Pre-Game Connections-Background

Hi there.

My character (J. E. E. Montgomery) is an army type professional soldier.
He served in a peacekeeping function, then was garrisoned on an urban plant and finally got involveld in a nasty guerilly warfare on a third term.

For connections, I see the possibility of military service (even of different sides), interaction with civilian needs or even meetings by chance while travelling or in free time.

Greetings all!

Chaala Angushlii thinks of herself as a career Scout, though officially she's been on detached duty for the last decade since she returned to base a few months late and without her ship or crew. During that time she's been doing a lot of work on the ground attached to Navy Intelligence and an earlier stint with Ironhand. She did intelligence work during the war.

During her involuntary walkabout she could have met just about anyone as she worked her way across the Marches back to her base. More recently she could have met anyone involved in covert or overt military action or logistics for the war.

Hi all.

Virel Kilmire started out as an idealistic diplomat wanting to bring cultures together, but he was quickly corrupted by the system and fell into the dark arts of diplomacy, his first few terms involved interrogation and forgery. Therefore, I could easily see him having met someone involved with Navy Intelligence, though this part of his career he would sooner forget than remember.

It is also possible that he grew up with any of the other characters, who would now find Virel completely changed from his youth.

Chaala is a bit old to have grown up with Virel, but crossing over in intelligence works. And if it's a part of Virel's life where he wasn't happy, maybe Chaala recognized that, while he was a competent asset, he was in a bad place. Maybe she saw burnout or a risk of being turned because he was unhappy, but she took him into her team and made things more pleasant until she could get him reassigned to something more to his liking.

I guess, my character would profit from the military options Chaala offers; different perspectives, different processes

It was around 15–20 years ago when Virel was introduced to the darker arts of diplomacy. At the time, he was just starting out in his career and took it for the norm. Perhaps he and Chaala crossed paths then, and kept in touch over the years. Chaala may have heard about Virel’s dismissal from the service and suggested this direction. As for the dismissal, some action had gone very south, and the Imperium needed a fall guy. Given what Virel had been up to previously, they had enough dirt on him to know they could throw him under the bus and he wouldn’t be able to complain.

If they had known each other this long Chaala would have seen how Jirel got jaded over the years and come to regret the decisions of the past.

15-20 years ago, Chaala was still with the Scouts formally and did courier duty, so definitely could have worked with a "diplomatic" mission. Crossing paths again later in life they can both see how the other's life had changed (Chaala attached to Naval Intelligence and not operating with nearly the looseness of the Scout Survey teams).

@Dominic Looks like Montgomery is an Army vet with front line experience in the FFW. Could have met while Chaala was doing behind the lines work. Could be she pulled in some intel that saved his unit or that his unit extracted her from a tough spot.

This is all very good in my humble view.
🧭 CURRENT CONNECTION SUMMARY

Chaala Angushlii (Scout / Naval Intelligence)
• Served with Navy Intelligence and previously with Ironhand.
• Crossed paths with Virel during a diplomatic/intel mission 15–20 years ago; recognized his burnout and helped quietly redirect his assignment.
• Likely intersected with Montgomery during FFW operations — either saving his unit with intel or being extracted by it.
• Shares intelligence-operations history with Bohdie, possibly assisting in cover transitions or exfil support during one of his deep-cover missions.

Virel Kilmire (Diplomat / Ex-Intel)
• Former interrogator/forger who saw the darker side of diplomacy; met Chaala early in his career through Navy Intel/Scout ties.
• Was scapegoated after an operation collapsed; Chaala likely heard first-hand.
• Shares unspoken professional similarities with Bohdie, recognizing another veteran of covert identities and bureaucratic betrayal.

J.E.E. Montgomery (Army Veteran)
• Frontline soldier with peacekeeping, garrison, and guerilla combat experience.
• Wartime connection with Chaala from the Fifth Frontier War.
• Shared operational footprint with Bohdie during FFW — possible recon support, extraction, or overlapping battlespace.
• Indirectly aware of Virel’s fall from service via rumor networks.

Takanamè "Bohdie" Hokuanokada (Marine-Agent / Ex-Scout)
• Darrian–Human Marine who became a deep-cover Intelligence Agent for 12 years.
• Likely collaborated with Chaala during intel operations, exfil planning, or debrief cycles.
• Shares combat-space and mutual respect with Montgomery from the FFW.
• Recognizes Virel as someone who survived the same bureaucratic machinery that eventually pushed Bohdie out.
• Drifted aimlessly after returning home, until an Ironhand recruitment flyer (found by a friend) gave him the push to sign on.

