Archdukes and emperors are beyond the normal scope of play

[far-trader]

Just a guess but could a "platen code" be one I played with as a kid. Where you create a cover plate (well, one for each person actually) with bits cut out. Then you write your message on a page under, through the cut out bits. Remove the platen and fill in the spaces with an innocent message. Unbreakable (without the platen) and practically undetectable if done well. Detectable and even breakable (to a degree) without a platen if poorly used. Very limited in the application though as your message must fit the cut outs.

 

[mbrinkhues]

In that case it falls in the same category as the mentioned letter codes where the reader knows to read only certain words or letters. Difficult to trace if the text is long enough and almost untraceable for non-AI computers(1). Some problems of the codes are:

+ Length of text since you need a lot of text to hide any longer message.

+ Style of text since the letters/words must fit in the text flow and, depending on the contac between the text writer and the censor the writers pattern of speach

Codes like these where used in both world wars to trick censors (typically those on the SAME side as the soldier) and allow soldiers in the field to send home messages about their true condition.


Don't get me wrong, there are means to get encrypted messages past the censors. People even tricked the STASI after all. They work best for short messages and limited message amounts. Steganography is a whole area of research dealing with that (And dates back to fortress plans disguised as butterfly patterns)


(1) AI here includes "limited" AI like Expert systems that do only one thing good

 

[HG_B]

Actually I DO understand it (and written a demo version of one in university). To quote Wiki

Go take some DoD crypto training.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Go take some DoD crypto training.

Na, I won't serve in a second rate army. Already did my time in a first class one back in the 80s.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Prior to Strephon the Weak

Where does that suffix come from?

 

[RainOfSteel]

Sorry, you don't know what a one time pad is. You can transmit it in readable text. Also, how do you stop a platen code?

I have entered "platen code" into Google and come up with nothing regarding codes or ciphers.

You were asked to provide a link and did not. Please do.

 

[RainOfSteel]

I'm going to have to jump onto the side of the IISS neither censoring nor acting to prevent the transmission of encoded or enciphered messages over the X-Boat network.

I personally do not believe they would have the time or personnel to censor it all, and more bluntly, they simply don't care.

I am sure that the IISS would make copies of any information they carried available to the appropriate Imperial authorities. It's done today in the USA through various means that circumvent the normal privacy and warrant laws, so I have no doubt that the Imperium does it all the time. But I still doubt the the intelligence agency would actually censor anything, but the time they had found something to censor, the original would have already reached its destination. Blocking delivery during analysis would add far too large a delay.

For the purposes of monitoring, it would be the job of YTU's intelligence agency, whether that is INI, IRIS, or something you cooked up (like me) because there didn't seem to be anything meaningful there.

 

[Dagrill]

Quite a lot of my traveller adventures involve combat (or the prospect of it) and going ioff to fight the argentians, or afghans could be considered a traveller type adventure, just change it to aslan, or hivers...

I disagree when it comes to Imperial high nobles. Imperial honor nobles "only" have the problems of really high-profile media celebrities. They may be thought of as analogous to younger sons of present-day Earth royalty. High nobles have more power (and commensurate duties) than any monarch on Earth today, but such monarchs are the closest analogy we have. And such people don't normally have Traveller-type adventures.

 

[Dagrill]

I assume the X Boat network is for civilians, the megacorps and senior nobles would have at least J 5 couriers.

I actually designed a 3,000 ton J6 Yacht for the Duke of Tobia to stay in touch with Capitol built by GasBag and assumed all Arch Dukes, Megarcorp bosses and senior Nobles would be able to afford the 2,987.55 MCr to own one.

This assumes that people are stupid enough to send sensitive info in "the clear". Wouldn't be the case.

 

[mbrinkhues]

The ISS may not care about most messages, that I agree in. But since XMail is electronic and the 3I can easily build "automatic censors" (They have AI that can pass of as a human) they CAN censor the mail. After all they have at least a week to do so, often more. No more need for humans slowly trying to open mail without a trace and all.

====

Some of the MegaCorps have their own courier network simply due to their business (Tukkera, Oberlindes etc.) in shipping and others can build on resonably cheap (GSBAG, Sternmetall) since they are shipbuilders. Others don't need it as much since they work more long-term (Hortalez) so they may only have a few special couriers.

====

Sending even important data "in the clear" is not that uncommon. It's only with the Internet that we have started to thing differently. Before that trusting important data to the Bundespost/Royal Mail/US Postal Service was quite common for law abiding citizen.

====

Strephon the Weak is IMTU for Strephon since he was not up to his job to "keep" the 3I

 

[RainOfSteel]

Strephon the Weak is IMTU for Strephon since he was not up to his job to "keep" the 3I

Thanks.

 

[savage]

Duchess anyone

I've utilized several high nobles and officials. I made it pretty clear that any opportunity to cause havoc would be relatively impossible and moved those leaders into the circle of patrons utilizing the players for self-gain.

This level of visibility was entertaining for the players and rose their interest. I think its important for the "larger than life" hero campaigns.

 

[McPerth]

Four others?

1 -- Seneschal
2 -- Huscarles Commander
3 -- High Justicar
4 -- Spymaster

What sort of adventures?

