The Duke of Cornwall
 

Evening all,

To accompany the timeline and other material that I posted earlier I'm currently working on my first UK Regional Sourcebook, which will cover the South West of England. The full sourcebook still neds a bit fo work, but I thought I'd post the write up that I've done for the Duke of Cornwall and his armed forces.

Please note this is not intended to be a canonical work (for a start I chose to change the Duke's name from Malcolm Briggs to Marcus Rose) - as I'm not actively playing T2K I'm doing this purely for my own enjoyment however I would appreciate your comments / questions, so let me know what you think.

Cheers

Dave

I have read it (a bit quickly) and like it personnaly. Nice work on the character and on the way he deals with oposition. I like the part on Penzance and the idea of free looting which in my mind has become a common practice in T2K even for regular troops.

As I'm myself writing a lot of things for the simple fun of it, I kept your text and if you don't mind I would like to use it as a possible inspiration for Cornwall.

Nice work

I rather like it...and the tensions in the Duke's armed forces are just the sort of thing a smart group of PCs can exploit. Not to mention Rose is a vengeful, paranoid maniac who's anger over his wife, the outcome of the shooting in Belfast, and the post-war conditions have basically turned him into a homicidal loon who's acting like a third world dictator...I suppose next week, he'll either crown himself king or make himself PM..I like this guy as a villain...he's perfect for Twilight 2000!

Nice. Certainly a good setting for a group of PCs. I spent a week in Cornwall this summer touring around and stayed near Bodmin so the places all fit for me too.

One option you may consider is to add one or two 'heavies' for Rose (or thorns :p ). I would imagine he would have picked up some allies before he gathered the initial 50 at Bath. Possibly he met a disgruntled tough NCO on charges in military prison whilst he was awaiting the verdict on his Belfast incident? After contacting the NCO he linked up with a wily conman in the Home Service Force. With these 2 behind each shoulder he has more clout while building and someone to delegate to who he can ?trust.

I remember doing a 'Duke of Cornwall'... (I grew up in Cornwall)...

A suggested modification:

If the Duke of Cornwall has RNAS Culdrose then he probably has this firm http://www.helstongunsmiths.com/ (it's literally just down the road)

I'd assume that most of the stock was requisitioned early in the Twilight War - but some of the odder stuff (Mauser rifles?) might have been left and some of the personnel may still be available to repair the deactivated weapons

Seriously... check out the de-activated weapons on the site, I can imagine the 'Duke' carrying something like the gold-plated sterling SMG on formal occasions

I'm not sure deactivated weapons can be repaired - they're basically chopped to pieces, welded up and generally completely ruined as far as I'm aware (such a waste!)

They still look mean though, so could be useful for scaring the peasants....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...re/7570436.stm

Unfortunately some deactivated guns can be 're-activated'

I like this, not necessarily because it's a profound piece of work, but because it is an excellent scenario for playing. Thanks for the work, I'll be using it if I get the opportunity.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Mo, please, feel free to use the text as much of the text as you like - I certainly don't mind at all - the reason I post my work is so that people can use it as and how they wish.

Jason, you've summed up the character of Marcus Rose perfectly - glad you like him!

Matt, thanks for the link. I wasn't aware that place existed. I'm at work at the moment and can't access the site (firewall tag's it a weapons site - oddly I have the same problem with Paul Mulcahy's site - can't access that at work either!), but I'll check it out when I get home. The nature of gun control in the UK does tend to work against having large groups of armed marauders and sourcing enough weapons for the Duke's army did give me a few headaches. Legbreaker does make a valid point, though, inasmuch as the average citizen is going to struggle to tell the difference between a real (and operational) weapon and a deactivated replica. As I say, I'll check out the link you posted later. Anything that gives the Duke a few more weapons works for me...

Caradhras, that's a good suggestion. The NCO could easily be Paul Weston, the commander of the Ducal Guard, and I do like the idea of the HSF conman type character. As I said, I'm still working on a full south west sourcebook, in which I plan expand on a lot of the characters and I'd like definitely like to work that character in. He would also fit in with the Duke's Mistresses, as I'd also envisaged one of them secretly plotting with one of his lieutenants to overthrow him. (I've always found character and NPC generation to be the best part of RPGing and could happily spend weeks assembling a small cast of thousands!)

