2 of 2 follows:
Regina: Coming and Going
Theoretically everyone who crosses the extrality line into and out of Credo Down Starport is registered with both the Imperial Starport Authority (SPA) and with one or more Reginan authorities. The SPA files are restricted, but not very much. Anyone working for any Imperial organization –– Army, Navy, Marines, Scouts, Ministry of Justice, Colonial Office, etc. –– can access them, and former members of such organizations just need someone active to sign off on it (any non-negative reaction roll will do). Some private agencies make it a habit to procure copies of these files, and anyone who manages a Streetwise roll can find someone who will allow them to search the files at a cost of 10 Reginan crowns per name.
The first time someone comes to Regina, he is registered with the Reginan Immigration Office and issued a Reginan identity number and a basic computer account with the Central Data Banks. He gives a name when he arrives and gets a com-code assigned. This is free (Any extras cost money, but not very much). It is possible to give an alias, but if one wants to transact business with local companies, showing an Imperial identity card is a distinct plus.
After that, there is no central registry of who is on Regina and who is not. Some people notify the Reginan Communication Bureau when they go off-planet, usually to arrange for messages to be forwarded. Anyone making a call to such a person will be notified that he is offworld at the moment. Of course, there is nothing to prevent anyone from notifying the RCB and then staying on Regina after all, or from failing to notify them when he returns.
The chief source of inaccuracies comes from the fact that Regina High isn’t just used as an Imperial starport but also as a spaceport serving the rest of the Regina system. Anyone going to another planet or station in the system and then going down on Regina via one of the secondary Reginan spaceports will arrive without being registered by the SPA. Likewise it is possible to go from such a spaceport to Regina High and depart the system without being registered. Such people will usually appear in some Reginan registry, but Reginan administration is both inefficient and corrupt, so errors, accidental or a-purpose, are not unknown.
Incidentally, SPA does not track people who arrive in and leave the system by starship either. The individual passenger lines keep records, but there are many small lines and if someone travels by Free Trader, there will usually be no record at all.
Regina: Anonymity
Surveillance and record-keeping is a constant struggle between two mutually incompatible desires: To ensure that your neighbor can’t do things you don’t want him to do, and to make sure your neighbor can’t stick his nose into your private affairs! Reginan law is descended from Terran Confederation law and embodies such concepts as right to privacy and freedom of the individual. The government is, however, rather invasive, and routinely violates the spirit (and often the letter) of the law. The government can’t bust you for protecting your privacy, but it can do its best to make you fail against its own surveillance efforts.
Lots of Reginans prefer that their comings and goings are not subject to too much public scrutiny, so databases are often restricted and people routinely wear cloaks or clothing belts that obscure their features. Actual masks are, however, illegal, except for theatrical purposes, where they require a license
[3]. TL10 theatrical masks made of faux-skin are amazingly lifelike
[4] and make it child’s play to disguise oneself. To disguise oneself as a
particular person is much trickier. It requires that one’s size, build, and face are just the right fit. Even if size and build it right, there is still only about a 2% chance that any random person can disguise himself as any specific person (throw 3 or 4 on 3D).
Holo-belts (UT86) are illegal. They cost Crimp430 (700 crowns) plus whatever extra it takes to get an illegal imported item on the black market. Holocrystals with images costs Crimp40 (64 crowns) apiece. Images are lifelike, but static. A holo-belt capable of projecting a lifelike moving image (making it able to disguise someone as a living creature) costs Crimp750 (1,200 crowns) and weighs 4.5 pounds
[5].
Clothing Belts (UT27) are legal. They mount a smaller and less capable holoprojector than holobelts do, so the image is often not quite lifelike, but they have a built-in computer that lets the user custom-design the image and makes it conform to a moving body. Cost is 1,000 Reginan crowns (CrImp625) and the weight is 2 pounds3.
Makeup can change skin color temporarily and pigmentation pills permanently (as long as one keeps taking the pills). Faux-skin gloves can easily duplicate fingerprints, while bioplas contact lenses can change eye color and fake retinal prints. Faking fingerprints and retinal prints is, of course, completely illegal.
The use of credit cards leaves an electronic trail, but one-use debit cards are available, and cash is, of course, almost always acceptable.
Even genetic evidence is not absolute. There exists a type of artificial virus called an
anonymity virus designed to lie dormant in a person’s cells while it is alive, but to briefly activate and scramble a cell's genetic markers when it dies. The creation and sale of anonymity viruses is illegal on Regina, but carrying one is not, so the rich and powerful can go to Efate to get one. Such viruses are expensive; each one has to be tailored for the individual. There are rumors of an advanced version that can actually
substitute a different genetic code. Something like that
would be illegal to carry.
[1] Yes, there is a dimension missing; the Traveller universe is apparently only one parsec thick. No, I don’t want to explain it or discuss it. Just don’t think about it.
[2] Many Ancient materials defy analysis and cannot be properly dated.
[3] Logically realistic masks should be legality class 4 (“Legitimate uses, but can make some types of crime easier”). For cultural reasons they are Class 5 on Regina.
[4] Think
Mission Impossible.
[5] Note that clothing belts and holo-belts emit rather than reflect light, so they are very obvious in the dark.
