[Space/Thaumatology] Stargate: Fantasy - Worldbuilding thread

[Kesendeja]

For SG Teams I believe that each one should have a mage, and an anthropologist (xeno or otherwise) to help with different cultures. Someone with a hard science background would also be useful. Then the combat characters are necessary. These archetypes can (and should) be mixed or matched.

For support and research back at base, mages would be invaluable, but they could easily be the ones with less field experience or ones that simply don't want to go through the gate. Like not all scientists will want to go through either.

I don't know much about the Five Eyes, so I can't speak for them.

[ericthered]

Ok, so a stargate run by an international consortium of anglo intelligence agencies...

There are many types of teams and organizations, but "General" teams, who do the bulk of first contact work, generally have the following:

• A Physical Security agent, who is in charge of protecting the team from overt attack, by both keeping them out of harm's way and by their prowess in combat.
• A Intelligence Security agent, who is in charge of keeping the team from being infiltrated (an ever present danger), exposing themselves to dangerous situations, or giving away valuable intelligence.
• A Local Diplomacy agent, in charge of making allies and negotiating foreign cultures
• A Technology Acquisition agent, in charge of acquiring new "technology". Which is usually to say, magic. Ideally, this is a mage, but teams may have to do with someone less capable. Its also possible for this role to be filled by a researcher and technical expert when a mage is filling a different role.

Of course, ideally agents have overlapping skills and be able to take over another agent's role, but those are the four designated roles. One of these roles will assume command, but no role is designated as the leader.

Each agent reports to two individuals.

The Local Director: Who is in charge of the actual mission, whether that be operations on a specific world or opening up new worlds in general
The Agency Director*: Who is in charge of agents from their agency. CIA agents lent to "Stargate" still work for the CIA and still report to the CIA, through this director. It is considered bad form to have all members of a team from the same agency. "Native" agents report to a special director who handles "aquisitions"

*this needs a better name

Agents also have a Training Leader, who helps agents develop their specialties, and provide support specific to that specialty. They wield a fair amount of power, despite not being in the command chain. Technology Aquisition has two training leaders, one for proper mages and one for non-mages.

The director of "Stargate" is appointed by the Council of Liaisons. Liaisons represent various agencies in the five eyes, with larger nations generally having more liaisons.
*************************************
Yes, I'd like a healthy variety of NPCs, competing interests, politics, and a touch of paranoia. I think it makes for a more engaging game and setting.

[dcarson]

Special Forces teams are 12, 2 each of 6 specialties. I can see Stargate going with a similar policy but units are often not at full strength because you can't find enough qualified people.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Stargate Command Question VI

This is more of a short-essay question: How do you think the SGC should be organized and operate, at least in terms of what the players need to know (including how the mages are organized, once the SGC has active magic-users)?

OK, from the top down.

Following the collapse of Nazi regime, MI6 and OSS seized what they (at the time) believed to be evidence of Nazi cells scattered across the world, in the form of a leyline map of the planet, along with a cache of ley-line reactive items. The search for the Nazi cells was folded into the UKUSA agreement, which expanded more or less on schedule. When the search failed turn up any evidence of Nazi cells (much less actual cells), project Silver Bullet transitioned to researching what exactly the Nazis hoped to achieve with that "random box of junk". Mystics were paperclipped and the research that led to the Stargate program started. L'Anse aux Meadows was selected as a research site early in the process (i.e. Before the archeological dig started), and was the only triple intersection (others were politically sensitive, like Uluru, insufficiently isolated, like Bermuda, or too remote, like Antarctica). When it was discovered that the nexus of multiple ley lines had special properties, this moved L'Anse aux Meadows from one of many sites to the key site. This led the power balance agencies of the expanding “ley-line” project to relatively shift towards the middle powers (Australia, Canada, New Zealand), instead of being dominated by the major powers (United Kingdom, United States).

So how is it organised from there? The intelligence community of each of the involved states appoints a delegate to the Stargate program, forming the “Board of Delegates”. The chair of the board is shared in a rotating fashion. Which agency within a state has their officer appointed to the board is often a question of politics rather than expertise. Under the board, the program is divided into several directorates, including Intelligence (which primarily concerns itself with analysis and policy), Research & Technology (which studies magic at the Meadows base), Support (medicine, base security, etc.), Training (which mostly handles the education of agents to effectively blend into the societies they seek to infiltrate), and Operations. Operations is itself broken down into Clandestine Collections (which handles intelligence gathered by human (and otherwise) assets in situations that must be concealed), Counter Infiltration (which concerns itself with infiltration by Goa'Uld and others), Covert Action (which attempts to exert influence on alien worlds without being noticed), General Collections (which handles intelligence that can be gathered without need of concealment), Reconnaissance (which handles first contact and investigation of new worlds), Special Activities (which intervenes on alien worlds by direct action, like assassination, raids and training guerrillas), and Technical Collections (which handles intelligence gathered through sensors and intercepts).

