THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

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THE SWARM SHEET
  • Informational
    • The Brood of Blades
    ​
    Cerebrate Prime: Samantha Clarke
    LEVEL: 5
    XP: 205/210
    TRAITS
    Strategic Genius: Once per structured encounter, Sam can create a piece of the environment that is in her favor as a sticky spark. Roll a d3 for its value.
    Empathetic: upon meeting an NPC, learn their motivation!
    Legendary Commander: Gain 4 Command sparks at the beginning of each mission/combat. Command sparks may be spent to give NPCs orders, which they may either obey or refuse to obey (doing nothing instead.) Command sparks may not be regained via skills or powers.
    Hunted: Something wants her - but for what? +1 Danger to all scenes​
    SKILLS
    CLOSE COMBAT (2): Brawling, Edged Weapons
    PERSONAL (2): Awareness, Resilience
    SOCIAL (4): Charm, Empathy, Leadership, Taunt​
    MASTERY
    ACU Pilot (2): Nanofabrication [Mass], ObSat Operations [Range]
    The Hilt (4): Biomorphic Spawning (People), Regeneration (Durability), Physical Perfection (Speed), Telepathic Dominion (Range)​

    POWERS
    The Living Swarm
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Gain 1 Living Swarm spark, +1 per vent reduction.​
    The Living Swarm: While this swarm exists, move in three dimensions and through anything smaller than a keyhole, reforming at will. You may expend these sparks to cause 3 Hit Sparks in a Area 2 radius.​
    Area Upgrade: +1 to Area Characteristic​

    Biomorphic Reinforcement
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create 1 Biomorphic Reinforcement spark, +1 per vent reduction, which can be given out to anyone within Range 2, or to yourself
    Biomorphic Reinforcement: +1 to Damage or Mass characteristic for the purpose of raw physical strength/feats.

    Back to Back
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Choose 1 ally (+1 per vent reduction), within Range 1. Each can take one action using one of your skills, any of them that you wish. Once they have done so, you may make a free attack with your melee weapon, getting +1 to your skill per ally that acted.​

    Adaptation
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create a number of sparks equal to the enemy's difficulty, narratively based on turning their abilities against them. Works on enemies of Diff 2>, +2 per vent reduction.​

    Just as Planned…
    Vent: 6-0
    Effect: Vent 6 heat and create 1 Planning Spark for her or an ally, +1 Spark per vent reduction.​
    Planning: The person holding this Spark can expend this to get +1 to a skill check as a free action. Using this Stack counts as you are helping for the purpose of relationships.​

    GEAR
    Zeratul's Psi-Blades
    Adds: +0 (Edged Weapons) | Characteristics: Damage [Speed] (4)[1]​
    Shadowstep (3): Can expend as a free action to move without crossing intervening space.
    Guarded Space (3): Can expend to use Damage as a secondary characteristic for Durability, reducing incoming Damage characteristics.​

    GALACTIC WAR
    Victory Points: 5    ​
    RESOURCES​
    TERRAN DOMINION [Background] (1)​
    The men and material of the Dominion - limited, but they're mustering as we speak. ​
    ALLIANCE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES [Mastery] (1)​
    While you have access to several ACUs of every faction, they lack economic and technological support to be fully effective. ​
    ZERG HIVE [Mastery] (1)​
    The scant few Zerg you control that are free of Amon's influence. Mostly Zerglings. ​
    AEON FLEET [Background] (1)​
    While half a dozen CZARs seem impressive, they're not actually well made for ship to ship combat. ​
    ALLIED COHESION [Motivation] (1)​
    The alliance is fragile and weak.​

    FRONTS​
    Trade Sector-34-51 [Pirate Activity]
    Pirates Raiding 6 (Supply Lines in Disarray 1)
    COMMAND: Jim Raynor | ARMY: Raynor's Raiders
    RESULTS: Pending

