The Authority, Human Space, & beyond
- Thread starter BwapTED
- Start date
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
I have a mix, mostly because some military and high speed passenger liners want a faster constant G accel without buckling everyone in.
Building on what I posted earlier, and feedback I received, here are some of the core positions in the Authority:
• Portmaster of Luna
• Comptroller of Credit Systems
• Fleet Admiral of the T-A-N
• Commandant-General of the Space Marines
• Megacorp advisers
• Delegates from the most powerful hub worlds
The Director of Scouts is also important but not at the same level of importance as the Navy and Marine heads.
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Psychiatric Board
The Psychiatric Board screens spacers for mental and emotional health problems that would legally prelude them from operating star-ships, including suicidal tendencies and mental illnesses related to abuse of psionics.
• Portmaster of Luna
• Comptroller of Credit Systems
• Fleet Admiral of the T-A-N
• Commandant-General of the Space Marines
• Megacorp advisers
• Delegates from the most powerful hub worlds
The Director of Scouts is also important but not at the same level of importance as the Navy and Marine heads.
................
Psychiatric Board
The Psychiatric Board screens spacers for mental and emotional health problems that would legally prelude them from operating star-ships, including suicidal tendencies and mental illnesses related to abuse of psionics.
'safety conditioning'
Spacer go through drug-and-hypnosis conditioning that is supposed to make suicide runs/near c rocks of death something they can't do.
Of course the regime is imperfect. It's more in the way of a strong discouragement, and it doesn't work on all subjects. Sometimes it wears off sooner than expected.
But its effects leave most spacers feeling queasy just talking about accelerating their star-ships up to ludicrous velocities and jumping into inhabited systems on dangerous vectors...
Bringing up suicide run terrorist attacks and similar stuff is a great way to get your butt kicked around a starport bar. You might get puked on, too.
Spacer go through drug-and-hypnosis conditioning that is supposed to make suicide runs/near c rocks of death something they can't do.
Of course the regime is imperfect. It's more in the way of a strong discouragement, and it doesn't work on all subjects. Sometimes it wears off sooner than expected.
But its effects leave most spacers feeling queasy just talking about accelerating their star-ships up to ludicrous velocities and jumping into inhabited systems on dangerous vectors...
Bringing up suicide run terrorist attacks and similar stuff is a great way to get your butt kicked around a starport bar. You might get puked on, too.
So would the conditioning prevent them from discussing it in order to plan countermeasures and preventative management plans, or does it just become completely verbotten?
Unless I've overlooked something (possible) near c rocks of death is simply not something that can happen by accident, so the countermeasures against it are the same ones used against piracy and hijacking in general.
And shutting down powerplants/ drives is something that you can train to do without dwelling overly long on why it must be done.
It's in the SOP.
Anti-hijack program, jump, and navigational software also includes countermeasures. That can be hacked or rewritten, but it's another layer of protection.
But, sure, there are probably mandatory and very uncomfortable briefings , which only reinforces the conditioning.
Note: the conditioning is supposed to create a psychological block on planning and executing scoutship death runs/rocks of doom attacks.
Feeling disgust is a common side-effect. The Authority isn't setting up crewmen to just barf on hijackers or crawl under their bunks and weep.
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Even 100km/s (≅0.03 PSL ≅ 0.0003 C) is dangerously fast - equivalent to 2.4 tons TNT per KG. And is only 10204 G-seconds (2.8 G-hours). There are known objects moving that fast in deep space. A 1 km spheroid of iron (5.2e8 tons) at that speed is 1.48e11 Tons TNT equivalent. ~0.15 gigatons.
Typical in system asteroids peak at about 1/3 that speed, and about 1/10 the damage (rounding involved). So a 15 Megaton impact...
For reference, O'umuamua hit 85 km/s at closest solar approach. About 1.73 tons TNT per kg.
4-5 G-hours gets you solar escape from Fv Gv and Kv stars; Mv are on the order of 3 G-hours.
