Do the Citizens of the Imperium Accept or Reject Piracy

[spinwardpirate]

Piracy is not like any other form of crime. Piracy has a very high entry qualification. You have to own a ship worth tens of millkions of credits. Not just a speedboat and half a dozen SMGs.

Naaa... entry cost is zero -- mutiny!
:devil:
In the 3I you are living in a dictatorship, where the rich and noble few climb to lofty heights on the back of the downtrodden and oppressed working classes. Throw off the chains of your oppressors... take what is rightfully yours!

If I've pointed this out once, I've pointed it out a dozen times, CT Traders and Gunboats, pg 34:

"An important aspect of the ship is its interior layout; the ship was designed at a time when mutinies were a major threat to security. As a result, major bulkheads break up the ship into distinct areas -- some for crew members, some for officers, and some common to both."

Yep, there's the man, still puttin' us down.

 

[spinwardpirate]

Dignity aside, pirates fly around in ships worth tens of millions of credits. Ships that, by the logic governments have been using throughout history, are forfeit to the authorities if they (the authorities) get their hands on them. Whenever a national ship captures a pirate ship, someone earns a lot of money. That's a powerful motive for taking an interest in catching pirates.

Not all governments, just some governments. Crooked governments don't really care, as long as the pirates are giving up their share of the proceeds. IMTU, there are plenty of crooked governments.

 

[kafka47]

INTERESTING discussions so far...however, we have failed to look into a scenario where also there is a mutiny and an IN goes rogue or pirate. Friend or Foe transponders combined with an excellent knowledge of naval tactics. Friends in every port willing to help. Either out of ignorance or ties that bind.

One point of interest is how regulated a space the Imperium actually is. Law is only effective when there is cooperation and the legitimate use of force to back it up. The Imperium does not have so much sovereignity, I think, as you would like to protray it save in the Core Sectors (areas essentially around Core & maybe the Rim). Even in 1115 there were lots of frontier areas by virtue of the size. Hans, I know (or think I know), you like to think of the Imperium as a quasi-EU superstate...however, it is nothing of the kind...it is more akin to EEC. Capital does exert influence but cannot really stop things from happening. It relies upon of cohesion of elite interests to make the whole thing work.

The Frontier Wars could be viewed as extensions & manifestations of Suez rather than a confrontation between NATO & the Warsaw Pact. For the Emperor had little involvement save to sanction the various levels to do what they had to do. Certainly, the Emperor had the interest in ultimately pacifying the Zhodani but the hows & methods were a combination of diplomacy (hard & soft). Each institution of the Imperium serves that singular purpose. And, I think your mistake (or difference of opinion) is that you believe the the Imperium to be an institution which it is not.

 

[rancke]

Piracy is not like any other form of crime. Piracy has a very high entry qualification. You have to own a ship worth tens of millkions of credits. Not just a speedboat and half a dozen SMGs.

Naaa... entry cost is zero -- mutiny!

Note that I din't write that you had to buy such a ship. I said own.

"Well, guys, we've taken over the Stenbok and since sub-lieutenant Abel has decided to throw his lot in with us, we can actually access the bridge controls instead of just drifting motionless in space. And since he knows how to astrogate, we can actually go somewhere else before the rest of the Navy shows up. So where do you want to go?"

"Let's turn pirate and start preying on the local shipping without anyone covering for us and no knowledge of where to fence our loot or get our ship maintained while the Navy hunt us down!"

"Nah! Let's go someplace far, far away and start preying on the local shipping without anyone covering for us and no knowledge of where to fence our loot or get our ship maintained!"

"I have another suggestion. Let's go to somewhere far, far away and sell the ship for MCr300 or so. There are nine of us, so that'd give each of us 33 million credits!"

"You know, that idea is just crazy enough that it might work!"

In the 3I you are living in a dictatorship, where the rich and noble few climb to lofty heights on the back of the downtrodden and oppressed working classes. Throw off the chains of your oppressors... take what is rightfully yours!

