RICE Paper #AWP-0207 (appendix): Iper'mar Nomads

Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 20:02:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
Subject: RICE Paper #AWP-0207 (appendix): Iper'mar Nomads

207-1202

There is some debate in Scout circles on whether Iper'mar nomads should be 
treated as a world, as a cultural group or as an Imperial client state: I 
propose to treat them as a cultural group, but with their own appendix in 
the RICE papers.  Even though they are not a world per se [although they 
DO have terrtory: see following] the Regency Institute for Cultural 
Education has decided that this culture is important and unique enough to 
merit a paper on them, especially considering the value of their work as 
unsung but important members of the Regency community.

In Person:

The Iper'mar ('Refugees' in Old Kurae) can be found throughout the Regency, 
but are noticable in Querion, Vilis, Lanth, Lunion, Five Sisters, 
Plankwell, Glisten and Trin's Veil subectors, as well as throughout the 
Regency portions of the Trojan Reaches.  Most casual tourist will meet 
them around starports, public functions or supervising and designing the 
operation of high-tech equipment on low-tech worlds.  

Often, the Iper'marion (singular of Iper'mar) will be wearing the uniform 
of his contractor -- often a large, Regency-wide corporation, or local 
clothing.  On their own ship's and installations, they prefer simple 
short-and-shirt overalls, often in some dull shade of khaki or grey, but 
with bright accessories (flashy jacket's, oversized jewellery, and high 
boot's for women; aviation helmets [with engraved family glyphs], 
humongous capes and complex, everchanging TL D-E bodypaint illustrations for 
men).  They don't use deorderants, but do use sonic showers.

They're Anglic is quite clear, but somewhat high-pitched.  About 
one out of five can still speak Old Kurae, the mother tongue.  Many of 
the upper and upper-middle classes can speak 3 or more human languages: 
they're somewhat racist, and avoid dealing with Vargr, Aslan, or other 
non-humans when possible.  However, they are absolutely fascinated with 
the Zhodani, not so much for their psionics, but with their culture.

The Iper'mar are proud of their technical expertise, (they consider TL E 
items as beneath them, and absolutely adore little TL G trinket's), and 
tend to be condensending to those from worlds below TL F.  Many have a 
'colonial master' attitude to low-tech commoner's thay they are in 
charge of, but can respect low-tech rulers and merchants... if they are 
*good*.  They will never demean a low-tech client to their face, but 
if tested, have subtle ways of letting their feelings known.

Within the Regency, Iper'mar business pratices are ethically impeccible: 
they realise that the Regent won't stand by and let High-tech nomads rip 
off Low-tech locals.  Moreover, they like to have long-term 
relationship's with their clients, relationships that flurish best 
in an atmosphere of trust.  Finally, they value their business 
reputation: they have been nomadic for over 450 years, and interstellar 
traders for another 200 years, and know what doors a good rep can open.
  
Outside of the Regency, their pratices are somewhat more... flexible. 

Government within the Iper'mar is by neo-tribal democratic method's, 
similar to that of Tausus (Spinward Marches/1138: B584620-A), but with 
greater reliance on AI (non-viral).  The Archon -- or the top ruler of 
the tribe -- is little more powerful then his fellow tribal lords, but 
has the Noble rank of Marquis.  Intergration with the new democratic 
element's of the Regency is going quite smoothly. 

Because of their support (above and beyond the call of duty) of the Imperial 
government within the Empty Quarter they were granted certain legal 
priveleges, rendering their ship's effectively immune to searches by 
system governments, by Emperor Garvin.  The Iper'mar remain rather 
civic-minded for interstellar nomads, and will support the Regency when they 
can.  They generally want the rest of the Imperium to be re-intergrated, but 
CAREFULLY and SLOWLY and with CAUTION ... the Iper'mar use the best 
anti-viral technology on the market, but still deeply dread any kind of 
outbreak. (Iper'mar ship started to revisit Trin only 7 years ago!)

The religious attitudes of the Iper'mar is rather bland, generally 
worshipping as the locals do.  They have no real strong religious 
feelings, and -- on their ship's and bases -- prefer to philosophise 
about the gods rather than pray to them.  The dead tend to be simply 
buried on some world or other (according to local custom), and is eventually 
forgotten.

Most Iper'marion's are of "Imperial" descent -- that is, of 
Solomani/Vilani mixture, but also have strains of four different minor 
races (including the Darrians... oops, Daryens).  On the tall side, but 
can easily function in one gee: their ship's are set to 1G largely 
because they have to go dirtside so often in their line of work.  There 
were at least four different "races" of Iper'mar pre-Rebellion, but the 
only known surviving one -- the Deneb branch of the culture -- is of light 
complexion, with brown to sandy blond hair, large facial features, and 
dark eyes.

