Federation Peace Corps

[LizardQueen]

Originally posted by toadkiller
...In fact. Something I'd messed with in my campaign was a Klingon Dr. who runs a mercenary hospital ship. Sort of a "field hospital for hire" for regional conflicts, etc. For a price they'll provide assistance to your refugees - and give you a discount on their "revenge services" as well.

THAT's an interesting idea!!! You wouldn't ordinarily think of a Klingon relief agency. Or a relief agency that also offers "revenge"!

[Erik Filean]

Originally posted by LizardQueen


THAT's an interesting idea!!! You wouldn't ordinarily think of a Klingon relief agency. Or a relief agency that also offers "revenge"!

The neat thing is that after performing a revenge service, they could then turn around and offer relief to the victims. (Or maybe that would be more of a Ferengi thing...just add latinum!)

[Diamond]

>Teacher:
>Why not give this Template Debate instead of Persuasion

Because debate is a specialty of the pursusasion skill.
However, a teacher who regularly addresses a whole class of students might find the oratory specialty of the pursuasion skill more useful.


That Klingon idea is great. I love things that fit in, but not as you expect... adds a lot of flavor. Let's see if we can go further... I imagine an extremely efficiently run Vulcan aid agency which is excellent at meeting physical needs but is infamous for a sub-par "bedside manner." In other words, after the flood washes away the city this Vulcan agency distributes the most food and blankets most efficiently, but while wellmeaning is at a loss comforting the bereaved.

[LizardQueen]

What about relief agencies run by people who are not ordinarily considered the "good guys"? Perhaps a Romulan relief agency? Post-Dominion War the Cardassians would more likely be on the receiving end of a relief agency, but they may have had their own agencies prior to the war.

One of the great things about Trek is that it's NOT usually black-and-white. So even when a species is cast as the "bad guys", you still see individuals of that species that are compassionate or honorable, even when they are STILL enemies of the Federation.

[Fortunae]

I think, you could keep your Peace Corps, and there would be some parallel agencies that mirror modern agencies as well.

Where I would come from with it is to either make it a subsection of a new Bureau of the Secretariet (Federation Relief Bureau) or make a Federation Relief Agency that falls under the Bureau of Colonization, and then have your Peace Corps fall under that Agency or Bureau respectively.

Either way you can use the pre-existing political/bureaucratic ranks from the Price of Freedom..and this opens doors to story seeds like annoying PADD Pusher back home tampering with budget to Non-Complient Peace Corps people stymieing a Star Fleet Operation.

By attaching them to a greater relief umbrella you do also open the door for friendly competition for prestige assignments and budget of resources with other similar agencies. If I had to choose I'd go with the FPC being a subordinate of the FRA which is under the BoC -- and then I would have the PCs assigned to say, try to get a colony back on track in a year that looks unlikely to make it's minimal standards or recall at the end of it's 5 year probationary period.

Peace

[Dan Gurden]

Done some tidying, and taken much of what has been said here into account. So I would like to present, hopefully the final version of;


The Federation Peace Corps
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
John F Kennedy


The Federation Peace Corps is a civilian organisation that aims to spread prosperity and hope throughout the Galaxy. The organization originally originates from Earth with nearly 400 years of history from the original Peace Corps that were formed in response to a call from John F. Kennedy while campaigning to become US President in 1961. After his election he ratified the group creating the first Peace Corps. Since that time they have worked to improve the third world, in healthcare, education and infrastructure. Helping to equalise the imbalance of 20th century Earth. Their efforts went a long way to the recovery of the post-atomic horror of the 21st century, and helping to ensure equality in Earths cooperative world government that become a founding part of the UFP. During this time many smaller groups collected under the single umbrella of the Peace Corps, expanding its membership from US citizens only to world membership.

At the formation of the United Federation of Planets in 2161, the rapidly expanding organisation, then 200 years old was honoured for its work, and given a new directive, to spread their work among the stars. The Federation had a requirement for a relief agency, many colony worlds from ages past had been lost, and explorers from all 5 member worlds were finding new worlds, potential members of the newly formed UFP, with just a little bit of help… Some kind of
Federation Relief Agency was required, and probably due it bi-centenary falling in with the creation of the UFP the two organizations found themselves tied together. The Federation Peace Corps, as their new charter knew them, opened their doors to all Federation member worlds, accepting volunteers from any that wished to give their time. Although like Starfleet the vast majority of the groups membership remained human.

Since that time, the Federation has grown, encompassing hundreds of member worlds and affiliates and trading partners. The Starfleet has also grown, its mission encompassing Exploration and Defense, along with other more humanitarian mission profiles. And mirroring Starfleet the Peace Corps too has expanded its membership with its membership prominently including many Federation species.

