Quick question, how much work has been done for cybernetics in this setting? Because I have some nasty little ideas on how to affect people with chrome and I just need some clarification on the state of cyberware on Coreline, especially concerning Full Body Cyborgs.
You GMs are going to like this and players...well, its all about the challenge isn't it?
And now for something completely different:
New Faction:
The International Contract Agency
"Welcome to the ICA, my name is Monique and I am your handler. You are what is known as a 'Pre-vanishing' no? Then you are familiar with who we are and what we do."
"...Yes, he still works for us. After all, what is an organization...no, what is a business like ours without our star employee?"
The International Contract Agency did not arrive on Coreline with fanfare or anything that denoted that there was a new player in the back-room politics and shadow games of the world powers.
It simply appeared, and the leaders took stock of the situation, before getting back to work. Pre-Vanishing humans identify the ICA as being the original permanent employer of the legendary assassin; Agent 47.
The ICA are utterly professional and while their hiring standards are loose, there is no shortage of people willing to die for them and for those that hire them for anything from dealing with annoying witness for a court case to destroying drug plantations, they are anything but cheap.
But then...the best usually aren't, are they?
AGENDA: Facilitate international assassinations for profit.
STRUCTURE: International network of assassins and their handlers answering to a single central headquarters.
SYMBOL:
MOST COMMON ALLEGIANCE: International Contract Agency.
REQUISITION LIMIT: 50 (Classified)
Overview:
The International Contract Agency is a collection of assassins, hitmen and covert operation squads gathered from across the world and controlled by a single handler for every single and group of operatives who provides briefings, real-time intelligence, and equipment to the people that they are responsible for.
The ICA is fairly amoral ethically and politically about their clients, but recent shakeups have created a sympathy towards more moral contracts and these often tend to pay much better in the long-run, which has led the ICA to adopt a policy of moral screening for their mission contracts for the more moral ones, but they are still an independant group that takes assassination contracts for money, and should never be seen as 'good guys' or 'bad guys', they are just there to solve your problem for you.
Structure:
The ICA is headquartered on board the Elysium, a heavily modified supertanker purchased with falsified funding from the Russian government. Their operatives and handlers are scattered randomly across the world and are expected to travel constantly and pay for everything out of their own pocket.
Handlers and operatives never see each other and they never see the leaders of the ICA, but handlers remain in constant communication with the operatives and leaders, acting as an important link in the equation.
Communication is always handled by custom-made sat-comm uplinks made up of custom components purchased from Stingray Industries, Hakubi Customs, and other smaller companies, screened for any form of tracking system and then assembled before being distributed to the handlers and operatives.
Resources:
The ICA has access to the best weapons and equipment available, much of it not for public sale. This is due to their covert infiltration of many of the big corporations and governments to run off-record production lines and using trusted contacts for their gear.
Perhaps their most unique ace in the hole is the legendary Agent 47, a genetically engineered assassin capable of pulling off the impossible when it comes to silent killing, not even the most capable ninja can do what this chameleon can accomplish and the ICA keeps him for their most sensitive assignments.
Involving the Heroes:
Its relatively easy to join the ICA, simply prove that you can pull off an assassination and avoid capture or death and you are guaranteed access to the best materials and highest-paying jobs.
Getting out is also trivially easy, just tell your handler that you wish to retire, and they will arrange for your entire history with the ICA to be erased, ensuring that no-one will be capable of giving them away since there's no evidence to be found.
As an opponent, ICA operatives will have the best equipment, and they will often use ambushes and the environment to pull off their kills. Should you become a target for Agent 47, then you won't even know he's there until the first member of your party dies of food poisoning and by then it will far too late.
Using the International Contract Agency:
The ICA are the epitomy of a faceless, amoral, and generally unpleasant shadow-group, every encounter with an ICA handler should make the PC's skin crawl at the sheer apathy they show to the deaths of innocents and fighting against their operatives should make them feel confused; were they the bad guys? Or were they doing good?
The ICA care only about their profits, and frankly would only give a damn about the slaughter of a village in Africa or the deaths of Karan rebels if there was a potential for profit, and even then they would only send their best people if an outside party sent in to clear the way failed in the mission they were given.
Never forget, that even the most moral of their number have a total lack of empathy and care only for the profit involved in their actions, and that they can always replace the operatives that die.
Because there's no shortage of men, women...and children, willing to sell their souls and lives for some dirt-cheap pay.
Working on a budget? Have low wealth bonuses and you need a combat aircraft or a relatively effective way to blow up a building? Here, have a helicopter, a fighter and a knock-off of a Soviet classic, for the solo on a budget.
Suid-Afrika Armaments KH-Z01 'Zulu'
Attack Helicopter
The KH-Z01 'Zulu' was built after the Hours using captured and stolen AH-64D Apache Longbows as the basis for their new helicopter, and while it has the basic shape, its not exactly a helicopter to write home about.
The Zulu is only well known for one thing; it's price. The Zulu is the cheapest helicopter in the world and is in use with just about every African rebel group who want a cheap helicopter to fight their wars.
Of course, a cheap helicopter usually does not mean a quality helicopter, and the Zulu is a helicopter that cannot stand up by itself when deployed alone, and just barely gets by when used in bulk.
Still, for the area it operates in, its better than nothing.
