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Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns

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MJ12 Commando said:
BaptismOfFire
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Oh, Baptysme. For all that you complain about things and want to be in space, the VEs have found a use for you in groundside black ops liaising with the Traditions. After all, you are a warship grade AI enhanced for superior data-handling capacities. Hell, that's one of the reasons you get so bored.

Even if that means that one of Christos' associates is a biologically sixteen year old girl.

MJ12 Commando said:
[5] GothicPsychicChick: If you slept through history class (not blaming you!) Mr. Moneybags means direct government spending, like the New Deal and the manufacturing programs Nazi Germany went through. I didn't get to sleep through history class. :(
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Damien Academy: where they put KeepAwake in the morning food so you don't have an excuse for being tired in lessons.
 
01:06 AmorousIntent "Such lawfare plays to our strengths but strengthens NWO ideologies of government interference over self-managing corporate actions, and the cost-benefit equation should be carefully weighed."
01:07 AmorousIntent The Syndicate fights the NWO over lolbertarianism. Great.
01:09 Threat_Null Notice also that Team Demon Hunter is significantly less mug: over Technocracy things
01:10 Threat_Null although they can't resist pointing out how the Syndicate brought it onto themselves!
01:10 Threat_Null But really who can't
01:10 Threat_Null *who can
01:31 Garlak Another cost-efficient method is leveraging society as a weapon. Although their allies in the Camarilla can influence voting habits and judges, even forcing the issue into court can tie up a Pentex operation in legal knots for indefinite periods of time. // I wonder if, in-universe, this would account for why there's a culture of lawsuits dragging things on
01:32 Garlak and on and on.
01:32 Garlak The TU encourage it because it's a tactic they can use against Pentex?
01:33 Garlak 'cept the Syndicate don't like it when applied to corporations and businesses.
01:34 Garlak Still, it gives off the idea of Sleepers, as a people and a society, of just being heavily influenced or caught in between the Ascension War and just the general War-on-Reality-Deviancy the TU has going on.
01:34 Threat_Null the Technocracy is as much pulled by Sleeper actions as it pushes them
01:37 Garlak The way they have to explain away and make excuses for Pentex fuckups as "insufficient local oversight" and "a few bad apples" also probably affects how the masses view business, government, and just affects the general /atmosphere/ of the WoD.
01:37 Threat_Null well yes
01:37 Threat_Null more importantly
01:37 Threat_Null it informs why the werewolves don't trust the Technocracy
01:37 Threat_Null besides for you know
01:38 Threat_Null weaverscum humans etc etc
01:38 Threat_Null also 'no fair why do cyborgs have bigger biceps than us'
01:38 Threat_Null 'halp halp I am being murdered by HITMarks'
01:39 Garlak I also feel like just the very effort to make cover ups simply contributes to an aura (I think /Resonance/ might be an appropriate term) of cynicism and slight cyberpunk in the effort.
01:40 Garlak i.e. When the TU decides to cover up and retcon events and history in order to give the /appearance/ of the sort of world they want... They're not just making a world which sees what they want it to see.
01:40 Threat_Null yesss
01:40 Threat_Null the Syndicate is very cyberpunk
01:40 Threat_Null Iteration X, ironically, is not cyberpunk
01:40 Threat_Null it's a war movie with cyborgs
01:41 ES_Corp The cyberpunk Iterators were the ones who defected with the VAs
01:41 Garlak They're also making a world where people are more cynical or disillusioned. A world where people become accustomed to lies and bullshit.
01:42 Garlak Which also can make it harder to make the impression you want in the future, because that attitude will just sort of affect and infect how society will react and perceive things.
01:42 Garlak Would you say the TU is aware of this sort of effect that they have on the Consensus?
01:44 ES_Corp No
