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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Fragments from the Rim: A look at Galaxy Guide 9 w/ Charlemagne19

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Charlemagne19, Dec 6, 2016.

  1. jSarek

    jSarek VIP star 4 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2005
    I don't think we're supposed to see them as medieval guilds. We're supposed to see them as guilds in the modern sense, which are sort of a mixture of unions and things resembling corporations.

    There are also campaigns based on free traders, exemplified by the material in Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters. I think the CMG could be a very useful tool in campaigns where the characters are trying to make an honest living handling legitimate (or mostly legitimate) cargo.
     
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  2. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    They where much more than that, they also functioned as guarantees of standard and skill (if you brought something from a guild-member it would be of at least a certain standard), and a social security system for the members and their families. It also functioned as a social organisation for meetings, feasts, funerals, etc.


    Nice ideas but that's not the rut I would go:
    I would have it so it was a union of high class arms and armour manufactures, scholars and explorers. The Most Honourable Guild of Armourers don't deal in your normal mass-produced combat equipment that you can find all over the galaxy, they deal in the rare and/or fine-crafted. A manufacturer or artisan that has been allowed into the Guild of Armourers only make high-class equipment (the stuff that's too expensive to outfit armies with or even most elite forces) or can repair items most craftsmen would give up on.

    Exotic weapons traders who are members of the Guild have shown themselves good judges of quality (so they don't peddle cheap tourists souvenirs instead of real equipment) and honesty (too many "exotic weapons traders" sell stuff manufactured by their own underlings that are made up to be from the other side of the galaxy).

    Then we have the Guild scholars who travel the galaxy and catalogue all the new arms and armour they find, with samples that's send back to the Guild's planet; the scholars are the only guild members who deal cheep and/or mass-produced equipment since they see it as their duty to catalogue all weapons.


    Epsi Nadir is a world covered in museums and libraries filled with information about and examples of arms and armour (and how they are crafted) from all over the galaxy and from all ages. There is also a grand collection of arms, armour and ships that belonged to important people throughout GFFA's history. And then there are then many high-class workshops for Guild artisans living on Epsi Nadir.

    The Guild is an old organisation and as many such they have developed their own internal quirks and conflicts. Groups that have specialised in certain equipment have formed - f.ex. The Sororitas of the Sword, The Fellowship of Handslugthrowers, The Society of Tentacle Manipulated Equipment, The Brotherhood of Sith Battleships, The Bimm Knife Study Circle (one of the smaller ones), among many other - each with their own places of gathering, traditions and priorities. All of those groups are looking out for more founds for their own projects, chafing against other groups that they think are intruding on their area of expertise (f.ex. The Sororitas of the Sword and The Fellows of Close Combat Energy Weapons both considered lightsabres to be something they should have first right to). This inner conflict is usually hided from outsiders and people who know what they are looking for often never realise that the Guild is anything but an united organisation, but if you come with something that needs to be identified or have a map to a planet not in the Guild's database than suddenly the different groups come out of the woodwork, each with their own idea on how to make the PCs give them first right to study the item/planet/whatever.

    Another quirk for the people of Epsi Nadir is that many of them are not just makers, traders and/or scholars in arms and/or armour but many of them also train in weapon use (after all 'how can you understand a weapon if you don't know how to use it', as the old Epsi Nadir saying go)
     
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  3. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    This feels a bit like the creators forget how gargantuanly humongous the Galaxy is that a organisation only open to "native-born Corellians and all owners or crew of Corellian ships" is supposed to be "so rich and influential the Empire can't do much about it and just put out house-fires by shutting down Corellian Merchant Guildhouses then watching a new one pop up in its place", especially if it is seen "as a hotbed or anti-Imperial sentiment, free thinking, law-breaking, and sedition but ONLY ONLY ON THE GOOD DAYS".

    That feels to me like that a organisation in the late 19th-centery, that's only open to People from Dundee and owners/crew of Dundee made ships that's a hotbed of anit-British sentiment, law-breaking and sedation, would somehow be presented as too rich and influential the government can't do much about it.
     
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  4. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 30, 2000
    Mind you if they were the Australian Merchants Guild, it would work. :)
     
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  5. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    That's true but for that to work I would say that it would have to be "The Corellian Sub-Sector Merchants Guild" or something like that.

    (Have fixed some of the mistakes in quoted post)
    Lets continue with this:

    Warren's Green: was an agriworld that was turned into a dust bowl by Gastess' overproduction. Once it exported food, now it has to import it.
    The people of Warren's Green are Anx who once took pride in working outdoor, most of them lived in farm-towns. Now many of those farm-towns have been abounded and the people have been moved to Imperial work camps to pay of the debt Gastess left them with and the food imported to Warren's Green.

