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What are Eurostar's strategy, logistics, operations, and tactics?


AlgaeNymph

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I knew I semi herd of it. Have to buy it one day.

Humm....Backworld Eurostar, where Fiacho is a freedom fighter against a United Europe filled with tyrants who want to keep the European population there serphs... err...slaves.

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On 4/30/2021 at 10:15 AM, DShomshak said:

Well, now I know why I never paid much attention to Eurostar. There's just nothing here that interests me.

I know, right?  They were a relic of 4e brought into 5e because Champions needed a dangerously practical villain team, and Eurostar was selected to fill that niche.

 

On 5/1/2021 at 10:35 AM, DShomshak said:

Also, one of my writing teachers suggested this exercise: Take some viewpoint you agree with, and write it into the mouth of someone you find horrible.

In that case Istvatha V'han would be a better fit for that niche, especially since she has a good track record.  Though I still don't know why she's aiding Eurostar, or how.

 

3 hours ago, steriaca said:

Any thoughts about an "Euroguard" organization to counter Eurostar?

Oo!  Very well-developed, or at least more so than the villains they were made to fight.

 

As for my views on Eurostar, they'd be best fo a campaign set in the 00's where they're on their way down.  I really can't see how evil EU terrorists can be narratively relevant in this day and age.

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1 hour ago, AlgaeNymph said:

 

In that case Istvatha V'han would be a better fit for that niche, especially since she has a good track record.  Though I still don't know why she's aiding Eurostar, or how.

 

 

I'd guess it's for the same reason she maneuvered the Qularr and Gadroon into renewed attacks on Earth. She's weakening Earth's defenses preparatory to her next invasion, by promoting a group bent on destroying existing power structures.

 

As for how Istvatha could aid Eurostar, a few loans of V'hanian technology would be extremely useful. Imagine what terrorists could do with devices to completely bypass conventional security by stepping across dimensions.

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Is Eurostar or the world at large aware of Istvatha V'han efforts or is it a covert effort that people are learning about it in the GM's section? I find it difficult for a meglomaniac like Fiacho just taking aid, without of course thinking that he's going to stab her in the back at some point. 

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1 hour ago, Terminax said:

Is Eurostar or the world at large aware of Istvatha V'han efforts or is it a covert effort that people are learning about it in the GM's section? I find it difficult for a meglomaniac like Fiacho just taking aid, without of course thinking that he's going to stab her in the back at some point. 

I believe that is GM information. 

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Alright, I've tracked down a single reference to Eurostar being supported in the Book of the Empress. Page 184 "IIC agents are also secretly aiding (among others) the Warlord, Kinematik, the Devil’s Advocates, Eurostar, and Sunburst." There maybe other references elsewhere I've missed.

 

So there's no details beyond it's a covert effort. So unless we decide for our individual tables that Fiacho is aware of the aid, and is just using it to further his own ends or whatever reaction we choose - the aid he's getting he's likely unaware of.

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Don't forget that sometimes Menton assists Eurostar, mostly from the shadows, and only for the benefit of his sister Menalla.

 

Fiacho probably knows about it, as long as Menton allows Fiacho to know about it. Menton will probably continue to assist them as long as they don't interfere with his own plans.

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On 4/29/2021 at 9:30 AM, Tech said:

Fiacho's goal is, as AlgaeN said, a united and ideally preeminent Europe. He is not out to destroy Europe. 

If that's the case, wouldnt he and eurostar attack chinese, Russian and United states items and interests both within Europe and abroad? If it strengthens it furthers europe? 

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3 hours ago, carmachu said:

If that's the case, wouldnt he and eurostar attack chinese, Russian and United states items and interests both within Europe and abroad? If it strengthens it furthers europe? 

I don’t see a reason why not. It means they could show up anywhere.

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4 hours ago, carmachu said:

If that's the case, wouldnt he and eurostar attack chinese, Russian and United states items and interests both within Europe and abroad? If it strengthens it furthers europe? 

