Radio Free Titan / RFT

Who are we?

Broadcasters

If the name doesn’t give it away, our most obvious function is that of a broadcasting outfit. We specialise in bounty alerts with secondary focuses on news and opinion related to the UEE fringe and colonies beyond. We stress that, while we’re not always the most pleased with the UEE, we’re actively apolitical when it comes to actually doing anything. RFT’s broadcast side specialises in bounty alerts, comedy, and kvetching. We don’t advocate terrorism or piracy.

Independent pilots

With a focus on “independent”. Some of us are citizens, some aren’t. On the frontier, we don’t really see how the distinction matters. We do what we do because it benefits us, it benefits the group, it benefits the work we’re trying to do, and, ideally, because it’s more or less the right thing to do at the time. Many of us have strong colonial ties either because of birth, family, or ideology so you can can expect a lot of what that implies.

Explorers

Radio Free Titan’s fleet/network is neither outfitted for nor organised enough to count as a scientific survey on a massive scale, but The Old Austin and many of her sister ships are exploration vessels first and foremost. We believe in the importance of the charting and expansion of frontier space and offer any and all discoveries we make on the frontier to the colonists we fly for and the fellow pilots we fly with.

Friends

We’re here because we want to be. Ideally, there’s some aspect of the work RFT does that keeps people around. Maybe you like our broadcast side, maybe you like our strong pro-colony ideals, maybe you want help with navigation in the deep fringe, but failing those or any other reasons why we fly together, there should at least be some kind of bond keeping us here. Some of us have personal goals that guide in what we do, could be something practical, personal, or even religious, but when you’re with RFT, you’re one of us and we do try to like each-other.

Not pirates/slavers

Especially slavers. While it’s true to say we understand the realities of living and flying in the frontier and will deal fairly with people who might not always be on the right side of the law, there’s a class of bastard we’re really not interested in giving a fair shake to and that’s slavers. Do not think for a second any kind of colonial tolerance we have of the not-exactly-horrible kind of outlaw extends to slavers. Also, if you’re the bad kind of pirate, we have a problem with that.

((Who are we actually?))

RFT is a chunk of friends and guildmates from a larger gaming syndicate. We are an 18+ organisation because, while we like kids (more or less), we also like being able to talk about whatever we want without worrying about being a bad influence on anyone. The #1 rule of RFT and its sister organisations is don’t be an asshole.

What do offer our members?

All the simple things that make an MMO worth playing brought to you by experienced people who know how to make guilds worth calling home.

Our primary focus at RFT is creating a fun and engaging environment to make friends, find roleplay, and simply play the game. Our goal is to provide anyone who wishes to fit in well with us a space where they can enjoy themselves without being accosted and facing harassment. We take a strict policy against unnecessary hostility and any kind of harassment between our members.

While we welcome our members to sort out interpersonal difficulties between themselves, we at RFT fully appreciate we are all responsible for the kind of culture we want to have and we do not want to have a culture that tolerates abusive behaviour.

What kind of players are we looking for?

Fun, eager, responsible roleplayers, ideally!

Here, we take all kinds. We don’t really care about what makes you different from us and, honestly, we don’t want to care! If you’re part of the RFT family and you have the right kind of personality to mesh with the culture we’ve created, that’s really all that matters. Is that culture right for you? We’re a diverse group with diverse interests and diverse backgrounds, it’s hard to say who will and won’t fit in with us, but if you’d like to find out, feel free to look us up in the verse, we’re a friendly lot!

“So, wait, you’re roleplayers?”

We like telling good stories and having fun with them. We’re not the most buttoned-down, serious people you’ll find. While we like to stick to the lore, we care about the rules of narrative, and some good in-character drama is great stuff, fun is the name of the game and it’s why we’re all here.

If you have any background with roleplaying, we can tell you we fit somewhere on light-to-heavy spectrum of roleplay… Maybe just barely on the heavy side of medium.

And, no, you don’t have to roleplay all the time to be in RFT. That can start to feel like a job and nobody wants that.

Article One: Preface

The following is a list of terms agreed to by all pilots and crews associated with Radio Free Titan. This agreement is binding so long as you are a member of our organisation, so you will be held accountable for violating these regs even when flying with another org or without any colours at all. They’re pretty simple, so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Article Two: Radio Free Titan’s Structure

((To be determined, stay stuned!))

