AD| The Amalfi Directorate

[Amalfi Directorate]

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The Amalfi Union|Amalfi Directorate
Outcast ID | Outcast IFF | Tag- AD|

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History/

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Armando

The name that years before once inspired fear or resentment in countless souls has fallen. Izek-Fernando: the last surviving true claimant to the name, succumbed to his advanced age in early 823 AS. Mario Olmos, then-administrator of the Church of Tarxien, and adoptive son of Izek-Fernando, was named as the sole inheritor to the leadership of the Cross, and the control of all that it held - families, assets, and land alike.

Two days after his acceptance of this mantle, and mid-speech before his advisors and many of his followers: Mario Olmos was assassinated by his High Inquisitor, then-known as Erika Espinosa - Olmos’ own head of military operations and intelligence.

Though outwardly a pious order somewhat reminiscent of the Knights of Rhodes of Ancient-Earth and other similar organizations, the true internal structure of the Cross was significantly more secular than the organization wanted those outside to know. The appearance was a ploy- a banner for a multitude of lesser families and individuals to rally around and venerate so as to attain prominence and rise in social standing and economic power above their past selves. This worked- for a time, but eventually infighting between newly merged and disposed families within the Church’s ranks led to multiple savage rivalries in the foundation of the organization. The embittered internal struggles were the cracks in the proverbial wall- and the deaths of the Church’s leadership followed by the ensuing power-struggle were the final blow that doomed the organization.

With the main heads of the organization dead or in hiding- the Crimson Cross fell into internal chaos and infighting. Some families chose to retain their colors within of the Church of Tarxien- many more dissolved and cut ties with the organization altogether. Those that chose to stay were eventually rolled into the National Council as signatory members- in time giving up the false premise of the Church of Tarxien while a number that bought into the religious dogma broke off on their own- splintering away and receding into hiding from Maltese society altogether.

Those families that cut ties remained quietly in the background- their dream of attaining a higher status in the oligarchy still nursed but momentarily bruised. A significant portion of this memberbase were engineers, soldiers and officers from the Cross’ old battle-fleets that drifted towards the edge of Maltese society following the fall of their organization- eventually coalescing on Venice Shipyard and on Santa-Cesarea - a small research outpost/prison complex established planet-side on Carinea once operated by the Cross’ Intelligence branch: the Inquisition.

These displaced former prominent families of Maltese society suddenly found themselves once more on the outside looking in; without nearly any political influence to their names, and placed back in a position of weakness potentially under the thumb of other, larger families and organizations. In their mutual lowered status however, some key members of the leadership of these dethroned famiglia saw the potential for something greater. It was while visiting a former Armando facility on Albegna that the twins Paulo and Desdemona Varela - along with a handful of other Dons and family officials - established the foundation of what would come to be known as the Amalfi Union: a political alliance of Maltese families estranged by the fracturing of the Cross, or otherwise outcast from greater Maltese society.

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Amalfi Airbase

A small militarized outpost hidden away on the border between the northern highlands and the massive equatorial desert on the world of Albegna in Omicron Tau. Originally established decades prior as a minor, hidden listening post for the Maltese western border- it was converted into a highly militarized airbase shortly after the discovery of the Council and Gallia as a whole. Because of its position near the Lorraine wormhole anomaly, Albegna was seen as a great strategic strongpoint for Maltese forces should Gallic entities ever push further into Maltese space.

Structured as a contingency base should Malta itself ever become threatened, Amalfi was intended to launch a flanking counter-attack with multiple wings of fighters and bombers to take any potential enemy forces by surprise. To accomplish this, multiple transports carrying munitions, weapons, ore, and supplies that were “acquired” in the Taus over the years were diverted away from Omicron Alpha, and instead found their way to Albegna. As these shipments were never logged as bound for Malta, and most of the supplies needed to establish the base were stolen or pirated, the logistics needed to construct and maintain such a facility has remained hidden from outside influences for the near decade since the Council’s breach of the system’s minefield in 817.