    Braxis [Zerg Invasion]
    Borealis Siege 6 (Zerg Rampage1)
    COMMAND: General Samantha Clarke | ARMY: Brood Clarke
    RESULTS: Pending

    Typhan II [Active Xel'Naga ACU]
    Typhan II Occupied 6 (Xel'Naga ACU Spotted 1)
    COMMAND: Lt. Colonel Mathew Horner | ARMY: UEF Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending

    Deep Space Sector 981 [Hive Fleet Identified]
    Zerg Hive Fleet Spotted 6 (Kerrigan? 1)
    COMMAND: Citizen-Commander Dostya | ARMY: CN Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending
    ​
    ENEMY ASSETS (Currently Known)
    ​
    THE GOLDEN ARMADA
    ACTIVITY: Unknown | Threat Level: 6​
     
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  • Informational
    • I don't think it makes a lot of sense for us to either immediately attack the protoss after deliberately de-escalating with the carrier (we persuaded them to retreat rather than just killing them), or for us to propose anything at all like an alliance.

    We should be negotiating for a cease fire and opening an initial dialogue so that we can at least start to understand what's going on (are the protoss here really the aggressors in the big picture or are they more like a problematic indigenous group trying to resist the first problematic conquistadors) and whether any peaceful solution can be found (e.g. promptly evacuating the refugees and leaving the taldarim alone, possibly with some exchange of compensation between the various parties).

    [X] Plan: Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number. Call me maybe?
    - [X] Apologize and say you have more pressing tasks at the moment.
    - [X] But perhaps you'd like to speak to my colleague, Tosh.
    - [X] Build what's needed to immediately start treating the wounded and injured.
    - [X] Contact Relashem and try to get a ceasefire and an agreement for initial talks. The UEF wants a ceasefire with the Tal'darim. We're not the Terrans, we're another human civilization from a very long way away. We're on this planet to respond to a refugee crisis, not to colonize or invade and we have no pre-existing dispute with the Tal'darim. We can probably both get what we want if we talk.
     
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    LilyWitch said:
    [X] Plan: Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number. Call me maybe?

    tbf our mission does in fact call for invading and colonising
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    Which is why I was specific about saying "this planet" :)

    I think our mission is to make the UEF the overlords and defenders of the human population, but I don't think we have an explicit mission to invade alien worlds or destroy their societies.
     
    Draz said:
    Which is why I was specific about saying "this planet" :)

    I think our mission is to make the UEF the overlords and defenders of the human population, but I don't think we have an explicit mission to invade alien worlds or destroy their societies.
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    You got to remember that on the other side if the barrier, the UEF is still embroilled in a thousand year existential war.

    The nice explanation is that we're here to respond to an SOS from the human population.
    The realistic explanation is that this sector has enough resources to break the stalemate if it can be secured.

    Peace with the alien is nice, but Tosh will make it very clear that we are also absolutely here to acquire these alien psionic crystals. Political realities like that are his job.
     
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    10ebbor10 said:
    You got to remember that on the other side if the barrier, the UEF is still embroilled in a thousand year existential war.

    The nice explanation is that we're here to respond to an SOS from the human population.
    The realistic explanation is that this sector has enough resources to break the stalemate if it can be secured.

    Peace with the alien is nice, but Tosh will make it very clear that we are also absolutely here to acquire these alien psionic crystals. Political realities like that are his job.
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    Well, yes, but I don't think talks with Tal'darim put a serious dent in either goal. Best case scenario, we negotiate some agreement for terrazine mining and get a colony as protectorate. Worse case, we gain time to scale our industrial potential (which is going to be well above Tal'darim) and get a solid casus belli to justify escalation. Worst case, they throw a hissy fit and it's basically as if nothing happened.
     
    [x] Plan: Forged Alliance
    [x] Plan: Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number. Call me maybe?
     
