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May The Invisible Hand Be With You - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)

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Well, damn you all. I now have the urge to play EU4 as member of the HRE. Again. Just no idea who exactly. Probably some place in Westphalia since I live in the area.
...
To prevent the obvious joke: No, I won't play the Palatinate.
 
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Fortune's End - Four Men In A Dimly Lit Room
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    • Kyrimorut, Mandalore

    "We're really doing this, aren't we?" Kal muttered to himself as he leaned on a table, glancing across at Jango before focusing back on the holoimages of Bail Organa and Seti Ashgad hovering in the center. "Our mutual benefactor really told you to bring down Armand Isard himself? She understands what that means, right?"

    "Lady Ciaran certainly understands that there are many ways Armand can fall, and it speaks volumes of her confidence and faith in the Mand'alor to give him such leeway on such a vital task," Seti said coolly. "That being said, such flexibility in this situation will be absolutely vital."

    "Armand's job is largely to cover the tracks of Palpatine and his cronies,"     Bail commented as he folded his arms. "If we wanted to make his fall public, getting evidence on him that will actually stick - legitimate or not - is going to be difficult either way since we don't want to blow our cover."

    "Which is why one of my potential plans if we go that route is to leverage the Covert Ops Troopers angle," Jango explained. "I was given a pristine suit of armor for this mission should it be necessary, and I could use it to fake an operation going bad. Have a deserter assassination get spotted, and with the various news outlets Ciaran has we can spread the images of it across the holonet in hours. The public will call for Armand's head-"

    "And as far as anyone knows it was just because a CI trooper failed spectacularly. That being the case it's a bit too convenient for Palpatine not to figure out what really happened," Kal pointed out. "It's a good plot, but the kind that he'd see through in a heartbeat."

    "Perhaps we shall consider this to be the 'crude but effective approach,'" Seti noted. "There is of course another weakness he has - his daughter Ysanne."

    "Seti, we can't involve an innocent child in all of this,"     Bail protested. "She-"

    "Would not be harmed. We are not savages. But at the same time we cannot ignore her value as a hostage."

    "Too risky," Jango replied. "Trying to use hostage situations like that to your advantage is never a good idea, especially when it involves family. The mark is guaranteed to act irrational in those situations and ruin anything you've planned for."

    "...Fair enough. I defer to your expertise in this matter, Mand'alor."

    "Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way," Kal pointed out. "Maybe we should treat him like he's just another one of your marks, Mand'alor."

    "What's the angle then, Kal?" Jango replied, his brows narrowed slightly. "It sounds like you have a plan of your own."

    "The angle is that we use the Covert Ops armor like in our other plan, but have it so that whoever fires the killing shot would be seen wearing that armor."

    "Republic Intelligence would start tearing itself apart hunting for a traitor that doesn't exist," Seti said, bringing a hand to his chin. "It is hardly the most subtle of plans, but if it worked the chaos would provide us with an effective smokescreen...but at the same time it would only last for so long."

    "They would likely end up jettisoning quite a few contacts and assets that they considered 'questionable' in that situation,"     Bail noted. "Wasn't it true that they had been hiring on outside help to assist in codebreaking?"

    "I can confirm that," Jango replied. "Ciaran's people managed to track down a few encrypted 'recruitment guides' for a 'Cryptanalysis Department' sent out to some slicers who were conspicuously unwilling to take on any other job offers. But from what I've heard from her they're thoroughly vetted by Armand and are heavily monitored once they're hired besides."

    "There might be an opportunity we can exploit there. Have a new hire act as a whistleblower for the actions of the Covert Operations troopers," Bail suggested. "It's more plausible and given the situation said person would have every reason to stay anonymous - or at least keep under the radar long enough for us to help him disappear."

    "Or we could use Armand's assassination and the inevitable confusion and panic that would follow as an opportunity to insert a few of our agents,"     Seti said. "We could forego the idea of destroying Republic Intelligence and instead use its infrastructure to our advantage."

    "That sounds really damn risky to me. RepInt basically reports to Palpatine himself," Kal pointed out. "He's going to be keeping a very close eye on it for that very reason."

