Lancer: The Beautiful Machine

[n0ble]

Hi Playgrounders! Recently theres been some buzz for a game of Lancer on-forum so I've decided to field one. The advent of the Lancer Map Maker has made setting things up for combat considerably easier than it used to be. The elevator pitch so to speak is that you are all laborers/prisoners on the planet Shortora, initially starting your rebellion against an underhouse of the House of Stone underground in the the mining complex/penal colony of Golgotha. Initially, touchstone wise its going to be drawing on things like the novel Red Rising, movies/tv like Spartacus and, of course, anime like Gurren Lagan, but I fully expect things to embrace other touchstones as we go on I've included a bit about the planet and the prison below, would be happy to answer any questions and also people come up with how you got your print code for your mech .

We're going to be starting at LL0. All first part content in allowed-stuff thats currently undergoing playtesting is valid as well, would actually love to be able to bring feedback back to the creators on the new frames (go Lycan!)-as are the 4 alt-frames from the Interpoint Station supplement Enhanced Combat. I'm going to be keeping recruitment open for a minimum of two weeks, more if people need time to field a complete entry and/or allowing for forum issues. Finally, I'm going to try and pick 5 players with an eye towards filling each of the given roles (striker, support, defender, artillery, controller) but a good backstory is important too

Spoiler: Shotora: An Overview

Show

Shotora is a planet found far in the 10th Ring of known Union Space (the Karakoram Line). A blink gate is approximately 8 months out from the planet. Initially colonized by the SSC corpo-State in its early days as a hail-mary sort of investment when things looked dire following initial disappointments with the perfection of ontological bridging tech, today the planet is host-legally and in actuality-to a colony governed by House Canamos of the House of Stone from the capital, Klataua. This ascendency followed a series of conflicts between Karrakin and SSC elements that was only resovled with the arrival of a Loyal Wing of Albatross, the nomadic peace keeping nation-state. Following the declaration of the Alabatross for Karrakin forces under the command of the current Governess' Grandmother and a combined victory over SSC, a schism occurred in the Albatross. Some defected from the Wing to join the Governess in her moment of victory. Those that didnt escape the following purge were either killed or sent to Golgotha.

It is a pangeal planet, its sole landmass capped by twin secondary continents of frozen freshwater, the northern of which are stained grey for how moutains barge into them, while the south's rust-ochre deserts are carved through with melted veinules of glacier. Klataua itself not only faces the (saltwater) eastern sea, but is itself partially built into the massive ocean trench and cliff it is perched upon. West of the capital lies a fertile bad of riverland that gives way to a massive, primordial forest that spans the rest of the westside of the continent, a fact known only for satellite imaging and not because of any (successful) exploration. Below is a bit more detail on the various biomes. As a note, barring the Eastern Interior the odd expedition, the majority of people in the North, South and West are descended from the the initial First Wave of SSC colonials. I also plan to fill out the biomes with various NPCs if people want to connect their backstories with them.

Spoiler: The Crown of the World

Show

Going north from Klataua the verdant fields of waste-high grass begin to wilt. Give way. Shrink. Becoming first sallow marshlands, then sparse taiga cut through with rivers and studded with rock, the only visible plantlife too stubborn mosses and grass not knowing its dead. Further still north one comes to the mountains and the glacial masses of ice grown over.

It is at the highest peaks of these ziggurauts that one might find their inhabitants, the so-called Stormcallers. All but abandoned SSC command elements pushed far north in the sanctioned Karrakis claiming of the planet, the Stormcallers are a hardbitten bunch, forced to make do with living from the various fungi and mountain fauna they've cultivated within the shelters they've carved from and into the mountain chains. Meteorologists amongst the faction have noted a marked increase in the yearly thaw, no doubt brought about by Karrakin research team elements or some other interloper sent to set a flood upon them.

To this end, the Stormcallers have been preparing. Rumours abound from the north that they're working on some sort of great flying superweapon/contraption that is to be turned upon the capital. While this is almost assuredly media histrionics filtered through a carefully managed propaganda lenses, the fact remains that they are working on something. Something big. It doesnt help that the Stormcallers use some of the most manoeuvrable mechs on Shotora, hosting several escapees from the Loyal Wing of albatross that Canamos' grandmother betrayed.

Spoiler: Klataua, The East

Show

Far and away the most developed region of the planet, the east enjoys the benefits of a dual legacy. Initally the site of unsuccessful SSC attempts at altering the planet, all House Canamos had to do was nudge the out of date efforts in the right direction to get what they wanted. Little did they know that these efforts would disrupts the equilibrium of the other SSC personnel reluctant to let go of their hard earned ways of life. Generally speaking, the one goes further away from Klataua, the less developed things get. Golgotha remains an exception insofar as it represents an actual commitment of resources by the capital to extract something in kind from the planet. Otherwise, the progression is one from a modern Karrakis standard found in the Capital to things like steel-plate domed roofs on the houses of farmers that similarly border the woods.

Spoiler: The Great Forest

Show

A vast arborcology that has been the subject of many a field expedition legal or otherwise, the west has always been defined by a pair of traits: its common border with traditional Karrakin borders and the relative unknown that comes with what is truly inside. While satellite imaging can track the extent of the forest, the density and the heat put out by the flora has made it difficult to actually pinpoint individuals once they enter the forest proper.

