Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-04-2017, 01:17 PM   #1
Huscurian
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Default [World Building / GURPS] Rainbow Six Organization

Hello guys,

I came up with the idea for a Rainbow Six organization that's tasked with covert operations, hostage rescue, and counter-terrorism. The organization's name is Prism International.

Here's my question. What is the best, ideal city for a foreign organization to operate per the country's laws and still receive diplomatic immunity for the work they do overseas?

In the novel, Rainbow Six, the organization is situated in Heathrow, London, the UK. With this Prism International, I wanted the setting to be early 1990s, an alternate timeline, and leading the PCs on world-hopping and taking down some very dangerous bad guys.

I was thinking of situating the organization in the UK, France, or Germany. On some off-chance, what if I were to place the organization in Norway? How would the countries respond if Prism International were formed, having been created after a CIA controversy in trying to assassinate Anwar al-Bukhari, a bin Laden-type leader, and failed to conduct the operation with uncooperative Pashtun leaders?

Last edited by Huscurian; 06-04-2017 at 01:22 PM. Reason: Editing the title to make it more clear.
Huscurian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2017, 01:34 PM   #2
Icelander
 
Icelander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: [World Building / GURPS] Rainbow Six Organization

In an alternate world, having the unit be military and under NATO would probably be the least change from our world. Many nations have used military force against terrorists, even inside their borders, and it's at the very least not impossible that in a world where international cooperation in this area was greater, NATO would have a dedicated joint, multi-national unit for this.

HQ could be in any NATO country, with Germany and Great Britain both being very plausible.

A greater change would be to have the European Union have either a joint military or an actual police force in the place of Europol. The unit could then fall under either one, depending on whether you want a military or police force.

These could be stationed anywhere in the EU. Brussels would be a symbolic choice, but any big military base in an EU country might be a contender. If under Europol, The Hague would probably be most appropriate.

Probably the most far-reaching departure from our world would be to have the United Nations or Interpol have agencies with actual authority to carry out operations and making your unit fall under such an agency.

These might be headquartered in one or more of New York, Geneva, Nairobi or Vienna, possibly with operational bases located on the basis of high-risk areas or access to training sites. If under Interpol, consideration would be given to placing it in or near Lyon.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!
Icelander is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2017, 12:02 AM   #3
Huscurian
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Default Re: [World Building / GURPS] Rainbow Six Organization

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
In an alternate world, having the unit be military and under NATO would probably be the least change from our world. Many nations have used military force against terrorists, even inside their borders, and it's at the very least not impossible that in a world where international cooperation in this area was greater, NATO would have a dedicated joint, multi-national unit for this.

HQ could be in any NATO country, with Germany and Great Britain both being very plausible.

A greater change would be to have the European Union have either a joint military or an actual police force in the place of Europol. The unit could then fall under either one, depending on whether you want a military or police force.

These could be stationed anywhere in the EU. Brussels would be a symbolic choice, but any big military base in an EU country might be a contender. If under Europol, The Hague would probably be most appropriate.

Probably the most far-reaching departure from our world would be to have the United Nations or Interpol have agencies with actual authority to carry out operations and making your unit fall under such an agency.

These might be headquartered in one or more of New York, Geneva, Nairobi or Vienna, possibly with operational bases located on the basis of high-risk areas or access to training sites. If under Interpol, consideration would be given to placing it in or near Lyon.
So given what you provided me in regards to an alternate timeline, I would have to say that the Prism International organization is in fact a police force, but a specialized one; sort of like SFOD-Delta but in the realm of SWAT/GIGN and other specialized agencies.

Would it be plausible in an alternate timeline that NATO/UN/EU doesn't exist but have different agencies dealing with specific things? What if the countries are bordered but over 200 countries were following a specific UN that doesn't do diplomatic peacekeeping. Rather it helps smooth out the bureaucracy between countries, engage in diplomacy, and bridge cooperation and mutual understanding? What if the embassy buildings aren't country-specific but are neutral grounds with a specialized private security force dealing with a country's locals stepping out of line?

