Revolutionary
In Revolution, inflammatory ideas have started gathering steam among the crew, and it is the job of those loyal to the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate to stomp on this movement by any means necessary. As either a Revolutionary or a Loyalist, you must rally those sympathetic to your cause and either organize a crew takeover of the ship, or maintain the status quo (or whichever new status quo you've decided on). Note that it must be proper and believable.
Starting Out
You spawn in your starting area, with obvious text indicating you are an antagonist. Movement leaders (of which there will be one to three) begin with an uplink with a limited amount of TC, and one free announcement to act as if they are Central Command. Use this wisely. Your announcement must be concise, within the realm of possibility and reason, and be of sound structure and language (considering you're posing as Central Command).
As an antagonist, you have access to AOOC
, and can use this to communicate OOCly with your fellow players. It is here where you will decide on your gimmick for the round; what is happening, why the crew will rebel, and the vague outline of the actions taken by either side. Once you have settled on this, it is time to make your free announcement, and proceed with recruiting the crew.
To convert someone, a Head Revolutionary/Loyalist must right-click on an adjacent individual and select "Ask to Join". This will provide a pop-up prompt where they can choose to accept or decline, but if they decline they can be approached later. When someone chooses to convert, they will have a red/blue f/C icon over their head to identify them as an ally to your cause. Most people are not going to join you without a roleplayed build-up to requesting you join their cause. Revolution is a very roleplay-heavy game mode.
A Brief Guide to Gimmicks
The typical outcome of revolution is a bloody uprising, though there are still ways to end up with a non-violent yet engaging plot for the round. Regardless of how it ends up, choosing an inciting incident for the uprising to actually happen is a very daunting task. True to life, most people aren't willing to get violent with their coworkers in the middle of deep space because Central Command has ordered all the vending machines removed.
Therefore, to start a proper revolution, consider the following:
- Keep people front-and-center in the round as much as possible. Gimmicks that involve arresting all crew of X group are extremely common and difficult to actually enforce. If you make the gimmick to "arrest all Solarians", it is highly likely that the Chief Medical Officer might balk because one of their first responders is a Solarian, and the Head of Security may have to arrest their entire department. Also, assuming at least a few people capitulate to arrest, most of their round is going to be staring at the wall in their cell, which isn't fun for anyone.
- Less is more. Cooking up an elaborate story for why the Sol Alliance has decided to invade Tau Ceti again is all well and good, except that nobody's going to read that announcement paragraph you spent ten minutes on. Keep it simple, snappy, and stupid; why does this affect the Horizon, what's the thing about it that's causing people to rebel, and why should the Loyalists try and preserve the status quo?
- Be reasonable. Dominia has invaded Elyra! Arrest all Dominians! Miranda Trasen has declared war on Titanius Aeson! Kill all Hephaestus employees! Horizon, shoot this ship full of orphaned puppies with the Leviathan or your family members die! When you're making a gimmick, it's tempting to make it so over-the-top as to immediately incite bloodlust. But excessive, comically cruel or wacky gimmicks generally cause people to disengage with the round beyond the bare minimum, or simply go to the residential lifts.
Even with this in mind, you have a hard job ahead of you. Don't be afraid to ask your fellow players what they think in AOOC, and make sure to settle on a concrete goal and desired outcome. Good luck.
Ideas For Plots
Below are some ideas you can run with to base your gimmick off of. Keep in mind these are fairly barebones, and the details of how this will come off to the crew is up to you. While the implication is that these announcements have come directly from Central Command, you're also perfectly capable of lying about the details. If your gimmick intrigues people, they can generally run with it even if you don't have any evidence.
General
- Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals has passed a law in Biesel space allowing human experimentation on prisoners. Coincidentally, they have also snuck in a few new laws that detain people for very minor stuff.
- Pick a character who is generally likeable and has friends, and target them; deign them to be killed, executed, sent to labor camps in Burzsia, and so forth. Expand the scope to other characters as the round goes on. Remember, you can purchase more announcements from your uplink as a head loyalist or revolutionary.
- Half of the crew, for arbitrary reasons that could be based on their faction or nationality, must give up something important. It could be forced organ donations, their salary, or their privileges to eat at the kitchen for free. Remember that it should probably be either life-threatening or mutilating.
