Congratulations, you're now a "senior intelligence official".
The So-Called Game of Nations: A Spy Chief CKII-Type Quest
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Character Creation I
- Location
- Looking at obscure spook stuff
- Pronouns
- He
The region known as "The Quadrilateral" is home to a web of tensions and hatreds so old and complex that it probably was the main reason the colonizing powers packed up as quickly as they did. And there at least, they never looked back.
At the East-South Corner of the Quadrilateral was the Federal Republic of Khalili, your fatherland, itself a mess of ethnic and tribal tensions, religious nationalism, and political violence. But Khalili's current prospects were perhaps the best since independence: the federal democratic system is slightly less dysfunctional than in your youth, corruption is merely widespread rather than omnipresent and the security forces are currently only fighting one (1!) insurgency in the inhospitable highlands Western Plateau. Truly, times to be thankful for.
Your neighbors probably didn't share your optimism. Occupying the top half of the Quadrilateral was the hated People's Republic of Jalan. The PRJ were fighting two (ahah!) Khalili-sponsored insurgencies of mountain tribesmen, half heartedly fighting off oil-induced corruption, while trying to keep a lid on the aspirations of an increasingly restless youth. They didn't want to end up like their Amari clients.
Sitting on the last corner of the Quadrilateral, the Amari were also (until recently) your hereditary enemies. However, the republic had recently cast off its geriatric leadership and was on the verge of charting a new course as a newly democratic State. And though small and landlocked, Amari is incredibly resource rich and more importantly… finally out of the Jalan sphere of influence.
That's where you come in. You are to start as the new Second Secretary of the Khalili embassy at the Amari Capital creatively dubbed… Amar. Your real job is that of new head of Amar Station for the Khalili FISD (Foreign Intelligence and Security Directorate), which does what it says on the tin. As a new (kind of) senior intelligence official you have performed wonderfully in your previous assignment. Where was it?
[Background]
[] ANALYST
Senior Analyst at the Intelligence Directorate.
You have a PhD in history and have been fascinated by the history of the Quadrilateral all your life. You evidently knew stuff as the Examination Board seemed quite impressed with you and were swiftly hired. You quickly (by FISD standards) made it to Senior Analyst, but you need field experience before you can move to greater things. Besides, you're an area expert.
Main Stats: Learning and Intrigue.
PROs:
Counterintelligence officer at the Security Directorate.
You've a degree in criminology and after briefly considering joining the police, you decided to pass the FISD entrance exam instead. You've been doing counterintelligence work ever since. You hounded suspected enemy agents, their handlers and whoever else supported them… and then used the whole infrastructure for your disinformation "stings". Counterintelligence is a team game and you soon developed as a competent leader of men and skilled handler.
However, you have no abroad experience and that needs to change before you can be promoted further. Furthermore, the Amar Station could use a steady hand.
Main stats: Intrigue and Stewardship
PROs:
Paramilitary Officer in the Covert Action Division.
You're a military academy graduate, former paratrooper, and ex-Special Forces hand. In your time with army and the paramilitary Covert Action Division, you've seen and done it all. Arming, training, and leading irregular troops, covert propaganda, bribery, sabotage, kidnapping. You name it, you did it. War by other means is your trade and you're quite good at it.
Which is probably why your superiors gave you this Stati… Second Secretary job.
PROs:
Your family have served and has been served by the state regardless of the regime since the independence of your country. In what capacity?
(Your family trade bonuses/maluses are those you picked up growing up rather than those you got as an adult in the background section. As such, if there's conflict here with the bonuses/maluses of background, background take precedence)
[] DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
Your grandfather was a well-respected diplomat and your father, an ambassador in high-standing. You travelled around, went to schools for rich kids, picked up languages and etiquette.
+2 Diplomacy. Bonus to social with diplomats, high society, and foreigners. Bonus to diplomatic and general historical lore.
-2 Learning. Malus to social with people of… less privileged upbringing.
[] MILITARY SERVICE
Your gramps was an NCO in the colonial army, later a Junior Officer with considerable military experience in the early post-independence wars. Your father is a former War College instructor, retired Brigadier, and unfortunate Conservative MP candidate, some of it rubbed off.
+1 Martial. Bonus to social with military and some academic types (think historians). Bonus to all military lore checks.
-1 Diplomacy. Malus to social with most academics, politicians and most people left of the political center. (People are biased when dealing with you. But so are you).
[] INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
Your Gramps was a colonial plainclothes political police officer during the colonial era. He later faithfully served two military regimes and one civilian dictatorship as a specialist in separatist movements (Those never get purged). Your father served as counterintelligence official in the Interior Ministry. Like so many of your colleagues, you were practically born into intelligence world.
+2 Intrigue. Bonus to social when dealing with intelligence officers. Bonus to intelligence lore.
-1 Diplomacy. Malus to social with diplomats, politicians and other people who talk too much. You're very prone to cynical comments at inopportune moments.
[] GENERAL CIVIL SERVICE
Your grandfather and both your parents were unremarkable civil servants doing God-knows-what-pointless-work for decades.
+2 Stewardship. Bonus to social when dealing with Bureaucrats off all sorts (middle-lower end diplomats, staff officers, pen-pushers more generally). No lore bonuses.
-1 Intrigue. Malus to social with politicians and high society more generally. No lore malus.
[Nationality]
The old colonial powers have drawn the national borders with a hatchet.
