An old galaxy

[Thot]

Traveller's Third Imperium is old by human standards, but not as old as the galaxy itself - compared to what might have to be expected out there, it is a rather young institution.

For an upcoming campaign I plan to have the players be pushed from 22nd century Earth (which at the time is isolated and has had no first contact yet) into a really old galaxy, with interstellar empires whose history goes back a billion years or more. I make a few changes to the standard assumptions in Traveller on the technology side:

• instantaneous FTL, which can be triggered once local gravity is below roughly 8 m/s² (a number that increases as technology progresses), jump rating expresses jump distances on a logarithmic scale ranging from a few AU (jump 0) to a few hundred light years (jump 6) and requires no fuel, only energy and time to spin up the drive,
• no reactionless thrusters, no inertial compensators, and artifical non-spinning gravity is high technology), The prevalent form of maneuver drive is an electric propulsion that scales up with the available energy (so if the players find a better reactor for their ship, their drive becomes more efficient).
• because of the real phenomenon of quantum entanglement, FTL communication is available under certain circumstances).

Consequently, some known civilizations stretch not for thousands, but tens of thousands of light years. The whole galaxy is basically settled, with a few patches that have not been exploited yet for one or the other reason. The Sol system is in such a patch.

But hell, a billion years is... quite a long time. I don't want to fall into the trap of "and then nothing happened for twenty million years" that some fantasy settings seem to embrace, but of course it will be impossible to truly flesh out a billion years of history. I also don't want to introduce some kind of memory-deleting catastrophe before a certain point. It should truly be a billion years of known history. I'll probably draw very broad lines that become more detailed as the present approaches in the annals, with detailed episodes added when a given adventure warrants it.

A few core concepts:

• The First: A billion or so years ago, the very first interstellar civilization appeared. They and many of those that followed them are still around, as I don't buy into the "everything must die" meme for civilizations in this setting.
• Individual immortality and eternal youth are solved problems, even on pre-contact Earth. Basically any civilization that can jump to the stars can comparatively trivially solve the riddle of aging, and some species never had it to begin with. Of course, an individual's memory of an incident will become less and less accurate the more time passes. Someone who is a million years old will not know more things than someone who is a thousand years old, unless using technological aid. (I'll probably manage this rules-wise with some kind of upper cap on skill points, species-wide or even universal - learn more than that, and you forget other stuff).
• A multitude of civilizations and species. No single empire swallowed them all, never, after the initial appearance of the First. There were always (at least as long as anyone can remember or read in the galactic annals, see above) thousands of empires with tens of thousands of species. Part of the reason is the incredible complexity of massive star-spanning civilizations, which may lead to collapse and secession now and then, an inherent morality that effectively prevents highly developed species from committing genocide (most of the time), and of course the "lesser" (or better "later") species' will to survive and forge their own destiny.

So I am looking for inspiration, brainstorming, anything you might be thinking right now. Thanks for answering.

 

[egor045]

You have a milieu but you haven't mentioned a hook. What are the players' roles in this? Explorers? Diplomats? Fugitives?

This feels a bit like Mass Effect to me. You have well-established alien civilisations with upstart humans arriving on the scene, albeit without a 50000 year cycle of extinction and deus ex machina killer AIs. (Being like Mass Effect isn't a bad thing, I have a small stack of notes on how I might include Salarians in my TU)

The immortality aspect may have some big implications. Immortality suggests an indefinitely expanding population. What do all these people do? Is this a Culture-style post scarcity society? In that case your players could be the equivalent of Special Circumstances (as most immortals are content to fool around with hobbies and not become adventurers/murder hobos).

From a game mechanics perspective, I think you can do without detailed sector and subsector maps. The instantaneous FTL idea makes it difficult to produce enough maps, I think. Another option would be to scale sectors and subsectors up - each hex is (say) 20 parsecs across, with a bunch of uninhabited systems as well as the main system.

You're also going to need a lot of aliens. Keeping them distinct could be a challenge - I'd be reaching for Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation to help out here.

 

[Thot]

You have a milieu but you haven't mentioned a hook. What are the players' roles in this? Explorers? Diplomats? Fugitives?

Ah, right. Well, the player characters are the first humans to use a manned interstellar space ship. The United Nations Confederation High Commissioner for Space Exploration has sent interstellar probes to a number of systems and found a total of four life-bearing planets. On one of these, there are ruins, and the first manned mission's job is to investigate them. As Earth is in an uninhabited patch, there has been no contact to other aliens yet, so for the players, this starts as a human-only campaign.

