Differences Between Universes

[RainOfSteel]

signless,

Touchstone and Iphegenia have canon attached to them?

Let us know the juicy details (or reference)!


As for the population, that's pretty low. Are they evenly spread out, or bunched in a few places with little outposts of 1-10,000 scattered around?

How long before the centers of activity hit TL-13?

 

[signless]

IIRC, both Touchstone and Iphegenia are referenced in the CT supplement on Aslan. It's been a while since I did the homework...
The population of the sector is concentrated in the subsector capitols (with quite a few of those subsectors almost barren, thanks to the influence of the Great Rift), and a few colony worlds. Most planets are nothing more than outposts, with one or two population centers and the rest of the folks scattered all to hell-and-gone.
The population breakdown is something like this:
Solomani 65%
Vilani 5%
Zhodani 15%
Vargr 5%
Aslan 5%
Droyne 3%
Hiver 1%
Other 1%

Here's a rough sector history:

History of the Dark Wheel
Timeline
-2204 Establishment of the Rule of Man. Theron Sector surveyed.
-1985 First Solomani colonization of Theron Sector..
-1802 First Solomani contact with Hivers.
-1776 Collapse of the Rule of Man. Twilight. Second Solomani colonization wave.
-1625 First Zhodani colonization of Theron Sector.
-1600 The Arapahoe Encounter*.
-1595 The Corsair Pacification*.
-1575 The Dark Concord*.
-1565 Sector Government established. Capitol established on Samantha.
-1526 9pm.
-1525 First Survey of Theron Sector launched.
-1524 First contact with native Droyne by Dark Wheel scouts.
-1520 First Survey of Theron Sector completed.
-1118 First Aslan Border War begins.
-1044 First Aslan crossing of the Great Rift.
-1000 First contact with Aslan Ihatei in the Dark Wheel. The Trailing Picket* is organized.
-800 First Aslan Ihatei granted landholds in the Theron Sector.
-399 Sword World colonization begins.
0 Third Imperium established
15 The Prin Tayn* is accidentally activated by Dark Wheel scouts.
16 The Scourge* begins.
17 Samantha decimated by The Scourge. The Exodus begins.
18 Melides/Aleph is taken by The Scourge. The rimward territories are isolated.
19 The Scourge advances along the jump-1 route through the Corinth subsector.
20 New sector capitol established at Dark/Terminus. The Siege of Theron begins.
21 Zhodani forces retake Melides. Dispatch scout couriers sent rimward.
22 The Battle of Anastasia. Zhodani forces take Hitchcock.
23 The Battle of Kirkland. The Crossing of Chasm. Zhodani forces advance through Corinth.
24 The Battle of Garith. Establishment of the Solomons in Chasm and Canyon subsectors.
25 The Battle of Leroy. Zhodani forces Advance through Daragard.
26 The Battle of Mazumdar. The first decisive victory over the Prin Tayn.
27 A coreward expeditionary force is formed at Jasper.
28 Zhodani forces break the Siege of Theron.
29 Reclamation battles at Leroy, Garith, Kirkland and Anastasia.
30 The Dark Vengeance Battle Group arrives at Abrzdiadr and lays siege to Abattoir.
31 The Prin Tayn is destroyed. The Scourge ends. Formation of the Black Flags*.
76-120 Imperial Pacification campaigns
114 Solomani Hypothesis proposed.
125 Third Solomani colonization wave.
180 Second Zhodani colonization wave.
210-348 Vargr Campaigns in the Corridor.
380 Imperial-Aslan Border established.
420 First Survey of the Imperium completed. Formation of the Trailing Picket*.
450 Third Zhodani colonization wave.
475 Seeds of unrest; Nicholle assassinated.
588 Incorporation of Sol into Imperium.
589-604 First Frontier War.
605 Fourth Zhodani colonization wave. The Coreward Picket* is organized.
604-622 Civil War.
615-620 Second Frontier War.
621 Fifth Zhodani colonization wave.
622 First Vargr colonization wave.
624 Xboat system established.
679 Solomani power broken at court.
704 Solomani Autonomous Region created.
718 Xboat system covers entire Imperium.
800-826 Psionics Suppressions.
825 Third Solomani colonization wave.
950 Solomani reintegrated into Imperium.
979-986 Third Frontier War.
988 Second Vargr Colonization wave.
990-1002 Solomani Rim War. Fourth Solomani colonization wave (998).
1065 Second Survey of the Imperium completed.
1082-1084 False War (Fourth Frontier War).
1107-1111 Fifth Frontier War.
1111 Third Vargr Colonization wave.
1112 Sixth Zhodani colonization wave.

*The Arapahoe Encounter
In -1600, the Solomani Heavy Scout Cruiser Arapahoe encountered a heavily armed fleet of corsairs laying seige to a recently-settled Zhodani colony. The raiders had overwhelmed the small Zhodani naval presence, and were in the process of pillaging the planet while mopping-up the last of the Zhodani ships in the system.
The ship made a fast pass close to the planet and dropped its contingent of Marines. It then engaged the corsair fleet one ship at a time. The Arapahoe suffered heavy damage while in close combat with the last of the corsairs. With her power plant failing, jump drive offline, and her hull breached, her captain rammed the largest of the remaining pirates. Out of a total of 25 enemy vessels engaged in her defense of the system, the Arapahoe killed 22. The Heavy Cruisers of the sector Navy are all named after ancient Solomani racial tribes in her honor.
The remaining three corsairs were heavily damaged, and limped back to the planet. There they found their raiding parties engaged with the Solomani Marines. The combat became hand-to-hand, and eventually led to the deaths of most of the Marines and all of the corsairs.
The survivors were unable to repair the jump drives of any of the pirate ships, and were stranded on the planet with the Zhodani colonists. The Heavy Scout Battle Group led by the dreadnought Rimward Fury arrived in the system six weeks later.
Out of the 100 marines who landed on the planet, all but 18 were killed in combat. The testimony of the Zhodani colonists to the heroic self-sacrifice made by the Solomani fighting-men and women led to the beginning of a lasting alliance between the two races.

