Leidenschaft — Roleplayer Guild

TS//SCI//DG//NOFORN//
U//FOUO//

Name: Gonzalo Escarra
Alias: Hakim Najjar (Central Asia)
Raymundo “Ray” Santana (Latin America)

Age/DOB: 33/01MAY1987

Gender: Male

Appearance: 
Ht/Wt: 5’10”/200lbs

Speaks in a voice of middling tone, not too deep, not too high. When among others of Latino descent, he may code-switch and speak with more of an accent versus when he is speaking in a professional capacity to peers.

Keeps his hair longer than most are authorized in the military, being on the Army’s special roster has its perks. His face is ambiguous enough to lend him the ability to blend in anywhere from Latin America to Central Asia. Gaunt cheeks, a prominent nose, and angular features lend him a sort of ambiguity among the peoples who have darker skin. As such, Central America and Asia, as well as parts of Europe, are his areas of expertise. He has served in several hotspots in these areas, and has accrued habits and mannerisms from those places into his own.

His build is athletic, but with no wasted bulk on his 5’10” frame. He usually wears clothing to fit him in ways to hide his athleticism and blend into the populace around him. 

Profession: Sergeant First Class (SFC) - E-9
US Army Intelligence Support Activity - Ground Squadron

Education: High School Diploma
Master of Science, Cybersecurity

Psych Eval/Personal Info: Gonzalo grew up poor in San Jose, inside one of many barrios across the west coast and southwest of the US. With this, he had been involved somewhat in the street life, his mother finding her money in low-paying jobs and making up for the rest of their profits with peddling illicit substances for the local Sureño gang. It wasn’t long before he was approached, but his staunch refusal to do work for the gangs in the area was not mirrored by his younger brother.

He needed to escape this life, and when recruiters came to his school for any future recruits, he jumped on the opportunity. Sports or music, or drug dealing, wasn’t a dependable path out of poverty. Maybe the Army would be. As he’d hoped, when he turned 18, the Army made good on its promise to take him far away from his barrio. He’d had good grades in school, and was able to score high enough in the right areas of the ASVAB to ensure him a slot as a SIGINT Analyst, analyzing and disseminating things like radio signals to offer up a piece of intelligence packet to DoD customers.

Farther along in his career, he’d been recruited into the NSA-led Central Security Service as part of Army INSCOM. He would later be approached by senior individuals to volunteer for Selection with a little known SMU that was recruiting anyone from INSCOM and SOCOM who showed promise. After being one of the last left in his class, he was chosen from the few who’d made it through to be part of the new generation of the US Army’s Intelligence Support Activity.

As part of JSOC’s premier intelligence gathering unit, he found himself in almost every theater in Central Asia and Latin America. It would be after an operation in Syria that he would be recruited by yet another shadowy organization by a man named Joseph Blaine. He assumes this is just another Special Access Program dealing with terrorism, but he remains unsure if all of this could be that simple.

U//FOUO//
Following is the debrief interview conducted by Case Officer REDACTED, interviewing SFC REDACTED of Task Force REDACTED of JSOC as part of Operation GHOSTWRITER. Interview was conducted at REDACTED, Turkey. FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.

CO REDACTED: Tell me about Operation Ghostwriter. What you were doing, and who you were doing it with.

SFC REDACTED: We were attached to CENSORED in Syria, mostly in CENSORED and the surrounding area, as part of the effort to oust Daesh and the other extremist militants from the region. There were other, um, state actors in the area of operations that we were also gathering intelligence on.

We relied a lot on SIGINT, our HUMINT guys couldn’t get a direct asset within the CENSORED, so we gave them a wide berth. I’m talking like our assets had assets, so we were getting third-party information and expected to develop targets for our hitters based on hearsay.

LONG PAUSE…

Who are you with? Counterintel?

CO REDACTED: Something like that. Go on.

SFC REDACTED: Okay… uh, what specifically do you need to know? I’m not going to beat around the bush, you want to hear about when we took contact.

CO REDACTED: Yeah.

SFC REDACTED: Right. I’ll say this, the state actors- the CENSORED- they had ordnance and munitions that we had never encountered. Even Agency reports didn’t list any of this, or maybe I wasn’t read on, but-

CO REDACTED: Just tell me about what happened, what you know. I know it’s fresh, but I have to know.

