The following are brief ideas the GM may use to construct detailed scenarios set in embattled Britain.
TURING, TURN, TURN
The team is assigned to protect Alan Turing from abduc-tion by the Axis. However, what they don’t know is that Anastasiya Beskin has faked the Axis threat. She did this because she has intel on the PCs. Because they are not as highly classified as Turing, they are easier to track. She also knows they’ve been favoured for missions just like this. Her theory: they will be assigned to protect Turing.
By following them, she will find Turing.
For the PCs, things seem straightforward until they meet Turing. Turing claims he’s onto a secret older than
the Pyramids connecting his Prometheus machine to Stonehenge and other monolithic sites throughout Europe.
Is he right, or have the stress and his personal demons finally driven him over the brink?
SKARA BRAE, SKARA BRIGHT
Located in the Orkney Archipelago, Skara Brae is a Neolithic village in an excellent state of preservation.
Originally uncovered in the 1800s, several artefacts were taken away by a mob in 1913. During the war, the site was largely forgotten; but recent events have caused Royal Engineers to prepare defences on the Orkney Archipelago.
In so doing, they have unwittingly uncovered a deeper burial chamber under Skara Brae itself. Inside the tomb, they found a warrior decked in bronze armour (not some-thing one would expect in a Neolithic tomb) and a sword with a pommel that appears to feature a stone cut from a lump of VK. The Axis wants it and so do the Russians.
The PCs may be all that stands between them and this ancient secret.
LONDON CALLING
The team is directed to assist in finding a missing ASOCOM agent in London known as The Oyster.
ASOCOM lost contact with their agent one week ago while she was on the trail of discovering plans for the next stage in the Axis plan to conquer England. The PCs must sneak into the occupied city and pose as locals. From there, they need to find out what happened to The Oyster.
Has she switched sides or been captured? Perhaps she is already dead. A contact of hers thinks she’s in the Tower of London, but another says she has been subjected to experiments by von Thaler’s personally trained psychics.
Could that be true and, if so, why?
RUSSIA
“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
—Winston Churchill
Mother Russia, her vastness encompasses undisturbed forests, Siberian taigas, and marshlands larger than one can easily imagine. It has always been an unforgiv-ing country, and its winter has been the end of many a would-be conqueror. For all its beauty and harsh landscapes, Russia is home to a proud, strong people who have resisted the Axis onslaught since the early days of the war.
Having teamed with China to form the SSU, Russia is no longer content to play a defensive role, but instead has launched offensives in vastly disparate corners of the globe. Yet Russia herself is still battleground. The city of Zverograd is the subject of a massive battle involving all blocs. Russia also holds her secrets. Strange, even terrifying, things lurk in wilderness so unexplored that only the local shamans, who speak forgotten tongues, can lead the way.
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Chapter 9: NATIONS OF THE WAR
PLACES
MOSCOW
The Russian capital was once the target of the Reich’s fury, but that has since turned toward Zverograd. The Battle of Moscow did not actually reach the city. Russian forces were able to stop the Germans outside of Moscow itself. The Kremlin is now the headquarters of SSU Intelligence and Strategy in much the way the Octagon is for the Allies.
This old city holds a host of tunnels running beneath the streets, Red Square, and the Kremlin itself. Among this network of passages is rumoured to be the lost Library of Ivan the Terrible (see below). Moscow itself is strained by the war effort, being on a ration system like many other major cities.
Propaganda posters the size of movie screens plague the city, perfect specimens of the proletariat looking out toward futures rich in vast fields of grain and the products of empowered labour. The reality is something less than that. Most Muscovites live in poverty, and the rationing system does not adequately provide for a family’s needs.
Not unlike occupied London—the black market has filled the gap. The Kremlin ejected all foreign diplomats tied to the Allies when they formally severed ties. Espionage in the city is risky, but present.
LIBRARY OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE
Prior to the war, Soviet archaeologist Ignatius Stelletskii became convinced that Ivan the Terrible had been given much of the Library of Constantinople by Princess Sophia Palaeologue, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor. In turn, this previous library supposedly contained parts of the lost Library of Alexandria. This would be conscripted to the realm of academia were it not for Rasputin’s interest. The enigmatic, un-killable man wants to get his hands on the contents of this library. Stelletskii has been put in charge of an effort to locate the library, but what Rasputin hopes to find inside is unknown.
