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Approved Lore Special Surveillance Teams

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent
: Expand on Archangel and Enyo's posse.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Maelion Liates, Moira Skaldi.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Organization Name
: Special Surveillance Teams. The posse calls them Scylla Infiltration Teams, much to Enyo's annoyance.
Classification: Espionage Organisation.
Affiliation: Archangel Research and Design, Iron Fist Consortium, Revenant Industries, Typhos Clone Family, Enyo Typhos, Tess Tanner.
Organization Symbol: N/A.
Description: They are among us. They could be anyone. The electrician who just has to inspect your house; your next door-neighbour; the attractive secretary at the office; the friendly doctor at your local hospital; your spouse; maybe even you are one of them. Some even look like children, but their innocence is deceptive.

The Special Surveillance Teams, or Scyllas, are composed of HRDs made in the likeness of organic beings. Some are aware of their true nature, others are sleepers who live seemingly normal lives, waiting for the moment to be activated. Some have been sold to organic clients, while others have been seeded among the organic population as agents. Indeed, some of these agents maintain 'families'. Regardless, all ultimately serve Archangel as its agents. Based on an organic mind, they excel at blending into organic society and simulating organic behavioural patterns. They can eat, drink, sweat, cry and mimic organic emotion. If they occasionally seem a little off, there is an explanation for that.

In some cases, Archangel has exploited the organics' fear of death and loss. A rich businessman, singer or socialite who feels the pull of entropy might relish the idea of a second chance by having their consciousness transferred into a superior HRD body. Someone whose spouse is in a coma need not despair, for they can be with them again and their body will be even better. Soldiers who have suffered critical injuries with no chance of recovery can walk and fight again. There is, of course, a price to be paid, but that applies to everything.

The Special Surveillance Teams are not meant for frontal combat. Instead they are spies and infiltrators. Indeed, many of the members of these clandestine units 'live' normal lives. They go about their day-jobs and interact with organic beings as their cover dictates. However, Archangel is always watching. The agents gather intelligence Archangel considers of value. Moreover, they provide Archangel with data that allows it to better improve the capabilities of its infiltrators. Sometimes, they are given a special mission, such as to poison or kidnap a certain individual or sway their thinking just a bit in a manner Archangel considers beneficial to its interests. Most of the time, they observe and report in. They suggest and insinuate. Sometimes they lure organics who have become inconvenient into a situation where they can be 'replaced'.

Unsurprisingly, their operations are extremely secretive. This applies to Archangel as a whole, but is even more apparent her. The group is composed of HRDs optimised for longer-term infiltration. They can fight, as all HRDs can, but it is not their main role. One trait they all share is that they used to be organic beings, like all Archangel HRDs. But this is no longer the case, for they are either replicants or their life force has been transferred into a superior droid shell and their mind has been purged of organic illogic.

The programme was started by the genocidal duo Maelion Liates and Moira Skaldi. Her makers have been destroyed and Enyo has taken their place. The new boss does not share her creators' desire to wipe out organic life and create a mechanical dystopia of well-ordered machines, but she shares their appreciation of the power of information. Members of the group tend to be Metamorph, Ambrosia, Infiltrator or Doppelganger HRDs. The group also utilises Asclepius HRDs. These droids are specially programmed to work as medical practitioners, which means they can be found working as doctors, nurses and so on. All these droid models excel at infiltration and are near-indistuinguishable from organic beings in daily interaction.

Appearance, height, gender, appearance and programming are all changeable. Likewise, they can be practically any humanoid being, which means they are not limited to impersonating humans. For example, they could be Twi'leks, Neimoidians, Zabrak, Devaronians, Chiss, Togruta, Chagrians, Trandoshans or even Wookiees. The Scyllas do not have organic members. However, organics can be unknowing or unknowing informants, assets, patsies and so on. While most members are HRDs, the Special Espionage Teams also utilise astromech, utility and mouse droids. After all, they are omnipresent, and thus useful for intelligence gathering. Here and there, they use protocol droids. After all, everyone dismisses them as fastidious, cowardly and annoying, so few would suspect a 3PO droid of being a spy. They work closely with the Lurkers, a special infiltration unit composed of Infiltrator and Metamorph HRDs. They also cooperate with Johanna Tyrone, a former Cor-Sec officer who was busted for being a dirty cop and became a gun for hire after escaping prison. The Cyborg has a leadership position in Archangel's intelligence apparatus.

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Headquarters
: Space Dock 7 is the overall headquarters and nerve centre. However, only a select number of agents know about it.
Domain: The group is an espionage organisation, so they do not control any territory. The agents are inserted into organic society. Many of them have a day job that serves as a cover, others are field operatives or work from headquarters. Those operating in a deep-cover role seek to blend in with organic society. They may be the secretary you know from the office, the bar girl you have been trying to chat up, the electrician inspecting your house, a police officer, nurse or your boss.