*The Corsair Pacification
Sparked by the destruction of the Heavy Scout Cruiser Arapahoe, the Rimward Fury Battle Group began a systematic search and destroy mission targeted at eliminating the corsair threat in the coreward reaches of the sector.
The arrival of a fleet of Zhodani warships led to a few tense moments at the beginning of the campaign, but after hearing the testimony of the surviving colonists on Arga the Zhodani concentrated on a buildup of planetary defenses in the Aleph subsector and left the vengeful Solomani alone.
The Rimward Fury swept along the coreward corridor of the sector, leaving a trail of gutted corsairs and smoking ruins in its wake. The Spinward Axe Battle Group began a similar sweep from Theron, and the two fleets met at the Spinward edge of the Daragard subsector.
At the end of the campaign two years later, piracy and raiding had been virtually eliminated along the jump-1 route from Theron to Aleph. A series of heavy Naval bases was established which later formed the backbone of the Coreward picket in 605.
In the years following the Pacification, Solomani warships regularly patrolled the jump-1 corridor from Theron to Ruodger. Solomani scout cruisers conducted regular patrols deep into the Aleph system, as well. On the occasions when the Solomani would meet Zhodani naval vessels, the two sides were careful to remain a respectful distance from one another. There were stories of Zhodani ships going so far as to manuever toward the opposite side of a system when Solomani vessels were engaged in Gas Giant refueling maneuvers.
There were five documented cases of a Solomani vessel rendering aid to a Zhodani ship in need of assistance, and three cases of a Zhodani vessel doing the same for a crippled Solomani ship. The continued spirit of distant goodwill remained the status quo between the two races for more than twenty years.

*The Dark Concord
Some 25 years after the Arapahoe Encounter, the Solomani and Zhodani leaders in the sector agreed to a conference. Meeting on the neutral ground of Samantha/Corinth, the two sides began a series of meetings in -1575 which would last the better part of a decade.

*The Prin Tayn
For almost 1,600 years the races of the Theron sector cohabitated peacefully. The discovery of the rich systems in the Terminus subsector drew eager explorers and colonists, and over time Terminus grew to become the new hub of business and scientific research in the sector. Plans were made to relocate the sector capitol to Dark when tragedy struck.
An isolated research team exploring hints of ancient ruins on a planet in the desolate Anachid subsector made a stunning discovery. While on a small island on the planet which would be called Abattoir, a technological artifact of incredible antiquity was found to still be functional. During the process of scanning the device, the researchers inadvertently fed it the power it needed to re-activate. The artifact was later determined to be an autonomous communications and reconnaisance pod. The clever device convinced the researchers to connect it with their ship’s computer and the artifact quickly took control of every onboard system. The crew were trapped aboard their own vessel, which quickly became a charnel house as the artifact made use of the shipboard robotics to perform detailed vivisections of its captives. Three of the crew managed to escape, and watched as the machine flew their ship into the ocean. They spent the next six weeks in a survival pod, watching as the insidious atmosphere of the planet chewed away at the hull of their shelter.
A resupply vessel reached them before their pod walls were breached, and a quick scan of the planet turned up no trace of their vanished ship.

*The Scourge
Within three months of the return of the survivors from Abattoir, the Heavy Scout Cruiser Ghurka was dispatched to perform a more thorough investigation. What came back from that voyage led to more than 15 years of horror and bloodshed throughout the sector.
The Prin Tayn artifact had been busy using its captured research vessel to recharge the power cells of its parent craft, a dreadnought of nightmarish proportions. Luring a search team below the ocean, the Prin Tayn took control of their ship’s boat and sent it back to the Gurkha. From there, the artifact began its infamous campaign of bloody terror.

*The Trailing Picket
Formed in order to patrol the trailing borders of the sector, unofficially "discourage" Imperial interest in the region, and keep a close eye on continuing Ihaeti expansion.

*The Coreward Picket
Formed in response to unrest in the Zhodani consulate. Not all colonization expeditions are able to adapt to the system of synthetic government adopted by those in the Dark Wheel. They are gently steered toward new homes beyond the frontier.

The Solomani Diaspora
First Wave (-1985 Imperial)
The first organized Solomani colonial expedition arrives in the Dark Wheel several decades before the collapse of the Rule of Man. Fueled by the desire to find new worlds to settle, these colonists arrived in the Sector and immediately began the search for a new home.
Theron/Theron was established as the first sector capitol in -1885, and remains the subsector capitol to this day. It acts as the embarkation point for expeditions to the Imperium, as well as a reception area for travellers arriving in the sector.

Second Wave (-1776 Imperial)
Wealthy iconoclasts fleeing the imminent collapse of the Rule of Man.

Third Wave (125 Imperial)
Explorers inspired by the Solomani Hypothesis in search of clues to the seeding of Humaniti throughout charted space.

Fourth Wave (998 Imperial)
Refugees and political dissidents fleeing the Solomani Rim War.

The Aslan Diaspora (-1044/-1000)
The first crossing of the Great Rift through the hazardous Jump-5 route happened in -1044. Following that initial brave expansion, more Ihatei undertook the perilous journey in the hope of finding land to call their own. 44 years after that first expedition, the Aslan began their expansion into the sector. Initially, the Ihatei thought the region was uninhabited and unclaimed. It was their growth coreward in the Enclave subsector that ran them afoul of the Solomani colonists who already called that territory their own. A series of bitter, but almost bloodless disputes followed. This prompted officials at Dark to organize a naval picket based out of Candelabra which patrolled the area coreward of Enclave, and kept further Aslan expansion at bay.
Things remained cool, but stable between the two cultures until -800, when an Aslan delegation made entreaties through channels about the possibility of an alliance between the two cultures. The gathering of particularly clever Aslan female delegates and shrewd Zhodani and Solomani diplomats quickly cut to the heart of the matter. Ihatei pressure for new worlds presented the real potential for armed conflict in the future, so a system of land grants was proposed for those Aslan who offered service and swore fealty to the sector government. The Aslan delegates responded by recognizing the sector polity as a new Aslan “clan”, and encouraged their Ihatei to join.
The wisdom of this decision only became truly evident during The Scourge. Aslan acts of heroism and bravery in defending to the death their adopted droyne and human families were the stuff of legends. The descendants of those saved by their Aslan protectors are still found as loyal tenants of their Aslan landholders to this very day.

Political and Cultural Reality in The Dark Wheel

Settlement and Colonization
Settlement and colonization of the Wheel is administered at the Sector Capitol of Dark. Landholds are granted in 500 hectare sections to almost any applicant with the following provisions:

1. Every landhold must place aside at least 10 hectares to be administered and settled by Aslan Ihatei. The landless sons who are awarded these parcels are required to return them to the care of the Sector government as they encounter new lands to claim.

2. Every landhold must place aside at least 5 hectares to be administered and settled by Vargr. The Vargr who are awarded these parcels must maintain them at their current credit valuated levels.