Thanks again for your feedback - it's much appreciated. Any other suggestions, fire away...also, I don't know Cornwall personally, so any insights from you guys who have been there would be most welcome. I plan to give Rose control of at least one working tin mine (I believe there's one on the penwith pensinsula that stayed open until the 1990's) plus the china clay deposits on the south coast so that potentially he has something to trade with the French arms dealers (although I'm not sure how valuable china clay would be as a trade commodity in the T2K World - it's main use seems to be in making paper).

Cheers

No problem. If my work can be both profound and entertaining then I'm happy...:)

It is.:)

Crofty Mine would still have been producing at the start of the war, it was concentrating on tin but had deposits of arsenic and tungsten. Tungsten has lots of uses including the creation of vaccuum tubes, if the French were trying to get their comms up and running they might be interested in this.

Other mines that closed around this time still yielded copper and zinc, with tin I think they make brass. These mines were flooded and spewing poison into the rivers by this time and they might not be viable using Post War technology, although rescuing slave workers from the hellish conditions such a mine would create would be a great scenario for a white hat party.

Another possible source of revenue could be slate. Cornwall has lots of good slate and it can be shipped instead of ballast so its transport costs are effectively free. Again, if the French are rebuilding their country, slate for roofing might have some value.

LOL... I might have implied that Holman Gunsmiths only sell deactivated weapons. In fact, they sell literally tons of weaponry - from pistols to stuff like real, fully-working artillery (including pack howitzers and Recoilless Rifles) Not to mention AFVs like Abbots and Chieftains - so I can see why your firewall might consider it a 'weapons site' .

As to what the Duke (and Cornwall) could be exporting
1. Academic knowledge/expertise - the Camborne School of Mines is a world-class centre for teaching and research in mines, minerals and earth resources engineering.
2. Specialist mining equipment (made by Holmans of Camborne - Cornwall's largest employer for nearly 200 years)
3. Fish - Newlyn is perhaps the UK's major fishing port by value of fish landed. Mackerel and Pilchards might be a major source of income

IMHO, the big 'diplomatic effort' might be payment from the French for maintaining lighthouses and navigation beacons. If the French are getting imports from Africa etcetera, they would be wise to make sure that their ships don't crash into Cornwall (in the real world, ships get wrecked on the Cornish coast with depressing frequency)

Also - if it hasn't been nuked - GCHQ Bude might be of major interest to the French. I could see them paying a lot of money for the rights to operate it

Geevor was the mine I was thinking of, but having looked it up I see no reason why the Duke can't have control of Geevor and Crofty. And as you say, he would have ample slave workers to work in the mines so isn't going to care if he loses some to the occasional cave in, flood, or fire.

And you're right about there being the correct mineral deposits in Cornwall to make brass, which is obviously a key component of ammunition (amongst other things). So, that and tungsten gives the Duke at least two things to trade with the French, plus the possibility of slate also. I like where this is going...

Bude I had down as evacuated in 1998, with remaining personnel relocating to HMS Drake together with what equipment they could salvage. (I also have the surviving personnel from the RGHQ at Salcombe consolidating in Plymouth in early 98).

I checked out the gunssmith site at home...;) you're right, they have a heckuva lot more than just deactivated firearms! Looks like there's enough stuff there to equip a full armoured squadron! I'm going to assume that most if not all of the heavy duty stuff would have been requisioned by the Government earlier in the war, but I do think that it might be a good source of small arms, perhaps for the Mebyon Kernow resistance rather than the Duke. (I'm currently polishing my draft on the MK, so will try and get that posted asap - must point out that it has no connection with the real life MK - I felt that the name justified a bit of artistic licence!).

