Brushfire - Combat in 1960's Africa - Still recruiting!

[Guest]

IC Thread Here

Recruitment Status: Plenty of room left, and don't worry about being out of step. This RP is like RL, people can show up relatively later than others. Players are currently allowed multiple characters, so long as they can keep up with them. Of course, if they get tired of a character, they can always get them shot.



(Yes, I know I misspelled 'prairie.')

Current Characters:
Justino Mancini - Italian Red Cross Worker, disgraced medical doctor
Sergeant Dominick Hartley - Veteran South African mercenary - No longer active.
Colonel Gabriel Ndinga - Cynical, opportunistic Gwufi military officer
Claire Emmaline - A French missionary.
Frederick Bergfalk - Former Großdeutschland Division soldier and Foreign Legionnaire. German Silesian expat, "French" citizenship.

Info on weapons:
Period Weapons Info

Something of a pictorial history of Mercenaries in Africa and Southeast Asia, spanning the 1960's in the Congo (which this war is based on) to the 1990's in Sierra Leone. Really cool, check it: MilitaryPhotos.net

Concept: 1963 - Gwunfa (fictional country, but same old story) was a French West African holding, known for its lush highland jungles and wildlife. As recently as the late 1950's, it was French-governed but, as the French began to pull out of Indochina and Africa, and fought a long, exhausting war in Algeria that ended in 1962, Gwunfa was prematurely given its autonomy and independence in short order. The only known resources at the time were agricultural, with largely coastal settlement by the colonial power and a very rugged frontier inhabited by native Africans along with a few commercial farming concerns that primarily grew coffee.

Gwunfa's post-colonial government would have perhaps succeeded if not for two things; the discovery of a huge deposit of uranium and rare earths that has the world powers suddenly sitting up and taking notice and a coup against the government as carried out by a certain Major Jacques Venda, a former NCO of the Colonial French Tirailleurs, influential commander in the post-Colonial Army and overnight convert to Marxism-Leninism; he used the same old rhetoric that painted the post-colonial government installed by the French as tools of the colonial power and communism as an ideology of national liberation. He managed to rally around his fellow Dandu to take power through sham elections and coercion. Already, a rival by the name of Gabriel Mshenge is gathering corporate support for a counter-coup. In the highlands themselves, Pierre Okodu prepares his Lemwe to fight against the Dandu pogroms and Mshenge's corporate sorts, while sitting on the prize itself.

Now, as the thunder starts to roll, men are being hired in places like London, Marseille, Johannesburg and other centers of the trade. All sides are grabbing people, in expectation of a need for technical and military expertise.

Where the PC fits In: This RP will involve the PC's as mercenaries, intelligence agents posing as mercs (or mercs selling intelligence on the side,) reporters, or spies posing as reporters and so on, aid workers, missionaries, arms traffickers, engineers and UN observers, all potentially spies, or perhaps as other sorts (depends on what you suggest and we'll see if it fits in.)

(One note: Back in these days, most nations had draftee national service, and the mercenaries were traditionally not too picky about letting people hook up. It's not like the modern era, with highly organized PMCs like Blackwater that recruit pretty exclusively from elite formations of the US Army. It's a much more informal sort of arrangement in a world where there are a lot more people who have gone to a boot camp before in their lives. In some colonial holdings, people just gave up the office job and took a jeep ride over to the nearest war and signed up, no questions asked.)

Odds are, the characters will have ties to the powers that be back home. The US, in 1963, is not as heavily invested in Africa as other powers happen to be, but are a presence. There are also, of course, commercial concerns. Much of the purpose of this storyline will revolve around the personal lives of the characters and the things they learn in their time in the civil war. It is a bit of a character development exercise. The characters' actions will have consequences, potentially international consequences.

Characters do not necessarily have to know each other, and can work for different factions as they please.

Structure: The degree of GMing will probably depend on how much someone could use the help in having someone else (like me) set the scene a bit. In many ways, I sort of intend to set the stage and let the players hang out to dry and make their decisions and then come up with consequences of those decisions in terms of the various events that can befall from there. I'll also stand by for advice on the technology, politics and so forth of the setting.

