The Scouts

Official

• Home planet: Liad
• Official Scout Sigil: "the ship and planet"
• Official Scout Channel: Scout Net
• Officially, “Scout-trained pilots shall be understood to hold a license equal to Master Pilot. —Excerpted from the By-laws of the Pilots Guild”
• Port authority is Scout Station

Scout Fame

"Those who enter Scout Academy emerge after rigorous training capable of treating equitably with societies unimaginably alien, some savage beyond belief. Scouts are by definition courageous, brilliant, supremely adaptable and endlessly resourceful."—Excerpted from "All About the Liaden Scouts"

‘Scouts,’ she thought. ‘Scouts are the nearest there is to heroes . . .’

"First-in Scout. The best of the best: pilot, explorer, linguist, cultural analyst, xenologist -- brilliant, adaptable, endlessly resourceful. The future of a world hung on his word alone: Would it be colonized? Opened to trade? Quarantined?”

“Ah, you heard we were heroes, risking our lives among savage peoples, magically able to speak any language we hear and never misunderstanding custom or intent.”

Scout Ships

Small, fast, and highly-maneuvrable ships. Master pilot at the board. "To fly like a Scout"

“That’s a Liaden Scout ship, Captain. If it’s not destroyed immediately it could take out a battleship!”

Liaden Scout ships are fast and do tricks and you're jealous, Miri thought.

• space-based—coil-fields, power magnetics
• Quark Retraction Drive
• missile launcher, energy beams, advanced targeting, shields
• highly maneuverable, rapid acceleration
• advanced instrumentation —- nav comp, scan, arms comp, etc.
• ability to camouflage or cloak with the ship’s ambient field
• an autodoc, a fresher, a cleaning unit for clothing, a galley serving tea outa the wall
• Scout Commander Clonak ter'Meulen fitted each scout ship with numerous Momson Cloaks — survival gear, conservatively rated at 30 hours of operation per cloak. A survival device for pressure loss.

(The DOI use similar ships, but black. “Black corsairs and gunboats darted through the confusion, firing on the defenders, single-minded and deadly.” )

Jump Drive

"There are four kinds of space drives in use in the known Galaxy at the present time," Chapter One informed her cheerily. "The three best known are the Terran, or Congruency Flaw Drive; the Liaden, or Quark Retraction Drive; and the Clutch, or Electron Substitution Drive. The fourth kind of drive is that used by the Yxtrang, but no one has yet been able to discover exactly what kind of drive it is."

Scout History

• About 800 years ago (see Timeline) Jeni yos'Phelium, 9th Delm Clan Korval, donated land and building for the establishment of the Liaden Scout Academy, on Liad.
• At some point, auxiliary Scout HQ was established offworld, at Nev'Lorn Station
• A Review Board was established, making binding decisions on field judgements.
• Discord grew with the Coalition to Abolish the Liaden Scouts, who speechifies to the Council of Clans
• The Department of the Interior began to spy on Scout Net channel and hid a relay at Jae’laba station at Scout Hq
• The Department attacked Nev'Lorn and the Scouts divided (see Schism, below).

Note: historic military preYxtrang equivalent: "Pathfinders became Explorers among Yxtrang. Scout is the Liaden equivalent of Explorer."

Scout Academy

Established by Jeni yos’Phelium, ninth delm, Clan Korval — "Donated land and building for the establishment of the Scout Academy"

“Those who enter Scout Academy emerge after rigorous training capable of treating equitably with societies unimaginably alien, some savage beyond belief. Scouts are by definition courageous, brilliant, supremely adaptable and endlessly resourceful. —Excerpted from "All About the Liaden Scouts"

Scouts must learn scholar Caylon’s revised ven’Tura Tables:

“Several students were still 'scribing. Scout Corporal Rema ven'Deelin, who had an eidetic memory, was staring with haze-eyed intensity at the autoboard. "Questions?" Aelliana murmured.”

Cadet Testing: See To Cut an Edge — achieve planetfall, learn the language, customs, lifeforms; survive six standard months, survey six different ecological areas of the planet, and Sound Recall

Regulation Belt Kit includes pellet gun, machete, rope, flare gun, pitons, stick knife.

Academy Rooms

"The World Room at Scout Academy is what you want. Apply to the commander for use-time...Your name is cantra at Academy, Aelliana," Daav said.

THE LIBRARY OF LEGEND was the largest of the several libraries maintained by the Liaden Scouts.