The direct consequence of this arrangement are the ethnically diverse "Nations"-States of the region, composed of feuding ethnic and tribal groups with a limited sense of national identity. Ethnonationalism is something you outgrew in college, unfortunately, not everyone is so wise.
Your "Nationality" will determine how other see you and how you think about your ancestry.
(Keep in mind that the characteristics of each group are very much meant to be widely believed stereotypes and as such will not have any "gameplay" significance beyond certain social checks.)
[] Lashun
You're a descendant of the infernal pastoralists of the White Mountains Chains.
Your people are best known for their endless tribal feuds, constant raids on the people down below, a tendency for zealotry, a strict code of honor and a fierce sense of independence. Lashun nationalists take pride in the old "holy" wars your people fought against any form of exterior authority, be it colonial, Khalili or Jalan.
According to the still widely believed colonial typology, the Lashun are a "martial race", perhaps the most infamous (best?) example in the whole region. They were enlisted as privileged soldiers of both colonial and post-colonial orders in Khalili. They're still over-represented in the army (including officer corps).
Although you're one of the people of the mountain, you're fourth generation urban Lashun and so lost most of the traditions of your people. Still, you eat with your hands whenever you think you can get away with it. Despite that, you have little more than contempt at some of your fellow urban Lashun's romantic imaginings on your rural brethren.
[] Panjar
You're a descendent of the people of the plains. The ethnic majority among your countrymen, as it happens.
You're the great-great son of some peasant who emigrated to a city before it was cool. As such your family transcended its low status in time to become privileged servants of a newly independent state and part of a slowly growing middle and upper class.
According to the old colonial typology, the Panjar are also a "martial race", though less prone to feuding than the Lashun, the history of your people is filled with battles of all shapes and sizes.
Panjar nationalists tend to see themselves as more civilized than the crazed mountain zealots-killers and hardier than the effeminate people of the river.
You remain unconvinced.
[] Amari
You're a descendent of the river people. An incredibly populous civilization that once flourished along the mighty Udin river. Due to your centuries-long losing struggle against the Panjar to the East, the Amaris were preferred by the old colonial power. This was especially true during the last decade of colonization. At the very least the Amaris got a their very own country for their troubles.
Your family, however, was stuck on the wrong side of the border when the partition happened. Not that being a "traitor" in a Panjar-majority country would stop your grandfather.
According to the old colonial typology, the Amari are not martial race, as such were given preferential treatment for civil service rather than military appointments.
Amari nationalists take pride in their ancient civilization and are quick to put the blame on everything that went wrong in their country in the last few centuries on "Panjar imperialism".
A tall claim by most objective standards, in your view.
[Bonus Trait] Pick two
Maybe you were always a little unique or maybe your extensive intelligence career made you stand out. How, exactly?
+1 intrigue. -1 Learning.
+1 Martial. -1 Diplomacy.
+1 Learning. -1 Intrigue.
+1 Diplomacy. -1 Learning. Bonus when dealing with Human intelligence means and their collectors.
+1 Learning. -1 Diplomacy. Bonus when dealing with Technical intelligence means and their collectors.
+1 Martial. -1 Intrigue.
+1 Intrigue. -1 Diplomacy. Malus to social with "all of them rich city people". Bonus to social with intelligence officers, rural folks, and certain other individuals.
A/N: Hello everyone. I've been lurking around for a while when I thought-out this slightly crazy idea of a quest. Though I must say it's the first time I ever tried anything even remotely like that. So I ask for your patience and feedback.
The idea of having a protagonist part of the foreign intelligence apparatus of a country stuck in a post-colonial morass of internal tensions, bad-governance, unfriendly neighbors and unfavorable force ratios is an old one in my head and having recently discovered a passion for historical covert operation nonsense, I thought I might as well write something about it. For all intents and purposes the story happens in 2020 but... in an alternate universe to avoid obvious complications linked to such themes as covert activities, foreign interference, nationalism, controversial history, and general thuggery and cynicism.
At the East-South Corner of the Quadrilateral was the Federal Republic of Khalili, your fatherland, itself a mess of ethnic and tribal tensions, religious nationalism, and political violence. But Khalili's current prospects were perhaps the best since independence: the federal democratic system is slightly less dysfunctional than in your youth, corruption is merely widespread rather than omnipresent and the security forces are currently only fighting one (1!) insurgency in the inhospitable highlands Western Plateau. Truly, times to be thankful for.
Your neighbors probably didn't share your optimism. Occupying the top half of the Quadrilateral was the hated People's Republic of Jalan. The PRJ were fighting two (ahah!) Khalili-sponsored insurgencies of mountain tribesmen, half heartedly fighting off oil-induced corruption, while trying to keep a lid on the aspirations of an increasingly restless youth. They didn't want to end up like their Amari clients.
Sitting on the last corner of the Quadrilateral, the Amari were also (until recently) your hereditary enemies. However, the republic had recently cast off its geriatric leadership and was on the verge of charting a new course as a newly democratic State. And though small and landlocked, Amari is incredibly resource rich and more importantly… finally out of the Jalan sphere of influence.
That's where you come in. You are to start as the new Second Secretary of the Khalili embassy at the Amari Capital creatively dubbed… Amar. Your real job is that of new head of Amar Station for the Khalili FISD (Foreign Intelligence and Security Directorate), which does what it says on the tin. As a new (kind of) senior intelligence official you have performed wonderfully in your previous assignment. Where was it?
[Background]
[] ANALYST
Senior Analyst at the Intelligence Directorate.