This will depend on the PC's to actively participate. Without them, this dog just don't hunt.

Current Restrictions: Two American characters allowed, tops. The rest need to be from other parts. This RP is always recruiting.

Character Concept Ideas

There's a lot to work from here, but this is a few suggestions that came out in discussions;

"Civilian" "Technical Advisor"(any faction) - This could be almost any nationality, though the Americans are unlikely to send one directly owing to a lack of experience in the theater. For Jacques Venda, this advisor is probably an Egyptian or actual Soviet officer, likely the military attaché at the embassy. For Mshenge and Okodu, this could be all sorts of different nationalities. Mshenge's side is the one most likely to draw favor from the powers that be and have a formal advisor, but this favor may shift if Okodu is looked upon as the more likely stable ruler.

Ex-Foreign Legionnaire - the French Foreign Legion is a very cosmopolitan organization with a large influx of foreigners from various places (including former Third Reich and Republican Spanish forces) who wish to disappear. In return for signing up, the French government shielded them from those that are hunting them for various crimes and shipped them off to Indochina and Algeria to fight the wars for them. They are hardbitten, cheap and expendable troops in the eyes of France. The Legion has fallen out of favor with the French government as of the late 1950's and early 1960's, due to a mutiny in Algeria, where the 1st Parachute Regiment (1eme Regiment Etranger Parachutistes) mutinied under the orders of their own generals against the Fifth Republic under Charles De Gaulle. Many Legionnaires were discharged after this debacle, and many of them find work in Africa. These men are generally French by citizenship, with assumed identities and no particular desire to talk about the things hidden in their past that would drive them into the Legion to begin with.

Mercenary Pilot - With so little airpower in Africa, a mercenary pilot is worth his weight in gold. The planes that generally get used in these conflicts are not the jet fighters that fought at high speed over the Choson Resevoir during the Korean war, or the new generation of supersonic interceptors and bombers playing tag over Europe, but WWII-vintage aircraft; the more rugged, the better. Helicopters are also notably not present in Africa at this time. Small "Bush Planes" are one way to get around, and a powerful advantage in a destitute country with no credible air force to control the skies.

Reporters -- In this era, men like Robert Taber and Bernard Fall picked up a gun and marched into the bush; the Sierra Maestra of Cuba or the Central Highlands of Tonkin, respectively. These men were a different generation of reporter, who dispatched by mail packet to their magazines and got emotionally involved in these wars, much along the lines of Ernie Pyle, the man who inspired this mode of journalism. (Note: This brand of journalism died in the late 1960's with the Vietnam War's TV coverage.) In many cases, these men had national service or even actual war under their belts; Bernard Fall fought the Nazis in France during WWII as a teenaged Maquis, and others of this generation were embroiled in places like Korea, if not in the Second World War themselves.

[Guest]

I'll have the actual start of things written in short order once I get the character sheet. I'm already doing a little groundwork on this.

The current situation as stands is that while Gwunfa is not yet at war, things are tense; Jacques Venda has already begun the process of clamping down on his country and isolating parts of it from food, medical care and other necessities in an attempt to weaken them if it comes to a war; this is a very calculated policy of trying to keep the people he might have to fight from actually being strong enough to do it.

Secret police are everywhere-- they are essentially co-opted by the KGB, but have to grudgingly allow certain sorts of people in to keep up the fiction of "The Republic of Gwunfa." The Soviets do not want to be overly revealed as propping up a puppet regime, but at the same time, reporting from Africa tends to be spotty, and the audience itself is generally disinterested, so people like Venda and his advisors can get away with considerably more than in a more tightly monitored country.

While the ICRC wants to bring food and medical aid into certain Catholic missions in the highlands, it will be tricky at best to slip them past Venda's own troops without something giving...it is up to the PC to decide how best to achieve this once things get rolling. Odds are, this will involve smuggling, bribery and quid-pro-quo of some sort with someone to acquire the means.

[Guest]

Addendum: Now if one wants to play a -foreign- pawn of the CIA, much like the Cuban pilots who flew for Tshombe's air force in Katanga (the Congo) and supported mercenary forces in the field, that is an entirely different deal.

