A while back I asked what Interspace does in-game. A lot of you gave me very useful input.
Then Ivan made me want to start a faction. Damn you, Ivan!
Interspace Commerce & Subsidiaries
IFF: Interspace
ID: Interspace (main), Mercenary, Freelancer, Independent Trader, Miner, Researcher (Secondary)
Naming Convention: ICS|First.Last (fighter, bomber, freighter), ICS|Shipname (any)
ICx|First.Last/ICx|Shipname for subsidiaries; x is a letter assigned to each subsidairy.
[color=#33CCFF]Background
In 218 AS, as mass production of jump gates moved into high gear, funding became an issue for many foreign corporate and government entities that wished to finance jump routes of their own. To encourage construction, Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering capitalized a wholly independent entity, Interspace Commerce (IC), to offer loans and assist in the financing of jump-gate construction. By 350 AS, IC became the primary financier of trade lanes for the other houses.
In a joint venture, IC and Ageira Technologies recently developed a new real-time scanner system, called Universal Ship Identification (USI), that can be installed in jump gates and trade lanes. It allows IC to track shipments and levy tariffs appropriately. Some houses suspect that IC is using this data to gain a competitive advantage, but so far, nothing can be proven.
With the spectacular success of the Interspace Neuralnet Division, Interspace decided to further expand its spaceborne operations. Interspace Commerce & Subsidiaries now runs ship dealers, insurance and escort services, and contracted cargo hauling. Rising insurance fraud has also contributed to that, as Interspace wants more investigation into any suspicious insurance claims... and security to reduce necessary payouts.
[color=#33CCFF]What Is ICS?
IND is the trading and, ah... "unregulated" side of Interspace Commerce. Interspace can trade, IND trade a lot.
ICS, on the other hand, Interspace's subsidiaries and investments, and of course insurance, the central part of Interspace lore.
ICS's primary business will be ship sales, insurance and escorts, and loans. We will also take on promising new corporations and mercenary companies in exchange for a share of the profits. Those groups can then develop their RP along with us and eventually, should they choose, break off into their own group when they have enough people - or they can stay with us as long as they like.
Interspace Commerce & Subsidiaries was chosen as the name to further reduce the chances of someone innocently tagging their ship IC| without realizing there was a faction that already claimed that - similar to why the Mandalorians changed their tag so long ago.
"Standard" ICS trade routes include an Interspace base or certain other locations as every other stop. For example, Manhattan>New London>Waterloo>Birmingham>Sheffield>Trenton>Newark. Specific routes will be made available when I locate them.
Diplomacy
[color=#33FF33]Friendly:
Liberty Police, Navy, Security Force
Liberty Corporations
Interspace Neuralnet Division
Bounty Hunters Guild
Bretonia Police, Armed Forces
Bretonian Corporations
Mandalorian Mercenaries
Anyone that has a contract of any sort with us - insurance, escort, security, whatever.
Neutral:
Kusari Lawfuls
Kusari Corporations
Freelancers and Mercenaries
Independent traders and startup businesses that aren't working for us
Zoners
Gas Miners Guild
Independent Miners Guild
There is absolutely no official relationship between us and the following organizations:
Golden Chrysanthemums
Red Hessians
Bundschuh
Hostile:
Pirates, especially of the Lane Hacker variety.
Outcasts
Phantoms
Xenos
Ranks
Upper Management:
Chief Executive Officer: Sarah Forrester (Thexare)
There's not much to be said; the CEO runs this branch of Interspace.
Chief Risk Management Officer:
The CRMO ensures our compliance with all applicable regulations and oversees our insurance branch to minimize our financial losses. Additionally, he oversees internal audits to ensure that our own employees aren't wasting or stealing resources.
Chief Operating Officer:
The COO oversees general day-to-day operations, which primarily covers freight transport and supply. Ship and equipment sales also fall under the purview of the COO
Chief Security Officer:
The CSO runs ICS's security operations, predictably enough. This includes ICS convoy security, security contracts with other corporations, station security, financial security... Essentially, if "security" is part of the phrase, the CSO runs it. Even more now that we're lacking a Chief Information Security Officer, as the last one was killed in a fight with Lane Hackers. Incidentally, we're taking qualified applicants.
