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10. Agents

"Agents" is a catch-all term used to describe non-combat units that serve your power. Agents are assigned missions and usually do specialist tasks, often with a fair degree of independence from your Power.

Agents come in four basic types; Spies, Hunters, Archaeologists, and Diplomats. A Power with a specialized need can also propose their own new Agent Type, for instance a Red Cross-like Transtellar might want to field roving medical teams of doctors.

Regardless of type, all Agents come in batch sizes of 1 point per 100, and are subject to the same PP calculations as other Military Unit types. The four Agent Types are listed below.

Spies

Spies are used for covertly gathering information as well as preventing others from doing the same to you. They can also be used to steal technology or to disrupt the internal workings of other Powers.

Like most agents spies are not a combat unit, and their combat abilities are usually limited to whatever they may need to escape capture. If you envisage your spies more as James Bond or Jason Bourne than Kim Philby or Mata Hari, then it may be best to use Special Forces for those tasks instead. Special Forces can make good assassins, saboteurs and intelligence gatherers. However Special Forces cannot conduct any of the other Spy missions.

Spy Missions

When on missions Spies are generally deployed in cells of at least 10 members. Smaller cells – even individual Spies – can be used for missions, but they are not very effective. Cells are often deployed in larger spy rings of 100 or more. Larger spy rings increase the benefits of success in a mission, however they also increase the chance of detection, and the number of casualties that can be suffered if the spy ring is penetrated.

Spies can be assigned one of five missions; Information Gathering, Espionage, Subversion, Assassination/Sabotage, and Counter Intelligence. Missions vary in difficulty based upon the skill of the spies and the defenses of the target, but also on the inherent difficulty of the mission-type (Low, Medium or High difficulty) and some missions are easier to perform than others, while others come with much greater risks.

Mission goals are generally assigned at the start of the year, and then the Spies will provide periodic notification of their progress. Missions can be changed over the course of the year, but Spying often takes a long time to get results and continually changing a spy's mission may render him unable to do anything at all, as well as making him more vulnerable to detection.

Information Gathering:

This is probably the most common mission, where the Spies are tasked to gather information on a target power. In more open societies this can be as simple as visiting the nearest library, or logging onto the local computer network, but in closed police states this can necessitate infiltration, the deployment of sleeper agents and the like. The difficulty of Information Gathering missions is Medium.

Information Gathering can be general, just scooping up anything the Spies find that may be of interest, or it can be targeted at specific areas or aspects of the target Power and prioritized. For example, you could tell your spies to prioritize gathering information on a Nation's government with a view to finding out what direction their diplomatic relations are headed in, with a secondary goal to gather on their military particularly information on the location of their best divisions, and then a tertiary goal to find out information on their infrastructure particularly how much they're producing each month.

Espionage:

Espionage missions are conducted to steal Advancement Points, in either Technology or Magic, from another Power. Such specific information is often closely guarded, and difficult to extract and so the difficulty of Espionage missions is High.

You can only conduct one Espionage mission at a time against any one Power, and that Mission will collect on only a single Advancement Category. You can either have this collection be random which increases the chance of success, or tell the spies exactly what you're looking for and get them to collect information on a specific Category.

As a note, one might think it would be impossible for a Medieval civilization to conduct Espionage against a starfaring civilization, but in fact the difficulty remains the same, as the information that would be relevant to the Medieval civilization is probably considered common knowledge and thus relatively easier to obtain.

Subversion:

Subversion missions are undertaken to increase the civil unrest in a target power, and can go as far as inciting rebellion and civil war. Low-level subversion (such as handing out seditious pamphlets, or spray-painting revolutionary slogans on walls) is a relatively painless activity, but also has very limited effect. More sophisticated (and thus effective) subversion operations require a great deal more resources and effort, thus the difficulty of Subversion missions is Medium.

Subversion operations work best if planted in already fertile soil. Unless there is already some level of unrest for the Spies to work with, it is unlikely they will achieve results. Even in the best of situations, this is a very long-term operation, and quick results should not be expected.

Assassination/Sabotage:

Assassination and Sabotage missions are undertaken to knock out key parts of a Power's infrastructure. This can also include military forces. It should be noted that in actual terms the damage done by these missions will almost always be marginal, but they can serve as a useful disruption preceding larger scale operations, or as a fairly cheap way of distracting or diverting another Power. The difficulty of Assassination/Sabotage missions is High, and increases against well-defended targets, such as troops, or important members of government and the like.

Counter Intelligence:

The purpose of a Counter Intelligence mission is to capture enemy spies. Counter Intelligence missions are usually conducted on a Power's home soil, though the more daring can try to conduct them offensively into another Power's territory. The difficulty of Counter Intelligence Missions is Low, though this increases to High if such operations are conducted in another power's territory.

