The Humanitarian Front - thought, opinions and questions.

[Gair333]

The Humanitarian Front

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The HF is a group of people who believe that war has the most effect upon civilians. We often forget people live on the planets the larger factions war over and this creates hell for the population of these planets.

The HF has documented cases of public executions, starvation, rape and even torture upon innocent civillians and we to stop as much suffering as possible.

Currently though there is so much red tape regarding the transport of refugees and even worse the major houses generally want nothing to do with them.

Currently the HF could be seen as a smuggling operation and some of its key members have been executed for human trafficking, this is obviously unacceptable.

What this galaxy wants, what it needs are people who will help. We need people in positions of authority to let us pass the red tape, we need pilots with heart. What we need is you.

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How we Operate

The Humanitarian Front is a Not for Profit organisation with the best of humanities interests at heart. Currently the pilots themselves are funding this operation with occasional charitable donations from "outside" sources.
We will do anything short of killing to get civillians out of hot zones, whether that's talking our way past border control, or bribing politicians.
We don't generally operate outside of the law, rather we bend the rules and grease the proverbial wheels but this has caused tensions with border agencies in the past.
We hope to work with desicion makers to make our mission easier in all systems, but understand that sometimes we must do "hot" runs to make sure people have a better life.

We also run "essentials" runs, such as food and water. While not valuable cargoes, if these don't reach their destinations potentially millions of people will die. [/align]

What we Need
What we require is the funding and permission from the major houses to operate in their space with impartiallity. We would also like to request more Navy or Police presence or even an escort through systems which have known prate activity.

We would also like to request that all unlawful factions leave us to it. Our cargo is people and our pilots fly with less than c25,000, our ships are not valuable targets and it is in your best interests to leave us be.

We would also like to request from all factions protection from Terrorst factions. Obviously our cargo can be used as leverage against house factions.

We will also need license to ship larger populations, this can of course cause massive political backlash if 64000 refugees want to settle on say Manhatten

Communications
Communicating with a HF ship is like comunicating with any other.
If there is aggression shown to the ship either through ignorance or willfullness the Pilot will state where his refugees are from, generally most terror or pirate factions in Liberty aren't bothered by Bretonian refugees for example. But if the ship were carrying Libertonian refugees, the pirates may wish to take them hostage. If this is the case the pilot will request help from with in the system. If no help is available, he will then drop the refugees (prison is probably nicer than their home anyway) unless the group doesn't conform to the ancient Geneva Convention and its modern contemporaries. In which case the ship will be destroyed with all hands rather than having the refugees suffer anymore torture.

Recruitment
We need pilot's who aren't scared by either pirates or the houses.
Those willing to do the wrong thing for greater good sometimes under penalty of death.

We are not looking for fighters, we are looking for negotiators. Combat shouldn't ever be in the forefront of your mind, we want you to be able to explain what you're doing in a compelling manner - Remember when you engage in combat it's not just your life on the line, it's potentially millions. To this end we recommend negotiating with local police for escorts in and out of dangerous systems.

On these notes however we cannot accept requests from pilots who are not atleast neutral towards two of the major houses otherwise it becomes a logistical nightmare.

We also require Benefactors, people who like the idea of helping others but are not in a position to help - You can send us credits to help the cause, if the ammount is significant we will be more than happy to pick up family, friends, political leaders etc from a planet of your choosing in a warring system.

Again, you won't earn any money joining us chances are you won't become famous either and right now we can't provide you with a ship either (hopefully this will change) so you will have to provide your own.

On top of this we cannot pay you because there is no money to be had! Hopefully benefactors will be able to provide credits for ships and bribing offcials but otherwise you're on your own.

//OOC I want to set up this faction to give a feeling that the wars that are waging carry weight, that people's actions affect other people's lives. I want people to think "If war were raging in my system and my family needed to get away who would help me?". To me this faction will add a boatload of RP for lots and lots of players whether they join us, hinder us either willfully or because of redtape, or just simply help us by letting it "slide".