ZVEROGRAD
One of the worst battles in the war currently rages in this blasted city on the Caspian Sea. Zverograd is a city under siege. Like Stalingrad before, Zverograd has been reduced to ruins—broken chimneys, like rotting teeth, punctuate an urban landscape blasted to dust. The surface of Zverograd is a maze of sniper’s nests, which is why the Axis used the sewer and metro system to access Zverograd as they did in Stalingrad. However, this time they came prepared.
Why Zverograd is so valuable is unclear. Popular among the soldiers fighting there is the idea that a VK mine lurks beneath the streets. Less popular, but perhaps more interesting, is the theory that a Vrill base was once located on this very spot. Unlikely as that is, soldiers under strain should be allowed their nonsensical gossip. After all, they are rarely getting a hot meal.
Rattenkrieg
The war for the Zverograd underground is known as the Rattenkrieg, or Rat’s War. First pioneered in Stalingrad, both sides have learned from that battle and shored up both defences and methods of attack. The Axis employs hordes of zombie troops to flush out the Russians hiding among the metro tunnels and sewers waiting to ambush any patrol which happen by. The fighting is intense, often coming down to hand-to-hand combat. There is noth-ing like the hot breath of your enemy on your face as you grapple for your life in a knife fight from which only one of you will emerge alive. Such is life, or more often death, in the Rattenkrieg.
The SSU soldiers down in the metro have recently begun to talk about a great, vault-like door found in one of the oldest sections of the sewers. Thus far, no one from the SSU has confirmed its existence, but Rasputin himself has shown interest.
The Axis and the Allies are likewise both looking for something down here besides access to the city proper.
There has been too much blood spilled in so doing for any of them to quit now.
SIBERIA
Trackless wilderness and tundra, Siberia is where Stalin’s enemies are sent to die, where strange shamans practice ancient rituals around Lake Baikal and where, in 1908, something exploded with great force over the forests of Tunguska.
The “Tunguska Event,” as it came to be known, has been attributed to everything from a comet strike to the nuclear explosion of a Vrill spacecraft. What is known is that the blast amounted to 15-20 megatons of TNT.
For obvious reasons, The SSU is interested in what could have made such an impact back in 1908.
MAGADAN
A gulag converted for the secret mining of VK, Magadan is nominally a tin mining operation. In fact, deposits of VK were first found at the bottom of the old tin mine. No one who is sent to Magadan ever returns. Either they die working in the mines, or they expire in the camp aboveg-round. Security is tighter than any other gulag given the nature of what they mine.
Amongst internees, whispers circulate that sections of the mine were dug previously with a level of sophistication not achievable by today’s technology. Someone, in the remote past, seems to have been looking for VK too. Who were they, men, or extra-terrestrials?
THE VALLEY OF DEATH
The Tunguska Event site is not the only strange locale in Siberia. There is also a remote (even by Siberian standards) area known as “The Valley of Death.” Long feared by local tribesmen, the area is home to many brass-coloured “caul-drons” protruding from the ground. Those who claim to have explored these cauldrons tell of metal interiors with
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stairs leading below. People who have been there suffer symptoms similar to radiation poisoning.
Strange lights, even blasts of energy, are purported to come out of these cauldrons. Is it some SSU experimental weapons system? The legends go much farther back than the Soviet Union. Who built them and what are they for?
VLADIVOSTOK
Located on the Golden Horn Bay not far from Russia’s border with China, Vladivostok is home to the Pacific Fleet. In recent years, it has also become a destination for SSU soldiers on leave, giving rise to gambling, prostitu-tion, and other illicit activities that would normally be condemned. But soldiers need to blow off steam, and Stalin has wisely allowed them to do so in Vladivostok.
Next to Shanghai, it is the most popular destination for SSU military on leave.
Vladivostok is what Shanghai use to be—a haven for spies, criminals, and men who want to forget their pasts. Stalin’s smart enough to keep eyes on all the intel passing through this city, but the Vorovskoy Mir runs half the show here. If you ever run into a gangster named Anatoly Vorovich, tell him Jack’s sorry about what went down in Hong Kong.
Then run for your life!
Yet Stalin’s indulgence has given the Vorovskoy Mir (see below) power over the city. They run the gambling dens, the sing-song bars, and the opium trade. Vladivostok, has become the “Whore of the North,” so-called because Shanghai, its own den of iniquity, has long been known as the “Whore of the Orient.”
