Imperial Red Sun Society - Sophontarian Adventure !

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domingojs23

Banded Mongoose
Dear Friends,

I'm sketching out a concept for my universe - the Imperial Red Sun Society (IRSS), ergo the descendant of the Earth Red Cross movement. The Red Cross would be a Solomani entity, the IRSS an Imperial one but with some lineage from the Eath RC. It would also entail fleshing out "sophontarian" adventure, meaning scenarios involving what would be termed today as humanitarian - medical, search and rescue, disaster response, evacuation, etc.

Cheers,

Gary
 
Sounds very interesting, please keep us up to date on this. :D

In my setting most "sophontarian" tasks are handled by government or-
ganizations, for example the Security Service (= a combination of police
and search and rescue service) of a colony, but a private or semi-private
organization parallel to this could well add some more "colour" to the set-
ting.

Do you intend to use the available equipment, for example from the Cen-
tral Supply Catalog, or do you plan to create some additional new stuff ?

In the latter case I would be most interested in seeing what you have co-
me up with. :wink:
 
Thanks Rust !

I'm first outlining the policy and legal framework for the IRSS, meaning updating the various present Geneva Conventions and so on, and drawing up an organizational profile for the society. I haven't given much thought yet to the tactical level, meaning equipment and such, but that's something I need to do in time.

A typical adventure might be something like a version of Hotel Rwanda - imagine an IRSS team trying to evacuate a group of Solomani and Zhodani settlers out of a Vilani planet where genocide suddenly became vogue...where the Imperial Army, Navy and Scouts garrisons are turning a blind eye...and with a good dash of mysterious brain-eating pathogen floating around !

Definitely I will survey what's already in the GSC and other MGT sources et al.

Thanks again !

Gary
 
Actually I meant evacuating say a non-Humaniti group out of a Vargr / K'Kree / Droyne / Hiver planet, or vice versa !
 
Nice idea - but might want to rethink the name...

IRSS?

Could be scary to folks already traumatized by disaster ;)

Seriously, Imperial Red Sun Society sounds a bit aggressive - sorta has like an asian organized crime syndicate connotation to me... maybe something with relief/aid in it... (er.. you might want to avoid anything that might be abbreviated IRA as well!)

I do like 'sophontarian'!

Keep us posted!
 
Dear BP,

LOL !!! Yes, IRSS would sound a bit discomforting, to a Solomani audience...

But the larger point of all this is to explore "Sophontarian" adventure further, particularly as my day job is diplomacy, dealing with humanitarian issues, and part of my agenda here is to make RPG'ing, particularly MGT, appealing to my colleagues at work. Plus, I think it could be a new twist to MGT, since most adventures tend to be exploration, military or merchant in orientation.

IRSS would be just one of numerous Sophontarian orgs IMTU. The present International Committee of the Red Cross / International Federation of the Red Cross (ICRC/IFRC) would morph into the Solomani Red Cross (SRC). National RC orgs, like the American Red Cross, British Red Cross, etc. would have their planetary equivalents.

In the Third Imperium, I guess an RC-type org would have to be called something like IRSS if we were to have some sort of historical tie to the present ICRC/IFRC. "Cross" would be too Terran for Vilani tastes, so I took a cue from the old Imperian Iranian RC org, which was called the Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran.

There would also be then the equivalents of UNICEF, World Vision, Care, WFP, etc etc.

As my Campaign is "Space 19,999" which is heavily Gerry Anderson-influenced, I was also looking at updating the Thunderbirds "International Rescue" to "Interstellar Rescue" or even "Imperial Rescue " !

Cheers,

Gary
 
domingojs23 said:
"Cross" would be too Terran for Vilani tastes, so I took a cue from the old Imperian Iranian RC org, which was called the Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran.
Click to expand...
If I remember it right, the ICRC adopted the Red Crystal symbol as its
third official symbol to avoid any political or religious associations con-
nected with the cross and the crescent, so you could use this one.

Since the ICRC has a very special diplomatic status, similar to that of a
sovereign state, you could just turn "International" into "Interstellar" and
make it the "Interstellar CRC" with the same abbreviation "ICRC" - and
thereby also give its ships and personnel something like a limited diplo-
matic immunity, at least in Solomani space.

As for "sophontarian" adventures, non-combat rescue missions have often
been a part of my campaigns. My favourite one for small groups is the
second part of the adventure "Type S" by Martin J. Dougherty, where the
characters have to handle a volcano eruption on a remote colony world
with the limited means of a damaged scout ship.
 
Dear Rust,

Good point, about the Red Crystal. I'm glad you also raised the point about updating ICRC for the Traveller Universe.

This raises then an intriguing question - the present ICRC is a politically-neutral entity which operates globally and transcends national boundaries (as contrasted with national RC orgs), could there then be, in the Traveller Universe (TU), a similarly neutral organization which operates in all TU nation-states, all over the TU Galaxy ?

Could or should there also be a "UN" type entity in the TU, where all nation- states (at least the major ones) have a seat - ie the Third Imperium, Solomani, Vargr, Aslan, Zhodani, etc ?

Gary
 
domingojs23 said:
Could or should there also be a "UN" type entity in the TU, where all nation- states (at least the major ones) have a seat - ie the Third Imperium, Solomani, Vargr, Aslan, Zhodani, etc ?
Click to expand...
From what I know of the Third Imperium setting, an organization of this
kind does not exist, all diplomatic negotiations seems to be on a purely
bilateral base - but I am not sure, I do not know the setting that well.

