[Again, sorry for the delay, I'm kinda low on energy after several weeks of hard work :(]
With the end-game upon them, the heroes had to pull together every clue, every contact and every resource they had to put the puzzle pieces together.
Things got complicated fast. Our heroes negotiated a cease-fire with Gorka, convincing him that somebody was manipulating him and his operation... which angered him to new levels. He demanded the head of the one behind this.
They went to see Master Barkiss, the only know living jedi from New Duro still available, and met with him on his family farm, on the other side of the world.
The old blind Master shared a lot of interesting info with them, the most important piece is that hundreds of Jedi settled on the world after the Great War, but strangely enough, no new Jedi came out of New Duro in almost a 100 years.
He also shared a book that had info on every single force-strong bloodline on the planet, with which they were quickly able to know that several of those dark force adepts they fought were indeed from the planet's missing force-sensitive population.
Barkiss also suggested to Den that even though she might not follow the path of a Jedi, she might be interested on some formal training, as going at it alone tends to end badly.
With this in hand, Quin contacted Master Rombus, who also invited over Den and Jan to the conversation. Rombus, playful and shadowy, as always, forced them through confusing questions until they got a good picture of what was going on.
They questioned him about Rymobe, about his Master, and about what happened to the mysterious third student... the conclusions were unexpected. Rymobe is dead... and the third student is taking his place, though Rombus left the "why?" on the air for our heroes. Jan is suspicious of the quirky Master, and with reason, as Rombus himself pointed out.
The Republic was in far more turmoil than expected by many. The Military was angered at their loss of power and the shortsightedness of the galactic community, who failed to see that a new "Empire" could pop-up at any minute. Jan checked the net and discovered that Republic Intelligence had several high-ranking officers under surveillance or under monitoring because of their jingoistic and sometimes outright hostile attitudes toward the present situation. The Admiral in charge of the system and an in-system commander were under the "danger" tab.
They tied the pieces together and figured out the following... someone wanted a civil war, a "fake" one if possible, in which the military could regain their lost glory. The different players made sense, some of the Mando's, the dark Force adepts, criminal elements in the city and parts of the military, wanted to form a block and take control of New Duro, using it as a fortress world that could hold it's ground for decades.
They quickly went to Gorka again, and presented the situation, Gorka saw the last pieces of the current puzzle... the Mando's wanted the Red One to take control of New Duro, in a move that could cement him as a candidate for Mandalore, and mentioning that he's stupid enough to fall for that.
As the gang war calmed down, the other players were forced to make a move... the Military commander under surveillance launched without authorisation towards the main control bunker for the planet's defenses. Some members of Red Scythe also moved towards it.
Captain Adrian contacted our heroes and shared their worries with them, their clues only confirmed them and he informed the heroes of the aforementioned move by the bad guys. They quickly jumped into action, Jan was dispatched in a Republic Starfighter to intercept the rogue commander, and Quin and Den took on a speeder to reach the command center as soon as possible.
Gorka also had a plan, he'd send his men to take over the command bunker, and then send his own security force to secure it, thus making his control of the place legal...
Jan blew the traitor from the sky, and convinced his escort to escort him instead. Meanwhile Quin and Den fought the treacherous Mando's on the bunker, with the Red One being taken by surprise by a couple of thermal detonators, which knocked him away and left him so wounded he had no choice but to escape.
The "fake" rebellion had failed to take what they wanted to be their main base of operations, so they executed "plan b" and acted openly.
A fraction of the Military split in two, and the insurrectionist quickly took over the Senate, staging a Coup d'état. Thankfully the Jedi responded fast and liberated the Senate, forcing the insurrectionist to declare open rebellion and a civil war erupted in the Republic.
The heroes stopped things from getting worse, but the stage was set for even more conflict.
miércoles, 14 de diciembre de 2011
domingo, 13 de noviembre de 2011
The players raise the stakes...
[Today happened A LOT OF STUFF some I had foresaw, some no, so I'm surely leaving stuff out, do please point out were so we can keep track of everything]
Our heroes returned to the planet and had a brief chat with Gorka, who wanted a status update.
Gorka was growing impatient in his "game" against Gardulla, and actually shared a couple of things. First that his boys had blasted to oblivion one of he weird Force Adepts that the heroes have fought before while he was trying to infiltrate one of his warehouses.
The other was that he was certain that Gardulla was not a real person, but some kind of paperdoll to keep the real boss out of the picture.
This evidently tied together Gardulla's operations and those of the Force Adepts, which provides another small piece to the puzzle.
Gorka "invited" our heroes for a dinner party he's throwing in three day, making it obvious that it's basically a deadline.
Our heroes moved to investigate the warehouse were the lightsaber parts were being sent, and found it empty except for an automated assembly table and a ceramics oven (that could be used to create lightsaber crystals).
However investigation was cut short because they were ambushed by the force adepts, who were dispatched after a more grueling fight than last time.
As soon as they sang victory though, Quin had a very bad premonition and quickly roused AT-CT and Jan out through the maintenance tunnels. A few seconds later the warehouse blew up, leaving them confused, but alive.
It was obvious because of the way the warehouse melted that someone had left a lifetime supply of thermal detonators somewhere under the place. Our heroes got out through another warehouse, and found that some mandalorians, commanded but the "Red One", were waiting for them outside.
Our heroes were too smart for them however, and evaded them through the rooftops of the district. Quin diverted the last two mandalorians guarding their speeder by sneaking up on them and mind-tricking them into thinking their boss was calling.
The night was not done with the surprises though. Captain Adrian from Rep. Military called them to check if they were alive... because he had just received their death certificates... signed by a Rep. Mil. forensics unit!
They quickly agreed to keep communications to a minimum and use an old method of encrypting messages, an encryption book, and a couple of courier droids to send and receive messages.
This done, they decided to sit down and think what was going on... going through Jan's notes and also consulting with Quin's masters.
Quin's masters told the following, Master Rymobe told Quin that the technique the Force Adept use to hide themselves is one employed by Jedi Shadows, and also unfortunately, Sith Assasins. Quin noted though, that they don't seem Sith at all, and it probably requires further investigation. Rymobe, again, seemed to be withholding information...
Rombus was, ironically, way more clear this time showing Quin on his vision a building much like a cathedral... but this one was twisted and dark, seemingly feeding on light and seeming menacing and foreboding, like a giant spider in the dark. Rombus said "this is what you are facing, the Cathedral of Shadows. The Cathedral, like many things before it, started as an effort to do good, that quickly turned sour".
While the were trying to solve the puzzle, Gorka called, saying, basically, that he was fed up with playing and that he'll force Gardulla to make his move. Fighting erupted all over Nao-Sang, as an all-out gang war started between the warring criminal cartels. No punches were being pulled, explosives and heavy weapons were being used by both sides, the situation quickly spiraling out of control.
The Coronel in charge of Republic's forces on the planet quickly announced an ultimatum... the local authorities had 48 hours to put everything under control, or else he'll declare martial law. This gave them a clear view of what their enemies were trying to accomplish... though the why is still in the air. If all of the planets orbital defenses were to come online, flushing out any kind of military force on the planet would need a military effort of immense proportions. Thus it seems someone might want Rep. Mil. to declare martial law, take control of the local forces and make the planet a bastion for whatever plans they have...
Also, Quin investigated out of curiosity the past of his masters, and also past jedi on New Duro. The discoveries were surprising...
First, Rombus and Rymobe were trained by the same master, a venerable jedi that settled down after his knight-errant days and had something of a mini-academy were he trained up to 10 students at a time. This was disapproved by the Council of Masters, but he was respected enough for them to never do anything bigger than scold him.
Rombus, Rymobe and the unnamed third student decided to go on adventures together, and so they did for many years, upholding peace and justice in the galaxy. Unfortunately, this came to a dramatic end when Rombus and Rymobe's companion died, supposedly fighting on a pirate ship, while they were trying to break the pirate's blockade of a destitute system.
On the old jedi from New Duro, Quinn discovered that many jedi settled on the planet after the Great War, and for a while New Duro had a prolific population of force-sensitives. However, this population has been on decline for years, to the point were no jedi trained in the last 3 decades has been from the planet. The last know jedi of New Duro, an old duro master called Barkiss, was last seen returning to his home planet for his twilight years, about 10 years ago. Reports say he settled somewhere in the lees developed parts of the planet. He could be found, should the players search for him.
