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Ultimate spaceship

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Tue, 2013-07-30 04:58
#1
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Ultimate spaceship
In one of my campaigns an ultimate spaceship has come up; I would love to flesh out more about it, its crew and various things they are up to. The PCs will likely get on-board (they are under Ultimate Security protection, and a "friendly" NPC has helpfully unleashed a deadly stalker-assassin that will very plausibly force them to escape on the ship). Known facts: the ship is called Hyparxis. It is currently docked on Extropia en route to the Europa in the Jupiter system. Onboard is Ducta Irina Ermolova, the person involved with the current campaign McGuffin. Who else is on-board, and what are their roles and motivations? What about the ship design? What is its armaments? What are the aims of the Ultimates in the Jovian system? What kind of lady is the Ducta?
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Extropian
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Mon, 2013-08-05 08:56
Decivre Decivre's picture
Arenamontanus wrote:Who else
Arenamontanus wrote:
Who else is on-board, and what are their roles and motivations?
Jenis Auland, senior researcher for Somatek. She won't discuss what she's doing, but a cursory examination of her credentials will leave the PCs knowing that she specializes in smart animal design. Mikael, a mononymic politician-celebrity who simultaneously supports the Blue Bloc and the Consortium. He's returning from a business trip at the Inner System.
Arenamontanus wrote:
What about the ship design? What is its armaments?
A standard transport ship, the Hyparxis has been outfitted with a luxury section for VIP customers. It makes a regular run out to Europan orbit and back in to Mars, making hab stops in-between. It is equipped with vehicle-scale railgun turrets on the top, bottom, left and right side, as well as a HEAP seeker launcher; all after-market modifications made after Jovian attacks on ComEx ships went public.
Arenamontanus wrote:
What are the aims of the Ultimates in the Jovian system?
I actually see the Ultimates having a decent foothold on the edges of Jovian space. Transhumans who are wary of the Jovians will likely hire protection out of fear, and the Ultimates are capitalists who will more than oblige for profits. It doubles as both a great marketing and profit opportunity for them to exploit other people's fears of the Junta.
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Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
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Mon, 2013-08-05 15:59
Erenthia Erenthia's picture
I'm going to take a top-down
I'm going to take a top-down approach on this. What is the relationship between the Ultimates and the Jovians? I don't imagine the Jovians take a special notice of the Ultimates since they're just another brand of freak, but I think the Ultimates would probably be somewhat offended by Jovian philosophy. Perhaps they want to reiterate the Universes number 1 rule (according to them) that the weak die and the strong survive. To that end, I could see a group of Ultimates not only engaging in terrorist activities against the Jovians, but turning it into a sort of competition. They would all be equipped with Emergency Farcasters, and the rule would be "the one who causes the most destruction wins". They might also have a strict noninterference policy with each-other since if they wanted to know which one could kill the other they wouldn't have to leave home. This could get [i]really[/i] bad, since the Jovian government might use it as an excuse to attack Titan and start a system wide shooting war. The PC would probably offer economic aid to the Jovians since they already have something of a relationship and knocking out Titan would let them wipe out Locus. Anyway, the Ultimates were actually on Extropia to buy systems that will let them sneak certain kinds of tech past Jovian sensors (or perhaps to arrange for bribes). On Europa they will purchase fake identities with which they will purchase transit to Ganymede. Once there they will begin a campaign of wide-spread destruction and terror in the city of Liberty. Each of the Ultimates has his own special way of driving home their idea of Jovian weakness. Their core message? "There can be no Liberty without Power"
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The end really is coming. What comes after that is anyone's guess.
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Tue, 2013-08-06 10:27
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Interesting, I see a mix here
Interesting, I see a mix here of three very different agendas: the Ultimates acting as a very well-protected VIP transport service for certain people (likely a great way of getting around with minimal media attention), Ultimates messing with the Jovians, and the internal campaign-relevant plot which has nothing to do with either. I think the mess with Jovian activity is not official policy: bad for business, possibly bad for image. Still, if some youngsters want to show off and learn things the hard way, why not let them? Meanwhile, this might get certain habitats like Hyoden interested in hiring real security. Transporting VIPs is of course just one part of what Hyparxis does: it is a general transport ship, since Ultimate operations does require a lot of personnel and equipment transports. Whoever thought placing your headquarters in the far outer system was a good idea? That allows for some "smuggling" and arms trade. I get the feeling there are some fairly mercantile Ultimates running this aspect: Ultimate Security might get the headlines, but Ultimate Logistics has some edges even on ComEx.
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Tue, 2013-08-06 12:25
Decivre Decivre's picture
Arenamontanus wrote:I think
Arenamontanus wrote:
I think the mess with Jovian activity is not official policy: bad for business, possibly bad for image. Still, if some youngsters want to show off and learn things the hard way, why not let them? Meanwhile, this might get certain habitats like Hyoden interested in hiring real security.
I don't really see it as messing with the Jovians. The Jovians likely don't interfere with incoming ships other than to occasionally harass them for contraband and shipment tariffs. The Ultimates that are present are mostly for show, acting as formal escort to turn an easy profit by easing the fears of tourists heading to Europa. Natives likely rarely ever hire them, as they don't fear the Jovians as much.
Arenamontanus wrote:
Transporting VIPs is of course just one part of what Hyparxis does: it is a general transport ship, since Ultimate operations does require a lot of personnel and equipment transports. Whoever thought placing your headquarters in the far outer system was a good idea? That allows for some "smuggling" and arms trade. I get the feeling there are some fairly mercantile Ultimates running this aspect: Ultimate Security might get the headlines, but Ultimate Logistics has some edges even on ComEx.
I imagine that the Ultimates have research stations in every corner of the system. The Ultimates are always researching the cutting edge of biology, striving further for human perfection (as a path, not a goal). Europa offers the perfect environment for testing extremophile traits, which could potentially be implemented in future implant and morph designs. Furthermore, the extreme conditions on Europa make it a great training ground for outer-system excursions. I suspect that the Ultimates partly use the security detail as a front for training aspirants in Europa's climes, perhaps to prepare them for a tour to Discord.
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Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
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