Hello, this is a part of the backstory for an RPG I am working on. Most of this is behind the scenes, but I wanted to make sure it was fully fleshed out for consistency's sake. The key element I'm looking for here is plausibility and believability, so if you have any suggestions to better ground it, they'd be appreciated. Though this reads like a glossary, the topics are in order such that the workings of offworld government should be clear. There's a lot of text here, so, fair warning :p *** HOMEWORLD Homeworld is a distinction made among people living offworld; whether they identify their loyalty with their origin country, the UN, or the offworld colonies. Nobody says "Earth" except people who've never been in space, or watch too many sci-fi shows. U.N. COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION After China's rapid establishment of the first Martian space colonies, pretty much every other major country in the world began colonization programs of their own. Foreseeing the potential for major conflict, the nations of the world empowered the United Nations to administrate and oversee the colonization of space, in order to ensure the peaceful expansion of humanity. The UNCA was established in the hopes that old conflicts and rivalries would not spread beyond the Homeworld, by establishing an Offworld Council composed of representatives of all nations, ensuring every culture would have a chance to stake their claim on the new frontier. In order to placate China, the country was given extra representatives on the council's initial formation. Every country was given an equal claim. Countries like Bangladesh, suffering from overpopulation, took the opportunity to send their best and brightest citizens offworld, to powerful corporations who needed all the manpower they could get, offering free education and a higher standard of living. Many took advantage of such offer, resulting in major immigration offworld. The corporations had always had an enterprising spirit; it took a lot of risk to establish the first offworld economies. The smarter ones invested in their companies rather than rest on their laurels; focusing on developing the technology and resources that the Homeworld could not. But they never had enough warm bodies to be as efficient as they wanted to be. Several of the larger companies had this exact same problem, so, they cooperated and presented the New World Offer to the UN, offering free transportation, housing, and education to anyone who wanted to work for good pay. The NWO was heavily advertised, and brought many people to the offworld colonies; so many, that it began to have a negative impact on the economy of some countries. Offworld shipping and manufacturing had become so cheap and so affordable that manufacturing-based economies on the Homeworld began to feel the hit. Too much wealth was heading offworld, and offworld corporations were taking full advantage of the situation. The world spiraled into an economic depression. The Offworld Council, which wasn't offworld and didn't actually have a single offworld citizen on it, made a request to drastically expand the mandate of the UNCA, creating a transportation barrier on goods imported offworld. Some nations asked to go one step further, to deploy military vessels in order to prevent offworld corporations from dodging national sovereignty to move people off the planet, something they had long done. This resulted in the formation of the modern Colonial Administration, an organization armed by the nations of the Homeworld and funded, though unwillingly, from the pockets of the offworld corporations. The Colonial Administration has political control over all the colonies, and manages the flow of people and goods to and from the Homeworld. While no individual nation really likes the UN's absolute economic control, they see the need for it, and view the Orbit Patrol and its "free pass" for offworld militarization as an opportunity to eventually gain control of offworld trade. The UNCA, by carefully managing the ships it allows into the Orbit Patrol, uses this arms race to its advantage, ensuring no one nation is over-represented, while steadily expanding its own jurisdiction over offworld actions. HUMANITY FUND Most of the money gained from the taxation goes right back to the nations of the Offworld Council, distributed on a proportional basis. The rest of it funds the management of the UNCA and associated organizations, and UN charitable efforts, collectively known as the Humanity Fund. The Humanity Fund was established by the United Nations to distribute the massive wealth generated from the taxation of offworld trade to disaster-stricken and developing nations, to help alleviate world hunger and poverty, etc. While the UN does a lot of distribution directly, it also sponsors philanthropic organizations as well. ORBIT PATROL The U.N. Orbit Patrol is under constant stress to track and monitor interplanetary shipping, in order to enforce UN "barrier taxes" and tariffs, and to enforce shipping regulations. They are always busy and always in need of more manpower. Most of the Orbit Patrol consists of Homeworld-based support staff, a large portion of which deal with the diplomatic concerns interplanetary law enforcement inevitably generates. Problems the Orbit Patrol must deal with include the increasing corruption among its ranks, as well as the breakdown of its chain of command. Numerous times, ships assigned to the patrol are abruptly reassigned by their host nations and given different, occasionally even conflicting orders. It doesn't help that the crewmen aboard these ships regard smuggler patrol, or "snipe hunts," as a punishment. The UNCA suspects that nations in the Orbit Patrol are conducting secret operations and combat exercises within the the Colonial Administration's jurisdiction. This issue has been sidestepped or ignored repeatedly whenever brought before the council. The Orbit Patrol itself is woefully underfunded and almost totally reliant on the space-based militarization of participating nations. Its major source of cash flow comes from U.N. dues, and the money generated from barrier taxes on shipping; a small portion comes from public and private benefactors also. The Chinese government is known to be a large contributor to the Orbit Patrol with, proportionally, the greatest number of ships in the fleet, from their own People's Liberation Army-Navy. They have also been the most effective at stopping smugglers from bypassing customs scanners. The second largest contributor is the European Union, which was most eager to participate in the Border Patrol Program. In fact, it created an elite interdiction group just for the patrol, and to more efficiently use its burgeoning space fleet. The third largest contributor contributes almost no money, but has the third most powerful fielded aerospace force. The United States, after violating the Space Demilitarization Act, chose to suborn its small, but proportionally powerful fleet to the UN, after a new administration with a more conciliatory attitude took office. Nowadays, due to lack of upkeep, the ships are somewhat behind the technological curve. The fourth largest contributor is the Russian Federation, which publicly declared its violation of the Space