Starship crew get salaries that the oppressed working classes can only dream of. These aren't pressganged unfortunates and the scrapings of the London gaols sleeping in hammocks with 14 inches of space apiece and eating weevilly biscuits. They sleep two to a stateroom and presumably the ship's fare is of commensurate quality.

If I've pointed this out once, I've pointed it out a dozen times, CT Traders and Gunboats, pg 34:

"An important aspect of the ship is its interior layout; the ship was designed at a time when mutinies were a major threat to security. As a result, major bulkheads break up the ship into distinct areas -- some for crew members, some for officers, and some common to both."

And when was that time? Gazelles have jump-5 drives, so they could have been designed any time during the last 400 years. Could it possibly be around the time the controversy over the Solomani Autonomous Sphere riddled the Imperial Navy with divided loyalties?


Hans

 

[rancke]

Not all governments, just some governments. Crooked governments don't really care, as long as the pirates are giving up their share of the proceeds. IMTU, there are plenty of crooked governments.

However, the Imperium do care (in a rather negative and pro-active way) about crooked governments that support pirates. Just ask the governments of Tarkine and Lewis. Ah... the former governments, that is.


Hans

 

[rancke]

INTERESTING discussions so far...however, we have failed to look into a scenario where also there is a mutiny and an IN goes rogue or pirate. Friend or Foe transponders combined with an excellent knowledge of naval tactics. Friends in every port willing to help. Either out of ignorance or ties that bind.

Sure, it could happen. The question is, how often would it happen, and how successful would the mutineers be? Oh, and how unconcerned would the IN be about pirates who were also mutineers?

One point of interest is how regulated a space the Imperium actually is. Law is only effective when there is cooperation and the legitimate use of force to back it up.

Very true. However, I believe that the 100 diameter limit of any world with a population big enough to have regular trade would be within the reach of the system defense forces.

The Imperium does not have so much sovereignity, I think, as you would like to portray it, save in the Core Sectors (areas essentially around Core & maybe the Rim). Even in 1115 there were lots of frontier areas by virtue of the size.

That may be. But it certainly has sovereignty in any place inside the Imperium's borders that does not have a planetary defense force powerful enough to thumb its nose at it. Whether any such places exist may be debatable (I think they do... Mora and Rhylanor, and Trin to mention three). But if any such place does exist, it will, by definition be able to enforce its own law there.

Hans, I know (or think I know), you like to think of the Imperium as a quasi-EU superstate...

What you think you know ain't so. I think of the Imperium as a quasi-Age of Sail European empire, only different.

...however, it is nothing of the kind...it is more akin to EEC. Capital does exert influence but cannot really stop things from happening. It relies upon of cohesion of elite interests to make the whole thing work.

The only thing any single world needs to keep pirates at bay is a handful of SDBs. The Imperial and Ducal forces are just icing on the cake.


Hans

 

[spinwardpirate]

"I have another suggestion. Let's go to somewhere far, far away and sell the ship for MCr300 or so. There are nine of us, so that'd give each of us 33 million credits!"

"You know, that idea is just crazy enough that it might work!"

"Except we all know what the Imperium does to people who deal with mutineers. I say we give the Imperium a black eye, or go out in a blaze of glory trying!"

Starship crew get salaries that the oppressed working classes can only dream of. These aren't pressganged unfortunates and the scrapings of the London gaols sleeping in hammocks with 14 inches of space apiece and eating weevilly biscuits. They sleep two to a stateroom and presumably the ship's fare is of commensurate quality.

And they still aren't happy, because they know those noble officers have things even better.
:nonono:


There are some people who aren't in it for the money. There are some who just want to prove a point, earn a place in history, go out in a blaze of glory, and so on. History is full or people like that. A few are pirates. Other revolutionaries. Some just psychotics.

