress - which she would be happy to be, if she could get the support to do it. Peleps Sepeta Zurin, on the other hand, is the most celebrated and beloved of Immaculate missonaries. He crossed the Glassblack Wastes to bring the Immaculate Philosophy to the tribes of Porphyry, he discovered the lost temple-city of Azal-Mog and destroyed its blasphemous altar to make way for an Immaculate shrine, he overthrew the tyrant maize-god Hundredth Harvest. He is rarely on the Blessed Isle long before his next expedition, even though the House elders would love him to s tay and rally the Order and peasants to their side in the event of civil war. Recently, Zurin has set out for Thorns in the hopes that he can convert Mask of Winters to the Immaculate Philosophy, poor idiot hero that he is.

Next time: House Ragara

Young Freud
Nov 26, 2006

Cooked Auto posted:

Yeah that's probably it considering there are similarities scattered here and there when it comes to mechanics.
There is a bit of "But what if we can do it better?" over all of this.
(Turns out the answer is a solid no.)

Yeah, exactly. Like they copied some stuff but didn't understand the hows and whys of why Pondsmith and R. Talsorian did things when implementing or "improving" them.

Cooked Auto
Aug 4, 2007

If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!




Young Freud posted:

Yeah, exactly. Like they copied some stuff but didn't understand the hows and whys of why Pondsmith and R. Talsorian did things when implementing or "improving" them.

I wonder how much truth there is to the joke about it feeling like a game written by engineers.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Cooked Auto posted:

Yeah that's probably it considering there are similarities scattered here and there when it comes to mechanics.
There is a bit of "But what if we can do it better?" over all of this.
(Turns out the answer is a solid no.)

The insane amount of effort that went into some of these simulationist rules clashes with the zero effort rip off of Blade Runner and Gibson. The Turing police are also right out of Neuromancer.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

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What Fire Has Wrought: The Worst loving People

House Ragara, the Earth Slaked on the Blood of Dragons, are an Earth-Aspect House with the colors white and gold. They have always viewed the Imperial Mountain as the symbol of everything they want to be - implacable, eternal. And yet its roots go deep, where hidden wonders and horrors lurk, and even most Ragara do not realize how apt their metaphor is. They are also called the Imperial Bank by other Houses, as much out of resentment as recognition of their might. House Ragara holds debts on essentially everyone else, with a finger in just about every type of business. While all Dynasts are wealthy beyond mortal dreams, House Ragara is the wealthiest of all. At the center of it all is Ragara Banoba and his scheming allies, spiders of the web of debts and wealth. They are determined to place a RAgara on the Throne - but they want more than that. They want everything.

House Ragara cares more for power than simple wealth. Its network of sorcerers and artifact hunters covers much of the Threshold, acquiring whatever it can. House Ragara's pretext for such raiding is that everything belongs to the Empress, and House Ragara is merely her vault. They care nothing for the stability or prosperity of the Threshold kingdoms they steal from, and they love to study the ancient periods of history, with many of the greatest scholars of Anathema-made craft being Ragaras. Their fascination is far beyond what is healthy or acceptable, and they have often delved into subjects forbidden by Imperial law. Entire households have been cut off for heresey and diabolism, but in truth these were generally scapegoats. The inner circle of Ragara occultists and politicians see nothing wrong in what they did - they just want to avoid the same fate as House Jurul. To sacrifice a family is sad, yes, but it protects the House, and so most Ragara matriarchs would accept it. To reclaim the power of the Realm Before and its devil-queens would secure the future of the House and the Realm with it. Sacrifices are necessary. Thus, House Ragara delves into the depths of Malfeas and the Underworld, bargaining with Raksha and stranger beings to gain unholy power. They even compete with the Wyld Hunt in search of Anathema to capture and experiment on...or even to recruit.