01:44 Garlak That when you retcon history you don't just create a world that has the history you want; you are, bit by bit, risking the creation of a more /Orwellian/ world where people start to doubt or stop giving a fuck.
01:44 ES_Corp Because most of the people who know about the Consensus are busy being evil space living caricatures.
01:44 Garlak Alright so not direct Consensus stuff.
01:45 Threat_Null hey!
01:45 Threat_Null I-50-B31 is very mad at that insinuation!
01:45 Threat_Null She's not evil! Not even a little bit.
01:45 Garlak But, like, would the NWO be able to /look/ at the /attitude/ the masses have taken up and connect it to how it's because the TU propaganda has been dicking with them for a while?
01:45 Threat_Null Huuuubris
01:46 Garlak There's also I think that one theory where the economic crash in the 00s was because of Paradox backlash to economic strangehold; maybe if they took that example and applied to media control they might see a pattern.
01:47 Garlak Threat_Null Huuuubris // Fuck. Well.
01:47 ES_Corp Okay, okay, TN has forgotten that it knew about Consensus, apart from possibly the Agents and Residents who think that all power is manipulating or owning people so of /course/ you can change reality if you manipulate or own everyone.
01:47 Threat_Null :D
01:48 Garlak On the one hand, that both confirms my Brilliant Idea of "What if all the dicking around with media and perception and coverups and cyberpunk shit the TU engages in order to /project the image they *want*/ results in Resonance of a world becoming disillusioned and cynical because they're being fucked with?" seems sound.
01:48 Garlak On the other hand, it also confirms my fear that the TU /doesn't realize this/.
01:49 Garlak On the other other hand, that implies that there's something that could be done about this; that is, if what they're doing is resulting in this, then that means if they choose to do something else, they can make a change.
01:50 Garlak And on the fourth angry asura hand, that doesn't mean they would /want/ or /like/ what this effort would entail and the /cost/ it will have on them and their vision of society.
01:50 Garlak The TU isn't just arrogant; it's confident, convinced, and paternalistic.
01:50 Garlak It's convinced that it's doing things the right way. That it's a matter of just doing more, and better, at what they're already doing until they can finally defeat their enemies.
01:51 Garlak I wonder how much Jamelia believed Senex's ramblings -- especially the ones about what the Syndicate does and moving karma and so on -- and if it would be enough to get her to look at the world and the TU with a fresh eye?
01:52 Garlak (Also, I'm going to paste this conversation to the thread. I've wanted to post these speculations and musings of mine sometime /any/way so this is as good a time as any.)
01:52 ES_Corp All mages are paternalistic. Awakening basically selects for people who are willing to go "Fuck the world as it actually is, I know better".
01:54 Garlak 01:26 ES_Corp The werecrows are pretty chill, although... uh, they're on better terms with the werewolves than the others, which probably makes them guilty of genocide by association as they're spies and information gatherers. // Oh yeah, forgot to mention -- that "guilty of genocide by association" line reminds me of the Last Days of FOXHOUND comic.
01:54 Garlak Ah, nostalgia...
01:55 kilopi505 Hello folks!
01:55 ES_Corp Garlak: Yeah, that was what I was thinking of
01:58 Garlak 01:55 ES_Corp Garlak: Yeah, that was what I was thinking of // Ah, question. Is it a bad thing if you decide to mostly get your MGS backstory and history from what you remember of that comic (and then just assume that it's even more of a mess, really)?
01:58 ES_Corp Nah mang
01:58 Garlak Oh, good.
01:58 ES_Corp that's what I do too
02:00 Garlak One of my favorite pages in that comic was when Revolver Ocelot gave his detective-denoument-like explanation of what's all been going on to PsychoMantis. The conspiracy and plotting pile-ups were /amazing/ and are basically how I imagine NWO or Agent conspiracies and plots tend to collide or turn out.
02:01 ES_Corp Garlak: Yeah, you know that entire sequence?
02:01 ES_Corp That was the author retconning his comic on the fly to deal with the revelations that MGS3 had just produced
02:01 Garlak Mhm.
02:01 Garlak I loved that.
02:02 Garlak That forced revision just added to the whole thing.