Spy Added Capabilities

Spies have only three types of Added Capabilities. These are based on their abilities, which are the ability to infiltrate hostile Powers and do their jobs, the ability to exfiltrate (flee!) if things go badly, and the ability to uncover and catch other spies.

As with all Agent Added Capabilities, Spy Added Capabilities do not add any Upkeep no matter how many times they are taken.

+X Infiltration: Infiltration increases a Spy's ability to penetrate his target and accomplish his mission. This Added Capability can also be given to Special Forces Infantry.

+X Exfiltration: This Added Capability only comes into play is a spy fails and is in danger of being caught. In this case each Added Capability in Exfiltration increases the chance of him escaping with his life. In some cases it may even allow him to evade his enemies and continue with his mission. In worst-case scenarios it can at least give the Spy a chance of using death as her final escape. This Added Capability can also be given to Special Forces.

+X Spy Catcher: Spy Catcher increases the chance of a Spy detecting enemy agents. This can be useful both for catching enemy spies, but it can also be useful in detecting and avoiding them. Special Forces may not use this Added Capability.

Hunters

Hunters are a special Agent type used for catching Creatures on worlds that have the Magical Wildlife, Mystic Haven or Terra Incognita Magicka Advantage. Hunters can be deployed by Powers that have these advantages to increase their Creature quotas, or by other Powers without these Advantages who can use them to launch expeditions into Creature territory and try and snag some critters of their own.

Unlike other Agent types, Hunters can also function as combat units, and when doing so can be considered as particularly mobile and stealthy elite infantry, with much enhanced senses. Hunters thus make excellent scouts in wilderness terrain.

Hunter Missions

Hunters deploy on expeditions to find new Creatures. These expeditions can be small-scale affairs with as few as 10 Hunters, or can balloon into full-scale military campaigns with regular military units involved as well (in fact an expedition can be launched without Hunters, but the presence of Hunters increases its chances of success). A Power may only launch one Expedition at a time, and an Expedition will take at least a month to complete.

Hunter Added Capabilities

Hunters can use any Infantry Added Capability a Power has researched. They also gain a +1 Environmental Training Added Capability completely free, which is used to describe their chosen environment. Apart from that there are no added Capabilities specific to Hunters.

Hunters are adept at foraging and scrounging what they need, so no matter what Added Capabilities they take, Hunters never pay extra Upkeep for them. In the field they are entirely self-sufficient.

Archaeologists

Archaeologists are scientists specifically trained in the techniques of finding and recovering ancient artefacts. While these can often be lost cities of olden times, antique writings, or other historically significant relics, for game purposes they focus mostly on finding things of practical value – weapons in particular.

The universe of Lords of Ether has a history that goes back millennia, and whole civilizations have risen and fallen in that time. In particular, the Gods and the Empires of Man left behind many artefacts scattered far and wide with the cataclysmic end to the Godswar. Even today these artefacts are incredibly advanced, and some are still functional. . .

Being bands of scientists and academics, Archaeologists have no combat ability to speak of. If for some reason they are expected to get into a fight they will have to be protected by military units.

Archaeologist Missions

A Dig is the only mission Archaeologists can undertake. A Dig is the act of uncovering ancient artefacts.

Each Power can only conduct one Dig per Nation, and it must conduct them in a Nation (or the rare Transtellar) that has either the Ancient Relics, or Ancient World Advantages. It is not necessary to conduct Digs in your own Nation, but without the local supporting infrastructure (porters, labourers, full knowledge of all past legends, access to the local archives and records, etc.) they will be less successful, and most Powers take a very dim view of foreigners running off with their historical treasures.

Once a Dig is established it will run automatically, with a monthly chance for uncovering any new Artefacts. If a Dig is located in a foreign Nation (and without their permission!) each month there is also a chance it will be detected, based on the size of the Dig mission, and the skill of the teams in staying "under the radar."

It takes a significant team to properly explore a given region, and a Dig is usually undertaken by a full 100-man team of Archaeologists. Smaller teams can be used, but their chances of success are low, and the value of the artefacts they find will be reduced. Archaeologists also can band together in multiple teams to uncover a site, and the more teams that are deployed, the greater the chance of discovering something useful.

Archaeologist Added Capabilities

Archaeologist have only two Added Capabilities - Find and Infiltration. Being specialized Agents they may not take any other Added Capabilities. As with all Agent Added Capabilities, Archaeologist Added Capabilities do not add any Upkeep no matter how many times they are taken.

