Strange Stars: Spaceport Loners, Troublemakers & Criminal Orgs

Patreon this month:
Space station cult hunting adventure a fantasy threefold for Auldwood
and some Halloween bonus 3folds

Sometimes when looking for a cult on a spaceport you accidently come across one of these weirdos. They may seem to be involved in your investigation but really are walking side quests.

Crime gangs are useful as red herrings, a source of goons for a cult without using their own kind and may be aiding a cult for money. There may be a cult within a gang involved in a takeover. Crime like the AI thinks non-profitable crime or trade is suspicious and that cults are dangerous. But some cults have resources. Criminal organisations often have their own AI recruited from outer system rejects. Some of these AI are malicious, corrupt or spies running the gang as a Psy op for the inners. 


d12 Distracting Spaceport Loners & Trouble Makers
1 Vaugn Brodsky - A Businessman from Mars Corp likes to kill a few poor people every trip to Midas station before leaving.  
2 Tanya Galzorig - Bank of Venus delegate part of a secret cannibalism club looking to help the club set up on the station under her personal control. Possible links to other real cults or just sad rich edge lords
3 Byron Corben - Suicide bomber blames inner system overlords for family colony being seized by Mars Bank debt police. Looking for a good spot or moment to explode 
4 Emil Velderman - Criminal arms dealer here to sell guns to outer system colonists, has goons and concealed weapons   
5 Arla Maivia - Professional boxer here for some illegal fight for the mob and paranoid from the booster drugs that a rival gang want to kill her. Easily provoked into her potentially killing fight moves
6 Peta Mills - Looking for drugs and asking around all the wrong places looking to party. Peta might be taken advantage of by a cult or a syndicate (as an expendable or a decoy)
7 Monica Perez - Courier and data smuggler with packages and data wary of being followed
8 Tazz Clancy - homeless spaceport beggar, trying to get a job and avoiding station officials. Might try and join a cult for accommodation or work
9 Orla Ceres - a grifter who has learned how to scam financial time delays with a partner in Mars stock exchange. Has a scam to trigger AI to start selling slightly too early and profit. Banking orgs will definitely will want her sent to a re-education colony  
10 Lars Hendrix - has a behaviour modification chip to prevent violence. A crime syndicate deactivated it for money and gave him a job. Mostly he engages in beatings for ppl who owe the syndicate money and minor acts of sabotage. If he thinks the gig is up will resort to violence or flee through busy public areas
11 Electra Tycho - punk rocker preaching anti-system rhetoric and seems to be recruiting for colonies of discontent punks. She a vegetarian pacifist but might be noticed by cult-hunting AI or authorities. She might be interested in getting some punks to do a crime for cash to fund a colony made of scrap and DIY
12 Dr Norbert Prim - this terrorist doctor has been hacking clone labs and hospitals to replace grown or printed clones to all be copies of him instead. At a future date hi AI ally will contact the clone and encourage them to repeat the process. Prim clones have tried to infiltrate colony programs, public reproduction clinics and even private facilities. Prin can alter his face and surface DNA with a living cloned full-body mask. He and his AI "Narcissus" believe he will dominate the human genome eventually. If you jump to the future in-game he could reappear or have own colony or planet

d12 Crime Syndicates
Major criminal orgs with own AI, enforcers, several levels of leaders
1 Mercury Syndicate - siphoned resources on mercury and expanded to quiet colonies in belt and kaiper belt quietly. Prefer nobody know they exist

2 Venus Syndicate - thrill-seeking bored rich with fingers everywhere using Venus coin currency. Linked to lots of corruption and will try to get people to join the syndicate before killing them

3 Marian Syndicate - operates on fringes of Marian currency and corporate influence. Has many legitimate fronts and sleeper agents. Ruthless and will silence own people if they get caught

4 Belter Free Market - practice barter and avoid main currencies, started as a belter rights group now a smuggling enterprise that will get you any goods and will kill any leaks. Operate lots of black markets for stolen and criminal goods

5 Free Mars - a separatist group that wants Mars to be independent and believes it ought to run the System. Have lots of grassroots support and prefer subtle influence over time. A few hotshots perform some act of terrorism against Terran interests 

6 Kaiper Syndicate - mostly smuggled goods and undercut legitimate trade in the outer system and avoided the law. Use distance to keep affairs secret. Move lots of drugs and firearms

7 Anti Machine League - against AI domination of Inner worlds and provoke people to be suspicious and hateful of AI. Have killed AI and are taken seriously by all AI. Rare and have small cells with active agents mind wiped on operations

8 Jovian Syndicate - a new emerging syndicate in the colonies around Jupiter but also involved in piracy in the belt and around Jupiter. They have gained commoners' sympathy with their Jupiter First campaigns and many believe they are a Robin Hood operation against the Inners but its just a scam. They often aid struggling colonies and families for goodwill

9 Saturn Syndicate - early days yet for this new group inspired by Jovian Syndicate. Engaged in lots of smuggling but also showed signs of having lots of willing muscle recruited from the more isolated colonies 

