• Headquarters: New Kourou, NE Public Services Ring Rd 7 (see: Headquarters of the OfSO)
• Founded: September 2626
• Founder: Ezrah Scherkenstein (former Last Frontier University biologist)
• Jurisdiction / Scope: Asari Region and Ralar Region (case-by-case assignments across settlements)
• Status: Officially dissolved 2631; informally active in the Gamma Age
• Core Mandate: Discreet private investigations: murders & cold cases, surveillance, fugitive tracking, protective escorts

A lean, ledger-driven private investigation bureau renowned for meticulous files and unusual botanical tradecraft (pollen traps, scent markers, seed-tagged dead-drops). While the OfSO held no formal badge, a small circle of Guarding Troopers quietly swapped leads with Ezrah in the Beta Age. In the Gamma Age, with private agencies shuttered, the network persists behind a Federal Library table and a “botany” sign.

• Mission: Provide confidential, ethically bounded investigation and protection services to settlers and guild clients when official channels are unwilling or overextended.
• Primary Functions: Case intake & triage · cold-case review · surveillance & route logging · fugitive location · protective escort
• Secondary Functions: Records research · courier‐trail audits · botanical forensics (trace pollen/seed transfer)

• 2626 (Sep): OfSO established in New Kourou; early caseload: missing couriers, warehouse arsons, and inheritance frauds.
• Develops signature botanical methods for scene control and clue tracing; builds a subcontractor pool (trackers, linguists, locksmiths).
• Quiet back-channel forms with motivated officers inside the Guarding Troopers Headquarters.

• War disruption spikes demand (refugee vetting, sabotage probes). Post-war consolidation outlaws private security agencies.
• 2631: OfSO license revoked; files “archived.” Ezrah publicly retires.

• Former clients and operatives reconnect through the Federal Library of New Kourou.
• Contact window: Wednesdays & Fridays, 09:00–11:00 — Ezrah “reads” at a fixed table; inquiries passed by note or code phrase.

• Leadership: Proprietor/Coordinator — Ezrah Scherkenstein (intake, triage, tasking)
• Operations: Subcontractor Operatives (surveillance, interviews, protection, courier shadowing)
• Liaisons (informal): Select Guarding Troopers who share tips off the books (Federal Sheriff Deputies in the Gamma Age)
• Ally Network: Archive clerks, couriers, saloon keepers, plant breeders
• Personal Ties: Ezrah is a long-time “platonic friend” of Alfred Romero (father of the Beta Age's General Trooper, Guarding Troopers HQ, New Kourou). She’s the General Trooper’s self-proclaimed “agnostic god-mother.” Despite his protests, this tie sometimes grants her deeper (unofficial) visibility into Guarding Troopers cases.

• Headquarters (Beta Age): Two-storey townhouse (office below, Ezrah’s flat above). Plant-filled interiors; tea-kitchen with hidden safe; guestroom/safe room; wall of notebooks & case ledgers; large meeting table and whiteboard; analog locks. Office mascot: “Bubi,” a tamed Croplight Lemur, with a branch construction behind Ezrah’s desk.
• Communications: Courier slips, ledger codes, dead-drop seed packets; Gamma Age library meet-ups.
• Equipment & Tradecraft: Field notebooks; map overlays; seed-tag markers & pollen traps; sketch pads; decoy files; cipher tabs.
• Personal Defense: Ezrah carries a Guarding Troopers Stun Gun (“prepared pacifist”: self-defense only).

• Intake / Tasking: Interview; build timeline on the whiteboard; open file & index cards; assign to vetted subcontractors.
• Chain-of-Custody: Numbered seals on envelopes & photos; witness initials; daily log sheets; end-of-shift sign-offs.
• Evidence Handling: Botanical traces bagged & labeled (location, wind conditions, exposure).
• Use-of-Force: Stun-first ethic; avoidance & documentation prioritized over confrontation.

• Eligibility: Clean ledger; two trade references; practical skill (tracking, interviews, locksmithing, cartography, botany, first-aid).
• Onboarding: 1–2 shadow runs; confidentiality oath; kit issue (notebooks, tags, ledgers).
• Status: Subcontractor basis (paid per brief); no standing salaries.

• Fair-Outcome Model: Full fee only on success. If unsuccessful: client pays travel expenses + 100 Kourou per operative.
• Negotiable Rates: Final fee negotiated per complexity and danger level; sliding scale for community cases and bereaved families.
• Retainers: Minimal retainer to open file; balance due on delivery of results.

• Beta Age (Office): 10:00–18:00 (appointments preferred); emergency bell accepted after hours.
• Gamma Age (Contact): Federal Library of New Kourou, Wednesdays & Fridays, 09:00–11:00 (table reservation; approach with book request code phrase). Off-window contact by trusted courier only.

• Brass in the Ledger — A grieving widow hires OfSO under the fair-outcome model: her spouse, a warehouse tallyman, “fell” from a gantry. Ezrah assigns the PCs to reconstruct the night via seal stamps, gate time slips, and a string of seed-tag dead-drops the victim used. Prove homicide before the retainer runs dry — and survive the dock boss who doesn’t plan to pay for failure.

• Ezrah Scherkenstein — Proprietor/Coordinator; “prepared pacifist”; botanical sleuth.
• Alfred Romero — Old friend and confidant; father of the current General Trooper; occasional back-channel.
• General Trooper (New Kourou HQ) — Powerful, wary of Ezrah’s involvement; still tangled by old loyalties.
• Subcontractor Pool (var.) — Trackers, linguists, archivists, locksmiths, protective escorts.

• Headquarters of the OfSO
• Ezrah Scherkenstein · New Kourou · Federal Library of New Kourou
• Guarding Troopers Headquarters · Federal Sheriff (context, Gamma Age)
• Last Frontier University · Croplight Lemur