The thing to take away from that whole conversation should be "Everybody should read The Last Days of FOXHOUND." ;)

(The denoument/"retconning his coic on the fly" pages of the webcomic are page on 299 ("Retroactive Conspiracy, Part I") and 300 ("Retroactive Conspiracy, Part II"). I first found that comic around 2007 and had to wait till it finished in 2008. (Just in time for MGS4 to come out and contradict most of the author's ideas.) Since all that time, the "Retroactive Conspiracy" scenes where Revolver Ocelot explained and PsychoMantis called bullshit on things have stuck in my mind for years and made me laugh and look back on this whole thing fondly. That comic was what made me a fan of the whole Metal Gear series and it's craziness, even if I knew that most of what I knew of its backstory came from a parodic fan webcomic that had to be revised halfway through.

I figured the whole crash-and-pileup of twists and explanations only added to the whole thing.)
 
So. I'm thinking we bribe the police to set up road blocks on all roads leading to the Cairn we are assualting and watch as the Pentex First Teams try to explain why they are carrying so much military grade firepower? Ideally that would stop them, but yea.. Immoral coporation. So, with a bit of entropy and correspondance? We figure out which routes they are likely to take to hit the Hive and have friendlies set up very nice pointed ambushes to maul them repeatedly?

I'm not too keen on them arriving on the field and engaging our forces, it's best if we figure a way to head the off before they get close to our guys.

It's already expected that Pentex will join this cluster fuck, so it's not exactly OOC knowledge. I'm thinking that Jameila would plan for such a contingency and all probable routes fitted with some kind of obstacle or deterence to give us advance warning of a incoming nephandi nutter party. It's out of character for her not to, considering what she knows.
 
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ckk185 said:
So. I'm thinking we bribe the police to set up road blocks on all roads leading to the Cairn we are assualting and watch as the Pentex First Teams try to explain why they are carrying so much military grade firepower? Ideally that would stop them, but yea.. Immoral coporation. So, with a bit of entropy and correspondance? We figure out which routes they are likely to take to hit the Hive and have friendlies set up very nice pointed ambushes to maul them repeatedly?

I'm not too keen on them arriving on the field and engaging our forces, it's best if we figure a way to head the off before they get close to our guys.

It's already expected that Pentex will join this cluster fuck, so it's not exactly OOC knowledge. I'm thinking that Jameila would plan for such a contingency and all probable routes fitted with some kind of obstacle or deterence to give us advance warning of a incoming nephandi nutter party. It's out of character for her not to, considering what she knows.
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You know that bit in that IC infodump @MJ12 Commando just posted? The bit where he made it clear Technocratic policy is to cover such things up? And not throw underprepared mundane policemen at Nephandic werewolves?

Also;

watch as the Pentex First Teams try to explain why they are carrying so much military grade firepower
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Response: "OM NOM NOM I AM AN INSANE WEREWOLF AND UNARMED BRITISH POLICE ARE TASTY."

And that's even assuming they don't have a rudimentary cover in place.
 
EarthScorpion said:
You know that bit in that IC infodump @MJ12 Commando just posted? The bit where he made it clear Technocratic policy is to cover such things up? And not throw underprepared mundane policemen at Nephandic werewolves?

Also;



Response: "OM NOM NOM I AM AN INSANE WEREWOLF AND UNARMED BRITISH POLICE ARE TASTY."

And that's even assuming they don't have a rudimentary cover in place.
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Yea. Well, I read the whole mire them up with red tape and government suppression as well. But you make a good point.

Can we hit them with roadside IEDs or Ambushes by any friendly assets?
 
ckk185 said:
Yea. Well, I read the whole mire them up with red tape and government suppression as well. But you make a good point.

Can we hit them with roadside IEDs or Ambushes by any friendly assets?
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I'm guessing Earthscorpion's outer perimeter includes defenses like bobs dressed as police officers. If we are very lucky and the formori are very lazy, the bobs might be able to convince the formori to turn around.
 
sebsmith said:
I'm guessing Earthscorpion's outer perimeter includes defenses like bobs dressed as police officers. If we are very lucky and the formori are very lazy, the bobs might be able to convince the formori to turn around.
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Dead Fomori better than turning them around. But, yea. I'm not complaining if they are lazy assholes.
 
[X] You are going to need to talk to Serafina.
[X] Not so sternly.​
Jane Clarent:
[X] (1.5x) Pick up the pace! You're on a tighter schedule now.

Donald Sykes, Chief Execution Officer:
[X] Deal with the Traditions intrusion first.
[X] (2.0x) Convince Kiet to not actually murder the fuck out of them, because that's: 1. Terrible for business, 2. Likely to cause some severe injury.​
Henriette & Sylia
[ X ] Follow Donald's instructions while caressing your fire controls in an impatient manner.​
 
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Jamelia Belltower:
[x] You are going to need to talk to Serafina.
[x] Not so sternly.​
There is a time and a place for firm action. When talking to a suicidal VIP whose family connections can literally melt you with cancer and bring you back to do it again, this is not the time. Also, she is almost certainly too distraught (or, if your measure of her is right, drunk/high) to out-perform you in the social field.

