Catalyst 35303 - CBT - Jihad Conspiracies OEF.pdf

(9419 KB) Pobierz
531121454 UNPDF
TM
Interstellar players 2, a jIhad plot sourcebook
531121454.025.png 531121454.026.png 531121454.027.png 531121454.028.png 531121454.001.png 531121454.002.png 531121454.003.png 531121454.004.png 531121454.005.png 531121454.006.png 531121454.007.png
connection/ JIHAD CONSPIRACIES / section01: Table of ConTenTs
TAblE Of CONTENTS
FOUND AND LOST
4
Children of the Void:
A Touch of Wrongness 52
Stowaway 53
Becalmed on the Cocytus 53
The Nameless One 54
Manei Domini 55
Ascension 56
Witness to Madness 56
And So, You See, It’s All Come to This 57
Gamemaster’s Section 58
Misjumps 58
The “Void Children” 59
THE ANCIENTS 60
The Belters 62
Early History 62
The Belt and the Terran Hegemony 62
The Belt and the Fall of the Star League 63
The Belt, The Succession Wars, And Today 63
Belters: Where and Who Are They? 63
Government 65
Slowboat Colonies 65
Gamemaster’s Section 68
CULT OF THE SAINTS CAMERON 69
Origin of the Cult of the Saints Cameron 70
The Knights of St. Cameron
MINOR GROUPS
87
INTRODUCTION
6
Devlin Stone
88
How to Use This Book
6
The Elusive Devlin Stone: The Truth
(Or a Few Reasonable Facsimiles) 88
Gamemaster’s Section 90
Thuggees 91
Operation: Revelation 91
Gamemaster’s Section 94
The Tanites 95
Subject: The Tanite Civilization 95
Gamemaster’s Section 99
The Blake Documents 100
RULES ADDENDUM 103
Classic BattleTech RPG Rules 104
Inluence and Special Contacts/Enemies 104
Inluence Trait
What If?
8
Where It All Leads?
9
The Original Plan?
10
THE HIDDEN
11
The Ballad of Brooklyn Stevens
13
Amaris and ComStar?
16
Hiding Planets
16
The Big Picture
17
Gamemaster’s Section
18
“UNCLE CHANDY”
21
Stagnation
22
Hachiman Taro Electronics
22
Economic Tentacles
23
Irian Technologies
24
104
The Jihad
25
Special Contact/Enemy Traits
106
Gamemaster’s Section
26
Skills and Fields
106
Chandrasekhar Kurita
26
Martial Arts/Quick Death (New)
106
Aims and Objectives
26
Personal Equipment
107
Holdings
27
Roleplaying Addendum
107
Security
30
Possession
107
Mercenaries
30
Cutting In
109
THE SOCIETY
31
Roleplaying With Interstellar Players
110
Signs of Conspiracy
31
71
Interstellar Player NPCs
111
Society Structure
34
Modern Times
72
Belters in Game Play
111
Playing Gods?
34
Gamemaster’s Section
74
Belter Augmentations
113
Society Operations
35
A Cult Divided
74
New Mercenary Employer:
Uncle Chandy
Wheels Within Wheels
36
THE SAURIMAT
76
114
Gamemaster’s Section
38
The Saurimat: A Compendium
77
Thuggee-Manei Domini
(Phansigar) Hybrids
THE BROTHERHOOD OF RANDIS
39
Belief to the Stars
77
114
Gamemaster’s Section
44
Humble Before Change
78
Classic BattleTech Rules
124
MYSTERIES OF THE VOID
46
Faith Rises
79
New Vehicle Equipment:
The Mariner’s Tale:
47
The Saurimat Today
79
Smart Robotic Control Systems
124
In the Darkness Between
Skipjack
Gamemaster’s Section
80
New ProtoMech Equipment
125
47
INTERCONNECTEDNESS UNLIMITED
81
New Aerospace Equipment:
Super-Jump Drives
Ghosts, or Ghost Particles?
49
Interconnectedness Unlimited:
126
Winning the Lottery
49
Taking the Fall
83
New Vehicle Equipment:
Centurion Weapon Systems
Early Arrival?
50
The Turning
84
127
Time’s Arrow
50
The Prestige
85
New BattleMech: RMP-5G Rampage
128
On Second Thought...
51
Gamemaster’s Section
86
New Aerospace Fighter:
Mk. 30 “BlackWasp” Robotic Interceptor 130
New Force Rules: The Saurimat
A Change of Heart
51
Facts: The Corporation
86
What Lives Between
51
Facts: Behind the Stage
86
131
531121454.008.png 531121454.009.png 531121454.010.png 531121454.011.png
connection/ JIHAD CONSPIRACIES / 01: CREDITS
002 / 003
CREDITS
i
Writing
Found and Lost
Jason Hardy
Introduction
Herbert a. beas II
What If?
