Captain Ash
OUTER RIM DEVELOPMENT CORPS
Cooperatio est fortituda nostra
(Cooperation is our strength)
The Corps is a hybrid government/non-governmental humanitarian organization committed to building up worlds on the frontier left neglected by the great powers of the galaxy. They build infrastructure, develop clean water systems, survey natural resources, and do other things essential for developing frontier worlds where survival is a daily struggle. Not glamorous work and unlikely to be the stars of a holovid, the members of the ORDC are known for their passionate, hardworking, reliable nature and often looked up to as much as a Jedi might be for their commitment to serving the community good and willingness to risk themselves for the rest of the Outer Rim.
The central legacy organization from the now-dissolved Outer Planets Alliance, the ORDC has maintained its mission and government/non-governmental hybrid status. A sprawling civilian and scientific organization, ORDC has continued in its mission unhindered by the change in politics, with its primarily private and donation-based funding and NGO structure.
The mission remains the same as it was-- bolstering the development and stabilization of the Outer Rim and its worlds. With the formation of the Rimward Trade League, the Corps has taken on more responsibility and duties, helping develop the necessary planet-side infrastructure to help bolster the economies of underdeveloped frontier worlds.
Often working closely with the Ranger Service, the Corps also maintains and handles all planet-based emergency relief, disaster response, and planetside rescue missions for everything from earthquakes, volcanoes, explosions, and ecological disasters such as industrial leaks or crashed fuel tankers.
The Corps primarily comprises technical professionals for high-risk and high-skill positions, with volunteers composing the bulk of the Corps for more ordinary construction, surveying, and agricultural projects. As a result, only a small portion of the Corp's workforce comprises professionals. All volunteers undergo the primary training program in intercultural living, first aid, languages, essential diplomacy and conflict resolution, and the technical skills required for their assigned project. As a result, volunteers who have completed their term are highly sought after by businesses and governments alike for their skills and experience.
Cooperatio est fortituda nostra
(Cooperation is our strength)
The Corps is a hybrid government/non-governmental humanitarian organization committed to building up worlds on the frontier left neglected by the great powers of the galaxy. They build infrastructure, develop clean water systems, survey natural resources, and do other things essential for developing frontier worlds where survival is a daily struggle. Not glamorous work and unlikely to be the stars of a holovid, the members of the ORDC are known for their passionate, hardworking, reliable nature and often looked up to as much as a Jedi might be for their commitment to serving the community good and willingness to risk themselves for the rest of the Outer Rim.
The central legacy organization from the now-dissolved Outer Planets Alliance, the ORDC has maintained its mission and government/non-governmental hybrid status. A sprawling civilian and scientific organization, ORDC has continued in its mission unhindered by the change in politics, with its primarily private and donation-based funding and NGO structure.
The mission remains the same as it was-- bolstering the development and stabilization of the Outer Rim and its worlds. With the formation of the Rimward Trade League, the Corps has taken on more responsibility and duties, helping develop the necessary planet-side infrastructure to help bolster the economies of underdeveloped frontier worlds.
Often working closely with the Ranger Service, the Corps also maintains and handles all planet-based emergency relief, disaster response, and planetside rescue missions for everything from earthquakes, volcanoes, explosions, and ecological disasters such as industrial leaks or crashed fuel tankers.
The Corps primarily comprises technical professionals for high-risk and high-skill positions, with volunteers composing the bulk of the Corps for more ordinary construction, surveying, and agricultural projects. As a result, only a small portion of the Corp's workforce comprises professionals. All volunteers undergo the primary training program in intercultural living, first aid, languages, essential diplomacy and conflict resolution, and the technical skills required for their assigned project. As a result, volunteers who have completed their term are highly sought after by businesses and governments alike for their skills and experience.
RIMWARD MERCHANT-SPACERS
FORTUNA INTER ASTRA
(Fortune Among the Stars)
The heart and soul of the League, the RMS is a joint venture created by the founding worlds of the League to improve and strengthen the backbone of the League's mission: its merchant fleets of captains and spacers ranging from massive corporate bulk freighters to the captain-owned tramp merchants. Starting with a collection of merchant marine academies to ensure all spacers are trained and equipped to handle the dangers of the Outer Rim to government-owned auxiliary cargo ships, there's room for all sorts of stories here. Inter-crew drama, the risks of uncharted space, academy/college stories, captaining your freighter. All possible and contribute to a rich, story-based environment.