3. Aslan landowners are required to set aside at least 10 hectares to be administered and settled by the other races which inhabit the Wheel. Landowners are not allowed to levy monetary taxes on the tenants of these lands, but can exact tribute in the form of trade goods or livestock - not to exceed five percent of the credit valuation of the land.

4. Every landhold lord must provide a contribution of at least five percent of the credit valuation of their lands per year to the Ruling Council. Up to half of this contribution may come as an in-kind offering of goods and/or services. The remainder must be paid in cash.

Government

The government of the Dark Wheel is handled by a three separate bodies: the Republican Senate, the Republican Legate, and the Office of the Chancellor.

The Republican Senate
Senators are elected from the executive councils of their systems. They serve five-year terms.

The Republican Legate
Legates are those who administer the legislative branch of the government. They interpret the Charter of Incorporation, appoint system and subsector adjudicators, and oversee the subsector Courts of Appeal. Legates are appointed by the Chancellor, and serve ten-year terms. Elections are staggered at five-year intervals.

The Office of the Chancellor
A Chancellor is elected from among the Republican Senate to serve a ten-year term as Cheif Executive. No one race may claim the Chancellor’s position for more than two terms.

System-level Government
Balkanized governments are not allowed. Each inhabited system is administered by a council comprised of representatives from each race which has settled there. Representatives serve for a single ten-year term. One representative is elected by council to serve a five-year term in the Republican Senate.

Race and Culture in the Dark Wheel

Solomani - These are the descendants of racial Solomani who quietly left the Solomani Rim during the period of the Interstellar Wars, and settled in the Sector shortly before the fall of the Long Night. These initial colonists were encountered by a second wave of new arrivals fleeing the strife and turmoil surrounding the Solomani Rim War. Both sets of Solomani had grown tired of the repressive and fanatical regimes with which they had lived, and vowed to leave the Solomani Cause far behind them.
Forging a new racial identity in the Dark Wheel came naturally to these folk. Most remain independent from political causes or affiliations. A growing minority among the civilian population are those who have resurrected a structure loosely based on the Solomani Hypothesis.

The Sons of Man
Formed in the year 225 by the expatriate Solomani philosopher Lucas Tree, the Sons of Man have re-interpreted the traditional meaning of the Solomani Hypothesis. Instead of viewing themselves as the race most fit to rule, they have adopted the mantle of guardians and caretakers of all the races which inhabit the Dark Wheel. Membership in the military includes a period of intense indoctrination in this philosophy for all officers. Enlisted Solomani are not required to embrace any such belief, although an overwhelming majority of career servicemen and women choose to do so.
Recent times have seen the evolution of a new philosophical offshoot of the Sons of Man, called the Sons of Sol. This movement encourages Zhodani and Vargr participation, and has been given the official blessing of the leadership in the Sons of Man movement.

Zhodani - These peoples are the latest representatives of Humaniti to arrive in the Sector. Initially establishing colonial footholds in the far coreward reaches, the Zhodani began a slow and methodical advance to the rimward regions. Before making too much headway, they were plagued by the rogue governments and corsair bands which operated with impunity out of coreward sectors.

Vargr - While still relative newcomers to the Dark Wheel, the Vargr have been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Sons of Sol movement. Those members who embrace the philosophy are widely held to be among the most charismatic of their race, and have managed to forge alliances that have yet to be successfully tested. An influx of refugees from the Frontier Wars held throughout the Spinward Marches has swollen the Vargr population in the Wheel in the past several decades. An underground railroad of sorts remains in existence to channel such homeless families to the Sector.


Psionics in the Dark Wheel
The first Zhodani to colonize the coreward sections of the sector encountered great trouble with the roving bands of corsairs and expanding governments from across the Sector border. In 252, a chance encounter between a band of Solomani scouts and beseiged Zhodani settlers formed a strangely unshakable alliance between the two peoples, which rocked the established Consulate colonial government back on its heels.
The Solomani scout Cruiser Arapahoe engaged a small fleet of corsairs which was in the process of pillaging the Zhodani settlements on Peerz’kaliss. Countless acts of heroic sacrifice on the part of the Solomani marine contingent on the ground, and the ultimate destruction of the Arapahoe in orbit left an indelible impression upon the Zhodani settlers of the Solomani love of freedom and independence. The savagery with which the marines defended the colonists stunned the planetary nobility, and the tenderness and care with which women and children were treated by the marine medics branded these Solomani as something of an enigma.
The arrival of the Fleet Intruder Rimward Fury found the surviving marines well-cared for and revered by the local Zhodani, and sparked an epic campaign which resulted in the complete and utter elimination of piracy in the Coreward subsectors by the Solomani. The power with which the campaign was executed gave the consular colonial government pause. A subsequent entreaty from the Solomani resulted in the Dark Conference of 275.

The Dark Concord
What impressed the Zhodani mission to Dark was the refusal of the Solomani Cheif Delegate to don any type of psionic shielding. The open mind of that representative was enough to convince the Zhodani of the overwhelming military might of the Solomani settlers, and their sincere desire to leave the Solomani Cause a thing of the past. The startling discovery of the acceptance of psionics by these so-called Sons of Man, served to allay any fears of xenophobia among the Zhodani delegates. The recognition of common ancestry (albeit distant), and of the benefits of peaceful cooperation began to dawn as more than some long-forgotten dream. Continued meetings on the planet over the next 25 years finally resulted in the formation of a Sector-wide government in 300.
The government is based on precepts and laws hammered out by delegates from the Sector's major inhabitants (not all of whom were, or are necessarily Major Races). Among the organizational and legal orders contained in those concords are the following:

Disputes among Vargr are settled only according to the Code Duello established by the Sector government. Disputes among Aslan are to be settled in a similar fashion.

Inter-species duelling will be strictly regulated and monitored by a subsector system of Judges. Any unauthorized activity will subject both parties to the full extent of Sector Law.

Trade and Commerce oversight will be relegated to the authority of Subsector Commerce Boards. These boards are composed of representatives from the major commercial concerns of the subsector with the ruling body composed of psionic mediators.

Please excuse any internal inconsistencies in the above...this is still a work in progress, being cobbled together from notes and scribblings from the past 20+ years of playing.

 

[RainOfSteel]

signless,

Great work!

Thanks for posting all that.

 

[flykiller]

yes, some great stuff here and some ideas for my own game.