The most neutral and most widespread non-governmental organization
of the Third Imperium setting could well be the Travellers' Aid Society /
TAS.
 
rust said:
The most neutral and most widespread non-governmental organization
of the Third Imperium setting could well be the Travellers' Aid Society /
TAS.
Click to expand...

IMTU the TAS has a whole separate arm that handles 'sophontarian' emergencies and so forth because the org is so ubiquitous. But TAS facilities are only at A & B starports so there are gaps/response time issues that allow adventuring opportunities.

I'm still tinkering with the economics of TAS however; thinking that instead of a regular free Mid Psg (per CT), membership merely offers good discounts, upgrades, quicker customs checks, fast & easy local library data, etc

But to the OP - excellent idea, please let us know how things develop.
 
Fovean said:
I'm still tinkering with the economics of TAS however ...
Click to expand...
In GURPS Traveller the TAS gets most of its income from having an insu-
rance company branch that sells insurances for the members' ships and
another branch that classifies ships for the official registry papers, and
similar services to its members.
 
RE: the TU UN

Don't think this would fit the OTU - for one thing, there just aren't enough independents - one to one 'super-power' diplomacy seems more likely.

I can see the biggest psuedo organized to suppress smaller and individual systems - but special interests would probably prevail - so multi-'state' treaties would be the most likely outcome involving multiple of the largest 'states'...

For your own TU - why not?
 
Don't see TAS as a major relief agency - besides the A&B spaceport thing - they seem a little more financially inclined...

I would see them in a support role to an Imperil 'sophontarian' relief/aid organization - perhaps arranging transportation (even commissions to members) and providing local office space and diplomatic contacts.

I could also so them feeding the organization information of distant tragedies...

Officials could also be given TAS membership.

I assume you are planning at least one career type for this agency. I can see players working for, working with or being asisted by such an organizaton.

Its a good idea - and a nice break from the combat centric theme that many RPGs take...
 
BP said:
Don't think this would fit the OTU - for one thing, there just aren't enough independents - one to one 'super-power' diplomacy seems more likely.
Click to expand...

I agree with this; the expense required to maintain an interstellar organization, and the delays in communication, would make an interstellar rescue organization infeasible IMHO. The real Red Cross is criticized for administrative overhead and delays in response to emergencies on a single planet, and I don't see it being more efficient if it requires weeks on a multi-million credit starship to send messages.

Nor is an interstellar organization necessary. Planetary, national, or even private rescue societies can exist. They will be much more cost-effective if they work on a local basis. For widespread catastrophes, or in places without local emergency organizations, smaller societies can have agreements to work together as needed, without needing a huge controlling bureaucracy.
 
I remember parts of a similar discussion on that other forum.

Basically, if you stick to the Traveller official way of stellar travel, it will be rare that much initial disaster response.

It would take a week to get the message to the nearest system and then a week to return. That's not including time to travel to the 100D limit nor to the planet after jump.

It also is not including any pre-time needed at the before the crew/ship jumps back to the disaster system.

The only way that the IRSS would most likely already be in the disaster system is if
1) they were already there
2) it was a potentially expected disaster that could possibly need outside help
3) it was an IRSS stationed system.

Now on the relief and rebuild side of things, it is a very doable and potentially powerful corpation (even a megacorpation potential) .

Also this might be the official war relief arm of the government.

Dave Chase
 
Corvus said:
BP said:
Don't think this would fit the OTU - for one thing, there just aren't enough independents - one to one 'super-power' diplomacy seems more likely.
Click to expand...

I agree with this; the expense required to maintain an interstellar organization, and the delays in communication, would make an interstellar rescue organization infeasible IMHO. ...
Click to expand...
Oops - I actually was referring to the UN idea! :oops:

But you make some valid points as does Dave Chase.

However - just because aid might be delayed generally at least 3-4 weeks - doesn't mean it wouldn't be needed and welcome. (Even today it takes quite some time for aid to reach many major disaster areas at an effective scale). Local branches would typically coordinate local needs and resources - giving some time during critical situations when it would be necessary to seek out-system help.

I think the idea is to have a structure and organization that can work at the local levels and also manage large subsector and sector resources. Giving it an Imperium level scale - would give it credibility and political pull often necessary to overcome man-made obstacles to relief from natural and un-natural disasters (esp. wars).

The time delay arguments could be applied to the 3I as a whole - but as the days of empire demonstrate - large, distributed systems can work despite such handicaps (not to say indefinitely, nor how efficiently)

And its a cool adventure framework...
 
BP said:
Seriously, Imperial Red Sun Society sounds a bit aggressive - sorta has like an asian organized crime syndicate connotation to me...
Click to expand...

Imperial Red Star Society? Doesn't sound as nice as Red Sun, tho.
 
Also, for a WORLD WIDE disaster (asteroid strike, super-volcano, major solar flare) relief will be needed for YEARS and it might be necessary to rebuild most or all of the planetary infrastructure.

I could see the relief supplies being modular and stored in 30-ton modules ready for deployment. Field Hospitals, sanitation units, power units, even simple living quarters and office space.

Take Haiti but on a planetary scale. 3-4 weeks delay in relief arriving is too long to save anyone trapped in the rubble, but will be a big help in rebuilding a devastated region/planet.
 
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