Anyway, I hope it'll be an interesting adventure for us all. Below is the OOC faction specific info:

General information
IFF - Freelancer (neutral to all major houses so we can dock with all planets/stations at war)
ID - Freelancer (HF when possible)
TAG - -HuFro-
Leader - Gair333 (Jack.Flye)


Goals
◆ Save as many people as possible whether through moving refugees or delivering aid
◆ Remove redtape surrounding refugees and supplying aid to systems
◆ Ensure basic freedoms to all citizens of Sirius.

Diplomacy
◆ Neutral to all Major Houses, corporations and factions
◆ Enemies would be terrorist factions with something to gain from holding hostages (Molly's as an example).
◆ We must supply the true location of refugee pickup and if found enemy of that faction must drop cargo to be either taken as POW's or destroyed in space or face destruction ourselves.


Zone of Operations
◆ Major houses and connecting border worlds

Roles
◆ Humanitarian Aid
◆ Refugee transport

Ships Flown & Equipment Used
◆ Anything up to 3000 cargo transport, larger vessels will be negotiated. Nothing "Luxery" think of charities and NPO's ad what they would use if they were in space.

Joining
Drop me an RP PM

[LunaticOnTheGrass]

This is actually a really original concept at least in comparison to a bunch of others I've seen. I'd really love to interact with this group in Rheinland.

[Ponge]

I tried something like this in Leeds, but I was shot down by GRN no matter how I tried to explain I'm only trying to save civilians, and I'm not aiding the Leeds resistance. I think the Leeds situation would be a good trial run for this idea.

Question: besides the warzones (Leeds mainly, and in the Taus perhaps), where do you think this kind of aid would be required? I mean in-House space.

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[Doc Holliday]

Good concept but I'm guessing you'll run into the same situation Zoners often do. While some often perform Humanitarian missions, others see it as "siding" or "aiding" their enemies and will shoot you, especially if you fly, say, into Gallic occupied Bretonia with a Bretonian escort.

I'll be curious to see how this works.

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[MFE]Med Force One | Tales of Recovery|Med Force Enterprises

[Omicron]

The fact is many factions will shoot people "aiding" the other side. In my honest opinion, it just adds the thrill to it. Go for it.

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[Gair333]

Question: besides the warzones (Leeds mainly, and in the Taus perhaps), where do you think this kind of aid would be required? I mean in-House space.

It's really up to the universe and the player. If war breaks out, it's a simple answer: where ever we're needed. But in times of "peace" players can RP moving people from poverty/disease stricken planets/stations, delivering aid to "needy" (read poor) or indeed blockaded systems.

Like stated this will have to be a very heavy RP faction with goals further than the usual blast the enemy, take loot.

For me the most interesting part of discovery is the politics and this would let anyone to put pressure on governments and indivdual players leading to some interesting interactions.

I also feel the NFP aspect will attract players who are bored of grinding away and are wanting to RP more as it adds a new dynamic to the universe that anyone can get involved with whether they're a veteran or newbie.

[Gair333]

Good concept but I'm guessing you'll run into the same situation Zoners often do. While some often perform Humanitarian missions, others see it as "siding" or "aiding" their enemies and will shoot you, especially if you fly, say, into Gallic occupied Bretonia with a Bretonian escort.

I'll be curious to see how this works.

That's the idea. It poses political and ethical questions to players, of course an "enemy" can blast you out of space, and with our weapon loadouts it's no question. But that border guard should be asking himself "could my character cope with the fact he may be dooming millions?" or "should I really kill civilians?".

Perhaps the escorts would duke it out? Perhaps they come to a gentleman's agreement to "swap the guard". It's down to the characters themselves.

Governments could decide to fund us creating political tension with rival houses, if no official funding comes, perhaps pirates would be willing to throw some creds in to supply a dealer planetside (something the HF as a whole would turn away from, but not individual pilots).

Funding could come from corporations in that if they have a station that's falling apart for whatever reason and we "save" their workers a reward could be in order.

I'm rambling, but while being a minor faction the HF would add a ton of unique RP moments.