    Kaivannaistoiminta: was a world rich with terbium, yttrium and copper. Gastess brought up all the mining companies and rights on the planet, and then lobbied to relax controls on pollution (claiming that it would be good for the jobs). After mining up all the terbium, yttrium and copper Gastess then begun to use their mining workers and machineries to take up all other ores in the ground, getting exemption or ignoring environmental protections laws. Gastess left (taking all the functioning equipment and earnings with them) Kaivannaistoiminta covered in mining holes, slag mountains, and polluted air, earth and water.
    The people of Kaivannaistoiminta have a tradition of ritualised knife dulling (usually too the first deep cut) and a likening of bright colours, witch could see in their houses and dresses. Sadly the polluted rain and air often strip or damage the paint from walls, items and fabric.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2018
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  6. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 23, 2005
    Owners and Crew of Corellian ships seems like it is vague enough that it could cover anyone using YT, YV, CR, or other CEC built ships.
     
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  7. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    I took it to mean that.
     
  8. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Zygerian Slavers

    It's kind of funny the Zygerian Slavers are probably the biggest contribution from this book to the larger canon along with the Inquisitors as a concept. They are, after all, a group which not only managed to get adapted to a very popular comic book series but also eventually made the ascension to television. The Zygerians weren't created by this book because they were first mentioned in an off-hand comment in the STAR WARS SOURCEBOOK in 1987. However, this is something which expands the organization even if it gives remarkably little in the way of actual information. There's no signature character for the Zygerians, description of what their race is, and only the vaguest outline of how they work.

    What little information we get around the Zygerians is the fact they're a thousands of year old organization of slavers which practiced its activities secretly in the Old Republic and went public after Imperial decree A-SL-4557.607.232. I actually call nerfshavit on this because there's no way the Empire made 4 billion decrees before they legalized slavery. This should be code 7 or 8.

    The Zygerians are a "disciplined' group of slavers who keep strict territory logs for slavers to operate in and get slaving permits from the Empire. They're also mentioned as the slavers who operate on Ryloth with the approval of the Twilek clans. The Twilek clans prefer they get enslaved by the Zygerians, who aren't going to trash the place, versus less savory slavers (who operate as pirates).

    I...don't have much to say about this article. The big problem is the Zygerians are really underdetailed. However, slavers are a great group to introduce since they're a wonderful bunch to murder with impunity. Still, I feel like they didn't do much other than simply named the group and set them loose. It's also kind of weird because this group is listed in the GUILD section while the Thalassian Slavers are listed in the PIRATES section and the Slaver Guild is listed in the BOUNTY HUNTER section. I feel like this is just an error in presentation as they should all just be in a slaver section.

    Odd fact, the Zygerian Wookieepedia entry doesn't mention Fragments from the Rim.

    Lantillian Spacers Guild

    It's opening statement is, "The guild is often regarded as a second-rate Corellian Merchants Guild" which it is. Basically, if you're playing a Wookiee Captain and he flies a Ghtroc Freighter instead of a YT-1300 transport then they can belong to this group instead. It's somewhat more law abiding due to the fact it doesn't have the CMG's clout but does the exact same thing. A lot fewer spacers join because it doesn't have the same level of hostility to the Empire, though.

    My interpretation of this Guild is the average freighter captain (i.e. Space Trucker) isn't necessarily Rebel sympathetic but is often very Separatist sympathetic because so many truckers in my area fly Confederate flags (much to my irritation since WEST VIRGINIA WAS PART OF THE UNION). I have the idea small business owners were initially very favorable to the Empire but after 20 years, they've been soured on the whole Imperial experiment.

    Even the humans.

    Ithorian Trade Guilds

    This is a fascinating entry as it described Ithorian herd ships that travel through the galaxy as enormous gardens that produce endless amounts of organic produce. They're considered something of a gold mine for small traders as they're always producing product, being as it's done for religious reasons, but don't really have a place to unload it necessarily. They also are always in need of parts and other materials.

    They also exist on many planets, building massive complexes that produce endless varieties of plants as well as vegetation for the locals. You could theoretically find an Ithorian Trade Guild on Tattooine with a miles-long cavernous garden.

    It puts me in the mind of Silent Runnings. The movie, not the song, which has NOTHING TO DO with the movie but sounds awesome.



    The only problem I have with this is running citrus is not very exciting. It's a nice potential opening for adventurers ("you're buying oranges on Tatooine which will keep you in space gas for a week") without giving the players too many credits but its not really useful for anything but flavor.

    Institute of Starship Engineers

    It's Space MIT.

    There's not really much to say here save it's the college all professionally acredited Imperial Engineers are with. Note, I say ALL of them, and I mean that. Unless you're somehow able to impress Lord Vader, you're not going to apparently a career unless you studied here. Not much detail is given save it's got a bunch of campuses in the Core Worlds. Every semester also costs 15,000 Imperial Credits, which is actually not that unreasonable for a mid-level college on Earth.

    Notably, almost 100% of the ISE is picked up by either Imperials or one of their corporations so it's very likely any PC from this group is going to be kicked out of it or a Rebel dissenter. There is a nice little bit that the ISE isn't quite as loyal as you might think since one of the five Core Worlds it was based on was Alderaan.