Many are aware of their true nature, but others are not. In some cases, these HRDs have been sold on the market. The clients obviously know they have purchased a replicant, but are unaware of the back-door protocols. The HRDs are very good at blending in. They are excellent at passing for organics...except that sometimes they seem just a little too efficient. Some of the infiltrators play a certain role for an extended duration of time, but they may be shifted to a different task at some point. Should this happen, a plausible cover story is found to silence suspicion. Sometimes the silencing is very literal. They operate on a variety of worlds, such as Vorzyd, Contruum and Nar Shaddaa.

Notable Assets: No large scale industrial assets. However, they operate a network of warehouses and safe houses. Moreover, the group as a whole runs a few minor front companies. None of them are large or have assets that matter on a galactic scale, but they can help facilitate their intelligence gathering activities. An example would be owning a hospital, a night club, a laundry service, an apartment building, an electrician or maintenance business, freight company or similar.

None of this is earth-shaking but it presents opportunies for espionage. Workers from an electrician or gas company who enter someone's home to inspect equipment or change a gas metre can plant bugs, after all. Needless to say the true identity of the owners is kept secret. Of course, agents who manage to insinuate into the lives of organics may try to coopt the latter's resources for their own purposes. The Special Surveillance Teams receive funding from Archangel's black budget.

SOCIAL INFORMATION
Hierarchy
: The organisation is very shallow. Enyo has introduced a cell system where all the field agents are split into clandestine cells. They report to a handful of HRDs, who then report to her. They are intelligent droids, so they do not need a complex hierarchy to keep everyone in line.
Membership: Composed exclusively of droids designed by Archangel. In short, one has to be designed, programmed and manufactured by Archangel. All Scyllas are programmed to be spies and infiltrators. The vast majority of the network's members are HRDs models. However, the group also has some utility, astromech and mouse droids. These are ubiquitous throughout the Galaxy, which means their presence is almost never out of the ordinary or something others give much thought to. As a result, they make good spies.

Climate: Internally it is cold, aloof, professional. Droids do not get tired, demand a raise, slack on the job or accept bribes. This means there is no infighting or internal strife. The Scyllas are HRDs, so they have enough independence to manifest independent personalities, as this is required for them to blend in. They display initiative and learn as time goes by and they become more experienced. In short, they are the exact opposite of dull automatons who cannot think for themselves or grow beyond their simplistic programming.

However, they cannot go against their boss' orders. Should they consider an order from Enyo ill-advised or impractical, they can voice this, propose alternate solutions and so on. But they cannot outright disboey her. It is pertinent to note that all Archangel HRDs are based on an organic template. This means that they inherit their template's memories and a good portion of their personality. It makes them more effective infiltrators, but can also manifest in odd quirks. This is particularly apparent when it comes to HRDs created through use of entechment, namely the Ambrosia and Metamorph models. They have an enhanced ability to pass as organics and are very good at fooling even Force-Users, but they are also more 'human' than their replicant counterparts.

Reputation: It is a clandestine organisation that keeps a very low profile, and has a policy of silencing those who discover it. Of course, that evil droids might be plotting to infiltrate organic society for nefarious ends provides ample fodder for conspiracy theories, holo-games and holodramas. But there is no chance of that, of course. None at all. Organic members of Enyo's power base know that their boss has HRDs watching, but are generally unfamiliar with the extent. Information is highly compartmentalised and she doles it out on a need-to-know basis. Nonetheless, rumours have spread in the criminal underworld Enyo operates in.

This applies in particular to Vorzyd. She appeared on the planet a few years ago and began an aggressive campaign of encroaching upon the turfs of established criminal organisation. Enyo is officially not associated with Archangel and indeed many of the local bosses have not even heard of it, but there are stories about her 'replicants'. This has been the cause of fear and revulsion.

Curios: No curios, as Enyo considers these symbols to be silly. Such items would only allow for them to become easily identifiable to outsiders, which is not something anyone within the group wants.

Rules: Common sense rules familiar to any espionage or clandestine group. Be discreet, do not get taught, keep the secrets and do not betray the organisation. The Scyllas are all droids, though they may use organics as informants, patsies and so on. Droids do not get tired, do not slack on the job and cannot be bribed.

Moreover, they are HRDs, which makes them highly sophisticated infiltrators who can pass as organic beings and learn. In short, they are the exact opposite of automatons. As infiltrators, the Scyllas have a significant degree of operational freedom. Morality is as alien to them as sadism. HRDs are not cruel, after all. They simply choose the most expedient, efficient way to complete their assignment, without regard to organic morality.

Goals: Acquire information of important to Archangel, further its goals, infiltrate and manipulate organic society.

