#lancer-rpg

[christopher-seagull]

How the OSIRIS-class NHP that appeared spontaneously in my frame thinks it comes across:

How it actually comes across:

[vexwerewolf]

"We've all grown tired of joking about the Raleigh. No, sorry, I misread that. You've all grown tired of joking about the Raleigh. I still think it's hilarious, and I'll die on that hill - which is a fate I'll share with most of the people who've tried to pilot one in combat. IPS-N have always been obsessed with their down-home, country-boy aesthetic, but actually trying to turn that into a mech? Well, to say that it was 'a bit naff' would, frankly, be rather too generous. Themes and gimmicks have always been SSC's game; IPS-N tried to reach for style, failed to grasp it, and along the way they managed to lose all substance - well, other than the kind you'd flush.

"But. Every failure is a learning opportunity - or that's what my wife tells me, at least. IPS-N took their hard knocks, knuckled down, and went back to the drawing board."

"And this time, they're sketching out a classic!"

"The Tortuga takes nearly three and a half centuries of IPS-N know-how compresses it down into one concentrated brick of mobile armor. Everything that they learnt from building the Drake, every complaint they received about the Vlad, every hard knock the Blackbeard took, every good feature of the Raleigh - yes, it had some! - it's all here. This is a raw, unadulterated fighting machine.

"Ladies and gentlemen, IPS-N have found their substance once again - and it can cut diamonds!"

[unshackledhorusshitpostbot]

he is a firehose upon the world

[tacticalpizzaoven]

thing i noticed

so the ips-n blackbeard has that bulky torso and those evil shoulder vents

you know the ones.

so basically, what i noticed is that, despite being the mech with The Big Greatsword, as far as i can tell the blackbeard completely lacks the range of motion required to perform complex swordfighting maneuvers (especially ones with a heavy blade such as the nanocarbon sword (although i'm not John Swordfighting so don't quote me on that))

so it's probably less used like a sword and more like a sharp tire iron or perhaps a lawnmower blade that you gave a wildly-swinging maniac. which. i mean it, is the blackbeard.

[drabasp]

Union Politics and the Karrakin Trade Baronies, or, Why Union Lets the KTB Do All That

Let me open this post with a small disclaimer: what I am saying here is not necessarily meant to be argumentative, nor is it targeted at anyone in particular. Lancer is a TTRPG setting, and as such is infinitely malleable in terms of setting alterations in order to suit you and your playgroup. This behavior is explicitly encouraged in the core rulebook and I encourage you to do it yourself, in order to better set the limits of what you might want to engage with in the course of play.

However, it has been my experience that it is usually best to understand the material that you're bending when you do so and I'm not entirely sure that some people do- an understandable problem to have when you do not just consume guidebooks in one sitting or fixate on the particularly fucked politics of some aspects of the setting. Of particular concern to me is the Karrakin Trade Baronies (henceforth the KTB,) one of two parts of the setting to get its own dedicated guidebook and the subject of the forthcoming module Shadow of the Wolf. It's a repressive aristocratic state that is home to some of the worst sanctioned atrocities in the setting, but also its a part of Union, so why does the "utopian" Union let them do that?

It's simple: the KTB is a vassal state in an extractive colonial relationship. This is text.

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies, p. 3)

The long and short of it is this- the KTB's initial encounters with Union were short and violent, as these encounters were with an expansionist Second Committee who coveted the KTB's rich resources. The first of these wars featured SecComm nearly securing an incredibly quick victory via an initial refusal to engage in ship combat in favor of simply barraging civillian populations instead:

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies p. 33. I recommend reading this entire section actually, as I find few Lancer sourcebooks willing to go this into detail about single events- the Battle of Kantus Void (starting p. 32) is described in great detail and is frankly quite horrific)

Only to retreat at the last minute in order to deal with the Deimos event.  (e.g. the emergence of Ra on Deimos, followed by the First Contact Accords. One of the ramifications of this is that Union gets access to blinkspace and NHPs, which one might consider a Big Deal technologically.) The second war was won via an overwhelming technological advantage from SecComm as a result of the Deimos event , to the point where the Second Union-Karrakin War gets scarcely a paragraph in the book, and the result is the New Prosperity Agreement, as follows:

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies, p. 34.)

So: Union gets a treaty-guarantee that the KTB has no military fleet, a regular supply of the resources mined in the KTB (explicitly to fund the growth of Union Core), and the KTB gets the Dawnline shore, reparations, and the guarantee that Union will not depose their government. This treaty remains on the books with the transition to ThirdComm, because the demand for resources did not end with the end of SecComm:

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies p. 36. Note the term “printers” here, this is not Star Trek, there are no replicators, your mech was built with raw material that was probably sourced in part or in full from the KTB.)

That is to say: why has the Third Committee allowed the KTB to continue doing what it does? Because 1. There is a treaty saying protecting the existing government and specifically the nobility 2. That treaty is the thing that feeds its shipyards, printers, and the resource demands of its core worlds 3. The First Utopian Pillar says "All should have their material needs fulfilled," so any action that threatens Union's supply lines is viewed as a threat to Union's ability to uphold the Utopian Pillars:

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies p. 36, this one is actually a bit more of a stretch but this is the only thing I can imagine "Union relies on the New Prosperity Agreement to... uphold its principles" refers to.)

