The Spacers

The Spacers are the oldest clan, and probably the largest. They are also one of the most dispersed, but, although they hold few habitable planets, they are also unrepresented in few systems. Rather than political power, Spacers tend to hold economic power. Although the Clan no longer has the near-monopoly it once held on space travel, it remains a dominant force in the industry, and sets the standard for trained workers in space.

History

Prior to the development of artificial gravity, many long-term space workers found that atrophy of their limbs made them unable to return home. As a result, those working the ships and space stations soon developed a unique culture based equally on the pride in their high-risk work and their sense that they had experienced a life unknown to average humans.

Inevitably, these groups soon started to organize. One of the first efforts was the Spacing Engineer Guild, an early trade group that, according to legend, gained fame in a three year strike of Sol that was marked by efforts at blockades, embargoes, and outbreaks of violence by both the Guild and its employers.

Given the vastness of even in-system space, none of these tactics were ever wholly successful, and, in the end, the Guild collapsed under a combination of legal and military threats. However, its reputation lingered. Many scholars now believe that, secretly, so did its ideals and much of its organization.

The Unification War and the launching of generation ships both increased the need for trained crews and workers. In the same era, a series of disasters involving minorities' attempts to launch their own generation ships also underscored the need for industry certification in the construction and staffing of ships. After unsuccessful attempts by a variety of governments and corporations to meet these needs, in I.Y. -7258, a consortium of unions, families, and educationalists met to found an official training college at Joseph Hillstrom Station. Organized on traditional wet navy lines, the college quickly established the standard for reliable employees in space, and, within less than a century, had developed a near monopoly on shipping and transport. As alumni of the college increased, they began calling themselves Spacers, and so the clan was born.

The shipboard hierarchy of the Clan was reinforced by the outbreak of war with the Crucians. During the millennia of the Great War, the Spacers were always among the chief defenders of humanity. No other clan, including the Spartans, are believed to have suffered more casualties than the Spacers, or dedicated themselves more thoroughly to the war efforts. This dedication, scholars note, was less a matter of altruism than good business and politicking.

For example, the Spacers' decision to slash shipping rates and expand ship production helped arm the whole of humanity by offering deferred loans to systems that wanted to contribute. These actions greatly reduced short-term profit, but, in the long-run, greatly increased the Spacer's influence. Since the last of these loans were not paid back until nearly two millennia after the end of the Great War, the result was centuries in which Spacers could draw on their generosity and forbearance to manipulate dozens of systems.

Following the disastrous Battle of Sentinel, the Spacers made common cause with the Spartans in a treaty whose details have never been publicly revealed in all the millennia since. However, from the actions of both clans, historians have inferred that the treaty involved increased clan cooperation and joint decision-making, as well as both clans giving the other favoured trading status. At any rate, the agreement is widely believed to have marked a turning point in the Great War, where early panic yielded to a unified response.

In many ways, the Great War was the apogee of Spacer influence in human affairs. This influence was seriously challenged with the Founders' invention of the spacefold drive in IY-562. Although the secret of the new drive could not be kept for long, especially since its invention gave humanity the edge it needed to defeat the Crucians once and for all, it lasted long enough to overthrow the Spacer monopoly on space travel. Instead of controlling most travel, Spacers became one of two or three dominant players in the industry, although they often retained control of key space stations and shipyards. The Spacers were not so vindictive as to sabotage the advantage of the spacefold drive -- but they remembered that it was the Founders who had broken their dominance.

In IY2105, the Spacers saw their chance for revenge. When the Founder Imperial dynasty announced a new series of taxes, including several on the transporting of goods, the Spacers rebelled both militarily and economically. If no longer a monopoly, the clan retained considerable influence in the transport industry, as well as outright military might. True, strikes and embargoes proved ineffective over inter-galactic distances, except against isolated systems or as a morale-sapper -- the refusal to transport luxury goods, for example, was said to help undermine upper middle class and aristocratic support for the empire. However, tariffs, the establishment of alternative trade routes, and other corporate methods worked extremely well, especially when combined with an alliance with the Spartans. When the Emperor Abdullah founded the second dynasty in IY2417, the leaders of the Spacers were prominent at the coronation.

These events, known as the First Schism, cemented the clan's position in human society. Many business executives dislike the Spacers, but their power -- both actual and perceived -- is something that few would care to confront. After all, the reasoning goes, if the clan could overthrow an emperor, what could it do to a mere company director?

Moreover, even after thousands of years, the Spacers can still sometimes draw on a reputation for acting for the greater good of humanity, which they earned in the Great War. In many circles, though, the claim is now greeted as the cynical maneuver that it is and has lost its effectiveness.

The Disappearance greatly reduced Spacer ranks. However, Spacer social structures were little affected, largely because clan members are used to filling dead shoes. For most Spacers, the main difference that the Disappearance made is a number of sudden gaps in the seniority lists, and an unexpected improvement in their income and promotion prospects. Many Spacers who Disappeared are said to have been members of a cult known as the DogWatch, who claimed to have visions in the darkness of space and are known to have had specialized cybernetic devices to increase their psi powers.