KH-Z01
MECHA TYPE: Vehicle
CLASS: Assault Helicopter
Purchase DC: 8
SIZE: Gargantuan
HIT POINTS: 43
OCCUPANTS: 2 operators
CARGO: 1 ton
ARMOUR: 6
DEFENCE: 6 (1d20-4)
AIR SPEED: 210 mph
CEILING: 15,000 feet
HANDLING: -4/0
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
-Accessories (Duplicate Controls)
-Communications (Long Range Radio; Secure 1, Tactical Radio; Secure 1)
-ECM (Defensive Jammer; +2 Defense)
-Environmental Systems (NBC Filter)
-Navigation Aids (INS)
-Sensors (Optics; 6 miles, Radar; 10 miles)
-Stabilization Gear
DEFECTS:
-Bottom-Optimized Armour
-Hangar Queen
-Reduced Endurance (5 Hours)
-Start-Up Time (3 minute)
-Very Noisy
-Volatile
-Weak Point
Weaponry:
Suid-Afrika Armaments typically doesn't equip their helicopters with weaponry, so the following is typical of a militia-owned helicopter
-2x 7.62mm Miniguns (Hardpoint x2, fire-linked, Extra Ammo, Fixed Arc of Fire [Fr]) (2000 Rounds each)
-1x 57mm Rocket Pod (Hardpoint, Fixed Arc of Fire [Fr]) (32 Rockets)
-BGM-71 TOW-2B launcher (Hardpoint, Fixed Arc of Fire [Fr]) (2 Missiles)
Suid-Afrika Armaments AA-40 'Boomslang'
Multi-Role Fighter
The AA-40 is the newest fighter produced by Suid-Afrika Armaments after the 23 Hours and while it is constructed of antiquated and cheap materials and technology, it performance is actually quite respectable even against the likes of Veritechs, Mobile Armour, and flying Fictions in combat.
SAA learned from the mistakes of the KH-Z01 'Zulu' and worked to ensure that the AA-40 could stand on its own as a quality aircraft and it is generally accepted that they succeeded in this aspect.
While it is a budget aircraft and requires a fair bit of work to keep flying due to the fact that Suid-Afrika Armaments' factory line lacks the precision equipment of more modern facilities, the AA-40 is widely considered to be Suid-Afrika Armaments' better aircraft.
AA-40 'Boomslang' Statistics
CLASS: Jet Fighter
SIZE: Gargantuan
Purchase DC: 14
HIT POINTS: 50
OCCUPANTS: 1 operator
CARGO: None
ARMOUR: 4
DEFENCE: 6 (1d20-4)
AIR SPEED: 860 mph
CEILING: 59,000 feet
HANDLING: -4/+9
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
-Booster: Air (+660 mph)
-Communications (Long Range Radio; Secure 1, Tactical Radio; Secure 1)
-Countermeasures (RWR)
-Ejection Seat
-ECM (Defensive Jammer; +3 Defence, Radar Jammer; +4 DC)
-Environmental Systems (Life Support)
-Laser Designator (6,000 feet)
-Navigation Aids (INS)
-Sensors (Infrared; 10 miles, Radar; 70 miles)
-Targeting Bonus (Dumb bombs +2, 30mm Autocannon +2)
DEFECTS:
-Hangar Queen
-Reduced Endurance (19 hours)
-Stall Speed (150 mph)
-Start Up Time (5 minutes)
-Very Noisy
-Volatile
Weaponry:
-1x 30mm Autocannon with HE Ammo (Extra Ammo x4, Fixed Arc of Fire [Fr], Alternate Weapon) (300 Rounds)
-4x Hardpoints, two to each wing.
Suid-Afrika Armament 'Super SCUD'
Surface-To-Surface Missile Launcher
This is an (Post-23 Hours upgraded) unlicensed copy of the original SCUD / SS-1 Soviet ballistic missile. One of the favorite toys of third-world dictators, Scud can hit a 50m circle from about 550 kilometers.
Since it carries an improved three-ton explosive warhead, or nuclear, biological or chemical warhead (chemical are most likely – they’re cheap, and easy to produce), greater precision isn’t required.
The Scud can’t track any targets – it’s inertial guidance system leads it to hit a pre-destined place on Earth, no matter what will be there. Please note that any modern counter-missile system will most probably blast the Scud out of the sky before it could reach it’s target, so make sure the skies are clear before you fire.
Here, it’s mounted on a company-made knock-off of the original Russian MAZ-453 Transport-Erector-Launch vehicle, but it is not unknown to have Scuds installed on seagoing vessels (although this tends to hamper their accuracy).
They are sold exhaustively in Asia and Africa due to the relative inability of the militias and dictators in these regions to acquire more sophisticated and expensive weapon systems.
Suid-Afrika Armaments TEL With Super SCUD
MECHA TYPE: Vehicle
Purchase DC:12
CLASS: Transporter
SIZE: Gargantuan
HIT POINTS: 55
OCCUPANTS: 3 operators, 1 passenger
CARGO: 12 tons
ARMOUR: 4
DEFENSE: 6 (1d20-4)
LAND SPEED: 37 mph
HANDLING: -4/-4
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
-Accessories (Hitch and pin for trailer, Tire Inflation System)
-Climate Control
-Communications (Long Range Radio; Secure 1; Tactical Radio; Secure 1)
-Headlights
DEFECTS:
-Noisy
-Road Vehicle
-Reduced Endurance (2d6 Hours before requiring maintenance)
-Volatile
-Windows
Weaponry:
-Super SCUD Missile (Crew-Served x2, Less Ammo x5,
Different Gunner) (1 missile) New missiles from Suid-Afrika Armaments have a Purchase DC of 30 with a Restriction of +4 (Illegal)
Special Note:
While you may not see this weapon much outside Africa (the TEL vehicle however, can be modified to launch UAVs and Drones if required), inside the Dark Continent expect to see these fired regularly against rival militias, government forces, civilians and of course any Pan-African State border territories.
) flies. If examined w/Detect Magic or similar divinations, it radiates an aura of overwhelming strength.