Captain Sam Bellamy's A Free Prince Speech
"D--n my bl--d... I scorn to do any one a Mischief, when it is not for my
Advantage... Tho', d--n ye, you are a sneaking Puppy, and so are all those
who will submit to be governed by Laws which rich Men have made for their
own Security, for the cowardly Whelps have not the Courage otherwise to
defend what they get by their Knavery; but d--n ye altogether: D--n them for
a Pack of crafty Rascals, and you, who serve them, for a Parcel of hen-hearted
Numskulls. They vilify us, the Scoundrels do, when there is only this Difference,
they rob the Poor under the cover of Law, forsooth, and we plunder the Rich
under Protection of our own Courage; had you not better make One of us, than
sneak after the A---s of those Villains for Employment?..."

"I am a free Prince, and I have as much Authority to make War on the whole
World, as he who has a hundred Sail of Ships at Sea and an Army of 100,000
Men in the Field; and this my Conscience tells me; but there is no arguing with
such snivelling Puppies, who allow Superiors to kick them about Deck at
Pleasure; and pin their faith upon a Pimp of a Parson; a Squab, who neither
neither practices nor believes what he puts upon the chuckle-headed Fools
he preaches to."

And when was that time? Gazelles have jump-5 drives, so they could have been designed any time during the last 400 years. Could it possibly be around the time the controversy over the Solomani Autonomous Sphere riddled the Imperial Navy with divided loyalties?

The Imperium is old and society hasn't changed in the 1000 years let alone 400. Like I said, the man in still puttin' us down.

 

[spinwardpirate]

However, the Imperium do care (in a rather negative and pro-active way) about crooked governments that support pirates. Just ask the governments of Tarkine and Lewis. Ah... the former governments, that is.

That was just a convenient show of force. They would have let things go if it had suited them.

 

[sabredog]

I don't think piracy is tolerated, per se, in the Imperium. SImply because it exists doesn't mean it is tolerated at all, it's there for a couple of reasons: the nature of the travel mechanics in the game and because it's fun to have pirates in a game.

Smart pirates operate on the fringes and with jump time limitations can usually be pretty tough to catch. Pirates IMTU usually have ships with extra tankage onboard that gives them enough to make a second jump quickly so they don't have to sit around skimming while the local fast frigate answers the SOS. Once they jump they are next to impossible to catch. Most succesful pirates have found small moons, rogue worlds, unexploited (waaaay of the beaten track) worlds to use as bases and cruise the lanes using a variety of covert means. Smart pirate hunters make a lot of money in prizes hunting these crews, but because of the size of the universe and the mechanics of travel it takes more time and effort than the thinly spread Imperial Navy (Empire of Man - no Imperium IMTU) can handle - they have other, deterrent-type things to do. Any pirate stupid enough to try to ply his trade inside the Imperial borders would be eliminated right quick.

The task falls on the frontier forces (lower tech naval ships with second echelon crews serving out on the edge colonies) supplemented by irregulars in the form of (and this is the "fun in a game" part) local freelancers, AKA player characters and NPCs looking to make a name for themselves. THey get paid a modest per diem to help with fuel costs (discounted rates on fuel and life support is the most common form of this), or they get hired by patron merchant princes who want to protect thier cargos on the more dangerous runs...or hunt down those who are disrupting thier trade.

 

[rancke]

"Except we all know what the Imperium does to people who deal with mutineers...."

Pretty much the same as it does to people who deal with pirates, I believe.

"...I say we give the Imperium a black eye, or go out in a blaze of glory trying!"

And you could probably get people to believe in one occasion when such a loon managed to wind up as leader of a band of mutineers who were themselves far enough gone to go along with him. But that doesn't explain the canonical existence of career pirates. You know, people who start at the bottom and work their way up to being captain of their own pirate ship.

And they still aren't happy, because they know those noble officers have things even better.

Oh well, if you're going to come all over plausible.

