To meet the bureaucratic needs of the expanding Noveria project, the NDC is reaching far and wide for the best of the best, and they're not too fussed if a few extra credits are slipped into pockets under the table, as long as their expectations are met.
For those climbing the corporate ladder, Noveria represents an opportunity for unmatched profit - or a one way trip to unfortunate destitution.
Mass Effect is a space opera franchise about a wo/man named Shepard who flies around the galaxy in a cool ship, shooting aliens, robots, and alien robots, asking every passerby inane questions about the environment, and making delicate moral choices, like whether to kick that Eclipse merc out a window, or - aw, who am I kidding. Everyone kicked that merc out the window. Anyway, this isn't about Shepard.
In the Mass Effect Universe, the civilised half of the galaxy is ruled over by the Citadel Council, a mixed-race alliance who are all about law and order and goodness. This is great for peace and stability, but it absolutely sucks for profitability, because everyone knows that evil is the real growth industry.
Two dozen private companies, fed up with the various restrictions and regulations forced upon them by the Citadel Council, banded together and invested their not-insignificant corporate fortunes into a potentially very-profitable gamble - the creation of a corporate colony, run by the ostensibly neutral Noveria Development Corporation, where the Citadel's 'rules' and 'regulations' did not apply, where ideals like 'safety standards' and 'worker's rights' were discarded in favour of cold, hard profit.
Emphasis on the cold.
Twenty years later, that gamble is beginning to pay off. The off-the-grid research sites and tax haven offices, previously reliant on funds from Noveria's booming winter holiday industry, are finally becoming profitable - and making a small number of people a very large number of credits in the process. To meet the bureaucratic needs of the expanding project, the NDC is reaching far and wide for the best of the best, and they're not too fussed if a few extra credits are slipped into pockets under the table, as long as their expectations are met.
For those climbing the corporate ladder, Noveria represents an opportunity for unmatched profit - or a one way trip to unfortunate destitution.
All you have to do, is fulfil the contract.
It's a cold and miserable morning on Noveria when the first message comes through, and within minutes, the entire corporate network is talking about it.
A Council Spectre, on official business, on Noveria? The fact that the Spectre in question is the first human Spectre, an infamous warrior in their own right, is discarded almost immediately. Those kinds of details don't matter. Not to the corporations.
They're more concerned about the why. The whole point of the Noveria office was to allow for research, development, and testing of things away from the oversight of the Council. Someone messing up badly enough that the Council's ire has been drawn is disruptive, even dangerous for business. That someone's pissed the Council off enough that they've sent in a Spectre? Heads will be rolling.
Fingers are pointing and blame is flying before the Spectre's boots have touched the ground.
When she finally arrives, she makes her case to Port Hanshan security, and eyes narrow. She's not here for the corporations, she explains to Port Hanshan's security chief. She's looking for Matriarch Benezia, because she might know where to find Saren Arterius, who has apparently gone and made himself a public enemy.
Of course, Benezia is a known element - Executive Secretary of Binary Helix, and a major shareholder herself. Her relationship with Saren is well known, too - whenever his Council business called him away, she served as executor for his equally significant share of BH. It was happening more and more, lately.
Whatever this Spectre wants, it's probably to do with Binary Helix. A few people relax. The deputy manager of Synthetic Insights breathes a sigh of relief. Someone in Itavan Skyworks tells his intern not to worry about getting rid of those tax files.
No one from Binary Helix comments. Actually, a few of the more observant users notice, no one from Binary Helix is even online.
Administrator Anoleis makes a comment of his own, a few minutes later. The Spectre is exactly as blunt as her history suggests. She wants access to Peak 15, last known location of the Matriarch, and as he felt no compelling reason to provide it, that access has been denied.
A few more gung-ho users make snide and unwise comments about the Spectre's ability to complete her task, and they rest assured knowing that Anoleis' red tape and the guns of the ERCS will keep her from meddling in anyone's business until Benezia gets back, or she gets bored and leaves.
Crisis averted.
Less than an hour later, another message hits the NDC message board, and this one is much more dramatic.
There's been a gunfight in the Synthetic Insights office. The Spectre has just wiped out half of Port Hanshan's on-duty ERCS Security complement, and, aided by an unidentified suit-rat, gained access to the private terminal and user account of Synthetic Insight's Noveria Branch Manager. Countless company secrets could be compromised. The Council could well have everything that was on his computer.
The Synthetic Insights board is practically on fire. Everyone wants to know what Lorik Qui'in might have had access to, what secrets might leak, why the Spectre might have been interested in him, or in Synthetic Insights. It goes unmentioned, but observant eyes notice a couple of company executives going so far as to sell off some of their shares.
The other boards are only slightly quieter - wasn't the Spectre there for Benezia? What is the Council really after? Evidence of illegal research into Artificial Intelligence? An excuse to revoke Synthetic Insight's licence? Is that all the Spectre wanted? Could they be next? No one has any good answers.
Lorik Qui'in isn't responding to anyone's requests for information, and Anoleis is keeping his mouth shut too. Most of the SI office staff are in complete panic now. It's finally revealed that the office has been closed for days due to a pending investigation by the NDC, a secret that Synthetic Insights had been putting great effort into keeping. The revelation does nothing to ease tensions across the board.
By lunchtime, the cause for the chaos becomes more clear. Lorik Qui'in has been recalled to Profit's Retreat Station by his superiors at Synthetic Insights, pending an investigation into the conduct of NDC-SI relations. On its own, this would be a damning implication of corruption - worse, sloppy corruption, if he was caught so easily.
But a second message overshadows the SI bulletin by far. A missive from the NDC Board of Executives. Administrator Bel Anoleis has just been suspended indefinitely pending a full sequence investigation into allegations of corruption, corporate favouritism, and negligence in protecting the interests of corporate clients, and was taken directly into custody by an entrenched Internal Affairs agent before the lunch break was over. Almost a dozen of his subordinates have been swept up with him.
No one is saying anything, but the men and women of Noveria are gossips, information brokers, and office-politicians of the highest caliber, and the clues come together quickly.
Anoleis was corrupt, Qui'in had evidence to prove it, and the NDC used the Spectre as a convenient patsy to cut through the corporate red tape bullshit and resolve the issue before it turned into a full on corporate shadow war and really put the hurt on profits.
Suddenly, the people who were gung-ho about the Spectre's presence are a little less at ease. Whether she agreed to the plan or was manipulated into it, it firmly establishes her as an asset of the NDC. Every corporation on Noveria should be happy with this - obviously everyone would prefer the Spectre be in their pocket, but if she must be someone else's goon, best she be a goon of the only neutral party on the planet.
But should be is not is.
In reality, every corporation on the planet recognises that the NDC values the stability of the corporate ecosystem over their profits, and if they've got a Spectre on their side, their ability to curb corporate excess for the good of the whole has just skyrocketed.
Luckily, one of Port Hanshan's administrators notes in the wake of Anoleis' arrest, the Spectre is on the way out. Whatever deal she worked out with the Internal Affairs agent, she has full authorisation to leave Port Hanshan and make her way to Peak 15, where she will become the problem of the still-suspiciously-quiet men and women of Binary Helix, and for everyone else, life can continue as normal. In a few days, there'll be a new administrator, and it'll be like nothing's changed at all.
Less than thirty seconds after that message goes live, the gunfire alarm sounds again.
Millions of credits worth of shuttles, snowbounders, transport trucks, and specialist equipment is turned into so much slag as the Spectre sees fit to unleash the full firepower of a Systems Alliance Military IFV against a squad of geth soldiers which had somehow infiltrated the facility. The gunfight claims the lives of six more ERCS security personnel, and the ERCS subnet is furious.
The NDC immediately cracks down, hushing the message boards completely. Word of a geth invasion of Port Hanshan, no matter how small, cannot be allowed to spread. It would spell absolute disaster - confidence would be shattered, investors would go into a panic. The ERCS liaison officer agrees, and sets out to make sure his colleagues know the score. A geth incursion would reflect incredibly badly on their ability to keep the facilities here safe, a hit to their reputation that could cost them billions across the Traverse.
The Spectre returns from Peak 15 late into the evening. She issues a brief report to Captain Matsuo, stating that the geth problem has been dealt with, the rachni outbreak has been dealt with, and that her business is concluded, and departs. In the sudden absence of a local authority figure, Matsuo forwards the report directly to the Executive Board.
The Spectre neglected to include proof, it being a quick verbal report, but the word of a Spectre is reliable enough for the Council, the Executive Board reasons, and so should in this case be taken as fact. In light of the chaos of the day, and the fact that Binary Helix aren't responding to any kind of message to defend themselves, it even seems almost prudent to assume that the report is correct, that Binary Helix really were performing experiments in some way related to the rachni.
Experimentation in breach of their contract, which stipulates that the NDC must be made aware of any research underway regarding live sapients. In absence of any response from Binary Helix executives, the worst is assumed. A full investigation of the Peak 15 facility must be undertaken, the Executive Board declares, so they can find out just how much in breach Binary Helix are, and fine them appropriately. It will be the first priority of Port Hanshan's newest administrator.
Speaking of which...
===
With all the chaos of the Spectre's visit, I have ordered Captain Matsuo to enforce a snap lockdown. For the next two days, no one is going in or coming out, all communications are severed, and all business transactions are halted.
It is unfortunate that the geth incursion and the allegations of rachni breeding have come to light alongside the termination of Administrator Anoleis and much of his staff, but we do not have the mercy of pushing any one of these issues back. The situation is dire and we have neither the manpower nor the corporate goodwill to maintain the current state of affairs. I have contacted ERCS, and additional short-term security staff will be made available for a short period.
Our first priority is restoring a clear line of authority within Port Hanshan, before the local managers get any funny ideas. Investigation into the activities of the Peak 15 facility and into the geth incursion must be undertaken swiftly, but to the extent of the board's knowledge, neither presents a clear danger at this time. Once these present issues are resolved, our Interim Administrator can pick up where Anoleis left off in regards to meeting our annual quotas.
In light of Anoleis' corruption and the depths to which it spread, it is clear that we will unfortunately need to look outside Port Hanshan's internal bureaucracy for our next Administrator. I am aware this will only make any potential response to the other issues slower, but we cannot afford to allow entrenched corruption to sabotage our response, and there are plenty of qualified candidates within or tied to the NDC.
Put forward your preferred candidates as soon as possible. The Board will vote tomorrow afternoon, 14:00 Hanshan Time.
- Chairman Laekus
ADDENDUM: The next person to put forward an asari's name is getting walked out the airlock. I don't care if she's half-salarian and snorts stimdust four times a day, we need this problem resolved NOW, not ten years down the fucking line.
ADDENDUM 2: I must admit, I didn't know we HAD any elcor with qualifications suitable for the position. Very funny, Dalatrass. Candidate rejected.
[ ] Rokea Mekko
Erinle Galla Vessun Norb Rokea Mekko, Mekko by tradition, rejected the pseudo-legal lifestyle of his clan and instead spent his early career working on the construction of observation stations and bio-preservation labs in Erinle's cold polar regions. He was headhunted by the NDC after they encountered initial difficulties adapting general-purpose facilities to Noveria's climate, and worked his way up the NDC's internal ladder, overseeing the development of multiple research and development labs suitable for the freezing temperatures and inclement weather.
Silver Tongue - Mekko is a fast talker with a knack for flattery and reframing narratives. Executives often walk away from talks with him believing that yes, things are all about them. Mekko gains additional corporate favour.
Frontier Industrialist - With his experiences on Erinle and Noveria, Mekko understands well the difficulties of establishing high tech facilities in suboptimal conditions. Mekko has a primary bonus to Advanced Industry dice and a secondary bonus to Administration dice.
Hyperactive - Like all salarians, Mekko has a highly active metabolism, and works faster for longer than most other candidates can. Due to his willingness to work overtime, Mekko can dedicate more of his time to personally managing projects. Mekko has one additional free dice.
Divided Loyalties - Though he has been with the NDC for over a decade, Mekko has not forgotten his loyalty to the Rokea Syndicate, and nor have they forgotten him. The Rokea Syndicate may ask for 'favours'.
[ ] Nil'Zannis nar Prosarai
An unusual quarian who neglected to return to the Migrant Fleet at the end of his pilgrimage, instead electing to climb the corporate ladder. His technical aptitude is good, and he is surprisingly well rounded, displaying competence in a variety of positions throughout his career. He moved to the NDC during the early years of the Noveria project, where he worked on the services and facilities committee, overseeing the design and implementation of primary infrastructure for several of Noveria's famed equatorial holiday resorts.
Data Analyst - Nil'Zannis created a personalised 'VI' program that assists him in parsing vast quantities of data and generating higher quality reports than even veteran analysts can manage. Nil'Zannis has more accurate cost and benefit tracking metrics.
Background Hum - A childhood spent aboard starships has taught Nil'Zannis the extreme importance of the things everyone else overlooks, and he built his career on exploiting that lesson. Nil'Zannis has a primary bonus to Infrastructure dice and a secondary bonus to Advanced Industry dice.
Technical Aptitude - Despite the unmitigated disaster that was the geth uprising, quarians remain some of the most willing to throw themselves wholeheartedly into backing new and experimental technologies, and Nil'Zannis is no exception. Nil'Zannis has access to cutting edge options other candidates would not.
Suit Rat - Despite the length of his tenure and the scope of his contributions, Nil'Zannis has not entirely escaped the negative stereotypes that follow his species, and he often draws scorn from those who think of themselves as his betters. Nil'Zannis loses additional corporate favour.
[ ] Gharn Kas'kre
A batarian from Omega who found tech smuggling a lot more lucrative than drug smuggling, and a lot less likely to get him shot, Gharn slowly expanded from running smuggling operations to offering a full suite of 'alternative business solutions'. Gharn's criminal history, cunning, brutality, and blame-deflecting skills allowed him to develop a reputation for quick and dirty problem solving the likes of which is oft appreciated out in the Traverse, and has freelanced for many of the NDC's investors in the past.
Feared - Gharn's reputation for 'solving problems' in legally flexible ways is well known amongst the corporate upper class, and when the local problem solver is well known for his skill with a hammer, no one wants to look like a nail. Gharn does not lose funding from negative Corporate Favour. .
Firm Hand - Gharn understands better than most corporate leaders just how important it is to keep the workers in line, ensuring they keep their heads down and mouths shut. Gharn has a primary bonus to Security dice and a secondary bonus to Heavy Industry dice.
Shady Dealer - Though he works as an ostensibly legitimate businessman now, Gharn still maintains close ties with the more frowned-upon elements of his network. Gharn has access to legally flexible options other candidates would not condone.
Distrusted - His reputation, aided by the stigma often associated with batarians in more civilised space, is such that others go out of their way to avoid engaging with him directly, lest they draw his ire. Gharn cannot passively track his corporate favour.
[ ] Tikanus Oscura
A turian engineer and foreman from the colony of Altakiril with a background in industrial operations and site construction. He jumped ship to the NDC when his boss did, settling firmly into the familiar role of site foreman and remaining there throughout the construction of Port Hanshan and many of Noveria's other facilities. It is only recently that he has moved into management, and whilst he lacks obvious talent, he makes up for that with bureaucratic familiarity and a work ethic even other turians consider noteworthy.
Hard Yards - Even amongst Turians, Tikanus is considered notable for his work ethic and willingness to go the extra mile. He is of the mindset that no problem is insurmountable with a little learning. Tikanus provides a minor bonus to all dice.
Veteran Foreman - The overwhelming majority of Tikanus' career has been on-site, supervising construction efforts directly, and that experience has given rise to expertise. Tikanus has a primary bonus to Heavy Industry dice and a secondary bonus to Infrastructure dice.
Eyes Forward - A veteran of colonial development and long term victim of scope creep, Tikanus understands that nothing is ever done, and so makes it a rule to always plan with expansion in mind. Tikanus generates staged, rather than levelled, projects.
Orders From The Top - Tikanus recognises an order when he sees one, no matter how well it's framed as a suggestion or a hypothetical, and whilst he understands the virtue of dragging his feet, he will never blatantly disobey. Tikanus must advance every Priority:NDC project by at least one die per turn.