Revolutionaries
- You are an anti-corporate revolutionary who desires Biesel, in particular, to be returned to the control of the people. You could seek to end NanoTrasen's monopoly, be a Samaritan, a Himean, or simply an independent actor against corporate interests who has found their way on to the Horizon.
- You are an alien, or an alien sympathizer, who is appalled by the treatment of non-humans in the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. [Insert injustices here] have forced you to take action!
- You believe the general operations of the Horizon are abysmally inhumane, and seek to put an end to how it's run as a whole.
- You believe the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate is hiding things from you and the galaxy at large, and have discovered one of their biggest secrets (and what it is, exactly, is up to you)! You must share this secret with the Orion Spur, and take control of the Conglomerate's flagship so they know you mean business.
Loyalists
- Whether from paranoia or actual evidence, you believe a certain subset of people have intentions to cut ties with the corporations that have economically assisted Tau Ceti through thick and thin.
- You might expect unruly elements to be behind the revolution, and have doubts as to their sincerity.
- You're a corporate stooge. You want to curry favor with your employers, and get a raise after this is all said and done.
- You might plan to counter this movement and use the power you've gained by doing so to try to stage your own uprising.
- You believe the revolution has been founded for misguided reasons, and seek to put an end to it on that basis, through varying means.
- You're just plain biased against the ones leading this revolution, and seek to put an end to it.
What's my motive?
Your particular agenda in this can be up to you. There are many ways you can go about spreading your cause and the reason behind it.
- Bribing people with questionable loyalties is an excellent way to have some hired goons, whether they be Loyalists or Revolutionaries.
- You can try to persuade others to be loyal by convincing them they can get a promotion out of suppressing dissent.
- Explain to the crew that their work on board the Horizon is contributing to nothing, or something they might morally disagree with. Keep in mind not all characters have morals.
- Blackmail heads of staff and spread their exploitable information. Remember, you have access to all the dirty little secrets of your crewmembers with your uplink!
None of this is foolproof, obviously. Convincing can often fail, and personalizing your approach tends to work the best. Also, try not to tell opposing lies to two people in close proximity; it's easy for them to turn on you.
Not Being an Antag in a Rev Round (At First)
As a head of staff, you'll receive some announcements from Central Command through the Loyalists and/or Revolutionaries. How you handle this can vary for your character; however, being needlessly suspicious of the announcement and refusing to follow it for nonsensical reasons is against the rules. If the announcement's reasonable, you're expected to follow it. If you have questions about the gimmick or how your character would act, ahelp it.
You may find yourself assigned as one of the Loyalists. If so, it is now your time to make sure the crew follows the announcements; whether to the letter, or more leniently. Your character's personality will depend on how precisely the announcement is executed, but don't be afraid to push the envelope on their character a bit and have them be a bit more extreme than usual.
If you're just a regular crewmember, Revolution rounds should be treated very similarly to every other round. If you see a crewmember attacking another, do as your character usually would; stop them, report it to Security, and so forth. While there's a certain amount of leeway provided, suddenly validhunting or immediately switching to murder as soon as things go sour can get you a stern talk with moderation.
Antagonist roles
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Antagonists | Traitor - Mercenary - Ninja - Changeling - Vampire - Revolutionary - Raider - Cultist - Cortical Borer - Loner - Technomancer |
Jobs on Aurora
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Command | Captain - Executive Officer - Head of Security - Chief Engineer - Research Director - Chief Medical Officer - Operations Manager |
Command Support | Corporate Liaison - Consular Officer - Bridge Crewman |
Security | Security Officer - Warden - Investigator - Security Cadet |
Engineering | Engineer - Atmospheric Technician - Engineering Apprentice |
Medical | Surgeon - Physician - Paramedic - Psychologist - Pharmacist - Medical Intern |
Research | Scientist - Xenobiologist - Xenobotanist - Lab Assistant |
Operations | Hangar Technician - Shaft Miner - Machinist |
Service | Assistant - Off-Duty Crewman - Passenger - Bartender - Chef - Chaplain - Librarian - Janitor - Botanist - Corporate Reporter |
Non-human | AI - Cyborg - Personal AI |
Special | Merchant - Ghost Roles |