A Heretical Traveller Universe

[Timerover51]

MY HERETICAL TRAVELLER UNIVERSE

Some formal musings on my concept of a Traveller Universe, more than a tad heretical with respect to canon.

Aliens: There are no K’kree or Hivers. The Aslan are genetically modified Terran lions courtesy of the Ancients, who were fooled by their social behavior on the African savannah into thinking that they would make good servants. As carnivores, the food requirement rapidly became a problem, as did the territorial drive of both the males and females. The maximum density of population on Aslan planets is 5 per square mile or 2 per square kilometer of land surface. (This is a lot denser than actual Terran populations in African national parks). They fare poorly on non-earthlike planets and fragment even worse than the Vargr. They control a significantly smaller volume of space than per canon, and are much less of a threat than per canon. They do make good mercenaries, but victory dinners featuring their former employers as the main course are not unheard of at all.

The Vargr as per the standard Traveller version, but planetary populations again are lower than humans, and limited on non-earthlike planets. The Ancients did a fair amount of terraforming for the home planets of the Aslan and Vargr, considerably more than they did on Vland.

The Droyne are around, keeping a low profile, but handled with caution by every one. They have access to some Ancient technology, and will use it if pushed. They are actively seeking out Chirper populations and bringing them into the full Droyne community.

 

[Timerover51]

Humans: With respect to human types, there are no Zhodani (two human groups modified by the Ancients is one too many, plus I am not a fan of psionics at all as used in the game), and no Sword Worlders as depicted in canon (regretfully, but I cannot get a bunch of Icelandic-speaking Terrans to the Spinward Marches in any sort of comprehensible way).

There is something calling itself the Imperium centered on Capitol in what is called the Core Sector, with an effective radius of control of about 30 parsecs. There is another Imperium centered on Vland, which contests control of the intervening space with the Core Imperium. The Vland Imperium very much concerned with racial purity, and views any Solomani blood as contamination. DNA testing is mandatory.

The Spinward Marches are just that, the frontier area. Lip service is paid to Vland, but no effective control is possible, and the March worlds pretty much view the Imperium as something so far away as to be meaningless. Local confederations of planets exist, and you periodically have someone try to transform one of them into an Empire. That is not viewed with favor by the overall community.

The Terran Confederation is centered on Terra, and also has effective control out to about 30 parsecs or so. The Imperium never conquered Terra, and disintegrated in the attempt to do so. The Terrans have fanned out throughout what canon calls the Solomani Rim, settled by various groups seeking to run their own affairs. Think of planets called New Texas, New Quebec, New Alaska, New Boston, New Berkeley, etc. I can put the Icelandic-speaking Sword Worlders in this area, roughly between the Terran planets and the Aslan area, happily raiding both.

 

[Timerover51]

Shipbuilding: With respect to ship and small craft building, for now I am using Classic for interstellar ship building, while I work up a much better way of building small craft to make them more affordable. For the purposes of figuring cargo, the average ship can carry 5 tons mass per Traveller dTon, while reinforced ships can carry 15 tons mass per Traveller dTon. The reinforced ships will tend to be bulk carriers. For the power plant, the standard of 10 tons of Liquid Hydrogen will provide power for average operations for a year, regardless of the size of the plant. For the Jump Drive, figure 0.1 times the ship tonnage in Traveller dTons, regardless of the length of the jump, and for ships over 500 dTons, figure 0.1 times the tonnage of the ship for Maneuver Drive fuel.

Still working on a more satisfactory shipbuilding sequence along with more realistic expenses. I am thinking of nasty things like insurance and much more realistic maintenance costs, like about 5% of the cost of the ship per year.

 

[whulorigan]

Other than the Droyne and Terran-derived species (hominine or otherwise), do you use any other sapient alien races?
Do you use any material from the 2300AD Universe? It seems like some of that material would mesh with your sci-fi preferences rather nicely.

 

[samuelvss]

Other than the Droyne and Terran-derived species (hominine or otherwise), do you use any other sapient alien races?
Do you use any material from the 2300AD Universe? It seems like some of that material would mesh with your sci-fi preferences rather nicely.