Jane Clarent:
[x] Continue your mission as planned. The RDs are irrelevant.
To each Technocrat a duty, and a duty for each Technocrat.

Donald Sykes, Chief Execution Officer:
[x] Deal with the Traditions intrusion first.
[x] (2.0x) Convince Kiet to not actually murder the fuck out of them, because that's: 1. Terrible for business, 2. Likely to cause some severe injury.
Nota bene: Acquire visual ID on interlopers. Figuring out motives of Traditionalist Death Commandos (probably Hermetics, Euthanatoi or Choristers) depends on having a clue who they belong to.

Henriette & Sylia
[x] Acquire visual ID of RD intruders first. Then ask Donald insistently about being allowed to fire on the buggers.
 
Acatalepsy said:
I can't help but feel that, given likely casualty rates among the Euthanatos, and the likely sanction employees face from Technocrats (ie, every single government and most corporations), this..might backfire?
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Entropy, @Acatalepsy, they can literally filter out the unlucky ones, or the ones with bad karma or whatever other mystical mumbo jumbo they want to use.

Magic!
 
Meanwhile, the Syndicate can do the same thing.

A basic application of hyperstatistical modelling alongside your basic understanding of hypereconomics (Entropy 1, Primal Utility 1) should give you enough of an idea of a prospective employee's current value, as well as a sense for their business savvy, to determine whether they deserve a position or not.

Of course, the difference is that a Financier has an actual reason to throw out the application while a Euthanatoi just does it on a whim...

(Hey guys, can I into Mage Spheres yet? :p)
 
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And with Correspondence 2 Primal Utility 2 added in, you can look through the application and background check for anomalies characteristic of Enlightened influence or Reality Deviance, and hence locate potential Orphan "recruits"/Traditionalist spies/Nephandi! Presuming they haven't scrubbed the records well enough, anyway.

Correspondence isn't even necessary if you're doing an in-person interview.
 
Jamelia Belltower:
[ X ] You are going to need to talk to Serafina.
->[ X ] Not so sternly.
->[ X ] Go into paroxysms of paranoia about the possible Void Engineer involvement in this.

In the driver seat of her borrowed Cleric - a demilitarised, stealth-orientated Paladin - Jamelia Belltower grips the wheel and spares what attention she can from the drive for thinking how to deal with the problem of Serafina.

She'll need to treat the other woman like she's made of glass. She doesn't know what kind of sequences Serafina has spliced in, but there's a significant risk she has a self-terminator to be used in case of capture. Even if she doesn't, it would be all too easy for her to make use of programmable elements of her biology to end her life. And if she does... it'll be bad.

Jamelia nods to herself. If she does fail, she'll need to fake the death scene so it looks like it was an assassination - or maybe a lab accident. If it was pinned as suicide, the mandatory post-suicide therapy post-revival would have a too high risk of letting information escape.

She'll have to be as delicate here as she's ever been. As delicate as when she's sealing the trap of words which has a Traditionalist she's compromised accepting that they're already a member of the Union and so they need to make it formal to stop their own side going for them.

Some of this is her fault. This is staring Jamelia in the face. As soon as she got out of that coma and regained her memories, she should have put time aside to debrief and examine the mental state of all her subordinates who'd been with her in Moscow. Why hadn't she? Because she'd thrown herself into preparing for the Tribunal. She hadn't properly accounted for the fact that the usual post-incident psychological counselling was provided by the New World Order and with Serafina knowing everything she knew - well, she wouldn't have been responsive to that, would have thrown up mental blocks to stop them extracting sensitive information and that would have got in the way of the healing process.

An oversight. She would need to remedy that. To find a way to remedy it.

She tenses her jaw. She really hopes Serafina hasn't leaked information to the Void Engineers. The last thing she needs is for this to be a planned Void Engineer attempt to either remove or eliminate someone who's stumbled onto their secret. She has a momentary small moment of... concern over the idea that this may in fact be a chemically induced suicidal urge in Serafina, set up to lure her here - and then the suicidal urge will be allowed to come to fruition.

She really hopes that isn't the case. Jamelia checks her Protector. She can probably justify coming a little more heavily armed to this than she would be normally, because she's just come straight from a combat operation. Popping out her phone with one hand, she updates her dead drops and prepares them to a hair trigger.