It is also these two traits that have made it ideal for the most pressing concern facing Governor Canamos at the moment: the Woodsmen. Once a bad bed time story told to children, the Woodsmen are made up of the veteran SSC security personnel defeated in a decisive battle by the Governor's grandmother. In the years since, at least enough of them have put swords to ploughshares within the forest to sustain themselves a society that can launch raids on Karrakin frontier elements.

While initially founded on the principals of mobility and elegance associated with all SSC frames, subsequent raids on Karrakin and Albatross elements have led to a renvisioning of typical tactics. Now, these retrofitted frames that were once spoils of a long war not over serve as the anvil, deployed initially in raids so as to draw attention for the passing familiarity of their hulls before the more strangely styled SSC holdovers strike when the enemy is not looking.

Spoiler: The South Wastes

Show

The bounty of the other biomes gives way to ash and cinder the further one goes south. Huge heaps of sand dunes clot the landscape, flanking scant rives that hold luscious bounties of durable vegetation that has found succession amidst such harsh climates. Few are the people that come to the wastes willingly, though there is something to be said for the richness of what little soil persists.

The few who do come here to stay often do so because they have no where else to go. So called Cinderlords are madmen and outcasts from all walks of life and almost all universally Lancers or frame pilots of some kind, they chassis as much bunkers against the environs as any permanent shelter they possess.

Subsequently, elements found here that are hostile to Karrakis are almost always also hostile to everyone else. The south is that kind of place. The mechs to be found are an eclectic bunch, as varied and from different walks of life as the people who pilot them. Still, some constants persist by way of design. Anyone who survives down south long does so with an eye towards resisting the heat, to say nothing of utilizing it as a potential armament for energy based weaponry.

Spoiler: Golgotha: the Prison

Show

In spite of the impositions the prison brings to the Shortoran ecology, Golgotha is a fully functioning ecosystem all its own, possessed of a functioning on-site lab/med-bay, a garrison house (complete with an armory) and a mag lev rail system that directly connects to the capital of House Canamos colony. Further below ground one finds the massive apparatus designed to haul mining equipment and penal laborers up-Prison to hack away at the various flora above-ground.

And again, far below that lies the prison-ghetto, a hub of "wrongly" convicted, wrongly convicted and, until recently, principles that have turned the prison-economy towards more lofty designs that the fullfillment of prison quotas. Rising up. The ghetto itself is built in three tiers into the side of a vast crevasse, extensively mined through via workers perilously strung or lashed to the cliffside where paths havent been carved for the deployment of large scale mining frames. A long rumoured jamming device mitigates what can truly be printed by the prisoners, but as Lancers and prospective heroes-to-be you've managed to cicrumvent that. It'll definitley have to go first if your to make any substantial progress to above-ground.

Below are some of the major figures found in Golgotha, allies and notable enemies:

Spoiler: NPCs: The Revolution

Show

Commander Emil Karst, Father of the Revolution: Karst is ex-Albatross, and it’s the remnant of forces still loyal to him that form the hardened core of your burgeoning revolution. Emil is an old man in his late fifties, always clad in some sort of military apparel that typically favors black as a color. It has been a long, long time since he’s been in the cockpit of his Nelson-the Last Call-but if the scraped together pilot simulators found underneath Golgotha’s surface are any indication time apart has done nothing to dull the betrayed Commander’s skills as a pilot.

While the Commander personally divulges little regarding his imprisonment, its still relatively easy to piece together what happened to the former Albatross member. Karst’s wing arrived to Shortora in answer to an alleged distress signal. What followed were a gradual series of concession-betrayals which culminated in the Commander’s imprisonment and the ascension of Commander Gorth’s father to the head of the “Loyal” Wing remnants that would go on to form a nominal Baronic Free Company under Governor Cannamos’ purview. Many wonder what will happen when Emil meets his former friend’s son in battle.

Karst’s role in the revolution is twofold: while Kareftis might have a mind for politics and Liz for engineering, it is the Old Man alone who knows how to command a war. The second feature is that, aside from the aforementioned Albatross veterans he brings with him, Karst has been able to scuttle, import and steal a sizable amount of munitions and armaments for you and the revolution to use, all the more impressive for how he did so from the bowels of Golgotha. He’s seen a great deal many weapons on a greatsame many worlds in his time as a cosmopolitan, which has made the unforeseen betrayal of his former comrades sting all the more. Worse than any warpike’s bite.

Lady Irimloza Kareftis: The lady Kareftis is far from home. Raised on the icy sepulcher of Begum, Irimloza was provided with an education classical to the House of Remembrance: a mix of genetic education and the sort of cutthroat political acumen sorely missing from the revolution. Its these two pillars that the exiles and former noble members of Klataua have subsequently flocked to, deferring to the noblewoman for her her superior ranking amongst them as much as for her scientific acumen in the field of biology.

It was this very same skill that saw Irimloza to Shortora, ostensibly on a survey mission investigating remnants of genetic diversity in the Long Rim. What she discovered was a truth known to some but not all: Karrakis was late to arriving on Shotora first. Naturally, Governor Cannamos could not let such an idea propagate amongst the lower rungs of Klatauan society. Public censure did little to curtail Lady Kareftis’ research into prior colonial elements and, undisuadid by threat or promise of reward, the Lady kept looking. Too high within her the House of Moments to risk the fallout of a death abroad, Governor Cannamos instead opted to “reassign” Irimloza to the depths of Golgotha.

