Vincenzo (the Suit)� Masseria

[atpollard]

I just realized that this entire 'Section' of the board was here and that I should have posted this character here instead of in the OOC post section of Kafka's game. He is intended to serve as a repository for all of those non-combat skills that most adventurers seem to lack. The ultimate non-(mercenary/pilot/engineer) character.

Vincent (aka. Vincenzo "the Suit"� Masseria)
Age 66. Apparent age 46. Speaks Anglic and Darrian
Career: Belter (1 term), Rogue (12 terms)

3 Strength (roll 7, -4 aging)
8 Dexterity (roll 8)
6 Endurance (roll 3, +3 career)
15 Intelligence (roll 12, +3 career)
15 Education (roll 11, +4 career)
10 Social (roll 10)

Economic Skills (Broker-4, Administration-3, Trader-3, Legal-2)
Interpersonal Skills (Admin, Carousing-2, Liaison-1, Linguistics-1)
Technical Skills (Computer-4)
Vice Skills (Bribery-2, Forgery-2, Gambling-2, Streetwise-2)
Homeworld Skills (Pilot-0*, Gun Cbt-0**, Vacc Suit-0)
* Replaces Computer-0 and Grav Vehicle-0, appropriate to background and allows him to fly his own courier.
** I choose to have the skill in "Single-shot Dueling Pistols", learned on Viland.

Wealth:
Cash = 594,000 Credits (500,000 card; 90,000 on Ship; 4,000 on person)
Assorted Stocks = 9,000,000 Credits
Imperial Bonds (Fifth Frontier War) = 9,000,000 Credits
Zhodani Bearer Bonds = 3,000,000 Credits
Sword World Bearer Bonds = 3,000,000 Credits
Darrian Bearer Bonds = 3,000,000 Credits
Speculative Cargo Goods = 9,850,000 Credits (base value)
* Gems (1 dTons at 1,000,000 credits each) – 1 cargo container [on Courier]
* ATVs (5 vehicles at 30,000 credits each) – 5 cargo containers
* Blades (10 dTons at 10,000 credits each) – 3 cargo containers
* Body Armor (8 dTons at 50,000 credits each) – 2 cargo containers
* Special Alloys (7 dTons at 100,000 credits each) – 2 cargo containers
* Air Raft (5 vehicles at 600,000 credits each) – 3 cargo containers
* Computer Parts (30 dTons at 150,000 credits each) – 8 cargo containers
* [23 cargo containers en route – need 300 dTon secure warehouse]

Character Generation Details are available Here and Here

 

[atpollard]

Biography - The Early Years

Vincenzo Masseria was born in 1046th year of the 3rd Imperium, in the Glisten system (TL F Asteroid Belt) in the Spinward Marches. As a child, he traveled extensively between Glisten, Trin, Mora and Rhylanor with his father and the family business.

[The Masseria family arrived in Viland as part of the labor guilds accompanying the fleet of Admiral Estigarriba (Hiroshi I) and immediately pushed out towards new markets in the Vilani frontier. ‘The Family’ has been involved in commerce in the Spinward Marches since the Rule of Man (2nd Imperium). Ten years after the first scout ship of the Third Imperium reestablished contact with the Darrians, the family was coordinating regular trade runs to take advantage of the huge initial technology transfers. Today, ‘The Family’ is the 5th largest organized crime network in the Spinward Marches, specializing in quasi-legal trade and labor guilds in the Imperium, Darrian, Zhodani and Sword World frontier worlds.]

1060-1063 Vincenzo Masseria - Belter
Vincenzo left home at age 14 to make his fortune as a belter at Glisten. The hard work and primitive conditions of an independent prospector proved to be less glamorous as he had imagined them. Unwilling to crawl home with his tail between his legs, he conspired with some old time belters who felt that they had been burned on their most recent strike payment. The real belters offered their field knowledge and experience, and Vincenzo doctored the computer files on the claim and enlisted the help of a gambling buddy who surveys new claims for the corporations. The strange partnership was able execute a running series of con games in which they used valid new finds to seed lower value asteroids to inflate the bids from the megacorporations that refined them. Everyone made money and 25 percent of the profits were distributed to the widows of belters – which eventually earned the group a ‘Robin Hood’ reputation among the independent belters of the region. By his 18th birthday, Vincenzo Masseria had learned the power of computers and friends, and the profits to be gained by combining the two. He musters out with skills in Carousing, Computer, and Gambling – plus 110,000 credits.

