On 2/6/25 01:39, David Johnson - piperfan at zarthani.net (via tml list) wrote: > <snip> > > Of course, officials in the jurisdiction accepting the credential had > to recognize that official letterhead. Thus, credentials from "closer" > -- or perhaps "more frequently encountered" -- jurisdictions would be > more likely to be accepted than those from farther jurisdictions. > > Which again validates Alex's intuition. On Regina, a credential from > Rhylanor or Mora will be more likely to be accepted than one from > Dingir -- in the absence of some sort of standardized, Imperium-wide > set of security features -- because officials on Regina are simply > more likely to be familiar with them. (In other words, even if the > credential has "non-standardized" security features, officials on > Regina will have likely seen some before and, if they get them > frequently enough -- and they aren't trying to keep folks from that > jurisdiction "out," will have undertaken an effort to understand and > recognize those features.) On further thought, I'd lean towards "even in the _presence_ of some sort of standardised, polity-wide.." - all else equal, a credential from somewhere closer would be more likely to be accepted than from somewhere further away. The baseline acceptance rate would probably be (a lot) higher in the presence of polity-wide standards that are widely adhered to, but I'm reminded of the line in GT: Starports that "the Imperial-standard bulldozer can have a weight range of several tons". Said polity-wide standards would define a _minimum_ set of security features, with optional extras (much like how International Financial Reporting Standards have done in OTL for accounting - while Australian International Financial Reporting Standards, last I looked, made all the discretionary bits in the parent standards mandatory.) > > The historical example also illustrates another feature likely to be > present in the Imperium: the legitimacy of the credential is meant to > be determined /from the credential itself/, rather than being > validated through some sort of communications network back to the > issuing authority. With all the silly buggers that implies with free-market credentials, official-but-bribed credentials, citizenship-by-investment (diplomatic) passports, etc - more grist for the GM's mill, whether the PCs are _passing_ such credentials, trying to _detect_ them, or merely caught in the blast zone. Again, a given credential would have security features sufficient to keep silly buggers down to a dull roar, given it's intended use - for example, an air/raft ticket would probably be significantly looser than a merchant spacer's ticket, likewise looser than an unlimited master's ticket. A fake air/raft ticket can't cause as much damage (all else equal) than a faked unlimited master's ticket. And that's before we get into (para)military gubbins. Or (high) noble gubbins - such as Imperial Warrants. What happens when the issuing end _changes_ political allegiance? Such as the 3I getting pushed out of the Jewell (sp?) Cluster, Nusku falling to the Terran Confederation (and its later, albeit much shorter, recapture), the issuing end becoming (or ceasing to be) a client state (or member) of some power, etc? > > Happy Travelling, > > David > -- > "Lacking the means to buy the important gadgets of Technic society, > [the Trillians] had set about developing these for themselves." - Poul > Anderson, /Satan's World/ > Hope that knocks something loose, Alex