There are some people who aren't in it for the money. There are some who just want to prove a point, earn a place in history, go out in a blaze of glory, and so on. History is full or people like that. A few are pirates. Other revolutionaries. Some just psychotics.

And none of them are career pirates.

The Imperium is old and society hasn't changed in the 1000 years let alone 400. Like I said, the man in still puttin' us down.

This means just as much the umpteenth time you repeat it as it did the first time you said it.


Hans

 

[rancke]

I don't think piracy is tolerated, per se, in the Imperium. Simply because it exists doesn't mean it is tolerated at all, it's there for a couple of reasons: the nature of the travel mechanics in the game and because it's fun to have pirates in a game.

It IS fun, isn't it? That's why I have them in my own TU. But that doesn't really work as an in-game explanation.

Smart pirates operate on the fringes and with jump time limitations can usually be pretty tough to catch.

They're tough to catch, all right. No argument there. The question is, how hard are they to intercept? Traveller starships needs a support infrastructure. You can't just put them down on a planet and careen them whenever the space barnacles have grown too thick on the hull.

Pirates IMTU usually have ships with extra tankage onboard that gives them enough to make a second jump quickly so they don't have to sit around skimming while the local fast frigate answers the SOS.

This is a Type II pirate ship. It's configuration or cargo differ from what you would expect from a legitimate ship. This means it needs to keep away from starports and patrol vessels. Which presents a problem, since legitimate ships arrive at the 100 diameter limit and is in a hurry to get to the starport as quickly as possible.

Once they jump they are next to impossible to catch. Most succesful pirates have found small moons, rogue worlds, unexploited (waaaay of the beaten track) worlds to use as bases and cruise the lanes using a variety of covert means. Smart pirate hunters make a lot of money in prizes hunting these crews, but because of the size of the universe and the mechanics of travel it takes more time and effort than the thinly spread Imperial Navy (Empire of Man - no Imperium IMTU) can handle - they have other, deterrent-type things to do. Any pirate stupid enough to try to ply his trade inside the Imperial borders would be eliminated right quick.

And yet the ship encounter tables feature pirate ships lurking around in systems waiting for random free traders to jump in.

The task falls on the frontier forces (lower tech naval ships with second echelon crews serving out on the edge colonies)...

Note that such a frontier force makes sense if the local tech level is lower than the Imperial standard. But when the subsector capital is also TL 15, the frontier forces it builds and maintains should logically also be top-of-the-line.

In any case, fighting national ships is not cost-effective for a pirate, regardless of their tech level. National ships are repaired at the taxpayer's expense, pirates have to pay for their own repair.

... supplemented by irregulars in the form of (and this is the "fun in a game" part) local freelancers, AKA player characters and NPCs looking to make a name for themselves. THey get paid a modest per diem to help with fuel costs (discounted rates on fuel and life support is the most common form of this), or they get hired by patron merchant princes who want to protect thier cargos on the more dangerous runs...or hunt down those who are disrupting their trade.

Sounds like fun.


Hans

 

[spinwardpirate]

And you could probably get people to believe in one occasion when such a loon managed to wind up as leader of a band of mutineers who were themselves far enough gone to go along with him. But that doesn't explain the canonical existence of career pirates. You know, people who start at the bottom and work their way up to being captain of their own pirate ship.

I don't know that I'm trying to explain Traveller game mechanics and the existence of a career path Pirate at all. What I am trying to explain is that there are social explanations behind the phenomena of piracy which can be worked into the game on a personal level to make for a fun roleplaying experience.

You have a great depth of knowledge regarding Traveller canon, that's obvious. I, on the other hand, have a passing interest in Traveller canon. However, I do have some knowledge regarding the historical aspects of piracy, the causes thereof, as well as the remedies, and through creative extrapolation I believe there is plenty of room for pirates, most of it in the historical vein, i.e., brief flashes of piracy, but with tiny parcels of career piracy scattered here and there in pockets where unhappy neighbors prey on one another, and where rebellious worlds seek revenge in the Imperium.