 

[atpollard]

Boigraphy - Economist

1064-1075
Vincenzo Masseria uses his new wealth and insight to attempt to move into legitimate business. He relocates to Viland, is hired by the Makhidkarun megacorporation, attends the Viland Merchant Academy and graduates with honors. This allows him to attend the prestigious Viland University – School of Business where he receives a Ph.D in Economics for his work on “A Computer Model to Predict the Effects of Asymmetrical Warfare on Trade and Commerce”. He was now an expert on how to make money from the rapid changes that occur during a crisis and went to work as a Speculative Trade Broker in the Sales Department of a large Merchant Line run by the ultra conservative Vilani megacorporation. It was here that he started wearing the 500+ credit tailored suits that would eventually become his trademark and earn him the nickname Vincenzo “the Suit” Masseria among organized crime circles.
Unknown to Vincenzo, his adventures as a belter and his family name had marked him. After a 10 year police investigation into organized crime, Vincenzo pleaded guilty to ‘Violations of Imperial Trade Law’, served 4 months at a minimum security prison and had his Broker License indefinitely suspended in the Viland Sector. The public embarrassment ended his megacorporate career and forced him to leave the sector with new skills in Administration and Broker – plus 10,000 credits remaining from his windfall in 1063.
He spent the next two years travelling through the Corridor and Deneb Sectors, trading as opportunities presented themselves and generally making his way back to the Spinward Marches – a little older and wiser. During this time, he used his skills to grow the 10,000 credits into 68,159,000 credits.

 

[atpollard]

Biography - The Family Business

1076-1085 Vincenzo Masseria – Small Merchant Line – Sales Department
Back in the Spinward Marches where the Masseria family name still carried weight, Vincenzo was hired by Gramstaatsbedrif, a struggling merchant line in the Sword Worlds subsector. The volatile Sword Worlds proved a good fit for his skills, and the company prospered under improved labor relations, increased cargo flow through the subsector and a ‘rumor mill’ that would have been the envy of any military intelligence organization. Success came at a cost as Vincenzo was drawn back into the family business and favors needed to be repaid.
In 1080, he located a stable source and began taking Anagistics. With a little help from his friends, he established a quiet ‘back door’ Jump 4 route from Glisten to Pagaton to Walston to Debarre to Darrian which feeds high tech goods to the neglected worlds of the area (at a nice profit) and enables the smuggling of Anagistics into the Imperium and restricted military tech to the Darrians.
Following record profits made during the Fourth Frontier War (1082-1084), a routine internal investigation by the Sword Worlds into the government controlled Gramstaatsbedrif company turned up accounting irregularities that eventually revealed evidence of trafficking in Anagistics.
Vincenzo quietly resigned since neither side wanted to make the news. He left with new skills in Legal and Trader – plus 34,079,500 credits [half the profits from his cargo speculation in 1074 & 1075].

1086-1099 Don Vincenzo – Soto Capo (Underboss)
Vincenzo “the Suit” Masseria became Don Vincenzo, a soto capo in the larger crime organization.
From 1088-1091 he facilitated the transport of Psi Drugs across the Imperial-Zhodani border. In 1090, he was investigated by the Starport Authority for ‘ties to the illegal manufacture and distribution of Psi Drugs’ but the investigation was inconclusive, the evidence was weak, and no charges were filed.
From 1092-1095 he facilitated the sale of ‘surplus military hardware’ from the Fourth Frontier War and the buildup for what would eventually become the Fifth Frontier War. During this period, several suits of BattleDress were quietly sold to a growing mercenary company called the Black Dragons that was making a name for itself in the Imperial-Zhodani border area. The use of the Battledress against rioting civilians by mercs during an infantry raid led to an investigation by Imperial Military Intelligence. Vincenzo was identified as a ‘person of interest’ in the case but there was no evidence linking him to the armor or the event, so no charges were filed. Vincenzo earned new skills in Bribery, Forgery, Liaison Linguistics and Streetwise.

 

[atpollard]

Biography - A New Start

1100-1108 Vincenzo – Free Trader
Around 1100, Vincenzo began handing off the daily operations of the family business to younger and more aggressive prospects and settled into the role of an itinerant troubleshooter for the family. Taking advantage of his need to travel and build a legitimate identity, he began booking passage on independent Free Traders and speculating in cargo. He even passed the test and became certified as a Fourth Officer on a Free Trader.
In 1105, Vincenzo was involved in the smuggling of Cloth Armor and Ammunition to a group of miners protesting the dangerous working conditions and attempting to expel the corporate controlled government they worked under. The ship was intercepted by the Imperial Marines, and the crew was turned over to the local government and tried under military law in the corporate courts. Vincenzo Masseria was convicted of smuggling and sentenced to 9 years in prison (with no parole). He served 3 years when the escalating Fifth Frontier War (1107-1110) and a sector wide guild ordered ‘work slowdown’ affecting the output of all class A Imperial Starports in the Spinward Marches gave the Masseria family the clout to negotiate Vincenzo’s release. Under the terms of the deal, he was released and his criminal record was sealed, but he was banned from the Spinward Marches for the remainder of his 9 year sentence – until 1114.
Vincent (formerly Vincenzo) leaves the Spinward Marches with his body a little tougher and his existing skills a little sharper.