You have a PhD in history and have been fascinated by the history of the Quadrilateral all your life. You evidently knew stuff as the Examination Board seemed quite impressed with you and were swiftly hired. You quickly (by FISD standards) made it to Senior Analyst, but you need field experience before you can move to greater things. Besides, you're an area expert.
Main Stats: Learning and Intrigue.
PROs:
- You're a senior intelligence analyst. +2 Intrigue, +3 Learning.
- You've been in Amari several times as a tourist and have followed the political developments with great interest. You more or less know the score at game start.
- Bonus to your social interaction with academics and other intellectual types
- Bonus to all lore checks
- You're likely unknown to local intelligence services
- You have leadership experience with a small team of analyst and worked with all sorts of intelligence sources. +1 Stewardship
- You really don't look like a spy
- You haven't served as a field agent before. Your training is either old or insufficient. -2 Intrigue
- Your leadership experience with non-analysts is nil.
- Malus to social with diplomats. You really can't like those philistines. -1 Diplomacy.
- Malus to social with military people. You can't seem to fit in with them. (Can be overcome)
Counterintelligence officer at the Security Directorate.
You've a degree in criminology and after briefly considering joining the police, you decided to pass the FISD entrance exam instead. You've been doing counterintelligence work ever since. You hounded suspected enemy agents, their handlers and whoever else supported them… and then used the whole infrastructure for your disinformation "stings". Counterintelligence is a team game and you soon developed as a competent leader of men and skilled handler.
However, you have no abroad experience and that needs to change before you can be promoted further. Furthermore, the Amar Station could use a steady hand.
Main stats: Intrigue and Stewardship
PROs:
- Extremely familiar with fieldwork (Esp. Human intelligence but also technical intelligence). +2 Intrigue +1 Diplomacy +1 Learning.
- Deception specialist (Bonus to deception, propaganda ops and simple lying). +1 Intrigue.
- Completely unknown to Amari Security…
- …And yet so intimately familiar with their inner workings. Bonus to intelligence lore checks.
- Social bonus when dealing with intelligence officers and policemen
- Extensive leadership experience. +2 Stewardship.
- Utterly ignorant of the social and political landscape ahead of you. You know, the very thing you're supposed to report on. Lore malus. Local lore also checks have a chance to go horribly wrong.
- More than a little paranoid. +1 Intrigue. -2 Diplomacy
- You can't help but to look a little suspicious. Slightly increased chance for your activities to get noticed.
Paramilitary Officer in the Covert Action Division.
You're a military academy graduate, former paratrooper, and ex-Special Forces hand. In your time with army and the paramilitary Covert Action Division, you've seen and done it all. Arming, training, and leading irregular troops, covert propaganda, bribery, sabotage, kidnapping. You name it, you did it. War by other means is your trade and you're quite good at it.
Which is probably why your superiors gave you this Stati… Second Secretary job.
PROs:
- Covert Activities Specialist. Bonus to all covert actions (from propaganda to coup planning) +2 Intrigue
- Professional soldier. Bonus to all athletic and martial tasks. And Military Lore checks. +2 Martial
- Moderately familiar with intelligence tradecraft. +1 Intrigue
- Great leadership skills and charisma but limited logistical experience. +1 Diplomacy, -1 stewardship
- Bonus to social with military personnel, criminals, and politicians (the latter two suffer from significant overlap).
- Fought the proxy war with Jalan and their insurgent cat's paws. The Amaris don't know you…
- …But you don't know them. Not very well anyways. Local lore malus.
- You disdain the idea of intelligence for intelligence's sake. One of your actions must be spent on planning or executing a cover operation. (You don't have to execute any of your plans)
- You may end up at logger head with your non-paramilitary colleagues and are not used to being questioned. Situational social Malus with your non-(para)military subordinates.
- You're obviously not a diplomat. Your build, your scars, posture and even your haircut scream "military". At this point, your cover is paper thin, if that. (Not always a bad thing.)
Your family have served and has been served by the state regardless of the regime since the independence of your country. In what capacity?
(Your family trade bonuses/maluses are those you picked up growing up rather than those you got as an adult in the background section. As such, if there's conflict here with the bonuses/maluses of background, background take precedence)
[] DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
Your grandfather was a well-respected diplomat and your father, an ambassador in high-standing. You travelled around, went to schools for rich kids, picked up languages and etiquette.
+2 Diplomacy. Bonus to social with diplomats, high society, and foreigners. Bonus to diplomatic and general historical lore.
-2 Learning. Malus to social with people of… less privileged upbringing.
[] MILITARY SERVICE
Your gramps was an NCO in the colonial army, later a Junior Officer with considerable military experience in the early post-independence wars. Your father is a former War College instructor, retired Brigadier, and unfortunate Conservative MP candidate, some of it rubbed off.
+1 Martial. Bonus to social with military and some academic types (think historians). Bonus to all military lore checks.
-1 Diplomacy. Malus to social with most academics, politicians and most people left of the political center. (People are biased when dealing with you. But so are you).
[] INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
Your Gramps was a colonial plainclothes political police officer during the colonial era. He later faithfully served two military regimes and one civilian dictatorship as a specialist in separatist movements (Those never get purged). Your father served as counterintelligence official in the Interior Ministry. Like so many of your colleagues, you were practically born into intelligence world.
+2 Intrigue. Bonus to social when dealing with intelligence officers. Bonus to intelligence lore.