Oh, and at 100 km/s, reentry is noticeable on earth for about 2 seconds. From the jump exit limit? about 1:43 H:M to impact. A 100Td starship, massing some 500 metric tons, is about 75 gigatons TNT equivalent, and fast enough to hit before melting. A graze would still dump multiple megatons of sonic boom over the roughly 6 second flythrough.
Near-C isn't needed to be majorly lethal. A 4 G-hour ship is itself a weapon of mass destruction
That's precisely why the Authority is necessary and widely accepted.
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ALIENS PART TWO
Jury's out on the Aslan. If I do them, the Predator take will be the way to go (not my idea--I picked it up from one of you guys).
Unmen might fit.
So might my new/alternate take on Ripper Dogs (something I wrote up for another game system, published commercial work).
Jury's out on the Aslan. If I do them, the Predator take will be the way to go (not my idea--I picked it up from one of you guys).
Unmen might fit.
So might my new/alternate take on Ripper Dogs (something I wrote up for another game system, published commercial work).
I've done something similar but added some house ruling in support of it. Note that this assumes a universe where manoeuvre drives are some sort of fusion rocket. You can land in about four different ways:
Conventional aircraft style HTOL off a runway. This is interesting for orbit shuttles or other things where you're in a position to just build a runway. You can launch to orbit on a 1G manoeuvre drive without needing any extra gravitics, thrust vectoring systems. This type of hull is the cheapest and carries the lowest mass overhead.
Tailstander. This is the cheapest VTOL capability in terms of additional mass needed to support the feature, making it attractive for merchants, heavy lift shuttles or other craft needing a VTOL capability. It is quite anti-social for the same reasons that large rockets are anti-social. You would need to isolate landing pads, or at least put up large berms around the pads.
VTOL with thrust vectoring systems - This is something of a niche market but might be used on designs before gravitics reach widespread use. This lets you have aerodynamic hulls designed to manoeuvre effectively within the atmosphere while maintaining a VTOL or rough field capability. It has a bit more overhead than a tailstander. If a runway is available you can also take off from the runway.
Gravitics - This carries baggage in additional mass for the grav modules and a power plant capable of driving them. It's the most expensive and carries the most overhead but it can land pretty much anywhere. This tech allows you to land at 'docking bay 94' and walk down the road to a nearby cantina.
Having gravitics makes your starports a lot simpler, but you might still retain big, shielded landing pads for tailstanders, and even a frontier class D or E starport would have to be in a field a mile or more across in order to accommodate large tail standers.
This also means that one of the applications for a type-A or similar ship would be to operate in remote areas where the starport is just too small to handle the fallout from a big tail standing merchant or heavy lift shuttle.
Does the Authority exist in parallel to state polities? There's plenty of precedence for large multi-national organisations running their own security forces that engage in commercial enterprise across the territory of multiple polities, using their leverage to engage in behaviour within 2nd or 3rd world locations that, in 1st world environments would subject them to greater scrutiny and accountability.
If the Authority does exist in that sort of environment, there could be a continuous tension between patriots and corporates. People who believe in the primacy of their state over a mere corporate entity, versus those who believe that traditional states have been ineffective at creating an environment that permits success for those with initiative and drive and so holding back societies from the full exploitation of their environments to the betterment of all (especially themselves).
If the Authority does exist in that sort of environment, there could be a continuous tension between patriots and corporates. People who believe in the primacy of their state over a mere corporate entity, versus those who believe that traditional states have been ineffective at creating an environment that permits success for those with initiative and drive and so holding back societies from the full exploitation of their environments to the betterment of all (especially themselves).
The Authority is the interstellar government in the ways that count.
Member worlds govern their own affairs while the Authority governs the star-ports and the space between worlds.
The big difference between the Authority and the Third Imperium of the OTU is that the Authority doesn't openly call itself an empire.
If Hawa shows up, then the Artemian Compound will be an available drug.