1108-1111 Vincent – Broker
Vincent enters his new life with a new identity and a large debt of ‘favors’ that he owes, but his personal funds intact (being railroaded costs a lot less than a legal ‘dream team’). A quick side trip for some experimental medical treatments and a new 100 dTon Courier lightens Vincent’s purse but improves his chance of success in his new frontier life.

[Computer Implant and Cybernetic Strength (TL 16): Install a small device to serves as a link between the brain and a computer system. Cost = 13 MCr for implant, link and long-range remote terminal. From JTAS 22. Use two Very Light Robot Arms, two Light Robot Arms, two Linear CPUs and one TL 16 Battery to prevent the loss of Strength due to aging. The concept is to graft the CPU and artificial muscles to natural bone and muscle to stop the loss of Strength. The “battery” is actually genetically engineered tissue designed to produce a small current to power the synthetic muscles. The system will function using the human tissue and nerves for control and will provide no ‘super strength’ but simply stop the natural aging process at Strength 3. The cost was calculated as 500 cr for two arms, 1000 cr for 2 legs, 1000 cr for 2 CPUs and 15,000 for the battery; total cost = 17,500. Pseudo-biological components are x8 = 140,000 credits. Experimental cybernetics x10 = 1.4 MCr. Cost for both systems = 14.4 MCr.]

[Modified Type S Courier: With a triple sandcaster turret, revised interior layout and upgraded computer and life support. Cost = 60 MCr at 12 MCr down and 6 MCr per year for 20 years]

Vincent wanders the frontier, engaging in free trade and working as a speculative Broker to pay the bills and build his new identity (while secretly engaging in information brokering and data smuggling to repay his debt to ‘the family’ – a difficult crime to investigate and almost impossible to prove). By 1112, Vincent is square with ‘the family’ and looking to settle down for a while. Reading the news reports from Farpoint and comparing them to the ‘word on the street’, Vincent decides that this cauldron of turmoil at the Zhodani border might hold untapped opportunities for profit.

1112 Current Situation:
Year 1112, Day 270 Vincent arrives at Farpoint, passes customs and completes the paperwork for a Business License as a Broker. Most of Vincent’s skills involve the ability to establish a local network of contacts. Since it is impractical to play out encounters with every NPC in Farpoint, I will assume that his network of friends will be based on his ‘business’ skills (Administration, Broker, Carousing, Liaison, Streetwise, and Trader) functioning at level 0 after 1 day at Farpoint, level 1 after 1 week, level 2 after 1 month and level 3 after 1 year – obviously subject to his actual level in any particular skill. Encounters with Major NPCs will be handled via actual skills and role-playing.

For the last 9 months Vincent has been working with Linguistic Data Crystals to learn to speak Zhodani and Aslan in hopes of gaining access to new markets.

 

[atpollard]

Local Data on Vincent

Since Kafka has helped to bring Vincent's little secret into the open in the bar (nice touch), and several companions have attempted a quick search for who Vincent is, here you go. The local information is immediate common knowledge. The Sector and Multi-Sector data is harder to find out. You all know your backgrounds better than I do, just pick whatever level of detail you think your character has access to. The task data is just a rough suggestion if you havn't a clue, use it or ignore it as you see fit.

Who Vincent is depends on who you ask. There are two basic channels of information available to anyone who wishes to inquire – the Official Channels and the Unofficial Channels. Getting information on Vincent from Local Sources (those located exclusively in this system) is a Simple task (roll 3+, +Admin for Official Channels or +Streetwise for Unofficial Channels)

Local Official Sources (ie. Starport Public Database, Municipal Clerk):
Vincent (aka. Vincenzo Masseria)
Attended Vilani Merchant Academy
Active from 1100 to 1112 as a Free Trader and Freelance Broker in the Spinward Marches and Foreven Sector.
Applied for a local business license as a Broker-1 (approval pending).
[He has a reputation as a strong Administrator, Broker and Trader.]

Local Unofficial Sources (ie. bars, thugs):
Vincent (aka. Vincenzo Masseria)
Rumored to be a Smuggler or a Bureaucratic Spy posing as a Free Trader (which depends on who you ask)
[He has a reputation for Administrator and Computer skills.]