-1 Diplomacy. Malus to social with diplomats, politicians and other people who talk too much. You're very prone to cynical comments at inopportune moments.
[] GENERAL CIVIL SERVICE
Your grandfather and both your parents were unremarkable civil servants doing God-knows-what-pointless-work for decades.
+2 Stewardship. Bonus to social when dealing with Bureaucrats off all sorts (middle-lower end diplomats, staff officers, pen-pushers more generally). No lore bonuses.
-1 Intrigue. Malus to social with politicians and high society more generally. No lore malus.
[Nationality]
The old colonial powers have drawn the national borders with a hatchet.
The direct consequence of this arrangement are the ethnically diverse "Nations"-States of the region, composed of feuding ethnic and tribal groups with a limited sense of national identity. Ethnonationalism is something you outgrew in college, unfortunately, not everyone is so wise.
Your "Nationality" will determine how other see you and how you think about your ancestry.
(Keep in mind that the characteristics of each group are very much meant to be widely believed stereotypes and as such will not have any "gameplay" significance beyond certain social checks.)
[] Lashun
You're a descendant of the infernal pastoralists of the White Mountains Chains.
Your people are best known for their endless tribal feuds, constant raids on the people down below, a tendency for zealotry, a strict code of honor and a fierce sense of independence. Lashun nationalists take pride in the old "holy" wars your people fought against any form of exterior authority, be it colonial, Khalili or Jalan.
According to the still widely believed colonial typology, the Lashun are a "martial race", perhaps the most infamous (best?) example in the whole region. They were enlisted as privileged soldiers of both colonial and post-colonial orders in Khalili. They're still over-represented in the army (including officer corps).
Although you're one of the people of the mountain, you're fourth generation urban Lashun and so lost most of the traditions of your people. Still, you eat with your hands whenever you think you can get away with it. Despite that, you have little more than contempt at some of your fellow urban Lashun's romantic imaginings on your rural brethren.
[] Panjar
You're a descendent of the people of the plains. The ethnic majority among your countrymen, as it happens.
You're the great-great son of some peasant who emigrated to a city before it was cool. As such your family transcended its low status in time to become privileged servants of a newly independent state and part of a slowly growing middle and upper class.
According to the old colonial typology, the Panjar are also a "martial race", though less prone to feuding than the Lashun, the history of your people is filled with battles of all shapes and sizes.
Panjar nationalists tend to see themselves as more civilized than the crazed mountain zealots-killers and hardier than the effeminate people of the river.
You remain unconvinced.
[] Amari
You're a descendent of the river people. An incredibly populous civilization that once flourished along the mighty Udin river. Due to your centuries-long losing struggle against the Panjar to the East, the Amaris were preferred by the old colonial power. This was especially true during the last decade of colonization. At the very least the Amaris got a their very own country for their troubles.
Your family, however, was stuck on the wrong side of the border when the partition happened. Not that being a "traitor" in a Panjar-majority country would stop your grandfather.
According to the old colonial typology, the Amari are not martial race, as such were given preferential treatment for civil service rather than military appointments.
Amari nationalists take pride in their ancient civilization and are quick to put the blame on everything that went wrong in their country in the last few centuries on "Panjar imperialism".
A tall claim by most objective standards, in your view.
[Bonus Trait] Pick two
Maybe you were always a little unique or maybe your extensive intelligence career made you stand out. How, exactly?
- Amoral Gameplayer (Mutually exclusive with Noblesse Oblige and Thug)
+1 intrigue. -1 Learning.
- Thug (Mutually exclusive with Noblesse Oblige and Amoral Gameplayer)
+1 Martial. -1 Diplomacy.
- Noblesse Oblige (Mutually exclusive with Thug and Amoral Gameplayer)
+1 Learning. -1 Intrigue.
- Human intelligence bias (Mutually exclusive with Technical intelligence bias, duh)
+1 Diplomacy. -1 Learning. Bonus when dealing with Human intelligence means and their collectors.
- Technical intelligence bias (Mutually exclusive with Human intelligence bias, duh)
+1 Learning. -1 Diplomacy. Bonus when dealing with Technical intelligence means and their collectors.
- That embarrassing phase in college
- Unusually brave
+1 Martial. -1 Intrigue.
- Looks like a Bedouin
+1 Intrigue. -1 Diplomacy. Malus to social with "all of them rich city people". Bonus to social with intelligence officers, rural folks, and certain other individuals.
A/N: Hello everyone. I've been lurking around for a while when I thought-out this slightly crazy idea of a quest. Though I must say it's the first time I ever tried anything even remotely like that. So I ask for your patience and feedback.
The idea of having a protagonist part of the foreign intelligence apparatus of a country stuck in a post-colonial morass of internal tensions, bad-governance, unfriendly neighbors and unfavorable force ratios is an old one in my head and having recently discovered a passion for historical covert operation nonsense, I thought I might as well write something about it. For all intents and purposes the story happens in 2020 but... in an alternate universe to avoid obvious complications linked to such themes as covert activities, foreign interference, nationalism, controversial history, and general thuggery and cynicism.
General Lore and Mechanics
- Location
- Looking at obscure spook stuff
- Pronouns
- He
Mechanics:
Whether local CI knows you
Leadership
Lore checks
Social
More to come.