We have a lot of flexibility on this setting, and lots of room to get murky and convoluted.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Name: Justino Mancini

Sex: Male

Age: 29

Nationality: Italian

Hometown: Parma, Emilia Romagna

Occupation: Aid Worker for the Red Cross

Apperance:


Biography: Justino was born to a single mother with no siblings and no family to speak of besides an estranged uncle and a few distant relatives who had moved outside the country years ago. Unfortunately his mother took to being sick and died a few weeks after he was born, leaving him in the care of his uncle. The beneficiary of a large life insurance policy, Justino's mother had intended for all of her son's needs to be taken care for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, his uncle received legal rights over the money until Justino came of age and he siphoned it away on gambling and debt payments to the mafia.

When Justino graduated high school, he severed all ties with his uncle and traveled to the United States to attend medical school. It wasn't until he received his M.D. that he moved back to Italy to find work. He was eventually employed at a hospital in Palermo, Sicily. Although he was a very changed man from his youth, he was no less poor, and in order to help pay off his school loans he accepted bribes from local pharmaceutical agencies in exchange for prescribing certain medications to patients, whether or not they needed them. Eventually he was caught and his medical license was revoked. With no job, a guilty conscious, and a fountain of medical knowledge, Justino joined the Red Cross to become an overseas aid worker.

[Guest]

Cool beans, I'll have things up in a bit. Gilbert's throwing in too, but I'll handle that separately, as it's probably going to start as a separate plot.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Sounds good. Can't wait for this to start!

[Guest]

IC Thread now posted.

It only took an hour and a half, but it felt like it went by a lot faster. Anyway, it's Justino's job to figure out how to get the supplies in and so forth.

Word to the wise; not all is as it appears.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

That was an incredible first post, I must say! Like reading something out of a book. Given the time and privacy, I should be able to get a post up tonight, although I don't want to promise anything. With such a great start, I really want to put some time towards a mutually fantastic opening for Justino.

[Guest]

Take the time you need, dude. If you need names worked up, feel free to yell. If you can work them up yourself, go ahead. You get the idea, it's an ex-French colony, things will either be in French or potentially similar to naming conventions in Senegal, Cote d'Ivorie, Guinea or the Belgian Congo (where French was overwhelmingly spoken).

Gilbert will be throwing in, probably with an Afrikaner, and I suppose we'll add characters as people decide they're interested.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Alright sounds goods man. I'm working up the post now at work, and when I get home Ill revise and finish it up. Though do you mind if I move the conversation along and start going forward with what Justino decides?

[Guest]

Yeah, feel free. The whole idea was to set you up for that.

[Gilbert]

Name: Dominick Hartley

Sex: Male

Age: 43

Nationality: South African

Home town: Cape Town, South Africa

Occupation: Soldier of Fortune, working with the pro-Western government.

Apperance: Portrait of the South African mercenary

Biography: [To be elaborated on over time within this post]

Born July 1920.
Joined the 1st South African Division on 5 September 1939
Fought in North Africa, at El Alamein
Transferred after El Alamein to train more soldiers
Becomes a replacement for the 6th Armoured Division as they push up through Africa in 1945
Mustered out in early 1946
Finds adjusting to civilian life difficult, wanders Africa fighting in various wars, usually within the Pro-Western faction
Finds himself in Gwunfa looking for a new source of adventure

[Guest]

Alright, so Hartley has some choices to make too. This post got eaten up by a five hundred error so I had to rewrite. Took about an hour each time, but at least it's out.

[Guest]

Oh, and we're still recruiting. I am taking on players. So if anyone happens to be reading, come in out of the cold.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Sorry for the wait! Post incoming tonight.

[Guest]

No problem. We seem to be in a format of fairly large posts, so there is no rush.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Alright finally done! My posts will be coming faster now. Had my first week of work this week and it was a bitch, haha.

[Guest]

No problem. I've got the next round sort of worked up in outline/flowchart form. I'll fill in and work on the notes and then post things up. I'm in an insomniac moment now, so I put together a basic outline of the next set of choices and so forth. Needless to say, events are going to affect each other a bit from here on out.

