Identifying Antagonists
Due to confusion over how much knowledge people would have about various items and the various antagonists, the following is the rules concerning identifying antagonists.
This page is considered part of the Rules.
HAVING A MILITARY BACKSTORY OR ANYTHING SIMILAR DOES NOT OVERRULE ANY OF THESE
As always, if someone comes along spouting IC "knowledge" of things on this page, or any other lesser-known details of the setting, including Sojourn-specific things like the cult of excelsior mind implants or whatever antag-of-the-week we've made up on the spot, your characters are free to respond to them in much the same way as if they were talking about "chemtrails" or whatever the lunatic theory of the day happens to be.
Suspicious Items
Suspicious items are purposefully hidden from the general public and from most colonists, which is necessary for some antags to fully complete their tasks. These items are mostly considered contraband. Certain items however are identifiable to those with certain training. Suspicious items are occasionally available on the black market, and if identified, possession of such devices does not necessarily imply malicious involvement.
Recognizing an object does not mean you know it's from a nefarious group, only what it is, and what it does. Some items are also simply modified versions of existing items, and some items are disguised.
AI and Cyborgs
The AI is only able to glance at things with it's camera, making identification hard at distances. All items disguised as other items are therefore unidentifiable unless blatantly in use (e.g. Emag, hack tool, mysterious package, lighter, etc.)
AI's are able to tell when obvious contraband is used though (e.g. Revolvers, energy swords, etc.) In keeping with conventions, AI's are allowed limited knowledge of contraband, but are only to offer this information if directly prompted.
Cyborgs follow the same rules as their human counterparts, but can ask the AI for any suspicious objects.
Items
The following is a list of Syndicate items and who would be able to tell what is what. If the item is not listed, the default is only the Premier or Warrant Officer would have any vague knowledge.
EMP Grenades
Everyone knows it's a grenade, security and science know it's an EMP grenade. Both of those know that nobody outside of security is normally meant to have these. If it goes off, anyone could tell that electronics have been screwed with pretty seriously.
Sleepy Pen
It's just a pen. If R&D took it apart and investigated its contents, they would find that it is a low-capacity hypospray hidden inside a pen case.
Syndicate Soap
It's a bar of soap. Not contraband by itself.
Chameleon Clothes
Seeing one of them changing would be pretty weird and probably known as holoclothing, and suspicious if it's to a restricted item, which is definitely chameleon clothing. Security and Science should be both very aware that it is minor contraband outside science.
No-Slip Syndicate Shoes
They're a pair of shoes. Not even close to contraband.
Agent ID card
It's a normal ID to most people. It's normal to Heads unless they investigate it closely (and have a reason to do so), in which case it's an illegally modified ID card, thanks to electronic warfare abilities and able to copy access off any ID card scanned by it.
Voice Changer
It's an ordinary gas mask, until someone talks with it on without an ID or switches IDs infront of someone while talking. With investigation, R&D could find out what it is and how it works, though anyone could tell what it does if they see it in action. Noticing distinguishing features (or a lack of them) which aren't covered by the mask, and are wrong for the person whose voice is being imitated, would tip someone who knows that something is going on.
Thermal Imaging Glasses
They're ordinary sunglasses. If put on, you can tell that they see living creatures through walls. Not really illegal beyond usual privacy laws concerning thermal glasses, but odd.
Chameleon-Projector
It's an odd and suspicious device. Security knows it's illegal. Research can take it apart or otherwise investigate it to find out exactly what it does and how it works.
Cryptographic Sequencer
Everyone can immediately see it's a modified ID card (which is illegal), engineers, security, and scientists would know that it would screw up electronics like in doors if they investigated it closely.
Fully Loaded Toolbox
It's a toolbox. Not illegal.
Traitor Radio Key
It's an ordinary radio key, until you put it in a radio, in which case you'd be able to tell that it goes onto an unknown radio channel. This isn't illegal by itself (there are a LOT of empty channels that don't usually get traffic). Listening in on encrypted channels, like department channels, is.
Binary Translator Key
As above, except onto the silicon talk thing instead of an unknown radio channel. Not illegal, but a little strange. Those with a bit more knowledge in robotics might realize that this is much more serious tech than normal encryption keys.
