Travellers’ Aid Society

The Travellers' Aid Society is a private organization which maintains hostels and facilities at nearly all class A and B starports in Charted Space. Such facilities are available (...at reasonable cost) to members and their guests. The TAS is trusted as a safe, comfortable place for anyone away from home.

The TAS is a transnational and interstellar society established to provide for the greater comfort of its members while travelling the starways. It primarily operates within Charted Space.

Travellers' Aid Society Membership
Membership can be purchased upon application, which may be turned down if the Society leadership does not approve.

• If accepted, the membership requires a payment of an initiation fee of Cr1,000,000.
• Such purchase involves avoidance of a "blackball."
• Only one application per person is allowed.
• Membership is for the life, and is not transferable.
• TAS associate memberships exist, they expire four years after the grant. Otherwise identical to lifetime membership.

Travellers' Aid Society Honorary Membership
An award of "Honorary Membership of the Travellers' Aid Society" may be granted as a reward for heroism or extraordinary service to the Society.

Membership Benefits
The Travellers' Aid Society invests its membership fees and other income through TAS Holdings; it uses its capital and return to provide benefits to its members.

• Every month to two months, it pays dividends in the form of one High Passage to each member.
• This passage may be used, retained, or sold.
• It also supplies 1 week of accommodations per month. They maybe accumulated. They may be sold as above.

“In those early years of expansion, many people just packed a bag and headed off into space, hitching rides on scouts, traders, and even warships. It didn’t take long for an informal self-help network on the ‘net to start up, passing Traveller’s tips, places to go to, places to avoid, what to eat, and what not to.

So one summer, I collected the stories coming back, and put together the first Crowded Space guides. They were instant hits, but many people needed more practical help. So with a few friends, I set up the Travellers’ Aid Society. We started off with ‘net lectures, devised a simple color code for planet safety, and in Year -16 we opened up our first planetary office.

It was a great hit, helping people to get oriented, providing a meeting place and information exchange, and even a few beds for the night. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Ve Nu Lant
TAS Chief Executive Officer
Year 145-0008