Herbert a. beas II
The Hidden
Herbert a. beas II
Uncle Chandy
David l. McCulloch
The Society
ben Rome
The Brotherhood of Randis
Ken’ Horner
Mysteries of the Void
teve Mohan, Jr.
The Ancients
Mike Miller
Cult of the Saints Cameron
David l. McCulloch
The Saurimat
andreas Zuber
Interconnectedness Unlimited
andreas Zuber
Minor Groups
Devlin Stone
Jason Hardy
Thuggees
Warner Doles
The Tanites
Christofer “bones” Trossen
Game Rules
Herbert a. beas II
Ken’ Horner
David l. McCulloch
teve Mohan, Jr.
Mike Miller
ben Rome
Christofer “bones” Trossen
andreas Zuber
Special Thanks
To Randall for entertaining the notion of a second
Interstellar Players book — now with 100 percent less
Genecaste! Peter Smith, for bringing “Starling” to life
(and being good enough to share him). Warner Doles
for the original Manei Domini concept (which I con-
tinue to ruthlessly exploit). Our esteemed playtester
and fact-checker apparatus. The five “Herblets”:
Tribble, Annie, Oscar, Merlin, and Meggie—now
joined by the “Beckielet”, Logan. And, as always, one
Rebecca “Beckie” J Beas, who has grown ever more
patient as I have grown ever more busy.
Product Development
Herbert a. beas II
Assistant Development
Randall n. bills
Playtesters/Fact-Checkers
Joel Agee, Brian “Whytwolf” Alter, Joel “Welsh-
m a n” B a n c r o f t- Co n n o r s , R o n “ Ste e l H aw ke ”
Barter, Rich Cencarik, Brent Dill, Dan Eastwood,
John “Worktroll” Haward, Glenn Hopkins, John
“Bluesman” Hudson, Michael “Konan” Koning, Alan
Kreilick, Edward “TenakaFurey” Lafferty, Ed Lott,
Darrell “FlailingDeath” Myers, Jason Paulley, Michael
Pfister, Aaron Pollyea, Rick Raisley, Jim Rapkins,
Jason Robinette, Eric Salzman, Christopher K. Searls,
Jason Skidmore, Sam Snell, Rob Strathmann, Joel Ste-
verson, Geof Swift, Roland “Ruger” Thigpen, Chris
“Chinless” Wheeler, Patrick “Roosterboy” Wynne.
Product Editing
Diane Piron-Gelman
BattleTech Line Developer
Herbert a. beas II
Production Staf
Art Direction
Randall n. bills
Cover Art
slawomir Maniak
Cover Design
adam Jury
Layout
adam Jury
Matt Heerdt
Illustrations
Robert atkinson
brad McDevitt
lorian stitz
©2008 WizKids Inc. All Rights Reserved. Jihad Conspiracies:
Interstellar Players 2, Classic BattleTech Total Warfare, Classic
BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech, BattleMech, Classic BattleTech
RPG, AeroTech 2, BattleForce 2 and WK Games are registered
trademarks and/or trademarks of WizKids, Inc. in the United
States and/or other countries. No part of this work may be repro-
duced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the
Copyright Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other
than that in which it is published.
Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trade-
marks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC.
Published by Catalyst Game labs,
an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, llC
PMB 202 • 303 91st Ave NE • G701
Lake Stevens, WA 98258
FIND US ONLINE:
Precentor_martial@classicbattletech.com
(e-mail address for any Classic BattleTech questions)
http://www.classicbattletech.com
(oicial Classic BattleTech web pages)
http://www.CatalystGameLabs.com
(Catalyst Game Labs web pages)
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarrior/
(oicial MechWarrior web pages)
http://www.wizkidsgames.com
(WizKids web pages)
http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog
(online ordering)
531121454.012.png 531121454.013.png 531121454.014.png 531121454.015.png
connection/ JIHAD CONSPIRACIES / section02: foUnD anD losT
fOUND AND lOST
This is the room. Right here. This is the ogima room.
What do you mean, what’s the ogima room? oh, right, right,
you’re new. Well, this is a story you need to know if you’re going to
work here. This room’s a legend . It’s too bad Rascombe isn’t here
to tell the story himself—I forget some of the details—but I’ll do
what I can.
Yeah, you probably haven’t ever met Dr. Rascombe. oicially,
he still works here, but he’s not around much. He’s … he’s not
been well.
anyway, this happened maybe two years ago, back when
everything seemed like it was exploding at once and we found
out Marik was actually not-Marik. It was a late night—full moon, of
course. Have you worked a full moon yet? oh, you’re in for a real
treat. Just you wait.