Group Ties:
• All four characters share ties to Imperial military or intelligence structures (Scouts, Navy Intel, Army, Marines, Ironhand).
• All have been shaped by the Frontier Wars and covert operations.
• Each has lived through institutional betrayal, burnout, or the aftermath of deep service.
• Their shared history creates a natural, believable bond as the Marinagua crew forms.

I am only conjecturing based on what is written and any players can make a change to this.

Dr. Trah Noh would have met "Hrut Stepansava Comescu" in the Vargr extents pre-5th FFW not knowing Bohide's real identity. They met trough using the same contacts for mundane items (supplies, life support). Dr. Trah Noh research indirectly benefited from efforts from Virel to enable the field work in the Vargr extents.

Dr. Shone crossed paths with J.E.E. Montgomery as Monty led the Army unit that extracted Dr. Shone and others from Sword World captivity. Angushlii's intel team worked the analyst that located the Sword world prison location, who was inside. She developed the contacts in and around the area of the Prison that confirmed the the prison location and then internal contacts that provided on the ground intelligence enabling Monty's Unit to conduct the rescue. Dr. Shone was one of many individual persons of interest, but no the main person. That individual's identity is only known to a select few.....including Angushlii and Monty. Some say it was the grandson of Duchess of Mora is Delphine Adorania Muudashir, but no one knows for sure.

Wilbur’s Career in "Turns"
- Turn -6 (Age 18): Marine Academy on Efate.
- Turn -5 / -4: Active Marine service, major action at Fornol during -4.
- Turn -3: Merchant Navy, lots of travel.
- Turn -2 / -1: Scout Service, finally achieves his dream.

Possible Crossings from my point of view, but always ready to change if someone as another idea.
- Dominic: Possible overlap in Turn -6 (Marine Academy).
- Virel: Shared experience in Turn -5 (Marine service)
- Bohdie: Likely overlap during Turn -4. I have a difficult assault on a stronghold, it could be the opportunity to deliver people stucked in a failed assault.
- Gansay: Could meet in Turn -3 (Merchant Navy travels).
- Chaala: Crossroads in Turn -2 (Scout Courier overlap).
- Dr Victor: Interaction in Turn -1 (Scout Service, maybe medical help)

I think it could be a very good opportunity indeed. I’m in Scout Deep Cover, so we’ve got stories in common — plenty of overlap between infiltration and field intelligence. That gives us a lot of shared ground to build on.

With eights years in the Scouts plenty of opportunities to meet up with Ruiha, plus there's the crew that she convinced to take her off-world.

J.E.E.M. is connected to Chaala by history. Especially with the connection throughthe Sword World captivity situation, meeting the second time, is a nice link to Dr. Shone, if you like. It's fitting to my planned skills, too.

And through a prank gone wrong I made a rival in the Army Academy; perhaps for Wilbur this rival is a mutual acquaintance?

In my fight with the rebels, I made an enemy, preferable a NPC. But anyone interested to link through this person?

I like the connection with J.E.E.M with him being one of the important soldiers that led the rescue operation. The next skill I will be looking for is vacc suit. Does anyone have any idea how Dr. Shone had met you in your career and learned to use vacc suit from you?

As the vacc suit is armor-training, too, JEEM could have helped you with that.

That would be nice. But, you can only get one skill from a connection, right?

@Stalker05 That is correct, both characters get one skill from each connection

• Each connection must be from a different character
• For a total of two skill levels.
• You cannot bring a skill above the level of 3 using this rule nor may you take the Jack-of-All-Trades skill.

If everyone have their skill or skill levels selected? If so lets list them below:

I updated the chart in my post with Chaala's connection and skills from those connections. As Players confer and agree, placed those 2 connections int he table with the skills.

@Bullseyepsa: ensure I capture the connection and skill correctly.

Then I stick to this. ;-)

Dr. Victor Shone is primarily a physician who has also done a lot of scientific research. So, he can offer Science (Biology, Xenology, Chemistry). He also has Survival and Electronics (Sensors, Computers, Remote ops) but the most important is Medic. Dr. Shone already has got Gun combat after meeting J.E.E.M. He needs the vacc suit skill to complete his required skills. So, who wants to have connection with Dr. Shone?