Our heroes returned to the planet and had a brief chat with Gorka, who wanted a status update.
Gorka was growing impatient in his "game" against Gardulla, and actually shared a couple of things. First that his boys had blasted to oblivion one of he weird Force Adepts that the heroes have fought before while he was trying to infiltrate one of his warehouses.
The other was that he was certain that Gardulla was not a real person, but some kind of paperdoll to keep the real boss out of the picture.
This evidently tied together Gardulla's operations and those of the Force Adepts, which provides another small piece to the puzzle.
Gorka "invited" our heroes for a dinner party he's throwing in three day, making it obvious that it's basically a deadline.
Our heroes moved to investigate the warehouse were the lightsaber parts were being sent, and found it empty except for an automated assembly table and a ceramics oven (that could be used to create lightsaber crystals).
However investigation was cut short because they were ambushed by the force adepts, who were dispatched after a more grueling fight than last time.
As soon as they sang victory though, Quin had a very bad premonition and quickly roused AT-CT and Jan out through the maintenance tunnels. A few seconds later the warehouse blew up, leaving them confused, but alive.
It was obvious because of the way the warehouse melted that someone had left a lifetime supply of thermal detonators somewhere under the place. Our heroes got out through another warehouse, and found that some mandalorians, commanded but the "Red One", were waiting for them outside.
Our heroes were too smart for them however, and evaded them through the rooftops of the district. Quin diverted the last two mandalorians guarding their speeder by sneaking up on them and mind-tricking them into thinking their boss was calling.
The night was not done with the surprises though. Captain Adrian from Rep. Military called them to check if they were alive... because he had just received their death certificates... signed by a Rep. Mil. forensics unit!
They quickly agreed to keep communications to a minimum and use an old method of encrypting messages, an encryption book, and a couple of courier droids to send and receive messages.
This done, they decided to sit down and think what was going on... going through Jan's notes and also consulting with Quin's masters.
Quin's masters told the following, Master Rymobe told Quin that the technique the Force Adept use to hide themselves is one employed by Jedi Shadows, and also unfortunately, Sith Assasins. Quin noted though, that they don't seem Sith at all, and it probably requires further investigation. Rymobe, again, seemed to be withholding information...
Rombus was, ironically, way more clear this time showing Quin on his vision a building much like a cathedral... but this one was twisted and dark, seemingly feeding on light and seeming menacing and foreboding, like a giant spider in the dark. Rombus said "this is what you are facing, the Cathedral of Shadows. The Cathedral, like many things before it, started as an effort to do good, that quickly turned sour".
While the were trying to solve the puzzle, Gorka called, saying, basically, that he was fed up with playing and that he'll force Gardulla to make his move. Fighting erupted all over Nao-Sang, as an all-out gang war started between the warring criminal cartels. No punches were being pulled, explosives and heavy weapons were being used by both sides, the situation quickly spiraling out of control.
The Coronel in charge of Republic's forces on the planet quickly announced an ultimatum... the local authorities had 48 hours to put everything under control, or else he'll declare martial law. This gave them a clear view of what their enemies were trying to accomplish... though the why is still in the air. If all of the planets orbital defenses were to come online, flushing out any kind of military force on the planet would need a military effort of immense proportions. Thus it seems someone might want Rep. Mil. to declare martial law, take control of the local forces and make the planet a bastion for whatever plans they have...
Also, Quin investigated out of curiosity the past of his masters, and also past jedi on New Duro. The discoveries were surprising...
First, Rombus and Rymobe were trained by the same master, a venerable jedi that settled down after his knight-errant days and had something of a mini-academy were he trained up to 10 students at a time. This was disapproved by the Council of Masters, but he was respected enough for them to never do anything bigger than scold him.
Rombus, Rymobe and the unnamed third student decided to go on adventures together, and so they did for many years, upholding peace and justice in the galaxy. Unfortunately, this came to a dramatic end when Rombus and Rymobe's companion died, supposedly fighting on a pirate ship, while they were trying to break the pirate's blockade of a destitute system.
On the old jedi from New Duro, Quinn discovered that many jedi settled on the planet after the Great War, and for a while New Duro had a prolific population of force-sensitives. However, this population has been on decline for years, to the point were no jedi trained in the last 3 decades has been from the planet. The last know jedi of New Duro, an old duro master called Barkiss, was last seen returning to his home planet for his twilight years, about 10 years ago. Reports say he settled somewhere in the lees developed parts of the planet. He could be found, should the players search for him.
martes, 25 de octubre de 2011
Things get weirder...
[Sorry for the massive delay on this guys, I've been busy with work and now I'm ill at home :(]
After our heroes boarded the small space station, they wandered it looking for clues. The station was of Duro manufacture, rarely breaking a standardized mold.
Quin noticed that the power flowing through the station seemed to be drained at some points, but just with the force he couldn't make out on what or where.
Further investigation showed that computers had been hacked so they wouldn't notice this power drain on the system reports.
After finding the room that housed the cargo "net" and it's drop-out point, the heroes concluded that here was were part of the power was being redirected. They also found something very weird, the room had a mechanism to activate several blast-panels usually found on chemical labs or any other place were you might need cover from explosions as a safety precaution.
After tampering with a panel under which they assumed (correctly) the power was being drained, they were surprised to find a battle droid of mandalorian manufacture under it. Several more panels flipped open in an alert and they had to fight for their lives.
After a long and tough fight the droids were destroyed, and the heroes free to snoop again. In the battle it became obvious that whoever had installed the droids had also installed the blast panels as a precaution... who? No idea, that was an open question for the moment.
After some more snooping and hacking Jan was able to isolate in the computer were the lightsaber parts were being sent, and with this information our heroes left the station, making a small stop in the Skyhook to buy a medical droid, seeing as things were getting more dangerous.
After our heroes boarded the small space station, they wandered it looking for clues. The station was of Duro manufacture, rarely breaking a standardized mold.
Quin noticed that the power flowing through the station seemed to be drained at some points, but just with the force he couldn't make out on what or where.
Further investigation showed that computers had been hacked so they wouldn't notice this power drain on the system reports.
After finding the room that housed the cargo "net" and it's drop-out point, the heroes concluded that here was were part of the power was being redirected. They also found something very weird, the room had a mechanism to activate several blast-panels usually found on chemical labs or any other place were you might need cover from explosions as a safety precaution.
After tampering with a panel under which they assumed (correctly) the power was being drained, they were surprised to find a battle droid of mandalorian manufacture under it. Several more panels flipped open in an alert and they had to fight for their lives.
After a long and tough fight the droids were destroyed, and the heroes free to snoop again. In the battle it became obvious that whoever had installed the droids had also installed the blast panels as a precaution... who? No idea, that was an open question for the moment.
After some more snooping and hacking Jan was able to isolate in the computer were the lightsaber parts were being sent, and with this information our heroes left the station, making a small stop in the Skyhook to buy a medical droid, seeing as things were getting more dangerous.
domingo, 2 de octubre de 2011
One more side to the conflict!
[Again, quick overview from the events in the game to keep track of them]
Tssarik got an invite for the big duelling league, sponsored by Gorka's not-so-illegal front business, and thus had to leave the party to chase his dreams.
As our protagonists returned to the Unshaken Resolve (Jan's ship)they met Nargoth, a huge togorian with a Mando armor. He told them that Red Scythe and his elders had ordered him to "keep the jedi alive". While not exactly a peoples person, the party accepted his help and decided to keep on with the plan.
After investigating were the meeting with the mysterious person that had contacted them was supposed to take place, the party moved there in their speeder getting ready for anything.
Inside the warehouse in the storage sector of the space port, which is mostly manned by droids, the party separated and took positions hiding among the crates and shelves, while Quin approached the figure in the middle of the building. The figure turned up to be a male human on his late 30s, dressed in a Republic Military uniform, he identified himself as Captain Adrian, and told Quin that he had suspicions that somebody, maybe up to the Coronel of the System himself, might be funnelling military equipment from the Army to some unknown third party. He handed him a datapad with all the data he had recovered (which they later discovered proved his suspicions), however, at that point they were attacked.
The attackers dressed in grey and black, with their faces covered with hoods and masks, and they wielded eerie lightsabers with a black-ish blade.
