NP~ The Nonsense Product: The Merry Company of Jolly Degenerates (info/feedback)

THE NONSENSE PRODUCT
aka
T h e M e r r y C o m p a n y o f J o l l y D e g e n e r a t e s

INTRODUCTION

"And then one day on Terre Haute, more nonsense than usual happened..."

Sirius is the home of hundreds of different large criminal elements, but none stand out more than the so called Liberty Rogues. While most groups will readily name themselves after their cause, the Rogues are unique in the sense that there exists no such faction as the Liberty Rogues.
It is said that over the hundreds of years the term Rogue began to take root as a form of derogatory meaning. While other criminal groups within Liberty could be identified and classified to fall under categories of the Xenos for anti-foreigner extremists, or the ex-Ageira renegades known as Lane Hackers - the term Rogue was coined for criminals without a sense of purpose or motivating drive (or excuse) for their life of crime.
It is impossible to pinpoint when did the populace now known as the Liberty Rogues begin to use this name within their own ranks, but the more educated guesses seemed to point at the derogatory term being used ironically and sticking over time.

Rogues are easily the largest criminal ''group'' in Sirius due to this rather flawed classification and their presence extends far beyond the borders of Liberty, albeit in other houses their kind are more readily classified as independent pirates and smugglers, but Liberty is and still remains their most concentrated region due to the chance for profit and the relative ease of survival.

The Rogues in practice consist of multiple layers and connections of what was iconically described as a boiling pot of chaos- mobs of both large and small variety as well as a backbone of more influential individuals and groups to the run of the mill thugs, gamblers, smugglers, druggies and other types of citizen the grand house of Liberty would often not talk about.

The Nonsense Product is a collection of the later.

DEMOGRAPHICS AND RECRUITMENT

"An army of illiterate, misguided youngsters and Liberty was simply a tool to filter out the more unfortunate ones..."

There are many notable Rogues out there, usually belonging to well-established upper caste of the boiling pot, but surprisingly enough in the sense of overall population, the Rogues are very young in terms of average age. While the numbers are impossible to pinpoint, it is speculated that 90% of the so called Liberty Rogues are found planetside with the largest concentrations located on impoverished settlements with the most notable one being Planet Houston in the Texas system, with other sources being the poorer cities of Planet Manhattan and the industrial world of Planet Pittsburgh.
The overall non-planetside population is said to renew itself by escapees during attacks on prison convoys on their way to the Prison Station Sugarland. These ''liberated'' individuals (those that survive the assault) are then forced into servitude to whichever group was responsible for their recovery and will remain in their debt until repaid, dead, or until they adopted by a more powerful group within the Rogues.
There are also talks of special individuals known as Fultons on prison stations, who are powerful enough to organize willing prisoners to be present on a transport during one of these attacks.

Other sources of new rogues are, of course, elements of the lawful population and even police or military personnel that turn renegade. Due to the skills employed by the everyday life of the average Liberty Rogue, laid off security pilots and convoy escorts are considered as ''high risk'' and have a high chance for defection.

The amount of Rogues in any given area in terms of ships is severely limited by the amount of ships that can be obtained, repaired and obtained by grounded rogues. This makes the Rogues one of the few criminal groups that highly favor larger multi-crew ships due to this abundance of eager hands. Combat transports are often overfilled with members wishing to be a part of a successful raid and for the distribution of the ill-gotten gains. This same choice is also why mortality rate within the Rogues is so high as any loss in combat yields tens of deaths.

The age demographic is most possibly one of the most interesting aspects of the Rogues. Apart from the space-fairing population being predominantly male, the average age of a Liberty Rogue found in the field is teens to early twenties. Brash choices, the eagerness to prove oneself is also the reason why the mortality rate is so high.

The types of rogue activities and hierarchy within the populace will be elaborated on further in its own segment.

TECHNOLOGY AND SHIPS

[img float=right]https://i.imgur.com/kwbRbqT.png?1[/img]"An abomination of an outright perverse and grotesque elegance, that is what the Z Line is..."