Now amongst the lowborn (and a few sympathetic nobles), Kareftis acts as the informal head of the Revolutions intelligentsia, having accrued intellectuals and thinkers the way a sponge sops up water. While Karst might have a mind for war and Liz for machines, it is the Lady and her thinkers that are concerned not only with maintaining the haleness of the prison’s population (as she’s keen to remind other Karrakin nobles technically it is Doctor Kareftis) but with their education in the political as well. Irimloza, like Karst has seen what the rest of Union space contains in terms of its peoples and their myriad outlooks. Time will tell if her work yields something entirely new in terms of thought or if it is the genesis of Shotorans thinking like a more established entity.

Liz & SLATE: The laborers of Golgotha are an informal bunch, much more inclined to their work then they are to socialize with the prior to factions of the Revolution. Publically, their representatives are a wizard of an engineer and her hulking guardian of an NHP. The dyad of woman and artifice (Throne only knows where and how she cycles it below ground) have been instrumental in ensuring not only that Golgotha’s quotas are met via the repair of essential mining tools, but that the bare minimum of provided habitation technology that allows for work underground is maintained so as to preserve the prison-community’s “ecosystem”.

Much more cagey than Kareftis in the origins of her incarceration, it’s a matter of hotbutton conjecture the prison over just what Liz did to land themselves in Golgotha, to say nothing of how it’s a topic of frequent good-natured debate between the Revolution’s Laborers and Intelligentsia. There's even a small betting pool going on. There's an unspoken expectation that the reveal and conclusion of the betting will be timed to coincide with the “Big Push” as Karst puts it, no doubt blared out via whatever speakers Liz’s NHP has been able to suborn.

While not an active combatant, Liz and SLATE bring the full technical expertise of the laborers and their engineers to the revolution’s cause. This is displayed is a strange knack for improvisation, a talent which plays no small part in their ability to maintain the many work machines the laborers use for mining Shotora’s flesh. It was only natural that this technical acumen could be further applied to the mech frames that made the revolution a feasible option for Liz and her NHP. Rumors abound that the young Shotoran native is working on converting SLATE’s chassis into a mech-frame of their own

Spoiler: NPCs: Antagonists (Golgotha)

Show

Warden Rhosyane-Ludra: a governor writ-small against the backdrop of the would-be kingdom that is Golgotha, the warden is a brutal individual. She sees the prisoners under her thumb as little more than economic units, numbers that run up and down alongside other tallies. It is an earned cynicism, accumulated like so many layers of sediment after a long and storied career abroad in the House of Stone’s Paragon Company. The brutality of this outfit-and the commanding position she held within it-made her well suited to controlling mining interests far away from the Capital.

This totalitarian haigography is all fueled by a common, well known origin in the Long-Rim putting down pirates on various satellite planetoids in defense of the House of Stone’s economic holdings abroad. It was during this service to the House that Rhosane-Ludra was injured against a paracausal entity. The wound has since permeated her body, leaving the austere woman unable to leave the confines of her mecha, The Gavel.

Something of a careerist, its never personal with the Warden. Its just business. Well. Sort of. When the Warden came to Golgotha they came with family. A son, the result of some sort of dalliance on an off-planet colony during her time in service. Bashir-her progeny-is the only person in all the prison who does not call her Warden.

Security Chief Harkon: A big bull of a man on an extended leave from the Capital, Harkon is the much more public facing middleman between the Warden and Golgotha’s prisoners. Where the Warden is a careerist who sees herself as the head cog in the prison machine, Harkon has something arguably more dangerous than duty: ambition. Not for some petty position lording over the condemned but a return to the sunshine and leisure of the capital.

in keeping with his role as the Warden’s presence, Harkon’s reasons for exile from the capital are unknown, though whatever nobility might have been involved in the Security Chief’s departure has long since be eroded away by the confines of his current environment. Now he acts as a bully first and head of security second, readily abusing his authority in a manner that’s seen Golgotha take a remarkable turn towards corruption under the Warden’s current tenure.

In this sense, Harkon fills a vital niche in the prison’s economy: he’s the go to person for acquiring things not readily available from the surface. Karst has had to take great pains to circumvent Harkon’s parasitic stranglehold on Golgotha’s prison economy. This has played a large part in the decision to excise the Security Chief as a part of the Revolution, to say nothing of the fact that Golgotha boasts a readily available complement of security personnel, many of them hand-chosen from the Warden’s former unit. It galls the Security Chief all the more that these veterans recognize that he’s never served and so afford him the requisite amount of respect.

The OVERSEER: While the Warden secures Golgotha’s place in the greater planetary ecosystem and Harkon sees to order at the end of a gun barrel, the actual administration of the prison has been given over to an NHP given the simple designation of the OVERSEER. The being is responsible for ensuring that the quotas stripped from Shotora’s flesh are processed and melted down into something more suitable for transport to the capital.

Much like the Warden, the OVERSEER is a dispassionate worker, largely framing itself as an ally when the reality of its cognition is that it is incapable of feeling things like cruelty, joy or contempt for those around it. This dissmemination has a flaw insofar as the OVERSEER has a prime unit it typically occupies close to the upper levels of the prison, but many more of its RPVs and subalterns can be found in the prison's depths proper.

Typically, the OVERSEER occupies a number of RPV chassis, haunting the various work crews and prisoner mining outfits with a ghoulish sort of indifference. Beyond the filling of quotas that is. Thus, the OVERSEER stands as a sort of mocking reminder: Golgotha could be wholly capable of mechanizing its production and focusing on the reform of its prisoner elements. But it hasn’t.

[Dusk Raven]

A friend of mine really likes Lancer and wants to run someday, and I've been intrigued by it, myself. I could make an entry for this.

