Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Approved NPC Thoughtwalker Infiltration Unit

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent
: Expand on Enyo's minions.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Infiltrators, spies.
Permissions: Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and here.
Links: Special Surveillance Teams, Retention Class Prison Stations.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name
: Thoughtwalker Infiltration Unit. Official name is Information Retrieval Unit Alpha because Enyo likes boring names. Her siblings come up with less bland ones to annoy her.
Affiliation: Archangel Research and Design, Typhos Clone Family, Enyo, Iron Fist Consortium.
Classification: Infiltrators.
Description: The Thoughtwalkers are ghosts. Serving as sleeper agents, spies and assassins, they are surrounded by secrets. It is typical for a spy for their identity to be rather...fluid, but the Thoughtwalkers take it up a notch. They are both more and less cybernetically enhanced than the typical organic minion of Archangel or the Iron Fist Consortium. Less, because their bodies generally do not have visible cybernetics or mechanical limbs. More, because their consciousness has been transferred into a device called a NeuroDigital Matrix. This device is embedded inside the spine of an organic body, but can be removed and inserted into a different one. It is also possible for it to be implanted inside a droid body. Their mind has essentially been transformed into data.

Needless to say these traits are useful for covert operatives. It also means that the Thoughtwalkers have to be literal shapeshifters, able to adjust to operating in a body that is at variance with their original one in terms such as build, gender or even species. Moreover, they may be expected to remain dormant for an extended period of time, gathering information on a target while going about with their day job. An agent may masquerade as a mercenary, secretary, dancer, electrician, medical professional and so on and so forth.

If they are detected, they can use their combat, infiltration and evasion skills to protect themselves. However, they operate in small teams at best and will only receive minimal support from allies, beyond what assistance their handlers can provide them. Some of the Thoughtwalkers are sleeper agents who have been programmed to be unaware of their true nature, until one day they are activated to carry out their assignment. It helps that the matrix is compatible with flash learning. Enyo uses the agents to undermine competitors and hostile regimes as well as keep an eye on her own people.

Skills a Thoughtwalker learns include surveillance techniques, escape and evasion, marksmanship, melee combat, sabotage, climbing and slicing. They learn how to evade pursuers, follow targets without being detected, bug apartments, vehicles, starships and personal belongings. Most importantly, they learn how to blend in among society to avoid arousing suspicion. Typically they do not remain in the same body for long. Their job is lucrative, but also lonely and stressful. Their handlers keep tabs on each agent because their skills and knowledge can also make them dangerous foes should their loyalty be compromised.

Enyo pays her employees well so that they remain loyal and know to keep their mouth shut. Their bosses provide them with well-furnished accommodations. However, the Terminatrix is also a harsh taskmistress. The Thoughtwalkers do not recruit gung-ho cowboys, but seeks disciplined individuals who will accomplish their tasks without fuss. They have to work independently, so critical thinking skills are important.

Some of them have been 'recruited' via Archangel's private prison system. These tend to be inmates on the death row or serving life sentences. As the brochure says, a stay in an Archangel penitentiary is a transformative experience. Moreover, Enyo has used her resources to infiltrate hacktivist groups and organic cults that revere the machine and want to get closer to it. And naturally, there are gifted individuals who have grown terminally ill, had crippling accidents or suffer from genetic infirmities. The metal princess can offer them a chance to be healthy and strong - for a price.

One of the Thoughtwalkers is an agent called Outis. Her name translates as 'Nobody' and is an obvious alias. A physically frail hacker, she made a living committing cyber-crimes by targeting financial institutions, media and tech companies and used the information she acquired for leverage and blackmail. When she was arrested and sentenced to a stay in a private prison owned by Archangel, she had to be put in special confinement and kept away from computers. Enyo learned of her fixation with transcending the limitations of the flesh, and ascending to a new stage of existence. Thus she was offered a deal.

COMBAT INFORMATION:
UnitSize: Small
Unit Availability
: Rare
Unit Experience
: Elite
Equipment
:
Armour: Does not apply when using a host that is neither humanoid nor an HRD.