Anyone who shows a talent for magic usually stays wherever they were when they displayed their talents. Division managers are generally protective of their mages, as no one knows when they might get another one. There’s no good way to identify mages, and even if there was mass testing of the general public is not doable. Generally most sections make do with a technology expert (who is often definitely not a mage).

The Stargate program does not have control of its own hiring, apart from any off-Earth contractors, whose use is officially discouraged, but often necessary. Many staff are seconded long-term or indefinitely, but still rely on their home agency for advancement in their career, which creates a secondary hierarchy that runs parallel to the official hierarchy of the Stargate program.

[Prince Charon]

Voting remains open. To give people more time to decide what to write, it will probably stay open until at least Friday, if not longer (and I may need more time after it closes to edit the new post together). I'm currently leaning toward combining a couple of posts for a 'does this look good' Question. I really like TGLS's history ideas and organization, for example, and will probably include something like ericthered's post, though I'm thinking about expanding the number of regular positions. I need to get out my copy of GURPS Action (I don't know of a 4e book or series that better fits the 'spy/operator' characters), as that will probably help.

Might start some pregens for a typical (SG1-inspired) 'first contact' team in this setting, but that's for later (for one thing, we probably need a Jaffa-equivalent template first, unless our Teal'c-expy is a different race, like an Elf or similar; probably need a few other votes as well).

[Prince Charon]

Stargate Command Question VII

Edited from posts by TGLS and ericthered. I'm uncertain about whether to try to integrate anyone else's posts, or how, and whether anything else needs to be added, so please, read and give your opinions:

Following the collapse of Nazi regime in 1945, MI6 and OSS seized what they (at the time) believed to be evidence of Nazi cells scattered across the world, in the form of a leyline map of the planet, along with a cache of ley-line reactive items. The search for the Nazi cells was folded into the UKUSA agreement, which expanded more or less on schedule. When the search failed turn up any evidence of Nazi cells (much less actual cells), project Silver Bullet transitioned to researching what exactly the Nazis hoped to achieve with that "random box of junk". Mystics were paperclipped and the research that led to the Stargate program started. L'Anse aux Meadows was selected as a research site early in the process (i.e. before the archeological dig started), and was the only triple intersection (others were politically sensitive, like Uluru, insufficiently isolated, like Bermuda, or too remote, like Antarctica). When it was discovered that the nexus of multiple ley lines had special properties, this moved L'Anse aux Meadows from one of many sites to the key site. This led the power balance agencies of the expanding 'ley-line' project to relatively shift towards the middle powers (Australia, Canada, New Zealand), instead of being dominated by the major powers (United Kingdom, United States).

So how is it organised from there? The intelligence community of each of the involved states appoints a delegate to the Stargate program, forming the 'Board of Delegates.' The chair of the board is shared in a rotating fashion. Which agency within a state has their officer appointed to the board is often a question of politics rather than expertise. Under the board, the program is divided into several directorates, including Intelligence (which primarily concerns itself with analysis and policy), Research & Technology (which studies magic at the Meadows base), Support (medicine, base security, etc.), Training (which mostly handles the education of agents to effectively blend into the societies they seek to infiltrate), and Operations. Operations is itself broken down into Clandestine Collections (which handles intelligence gathered by human (and otherwise) assets in situations that must be concealed), Counter Infiltration (which concerns itself with infiltration by Goa'Uld and others), Covert Action (which attempts to exert influence on alien worlds without being noticed), General Collections (which handles intelligence that can be gathered without need of concealment), Reconnaissance (which handles first contact and investigation of new worlds), Special Activities (which intervenes on alien worlds by direct action, like assassination, raids and training guerrillas), and Technical Collections (which handles intelligence gathered through sensors and intercepts).

Anyone who shows a talent for magic usually stays wherever they were when they displayed their talents. Division managers are generally protective of their mages, as no one knows when they might get another one. There’s no good way to identify mages, and even if there was, mass testing of the general public is not doable. Generally most sections make do with a technology expert (who is often definitely not a mage).

The Stargate program does not have control of its own hiring, apart from any off-Earth contractors, whose use is officially discouraged, but often necessary. Many staff are seconded long-term or indefinitely, but still rely on their home agency for advancement in their career, which creates a secondary hierarchy that runs parallel to the official hierarchy of the Stargate program.