If anything, the Disappearance seems to have reinvigorated the Spacer's domination of transport -- if only because the fragmentation of the empire has been an unparalleled chance to renegotiate contracts with frequently inexperienced partners. Moreover, in the confused years immediately following the Disappearance, Spacers had a decided advantage as one of the few groups to remain relatively undisrupted.

Although exact estimates are impossible, Spacers today are believed to control an average of about thirty percent of shipping. In more isolated systems, this control can rise much higher, while in the more advanced and urbanized systems, it may be as low as ten percent.

The Spacers Today

Descended from generations who lived in the confined quarters of ships and space stations, modern Spacers tend to be small and wiry. Even today when artificial gravity has long been commonplace, many Spacers have spent enough time weightless or in low gravity -- either for exterior repair, military training, or for commercial purposes such as precision lens making -- that, as they age, they find the gravity of the average human world uncomfortable, or require exo-skeletons or scooters to get about on them.

However, hereditary and physical abnormalities go almost unnoticed compared to the Spacers cultural ones. With limited space for personal effects, Spacers tend to spend their money on personal display. All Spacers have a notable love of exotic clothes and jewellery, and many practice hair and beard sculpting. Tattoos, brands, and embedded jewels are also popular among Spacers.

Yet the most notable characteristic of Spacers are their love of bionic implants. More than any other Clan, Spacers have embraced the idea of merging themselves with machines. Some of their implants are work-related, such as thin metallic tentacles attached to the wrist to allow manipulation of small objects in confined spaces, or retractable, whole-body membranes that require only the addition of oxygen and water to make a functional space suit. Weapons are also popular among Spacers, as are tracking devices embedded in the eyes. Others are merely cosmetic, such as compound eyes or coloured fur made from synthetic fibers. Large numbers of Spacers spend most of their income on such modifications, and even conservative ones are apt to add one when they are promoted to a new rank. Unsurprisingly, the Mod Shops on the Spacer planets of Lesser Ensign and Grapple Hook are considered the finest in human space, and are patronized not only by Spacers, but also other Clans.

The lack of space and the long separations of family and friends required by space travel have also led to the unique practice of kulaing, in which small knick-knacks or pieces of jewelry --all of great value and often of great antiquity -- are passed among a circle of friends or near relatives, each participant keeping and displaying an object for a set period then passing it on, sometimes with a small modification. Participation in a kulaing circle confers the obligation of aiding and supporting other members of the circle, and is considered a great honour; conversely, expulsion from a ring is a great disgrace.

Kulaing has also become a feature of Spacer diplomacy, with objects being exchanged with other Clans, businesses, or governments as a sign of good faith. For instance, the Safe Harbour strike of Imperial Year 3490 ended when the negotiated settlement was sealed when Spacer Rear Admiral Togo Vassilys exchanged a palladium ring for an ivory miniature carved by the Ferrets that belonged to the Warden of the Prime Spacefold. In many cases, failure to mark a major agreement with an exchange is taken as a sign that a Spacer leader has not bargained in good faith, and intends to break the agreement as soon as possible.

By the nature of their lives, Spacers tend to be dispersed and unconventional. However, from an early age, they are accustomed to taking orders from the captain of any ship or space station that they serve on. Many Spacers ship with their entire families, and even those who do not are used to parents leaving for extended periods of time. These separations no longer have the poignancy that they did in the eras of slower than light travel or The Great War, but they still set the expectations of the average Spacers.

Early exposure to life on board a ship also gives most Spacers an ingrained tendency to accept the command of anyone senior to them in rank or membership within the clan. Occasionally. overly officious seniors may well find themselves jumped when they are off-duty or have their backs turned, but, on duty or on matters touching the general affairs of the clan, the right to command is rarely questioned once it is established by records.

Spacers rule only a handful of worlds, including Ishmael, Lesser Ensign, Grapple Hook, Greenwich Deck, and Bowspirit Point. These worlds tend to be run along the lines of a ship's chain of command, and are usually headed by a Captain or an Admiral.

The cultural, and, to some extent, the political heart of Spacer Culture is Portal. There, the Admiralty Jacks, the most senior Spacers (so-called either because of their plugin cyborg devices or because of their right to display a personal flag), meet to decide affairs that affect the entire Clan, such as the prices for carrying passengers in effect in a certain region of space.

Portal is also the home of New Greenwich College -- or Middy School, as it is sometimes called (believed to be a reference to the Midshipmen, or officers in training in some historical water navies). The College is intended particularly for Spacers who aspire to become officers. The four years of attendance at New Greenwich count as active service for a Spacer, and the concentration on their studies generally mean that graduates can pass their tests for advancement faster than others. Other Spacers sign on their first ship in early adolescence.

The College also administers certification to non-clan members working in space.

All Spacers can advance in pay and seniority within their present ranks, but generally pass a test for further advancement. Exceptions are made only in exceptional circumstances, such as outstanding performance in battle. This meritocracy goes a long way to explaining why Spacers are largely content to live in a strict hierarchy without more discontent: The system may be rigid, but, if they can stay alive, Spacers know they will continue to advance in pay and rank, slowly and steadily. They also know that if they are injured they will be treated for free by any Spacer medic or doctor, and that they will retire with sufficient funds for a comfortable old age.

