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Northern Gun

The unusual circumstances which brought about the repopulation of Ishpeming has created the Corporate nation, a company whose rule trumps the regional governments in the nearby towns. In this way, Northern Gun is not unlike a dictatorship, where one leader commands the people with the guidance of his advisors. Maxwell Franklin, President of Northern Gun, is the leader of the nation; his trusted advisors are the members of NG’s Board of Directors. The board is comprised of the Vice President from each Division, plus a liaison from the Ishpeming City Government. While not a government in the traditional sense, the Corporation owns most of the city assets and all of the official military assets, making Northern Gun in control of the Ishpeming nation.

There are no clear procedures for succession of the Presidency, as Franklin has been President since Northern Gun opened for business. However, Franklin has named Executive Vice President Willard Jacobs Director of the Board and consistently handed off responsibilities to him, making Jacobs the heir-apparent, but due only to Franklin’s favor. Were power to change hands because of Franklin’s untimely death, rather than willingly passing on the Presidency while he is still alive, there would likely be a power struggle within the company.

NG Divisions

Like many pre-Rifts corporate entities Northern Gun is split into divisions. Each of these divisions is headed by a Vice-President (VP) or Executive Vice-President (EVP), who in turn reports to the President. Many of the Divisions are very large and have vast resources at their disposal, making each of the Vice-Presidents powerful NPCs in their own right and providing them with much latitude for their own agendas as well as the corporate strategy for Northern Gun. Currently Northern Gun operates with nine divisions, each carrying one or more departments. The divisions are Executive, Distribution, Manufacturing, Marketing, NGMI Bank, RAID, Research & Development, Security, and Support & Service.

Executive Division

The Executive Division houses the corporate offices and many of the staff and administrative functions. The sole purpose of this division is to collect information from the rest of the company and transport it to the President. As a result, the office is full of consultants, middle managers and others who were owed a favor or have "earned their entitlements" and needed a cushy job to fill out the rest of their time with Northern Gun.

Maxwell "Max" Franklin
President of Northern Gun
Alignment: Unprincipled
Age: 142
Brief History: Maxwell Franklin is an ex-soldier and mercenary with a varied and spotted history. It was Maxwell who was the original mind that transformed Northern Gun products from major in the marketplace to dominant. Now, the ‘Old Man’ stands as the Top Dog in the company, his body replaced with bionics and cybernetics, many of which are prototypes or one-of-a-kind designs. One design in particular, the electronic enclosure around Franklin’s brain, was created by a D-Bee scientist; the prototype was installed in Franklin just before the inventor’s death. While it works incredibly well, far outlasting its expected life, the design schematics were lost. Now, the only version resides in Franklin’s head, and his meddling son can’t wait to get it out to reverse engineer its secrets. Maxwell still drives the major direction of the company, but delegates more and more to Willard Jacobs, his trusted advisor.
Behavior: Despite the now corporate nature of Northern Gun, Maxwell Franklin still behaves like a soldier. He has a ‘get it done’ attitude and has no need for political correctness. This straight forward attitude has served the company well in negotiates with mercenary commanders, but it has caused more than a few blunders with official governments. While he has slowed down a little due to age, he still has a sharp mind.
Appearance: He is old, with most of his body replaced with cybernetics and bionics. Outwardly looks like an old soldier with a weather beaten face and a few scars from combat and bar fights in his youth. Physically Maxwell is in great condition for a man of his age. Oddly, he dresses in very functional apparel and often still comes to work in combat boots.

Willard Jacobs
Chairman of the Board; Executive Vice President
Alignment: Scrupulous
Age: 39
Brief History: Jacobs has been with the company for many years-even he’s lost count-starting off as a delivery driver at age 22. A company man from the get-go, he managed to work his way up the ranks through hard work and friendships to the position he holds today. As a result of his long life with Northern Gun, Jacobs has worked in many different departments over the years, giving him a true knowledge and understanding of the company, its processes, and its goals.
Behavior: He goes by "Jacobs" or "Jake" to pretty much anyone who knows him - only Terrance Franklin (Maxwell’s son; see below) calls him Willard, and just to piss him off. He has a genuine care for the workers of NG with and a true passion for the company.
Appearance: He looks pretty much like your average Joe: dark hair, gray eyes, average height. His only distinguishing feature is that he smiles almost all the time, and has the good mood to match. Jacobs wears humble but nice business suits when meeting with clients. While at work, he wears business casual clothing to appear approachable at all time, not to mention the fact he had the door removed from his office.

Distribution Division

Part of gaining eighty percent of market share in consumer goods and weapons sales is being able to effectively deliver on your promises. Northern Gun seems to have the ability to get its products anywhere in North America. They have authorized dealers in many major cities outside of the CS, and now for consumer goods, inside the CS. They also have an unknown network of semi-legal and somewhat seedy partnerships to get weapons into jurisdictions where it would be imprudent to have a dealership, such as the ‘Burbs, the former kingdom of Tolkeen, Lazlo, New Lazlo, Old Bones and other politically sensitive areas. To make this work, Northern Gun has a tangled web of corporate assets, affiliates, and private contractors all aimed at making sure products get to dealers and markets where they are needed.

Terrance Franklin
Vice President, Distribution
Alignment: Miscreant
Age: 45
Brief History: Terrance is the bastard son of Maxwell Franklin. He got his start in business from privatizing fresh water, with the use of armed guards and razor-wire fences, in the small wilderness town where his mother had hidden after her pregnancy. After robbing the community of their wealth by making them pay for water, Terrance the Tyrant, as he became known, started taking over small businesses in the town, driving out the original owners and creating a monopoly for himself. His mother, desperate to get rid of him, told Maxwell Franklin of his son’s existence when Terrance turned thirty. Maxwell, finally learning of his only son, brought him into the company with open arms. Ever since then, Maxwell has regretted it. Terrance has manipulated and killed to gain a controlling interest in NG, and he has his sights set on taking over the company. Jacobs and Terrance have become bitter enemies, as Terrance is jealous of Jacobs in every way.
Behavior: A cutthroat businessman, literally, that is willing to do anything to get ahead. He lives solely to gain power and wealth. Terrance Franklin epitomizes the golden rule: those who have the gold make the rules. While he is a bully and a brute in almost every sense of the word, Terrance relies on cunning and not physical ability. After all, you can always hire muscle.
Appearance: Terrance looks to be in his mid-thirties, and he can always be seen dressed in expensive custom made suits. Physically he is thin and not by any means muscular. He must have the best of everything, and makes sure it is visible to everyone around him. To add to his arrogant air, Terrance always seems to have a smirk on his face.

Manufacturing Division

The Manufacturing Division is the heart and soul of Northern Gun. Without the people and processes from this division, there would be no weapons, no armor, no commercial vehicles, no NG-300 Speedster Hovercycle. Nothing.

The military-industrial complex from the original Sentinel Industries forms the basis of this division. In the underground complex, centuries old automated factories churn out the parts and components of some of North America’s most rugged and sophisticated hardware. The former mine complex that Sentinel used prior to the Golden Age was in serious disrepair by the time the survivors of the Upper Peninsula figured out its true economic value. Much of the work of the manufacturing division is to keep the current machinery running at capacity while attempting to uncover and reactivate other lost parts of the complex. The quantum leap in some Northern Gun equipment over the last forty years has been the two-fold result of strong research and development and the uncovering of more advanced manufacturing techniques within the bowels of the "Sentinel Complex".

