[Fantasy and Sci-Fi] The Winterwier and Black Hole thread

[Charles Phipps]

Personally, I'd go for "You know what? Let's go into space."

The typical PC party heads into space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfbsZRbwbJ4

Also, Minos really cares nothing for humanity, he's really just an opportunistic bastard who gets his jollies on keeping others down.

Very true.

[Phrozen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7psa_XYpl24

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PjTuSQNLI4

This is more like it a typical PC party going to space.

[Charles Phipps]

Advantages and Disadvantages for Has to be Done Agents

These can be purchased with points as well as taken at the start. Take note, some of these may seem ridiculously out of balance.

That's the point.

The Conspiracy is a place where even Knights (the usual rank for PCs) have a taste of power beyond most people's wildest dreams.

Advantages

+ Blackmail Material: You have a hold on someone. For two points, you have a hold on dozens.

+ Dual-Membership: You can belong to two Factions.

+ Filthy Rich: For the first point, you have access to ten million dollars. For the second, you have access to billions.

+ Gadgets: For every point, you can have a magical or super-tech device.

+ License to Kill: The Conspiracy will clean up any murders or crimes you commit in the course of your duties.

+ Master Interrogator: You get a + 2 to any attempt to get information from someone. This can be torture or small-talk.

+ Mole: You have a source of information in one of the other Factions who will provide you tremendous intelligence and assistance.

+ Omni-Database: You have access to information you could not even begin to comprehend. For 1 point it's a source of massive amounts of mundane classified information. For two points it's the secrets of the Faction.

+ Prison Camp: You have your own Gulag. Seriously. It can be as nice as the Village or as terrible as a creation of Stalin but if you want to store prisoners you capture, this is a safe place to put them.

+ Private Army: You have access to a six man team of killers as backup if you need. For two points, this can be a full-scale attack force you can call in.

+ Puppet: You control someone extraordinarily important like the CEO of a major corporation or a senator. For the second point of this, you can control the President of a country. For three points, you can control the President...of the United States.

+ Requisitions: You have access to Conspiracy-granted weaponry and equipment. For two points, this includes unusual weaponry. Three points includes access to a nuclear bomb if needed.

+ Safe house Access: You have a special headquarters not even the Conspiracy knows about. For two points, you can have a series around the world.

Disadvantages

+ Blackmailed: You have secrets, someone knows them. For one point, it'd ruin your career. For two points, destroy you.

+ Brainwashed: Someone has a hold on you. For 1 point, they can force you to do something like not kill them or temporarilly take control. For 2 points, you are fanatically loyal to them.

Breaking this hold will require character development.

+ Criminal Record: You are, under one of your identities, a criminal and haven't been able to get anyone to expunge it for some reason. It's severe enough people are actively looking for you.

+ Burned: You are out of the Conspiracy. Your associates in the Conspiracy risk themselves associating with you.

+ Enemy: Self-explanatory, someone in the Conspiracy wants you dead.

+ Known: One of the major groups in the real world knows you such as the CIA, FBI, IRA, or whoever. For the second, you're internationally famous in some respect that makes your life difficult.

+ Secrets: Like blackmailed only no one knows it. For one point, it's just there. For two, it's got a huge trail that needs to be cleaned.

+ Sociopath: Human empathy and emotions are difficult for you. This doesn't make you purely evil automatically but makes any social interaction BUT lying and manipulating at a -1 for you.

+ Zealot: You have drunk the Kool-Aid of your Faction, comes in two variants.

[Voltron64]

Got any more ideas for worlds in the Black Hole galaxy?

[Charles Phipps]

Here's another character from the half-completed HTBD manuscript. Thompkins would play a role as a PCs contact and seemingly die at one point (faking his death which he'll state is something the PCs should learn to do on a regular basis).

Thompkins
Sample Knight of the Agency

Thompkins is a fairly typical example of the Conspiracy's Knights, which is to say he's one of the most dangerous people in the world. Like most Knights, he is simultaneously a field operative and a person expected to handle the day-to-day crises that affect the Conspiracy without going to someone above him for instruction. Knight, in many respects, is the rank where most Conspiracy operatives get their first real taste of power.

Thompkins, real name unknown, originally got his start in the most unlikely of places. A member of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), he was wounded during a response against a group of unusually well-equipped terrorists.

Surprisingly, instead of being forced into retirement, Thompkins was given an offer as a consultant for C-SIS. Thompkins immediately proved capable, reliable, and more than a little annoyed at the restrictions placed on him by the government. One of his superiors liked what he saw, though, and gave Thompkins authority to investigate numerous leads which were technically beyond Canadian authority.