    I'm inclined to think that virtually the entire upper-tier Imperial Engineering Corps was killed on the Second Death Star. I wonder if there would be controversy to attempt to establish a memorial for this group.

    Presumably, Galen Erso and Orsen Krennic were educated here.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2018
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  9. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Adventure Hooks

    1. The Enemy of my Enemy: The PCs receive a bit of information from General Cracken who is less than pleased by it. The Zygerian Slavers Guild wants to help the Rebellion. Now, normally, this sort of offer would get the messengers captured and interrogated so they could strike back at them but their information is actually interesting. Moff Balfour, who is still an Imperial scumbag, has been petitioned by COMPNOR to allow the operation of the Human Acquisition of Laborers League (HALL).

    Basically, HALL is a bunch of COMPNOR washouts or actual members of the organization who aren't making enough money passing out fliers. They have a pretty simple policy of attacking settlements of aliens, grabbing everyone, and then selling them on the Imperial market. They're not good at it, they kill 10 for every one they acquire, and they're still making a fortune out of it. The Zygerians have lost a LOT of business as they have traditionally relied on making people disappear or keeping things under quotas.

    The Rebellion is happy to wipe this group out but they want to take the Zygerians out too. They also know as soon as HALL is wiped out, the Zygerians WILL turn on the Rebellion to turn them over to the Empire. The PCs will be working with a team of them or contacts to get close to HALL so they can destroy their main asteroid base by planting explosives in its reactor core (or disabling its shields so a Rebel fleet can attack).

    Bonus points if this entire plan was by High Inquisitor Tremayne to lure the Rebel Fleet in the Sector out.

    2. Lantillian Spacer's Guild: The Lantillian Spacers Guild is ready to defect to the New Republic. All of it. With the recent destruction of the Second Death Star, they think they can finally get one over the CMG by being the first to declare their public allegiance. Mon Mothma has sent the PCs to sign the paperwork and make them a fortune with very good rates (remember, the NR wasn't very well funded in the aftermath of the Empire's fall). Unfortunately, the CMG is just about to do the exact same thing and make it completely irrelevant.

    The current leader of the Spacer's Guild is an enormous manchild and obsessed with the fact the CMG has made them look like poor cousins. Knowing the NR is willing to side with them is enough to make him willing to declare Neutrality or even sign a contract with the Empire's remnant, which would actually cripple the New Republic's expansion as they need BOTH of them to legitimize their economy. The rest of the Guild Leadership doesn't quite have the votes to throw him out and honestly are willing to go along with him to screwing with the New Republic to an extent (they aren't overly impressed with it and believe Zsinj will probably take over).

    They need to convince him to side with the NR somehow. Also, ISB has their own agent (Elena Shelvay) there to convince him to join the Empire even if it would be disastrous.

    3. With Ithorians like this, who needs Bothans: The Ithorians have created a specialized plant which can actually eat the incredibly toxic heavy-metal environment smog of Reuss VIII. Even better, it's actually something that can be grown in vast amounts and could terraform their planet from "this planet is not one sapient beings should live in" to something livable within a few decades. The Empire doesn't care and the New Republic can't afford traditional terraforming but the Rebellion as well as New Republic Intelligence service could do it on their own. The problem? The Ithorians who developed it are greedy barves. They're arreligious, lazy, and only succeeded in creating it by accident. They're thinking of selling it to the Hutts, CSA, or any number of other people. They're also BAD at this as they don't seem to realize people are fully willing to steal it on their own, including people who'd destroy it to preserve their terraforming business.

    Ironically, if the PCs fail in this mission, the people of Reuss VIII might still win as our favorite ISB agent Elena will just give it to the Reuss as a propaganda coup (since they are Near-Human enough). The Hutts, however, will just destroy it.

    4. Offensive Memorial: The PCs have been given a really bland assignment this time where they are supposed to supervise the transfer of billions of superbytes of data regarding starship designs, experiments, and other material from the campus as well as the shift from the Institute of Starship Engineers from Imperial to New Republic control. Unfortunately, there's currently a massive protest going on over the memorial to the 132,000 Starship Engineer Graduates killed on the Second Death Star. There's arguments they weren't necessarily willingly but it's attracted no small infamy--right before Imperial saboteurs open up fire on the protestors. Then it becomes an investigation by the PCs who was responsible.

    This is another Elena Shelvay mission but not the one she wanted as she was working with Ubiquote (having been picked up by Isard as one of the few ISB agents worth saving) to run a counter-revolutionary propaganda campaign to make the Imperial soldiers lives lost look tragic. Instead, the local COMPNOR group is fully determined simply to kill and ruin. She's thus going to make this look like a false flag operation of the New Republic...or just kill the locals and call it a day since she's fully aware the Empire is a sinking ship and her conditioning is failing with Isard's treasonous takeover of the Imperial government.

    The PCs also have a enemy they may not know as the Head of the College fully plans to kill them along with MILLIONS of NR soldiers by spiking the information they're uploading with a deadly virus that will destroy their hyperspace coordinates. The Head of the College or "Archdean" isn't especially Imperial sympathetic but DOES blame the Rebellion for killing countless students of his at Endor that he considered akin to his children.

