On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 10:02 AM, Michael McKinney
<xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am an Eagle Scout, I had to earn my Citizenship in the Community Badge. I
> know all the nitty gritty details of my hometown, though I wish sometimes I
> didn't. ;)
>
> That's actually really cool, the 'brochures'. That would definitely be
> something that would help with the "what is this planet?" issue. And yes, RL
> you can muddle through and struggle with the lack of knowledge, but that
> doesn't have to be a continuous struggle for each generation. haha
>
> The brochure idea I definitely like. Wikis are always useful, it's just
> knowing 'which' Wiki is the most reliable to use.
>

I ran a variant on "Rescue on Ruie" for my players back in Jan2015
They were hired to retrieve the patron's son from a prison/death camp on Ruie.
This was the handout they got concerning the planet before jumping
into the system....

===============

Excerpts from tourist book "Welcome to Ruie!"
Ruie/Regina (Spinward Marches 1809)

C776977-7
Starport C
Size 7 (Medium, 11.2kkm diameter)
Atmo: 7
Hydro:6
Population: 9
Government:7
Law level:7
Tech level:7

One gas giant
No planetoid belts

=======================
Ruie is a balkanized, industrialized autonomous world just beyond the
Imperial border.
Amber zone classification posted because of antipathy against the
Imperium and Imperials by some nations on the world.

Ruie was offered membership of the Imperium in 235, but refused. In
addition to Ruie Startown, other major settlements on Ruie include
Siirgi City, Sula, Khagin, Irshi, and Kisi.

Ruie is an industrialized, high-population planet orbiting in the life
zone around Wahrheit, a G5 V star with a mass of 0.94 and a stellar
luminosity of 0.79. It is a large, molten-core planet with a diameter
of 7,457 miles. The density is 5.6 grams per cubic centimeters (1.02
Earth's density), resulting in a mass of 0.84 Earth masses and a
gravity of 0.95 G. The rotation period is 24h 51m 06s and the orbital
period is 359.91 days (347.6 local days). There is one small moon,
Tugend, orbiting at a distance of 22,370 miles. The atmosphere is a
standard oxygen-nitrogen mix, tainted by fungal spores, with a surface
pressure of 1.05.

The fungal spores take several hours to take effect.
Breathing for 1-3 hours without filtration is not harmful.
After 4 hours, the spore build up causes mild hallucinations and a
euphoric/religious mania state
After 8 hours, the hallucinations strengthen, and severe hand tremors begin
After 12 hours, walking is impossible.
Acclimation occurs after 20-End days, after which the problem goes away.

Hydrographic percentage is 58. The axial tilt is 22 degrees and the
orbital eccentricity is 0.02. Base temperature is 25 degrees Celsius
(76 degrees Fahrenheit), giving Ruie a summer high of 62 degrees C
(143 degrees F) at the equator and a winter low of -51 degrees C (-60
degrees F) at the poles. Native life is present.

Ruie's land mass is unusually dispersed, being split into 4 major and
10 minor continents, 9 major islands, 6 archipelagoes, and uncounted
smaller islands.

The Class-C starport is Starport is in the "Comors Union", one of the
two Imperial-aligned nations on the planet.
Jingarlu is the other

History
Ruie was the homeworld of a now-extinct alien race called the
Daccamites (after the location where the first evidence of their
existence was found, the Daccam Ruins in the country of Nebelthorn).
Information about them is still very sketchy.

Ruie was settled around -2200 by a group of First Imperium refugees.
The colony survived for a while but died out around -1700.
Little evidence of their tenure survives.

Ruie was settled once more in 78, only three years after the
neighboring world of Regina, by a group of religious utopians from the
Imperial core. From the start, the settlers avoided contact with
neighboring worlds. Ruie is often referred to as a lost colony, even
though it was not lost in the strictest sense -- lying as it does next
to Regina, which kept in contact with the Imperium from the first,
Ruie was never cut off from its parent civilization by distance and/or
loss of jump capability. However, the early settlers were very
determined to have nothing to do with the Imperium or any other
offworlders, and they stuck to this desire so fiercely that, since
Ruie possessed nothing in the way of unusual resources, their
neighbors left them alone, and the colony suffered the effects of
technological regression typical for true lost colonies.

