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Agreed! Keeping things hidden is easy - never give anyone reason to look for you You're always perfectly hidden if noone is looking

With a good hacker at your disposal of course

I figure that Hexas hackers have experience, expertise if not downright specialisation in such hacks

Maybe it was you Hellwolve who was smuggling all the Tesium away lol

I have no comment on this statement

I'm a haqqislam player and I really don't like Islam IRL nor am I really into their fluff in game. I envision my group as a rag-tag band of desert warriors with their own motivations. More of an anime influenced group of mercenary heroes of freedom fighters warring against The Man, or whoever. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I chose them mainly because I thought they looked cool.

The nomads probably have the most appealing fluff, or Ariadna. Love the idea of colonists on an alien world struggling for survival, that's some good science fiction right there.

Have you seen the Druze yet? The QK sectoral can have them. amazing figs.

At the risk of diving into a tumultuous discussion, I really dig the Haqqislam stuff. They're a lot more progressive and whatnot, and refreshingly different than today's view of the stuff.

There's still plenty of room for wiggle with all the different units and what they can do. A lot of their stuff focuses on the Silk Road after all, it's only the Red Turbans and the Hassassins that really have the religious overtones.

Fluff for the first two Prowlers of my main force:

Prowler 1 (ADHL + combi rifle +ft):
A veteran Prowler of the Special Action Service, Mongrain Oscarson has seen it all. Born aboard a refugee ship full of people fleeing one of the interminable conflicts between Pan-O and Yu Jing, Mongrain’s early life was one of hardship, surviving in a barely spaceworthy ship that toured the spaceports of all the major powers and being refused access by all. Eventually, in desperation, they turned to the closest (at that time) of the Nomad Nations, Bakunin, and were welcomed with open arms. Their ship was traded for living space within one of the communes and the families gradually settled into their new existence.

Even with a hull around them, life still wasn’t easy; the different cults, communes, religions, tech heads and bio-constructs all fought for dominance, or at least a place of relative security. For Mongrain, someone without an established place in society who did not fit into either Praxis or VaudeVille, it was a constant struggle. This forged a hard edged, iron willed individual, properties which brought him to the attention of local army recruiters. Always somewhat of a loner, Mongrain never the less grew into his new family and rapidly mastered the arts of war, his ingrained reliance on his own effort and skills earning him a place in the Prowlers, a dedicated fighting unit where members often operate alone or behind enemy lines for extended periods of time.

After almost 20 years service, there is not a world he has not visited, or an enemy left un-fought.

But through it all Mongrain has remained disaffected by the society he was raised in, where clans, families and secret societies hold the power and pull the strings. He now fights for the shadow forces of Gao Tsai, hoping to make a new nation where all are welcome, where merit counts more than ancestry.




Prowler 2 (Spitfire, D-charges):
Kokaly Galluccio signed up for the Bakunin armed forces at the age of 18 after numerous run-ins with the law over his “over-enthusiastic” dedication to the destruction of pretty much anything he got his hands on left him with the choice between service or exile. The combination of a disturbing dedication to destruction and a resistance to the notion of working as part of a larger team naturally pushed Kokaly towards the Prowlers.

Here he learned to channel his nature and became a first class operative, able to take down any opposition with a withering hail of fire from his Spitfire (his preferred weapon, combining a satisfying amount of destruction whilst allowing the mobility necessary for missions behind enemy lines), or an uncannily placed D-Charge [File Note: Prowler Galluccio has been reprimanded on no less than 14 occasions for excessive use of D-charges, though all charges have been mitigated by lack of any collateral damage to off-limit targets].

It was while working alongside Mongrain on Ariadna during the Commercial Conflict that Kokaly first started to question the society that raised him, and on Mongrain’s recruitment to Gao’s shadow network Kokaly willingly went along with him.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Intruder 1 (HMG):
Corregidor breeds hard men and women. No one more exemplifies this than Manzueta Upham. Born to aeroponics workers of Lazareto, Manzueta was well used to a life of hard work in frequently dangerous environments and at the age of 12 was apprenticed to a shipworking gang servicing commercial ships for the major space lines. Long hours working in zero gravity amid the dangers inherent in space work taught Manzueta the value of patience, of thinking through a problem before applying just the right amount of leverage to get the job done. At the age of 17 he completed his apprenticeship and signed on as a junior contractor servicing the fledgling Ariadnaian space fleet right at the start of the Commercial Conflict.

