You entered the office. The piece was well lit, and in good order, except for the large amount of paperwork that the man behind the desk was filling. He looked up at you as he noticed your entrance.
"Captain." You saluted.
"At ease." he said.
"Congratulation for your promotion." Chrono Harlaown had been your direct superior since you joined the enforcer corps, and you had learned a lot under his guidance. He was an extremely talented agent, and you couldn't say you were surprised when you learned of his promotion. Of course, it also meant that you would be unlikely to work under him anymore : as a powerful and high ranked member of the navy, the little enforcer work he would still do (apart from directing his subordinates) would be largely above your capabilities. Not that such opportunities were frequent to begin with.
"Don't mention it to me." He said with a tired sigh. "It more than tripled the amount of paperwork I have to deal with. Anyway, I have an assignment for you. It shall be your first solo job." You tensed. This was the moment you both eagerly awaited and dreaded. But you would be strong.
"What this is about?" You enquired.
"I will sent you all the details to your devices, but... to summarize, unadministrated world 219, Douhalenn, has asked us for our help." It was surprising, and a little worrying. Usually, the Bureau didn't intervene with internal problems. Administrated or aligned worlds would receive help in the case they requested it, of course, and some support could be provided for unadminstrated world in friendly terms with the TSAB, but sending an enforcer meant that the situation was dire, though thankfully not to the point where the Bureau had decided to intervene regardless of the local government desires.
Chrono noticed your thoughts, and he explained. "That world only recently exited a civil war, and there's still some dissent from the remnants of the forces loyal to the previous government. What complicate matters is the ruins that may contain numerous weapons of mass destructions, and maybe even Lost Logia, dating from the warring states era. We have been in negotiation with them for excavation right for years, but the price they asked was simply too high as the matter was not deemed urgent."
"What changed?"
"They have reasons to believe that their dissidents may be close to procure one of several of those weapons. We will mount an expedition, but it will take some time before it is ready. Until then, we want to have someone there to observe the situation and take whatever actions are required."
"Me."
"Yes. The situation is serious, but at the same time, it shouldn't be outside of your capabilities. In any case, you will receive supports from the local defence forces. Do you have any questions?"
Do you?
[] Write-in.
"Then..." he said. Good luck. This may be your first solo operation, but I'm confident you can succeed.
"Thanks you captain. I won't disappoint you." You answered.
You sighed. With a conventional ship, Douhalenn was about a month away from the TSAB HQ. Of course, you weren't embarked on a conventional ship. Not even one of the fast TSAB Warship that you had taken at several occasion. No, this was a fast transport, made especially for the occasion when an enforcer needed to be somewhere fast. You would arrive in a bit more than a day.
The problem, being, a conventional ship at least was bigger, there were some other people on it except from an anti-social pilot, and you could find something to do except being bored to death.
Well, you might as well kill time by reading the details of the cases. You had planned to use a data processing spell to do it fast, but plain old reading was usually preferable when one had the time to resort to it.
You asked your device to bring up the relevant files, and started reading them.
Apparently they couldn't be bothered to really explain all the context and refer to an overview of the history of the world...
Well, you will have time to read that too at some point.
Douhalenn, following a disastrous first contact with the TSAB, was first faced with rebellions on their colonies on the other worlds of the local cluster. Many of the desperate measure the local monarchy took to try and crush the rebellion were not exactly popular for the citizens, and eventually sparked a revolution. The civil war lasted for around two decades, and officially ended only six years ago, though the rebels controlled most of the planet for a year before that.
After the last king abdicated (shortly before taking his own life), though, his younger brother, Rhys Ancel, took control of the remnants of the royalists forces, and, likely recognizing the difference of forces, went into hiding. The group has been responsible of various terrorists attacks since the end of the war. The most recent one being a thankfully failed assault against the Bureau's embassy...
Well, that certainly is one thing that would incite the TSAB to be involved.
The local investigators had noticed that several documents had disappeared after some of their attacks, and also that similar records where located at some of the targets.
Apparently, the group was interested in the ruins of the old capital.
Particularly, the various powerful weapons that were suspected to be hidden somewhere there. Historical records helped realize exactly how dangerous such might prove. Oh, of course you had the usual greatly exaggerated claims on the capabilities of the monarch of the time. Apparently, the queen who reigned when the war between Douhalenn and it's neighbour really escalated was an omniscient seer who had total control over the climate of the entire planet and could harness the power of the sun. Sure, there might be some basis in those claims, but they were so exaggerated you had trouble taking them seriously.
