Mass Effect PbP: -ALWAYS- RECRUITING!

[Elemental_Elf]

[ooc]The four of you are employees of T'Parn Security and Investigations Firm. Each of you has proven yourself worthy to be admitted into the elite corps of the company, called the Varrens. The Varrens are accountable only to the President of T'Soki-Wilhelm-Merosyndar Holdings Corporation (currently Karl Von Geld). The elite corps is often used for missions that require equal parts brain and brawn, including assignments few in the galaxy could ever dream of completing. "You are the best of the best, no doubt about it," at least that's what the Drell CEO, Dolo Dikos, said when he promoted you. [/ooc]

[LD]

[ic=Lini'Leera]
"Really now? Really? Some Boshtet code monkey saw me on the T'Parn Sec Network, and this is how they try to screw me?"

Lini looked down at the email; a contract of adhesion. It wouldn't stand up in any court of law--it was clearly one filled with duress, clicking no certainly activated a "doomsday virus" that would revoke her Passport, scramble her identity and destroy her credit.

"I can recover from this." Lini'Leera mused. "Best way to get out of a Boshtet pit is to crack more."

"Then again." Lini'Leera read the lines of code again, following the Firm's indication of how they tracked her through their network, and a trail of where she had been on a bevy of Illium's networks for the past few months. "They managed to latch on to three of my five identities and they went around the firewall of my logic bomb without setting it off--that's gutsy."

Her eyes sparkled.

"That's interesting."

She read the offer more closely.

"All right 'Archimedes', I'll accept. Let's just hope your little 'bathtub of inspiration' doesn't drain out before we've 'Gone a 'Roving' into the night and made Volus-sized shipmentloads of cash. Besides," she laughed, "It's not like I actually have to follow any contract to the letter; I'll just hack to adjust."

She got out a second OmniTool, entered the Sec Network's systems, changed a few words, then laughed and went back to the original contract--which updated. She then clicked accept. Leaning back, she reflected on the words in the PS. Archimedes' words were strange, like a sort of code, but before entering into decryption mode, she ran a SubNet search on her backup OmniTool.

"Human poem that." She frowned. "Ugh. Bested by a human." A chill ran down her spine. "-Least it wasn't a Krogan."


[/ic]

[Ninja D!]

Sounds like a good starting point. Will it be one mission to the next, totally unrelated, or will there be some story going through all of it? I'd hope for the latter but a blend of the two would be best.

It looks like it get to pick another feat now. Yay!

I statted up a Soldier 2 but I'm a little tempted to make that a Soldier 1 / Noble 1 with Wealth for the extra regular income. Good gear is damn expensive.

[Elemental_Elf]

@Light Dragon: I'm really diggin' your IC passages!

@Nomadic: I'd say a mix of the two. If every mission dealt with the over arching meta-plot, it might get a bit boring. Similarly if every story was unconnected, that too would be boring. So a healthy mix of the two is best (IMO). :)

Don't forget the Noble gets the Linguist Feat for free, which can be very fun :)

EDIT: One house rule of note - I do not enforce the "confirming criticals" rule. If you roll a nat 20 you better believe you do critical damage!

[CoyoteCamouflage]

[ic=Kai Rijinder]
"So someone wants me bad enough to go through the trouble of actually tracking me down and composing a letter that would make a Krogan's head explode. I wonder why?" The question was rhetorical, yet there was no one else present to hear the spoken words. The speaker's teeth clamped down on an unlit cigar. He considered the glass of Terran Scotch sitting on the small table beside him before removing the cigar. Real tobacco. Much too good to waste here and now. He placed it back in its case and back safely into his coat pocket.

As he pondered this latest development, the newest trend of Techno music played at a steady, hypnotic beat outside of his private booth. Night clubs, with their overly loud, terrible music, had never featured high on his list of welcome locations. But there was no denying the usefulness of the place-- public, but far more private than most suspected, and in that same vague twilight of mistaken certainty is where much of his skills lay.

He took a quiet sip of Scotch, savoring the Terran delicacy-- it had cost a small fortune to get a bottle from Earth, but considering it hadn't been his money at the time, he considered it quite the steal.

"T'Parn Security and Investigation." He spoke the name aloud, tasting the spoken name as he would a new drink. "I wonder, just how much do you know, hmm? You must know the official details, of course," he speaks to the message displaying on his omni-tool as if it were a person right beside him. "But I am curious about just how much you know about what really happened. To me, and what I've been up to since they cut me loose." He grins broadly and shakes his head with a sharp laugh, his blonde hair flashing messily with the act. "Or perhaps you simply understand the kinds of 'marketable skills' they teach us in the military these days."

He downs the final measure of his drink and sighs wistfully. "And you have ships. Maybe this won't be so terrible after all."

He reaches over and presses a button near the door. In a few seconds, it opens, revealing a smiling-- and in Kai's opinion, scantily clad-- human server.

"What do you need, Mr. Riggy'ander?"

He couldn't help but laugh at the complete butchering of his given name. The server smiled slightly in response, but otherwise gave away nothing else by her reaction. He had been coming here for months now, and still, the accents these spacers spoke in seemed to preclude them from anything remotely close to his actual name. Perhaps it was more accurate to call it a form of game by now. Much to his chagrin, such a triviality had proven a fun diversion. Apparently, much entertaining of life did come down to the small things in it.

"I'll be closing down my tab today, Miri. It seems that I am to be taking my business off-station for awhile, and I do not know when I will be returning."

