The First Order Intelligence: The Ubiqtorate

[Marius Gihren]

[member="Sentiri"]
[member="Colrenth Renfrew"]
[member="Ludolf Vaas"]

Been poking around getting a grasp of things.

Would it not be appropriate for this NPC type to be of Moff rank since over in this here thread Moff's seem to hold ministerial positions. I believe there is already language for the Foreign Minister to hold position and authority over matters of external intelligence matters,

• Foreign Minister: coordinates diplomatic and intelligence efforts at the direction of the Grand Moff and Supreme Commander

along with the the Interior Minister responsible for overseeing Internal clandestine matters.

• Interior Minister: coordinates internal social, propaganda, and judicial efforts at the direction of the Grand Moff and Supreme Commander

It seems that having two Moff's who report to both the Supreme Commander and Grand Moff is beneficial to preventing abuse of absolute power over the intelligence apparatus and ensuring that it remains efficient and effective.

Just some thoughts as it would be much more pragmatic for the diplomatic and government types to be working in concert with the intelligence branch(es) to accomplish and further goals.

Other wise we risk falling prey to the previous iterations of Imperial factions along with the original Galactic Empire having far to many organizations. The First Order is a much more refined and sculpted figure than the bloated bureaucratic system that had fallen.

 

[Sentiri]

[member="Marius Gihren"]

Good catch! I figured that the "Minister of Intelligence" position would rest somewhere between the military and government sectors anyway, so having a Minister, or Ministersas the cae may be, with the rank of "Moff" makes a lot of sense. That's the way Fel's Empire did it too, I believe. And considering the mess of Intelligence that Palpatine's Empire was, I'm all for streamlining the organization. I'm also all for more collaboration!

I've been hashing through how this works in my mind for a bit now. We're keeping the Minister rank(s) NPC-driven for the time being. But eventually, both Government and Intel folks will reach that "elite" status.

For instance: an Intelligence agent gets their final promotion. Confetti, streamers, banners, parades. Then there's a Government official giving that agent orders. If we were in a bureaucracy, that is exactly how the system would work. Is that how we want it to work here? Could Ubiqtorate agents get promoted into the position of Minister? How do we promote collaboration while avoiding strife over rank and between departments?

From a writer's perspective, that would provide some potentially excellent storylines. But from an IC perspective, as you say, the First Order would not be the place for bickering between two equals. (Let's just ignore any reference to General Hux and Kylo Ren, shall we? )

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

First off, welcome [member="Marius Gihren"]!

We never actually intended for people from different branches to cross over into others, but I can see a possible case being made for this. I generally dislike super complicated and convoluted rank structures, but I'll give it some thought.

In any case, it remains a bit of a moot point right now because we don't yet have any Elite level Agent characters. That needs to change.

 

[Colton Renth]

[member="Marius Gihren"], [member="Ludolf Vaas"],[member="Sentiri"]

Good point, I saw this going,more TOR era Imperial/sith intelligence your Moff /KOR would have a spheres of influence over several things, { big picture] the MOI would be the coordinating the various departments with Intel.{board strokes day to day ops] and the department CO's would be the ones assigning missions and such to accomplish the task given them by SOI. compartmentalization, no one can give all secrets because no really knows them all, kinda an extra layer of security should high level members of the Organization be captured.

 

[Marius Gihren]

[member="Sentiri"]
[member="Colrenth Renfrew"]
[member="Ludolf Vaas"]

Well another reason I bring up the fact that there are two different Ministerial positions with enough broad language to encompass Player character ambitions.
From an OOC perspective I would argue that if we ever reach the point of having two PC overseers it would allow wiggle room in the event of LOA's of a such a high level position IC going inactive for a brief moment.

Lastly as someone who has spent the last six years in the military and also working with government I can attest to the fact that it should not be difficult to move from one branch into another, it simply requires higher up approval.

Even then going up in rank should also continue to present wider and broader challenges. For example as you rise in military rank the responsibility of performing your primary job is less and less focused, in fact your job then becomes more about managing and leading with people below you to accomplish those focused task through the power of delegation.
So in fact that if a Prefect submitted him/herself for promotion to Moff and requests the position of Foreign Minister that Prefect better have dealt with working closely with the intelligence services, military services and made significant diplomatic accomplishments abroad and at home.

Vice versa scenario for someone coming from the Intelligence side of the house applying for the position of either Foreign or Interior Minister. That Senior agent must have been operating as either the External Affairs or Internal Affairs CO to even be considered for the rank of Moff. This means having led significantly important intelligence operations, not just missions but the direction of such over a period of time with optimal performance and noteworthy cooperation between Government and Military.

Arguably the same could be said for Generals and Admirals to eventually move into the upper echelon of the government (whether we view it as a Lateral shift or horizontal can eventually be determined)

 

[Colton Renth]

[member="Marius Gihren"]

Sounds similar to my idea, if you are not familiar the old sith empire Dark council/ spares of influence you should take a look it, From understanding of I think we easier blend-booth these to work here. For military transfers to intelligence I would at least 2 missions they commanded be spec/covert ops.

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing stopping people from moving from one department to another. Military characters are free to switch to the government whenever they want, and vice versa. That goes for pretty much anything. The rule simply is that you shouldn't be in two branches at once, as that's generally unrealistic. A nation will have its politicians and its military brass. Of course there's a degree of overlap there, but it's not at the same time typically.

Anyway, I think the primary focus should be on getting the Intelligence branch to actually do stuff. We can split hairs over the logistics later and I would be more than happy to work with all of your ideas.

 

[Kenrath]

[member="Ludolf Vaas"]

You mean like how technically Viktor was an assassin in the Bespin Dominion before becoming a Commissioner in later threads?

Good times.

 

[Colton Renth]

Yeah Intel has a Shiny new toy FO X007 "Specter"