Still, there was the part which were far more believable. Partly because the evidences : The lifeless remains of that world which atmosphere had been ignited was clearly there for anyone interested to visit. Where, on the Belkan's empire maps, was indicated a type 3 world, only a bunch of asteroids remained.
Well, there was a reason that only seven world remained inhabitable in the cluster, when almost thirty had been settled at the end of the Dawn State era.
What was truly depressing was how banal such a story of planetary destruction was for the warring-state era.
At the very least, the criminal group seeking those weapons was lead by the prince Rhys Ancel. Which mean that, in the case you failed and they acquired some of those Lost Logia, he was unlikely to destroy the very planet he wanted to rule over.
Of course, he could do so out of spite, but you doubt it would be his very first reaction. It was likely the reason why this case had not been assigned to a more experienced agent.
Speaking of Rhys... There was a fair bit of data on him. He had fought during the war before his mother died and his older brother succeeded her. An experienced fighter. Bureau's estimation estimated he was a AA-rank knight.
Likely to have survived in some form and to serve the "legitimate" monarch, was the Assassination Group, nicknamed by most of the population as the Royal Hounds, who served for a long time as the secret police and black-op group of the monarchy, and whose members were indicated as loyal to the point of death. There was far too few information on them for you to be comfortable, though. The leader, at the time of the war, had been a woman named Morgan, who was believed to be dead, or at least heavily crippled, but the local authorities were sure that at least some member had survived and joined under the prince's banner.
There was also indication of Rhys' sisters, one princess Adela, who may or may not be part of her brother's follower. She was young, and not much was know about her possible capabilities, but the royals tended to be powerful mage, so she was likely someone to watch out for.
So, a high ranking mage, his sister who was likely at least as powerful, and a group of ruthlessly efficient assassins?
Yeah, you were totally feeling confident about this.
......
Current character sheet
Name : Emmanuel
Age : 17
Style : Ancient Belkan
Mêlée +++, Shields +, Shooting –, Bombardment – –, Combat +, Non-combat –
Power : AA+
Efficiency : A+
Device :
Processing Power : AA
Intelligence : B+
Cartridge system
Armed device (Mêlée oriented forms count as a physical weapon. Endure strain very well)
Character creation, continuation :
Everyone has some area of magic where they're more skilled, and other they neglected. What are your strength and your weaknesses? (You have 6 "+" and 5 "–" to spend on the following magic categories. You need to spend them all and can't have them cancel each others out. You can spend several of "+" or "–" in a single category. Each "+" increase the effective efficiency by one rank when casting the relevant spell. Each "–" decrease the efficiency by one rank.)
[] Shooting spells : Spells firing small sized projectiles. Power, precision and range all vary wildly.
[] Bombardment spells : Spells firing large, powerful stream of energy. More powerful than shooting spells*. Compared to shooting spells, they are slower, and often shorter ranged (but not always)
[] Mêlée spells : Close combat spells and weapon enhancement.
[] Barrier spells : Defensive spells covering several directions.
[] Shields spells : Defensive spells covering only a single direction in exchange for more stopping power. Often repel an attack.
[] Field spells : Often defensive spells applying a particular effects to an area. Also, Barrier Jacket/Knight armour/whatever you want to call it.
[] Capture spells : Spells used to restrain or detain a target, covering both bind and cage.
[] Force-fields : Spells separating a large area from the outside world, often also applying some kind of effect inside the force-field.
[] Support spells : Spells increasing the capabilities of allies. Also, healing spells.
[] Disruption spells : Spells that disrupt the opponent magic.
[] Movement spells : Rapid movement and flight spells.
[] Dimensional spells : spell involving manipulation of the dimensions. Notably include teleportations spells. Things like the Arc-en-Ciel would also fall under this.
[] Information spells : Spells related to information gathering and data processing. Notably, include reflexes enhancement spells.
[] Illusion (Can only be taken with the Illusionist trait)**
[] Summoning (Can only be taken with the Summoner rare-skill)**
[] Other trait/rare-skill based spell type.**
*There are shooting spells that quite high-powered (like Signum's bow attack), which is achieved with a highly concentrated attack compared to a bombardment spell of the same rank, allowing higher penetration.
(edit) **As those spells represent an additional category to learn, even if you neglect those, you will be at the same level as someone who can't cast them, while training them will take time away from improving others spells. Because of that, you can't spend any the 5 - on those category. To compensate, each traits giving access to a new category of spell will give you 2 - and 1 + to spend anywhere.
