PMCG Subsidiaries: Sachar's Independent Ranger Group, Outer Ring Civil Protection

[Kintsugi]

Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): PMCG Subsidiaries

Short Description: Two subsidiaries for the PMCG, one being a Solarian policing organization, and the other being a Coalition mercenary outfit.

How will this be reflected on-station?: They'll be subsidiaries for the PMCG, which will be playable on the NBT.

Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Yes.

Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways that you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Yes.

Long Description: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-kPCGRog_dC_KtrG_8PaT0D5hwZSoWBuDIX8ureHN10/edit?usp=sharing

[Triogenix]

3 hours ago, DanseMacabre said:

and the private security it provides resembles typical police officers in most respects.

While the rest of the idea for the Outer Ring Civil Protection is solid, with a lot of opportunities for less corporate oriented human characters, having their private security just be basic police seems to be to be very shallow, and somewhat boring. I would add something to make their enforcement methods a little more fleshed out then just being typical police officers. Perhaps being especially apt at breaking up riots or secessionist movements, which could also give another reason for why the SCC picked them up so quickly.

 

The Independent Ranger Group I also like a lot, and how it reflects a lot of the coalition, being more rag-tag then the others. However, I do wonder, in your eyes what types of characters do you envision coming from the group? Are they just the up jumped militiamen, thugs, and wannabe soldiers as you mention in the description or do you see more professional members coming out as well?

Edited November 6, 2021 by Triogenix

[ImmortalRedshirt]

Slightly echoing what's been said, I feel there isn't the right ingredients here to make this an interesting addition to the PMCG. There isn't much these two seem to do that the other contractors don't specialize in, and seem to solely be banking on "we need a contractor from x nation." I'm getting a feeling that the questions that should be asked when writing a subsidiary isn't "What species and/or nation do I feel is underrepresented" and is more along the lines of "What unique circumstance does this group fulfill/what mannerism or practice do they have that sets them apart from all the rest." In a nutshell, don't be The Solarian PMC, be The Specialized PMC That Just So Happens To Be Mainly Solarian.

[Kintsugi]

27 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

While the rest of the idea for the Outer Ring Civil Protection is solid, with a lot of opportunities for less corporate oriented human characters, having their private security just be basic police seems to be to be very shallow, and somewhat boring. I would add something to make their enforcement methods a little more fleshed out then just being typical police officers. Perhaps being especially apt and breaking up riots or secessionist movements, which could also give another reason for why the SCC picked them up so quickly.

Part of the thing is that length is a concern here. The subsidiaries for the PMCG are bound by their length - as such, I don't think it's viable to try and expand further upon their methods and operations.

29 minutes ago, Triogenix said:

The Independent Ranger Group I also like a lot, and how it reflects a lot of the coalition, being more rag-tag then the others. However, I do wonder, in your eyes what types of characters do you envision coming from the group? Are they just the up jumped militiamen, thugs, and wannabe soldiers as you mention in the description or do you see more professional members coming out as well?

The IRG is extremely diverse, in my mind. You could have very unprofessional characters and you could have professionals who want to transfer to the private sector, which is frequently more lucrative than staying in the military.

[DeadLantern]

"Part of the thing is that length is a concern here. The subsidiaries for the PMCG are bound by their length - as such, I don't think it's viable to try and expand further upon their methods and operations."

It is viable to expand on their methods and operations. The Dagamuir Freewater Private Forces include their methods, and I see no reason why you should necessarily exclude it from your descriptions. Just keep the useful stuff, the stuff that might inform the player's roleplay.

Otherwise, I don't really buy the coalition PMC force. You say it yourself, they are very disparate and a very diverse group of people, and that by itself is alright. I see no unifying force, though. The Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group mainly recruits from Tajara veterans; they are all very different, but there's a unifying force right in there. They served in the same war. I understand why this exists and how they would be played. You can draw the same comparison for Nexus or Dagamuir. I can not see that for this coalition force. Yes, they're all united because they are all from/active in the frontier, but what does that even mean? It is so random and so separate as to inspire no broad sense of feel. You could theoretically make a character from any background and they could fall into Sachar's. Maybe this is because the frontier itself is too separated; in any case, I really don't feel like that would be an interesting addition. You have a bunch of randos from the coalition that are unruly. I can see this group adding nothing to our current PMCG roster besides that. If you want to play an unruly coalition fighter, you can join any other PMC group/corporation, it would be the same experience, generally.

The Solarian force looks interesting, however. Recruiting from Solarian outer-edge police people is a much more defined niche and it provides a nice way to have Solarian characters on station.

[Lucaken]

15 hours ago, DeadLantern said:

The Solarian force looks interesting, however. Recruiting from Solarian outer-edge police people is a much more defined niche and it provides a nice way to have Solarian characters on station.

I find it a bit ironic how you say this, considering that you harped on the Coalition PMC for being little more than a mercenary group from a specific area. If your criteria for 'interesting PMC' is that they occupy a thematic niche and concept, and not just people from this area of the galaxy, I think both of these fail. I fully agree with you that a PMC's blurb should be as useful for making characters as possible, but the Outer Ring, in it's current state, is practically just a retelling of the situation in the Wildlands - they're Solarians who are experienced in keeping order. That's not any more or less dry than the Independant Rangers. Funnily enough, this is a similar reason as to why I don't find Nexus particularly worthy, either. Dagamuir has it's honour code to play around with - Kazarrhaldiye gets its veterans and all the background that the revolutions come with it.

With that said, here are my (very general) suggestions for how to make both a little more focused.

• Lean into the rowdy, wild nature of the Independant Rangers. This can examplify the lawless nature of the Frontier, and the unusual men and women that come from it. Just like how they try and appear legitimate with their naming, they act as a professional mercenary company, while employing underhanded, unusual and wild tactics with their work. Not only does this now provide a niche for Frontier characters, it also provides avanue for more wacky PMCG ones.
• Make the Outer Ring more professional and in-link with their Solarian background. Perhaps a lot of their employees are formerly of the Solarian military and police forces that had to stand down with the collapse. Perhaps they like to stick close to those old methods and training, and so a lot of their modus operandi resembles that of their past. And, because of their order-keeping history, maybe they're even less tolerant of lawlessness than their newfound friends in the PMCG.

This way, these PMCs become polar opposites of one another. More than just representitives of their origin cultures, they operate under completely different ideas of what a PMC should be. You can even have inter-group rivarly on-station, with contractors butting heads over their differences within the PMCG. I think conflict like that would be natural for an organization cobbled together like that.

[Kintsugi]

On 07/11/2021 at 11:37, Lucaken said:

 

• Lean into the rowdy, wild nature of the Independant Rangers. This can examplify the lawless nature of the Frontier, and the unusual men and women that come from it. Just like how they try and appear legitimate with their naming, they act as a professional mercenary company, while employing underhanded, unusual and wild tactics with their work. Not only does this now provide a niche for Frontier characters, it also provides avanue for more wacky PMCG ones.
• Make the Outer Ring more professional and in-link with their Solarian background. Perhaps a lot of their employees are formerly of the Solarian military and police forces that had to stand down with the collapse. Perhaps they like to stick close to those old methods and training, and so a lot of their modus operandi resembles that of their past. And, because of their order-keeping history, maybe they're even less tolerant of lawlessness than their newfound friends in the PMCG.

Both great ideas - I was hesitant to write too much because of length concerns, so consider what's currently present an outline and a draft as opposed to a finished product.

[Caelphon]

After speaking with the Lore Team, we have decided that the PMCG will instead have an addition revolving around space-based operations. Thank you for your application, however, we are denying it.