 

[Golan2072]

The Solar Triumvirate
Government
The Solar Triumvirate is officially a federal republic (Representative Democracy in Traveller terms), consisting of three "senior" member worlds (Earth, Mars and the Jovian System), and their colonies. The Senate is the legislative branch (as well as the highest judicial (sp?) authority), and each senior world controls one thirds of it's representatives, elected by each world's population. Out of the Senate, three Triumvirs are elected, again one from each world. The Triumvirs are the highest executive authority, and surround themselves with a Cabinet of advisors and ministers.

In reality, the Triumvirate is far less of a Representative Democracy and far more of an Impersonal Beraucracy; unoficially, it is not only a triumvirate of planets but a triumvirate of three power blocks - the Military (Army, Navy and Marines), the State Beraucracy (and alot of it) and the Megacorporations. Each power block competes with the others for power and control, but cannot survive without its competitors.

While Senate members are elected by the planetary populations, the pool of candiates from which they are chosen is limited, and almost all of the candidates come from the three power blocks. Any independant candidate will find heaps of legal, beraucratic and financial obstacles piled in his or her way.

Under the central government there are 10 Subsector Governments, each headed by a Subsector Governor appointed by the Triumvirs.

Until the Insurrection of 2365, any world other than Earth, Mars and the Jovian Moons was considered a Colony and granted no representation at all, not even in the local level. After the Insurrection, the Triumvirate government gave the Colonies "junior world" status as a way to vent off their frustration from the system, allowing them to send observers (wqithout the right to vote) to the Senate and adding a locally-elected Advisory Council to each colony's governmental system, serving as advisors (with limited authorities) to the Planetary Governors.

As mensioned before, planets are ruled by Governors, and planetary Governors (and the other top colonial officials, such as Sheriffs) are appointed by the Sector Governors. Thus, while the governor has enough independance to do his/her job (given the distance to the subsector capital), most planetary government in the Solar Triumvirate are similar in their general outline (though great variations in the levels of efficiency, humane-ity and corruption exist).

Another governmental feature implemented by the Triumvirate after the Insurrection were "Political Advisors" (abbrevated PolAs)- that is, political officers - appointed to any unit, ship, facility or colony over 30 personnel (Platoon and up) to look after the Triumvirate's interests. These PolA's have considerable powers, and are considered as equal in rank to the unit's/ship's commander (except for in battle), but have certain limits - this isn't SolSec/KGB, only a limited version thereoff. On units/ships/facilities/colonies over 120 personnel, another PolA is appointed - but this one is an undercover one, masquarading as an ordinary soldier/crewmember/colonist. The main porpuse of the PolAs is to prevent another Insurrection by monitoring early signs of rebellious behavior and taking care of them.

Economics
The Solar Triumvirate's economy system is a strange mix between state capitalism (that is, parts of the economy are controlled by the beraucracy, the rest is on a partially-moderated market) and megacorporate monopolism (that is, big corps control most of the market; small businesses are rare). The lines between "government" and "corporate" are blurred - and some officials serve in both realms. The MegaCoprs control 67% of the economy, the Government 32% and small businesses less than 1%.

Generally speaking, the Triumvirate's economy has two and a half parts - The Colonies produce, Mars and Calipso (these are the half-part) research and develop and Earth consumes. Earth has 25 billion people living on it; about 3 billions of those (around 12%) are hyper-consumers, 5 billions more (around 20%) are poorer, but still consume alot, and the rest (17 billions, around 68%) live in horrid conditions in massive sprawls, and consume far, far less, but are still a market. Earth is a market, THE Market, the biggest market in known space; the rest of the triumvirate sells to that market. So colonies manufacture alot of export goods and live in a relatively low standard of living.

People are the Triumvirate's most aboundant resource - it has more of them than any other polity IMTU. The limiting factor for its growth, however, is stellar transportation - even with space elevators ("beanstalks") on Earth and Mars, interplanetary, and, moreover, interstellar transportation is limited by the amount of available shipping capacity, especially over long distances
.
<To be cointinued - Culture, Technology, Military, Megacorporations and Important Worlds at a later post>

 

[RainOfSteel]

Employee 2-4601

Yes, yes, go on . . .

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
Employee 2-4601
Yes, yes, go on . . .

Gladly so, gladly

Culture
The Solar Triumvirate is, generally speaking, the most conservative polity IMTU. With Earth in its center, the Triumvirate has literally millenia of traditions and cultures to directly build on; It also fears radical change, as radical change might tip the balance between the three power blocks (Military, Beraucracy and Corporations) and bring unwanted changes, especially shift the focal point from Earth to the colonies, which is the last thing that those in power want. And extreme, fast changes have brought about the Stagnation, and no one in the Triumvirate wants it to repeat itself.

Consequently, cybernetics are restricted (except for prosthetics) and are viewed with dislike in most social circles; psionics are outright illegal and are somewhat feared; bio-modification of upper animals and Humans is heavily regulated and is, generally speaking, limited to minor changes; massive cosmetic surgery with bizzare effects (i.e. creating "exotic", animalist or non-human appearances) is frawned upon; religions with roots going back for millenia are common; and living on large, terraformed planets is seen as vastly preferrable to life in small, self-contained space habitats.

Most people on Earth and the major colonies live in massive Sprawls, or mega-cities, with tens of millions of inhabitants and extremely crowded conditions. In the smaller colonies, durable but ugly pre-fab buildings are commonplace, though older colonies also manufacture their local buildings. All in all, the Triumvirate is heavily and blatantly industrialized.

In the lower classes (around 75% of the population), prostitution, drug abuse and crime are common, despite brutal police actions against them. A small counter-culture lives in the cracks of society, similar in concept to the "Punks" of the 1980's but usually heavily bio-modded and pro-Alliance (or pro-Matriarchate), and suffers from repression.

There is a small middle class (about 20% of the population) composed mostly of corporate middle-strata and governmental beraucrats; small businesses are extremely rare, especially on the colonies. Most of the middle class on Earth and the major colonies live in moderately crowded gated communities and corporate/government enclaves, enjoying better conditions than the masses and heavily consuming.

The ruling class (about 5% of the population), composed mostly of corporate executive, government head honchos and their families, lives in splendor, ever-consuming and ever-spending. Most of these lucky few live in luxury appartments on the top of megacorporate arcologies or governmental complexes, insulated from the masses by razor wire fenses, armored windows, air conditioning and armed guards.

Technology
The Solar Triumvirate has TL12 on its main worlds (The Sol System Worlds, Fenrir and a few others), and colonial technology usually ranges between TLs 4 and 11, with imported technology extensively used if the local TL is lower than TL-10.

