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Old 02-20-2019, 05:02 PM   #21
Madd Kossack 115
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Бухарин looks extremely close to бухарик (a slang noun for an alcoholic), and to бухать (to booze). It's probably not the true etymology of the name, but it looks close enough for folk etymology to spring up.
I didn't know that, as I don't really know that much of Russian and other Slavic languages beyond phrases made memetic through video games and gopniks ("SUKA BYLAT!!!/CHYORT!!!/URAAAA!!!!", etc.). I was basing my puns from a purely English-speaking perspective, and it's either using non-Russian names that sound similar to the Russian names, preferably with double-meanings in their etymology, or using names that hold Stealth Puns regarding the Soviet leaders names, or personalities.
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Old 02-20-2019, 05:18 PM   #22
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Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Бухарин looks extremely close to бухарик (a slang noun for an alcoholic), and to бухать (to booze). It's probably not the true etymology of the name, but it looks close enough for folk etymology to spring up.
Well, I didn't know that, but I admit that, as an American, I don't have much of a grasp of Russian or other Slavic languages beyond what I pick up from video game quotes and gopnik memes ("Tovarisch!/SUKA BYLAT!!!/URAAAAAA!!!!", etc.), and was approaching this task from my experience as a purely English-speaker, in that I look up names that sort of start similarly to the Soviet names without being actually Soviet, or names that either contain Stealth Puns and Shout Outs to either Russian depictions in pop culture, or hidden double-meanings that fit the nature of the character without giving everything away to English-speaking players (I found that this site, which allows searches by name meaning in addition to name alone, as a handy way to look up names with meanings).

I did mention in my other not that I would try making the Centrum Expy of Bukarin of partial-Asian descent to round out the nationalities currently present among the potential new leaders, but I think that'll wait until later in the week when I'm not busy at work.

(P.S. I tried sending an earlier Quote-reply to you, but it doesn't seem to be registering - I'm putting this disclaimer in case you've somehow got both of these replies)
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Old 02-20-2019, 06:13 PM   #23
Andrew Hackard
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Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

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Originally Posted by Madd Kossack 115 View Post
(P.S. I tried sending an earlier Quote-reply to you, but it doesn't seem to be registering - I'm putting this disclaimer in case you've somehow got both of these replies)
You tripped the spam filters. No big deal, we just had to approve the posts. But maybe don't use quite so much Cyrillic.
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Old 02-20-2019, 06:25 PM   #24
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Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

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Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
True, that's the campaign default, but realistically, it's only a matter of time before the Secret starts leaking. Centrum and Infinity may be competent, and their personnel well trained...but people are people, and life is life. That Secret is coming out, one way or another, at least on some time lines.

A while back somebody posited the world of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as a timeline, and posited what would happen if U.N.C.L.E. discovered Infinity and or Centrum. It's a reasonable suggestion, and it would happen on more than one world eventually.
I once made a suggestion of doing a Traveller Crossover and havingn the Third Imperium discover it. The idea still has advantages. Finding natives with the technical theory to consider the possibility of interdimensional travel for themselves adds an element. We could have an IW Meji Revolution.
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Old 02-20-2019, 06:55 PM   #25
Madd Kossack 115
 
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Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

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Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard View Post
You tripped the spam filters. No big deal, we just had to approve the posts. But maybe don't use quite so much Cyrillic.
Sorry, I was only directly quoting the person who originally used the Cyrillic (likely because, since they were Ukrainian, it's their native language). Although come to think of it, perhaps my "limited knowledge" of Slavic languages (i.e. when I fired off the most stereotypical Russian words I could think of for a gag showing how little of actual Russian that I know) MIGHT have been what tripped the alarm, so I'll refrain from goofing around like that in the future, just to be safe.
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Old 02-20-2019, 07:15 PM   #26
Madd Kossack 115
 
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Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
In my Infinite Cabal campaign, the Cabalist PCs, who are mostly from the early 18th century, didn't have much trouble understanding Centrum. They simply regarded them as empire builders, and that view worked fairly well.