For most of Creation, House Ragara is a family of bankers and merchants. Few suspect anything of them - even younger Ragara scions. Those that do tend to be brushed off as conspiracy theorists, obsessed with individual Ragara that got censured for blasphemy. The House itself has developed a stodgy and conservative reputation, though its individual members tend to be urbane, well educated and charismatic. They are natural leaders, envied by other Houses for their ease and sophistication. The house is led by patriarch RAgara Bonoba - yes, patriarch, because House Ragara was founded by a man. Banoba has around six other family members as his inner circle of advisors, and they all have about equal hold over each other. They are chosen not for fame or rank but for their talent. Some are youths, some ancient, but all are callous geniuses of occult power. They include Ragara Vna, a Spiral Academy recent graduate whse talent for mesmerising people has let her take control of several bureaucrats and low-ranking Deliberative delegates, nd the blind physician Ragara Madoq, whose lab contains disease strains that have not been seen since the First Age. They are responsible for the illict projects of House Ragara, those which can be trusted to no one else, such as Anathema sorceries, blasphemous experiments on Exaltation itself and the search for the Final Realm-Controlling Utterance.

Ragara's financial empire was built on locating and seizing undiscovered jade mines via study of pre-Contagion documents. Ragara also established the Learned Bastion, a small school in Corin Prefecture that educates adult Dragon-Bloods with a curriculum of geology and geomancy that can rival even the Heptagram. Each graduate must serve the House's Unclouded Stone Savants for five years, hunting down mineral deposits of value, and the Bastion has five centuries of distinguished if specialized and low-profile service. Thus, House Ragara has claimed many of Creations biggest and oldest jade and silver deposits, establishing its financial power. The jade mines are still a quarter of the House's income, but the rest is from interest on loans and investments. Under Ragara Banoba, much of this wealth has been used to acquire artifacts and fund occult study of all kinds.

The Empress allowed the predatory lending practices of House Ragara. The House was tied to her closely, and she saw little need to regulate them if they avoided military pursuits. She personally worked with them multiple times, most notoriously to allow her campaigns of conquest. The House would lend to desperate nations at extravagant interest rates, then sell the loan to the Empress when it became clear that repayment would be impossible. The Empress would then use non-payment as a pretext to invade. Every Great House also owes Ragara money, ranging from significant but ultimately minor loans to potentially crippling ones. Interest is sufficiently lucrative that few Ragaras actually want to see the principal repaid, and no one wants to be the House that defaults on the loan.

When the legions were being divided up, House Ragara focused on acquiring the most poorly trained, underequipped and worst legions, gaining control over three at relatively low cost. Since then, they have dumped vast quantities of jade into improving the legions, staffing them and stocking them with the best equipment. However, they have also lost most of the legions' experienced officers, and the troops are denoralized. Ragara Banoba is aware of the weaknesses of his legions, but hopes that a few years of work in the Threshold will fix things up. So far, results have been mixed, and if war breaks out soon, the Ragara legions will not be ready for it. However, Ragara scions with poor business schools have traditionally been pushed to join the legions to recoup the House's investment in them, which means they actually do have a history of distinguished military service. Now, they are trying to push those Ragara officers to lead their new legions.

House Ragara has no allies or friends. It has debtors. Still, every House eventually comes to Ragara Banoba looking for a loan. Thus, they find it hard to look on their fellow Houses as equals at all, which grates on the other Houses - especially the proud ones, like Peleps or Cathak. The exceptions are Houses Nellens and V'neef, which have worked hard to stay out of debt to the Ragaras. For that, they are as close as the House comes to recognizing equals - they're enemies. House Cathak shows polite support of House Ragara taking the Throne, but everyone knows it's just a polite fiction of convenience. The Cathaks will not be puppeted, and the Ragaras will cancel no Cathak debts.

Even so, the greatest enemies the House has right now are Mnemon and Ledaal. Mnemon herself has a death grudge against Ragara and wishes for nothing more than to destroy his House. Banoba, for his part, just wants to keep her off the throne. Only Ledaal has any serious suspicions towards House Ragara, aware of their gathering of relics. While House Ledaal wants to avoid damaging the sorcerous defenses of the past, they are very concerned about House Ragara's motivations and the temptations that power represents. They are the closest to realizing the true threat that House Ragara can bring to bear.