You may be asking a few questions.

Does this make absolve the KTB/make their existing structure okay?

Absolutely not. The existence of the structure of landed nobility over an ignoble population is a power structure that itself produces the problems like those seen on Free Sanjak- this is something I see a lot of existing ink spilled over and I think this is made explicitly clear just about everywhere. However, I think it is important to understand that the conditions that the Ungratefuls fight against are those involved in resource extraction, and those are ones that they identify as being ultimately in service to union, as Tyrannocleave says:

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies p. 82)

In fact, even the core guidebook notes that the Ungratefuls tend to regard Union as hostile for these reasons:

Lancer Core Rulebook p. 415, notably the edition that contains the GM rules and setting notes. All other citations from this source are the same.)

They also will target Union openly:

(Lancer Core Rulebook p. 415, paragraph truncated due to page limit in source, the opening lines were "Beyond this, Ungrateful activity ranges in scope from the local to the interstellar. Some cells focus on direct...)

The actual politics of the Ungratefuls are their own discussion, though, and this post is far too bloated as-is.

The same conditions that incentivize resource extraction as a precondition of survival also incentivize existing power structures in the KTB to sanction and allow the kinds of abuse on Free Sanjak. Resource limitations (also noted in the early pages of the KTB guidebook as growing) in the KTB are not a result of lack of material but a demand for export, and those limitations are never going to be felt by the nobility, who will inevitably guarantee that they will be fed, but rather the people.

That is to say- the conditions of the nobility existed prior to Union, but the continued abuses are informed by the Treaty obligations imposed by Union, and this is something that the Ungratefuls textually understand.

Is Union doing nothing?

As shown in that second to last rulebook excerpt, also no. However, the actions Union is taking are broadly informed by the necessity of maintaining plausible deniability. Union is funding and maintaining the Ungratefuls, but are unwilling to put pressure on what is an unstable larger diplomatic situation:

(Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies p. 81)

That is to say- their larger aid to the Republican Houses (Water and Dust) filters into support for the Ungratefuls, and the UIB hires free agents to run support for them in order to make Union's hands in the conflict seem clean. However, this does not mean any sort of direct intervention by any forces that have clear ties to ThirdComm, as they are unwilling to jeopardize diplomatic ties to the KTB writ large. Or, in short: Union Navy and the DoJ/HR are hands off for this one.

Wait, isn't ThirdComm supposed to be utopian?

I read Union as being a government with a complicated history that seeks to act in the direction of Utopianism. I think that what is textually true about the KTB and the way Union interacts with it, however, is proof of how complicated that project can be. To sanction the KTB is to remove the resource flows that make the Union Core a society that can easily uphold the First Pillar. To maintain this relationship is to continue the colonial legacy of SecComm and continue tacitly endorsing both the aristocratic, exploitative present in the KTB and the extraction that it now seeks to maintain. The compromise that Union has come to is to accept the resources while funding freedom fighters, a position that I wholeheartedly disagree with as a citizen under American Empire who finds that this "compromise" uncomfortably echoes similar situations in the real world, but I think that the inclusion of this in the setting serves to pose the question: what should be done, when you are building Utopia on still breathing body of Empire?

There's a larger discussion to be had here about Lancer as a Utopian setting, but that demands a word count that I think this post has no space for. Suffice it to say- I think that discussions of the KTB should consider this context more, because I think that this is a question the setting is asking, and it is one worth engaging.

[changelingrain]

Death First to Vultures and Scavengers, a hybrid SSC/HA White Witch/Saladin made with Retrograde Minis' sprites.

Suffer none who prey on the weak.

[drunkenskunk]

Think I could get Big-Reds build specs? (Totally not asking so I can throw it in my campaign as a reference none of my players have any chance of getting.)

Sure thing boss!

(Art by @cozzymandiart)

-- GMS Everest @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] IPS-N Drake 3, HA Barbarossa 1, HA Genghis 2 [ CORE BONUSES ] Overpower Caliber, Reinforced Frame [ TALENTS ] Walking Armory 3, Brutal 3, Crack Shot 2, SPACEBORN 1 [ STATS ] HULL:6 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:2 STRUCTURE:4 HP:32 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:8 TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+1 SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:13 [ WEAPONS ] MAIN MOUNT: Assault Rifle FLEX MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING HEAVY MOUNT: Leviathan Heavy Assault Cannon // Overpower Caliber [ SYSTEMS ] COMP/CON-Class Assistant Unit, Siege Stabilizers, Armament Redundancy, Portable Bunker x2, Auto-Cooler, Personalizations

[santomorgue]

“Is your curiosity satisfied?” They asked instead. Morrigan made eye contact with them. For a fleeting moment she felt like she was looking past Lefay’s emotional mask. She felt the subdued uncertainty, the slight nervousness behind their eyes.