I was thinking that, from another thread. Harder science fiction. I love the CT OTU, but it is about role playing, and the fact that the "science" is stuck somewhere between 1889 and 2300 bothers me not a whit. (Or is it "Wit"....) I like to read both for entertainment and inspiration.

 

[Timerover51]

Other than the Droyne and Terran-derived species (hominine or otherwise), do you use any other sapient alien races?
Do you use any material from the 2300AD Universe? It seems like some of that material would mesh with your sci-fi preferences rather nicely.

I have never seen, read, or otherwise had any contact with the 2300AD Universe, so any resemblance in any form is strictly coincidental. If that is not a sufficient disclaimer to avoid copyright issues, then I may have to go back to the drawing board. As I have a Traveller license now, I was thinking of publishing this.

As for other sapient aliens, I am painting broad strokes here, not planet by planet details. Yes, there will be some, but not current space-faring ones. The ones that are in canon, like the Vegans, I am not worried about. There will be additional prior space-faring races in addition to the Ancients, but more out to the Rim. And the fabric of space gets thin in spots out there.

 

[samuelvss]

I have never seen, read, or otherwise had any contact with the 2300AD Universe, so any resemblance in any form is strictly coincidental.

It's not the resemblance in your material, but philosophy that I was talking about. 2300AD was GDW, and now Mongoose is doing it, as a subset of their Traveller (another milieu??); under GDW it was always a strictly seperate game, like 1889. I haven't seen any of the 2300 material since it was GDW, but it was much more clearly harder science fiction. I have browsed a few of the Colonial Times online, to look for Traveller material. My point was that if that is the direction you are thinking in, you might get something out of it.

 

[salochin999]

Having three smaller Imperiums is interesting.

 

[Timerover51]

There are a number of minor groups as well, but I figure that those can be left up to the Game Master. The Darrians are still around as well.

 

[Timerover51]

Finances in a Heretical Universe

For Interstellar Trade, the Imperial Credit is still used, but it is on a Gold Standard. For the Terran area, the Terran Credit is valued at 400 Credits to the troy ounce of Gold, or 12,860 Credit per Kilogram of Gold. The Capitol/Core Imperium, which calls itself the 3rd Imperium, pegs its Credit at 12,500 Credit per Kilogram of Gold, or 12.5 Credit per Gram. The Vland imperium, because of it relative closeness to the 3rd Imperium, does likewise. The Terran or Imperial Credit is often referred to as the Interstellar Credit.

Large denomination Credit notes are coded with a complex series of Carbon-14 markings as part of the plastic, and these are keyed to the Serial Number series. Major banks and planetary treasuries are supplied with the codes to each Serial series to verify authenticity. This is used primarily for large denomination notes of 10,000 Credits or larger. Gold can be demanded as payment at the above rate as well. Smaller denomination bills and coins are also marked with Carbon-14 on a standard basis by year, and routinely checked at banks and treasuries for the correct decay rate based on the year of issue. Counterfeiting is extremely difficult, short of having the assistance of a major government, but is occasionally used in wartime. Local currencies are pegged to the Credit either directly or through the use of an equivalent Gold Standard. The typical rate of exchange from Gold to Silver is One ounce or gram of Gold to 80 ounces or grams of Silver.

As lower Tech level planets, from 1 to 5, typically use a metallic-backed currency, they actually have a favorable exchange rate to the Interstellar Credit, as their currency is valued at a rate of around 20 to 40 local credits (note, local currency may be called by a variety of terms) to the ounce of Gold. Local terms for money may be Dollar, Pound, Franc, Peso, Guilder, Florin, Thaler, Ruble, or Ducat, among others. Local exchanges rates from Silver to Gold may be significantly different from the Interstellar standard, and make for interesting speculation and smuggling possibilities.

 

[leo knight]

I would say not heresy, but Burgess Shale, in the spirit of that wonderful essay at Freelance Traveller. I would love to see a map!