Some TL10+ technologies are not in wide use, namely higher-mammal (and Human) bioengineering, cybernetics and civilian grav vehicles (though grav vehicles are TL12 IMTU). Text/image based interfaces are mostly used, while cyber-interfaces (VR and C-Space) are rarely used, and even then for specialized applications. TL12 robots are commonplace, though their AI leaves something to be desired (even for TL12) and Human-form (contourted in Traveller terms; no pseudo-biological robots exist yet IMTU) robots and ones with emotion/personality simulation are uncommon.

Military
Military enlistment in the Triumvirate is usually not mandatory, except for planetary armies in the times of war. Thus, the Triumvirate's Military is mostly a professional force.

The Solar Triumvirate's military is traditionally organized, with a Joint Command Staff (JCS) on Earth, answering only to the Triumvirs and the Senate and commanding the three main branches of the military - Army, Navy and Marines. The Triumvirate's Scout Service is a branch of the Navy, while the marines are not (though they serve as ship's troops on Navy vessels, their main task is that of Rapid Expeditionary Forces, serving as a constant-readiness force in times of "peace" and as a spearhead in the times of war).

The Navy is split into Subsector Fleets, each of them devided into Carrier Groups, Independant ships, mostly cruisers and destroyers), Scout Fleets and System/Planet fleets. System Fleets answer to the Governor unless specific orders from higher Naval officers are to the contrary.
The Navy's command is the most traditionalist part of the Triumvirate forces; most high officers come from centuries-old Astronaut families. The rating, however, are more progressive, especially those in technical positions.

The Triumvirate's naval doctrine is that of large Carrier Groups; each group is composed of one big carrier (5,000dton until recently, 12,000dton in a few new carriers - mine is a "small ship" TU) with as many fighters as possible, supported by several Missile Destroyers (600 or 600dton, depending on model) providing long-range fire support, several Destroyers (600dton) screening the Carrier/Missile Destroyers and many Close Escorts helping the Destroyers in their Screening duty. Additional ships include troop carriers, tankers, supply ships and couriers. Two thirds of the fighters carry an offensive role, while one third carries a defensive role.

Cruisers are independant ships carrying fighters, missiles and other offensive weapons, as well as ship's troops for defense as well as small scale boarding/planetary offense.

The Marines, as indicated before, are an independant arm; they have their own organic interstellar transportation (which doubles also as orbital fire support and defense), their own organic light armor and artillery and their own organic fighter support. Each subsector has a Marine Command, under which are local planetary Marine units (use as spearheads for the planetary Army), Rapid Intervention Destroyers (think Sulaco from Aliens: a fast ship capable of transporting a marine Platoon to its destination) and Planetary Assualt Groups (Big combined arms units, with integrated Naval forces). Marines are somewhat traditionalist, but not as the Navy - they are, after all, a high-tech, rapid-assualt interstellar force; innovations in both technology and doctrine are therefore common. And yes, they carry Cutlasses on their parade uniforms and train with these swords in boot camp.
The Marines also recieve the most internal security attention and pass the most Loyalty Tests - they are meant to be the government's shock troops, and insubordination is totally unacceptable.

The Army is the largest and oldest part of the Triumvirate's military, with some units (those on Earth) having histories going back to the 20th Century or even before. While the bulk of the Triumvirate's Army originates from the Major Colonies, each plnet has a Planetary Army, recruited from local elements. Some Earther units are extremely traditionalist (those recruting from the middle/higher classes and having very long traditions), but most of the Army grunts are rank and file, recruited from the deepest slums and the remotest colonies.

Military technology in the Triumvirate is relatively high, as most military-grade weapons are inported from the major worls. However, several radical applications of these technology are not in wide use, especially cybernetics, heavy warbots (other than the Marines' RoboTanks and Sentry Guns) and combat drugs (though those are more common in Corporate armies). Grav vehicles are relatively new (TL12 IMTU, shipboard grav compensation is TL10, GravBelts are TL14 and thus not invented yet; grav units are heavy and bulky), and haven't completely replaced wheeled, tracked, air-cushion and vector-thurst vehicles. Ship weapons include the usual range of lasers, missiles, plasma and fusion guns, and defences are mostly armor and good ECM programs (Nuclear Dampers are mid-late tL-13 IMTU). Infantry weapons include Gauss Rifles, Gauss LMGs (my creation), man-portable missiles, grenades (often launched from an underbarrel launcher on the Gauss Rifle) and PGMP-12s (as heavy/anti-materiel support). Most infantry is mechanized and carried on APCs; Marines usually use G-Carriers for that porpuse. While a few light tank models use Grav propultion, most armor and artillery use tracked locomotion. Light air-support uses vector-thrust propultion, while heavier aircraft are space fighters with streamlined hulls.

<<Important worlds, foriegn relations and Megacorporation will be added in a later post>>

 

[Golan2072]

Here we go - last installment of the Triumvirate.

Foreign Relations
The Solar Triumvirate has an agressivly expansionist foreign policy, which had more than once lead to war. The Triumvirate needs resources, workforce and means of production to satisfy the ever-expending demands of Earth's mega-market; therefore, between 2238 and 2308, it had a rapid period of expension, taking over most of the "lost" STL colonies and establishing many new colonies on it's own. In 2308, however, it ran into the Matriarchate, the first enemy it could not convince, bribe or bully accepting its rule. What followed were 22 years of bloodshed ended at a stallmate. In 2365, several spinward colonies began the Insurrection against the Triumvirate's Earth-centric rule, giving birth to the Alliance. Out of the chaos, two more polities were born: the hard-liner corporate Consortium, unwilling to accept the peace with the Alliance, and the unorganized Coreward Autonomous Zone (CAZ) containing worlds uneilling to belong to any large polity, banded togather in a loose confederacy.

The Triumvirate is at a cease-fire with the Serpentis Quadrant Alliance. This is a shaky truce, but it's still holding after 30 years. While no megacorporate activity is allowed in the Alliance, small businesses are more than welcome, and many free traders work the border area (some of which are corporate "shell"-traders, it's risky if the CRC - the Alliances Comitee for Regulation of Commerce - catches you). A certain kind of a "cold war" exists between the two polities, involving espionage and sabotage, and intervention in CAZ politics, as well as indirect fighting through the Triumvirate's supports of the Consortium in its war with the Alliance. For the Consortium, the Alliance is "the enemy they know" - an enemy they greatly dislike but can still understand.