Since its inception in 764 AS and conversion into a full firebase in 818 AS, the Armando Famiglia has retained almost sole control over the installation- and keeping it manned with only the most trusted and loyal militants available to their name. Despite the use of pirated goods to largely construct and maintain the Airbase, a not-insignificant amount of credits and resources needed to be diverted away from the Armando estates planetside on Malta to build and maintain the operation. Several outlying plantations, along with multiple vessels had to be sold to fully facilitate the Airbase conversion in 818 AS. Though exact figures are not known to any of the families still in control of it, it is believed by a few former members of Izek-Fernando’s inner circle that this sizeable drop in power and influence was one of the major catalysts that led him to finally push through his scheme of the creation of the Cross as a means of regaining glory lost to his and his associates’ name and powerbase.

Rallying around their remaining assets, as well as the inclusion of a number of newer families joining around them- these former militants came together to reform some semblance of order amongst themselves. Whereas they would otherwise be absorbed into other families or outright disregarded as minor players- the remnants of the Cross’s old naval and intelligence forces chose instead to establish a new powerbase of their own. Taking to their origins as Naval and Intelligence experts: coming to call their united families The Amalfi Union, and naming its limited but covert-oriented forces the Amalfi Directorate (Direzione di Amalfi.)

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General Information/

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The Directorate is an Intelligence Organization of individuals and families of Malta, bound by circumstance and united by necessity. Though limited in number, they employ some of the best technologies, weapons, and available professionals to accomplish whatever needs doing. Though Amalfi gave birth to the concept and form of the organization, most of those that willingly fly the blue are based on Malta, with several others scattered on installations throughout Maltese space and beyond. Origin family or past history mean little for those that have passed the recruitment process: if one can get their job done, then they're a capable asset to the cause of Amalfi, and by extension: Malta.

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Structure/

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While the predecessors to the Union were of considerable strength and relatively ordered cohesion, this isn’t exactly 100% true of those that followed. The Union lacks largely in the numbers of its available assets; and only a handful of warships remained in the hands of the families that now compose the Union.


As the Amalfians operate with bare minimal numbers - something not unfamiliar to those of Malta -, many formerly viable strategies had to be reconsidered and restructured. Intelligence of a situation and the overall disposition of enemy forces has come to dominate all other concerns; both on the battlefield, and off. As such, “Know thy enemy” is a maxim adopted almost universally throughout the Union: as sensor technologies and espionage are a heavy focus of the their operations. Fighters are relegated more towards a scouting role than a dueling one- going beyond their capital vessel’s sensors regularly to survey a situation, and relaying information back to their command ships to determine probable combat outcomes.

Training for pilots and soldiers is frequently done planet-side on Albegna first- with survivalist tactics and combat taught first and foremost in the dunes near Amalfi. The rough terrain and high heat helps trainees build endurance, while the thin atmosphere and constant need to monitor both cardamine and oxygen levels on breathing apparatuses forces them to constantly evaluate risk-management skills that are essential to both combat and espionage operations. Pilots are reared on specially built air-breathing atmospheric aircraft during basic-flight training; getting used to standard spacecraft controls in a planetary environment before moving into spaceflight.

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Membership/

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The Union’s choice of which individuals and families to allow into its ranks is a meticulously deliberated one: Malta's ever turbulent and fluctuating political status leads to many a-recruit being denied because of past affiliations. As a result, only a small number of individuals have been hired or purchased to fill empty positions within the Directorate. Those that are brought in are typically done so as a result of recommendations from already existent members. Rigorous training and conditioning then cuts out a large number of these initiates who weren't capable of fulfilling their training duties. Even with these precautions, information is kept strictly need-to-know on nearly all matters associated with the Directorate.

