Code Geass: BotR III: Sign Ups.

That's to the beat of "Livin' on a Prayer", by the way.

I believe that would indeed be kosher. Most of their agricultural workers are probably from South America, so as a New Zealander, it might be different than the "normal" Britannian farm worker's clothing anyway.

Tacky's the name of the game He's probably going to be wearing the same skintight rubber suits that seem so popular with Britannians, so he'll need something unique.

• Name: Jerry Santos, codname Agent Red. Cover's name is Jonah Jefferson.
• Gender: Male
• Age: 24
• Faction: Australia.
• Equipment: A knife hidden in his shoe. A hand gun. A ring with a poisoned retractable needle on it (not usually on his person). Steel toed boots. A cyanide pill in a necklace around his neck.
• Physical Traits: Medium build. Brown hair. Green eyes. Not particularly attractive, nor unattractive. Over all, looks normal and forgettable.
• Personality: Red is cold and calculating, planning his every move. In his mind, all he is merely a pawn in the scheme of things with no real significance other than to be used and discarded. However, despite this, he's more than willing to manipulate and use others. He likes to think that he has no real identity or personality, but his true identity shines through, at times. At his core, he is an idealist and an optimist, and he believes that everyone has a place in life, and every life has a meaning, even if it is only to die. He truly wants the best for everyone. However, despite this idealism, he will push his morals to the side to get the job done.
• History: Red was born on a farm in Australia, and grew up a fairly normal and boring life. However, when he was 16, he followed the example of his grandfather and father, and enlisted in the military. Because of his high test scores, he was assigned to a branch he had never heard of which gave him an intensive training, focusing on espionage, assassination, and loyalty. At the end of his training, he was forced to cut ties with everyone he used to know. After a few years of highly successful work, especially in China and Japan, he was given a team of three spies to run, and sent into Japan, with his team. He was given a dossier covering the basics of what he has to do in Japan, but leaving the details open to interpretation. Because of the danger involved in his mission, he was instructed not to contact them unless strictly necessary, and that they won't contact him unless it's the same. So far, no contact has been necessary. His cover is as a young farmer, and honorary Britannian, from Area 9. He claims to be in Japan to find his father, who was a Britannian nobleman who abondoned his mother, though made sure to keep sending her money.
• Stats:
  • Political stats:
    • Financial Resources: 1
    • Forces at their command: 2
    • Prestige: 1
    • Charisma: 3
  • Battle Stats:
    • Strength: 0
    • Defense: 0
    • Weapons: 4
    • Speed: 4
• Theme Music:
• Knightmare: None.

edited 18th Jun '12 5:53:40 PM by deathpigeon

Tired from busy day and if nothing else these sign ups are something I want to use a finetooth comb on.

Pending approval for now but I'll post definite word tomorrow and probably the thread to go with it.

Oh, wow, a young farmer, I wonder if any other character will be capable of relating to them

A young farmer who has gone through intense training that repressed his personality. That actually was always a part of the plan. What wasn't was the details of his cover, which I borrowed partially from your character's history.

Cracking at this early since I can't sleep. I'm going over this very closely and have probably run over the sheet four times now. This is an odder character with a lot of potential use and you added a lot of stuff to canon on the fly which I have to nitpick at since it affects the general image of Australia in this game.

I'm a bit tired, so excuse any bit that sounds overly blunt. A bit of this is just alternatives and personal pet peeves, but the last three paragraphs in particular are very important here.

Name; I can't imagine Australia seeing needing their spies to give up their names. This if anything, would discourage membership. I think it'd be better to give him a real name. Maybe keep his current 'name' as a code name or ID.

Equipment; There's too much. 5 knives and Two guns would have you clacking like a robot with more unnecessary bumps in your clothing than if you were just two kids in a trench coat. Especially considering Britannian fashion prefers form fitting clothes. I'd say one gun, one knife that's useful and maybe another that's usable in desperation but is too small to be a proper combat knife.

The poison ring seems like a bad idea. I can't see that mechanism working well, period. You might have it for wierder assassination missions, but your character would have to make a big deal out of refilling it and hoping it doesn't dry out before he reaches his mark. I'd probably roll a dice based on time. The ring concealing some sort of mechanism would be obvious and suspicious to anyone who took a look at your hand even briefly.

Cyanide pill filling is popular in fiction but I'd need some precidence in real life before I okay it. If only because everytime I see it in a work of fiction my mind warps to him sitting down eating a bowl of shreddies [or some other pointy food] then bam! Suicide.

Appearance; A tattoo however small is a bad idea. Particularly since this one seems connected directly with his military service. One rogue agent and boom, their entire fanatic elite spy division can be not only ratted out but confimed and shot.

Personality; I find the two hard to reconcile. The whole "I am a pawn to be discarded" deal, is a bit of a contrast with "Every life has a purpose". There's no mention of whether he thinks their fulfilling a higher purpose or anything, which would account for optimism. While idealism seems to imply something entirely opposite to "Some people are just here to die" and "I am a pawn".

I read him as an over the top [in the typical anime way] interpretation of Stoicism but I'm really not sure.

