[META] [RFC] Militarization around the 2022 period

[HRogge]

Space Arms Limitation Treaty (PEPPER)

* Defines 'strategic weapon.' Includes existing heavy weapons as well as theoretical designs like antimatter weapons, turbolasers, etc.

Anything thats a threat to a typical "internal" asteroid habitat might be included as well.

* Puts a hard limit on how many strategic weapons a faction can have, based by population (?)

Maybe something logarithmic or at least non-linear? Otherwise either the Trekkies are over-armed or most other faction are not allowed anything.

* Puts soft limits on non-strategic weapons, mostly in making sure factions are not selling advanced weaponry downstairs.

How far down (in terms of power) will this non-strategic weapons go? Are we talking about offensive spaceship weapons, point defense guns, personal firearms?

* Blanket ban on individual faction ownership of weapons of mass destruction / terror. (ABC weaponry[1], exotics like nanoswarms, aerosoled biomod handwavium, etc.)

Sounds good.

* To make sure this is all accomplished, all signatories agree to random inspections by $Great_Justice investigators. Failure to comply results in the Convention being very cross indeed, etc.

This will be a very difficult part. Imagine trying to make A.C. to agree to random inspections (by "some foreign people") on Prometheus Forge.

It depends highly on how far the factions trusts the inspectors.

Alphacon Charter

* Establishes a unified, Convention-wide military organization to oversee cooperation between factional militaries, training of soldiers, and provide for a standing defense force for the entirety of the Solar System and outlying worlds.

Don't forget interoperability tests of military communication and command&control equipment... otherwise things will get very interesting as soon as you need a multifaction taskforce. *G*

* Very carefully co-opts as much of the existing Great Justice structure as possible but without including the SOS-dan in anything more than an advisory capacity.

Maybe it was a good thing (from meta point of view) that SOSdan does not have real divine powers? *G*

* Establishes $Great_Justice as the official standing military of the Convention, with a core of professionals serving the Convention directly as well as units from factional military forces.

Maybe also establish some transfer of resources to keep this "core" running? But who will pull the strings with this "Convention military" ?

* Establishes that factional militaries must rotate units in and out of $Great_Justice on a regular basis (annual? biannual? Probably don't want to go shorter period than annual.) for cross-training.

And maybe some voluntary options for groups which are too small to be considered a faction on their own... but most likely they will not be with $GJ for a whole year.

* Establishes a 'local defense' fund for smaller nonaligned settlements; monies used from this fund go to materiel that can be used as local militia but also may be requistioned as reserves by $Great_Justice in an emergency.

One reason of CI for building the Frigga factory was to give Jet and his neighbors some access to better defense tech...