So I have this idea for a character I want to play. It would be an Outcast scientist, flying around on a ship with some crew and some other scientists, researching the effects of Cardiamine, its connection with Nomads and perhaps Artifacts, with the eventual goal of finding a genetic "cure" for the Outcasts' dependence on Cardiamine.
Naturally, this won't sit well with certain Outcasts, after all, who depend on the Cardiamine trade for income. But there are probably Outcasts out there who, despite liking the cardi trade and the Outcast way of life, do not wish to be so dependent on cardi, and want to free themselves from its grip.
So, a couple of things. First of all, I was thinking of flying a Combat Service Freighter, as the Outcasts don't seem to have a small freighter class of ship that matches up against things like the Anki or the Corsair Correo. And I don't think an Outcast would fly a civilian Anki or Armored Transport, which would be horribly out of place in the edge worlds.
Second, can I get a bit of a primer on the Outcast factions? And would any of them be willing to take this character in under their wing? I was planning on having this be an indy Outcast, but I figured I might as well ask.
If anyone's got other issues they think of, please tell!
Mining Ship, Gull/Albatross transports, whatever the Kushan and Kadesh freighters are called now, Repair ship, Pirate Train/Transports, Rogue/Molly gunboat, Outcast Gunship, Bactrian, Camara, Turanic Raiders Freighter...
Any of those would be acceptable, I would think. Maybe not the GBs, though...
A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay,
brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
Paragraph 2: Talk to Ayumu Ishida, one of my Outcasts. He may be interested in helping you out.
Paragraph 3: An Armored Transport isn't as out-of-place as you'd think, but if you want to really blend in, grab a Dromedary off Mactan Base.
Paragraph 4: You're out of luck here, as far as I can tell. SOB merged with the Blue Lotus Syndicate, so that's an obvious non-option. And given our opinion of Cryer for the same kind of research, you won't be getting much support from any other faction either.
In fact, you may rather quickly be declared an enemy of the Outcasts if you get found out, so be ready to be very sneaky about it...
You might be better off being Cryer in this instance - after all they are the ones trying to develop the cardi-substitute with out the bad side effects.
An OC researcher? He would be looking at the effects of Cardi with the view of INCREASING its addictive properties!
Outcasts consider themselves more than human now - thanks to Cardamine - and want to take over the rest of Sirius by literally 'converting' the rest of humanity into Outcasts as well!
' Wrote:You might be better off being Cryer in this instance - after all they are the ones trying to develop the cardi-substitute with out the bad side effects.
An OC researcher? He would be looking at the effects of Cardi with the view of INCREASING its addictive properties!
Outcasts consider themselves more than human now - thanks to Cardamine - and want to take over the rest of Sirius by literally 'converting' the rest of humanity into Outcasts as well!
That is one way of looking at it... or maybe he wasn't born into the Outcasts. Or maybe he disagreed with his upbringing. Maybe he saw something that changed his mind.
Point is, not every Outcast thinks the same. Not every Corsair thinks the same. Not every Gaian thinks the same. I could go on, but you get the idea. And with groups as large as the Outcasts and Corsairs, there will be some disagreements - this is a little extreme, but also easily disguised if one is careful.
It's not at all something I'd like to see a lot of people doing, but one or two? Sure, whatever.
Of course, he should be aware of the fact that he will be dangerously close to getting shot by any Outcast that catches on - it'll only be a question of weapon range, really.
Yeah, saying "all Outcasts want to be cardiamine superhumans" is a huge and unrealistic generalization, which unfortunately appears too often in fiction. I refuse to believe that all Outcasts are cookie-cutter fanatical killing machines. They have to have other people in their society too, but that's just it. They're a society, not just a group of fighter pilots. So I want to play another member of this society, and see how this turns out.
