Star Wars: the Rats and the Mynocks (interest check)

I'll be dropping my ex-SpecForces Kiffar in a few moments to half an hour. Got sidetracked by Sherlock Holmes.

edited 26th Jul '12 2:23:27 PM by desdendelle

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

• Name: Makar Konshi.
• Physical Description: Makar is a Kiffar. He is about 170 cm tall, lean, and wiry. His skin is light, and his hair is black. He has a Qukuuf tattoo — a blue chevron on each cheek — which marks him as a member of Clan Konshi. When he doesn't wear his armour, he usually wears dark-coloured, practical clothes.
• Personality: Makar is grim. It's normal; after all, he saw his entire squad, including his commander which he immensely respected, massacred. He escaped alive — by running away. He's still ashamed of that. Now he is focused on one thing only: harassing the Vong and finding and killing those responsible for the deaths of his comrades. He is a fanatic, but he tries not to let it obscure his judgement.
• Short-term Backstory: Makar was a soldier of the New Republic SpecForces. When the Vong invaded Coruscant, he was stationed there; his squad was slaughtered to a man, and he escaped into Coruscant's underlevels. He's been living there ever since, harrying the Vong to the best of his abilities.
• Possessions and Perks:
  • Modified ARC trooper armour (Phase II): this is Makar's most prized possession: an old but fully-functional set of armour from the Clone Wars. he kept it as well-maintained as it was possible, as well as adding several useful features, including a newer comms system, a rangefinder, and extra pouches for ammo and the like.
  • Modified BlasTech Industries DC-15A blaster rifle: the thing Makar values the most aside from his armour is his blaster rifle. Sure, it weighs quite a lot, and is rather large, but thanks to constant maintenance — the patchwork shows somewhat — it is just as deadly as it was in the day it was issued to its first owner.
  • Ex-SpecForces: Even though Makar's whole squad was wiped out and he's listed as MIA, he's still a SpecForces soldier; he didn't forget his training.

Probably, Thirteen will open fire on sight. Fun.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Rifleman, atten-hut, huh? Accepted.

That does put us at three characters. However, two are nearly dedicated combatants. I advise branching out a little.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

Okay, here's my attempt:

• Name: Arlong
• Physical description: A pale blue skinned Mon Calimari. Arlong dresses in greasy, torn overalls with a number of tools and nick-nacks poking out of the pockets. His eyes have a bit of a sharp hue to them and he carries himself in a slight stoop, as if used to ducking under large objects on a regular basis.
• Personality: A lot of people say that a good engineer works on love. Arlong would be the key example to disputing that claim. As person he is generally pretty detached, happy to stay in his own head rather than intrude on others. He has a clear "me first" mentality and if he feels his choice is between his own life and somebody else's he will act without hesitation or guilt. When working, he moves efficiently and emotionlessly, getting a job done. None of his family have ever really been sure what has caused this detachment, but since it hasn't really impeded his abilities or his countenance, it usually passes without comment.
• Short-term backstory: Arlong was working a big job building a custom ship for some noble. He was leading one of the design teams and was just installing the nav-computer when the Yuzahn-Vong attacked. He quickly started the ship up and attempted to flee, but the ship was in no real condition to fly and it crashed on the planet.
• Possessions and perks:
  Possessions: An F-187 fusioncutter, a battered Sonic Wrench, a handheld diagnostic scanner.
  Perks: Technical Genius - Arlong knows his way around a good deal of machines. He is adapt at repairing most common forms of droid, a great many ships and some land vehicles. His mechanical knowledge is mostly practical, but he will recognise designs and specific makes of equipment.
  Unflappable - Arlong is a little worryingly calm, part of his detached nature. He reacts with nerves of steel, even when under fire.
  
  Sound okay?

Gimme yer lunch money, dweeb.

Interesting.

...If this RP was a game, and someone was LPing it, I imagine the thread would be titled as follows (or am I too pessimistic about our chances?):

"Let's bicker and die horribly in Star Wars: The Rats and The Mynocks!"

Locking you up on radar since '09

It wouldn't be any fun otherwise. Mon Cal mechanic, accepted.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

I'm interested. I guess I could probably make an "extraction specialist".

An "extraction specialist"?

You're going to play a dentist?

That would definitely be interesting. A rich man, the diplomat of the party.