+X Find: Be it better training, more equipment, extra grad students or just dumb luck, Archaeologists with Find uncover the best relics. Archaeologists with this Added Capability increase the amount of PP in artefacts received from each strike. However because academics are a jealous and factious lot, multiple teams of well funded, well equipped Archaeologists do not get along well, and the effectiveness of Find is reduced for each team after the first that has it. Thus in practice it's best to have one or two leading teams with "Find" per Dig, with the rest being standard teams.

+X Infiltration: Infiltration makes Archaeologists better able to conduct operations in another Nation's territory. However, just because your archaeologists dodged patrols and uncovered an ancient Godswar battleship doesn't mean you can automatically extract the finds, and doing so may become a mission in and of itself. For that reason Archaeologists digging outside your own national borders tend to go for relatively small, easy-to-move artefacts.

Diplomats

Diplomats are a special type of agent used in contact with other Powers. Of course you can use anyone as an ambassador, but diplomats have a special skill set suited for the role. Unlike other Agent types, a Diplomat is a 1 point per 1 unit. They often travel with large personal staffs (around 100 on average to make up the usual Agent batch), but in the end a Diplomat is a specific person, and often each diplomat has his or her own specialities and uses.

Diplomatic Missions

Diplomats are used to speak to other Powers, and can modify the results of diplomatic rolls based upon their skills. Diplomats can also be sometimes used for less scrupulous ends, doubling as spies or perhaps assassins.

For all the abilities they have, the worth of Diplomats is often constrained by how willing the various parties are to abide by agreed upon laws and norms of behaviour. Even so, Diplomats can be a fun addition to international power games, and may occasionally give useful results.

Diplomat Added Capabilities

+X Demagogue: The Diplomat is a fantastic orator, and can sell a point of view or way of thinking to the people in such a way as to make them supportive of a particular policy. This can be useful for swaying either a Power's own population towards support for an unpopular decision, of pressuring another nation by getting their population on side with a decision their own leaders would rather not take. Demosthenes who railed in the streets of Athens against Philip of Macedon is one of history's most famous demagogues.

+X Peacemaker: The Diplomat is skilled at smoothing ruffled feathers and putting the best foot forward even between archenemies and hated antagonists. They are best at preventing heated situations from developing into wars, or if wars start, convincing the parties to go back to the peace table.

+X Warmonger: The Diplomat is skilled at pushing all the right buttons to get the other guy to declare war in a fit of outrage. Of course relations must already be tense for this to work, but if applied at just the right moment, some of this Diplomat's choice words can let loose the dogs of war. Bismarck's letter to Napoleon III which kicked off the Franco-Prussian war is the most famous example of this kind of skulduggery. This is great for those powers concerned about silly little things like casus belli, and interstellar appearances.

+X Treatymaker: Treatymakers are good at the long winded legalese that accompanies many international agreements. They can see through prevarication and Double Talk, and win a treaty for their side that addresses their nations concerns in an accurate and comprehensive manner.

+X Double Talk: A Diplomat skilled in Double Talk can sometimes convince a leader he's promised the moon on a silver platter, while actually not even promising the platter. This skill is useful for having your diplomats leave you hidden loopholes that allow you to worm out of inconvenient agreements.

+X Observant: Often there are many hidden agendas and unspoken aims at high level conferences, and the Observant diplomat can sometimes weedle out more than his opposite numbers really wanted to reveal about their true goals and objectives. This is a useful Added Capability if you want to find out whether your negotiating partner thinks he's ripping you off or not.

+X Poker Face: Since there are many hidden agendas and unspoken aims at high level conferences, many Diplomats want them to stay hidden. This advantage means the Diplomat is less likely to reveal what he doesn't want to.

+X Diplomatic Immunity: Many nations in Lords of Ether subscribe to the concept of diplomatic immunity, but there are also others that don't grant such privileges to Diplomats, who must then make their own clandestine arrangements for When Things Go Bad™. This Advantage works much like Exfiltration for Spies, and allows the Diplomat to escape from a hostile power. Sometimes.

+1 Assassin: Not all Diplomats are what they appear, and some hidden hands hold bloody daggers. Diplomats often get very close to national leaders, and this can make them perfect assassins. This Added Capability gives them the combat capabilities of Special Forces, and allows them to take SPF added capabilities as well. Of course keep in mind the diplomat cum assassin is still just one man, so that's one very expensive SPF.

+1 Spy: Diplomatic cover can sometimes be just what a spy needs, and indeed some of the greatest agents masquerade as ambassadors or members of their staffs. This allows the Diplomat to take Spy Added Capabilities and function as a spy ring. This is obviously a very dangerous game for a Diplomat to play, since much of the usual deniability of spies is lost if the Diplomat is caught in the act. All Agent Types pay only Wealth Upkeep. They never pay additional Upkeep for added capabilities, nor do they pay additional upkeep in wartime.

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