Most people know of the Travellers' Aid Society by the publicised benefits accruing to members, and perhaps by their selectivity for membership - the million-credit application (not admission - they can reject an applicant, and they keep the million) fee, the access to high-class accommodations, the free passages, the tourism services, and so on. The TAS does not publicise their involvement with the well-known charitable organization Compassion Corps. The Compassion Corps acts principally to provide medical services to worlds whose infrastructure is unable to support a medical establishment. This is primarily through their two main arms, the Interstellar Free Healers Society, and Starships of Succor. Starships of Succor operate a number of specially-equipped hospital starships (some may be decommissioned from stellar naval forces) which travel to various low-population and poor worlds, where they stay for a period of time to provide high-grade hospital treatments - especially surgeries - that the world is not equipped for. Before a visit by a hospital ship, an evaluation mission is sent, to determine the level of need, and get a good view of what services will be most required. When the hospital ship visits, it will stay for up to a year, depending on need. Ships generally stay within a half-sector or so of a 'base world' where the ships can get overhauls and resupply; there are generally no more than two or three Starships of Succor in a sector-sized area. Services are free to the patients, though voluntary payments are not refused, and are used to defray operational costs. A world that normally wouldn't meet the criteria for a visit may request one; an evaluation team will be sent out, but the evaluation and negotiation for the visit will also include an explicit requirement of payment by the world's government to the organization. Such payments are set on the basis of ability to pay, and must be remitted upon commitment to visit. The evaluation team cannot commit a ship to visit; they can only submit their findings and agreements for final approval. IFHS is an organization of medical personnel who go where doctors are needed. IFHS doctors are part of the Starships of Succor evaluation teams, and when a Starship of Succor visits a world, there are usually several teams of IFHS medical personnel who will go out to various parts of the world, and take care of medical procedures and treatments that don't require hospitalization. They'll also do what they can to teach locals how to treat what they can with what's available, and IFHS teams will often include infrastructure experts to teach the locals how they can bootstrap their medical infrastructure, while staying within possible cultural strictures. Planetary-level disasters, where off-world aid is required, will also often see visits from Compassionate Corps, to help take care of immediate needs, and to assist in rebuilding medical infrastructure. * * * * * That's the basic background. What I'm asking for is any or all of the following: Designs for Starships of Succor - fully-equipped starships designed to act as mobile hospitals, equipped for medical procedures of all sorts, and ranging in tech from about TL4 up (to accommodate philosophical opposition to high-tech usage), and smaller ships used to take a small group of people to a world to evaluate the needs and negotiate visits, or to handle "outpatient" services. Ships should be capable of landing on the surface, possibly at class E ports where the port has been neglected so long that it's nothing more than a beacon at the end of an open area of broken ground. Careers for the people that work for Compassionate Corps, both Starships of Succor and Interstellar Free Healers Society - this should include the ones that go out in the small ships as well as the ones that work on the large hospital ships. Stories about SoS/IFHS visits to worlds, whether told from the point of view of the worker, the recipient of care, or a witness/bystander/family member, and whether about an evaluation visit or a hospital ship visit. Adventure scenarios. Your thoughts and expansions on the basic idea outlined above. Basically, anything relevant. Any of the above can include associated artwork. ®Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2018. Use of the trademark in this notice and in the referenced materials is not intended to infringe or devalue the trademark. -- Jeff Zeitlin, Editor Freelance Traveller The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com http://www.freelancetraveller.com Freelance Traveller extends its thanks to the following enterprises for hosting services: onCloud/CyberWeb Enterprises (http://www.oncloud.io) The Traveller Downport (http://www.downport.com)