If the Void Engineers do think they can mess with her in this way, they have another thing coming. They better hope that Serafina genuinely is wracked with guilt over Moscow. Because if they're responsible for this and think to try to eliminate the two of them in such a clumsy way... well.

She'll be ready to show them why people on both sides are scared of the New World Order.

[Jamelia - Corr 3, Entropy 2, Time 2 - Following a nearly unmappable series of shortcuts through the UK countryside and occasionally picking up the motorway only when she can use NWO overrides to force the cameras to ignore her (and her speeding), Jamelia follows an unpredictable route which nevertheless manages to get her back to London far faster than it would take under any normal circumstances. Enhanced by Dexterity + Drive.]

[Jamelia - Mind 1 - Self-buff her Manipulation through long training and practice at dealing with sensitive circumstances. Enhanced by Manipulation + Etiquette]

Jane Clarent:
[ X ] (1.5x) Pick up the pace! You're on a tighter schedule now.

Major Clarent briefly considers letting Kessler go. She rejects that idea. He might be an obsolete body model, but in his obsolescence he's loaded up with primium. They're going after shapeshifter loremasters and warlords - the ones most likely to have tech-jamming RD skills.

No, they need to speed up. If they kill the hostile leaders before the RDs outside can get in, they'll likely withdraw. She will deny them the chance to complete their mission, on the grounded assumption - that as they are using modern gear and acting as a professional military force - they are not the kind of RD fanatic looking for a chance to throw their lives away. And so defeat them without engaging them.

She pauses, raises a hand, and pulses a short message over the comms.

[Downgrade stealth operational parameters from BLACK to STEEL. Activate active sensor packages. If we have to engage to bypass a foe rather than detouring, we do it by our choice. We kill the enemy leaders, and their exfilitration team - if that is what it is - should withdraw. Understood?]

Green lights blink back, and the Iteration X killteam resumes its advance, faster now.

[Jane Clarent - Mind 1, Matter 1, Forces 1 - Intelligent beings leave characteristic patterns in their environment, merely by their presence. Their scent, their heat, their sound - and other more subtle things. And one of Jane's combat packages puts it all together. The Forces provides thermal and sonic monitoring, the Matter checks for scents in the air, and the Mind puts the feeds together and pinpoints all beings with a certain level of cognitive capacity in her area. Setting it to "Sapient + Wolf", Jane continues, eyes watchful for any watchful presence or ambush them might wander into]

Donald Sykes, Chief Execution Officer:
[ X ] Deal with the Traditions intrusion first.
-> [ X ] (2.0x) Convince Kiet to not actually murder the fuck out of them, because that's: 1. Terrible for business, 2. Likely to cause some severe injury.

Donald can see the video link of Kiet, and the HITMark is just about preparing to unleash hellfire on the entire area of forest they might be in. Probably to burn them out so they're forced into the waiting gunline, or some other military strategy. The HITMark doesn't have many other alternatives, after all. Smoothly, he slides in.

"With respect," he says - a useful phrase if there ever was one - to Lt Colonel Kiet, "I believe Sector 2 is requiring your personal attention as there's a shapeshifter pack operating there. I'll handle this while you deal with them, and attempt to pin down the hostile without recourse to such drastic measures. Though," he adds, "keep the forces preparing for that."

Donald has a gut feeling, somehow, that something else is about to go wrong, and since the RD attackers are comprehensively protected against statistical analysis, that means that something else is about to butt in. That had served him well in business, and is serving him well now. Director Belltower would probably approve of that logic, and he makes a mental note to make a joke about it to her to see if he can get a reaction from her.

Kiet purses his lips, but nods and turns without a word. Donald gets the feeling the HITMark doesn't like Syndics much. Well, not many people do. Right until they need them. And then they don't like them afterwards. But that's life.

"Iterator Langley," he orders crisply, "you have programmable signalling flares." He knows she certainly does, because he had to fill out the resupply paperwork for her new vehicle - and it's not cheap to keep resupplied. "You and all other launch-capable assets are to illuminate the target area on maximum intensity, with a message pattern I will provide. Do you understand?"

"Yes... uh, Financier," Henriette replies, clearly not used to reporting to Syndics in combat situations.

"Good. Message begins, 'UNION ANTI WWOLF OP ONGOING. DO NOT AID WWOLVES OR ATTK UNION. LTHL FORCE WILL B USED. IF U RETREAT NOW NO ACTION WILL BE TKN. IF WANT TO TLK USE COMM 99'. Message end."

