A couple years ago in London, my sweetie was looking at shoes. I was people-watching on a bench outside wondering what an Imperial ID ( IID ) would look and feel like. I could feel my own passport in my pocket, and as I observed the diverse shoppers of Camden, I wondered about their passports and IDs.
Some initial thinking
The Neoteric variant of the IID ( the “average” version of the document, more on this later ) is a nigh-indestructible plasteel-encased artifact about twice the size of a old Terra credit card. It’s flat and thin, and its surface is actually a display, as well as an interface. It shows data such as the sophont’s particulars and a head and shoulders image. How an IID “looks” can change depend on where it’s held, tapped, or otherwise interacted with. There are many “standard” but modifiable configurations of the blocks of info and functionality.
It’d be durable, exceedingly difficult to counterfeit. In My Traveller Universe, an easily-doctored ID doesn’t make much sense.
I feel it’d be necessary as a “passport” when traveling planet to planet within the Imperium. I know this simple statement makes a number of pretty profound assumptions about the Imperium. That being said, the vast majority of sophonts never have an IID.
Let’s assume that in MTU any citizen of a member world is an Imperial subject. Any Imperial subjects with a singular physical form who want an IID and who can adequately establish their identity at an Imperial facility that can produce them can theoretically get one. They are issued as a matter of course upon indoctrination into Imperial service – military, civil, or otherwise.
Some worlds opt into having the IID as their “world” identification document, just as some worlds opt into the ImpCr and forgo their own currency.
Some do not.
Common physical variants include:
- A “flat” version that’s just a card with some info printed on it
- a “cloth” version popular in some cultures and TLs
- an “impressed” variant that can carry various digital endorsements such as medical or military records, licenses, signatures from various authorities or orgs, past “stamps” from planetary system entries
The impressed variants also have different “views” accessible by tapping the IID. Info can be displayed in Anglic, Vilani, and the language of the sophont’s homeward if it’s neither of the former. There’s also an “anonymous” mode that validates and passes a reader’s check, but doesn’t convey identity except in specific cases.
There are also different “presentational classes” – specialty forms, shapes, or facings that readily identify the IID as a Scout IID, Noble IID, ex-criminal IID, and so on.
Different forms may be “used” in different ways…
You can always produce the IID and just hand it to someone asking for it. Some can be tapped on a reader, or swiped. Some waved close by, others detected and validated/verified remotely. Impressed versions can be used as keys to open doors, unlock vehicle drive systems, grant access, allow arrest powers, and so forth. All “abilities” of the IID depend on the various entitlements/keys/impressments that particular IID carries, and whether it validates ( “this is a valid IID with these privileges” ) and verifies ( “the sophont presenting it is the owner of this IID” ) to the current holder.
other uses
The IID is also an instrument of Imperial diplomacy and cultural propagation. Impressed versions have various data stored by default such as language/dialect examples, hygiene procedures, Emperor’s histories, school-level Imperial atlas, and so on.
Impressed versions can self-validate: when a basic gesture is performed ( such as a thumb on the corner ) by the owner, the IID visually confirms identity with one of several common visual signals such as a flash or display of the word “verified.” So an officer making a routine stop can require a sophist to “verify,” which means to proper their IID and touch/geture in the way that makes it produce a validation “flash.”
All versions ( including the flat one ) can “brick,” and be rendered invalid under certain circumstances or as game plot requires. Impressed IIDs that brick change color and have an icon for “invalid” across the face. Unimpressed versions simply look fractured and stained, the unmistakable hallmark of being bricked.
All versions have a “deceased” mode, where a lawful authority can change the status of an IID to reflect that the owner is now deceased. The IID will still validate if there’s enough uncorrupted biomatter remaining.
Certainly Agents can have access to special IID versions that alter, that can be set on the fly, and perform other surprise feats.
what’s on the Imperial ID?
The following information is found on an IID, regardless of source, type, or issuing TL:
Unique alphanumeric Identifier String ( UIS )
This is a long letters and number string that’s unique to every sophont in the Imperium. A number space large enough so that there will be no repeats in the next 500 years. This string also has identifiers of homeworld, issuing agency, race, and other aspects.
Name
This is the name the sophont is identified with on his homeworld’s ID, his breeder documentation, or his last Imperial ID.
Facial image of bearer
Looking straight ahead, no smiling, nothing obfuscating
Date of Birth
In accordance with records
Race/Morphogenia
The designation of what recognized species the individual is
Gender
Whatever applies
Species-specific visual identifiers
With humans, this will be height, weight, complexion, eye color, fingerprint, and so on
Homeworld ( Imp/Dom/sec/SubSec/World )
Where the sophont was born/hatched/whatever. This is usually an Imperial member world, but not always.