I would happy happy to have a connexion with Chaala, mostly in the penultiem year and I would to get investigation.

J.E.E We can hve meet. If you want we could have met at the Formol battle battle 4 tuens ago ?
I have Tactics, and I would like to get explosive.

As for Dr Victor may be some help during the last turn, exiting the mission was not that easy. And having Medic would be great.

GM- comment: but would that take your Tactics skill above the level 3? Admin is good.

GM Comment: I think you are in discussion on the connection with two of the three potential other players characters for two of three potential skills from those proposed connections, right? Just making sure I understand.

GM Comment: Don't forget to update the Connections Table in the post above

Frankly, I’m not sure anymore. I suggested several possibilities, but unless I missed something, the only person who replied was Chaala.

And I still haven’t answered J.E.E.’s question. Yes, I would be happy to share an enemy with you — someone we both crossed paths with in the past. It could have happened during a joint event between our two schools, where we ended up dealing with the consequences of that particularly bad joke.

If that works for you, I’ll add the link in the reference.

No, it's alredy counted in. ;-)

We can't; therefore we write it down here so you can work it in.

Splendid! We'll dwell on that soon, I think. ;-)

If I understand correctly J.E.E.M. connections and gains:
Chaala - Tactics
Dr. Shone - Admin
Check or Hold?

I will work on the table and enabling the players edit rights.

In the meantime @Dominic, can you confirm the above? I edited the table with the data in the table.

Okay, Two character connections down, six to go. Unless I am missing something?

Check

I’m looking either Bribery-1 or Language, Vargr-1, via connection to Dr. Trah. I’m open to connecting with either Wilbur, Ruiha, or Virel. First one to reply…

I need a second contact I think it makes sense that Virel would have meet "Bohdie" at some time. So I would be happy to trade skills. Haven't thought of what skills I want but I will post later once I have thought about it.

Sounds good. So after much mental debate with during a team meeting with myself (if you see me talking to myself, just walk on by… I’m just having a team meeting with the voices in my head. lol), I think that Broker-1 makes the most sense for the connection with Dr. Trah. And Bribery-1 makes the most sense for the connection with Virel.

JUSTIFICATION:

A) Dr. Trah, working in the Extents, would be using Bohdie’s alter-ego, Hrut Comescu, for various grey-legality items which would require him to broker various deals on freight, etc. this also further enhances Hrut’s reputation and could foster a sense of trust by Dr. Trah in Hrut/Bohdie.

B) Connecting with Virel, most likely also as Hrut Comescu, allows an opportunity to use the shadier side of Virel’s past and also builds a level of trust between the two.

GM Comment: I updated the Player & Gm Sheet 'Connections Table' with the connections data from your post.

Please verify and validate the information on that sheet and let me know if it is correct. Thanks!

Dr. Shone can give Wilbur medic skill by training him how to handle field injuries. Maybe he also met Bohdie before and learned the use of vacc suit?

Continued from Pakcratt66 - GM Correction to table and not the data in the table



Here’s the table after my update as well.

---

Justification

- Chaala: Working with Chaala required a lot of computer interaction as part of the intel assignment they were both part of.
- Bohdie: The assignment the two of them worked on together got fairly rough and Virel was required to get more physical

Missed it, Yes Dr Shone may have help Wilbur at the end of his last turn. A lot of breaks both physical and Psychological. But nothing permanent, thanks goodness.

GM Comment: Remember,

• characters get one skill from each connection
• Each connection must be from a different character
• For a total of two skill levels.
• You cannot bring a skill above the level of 3 using this rule nor may you take the Jack-of-All-Trades skill.

You have three skills with Investigate-2 and Medic-1.

Please pick either 'Investigate-1 and Medic-1' or 'Investigate-2'

To me it is fine:
Montgomery Investigate-1 (Turn-6), Chaala investigate-2 (Turn -2), Dr Shone Medc-1 (Turn -1). That's what Imeant with Investigate x2, Medic.

But you're right, I should have been more precise. I correct.

I think I have finalized for Dr. Victor Shone. He is getting Gun combat from Montgomery and probably Vacc suit from Bohdie (if its alright for @Packratt66). That will be all for me regarding connections.

GM Comment: That is fine by me.

Current Connections Table is;