Recall

• A scout may be recalled to serve the needs of his or her clan. If the necessity is temporary (such as with Win Ton's contract marriage in Saltation), the Scout will be granted leave for the duration, and return to service when the necessity is over.
• In Can Ith yos'Phelium's time (c. 12th century Standard), there was a Recall Clause that a clan could invoke if it needed a scout back on an ongoing basis (e.g. if it was their time to take up the delm's or thodelm's ring). Once the Recall Clause was invoked, the person was no longer considered a scout, and could not return to the scout service even if it happened that the clan no longer needed them.
• We note that in modern times, Korval's delms (Daav and Val Con) have retained their Scout ranks even after taking up the ring. It has not been established if the Recall Clause has ceased to be a thing or Korval has just chosen not to invoke it. (If it does exist, one might expect the First Speaker to have invoked it after several years of trying and failing to get Val Con to come home; but on the other hand, she might have considered that the pain and anger that would result from forcing Val Con to cut his ties with the Scouts made it a tactic too dangerous to use.)

Eklykt’i Scouts

Scouts missing-in-action are considered eklykt’i

A statistically significant number of Scouts are reported eklykt'i — unreturned — every Standard Year. While some undoubtedly fall prey to the omnipresent dangers of their duty, there is reason to believe that most have simply found a world that suits them better than the homeworld.” —excerpted from “All About the Liaden Scouts”

“Gone eklykt'i. ..Scouts tended to drop out of sight, to go native on some world they may have found and failed to report — or on any world that suited them better than stuffy, stifling Liad.”

The Scout Rainbow

This meditation is used to calm one’s mind, reduce fear and panic, induce peace and clear thinking. It is taught to all scouts. Val Con yos'Phelium taught it to Miri Robertson.

Visualize the colors of the rainbow, one by one, relaxing more deeply at each level. Beyond violet, the last color of the Rainbow, is a door, beyond the door is a Safe Place. Each Place is unique to each practitioner of the Rainbow. The order of the colors is: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Violet. At Yellow and at Purple, one may exit the exercise by opening one's eyes, if one so wishes.

Binjali

• ”Binjali—a not-Liaden word enjoying currency only among Scouts, so far as Aelliana knew — meant "excellent" or "high-grade.”
• Binjali Repair Shop — a ship yard in Solcintra, used by Korval, Scouts, etc. Master pilot Jon dea’Cort, a reserve Scout, is the owner.

Interdicted Worlds

See Planets

• The duties of the Scouts include patrolling the approaches to worlds that are "Interdicted and Off-Limits to Galactic Trade and Contact" for reasons that may include that they haven’t yet attained space travel, like Vandar
• Scouts sometimes operate even on worlds that are interdicted and off-limits.
• If Scouts must land on interdicted worlds, they must keep their technology and alien status secret: “There are, so I'm told by the Old Scout, certain protocols for operations on forbidden worlds.” (see Prodigal Son)

Old Tech

Scouts have a sweeping policy against Old Tech and all Independent Logics, old or young.

Scout Office of Old Tech

The Scouts have long been concerned about Old Tech. There is the Office of Old Technology at Scout Headquarters, probably on Liad. All Scouts are broadly trained to recognize timonium-based Old Tech. In addition, specialists — Old Tech Specialists — receive extra training in finding and securing it. The scouts seal the forbidden tech in a stasis box and deliver it to the Scout Office of Old Technology.

"The Liaden Scouts were, indeed, specifically charged with the confiscation, evaluation and appropriate disposal of “Old War technology,” such technology having been designated, by an action of the Council of Clans, meeting at Solcintra City, Liad, “perilous in manufacture and intent.”

“There is a corps of Scout Experts, who have studied, built databases and cross-referenced their findings through the many dozens of Standards that this policy has been in force”

Appeals

However, the validity of the "dangerous" argument and the authority of Scouts to confiscate old tech has been challenged over the centuries, partly because some Scouts are unreasonable, even fanatical. and partly because some old stuff isn’t actually Old Tech, and also because rogue scouts use their position and skill to deliver Old Tech into the hands of The Department of the Interior

I will relinquish the device -- if it is proved that I must relinquish it at all -- to Scout Captain Jan Rek ter'Astin."

Scout Captain Ing Vie yos'Thadi is an archivist in charge of hazardous and contraband technology. Captain Theo Waitley appealed his decision to confiscate Bechimo, (see Independent Logics)

Rogue Scouts & DoI Spies

In SY 1119, a rift within the scouts is noted: Jethri’s notebook — with secret marginal notes from Arin — was stolen. Scout Captain Jan Rek ter'Astin tells Jethri a rogue element took it from a secure Scout Old Tech lock-up, with permission:

“That notebook and some related material have been appropriated—or perhaps misappropriated—by an internal agency allied with our organization. They’ve removed it from our facilities and taken it, we believe, in order to take control of several other pieces of property which may be forbidden technology, or which may simply be property of your own which you have yet to be made aware of....some of the permissions given to make this happen came from levels well up within my organization. There is a debate going on, a stressing of boundaries, perhaps even a disaffection....Let me say this: the division in intent extends both up and down in the organization, yes.”

