The Top of the Brass

So, who's giving you the orders, anyway?

Burn-9 is a game that is in many ways, about being a middle manager. You are doing dramatic tense work and trying to save the world and keep a super soldier alive on a suicide mission and not lose your soul and see all the cool convos and get-- You’re doing a lot! However, you’re still a middle manager, and thus, your bosses are always calling and asking how things are going. Who exactly are the ‘bosses’ of a special forces mission control? Well, that’s who we at least in Burn-9 call the ‘Top Brass’.

As a weird American I only recently found out the terrible truth, ‘Top Brass’ isn’t a term that is super well known world wide. People on the Burn-9 team are from all over the world and a lot of them had no idea what I meant when I started referring to the three characters that kind of act as the player’s bosses by this term.

The term ‘Top Brass’ comes from the military! Probably the British military in the 18th or 19th century, but as far as I know, no one knows for sure. The etymology is pretty clear, it’s about the person with the most dumb awards and symbols resting on their fancy jacket. ‘Top Brass’ the guy or girl with the most little bits of metal hanging off them.

So, who is the Top Brass that is always yelling at the player about what needs to be done? Who is in charge of this Terminarch Operation?!

Deborah Downing

Codename: Morrigan

She has spent most of her career as a field agent for the CIA. Wetworks, cloak and dagger, spycraft, this was her life for almost two decades before she lost her eye in a field accident. Now, she sits behind a desk and works as a spymaster. She’s the liaison between the CIA and Terminarch. A woman known for being effective, short, rude, hard to work with, and not someone who suffers fools easily. She believes in nothing, and that is why she is very good at her job.

Ferdinand Tchaikovsky

The Admiral

Ferdinand Tchaikovsky is a navy man. His father was a navy man and his father was a navy man. If he had kids, they would be navy men and women if he had anything to say about it. Famously successful in war games and tactical analysis, as well as being very effective as a general commander but also a master of logistics, often managing to do what seems impossible through careful planning and proper use of the tools at his disposal. He is the one in charge of the Carrier Fleet group that the player is acting from. He speaks directly for the Navy.

Robert Willicker

The Politician

Robert Willicker made his way up through city management. Always working in the United States government, but only in positions where one is appointed, awarded, or given. Never stepping into anything that involved votes or being overly public facing. Working his way up as a fixer of problems, up, up, up, until finally reaching the top. These days he is the American President’s Chief of staff and the direct liaison to the American government when it comes to this operation.

The real interesting thing is that none of these people are actually directly Terminarch staff. Terminarch is a skunkworks/black organization within the Navy. The CIA, the US Government, the Navy itself, are all technically in charge of them, and yet none of them are. They exist as a shadow that mostly gets to do whatever it wants with infinite money and everyone else has to clean up their messes...

...And Burn-9 is a pretty big mess.

Until next time, 14 Hours out.