SFC REDACTED: Yeah, I get it. So, we were supposed to be the advance team, me and one other guy. First in, collect what we could, give it to the analysts and targeters, see what they could get and if the hitters needed to go in. There was supposed to be an HVT somewhere in the town, but airborne ISR couldn’t get anything going in or coming out, which is weird.

All our HUMINT guys were pointing to that town, that the Alhilal al’Aswad group was in there, and with the ROE of the CENSORED when it came to Daesh and our Green Forces, we didn’t have time to verify. JSOC needed this guy bad. We thought it was rushed, but nobody could veto shit. So, Aswad guy was in there somewhere, we could rendition him before the CENSORED could level the town, but we had to act fast. If ISR couldn’t get anything, maybe our closer-range instruments could. We were going to deliver real-time intel to the analysts, analysts would feed shit directly to the direct action guys and they’d go in and out, quick as fuck.

We took a civilian car, plain clothes, PDWs only and whatever else we could fit in the trunk. Weren’t supposed to be there long, so we planned on leaving a small footprint and splitting after a few hours. We went from the edge of the town to make our way to our local guy’s safehouse and set up our scanners, firefight or something in the distance the whole time, which isn’t too weird for Syria.

We got set up, turned on our shit. It was like opening up a dam. We flipped our instruments on, cellphone signals and radio just blasted us. Shit was happening right now, and it was bad. Whatever was hitting the Aswad guys… from what the radio signals were saying, it wasn’t like anything I’d heard of.

At first, we were thinking NBC, some kind of gas. Maybe CS gas, white phosphorus, something we could explain. Something that made sense. But they said it was like a black cloud. That it was eating them in seconds… LONG PAUSE

The signal grabbers went quiet. Fucking dead quiet. And it sounded like… like they were saying this one thing, over and over.

CO REDACTED: Okay. And then?

SFC REDACTED: And then we took contact. RPG in the window, it hit low and blew the fucking wall open. Our local guy was dead, bad. I’m the one who fucking drafted the mission, and took these guys with me and I’m the one who got them… My partner was wounded, unconscious. I could hear them speaking CENSORED, so I knew it couldn’t be Daesh. Maybe Chechens, but they weren’t in that area just yet and the Alhilal al’Aswad guys were multiplying like rabbits in the region.

That’s when I saw what the guys were talking about. The CENSORED had a guy on one of the rooftops, and his hands were glowing-

CO REDACTED: Any smells?

SFC REDACTED: LONG PAUSE… Like what? I could smell gunpowder, the dust and rubble…

CO REDACTED: Anything like ozone? Electrical burn?

SFC REDACTED: Maybe. Figured it could’ve been the millions of dollars in equipment that just got damaged, why?

CO REDACTED: Okay, go on. Glowing hands?

SFC REDACTED: Yeah. His hands were glowing, and he was drawing shit in the air. I thought he had some fucking chemlights, but the trails the light left just stayed in the air. That was the only thing that kept it… LONG PAUSE

It really was like a fucking cloud. Just a big cloud of black shit, like bats almost. Syrian guys who were fighting Alhilal al’Aswad since they appeared in the region out of Iraq told us about Shayatin- Islamic demons, Arabic language. Walidu Al-Harb. We didn't report that, just brushed it off as superstition. But I saw it! I fucking saw it, and I saw this dude on the roof doing fucking magic!

The guys that interviewed me before you look at me like I’m fucking crazy, but I fucking saw what I saw!

CO REDACTED: What were the signal grabbers picking up over and over before you took contact?

SFC REDACTED: Tueal Washahid. Arabic. Come and see… What does it mean?

CO REDACTED: LONG PAUSE…

Listen, I have to cut this short, but I’ll be back. If they try to move you out of here, I’ll stop it. You’re not going anywhere until I can talk to you again. You’re grounded, no missions for you, but they can’t put you in a fucking institution while I’m around. You need anything, just ask for me.

You want to figure out what really happened in CENSORED with the black cloud… don’t call me, I’ll call you.

SFC REDACTED: The fuck do I do while you’re gone?

CO REDACTED: Take a breather. I’ll be back.

