Rice Papers
RICE Paper: HRD/Vincennes, Part 1 of 2
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Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 09:13:06 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
Subject: RICE Paper: HRD/Vincennes, Part 1 of 2
Yet another in my Vincennes Cluster of RICE papers. Before I'm done,
I intend to outline each and every world within six parsecs of
Vincennes. Next up: Kubishush, world of ammonia-breathing septapods.
Incidentally, if anyone who's reading these things missed my Porozlo
or Northammon papers during the TML Maghiz last week, let me know and
I'll repost them or direct you to the appropriate TML number.
At any rate, here's HRD:
RICE Paper #DB-1623: HRD System
HRD (Vincennes: Deneb/1623)
A401754-F N Na Va Ic 110 RE M5 III
G=0.49, Day=37:11:26.6, Year = 88y 308d 13:00:17.19 Atmo=0.00, No
Weather Control
Temp= +70.97 (5/lat +15 to -35) (season +9 to -15.0, 15 deg lat) Daily
temp range 295.82 (+20.64 to -275.18)
Ores, Radioactives, Compounds; None; None; Recordings, Software,
Documents
Radical/Enterprising, Competitive/Neutral, Discordant/Xenophilic
Legal: 4-79545 Tech: FD-FFFEF-FFFH-FF-G
[NOTE: DGP's articles on Deneb Sector and Vincennes System, featured
in MegaTraveller Journal #3, were used as resources for this RICE
paper. I would like to acknowledge the authors of the DGP articles,
James Holden, Mike Makesh, Nancy Parker and Charles P. Kalina. This
RICE paper is intended to build upon the information they have
provided.]
HRD is the primary brain trust of Deneb Sector. For centuries, the
free-spending research facilities and progressively structured
corporate environment of the planet have attracted some of the
greatest minds of the Regency. HRD's path to fame was a difficult
one, however. The system has weathered centuries of controversy and
scandal, but has amazingly maintained a reputation as a premier
private research facility.
HRD system, labeled 975-003 by the IISS during the Grand Survey, was
initially overlooked during the colonial wave that passed through
Deneb and Spinward Marches sectors. Radiation emanating from the
system's smoldering giant star, YG-437, causes an extreme daily
temperature fluctuation that makes long-term habitation on the world
difficult to manage. In 222, the Imperial Navy, having greater
environmental technology at their disposal than most colonial
ventures, established an industrial mining facility on the planet.
For decades, the navy exploited the planet's natural resources,
including substantial industrial-grade radioactives for exportation to
pre-stellar worlds. Continued industrial efforts on 975-003 were
abandoned after the Starn Beltstrike of 259.
In the wake of several controversial audits of Imperial Navy frontier
expenditures, Admiralty decided it was in their best interests to
convert rather than scrap the expensive facility on 975-003.
975-003's mining sites and factories were converted into R&D
facilities and the planet was renamed Laboratory in 274. For over
three centuries the Laboratory facility was issued tens of thousands
of patents for innovative military technology. The facility became a
nexus for top-notch military engineers.
The Imperial Navy continued to funnel public funds into Laboratory
until the media again reared its ugly head. Several well-placed
informants exposed the Imperial Navy Research Facility at Laboratory
for misuse of public funds in 622. Fourteen research divisions on
Laboratory were found guilty of plagiarizing the published work of
several Imperial Research Stations. It was discovered that decades
earlier, several of Laboratory's most clandestine facilities had been
mothballed immediately after construction, their advanced computer and
research equipment never even removed from the cargo modules. The
confidentiality of the facilities protected them from scrutiny until a
daring journalist, Hallah Dariso, performed a reconnaissance of the
naval research center from a nearby mountain range. What she saw was
a pristine facility with nary a sign of life on its campus. Dariso
sold the story to the TNS and the rest is history. In the worst
embarassment yet, it was rumored that the majority of funds allocated
to Laboratory were being used to line the pockets of several regional
nobles. The "Laboratory Scandal" rocked the Imperial Navy to its
foundations and once again, they were forced to cut their political
losses, this time under order of the Iridium Throne.