    Ironically, his scheme would have gone off without a hitch except for the smaller issue.
     
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  10. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    I think the inspiration here are American trucker culture, which (to my understanding) think of themselves as freewheeling rebels and mavericks against the oppressive state and mainstream culture. As seen in historical documentaries :p like Smokey and the Bandit and Convoy




    I guess that since I image Corellia as British (the coastal, seafaring, port and waterfront parts of GB) with some parts of other European seafaring nations thrown in; this makes Corellian Merchants Guild an 19th century/early 20th century seaman/-merchant association, just in space, to me. Lantillian Spacers Guild on the other hand is now in my mind an guild of American 1970’s Truckers.




    Can you expand on this, I’m not certain I follow.



    For me who comes from a country with free education, that just sound strange

    Wait, did I understand right that ISE campuses only exist on five worlds in the Core? How big are those campuses or how little is the chance that you would ever meet an ISE agent?




    Why would they do that? The plant only eats the heavy metals (and probably store it inside the main body or its fruits), it don’t make the world more liveable any other way. Planting the plant would be a good first step on the way to terraforming a heavy metals rich planet, and you can later harvest the plants for the heavy metal they have stored inside.


    Also, while we are talking guilds. Here are a page from Kill 6 Billion Demons with some of the guilds from that comic
    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    What I was thinking but I think that was what the assumption was about Corellians that they were the "Americans" in Star Wars. The idea being the Corellians were the stereotypical independent but economically powerful country that didn't have the long history or culture of the typical European ships. They also tended to wear their nationality on their sleeve like Han did in the cantina.

    Ithorians are able to be dealt with by small traders because they aren't producing their food product for money but for religious reasons. Hence, small traders can make deals with them since they aren't contracted to make X amount of food for companies or markets.

    Well clearly you do it wrong. How else will you keep poor people from getting an education?

    I have the impression that Star Wars' galaxy is something which increasingly grew and grew until became something ridiculous. The assumption is the ISE is it's a prestigious school and the top tier of its rank but not so much that you won't regularly encounter its people in the top fields of its group. As stated, analogous to MIT as the "Ivy League" of technology.

    I don't think Star Wars had a million planets in the imaginations of writers in this era. Probably more like a tens of thousands to a couple of hundred thousand.

    The plant processes pollution into oxygen and reverses the destruction of the environment. The heavy metals in the air and environment are an unwanted byproduct killing the populace, not a resource.

    Or to quote Hitchcock, "It's not actually important what it does save as its something the protagonists want."
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2018
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  12. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

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    Dec 16, 2012
    But Corellia has the long history and culture of a founding member of the Republic and UK act like it don't really need the EU and could go on just as good without it, similar to how Corellia act toward the Republic in the OEU. Then we have the thing that Corellians are known spacers, just like people from the UK are known seamen (historically)

    Okey, so you meant vegetable products, I thought so but was uncertain. I take it that the Ithorian Trade Guild ships are cleaning out the small traders septic tanks for free while they are there. Since if they are selling of biomass they need new to keep their great space gardens growing.

    Also there is a fanon organisation I come up with some years ago that would fit tighter with ITG:


    Well, the way I would have it is that the greedy ithorian scientists who have made the plant have oversold it a bit when it comes to how good job it dose. It "just" eat heavy toxic heavy-metal environment smog and produce oxygen but it don't clean up everything or create new fertile soil and you can't use it as a fertiliser since the plant body is full of heavy-metal. So once a plant have grown old enough you will have to remove it unless you want to make the ground rich in toxic heavy-metals. This is something the ithorian scientists have not told, instead they are selling their new planet as a fix-all (probably to get a better price for it), something that have made so many groups going after them and their creation.

    A fun side-thing would be that species that can eat heavy-metals (there is probably some rock or metal based ones that can do that) find the taste of one of those plants with lots of heavy-metals stored inside rather interesting and new kinds of food for those species using the plant will be developed.
     
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  13. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Bounty Hunters

    We don't need their scum!

    In fact, this is shocking but before this episode, Bounty Hunters didn't have any playable information in STAR WARS: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME. Prior to Fragments from the Rim, you had basically three character types: Rebel, Smuggler, and Guy Trying to be a Jedi. Bounty Hunters were something you could theoretically start as but no one really had any information on how the profession worked--albeit, it wasn't something which required too much effort to figure out. It was still undocumented.

    After this, it was entirely possible to run a Bounty Hunter game the same way you could a smuggler or Rebel Alliance or Jedi themed game.

    The Hundred Club

    The Hundred Club is a 1,000,000 strong list of those criminals which have a 100,000 or higher credit bounty on their head. Honestly, 1 million people seems ridiciulously low and I can imagine that many people with that bounty on their head on Coruscant alone. Frankly, there's a couple of thousand like that on Earth. I'd raise the number to a million credits and even then it seems like the Empire is being very cheap. There's also the IMPERIAL MOST WANTED list which I presume contains Luke, Leia, Han, and the other notables.

