Field Marshall, The Right Honorable Lord Lockwood KG

Affiliation: Aegis Defence Services

Position: Field Marshall

Background

Gold isn't everything. Oil and guns are important too.

You learned what really mattered in life early on. When you were 18, you were idealistic, and went directly to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. You got through officer training, and went straight into the Royal Armoured Corps. When you got out as a second lieutenant, and got through RAC's officer training, you were immediately sent to your assignment: parade around looking pretty. Finally, violence broke out again in Northern Ireland, and you were sent there to keep the peace. You were so excited, you were going out to find glory!

Somehow, shooting at people who looked like you, spoke English, and were fighting for freedom was not how you had seen glory. As the fighting went on, it quickly became just a job. You did your job well, and were recognized and promoted. A few years later, after the first gulf war and a few more promotions and honors, you realized that, really, this was just a dead end job with some shiny medals to make you forget that. While you were in Iraq, you saw who was really coming out ahead in the war: the companies that sold aid, materials and services to the armies.

You retired after 20 years of military service, and cashed in on your name and your family's connections to start Aegis. You started by recruiting truck drivers, people to interpret satellite intelligence, security guards--that sort of thing--and you had some success. Soon, however, you realized that you were thinking way too small. Wars were becoming unpopular, and what the public really hated was to see their soldiers dying. More and more "military contractors" were really mercenaries, and there were plenty of soldiers out there that knew that the army was a dead end job, and wanted a better option.

Also, possession really is 9/10ths of the law. All the time, you saw that the military contractors that apprehended an oil well, a mine, any other feature of value, were able to quietly slide the contracts to exploit it off to their "civilian side." You figured out every trick you could to take advantage of this. You started "intelligence units" to do primary scouting, "guard units" to take and hold resources, and a whole "civilian side" that specialized in handling natural resources in risky locations . . . such as war zones.

The Iraqi war has done very well for you. You have made plenty of money from the fighting, and you have gotten major contracts to exploit several valuable oil wells. At this point, you effectively control two of the Iraqi provinces, and intend to keep things that way. Your soldiers (or really, the engineers and geologists that follow them around this country) have recently discovered another major oil deposit that no one is yet exploiting in Kirkuk. You have a presence there, but don't actually control the province. You want to solidify your hold on that territory before anyone else learns about the new find.

Along with your other operations, your company does some Research and Development on new weapons, armor and other equipment. The attack for which Al-Araf is claiming responsibility appears to be some sort of new chemical or biological weapon. You are pretty sure it didn't come from your stores, but you suspect that it may have leaked from either Blackwater or the secret wings of the American military. You don't know whether it was leaked intentionally or accidentally. Wherever it came from, you want to get your hands on it. Your R&D department could do amazing things with this, and lots of governments would pay well for it.

As long as things stay in a state of upheaval in Iraq there will be money for Aegis here. The worst thing that could happen would be the creation of a powerful, solid Iraqi government. They would start kicking out foreign contractors or demanding high concessions from you to keep what you already have. If you can help out some of the insurgents a little it might even be to your benefit: the more insurgent activity, the more you are clearly needed.

While you have a fair bit of money that you can spend greasing the wheels, Iraq is also your cash cow. You are trying to start another R&D department that will give you a leg up on Blackwater in some of the latest robotics work. In order to do this, you really need to have at least $30 million solid, in the bank, not committed to other projects. Any contracts you can land that will help you earn money would definitely be helpful.

You have one of your best and most trusted liaisons to Iraq with you: Emma Day. She worked for the Israeli Defence Forces, so, realistically, she's probably still working for them. However, she is solid and reliable, and needs to obey your orders to stay here, even if she is a spy. Besides, Israel almost certainly wants a united Iraq even less than you do, so you are unlikely to come into conflict.

Contacts

Joseph Prince: The head of Blackwater, the American rival defence contractor. While there is plenty of work to go around in Iraq, you really resent having to share the spoils with this hyper-Christian cowboy preacher. You have no idea how he runs a business when he's too obsessed with chumming up to God to read a spreadsheet or plan a mission.

Erik Schmitz: The competent man behind Prince. Erik gives lip-service to his boss's lunacy, but you're pretty sure he cares far more about his job, his paycheck, and his stock options than the religious crap. He's a decent business man and a competent tactician. You'd be much happier with Blackwater if he were in charge.

Emma Day: Your primary liaison to the Iraqi army. You brought Emma here because she does damn good work with the Iraqi army, and she's a good intelligence operative. She worked for the Israeli Defence Force, so she probably still reports back to Israel. You don't really care, as long as she does good work and her interests don't conflict with yours. She is unlikely to disobey orders because either she really is just working for you or her country really doesn't want to lose her position of power. You can trust her, as long as what you are doing is not directly counter to Israel's interests.

Tariq Ibn Faruq: The leader of Al-Araf, the insurgent group claiming responsibility for the latest attacks. They seem to have gotten their hands on some new biological or chemical weapon, probably from Blackwater, or the US government. Tariq started his career with Aegis, married a local, and then went AWOL when she got killed in the fighting. He appears to have gone a little bug-nuts over it, and started his own insurgent group.

David Kinder: The UN representative to this meeting, Kinder is a little shady. He was a Soviet spy, and an artifact thief, among other things. You have some pretty strong evidence for the latter, if you need it. Not that you particularly care, but a little bit of pressure might be useful.

Basit Ibn Karim: The Iraqi Prime Minister. He's actually not too bad for a hard-liner religious type. You can work with him; he understands business. He would prefer your company out of Iraq, but he's willing to accept your presence if it helps him get what he wants.

Imad Ibn Junayd: Basit's right hand man. Clearly has an agenda of his own, but you're not entirely certain what it is. If you can help him, he might be able to provide assistance in return.

Wafi Nagi: A major leader of the Sunni minority coalition. He came up from an insurgent group and doesn't really want to be reliant on them, now that he has a cushy job. You have helped him out a bit with this. You have given him some political support (which conveniently keeps the power split) and some money, and in return, he has gotten you the rights to some very profitable oil wells.

Sabriya Nejem: Leader of the Sunni insurgents that got Wafi Nagi into power.

Munir Faiz: The leader of the classical liberal political faction in Iraq. He has been bought and paid for by US corporate interests, which mostly works pretty well for you, too.

Emel Faiz: Munir's wife. She's a little weird. She says she's from Turkey, but the accent is wrong. He also tends to bring her places most people don't bring spouses, like this conference. She's probably a spy who has him on her payroll.

Abilities and Artifacts

Stats

• Combat: 4
• Hitpoints: 5
• Sanity: 4

Jaded

You ignore any effect that causes only 1 point of sanity damage as long as you can explain it away as the result of a company's or country's bleeding edge technology.

Goals

• Keep control over the provinces you control that contain oil.
• Gain control over Kirkuk and any other provinces that contain oil if given the chance.
• Keep Iraq in a state of upheaval, and don't let the violence calm down too much.
• Keep your eyes open for any new money making opportunities. You are currently hired by the USA to guard North Anbar, Salah ad-Din, Kirkuk and Arbil. You cannot renege on those contracts, but you can certainly take new ones that do not conflict.
• Find out more about the weapon used in the Al-Araf attacks. Find out where it came from, and get your hands on a sample if at all possible.
• Get enough money (at least $30 million, preferably more) to open your new robotics R&D department.