The importance of constant advancement is not lost on the Division Executive Vice-President, Rita Fitzgerald. Without a doubt she is the most driven of all the NG upper management and has an almost cult like obsession with the pre-Rifts history of the manufacturing systems at Northern Gun. She is constantly digging through old computer records, archives, research records, industry journals and anything else she can find that might provide a clue as to how to improve or better use their current capacity. As a result, Fitzgerald has one of the largest collections of pre-Rifts technical manuals, scientific journals, and engineering texts in the known world. She has been known to pay an adventurer two or three times the going rate for a new book that may help her unlock the mysteries of the Golden Age.

Fitzgerald’s obsession with innovation is contagious and has become a hallmark of the Manufacturing Division. Engineers, Operators, and even mechanically apt D-Bees are forever reinventing and reengineering, finding newer, faster, cheaper ways of doing things. It is this innovation that has allowed Northern Gun to out-produce many of the more advanced factories of the Coalition States or Free Quebec. It is the constant innovation that explains the wide variation in Northern Gun products from lasers, to particle beams, to ion weapons, and the wildly different designs and components featured from one vehicle to the next.

While players may never see the giant automated factories of Northern Gun, they certainly see the end result wherever they go. From the sonic flea and tick unit to the vaunted NG-45LP, all of it is produced and quality controlled by the engineers of the Manufacturing Division.

Rita Fitzgerald
Vice President, Manufacturing
Alignment: Scrupulous
Age: 47
Brief History: Fitzgerald started out as a scientist in Research & Development where she gained fame for a number of process improvements. She was moved to manufacturing to oversee the upgrading of the particle beam facility after her team completed the designs for the NG-45 "Long Pistol" - a best seller even today. Her performance on the Long Pistol Project saw her promoted to improve the manufacturing processes and turn out more units more efficiently. Finally, she replaced the previous Executive Vice-President after he suffered a major heart attack.
Behavior: An innovator and efficiency fiend rolled into one, Fitzgerald loves to look at a situation and try to make it better. The adage "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" means nothing to her. Her motto is more along the lines of "there’s got to be a better way to do this". Her constant analysis of a situation can prove to be very annoying, as many people take her nit-picky thought processes personally. Her phrases often start with "Wouldn’t it be better if" or "That’s good, but what about." Her brain storming often puts more insecure people on the defensive.
Appearance: An attractive middle aged woman who is taller than average. She keeps her blond, but slightly graying hair, cut short and functional. She has a very business like demeanor and wears practical, down-to-earth clothing. Fitzgerald walks with long strides and great purpose, and she often appears to have a far away look on her face as she ponders a given situation. Once she is engaged with a project, her whole demeanor changes to a frantic excited cheerleader type who tries to find the very best solution.

Marketing Division (NG-MKT)

Being the number one arms and consumer goods manufacturer in North America, and carrying as much as an eighty percent market-share, takes a lot of effort to stay on top. The creative geniuses in NG-MKT determine the strategies for getting Northern Gun products into more communities and into the hands of more mercenaries and adventurers. They also serve as a pseudo-diplomatic corps for NG, with Ishpeming usually playing a key role in negotiations with other nations. The other function of NG-MKT is to smooth over any bad relations or bad reputations caused by one of their employees, dealers, or even just a rampaging Crazy who was wielding an NG Rifle when he was finally gunned down.

To achieve these goals the Marketing Division is divided into two departments Advertising, who push products, set sales and specials, and recruit new dealers, and Public Relations, who are responsible for relations with government entities and for spinning the Northern Gun brand in a good light in all situations.

In the business of sales and keeping up appearances, it takes a smooth Operator and smooth talker to get the job done, and no one is better than NG-MKT Vice-President Wendy O’Grady (Human, 10th Level Con Artist O.C.C.). O’Grady earned her way through the Northern Gun ranks over a twenty-five year service history. Beginning her career in hover cycle sales, she eventually and ruthlessly took over operations of the Northern Gun Dealership in Whykin. Turning the fledgling operation into one of Northern Gun’s most profitable stores in a few short years, O’Grady was moved to head office as Director of NG Advertising department and eventually promoted to VP of NG-MKT.

Wendy O’Grady
Vice President, Marketing
Alignment: Anarchist
Age: 52
Brief History: Originally from Whykin, O’Grady began her life as a swindler, negotiating deals between Kingsdale and Whykin business people who preferred not to be known to each other due to the hostilities between the two nations. When business dried up due to increasing tensions, O’Grady used her contacts to get on the sales floor at the Whykin NG Vehicle Dealership. Here her skills really shined, breaking sales records moving hovercycles to mercenaries and adventurers, and then finally brokering a huge government contract to Whykin. Her success gave her enough clout to force out the owner and operate the dealership herself, selling a great deal of hardware to local mercenaries and governments - especially both sides of the Whykin/Kingsdale cold war. She took a job at Northern Gun Head Office as the Director of Advertising ten years ago, and she was promoted to the Vice Presidency of Marketing five years ago.
Behavior: A smooth talker, and rumored seductress, O’Grady can usually get what she wants from any person she is speaking to. She is not crass or threatening, but has the uncanny ability to take your money and make you glad you gave it: A consummate salesperson.
Appearance: O’Grady is an attractive older woman who knows how to dress for success. She is in remarkable shape and seemingly ageless, much to the chagrin of some of the other female VPs. Her hair is always professionally styled and her appearance never disheveled.

Diana Giannini
Advertising Director
Alignment: Unprincipled
Age: 30
Brief History: Previous job was working with Specialty Hardware, Inc., working with new designs and modifications for vehicles and power armor. Willard Jacobs discovered her when he was out on one of his many quests for raw talent. Both father and son Franklin voted to have Diana aboard because of her good looks. Maxwell has since learned to respect the woman for her creative talents, while Terrance still treats her like his personal secretary. Since joining the NG family, she has "breathed new life in the company," according to Max Franklin.
Behavior: Vivacious and full of life, this woman is looking at the world from a different perspective. She is very quirky in her ways, often walking around the offices barefoot or eating lunches with the grunt workers, but respected by most. She can be aloof at times, but focused when she needs to be.
Appearance: Good looking, in a non-typical way. Most people can’t put their finger on it, they are just attracted. Her style of dress is odd to say the least. She may show up in a color business suit one day, paint stained coveralls the next, and then end the week with a slinky Asian style dress.

Player characters will rarely have any direct contact with members of NG-MKT unless they plan to open a new Northern Gun franchise. However, many of the decisions made everyday at NG-MKT may affect the players directly and indirectly. A new sale price on certain NG products may influence what is available to buy in a given town, discontinued product lines will be difficult to replace, a player’s favorite weapon or vehicle may be phased out and difficult to acquire the next time they try to replace it.

Ultimately, this division will most often be used by GMs as a ‘plot device’ to help guide the players along a certain path or to explain why they player’s aren’t getting top dollar when reselling certain items: "Sorry buddy, I can only give your 10% of value on this one, Northern Gun is selling brand new ones at fifty percent off."

Northern Gun-Manistique Imperium (NGMI) Bank

The NGMI is not technically a division of Northern Gun, but a separate entity owned fifty-one percent by Northern Gun and forty-nine percent by the Manistique Imperium. This joint venture between two manufacturing powerhouses provides both entities with the means to offer banking services to their citizens and customers.

The end result is the NGMI credit. A stable currency used in most of Michigan and accepted at most places of business in North America at various rates of exchange - now including the Coalition States. The Bank is managed by a President and overseen by a Board of Directors appointed by Northern Gun and the Manistique Imperium. The current President, Dale Wadsworth (Human, 7th Level Rogue Scholar O.C.C.) has been at the helm for almost three years, hired after the previous President was fired for vocally opposing the CS treaty.

The biggest and most stable avenue for the Bank is the extensive dealer networks used by Northern Gun, and to a lesser extent the Imperium. All NG Authorized Dealers keep their business accounts at NGMI as part of their dealer agreement. This ensures that the Bank has a large stable group of customers, helps NG prevent its dealers from cooking the books, and makes seizing the accounts and assets of failed dealers very simple. In reality, the NGMI Bank is the de facto finance department of both Northern Gun and Wellington Industries.

