Turn 1 (Q3 2506): Personnel Subvote
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
August 22, 2506
Dominion Treasury Building (Temporary)
Vardona
There's nothing to do about it. You've delayed the enemy long enough. Every holding action has proven temporary, every setback irreversible. You're on the back foot, and they're advancing on you from all sides.
Yes, that's right. You're going to have to start stacking files along the windows now.
Your office is a very nice corner affair, situated on the 135th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Vardona City (what an original name). You're pretty sure it used to belong to a Kel-Morian mining executive, before their firm fled Confederate space during the war. That would explain all the mineral dust you keep having to vacuum out of the carpet. The building's owner was happy to lease all of the mining company's formerly occupied floors for an excellent price, probably because she knew the alternative was forced requisition.
The problem you're facing today is the steady flow of documents coming into your office without any appreciable outflow. You're being buried – no, drowned beneath the advancing tide. You're not what they'd call a speed-reader, not when you use your finger to mark your place on the page and occasionally pause to sound out the longer, more technical terms. But then, your particular genius was never on paper, anyway. Let's see one of these pencil-pushers put a successful orbital drop into hostile territory together without soiling their britches, eh?
Fortunately, your salvation is at hand. You've managed to corral three strong possibilities to serve as your executive assistant, and their interviews are today. Well, two of the interviews are today. The third candidate needs no introduction, after all.
Shifting the stack of files snugly into the corner between two floor-to-ceiling glass walls (your desk and the other brick-and-mortar walls being stacked high already), you breathe a sigh of relief and settle back into your plush executive's chair. This thing is coming with you to Korhal when you move in, that's for damn sure. After a moment, you tap a command into the keyboard, calling up the three possibility files for review...
[] Irina Koslova
Former executive assistant to the CEO of a major shipping concern, with an impeccable resume that includes a stint as a high-school math teacher. You get the strong impression that she's accustomed to tutoring inept executives on how to do their jobs, and to be perfectly honest that's probably her greatest selling point as far as you're concerned. She's also got this strict-librarian thing going on that'd be tempting if you weren't such a happily married man.
Highly Professional: +1 Personal die
Schoolmarm: +5 to all Services and Bureaucracy dice
Eyes On Your Paper: When rolling to reduce High School Dropout, roll twice and take the higher result
[] Jacob Arendt
This guy's resume, on the other hand, is full of very promising euphemisms. Anyone who's done time (and you're using that phrase advisedly) as an "import-export specialist," a "transaction facilitator," and a "high-stakes contract negotiator" knows their way around a dark alley. By no means do you expect this guy to be bad at the paperwork side of things, but as accomplices go, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more experienced.
Specialist: +1 Personal die
Facilitator: -20 difficulty to all Personal DCs
Negotiator: 5R discount on all Personal project dice
[] Adjutant SA-117
Affectionately known as "Sally," this is your personal Adjutant cybernetic assistant from the Great War. You've enlisted a crackerjack programmer to shift her over from military tactics and logistics to a more civilian bent, and she'll come equipped with a full software suite of Confederate law and regulations (such as they ever were) and their Dominion replacements (once they're written). Also, as a non-sapient machine, she doesn't require days off or fall asleep while reading like you tend to. The downside is that she's not exactly a creative thinker, and if you want to get up to any scheming you'll have to do it yourself.
Inhumanly Efficient: +2 Personal dice
I Don't Sleep, I Wait: Once per turn, reroll a single project die and take the higher result; does not apply to natural 1s or 100s
The Vice-Chancellor slot is much thornier. Unlike your assistant, who Mengsk will likely consider a piece of mobile furniture (or immobile, in Sally's case), your second-in-command will be just as political as you, without nearly as much history or affection shielding them from scrutiny. You'll have to consider your position carefully.
