Continued from previous message.
2) The Ancients and their shenanigans
The next question is, did the Ancients transplant any sapient species to the world?
HUMANS
The Ancients transplanted populations of
Homo sapiens antiquus to more than a hundred worlds. On a large number of these the populations survived down into historic times. Some became extinct between the time the Vilani first invented jump drive and the Classic Era. Some became so intermixed with Vilani that they ceased to have a distinct existence. Others simply died out. Some were exterminated by the Vilani.
By 1100 there were 49 human races (including the three major ones) known to Imperial scientists. At least one more (the Loeskalth) is known to exist, but the news has not yet been accepted by the established scientific community of the Imperium. Of those 50, 28 or more have been mentioned in canonical works. Don't waste any of the remaining 'slots' on throwaway references. Feel free to introduce another Minor Human Race, but be sure you really need one, make it a good one, and do a proper writeup. Also, 50 human races in Charted Space works out as roughly one per sector, but that's an average. A sector doesn't absolutely HAVE to have a minor human race and a sector could concievably have more than one (Reavers' Deep and the Trojan Reach each has THREE!). Just bear in mind that if you do introduce more than one to a sector, you're well over your quota. Don't do it unless you have a very good reason.
90% of all known homeworlds of human races, surviving and extinct, lie within a kidney-shaped area that stretches from the Spica sector to trailing to the Eiaplial sector to Spinward. This means, of course, that 10% lies outside this area, so if you really need a minor human race elsewhere, go ahead. And if you get far enough away from the Imperium, you can even have MHRs that are not part of the canonical figure.
[Map]
The following minor and major human races are known to exist:
Code:
Name Homeworld Taxonomic name[*] References
Answerin Answerin/0431 Vland Homo sapiens ? [TD5:40; AR5:
17-23; V&V:98]
Ayansh'i Ghost/3115 Reavers' Deep <Hominid> [RD:49]
Azhanti Irale/2315 Antares <Hominid> [AR5:24-29]
Cafadians Cafad/3135 Corridor ? [TD3:47]
Cassilldan ? ? [S&A:24]
Darrians Darrian/0624 Sp. Marches Homo sapiens darrianus [AR5:30-49;
JTAS14:16-18]
Dynchia Melantris/Leonidae Homo dynchia [AR5:50-59;
JTAs24:44-48]
Floriani Floria/0213 Trojan Reach Homo floriani [AR5:60-67]
Geonee Shiwonee/1430 Massilia Homo sapiens geonensis [AR5:68-78;
TD11:8]
Halkan Halka/0510 Trojan Reach [TD20:8]
Iltharans Drexilthar/1826 Rvrs' Deep Homo sapiens ilthara [AR5:79-85]
Irhadre Chanad/0935 Lishun Homo sapiens ? [AR5:86-92]
Kargol Kargol/1205 Leonidae <Hominid> [AR5:93-102]
Loeskalth Somewhere in Gushemege ? [SR2:28, 45]
Luriani Daramm/0821 Ley Homo luriani [AR5:103-112;
T20:26]
Murrissi Coreward Hierate ? [S&A:49]
Solomani Terra/Solomani Rim Homo sapiens sapiens [S&A:2-42]
Suerrat Ilelish/2907 Ilelish ? [JTAS26:4-5]
Sydites Khuur/ Homo ? [T20:27-28]
Syleans Capital/2118 Core) Homo sapiens ?
Tapazmal Dlaekan/3124 Trojan Reach ? [TD20:27]
Thaggeshi Thaggesh/2530 Vland ? [V&V:18]
Vilani Vland/Vland Homo sapiens vlandensis [V&V:2-39]
Vlazhdumecta Afachtiabr ? [SR2:53]
Yileans Gashikan/2732 Gashikan Homo sapiens ? [AR5:135-142]
Zhodani Zhdant/ Homo sapiens zhdotlas [JTAS9:8-11;
JTAS23:42-44;
RC:59-]
<unnamed> Rejhappur/1218 Rvrs' Deep ? [RD:59]
<unnamed> Urunishu/? Antares ? [LDAM:37]
[*] Explanation of terms:
Homo sapiens <name>: The race is a Human subspecies with the indicated canonical taxonomic name.