In addition the Bank also provides deposit services for private customers. Individuals can open an account in Ishpeming, Manistique, MercTown, Whykin, Kingsdale, El Paso and Fort El Dorado. Credits are readily accepted in those cities as well as at any Northern Gun or Wellington Industries outlet. Outside of these major Northern Gun market places, the credits are still widely accepted, although usually at a lesser value. Before the CS Trade Treaty, NGMI was attempting to expand its influence into more cities and towns in North America in an attempt to do what Northern Gun had already achieved in the consumer goods and weapons sales markets: become the dominant player. While the treaty has seen an even wider acceptance of NGMI credits, because of their being accepted in CS states, albeit at a lower rate, the halt of expansion left a sour taste in the mouth of some Bank employees.

Much like the Swiss and Cayman Island Banks of pre-Rifts Earth, the NGMI credit is still very popular with mercenaries, adventurers, and bandits who buy their weapons and equipment primarily from Northern Gun. The option of using credits not monitored by the CS but more stable then those offered by the Black Market is attractive to a number of parties for a variety of reasons. The Bank is a major bone of contention between Northern Gun, Manistique and the Coalition States. The CS knows that undesirable groups are making use of the credit to avoid detection, and the Coalition vocally criticizes the NGMI for its loose customer background checks and due diligence. The President of the NGMI has to be very careful when dealing with this criticism and balance it against Northern Gun’s hallmark identity of protecting and preserving client privacy.

Dale Wadsworth
President, NGMI Bank
Alignment: Aberrant
Age: 46
Brief History: Wadsworth is originally a citizen of the Manistique Imperium and an employee of Wellington Industries, but he received his financial training from the Northern Gun University. Having worked in finance with Wellington, Wadsworth has vast experience in the financial mechanisms of the Upper Peninsula as well as a good working knowledge of the customers of the NGMI Bank. His status as a citizen of the Manistique Imperium also offers an illusion of separation between Northern Gun and its financial arm. When the two Michigan super-powers decided to work together on their own credit system, Wadsworth was a part of the committee formed to spearhead the project. When the former president of the bank was fired for criticizing the treaty with the CS, Wadsworth opportunistically seized the moment to offer his "vast knowledge and experience" to the position. As a result Wadsworth has ascended to the controlling force behind the second largest currency in North America.
Behavior: Wadsworth honestly believes in the bank’s impartiality and commitment to customer privacy. He would not give up a customer’s confidence to Northern Gun, the Manistique Imperium, the Coalition or any other element who may wish to know. At the same time he recognizes who his employer is and will not actively work against Northern Gun or Wellington Industries. However, his personal integrity in matters of financial records has made Wadsworth popular amongst some of the bank’s biggest customers including mercenaries and large criminal organizations.
Appearance: He is an extremely tall and thin man with short cropped brown hair. He often looks as if a large gust of wind would blow him away. His lanky and spindly features have caused some to question whether he is actually a D-Bee. His height makes business dress difficult and as such he always wears custom clothing, sometimes made form M.D.C. cloth material just to be safe.

Recovery, Advancement & Innovation Division (RAID)

Northern Gun offers a seemingly endless variety of weapons, equipment, and cutting-edge technologies. Their catalog is deep and varied, but not all of these items are available to consumers as a result of the traditional R&D. Much of their overwhelming market share can be attributed to the work of the RAID Division, the dark side of the NG manufacturing process.

RAID is an outgrowth of R&D, an aggressive approach to bringing new items to the marketplace before your competitors. While much of the organization still consists of traditional engineers working as a think tank for the R&D Division, it’s the specialized workers in RAID that define the group. RAID manages and maintains an extensive network of industrial espionage agents. The division also employs recovery teams to find and acquire pre-Rifts artifacts. This division is also responsible for identifying and hiring away top engineering talent from their competitors. It is through these less scrupulous means that NG maintains its competitive advantage.

For more details, see the RAID section of the Netbook.

Edith Saint-Jean
Vice-President, RAID
Alignment: Unprincipled
Age: 38
Brief History: Saint-Jean has her roots in the Black Market, smuggling drugs and weapons. NG had contracted her services several times to move weapons into Chi-Town, into the hands of under the table dealers. Excited about her skills and successes, the company hired her on full-time to head the entire CS smuggling operation. She excelled in this role up through the signing of the CS-NG trade pact. After the pact, she briefly led the industrial espionage department before being promoted to Executive VP.
Behavior: Saint-Jean is a complicated individual. Many believe she was promoted so management could keep an eye on her, because she still has many connections with the underworld, and her knowledge of NG operations is extensive. She still exercises her extensive contact list to pick up new leads for the department. She leads in an authoritative manner, and she has a tendency to speak to employees with a sharp, foul tongue.
Appearance: A petite woman, whose appearance does not at all match her personality. She keeps her hair short, but styled, and her dress modest. She would easily pass for a shy, helpless woman; this could not be further from the truth, and it is perhaps the main reason for her success.

Research & Development Division

When an experienced weapons enthusiast flips through a Northern Gun catalogue they cannot help but be struck by the vast variety of North Gun’s product lines. When it comes to commercially available equipment, Northern Gun produces an extremely wide range of weapons, armor, vehicles and bots. Almost none of them seem to share components and parts, save for their power supply - the standard e-clip or nuclear power plant.

Compare this catalogue to the weapons inventory of some major pre-Rifts weapons manufactures, or Wilk’s Laser Technologies, Triax Industries, Free Quebec, even the CS and you will see all of their products have similar form and style, shared components and are built from common technologies. Northern Gun looks like a veritable hodge-podge of product offers, designed by and produced by vastly different minds and thinking. Sometimes these differences are by design, for cosmetic purposes, or to appeal to a certain market; but mostly, NG has an unparalleled variety in their equipment.

This vast variety is a function of their Research & Development process. Northern Gun does not innovate as much as they reverse engineer. Through their RAID Division, the industrial giant is constantly scouring the planet for new, or previously lost, technologies. Once those are found, R&D attempts to duplicate them. Outgrowths happen from these technologies, such as the NG-P7 leading to the ultimate North American particle pistol the NG-45LP or the NG-57 eventually making way for the NG-IP7. What also happens is new lines evolve around new technologies. The end result is the large stable of product types and styles that is Northern Gun. Oddly enough, this large stable of products is what helps ensure such a large market share. There is a product that suits just about every need.

Managing this eclectic research and development process is A. William Starks (7th Level Rouge Scientist O.C.C.) a man whose family has a rich pedigree of reverse engineering for Northern Gun. Starks runs R&D fast and loose, and he encourages competition from his employees. Teams are constantly challenged to bring the product to market. Whenever a new technology is discovered or an alien or pre-Rifts item uncovered, Starks forms multi-discipline teams who work over the project and attempt to reverse engineer and commercialize the technology. The end result of this fast-tracked process is the infamous Northern Gun knock-off.

Knock-offs are the stripped down versions of weapons and vehicles that are commonly available on the open market. In fact, when a product is "knocked-off" Northern Gun sees this as a phase in the R&D process. From knock-offs come further developments or outgrowths, as R&D tries to mine a new product or technology for all profitable variations possible.