Unlike it, the Post Planetary Matriarchate is an enigma. Radical in application of technology and semi-nomadic in neo-tribal space habitats, the Matriarchate is the least "Human" of the known polities. The border between the Triumvirate and the Matriarchate is closed and heavily patrolled, and most interactions between these polities is through espionage on the Alliance, which is in good terms with the Matriarchate. There is also some Matriarchate involvement in the CAZ, which the Triumvirate looks to stamp out.

Relations between the Triumvirate and the Consortium are quite good, though Triumvirate media likes to heavily criticize it for "unsafe research" and "inadaquate economical regulations". All of this "friendly" criticism does not get in the way of the extensive trade between the polities. Ofcourse, the Triumvirate government would like to have the Consortium under its control, but as long asw it fights the Alliance and is a good trade partner, conquering it just isn't worth the cost.

Last but not least is the Coreward Autonomous Zone. Here the Triumvirate is involved in endorsing planetary governments that support it and arming them against planetary governments that don't. The CAZ is buzzing with espionage and covert intervention by almost any polity, and the Triumvirate is no exception to that - in fact, it is the polity deepest stuck in the CAZ's political mire.

Important Worlds
Earth (Sol III, SOL/0110, A867A99-C)
The birthplace of Humanity is crouded and polluted, but it is still the most developed world IMTU. 25 billion inhabitants live in massive sprawls under greyish skies and acid rain, or in fortified arcologies towering hundreds of meters abouve these sprawls. While most resources on Earth have been depleted by centuries of exploitation, the industrial infrastructure was rapidly recovered after the Stagnation, making it a mighty economical machine starving for external resources. Earth is one of the two worlds IMTU with functioning "beanstalks" of space elevators, the other being Mars (Two more are under construction by the Alliance on Lerna and on the Ael Yael world, ETA 2410 and 2412 respectively). Only little remains of the once extensive biosphere, mostly confined to "bio-dome" preserves or gengineered to whistand the devastated ecolony.

Mars (Sol IV, SOL/0110, A445998-C)
Humanity's first colony and first attempt at large-scale terraformation. Terraformation did not go especially well on Mars; not only used primitive TL8 methods in its first stages, but the entire terraformation project was severely damaged during World War III and was not properly maintained during the Stagnation. The result was a sharp increase of CO2 partial pressure in the atmosphere, as well as an unstable climate. Post-stagnation efforts have led to a moderately thin but CO2-heavy atmosphere which blocks some of the radiation and allows plants (as well as gengineered insects) to live in it freely, but requires humans to use filter masks to protect themselves from CO2 poisoning. Most of the billion inhabitants of Mars live in huge "tent-cities", dones and hollowed-out mesas which protect them from the cold, the dust dtorms and CO2, though agriculture and indsustry are mostly carried out outside. Mars is a heavily industrialized world, having been colonized by Megacorporations, and is the headquarters of Martian Mechanics, one of the largest megacorps in known space. Mars was the first planet to have a space elevator.

Callisto (Sol Vf, SOL/0110, A300897-C)
Jupiter's moon Callisto was colonized in the 2050's; the colony managed to survive through WW3 and the Stagnation, and was one of the three founding members of the Triumvirate. Callisto is an airless world, and all of the 300 million inhabitants live in domed cities or underground. The economy is mostly based on heavy industry and mining, as well as harvesting gasses from Jupiter's upper atmosphere.

Fenrir (Wolf 359 II, SOL/0309, A9C0713-C)
Fenrir is a huge planet with an insidius atmosphere, known for its extremely rich mineral deposits. It was colonized by the TYC megacorporation in 2242, and soon became a mining world, exporting massive amounts of radioactives, exotic materials and atmosphere derivatives of the nearby Sol system (which is only one Jump-2 away). All of Fenrir's 65 million inhabitants live deep underground, far beyond the atmosphere's corrosive reach. This planet serves as TYC's headquarters since 2300.

Megacorporations
Tirovski-Yang Consortium (TYC)
This (originally) Asian giant was born in the wake of the collapse of Russian Stalinism in the 1990's and Chinese Maoism in the 2010's; Many formerly governmental businesses were thrown to the open market, and after changing hands for several decades, many of the heavily industrial resources of Siberia, Asian Russia and Northern China were consolidated under the TYC megacorporation, established in 2023. True to its roots as a heavy-industry giant, TYC still produces heavy equipment, from smass-drivers and colony domes through space-faring tugs and frieghters to tanks, heavy trucks, ATVs and even the Gauss Rifle used by the triumvirate army. TYC internal practices are somewhat brutal even in Megacorporate terms, and its security troops are some of the most heavily armed corporate soldiers in the Triumvirate. TYC's headquarters are on Fenrir, Sol sector.

StellarDream
Established as a space-development corp in 2012, StellarDream took part in the colonization of the Solar System, in Colony Ship construction and in post-Stagnation interstellar development. StellarDream is the primary space-development and shipbuilding corporation in the Triumvirate, and is the main contractor for the Triumvirate Navy's shipbuilding operations (closely followed by Martian Mechanics and TYC). StellarDream's headquarters are in the Cosmograd mega-habitat, Earth L5 point.

Martian Mechanics
M2 was founded in 2069 out of several robotics, electronics and heavy industry comapnies operating in the Mars colony. Three centuries later, Martian Mechanics is the primary producer of robotics and high-tech mechanical equipment in the Triumvirate, and also produces semi-automatic terraformation factories and atmosphere proccessors. M2's headquarters are situated in Robinson City, Mars.

Hydra Inc
Originally an aquaculture and aqua-colonization corp, HydraCorp has expanded into almost any aspect of both aquatic technology, terraformation and bioengineering, competing with BioDawn and M2 for terraformation contracts. Unfortunately, HydraCorp was extremely damaged by the Insurrection, as it's two most profitable holings - Lerna and the ael Yael world - were lost to the Alliance; HydraCorp, however, still survives, and this is especially helped by the fact that its main competitor, BioDawn, has seceded to the Consortium, leaving HydraCorp as the main bioengineering corp in the Triumvirate. HydraCorp's headquarters were originally located on Lerna, but since the Insurrection they were transfared to Jupiter's moon Europa, in the Sol system.

 

[Golan2072]

One more thing before returning from my colledge exam break to write about the Alliance - I will soon post data about the Ael Yael IMTU; they are a major element within the Alliance (Their homeworld, Jaeyelya, is one of the Alliance's two "centers", Lerna being the other), and therefore, they deserve discussion before the Alliance would be discussed in detail.

