Need help with a campaign element

[OTS]

Not sure if this should go here or in Homebrews-but here goes.

Setting: The premise is that an FTL/space drive was invented immediately after WW2; the engine is based on a simple concept never pursued in our own. (modified FTL Now campaign setting)

Politically, events continued in a lockstep to our own, except that the Cold War fueled space exploration and the establishment of colonies on Luna, Mars, and out-system worlds. When the Cold War ended, so did colonial efforts as well-its been 14 years since a new colony was founded. There are perhaps 20 million people living outside the Sol system, and around 8 million off Earth in the Sol system.

9/11 never happened.

In First World nations the power grid is based on huge satellites beaming down power to collection grids. Cars are mostly electric, and a growing (but small) percentage are ground-effect. Waterborne ships still serve the Third World; jet engines likewise are still seen there. Weapons tech has just reached caseless, and medical tech is about a decade ahead of today, but otherwise things are pretty much as today.

Space navies are exactly the same as those we have today, in terms of ship types and capabilities (The Royal Navy has two small CVs, no cruisers, etc).

Premise: An outbreak of what comes to be known as the 618 virus (blood-saliva borne) erupts in NYNY, LA, Capitol of Brazil, Paris, Athens, Moscow, Bombay (I use the proper name in the set-up, but forget it here), Beijing, and Tokyo. The virus kills the young (below 15), the old, and the infirm. Those who survive it (known as POCIS), are akin to 28 Days/Weeks later (primitive sociopath), except that 15% retain varying degrees of intelligence. They cannot pass for normal, but they are cunning, and the less-bright obey them. No POCIS can speak, or use any but very simple tools. This is a simplistic description. There is no cure for people who are infected, and the disease takes 24 hours (in two phases, one six hours, the other eighteen, hence the name).

The government has suspended habeas Corpus and is shooting infected people. The gov't is setting up safe zones, and evacuating people into them, surrounded by miles-deep free-fire zones.

Several fringe and radical groups are in armed opposition to gov't operations, for reasons ranging from the left to the right to the lunatic fringe. Plus the usual criminal exploitation of the situation.

First World nations have snapped up virtually every FTL and waterborne ship belonging to the Third World to further their own evacuation and counter-POCIS operations. With one or two exceptions, the Third World is toast.

Outside major population centers, the USA is not completely over-run, but the virus in uncontainable; the secure power grid helps a great deal, as does the industrial capability that is in orbit. However, the time is fast approaching when all uninfected population will have to be within secured perimeters. Fortunately, the POCIS are fairly useless against dug-in troops, and helpless before mechanized or armored units.

Situation: We are 11 sessions into the campaign, with 40+ to go. The PCs have reached a safe zone, been hired as salvage operators for a corporation with an out-sourced gov't contract, have recovered a small starship (a small on-off container ship, using Noble Armada's excellent deck plans), recovered their families, and are running missions in support of their corp's salvage contract.

The PCs have rather innocently started (in-game) Web sites to document their fame; an incident just occurred which will cause this mild self-promotion to mushroom into moderate fame; not rock-star famous, but rather Net-famous.

I figure the result of this will be some independent wanting to do a documentary on the PCs, follow them around getting live footage, that sort of thing. The PCs will be inclined to cooperate, as the corp likes good publicity, and the PCs are interested in being the #1 crew in the Corp (they are in the top 5 at the moment).

Thus, I have the opportunity to place an NPC of a completely different background (the PCs are all middle-lower class, well-played) into the campaign in such a fashion that the players will not resent or work against him.

My problem is this: how to use the NPC? The PCs will be expecting some hyper-educated geek who will endlessly place himself, and therefore the PCs, at risk, so I want to avoid that. What I would like would be for the NPC  to increase the already high levels of role-play, but I'm unsure exactly how.

Any input?


The campaign support site is here:
http://coldcitysw.blogspot.com/

[Nomadic]

Give em a bear grylls style reporter (maybe not so extreme but of that caliber). The rugged and wilderness wise person who can take care of themselves. They may not be near as effective in a fight as a soldier but they won't likely stumble into things and get everyone killed (and they can actually offer survival advice that could keep them alive). Pre-virus he could very well have been just that. A nature/humanitarian documentarian. One of the guys that goes out into the field in the wilderness or the third world and records and reports on life and conditions for the local people and animals.