 

[atpollard]

Sector Data on Vincent

Getting information on Vincent from Sector-wide Sources (those having access to other systems) is a Routine task (roll 7+, +Admin for Official Channels or +Streetwise for Unofficial Channels)

Sector Official Sources (ie. Sector Navy/Marines/Police/Government):
Vincent (aka. Vincenzo Masseria)
Graduated Vilani Merchant Academy and Vilani University School of Business
Employed from 1076 to 1085 in the Sales Department of Gramstaatsbedrif (small line) in the Sword Worlds subsector.
Active from 1100 to 1112 as a Free Trader and Freelance Broker in the Spinward Marches and Foreven Sector. In 1104 he became certified as a Fourth Officer on a Free Trader.
Applied for a local business license as a Broker-1 (approval pending).
[He has a reputation for being strong in Administration/Broker/Trader and competent in Legal.]

Sector Unofficial Sources (ie. organized crime, pirates, smugglers):
Vincent (aka. Vincenzo “the Suit” Masseria)
Member of the Masseria crime family (Spinward Marches).
Arrested for Smuggling and served 3 years in an Imperial Prison.
[Organizes complex operations involving Administration, Computer, Bribery and Forgery skills. Has a reputation for Carousing and Gambling between jobs.]

 

[atpollard]

Imperial Data on Vincent

Getting information on Vincent from Multi-Sector Sources (those having access to other sectors) is a Difficult task (roll 11+, +Admin for Official Channels or +Streetwise for Unofficial Channels)

Imperial Official Sources (ie. Imperial Navy/Marines/SPA):
Vincent (aka. Vincenzo Masseria)
1067 Graduated from Vilani Merchant Academy with Honors
1071 Graduated from Vilani University School of Business (PhD in Economics)
Employed from 1064 to 1073 by Makhidkarun (megacorporation) in the Viland sector. In 1074, a 10 year investigation into organized crime led to a conviction for ‘Violations of Imperial Trade Law’, 4 months at a minimum security prison and his Broker License indefinitely suspended in the Viland Sector.
Employed from 1076 to 1085 in the Sales Department of Gramstaatsbedrif (small line) in the Sword Worlds subsector. Resigned amid rumors of illegal cargo shipments.
In 1090, he was investigated by the Starport Authority for ‘ties to the illegal manufacture and distribution of Psi Drugs’ but the investigation was inconclusive, the evidence was weak, and no charges were filed.
In 1094, the use of the Battledress against rioting civilians by mercs during an infantry raid led to an investigation by Imperial Military Intelligence. Vincenzo was identified as a ‘person of interest’ in the case but there was no evidence linking him to the armor or the event, so no charges were filed.
Active from 1100 to 1112 as a Free Trader and Freelance Broker in the Spinward Marches and Foreven Sector.
In 1105, he was convicted of smuggling and sentenced to 9 years in prison.
In 1108 he was released and all official records of the 1105 incident and the 1108 deal were sealed. He is formally banned from the Spinward Marches until 1114.
In 1112, he applied for a local business license as a Broker-1 (approval pending).
[He has a reputation for being strong in Administration/Broker/Trader and competent in Legal. Strong ‘Interpersonal’ skills and speaks Darrian.]

Imperial Unofficial Sources (ie. Megacorporations, organized crime):
Vincent (aka. Vincenzo “the Suit” Masseria)
Member of the Masseria crime family (Spinward Marches).
In the 1070’s, he was convicted of ‘Violations of Imperial Trade Law’ and served 4 months at a minimum security prison in the Viland Sector. The family got him a job at in the Sword Worlds subsector where he was rumored to be involved in smuggling anagistics and other restricted technology between the Imperium and the Darrians.
In 1080s, Vincenzo “the Suit” Masseria became Don Vincenzo, Soto Capo (Underboss) in the Masseria crime family. He was rumored to be involved in smuggling Psi Drugs across the Imperial-Zhodani border, and the illegal sale of ‘military hardware’.
Around 1100, Vincenzo became an itinerant troubleshooter for the family. Caught during a smuggling operation, he served 3 years in an Imperial prison and fled to the Foreven Sector – changing his name to Vincent.
[Organizes complex operations involving Administration, Computer, Bribery and Forgery skills. Has a reputation for Carousing and Gambling between jobs.]

 

[selunatic2397]

Neat! Thanks for sharing him.

How did you talk Kafka into letting you start a new character with all that money?

I'm familiar with CT, and I know in GURPS you can point buy wealth.

Is it the same in his mega traveller game?