Concerning the use of "Authorial Voice." To borrow a quote, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." (joking, of course)

Ok, am I alone in considering said "Authorial Voice" to be the words of the Imperial Ministry of Propoganda? I like to read stuff into gaming material, and when the "Authorial Voice" kicks in I am just as likely to think it is saying "I'm telling you this, now go and bend it to your own needs."

 

[sabredog]

They're tough to catch, all right. No argument there. The question is, how hard are they to intercept? Traveller starships needs a support infrastructure. You can't just put them down on a planet and careen them whenever the space barnacles have grown too thick on the hull.


This is a Type II pirate ship. It's configuration or cargo differ from what you would expect from a legitimate ship. This means it needs to keep away from starports and patrol vessels. Which presents a problem, since legitimate ships arrive at the 100 diameter limit and is in a hurry to get to the starport as quickly as possible.

That 100 diameter limit is a pretty large sphere, and the commercial traffic corridors are there for legitimate traffic -smugglers and such use less travelled paths to get to the world and they run the increased risk of encountering pirates because of this. The pirates can go silent and hunker down out near the jump limits. Typically they have high agility and manuever ratings so they can snatch an unwary trader before he can get the safe jump limit.

The local law can only patrol so much of that 100 dia. sphere so its a percentages game with the pirates, the comercial crews, and the slightly less than legitimate crews (usually the players).

The pirates can passively monitor for the gunboats and decide if there is enough time to make a snatch and grab before getting caught in a gun fight. The pirates are also a little less worried about ship operations within the FSA approved safety guidelines for jumping and acceleration so they hedge their bets that way too.

The commercial crews are not going to die for thier cargos (and are often unarmed anyway), nor are they going to risk losing thier licenses (or lives) trying to jump too soon to avoid a pirate. Neither are they in a ship that can hope to outrun one. So they will typically just heave to and prepare to be boarded while letting the insurance company handle the claim later.

The less legitimate types (smugglers, etc.) play the same percentages game the pirates do, and out among the colonies outside my TU's Imperial border they are typified by Free Traders and Frontier Traders (300 tonners that are armed and have higher jump and G ability) trying to make a credit and avoid paying the taxes to do it. So each encounter with pirates or the law is case by case with them.

The successful pirates have established bases like I described before - they use a wide variety of vessels (commercially or otherwise produced OTU Corsairs don't exist IMTU - its all DIY) but they usually come in three flavors: ordinary ships loaded to the gills with crew ready to board slower craft and hijack them someplace else, specially refitted versions of the above for quick snatch/grab that target high value cargo and then scoot, and refitted old military ships for large raids and defending the base if snoopers start getting too close to finding it. Small colony worlds are good to raid once in a while for supplies is needed, but the sometime hit on a commercial freighter rumored to be carrying spare parts n' such works too.

And yet the ship encounter tables feature pirate ships lurking around in systems waiting for random free traders to jump in.

I use my own customized charts, and pirate encounters are never random - the players hear the dice rolling, but as in so many aspects of my gaming style there are no truly random encounters.

Note that such a frontier force makes sense if the local tech level is lower than the Imperial standard. But when the subsector capital is also TL 15, the frontier forces it builds and maintains should logically also be top-of-the-line.

In any case, fighting national ships is not cost-effective for a pirate, regardless of their tech level. National ships are repaired at the taxpayer's expense, pirates have to pay for their own repair.

The frontier forces are equipped at local TL standards so they can be maintained easily and be more easily funded by the local colonies. This means that to large part they are not in anything that much better than the pirates are using given that they are LBB2 ships of typically up to 400-600 tons, however the edge is in crew quality - just like in the days of sail.

Private pirate hunters are a mixed bag, the players are often hired by patrons for this kind of work but that doesn't mean they get a custom pirate-hunting ship either...they have to come with what they have and work up from there. The schemes they come up with are pretty amazing sometimes, too.