In general, yes.

 

Once I finalize my team Orochi, they have reasons to leave Japan much like Eurostar has reasons to leave Europe. To harm outside businesses from foreign countries from doing business in Japan. To discourage Japanese businesses from looking outside the country. To wind up the people to go against the government, to eventually tear it down and replace it with the Tekkage Shogun. To make Japan ready for their hi-teck shogunate. To return the Emperor back into an religious figurehead (Shinto religion). To prove the divinity of the emperor...darn, I need a new thread for the Orochi and stop hijacking this one.

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20 hours ago, steriaca said:

In general, yes.

 

Once I finalize my team Orochi, they have reasons to leave Japan much like Eurostar has reasons to leave Europe. To harm outside businesses from foreign countries from doing business in Japan. To discourage Japanese businesses from looking outside the country. To wind up the people to go against the government, to eventually tear it down and replace it with the Tekkage Shogun. To make Japan ready for their hi-teck shogunate. To return the Emperor back into an religious figurehead (Shinto religion). To prove the divinity of the emperor...darn, I need a new thread for the Orochi and stop hijacking this one.

Yeah. I've been reading a lot of older products and while they are still interesting, all the information is just so dated. Eurostar's goals really need an update. It was great 20 or 30 years ago, but doesn't make a lot of sense today

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43 minutes ago, carmachu said:

Yeah. I've been reading a lot of older products and while they are still interesting, all the information is just so dated. Eurostar's goals really need an update. It was great 20 or 30 years ago, but doesn't make a lot of sense today

It is best to think of Eurostar as a team formed to give Fiacho a chance to RULE THE WORLD. Sure it is a slow plan, starting with an area first, and he has been denied time after time, but well, conquest.

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2 hours ago, carmachu said:

Yeah. I've been reading a lot of older products and while they are still interesting, all the information is just so dated. Eurostar's goals really need an update. It was great 20 or 30 years ago, but doesn't make a lot of sense today


Another option would be to set the campaign in the 1980s. They really seem to work best in the late Cold War era.

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I've actually been tempted to make Eurostar the Next generation, where Fiacho's own daughter, now full grown, arranged for UNTIL and UNITY to catch Eurostar with their proverbial pants down. 

With the Eurostar name still having it's power, she assembles a new team more in line with her own views and with UNTIL none the wiser, has the new Eurostar pull off a major crime as she arranges for the destruction of a major US Military base somewhere in Central Europe.

 

Burned in the wreckage of the base, large words one can see from a helicopter view- Europa Victorious!

 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Hermit said:

Burned in the wreckage of the base, large words one can see from a helicopter view- Europa Victorious!

 

Oooh... that's a thought that never occurred to me. Imagine the perspective of someone romanticizing the era when Europe collectively ruled most of the world, bringing "peace" and "civilization" to the "barbarian" masses. Looking at the chaos in the world today and becoming convinced that such strong ruling hands are needed again, but this time working together under a single guiding star.

 

Perhaps that might be a change in perspective to make Fiacho and Eurostar relevant again? Uniting Europe may be passe, but uniting Europe into a force that can compel order over the whole globe?...

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3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Oooh... that's a thought that never occurred to me. Imagine the perspective of someone romanticizing the era when Europe collectively ruled most of the world, bringing "peace" and "civilization" to the "barbarian" masses. Looking at the chaos in the world today and becoming convinced that such strong ruling hands are needed again, but this time working together under a single guiding star.

 

Perhaps that might be a change in perspective to make Fiacho and Eurostar relevant again? Uniting Europe may be passe, but uniting Europe into a force that can compel order over the whole globe?...

