Here, There and Right Behind You: The Bureaucracy

Before the Bureaucracy was officially created, its soon-to-be agents were already dispatched through Time·Space in desperate attempts to fix the Snafu before the Entirety of Everything was Lost (tm). For this reason, the first generation of the Agency – a dozen or so Continuum Indirections – had hardly any opportunity to compare their tools. It is known that one of the Continuum Indirections looked like a cinema, another one like a car, one like a train, one like a flying computer keyboard, one like a set of time-connected toilet stalls and one like a Jaccuzi. Another was essentially a Nuclear Power Plant and only allowed one-way travel.

Since then, the Bureaucracy has evolved quite a bit.

In the rest of this chapter, we will try and cover some of the main branches of the Bureaucracy. However, with the entirety of Space·Time as a playground, it is clear that the Bureaucracy has evolved in numerous unpredictable manners. In other words, GMs and players, don't hesitate to come up with new branches and splinter groups – as often as you want. They are bound to exist, somewhere in the Continuum.

The Administrations

Agency for the Continuity of Space and Time

After the Snafu, Agency for the Continuity of Space and Time was given its name and official tasks and industry contracts started to kick in and normalize Continuum Indirections and equipment. The standard Continuum Indirection of this period looked like a large metallic sphere standing on three feet, with enough space to accomodate the 3-5 Crew members, dry toilets, and their backpacks. These vehicles were not meant for extended stay, and there was in particular not enough room to sleep. This design proved unpopular and was abandoned by all the other branches of the Bureaucracy.

Time Bowls

• Robust, functional, shiny.
• Uncomfortable and quickly overcrowded.

Office of Time & Measures

Much later, the Office of Time & Measures, whose main task was safety inspection and taxation, took a very different approach. The Office of Time & Measures itself was installed in an abandoned administrative building of the First Time Parliament (formerly, a Babylon Time Station), and the Continuum Indirections were individual offices of the Office, along with their desk, uncomfortable chair, obsolete computer, and out-of-order photocopier. One of the doors of these Time Offices opened on the Main Office itself, while the other door opened wherever the Continuum Indirection was currently located. From the outside, these Time Offices looked much like prefabs. The Crew of a Time Office is typically two people, although a Time Office can awkwardly accommodate 5 to 10 people.

Time & Measures Traveling Offices

• Boring, deprecated and understaffed.
• Communicates with the Main Office.
• Enough paperwork to drown an army.

The Militarist Branches

Space·Time Fleet

Ignoring the recommendations of the scientists in charge of Time Travel, the Space·Time Fleet was designed by the same contractors that had served the Space Fleet, and with the clear goal of Shock & Awe: reaching Space·Time coordinates with an orbital ship (to avoid the difficulties of traveling at ground-level), then dropping combat-ready Space·Time Marines with a combination of dropships and shock capsules, depending on just how much Awe and enemy-flattening was deemed necessary. The design of the orbital ships was itself based on that of airplane carriers (for the large ones) and combat deployment helicopters (for the smaller ones).

These Continuum Indirections, however, have only been used very briefly in the history of the Bureaucracy: once even the highest-ranking officers of the Space·Time Fleet had to admit that the Law of Observable Contradictions was not a "Leftie Liberal Hoax", the Space·Time Fleet was forced to deduce the obsolescence of most of its brand new equipment. While a few missions of the Space·Time Fleet may still be witnessed here and there in Space·Time, most of this fleet has been either scrapped, recycled into Time Federation equipment – or vanished. Standard Space·Time Fleet Crews are mixed-gender (all genders), and positions of authority are generally either held by one of the two normative genders (males, females).

Space·Time Fleet

• Shock + Awe
• Countless soldiers and crew members.
• Takes forever to get ready.