The RMS are the core of the Rimward Trade League. While representatives of the various member worlds manage the League itself, the merchant spacers and longshoremen accomplish much of the day-to-day work. They're the ones who ensure standards and regulations are met and push the boundaries of interstellar trade and cooperation with every cargo run.
The RMS functions as a regulatory body more than a structured organization. Its most formal components are the network of spacer academies, starting with the Susefvi Space & Interstellar Academy and including the new ones established after the League's formation. Beyond that, an advisory board is appointed by the most experienced spacers from various worlds responsible for studying and establishing regulations and standards for licensing, certification, and materials. This is the Interstellar Safety & Advisory Board, which operates separately from the League Council.
Spacers can acquire their licenses in various ratings, which they can then use as evidence of competence and skills to any vessel they may wish to ship aboard, often offering better pay than they would have as an unlicensed spacer. There are no requirements to hire only licensed spacers or that they should be paid more. Still, the RMM licensing system aims to ensure that the Outer Rim and Rimward Trade League spacers are the best in the galaxy, highly skilled, and qualified in their work compared to more Core-ward and other government competitors.
They do this through the academy networks for ship officers and technical crew members and apprenticeship options for common crew positions. Every crewmember is trained in the foundations of all roles of a ship- ranging from engineering, navigation, gunnery, mechanics, and everything in between, with ratings for the various classes of ships, as well as emergency damage control, firefighting, medical first aid, evasive flying, deep-space rescue, and wilderness survival. More practical lessons like brawling and shooting are often learned in the various spacer bars that crowd the streets around the academies and spaceports.
THE FREE TRADERS
For the fearless, the bold, the gamblers, and the drifters, the Free Traders are the unsung heroes of the Outer Rim. They work independently of the big shipping companies with their regular routes and reliable hyperlanes to chart their courses to worlds off the beaten track. Buying a cargo in hopes of selling at the next stop, they roll the chance cubes against other Free Traders, the Trade Companies, and the frontier conditions of the Outer Rim. The competition is cut-throat, but the camaraderie is second to none.
Many work solo, but others work as Associates for the shipping companies, getting the company's reputation and deep pockets as a back-up, but paying about 30% to the larger company. Others, less fortunate or less independent, work as Marginers, having an ongoing line of credit from a sponsoring company, whose debts they have to pay off each year, or at least the interest. Many Free Traders start working aboard another ship until they save enough credits to apply for a Margin account, with a ship as collateral, until they can repay the loan and upgrade to an Associate, at least until they can strike out on their own. Many stay independent, but others form their own shipping companies and conglomerates.
For many, the freedom that comes from the life of an independent trader is well worth the often hard-scrabble existence of moving from world to world, dealing in small cargoes, living job to job, and trying to keep the ship flying. It is not an easy life, nor usually a rich one, but it offers complete freedom. Free Traders often live in the gray areas between legality and ethics, deciding who and what they will make contracts for.
Further Resources At Your Disposal
So you need to hire a spacer....
| Chaos Company Names Up For Grabs |
| Svivren-Suarbi Shipping Combine |
| Coalition Cargo Charters |
| White Star Lines |
| Southern Systems Shipping |
| Freeport Freight |
| Squib Shipping |
| Quence Interstellar |
| Rimma Run Company |
| Terminus Transport, Ltd. |
| Kal'Shebbol Supply & Shipping |
| Factory Entries |
| Endeavor-Class Medium Freighter |
| Gentes Bulk Freighter |
| SE-808 Albatross-Class Corvette |
| Grek Gladiator Series Armed Transport |
| pHB-x9 Spacer's Light Beacon |
| Sample Crew Ratings | Sample Officer Ratings |
| Engineer's Mate 3rd/2nd/1st Class | Chief Engineer |
| Navigators Mate | Navigator |
| Deck Hand, Unlicensed | Purser |
| Able Spacer, 3rd/2nd/1st class | Shipmaster, Light/Medium/Heavy Freighters |
| Low Gravity Culinary Specialist | Purser |
| Computer Technician | Cargomaster |
| Logistics Overseer | First/Second/Third Mate |
| Pilot, Light/Medium/Heavy Freighter | Shipmaster, Commercial Passenger |
| Damage Control Specialist | Captain, |
| Medical Technician | Shipboard Doctor |
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