Rascombe had been on duty for about ifteen hours, and he
was napping on one of the dressing-room cots. someone shook
him awake after he’d been down for about twenty minutes and
told him he was on. so he stumbled up, got himself together and
went to act professional.
He came to the door of the room and saw a nurse—I think it
was burton, a guy who left here about a year ago—standing by
the door, looking nervous.
“What’s going on?” Rascombe said.
burton didn’t answer right away; he was pretty twitchy. “The
patient …” he inally said. “The patient in there is a little worked up.”
Then Rascombe heard it. Yelling coming from the other side of
the door. There’d be a few words, then silence, then some more
yelling. alternating, on and of, constantly.
“He should be sedated,” Rascombe said. and burton says, “He
was sedated. He’s had enough tranqs to completely knock him
out. and the horse he rode in on. and a few other horses besides.”
The guy inside yelled some more.
“Is he … secured?”
“ Yeah,” burton said. “Manacled to the bed. Good luck with him.
Call me if you need me.”
“You’re coming in with me.” so Rascombe glances at his note-
puter to see if the patient info’d shown up yet. It was there, but it
only gave a irst name. ogima.
so Rascombe went into the room—this room right here. The
bed there is where ogima was chained. Under here you can see
the gouges he made by pulling on his manacles.
of course it’s the same bed. We don’t buy much new stuf.
When Rascombe walked in, he saw—well, you should ask him
about it some time, if you ever meet him. He saw a sight. The guy,
he said, was practically levitating on the bed, he was pulling so
hard against his manacles. He had bald patches where he’d pulled
hair out, and his face was crumpled like paper. on one wrist, he’d
pulled so much that the metal had cut him practically to the bone.
He might have bled out if Rascombe had waited any longer to get
in there.
so there’s blood spraying everywhere, hitting Rascombe and
burton as soon as they walk in. Rascombe runs forward, trying
to stop the bleeding, but the guy’s thrashing everywhere, even
though he’s restrained, even though he’s sedated. Rascombe
knows that anything he puts on the wrist is going to get ripped
of pretty quick. nothing good’s going to happen until he puts the
guy out.
and of course, the whole time the guy’s yelling. Most of it’s
gibberish, but Rascombe and burton said sometimes they could
understand a word or two. of course, they both heard diferent
things, so you don’t know if it’s what this ogima guy actually said
or if they just heard it that way. like a Rorschach test, but with
sound.
burton, he said the guy yelled “the lesh, the lesh,” a lot, and
then he said “so many, too many.” Rascombe heard him say “run,
run, run, run,” and “the heart, right out,” and he said what burton
heard as “so many, too many,” was actually “may I, do I.”
but they cared more about subduing the guy and stopping the
bleeding than listening to him rave. Rascombe looks at the chart,
sees how many tranqs have been pumped into the guy, and he
lips out. The guy should’ve been asleep for a week, not thrashing
himself to death. so Rascombe makes the call—twenty micro-
grams of astoril. Yeah, that’s right, t wenty . and still the guy doesn’t
go out right away. He spends a little more time throwing blood
around the room—check some of the corners, you might ind a
spot the cleaning crew missed in the past few years.
oK, I’m kidding. Kind of.
but inally, inally, the guy goes down, and Rascombe patches
up his wrist. but the guy’s not entirely out. His eyelids kept snap-
ping open with only the whites showing underneath. Rascombe
said the eyes were pulsing, bulging—he worried they were going
to pop out of their sockets, but then they’d close. and even then,
when the patient was totally sedated, he had this presence—well,
he was just creepy , Rascombe said.
but at least the guy’s quiet and still and there’s no more bleed-
ing, so Rascombe igures he can get to work on the real problem.
He looks at the chart. Then he looks at the patient. Then the chart
again. He does a cursory visual inspection. Hooks up a computer
to the guy to see if it can ind anything. looks for burton, but bur-
ton took of as soon as the patient went under. He walks out into
the hall, looks around, then yells to anyone who can hear him.
“Does anyone know what the hell is supposed to be this guy’s
problem?”
no one answers. In fact, Rascombe told me it seemed like
everyone was doing their best to keep their distance. He saw one
nurse walk into the hall, make eye contact with him, then dash
right back into the same room she’d just walked out of.
so he igured he’d go to admissions, see who took the guy’s
info in the irst place. He just wants to ind out what the problem is,
ix it and get the guy out of there. He takes two steps, then hears a
noise. behind him. from the room. This room here.
He runs into the room and the guy is sitting up. sitting up! Just
a few minutes after twenty units of astoril! at least he’s not thrash-
ing. He’s still, his eyes are closed, but he’s sitting bolt upright.
