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Trading/Selling Egos and Dealing with the Ego-trading Taboo.

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Sun, 2013-03-31 13:22

chasseurnoir chasseurnoir's picture

Trading/Selling Egos and Dealing with the Ego-trading Taboo.

Hi everyone, I began a campaign as a GM and a big problem have raised my attention. First of all, I've to explain the particular setting of my campaign. I Hate Firewall and I don't wanted to make a campaign based on Firewall. So I choose to bind my players together with another force, A Seed AI named Amon-Rah. Amon-Rah is not a TITAN and have not been infected by the exsurgent. His aim is, as he said to the PCs, to understand the Fall. That's for the setting. One of my players is a Nine Lives' ego-thefter. He stole every killed NPCs Cortical Stacks and gave them to nine lives. Gave ? Yes, because I don't know wich amount of Creds or Rep he would gains. Anyway, He had the good idea to pride himself about being an agent of an seed IA When he was in Legba, the station core of Nine lives. And then, He have no idea of wich person, faction he have to sell his cortical stacks. And me too... He have a contact with a night Cartel guy with his G-Rep. Any Ideas of wich people would buy egos and how much creds or rep it will cost ? The other question is how to deal with my PCs I-dont-care-ness about the fact they are using egos as currencies ?

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Let's make a contract

Mon, 2013-04-01 10:22

Ranxerox

There is not going to be a single answer to this.

It is going to depend on the ego that is being sold and where it's being sold. Ego's value can come from ransom value to their loved ones or employers. Their employers rivals may also be willing in some cases to pay money for the ego. People with no connection to ego may be willing pay for it or a fork of it if the ego has unusual knowledge or skills. People looking for victims will pay for egos that match their favorite subject of torment - children, young women, mothers, whatever. Location is the the other thing that I see as a big factor in determining price. Simply put the greater the taboo and the penalties for trafficking in egos the more expensive they will be. Though as a corollary to this, the greater the penalties, the fewer potential buyers will be in the game and the more picky those buyers are likely to be. So what does this mean in practical terms? It means that if your Nine Lives ego thief grabs the cortical stack of some two-bit thug who tried to mug him, he is likely to find the ego pretty much worthless. Who wants to pay for some dime a dozen mook? On the other hand the cortical stack of a high executive of a hypercorp might be worth millions of credits to his hypercorp or that of a rival. A family might scrap together hundred of thousands of credits for the ego of a beloved patriarch or matriarch. More typical ego bounties are probably are probably in the line of 10 to 30k. In any event, expect Nine Lives to keep keep two thirds or more of the cut. As for your other question, just roleplay out the consequences to their choices and don't hold back just because they are PCs. Ego trafficking is highly illegal most habitats, and while Nine Lives can give them some shelter, most of the responsibility for not getting caught will fall on the PCs. So unless the PCs are smooth enough not to leave clues, they are likely in time to find the noose of justice closing in around them. Even if they can keep ahead of the law, by joining Nine Lives they have thrown their lives in with sociopaths and their are downsides to that too. Let the PCs be cheated, lied to and extorted by their "friends". It comes with the territory after all.

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Mon, 2013-04-01 06:12

Smokeskin

PCs who should be horrified

PCs who should be horrified at stealing egos and selling them off to a gruesome future existence should suffer a lot of Stress from the guilt they'd feel at looking the other way and working with such a person. Also, an ego-thefter will be used to having to conduct his trade secretly. If the group is opposed to it, he will steal egos covertly when the rewards measure up to the risk. There's no reason the group can't function.

Mon, 2013-04-01 17:18

NewtonPulsifer NewtonPulsifer's picture

Unencrycpted cortical stacks

Unencrycpted cortical stacks never made sense to me, so they're not very common in my EP universe. http://eclipsephase.com/are-cortical-stacks-encrypted This of course undermines the rationale of Nine Lives trading in cortical stacks. They'd be trading in ego copies raided from sleeving/insurance/backup facilities that have been hacked, I suppose. It's your EP universe, so of course do what's fun. I'm OCD about self-consistent universes, so I'm compelled to make sense of (or make an attempt at hand waving) every inconsistency.

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto

Tue, 2013-04-02 00:50

jhfurnish

chasseurnoir wrote:Any Ideas

chasseurnoir wrote:
Any Ideas of wich people would buy egos and how much creds or rep it will cost ? The other question is how to deal with my PCs I-dont-care-ness about the fact they are using egos as currencies ?

People who buy egos would be some kind of slaver; someone with a need for specific skills at his/her absolute disposal (total control); someone experimenting with some sick psychosurgery. To depict the morality of characters who are numb to the inherent evils of ego trading, I would say you have to establish what they DO care about, and contrast their diligence in providing for THAT THING (which is probably wealth in whatever form, or perhaps simple survival) vs. the morality of normal people in society. This is probably done most easily by having them play with the mentality of _pirates_, who have a completely different morality than anyone else (namely sociopathic) and were about survival, adventure and profit above all. Self-interest all the way. Arrrr!

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