    "And knowing him he has eyes and ears within the Intelligence branch that we don't know about right now," Bail said, though it was clear that he was still considering the idea. "That being the case...we could also do that if we went with the public outrage route. The risks are great, but if we could find those sources and work around them..."

    "Before you two go any further with that, I'll remind you that our stated objective was to eliminate Armand Isard and ensure that Republic Intelligence's threat to our plans is diminished to whatever degree is within the scope of our abilities," Jango said firmly. "I'm not against the idea, but we should at least remember that it's not the end of the world if we just kill Isard and keep it quiet, or just cause enough chaos in RepInt to keep them busy for the next few months."

    "I am well aware of that, but at the same time we cannot ignore the potential opportunities present," Seti replied.

    Jango folded his arms and closed his eyes, going over the options in his mind. Assassinating Armand would be easy enough - while the security around the man would be high he had his ways of getting around them, not to mention that this time around he'd have the resources of the Watchers to call on.

    At the same time though, there were plenty of opportunities for plans that had far more risks involved but with far greater rewards. Causing a public outcry and bringing down RepInt through their outrage, using the opportunity to cause internal strife, maybe even get a shot at getting moles inside...

    So many options...the real question was though how Palpatine would react to whatever the effects of Armand's removal were - lethal or not...

    [] Keep it simple. Kill Armand, don't make it more complicated than that.
    [] Use public outrage to bring down Armand and cripple Republic Intelligence by embroiling them in controversies that will disrupt their ability to function.
    -[] Have someone act as a Cryptanalysis Department whistleblower and break the news about the actions of the Covert Ops troopers across the holonet.
    --[] Use the opportunity to insert moles into Republic Intelligence.
    --[] Don't take any chances, just go with the plan as it is.
    -[] Fake a CI assassination of deserters going horribly wrong and use various news outlets to stir up a controversy.
    --[] Use the opportunity to insert moles into Republic Intelligence.
    --[] Don't take any chances, just go with the plan as it is.
    [] Kill Armand, but use the opportunity for a plan to weaken Republic Intelligence.
    -[] Have the assassin wear the stolen CI armor and be "discovered," creating the illusion of a traitor within the ranks of Republic Intelligence.
    -[] Use the cover of the ensuing chaos to insert moles into Republic Intelligence.

    [] Write-in. Maybe there's some other plan that hasn't been considered? (Plans can be vetoed by GM)

    AN: A bit short I know, but this is one of those situations where I figured that you guys would really want to specify exactly how Armand and potentially Republic Intelligence is brought down.

    I'm pretty sure I've covered my bases here, but if you guys can think of an even more insane plan than I have I'd be more than willing to hear it out~

    Since I don't know when else would be a good time to announce it, I wanted to let people know that due to a desire to have a source of stable income and a need to pay bills I've decided to open up a Patreon.

    Just to be clear, you should not feel obligated to donate if you don't feel like it - I will never stop updating this quest so long as I can still type, and I fully intend on both completing this and potentially starting new projects even if I don't get a dime. It is entirely your decision to donate that money or not.
     
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    • Is there any way to set off whatever insurance policy Armand has in the event of Palpatine backstabbing him? I can't imagine that he wouldn't have one.

    Also, good joke putting "innocent" and "Ysanne Isard" in the same sentence. :tongue:
     
    The Sandman said:
    Is there any way to set off whatever insurance policy Armand has in the event of Palpatine backstabbing him? I can't imagine that he wouldn't have one.
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    A decent idea, the only problem is that no one has any idea what it is. And also knowing Palpatine he's already got a counter for Armand's dying shot against him that Armand himself doesn't now about.

    Armand is very much a known asset to Palpatine, in multiple senses of the term.

    The Sandman said:
    Also, good joke putting "innocent" and "Ysanne Isard" in the same sentence. :tongue:
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    To be fair:

    1. Ysanne hasn't done anything evil yet. My Wookiepedia sources tell me that she is probalby already starting to become sociopathic, but...
    2. No one present has any reason to see Ysanne as anything but an innocent bystander.