Fortunately for our heroes they weren't really that good and after their cover was blown and they lost the help of the shadows they were quickly dispatched.
The heroes searched the bodies of their assailants and found little of interest except for the lightsabers, which seemed to be mass produced, and a sub-dermal communicator on the neck of one of them.
They couldn't do much with both at the time, so they moved back to the Resolve, saying farewell to the Captain.
At the resolve Jan built a makeshift signal tracker plugged to the subdermal communicator to try and track it's signal should it emit again.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party devised a plan to use the mass-produced lightsaber to their advantage, they would hack the FPSs servers that feed the Authority with the multitude of trading manifests that go through the system and would search for whomever is buying lightsaber components en-masse.
Den, using a dataspike supplied by Nargoth and with a bug programmed by Jan, would sneak into the FPSs servers and plug the dataspike in a computer with an admin login, and they would then search the database for their target.
Suffice to say, it worked, Den moved like a shadow inside the building and got the bug into their systems. Jan had then no problem in reducing their target to a small docking station in locked orbit over Nao-Sang.
The party infiltrated the station flying close to a superfreighters engine, hiding his signal on the shadow of the bigger ship, and the adventure ended with our heroes getting ready to board the station.
Tssarik got an invite for the big duelling league, sponsored by Gorka's not-so-illegal front business, and thus had to leave the party to chase his dreams.
As our protagonists returned to the Unshaken Resolve (Jan's ship)they met Nargoth, a huge togorian with a Mando armor. He told them that Red Scythe and his elders had ordered him to "keep the jedi alive". While not exactly a peoples person, the party accepted his help and decided to keep on with the plan.
After investigating were the meeting with the mysterious person that had contacted them was supposed to take place, the party moved there in their speeder getting ready for anything.
Inside the warehouse in the storage sector of the space port, which is mostly manned by droids, the party separated and took positions hiding among the crates and shelves, while Quin approached the figure in the middle of the building. The figure turned up to be a male human on his late 30s, dressed in a Republic Military uniform, he identified himself as Captain Adrian, and told Quin that he had suspicions that somebody, maybe up to the Coronel of the System himself, might be funnelling military equipment from the Army to some unknown third party. He handed him a datapad with all the data he had recovered (which they later discovered proved his suspicions), however, at that point they were attacked.
The attackers dressed in grey and black, with their faces covered with hoods and masks, and they wielded eerie lightsabers with a black-ish blade.
Fortunately for our heroes they weren't really that good and after their cover was blown and they lost the help of the shadows they were quickly dispatched.
The heroes searched the bodies of their assailants and found little of interest except for the lightsabers, which seemed to be mass produced, and a sub-dermal communicator on the neck of one of them.
They couldn't do much with both at the time, so they moved back to the Resolve, saying farewell to the Captain.
At the resolve Jan built a makeshift signal tracker plugged to the subdermal communicator to try and track it's signal should it emit again.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party devised a plan to use the mass-produced lightsaber to their advantage, they would hack the FPSs servers that feed the Authority with the multitude of trading manifests that go through the system and would search for whomever is buying lightsaber components en-masse.
Den, using a dataspike supplied by Nargoth and with a bug programmed by Jan, would sneak into the FPSs servers and plug the dataspike in a computer with an admin login, and they would then search the database for their target.
Suffice to say, it worked, Den moved like a shadow inside the building and got the bug into their systems. Jan had then no problem in reducing their target to a small docking station in locked orbit over Nao-Sang.
The party infiltrated the station flying close to a superfreighters engine, hiding his signal on the shadow of the bigger ship, and the adventure ended with our heroes getting ready to board the station.
domingo, 24 de julio de 2011
Political intrigue and speeder chases
[Again, I'll go straight to the point since this is supposed to be a resume, not a narration]
Our heroes followed their lead, but not before trying to get as much information as possible.
The discovered thar Mr Arken is a young scion of one the merchant cartels of the planet. He's something of a party boy, but mostly harmless. Years ago, just after College, he applied for a government position and he is still there.
He always has by side his trusty butler droid, J33-B5 (which he affectionately calls Jeebs) who actually seems more trustworthy than his master.
Our heroes also gathered all the information they could on the nature of the voting that was about to take place.
The contract was to see which security firm should be in charge of the areas adjacent to the local garrison, and after several session there were only three security companies left on the table:
- Furan Protection Services (FPS): In the eyes of many "the police", a quite old and venerable system-wide company, FPS has fairly good equipment supplied by Blastech and Automaton Industries mainly (which are two of their main shareholders) and they have the most experience regarding urban areas. There has only been two times where the company has held no sec contracts in the system, during the Krath occupation and the Sith occupation, respectively. Everything pointed to the as the winners of the contract, since is difficult to beat their cost-effectiveness.
- Red Scythe: A Mandalorian company completely owned by the Kander clan (who inhabit one of the nearby planets, more on that later). They mostly handle system patrols and work as the military muscle of the authority, seeing as their troops have way above average training and their equipment is military grade, most of it coming either from mandalorian manufacturers, their on in-system forges and Czerka Arms. They have a powerful standing fleet, consisting mainly of well mantained and updated centuries old mandalorian vessels from the Great War, and several ship captured from the Sith in the aftermath, the pride or their fleet is their very own battlecruiser.
Their security patrols are infamous for being through and brutal, but effective. They are usually only hired for more high level jobs, seeing as their services are quite pricey.
- Green Gauntlet: This huttese named company mostly sticks to rural areas and long range in-world patrols, in which they excel with their old but effectively maintained equipment and vehicles. Their troops/cops are rugged and well trained but their numbers are quite small. Recently they have tried to push into the urban market and in-system security, buying old decommissioned Republic fighters and heavily modified corellian corvettes. Most assume that it's only in the race to keep some notion of balance.
With all of this digested, they set forth to Arken's house and visited the young bureaucrat.
Arken seemed surprised (though not as much as one would expect) to know that he was being targeted, and Jeebes asked to hire the heroes to protect his master.
After accepting the heroes got ready, they stuck around the house for the next 3 days building A2-CT and trying to find out info on their possible attackers.
Tssarik learned that the attack would probably be directed by one Fran Kander, a ruthless mandalorian bounty hunter that is far better known as "The Red One", because of his crimson red armor. Tssarik also met with a black market dealer and got some extra pieces for their mechanical monstrosity.
Quin contacted with his master, and inquired again about Gorka and what had been transpiring, his Master still had no answers, but wished him good luck. Trying something different, he contacted Master Rombus telepathically, and Master Rombus explained to him that yes, Rymobe was probably lying, furthermore, he himself had lied to him before, was being unnecessarily cryptic and was withholding information from him, the key question her is not what this information or lies are, but rather, why was he or Rymobe doing so.
The day of the voting came, and, long story short, they were ambushed by the Red One and his men. After an spectacular air speeder chase, with jetpack boardings, heart-stopping stunts and a deadly dogfight between Tssarik and the Red One, finished by a timely arrival from Jan who finished his already pounded air speeder. The Red One jumped in the last minute from the ball of flame that his speeder had become, disappearing between the gargantuan buildings.
The voting continued as planned and, to the surprise of all, Red Scythe won the contract. At the very last minute they brought a dossier explaining their expansion on the last 3 months and the improvement of their supply lines, lowering their price to FPS levels.
Arkan is not convinced however, and suspects something else is going on with the Mandos, but before the party could follow this though, they were contacted via holocomunicator by a distorted voice, claiming that it would like to hire them since "there are more sides to this conflict than you though at first".
Our heroes followed their lead, but not before trying to get as much information as possible.
The discovered thar Mr Arken is a young scion of one the merchant cartels of the planet. He's something of a party boy, but mostly harmless. Years ago, just after College, he applied for a government position and he is still there.
He always has by side his trusty butler droid, J33-B5 (which he affectionately calls Jeebs) who actually seems more trustworthy than his master.
Our heroes also gathered all the information they could on the nature of the voting that was about to take place.
The contract was to see which security firm should be in charge of the areas adjacent to the local garrison, and after several session there were only three security companies left on the table:
- Furan Protection Services (FPS): In the eyes of many "the police", a quite old and venerable system-wide company, FPS has fairly good equipment supplied by Blastech and Automaton Industries mainly (which are two of their main shareholders) and they have the most experience regarding urban areas. There has only been two times where the company has held no sec contracts in the system, during the Krath occupation and the Sith occupation, respectively. Everything pointed to the as the winners of the contract, since is difficult to beat their cost-effectiveness.