"Slowly, a picture built of suspicious activity, followed by conflicting orders and commands from Scout Headquarters and the Council of Clans, muddied by people going missing and a strange epidemic of Scouts being requisitioned—with the assistance of some faction or another within the Council itself—for the mysterious Department of the Interior." Breath's Duty

DOI Agent ter’Fendil, extrapolating from studies he had made as a scout, had recovered and delivered Old Tech to the Department. He dared hope that the Commander would place the controls in his hand

excerpt Breath’s Duty

Some Scouts were subverted to the will of The Department of the Interior, to spy from within, and to leak info, including info about Old Tech, Pilots, missions, etc. The Department hid a relay at Jae’laba station at Scout HQ, Solcintra:

"It's a simple thing to shunt information from one terminal to another. Even simpler to hide information an honest user would have no reason to look for, then dump what's hidden, with no one the wiser. A tertiary station? Who would trouble to invade something so unimportant? Who would think to look for tampering?" The idea took simplicity and snarled it with a hundred knots, basing all on the honor of Liad's Scouts.

With all their snoop tech and spies, always listening in on the ScoutNet channel, the Department knew Shadia ne’Zame had found Val Con’s spaced smuggler ship in Vandar Orbit. And thus, too, did Scout Win Ton yo'Vala find himself getting tortured by the Department, for his key to Bechimo, mistakenly thought to be Old Tech:

“An agent from the Department—one of the rogues—had been last on the garbage run before me—several Standards before me, in fact. Given leave to look about, that agent investigated the cache of old equipment. They were testing and trying things, copying things, copying records. Inadvertently or not, they had activated the call signal, and did not know that it had finally been answered. I was first on the scene, after it had waited . . . and it imprinted on me."

Scout Schism/DoI

See also Surebleak Scouts, Council of Clans, The Department of the Interior

"There's always been a faction in the Council of Clans that wants to shut funding for the scouts off, or reduce it. Some of them don't want us doing anything that might benefit Terrans..."

Discord among Scouts caused a schism. Bad blood within the organization, brewing even in Jethri’s generation, boiled up over the attack on Nev'Lorn Station and the Tree & Dragon Alliance, who brought aggressive acts against The Department in Solcintra.

"Acts which had resulted in two Scout Headquarters, two active rosters, and not even the most rudimentary attempt at negotiation on the part of either administration."

Many scouts went to Surebleak in support of the position taken by Tree & Dragon against the Department, and in opposition to the judgment of the Council of Clans. Scouts loyal to Liad and its Council are still based at Liad and Nev'Lorn. For example, Liaden Scout Captain yos'Thada set a course for Nev'Lorn after his brief Surebleak stop

When it first became apparent that the Surebleak Scouts were going their own way, the Council of Clans sent an Administrative Arbiter of Scouts to Surebleak to bring them back in line. However, Admin Chola as'Barta was just a political appointee, not a Scout or even a pilot. He didn't understand their worldview. He expressed confidence that the matter would be quickly resolved, which optimism does not appear to have been borne out.

It is also possible that Scout Commander Clonak ter'Meulen in his melant'i of Chief of Scout Security engineered the schism in order solve a problem within the organization.

Surebleak Transitional Team

On rough and ready Surebleak, scouts scattered in homes, farms, and businesses across the city and port, and even at Jelaza Kazone.

“As I understand the matter from Captain ves’Daryl,” Natesa said, “the members of the Surebleak Transitional Team have volunteered for the duty. Those are the Scouts we see here."

Scout Administrative Commander ven'Rathan, "she who held Korval's captive (DoI agents) in what were thought to be escape-proof rooms"

“The Scouts are offering courses and intend to open an academy here” on Surebleak.

Scout Commander Val Con yos'Phelium explains the schism to Scout Captain yos'Thadi:

"Why, there is a Scout Headquarters situated here on Surebleak, sir. Surely you are aware of the divide that has opened between those who believe themselves to be Scouts, and those who remain Liaden Scouts?"

"I am aware that there are upstarts who have left the ranks, and created a false headquarters."

"Ah...but they feel rather strongly that theirs is the true headquarters. Until allegiances and protocols have aligned themselves, we have two Scout administrations and two review boards."

