Emodriver Plot Role Info

[powersthatbe]

If you are not a plot infiltrator or someone with IC reasons to share knowledge available to plot infiltrators, please do not read the comments of this post.

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Comments

THE AURIGAN GENERAL - THACE

[powersthatbe]

If it weren't for the meddling Princeps, by now Earth would be a colony and you its satrap. The Princeps is far too concerned with aiding and comforting the enemy for their own good. And if they find out their Consort is alive, a piece of intelligence you’ve been guarding closely, it could ruin everything.

Your task is to eradicate all resistance by any means necessary - including use of the human's "X-pression Virus" bioweapon - and prevent that little tidbit from getting to the Princeps until it's too late. If necessary, you're contemplating mutiny - the assumption of total command of the Aurigan forces. You're months from the Emperor, if it comes to it. If the Princeps were to be declared "killed in action," who would contradict you?

Plot Skill - Knives in the Dark: Increase the psychic shock of a betrayal such that the victim cannot retaliate this scene.

Re: THE AURIGAN GENERAL - THACE

[insidegalra]

Commander Sendak I mean, General Hacet reporting for duty.

[ninjayeehaw]

bitch

Actually I wonder if Hacet knows about Kinji's spy mission, since he's here solely on the Princep's orders.

[thornsofmalkav]

I mean, whether or not Hacet would know, I personally think it's super possible at least that the actual Aurigan spymaster knows nothing about his mission. (Possibly Commander Montrev thinks he's a casualty from a skirmish with the Earthers?)

[otomechapilot]

He was infected by hugeman biowuppens, writing him off as a casualty might have been Convenient.

Just saying.

[ninjayeehaw]

Sorry boss, thems the breaks

[insidegalra]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Hacet doesn't know! However, he's probably got a few of his own agents doing the exact same thing so! Shenanigans?

[ninjayeehaw]

Absolutely yes. Kinji would probably be ready to deal with them himself, either by feeding them false information or just killing them sneakily.

[insidegalra]

On the surface, Hacet's agents are searching for cures and/or treatments for the virus (because everyone wants to end the quarantine), but most of them will have super secret orders to look for weaknesses in the humans' tech/fleet.

Questions

[insidegalra]

So, what does Hacet know about how the battle of Tharsis went down?

Also how does Hacet know the consort is alive?

Re: Questions

[otomechapilot]

Hacet was present at the Battle of Tharsis, and approved of the Heavenly Mercy's plan. He witnessed the kidnapping (one of the only witnesses), but had bigger problems to deal with due to the unexpectedly fierce resistance, prioritizing saving the troops over saving the single noncom VIP.

He's been keeping tabs on the situation since, without interfering, because the Consort's disappearance is a convenient casus belli.

Re: Questions

[insidegalra]

Okay, was the infection of augirians accidental, or intentional in order to start the war?

Was he a part of the ambassadors or just like a guard or something?

I'm assuming he's responsible for many of the human deaths in trying to protect his people but did he kill any of the augirians to quarantine the virus?

Re: Questions

[otomechapilot]

The Aurigans catching X.Pression was a complete accident, and biologists didn't even think it would be possible because the biochemistry involved was radically different.

He was probably part of an honor guard or a military contingent.

That last one is up to you.

Re: Questions

[insidegalra]

Shiny shiny.

Would it be reasonable to assume that augirians with the virus are under strict quarantine while doctors search for a cure and spies are being sent among the humans to learn more about it (possibly from the already infected)?

Re: Questions

[otomechapilot]

Yes to all of the above; it's also possible that some of them are/have volunteered to be weaponized.

Re: Questions

[insidegalra]

Excellent. I shall see if anybody would like to play one of his spy/Kamikaze agents, or if they're all npcs.

Also, since he's Xuil, I should ask if the Xuil have picked up any quirks from living under the rule of telepathic space elves for so long. (Are they weirdly open? Closed off? Have they bred themselves for telepathic resistance? I'm assuming they're not actually telepathic, but I think the plot skill assumed Aurigan proper, so!)

Week 1/week 2 + questions

[insidegalra]

So Hacet's been quietly planning/compiling what he (and his spies) know, and suchlike in week one I plan to get that toplevel up today /cough

And the payoff should be in the battle that's supposed to happen in week 2. He's been working hard on finding means where the Aurigan fleet can pull a surprise victory in spite of smaller numbers on the EDSF. He's been looking into flanking maneuvers, surprise attacks, faking a loss to drive the Earth forces into a position where they can be attacked, laying traps and etc.

I need to know what he can work with. Are there places where he could hide ships/troops (disguising them as wrecks on the front lines/perhaps)? Can he arrange for the battle to take place somewhere particular? Can he plant some kind of mines or other weapon to be activated at the right time? Is there a way that he could mess with sensors to encourage friendly fire? (Or does he have ships that could get the enemy into position around them and duck out of the way fast enough that friendly fire happens anyway?)

Regarding intelligence, I'm assuming he's figured out that there is some new weapon at the very least (he has had issues with misinformation (thanks Kinji) but he's almost certainly gotten accurate info too). He'd like to lure it out before it's finished testing if he can, in hopes of exploiting bugs that haven't been worked out yet. He's totally willing to sacrifice people to sabotage things too.