Time Brigade

Learning from the errors of the Space·Time Fleet, the Time Brigade adopted an approach based on a combination of infiltration and strongarm tactics. The Continuum Indirections of the Time Brigade, known as Citadels, resemble huge buildings of concrete, large enough to host military marches, and featuring prominent flags and eagles. The Crew of a Citadel is typically small (3-10 Bureaucrats, including a Political Officer), supplemented by a few Perfect Polymorphic Provocateurs and thousands of Crowd-Control Clockworks.

To avoid the temptation of the Crew violating the Law of Observable Contradictions, only the Political Officer may carry a non-lethal weapon, or weaponize the otherwise weak Crowd-Control Clockworks. Walking inside the long and tall corridors of a Time Citadel, one may encounter automatons wearing military uniforms, pass in front of large paintings extolling the Virtue of the People and hear, or at least imagine, choirs stuck singing patriotic hymns. The Crew of a Time Citadel is mixed-gender (only two genders) and always contains exactly one Political Officers, who is generally a male.

Time Brigade Citadel

• Extolling the Virtue of the People.
• Surveillance, infiltration and Crowd Control.
• Strong-arm tactics without weapons.

Crowd Control Clockworks

• Easy to spot, hard to catch.

• Limitless numbers.

• Emit a quietness field that dissuades most witnesses from realizing that something is wrong.

• Good at: Flying, shooting non-lethal (by default)/lethal projectiles, making people behave.

• Bad at: Being smart, fighting determined opposition, resisting damage, dealing with Space·Time travelers

Perfect Polymorphic Provocateurs

• No will of my own.
• I am the person standing next to you, the civilian at the end of the street, or perhaps your teacup.
• Exactly as smart as needed for a specific task.
• Good at: Causing Chaos, backstabbing, disappearing, overhearing any plan, carrying out a plan.
• Bad at: Standing up and fighting, coming up with fresh ideas.

People's Time Liberation Army

When the People's Time Liberation Army defected from the Time Brigade, it did so with very similar Citadels. Eagles were struck down and replaced with Hammers, Sickles, Stars or other symbols reminding the People of just how free it actually was, despite appearances. Crowd-Control Clockworks were maintained, but the expensive and fragile robots and Perfect Polymorphic Provocateurs were dumped and replaced with more cost-efficient Political Reeducation Chambers, large enough to cure hundreds of political opponents. While getting the first few Time Peasants into a Political Reeducation Chamber is sometimes a difficult task for the Crew, once the Time Peasants have completed their Reeducation, they become extremely useful well-indoctrinated Educated Citizens (also known as "zombies").

The Crew of People's Time Liberation Citadels is typically composed of one Political Officer (often male), several hundred Educated Citizens (renormalized to two genders) and a dozen of Officers (two genders). The Political Officer is the only one with the keys required to travel through time or reprogram the Political Reeducation Chambers.

People's Time Liberation Citadels

• Extolling the Freedom of the People.
• Educating Citizens.
• Nobody goes anywhere without the say-so of the Political Officer.

Random Educated Citizen

• I will give my life for the Party. Yours, too.
• I used to be like you before I understood.
• Limitless numbers.
• Good at: Swarming the enemy, acting as Extras.
• Bad at: Taking initiatives, anything requiring special skills.

Time Protection Squads

(TBD)

Time Purity Patrol

Note: KKK in Space.

(TBD)

The Academic Branches

Time Conservatory

(TBD)

Time Library, Time Museum

Almost since its opening, the Time Library has determined that it needed its own Continuum Indirections, and that the main use of these Continuum Indirections would be to visit libraries all over Space·Time. Indeed, the first mission entrusted by the Time Library to a Crew of Librarians was to visit the Great Library of Alexandria during its destruction, join the rioters, and take the opportunity to grab as many books as possible. While this Crew quickly discovered that there was no riot about to destroy the Great Library and that they would have to cause one themselves if they were to be able to fulfill this mission, the modus operandi has been, by and large, conserved: sneak into a library holding precious documents, replace them with fakes, then run. For this purpose, the Time Library employs small Crews – typically only two or three Librarians – wearing hand-held Continuum Indirections that let them simply walk from any library in Space·Time to any other one through temporary L-Dimensional corridors. In a pinch, a large enough bookshop will do. Such techniques and technologies are shared by agents of the Time Museum.