I'll take a bit of time for me to learn the rules, of course.

[Llyarden]

Sorry if I missed it, but what level are we going to be starting at?

[CateranEnforcer]

Very nice! Will definitely get something up and going

[n0ble]

Sorry if I missed it, but what level are we going to be starting at?

You definitley didnt, thats totally my bad for not putting up there-we're going to be starting at LL0 to begin with. All three starting frames are allowed.

[Bitter]

It will be no surprise from all my posting in the other thread, but I’m very much up for applying to this.

Two quick questions to help finish my character’s history:

- Is it assumed we’re already active in the resistance?
- How far along and discreet is the resistance; are we still imprisoned and just plotting behind the scenes at game start and do the powers that be know there is an organised resistance in place?

[n0ble]

It will be no surprise from all my posting in the other thread, but I’m very much up for applying to this.

Two quick questions to help finish my character’s history:

- Is it assumed we’re already active in the resistance?
- How far along and discreet is the resistance; are we still imprisoned and just plotting behind the scenes at game start and do the powers that be know there is an organised resistance in place?

Thanks for expressing interest here too! I think its pretty easy to assume your active or at least tangentially involved with the resistance/have a reason for wanting to be a part of it. As for where things are resistance wise right now I'd say its in the early stages of full blow armed revolt-the powers that be at Golgotha would generally assume something is at foot at any given time. The current spark that ignites so to speak is going to be destroying the jammer that prevents you from accessing print codes beyond GMS and allows for mass production print counts. Once that goes down its a big of enough edge for your revolution to ride to some sort of success and a big enough security breach that it can be assumed that an appropriately proportional response is forthcoming from Golgotha staff.

[Bitter]

Hello everyone, looking forward to playing.

Reposting my character below.

Spoiler: Lupo Teutonborg

Show

» Lupo Teutonborg // DUST «
LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Assault (+2), Charm (+2),
Hack or Fix (+2), Stay Cool (+2)
[ GEAR ]
Heavy Hardsuit, Medium Signature,
Medium A/C, Omnihook,
Prosocollar, Thermite Charge
***
[ TALENTS ]
Hacker 1, Leader 1,
Stormbringer 1
[ MECH ]
« CALIBURN »
GMS Chomolungma
H:0 A:0 S:2 E:0 SIZE:1
STRUCTURE:4/4 HP:12/12 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4/4 HEAT:0/6 REPAIR:4/4
ATK BONUS:0 TECH ATK:3 LTD BONUS:0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:12 SENS:15 SAVE:11
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Rocket-Propelled Grenade / Missile Rack
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
[ SYSTEMS ]
Personalizations, Pattern-A Jericho Deployable Cover,
Custom Paint Job, Type-3 Projected Shield,
Armament Redundancy, Manipulators

Lupo is an avowed knight of the Tabernacle of the Transcendant Eumetazoan, colloquially known as Eumats. This part religion, part philosophy and part boundary pushing scientific research group was founded in the idea of creating a superior strain of humanity that was able to perfectly balance the philo-divine characteristics of the Sapien, the Primate and the Other.

Like most of the experimental subjects who became knights Lupo was an orphan and raised with care, love and dedication by Eumat nuns until he reached the age of 21 and was asked if he would like to join the knighthood. As can be imagined, the amount of people willing to turn down a request from the organisation responsible for raising them their entire life is typically very low. Lupo said yes and the two years of gene modification, implants, brain surgery, nerve regrafting, engram enforcement, parasigilistic metavorey and more were carried out until he said his vows as part of the 35th clade of Eumat knights. Though his generation, like all 34 clades that came before him, were put into the field, assessed and designated a technical failure as they didn’t represent a true step beyond humanity according to the Eumat’s religio-philosophy; this was almost expected at this point and he and his comrades continued to undertake their knightly duties to support the best in humanity and take up arms to defeat the worst. It was a time of greatness when he first learned to pilot a mechanised chassis and took part in campaigns that are still legendary on their respective worlds.

This continued for years until the Eumat schism of 4876u, when clade turned against clade and the great design to uplift humanity turned into an inward facing religious war. Ordered to assault the heterodox chapel-ship Saint Yusuf-Stevens, Lupo took no part and took the opportunity of the chaos to set out to the Long Rim.

Since then Lupo’s life has been a mixture of trying to lie as low as possible while sticking to his knightly vows, a contradictory approach doomed to failure. For anyone who cares, his name semi-regularly shows up in reports from war zones across the rim; a minor footnote of a dated Eumat knight armed with an mechanised chassais attaching himself to rebellions and quixotic causes. Those footnotes, which were broken up by decades of cryogenically frozen sub-light travel, have ceased for the past 3 years since an attempt to bring down a particularly brutal House of Stone Underbaron lead to Lupo’s imprisonment in Golgotha.

As a prisoner in Golgotha he is known to most as a hardworking but silent presence, some even think him brain damaged or suffering some kind of mental disorder. The truth that only a few know is that in the face of a torturous life designed to grind away at prisoners, he spends most of the days with his sapience artificially dialled down by his cognitive modules until he is little more than a fleshy automaton. In this manner he survives though an oppressive existence with it barely registering on the fully functioning version of himself that comes alive in the small hours of the night when the plotting begins.

Share code: 38HNDT

[Darkstorm]

Interested (as the one who opened the other thread).

Will build up something!!

[Mousedigits]

Expressing interest here as well! I'm excited for this game.