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Overall Goals/

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• Overall growth of the Directorate through whatever means possible
  
• Defense of Maltese territory
  
• Reconnaissance of neighboring and far-flung regions
  
• Espionage
  
• Overall expansion of contacts and parties friendly to Maltese vessels
  
• Securing Albegna as possible future habitation zone for Maltese interests
  
• Acquisition of technology for the benefit of the Directorate
  
• Furthering the growth of the Maltese Navy
  
• Expansion of the Cardamine trade to new regions where applicable
  

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Notable Members & Ranking/

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<< Section WIP - pending future implementation of a full ranking system >>

Union Designate - Head of the Amalfi Union and speaker of the Union's Dons

Donna Desdemona Varela

Amalfi Director - Head of the Directorate and second only to the Designate

Direttore Paulo Varela

R&D Division Leader - Overseer of all R&D efforts and operations

Senior Agent Harry Callahan

Amalfi Dispatch - The collective group of command officers, flag-leaders and coordination personnel dedicated to the dispatching of Amalfi operations within and without of Maltese territory

Multiple, numerous individuals scattered throughout Maltese and non-Maltese space in various locations.

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Battlegroup Amalfi/

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MNS Naxxar: A name bearing much renown and a long, proud service history, the Naxxar represents everything the Directorate isn't. Overwhelming size, firepower, and the ability to shrug off all but the most crippling blows; all features that the Directorate as a whole lack, given their numbers. The Naxxar then is a foil of the philosophy of the Directorate's military operations, only ever being called forth in the most dire of situations when all avenues of subtlety and subterfuge have failed or otherwise been cast aside, and the thunderous, unflinching might of the Maltese Nation must be brought to bear in its rawest and most powerful expression. Few who have had the chance to face this harbinger of the Malta have come back, and those that have, wish only that they and their now-vaporized shipmates hadn't.

MNS Genoa: The Sarissa's role as a command-ship is not one wasted under the Amalfi-banner. Though the Genoa has a long and colorful history with a number of previous families within the Nacione, she flies proudly as one of the primary flag-vessels of the Directorate, frequently heading Storta attack formations in larger capital engagements. The vessel bears some of the most complicated sensors, survey equipment, and weaponry available to the Maltese, and despite her many battles, continues on proudly as a testament to the ingenuity and skill of Maltese shipbuilders.

MNS Lancia D'Argento: Formerly the MNS Sicily, the Lancia is a Misericorde-refit Storta-class destroyer, following a tech-exchange between the 75th Mosquitoes, and members of Amalfi's current membership. The cost for the retrofits were a significant investment for the Union, and thus faced major scrutiny during the conversion process. Though essentially a long-range recon-base and sensor array, the vessel is far from defenseless: singlehandedly possessing more firepower than any other ship near her tonnage in the Maltese Navy.

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Naming/

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Heavy Capitals(light & heavy battleships) :

AD|<Major Mediterranean Island name*>

Light Capitals (gunboats, cruisers, battlecruisers)

AD|<Minor Mediterranean Island name>

Strikecraft (Fighters, Bombers, Combat-Freighters)

AD|<Minor Mediterranean Island name or agent codename (ex: AD|Duchess)>

* note the exclusion of the standard MNS- ship designation prefix
This is done to avoid at-a-glance confusion with AD|MNS and an ADMINS tag, implemented after a brief discussion with staff.

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Reputation/

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Allied:

Nation of Malta
The National Council
The Liberty Rogues
Golden Chrysanthemums

Friendly:

Natio Octavarium
The Lane Hackers
Junkers Congress
Junker Marauders
Buro des Marineachrichtendiensts

Neutral:

Zoners
The Kingdom of Bretonia
The Federal Republic of Rheinland
Unioneers
The Order
All unlisted entities until otherwise stated

Unfriendly:

The Council
Union Corse

Hostile:

Corsair Empire
The Gaians
IMG
BHG/Core
The Xenos
Liberty Law Enforcement
Kusari Law Enforcement
Gallic Law Enforcement
Liberty, Gallia, and Kusari Corporate entities
SCRA
GMG
Hellfire Legion
Colonial Republic

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Officialdom Request money can be taken off of AD|Palmarola

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The Amalfi Directorate

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• [+] About Amalfi
  
• [+] Internal Communications
  
• [+] Internal Personnel Database
  
• [+] Dispatch Communiques
  
• [+] Vetting and Recruitment
  
• [+] RP Bump Thread

[Sciamach]

Welp.