[Guest]

New posts done up. At least it wasn't a long wait or anything once I got started.

[Saint Michel]

Name: Gabriel Ndinga

Sex: Male

Age: 44

Nationality: Gwunfi

Hometown: Bocaranga

Occupation: Colonel, 43rd Bjembe Rifles, Army of the Republic of Gwunfa

Apperance: A tall man (standing slightly over 6'3") and rangy in appearance, Ndinga has maintained himself well despite his advancing years and partiality to good cooking. Clean-shaven, he keeps his black hair -- which now has more than a little gray -- cropped close to his skull. Gabriel has a wide face and intelligent brown eyes as well as an infectious grin. He most often wears a simple army uniform with his colonel's insignia the only thing setting him apart in appearance from a common soldier.

Biography: Born in 1919 after the end of the First World War, Gabriel left his hometown of Bocaranga (in eastern Gwunfa) to enlist in the Tirailleurs, in which he served during the inter-war years. Eventually rising to sergeant, he served with Free French forces in defeating Vichy units during the Second World War. He continued to serve with the army until French withdrawal, when he was commissioned a lieutenant in the new national army. His support of Jacques Venda's rise to power resulted in the fastracking of his own career, rising to the rank of Colonel after Venda's assumption of power in 1962.

Ndinga is a cynical and often opportunistic man, with his loyalty and ethics negotiable depending on what he deems most beneficial to himself. It has been this instinct for survival at any cost which has kept him alive and a rising star in Gwunfa's army.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Oooh, nice twist there Heyseuss! I was wondering if you'd be able to draw up a quick map of Gwunfa with some of the cities and basic geography, just so I can get an idea of what I'm dealing with. Oh, and could you tell me a little bit about Charleville? Charleville is going to be the setting of my next post so any important features would be nice to know. Thanks!

[Guest]

Haha, perfect, approved of course. And I got a post up in the meantime.

[Guest]

Oooh, nice twist there Heyseuss! I was wondering if you'd be able to draw up a quick map of Gwunfa with some of the cities and basic geography, just so I can get an idea of what I'm dealing with. Oh, and could you tell me a little bit about Charleville? Charleville is going to be the setting of my next post so any important features would be nice to know. Thanks!

Very Colonial French; parts of it are whitewashed beautiful resort-like homes, generally in the higher elevation parts, and then the rest is slummy to say the least. The public buildings are stately in that neo-classical French way that they seem to love.

The biggest feature of the place is those public buildings and the big huge church with the several bells, of course.

So once they're outside of the port facilities and commercial areas, they're gonna have a beast of a time navigating, probably some crowd issues and so forth. Then again, that time of the night and with the notification coming to them, they should be mostly clear.

Odds are that they might have to do some fighting or fast driving to clear Venda's Gendarmes, however. I'd assume that anyone worth their salt in that country has at least some sort of weapon, really.

As to the rest, I'm horrid with maps. But I'll try soon. I might set aside tomorrow to working on it in some fashion. The thing to know is this: Towards the north on the coast and central areas, it's mostly arid grassland, with more moisture up in the hills due to lakes and so forth. Down South, it's more jungle-like, thanks to the Limva river, which is extremely wide and fast flowing.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

Alright thanks! Cooking up a post now.

[Guest]

And, as always, we're still recruiting players. Things are taking off a bit, so it's a hell of a time to get involved.

[Guest]

I'll have posts incoming tomorrow. Maybe tonight, if I have an insomnia episode.

I'll be working on a map as well.

[Saint Michel]

Sweet. A map would be mad useful.

[Guest]

That's right, a map. I'll update as necessary.

Those dipshitty numbers are the numbers for "Les Routes Coloniale." The French liked to build those roads, it gave the Legion something to do.

My map fu isn't that great, but this is a huge improvement over my last effort.

The North is, yes, desert. I haven't named it yet.

[Twoface_ecafowT]

That's great! Exactly what I had in mind.

[Guest]

Have mapmaker, will mapmake.

It'll get more sophisticated when I buy some of the (expenSIVE) addons. But the basic approach works too.

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