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[otomechapilot]

Hiding ships as derelicts is a great plan, and luring them into the debris field with torpedoes waiting in the wings is a nice trick! (And what is a torpedo but a mine with an engine?)

While electronic warfare/hacking the sensors that badly would be a neat trick, blinding the sensors and sending stealthy corvettes into a compromising position is also possible far more achievable and works about as well. As is sending in artillery ships hovering at maximum range to snipe.

You may also want to split the enemy forces by pulling out people from Ceres to Phobos at the last minute and SURPRISE WE HAD ASSETS IN PLACE IN THE CERES SHIP GRAVEYARD get dunked on ESDF.

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[insidegalra]

Those all sound like great ideas!

He's definitely going to be hiding forces in the derelicts and torpedoing then! Also sniper artillery ships.

Could he use a bit of sensor trickery and visual camouflage to make EDSF think his corvettes are on their side and ~surprise~ they're not? Alternately, (and I've seen this trick on a sci-fi show) can he set up some of his smaller ships with scramblers to make it seem like he has a lot more capital ships in the area he wants the EDSF to head to where he wants them and ~surprise~ the actual capital ships have been sent elsewhere.

Staging a very visible pull-out to Phobos, to lure EDSF into ambushes with forces with ships he's put in place for when they respond is definitely something he'd do!

How much of it can he accomplish at once with the forces he has available?

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[otomechapilot]

Corvettes or Q-ships (Totally Merchant Ships, Don't Worry About It) fitted with fake transponders is a thing you can try!

You're probably not going to be able to fake the drive signature of Like A Kjbillion Capships, but you could fake Like A Kjbillion Mecha or Missiles.

You would have to commit a fair amount of your reserves to this, which means you're up a creek if it fails, but the losses inflicted are potentially devastating. It also helps that this is a plan reliant on mostly frigates, corvettes, and artillery ships rather than on huger and irreplacable ships. High risk, high reward.

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[insidegalra]

He would totally fake mecha, and maybe a cap ship or two if he could, in formations that seem like protecting a major weapon (or a Princely flagship?). Make the fakes seem Important.

Hacet is the High Risk, High Reward guy.

And he has a backup plan if things go south. Probably multiple ones. I'm... not sure of what they are at the moment though. Any ideas?

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[otomechapilot]

They probably involve more classical "retreat under the covering fire of a dreadnought's cannons/ those same artie ships," quite frankly. Ogres are also primarily defensive assets.

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[insidegalra]

Sounds reasonable. But I'm thinking there's going to be a Stirring Speech that encourages captured Imperials to pull "I'm taking you down with me!" and the option of taking suicide bombs of some kind with them just in case.

(he may or may not ask if a trusted soldier to volunteer to be captured in order to spread disinformation too)

Re: Week 1/week 2 + questions

[scarsolderthanyou]

This plan makes me have to ask: what's the "range" on Stone's mech-whispering abilities? Like. Can he TELL those are fake mechs or does he have to be within a certain distance? XD

(This might help explain some of his amazing fighter pilot-y skills if he's reading the OTHER guys' mechs, too, tbh)

Week 2/3 plans

[insidegalra]

Hacet made a speech, made suicide switches available for pilots (and some got used too), and organized a grand battle. While the battle was a loss, he made his real goal of causing significant losses of troops on the human side and getting some info.

He also made plans to insert some prisoners to feed the humans false information, curried favor with a new mechanic (Chloe), got chastised by the Princess for his suicide switches, chased a turncoat (Prompto) and spoke with a new pilot (Shiro) in a kind of "can I use you as a spy?" way. Which nicely dovetails into a backup plan of "make him the one who orchestrates the peace", if, you know, that looks like the option with more prestige attached.

For Week 3:
He's putting into motion several different plans of course he's the Xanatos Gambit guy:
PLAN ONE: Hacet is ordering the spies to plant their Evidence of Suspicious Behavior/expose already planted stuff. It's not necessarily 'working with the aliens!' evidence (although some of it probably is), but it is stuff that will hopefully make people suspicious of each other and start infighting.

PLAN TWO: Moving most of the fleet to somewhere hidden. Publicly, this is to give the fleet a chance to regroup and recover, and to lull the humans into thinking they won by a far greater magnitude than they did. Privately this is to incite attack, should the false information fed by his prisoner-spies be believed.

PLAN THREE (yes this is a plan, not just him being a decent guy): make himself sympathetic to the fleet. He is going to attend every funeral service, personally visit the squads of the dead, and perform a Xiul vigil/ritual (it may or may not involve ritual substitution of a part of himself for the lost body of the dead) for each of the suicides.

PLAN FOUR: spearheading rescue operation planning! Part of this plan is to tell his spies to find all the captives (and he hopes, the consort) and get that information back. The publicly known part is asking for Brave Volunteers to risk infection to sneak in and get them out. (If he's organizing an attack in week four it's probably to cover for this operation... publicly. Privately it might be for... other secret plans)

...and he may or may not end up with X-Pressure, but that's not in his plans at all.