What are the different forms of your device? Each one may be either general, or specialized in a specific area, and the forms must reflect that role. You must chose between 1 and 3 active forms, and the standby form.
[] Write-in
Also, what is your device name? (It wasn't in the plan, and it's actually better to put it here, so...)
[] Write-in
As an enforcer, one of the elite of the bureau, you received a fair amount of physical conditioning. Higher baseline of physical capabilities mean that self-enhancement magic is easier to use (it does not, however, affect how far you can push it). Assign two D and one C among the three physical attributes :
[] Toughness
[] Reflexes
[] Strength
You may have been born with some advantage. Or maybe hard training helped you develop some trump card of your own. Whether innate or not, you have four points to spend over the following traits :
[] Mana regeneration (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : You recover mana faster than someone with the same amount of power.
[] Parallel spell-casting (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : May cast several spell at once, or maintain them, without needing to rely on your device.
[] Mana conversion (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : Increase efficiency of spells of the relevant "element"
-[] Give an "element"
[] Illusionist (cost 1) : unlock Illusion magic.
[] Familiar (cost 2) : You have a familiar
-[] Describe familiar
[] Peak condition (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : Increase all physical attributes by a rank. Level 2 or 3 are expression of gene-modifications, implants, effect of a lost-logia, or some other similar cause.
[] Rare skill summoner (cost 1, can be taken up to three time, which increase the rank of your most powerful summon) : unlock summoning magic. Give access to one or several summons.
[] Rare skill : internal computation (cost 1, can be taken up to three time). Allow device-less casting. When using a device, give additional processing power.
[] Rare skill : shape-shifting (cost 1) : You can shape-shift. Cost may increase if exotic form.
-[] Describe your second form.
[] Write-in : There might be many traits or rare-skills that aren't listed there.
You also have 4 bonuses points to spend on any area. They can be spend in the following ways :
[] Get an additional +, or one – less, for spell proficiency (cost 1 point)
[] Get an additional physical attribute to C (cost 1 point)
[] Get an additional point to spend on traits (cost 2 points)
You can also get up to 4 additional bonuses points, though at a cost. Those points can't be spent on rare-skills or innate advantages (such as level II and III Peak condition), and represent further training.
"Captain." You saluted.
"At ease." he said.
"Congratulation for your promotion." Chrono Harlaown had been your direct superior since you joined the enforcer corps, and you had learned a lot under his guidance. He was an extremely talented agent, and you couldn't say you were surprised when you learned of his promotion. Of course, it also meant that you would be unlikely to work under him anymore : as a powerful and high ranked member of the navy, the little enforcer work he would still do (apart from directing his subordinates) would be largely above your capabilities. Not that such opportunities were frequent to begin with.
"Don't mention it to me." He said with a tired sigh. "It more than tripled the amount of paperwork I have to deal with. Anyway, I have an assignment for you. It shall be your first solo job." You tensed. This was the moment you both eagerly awaited and dreaded. But you would be strong.
"What this is about?" You enquired.
"I will sent you all the details to your devices, but... to summarize, unadministrated world 219, Douhalenn, has asked us for our help." It was surprising, and a little worrying. Usually, the Bureau didn't intervene with internal problems. Administrated or aligned worlds would receive help in the case they requested it, of course, and some support could be provided for unadminstrated world in friendly terms with the TSAB, but sending an enforcer meant that the situation was dire, though thankfully not to the point where the Bureau had decided to intervene regardless of the local government desires.
Chrono noticed your thoughts, and he explained. "That world only recently exited a civil war, and there's still some dissent from the remnants of the forces loyal to the previous government. What complicate matters is the ruins that may contain numerous weapons of mass destructions, and maybe even Lost Logia, dating from the warring states era. We have been in negotiation with them for excavation right for years, but the price they asked was simply too high as the matter was not deemed urgent."
"What changed?"
"They have reasons to believe that their dissidents may be close to procure one of several of those weapons. We will mount an expedition, but it will take some time before it is ready. Until then, we want to have someone there to observe the situation and take whatever actions are required."
"Me."
"Yes. The situation is serious, but at the same time, it shouldn't be outside of your capabilities. In any case, you will receive supports from the local defence forces. Do you have any questions?"
Do you?
[] Write-in.
"Then..." he said. Good luck. This may be your first solo operation, but I'm confident you can succeed.
"Thanks you captain. I won't disappoint you." You answered.