Regional Manager of (Security, Freight):
The Regional Managers oversee operations in each House. They may operate outside that House - such is business, after all - but their focus damn well better be where they're running things or they're getting reassigned to window cleaning at Newark. From the outside. The Freight managers are expected to research trade routes involving their assigned House, and the Security managers are charged with finding the safest ways through that House and its border worlds.
Director of Insurance: Equal to the Regional Manager positions in practice, skipping numerous actual ranks due to the smaller Insurance section.
Insurance Positions
Actuary:
Actuaries evaluate the pricing of insurance plans. When in space, most actuaries fly freighters, joining potential clients in convoys to help their evaluations.
Ships: All Freighters, Class 1 Transports, Spatial
Investigator:
When suspicious charges or activity arises around one of our policies, the Investigators... investigate. Investigators are strongly advised to carry a cruise disruptor or fly with someone who does. When not on assignment, Investigators typically fly escort, though some pilot freighters and light transports in order to retrieve cargo from foolish (or fraudulent) transport captains; those often form convoys with our transports or those we've insured.
Ships: Class 3 Freighters, Class 1 Transports, all Fighters, Class 2 Bombers, Anki
Security Ranks
Commander:
The best Escorts are promoted to this rank, and their duties are expanded to include directly training Security pilots in scouting and combat.
Ships: All Fighters and Bombers, Class 3 Freighters
Lieutenant:
Lieutenants are charged with giving Trainees practical experience, as well as keeping normal pilots on track. They may lead Trainees in escorting non-ICS transports, but are required to inform their client that trainees are involved.
Ships: All Fighters, Class 2 Bombers, Class 3 Freighters
Security Pilot:
Fully trained but inexperienced escort pilots with no command authority. They may escort any Liberty-based corporate transports and claim bonuses for killing Lane Hackers and other problematic individuals.
Ships: All Class 1 and 2 Fighters
Trainee (Security):
May only escort ICS traders unless on the wing of a Lieutenant or higher. They're here until they finish their training and evaluation, and a bit of paperwork. All pirate killing rewards are suspended until they are promoted, though they may still receive the standard escorting pay.
Ships: All Class 1 Fighters, Class 2 Light Fighters
Freight Ranks:
Manager:
Managers are the most experienced Freight pilots. Their jobs include organizing convoys, determining viable trade routes, and teaching new employees.
Ships: All Transports, All Freighters
Supervisor:
Veteran cargo haulers that can lead convoys, help teach new employees, hire outside escorts in the absence of our own, and may run a few private routes.
Ships: All Freighters, Class 1 and 2 Transports
Freighter Pilot/Transport Captain:
Inexperienced but fully trained cargo pilots. They may run all standard ICS routes.
Ships: Class 1 and 2 Freighters, Class 1 Transports.
Trainee (Freight):
Much like their Security counterparts, Freight trainees are quite limited until their training and paperwork is done. They may only follow low-risk ICS trade routes unless in a convoy with a Supervisor or higher.
Ships: Class 1 and 2 Freighters
[color=#33CCFF]Equipment and Ships
Note that this list applies to ICS|, not subsidiaries.
