
Gushemege CSB Activities                                            Andy Slack
HIWG Doc No. SW04
Date:

ABSTRACT
      An overview of the activities of Strephon's Agency in the fields of
      disinformation, memetic engineering, terrorism, and commando operations.

OVERVIEW
      The Covert Survey Bureau (CSB) is the logical choice for Strephon's
secret agency. There are also a number of interesting anomalies in Gushemege
sector. This document discusses what the Gushemege CSB is up to, under these
main headings: Disinformation, Memetics, Terrorism, and Commando Operations.

STRATEGIC GOALS
      Strephon's Worlds are outnumbered absolutely in terms of the fighting
ships and men available to the other factions. In any given battle, however,
what matters is not how troops the enemy has, but how many he can bring to
bear. The CSB aims to reduce the odds against Strephon's forces in three main
ways:
    * by tying down as many opposing troops and ships as possible, rendering
      them unavailable for combat.
    * by rallying the undecided populations behind Strephon, thus increasing
      his forces.
    * by attacking the enemy's command structure and communications routes so
      that he cannot direct his forces to the right place at the right time.

      The CSB's top administrators are wise enough to realize that this
strategy only delays the inevitable fall of Strephon's Worlds. The rebellion
is bound to settle down to a war of attrition, and in that kind of conflict
the faction with the most troops will eventually win. Strephon and the CSB
hope that the major factions will cripple each other before the attritional
phase sets in, or that they can rally enough high-population worlds to become
the largest faction.

      In the meantime, an interesting scenario might be made out of a senior
CSB agent employing the PCs to carry out missions for him - not for Strephon's
cause, but to build up a nest egg he can retire on when Strephon's Worlds
collapse.

DISINFORMATION
        Or, the time-honored art of telling lies about your opponents. Because
of the slow speed at which news travels and the general chaos of the Rebellion,
 it isdifficult for most people to find out what is really going on. They will
therefore tend to believe nothing at all or whoever shouts the loudest.
      Affeldt suggested lowering enemy morale by tampering with the troops'
mail. Strephon's agency takes this a step further by tampering with the
faction's mail -- introducing false information into their rival's xboat
networks. This is done in a variety of ways:
      First, by introducing Gushemege xboats into the networks of rival
factions, carrying fake news. For example, reporting a battle or a planet lost
when it was won, or faked footage of the rival faction's leader being
assassinated. This is a dangerous mission for the pilot, but allows maximum
consistency between the messages aboard, making the news more credible.
      Second, agents in rival faction's territory invent false messages and
introduce them into the local xboat network. This can mislead the readers.
More importantly, it lowers the credibility of the other messages delivered.
If one report says the battle was won and another says it was lost, which do
you believe? This slows the enemy's response to information as he must verify
its truthfulness before acting, possibly by sending another ship to check what
really happened.
      Third, destroying data banks, xboats, and couriers wherever possible.
This slows the enemy response, because he doesn't know what is going on. He
must either send more ships to find out, or have fighting ships escort
couriers. (The latter will slow down couriers, because warships generally have
lower jump numbers.)
      In all cases, due to the excellent quality of Gushemege simulations,
based on Lancian technology, the false data introduced by the CSB are not
obvious forgeries.
      In a more adventurous vein, carefully doctored news might persuade a
low-technology, high-population world that it was cut-off, surrounded,
abandoned, and soon to be smashed by Strephon's fleets. Silver balloons
masquerading as orbiting battleships would help. A forceful landing by a
gunboat or two carrying a CSB agent dressed as a Colonel or Fleet Admiral with
a request that the world surrender could gain the world's surrender, if the
agents were good enough actors.

MEMETICS
      Pre-jump-drive experiments on Terra showed that certain ideas are
infectious, spreading among persons like viruses and taking over victims'
belief systems. These ideas are known as memes, and the techniques of studying
and creating them are collectively called memetics. Where the vectors
(transmission agent) for a physical disease include vermin, insects, and
carriers of the disease, the vectors for a meme include media broadcasts and
whispered conversations.
      In memetic theory, social movements are side effects of the spread of
specific memes. It follows that a group capable of creating and spreading a
suitable meme can produce social movements to order.
      Much CSB research has been targeted on projects to create new religions,
philosophies, and codes of behavior which will dispose those accepting the
artificial ideals to support the CSB's aim. These projects usually conduct
their experiments on interdicted worlds with low tech levels, to minimize the
disturbing affects of outside interference. The group of four type-X starports
close together in subsector L house the major projects, close together for
ease of comparison.
      Creating a suitable meme requires, first, that CSB agents thoroughly
study which memes are already active in the target culture. The successful
pseudo-religion will make extensive use of existing memes to help it take root
in the target population.
      Second, the meme must be codified in a written (or other recorded) form.
As self-replicating information patterns, memes are subject to mutation and
evolution like physical genes, and standardizing the meme helps to limit
mutation as the number of people infected grows. The CSB agent in place
normally prepares and distributes the standard "Bible" for the new meme.
      Third, the CSB encourages those infected with the meme to isolate
themselves from the rest of the population, to minimize contamination from
competing memes, and to protect the believers. The local government and/or
religion will undoubtedly attempt suppression.
      The most successful memes - from the CSB's standpoint - are those
overriding a sophont's natural desire for genetic and personal survival. This
sort of meme can induce untrained civilians to drive grav sleds full of
explosives into Lucan's or Dulinor's local headquarters, or attack troops in
battledress with sticks and stones. The sort of fanaticism needed can only be
generated by pseudo-religious memes, hence the CSB's interest in creating
artificial religions, and even then must be continually fanned by agents
onworld.
      A possible scenario is that the PCs are forced to deal with a local
religious cult inflamed to acts of terrorism by a CSB agent. Perhaps one of
the party's favorite NPCs is kidnapped and brainwashed by the cult.