I'd planned to give the Duke control of the Cornish fishing fleets (the fishermen's families would be held as hostages onshore in order to ensure that none of the boats made for HMG's enclave at Plymouth) but wasn't sure if there would be enough fish to have an export surplus (I know here'a s lot of agricultural land in the south west but I figured fish would still be a staple part of the Cornish diet). Mines and mining is a definite goer, but beacons I had never ever considered, so thanks for that...will definitely incorporate that into the full sourcebook when it's done (with appropriate credit obviously ;))

Cheers

Cornish resistance
 

Evening all,

Attached is the finished draft for Mebyon Kernow, the main resistance to the Duke of Cornwall. The inspiration for Mebyon Kernow is the partisan group in Defiance...that's the theme I was looking for...It took me longer than I'd hoped to get this posted as I wasn't that happy with the draft version I had, so I had to pretty much rewrite it. One change was that in the original draft I had Mebyon Kernow already in contact with MI5 agents, but I decided to change that when I rewrote it as I thought that it would give anyone wanting to use this material more gaming options if the resistance hadn't linked up with HMG agents yet.

Anyways, document attached...hope you find it useful, and as always feedback most welcome. The next parts will be some work on Exeter, which is effectively being run by black marketeers, and the Government garrison at Plymouth, but I'm afraid they'll probably be a while in coming.

Finally, thanks to General Pain for offering to host my work on his site. You've got e mail, General...;)

Evening all,

Work continues slowly on my South West England material...attached are a couple of more completed documents, one covering HMG's somewhat beleagured Plymouth garrison and the other a group of escaped Warsaw Pact POW's turned marauder...I've put them in with the original thread rather than start a new one as they're designed to complement my piece on the Duke of Cornwall.

Whilst the Plymouth work has gone through a number of changes to get to this stage, my intention was always to have the Government garrison isolated from the main body of HMG’s forces in Southern England, with no land corridor and only occasional ships arriving from Portsmouth. I had originally intended to put a Company of Infantry who had returned from Europe (B Company, 1st Battalion, Green Howards) at Crownhill Fort, but I dropped that idea as the work evolved and beefed up the 4th Battalion, Devonshire and Dorset Regiment to a full Battalion, albeit seriously understrength (I’d originally planned to reduce them to a single Company of Home Service Force troops). Zeebrugge Troop of the Royal Marines was a relatively late addition, and effectively took the role that I’d envisaged for the Green Howards.

The idea of using Tregantle and Scraesdon Forts as FOB’s in Cornwall was originally Ramjam’s; I’m grateful to him for pointing me in that direction. I had also originally planned to have the Government controlling Saltash, but dropped that idea fairly late on as I felt that might be stretching the available manpower too thinly.

With Konev’s Wolves, I wanted to have a marauder group consisting of escaped Warsaw Pact POW’s roaming Dartmoor. At one point I considered using escaped convicts from the civilian prison on Dartmoor, but ultimately I felt that as the idea was to have them moving around and living rough, it would be better if they were Spetznaz and VDV (btw those of you with long memories may recall my first mentioning Konev’s Wolves about eight years ago!). Konev’s second in command was originally a Russian – I changed him to an East German after HorseSoldier’s post about the Felix Dzerzhinsky Regiment. I was keen on having Konev’s group on horseback as I wanted to capture the image of marauders mounted on horses emerging from the pre dawn to loot, rape, and pillage in a pseudo medieval way.

The next piece will be something on the City of Exeter; at the moment I have a lot of ideas and notes on this, but nothing approaching a finished piece. My intention is to have a “Free City of Exeter” which will introduce a third major player in the region, alongside HMG and the Duke of Cornwall, with both sides making overtures to Exeter’s leaders to try and form an alliance. Hopefully I should be able to pull something together on Exeter within the next few months.

I'm also still keen on using the civil prison at Dartmoor, which in the Twilight War timeline would still be functioning as a maximum security facility holding extremely dangerous offenders (in real life Dartmoor was reclassified as a Category C prison for less violent offenders in 2002).

So, documents attached, feedback welcome as always

Cheers

I always liked your stuff.

Any plans for Portsmouth?

Or bashing the peasants...