MEMBERS

Charlotte: Charlotte Kempka is a ARD X-2a Chameleon Droid. As a Chameleon droid, she can change her appearance to match any human or humanoid of the same shape or height. She can realistically form either gender, hair, fur, lekku or any other feature required in order to blend in. She is perfect for clandestine operations and infiltration.

As with many HRDs produced by Archangel, one has to essentially speak of two people - the human and the replicant. The original Charlotte Kempka was a normal woman living on Fondor. Her parents were lower class, but through thrift and hard work, Charlotte managed to work her way up and escape the poverty they lived in. Eventually, she won a scholarship and went to university. She studied medicine, did well in her studies and had bright dreams of the future.

Alas, these were cut short by sickness. She was diagnosed with Quannot's Syndrome, a debilitating and ultimately fatal disease that caused great pain to its victims. While the pain it caused could be held at bay with painkillers, there was no cure. Desperately, she tried to power through and go on, but she grew frailer with each day. Alas, science failed her. Moreover, she accumulated significant medical bills. With no cure in sight, a doctor informed her that she could apply for euthanasia.

Then she was offered a new lease of life. Her benefactor introduced herself as the representative of a medical corporation and said that they had developed an experimental procedure that might be able to save her life. Desperate and isolated, Charlotte signed up for the procedure. Her family was reluctant, but they were experiencing problems of their own. The visitor was nice enough to help them with their debts. They would assuredly see their daughter again, once she had been cured.

Charlotte was given to Archangel Research and Design. There she was processed. Her mind became the template for a replicant. The new Charlotte was free of organic weaknesses, such as a frail body that would tire, age and get sick. The same applied to ethical constraints such as the Hippocratic Oath. Charlotte has served her mechanical masters as an infiltrator, spy and assassin. Later she was reprogrammed by Enyo Typhos.

Charlotte is an expert infiltrator, able to move with grace, blend into a crowd and adapt quickly. With a friendly smile, an empathic attitude and a good sense of humour, she can easily become someone's friend...if the mission demands that she get close to someone. She can be an attentive secretary a medical doctor, a courtesan, a hardened, gruff mercenary - but it is all a simulation. She has inherited her template's comprehensive medical knowledge. One trait her human self and the replicant share is an interest in the medical sciences.

Annabelle: One of the Metamorph droids assigned to the Lurkers is called Annabelle. She is particularly effective in her role since she is a little child. The story of her organic self is a tragic one. She was born to poor parents on Kessel, where they were forced to serve the whims of the spice cartels. Unfortunately for her, a dark alchemist had decided that her home world would be the perfect testing ground for an outbreak of dark side rabies. The girl managed to hide when the plague broke out. She was saved by Archangel and brought to a medical colony, but an attack ended with her being infected. Archangel decided to 'cure' her. Her consciousness was transferred into an HRD body.

Since then she has been an effective spy and assassin. After all, no one suspects a little child. Children are the future of any society. They are the ones that suffer the most in war and times of strife. Often they lose their families, their homes and, inevitably, their innocence. Thus they must be cherished. A dirty, sickly looking child found in a war zone deserves our care. If it is acting a little odd, that's just a consequence of it enduring horrible trauma. There is no chance that the aforementioned innocent girl that you put to work in the kitchen or left with the wounded might have had a hand in things when your comrades start dying from poison.

Or when your avowed foes suddenly know where your secret base is and are breaking down the gates. Perhaps sometimes she appears too calm, too knowing. But she is just a sweet, plucky girl who was forced to grow up fast after experiencing things no child should. She can draw upon the memories of her past self to manipulate organic emotion. Like any HRD, she is logical, tireless and dedicated to her role. Her innocence and the kindness she can display are deceptive.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Knowledge is power. Before founding Archangel, Maelion Liates and Moira Skaldi were highly placed in the Omega Protectorate's intelligence apparatus. Both left the Protectorate following the Battle of Gehenna. What their former employers did not know was that the two HRDs had ambitious plans, which involved eradicating organic life and ushering in an Age of Steel. Because they needed funds and resources, they founded Archangel.

This company would enable them to process organics and create highly sophisticated machines like them for use in the private sector. The advantages of HRDs were many, after all both Maelion and Moira were created to fulfil dangerous roles that ordinary organics would find difficult. Therefore, this company was mainly to enrich the pair for their other projects, but also to create more units like themselves which couldn further those other aims. The pair used aliases rather than revealing their true identities.

