Be Vewwy Quiet, I'm Hunting Chirpers

[Nathan Brazil]

"If it has stats, it can be killed" - Ancient Gamer Proverb

If they were "just" animals, I could give them some hits, use the Animal Behaviors table, post this thread in Bestiary and be done with it. But every article I have read goes on about how they are "semi-sentient", but (so far) no stats. So, are there any published articles amongst the various versions of the game that gave actual stats or gaming terms to Chirpers? If not, what does this "semi-sentient" mean, in TRAVELLER game terms?

Whether as part of some oyntrip vs oyntrip grudge match, a Solomani trying to increase Party and/or make use of a Safari Ship, a bitter, lovelorn, spiteful Geonee with no Chirp (Chip) on his shoulder, or me tired of seeing similar artwork, I'm looking to roast some Chirpers.

 

[Garnfellow]

"If it has stats, it can be killed" - Ancient Gamer Proverb

If they were "just" animals, I could give them some hits, use the Animal Behaviors table, post this thread in Bestiary and be done with it. But every article I have read goes on about how they are "semi-sentient", but (so far) no stats. So, are there any published articles amongst the various versions of the game that gave actual stats or gaming terms to Chirpers? If not, what does this "semi-sentient" mean, in TRAVELLER game terms?

Whether as part of some oyntrip vs oyntrip grudge match, a Solomani trying to increase Party and/or make use of a Safari Ship, a bitter, lovelorn, spiteful Geonee with no Chirp (Chip) on his shoulder, or me tired of seeing similar artwork, I'm looking to roast some Chirpers.

In MgT they are statted as animals in Solomani Front and probably other places as well.

 

[mike wightman]

They are not semi-sentient. They are fully sentient. The descriptions of limited intelligence and semi-sentience are not to be taken at face value - they are a reflection of the usual human racism prevalent in the Third Imperium.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

They are not semi-sentient. They are fully sentient. The descriptions of limited intelligence and semi-sentience are not to be taken at face value - they are a reflection of the usual human racism prevalent in the Third Imperium.

In MgT they are statted as animals in Solomani Front and probably other places as well.

The most recent write up on Droyne in Mongoose's Aliens of Charted Space Volume 4 brings up the Imperium's declaration that they are "intelligent" but "protected", with even variations of Chipers noted, but no stats. As far as the human opinion goes, in Solomani Front (thanks Garnfellow) the description of are Chirpers set as is:

ANIMAL Chirper HITS 9 SPEED 9m
SKILLS Athletics (dexterity) 2, Melee 0, Recon 1, Stealth 2, Survival 1
ATTACKS Claws (1D)
TRAITS Small (-1)
BEHAVIOUR Omnivore, Gatherer
Chirpers are small bird-like humanoids with vestigial wings and a reptilian tail, massing about 25kg and omnivorous in nature. They are semi-intelligent and capable of learning a few simple Anglic phrases, although they mangle pronunciation horribly. Among themselves they communicate with bird-like chirps, hence their human name.

Not the one I was hoping for, but I was looking for a gaming stats answer primarily. Not quite satisfied as their psionic "invisibility" is not mentioned... Mike, do you recall any writeups of stats for Chirpers in non-animal terms?

 

[Spinward Flow]

So, are there any published articles amongst the various versions of the game that gave actual stats or gaming terms to Chirpers?

LBB A2 Research Station Gamma, p5 and p38-39.
The key point that needs to be understood is that Chirpers are actually Droyne without caste (meaning the Coyns ritual).

So what you're essentially looking for actually comes from LBB A3 Twilight's Peak, p58 when it comes to stats.

For human UPPs, you roll 2D six times.
For Droyne (and thus, Chirpers), you roll 1D five times (strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, sense).

Droyne with caste get a "social standing" stat of 1-6 (denoting the 6 castes) ... but Chirpers have no caste (by definition) and thus get a "social standing" stat of 0. Also note that the sense stat is a measure of psionic potential(!).

If you can access it, I would also recommend CT AM5 Droyne as a resource concerning Chirpers.

every article I have read goes on about how they are "semi-sentient"

They are not semi-sentient. They are fully sentient. The descriptions of limited intelligence and semi-sentience are not to be taken at face value - they are a reflection of the usual human racism prevalent in the Third Imperium.