A. William Starks
Vice-President, Research & Development
Alignment: Unprincipled
Age: 34
Brief History: Like in most businesses, who you know is often as important as what you know. As the son of two of Northern Gun’s most famous employees, William Starks had a leg-up on the competition. He also lives in the shadow of his two famous parents and constantly struggles to prove that he deserves his position out of merit as much as pedigree. He started out as a research assistant in the later years of his mother’s tenure as head of R&D, and he slowly climbed his way up to team leader and finally to vice-president. While he is a capable and competent scientist, Starks often rushes projects to completion as part of an effort to prove himself. This sometimes means that the advancement isn’t the best it could be - hence Northern Gun’s slightly lagging technological edge, despite its manufacturing ability.
Behavior: What motives him is drive. William wants nothing more then to prove himself. He thinks that by churning out a large volume of commercially viable technologies he can show that he deserves to be part of the company leadership.
Appearance: Williams is a fairly good looking young man who can most often be seen in the testing labs of Northern Gun or in the research labs at NGU sporting coveralls or a lab coat.

Security Division

Just as Northern Gun attempts to acquire technologies and secrets from it competitors, those same competitors try to return the favor. While Northern Gun employs a large Armed Forces Division to protect its convoys, territories and physical assets, the Security Division is more concerned with counter-industrial espionage, executive safety, data protection and fraud prevention.

Counter-industrial espionage is one of the largest departments within the Security Division. These individuals attempt to track down and root out competitors’ spies and informants as well as maintain the physical security of the most sensitive parts of the company, including the old Sentinel Facility, the Research and Development labs, and the computer mainframes. The main work of counter-industrial espionage is investigation through physical searches and electronic monitoring, as well as developing and maintaining electronic protection systems.

Employees of counter-espionage can be security professionals such as soldiers and Special Forces but are more likely to be former law enforcement professionals such as sheriffs, police personnel and even ex-Internal Security Service (ISS) Peacekeepers and Specters. In fact, the counter-espionage unit is overseen by a former ISS Intel Specter that Northern Gun lured away from Chi-Town with the promise of more money and less dogma.

A sub-division of counter-espionage is fraud prevention and investigation. Northern Gun takes employee theft very seriously and investigates missing materials, especially missing money, very seriously. Fraud investigators are synonymous with bounty hunters in the Northern Gun lore. If someone perpetrates a fraud, Northern Gun pays their employees a 5% "finders fee" for recovering stolen goods and money. These fraud investigators are perhaps some of the most motivated and mercenary employees of Northern Gun. Employees who steal from Northern Gun are seen as the worst kind of scum and their dead or alive status is usually not the issue, only recovery of the stolen materials and goods is important. As a result many employees of the fraud unit are bounty-hunters and other mercenary occupations.

An organization’s leaders are valuable assets, and therefore the Executive Safety department takes their role very seriously. They take it so seriously that this dignitary protection unit of Northern Gun has spun-off into the premiere provider of protective services on the continent - Comitas Security Inc. This spin-off business allows Northern Gun to recoup some money invested in its protective employees as well as provide real life on the job training for new recruits. Most people who protect a Northern Gun executive serve with Comitas before being eligible to protect the VIPs of Northern Gun. Selection to move from Comitas to NG Protection is wildly competitive because of the vast increase in pay and the fact that so few are selected for this detail.

In the high-stakes business of industrial manufacturing, protection of one’s information and data systems is paramount. At Northern Gun, the Data Protection unit works tirelessly to ensure all computer and financial information systems are locked down tight. Many of these computer programming geniuses are also skilled hackers who have worked from the outside in, trying to break the systems and then using that knowledge to plug the holes (City Rat O.C.C. with Hacker skill set). In addition to technological means, the anti-hackers in data protection also have a special unit of powerful psychics, with powers such as machine ghost, telemechanics and other electronics based powers. Adventures in data protection may benefit from the electronic hacking rules found in Rifter #2.

Overseeing all this internal cloak and dagger is Lukas Koch, an ex-Leo (Law Enforcement Officer) for the New German Republic. Koch is a humorless and hardened man who is absolutely merciless and relentless in his pursuit of security. While some people think he is obsessed or crazy, they all agree he is effective and has kind of secret police air about him that keeps most people on edge.

Lukas Koch
Vice-President, Security
Alignment: Aberrant
Age: 38
Brief History: Born in the NGR, Lukas spent most of his early career in the NGR Law Enforcement Division as a counter-espionage investigator. Some of his biggest cases involved industrial espionage and fraud against Triax Industries by members of the Military and Triax Industries employees. After he broke open the widespread smuggling ring that made unauthorized sales to Russia, mercenaries, and North American powers, he was almost broken by the backlash. The people he had exposed were powerful and had powerful friends; as a result, it is suggested that Lukas Koch is hunted by some of those who wish revenge. However, the NGR’s loss is Northern Gun’s gain, as the professional law enforcement officer has proven very effective in managing the Security Division of the company.
Behavior: He is cold and closed. Koch has a very difficult past and holds many secrets against many high ranking German officials. He purposely keeps tight about these things. In fact, he keeps tight about everything and nobody really knows what Koch knows about them. The end result is a very nerve-racking experience every time someone speaks to him. He constantly looks, but says nothing, as if he knows something about you he shouldn’t. He is an excellent, patient interrogator who rarely uses torture or physical violence.
Appearance: Koch is tall with Slavic features, dark hair and brown eyes. He always wears his Security Division uniform, even to Board Meetings.

Support & Service Division

By far the largest division in terms of number of employees, the Support & Service Division takes care of all those back-office and administrative functions needed to make the wheels turn at Northern Gun. Some of the most important functions of the division from an employee perspective are human resources and payroll. While to others, the most important part might be accounts payable and receivable. Of course, the executives maintain that it is their customer care department which is most valuable. All of these and a myriad of other corporate functions fall under the scope of Support & Service.

That being said, Support & Service is not simply a boring and invisible division. Over the years the Northern Gun ethos has even permeated the way support functions are done. The best example of this is how Support & Service handles collections "the Northern Gun way." For more details on the NG Collections Department, see the section on STING.

Alexandra Cline
Vice-President, Support & Service
Alignment: Scrupulous
Age: 41
Brief History: Cline has spent her life working for Northern Gun. She started with the company at 17, working part-time in accounting. Her work ethic was strong, and she had a real talent for dealing with people. What drew the attention of upper management was her leadership. She was moved around from department to department in order to shape up the employees and increase production. Cline served as director of accounts payable and accounts receivable, as well as briefly serving as Associate Director of STING, before being promoted to VP.
Behavior: Cline has a no-nonsense personality. She will take time to talk to her employees and develop a relationship, but she clearly states the results she expects. And if she doesn’t receive those results, employees are held responsible. Yet Cline has been letting down her hair lately, so to speak, as she is looking for a husband. She has spent so long focusing on a career; now she’s making up for lost time.
Appearance: Cline is average in her dress and physical appearance. Her hair is thin and brown, usually pulled back in a pony tail. She’s slightly overweight, and while she dresses professionally, her clothes have a tendency to be baggy and unflattering.

Recovery, Advancement & Innovation Division (RAID)

Mr. Bender walked briskly through the stainless steel corridors of the underground testing facility, the sound of his steps reverberating down the well lit corridor. He stopped before the security checkpoint. Above him, two swivel mounted medium lasers took a bead on him as he punched in his clearance code and placed his hand inside the scanner. They no longer used retinal scanners in the complex as R&D was so close to a breakthrough on a cybernetic eye capable of retinal forgery.

Northern Gun: Always trying to stay ahead of the tech world's status quo.

With the scan complete, the pair of fortified doors slid open to reveal a long bridge crossing the derelict mineshaft to a secure laboratory on the other side. This was the part he hated. The bridge had originally been a breezeway, open on the sides, but some know-it-all corporate infiltration specialist had assessed it and determined that security would be better served by an open air bridge with several wall mounted weapons along the shaft's walls. Either that or an enclosed tunnel, but a tunnel was too damned expensive when there was so much money tied up in research. Although he would never admit it, Bender was afraid of heights. Nodding to the two armed guards approaching from the other side he took a deep breath and started walking across.