Lore
(As perceived by the MC)
Federal Republic of Khalili
People's Republic of Jalan
The FISD
Whether local CI knows you
The local counterintelligence shop is always on the look out for agents and what better way to get to them than by watching the handler? It's normal practice for intelligence officers to work in embassy under diplomatic cover. (During the cold war it was often the cultural attaché). First, it gives you a plausible reason to be there. Second, it gives you immunity. If you're really naughty, they can at worst they make you persona non grata and deport you.
The price to pay is you can be pretty sure they'll investigate your cover story and check if they know you and keep you under watch, start a file on you, bug your phone etc.
However, a country in political turmoil can only expend so much time and energy looking into diplomats, so if they end up deciding you're not a threat, they'll likely deprioritize you as a surveillance target. So might be better off laying low for a start. (Or not if the CI officers tailing you are really bad).
The price to pay is you can be pretty sure they'll investigate your cover story and check if they know you and keep you under watch, start a file on you, bug your phone etc.
However, a country in political turmoil can only expend so much time and energy looking into diplomats, so if they end up deciding you're not a threat, they'll likely deprioritize you as a surveillance target. So might be better off laying low for a start. (Or not if the CI officers tailing you are really bad).
Leadership
You're not a spy, but a spy-chief, you have a few people working with you. However, at the start of the story you're a specialist. You're pretty darn good at what you do but you don't know a whole lot about coordinating the work of several sources/types of intelligence jobs to fulfill your bosses' requirements.
Leadership checks happen under the hood whenever you're coordinating your people or ordering them around. It influences how much they're likely to trust you and respect your judgement (after all you're new at all of this on-the-ground foreign intelligence stuff).
Leadership checks happen under the hood whenever you're coordinating your people or ordering them around. It influences how much they're likely to trust you and respect your judgement (after all you're new at all of this on-the-ground foreign intelligence stuff).
Lore checks
Your job is to produce actionable intelligence for your chiefs out of a complicated landscape, in this case having context information will help you piece things together, see larger patterns or even know where to start. Also useful for bullshitting and conversations more generally.
Social
Depending on who you're, a hardy CA man with lots of experience in irregular warfare or a very, very smart analyst, you're more likely to get along with certain types of people. Soldiers are more likely to bond with other soldiers, the same goes for academics and so on.
More to come.
Lore
(As perceived by the MC)
Federal Republic of Khalili
A noted den of infamy, corruption, and violence (both political and criminal) for decades. The RFK is perhaps in its best state yet. But that's not saying much. The federal democratic system is a measly 15 years and institutions are probably not that strong, yet. Except the security agencies, that goes without saying.
Aside from the Lashun and Panjar, there's another minority ethnic group living mainly in the Northwestern highland of the country, the Hajid, who have been a waging on-and-off insurgency for darn near 50 years or so. With moral, material and even technical support from your hostile neighbors.
Not that your country is innocent in that regard. The RFK has gleefully supported "wars of national liberation" and never hesitated to use all means including war to get an advantage, however temporary in this cutthroat neighborhood. Unfortunately, you weren't blessed with the best of leadership…
National Trait: Siege Mentality. You are surrounded by enemies. This is not good for your mental health.
National Trait: Dubious Leadership. Khalili bosses have a reputation to be grossly incompetent, corrupt or both. No always true, but widely believed.
Aside from the Lashun and Panjar, there's another minority ethnic group living mainly in the Northwestern highland of the country, the Hajid, who have been a waging on-and-off insurgency for darn near 50 years or so. With moral, material and even technical support from your hostile neighbors.
Not that your country is innocent in that regard. The RFK has gleefully supported "wars of national liberation" and never hesitated to use all means including war to get an advantage, however temporary in this cutthroat neighborhood. Unfortunately, you weren't blessed with the best of leadership…
National Trait: Siege Mentality. You are surrounded by enemies. This is not good for your mental health.
National Trait: Dubious Leadership. Khalili bosses have a reputation to be grossly incompetent, corrupt or both. No always true, but widely believed.
People's Republic of Jalan
Though Khalilis are known to take perverse pride in just how bad their country is. They gotta hand it to the Hereditary Enemy, that's one messed up country. Oil money, general lack of civil liberties, state-run enterprise, and ridiculous wealth inequality conspire to make the PRJ look worse than your country on paper. In practice, expectations are low and subsides are a thing, so it's not all that bad, (un?)fortunately. The advantage for you is that the PRJ is teeming with interest groups who want to breakaway, reform, revolutionize it creating a perceived asymmetric advantage which you and yours used and abused.
The downside is that the PRJ is bigger, more industrialized, and far more heavily armed than Khalili. Pushing your countrymen to pursue aggressive (and frankly reckless) policies to contain them.
National Trait: Police State. The All-Knowing Eye of the Secret Police is likely on you.
National Trait: The big kid of the block. You're the biggest, baddest fellow around and you know it.
The downside is that the PRJ is bigger, more industrialized, and far more heavily armed than Khalili. Pushing your countrymen to pursue aggressive (and frankly reckless) policies to contain them.
National Trait: Police State. The All-Knowing Eye of the Secret Police is likely on you.
National Trait: The big kid of the block. You're the biggest, baddest fellow around and you know it.
The main Khalili foreign intelligence agency is not, oddly enough, a descendent of the various political polices of the old regimes used to have. It's instead an entirely new (about 15 years old) civilian agency incorporating some former military elements (See CAD). It's divided in several more or less independent directorates all headed by director. The head of the FISD is a Director-General under the direct authority of the Prime Minister.
- Administration Directorate: They do the most boring jobs imaginable. But in an intelligence agency!
