A POLITICAL NANO OP
ALL THAT GLITTERS
The characters navigate political intrigues and spy games to target a diplomat at an exclusive soiree.
MISSION GOAL
Planetary Consortium ambassador Alciato is attending a private
social event in the Saturn system. They are believed to possess intel
on plans to expand Consortium influence in the outer system. The
PCs are sent to recover those plans by any means necessary.
SETTING: PROFUNDA
The party is being held in an extravagant ballroom in the
subsurface beehive habitat of Profunda (on Saturn’s moon
Enceladus). The gravity is a light 0.113 g (less than Luna).
Profunda runs on Extropian principles — there are no laws,
only contracts. The event is sponsored by the elite morph-
design outfit, Glitter Bloc, which owns the location and provides
its own security guards and drones. Party guests are contractually
obligated to follow Glitter Bloc security dictums and resolve on-site
legal disputes through their judiciary system on retainer. Aside
from the main ballroom, there are numerous side rooms for social-
izing, drinks & food, private chats, and freshening up.
THE CHARACTERS
The recommended sample characters for this scene are the Firewall
Rimward Ops team — Chi, Killjoy, Njál, Zahiri.
SPONSOR
The PCs are recruited by either concerned anarchists/autonomists,
Titanian Fleet Intelligence, Extropian hypercorp rivals, or Jovian
Space Force Intelligence — whichever works best. Whomever spon-
sors them pulls rep strings to get them on the party’s guest list. They
also hook them up with socialite Vox Maxine to introduce them and
show them around.
If the PCs are Consortium-friendly, you can turn the scenario
around and have them hired by Alciato to provide personal security
at the event.
THE PARTY
The Glitter Bloc’s invite-only event is to announce and showcase
new morph models to be released in the coming quarter. Several
hundred people are in attendance, with prominent figureheads,
celebrities, and personalities from Profunda, the Saturnian system,
and even the outer rim. The event is streamed live on the mesh.
Everyone is dressed to kill.
TIMELINE
The party proceeds as follows. A few events that provide specific
opportunities to introduce complications are marked with a square
bullet ¼.
¼ Guests Arrive: Mingling, drinks, and appetizers
• Opening Speech by the Glitter Bloc’s spokes-avatar
• Performance: Harmonic overtone chorus with enhanced larynxes
¼ Presentation: The latest Profundan designer creatures — aerial
glow-puffers and winged spider gremlins
• Performance: Six-armed taiko drummers
¼ Main Runway Presentation: New Glitter Bloc morph designs with
AR and holo overlays
¼ VR Pod Exhibits: Guests can experience and “test out” the new
morph designs in virtual reality
¼ Performance: Fork burlesque with the Diva Von Teases
• Dance Party: Dueling ring house DJs and designer drug samplers
until the early hours
FACTIONS AND NPCS
Representatives from various other factions are also in attendance,
each pursuing their own clandestine agendas. Each lists a person-
ality quirk, their primary agenda, and a secret. GMs can use these
to fuel roleplaying interactions and trigger events to push the plot.
Given the size constraints of this scenario, GMs will need to wing
their own NPC and security stats.
VOX MAXINE (SHE/HER)
Neo-Parrot Socialite/Drug-Dealer Neo-Avian
Vox is one of Profunda’s well-known party animals and socialites.
She also deals all manner of drugs.
Personality: Vox is a professional cynic with a biting wit who
knows everyone.
Agenda: Vox is here to be seen, to party, and to increase her rep
scores.
Secret: Vox knows that Wadada has sometimes facilitated the
sale of egos to black-market dealers.
DANZAN ALCIATO (THEY/THEM)
Consortium Diplomat  Sylph w/Cyberbrain
Alciato heads affairs involving Saturn for the Hypercorp Council’s
Diplomatic Service.
Personality: Manipulating but not ruthless; they take the long
view, are confident of the Consortium’s prospects, and will gamble
short-term losses for long-term gains.
Agenda: Expand Consortium rimward presence, undermine
outer-system powers.
Secret: Their current primary initiative is to support the
startup hypercorp Sonda’s establishment of a new shipyard in
orbit around Saturn’s moon Albiorix, with the long-term intent of
building an outer-system fleet to counter both the Titanians and
Jovians. They carry details of this scheme in an encrypted data
module headware implant.
JOLENA KYO (SHE/HER)
Consortium Oversight Agent Ghost
Kyo was recently embedded within Alciato’s staff to monitor the
amabassador’s activity (due to corruption allegations) but also to
safeguard them from hostiles.
Personality: Vigilant, doting, and caregiving, but protects her
charge like a vicious momma-bear when necessary.
Agenda: Kyo suspects Alciato took a bribe from the independent
energy hypercorp Volkok to cut them a contract for the shipyard,
but needs to get her hands on evidence.
Secret: Kyo is bigoted towards uplifts, but keeps it hidden. She
also has the decryption key for Alciato’s data module.
RIFF-RAFF (UNKNOWN)
ID Crew Hacker Agent
Riff-Raff is a cartel hacker. They crack encrypted comms
intercepted by the Long Array on Dione to exploit for blackmail
purposes. They recently discovered the identity of an Oversight
counter-agent in the Jovian Space Fleet Intelligence. They are only
present as an infomorph.