[ ] Vos Korssa
A volus investment banker from the Citadel who seems to be making an active effort to embody as many racial stereotypes as possible. Flippant, self-obsessed, and greedy, Vos Korssa is nonetheless a dominant figure in the corporate finance scene, considered by some to be a miracle worker for his talent at bringing in projects on time and on budget. He has an eye for talent and an ever expanding pool of expert consultants at his beck and call, more than covering for his own deficiencies.
Mercantile - Those with the connections and the history that Vos Korssa have inevitably come to learn one thing - there is always a way to cut corners. Dodgy labour, lax standards, sub-rate materials, cheap Terminus knock-offs, whatever needs to be done. Vos Korssa may deploy dice at a discount.
Eye For Talent - Vos Korssa himself does little in the way of administration, preferring to delegate tasks to skilled subordinates. Though never as efficient as personal oversight, this ensures all projects are managed at least competently. Vos Korssa provides a small bonus to all dice.
Offworld Consultants - What Vos Korssa lacks in personal talent or experience, he makes up for in willingness to hire experienced professionals and consultants to do his work for him. Vos Korssa may exchange resources for progression points on one project per turn.
Retirement Fund - Vos Korssa's talent for making money is matched only by his talent for stashing it away by all manner of loopholes, adding it to his not-insignificant retirement fund. Vos Korssa cannot bank resources between turns.
[ ] Ireme Kioka
Once, Ireme Kioka served as the representative of a hanar free trader. With his blessing, however, she came to take on more and more of his responsibilities, eventually supplanting him completely. With his eventual passing, she moved into staff management for the Traverse Sentry Group, and was headhunted from there by the NDC. Despite her illness, Miss Kioka is a relentlessly positive individual, and claims to be blessed with good fortune - a claim her record does little to diminish.
Good Fortune - Miss Kioka seems to possess a supernatural luck inexplicable by the whims of fate, and the cookie has crumbled in her favour more than once. Kioka scores Critical Successes on rolls of 99 and 100.
Corporate Administrator - With a history in the business, first as a secretary and then as a manager, Miss Kioka can push pencils with the best of them. Kioka has a primary bonus to Administration dice and a secondary bonus to Security dice.
Gossip Girl - Miss Kioka knows better than most just how much power secretaries wield, and takes pains to network closely with them, taking their secrets for her own. She can leverage this blackmail material to amplify gains or diminish losses to corporate favour.
Kepral's Syndrome - There is no known cure for Kepral's Syndrome, but even in the most severe of cases, the symptoms can be managed with regular treatments and sufficient rest. For the sake of her health and wellbeing, Miss Kioka must dedicate less time to her job than other candidates. Kioka has one less free die.
NO VOTE MORATORIUM
By Way Of Explanation
This quest will operate on a fairly tweaked version of the Planquest format, created by Blackstar for VNSKh and then stolencopiedbandwagoned also used in several other quests such as Ithillid's GDI quest. However, it will (or rather, should) play somewhat differently to those quests. Because this game is about bastard capitalists being bastards, rather than the power of centrally planned toothbrush factories, there will be a lot less long-term construction projects and sweeping reforms, and a lot more short-term efforts and political shenanigans compared to the other quests of this kind. Unless that doesn't seem to be working out, in which case, I may tweak things. We'll see how we go.
You play as the Administrator of the corporation that serves as Noveria's government, putting you into a position somewhere between Head of the Treasury and Minister for Internal Affairs. Though your directives are set from on high, you have broad soft and hard power to bring to bear to accomplish those directives as you see fit.
Key resources are Resources, Dice, Capacity, Corporate Favour, and Executive Support.
Resources are money, manpower, equipment, the miscellaneous 'stuff' required to Get Stuff Done, whatever that Stuff happens to be, whether it's building a containment lab or busting a union meeting. It comes in the form of rent and taxes, represented by the abstract Profitability, and goes out as projects or ongoing expenses, like security contracts (or lining your own pockets).
Dice represent the administrative overhead for the management of that Stuff. You can only run a project if you have spare dice to assign to it. In a given turn, not all dice need to be spent. Some dice are permanently locked to specific action categories, and some dice are free to use in any category as needed.
Capacity represents Port Hanshan's ability to handle providing services or logistic support for projects, representing things such as cargo transport or communications. These generally serve as additional or alternative limiting factors in developing projects.
Corporate Favour represents how well liked (or how badly disliked) you are amongst the various corporations inhabiting Port Hanshan. High favour means compliant and co-operative corporations who pay their rent, don't cause trouble, and keep their heads down, mostly. Low favour means agitation, cut funding, work demands, and general causation of problems.
Executive Support is your support with the Executive Board. It helps you smooth over unpopular decisions and call in favours, but if it drops too low they might decide to have you fired.
Once a leader has been selected, we'll move on to plan goal and budget voting, and then into the game proper. We all know how this goes.
I consider 16-12 a sufficiently compelling margin to call the vote here, all things considered.
Your name is Nil'Zannis nar Prosarai, and you are a very disgruntled quarian.
You were enjoying your evening, and a hearty meal, at Dessura's finest restaurant - well, the finest restaurant that was willing to stick meals in a blender for you, when you got a maximum priority missive from the Executive Board and, very shortly after, a call from the Chairman himself.
And now you're hunched over your desk, well past your bedtime, poring over the most densely packed contract you've ever read for the fifth time in one night.
By the will of the Executive Board and what must have been a truly prestigious amount of bribery from your 'competition', you have been identified as the most capable and most suitable man to take the reins of the Noveria Development Corporation's biggest gamble. Not only that, but they've decided that the change of leadership is a good time to move forward to the next stage of Port Hanshan's development, even if that means going ahead of schedule. Your day-to-day won't be the simple office politics Anoleis had to handle, but a return to the days of the earliest Administrators, who were running the show back when you first joined the NDC - managing construction and expansion works in some of the worst terrain Noveria has to offer, and listening to the nagging of suit-wearing dullards who wouldn't know an surge protector from a emergency service capacitor, let alone how to optimise hydroponic flow in sub-zero temperatures on the side of a fucking mountain.
Oh, and lots of office politics. Of course.
It's hardly a surprise they chose you. For as long as you've worked at the NDC, you've had superious who loved nothing more than sticking you in the shit - figuratively and, on one occasion, literally.
But the money... You drum your fingers on the edge of the desk and reread the expectations one more time.
===
Like all of Port Hanshan's prior administrators, Nil'Zannis is being offered a year-long contract for the position, with renewal contingent on meeting quotas laid out in the contract.
Each turn represents a single month, giving us a total of 12 turns per Contract.
In a usual planquest, this section would represent the PC wheeling and dealing to get the budget and targets they feel are suitable, with corresponding Political Support costs and whatnot. This is not the case here. The Executive Board has offered Nil'Zannis a contract with strict terms, this vote is effectively you, as the Executive Board, deciding what those terms are.
It should be remembered that the NDC and the other corporations often have agendas that are entirely separate, or, worse, contradictory. Turning a profit on Noveria is not as simple as Making The Number Go Up.
Budget:
The NDC sets aside a significant portion of its income, after expenses, to allow for future development. For the past sixteen years, the vast majority of that has been going to the equatorial resort cities, such as Jabal Barid and Dessura. Now, the NDC is looking to turn that funding back to the city that started it all. [ ][BUDGET] 20% of NDC Development Income: 160 Resources per turn [ ][BUDGET] 25% of NDC Development Income: 200 Resources per turn [ ][BUDGET] 30% of NDC Development Income: 240 Resources per turn, must take Quota:Moderate or above [ ][BUDGET] 40% of NDC Development Income: 320 Resources per turn, must take Quota:Ambitious or above
Quota:
The primary purpose of Port Hanshan, from the Executive Board's point of view, is to make a ton of money. They're not particularly concerned about whether that comes from empowering the existing corporations or bringing in new ones, although the former would certainly be cheaper than the latter. [ ][QUOTA] Safe: 15% Increase in Profitability [ ][QUOTA] Moderate: 25% Increase in Profitability [ ][QUOTA] Ambitious: 35% Increase in Profitability [ ][QUOTA] Outrageous: 45% Increase in Profitability
===
The contract notes that, despite the extenuating circumstances of your sudden promotion, the Executive Board sees no reason to adjust the handover procedures, even though your predecessor is now gone and half his staff with him, which means there's no one to actually perform the handover.
It doesn't take a genius to recognize that Port Hanshan is a writhing hotbed of closed-room deals and under-the-table arrangements and unspoken agreements, and if you're going to be put in charge of that, you'd really rather have some idea what those deals and arrangements and agreements are. Without a proper handover, you'll be walking into the situation basically blind. There are a few ways to get around that, but you'll need to get on that fast, if you take the job.
Because if you don't, you're liable to step on toes, upset people, and rock the boat.
And despite the vast power that the position of Administrator represents, it is still beholden - in fact, it's even more beholden to Noveria's Golden Rule.
Don't rock the boat.
Vote is NOT YET OPEN, because Nil'Zannis isn't the only one hunched over his desk, way past his bedtime. If you have questions or would like clarification on anything, please ask, and I will answer in the morning before opening the vote.
Port Hanshan is not exactly what you think of as an island of peace and tranquility - it's full of scumbags, scoundrels, con artists, corner-cutters, and corporate lawyers, after all. There's a constant tension in the air. The bustle of the corps at work only barely conceals barbed words and bartered secrets and brazen threats and more.
In terms of legality, the place is barely two steps above 'lawless wasteland'. In terms of economy, it's crawling with predatory lenders, indentured servants, and dead-eyed wage-slaves. In terms of trust, there's not one person in the complex who wouldn't sell you out for a few credits more in their pocket. Sure, all of that is true. But whilst Noveria has always been far from peaceful, you'd never particularly thought of it as violent.
Looking at the reports, you guess the First Human Spectre never got that memo.
Port Hanshan's Chief of Security is waiting for you at the docking bay as your ship settles into the cradle, standing alone at the end of the walkway. Leaving the larger parts of your luggage in the capable hands of the mover mechs, you enter the airlock and immediately wince as you're exposed to the frigid air of Noveria's mountains.
Your suit's internal heater kicks in quickly, and you step out onto the walkway, hurrying to meet your new subordinate.
"Director Zannis-san," she greets warmly as you approach. "Welcome to Port Hanshan."
"Captain Matsuo?" At her nod, you continue. "The Board gave me the broad strokes, but they were a little lax on the specifics," you lie. "Could you fill me in?"
There was little you felt you didn't already know about the events of the past few days - the corporate boards loved nothing more than gossip, and with your higher level access you were privy to a lot of the official incident reports, as well. Frustratingly vague as many of them were.
You're sure you'll find a few, more detailed, reports in your inbox, now you've jumped up the ranks a little. Assuming that mel'pa in sapient resources remembered to bump up your clearance level. Wouldn't be the first time someone 'forgot' about updating your profile.
Nonetheless, you listen keenly as Matsuo lays out a brief rundown of the Spectre's actions - and, more importantly, the local grievances that resulted.
The Spectre's visit to the Synthetic Insights offices, apparently vital to removing your predecessor from office, lead to a gunfight in their lobby and the office manager's computer being accessed by an unknown quarian. Though they insist that the potential data breach is an internal issue, they are placing the blame for the gunfight squarely on the Noveria Development Corporation, Matsuo explains. Apparently, their deputy manager wants a full investigation into the incident, and reparations for damages caused.
Binary Helix executives from off-world have been insisting on handling whatever happened at Peak 15 themselves, but the Executive Board insists that the issue has become one of colonial security - which means it's your responsibility to figure out what the hell happened out there. You ask Matsuo about the third of the matters the Executive Board had flagged as important, and she shrugs. Whatever the Spectre wanted with Agent Saren and Matriarch Benezia, and whether or not it had anything to do with Binary Helix, she didn't see fit to tell. You'll have to do some NDC-sponsored digging and find that out on your own, it seems.
Then Matsuo springs some surprising news on you. Elanus Risk Control Services is looking to re-evaluate and potentially re-negotiate every aspect of their corporate security contract, from services provided to liability fees to pay rates and working hours, and their local manager wants to set up a meeting with you, to make sure the contract is as 'mutually beneficial' as possible.
Pah. Mutually beneficial. You can hear the quotation marks.
Matsuo explains that ERCS was already unhappy with the contract, but recent events have pushed them to the brink. Half of their corporate sector security team was wiped out by the Spectre, security agents from across the city have had to be pulled into the corporate sector to fill the huge gaps in the roster, and the corporations haven't been making life easier for the survivors or the newcomers.
Apparently, Matsuo says, every other moron on this rock from supervisor on up thinks they're too important for the lockdown to apply to them, or that the products they've shipped in from who-knows-where are too essential to sit in the spaceport cargo terminal for a couple of days.
Finally, you arrive at the administrative centre, and your new office. It's more than a little sparse - you recall quite a few of Anoleis' underlings were caught up in his corruption scandal, but that doesn't seem to explain the fact that your office consists of two enormous rooms with a single desk each.
The windows are so large you could comfortably fly a shuttle through them - and the office is big enough that you'd have no trouble landing it, either. You have to admit, it makes a very powerful statement. Whilst dozens of bureaucrats toil in cubicles two rooms over, your secretary has more legroom than most quarian captains. What an extravagant waste of space.
Nonetheless, it's your space, now - and a fair bit better than your old office, nestled deep within a glacier and just one thin wall away from Derruva Resort's primary sewage pump station. Definitely something you could get used to.
You settle into the metaphorical captain's chair - a plush leather thing you'd probably enjoy more if you hadn't padded your suit lining years ago. Holographic interfaces light up before your eyes, and you feel a smile creep across your face.It's taken you seventeen years, but you've finally made it. Administrator of Port Hanshan, governor of Noveria's largest city. Money and power were pretty secondary goals when you started walking down this path, but you can't deny the thrill that comes with them.
With a surge of satisfaction, you realize you might be the only quarian in the galaxy with legitimate authority over a planetary holding, let alone one of such a size. But you put that satisfaction aside for now. There's a lot of work to do. Acting smug can wait.
[ ] Expand Onsite Construction Facilities
Port Hanshan's initial development called for a small and simple production facility, to produce basic construction materials and structural components. By expanding the manufacturing capabilities of that facility, and setting aside space to store and maintain dedicated construction vehicles and equipment, the NDC can save on the cost of importing skilled workers, specialised equipment, and prefabricated modules, and instead ship in cheaper raw resources and construct on-site.
(Progress: 0/300 - 25 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for Construction actions, -4 Cargo)
(Sannovi Industrial: +1P, +2F)
[ ] Spaceport Expansion Program
Port Hanshan's Spaceport is only capable of adequately servicing a handful of freighters at a time, and the size of the facility and staff limit the throughput of cargo. Under normal circumstances, the addition of additional docking and service bays would be a simple matter, but the idiots on the board decided that they wanted their secretive research facilities to be nestled in the mountains, and the flatter lowlands are too far for convenient travel, so any expansion of the spaceport will require a significant investment of time and effort, not just in construction but in carving chunks out of the mountains to make room in the first place.
(Progress: 0/500 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Cargo, -2 Housing)
[ ] Glacial Fusion Plant
Fuel-efficient and climate friendly, fusion power plants are the standard for developing and developed worlds across civilised space. By burying the fusion plant deep within Noveria's frozen glaciers, they and the limited radioactive waste they produce can be safely and securely contained away from more densely populated areas, and without ruining the view as more economical renewable generators would.
(Progress: 0/300 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Power)
(Hassan Atomics: +1P, +1F)
Advanced Industry (3D, +15 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant
A syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers, the Kaskadan Syndicate, have put forward a request for the construction of a new and high end electronics plant either in or around Port Hanshan. Currently, no such facility exists, and as such, high end electronics are one of the many things Noveria needs shipped in for major projects. The Kaskadan Syndicate is willing to give the NDC first-refusal and a tidy discount on those electronic products if allowed to develop and manufacture them on Noveria.