It is impossible, however, to stand alone. Ragara Banoba has been reaching out to Houses Sesus and Cynis, offering them favorable loans and expensive goods while slashing Cynis debts and sending his family to more and more parties. Ragara politicians sing the praises of House Sesus. Banoba has also been taking care to avoid offending House Peleps, another potential ally. He's embraced the time of crisis, and House Ragara is looking forward to the civil war as a chance to expand its power. It is mostly struggling to gather as much of House Tepet's old holdings as it can, in the guise of reinforcing them and filling in for the now-decimated Tepet administrative structure. It's entirely illegal, but the other Houses have allowed it because Ragara is, in theory, taking on debts that the Tepet can no longer repay. This has made the Sesus a rival as well, as they too are trying to seize the Tepet satrapies. Banoba is trying to call in favors with House Peleps to get the Deliberative on his side, but he's being careful not to undermine any economic ties to House Sesus. After all, if he wins this game, his troops will be spread quite thin and he may have to illegally hire mercenaries to supplement them.

House Ragara's seat is Corin Prefecture], along the southern coast. It is a barren landscape full of rich jade, silver and tin mines. Ragara Banoba rules from the Stepped Palace, a massive smelting and banking structure just outside River Quay, the city that the family uses as its headquarters. At the top of the palace is the audience hall, where Ragara and his council meet and hear requests for extremely large or dangerous loans. The phrase 'to walk the long stairs' is thus a saying meaning to take a loan. Banoba presides over the House's extensive holdings from the Stepped Palace, but they extend through much of the Threshold. House Ragara demands relatively little tribute and expects only minimal shows of loyalty, focusing more on taking minor and undesirable satrapies tht it can loot for mining wealth or ruins.

Jau Dei is one of these, a land under the mountains that produces many-colored marble, some white jade, and the tartelian, a sort of crustacean whose powdered shell is useful in alchemy. The caverns are lit by an ingenious network of sunlight refraction crystals, which once brought daylight constantly, but they've cracked and dimmed over time. Now, they provide light equivalent to the full moon each day at noon. The Jau Deians are accustomed to the dark depths more than the Ragara garrison is. Thus, rebellion has been a frequent problem, as the rebels easily hide in natural caves or the mines. While this has been kept at a low simmer in the past, the disappearance of the Empress has led to a resurgence of terror atttacks - firebombs, mass poisoning, and so on. It is a problem for the House, a drain on resources that never seems to go away. Banoba only bothers to fight the rebellion at this point rather than give the satrapy to another House because it works to hide the darker conspiracies of the House. Even the most jaded Ragars shudder at the rumors of experimentation on captive outcastes in the depths of Jau Dei.

Ragara is the Empress' oldest living child. He was always ambitious, and in his early life he learned to despise his mother and siblings passionately, hiding it below a mask and beginning a long campaign of assassination against his siblings as he began to gather his fortune. His goal was to become the only possible heir to the empire. The Empress saw through it, however, and when Sesus was born, she charged Ragara to protect the child. Specifically, she told him that if Sesus died, so too would he. RAgara had no choice, then, but to keep Sesus safe. Now, Ragara is an old man, sustained well beyond what is normal by the power of his daiklave, Blood Zenith, which feeds him with the dregs of the stolen soul of a Solar. Even so, he knows he is dying. He has retired ot Pneuma, attended by his equally aged Hearth and a few of his favored descendants. He has left his house in the hands of his second-oldest living son, Banoba. While he publically praises his son's wisdom, his real reasons for the selection have little to do with wealth or wisdom and far more to do with occult work.

Ragara Banoba is a handsome man in his middle age, fashionable and charismatic. He keeps his hair cut short and his moustache immaculately trimmed, and he is rarely seen without his consort, a distant nephew named Ragara Heral. Heral is Banoba's greatest weakness - he truly loves the younger man and would do anything to protect him. He is fully aware that this makes him vulnerable, but what can he do?

Ragara Szaya is a battle sorcerer and risk-taking merchant who loves danger and wild behavior that is just short of being acceptable. No one would ever expect someone like her to be an agent of the All-Seeing Eye, which is part of why she's so good at it. Her commercial contacts span the Threshold, feeding her information that she sends on up to her superiors in the Eye. She is married to her fellow agent, a man named Ledaal Kes, and the two have been close friends for decades. They are also both extremely gay and make no secret of it. Ragara Iuna is another sorcerer, though of no great skill. Her real talent is archaeology and the study of ancient lore. She is an idealistic adventurer who spends much of her time alone in the Threshold, recovering lost artifacts, art and literature. She wants to preserve and study it for future generations' benefit. Recently, she returned from an adventure with her new sifu, Red-Gloved Master, who has been teaching her sorcerous martial arts thought long lost in the Second Age.