EDIT: What kind of starting equipment should we have? Any restrictions on systems/weapons? Also, how long has Golgotha been in operation?

[CateranEnforcer]

Spoiler: Bio

Show

Derek is perhaps one of the 'wrongly' accused types down in the prisons, depending on your perspective. Second son of a noble and once a soldier for the Governor's forces, he now finds that his usefulness has worn out. In fact, his own relationship with his noble father was to remain a secret, he suspects for reasons of infidelity even if his father never admitted to it. Hidden in childhood and enlisted, he found a new broken home inside a cockpit.

Though he is a former demolitionist and combat engineer by title, Derek was actually more of a loose cannon and lover of pyrotechnics. Brutally effective during the Ascendency, but having someone with his disregard for collateral damage lauded as a hero and role model would be an embarrassment to the current regime and his family. He was reassigned down below, working a mining frame and dynamite as the need arose....with strict limitations.

But Derek has been biding his time down here, working backwards to reverse engineer and modify his industrial Frame's schematic into something more combat ready should be get a chance. When the time is right, he plans to ally with the revolution or anyone who will take him and get himself out of here. Maybe his new family will help him settle the score with his old one.

Spoiler: Sheet

Show

» Derek // THANATOS «
Soldier, LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Act Unseen or Unheard (+2), Blow Something Up (+2),
Invent or Create (+2), Word on the Street (+2)
[ GEAR ]
Assault Hardsuit, Heavy Signature,
Light Signature, Frag Grenades,
Thermite Charge, Camo Cloth
***
[ TALENTS ]
Grease Monkey 1, Siege Specialist 1,
Demolitionist 1
[ MECH ]
« GREY »
GMS Sagarmatha
H:0 A:0 S:0 E:2 SIZE:2
STRUCTURE:4 HP:10 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:4
ATK BONUS:0 TECH ATK:0 LTD BONUS:1
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENS:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Assault Rifle
FLEX MOUNT: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Machine Gun
[ SYSTEMS ]
Pattern-B HEX Charges, Pattern-A Smoke Charges,
Personalizations, Custom Paint Job

Looking into EXPLOSIVES. Drake or Iskander planned for the future but LL0 just mainly a shooty mech.

Share Code: GGZ6WL

[Zelphas]

I've wanted to try out Lancer for a bit, and I like prison break/uprising stories, so I'll give it a try! Here's what I have:

Spoiler: Levi Royston

Show

» Levi Royston // ECHO «
LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Act Unseen and Unheard (+2), Patch (+2),
Spot (+2), Take Someone Out (+2)
[ GEAR ]
Stealth Hardsuit, Medium Signature,
Light A/C, Patch x2,
Sleeping Bag
***
[ TALENTS ]
Brutal 1, Crack Shot 1, Infiltrator 1
[ MECH ]
« DULL ROAR »
GMS Everest
H:0 A:2 S:0 E:0 SIZE:1
STRUCTURE:4/4 HP:12/12 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4/4 HEAT:0/6 REPAIR:5/5
ATK BONUS:0 TECH ATK:0 LTD BONUS:0
SPD:5 EVA:10 EDEF:8 SENS:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Thermal Rifle
HEAVY MOUNT: Anti-Materiel Rifle
FLEX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Segment Knife
[ SYSTEMS ]
Personalizations, Rapid Burst Jump Jets System,
Pattern-A Smoke Charges, Custom Paint Job


Leo Royston is on his third name.

Originally born as Daud Sliney to parents who had more children than they cared to care for, he was “encouraged” to seek his fortune off-world as soon as it was feasible. Daud barely needed the push; he shipped off from his family the instant it became available, taking the first shady offer for escape that he was given.

This shady offer off-world did not end as poorly as it could have; Daud was robbed, forced into what amounted to enslavement to the crew during the voyage, and left for dead at the next stop, rather than anything worse. Daud spent a few years scraping together what he could of a life from those inauspicious beginnings, doing whatever he had to in order to make it to the next day. He discovered that he had a gift for moving quietly, a keen eye, and steady hands; skills that he honed into a modest talent at assassination.

By the time he took his first true contract, he had shed his old name; Daud Sliney was now Ephraim Spang, an identity he had stolen from a few different sources to cobble together into his own. As Ephraim, he traveled the stars, taking whatever jobs he could find, whatever they looked like. He made a small name for himself that way, though he was far from the best in any of his fields. He even learned to pilot a mech in this time.

Ephraim never intended to remain in Shotora for long. A seemingly simple job had turned out to be much larger and more complicated than he had thought, and it had gone sideways at the second-worst moment; he wasn’t killed in the aftermath, but his name reached the ears of powerful people looking for vengeance. Shotora was a small, quick stopover towards even more remote locations. Unfortunately, manna and transport out of Shotora were two things Ephraim didn’t have, and so he went looking for work once again, using the alibi “Levi Royston” to keep his whereabouts from reaching unfriendly ears.

You know the old, old saying “fool me twice, shame on me”? Well, Levi is certainly the fool, then. Once again, a simple job—assassinating a low-ranking government official—spun rapidly out of control, and before he knew it, Levi Royston was in Golgatha, a known rebel sympathizer. Essentially forced to hitch his star to the rebellion if he has any hope of leaving this rock, Levi is perhaps not the most fervent of their supporters, but his support is genuine; once he is out of the prison camp, he can start thinking about his other problems, and where to go from there.

It seems like he’s been living one day at a time for as long as he can remember, unsure if he’ll make it to the next. This mess is practically par for the course.