531121454.016.png 531121454.017.png 531121454.018.png 531121454.019.png
connection/ JIHAD CONSPIRACIES / 02: FOUND AND LOST
004 / 005
fOUND AND lOST
Rascombe, of course, is pretty unnerved. He stares at the guy,
waiting for something else bizarre to happen, and he’s not disap-
pointed. The guy starts to shake. Vibrate, Rascombe said. His body
stays in its seated position, but it’s trembling like an aspen leaf.
Rascombe pokes his head out the door, asking for a little help, but
no one shows. He says the shaking went on for maybe a minute,
then stopped. and the guy’s eyes snapped open, with the eyeballs
now in their proper position.
Rascombe takes a step toward the guy, and there’s no response
from him, no recognition. another step, same thing. He walks in
front of the guy and waves a hand in front of his face. nothing on
the guy moves, not the slightest twitch of an eyeball. He does it
again. still nothing. He takes a step back.
Then the guy speaks. In a voice, Rascombe said, like you’d
expect to come from a mummy.
“I see you,” the guy says.
Rascombe looks around. There’s no one else in the room. He
looks at the guy.
“Me?” Rascombe says. “You see me?”
The guy doesn’t respond immediately. Then he talks again. “I
see you.”
Then Rascombe gets it. or he thinks he does. “no,” he said.
“You’re not in the ICU. This is one of the emergency rooms.”
The guy seems satisied. His eyes stay open, and he doesn’t
thrash or shake. Rascombe igures it’s time to get the guy diag-
nosed, treated and on the road. so he picks up his chart.
“says here your name is ogima. Is that right? Is that your
name?”
“ogima,” the guy says.
“and that’s your irst name, right?”
“ogima,” the guy says again.
“It doesn’t say what your complaint is,” Rascombe said. “What
brought you here tonight?”
“all, all, all wrong. all wrong.”
Rascombe’s not sure how to respond. “all … ?” he says. “I … I
need you to be more speciic.”
“ogima.”
Rascombe sighs. He’d ordered a mental consult once the guy
was sedated, but no one had showed yet. of course.
so, good doctor that Rascombe was—is—he soldiered on.
“okay, ogima’s your name. Where are you from?”
and then it happened. The answer. The big answer. The answer
that turned this from a run-of-the-mill full-moon psycho story to a
genuine hospital legend with a room named after it.
The guy answered. He didn’t hesitate. He spoke clearly and
calmly.
“Jardine,” he said.
Rascombe dropped his noteputer.
“What?” he said.
“Jardine.”
“You’re from Jardine?”
“Jardine.”
“no one’s from Jardine!”
The guy spoke more clearly than ever. “I am.”
Rascombe didn’t know what to ask next. of course, he mostly
didn’t believe the guy—I mean, he didn’t seem too sane. but
something about the guy’s calm, his total self-possession as he
kept saying the word “Jardine”—something about that weirded
Rascombe out.
finally, he came out with a question. “What … what are you
doing here?”
for the irst time since Rascombe had come back into the room,
the guy moved his head. He turned it until he was looking at Ras-
combe, though his eyes might not have been focused.
“Run,” he said. “Run run run run run.”
Then the door to the room lew open. Three men dressed in
dark everything—suits, sunglasses, hats, everything —charged
into the room. They didn’t hold any visible weapons, but Ras-
combe said they gave the impression that they easily could
be armed.
“We’re taking him,” one of the men said.
“excuse me, who are you?” Rascombe asked.
“We’re taking him now ,” the same man said. another one
shoved Rascombe aside.
The three of them surrounded the bed.
“lie down,” one of them said, but ogima stayed bolt upright
until one of the dark men sent him down with a irm push. The
men then started taking the guy away on his gurney.
Rascombe tried to get to his feet. “You can’t do that!” he said.
none of the men glanced at Rascombe. “We’re doing it,” one of
them said. and they pushed the guy out.
Rascombe followed, throwing out a lurry of questions. “Who
are you people? Where are you taking him? Do you—do you know
where he says he’s from?”
Two of them keep pushing the gurney forward, but the other
one turns and looks at Rascombe with a gaze that chills him. Right
through the sunglasses. “That’s something you shouldn’t know,”
the man says. Then he follows the other two.
Rascombe chased them, but they moved with an odd, liquid
swiftness. He broke into a run before he knew it, but they stayed
ahead of him, almost out of sight. They left the hospital, and Ras-
combe followed.
The gurney was sitting just outside the exit, empty. Rascombe
looked around and couldn’t see ogima or the men anywhere. He
walked a few meters this way, a few meters that way, but it was
hopeless. They were gone.
He walked back here, into the ogima room, and picked up the
noteputer he’d dropped on the loor. He wasn’t sure what kind of
a note he was going to make, but he knew it had to be something.
so he called up the ile.
It wasn’t there. ogima’s chart was gone. no sign it had ever
existed.
531121454.020.png 531121454.021.png 531121454.022.png 531121454.023.png 531121454.024.png

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin