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Collace Between The Lines

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The following are my (IMTU) expansions on the Wiki description of Collace/District 268 (SM 1237): Content in turquoise is quoted from the Wiki entry.

Historical Data
Collace was the site of a Sindalian Empire mining colony that was cut off by the fall of the empire. The population was in serious decline when it was found by Darrian scouts in -1310. The Darrians provided enough technological advice to let Collace develop a stable, self-sustainable infrastructure that would keep them alive.

The Darrians also started a terraforming project that is still ongoing. The first phase was to seed the world’s oceans with bacteria that generate greenhouse gases (methane, CO2,etc.) in order to enhance the planet’s greenhouse effect. This and airborne fallout from the scheduled meteorite impacts comprise the atmospheric taint. The atmosphere was already tainted when the Darrians arrived due to residual pollution from Sindalian mining, and the surviving Collacians weren’t particularly concerned over what little of the planet’s ecosystem remained. They still don’t care, but instead look forward to the eventual completion of terraforming a couple of centuries from now.
Over the past two millennia, Collace has experienced steady growth and its population now stands at approximately a billion. Population pressure could well have become a problem, given the planet's large population and relative lack of dry land on which to build. However, this problem was solved by housing most of Collace’s inhabitants in arcologies, often built in clusters. A baneful consequence of “clustering” is that the middle- and upper-classes have tended to gravitate into newer, more expensive, high-security arcologies, leaving the older and less expensive structures to the working class and poor. Many of the lower-class arcologies have become increasingly run-down and experience high levels of criminal activity, much of it ‘run’ by organized criminal gangs.
Population density isn’t quite as severe as described above. The arcologies were constructed mostly for economies of scale in environmental control and gravitics, and partially due to resistance from the food production sector which did not want to give up their farming domes to expand residential space. The GINI coefficient (inequality) has increased significantly since the economic lull after the Fourth Frontier War, though much of society either doesn’t accept that this has happened or is beginning to think it is a positive development. The prior egalitarian cultural norms that held from Rescue (-1310) through The Building Years (989-1085) persist in principle, but decreasingly so in practice.

Cultural Extension:
Heterogeneity 6: Slightly less than baseline heterogeneity. There are shared consensus values and culture, but sometimes merely as ideals rather than concrete reality.
Acceptance 13: They are very tolerant of individual differences, and xenophilic as a legacy of the world’s rescue by the Darrians.
Strangeness 2: Collacian culture is very similar to Imperial culture, aside from the lack of institutionalized nobility. If you’re prior-service IISS, you’ll be perfectly at home here.
Symbols 10: They use weird iconography, and the political structure is a bit opaque. When a Collacian talks about “Freedom” or “Unity,” they probably aren’t saying what you think they are. It's familiar once you figure out what they're really talking about, though.

Despite this, Collace is the wealthiest and most important world in District 268. It has the largest population in the subsector, is a major industrial world renowned for producing low-cost, high-tech goods, and is also the site of a major SuSAG pharmaceutical factory. Moreover, settlers from Collace have colonized Inchin and Avastan, which occupy strategic positions on the J-1 main running between the Glisten and Five Sisters subsectors (though Collace’s government has effectively disowned their governments). Collace is the prime candidate for permanent subsector capital (replacing the temporary one at Mertactor) if and when District 268 is integrated into the Imperium.
Collace has sought to join the Imperium and hosts the largest Imperial scout base in District 268. Indeed, the term “scout base” does not accurately convey the vast scale of the IISS presence, which includes facilities (training sites, supply depots, early warning stations, etc.) on half a dozen other planets and satellites in the system in addition to the main base on Kirkton -- Collace’s principal moon. The intimate relationship between the Imperial and local military is demonstrated by the fact that elements of Collace’s armed forces provide ground and close orbit defense for both themselves and the IISS facilities.

This is also a significant factor in Collace’s embrace of Imperial accession. The egalitarian and meritocratic structure of the IISS is very compatible with Collace’s cultural ideals, and interaction (and interdependence) with the IISS has been the world’s primary experience with the Third Imperium. If they cannot moderate standard Imperial policy for integrating client states, they may be in for a rude shock. On the other hand, the Scouts here have largely “gone native,” and will exert a great deal of effort to keep the Imperium’s rigid hierarchy separate from Collace’s societal structures. Much of Collace’s politics involve the terms under which Imperial Accession will occur; for example, whether there needs to be a formal planetary Nobility, and if so whether those positions will be hereditary, appointed, or elective. It’s worth noting that the political coalition in power at Accession will be gifted a tremendous incumbency advantage, which greatly raises the stakes of elections.
The only reason why Collace has not yet joined the Imperium is the opposition of nearby Trexalon (Spinward Marches 1339) - with which it is in a state of "cold war." Trexalon is dominated by the Trexalon Technical Consortium (TTC), a large interlocking corporate trust which controls the starport and has monopoly on industry in that system. The TTC is vociferously anti-Imperial because it perceives the Imperium as an impediment to its expansionist ambitions in District 268. Since the Imperial authorities are reluctant to risk inflaming the situation, Collace’s admission to the Imperium has been "put on the back burner."
One of the key points of contention between Collace and Trexalon is the Pavabid (Spinward Marches 1238) system, which lies directly between them just one parsec away. Ever since iridium deposits were discovered there, the TTC and Collace have been competing for influence with the ruling religious dictatorship to secure mineral exploitation rights. To date, however, the xenophobic offshoot of the Church of the Stellar Divinity on Pavabid has rejected both parties’ advances due to fears that introducing large numbers of off-world miners would irrevocably pollute its pure theocratic society.
There's more backstory involving Pavabid... see next post.
 
Again, items in turquoise are quoted from the Wiki.
World Timeline
• -1455 – Mining outpost on Collace abandoned by collapsing Sindalian Empire. Massive casualties ensue as life support systems fail over time.
• - 1302 – Rescue. Darrian scouts discover Collace, provide sustainable life support infrastructure for the surviving miners and their descendants, and start a terraforming process. Subsequent contact is sporadic and stops altogether after the Maghiz in -924.
• 410 – IISS First Survey ship encounters a Collacian scoutship at Forine (SM 1533).
502 -- Tarsus (Spinward Marches 1138) and Collace (Spinward Marches 1237) open new markets.
• 765 – Population pressure leads to mass population transfer to the hospitable neighboring world of Porvonne (SM 1238).
• 780 – Porvonne falls to a religious dictatorship and is renamed Pavabid after the Prophet. Collace refuses refugees but arranges a massive shiplift to Trexalon and pays for construction of arcologies there. The Trexalon Technical Consortium seizes control of the new arcologies through financial chicanery shortly thereafter. Resentment over the forced exile fosters lingering animosity among Trexalonian descendants of Collacian expatriates.
• 869 – Constitutional Convention establishes a worldwide Participating Democracy as a successor to the (largely democratic but increasingly unable to coordinate on a planetary scale) Balkanized situation.
• 987 – Government cannot resolve how to fund and construct the arcologies needed to address overcrowding, beginning years of deadlock and rapid changes of partisan control of the Diet to no avail. In 991, the Diet adjourns for three years, paralyzing the government.
• 996 -- Ratification of the Second Constitution, converting Collace to a Representative Democracy. Arcology construction begins in 989, beginning an economic “golden age” known as The Building Years (989-1085).
• 1086 – Market downturn after the Fourth Frontier War stresses Collace’s economy, leading to increased economic inequality and reduced social cohesion that persists to the present (1105).
• 1090 – Treaty of Mertactor curtails Collace’s shipbuilding sector, which had grown substantially during the Fourth Frontier War with Collace’s support of Imperial war efforts. Collace’s starport, briefly Class A, is downgraded again to Class B.
1105 -- Pro-Imperium Collace (Spinward Marches 1237) enters into a "cold war" with pro-Sword Worlds Trexalon (Spinward Marches 1339).
 
Notes and Library Data:

Collacian Domestic Politics: The most salient issues in Collacian politics are Imperial Accession (if and how), Income/Wealth Inequality, and Starship production. There are two major parties, two minor parties, and a plethora of small single-issue parties that shift coalitions. (This is incomplete, and I'll eventually expand on it.)

Inchin: Inchin/D268 (SM 0938) is as per canon description except as follows:
- The starport is functionally Class D, despite the presence of a starship assembly factory of approximately 6KTd capacity at TL 13. There is no excess repair, maintenance, or servicing capability to support transient ships other than the official Class D facility since the assembly facility is self-contained. “Baron” Rowri has attempted over time to divert some of these resources into upgrading the starport, the city, and his palace, with only limited success. He does, however, continually boast that the starport really is Class A despite the obvious evidence that from a Traveller’s perspective that it is not. That said, if repurposed as an indigenous starport, the assembly facility could become a Class A with perhaps 1000Td capacity at TL 10. (With appropriate influence and skill and no small amount of luck, it is not impossible to get a small amount -- ACS level, not megafreighter -- of refined fuel and maybe some repairs there; they cannot perform annual maintenance of any kind.)

Rescue: The arrival of Darrian scouts at Collace in -1310. The Darrians provided the surviving Sindalian miners and their descendants with sustainable life-support infrastructure and began a terraforming program (providing plans and programs to be used as Collace’s technology advanced, and seeding bacteria that generated greenhouse gases). Not only is the anniversary of the Darrians’ arrival a planetwide holiday (Day 182) rivalling Holiday, the memory of this event has predisposed Collacians toward friendliness toward all offworlders, especially the few Darrians that venture this far to Rimward. Traditional holiday activities include gifts of personal life support accessories or home improvement gifts, and star-viewing parties.

Treaty of Mertactor: In 1086, Trexalon threatened to unleash privateers on Collace’s commercial shipping fleet if Collace continued to build starships as they had been doing in support of the Imperium in the Fourth Frontier War. Collace’s industrial infrastructure and technological advantage posed the near-certain future risk of total naval dominance in the event of a conflict, and Trexalon would likely invoke their mutual defense agreement with the Sword Worlds and partly re-ignite the recently settled war in response. In negotiations on Mertactor/Glisten (SM 1537) Collace agreed to stop building starships on Collace to ameliorate Trexalonian concerns. However, the treaty did not cover off-world construction, and Collace simply began transporting incomplete starships to Inchin for final assembly (Jump Drive installation and interior fittings). Trexalon strenuously objects to this chicanery but has little choice but to accept it.
Note that the facilities at Inchin are not a Class A Starport, merely an assembly facility using imported components. There is no excess capacity for repair, construction, or servicing of visiting starships despite “Baron” Rowri’s best efforts to date.
Collace itself has a Class A starport with 10K Td capacity at TL 15 (for some equipment), but it’s the Scout Base on Kirkton and not under local control. Their domestic starship component production industry is TL 13 (with demonstrated limited TL 15 prototype capability). It is only politics that prevents their indigenous starport from becoming an 850K Td Class A port. Ramp-up to full production capacity would take four years.

Trexalon: Trexalon/District 268 (SM 1339) is as represented in the Wiki with the following changes:
[The deviation from the Traveller World Generator using its default RNG seed for Trexalon of 13391339 is that the “Main world is a satellite” box is checked.]
- Trexalon is not an iceball with its atmosphere frozen out (as per canon). The world is tidally-locked to its primary gas giant, and “days” (months) are three years long. Someone check my math here, a "month" might be longer than a "year" (the orbital period of the gas giant around the system's double star)... Despite its nominally standard atmosphere and position within the Habitable Zone in Orbit 1, it is not habitable because its orbit crosses in and out of its gas giant's planetary magnetic field, and it has none of its own. Only a set of artificial geomagnetic field generators at the LaGrange Points (at L1, L2, L4, and L5) make the surface habitable. The multi-year “days” limit habitable regions to near the terminators and high latitudes (Temperatures near “noon” are extremely high especially near the equator, the “night” side becomes beyond arctic, and weather is extreme.) Also, there is very little water and the TTC uses its control over water supplies and agriculture to support its hegemony.
- The magnetic field generators are heavily defended and highly redundant, and there are several spare sets (also highly defended) pre-positioned as replacements. Attacks on the generators are morally and legally (to the extent the Third Imperium cares – and if Collace is involved, they would…) equivalent to use of nuclear, biological, chemical, or relativistic deadfall weapons.
- The Sindalian Empire had a mining facility here, abandoned and largely evacuated by -1465. The last remaining survivors died off when the orbital geomagnetic field generators failed. Sindalian relic sites may contain TL 13 artifacts but are generally shunned in fear of reactivating remnant biological warfare pathogens.
- The population transfer via Pavabid explains how Trexalon has Pop 8 despite being settled for only 650 years, as well as providing additional justification for Trexalon’s animosity toward Collace.
 
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I used Collace for an "upgrade the starport " campaign.

The Baron could probably coax a Corporation into setting and managing a class C starport in exchange for a Fee + operating profit,

Have fun

Selandia
 
I used Collace for an "upgrade the starport " campaign.

The Baron could probably coax a Corporation into setting and managing a class C starport in exchange for a Fee + operating profit,

Have fun

Selandia

That was my workaround for one of the biggest WTF things about Collace. It's high TL (for the area) and Industrial, so it really should be building starships -- but isn't. Meanwhile the perpetually failing starport at Inchin needed something to have kept it going without it ever getting improved. There's definitely an entire campaign in helping poor, self-important "Baron" Rowri get the place fixed up -- or sidelining him so someone competent can make it happen because there really should be a decent starport on the route to the rimward end of Five Sisters. And from a referee's perspective, Rowri could be quite entertaining if played right.

The other WTF was "arcologies for overcrowding", since the world's population density isn't actually all that high if you run the numbers (it's a decent-sized planet and not too ocean-dominated). But I ran with the population-pressure concept because it helps provide an explanation for where Trexalon got its unlikely population code (by way of Pavabid) after only 650 years of settlement.

I have two purposes for Collace. The first is that it makes a terrific civilized "home base" that bridges Imperial "civilization" and the "unincorporated wilderness". Its norms should be familiar to contemporary Western society, and would provide opportunities to show how the Third Imperium is different. Additionally, the locals' favorable attitude toward the 3I can be used to "sell" the idea of a non-Evil-Empire to the players (IMTU, they're neither good nor evil, just different and too big to care).

The second is that as a populous late-stage Representative Democracy, it's a useful theatre for recasting political and International Relations dysfunctions into a SF setting. This appeals to my Political Science background.
 
I used Collace for an "upgrade the starport " campaign.

The Baron could probably coax a Corporation into setting and managing a class C starport in exchange for a Fee + operating profit,

Have fun

Selandia
Just figured something out about Collace:

It's listed as Tech Level 13 with a Class B Starport (which provides a DM +4 to TL). But, if it had a Class A Starport, it would become TL15 (starport A gives +6).

This explains my "Book 2 Loophole" ships (the J-5 Shugushaag series and the 400Td 6Boat*) in a LBB5 universe.

The explanation is that while Collace was building starships using its indigenous industrial capacity (allowed by LBB5), it effectively had a Class A starport (whose defining characteristic is that it can build and maintain starships and not just non-starships). This earned it the additional +2 DM to the TL roll in world generation, increasing its TL from 13 to 15.

This enabled it to build starships at TL13 with performance that LBB5 restricts to TL14/TL15 (the Shugs and the 6Boats, respectively).



This also means that the Treaty of Mertactor (see my Notes and Library Data post upthread) really hurt Collace by closing off their one path to a TL upgrade. There's no "wiggle room" for TL advancement by adjusting the 1D roll for TL from worldgen (say, increasing it to a 6 if it had been a 4 or 5). Working backwards from the DMs on the Tech Level generation table in LBB2, Collace's original roll was already a 6 (plus DMs for Starport, Atmosphere, and Population).


What's weirder is that by the same reverse-engineering process, Trexalon had to have rolled a 7 for TL (before DMs) during worldgen.

On 1D.

It only works if the wiki description of Trexalon's atmosphere (which is that there isn't one, it's actually a global layer of frozen nitrogen/oxygen ice) overrode the UWP for purposes of calculating the TL. Either that or its starport is halfway between Class B and Class A...

Or, as I've hypothesized, Trexalon was written as a near-peer competitor for Collace, and the UWP was fudged as needed to make it so.





*Yeah, yeah, the 6Boat is not fully rules-compliant. Give it drop tanks, call it J-4 with the tanks and it's at least a legal build. Agree to disagree about the rest, ok?
 
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Progress and the Future!

Looking at the LBB2 worldgen process for Collace, they've got two Tech Level upgrade paths. The first is to upgrade the starport to Class A, which will raise TL by 2. The second is to gain another Population level, which would raise TL by 1. Or both.

Based on the wiki description, they'll have serious issues if their population expands by a factor of 10 -- they're having overcrowding problems with their existing population. So a starport upgrade (and implicitly, incorporation into the Imperium) is pretty much their only viable option.

Then there's the (IMTU) ongoing terraforming project. It's goal is to change the atmosphere from 2 (Very thin, tainted) to 5 (thin), with an intermediate step at 4 (thin, tainted). The problem is that the change from 2 to 4 (directly, as there won't be a step where it's "thin, not tainted") should lead to a TL reduction when it's achieved. This is from the loss of the DM +1 for atmosphere type, and probably reflects the elimination of the need to maintain pressurized living spaces (which reduces innovation and the focus on technology).

However, the population will probably have increased enough by the time the atmosphere reaches "thin, tainted" as to neutralize that DM.

Assuming everything goes as planned*, in a couple of centuries Collace will be A865A54-F. In the meantime, it'll probably get the starport upgrade during the Fifth Frontier War, and reach TL15 just in time for the OTU to get run over and smashed flat by canon from multiple directions.

The changes would be: Starport B->A, Atm 2->5, Pop 9->A, Gov 4->5 (Democracy -> Feudal Technocracy), Law 3->4, TL 13->15.

It's possible, as noted above, that they may reach TL15 but revert to TL14 for a period if terraforming raises the atmospheric pressure before the population explodes**.




*It won't. (Or will it? For the record, I dislike all of the Deus Irae ex machina (ira deum ex machina?) apocalypses, and may not implement them IMTU.)

** Wait. That sounds a bit messy, having the population literally explode because the air is too thin. You know what I meant, but it's funnier if you read it wrong.
 
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Temporary Tech Level Bump

Returning to the Tech Level boost from building ships as though Collace actually had a Class A starport...

An actual Class A starport would raise their TL from 13 to 15.

Under LBB2:'81
J5 (fully rules compliant) is TL11 (at 400Td). Being able to build J5 in 600Td requires TL13, Collace's nominal TL.
J6 (with heavily-disputed rules-lawyering) is TL13 (at 400Td); full rules compliance requires TL15.

LBB5:'80 says J5 is TL14, J6 is TL15.

Collace demonstrated the ability to achieve TL14-equivalent Jump capability well within their existing technological/industrial capacity. They demonstrated the ability to achieve TL15-equivalent Jump capability too, but only by cutting fuel and life-support margins to unacceptable levels (this is the in-universe representation of "heavily-disputed rules-lawyering" -- it works, but just barely, and it's not sustainable).

So while they definitely hit TL14 (for starship construction) during the period they were building the Shugushaag series, the 6Boats didn't mean they had TL15.

What this means is that once they'd built and flown the Shugs, they could then replicate them at TL14 [using LBB5 construction rules] and make the originals obsolete. The next step, to build J5 ships of any arbitrarily chosen size, wasn't taken because Collace renounced indigenous starship construction shortly thereafter.

There were some fiscal shenanigans involved, too -- the company building the Shugushaags and 6Boats fell victim to a merger with a failing competitor and the resulting enterprise outsourced its most advanced production to the shipyards at Glisten/Glisten because it was more profitable than building in-house. Much of the lower-tech production was moved to Inchin. Consequently, they've lost their focus and technological edge (in game terms, Collace reverted to TL13).



Now I have to write up the orphaned TL14 Shug IIs with the TL14 drive upgrades. Only the drive bay size and fuel tanks change (smaller by 11Td and 20Td, respectively). It'd need a fuel refinery (4Td at TL14) so on net it gains 27Td payload. Crew size is unchanged.

The cost per payload ton decreased by a third while only costing 1/8 more. Not bad. Pity they stopped building them...

And Collace no longer has the tech to support them.
 
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Future Government:

I missed a +DM in there. When the population goes from 9 to A, it drives the government type from 4 (Representative Democracy) to 5 (Feudal Technocracy). Gov=5 is a +1 DM to TL! So Collace maxes out at TL 16 if the terraforming process succeeds, 17 if it fails.

That assumes a smooth transition to Gov 5, but it might not go that way. There will be significant disruption -- some of it already in progress as of 1105 -- as Collace adapts its governmental structures to accommodate Imperial requirements for admission. This disruption provides opportunities to make the "last move" in the democratic game; that is, to use incumbency to lock out the possibility of further democratic change.


Collace will need to legislatively recognize at least four noble positions:

- Subsector Duke/Duchess. This position (SOC 15) will be filled by Imperial appointment from a suitable Imperial line, and will be hereditary. The actual title will depend on the name eventually adopted for District 268. [In canon, it becomes Plankwell Subsector no later than 1200IE.] Responsible to the Emperor through the Archduke of the Domain of Deneb for the security and prosperity of District 268. In practice, directs the foreign policy of Collace.

- Count/Countess of Collace County (Collace, Tarsus, Pavabid). This position (SOC 14) will also be filled by Imperial appointment from a suitable Imperial line, and will be hereditary. Responsible to the Duke of [District 268] for the security and prosperity of Collace, Tarsus, and Pavabid. In practice, directs trade policy priorities of these three worlds, and specifically controls Collace's offworld military (Navy and Marines).

- Marqius/Marchesa of Collace. This is also an Imperial appointed and hereditary position (SOC 13). Responsible to the Count/Countess for the stability and prosperity of Collace. In practice, heavily influences economic and industrial policy for Collace, and controls Collace's on-world military (Army and COACC).

- About half a dozen Knights of varying rank (Soc 12). These positions are Imperial appointments, made in consultation with the government of Collace. They will not be hereditary. In practice, the current President and Prime Minister will be Knighted, and retain the title -- but no formal authority -- when they leave office.


The potential for mischief lies in the legal authority and power granted to these offices before Imperial Accession when they'll be filled by Imperial appointment. What if they were filled with local "placeholders" until then, but the government never went through with joining the Imperium? These are lifetime, hereditary appointments with sweeping authority superceding the existing democratic government. Oops.

This would amount to a coup, and a conversion to at least a self-perpetuating oligarchy (Gov 3), and possibly some flavor of dictatorship (Gov A or B). To put it mildly, this would not sit well with a large plurality of Collace's one billion citizens who were expecting reliable and hands-off Imperial leadership* rather than power-mad locals...

The new leadership cadre would lose their positions if Collace subsequently joined the Imperium, so that's taken off the table. There are a few power centers both in and out of District 268 that would be happy with that outcome.

Self-recovery to Gov 4 would require mobilizing the population and activating pro-democracy elements of the bureaucracy and military before the coup plotters can crack down on the populace and purge governmental institutions. External recovery might take Imperial intervention and end up dragging Collace into the Imperium before the business with Trexalon gets settled -- which will be another mess.

Self-recovery to Representative Democracy could fail in a couple of ways even if the coup cadre is taken down. If the "deep state" (military and bureaucracy) comes out on top, it becomes a Civil Service Bureaucracy (Gov 8) with a veneer of democracy. If it's just the military on top, that's another flavor of self-perpetuating oligarchy or non-charismatic leader (Gov B) depending on how concentrated power gets. A complete governmental collapse could cause anarchy (Gov 0) or Balkanization (Gov 7).

Yes, I'm drawing on fairly recent history (and a longer history in the same place) as an inspiration, but hopefully changing it up enough to avoid controversy.
Spoiler:
It's inspired by how Turkey's military/government reforms to facilitate it's ill-fated efforts to join the European Union led to changes in its governmental structure and long-standing policies.



*Yeah, IMTU the Third Imperium isn't evil. This isn't to say they're good, though -- they're just too big to care, most of the time.
 
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I don't think the DMs work in "real time" as you are suggesting.

One baby is born and suddenly the world government shifts?

Also the Imperium doesn't require worlds to change government type for admission, especially on the frontier.

The Imperium grants noble patents to locals to fill positions like sub-sector duke, not appoint from outside.

What is more likely is that the subsector duke of 268 would be an extension of an existing duchy.

I don't think Tarsus will just submit to second class status to Collace - the original Tarsus module is an interesting read...
 
I don't think the DMs work in "real time" as you are suggesting.

One baby is born and suddenly the world government shifts?
I concede that this was just blind application of the worldgen mechanics, which I already violated when constructing Collace's history. By blindly applying those rules, the predecessor government framework to their Representative Democracy should have been a self-perpetuating oligarchy (Gov 3) back when the world had Pop 8, a couple of centuries ago. I made it a particpating democracy (Gov 2) instead because it felt more appropriate.

I worked up a list of likely government-form transitions back when I was trying to work up a process for "rolling back" UWPs back through time to figure out what things looked like at earlier points in history. However, it's a general outline of "the previous government type could have been one of these types, and for each, this is how it got to the current one", not a "subtract 1D from current gov code and check the table" generation table. You could turn it into one with a bit of work, but I didn't get that far.

If there's interest, I'll post it.
Also the Imperium doesn't require worlds to change government type for admission, especially on the frontier.
Of course not. But the planetary government needs to formally incorporate the Imperial authority structure. It needs to create within its own structure the positions to which it will cede authority -- there's going to be a Count and a Marquis, and they will have authority over things that were formerly Collacian legislative and executive responsibilities. The Subsector Duke must be recognized but isn't part of the Collace government, while the Knights are simply elevated elected officials.
The Imperium grants noble patents to locals to fill positions like sub-sector duke, not appoint from outside.

What is more likely is that the subsector duke of 268 would be an extension of an existing duchy.
I'm thinking it'd be one of the Duke of Glisten's kids, with the line from Five Sisters as a dark-horse candidate. They probably spend a lot of time managing things from the interim subsector capital on Mertactor already.
I don't think Tarsus will just submit to second class status to Collace - the original Tarsus module is an interesting read...
I don't have that one, and probably ought to pick it up.

My take on this is that Collace County would be three worlds and absolutely couldn't include Trexalon (otherwise I'd just go with Pavabid and Trexalon), and I don't think Pavabid and Judice (especially Judice) are enough for a world as significant as Collace. On the other hand, if it's a matter of scope of institutional capacity, just managing Collace alone would be a big workload. And Tarsus would make a good seat for a county that included the two struggling-starport worlds on the Collace Arm of the Spinward Main. (Now, explain that to that guy running Inchin... not that he'll have any say in the matter, but it'd be fun to watch!)
 
There is no Imperial authority structure , the Imperium doesn't take that sort of interest in its member worlds.

Imperial government starts at the subsector level with the subsector duke - there are no Imperial lesser nobles insinuating themselves into local government.

Worlds are free to rule themselves, especially on the frontier.

The Imperium can not grant land it doesn't own, so Collace would have to sell or gift land any estates for any Imperial nobles it wishes to adopt - but the more likely event is that Collace big wigs will be granted Imperial titles.
 
Imperial government starts at the subsector level with the subsector duke - there are no Imperial lesser nobles insinuating themselves into local government.

So all those Imperial Knights and Barons we see in the TravellerMap data are just... Starport administrators? Diplomats? Seems like a missed opportunity for the OTU.
 
No, not a missed opportunity, more of a silly badly thought out semi-retcon.

The Spinward Marches have always been described as a frontier sector where local autonomy is the norm, with district 268 being pretty much as frontier as it gets.

Move towards the core sectors and you will see a lot more direct Imperial involvement in member world affairs - oh, wait, you don't. A certain ArchDuke even started a rebellion over the lack of Imperial intervention on member worlds.

It has been stressed many times in OTU canon that the Imperium does not involve itself in world government matters.

The Imperial government starts at the subsector level. There will be Imperial nobles on member worlds, but read through The Traveller Adventure and ask yourself where these local Imperial nobles are on the vast majority of the described planets.
 
No, not a missed opportunity, more of a silly badly thought out semi-retcon.

The Spinward Marches have always been described as a frontier sector where local autonomy is the norm, with district 268 being pretty much as frontier as it gets.

Move towards the core sectors and you will see a lot more direct Imperial involvement in member world affairs - oh, wait, you don't. A certain ArchDuke even started a rebellion over the lack of Imperial intervention on member worlds.

It has been stressed many times in OTU canon that the Imperium does not involve itself in world government matters.

