Geister Des Sigma

[Tenacity]

Geister Des Sigma

[color=#006600]

"Ghosts of Sigma"

Faction Background
With the drastic increase in trader movement through the sigmas from Rheinland to Kusari, Piracy within the systems has increased tenfold. Innumerable pirate groups, all bent on striking it rich at the expense of the common trader, have sprung up in the past years since the nomad war.

The Geister des Sigma, or "Ghosts of Sigma" are one such group. The ghosts were originally a small organization, originally started by a Rheinland Opportunist going by the name of Kristof von Schneider and several close "business partners" whom he could trust. Since then, the organization has flourished on the piracy and exploitation of Rheinland-Kusari Trade convoys.

The ghosts use psychological warfare tactics in addition to deft piloting skills to outflank their prey, seize valuable cargo, and subsequently dissapear back into the sigma nebulae without a trace. Von Schneider based the group off of the wrecked and derelict vessels of the 80 years war - using a major event in past sigma history as the staging ground for his pirates.

Posing as "ghosts of the damned" - rheinlanders who were killed in the 80 years war due to ambush by the Gas Miner's Guild - the Geister des Sigma strike fear into the hearts of their enemies through elaborate manuvers that use the masking properties of the nebula to hide their presence. They strike from nowhere, and return to nowhere after the striking is through.

All pirates need a base of operations however, and at some expense to his group Kristof von Schneider has requisitioned space aboard the nearby Yanagi Depot, owned and run by junkers, to field his pirates.

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Faction Member Tag: Geist.Name
Faction Rep Tags: Military (rheinland military) preferrably, but not likely possible. Junker and blank tags acceptable
Faction ID: Generic Pirate ID

Naming Restriction: All faction members are to choose a name or callsign based on rheinland (german) names.

//For example, my personal character for this faction, should it be accepted by the community, is Geist.jager - Jager being "hunter/stalker" in german.

Allowed Ships:
Banshee
Valkyrie
Phantom
Wrath
(no capital ships, no bombers - both are considered too slow and too large to maintain the illusion of being 'ghosts')

Allowed Weaponry:
Rheinland Military Weapons (Firekiss/Flamecurse cannons)
Codename Weapons
Razors (obtained from junkers through yanagi depot)
Infernos (obtained from junkers through yanagi depot - questionable, must consult RoS/101st about this)
(No nomad weaponry of any sort is allowed)

Systems of Operation
Sigma 13, Sigma 17, Sigma 19, New Berlin*, Frankfurt*
*Faction ships are not to proceed more than 20k from jump holes after entering new berlin or frankfurt, as these are not primary operating systems

Allies
Junkers

Enemies
Gas Miner's Guild - To keep up the illusion of being ghosts from the 80 year's war, as well as to restore their supplies of H-fuel when necessary, the geister des sigma are openly hostile to the GMG.

ALG waste disposal - ALG is currently 'cleaning up' the rheinland derelicts and wreckage in sigma 13 leftover from the 80 years war - this removes both operating cover as well as a source of equipment and ships; as such the geister des sigma are hostile to ALG operations in the area.

Bounty Hunters - Naturally being pirates, bounty hunters are likely to be called out against the ghosts of sigma to stop attacks against trader convoys. Scare the crap out of them by RP'ing as a ghost in system chat, then kill them.

Traders (all affiliations) - with the exception of junkers, all trader-classified ships in the area are targets of piracy for the geister des sigma. Faction members must RP as 'ghosts' in system chat, and must force targets to sacrafice their cargo to the spirits of the damned. I dont want this faction to turn into a "2m or die!" group - you demand that the trader drops his cargo - ALL of it - non-compliance results in destruction. Pirated Cargo can be tractored in and returned to yanagi for individual profit, all non tractored cargo should be destroyed. The idea here is to make things difficult for the traders trying to use the Diamond/niobium route, not to gain a large amount of profit off of them.

Nuetral
Everyone else - the ghosts of sigma are not interested in the outcast/corsair war, or in the politics of the houses. Do not fire on any non-mentioned faction until fired upon.

Bases
The only base faction members are permitted to land on for rearming and repairs is Yanagi Depot, in Sigma 13.

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//

Ok, So I'm really just looking for comments on the idea of this faction right now. It's not intended to be an official faction (unless someone wants to pay the cash, because I sure as hell cant afford it).

I know a lot of players out there are ticked off about the diamond/niobium trade route, and this is an effort to stop that exploitation while at the same time using some fun and unique RP. Faction members are -not- really ghosts, they are simply using that as an illusion/disguise to strike fear into their victims - A ghost from a war that happened a couple decades ago is a hell of a lot scarier than some grummy pirate who probably fuels his ship with rum over h-fuel.

EDIT:

Altered the player tag from {GdS}Name to Geist.Name

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[globalplayer-svk]

so unlawfull faction (pirate ID) with lawfull tag (military/rheinland military) flying in one of the most restricted ships (rheinland military ships) places in junker base, using rheinland military (lawfull) weapons together with outcast (unlawfull) infernos.

sorry but too much conflicts here .

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[Tenacity]

I mentioned the tag would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to hold as a pirate player - so junker or blank tags would work as well. The inferno was also up for debate, and pretty much relies on approval from the 101st and RoS to be used - otherwise we'll stick to train CD's and razors.