Needless to say, this semi-open Russian city is also home to spies. Rasputin himself seems to want it that way, being able to collect intelligence and spread disinforma-tion from home.
PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS
PEOPLE GENERAL RASPUTIN CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE
Called “the man who cannot die” by frightened agents and troops alike, Rasputin was supposed to have been assassinated in 1916 after being shot, stabbed, poisoned and drowned. The imposing 6’ 4” Rasputin has a hypnotic gaze that penetrates anyone’s outer facade. He has psychic abilities akin to Sigrid von Thaler’s mother and ambitions that lay beyond the scope of his current position.
Always an ambitious man and master manipulator, Rasputin is biding his time while he tries to unlock the secrets of the Vrill. His loyal followers display an almost religious fervour for him, and scour the globe looking for secrets that will please their master. While fascinated with the occult, Rasputin is no magician as some peasants think him to be. He has mastered certain sciences not widely known among modern man. With the help of Vrill technology, he hopes to master even more.
Characteristics
MB 2 MD 3 PH 4 PR 3
Movement 6 Capacity 7 Initiative 5 Skills: Athletics 2, Attack: Melee 2, Awareness 3,
Knowledge: the people’s hero, he turned traitor, becoming something other than a normal man. Such reports were dismissed publicly, and those repeating them were tried and shot for treason.
Special Abilities: Rank 2 Special Powers: None
Equipment
Weapon Rng Dam Rank Special
TT-46 5 2 0 None
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Chapter 9: NATIONS OF THE WAR
LIEUTENANT NATALYA ROERICH The daughter of noted archaeologist and explorer Nikolai Roerich, Natalya is a trained academic. She now finds herself fighting against the Rattenkrieg in Zverograd. Prior to the war, her father was exiled to the Russian ghettos in Shanghai due to his controversial theories regarding Atlantis.
Natalya herself is extremely smart and capable, but is not dedicated to the Motherland that spurned her father. She dreams of a time when the war is over. Then, she might reunite with him in Shanghai.
Characteristics
MB 3 MD 2 PH 1 PR 3
Movement 4 Capacity 3 Initiative 5 Skills: Athletics 2, Attack: Melee 2, Attack: Firearms 2,
Black Ops 3, Demolitions 1, Interaction 1 (Command 1), Knowledge: Atlantis 1, Knowledge: Language 2 (English, German), Knowledge: Zverograd Underground 2, Medic 0 (First Aid 1), Survival 3, Willpower 1
Special Abilities: Rank 2 Special Powers: None
Equipment
Weapon Rng Dam Rank Special
PPSh-48 10 3 0 Rapid Fire,
Ammo 4 Demolition
Charge P/T 3/3 0 Placed 1,
Pentrating 2
Knife C 1 0 None
URSA MAJORA
(SUKHBAATAR BAYARMAA)
Born in Outer Mongolia, Bayarmaa was little more than a young girl when found by Soviet forces during a border incursion during the Sino-Soviet War. How she came to be alone, or where she was from, remained a mystery. She spoke her name and possessed a keen intellect seemingly beyond her years. In time, she came to fill the ranks of Soviet Military Intelligence—the GRU.
Known now as Ursa Majora, Bayarmaa has undergone rigorous discipline and training to perfect the art of kill-ing. She is an assassin and sniper unmatched in the SSU.
Tasked with the most difficult of missions, there are few targets Ursa Majora cannot get to. How she accomplishes this is unknown. Perhaps she is the result of an experi-ment not unlike that which produced the Winter Child.
That may explain the red outfit she always wears. Looking something like a flight suit strung with tubes and rigid plates, Ursa has never been seen without it. Those few who have met her in person say her eyes, from the right angle, shine like a facet of jeweller-cut VK.
Characteristics
MB 3 MD 2 PH 2 PR 3
Movement 5 Capacity 5 Initiative 5 Skills: Athletics 2, Attack: Melee 3, Attack: Firearms 3
(Widowmaker 2), Awareness 2 (Sight 2), Black Ops 4, Demolitions 1, Knowledge: Language 1 (German), Pilot 2, Survival 3, Willpower 2, Special Ability 3 (Sniper 3, Assassin 2, Lucky 1)
Special Abilities: Sniper 3, Assassin 2, Lucky 1 Special Powers: None
Equipment
Weapon Rng Dam Rank Special
Widowmaker 30 2/1 0 Pentrating 2, Ammo 4
Knife C 1 0 None
THE WHITE COUNTESS
Her real name is unknown, but intelligence believes she is a member of the Romanov family exiled in Shanghai.