My plan is that there will be a misjump or some other force that catapults them to the other side of the galaxy and the campaign will be to find the way home and learn about the galaxy in the process. (Which is why I mentioned time and energy as requirements for a jump - non-trivial amounts of time for jump preparation make the journey more interesting, as such preparations could, for example, be forcefully interrupted.) Initially, they will not even know their own position relative to Earth, and since no none out there knows Earth either, the search might keep them occupied for a while - and they are going to need the help of others along the way - help that, despite all the post-scarcity, will of course not come for free.

This feels a bit like Mass Effect to me. You have well-established alien civilisations with upstart humans arriving on the scene, albeit without a 50000 year cycle of extinction and deus ex machina killer AIs.

Not having such a cycle is instrumental to me. Mass Effect's method makes sure no one is too advanced, but I would like to explore how a galaxy will turn out where people are largely civilized and unwilling to exterminate anything, or to even intervene when someone does try to commit genocide. It just sounds... more realistic, or shall I say, more plausible that way.

The immortality aspect may have some big implications. Immortality suggests an indefinitely expanding population. What do all these people do? Is this a Culture-style post scarcity society? In that case your players could be the equivalent of Special Circumstances (as most immortals are content to fool around with hobbies and not become adventurers/murder hobos).

That is indeed likely. Ian Banks did have elements in his universe that I wouldn't want to have (namely, the "ascension" of entire civilizations into nothingness), but immortality and incredible wealth will be available for most sophonts, I would guess.

However, one thing will probably occupy any social sophont species: Politics. So post-scarcity doesn't mean people don't try to get more. More power, especially.

From a game mechanics perspective, I think you can do without detailed sector and subsector maps. The instantaneous FTL idea makes it difficult to produce enough maps, I think. Another option would be to scale sectors and subsectors up - each hex is (say) 20 parsecs across, with a bunch of uninhabited systems as well as the main system.

Indeed. As the whole galaxy is the stage, I could not possibly map 400 billion systems anyway. Instead, I will probably just offer coordinates of the system of the week whenever appropriate.

You're also going to need a lot of aliens. Keeping them distinct could be a challenge - I'd be reaching for Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation to help out here.

That's a great tip, just bought the PDF! Thanks!

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

some ideas:

initial separation:

the effect that threw them across the galaxy is, in fact, a well known phenomenon in the wider galaxy, related to some complex interactions between the local system's gravity and J space. its part of the reason that area has never been really colonised. the ruins were form a old research outpost that was studying the effect. a few of the most advanced races claim to know how to avoid it and can jump safely though the area, but getting them to tell the players will be a effort in itself.


working out the approximate relative position of earth wont be too hard, once they can talk to the locals. its really just a matter of finding an few objects in their map of the galaxy that is also on your map (for example, the Magellanic clouds, or the Andromeda galaxy), which would give you a reference point, and your sorted (at least to being able to say ("its that way, about a third of the way around the galaxy", which would be a start)
.

 

[Thot]

some ideas:

initial separation:

the effect that threw them across the galaxy is, in fact, a well known phenomenon in the wider galaxy, related to some complex interactions between the local system's gravity and J space. its part of the reason that area has never been really colonised. the ruins were form a old research outpost that was studying the effect. a few of the most advanced races claim to know how to avoid it and can jump safely though the area, but getting them to tell the players will be a effort in itself.[...]
.

That's a neat idea!

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

just a point I am sure you are aware of, but if your empires are millions or even billions of years old, your looking at a timescale where evolution is going to be a factor. their are going to be people born who are technically the same species as some of these super old people, but the sheer amount of generations between them means that they are, fundamentally, incompatible.

quickly checking on Wiki, humans and Neanderthals diverged approximately 400,000-800,000 years ago.


another factor you might want to consider is the natural attrition that any population suffers form general wear and tear. things like vehicle crashes, sports accidents, natural disasters and such will take a steady toll on any population, to the point where it might be medically possible to live almost forever, very few people actually do, just due to simple attrition and math (if you have, say, a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of dying in a crash of some sort, if your alive for thousands of years, even long shots like start to get increasingly likely to catch you eventually).

 

[mike wightman]

I would recommend several books to read before embarking on this:
Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Maker
and also Last and First Men
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men.

Srephen Baxter's Xeelee novels stretch from the beginning of the universe to the far far future
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeelee_Sequence

 

[flykiller]

What are the players' roles in this?

could they have any significant role? the setting is quite broad.

its part of the reason that area has never been really colonised.

or perhaps the reason why it _cannot_ be colonized by this menagerie of older races. the player characters could explore it as their representatives, and report back to them, and be taken to their leaders as honored ambassadors to the humans for these more ancient races ....

 

[Thot]

just a point I am sure you are aware of, but if your empires are millions or even billions of years old, your looking at a timescale where evolution is going to be a factor. their are going to be people born who are technically the same species as some of these super old people, but the sheer amount of generations between them means that they are, fundamentally, incompatible.

