Secrets of The Numberless Revealed
Many of you took part in my first RP, The Numberless. Sadly, and mostly because of me, this RP died, and today I officially declared it. However, I put quite a bit of effort into it, and most of it was never revealed, so now... well... I'm revealing it!
I doubt this would be of interest to people who didn't take part in the RP, but feel free to read on anyway!
I might have missed some things out, but it's 3.20am over here, so I should probably stop now and sleep. I'll read it tomorrow and see if I have anything else to add. No doubt I do
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The mole: Dusty!
Dusty was playing as a double-agent, in the employ of the Stalwart Chief of Security Karl Rudderman. While you were all at Dr Yotes’ he contacted Sgt Rachel Barns (see below) and was able to remove the patrol at the expense of ratting out Yotes, whether intentionally or not. In either case, had you gone back to Yotes you would have found the hospital empty, and Yotes and his nurses taken away. Dusty was then tasked with killing Maximus. A secret agent handed him a vial of poison as your party entered his Theatre, which he was supposed to slip into Maximus’ drink:
“The female dancer drew up close to Cain and placed a hand on each shoulder. "I just love strong men," she spoke in a half-whisper "With a body like yours, you could be in the military. How does that sound, Soldier?"”
“At Cain's response, the dancer dropped her smile, and scanned the group again. Evidently seeing what she wanted, she smiled and walked over to Garren seductively. "How about you Soldier? You ever been in the military?"”
“The dancer pushed up close to Garren and rubbed slowly down his sides. "I think we both know you're in need of my services honey. Men like you need girls like us" She brushed his hand and turned, saying as she walked away "If you want another taste, you know where to find me"”
This was the female human spy looking for Garren (And at first approaching Cain, the only other human of the group, mistaking him for her target) then passing him the vial by rubbing up against him. The ‘soldier’ talk was very literal.
At the exact same time, and in my favourite little play that sadly went nowhere, Nelle’s character Ivona was contacted by the very shady Sigmund Clarence, Information leader of Stalwart (Imagine FBI meets CIA meets MI5 meets Gestapo), although I don’t think I ever revealed to Nelle who it was beyong just ‘a deep voice’. Clarence knew that someone had been tasked to kill Maximus, and Maximus had information he wanted, so that couldn’t happen. He therefore sent Ivona in to stop the assassin, as well as to gain information out of Nowen by any means necessary (more on that later)
Ivona was told to ask for a 54 Cintreuse De Genre while in Paxlo’s car, because there was an earpiece hidden in the cork of that bottle (unbeknown to Paxlo). Hence Nelle writing; “In the middle of her drink she picked up the cork with a paw before fiddling with it for moment”, where she was actually finding the earpiece.
As for Nowen, Clarence knew that he was part of the Numberless (Oh… yeah… Nowen was part of the Numberless if you didn’t guess) so he wanted to find out all that Nowen knew, and chose Ivona to do that through. Ivona decided to torture the information out of Nowen, poor guy. Fortunately for him, that never transpired.
On the note of Nowen, I doubt any of you recall (or perhaps I was an idiot and never actually said it, but I’m sure I did somewhere) but Nowen’s last name was Umber.
Nowen Umber. Nowenumber. No Number. Numberless. Eh? Eh? How about that then, eh?
His real name is Lukas. The female version of the Numberless name is Narah Ank = No Rank.
For the record, Nowen had some of my absolute favourite lines in the entire RP, such as “Sir Maximus, part time Playwright, full time bastard.”
(My favourite bit of flavour text is Maximus’; ““They are not men who understand what it is like to live in the real world!" He slammed his fist down in emphasis, and a diamond figurine of a ballet-dancer rattled on the table.”)
Sorry if I’m forgetting anyone, but I believe the only other person who I was using for ulterior motives was Jett, who was actually supposed to be a Rank 2; a human working for Rudderman who had been transformed into a bear through excessive drug treatments and surgery. He was following a similar mission to Dusty.
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So yeah, some general explanations of events now, to give you all a better insight into things:
In the car ride, when they separated themselves behind the blind, Paxlo tried to convince Shade to stay with him in Maximus’ Theatre. He was fully aware of Maximus’ plans for everyone else, but is horrified that Maximus was willing to send Shade away as well. That, to him, was never part of the plan, hence why he stormed out.