The technology used by the Liberty Rogues is as varied and as damaged as their individual members. There are enough reports of rogue ships engaged by local authorities being lost due to internal malfunctions or, in the exact opposite case, where the ships were equipped well enough to take out well-trained pilots belonging to high class groups.
The Z-Line is the signature design for the Rogues, but in essence - they all were at some point ships of different designs. While the Rogues do not discriminate when it comes to potential extortion targets, scrap and recovered ships are just as valuable as whatever they were hauling at the time.
Each Rogue installation has a larger or smaller version of the so called Junk Pit, a literal junkyard where recovered ships of all kinds are dumped and either retrofitted or disassembled for parts. Rogue technology tends to be crude due to the lack of high quality parts being recovered from the field. At the same time, however, rogue ships tend to be built much thicker and bulkier due to their frequent operation in asteroid fields, where even decent shields will not prevent the occasional high-speed impact.
The survival of Rogue pilots comes down to their own individual implementations and upgrades and as such - the overall ''progression'' of rogue technology is the literal recovery and improvement of already better-than-average ships. Almost each ship that is found in the Junk Pit that can be classified as a Z tech is in higher demand than much less damaged civilian ships, because there is a large chance that these ships have already been tinkered with and kitted with improvements. The only risk that comes with this choice is figuring out if these improvements were the cause of the ship being in the Junk Pit in the first place.
The very few exceptions where Rogue technology is purpose-built and researched is usually with the help of allied groups- for example the Tartarus pulse cannon. However, this rare technology is often dependent on parts that are not found in Liberty and the upkeep of such a device can easily bankrupt even an experienced Rogue.
By far the most expensive and complex piece of Z-Line technology is the infamous Barghest ultraheavy bomber, however it is hard to find newly made models.
Most active Barghest bombers found in space have been rebuilt a few dozen times and the only systems that are kept repaired and functional apart (mostly) the life support, are the weapons. These ships are highly valuable due to their capability to incapacitate piracy targets and often enough they are straight up bought out by the more wealthy rogue groups before any remains enter the Junk Pit.
Otherwise all ships and equipment within the Rogues tend to fluctuate in both quality and levels of advancement. Production of new items is best described as an ever flowing conveyor line of sub par constructions, often enough staffed by forced labor and which are intended to be adjusted and refined by the end user themselves. Again, uniquely to Rogue ''culture'' old recovered ships are much more valuable than recently produced ones due to these reasons. This results in every space-fairing Rogue to be fully responsible of their own life and helps the sorting process, where scrapped and lost ships are brought in so that they are given a second chance to be obtained by more proficient pilots and due to the sizable difference between potentials and available ships - the line to these ships is long. Advanced technology in terms of cloaking devices and jump drives are readily found within the Rogues, however apart from the more wealthy groups that are capable of communicating with more technologically advanced allies and have the funds to import and maintain them, for the rest of the rogues these items are usually the results of salvage operations on navy ships and proven to be highly unreliable and almost impossible to fix if damaged.

The Nonsense Production focuses on the caste of Rogues that have access to the newly produced or ill-equipped ships of different types and has no intrinsic restriction on ship class.

HIERARCHY AND CASTE SYSTEM

[img float=right]https://i.imgur.com/f353emC.png?1[/img]"Feudalism in space, by all accounts, should not be possible. And yet here we are.."
Being a boiling pot of various individuals and groups, the Liberty Rogues are not commonly viewed as having any strict hierarchy or caste system. However an educated eye might notice that segregation in terms of power is still very much present and can be mostly sorted into three separate levels of politics.