(Progress: 0/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for High-Tech actions, -2 Cargo)
(New Corporation: Kaskadan Syndicate (+1P, +2F))
[ ] Restore Offsite Uplink
The mess the Spectre made of the Aleutsk Valley pathway to Peak 15 included a not-insignificant amount of damage to one of Port Hanshan's Offsite Data Uplinks. Originally designed as redundancies, the Offsite Uplinks became more and more important as Hanshan's population grew but its infrastructure failed to grow with it. The increased strain on the network is noticeable, with complaints of latency and dropped connections coming from every sector.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die) (+4 Network)
(Cannot be taken without Investigation: Peak 15)
[ ] Data Traffic Management Centre
Prioritising data traffic is already a challenging problem for every group in the galaxy. Intergalactic communications rely on simple priority rules to allocate bandwidth, whilst local relays such as Hanshan's ground-to-orbit system generally work on a first-in-first-out basis, relying on relative lack of traffic to ensure high speed connections. By analysing outgoing communication requests and assessing relative importance before passing them offworld, corporate assets can be assured they are receiving the highest possible speed at all times, and never getting stuck behind civilian data traffic.
(Progress: 0/100 - 10 Resources per die)
[ ] Hanshan Medical Centre Renovation
Maybe it's just your quarian aversion to slap-dash medical care and 'good enough' clean rooms, but you personally take some offense to the lack of updates Hanshan Medical Centre has seen since it was initially constructed during first wave development. Port Hanshan's population, being made up generally of professionals, not families, with next to no children or elderly, may be less in need of cutting edge medical technology than some demographics, but in your professional experience, hospitals are exactly the kind of thing no one appreciates until they really need them.
(Progress: 0/200 - 10 Resources per die) (Improve Port Hanshan Livability)
Infrastructure (3D, +25 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Ground-Orbit Uplink Site
The existing ground-orbit communications infrastructure is in dire need of expansion, with original usage estimates far exceeded and redundancy units pressed into general service to ensure needs were met. A new transmission tower and accompanying infrastructure would bring network capacity up to a far more acceptable level and remove reliance on the backup equipment.
(Progress: 0/300 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Network)
[ ] Dedicated Media Transmission Infrastructure
One of the biggest impacts on network traffic across Noveria is the sheer volume of data certain corporations are required to transmit as part of their general activities. By creating a dedicated communications transmission centre only for the use of these corporations, they can be guaranteed faster, more secure, and more reliable connections, and the bandwidth they were previously using can be freed up for other purposes.
(Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Network, -2 Power)
(Noveria Now: +1F) (Tevura Media Group: +1F) (Solemni & Olde: +1F) (Astra Financial: +1F)
[ ] Distributed Windworks
Noveria's weather and the terrain of the Skadi Mountains means that there are many, many valleys near Port Hanshan suitable for the deployment of distributed wind farms. Cheap, dependable, and clean, they're an ideal source of power, and distributing generation across multiple areas has benefits of its own. Some people think that the wind farms are blights upon the landscape, but seeing as how there's a dozen luxury resorts on Noveria and Port Hanshan isn't one of them, you find it kind of hard to care.
(Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (+8 Power)
[ ] Arcology Spire
Very few people want to make their lives on Noveria, and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. The advantage of this is that it massively reduces housing pressure - and what little long-term housing pressure does exist tends to be focused on the resort-cities, which cater far more to high class lifestyles. Nonetheless, some 80,000 people call Port Hanshan home, and that is brushing close to the practical capacity limit. Taking lessons from centuries of urban planning and orbital habitat design across the galaxy, arcology spires serve to provide not just housing and the requisite utilities, but rental spaces that can be dedicated to shops, restaurants, schools, gyms, and other facilities, providing all the average resident needs within a single complex.
(Progress: 0/200 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Housing)
Security (3D, +5 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Contract Revision (Priority: ERCS)
Elanus Risk Control Services have some concerns about recent events, and want to take some time to reassess their existing contract with the NDC regarding their services throughout Port Hanshan. Seeing as the ERCS is both corporate security and law enforcement across the entire planet, getting them back onside is a matter of significant importance.
(Breakpoints: 40 / 70 / 90 - 5 Resources per die) (Resolves Security Contract Dilemma)
(ERCS: +?F)
[ ] Investigate: Synthetic Insights (Priority: Synthetic Insights)
It seems pretty clear that the gunfight between the Spectre and corporate security was related to Anoleis' corruption, but nonetheless Synthetic Insights wants an investigation into the exact causes of the issue, assurances it won't happen again, and reparations for the damages caused.
(Progress: 0/50 - 5 Resources per die)
(Synthetic Insights: +1F)
[ ] Investigate: Peak 15 (Priority: NDC) Something happened at Peak 15, and no one who knows seems to want to tell you anything. You've had no contact from the site or any of its inhabitants, some extremely alarming reports of contract-breaching experiments, and evidence that the geth decided, for some reason, to get involved. Have Matsuo wrangle some troops, drive out there, and figure out what the hell happened.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
[ ] Mandatory Audit (Targets 1 Corporation)
In addition to the physical security staff provided by ERCS, the NDC has access to a suite of in-house corporate assessors, auditors, and investigators, trained to dig out corruption, noncompliance, and assorted chicanery wherever it takes root. Sending them after a company ensures that the appropriate rental fees and taxes are being paid, promptly and without any shenanigans.
(Breakpoints: 20 / 60 - 5 Resources per die) (For six turns, negative corporate favour does not reduce income.)
(Target: -2/1F)
Administration (3D, +5 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Rummaging Through Drawers
As Anoleis and a good portion of his staff have been removed from power very suddenly, there's no one in any position to give you a meaningful handover. Strictly speaking, you shouldn't have access to Anoleis' files and documents, either, but you've worked for the NDC for seventeen years, and it wouldn't be the first time you'd hacked into a high-level account.
(Breakpoints: 30 / 60 / 80 - 0 Resources per die) (Corporate Status update)
[ ] Investigate: Saren & Benezia
Whilst not strictly under the aegis of the NDC's regular operations, the Executive Board is very curious as to what, exactly, they did, and whether or not it stands to impact the reputations or profit margins of the NDC. Given that Benezia's presence on Noveria is the most recent lead on either of their activities, the NDC's records on them seem a good place to start looking.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
[ ] Internal Sweeping
The NDC may occupy a place of privilege on Noveria, but the fate of your all-too-recent predecessor is a reminder that it is not immune to corruption. With some help from the NDC's Internal Affairs division, you can sweep a department to search for embezzlement, ineptitude, nepotism, and other forms of corruption. It's unlikely that much if any corruption remains after Anoleis was removed - and any who escaped notice the first time are likely to be keeping their heads down low for a short while anyway - but it never hurts to check.
(Breakpoints: 40 - Requires 1 Admin dice and 1 from Target department) (Remove corruption, other consequences unclear)
===
To my eyes, everything here is pretty self explanatory or straightforward - however, I've been plugging away at this on and off for two weeks, so that may just be familiarity bias. If there's any ambiguity or cause for confusion or you think the formatting is stupid or whatever, please let me know.
As is semi-standard for planquests, I'm going to say the vote is closed for now and, it being fairly late in the evening here, I'll open things up in the morning.
Voting will be done by plan, obviously. You don't necessarily have to use this format but, for readability's sake, at least something like it would be nice:
[ ] Plan Name
-[ ] Department - x of 3 + y Free Dice - Cost 0
--[ ] Project 1 - 2 Dice - Cost 0
--[ ] Project 2 - 1 Dice - Cost 0
Can we get an explanation on how Corporate Favour works? Because right now having it at anything but zero looks like it's mostly a negative, whilst having it below zero is probably all negative.
When your Corporate Favour is low, Corporations withhold funding. Not actually, because that would be a breach of contract and they'd never dare do that, but they'll under-report profit to pay less tax, 'forget' to pay rent 'but we promise we'll pay it by next week', any bullshit loophole they can find to screw you over. They also have an increased chance of Committing Shenanigans, which range from 'mildly inconveniencing' to 'we just upended a dumptruck full of spanners into your works, u mad?', and if your net favour falls low enough, strings might be pulled to have Nil'Zannis replaced by someone more appreciative.
Each point of funding loss requires an additional point of negative favour, so:
-1 Favour = -1 Funding
-3 Favour = -2 Funding
-6 Favour = -3 Funding
When your Corporate Favour is high, Corporations talk to you more. Options that relate to that corporation will show up more, because your management team has a better idea of what that Corporation is doing and what they might want from you. You're not going to just build a class-4 biological containment lab just on the off chance that someone decides suddenly they want to move into a class-4 biological containment lab, but if someone from Domain Ecological Services just happened to mention that such a facility will be useful for them to one of your pencil pushers, that project will make its way to your desk.
For instance, 3 of the 4 companies who benefit most from the Dedicated Media Transmission project are at least friendly with you. It wouldn't have been an option at all if they were upset with you, unless you deliberately sought one of them out to ask how to Make Amends (not an option this turn as no one hates you that badly, yet).
[X] Expand Onsite Construction Facilities
Port Hanshan's initial development called for a small and simple production facility, to produce basic construction materials and structural components. By expanding the manufacturing capabilities of that facility, and setting aside space to store and maintain dedicated construction vehicles and equipment, the NDC can save on the cost of importing skilled workers, specialised equipment, and prefabricated modules, and instead ship in cheaper raw resources and construct on-site.
(Progress: 166/300 - 25 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for Construction actions, -4 Cargo)
(Sannovi Industrial: +1P, +2F)
The first stage of development at the onsite construction facility has primarily involved the expansion of the existing loading bay into a much larger dedicated loading bay slash garage slash engineering bay. Usually, construction equipment brought in from offworld is stored on-site until the job is done and then shipped home. With the creation of a dedicated storage and maintenance zone for them, all but the heaviest of machinery can be kept at hand forever - and Sannovi Industrial is already hard at work putting together a suite of construction vehicles and equipment to ship to Noveria once the site is complete.
With the loading bay completed, work turned to the manufacturing complex itself, although little progress has been made on that front, primarily in preparing the foundations and the utilities links for the manufacturing line.
Advanced Industry
[X] Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant
A syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers, the Kaskadan Syndicate, have put forward a request for the construction of a new and high end electronics plant either in or around Port Hanshan. Currently, no such facility exists, and as such, high end electronics are one of the many things Noveria needs shipped in for major projects. The Kaskadan Syndicate is willing to give the NDC first-refusal and a tidy discount on those electronic products if allowed to develop and manufacture them on Noveria.
(Progress: 251/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for High-Tech actions, -2 Cargo)
(New Corporation: Kaskadan Syndicate (+1P, +2F))
The Kaskadan Syndicate are old hands at developing in suboptimal conditions - the majority of their business comes from electronics manufacturing on the frontiers and colony worlds with limited infrastructure. Though the plans they provided accounted for the fact that Noveria had much more accessible utilities and infrastructure than their usual building sites, you can still see that simplicity and self-reliance in the designs as you look them over. Those factors turn out to be a huge boon, greatly accelerating the construction process. The building itself comes together rapidly once the foundations are laid, and the importing of the actual microchip manufacturing tools begins well ahead of schedule.
Unfortunately, Kaskadan representative Chero Finn admits sheepishly, they're actually so far ahead of schedule they've hit a wall, and are now waiting on the last few bits of machinery to become available so they can be shipped in and installed. In the meantime, the Kaskadan Syndicate has bought up an office in Port Hanshan's Corporate Sector, and their local administrative staff are moving in to set up operations.
Infrastructure
[X] Ground-Orbit Uplink Site (NATURAL 1)
The existing ground-orbit communications infrastructure is in dire need of expansion, with original usage estimates far exceeded and redundancy units pressed into general service to ensure needs were met. A new transmission tower and accompanying infrastructure would bring network capacity up to a far more acceptable level and remove reliance on the backup equipment.
(Progress: 26/300 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Network)
"Mountain monsters."
"Mountain monsters? A completely unheard of phenomena? In the dead of winter? Within the borders of Noveria's largest city? Localized entirely at the peak of a single mountain?"
"...yes."
"Do you have any kind of proof?"
"...no."
"Keelah. Get the hell out of my office."
The hiss of a door opening, and then closing, is heard.
For some reason, construction crews are convinced that the site of the new Ground-Orbit Uplink is haunted, cursed, or otherwise beset by some kind of monsters, and refuse to return to work until a security team is able to be dedicated to their protection. Your survey drones never reported such things. None of the construction mechs saw anything. None of the supervisors were able to get pictures. A couple of Matsuo's men went up with a flock of recon drones and searched the place, and found nothing.
But nonetheless, the workers refuse to return. Worse, they spread rumours to the other work crews, so you can't even convince the other teams to swap tasks, either. You attempt to force the workers back on-site, but after a few security mechs suffer damage from 'mysterious assailants' (the workers assure you the request for replacement shovels is unrelated) you cut your losses and have the workforce shuffled onto other projects until your security teams are free.
[X] Dedicated Media Transmission Infrastructure (SUCCESS OVERFLOW)
One of the biggest impacts on network traffic across Noveria is the sheer volume of data certain corporations are required to transmit as part of their general activities. By creating a dedicated communications transmission centre only for the use of these corporations, they can be guaranteed faster, more secure, and more reliable connections, and the bandwidth they were previously using can be freed up for other purposes.
(Progress: 184/150 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Network, -2 Power)
(Noveria Now: +1F) (Tevura Media Group: +1F) (Solemni & Olde: +1F) (Astra Financial: +1F)
Fortunately, your internal communications developments are not beset by nonsense monsters. A secondary uplink dish is installed on the roof of one of the office spires, and a new communications relay centre built in a previously unused office cluster to feed it. Rerouting communications from various corporate offices to feed into the new relay takes a bit of fiddling to do without crippling their operations, and your technical staff rack up quite a few night hours getting the work finished. Ultimately, the transfer goes off without a hitch, and representatives from all four groups offer thanks for a job well done. Unexpectedly, you also start seeing traffic on Noveria's local forum networks about the sudden improvement to network stability. It seems that the four corporations were putting a lot more strain on the local network than you had realised, and without them, connection speed and quality has improved more than you had initially anticipated.
(Bonus: Improved Port Hanshan Liveability)
Security
[X] Investigate: Synthetic Insights (Priority: Synthetic Insights) (SUCCESS OVERFLOW)
It seems pretty clear that the gunfight between the Spectre and corporate security was related to Anoleis' corruption, but nonetheless Synthetic Insights wants an investigation into the exact causes of the issue, assurances it won't happen again, and reparations for the damages caused.
(Progress: 86/50 - 5 Resources per die)
(Synthetic Insights: +1F)
The investigation into the Synthetic Insights shootout is a formality at best. Circumstantial evidence points to corruption on the part of the ERCS, related to Anoleis' own corruption, and it's easy enough to bundle the whole incident up as 'the actions of individuals misusing company privilege' and call it a day. The ERCS makes some angry noises when you attempt to pin the reparation payments on them, stating that as their agents were operating under Anoleis' orders, the situation is your fault.
The back and forth does not last long, however, and your investigators strike gold when they get a chance to look at Sergeant Kaira Stirling's files and finances. Amongst her business correspondence and personal messages, your teams also find an interesting and implicitly damning message from Anoleis, an unsourced and unexplained transaction in her account, and evidence of other ERCS agents taking bribes - only some of whom were killed during the shootout with the Spectre.
You forward that information onto your legal team with the instruction to put it to good use, and a few days later, the manager of the ERCS Noveria offices, Savun Toradul, quietly relents on the Synthetic Insights reparations payments. Around the same time, several senior ERCS agents are suspended pending internal investigations, and a couple more suddenly 'retire', which you assume means 'went into hiding after ratting out their corrupt colleagues for a lighter sentence' .