Several megacorporations announced their interest in purchasing the
facilities for private use in 626. The controversial Humbolt family
of Vincennes established themselves as the executor of a deal that
would establish a permanent multi-corporation research facility on
Laboratory. Discarding the "Laboratory" nom-du-plume, the planet
became the Humbolt Research Directorate (HRD). The Humbolt family
aggressively recruited megacorporate participants in this
unprecedented project. Eager to get their hands on the technology of
the little-used naval research facility, megacorporate liaison teams
flocked to HRD.
HRD had become an overnight media giant. Broadcasting agencies from
throughout the sector shone the spotlight on HRD. The
megacorporations longed for the opportunity to thumb their noses at
the aloof Imperial Research Stations and looked at HRD as their chance
to do exactly that. The Humbolts cashed in on the hysteria by
charging exhorbitant amounts for real estate lots and research
facility privileges. The abashed megacorporations had no choice but
to relent to the greed of the Humbolts. The media buildup of HRD had
become so pervasive in the public consciousness that any
megacorporation not involved in the project became a market pariah.
General Products became a victim of this unprecedented case of mass
hysteria when they announced their refusal of the Humbolts' terms.
Regional General Products stock dropped eight points overnight.
Trading on GP stock was temporarily halted to avert a sectorwide
calamity. The regional collapse of General Products sent a shockwave
through the local industrial sector. Megacorporations grudgingly
accepted the Humbolts' financial terms to avert similar disasters.
In 628, the Humbolts became the focus of an Imperial inquisition
involving, among other things, the alleged large-scale abuse of the
native sophonts of Perez system. Humbolt industrial interests were
extracting a valuable hallucinogen from the sophonts using an
excruciatingly painful process. The Humbolt family was expelled from
the region and stripped of the rights to Vincennes and HRD systems.
The megacorporations quickly snapped up HRD lots at auction. Less
than two years after the HRD project was born, the Humbolts' only
legacy was the planet's name.
In the following century, the corporations and megacorporations that
established HRD research facilities began to see large returns on
their investments. For many years, ideas developed at HRD were
transmuted into marketable products throughout the Regency. By 700,
however, the well began to run dry. If not for the return of the
Imperial Navy and the conversion of much of HRD's resources to
military contracting, the grand dream of the Humbolts may have died a
quick death.
By the mid-700s, the Imperial Navy had reestablished a presence on HRD
at the planet's class-A orbital starport. The navy brought in much
needed capital to the megacorporate research concerns onplanet. Naval
contracts were liberally handed out to the think tanks and
technological research facilities. By 800, the navy commanded over 90
percent of HRD's resources. This arrangement remained the status quo
until the early 1100s. In 1103, a consortium of neighboring system
governments contracted HRD's research facilities to create
cost-effective public works programs. Included were programs
specifically designed to enhance environmental and transportation
technology. At the present date, the HRD public works programs
command approximately 20 percent of corporate resources.
In 968, the Imperial Navy built the HRD Technical Academy and the
Imperial Naval Academy at HRD, adjacent to the world's capital city,
Control. A large contingent of the Imperial 258th Fleet was
dispatched to HRD for the opening ceremonies and to establish a
permanent high guard for the strategically important work being done
on the planet. The Regency Navy continues to maintain both
educational facilities at the present date. Though both schools are
highly reputable, they are in need of renovation and the navy is
currently drumming up public support for an Academy Refit Program.
In stiff competition with the two HRD military schools is the civilian
HRD Polytechnic University, located at Innovation, the planet's
second-largest city. Renowned for the technical expertise of its
faculty, HRDPU instructs students in the design of all forms of
technology, both military and civilian. The recent addition of a
humanities department has broadened the spectrum of HRD's research
resources to political and social issues as well. Students at HRDPU
look down their noses at the rigid spacers of the military academies.
HRD is governed by the Megacorporate Research Council (MRC). The MRC
consists of Corporate Councils recruited from the five most prolific
corporations on the planet. Every 5 years, an independent audit is
performed to determine which corporations are most fit to run the MRC.
The formula that determines which corporations shall rule is a
complex one in which net income, research expenditures and patent
generation are factors. Currently, the ruling corporations are Ling
Standard Products, GSbaG, Makhidkarun, SuSAG and Sternmental Horizons.