- Operations Directorate: In charge of Stations and most intelligence collection
- Covert Action Division: In charge of the most plausibly(?) deniable stuff (mostly propaganda but no stranger to actual military operations)
- Intelligence Directorate: The place where all-source intelligence is collated, cross checked, put in context, presented in an intelligible way, and distributed to consumers. (The den of analysts and other such eggheads)
- Security Directorate: The mole hunters, spy-catchers, and hijackers of networks. Universally distrusted and exceedingly distrustful. Have their own unique corporate culture (of paranoia, mostly).
Last edited:
KlinkerKing
Man bites dog?
- Location
- The Lion's Den
[X] Plan Grumpy Analyst
-[X] ANALYST
-[X] INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
-[X] PANJAR
-[X] UNUSUALLY BRAVE
-[X] LOOKS LIKE A BEDOUIN
This plan aims to have good communication with other intel officers, and while lacking in diplomacy and having something of a disregard for politicians and nobles, we have a solid foundation of knowledge and stewardship.
-[X] ANALYST
-[X] INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
-[X] PANJAR
-[X] UNUSUALLY BRAVE
-[X] LOOKS LIKE A BEDOUIN
This plan aims to have good communication with other intel officers, and while lacking in diplomacy and having something of a disregard for politicians and nobles, we have a solid foundation of knowledge and stewardship.
- Location
- Abu Dhabi or Manila depending on the time of year
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Grumpy Analyst
-[X] ANALYST
-[X] INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
-[X] PANJAR
-[X] UNUSUALLY BRAVE
-[X] LOOKS LIKE A BEDOUIN
-[X] ANALYST
-[X] INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
-[X] PANJAR
-[X] UNUSUALLY BRAVE
-[X] LOOKS LIKE A BEDOUIN
Neat. I'll attempt my own planning.
[X] Plan Multi-Ethnic Menagerie Manager
-[X] COVERT ACTION
-[X] GENERAL CIVIL SERVICE
-[X] AMARI
-[X] HUMAN INTELLIGENCE BIAS
-[X] THAT EMBARRASSING PHASE IN COLLEGE
I am angling for an interesting character. An former nationalist Amari lad who broke the typology by not being a civil servant like their forefathers by going to spec-ops. My hope is that the Phase trait gets some spotlight and allow us some unconventional choices and frictions during our stint as a spy chief. Someone who utterly gives less of a toss to the ethnic conflicts seems like a neat character in a place still rife with that sort of conflicts.
[X] Plan Multi-Ethnic Menagerie Manager
-[X] COVERT ACTION
-[X] GENERAL CIVIL SERVICE
-[X] AMARI
-[X] HUMAN INTELLIGENCE BIAS
-[X] THAT EMBARRASSING PHASE IN COLLEGE
I am angling for an interesting character. An former nationalist Amari lad who broke the typology by not being a civil servant like their forefathers by going to spec-ops. My hope is that the Phase trait gets some spotlight and allow us some unconventional choices and frictions during our stint as a spy chief. Someone who utterly gives less of a toss to the ethnic conflicts seems like a neat character in a place still rife with that sort of conflicts.
[X] Plan Grumpy Analyst
ThatGuyWithIdeas
Treize died for our sins
- Location
- Romania
[X] Plan Silver Tongue
-[X] ANALYST
-[X] DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
-[X] Amari
-[X] Human intelligence bias
-[X] That Embarrassing Phase In College
-[X] ANALYST
-[X] DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
-[X] Amari
-[X] Human intelligence bias
-[X] That Embarrassing Phase In College
[X] Plan Multi-Ethnic Menagerie Manager
[X] Plan Multi-Ethnic Menagerie Manager
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
- Location
- In shambles
[x] Plan: Do I Look Like A Diplomat?
Character Creation II
- Location
- Looking at obscure spook stuff
- Pronouns
- He
Author's Note: Due to writer's block, plain old life and other stuff, this took a while to get written. But they say better late than never...
Character Creation II
You're a humble analyst for the little-known Foreign Intelligence and Security Directorate of the ever-threatened Federal Republic of Khalili, a noted mess even by the standards of post-colonial nations.
You had the dubious privilege of growing up around counterintelligence and political police types. Sad, bitter and deeply cynical men to whom hypocrisy and self-loathing was second nature. You knew them well, those old spies, you even loved them. But never, ever would you have dreamt of becoming like them…
Until you started to walk the stifling hallways of academe, that is. Because for some reason, your military history background wasn't welcome or put to any meaningful use, really. You gave up on an academic career soon after getting your doctorate and, with a heavy heart, you gave the FISD Entrance Exam a try. The written exam was long but nothing to write home about. The oral exam was kind of fun; you were given 5 minutes to brief a panel of examiners on a random subject, in your case the balance of military forces in the region. They seemed genuinely impressed despite an imperfect first impression.
In short order you were given a post military analyst in regional affairs. And it was a blast to finally get to meet like-minded professionals. And despite your unappealing appearance and abrasive personality you got promoted to Senior Analyst in a few years. It seemed that life was going well for you: the pay was good for government work, your superiors had a begrudging respect for your abilities, and you were having fun. Well, that was before a portent of apocalypse brought it all crashing down.
One hot day of July the Director of Operations was sacked, along with his deputies and a retired army Colonel was brought to his place, a "former" Directorate of Military Intelligence officer (there really is no such thing as a former intelligence officer, not a walking one anyway).