The mission charter of the Federation Peace Corps remains the same to give humanitarian aid wherever it is needed and offer logistical support. Like Starfleet they too are bound by the Prime Directive to stop their relief efforts from interfering with a developing culture during its natural stage of development. This doesn’t mean that they do not offer humanitarian aid to a sufficiently advance, non-affiliated species, quite the contrary in fact. But has stopped the organization from

Any Federation Citizen with a desire to help can volunteer for service in the Peace Corps, either sharing an existing skill or ability, or learning a trade and skill to share. Many volunteers are just normal Federation citizens with a wish to travel, to help and to learn, the equal of any determined Colonist, but at least 20% of any intake is far more specialised, made up of teachers, Doctors, Engineering Specialists or agricultural Specialists. Its not unusual even, to find even more specialized personnel among their ranks, from Starfleet personnel on leave and the like.

The group has a ranking system to enable effective organization. The most senior member of the Federation Peace Corps is the Director, who reports directly to the Federation Council and the President of the UFP. This senior officer is usually an established political figure, and if possible a veteran of the Peace Corps themselves. The post is currently held by Director Eliaz of Bolarias.

Next in the chain of command is the sector director, who is assigned a particular sector to administrate and organize, they are the senior representative for a particular area, and hold a role very similar to that of a Starfleet Admiral.

Next are the Objective Administrators, tasked with the Command of a particular project (objective), these project managers control the various missions and aid stations tied in with their objective and upon completion move on to the next one. The Objective Administrators are always made up of Veteran Peace Corps personnel, with lots of field experience.

Lastly the field command of a mission or aid station lies with the Mission Commandant and their second in command the Quartermaster (or Logistics Officer) who apply field administration of the personnel working at the mission. At the mission level all volunteers are equal under these two and often are equal including these two, with the leadership role simply taking the form of a reporting and administrative duty.

The group is often active on Struggling Colony worlds, or after great Disasters, or even helping rebuild worlds after devastating wars... for example the Peace Corps was heavily active on Bajor when Starfleet took over DS9, and many of its specialists have been assigned to Cardassia following the Dominion War.

The group undertakes larger Objectives either based on a sector or planet, for instance the aid mission to the post-war Cardassia is known as the Cardassian Objective. Such a mission is assigned a Senior administrator who directs resources and briefs the Peace Corps Director and President of the UFP on the mission status, but is a direct subordinate of the Sector Administrator. At the field level the Peace Corp runs either Aid Stations or Missions. An Aid Station is designed as a crisis response, offering medical and emergency usually in response to larger scale disasters. A Mission however is the term used for longer term projects, such as area coordination center usually offering a school, a medical centre and support to help a population regain a prosperous life for themselves, but rarely dealing in ‘handouts’.

The Peace Corps also has a small response fleet. Made up of Peaceful vessels, a couple of Olympic class medical ships, several older Oberths also serve as transports and smaller medical aid ships, offering mobile aid stations. They even have a decommissioned Miranda Class vessel donated by Starfleet for larger scale transportation requirements, crews are made up of specifically skilled personnel, but usually the Peace Corps is often looking for more experienced hands for these vessels. However these ships are few and often the supply and personnel requirements of the Peace Corps are supported by Starfleet and Federation Merchant Marine vessels, who also both keep a watchful eye over the established missions.

Templates
Peace Corps Volunteer
Personal Equipment (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Science, Planetary (Choose Speciaisation) 2 (3)
Science, Social (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Science, Any Other (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
or Engineering, Any (Choose Specialisation) 1 (2)

Athletics (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
History (Federation) 1 (2)
Language; Federation Standard 1
Choose Language 1
planetary Survival (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
World Knowledge (Choose World) 1 (2)


The support skills of the specialists will remain the same as that of the standard volunteer, however change the Core skill base as follows.

Peace Corps Specialists
Medical
Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) 1 (2)
Science, Medical (Choose 2 Speciaisation) 2 (3) and (3)
First Aid (Choose 2 Speciaisation) 1 (2) and (2)
Science, Any Other (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Code of Honour - Hipocratic Oath -2

Teacher
Computer (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Persuasion (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Science, Any (Choose Speciaisation) 2 (3)
Instruction (Choose Specialisation) 2 (3)
Code of Honour (Prime Directive) -2

Agricultural specialist
Craft (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Engineering, Material (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Personal Equipment (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Science, Planetary (Choose Speciaisation) 2 (3) or
Science, Life (Choose Speciaisation) 2 (3)

Engineering specialist
Personal Equipment (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Engineering, Material (Choose Speciaisation) 2 (3)
Engineering, Any (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)
Science, Any (Choose Speciaisation) 1 (2)

Advantage;
Rank

+6 Director of the Peace Corps
+5 Sector Director
+4 Objective Administrator
+3 Objective Administrator
+2 Mission Commandant
+1 Quartermaster/Logistics Officer

[Michael Barratt]

Dan, that was great!

I'm definitely integrating them into my campaigns...

