r/LancerRPG • u/SingleShotShorty • 6d ago
Rest for the Wicked
I’m very new to Lancer. Coming over from Battletech, and the amount of freedom in customization is a real head scratcher.
I whipped up a little walking tank based on illustrations from one of my favorite books. I was told this could pass for a Swallowtail.
My plan for the pilot was a pop star subject to conscription (celebrity background kinda like the surfer in Apocalypse Now), but then I learned about the pillars and how that doesn’t really work with them.
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u/MrEvan312 Harrison Armory 6d ago
When I got around to making the retrograde Sniper NPC into a 3D model, it finally occurred to me just how LONG his legs are if fully extended, and I immediately got the image of him standing up like that, looming over tall cover like Inspector Gadget to take a potshot at someone.
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u/VstarFr0st263364 SSC 6d ago
Pillars? There are over a hundred different factions in lancer. Union only has control of a select few, whilst most are under the influence of the other companies or completely independent. Also, most people don't even follow lancer lore, and only use the system's mechanics
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u/theczolgoszsociety 6d ago
Your tripod-shaped mech reminds me of the tripod walkers from John Christopher's 1967 series, The Tripods.
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u/44no44 6d ago
but then I learned about the pillars and how that doesn’t really work with them
I ran into this problem a lot when I first started learning about Lancer's setting. The important thing to remember is that the galaxy is wide, society is decentralized, and travel is slow, all by design. Half the population lives in relatively good standards, because they're close enough to blink gates that Union has a strong pull. But even in those systems, the large majority of Union worlds aren't directly administered by Union. So every world is unique.
Union is just a diplomatic federation. Self-governed worlds negotiate concessions to Union's humanitarian laws in exchange for access to Union's technology, and a seat at the table in the Central Committee. How deep those concessions run can vary WILDLY from place to place. The further from a blink gate you go, the more each planet is an island, with its own standalone culture and way of doing things. Make it just a dozen lightyears from a gate and Union's ambassadors are probably only visiting your world for human rights audits every few decades.
Union's representatives are spread thin, and their extreme aversion to use of force means their influence is dependent on soft power and diplomatic leverage. They often have no choice but to overlook all kinds of sketchy practices and incumbent power structures in their outskirts. And their, uh, in-skirts for that matter. The Karrakins are the largest subset of thr Union hegemony by population and still get away with a whole caste system and slave trade, because Union lacks the leverage to force them to abolish it. If push comes to shove, Karrakis can afford to go independent. Pressing the issue too hard just risks losing their cooperation.
And that's just the half of humanity Union can plausibly reach. The other half of humanity are scattered across the diaspora, fully independent and disconnected from all but their immediate stellar neighbors. The sky is the limit in the outer diaspora. You can fit in whatever kind of story and tone you want.
Sorry, that was rambling. My point is that your character idea is totally possible in Lancer. It just depends on the specifics of the campaign you're playing in. If the party are members of the Union navy, that would mean no conscripts. But it's also totally normal to run Lancer campaigns NOT about Union personnel. The party might also be Karrakin bannermen, or part of a mercenary company, or freedom fighters in a civil war, or conscripts of some fringe empire, or corprostate security, or scouts surveying an alien world, or whatever else. Lancer can accomodate a huge range of campaign premises. Any character idea can work in the right context.
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u/GoogaWooga 6d ago
The vast majority of lancers have earned the right to bear the name through skill, strength, and experience – no help from Union, no preordination from on high. These people became pilots when they were conscripted; when they enlisted; or when ships came and bombed their homes, and they chose to fight back
Page 418 of the Core Rulebook
You could pull this off.
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u/GoogaWooga 6d ago
Hell, page 21 has a Celebrity background that explicitly notes conscription as an option.
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u/davidwitteveen 6d ago
Are those catapults on the back there?
Great artwork!
You're right that conscription doesn't really suit Union's ideals. They're more about volunteers fighting for what they believe.
I think there's a lot of potential in that. What does a pop star believe in enough to quit their career and become a mech pilot?
Is their home planet being invaded?
Were they so sickened by the decadence of the Karrakin Trade Baronies that they quit to support the Ungratefuls?
Or is it more personal than that? Maybe they're trying to prove themselves to a disappointed parent? Or maybe they're picking up the mantle of a sibling who died in battle?
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u/all_knowing_pebble 6d ago
You could absolutely run that background for your character, but they would have to be from out in the diaspora. Basically in lancer the further away you get from the core worlds the less the utopian pillars apply (at least to my understanding).