The Imperial government starts at the subsector level. There will be Imperial nobles on member worlds, but read through The Traveller Adventure and ask yourself where these local Imperial nobles are on the vast majority of the described planets.



As I see it, the Imperium's ask is "we mandate interstellar free trade, control external (to the Imperium) foreign policy and defense -- and if necessary to that end, your military, and collect a tax. And you have to respect and take care of our representatives."

Their offer is "we defend against external (to the Imperium) threats and limit possible local threats to your world*, guarantee interstellar free trade, and provide economic guidance to maximize your world's GDP**."

It's sort of as though the Rules-based International Order (Wikipedia) (that is, the UN, WTO, etc.) was a hereditary government welding the United States military. Though to properly frame it, it'd be only the Western nations of the UN (Zhodani were the USSR, and I suppose the Aslan and Vargr were far less literally East Asia and the nonaligned nations).



*The Imperial Rules of War only apply inside the Imperium...
**Because that's where the 3I gets its tax revenues. The extent and force of this guidance -- from "suggestions" to "mandates" -- varies on a case-by-case basis.
 
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A lot of this depends on how District 268 gets incorporated into the Imperium.

Canon says Collace is the likely future capital when it happens. That doesn't mean that the entire District becomes Imperial territory immediately upon Collace joining, though it will hasten the process.

I'd guess that at first the nominal border would include all of the current Imperial client states. Assimilating the Collace Arm of the Spinward Main would follow.

After that?
 
You might want to pick up the Marc Miller's Traveller book Pocket Empires. It does what you are trying to do using the planet/empires available resources as a sort of game/simulation . The Traveller Sale is on till 9AM CST.

Just a tidbit it has charts and stuff and when you look into it you will see while some changes to UWP dont take long (TL E to F only 80 years, Port B to A 30 years), some don't like population growth unless you are doing non-humane not in simulation tactics like cloning or forced pregnancies. The Resource Point expenditures for single planet like Collace are insane (i.e. cannot normally be done) by their lonesome unless you take more time just saving resources before committing to a project. Still it is YTU and not OTU

Correction: I mean the ones you propose Port A, TL F. And you have pay for and wait incrementally
 
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The intermediate nobles are the subsector nobility's agents for each county or world. They don't (usually) rule. They can call upon the Duke for power (if needed, and if the Duke deems it worthwhile), but their role in world governance is generally advisory rather than directive. However, they may be granted formal authority in matters of commerce and defense by the local government with the implicit agreement that the authority is revocable if abused. On the other hand, there is an understanding that the Duke has enough power to assert such authority over the local government's objections. It's a balancing act.
 
You might want to pick up the Marc Miller's Traveller book Pocket Empires. It does what you are trying to do using the planet/empires available resources as a sort of game/simulation . The Traveller Sale is on till 9AM CST.

Just a tidbit it has charts and stuff and when you look into it you will see while some changes to UWP dont take long (TL E to F only 80 years, Port B to A 30 years), some don't like population growth unless you are doing non-humane not of siulation tactics like cloning or forced pregnancies. The Resource Point expenditures for single planet like Collace are insane (i.e. cannot normally be done) by their lonesome unless you take more time just saving resources before committing to a project. Still it is YTU and not OTU

Another one to check out then. :)

My math has a pop code upgrade (meaning tenfold growth, starting at the minimum needed to qualify for the code) taking 200 years at 1.05% growth (current global rate), 117 years at 2% growth (Pakistan's current rate -- close to average for an individual country), and 62 years at 3.84% growth (Niger's current rate, the world's highest). So, yep.

I'm justifying Collace being able to act like its Class B starport was a Class A one for a quick (but temporary) TL boost because of its Industrial trade code. That is, the only reason it wasn't Class A already is because it reserved starship production and maintenance to its military. Building the capacity to support both that plus commercial production and maintenance, at Class A standards, would take longer. And the tech feedback process to escalate to a sustainable TL 14 then TL 15, based on having the starport, would take much longer than that.

And the terraforming process has been going on for over two thousand years (though for much of that time, it was just the effects of Darrian genetically-engineered bacteria; they didn't start throwing rocks and ice cubes at the planet until a few centuries ago, let alone meson-gunning below the lithosphere), so finishing it up in the next couple of hundred years isn't implausible.
 
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