Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 20:02:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Alvin Plummer Subject: RICE Paper #AWP-0207 (appendix): Iper'mar Nomads 207-1202 There is some debate in Scout circles on whether Iper'mar nomads should be treated as a world, as a cultural group or as an Imperial client state: I propose to treat them as a cultural group, but with their own appendix in the RICE papers. Even though they are not a world per se [although they DO have terrtory: see following] the Regency Institute for Cultural Education has decided that this culture is important and unique enough to merit a paper on them, especially considering the value of their work as unsung but important members of the Regency community. In Person: The Iper'mar ('Refugees' in Old Kurae) can be found throughout the Regency, but are noticable in Querion, Vilis, Lanth, Lunion, Five Sisters, Plankwell, Glisten and Trin's Veil subectors, as well as throughout the Regency portions of the Trojan Reaches. Most casual tourist will meet them around starports, public functions or supervising and designing the operation of high-tech equipment on low-tech worlds. Often, the Iper'marion (singular of Iper'mar) will be wearing the uniform of his contractor -- often a large, Regency-wide corporation, or local clothing. On their own ship's and installations, they prefer simple short-and-shirt overalls, often in some dull shade of khaki or grey, but with bright accessories (flashy jacket's, oversized jewellery, and high boot's for women; aviation helmets [with engraved family glyphs], humongous capes and complex, everchanging TL D-E bodypaint illustrations for men). They don't use deorderants, but do use sonic showers. They're Anglic is quite clear, but somewhat high-pitched. About one out of five can still speak Old Kurae, the mother tongue. Many of the upper and upper-middle classes can speak 3 or more human languages: they're somewhat racist, and avoid dealing with Vargr, Aslan, or other non-humans when possible. However, they are absolutely fascinated with the Zhodani, not so much for their psionics, but with their culture. The Iper'mar are proud of their technical expertise, (they consider TL E items as beneath them, and absolutely adore little TL G trinket's), and tend to be condensending to those from worlds below TL F. Many have a 'colonial master' attitude to low-tech commoner's thay they are in charge of, but can respect low-tech rulers and merchants... if they are *good*. They will never demean a low-tech client to their face, but if tested, have subtle ways of letting their feelings known. Within the Regency, Iper'mar business pratices are ethically impeccible: they realise that the Regent won't stand by and let High-tech nomads rip off Low-tech locals. Moreover, they like to have long-term relationship's with their clients, relationships that flurish best in an atmosphere of trust. Finally, they value their business reputation: they have been nomadic for over 450 years, and interstellar traders for another 200 years, and know what doors a good rep can open. Outside of the Regency, their pratices are somewhat more... flexible. Government within the Iper'mar is by neo-tribal democratic method's, similar to that of Tausus (Spinward Marches/1138: B584620-A), but with greater reliance on AI (non-viral). The Archon -- or the top ruler of the tribe -- is little more powerful then his fellow tribal lords, but has the Noble rank of Marquis. Intergration with the new democratic element's of the Regency is going quite smoothly. Because of their support (above and beyond the call of duty) of the Imperial government within the Empty Quarter they were granted certain legal priveleges, rendering their ship's effectively immune to searches by system governments, by Emperor Garvin. The Iper'mar remain rather civic-minded for interstellar nomads, and will support the Regency when they can. They generally want the rest of the Imperium to be re-intergrated, but CAREFULLY and SLOWLY and with CAUTION ... the Iper'mar use the best anti-viral technology on the market, but still deeply dread any kind of outbreak. (Iper'mar ship started to revisit Trin only 7 years ago!) The religious attitudes of the Iper'mar is rather bland, generally worshipping as the locals do. They have no real strong religious feelings, and -- on their ship's and bases -- prefer to philosophise about the gods rather than pray to them. The dead tend to be simply buried on some world or other (according to local custom), and is eventually forgotten. Most Iper'marion's are of "Imperial" descent -- that is, of Solomani/Vilani mixture, but