The Doc

[Diamond]

That's great work, Dan! May I suggest that civilain tours of duty are critically necessary for this organization. The templates are great for representing volunteers who basically made this their main career, but tours of duty would be perfect to represent those who volunteer for a while (like just out of school) and then go on to do something else. That's how most volunteers work in the 20th century Peace Corps.

[Dan Gurden]

OK. So you want Tours of Duty do you? Are those applicable to Civilian templates? Or was that just a 10 point 'after training' package?

So before I get started. Any ideas for appropriate packages? What sort of thing do you want to see???

[spyone]

This looks great.

Personally, I'd fold this into Starfleet. Starfleet does lots and lots of things that in the modern US are part of seperate agencies. Starfleet is the Navy, the Coast Guard, the NOAA, and the Peace Corps all rolled into one. Starfleet gets assigned all kinds of jobs that in the US would be given to private/civilian agencies, like building starships or aqueducts or .... well, I could go on forever. Regardless of what agency we think is doing the work, we all agree that helping the neighbors is something the Federation does, so let's embrace that we agree and move on.

Palladium Books' Recon was an RPG that was set in the Vietnam War. The supplement Advanced Recon presented an alternate campaign idea: American advisors in Laos. The PCs are ex-military guys sent to a village in Laos to try the "winning hearts and minds" stuff. Their goal is to get the villagers to quit growing drugs for the local warlords.
So, they have to find another cash crop for the locals. They also need to convince the locals that they are good guys, which means doing a lot of genuinely good things for them, like building a road, digging a well, building a medical dispensary, building an auditorium and showing movies there, making the road better and wider, building a sawmill, and so on.
What I mean to say is that, while hostile alien of the week makes for an interesting adventure, humanitarian aid makes for an excellent campaign. The PCs have been sent to help out a village (either a colony or a remote settlement of some overburdened nearby government). There may be dangerous animals or pirates, so there can be a little action for the guys who feel incomplete if they didn't shoot at something, but there will be plenty of work installing a fusion reactor to provide power for a hospital, and organizing work crews to build shelters. Some people will distrust the outsiders, some may even resent them, and the real job isn't to do these jobs for the locals, but to train them to do the jobs themselves.

What sells this to the players is the same thing that sells it to the characters: most Starfleet crews get to make a tiny difference in the lives of dozens of people a few hundred times, but in the Peace Corps you can dramatically change the lives of a few hundred people, and see it all happen. It's the difference between giving $10 a week to charity for the rest of your life, or giving $20,000 to a neighbor family whose house just burned.

[Dan Gurden]

But your arguement also disables the Federation Merchant Marine too, as Starfleet has plenty of ships and can transport goods around. When they are not too busy elsewhere. ;p

But, as you say, this is for the most part Starfleet-light. I sort of envisioned them as a group of people with similar ideals but whom dont want to actually join up to Starfleet for whatever reason (or maybe who failed to meet the grade)...

Politically, they may also be able to work in places that the fleet cannot reach, as they are a Peace operation and dont 'do' weapons. And as such they do double duty in helping extend the long arm of Federation cultural expansion/propaganda... As well as providing halfway decent bases of operations for occasional Espionage duties... Just like their historical counterparts...

But it is very likely that service in the Peace Corps would involve working closely with Starfleet, as well as helping build a candidacy profile for future enrolement in Starfleet Academy or just doing good by others...

But that could all tie in to make a good campaign along the lines you say, perhaps on an affiliated world, building up to membership or after a disaster? In post DS9 universe this sort of campaign would easily slip into Cardassian or former Maquis territory.

[spyone]

Well, while we see Starfleet ships carry cargo occasionally, we have also seen dedicated freighters. And none of those freighters were Starfleet vessels, IIRC.
In contrast, when faced with a massive natural disaster, we never see the Starfleet guys trying to hold things together until the proper relief agencies can arrive. Instead, we see them trying to hold things together until more Starfleet vessels can arrive. This suggests that Starfleet is the primary disaster relief agency, and that disaster relief is one of Starfleet's main jobs.

That said, there is canon evidence that some people consider Starfleet too "military" for their tastes. (David Marcus, for one.) Such a person would likely still want to help people in need, but prefer not to work through Starfleet towards that goal. There is plenty of room for civilian agencies, maybe even non-government agencies, whose duties overlap part of Starfleet's mission.
As you said, they would be populated by people who harbor objections to some part of Starfleet's role, and by those who for whatever reason are not wanted by Starfleet.

Starfleet faces a lot less political prejudice than the modern military. The US armed forces do a lot of disaster relief, but are always recognized to be a military service that also aids people in need. Starfleet turns that on it's head, so people are more likely st see them as helpers first and potential conquerors second.
On the other hand,I doubt the people of Cardassia would be thrilled to have people in Starfleet uniforms walking their streets: even if the devastation of Cardassia was done by their "allies" and not Starfleet, there are a lot of Cardassian families who have a member sent to the grave by a Starfleet phaser.