Lower Caste

Almost all space-fairing rogues are fit into this caste and are almost strictly limited by their own luck, length of survival as well as personal wealth. As mentioned before, this also includes ''new'' rogues that are still in debt to one group or another for their liberation for law institutions such as Sugarland. This caste is solely dependent on the services of their own Rogue installations when it comes to gear and ships and are the largest portion of costumers for the Junk Pits. The lower caste is almost anarchic in its structure and more desperate individuals will not be above preying on weaker individuals in an attempt to survive.
Lower rank rogue pilots use their ships as their own living quarters, often not having the funds to rent rooms on rogue-operated installations or freeports. As expected, the lower caste rogues have no say or influence when it comes to rogue bases, trade or diplomatic relations to allies. Territorial control and division is a very touchy subject as the risk for any attempts at attacking civilian traffic increases the closer one gets to the core systems. As such low-rank and ill-equipped Rogues are often forced out from safer hunting zones at the borderworlds and end up operating closer towards the New York system, where they are at risk of encountering capital ship patrols and more experienced security firms, not to mention the Bounty Hunters that are well aware of the lack of skill discrimination by the Liberty Bounty Board and will prefer these easier targets.
The lower caste is also responsible for a large part of supply requisition, as their recovered goods during successful raids supplement a large part of all fuel and commodity related reserves for local rogue bases that are otherwise dependent on trade to remain functional. This allows the rookie rogues to potentially obtain the necessary power and funds to advance up the social ladder.
With territory and piracy grounds being a stressful topic for rookie Rogues, the ''lower caste'' are usually described as the ones with the most xenophobic tendencies to any other unlawful groups, sometimes even allies. These rogues will always see anyone that is not them as competition and will try to get rid of them one way or another.
The "Nonsense Production" is a part of this lower caste of Rogues.

Middle Caste

What charitably be described as the middle layer within the Liberty Rogues consists of individuals and groups (more of the later) that are directly responsible for trade, supply as well as all related tasks that are connected to keep their space installations up and running. When it comes to the overall Rogue hierarchy, this so called merchant-caste is relatively much more organized and are many more times influential in the grand scheme of things than the average grunt. It should be noted that the difference between a well established wing of drug haulers, supply runners and other dedicated ''logistics'' parties are still miles apart from smaller groups or individuals that are often found around the low-ranked rogues, hoping to scoop up any amount of scrap or cargo that the grunts cannot hope to carry in their smaller ships. Equipment and cargo peddlers as well as repair shops are also part of this caste.
But even so a full load of Oxygen or medical supplies intercepted from a Cryer transport will fetch a very good price from local Rogue bases and as such even the lowliest rogue merchant will remain within the middle of the pecking order and will often receive appropriate deals and trade from local vendors in exchange for specific goods. The middle caste of Rogues are also much more well established with diplomatic allies due to what can be best described as a trade and smuggling network and as such are often seen as a certain type of diplomat whose silver tongue may end up with certain Rogue bases receiving better quality goods.
The lower ranked merchants are best described as junk hunters and are an essential part of the ever present Junk Pits, keeping them well supplied with the best salvage they can find or off of a Junker who has beaten them to the wreck first.
Unlike the lower rank rogues, the middle caste are the Rogues that are trying to remain as neutral as possible to all possible parties and are the ones often seen trying to establish trade deals with the Corsair empire and other unlikely subjects, however being Rogues their goals and aims are almost always self-serving and short term profit will take priority over any long term damage. Diplomatic or otherwise.

Highbrows

While the lowest of the low Rogues worry about their survival and the middle caste are interested in filling their virtual pockets with credits and keep things afloat, the members of the highest caste of Rogues are both wealthy and well-established enough to have the free time and the intelligence to try and keep all of this mess from falling apart. These individuals are relatively few when compared to the size of the demographic, but their influence is the felt the most. The ones operating out in the field often fly ships that are equipped well enough to tango with any military pilot or are flown by aces that often enough have bounty numbers longer than the lines of women outside their quarters. The rogues in this demographic are often the ones that are capable of imposing some sort of control over certain sites and organize larger scale organizations sheerly by relying on their own popularity and street credit and will most often be followed by lower caste rogues in the simple hope of being able to obtain the scraps from the food table. Groups of these higher caste of Rogues tend to often claim to ''own'' or ''represent'' Rogue installations, but even their grip on the chaotic life and self-governing state of flux that are the Liberty Rogues is very loose, especially when the largest chunk of your station's populace are all out for themselves and the other half neither directly interact with you nor /knowcare of your existence.