"You're talking to them?" It's a flat remark from Henriette, but perhaps it's not quite as forceful as it would once have been.

"We're dealing with professionals here. They bypassed the outer defences - so they didn't get warned - and there are only a few outfits operating in the UK that can do that. All of them are highly lethal. If we can make them back away by talking, we won't lose assets we need to take and hold this node," Donald says, with the cold logic of economic calculus. "Once you have launched the flares, Langley, begin sensor-linking to combat synth units. If you can get a visual on them, I can try to pin down who they are and get intel for you."

Her light pulses green. "Roger that. Going blind against RDs isn't great."

Henriette & Sylia
[ X ] Follow Donald's instructions while caressing your fire controls in an impatient manner.

[Henriette & Sylia - Forces + Matter - The ItX-BID-421 is a field operational programmable flare round loaded with long burn submunitions. This has seen its frequent use as an incendiary device, but for once it's actually being used for its intended purpose! Namely, ultra-bright battlefield illumination in programmable patterns. And one of the things which they let you do is use the submunition flares to write messages of up to 180 characters in the sky (assuming average lesser size and message complexity). The Forces flares are fuelled by the Matter chemical reactions. Enhanced by Int + Heavy Weapons (or whatever skill you use to fire flares).]

[Donald - Primal Utility + Correspondence - The flares he ordered fired are both a message and a shot across the bows. By illuminating the area in the manner, it'll be much, much easier to find them - after all, you can try to hide from statistical modelling, but that doesn't turn out so hot if you're in literal line of sight under an area lit brighter than daylight. This is an unravelling attempt against their wards, with an integrated Correspondence message (the message in the flares) that if they examine the spell to try to counter the unravelling that they'll get. Enhanced by Charisma + Etiquette, because it's all about the message.]

[Henriette - Forces 2, Corr 2 - Sensor-link to combat synths in the area where they're blacking out, trying to get a glimpse of the attackers to provide to Donald so he can ID them. Enhanced by Wits + Technology to do this in battlefield circumstances.]
 
Jamelia Belltower:
[x] You are going to need to talk to Serafina.
[x] Not so sternly.

I'm not sure if "sternly" will provoke a defensive response from Serafina, and I'm not sure whether or not a defensive reaction would be a bad thing. But I'd rather not risk pushing her even farther into "I'm worthless" territory, so "not sternly" it is.

Jane Clarent:
[x] (1.5x) Pick up the pace! You're on a tighter schedule now.

A bunch of RDs who think they can take on a large Union operation should be taken seriously. They certainly aren't irrelevent. Kessler's also got that Primium reinforcement, but as ES points out, we'd need that for both ends of the operation.

Donald Sykes, Chief Execution Officer:
[x] (2.0x) Convince Kiet to not actually murder the fuck out of them, because that's: 1. Terrible for business, 2. Likely to cause some severe injury.

One way or another, this needs to be handled quickly. The easiest way for the Euthanatos to get in and out while keeping a hostage alive is to keep us as busy as possible with the werewolves, so they'll definitely fuck up our plans - and we didn't come here for a fair fight.

Since the RDs are unlikely to be werewolf allies, and shouldn't be here specifically to fuck up the Union - it should be possible to get them to at least stop shooting at us. Given what it'd take to remove them by force, especially since where they are means they've already gotten a decent look at a bunch of Union assets - we really don't need the problems that trying to kill them will bring out.

This is a Prisoner's Dilemma, though, so the long term right choice can still get us hurt badly if we don't handle it well or the RDs are sufficiently stupid.

Henriette & Sylia
[x] Follow Donald's instructions while caressing your fire controls in an impatient manner.

If we can negotiate, we're still going to want a stick in addition to any carrots on offer. And if negotiations fall through, we want Primium armor on site.
 
Jamelia Belltower:
[ X ] You are going to need to talk to Serafina.
->[ X ] Not so sternly.
->[ X ] Go into paroxysms of paranoia about the possible Void Engineer involvement in this.

Jane Clarent:
[ X ] (1.5x) Pick up the pace! You're on a tighter schedule now.


Donald Sykes, Chief Execution Officer:
[x] (2.0x) Convince Kiet to not actually murder the fuck out of them, because that's: 1. Terrible for business, 2. Likely to cause some severe injury.

