Rules:Compass Guard
- These are the player character rules and guidelines for the Ranger Guard. For the fluff description of the RG, go HERE instead.
Contents
Playing a Compass Guard
Compass Guard characters are members of Cardinal's military. As described in the fluff, the military has three branches and many divisions within those branches. Your character can be in any of those branches and divisions. In fact, you can have as many Compass Guard characters as you want. For most divisions, you will have to imagine the character's duties yourself, as the structure is simply there to support the concept. There are many, many people who work for the Compass Guard, including many power wielders, most of whom are not player-controlled characters. Player-controlled characters generally represent the upper strata of Guardsmen (even if the character hasn't achieved a rank to represent that yet), and their progress is generally much more rapid than the NPCs.
There are a wide variety of special society techniques available for the various Compass Guard branches, which you can take advantage of. One great part of Compass Guard techniques is that in the case of items, you can usually have them get broken or destroyed and have them replaced for free by your next RP! There are even third-party techniques offered by corporations like Empirical Industries and Magitek Corporation that qualifying Guardsmen can opt into.
Please note that while it is on you to come up with activities for your character to engage in, ultimately Icebreed is in control of the organization. If a character acts inappropriately or if you are portraying the Guard in a very uncharacteristic way, he may ask you to stop, or he may force your character out of the Guard, depending on the situation. If you're not sure how something would be played, ask him.
Compass Guard society techniques can be found HERE
Rank and Promotions
Each of the different branches has different ranks and handles promotions differently.
For Legion Ranks, including the Rangers, click here.
For Armada Ranks, including the Roughnecks, click here.
For Network Ranks, including the Mysterium, click here.
Custom Equipment
All branches of Compass Guard members may use their own private equipment and personally designed training, so long as it does not interfere with the principles and capacities of their job. For instance, a Ranger will not be allowed to use a weapon that could easily cause enormous devastation to a city while on domestic duty, and a soldier who pilots a large, armored vehicle will generally not be deployed or allowed to use it when performing delicate work, like entering a small house to make an arrest.
Characters can also modify and upgrade Compass Guard equipment with their own ideas, but it will not be discounted, even for Initiated characters (see below).
Third Party Services
Some private companies have contracted with the government to provide powered assistance to Rangers, broadening their capacities in combat. Some services may require a certain rank and/or specific training to utilize.
Initiated characters (see below) do not get discounts on techniques offered by these corporations.
The following is a list of private contractor services and courtesies extended to Ranger Guards, separated by company:
- Empirical Industries
- Empirical Battlenet: Provides secured technological 'telepathy' for communication, and deep sensory sharing, for all equipped with this technique.
- 30 base days of training required.
- Available to all branches and ranks.
- Empirical Fire Support Net: Provides a centralized mechanism to call for support from Empirical resources. Is the recommended technique by which to do so, rather than learning individual Call techniques.
- Requires Empirical Battlenet as a prerequisite technique.
- 15 base days of training required.
- Available to all branches and ranks; individual support techniques still require appropriate rank in order to be triggered.
- ICARUS: Provides a deployment option for robotic or otherwise over-sized units which cannot use Transference. Primarily designed for the Armada, but available to all.
- No training or special rank required.
- Special circumstances required to use. See tech page for details.
- Area Denial Field Call: Provides teleportational restrictions, allowing Compass Guards to potentially restrict their targets from escaping justice.
- 60 base days of training required, or Empirical Fire Support Net.
- No special rank required.
- Deploy Battle Nanofield: Spreads a field that reduces hostile eyesight, restricting maximum movement speeds and effective melee combat.
- Empirical Fire Support Net required.
- No special rank required.
- Gravitic Pressor Field Call: Projects a slowing field, enabling the Compass Guard to better target their enemies.
- 30 base days of training required, or Empirical Fire Support Net.
- No special rank required.
- Ortillery Call: Provides fire support for Compass Guards, with minimal potential for collateral damage.
- 30 base days of training required, or Empirical Fire Support Net.
- Legion Rank: Corporal or better
- Armada Rank: Staff Sergeant or better
- Network Rank: Any leadership rank
- Special circumstances required to use. See tech page for details.
- Satellite Surveillance: Provides additional sensory capacity to Compass Guards.
- 30 base days of training required.
- No special rank requirement.
- Requires a racial or technique-enabled visual display.
- Transference: Provides teleportational abilities to Compass Guards.
- No training or special rank required.
- Special circumstances required to use. See tech page for details.
- Empirical's famous Portal network gives priority access to Compass Guardsmen, and will allow them to use the network even during an emergency, where the service would be locally shut down due to an emergency. Additionally, there are miniature Portal facilities linking the Guard's bases to the network, which are only accessible by Compass Guardsmen.
- Empirical has also offered to do custom development for additional services for the Compass Guard, and contact details for the Empirical liaison are readily available for any member that has an idea for what may be a valuable and useful service to the cause.