There are 8.34 million Iper'marion's within current Regency border's 
(down from about 30 million, Imperium-wide, before the Rebellion/Collapse).
Roughly 5 million is in two deep space bases, Laro Dif ('The Twilight Star'
in Old Kurae) and He'seme ('Gentle Starlight').  While their location is 
known to the Regency Navy, the Iper'mar is secretive regarding their 
location to outsiders.  Only 500,000 are on the roughly 1400 starship's 
that the Iper'mar own at any given time: most of the rest are on 'ground 
assignment' helping to design, maintain, and sometimes build high-tech 
items for their low-tech clientele (or low-tech items using high-tech 
knowledge or methods).  Outside of the Regency, roughly 72,000 are known to 
reside within the Zhodani Consulate: roughly 1.2 million operate spinward 
of the Spinward marches, mainly in The Beyond and Far Frontier's sectors.

Insistent rumours about 'the lost clans' somewhere in the Wilds are 
generally discounted by the Iper'mar themselves: because of their 
procivility towards high-tech equipment, they were probably more 
vulnerable to the AI Virus then the free traders.

History:

The Iper'mar are interstellar nomads, originating from the Great Dimurik 
Miim War of 740.  Essentially, the Iper'mar are the decendants of a 
number of powerful trading families from Kurae, a once-notable world that 
suffered through a impoverishing and destructive series of wars from 723 
to 792.  As their wealth was being seized by the government's involved in 
the Dimurik Miim War, the merchant's choose to flee the system, surviving 
first as a merchant line, but by 800 their livelihood was earned as a mobile 
professional knowledge elite, trading on their technical expertise.  

>From Zarushagar sector, they spread throughout the Imperium coreward of 
Zarushagar, and were especially prominent in comparatively low-tech regions 
of the Imperium like the Spinward Marches and the Empty Quarter. 
Specializing in providing workable high-tech solutions to low-tech systems, 
the Iper'mar was (and in the Regency, remains) one of the binding forces 
of the interstellar community.

The Kurae system is located in Zarushagar sector, hex 0503: UWP 
fell from A66794B-D in 700 to X667872-A by 800; the UWP was D667989-6 
just before the Rebellion.  By 930 the Republic of Haasii, the government 
of Kurae, was attempting to lure the Iper'mar back to Kurae: about 418,000, 
or 7% of the total Iper'mar population, was residing on Kurae by 1100.

As an interstellar business and as a culture, they suffered bitterly 
during the Rebellion.  Their stock-in-trade need's safe starlanes in 
order to work: without it, they were forced to stay dirtside, 
trying to survive in an unfamiliar, deteriorating enviroment. 

Even in the Spinward Marches, where the Iper'mar both had semi-safe trade 
routes [Thanks to the Domain Navy] and a solid economic enviroment [the 
Archduke often used their services in order to save damaged and doomed 
worlds within the Domain], they still had to suffer heavy draft's -- both 
military and otherwise -- and a skyrocketing tax rate.  Afterward's, in 
the wake of Virus, the Iper'mar had to cope with virusproofing their 
installations and ship's, a very expensive endeavor. (They are still 
paying off the cost of it.)    

Economics:

First arriving in the Marches in c. 820, the Iper'mar rapidly gained 
prominence within the hostile-enviro branch of the construction industry 
as low-cost producers, eventually becoming so successful as to become a 
favoured subcontractor for several megacorps working in the region.  They 
espanded to the starport construction industry in the 940s, and 
invested in both planetary weather management (designing and overseeing 
controlled weather systems for poor and low-tech governments) and 
experimented briefly in mass robot construction gangs from the 1090s to  
the Rebellion period.

In the post-Collapse period, the Iper'mar specialized in helping low-tech 
governments (up to TL D, in some cases) virus-proof starport's, 
communication equipment, etc. -- largely under the Regency aegis.  They 
also made some real money, rebuilding the rimward Regency border regions 
from Aslan attack. 

Currently, the Iper'mar are in a great debate on whether they should expand 
into the Wilds.  As TL F people, they are extremely vulnerable to Virus 
infections, but the scale of the money to be made is simply mind-boggling.
The Iper'mar are constantly on the lookout for ways to reduce their 
vulnerability to the AI Virus: they will pay any price for a reliable,  
broad-spectrum "vaccine" for Virus.

Starship Plilosophies:

The classic, instantly-recognizable ship of the Iper'mar is the Or 
Viasic liner, built to a closely-guarded design on Rhylanor.  Built to 
house 84 field specialists and their families, it's a common sight's on 
low-tech starports and the poorer worlds.

