Graham wrote:
>Does anyone have any thoughts? How might they approach him? What could they
>offer him? What might be their motives and/or tasks for him? (He has
>connections to several rebels, many leaders of the Greydog clan, and an
>indirect connection to Kallyr and the resistance.)
Given the description of Eurmal in _Storm Tribe_, I can't imagine *any* serious UW agent would want to hire one! They're crazed -- inevitably, they'll give you away, screw up your ops, probably lead the Sartarites to figure out your agent network, and they're probably incapable of doing any real espionage work. You hire 'em blind for things like diversions (and even then, you don't count on it -- you use 'em as one of many distractions from the *real* guy with the crossbow in the scroll depository).
However (heh, heh, heh), a smart Lunar black op type might well hire one in a different persona and "representing" a different Lunar association, black op group, or whatever!
Let's say, oh, Mr. X of the UW finds out about your character. Mr. X is squabbling with Mr. J of the local Bearers of Good News agency, with Mr. Z of the Entelathosium, etc. Luckily, the character is a stupid barbarian!
So Mr. X fakes up a chop for the BoGN, gets a good disguise, and "hires" your Eurmali character, approaching him best "I am Lunar, Bearer of Civilization to You Stupid Bar-- I Mean, To Your Fine People." He explains the Wise and Noble Mission of the BoGN, etc., and explains how the Eurmali can help -- "Oh, no, this won't hurt your people, it'll help your people, blah blah blah Moony garbage blah blah."
He also gives him a good fake blind drop, and gives him a bunch of screwy missions. Find out data on certain people. Play obnoxious tricks on others. Encourage your friends to dislike certain people. Overthrow local authorities, replace them with local stooges. All kinds of mischief.
Now, if he gets something out of this "agent," fine and good: Mr. X can chalk it up as a "plus" on the ol' report back home. "Yup, dyed Kallyr's hair green, reduced influence among Whingans, yup, yup, 'nuther coup for da Moon."
But Eurmals are inherently screwups! So it's pretty clear at some point that the guy is going to let the cat out of the bag. So hopefully your fake paper trail leads *right* back to the BoGN, who are discredited by the implication *and* by the fact that the Eurmali probably screwed it up royal. Of course, you need to be careful that this doesn't discredit Lunar interests *too* much, so Mr. X can be ready to step in to fix whatever problems were caused. And hopefully you can get your rival yanked, and either advance a BoGN faction you *can* work with, or get those jerks yanked, so Mr. X, who's a lot better, more knowledgeable, etc., can take over operations. And Kallyr & Co. are probably feeling *great*, because they Revealed a Terrible Lunar Plot and Figured Out Them Moon Spies, when in actuality *Mr. X* managed to get rid of the BoGN's lousy network of agents, and can advance it's *own*, superior network.
Best of all, it means Eurmal is rolling on the floor as your player/character is walking around in a Sartarite tux humming "secret agent man" and bein' all suuuuave, because it's as much a joke on the character. Ha!
--__--__--
Powered by hypermail