I've spent a long time in Wild Space and the Rim, running with people that consider themselves ethical. 'I live by a code,' they say. Sooner or later, if you get them talking about it, you start to see that most spacers' personal codes are more or less the same. They vary, sure; they're all shaped by personality and experience and circumstances. But in the end, how I live, how we live, it basically all boils down to these thirteen rules. Well, they're more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.
- Only shoot first if you have to.
- Honor distress calls and ships in need.
- Take no slaves or indentures
- Reject no stowaways or castaways.
- Pay tariffs when they're fair or when you need to.
- Never mutiny against a sane captain.
- Only screw over those that earn it.
- Never lose your sense of proportion for a cause or a grudge.
- Don't impose your principles, whatever they are.
- On someone else's ship, live like you're a guest, but work and fight like it's your home.
- Give a fair share of salvage to the heirs when you can.
- Improve your skills and pay your own way.
- Slavers and reavers get no quarter.