END AUDIO…
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
U//FOUO//


Bonds: Wife? Kids? Ma and Pa? Best Friend? any and all go here. These count as Bonds and can be invoked when failing a WP roll. No more than 5

His brother, Giovanni, 25. Involved in the Sureño street gang in San Jose, he is now serving a sentence in San Quentin for the murder of his step-brother and his step-father. He has since began trying to distance himself from his gang, but is afraid that he may be harmed if he tries to cut off his ties. Gonzalo knows it’s blood in, and blood out.

His sister, Andrea, 16. After their mother was beaten to death by her most recent boyfriend, and Giovanni was sentenced to time in prison for the revenge killings of their step-brother and step-father, she found herself on the streets for some time before becoming involved with the church.

His spouse, Cindy Aquino. Their marriage has been rocky since his career with the Army deepened. More secrets kept from her, and less days spent together. She’s beginning to think his passion for his work is overshadowing her.

His best friend, Ayanda, 30. Another member of the ISA who's been on his team and worked as his partner in small two-man teams since 2017. A first generation immigrant from South Africa, with roots in the Zulu tribe.

Motivations: Doing what’s right for America, the Army, the US Intelligence Community, and the Activity
Protect his country from any and all who would corrupt or harm it
Doing a job no one else can do, because no one else should have to

Fears: The fear that everything he’s done has been in bad faith. The fear that the bureaucracy that he’s sworn to would only serve to deceive the people, and use him as their tool.

The fear that nothing he does will be enough to stop those who would harm America from doing so. That despite all his training, all his effort, every victory, that defeat is inevitable.

The fear that no one else can, or should have to, do the things he’s done. Everything he does is to ensure a better future free of those who would hurt the innocent. When his time comes, will he have done enough?

(73 points to spread out within these attributes)

HIT POINTS: STR+STAM+DEX (40)
STRENGTH: 13
DEXTERITY: 14
STAMINA: 13
BUREAUCRACY: 2 (Cap is 5, for exceptionally wealthy characters, which are rare. In this economy?)
INTELLIGENCE: 15
WILLPOWER: 16
SAN/BREAKING POINT: SAN=WPx5/BREAKING POINT=SAN-WP
80/64
POWER: WPx5

>> Sample Distinguishing Features
Strength - 3-4 (Feeble) 5-8 (Weak) 9-12 (Average) 13-16 (Muscular) 17-18 (Huge)

Dexterity - 3-4 (Barely Mobile) 5-8 (Clumsy) 9-12 (Average) 13-16 (Nimble) 17-18 (Acrobatic)

Stamina - 3-4 (Bedridden) 5-8 (Sickly) 9-12 (Average) 13-16 (Perfect Health) 17-18 (Tireless)

Intelligence - 3-4 (Fuckin’ Stoopid) 5-8 (Slow) 9-12 (Average) 13-16 (Perceptive) 17-18 (Brilliant)

Willpower - 3-4 (Spineless) 5-8 (Nervous) 9-12 (Average) 13-16 (Strong-Willed) 17-18 (Indomitable)

Skills: (Either choose from the sample professions found at the bottom of the Doc, in the Agent’s Handbook or The Complex sourcebook, or freely choose from the list below the Character Sheet to fill out the skill tiers)
Gifted(70-80): 3 skills
Criminology 70 | Spycraft 70 | Breaking-and-Entering 70 | SIGINT 75
Adept(50-69): 4 skills
Awareness 68 | Marksmanship 64 | HUMINT 58 | Search 50
Average(30-49): 4 skills
First Aid 35 | Subterfuge 46 | Hand to Hand 40 | Tactical Driving 45
Novice(10-29): 5 skills
Craft-Microelectronics 28 | Artillery 24 | Milsci-Air 24 | MilSci-Land 25 | MilSci-Sea 24

(After placing skills in the appropriate tier/point range, the DM will roll a d20 for each skill in tiers below Gifted, disregarding any actual resultant 20s. Resulting numbers are added to the score, not to exceed any Tier thresholds this time around.

You will also get 6 points to allot to 5 of whatever skills you want to improve, adjusting tiers accordingly. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO GIFTED TIER.