Civilian Starbeam and Flashpoint laser cannons
Civilian chain guns
Civilian Stunpulse and Debilitator pulse cannons
Codename Weaponry (approval required)
Light Fighters:
Class 1:
CTE 750AE Civilian Starflier
CTE 1270AV Startracker
CTE 1440AV Starblazer
CTE-1500 “Hawk” Civilian Light Fighter
CTE L-337-K Civilian Shuttle
KS-439 "Basalt" Civilian Light Fighter
Renzu Corp “Ki” Civilian Light Fighter
Class 2:
CTE-4000 “Griffin” Civilian Light Fighter
Class 3:
CLI-11000 "Arrow" Civilian Light Interceptor
Heavy Fighters:
Class 1:
Renzu Corp “Saishi” Civilian Heavy Fighter
Class 2:
CTE-3000 "Falcon" Civilian Heavy Fighter
CTE-HF “Kingfisher” Civilian Heavy Fighter
"Crow" Civilian Heavy Fighter
BYC "Marauder" Civilian Heavy Fighter
KS-779 "Dacite" Civilian Heavy Fighter
Very Heavy Fighters:
Class 1:
Renzu Corp "Touketsu" Very Heavy Fighter
Class 2:
CTE-6000 “Eagle” Civilian Very Heavy Fighter
IR-7 “Raven’s Talon” Very Heavy Fighter
Evo 1B “Charon” Civilian Very Heavy Fighter
SV-17 "Virage" Very Heavy Fighter
Renzu Corp "Wasupu" Very Heavy Fighter
Super Heavy Fighters:
Class 2:
KS-1093 “Mafic” Civilian Super Heavy Fighter
E78-12 “Spatial” Civilian Deep Space Explorer
Bombers:
Class 2:
CTE-19000 “Roc” Civilian Bomber
XB-2 “Havok Mk II” Civilian Bomber
Class 3:
WAR-4b "Waran" Civilian Bomber
Freighters:
Class 1:
Combat Service Vehicle
EL-HiL27 “Rhino” Liberty Freighter
Class 2:
Renzu Corp “Anki” Civilian Freighter
DSE-720 “Camara” Civilian Freighter
Series YX “Dromedary” Border Worlds Freighter
CTE FR-2303-K Civilian Freighter
”Hercules” Civilian Heavy Lifter
Class 3:
DL-Hai “Grizzly” Liberty Shuttle
Transports:
Class 1:
”Pelican” Civilian Armored Transport
CT-49x “Gull” Civilian Transport
CT-39X “Albatross” Civilian Transport
EL-HiL51 “Mammoth” Liberty Transport
CT-53 “Heron” Civilian Train
"Firefly"-class Transport
Series DL Border Worlds Transport
Class 2:
CT-69 “Crane” Civilian Large Train
"Titanic" Civilian Heavy Tanker
Class 3:
CT-73 “Stork” Civilian Advanced Train
”Mastodon” Libertonian Transport
Request Necessary:
DU5-7Y “Hegemon” Civilian Mining Ship
”Democritus” Luxury Yacht
Repair Ship
T-482-T "Kujira" GMG Transport (Limit 5)
[color=#33CCFF]Subsidiaries
Creating One
Just go to the leader of ICS with your idea. At least a rough outline in a similar style to a faction proposal is preferred, as it shows that you've put some thought into it.
Subsidiaries of ICS use Interspace IFF and a Generic or Interspace ID - typically, Interspace for traders and Generic for everything else, although the speciifcs will vary for each. Mercenary companies will be on a permanent contract with ICS until such time as they've earned their independence - in-character, that's after you pay us back for our initial investment; out of character, that's after you've had some time to develop the idea, RP with us, and gain a few additional members. If you want to remain part of ICS, that's even better! Especially for us.
Your subsidiary will be almost entirely under your command, with ranks and ships mostly up to you - following server rules of course. Technically, the President and Vice Presidents can issue orders or veto your decisions, but this should very rarely come up outside of mercenary contracts.
[color=#33CCFF]Closing Remarks/Questions/Requests
I could use a more extensive writeup for Interspace's background.
I was thinking of restricting ICS| trade to runs starting from or ending at Interspace bases, Manhattan, Denver, Sheffield Station, or Glasgow Outpost (Wiki says there's a presence on each), but that seems overly limiting. Thoughts?
Subsidiaries also provide another benefit to ICS - activity. Compare Gateway and the IMG. IMG has a wide variety of things they can do - mine, trade, and fight. Gateway trades and... trades.... and... that's really about all, isn't it? Great RP, but it gets dull doing the same thing all the time. ICS's subsidiaries will help provide more variety to members of ICS.
Yes there's a lot of ranks. It just didn't feel like a big corporation to me without 'em.
' Wrote:You forgot the Lane Hackers are your primary enemies and won't miss any chance to damage your public reputation or cut your profits.
No I didn't. Re-read that.:P
As for the mercs... I don't particularly want to run more than one subsidiary (have an idea for a small mining/salvage group that fits nicely). So I'm going to wait on the mercenary idea until someone that wants to lead it steps forward.