It was clearly a sign of the End of Times. The FISD was created precisely to free the civilian leaders of the Republic from the quasi-monopoly on foreign intelligence (and clandestine activities) by the Directorate of Military Intelligence of the General Staff of the army. DMI had been the main arm abroad of the old Junta. Until the August Revolution of 2005, it was known to infiltrate separatist groups, support foreign insurgent groups, carry out foreign intelligence, run sleeper agents (so-called illegals); what the FISD does to this day.
But the DMI has a long legacy of assassinations and forced disappearances both at home and abroad. It is therefore treated with great contempt by both your fellow intelligence officers and civilian masters. Respectable people don't like thugs.
Normally you would have been very worried over an army goon taking this most sensitive of posts. But transfer orders to Operations Directorate arrived the following day.
Suddenly, you had bigger fishes to fry, including a promotion to head the second largest FISD station in the world with no prior operational experience and next to zero notice.
That isn't even the worst part, your predecessor's tenure didn't end well. What happened to him?
[Predecessor's History]
[] He's been recalled for losing a power-struggle.
He was a protégé (real or imagined) of the previous Director of Operations, who has just been unceremoniously sacked for unclear failures. You've been made to step into something far bigger than you understand…
[] He's in hospital after a suspicious car accident.
He's been the victim of a hit-and-run attack. Naturally, the local police don't seem to be able (or willing) to find the perp. You hope you won't meet a similar fate.
[] He's disappeared.
Some say he was kidnapped; some think he has been killed; some joke that he eloped with a local girl. Truth is, he left no trace whatsoever. What the hell happened?
Whatever is the case, you are urgently needed to fill his position for the remainder of his tour.
The picture wasn't completely dark, by all accounts Amar station was very well run. You were always very satisfied by the political, military, and economic intelligence and the reports from Amar always cited numerous well-connected individuals. Technical intelligence is, of course, unintelligible to a lowly historian such as yourself, but you had the feeling it was plentiful. As for the other departments of the Station… Well, you didn't need to know and so you weren't told anything.
However, now you need to know who does what and how and you need to know quickly. However, there are several boxes-worth of secret files and reports. Which ones do you open first?
[Pre-deployment research] Choose two
[] Political Influence Operations.
The upheavals in Amar are an incredible opportunity for influence operations. Turning the new leaders of the country toward Khalili would be a great step in your country's never-ending step for security.
You learn about all previous influence operations. What worked, what didn't. Who can be influenced, who can't. Who has real power, who doesn't. However, what you make of it depends on your ability as an analyst.
[] Industrial-Technical Espionage Operations.
The Amari are unique in the region for having a modern technological base of their own and good universities. Your own country could greatly benefit from learning from them.
You learn about the ways and means to acquire technical intelligence as well as ongoing operations. Effectively closing this knowledge gap. If you can make sense of it.
[] Émigré Surveillance Activities.
Amar is a historic hotbed of émigré, from there minorities such as the Hajid and the Amari are engaged in activities going from separatist activism to wholesale training and arming of insurgents and terrorist groups. Keeping a close eye on them and keeping them divided is one of the top priorities of the Head of Station.
You learn about émigrés and what is done against them. However, this information is tinted by a certain vision of these already opaque organizations. Whether you have the background to notice it and provide a critical but balanced view is up to you.
[] Military operations
The Head of Station is the representative of the Director of Operations, he controls all operations in his country (aside from the illegals) including paramilitary ones. You don't know anything about these. That might be a problem.
You learn all there's to know about Covert Action Division activities in Amari, and even some Directorate of Military Intelligence nonsense going on there. Whether you get why those operations are being run is another matter entirely. Seriously, there's some counterintuitive stuff going on down there.
[] Personnel
You will have many henchmen to do your bidding. You need to know who can be relied to know or do what. You've never worked with so many subordinates. Learning about them might be a good idea.
You decided to read personnel files. It's unbelievably dull. Roll for endurance.
[] Security
You know all there's to know about Amari security from open sources. You should get to the classified stuff. On their counterintelligence, on local intelligence activities by other services, on the reports of security of the embassy and all that.
You have a lot of reading right there. A lot. Whether you find something new or useful is up to chance.
[] Logistics
Since you'll be taking over the whole network in Amar, you'll need to know the support infrastructure set up. The safehouses, surveillance teams, front companies. The boring stuff.
You decide to familiarise yourself with your new "plombage" (you also pick up jargon). However, you don't know whether you'll remember or even need all of that in a pinch.
Character Creation II
You're a humble analyst for the little-known Foreign Intelligence and Security Directorate of the ever-threatened Federal Republic of Khalili, a noted mess even by the standards of post-colonial nations.
You had the dubious privilege of growing up around counterintelligence and political police types. Sad, bitter and deeply cynical men to whom hypocrisy and self-loathing was second nature. You knew them well, those old spies, you even loved them. But never, ever would you have dreamt of becoming like them…
Until you started to walk the stifling hallways of academe, that is. Because for some reason, your military history background wasn't welcome or put to any meaningful use, really. You gave up on an academic career soon after getting your doctorate and, with a heavy heart, you gave the FISD Entrance Exam a try. The written exam was long but nothing to write home about. The oral exam was kind of fun; you were given 5 minutes to brief a panel of examiners on a random subject, in your case the balance of military forces in the region. They seemed genuinely impressed despite an imperfect first impression.
