Editing Blue Giant:Space Rangers

==History==

Space Rangers, as a concept, have existed for four to five hundred years. They were self appointed lawmen and vigilantes who took it upon themselves to patrol settler areas not yet under the control of any of the old earth nations. Sometimes they formed their own organisations and systems of justice. For example, the Yellow Nova rangers organised the only resistance of the [[Blue_Giant:Federal_Alliance|Federal Alliance]] against American and Shanshock expansion in 2782 and transported stolen battleship plans across a quarter of the galaxy which resulted in the creation of the Federated Territories. And the Cat-tail Nebula Rangers more or less destroyed the Gordon-Hammer corporation and its colonial slavery ring which involved 3.2 billion human slaves.

For the most part, rangers are individuals. The most famous ranger is of course [[Blue_Giant:Jack_Rourke|Jack Rourke]] of [[Blue_Giant:Rourkes_Spiders|Rourke’s Spiders]] fame.

==Treaty Rangers==

The Treaty Rangers came about as part of the Federal / Imperial treaty. With the demilitarization of the treaty zone and the creation of the treaty oversight committee, a force of neutral inspectors was needed. The [[Blue_Giant:Treaty_Zone_Species#Flarin|Flarin]] negotiators pointed out that there was already such a force in the area, the tens of thousands of rangers who had protected the settlers, and some of whom had fought against the  invading nations. Once the concept was on board, things developed quickly. The Treaty Rangers would be drawn from a pool of volunteer rangers (later expanded to just about anyone). All of the signatories the Groombridge accord would be able to provide rangers although the bulk would come from the [[Blue_Giant:Interstellar_Nations#The Federated Territories|The Federated Territories]] and the [[Blue_Giant:Interstellar_Nations#The Astræ'an Empire|Empire]]. Rangers would have to pass a rigorous training course designed to weed out the unsuitable.

Treaty Rangers are the best of the best. Hundreds of millions of people apply each year. Former rangers, ex-military, scientists, smugglers, colonists, aliens, robots, even rich kids from Old Earth. Less than one in ten thousand finish the training and as a result, in the eighth year of the treaty, one sixth of the galaxy is guarded and protected by just over a million lawmen. 1.6 million rangers have been assigned sectors in the treaty zone, eight hundred thousand from the Federal Ranger academy and eight hundred thousand from the Empire. A quarter of them are dead already.

==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]].

==Character Creation==

Characters get 25 Character points, 20 Skill points + Ranger skill package.

In addition the PCs collectively get Own a Big Mecha 4 (Ranger Scout Ship), which they should divide evenly between them.

Follow the link for a number of [[Blue_Giant:Additional_Material#Templates|campaign specific templates]].

Other occupational Templates can be found in Space Fantasy p53 and Centauri Knights p37, which can be used to represent the original career of the character.

===Ranger Template===

'''Attributes'''

Heightened Awareness (1), Highly Skilled (5), Organisational Ties (2) (Space Rangers), Personal Gear (2) 

'''Skills'''

Electronics (1) (Communications+Security+Sensors), Law (1) (Interstellar, Federation criminal), Mechanics (1) (Starships), Medical (1) (Emergency response), Military Science (1) (any one), Navigation (1)(Space), Piloting (1) (Spacecraft), Police Science (1) (any one)

'''Total 15CPs'''

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