- Red Scythe: A Mandalorian company completely owned by the Kander clan (who inhabit one of the nearby planets, more on that later). They mostly handle system patrols and work as the military muscle of the authority, seeing as their troops have way above average training and their equipment is military grade, most of it coming either from mandalorian manufacturers, their on in-system forges and Czerka Arms. They have a powerful standing fleet, consisting mainly of well mantained and updated centuries old mandalorian vessels from the Great War, and several ship captured from the Sith in the aftermath, the pride or their fleet is their very own battlecruiser.
Their security patrols are infamous for being through and brutal, but effective. They are usually only hired for more high level jobs, seeing as their services are quite pricey.
- Green Gauntlet: This huttese named company mostly sticks to rural areas and long range in-world patrols, in which they excel with their old but effectively maintained equipment and vehicles. Their troops/cops are rugged and well trained but their numbers are quite small. Recently they have tried to push into the urban market and in-system security, buying old decommissioned Republic fighters and heavily modified corellian corvettes. Most assume that it's only in the race to keep some notion of balance.
With all of this digested, they set forth to Arken's house and visited the young bureaucrat.
Arken seemed surprised (though not as much as one would expect) to know that he was being targeted, and Jeebes asked to hire the heroes to protect his master.
After accepting the heroes got ready, they stuck around the house for the next 3 days building A2-CT and trying to find out info on their possible attackers.
Tssarik learned that the attack would probably be directed by one Fran Kander, a ruthless mandalorian bounty hunter that is far better known as "The Red One", because of his crimson red armor. Tssarik also met with a black market dealer and got some extra pieces for their mechanical monstrosity.
Quin contacted with his master, and inquired again about Gorka and what had been transpiring, his Master still had no answers, but wished him good luck. Trying something different, he contacted Master Rombus telepathically, and Master Rombus explained to him that yes, Rymobe was probably lying, furthermore, he himself had lied to him before, was being unnecessarily cryptic and was withholding information from him, the key question her is not what this information or lies are, but rather, why was he or Rymobe doing so.
The day of the voting came, and, long story short, they were ambushed by the Red One and his men. After an spectacular air speeder chase, with jetpack boardings, heart-stopping stunts and a deadly dogfight between Tssarik and the Red One, finished by a timely arrival from Jan who finished his already pounded air speeder. The Red One jumped in the last minute from the ball of flame that his speeder had become, disappearing between the gargantuan buildings.
The voting continued as planned and, to the surprise of all, Red Scythe won the contract. At the very last minute they brought a dossier explaining their expansion on the last 3 months and the improvement of their supply lines, lowering their price to FPS levels.
Arkan is not convinced however, and suspects something else is going on with the Mandos, but before the party could follow this though, they were contacted via holocomunicator by a distorted voice, claiming that it would like to hire them since "there are more sides to this conflict than you though at first".
domingo, 26 de junio de 2011
The adventure starts!
[space left for cool entry crawl :)]
[Note: This are gonna be quick synopses of the adventure for safe keeping, rather than a full blown story, though I might do that one day If I feel inclined :), and any of you guys are welcome to it should you like the idea]
Quin-Tain and Jan arrived at the Nao Sang spaceport without major incidents, there, in dock number 078, for their own personal reasons, both Tsarrik and Den awaited for the ship to land.
Just as Den was welcoming Quin and his companion to New Duro they were assaulted by thugs keen on having their skins (and most particularly Quin's), said thugs were promptly dispatched, leaving behind just a broken datapad with some orders from an unnamed source telling them to kill the Jedi for a substantial reward.
Confused but safe (and Tsarrik drenched in blue blood) they were greeted on their exit by Fokoma, a very VERY educated and polite Twi'lek that kindly informed them that Gorka The Hutt, local crimelord, insisted on having them over for lunch.
Our heroes, seeing that there was not much point in arguing accepted the invitation and were received by Gorka, an (even by hutt standard) huge hutt with a very polite way of speaking.
He explained that the one targeting the Jedi is a rival by the name of Gardulla. Said rival has been encroaching in his turf and has proven to be quite difficult to eliminate.
He offered help tracking him as it is in his best interest to help the group take on him and his men.
Quin convinced the hutt to give him some time to decide and Gorka agreed.
After talking with the proper authorities and getting nowhere, the heroes decided to do so research on their own. Jan looked around the Holonet a bit and got some interesting info on Gorka and his operations.
Tsarrik, with Jan in tow, visited one the bars Gorka's boys usually frequent and found out that a fight was about to happen between Gorka's boys and some men claiming to be working for Gardulla.
Tsarrik "helped" the fight start and clubbed some heads while Jan stealthily stunned one of the men, who after being interrogated told them that they don't know any of Gardulla's men directly, they just got their orders from a low-profile weapons smuggler named Brombort.
Meanwhile Quin contacted his master, Rymobe, who seemed puzzled by the fact that the Hutt claimed to know him and advised his padawan to keep playing the hutt's game for now, as it will probably bring him closer to the disturbance they felt.
Just as he stopped the transmission, he got a telepathic message from Rombus, with the cryptic phrases "watch the shadows" and "always remember the blood".
After checking this info against the one Gorka provided, the heroes decided that it was a good lead and visited this Brombort fellow.
Brombort runs a small time warehouse for passing traders with small cargo loads. After observing him for a bit, Jan noticed that sometimes Brombort closed some of the binders in his office when a client came in, but not all of them.
Den and Quin went into the office with Tsarrik and Jan keeping watch on a cantina on the other side of the highway.
After mentioning Gardulla to Brombort, Den noticed that the un-closed binders were really holoprojectors and that there was an odd-looking heavy-lifting droid taking space in the middle of the hallway.
Brombort gave them a datapad while saying "If you know Gardulla, you know what's in this". The datapad commanded the carriers to kill a bureaucrat from the Authority called Joera Arkes, in charge, along with several people, of signing some small time contracts for security forces.
[Note: This are gonna be quick synopses of the adventure for safe keeping, rather than a full blown story, though I might do that one day If I feel inclined :), and any of you guys are welcome to it should you like the idea]
Quin-Tain and Jan arrived at the Nao Sang spaceport without major incidents, there, in dock number 078, for their own personal reasons, both Tsarrik and Den awaited for the ship to land.
Just as Den was welcoming Quin and his companion to New Duro they were assaulted by thugs keen on having their skins (and most particularly Quin's), said thugs were promptly dispatched, leaving behind just a broken datapad with some orders from an unnamed source telling them to kill the Jedi for a substantial reward.
Confused but safe (and Tsarrik drenched in blue blood) they were greeted on their exit by Fokoma, a very VERY educated and polite Twi'lek that kindly informed them that Gorka The Hutt, local crimelord, insisted on having them over for lunch.
Our heroes, seeing that there was not much point in arguing accepted the invitation and were received by Gorka, an (even by hutt standard) huge hutt with a very polite way of speaking.
He explained that the one targeting the Jedi is a rival by the name of Gardulla. Said rival has been encroaching in his turf and has proven to be quite difficult to eliminate.
He offered help tracking him as it is in his best interest to help the group take on him and his men.
Quin convinced the hutt to give him some time to decide and Gorka agreed.
After talking with the proper authorities and getting nowhere, the heroes decided to do so research on their own. Jan looked around the Holonet a bit and got some interesting info on Gorka and his operations.
Tsarrik, with Jan in tow, visited one the bars Gorka's boys usually frequent and found out that a fight was about to happen between Gorka's boys and some men claiming to be working for Gardulla.
Tsarrik "helped" the fight start and clubbed some heads while Jan stealthily stunned one of the men, who after being interrogated told them that they don't know any of Gardulla's men directly, they just got their orders from a low-profile weapons smuggler named Brombort.
Meanwhile Quin contacted his master, Rymobe, who seemed puzzled by the fact that the Hutt claimed to know him and advised his padawan to keep playing the hutt's game for now, as it will probably bring him closer to the disturbance they felt.
Just as he stopped the transmission, he got a telepathic message from Rombus, with the cryptic phrases "watch the shadows" and "always remember the blood".
After checking this info against the one Gorka provided, the heroes decided that it was a good lead and visited this Brombort fellow.