Relations to Other Clans and Intelligent Species

Because of their specialized lives, Spacers tend to hold themselves aloof from most other clans. For some Spacers, over-accustomed to low gravity, this isolation is desirable or at least preferable to spending time in normal gravity. Whenever possible, most Spacers prefer to interact with other humans in their own environments.

The often bizarre appearance of Spacers reinforce this lack of interaction. It takes a very bold or very intoxicated outsider to approach a group of heavily augmented Spacers, and even superficially normal Spacers often greet outsiders with long silences as they communicate with each other via private communication devices.

Nor is there any doubt that Spacers often enjoy flaunting their differences in public among outsiders. A few young Spacers also take delight in sexually enticing outsiders, then claiming to be affronted and fighting them. Unsurprisingly, some worlds have responded by trying to limit where off-duty Spacers can go -- with limited success. The Spacers know they are needed, and take full advantage of the fact.

This insularity, as well as the habits of the clans, has the effect of making Spacers especially cautious about signing terms of service or other contracts with non-Clan members. In fact, one of the reasons why the Spacers dominate shipping is not so much that their expertise is unique, but that most non-Clan members have a difficult time negotiating with Spacers. Instead, outsiders generally hire a Spacer to represent their interests.

Despite their general distrust of outsiders, Spacers have some ties with the Founders and Aristocracy, and have intermarried with both of them. However, these relations are very mixed. Neither Founders nor Aristocrats can forget the role of the Spacers in bringing about the First Schism. Nor are matters eased by the tendency of the other clans to see the Spacers as hopelessly plebeian -- or middle-class at best. Nonetheless, since the Disappearance, some of the Aristocracy have signed on with the Spacers as their shipping agents and negotiators.

However, ever since the Battle of Tunnel, the Spacers' closest ties have been with the Spartans. Spartans can almost always negotiate travel at reduced rates with Spacers, and, whenever humanity as a whole has been endangered, the two Clans have always cooperated closely. In the last years before the disappearance, a sub-clan known as the Space Marines emerged from this relationship that can best be described as a blend of Spartans and Spacers. Yet even this relationship has strong overtones of rivalry, and fights between Spartans and Spacers on leave are common in many parts of human space.

Spacers also have ties with Aquans in some parts of human space. Considering water navies part of their own history, Spacer families have been known to vacation on Aquan worlds, and some elderly Spacers have retired to them, finding undersea life a close analogy to life in space, with some interesting variations.

Among alien species, the Spacers have close ties with the Ferrets. This relationship undoubtedly stems from the fact that Rear Admiral Zheng Red Cloud, who first encountered the Ferrets was a Spacer. However, sarcastic outsiders have been known to say that it is due to the fact that, in the Ferrets, the Spacers have found a group shorter than they are.

In addition, Spacers have a fellow feeling for the Forerunners. Some Spacers believe that encountering Forerunners is a sign of good luck, and many will go out of their way to help the aliens gather supplies for their next exodus.

Names and Ranks

Spacers have two main naming habits. According to old Spacer families, their names come from famous moments in water and space naval history. However, although a few family names can be found in the surviving records, such as Nelson and Hornblower, the age of such names cannot be confirmed.

Other old Spacer names almost certainly derive from legend. For instance, the Fyodorovs, a family that has produced a total of 24 admirals and 7 Admiralty Jacks in the last five millennia, almost certainly derive their name from the legendary captain who is supposed to be cursed to forever seeking a landing approach to New Mecca.

New recruits to the clan have developed the habit of taking a new name to mark the change in their lives. These names are adopted with the recruits' first tattoos, and are often two or three word descriptions of them (Crimson Dragon, Handheld Flaming Cross). However, these names are indications of recent Clan membership, and are usually dropped after the first generation in most families.

Spacers on active duty begin as Cadets, and become Second Jacks upon passing their basic tests. In the fullness of time, they are then promoted to First Jack. Cadets and Jacks look to Petty Officers for their daily orders, with the Chief Petty Officer a figure of considerable respect.

Ranking alongside the Petty Officers are the Warrant Officers, specialists somewhat removed from the immediate chain of command: the Armourer, who oversees personal weaponry and teaches combat; the Gunner, who oversees ship armaments; the Boatswain, whose duty is to main scout and rescue ships; the Cyberguy, who maintains shipboard computers, and the Purser, who looks after ship's supplies and general finance. Each of these specialities requires an additional test.

Still another test is needed for officers. They start with Second and First Lieutenants, and continue through Commander (second-in-command, or in command of a small ship), and Captain. Multi-ship movements are overseen by Rear Admirals, Vice Admirals, and Admirals. At the top of the hierarchy are the Admiralty Jacks. lead by the Greenwich Lord, the oldest Spacer on active service.

A peculiarity of this detailed ranking is that experienced observers can tell the approximate rank and length of service of Spacers by their physical modifications. Cybernetic implants are expensive, so only as Spacers advance in rank and seniority can they afford the modifications that are such an important part of their culture. More than one Admiralty Jack is said to have been more machine than human by the time of his death.