Demilitarization Act after the U.S. was censured, and joined the Orbit Patrol a couple months later. The fifth largest contributor is Martinez Technologies, widely known to be the corporation propping up political and economic stability in South America, owned by several large Japanese interests. Their contribution is in excess of 115 billion dollars a year, making them the largest single corporate benefactor of the Colonial Administration. NATIONAL CHARTER ORGANIZATIONS The largest offworld corporations were all based on the Homeworld when they started. Typically, they required permission from their respective governments in order to conduct large-scale operations, since in the early days of space flight, it presented a national security risk. This meant that the governments of each nation the corporations were based in, were deeply involved in their shipping and transit operations. This typically resulted in a tacit allegiance, a corporate culture based on nationalist ties to the homeland, so to speak. These allegiances have persisted to this day; these corporations are typically given perks such as favored-bidder status and subsidies, in return for the right to establish government institutions offworld. This is also why the People's Republic of China has such a large presence; almost thirty percent of the Consortium has a Chinese charter. Reference; at the time of UNITY, China controls 29.2% of the Consortium's members, the United States controls 37.6%, Japan controls 7.1%, Saudi Arabia controls 3%, and the states of the European Union control 22.7%. It is worth noting that Saudi Arabia and the European Union have a great deal more national charter organizations that are not affiliated with the Consortium, smaller enterprises that are ineligible due to lack of size or influence. COLONIAL ECONOMIC CONSORTIUM Obliquely referred to in-game, the Colonial Consortium is an economic alliance of some seven hundred offworld corporations, working together to establish free trade between the Homeworld and the rest of the colonies. They are single-handedly the force behind the massive smuggling operations bringing high-value offworld goods to the Homeworld, which puts them at odds with the United Nations, as well as Homeworld corporations, at every turn. However, they have recieved tacit support from some nations directly, typically those which have nothing to gain from the UN trade barriers. Some newer members of the Consortium have begun branching into other areas of politics, arguing that the UN, and even the Homeworld itself, are ultimately hinderances to the best interests of the corporations and to offworld society; that self-sufficiency should be the primary goal. This has begun to evolve into a social movement for increased autonomy from the national charter organizations, and the United Nations itself. While this group is a minority, it has become a more vocal one in recent months. This is the same organization earlier who came up with the New World Offer some decades earlier. REPUBLICAN-COMMUNIST PARTY The Republican-Communist Party is the largest offworld political party, heavily tied with the Colonial Consortium. Considered one of the first displays of offworld solidarity, the RCP was formed when the Communist Party of China formally inducted the Offworld Republican Party into their fold. Many in both parties did not realize how much they had in common, ideology and policy-wise, and the combined front resulted in the ultimate defeat of both the environmentalists and the isolationists, and the eventual dominance of the RCP; almost 70% of the offworld population is affiliated with them. However, the new Consortium autonomy movement threatens to divide them and give the Conservationist party a foothold. The RCP, or "red party," still maintains cordial relations with the Communist Party of China back on the Homeworld, though they are technically seperate. DEMOCRATIC CONSERVATIONIST PARTY The democratic conservationists were formed after many of the smaller parties banded together when the Consortium autonomy movement started up. Most of the corporations unaffiliated with the Consortium have members. They do not have a distinct message, other than being the party of special interests; simply presenting a united front against the RCP was a monumental challenge for them. A large portion of the members are not affiliated with any national charter organizations. TECHORP ENTERPRISES Techorp is the leading exporter of fusionables from Earth's moon, and the largest offworld corporation which isn't part of the Colonial Consortium. Though originally based in Southeast Asia, it is no longer a national charter organization, though it is not a supporter of the UN either. Techorp is currently adopting a "wait and see" attitude regarding the outcome of the Consortium's actions. O.W.L. The Off-World Labor Union is a older, seperate organization from the Consortium, mostly composed of dock workers, teamsters, etc. Still identifying themselves with Homeworld interests, they share a common interest economically with the Consortium, but don't wish to associate themselves with the "suits of Mons" or the autonomy movement that is starting to take over the Consortium's core ideology. The O.W.L. is one of the conservationist power bases. WATCHDOGS The Watchdogs are a group dedicated to rooting out offworld corruption and smuggling. Some of their efforts include the formation of colonial militia groups to hunt down and arrest smugglers before they can make it to the Homeworld. they also spend a great deal of effort writing long reports to UN Border Patrol captains about security flaws, reports that go largely ignored. While normally this would make them a natural ally of the UN, they also spend a great deal of time tracking exactly where the money from the Humanity Fund goes; something that the UN doesn't like having scrutinized too closely. Their primary support comes from national charter organizations that have the most to lose from any weakening of UN trade barriers. PRAETORIUM CHARTER Praetorium Financial was one of the companies carefully selected and contracted by the United States government to help found the economic infrastructure of the burgeoning colonies, many years before the United Nations was put in charge. Part of the effort to counter China's "head start" on the US in the race to establish offworld presence, Praetorium Financial evolved from a consulting company into one of the big national charter organizations that makes up the Colonial Consortium. WINGS OF EAGLES Wings of Eagles are the offworld representatives of the American Cadre terrorist movement. They are suspected of being involved in the Dockleeds incident at the Los Angeles International Airport. The group has watched the Consortium's autonomy movement with great interest. INTERCONVICTION Interconviction is a faith-based charity dedicated to establishing a firm spiritual foundation on the new frontier. They are constantly bickering with officials from the Humanity Fund, because as a faith-based organization, they are technically ineligible for any support. They have recently begun getting some support from the Colonial Consortium, after publicly calling out the Fund for not only ignoring faith-based charities, but all offworld charities.