I wasn't wanting to do this - so as to avoid faction drama and head-splitting paperwork - but after a significant push from my memberbase, here we are. We've been over this about a dozen times but we've likely missed a bunch of stuff so, if you notice an issue in the post, hollar and we'll see to it that its corrected. Thanks ahead of time, cheers ~<3

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[ sci·am·ach ]
/sīˈamək/

A simple, angry man casually working his way through life on a personal quest to acquire copious amounts of street cred.

[Kazinsal]

post-edit: this post makes less sense now that the one it's in response to has been hidden

It's not 4.85 anymore. We can do more interesting things to generate activity "on behalf of a faction" than home system raids nowadays. I mean, we've always been able to, but now it's straight up encouraged.

Adapt. We did.

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Retired, permanently.

[Sciamach]

Funny how I thought this situation was resolved and yet you felt the need to plaster this same vitriol here, again. Hm.

Thanks for the opportunity to address this publically I suppose however so I'll grace you with my response.

The most common assumption I'm forced to make when a group of players is chasing me or trying to summon me away from doing something else outside of the game is that they're trying to blue-farm. This is more often than not a safe bet given just how toxic certain members of this community are historically, and what the most common mode of behaviour is for the offending party in such a situation. This is nothing new, and you'll forgive me for not bowing down and kissing your feet because you pressed F2 in Alpha's direction over the course of 10 minutes. You can stop acting like it was some grand sacrifice for you all to do that.

I have 0 issue with spontaneous encounter RP, but I don't feel an overwhelming desire to do it when I'm busy with RL things, all of my members are either in the middle of a move or busy doing other things. Especially when the only information I'm given is a list of hostile names in a place they clearly shouldn't be.

I've apologized to the individual your lot sent my way for the way the situation went down, as I'm sure you're well aware and yet you felt the need to post this anyway. I'd have though that after one of your group decided to spend 20 minutes swearing and cursing in my direction as a result of this situation that you'd have wanted this scenario to have been forgotten about but apparently not. Apparently it's okay to harass and flame someone in PM because you didn't get your way, and then fail to apologize for it.

I want to wash my hands of this situation. It was stressful, eye-opening and frankly downright shameful so I'll not be addressing it again. You have my statement. It's best if everyone moves along and we all forget it happened.

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[ sci·am·ach ]
/sīˈamək/

A simple, angry man casually working his way through life on a personal quest to acquire copious amounts of street cred.

[McNeo]

Without any information, you projected your prejudices on to my group, where they feel labelled as non-RP players, bad people with bad intentions, and you expect them not to get mad at you?

You know what prejudicial behaviour is right? You know that your kind of behaviour is pretty much the root of every atrocity on the planet right? And you know that when people see it and are affected by it, they're going to get incredibly angry at it?

And no, you didn't apologise to anybody. You defended your position and apologised if anyone should be offended by that position, but asserted that said position was correct.

It's not 4.85 anymore. We can do more interesting things to generate activity "on behalf of a faction" than home system raids nowadays. I mean, we've always been able to, but now it's straight up encouraged.

Adapt. We did.

Yes, that's why 4.85 had 220 player cap and people fighting to get on the server at peak times, and now the server goes between 15 and 60 players.

You're not doing "more interesting things", you're actually doing nothing.

[Lythrilux]

Agreed. If this is just going to be Cross 2.0, then don't bother. It's the last thing the Outcast playerbase and especially the server needs. I'm hoping you will change your attitude regarding Alpha raids.

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[Thexare]

Home system raids have always been stupid in-RP.

[Lythrilux]

Who cares? They're extremely fun and create loads of activity.

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[Thexare]

Well, let's see.

If it's stupid in-RP

and we're on an RP server

hmmmmmmmmm

It'd be stupid to raid Rho too.

[Sciamach]

Who cares? They're extremely fun and create loads of activity.

Subjective opinion is not objective fact.
Edit: Not everyone enjoys them, and just because you do, dosen't justify their existence for absolutely everyone.
Most, if not all of my faction dont, I don't, so I wont force my faction to log for these situations on that principal. If it's not fun or in some way constructive to the RP environment, I'm not ordering anyone to do it.

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[ sci·am·ach ]
/sīˈamək/

A simple, angry man casually working his way through life on a personal quest to acquire copious amounts of street cred.