    My impression was that a vote to proceed with the next scene didn't commit us to attacking and destroying the Protoss, but to continued engagement that would probably be a mix of intelligence gathering, diplomacy and military posturing (and tactical engagement if/when that didn't work) - specifics to be determined by what we see.

    If that's not correct, I'd need to change my vote.

    Though I do think it's good to have Clarke come out more aggressive than players are strictly comfortable with. This should have some uncomfortable echos of first contact with the Seraphim. Our Heroes are commanding officers of a militaristic state conditioned by an endless war to see problems in military terms.
     
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    [X] Plan: Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number. Call me maybe?
    - [X] Apologize and say you have more pressing tasks at the moment.
    - [X] But perhaps you'd like to speak to my colleague, Tosh.
    - [X] Build what's needed to immediately start treating the wounded and injured.
    - [X] Contact Relashem and try to get a ceasefire and an agreement for initial talks. The UEF wants a ceasefire with the Tal'darim. We're not the Terrans, we're another human civilization from a very long way away. We're on this planet to respond to a refugee crisis, not to colonize or invade and we have no pre-existing dispute with the Tal'darim. We can probably both get what we want if we talk.
     
    Acatalepsy said:
    My impression was that a vote to proceed with the next scene didn't commit us to attacking and destroying the Protoss, but to continued engagement that would probably be a mix of intelligence gathering, diplomacy and military posturing (and tactical engagement if/when that didn't work) - specifics to be determined by what we see.

    If that's not correct, I'd need to change my vote.

    Though I do think it's good to have Clarke come out more aggressive than players are strictly comfortable with. This should have some uncomfortable echos of first contact with the Seraphim. Our Heroes are commanding officers of a militaristic state conditioned by an endless war to see problems in military terms.
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    Going into the battle will pit you against enemies with shock and they'll be trying to accomplish their objectives of removing you from the planet - but how you actually grapple with them is up to you guys. A difficulty's a difficulty, how you beat it (using words or tanks) is up to you!

    Does that make sense?
     
    [X] Plan: Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number. Call me maybe?
    - [X] Apologize and say you have more pressing tasks at the moment.
    - [X] But perhaps you'd like to speak to my colleague, Tosh.
    - [X] Build what's needed to immediately start treating the wounded and injured.
    - [X] Contact Relashem and try to get a ceasefire and an agreement for initial talks. The UEF wants a ceasefire with the Tal'darim. We're not the Terrans, we're another human civilization from a very long way away. We're on this planet to respond to a refugee crisis, not to colonize or invade and we have no pre-existing dispute with the Tal'darim. We can probably both get what we want if we talk.
     
    Is it a spoiler to tell us how close we are to the events of the campaign for Supreme Commander? I feel like that's going to turn this quest on its head in a big way.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    You got to remember that on the other side if the barrier, the UEF is still embroilled in a thousand year existential war.

    The nice explanation is that we're here to respond to an SOS from the human population.
    The realistic explanation is that this sector has enough resources to break the stalemate if it can be secured.

    Peace with the alien is nice, but Tosh will make it very clear that we are also absolutely here to acquire these alien psionic crystals. Political realities like that are his job.
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    Yes, of course, but it's premature to conclude that there can be no compromise and talking gives us a chance to develop the conflict between us and Tosh and/or justify belligerence between us and the Tal'darim.
     
    I've been considering the more diplomatic plans people have proposed, but... we are imperialists, right? Possibly I'm misunderstanding the Supreme Commander lore, but we've been seeming to me fairly High American Empire In Space. So, pretty functional domestically, pretty good for most of our citizens, some genuine care for democracy and personal freedom even at the highest levels, and genuinely trying to spread that freedom... but still completely willing to trample over our citizens' rights, prop up dictatorships, and outright start warcriming foreigners/aliens if we think it'll be sufficiently useful against our great power rivals (at which we're outright in hot rather than cold war, no less). A state that believes the rights of indigenous peoples matter only up to the point they start getting in the way of our manifest destiny and insisting on living on top of natural resources we want.