10 Belter Liberation Army - believe the inners are fat cat scum who make life in the belt worse deliberately. Have lots of sympathy and a ready steam of angry agents who hate Mars, Terra and Venus
11 Selenite Syndicate - Luna-based smaller syndicate mostly interested in data crimes and even used to cut corners from legitimate research. Also principal organisation working ID fraud and queue jumping on the colony mission register. Not very violent more impatient with red tape and even idealistic at times about their actions. Increasingly entering the bio crime field

12 The Brotherhood - a sect of killers for hire used by other criminal sects. Highest-paid kills are by agents with memory scrubs and new personalities manufactured. Involved in human traffic also but this seems to be a cover to move assassins. It is believed they are based in one or more asteroid colonies and may in fact be cult fanatics

d12 Criminal Treatment Programs
In currency trading areas cash fines will be common

Roll several of these for past criminal charges from AI Judges
1 Interview by a councillor or law officer scolding you and an hour in a cell watching videos

2 Counselling session with an AI to see what kind of help you need 

3 Day in an intensive reeducation centre for evaluation and intense psychotronic therapy

4 Year of weekly reeducation seminars and therapy

5 Month in a re-education camp listening to propaganda about social responsibility

6 Social Club - made to join a club with other felons serving charity, playing sports and group support counselling with an assigned buddy-surveillance system for a year

7 Chem Therapy - monthly implant, re-evaluated yearly, keeps calm and compliant

8 Implant Therapy - behavioural modification implant for life, especially for violent crime

9 Parole interview weekly for two years after month detention

10 Surveiled - system scrutinises all data, activity and possessions al the time

11 Restraint Collar - basic smart system reports your location, records conversations, warns you and can tranquilise the wearer and call security if breaking any rules set by AI

12 Personal AI Link Implant - provides counselling and advice constantly

d12 Criminal & Cult Relations

Roll a lower dice for more petty crimes

1 Provided thugs for cult a few times for money

2 Loaned money to cult

3 Smuggled goods and people for the cult

4 Dealt in drugs together

5 Mob killed a few troublemakers of cult for money

6 Cult are a major part of behind scenes crime operation

7 Mob kidnap targets for the cult no questions asked

8 Cult and mob shared muscle to defeat another syndicate

9 Mainstream harmless cults or religion in gangs has been exploited by a real cult

10 Gang aware there are some crazies out there who do not care about life or death or profits and best not to ever deal with them. Possibly the boss has a blood feud with a cult

11 A major faction is cultists and working to take over soon
12 Mob bosses under cult influence directly 

d12 Major Crimes for Syndicates

Various serious crimes run by syndicates for profit

1 Data Theft/Tampering - any theft of unauthorised data or altering computer data like ID

2 Currency Exchange Fraud - any unauthorised scam to profit from the bank system

3 Organ legging - mostly in places with poor cloning hospitals

4 Human Smuggling - moving people without records, some are illegal slaves or clones

5 Bio Crimes - involving illegal bio mods, clones or data theft, weapons

6 Arms Crimes - making or selling weapons, arming vehicles 

7 Extortion Rackets - skimming businesses and individuals with threats of harm

8 Violence & Assassination - for-hire business

9 Currency Loans - usually with high interests and the mob becomes your partner for the rest of your life if good

10 Drug Crimes - mostly smuggling everyday inner drugs to the outer system which isn't so serious but also a new generation of tailor-made addictive designer drugs used to make people slaves to syndicates in the outer system

11 Corruption - using bribery, blackmail, drugs or infiltration to aid other criminal interests or gain data. Also election tampering and evading AI scrutiny and finding malcontent AI. Corrupting generation colony ship personnel has been the hot new field for 2 years

12 Piracy - outfitting a ship with weapons and hijacking ships and cargo

d12 Petty Crimes

Roll penalties with d6 on the punishment table

1 Traffic violations - usually disabling the AI or joyride

2 Petty Theft - food or a train ride without a ticket

3 Unauthorised Medication - soft drug possession

4 Threats of Harm or Violence or Assault

5 Violence - resulting in unauthorised contact or damage (punch or fight or riot)

6 Graffiti and Property Damage - mostly juveniles

7 Received Terrorist Propaganda without reporting it

8 Conspiracy to Pervert Data - if stopped before anything actually happened

9 Altering Travel Records or Documents

10 Failure to report a crime

11 Failure to assist or lie to a security officer 

12 Unauthorised Access to low security or private area  

d12 Serious Crimes

Roll penalties with d6+6 on the punishment table

1 Murder - deliberate and intentional intent to kill or attempted

2 Cause Fatality - accidental killing of another person even through carelessness

3 Unauthorised Weapon Possession or Discharge - considered intent to cause harm

4 Possession of Narcotics - addictive drugs that mobs use to enslave people

5 Unauthorised Vehichle or Equipment Operation - treated as a potential cause of fatality

6 Unauthorised tampering with AI Core or destruction of AI - every AI you meet remember
7 Unauthorised Cloning, Biomods or Cyborging

8 Major Theft of goods or Data Theft or Tampering

9 Being a member of an unauthorised organisation or enterprise - like a syndicate or cult
10 Lie in a Computer Justice Tribunal
11 Unauthorised Access to high-security area or data  

12 Harm or threaten security personnel performing duties