The fifth slot, run by Sternmental, was recently held by Instellarms
until the other four ruling megacorporations ousted the weapons
manufacturer as punishment for desecrating a portion of HRD's southern
hemisphere with an illegal meson weapon testing program. Several such
ousters have occurred over the planet's history. Most economists and
sociologists attribute this phenomenon to the extremely competitive
nature of HRD society. Political adversity is commonplace on HRD.
The system's natives laud this feature of their governmental structure
for its cleansing effect. Megacorporations involved in underhanded or
illegal projects or business are usually ferreted out and exposed by
their competitors. HRD's highly skilled "information junkies" and
espionage agencies are constantly turning stones to expose corporate
dirty dealings.
MRC councils are not always drawn exclusively from the
megacorporations. In the planet's history, several sectorwide and
even a few subsectorwide corporations have held office for varying
terms. Liiri-based arms manufacturer, Tactical Solutions et cie, is
perhaps the most notable sectorwide corporation to hold office on HRD
for an extended period of time. The sheer economic might of the
megacorporations usually wins out, however, giving them hegemony over
HRD's government.
The executive and legislative tool of the MRC is the Corporate
Committee. Each of the five ruling megacorporations establishes a
seven-person Corporate Committee to vote and write laws for the MRC.
Committee membership is a full-time job and few committee members
perform any other function for their corporation other than civic
duties. An independent agency, The Office of the Exchequer, oversees
the activities of the MRC and manages the use of public funds. HRD is
remarkably free of violent crime, so law enforcement requirements are
minimal. Regency Marines perform most law-enforcement duties. The
Regency Navy performs judicial duties in cases of violent crime.
Corporate criminal cases and lawsuits are adjudicated in the Corporate
Court, an independent judicial agency comprised of professional judges
and attorneys.
No other system in the Regency is better trained or equipped to
bombard, derail or dismember an opponent with information than HRD.
In fact, HRD has it down to a science. In 998, Dr. Gerhard Terili
founded The Guaran Institute as a department of HRDPU. Named for the
homeworld of the hivers, the most prolific manipulators in charted
space, the institute employs professors who teach the fine art of
using information and media as a weapon. Several primer courses
feature discourses on hiver manipulative techniques as well. The
Guaran Institute has come under fire recently for the inclusion in its
curriculum of a course titled "Genocide 101." The course's syllabus
includes the written works of several historical advocates of genocide
and professes to its students the tenets of a successful genocidal
program. The First Regent himself has expressed displeasure with "the
questionable ethics of teaching the Regency's youth the building
blocks of mass murder."
The importance of HRD to the Regency is paramount. Unprecedented
discoveries have been made on HRD in the areas of antimatter power
generation, manipulators (or tractor/repulsors, as they're sometimes
called), subspace communications, meson technology, materials
technology, matter teleportation, terraforming and black globe
studies. A large portion of the cutting-edge technology in the
Regency was spawned at least in part in the laboratories of HRD.
HRD fosters a unique open-door policy to all members and client states
of the Regency and maintains an aggressive naturalization program to
recruit scientific talent from the Daryen Confederation, the Vargr
Extents and more recently, the Zhodani Consulate. Due to the large
number of military contracts held by HRD corporations, Regency
citizenship is required before employment can be offered. Regency
Naval prejudice generally prevents non-Regency personnel from working
on the most crucial classified projects.
A detailed background check is mandatory for employment on HRD.
Because of the ubiquitousness of corporate espionage, hiring decisions
are made very carefully. A GSbaG spy manages to steal LSP's prototype
plan for a new jump drive. An Instellarms agent steals and patents
Tactical Solutions' latest fusion rifle design before it hits the
market. These are nightmare scenarios for HRD corporations.
Corporate research facilities on HRD maintain the most stringent
security available in the Regency. Though the world isn't
interdicted, most corporate facilities effectively are. It isn't
unusual for a corporation to employ armed security to protect their
research facilities or mercenary units to guard top-secret prototypes
enroute to manufacturing centers elsewhere in the Regency. DNA
scanners are standard equipment at all entrances of most corporate
facilities.