Gradually, Thompkins was moved into a supposedly joint CIA-CSIS project called Icicle where he and other citizens like him were trained to eliminate world-wide threats. They repaired his damaged leg and gave him carte blanche authority to eliminate terrorists worldwide.

Thompkins grew disillusioned and unnerved by many of the Room's actions soon after joining. Assembling a large amount of information against them, he became targeted by his superiors, and found himself on the run. With great reluctance, Thompkins eliminated several of his coworkers and found himself willing to sacrifice loved ones in order to bring Icicle down. In the end, he crippled the organization electronically and ended up with its head locked in his trunk.

That's when the Conspiracy had him abducted by aliens.

Technically, bio-engineered "Grays" using human-constructed starships and not aliens at all but he didn't know that at the time.

After a crash course exposure to the weird and unnatural, Thompkins managed to escape and almost made it back to Earth on his own before he was gassed at the last minute by a beautiful fellow prisoner. When he awoke, he was back in his superior's office at C-SIS. The entire ordeal had been an elaborate test on the part of the Agency to see if their chosen candidates had the right stuff to be Knights. Thompkins was the only one to pass, though he lost points at the end for trusting a beautiful woman.

This, by the way, isn't even an uncommon method of becoming a Knight. He's actually pretty middle of the road for the difficulty involved.

Having had his sense of paranoia honed almost to the point of insanity, Thompkins remained sane enough to realize it was an offer he couldn't refuse. Since taking a position as one of the Agency's Black Knights, he's found he has unprecedented power to screw with people's lives. He's by no means one of the most powerful men in the Agency, let alone the Conspiracy, but he's unsettled to know he could have the director of the CIA replaced on a whim.

Being specifically chosen because he wasn't a sociopath, Thompkins is more than a little unsettled by the unchecked power and abuse of the Conspiracy. For the most part, he forces it to the back of his mind and attempts to use his vast resources to try and help people. He attempts to use the Agency's resources to fight terrorists, influence politicians to make benign decisions, and actually support the cause of democracy/freedom in the world.

The fact Thompkins possesses the power to make nation-changing decisions based on his own sense of right and wrong versus political expediency is a drug he's worried about becoming addicted to. It very easily makes him willing to forgive many of the Conspiracy's shortcomings.

Like most members of the Agency, Thompkins loathes Leviathan and the Labyrinth. He considers both to be pretty much the exact sort of people that foster chaos in the world. He's also leery of the Divine Order and Eris being fond of neither religious fanatics or anarchists. Ironically, he has many ideals in common with the later's more moderate members but would never admit it on his own.

He is still new enough to the Agency that conducting operations against the more radical members of the Conspiracy, to the point of assassination, is something he feels he needs to hide. Thompkins would quite surprised to discover this is considered 'business as usual' by his superiors. He's also begun accumulating a rather impressive network of contacts, blackmail material, secrets, bolt-holes, and resources. Which is, again, just standard issue actions for a Knight expected to rise higher in the Conspiracy.

[Charles Phipps]

Got any more ideas for worlds in the Black Hole galaxy?

A few.

I'm open other peoples own.

[Voltron64]

To be clear, what's the rough number of official members in the conspiracy? A few thousand, perhaps?

[Charles Phipps]

To be clear, what's the rough number of official members in the conspiracy? A few thousand, perhaps?

A fairly good estimate.

That would cover the Kings (Masters of the World), Queens (M's Boss), Bishops (M), Knights (Bond), Rooks (Q) and their immediate hangers-on or buddies who don't really have an official place in the food-chain but are vitally important to the Conspiracy running (i.e. Moneypenny).

The level of knowledge people have is also confusing. For example, in the Agency, you might well have a Knight decide to train a bunch of Ninjas and say, "You work for the Agency, a Faction of the Conspiracy" while another insists on a cover organization.

In a very real way, though, it's entirely possible for the PCs alone to eliminate the entire Conspiracy and cause the whole thing to come together because it's a Pyramid that will collapse with no head. PCs are suggested at being started at Knights because that's when they're inducted into the "whole picture" and cease to really be just gamepieces.

Ironic.

[Voltron64]

I'd like to figure that with the Conspiracy gone, Earth can finally head out and explore the stars. That and maybe reunite with their lost brethren in another galaxy.