Subject to repeated covert acts of sabotage and violence from Yu Jing and Pan-O commercial interests, Manzueta’s crew was in danger of being overrun until the arrival of an Intruder, who organised resistance, distributed weapons and ammunition from hidden stockpiles and led the work crews in a number of decisive defensive actions until more regular Nomad forces could arrive to handle security.

The young Manzueta was so impressed at how a single person had made so much of a difference in the fight against those who would try to harm the workers of Corregidor that upon the arrival of the Nomad relief forces he immediately signed up and served as a milita member alongside a company of Moderators from Bakunin for over 2 years, distinguishing himself in a number of actions against enemy forces.

In 2175, 5 years into the Commercial Conflict, Manzueta was wounded in the arm, chest and leg while leading a boarding action on a freighter carrying stolen teseum out-system. Despite his wounds, he continued on to the bridge against heavy resistance, eventually taking control of the ship. His bravery so inspired the troops with him (including a number of Alguaciles) that he was immediately invited to join their ranks.

2 years later, in 2178, Manzueta was again badly wounded in a delaying action but continued fighting until loss of blood rendered him unconscious and allowed him to be captured by Yu Jing forces, however his squad’s heroic defiance in the face of overwhelming odds delayed the Yu Jing advance long enough for Nomad forces to withdraw in good order saving many lives.

Wounded and held by the enemy, Manzueta escaped and was re-captured no less than 7 times over the course of 2 months before finally returning to Nomad controlled territory on his 8th attempt (having travelled almost 100km on a broken ankle sustained when he jumped from a speeding air-car that was in the process of taking him to a more secure facility).

After extensive debriefing he was immediately transferred to the Intruder programme for additional training.

It is unclear how Manzueta came to align himself with Gao’s organisation but he is a staunch supporter of their goals.

Wow that is some cool stuff Silver! I need to work on some of my individuals as well.

Thanks

Sometimes it is hard to match up the fluff and timeline but I think it just opens up the possibilities. Also nice to have a range of ages - Manzueta and Mongrain are in their 40's, while Kokalyis in his mid 20's. I think it helps to reinforce the playstle of the characters on the table to think of them in this way - especially models which would be used in a similar role each time, like Kokaly and his spitfire. Other characters can be used with a range of models as the are more general in their attitudes - the other two could be given many loadouts and it would still suit them.

Here's a little bit of a start on my commander

People are amazed if they see Hsien, Lee Jun-fan. He looks like only a 20 year old but is actually 92. Thanks to to the grace of the Emperor, and Cube technology, Lee Jun-fan was given a second chance after his first death at the end of the Neocolonial wars. blah blah blah heroic thing he did here.

CDK wrote:Here's a little bit of a start on my commander

People are amazed if they see Hsien, Lee Jun-fan. He looks like only a 20 year old but is actually 92. Thanks to to the grace of the Emperor, and Cube technology, Lee Jun-fan was given a second chance after his first death at the end of the Neocolonial wars. blah blah blah heroic thing he did here.

I wanted to get in some sort of thing about the cube. It's mentioned a lot but is nothing but a hindrance in the game. Other things I want to get in about him but don't know how. Is that he had risen through the ranks as a Zanshi, to Invincible, to Dao Fei, to Hac Tao, to Hsien. Seem a bit much?

I'm under the impression Cubes are much more important when factored into scenario games and campaigns... since if you have a Cube there's a chance of coming back... otherwise if you're dead you're done.

Several of the Nomad troops don't have cubes, but do have access to "external downloads" where they download before a mission so that information cannot be extracted from their cubes if killed/captured.

I'm thinking of being a bit weird. Weirder than normal. I want to base the 8 Invincibles off the eight immortals of Chinese myth. One of them is pretty sexually ambiguous, Lan Caihe. I'm wondering if I should write something about that. He's a man wearing women's armor lol.

I've not read too much of that faction's fluff, but aren't personal freedoms like that slightly restricted?

Nope. It's not like today. People keep thinking it's some sort of communist state but it is like that anymore. They have an Emperor and intentionally brought back religion. They still do believe in a strong government but there's a lot more personal freedom.

In anime there's always that sort of ambiguous guy. That's sort of what he would be I guess. Plus there's only one real female in the eight so he would make up for it lol.