    As a fan of the X-Wing series, I do understand what you're getting at though, believe me :V
     
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    [X] Kill Armand, but use the opportunity for a plan to weaken Republic Intelligence.
    -[X] Have the assassin wear the stolen CI armor and be "discovered," creating the illusion of a traitor within the ranks of Republic Intelligence.
     
    In this situation, perhpahs we should ask the simple question..

    What would Ciaran do?
    EVERYTHING
    Plan implosion:
    Fake a CI assassination of deserters going horribly wrong and use various news outlets to stir up a controversy.​
    followed by whistleblowers reacting to that when the coverup starts...
    and the assassination by a CI assassin, with hints that he is being removed to be made into a scapegoat.
    meanwhile, we are getting people in left and right during the chaos, both short and long-term plants.
     
    I'm not yet comfortable with voting on anything that requires more in-depth knowledge of mechanics (like a normal turn), but this seems simple enough.

    [] Kill Armand, but use the opportunity for a plan to weaken Republic Intelligence.
    -[] Have the assassin wear the stolen CI armor and be "discovered," creating the illusion of a traitor within the ranks of Republic Intelligence.

    This seems to have the best risk to reward ratio out of any of the plans mentioned. Many of these plans rely on getting information to the public but I'm honestly not sure if public outrage can hurt Palpatine or Armand much, lord knows there is plenty of terrible stuff that we know the US government does and public outrage has not been sufficient to stop it.
     
    TerrisH said:
    In this situation, perhpahs we should ask the simple question..

    What would Ciaran do?
    EVERYTHING
    Plan implosion:
    Fake a CI assassination of deserters going horribly wrong and use various news outlets to stir up a controversy.​
    followed by whistleblowers reacting to that when the coverup starts...
    and the assassination by a CI assassin, with hints that he is being removed to be made into a scapegoat.
    meanwhile, we are getting people in left and right during the chaos, both short and long-term plants.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    That would be awesome if we could pull it off, but let's not forget K.I.S.S. The more complex a plan, the more moving parts it has, and so to does it have more points of failure.
     
    @ everyone, here was our roll results for this action:
    Dr. Snark said:
    [X] Strike Palpatine's Inner Circle: It's time to go on the offensive. Chance of Success: 40% Cost: 150 Reward: Targeted member/group discredited/neutralized/etc
    -[X] Armand Isard: You know his name from Seti's exile, and as the head of Republic Intelligence he's also the man behind the Covert Ops troopers killing deserting clones - and that is just off the top of your head. While Palpatine can always get a replacement Armand is admittedly a quite talented intelligence officer and it would be quite difficult to find a fitting replacement in a time like this...
    -[X] Jango Fett

    Rolled: 74 + 20 (Bonuses) + 20 (Omakes) + 15 (Jango) = 129 (Super Critical Success)

    You've given Jango all the help you can give - from here on in it's up to him to bring down Isard. (To be continued in Fortune's End mini-arc)
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    In-universe, that +20 default bonus comes with support from a) 'convenient transports' to get our agents anywhere they need to be with minimal visibility, b) a comprehensive array of wiretaps running all over Coruscant, c) Fry's Codebreaker to decrypt any of the high-level files we encounter, especially those coming to/from the Galactic Senate district, d) a fleet of data-analysis droids to go over all the intel we unearth, e) extensive intelligence-sharing and cooperation with the Jedi Sentinels aka wizard ninjas, f) multiple teams of Force-sensitive shapeshifting Gurlanin agents.

    In-universe, that +15 hero bonus means that the Mand'alor is working on the problem, along with his entire Cuy'val Dar (especially Kal Skirata) and his entire network of political allies (like Bail Organa, Seti Ashgad, and Garm Bel Iblis).

    In-universe, the +20 omake bonus means the Force itself is rooting for us.

    So yeah, going by our in-universe resources, I'm not sure we even need that big bold Super Critical Success to tell us that yeah, we got this.