Brombort runs a small time warehouse for passing traders with small cargo loads. After observing him for a bit, Jan noticed that sometimes Brombort closed some of the binders in his office when a client came in, but not all of them.
Den and Quin went into the office with Tsarrik and Jan keeping watch on a cantina on the other side of the highway.
After mentioning Gardulla to Brombort, Den noticed that the un-closed binders were really holoprojectors and that there was an odd-looking heavy-lifting droid taking space in the middle of the hallway.
Brombort gave them a datapad while saying "If you know Gardulla, you know what's in this". The datapad commanded the carriers to kill a bureaucrat from the Authority called Joera Arkes, in charge, along with several people, of signing some small time contracts for security forces.
viernes, 17 de junio de 2011
The state of the Galaxy and power players
The Galaxy has healed nicely since the all encompassing war with the now defunct Sith Empire.
Here are it's mayor players and their current outlook:
The Galactic Republic
The greatest power in the know galaxy, this millenia old organization that brings together billions of races and cultures keeps thriving in spite of the multitude of attempts to bring it down by multiple forces in the Galaxy.
This is a time of relative peace for the Republic, the memory of the Cold War against the Sith Empire still exists, but it has faded quickly in this 300 years. Republic peacekeeping forces are still active and remain vigilant in multiple places in the galaxy, but little by little this mighty military force is being reduced in number, it's budget and resources being moved to other projects, and the responsibility is being placed in local security forces and militias.
Economy wise the Republic is thriving, with trading booming thanks to new routes being opened deeper into the Unknown regions and the Outer Rim bringing even more opulence to the already huge coffers of the organization.
But with power and safety comes complacency, and who knows what's in store for the legendary organization...
The Jedi Order
The great Jedi Order is thriving at this time, millions of Jedi swell it's ranks, specially since after the Cold War the Order's attitudes relaxed because of the cruel conflict and Jedi enjoy great freedom to make their own way following the will of the Force.
All is not right however, the huge amount of Jedi, the lack of a common front and the current relaxed attitudes are making certain Masters wary of the state of the order and some demand a return to more orthodox practices. The recent surge of dark siders and fallen Jedi is contemplated with great concern, even if the more rational voices see that it's mainly a product of their swelling ranks. Immediate action is seen as reckless by many and the Unifying Force sect is growing in numbers.
Still, even with their own internal tensions growing, the Jedi still are the stalwart defenders of good in the Galaxy. Mingling with the general population a lightsaber might ignite anytime, anywhere, to respond to the cries of help of the innocent, and the Galaxy admires and looks upon the Order's members with respect and trust.
At this point in time the Order is somewhat unstructured and only an informal council of masters keeps things in place, though in general each master is assumed to be able to make it's own informed decisions. Consultation with other masters or the Council is seen as the right thing to do, and most do follow it's suggestions willingly. The only rule everyone follows is that only an unanimous vote of at least 10 Masters can advance a Knight to the rank of Master, it stems from the war where rarely a formal training body could be established to oversee such a thing. It is assumed that 10 Masters should have enough vision and wisdom to know if someone is ready to be their equal, for the moment, it has served them well.
Galactic Republic Military Forces
While still the most powerful military in existence, with billions of troops and ships scattered all around the know galaxy, the GRMF is a relic from a different time.
Without a powerful enemy to fight, the public sees it more and more as a bloated, tax-devouring, unnecessary organization and the Senate is acting accordingly, reducing it's numbers decade after decade and moving it's responsibilities to local authorities and private contractors.
Many voices call against this, pointing at history books and showing that the Republic must always be prepared in case another galaxy-wide conflict sparks, but their voices are difficult to hear in between talks about economic expansion, social problems and democratic expansion.
That aside, as mentioned, the Republic still has, hands-down, the best armed forces in the galaxy. Their starfighter corps and special forces are the pride of the GRMF, being key forces in the defeat of the Sith Empire 300 years prior, and any well informed adversary would shake in their boots at the thought of confronting them.
The Hutt Cartel
Millenia ago the Hutts controlled an empire on their region of space that rivalled with the Republic on power and extension. Their empire crumbled however, but the hutts are old and cunning, they had realised way before the fall that political power and lines on maps mean nothing, their slimy hands reach everywhere in the galaxy and millions of worlds still dance to whichever tune they prefer at that moment.
Sometimes shadowy organizations try to wrestle away the behind-the-scenes power from the hutts, like the Exchange almost did some centuries ago, but they soon learn the hutts appreciate keeping a low profile in the galaxy, but they are by no means afraid of smashing that which bothers them. The hutts marshalled an army of mercs, highly modified transports and outright warmachines acquired from military forces all around the galaxy and smashed without mercy the Exchange when they grew tired of backalley backstabbings, bringing a swift end to the organization and reminding everyone to stay out of their way.
New Duro, being close to the mercurial area that is "hutt space", is too under their heavy influence and, as with other worlds, they are content to lounge in the shadows, drowning themselves in riches and exotics while those around them dance like puppets doing their bidding.
Here are it's mayor players and their current outlook:
The Galactic Republic
The greatest power in the know galaxy, this millenia old organization that brings together billions of races and cultures keeps thriving in spite of the multitude of attempts to bring it down by multiple forces in the Galaxy.
This is a time of relative peace for the Republic, the memory of the Cold War against the Sith Empire still exists, but it has faded quickly in this 300 years. Republic peacekeeping forces are still active and remain vigilant in multiple places in the galaxy, but little by little this mighty military force is being reduced in number, it's budget and resources being moved to other projects, and the responsibility is being placed in local security forces and militias.
Economy wise the Republic is thriving, with trading booming thanks to new routes being opened deeper into the Unknown regions and the Outer Rim bringing even more opulence to the already huge coffers of the organization.
But with power and safety comes complacency, and who knows what's in store for the legendary organization...
The Jedi Order
The great Jedi Order is thriving at this time, millions of Jedi swell it's ranks, specially since after the Cold War the Order's attitudes relaxed because of the cruel conflict and Jedi enjoy great freedom to make their own way following the will of the Force.
All is not right however, the huge amount of Jedi, the lack of a common front and the current relaxed attitudes are making certain Masters wary of the state of the order and some demand a return to more orthodox practices. The recent surge of dark siders and fallen Jedi is contemplated with great concern, even if the more rational voices see that it's mainly a product of their swelling ranks. Immediate action is seen as reckless by many and the Unifying Force sect is growing in numbers.
Still, even with their own internal tensions growing, the Jedi still are the stalwart defenders of good in the Galaxy. Mingling with the general population a lightsaber might ignite anytime, anywhere, to respond to the cries of help of the innocent, and the Galaxy admires and looks upon the Order's members with respect and trust.
At this point in time the Order is somewhat unstructured and only an informal council of masters keeps things in place, though in general each master is assumed to be able to make it's own informed decisions. Consultation with other masters or the Council is seen as the right thing to do, and most do follow it's suggestions willingly. The only rule everyone follows is that only an unanimous vote of at least 10 Masters can advance a Knight to the rank of Master, it stems from the war where rarely a formal training body could be established to oversee such a thing. It is assumed that 10 Masters should have enough vision and wisdom to know if someone is ready to be their equal, for the moment, it has served them well.
Galactic Republic Military Forces
While still the most powerful military in existence, with billions of troops and ships scattered all around the know galaxy, the GRMF is a relic from a different time.
Without a powerful enemy to fight, the public sees it more and more as a bloated, tax-devouring, unnecessary organization and the Senate is acting accordingly, reducing it's numbers decade after decade and moving it's responsibilities to local authorities and private contractors.
Many voices call against this, pointing at history books and showing that the Republic must always be prepared in case another galaxy-wide conflict sparks, but their voices are difficult to hear in between talks about economic expansion, social problems and democratic expansion.
That aside, as mentioned, the Republic still has, hands-down, the best armed forces in the galaxy. Their starfighter corps and special forces are the pride of the GRMF, being key forces in the defeat of the Sith Empire 300 years prior, and any well informed adversary would shake in their boots at the thought of confronting them.
The Hutt Cartel
Millenia ago the Hutts controlled an empire on their region of space that rivalled with the Republic on power and extension. Their empire crumbled however, but the hutts are old and cunning, they had realised way before the fall that political power and lines on maps mean nothing, their slimy hands reach everywhere in the galaxy and millions of worlds still dance to whichever tune they prefer at that moment.