With blame assigned and reparations paid and the whole situation wrapped up swiftly, the newly promoted manager of Synthetic Insights' Noveria office is quick to offer thanks. She also expresses regret that an unfortunate accounting error lead to a delayed payment of rental fees, and apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
[X] Contract Negotiation (Priority: ERCS) (Rolled: 99 + 5 (Success Overflow))
Elanus Risk Control Services have some concerns about recent events, and want to take some time to reassess their existing contract with the NDC regarding their services throughout Port Hanshan. Seeing as the ERCS is both corporate security and law enforcement across the entire planet, getting them back onside is a matter of significant importance.
(Breakpoints: 40 / 70 / 90 - 5 Resources per die) (Resolves Security Contract Dilemma)
(ERCS: +?F)
According to the lawyers you assigned to the issue, smoothing out the various problems the ERCS had with their existing contract was going absolutely swimmingly, with ERCS willing to maintain their current price and provide a slight increase in security commitment, in return for some more ironclad language regarding situational liability and silence on the matter of the recent geth incursion - they value the reputation and prestige they've cultivated for themselves, and admitting to a failure on the scale of a small geth incursion would cause significant damage.
Your lawyers are still working out the finer points of the contract when the Synthetic Insights investigation concludes, and when they get their hands on evidence of ERCS corruption, they grin like bloodthirsty varren, and hammer on the ERCS for all they're worth. The final contract is even more slanted in your favour than your legal team had initially expected. In return for the NDC's silence on the geth issue, the ERCS promise to provide additional manpower, drawing from their most veteran staff, and a higher standard of equipment for all forces on Noveria, including the deployment of security mechs which will provide an additional increase in manpower, especially for more simple security roles. They'll do so at no additional cost, and lock in for an additional three years.
[X] Investigate: Peak 15 (Priority: NDC) (Rolled: 173) Something happened at Peak 15, and no one who knows seems to want to tell you anything. You've had no contact from the site or any of its inhabitants, some extremely alarming reports of contract-breaching experiments, and evidence that the geth decided, for some reason, to get involved. Have Matsuo wrangle some troops, drive out there, and figure out what the hell happened.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
Matsuo starts reporting well before her convoy hits Peak 15 itself, and nothing she's saying is good. There are destroyed Binary Helix transports along the path, and often bodies riddled with plasma burns scattered around them. Matsuo has found destroyed geth weapon emplacements at several of the more narrow sections of the path, often surrounded by dozens of broken geth bodies. The offsite uplink node that went down before the blizzard hit has been completely destroyed - a broken shuttle tangled amongst the wreckage at the bottom of the nearby cliff points to an unfortunate fate for both the uplink tower and the shuttle's occupants.
Peak 15 itself is in dire shape, with geth debris and signs of battle throughout the lower levels and the tram station. Thankfully, the facility's VI is operational - something you can actually, sincerely thank the Spectre for. The VI reports that most of the staff from the upper floors and the tower attempted to evacuate at some point despite the facility-wide lockdown, and were subsequently killed by the geth outside, but there are still occupied lockdown shelters throughout the tower and the labs buried within the glacier.
Of Binary Helix's two thousand-ish staff on Noveria, twelve hundred of them were at Peak 15 when everything went to hell. Of those twelve hundred, maybe three hundred in total are still alive, mostly from the administrative sectors and the tower itself. According to the VI, neither Benezia nor her bodyguards are part of that number.
Less than fifty of the survivors are from the labs, and the tale they tell is harrowing and bloody. Rachni attacks, the Matriarch's visit, her subsequent battle with the Spectre - it sounds ridiculous, frankly. Like something out of a video game.
Between the complete failure of their containment measures and the resulting body count, the staggering incompetence the incident shows is alarming. It's as if the Noveria branch of Binary Helix was making a concentrated effort to get everyone killed and breach every single safety clause in their contract in one go. According to the reports, some of the lockdown procedures were barely completed in time, and the hot labs containment procedure flat out wasn't followed at all until the Spectre arrived and did it for them. An absolute disgrace.
You have your people collate every witness report they can wrangle and pass the whole lot up to the Executive Board. Whether through ignorance, malice, ineptitude or some mixture thereof, Binary Helix has lost nine hundred staff and endangered all of Port Hanshan, and you're certain they'll be looking at one hell of a lawsuit. Binary Helix are more than big enough to survive it, but it will be a severe blow to their bottom line. Additionally, with the damage suffered to staff and facilities, it seems unlikely they'll be operating on Noveria for a while.
[X] Rummaging Through Drawers (Rolled: 280)
As Anoleis and a good portion of his staff have been removed from power very suddenly, there's no one in any position to give you a meaningful handover. Strictly speaking, you shouldn't have access to Anoleis' files and documents, either, but you've worked for the NDC for seventeen years, and it wouldn't be the first time you'd hacked into a high-level account.
(Breakpoints: 30 / 60 / 80 - 0 Resources per die) (Corporate Status update)
The NDC's IT teams had already deep-cleaned the Administrator's computer by the time you got to the office, but even just a preliminary poking about reveals that they didn't necessarily do their due diligence. The local storage still includes the monthly automated backups, and they are never as secure as they should be. It only takes a little poking from your omnitool, and a little help from your custom VI, to crack the security, and once that's done you copy it across onto a laptop purchased for the purpose, fire it up, and wait as it loads.
When it does, to your immense surprise, it drops you not on a log-in screen, but rather directly on what you assume to be Anoleis' desktop. The backup was dated for about a week before he was removed from office, so it's now a little out of date, but the files appear to all be there, and not a single password lock in sight. Shaking your head, you utter a short prayer to every cybersecurity professional, none of whom are given the respect they deserve, and write a note to schedule mandatory IT security seminars for all staff. Also, to make sure your backups are password protected.
Then, you dive into the files.
(Corporate Status Overview still to come) (New actions unlocked for Turn 2)
===
Coming up:
NDC Status screen
Corporations overview
Turn 2
As usual, if any questions come to mind, feel free to ask.
Data Analyst - Accurate cost/benefit tracking metrics.
Background Hum - +20 Bonus to Infrastructure.
Quarian Aptitude - +10 Bonus to Advanced Industry. Access to exclusive Cutting Edge actions.
Suit Rat - Lose additional Corporate Favour when taking -Favour options.
Beloved Boss - Infrastructure department will never gain Corruption.
Facilities & Key Staff: Onsite Construction Facilities: 5 Resource discount on Construction projects Hanshan Processor and Microframe Plant: 5 Resource discount on High Tech projects Auxiliary Construction Facilities: +10 per die on Construction projects Mitax Electronics Recycling: 5 Resource discount on Advanced Industry projects Mitax Heavy Metal Recycling: 5 Resource discount on Heavy Industry projects
Secretary Kioka: Once per turn, add +1F to any Corporation targeted by any action that turn Nomi'Laasal vas Sako: Once per turn, add 25 progress to any Infrastructure project targeted by any action that turn Dal Fon: Once per turn, trade up to 100 Resources for an equal amount of Progress on any Heavy Industry project Elezi Atai: Once per turn, replace the value of the lowest rolled Advanced Industry dice with a 50 Felix Myers: Once per turn, add a free flat d50 to any Infrastructure project Sannat Vakk: Unlocks new Security options
Departments:
Heavy Industry: 8 Dice, +26 Base: +5 Back To Work: +3 Industry Connections: +3 Pilgrims: +6 Veteran Contractors: +9
Noveria Development Corporation External Profitability: 52 Greater Hanshan Profitability: 12
The Noveria Development Corporation (NDC) is a holding company that claimed the planet Noveria with the combined capital of two dozen major high-technology companies. Because of the NDC's ownership, Noveria is a privately-chartered colony without input from any Citadel race's government, and therefore is not legally part of Citadel space.
There are a number of NDC projects in the pipeline, including administrative arrangements both internally and with the Citadel to streamline legal and business transactions, further infrastructure improvements to Greater Hanshan, the expansion of the NSID to other cities on Noveria, and the implementation of new orbital logistics satellites to track the increasing space traffic in the region.
Abec Territorial Ordnance sells a variety of explosives fit for every purpose - from ground-to-orbit satellite killer missiles to controlled demolition and excavation charges. The recent spate of conflicts across the Traverse and Terminus regions has brought them a great deal of business from the Salarian Union, for whom they produce military munitions in great quantities.
As a result of this boom, they have requested an expansion to their munitions plant to help meet the increasing demand.
Ahial Syndicate Field: Sidearms and Bespoke Firearms Manager: Kandun Rikus
Though in modern times the Ahial Syndicate is best known for being a manufacturing partner of Elanus Risk Control Services, and manufacturing the Striker line of sidearms common across the Citadel, in the past their primary business was the design of bespoke firearms for high paying clients. Despite not being their primary source of income, they continue this tradition, with their Noveria facility solely dedicated to the creation of such weapons.
After the development of a private shipping terminal from which they can conduct their business, the Ahial Syndicate have no plans for expansion at this time.
Alit Ves Field: High Tech Manager: Pozon Ikort
Alit Ves are a salarian cybertechnology group who are regularly alleged to be behind a variety of the personal devices and cybernetics put to use by salarian Special Tasks Group agents and Spectres. They develop, test, and produce highly sensitive and specialised cybertech at a secure tech park on Noveria, where they can bypass several problematic research ethics laws and escape the oversight of corporate rivals.
They are preparing a proposal to further enhance security at their site, after a Terminus spy was caught attempting to infiltrate the facility.
Astra Financial Field: Finance Consulting Manager: Vanu Lann
Astra Financial is one of the galaxy's largest financial consulting firms, with numerous powerful clients across Citadel space and the Traverse. They deal in all financial matters, from loans to taxes to market brokerage. Noveria is their second-largest office, and they have hundreds of consultants and analysts on site.
They have no current plans for expansion, citing the growing unrest in the Traverse as reason to hedge their bets for now.
Baria Frontiers Field: Frontier Development Manager: Taylon Cuu
Baria Frontiers run a range of services aimed at exploring and developing new worlds, from astronavigation and prefab construction to ecological surveys and frontier medical care. They have an office complex in Port Hanshan proper for administrative work, and run medical research clinics attached to all of Noveria's public medical facilities, which feed information to their dedicated biolab at Peak 3.
They are working with Epherea Biomedical and with Greater Hanshan's network of clinics and hospitals to devise an upgrade plan to modernise and standardise the quality of care across the region.
Beckmann Financial Field: Finance Consulting Manager: Alan Beckmann
Beckmann Financial is a minor human financial firm making big waves for their willingness to supply human money to alien firms, in a variety of fields. They initially invested funds into endeavours such as colonial development and spaceflight enterprises, but the Geth Incursion and recent Collector activity incited them to redirect their investments towards munitions manufacturers and armourers.
The operation of their business is wildly suboptimal, a problem long known and ignored by their management, but they recently begun making plans to upgrade their infrastructure and rebuild in a less efficient manner.
A human spacecraft manufacturer stationed on Earth, Cord-Hislop are responsible for the design and development of a wide range of small spacecraft, such as fighters, stuntcraft, shuttles, maintainence riggers, and orbital haulers. Cord-Hislop had originally intended to be part of the initial NDC founding, but larger financial difficulties forced them to bow out. Their fightercraft and gunships are now a frequent sight in the skies around Port Hanshan, making test flights through harsh polar storms.
To facilitate an increased rate of development and testing, Cord-Hislop have requested an expansion of their launch facilities.
A company specialising in light-based technology ranging from screens and holographic projectors to the cutting edge optical cloaking tech fielded by Turian Ghosts, STG Agents, and particularly well-off mercenaries. They are operating a new fabrication centre for the production of the valuable and sophisticated metamaterials necessary to create their most advanced products.
Though the fabrication centre is in some ways operational, it is far from complete, and Curave Photonics is waiting for that work to conclude before committing to any expansions.
Domain Ecological Services Field: Ecological Science Manager: Charlie Mans
Domain Ecological Services run the galaxy's largest for-profit repository of environmental knowledge in the galaxy. They have logged and sampled millions of species of plant and animal from worlds across the galaxy, which they store in dedicated vaults to preserve for future use in ecological reconstruction.
They recently expanded on Noveria with a new and immense storage vault for their genetic samples, and have no plans to further expand at this time.
Dora'vua Cyber Systems Field: Personal Computers Manager: Thesani Li'sone
Dora'vua Cyber Systems are an asari group who, for a long time, held a monopoly on the personal computer market. Though they now face fierce competition from salarian and turian opposition, they are still wildly popular in asari space. Their offices at Port Hanshan facilitate software development for the proprietry hardware produced in Southern Hanshan.
They are currently awaiting the completion of a significant data centre in Southern Hanshan before they commit to further developments on Noveria.
Edora Conservation Group Field: Xenohistorical Archiving Manager: Kelari Sele'is
The Edora Conservation Group is a research foundation dedicated to the cataloguing and preservation of xenohistoric artefacts and relics from lost civilisations. Funded by the illustrious Matriarch Edora and her vast business empire, they are one of the galaxy's largest and most respected privately operated archives of knowledge and historical relics. They arrange research projects with various groups around the galaxy to ensure the relics in their possesion may be appropriately studied and the resulting developments shared with all sapient species.
Though they appreciate the work the NDC has done for them, the recent development of their Archeotech Research Complex means that they currently have no plans to expand.
Elanus Risk Control Services Field: Security Services Manager: Sarun Toradul
Elanus Risk Control Services is a private security corporation that provides a host of services ranging from simple event security to professional mercenary companies and starships to counter piracy. They recently upgraded from militarised police to full-on colonial defence force on Noveria, with a corresponding increase in armoured vehicles and aircraft for combat use.
To supplement recent expansions to their training and operating facilities, they have requested the expansion of their existing armoury workshop with more, and more modern, equipment.
Epherea Biomedical Field: Medical and Pharmaceuticals Manager: Valaua
Ephemera Biomedical is a hanar organisation primarily focused on pharmaceutical research. Whilst medigel is highly flexible in its applications and extremely stable across multiple species, its effectiveness at solving any particular problem still pales in comparison to traditional medicine as may be found in dedicated medical facilities, and Epherea generates significant profit filling that market niche. Epherea have a pharmaceutical plant at Peak 7.
They are working with Baria Frontiers and with Greater Hanshan's network of clinics and hospitals to devise an upgrade plan to modernise and standardise the quality of care across the region.
Faeo Shipyards is a private aerospace enterprise. Their prior work includes ships of all civilian classes and some semi-militarised designs, commonly used by colonial defence fleets and small mercenary bands, and their rigorous fabrication rights management systems have made them many enemies in that field, due to the difficulty of replicating or reparing their designs as a third party. They relocated from Illium to escape attention from rival corporations and Terminus powers.
As the rising tensions across the Traverse has lead to a significant boost in their business, they are looking to begin a minor expansion of their design offices on Noveria.
Fedali Professional Consultants Field: Professional Business Contracting Manager: Tomir Ansan
Fedali Professional Consultants are a recruitment and contracting firm whose entire business model revolves around snapping up university graduates, giving them cursory training to ensure they're up to some nebulous 'standard', and contracting them out to other firms at graduate rates whilst paying the graduate themself far less, pocketing the difference. Fedali wants to open an office on Noveria, no doubt to make the most of the increasing spread of corporations on world to increase their clientel.
They have no plans to expand at this time.
Fulmari Logistics Field: Interstellar Shipping and Logistics Manager: Nonus Gaidus
Fulmari Logistics is a turian logistics and shipping business, one of the largest in the Citadel territories, and they operate a warehouse and logistics centre on Noveria to facilitiate deliveries to and from the Attican Traverse.
They are willing to lend their expertise to the NDC to facilitate improvements to Noveria's interstellar traffic management systems, but have no plans for expanding their current operations, as their business has been somewhat hindered by tensions in the Traverse.
Goral & Goral Law Field: Personal Lawyers Manager: Goral Javor
Goral & Goral Law is a salarian legal firm with a focus on smaller scale civil cases, who have been seeing increasing demand from Noveria as Greater Hanshan has expanded. They are by no means a particularly prestigious group, but still well-known and well-respected in legal circles around Citadel space. They are looking to establish an office on Noveria to facilitate face to face meetings with their new clients.