Other reports suggest she is in Vladivostok. Regardless of where she is, her image—a stylized caricature of a beautiful woman—represents Sacred Dawn. Citizens of major cities will go to sleep at night only to find the huge propaganda posters put up by the Politburo have been spray-painted with the White Countess’ visage.
Some claim she doesn’t actually exist, but is merely a figurehead, while others say she is Princess Anastasia herself. True believers wait for the Princess to return and restore the Tsars to the throne of Russia. Those who loathe communism are quick to invoke her name, but only where the ears of informers cannot hear. There is a final rumour regarding the White Countess. It has been said that Rasputin, having been so close to the royal family, spirited Anastasia away prior to her fam-ily’s execution. If true, the theory continues, Rasputin himself may be in league with Sacred Dawn and plotting to overthrow Stalin. Such things are not mentioned in anything more than a whisper.
Characteristics
MB 1 MD 4 PH 1 PR 3
3 Movement 4 Capacity 5 Initiative Skills: Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Black Ops 1 (Stealth
3), Medic 2 (First Aid 1), Knowledge: Language 1 (German), Survival 1, Willpower 4, Special Ability 3 (Cheat Death 1, Special Power 1), Special Power 1 (Telekinesis 3)
Special Abilities: Cheat Death 1 Special Powers: Telekinesis 3
That old flame of mine?
This is her. She’s here in Kansas with me. ASOCOM doesn’t know what to do with either of us. In some ways, I think they trust her more than me. That’s probably wise thinking.
She’s everything I want to be—open, hopeful, and strong in all the ways I’m not. You find yourself a woman like that and you just might forget about the war for a while in her arms.
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ORGANISATIONS SACRED DAWN
Loyalists to the old ways of the Tsars, Sacred Dawn is a political-religious organisation comprised of White Russians, who remained in hiding after the Bolshevik Revolution, as well as elements of the Orthodox Church.
Due to the war, Sacred Dawn grew in numbers and strength. Stalin, via General of Intelligence Rasputin, is attempting to ferret them out, but Sacred Dawn is a lower priority than defending Zverograd and the like.
Sacred Dawn jumped at this opportunity to recruit, harass, and terrorize. Many of the White Russians (so named during the Revolution—White vs. Red) are former aristocracy. However, many of the former aristocracy fled during and after the Revolution. Many settled in Shanghai. There, in the Russian ghetto, they plot strategies that are enacted thousands of miles away.
An outlaw organisation, Sacred Dawn is an enemy of the state. They, like the Bolsheviks before them, exist in cells that work out of major cities such as Moscow and Vladivostok. Two bombings of Pacific Fleet ships in Vladivostok were blamed on Sacred Dawn. Their enigmatic leader, the White Countess, is wanted throughout the SSU.
Recent intelligence indicates that Sacred Dawn has allied with the Vorovskoy Mir.
VOROVSKOY MIR
Vorovskoy Mir, or “Thieves’ World,” dates back to the time of the Tsars. Resistance to their brutal oppression led to an organisation of thieves committed to fighting authority.
Anyone inducted into the organisation had to swear they would not work or fight for the Tsars. This led, in time, to what were known as the Suka Wars or “Bitch Wars.”
Fought largely inside the Gulags and prisons of com-munist Russia, the Vorovskoy Mir had no more love for the communists than they did for the Tsars. However, when the Germans invaded the Motherland, a significant number of Vorovskoy Mir volunteered for service. Those who left were released from prison and assimilated into the military. However, those who were wounded, found Stalin’s word did not hold up—they were returned to prisons and Gulags. There, an underground war between the two factions commenced. Those loyal to the original code of bowing to no Tsar or ruler fought against those who went to defend Mother Russia. The wars continue to this day inside the brutal, and often remote, Russian prison system.
A member of Vorovskoy Mir is easy to spot. They tattoo themselves with the entire history of their crimes. Their bodies tell the stories of their deeds and incarcerations.
A member of Vorovskoy Mir is easy to spot. They tattoo themselves with the entire history of their crimes. Their bodies tell the stories of their deeds and incarcerations.