Elder Zhang Guo will be a Hac Tao because he was know for using magic.

Zhongli Quan was a leader so he's another Hsien.

Immortal Woman He will be either an Invincible or Dao Fei. There's also a female Hsein. So one of those three.

Intruder 2 (multi-sniper):
Janocha Checkett was a career smuggler, serving aboard a number of crews running illegal goods; from weapons to genetically modified pets. Janocha is a serious man with a gaze like a dreadnought’s main laser and almost as deadly; it is estimated that during his career over fifty corporate security guards, investigators and enforcers have fallen prey to his prestigious skill with a sniper rifle.

Janocha remained at least one step ahead of the law until he and his crew were left high and dry by BlueDagger, a rival smuggling group who had arranged a trade on the surface of Paradiso but instead alerted O-12 security forces of the time and place of the exchange. With most of his crew dead in the opening exchange, Janocha was forced to flee. Hiding with the few survivors in the jungles of Paradiso they harassed law enforcement troops for over 2 months before managing to escape in one of their shuttles and being picked up by a Nomad patrol.

During the 2 months in the jungle, Janocha had welded his crew into an efficient asymmetrical warfare team, leading it unerringly in force against the weakest part of the enemy force before withdrawing back into the shadows. The Nomad military echelons took note and recruited him along with most of his crew into various areas of the armed forces, with Janocha slated for the more elite force of all; the Intruders.

Janocha has since served with distinction protecting Nomad interests throughout the NeoColonial war, as well as in a number of other theatres.

Janocha believes aligning himself with Gao will enable him to retire in relative luxury and he is ready to do what it takes to ensure that this is the case…

I have a PanO army I painted up as a Umbrella Corp. U.B.C.S team it looks awsome on the table when I'm duking it out with mybuddies combined army

That's a petty good idea because PanO is said to be pretty much run by corporations who compete with each others as well against other nations.

I should be working on my painting challenge entry, but I've got art block on that front - I've had an attack of real world that's just put me off. I've had to push it to the back of my head while I got on with the important stuff, and now I can't get it back to the front. And it's much the same with my writing.

So I went and drew something, which I haven't done for about four months. That tells you a lot about me - high spec graphics tablet, gets use a couple of times a year. Still, despite being more than a little rusty, I've enjoyed drawing again, so I might get back into it more.

But anyway - this isn't quite fluff, as I haven't actually got a name or much written for her yet, but have some WIP artwork for the lady Asawira who, at least in the background, has command of my Haqqislam. (Quite a target as an in-game Lt., but just too much of a badass to not - at least nominally - be top of the pack).



The face is a total goof that needs redoing (aside from being wonky as hell, I need to work on an appropriate ethnicity) and the rest of the scene's barely started (and is thus not included), amongst any other number of adjustments and extra work, but I should have been in bed about six hours ago and my brain just won't work any longer.

That's some solid work, ser, esspecially if you find yourself rusty

Looks fantastic man! Please post again when you've finished it.

Not finished yet (that's going to take more background and some colour), but considerably further down the road towards it. However, I've still got that entry for the painting comp to do (sadly, it's not this girl), I'm not sure I'll have the time to do very much more for a while.



I am much happier with the face now - the last attempt was utterly hamhanded. I've got to stop bodging it and actually use the reference books I've got.

In the event any of you are interested, the web address at the bottom is my deviantART, which will show you some of my previous work. None of that is Infinity though - it's mostly various Inquisitor/40k RPG characters and amateur photography of steam locomotives/canals.

I still think it looks really good! Added you to my DevWatch :-)

looks great. are you going to color it? I'd kinda like to have a go at it if not.

If you'd like to try colouring her, feel free to do so. I'm usually cool with that kind of thing as long as it's all appropriately credited (i.e. don't pretend my work is yours, or your work is mine) and nothing obscene is being done with it - not that I get asked that often!

I probably will be colouring her myself at some point, as I've enjoyed drawing her this far - I frequently forget how much I get out of drawing when I actually just get on with it.

Anyway, if you do want to try colouring, I've uploaded a larger 1800x1800 download version to deviantART. (For anyone wondering, the original is a somewhat larger 7200x7200 - I like to draw large).

So, I finally got around to writing some down. In a hurry right now, so I haven't been able to read it through for mistakes and... inferior written parts. Not really satisfied with the last parts of it, but I'll fix that when I can.
Anyway, here's what I got for my Nomads (Bakunin focused).