Next time: House Sesus

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



Rand Brittain posted:

The thing about Mnemon in 2e is that she was a heinous bitch with no real good qualities and everybody in the setting knew this.

The thing I like about Mnemon in 3e is that I'm not actually sure whether she has real good qualities now or whether maybe she just has a much better front.
You could probably write a whole paper about how it is almost culturally impossible to have a figure like what Mnemon is tacking towards (namely, a powerful, assertive, influential "mother-archetype") just because people can't accept it. She's gotta be up to something. Especially if she's accomplishing goals!

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

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Nessus posted:

You could probably write a whole paper about how it is almost culturally impossible to have a figure like what Mnemon is tacking towards (namely, a powerful, assertive, influential "mother-archetype") just because people can't accept it. She's gotta be up to something. Especially if she's accomplishing goals!

I mean, she is up to something. She's very open about it. She wants to kill her rear end in a top hat brother and destroy his House utterly, and she wants to become Empress. Two separate goals there and she's not making a secret of either of them.

Joe Slowboat
Nov 9, 2016

Higgledy-Piggledy Whale Statements



Honestly someone should kill Ragara, and his House should at the very least be seriously reformed.
Not particularly more than the rest of the Dynasty, but, still.

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth

Mors Rattus posted:

I mean, she is up to something. She's very open about it. She wants to kill her rear end in a top hat brother and destroy his House utterly, and she wants to become Empress. Two separate goals there and she's not making a secret of either of them.

Yea her thing is she's very overtly up to something, but the game is you have to wonder 'is this ALL she's up to, or is THIS thing she's up to just a part of a bigger scheme she's keeping more subtle'.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Mors Rattus posted:

I mean, she is up to something. She's very open about it. She wants to kill her rear end in a top hat brother and destroy his House utterly, and she wants to become Empress. Two separate goals there and she's not making a secret of either of them.

I'm not really sure 'I want enormous power and believe I can rule the world' is even really an exceptional 'up to something' in Exalted, the game where every character thinks they deserve enormous power and has plans for the world by design.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



Night10194 posted:

I'm not really sure 'I want enormous power and believe I can rule the world' is even really an exceptional 'up to something' in Exalted, the game where every character thinks they deserve enormous power and has plans for the world by design.
If anything she is remarkably moderate and achievable-goal-oriented, in that she probably can succeed at destroying her rival and the question is how to do it with maximum post-destructoid advantage. Meanwhile other Exalts get goals like "become the sevenfold perfection," "destroy the idea of the number 7 because it represents suffering," and "marry literally every catgirl"

Joe Slowboat
Nov 9, 2016

Higgledy-Piggledy Whale Statements



See, that's honestly my least favorite take on Exalted: when every character motivation and goal is something you'd expect of the most decadent first age Solars.

Mnemon is interesting precisely because she's a portrait of someone who fits into her society and whose ambitions make sense, and yet also her ambitions are 'become the world's sorcerer-Empress.'

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:

Warning!

Hello Kevin, my old friend
I've come to read with you again

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:

Violence, War, Magic & the Supernatural

Because a book softly cre-eeping
Broke my brains while I was pe-eeping

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:

The fictional world of Rifts® is violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Otherdimensional beings often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book.

And the plot that was planted in my brain

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:

Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion.

Circled drains

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition posted:

Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence.

And warned of war and violence




Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 1: "As our story progresses, the leaders of Tolkeen and the Coalition States will be shown to be more alike than different."

So, the elected monarchistic Tolkeen is just as bad as the neo-neo-Nazi Coalition.

No, really, don't laugh, it's true!



You may say "Well, Tolkeen aren't expansionist, genocidal fascists." And that's true. But their sin is different. Their sin is one of self-defense. Siembieda, right off the bat, argues that the people of Tolkeen should just flee. To him, the notion of opposing genocidal fascism at the cost of your own life is an act of blind hatred on the part of Tolkeen's leaders. According to him, they're coldly irresponsible, and more focused on revenge than the well-being of their people by committing to a war that they can't win. How do they know this? Well, it's presumed, since the author knows who wins. I wanted to play coy about who wins this fight, but it's already spoiled in the books leading up to this event. And even if they hadn't, we still have Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States: The Disavowed and Rifts® The Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity Arsenal Sourcebook coming out in 2019... or 2020... or whenever. Yes, we've got a six book series where we know how it ends. And anybody at the time should have known how it would end. In the meantime, prepare for a lot of "maybe the fault is with both sides" bullshit.