The Jumpspace Institute, which maintains a research facility on HRD,
is actively working to break the Jump-6 Barrier. While nearly all of
the Institute's findings are classified and secured by Regency Naval
Intelligence (RNI), it is known to the general public that HRD's
Jumpspace Institute is pro-Jump^2 (or Jump Squared). Jump Squared
advocates believe that the most probable method of breaking the Jump-6
Barrier is to find a way to perform a jump while already in jump
space. Chief opponents of the Jump Squared faction are the
Misjumpers. Misjumpers believe that in order to break the Jump-6
Barrier, scientists must find a way to harness the chaotic effects of
misjumps. One of the main proponents of the Misjumper faction are the
Jumpspace Institute scientists at Research Station Zeta on Pashus
(Zeng: Deneb/1432). Neither side has developed conclusive results,
but the debate rages on.
After the closure of Regency borders to protect the Spinward States
from Virus, customs laws became extremely harsh on HRD. No
unauthorized exportation of HRD technology is permitted. The danger
of AI robotics or ships' computers falling into the hands of Virus
invokes the image of Trin being bombarded and infested by suicider
Virus strains. Importation is also highly regulated. The effects of a
Viral contamination of HRD computers would be devastating to the
planet's highly technological society. As a result, imported parts
and components are meticulously inspected for Viral infection.
Customs enforcement is an extremely difficult job on HRD. Highly
trained naval and marine personnel are required to manage the flow of
technological equipment on and off planet. HRD corporations are
frequently caught attempting to ship unauthorized prototypes offplanet
to their manufacturing centers elsewhere in the Regency. Most
manufacturing corporations avert customs laws by designing their
technology on HRD and exporting the design via computer media.
Occasionally, however, corporations find the need to locally
manufacture a prototype for testing purposes and quickly export it to
their remote factories. Corporations caught in the act usually claim
that time is of essence in the dog-eat-dog world of advanced
technology and that the rigid customs laws of HRD make it nigh
impossible to compete with offworld corporations, many of whom face
less stringent regulations. Their cases are heard in court, but
corporations caught in the act of illegal exportation are usually
punished with stiff fines and imprisonment for personnel involved in
the attempted offworld smuggling. HRD mastery of information flow
usually protects corporate executives from incarceration.
The navy has reserved two squadrons of SDBs solely for the purpose of
enforcing exportation laws. These SDB squadrons form the core of the
Mobile Unit SDBs for Customs Law Enforcement (MUSCLE). MUSCLE SDBs
have proven extremely effective at limiting corporate attempts to
skirt exportation laws. Just recently, an LSP blockade runner was
forcibly grounded on the farside of HRD by two of MUSCLE's SDBs. A
shootout between mercenaries on the runner and the marine boarding
party followed. Usually, smuggling attempts do not escalate to this
level, but open violence does occasionally occur. Such events are
played up in the local news by naval publicity personnel, with the
intention of discouraging future smuggling attempts. Such propaganda
usually falls upon deaf ears, however.
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 09:14:18 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
Subject: RICE Paper: HRD/Vincennes, Part 2 of 2
[Continued from part 1]
HRD's two major cities, Control and Innovation, are surprisingly
lively cities. Linked to one another by an extensive maglev rail
system, the two cities lie approximately 450 km from each other. Both
cities feature domed starport and startown facilities aboveground and
expansive business and residential subterranean sections. While most
expect that a planet dedicated to intellectual pursuits would be a
stuffy, sedated environment, just the opposite is true on HRD.
Control, the location of the downside naval base, is more or less
bifurcated into the corporate sector and military sector. The
corporate sector houses and employs individuals working exclusively
for corporate military contractors. Social and entertainment
facilities in Control's corporate sector tend to be of the more
mundane variety. Families typically enjoy a night out at one of the
city's plethora of restaurants, followed by a holofilm viewing or
gambling in the casino district.