Indeed, although I'd expect that to happen a lot earlier in a galaxy where genetic engineering is a commonly known technique. That will likely be another reason why genocides are uncommon: What is a species anyway in such a galaxy? Aren't other qualities a lot more relevant than who you share your ancestors with?

[...]
another factor you might want to consider is the natural attrition that any population suffers form general wear and tear. things like vehicle crashes, sports accidents, natural disasters and such will take a steady toll on any population, to the point where it might be medically possible to live almost forever, very few people actually do, just due to simple attrition and math (if you have, say, a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of dying in a crash of some sort, if your alive for thousands of years, even long shots like start to get increasingly likely to catch you eventually).

Technically, the probability do die will not change over time, it is just that there are more rolls.

I would fully expect to have a few rare individuals who have been around ever since the First invented jump drive.

 

[Thot]

After having spent further thought on this setting:

About 10,000 planets have their own native form of starfaring intelligence. That means that, over the eons, more than 100,000 species will have evolved or be engineered, all of which are still around. The First have dozens of subspecies.

I am going to use existing Traveller species, too, albeit as relatively young actors on the interstellar stage (the Droyne, for instance, stay more or less the same, although their meddling with some other lifeforms 300,000 years ago is no secret, and they never visited Earth - they did create the Vargr, but not from Terran canines, but from a similar species on some distance world).

Tech levels will be mostly below 16. There may be small islands with higher tech, but few and far in between.

One general assumption I am making is that there is a natural tendency of large governmental bodies to split apart, which means there are virtually NO "11,000 world" empires. Even at TL16, the best one can hope for is a government of 4 fully developed planets (something like 1 trillion individuals), beyond that, poliical disturbances and ideological divergence get too uncontrollable. Some species might try to mitigate this with federation models, others with particularly rigid social orders, but in the end, the maximum size is just something one has to deal with.

So instead of an all-encompassing Imperium, there are tens of thousands of interstellar states throughout the galaxy, and they all come together in a loose association called the Galactic Assembly. That's much like the UN, though even less formal and even more teethless. It enforces few rules (genocide is universally banned, for instance, but wars are just shrugged at), and they do that with a courier network (composed of bases which largely maintain themselves through donations from surrounding governments) that also performs SAR duties, and the Galactic Bank Union, which mints the Galactic Credit, and unforgeable, physical currency that the bank guarantees you will always get at least 1 ton of methalox (methane/oxygen as rocket fuel) for a Credit. Their services, however, are not available to governments and individuals from governments who break the few rules that the Galactic Asembly has agreed on.

I believe this should make for a much more lively, adventurous and mutli-facetted game universe than the OTU. The search for players has begun.

 

[GypsyComet]

With the passage of so much time and a somewhat longer range FTL, you may see more selectiveness for settled worlds. While most of the thousands of species CAN settle on whatever rock they find in a system, most will keep moving until something comfortable is found. Life is too long for lumpy beds on forsaken rocks.

 

[Thot]

With the passage of so much time and a somewhat longer range FTL, you may see more selectiveness for settled worlds. While most of the thousands of species CAN settle on whatever rock they find in a system, most will keep moving until something comfortable is found. Life is too long for lumpy beds on forsaken rocks.

True. As it is a given that some parts haven't been settled even now, after a billion years, people will probably just see habitable worlds as something that's certainly somewhere out there for the taking, should the need arise.

I hope my explanation as to why empires don't rule the whole galaxy makes sense to my players once they encounter it...

 

[Adam Dray]

About 10,000 planets have their own native form of starfaring intelligence. That means that, over the eons, more than 100,000 species will have evolved or be engineered, all of which are still around.

Do you have rules for a decent AlienMaker?

 

[Thot]

Do you have rules for a decent AlienMaker?

I have, in the meantime, created the First's original stock using Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation. I am also going to use existing aliens from sources like the OTU in its variant forms or from literature here and there, and want to apply different systems (like GURPS Space or M-Space) for alien creation for varying results, to then port them over to the Mongoose Traveller (1st) rules set.

And of course, I am also quite open to suggested aliens from other people out (t)here.

 

[tjoneslo]

The other source you should read for this is David Brin's Uplift series (plural).

The interesting parts of this are:

The Library. Each race or set of races has their own government, but the library exists as a controlling force between them, enforcing specific rules. As the name implies it also has a galaxy wide library of information which it gives (most of) the information to each of the member races. It also serves as a cultural touch point for the long span of time (millions of years). For many of the species, the way the Library describes doing things is the only correct way of doing things and the Library has the correct answer to every question.

