1. Half Life 2 Knowledge
1A. Explanation on who “The Combine” are
- The Combine is a vast superior alien race that was able to seize earth in 7 hours. There are no more “Cops”, the guys you see with metal masks and a uniform are Civil-Protection Officers who are human but have decided to join the Combine forces. Some Combine humans, such as the Over Watch, have had various brain washings and organ transplants. The Combine enforces Civil Law Codes and detains citizens who act rebellious. The Combine are not your friend so don’t run up to them saying “Can I have a hug?”, the Combine Officer will probably just beat you.
1B. Disabled Humans and Children
- In HL2 you don’t see any children or citizens in a wheel chair. All children were killed by the Combine. In HL2 near the beginning in the plaza, you can hear a scream of a child and parents crying followed by gunshots. From this we concur that if any children are seen they will be killed. You do not see any crazy citizens with mental disabilities or paralyzed humans. This is because they have all been killed by the Combine too. If you were to RP as a child or handicapped person you may want to speak with an admin.
1C. Food
- The Combine have banned all food items except for their issued ones. Rations are an essential Combine Issued meal containing a chemical compounded food pack. The Ration is intended to brainwash a citizen but not severely. In HL2 near the beginning you hear a citizen tell you to not drink the water and that “they” had put something in it to make you forget. “They” is responding to the Combine. The Combine has put certain chemicals in the water to make citizens forget why they hate the Combine.
1D. Brainwashing
- Brainwashing a commonly used Combine technique, During brainwashing the Combine will alter your brain to become loyal to the Combine. Brainwashing can be undone for citizens who were unwilling to receive it, Lambda Movement Members, or if an Admin Authorizes a different way. Remember that citizens who willingly received brainwashing cannot be undone, This includes Combine Forces.
1E. Suppression Field
- The Suppression Field was developed by the Combine to stop the breeding of human beings ensuring that the remaining population will be the last of the human race.
1F. Player Knowledge
- You character’s IC knowledge is very limited. Your character knows what city he is in but not where that city is geologically. Also your character knows what he was doing before the Combine invaded, so any skills he learned can be used ICly. Your character’s knowledge should be very limited, you should progress your knowledge along the way of Combine or of the Resistance.
1G. Judgment Waiver
- During a JW, all citizens must be inside a building. JWs will be issued when there is high anti-civil activity. Depending if the JW is lethal or not, citizens who are outside will be detained and questioned. During a Lethal JW, citizens who are outside will be shot.
2. Citizen Role Play
2A. Citizen Role in Half Life 2 Role Play
- The citizen plays a crucial part in HL2 RP. Your main focus on while playing a citizen is to make a living while being oppressed by the Combine. Citizens are in the middle between the Resistance and the Combine. Your citizen character can be malicious and more on the resistance side but don’t go around thinking you’re a “real” resistance member. Your citizen can also be a Combine loyalist who supports and helps the Combine. Don't run around in the open with a rebel costume no matter what, because you'll just get shot.
2B. Anti-Citizens
- Anti-Citizens are citizens who go against Combine Law Code. Anti-Citizens are labeled for arrest on sight and any citizen(s) who give information that leads to a capture of an Anti-Citizen will be granted permit ration reward.
2C. Loyalists
- Loyalists are citizens who are loyal to the Combine, they are not infiltrators, they would alert CP to anti-citizen activity, but would not try to go and infiltrate a rebel organization, they would be too afraid the Combine would label them a rebel too. Whether they were always loyal or had been re-educated, or are too afraid to risk their safety, loyalists make up a majority of the citizen populace and will be hard pressed to give up their Combine pampered lifestyle.
3. Combine Role play
3A. Combine Role in Half Life 2 Role Play
- The Combine’s role in HL2 RP is to keep the city clean from Anti-citizens and rebellious activity. To join the Combine you must first be an established well RPer so I suggest if you’re new to RP as a citizen for a while until applying for the CCA.
3B. Combine Ranks, Squads, and Order
Names function something like this:
CCA.CITY-SQUAD.RANK.#####
Ranks - From Low to High
Rct - Recruit, or Temporary Unit
04 - 01 - Standard Unit
DvL - Divisioned Unit
OfC - Combine Officer Unit
SeC - Combine Sectoral Command (will not have a squad association)
Squads
SHIELD - The Combine Medical and Technical squad, these units are held responsible for the health and general maintenance of the entire Combine Civil Authority.
GHOST - The Combine Recon Squad, GHOST Units are responsible for the main chunk of intelligence on Rebel facilities and actions, they are also expected to be ready to deploy undercover in a moments notice.
UNION - The Main Arm of the Combine, this is the squad in which all units are placed in automatically, they are expected to keep peace and do their job in times of tranquility.
EOW - The Combine Trans-Human Arm, they are the top elites, only Over Watch and SeC Units are placed in this squad, any original member of ARBITER can choose a single person to join the squad as well, any member of ARBITER must be listened to, no matter the rank, as they are usually selected as field commanders.