When he got to the other side, he exhaled and began the clearance procedure again, once again sized up by automated weaponry. Strangely, he was more unnerved by the height of the bridge than the idea of potential ventilation by laser fire if he punched the wrong number. Thankfully, he watched the doors open on an actual corridor-one without a large drop on each side-and eagerly stepped in, glad to leave the bridge behind.

Taking a moment to compose himself, he reviewed the facts about his new recruit: ‘Doctor’ Gorlothah was a D-Bee from an undisclosed dimension. He had been working on a holographic disguise suit for a rival company which he was unwilling to leave. He had refused several offers including a share of the device's profits in royalties, a long term and very cushy contract, and having a Shifter send him home when his work was done.

It seems the good Doctor had entirely altruistic reasons for creating the device, which had something to do with allowing D-Bee's to move about without persecution in areas that were rife with such ways. To be honest, Mr. Bender's superiors, although sympathetic to the plight of D-Bee's, cared less about that than they did about being the first to market such a device.

There were, of course, other reasons for his attachment to the rival company; namely his life mate. Sadly, she had suffered a devastating injury just the day before his services were acquired by Northern Gun. Fortunately for Doctor Gorlothah, Northern Gun was ‘pioneering a bionic procedure that might be able to save her’, and ‘surely he could continue his research in our facility!’ Obviously, he realized that he was destined to finish his work here.

Mr. Bender had arrived at the lab to discuss the new contract his superiors drew up for their new alien scientist. Who knew, in a few years, they might have a new piece of high tech gear, and Doctor Gorlothah might see the other side of that bridge. It would probably take that long to pioneer the new procedure they had told him about.

In the early years, Northern Gun was famous for its low-end knock-offs of high end equipment. While the manufacturing equipment and automated factories recovered at Ishpeming were of good quality, the company had few high-tech weapon designs and components ready for production. As a result, Northern Gun turned quickly to its neighbors, buying up weapons from the Coalition, Free Quebec, Triax, Wilk’s, The Manistique Imperium, the Black Market and many others. NG Engineers worked tirelessly to duplicate, improve and expand upon anything they were able to find.

This duplication and reverse engineering of technology reached a fevered pitch as NG and MI were in a heated battle for manufacturing supremacy outside of the Coalition States. A conflict arose as Northern Gun stole away not only weapon designs, but an entire team of research scientists with the offer of more money and more opportunity. This incident and many others like it keep the two nations at arms length to this day.

As this industrial giant extended its reach across North America, and as the major arms and technology leaders have settled, the culture of innovating upon existing designs still prevails. The head office at Northern Gun often distributes a list to its many dealers of items they are on the look-out for. Dealers who can trade or acquire items in the ‘little blue book’ are eligible to receive discounts, products, or cash bonuses from Northern Gun.

While dealer acquisitions are the easiest way to obtain mass market items and the occasional foreign or alien device, more work is required to obtain and reverse engineer the highest quality technologies from other nations and factions, as well as to unearth the secrets of the Golden Age of Man. This saw the early development of RAID. This Division within the Northern Gun corporate structure is responsible for acquiring new technologies from foreign powers and recovering lost technological relics from the Golden Age.

RAID Teams are engaged in active technology acquisition in one form or another. Active technology acquisition takes on three primary forms: industrial espionage, ruins recovery, and headhunting.

Industrial Espionage: This department is the smallest, consisting of two main groups: handlers and infiltrators. The handlers group doesn’t have many actual employees; it does have a large network of informants, contacts, and contractors who provide information about rivals, managed by the handlers. These handlers garner influence over highly placed individuals through relationships, blackmail, payoffs, and promises. The information gathered is passed on and used by RAID Infiltration Teams, responsible for industrial espionage missions. A typically mission requires them to infiltrate a rival corporate research facility and steal research data, plans, schematics, and prototypes. Often times these infiltration missions will be conducted by the handler’s informants, rather than by RAID personnel. This is preferred, as you can only enter a facility so many times before security improves. Compromised human assets controlled by RAID handlers can produce results and are less costly if discovered.

Ruins Recovery: In recent years, the ruins recovery department has seen a large increase in its available resources as Golden Age Weapons has shown the high return on investment in recovering technology from ruins. Using pre-Rifts maps, rumors, and information acquired from Industrial Espionage, the Ruins Recovery department sends teams to high-potential sites to excavate and recover any pre-Rifts or advanced technology. Many of these operations are in unclaimed wilderness areas; as a result, a large part of any RAID Team in this area is the security force. Often times, RAID will employ independent contractors, mercenaries and salvage experts to take on these missions with a RAID advisor on-site to monitor findings.

Headhunting: While headhunting is a common term for bounty hunting on Rifts Earth, the people at Northern Gun use the word in its more corporate sense: the recruiting of high value employees from other companies/nations to Northern Gun. Often times, if Industrial Espionage uncovers a particularly valuable human asset or project, a RAID Team will attempt to recruit the key personnel. This recruitment process sometimes involves outright payouts, but just as often through extortion, and sometimes even overt threats, although payments and promises are considered the most efficient method.

Given its wide range of responsibilities, virtually any O.C.C. could be found in a RAID Team from Spies and Super Spies to City Rats, Rouge Scholars and Scientists to Soldiers, Assassins, Professional Thieves, and Operators. RAID Team members are often highly experienced and highly skilled individuals in their respective fields. In RAID, the stakes are high, but so is the pay.

RAID Assessments

As Northern Gun enters new markets and makes contact with new kingdoms, one of their first priorities is to conduct a RAID assessment. This assessment is a wide reaching social, political and technological analysis of the group in question. Once the assessment is complete, usually done with passive probing from Industrial Espionage agents, a priorities list is assembled and RAID undertakes operations to achieve the priorities. Some priorities developed for existing nations include:

Free Quebec: In addition to stealing many of their SAMAS variant designs, a long standing RAID Objective in FREE QUEBEC has been to obtain the secrets to manufacturing Glitter Boy technology. This secret is closely guarded and attempting to acquire it has cost Northern Gun dearly over the years. The new alliance with the Coalition States has given new vigor to this objective, as the CSID provides additional resources to RAID. This degree of separation allows the CS to spy on Free Quebec with some degree of anonymity.

Coalition States: Once the alliance was called, all RAID agents were recalled to Northern Gun - officially. RAID still makes uses of some paid contractors to keep tabs on Coalition Research and Development, especially in small arms and cybernetics.

Black Market: This is Northern Gun’s biggest competitor for arms sales in North America. Although the Black Market has little in the way of competitive technology, the advent of Bandito Arms is beginning to change this. Northern Gun feels it necessary to discreetly reduce the Black Market’s share of the pie. Raids, snitches, turns and bribes are often carried out by RAID teams to keep the Black Market from expanding its grip and stealing market share from Northern Gun.

Wilk’s Laser Technologies: Despite having reverse engineered much Wilk’s technology over the years, RAID’s primary goal remains uncovering the location of the Wilk’s headquarters. Either through a business proposition, or through other means, Northern Gun hopes to benefit from Wilk’s unprecedented mastery of laser technology.

RAID Origins & History

Before RAID became a full-fledged division of Northern Gun, its precursor was a large, cash rich, R&D Division, supported by a loose collection of mercenary companies with specialties in information gathering and recruitment. At first, the division mainly operated by reverse-engineering mass market weapons. The NG-33 Laser Pistol was an admirable knock-off of the Wilk’s 320, and the NG-L5 surprisingly similar to the sturdy Wilk’s 447.