Halsey Gene Labs Field: Genetic Engineering Manager: Mike Agnen
Halsey Gene Labs is a human genetic modification development group, with a focus on biological enhancement of physical capabilities for military purposes. Like many in their field, they encountered issues working under the strict guidelines imposed by the Citadel, and relocated to Noveria to bypass those issues.
They recently aquired a contract from the Systems Alliance to begin testing of a new round of genetic treatments, and have requested the development of an expansion to their existing facilities to provide the required capacity.
Hassan Atomics Field: Nuclear Power Manager: Alain Gerard
Hassan Atomics is a human company who leapt to prominence by providing power to colonial expeditions throughout the Traverse. Due to the recent decline in Traverse colonisation and their dwindling market share on Noveria, they have elected to further invest in their research division at Peak 4, where they hope to design cheaper and more efficient power sources for commercial use.
As part of their increasing focus on research and development, they have requested the construction of a new test site for what they have cautiously termed 'more volatile' prototypes, one even further isolated from the rest of Greater Hanshan than their existing facilities.
Itavan Skyworks is a commercial aerospace design company who create commercial transport craft, ranging from courier vessels to bulk transporters. Their designs are considered generally to fill the niche of cheap and simple, which comes with the benefits of being rugged, reliable, easy to repair, and highly customisable for those with the know-how. Port Hanshan is host to one of their major design offices, and the namesake of the Hanshan-class courier.
It is also soon to be host to a small drydock to be used for the construction and modification of prototypes. Itavan Skyworks is looking forward to the completion of those facilities.
Jaeto Investigations Field: Information Services Manager: Chonto Ru
Jaeto Investigations are an 'information service', performing a range of related functions from private investigations and information brokerage down to surveys, censuses and data analytics. They own a major data analytics centre on Noveria, powered by one of the planet's few quantum supercomputers, and use the planet's non-Citadel status to bypass several privacy laws. A recent scandal left them harshly diminished, and their Noveria branch was ultimately placed under new management.
The new manager is already looking to make some changes and some improvements, starting with an overhaul of their analytics centre to equip it with the finest and most cutting-edge of technology.
Jiem Asset Management is a hanar investment firm with a very exclusive clientele, of which the NDC happens to be a part. They regularly hit the Citadel's top 100 list of interstellar businesses, and their results speak for themselves. Their aim is to establish a new trading office on Noveria for ease of conducting business and, no doubt, to dodge taxes.
Jormungand Technology Field: Assorted High-Tech Manager: Eliza Lockwell
Jormungand Technology is a human megacorp infamous for returning consistent profits through aggressive integration of alien technologies into a range of fields, from computing to munitions engineering. Their Crisis and Hazard lines of hardsuit are highly respected for their high-strength kinetic barriers and environmental protection suites, and their munitions for novel and powerful applications of cutting edge technology, such as their new Assailant rocket launcher, which fires micro-rockets that operate on the same principles as anti-starship disruptor torpedoes.
Kadri Security Field: Private Military Contractor Manager: Mohshiru
Kadri Security is a private military corporation operating from Peak 48. Like most PMCs, they operate a wide range of services including colonial and corporate security, anti-piracy raids, and freelance, high-security deliveries. Backed by an influential group of hanar merchants, and commanding a great deal of respect throughout Citadel Space for their professionalism, Kadri is one of the most prestidgeous PMCs in the galaxy, and they recently made headlines for their fierce defence of human and hanar ambassadors ambushed by a Cerberus terror cell on the Citadel.
Kadri Security have made no indication of any plans to expand their operations at this time.
Kantor Robotics is one of the few batarian organisations to survive the Hegemony's descent into authoritarianism and subsequent departure from Citadel society. Originally focused on mechanical prosthetics, they moved into fully autonomous robots for military applications. They rent a research and development facility at Peak 22 where they build and test new models of combat mech in controlled live-fire environments.
They have been rocked by scandals within Citadel space over alledged ties to the Batarian Hegemony, and as such are attempting to keep a low profile, declining to commit to expanding their operations on Noveria at this time.
Kaskadan Syndicate Field: Electronic Component Manufacturing Manager: Chero Finn
The Kaskadan Syndicate is a syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers infamous for building the majority of their holdings amongst newly established colonies despite the risk. Several accusations of exploitation have been levelled at the group but never stick. Their Hanshan Processor and Microframe Plant and Superconductor Plant are both now up and running, and offering the NDC a number of production concessions, making electronics-heavy projects cheaper for the NDC to develop.
With the recent completion of their Superconductor Plant, the Kaskadan Syndicate is content to bide their time and hold off on further expansion for now.
Katrion University Field: Tertiary Education Manager: Noq'uia Vaer
Tha Katrion University has established a Noveria Campus to serve as an education centre for Greater Hanshan's growing lower-middle class and to provide Noveria's corporations with a steady stream of motivated and highly-educated workers, leaning on the reputation of their other campuses to improve the prestige of Port Hanshan.
The Katrion University has no plans to expand its campus at this time.
Kibess Power Systems Field: Power Generation Manager: Daelu Abera
Kibess Power Systems are a hanar-owned corporation whose primary focus is on sustainable non-nuclear energy generation. Though they were originally founded as part of an effort to revert the mass ecological damage caused to the drell homeworld Rakhana, when their efforts their failed, they instead turned to provide their services to the rest of the galaxy, vowing another such disaster would not occur again. They are responsible for the development and maintainence of the majority of Greater Hanshan's green power, including all of its wind and hydroelectric facilities.
Beyond the continued development of hydroelectric power opportunities, Kibess Power Systems are not looking to expand at this time.
Kiji Materials Group Field: Material Science Manager: Miera V'ey
Kiji Materials Group is an asari research firm who work in the field of material science. They're looking to establish a general purpose physics and engineering lab at Peak 81 to conduct research and testing on various xenomaterials, acquired as part of a low-profile partnership with the Edora Conservation Group.
Korten Machines Field: Land Combat Vehicles Manager: Korten Gradd
Clan Korten is known for two things - klixen-roasted varren jerky with pyjak sauce, and the Tomkah Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Though it is by far the most famous, the Tomkah is only one of Clan Korten's range of armoured vehicles, many of which find use by Terminus mercenary bands and fringe empires. Several of their vehicles, specially modified for local terrain, have been bought by ERCS for use in defending Noveria's colonies. They have a state-of-the-art design and testing workshop at Peak 41 where they develop and trial new armoured vehicles.
They recently underwent a controversial expansion that involved recruiting apprentices from other krogan clans, and are waiting to see if it ends in an unsustainable level of violence before committing to additional expansions.
Long Winter Studios Field: Film And Television Manager: Juliana Moore
Long Winter Studios is a human enterprise with filming sites across the galaxy. In addition to the office in Port Hanshan they maintain for tax purposes, they have a film set at Peak 28, where lax safety standards allow them to make use of practical effects such as explosives, flooding sets, chemical weapons, and live animals in ways that would be considered unacceptable in Citadel space. They produce a wide variety of films of all different genres, the vast majority of which are considered to not be very good.
Mitax Waste Solutions is a company of uncertain Terminus origins, specializing in waste removal and recycling of just about every kind. They are one of the Terminus' foremost suppliers of omni-gel, and the equipment needed to create, store, or use it in appreciable amounts. They also engage in more specialized industrial recycling operations, ranging from e-waste reclamation to demolition salvaging and shipbreaking.
They are looking forward to starting operations on Noveria, once the dedicated facilities they require are fully constructed.
Narhu Combine Field: Starship Fuel Manager: Gal Vibb
The Narhu Combine is in the business of starship fueling, and they boast to be the only group operating fuel refineries, processing plants, and refueling stations in every inhabited system in the galaxy - a claim that is misleading but technically true. They relocated to Port Hanshan from their home office on the Citadel, and whilst they do not perform any research or development on Noveria personally, they work closely with Itavan Skyworks. They operate the dedicated fuel storage and provision infrastructure across Greater Hanshan.
Nashan Stellar Dynamics Field: Commercial Aerospace Components Manager: Roger Druit
Nashan Stellar Dynamics is a human corporation specialising in designing starship grade components - though, interestingly enough, not starships themselves. They market higher-quality parts to replace the stock parts provided by starship manufacturers, advertising their wares as a way to fully customise a ship to the desired needs of the operators, and their goods are growing popular amongst private starship owners despite their relative youth on the galactic scene.
They also do some interesting design work with novel applications of eezo - and they are looking to develop a research facility on Noveria to pursue a promising but dangerous avenue of research they call warp gravitics.
Nezo Aerospace, despite the name, do not make spacecraft. They make airspeeders and hoverbikes, ranging from regular, city-worthy civilian models to highly tuned and customized race craft. The company founder disappeared during a test flight on Agebinium over a decade ago, but despite the blow they recovered admirably. They use Noveria for harsh environment testing of new designs and modifications.
Nezo Aerospace have no plans to expand at this time.
Noveria Now Field: News Manager: Zatal Parlan
Noveria Now run the local news channel on Noveria, and though most of their news both hails from and relates to Noveria's resort cities, their studio and executive offices are all located in Port Hanshan, giving them proximity to Noveria's corporate and administrative centre. As newscasting is not often a profitable endeavor, their channel runs advertisements wherever it can. It was once notorious for hosting several talk shows, ranging from the controversial to the outright insane, but phased them out over more interesting, and less damning, documentary content outside of news hours. Their most famous modern pieces revolve around their proximity to the unique quarian enclave of Lower Hanshan, and is helping to remind the galaxy of the fine nuances of the mysterious quarian culture.
They have no plans to expand their operations at this stage.
OriginDigital Field: Video Games Manager: Kazama Taeko
OriginDigital is a human digital entertainment company, which operates a development studio on Noveria in order to bypass overly-stringent content censorship laws on their former homeworld, Elysium. The company is largely responsible for producing incredibly difficult, rage-inducing games that nonetheless seem to sell incredibly well throughout the galaxy.
They are not looking to increase their committment to Noveria at this time.
Praus Motors are a human manufacturing company responsible for building a variety of luxury vehicles. They're looking to set up two facilities on Noveria - the first, a design and engineering office, the second, a small plant for local production of their various snowbounders and snowmobiles. The NDC believes it has room for both at Peak 91.
Quan Armoury Field: Bespoke Firearms Manager: Matriarch Quan
Quan Armoury is an asari bespoke firearms and specialty goods artisan firm. They are infamous for supplying high end equipment to a very select clientele, and they make no secret of it - that they handmake exotic weapons such as the Disciple shotgun for the asari justicars is a point of pride, and they insist that their other, lesser weapons are just as masterfully crafted. They relocated to Noveria in an attempt to escape the corporate espionage that hounded them throughout their time operating on Illium.
They are looking to undergo a significant expansion of their facilities on Noveria with the development of a fairly large armour foundry.
Rannoch Fleet Hydroponics exists in large part to provide redundancy in case of further issues with the Migrant Fleet's aging liveships. With the backing of the Admiralty Board, Rannoch Fleet Hydroponics produces authentic crop and livestock products from Rannoch that are otherwise unobtainable in the wider galaxy, making a significant profit from the turian market in the process.
However, as the Migrant Fleet has shifted to a war footing, Rannoch Fleet Hydroponics cannot increase the scale of their operations at this time.
Rannoch Fleet Robotics Field: Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Manager: Innet'Wu vas Tachonu / Noveria
Rannoch Fleet Robotics, like Rannoch Fleet Hydroponics, is an extension of the quarian government designed to help integrate advances in technology from across the galaxy into the quarian technology base, and likewise to begin advancing quarian expertise and interests into the galactic market. When operational, they intend to work primarily in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, with the potential for further expansions specialising in other fields should the initiative prove successful.
Roda Telecoms Field: Telecommunications Manager: Tovas Kote
Roda Telecom is a middleman for Citadel Telecom, purchasing corporate-level high speed network access and selling that on, in limited packages, to end users. Given Port Hanshan's primary demographic is young, well-paid professionals with limited access to offline entertainment, they likely expect to see a lot of business. Their facility on Noveria utilizes novel data compression techniques derived from geth communications protocols to increase their efficiency.
They have no real plans to expand their current operations, as their existing office is more than sufficient for their needs.
Sannovi Industrial Field: Construction and Manufacturing Manager: Tanilea Remus
Sannovi Industrial is a turian construction and manufacturing firm. Unusually xenophobic for a turian firm, they pride themselves on exclusively hiring turian staff, claiming this makes them more professional and efficient. They run primary construction efforts across Noveria, offering significant discounts for the NDC in return for the flexibility to use NDC-funded facilities for their own purposes when not otherwise needed.
Recent expansions to their construction facilities on Noveria have increased their productivity enormously, and they are looking to continue the trend with the development of a new machining plant in Southern Hanshan.
Sharrik Munitions are a Terminus-based engineering firm specialising in high-quality combat equipment for the Terminus' wealthiest mercenary organisations. Sharrik's products include a number of higher-end weapons and armour suits, many of which are illegal in Citadel space for various reasons. Their greatest claim to fame is the popularity of their assault armour amongst the huntresses of the Terioa Vanguard, an asari mercenary group in the employ of the T'Loak Syndicate.
Solemni & Olde Field: Business Management Consulting Manager: Solemni Yuran
Solemni & Olde are a business consultancy group resulting from an unusual partnership between the salarians and the elcor. They offer consultancy packages that span timeframes from months to decades, and operate with the highest respect for privacy and security. Their offices on Noveria serve as a hub for their most trusted and well-vetted consultants, who work on government and military projects requiring the highest levels of confidentiality.
They have no plans to expand at any point in the next decade, but promise to get back to you about their longer term plans by then.
Synthetic Insights are a prestigious artificial intelligence research firm, and one of only four corporations licensed by the Citadel Council to develop artificial intelligence. Under the management of Vivve Shalesta, the Noveria branch is fully committed to research on networked intelligences, aided by their unique access to vast amounts of geth debris and the talents of some of the Migrant Fleet's finest.
They are fully committed to supporting the Migrant Fleet's war effort, and with their attention focused on that, have not put forward any expansion requests at this time.
Tevura Media Group Field: Entertainment Media Manager: Kanneme Tioe
Tevura Media Group is constantly at the forefront of every discussion on the extranet. They own and operate five social networking sites, four web forums catering to particular e-cultures, a minor news network, and several publications ranging from the racy to the mundane. They claim that the majority of their funding comes through advertisements, but their company has caught fire before due to allegations of personal data harvesting. Their servers are all hosted on Noveria, where priority extranet access is cheap and server cooling is free.
They are looking to expand their wildly successful full-dive VR arcade into a major entertainment centre, which will serve as a prototype for even greater developments in Dessura and across the Citadel territories.
The Aspiration Group Field: Investment Capital Group Manager: Tovu Toalum
The Aspiration Group is the private investment trust of a small cabal of highly wealthy and influential volus merchants and businessmen. Their business model is in investing in promising startups across a variety of fields, providing those startups with expertise, legal and financial services, advice, facilities, and financing as required in return for a cut of all subsequently generated profits.
They have one startup they'd like to provide with additional funding, to facilitate development of new and novel directed energy weapon systems for infantry and vehicle-scale operations.
The Preni Group Field: Agricultural Research Manager: Preni Eloleis
The Preni Group are an agricultural research firm who specialise in adapting staple crops to a variety of environments, allowing newly established colonies to save a great deal of effort and time managing crop growth. Their operations have earned them ire from many bioconservationist groups, but being based on Noveria protects them from serious reprisal. They maintain a vertical farming facility at Peak 44 where they perform crop modifications.
The Preni Group have no plans to expand at this time.
Tiber Extraction And Refining Field: Resource Extraction and Refining Manager: Abel Arache
Tiber Extraction And Refining is a human organisation which found huge success during the colonial boom prior to the Skyllian Blitz. Their success brought them the funds to buy into the NDC and secured mining rights across Noveria. However, their operations on the planet are limited, and their main focus is development of enhanced planetary surveying technology, as part of their partnership with the Ayndroid Group.