Centrum didn't want to wipe out or enslave native populations, which makes them less evil than Reich-5; there are plenty of worlds with no population to use for resources. They did want every populated world to move towards their style of government, but they were smart enough not to try to do that by war; they took a fairly long view.
Hence why I said there's a difference between Centrum Neutral and Centrum Dark (in response to somebody else saying that Centrum Dark is the actual the default when the Infinite Worlds book states multiple times that isn't the case), with Centrum Dark being a lot more open with warfare (at least on easy targets, i.e. bringing tanks and blaster rifles onto pre-industrial/non-Mana worlds to prevent the locals from putting up an effective defense), while Centrum Neutral sticks closer to the "man behind the curtain" manipulation of other worlds, with only rare cases of military intervention.

The Infinite World book actually explains that there's multiple motivations that Centrum is branching out to Alternates (presumably held by different people within Centrum) - a direct quote states: "Some wanted to spread the benefits of their civilization, bringing superior technology and organization to less-developed timelines and saving the advanced ones from suffering their own Last War. Others believed continued expansion was needed for Centrum’s own health, or were simply ambitious for new fields of action."

It could be said that Centrum Light and the more beneficial side of Centrum Neutral seeks the previous reason of helping lesser timelines, while the later motivation of "getting resources for Centrum and flexing their ambitions" leans on the darker elements of Centrum Neutral, with Centrum Dark throwing out the "enlightening lesser timelines" out to simply go for the land-grabs and glory-hounding.

I'll give a breakdown of the new Centrum characters when I have time to think of a replacement for Bakunin's name (probably not tonight, what with work tomorrow), and give some more detailed descriptions of their personalities and "policy plans" based on the FR!Soviet leaders Focus Trees, along with how they would rise to power when the power vacuum is first made, as well as how an ambitious GM can use them to form an adventure around the PCs influencing the outcome of the power struggle, either as an Interworld team trying to preserve their nation from complete collapse, or as Infinity or other non-Centrum PCs seeking to either reform Centrum into an ally, or decapitate it to ensure its defeat (although not to spoil too much, but the later has a pretty sizable chance of backfiring completely, so whoever you are, choose wisely...).
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Old 10-26-2019, 07:20 PM   #27
Madd Kossack 115
 
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Default Re: Centrum Light/Dark Ideas

And once again, it took FAR longer than I expected to return to this, between work and getting sidetracked with other sites. But, I finally have a name for the Bukharin-expy (as well as two important side-characters that aren’t proper leaders, but can still play roles in the events to follow). Therefore, I will re-list all of the leaders, each divided into three sections. These three sections, rather than being divided between Centrum Dark/Neutral/Light, will be divided on the three major events in FR!Soviet Union's leadership selection, with each individual leader's motivations and policies being things I'll explain in more detail at a later date (although they’ll still mostly follow the broad strokes of the events in Fuhrerreich, which are summarized well enough in the Dev Diary on the reworked Soviet Union):

A short prologue can be that The Forum (the highest governing body of Centrum) is holding a high-level Congress to vote on the future policies of Centrum, organized by the Leader of the Forum (with said Leader being the stand-in for Lenin, whether or not they share his exact history, personality or even policies - I don't have a name created for him/her, meaning I'll refer to them as either Leader for this post, so GMs can plug in whatever name they think of, or possibly had beforehand).

However, either during or shortly after the Congress (GMs can either decide beforehand, or determine in-game if they let the PCs play during the prologue by monitoring the Congress), the Forum's Leader either announces their resignation, or dies midway through - officially from "health problems", but a rumored assassination attempt runs wild among The Forum, and the race to elect a new Forum Leader/Chairman/Chairwoman/Whatever Title The GM Wishes faces a pitch of not just heated political debate, but a desperate paranoia of further violence...

Whether the PCs are a group of Centrum-based Interworld Service Agents tasked with Congress security, or an above-top-secret Infinity Patrol team sent to exploit the power struggle due to an overt military invasion of Centrum being impossible for Homeline, there are several paths to take.

