RP Aid (Bothan Spynet)

[Jerrel]

From the page of Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Hero's Guide

The Bothan Spynet

Information is power, and the Bothan Spy Network deals in information, collecting, trading, and selling it to select customers--particularly, but not exclusivly, the Rebel Alliance. Strongly anti-Imperial, the Bothan Spynet operates in almost total secrecy, with agents of a variety of species located all over the galaxy. Like most of Bothan society, the purpose of the Spynet is to futher the goals of the Bothan people: power and prestige, certainly, but more importantly, the Bothan way of life. Its members, subsequently, do whatever it takes to provide a steady flow of information, and thus, income.
The Bothan Spynet is administrated by the formidable Koth Melan, who is largely responcible for the Spynet's pro-Rebel leanings, owning his father's execution by the Empire on trumped-up charges. Working for Melan is a vast network of spies and informants, universally dedicated to overthrowing the Empire and restoring freedom to the galaxy. Though many of these operatives are of other species, few of these hold positions of authority in the spynet.
While the Bothan Spynet operates in secrecy, its exsistence is well known in the galactic intelligence community. Indeed, it would be difficult to hide the Bothan species' predilection for information-gathering; they are widely recognized as the galaxy's leading authorities on the subject, since their ancestors master teh art over three centuries before the Battle of Yavin. The Spynet formed out of secert meetings between the Bothan government and information theorist who had researched and assembled new intelligence-gathering techniques. Apocryphal tales suggest that this handful of Bothan professors actually blackmailed the Bothan government into financing their endeavor, using illicit information they had gathered via their techniques. Whatever the case, the Bothan Spynet formed a short while latter, and within a decade had agents in every major system across the galaxy, and, with in another decade, within every major city.
Some say the Spynet's sucess is due to its objectivity: Rarely does the spynet act on the information it obtains, preffering instead to sell the information to someone who will act on it. Certainly, the Spynet's operatives tend to be mainly passive observers and data collectors--not the sort of dashing spies seen in action holodramas--and they are much more likely to think their way out of problems than fight their way out. Many Spynet agents spend years establishing a good, solid cover, and because they are paid for the information they deliver, they have no interest in doing anything that makes geting information more difficult.
Those interested in working for the Bothan Spynet need not apply; the Spynet probably already knows who you are.
Joining
Becoming pat of the Bothan Spynet is not as dangerous as propositions as joining the Rebel Alliance, but it can come close. Spynet operatives pursue information no matter where it is found, and the price of being caught snooping in the wrong place at teh wrong time can be fatal. The Spynet encourages its operatives to gather information covertly, relying on disguises and major fabrications. Even so, in extreme circumstances, an operative might find himself, with no advance warning, crawling through greasy service conduits or staging a violent diversionfor his fellow spies. Most of the reward with the Bothan Spynet lies in job satisfation, and the knowledge that one's effortshave contributed to the over all safety and prosperity of the Bothan people and free people everywhere.
Mebership in the Bothan Spynet is invotation only, and when the Bothans approach a character about joining, they've already decieded that he's qualified. The Bothan Spynet looks for people who have keen observation skills, as well as the ability to blend into a crowd and not attract undue attention.
Tranning commences immediately and usually consists of establishing and maintainning a cover identity in a new locale, while simultaneously collecting data on the activities conducted there. This is almost always involves working, at least temporarily, with a more experienced spy, who shows the new operative how to collect information with out appearing inquizitive, and how to transmit it without generating suspicion. After an "internship" of a few months, the new operative moves to another, more pernament location, to establish a new identity and begin collecting data.
Leaving
Full-time service to the Bothan Spynet is a lifetime proposition. Once someone is in, her operator expects her to provide information at a moment's notice, and to be prepared to provide even more within hours or days--even if she hasn't actively worked for the Spynet for several decades. The Spynet is symathetic, however, and doesn't ask an operative to undertake missions that are beyond her capabilities--except, of course, in extreme emergencies, when obtaining the information is worth the operative's life. But the average Bothan spy can reasonably expect a few decades of devoted service, followed by several years of, at best, semiretirement.