    Obviously, there's some individual variance under that, as particularly noted for some of the people with us -- but here, these aliens have started out hostile attacking first human refugees and then us, by word and act they seem quite intent on continuing to fight us even though we drove off one attack, and it seems a pretty safe bet they'll object to us setting up intensive resource extraction operations on their sacred land. Would our character not conclude that the cause of Freedom and Democracy requires that these aliens be thoroughly beaten before any serious negotiations are done? On the other hand, though, I also don't get the sense she's the type to lie to them about it -- when she negotiations, it'll be in good faith, which is part of why it needs to be done from a genuine and recognized position of strength to ensure that Earth and Humanity profit sufficiently from the peace deal.
     
    Reese said:
    I've been considering the more diplomatic plans people have proposed, but... we are imperialists, right? Possibly I'm misunderstanding the Supreme Commander lore, but we've been seeming to me fairly High American Empire In Space. So, pretty functional domestically, pretty good for most of our citizens, some genuine care for democracy and personal freedom even at the highest levels, and genuinely trying to spread that freedom... but still completely willing to trample over our citizens' rights, prop up dictatorships, and outright start warcriming foreigners/aliens if we think it'll be sufficiently useful against our great power rivals (at which we're outright in hot rather than cold war, no less). A state that believes the rights of indigenous peoples matter only up to the point they start getting in the way of our manifest destiny and insisting on living on top of natural resources we want.
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    One can question how genuinely they want to spread that freedom, really.

    The UEF is the military take-over of the old Terran Empire, returned as a hegemonizing, imperialistic force to restore the old glory. Rather than address the empire's flaws, the UEF just continues them. The Cybrans originally revolted because the Earth Empire tried to hijack their minds with a loyalty override, and tried to kill them when that failed. The UEF maintains, in every colony, a significant number of symbiont(cyborg) workers who have said loyalty programming implanted into them as standard issue. While these symbionts are volunteers, the loyalty coding is not optional, and the people who volunteer are not informed of it's existence.

    You can also see it in each factions end game for the doomsday weapon.
    - The Cybran want to use doomsday weapon to send a liberation virus to every UEF planet and disable every quantum gate, so that the slaves can be free and they need not fear genocide
    - The Aeon have Princess Burke speak to every person in the galaxy to make an appeal peace (this is part Burke being nice, as other parts of the Aeon are full on cleansing)
    - The UEF, who build the doomsday weapon in the first place, aim for the complete genocide of all opposing faction by blowing up every single planet with enemy presence.
     
    I don't care about the lore of either world. The characters and faction we have been introduced to in this quest have not been indicated to be genocidal.

    In our scenes with senior UEF commanders and politicians they:

    - vetoed development of a weapon of mass destruction
    - oppose one faction on the basis that it is a monarchy and another because it has an emperor

    We don't have any canonical orders from HQ for the sector, as far as I know. Just the request from Tosh. Implicit in some of the dialogue is that we should prevent our rivals from capturing this sector and that we consider the existing Terran factions to be rivals rather than allies.

    Clarke is clearly military, but also clearly cares about preserving human lives and building legitimacy for (presumed) UEF hegemony through a "soft touch" and good works.
     
    Canonically the SC factions all eventually buddy up when they come face to face with a different group of Seraphim who want to wipe out all of humanity, and while SC2 is maligned as a sequel it does establish that the three factions remain allied and its campaigns are all about dealing with rogues from each of the factions that want to restart the war.

    So whatever the UEF is now, it doesn't have to stay that way and the same applies to the other Supreme Commander factions. None of the factions have stayed innocent after a thousand years of war but despite that there remains the potential for peace and coexistence, the factors to bring that about just haven't come into play yet.
     