You sighed. With a conventional ship, Douhalenn was about a month away from the TSAB HQ. Of course, you weren't embarked on a conventional ship. Not even one of the fast TSAB Warship that you had taken at several occasion. No, this was a fast transport, made especially for the occasion when an enforcer needed to be somewhere fast. You would arrive in a bit more than a day.
The problem, being, a conventional ship at least was bigger, there were some other people on it except from an anti-social pilot, and you could find something to do except being bored to death.
Well, you might as well kill time by reading the details of the cases. You had planned to use a data processing spell to do it fast, but plain old reading was usually preferable when one had the time to resort to it.
You asked your device to bring up the relevant files, and started reading them.
Apparently they couldn't be bothered to really explain all the context and refer to an overview of the history of the world...
Well, you will have time to read that too at some point.
Douhalenn, following a disastrous first contact with the TSAB, was first faced with rebellions on their colonies on the other worlds of the local cluster. Many of the desperate measure the local monarchy took to try and crush the rebellion were not exactly popular for the citizens, and eventually sparked a revolution. The civil war lasted for around two decades, and officially ended only six years ago, though the rebels controlled most of the planet for a year before that.
After the last king abdicated (shortly before taking his own life), though, his younger brother, Rhys Ancel, took control of the remnants of the royalists forces, and, likely recognizing the difference of forces, went into hiding. The group has been responsible of various terrorists attacks since the end of the war. The most recent one being a thankfully failed assault against the Bureau's embassy...
Well, that certainly is one thing that would incite the TSAB to be involved.
The local investigators had noticed that several documents had disappeared after some of their attacks, and also that similar records where located at some of the targets.
Apparently, the group was interested in the ruins of the old capital.
Particularly, the various powerful weapons that were suspected to be hidden somewhere there. Historical records helped realize exactly how dangerous such might prove. Oh, of course you had the usual greatly exaggerated claims on the capabilities of the monarch of the time. Apparently, the queen who reigned when the war between Douhalenn and it's neighbour really escalated was an omniscient seer who had total control over the climate of the entire planet and could harness the power of the sun. Sure, there might be some basis in those claims, but they were so exaggerated you had trouble taking them seriously.
Still, there was the part which were far more believable. Partly because the evidences : The lifeless remains of that world which atmosphere had been ignited was clearly there for anyone interested to visit. Where, on the Belkan's empire maps, was indicated a type 3 world, only a bunch of asteroids remained.
Well, there was a reason that only seven world remained inhabitable in the cluster, when almost thirty had been settled at the end of the Dawn State era.
What was truly depressing was how banal such a story of planetary destruction was for the warring-state era.
At the very least, the criminal group seeking those weapons was lead by the prince Rhys Ancel. Which mean that, in the case you failed and they acquired some of those Lost Logia, he was unlikely to destroy the very planet he wanted to rule over.
Of course, he could do so out of spite, but you doubt it would be his very first reaction. It was likely the reason why this case had not been assigned to a more experienced agent.
Speaking of Rhys... There was a fair bit of data on him. He had fought during the war before his mother died and his older brother succeeded her. An experienced fighter. Bureau's estimation estimated he was a AA-rank knight.
Likely to have survived in some form and to serve the "legitimate" monarch, was the Assassination Group, nicknamed by most of the population as the Royal Hounds, who served for a long time as the secret police and black-op group of the monarchy, and whose members were indicated as loyal to the point of death. There was far too few information on them for you to be comfortable, though. The leader, at the time of the war, had been a woman named Morgan, who was believed to be dead, or at least heavily crippled, but the local authorities were sure that at least some member had survived and joined under the prince's banner.
There was also indication of Rhys' sisters, one princess Adela, who may or may not be part of her brother's follower. She was young, and not much was know about her possible capabilities, but the royals tended to be powerful mage, so she was likely someone to watch out for.
So, a high ranking mage, his sister who was likely at least as powerful, and a group of ruthlessly efficient assassins?
Yeah, you were totally feeling confident about this.
......
Current character sheet
Name : Emmanuel
Age : 17
Style : Ancient Belkan
Mêlée +++, Shields +, Shooting –, Bombardment – –, Combat +, Non-combat –
Power : AA+
Efficiency : A+
Device :
Processing Power : AA
Intelligence : B+
Cartridge system
Armed device (Mêlée oriented forms count as a physical weapon. Endure strain very well)
Character creation, continuation :
Everyone has some area of magic where they're more skilled, and other they neglected. What are your strength and your weaknesses? (You have 6 "+" and 5 "–" to spend on the following magic categories. You need to spend them all and can't have them cancel each others out. You can spend several of "+" or "–" in a single category. Each "+" increase the effective efficiency by one rank when casting the relevant spell. Each "–" decrease the efficiency by one rank.)