They recently streamlined their operational pipeline on Noveria, and are waiting to see how much of a benefit that streamlining grants before committing to new developments.
Tsukumo Astronautical is a human aerospace firm that works across the spectrum of space operations, from launch vehicles and satellites to orbital and deep space stations. The firm handles both planetside and starside design and engineering operations as well as manufacturing, but their intent is for Noveria to host nothing more than an engineering design office.
Ulanius Biomed Field: Biomedical Research Manager: Toran Besarius
Ulanius Biomed is a large turian biomedical research institution operating with close oversight and funding from the Turian Hierarchy. Unlike most turian medical firms, who specialize in things like battlefield first aid, amputations and prosthetics, and synthetic blood and organ cloning, Ulanius focuses its efforts on a wider range of broader turian health issues, specifically things that are generally not given particular focus in turian media such as genetic deficiencies or chronic illnesses.
They are happy with the quality of facilities at Peak 15 and have put forward no special expansion requests.
Xambu Legal and Judicial Field: Citadel Corporate Law Manager: Mundu
Xambu Legal and Judicial are an ancient corporate law firm, who have been operating on the Citadel for almost a thousand years. They are hugely respected by corporate firms around the galaxy and have succesfully defended clients from harsh Citadel rulings on many occasions. Given the recent Council interest in Noverian corporate operations, they have elected to open an office on-world, to better communicate with their most prestigious clients.
Xambu Legal and Judicial have all the facilities they require on Noveria and sees no need to make any requests for expansion at this time.
Zil Enterprises are an online shopping organisation and hosts of the galaxy's biggest second-hand resale site. An ancient salarian company, Zil Enterprises is one of the oldest corporations in the galaxy and an incredibly wealth one, naturally. In the wake of several recent investment purchases giving them significant stake-by-proxy in Noveria's continued development, they have elected to establish a small office on world.
None present
Binary Helix Field: Genetics Research Manager: Quentus Urvan
Binary Helix have been removed from Noveria for the second time due to their continued involvement in massively illegal and entirely unsanctioned research into utilising the rachni as bioweapons. Their biolabs at Peak 15 were previously the site of a massacre after an incident involving illegally cloned rachni which escaped from containment - leftover DNA from this incident was later used to raise a second illegally cloned rachni army, deployed as a bioweapon during the Garvug War.
You're not sure if the spartan interior of the office was Anoleis' preference or the result of a dedicated clean-up effort, but either way, it's not been much improved during your tenure so far. Aside from the hybrid quarian-geth computer in the corner, near-silently chugging away at a series of background data analysis tasks, the office is pretty much the same as when you first walked in.
Not that you'd had much of a chance to decorate even if you'd wanted to. Anoleis' files were an absolute nightmare, and if there was any sort of pattern to their organisation you couldn't see it. It was the work of most of your free time over the month just finding the relevant documents, let alone actually reading them.
On the bright side, the documents were reasonably detailed. Though outdated, and mostly focused on past deals made rather than plans going forward, they still provided a reasonable insight into what various groups wanted and what kinds of projects they might have been interested in.
Unfortunately for you, one of the past dealings you find listed relates to the krogan clan workshop on Peak 41, and specifically it notes that the krogans paid for an expansion, but Anoleis diverted that money to pay for other projects. You're not sure why - or what project was paid for, given there's not been a whole lot of development since Port Hanshan was founded, and none that matches the time frame.
Probably just siphoned it into his bank account, or to pay off his cronies. Pah. What an unsophisticated way to make money off someone. May as well just mug them at gunpoint. Nonetheless, the expansion has been paid for and, by the terms of the contract Anoleis signed, the NDC must deliver.
Thankfully, Anoleis doesn't appear to have signed any other contracts that will get you in trouble - after a quick round of calls to touch base with the various managers, you successfully confirm that none of them are expecting anything. Though you do note not everyone is happy to see you, mentioning the projects Anoleis had flagged as of interest to them tended to get you good results, and by the end of the first month you have a pretty good idea of what at least a majority of the corporations want.
Now you just have to figure out how to get it to them.
Hopefully, whilst avoiding another disaster like Peak 15, or any more nonsense like the ridiculous theories coming out of the Ground-Orbit Relay site.
[ ] Expand Onsite Construction Facilities
Port Hanshan's initial development called for a small and simple production facility, to produce basic construction materials and structural components. By expanding the manufacturing capabilities of that facility, and setting aside space to store and maintain dedicated construction vehicles and equipment, the NDC can save on the cost of importing skilled workers, specialised equipment, and prefabricated modules, and instead ship in cheaper raw resources and construct on-site.
(Progress: 166/300 - 25 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for Construction actions, -4 Cargo)
(Sannovi Industrial: +1P, +2F)
[ ] Spaceport Expansion Program
Port Hanshan's Spaceport is only capable of adequately servicing a handful of freighters at a time, and the size of the facility and staff limit the throughput of cargo. Under normal circumstances, the addition of additional docking and service bays would be a simple matter, but the idiots on the board decided that they wanted their secretive research facilities to be nestled in the mountains, and the flatter lowlands are too far for convenient travel, so any expansion of the spaceport will require a significant investment of time and effort, not just in construction but in carving chunks out of the mountains to make room in the first place.
UPDATE: The Narhu Combine believe it would be a natural and mutually beneficial arrangement if they were given the responsibility of establishing the refueling infrastructure for the expanding spaceport.
(Progress: 0/500 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Cargo, -2 Housing)
(Narhu Combine: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Glacial Fusion Plant
Fuel-efficient and climate friendly, fusion power plants are the standard for developing and developed worlds across civilised space. By burying the fusion plant deep within Noveria's frozen glaciers, they and the limited radioactive waste they produce can be safely and securely contained away from more densely populated areas, and without ruining the view as more economical renewable generators would.
(Progress: 0/300 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Power)
(Hassan Atomics: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Destructive Testing Range
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But live testing, especially of vehicles and weapon systems, can often lead to significant damage. Little more than a series of hardened walls to contain blasts and stop speeding debris, dedicated destructive testing ranges give engineers a place to cut loose and put their prototypes through thorough testing without endangering their neighbours.
-[ ] Peak 18 (Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (Nezo Aerospace: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Secondary Artificial Biome Cluster Site
Before an artificial biome can be created, with its own atmosphere mixing stations and climate control systems, a container for that biome must be created. These facilities are, by necessity, relatively large, and as such require substantial land clearing. Additionally, Noveria's extreme temperatures necessitate a high degree of environmental hardening to ensure the artificial biome is not adversely affected by outside weather.
-[ ] Peak 11 (Progress: 0/250 - 20 Resources per die) (Domain Ecological Services: +1F)
Advanced Industry (3D, +15 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant
A syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers, the Kaskadan Syndicate, have put forward a request for the construction of a new and high end electronics plant either in or around Port Hanshan. Currently, no such facility exists, and as such, high end electronics are one of the many things Noveria needs shipped in for major projects. The Kaskadan Syndicate is willing to give the NDC first-refusal and a tidy discount on those electronic products if allowed to develop and manufacture them on Noveria.
(Progress: 251/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for High-Tech actions, -2 Cargo)
(New Corporation: Kaskadan Syndicate (+1P, +2F))
[ ] Restore Offsite Uplink
The mess the Spectre made of the Aleutsk Valley pathway to Peak 15 included a not-insignificant amount of damage to one of Port Hanshan's Offsite Data Uplinks. Originally designed as redundancies, the Offsite Uplinks became more and more important as Hanshan's population grew but its infrastructure failed to grow with it. The increased strain on the network is noticeable, with complaints of latency and dropped connections coming from every sector.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die) (+4 Network)
[ ] Data Traffic Management Centre
Prioritising data traffic is already a challenging problem for every group in the galaxy. Intergalactic communications rely on simple priority rules to allocate bandwidth, whilst local relays such as Hanshan's ground-to-orbit system generally work on a first-in-first-out basis, relying on relative lack of traffic to ensure high speed connections. By analysing outgoing communication requests and assessing relative importance before passing them offworld, corporate assets can be assured they are receiving the highest possible speed at all times, and never getting stuck behind civilian data traffic.
UPDATE: Granting corporations some limited access to the data analysis allows them to fine-tune advertisements and other elements of the content they produce, enhancing profitability.
(Progress: 0/100 - 10 Resources per die)
(Noveria Now: +1P) (Tevura Media Group: +1P)
[ ] Hanshan Medical Centre Renovation
Maybe it's just your quarian aversion to slap-dash medical care and 'good enough' clean rooms, but you personally take some offense to the lack of updates Hanshan Medical Centre has seen since it was initially constructed during first wave development. Port Hanshan's population, being made up generally of professionals, not families, with next to no children or elderly, may be less in need of cutting edge medical technology than some demographics, but in your professional experience, hospitals are exactly the kind of thing no one appreciates until they really need them.
UPDATE: Baria Frontiers has a medical research clinic attached to the Hanshan Medical Centre, and would certainly be appreciative if it was included in renovations.
(Progress: 0/200 - 10 Resources per die) (Improve Port Hanshan Livability)
(Baria Frontiers: +1F)
[ ] Dedicated Computation Cluster
Personal or desk scale computation and data storage devices are both cheap and widely accessible galaxy-wide. However, as has been the case for centuries, there is a cost to miniaturisation. Dedicated room-scale hardware has always had an advantage in processing speed and power, from antique server racks to modern quantum supercomputers. Installing some computation clusters within Port Hanshan's office complexes and renting them out could prove mutually beneficial.
-[ ] Astra Financial (Progress: 0/150 - 20 Resources per die) (-2 Power) (Astra Financial: +1P, +1F)
-[ ] Dora'vua Cyber Systems (Progress: 0/150 - 20 Resources per die) (-2 Power) (Dora'vua Cyber Systems: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Prototyping Workshop
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But producing prototypes only to find minor issues that require the reproduction of components or even the entire system is a source of constant frustration. Many designers prefer actual workshops, so that minor adjustments can be made swiftly and in direct response to problems that arise during the prototyping and testing phase without requiring constant digital redesigning.
-[ ] Peak 09 (Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (Ahial Syndicate: +1P)
-[ ] Peak 41 (Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (Korten Machines: +1P) (Overdue 0/3)
Infrastructure (3D, +25 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Ground-Orbit Uplink Site
The existing ground-orbit communications infrastructure is in dire need of expansion, with original usage estimates far exceeded and redundancy units pressed into general service to ensure needs were met. A new transmission tower and accompanying infrastructure would bring network capacity up to a far more acceptable level and remove reliance on the backup equipment.
UPDATE: Due to ridiculous rumours and nonsense allegations of 'mountain monsters', the workers refuse to venture up to the site without a military escort.
(Progress: 26/300 - 25 Resources per die) (+16 Network)
(Cannot be taken without Mountain Monsters)
[ ] Distributed Windworks
Noveria's weather and the terrain of the Skadi Mountains means that there are many, many valleys near Port Hanshan suitable for the deployment of distributed wind farms. Cheap, dependable, and clean, they're an ideal source of power, and distributing generation across multiple areas has benefits of its own. Some people think that the wind farms are blights upon the landscape, but seeing as how there's a dozen luxury resorts on Noveria and Port Hanshan isn't one of them, you find it kind of hard to care.
(Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (+8 Power)
[ ] Arcology Spire
Very few people want to make their lives on Noveria, and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. The advantage of this is that it massively reduces housing pressure - and what little long-term housing pressure does exist tends to be focused on the resort-cities, which cater far more to high class lifestyles. Nonetheless, some 80,000 people call Port Hanshan home, and that is brushing close to the practical capacity limit. Taking lessons from centuries of urban planning and orbital habitat design across the galaxy, arcology spires serve to provide not just housing and the requisite utilities, but rental spaces that can be dedicated to shops, restaurants, schools, gyms, and other facilities, providing all the average resident needs within a single complex.
(Progress: 0/200 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Housing)
[ ] Breaking Ground: Peak 12
When the NDC's Executive Board balked at the cost of ongoing developments and shifted funds into more profitable endeavours, a number of proposed-but-undeveloped sites were archived for later use. Abec Territorial Ordinance have indicated that they may in future wish to move manufacturing to Noveria, and one of those archived sites could prove suitable for their purposes. Establishing a transit route and preparing infrastructure connections is the first step of turning the site into an operational facility.
(Progress: 0/200 - 20 Resources per die)
Security (4D, +7 Bonus per die)
[ ] Mandatory Audit (Targets 1 Corporation)
In addition to the physical security staff provided by ERCS, the NDC has access to a suite of in-house corporate assessors, auditors, and investigators, trained to dig out corruption, noncompliance, and assorted chicanery wherever it takes root. Sending them after a company ensures that the appropriate rental fees and taxes are being paid, promptly and without any shenanigans.
(Breakpoints: 20 / 60 - 5 Resources per die) (For six turns, negative corporate favour does not reduce income.)
(Target: -2/1F)
[ ] Mountain Monsters
Wild rumours and conspiracy theories are circulating regarding reports of mysterious mountain monsters near the Ground-Orbit Uplink Site, and the mood amongst the workforce has soured. Construction teams are unwilling to go to work on the site without armed escort, citing attacks on their mechs which you suspect to have been staged. Send some of Matsuo's men and some of the new security mechs to sit on the site and babysit the workers until the job is done.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die)
[ ] Geth Salvage
Between the troopers, warbots, turrets, and miscellaneous other detritus of battle, the NDC is sitting on a veritable goldmine of exotic geth technology. Ensuring that the debris is appropriately recovered and stored for future use by the NDC, rather than whoever stumbles across it, is vital. A Citadel military think-tank has already put out a request for recovered geth technology to be passed on to them, and you know for a fact that there are corporations on Noveria who would be similarly interested.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
[ ] Snow Patrol
Though Matsuo's report and the Peak 15 surveillance footage paints an impressive image of the Spectre's combat prowess, and the trail she left in her wake is by no means small, the possibility of small groups of geth or rachni remaining somewhere near Peak 15 is non-zero, which by your reckoning is too high. Though it's a pain, having some of Matsuo's forces and drones scour the Aleutsk Valley for any trace of either invader would do a lot to ease tensions.
(Progress: 0/200 - 10 Resources per die) (Consequences unclear)
[ ] Enhanced Border Security
Despite the stringent firearms laws enforced at Port Hanshan, Matriarch Benezia and her commando bodyguards were able to smuggle in not just their own weapons, but a small force of geth troopers, using scan-shielded crates, making a mockery of the Port Hanshan establishment and of its security. The ERCS have put forward a proposal to deploy new and highly sophisticated scanning systems, to ensure similar events cannot be repeated.
(Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (+5 ES)
Administration (3D, +5 Bonus per die)
[ ] Investigate: Saren & Benezia
Whilst not strictly under the aegis of the NDC's regular operations, the Executive Board is very curious as to what, exactly, they did, and whether or not it stands to impact the reputations or profit margins of the NDC. Given that Benezia's presence on Noveria is the most recent lead on either of their activities, the NDC's records on them seem a good place to start looking.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
[ ] Internal Sweeping
The NDC may occupy a place of privilege on Noveria, but the fate of your all-too-recent predecessor is a reminder that it is not immune to corruption. With some help from the NDC's Internal Affairs division, you can sweep a department to search for embezzlement, ineptitude, nepotism, and other forms of corruption. It's unlikely that much if any corruption remains after Anoleis was removed - and any who escaped notice the first time are likely to be keeping their heads down low for a short while anyway - but it never hurts to check.
(Breakpoints: 40 - Requires 1 Admin dice and 1 from Target department) (Remove corruption, other consequences unclear)
[ ] Firearm Regulation Revision
Port Hanshan maintains a strict policy of prohibiting possession of firearms or firearm components for all parties, with exceptions for on-duty security staff and, by decree of the Executive Board, Spectre agents of the Citadel Council. Though information about the geth attack on Noveria was widely suppressed, news of geth incursions across the Traverse continues to spread, and some are calling for weapon restrictions to be loosened to enable self-defence.