Article Three: Radio Free Titan & Its Members

Section One: General Requirements

• All applicants and members at all levels must be:
  • Humans over 17 years of age.
  • Alive.
  • In good enough mental health to serve aboard a ship without endangering their ship and crewmates.
  • Willing to submit to a confidential and mostly-civilian-level background check.
  • In good enough legal standing with:
    • The UEE (citizen status not required).
    • Whatever colonial powers we care about.
  • Not wanted by:
    • Whatever Banu planet-states we care about.
    • The Xi’An.

Section Two: Pilot & Captain Requirements

• Though there may be ships that are considered property of RFT on an organisational level, these are exceptions to the rule. Ships belonging to people who join RFT do not change ownership.
• All pilots and Captains of multi-crew vessels must:
  • Meet a minimum level of ability (basically don’t crash every other day).
  • Maintain their ships to an acceptable grade of upkeep.
  • Keep basic safety equipment on board during any operations.
    • This reg is more for your benefit than ours. The vast majority of our operations take place in the deep fringe and if something happens to you or your ship, we will absolutely come to your aid, but we want to recover you alive.

Section Three: Special Captaincy & Multi-Crew Vessel Regulations

• Captains of multi-crew vessels are not necessarily treated as officers of RFT but are respected as individuals of importance.
• Aboard their ships and in all respectful ship-to-ship communications, all Captains are referred to as “Captain” .
  • Exceptions come up for ships with evenly shared equity instead of a single owner-Captain.
  • Another exception is the chief officer of RFT, whose official title is Admiral.
    • Not that it actually means anything.
• Your value as a Captain is determined by what you do, not by the size of your crew.
• Captains are not just free to decide how their ships are run, but are responsible for it. RFT allows owner-Captains to run ships with salaried crews lent bunkspace, hired crews, crews operating on partial-owner share, or whatever system works best for them and their crews as long as it’s fair.
• Crews do not necessarily have to be entirely made up of RFT members, but Captains are responsible for making sure their crews meet a suitable standard of behaviour, org members or not.
• There are a few basic rules added for Captains of multi-crew vessels. Captains must:
  • Maintain healthy relations between crew.
  • Strive to maintain a crew atmosphere suitable to RFT’s standards.
  • Provide a safe-as-reasonable environment for their crews.
  • Prevent all unnecessary loss of crew.
  • Report crew violations to superiors when the violation endangers RFT and its members.
• Captains who fail to meet these basic standards or who we believe to be abusing their members with shady and unfair practises will be brought up on review.
  • Captains who violate our standards to the point we have to dismiss them will be allowed, whenever possible, to leave peacefully with their ship and all their property in tact.
    • Crewmen of these ships who are RFT members in good standing, meanwhile, will be offered positions or at least bunkspace on other org ships provided there’s room for them. A Captain failing to meet our reasonable requirements does not mean their crew should suffer.
• If a crewman or group of crewmen are sufficiently dissatisfied with their Captain, they may appeal to RFT leadership for help finding a new ship and Captain suitable to their skills and tastes.

Section Three-Point-Five: Mutiny
** Under almost all circumstances, mutiny is not an acceptable response to not liking your Captain.
** Mutineer crews will always face review by RFT leadership and will usually face removal from the organisation.
** Committing mutiny without a completely valid cause or while still having some kind of less violent recourse will always be met with, at the very least, a bounty on that crew.
*** Passing review as a mutineer is hard and it’s meant to be hard.

Section Four: Basic Regulations & Review

• All pilots and crew members of all RFT ships in good standing are recognised as decent and equal members of our organisation without regard to age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation.
• Being a crewmate on an RFT ship entitles a member to certain protections from their fellow members. As resources can be scarce in the deep fringe, a Captain is not required to meet these protections at the cost of their own crew, but a Captain found to be responsible for the suffering, injury, or death of an RFT member by way of needless inaction will be brought up on review.
• No member may:
  • Get caught actively partaking in minor criminal activity.
  • Actively partake in the bad kind of crime.
  • Wilfully become a colonial/UEE fugitive.
  • Get us in trouble with Banu we like or any Xi’An.
  • Intentionally harm another member.
  • Steal from another member.
  • Make false accusations against another member.
  • Commit mutiny unless they have a really, really good reason.
• RFT leadership retains the right to bring a member up on review if they’re suspected of working against the organisation.
• The process of review may vary based on the circumstances of the violation but the suspected violator may receive any of the following:
  • Clarification and forgiveness.
  • A stern talking-to.
  • Dismissal.
  • A bounty on their head.
  • Shortsleeve trip out an airlock.
• The last two are obviously extreme and something we wish to avoid at all costs. However, we understand some people are just defective and not interested in being any kind of good. With that in mind, should any member intentionally cause grievous harm to or outright murder another member, RFT will use whatever resources on hand to bring that former member to justice. The frontier is already dangerous enough and we have a zero tolerance policy on betrayal.
• All of the most negative outcomes from dismissal down are representative of what we view as a worst-case scenario and would eagerly like to avoid. Any member who violates our regulations but who peacefully cooperates with the review process is someone we will strive to reach an equitable solution with. We understand human error is something that exists and are not running a paramilitary outfit, and our leadership’s attitude about reg violations reflects that.

