Shortly after finishing my last post, I started reading volume 5 of the Fly Free or Die AP titled Crash & Burn. The backmatter for this volume is a gold mine for playing a professional in Starfinder. It introduces Unions as a type of organization for characters to join. Not only that, but it also introduces the cost/benefits of union membership, along with two union themed archetypes: the Union Organizer and Safety Inspector. We also get a glance at what Teamwork feats can look like in Starfinder which is another interesting set of feat types that I don’t think we’ve seen in Paizo’s Starfinder releases (I could be wrong though). I don’t think anybody on the KD Network that does work in the Starfinder space can say this enough: If you’re not checking out AP backmatter content, you’re missing a large chunk of what Paizo’s ‘star-chamber’ is putting out there!
All of that rambling paragraph is to really set up the fact that the organizations that I’m going to introduce you to are going to be some unions in my setting. I said two weeks ago that I’d do a full 400-800 word writeup of a single organization, but this is one of those times that as the ‘developer’ as opposed to the writer, I’m actually going to split my work up a little bit this time and give you the seeds of three different unions that I’m excited to explore! Don’t worry though, the next installment of Something Creates will do a deeper dive on one of these unions!
Three is the Magic Number
I’ve already set up two fairly large & ominous corporations in World Builders Intergalactic and Rak Tech Endeavors, and now it’s time to create some unions that some of their employees might be members of!
The Galactic Transporters Association (GTA) members are typically found at the helm of many of the starships that transport goods throughout the galaxy. These aren’t your fancy captains or science officers, just your everyday pilots. The GTA has had a turbulent past. They’ve ensured that pilots are guaranteed sleep shifts and a fair share of the profit of the cargo they’re hauling. Yet, there is also evidence that one of their presidents allegedly took kickbacks from Rak Tech Endeavors so that RakTech could get lower pilot rates. This president still insists on magical compulsion as the result of a poor negotiating stance.
It’s believed that if you have members of the League of Keepers protecting you’ve got little to worry about in the way of danger. These bodyguards and guards have a minimum level of expertise to become a member. While many might misconstrue the League as a mercenary company, they would be wrong. The League represents the guardians themselves. They’ve ensured that when a League member is on a job, based on certain criteria, the job has been vetted thoroughly.
While many believe that being a code monkey is all fun and games, sometimes there is a lot of scut code that just needs to be written. The Cyber Syndicate has set itself up to protect the interest of the day to day programmers. The Syndicate has worked with companies to ensure that coding policies and procedures are clear from the beginning. If a software configuration management tool is being used, it will be used from the beginning, and management won’t try to shoe-horn it into a project mid-way through. On a more fantastical note, they’ve also begun representing magi-tech programmers that work in a hybrid environment.
Conclusion
There we have it folks! Three unions that I think could have an interesting impact in my setting. I’m not sure which one I’ll be taking a deep dive on, but I may write out another couple hundred words for each of them. I may at least give them some basic leadership and locations so that if I come back around to them they’ll be ready to go as a catalyst or instigator to some interesting adventure!