"Ah, of course, Mr. Riggy'ander. I will inform Lynn, and she will be here shortly with the bill due."

Kai nodded politely to the woman as she turned to seek someone above her pay-grade, then he leaned back in his chair and wondered if this was going to be a better run than the last time. The Varrens-- a juvenile attempt to seem scary, surely-- but answering only to the president? Very interesting. Maybe this was what he had been waiting for-- but would it prove to be his big break or the next-closest thing to a firing squad? His guess was as good as anyone's, but he'd be damn sure to try to skew the odds however he could along the way.

Now his potential would not be restricted by the incompetence of those having a greater rank than he. Redemption? Justice? Are those what he wants from this? Does any of it really matter in the end? There is only one way he is going to find out.

"Officier aan dek..."
[/ic]

[ooc=Character Sheet]
Kai (KIE) Rijinder
Medium Humanoid
Human Noble 2

Strength 10
Dexterity 14
Constitution 10
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 12
Charisma 17

Hit Points 18+1d6
Damage Threshold: 12

Defense
Fortitude 12
Reflex 17
Will 15

Shield Rating 5

Base Attack Bonus +1
Combat Knife +1, 1d4
"Noisy Cricket" (Hold-Out Blaster), +3, 3d4
M-29 Incisor (Hunting Blaster Carbine), +3 3d8 (3d10 Critical)

Speed 6 squares

Skills
Trained: Deception +14 (+19 Disguise/Forgery), Gather Information +9, K (Bureaucracy) +8, K (Social Sciences) +8, K (Tactics) +8, Persuasion +9, Pilot +8, Use Computer +8.

Feats
Linguist, Master of Disguise, Skill Focus (Deception), Armor Proficiency (Light), Weapon Proficiency (Pistol, Rifle, Simple)


Talents
Get Into Position

Languages
Batarian, Common, Frisian, Krogan, Quarian, Salarian, Turian


Equipment
Combat Jumpsuit + Climbing Claws
Hunting Carbine + Rangefinder + Targeting Scope
Short-Range Commlink (Video)
Pocket Scrambler
Utility Belt
All-Temp Cloak
Omni-Tool
Camouflage Poncho
465 Credits
[/ooc]

[Ninja D!]

I may move a lot but I'm not quite a nomad.

Oh hey, more languages opens up access to more women. I might do that. Maybe make Noble my first class for even more wealth.

[Ninja D!]

This character concept started with the personality more than anything else. I may be playing an Asari but this Asari is being played like a man. A manly man.

A solid history and firm motivations are now forming around that personality. I'll have to write two versions of this character's background. One with details that I'll send to EE and one that will be more about reputation for everyone to see. Of course, the company is likely to know the details so they could probably bee easily found by any tech people. That and they should come out over time.

I hope this game doesn't die out quickly like most play-by-post games. That's the main reason I want to get going with it -- many die before they start.

[Ninja D!]

Oh yeah, can we get an exact starting year?

[Elemental_Elf]

The exact date is January 12th, 2184.

[LD]

EE- Thank you. General inspiration has come from this mess:
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2011/06/dox-everywhere-lulzsec-under-attack-from-hackers-law-enforcement.ars
and my hackpunk setting http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?71239


---
Also of note generally in 2184: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Raloi. Wispy's race has arrived on the galactic scene :o

"The raloi are an avian species originating on the planet Turvess, who made first contact with the asari in 2184 after launching their first space telescope and discovering the asari cruiser Azedes in their system. "

"Little is known about the biology of the raloi except that they are avian in appearance. Due to an outbreak of an alien flu virus among the raloi during the ceremonies held to welcome them to the galactic community, the raloi have to wear environmental suits while in contact with other alien species. "

[Ninja D!]

No Linguist feat for me. I don't meet the prerequisite 13 Intelligence.

I will roll for my level 2 (soldier) HP here, though. [dice]1d10+2[/dice]

[Ninja D!]

Alright, more questions;

Even though we don't work for the Citadel, are we still give the same starting items?

How much do additional medi-gel packs cost?

Will there be anything like Force points or action points?

[Elemental_Elf]

@Light Dragon,  the raloi are pretty cool!

@Ninja D: It has a prereq of 13 INT? Aww :(

Another House Rule: Max HP at every level, no rolling (its so anti-climactic when you roll a 1... And potentially deadly).

Medi-gel Packs are not for sale and are instead provided by the company before a mission. Future equipment will become available that will increase the total number of packs you can store in your Omni-Tool.

You receive the same starting equipment for free.

You begin with the standard number of force points appropriate for your level (so 5 currently).

[Ninja D!]

I've got the secret-ish stuff sent off to EE now. My writing is getting worse as I'm getting more tired. I'm pretty tired now. I'll have a bit of open background / reputation stuff probably tomorrow. I also have a sort of recruitment story for my character, too, that I'll get done up properly then. For now, all I've got to share is:
[ic]Sal is one of the few asari that consider regarding the race as entirely female to be incorrect, preferring to be considered a unique thing among the sapient races -- that is, a race that has no true males or females. While Sal, personally, is usually tolerant of being spoken of using feminine pronouns, calling the tough old warrior a 'woman' is likely to cause annoyance. Using the term 'girl' could result in the speaker finding a bullet in their head, at least on a bad day. Sal considers being referred to as a male little better though accepts that from a stereotypical point of view, that may be more accurate.[/ic]

[Elemental_Elf]

Looks like we're almost ready to start!

Do you think you guys could have everything squared away by saturday?