[] Victoria Archibald III
A blue-blooded scion of the Confederate Old Families who made the very wise decision to defect prior to the fall of Tarsonis rather than afterwards, she has neatly avoided the wave of arrests and prosecutions that followed the Dominion takeover. She served as Deputy Secretary for Industry under the previous regime, which was fitting given that the Archibalds used to own a sizable chunk of Nephor II. It's a shame that Mengsk (himself descended from the oldest of Old Families) hates aristocrats with a passion. (+5 Paranoia on hire)
Titan of Industry: +1 Free die, +1 HI die, +1 LCI die
Uncrowned Queen: +20 to all project dice on Nephor II; more Nephor II projects
Imperial Disfavor: 50% chance of +5 Paranoia per turn
[] Samuel Smith
Possibly the blandest, most put-together person you've ever met. He expressed no firm opinions or individual thoughts during his interview and gave no hints of any personal inclinations or foibles of any kind. He was highly composed, thoroughly professional, and absolutely boring. His resume, of course, is excellent; multiple assistant deputyships under the previous government, as well as a stint in the private sector. Your only real concern is that he's about as flexible as a slab of tungsten. (-5 Paranoia on hire)
Absolute Competence: +2 Free dice, +1 Bureaucracy die
Retroactive Approvals: Convert all natural 1s into natural 100s and gain +5 Paranoia for each converted die; does not function above 80 Paranoia
No Nonsense: -5 to all Personal dice; this character's positive traits cannot be applied to Personal projects
[] Jamie Winston
A veritable wunderkind who served as an engineer for the Sons of Korhal, they are best-known in the Koprulu sector for their pioneering adaptation of the Zerg burrowing ability, which led to the development of the Supply Bunker and a revolution in subterranean construction. They're also a multidisciplinary polymath whose lack of credentials is due entirely to being expelled from Tarsonis University for political activism. If only they weren't quite so... overly excitable. (-10 Paranoia on hire)
Literal Genius: +1 Free die, +1 Environmental die, +1 Research die
Perpetual Innovator: +20 to all Tech project dice; more Tech projects
Stack Overflow: Once per turn, convert a natural 100 into a natural 1 and gain +5 Paranoia
No plans, no moratoria, just votes! Feel free to approval vote if you want; I'll leave this open for a day or so.
Dominion Treasury Building (Temporary)
Vardona
There's nothing to do about it. You've delayed the enemy long enough. Every holding action has proven temporary, every setback irreversible. You're on the back foot, and they're advancing on you from all sides.
Yes, that's right. You're going to have to start stacking files along the windows now.
Your office is a very nice corner affair, situated on the 135th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Vardona City (what an original name). You're pretty sure it used to belong to a Kel-Morian mining executive, before their firm fled Confederate space during the war. That would explain all the mineral dust you keep having to vacuum out of the carpet. The building's owner was happy to lease all of the mining company's formerly occupied floors for an excellent price, probably because she knew the alternative was forced requisition.
The problem you're facing today is the steady flow of documents coming into your office without any appreciable outflow. You're being buried – no, drowned beneath the advancing tide. You're not what they'd call a speed-reader, not when you use your finger to mark your place on the page and occasionally pause to sound out the longer, more technical terms. But then, your particular genius was never on paper, anyway. Let's see one of these pencil-pushers put a successful orbital drop into hostile territory together without soiling their britches, eh?
Fortunately, your salvation is at hand. You've managed to corral three strong possibilities to serve as your executive assistant, and their interviews are today. Well, two of the interviews are today. The third candidate needs no introduction, after all.
Shifting the stack of files snugly into the corner between two floor-to-ceiling glass walls (your desk and the other brick-and-mortar walls being stacked high already), you breathe a sigh of relief and settle back into your plush executive's chair. This thing is coming with you to Korhal when you move in, that's for damn sure. After a moment, you tap a command into the keyboard, calling up the three possibility files for review...
[] Irina Koslova
Former executive assistant to the CEO of a major shipping concern, with an impeccable resume that includes a stint as a high-school math teacher. You get the strong impression that she's accustomed to tutoring inept executives on how to do their jobs, and to be perfectly honest that's probably her greatest selling point as far as you're concerned. She's also got this strict-librarian thing going on that'd be tempting if you weren't such a happily married man.