Around 63 P.A. the R&D Division’s lead scientist, Dr. Allison Boyd, was the first to hire mercenaries to acquire foreign equipment. While Northern Gun had managed to become proficient at laser weapons, they had little luck with experiments in other energy weapons such as ion and particle beams. Through colleagues, Dr. Boyd discovered a promising ion and particle beam project in the Manistique Imperium. After a failed attempt to buy the technology from their nearby neighbor, and another failed try at luring away the lead scientists on the project, Dr. Boyd contracted a mercenary company based out of Ishpeming.

The Interlopers specialized in infiltration and were often employed by Northern Gun as security consultants who would attempt to break into NG facilities in order to test security systems and procedures. It was a logical step for NG to use this group to ‘test’ the security systems of their neighboring nation. The operation to acquire the ion and particle technology went off flawlessly, more or less. While the Manistique Imperium could not prove that their neighbors had pirated the technology, Dr. Boyd’s earlier attempts to acquire the technology by underhanded means pointed at Northern Gun’s involvement. This incident is still a sore point between the two nations.

However, despite some of the political fallout, the resultant NG-57 Heavy Ion Blaster and ever popular NG-P7 Particle Beam Rifle became Northern Gun bestsellers. The bottom line impact of aggressively acquiring technology could not be ignored. This sparked a long and fruitful relationship between the Interlopers and Research & Development. The professional relationship quickly became personal as Dr. Boyd and the mercenary leader of the Interlopers, Allan Starks, became romantically involved. To this day, both of their children hold leadership roles in Northern Gun.

Current RAID Leadership

Today, RAID is its own Division, separate from Research & Development. No longer is it headed by a scientist; Smuggler Edith Saint-Jean (12th Level Smuggler O.C.C.) is the Executive Vice President in charge of RAID, with all scientific research performed in R&D. Saint-Jean formerly smuggled product for RAID, specializing in getting NG equipment into the Coalition States, before the trade pact was signed between the two nations. As a result Saint-Jean has a number of contacts in the Black Market within the Coalition States, as well as many of their allies such as Fort El Dorado, Newton, Whykin and New Kenora.

Through an extensive network, including many contacts in the Black Market, Edith successfully ran her operation for sixteen years. To this day, CSID has no idea of Northern Gun’s covert distribution and seedy dealings, a secret they jealously guard. After the alliance was formed and the Coalition States were opened up as free markets, Saint-Jean’s track record in Chi-Town made her a shoe-in for vice-president and RAID seemed like a perfect fit.

While many of Saint-Jean’s contacts became legitimate and authorized Northern Gun dealers in the Coalition States, it is suspected that she still deals with the more underhanded elements of the Black Market as well. Both of the Starks’ children believe that Saint-Jean is connected to the Black Market, one of Northern Gun’s biggest competitors, and keep a watchful eye on their boss.

Amy Starks (6th Level Special Forces O.C.C.), daughter of Allison Boyd and Allan Starks, is the Director of Operations and manages the military and intelligence side of the division. Her older brother, A. William Starks (7th Level Rouge Scientist O.C.C.), is Vice President of Research & Development, where he oversees scientific research and production. Other managers of note are Rachael Walsh (8th Level Mind Melter R.C.C.) who oversees the Recruiting and Headhunting Department and John Stephenson (8th Level Rouge Scholar O.C.C.) who leads Ruins Recovery. Both managers spend the majority of their time in the field and directly supervising employees from Operations and Research & Development.

Stephenson has made quite an impression in the field of Archaeology and Golden Age discovery in the academic circles of Lazlo and the CS - although this impression is not always endearing. While intelligent and charming, Stephenson is the epitome of Northern Gun’s mentality. His brains and quick thinking are used in the pursuit of profit, not knowledge. His abilities in Lore, Archaeology and History are merely skills for the acquisition of prizes for his employer, who reward him handsomely for his discoveries. Over the years, the mischievous scholar has stolen away important Golden Age finds from every major explorer and scientist in the Domain of Man. His important finds have helped push Northern Gun’s technological know-how forward and earned him the enmity of the academic elite.

If player characters are exploring a ruin, especially a former military base, they must surely factor an encounter with a Ruins Recovery Team, lead by the infamous John Stephenson, into their plans.

John Stephenson

Name: John Stephenson
Family Note: Youngest of four siblings, all Northern Gun employees
Alignment: Unprincipled
Attributes: I.Q.: 17, M.E.: 11, M.A.: 17, P.S.: 13, P.P.: 12, P.E.: 14, P.B.: 15, Spd.: 21
Hit Points: 38; S.D.C.: 34
M.D.C.: Usually wears NG "Maverick" Body Armor (36 M.D.C.) complete with cowboy hat (10 M.D.).
P.P.E.: 9
Level of Experience: 8th Level Rogue Scholar.
Natural Abilities: Highly intelligent and charismatic; 45% ability to evoke trust or intimidation.
Psionic Powers: None
Magical Knowledge: None, although he respects the power of magic
Combat Abilities: Expert (8th Level Proficiency)
Attacks Per Melee: 4
Bonuses: +1 strike, +2 Damage, +1 Disarm, +3 parry, +3 dodge, +3 to roll with impact, +2 pull punch, Kick Attack (1D8 S.D.C.), Judo-Style Flip (1D6 S.D.C. and victim loses one attack and initiative), Critical Strike on unmodified 19 or 20. +3 to strike and parry with blunt weapons, +4 to strike with Energy Rifles, Energy Pistols and Handguns.
Skills of Note: Literate in American, Techo-Can, Spanish and Euro all at 98%, Speaks American, Spanish and Euro 98%, Appraise Goods 88%, Basic Mathematics 98%, Computer Operation 98%, Computer Programming 83%, Creative Writing 78%, Find Contraband 72%, History: Pre-Rifts 88%/77%, History: Post-Apocalypse 88%/83%, Public Speaking 88%, Research 98%, Salvage 88%, Excavation 93%, Lore: Demon and Monsters 78%, Lore: D-Bee’s 78%, Anthropology 78%, Archaeology 78%/68%, Advance Mathematics 93%, General Horsemanship 68%/48%, Wilderness Survival 63%, Land Navigation 64%, Navigation 63%, Sensory Equipment 53%, Pilot Hovercraft 80%, Pilot Automobile 87%, Automotive Mechanics 40%, General Athletics, W.P. Energy Rifle, W.P. Energy Pistol, W.P. Handguns, W.P. Blunt
Appearance: A rugged unshaven human, with a weathered, tanned complexion. Lean, but not overly muscular he appears to be about thirty-five years of age. Brown hair, brown eyes, and stands about five feet, ten inches (1.78m) tall.
Special Vehicles: Prefers his Northern Gun issue robotic horse
Equipment of Note: Small wooden cross worn around neck, articles of clothing, backpack, utility belt, saddle bags, good quality cowboy boots, tinted visor, pocket flashlight, lighter, box of matches, RMK & IRMSS, tube of protein healing salve, sewing kit, laser scalpel, laser torch, infrared distancing binoculars, multi-optics band, bedroll, and NG-S2 Survival Skit.
Weapons of Note: A Pair of NG-45LP "Long Pistols", NG-H5 Holdout Ion Pistol, Steel Rod Encased Night Stick (1D6 S.D.C.).
Special Weapons:
Pre-Rifts Super Redhawk .454 Casull. The revolver was discovered while on a dig in Northern Missouri. Stephenson was impressed by the revolver’s weight, look, and age - as far as he can tell it was produced in 1999 on the Pre-Rifts Calendar. With only slight maintenance and repairs, the engineers at Northern Gun were able to get the gun working. As a history enthusiast, Stephenson loves the gun and feels it gives him some character. Practically, the gun is a favorite for scaring off animals with its loud retort and makes a great defense against vampires.
Cartridge: .454 Casull
Feed: 6 round cylinder
Weight: 3.34 lbs (1.52 kg)
Barrel Length: 7.5 inches (19 cm)
Damage: 5D6+2 S.D.C.
Effective Range: 180 ft (55m)
Body Armor: NG "Maverick" Riding Armor (36 M.D.C.)
Cybernetics: Universal headjack, ear implant, radio receiver & transmitter, sound filtration system, sensor hand (RMB pg. 230), multi-optic eye (+1 strike), toxic filter, oxygen storage cell, knuckle spikes, explosive finger segments (3)
Money: Rarely carries more then 4D6x1000 credits has access to millions in Northern Gun expense accounts and a small personal fortune of cash and valuable artifacts.
Allies & Alliances: As a well liked member of Northern Gun’s RAID Division, Stephenson can usually count on their support. Additionally, he has made more then one mercenary and adventurer rich from leading them into ruins to recover lost technology and can readily cash in 1D4 favors in just about any mercenary town. To supplement his charm and skill, John also travels with Togo, a full-conversion Cyborg Soldier from Northern Gun who is extremely loyal to the cavalier scholar.
Enemies: For every rich merc and adventurer there is a double-crossed or foiled one, this includes some pretty high-end smugglers from the Black Market and academics from Lazlo. Despite the protection from his employer, John will occasionally run across bounty hunters, former partners, and the occasional scorned woman looking to exact some measure of revenge.

