Created By: The authors of FASA's Orion books, originally, modified clarified for Jay-Trek by Jay
Number of Members: Approx 25,000 beings
Nature of Members: Orions and others who see service in the OSN as a valid career path
Organization: Military, From Orion traditions and some inspiration from other services.
Game Role: To frustrate PCs
World Role: To defend the Orion Sphere from aggression, to provide a safely harmless place to promoted useless Orions into.
Relative Influence: Minor at best.
Public or Secret?: Public
Publicly Stated Goal: To defend The Orion Sphere
Real goal if different: To deflect attetion from the real defenders of the Orion Sphere, the "pirates".
Relative Wealth: Compared to individuals, enormous. Compared to the other galactic powers, pathetic. Compared to a single planet space force, beefy.
Group advantages: The OSN has a good number of relatively sizable starships and spiffy white uniforms
Contacts: Numerous among the government and black market of Botchok.
Special Abilities: They have rights of navigation through Orion Space which essentially mean no traffic rules and they are allowed and expected to carry heavy weaponry.
Group disadvantages: The OSN is widely rumored to be incompetent if not outright stupid. Among more reputable space services, mercenary companies and larger pirate bands, having served in the OSN may well imply a reputation that needs to be overcome.
Special Disadvantages: The reputation of the OSN is essentially correct. The officer corps is filled with incompetents and morons.
Who belongs: Orions and people from other nations who wish to serve the Orion Sphere in a military fashion.
Who doesn't belong: Anyone who values competence and a reputation for solving problems.
Those who favor them: Orions who are math impaired, Orions who are hawks, Orions who are stupid. Orions who realize that if the idiots didn't have someplace harmless to go, they'd have to be absorbed by the marketplace.
Those opposed to them: People who wish to see the Orion Sphere taken seriously as a galactic power. People who think that handing morons heavy weapons is not a smart thing.
Area of Operation: The Orion Sphere *only*. They are forbidden by treaty from operating outside their neutral zone.
Headquarters Location: Botchok
Public Face: White uniformed wannabe's who do nice parades and displays.
Notable Members: None specified as of yet.
History of the Group: There has been an Orion Space navy for as long as the Orions have been traveling in space. The current incarnation started about 2100 with the return of warp drive to the Orion Colonies. Early Orion explorer/raiders were considered military units and extensions of the Orion Sphere.
        After contact with the Klingons, The Orions learned to travel under the guise of harmless traders in Klingon Space. The Orions were universally resented by the races of known space, as their rapacious reputation spread.
        An early Alliance between Earth and Andor led to a humiliating defeat for the OSN, and the imposition of the neutral zone treaty. Strict rules of neutrality and commercial access were granted to all sides. The OSN was rebuilt and the scout/pirates went underground. The Orions have been consistently denying that they support pirates, with approximately zero credibility ever since.
        During times of increased contact with the Klingons, the 2220's - 2240s, The Orion colonies tried to position themselves as middlemen between the Klingons and the Federation. During and after Four Years War (2240s - 2290s) The Orions were solidly boxed in by suspicious and distrustful starships on either side. The Orions learned how to be surreptitious in terms of shipping.
        Because of the huge conflict between the Klingons and the Federation, The size and capabilities of the OSN were quickly dwarfed and eclipsed. After 2260, taking over the Orion Colonies in a direct military fashion never amounted to much of a challenge for the Klingons or the Federation, Obviating the OSN's only real justification for existing.
        The OSN was kept on mainly as a tool of prestige, to make impressive display, and occasionally defend Orion interests against small potatoes threats.
        The OSN stumbled into it's backup social role quite by accident. Orion culture prizes the concepts of nobility and Darwinian struggle, great families battle economically and socially for dominance, winning and loosing titles, social status and wealth as they go along.
        For an Orion Lord to dismiss a relative as useless violates a core element of loyalty to family in Orion Culture.