Crimeboss/Warlord

Within these three main sections of Roguedom lie one or two individuals who can truly be called this name. While one might refer to them as leaders or bosses (as the name might imply), the truth of the matter is that their existence does not directly impact or is relevant or even noticed by most of the rogue population. The melting pot that are the Liberty Rogues bubbles and boils, but these few individuals are the ones that can stir the pot around, and that is about it. No direct chain of command can ever hope to organize something so chaotically and finely tuned as the Rogues, but it is the job of these mostly unseen individuals to keep things running and giving subtle nudges here and there to encourage some sort of result. The upper echelon of the rogue hierarchy known as the Warlord is located on every rogue installation, but it is always hard to know their exact numbers or their agendas and goals. Warbosses come and go and their sudden disappearance and re-appearance does not impact or even is noticed by most of the rogues and their presence is mostly seen by allied factions as the centerpiece of conducting diplomatic and business related talks. One might ask - how many ''heads'' do the Rogues have? A rogue may reply - who cares?

FACTION INFORMATION AND GOALS

"The average rogue will come about and steal everything that is not nailed down. Then they will return with bolt cutters and powertools to grab everything that IS bolted down, then blow up whatever it was attached to in the first place."

Faction Name: The Nonsense Product
Faction Ingame Tag: NP~
Faction ID: Liberty Rogues ID
Faction IFF: Liberty Rogues IFF/ Liberty Rogue Guard
Faction Specialization: Group Raids, Piracy, Making People Sad
Faction Difficulty: Newbie-Friendly

The goal of our faction known as the "Nonsense Product" is to provide Discovery community members with a more realistic portrayal of the Liberty Rogue player faction. This is to say - total anarchy, chaos and drug/alcohol-fueled retardation. Unlike previous factions of both official and non-official nature, the NP~ is a representation of the above mentioned ''lower caste'' of Liberty Rogues and the characters we play are the cream of the crop - the most bizarre, the most insane, the most drugged up and zealous of that bunch. Which is saying something.

Our faction is, without a doubt, PVP-Focused, but with a twist that we strive to make PVP fun for players that aren't proficient with the concept. We belief firmly that activity breeds activity and logging large groups of drunk pirates is just what the server needs in order to organize counter play to said groups. That being said, the RP potential within the faction might be more free than other player groups due to our policy for individual character progression.

The faction has certain differences when compared to the average PVP-centric group on Discovery and the most notable ones are below:

Ranking System:

The NP~ do not have a ranking structure. This stems from the fact that we all are playing the lowest of the low ranked rogues. Over time the player themselves will develop a vague understanding of what their place in the pecking order is just by how they perform ingame and what they are capable of (or rather, what can they be bothered to be capable of). The closest thing we have to ranks is the Title system, which is elaborated below.

Ship Restrictions and Tech Cells:

There are none. Our unique position means that we are capable of utilizing any ship we want and any cell we want. Want outcast guns on your rogue Sabre? You found them in a pit. You want to fly a destroyer? Go for it, it must be one of those half-rusted old scrap-heaps. Want to ram yourself with what is the essentially most valuable rogue ship in the lore? Well, surely it is not a ''new'' Barghest or even much of a Barghest at all. Tech cells are the same story and members are invited to experiment with odd combinations and even outright useless one. Did some grunts manage to hijack a LABC and are trying to ram it into a fight while barely knowing how to operate it, giving it a 10% core? Go for it. If your ID can fly it, go for it and make yourself and the rest of us smile, you insane bastard.

Focus on Voice Communication and Raids:

Rogues are bad at fighting. Fly in a pack at all times. Use Discord Voice for coordination and best fun value. Flying alone is not prohibited, but also not quite recommended either as the fun aspect is lacking that way.

Individual Roleplay and Diplomacy:

Here in NP~ you can make your character as involved in the faction's roleplay as you want. There are no restrictions of who you deal with personally and what danger it poses to the rest of the faction, because that is exactly what would happen to a Rogue group if they suddenly became kill on sight for Junkers, because you decided to shoot up a Congress member outside of Rochester because they looked at you funny. Or another NP~ for that matter. Individual character roleplay and diplomacy is encouraged and expected.

Fun:

You join this faction to have fun. You have no obligations than the few that were mentioned.