Article Four: Radio Free Titan & Everyone Else

Section One: The United Empire of Earth

• Assuming you’ve never heard any of our broadcasts or have just somehow failed to pick up on it, RFT is not necessarily a big fan of the UEE’s bureaucracy and some of the lengths it’s going to for the sake of reparations at the cost of civilians and citizens. With that in mind, however, you need to understand that we are not:
  • Seditionists.
  • Terrorists.
  • Outlaws
• RFT understands the sometimes grim realities of the UEE frontier and the fringe, but we also understand the value of the law, and we have little love for those who unnecessarily endanger their fellow sentients.
• Our bounty broadcasts focus on bounties posted by the UEE directly and UEE-aligned powers. You may notice we have some editorial discretion in just what bounties we broadcast, but you should not read anything about our goals into that discretion.
• Comedic content at the UEE’s expense is intended to be taken as exactly that and if you honestly take us that seriously you probably need to sort out your priorities.

Section Two: Colonies

• We are strong proponents of peaceful colonisation that opens up new opportunities for civilians and citizens alike.
• Adjunct to our broadcasting operations and exploration efforts is a focus on supplying low-volume, high-value trade to frontier colonies. This focus is as much about our belief in supporting the colonies as it is about making money.

Section Three: The Tevarin

• Don’t be a racist.
• We work fairly with Tevarin who work fairly with us.
• On the extreme off-hand chance there is a Tevarin who wishes to join RFT, our doors are open.

Section Three: The Banu

• Don’t be a racist.
• We like them and a lot of our trade work depends on them.
• Jovan’s granddad is probably schtupping one.
• Don’t piss off the Banu.

Section Four: The Xi’An

• Don’t be a racist.
• We don’t want to die and they’re really good at killing people.
• We also occasionally trade with them.
• Don’t piss off the Xi’An.

Section Five: The Vanduul

• Feel free to be a racist.
• We don’t like them, no one likes them.
• They’re already pretty pissed off
• By all means, shoot them if you see them.

Section Six: Undeveloped & Protected Ecosystems

• Do not needlessly kill life in undeveloped ecosystems.
• Do not smuggle potentially dangerous flora and fauna from these ecosystems.
• Do not violate the Fair Chance Act.

Section Seven: Smugglers, Pirates, Syndicates, and Slavers

• We’re tolerant towards grey-market outlaws and may even work with them provided we’re not actually doing anything illegal in the process.
• Trying to work on a professional level with pirates has never really worked out well for us and our bounty broadcasts reflect that fact.
• Just plain no to syndicates. That is a world of trouble we do not need and any member associated with any syndicate’s activity will likely be dismissed in a way least-inclined to cause us problems.
• Under no circumstances will Radio Free Titan ever cooperate with slavers. While it’s absolutely trite to say that slavery is the worst crime there is, because it’s really not, slavers are themselves a unique kind of garbage we don’t tolerate.
• We’re open to broadcasting interviews with wanted criminals for the sake of our publicity and theirs.
  • This involves a lot of caveats on when, where, and how we do these interviews and with whom, just to make sure no one tries killing anyone in the process.
  • Trying to capture or kill a bounty we’re in the process of conducting a broadcast with is absolutely something that will get you brought up on review. Don’t do that.

Section Eight: Summary

• If there’s something not listed above but something that could be against the rules if someone told you to not be an asshole, consider that something you shouldn’t do.
  • Basically just don’t be an asshole.
  • It’s not even that hard to not be an asshole.