As the series name implies, the driving force behind what gives each race their importance is their performance of Uplifting other races. There is a whole Patron system around doing this. Your species uplifts another, the uplifted one owes you 100,000 years of duty. Successfully uplifting multiple races give you more prestige, and if the race's you've uplifted also do the same, it also gives more prestige. The book implies that the uplift is done via selective breeding and not genetic engineering, as it seems to take hundreds or thousands of years.

The Library has the ability to enforce fallow areas, sets of worlds to be left alone to evolve life for a few million years at a time. This allows the evolution of life forms that can be uplifted.

In the books, Terra was in one of these fallow areas, evolved their own life forms and when discovered they had uplifted chimps and dolphins. This makes them a Patron race, but without a Patron. A situation which had not existed for many millions of years. The political tensions were an interesting background for the series.

The older races, ones that had been around for a long time, would "retire". They would build an artificial habitat on the outer edges of the galaxy, powered by an artificial sun, and drift slowly into inter-galactic space. It was unknown if the members just died off while gardening, or actually ascended, and it really didn't matter.

There is a set of standardized languages used as communication between different races, based upon the different methods of communication (speech, whistling, sign language, flashing lights, scents, etc).

Outside of this there are a couple of things I would try and keep in mind.

Many stories about immortal beings describe the biggest challenge to them is boredom. So what do members of the society do to keep themselves occupied. From the descriptions of your setting, there isn't an ongoing galaxy wide crisis causing them all to focus on their simple survival.

There are a lot of problems which we can't solve easily, but can be solved by long term application of small amounts of force. For example, moving planets is generally considered impossible simply due to the energy requirements. But if you're willing to take 100,000 years to do so, the energy requirements are very possible. Terraforming is another project which may be possible. Building very large structures in orbit on on a planetary surface is also possible.

 

[tjoneslo]

Do you have rules for a decent AlienMaker?

I would offer GURPS: Uplift as an Alien Maker option.

The T5 Sophont builder rules are interesting, if scattered through the big book. I have a distillation of them if you are really interested.

 

[Thot]

The other source you should read for this is David Brin's Uplift series (plural).

I am aware of them. However, I want true uplifting to be an exception rather than a rule. Plus, Brin's galaxy is far more organized than I want for my setting. IMTU; peaceful coexistamce works (most of the time) because of self-organizing principles inherent to advanced civilizations, not because of some ancient ruleset.

Which offers opportunities for the occasional exception to the commonly encountered, and thus: Adventures.

[...]
The Library.
[:..]

The courier bases will probably fill in that role to some extend, though I only realized this now that you mentioned it. Thanks!

[...]
Many stories about immortal beings describe the biggest challenge to them is boredom.

I want to use the premise that no, there is no drawback to immortality, no dark side, no disadvantage. It is just better, and thus people work towards it. On Earth, the relevant discoveries happened in the 2030s (which is what some leading biologists believe to be a good prognosis, at about TL8), six decades before the invention of the FTL drive.

There are a lot of problems which we can't solve easily, but can be solved by long term application of small amounts of force. For example, moving planets is generally considered impossible simply due to the energy requirements. But if you're willing to take 100,000 years to do so, the energy requirements are very possible. Terraforming is another project which may be possible. Building very large structures in orbit on on a planetary surface is also possible.

True!

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

John, is that you?

My first thought was shades of Farscapce. (Which I love, so plus.)

Also, I like that you're going with a more enlightened tone. That and the no-drawbacks immortality. Interesting setting, good luck and have fun with that chronology. :CoW:

 

[Nathan Brazil]

For more aliens, you could dredge up FTL:2448 or better the Midnight At The Well of Souls RPG. Perhaps your galaxu has 1560 alien species

Being Markovian o:, of course I would bring that one up...:rofl:

 

[tjoneslo]

I am aware of them. However, I want true uplifting to be an exception rather than a rule. Plus, Brin's galaxy is far more organized than I want for my setting. IMTU; peaceful coexistamce works (most of the time) because of self-organizing principles inherent to advanced civilizations, not because of some ancient ruleset.

Which offers opportunities for the occasional exception to the commonly encountered, and thus: Adventures.

Given the small size of most of the empires, you mentioned four worlds / 1 trillion, I may go up to 100 worlds with a similar population limitation, there will be a number of extra-governmental organizations. You mentioned two: the Galactic Assembly and the Courier service. There will undoubtedly be others.

One immediate idea is mega-corprations. These large corporate entities serve markets across several empires, and broad swaths of space. I would think that if governments can't manage to keep a group larger that 1 trillion together, most of the corporations would limited to a similar size.

The interesting point here is you have governments competing over territory and populations. And the corporations competing over markets and resources. The idea here is to ensure there are more places for adventures to take place.