[] Shooting spells : Spells firing small sized projectiles. Power, precision and range all vary wildly.
[] Bombardment spells : Spells firing large, powerful stream of energy. More powerful than shooting spells*. Compared to shooting spells, they are slower, and often shorter ranged (but not always)
[] Mêlée spells : Close combat spells and weapon enhancement.
[] Barrier spells : Defensive spells covering several directions.
[] Shields spells : Defensive spells covering only a single direction in exchange for more stopping power. Often repel an attack.
[] Field spells : Often defensive spells applying a particular effects to an area. Also, Barrier Jacket/Knight armour/whatever you want to call it.
[] Capture spells : Spells used to restrain or detain a target, covering both bind and cage.
[] Force-fields : Spells separating a large area from the outside world, often also applying some kind of effect inside the force-field.
[] Support spells : Spells increasing the capabilities of allies. Also, healing spells.
[] Disruption spells : Spells that disrupt the opponent magic.
[] Movement spells : Rapid movement and flight spells.
[] Dimensional spells : spell involving manipulation of the dimensions. Notably include teleportations spells. Things like the Arc-en-Ciel would also fall under this.
[] Information spells : Spells related to information gathering and data processing. Notably, include reflexes enhancement spells.
[] Illusion (Can only be taken with the Illusionist trait)**
[] Summoning (Can only be taken with the Summoner rare-skill)**
[] Other trait/rare-skill based spell type.**
*There are shooting spells that quite high-powered (like Signum's bow attack), which is achieved with a highly concentrated attack compared to a bombardment spell of the same rank, allowing higher penetration.
(edit) **As those spells represent an additional category to learn, even if you neglect those, you will be at the same level as someone who can't cast them, while training them will take time away from improving others spells. Because of that, you can't spend any the 5 - on those category. To compensate, each traits giving access to a new category of spell will give you 2 - and 1 + to spend anywhere.
What are the different forms of your device? Each one may be either general, or specialized in a specific area, and the forms must reflect that role. You must chose between 1 and 3 active forms, and the standby form.
[] Write-in
Also, what is your device name? (It wasn't in the plan, and it's actually better to put it here, so...)
[] Write-in
As an enforcer, one of the elite of the bureau, you received a fair amount of physical conditioning. Higher baseline of physical capabilities mean that self-enhancement magic is easier to use (it does not, however, affect how far you can push it). Assign two D and one C among the three physical attributes :
[] Toughness
[] Reflexes
[] Strength
You may have been born with some advantage. Or maybe hard training helped you develop some trump card of your own. Whether innate or not, you have four points to spend over the following traits :
[] Mana regeneration (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : You recover mana faster than someone with the same amount of power.
[] Parallel spell-casting (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : May cast several spell at once, or maintain them, without needing to rely on your device.
[] Mana conversion (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : Increase efficiency of spells of the relevant "element"
-[] Give an "element"
[] Illusionist (cost 1) : unlock Illusion magic.
[] Familiar (cost 2) : You have a familiar
-[] Describe familiar
[] Peak condition (cost 1, can be taken up to three time) : Increase all physical attributes by a rank. Level 2 or 3 are expression of gene-modifications, implants, effect of a lost-logia, or some other similar cause.
[] Rare skill summoner (cost 1, can be taken up to three time, which increase the rank of your most powerful summon) : unlock summoning magic. Give access to one or several summons.
[] Rare skill : internal computation (cost 1, can be taken up to three time). Allow device-less casting. When using a device, give additional processing power.
[] Rare skill : shape-shifting (cost 1) : You can shape-shift. Cost may increase if exotic form.
-[] Describe your second form.
[] Write-in : There might be many traits or rare-skills that aren't listed there.
You also have 4 bonuses points to spend on any area. They can be spend in the following ways :
[] Get an additional +, or one – less, for spell proficiency (cost 1 point)
[] Get an additional physical attribute to C (cost 1 point)
[] Get an additional point to spend on traits (cost 2 points)
You can also get up to 4 additional bonuses points, though at a cost. Those points can't be spent on rare-skills or innate advantages (such as level II and III Peak condition), and represent further training.
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