Also, what if Prism International is not a corporation but an actual agency that falls under the UN-type agency, sort of like a section (MI-6, Residency 9, Costa Rica Foreign Desk, etc.) and does operate with diplomatic immunity across over 200 countries? What they cannot do is engage in other countries' borders that have no connection, membership to the UN-type agency.

Would all of this be plausible in a different timeline, resulting in a similar but different Earth?
Huscurian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2019, 02:45 PM   #4
Ellrelion
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Mantua - Italy
Default Re: [World Building / GURPS] Rainbow Six Organization

A non-existent EU would radically change the situation of Europe, both in terms of politics, law and prosperity of the European nations. You would have a much poorer Europe, where travelling across the continent is a beaurocratic nightmare and where very few multinationals would quarter their HQs.
You could even have open hostility among many nations, notably France and Germany.
Ellrelion is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2019, 03:44 PM   #5
The Colonel
 
The Colonel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Default Re: [World Building / GURPS] Rainbow Six Organization

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellrelion View Post
A non-existent EU would radically change the situation of Europe, both in terms of politics, law and prosperity of the European nations. You would have a much poorer Europe, where travelling across the continent is a beaurocratic nightmare and where very few multinationals would quarter their HQs.
You could even have open hostility among many nations, notably France and Germany.
...potentially, or at least within the possibility range of alternate histories. Although 'open hostility' would seem highly unlikely given that the early 90s were right at the end of the Cold War and they'd need to be quick off the block to shake off habits of co-operation within NATO. Without NATO as well, we would have to assume that Prism was a KGB or Spetsnatz unit.
The Colonel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2019, 07:43 PM   #6
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: [World Building / GURPS] Rainbow Six Organization

I'm not sure diplomatic immunity covers the sorts of things you seem to be imagining.

- It comes in different levels, and only the top diplomats have the top levels. Staff members and lesser diplomats (like consuls rather than ambassadors) have less protection.
- In many countries, the receiver has to accredit the diplomat wanna-be. It's not automatic, just because the sending country declares them to be a diplomat.
- Similarly, in many countries, diplomats only have immunity in the nation to which they're accredited, not anywhere around the world. An accredited diplomat from country A to country B can't generally go commit crimes in country C and expect to go unprosecuted.
- Diplomacy has a lot of ***-for-tat going on. If country A is willing to abuse immunity and flaunt a special ops team in country B as "diplomats", then country B might well be willing to cause a diplomatic incident and just prosecute and punish the "diplomats" anyway. Immunity is only a get-out-of-jail-free card if the receiving country is willing to play along -- and the main reason to play along is to get that benefit for their own legitimate diplomats. Once someone starts abusing the system, it rapidly falls apart. Everyone with an interest in preserving diplomatic relations between states is going to frown upon the country abusing the system, not the receiver that's prosecuting despite their notional immunity.

The OP seems to be asking about a three-way deal. At least, that's what I get from the "ideal city" to "operate from" and receive immunity from the work they do "overseas". Even if country B is willing to play along with the diplomatic sham that the specops dudes are country A's diplomats to country B, country C isn't going to care.

Non-state organizations, like the al-Qaeda analog to Anwar al-Bukhari (the bin Laden analog), are also not going to care about diplomatic niceties. They'll just behead their prisoners or put a bullet in them. I mean, you're already sending out death squads to rub them out -- what do they have to lose?

All this suggests your Rainbow Six teams wants to operate from a country that can back them up with powerful diplomatic, economic, and military measures, for intimidation when they get caught or a rescue. Big powers, in other words: the US, EU, Russia, China. And they don't really need a screen in a third-party country. The US might push Pakistan around for their "diplomats", but Norway isn't going to go out on a limb for a US "diplomat" -- and even if they were willing, there's just that much less they can do. The team isn't going to be roving from city to city with constantly-changing accreditation as diplomats in every target city. Not only it that implausible, it's bureaucratically slow. And they don't even have to be recognized diplomats for their Big Brother to take up their cause as simply citizens or even their military, so it may not even be that useful for the game to worry about diplomatic immunity.
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
covert ops, special ops

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:18 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.