On 5/6/25 00:50, David Johnson - piperfan at zarthani.net (via tml list)
wrote:
> Hi Alex.
<snip>
>> 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".
>
> Makes sense. Between that and the the fact that it seems unlikely any
> sort of Imperium-wide standard will be universally adopted -- that's
> the problem with standards as opposed to mandated requirements (and is
> why commercial groups are so keen to support standardization efforts)
> -- there is plenty of opportunity here for a referee to introduce a
> credential-related plot element "as needed."
>
What I would see happening (for the _Third_ Imperium, at least) is a
group like the Traveller's Aid Society promulgating such standards for
intrinsically-interstellar gubbins (like starship crew tickets,
classification societies, etc), and it spreading out from there.

The First Imperium I could see having much more uniformity of
credentials, since it seems like local autonomy is significantly less
than it would become millennia later.

And yes, I can speak from experience - credential-related plot elements
_are_ a type of interesting.  In Parental Advisory's case, the most
extreme one was Nikki - lampshaded by a licensing official asking "Jesus
Nikki, what _else_ do you do on your bloody ship?" The players later
said that worrying about when their PC's various tickets expired gave a
lot of verisimilitude.

>>
>> 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.
>
> Hah! Here I've been thinking about this mostly in the context of a
> traveller's credential but you've broadened that to them dealing with
> others' credentials. Of course!

For example, the PCs are SPA crewcritters with one of their jobs being
to handle all the squirrelly/far-away/etc credentials that the rest of
the port simply can't be arsed to bother with.  No, they're not at an
A-class port.

Or (for caught in the blast zone), the PCs' merchant spacer tickets come
in for extra scrutiny after a fake merchant spacer ticket was detected a
few months ago, but the PCs have just lobbed a day or so ago.

Like I said, grist for the GM's mill.

>
>> 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.
>
> Heh. You wouldn't be talking about a particular Archduke now, would you?
Not when I wrote that.  Why would Isis have to worry about one?
> I imagine the reaction to this will vary from world to world, with
> those who were "paying attention" to whatever brought about the change
> making changes to their credential-acceptance processes quickly while
> others, paying less attention, going for years still accepting the
> former regime's credentials (and perhaps also not accepting those from
> the new folks).
That'd be it.
>
> Of course, this raises the issue of what happens in border regions
> generally. Imperials travelling in the Sword Worlds -- which will
> surely each have their own, independent processes -- or in District
> 268 are going to face different circumstances on each world. Same
> holds the other way around, with travellers from those regions
> visiting Imperial worlds.
>
> If there /are/ some sort of Imperial standards some non-Imperial
> worlds or polities -- the Darrians come immediately to mind here --
> will likely be quick to adopt them.
>
The Daryens _are_ clients of the Third Imperium, so there's probably
more incentive there than it would otherwise be.

Alex