Maximus wanted to see Mako in particular because of Mako’s past. As Maximus revealed, he knew about the people who requested Mako’s services, and then took the product at gunpoint instead of paying him. These people were then all killed by Mako. Maximus found this impressive and also quite comical. What I did certainly not reveal was that these people were sent by Maximus. That was one of his many small attempts to shake things up a bit. He has fingers in every pie, but he’s also a great opportunist. One problem (his lackeys being massacred) presents a new solution to him (hiring Mako to finish the very job he prevented)
Arratra, as Gometh, called his contact Sgt. Rachel Barns, but unfortunately she wasn’t convinced by his (ironically truthful) warnings, and so betrayed him before she even ended the call. The soldiers all arrived at Maximus’ Theatre because of Arratra’s call. The sound-logs he sent were enough evidence to finally place Maximus on trial, the sentence of course being death if he is found guilty. Losing such a valuable ally would make Obels very, very worried indeed, and he would do one of two things: Initiate the plan ahead of time, starting a full blown civil war with many casualties, or else find a way to secretly kill Maximus before he testified, perhaps making it look like suicide. This would have left Obels off the hook, but would have set his plan back by several years at least.
Gometh mentioning his sister simply dropped her in hot water. Barns might, out of sympathy, act on her promise of keeping her from harm, but would happily sign the papers demanding her immediate imprisonment.
Barns’ comment “And you are an invaluable help, Gometh. But I am quite sure we shall see each other in the future. Perhaps quite soon” was laced with hidden irony. The implication on Barns’ end was that she would see Gometh in the morgue, or else in an interrogation chamber. He is a help because he is responsible for handing over incriminating evidence.
Some of your characters knew about an incident on the wall of the city, blamed on the Numberless. It was, however, not the Numberless at all. It was in fact Rudderman and his security forces. The reason was several: First, it portrays the Numberless as an immediate threat, giving credence to Rudderman’s pleas to wage direct war against them. It also gives his department more funding, as it appears that security is spread too thin to be effective. Finally, it allows him to increase security in the slums, which are rife with resistance sympathisers and recruiters. This allows him to root some of them out and reap the benefits.
As for why Rudderman wants to wipe out the Numberless, they are considered the main reason Stalwart must be blocked off from the outside. Rudderman is aware of other civilisations that exist many miles away, and wishes to gain contact with them. This is impossible while Stalwart is sealed off, and he sees the only solution as ridding the city of the Numberless. Obels and Maximus want the Numberless threat to stay, partly because it distracts Rudderman’s forces, and also the longer they are a threat the less able Rudderman looks to the Rank 1s. Obels relies on his propaganda, and of course any new settlements will not receive it, therefore the prospect of new cities being contacted does not bode well for him.
Some of you will also be aware of an event that happened at the base of the Tower of Rule. This was Ivona going postal and shooting up the place. The fact that such an even can happen is very embarrassing, therefore it has been hushed up.
Some of your characters would have been aware of the ‘Office of Law.’
This is where trials take place for those lucky enough to be given trials. Generally if they are, they will be innocent. However, Obels opened the Office to the public for certain trials, generally against suspected Resistance members, who are always found guilty. This mixture is entirely done to sway the public. They are allowed to see people be proven innocent, therefore they have faith in their justice system, and are instilled with the belief that the innocent will never be punished and will always have their name cleared. Therefore if someone is found guilty, they must of course (in the public’s eye) be guilty. The fact that the Numberless are publically proven guilty implies that rebels will always be discovered and punished, and that the resistance is full of criminals. In truth, these trials are often more show than trial (If Obels decides to make your trial public and you’re accused of being a rebel, you’re basically screwed no matter what), and those proven innocent have often just bribed their way free, or are more use on the outside. Timperman, for example (Daryn’s contact. See below) has been given one of these trials, deemed innocent because of his many contacts and his good reputation.
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The following is my personal reference list of important NPCs. It should be noted that some things have changed since I first wrote it, so not all of the following would still have been relevant to the RP had it continued. However, I think it should make for interesting reading
The bracketed bits at the end have been added for extra explanation.
Joseph Obels - Rank 2 - Propaganda leader. Dog - Husky. Wants to infiltrate (But not destroy) the Numberless, and wants to kill Ivona.