Personality: Dry, laconic, and a non-stop critic.
Agenda: Riff-Raff has hacked the VR pods the Glitter Bloc has
set up for the invited guests. When Alciato accesses the VR, Riff-
Raff plans to pull them in to a private meeting to discuss what the
Consortium is willing to pay to keep the identity of their agent
secret. If Alciato’s offer isn’t good enough, they’ll try to sell the data
to Contarato.
Secret: Riff-Raff is wanted by the Titanians for numerous
crimes. They know that the ID Crew has Contarato’s son’s ego
(thought lost during the Fall) in cold storage. Contarato does not
know that his son sold himself to the ID Crew to secure passage for
his father and family to Jupiter.
DÁRIO CONTARATO (HE/HIM)
Jovian Diplomat  Splicer
Contarato is an ambassador-at-large for the Junta, handling
negotiations around the outer system.
Personality: Jovial and wise-cracking, but deadly serious when
it comes to negotiating.
Agenda: Protect Jovian interests. This includes limiting
Planetary Consortium influence in the outer system. He recently
had slingshot tariffs raised for several Consortium ice-hauling
firms to gain some leverage.
Secret: Contarato considers the Consortium a bigger threat to
the Republic and transhumanity at large than the outer-system
autonomists.
AYLA HALSEMA (SHE/HER)
Jovian Diplomatic Staff/Defector Splicer
Halsema was a US congressional staffer who ended up in the
Republic after the Fall.
Personality: Unassuming go-getter and worker bee.
Agenda: Halsema recently learned that her sister survived the
Fall and lives on Titan. She hopes to approach Grix and defect to
Titan during this gala and has stolen details on Jovian intel-gath-
ering efforts to sweeten the deal.
Secret: Halsema has grown to despise bioconservatism.
CLARITY UTHUP (SHE/HER)
Ultimate Oligarch Agent Remade
Uthup is a ranking Ultimate from Kronos Cluster. She is also
secretly an agent for the oligarch Ayn Zamyatin, who has her own
shipyard and Saturn-domination plans focused around Kronos.
Personality: Uthup considers herself a right-wing intellectual,
but she has a tendency to deliver dry, monotonous monologues
and misunderstand humor.
Agenda: Zamyatin has become aware of the Consortium’s ship-
yard plans and wants then foiled. Uthup is here to sow division
and limit the Consortium’s influence.
Secret: If the Ultimates knew of Uthup’s allegiance to Zamyatin,
she would be purged from the group.
GRIX (SHE/THEY)
Titanian Envoy Olympian
Despite her abundant nanotats, luminescent eyes, and uncon-
ventional looks, Grix is a ranking official with Titan’s Ministry of
State with close ties to Fleet Intelligence.
Personality: Confident and direct but with a tinge of bitterness
and melancholy.
Agenda: Protect autonomist interests, fuck with the Jovians and
Consortium.
Secret: Grix carefully relies on various substances to manage
PTSD from the Fall. She also sometimes passes intel on the
Consortium/Jovians to allies in anarchist direct-action groups.
ALI WADADA (HE/HIM)
Extropian Fixer Sylph
Wadada is a high-priced middle-man. He’s acting as a cut-out
between Alciato and the energy corp Volkov.
Personality: Self-obsessed but diligent mediator, always
looking for leverage on others.
Agenda: Wadada is here to meet with Alciato, set the final terms
for the contract, and engage in some debauchery.
Secret: While Volkov is including a nice cash bonus for Alciato,
the real payment they are handing over is valuable intel on Titan’s
antimatter-production facilities.
TACTICS
The PCs have multiple paths towards retrieving the information
from Alciato. Possibilities include:
• Favor-trading between Alciato and the other NPCs
• Forknapping Alciato
• Impersonating someone Alciato knows/trusts and using Deceive
to get them to spill details
• Brainhacking Alciato while they use the VR pods
• Assaulting Alciato unseen and removing their encrypted data
module implant
• Drugging Alciato to put them in a more “receptive” state
COMPLICATIONS
GMs can use the following complications to provide distractions
for the PCs, move the plot along, or otherwise stir things up:
• Halsema approaches Grix about defecting, asking for asylum. Grix
tells her she will arrange an extraction by the end of the party.
• The aerial glow-puffers and winged spider monkeys are intention-
ally released into the crowd, to some amusement and chaos.
• A pair of dating socialites have an extremely public (and possibly
staged) spat and breakup, all caught on livestream.
• Alciato and Wadada take advantage of the main presentation to
step aside and do some private neogotiating.
• The hacker Riff-Raff takes advantage of the VR pods to have a
private chat with Alciato.
• A technical malfunction during the Divas’ burlesque performance
between the syncing of AR feeds and actual lights/holos/fog
plunges the party into sensory chaos.
If the PCs trigger an open combat, Glitter Bloc security will step
in to neutralize any combatants while other party-goers flee. All of
the diplomats present have small armed security details or drones,
as do some of the other guests.
ALL THAT GLITTERS
WRITING ROB BOYLE
ART BRUNO WERNECK
Rob Boyle • Davidson Cole • Brian Cross • Adam Jury
Eclipse Phase is a trademark of Posthuman Studios LLC
All That Glitters is © 2021 Posthuman Studios LLC
released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
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