In short order you were given a post military analyst in regional affairs. And it was a blast to finally get to meet like-minded professionals. And despite your unappealing appearance and abrasive personality you got promoted to Senior Analyst in a few years. It seemed that life was going well for you: the pay was good for government work, your superiors had a begrudging respect for your abilities, and you were having fun. Well, that was before a portent of apocalypse brought it all crashing down.
One hot day of July the Director of Operations was sacked, along with his deputies and a retired army Colonel was brought to his place, a "former" Directorate of Military Intelligence officer (there really is no such thing as a former intelligence officer, not a walking one anyway).
It was clearly a sign of the End of Times. The FISD was created precisely to free the civilian leaders of the Republic from the quasi-monopoly on foreign intelligence (and clandestine activities) by the Directorate of Military Intelligence of the General Staff of the army. DMI had been the main arm abroad of the old Junta. Until the August Revolution of 2005, it was known to infiltrate separatist groups, support foreign insurgent groups, carry out foreign intelligence, run sleeper agents (so-called illegals); what the FISD does to this day.
But the DMI has a long legacy of assassinations and forced disappearances both at home and abroad. It is therefore treated with great contempt by both your fellow intelligence officers and civilian masters. Respectable people don't like thugs.
Normally you would have been very worried over an army goon taking this most sensitive of posts. But transfer orders to Operations Directorate arrived the following day.
Suddenly, you had bigger fishes to fry, including a promotion to head the second largest FISD station in the world with no prior operational experience and next to zero notice.
That isn't even the worst part, your predecessor's tenure didn't end well. What happened to him?
[Predecessor's History]
[] He's been recalled for losing a power-struggle.
He was a protégé (real or imagined) of the previous Director of Operations, who has just been unceremoniously sacked for unclear failures. You've been made to step into something far bigger than you understand…
[] He's in hospital after a suspicious car accident.
He's been the victim of a hit-and-run attack. Naturally, the local police don't seem to be able (or willing) to find the perp. You hope you won't meet a similar fate.
[] He's disappeared.
Some say he was kidnapped; some think he has been killed; some joke that he eloped with a local girl. Truth is, he left no trace whatsoever. What the hell happened?
Whatever is the case, you are urgently needed to fill his position for the remainder of his tour.
The picture wasn't completely dark, by all accounts Amar station was very well run. You were always very satisfied by the political, military, and economic intelligence and the reports from Amar always cited numerous well-connected individuals. Technical intelligence is, of course, unintelligible to a lowly historian such as yourself, but you had the feeling it was plentiful. As for the other departments of the Station… Well, you didn't need to know and so you weren't told anything.
However, now you need to know who does what and how and you need to know quickly. However, there are several boxes-worth of secret files and reports. Which ones do you open first?
[Pre-deployment research] Choose two
[] Political Influence Operations.
The upheavals in Amar are an incredible opportunity for influence operations. Turning the new leaders of the country toward Khalili would be a great step in your country's never-ending step for security.
You learn about all previous influence operations. What worked, what didn't. Who can be influenced, who can't. Who has real power, who doesn't. However, what you make of it depends on your ability as an analyst.
[] Industrial-Technical Espionage Operations.
The Amari are unique in the region for having a modern technological base of their own and good universities. Your own country could greatly benefit from learning from them.
You learn about the ways and means to acquire technical intelligence as well as ongoing operations. Effectively closing this knowledge gap. If you can make sense of it.
[] Émigré Surveillance Activities.
Amar is a historic hotbed of émigré, from there minorities such as the Hajid and the Amari are engaged in activities going from separatist activism to wholesale training and arming of insurgents and terrorist groups. Keeping a close eye on them and keeping them divided is one of the top priorities of the Head of Station.
You learn about émigrés and what is done against them. However, this information is tinted by a certain vision of these already opaque organizations. Whether you have the background to notice it and provide a critical but balanced view is up to you.
[] Military operations
The Head of Station is the representative of the Director of Operations, he controls all operations in his country (aside from the illegals) including paramilitary ones. You don't know anything about these. That might be a problem.
You learn all there's to know about Covert Action Division activities in Amari, and even some Directorate of Military Intelligence nonsense going on there. Whether you get why those operations are being run is another matter entirely. Seriously, there's some counterintuitive stuff going on down there.
[] Personnel
You will have many henchmen to do your bidding. You need to know who can be relied to know or do what. You've never worked with so many subordinates. Learning about them might be a good idea.
You decided to read personnel files. It's unbelievably dull. Roll for endurance.
[] Security
You know all there's to know about Amari security from open sources. You should get to the classified stuff. On their counterintelligence, on local intelligence activities by other services, on the reports of security of the embassy and all that.
You have a lot of reading right there. A lot. Whether you find something new or useful is up to chance.
[] Logistics
Since you'll be taking over the whole network in Amar, you'll need to know the support infrastructure set up. The safehouses, surveillance teams, front companies. The boring stuff.
You decide to familiarise yourself with your new "plombage" (you also pick up jargon). However, you don't know whether you'll remember or even need all of that in a pinch.
- Location
- USA
[x] Plan: Analysts Read Papers, Don't They
- [x] He's disappeared.
- [x] Personnel
- [x] Security
- [x] He's disappeared.
- [x] Personnel
- [x] Security
Interesting predecessor choices
This seems to mean we would walk into something very complicated with little understanding of what was going on...
This seems to mean we would need to watch out for assassins, though why would be a mystery for now...
And this is well, a complete mystery box, with absolutely no clue what happened.
- Pronouns
- he
[X] Plan Oh No Politics
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[X] Plan Oh No Politics