• Name:: Fish'ti'ree
• Physical Description: Thin-ish Chiss Lady. Slightly less vibrantly blue skin than the rest of her species, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary. Keeps her hair fashionable, partially covering one eye and shoulder-length. Face and upper torso is covered in heavy scarring and burn marks received from an explosion in the past. On a nice day she wears comfortable-enough clothing, fitting well and being rather warm. Considering recent events, however, she has crafted/stolen a makeshift suit of armor from scraps of metal lying about, bathroom mirrors and the cast-aside armor of dead men. Whether she is wearing it or not is entirely dependent on whether she actually remembers that she still has it. Her face◊, and a torso shot◊. *
  WHY YES THESE PICTURES SURE LOOK SIMILAR TO A CERTAIN MMO WHY DO YOU ASK
• Personality: Hates being called "Fish". Before the invasion, she was already a bit paranoid and delusional. No one cared, as she still managed her bar quite well and without interference. After it, she has become rather unhinged. She believes that the Yuuzhan Vong are all part of a big conspiracy set about by the joint-demonic-leaders of the New Republic and Imperials that want the war to continue on. Also, watching holovids rots your brain and opens it up to control by said demons. While not especially prone to fear in the face of these demons, she isn't always prone to rational thought either. The people that come into her bar are spies and assassins. Especially the ones that make it past the mines or try to fake being injured. She won't fall for that!
• Short-Term Backstory: Fish'ti'ree was another entry in the long line of people who owned The Dinged Boat tavern and inn, located in one of the slummier parts of Coruscant. The bar itself has a rather storied history, passing hands through old age, death by gang violence, death by dueling, hostile takeover by the bar down the street, and various other things. Fish'ti'ree has made a nice profit off the bar, and continued to do so up to the invasion. Now in survival mode, she has holed herself up in there, covering the entire area in mines and sniping anyone that makes it past. Occasionally goes out to scavenge.
• Equipment and Perks:
  • E-11s Blaster Rifle: Took the name "Mr. Angel" as of late. Fish'ti'ree has had a long-standing interest in rifling. She managed to acquire this as payment from a recently retired Imperial trooper in order to pay off his rather extensive bar tabs.
  • A Lot of HX2 Anti-Personnel Mines: She had spent the majority of her fortune stockpiling these during the invasion. They cover the entire street she has made her bunker.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Is a self-taught survival expert of the highest degree. The Fish'ti'ree school of survival isn't the most efficient. She does know how to stockpile a lot, though.

edited 26th Jul '12 8:55:22 PM by wikkit

I am so sorry, I, uh... took an extended Wiki Walk, and while I did want to make a thief to begin with, after a while I thought it would be funny to have that idea evolve into a Herglic thief who is terible at being a thief, and then I thought that maybe I could make him a dentist, and after a few more pages I wanted to play a droid or a clone trooper, and couldn't choose, and then I thought a robo-hobo would be interesting... and then my head exploded, so... here's what I got. I know it's not a thief, but he's still, um, well, he's got a grappling hook.... I feel so ashamed.

• Name: CC-777, "Ace", Prisoner 13471138, "Lucky"
• Physical Description: Though techinically a Mandalorian clone, he's had so much of his body replaced that he's basically a droid with a brain in a box. In general, he looks like a worn out Phase Zero dark trooper.◊
• Personality: He's certainly crazy, but not in a "stab your eyes out" sort of way. He's more of a slightly OCD personality, not fond of having people touch him, and doesn't like people asking him too many questions. Overall quite serious, as someone who's been through hell would be expected to be.
• Short-Term Backstory: A phase zero Dark Trooper who was on Coruscant when the New Republic took it over, Ace became a prisoner. Over the next twenty years, he earned the nickname "Lucky" as the techs always mentioned how lucky they were to have him to study. When the Yuuzhan Vong attacked, he managed to escape and steal back some of his equipment that had been removed, and became one of the billions of scavengers.
• Possessions and Perks:
  • Phase Zero Dark Trooper Armor. It's an old suit, and all that he managed to steal when he escaped was a a jump pack strapped to his back, no weapons save for a pair of knuckle plate vibro blades in his gloves, and comms.
  • A simple grappling hook, (Just a rope, not a grappling spike launcher)
  • Veteran: Before he was a cyborg, he was a clone trooper and commander for quite a long time, and he has years of combat experience under his belt. He'd probably be able to use it if he weren't also a...
  • Crazy Homeless Person: He's most certainly not the only homeless person on Coruscant, or the only crazy one, but he's probably the only one who's been locked up in a facility somewhere being inspected and experimented on for almost two decades. Because of his... eccentric... personality and background, he has no friends or acquaintances, has no possessions other than what's been listed, non a single space-nickel credit to his name, has no permanent living residence or bed of his own*
    Though... I guess since he doesn't have to sleep, that's only bad in a figurative sense
    and always tries to lurk in the shadows, out of fear of people trying to steal his limbs. THOSE ARE MY ARMS, YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM! Oh, and I think most people will probably try and kill him thinking they can loot his corpse for some tech.