TERRORISM
      Even in the former heartland of the Imperium there are dissidents -
corsairs, terrorists, criminal elements, and so on - who would take up arms
against the government. The CSB's policy is to contact those groups in their
rivals' territories, and give them arms, money, and specialists advice. The
CSB is not concerned with what these groups stand for; all that matters is
that they oppose their government and are prepared to take action. Of course,
should such action be against the CSB's interests, their supplies of guns and
cash dry up.
      This policy will give Strephon major problems if he won, because he will
then have well-equipped, trained terrorist groups entrenched in his territory.
Desperate and vastly outnumbered, however, he is prepared to take that risk
and hope the CSB will have an answer for that problem when it arises.
Strephon's main concern so far has been for the innocent victims of terrorism.
The CSB argues that innocent victims are essential, as killing the spouses and
children of rival factions' troops is not only easier than killing the troops,
it has a greater effect on their morale.
      The CSB recognizes that it would weaken Strephon's bid for the throne to
be associated with this activity. They are careful to lay blame either on the
terrorists themselves or on another faction. Atrocities committed in Lucan's
domain will be blamed on Dulinor, and vice versa.
      False Flag Recruiting: The CSB studies intended recipient organizations,
and then poses as members of that faction. The Solomani Party is the main
recipient of CSB support within the volume of space controlled by the Ziru
Sirka. Like most other recipients, it is ignorant of the true source of
funding. It might reject the money and advice if it knew where they came from.
      Within Lucan's Imperium, the Scarlet Claw Society is a group of Aslan
terrorists which the CSB funds. The agents pose as members of Dulinor's
agency, and so the terrorists believe themselves to be fighting for Dulinor
instead of helping Strephon.
      Affeldt suggested arming PCs and turning them loose to create mayhem in
rivals' territory. This is as good a campaign setup as any sponsored by CSB.
      Disease: Another common ploy is for CSB agents posing as customs
inspectors to board independent merchantmen just before they leave Strephon's
Worlds for enemy territory. While aboard they surreptitiously infect the ship
with contagious disease germs. The intent is to spread the disease into
starports within a rival faction's turf.
      The plagues used will be crippling, but not actually lethal. A dead
enemy who only needs to be buried has less effect on opponents' morale and
resources than a horribly diseased one who must be cared for constantly.
      A possible scenario is to infect the PC's ship with a virulent plague in
this way, perhaps while dropping off a passenger who is really a CSB agent.
The PCs will become ill while being hunted as saboteurs or plague carriers.

COMMANDO OPERATIONS
      The CSB maintains a number of highly-respected commando teams, which are
trained and equipped at a level rivalling the special forces units of the
other major services. Like the rest of the CSB's operatives, these have a
reputation for the bizarre, earned mainly from their use of trained animals,
gadgetry, and deception.
      Trained pouncers have been fitted with time-fused explosive packs and
encouraged to build nests inside enemy starships. This has had mixed success,
with some targets destroyed and other attempts destroying neutral or merchant
tonnage instead. The CSB argues that even failures help their cause, as they
lower enemy morale, discourage neutral merchants from visiting enemy ports,
and tie down forces on security duties.
      Small flying animals that nest in the eaves of buildings have been
captured and fitted with incendiary devices in attempts to burn down enemy
cities. These missions have uniformly failed so far, but all add to the fears
and worries of those opposing Strephon.
      During the early days of the Rebellion, attempts were made to peddle
drugs to troops fighting for other factions. These were discontinued when
Strephon's troops proved equally vulnerable -- in many cases they received the
drugs intended for Lucan's forces.
      CSB commando units often travel incognito aboard free traders owned and
operated by the CSB. A possible scenario is for the CSB to hold the lien on
the PC's ship through a number of dummy companies. A CSB commando team in
disguise charters the ship, and the PCs are blamed for the atrocities the
commit at one port of call.
      Once on-planet, CSB teams are supported by sleeper agents scattered
throughout the sector years ago to support anti-terrorist and anti-piracy
operations. The typical sleeper believes he works for someone else (whoever
his recruited thought he was likely to work for), and is exempt from draft by
virtue of ill health, age, or professional status.
      The sleeper's task is to provide a safe house where the team can rest,
avoid searches, and prepare for missions. Stocks of food and medicine, and
perhaps a vehicle, are also needed. These hideouts take many forms -- a
starport restaurant franchise, a cargo container ostensibly storing furniture
for someone off-planet on business (and stacked amid many genuine ones), and
unproductive mine on a nearly-abandoned asteroid, a lighthouse or emergency
shelter, and so on.
      The missions undertaken by a commando unit are often blamed on
terrorists, and are broadly similar to terrorist operations. What
distinguishes them is their precise timing and targeting, as opposed to the
apparently random and pointless violence of the terrorist. These units are
specially tasked with eliminating key opponents by killing, kidnapping, or
discrediting them. To gain the proper perspective for how the gadget-oriented
CSB tackles this sort of task, watch reruns of the "Mission: Impossible" show.