Ranged Weapons:
Melee Weapons:
Droids:
Misc:
Cybernetics:
Combat Function: The Thoughtwalkers are a special unit of infiltrators and spies. The consciousness of each agent is housed inside a NeuroDigital Matrix. Not only can this potentially give them a second lease of life, the device can be removed and inserted into another body. This is helpful because it may allow agents to throw an enemy off their trail and carry out assignments, as they can interchange with both robotic and organic bodies. Naturally it is also helpful for getting close to a target. The procedure of removing and inserting the matrix is time-consuming and complex though. Aside from this, the agents are trained in espionage, slicing, investigation, sabotage burglary, manipulating evidence and other essential skills for spies. The Thoughtwalkers have a knack for erasing traces of their physical and digital presence.

They are ideal for deep cover missions and may remain dormant for extended periods of time, hiding in plain sight and going about their day jobs until they are 'activated'. The obvious downside of this is that while the Thoughtwalkers are competent agents, they operate in very small teams, lack a regular supply train and will have to carry out their assignments with little support. If detected and met with overwhelming force, things will go poorly for them and they would best retreat. Each agent is skilled in various forms of combat, but not a one-army.

Strengths:

  • Highly skilled infiltrators and spies. They excel at intelligence gathering, slicing, sabotage and similar tasks.
  • Each agent has been implanted with a NeuroDigital Matrix. This device houses their consciousness. It is located inside the spine of an organic body, but can be interchanged with bodies by a relatively mundane procedure. Essentially this means that if an agent has been seriously wounded, they can potentially survive if an intact matrix is recovered. One could consider it a technological spin on essence transfer. It is also helpful for assassinations and espionage missions, as the agents can potentially throw pursuers off their trail.
Weaknesses:
  • Spies, not assault troops. The nature of their tasks means that they are lightly armed and lack heavy weapons or support forces. They do not have access to a regular supply train and will receive little support.
  • Operate in small teams and are thus easily outnumbered. A team may be as small as two agents and will never be larger than twelve. Moreover, there are only a few teams.
  • Despite the NeuroDigital Matrix, people can still experience 'true death' all the time due to having their matrix blown out. Once the body is defenceless it is really just a few extra blaster bolts after the shooting stops, assuming it was not hit in the first place. This is not a way to 'cheat death' on the battlefield after suffering fatal injury, as the matrix would still need to be recovered undamaged in order to be installed in a new body. Carrying out the process in the middle of a fight is not feasible. Sudden body-hopping will have to remain the domain of space wizards.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION

When Archangel brought the NeuroDigital Matrix onto the market, it advertised it as a benevolent technology that could help people. This was, in all fairness, not untrue. Veterans who had suffered critical injuries in the line of duty could be given a second chance; a doctor who had accumulated a wealth of knowledge but begun to suffer from old age could be transferred into a younger body; people experiencing dysphoria could simply download into a suitable body rather than go through a costly and difficult transition. And criminals could be 'resocialised'.

Naturally, there were less legal applications, too, which Archangel preferred not to advertise to the general public. The Thoughtwalkers are one such application. The creation of the unit is fairly recent. While some of the Thoughtwalkers were long-time agents who had worked for Enyo for a while and in some cases even supported her insurrection against her makers, several others were recruited more recently.

To this end Enyo took advantage of her network of contacts and her private prison system. One of the early recruits was a hacker and extortionist who went by the pseudonyme Outis. A physically frail woman, she used her hacking skills to carry out cyber-crimes. Financial institutions, tech and media companies were among her targets. She sought to ascend to a more digital plane of existence. In a way, she found the machine god she sought when Enyo's consortium made her an offer following her incarceration in an Archangel prison.

The Thoughtwalkers proved useful by planting evidence on groups investigating Archangel. A reputable and sadly incorruptible journalist was gathering evidence for a piece to run about Archangel's less than benevolent aims. The infiltrators were deployed to carry out a smear campaign. They were able manufacture and forward evidence, comprehensively documented and backtracked, which instead implicated the journalist in a serious crime. Their story was forgotten in the scandal and they could erase it or at least make sure it was buried.

Moreover, Enyo was looking to increase the number of recruits - and processing materiel - by bringing another prison into the fold. However, the corporation she approached was being resistant even when she offered a lot of money. Suspicious at this illogical behaviour, Enyo had them investigate and found they were shipping off prisoners as slaves to cartels. Enyo was not one for morals, as many aspects of her business model showed, but she found slavery illogical and impractical. So she directed her agents to ensure that news of this got out, allowing Archangel to swoop in and take control when the business was seized by regulators.
 
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