Cosmic cul-de-sacs

[Lexx]

Actually I'm seriously considerign writing a traveller novel, given the wave of novels from GW and battletech games, and am working on a background for it.

The pieces seem to be falling in place fairly well. I'm using the idea of a cosmic cul-de-sac to allow for a group of those following the 'authentic movement' to set up an enclave dedicated to democratic principles, and most of the worlds/systems will have names taken from the history of democracy.

I wanted to make some odd systems in it, so I have the ancient angle there. For example, a planet called "Detroit" shows signs that the ancients were experimenting with mass transmutation on it as the planet almost seems to be made of chunks of relatively pure elements in a stoney matrix. It's as if the ancients were transmuting huge chunks of mass into pure elements almost at random. The planet is the cluster's industrial center since it has the most resources and is already uninhabitable, so it can't be 'polluted' by industry.

Every time I read a new traveller sourcebook, ideas just fly out of it and fit neatly into the story frame I'm working on.

Personally I think traveller should have novels, I mean in betteltech and warhammer 40,000 do then why not traveller???

So, I'm working on one....

 

[kafka47]

Lexx,

Traveller does have novels. Just not very good ones...

Unless, you count the work of Swycaffer, MJD (look further on this website for more inspiration) and questionably Brunette, the works of Traveller fiction have been a off creamy colour when they were trying to achieve a white colour and more chocolate than black.

I wish you luck in your endevours but try to make sure your plot is not going resemble SJG Nightside (or some adventure that mixed Fantasy with supposively SF)...

 

[Lexx]

Kafka,

have no fear. There will be nary a trace of fantasy in my traveller novel, it will be SF in the traveller tradition.

 

[Drakon]

Playing around with AstroSynth, and using stutterwarp distances, Sol is in a Comsic cul de sac.

Stutterwarp is limited to 7.7 light years, before you have to discharge the field in a gravity well for 40 hours. You can't get to Wolf 359 from Sol then. Its at 7.78 lt yrs distant, just beyond the point where your warp drive has to discharge.

So if you want to go there, you have to go around, through Epislon Indi, et.al. through AX Microscopii, Ross 154, and Barnard. Sol, Barnard and Alpha Centauri are almost completely isolated, if you limited to stutterwarp.

BTW, the distance from Wolf to Sol is 7.78 lt yrs or 2.36 parsecs. How much fudge in the jump drive is allowable? Could I reach this in Jump 2? Or do I wait till jump 3?