Sir Kuss Maximus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_Maximus) - Rank 3 - Famous playwright (Self-given name). Badger. Strong ties with Obels, and uses his work for Obels' ends. Extremely corrupt. Hates Honda for closing one of his drug rings. Wants to hire Mako Denji (Buzz) for showing skill (And a sense of humour in Maximus' eyes) by killing the group Maximus sent to gain products for his planned eventual coup against the Rank 1s to put himself and Obels in charge (And probably eventually kill Obels)
Karl Rudderman - Rank 2 - Security Leader. Human. Wants to bring Ivona in alive and parade her through the streets, making obvious what she did. Then public execution. Is at odds with Obels who does not want to destroy the Numberless. Will control Honda, who is his Heir. (Puk was Honda’s alias. Any reference to Honda means the human version of Puk)
Farr Gerard - Rank 3 - Ex Education Minister. Mouse. Would have been a Rank 2 if the Education Agency hadn't been taken over by Obels’ Propaganda department. Wants to undermine the Obels to reinstate his own department. Will contact a PC offering to frame Obels. (I ended up never introducing Gerard, although Daryn’s contact was leading that way)
Sigmund Clarence - Rank 2 - Information leader. Panther. Is helping Farr Gerard in his planned Coup, but plans to turn him in at the last minute, taking the credit for stopping the plan. Also plans to use Rudderman and Obels' men to gain information on them. Is very wary of Maximus, and is not sure what to make of him. Will possibly contact a PC telling them to go to Maximus and ask him for help. (This turned out to be Nelle’s character, although as stated above, her motive was actually to save his life and then gain information from him)
Dr Stephen Yotes - Rank 5 by choice. Gekko. Has repeatedly turned down promotion, despite some claiming he could even make Rank 3 eventually. Works in the 'slums' of Stalwart. Very dedicated to his profession, has a strong dislike of the Resistance and does not get himself involved with Stalwart politics (Although if he did he would support Gerard getting more power, and dislikes the Security forces, although he does not particularly mind Rudderman. Briefly worked with and respects Sasha Marah (Samantha), and worked with Gometh on mandatory field duty, and respects him as a soldier, but is not sure what to think of him otherwise.
Paxlo - Rank 5 with privilages. Deer. Sir Kuss Maximus' "boy toy", and so can gain access to Maximus. Stripper/dancer who worked with/has crush on Shade. Will happily help him. Knows of Maximus' corruption but doesn't think he will betray the group.
Sgt Rachel Barns - Rank 3. Human. Very loyal to Rudderman. Wants to destroy the Resistance, hates the Numberless. Dislikes Rank 5s, will try and help Gometh if she is approached right. Respects Garren from seeing him in action but does not know what happened to him to be sent to guard duty. Will not help in his mission, but will pull security if approached right. (This plan sort of fell apart, as Dusty was very convincing in his call to her, so she had to help more that I’d planned)
Professor Jake Timperman - Rank 4, but with many family/student connections to higher ups. Is practically untouchable. Fox. Quite Liberal, does not like Rudderman or Obels. Is high up in a peaceful protesting group called TNU (Their Number's Up). Will not help the Resistance or Numberless. Will help any character who he deems unfairly prosecuted. If people talk about Rudderman he might get annoyed enough about his speciesism that he holds a peaceful protest elsewhere to lessen security. Gometh explaining his position will instantly make Jake help the group! (I actually used that exclamation mark in my notes. That’s quite exciting, isn’t it. Oh, and Rudderman’s speciesism is his clear preference for humans. He is a human himself, as is Sgt Barns, Dusty’s character Garren, the secret agent in Maximus’ Theatre who gave Garren the poison, and Jett’s character Puk was originally a human, transformed by drugs and surgery to appear to be a polar bear. Barns shares a bit of this same speciesism. Both fear that humans are being massively outnumbered by the other species, and you will notice that very few of them appear who are not in Rudderman’s corner)
(Oh, and as far as the TNU goes, I don’t know if I ever really mentioned them, but there was this little hint to them, said by one of Maximus’ guards; “Those bloody Uni flops were all part of... whassitcalled... Tee-En-You or sommin. Opposed the work on 'moral grounds'. Pfft")
Losfer Jarard - Steel worker. Rank 5. Missing. May be found outside Stalwart. A member of the Resistance. (This changed quite a lot. I’ve actually forgot my eventual plan with him, but I think he would still have been in Stalwart, or maybe was the leader of a Numberless core once you had got outside)
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Plays of Sir Kuss Maximus:
These were sent to Dusty and Shade so that their characters could reference the plays if need be. However, almost every one has some purpose or other, usually working directly for Maximus' motives. The play name is first, then a brief description. An explanation of the ulterior motives or general flavour text follows in brackets.
War of Hearts - Epic opera where the armies of two fictional nations make war, but the son and daughter of the respective Commanders fall in love. Maximus' most famous play and generally considered his best. It is the only play he still regularly performs in, having started as the son and now playing his father, one of the Generals.