Highly Professional: +1 Personal die
Schoolmarm: +5 to all Services and Bureaucracy dice
Eyes On Your Paper: When rolling to reduce High School Dropout, roll twice and take the higher result
[] Jacob Arendt
This guy's resume, on the other hand, is full of very promising euphemisms. Anyone who's done time (and you're using that phrase advisedly) as an "import-export specialist," a "transaction facilitator," and a "high-stakes contract negotiator" knows their way around a dark alley. By no means do you expect this guy to be bad at the paperwork side of things, but as accomplices go, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more experienced.
Specialist: +1 Personal die
Facilitator: -20 difficulty to all Personal DCs
Negotiator: 5R discount on all Personal project dice
[] Adjutant SA-117
Affectionately known as "Sally," this is your personal Adjutant cybernetic assistant from the Great War. You've enlisted a crackerjack programmer to shift her over from military tactics and logistics to a more civilian bent, and she'll come equipped with a full software suite of Confederate law and regulations (such as they ever were) and their Dominion replacements (once they're written). Also, as a non-sapient machine, she doesn't require days off or fall asleep while reading like you tend to. The downside is that she's not exactly a creative thinker, and if you want to get up to any scheming you'll have to do it yourself.
Inhumanly Efficient: +2 Personal dice
I Don't Sleep, I Wait: Once per turn, reroll a single project die and take the higher result; does not apply to natural 1s or 100s
The Vice-Chancellor slot is much thornier. Unlike your assistant, who Mengsk will likely consider a piece of mobile furniture (or immobile, in Sally's case), your second-in-command will be just as political as you, without nearly as much history or affection shielding them from scrutiny. You'll have to consider your position carefully.
[] Victoria Archibald III
A blue-blooded scion of the Confederate Old Families who made the very wise decision to defect prior to the fall of Tarsonis rather than afterwards, she has neatly avoided the wave of arrests and prosecutions that followed the Dominion takeover. She served as Deputy Secretary for Industry under the previous regime, which was fitting given that the Archibalds used to own a sizable chunk of Nephor II. It's a shame that Mengsk (himself descended from the oldest of Old Families) hates aristocrats with a passion. (+5 Paranoia on hire)
Titan of Industry: +1 Free die, +1 HI die, +1 LCI die
Uncrowned Queen: +20 to all project dice on Nephor II; more Nephor II projects
Imperial Disfavor: 50% chance of +5 Paranoia per turn
[] Samuel Smith
Possibly the blandest, most put-together person you've ever met. He expressed no firm opinions or individual thoughts during his interview and gave no hints of any personal inclinations or foibles of any kind. He was highly composed, thoroughly professional, and absolutely boring. His resume, of course, is excellent; multiple assistant deputyships under the previous government, as well as a stint in the private sector. Your only real concern is that he's about as flexible as a slab of tungsten. (-5 Paranoia on hire)
Absolute Competence: +2 Free dice, +1 Bureaucracy die
Retroactive Approvals: Convert all natural 1s into natural 100s and gain +5 Paranoia for each converted die; does not function above 80 Paranoia
No Nonsense: -5 to all Personal dice; this character's positive traits cannot be applied to Personal projects
[] Jamie Winston
A veritable wunderkind who served as an engineer for the Sons of Korhal, they are best-known in the Koprulu sector for their pioneering adaptation of the Zerg burrowing ability, which led to the development of the Supply Bunker and a revolution in subterranean construction. They're also a multidisciplinary polymath whose lack of credentials is due entirely to being expelled from Tarsonis University for political activism. If only they weren't quite so... overly excitable. (-10 Paranoia on hire)
Literal Genius: +1 Free die, +1 Environmental die, +1 Research die
Perpetual Innovator: +20 to all Tech project dice; more Tech projects
Stack Overflow: Once per turn, convert a natural 100 into a natural 1 and gain +5 Paranoia
No plans, no moratoria, just votes! Feel free to approval vote if you want; I'll leave this open for a day or so.
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