The military sector features a somewhat dilapidated housing section
and a score of bars and discos. Among marines and naval enlisted men,
the Citadel tends to be the most popular watering hole. This
expansive nightclub features a full slate of raunchy entertainment and
some of the strongest ale to be found in the trailing portion of the
Regency. Brawls are not uncommon at the Citadel. While the bouncers
at the bar are rather effective at quashing such affairs for the most
part, a fullscale bar fight nearly wrecked the joint recently when a
marine NCO insulted a naval SEALS (Sea-Air-Land-Space) special ops
officer. At the other end of the spectrum is the staid HRD Naval
Officers' Club, a posh bi-level establishment located in the surface
dome of Control. Naval officers enjoy the refined environment of the
club and descend to "The Catacomb" for gambling and less reserved
entertainment.
In sharp contrast with the somewhat blighted military residential and
commercial districts, the adjacent naval and marine training centers
and barracks are well-funded and equipped operations. Currently
administered by Commodore Willa Velakusian, the dirtside naval base is
a meticulously maintained facility. Also maintained at the dirtside
base are 18 batteries of meson dampers and 12 deep-site particle
accelerators to be used for offensive or defensive fire. Because of
the concentrated population of HRD, the navy deemed it wise to provide
ample defense capabilities for the naval base and adjacent city.
Other than marine law enforcement officers, one would be hard-pressed
to find naval or marine personnel just about anywhere in Innovation.
While many corporations that contract to the military also do business
in Innovation, those who live in the city tend to avoid personal
contact with the military. Innovation is home to scores of sidewalk
cafes, in which all manner of discussion and debate occurs on any
subject from the validity of Moroyanga's research findings to the
advantages of the more pluralistic Regency over the old Imperium.
After enjoying a cup of Vincennezi Espresso, the conversation is
usually carried to one of hundreds of small bars, taverns or
nightclubs along the subterranean streets of the city. For more
family-oriented entertainment, people generally cling to the numerous
malls and holotheatres on the periphery of the northeastern
residential districts.
While 95 percent of HRD's population lives and works in Control or
Innovation, the remaining inhabitants occupy the planetary outback.
Devoid of atmosphere, HRD presents a harsh environment in which to
live remotely from other sentient life. Corporate researchers at
HRD's polar ice caps, faultline research facilities, geological survey
divisions and low orbital zero-G pharmaceutical facilities generally
use imported Vincennezi communications technology to maintain contact
with their families in the cities. The extreme daily temperature
fluctuation on HRD makes going outside a dangerous proposition.
Thickly padded and radiation-shielded vaccsuits are worn when it is
absolutely necessary to venture into the outdoors.
HRD is an extremely important system to the Regency and therefore
requires special attention. The Regency Navy maintains a considerable
portion of the 258th Fleet in the system, mostly in point defense of
the system mainworld itself. HRD's unique history and governmental
structure have fostered a climate in which intellectual freedom can
flourish. Though the world of HRD itself is essentially a hostile
airless rock, the society contained within is home to some of the
greatest minds of the age. When Regency governments look for
innovation, critical evaluation or conventional wisdom, they look to
HRD.
HRD System Details
Orbit Name UPP Remarks
Primary YG-437 M5 III
0-3 Within sphere of star
4 Scorch Y430000-0 Va
8 Ash Y100000-0 Va
35 Ember Y100000-0 Va
5 Shade YS00000-0 Va
6 Nazgul Y450000-0
35 Beege Y300000-0 Va
7 Planetoid Belt G000312-F As Nv. Majority owned by
Sternmental Horizons.
8 Fuel Depot H300463-F Nv Va
6 JV-224 Y200000-0 Va
8 JV-076 YS00000-0 Va
15 JV-075 YS00000-0 Va
9 HRD A401754-F N Na Va Ic 10 Sleet
G905267-E Va
11 Graul Orin Y100000-0 Va
7 KY-073 YS00000-0 Va
9 KY-052 YS00000-0 Va
12 Outcast G977162-E
13 Untouchable YS00000-0 Va
NOTE: The IISS satellite naming convention used during the Grand
Survey in HRD system was to apply the surveyor's initials, followed by
the G rating of the world without its decimal point. Thus, JV-224 was
named by a scout with the initials "JV," and the world's gravity was
recorded at 0.224 Gs.