Passable Divide - Musical Romantic Drama. A Rank 3 and a falsely imprisoned Rank 6 fall in love, but cannot be together. When the Rank 6 is sentenced to death, the Rank 3 chooses to kill herself. (A reflection of the rank difference in Maximus’ relationship with Paxlo, as well as various other less favoured courtesans)
Benito – Maximus’ first opera, and one of his most famous. An immortal man discovers he has the power to heal, but only by taking the illness into himself. At first he doesn’t use this power because of his desire to live forever, but he falls in love with a young terminally ill man. He heals the man and dies himself. Maximus initially played the role of Benito, and is considered the greatest version of the character. (Again, a reflection of the power difference between Maximus and Paxlo, as well as a subtle way of introducing homosexuality to the Stalwart audience, without drawing attention to it)
The Coup – Recent musical comedy where a violent and boisterous human and an inept Panther spy fail to take down Stalwart from the inside. (The boisterous human reflecting security leader Karl Rudderman and the panther spy reflecting Information leader Sigmund Clarence. A subtle undermining of their power, and suggesting with its mere title the idea that the two of them might be colluding to take over Stalwart, which would be treason to say out loud. That’s not to say, however, that he never did it out loud:
“What's more, all three of you touch on the same issue; the people of this city. They are who make it. Not security chiefs, spies and bureaucrats." Then, to Shade "Not those who can fight. Not on their own at least. It is the people of this city who should have the say in how the city is run, and they needn't be intimidated by some bloated human and some scheming panther who are trying to build their army within our own beloved walls.”
The Security Chief and Spies are a reference to Rudderman and Clarence, as well as, of course, bloated human and scheming panther. The bureaucrat is a more general reference, although is slightly aimed at Farr Gerard, the ex-education minister)
How Hard Can It Be? – Comedy in which a Rank 5 plumber is mistaken as a Rank 1, and to prevent being discovered has to pretend he is a Rank 1 for an entire day. Only extreme good luck prevents his good-intentioned but naïve and clumsy actions from causing disaster or revealing his true identity. (Subtle suggestion that lower ranks could not have a hope of running Stalwart while not demonising them or suggesting that they have bad intentions. Also ‘humanises’ the Rank 1s, and makes the audience feel that they are in good hands with their current leaders)
Joaquin and Charles – Controversial Romantic Drama in which two male Rank 4 professors fall in love. It is one of Maximus’ worst grossing plays, but is considered his greatest Romance story by its few fans. It is still occasionally performed in Maximus’ personal theatre. (A more obvious desensitising to homosexuality. Suggesting that even the high intellectuals can have homosexual desires based on love, therefore giving it validity)
Beyond – Musical drama in which a female member of the Numberless, who has never seen Stalwart, is taken on a mission to plant a bomb inside it, only to discover she has more in common with the residents of Stalwart than her fellow rebels. After falling in love with a security officer she meets, she decides to stay in the city, but does not expose the Numberless bomb plot. In the final scene, she and the security officer are both killed in the bomb blast. (Making a positive character out of security, promotes the lifestyle of Stalwart and suggests that its residents live very comfortable lives. Also suggests that the Numberless effectively brainwash their followers, and encourages the fear of terrorism)
A comedy spin-off, called Beyond Beyond, is extremely popular in the lower-rank areas of Stalwart, and portrays the Numberless as incompetent villains. The audience are encouraged to ‘boo’ whenever they enter the stage. (Turns the audience against the Numberless and makes it fun to oppose them. Implies stupidity of Numberless thereby removing their credibility among potential recruits)
Servants of Stalwart – Biographical drama focussing on a young Joseph Obels (Current Rank 2 of Propaganda) and his attempts to reign in the egotistical, narcissistic and corrupt Rank 2s and 3s and make them focus on the threat of the Numberless. All the characters are based on once-existing figures in Stalwart politics, although all figures portrayed as corrupt in the play are either no longer alive or in power. (Blatant propaganda promoting Joseph Obels. It is also careful never to suggest that the Rank 1s are among the corrupt)
Twenty-one – Wordless interpretive dance musical based on the creation of Stalwart. Received massive success in the higher-rank areas of Stalwart, but is widely considered Maximus’ worst piece by lower Ranking audience members. (Promotes unity among the ranks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 added together = 21. Interesting that he includes the rank 6 prisoners as essential to Stalwart, especially when combined with his Passable Divide play with a ‘good’ rank 6 character)
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