 

Wow, going back to colonialism, but from a united Europe instead of competing empires?  That is exactly the kind of comic book supervillainy I'm looking for from Eurostar.
Keep Fiacho (or replace with his daughter, I like Hermit's idea), and shift the rest of the team to not just be thugs from various places in Europe to instead be representatives of the past Empires.  English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugal, etc

 

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19 hours ago, Jhamin said:

 

Wow, going back to colonialism, but from a united Europe instead of competing empires?  That is exactly the kind of comic book supervillainy I'm looking for from Eurostar.
Keep Fiacho (or replace with his daughter, I like Hermit's idea), and shift the rest of the team to not just be thugs from various places in Europe to instead be representatives of the past Empires.  English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portugal, etc

 

 

Another reason I considered replacing Fiacho with his daughter (Besides the change of focus for Eurostar) is that some folks want more 'mastermind' supervillainesses. The CU is actually better about that than a lot of comic book settings have been imo, but it still seems like a good opportunity that would make sense 

 

 

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4 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Question: does esp...err...that made up language they speak have different word forms depending on gender like spanish language does? Cause that would turn Fiacho's daughter from Fiacho 2 to Fiacha if so.

Esperanto, and yes, I'm pretty sure it's as strongly gendered as Spanish

 

(Obviously, for the dream of an invented universal language of peace and niceness and mutual respect to make it, today, it'd either have to have all the genders - or, more practically, be even less gendered than English, even completely genderless - it could have words for anatomical sex, but they wouldn't imply gender, for instance)

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Speaking of Esperanto, one of my former gaming buddies taught himself Esperanto and claimed it had this utility: There are Esperanto clubs all over the world. That means wherever you go (at least in good-sized cities) there are people you can talk to, who might be willing to help someone who shares their peculiar hobby that most people think is insane.

 

Sort of like HERO System gamers, except with greater certainty of communication, and easier to locate in directories.

 

I don't know if this actually works, but it might make an amusing benefit for any character willing to spend points on an otherwise useless language, whether Esperanto, Elvish or Klingon, like a Contact of Positive Reputation.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

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On the subject of Eurostar being a team for a bygone age. What about evolving them? Taking Fiacho and turning him more into a Baron Zemo pastiche who puts together these "Conquerors of Crime" sort of groups that are funded by Eurostar as a multi-layered agency? On one level, you've got the Euro-Baddies, but on another, maybe a larger company that, in turn, funds a modern techno-terrorist group that employs soldiers, hackers, and rogue engineers. The thought of Eurostar as a villain group was lost in the past. No one believes they're still around, and even if they were, they don't deem them a threat... except they're more of a threat now than ever. Now they deal in cryptocurrencies, the dark web, and have their fingers in the dark dealings within all of Europe. New members, villains who don't even know who's pulling the strings, and bank accounts that go dry without a trace. All of this because Fiacho has finally achieved his mastermind plot of controlling the world...

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On 5/1/2021 at 1:35 PM, DShomshak said:

Fiacho's "Europe" is white, Christian, has a certain body of culture and tradition, and anyone who doesn't fit the pattern must be driven out or exterminated. Europe for Europeans!

 

I like this idea. "European" is sometimes used as a dog-whistle for, "white" (at least in the US). I can easily see a reinvented Eurostar championing global white supremacy.

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6 hours ago, IndianaJoe3 said:

I can easily see a reinvented Eurostar championing global white supremacy.

Not that I haven't already been told that the EU doesn't count, but I still feel like the cause of 'uniting' Europe is a bit out of date in the sense of already partially accomplished, not really all that sinister as a goal (until you get into the means), and well within the Oberlin window of thinkability - not the kind of thing heroes should be immediately up in arms to stop.    OTOH, White Supremacy, even if in genre, Nazis have kinda got it covered, is an obvious evil that broader western culture has been moving away from since the end of WWII (if not for much longer), has a proven historical record of extreme awfulness, is essentially unthinkable as a civilized goal, and immediately prompts heroes to suit up and go punch some Nazis .. er.. White Supremacists.

 

So, I agree, way more villainous than Esperanto-speaking-guy wanting to unite the Old World - the only downside is it risks loosing any uniqueness the theme of Eurostar might have by making them just another batch of comic book Nazis. 

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