Blue Darrians
- Thread starter Dragoner
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Border Reiver
SOC-14 1K
Space 1999 episode featuring Joan Collins with the Darrians as an ethereal race of survivors from a dying world, Mission of the Darians
and the inspriation for the Space 1999 episode or rather refernce to the inspiration can be found here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/scotland_darien_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/scotland_darien_01.shtml
Yes, same fallen civilization theme.
Funny how I got the blue skin right too, now if only someone can explain the pointed ears. How does that work?
Funny too, doing a little research into elves, I realize once again I must have pulled them from my subconscious. Elves are ancient germanic and subterranean and generally dark, I remember hearing legends as a kid back home in Salzburgland; of course as a teenager I felt my people's culture as yodelling lederhosen wearers was like some horrible caricature of a culture. Though elves were there, and actually dark elves and black elves are from germanic/norse culture too. Doubt anyone here knows who Krampus is, sad too in that we all thought "drow" instead. The Blue Darrians fit perfectly in the theme of the area, as with the Sword Worlds being norse and tolkienish (and Tolkien drew heavily from saxon/norse mythos), so also the suggestion of Black Numenoreans fits well also.
As I have been getting older I have become more interested in the culture of my people and have done some art of the folkish tradition. The Goddess I have given them is also an art piece I did:
Looking at their origins and influence by solomani and sword wolders, it is really another perfect fit.
Very interesting, interesting too is that drow is a scottish word also, very odd scot connection here.
As far as I can see from the synopsis I've read, there is very little resemblance. Fallen civilization theme? The Darrians I've read about was back up and running before the Imperium got its act together.
I don't want to be rude, but so far that looks like pure undiluted piffle, sort of like those archeologists who try to prove that the Mayans were influenced by the ancient Egyptians because they both built pyramids.
Hans
Straight canon, the range of skin color that Darrians are said to have does not include blue. Also, none of the colonies (outposts) can have had enough population to maintain advanced technology after Darrian was destroyed. If they had, it wouldn't have taken 700 years for the first of them (Mire) to regain jump capacity.
Hans
I just bumped into this http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Starport/showlink.php?l=22
or more directly http://www.caddocourt.com/traveller/ 
or more directly http://www.caddocourt.com/traveller/ 
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
As BR already pointed out canon on the Darrians is already contradictory.
Let's face it - the cover of AM8 shows a space elf. Read the inside and it could almost be plagiarized from the D&D Elves gazetteer.
Their orchards equate nicely with the trees the D&D elves built their communities around etc.
And the physiology section positively screams D&D elf
Let's face it - the cover of AM8 shows a space elf. Read the inside and it could almost be plagiarized from the D&D Elves gazetteer.
Their orchards equate nicely with the trees the D&D elves built their communities around etc.
And the physiology section positively screams D&D elf
The blue has already been well explained: Hemocyanin for the very thin atmosphere on Entrope, works better in cold too seeing as it is arthropod/crustacean blood. Their listed TL is as of 1107, of course that could be adjusted by the GM as they see fit.
Another thing as well, the Darrians on Mire have chosen a subtteranean existence, so it is not unusual for the Entropic Blue Darrians to do it also.
I just bumped into this http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Starport/showlink.php?l=22
Yes, that is a good website, I've always liked the Darrians and did some surfing around to see who had made anything on them.
I would use some of his stuff for written adventure settings, but who knows how sensitive people are going to be. It seems I ruffled feathers with the Entropic Blue Darrians.
One of the biggest mistakes I feel about the old CT is that it lost focus, going to the Solomani Sphere, which wasn't so great of an adventure setting and then FASA was in an entirely new sector which I never really figured out where it was, even though they had good adventures. The Spinward Marches needed to be developed more, there is a huge space for the place to be filled out.
I've been thinking up an adventure on Zeta 2/Villis about a called "Entropic Corrosion" about a blue Darrian pirate base being used for commerce raiding and recon by the Zho's/Vargr in the 5th Frontier War.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Just a thought, but with hemocyanin blood chemistry aren't the blue darrians going to be poisoned by normal human food - well the meat based stuff anyway.
And won't iron based weapons poison them too...
And won't iron based weapons poison them too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemocyanin
I'm not sure, crabs aren't poisoned by iron are they? I'm also thinking as this is a genetic modification, it is a high hill coeficient (3.0) neo-Hemocyanin. Also it seems that they are experimenting on mice with injecting them with blood of abalone, for a theraputic effect. Nor are we poisoned by eating these crustaceans/arthropods, so I don't think it is directly poisonous.
But maybe they are poisoned by too much iron as a side effect? Or at least find iron uncomfortable/allergic reaction to it.
This could also be a reason for them to be more developed in non-ferrous synthetic metals and ceramo-polymer metal replacements.
It doesn't explain anything. The only explanation for such a radical change in genetic structure is deliberate geneering, and while the Old Darrians would have had the requisite technology, why would they do something so drastic as to create an entirely new species just to get a population for Entrope, seeing as their technology would also be more than enough to allow ordinary Darrians to live there in perfect comfort?
Your origin story says the Blue Darrians came into existence shortly after the Magihz.
No, it's unusual for the Blue Darrians to exist at all, though 'unusual' is not the right word for it. I won't use the word 'inexplicable', because there may (or may notr) be ways to make them work, but 'not adequately explained' seems to fit.
Hans
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It's called a retcon. Or possibly the 1.6m is their height when raised on a 1G world; certainly the 2m tall version is specifically that of a Darrian from Darrian.Oh, and they're not tall. Quite petite in fact. 1.6m according to JTAS 14.
Or according to AM8, they are on average 15% bigger than Terran norm, 2.0m
Hans
It's someone with pointy ears.
Elucidate, please.
They left those orchards 100,000 years ago.
Except for all the bits that scream "not elves".And the physiology section positively screams D&D elf
Hans
The deliberate engineering part has already been mentioned.
You are mixing together the history and military sections.
But not explained in a way that makes sense. Natural evolution does not select for people who use copper instead of iron in their blood, because there isn't going to be any of the former in the first place. You might as well claim that natural evolution would have given a human sub-group wings because they lived in the mountains.
Incidentally, how much more efficient would hemocyanin have to be in order to allow a human (that is, a human-sized organism) to function in a very thin atmosphere? And let's not forget that hemocyanin is only more efficient than hemoglobin in cold environments, which means that your Blue Darrians are going to need a much lower internal temperature, with all the complications that would entail.
I don't see how. I hadn't even commented on the military section. Mixing up how?
Hans
Entrope is cold with a very thin atmosphere, so rather than abandoning their domed city where they lived after the Maghiz, they turned to a rouge genetic engineer who creates a stem cell serum that modifes them to a neo-hemocyanin blood so they can continue their existence. One would assume they were not able to maintain their tech level post-Maghiz, same as the rest of the Darrian Colonies, except for very few TL16 items, but this would be in a generational onset.
That is history, 2000 years ago, flash forward to 1107 and you see them at TL15 with maybe some salvaged TL16 items. Though standards would be all over the board really.
That is history, 2000 years ago, flash forward to 1107 and you see them at TL15 with maybe some salvaged TL16 items. Though standards would be all over the board really.