Sometimes shadowy organizations try to wrestle away the behind-the-scenes power from the hutts, like the Exchange almost did some centuries ago, but they soon learn the hutts appreciate keeping a low profile in the galaxy, but they are by no means afraid of smashing that which bothers them. The hutts marshalled an army of mercs, highly modified transports and outright warmachines acquired from military forces all around the galaxy and smashed without mercy the Exchange when they grew tired of backalley backstabbings, bringing a swift end to the organization and reminding everyone to stay out of their way.
New Duro, being close to the mercurial area that is "hutt space", is too under their heavy influence and, as with other worlds, they are content to lounge in the shadows, drowning themselves in riches and exotics while those around them dance like puppets doing their bidding.
The rest of the system
New Duro is not the only planet on the Furan system, while none is as important as it is, some have... interesting places.
Mot
Mot is the closest planet to the Furan star, and it has little interesting going on. Because of it's extreme temperature and small size it was never colonized or terraformed. It's not devoid of activity, however, the Sylar Corporation initiated a mining operation over 150 years ago, and it's still ongoing thanks to the massive deposits of interesting radioactive materials on the rock. No one lives on Mot though, an army of specialized droids drills the planet day and night looking deeper and deeper for riches, and their organic masters only come once in a while to check that everything is fine.
Hohnir
When the explorers that discovered the system, they were stunned by how New Duro was thriving with life, usually worlds need some serious terraforming before being colonized, normally colony worlds are like Hohnir.
Hohnir is the second world from Furan, and it's close to being inhabitable but not just yet. The temperature is stabilizing, it's seas are forming nicely and there are already some basic lifeforms on it. Unfortunately, it's weather is erratic and devastating, it's seas acidic and the surface temperature is so high you need specialized suits unless you'd like to be well cooked.
That doesn't mean that Hohnir is devoid of sentient life, there are several habitats on the surface and orbit, mainly of scientists researching how the world is developing, and also several teams from corporations investigating if the planet could be used for some economic activity.
Tracyn
Not really a planet, but a Moon of the gigantic Vulcanus, a reddish gas giant that it's actually the fifth planet of the system.
Tracyn didn't have any inhabitants till the Mando's showed up in the Mandalorian wars, almost 600 years ago.
For the whole war, New Duro, originally though by the Mando's as an easy conquest in their war against the republic, held against an onslaught of Cruisers, Dropships and Basilisks thrown by Mandalore's armies. The defenders of New Duro still remembered the horrors of the Krath invasion, and were not about to let themselves be taken without a fight.
The respect of the Mando's for the planet grew immensely, and the invasion fleet tasked with taking over that branch of the Corellian Spine detached a third of it's forces just to keep the siege of New Duro, delighting themselves in seeing how long would the planet last.
To their surprise, New Duro never fell, they held their ground till Mandalore was felled in combat by Revan and Malachor V obliterated by the mass shadow generator.
With nowhere to go, the Mando's checked their options and decided that after staying for so many years on the system, they might as well make it their home. The called of the siege, retreated to one of their staging bases on one of the moons of Vulcan and negotiated a cease-fire with the FTA.
The FTA proved it's business savvy right there and then. They offered the Mando's a clean report towards republic forces as long as they made their services available to the FTA and New Duro in general. The Mando elders in the detached fleet joined and decided that there was potential in this deal, thought there were dissenting voices.
They dismantled most of their fleet and build a self-contained city on their staging base, now renamed Tracyn (fire in the Mando language) because of it's moving red sky, which seems always on fire; and started a series of droid factories and autoforges to rebuild their forces and equipment.
After their little place in the system had been carved, they formed Red Scythe (named after a Mando hero from the time of the mighty taung)with the blessing of the FTA, and offered their services as high-profile mercenaries and security forces, cleaning the Corellian Spine from the swats of pirates clogging them in the aftermath of the war. Ironically, many of this were Mando forces that refused to call off the war, though Red Scythe recruited many of them into their fold.
When the Revan-led Sith Fleet attacked the weak Republic, New Duro again showed it was not letting itself be taken, and this time, the Mandos added their strength to the battle on New Duro's side.
Revan was a brilliant strategist and instead of attacking New Duro head-on after seeing from some test attacks that defence was being fierce, he instead circled it and established a supply blockade, trying to wither it down while he tackled more pressing objectives.
During this time, Tracyn learned from their old neighbour and started building defence after defence, abusing the huge deposits of heavy metals on their moon and turning their small moon into an small self-sufficient fortress.
After that the war came and went, and the Mando's of Tracyn solidified their presence on the system, becoming engrained on the commercial disputes of New Duro, and keeping the system safe for an adequate price.
When the Great War came about the Mando's from Tracyn distrusted the call from the false Mandalore, but offered his armies weapons and fighters from it's autoforges. When the Sith Empire took Corusant, the Furan System was ceded to the Empire and the Mando's from Tracyn kept their commercial deals with the System's new masters.
However while business was good, their Sith employers were to insane and arbitrary, growing more and more violent towards the population of the system, Tracyn included, in their desperate attempts to quell the growing resistance movement. When the second Great War started and Republic forces did a push for the Furan system, Red Scythe aimed their guns at the Sith command ships and offed the Sith commanders in on the systems battlecruisers, taking it for themselves.
After accepting a contract from Republic command they proceeded to clean up the system from Sith and random bandits.
They stayed in this renewed position till modern times, right till before the Civil War erupted.
While there are dozens of clans represented on Tracyn, three clans have a special weight and control most of the council of elders. The clans are:
- Clan Kander: Something of a young mandalorian clan, they were formed out of different neo-crusader recruits in the Mandalorian Wars. The Clan structure is designed around the military structure of their original siege unit, and it's mostly compromised of Humans, since they were the majority and the ones that had it easier to find mates and procreate.
They are the biggest clan in the system, and control most of Red Scythe. Their fortress city, Cabur, is the nominal capital of the moon. It's a huge fortress that in the distance appears like 5 spikes protruding from the ground.
The Clan elder is Parjai Kander, an old but still powerful warrior that most of the clansmen look up to, even if they disagree with him. He's a staunch defender of the Status Quo, believing that with their current way the clans under his protection have thrived, found battles and survived in the face of difficult odds.
- Clan Stormcaller: A mainly Togorian clan, not quite as populous as clan Kander, but because of their long line of ferocious and powerful warriors, rank second in power in the politics of Tracyr.
Clan Stormcaller nominally supports the current stance of Parjai Kander, and consider him battlemaster, however, more and more dissenting voices in the clan claim that they should launch a crusade or at least an small war, in search of proper battles and honor, instead of working as overpaid policemen.
Murrar Stormcaller is the clanmaster. He's a huge, elder togorian that could probably split a man in two just with his hands. He has a fame for being unstable and violent, but surprisingly cool under fire and with a keen tactical mind that his appearance hides well. He was defeated decades ago by Parjai in the ring of honor, were he swore loyalty to him as battlemaster. Some of the voices of the younger and more rowdy generation say that the duel should be rematched, as many would prefer the aggressive Murrar as leader.
[Unfinished, will finish at a later date]
Mot
Mot is the closest planet to the Furan star, and it has little interesting going on. Because of it's extreme temperature and small size it was never colonized or terraformed. It's not devoid of activity, however, the Sylar Corporation initiated a mining operation over 150 years ago, and it's still ongoing thanks to the massive deposits of interesting radioactive materials on the rock. No one lives on Mot though, an army of specialized droids drills the planet day and night looking deeper and deeper for riches, and their organic masters only come once in a while to check that everything is fine.
Hohnir
When the explorers that discovered the system, they were stunned by how New Duro was thriving with life, usually worlds need some serious terraforming before being colonized, normally colony worlds are like Hohnir.
Hohnir is the second world from Furan, and it's close to being inhabitable but not just yet. The temperature is stabilizing, it's seas are forming nicely and there are already some basic lifeforms on it. Unfortunately, it's weather is erratic and devastating, it's seas acidic and the surface temperature is so high you need specialized suits unless you'd like to be well cooked.
That doesn't mean that Hohnir is devoid of sentient life, there are several habitats on the surface and orbit, mainly of scientists researching how the world is developing, and also several teams from corporations investigating if the planet could be used for some economic activity.