My only source of information about them is JTAS #15, in which they are treated in a short manner. I will change several facts about them to better fit MTU, and deal with a few points not touched by the JTAS article. I'll write my full post about them later, but here are my modifications:
- Before Human contact, there were about 50 millions (rather a mere million) Ael Yael on Jaeyelya; their population increased rapidly under HydraCorp's rule (despite their exploitation as cheap labour, the few scarps of medical technology they DID get increased their population size by much - look at most third world countried in 20th century Earth), and currently there are about 300 millions of Ael Yael in the Alliance (so they are about 40% of its population).
- When first contacted, the Ael Yael had an early herding society (very early TL1 in Traveller terms), rather than a TL0 hunter-gatherer society, andwere just beginning to use crude copper tools and jewelry. They wrere still semi-tribal and quasi-matriarchal, though.
- Jaeyelya was entering a dry climatic period when it was discovered; not exactly dying, but still dangerous for the primitive Ael Yael. Most environmental damage, however was caused by HydraCorp's strip-mining and heavy industrialization of the planet. It is currently (AD 2400) undergoing re-terraformation with the help of the other Alliance worlds. It also had very limited agriculture (just enough to barely feed the Ael Yael and Human workers; the corp admins got imported luxury food anyway), and much work was directed after the Insurrection towards increasing local food production.
- HydraCorp brought large numbers of Human workers to Jaeyelya as part of its industrialization efforts (Ael Yael make adaquate grunt workers but much technical skill was needed - so Human technicians were brought from the other HydraCorp colonies, including Lernans to work on colonizing Jaeyelya's remaining oceans). These workers were treated as bad as the Ael Yael (especially the kiners many of which were exiled to hot, dry Jaeyelya as a punishment for resisting the corp), and eventually rose togather with them against HydraCorp in the 2365 quadrant-wide Insurrection. Currently, Jaeyelya is ruled by a semi-direct democracy of both Ael Yael and Human workers; the economy is semi-planned (barter and coordination between cooperatively-owned factories/mines/farms; "management" comittees are elected by the workers of each such location, as well as representatives to the regional Councils). Yes, there are many Humans (around 50 millions) living on Jaeyelya IMTU. Alot of the Ael Yael original tribal structure remains in those cooperatives, such as open discussions of policies (the comittees are for resolving urgent matters; most long-term planning is done in an open forum), little or no formality, raising the young by the community and large, communal meals (with alot of meat in them, ofcourse) and storytelling as a major source of entertainment. In short, the Ael Yael have accepted the Humans as allies against the common enemy - the corporations. I play down their xenophobia - though they are still fiercely "patriotic" - and they accept the Jaeyelyain Human workers as residents and even friends.
- The Ael Yael hate corporates with a passion, as was written in the JTAS article aboute them, and even more - most of them support a more agressive policy of the Alliance towards the pro-corporate Solar Triumvirate. Jaeyelya in general is a hotbed of militant radical political thought, even in Alliance terms.
- The Alliance culture, and even quisine, was deeply influenced by the Ael Yael - not only most schools/community homeschooling in the Alliance teach their langauge, but many terms and metaphores (and even original words) from their language have entered the Alliance variation of English. It has even effected starship designs - most Alliance ships build their "staterooms" into one big, two-story space with hammocks (sp?) for Human sleeping and a 6m-high floor so that the Ael Yael crewmembers could stretch their wings a bit. Also, gravity on most Alliance ships fits the Jaeyelya standard.
- Jaeyelya is TL12 and not TL4; it was brutally industrialized by HydraCorp in the 100 years of its rule over the planet. In fact, it is the second most industrial world in the Alliance (the first is Lerna, though Jaeyelya leads in high-tech).
- This cannot be stressed hard enough: Ael Yael are carnivores. They eat meat, meat and even more meat, and the century of eating yeast mush under HydraCorp's rule has made this appetite even greater. They do cook their meals, however (though to a limited degree - medium rare in Human terms, I think) and have a very varied selection of foodstuffs - all of which are VERY popular in the Alliance. Cultural influence includes not only the excellent Ael Yael verse, poetry and literature, but their excellent steaks as well.
- They are also predators - always remember that. Pack-oriented predators (like wolves), that is. Their language and culture, as mentioned in the JTAS article about them, are saturated with metaphores involving hunting, flying and dealing with meat. They are also "honorable" warriors - like wolves, they will never kill a foe who surrenders to them, for example - and are far more loyal to their "pack"/friends and their race than most humans would be.
- During the HydraCorp exploitation of Jaeyelya, many Ael Yael had to work in tight mine shafts for long periods of time; on many occasions, their wings were cup off due to degeneration and deseases or as a punishment for rebellious behaviour. The Alliance has made an effort to supply these unfortunates with cyber-wings so that they could fly again. These wings were quite successful and eventually became popular among belters for manouvering inside pressurized zero-G habitats.

Heh, I think I wrote that article-post instead of just comments... so next post would begin my discussion of the Alliance

 

[Golan2072]

I've made (in Paint Shop Pro 8) the symbols/flags of several polities IMTU:

Solar Triumvirate (Symbol represents Sol and the three Senior Members: Earth, Mars and Callisto)

Post Planetary Matriarchate (Symbol represents Feminine Harmony among the Stars)

Serpentis Quadrant Alliance (Symbol represents technology with a "human face" and with regard to Life, as well as worker's democratic control over the state and the economy).

 

[jwdh71]

Excellent work Employee 2-4601. Lots of detail and very well thought out to boot. Keep giving us peeks at your universe, it is definitely worth reading.

 

[Zparkz]

Marc,
I am currently running a campaign that started in 1105 and is currently at the beginning of the FFW.

I intend to run the campaign through classic time, rebellion, hard times, virus and the rebuild. This is quite a scope for a campaign, but I think I'll manage to pull it off.

For rules I use primarily the GDW house system a.k.a TNE.

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by jwdh71:
Excellent work Employee 2-4601. Lots of detail and very well thought out to boot. Keep giving us peeks at your universe, it is definitely worth reading.

Thanks

 

[RainOfSteel]

I didn't say anything after my Jan 17th post, but I did continue reading because it was worth my while.

 

[Golan2072]

The Serpentis Quadrant Alliance is being reworked. Thank you for your patience.