Home language/dialect
This is a recognized language that the sophont certifies they speak and can understand. By law the sophont must be able to communicate in the language indicated here.
Place of birth ( Imp/Dom/sec/SubSec/World )
May be different than registered homeworld
Issuing authority/place ( Imp/Dom/sec/SubSec/World )
This might be the Starport Authority at Rhylanor highport, the Scout base at Berengana, the Imperial Consulate on Darrya, and so on.
Valid dates
This field is optional If there is no expiration date, the document does not expire, even with the sophonts death.
Biometric data
IIDs carry biometric data and microsamples from their bearers.
Canon?
The idea of an Imperial ID is certainly canon – Agent Bland asks five Naval officers to produce and hold theirs in front of them, and the core rulebook of the Lorenverse even has a ( brief ) Library entry for the Imperial ID. There is also a brief description of The IID on p642 of the BBB, v5.09.
Why an IID?
Some of the upsides for individuals
• To get what’s due to them – pension payments, medical care, access to really sweet weaponry, whatever. This isn’t possible without an accurate means to identify. Also, the individual has a need to be able to successfully interface with a given network; this is facilitated with proper identification.
• To protect against others acquiring, taking, stealing what’s not theirs. To prevent theft of identity.
• Access personal systems – your IID can unlock or grant access to personal data systems, your ship, your gear, and so on. Some gear works without this, but many technical items can make use of a sophont’s Imperial ID as a means of properly identifying them and granting access.
• Vouch for dependents. It may be that you have an Imperial ID but your dependents do not. If the IID contains info on your dependents, the ID in effect works to identify them as well, at least in some instances, and allows access to benefits, as above.
• Efficiency and ease. It’s way easier to access Imperial facilities and resources with an IID
• Freer movement. It’s easier to move about a sprawling bureaucratic empire with a reliable IID.
• The IID might be an individual’s only access to a working computer and digital storage
upsides for the Imperium
• It’s certainly in the Imperium’s best interest to identify an individual sophont with accuracy and integrity, for a host of reasons including the correct issue of resources as benefits. For this reason and all others, the Imperium sets standards throughout its domain for the requirements of an ID – the necessary breeder documentation, identification procedures and processes, as well as the validation criteria and forms the ID can take.
• As a demonstration of sovereignty. As discussed already.
• To provide basic, “official” information. Versions of the ID that can store basic info on the Imperium, civics, history, linguistic standards, hygiene, and so on act as a vector and repository for Imperial culture. Variants of the Imperial ID that cannot store digital information have references to such data.
• Fight crime and terrorism. The accurate tracking of identity is paramount to analysing and fighting crime and terrorism in the Imperium, as well as securing facilities or resources against undesirable elements.
• Track sensitive information. Along with the above, the Imperium also has a vested interest in tracking the pairing of individuals and their weapons permits, starships papers, and other official documentation. IDs make this possible.
• Tracking and controlling immigration. The movement of individuals and populations from world to world is of serious interest to the Imperial bureaucracy, acting as part o the census data and all the information that’s synthesized from this. Along with this, keeping tabs on certain individuals and populations/sub-cultures in particular is important.
• The Imperium needs to be able to control and regulate access to certain areas, as well as assure clearances, resources, and sensitive information is given to appropriate individuals.
• Border control is a key faculty of any sovereignty
• Imperial Identification makes human rights monitoring more efficient. The ability to track individual movements is a big first step in deterring sophont trafficking
upsides for the banks
• Sophonts need to be able to access their financial resources, and only theirs. Banks need to be able to insure the correct allocation of financial specie and instruments.
• Confirmation of debt, or payment on debt, can only be accomplished across worlds with successful identification verification and validation.
…for other businesses ( corps, travel concerns, medical concerns )
• Many similar reasons to government, notably the correct allocation of resources or disclosure of sensitive information
• Corporations have a vested interest in tracking employees, patients, clients, and others’ movement and information in order to effectively engage in and regulate commerce.
• Because imperium cares. This seems off the cuff, but the Imperial government mandates strict identification of customers in some cases, so this concern is passed along and becomes a concern of the business that is an intermediary or regulated by the Imperium.
Downsides for everyone can probably be summed up in the simple point: traceability. Sometimes, it’s to your advantage when some or all of the above does not happen.
By why a “card” and not some other form?
