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"24"

24 is a pejorative commonly invoked by spacers to describe a near-useless crewmember.

Most linguists agree the term originated from the life boat capacity of the ubiquitous Type R Subsidized Merchant class vessels (aka Subbies or Fat Traders).

Since turrets and gunners are optional equipment, the naval architect was able to use a life boat that only holds 23 passengers in the standard design.

With both gunners as part of the crew and a full passenger compliment, there are 24 people on board.

Type R Subsidized Merchant - Rift Variant

Displacement: 400 Tons
Range: Jump 1 (up to 5x consecutive Jump 1 with Modular Fuel)
Acceleration: 1 G
Crew: 5-7
Passengers: 8
Low Berths: 9
Cargo: 188 Tons Modular Fuel/Cargo Bays
Weaponry: 4 turrets, 2 standard, 2 stern chase (pop up).

Ships Vehicles: 20 ton lifeboat

Hortalez et Cie, LIC is one of the major Imperial Megacorporations.

It is the dominant insurance and financial services company within the Imperium.
In some regions (the Spinward Marches Sector especially) the firm acts as a mercenary clearinghouse.
It primarily operates within Charted Space.

Hortalez et Cie is primarily a banking and investment house, which specializes in:

• Loans to planetary governments

• Mercenary unit bonding

• Underwriting of large scale projects of all sorts

• Starship Financing

In 2050 AD, the European Space Agency on Terra launched an extremely long-range colonial expedition. It consisted of three specially created vessels, the Voyageur, C-Jammer and Marinus van der Lubbe. These colony ships would found the various Human nations of 'the Islands', deep within the Great Rift.

Languages
Each of the three original colony missions had a primary national identity, and aboard each there was a primary language:

C-Jammer: English
van der Lubbe: German
Voyageur: French

Other languages were spoken by the colonists, but these gradually faded away after contributing a few words and figures of speech to the main language of the ship.

The colonies established were largely isolated for a thousand years, with only occasional visits from sublight vessels. The local language of each world therefore drifted considerably, though common recorded media slowed the process. The version of French spoken on Amondiage is therefore somewhat different from that of Sansterre, though the difference is one of dialect rather than a different language entirely.

Since Anglic is largely derived from English, with some French influence, the Galanglic-speaking Imperials who first visited the Islands had little difficulty with translation. However, the majority of Islanders see no real need to learn Galanglic. Only those dealing regularly with outsiders are likely to do so.

Terminology in the long-isolated Islands is often subtly different from the standard Imperial usage. For example, the Islanders have no use of the term 'system defence boat' and overall make no real distinction between Jump-capable and non-Jump-capable vessels. Centuries of sublight interstellar flight have resulted in a different mindset that the more recent availability of Jump drive hasn't considerably changed.

Culture
Here too the long isolation has led to distinctions from Imperial society. The blanket opposition to Psionics doesn't exist in the Islands (though Psionic individuals are rare), and the prohibitions on weaponry attached to robots are also not in evidence.

Military
Naval assets in the Islands are overall smaller than in the Imperium. One consequence of this is that fighters are a more credible threat to so-called "capital ships".

New Colchis System

All navies in the Islands make use of vessels which are larger than fighters but not significant combatants by outsider standards. These range from overgrown fighters through to about 300 tons displacement. The 100-ton 'small craft' breakpoint used in the Imperium is esentially meaningless to the Islands. Instead, local craft are designated according to their role.

FAC, Fast Attack Craft: Used for any highly manoeuvrable craft, whatever the armament
PC, Patrol Craft: Slower vessels, usually with greater endurance
SC, Support Craft: A catchall term for small combat-capable vessels that fit neither of the other designations.

Travel
Within the Islands, there are obvious Jump-2 trade runs. It is possible to go from Serendip Belt to New Colchis via Topas, Berlichingen, Neubayern, Sturgeon's Law, Elysee and Herzenslust. This route is generally termed the 'Crescent Run'.

Another transit, known as 'The Loop', runs from Neubayern via Schlesien Belt, St Genevieve, Sansterre, St Denis, Amondiage, Acadie and Colchis to New Home. It is possible to loop back to Neubayern via Sturgeon’s Law, or to cross from the Crescent to the Loop.

The Trans-Rift Route
The typical Great Rift crossing from the main body of Imperial territory to those regions 'behind the claw' is via the Islands Cluster:

Authorities at Filentred make a stringent drive check; upon passing, a vessel is allowed to Jump into the Rift, to Riftspan Station.
From Riftspan Station a jump is made to Amondiage, another Jump-4 (or 2-Jump-2) away.

Most vessels then proceed via New Home, Elysee and then Serendip Belt. Gloire is an alternate destination but this is discouraged by the government of Serendip Belt.
Another four-parsec transit takes the vessel to Zuflucht, on the very outer edge of the Islands.

Zuflucht is the exit (or entry) point for virtually all trans-Rift traffic.
Transit on from Zuflucht requires another deep-space refuelling operation, this time at a purpose-built deep-space installation named Chandler Station.

Amondiage is a high-population, pre-rich world with a billion or more sophonts in population size.

Amondiage is part of the Amondiage Cluster. The only relatively convenient route which is able to access this very remote cluster passes through Riftspan Station from the rimward-trailward direction out of Moibin Subsector or Limon Subsector.

