Non-Player Characters, Admin/environmental Groups vs. $Players

[Solidus]

In case there is any confusion, it is important to point out that $players (that is, you) and $player run groups (that is your gank squads and moosex circles not sponsored by administrators) are not the same as NPCs, AHABS or NPC/AHAB run groups (like....the Gist Order, Corporations, Fixer Groups).

This is important, because in order for said non-player groups to act as a catalyst for conflict and antagonist to our various protagonists (read: you), they have to be different.

How are they different, you ask?

1) Individual NPCs and Ahabs that you run in to (like Nga, Navier, or other scary figures) have been here longer than you. They have power and connections that are bigger than you. If they weren't a large powerful force, how could they give you a job and keep the rest of the other criminal individuals in order? These power and connections are expressed by npcs being stronger than you, or having access to more resources or information than you.

2) Corporations and npc-gangs have resources beyond you and yours. The idea that a multi-national, multi-billion credit corporation would be limited by the same boundaries as a $player and their progression is silly. With that said, even if that was true, said Corporation or Group has been "playing" a lot longer than you. As such, they have amassed lots of resources to stomp out any one individual.

3) Things done to you by NPCs and Ahabs, or their corporations and groups, are done along the same laws and boundaries that effect the entire world. What do I mean? I mean that technology used is based on the laws/mechanics or our world. If a corporation, entity, or group has information about you...it wasn't magic. Behind the scenes, these groups have stats and resources. In many cases, we are statrolling AGAINST those stats and resources to see if we can do something. Example....You left your smart-toaster on during your conversation with your close contacts in your HQ that you just used to laser an IO CFO VP...and guess what? They found out. Someone/thing is using special customized software/gear/equipment/avenues? I wonder how they got it...I wonder if its available somewhere else. Who knows. Maybe I should RP to find out.

4) This is a cyberpunk game. Cyberpunk, as a genre, is expressed via "high tech, low life" and a struggle against powerful forces that keep you down. Those forces are personified in the form of corporations and scary criminal organizations. "Winning" isn't knocking these groups down...it's digging out glory/rep/treasure from the implied spaces of these forces clashing.