I'm aiming for the Artillery role, with a possible secondary position of Support, but I freely admit that I don't know exactly what I'm doing. Any advice/feedback/comments/questions are always appreciated!

[Bitter]

Just to repeat some advice from the other thread, but I highly recommend using https://compcon.app/#/ to create characters. It’s a community tool, the mech data from all the released add ins is available and it makes creating a character super easy.

I'm aiming for the Artillery role, with a possible secondary position of Support, but I freely admit that I don't know exactly what I'm doing. Any advice/feedback/comments/questions are always appreciated!

Personally I want to know more about the Rapid Burst Jump Jest System and exactly how many jokes per minute that thing can fire out :)

[Zelphas]

Personally I want to know more about the Rapid Burst Jump Jest System and exactly how many jokes per minute that thing can fire out :)

You see, this is why Levi shouldn't buy his mech systems from back-alley theatre troupes...

The typo should be fixed now.

[Volthawk]

Forgot to declare interest last night, so doing it now. Don't have a sheet yet, didn't make one in advance and figured I'd leave that for after the thread proper, but my gut is going towards the heavy melee kinda vein (mainly because I still haven't tried out that superheavy GMS sword and it looks kinda fun) - but I haven't checked out the Winter Scar and Enhanced Combat stuff yet so there's a chance one of those grabs my attention and I built towards that. LL0 is early enough that I'm not too worried about that yet, though.

In the previous thread, you threw out a potential explanations for mechs, and the main one that took my focus was something along the lines of working on the surface, finding a gutted ancient mech, and smuggling parts down from it. Looks like with the concept being more refined that's shifted into us just using subverted printers (having gotten hold of codes in a background-appropriate way and plot happening to disengage the locks on the printers), which works for me but just to check is that setting detail of the remains of old pre-Karrakis mechs existing on Shortora still a thing? Might work that into the backstory, maybe something like...a wastelander who found one, worked on it a while, figured they'd take their chances outside of the wastes now they had that edge...and then got caught and thrown into Golgotha after it turned out that edge wasn't enough. Something like that, anyway, still thinking.

[Narbaculus]

All three starting frames are allowed.

1) Everest, 2) Sagarmatha, 3) ?

[BelGareth]

1) Everest, 2) Sagarmatha, 3) ?

chomolungma

Also, very interested in the game.

Edit: thinking of swallowtail/support…or I dunno, sooo many options!

[Volthawk]

Took a look at the new frames and such, and the Lycan does look pretty damn cool. I'm always trying to make good defenders, but having that option to enter face-tearing mode when that's needed more than defence is really cool, and Manticore's one of those licenses I've always found interesting but never been sure what to do with it, so...yeah I guess I do have a license/role I want to go for now. Should be able to pull together a sheet soon.

[BelGareth]

Share code: 9XZEUX

Spoiler

Show

» William St Aloycius III // BIFF «
Exiled Noble, LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Act Unseen or Unheard (+2), Read a Situation (+2),
Survive (+2), Take someone out (+2)
[ GEAR ]
Assault Hardsuit, Medium Signature,
Archaic Melee, Flexsuit,
Stims, Mag-Clamps
***
[ TALENTS ]
Infiltrator 1, Skirmisher 1,
Spotter 1
[ MECH ]
« REGISTERED OFFENSE »
GMS Everest
H:0 A:2 S:0 E:0 SIZE:1
STRUCTURE:4 HP:12 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:5
ATK BONUS:0 TECH ATK:0 LTD BONUS:0
SPD:5 EVA:10 EDEF:8 SENS:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Assault Rifle
FLEX MOUNT: Tactical Melee Weapon
HEAVY MOUNT: Missile Rack
[ SYSTEMS ]
EVA Module, Personalizations,
Rapid Burst Jump Jet System, Custom Paint Job,
Manipulators

[ FLUFF ]
William St Aloycius III was his former lifes name, he no longer goes by. He answers to Biff currently, mostly as he doesn't remember much from his former life as an Albatross. He was apart of the initial group, and came in with the Commander Emil Karst.

Not much is known about him, as his memory was wiped, except his former association, and that everything was ripped from him in a horrible betrayal, much like most of the other Albatross'.

Biff is somewhat of a spy, capable of getting in and out without being noticed, surviving in the least hospitable locals, he thrives on expectation, and duty.

Biff is an older looking man, his salt and pepper hair showing itself upon his face with his signature handlebar mustache, he wears a leather bomber jacket, which he seems to keep stealing back from the guards, not matter how many times they take it from him.

EDIT: changed mech to more rounded, as there are so many melee builds already.

[CateranEnforcer]

Yeah, at this stage, it's pretty flexible to completely change your idea. The respec rules allow you to change a bit here and there as you gain levels and your plan could totally change from the start. One game I planned on going Saladin super tank with a smart rifle to be a bit of a marksman. But then we looted a really good Superheavy rifle and I ended up going into full on rifles and big shot artillery with an Everest. So I wouldn't worry about getting long term plans locked in, just make a cool pilot and a mech with lots of guns. Everest for a bit more movement, Sagarmatha for a bit more bulk, Chomolungma for a bit more tech.

[Mousedigits]

I am leaning towards a grapple style melee build I think, turning towards something of a support-lite (less tech, more defense) thing as we gain LLs. I'm mostly mechanically done, but not sure on backstory/lore yet.