Kramer: Interspace's primary focus other than insurance is investment into new ventures - Okinawa for example. So, new startup companies that need a bit of money can get it from Interspace, and Interspace maintains a sizable stake in the company. I think that should explain it quite well.
I'm willing to hand over the project to you, I don't have much interest in it myself anymore and someone needs to lead the faction. I can surely help you with it if you have any questions. Talk on skype?
<strike>It surprises me how there's no mention of the Liberty Rogues.</strike> Nevermind, Pirates.
A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay,
brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
Minor Rank revision and major ship list revision. No real changes, just a rewrite for the purpose of permissions.
The rank revision would've been bigger if I hadn't lost all my work in the middle of it. So for now deal with a rough outline of what they'll do until I feel up to replacing it. Nothing will really change, it'll just be clarified.
To explain the ship classification system:
Quote:For fighters and Freighters:
Class 1: "Mk1" vanilla ships, ships that can't use class 9 guns. The Ki technically qualifies for this, although I've heard it's quite a capable ship despite that. I don't believe any VHFs fall under this. For Freighters, it's any ship with less than 500 cargo that doesn't fall under class 3.
Class 2: "Standard" player ships, class 9 and in most cases class 10 guns are available. For Freighters, ships with 500-750 cargo.
Class 3: Specialized ships. The Arrow (light interceptor) and Grizzly (battlefreighter) for example. Expensive and, without the proper training, not worth it.
Bombers:
Class 1: Currently nonexistent. Exists only to match up with the normal classifications.
Class 2: Light bombers - Havoc, Roc, Upholder, Falcata, Umibozu.
Class 3: Heavy and Heavier bombers - Challenger, Waran, Barghest, Thor.
Transports are a bit more generalized, restricting as I feel like it rather than with any specific methodology. Currently it's basically 750-4200 cargo is Class 1, 4200-4800 is Class 2, and 4800-5000 is Class 1.
It looks like an interesting idea, but why are the Rheinland officials marked as unfriendly?
Interspace has bases in every of the "official" houses except Gallia for hundreds of years, and at the same time employees that belong to each of the houses, so I think Interspace is a sirius-wide corporation with economic interest. Their main interest is a economical one, not a political . Such a big corporation has good relation to all political leaders of all regions , where they have a economic interest. (maybe the relation to the Liberty government are a little bit closer, because the corpoation started in Liberty, but only a little bit)
(BTW: Think of Ford workers in Europe - Are they loyoal americans? or Toyota-employees in the US - Are they loyal to the Japanese emperor? No, I'm sure. From there: The Interspace employees of Bonn are loyal to Rheinland, those of Roppongi loyal to Kusari and those of Waterloo loyal to Bretonia.)
(That point, the loyalty of the employees and the fact, that the bases surely pay the taxes to the houses, where they are located and not to the Liberty government, seems to prove that Interspace is, similar to Synth Foods, a sirius-wide corporation with no specific local preferences and loyalties. Maybe you think it over.)
Nevertheless - it's an interesting idea, although you should make those subsidiaries part a little bit clearer.
' Wrote:It looks like an interesting idea, but why are the Rheinland officials marked as unfriendly?
Interspace has bases in every of the "official" houses except Gallia for hundreds of years, and at the same time employees that belong to each of the houses, so I think Interspace is a sirius-wide corporation with economic interest. Their main interest is a economical one, not a political . Such a big corporation has good relation to all political leaders of all regions , where they have a economic interest. (maybe the relation to the Liberty government are a little bit closer, because the corpoation started in Liberty, but only a little bit)
Rheinland is not happy with Interspace for numerous reasons, including the fact that like it or not it is a Liberty corporation first. There's also the fact that for a time, Interspace more or less owned Rheinland, and the dismissal of that debt made neither party happy for multiple reasons - the short form is that both feel like they got screwed.
So yeah. Rheinland and Interspace? Not friends. Also note that Synth is still allowed into Rheinland relatively unrestricted, while Interspace has considerable limitations on what they can carry and where they can go.
They'll be bumped up to Neutral if/when the war ends, but while we have business there, we're not going to be terribly inclined to help them out just yet. As far as we're concerned, right now all we're doing there is keeping Bonn alive.