Be a Ranger! Babylon 5: Outrageous Fortune (Re-recruiting)

[Blackrat]

Oh I just realized something. I have a bad habit of shortening peoples' screennames, like writing "Doc" when talking to anyone with Dr. infront of their name or calling Shayuri "Shay". I wanted to make sure you're not insulted because if so, I'll try and write it whole.

[Walking Dad]

Hi Blackrat, I read your ad

I have only seen the series till the shadowinvasion, and that was a long time ago.

BTW: Please short me to WD and not "Dad", okay?

[Dr Simon]

Originally Posted by Blackrat

Oh I just realized something. I have a bad habit of shortening peoples' screennames, like writing "Doc" when talking to anyone with Dr. infront of their name or calling Shayuri "Shay". I wanted to make sure you're not insulted because if so, I'll try and write it whole.

I'm happy to be Doc. As my wife has pointed out, I'm all seven of the Seven Dwarfs

[Shayuri]

I'm doing Science and I'm still alive...

...

Okay, teeper. I need to know more about this bureaucracy of telepath affairs thing. Also, who and/or what now employs telepaths? Are they all freelance contractors? Mercs? It seems like intelligence agencies would be snapping them up left and right without PsiCorps to already have snapped them up left and right.

I am down to character concept here. Oh, also, in chronology, how long ago was the telepath war?

Also, 'Shay' is fine.

[Dr Simon]

Stand by, casting 'Wall of Text'.

The Telepath 'Crisis' as it is usually styled ended 2 years ago (2265). There's little clear data about it, but it seems to have been ongoing in its intense state for about a year, although the seeds were sown in 2262 and rumbled on in the form of terrorist attacks on Psi Coprs by the followers of Byron.

For those of you who didn't make it to Season Five, Byron was a former Psi Cop and protege of Bester who left the Corps in disgust at its actions (and his own complicity in the murder of mundanes). His goal was to set up a homeworld for human telepaths where they would be left alone, and he started by forming a colony on B5. Unfortunately, the combination of mundane mistrust, Psi Corps hunting, the fragile cult of personality that had built up around Byron, his own martyr-in-waiting personality and a misguided attempt to blackmail a planet from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds resulted in Byron fulfilling his martyr fantasy (along with many of his followers) in a huge explosion. The remnants of his followers, led by his former lover Lyta Alexander, vowed to fight on in his name. Although Byron pursued a fanatical devotion to non-violent ways, Lyta and the others do not share this idealism, which failed so dramatically.

Ultimately Lyta succeeded at the cost of her own life, thanks in part to her Vorlon modification and also thanks to money and resources provided by G'Kar (in return for DNA to help experiment in producing Narn telepaths) and Edgars Industries (run by Mr. Garibaldi who had a serious wish to harm Bester). Most of the details of this are unknown to non-telepaths.

For a human teep, you have the choice of having fought on either side (and not all in Psi Corps were evil, and many would have seen the Byronites as terrorists and a force of chaos), or of having avoided taking sides, as you see fit and depending on your chosen age. A P-11 would have been quite important in Psi-Corps and a more experienced teep would have been an instructor or similar. Or they might have been subjected to Psi Corps infamous breeding and enhancement experiments.

Who employs telepaths now?

Due to the Telepath Regulation and Control Act (2265), telepaths are required to be registered with the Bureau of Telepath Integration but are otherwise free to pursue any career. The commercial sector is common for low-level teeps, as it was under Psi Corps. Telepaths are now permitted in law-enforcement and military roles (although Due Process still ensures that a scan is not legal evidence). A high level Teep may well work in a covert intelligence role.
Some, of course, may work in jobs that don't utilise their telepathy; a partial fulfillment of Byron's dream of a world where telepaths were not simply used as mind-reading tools by mundanes and Psi-Corps.

Enforcement of the Act is carried out by the Watchmen of the Bureau (all known as Mr. or Ms. Jones). They conduct scans every six months of registered telepaths (registration carries the implicit permission to allow this) and check for any infractions. Some are former Psi-Cops. Others are not. Unlike Psi-Corps, the Earth Senate has ultimate jurisdiction over the Watchmen and can act to prevent any abuse of power.

Infractions are classified as minor, major and serious. Minor infractions carry no penalty by themselves, but can accumulate to a higher breach. Major infractions usually require a spell in a Telepathic Compliance facility for re-training. Serious infractions usually result in criminal proceedings. The abilities and their related infraction levels are:

Accidental Scan - none if accidental, minor if intended
Communication - none
Danger Sense - none
Daze - serious
Deep Scan - major
False Memory Implantation - major
Jamming - minor
Image projection - none if defensive, minor if aggressive
Locate mind - minor
Mind mirror - none
Mind Shield - none
Nerve Stimulation - serious
Pain - serious
Reality Fabrication - major
Sense Telepathy - none
Surface Scan - serious
Warning - none.
(This list is from a 1st edition supplement. They changed the rules for telepaths in 2nd edition so not all abilities may be listed above, I haven't cross-checked).