There are many types of teams in the organization, but Reconnaissance teams, who do the bulk of first contact work, generally have the following:

• A Physical Security agent, who is in charge of protecting the team from overt attack, by both keeping them out of harm's way and by their prowess in combat. Frequently, there will be more than one dedicated PS agent per team, though other members of the team (in some cases the whole team) will often be sufficiently trained in these skills to usefully assist.
• An Intelligence Security agent, who is in charge of keeping the team from being infiltrated (an ever present danger), exposing themselves to dangerous situations, or giving away valuable intelligence.
• A Local Diplomacy agent, in charge of making allies and negotiating foreign cultures. Many LD agents are recruited from friendly extraterrestrials.
• A Technology Acquisition agent, in charge of acquiring new "technology". Which is usually to say, magic. Ideally, this is a mage, but teams may have to do with someone less capable. Its also possible for this role to be filled by a researcher and technical expert when a mage is filling a different role.

Of course, ideally agents have overlapping skills and be able to take over another agent's role, but those are the four designated roles. One of these roles will assume command, but no role is designated as the leader. (In terms of SG1 on the show, Jack was the closest they got to a regular IS agent on top of being PS and the leader, Teal'c was PS and LD, Daniel was LD and sometimes TA, and Sam was mainly TA and PS, occasionally also being IS - being a TV series with a Hollywood Military focus, they neglected IS-related procedures a lot.)

Each agent reports to two individuals.

A Local Director: In charge of the actual mission, whether that be operations on a specific world or opening up new worlds in general
An Agency Liaison: In charge of agents from their agency. CIA agents lent to the Stargate program still work for the CIA and still report to the CIA, through this liaison. It is considered bad form to have all members of a team from the same agency. 'Native' (extraterrestrial) agents report to the same liaison as their sponsor, and often become naturalized citizens of the sponsor's home nation.

Agents also have a Training Leader, who helps agents develop their specialties, and provide support specific to that specialty. They wield a fair amount of power, despite not being in the command chain. Technology Aquisition has two training leaders, one for proper mages and one for non-mages.



Does this look good, and if not, what should be changed?

*******

Answer: Approved following edits.

[Varyon]

Sounds good to me. I will note that, if the integration of "natives" into the teams is officially discouraged, it may not be appropriate to have a dedicated Liaison Agent for them. Rather, they may be under the same Liaison Agent as whichever team member is considered responsible for them (generally, whoever it was that convinced them to join up - Jack, rather than Daniel or Sam, would have been considered responsible for Teal'c, for example).

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Sounds good to me. I will note that, if the integration of "natives" into the teams is officially discouraged, it may not be appropriate to have a dedicated Liaison Agent for them. Rather, they may be under the same Liaison Agent as whichever team member is considered responsible for them (generally, whoever it was that convinced them to join up - Jack, rather than Daniel or Sam, would have been considered responsible for Teal'c, for example).

Good point (I thought I'd caught any contradictions, but apparently not). Need to think about that and revise something.

[Prince Charon]

In the spirit of the season, I'm going to come back to the SGC organization question later, and post something more thematic. I would have posted this sooner if I'd been thinking about how close we are to Hallowe'en. Sorry about that.

Undead Question I

What sort of undead, if any, are the PCs likely to encounter on the other sides of the Stargate?

1. None.

2. Mummies (Some of the less-material Goa'Uld types might interact with the world by animating mummified corpses, or curse those who have offended them with this state, or they might exist for other reasons)

3. Liches (powerful mages who are not worshipped as gods, but were quite skilled in the arts of Undeath while alive. Might overlap with 2 and/or 4)

4. Vampires (Not necessarily blood-suckers, though that's an option. Some form of Goa'Uld might act as rather powerful vampires.)

5. Zombies (Nonsapient undead, used as servants and cannon-fodder by necromancers and possibly some Goa'Uld factions or individuals)

6. Skeletons (Nonsapient undead, pretty much like zombies, above, but generally cleaner and less offensive to mortal senses.)

7. Something else (please specify).

Please remember to include the number(s) of your preferred option(s) when you vote.

*******

Answer: They all exist, and some are Goa'Uld, servants of Jaffa-equivalents, or the victims of horrific punishments by the Goa'Uld. The SGC probably shouldn't encounter the more obvious until they've been using the Stargate for a while, though.

[Kesendeja]

Undead Question I

What sort of undead, if any, are the PCs likely to encounter on the other sides of the Stargate?

1. None.

2. Mummies (Some of the less-material Goa'Uld types might interact with the world by animating mummified corpses, or curse those who have offended them with this state, or they might exist for other reasons)

2. Liches (powerful mages who are not worshipped as gods, but were quite skilled in the arts of Undeath while alive. Might overlap with 2 and/or 4)

4. Vampires (Not necessarily blood-suckers, though that's an option. Some form of Goa'Uld might act as rather powerful vampires.)

5. Zombies (Nonsapient undead, used as servants and cannon-fodder by necromancers and possibly some Goa'Uld factions or individuals)

6. Skeletons (Nonsapient undead, pretty much like zombies, above, but generally cleaner and less offensive to mortal senses.)

7. Something else (please specify).

Going to have to go with 7, all of the above