Void Suit
It's a void suit. Its color is nonstandard, but that's not illegal. It'd be unusual for anyone outside of Science, the blackshield, or the Prospectors to have this suit, but if there aren't any suits missing from the station, then they probably didn't steal it.
Hacked AI Upload Module
Everyone knows it's a circuitboard. Engineers and scientists could tell that it's a modified AI upload module, which is very illegal. Roboticists would be able to tell how it's modified, and that it uploads corrupt, overriding laws. Security would not know any of this unless told.
C-4
Everyone can see that it is a bomb.
Powersink
Everyone knows it's not of colony origin, engineers know it's going to suck power out of the ship and is therefore illegal.
Teleporter Circuit Board
Everyone can tell it's a circuitboard. Science and Engineering know what it builds, and knows that these ones are meant to stay in tech storage and the teleporter room. If you go and use it to make a teleporter to get into high security areas then security is well within their rights to pull the thing down and confiscate the circuitboard.
Freedom Implant, Compressed Matter Implant, Explosive Implant, Uplink Implant, Slave Implant
Having an implant without it noted in medical records is odd, and should probably be investigated. If the implant is removed for some reason, Research can tell what sort of implant it is.
Implanters aren't meant to be outside of medbay, Science, and certain sections of Security, so if one's just lying around it should be at least taken back to Medical, and possibly investigated if anything else about the situation is suspicious.
Syndie Balloon
It's just a balloon.
Weapon Permits
There's really no way to tell if a permit is fake or not if the accompanying paperwork is solid. Fortunately, if a Warrant Officer thinks a permit is suspicious, they are allowed to terminate the permit and confiscate the weapon(s) for that reason. It's up to the person who received the permit to contact the Premier or Provost Marshal Boris to override the decision. Any job that begins with a weapon permit has been issued that permit by Central Command and can be revoked only with conviction for a code 2XX or greater offense, or by mandate of the Provost Marshal.
Mercenaries, pirates, and criminals
Mercs, pirates, and criminals exist. They do mercenary, piratical, and criminal things. There are about a million different groups and factions of them, and crew are unlikely to know anything about the band that just showed up unless they've dealt with them specifically before.
Crew will generally be aware that people in the underworld carry and use a variety of black-market gear, and unidentified hostiles are more likely to be common or garden criminals such as these than they are to be any actual organized group such as the syndicate, spider clan, mondkyne smugglers, or whatever else you might immediately metagame from seeing an emag.
Void Wolves
Void Wolves are a common faction of smugglers found in frontier areas who are not a collective group but a collective identity. By using the same armor and name many groups can collectively avoid identification by appearing as one cohesive mass. So a void wolf may be a human Serbian underneath his armor working for a crime family while another group might be mondkyne smugglers working for a small time gang of less than eight people. The only consistent traits are they are hostile, wear similar looking armor, and rarely have peaceful intentions.
The Syndicate
All staff may know the Syndicate as a dangerous organization that has long since fallen in power and threat through out the frontier. Very little is known about them and much like how hearing something exists doesn't inform you much about them, nobody could accurately guess anything specific. What is known is they used to be quite dangerous and large but have long since fallen into obscurity since the Sol federation targeted them for destruction.
Security forces and heads of staff have been briefed vaguely about syndicate forces, but only as much as is detailed above in items.
General crew who have met them before are allowed to retain knowledge of whatever things they've dealt with directly. If your character has a background involving the syndicate (or any other antagonistic organization) then it is required to discuss such characters with the admins to hash out how much or how little they know.
AI Malfunction
AI's and Cyborgs are not normally known to malfunction.
With the exception of overwhelming evidence, outright declaration by the AI, or from the 'Hostile runtimes' message from Director Mkne himself, the AI and Cyborgs should not be presumed hostile. Law resets are not out of the option if the AI is acting odd and there is reason to think its laws might be affected, but this doesn't mean that it's hostile.
Spider Clan
Spider clan ninjas are as mysterious as they are deadly, and as deadly as they are mysterious. The crew know nothing.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a dude in a black suit and a mask appearing on the station and then cloaking is likely not good, but it also doesn't mean "that's a spider clan nnija who carries a THX-1198 self-sealing biosuit with a cyclic rate of..." and so on. Keep in mind, such suit models can very rarely be found in maintenance, but are generally not as well equipped.