Note that some roles are given exceptions under the Integration Act. Teeps in law enforcement, for example, are allowed to use Locate Mind or Jamming. Military teeps may be allowed to use Pain in a combat situation and so on.

Telepaths still tend to wear the 'psi' symbol to denote registration, but are no longer required by law to wear gloves (nor the badge).

Unregistered telepaths are still considered a danger to society, but are now normally treated as other criminals via mundane law enforcement with a telepath on the team. The fanatical hunting of 'blips' conducted by Psi Corps has been toned down - with a less oppressive and power-mad body controlling them, fewer telepaths see the need to go rogue, apart from those using their powers for nefarious purposes. Currently the greater effort is being expended hunting down 'war criminals' from the Telepath Crisis, like the notorious Psi Cop Bester.

[Blackrat]

Originally Posted by Walking Dad

Hi Blackrat, I read your ad

I have only seen the series till the shadowinvasion, and that was a long time ago.

Woot! I lured another player in. There's a short summary of events after that in the first page.

BTW: Please short me to WD and not "Dad", okay?

Sure thing "Pa" , I meant WD

[Blackrat]

Originally Posted by Dr Simon

I'd be inclined, at the very least, to allow Minbari Warrior Caste to treat the Denn'bok as a standard close combat weapon rather than an exotic, as they're not grossly overpowered by any means, and offset by a high cost.

So how about this. Is it okay for me to treat it as standard close combat weapon?

[Shayuri]

Awesome. That's exactly the info I needed.

Thanks!

[Dr Simon]

Originally Posted by Blackrat

So how about this. Is it okay for me to treat it as standard close combat weapon?

Yeah, I reckon that would be fine.

[Dr Simon]

Something to consider, if you are playing a human characters, is if they are from Earth or not.

Earth is now under quarantine, so Earth-born humans would have been offworld during the Drakh attack 6 months ago, perhaps now forcibly prevented from returning home. Colony-world humans, on the other hand, may or may not care what happens to the Earthers. The Martians in particular may well be enjoying seeing Earth get its comeuppance.

[Walking Dad]

Originally Posted by Blackrat

Woot! I lured another player in. There's a short summary of events after that in the first page.


Sure thing "Pa" , I meant WD

Okay a will think about a characterconcept. One of my other games just died.

[Dr Simon]

Originally Posted by Walking Dad

Okay a will think about a characterconcept. One of my other games just died.

If you need any info on recent events in the B5 universe (not already covered in this topic!), just ask. You might find the old Lurker's Guide http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html to be useful too.

[Walking Dad]

I would be interested in playing a scientist.

Can you post some informations regarding the pak’ma’ra?

[Dr Simon]

A pak'ma'ra, eh? Why does the idea of a pak'ma'ra scientist make me think of Doctor Zoidberg?

Actually, it would work quite well for the cover story - that of Quantium-40 buyers on a lawless fringe world. The pak'ma'ra are great traders of Q-40 and are commonly found in the worst places of the universe (partly because they don't care about such things and partly because they tend not to get invited to the nice parts).

The first pak'ma'ra allowed into the Rangers (in 2262) was trained in infiltration techniques since the effective invisibility of the pak'ma'ra made it ideally suited to covert courier missions. Who would suspect it, and who would want to go near it?

pak'ma'ra stats

In game terms, pak'ma'ra get the following:

-2 Dex, +4 Con, -2 Cha.
Medium size.
Base speed 20 ft.
+2 Stealth and Subterfuge, may always treat these as class skills.
+2 Intrigue used to gather information.
+2 Investigate used to search an area.
Great Fortitude feat for free.
Immune to many common diseases, poisons and some toxic atmospheres.
Fluency (English) - understand only, need a translator unit to converse in non-pak'ma'ra languages.
Fluency (pak'ma'ra)

You can also elect to take the Stench feat at 1st level, which causes all within 10 ft. to make a Concentration check or be sickened, plus gives a Charisma bonus to other pak'ma'ra. However, this would also affect allies as it is a permanent effect...

Scientist stats

Scientist game rules:

Initial hit points: 5+ Con modifier
Initial skill points (8+Int modifier) x4
Class skills: Computer Use (Int), Concentration (Con), Investigate (Int), Knowledge (any) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Medical (Int), Profession (white collar) (Int), Technical (any) (Int).

Proficient with pistol weapons
Starting money 2400 credits

Mental Agility: may make Operations, Knowledge and Technical checks untrained.
Primary Area of Study: select Medical, Linguistics, any one Knowledge or any one Technical skill as primary area of study. Add class levels to this skill.

1d4 Influence in area related to primary study
+0 BAB
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +2
+0 base defence

[Dr Simon]

Any news on those other characters?

Since this is quite a slow recruitment I'm happy to drag this on for a while. Once we get playing, it'll probably be at about the same speed as Rive Kingdoms.