L-Dimensional Time Corridors

• From any library to any other one.
• Fits in the pocket.

Special Operations Division of the Time Library

While the more militant Special Operations Division of the Time Library (or SOD) started as a simple effort to track down books stolen from the Time Library by Time Travelers, it eventually grew into a feared branch of the Time Bureaucracy in its own right. Special Operatives are now in charge of tracking not only thieves through Space·Time, but also enemies of the Special Operations Division itself – and book molesters. It seems fair to describe the Special Operations Division has been described as an entity whose sole role is to use books and covert operations to increase its own reach and power. Their Continuum Indirections have both the shape and size of a (hollowed out) book, and may only be entered by using changing the size of the Librarian or visitor through the use of a Myp-Morphism key. Each book contains not only a vast arsenal of (both lethal and non-lethal) weaponry, but also interrogation rooms, comprehensive surveillance archives, and a seemingly endless reserve of time-relevant costumes and currencies. For some reason, Crews are generally composed of 3 to 5 square-jawed, square-shouldered men's men in fedoras, dress shirts, holsters and suit jackets, sometimes accompanied by the odd femme fatale.

Time Books

• Larger on the inside. Or maybe you're just smaller.
• Everything you need to upset the Balance of Power.
• Found in any large enough library.

Acquisition Department of the Museum of Time

By opposition, the Acquisition Department of the Museum of Time is quite benign, really. Its adventuring Acquirers travel through Space·Time with the mere help of an (admittedly not entirely mundane) map, which they often dutifully forget to complete. They brave untold dangers to recover forgotten artifacts and lost knowledge, resolutely ignoring any warning engraved on the walls of the tumbs by the brave people whose sacrifice made sure that said artifacts and knowledge could finally be considered lost. While Acquirers have a high rate of success at recovering, they have been known to need a little help here and there from other branches of the Hierarchy to put back to sleep the odd Elder God, Plague Spirit or Contagious Warmind. While the first documented Crews of Acquirers were entirely male, further generations of the Acquisition Department have seen a much broader variety at all positions, from Tenured Acquirers to Grad Students. Also, expect a host of Time Peasant carriers, with a rather high mortality rate.

Time Maps

• If you hold the Map just like this, you can half-see the outline of a corridor through Space·Time that's about to close in about 5 seconds.
• This belongs in The Museum.

First University of Time

(TBD)

Foundation for a Time Encyclopaedia

(TBD)

The Governmental Branches

Time Federation

After the debacle of the Space·Time Fleet and the loss of many of its Continuum Indirections to imploded Pocket Continuums, the idea of a large Space·Time force was very nearly shelved, and its remaining ships docked. Some of the surviving cadres of the Space·Time Fleet, however, took advantage of this lack of purpose, and came up with an idea to salvage some of the huge costs sunk into the fleet itself. Most of the onboard weaponry was dismantled, many soldiers were retrained or replaced by scientists, and the Time Federation was born, with a new purpose: boldly go when noone has gone before, discover old and future civilizations and endlessly debate whether the Prime Space·Time Directive – initially designed to avoid Observable Contradictions – applies in that Octant of the Continuum.

Since its inception, the Time Federation has carried throughout Space·Time an ideal of peace, coexistence and non-intervention. If, as many do, you dream of joining the Time Federation, get ready to be one in a Crew of several hundreds, dress in a pajama, beam down to the surface or back up to your orbiting Continuum Indirection, experience unique-but-recurring technical glitches that send you to conveniently mirrored universes, and impress the entire universe with your Galactic Ethical Diplomacy.

Also, whatever you do, if you leave the ship, don't dress in red.

Time Federation Science Vessels

• What's the job of all these people?
• Holodecks, unlimited time off, unlimited replicators.
• Convenient but not always reliable transporters.