 

[Timerover51]

I would say not heresy, but Burgess Shale, in the spirit of that wonderful essay at Freelance Traveller. I would love to see a map!

What do you mean when you say that you "would love to see a map"?

 

[Jame]

I think he wants to see where the planets and political boundaries are.

I kinda like the idea of having Vegans around in this, though I would suggest as a buffer and client state of the Core Imperium - maybe they got their jump tech from there.

 

[WistfulD]

Why the focus on a gold-based currency? Do you think space mining will make gold a viable currency backer again?

 

[Timerover51]

I think he wants to see where the planets and political boundaries are.

I kinda like the idea of having Vegans around in this, though I would suggest as a buffer and client state of the Core Imperium - maybe they got their jump tech from there.

As far as planets, I assume that Game Masters and players will use the Traveller Map for what is called the Imperium space and Aslan areas (though those should be shrunk to focus on near-Terran planets). The only new areas I am thinking of will be to Rimward of the Terran Confederation and Solomani area.

As for boundaries, I think that those should be up to the Game Master, as long as he/she keeps in mind the roughly 30 parsec limit to effective control. The more non-Imperial areas the better.

As for the Vegans, assume that they acquired Jump Drive courtesy of a mis-Jumped Vland warship or commercial vessel and proceed from there. Besides, if ship plans are as cheap as canon states, those should be circulating extremely widely.

 

[rancke]

As for boundaries, I think that those should be up to the Game Master...

It always is, anyway. If you have made up maps for yourself and don't mind sharing, you give our hypothetical referee the option of saving himself some work by using your maps. But if he doesn't like your version, he's under no obligation to use it. He can just make up his own, same as if you hadn't posted any maps in the first place.

(Of course, if you haven't made any maps yourself, no one could expect you to sit down and do them just to save someone else a bit of work.)


Hans

 

[leo knight]

What do you mean when you say that you "would love to see a map"?

As others deduced, I would love to see a map with boundaries the way you propose. As you point out, it would be a relatively easy DIY project, using your guidelines. Unfortunately, I only have access to a public computer, so I don't have access to even MS Paint . I have fond memories of a long ago(1980?) edition of the Different Worlds gaming magazine, with an article by Marc Miller himself describing his Imperium setting, complete with a black and white sketch map of the known universe. It was the first time I had ever seen it mapped. I took great pleasure in locating new sectors and subsectors as they were published. Maps, glorious maps! So maybe I'll just have to go old school and (gasp, horror!) draw one for myself.

 

[Timerover51]

As others deduced, I would love to see a map with boundaries the way you propose. As you point out, it would be a relatively easy DIY project, using your guidelines. Unfortunately, I only have access to a public computer, so I don't have access to even MS Paint . I have fond memories of a long ago(1980?) edition of the Different Worlds gaming magazine, with an article by Marc Miller himself describing his Imperium setting, complete with a black and white sketch map of the known universe. It was the first time I had ever seen it mapped. I took great pleasure in locating new sectors and subsectors as they were published. Maps, glorious maps! So maybe I'll just have to go old school and (gasp, horror!) draw one for myself.

Probably the easiest way for me to do something like that would be to take one of the maps from MegaTraveller or maybe Classic, scan it into my computer, clean out the old boundaries, and then draw in new boundaries freehand. Not sure if that would be allowed under a Traveller license. I do need to get the Piper-Norton subsectors into a more finished state.

 

[aramis]

Probably the easiest way for me to do something like that would be to take one of the maps from MegaTraveller or maybe Classic, scan it into my computer, clean out the old boundaries, and then draw in new boundaries freehand. Not sure if that would be allowed under a Traveller license. I do need to get the Piper-Norton subsectors into a more finished state.

[m;] yes, it is within fair use, provided the usual FFE dislaimer and copyright is noted. [/m;] Counts as derivative work.

 

[Timerover51]

[m;] yes, it is within fair use, provided the usual FFE dislaimer and copyright is noted. [/m;] Counts as derivative work.

Are you an authorized agent of Marc/Avery, the copyright holder of record?