Gudersnipe

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'Gudersnipe' generally refers to the Gudersnipe Foundation but can refer to Gudersnipe School or anyone affiliated with either.

Gudersnipe is a fairly well-known group in the Multi-Verse, famous mostly as Gudersnipe Assassins School, but also for the Crimson Blade Mercenaries and the WorldCraft Terraforming firm. While the school’s primary export is to train assassins, most of their revenue actually comes from sending its students out as mercenaries, and could more accurately be known as Gudersnipe Mercenary School, but GMS didn’t have the same ring to it as GAS. The G.A.T.E. network is also the property of Gudersnipe, or more precisely its parent organization, the Gudersnipe Foundation. Very seldom is the Foundation actually mentioned, as the school is the most visible aspect of the organization. It seems, at times, as if there really is no Foundation, and that the school is really calling all the shots.

Terminology

GS is a slang term often used, though it can be a bit confusing. The initials apply to both Gudersnipe School and Gudersnipe Space. The Foundation controls a large portion of the Known Worlds, an equally larger portion is held jointly by the Foundation and the Alliance. Gudersnipe Space can be used to detonate basically any area where the Foundation has a strong presence.

Gudersnipe itself is usually referred to as 'Gudersnipe', the 'Foundation', or more commonly, GS. GS can mean Gudersnipe School, or 'Gudersnipe System'. 'Gudersnipe System' can mean a machine system built by Gudersnipe, a star system controlled by the Foundation, or just a way of doing things, such as the Gudersnipe School System.

School

Gudersnipe School, on the other hand, is used exclusively for the school and school activities. ‘GS Regs’ for example means Gudersnipe School Regulations, since there are no regulations for Gudersnipe Space (that would fall under Foundation Regulations). Meanwhile the Crimson Blade has its own 'CB Regs'.

Currency

The Gudersnipe Foundation uses the GATE Credit as currency. One GATE Credit or GC (often incorrectly defined as 'Gudersnipe Credit') is good for moving 1 cubic-foot of matter through one transit in the GATE system. Credits are issues and tracked by the Gudersnipe Bank. Because the Foundation has total control over both how many credits are issued and how many redeemed, they are able to exert a strong influence over the buying power of the credit. This has made the credit an extremely stable currency over time. While the actual buying power varies noticeably(sometimes over very short time-frames), the usual comparison of 7 credits for an inexpensive meal has been true over much of the run of the Alliance, at least in areas where GC is used.

GSNet

Gudersnipe’s own private information super-highway. Designed for intra-Foundational use only, GSNet is often criticized as remarkably insecure. Opponents cite its lack of encryption and high degree of speak-easy security. Said individuals are unaware that security for the network is handled by Gudersnipe's Misinformation-division. The net contains countless layers of security, guard-dog-programs, and numerous honey-pots with varying degrees of believability. No legitimate security breaches have been recorded to date. Surprisingly, while no hostile entity has ever successfully penetrated GSNet, it does contain numerous backdoors and well-hidden security ‘holes’. These do operate on speak-easy security, but are kept extremely secretive, to be used by Foundation members in times of need. Most such holes only lead to communications ports, allowing an operative to contact someone inside the Foundation and authenticate themselves. Good training and accurate profiling of Foundation members has helped avoid any security breaches.

GS Labor Mill

Mill or plant whose primary function is not the production of goods but the provision of jobs to unskilled laborers. One of the Foundation’s goals is to provide stability, accomplished by determining what stabilizing factors a given civilization needs, and providing that to them. A perfect example comes when evolving civilizations make the transition from unskilled labor to skilled labor. Say a company makes cars: if cars were assembled by hand on an assembly line, perhaps five hundred workers might have their hands on a given car as it moved down the line. Each worker had to know how to do only one thing, so the plant employed many unskilled laborers. If the same plant replaces human hands with robot hands, it replaces five hundred workers with perhaps fifty, who must know how to service and maintain the robots, and the computers that operate them. This transition leaves all five hundred jobless, and hires fifty new people. Quite invariably, there are people unwilling or unable to make this transition, who lack the education or resources for a skilled job. Worse still, if the society fails to provide opportunities to their children, these people become locked in never-ending poverty. Not enough unskilled jobs around, not enough education to obtain skilled ones. Enter the Gudersnipe Foundation, and the Labor Mill. Labor Mills are usually constructed on otherwise uninhabited planets, because their presence near urban centers tends to hurt the economy more than help, by introducing a rapid influx of money. Instead, unskilled laborers are brought to these mills were they live and work, performing unskilled labor. They live in communities where they enjoy all the same comforts as skilled workers might, though because it is a 100% Foundation-controlled society, the economy is strictly regulated. These laborers are given a task to which they are suited, the opportunity to learn more challenging tasks, and most importantly; a top-of-the-line education for their offspring. The kind of work most often performed at these facilities could be done easier, faster, and cheaper by machine, but that’s not the point. The purpose of the Labor Mill is to provide jobs, and self-worth to people whose only marketable skill may be a strong back.