Dishonorably Discharged Scouts

Scout cadets who didn’t make the cut and full scouts who quit or got drummed out

• Scout Caerli yo'Dira -- f, was one of the Scouts tasked with locating and archiving or destroying Old Tech, was dishonorably discharged after being caught selling Old Tech to the black market

• Rand yos'Belin - f, a disgraced scout who resigned rather than face charges; a wily blond who spied for Clan Rinork in the 12th c. Was captured by Scout Captain Jan Rek ter'Astin, Jethri, and Scout Commander ter'Gasta

The courier stood before them, her bow exquisite almost to the point of irony. Bar Jan knew the courier’s background but wasn’t cowed by it - there were enough former Scouts in the wild that meeting one was not entirely rare. That this one, Rand yos’Belin, was a private courier and not a Scout any longer was due to her voluntary resignation in the face of multiple investigations over her continued flouting of rules and regulations. “The dispatch from our friends on the Council of Clans shows the Council disinclined to study the trade situation as a group.”

Scouts: Active, Retired, Deceased

Sorted by rank and name, work in progress. See also subverted Scouts in DoI list and see Surebleak Scouts roster, although all the rosters should overlap, unless by oversight

• Scout Administrative Commander on Surebleak, Commander ven'Rathan (f) -- "she who held Korval's captives (DoI agents)) in what were thought to be escape-proof rooms"
• Scout Commander Val Con yos'Phelium, First-In Clan Korval -- A generalist, a flutter bee (intuitive, with strong research skills, broad interests, the ability to make connections, and a good memory). Former Agent of Change for the DoI. Went to Vandar with Nelirikk when DoI invaded it, a world on the Scout's interdicted list Prodigal Son. Adjudicated the case against Bechimo and all Independent Logics
• Scout Commander Anthara ter’Gasta Clan Idvantis -- 12th C. She helped Jethri and Scout Captain Jan Rek ter'Astin capture disgraced scout Rand yos'Belin, a wily blond who spied for Clan Rinork. Retrieved stolen keys from yos'Belin and learned names of other traitors
• Scout Commander Ivdra sen'Lora -- published field judgement classifying Jeeves as a Free Logic, based on established protocols for determining personhood (see Intelligent Design and Independent Logics)
• Scout Commander Clonak ter'Meulen Clan Guayar -- Served on Daav's team when he was captain yos'Phelium. Served as chief of pilot security for some time. Detached Scout Commander Val Con yos'Phelium to The Department of the Interior, hoping to confound the enemy. Nearly died at Nev'Lorn (see Breath's Duty). Promoted to commander. Protected interdicted planet Vandar from DoI (see Prodigal Son)
• Scout Commander Kon Rad yo'Lazne -- observing weather on Klamath, dealing with political upheaval also (Misfits)
• Acting Scout Commander Cho sig’Radia -- at Nev'Lorn (see Breath's Duty) in temporary command after the battle with DOI . Rank Scout Inspector Specialist Cho sig’Radia when she trained Scout Win Ton yo'Vala and sponsored Theo to Anlingdin Piloting Academy
• Scout Captain Daav yos'Phelium -- specialist in cultural genetics. As reserve captain, he came to the rescue at Nev'Lorn, in Breath's Duty. Nelirikk calls him "The Old Scout"
• Scout Captain Ing Vie yos'Thadi -- archivist in charge of hazardous and contraband technology, captain of the ship Chandra Marudas
• Scout Captain Jan Rek ter'Astin -- Jethri Gobelyn's friend; Field Scout at Kailipso Station Taught Jethri piloting sitting second on Keravath while pursuing the rogues who stole Jethri’s notebook, etc
• Scout Captain ves'Daryl -- Surebleak Transitional Team
• Scout Lieutenant Kelby chel’Vona Clan Nosko — on Surebleak, he features with Scout Lina yo’Bingim in A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom
• Scout Lieutenant Fel Dyn yo'Shomin -- Old Tech hunter in SY1118; was rude to Jethri Gobelyn, holding himself "infinitely superior to grimy Terran 'prentice traders, no matter whose foster son they claimed to be."
• Scout Lieutenant Lys Fidin, First-In — one of Scholar Caylon’s most brilliant —and outrageous—students. As a friend, she gave Aelliana basic piloting lessons.
• Scout Lieutenant Shadia Ne'Zame, First-In -- at Nev'Lorn with Clonak (see Breath's Duty)
• Scout Lieutenant Menolly vas'Anamac -- Healer and first mate aboard Chandra Marudas.
• Scout Lieutenant tel'Juna -- mother's friend who preferred the red wine
• Scout Lieutenant ter’Volla — Surebleak Transition Team, detached to the Watch, on patrol when goons attacked The Hooper, in Skyblaze
• Scout Lieutenant Specialist Olwen sel’Iprith - was Daav's lover and team member at one time. Reported to Val Con that enemies destroyed Ride the Luck but believed it unlikely that Daav fell captive to the DoI.
• Scout Field Ecologist Alara chel'Voyon of clan Silari -- directs the experimental gardens with Yulie Shaper. She is married to Diglon Rifle on Surebleak See The Rifle's First Wife.
• Scout Historian Her Ald vey'Loffit -- old guy, long silver hair in a tail; works on the Surebleak Culture Study with Lady Kareen yos'Phelium and Prof Kamele Waitley
• Scout Linguist pel'Odyare -- supporting Anne Davis's research, in spare time
• Scout Strategist yo’Vremil - charged with decommissioning the Dept of the Interior fall-back headquarters at Daglyte Seam station and, en route, certifying young fresh pilots Daaneka tey’Doshi and Kor Vid yos'Phelium
• Scout Pilot Niota yos’Wentroth -- arrived on Carresen packet ship Twinkle to observe evacuation of Codescru station
• Scout Pilot Rod Ern pel’ Arot -- m, missing a few fingers, recommended by Master Jon dea'Cort, lets Scout Cadet Daav yos'Phelium sit first board to get some practice and flying time. On Venture, at the Spinning Wheel