    Bounty Postings

    This describes how you become a hired killer in the Galactic Empire and it's unsurprisingly very easy. You basically just have to apply for a Bounty Hunter License and this will give you a surprisingly large amount of leeway for not only carrying weapons but also the authority to more or less gun people down in the streets if they have a second set of permits.

    The Imperial Peace-Keeping Permit is mentioned as being valid everywhere in the galaxy BUT the Core Worlds where the Empire handles things themselves. It also explains the entire thing is a scam as Bounty Hunters have to pay additional Sector Fees and System Fees but which can all more or less be handled by droids.

    The system is rigged also to make sure Bounty Hunters focus on political and Imperial enemy criminals as those bounties (of course) pay the best. However, the implication is the Empire cares so little about law enforcement that bounty hunters are a necessary evil.

    Private Postings

    Actually not what you think they are. Private Postings are non-Imperial Bounties which are put up by corporations and local system governments since the Empire is more or less useless for tracking people down (and, in fact, their preferred method of dealing with interstellar criminals is, "Post a bounty"). They have to be registered with the Empire, who charge a cut, but basically there is very little keeping Bounty Hunters from following up on them.

    In a nod to real life Bounty Hunters, they have "Posting Agencies" which handle the putting up of bounties en masse. These have a reputation of mom and pop businesses but are actually fairly vast corporations as the Empire has created a glut of people who want justice for past crimes. These agencies very rarely check the "crimes" of the people posted and Imperial Inspectors take bribes as a matter of course to allow them to function without hassle.

    Illegal Postings

    We all know what these are. One notable fact is Ploovoo Two For One adds a 10% fee for any and all goods from his bounties recovered to fence.

    Pin Money

    Bounties which barely pay any money whatsoever. These are bounties you get you capturing street thugs, local planetary criminals, and people who are more annoyances than actual threats. They're the Greedo Bounties, though they oddly enough don't choose to mention Greedo but Helm Iskraker from Crisis on Cloud City which is a BIZARRE choice given that was a popular but by no means essential adventure.

    Basically, every Bounty Hunter who needs some fuel money can usually go down to the local police precinct, pick up a hololist, and go handle the overflow for a couple of thousand credits.

    Thoughts: One thing I like about this Chapter is it really underscores the Imperial Promise of "Peace, Order, Security" is a load of nerfshavit. The Empire is not only repressive and totalitarian but it's incredibly inefficient at fighting organized crime. The Empire not only isn't very good at fighting criminals but they largely don't even BOTHER to outside of the Core Worlds--leaving it to local authorities or bounty hunters. It arguably makes a much larger role for bounty hunters in the setting and increases the Wild West feel considerably.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
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  14. Voltron64

    Voltron64 Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 23, 2009
    That's just one of the many messed up things about the Empire and Palpatine in general.

    He founded the Empire and wiped out the Jedi to make the galaxy's single largest tyrannic regime where entire planets are made devoid of life not because he felt it was necessary or to serve some higher purpose, but because he could and there is nothing more pleasing to him then cause the pain and suffering of others as everyone even his most loyal subjects are nothing but a toy to break and dispose of.

    He doesn’t have a vendetta against a personal enemy. He’s not Dr. Doom hiding behind noble goals. He’s not Lex Luthor consumed with hatred for a singular being for being good. He’s not a conqueror. He’s a devourer. All the evil he does is a by product of who he is. A terrible being. The Dark Side is a tool. He enjoys the corruption of good men, the boot-licking of powerful men, the petty bickering for his attention and power, and the terror that he causes. He has zero saving characteristics. He exists to corrupt, cause pain, kill, and torture. Not because of something done to him, but because he simply can, and doesn’t care. And he enjoys the hell out of it.

    That's what the First Order are emulating, not Order but suffering the sake of suffering.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
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  15. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    That is actually something that comes up in the Poe Dameron comics. I was surprised to see it still relevant but apparently the comic book writers picked up on this idea because it's a running theme about the differences between the 1st Order and the Empire.

    Terex is a former stormtrooper turned crime lord and he eventually joined the First Order. The thing is, Terex is a TERRIBLE First Order operative and is loathed by his superiors despite the results he gets. Terex is used to the idea of "the elite get special privileges." He maintains a cadre of slaves, lives on Tarkin's former luxury yacht, and helps himself to all manner of pleasures while working with criminals. Every scene between him and Captain Phasma is both of them expressing disgust with one another's views on the Empire with the former thinking they're a bunch of ideologues and the latter thinking he's grossly corrupt. The First Order strikes me as probably having a much harsher more austere take on ruling the galaxy because it was founded by the Middle Party and Footsoldiers, not Palpatine as well as his cronies.

    In the book, It Can't Happen Here, that was a contrast between two of the dictators. The first was an incredibly corrupt looter who kept a harem of women in the White House. The other was a Puritanical true believer.