Tracyn
Not really a planet, but a Moon of the gigantic Vulcanus, a reddish gas giant that it's actually the fifth planet of the system.
Tracyn didn't have any inhabitants till the Mando's showed up in the Mandalorian wars, almost 600 years ago.
For the whole war, New Duro, originally though by the Mando's as an easy conquest in their war against the republic, held against an onslaught of Cruisers, Dropships and Basilisks thrown by Mandalore's armies. The defenders of New Duro still remembered the horrors of the Krath invasion, and were not about to let themselves be taken without a fight.
The respect of the Mando's for the planet grew immensely, and the invasion fleet tasked with taking over that branch of the Corellian Spine detached a third of it's forces just to keep the siege of New Duro, delighting themselves in seeing how long would the planet last.
To their surprise, New Duro never fell, they held their ground till Mandalore was felled in combat by Revan and Malachor V obliterated by the mass shadow generator.
With nowhere to go, the Mando's checked their options and decided that after staying for so many years on the system, they might as well make it their home. The called of the siege, retreated to one of their staging bases on one of the moons of Vulcan and negotiated a cease-fire with the FTA.
The FTA proved it's business savvy right there and then. They offered the Mando's a clean report towards republic forces as long as they made their services available to the FTA and New Duro in general. The Mando elders in the detached fleet joined and decided that there was potential in this deal, thought there were dissenting voices.
They dismantled most of their fleet and build a self-contained city on their staging base, now renamed Tracyn (fire in the Mando language) because of it's moving red sky, which seems always on fire; and started a series of droid factories and autoforges to rebuild their forces and equipment.
After their little place in the system had been carved, they formed Red Scythe (named after a Mando hero from the time of the mighty taung)with the blessing of the FTA, and offered their services as high-profile mercenaries and security forces, cleaning the Corellian Spine from the swats of pirates clogging them in the aftermath of the war. Ironically, many of this were Mando forces that refused to call off the war, though Red Scythe recruited many of them into their fold.
When the Revan-led Sith Fleet attacked the weak Republic, New Duro again showed it was not letting itself be taken, and this time, the Mandos added their strength to the battle on New Duro's side.
Revan was a brilliant strategist and instead of attacking New Duro head-on after seeing from some test attacks that defence was being fierce, he instead circled it and established a supply blockade, trying to wither it down while he tackled more pressing objectives.
During this time, Tracyn learned from their old neighbour and started building defence after defence, abusing the huge deposits of heavy metals on their moon and turning their small moon into an small self-sufficient fortress.
After that the war came and went, and the Mando's of Tracyn solidified their presence on the system, becoming engrained on the commercial disputes of New Duro, and keeping the system safe for an adequate price.
When the Great War came about the Mando's from Tracyn distrusted the call from the false Mandalore, but offered his armies weapons and fighters from it's autoforges. When the Sith Empire took Corusant, the Furan System was ceded to the Empire and the Mando's from Tracyn kept their commercial deals with the System's new masters.
However while business was good, their Sith employers were to insane and arbitrary, growing more and more violent towards the population of the system, Tracyn included, in their desperate attempts to quell the growing resistance movement. When the second Great War started and Republic forces did a push for the Furan system, Red Scythe aimed their guns at the Sith command ships and offed the Sith commanders in on the systems battlecruisers, taking it for themselves.
After accepting a contract from Republic command they proceeded to clean up the system from Sith and random bandits.
They stayed in this renewed position till modern times, right till before the Civil War erupted.
While there are dozens of clans represented on Tracyn, three clans have a special weight and control most of the council of elders. The clans are:
- Clan Kander: Something of a young mandalorian clan, they were formed out of different neo-crusader recruits in the Mandalorian Wars. The Clan structure is designed around the military structure of their original siege unit, and it's mostly compromised of Humans, since they were the majority and the ones that had it easier to find mates and procreate.
They are the biggest clan in the system, and control most of Red Scythe. Their fortress city, Cabur, is the nominal capital of the moon. It's a huge fortress that in the distance appears like 5 spikes protruding from the ground.
The Clan elder is Parjai Kander, an old but still powerful warrior that most of the clansmen look up to, even if they disagree with him. He's a staunch defender of the Status Quo, believing that with their current way the clans under his protection have thrived, found battles and survived in the face of difficult odds.
- Clan Stormcaller: A mainly Togorian clan, not quite as populous as clan Kander, but because of their long line of ferocious and powerful warriors, rank second in power in the politics of Tracyr.
Clan Stormcaller nominally supports the current stance of Parjai Kander, and consider him battlemaster, however, more and more dissenting voices in the clan claim that they should launch a crusade or at least an small war, in search of proper battles and honor, instead of working as overpaid policemen.
Murrar Stormcaller is the clanmaster. He's a huge, elder togorian that could probably split a man in two just with his hands. He has a fame for being unstable and violent, but surprisingly cool under fire and with a keen tactical mind that his appearance hides well. He was defeated decades ago by Parjai in the ring of honor, were he swore loyalty to him as battlemaster. Some of the voices of the younger and more rowdy generation say that the duel should be rematched, as many would prefer the aggressive Murrar as leader.
[Unfinished, will finish at a later date]
The system Furan and it's capital New Duro
The system Furan is found in the Corellian Spine, it's the last inhabited world before one reaches the agreed end of the Mid Rim and delves into the Outer Rim.
It's a peculiar place, colonized millennia ago by duros and humans running away from the "Hundred-Year Darkness" that devoured the Galaxy.
The first world to be inhabited by them was found by duros explorers that named it New Duro because of it's uncanny similarity with their home world. It's the third world from their sun, and it's fairly tame weather wise, with a myriad of climates and with settlements everywhere from their scorching equator to it's freezing poles. Ironically enough, after the almost obliteration of Duro in the Mandalorian Wars, it's probably the last place in the Galaxy that has some of the fauna and flora of Duro, brought here from their world by the original colonists.
The planet was sparsely populated until corellian merchants extended the Corellian Spine downwards searching for more exotic riches on the Outer Rim, and deciding that the world was in a prime position to act as a merchant port for their breathtakingly immense trading fleet.
The planet's population boomed and trading companies opened thousands of hubs on the ground and stations in orbit to service the growing number of spacers and new colonists. The planet had no global authority whatsoever and merchant conflicts, racketeering and dissent between natives and newcomers was growing in number and effect, the Republic had to step in to establish some semblance of order before tensions could rise more, so they moved some bureaucrats in and created the Furan's System Trading Authority (FSTA). The Authority, as locals call it, serves as a mix between a parliament and a board of directors, acting as arbiter in the myriad of commercial operations in the system and giving the locals some degree of representation in the organization of the system. This makes New Duro an extremely confusing world for newcomers, there's not a proper "order" around as one would expect it, security forces are hired through FSTA contracts agreed by majority in their chambers and can change rapidly, though usually the same company holds a contract for decades and sometimes centuries. The same goes for sanitary installations, infrastructure, etc... The only thing under absolute control by the FTSA is the Justice system, and the Mercantile Court stands almost as big and tall as the Parliament.
When the Republic established the FSTA the planet's urban centers where an infrastructure nightmare with badly defined residential and industrial areas, so none of them were suited as a proper capital, thus they founded a new city, the now-days metroplex of Nao Sang, a monstrously big urban sprawl in which almost 1 billion souls of different species find their home and about 300 million visit everyday.
This is where the FSTA parlament and courts rest, as well as the main spaceport, one of the biggest in the Corellian Spine and probably the biggest on the Mid Rim. The city has a bizarre architecture, with Alderaanian style palaces resting against Verpine hives, and while it's main streets and repulsor ways are clear and well defined taking a turn into the side roads can quickly turn into a navigational nightmare without the help of digital (or local) aids.
During it's history, the planet was hit in almost all major conflicts, defending better or worse depending on the circumstances. In the Great Sith War, the planet was conquered by a combined force of Krath and Mandalorian marauders, causing untold damage to it. During the Mandalorian Wars the system held it's ground against the Mandos for the whole of the conflict, fortifying more and more until the war was over, with the assaulting Mandos resettling into the system with interesting consequences in the following centuries. The system was under Sith control during the Cold War, and the Sith used it as staging ground for their fleet as they moved from the Outer to the Mid Rim.