Position or Rank Unclear:

• Scout Daria dea'Luziam/dea'Luzian? - one year older, lover, intended partner, died during Solo ; killed in the drop from the mothership, victim of a freakish solar storm.
• Scout dea'Liss -- f, challenges Quin at the Emerald casino to a game of piket, in Roving Gambler
• Scout Jen Sin yos'Phelium -- possibly a captain / team leader; Clan Korval's best pilot of his time, lost during the clan wars, but keeping Tinsori Light now
• Scout Win Ton yo'Vala -- boarded self-aware ship Bechimo
• Scout Verisa pel'Quinot, Scout Academy - invites Aelliana to teach a Math for Survival Seminar at
• Scout Ter Ans sig'Endra -- Scout and Healer, stationed at Volmer Healer Hall; expert witness at trial of Zoe Martenegsburg
• Scout Monet sig'Norba -- finds an ancient artifact in Naratha's Shadow
• Scout Lina yo’Bingim — a rookie Scout, she features in the stories A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom and in Accepting the Lance

At Scout Academy

• Scholar Caylon’s Scout Academy Students:
  • Scout Corporal Rema ven'Deelin of Clan Ixin, High House — student “with an eidetic memory” in Scholar Caylon’s class of six scouts. She is later kind to Aelliana.
  • Scout cadet Var Mon, Clan Midys, Middle House — “youngest and least repressible of the six students.” He is also kind to his professor, later.

Scouts Taken by DoI

Partial list of Scouts that were stolen for employment in The Department of the Interior. Some supposition.

• Agent ter'Fendil -- ( first name ?) -- used his Scout training to find Old Tech for DOI. Captured by Val Con yos'Phelium and Anthora yos'Galan. Last seen alive, his fate is unclear
• Baz Lyr ten'Veila (m) -- Captain, prolly originally a Scout captain, given his title (supposition). He ensnared dramliza Tarona Rusk. She assassinated him after Shan freed her.
• Beldyn chel'Mara Clan Aragon -- dead by suicide as mandated by Agent Loop. “She'd been a scout once.”
• Isphet bar'Obin -- “I am Agent of Change Isphet bar’Obin. You are under my command, Field Agent pen’Chala." (She may have been a Scout, as she has a Scout lantern in her hideout on Surebleak.
• Sye Mon van'Kie - freed of DOI control. possibly was a scout. He has recall codes for the department’s Old Tech and is one of a few who mastered communicating with old tech. Quite possibly through scout specialty training?? On strike team, he partners with Bon Vit Onida

• Val Con yos'Phelium - Agent of Change. Freed himself. Scout Commander, First In, hand selected to join the DOI and destroy it from within. So said Scout Commander Clonak ter'Meulen

• Vazineth ser'Trishan - She is one of the “six of us” free agents targeting the Department. She was a skilled researcher in the scouts

Before the Department had taken her to themselves, Vazineth had been a Scout Researcher, with a wizard’s touch even among that fey breed. Indeed, it was probable that she possessed a small talent —nothing hidden remained so, once Vazineth had determined to find it.

Other Scouts

Scouts at one time, not enough info

• Mrs. Intassi, the nurse for Shan
• Tonith -- Shadow's medic

See also

• Pilot Lore (e.g. ghost stories, the usual rules, pilot hand talk)