I swear I'm working on a bio, but, soooo much wikiwalk. It has been a while Wookiepedia.... it has...

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.

Hey, at least I had a general idea and went looking. I initially wanted to use IG-72 but he's canon (and dead) or an IG-88 model (Which were also canon and all dead or in use).

So I had to go for an older model.

I'll scavenge blasters where I can find them.

• Name: Maja Kalranoos
• Physical description: Maja has the distinct honor of having been born on Arkania, homeworld of perhaps the single smartest race in the galaxy (according to Arkanians). Unfortunately, she is of... much lower social standing amongst her people. A human/Arkanian hybrid, Maja has 'normal' five fingered hands and eyes, but otherwise looks very much Arkanian to the ignorant. Because, you know, the planet is occupied she's still wearing the remains of her PDF uniform. Namely the seriously patched trousers, boots, and gaiters. The undershirt wore out and was replaced with a new one that promptly had the sleeves chopped off (because it's hooooot). Over that she wears an ancient yellow CSF blast-vest◊ scrounged from somewhere and a white CSF pistol belt of similar antiquity.
• Personality: Charitable acquaintances would describe Maja as 'flighty' or 'difficult to work with do to routine, preventable workplace injuries' before she volunteered for the New Republic Starfighter Corps. Since her return following the Battle of Duro, shipmates report improved reliability that is worth the occasional objects being flung at bulkheads.
• Short-term backstory: While serving as navigator aboard the Coruscant Planetary Defense Force minelayer Mess Boulanger Maja helped lay the space mine fields around her adopted home. An ancient, barely armed cruiser didn't last long in a battle. Largely by chance Maja survived the escape pod's crash landing on the planetary surface; with no other options she set to surviving on a suddenly much hotter planet.
• Possessions and perks: any special details. Keep in mind these are limited; if you happen to have extensive combat training, you can't also have a hideout in the underworld for a base of operations, or a network of contacts throughout the city.
  • Stun Master: Old personal defense weapon; kept out of habit.
  • Power 5 heavy blaster pistol: Sidearm. Not very good with it.
  • Escape pod survival kit: Everything not used or destroyed from it (rations, tent, ammunition, fishing line, mirror, flares, knife, basic comlink, etc.) since arriving back of the surface quite precipitously.

edited 26th Jul '12 11:03:26 PM by hotelkilo

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.

@Hotel and Nman: I find Wookieepedia to be the most Wiki Walk-able Wiki there is. I used to spend hours just reading stuff there.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Admittedly they haven't all been accepted yet, but now I'm wondering who'll be our greatest enemy: the Yuuzhan Vong or ourselves?

Also, I think we seem to be missing a medic character; kind of hard to liberate Coruscant when you're full of holes, no?

Locking you up on radar since '09

I might roll a sheet for the medic. Watch this space.

"Yup. That tasted purple."

Okay: let's see.

Wikkit's Chiss bartender, approved, but note that taking the weapon stock and maniacal snipery means that you'd forgo some of the usual advantages of being a bartender: i.e., fewer people know and trust you, less familiarity with the place's underworld, et cetera.

(Also, note that by traditional Chiss naming protocols, she'd be "Shtir". )

Nman's Dark Trooper hobo, approved. The robotic limbs/jump pack combo gives you all manner of advantages, especially in a vertical city like Coruscant. (Screaming at the party's assassin droid not to take your limbs will also be good.)

HK's space-siberian character, er, provisionally approved, assuming you can set down a solid "perk" for her to use—judging by your talk of turning T-65 engines into IEDs, I'm assuming you'll be hotwiring all sorts of stuff. Word of advice, do talk to the crazy Chiss bartender first, before scavenging her landmines into satchel charges.

Oh please. As if you really needed me to answer that. If your players aren't running around, sticking knives into each other as if it were a game of Paranoia, and in general wrecking the place and giving you headaches—if that's not happening you're doing it wrong.

The poor Vong caught in the middle of PCs' feuding won't know what hit them. (I'm right now in the middle of writing a counterinsurgency strat for them, and building the geography for the theatre of operations. Ever tried holding a thousand cubic kilometers of vertical cityscape with two understrength battalions and a regiment of slave troops?)

