Welcome to the Society for the Standard Day! Please enjoy your stay and consider us your friendly guide to the wonders of the Frontier.
Since the first momentous exchange of goods between the Vrusk and Dral and Human, it was clear to all three societies that trade was going to be the prime moving force in their union. The problem was communication, not just in the language of words, but in finding common ground. The major Mega-Corp Merchanters of all races argued bitterly about weights and measures, standards of trade, acceptable and mutually agreeable valuation of goods and commodities. These arguments percolated upwards to the halls of government, becoming nettlesome political issues.
Meanwhile, independent of any political oversight, independent merchanters of the three races, and eventually the Yazirians as they too joined the Frontier, were carrying on trade based upon an informal series of standards. Measures of mass, distance, energy and perhaps most significantly, time itself were ordered around the ancestral number systems of Vrusk, Human and Yazirian. The Dral, with their non-objective reference had a maddeningly complex and fluid system. Only a few well-informed observers realized that this was not simply the flowing of a natural wellspring of free trade, but that a shadowy and loosely organized group of independent merchantmen began pressing the use of this new set of standard measurements.
Official credit for the development and relatively quick acceptance of universal measurement went to a benign-sounding organization known as The Society for the Standard Day. But, what was whispered in the docking bays and shipyard taverns was that a masonic-like organization, known as the Keepers of the Watch, were really responsible. Many independent spacers, mostly pilot/owners of small freighters, began to sport a uniquely styled chronocom, notable for its resemblance to a sundial.
The Society was formed near the time of the formation of the Frontier, and has been active social order that makes little foray into areas of politics or corporate development, except when it comes to measures and standards. Then they make their policies widely known, developing grass-roots support in an enviably brief time. The Society publishes a variety of informational and educational materials, much along the lines of the National Geographic Society, sponsoring scientific missions, and supporting research through generous grants.
The Society also sponsors an annual awards ceremony (en Par with the Nobel Prize) that recognizes independent basic research in the sciences, as well as endeavors in the Arts and Humanities. The award is called The Standard Prize, and is accompanied by a sizable cash stipend for the recipient. Some have noted that recipients of the Standard Prize are often recruited by the Society for "exploratory missions", and end up in the center of great events. Zebulon, himself, was among the first award-winners, and went on to explore that rich and mysterious world
No other organization has been such a civilizing force in the Frontier than The SSD.