(Breakpoints: 30 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
[ ] Data Security Law Revision
Noveria was founded and built on the principle of privacy being paramount. By the terms of the colonial charter, all data is to be treated as the private and inviolate property of the responsible parties. Whilst this is obviously preferred by many of the corporations who have established operations, the deliberately sweeping law makes the personal data of individuals equally secure, which makes data harvesting, content targeting, and behavioural analysis relatively difficult.
(Breakpoints: 30 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
[ ] Expand Security Staff
As reports continue to trickle in from the wider galaxy about the scope of the geth incursion, much murmuring and discontent has been directed at the ERCS. Their current position as Noveria's police force involves a lot of patrols, guard duty, and crowd control, and their current equipment is by no means suitable for any kind of protracted war with the geth in the event of a future invasion. ERCS wants to negotiate permission to move in some of their more militarised units and vehicles as additional defence against potential geth invasions.
(Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (-2 Housing)
(ERCS: +1P, +1F)
"Binary Helix shares took a sharp dive today, as the company publicly revealed they were recently forced to temporarily shut down operations at one of their major research sites due to what they're referring to as a containment failure incident. As is usual for stories about Noverian research sites, conspiracy theories are flying, and whilst we're not able to confirm anything yet, an anonymous source within the Citadel's intelligence apparatus has suggested that their research there may have involved the rac-"
You wave a hand, and your VI dismisses the news feed. The fountain of disaster that Peak 15 proved to be may have been a nightmare in terms of work, but at least it presented an excellent opportunity to make credits. Your broker didn't ask too many questions when you told him to put in a short order, and if a few of his other clients happened to also short Binary Helix, well, how fortuitous for them. You're sure more than a few of the Executive Board members did much the same.
Your stock profile isn't the only venture making decent progress, either. Construction efforts continue apace, with a notable success in the form of new factories spooling up in time to start producing equipment for the new month. The prototyping workshop Anoleis neglected to build is almost finished, which should help keep the krogan off your back, and a new wave of wind farms has sprung up across the lower valley, adding a fair bit of slack to Port Hanshan's power capacity. Construction of an additional arcology spire along the northern fringe of Port Hanshan is well underway, aiming to include an additional three thousand six hundred apartments to be rented out by the NDC.
The NDC's other outdoors endeavours unfortunately proved less constructive - many of the new security staff got their first taste of the Noverian chill whilst running patrols through the Aleutsk Valley and surrounding areas, and though morale is high and the troops are professionals, the difficulties in searching for potential enemies whilst wrestling with Noveria's near-constant snow are apparent. Though most of the geth debris has been collected, there are still several small caches left for security to scoop up.
The real success of the quarter, in your eyes and in the eyes of the executives, is the investigation into Saren and Benezia. You have reams of data from corporate databases that paint a very interesting picture of their recent activities.
Heavy Industry
[ ] Expand Onsite Construction Facilities (Success Overflow)
Port Hanshan's initial development called for a small and simple production facility, to produce basic construction materials and structural components. By expanding the manufacturing capabilities of that facility, and setting aside space to store and maintain dedicated construction vehicles and equipment, the NDC can save on the cost of importing skilled workers, specialised equipment, and prefabricated modules, and instead ship in cheaper raw resources and construct on-site.
(Progress: 370/300 - 25 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for Construction actions, -4 Cargo)
(Sannovi Industrial: +1P, +2F)
With the new landing and loading bays already established, the materials and heavy equipment being brought in can be delivered directly to the site, rather than transferred through Port Hanshan proper, saving a great deal of time in fully establishing the various manufacturing lines.
Some parts of the plant come together so quickly that Sannovi are able to run a few production runs of basic components needed to finish off the rest of the plant, not only saving time but cutting down on the cost a small amount. Though you're sure the Sannovi workers pocketed some of the savings themselves, as a gesture of good faith and appreciation for the fast work, some is kicked back to the NDC - most of which, you return to the general coffers for next month.
(+15 Resources)
Advanced Industry
[ ] Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant
A syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers, the Kaskadan Syndicate, have put forward a request for the construction of a new and high end electronics plant either in or around Port Hanshan. Currently, no such facility exists, and as such, high end electronics are one of the many things Noveria needs shipped in for major projects. The Kaskadan Syndicate is willing to give the NDC first-refusal and a tidy discount on those electronic products if allowed to develop and manufacture them on Noveria.
(Progress: 337/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for High-Tech actions, -2 Cargo)
(New Corporation: Kaskadan Syndicate (+1P, +2F))
The last few pieces of equipment the Kaskadan Syndicate was waiting on finally arrived towards the close of the month, and were quickly installed. There were a few minor issues in the first test production run, but Chero Finn waved them off as typical teething issues and promised the plant would be fully operational and ready to work come the new month.
Meanwhile, their administrative staff and yours finally got together to sign off the final details of their rental contract and set up their payment plan, bringing Port Hanshan some additional funds greatly appreciated after Binary Helix closed their doors.
[ ] Prototyping Workshop
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But producing prototypes only to find minor issues that require the reproduction of components or even the entire system is a source of constant frustration. Many designers prefer actual workshops, so that minor adjustments can be made swiftly and in direct response to problems that arise during the prototyping and testing phase without requiring constant digital redesigning.
-[ ] Peak 41 (Progress: 145/150 - 15 Resources per die) (Korten Machines: +1P) (Overdue 0/3)
In fitting with the terms of the krogan's request, the Prototyping Workshop constructed on Peak 41 is built as an extension to their existing facilities, turning what was once a small maintenance bay into a fully equipped garage and workshop.
The krogan are surprisingly patient with your crews interrupting their work to reroute power conduits and connect utilities, and once the foundations are set up and construction proper begins, the krogan somehow become even more helpful, actually making the task significantly easier by getting involved themselves, supplementing the workers with their own not-insignificant strength.
Though there are still a few particular pieces of equipment still to come, the workshop is almost fully operational, and just a slight investment should see the place finished.
Infrastructure
[ ] Distributed Windworks
Noveria's weather and the terrain of the Skadi Mountains means that there are many, many valleys near Port Hanshan suitable for the deployment of distributed wind farms. Cheap, dependable, and clean, they're an ideal source of power, and distributing generation across multiple areas has benefits of its own. Some people think that the wind farms are blights upon the landscape, but seeing as how there's a dozen luxury resorts on Noveria and Port Hanshan isn't one of them, you find it kind of hard to care.
(Progress: 165/150 - 15 Resources per die) (+8 Power)
An unfortunate issue with Noveria is that the scale and intensity of weather regularly extends beyond the standardized metrics generally used for construction of prefabricated wind turbines. For installations capable of surviving Noverian blizzards, the turbines must be made to order, reinforced to handle strong winds and freezing temperatures.
Fortunately, this is not a particularly huge issue - and most of the rest of the construction is fairly straightforward. Foundations are laid and power conduits connected whilst the blades are being manufactured, and by the time the turbine blades are shipped in, every other element of the wind farm is good to go. Though the poor weather interrupts or stalls installation a few times, the project is still completed rapidly.
[ ] Arcology Spire
Very few people want to make their lives on Noveria, and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. The advantage of this is that it massively reduces housing pressure - and what little long-term housing pressure does exist tends to be focused on the resort-cities, which cater far more to high class lifestyles. Nonetheless, some 80,000 people call Port Hanshan home, and that is brushing close to the practical capacity limit. Taking lessons from centuries of urban planning and orbital habitat design across the galaxy, arcology spires serve to provide not just housing and the requisite utilities, but rental spaces that can be dedicated to shops, restaurants, schools, gyms, and other facilities, providing all the average resident needs within a single complex.
(Progress: 112/200 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Housing)
Sannovi Industrial is one of the most renowned construction firms in the galaxy, and it's due in large part to their penchant for simplicity. Whilst willing to perform bespoke construction - and, indeed, much of the initial Port Hanshan facilities were bespoke designs intended to fit seamlessly into the mountains, they also maintain a wide range of modular units with varying levels of connectivity that make it incredibly easy to put together even the largest of structures.
The arcology spire constructed on Port Hanshan's northern fringe was, of course, no exception. By shipping in mass produced high-rise-core units, they were able to construct the central spine of the spire, featuring multiple high speed elevators and bulk utility lines allowing for service of a huge number of attached apartments. From that central spine, a skeletal frame for the entire building was constructed, and a number of the larger facilities, including a gym and arcade, were installed, carried down from a Sannovi bulk carrier by orbital lifters in flat-pack boxes and assembled planetside by legions of worker mechs.
Though the majority of the housing itself is yet to be completed, slotting the apartments into place is a fairly fast task - thanks to the modular system, individual units can be built up and slotted into place rapidly, and the process of filling out the skeleton shouldn't take much longer.
Security
[ ] Geth Salvage
Between the troopers, warbots, turrets, and miscellaneous other detritus of battle, the NDC is sitting on a veritable goldmine of exotic geth technology. Ensuring that the debris is appropriately recovered and stored for future use by the NDC, rather than whoever stumbles across it, is vital. A Citadel military think-tank has already put out a request for recovered geth technology to be passed on to them, and you know for a fact that there are corporations on Noveria who would be similarly interested.
(Progress: 93/100 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
A fairly large pile of geth debris has been acquired and stacked in one corner of the locked-down western gatehouse, much to the consternation of the garage manager, Lilihierax. Perpetually guarded by the troops Matsuo considered least likely to start swiping scrap and selling it for profit, the pile contains everything from broken guns and fragments of geth plating to a nearly-completely-intact warbot, apparently disabled by a very well placed shot with a high power phasic round.
You spent a lot of your free time poking through the pile - though you've only had the misfortune of fighting geth once, early into your pilgrimage, you still know a fair bit more about them than most of Port Hanshan's residents. Their memory cores were universally wiped and often damaged, but between all the piles there's a fairly decent chunk of intact geth technology, and you're certain people will pay good money for pick of the litter.
[ ] Snow Patrol
Though Matsuo's report and the Peak 15 surveillance footage paints an impressive image of the Spectre's combat prowess, and the trail she left in her wake is by no means small, the possibility of small groups of geth or rachni remaining somewhere near Peak 15 is non-zero, which by your reckoning is too high. Though it's a pain, having some of Matsuo's forces and drones scour the Aleutsk Valley for any trace of either invader would do a lot to ease tensions.
(Progress: 62/200 - 10 Resources per die)
ERCS forces, escorted by flocks of recon and gun drones, began scouring the Aleutsk Valley for any sign of remaining hostiles early into the month. Smaller groups in Grizzlies or shuttles ranged further afield, performing perfunctory scans covering huge tracts of land around the Peak 15 complex. Aside from a few false alarms from destroyed geth frames, half buried in the snow, nothing has been found so far.
Rumours of 'mountain monsters' are spreading throughout the security staff, but they appear to be taking it in stride. Though progress has been slow, that can primarily be attributed to poor weather, with work halted several times due to deteriorating weather conditions.
Administration
[ ] Investigate: Saren & Benezia (Rolled: 203)
Whilst not strictly under the aegis of the NDC's regular operations, the Executive Board is very curious as to what, exactly, they did, and whether or not it stands to impact the reputations or profit margins of the NDC. Given that Benezia's presence on Noveria is the most recent lead on either of their activities, the NDC's records on them seem a good place to start looking.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
With Benezia's unfortunate death in Peak 15, many of her corporate assets were passed on to her estranged partner, her daughter, or members of her fellowship, complicating the task of combing through the assets for clues directly. However, one of the less-known purposes of the Noveria development was to provide a safe place for the various corporations to store bulk-data away from the prying eyes of Citadel auditors. The records contained everything from transaction details to staff profiles to transcripts of shareholder meetings, in some cases dating back to the founding of the company in question centuries prior.
Whilst it is not required for corporations to grant the NDC access to those files, it seems in this case strings have been pulled, and access is granted almost across the board to read any files pertaining to Saren or Benezia. NDC auditors initially eye the challenge of combing through literally centuries of documentation warily, but quickly realise that they can enhance their search results by exclusively cross referencing Benezia's financials with Saren's (vastly shorter) transaction history and identify common trends.
Both individuals invested heavily in Binary Helix - relatively well known. What wasn't particularly well known was why. Whilst Benezia had interests in many of the NDC's investor corporations, her initial interest in Binary Helix was minor. Saren invested in them first, several months in advance, and Benezia followed with a smaller but still significant investment of her own - around the same time Binary Helix started work on the rachni project, according to one report. All things considered, you find it difficult to accept that as a coincidence.
Both used their influence to pull strings - Saren swayed a vote to take on a contract from a krogan clan to cure the genophage, and Benezia had several staff bounced around, added to new projects or reassigned to a private facility on -
Virmire?
You're pretty sure there's nothing on Virmire. Right on the edge of the Terminus, the only colonial effort made there in your lifetime ended within the year due to constant pirate pressure. Why does Binary Helix have a lab there? And why does it have such a small staff?
Their other investments are no less strange. Both made sudden, enormous buy-ins to Synthetic Insights, within days of each other. According to the Synthetic Insights records, Saren and Benezia used their sudden influence there to acquire Synthetic Insights expertise for a secretive private project - on Virmire.
Synthetic Insights definitely don't run a lab on Virmire. Why were Saren and Benezia so keen to get top researchers from Synthetic Insights and Binary Helix to what must be a privately-owned research complex on Virmire?
You prod the Executive Board for the personnel files of the staff who went to Virmire, and all of them tell a similar story. Reassigned to a private facility on Virmire, few to no messages or contact, they stop claiming pay after a few weeks, and then silence.
It's not like the researchers on Noveria are particularly chatty about their work either, though. Although most of them would never pass up a chance to claim pay. If Saren is running a personal secret research facility, an uninhabited garden world is arguably a better place than Noveria, and frankly, you doubt a Spectre and a Matriarch with a commando legion at her beck and call would be too concerned about pirates.
But Saren and Benezia made themselves enemies of the Citadel Council. Several dozen highly qualified researchers have gone to work for them and promptly dropped off the grid, potentially hindering more profitable company operations here on Noveria and elsewhere in the galaxy. Benezia was clearly aligned with the geth, smuggling huge numbers of the things into Port Hanshan, and if she and Saren were somehow behind Binary Helix finding the rachni -
Was the whole Peak 15 disaster in some way intentional? Were they trying to build an army of rachni and geth? What would such influential individuals even need such an army for? Were Saren and Benezia attempting to wipe out the Binary Helix facility on Noveria? Were they trying to wipe out everything on Noveria?
You've got a lot of questions, and none of them are good.
You steeple your fingers as you skim through the report again. This, you decide, will require some thinking.
(+5 Executive Support)
(Obviously Nil'Zannis and his admin team will be neatening up the report and sending it to the Executive Board. There are a few other parties who would be very interested in some or all of this information, to various degrees and for various reasons. Whether Nil'Zannis elects to pass some or all of the data onto some or all of those parties, or hold off on doing so and let the Executives decide what to do with it, will be part of next turn's vote.
As per usual, tag me for any questions or whatever)
"Running system diagnostics," the terminal intoned dryly. A few moments later, a soft 'ding' rang through the room. "Diagnostics complete. Systems at nominal functionality."
You lean back on your haunches and start packing away your tools as the VI runs through its boot sequence.
"Running benchmark testing," it states, as you slide your toolkit back onto the shelf and return to your desk. The room fills with the whirring hiss of the computer's various cooling systems kicking into gear.
You settle into your desk, feet up, and turn your attention back to your numerous screens. Without your personal presence or your VI to filter them, a number of wildly unimportant messages have flooded your terminal.
You click idly through a fistful of leave requests, already approved by your sapient resources team and waiting for your rubber stamp. That's spam. That's spam. That's irrelevant. A pair of angry messages from Clan Korten are read and promptly deleted, because you don't have time for krogan who don't understand the meaning of 'it gets here when it gets here'. That's spam. That's spam. That's spam. One message, automatically forwarded to your work account from your private terminal, is from a quarian who wants assistance on their pilgrimage. You flag that and set it aside for later. The next one is spam.
"Benchmark testing complete. Modifications made by Creator Nil'Zannis have improved system processing power by 4.7 percent . Modifications made by Creator Nil'Zannis have improved system data storage capacity by 19.3 percent."