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

Oke doke with that. She wasn't even a bartender in the first place, she's the business manager and sole proprietor. Why would you deal with those kind of people when you can pay others to do it while you sit in your office, hands steepled and planning on installing trapdoors in your doorway?

And any man worth their space salt would pronounce it "Schteer". Obviously.

edited 27th Jul '12 1:30:58 PM by wikkit

Oh! I didn't know perks were mandatory.

• Everything Explodes: In some fashion, most modern conveniences can be made far more deadly then they appear. You would know, thanks to all those courses they made you study at Mine School.

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.

I can easily imagine several dozen scenarios where we end up going out in a blaze of glory and end up defeating the Vong in the process, although enough of that. Is it bad that I'm curious what you're writing about the Vong? I'm a terrible sucker for learning about "enemy" equipment, tactics, etc. Perhaps I am just way, way too nosy for my own good.

Also, I think you might've missed des's character, unless I missed something.

Locking you up on radar since '09

I think you missed the post right under the character sheet.

I've got preliminary information up. Information about Vong orders of battle and organizations is very difficult to find, to the point that I don't think that there is a canon Vong orbat. This is taken from my notes; it's fanon, but in the lack of proper canonical information it's what I'll use.

Vong orbat (TOE):

• Section of eight, plasma eels in LAW role, melee weapons, bug bandoliers. Tactics are to engage at 100m, volley bugs and eels, and close, engaging in pairs.
• Platoon of 42: four maneuver squads and a sapper squad (fire jellies and blastbugs) plus officers and Intendent. Paired overwatch, sappers in assault. Villip comm devices.
• Company of 204: four maneuver platoons, a weapons platoon of four guns capable of antiarmor and blast/frag fire, a twenty-man sapper platoon. Pack beasts and HQ section. Lowest level to accept detachments.
• Battalion of a thousand: four companies, gun battery (sixteen guns). Sapper company of fifty. Intendent and HHC, manufactories for small ammo. Lowest unit capable of independent maneuver.
• Brigade is usually formed out of battalions, plus heavy guns and manufactories as needed; nonstandard formation. Includes Chazrach troop battalions, which are vastly less capable (smaller personal weapons, no fire support). Often included a flight of Coralskippers in close support, though space forces objected to that practice. Other detachments included mounted infantry and armor. A typical brigade is 8000 (four maneuver battalions, a variable-size sapper battalion, a 2000-man Chazrach battalion, heavy fire support battery, et cetera). Often capable of taking on NR divisions in the assault role.

Vong infantry tactics focus on infiltrating to within 100m, if possible, then volleying personal weapons until they can close to amphistaff range. They are very short on fire support (the lowest level to receive crew-served weapons is the company, with a platoon of gun-mortar equivalents), but to make up for it each level above the squad has a sapper section armed with incendiary weapons in support. Individual Vong troops are poor marksmen (although the ability of Vong projectiles to home on targets is an advantage) but superb hand-to-hand fighters; in addition, individual warriors often augment their personal equipment with nonstandard body modifications. In short, trying to hand-to-hand against one is a sucker bet.

The Vong infantry organization is poorly optimized for engagement at the 100m+ range. Plasma eels can reach that far and more, though with decreased accuracy; urban combat sections usually carry multiple eels per warrior for use as individual vest-pocket artillery. Their artillery systems, however, are quick-firing and surprisingly powerful for their size. (Crew-served weapons, incidentally, can be captured and carted off—there are incidents in the books where non-Yuuzhan Vong use captured cannons. The same is true for most of their projectile weapons. Don't try to steal their amphistaffs, though.)

The basic maneuver unit is the battalion; above that the TOE becomes fuzzy and prone to reorganization. Note that this is a standard battalion. The Fall of Coruscant saw very heavy casualties to the invading force; many battalions are understrength, sometimes very heavily. Manpower levies among the occupying forces cannot have helped, either, to bolster troop strength for expeditionary forces.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

What would a Perk of being Thirteen?

• Toughness: Being a battle droid, Thirteen is heavily armored and exceptionally difficult to put down.
• In-Organic: As a battle droid, Thirteen does not have to breathe oxygen and thus is immune to poison and stun effects.

Just being a droid with combat training would be enough of a perk by itself. I'm not asking for specific names for each one; for instance, Flanker's character's smuggler skills would constitute a perk, as would the the Mon Cal mechanic's specialization.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.