Re: Dolphins & the OU

Here's my take on the OU, Dolphins and such.

When the Good Old USA went west, a lot of the more libertarian elements,
who had made oceanic settlements along the lines of the Atlantis Project
( http://www.oceania.org/ constitution at
http://www.oceania.org/const/const.html)
joined up - as independent associates - with the Oceanic Union.
Many of these micro-nations had already seceded from the US. They were
often run by large US-based agribusiness cartels, and operated intensive
undersea fish-farming. On the collapse of the US, many very wealthy
people got out while the going was good, and onto their private islands.
The OU's very loose republic was a closer match to the original US
Constitution (before the 70th and later amendments) than the NAC's 
Neo-Monarchy. Later, some reverse-emigration happened to Free Cal-Tex,
and there are strong political links between the "Wets" in the OU and
FCT. The real hard-core Libertarians eventually sold up and moved
off-planet, many to the planned Anarchy that is the Alarishi Empire -
and there are some links between the OU and the AE, mainly based on
family ties.

At about this period, before the USA went under, Genetically-modified 
organisms were made, originally only as an efficient food supply. But
soon,
Tursiops Amicus (Bottlenose Dolphins) were given a more "worldly"
viewpoint,
and "wild" Dolphins often joined the pods that did the rounding-up of
the fish,
much like the Jackaroos in Australia, Gauchos in Argentina, and even
some 
still-surviving Cowboys in Texas. The "wild" Dolphin population of the
Pacific
is now almost entirely hybrid, and there are extensive Dolphin colonies
on Beta 
Comences IV (which has 90% of its surface covered by Water).
 
It is rumoured that such experimentation also included human subjects -
it's
also rumoured that some results of such experimentation by other parties
were
given "political asylum" and have their own colonies in a restricted
area of 
the Pacific and later, off-world.

What is certain is that some non-humans have passed the standard
literacy and
numeracy tests to qualify as category 1 OU citizens, with full voting
rights. Many more qualify as Category 2 citizens, with restricted rights
similar to pre-adult humans and probationers. The bulk of the remainder
qualify as Category 3 citizens, and are treated as protectees (such as
infants and the intellectually impaired.)
Killing a Tursiops Amicus or Tursiops Truncatus is viewed as Murder in
the
OU, which has led to some contretemps with various Japanese Zaibatsu.

Dolphins make great Navigators, and have a rather ruthless streak that
make
them favourites for special-ops in non-standard atmospheres. Most of
them
are equipped with harnesses, but a large proportion of the military Fins
have full battle armour.
Standard OU SAS(Fin) saying "Japanese Mercenary? Tastes a bit like
Pork."
This is, of course, said with the mocking smile that only a Dolphin can
achieve.

A number of Dolphins have served on exchange postings with IAS and UN
survey
vessels, as well as the OU Interstellar Survey. The latter is widely
regarded
as an arm of the OU Intelligence Service.