4. Resistance Role Play
4A. Resistance Role in Half Life 2 Role play
- The resistance brings havoc on the Combine and cause problems in the cities. The resistance wishes to help citizens but usually the Combine stop them. The resistance is for the most advanced RPers.
4?.Help!
Rebellion leaders, please provide me with a fully set up section for this area, or just edit it in yourselves, thank you.
5. Other Shit
5A. There shouldn't be ANY over watch units in the city, the OW are ONLY called when a major rebellion is taking place, or when there is an evaluation called in.
5B.
Level 1 Contraband - Extreme threat to Combine - Weapons, Ammo, Bombs, Armor, Blades, etc.
Level 2 Contraband - Moderate threat to Combine - Armor kits, Fire Starters(Matches, lighters), pets, etc.
Level 3 Contraband - Low threat to Combine - TVs, Books, Heath Kits, Unauthorized food, plants, luxury accessories, etc.
Verdicts that are used
Level 1 - Amputate
Level 2 - Detain
Level 3 - Beat senseless
The Personality of a CCA Officer.
Okay, so I'm just a bit annoyed at how the perception of the Combine being instantly taken into the negative seems to be the common thing among citizens. What really bugs me is when newly recruited Civil Protection Units are suddenly turned into mini-Hitlers as soon as they put on some new garments, a flak vest, and a mask with a weird vocoder. They should be about as dumbfounded as the citizens on the matter at least until a few months into their service.
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I.
Orientation
How the hell did putting on that anonymous, regular suit suddenly pump you full of angry juice?
You should essentially be coming to terms as a recruit with the mindset of a Civil Protection officer, at this point you should really think that you are just like any police officer doing his duty. During the recruit phase, you are to roleplay slowly getting used to a better diet, building up your physique, and becoming a stronger human. But your mental state should really say that you believe you're fighting for the greater good, seriously, people may be tempted to join by the privileges, but at some point they've gotta start believing in the Combine, and you're gonna have to as well eventually. The Combine isn't like a way of life, it's a faction, it's a government. And you owe them everything.
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II.
Basis for Comparison
The strongest comparison for the Universal Union as an entity that I've found are:
The Galactic Empire
Of Star Wars Fame.
Alright, now as far as evil Empires go, i'm pretty certain The Galactic Empire was one of the most hard ass. I mean, you have an Emperor of unquestionable authority whom wishes to bring something with synonyms of "dark" and "evil" spewing out of it's associated adjectives like an overfilling briefcase. His right-hand who would be as evil only if he wasn't the Emperor's b****, who chokes the admirals and captains of his own fleet of Star Destroyers when they do the slightest blunder of an otherwise winnable operation. And even then, the Grand-Admirals are given the ability to toy with weaponry that blows up planets, and insisted to use it to commit mass genocide in order to prove a point.
Now, note one thing, all this evil brews in the higher-ups, where the whole knowledge of the Sith vs. Jedi thing goes on. When it concerns the lower ranks, it's all for the greater good. They view this as the one thing that will restore order to chaos, and so they will happily jump on board with their full support and Galactic Swastika waving and flying. However, this doesn't mean that these troops will commit genocide out of free will, on countless occasions have there been stories of Stormtroopers who will purposely miss their targets when ordered to fire upon civilians who are thought to be Rebel Sympathizers. No-one likes slaughtering unarmed people, not without some sort of madman grudge, in which someone showing serious psychological disorder would be sent to Nova Prospekt for Stalkerification.
Now this is where I see Civil Protection officers administering torture and excessive brute force in order to get an answer out of citizens. Even for mediocre things such as Level 3 Contraband. So what? Don't waste resources, cells that could be used to contain hardened murderers being used to contain small-time thieves? You beat them, and let them go, confiscate their stuff. If they are a good role player, they will not be conditioned somewhat towards not stealing. The way this is all leveled out, is the constant propaganda, in Star Wars, the Empire is the notorious dictatorship that has committed terrible atrocities and gained a reputation for no-nonsense practices, but when the Star Destroyers arrive and Imperial Stormtroopers arrive at the scene, there is nothing one can be but impressed at the glorious shining armour, the uniforms, the pride. That is the propaganda presented through the Civil Protection officers, in there uniforms, there ranks, there impressive posture, they are meant to symbolize the progression of humanity.
The Galactic Empire stands to bring order to a galaxy rife with impossible to contain conflict, similar to Earth during the Portal Storms. Don't forget, that without the Combine, there wouldn't be a human race to survive against the Xenian inhabitants. And with the amount of propaganda constantly being pumped into you, you best have a really good excuse to take an officer hostage, or to shout "f*** YOU, COMBINE" in the street. The Imperial Stormtrooper, the Imperial Officer, the TIE Pilot, the guy operating the big gun on the Death Star. They're all people who were recruited believing the Empire was doing what was right, and most of them followed that belief. This falls more in line with going rogue, to go rogue from the Empire was to have seen something of a disturbing nature that really shook you to the foundations, something that made your character rethink the entire ideal of his life, such as Alderaan being destroyed as a mere show of force. A unit would go rogue if they saw the true happenings within the Citadel, within Nova Prospekt, something of that magnitude. Not beating a few citizens for breaking the law.