Time Adjustment Foundation

While the Time Federation is forever limited by its Prime Directive, the militarist branches managed to get away with murder, kidnapping and torture by finessing paradoxes. Some cadres of the Time Federation wanted the ability to counter-attack, and managed to create a covert operations branch called the Time Adjustment Foundation. And further is exactly where it goes.

How bad have you been? How much evil did you do in your time? Are you a rapist? A serial killer? A slaver? Better even, a genocidal dictator? Fear not, Space·Time is so complicated that justice won't be done. There are so many timelines and so many opportunities to cause Observable Contradictions that punishing you would be counter-productive. On the other hand, if you are bad enough, or at least if files and histories report you as sufficiently evil, the Time Adjustment Foundation might well be after you and your deeds.

Someday, while you're looking away, things may change. The blood on your hand may be replaced with a synthetic imitation. The screams of your victims may be turned into recordings. Your victims themselves may turn out to be non-sentient recordings of their own lives. Your crimes may turn out to be simulations. Files and histories may be turned into fakes with the exact same content. You, yourself, might be whisked away and replaced with a recording of your life, while you are punished, in some remote future far from contradictions.

For all you know, you might already be innocent. But nobody will ever find out.

Time Adjustment Foundation

• Evil MUST NOT remain unundone.
• Victims will be much happier in Time Reservations.
• Cloaked Spaceships, armies of Replicants and life-long scripts.

Time Parliament

(TBD)

Second Time Parliament

(TBD)

Time Commune

(TBD)

Post-Humanism Propagation Movement

(TBD)

Babylon Project

(TBD)

The Private Sector

Time After Time After After Time Corporation

Here, at Time After Time After Time Corporation, we pride ourselves of taking care of both your Dearly Departed and of those Death-is-too-good-for-him types. While our competition will simply recreate digitized automatons to give you the illusion of interacting with the dead, we, at Time After Time After Time Corporation, we pride ourselves of having the ability to capture and upload the very SoulMind (tm) of the dead.

Once you sign with Time After Time After Time Corporation, we will assemble a team of highly trained Space·Time operatives, who will be sent at the exact place and instant of death. They will install an undetectable SoulStream (tm) to scan and upload the the SoulMind (tm) of the dead to one of our own, patented, absolutely secure, SoulSpheres (tm).

We offer a comprehensive choice of culturally-appropriate Heavens and Hells for most beliefs throughout the past, present and future history of mankind.

Time After Time After Time Corporation, where we take care of the dead, for as many forevers as it takes!

Time Will Tell, Incorporated

Well, it's simple, really: every question has an answer, and somewhere in Space·Time, there is someone who has that answer. Do you want that answer? Do you want it? Well, Time Will Tell can get it. Sign up with us, and we'll send a team of highly trained Space·Time operatives after that special person who knows.

We'll digitize their psyche while they're asleep, and they'll never know. We'll upload thousands, millions of copies of that psyche to our patented InterrogationSpheres (tm), where they'll wake up in Heaven, or Hell, or in dreamland logic or in their power fantasies, or pretty much everywhere else.

At some point, one of the copies will break. They always do. And when they do, you will know about it. It's that simple.

Just sign here. Time Will Tell is a Time After Time After Time Corporation Company.

Time Smugglers

(TBD)

Union of Time Investigators

(TBD)

Contractually, the shady Union of Time Investigators (or "Private I", as they are apparently called in hip circles) must have their office above or behind Chinese Restaurants. To simplify things, their Indirection generally contains both the office and the Chinese Restaurant, and upon landing, will try to integrate to an existing building. Such Indirections have been known to accidentally trap clients busy eating at the Restaurant, but so far, nobody has complained.

Time Hanse

The opulent agents of the Time Hanse could never manage to travel without their riches. After a few attempts at designing something more portable, they gave up and used city-sized Indirections, full with employees, factories and hangars.

(TBD)

Thieves of Time

(TBD)

Time Only Knows, Weelky

(formerly known as Time Magazine, until an IP dispute)

(TBD)

Timeadoo Vacation Agency

(TBD)