The outside world didn't leave them alone forever, though. In 323,
when the Scouts made a clandestine survey of Ruie as part of the First
Survey, they found the colony, then at TL 2, being exploited as slave
labor by an offworld mining outfit. The Scouts stopped the
exploitation but were nonetheless unable to make friends with the
locals, who had had all their prejudices about offworlders confirmed
by their recent treatment. In the end, the Scouts elected to interdict
Ruie, leaving them once again to their own devices.

For the next seven centuries, the people of Ruie spread out across
their world, squabbling and fighting as Humans are wont.

Ruie's Earthlike conditions allowed many splinter groups to evolve and
survive, and for a long time, there was plenty of room to escape to.
Not until the ninth century did Ruie see large-scale warfare.

In 1051, Ruie was again surveyed, and was found to have worked itself
back up to TL 6. The survey commander recommended a sociological study
of the world to determine whether they were ripe for recontact. Those
results were favorable, so in 1073, the Interdict was lifted and the
following year a contact mission was sent to Ruie.

Contact quickly led the Scouts to allow limited trade relations with
Ruie, although diplomatic relations didn't develop as satisfactorily.
A few nations accepted client status, but most held aloof -- and some
were downright hostile. Following long-standing Imperial policy as
well as his own inclinations, Duke Norris didn't press the point.

=============================
Comors Union

"Comors" is a corruption of the old Anglic word "Commerce"
The union is composed of a group of 8 major industrial concerns which
control 2 of the minor continents.
These companies are the result of the skilled slave workers freed in
323-327 taking over the factories and means of production, then
producing domestic goods to help the rest of the planet.
The country is hyped on the idea of "stock certificates".
You get one vote for each certificate you have, and you gain certs
through being a hard worker.
All profits of labor are divided based on the number of shares of
stock you own - the entire country is based on profit sharing.
In order to reduce corruption, all accounting is done via the Mod
1/Bis of the Scout Ship "Armiastad", which was crippled in the
fighting and unable to take off again. The ship has been lovingly
maintained as a non-mobile "capital building" for almost 800 years.

=========
Jingarlu
This is a single major island, about the size of Madagascar , located
near the equator.
It is hot, humid, jungle-covered and rough to live in.
The country also sits on a large number of key natural resources,
among them Zuchai crystals used in Jump drives.
Many of the nearby countries have tried to crush it to gain control of
those mines.
Jingarlu uses the wealth it gains from exporting those resources to
hire off-world mercs of TL14+ to keep its neighbors honest.

The culture is a "Cargo Cult" variant.
The slave groups pre-327 and early post-327 were typically
characterized by a "big man" political system in which individuals
gained prestige through gift exchanges. The more wealth a man could
distribute, the more people in his debt, and the greater his renown.
Those who were unable to reciprocate were identified as "rubbish men".

Upon the liberation from slavery by the IISS, and meeting  foreigners
with a seemingly unending supply of goods for exchange, they
experienced "value dominance". That is, they were dominated by others
in terms of their own (not the foreign) value system; exchange with
foreigners left them feeling like rubbish men

Since the modern manufacturing process is unknown to them, members,
leaders, and prophets of the cults maintain that the manufactured
goods of the non-native culture have been created by spiritual means,
such as through their deities and ancestors.

These goods are intended for the local indigenous people, but the
foreigners have unfairly gained control of these objects through
malice or mistake. Thus, a characteristic feature of cargo cults is
the belief that spiritual agents will, at some future time, give much
valuable cargo and desirable manufactured products to the cult
members.

The IISS tried very hard to straighten all this out, explaining that
there were Bad OffWorlders who enslaved people, and Good Offworlders,
lead by the Emperor, who tried to do the right thing.

The Jingar decided that one of the Great Mountain Spirits went forth,
and became the new soul of Emperor Anguistus, who had assumed the
Iridium Throne right around the same time as the Liberation occurred.
They believe that all of the Emperors since then are divine beings.
It is now a quiet tradition that upon assumption of the Throne, the
new Emperor sends the Jingar-tan (the High Chieftan of the Jingar) a
signed official photograph. The Jingar send back a gift, traditionally
a pig killing club called a _nal-nal_ with his/her name inscribed. The
Emperor then sends a second picture, showing him(her)self holding the
club.
When this second picture arrives, hand-painted copies of it are done
on walls of all the shrines in Jingarla, and the people swear their
fealty.