And so Siembieda says to cut and run. And we'll hear that refrain throughout the book. It fits with his philosophy that war is only committed by the mad or cruel. But we don't know that much about Tolkeen, and that'll be a problem going forward. And for those that are looking forward to seeing any details on it- well, you'll still have to wait a long while. Yes, though we'll hear a lot about the region, Tolkeen's war plans, and their weapons... Tolkeen as a place, Tolkeen as a people... will remain frustratingly vague.


How many licks does it take to get to the Nazi Roll center of a Nazi Pop?

One thing that is a little confusing - is this series called Coalition Wars or Siege on Tolkeen? The first is the name on the cover, so that's what I'm going with. It's probably better known by the second name, though, since it was solicited under that name. The official name for this book is Rifts® Coalition Wars® 1: Sedition™ (yes, all those ownership marks are official) or Rifts® Coalition Wars® Siege on Tolkeen™ - Chapter One: Sedition, even though the word "sedition" isn't anywhere on the cover! Without catalogs or the interior title, you'd have no idea it was supposed to be called that. Which surely is the purest sign we're going into a Palladium book...

We've come a long way, roughly a full decade of Rifts summaries written, the metaplot inching forward over scores of books to this point in which we get to the Coalition-Tolkeen war. Prepare yourself for the biggest, longest, most overblown and self-indulgent series of Rifts summaries books yet. Primarily written by Kevin Siembieda, this also has a fair amount of writing by Bill Coffin, who will get roped into this largely to his chagrin. Rifts was hardly his favorite game line, but he'll see if there's a way to inject some sense into Siembieda's writing. One of the core issues is that the war doesn't make a world of sense - either through teleportation or nukes, the war should be over one way or the other very quickly. How can they deal with the fact that we're dealing with magic and technology advanced enough to run a wrecking ball over the notion of conventional war?

Well, screw that, it's time for Tarn.

Next: When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.

Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Apr 27, 2019

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
But perhaps the true fault is with people who don't want to get killed by Nazis. Oh Kevin you dumbass.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



How cruel of them to deny their rightful masters their due. I hope you read this, Siembieda! I hope somebody comes for YOUR house!

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Is Erin Tarn gonna whine some more about how bad it'd be to destabilize the murderous fascists by resisting them, too?

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth
I dare say Alien is actually downplaying how RICH with smug this series is, with near every chapter having to have major parts about how if those drat minorities would have just run away and let the not-nazis take their homes this would all be peaceful. The entire point of this whole bit is just Kev smugly sitting back in his chair and rubbing his beard while asking 'perhaps by fighting the nazis...you become the nazis....'

But, like, with robots and dragons so it is kinda cool still.

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth
Also important note, that cover is meant to be shocking and scary rather than badass and sweet as hell, because they genuinely thought the image of a wizard blasting nazis with a dragon is supposed to be shocking and shatter your peaceful view of them.

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



sexpig by night posted:

I dare say Alien is actually downplaying how RICH with smug this series is, with near every chapter having to have major parts about how if those drat minorities would have just run away and let the not-nazis take their homes this would all be peaceful. The entire point of this whole bit is just Kev smugly sitting back in his chair and rubbing his beard while asking 'perhaps by fighting the nazis...you become the nazis....'

But, like, with robots and dragons so it is kinda cool still.
Like if you want to have the Empire in the setting and have there be the philosophical point of "the Empire sucks but may be fighting things that would be worse, requiring a certain amount of strategy to avoid letting the demons in,' you don't make the Empire loving Nazis. Like I realize this is probably representative of the imaginative poverty of the American media landscape, but would it be impossible to have them be... PRUSSIANS? Or perhaps Romans? Do these people somehow think that genocidal activities generate military strength, perhaps by spawning evil ghosts?

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Nessus posted:

Do these people somehow think that genocidal activities generate military strength, perhaps by spawning evil ghosts?