Henriette & Sylia
[ X ] Follow Donald's instructions while caressing your fire controls in an impatient manner.
 
Jamelia Belltower:
[ X ] You are going to need to talk to Serafina.
->[ X ] Not so sternly.
->[ X ] Go into paroxysms of paranoia about the possible Void Engineer involvement in this.

Actually this being a memetic attack on Serafina makes a surprising amount of sense, be it from VE side or someone else. It could be just guilt, certainly, but it would be a creative vector of attack on the amalgam and underestimating adversaries is bad...

Jane Clarent:
[ X ] (1.5x) Pick up the pace! You're on a tighter schedule now.

Getting to the werewolf leadership in time just became that much more critical...

Donald Sykes, Chief Execution Officer:
[x] (2.0x) Convince Kiet to not actually murder the fuck out of them, because that's: 1. Terrible for business, 2. Likely to cause some severe injury.

Yes, let's try not to spend a ton of resources on trying to eliminate what is basically a high level shadowrun team, it probably won't work, and even if it does it will cost blood. A lot of it.

Henriette & Sylia
[ X ] Follow Donald's instructions while caressing your fire controls in an impatient manner.

See above.
 
Jamelia nods to herself. If she does fail, she'll need to fake the death scene so it looks like it was an assassination - or maybe a lab accident. If it was pinned as suicide, the mandatory post-suicide therapy post-revival would have a too high risk of letting information escape.
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This. This is how all NWO (and Agent) conspiracy pile-ups happen, isn't it?

Oh sure, it starts with you planning how to make your friend's suicide look like a murder, but then you have to counter anybody who would want to use it as an opportunity to defame you. You have to counter anybody who would try to make it look like you messed with the evidence (which you actually did...) and either pin it on who they want, or pin it on you. Meanwhile you have to run around keeping your friend from finding out the truth of how she died. And keep her from getting into the same mindset that led to her being suicidal...

And in the end you're probably going to end up having to (fake) going rogue or something. And you're never going to have time to do that thing you were doing before all this happened in the first place. :(
"We're dealing with professionals here. They bypassed the outer defences - so they didn't get warned - and there are only a few outfits operating in the UK that can do that. All of them are highly lethal. If we can make them back away by talking, we won't lose assets we need to take and hold this node," Donald says, with the cold logic of economic calculus. "Once you have launched the flares, Langley, begin sensor-linking to combat synth units. If you can get a visual on them, I can try to pin down who they are and get intel for you."

Her light pulses green. "Roger that. Going blind against RDs isn't great."
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Her light pulses green. "Roger that. Going blind against RDs isn't great."
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Donald can be very persuasive. (Big surprise. :p)

I wonder how Henriette will react to these sorts of arguments once she gets more Mind and hyperpsychology training and sheer experience in (hostage) negotiation, ceasefires, and high-speed on-the-fly bullshitting?

Hopefully her being better at this will just mean that she'll understand why people like Jamelia act the way they do and why it is a good idea to do this, rather than just making her more stubborn and less easily-influenced.
 
Update will probably be coming along when I finish my interviewing today. If you have any last minute ideas to deal with Euthanatos or Pentex ("deal with") submit them now. Or any things you'd like to share.
 
MJ12 Commando said:
Update will probably be coming along when I finish my interviewing today. If you have any last minute ideas to deal with Euthanatos or Pentex ("deal with") submit them now. Or any things you'd like to share.
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...


"I'm sorry," Donald said, "but I'm afraid we might have to delay negotiations somewhat. Because Pentex has just shown up."

There is a spluttering noise down the other end of the line. "This isn't a coincidence," Cromwell says. "Fuck. Looks like we're in a Mr Johnson scenario."

[Cromwell - Entropy 1 - You're fucking right this isn't a coincidence! The skeins of fate are twisted out of shape! Something - or someone - has twisted things so we, the 'Crats, and the Nephandic fuckers are all here at once.]

"Look, let me be blunt," Donald says. "You've just gone way down any priority we might or might not have. Even you have to accept that we have bigger problems when a bunch of Nephandic werewolves and possessed idiots have shown up looking to utterly ruin our days."

"That makes sense," Cromwell says. "Fuck. Someone is playing us."

Donald is already scrambling for his other phone. He wants to see if Project J has any spare funds at the moment. Because - let's be honest here - paying Euthanatoi to kill Nephandi was basically what that project was set up for. And if he needs to throw some extra... well, the amalgam does have that tass from the rendered down shapeshifters.