    People had their own views which was worse.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
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  16. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Bounty Hunter Syndicates

    Bounty Hunter Syndicates are what you call gangs of bounty hunters, which seems like a poor choice of name. You could have gone with "Posse", "Lodge", "Cadre" or any number of other names but Syndicate seems a little too formal and mafia like. Most Syndicates are small groups of bounty hunters which are similar to the team run by the Bounty Hunter in the Old Republic.

    The Ragnar Syndicate

    The Ragnar Syndicate is a massive Bounty Hunter Syndicate that dominates the Outer Rim territories and will soon be joining the ranks of the galaxy-wide syndicates. The Ragnar Syndicate always gets its man and operates in teams of 4-10 operatives usually. It also has numerous "Master level" bounty hunters who are happy to train their less skilled members, which is fairly rare among bounty hunters.

    The Ragnar Syndicate blurs the line between Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries with the ability to mount small military operations as well as "supplementing" their activities with mercenary companies. Basically, they've been known to attack Rebel Bases (along with pirates as well as terrorist ops), kill or capture everyone there then turn over the results to the Empire. The mention of the Ragnar Syndicate is enough to get a lot of criminals to abandon their former colleagues like pariahs.

    The Ragnar Syndicate also has a VERY close relationship to Moff Tregar who is the Moff of the Merel Sector. Moff Tregar is mentioned as, "An extremely competent individual. He was reckoned as too influential to be made into a Grand Moff." Which is about the best recommendation you can have to make him the PCs archnemesis. My assumption is he's an old political rival of Moff Tarkin and just barely was beaten out by Moff Kaine to become Tarkin's replacement.

    Moff Tregar uses the Ragnar Syndicate to basically handle missions which could cause "embarrassment" for the Imperial military. That can be taken multiple ways but I'm inclined to think he prefers to keep the ISB out of just how prevelant the Rebel Alliance is in his region as well as how successful they might be.

    The Ragnar Syndicate is a good set of foes for when you want to send a bunch of bounty hunters after the PCs, have them kill them, then find out this draws MORE bounty hunters after them.

    The Mantis Syndicate

    Basically, an even bigger and more corporate version of the Ragnar Syndicate. It blurs the lines with Private Military Contractors much bigger and prefers to take "gang" contracts where they wipe out Swoop Gangs, Rebel-Aligned Mercenary Units, Pirate Gangs, and the occassional unlicensed Slaver. They can field battallions of soldiers on their own without having to subcontract like the Ragnar Syndicate and are currently on retainer to High Lord Affric--who doens't get much explanation but I assume is a local planetary dictator who is Imperial aligned but not actually that important.

    My idea for playing them would be to basically be a lot higher class. The Ragnar Syndicate being more like the Expendables and these guys being suits and expensive gold-plated armor. My assumption is the Mantis Syndicate has a bunch of contacts in the Corporate Sector Authority and tends to pay VERY well.

    The Slaver Syndicate

    Not really described all that well but a nice concept. Basically, there's an option for many criminals to have an enslavement fee to be paid, usually less than the bounty for them and licensed slavers can purchase these individuals to sell into slavers. The Slaver Syndicate makes a living targeting petty criminals of species which can be enslaved (like Wookiees and Verpin) then selling them for a high profit. I'm not sure this is the best model for handling it but it is a very gameable concept.
     
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  17. Landb

    Landb Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2017
    "His Imperial Majesty's government wants nothing more than for all the Empire's citizens to be safe, but its hands are tied by red tape left over from the Republic and maintained by crypto-counterrevolutionary elements within the Senate and member state governments!

    The ISB and Ubiqtorate of course stay strictly within their mandates, dealing only with crimes which could effect the Empire itself. The IOCI is for the most part limited in jurisdiction to inter-sector criminals and criminal enterprises who can be prosecuted by the Imperial State itself rather than a local polity. When local law enforcement is not up to the task, these noble organizations are forced to simply watch or desperately search for a loophole to make things an Imperial concern so they can step in. Make no mistake, this is all thanks to the shortsighted policies of those who fail to fully embrace New Order Thought.

    What's that? The IOCI sends plenty of Special Enforcement Officers to assist local officials when needed in the neighboring subsector but not this one? Well, the people of that subsector had the good sense to vote in a New Order Party government, made up of forward-thinking beings who understand the need to slash away outdated jurisdictional regulations and other Republic inefficiencies!

    Speaking of which, the election cycle here is coming up soon, isn't it? Brom Thexin's been First Coordinator since the Clone Wars—and served nobly to be sure—but don't you think perhaps some new blood might benefit this world? That Vardem Rabb fellow may be young but he has some very interesting ideas for this place, you really must come hear what he has to say at next week's COMPNOR fundraising dinner..."

    Using favorable treatment and allocation of resources (including law enforcement assistance) for worlds which quickly embraced the New Order as a tool to motivate political change elsewhere is plausible I think. Imperial Sourcebook does say COMPNOR Dept. of Redesign's heavy-handed atrocities were a last resort for after the Coalition for Improvements' more subtle and insidious methods failed, after all.