A card ( as opposed to the “cloth” digital form, or other variants ) has the upsides of being easy to store, of being a physical artifact ( and thus given some additional level of credence by many species ), easier to manipulate, and the most widespread of the variants in Charted Space. Downsides might include it’s easier to lose track of, maybe a local cultural bias against the card or in favor of the other variants.
In my own Traveller universe, I see the Imperium as a cosmopolitan place with a serious variety of cultural influences that trickle into gameplay. For the forms of ID, I first came at the idea from a pretty non-rational point of view: what different forms might be interesting or original to have in the game or feature in fiction? And then I did some noodling around what might be at least basically practical or reasonable, and kinda hammered away at it.
Please forgive my term “astrocloth,” as it’s just a placeholder until I find or come up with something better.
further details and tidbits
Classes and Variants of the IID:
As discussed, the Imperial ID can take multiple forms/shapes, designated here by “Class.” These Classes are roughly indicative of enabling TL
Class 0 – Basal – astrocloth, parchment
This class of IID is typically processed and distributed on low TL worlds. The basic materials are manufactured elsewhere ( at places of higher TL ) and shipped to the lower TL member world. The materials themselves are durable and made in such a way to enable easy official imprinting and dissuade counterfeiting. The two most common materials for this are astrocloth and astroparchment.
( these are ridiculous names; I’m going to think of better )
Astrocloth presents as a light-colored linen, and may be rolled, folded, wadded, worn, or otherwise used as fabric might. It is extremely durable and resistant to staining, fraying, cutting, and tearing. It can be washed or subjected to a surprising amount of stress before it starts to degrade. The bearer’s identifying info is printed on the cloth in a standard layout and manner in the sophont’s language and Anglic, and their image from their “shoulders” up is recorded and printed by use of a light source and specially-designed lens. The finished artifact is not unlike a piece of linen that has info and image printed on it. An Astrocloth IID is not typically created with endorsements, but it is possible to add these if the appropriate TL device is available.
Astroparchment is a paper-like analog to astrocloth. It is similarly robust and durable, but presents more like paper. Both parchment and cloth variants are made from materials exclusive to their function, base materials that are very tightly controlled. They further protected against counterfeit by the presence of nanomarkers that are extremely difficult to produce outside of official channels.
Basal IIDs are issued on homeworlds where the infrastructure restricts options to just these. They are the easiest to issue, and the most durable. They cannot hold digital Endorsements. A world whose base TL is 5 or higher will likely not issue Basal IIDs, unless there is a very compelling local reason.
Class 1 – Flat
This class is common on worlds with a TL 7 or lower. The IID is a durable laminate of a square or rectangular shape that has a photographic image and printed/etched information upon it. It is quite portable, fitting in the pocket. A flat IID has no capacity to store digital information, although it may contain textual endorsements/keys. A flat IID has no ability to detect, communicate with, or react to other technology. It is preternaturally durable.
The Flat IID also has many anti-counterfeiting measures such as embedded microwriting, nanomarkers, and conductive threading. These are unique to the issuing agency and may contain other metadata for validation as well.
A world of TL 8 or higher will almost never issue a Flat or Basal IID, again unless there is a very compelling local reason that makes this the best choice.
Class 2 – Impressed
This form is similar to the “flat” version, but not so limited; there is readable data inside this IID in the form of a chip, so it’s capable of storing digital endorsements and highly detailed identifying information of the bearer. This card can be thought of as a “flat-plus” model, readable and writeable. Except for minor markings which afford this capability to store digital endorsements, the impressed IID is indistinguishable from the flat version.
A world of TL 9 or higher will usually not issue an Impressed IID or anything more rudimentary.
Class 3 – Neoteric
This is the most advanced variant common within the Imperium, and is also the version issued by most Imperial entities such as the armed services: the Scout Service, the Ministry of Justice, and so on. The neoteric IID has all the capability and durability of earlier TL versions, but also has comm and computational capacity. It typically acts as a repository for endorsements, and has validation features that readily distinguish the bearer as the being described by the IID.
The neoteric version can also be set to anonymous mode where an individual’s status is read and certain endorsements are available without their identifying information.
Neoteric IDs typically come with a default load of information files proscribed by the Imperium including histories, maps of charted Space, details on the Imperium emperors, Anglic language samples ( for better linguistic standardization across the breadth of the Imperium ), hygiene information, and so on.
The neoteric IID is detectable by most pieces of IID verification/validation equipment, depending on the sensitivity of the equipment this could be done at a distance.
Finally, neoteric IDs are self-verifying. If a human ( for example ) places either thumb in the correct place while presenting the IID a very sophisticated verification swiftly takes place in the physical artifact. The individual attached to the thumb and proffering the IID is verified to be the individual described by its information and endorsements by internal mechanisms of the IID, and the card visually confirms this.