    As for the options:
    Dr. Snark said:
    [] Keep it simple. Kill Armand, don't make it more complicated than that.
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    KISS has a major drawback -- killing Armand without attempting a cover-up means that Palpatine would have some idea that someone was working to undercut him. (I can't believe that Palpatine in all his plans-within-plans Sith glory would actually believe that it was a random unrepeatable one-off).

    Dr. Snark said:
    [] Use public outrage to bring down Armand and cripple Republic Intelligence by embroiling them in controversies that will disrupt their ability to function.
    -[] Have someone act as a Cryptanalysis Department whistleblower and break the news about the actions of the Covert Ops troopers across the holonet.
    --[] Use the opportunity to insert moles into Republic Intelligence.
    --[] Don't take any chances, just go with the plan as it is.
    -[] Fake a CI assassination of deserters going horribly wrong and use various news outlets to stir up a controversy.
    --[] Use the opportunity to insert moles into Republic Intelligence.
    --[] Don't take any chances, just go with the plan as it is.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Public outrage could have potential, but remember, we haven't taken out COMPNOR yet, and that was one of Palpatine's main organs for manipulating public opinion. He still has control over the HoloNet and most media outlets, as well; that's why we're forming our own. So: working with public opinion might be a decent 'trial by fire' for our nascent media operation (and might merge this miniarc with the results for our Papanoida stewardship action). On the other hand, it might be throwing water on an oil fire, as our baby media outlets aren't ready to go head-to-head with Palpatine's well-lubricated propaganda machine.

    Of the specific choices, the first one (set up a whistleblower over the Covert Ops troopers) seems promising, but we have to remember that the galactic public really doesn't care about the clone soldiers. Or rather, they care only insofar as the cloners keep up the supply of warm bodies to the front lines, because the existence of a clone army means the Republic worlds don't have to deal with the brutal reality of a galactic-spanning conscription/recruitment drive. They are quite happy to ignore the moral dilemma of relying on a slave army to fight on their behalf. Learning that the same slave army has 'Uncle Toms' to hold the whip and keep the rest in line... doesn't feel like it'd cause too much outrage, frankly.

    The second one (set up a false flag, so a CI kill squad 'goes bad') has the same weakness as the first, unless 'assassination goes bad' means that there's real collateral damage to non-clone civilians. (Again: most people are simply self-interested. That why the stories about the Khashoggi disappearance/killing tend to emphasize the fact that he's a US resident. A foreign government killing a random citizen in a random embassy in a different country... few people would feel personally invested in such a case. But because Khashoggi is considered as a US resident, most American media consumers can see themselves in the story.) A kill squad that accidentally levels a skyscraper or something, would certainly have better odds of making waves in the galactic media. On the other hand, if collateral damage is too high or too untargeted, I can't see any of Jango's political allies going along with it (and I wouldn't vote for such a plan anyway).

    Dr. Snark said:
    [] Kill Armand, but use the opportunity for a plan to weaken Republic Intelligence.
    -[] Have the assassin wear the stolen CI armor and be "discovered," creating the illusion of a traitor within the ranks of Republic Intelligence.
    -[] Use the cover of the ensuing chaos to insert moles into Republic Intelligence.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    This is my strong preference, if only by process of elimination. Killing Armand without a patsy would make Palpatine more vigilant, and give him a reason to dig deeper and find the party responsible (us). But if you add a patsy, then as long as it's convincing you don't have to worry about Palpatine 'digging deeper' since you already know what he'd find.

    The only question is, does such a patsy exist? If it's just a vague 'illusion of a traitor within the ranks', then that's almost as undirected and dangerous as having no suspect at all. If we do arrange this, could we lay tracks so the blame falls on a specific person (after a suitably long investigation, of course)? We could pin it on a particularly effective CI trooper or kill team. Or we could finger one of Armand's subordinates, removing the boss to make room for career advancement (does anyone doubt that office politics under Palpatine would be a blood sport?)


