Ministry of Colonization

The Ministry of Colonization is a part of the government of the Third Imperium that helps to direct settlement within the Third Imperium.

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Please also see:

• Bolivar terraforming initiative
• Forboldn Project
• Garden (Reft 0435)
• Jonkeereen
• Nexxies
• Serpent's Reach (Dagudashaag 0402)

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Description (Specifications)

The original function of the Ministry of Colonization was to select worlds suitable for colonization or other exploitation by the member worlds of the Imperium, and supply the expertise needed to oversee their settlement. It is now much reduced in size and influence, and its duties are now merely to advise sector and subsector officials who wish to undertake colonization efforts. Naturally, with the Imperial borders nearly static such projects are rare.

The ministry oversees many kinds of projects including:

• Geneering Projects
  • Remaking the human genome to make it more adaptable to non-Terran worlds
  • Helping to geneer other races to help them adapt to life on other worlds
• Population Settlement & Relocation Projects
  • Voluntary Settlement Projects (...often using anagathics as enticement)
  • Involuntary Resettlement Projects (...often penal colonies)

The Administrative Head for the Ministry of Colonization is the Minister of Colonisation.

History & Background (Dossier)

The original function of the Ministry of Colonization was to select worlds suitable for colonization or other exploitation by the member worlds of the Imperium, and supply the expertise needed to oversee their settlement. It is now much reduced in size and influence, and its duties are merely to advise sector and subsector officials who wish to undertake colonization efforts.

The Ministry of Colonization has some overlap with the Ministry of Conservation.

• Rivalry between the two organizations is sometimes fierce.

History-Era: Rebellion

Non-canon: The Third Imperium bureaucracy included the Ministries of Colonization and Conservation. The former handled colonization of unclaimed and unpopulated worlds, carried out longterm terraforming operations, and administered new colonies until they were self sufficient.

The latter agency was charged with overseeing Imperial Reserves, ranging from pristine and virgin wilderness, to not a few covert military and government research stations, and a few deliberately concealed Ancient sites. During the Imperial Final War, those branches of both agencies operating in the Domain of Deneb became moribund and little used; after the Collapse, with the borders of the new Regency proscribed by Quarantine restrictions these Ministries lost their reason for existence. The two were combined into the new Ministry of the Interior, though the conservation aspect eventually was spun off to the subsector governments.

After the reopening of the Regency Frontier in NE 2 (IY 1202), it became evident that a new Colonization Ministry was needed for resettlement of Corridor Sector. The Regency Senate authorized the new Ministry in NE 6 and allocated money for personnel and organization, but subsequent emergencies limited the speed with which it came together. Corridor Sector consumed its efforts from its founding until the fatal invasion of the Zhodani Consulate. In that episode the Black Regent nearly destroyed the agency by stripping away most of its personnel and equipment to assist occupation forces in administration. This created a vacuum of organization that was exploited by the Vilani and local insurgents, which was partially "compensated" by the Regent's dumping of dissident military personnel upon Sector Admiral Surya Ramuun. Though the eventual Liberators received a fine education in civil administration because of this chaotic episode, the subsequent civil strife between Drayne and the other, underdeveloped regions of Corridor prompted the new Commonwealth government to rebuild and reinforce the Ministry of Colonization with stronger security forces.

Frontier Constabularly

The FC are primarily "sepoys" raised from local populations, charged and trained with administering civil affairs and police services in unincorporated territories of the Commonwealth. These include unclaimed colonies, worlds directly administered by a Commonwealth appointed governor and are not considered to be self-governing, and certain civilian areas of occupied territories of the former Zhodani Consulate where direct military patrols are considered inappropriate or unnecessary. In many ways the FC is considered to be the Corps "shadow", and they generally recruit personnel from the populations they administer. This can land the forces in all kinds of hot water in the Consulate where they would be considered to be collaborators by diehard Zho nationalists. Though training and support are centralized, FC units are considered to be specific to the worlds they patrol, and these are usually not deployed offworld. In their chain of command they answer primarily to their officers (who are usually offworlders) and the Colonial Governor.

FC units are equipped with light armored vehicles, light to medium battle dress and military heavy weapons, though their basic troopers are equipped with non-rigid armor and light caliber military rifles. Their rank structure is the same as the Commonwealth Corps, though with few general officers above Lieutenant General. Their training is a mixture of police and military, with emphasis upon civil administration, patrolling populated areas and some crime investigative skills, though the latter is mainly for capturing saboteurs and terrorists. Most FC units are found in former Consulate space and Corridor sector. These units are temporary and transitory, pending self-rule or better political organization. In some areas they are considered to merely be expedient, and are not highly regarded by the uniformed military or most civilian authorities in those regions, though this is usually the case only in some parts of Trojan Reach that are pending transfer to the Enterprise Federation. Units operating in the OZs and Corridor are highly professional, and have enough cohesion and élan to support the Colonial Militia and other defending units against offworld enemies.

Constabulary units are usually organized into battalions or regiments. They are not articulated into fire teams as is the Corps, but rather into cohorts of two men each, with five or six cohorts forming a squad. Each squad is divided among light vehicles, either patrol cars or a single APC armed and equipped for counterinsurgency operations in either urban or rural areas. Above the squad levels are platoon and company sized forces with their own integral artillery and air support assets. Battalion and regimental units are equipped with institutional security troops for infrastructure protection and mass detention of prisoners. All units are trained in intelligence gathering and interrogation duties. Ombudsman and Internal Affair units maintain internal discipline and smooth over relations with civilian populations.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. The Kinunir (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), .
• Marc Miller. The Traveller Book (Game Designers Workshop, 1982), 154.
• Loren Wiseman. Broadsword (Game Designers Workshop, 1982), 38.
• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 14.
• Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), .
• Martin Dougherty. Sector Fleet (Mongoose Publishing, 2010), .
• External Link: Freelance Traveller Website by Author & Contributor: Peter Gray