It lacks adequate resources to expand its economy to a rich status.
Its economy and population are rapidly growing and living conditions are expected to quickly rise barring outside forces.
This is a "high technology" world with technology achievements at, near, or over technology standards for Charted Space.
It is a Non-Aligned world dominated by human sophonts located in the Old Islands Subsector of Reft Sector.
This world has a nearby Naval Base, usually associated with military starships.
This world has a nearby Military Base, usually associated with military ground forces.
This world has a colony at Acadie.


Key Events in Imperial Historical Timeline
–3: Colony ship Voyageur enters orbit around Amondiage
340: Amondiage launches its own first colony ship, Asterix
1013: Imperial Scout Service mission spreads Jump technology through the Islands

The Vargr are a Canidoid Major Race, with a humanoid body plan, derived from Ancient genetic manipulation of Terran carnivore/chaser stock, apparently dating from approximately the same time that Humaniti was scattered to the stars. Vargr are a species known for extreme behavioral range, social nature, and an irascible spirit.

Some 30 years ago, when Amondiage was still a free republic, it employed a Legion (some 9,000 strong) made up entirely of foreigners (including some non-humans) who swore allegiance to the Legion while following the orders of the Amondiage government. Not quite a pure mercenary unit, it had a reputation as a fierce fighting organization with a storied history stretching back to the days before the Voyageur departed Terra.

The Legion was utterly destroyed in the "Battle of Bayeux" and the few survivors were imprisoned in the Arcone gulag until the war ended.

Using a 500-ton hull, the Beluga-class is a ubiquitous Islands Heavy Freighter. It mounts a jump drive-C, maneuver drive-C, and power plant-C, giving a performance of Jump-1 and 1-G acceleration. Fuel tankage for 65 tons supports the six weeks power plant and one Jump-1. Adjacent to the bridge is a ship computer Model/1. There are 4 staterooms and 10 low berths.

The ship has 2 hard points and 2 tons allocated to fire control.

There are no ship's vehicles. Cargo capacity is 277 to 377 tons depending on fuel carried. The hull is streamlined. The ship fits 2 special modular 50 ton fuel/cargo bays. which allows up to three consecutive Jump 1 when both are used for extra jump fuel capacity.

The ship requires a crew of 4: Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Medic and up to 2 gunners may be carried with 2 cabins at double occupancy. The ship can carry 10 low berth passengers.

Acadie is an agricultural, nonindustrial, pre-rich world with a growing agro-economy, but still lacks an adequate population to expand its economy to a rich status.

As an agricultural world, this world is a near-ideal environment for producing quality foodstuffs of plant, animal, and other forms. Quality foodstuffs are a major export commodity for this world.
It requires extensive imports of outside technology to maintain a modern, star-faring society. Having to import most manufactured and high tech goods drives the price up for these items at this world.

This world is controlled from Amondiage (Reft 2325)

High Passage - CR 10.000 Transport includes top shelf food and drink + up to 1 dton cargo
Middle Passage - CR 8,000 Transport includes "self-serve buffet style food and drink + up to 100 kg cargo (mid passengers may be "bumped" by full fare High Passengers)
Low Passage - CR 1,000 Transport includes a chance of death on revival from cryosleep + up to 10 kg cargo

The Low Lottery: It is customary for the captain to contribute Cr10 out of each low passage towards a lottery.
Each low passenger randomly guesses the number of low passengers who will survive the trip. If the winner does not himself
survive, the captain receives the money.

Old Islands

Neubayern: One of the original three worlds settled, Neubayern remained on the fringes of development until jump drives became available. Thereafter, it has joined
in the competition for its share of the Cluster. Neubayern is governed by a charismatic oligarchy, and has one colony: Schlesien Belt.

New Home: The first world to be settled by the ESA Longrange Colony Mission, New Home is the oldest settlement in the Cluster, and the richest. It boasts the
highest technology, although its population level is slightly lower than the other major worlds.

Amondiage: The third of the three initially colonized worlds, Amondiage is an arid world with little in the way of riches or resources. Ruled by a charismatic
dictatorship, it has emphasized exploitation of its main colony, at Acadie, as a source of minerals and raw materials.

Sansterre: A water world on the coreward edge of the Cluster, Sansterre is a representative democracy with extensive underwater settlements scattered all
across the world's ocean bottoms. Its major resource colony, at St. Denis, provides some surface agricultural produce.

New Islands

Esperanza: Located on the extreme spinward edge of the Clusters, Esperanza is ruled by a well-entrenched non-charismatic dictatorship which enforces an oppressive political structure. Its tentacles extend to two vassal worlds: Wellington and St. Hilaire. Esperanzan technology (at B) lags behind the other major worlds of the two subsectors.

New Colchis: A tertiary world colonised from Colchis, which was in turn colonized from New Home, New Colchis is an industrialized trade center with a colony
at Herzenslust. Its government is headed by a charismatic dictator.

Joyeuse: Straddling the divider between the New and Old Islands, Joyeuse is a well-developed world with a government similar to that of Esperanza. It has a
colony at Quichotte.

Serendip Belt: The asteroid belt at Serendip is a rich storehouse of mineral wealth; it is inhabited by independent merchants and miners under a feudal technocracy form of government. The center of government is still the CJammer. Serendip controls nearby Gloire as an agricultural colony.

Pinkwater

Pinkwater is a battalion sized mercenary outfit hired on a long term contract by the government of Amondiage to provide starport and local security for Acadie in the Old Islands cluster.

Pinkwater was formed after the "unification war" that propelled the Generalissimo into power.