    As for whether we can insert moles into Republic Intelligence, it seems like we should already have a few agents in place. We have contacts with the Jedi Sentinels, who work extensively with other law-enforcement groups including Republic Intelligence. We've hired Gurlanin agents, natural Force-sensitive shapeshifters, who are ludicrously effective spies in general with a track record for infiltrating the Republic government (at least the Republic Treasury, which is how we found out about them to begin with).

    So: we either have low-level agents in place already (in which case, our goal would be to use the internal chaos to move them up the promotional ladder) or we are very well situated to get such agents in place in the near future. In either case, inserting moles seems like a gimme here.
     
    TerrisH said:
    What would Ciaran do?
    EVERYTHING
    Plan implosion:
    Fake a CI assassination of deserters going horribly wrong and use various news outlets to stir up a controversy.​
    followed by whistleblowers reacting to that when the coverup starts...
    and the assassination by a CI assassin, with hints that he is being removed to be made into a scapegoat.
    meanwhile, we are getting people in left and right during the chaos, both short and long-term plants.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    ...You know, having a "whistleblower" come forward right after the assassination might work well? It seems believable enough, and may even spur real whistleblowers forward as they flee what they think is a sinking ship.
     
    I also wonder if there's some way we can use this to help our whole "we need to force the evacuation of the Jedi Temple problem.
     
    The Sandman said:
    I also wonder if there's some way we can use this to help our whole "we need to force the evacuation of the Jedi Temple problem.
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    Click to shrink...

    Normally I wouldn't say anything about this sort of thing, but I'm going to be blunt and confirm that whatever you're thinking would probably cause waaaay more problems than it would solve.
     
    I kinda wanna try something a little sideways here. Maybe kill Armand, frame Palpatine's agents, let the Left hand destroy the Right?

    Or, given that any consideration of hostage-taking Ysanne might uncover her real personality, maybe even kill Armand in a way that turns her into a weapon pointed at Palpatine? If Ysanne is currently at a level where she can step into or near her father's shoes, we can make some very compelling evidence to suggest Palpatine's underhandedness was connected to her father's death, then keep it in our backpocket for the right moment. Imagine if she reached the head of Republic Intelligence and then we turned her? Palpatine could probably detect a highly-placed traitor through the force, but someone who doesn't know yet that she's being set up to turn traitor? That could work. This might actually be the only way to get a mole near him, as matter of fact.
     
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    Diceart said:
    That would be awesome if we could pull it off, but let's not forget K.I.S.S. The more complex a plan, the more moving parts it has, and so to does it have more points of failure.
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    It's also a Super critical success, which means we got a fair amount of leyway. And an insane plan like that is pretty par for the course in this quest, and suitably dramatic. they are also some of our greatest wins against Paliantine, and are more likely to blindside him.

    []Plan: what would Ciaran do?
    [] Use public outrage to bring down Armand and cripple Republic Intelligence by embroiling them in controversies that will disrupt their ability to function.
    -[] Fake a CI assassination of deserters going horribly wrong and use various news outlets to stir up a controversy.
    --[]Make it as flashy but low casualties if possible
    -[] Have someone act as a Cryptanalysis Department whistleblower and break the news about the actions of the Covert Ops troopers across the holonet.    ​
    --[]followed by more whistle blowers revealing anything else shady that we can uncover and tangently prove. cascade the Trooper assassinations into things that the public would be more concerned with, and hopefully trigger additional unaffiliated whistleblowers to step up.
    --[] Use the opportunity to insert moles into Republic Intelligence. ​
    ---[] some long term for
    Intelligence​
    purposes, some short term just to uncover more "fact" to whistleblower to the public.
    -[] If Armand gets indicted/arrested/summoned to testify, Stage an assignation. success is preferable, but close call will do.

    Edit:
    If your planning to vote for this plan, suggest to instead vote instead for
    [] Plan: This is what Ciaran would do
    It's intent is the same as this plan, just better worded and a more exact timeline of events.​
     
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    I like the implosion plan with the addition of timing the whistle blower to go at most an hour after Armand is found dead. Because suddenly "oh hey, no one is busy watching the contractors" is a perfect excuse to spread dirty laundry around.

    Edit:
    [x]Plan: what would Ciaran do?
     
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