Generally? Yes. They think it's a sign of how hard the men are, and how hard of decisions they're willing to make, and blah blah.

megane
Jun 20, 2008



Alien Rope Burn posted:

Nazis are Actually Great and You Should Respect and Fear Them: Volume 1 of 45, by Kevin Siembieda

:smithicide:

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Who the gently caress writes 'and then the badass wizard with his dragon vaporized 8 nazis' and thinks 'Heh, shows them how awful wizards are'. That's the best thing a wizard can do!

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

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Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Heroically running away is a very weird pitch, but it's even weirder in Rifts, comma, a game primarily about fighting

Dawgstar
Jul 15, 2017

Don't be stupid, be a smarty!
Come and join the CS party!

Nessus
Dec 22, 2003

After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!



Dawgstar posted:

Don't be stupid, be a smarty!
Come and join the CS party!
I was born in South Chi-Town and that is why I am a clown

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Cooked Auto
Aug 4, 2007

If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!






Neotech 2
Part 35: Equipment Check.


Welcome to the last actual chapter of this book, the obligatory equipment chapter. This whole section is mostly meant to give the GM an idea of what different types of gear cost. Players too I would assume unless the GM is actually meant to handle gear purchases for the player. Seems odd if true.
The book stresses it’s important to make the equipment as interesting as possible. So when presenting it for the players you should always add manufacturer name, model designation and any possible nicknames for it. The function doesn’t change but it gives the players a better feeling for the world and a more personal attitude to the gear.
Once again I do agree but much like back in the branding discussion it’s better to use it sparingly rather than often. Because a lot of the equipment listed here is very common stuff like services and computers.
Something to keep in mind is that some equipment can also be illegal or require permits to be owned. It’s up to the GM’s sound judgement to deem what is legal in various places around the world. When it comes to weight it can vary from model to model and the GM is encourages to make their own estimates here as well.
The GM can easily derive prices for equipment not listed in the upcoming tables by first estimating what it would cost today. Each euro in 2059 is equivalent to 4 bucks. It uses Swedish Krona in this case but might as well keep it ambiguous. This makes it easy for them to calculate the price for the item in 2059.

Everything listed in this chapter is standard models or more prevalent types. Beyond this there is a large range of similar products that aren’t listed. Beyond that you can customise and build things after particular specifications. There are four different variations:
Designer made: Specially made by a famous designer for those who are loaded with money and want to brag about it. The function is the same but the price is between five to fifty times higher.
Military variants: Usually means sturdy and durable variants used by the military and organisations with demands for ruggedness and simplicity. The price is usually twice as high for ordinary equipment and weight is usually also doubled to represent the ability to handle rough treatment.
Moisture-Protected/Waterproof: The former doubles the price with the latter quadruples it.
Pirate copy: Means cheaper prices than the originals but lower durability and quality. They also tend to be illegal. Usually half the original.

There are no rules anywhere about item durability so that mention is kinda pointless unless the GM is a dick about it.

Custom variants: Build according to specific specifications. Cost is dependant on what components used and the labor cost. Usually five to to ten times as high as the normal price.

Then there’s various availability tiers that we don’t need to bother about.
You can also rent or lease equipment in order to lower the cost if you only need it for a short period of time. To be able to rent something you either need to prove that you are going to return it or make a deposit. Sometimes the lessor can simply deny renting it out if they’re uncertain about whoever wants to rent it. The rental amount is around 1% of the new price per day. This cost is lower if you rent over longer periods of time. On smaller things that get worn or outdated the cost will be higher. It’s up to the GM to decide how much the rental cost is.
Uuuuuuuugh, why is this even a thing mentioned if it’s all up to the GM anyway.

You can also insure things but there are no real rules for that or how much things would cost so it’s entirely superfluous. There’s not even a table with insurance prices!

But something that does have a relevant table, the next to last one even(!) is the black market. Obviously you can’t get everything through legal means, so for those you need to head to the illegal market instead. If the price is right you can get pretty much anything. Only thing you need, outside of deep pockets, is the right contacts. To use this it obviously requires a check against the Underworld skill. A success means that you’ve managed to get in touch with a seller. If you fumble on the other hand you ask around in such a blunt way that the police discovers you. The difficulty is an average check, but that means you spend a whole day looking. If you want to be quick about that is increased to very hard (Ob5D6) per hour. If what you need is extremely illegal the difficulty gets raised further. On the plus side, once you have gained a contact you can use it repeatedly.
The price is dependant on many factors, the most important one is how illegal the thing you’re looking for it. But also how easily obtainable it is might also affect it. The Persuasion skill can be used to calculate what price the buyer and seller agree on. To calculate it’s actual worth you need to multiply the normal price with one of the factors in the relevant table. For instance a very illegal item increases the price by 10 while an easily obtained item is only one times the price. That can however be combined with the illegality level.
A slight editing error is that it says there are four types of illegality levels but only lists three.
Usually most black market dealers will put their initial price at twice as high as the items real value.

