Corps of Imperial Prospectors

The Corps of Imperial Prospectors is the body within the Imperium Colony Office tasked with cataloging physical information about newly discovered planets – that is, determining their prospects for development. Along with the Corps of Imperial Cartographers, Corps of Imperial Geoformers, and Corps of Imperial Administrators, it comprises the Imperium Colony Office, the largest sector of His Imperial Majesty’s Government.

Prospectors work in teams of two. The Corps mandate that there never be fewer than two people on a mission, out of concerns that the long periods alone in deep space would be unhealthy. Together, the two travel to various systems that were only recently charted by cartographers, and collect information about the state of the planets themselves: things such as mineral composition, climate, flora, and fauna, among many other characteristics. Missions are typically a standard year or longer, and the vast majority of that time is spent either camping in the wilderness on planets or sleeping in their ships, which are characteristically designed to be small. As such, the task is generally considered to be a difficult one, and the Corps is known for paying very generous salaries and bonuses to entice people to become prospectors.

The most notable benefit paid to Imperial prospectors is that, upon the conclusion of a contractual term of 4 standard years, the prospector may ask to be granted title of a certain-sized section of land on any of the planets they prospected during their term. The granted tracts are known to be generous, and many prospectors become wealthy by selecting economically attractive parcels to receive for free, and then sell to a developer or investor. Prospectors who serve multiple terms earn the right to claim additional tracts of land.

The standards for being admitted into the Corps have been called “rigorous,” with cadet prospectors having to learn very strict standards for gathering and recording information as well as learn how to survive in wilderness and extreme conditions and how to navigate and pilot spacecraft. They are also taught courses on geological systems science broadly, but are generally not trained to be planetary scientists themselves. As serving in the Corps is serving in an Imperial office, prospectors must be free citizens of good character.

Because prospectors by definition serve at the edge of known space and are therefore exposed to not insignificant threat from barbarians or pirates, serving as an Imperial prospector counts as “dangerous service to the Imperium” and after their service they may use the title “veteran.” However, the spacecraft Imperial prospectors use are famously not equipped with weapons of any kind, only shields and various engineered mechanisms for evasion. This is seen as something of a compromise made with pirate and other criminal elements operating at the edge of the frontier, where they can trust that the prospectors cannot harm them, and so the criminal elements allow the prospectors to work undisturbed. Prospectors are specifically exempt from obligations under any Imperial Mandate of Outlawry and therefore do not have to attempt to destroy, interfere with the actions of, or report any person declared an outlaw. Additionally, penalties for accosting or killing a prospector are very high, with the term of hard labor for the least severe charge being twelve standard years. Because of these measures, reports of actual violence toward prospectors have been very low in the recent era.

Spacecraft of the Corps of Imperial Prospectors have become well-known for their distinctive crescent-shaped design. Much of the size is taken up by large curved wings that are designed to be able to move quickly through atmospheres and even, for short periods, underwater. The habitable quarters are much smaller, much more akin to a shuttlecraft in available space. The ships are equipped with significant physical shielding as well as energy shielding, as well as powerful engines to allow for rapid changes in velocity and direction. As with most Imperial spacecraft, the livery of Imperial prospector spacecraft is typically alabaster and gold.