I haven't posted a lot of stuff about the Tiber-Beltain Referendum (TBR) before this for two reasons. The main one is a mistake I have repeatedly made in the past which is getting caught up in doing stuff the GM needs (more truthfully might want) to know rather than what is needed to actually allow a group to play. The second is I don't want a set of house rules longer than the Cepheus Engine (CE) itself so I want to go through the rules as presented and create from that base as much as possible. The Colonist career presented a problem for me as I disliked the skill choices because I didn't see how they represented what I thought a government would train colonists for. However to present what I think they would be trained for I need to flesh out the government in question so I can create the Colonial Administration (TBRCA). I am a little apprehensive because the internet seems to bring out the easily offended and exaggeratedly combative in people and creating a government is in effect talking politics. This is not my ideal government to live under nor is it meant to represent any current or past government, I am presenting a government to allow the widest possible interpretation for GMs and players that is it.
So far what little I have presented can be summarized as a classic empire as defined by Google, "an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority". This is modified in that the empire, the TBR, has no say in internal world affairs and complete control of interstellar ones. In game this is primarily represented by the fixed prices for passages and freight and the ban on worlds having jump capable military or paramilitary ships. I decided while looking at the Aerospace Defense career that the three planetary military forces do not count as TBR forces which also means that the Scouts and Marines will only be TBR careers. I like this dynamic in that to invade a planet you have to get worlds to lend you their armies but the army has to travel on TBR ships. This helps represent a very tense relationship that I envision typifies the TBR. However this presents a glaring problem namely jurisdiction for crimes. Worlds want no interference from the TBR but also have no way of going after a criminal who flees their system. Worlds can make specific diplomatic requests but it is haphazard at best and with no centralized coordination escaping the system means no one is actively looking for you. What they can not do is sign extradition treaties as the TBR forbids interstellar treaties except those it creates. I am not a huge fan of this idea but it makes sense in the context of the TBR and does leave open all kinds of scenarios depending on the GM and players desires. Further thought also makes me like my idea that everyone has a noble to complain to. I didn't really have a firm idea what they would be doing but this gives a probably reoccurring task for nobles to deal with. Nobles owe their titles (and allegiance supposedly) to the TBR even though they represent the population of one world. So Calvin of New Earth (planet Bob) gets robbed but the crook flees the system. He complains to Sir Loin (of Bob) who takes it to the subsector peer council and convinces them to declare the crime as one against the TBR so jurisdiction is no longer an issue. World governments wouldn't like the TBR asserting authority but would like someone else to do the work and pay for it and the TBR would prefer not to get bogged down in every petty (or not so petty) crime however this does justify their existence to the average person.
Okay I will stop there as I probably got more involved than I needed too. The TBR is a relatively weak central government whose member worlds view it with suspicion. This will impact the TBRCA because the member worlds would be unhappy about creating new members inherently loyal to the TBR or at least more loyal to it. On the other hand it doesn't explain why the TBR would have a service dedicated to colonization. Why does the TBR want colonies? My idea behind the TBR is the behind the curtain power is the rich leading to the weak decentralized government and limited opportunities for worlds to cooperate. So colonies are primarily a way for them to get richer however economic enslavement of a captive market isn't going to be wildly profitable so the goal is to get colonies up to the point of self sufficiency quickly so people have a disposable income. So the TBRCA has a goal of getting a colony to population 5 and a tech level of 4 for habitable environments or 7 for hostile ones. When those goals are met all TBR assistance above what any member gets ceases. Having the goal in mind I can now look at the career and propose changes. The generation table doesn't need any as I am good with those values, the base skill and rank titles. The mustering out table I am thinking of replacing one middle passage with +1 education (EDU) and the high passage with an additional weapon to show a reluctance to let citizens leave although as I am also proposing this doesn't represent a reward for service but instead winnings from a game show I don't know if I will change anything. The cash table doesn't need anything changed that I can see.
I am good with the majority of the personal development table excepting only the lack of an EDU boost so I will replace the Gun Combat with that. My thinking here is to me EDU represents all the things not represented by a specific skill and for a small group to be successful they need as wide a knowledge base as possible so the TBRCA provides a lot of formal education. Athletics is fine because again I can see the TBRCA emphasizing physical fitness to quickly grow the population. The service skills need careful consideration as the overwhelming majority of colonists will know all these skills well enough to at least have no penalty. I am thinking Survival, Gun Combat, Melee Combat, Carousing, Animals and Vehicle. The first three seem to me to be the most basic things you would teach to people going some place with no infrastructure to speak of. I added Melee Combat because not needing ammo to defend yourself could be helpful on an undeveloped world. Carousing is one I would not have thought of on my own and is straight up theft from CE. The TBRCA does it's best to promote a beer commercial attitude in colonists to cut down on interpersonal friction and once again increase population growth. Animals and Vehicle are related as transportation is going to be an issue while building a world so both are going to be pervasive. For specialist skills I propose Survival, Animals, Electronics, Mechanics, Jack o' Trades (JOT) and Comms. The first two are because I think that most colonists would encounter situations using them more than any other skills. Electronics, Mechanics and JOT cover fixing just about any mundane piece of equipment and finally Comms I think would be a widely taught skill to keep tabs on everyone in the wilderness. As Comms also cover sensor operations I can definitely see this being taught as worlds are big places and I suspect quite a lot of a planet will be unexplored even when colonization starts. That leaves the advanced education table for which I propose Leadership, Medical, Computer, Admin, Sciences and Recon. I replaced Advocate and Linguistics because I see the TBRCA discouraging off world relationships other than with the TBR. Leadership boosts group endeavors so it should be desired in the colony skill mix. Medical, Computer and Admin are all skills someone on the colony is going to have to master for it to prosper. Sciences I added because settling a new world should guarantees encountering unknown things so you need a group capable of figuring them/it out. Finally I added Recon to account for the reasonable (to me) desire to thoroughly explore the colonists new home. I welcome any other viewpoints on this as I suspect CE might be better thought out than my version.
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