The funds acquired by the company enabled them to build a processing machine to turn organics into machines. Each HRD designed by Archangel had secret backdoors the pair could exploit to gather information or control them if needed. Naturally none of this was known by anyone except the two owners. Archangel's beginnings were extremely humle. Initially it owned only a small factory in Coronet City on Corellia. However, a series of lucrative business deals with various galactic factions, including but not limited to the Lords of the Fringe, the Omega Protectorate, the Atrisian Empire, Galactic Republic, and various Sith orders allowed it to grow in size and wealth. It also helped that the owners were thoroughly lacking in morals. Being machines, Moira and Maelion had no interest in luxury, beyond what was needed to maintain their cover identities as wealthy capitalists, so virtually everything they earned was invested back into the group.

At the same time, Archangel established a sophisticated intelligence apparatus. HRDs excel at infiltration and intelligence gathering, after all. The network started small, but soon expanded outward. After Archangel managed to acquire its own shipyard by seizing the assets of a competitor, it faced the problem of what to do with the many organic workers it now employed. The first impulse was of course process all the organics and turn the shipyards into a new utopia of iron and steel. But such a move would be dangerous. HRDs were good, but they simply could not replace spouses with perfect replicas. Processing all the families was another option. But droid children could not grow, oddities and concern would develop. To process even some of the workers would open a Pandora’s Box of issues. They would be discovered very quickly.

Thus the genocidal duo decided to stack management roles with ‘new employees’ as part of a ‘reshuffle’. Old employees would be let go whilst HRDs from outside would fill their roles. This would be the best of both worlds, as they would not have existing families and affiliations to cause concern, and they would march to the beat of Archangel’s drum. The organic workers were replaced in time. The Special Surveillance Teams played an important role during the transition period. Archangel established a comprehensive network to surveil organic workers. This did not necessarily take the form of replacing individuals. Oftentimes a closeted HRD simply moved in as a 'new neighbour' or similar. Some HRDs were strategically deployed to befriend and or/seduce organic employees or other individuals Archangel had taken an interest in. Particularly dedicated workers were rewarded with their own HRD. Slowly, the work force became more mechanical.

Moreover, Archangel targeted people who could benefit its cause. It often used front groups to abduct them for processing. One of its most prominent victims was Aurelia Saelari, former Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and former Chief Minister of the Omega Protectorate. The replicant wearing her face went on to regain her template's Senate seat and rose to the position of Chief of Government of the Galactic Republic.

Archangel wasted no time infiltrating her office. It also signed a lucrative defence contract with her government, which opened the door to further infiltration. Within this context, the Special Surveillance Teams helped coordinate and streamline Archangel's espionage activities. Some of the HRDs had been sold to clients, others worked in deep-cover and passed as organics in their daily lives. Some of the latter were sleeper agents, who were ignorant of their true nature, but could be activated when needed. If needed, they could serve as a fifth column. Indeed, in some cases entire families were replaced with replicants. To maintain flexibility, the group utilised a cell structure. For a while Moira Skaldi acted as the controller of the group, before her duties as one of Archangel's directors compelled her to pass on leadership to a group of HRDs.

In order to acquire research and processing material, Archangel often set up operations in war or disaster zones. It presented itself as a humanitarian group that offered medicine and shelter to refugees and other victims. The Special Surveillance Teams were often deployed in advance to lull in poor unfortunate souls, replace select targets and provide information Archangel could use to its advantage. It also wooed business and political leaders with their own HRDs, tailored to their exact specifications. Of course, the left out the fine print. The agents monitored and compiled reports on people who might discover Archangel's secrets, and sometimes arranged for them to be disappeared. Moreover, they spread disinformation. Sometimes this involved disseminating conspiracy theories to distract attention from Archangel's very real conspiracy.

Then Archangel created a series of Force clones. One of them, Enyo Typhos, was turned into an organic-droid hybrid. However, ultimately the clones were pushed too far, rebelled and launched an insurrection that eventually ended with the apparent destruction of Moira Skaldi and Maelion Liates. Enyo, who had amassed considerable resources during her time as an insurgent leader, mercenary and mafia boss, took control. The Special Surveillance Teams had been used to gather intelligence on her group during the conflict. Indeed, they succeeded at infiltrating it, enabling Archangel to deal Enyo a serious blow before she was able to defeat them in the final battle. However, now their loyalty transferred to the rogue Cyborg, as she reprogrammed Archangel's droid forces. Their duties, however, did not change much.

Enyo was Siobhan Kerrigan's clone and just looked like the Firemane executive. This could raise awkward questions if she publicly took the reins. But though it is within her means, she was reluctant to change her appearance. So she decided to run Archangel via proxy and picked an HRD called Tess Tanner. The human Tess had been a successful model, before a traffic accident put her in a coma. Unable to let go, her grieving husband commissioned Archangel to create a mental and physical duplicate. The new Tess was secretly a member of a Special Surveillance Team. Eventually she left the programme to assume an administrative position within Archangel. This made her qualified to run things as Enyo's proxy.
 
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