Any skill slot left empty by lack of skill, or upgrading of a skill, gets a free slot for any skill THAT MAKES SENSE FOR THE CHARACTER/THEIR PROFESSION

The only exception is legacy characters, who may have only ONE skill above 80)

Languages: If applicable
50 = Fluent (Spanish)
40 = Semi-Fluent (Arabic)
30 = Rudimentary (Persian)

Special Training: 
Black Markets - Drug Culture (INT)
Black Markets - Weapons Dealing (INT)
Military Freefall HALO/HAHO Qualified (DEX)
Combat Diver Qualified (STAM)

(Example: Black Markets - Drug Culture (INT), Military Freefall HALO/HAHO (DEX), Military K9 (INT) these are special facets of assignable skills, or fields of knowledge not typically found among professional peers)

Weaknesses: Viewing his work as that of a crusader, an endless war in which he beats back the darkness of man in hopes that his countrymen can sleep peacefully at night. As such, he can be daring, and borderline reckless in the pursuit of victory. This has led to many close calls.

ADAPTATIONS: (These are adaptations to trauma. For any SAN roll that succeeds against these two types of trauma results in you adding an X in either Violence or Helplessness. 4 Xs result in gaining an Adaptation, and a mental disorder, like PTSD for instance.)
Violence: XX
Helplessness: XX

Off-Duty Clothing/Equipment: Because you're not going to be walking around in door-kicking gear all day, every day on a clandestine op.
Clothing: Plain clothes befitting his locale
Weapons: Concealable weapons, situation permitting
Tools/Equipment: Go-Bag(Extra magazines, two IFAKs, flashlight, chemlights, pepper spray, tools for technical surveillance, lockpicks and lockpicking gun, a few thumb drives pre-loaded with malware for installing back doors into computer systems, a multitool, burner phones, clamshell and key blanks, nitrile gloves, sunglasses, ski mask, as well as surgical masks, Bic lighters, trusty zippo lighter, notepad and pen, digital camera with an assortment of lenses, radio frequency code grabber, bug/camera detector, audio jammer)

Operational Clothing/Equipment: Nothing that would remove all doubt that you are part of the US military/Law Enforcement/Intelligence Community. NATO weaponry is fine, but not required.
Clothing: Either full battle rattle with plate carrier and Crye apparel, or plain civilian clothes befitting the locale depending on the mission at hand.
Weapons: Usually something very concealable, either a handgun or PDW. He keeps a SIG MCX on standby loaded with accessories befitting an operator.
Tools/Equipment: Go-Bag(Extra magazines, two IFAKs, flashlight, chemlights, pepper spray, tools for technical surveillance, lockpicks and lockpicking gun, a few thumb drives pre-loaded with malware for installing back doors into computer systems, a multitool, burner phones, clamshell and key blanks, nitrile gloves, sunglasses, ski mask, as well as surgical masks, Bic lighters, trusty zippo lighter, notepad and pen, digital camera with an assortment of lenses, radio frequency code grabber, bug/camera detector, audio jammer)

Delta Green: The PLUTO Connection, Occult Action and Intrigue

"We're the only ones who understand that you can't understand...

...And that's all you need to fucking know..."

-Donald Poe, USMC (Ret.) aka Agent ALPHONSE

Choose federal law enforcement. Choose the military. Choose NASA or the CDC. Choose lying to your superiors. Choose to ruin your career. Choose no friends. Choose divorce. Choose life through the bottom of a bottle. Choose destroying evidence and executing innocent people because they know too fucking much. Choose black fatigues and matching gas masks. Choose an MP5 stolen from the CIA loaded with glasers, with a wide range of fucking attachments. Choose blazing away at mind numbing, sanity crushing things from beyond the stars, wondering whether you'd be better off stuffing the barrel in your own mouth. Choose The King In Yellow and waking up wondering who you are. Choose a 9mm retirement plan. Choose going out with a bang at the end of it all, PGP encrypting your last message down a securely laid cable as an NRO Delta wetworks squad busts through your door. Choose one last Night at the Opera. Choose Delta Green.
— An Agent Long Gone

* * *

All Forum-wide Rules Apply

The GM's word is law

This RP was inspired by the Delta Green tabletop game, The Cthulu Wars by Kenneth Hite and Kennon Bauman, True Detective S1 and Denis Villeneuve's Sicario

Be advised, this is not a typical PBP RP. We run off of Google Docs that are posted when the scene(s) have reached a good enough length. Because of this, our posting schedule is much more fast-paced due to the collaborative nature of the Google Docs.