    Don't want criminals and bounty hunters having running blasterfights in your streets? Well, make sure the right people are in charge of your planet. Your child will tell you who the right people are when they get back from SAGroup. Your child does take part in SAGroup activities, right?
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
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  18. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    Is there any talk about the difference of being a bounty hunter and/or postings in only a system, subsector or sector compared to the one who run around the whole known Galaxy ? Since the impression I get by your summary is that the authors only talk about the later.

    Also do they talk about how the daily work life of a bounty hunter work? Since they most be spending most of their time tracking or searching for the people with a bounty on (unless you live in Nar Shaddaa where probably everybody have a price on it's head) and that "dead or alive you are coming with me" part only happen at the end.


    Once again it feels a bit like the creators forget how gargantuanly humongous the Galaxy is. An organisation that can be galaxy-wide syndicates most have more people then Coruscant. If they mount military operations they don't need to be small.


    My mental image is that the The Ragnar Syndicate are the first group of mercs that arrive in Riddick (2013) while The Mantis Syndicate is the second group that arrives
     
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  19. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    My impression from the book is the writers envision bounty hunters as a REALLY common profession in the Star Wars galaxy and an extremely large level of variation between the quality of them.

    We have Greedo on one end, who is actually a thug for hire and may or may not actually have a IPK License but calls himself a bounty hunter despite operating purely on Tatooine. On the other end, we have Boba Fett who takes multi-million credit Imperial contracts and operate galaxy wide. My impression is for the most part that the majority of mid-level bounty hunters operate in a region of the galaxy. Say, Zardra and Jodo Kast operate in the Outer Rim Territories. I also get the impression that "Syndicate Bounty Hunters" operate galaxy wide but in the context of the fact they have the advantage of their contacts and constant feeds from the Galactic Empire so they don't have to do the legwork themselves.

    The Day to Day Life of a Bounty Hunter is that they have the benefit of the galaxy being full of criminals, especially the Outer Rim territory. With the Empire's liberal force laws (about the only thing they have that's liberal), they basically can get the initial reports that provides them a lot of information necessary for taking out local criminals. The existence of PIN money basically means that most Bounty Hunters will have their "defeat a local gang of orcs for X amount of credits" while on the road for larger prey. A successful mid-tier bounty hunter will probably one or two big targets all year while keeping themselves funded on the smaller prey along the way. A benefit of the job is also, like most roleplaying games, you can get the ammo you need of your enemies corpses.

    It should be noted after this, was GALAXY GUIDE: BOUNTY HUNTERS which expanded on some of the concepts here and added additional information about the day to day efforts of bounty hunters.

    It also added

    IMPERIAL BOUNTY HUNTERS - Who solely go after Rebel or Rebel sympathetic targets as well as criminals who have somehow ticked off the Empire. They're generally psychopaths as some of the most lucrative targets are political insurgents and artists in hiding.

    CORPORATE BOUNTY HUNTERS - Bounty Hunters who have permanent jobs as security and problem solvers for the galaxy's megacorps. They wear suits during the day and play tennis at country clubs before breaking out the armor at night. The Adam Jensens and Oddjobs of the world.

    REBEL BOUNTY HUNTERS - The Rebellion seems a strange group to employ bounty hunters but the simple fact is they don't have enough resources to turn down "part timers." Basically, these individuals conduct kidnappings and assassination as well as other paid wetwork for the Rebellion. They're usually idealistic enough to be not doing it for the money (because it's not nearly as well paying as the Empire) but too independent to work in a standard military format.

    SYNDICATE BOUNTY HUNTERS - Ones who belong to the Bounty Hunter's Guild and are deeply immersed in the culture of the groups, which can date back tens of thousands of years. While the Mandalorians aren't a Syndicate themselves, they used to have several of them before they were destroyed in the Clone Wars fighting against the Jedi. Generally, each Syndicate has their own subculture which the hunters who join adopt.

    Agreed, my view of the Ragnar Syndicate is it's a somewhat rough and tumble organization that is full of very tough guys that are still able to work together. They're professionals who don't mind sharing a drink at their personal bars or sharing information as well as favors. They're independent but not loners. I'd state they probably have about hundreds of thousands of members to millions but don't necessarily have to be larger as their reputation is exaggerated but they don't have to be huge to make an impact on the galaxy's underworld.

    My idea is the Ragnar Syndicate actually doesn't WANT to become a galaxy-sized syndicate. An interesting twist is its leadership might be wary of getting large enough to the point they start attracting Imperial attention. The Ragnar Syndicate isn't "cuddly" by any stretch of the imagination but has no interest in becoming stooges of the Empire as the larger guilds all are or used as cannon fodder. It's not exactly rebel sympathetic but they also have quite a few grizzled veterans who remember the Old Republic fondly or the Separatists. Some also think the Rebellion might actually win after the Death Star.