Changeling
Creatures colloquially referred to as "Changelings" are like bigfoot, or the loch ness monster. No research or data has ever been collected from them, nor has any actual confirmation been found of their existence. The threat they pose is unknown, if any. They're mostly known of as a series of celestial legends that get passed around truck stops, sort of a biological boogeyman. Like old-earth vampires, there are a dozen different stories that have similar elements but no actual concrete example, and most of them can boil down to drunken horror stories or have far more mundane explanations.
It is highly likely that only research members, specifically xenobiologists or the research overseer would know anything about exotic alien creatures, and the ones who do mention anything about so-called changelings would probably be ridiculed by their colleagues for believing such pseudoscience.
But let's say you meet something like a changeling: They should be treated as any first contact alien being should be, if they reveal themselves through actions, words, or otherwise. This includes not being presumed hostile unless they actually act hostile.
Unless you directly observe something you should not know any of a changelings powers, including their ability to regenerate from death. The only concrete powers a xenobiologist or overseer would be aware of is their ability to absorb others and assume their form perfectly. How they absorb them or even how long transformation takes is unknown.
Cortical Borer
Cortical borers are known as a symbiotic creature, though some of their exact workings are not known. Medical and research staff would know that sugar sets them at ease and makes them much more cooperative, even inside of a host, and salt does the opposite. They would also know that borers can secrete chemicals and try to keep their host alive, usually.
Only soteria staff would know any specific details about cortical borers, anyone else would at best have heard rumors of brain parasites but would be unaware of their symbiotic nature, weaknesses, or ability to secrete chemicals.
Hivemind
The hivemind are an entirely unknown techno-organic virus that infects people and machines and turns them into corrupt monstrous creatures. In addition to spreading corrupting wires across the ground and through burrows the hivemind generates monstrous fusions of organic and mechanical material. Hiveminds are a known threat and anyone would recognize the strange wires or creatures they create. The hivemind is considered an immediate code red scenario.
All colonists would be aware of these key features:
- Strange wires are spread from a hivemind node, which is the nucleus of the hivemind infection.
- Many of the more dangerous aspects of the hivemind include sonic screams which scramble and stun those who hear it. Magnetic blasts which knock people over and toxic globs of sludge launched by infected machines.
- Dead bodies found by hivemind creatures may be converted into hivemind monsters, further fueling their destructive potential and rendering the person unrevivable in the process. This can include any creature, from colonists to dead roaches.
- If a hivemind is left enough time to spread and infect enough machines it will eventually create a hivemind tyrant, a huge creature of immense destructive power fueled by radioactive biomass.
Excelsior
Little is known about the history of the Excelsior Commune beyond their seemingly Pan-Slavic roots and its resemblances to the old Soviet Union, a historical government of Pre-Federal Russia that was notorious for a despotic Communist regime, government-engineered famine, and "ethnic cleansing," a process defined as the mass expulsion and/or genocide of ethnic groups that did not conform to or were in direct opposition to the regime. What is known about Excelsior is that they are a technologically advanced and openly hostile group despised by Federal, Exodite, and Conferate peoples alike for their use of military force and subsequent forced indoctrination into the Commune via the use of mind-control implants, which the Commune also uses for covert communications. They also possess distinctive space-worthy armor, tesla weaponry, advanced manufacturing equipment, and experimental machinery capable of generating materials from huge quantities of energy and converting nearly any kind of technological implant into the comm-plants they use for forced conversion. Any usage of Excelsior technology not explicitly authorized by the brigadier is grounds for incarceration and a potential full Code Red lockdown pending an investigation. Under no circumstances should you ever use Excelsior weapons, armor, machines, or equipment without explicit brigadier authorization if you are not an antagonist. You may be perma-brigged as a result except under extraordinary circumstances.
Excelsior machines and implants are powered by and with signals from Excelsior communes, allowing the signal to be tracked and potentially exploited by Excelsior members if discovered, hence the fanatical enforcement of preventing such devices from being used at all times.