- Empirical Battlenet: Provides secured technological 'telepathy' for communication, and deep sensory sharing, for all equipped with this technique.
- Magitek Corporation
- Angel Battle Armor: A powerful, power-boosting armor which provides a small host of other benefits to its wearer.
- Various ranks required for varying levels of training. See tech page for details.
Initiated Characters
For three specific divisions of the military -- the Rangers', the Roughnecks, and the Mysterium -- there is a special program available called Initiation. It allows you to have up to TWO characters in the Compass Guard within any of those three divisions who, after completing a special training regimen, are allowed to learn Compass Guard techniques at a significant (25%) discount. This discount applies only to Compass Guard techniques; third party items and techniques are not subject to this discount.
In order to become Initiated, a character must train the "basic kit" for that division:
- For Rangers: Basic Legion Training
- For Roughnecks: (TBA)
- For Mysterium: Mysterium Initiation
...And either during your training for that technique or at the end of it, the character must have a training RP with an authorized Compass Guard training character, usually one specific to the branch. Presently, Icebreed and Genesis_X are the players with authorized trainers.
These basic kits are available ONLY to characters who wish to become initiated. Uninitiated characters must pay for their components separately, at normal price.
Finally, it is still acceptable to have as many uninitiated characters in a division that has an initiation program as you want.
Benefits of Initiation
Being Initiated is full of amazing benefits, which is why we only let two characters per player have it.
Discounted Society Techniques
As mentioned above, there is a wide variety of techniques that initiated Compass Guardsmen can research at a 25% discount. This discount is applied before tech bias, and is usually listed right on the technique's page, next to the normal tech day cost.
Discounted techniques may only be applied to characters. Minions and summons are not allowed to receive CG training or equipment at discount, even if they are portrayed to be part of the Compass Guard.
Preferred Common Techniques
Similarly, Initiated characters specifically can learn certain Common Techniques at the 25% discount. In this case, the discounts are not listed on those pages, so you will need to do the math yourself. Make sure you do it in the right order.
If your character is a member of a race or possesses a Physical PL template that grants a discount to a common technique that is Preferred for that character's military division, such as the "Natural Born Fighter" benefit for Saiyans, you must choose between the race/template benefit(s), or the preferred benefit. You cannot take advantage of both at the same time, for the same tech.
The Preferred Common Techniques for the Compass Guard are as follows:
Rangers
- Enhanced Eyesight
- Enhanced Speed
- Enhanced Autokinetic Movement
- Speed upgrades to Levitation
- Faster Ki
- Enhanced Telekinetic Speed
Roughnecks
- Enhanced Durability
- Enhanced Passive Defence
- Durability upgrades to Barrier
- Weapon Proficiency
- Enhanced Natural Charge
Mysterium
- Speedcast
- Sense Magic
- Sense Energy
- Any upgrade of autocharges, whether directly from the Ki Attack Kit or for an original technique.
Special Training Facilities
Fort Lionwood has the most technologically advanced and extensive training facilities on the planet, specifically designed for Guards of all branches to hone their skills. They possess fully immersive, A.I. powered, matter-projection suites that very realistically portray combat situations, and can accomodate individuals as well as large groups.
All training rooms at Lionwood have custom-designed gravity generators built into them. Military personnel using them can increase their normal PL gains by 50% of normal (a 3% gain would become 4.5%), but in any spar taking advantage of it, all sources of durability and stamina (but not durability or stamina recovery mechanisms) are increased by 50% of their normal maximums.
As with any gravity training facility, power wielders must acclimate themselves to straining themselves in high gravity to avoid serious injury. Characters who are initiated receive this training for free. Other CG members must specifically train for it using the Gravity Stress Training technique. Compass Guard characters who have neither become initiated nor trained for the high gravity setting cannot use them, or spar with someone who is using them.
Conversion From Old Ranger Guard
Ranger Guard from before the changes to structure may refund all tech days invested in Ranger techniques. Old Ranger techniques are considered obsolete. Characters who wish to retain their old equipment may do so, but they may require application (they will be considered original techs and erased from the Common Technique repository) and replacements will not be available in the event a piece of equipment is destroyed, unless your character can create it or acquire it otherwise him/herself.
The refunded tech days may be used to purchase Basic Training, without the need to actually do any training solos with a trainer, as well as any society techniques you may wish to learn.
Converting Ranger Guards do not have to remain Rangers in the Legion branch. You may move them to any appropriate branch and division you like, so long as you meet any qualifications that are necessary.
Departure From Compass Guard
If a character decides to leave the Compass Guard, all equipment must be returned, and all CG society techniques become inactive. The character will not receive a refund for invested tech days, though if the character returns to service, those techniques will become usable again. While it is feasible that a character could steal equipment and run away, all equipment have built-in safeties to prevent losses, which not only render the equipment largely unusable, but provide tracking signals for reclamation services to find.
If you choose to have a character switch branches, you may refund any tech days spent on society techs exclusive to the branch the character came from, but those tech days may only be used on society techs for the new branch.