Imperial Intelligence & The Ine Givar

[Tinman]

I am about to start GMing a new 3rd Imperium campaign and my players like to have an espionage focus in their games.

My question is where can I find detailed info on the Imp. Intell. and the I.G.

I have all the 3e Traveller books & there's a bunch there on the I.G. but not on the I.I.S. (?) (Heck they are so secret that I dont even know the official name of the organisation.)

Thanks in advance for all the help.

[Mark Caliber]

Where are you setting your campaign?

If you lodge it in the Sol Sector then you could open the campaing up between the Imperial Intelligence (. . . yeah I can't remember what the "S" stands for either, possibly I, I & Security?) and SolSec (Solomani Security.)

That setting is perfect for a "Cold war" style espianoge campaign, especially in the eastern sector (I cant remember if that's spinward or trailing.)

[Tinman]

I was planing to set it in the Spinward Marches.
The opportunities with the Zhodani, Sword Worlds, Darrians, Fed of Arden & beyond the bordes are just to good to miss.

[Shrale]

from the CT Fifth Frontier War Supplement...

REGINA/REGINA (2314-A788899-A) 004-1106 The Travellers’ Aid Society has obtained an
exclusive interview with Major Windan Lorimer, Imperial Marines (ret), recently returned
from six months of duty as a captain of auxiliaries engaged in counter-insurgency actions
on the planet Efate (Regina 2109-A64930-D).

In the interview, Major Lorimer revealed that four months ago his battalion became engaged
in a firefight and subsequently captured twenty insurgents, two of who were officers.
Subsequent medical examination revealed that one of the two was actually a Zhodani officer
serving as an advisor to the Ine Givar cadres.

In response to queries concerning Major Lorimer’s claims, Rear Admiral Lord Santanocheev,
CINCNINT/RS (Commander-in-Chief, Naval Intelligence, Regina Subsector) today held a press
conference during which he claimed that Naval Intelligence was convinced that there was
neither Zhodani nor Ine Givar involvement in the Efate disturbances.

“What we have on Efate is a local, very minor situation. We’re handling it with local
forces and few mercenary contingents. If it were serious, we could commit army or marine
assets. We have some very potent assets in this subsector, but we haven’t felt the need to
commit them. This is not a serious situation, “he reported.

When asked about the report of a Zhodani officer, Lord Santanocheev replied, “Naval
Intelligence has this man in custody, and I can assure you that he is not a Zhodani
officer, or a Zhodani anything. I fought the Zhodani twenty years ago in this subsector. I
know the Zhodani, and this man is not a Zhodani.”

When contacted afterwards, Major Lorimer refused to comment on the admiral’s remarks,
beyond insisting that his original reports had been accurate.

[Captain Midnight]

According to MT's "Rebellion Sourcebook" (pp. 40-41), there wasn't really an Imperium-wide intelligence agency. Instead, you had several groups focused on different things -- Imperial Naval Intelligence was focused on military matters, while the Ministry of Justice looked at many civilian matters. GT:Nobles mentions the "Office of Calendar Compliance" as a likely source for some sort of skulduggery on an Imperium-wide basis, too. It seems likely that there are many different agencies, each with their own slightly different focus; the MoJ will have agents looking at internal-security issues and criminal threats, while Naval Intelligence may focus on external threats like the Ine Givar (though political concerns may always be a problem). The Ministry of Commerce probably has some excellent analysts (albeit focused on economic issues), and the Ministry of Technology conducts some industrial espionage. The Ministry of State has an Intelligence Division, with different bureaus that focus on various foreign powers as well as autonomous chunks of the Imperium (Nobles, pp. 64-65), while the Ministry of Information and Communication oversees (among other things) the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service. Various megacorporations also have their own intelligence services, with Tukera's Vemene being the most notorious.

If you're trying to run a "CIA vs. KGB" game with a new paint job, I'd assign the players to the Ministry of State's Zhodani Bureau. However, you could also make a case for Naval Intelligence, which is hardly a monolithic entity, no matter what Admiral Santanocheev has to say. Depending on how you feel about roleplaying bureaucratic infighting, that might be the most interesting situation overall. :)

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Captain Midnight

According to MT's "Rebellion Sourcebook" (pp. 40-41), there wasn't really an Imperium-wide intelligence agency. Instead, you had several groups focused on different things -- Imperial Naval Intelligence was focused on military matters, while the Ministry of Justice looked at many civilian matters.

Try finding some information about British intelligence agencies during the Napoleonic Wars for inspiration. Various organizations often worked at cross-purposes.


Hans

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

To be clear: both the Imperial Naval Intelligence (INI) and the Imperial Ministry of Justice (MOJ) are Imperium-wide in their scope; it's their mandates that are limited. You can find INI and MOJ agents all over the Imperium, even if (officially) they are limited in their duties to specified, separate roles.

The Scouts, too, have a security arm (which seems to be more concerned with internal affairs) and the famous Detached Duty Office, the debriefing agency that anyone who's been given an old scout ship should be intimately familiar with. The IISS probably knows a heckuva lot more about what's really going on than they ever let on.

Bureaucratic turf-wrangling being what it is, of course, I'm sure there's a tremendous amount of overlap between the agencies -- as well between them and the semi-official groups floating around out there (Imperiallines, the megacorporations, individual major worlds, the Travellers' Aid Society, etc.).

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by Tinman

I am about to start GMing a new 3rd Imperium campaign and my players like to have an espionage focus in their games.

My question is where can I find detailed info on the Imp. Intell. and the I.G.

I have all the 3e Traveller books & there's a bunch there on the I.G. but not on the I.I.S. (?) (Heck they are so secret that I dont even know the official name of the organisation.)

Thanks in advance for all the help.

Originally Posted by Tinman

I was planing to set it in the Spinward Marches.
The opportunities with the Zhodani, Sword Worlds, Darrians, Fed of Arden & beyond the bordes are just to good to miss.

So is this going to be a "Flock of Wolves" situation where every PC is an agent of one (or more) different intelligence agencies, but none of them know about the others?

Edit: Ack! Sorry for the Necromancy.

I wonder how spying works for the Vargr? Is everything ad-hoc or freelance, with agencies coming and going as head spooks rise and fall, or just it just mean that agency infighting is a lot more dynamic?

[thrash]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

I wonder how spying works for the Vargr? Is everything ad-hoc or freelance, with agencies coming and going as head spooks rise and fall, or just it just mean that agency infighting is a lot more dynamic?

I suspect each successful leader creates an ad hoc intelligence service from among his or her loyal followers. Since, however, loyalties shift around constantly, I imagine that at least some of those followers are experienced in tradecraft or analysis and perform essentially the same function for a parade of different successful leaders.

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Tinman

I am about to start GMing a new 3rd Imperium campaign and my players like to have an espionage focus in their games.

My question is where can I find detailed info on the Imp. Intell. and the I.G.

Originally the Ine Givar was a generic terrorist organization. GDW didn't develop any background for it beyond the fact that they were terrorists and that they didn't like the Imperium.

Andrew Moffat-Vallance wrote them up for JTAS Online:

http://jtas.sjgames.com/login/article.cgi?6

This isn't canon, but it is what I've decided to call pseudo-canon: It's compatible with canon and Traveller authors are allowed to use it as background (unlike fan material), so who knows, it might one day show up in canonical material.

The Ine Givar are mentioned in 26 other JTAS Online articles. Some are just casual references, but there are a few with more substance.


Hans