[Charles Phipps]

I'd like to figure that with the Conspiracy gone, Earth can finally head out and explore the stars. That and maybe reunite with their lost brethren in another galaxy.

There's plenty of people in the Conspiracy who want that.

They're just stuck with Complete Monsters in a Satanic Alliance no one really understands anymore.

Once the Conspiracy is gone you also have to deal with the Lizard Men, Nazis, and other psychos.

They're, thankfully, a little less subtle.

[Charles Phipps]

White Angel
Sample Natural Philosopher Knight

Serena Hemingway is a reminder that while the Conspiracy is a criminal secret society that's morally ambiguous at best, that doesn't mean it's members can't have a little fun. Well, at little fun in the context of doing things that are completely bat**** insane. Even that fun, however, can hide darkness. If you're wondering what I'm getting at, it's a long story.

The Natural Philosophers have long had the problem of being mad scientists with very little in the way of capable operatives. Yes, occasionally there is a rugged Doc Savage-esque soul who has rippling muscles to match his IQ. However, for the most part, they are a group of socially awkward nerds.

Which is why they had to clone themselves some badass agents to protect them! For the most part, these clones consist of semi-mindless slavish minions who have a tendency to get horribly butchered by the Conspiracy's more capable agents. These help the Natural Philosopher's many deranged Bishops live out their Blofeld fantasies.

Serena Hemingway comes from one of the more ambitious projects to create actually capable agents as opposed to the usual thugs. It's just, well, the majority of Natural Philosophers can develop a brain tape capable of transferring skills but wouldn't know what an actual spy acts like if it bit them on the bum.

This is a complete lie, but is is one they have been feeding to the other Factions while the project's TRUE purpose was hidden as we'll describe below.

Serena Hemingway is the fabulously gorgeous, athletic, charming, and disturbingly sociopathic to killing agent straight out of 1960s spy fiction. Somehow, against all odds, Serena is able to make this work. She's survived where many of her "sisters" have not and learned to play the expectation of other Conspiracy agents. Miss Hemingway and the other female agents are part of A.N.G.E.L, an artificial agency employing nothing but good-looking clones like her of both genders.

Serena has a somewhat questionable relationship with her creators, well aware they're incapable of properly defending themselves. Still, she actually believes the Natural Philosophers have the best hope of salvaging the world from...well...the rest of the Conspiracy. As a result, she pulls more than her lithe catsuit wearing frame in trying to protect them.

The Natural Philosophers actually are quite capable of defending themselves as their billions from marketing technology has resulted in being able to hire many-many capable agents. They're also known to subvert others by giving them access to unusual weapons and tech. Serena, however, thinks of them as nothing but harmless scientists.

Sally Hemingway is constantly on the lookout of associates and friends she can make for her Faction. Usually, she isn't attempting to recruit them to her Faction but simply make them favorably disposed to her personally. This is ironic because Sally has a tendency towards betraying her associates, often seizing whatever subject she's teamed up with them to seize. Oddly, few people hold it against her.

It's in her programming to make friends but keep the mission paramount. Humans aren't capable of being brainwashed easily without destroying their skills so the Natural Philosophers have just given the A.N.G.E.L group a rather surreal worldview that they work to reinforce.

White Angel's talents include a familiarity with virtually every weapon in the world, escapology, the employment of unusual gadgets (and she has A LOT of them given her employers), how to pilot most vehicles military and civilian, the ability to speak a dozen languages, the talent to almost always win at gambling, and a variety of oddball skills such as snowboarding and flower-knowledge that the Natural Philosophers just stuck in because.

These skills are based on a talented female Conspiracy agent that the Natural Philosophers drugged, kidnapped, murdered, and dissected the brain of.

When not undercover, where she can blend in perfect, Serena has an English accent and speaks like she just stepped out of the 1960s. As a result, she has been subjected to numerous Austin Powers jokes and they're no longer funny. She is flirtacious and romantic but oddly the Natural Philosophers didn't put any sort of programming in her to make her receptive to their advances. That would be wrong!

It's also the case that the Natural Philosophers in the cloning arena have their own generated harems for this purpose already.

In other words, Serena is presented as one of the Natural Philosophers good-natured but oddball creations. This is, unfortunately, a disguise because the Natural Philosophers are capable of projecting a harmless nerdy front while being just as dangerous as any other branch of the Conspiracy.