To really develop this setting, I'll need to roll up a subsector and get an actual game going.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
I, on the other hand, see the "Starport Authority" as a construct of the Imperium. Outside its borders what other systems and polities do varies considerably.
Some will adhere to similar rules to the Imperium. Others have no rules. Still others do something entirely different.
I base my starports in these areas off of the type of government, law level, and tech level of the world or polity.
An extreme example of this in MTU is the Anubian Trade Confederation. They are an extremely oppressive and controlling government entity. Their starports are run radically different from Imperial ones.
There often is no down port to speak of. Instead, there is only a high port and the down port is a small terminal for small craft and non-starships only-- And only Anubian small craft and non-starships mostly run by their equivalent of the Starport Authority are allowed to land.
At the high port, you probably won't be able to dock to it. Instead cargo and passenger transfer is done from your ship in orbit to the high port via Anubian operated small craft and boats.
If you want to go to the planet you have to take an Anubian run boat or small craft to the high port, then transfer to another that goes down to the planet. You go through multiple security screenings. You won't leave the ship with anything the Anubians deem illegal / illicit / unwanted / contraband, etc. So, you would find yourself limited in how much hard cash you could take, are probably going to be told "No weapons whatsoever."
The Anubians do this to prevent smuggling and in particular escape of their near-slave labor force of workers. You can't bring in anything that might aid the workers in an uprising or help them escape. You are not going to smuggle anything in or out without very detailed planning, corrupt officials, and considerable effort. That's just how they are.
So, an Anubian system with a starport of say C or D might actually be an A or B quality facility but because of the lack of a down port, and the nature of how it operated, the IISS decided to class it the way they did. Totally different system.
I do that pretty consistently outside Imperial space. Inside, starports run by the rules.
Some will adhere to similar rules to the Imperium. Others have no rules. Still others do something entirely different.
I base my starports in these areas off of the type of government, law level, and tech level of the world or polity.
An extreme example of this in MTU is the Anubian Trade Confederation. They are an extremely oppressive and controlling government entity. Their starports are run radically different from Imperial ones.
There often is no down port to speak of. Instead, there is only a high port and the down port is a small terminal for small craft and non-starships only-- And only Anubian small craft and non-starships mostly run by their equivalent of the Starport Authority are allowed to land.
At the high port, you probably won't be able to dock to it. Instead cargo and passenger transfer is done from your ship in orbit to the high port via Anubian operated small craft and boats.
If you want to go to the planet you have to take an Anubian run boat or small craft to the high port, then transfer to another that goes down to the planet. You go through multiple security screenings. You won't leave the ship with anything the Anubians deem illegal / illicit / unwanted / contraband, etc. So, you would find yourself limited in how much hard cash you could take, are probably going to be told "No weapons whatsoever."
The Anubians do this to prevent smuggling and in particular escape of their near-slave labor force of workers. You can't bring in anything that might aid the workers in an uprising or help them escape. You are not going to smuggle anything in or out without very detailed planning, corrupt officials, and considerable effort. That's just how they are.
So, an Anubian system with a starport of say C or D might actually be an A or B quality facility but because of the lack of a down port, and the nature of how it operated, the IISS decided to class it the way they did. Totally different system.
I do that pretty consistently outside Imperial space. Inside, starports run by the rules.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
There major anal retentives as I imagined them.
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Anubian_Trade_Coalition
I have them as plantation owners on steroids. They use psionics to gain advantage in trade deals (per canon). They are anti-corporation and have outlawed these. They are misgynological making women second class citizens at every level. The upper class and leadership are the worst sort of oligarchs and "old money" you can run into. They settle personal insults with dueling. While there's no nobility, there doesn't need to be. The plantation owners, robber barons, and other greedy business types more than make up for it.
Again, very cool.
My notes for Chaine (developed from an abandoned attempt to do something with the Reformed Dootchen ERstates) might be reworked to fit.