We will try to work with those in different time zones to ensure that you can experience the story and play your character regardless of time difference.

* * *

Hello!

As the title says, this RP is one about action and intrigue with an occult bent. Heavily influenced by media such as the Delta Green tabletop game and the Cthulu Wars book, from which came the premise of this RP, and mainly season one of True Detective and Denis Villeneuve's Sicario film, the atmosphere of which I hope to weave into this game. Your characters can come from any number of organizations and institutions both government and civilian. Although this is an action game, I don't want players to think they have to necessarily be Hank Stonebulge, war veteran and supercop with ten machineguns and gets his calories from red meat and cigarettes.

That is to say, you can be a scientist, a scholar, a private eye, a federal agent, former or active duty military, or a career criminal with a history of working for the law to cut a deal. Joseph Donnelley is not beholden to tradition for recruiting teams and neither am I. This is mainly to not alienate people who are interested but don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of federal agencies or the like. I do encourage players to get creative with their characters, as long as they make sense, of course. An analyst probably won't be the greatest at making 400 meter shots with a rifle. 

Like said above, I do hope to capture the atmosphere of Sicario and True Detective. The RP will mainly be about the investigations of the cases the team has been brought on for, as well as how they bond with their teammates, cope with the events of the RP that might challenge their ideals, and grow along the time spent working this case and just what it uncovers about the true workings of the world around them. As such, don't expect shooting first and asking questions later to get you far. You may be working for a shadowy 'Man in Black' but that doesn't give you legal immunity, nor does it give you leads and clues. Player characters will have to navigate this new world of intrigue and horror smartly, and may be called upon to do morally repugnant things in the name of not only national security, but the preservation of humanity as they know it. Join me on this romp from Washington State, and all the way down to Juarez, Mexico, and beyond.

Over the course of the RP, questions may arise. Who is Steve Foster? What is March Tech, Project PLUTO? Who am I really working for? How far does this whole thing go? Who can I really trust?

And remember...

“Deception is a right. Truth is a privilege. Innocence is a luxury. The war is never over.”

* * *

Delta Green: An organisation which encourages middle-aged accountants and bureaucrats to drive vans filled with dynamite into the homes of white supremacists who worship the risen spirit of Hitler.

tl;dr - Delta Green was a government program born of the US government's raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts. Dissolved during the Vietnam War in 1969 following a disastrous and unsanctioned raid in Cambodia, Delta Green post-1970 is an illegal, unsanctioned conspiracy of military personnel, federal agents, and capable and exceptional civilians that investigate and dispose of preternatural threats to the US and the world as a whole. Officially reinstated in late 2001 as 'The Program' and tasked to investigate, recover, and/or destroy preternatural threats to the US, Delta Green often achieves these high ideals with low methods.

"...as criminal an enterprise as all the conspiracies and blacker-than-black military projects that came before it."

* * *

::TEAM ROSTER —- WORKING GROUP - PALADIN::
::CASE OFFICER::
DONNELLEY, JOSEPH | M | CIA DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS, SPECIAL ACTIVITIES CENTER/SPECIAL OPERATIONS GROUP (GROUND BRANCH), PARAMILITARY OPERATIONS OFFICER

::TEAM LEADER::
ESCARRA, GONZALO | M | GROUND SQUADRON, INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT ACTIVITY, US ARMY

::WORKING GROUP - PALADIN::
VOGEL, SAM | F | LEAD INSPECTOR - SPECIAL PROJECTS, EPA
ALLEN, LAURA | F | DEPUTY MARSHAL - USMS SOG
CRUZ, JAVIER | M | DIRECT INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR, CIVILIAN
PARKHURST, THEODORE | M | CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, GLOBAL RESPONSE STAFF
YOUNG, RAYMOND | M | IMMIGRATIONS & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS
KAUKONEN, KEENAN | M | TESCHERN SECURITY SOLUTIONS, INVESTIGATIVE OPERATIONS AGENT - CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR
WESLER, TIM | M | NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, ISSP EXPERT - TAILORED ACCESS OPERATIONS

::KIA PERSONNEL::

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Relax, only half-dead

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