Ah, geth parts. Though it's a time-consuming pain to make sure they're safe to use, it's nice to be able to work with some actually decent kit for once - quarians lack the capacity to make the great machines of old and salarian stuff tends to be far too expensive.
Your VI quickly finishes the rest of its boot process, and immediately begins filtering the rest of your message inbox, and after luxuriating for a moment in the warm satisfaction of a job well done, you turn your attention back to… well, your actual job.
You wonder how many geth brains you'd have to rig up to get a computer smart enough to do this for you, but not smart enough to attempt to overthrow you. You have plenty to spare, after all…
[ ] Spaceport Expansion Program
Port Hanshan's Spaceport is only capable of adequately servicing a handful of freighters at a time, and the size of the facility and staff limit the throughput of cargo. Under normal circumstances, the addition of additional docking and service bays would be a simple matter, but the idiots on the board decided that they wanted their secretive research facilities to be nestled in the mountains, and the flatter lowlands are too far for convenient travel, so any expansion of the spaceport will require a significant investment of time and effort, not just in construction but in carving chunks out of the mountains to make room in the first place.
UPDATE: The Narhu Combine believe it would be a natural and mutually beneficial arrangement if they were given the responsibility of providing the refueling infrastructure for the expanding spaceport.
(Progress: 0/500 - 20 Resources per die) (+16 Cargo, -2 Housing)
(Narhu Combine: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Glacial Fusion Plant
Fuel-efficient and climate friendly, fusion power plants are the standard for developing and developed worlds across civilised space. By burying the fusion plant deep within Noveria's frozen glaciers, they and the limited radioactive waste they produce can be safely and securely contained away from more densely populated areas, and without ruining the view as more economical renewable generators would.
(Progress: 0/300 - 20 Resources per die) (+16 Power)
(Hassan Atomics: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Destructive Testing Range
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But live testing, especially of vehicles and weapon systems, can often lead to significant damage. Little more than a series of hardened walls to contain blasts and stop speeding debris, dedicated destructive testing ranges give engineers a place to cut loose and put their prototypes through thorough testing without endangering their neighbours.
-[ ] Peak 18 (Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (Nezo Aerospace: +1P, +1F)
-[ ] Peak 41 (Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (Korten Machines: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Secondary Artificial Biome Cluster Site
Before an artificial biome can be created, with its own atmosphere mixing stations and climate control systems, a container for that biome must be created. These facilities are, by necessity, relatively large, and as such require substantial land clearing. Additionally, Noveria's extreme temperatures necessitate a high degree of environmental hardening to ensure the artificial biome is not adversely affected by outside weather.
-[ ] Peak 11 (Progress: 0/250 - 15 Resources per die) (Domain Ecological Services: +1F)
Advanced Industry (3D, +15 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Restore Offsite Uplink
The mess the Spectre made of the Aleutsk Valley pathway to Peak 15 included a not-insignificant amount of damage to one of Port Hanshan's Offsite Data Uplinks. Originally designed as redundancies, the Offsite Uplinks became more and more important as Hanshan's population grew but its infrastructure failed to grow with it. The increased strain on the network is noticeable, with complaints of latency and dropped connections coming from every sector.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die) (+4 Network)
[ ] Data Traffic Management Centre
Prioritising data traffic is already a challenging problem for every group in the galaxy. Intergalactic communications rely on simple priority rules to allocate bandwidth, whilst local relays such as Hanshan's ground-to-orbit system generally work on a first-in-first-out basis, relying on relative lack of traffic to ensure high speed connections. By analysing outgoing communication requests and assessing relative importance before passing them offworld, corporate assets can be assured they are receiving the highest possible speed at all times, and never getting stuck behind civilian data traffic.
UPDATE: Granting corporations limited access to the data analysis allows them to fine-tune advertisements and other elements of the content they produce, enhancing profitability.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die)
(Noveria Now: +1P) (Tevura Media Group: +1P)
[ ] Hanshan Medical Centre Renovation
Maybe it's just your quarian aversion to slap-dash medical care and 'good enough' clean rooms, but you personally take some offense to the lack of updates Hanshan Medical Centre has seen since it was initially constructed during first wave development. Port Hanshan's population, being made up generally of professionals, not families, with next to no children or elderly, may be less in need of cutting edge medical technology than some demographics, but in your professional experience, hospitals are exactly the kind of thing no one appreciates until they really need them.
UPDATE: Baria Frontiers has a medical research clinic attached to the Hanshan Medical Centre, and would certainly be appreciative if it was included in renovations.
(Progress: 0/200 - 10 Resources per die) (Improve Port Hanshan Livability)
(Baria Frontiers: +1F)
[ ] Dedicated Computation Cluster
Personal or desk scale computation and data storage devices are both cheap and widely accessible galaxy-wide. However, as has been the case for centuries, there is a cost to miniaturisation. Dedicated room-scale hardware has always had an advantage in processing speed and power, from antique server racks to modern quantum supercomputers. Installing some computation clusters within Port Hanshan's office complexes and renting them out could prove mutually beneficial.
-[ ] Astra Financial (Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (-2 Power) (Astra Financial: +1P, +1F)
-[ ] Dora'vua Cyber Systems (Progress: 0/150 - 15 Resources per die) (-2 Power) (Dora'vua Cyber Systems: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Prototyping Workshop
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But producing prototypes only to find minor issues that require the reproduction of components or even the entire system is a source of constant frustration. Many designers prefer actual workshops, so that minor adjustments can be made swiftly and in direct response to problems that arise during the prototyping and testing phase without requiring constant digital redesigning.
-[ ] Peak 09 (Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (Ahial Syndicate: +1P)
-[ ] Peak 41 (Progress: 145/150 - 10 Resources per die) (Korten Machines: +1P) (Overdue 1/3)
Infrastructure (3D, +25 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Ground-Orbit Uplink Site
The existing ground-orbit communications infrastructure is in dire need of expansion, with original usage estimates far exceeded and redundancy units pressed into general service to ensure needs were met. A new transmission tower and accompanying infrastructure would bring network capacity up to a far more acceptable level and remove reliance on the backup equipment.
UPDATE: Due to ridiculous rumours and nonsense allegations of 'mountain monsters', the workers refuse to venture up to the site without a military escort.
(Progress: 26/300 - 20 Resources per die) (+16 Network)
(Cannot be taken without Mountain Monsters)
[ ] Arcology Spire
Very few people want to make their lives on Noveria, and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. The advantage of this is that it massively reduces housing pressure - and what little long-term housing pressure does exist tends to be focused on the resort-cities, which cater far more to high class lifestyles. Nonetheless, some 80,000 people call Port Hanshan home, and that is brushing close to the practical capacity limit. Taking lessons from centuries of urban planning and orbital habitat design across the galaxy, arcology spires serve to provide not just housing and the requisite utilities, but rental spaces that can be dedicated to shops, restaurants, schools, gyms, and other facilities, providing all the average resident needs within a single complex.
(Progress: 112/200 - 5 Resources per die) (+4 Housing)
[ ] Breaking Ground: Peak 12
When the NDC's Executive Board balked at the cost of ongoing developments and shifted funds into more profitable endeavours, a number of proposed-but-undeveloped sites were archived for later use. Abec Territorial Ordinance have indicated that they may in future wish to move manufacturing to Noveria, and one of those archived sites could prove suitable for their purposes. Establishing a transit route and preparing infrastructure connections is the first step of turning the site into an operational facility.
(Progress: 0/200 - 15 Resources per die)
[ ] Breaking Ground: Lower Hanshan
An obvious consequence of building in the Skadi Mountains is that real estate that can actually be feasibly built on is precious. Port Hanshan's primary facilities were built suspended from the sides of the mountains or digging into them, and the primary intent was for office and residential spires to build up from there. Despite your protests at the time, very little infrastructure was established to allow for expansion downwards - towards the ground floor of the lower valleys, which would be an excellent space for industrial operations and low-cost housing. Now that you're the Administrator, you can rectify that.
(Progress: 0/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Unlocks Lower Hanshan Development)
Security (4D, +7 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Mandatory Audit (Targets 1 Corporation)
In addition to the physical security staff provided by ERCS, the NDC has access to a suite of in-house corporate assessors, auditors, and investigators, trained to dig out corruption, noncompliance, and assorted chicanery wherever it takes root. Sending them after a company ensures that the appropriate rental fees and taxes are being paid, promptly and without any shenanigans.
(Breakpoints: 20 / 60 - 5 Resources per die) (For six turns, negative corporate favour does not reduce income.)
(Target: -2/1F)
[ ] Mountain Monsters
Wild rumours and conspiracy theories are circulating regarding reports of mysterious mountain monsters near the Ground-Orbit Uplink Site, and the mood amongst the workforce has soured. Construction teams are unwilling to go to work on the site without armed escort, citing attacks on their mechs which you suspect to have been staged. Send some of Matsuo's men and some of the new security mechs to sit on the site and babysit the workers until the job is done.
(Progress: 0/100 - 5 Resources per die)
[ ] Geth Salvage
Between the troopers, warbots, turrets, and miscellaneous other detritus of battle, the NDC is sitting on a veritable goldmine of exotic geth technology. Ensuring that the debris is appropriately recovered and stored for future use by the NDC, rather than whoever stumbles across it, is vital. A Citadel military think-tank has already put out a request for recovered geth technology to be passed on to them, and you know for a fact that there are corporations on Noveria who would be similarly interested.
(Progress: 93/100 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
[ ] Snow Patrol
Though Matsuo's report and the Peak 15 surveillance footage paints an impressive image of the Spectre's combat prowess, and the trail she left in her wake is by no means small, the possibility of small groups of geth or rachni remaining somewhere near Peak 15 is non-zero, which by your reckoning is too high. Though it's a pain, having some of Matsuo's forces and drones scour the Aleutsk Valley for any trace of either invader would do a lot to ease tensions.
(Progress: 62/200 - 10 Resources per die)
[ ] Enhanced Border Security
Despite the stringent firearms laws enforced at Port Hanshan, Matriarch Benezia and her commando bodyguards were able to smuggle in not just their own weapons, but a small force of geth troopers, using scan-shielded crates, making a mockery of the Port Hanshan establishment and of its security. The ERCS have put forward a proposal to deploy new and highly sophisticated scanning systems, to ensure similar events cannot be repeated.
(Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (+5 ES)
Administration (3D, +5 Bonus per roll)
[ ] Internal Sweeping
The NDC may occupy a place of privilege on Noveria, but the fate of your all-too-recent predecessor is a reminder that it is not immune to corruption. With some help from the NDC's Internal Affairs division, you can sweep a department to search for embezzlement, ineptitude, nepotism, and other forms of corruption. It's unlikely that much, if any, corruption remains after Anoleis was removed - and any who escaped notice the first time are likely to be keeping their heads down low for a short while anyway - but it never hurts to check.
(Breakpoints: 40 - Requires 1 Admin dice and 1 from Target department) (Remove corruption, other consequences unclear)
[ ] Firearm Regulation Revision
Port Hanshan maintains a strict policy of prohibiting possession of firearms or firearm components for all parties, with exceptions for on-duty security staff and, by decree of the Executive Board, Spectre agents of the Citadel Council. Though information about the geth attack on Noveria was widely suppressed, news of geth incursions across the Traverse continues to spread, and some are calling for weapon restrictions to be loosened to enable self-defence.
(Breakpoints: 30 - 5 Resources per die) (-5 ES) (Further options on completion)
[ ] Data Security Law Revision
Noveria was founded and built on the principle of privacy being paramount. By the terms of the colonial charter, all data is to be treated as the private and inviolate property of the responsible parties. Whilst this is obviously preferred by many of the corporations who have established operations, the deliberately sweeping law makes the personal data of individuals equally secure, which makes data harvesting, content targeting, and behavioural analysis relatively difficult.
(Breakpoints: 30 - 5 Resources per die) (-5 ES) (Further options on completion)
[ ] Expand Security Staff
As reports continue to trickle in from the wider galaxy about the scope of the geth incursion, much murmuring and discontent has been directed at the ERCS. Their current position as Noveria's police force involves a lot of patrols, guard duty, and crowd control, and their current equipment is by no means suitable for any kind of protracted war with the geth in the event of a future invasion. ERCS wants to negotiate permission to move in some of their more militarised units and vehicles as additional defence against potential geth invasions.
(Progress: 0/150 - 10 Resources per die) (-2 Housing)
(ERCS: +1P, +1F)
[ ] Horuvak Valley Platinum Mine Approval
Though they have already secured mineral exploitation rights across Noveria, Tiber Extraction And Refining are restricted by the terms of the colonial charter from engaging in mining operations within a certain range of Port Hanshan without the proper approval. In testing their new Panoptes mineral scanner, they located a significant deposit of platinum within the Horuvak Valley, and the group has requested permission to draw up plants to establish an extraction operation there. Though it could generate significant profit, especially if refining is also performed on site, resource export, whether raw or refined, would put significant strain on Noveria's spaceport.
(Progress: 0/100 - 10 Resources per die) (Unlocks further options)
(Tiber Extraction And Refining: +1F)
Investigation Data
You're sitting on an absolute motherlode of data that paints a very incriminating, or at the very least, very profit-disruptive image of the Council's wayward Spectre and his now-dead accomplice, Matriarch Benezia. Naturally, as soon as the comport was compiled, you neatened it up and passed it on to the Executive Board, but knowing them, they're going to sit around debating what to do with it for months. You could cut them out of the decision making and pass it around yourself whilst they squabble - that kind of autonomous decision making is your entire job, and by making sure the Board got a copy of the report you've technically done everything you promised them.
Of course, depending on the exact details of what you send, and who to, you may make enemies. Though there's nothing in the report about actual projects, besides references to their codenames, some corporations guard their secrets jealously.
First off, you could sell it to the Council. They don't have your access to corporate records, but they could easily get it, if they wanted - or bypass it completely through Spectres or the STG. None of the Executives mentioned anyone else poking for their records, which doesn't necessarily mean it didn't happen but suggests the Council either didn't think of it yet or don't think it's relevant.
You could try to track down the human Spectre directly - tracking down Saren is her assignment, and getting the files directly to her might help more than passing them to the Council and waiting for it to go down the chain. Though Spectres aren't guaranteed to pay with cash, you know some aren't averse to paying in favours, and the favour of a Spectre is a very powerful thing.
Or you could appeal to the Spectre's other masters, the Human Systems Alliance. Giving them intel the Council don't have could help their political posturing, and their posturing has previously proven very profitable for the NDC through getting rid of the Batarian Hegemony as competition. The Alliance might also be more willing to pay up than the Council, for much the same reason.
Besides them, you could contact the various Citadel races independently - or, more likely just the Council races. You can't imagine the elcor or hanar being in a position to care, but the STG might want the info even if the Council doesn't. And, like the Systems Alliance, the STG might be more willing to pay up.
You could contact the Migrant Fleet's Special Projects arm - you have a contact on the Moreh and you're sure Admiral Xen would be fascinated to get her hands on any information about how Saren and Benezia were able to somehow control the geth. Though not really in a position to offer money, they could provide expertise or other favours… and it would be good to call home. It's not something you do often enough.
The final obvious option would be to sell the information to the Shadow Broker. He would definitely pay, and handsomely. But there's no telling what he would do with the information - and the Executives would almost certainly be unhappy about you going to him. Even though you know for a fact that most of them have worked with him before. Hypocritical bosh'tets.
Select as many or as few of the following options as you want. All choices have consequences.
[ ] DATA:
-[ ] Sell to the Spectre
-[ ] Sell to the Council
-[ ] Sell to the Alliance
-[ ] Sell to the Migrant Fleet
-[ ] Sell to the Shadow Broker
-[ ] Someone else? Write in who
===
The vote is NOT YET OPEN! I'm going to bed because my stupid government fucked up the vaccine rollout and I had to get the shitty one and I'm wiped the fuck out, but you guys can ask questions and such and I'll answer when I'm able, as usual.