History: This is a nitpick, but there are a lot of superfluous adjectives here. Like extrordinarily smart; I get the need to say your character was smart enough to catch the eye of the Australian intelligence service [though personally, I'd just say 'he scored highly on his tests'] but leave it to the audience to decide how smart he is. This is a personal pet peeve and obviously doesn't affect the character but it was the first thing to jut out at me.

"Normal and Boring life" suddenly transitions into "Patriot willing to give up his name and life in an elite spy program." This is odd to me. While personality might explain this, I imagined his personality was the result of military conditioning. If it is not, then it's still an incredibly bizarre personality and merits some explaination. Probably would have been something remarkable earlier on. I feel this would offer a bit of insight into the character and think it ought to be filled out abit more.

Important Shit

The Japanese mission is vitally important. I can imagine the Australian intelligence service [who I maintain later naming rights over] saying "It's very dangerous over there and we can't risk being seen contacting you. Here's a complete dossier on what we know, what you can can do and how you can do it [This would be for me to fill in]. Don't expect us to call you unless it is life or death. Do not try to contact us unless it is similar." but the way I read yours, they just sort of left him there and forgot. This is highly risky, considering him going rogue would end horribly and they don't want to risk that.

Further there's not a lot of initial hook here tying him to any of the earlier missions. Without the other P Cs to shake up the system and also looking like an ethnic Britannian, your character really isn't going to get far infiltrating the Japanese underground.

Finally, forces at your command, nets you a top of 3 regular soldiers. In your case though, since you are requesting trained spies, far more likely you'll have a 'partner' or two of nominally equal position who are there to keep tabs on you and eachother. They're on your team and mostly tied to you but you're not getting strict command over them and they will slice your throat and leave you for dead the second it looks like you've gone rogue on them. This might seem harsh in terms of the "forces at your command" skill but you are asking for spies rather than trained grunts and there's no way to easily hide 10 subordinates if you are a spy.

If you read to the end of this, I want to reinforce that I think you might have the right idea in a lot of spots, but I feel the focus in the sign up is on the wrong places and has left me confused with some details and after the last game led to some rather difficult experiences and I just want to triple check that everything here is smoothed otu before we hit any critical points.

edited 17th Jun '12 11:09:11 PM by Fauxlosophe

Personality: He sees his purpose in life as being a pawn to be discarded. As for the idealism, I meant it as him believing in a greater good to work towards. It is mostly in play, with him, in bigger picture stuff, and less in the details. Plus, the idealism is mostly from the sort of person he was before training, and the "I am a pawn" and "Some people are just here to die" are sort of results of his training, so there are minor inconsistencies in his beliefs that he has to reconcile.

History: I'm making his patriotism as a result of his grandfather being a military man, as well as his idealism, which predates his training. As for the willingness to give up his life, that was a result of his intense training.

I sort of meant it as a variation of that, and that it was less that they forgot, but more that they never had anything important enough to order him to do that he wasn't doing already, but I'll change it to be more in line with what you said.

His cover has him as an ethnic New Zealander, but I could also add in some dislike of the Britannians to his cover, if you feel like it's necessary...

I interpreted a squad as 5-10 people, but I reduced the number under his command to 5 and increased his "Forces at his command" from 1 to 2.

I hope the fixes I've done to the sign-up itself, as well as what I have covered here improves upon what I had written up.

Alright, I thought that but when I was writing out "I guess he sees things this way;" I had like three variants, each of which were rather distinct. The conflict between old idea greater good and conditioning works.

Alright, Idealism I can kind of see, though he must have been really close to his grandfather. Maybe make it his father too?

Excellent.

I mentioned before that New Zealanders were offered full Britannian citizenship since I see them as being happy to extend it to any former English/British colonist. Generally speaking, any White English speaker who isn't from England or Australia proper is going to be considered Britannian. Even then, English and Australians are going to be confused for it and lumped in the same group by those who don't speak the language. I probably should have used the term "Ethnically British", but really, any non-Japanese person is going to have trouble getting into the Japanese underground. Especially if they are actively living as one of their occupiers.

10 would probably work for foot soldiers, but if you're talking anything more than honourary Britannians with pistols and you in the middle of a chain of command, it starts dwindling quickly. I thought it was handier personally to have a few co-agents rather than one in command. I can do three agents for this mission. 5 is fairly reasonable normally, but Japan being rather dangerous, they'll want to keep you in smaller numbers. On the other hand, the extra point puts you strictly in charge of these agents. However maintaining a strict heirarchy makes you suspicious and they'd have to keep their distance for much the same reason. This would be increased if you ever leave Japan for somewhere safer to operate, but 3 agents willing to follow you away from friends and family for years on end is a fairly high number.

Honestly, for a cover, I would recommend joining the P Cs are a Mercenary. I don't see why commanding agents is necessary, I'm going to be honest with you and say, the more you take one, the more personalities I'm going to have to come up with and the more likely that there's going to be one, just one, who's willing to crack under pressure rather than bite on the pill. I'd say take one point in Forces at your command or None; extra spies is more burden than help.

Made it his father too.

I gave him an active and public reason to hate the Britannians.

Would it help if I came up with their personalities? If not, I can reduce it to one, and make him there with a partner.

