[OOC] Mass Effect: Underworld

[Mega Birb]

@SgtEasy
Are they corrupt politicians?

[PrivateVentures]

@SgtEasy Love the idea of loyalty missions. Working on an Ellis mission now, wherein the group will have to be just as much a terrorist as he is.

[MrDidact]

@PrivateVentures Oh Cerberus is extremist definitely. And in ME 3 they went off the deep end, but now we'll see what the post Reaper-War Cerberus is like.

@SgtEasy Well the squad itself is a black ops team. Only a select number of people in the Council government know the details of the organization. And uh, killing Batarian politicians when the Batarian society is already in a huge state of flux isn't really what I call stabilizing the galaxy :P

Remember these are all just ideas, it's up to Sam and I to agree if they fit in the story.

[SgtEasy]

@Mega Birb

Arguably, all Batarian High Caste are corrupt :P

@MrDidact

Okie dokie, I was just spouting off an idea off the top of my head. I'll put more thought into it. Ja'Far has made... questionable decisions before. I have mentioned about his squad's involvement with destroying a whole political family. Children and babies included.

This sin weighs heavily on his shoulders and any survivor would want his head. Of course, Ja'Far is extremely sure that there are none of these survivors. Hegemony "cleaning" protocols are incredibly efficient

[Mega Birb]

@PrivateVentures
Sicaria might be a deserter, but she's still a Turian through and through. Terrorist actions would probably get him killed by pretty much the entire team.

[PrivateVentures]

@Mega Birb Not if those terrorist actions are directed toward the enemy. Psychological warfare affects more than just the individuals involved. Tales of the American 'Death Cards' spread throughout the Vietcong ranks, and instilled fear, particularly of the American Air Cavalry. Even Vietcong who had never seen an American plane heard about the Death Cards.

The Death Cards read: Surrender or Die like the others/ The American Army is here to kill every last one of you/ Surrender now and save your family. Fight and you will all suffer./ etc.

Britain used Psywar in WWI to affect German troops' morale, making them believe that their own government was lying to them about a number of things, as well as screwing up the numbers of casualties in battles.

Atilla the Hun catapaulted the heads of dead enemies into beseiged cities, both to terrify them to surrender, and utilize the rotting flesh as a bioweapon.

PsychWar is possibly the most effective tactic an outnumbered force can use to attain victory. That fear just encourages further victories.

Turians, I'm sure have their own history of Psywar.

Cerberus is well known for their Psychological tactics, from utilizing Thresher Maws' natural feeding instinct to destroy an Alliance base, to hiring Commander Shepherd, knowing his enemies would associate him and his reputation from then on with Cerberus, at least, to a point.

EDIT: @SgtEasy, I'm working on an Ellis mission wherein he discovers that Cerberus is under new command, and vows to find and destroy their new leader, for completely personal reasons. Alliance profit, however, would be enormous from this mission, including Cerberus hardware, information, potentially weapons and armor, though that remains to be seen. Hopefully, Big Dog over there is cool with it, or has ideas to add.

EDIT 2: @Mega Birb, totally just realized Turians have no sense whatsoever of Psychological Warfare. They're straight-up fighters, overwhelming an enemy in terrifying force. I totally get it. That having been said, maybe Sicaria will learn a little something from our resident straight-jacket.

EDIT 3: Holy shit, these edits. Turians also don't seem to like military risk. I'm betting Sicaria/Tiberius will never understand fully why Ellis does what he does in combat. I'll edit my plan for the loyalty mission to fit.

EDIT 4: Wow, honey mustard is really good when you dip pretzel sticks in it.

EDIT 5: I guess I should tag the necessary parties here: @BlackSam3091, @Arcarius, @MrDidact

EDIT 6: You know what, let's tag everyone: @Rithy, @Dervish, @MechonRaptor, @AquaAzura, @DarkFey, @Silver Fox, @The Spectre, @Poohead189,

[SgtEasy]

@PrivateVentures

Tags don't work when edited man :P

Don't worry, I found out the hard way too XD

[PrivateVentures]

@PrivateVentures

Tags don't work when edited man :P

Don't worry, I found out the hard way too XD

@SgtEasy

NO! NO! NO! NO! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I LITERALLY HAD THE CHARACTER LIST IN ANOTHER TAB SO I KNEW WHAT TO TYPE

[SgtEasy]

@PrivateVentures

Nooooope, doesn't work. I've done a joke like that before, didn't work. Was very disappointed XD

[PrivateVentures]

@SgtEasy

That is just... Disgraceful, brah. Really uncool.

I TYPED IT ALL PERFECTLY! EVERY. SINGLE. NAME.

[SgtEasy]

@PrivateVentures

Don't worry, it's good that you tried. It's the effort put into the joke that counts :P

[PrivateVentures]

@SgtEasy That makes me feel better. You know what would make me feel even better than that? A steak, some mashed potatoes, some grilled squash and tomatoes, and a glass of scotch.

Also, morphine. Morphine makes everyone feel better.

EDIT: Bourbon. Screw scotch.

[MrDidact]

@PrivateVentures Well the leadership of this new Cerberus is another plot point we'll keep close to the chest and is instrumental to the thrust of the plot.

I think Salarians like PsyWar but I don't think Turians are unfamiliar with the concept. They deployed the Genophage to defeat the Krogan after all, there's nothing to say that they don't use more underhanded tactics from time to time. And they do take risks depending on individual commanders. Victus for example is a noted risk-taking commander.

[PrivateVentures]

@MrDidact I see what you're saying. I'll hold off on the planning for now, and work on a rewrite. I would posit, however, that the Genophage was not psychological, so much as biological warfare, designed to prevent reproduction, a trope of average unconventional warfare, just as Agent Orange was in Vietnam, or the Atomic Bomb in Japan.

It's not so much an underhanded tactic I'm referring to, so much as a different style of warfare, designed to attack the mind, rather than the body. I understand why the concept of conventional warfare seems more honorable, though. PsyWar has a bad rep, as it should. I would like to mention a more modern version of PsyWar: some American personnel leaving the middle east brought back accounts of painting or writing "Infidel was here" in areas of combat. It wasn't so much warfare as it was Psychological reinforcement, but I think it applies.

And yeah, the Salarians, FOR SURE, know how to fuck up a mind. They've got just as many creepy experiments as Cerberus.

I would also like to mention that holy shit, Salarians are scary. They've got that creepy abusive-mental-health-doctor feel.

[rivaan]

*returns from his nap time only to stumble upon even more chaos.* Hmmmm... interesting.

[Silver Fox]

*returns from his nap time only to stumble upon even more chaos.* Hmmmm... interesting.

@rivaan

*glomps*

[PrivateVentures]

<Snipped quote by rivaan>

*glomps*

@Silver Fox

*glorps*

[rivaan]

So I missed the debriefing. Hmmmm...

[Silver Fox]

So I missed the debriefing. Hmmmm...

@rivaan

It's fine Phalanx will just explain again xD

[rivaan]

@Silver Fox That'd be hilarious.