Player characters usually has a tendency to come over various hot items that they want to sell off to earn some extra cash.
Is this really true though in this case? I mean we still have no idea what we can play as in this game and it’s not like an Interpol agent would randomly loot things for their own gain for instance.
Anyway, to be able to sell stolen, illegal or sought after items you need to have the right contacts, preferably in the shape of a fence. Getting a fence as a contact is, much like previously, a check against your Underworld skill. The success and fumbles are exactly the same as well, same with the difficulties. The price you get is also dependant on the same table as before but slightly more options, even if they mostly are between times 0.1 to 0.5 the value of the item.

But that’s the last rule of the whole book! After this follows five pages of equipment tables. Starting out with prices and availability for information and various services. For instance if you need a 20 second advertising spot on TV it costs 10000 euro while a full page ad goes for 15000 euro. How about hiring a scientist for 150 euro per hour? Or a realtor for 100 euro per hour plus 5% provision? A university education is 50000 euro per year. First time that’s been mention as far as I could remember. Also that is a career so why is it listed as a price at the back? This game.

We get some food prices as well. You can get 5 litres of moonshine for 25 euro. Just what you need to spice up any party. Otherwise things are cheap and affordable. Most expensive item is a bottle of whiskey for 50 euro. Only weighs 800 grams!
A party drink complete with an umbrella costs only 8 euros. Funny enough a luxury restaurant is only 100 euros. Pretty sure Sylvanus could’ve eaten plenty of times at one even after finishing his first career. Feels like it could have needed another 0 at the end just because.

If you want real fur you need to pay 4000 euros. But what kind of real fur item? I don’t know, it just says ‘Real fur’ as an entry in the clothing list. Fake fur is 1500 euros. A ninja costume is only 150. But I say if you’re going to play a corporate ninja in a office campaign you get that for free.
A state of the art cyberdeck costs 2000. But remember that these don’t really have any stats or anything so all you really need to do is buy the cheapest one possible for like 500. Or even buy a pirate copied one for 150 and do pretty much anything because the hacking rules are a massive joke.
For some reason it lists that an exceptional level server that costs 1 million euros also weighs 100 kilograms. Do they expect players to carry one of those off if they can or what?

If you have cash to spare you can buy a mini sub for 60000 euros. Or an armor suit for 40000 euro, I’m not sure if it’s one of those deep water suits or just anti-shark chainmail because there are once again no item descriptions to be found anywhere. Or pictures for that part.

Neotech is however a future that has rocketpacks, only 25000 euros for those.

There’s also price listings for advanced surgery equipment. 200 000 euros for the basic one and it weighs 1200 kilograms. An autodoc will set you back 900 000 euros and it weighs 2000 kilograms.
Or you can buy a cryogenic freezer for 1 500 000 euros, only 800 kilograms in weight too. What a steal!

Hilarious enough we get several listings for various kinds of vehicles too. A normal car goes for 30 000 euro. A forklift (ole!) costs 100 000 euros, Or you can get a dumper for 250 000 euro. These also have listed weights because?
How about a tank?! It will only set you back 2 million euros. Or 3 million euros if you want a heavy tank. A hover tank on the other hand will go for 4 million.

Things get even more insane as we go over to aircraft. A strategic bomber will set you back 150 million and weighs 120 000 kilograms. Or you can buy a VTOL transport for 10 million. Maybe a fighter jet? 8 million. Wonder if you can get that in hot pink or something.
A space plane goes for 200 million and weighs 200 000 kilograms.

Lastly, right down at the bottom underneath all that insane and unnecessary information we get information for our cyberpunk shipping company. A container costs 500 euro per ton and a package is 20 euro per kilogram, or a pallet is 10 euro per kilogram.

Next time: It is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

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