Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
Bad Guy to Secret Agent: "Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Bond."
How SECRET of a Secret Agent can you be when everyone who matters knows who you are by reputation?
General Secret Societies IYTU*?
- Thread starter Spinward Scout
- Start date
How SECRET of a Secret Agent can you be when everyone who matters knows who you are by reputation?
Well, in the United States government intelligence services we have the NSA, which stands for Not Secret Anymore.
Of course, perhaps a number of the above "organizations" are actually rumors and conspiracy theories (or groups of incompetents and "cranks") that the Imperium (or others) actively encourage in order to keep people misdirected and looking in the wrong direction concerning the REAL secret organizations that people haven't actually discovered yet (or at least help spread cover stories for the above organizations when their existence is leaked in order to keep people misdirected from the true operations of the above).
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Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
Rimward of the Sol-Confed is where the 'Trident' operates.
Kind of a 57th century version of organized crime.
Kakistocrat
SOC-12
Yes, the noun taoiseach has that historical origin (its Old Irish form was toísech). Since hault-Plankwell raised the force, it would seem a bit egotistical to name the force after an alias for himself — but given what is known of his actions, perhaps the shoe fits.
Another possibility might be that taoiseach is the adjective (which is a literary word for “first”) rather than the noun, but to me that had more of a “world-ist” connotation. With the adjective, one could more readily imagine Rhylanor Taoiseach being the name of a secessionist movement (“Rhylanor First”).
Remember that hault-Plankwell's grievance was that the Imperial Core under Empress Jacqueline had largely left the Spinward Marches to fight the war on its own under-funded and unsupported. I could see this sentiment arising in such a circumstance, rising to the level of an eventual bid for the throne instead of secession.
In terms of Rhylanor, remember that it was a Grand Admiral & Noble of Rhylanor (hault-Plankwell) who was the victor of the First Frontier War who initiated the Civil Wars thru de facto Fleet Control and assassination of the sitting Empress (Jacqueline), setting himself up as the new Emperor Olav, and it was a Grand Admiral & Noble of Rhylanor (Duchess Arbellatra Alkhalikoi) who was the victor of the Second Frontier War who ended the Civil Wars thru de facto Fleet Control and assassination of the sitting Barracks-Emperor (Gustus), eventually ending up as the Empress Arbellatra. So Rhylanor of that period definitely had some politics going on.
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Now if we are talking IYTU, dozens.
A major theme for me is the cloud, as in the Oort Cloud. With the advent of fusion power, any lonely chunk of ice can be a powered oxygen/water extraction outfit housing any sort of fringe operation.
Banned cults, mad scientist stations, illegal research conducted by corps or gov, technocannibals, psi dev orgs, exotic drug production, intel gulags, radical political movements- all can be found Out There, amplified by the isolation and festering outside the norms of interstellar society.
A major theme for me is the cloud, as in the Oort Cloud. With the advent of fusion power, any lonely chunk of ice can be a powered oxygen/water extraction outfit housing any sort of fringe operation.
Banned cults, mad scientist stations, illegal research conducted by corps or gov, technocannibals, psi dev orgs, exotic drug production, intel gulags, radical political movements- all can be found Out There, amplified by the isolation and festering outside the norms of interstellar society.
MThompson016
SOC-12
In the GT JTAS, there was an article, I think by absent friend Hans, about using GURPS Illuminati in your Traveller campaign.
That's a great idea! GURPS is so well researched.
G. Kashkanun Anderson
SOC-13
A secret society does not have to be unknown to the rest of society; it simply has to have secrets unknown to society at large.
The Freemasons, Ivy League groups such as Skull & Bones, and the hundreds of (US) college fraternities are examples of this.
Another good historical example is the former American Party of the 1840s-50s. An infamous anti-Catholic and nativist group, they became known as the 'Know-Nothings', because that was what they were required to tell any outsiders who asked them about their rituals or agendas.
G. Kashkanun Anderson
SOC-13
I've heard 'No Such Agency!', but I suppose both works. Or perhaps mine is more out of date than yours!Well, in the United States government intelligence services we have the NSA, which stands for Not Secret Anymore.
G. Kashkanun Anderson
SOC-13
They were never presented as a secret society by any means.An oldie, but a goodie ... The Octagon Society.
I mean, they went around openly advertising who they were, publicly fundraising, and telling everybody in the Marches who would listen to their pitch what they were all about, via increasingly sophisticated marketing material.
As far as we know, the weird location of the Fulacin building was just some wacky coincidence -- or perhaps the result of Ancients related residual psionic hoodoo. Who knows? Perhaps the most uncanny thing about it is the Droyne graffiti carved all over the place -- that, and the fact that the wooden floors haven't completely caved in after nearly 800 years of general neglect.
The organization that the Octagon Society was fronting for, though -- that was secret.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
G. Kashkanun Anderson
SOC-13
Fronting for who? Surely, you don't mean the Zhodani dummy corporation, which only showed up on Fulacin around 1099, over 700 years after the Octagon Society ceased functioning as an interstellar organization.*
They certainly weren't there during the Third Frontier War (979 - 986) either, or else that intolerably soporific poet would have jotted something down about it before he died.
There is absolutely no evidence, anywhere, that the Octagon Society of the 300-400s was anything other than what it said it was on the tin. With the exception of a very basic, octagon shaped space station on Risek, all they were ever reported to do was go around building rustic wilderness retreats, the far-future equivalent of a bothy, none of which would have any serious strategic or military value.
*There is still one active chapter of the organization on Wochiers, due to the uniquely challenging environment of that world, but it is solely involved local affairs, other than the occasional archival service.