Spoiler: Aakvoe Sa (Share Code: DKDO4L)

Show

» Aakvoe Sa // VO «
Golgothan Native, LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Show Off (+2), Take Someone Out (+2),
Threaten (+2), Word on the Street (+2)
[ GEAR ]
***
[ TALENTS ]
Brawler 1, Hunter 1,
Technophile 1
[ MECH ]
« SOLACE »
GMS Sagarmatha
H:1 A:1 S:0 E:0 SIZE:2
STRUCTURE:4 HP:10 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:4
ATK BONUS:0 TECH ATK:0 LTD BONUS:0
SPD:4 EVA:9 EDEF:8 SENS:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Segment Knife
FLEX MOUNT: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Melee Weapon
[ SYSTEMS ]
Armament Redundancy, Type-I Flight System,
Turret Drones

[Bitter]

I am leaning towards a grapple style melee build I think, turning towards something of a support-lite (less tech, more defense) thing as we gain LLs. I'm mostly mechanically done, but not sure on backstory/lore yet.

Just to flag that your main mount is underequipped as it only has an aux weapon. As I imagine you want an Aux weapon for Hunter so don’t want to do a straight upgrade to a Charged Blade, if you swap your RPG so it’s in your main slot and your segment knife is in your Flex slot then the flex slot will let you mount 2 Aux weapons rather than just one so you can have:

MAIN MOUNT: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
FLEX MOUNT: Segment Knife / Whatever extra Aux weapon you want
HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Melee Weapon

[Simsimillia]

Hi, I'd be interested in this and am itching for some Lancer.

I don't have a concrete build in mind, but a rough idea of a child that was born in prison and inherited her parents sentence. Though I'm not entirely sure that works timeline wise, as I'm not sure how long Golgotha's been around, how long it's been since the current regime was established, etc.

[Thunder999]

Interested, going for classic Striker/Controller, delivering shotguns to faces. Plan would be Tortuga, probably grab H0R_OS 1 from goblin at 3. Vanguard Heavy gunner action.

Spoiler: Statblock

Show

» Eljas Vigue // SCIMITAR «
Penal Colonist (of course), LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Assault (+2), Get Somewhere Quickly (+2),
Get a Hold of Something (+2), Read a Situation (+2)
[ GEAR ]
Heavy Hardsuit, Medium Signature (Assault Rifle),
Light A/C (Bayonet), Frag Grenades,
Flexsuit, Smart Scope
***
[ TALENTS ]
Vanguard 1, Heavy Gunner 1,
Exemplar 1
[ MECH ]
« FORMAL COMPLAINT »
GMS Everest
H:2 A:0 S:0 E:0 SIZE:1
STRUCTURE:4 HP:16 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:6
ATK BONUS:0 TECH ATK:0 LTD BONUS:0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENS:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Shotgun
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Charged Blade
[ SYSTEMS ]
Rapid Burst Jump Jet System, Turret Drones,
Armament Redundancy, Personalizations

Spoiler: Backstory

Show

Eljas was a soldier once, but a little bar fight where some noble's son got a few of their precious bones broken saw him cast down to Golgotha. At least he won the fight, though that's cold comfort down below.
When the word of revolution reached his ears he was quick to sign up, he knows a thing or two about fighting, he even had some basic training on piloting mechs, though no field experience, as such it wasn't hard to get his name on the list for the few bits of military hardware karst could find.

[Archemist]

I've been hoping something would materialize around Lancer! I'm thinking an Artillery/drone build, but I'll solidify something this evening, I think. Exciting!

[ProgressPaladin]

Expressing interest. I generally use a school device that has Comp/Con restrictions, but I can replicate the character sheet setup from what I’ve seen. Will probably go for a spy for the resistance, but was caught and put on gotholga Mechanically will be building a Dusk Wing.

[Mousedigits]

Just to flag that your main mount is underequipped as it only has an aux weapon. As I imagine you want an Aux weapon for Hunter so don’t want to do a straight upgrade to a Charged Blade, if you swap your RPG so it’s in your main slot and your segment knife is in your Flex slot then the flex slot will let you mount 2 Aux weapons rather than just one so you can have:

MAIN MOUNT: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
FLEX MOUNT: Segment Knife / Whatever extra Aux weapon you want
HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Melee Weapon

Ooh you're right, thank you for catching that! I'll make that change.

[ProgressPaladin]

Callum Holden

Spoiler: Stats

Show

» Rowen Holden // POLTERGEIST«
Spy, LL0
[ SKILL TRIGGERS ]
Act Unseen or Unheard (+2), Hack or Fix (+2),
Spot (+2), Stay Cool (+2)
[ GEAR ]
Stealth Hardsuit, Medium Signature, Medium A/C, Omnihook, SSC Sylph Undersuit, Smart Scope, Stims
***
-- GMS Everest @ LL0 –
« GHOST »
[ LICENSES ]
N/A
[ CORE BONUSES ]
N/A
[ TALENTS ]
Infiltrator 1, Hacker 1, Skirmisher 1
[ STATS ]
H:0 A:1 S:1 E:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:12 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:5
TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+0
SPD:5 EVA:9 EDEF:9 SENSE:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Thermal Rifle
FLEX MOUNT: Pistol, Pistol
HEAVY MOUNT: Anti-Materiel Rifle
[ SYSTEMS ]
Rapid Burst Jump Jet System, Pattern-A Smoke Charges, Personalizations, Custom Paint Job

Spoiler: Backstory

Show

As a former SSC pilot on Shotora, Callum Holden takes partial credit for the existence of Gotholga itself. Which made it all the more ironic when he was thrown in once the Karrakin forces took over. He was observing the operations of some Karrakin forces when the Albatross forces arrived on the planet. He was there for the subsequent massacre, but when the front lines were overan, he ran. He escaped from the battle but was captured trying to join the resistance. Now Callum is closer than ever to them, and has established a few contacts within. One of the only things holding him back is his distrust towards the members of Albatross, which has led him to many fights with resistance members.