The ships are very easy to explain - Look around yanagi depot in sigma 13, there are old imperial rheinland fighters -everywhere-. Nobody else is doing anything with them (other than ALG cleaning everything up), it cant hurt to have a few pirates patch them up to working order. We're also restricting to LF's/HF's/VHF's only - no bombers, no capships, I think that's reasonable.

Junkers allow just about anyone on their bases, with the exception of xenos and hogosha. As stated, for a small fee, it isnt unreasonable that they'd let a private pirate group station aboard yanagi. Junkers get a cut of the profits and they remain happy, while the pirates get a place to purchase ammunition, make repairs, and rest after raiding convoys.

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[Treewyrm]

Tough time to be on fighters only there, as my BD character I see plenty of caps passing by S13-NB jumphole, sometimes as escorts to traders, sometimes just passing through ("jedi business", so I was told once).

Neutral to blue squishies? Curious, going to pay a visit on wilde there.

[Tenacity]

obviously nomads are hostile, these guys arent wilde =P

I really just think -something- needs to be done about that route though. I was in sig13/NB for a total of 15 minutes tonight checking out the system for this faction... and I saw over a dozen seperate traders in advanced trains hauling niobium/diamonds. I've never seen such a high concentration of trade ships in my entire time here...

Someone, PLEASE go blow these guys up, It's frustrating that I have no characters I can attack them with myself =P

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[JohnLenin]

RM is rather restrictive about their ships+weaponry.

While I do understand (and actually like) your reasoning about the old imperial wrecks, let me share you a story happened the other day in NY:
HAL9000, a Junker arrived in a "Corsair GunBoat". The Liberty lawfuls told him that the ship his is flying is banned from Liberty. Then he told them a quite nice RP story that while it was once a Corsair GB, he just started from a wreck and made a ship out of it which resembles a Corsair GB, but it is far from it...
Nobody in LSF, SA etc was willing to accept his story, I believe he got shot.
(Jane tried to speak reason to both LSF and HAL9000 but then left the system before things got settled.)

What you describe would be a Junker gang (of Reinland origins) living not from salvaging but from pirating. Why do you want to go with Military ID + weapons? They do not fit any pirate group.

Positive is to limit the pirates to VHF and less. (a la Junkers)

It is also rather hard to maintain your neutrality between Outcasts and Corsairs. Only works as part of something large enough and/or needed by both of them - again Junkers.

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JohnLenin * Collector * Junker
.:j:.Jane.Blond * Firefly * Smuggler * Junker Congress

[Treewyrm]

Someone, PLEASE go blow these guys up, It's frustrating that I have no characters I can attack them with myself =P

I happen to hang around there on my pirate character anyway, but not too much - not much time to spend on extra characters such as that one either. Actually good money can be made, but typically best done in groups, some traders come in waves so to catch them all it's best to have buddies by side.

However best part is when you don't tax them instead demand them to drop all cargo so they get no profit at all.

At least it's not as bad as McBuff "lengthy route" from 4.83. :-)

But yea, mini-faction might do. However keep in mind - there are rival pirates in the area too: BD, GC for example. So you might want to explain how you settle up with them as well, territorial questions.

[JohnLenin]

I really just think -something- needs to be done about that route though. I was in sig13/NB for a total of 15 minutes tonight checking out the system for this faction... and I saw over a dozen seperate traders in advanced trains hauling niobium/diamonds. I've never seen such a high concentration of trade ships in my entire time here...

that's true enough.

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JohnLenin * Collector * Junker
.:j:.Jane.Blond * Firefly * Smuggler * Junker Congress

[Tenacity]

Why do you want to go with Military ID + weapons? They do not fit any pirate group.

I specifically stated Pirate ID's, not military. The weapons would already be available from the wrecks themselves (both codenames as well as standard Rheinland military weaponry).

While I do understand (and actually like) your reasoning about the old imperial wrecks, let me share you a story happened the other day in NY:
HAL9000, a Junker arrived in a "Corsair GunBoat". The Liberty lawfuls told him that the ship his is flying is banned from Liberty. Then he told them a quite nice RP story that while it was once a Corsair GB, he just started from a wreck and made a ship out of it which resembles a Corsair GB, but it is far from it...
Nobody in LSF, SA etc was willing to accept his story, I believe he got shot.
(Jane tried to speak reason to both LSF and HAL9000 but then left the system before things got settled.)

Liberty is known for imposing ridiculous rules about anything foreign, they're worse than kusari.

This faction is restricted to operating in the sigma systems however, they have no reason to go into any house systems with the exception of 'peeking into' new berlin.

Positive is to limit the pirates to VHF and less. (a la Junkers)

Um... they are - none of the ships listed are above VHF class (wrath is VHF, all the others are HF's/LF's).
No bombers, no capships, no freighters, no transports.

As for the nuetrality between outcasts/corsairs... just because WE treat them as nuetrals doesnt mean they return the favor to us. We wont openly fire on them, but we can defend ourselves if they decide to attack us. We maintain nuetrality in the war because we dont care what's going on with those factions.

But yea, mini-faction might do. However keep in mind - there are rival pirates in the area too: BD, GC for example. So you might want to explain how you settle up with them as well, territorial questions.

Same deal as with the outcasts/corsairs. We leave them alone until they attack us. If they're already pirating a vessel we'd probably keep an eye on it, if the vessel tried to run we would swoop in from the cloud and help destroy it, then dissapear before the other pirate even knows we're there.

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[Generation]

i like this idea, I would be willing to join.

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