(Me, late, never?! I was just waiting for everyone else to be done.... It will eventually become habit for me to check here more often, and I'll put some more topic subscriptions in to make sure it reminds me to, too!)
I'll return to my old love and what kept me playing for so long... The Smuggler's Alliance (SA).
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When the Empire fell, so did much law and order. Imperial fleets had long restricted or eliminated potential rivals' access to combat ships. Many systems were left with just basic planetary defenses and customs, and many of those had long depended on Imperial support for actual control. When the Empire fell, there were some waiting already. Those who already operated in the shadows. Those who didn't really care who was in power, since they ignored their dictates and laws anyway. Those who were already in business, had side deals, and organization. Those who were, quietly, know as the Smuggler's Alliance.
The Smuggler's Alliance (SA for short) is a loose conglomeration of corporations and "independent contractors" who had long worked together, but formally joined forces after the Empire fell to ensure that they could maximally benefit in the current "market conditions." They're a highly secretive group with a multi-tiered cellular organization. Their existence is spoke of as legend by some, though many have seen the direct results of their work. Many even work for them, though they don't know it.
Those who figure out how to contact them will rarely speak to any of the leadership, but the messages will reach it. Those who have met the leadership often have no idea that they have. Their services are widespread and often come under the guise of legitimate business transactions and dealings via front companies. Have some product you need to acquire? Not a problem. Need it delivered to a certain place at a certain time? Sure thing. Don't want any questions? That's our specialty. Need some extra security assistance? We have those specialists, too, for ground, air, and space. Exploration and mineral extraction? We do that. If you can think of it, we can get it done for you. For a price, of course.
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OOC: The group is headed by Ranes Dsane, the CEO and Founder of Firestar Enterprises. On the surface, as you might expect, FSE is a legitimate business that does a variety of ship maintenance and construction contracts, logistics, and contract security work. Ranes is an engineer and ship mechanic with a fair bit of experience and skill, and a lot of natural talent. FSE started out doing ship repairs on a back-world planet, quickly moving into modifications after his customers figured out that he didn't really care why they wanted it, or if that really was their name, so long as their credits were good. Eventually needing a way to explain the extra money, Ranes formed FSE and formalized much of his work. He still does the illegal stuff, but it's all done under the guise of perfectly legitimate contracts...
As far as tech, some CSA tech would be nice to pull from. After things get going a bit, I'd like to take a look at rules for doing mods to civilian tech since that'd make a lot of story sense for me.
Planets (proposed):
1. Myrkr
2. Roche Asteroids
3. Yavin
4. Taanab
5. Zeltros
6. Mandalore
7. Cadomai
8. Bonadan
9. Ammuud
10. Onderon
11. Hapes
12. Ammuud
13. Etti IV
14. Trandosha
15. Kamar
Planets are listed in a basic priority order, so if there's competing claims that I 'lose' just move it all up one and the cut the list off wherever the limit ends up.
I purposefully avoided the Hutt Systems on my list in case someone wanted to take up their syndicate in particular. If my list ends up short and nobody takes up the Hutts as a faction, I may look in that direction.