    Draz said:
    Yes, of course, but it's premature to conclude that there can be no compromise and talking gives us a chance to develop the conflict between us and Tosh and/or justify belligerence between us and the Tal'darim.
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    Their reaction to refugees was murder, their reaction to 'we'll bleed you dry & take zero losses' is 'we'll get revenge'.
     
    Reese said:
    I've been considering the more diplomatic plans people have proposed, but... we are imperialists, right? Possibly I'm misunderstanding the Supreme Commander lore, but we've been seeming to me fairly High American Empire In Space. So, pretty functional domestically, pretty good for most of our citizens, some genuine care for democracy and personal freedom even at the highest levels, and genuinely trying to spread that freedom... but still completely willing to trample over our citizens' rights, prop up dictatorships, and outright start warcriming foreigners/aliens if we think it'll be sufficiently useful against our great power rivals (at which we're outright in hot rather than cold war, no less). A state that believes the rights of indigenous peoples matter only up to the point they start getting in the way of our manifest destiny and insisting on living on top of natural resources we want.

    Obviously, there's some individual variance under that, as particularly noted for some of the people with us -- but here, these aliens have started out hostile attacking first human refugees and then us, by word and act they seem quite intent on continuing to fight us even though we drove off one attack, and it seems a pretty safe bet they'll object to us setting up intensive resource extraction operations on their sacred land. Would our character not conclude that the cause of Freedom and Democracy requires that these aliens be thoroughly beaten before any serious negotiations are done? On the other hand, though, I also don't get the sense she's the type to lie to them about it -- when she negotiations, it'll be in good faith, which is part of why it needs to be done from a genuine and recognized position of strength to ensure that Earth and Humanity profit sufficiently from the peace deal.
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    I think they're a patriot who buys the propoganda. As long as it's them & Horner in charge here, it's probably fine. Probably.
     
    Mailstrome said:
    Their reaction to refugees was murder, their reaction to 'we'll bleed you dry & take zero losses' is 'we'll get revenge'.
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    Our "CURRENT INTELLIGENCE" section above is empty because we don't know shit about this sector. We don't know anything about how the Tal'darim decide what to do or who is in charge, or their history, or really anything about the refugees except that some local Tal'darim are currently violently opposed to the refugees being here.

    We won't know if there's anyone worth talking to until we try, but it seems a bit silly to assume that they're all like this local military leader and very silly to put the UEF on a war footing with an alien race we met for the first time a few hours ago.
     
    Spart117MC said:
    Canonically the SC factions all eventually buddy up when they come face to face with a different group of Seraphim who want to wipe out all of humanity, and while SC2 is maligned as a sequel it does establish that the three factions remain allied and its campaigns are all about dealing with rogues from each of the factions that want to restart the war.

    So whatever the UEF is now, it doesn't have to stay that way and the same applies to the other Supreme Commander factions. None of the factions have stayed innocent after a thousand years of war but despite that there remains the potential for peace and coexistence, the factors to bring that about just haven't come into play yet.
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    True. Another thing that seems to have changed is that President's motivation. In the game, he ran on ending the war with decisive victories, which resulted in increased military spending, and eventually a doomsday weapon.
    Here it seems he ran on space colonization.

    DragonCobolt said:
    Early on in his first term, he had run the idea of racking up 'victories' by finding new habitable planets. But while space was big and transportation was instant - if you ignored the energy cost at least - finding habitable planets remained hellishly difficult. If it had been easy, or simple, there might never have been an Infinite War. Then again…considering humanity, maybe there would have. That was just a grim enough thought to make you think you should chase the painkiller down with something more recreational.
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    That said, I doubt the UEF is clean. They blackballed Matt Horner for refusing to fire on civilians, for example.
    And you still have the whole UEF -Cybran ideological conflict thing. There must be animosity here for the war to work. In supcom verse, the animosity is based on the UEF installing mandatory loyalty overrides, and the cybrans repeatedly virus bombing their planets with virusses that disable those systems.
     
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