This is verification only; The System might do its own verification, and these steps of verification are apart from validation, which are the confirmations done by the person checking ( or by their equipment ) to determine that the IID is in fact a valid Imperial ID and not a hunk of plasteen made to look like an IID.
Class 4 – physical dongle
This IID is almost functionally identical to the neoteric version, but has a different physical form, typically a piece of wearable jewelry. The dongle is capable of delivering all of the neoteric’s functionality as well as a projection of a flat representation of the IID and its information.
Class 5 – “other”
There are expressions of the IID that accommodate or provide special affordances for specific races or classes of sophont. The often-given example here is the IID that also displays in the olfactory spectrum the proper Verification or Validating information in the form of trace pheromones, but the Class 5 could instead ( or additionally ) include sensory information in spectrums other than those detectable by humans – visual, tactile, or otherwise.
These different options always accommodate human perception for verification and validation, but take diversity into consideration. All versions of these versions of Class are open to Validation and Verification on all Imperial-certified IID equipment.
on privacy & use
When I mentioned “traceability” above, I was talking about privacy. I could have definitely been clearer.
As a sophont, sometimes you just don’t want people in your biz, or your actions tracked. In MTU you need an IID to access certain spaces, services, and certainly if there are “any Imperial entanglements.”
This sounds like a pain, but for story and game purposes IMTU it usually adds a great layer of challenge and drama to plans. The higher the Law Level, typically the more of a pain everyone is about IIDs, as well as all the potential drama that can arise in a situation where there’s tension between a world govt and the Imperium. Kinda like having the wrong passport in the wrong country, today in our world.
But back to privacy. Higher TL systems and orgs are going to have better/faster/more accurate updates, they’re going to generate pools of data on an IIDs and sophonts’ movements and activities. Kinda like you see today with Big Data and the potential for silliness there. Figure Naval Intelligence or the Scouts on the one end, access to the latest and greatest tech, up to date on in-system uses of someone’s IID, fairly up to date on historical data from elsewhere, depending on if that activity was done on a world on a main or the Boat network.
Megacorps might have the same level of access, or some riff on this. Criminals might be able to access these pools of data as well, but mostly for plot purposes.
By the way, a megacorp could very well issue its own ID document, or require employees to have an IID with an valid corporate endorsement key present.
I feel like some versions of the IID might be able to be remotely located, bricked, or affected by authorities or bad actors with the right tech. I’m sure there’s a way to “turn off” or otherwise shield your IID against sending or broadcasting ( at least the company that makes the wallet said it was effective! ).
I also feel like world governments ( as opposed to Imperial authorities ) would have very limited or no access to this information. I’d leverage some of our real world model and passports, here. Using the USA as an example, a foreign border agent has some access to US passport information – they can interrogate a passport to see if it’s valid, for instance. But they ( probably ) don’t have access to all that movement data unless there’s some special agreement with the Imperium, or someone’s gained access somehow. IMTU this is the kind of relationship member worlds have with IID data, but of course plot can allow for all kinds of interesting riffs on this in a game.
Since I normally run things with a mix of Imperial and outside the Imperium action, having just some Imperial ID system isn’t going to hack it.
For example – you’re from some backwater world TL 5. I doubt that your planet issues some high tech ID card to you. You have “papers.” That may or may not be enough somewhere else to get you past customs.
At worst, customs in most places gives you a limited time on world. This could be anywhere from say 72 hours (3 local days whatever that amounts to) to a couple of weeks. You are admonished you are entitled to nothing from the local government and may not get a job locally… That is, you’re a tourist or guest, not an immigrant. Overstay your welcome and there are consequences (depending on law level).
Some worlds may require you get the equivalent of a visa first. This might even be required before you arrive having to visit one of their embassies.
If you’re ship’s crew you get a little more deference since it’s assumed when the ship leaves you’ll be on it.
On other worlds “customs” expects you to plop 10 or 20 ImpCr in front of them and you’re on your way no questions asked.
Still on others, “customs” either doesn’t exist or if they do they simply don’t care unless you are doing something obviously illegal.
These last two don’t want to see your credentials.
As for money, that has to be in a portable form that is widely recognized. Credits are one such form. I use something called a sliver (non-canon) too. This is similar to a Krugerrand or a piece of eight. It is intrinsically valuable and widely recognized.
Any non-local currency may require you go to a bank / money exchange / back of the music shop guy who will do it under the table, to get local currency to spend as what you have may not work locally everywhere.
All of this is really just an extension of international travel on Earth.