Snitches, Informants, Stool Pigeons...

[Drake]

I had the idea recently to make a new character, or perhaps several new characters (operating in different parts of Sirius) who are RP'd as snitches or informants for the Blue Lotus Syndicate. They'd likely be in small ships, nothing to draw much attention to themselves... They'd fly around doing their little thing, but what they'd really be doing is transmitting information to the BLS smugglers, such as where the cops are camping, anything interesting heard in system chat, etc. They'd basically be locals, maybe small time freighters, maybe small time escorts, maybe even local police, who'd been bribed (or possibly blackmailed) by the Syndicate. They wouldn't group with the BLS and they wouldn't help in battle or anything else direct and obvious. And if they actually got caught by the authorities, they would go bye-bye (though they might be replaced in a month or two).

So would this even be legal? Could a lawful (or at least not-unlawful) character RP'd as an informant funnel information to an unlawful faction?

And what about if, through no campaigning of his/her own, the unassuming little snitch got recruited (ICly) by another faction, such as the local police or military?

[Jwnantze]

I thought about doing this recently. Setting up a 'Spy' service, join different factions on different sides of the war, take screenies, copy stuff from there message dumps, Etc.... and then sending it to opposing factions for a price..no idea if it's 'legal' or not...just sounded like a lot of fun and RP.:);)

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There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for. -Elizabeth Elliott

[Jinx]

sounds plausible - leaves the question how you ll ID them - or mark them somewhat. it sounds more professional than civilian informants used by the order.

its hard to keep them undercover though; unless you change their names often ( or create them newly ) - in a way, its nothing else than using the "who - is - online - list" in a roleplay way, with a few more features.

i d see them as small cooperation workers, like: hawk pilot tagged and IDed as interspace for example. a trader in a civilian fighter will never be too suspicious to anyone. and its legal and lawful.

if they are below lvl 40, maybe you can announce them on the forum or so - so they are viewed as fully roleplayed ( and a valid target ) - or you have to give them enough cash to raise their level to at least 31... on the other hand, anyone in a half decent fighter is 30+ anyway....

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC

[Equinox]

I think for the first part it would be ok, if you just hung about places relaying what you've heard or where the lawfuls are, but i think the last bit might be a big no no, joining a faction as a spy while fun to RP might get you into alot of trouble, flames and the like.

But if you RPed it right it might work.

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[Fellow Hoodlum]

Yeah, the bit about joining other factions is the only issue, we have had the odd 'spy' scandal in the past.
Best stay away from that one please. The rest could be RPed with any single character designed to fit in
to certain parts of Sirius. Be detectives around looking for you now of course ...

Hoodlum

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Some say he is a proud member of: "The most paranoid group of people in the Community."

[Drake]

I think for the first part it would be ok, if you just hung about places relaying what you've heard or where the lawfuls are, but i think the last bit might be a big no no, joining a faction as a spy while fun to RP might get you into alot of trouble, flames and the like.

But if you RPed it right it might work.

Yeah, that was my thought... Which is why they certainly wouldn't try to get recruited.

@Jinx, They wouldn't be tagged or identifiable in any way as an informant... That would defeat the purpose. Getting caught I don't think would be much of a problem (unless, perhaps, there was metagaming involved...). Definitely not going to announce them on the forums... That's just ASKING for metagaming. They wouldn't be listed in my sig and wouldn't have much of a presence on the Discovery forums (most communications with BLS would be done in-game or on the BLS private forum, and any messages on the Disco forums would be encrypted and done under an alias).

[Jinx]

yea - i didn t get the whole drift of it - i thought of only "invisible" eyes stationed everywhere - but not active spies. so - thought of the rather passive version of a spy. - but isn t what you want something like that "von Clausen" guy in the SP? - wasn t he employed in the rheinland military but actually have very tight bonds to the bundshuh?

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC

[Unseelie]

actually...I would be glad to have one in my faction.
maybe we could use it to arrange RP battles
(not every rp battle has to be fair)

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[Denelo]

I've been playing a character like that (Random guy, but turns out to be an informant) for a while, actually... not that I'm going to say who it is. That would defeat the purpose.

[Zapp]

I like the ID; recently I was ambushed by the RM right after coming through a JH, so knowing where they were and what they were doing might work. Though idling around NB or NT or anywhere might be considered "suspicious" behavior, I would definitely love to have a few spies. Supposedly, as a smuggler, I should have an extensive network of informants already set up, ready to bribe certain officials to ensure that my hold isn't scanned.

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