Sounds like fun.

It definitely is, it's been a fun change of pace from the usual merchant adventuring.

 

[aramis]

Concerning the use of "Authorial Voice." To borrow a quote, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." (joking, of course)

Ok, am I alone in considering said "Authorial Voice" to be the words of the Imperial Ministry of Propoganda? I like to read stuff into gaming material, and when the "Authorial Voice" kicks in I am just as likely to think it is saying "I'm telling you this, now go and bend it to your own needs."

No, you're not. But, unlike most games of the 90's, the authorial voice of Traveller is objective and aimed at the GM. In the 2000's, it seems objective authorial voice has returned as normative.

Keep in mind also: the pirate career is a misnomer; most "pirates" are actually privateers and/or commerce defense pickets (aka StarMercs).

What Hans seems to reject despite it being presented in the authorial voice of Traveller is that it isn't a legalistic government; it is one that specifically avoids written law in order to allow more freedom of action by commanders on the line. EG: Rules of Warfare. They are not a codified law system, but more a tradition, one that individuals in power can enforce as needed. The Imperium seems thusly goal oriented; if you accomplish the task, there are no laws to have broken, and if you fail, its your own fault.

from Star Wars, but sounds perfectly like a sector duke to a local world's head of state...

"That's not fair; we had a deal!"
"I have altered the deal... pray I don't alter it further."​

The effect of no major body of law is that you can't have your neighbor thumped because he doesn't check the logs of every starship... those pirates can be considered legit in one system, even as they are wanted a jump or two away, because the system in question isn't obliged by law to look.

 

[rancke]

I don't know that I'm trying to explain Traveller game mechanics and the existence of a career path Pirate at all. What I am trying to explain is that there are social explanations behind the phenomena of piracy which can be worked into the game on a personal level to make for a fun roleplaying experience.

And I have no problem with that. However, I got the impression that you were trying to argue that because such things might happen once in a while, it was an incontrovertible fact that such things happened all the time in the OTU. And that I claim is not proven.

Concerning the use of "Authorial Voice." To borrow a quote, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." (joking, of course)

I firmly believe that if an RPG module informs the GM that such and such is a fact, then the GM is entitled to assume that such and such is, indeed, a fact. With some degree of lattitude, of course. I do not feel any outrage over the revelation that the Aslans had not invented the jump drive themselves, the way the original module claimed (or was it only implied?) because it didn't really change anything about the use of Aslans as background history or in an adventure. I do, on the other hand, feel a good deal of annoyance over the way the rag-tag and bob-tail of Aslan clans (i.e. their ihatei) were suddenly able to invade the Domain of Deneb even though AM1 had told me that the Aslans had been able to expand the way they had only because they came on the scene during the Long Night when humaniti was splintered into many rival states, because the clans of the Hierate "were never (and are not now) capable of acting in concert as a human empire could" (emphasis mine; the quote is from p. 3 of AM1).

Ok, am I alone in considering said "Authorial Voice" to be the words of the Imperial Ministry of Propaganda?

I can't speak for others. Personally, I expect the words of the Imperial Ministry of Propaganda to be labeled as such. (This is known as 'viewpoint writing' and differs significantly from material in the authorial voice).

I like to read stuff into gaming material, and when the "Authorial Voice" kicks in I am just as likely to think it is saying "I'm telling you this, now go and bend it to your own needs."

And why shouldn't you? You're under no obligation to stick to the OTU. But neither is the OTU under any obligation to conform to what you come up with for your TU. More than that, it's under an obligation to stay true to itself and not go pretend to be your TU.


Hans

 

[sabredog]

Note that such a frontier force makes sense if the local tech level is lower than the Imperial standard. But when the subsector capital is also TL 15, the frontier forces it builds and maintains should logically also be top-of-the-line.