Infinity - Force Fluff
"Prisma Black"

Maya - Documents from the Underground.
[Cue intro, cut to reporter boarding Bakunin]
Welcome dear viewer to today's episode of Documents from the Underground, Maya's finest investigation program! We bring you only the facts from all of the most notorious criminal gangs and crimes commited in the Human Sphere.
Today's episode starts off with a documentary about a shady gang of thieves, supposedly operating from Bakunin known as Prisma Black.
What is so special about the Prisma Black, you ask? Well, simply put, they're thieves of prestige. So far, they have never commited any theft of monetary units, but only of the finest, most protected works of art and beauty.

[Cut to scene of reporter walking in the Bakunin Common Zone]
The story of Prisma Black begins with their leader, Mr. Orthal Black... Or at least, that's what he calls himself. I highly doubt that's his real name, or his only alias. At least we know that he's commonly referred to as "Mister Black" by some parts of the Bakunin underground.

Incidentally, we have been able to gain a lot of inside information about Prisma Black from Mr. Black himself!
Yes, you heard it! When Mr. Black found out that we were doing an episode about him, he willingly sent us information about his past! So, without further ado, allow me to retell what he told us about his past.

[Cut to reporter in VaudeVille]
So, this is apparently the place where Black grew up. His youth was clearly influenced by the aesthethical works of VaudeVille. However, he would not grow up to be the artist his parent's wanted him to be. No, he was drafted into the army as a Zero.
As a Zero, he was not that outstanding. He operated with gret stealth and zero failure as every other accomplished Zero, and he loved what he did. The thrill of sneaking with your life as a bet, stalking the frontiers of both open and secret wars... He did that for years, performing what I imagine to be incredible feats and doing unspeakable things. Did he murder? Probably. I do not know.
And some day, he went missing in action, a common demise for infiltration troops.
At least, that's what the reports said. That's what the people in charge believed. But it was not the truth.
The truth was that he feigned his death. Since he was working behind enemy lines, no one would ask if his body was not to be found. He simply abandoned the army in order to start his new life, and life of criminality and art.
He returned to Bakunin, and apparently had a small fortune. How he gained it, he did not tell. All I know is that with careful placing in certain companies both legal and illegal, he had his resources secured.
He had decided upon becoming a thief.

[Commercial break starring Haqqislam medical companies, Bakunin science progress and "The Free Life of a Nomad"]

[Cut to reporter in the studio]
Welcome back, viewer!
Before the break, I mentioned that Mr. Black had decided upon becoming a thief. Why?
The reason is quite simple. Mr. Black had always loved art since his childhood, and in adulthood he appreciated the beauty of it even more. He also loved the thrill of sneaking and infiltration, and was growing bored of working for someone else. The Bakunin spirit was in him, and he became a collector, combining the two loves in his life.

[Cut back to VaudeVille, reporter in a museum]
And that's how he started. At first, it was only small theft, to test his limits, but as his self-confidence grew, so did his goals. Eventually he attracted, and hired other like-minded individuals. It is also worth noting that while they prefer to avoid bloodshed, they have been known to kill in order to reach their goals. Most of the members of his crew hail from Bakunin, but there are others from the rest of the Nomad Nation. Some even say he has Haqqislamite agents under him, as well as loyal contacts in Yu Jing and PanOceania. If this is truth, falsehood, or "chinese whispers", we may only guess.
In either way, he kept stealing art, keeping it to himself as long as it pleased him. Jewelry and statues are known to be stolen and lost for weeks, months or even years, before reappearing out of nowhere on the illegal market. Some pieces of art are never seen again.

Recently though, it seems that Prisma Black have been paying attention to the turn of political events, and readily send his group to aid the Bakunin cause. If this is an agreement between him and the governing people of Bakunin or not is open for speculation. All that we know is that Prisma Black have been involved in some skirmishes with hostile nations as well as the regular thieving.

[Cut back to the studio]
And that is how Prisma Black came to become a very peculiar criminal group, stealing art for the sake of beautyand prestige and aiding the Nomad in the current political situation.
And that is all of today's episode of Documents from the Underground! Tune in for next week's episode where we discuss some of the illegal trading of silk!

[Outro]


Feel free to tear it apart with C&C!