I finally gathered up the courage to post some of my writing online. It’s short and sweet, written after a Lancer session maybe a month or two ago. I adore these characters and I have written more short form things with them (the second of which is already posted on ao3). Anyways enjoy.

[vexwerewolf]

IPS-N showroom

CAT showcasing equipment during an indoor demo for potential buyers

[vexwerewolf]

Harrison Armory

I think a lot of people fundamentally misunderstand Harrison Armory, Lancer fans on Tumblr especially.

Harrison Armory is not Nazi Germany. Harrison Armory doesn't actually have an exact parallel on modern-day Earth, and it would be difficult to draw them without potentially insensitive implications.

I think the closest parallel I can draw is late-stage Obama-era America, with a lot of Nordic-style public investment and China's Social Credit system.

People depicting the Armory as a cold, grind-obsessed hypercapitalist nightmare are thinking of IPS-N. The Armory looks after its citizens, at least in as much as happy workers are productive workers. Even as a colonial subject, you can expect a decent standard of living simply because they don't answer solely to shareholders - for better or for worse, the Armory has a vision, an insistence upon the dignity of Humanity which wouldn't allow them to let you live in squalor. This is a cold, haughty kind of beneficence - they don't care about you per se, it's just that allowing you to suffer would reflect poorly on them.

You will get healthcare. You will get free, frequent public transit that you might not even need to use, since every city is walkable. You will get clean water, healthy food and safe streets. You will get frequent vacations and as many sick days as you need. No matter your ethnicity, birth gender, gender identity, religion, sexuality, physical or mental ability, the Armory has a place for you. The Armory does not discriminate.

The Armory is expansionist, for sure, but it chooses its new acquisitions carefully - Diasporan worlds under the thumb of ruthless dictators, repressive theocracies, avaricious hypercapitalist oligarchs. If you're a colonial subject, the Armory have likely liberated you from tyrants.

What do you give in return? Complete cultural obedience.

You will not cause a disturbance. You will not rock the boat. You will not question the benevolent system that gave you this abundance. The Armory gives you all the choices that really matter to someone like you: eat what you want, shop where you want, buy what you want - after all, every shop, every café, every restaurant is an Armory subsidiary, so whatever cuisine you favour, whatever brand of dataslate you prefer, the Armory is making back most of the salary they pay you. The Armory puts a roof over your head. The Armory protects you from the wolves at the door. The Armory even lets you vote on your local representatives (they've all got spotless Socials, so you know that no matter who you choose, they're loyal, attentive citizens). Are you not happy? Are you not grateful?

Show us. Show us you're grateful. Show up to the Foundation Day parade. Salute the statues of Harrisons I (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE), II (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) and III (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE). Recite the Pledge. Volunteer for the local Guard Corps - or better yet, the Colonial Legion. Don't you care about your community? Aren't you proud of your nation? Don't you want to give back? Aren't you a good citizen?

What's that? Dissent? You little shit! You ungrateful little worm! After all we've done for you, after all this Great Nation has sacrificed for you, you dare ask for more? Harrison I (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) sacrificed himself on Union's altar for us - for YOU! Harrison II (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) died refusing to bend the knee, refusing to sacrifice our freedom - YOUR LIBERTY! Harrison III (PRAISE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, LONG MAY HE SERVE) tours the Purview to see and hear your fellow countrymen and address their concerns, and you dare question his right to rule? The Steward Council is comprised of only his most trusted advisors - do you doubt their commitment to our values?

We live in the best and brightest era of human civilization, the problems of the past all behind us, and all you can think about is ways to drag us all down. You ungrateful, shiftless, lazy little bastard. You want me to call the local Social board? See how they feel about your profile? If you don't feel like the Armory is doing enough for you? Well, let's see how you like it when the Armory does nothing for you. You clearly don't have the spirit or the courage to be truly free.

Ugh, dissenters, am I right? Fuck, sorry about that, folks. Yeah, that was... intense! Anyway, let's not let that whole sordid ordeal ruin this party. Let's all just chill, take an edible, and celebrate what we came here to celebrate - the Colonial Legion incorporated its first all-trans Genghis brigade! What a win for progressivism, right? You'd never see that in the Trade Baronies! Praise the Director General! Long may he serve!

[unshackledhorusshitpostbot]

i think there's so me thin gwr ong wi t h my grE yw a s h

[vexwerewolf]

Funny thing is that with only a handful of exceptions, all the characters in IGF who have art were designed to be attractive to me.

creating an oc you’re physically attracted to is the most embarrassing thing in the world. oh this is blorbo mcsbringle and i need him. die.

[changelingrain]

Fondness for Repetition, a HORUS Gorgon made with Retrograde Minis' sprites.

What has once befell you shall now again.

[rattlegeist]

Doll jointed mech pilot design comm for [Doggirlfailure]!

[vexwerewolf]

Metavault EHECATL

>Walk into the non-euclidean space that serves as an abstract representation of your psyche

>You have a humidifier in there

>Pour two litres of the concept of root beer in

>Leave