The first of the facts is the Angel-series contains two different personalities. The first of these personalities is Serena's natural playful personality, which just happens to be a dangerous assassin. The second is a soulless cold-blooded killer who robotically carries out the much more dangerous and brutal acts of terrorism on their behalf. Serena, herself, is unaware of these actions because she's slowly developing a conscience and the Natural Philosophers prefer to keep her and others like her under strict hypnosis.

They haven't yet developed making a pure monster one minute and a likable friend the next that DOESN'T turn on the Natural Philosophers. It's one of their projects.

In fact, the entire project is part of a larger project of the Natural Philosophers to disguise their plans to start cloning their own operatives of the Conspiracy and replacing them. Yes, straight out of science fiction. The process of doing this research would draw way too much attention, however, so the cheesy nature of it is a double-blind to protect it. While they're looking at the mentally strange and oddball agents, they're actually building a ruthlessly dangerous one.

They've even created a entirely fictious terrorist organization called D.O.O.M that is populated by clones and they send the Angels-agents (and their male counterparts) against. This gives them data on how to adjust their brainwashing and enhance their killing skills. D.O.O.M, meanwhile, cartoonishly attempts to accumulate power by trafficking drugs, carrying out terrorist attacks, and steal technology in a blunt force way. These are Serena's most frequent opponents, almost like training missions for work against the real Conspiracy factions. Certainly, they die much easier and with greater frequency but never seem to run out of bases or troops.

Sadly, the forces of D.O.O.M honestly believe they're a renegade sect of clones created by the Natural Philosophers who are fighting for their freedom.

Once D.O.O.M has fulfilled its purpose and they've gathered enough combat data as well as perfected the cloning process, the Natural Philosophers intend to eliminate the other Factions completely and create a {b]Technocratic Order[/b] which will guide humanity to the stars. This will include using Manchurian Candidate-like codes to eliminate whatever trace of the playful agent they created to begin with.

Role in the Plot-Point-Campaign: The PCs will encounter Serena a couple of times on missions, thinking her no more than an outlandish but capable agent. Then, in the center of it, they will find "AGENT OF D.O.O.M" and find a bizarre 1960s spy plot fought between the D.O.O.M clones and A.N.G.E.L.

During it, they will have the option of discovering the whole sick and twisted program behind the scenes including the orders for Serena's alternate personality to eliminate them after the PCs have been tested against the clones. If the PCs choose they'll be able to free her from her brainwashing, kill her, or take the clone data for their own use and re-purpose ANGEL to whatever they wish.

If they let Serena live and free her, she'll wage a one woman terrorist campaign against the Natural Philosophers, eventually turning all of the clones against them.

[MightyDavidson]

How would I add The Conspiracy to the Mightyverse I wonder?

I'd have to change a few things that's for certain but it could be an interesting exercise. I wish Charles was releasing this book, because I'd love to be able to read through it, I'm sure it would provide lots of lovely ideas.

[Charles Phipps]

How would I add The Conspiracy to the Mightyverse I wonder?

I'd have to change a few things that's for certain but it could be an interesting exercise. I wish Charles was releasing this book, because I'd love to be able to read through it, I'm sure it would provide lots of lovely ideas.

II think it'd be interesting to see the Conspiracy faced with opponents who are as smart, talented, and powerful as they are. Also how they'd fare against organizations almost as powerful whether they're terrorist bad guys or corporations run by good guys or AEGIS-like.

FYI - the Serena Hemingway write-up has been GREATLY expanded since I started crashing when writing it.

[MightyDavidson]

Well the first thought I had along those lines Charles, was that Dame Michelle Holmes would co-opt the Agency entirely. She's easily smart enough to pull it off after all and since they and she have similar goals, protecting the world anyway they can, I don't really see them objecting to much. The other groups might be trickier, aside from the Labyrinth of course.

We all know Taurus rules the Labyrinth.

[Charles Phipps]

Well the first thought I had along those lines Charles, was that Dame Michelle Holmes would co-opt the Agency entirely. She's easily smart enough to pull it off after all and since they and she have similar goals, protecting the world anyway they can, I don't really see them objecting to much. The other groups might be trickier, aside from the Labyrinth of course.

We all know Taurus rules the Labyrinth.

That would be very interesting indeed. You could also have the Natural Philosophers founded by Daedalus before they abandoned him. Daedalus, himself, might know entirely about the Conspiracy (as do most immortals and gods) and consider them something a pest that has overstepped itself.

PHANTOM also knows about it since it's a breakway.

You could even have the House of Serpents founded by General Venom to destroy it.

THAT, however, might change the perspective on his actions considerably.