@mike wightman is completely correct here.
The "semi-sentient" label is used against Chirpers to justify conventional wisdom/prejudices that humans hold against them.

In fact, it would be fair to draw a behavioral/attitude analogy between Crows and Chirpers.
Both are "shunned" by human society.
Both (crows and chirpers) are ACTUALLY quite intelligent ... but it makes humans "feel better" to think that crows are "just animals" rather than accepting them as thinking socialized creatures with their own form of intelligence and society.

If you actually need to generate Chirpers as characters (NPCs), one way to do so (house rule option ahead!) would be to roll stats as a Droyne, avoid the Coyns ritual for determining caste ... and then use the Barbarian career from LBB S4 Citizens of the Imperium instead to determine what individual Chirpers have "done with their lives" before being encountered by PCs. Note that Droyne (and thus, Chirper) aging is QUITE different from human aging!

 

[bookwyrm]

Races in the Gateway PDF

Hunter, I've noticed a few inconsistencies in the presentation of racial stats in the Gateway PDF and in other D20 and T20 products. I will specifically address the ability score modifications in this post. In the D20 System, ability score modifiers are given in mulitples of two, specifically...

www.travellerrpg.com

Check out the Chirpers in the post. With Gateway to Destiny, their stats would all be 3d6 -4 with Edu & Soc being 0. Base Speed 9 meters. Excellent senses for +2 Spot checks. Can become invisible at will, but can be seen while invisible if someone is using video or other indirect means to view them.

It seems they tend towards a low tech lifestyle. If the tech level is low enough, they can access the Barbarian Class even though not meeting the Class requirements. (Page 28 of G2D)

As far as the OP is concerned, they are sentient enough to make use of the home field advantage, and unless they have zero interaction with other sentients, will be aware of higher tech 'stuff' used by those sentients. Classes for Chirpers would be those useable by a low tech society.

From what I've read around Traveller, Chirpers are usually around TL 1-3, with 0, 4+ being rare?

 

[Timerover51]

The description of Chirpers from Adventure 2: Research Station Gamma.

As a rough approximation, Chiree could be classified as UPP 346540, with a few exceptions. First, the creature said it dove into the icy waters around the prison and swam for some time; that would indicate a high endurance, or some special biological mechanisms. Second, it is difficult to truly evaluate the alien's intelligence because it does not have a total grasp of language, and is still only a child.

Description from Library Data: A-N

Chirper: Semi-intelligent minor race native to Vanejen (0709 C686854-5 Rich)vin Rhylanor subsector in the Spinward Marches. Previously with a wide range, they have been systematically reduced to a few scattered groups in marginal territories.
Chirpers are omnivore/gatherers in the 25 kilogram class. Living in small groups with limited social organization, they follow age-old patterns of gathering fruits and berries in the wild. Chirpers are intelligent to a point, and have been known to speak. Their intelligence is more of a rudimentary cunning, devoted to stealing shiny objects or intriguing gadgets. Since this is usually sets of keys, or shiny coins, or other small valuable items, humans on Vanejen have never reacted well to the chirpers.
Finally, chirpers are extremely swift, much more so than their size or built would indicate. They can dash and dart about unseen, if they care to. It is nearly impossible to catch a chirper.

As there is a description of the Droyne in the Library Data as well, the second clearly reflects biases of the Imperium. It is hard to see how the Chirpers would not be immediately connected to the Droyne.

 

[Spinward Flow]

It is hard to see how the Chirpers would not be immediately connected to the Droyne.

Actually, it's quite easy to see how Chirpers would not be immediately connected to the Droyne ... when researchers are blinded by prejudice.

We (as gamers) know the link, but then we have access to information that the "average imperial citizen" does not.
Think about how long it took the rest of humaniti to recognize Terra and the Solomani as the "original" humans that got seeded around Charted Space (and beyond) by the Ancients in the OTU.

• -2431 Solomani discover jump drive
• 114 Solomani Hypothesis proposed

By my count, that's ~2545 years between when the Solomani go interstellar until someone even (correctly) theorizes that "Hey, wait a minute..." about all the various human species (major and minor) scattered around Charted Space.

It then isn't until after 588 that a scientific expedition gets sent to Terra to confirm the Solomani Hypothesis linking all of the scattered branches of humaniti together.