also have strains of four different minor races (including the Darrians... oops, Daryens). On the tall side, but can easily function in one gee: their ship's are set to 1G largely because they have to go dirtside so often in their line of work. There were at least four different "races" of Iper'mar pre-Rebellion, but the only known surviving one -- the Deneb branch of the culture -- is of light complexion, with brown to sandy blond hair, large facial features, and dark eyes. There are 8.34 million Iper'marion's within current Regency border's (down from about 30 million, Imperium-wide, before the Rebellion/Collapse). Roughly 5 million is in two deep space bases, Laro Dif ('The Twilight Star' in Old Kurae) and He'seme ('Gentle Starlight'). While their location is known to the Regency Navy, the Iper'mar is secretive regarding their location to outsiders. Only 500,000 are on the roughly 1400 starship's that the Iper'mar own at any given time: most of the rest are on 'ground assignment' helping to design, maintain, and sometimes build high-tech items for their low-tech clientele (or low-tech items using high-tech knowledge or methods). Outside of the Regency, roughly 72,000 are known to reside within the Zhodani Consulate: roughly 1.2 million operate spinward of the Spinward marches, mainly in The Beyond and Far Frontier's sectors. Insistent rumours about 'the lost clans' somewhere in the Wilds are generally discounted by the Iper'mar themselves: because of their procivility towards high-tech equipment, they were probably more vulnerable to the AI Virus then the free traders. History: The Iper'mar are interstellar nomads, originating from the Great Dimurik Miim War of 740. Essentially, the Iper'mar are the decendants of a number of powerful trading families from Kurae, a once-notable world that suffered through a impoverishing and destructive series of wars from 723 to 792. As their wealth was being seized by the government's involved in the Dimurik Miim War, the merchant's choose to flee the system, surviving first as a merchant line, but by 800 their livelihood was earned as a mobile professional knowledge elite, trading on their technical expertise. >From Zarushagar sector, they spread throughout the Imperium coreward of Zarushagar, and were especially prominent in comparatively low-tech regions of the Imperium like the Spinward Marches and the Empty Quarter. Specializing in providing workable high-tech solutions to low-tech systems, the Iper'mar was (and in the Regency, remains) one of the binding forces of the interstellar community. The Kurae system is located in Zarushagar sector, hex 0503: UWP fell from A66794B-D in 700 to X667872-A by 800; the UWP was D667989-6 just before the Rebellion. By 930 the Republic of Haasii, the government of Kurae, was attempting to lure the Iper'mar back to Kurae: about 418,000, or 7% of the total Iper'mar population, was residing on Kurae by 1100. As an interstellar business and as a culture, they suffered bitterly during the Rebellion. Their stock-in-trade need's safe starlanes in order to work: without it, they were forced to stay dirtside, trying to survive in an unfamiliar, deteriorating enviroment. Even in the Spinward Marches, where the Iper'mar both had semi-safe trade routes [Thanks to the Domain Navy] and a solid economic enviroment [the Archduke often used their services in order to save damaged and doomed worlds within the Domain], they still had to suffer heavy draft's -- both military and otherwise -- and a skyrocketing tax rate. Afterward's, in the wake of Virus, the Iper'mar had to cope with virusproofing their installations and ship's, a very expensive endeavor. (They are still paying off the cost of it.) Economics: First arriving in the Marches in c. 820, the Iper'mar rapidly gained prominence within the hostile-enviro branch of the construction industry as low-cost producers, eventually becoming so successful as to become a favoured subcontractor for several megacorps working in the region. They espanded to the starport construction industry in the 940s, and invested in both planetary weather management (designing and overseeing controlled weather systems for poor and low-tech governments) and experimented briefly in mass robot construction gangs from the 1090s to the Rebellion period. In the post-Collapse period, the Iper'mar specialized in helping low-tech governments (up to TL D, in some cases) virus-proof starport's, communication equipment, etc. -- largely under the Regency aegis. They also made some real money, rebuilding the rimward Regency border regions from Aslan attack. Currently, the Iper'mar are in a great debate