As for the in-RP hostility issues, his "cover story" could just be investigating the properties of cardiamine and trying to get it to grow in places other than Malta. This would mean he could travel all over Sirius, interact with all the Outcast allies, and gather a lot of information. This would also get him financial and material support from higher up, as the Outcasts probably don't want to depend on solely Malta for cardi production. They don't want the technology to get out, of course, but having all your eggs in one basket is bad too. And the Corsairs have already demonstrated their willingness to nuke planets...
Basically, how I came up with this idea was first: I wanted to be some sort of unlawful researcher. Next, I thought, "what sort of things might and unlawful researcher study?" And Cardiamine was a natural answer. Artifacts were too of course, but in thinking about both of them, I thought that cardi would be more interesting. And I definitely want this researcher to be less "science" and more "SCIENCE!"
Go for it but really watch your "cover story", because if one of my characters will figure out your intentions behind it I will have to chase you out of outcast core space since my characters are all somehow related to the cardi-business (even without actually having a smuggler char). Maybe I'll even force you to drop your cardamine supplies to show you how unfortunate a life without cardamine would be.
For the ship I agree with Thexare, the dromedary sounds like the best idea.
' Wrote:Go play the game, within the given limitations. That is how role play games are played. Not by trying to work around those limitations or whining about them.
Interesting... Will the research you'll be conducting widely known, or at least possible to know about if one has similar interests? Since I have a character who is also conducting some Cardamine research, and he'd most likely be interested in teaming up / sharing results (if it's RP-possible for him to know about you, naturally).
Cardamine makes them what they are now: powerful, wealthy, influential. Among that longer life and many other benefits. I highly doubt they'll want to get rid of it, any of the outcast factions. I think your character will be assassinated pretty quickly for stepping onto toes of too many people upstairs. However if you'll look into matters of curing their fertility issues, rather than dependency, I am sure they'd be quite grateful for that.
Again, this guys is not going to be going around and making it known that he want to find a "cure" for cardi addiction. He's just a researcher. I might even drop the "cure" part of his motivations, since so many people seem to be fixated on that, and would go "You're that guy who wants to destroy cardi, DIE!"
The fertility thing is a very good point, I forgot about that. So, listed goals:
1. Figure out how to grow cardiamine in places other than Malta
2. Solve the fertility issue
3. General research into cardiamine's properties and effects
Yes, cardiamine makes the Outcasts rich and powerful, but it also makes them dependent. There is always going to be that weakness that others can exploit. So is it that hard to believe that perhaps some of the Outcasts want to remain that rich and powerful, AND not be enslaved to cardi? I'm not saying every one of them feels this way, but think about this: rich heir to an Outcast family, has everything he could ever want, except this one little thing:, he can't live without Cardi. So being the spoiled brat that he is, naturally he wants this unattainable thing, since he's had everything else in his life go his way too.
As for my character's visibility... The way I plan to RP it is that my researcher is being supported by several small Outcast families who are pretty much getting crowded out of the cardi trade by the big powerful families. Plus, he does not feel appreciated on Malta, where his work is ignored and he is treated as a sort of freak for wanting to pursue science instead of focusing on the current cardi trade. So with the financial backing of these smaller Outcast families, he buys a ship, finds some crew, and heads off into space, where he can conduct his research away from "people who don't appreciate my work". Perhaps his eventual goal is to create a "better" strain of cardiamine for his sponsors, which is more powerful, with fewer side effects, and can grow in biodomes in space. I'm definitely getting a vibe of "under-appreciated mad scientist" from this guy.
So if your Outcast has some interest in science (or SCIENCE!) and is willing to look past the glamor and glitz of the rich families, then he might have heard of this guy. He'll probably make a bigger name for himself among the Outcast allies than the Outcasts themselves.
![[Image: GMG_banner.png]](http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e68/thenoseyshadow/GMG_banner.png)
![[Image: signaturr.gif]](http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9549/signaturr.gif)
![[Image: ernestknuthcopy.png]](http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4737/ernestknuthcopy.png)