...


[Henriette - Matter 4, Forces 2, Corr 2 - The Russian-surplus IFVs Pentex are using are a standardised design, well known for their customisation ability and rugged nature. By the application of [her gun] to them, she can field modify the design using [high explosive 40mm rounds] so the unconventional [now the transport compartment directly links up to the engine and the fuel tanks, leaving the compartment full of burning fuel, and also there is no longer any working escape hatches] variant is in use. Historically this variant saw use [where ever IFVs took extreme damage], serving with distinction in [Afghanistan]. Enhanced by Dex + Heavy Weapons, and the Correspondence 2 lets Henriette fire these shells beyond visual range, falling on the weak top armour of the vehicles.]

[Antoinette - Matter 3 - Oh! Oh! That mecha-using bitch is going to show her up, is she? Well, she has ItX-SGAAM 13s - informally known as the Birdstrike - in her missile racks. As soon as she gets line of sight - wham! The Birdstrike deploys an array of submunitions in a shotgun blast pattern filled with fast-hardening foam with approximately the mass and density of a large goose. Do you know what happens to a helicopter's rotor blades when they hit a large goose? They shatter. And helicopters without rotors aren't really helicopters anymore. More like wreckage. Enhanced by Perception + Technology.]

[Henriette - Correspondence 2, Matter, Forces - Cute. But it's not like shooting down helicopters is really a challenge, is it? You see that berserk on-fire Nephandic werewolf over there racing out of the burning IFV after clawing its way out? Oh no, you don't, because its on the the other side of that hill. I can see it on drones. Don't worry, though. That shot I just fired? Yeah, it just followed a perfect trajectory to hit it right in the skull. Mechanically this is her Apporting her shot so it can hit a target beyond sensory range, preserving its kinetic energy and changing its momentum vector, but of course it manifests as her following the directives of her - personally upgraded, thank you very much - fire control computer. Enhanced by Int + Computer, because Henriette damn well wrote a better one than was provided back when she was using her TENNO and it's still better!]

[Donald - Spirit + Primal Utility - Ladies, ladies, if you're going to flirt, do it in your own time. In the mean time, I have authorised the drop of two phasic overchargers close to your current locations, which should fit into your external ports. They should enhance your weapons against the EDEs, allowing them to target the extradimensional component of the enemies. Enhanced by Charisma + Resources.]

Henriette: "Yessssssssss killstreak rewards!"

Antoinette: "... you seriously play Call of Duty? Lame."

Henriette: "You're just jealous."

Antoinette: "Of what?"

Henriette: "That I'm better."
 
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MJ12 Commando said:
Update will probably be coming along when I finish my interviewing today. If you have any last minute ideas to deal with Euthanatos or Pentex ("deal with") submit them now. Or any things you'd like to share.
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Iteration X had a memetic appreciation for all that was cutting edge and glittery, but a deep seated love of chrome and plasmacasters stopped exactly none of them from loving fire almost as much. In true Iteration X fashion, attempts to harness and 'upgrade' fire were the cause of more than one surgical rebuild from technicians in Union educational centers such as Damien Academy as students tinkered with anything and everything connected to the primal element. Most of the projects were hideous wastes of resources when compared to more sophisticated tools (such as railguns and drone-launched submunitions), but occasionally a gem was unearthed.

Enter the Mk 35j Handflamepatrone cartridge, seen first in West Germany in the 60s (which the Soviet side of the Technocratic Union claimed to have invented) and used extensively in clearing a Garou confederacy from the Black Forest. Sized to be fired from standard Union underbarrel grenade launchers and possessing a thermophilic nanite jelly that spread according to certain freqencies of laser, the preprogrammed nanites can provide a number of uses in the battlefield ranging from spreading to form a firewall, burning out hostile gasses and spores, becoming progressively hotter the longer it burns on something and even (with favorable wind conditions) 'chain jumping' to light up new targets. Since 1987 the nanites have included a shutoff clock after a series of engagements started wildfires Sleeper fire brigades were unable to combat (resulting in the extensive deployment of NWO cover up operations).

[Correspondence 2+Matter 4+Forces 2]; fire is our friend. Pentex is not our friend.

How's this? I'm not sure I have the right spheres for this effect, though it seems correct.
 
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