Homo sapiens ?: The race is canonically a Human subspecies, but its taxonomic name has not been mentioned.
Human: From the description of the race there seems no reason why it should not be a Human subspecies (no major differences mentioned), but it may be a Hominid race.
Homo <name>: The race is a Hominid species (other than Homo sapiens) with the indicated canonical taxonomic name.
Homo ?: The race is a Hominid species (other than Human), but its taxonomic name has not been mentioned.
Hominid: From the description of the race it seems unlikely that it should be a Human subspecies (major differences from the root stock).
?: There is little or no description of this race [AFAIK; I only have access to 80-90% of the relevant material].
Note that the only Minor Human Race in the Spinward Marches is the Darrians. Ignore the references in
Behind the Claw to three other MHRs: the unnamed race on 769-422 (Spinward Marches 0240), the Traltar on Thralta (Spinward Marches 2834), and the Tondouli of Tondoul (Spinward Marches 0739).
DROYNE AND CHIRPERS
The Ancients transplanted populations of Droyne to an unspecified number of worlds. After the Final War, these populations slowly began to decline as the Droyne on all these worlds began to lose their ability to caste. Uncasted Droyne become
Chirpers. By -75,000 all known Droyne worlds were in serious declines. At that point Yaskoydray made a tour of (all?) the Droyne worlds and introduced the practice of using
coyns to help with the casting ritual (coyns were known to the Droyne of the Ancient Era but not used to caste back then). On about 20 of the worlds the practice eventually took hold (Yaskoydray visited on more than one occasion. Presumably the coyn ceremony didn't 'take' with all twenty Droyne worlds right from the start. The last 'tour' Yaskoydray made took place around -1000); the rest remained Chirper worlds. Note that there are two types of Chirpers: those who can still caste if taught how to use the coyns and those who have lost the ability to caste no matter what. By now most remaining Chirpers are of the second variety, but there are exceptions.
Note: Imperial scientists do not know about Yaskoydray (except as an ubiquituous Droyne myth). They believe that one Droyne world developed both the novel use of the coyns and starfaring capability and spread the coyns to all the other Droyne worlds before abandoning starfaring once more.
Important note: Some of the dates given in MT material for Droyne evolution and for the history of the Ancients are wrong (Short version: The Ancient period runs from around -310,000 to around -290,000; any date that has Ancient activity before this time is wrong). These dates were used in the 1st edition of the GT corebook, but were corrected for the 2nd edition.
There exists a map showing principal Droyne and Chirper worlds in the Imperium. It is very large scale, however, and is furthermore demonstrably inaccurate in some cases (there are known Droyne and Chirper worlds that are not shown on the map).
[Corrected Map]
The following worlds are known to have Droyne and Chirper populations. The shaded sectors on the map may be assumed to be complete and accurate. Other sectors have not been described in enough detail to be sure.
Code:
Rill/1923 Corridor Chirpers [TD3:47]
Vanejen/3119 Sp. Mar. Chirpers [AM8:44-47]
More references: RC:50-58
VARGR
The only known Vargr homeworld is Lair. It is conceivable that other worlds had Vargr populations that either died out or were discovered by other Vargr who didn't realize this, but no such world has been described yet.
JTAS8:13-15; JTAS21:9-14; V&V:40-97
OTHER SPECIES
There are no canonical references to other sentient species being transplanted by the Ancients, but there's no reason why some shouldn't've been. Thus you may have a minor non-human race that got spread to one or more nearby worlds -- or to worlds at opposite ends of the Ancients' territory, for that matter. The Ancients may likewise have geneered other species -- either from other Terran animals or from animals from other worlds -- that either died out or just remained a hitherto unmentioned minor race.
TERRAFORMING
[The Ancients messed about a lot with terraforming.]
Continued in next message...
I'm sure Marc meant anywhere between 151.2 hours and 184.8 hours, averaging 168 hours. An average of 7 days, give or take some fudge factor for whatever reasons. I forget where (MT?) but I liked the 1D6 roll: 1 = 6 days, 2-5 = 7 days, 6 = 8 days (for it's simplicity and routine of 7 days).