Now Paul, if you're going to bash the pesants you really should have the proper tool. <Why am I thinking of the scene from History of the World Part 1?> A mace would be just as apt if one wanted to keep with tradition <Now we are going to The Meaning of Life, "But he's not dead yet.">

As for the deactivated weapons. If they are anything like the general deactivated ones we get in the states they destroy the reciever, that is easier to rebuild than the entire system. IF the rest of the parts are still good then it makes it much much easier.

Thanks, glad you like it. :)

With regards to Portsmouth, I have it intact, garrisoned by HMG (mainly RN personnel, plus some Royal Marines), and home to most of the Royal Navy's surviving warships (obviously less those at Plymouth). These warships include the type 42 Destroyer HMS York (now the Royal Navy's flagship), the submarine HMS Trafalgar, and a Dutch frigate (HNLMS De Ruyter) which brought the Dutch Royal Family to the UK when the French invaded, plus a few smaller ships and civilian vessels that were STUFT (Ships Taken Up From Trade, i.e. civilian vessels requisitioned by the Navy). I also have a US Aegis cruiser tied up alongside unable to go back to sea.

In a divergence from canon, I do not have Portsmouth being the national Capital however (I chose Oxford instead).

To be honest, it's unlikely that I'll get into Portsmouth in any greater detail. When I first started work on this project a few years ago my intention was to create a sourcebook which would cover the entire UK; unfortunately I have to be realistic these days and accept that work and other commitments mean I will never have enough time to do that, so at the moment I'm concentrating my efforts on works on the south west of England and (to a lesser extent) Scotland.

Cheers

Isn't the Amathyst there as well? A museum shit if I recall. But, none the less a ship in decent shape as far as living quarters and such goes. Bring some of its weapons systems online which wouldn't be as hard as you think since its a WWII era ship.

Read its storey sometime its interesting.

According to Wikipedia the Amethyst was scrapped in 1957...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amethyst_(F116)

I probably would add HMS Bristol to the Portsmouth fleet though...she was a Type 82 destroyer, only one of the class ever built for the RN, and saw service in the Falklands in 1982 before being converted into a Training Ship in 1987.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bristol_(D23)

The 4.5" gun on it will give you a nice artillery option.

Outstanding work on this mate.

And again if you require any more help just ask.

I love funny typos. :D

I admit I don't know much about recent British history, so this sort of thing is invaluable.

One thing I've always had in my T2K British history is that Queen Elizabeth is dead and Charles in now the King of England. He stepped up to the plate and helps lead the British forces in England. His sons, though young, have also taken up arms, as did, surprisingly, Princess Diana. However, that was before I knew much about him. Andrew is a helicopter pilot in the Middle East. How does that idea sound to you guys? Maybe there's a nugget for someone to expand on.

Cheers mate - and thanks again for your local insights....

Hmmmm....good question Paul...I think various scenarios are possible dependent on who is alive and who is not...your scenario sounds perfectly possible to me. In real life Andrew would still have been a serving Naval Officer at the start of the War (going by Wikipedia he would have had the rank of Lieutenant Commander and been stationed at RNAS Portland on the south coast of England). Would he have been sent to the Middle East? IMHO that's possible. Precedent certainly exists, for example his own service in the Falklands in 1982 and Prince Harry's service in Afghanistan. I actually think that's quite an interesting idea you have there.

For all sorts of Constitutional reasons, I think the single most important thing for the Royal Family would be to ensure that the line of succession was guaranteed so if you do have Charles, William, and Harry all in the UK they aren't all going to be in the same place. Personally, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of at least one of the Princes being sent overseas, perhaps to Canada but more likely New Zealand or Australia.

Personally, I think there are likely to be a number of different opinions on this one...In my T2K World I have both the Queen and Prince Charles killed in the 1998 nuclear exchanges. (For those who like a twist, there is the possibility that Charles survived but suffered a total nervous breakdown). That puts the 18 year old William on the Throne and receiving guidance from both Diana and Andrew, whilst Harry (together with the heir to the Dutch Throne) is sequestered in a secure location guarded by a detachment of Gurkhas and Dutch Marines.

Cheers

Kinda interesting. I will have to read more later.