With an extensive communication suite, it can be used as a orbiting or 
space-borne operations and control platform for a variety of projects.
The ship below is meant for Regency operations: for out-of-Regency 
projects, starmerc's are usually hired for protection.  Note the lack of 
cargo space: Iper'mar clients usually either arrange cargo 
transportation seperately or the Iper'marion clanlord will outsource 
this to non-Iper'mar traders.  Note the main deficency in this design: no 
small craft capasity.  This is considered "a waste of space" by the 
Iper'mar: the same people who installed 123 apartments on their ship, 
of 400 kl each!   

Non-Imperial Iper'mar use the same design, but routinely make extensive 
modifications, adding internal armour, lasers, sandcasters, MFD's, and 
extensive cargo space. (No, they don't have docking bays: they prefer to use 
the cargo bay to store vechiles.) This cut's down on living space 
drastically:  Non-Imperial Iper'marion are considered the 'poor 
cousin's' of the Iper'mar due to the routine  indignities they have to 
put up with, from having to sleep four to a small stateroom (vs. the 
small *apartments* on the ship below) to having to actually use the 
'repair facilities' (snort, snort) of a TL C, Starport D world, to 
having to actually use Inferior Equipment (anything below TL F) to 
repair their ship.

The thing that Non-Imperial Iper'mar have to worry about most is adding 
or repairing their ship with Strange Tech. ("Strange Tech" includes any 
electronic item, hard or software, that isn't of Regency [or, in a 
pinch, Zhodani] manufacture, still untouched and shrink wraped).
The legends and tales surrounding Strange Tech is a sure party-pleaser in 
most starport bars. 

Powerful and wealthy Clanlords tend to drastically cut the amount of 
personnel on their ship's, using the space for park's, gym's, pool's, 
etc.  The Archon's ship is pratically a jump-capable party, as he 
"liasions" with subsector-to-Regency notables, and the occasional 
visiting Zhodani: Aslans and Vargr are never invited.

Important Note: NonImperial Iper'mar have no problem with using robots on 
   their ship's: however, these robots are never permitted to 
   communicate to the outside world, never leave the ship, and
   are forbidden to handle Strange Tech until the owner has O.K.'ed it.

Or Viasic Nomadic Starship: standard configuration

Disp    8000         Hull Armour   20   Power Plant  4500 MW  (11 MW surplus)
Len       90 m       Volume    112000   Jump         4
Price   2329 MCr     Tech           F   G-Rating     2
Config  Dome USL     Size           M   G-Turns     43.8
Mass 34263/30959 mt                     Maint.    1369

Computer   TL F x 3 (st)
Commo      1 x  Maser (1000 AU)  10 x Radio (3000 km)  10 x Laser (300000 km)
Sensors    A-EMS (30 000 km), P-EMS (30 000 km)
Avionics, Terrain (190 kph)

Extended L.S. w/ AG
Crew - 492              Maintenance  - 5   "Family"    -  369
   Engineering - 14     Troops       - 5
   Electrical  -  5     Command      - 6
   Maneuver    -  2     Specialists  - 84
Accomo: Sm. Apartments x 123
   [ Sm. Apartments: Vol 400, Mass 30, MW .01, Mcr 1, Hit 7 H ]
   [      Each apartment holds an Emergency Low Berth for four]
No Cargo
Air Locks x 80
Scoops: refills all in 10 hr 4 min, jfuel in 6 hr 15 min,
        maneouver fuel in 4 hr 11 min
Fuel Purification: all jfuel in 12 hours
8 additional Emergency Low Berth's
20 extra regular workstations

Combat  21/21                Travel 450/675

************************************************

Surface Area 
  1          1      1 - 19  Radio, Laser Ant
                    20      Maser, A-EMS ant
           2 - 20   Hull
2 - 20    Hull

Damage Area
  1       1 - 5   Elect
          6 - 10  Quarters
         11 - 20  Hold (fuel)
2 - 9    Hold (fuel)
10 - 17  Hold (fuel)
18 - 19  Engineering
20       Quarters

System Damage
  Electronics 
    Maser, 10 x Radio, 10 x Laser, A-EMS, P-EMS (1h) Ant (1h)
  Hold
    (fuel only)
  Quarters
    Sm. Apartments   7 H x 123
    L.S.            44 H
    E.L.S.          22 H
    A.G.            23 H
    Emg. L.B. (extra) (1h) x 8
 Engineering
    Jump Drive     112 H
    HEPlaR           3 H
    Power Plant     15 H
    Fuel Pur        56 H
    Contra Grav     16 H

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvin Plummer
"Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for."
                               - Strephon, 179-1126

Reply to: alvin.plummer@SHERIDANC.ON.CA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------