The Transport Guild

The Transport Guild is responsible for all civilian movement of people, mail and supplies throughout Rebin space whether it's within atmosphere on land, sea and space. The transport guild often referred to, as the 'Guild' is a tightly controlled government arm, that strangely is also responsible for disseminating information or news to the member worlds of the empire, (after it has been filtered/censored by the government of course). Its news/journalism wing is called 'R.B.S.' (Rebin Broadcasting Service), censorship of any news is surprisingly light and most stories are reported factually.

Other news organisations are considered illegal within Rebin space and may not operate though the R.B.S. does maintain links with field agents and other information sources, agencies beyond Rebin space in order to ensure a steady stream of news of external events. Hence the Rebin Empire is aware of the former Sylean Federation and its metamorphosis into the 'Third Imperium' under the care and guidance of our beloved Emperor Clean Zhunastu. The Rebin Matriarchs view Imperial expansion with alarm as early reports concerning the military victories and conquests of our powerful empire have reached them, what alarms them most however is the commonly known fact that our Emperor considers all sophonts equal regardless of their biological background or sex. They generally refer to the Third Imperium as 'The Core-ward Threat' and have clearly instructed the R.B.S. to report it as being corrupt, militant, aggressive and dominated by males…

The Transport Guild forbids cargo, freight or passengers to be moved by independent ship operators within Rebin space including charters of vessels. Such independent shipping must first become a member of the guild before operating within Rebin territories. Independent merchants are allowed to carry cargo from jump point to port providing that it originates on a non-member world, they are also allowed to carry cargos from port to jump point provided that their destination is outside Rebin borders and within a single jump. In order to enforce this patrols and inspections conducted by the Passive Wing are routine and common, offenders are dealt with harshly with the judicial authorities (the P.C.A.) common penalties include massive fines or seizure of assets pending trial.

Guild ships tend to be large carriers, and are limited to jump 1 by the both the rules of the Guild and the official policies of the Rebin Government as decided upon by the Council of Ladies with executive decisions being made by the current Empress Claudia Nikiski.

Independent shippers can join the guild and be given associate membership (in reflection of their off world origin), in which case they carry cargos, passengers and freight on request throughout the empire and are rewarded with free supplies, food stocks, maintenance and repairs (including annual maintenance and any battle damage accrued in guild service), and all of the ranks and privileges given to Rebin citizens. Each crewmember must swear an oath of allegiance to the Empress and undergo citizenship training so that they know how to correctly behave in Rebin society in addition to gaining an understanding of gender roles. In order to qualify the operating ship must be Jump 1 rated; ships with higher jump ratings are forbidden to join the guild unless the jump drive is removed and replaced with a locally built jump 1 model. Associate membership lasts for one year before applications have to be resubmitted, citizenship refresher courses taken and oaths of allegiance reaffirmed for yet another year. Any attempt to leave Rebin space without permission during the term of the crew's membership results in immediate suspension of membership and arrest and interrogation by the authorities on their return, punishments typically involve, long term imprisonment and seizure of assets (usually the ship, cargo and equipment). If guild membership expires and is not renewed, the crew are free to leave as independent shippers, though crucially any jump drives removed when joining the guild are not returned.

"We considered joining the guild as the citizenship training would have been valuable intelligence, we all agreed however that ripping out the jump drive and replacing it with a jump 1 model was not only criminal but incredibly insulting to our beloved ship, the Forever Deep. The issue was settled when we found out about the oath of allegiance… We are loyal to Emperor Cleon and don't take oaths lightly."

IISS Scout Commander James Randolph.

These strict rules serve well to keep independent shippers away from the guild, most petitions to join the guild are usually submitted by female captains or female dominated crews from beyond Rebin space looking for somewhere relatively nice to retire, free from worry and financial pressures or alternatively Belters and other small ship owners badly in need of maintenance and refit without having the money to pay for it. In which case the attraction of working free of charge and worry free for a year to have their vessels modernised and made space-worthy once again is obvious.

Should a member of the crew refuse the oath of allegiance and subsequent citizenship training, the remaining crew may of course join the guild though the refusing crewmember must immediately leave the crew, finding work on another independent ship or leave Rebin space. Needless to say there aren't many associate members of the guild.

In comparison Military ships are only limited by the technological constraints and the laws of physics, Active units typically have jump capacity of 3 parsecs (considered minimal), whilst some experimental designs undergoing trial allegedly have jump 4 potential or higher though this information may be nothing more than propaganda or rumour, as official sources refuse to comment.

"The ships we managed to discreetly scan whilst in Rebin space seem to be on a par technologically with anything the Imperium could muster."

IISS Scout Operative Joseph Villigis.

Forever Deep's Astrogator/commo officer

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