1) The Troika/The Triumvirate: The death/retirement of the leader of The Forum, has resulted in a power struggle. A trio of Centrum's most influential Grade 7 Coordinators (Petronel Stryker, Gregor Zimmerman, and Jianguo Yin) have united to block David Bronstein, the right-hand man of The Forum's previous Leader, from power. However, this so-called "Triumvirate" is about to split apart, with Zimmerman joining Bronstein's opposition, and Petronel and Yin splitting into their own camps. This will serve as the main conflict (and the most obvious path for players to take), with each Triumvirate leader each serving as a path. They are:

1A) Petronel “The Pounder” Stryker (Expy of Molotov)

1B) David Bronstein (Expy of Trotsky)

1C) Jianguo Yin (Expy of Bukharin)

2) Military Service Coup: One of the reasons that the Congress is desperate to select a new Forum Leader is because the Military Service, already increasing its clout from the Interworld Service discovering more opportunities and threats to mobilize Centrum’s armed forces against, is heavily rumored to be organizing a military coup d’etat against the Congress. The ringleader, Grade 7 Coordinator of the Military Service Cornelius Quarashi, has been having meetings with two of the most prominent commanders of the Military Service, Grade 6 Sef Almawt, and Grade 6 Clement Chatham, along with many Centrum bureaucrats (including Grade 6 Michael Fretz, a popular figurehead whose lack of personal ambition makes him the ideal puppet Forum Leader to rule in Quarashi’s place) and trade unions (I can’t tell if trade unions are technically legal from what I’ve looked up on Infinite Worlds, but if they aren’t, it can be handwaved by saying Quarashi is meeting with laborers trying to organize in secret, and promising to help legalize trade unions upon securing his power, among his other promises).

For most PCs, the threat of a military coup is a ticking clock they have to outrace, as an armed takeover of The Forum would generate outrage across Centrum, and the globally-spanning government will splinter into various states rebelling against Quarashi’s military junta. Assuming the PCs WANT Quarashi’s coup to succeed (i.e. if the Centrum PCs view Quarashi as a better leader than any member of the Triumvirate, or if Homeline PCs want to sabotage Centrum with an Enemy Civil War), this will result in a secondary power struggle, as Fretz, the temporary Forum Leader that Quarashi appoints, will die very soon after he’s given the position, forcing Quarashi to decide which of his inner circle will be appointed Forum Leader.

2A) Cornelius Quraishi (Expy of Tukhachevsky)

2B) Sef Almawt (Expy of Yezhov)

2C) Clement Chatham (Expy of Voroshilov)

3) The Forum Leader's Will: Based on the Lenin’s Letter paths, this option will have the PCs dig up a final recording made by the former Forum Leader (although rather than being held by the wife/husband/romantic partner of the former Forum Leader, it may have been stolen by one of the candidates to ensure their rise to power, causing the PCs to investigate this trail). Although the meritocratic system of Centrum prevents the Forum Leader from flat-out naming their successor, the Forum Leader’s message will give heavy praises to Volante Kostroski, considered the Leader’s personal protege, whilst urging the Congress to think of Centrum ahead of their own ambitions, which will heavily bias the Congress to voting in Kostroski as the new Forum Leader. However, this appointment results in demands for new elections, penned by Grade 6 Alexis Schlappi of the Interworld Service, that denounces Kostroki’s continued policies of the former Forum Leader as letting “nepotistim” take precedence in The Fourm, and fostering suppression against dissenting opinions of lower-grade Citizens.

The follow-up elections will result in Kostroski trying to forge compromises with many of the leaders within The Forum and outside of it to maintain her current position, while Schlappi will go on a global tour of Centrum to rally crowds of low- to middle-Grade Citizens, whilst pushing increasing pressure on higher-Grade Citizens. Both candidates will likely court the PCs for support (since them going out of their way to find the recording of the Forum Leader’s Will has allowed both of them the opportunity to make their bids for power), and it’s up to the PCs to decide which one they prefer - for Interworld Service PCs, it will likely depend on which candidate they believe will personally help Centrum the most, while for Infinity Patrol PCs, it will depend on which candidate is more willing to negotiate with Homeline in coordination against other Alternate threats, such as Reich-5.

3A) Volante Kostroski (Expy of Kirov)

3B) Alexis Schlappi (Expy of Shilapnikov)

Last edited by Madd Kossack 115; 10-26-2019 at 10:39 PM.
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