As time has gone on, Callum has adapted to prison life as best as he can, doing work and mostly behaving well. He has gotten in a few fights, but nothing too serious. But, one day he was passed a piece of paper by another ex SSC pilot with printer codes and instructions. He is to get into the resistance and destroy Gotholga prison from the inside.

[Simsimillia]

Having a small issue with CompCon right now so no proper sheet yet, but here's my character.

Should this idea not work, because the coup wasn't ~18 years ago let me know and I can adapt or come up with a different character idea (I always have more character ideas xD)

Spoiler: Rebellion Young Blood

Show

Name: Kara Ashford
Callsign: PEBBLE
Mech: SHORT FUSE
Combat Role: Controller/Striker

Kara has never known sky nor freedom. She is a Skyless, children born and living in Golgotha. Her mother was Kamera Ashford a Loyal Albatross who was imprisoned alongside Emil Karst, but died due to complications shortly after her birth. Neither Kara nor anyone else seems to know who her father is, but she was raised by Emil and other surviving Albatross and naturally grew into the Rebellion. She has a hand for explosives and loves art. Her graffitis can be found throughout Golgotha, in large murals on walls and decorating the machines and work hats of her inmates. The signs and symbols of the growing resistance movement.

Skill Triggers:
- Blow Something Up
- Act Unseen or Unheard
- Hack or Fix
- Create Art (custom)

Talents:
- Infiltrator
- Demolitionist
- Grease Monkey

Mech: Chomolungma "SHORT FUSE"
SHORT FUSE was a mining survey mech equipped with impressive computing capabilities to survey mining opportunities, planning and oversight. The resistance turned it into an effective warmachine by hacking it's software and installing a black market intrusion packet as well as equipping it with basic weaponry. After removing safety limiters it's mining drill can be used as an effective anti-armor weapon in close combat and it's mining explosives software helps deliver explosive charges with optimal efficiency.

Rough Build:
Continuing to develop use of limited and grenade systems. Either going for new Gilgamesh Frame, either Kobold variants or even just sticking with the Chomolungma.

[n0ble]

Just wanted to open this series of response by thanking everyone for the applications so far-theres a lot of them and its frankly amazing to see so much interest in what is a comparativley new rpg I'm going to take some time in the coming days to review applications so far but right now the majority of my responses are going to be confined to answering outstanding questions.

Expressing interest here as well! I'm excited for this game.

EDIT: What kind of starting equipment should we have? Any restrictions on systems/weapons? Also, how long has Golgotha been in operation?

You can assume access to all of the LL 0 systems and equipment right now (pilot & GMS)-think I mentioned in a previously reply that the first mission is probably going to be securing some sort of unfiltered access to higher LL of print codes for other frames and the like. Exotic or campaign unique gear is fine to take as non-unique stuff if people want to just flavor them as something differant fiction-wise. In terms of Golgotha's inception I was thinking something around 35-50 years since its establishment but thats tentative and pending a more thorough review of Karrakis as a whole/Shotora's timeline & how it fits into the bigger picture on my part

In the previous thread, you threw out a potential explanations for mechs, and the main one that took my focus was something along the lines of working on the surface, finding a gutted ancient mech, and smuggling parts down from it. Looks like with the concept being more refined that's shifted into us just using subverted printers (having gotten hold of codes in a background-appropriate way and plot happening to disengage the locks on the printers), which works for me but just to check is that setting detail of the remains of old pre-Karrakis mechs existing on Shortora still a thing? Might work that into the backstory, maybe something like...a wastelander who found one, worked on it a while, figured they'd take their chances outside of the wastes now they had that edge...and then got caught and thrown into Golgotha after it turned out that edge wasn't enough. Something like that, anyway, still thinking.

It 100% still is a thing/viable option for how you got your chassis frame-were you thinking somewhere along the Southern Wastes for where they from originally? Any of the non-Karrakin centric biomes could easily have parts that qualify as wastes For example besides the eponymous south theres large expanses of tundra beyond the northern mountains that are suitably barren as to qualify and the Western forests almost certainly has an expanse of putrescent quagmire somewhere amidst its trees. Heck, you could have found it at the bottom of a coast-shallow while pirating Karrakin elements in the eastern interiors sea-facing side

Hi, I'd be interested in this and am itching for some Lancer.

I don't have a concrete build in mind, but a rough idea of a child that was born in prison and inherited her parents sentence. Though I'm not entirely sure that works timeline wise, as I'm not sure how long Golgotha's been around, how long it's been since the current regime was established, etc.

I think it should work- in my mind the prisons been around for 35-50 years with the Betrayal of the Loyal Wing happening around 20 or so years prior to where we're starting, so the age you have shouldnt be an issue! Side note: really digging Kara so far too

I apologize if I've missed anyone else's questions, please feel free to reiterate them or let me know if I have. Similarly, equally happy to help clarify or collaborate on things like Shotora's timeline if it helps to accomodate backstories people have in mind (Paracausality f*ckery is always a thing if the timing of stuff isnt quite congruous )