A surprising number of Jingar "Make Pilgrimage" into the Imperial
Marines, and return as part of high-tech Merc units to defend their
island.

===========

"The People's Democratic Caliphate of the West"

A self-described "Revolutionary Socialist Islamic State"

The  ideology is the cornerstone of party works and government
operations. It is viewed by the official government line as an
embodiment of Mohammed's wisdom, an expression of his leadership, and
an idea which provides "a complete answer to any question that arises
in the struggle for national liberation"
"The ultimate expression of true Islamic Charity is when the People
give all means of production in to the hands of those chosen by Allah.
At this time, they will give unto Allah according to their abilities,
and Allah will insure that all of their needs are met"

Nearly all music, art, and sculpture glorifies "Great Imman" Kim
Il-Abdul, whose personality cult was then being extended to his son,
"Wise Imman" Kim Tariz-il

Judges are theoretically elected by their respective local people's
assemblies, but in practice they're appointed by the Islamic Workers'
Party. The penal code is based on the principle of nullum crimen sine
lege (no crime without a law), but remains a tool for political
control despite several amendments reducing ideological
influence.Courts carry out legal procedures related to not only
criminal and civil matters, but also political cases as well.Political
prisoners are sent to labor camps, while criminal offenders are
incarcerated in a separate system

All Comrades are sorted into groups according to their ISTIHSAN
(Arabic for 'Agreement'), an ascribed status system based on a
citizen's assessed loyalty to the regime. Based on their own behavior
and the religious, political, social, and economic background of their
family for three generations as well as behavior by relatives within
that range, ISTIHSAN is allegedly used to determine whether an
individual is trusted with responsibility, given opportunities, or
even receives adequate food.
=============
"The Eastern Soviet Alliance"

A group of 17 independent (mostly) countries who have formed an
ongoing alliance against the rest of the world.
Each claims to maintain its own sovereignty (hence "Soviet") , but in
practice they are all governed by the Central Command

Council, which is made up of one representative from each country.
In theory, these representatives are chosen based on the rules of each
state. Some have elections, some have appointments by their
government, some are appointed by their King...
In practice, when a member dies, the rest get together and pick his
replacement from the assistants of the deceased.
The message of acceptance is sent to the person's home country, and
they are then proposed to the CCC for approval.

The powers and functions of the CCC include the creation of new
commissions and committees. It handles approval of the Five-Year Plans
and the Combined Projects Budget. The CCC elects a Presidium to wield
its power between plenary sessions,  ordinarily held twice a year, and
appoints the Supreme Court, the Procurator General and the members of
the Congress of Commissioners.

=============================
 "Imperio del Sur de Dios" - "God's Empire in the South"

This controls the entire southern hemisphere: two minor continents and
a half dozen major islands and island chains.
The Empire is run by "Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Gobernabilidad
del Mombre en la Ruie" : "Tribunal of the Holy Office of Governance of
Man on Ruie"

The three members of the Tribunal are appointed (in rotation) by the
Pope, the College of Cardinals, and the Arch Cardinal in command of the
Inquisition. The Tribunal votes on key decisions, and those decisions
are implemented by the forces controlled by the Inquisitor General.

Under the IG are :
the Notario de Secuestros (Notary of Property): Who registers the
goods and materials in the country. This is the primary taxation arm
of the government
the Notario del Secreto (Notary of the Secret): Who handle the
Inquisition internally and the foreign intel arm
the Escribano General (General Notary), Who handles civil legislation

The legal process consists of a series of hearings, in which both the
denouncers and the defendant give testimony. A defense counsel is
assigned to the defendant, whose role was simply to advise the
defendant and to encourage them to speak the truth.
In order to defend themselves, the accused has two possibilities:
abonos (to find favourable witnesses, akin to "substantive"
evidence/testimony in Anglo-American law) or tachas (to demonstrate
that the witnesses of accusers were not trustworthy, akin to
Anglo-American "impeachment" evidence/testimony).