Now ask yourself ... how much academic research has been put into understanding the Droyne ... really ... as a xenoculture and xenospecies?
Follow up that question with the realization that Vanejen was colonized by Solomani settlers prior to the Long Night and that during the Long Night the tech level regressed back to low tech barbarism (among the humans).

Point being, there is every reason to think that Vanejen natives have NO IDEA that Chirpers are actually Droyne Without Caste ... and even if they did, they probably wouldn't care, because old prejudices die hard.

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

It was always widely known among the Solomani, and wherever or whenever they were dominant (such as during the height of the Rule of Man).

Later on, such as during the Long Night, the knowledge of Terra as the cradle of humaniti was not so much forgotten as it was dismissed as Solomani propaganda. The rise of the Third Imperium and the subsequent 588 Terra expedition was less about discovery than it was about confirming that the political and social realities no longer favored whatever other pet fringe theories the non Solomani have cooked up about their origins.

Except the Geonee, I suppose. Nothing will convince them of anything other than what they already know for themselves, Terran monkey men bedamned.

 

[mike wightman]

The "secret" of the Ancients was revealed to the game meta far too soon IMHO. Mongoose has completely retconned the Ancients - more than Grandfather survived the Ancients war for example which goes against CT canon statements for example - but they are still Droyne.

So my take is a little different.

This area of the galaxy is an experiment be older races in more distant regions of the galaxy.
The chirpers are one example of a sentient, psionic race that evolved in this part of the galaxy
The chirpers existed before the Droyne
Grandfather was an uplifted chirper, was this by an external agency or happenstance mutation?
He learned to augment himself and introduced the means by which other chirpers could become augmented, these were his children and grandchildren, the bulk of the population are still chirper.

There is a lot more...

 

[aramis]

"If it has stats, it can be killed" - Ancient Gamer Proverb

If they were "just" animals, I could give them some hits, use the Animal Behaviors table, post this thread in Bestiary and be done with it. But every article I have read goes on about how they are "semi-sentient", but (so far) no stats. So, are there any published articles amongst the various versions of the game that gave actual stats or gaming terms to Chirpers? If not, what does this "semi-sentient" mean, in TRAVELLER game terms?

Whether as part of some oyntrip vs oyntrip grudge match, a Solomani trying to increase Party and/or make use of a Safari Ship, a bitter, lovelorn, spiteful Geonee with no Chirp (Chip) on his shoulder, or me tired of seeing similar artwork, I'm looking to roast some Chirpers.

In CT AM Droyne, it notes "Chirper intelligence is at the low end of the scale and ranges from a few points above animal levels to a few points below average human." the module also gives attribute gen: "Roll personal characteristics (1D): strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, and sense. Initial caste is 0 (uncasted)"

The one in Adv3 RSG is given a UPP consistent with AM Droyne - Str/Dex/End/Int/Sense/Caste... 346540 ... and notes he's a child.
With Sense 4, not 6+, he's limited to invisibility and homing abilities - AM Droyne notes that all, including uncasted, have those level 0 psi.
The AM does not provide careers for uncasted.
I'd give NPCs 1d6 + terms to max (2×terms) +1

As with Mike, I don't presume the Droyne were the fist starfaring race. The ones resposible for Shadows' pyramid are, IMTU, of similar age, and wiped out locally by the Droyne. (They fled past the now Vargr extents...)

 

[bookwyrm]

what does this "semi-sentient" mean, in TRAVELLER game terms?

Related
Why are humans so much more intelligent than other species?
We actually aren’t individually. For example a US scientist who works in the national parks said that it was extremely difficult to design bear-proof rubbish bins because there was “a considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists”.

by Claire Jordan.

I was looking around for a definition for semi-intelligence and found this. Then I realized that I need to look for semi-sentience, and that was a (can of worms emoji).

In Post #6 it shows that Chirpers can have an Intelligence range of 3 - 14 (3d6 - 4, minimum of 3) giving an average Int. of 5 - 8 (average for humans is 9 - 12).

in the T20 PHB pg. 400 animals can have a range of 'intelligence' from 1 - 4.

My personal thought on this is that sentient beings with an Int. of 5 or lower might have a learning/mental disability making it difficult for them to process information as efficiently as others with an Int. of 6+. From a Human POV, Chirpers might be 'semi-sentient', but from a Chirper POV, Humans might be considered 'super-sentient'. I guess semi-sentience is that grey area between animal intelligence and sophant intelligence.