on whether they should expand into the Wilds. As TL F people, they are extremely vulnerable to Virus infections, but the scale of the money to be made is simply mind-boggling. The Iper'mar are constantly on the lookout for ways to reduce their vulnerability to the AI Virus: they will pay any price for a reliable, broad-spectrum "vaccine" for Virus. Starship Plilosophies: The classic, instantly-recognizable ship of the Iper'mar is the Or Viasic liner, built to a closely-guarded design on Rhylanor. Built to house 84 field specialists and their families, it's a common sight's on low-tech starports and the poorer worlds. With an extensive communication suite, it can be used as a orbiting or space-borne operations and control platform for a variety of projects. The ship below is meant for Regency operations: for out-of-Regency projects, starmerc's are usually hired for protection. Note the lack of cargo space: Iper'mar clients usually either arrange cargo transportation seperately or the Iper'marion clanlord will outsource this to non-Iper'mar traders. Note the main deficency in this design: no small craft capasity. This is considered "a waste of space" by the Iper'mar: the same people who installed 123 apartments on their ship, of 400 kl each! Non-Imperial Iper'mar use the same design, but routinely make extensive modifications, adding internal armour, lasers, sandcasters, MFD's, and extensive cargo space. (No, they don't have docking bays: they prefer to use the cargo bay to store vechiles.) This cut's down on living space drastically: Non-Imperial Iper'marion are considered the 'poor cousin's' of the Iper'mar due to the routine indignities they have to put up with, from having to sleep four to a small stateroom (vs. the small *apartments* on the ship below) to having to actually use the 'repair facilities' (snort, snort) of a TL C, Starport D world, to having to actually use Inferior Equipment (anything below TL F) to repair their ship. The thing that Non-Imperial Iper'mar have to worry about most is adding or repairing their ship with Strange Tech. ("Strange Tech" includes any electronic item, hard or software, that isn't of Regency [or, in a pinch, Zhodani] manufacture, still untouched and shrink wraped). The legends and tales surrounding Strange Tech is a sure party-pleaser in most starport bars. Powerful and wealthy Clanlords tend to drastically cut the amount of personnel on their ship's, using the space for park's, gym's, pool's, etc. The Archon's ship is pratically a jump-capable party, as he "liasions" with subsector-to-Regency notables, and the occasional visiting Zhodani: Aslans and Vargr are never invited. Important Note: NonImperial Iper'mar have no problem with using robots on their ship's: however, these robots are never permitted to communicate to the outside world, never leave the ship, and are forbidden to handle Strange Tech until the owner has O.K.'ed it. Or Viasic Nomadic Starship: standard configuration Disp 8000 Hull Armour 20 Power Plant 4500 MW (11 MW surplus) Len 90 m Volume 112000 Jump 4 Price 2329 MCr Tech F G-Rating 2 Config Dome USL Size M G-Turns 43.8 Mass 34263/30959 mt Maint. 1369 Computer TL F x 3 (st) Commo 1 x Maser (1000 AU) 10 x Radio (3000 km) 10 x Laser (300000 km) Sensors A-EMS (30 000 km), P-EMS (30 000 km) Avionics, Terrain (190 kph) Extended L.S. w/ AG Crew - 492 Maintenance - 5 "Family" - 369 Engineering - 14 Troops - 5 Electrical - 5 Command - 6 Maneuver - 2 Specialists - 84 Accomo: Sm. Apartments x 123 [ Sm. Apartments: Vol 400, Mass 30, MW .01, Mcr 1, Hit 7 H ] [ Each apartment holds an Emergency Low Berth for four] No Cargo Air Locks x 80 Scoops: refills all in 10 hr 4 min, jfuel in 6 hr 15 min, maneouver fuel in 4 hr 11 min Fuel Purification: all jfuel in 12 hours 8 additional Emergency Low Berth's 20 extra regular workstations Combat 21/21 Travel 450/675 ************************************************ Surface Area 1 1 1 - 19 Radio, Laser Ant 20 Maser, A-EMS ant 2 - 20 Hull 2 - 20 Hull Damage Area 1 1 - 5 Elect 6 - 10 Quarters 11 - 20 Hold (fuel) 2 - 9 Hold (fuel) 10 - 17 Hold (fuel) 18 - 19 Engineering 20 Quarters System Damage Electronics Maser, 10 x Radio, 10 x Laser, A-EMS, P-EMS (1h) Ant (1h) Hold (fuel only) Quarters Sm. Apartments 7 H x 123 L.S. 44 H E.L.S. 22 H A.G. 23 H Emg. L.B. (extra) (1h) x 8 Engineering Jump Drive 112 H HEPlaR 3 H Power Plant 15 H Fuel Pur 56 H Contra Grav 16 H ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alvin Plummer "Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for." - Strephon, 179-1126 Reply to: alvin.plummer@SHERIDANC.ON.CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------