    Good call. Another good one would be comparing the Krogan versus the Blue Suns.

    My view of the Mantis Syndicate is they are exactly what the Ragnar Syndicate wishes to avoid becoming. The Mantis Syndicate has one primary motivation and that's making as much money as possible from their profession. They're successful enough that they have private security deals with the CSA, the Galactic Empire, and Imperial nobility. They're very much like the Bounty Hunter missions on Alderaan where they're happy to eliminate people who their clients want removed in addition to more legitimate bounties. They have accountants, shiny droids, and even office buildings.

    The big difference with the Mantis Syndicate and a Corporate Syndicate is they are large and powerful enough to be a business of their own. They also have to bend over backward to accommodate their clients and sometimes cut loose their own members to keep their patrons happy.

    The Mantis Syndicate is probably not going to survive the Fall of the Empire unlike the Ragnar Syndicate since it has been involved in many war crimes.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2018
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  20. Landb

    Landb Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2017
    Perhaps the reason for keeping merc-style military operations small and subcontractng out to actual mercs for additional forces isn't a matter of manpower. Could be it's better for the Ragnar Syndicate to be a Bounty Hunting organization than a Mercenary one on paper for tax reasons or what have you, and any military operation involving above X number of Ragnar Syndicate employees would change their legal status. If the extra money from occasional larger scale mercenary actions wouldn't be enough to compensate for the added expenses, might as well focus on their core bounty hunting business and only take the smaller merc jobs which fit through the loophole for some extra cash (perhaps a disbarred former lawyer turned bounty hunter pointed out the opportunity).

    Also worth considering is that the definition of "small military operations" may be quite different in Star Wars than in the real world. The invasion of Naboo might be considered small for all we know. Been a long time since I read GG9, so I can't recall how specific it was about exactly how small small is.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2018
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  21. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    My version of Ithorian herd ships would have them as large or larger then super star destroyers with biodomes of all sizes covering them, the larges ones in a similar pattern as the biodomes in Silent Running. Those herd ships are in practise FTL capable space-stations-cities capable of anything you would find in any better space port: Need to repair your ship? They can do it. Buy new parts? They most likely have them. Food, drink and entertainment is available (if not maybe what you are used to).

    The Ithorian herd ships are willing to sell food (but not the same thing year around, they only sell what's in season), wood (both raw or processed), potted plants, all that you need for your own on-ship garden (both for aesthetic gardens and food gardens), nature friendly oils (for personal, food, or mechanical use among other), etcetera. You can also get lessons in gardening, woodwork, bonsai cultivation and cocking using raw ingredient (many spacers only know how to cock using canned and/or instant).

    The herd ships also offer to clean up the ship's septic tanks for a minimal fee (or free if you have your ship being repaired or similar while aboard the herd ship), and taking care of any dead (most heard ships have a Dahrtagian funeral-savant to make certain that the dead gets the right rites). What most spacers don't realise is that for the Ithorian's so is the fertilizer that they create from the content of the septic-tanks and the dead bodies is highly important for the continued existence of the herd ships great gardens.

    From an adventur standpoint so is the Ithorian herd ships interesting in that they are in practise modern cities that are in no way interested in really helping the Empire and are constantly moving. As long as the PC:s have nothing against living in a place that's created for ithorian bodies (with all that it mean) and having to talk garden-talk every time they interact with the other people on the ship it could be an excellent home base. The only real downside is probably that weapons are a bit hard to get on a herd ships compared to some of the other places PC:s like to put up shop.
     
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  22. Voltron64

    Voltron64 Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 23, 2009
    Yeah, I get the feeling that despite their environmentalist hat, the Ithorians are comparable to the Duros in both reputation and talents as spacers.
     
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  23. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    My view of the Ithorians are they are active about their environmental work. The destruction of their world was horrifying but they had long since moved to cleaning up after the massive environmental devastation that is so common elsewhere in the galaxy and doing soft terraforming of many worlds that are habitable but not exactly cheerful. I also have the view of them as being somewhat like Quarians where every credit goes in the communal pot.
     
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  24. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    I never understood why people seems to think that environmentalist needs to mean that you don't use technology, especially in a space opera-'verse like SW's.

    Now that's an interesting character concept.

    I would say that Mantis Syndicate is not a Corporate Syndicate since it's a merc-megacorp in itself. They all have matching armour, with the standard coverall under it, and all carry the standard weapons, when not on missions they are all in business tunics (that are not allowed to go against the dress code regarding design or colours), they fly around in the same models of battle ships. There are Mantis Syndicate branch houses all over the subsectors that they operate in, all with the same secretary-droid, the same interior design, and a regulated amount of equipment depending on the size of the branch house.

    The Ragnar Syndicate don't have uniforms ,since they don't need them, they operate in groups that know each other by look and don't need uniforms to tell friend from foe apart. They dress as they like and use the weapons they like.
     
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  25. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Mind you, I think the Mantis Syndicate higher-ups keep their own personal and customized equipment ordered from the Honorable Guild of Armorers.
     
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