Going back to the OP, you could hunt Chirpers for whatever reason, but what happens when the Chirpers start hunting YOU! Either to take you out as a danger or bring you back for Chirper Justice. Also, Chirpers are psionic, which could make hunting/running from them a little... interesting?

Last, have you ever checked out the Traveller Map and looked at worlds with Chirpers? My thoughts about what I see are that on most worlds, especially those where Chirpers are the minority, they are hunter gatherers or low tech agriculture. On the few worlds where they are the dominant race, there may be a few worlds where the Chirpers are up to middle technology.

 

[kilemall]

A free trader with a hold full of Coynes and play vids/holo AI of the ceremony could cause serious interstellar trouble.

 

[mike wightman]

I once showed a youtube clip of a puzzle to my top set class and asked them how to solve it.
Not one of them could.

Then I played the video of a crow solving the problem.

As to the problem solving skills of the octopus...

but then they are alien observation units.

 

[Spinward Flow]

A free trader with a hold full of Coynes and play vids/holo AI of the ceremony could cause serious interstellar trouble.

It's not just the items, although the Coyns ARE a necessary "material component" to the ceremony ... it's the psionic interaction with the one(s) overseeing the ritual. The Coyns themselves are merely a part of what is necessary. The presence of psionics who can "unlock" the power of the Coyns in order to use them properly to caste Chirpers into Droyne is the other piece of the puzzle.

It's not a chicken vs egg kind of problem ... you need both the chicken AND the egg at the same time (so to speak) for the Coyns ceremony to "work" on Chirpers.

LBB A2 states in print that the tribe of Chirpers have MULTIPLE sets of Coyns (which they are understandably reluctant to part with) ... but which they have lost the ability to use, since there are no Droyne with caste around to administer the Coyns ceremony to bestow caste upon the Chirpers of the tribe.

Now, if a Droyne oytrip were to go there as a family and educate the Chirpers in how to use the Coyns, giving the Chirpers caste and making them Droyne ... that would work! But a bag of Coyns and a "how do" trideo lesson will not do the trick (because trideo is not psionic).

Additional details about the Coyns ceremony can be found in CT AM 5 Droyne.

 

[Grav_Moped]

A free trader with a hold full of Coynes and play vids/holo AI of the ceremony could cause serious interstellar trouble.

It's not just the items, although the Coyns ARE a necessary "material component" to the ceremony ... it's the psionic interaction with the one(s) overseeing the ritual. The Coyns themselves are merely a part of what is necessary. The presence of psionics who can "unlock" the power of the Coyns in order to use them properly to caste Chirpers into Droyne is the other piece of the puzzle.

Aw, you're no fun.

I really like the idea of someone just wandering around and randomly uplifting groups of Chirpers as a hobby.

Bonus points for them eventually realizing that it wasn't them who came up with the idea of doing this as a hobby in the first place...

 

[mike wightman]

A Droyne group could do this.

So could "human" agents Of Grandfather or one of the others.

Don and I were discussing Droyne - he was writing a book on them I think.

A couple of the ideas I tossed into the mix...

The Droyne casting ceremony taps into the psionic reality of the Ancient era, and guides the activation of the chirper DNE to metamorph into Droyne.

Droyne do not fear death because they know their identity and memories goes to this psionic reality upon death.

There are other psionic rituals that can be performed, one of these allows contact with "Ancients", another is able to build stuff in the psionic reality and teleport it to ours.

 

[BlackBat242]

Aw, you're no fun.

I really like the idea of someone just wandering around and randomly uplifting groups of Chirpers as a hobby.

Bonus points for them eventually realizing that it wasn't them who came up with the idea of doing this as a hobby in the first place...

>Looks around for hivers in the corners.<
>With mops.<

 

[kilemall]

I once showed a youtube clip of a puzzle to my top set class and asked them how to solve it.
Not one of them could.

Then I played the video of a crow solving the problem.

As to the problem solving skills of the octopus...

but then they are alien observation units.

My guess is Pentapods re octopus.

 

[whartung]

I really like the idea of someone just wandering around and randomly uplifting groups of Chirpers as a hobby.

That's right up there with some Puppeteer randomly Tasping people in the park.