1 -- The SolSec is blanketing Sol Domain with spies. It's your job to root them out.
2 -- There is a Hiver plot afoot to use psychohistory to alter the balance of power between the Solomani Rim and the Imperium, but which way, you cannot tell! Find out what is going on and make sure it's the Solomani who get the short end of the stick while sending the Hivers packing.
3 -- Solomani Rim naval forces near Kukulkan </sp> are massing in very large numbers, ostensibly to bring the world to heel. There are so many fleets there that they could easily turn and attack the Imperium. What do you do?

The Archduke might very well not get much screen time in comparison to the other players. Poor Archy-duky, there, there.

This will only work if all characters have also high SS (I guess all those offices you say are for hi SS people, or authomatically confer it to their holders), so returning to noble-inclined campaign.

If the problem is one of your characters ends his CGen as high noble, and the others don't (or you just don't want to run a noble-inclined campaign), then is when the problem begins.

Let's imagine one of your players begin his CGen with SS B, enters noble career and ends as SS F (duke). The other tree are simple merchants or marines or whatever you think about (not to say pirates...).

And most of the missions you say (and some other missions other people says here) would not be taken by the Duke himself, but by his/her surrogates.

Is more or less as assuming the CEO of a huge corporation to act as trubleshooter for every problem the corporation has. His job is to coordinate the work of those who act as trubleshooters teams, not to trubleshoot himself.

To know how to delegate and what you have to do by yourself and what have to order done is one of the more difficult part of leadership.

 

[aramis]

Actually, the Noble's personal guards are an excellent PC choice for low rank companions of a high noble. It's a job of high trust, but low authority, usually more for political reliability rather than actual skill, but often skill is valued.

Likewise, a functionary, like a doctor or hunter, might have a non-court but retinue role of close contact, and have become a privy counselor despite even very low SS.

 

[rancke]

The Archduke might very well not get much screen time in comparison to the other players. Poor Archy-duky, there, there.

That's the point. To me, "normal scope of play" implies that the players all get roughly the same amount of screen time. Having one of the PCs playing what is essentially the role of the Patron is not, IMO, normal play.


Hans

 

[rancke]

Actually, the Noble's personal guards are an excellent PC choice for low rank companions of a high noble. It's a job of high trust, but low authority, usually more for political reliability rather than actual skill, but often skill is valued.

Likewise, a functionary, like a doctor or hunter, might have a non-court but retinue role of close contact, and have become a privy counselor despite even very low SS.

The problem is not having low SS people associating with high SS people. It's having high SS people with duties and responsibilities similar to those of kings and heads of state having normal Traveller type adventures on a regular basis.


Hans

 

[McPerth]

Who says the noble thingy really DOES something

The empire survived the Barracks emperors because the Bwaps kept running the show. So who says that the nobles are more than empty figureheads doing 3-4 "presentations" a year. Sure, they command "power" but who is keeping them from delegating them to a Senneshall and just "attend important social functions (Party, Drugs, Groupies), "present high nobility to the loyal citizens" (Travell around a lot) and not to forget "promote the sciences" (Hang around archeological digs)

Don't forget one of the maind differences between the Civil War of 600 and the Rebelion is just that.

Civil war ws a fight among several High Military ranks (mostly, if not all, Navy admirals), but the bureaucracy keep the empire runing, ignoring the war when it could, and bowing (or pretending so) to the closest admiral when needed. For what I've readed about it, it seems that Imperial Nobility was part of the latter, not the former.

There are no High Nobility named as taking sides in the Civil War. IMO, for what I know as how the Imperium works, High Nobility are the heads of Imperial bureaucracy, and as such, they didn't take places, and that was what allowed the Imperium run, even in the Navy quarreled among themselves.

Who says the nobles are "well known"

I would not recognize our current EU president (don't even know it's name, don't care for the airwastes in Brussel) and it is a lot closer and with less "travel time" for the news than an archduke. Add in that the 3I does not rule the worlds and chances are any nobel thingy above "local baron" (The parasite that sucks of our hard earned money) is off little to no interest to most planetary citizens. Similar to the current day EU and most citizens. So a higher noble can run around without being recognized most of the time

Neither I know who's the EU president right now, but, after all, he has quite less power than any of the 'inferior' presidents of the states members. The UE is (IMO) a bad example, as most states try to mantain their own presence and power at its expense, and so try to have the lowest profile possible for its teoretically higher level of representation.

As I told above, I see the local hight nobility as the heads of local Imperial bureaucracy, and as such, probably more known persons.

And even if I'm not right on this, through you and me don't know who's now the EU president, do you really belive he (I'm nearly sure is not she) can travel easly incognito? He'll sure be recognized by many people who's more interested, followed by some press, and sure he must have at least some entourage of advisors and seccurity people, even if just to mantain the facade that he makes something and the money put on mantainig his post is not as wasted as most people thinks.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Excuse me...

...and sure he must have at least some entourage of advisors and seccurity people, even if just to mantain the facade that he makes something and the money put on mantainig his post is not as wasted as most people thinks.

Actually the President of the European Union does make something. It is called Civilization. It is hard, hard work, so cut them some slack people.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Actually the President of the European Union does make something. It is called Civilization. It is hard, hard work, so cut them some slack people.

You mean he PLAYS Civilization, yes? Most likely Civ 5 on a government-payed multicore laptop "workstation"

 

[far-trader]

Stop the real world political sniping before some gets a Warning.