IMTU the "frontier colonies" really translates to those worlds that are outside the Imperial borders and more or less independent clusters or single entities. Some used to be inside the borders, but after the last big war with the "evil" empire opposing the Terran Empire the borders shrank by treaty to form a buffer zone a subsector wide in most places, two subsectors in some.

Those former colonies are resentful of the Terran Empire (they left us, we didn't leave them), and those who were always independent want to stay that way. Either way the treaty forbids either side from patrolling with forces equipped above TL12 standards, nor can they send in any naval ships above 5000 tons without diplomatic notification that it is only a goodwill tour.

So, because of trade routes into the Edge (one of the terms describing it), mining ops, passenger travel to exotic locals by Imperial citizens and shipping there is a need for a local force to protct them from predation by pirates and hostile aliens, not to mention keeping track of (purely accidental, of course) any straying off course by enemy "trawlers". This force also operates revenue cutters to try to interdict the smugglers who try to get high tech goods over the border and avoid the ruinous taxes. The crews run from sterling in character to highly bribable.

It's wide open territory for all else. No subsector capital, the megacorps are the major legal power brokers, and for the bold there are plenty of ways to make your fortune without Imperial interference.

The TL 15 Main Fleet has a couple of battlegroup posted to a depot on the border of each subsector along the Edge. Just in case. It makes for a kind of a Cold War situation that produces endless opportunities to get the players entangled in intrigues. Some of the local "pirates" cruising around are actually intel agents.

 

[rancke]

What Hans seems to reject despite it being presented in the authorial voice of Traveller is that it isn't a legalistic government; it is one that specifically avoids written law in order to allow more freedom of action by commanders on the line. EG: Rules of Warfare. They are not a codified law system, but more a tradition, one that individuals in power can enforce as needed. The Imperium seems thusly goal oriented; if you accomplish the task, there are no laws to have broken, and if you fail, its your own fault.

What I reject is the suggestion that a single catchphrase presented in the authorial voice has greater weight than a large body of other material, likewise in the authorial voice, which shows that the Imperium does, in fact, have a lot of law.


Hans

 

[rancke]

IMTU the "frontier colonies" really translates to those worlds that are outside the Imperial borders and more or less independent clusters or single entities. Some used to be inside the borders, but after the last big war with the "evil" empire opposing the Terran Empire the borders shrank by treaty to form a buffer zone a subsector wide in most places, two subsectors in some.

I was and is dicussing the OTU.


Hans

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

I got to jump here...

from Star Wars, but sounds perfectly like a sector duke to a local world's head of state...

"That's not fair; we had a deal!"
"I have altered the deal... pray I don't alter it further."​

The effect of no major body of law is that you can't have your neighbor thumped because he doesn't check the logs of every starship... those pirates can be considered legit in one system, even as they are wanted a jump or two away, because the system in question isn't obliged by law to look.

This is scary, but true it could and sad as it is, for those with no Honor and love of the Imperium and so on, that this does happen...Thanks Aramis, I needed that. :devil:

Oh and where do I find a list of all the formatting tags, Mr. Moderator?

I just now found the [ indent ] and wow, could I and am I going to make use of that one...I need it! Thanks again!​

 

[aramis]

This is scary, but true it could and sad as it is, for those with no Honor and love of the Imperium and so on, that this does happen...Thanks Aramis, I needed that. :devil:

Oh and where do I find a list of all the formatting tags, Mr. Moderator?

I just now found the [ indent ] and wow, could I and am I going to make use of that one...I need it! Thanks again!​

When you see neat formatting, look at it by quoting the post, but not responding.

Of course, the most common of them are are on the reply editor.

An imperium ruled under custom and tradition is a far scarier place to game than an imperium of rule of law, but by the same token, it's also a place where "He needed killing, My Lord Duke!" may be sufficient grounds to overturn a sentence...

Most words will run under rule of Law... but running the Imperium under custom and personal decisions of the men in charge is both very flexible, and a lot of fun.