Just a note the name in your story "UNCA" is very similar to halo's UNC. It may be eligal for you to use that name.

Um...the REPUBLICAN-COMMUNIST PARTY is neather plausable nor believeable...just what ideology and policy views do they have in common?

Quote: Just a note the name in your story "UNCA" is very similar to halo's UNC. It may be eligal for you to use that name.

I think Halo uses UNSC, United Nations Space Command.

Quote: Original post by MSW
Um...the REPUBLICAN-COMMUNIST PARTY is neather plausable nor believeable...just what ideology and policy views do they have in common?

This organization is an outgrowth of American big business interests and Chinese big business interests; the name of Republican-Communist is an expression of unity between the colonies, and not specifically a declaration of ideology.

The Communist Party of China by this time has very little to do with the social and economic concept of communism and is more ceremonial in nature; a symbol of tradition similar to the British monarchy.

I'm impressed, this seems very carefully thought out, and written very well. I'm not very familiar with political machinations, but to me a lay-man, it at least sounded very plausible - and that's the important thing, right? ;)

I am curious, though, as to why this Martinez Technologies, a private corporation, would donate so much of its funds to the Orbit Patrol. Corporations would rarely support a police force like this, unless they somehow gained something from it. Did I miss something? What is Martinez Technologies motivation for supporting the Orbit Patrol so actively?

Oh, and even if Halo used the same exact acronym, it wouldn't matter. Acronyms are hardly copyrightable, as they can stand for any number of things.

Quote: Original post by Taolung
I'm impressed, this seems very carefully thought out, and written very well. I'm not very familiar with political machinations, but to me a lay-man, it at least sounded very plausible - and that's the important thing, right? ;)

I am curious, though, as to why this Martinez Technologies, a private corporation, would donate so much of its funds to the Orbit Patrol. Corporations would rarely support a police force like this, unless they somehow gained something from it. Did I miss something? What is Martinez Technologies motivation for supporting the Orbit Patrol so actively?

Oh, and even if Halo used the same exact acronym, it wouldn't matter. Acronyms are hardly copyrightable, as they can stand for any number of things.

There are a few reasons for this, but you didn't miss anything; I didn't include much about MarTech. It's a Homeworld-based corporation, and in a different section of the plot document.

MarTech was one of the corporations badly hit by the offworlder's economic takeover, before the UNCA trade barriers were put up.

Its contributions are not military in nature; the Orbit Patrol's primary expenses come from payroll more than any equipment, since member nations supply most of it. The real question is where MarTech's money is being spent.

I've got class in a few minutes, so I'll explain that more later :-)

The company itself is a large manufacturer of robotics and heavy machinery, but lost most of its clients to offworld corporations.

