Editing Blue Giant:Space Rangers (section)

==Ranger Duties==

Rangers are marshals. They have a number of duties outlined by the [[Blue_Giant:History#The Federal / Imperial Treaty|treaty]]. Since the treaty is a 5 Gigabyte legal document in 22 languages, here are the crib notes.

#Uphold the treaty. This means stopping any side from breaking treaty law through overt military action, sabotage or whatever.
#Uphold and work with any planetary government or law enforcement agency and make sure that they operate within treaty law. Treaty law trumps planetary law.
#Uphold common law, and interstellar law. (The usual stuff about murder, theft, piracy, claim jumping etc.).
#Make sure other rangers behave themselves. All rangers are of equal rank. All rangers are expected to defer to other ranger’s expertise. The only way to get a decision by a ranger overturned is to have them outvoted by majority of other rangers, or to appeal to the Treaty Oversight Committee, who have the final say. (This is kinda like getting the U.N security council to vote on a pig rustling dispute, though.)
#Appoint deputies. Deputies have all the responsibilities of rangers with none of the perks. Deputies don’t get to outvote rangers. Deputies swear allegiance to the Space Rangers Organisation, not any one ranger in particular. Nevertheless the rangers who appointed them are held responsible for their conduct.
#Rangers are rangers for life. The only way out is through death or through a court-martial by the Treaty Oversight Committee. Bad ‘uns tend to be dealt with quietly by a posse of other rangers. Retired rangers are simply rangers who haven’t done anything in a while.
#Rangers are not restricted to the treaty zone. They are restricted to upholding the treaty.
#Rangers wear blue and black uniforms if they were trained by the Federation, or red and black if they originate from the Empire. There is no other difference in rights, responsibilities or duties. However, there is a difference in how they are perceived in the Empire and Federation.
#All planets in the treaty zone are subject to the treaty, even if they don’t know it. Planets may opt out of the treaty. There are a number of socio-economic measures and conditions they have to fulfil to do this but it basically boils down to, ‘Can you make us piss off and leave your planet alone.’ No planet that opts out can join the Federation or Imperium for 100 years.
#No signatories of [[Blue_Giant:History#The Groombridge Accord|the Groombridge Accord]] are allowed any military presence in the treaty zone. They are allowed to assign rangers to the treaty zone and they are allowed to send observers to see that the treaty is being upheld. They are also allowed diplomats and ambassadors within the zone. The signatories are [[Blue_Giant:Interstellar_Nations#The Federated Territories|The Federated Territories]], [[Blue_Giant:Interstellar_Nations#The Astræ'an Empire|The Astræ'an Empire]], [[Blue_Giant:Interstellar_Nations|The Nations of Earth]] and the [[Blue_Giant:Interstellar_Nations#The United Nations Protectorate (UNP)|United Nations Protectorate]].