Awesome.

I think your first cover was good. Second is a bit dodgy if only because you'd also have to name the Britannian Nobleman or else have your character be oddly vague about someone he wants revenge on. It might be a lie he's willing to tell a naive looking Japanese person but it'd be dangerous if it spread around. Anyway, the first cover was good, it's just not going to be easy for him to get into the Japanese resistance. I'm not saying they'll kick him out at the door, only that it's going to be an uphill battle. I'd use Diethard for an example case; he got in and was generally accepted on the basis of talent and someone vouching for him but it was really hard for him to get trust. Some of that is just him being slimy, but it serves as a decent example for treatment and what you'd need to get in [a trusted member willing to vouch for you]. I'm pushing the mercenary storyline since it gives me a nice convient starting point where everyone is [except nman] and puts you right where the Japanese resistance are going to be. The first cover was acceptable but might make it harder for you to dig into the Japanese underground.

Oh, I can come up with their personalities, I'm just forewarning you; Remember how the show always screwed over Zero at just the wrong moment? I'm not a lot nicer. Even if you go with their personalities, unless all of them are "fanatically loyal with no weakness" each one of them increases the odds of Brits finding one and me messing with things at just the wrong moment. I'm not saying it will happen inevitably, but if there's six of them running around doing their own thing for an RP that could last over a year real time? Add in that there's explicitly a bit of Conservation of Ninjutsu in effect and odds aren't looking good that they'll hold out the whole time. I'm not malicious or a killer DM, I'm just asking you to take into account that if plot leads me to a point where I can shake things up by taking the ground out from under your feet, I feel I'd only be being loyal to the thematic nature of the show.

You did a lot of fixing and what's left is mostly warning and recommendation. I think you're good but I just want to look at this again in the morning so I don't have to ask you to change anything after approval if there's anything still out of order.

Thanks for your patience in all of this and I appreciate your flexibility.

So consider yourself in the RP, just pending some final proof read on your character.

Edit; My grammar is gone. I don't think I could make a post at this point. Eitherway, your character will be approved before a game is put up.

edited 18th Jun '12 12:32:24 AM by Fauxlosophe

In that case, I'll change his cover back.

That sounds like fun! Basically the purpose of the team is that he'll be deep undercover in the middle of enemy territory with no friends to speak of or anyone else from Australia without them. They're there to assist his mission, give alternate views on situations depending on their covers, and keep him sane.

Everything checks out.

Again, I'm a bit worried about a hook for interaction though. PM me where your character should be or a vague idea of what he'd be doing while the other P Cs are being mercenaries under Clovis.

Otherwise, Approved.

edited 18th Jun '12 10:21:13 AM by Fauxlosophe

I know you said that I'd start apart from everyone else, but not being mentioned as an exception along with nman is kinda hurtful.

You aren't starting in their company but you're getting the same starting missions.

Military people can be run side by side even if plot demands they be in different groups.

edited 18th Jun '12 11:06:14 AM by Fauxlosophe

This seems like a silly question to ask, but what exactly are we doing here?

I mean, will the RP follow the general plot of CG or will we be doing things in the CG universe?

A bit of both.

You'll have an introductory mission to get to know eachother [At least the military characters will. nman and deathpigeon I'll have to work something out for] before plot happens and then I'm throwing you around the point where the show starts.

There you can interact with characters and do stuff that might effect the outcome of things, diverging from the Code Geass 'verse. Depending on how radical it is, you might just end up joining Britannia/The Black Knights more or less following the plot as extras or else the entire thing might diverge radically and next think you know, southern Japan is a crater and you're serving as an international battalion supporting Australia against Britannian invasion or helping them invade.

I've a few extra ideas for plothooks and triggers thant never came up in show but would make sense if things diverged, though for the most part I'd be focused on showing how your actions affected both characters and decisions actually made in the show.

edited 18th Jun '12 11:45:04 AM by Fauxlosophe

If you still need an idea, I thought of something funny. And even if it's stupid, I'm still writing this down:

Agent Red finally receives a transmission from Australia. He installs it in his car. In addition to whatever mission he is assigned, there's mention of needed an "inside man". The message says the contact will be at [Location], wearing straw hat. Agent Red probably shows up early to scout the place out, but by a bizarre twist of fate, there happens to already be a guy there, wearing a straw hat.

Here's what I assume the dialogue would be:

• "Looks like rain."
• "Dunno there, feller, I don't see a cloud in the sky."

edited 18th Jun '12 5:38:22 PM by nman

I love that idea! And, after the meeting, Agent Red goes, "We really need to choose better codes..."

Are you sure you don't want to call him Agent Orange?

edited 20th Jun '12 6:50:53 AM by nman

...Is that a reference to something?

It's a weapon the US used in Vietnam. Details aren't pretty.

Oh...

Discussion is up. Game due to follow very shortly but I'm still working on a title and thinknig of ideas for a starting mission

Faux, you bastard! When were you gonna tell me that you had another RP up?

And no, the fact that it's been up is no excuse.

Anyway. Rena's here, let's rock and roll.

Later. When I post an app. But I will, mind you!