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III.
How to Apply this...
<:: RcT-03::>
Okay, so you've recently passed some form of application, whether it be your recruit week or squadding up. You're bound to feel some sense of pride, donning the suit, waving around the glow-in-the-dark baton. Of course you'll have your gloaty moments, feeling all powerful, but that doesn't let you smack the crap out of a citizen for looking at you funny. In your mindset, along with the want to be a Civil Protection officer who helps, you have the strings of propaganda and training mixed around in your head. You are an authoritative force within the city, set to guide the citizens in this transitional period, you are to provide them with security and infrastructure, but to keep them along the guidelines. So you're best goal is to seem in-control and strict, but not inhumanely genocidal. You may be naturally suspicious of everyone, but then again, that's normal, you're a Civil Protection Unit, it's your job. Now let's take into account the fear factor. You have the responsibility and codes to abide by, you have to seem efficient and useful or your ass is getting relocated, or demoted, or revoked from the CCA, now this is your worst nightmare at this point, because the CCA is all you have to achieving a greater way of life.
Please note, you can't suddenly get angry and manic on all citizens who look at you funny yet, you're not an inhumane killing machine, you MUST make the connection that the guy you are beating is no different from you, at one point or another.
<:: 02-OfC ::>
Not as easygoing now as the previous ranks. At this rank you should have the discipline, pride and training of an Imperial Stormtrooper or a Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo from hereon) Officer. This is the kind of unit who knows what he's doing, knows where his loyalties lie and is a committed and experienced unit.
It must be noted that there is a rule in place that prohibits units going rogue after 01
So any major events to daunt or inhibit your units loyalties should be made here, and then given in an authorization to BoM or any RDA. But BoM essentially as he's the SeC.
So as stated, at this point your unit either goes on to become a loyal and experienced unit who is completely affiliated with the Universal Union and all of it's ideals that the propaganda is telling, or you find a way out (That's a whole other ball park, don't even take that topic up here, it'll flame.) . It doesn't yet mean that they're an inhumane bastard though, you still wouldn't willingly open fire on a group of unarmed civilians without some sort of predetermined hatred for humanity that has been with you since birth.
<:: OfC ::>
This also applies to elite units and specialized squads, as they will have received about the same amount of training and responsibility at this point. Now you're past the point of no return, as it were. If you decide to up and leave, you better have a VERY good reason and a VERY fun way of getting out. From here on you are monitored closely as a unit who can be called upon to take charge of other units in the field at any time. Let's say you're more of an Imperial Officer, take any Original Trilogy Star Wars film and countless times you are given the lifestyle and interactions between these types of officers, upstanding commanders and captains dripping with the pride of their title and uniforms. They walk about with a proper and strict authority, yet they still quake in fear when Darth Vader comes about choking everyone willy nilly. They have allegiance, but they have humanity, and it would still take some hard metal to make them come out of slaughtering citizens with a sane mind. However, the elite units that are made for interrogation and hardcore stuff, SHIELD and GHOST for example, they're trained specifically for being bad ass and getting the job done solely. So at this point, they must have some shred of humanity left, but they're slowly starting to be turned more violent. This may apply to some OfU field units, but it depends on their personal experiences more, where elite units would receive the training to do this, and would be tried and tested for the job without remorse.
Note, being deployed into an operation with the OfU ranked units invariably should boost the morale of the units being deployed under the command. Inspiring the units to fight on with respect and strong command of the units.
<:: DvL ::>
Interesting. It's pretty much up to the player at this point, CmD units would slowly start to realize through various implants and brainwashing that the Union is worth fighting for. Slowly and slowly they would be disciplined harder, trained more and given more of an edge. They would be pressed for their loyalty, and are trained and tested to do their jobs with unwavering loyalty to the Union. CmD units are chosen as leaders, effective strategists and effective leaders. At this point you'll be around Grand Moff / Grand Admiral on Star Wars canon. Take this guy, or this guy. Both are notorious as decisive leaders who will stop at nothing to get the job done, especially if it stood in the way of what they fought for. By this point you're just an effective leader, who is aged in combat experience, shown excellent strategy and earned the commanding respect of his units, subordinates, aides and superiors. Putting him in a very nice position of power.
<:: SeC / OW ::>
Okay now you're on Darth Vader levels, have fun with the genocide.
Undeniable, unquestionable authority. His presence demands the respect and attention of everyone in the room, his presence on the server demands a regimented and no-less-than-100% performance from every unit. Morale would definitely soar in his presence, as would efficiency.
