Why must you be a Noble to be a Diplomat is Mongoose Traveller

[Muns]

I also posted this on Discord. Why is the Noble career pathway the ONLY way to Diplomat or Administrator? So the workers in the Diplomatic Corp are all Nobles??? Even the clerks? In Classic Traveller there were Diplomats that can come from less than 10+ SOC. Then there also Bureaucrat career field in CT. What gives Mongoose? What was the reason for this? Is there any GMs out there that have a work around that explains or have alternates? Sorry if it sounds like I have a chip on my shoulder about Nobles in the 3rd Imperium. Help me understand why in Mongoose Traveller this is so. (sips tea waiting for a response). Please, please don't answer "In your Traveller Universe you can change the...", that is a cop out. I want to know why Mongoose built/baked this into the Core rule system. What was the logic.

 

[TamsinP]

I think you have misunderstood the Qualification part. In MgT2e, Qualification is the equivalent to Enlistment in CT - you roll 2D with modifiers against a target to succeed.

In the case of the Noble career in MgT2e, "SOC 10+" means that you need to roll 10+ on 2D, with dice modifiers based on your SOC (p9 of the Core Rulebook 2022). As the dice modifier for SOC 1-2 is -2, it is still possible for someone with such a low SOC to qualify for the Noble career. For a character with SOC 10+, Qualification is automatic (no roll needed).

As for the general embassy staff, those could easily be represented by the Citizen/Corporate and maybe the Merchant/Broker career paths.

 

[McPerth]

So the workers in the Diplomatic Corp are all Nobles???

I'm afraid you can have read something wrong...

You don't need in fact to be a noble (so SOC A+) to enter the noble career, but you need to roll 10+ on 2d6 modified by your SOC. You automatically qualify if you are a noble, though...

In any case, 3I is a feudal society, so it's logical than, to represent it (and that is what a diplomat does), you must be a noble. I guess any other setting where nobility exists will be likewise...

Even so, if you're lucky, you can be a diplomat even if not.

 

[McPerth]

I think you have misunderstood the Qualification part. In MgT2e, Qualification is the equivalent to Enlistment in CT - you roll 2D with modifiers against a target to succeed.

You ninja'd me...

 

[TamsinP]

You ninja'd me...

Great minds...

 

[Muns]

Thank you for clearing that up. Long time CT player and I have some new players from strictly MT2E, so conversions have made things 'spicy' but fun. After procuring some of the MT2E books to include the Core 2022, the devil is in the details which you have shown me and I appreciate it.
Thanks!

Acknowledging that being the Diplomat and in the 3rd Imperium is selective and what you say make perfect sense. What about the mass of support staff (bureaucrats) that support the Diplomats? Are the Citizen (Corporate) career field ?

Again thank you for the quick replies

 

[TamsinP]

Acknowledging that being the Diplomat and in the 3rd Imperium is selective and what you say make perfect sense. What about the mass of support staff (bureaucrats) that support the Diplomats? Are the Citizen (Corporate) career field ?

I did suggest that in my earlier reply - Citizen/Corporate (supervisory/management grades) and Merchant/Broker (as trade representatives/negotiators). I could also see Citizen/Worker (the admin grunts and general staff) and Entertainer/Journalist (the press office) as part of the embassy staff, maybe even Entertainer/Artist (social office?).

 

[Muns]

I did suggest that in my earlier reply - Citizen/Corporate (supervisory/management grades) and Merchant/Broker (as trade representatives/negotiators). I could also see Citizen/Worker (the admin grunts and general staff) and Entertainer/Journalist (the press office) as part of the embassy staff, maybe even Entertainer/Artist (social office?).

The Citizen/worker would not provide the admin types for the staff work, service/Advance ED/Worker skills & Training tables do not provide the skill base. Unless the 16.7% for a chance at Diplomat skill on the Adv Ed table is what you are talking about? Corporate provides a better staff skill set ( advocate, Admin, Broker, Computer, Diplomate, Leadership).
Agreed on the Press Office and that makes sense.
The Merchie/Broker can provide a well rounded negotiator. A Corporate sort of can to.
The old CT Bureaucrat has a better chance at earning admin than the alternates or Citizen/Corporate and thus provide better admin 'grunts'.

I can see what you are saying on using the alternative career paths to achieve some of the same sort of results.

 

[TamsinP]

The Citizen/worker would not provide the admin types for the staff work, service/Advance ED/Worker skills & Training tables do not provide the skill base. Unless the 16.7% for a chance at Diplomat skill on the Adv Ed table is what you are talking about? Corporate provides a better staff skill set ( advocate, Admin, Broker, Computer, Diplomate, Leadership).
Agreed on the Press Office and that makes sense.
The Merchie/Broker can provide a well rounded negotiator. A Corporate sort of can to.
The old CT Bureaucrat has a better chance at earning admin than the alternates or Citizen/Corporate and thus provide better admin 'grunts'.

I can see what you are saying on using the alternative career paths to achieve some of the same sort of results.

For Citizen/Worker I was considering the Profession skill that they can get, along with Electronics (Computer and Communications specialities). Profession could be advice work on particular issues, accountants, etc. For the general embassy staff, Drive for chauffeurs, Mechanic for maintenance, Engineer for the power plant (you don't want the embassy to be at the mercy of the locals).

 

[Rupert]

I also posted this on Discord. Why is the Noble career pathway the ONLY way to Diplomat or Administrator? So the workers in the Diplomatic Corp are all Nobles??? Even the clerks? In Classic Traveller there were Diplomats that can come from less than 10+ SOC. Then there also Bureaucrat career field in CT. What gives Mongoose? What was the reason for this? Is there any GMs out there that have a work around that explains or have alternates? Sorry if it sounds like I have a chip on my shoulder about Nobles in the 3rd Imperium. Help me understand why in Mongoose Traveller this is so. (sips tea waiting for a response). Please, please don't answer "In your Traveller Universe you can change the...", that is a cop out. I want to know why Mongoose built/baked this into the Core rule system. What was the logic.

Well, in the core rules there are no bureaucrats, so presumably while there might be such people working in all kinds of places, they never go out and adventure. This is also a universe wherein colonists who are "building a new life on a recently settled world that still needs taming" seldom know anything about fighting and almost never know how to use a gun.

While one shouldn't draw too many conclusions from chargen, the implied setting of CT/MT chargen is quite different from that of MgT2's. Less shooty, for one thing.

Amusingly, there's no almost no way for someone in a noble career in MgT2 to gain SOC until they leave it (and roll benefits). Social climbers should get a commission in the Navy.