Originally posted by Dexx
well ofcourse, seeing that it IS so.
but takuan didn't think it was an unreasonable question, seeing as the plant has it's downsides
Only to newbies, which suits them fine. You may as well ask why they didn't just build it on a habitable moon, which would have been a whole lot simpler than sealing off your entire headquarters and just, presumably, abandoning the rest of the planet.
bwah..that is highly relative. but...if we're gonna get into details with this..
for defensive reasons, there are TONS of advantages for a consealed environmentally safe headquarter speciffically against people who are trying to steal something from it rather than blow the heck out of it from the orbit. it's easier to defend. way easier, actually..seeing as it is a confined space.
now i am sure that that moon must either have been enhabited before => the enhabitans shared the plant secret with shiva OR shiva found it...and took a hell of a lot of time to discover the plant properties. which is a fortunate discovery...lest the only alternative to living there was building a base.
now...i cannot argument farther..because i don't know the full history of how shiva got there...i'm just stating possibilities. YOU made the stories afterall. i don't know why you're so pissed....and why you take this as an attack to you plot line. it wasn't!
it was just a question....and i'm trying to prove that it had some thought behind it, rather than just acting noobish 😉
i think i'm beyond comparing the situation with a why didn't they place in on an enhabitable moon in the first place situation..
Hah! No you are not. That's the basic point that undermines your entire argument. There are no such tons of reasons at all that bear up to anything more than a cursory examination made with any intelligence at all. Being environmentally secure doesn't make you any safer from intrusion in the slightest.
And no, of course the moon wasn't inhabited before; I have no idea why you would assume that. No intelligent life lives there; Siva created the operation from the ground up.
There wasn't actually anything beyond your comment than being smart-assed, and that sort of comment in game deserves a good kicking, and is not appreciated, so you can either accept that, or leave.
Seriously, folks- don't argue a point with a GM in his own game. That's a cardinal sin in RPing. Argue or think ill of him in private, but in the game his word is God, uncontestable, and there is no other practical way to run games, and if you don't like the vibe, don't play.
The xp loss was a joke, btw, before I really did get annoyed by the point continuing to be contested.
Anyway, let's move on. You have your situation, but obviously in-depth planning at this point is impossible until you get in. So now is a time to use contacts or any other ideas you can think of to get more information and improve your chances.
Your Allies, btw, are still missing. Doon is going to see if he can find out where they went, if he has time.
Ah, converstion with Dexx has revealed the root of this issue, as ever a misunderstanding. When I said
"Only to newbies, which suits them fine," I meant that the root was only a problem to newbies, which suits the Serpent fine. Dexx trhought I was calling him a newbie.
Doh!
Sorts that out. Ok, let's keep the game going... enough Dark Side self-loathing for today, maybe I will give everyone extra xp, you will be surprised how generous I can be...
Ok, here is what Doon has to say on that.
"Serpent members don't have any identifying gear, or secret tattoos, or stuff like that. They are very much like terrorists in that respect; membership is by cell and a full membership list probably doesn't exist. Like I said at first- they are a somewhat vague organisation.
"Nor do they have any particular mannerism, because they are a Galactic organisation, and are too big to be specific. You can impersonate Serpent members form some place they have never heard of there, or at least never been to.
"A certain knowledge of how such criminal organisations work and act [Savoir-Faire] and to be able to pass that off [Lying] will be handy, of course. As will a certain attitude- such places thrive on violent respect. Of course, subservience to the Lantarnans is paramount.
"Talking of them... it is a long time since Siva lived. Not that Vigo should be underestimated, but at the end of the day, he's just a trumped-up thug with a messianic complex, and some of his family are brain dead.
"In fact, the whole point is... tradition, and experience, and hard work, makes the Serpent what it is. But they live off this legend of being the people who pulled one over on the Sith... and they just aren't the same people any more. Probably, in fact, less at the Ghost Citadel than anywhere. No-one has challenged them there within living memory. You'll be surprised how slack security might be. Not for the tablet itself, of course. That will be solidly protected. But getting in, and getting away with it... that's not too bad.
"It is pissing off the Serpent that scares most people away. You guys... well, I know Kuylen thinks you are above that sort of worry."
"You hang around with the Mecrossans?" says Doon, perhaps looking slightly uncomfortable for a moment. "They aren't very sociable people..."
Indeed they are not, Rand- they prefer not to meet at all. At least 90% of your contact with them is by remote communication; you have a unit that decodes their messages (not dissimilar to the units that Kuylen;s old posse carry that accept the signal from his transmitter, except that it works two ways).
If you want to meet, you will have to send a message to an Operative first and discuss the possibility. You'll have to work on encoding the message.
(Galder idly dreams about mowing down endless fields of snakes...)
You can ask that kind of stuff if you wish, Tanic- come up with a finalised list and we shall see.