Many Jedi were born in the system, and many fought on the different conflicts that engulfed it during it's almost three thousand years of history. On the closest in time that happened, a group of Jedi when against the orders wishes and infiltrated the planet, brewing a huge rebellion that toppled Sith rule and cut off one of their biggest supply lines, aiding greatly in the Republics ultimate victory.
This has left a huge impression in the worlds inhabitants, Jedi are seen as larger than life heros, winning battles singlehandedly against hundreds or even thousands of opponents, their most peaceful and sometimes even monk-like customs sidelined to the point that many locals would be surprised to meet a real Jedi.
While criminality is somewhat controled in most of the population centers and life standarts are mid-high per Republic standars, there is a powerful underworld lurking in the shadows. The system is close to the Hutts, and many have both legal and ilegal operations on it, which sometimes puts them at odds with each other and other power players in the system. Conflicts of this kind usually stay in the shadows and are resolved through blackmailing, threatening and violence in dark alleys and old dilapidated buildings. Sometimes however, conflicts scalate and all out gang wars occur, there hasn't been one in decades, but one never knows what's brewing behind the scenes...
It's a peculiar place, colonized millennia ago by duros and humans running away from the "Hundred-Year Darkness" that devoured the Galaxy.
The first world to be inhabited by them was found by duros explorers that named it New Duro because of it's uncanny similarity with their home world. It's the third world from their sun, and it's fairly tame weather wise, with a myriad of climates and with settlements everywhere from their scorching equator to it's freezing poles. Ironically enough, after the almost obliteration of Duro in the Mandalorian Wars, it's probably the last place in the Galaxy that has some of the fauna and flora of Duro, brought here from their world by the original colonists.
The planet was sparsely populated until corellian merchants extended the Corellian Spine downwards searching for more exotic riches on the Outer Rim, and deciding that the world was in a prime position to act as a merchant port for their breathtakingly immense trading fleet.
The planet's population boomed and trading companies opened thousands of hubs on the ground and stations in orbit to service the growing number of spacers and new colonists. The planet had no global authority whatsoever and merchant conflicts, racketeering and dissent between natives and newcomers was growing in number and effect, the Republic had to step in to establish some semblance of order before tensions could rise more, so they moved some bureaucrats in and created the Furan's System Trading Authority (FSTA). The Authority, as locals call it, serves as a mix between a parliament and a board of directors, acting as arbiter in the myriad of commercial operations in the system and giving the locals some degree of representation in the organization of the system. This makes New Duro an extremely confusing world for newcomers, there's not a proper "order" around as one would expect it, security forces are hired through FSTA contracts agreed by majority in their chambers and can change rapidly, though usually the same company holds a contract for decades and sometimes centuries. The same goes for sanitary installations, infrastructure, etc... The only thing under absolute control by the FTSA is the Justice system, and the Mercantile Court stands almost as big and tall as the Parliament.
When the Republic established the FSTA the planet's urban centers where an infrastructure nightmare with badly defined residential and industrial areas, so none of them were suited as a proper capital, thus they founded a new city, the now-days metroplex of Nao Sang, a monstrously big urban sprawl in which almost 1 billion souls of different species find their home and about 300 million visit everyday.
This is where the FSTA parlament and courts rest, as well as the main spaceport, one of the biggest in the Corellian Spine and probably the biggest on the Mid Rim. The city has a bizarre architecture, with Alderaanian style palaces resting against Verpine hives, and while it's main streets and repulsor ways are clear and well defined taking a turn into the side roads can quickly turn into a navigational nightmare without the help of digital (or local) aids.
During it's history, the planet was hit in almost all major conflicts, defending better or worse depending on the circumstances. In the Great Sith War, the planet was conquered by a combined force of Krath and Mandalorian marauders, causing untold damage to it. During the Mandalorian Wars the system held it's ground against the Mandos for the whole of the conflict, fortifying more and more until the war was over, with the assaulting Mandos resettling into the system with interesting consequences in the following centuries. The system was under Sith control during the Cold War, and the Sith used it as staging ground for their fleet as they moved from the Outer to the Mid Rim.
Many Jedi were born in the system, and many fought on the different conflicts that engulfed it during it's almost three thousand years of history. On the closest in time that happened, a group of Jedi when against the orders wishes and infiltrated the planet, brewing a huge rebellion that toppled Sith rule and cut off one of their biggest supply lines, aiding greatly in the Republics ultimate victory.
This has left a huge impression in the worlds inhabitants, Jedi are seen as larger than life heros, winning battles singlehandedly against hundreds or even thousands of opponents, their most peaceful and sometimes even monk-like customs sidelined to the point that many locals would be surprised to meet a real Jedi.
While criminality is somewhat controled in most of the population centers and life standarts are mid-high per Republic standars, there is a powerful underworld lurking in the shadows. The system is close to the Hutts, and many have both legal and ilegal operations on it, which sometimes puts them at odds with each other and other power players in the system. Conflicts of this kind usually stay in the shadows and are resolved through blackmailing, threatening and violence in dark alleys and old dilapidated buildings. Sometimes however, conflicts scalate and all out gang wars occur, there hasn't been one in decades, but one never knows what's brewing behind the scenes...
General rules for the game
General rules:
- Start at level 3, I generally accept any combo or race+class as long as you can give me a good justification/background for it.
- Only one Jedi, if at all. You can decide who get's it in any way you want, let the bloodbath begin :)
- This is not a rule but for your own benefit, know how to fight and try to have at least two useful out of fight skills, you can negotiate who get's what with the rest of the party.
- Everybody will have a "secret background" or "secret objective" that will be secret (duh) to the rest of the party at the beginning but that will help bring the group together and maybe keep things interesting afterwards. This background will be negotiated with me, I'll try to give you what I think works best and then we can work a compromise.
- Equipment wise I won't forbid anything for now, so use your starting funds without fear. Do please use your heads when you buy stuff!! The equipment must make sense for the character! Also, remember the particular laws and customs of the planet as stated above!
- I apply the 0.75 rule, which means that All classes that get 75% of their level to BAB get 0.75 BAB per level. What this means is that if you (for example) get a level of Scondrel and Noble, instead of a BAB of 0 (0 from 1st level Sco and 0 from 1st level Nob) you actually have 1.5 (0.75 + 0.75). This is so you're less afraid of multiclassing into non-combat classes. As long as it makes sense, go nuts and take all the missmatch of levels you want.
- 28 points, standard buying rules apply.
- Max starting creds + 7500.
- 1/2 Hit Die +1 + Con bonus (so a Soldier with CON 12 would get, 10/2= 5 + 1 = 6 + 1 = 7 HP per level).
- Skills you gain because of your INT bonus can be spent on ANY SKILLS, you're not limited to your class skills.
- The Climb, Jump and Swim skills become a single skill called Athletics.
- Start at level 3, I generally accept any combo or race+class as long as you can give me a good justification/background for it.
- Only one Jedi, if at all. You can decide who get's it in any way you want, let the bloodbath begin :)
- This is not a rule but for your own benefit, know how to fight and try to have at least two useful out of fight skills, you can negotiate who get's what with the rest of the party.
- Everybody will have a "secret background" or "secret objective" that will be secret (duh) to the rest of the party at the beginning but that will help bring the group together and maybe keep things interesting afterwards. This background will be negotiated with me, I'll try to give you what I think works best and then we can work a compromise.
- Equipment wise I won't forbid anything for now, so use your starting funds without fear. Do please use your heads when you buy stuff!! The equipment must make sense for the character! Also, remember the particular laws and customs of the planet as stated above!
- I apply the 0.75 rule, which means that All classes that get 75% of their level to BAB get 0.75 BAB per level. What this means is that if you (for example) get a level of Scondrel and Noble, instead of a BAB of 0 (0 from 1st level Sco and 0 from 1st level Nob) you actually have 1.5 (0.75 + 0.75). This is so you're less afraid of multiclassing into non-combat classes. As long as it makes sense, go nuts and take all the missmatch of levels you want.
- 28 points, standard buying rules apply.
- Max starting creds + 7500.
- 1/2 Hit Die +1 + Con bonus (so a Soldier with CON 12 would get, 10/2= 5 + 1 = 6 + 1 = 7 HP per level).
- Skills you gain because of your INT bonus can be spent on ANY SKILLS, you're not limited to your class skills.
- The Climb, Jump and Swim skills become a single skill called Athletics.
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