        So what's to do? Sons who were not in position to inherit anything, or who were not capable of making their own contributions to a Great house found themselves commissioned as officers in the OSN.
        It's difficult to generalize about Orion culture, so broadly. There may well be houses who consider good and competent service in the OSN a patriotic duty. There may well be families for whom service in the OSN is considered a step up in social status. But the reputation as a dumping ground for useless and superfluous members of noble families is what haunts the OSN most and harms it worst. Occasional effort to reform the service not withstanding, it has the distinction of being one of the least respected major space service is all known space.

A Note about Orion neutrality and territory - The Orion neutrality was a factor of the peace settlement that ended the Earth and Andor versus Orion War. The peace settlement was widely criticized at the time. It is considered historically as vastly optimistic, but it works well enough so that neither side has felt motivated to renew the war over it
        The agreement was between an Alliance of Earth and Andor and the Orions. The UFP adopted the agreements as binding when it superseded Earth and Andor as individual space going powers.
Several elements comprise the agreements

1. Neutrality. The Orion territories are considered semi-sovereign neutral territories. Orion remains neutral in any conflict not directly involving Orion people and territory. Ships of all powers have the right to travel inside Orion territory pending approval by the Orion government. If the Federation and the Romulans are having a war, and a Romulan warbird appears in the Botchok system, then the Federation must respect Orion neutrality and not molest the warbird. Theoretically the warbird must also obey the same restrictions.
   1. New Orion Planets. Any planet found in Federation space that is Orion culturally and ethnically can, at their own announcement be consider an Orion territory.. In this case the system is surrounded by a neutral zone like the original at Botchok. This was included at the Orion's insistence in the original treaty. Neither the Earth government, nor the Andor government realized that this would result in Federation space being sprinkled with a plethora of neutral Orion worlds.
2. Right of Passage. Orion commercial vessels have the right to travel in Federation space lanes, assuming they obey all relevant Federation laws and regulations. Conversely Federation commercial ships have a similar right in Orion Territories.
   1. Orion government and military vessels can pass through Federation territory as well, assuming they lock down all weapons and travel as commercial vehicles, obeying all regulations and laws.
   2. Orion *military* vessels in Federation space are subject to inspection at will by Starfleet units.
   3. Orion commercial vessels require probable cause to justify a search of the vessel.
   4. Conversely Starfleet vessels have the right to traverse Orion Territory, but do not need to lock down weapons, behave as commercial vehicles and are not subject to inspection at will.
   5. Orion military and commercial vessels found to be in violation of Federation laws and regulations, including the original treaty are to confiscation of cargo and the ship itself.
              (Often Orion units will disappear from one system and mysteriously appear in another, never being sighted between. It is commonly felt that Orion units use cloaking devices to move from system to system in this fashion, but thus far, no real proof of this has ever been discovered.
              The Orions abrogate this treaty often. However, the Federation carefully avoids noticing this. Wiping out the OSN and taking control of Botchok would be an exciting few weeks for Starfleet, but nothing too challenging. The Federation Council is leary of the political fallout in the interstellar sense and at home among the Federation's left. Therefor such abrogation of the treaty is commonly ignored. The polite fiction is presented that the treaty is still intact and working to allow the Federation to duck having to appear to be the bully to settle the issue.)
3. Jay uses too many bullet points
4. Orion pirates: The Orions claim that they revile piracy and reject it, The OSN has even engaged in anti-piracy campaigns, both alone and in cooperation with Starfleet.
   1. It is commonly felt that the Orions are supporting the pirates, and they are. But plausible deniability is the watch word of the Pirates. No evidence is left to tie Orion pirates to any official Botchok government official or entity.
   2. Starfleet, when aroused is very efficient as hunting down and putting an end to pirate bands. Starfleet is not known for being overly nice or careful when hunting pirates. Open season on pirates is the official Starfleet policy, Survivors are questioned diligently.