MarTech's board of directors are connected to many other powerful organizations, and the company itself is known to be propping up many nations single-handedly through sheer strength of checkbook.

Perhaps MarTech is a way for corrupt council officials to launder stolen money from the Humanity Fund; or a client corporation through which the UN can distribute money where it needs to go.

Or maybe they seek to create a situation where the UN is dependent on their money, thus gaining indirect control over the significant power the Orbit Patrol possesses.

I haven't fully realized the potential for this yet, to be honest. I'm considering dodging all of this and changing Martech to be a direct, philanthropic contribution to the Humanity Fund.

You could make your story a little bit more realistic if you could use the names of UN / NATO / WTO in your story. some organisations in your story have almost exactly similar tasks or targets.

By the way: the combination of republic and communistic are not that strange;
the official name of China is The People's Republic Of China.

Homeworld isn't excellent as a name, but I can't think of anything else to name it. Offworld sounds good.

And most of the time the "money-lines" between pseudo-governmental institutions and big (inter-planetaerian) corporations are not that visible to the ordinary person, so in that case a plot change in the form of a stock exchange scandal, more "hidden money-lines" and other forms of crossed interests are to be expected. But, then again, if this story is just background info, it all isn't that important.

hope to have helped.

couldn't edit my post because it's a anonymous one...

"They are single-handedly the force behind the massive smuggling operations bringing high-value offworld goods to the Homeworld, which puts them at odds with the United Nations, as well as Homeworld corporations, at every turn. However, they have recieved tacit support from some nations directly, typically those which have nothing to gain from the UN trade barriers."

A organization of over 700 companies wouldn't openly commit smuggling and the other criminal actions that go with smuggling. Maybe it's better to have some of these companies to commit smuggling. Having the organization to try to walk political paths, and some of it's members to walk of it, seems more realistic to me.

Something else: Why would a prospering Offworld need a declining Homeworld? Reading your story all of the bold and the beautiful are headed off, leaving the poor and the ugly behind. Only thing I can thing of is that there is too much labor and too little people on Offworld. But that could also restore itself within a few generations as the people on Offworld thrive and the people on Homeworld starve. So, in the long run Offworld will one day be able to function without Homeworld.

"China controls 29.2% of the Consortium's members, the United States controls 37.6%, Japan controls 7.1%, Saudi Arabia controls 3%, and the states of the European Union control 22.7%. It is worth noting that Saudi Arabia and the European Union have a great deal more national charter organizations that are not affiliated with the Consortium, smaller enterprises that are ineligible due to lack of size or influence."

I presume that you are from the US? In that case I understand the patriotic numbers in this quote. Since this is all pretty distant future I can only guess,but I think the difference between the EU and the US should be smaller, perhaps even in favor of the EU. I think China's part should be bigger (the economy is growing enormously fast nowadays there, and the have a pretty dominant role in your story too.) Saudia Arabia (or perhaps the United Arabic Emirates?) wil have a somewhat bigger share if the Sharia laws and Islamic faith doesn't keep them on Earth. I think Japan's part would be to be neglected, Japan is a friendly country which mass produces all kinds of high tech to almost every country in the world and it lacks the ambition to become a dominant player of the world nowadays other than economic and I doubt this will change in the future.
Your percentages add up to 96.6%, some countries that might want to be part of this last share are: -India
-South Africa/African countries
-Russia/eastern european countries


India is becoming more and more a high tech country, already have nuclear weapons, and are very eager to show the world what a great nation they are.

South Africa/ other (richer) African countries:
Already are pretty wealthy, are still very resourceful, and because corruption is a normal sight while conducting business, the richer African countries could just give it try.

Like what Taolung said.
It's very Impressive.

Smell like a bit of Gundam
(Anti Earth Union Group ,AEUG
Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Threaty , Zaft
the Principality of Zeon
and the Titans and Oz)

and a little bit of Zone of Enders ;-)

REPUBLICAN-COMMUNIST PARTY
and the
DEMOCRATIC CONSERVATIONIST PARTY

No, this is not so believable. And I don't think that all chinese are Communist, and even those from China themself.
Just take a look at Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Most Chinese living oversees(from China) are "NOT" communist.
and I also have the same thing to said about Democraty too.



O.W.L.
Ditto.
The Off-World Labor Union
not so Interresting.[depressed]

WATCHDOGS
The name sounds too weak.

Try writting a time line
which will give your story a more historical depth.

More PRO Independent oriented Politics/terrorist groups

and try remove some of your political/religous oriented parties,
because in the future Democraty, Communist or religion probally don't exist.(what I am predicting.. ;-P)




and why can't I use quote?