Special forces IYTU

[archhealer]

IMTU, A great many black ops and special ops are actually working FOR the megacorps. In this particular part of the imperium, the megacorps have nominally more power than the Imperium itself, and so there's a lot of black ops spying type stuff going on. And, several of the megacorps also have TLs slightly higher than the imperium does. That makes for some interesting stories, too.

 

[Ran Targas]

Originally posted by Aramis:
The anagathics addiction also helps.

Like the Jem Hadar; addicted to a substance they can get only one place.

::: Ramble Alert! :::

IMTU, there is a fine line between military and para-military special forces. Much like today, the military units are made up of hand picked candidates who survive initial training. The paramilitary groups normally consist of military veterans and mercenaries who have earned a certain amount of legitimacy. Corporations often hire their solos from the stable of ex-military and para-military operatives looking for calmer seas.

All in all, the numbers and overall capability dwindles the further away from the military units you get.

WRT numbers; no non-military organization can maintain force strength in the tens of thousands (Empire wide). The largest para-military organizations have only battalion sized combat teams. Merc and Corp units above battalion strength are very rare.

The military training is superb and civilian units just don't have the same levels of readiness or discipline (especially among the mercenary ranks). As far as material capability, the military does lag behind the para's and corporates but they, in turn, have access to military weapons banned from civilian use (i.e. artillery, ortillery, nukes, etc.). New equipment is normally tested by the para's before deployment to the military units. The corp's have specialized equipment and one-offs only dreamed of by the military (think 007).

As for specifics, IMTU, the IM and IN have organized special forces segregated by operating environment and type of warfare. There are your typical pathfinder, demolition, psychological, sniper, surveillance, and combat SAR units, all trained specifically for the environments they are expected to operate in; they are extremely specialized. The IA has similar units, but due to the IA's supporting role (IMTU), these units are generally not as capable as front line Marine units; if only due to the IM's greater combat experience.

There are any number of para-military groups; nearly every sub-sector intel organization has several groups under their direct supervision. Often times they operate blind to each others movements. The majority are involved in law enforcement of some kind or another; others have more sinister mission areas. IMTU, large independent mercenary units are illegal, creating a glut of capable operators for the spooks to hire cheap.

The corporate types are much fewer and far between. Mega-corps do maintain extensive security forces but seldom are they capable combat units, being mostly rent-a-cops and retired law enforcement. That doesn't mean the shirts don't have a few capable assassins or spies in their stables, but their corporate security typically couldn't hold off an assault by even a green military unit for very long. Why bother when slipping a Duke, Admiral, or Don a few million creds gets them all the real protection they will ever need?

 

[alanb]

As far as corporate forces go, I find it useful to remember that the OTU megacorps are also planetary governments, and are run by the same noble families who run the Imperium itself.

So, as a result, even if they don't have access to Imperial resources, they are likely to have planetary regular forces and noble huscarles, as well as "mercenary" forces drawn from units like this.

As for the Imperium itself: while they may have some ultra-secret-mega special forces, most of the real work is done by the Sylean Rangers, Marine Commandoes, S-3 and maybe some Ministry of Justice types.

All IMTU, of course.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I assume Imperial black ops are handled by small units (of mostly Marine Commando NCOs) attatched to IN Intelligence.

The names of these units are secret, and still changed every couple of years for OPSEC.

 

[Vargas]

Originally posted by TheBrain:
I'm aghast, no one remembers those dedicated fellows in IRIS?
"Those who are not seen also serve."

I've worked very hard to forget IRIS.


My interpretation of 'special forces' is that they are military units. The Ministry of Justice has its own brand of spec ops types but they tend to be more centered on law enforcement and less on military action IMTU.

Not mentioned above are the psionic using services of the Imperium (come on, you know they got 'im) probably because I've never codified them.

 

[Darkhstarr]

Besides Imperial Marines & Special Scout Units, I use IBIS (Imperial Bureau of Investigative Services) from an old Dragon Magazine article + my own tweaks & the IDES of Paranoid Press' Beyond Book. The former I use as an clandestine organization that doesn't exist but gets things done. One of my earliest campaign had two scouts, a criminal mastermind, a droyne sport, an Imperial marine & an IBIS assasin (my wife's character). IDES I use as a private Imperial police force swat/interpol in nature that also runs maximum security prisons in the Beyond.
Also I tend to use corsairs a lot-they're very useful for clandestine ops. In fact I use Manax
Darkhstarr in this campaign coordinating corsair operations against the big terrorist group LOFWIA.

 

[jatay3]

IMTU the SWC has "strostruppen"(NOT to be confused with nazi "stormtroopers"-let alone with star wars ones). They are made to fulfill roughly the same duties as their ancestors on WWI in Terra-to infilterate Imperial forces and assist the main body of infantry in getting into very close range. I am assumming that the main advantage the Swordies have is in ground forces with a unusually high degree of cohesion-this can provide a balance to the Imperials superior technology, and greater tactical flexibility-not to mention what seems to me their biggest advantage, their ability to communicate and to electronically scramble oppossing communications. The Swordies have no conceivable response except to get as close as they can and hope they can outslug their enemies. Some will think this implausible-but I have to have some way of making the Swordies credible.
The Confederation Patrol has "Volsunga Teams". These are either permanant or semipermanant units assigned to specialized duties of various types. They have a wide array of capabilities depending on the purpose of a given team. For instance one team might be primarily Hazmat, for dealing with local disasters, another might contain one sniper, one hostage negotiater and five muscle, and another might contain a such things as a surveyer, or an expert in Sword Worlds diplomatic customs. They would be taken together to form varying "packages".
Volsunga teams might be considered a cross between an IISS, S3 team and a SWAT team. Officially they are primarily for police work, but they sometimes have intelligence and paramilitary duties.