Settlement for Those Indebted to Northern Gun (STING)

Morton Armstrong, or Mortie, as was his street name, raced through the slums of Firetown. He weaved through the congested streets, pushing aside old man and child alike. He shouted under his breath as he did, constantly looking over his shoulder. As Morton rounded a corner to dart into an alleyway, he collided with a street vendor hawking fake jewelry. Mortie had attempted to hurdle the wooden cart, but his back foot didn’t quite clear, and both cart and man hit the dirt road, hard.

"Watch it!" Morton barked as he kicked his way free. Stumbling back to his feet, he turned to give the vendor another piece of his mind, when Mortie’s eyes met with his pursuer: a tall man dressed entirely in black. Armstrong darted down the alley, never looking back.

An athlete in his younger years, Morton now considered himself a merchant of some great esteem; but he was a drug dealer, and the occasional gun runner, pure and simple. Much to his dismay, his past had finally caught up with him, and he feared the worst.

Morton skidded to a stop in front of an electronic door. In his panic, he mashed the buttons of the keypad and was greeted with the robotic decline, "Access Denied." He slammed his hand against the door in frustration then entered the PIN again. As the lock clicked open, he did not dare to look back. Morton pushed the door open with his shoulder, and shut it just as quickly. He breathed a momentary sigh of relief, watching the lock indicator return to red.

Mortie, unarmed, moved toward his basement, toward his stashed NG-X3 Power Armor. As he turned, he froze, spying another agent standing at the other end of the room. Two more approached from either side, seizing his shoulders. As the lead agent stepped forward into the light, the badge on his lapel came into focus: Agent Carrick, Northern Gun STING Division.

"Mr. Armstrong, I understand that you are indebted to Northern Gun. I hereby inform you that we intend to collect on her behalf," Carrick said, smiling as he finished, "by whatever means necessary."

The STING department is the police force for the Northern Gun Corporation, not to be confused with the local law enforcement of Ishpeming City. STING troopers go anywhere, anytime in order to recapture a debt owed to the corporation of Northern Gun. They regularly frequent the ‘burbs and have been known to travel as far as Germany, Japan, and even the Splynn Dimensional Market - all for purposes of obtaining, detaining, and negotiating with individuals who owe credits or goods to Northern Gun.

Their members use methods of interrogation and negotiation above and beyond traditional law enforcement. They have no rules, per se. Their officers are trained to use whatever means necessary to recapture a debt. That could include the removal of cybernetic implants, the seizure of vehicles (while in operation, if necessary), the negotiation of new payment terms, or in few cases, friendly repayment of credits of equal or greater value.

Truth be told, Northern Gun is essentially breaking even by employing the STING department. They provide little in the way of income for the company. By the time all of the soldiers are outfitted, paid, and provided with housing and medical care, little if any is left over at the end of the quarter. The real purpose of the department is sheer intimidation factor. Bandits and merchants all know that the squad exists. They also know about their brutal tactics and relentlessness. Northern Gun makes this abundantly clear to any new merchant, and bandits often spread the word quickly as well. Northern Gun employs the department as a necessary evil: a deterrent for would be thieves and crooked shop owners.

STING was founded just after the establishment of the NGMI Bank. Weapons, vehicles, armor and gear can all be financed through the Northern Gun directly, using an NGMI Bank account. Anyone interested in obtaining NG equipment can do so with a 50% down payment on new or used equipment, with payment terms to be decided individually depending on their reputation, proximity, and ability to be easily located. The Northern Gun typically charges 10% interest for first time customers, and interest is often reduced for repeat customers. This payment plan has prompted many first time merchants, mercenaries, militias, and countless other organizations to switch over to NG equipment simply because of this financing option.

Unfortunately, not all risk evaluations are accurate, and some debtors try to avoid repayment. Upon default on an NG loan, STING will seek out repayment in any way possible, including the capture of all collateral. As NG expands their production and technology level, the STING department has kept the defaulting debtors level at a record low, and has recently begun to turn a profit with enormous improvements in their search and recapture techniques.

Overseeing the recovery operations is Chase Stanton (6th Level ISS Intel Specter O.C.C.), a former ISS Intelligence Officer in Chi-Town. Stanton is a stern man, his career with the CS full of successful busts but marred by charges of excessive force. The blemishes of his record were overlooked, perhaps even welcomed, by STING.

Chase Stanton
Captain, STING
Alignment: Aberrant
Age: 34
Brief History: Stanton had a 10 year career with the ISS, one of the best Intelligence Officers in Chi-Town. But as good as he was bringing in the crooks, he had a temper which could not be controlled. He assaulted several innocent citizens, which could be overlooked; he also attacked several guilty, and powerful, politicians, which could not. Stanton was fired over such an assault, but NG seized the opportunity, hiring the young stud for their STING program a few days later. At STING, his skills and his brutality were both welcomed, and he has been highly successful. Not only has Stanton excelled at recovery from high credit debtors, the former ISS Specter also spearheaded a low cost scare program, aimed at individuals only recently falling behind on their payments. So far, over 80% of those ‘enrolled’ in the scare program have returned to regular payments without the need of further, costly STING intervention. As a result of the successful program, Stanton was promoted to lead the department.
Behavior: He is cold and calculating, and he effectively communicates his vision for the department. He is a good leader, often seen mentoring the other officers, but his tempter still gets the better of him. Since becoming Captain, he has gotten in fist fights with two members, and has since had both transferred to Security. His methods of motivation apply not only to those indebted, but also his own staff.
Appearance: Stanton has dark hair and dark eyes. He’s of average height and build, and his facial features are utterly forgettable. This generic look is what made him so successful as an undercover agent. But once he starts talking to you, he has a personality you can never forget.

Dealer Distribution

Distribution through the dealer network is relatively straightforward. Any city that has an authorized NG Dealership of weapons or consumer goods is tied to the corporate delivery service: Northern Transport. A dealer purchases the inventory from Northern Gun at dealer cost, then resells it to a client at market rates. Each dealer keeps an inventory of commonly sold products from the NG-S2 survival kit to NG compatible e-clips, a handful of rifles, pistols, and body armor, as well as a few commonly available vehicles such as the NG-300 Speedster Hovercycle. Dealers are responsible for anticipating demand and order on an as needed basis.

On a specified day each month, Northern Transport loads all regular time insensitive dealer orders into transport aircraft, often sub-contracted from mercenary companies such as Air Michigan, and delivers them to their dealers. The delivery charge is built into the cost a dealer pays. These transport aircraft fly directly from Northern Gun to the local airfield, where the cargo is transferred to another local subcontractor who delivers the items directly to the dealership. The major exception to this procedure is dealers who have ports accessible via the Great Lakes. Northern Transport also hires out merchant marine cargo vessels that can deliver to markets with port facilities. Dealers who do not have accessible and secure airfields or ports see their goods delivered to the nearest airfield or port and then delivery to the end destination is contracted out to mercenaries and adventurers to deliver to the dealer. The delay between landing at the major airfield and delivery to the dealer varies depending on distance to the dealer, as well as possible problems encountered en route.

For this reason, items are likely to be more expensive in more remote areas, as payments to delivery agents are generally higher. In game, this may mean that NG equipment may be available in remote areas but at a cost of 25%-100% higher then listed price. The delivery system also could cause delays, if a specific dealer was out of NG-P7 Particle Beam Rifles players may have to wait until the next inventory shipment arrives before being able to purchase the weapon. This delay could be anywhere from a few days, to a month or more. For large orders, such as bots, aircraft, power armor and bulk weapons and armor orders, Northern Transport is much more accommodating.

While major dealers such as MercTown or Kingsdale may carry a few power armor or robot vehicles in stock, most dealers won’t have these items on their premises unless a buyer is readily available. In this case, the dealer can make a special order to Northern Transport. To make a special order, the customer must pay up-front non-refundable cash or exchange deposit of 30% of the item’s final price. With the cash or exchange deposit in hand, the dealer can then place the order. From there Northern Transport has a transport aircraft loaded and in the air within twelve hours. Deliveries to major cities are made within twenty-four hours, outlying dealers can receive delivery within forty-eight hours. Expedited delivery is available, with a markup of 50%. Customers who change their mind will not have their deposit returned and will likely be blackballed by the dealer, meaning they may have to pay a significant markup for any future purchases. In these cases, with 30% already paid on it, dealers will usually try to liquidate the item rather then carry it. Under these circumstances, players could see a discount of 5%-25% of the list price. Of course the dealer may also try to hold out for full-price in order to make 130% on the deal, but often they are willing to negotiate.

Northern Transport keeps an updated list of mercenaries and companies that specialize in transporting items between cities and makes regular use of these short-listed entities. To get on the short-list requires an excellent reputation for delivering on time and intact. Often local NG Dealers will make recommendations to Northern Transport based on their knowledge of the local area. Another easy way to get delivery contracts is a bribe to the Vice-President, Terrance Franklin. Depending on the route and value of the delivery contracts, Franklin has been known to demand anywhere form a few hundred thousand to a few million for a spot on the prestigious and lucrative list.

Non-Dealer Distribution

In some places, NG will not authorize a dealership, especially for weapons. These areas are generally places where the Coalition States has asked, or threatened, Northern Gun to back off its sales. Some particular sore spots have been New Lazlo and the ‘Burbs. To this end, Northern Gun politely acquiesces and activates a non-dealer network.

Non-dealer networks are tangled, shadowy systems that make sure NG product is being sold wherever there is a demand and at a much higher price. This system requires Northern Gun to have a connection with a local arms dealer, such as a former NG employee, known Black Market type, covert government agency, or other entrepreneur. From there, Northern Gun requires a legitimate business address in a major delivery city, usually a mercenary or private security company. Orders are placed with Northern Gun through the business and delivered to the major city as usual. Once offloaded, this cargo becomes the responsibility of the buyer. The buyer is then responsible for getting the cargo into the hands of the customer. These orders are generally 20% more expensive and by the time they get to the customer, say someone buying from the Black Market in Chi-Town, weapons and equipment may cost as much as 50%-100% more than usual. Foreign governments who are on the CS "do not sell list" use the same method, and may also face a mark-up of 50% or more.

Foreign Relations

Northern Gun is the company foreign governments love to hate. After all, Northern Gun supplies most North American kingdoms, city states, and communities with not only weapons, but agricultural and industrial equipment too. The only problem is they provide the same things to the competition. Often armies equipped with Northern Gun weapons will be squaring off against mercenaries, rebels or bandits sporting the very same weapon, all sold to both sides by the same company. It is an infuriating situation at times and one that no one, with the recent exception of the Coalition States, has found a way to barter around. A running joke in the diplomatic world is that Northern Gun is even more non-discriminatory than Lazlo - because they’ll sell to anyone.

The Coalition States. By recognizing the stranglehold that Northern Gun has on the non-Coalition territories, the CS knew not to wake this sleeping giant. Instead they brokered a deal that allowed Northern Gun products to be sold within the CS and opened the lines of trade between the States and the Upper Peninsula. While the Coalition doesn’t need Northern Gun farm and industrial equipment, the trade agreement creates a situation where Northern Gun depends on the Coalition States for a large percentage of its sales, freeing up CS industrial capacity for war production rather then civilian needs. This puts the two nations on cordial, if not friendly, terms. Both want something from the other and for now they are getting what they need. The CS is still concerned about weapons sales, but knows it will not be able to curtail this activity. In the end, they simply hope that good trade relations will move Ishpeming closer to statehood, and they use the relationship to keep tabs on this industrial giant.

Free Quebec. While Great Lakes trade between Northern Gun and Free Quebec happened informally for many years, the CS Civil war and trade deal with Northern Gun ended shipments between the two northern nations. Free Quebec can manufacture all of its needs internally from weapons and armor to consumer equipment. The deal with the Coalition precludes Northern Gun from selling to Free Quebec, and Quebec’s attitude makes abiding by this clause easy enough. There have been a few tense moments along the Great Lakes where Northern Gun vessels have been boarded or shadowed by Free Quebec Naval ships, but to date no shots have been fired. It is rumored that Free Quebec hires Privateers to attack NG shipping heading toward the CS, but such claims have never been substantiated.

Manistique Imperium. As Northern Gun’s closet neighbor the Manistique Imperium is both an ally and a competitor. The two nations cooperate together on many levels including the joint NGMI Bank and mutual defense pacts. Their armed forces often train together on joint operations and most of the Manistique Officer’s Corps is educated at the Ishpeming Staff College. However, Wellington Industries and Northern Gun also compete in the same industry, especially the coveted hover cycle market, and those competitions can get rough. Industrial espionage and cut throat tactics are the name of the game between these two corporations and, by association, these two nations. Although they compete fiercely for market share in hover cycles, Northern Gun sees Wellington as a blip on the radar in its other markets and views the competitor as an annoying kid brother.

Lazlo / New Lazlo. While the philosophers of Lazlo disagree with Northern Guns mercenary business practices and object to their trade pact with the Coalition, they as usual do very little about it. Like most kingdoms, Lazlo and New Lazlo depend on Northern Gun for their mundane needs, especially for their non-magical weapons technologies. As the CS has not insisted on a trade embargo against any other nation except Free Quebec, Northern Gun continues to sell to these two magical havens and they continue to buy. Occasionally they offer moral objections, but more often than not they cough up the credits.

New German Republic. Normally these two nations would have very little concern for each other. However, when Triax Industries started selling weapons in North America, Northern Gun took offense. Although they could do very little at first, they were eventually able to begin industrial espionage and reverse engineering operations against Triax Industries; in fact, there still remains a large team of scientists trying to unlock the mysteries of the Ulti-Max unit. Some early successes, especially in knocking off the artificially intelligent Dynabot, cooled relations between the two nations. To further get an edge on these foreign competitors, Northern Gun has used its new influence with the Coalition to ban the sale of Triax weapons to the mass market in North America. If it were not for the ongoing war with the gargoyles in Europe, these two industry heavyweights would most likely be in very heavy competition.

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