 

[Golan2072]

Political Parties and Organizations in the Alliance
Viriditas Coalition, 43%
The Viriditas Coalition (Viriditas is Latin, for "Greening Power" or "Life Power", party and philosphy inspired inspired by Kim Stanely Robinson's Mars Saga) is a large, moderate block with a somewhat less moderate pro-terraformation and pro-psionics policy; economically and foriegn relations-wise, it's a "status que" party and an avid supporter of the current balance between private, cooperative and government/community ownership of the industry; while it's support the continuation of the low-key conflict with the Consortium, it objects its intensification into a full-out open war.

Unity, 32%
The Unity party has its roots in the illegal Miner's Union on Jaeyelia, which was one of the major resistance mouvements against HydraCorp. Even to this day, Unity is a mass worker's party and is more radical than the Viriditas Coalition, especially in economical issues and in it's support of an all-out war of liberation against the tyrannical Consortium; it's very mildly pro-terraformation and doesn't really devote much political energy to psionics. It's widely supported on Jaeyelia and in Ael Yael colonized worlds. All in all, Unity stands somewhere between coalition to opposition, trying to change the Alliance government but doing so from within.

Matriarchal Revolutionary Party (MRP), 16%
The MRP is the Alliance's major opposition party and is quite radical at that. It blatantly opposes terraformation, supports a unification of the Alliance with the Matriarchate and agitates for an all-out war of it's proposed Alliance/Matriarchal union against the Consortium AND the Solar Triumvirate. It constantly criticizes the Viriditas Coalition/Unity "sleepy establishment".

Prosperity Party (PP), 6%
The Posperity Party represents the interests of the many independant small-business owners and is usually concerned with economical issues (especially it attempts to reduce restrictions on business size and power, it's still anti-corporate, however); however, it supports in Viriditas Coalition's policy on terraformation and on war.

other political organizations, 3%
There are many more smaller organizations in the Alliance political scene, including the Pan-Anarchist Front, the Daughters of Gaia, several religious organizations and the extremist Psionic Blades.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

My first thought was how many folks would simply prefer to go bowling on Saturday nights, rather than go to the Gathering and have to listen to Olaf rant (again!) about how this new building project would kill all the farm life, and they would all be eating soylent green in 5 years.

Second thought: specialists get paid the average wage of the entire community? For plumbers, I'm sure this works. But, the nuclear engineers are not going to want to take a massive pay cut for two years to head the new reactor project (which I'm assuming would be infrastructure). Their answer will be, "If you want to pay the same as a vaccuum salesman, then maybe you should hire one!" This is why socialism (in its purest form) doesn't work on a scale above a commune - eventually people want to excel, and be rewarded for it. Unless, of course, this basic human instinct (IMHO) has been evolved out of them.

And, the regional councils get paid the average wage for THEIR community? There is, all of a sudden, a lot of inequality among your politicians. And, the well-off ones are going to be paying the not-so-well-off ones for their votes. Do the folks above regional get paid the same way?

(BTW, "Gathering" has an awfully Stephen King sound to it, doesn't it? )

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
My first thought was how many folks would simply prefer to go bowling on Saturday nights, rather than go to the Gathering and have to listen to Olaf rant (again!) about how this new building project would kill all the farm life, and they would all be eating soylent green in 5 years.

Most Alliance citizens use the "Gathering" as some kind of celebration or social event; politics are just another aspect of it, but yes, some worlds don't have functional "Gatherings"; some do. Some people just like to talk of politics (and I say so from experience).

Second thought: specialists get paid the average wage of the entire community? For plumbers, I'm sure this works. But, the nuclear engineers are not going to want to take a massive pay cut for two years to head the new reactor project (which I'm assuming would be infrastructure). Their answer will be, "If you want to pay the same as a vaccuum salesman, then maybe you should hire one!" This is why socialism (in its purest form) doesn't work on a scale above a commune - eventually people want to excel, and be rewarded for it. Unless, of course, this basic human instinct (IMHO) has been evolved out of them.

And, the regional councils get paid the average wage for THEIR community? There is, all of a sudden, a lot of inequality among your politicians. And, the well-off ones are going to be paying the not-so-well-off ones for their votes. Do the folks above regional get paid the same way?

(BTW, "Gathering" has an awfully Stephen King sound to it, doesn't it? )

"Gathering" was the best term I found in my (lacking) english; the term might also be "moot" or "hack of a big party".

By "specialists" I don't mean actual technicians/engineers, who get a nice wage in the Alliance (yes, it has elements of Socialism, but it ISN'T Communist BY ANY MEANS); I mean various kinds of beraeucrats and admins. And by "avarage wage" I mean the universal (government employee) pay scale, which is per hour; the more you work, the better you're payed, and if you're skilled you get even more (and ofcourse, education is free in the Alliance, it only requires your effort, not money).

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Oooh, so if I log lots of hours surfing the internet at work, I get paid more. Sounds like a government job....

To the point, then - what you mean by a specialist getting "average pay" is they get government scale for that job? That sounds like contracting work (with which I am very familiar ) here in the USA.

Your English lacks? Could've fooled me. (I thought it was just the typical "typing while tired" which afflicts many on this site.

)

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Your English lacks? Could've fooled me. (I thought it was just the typical "typing while tired" which afflicts many on this site.

)

My english doesnm't lack MUCH; usually I'm very in it. But sometimes a word or two evades me. I guess that's the effect of it not being my native tounge. Yes, and I was typing this while translating a VERY BORING Biological article from English to Hebrew, so I guess this has affected me too

The fact that all officials are recallable by petition makes "surfing the planetarty network" by an official quite risky to his job - sure, if he works THAT good that he deserves a full-day pay, ok; but if his job doesn't get done - sooner or later he'll get booted out of office. But starship crews (and soldiers as well), on the other hand, are considered employed 24/7 when not on shore leave, which makes a crew job quite appealing. And prevents mutinees too

And the "government pay scale" is the "default" scale in the Alliance; less of a contract job and more of a good-paying contract job. And besides, that not the beraecracy hiring you, it's the citizens; sure, on some worlds they won't pay attention to any small detail of the official's performance, but if the job doesn't get done, he gets booted ASAP; if it gets done well, he'll be re-elected to it next year.

I hope I haven't embarrased myself with the Alliance system I've designed; it was quite harder to create than the Triumvirate or even the Matriarchate one. Democracies are typically far more complex than dictatorships, semi-dictatorships or tribal systems. Speaking of the latter, how would you classify the Matriarchate according to Book 2's UPP? Charismatic Oligrachy (the clan "mothers" run things and have authority mostly out of respect and experience)? No Government (on a lower scale, a Matriarchate Commune is a family, not a polity...)?

And here are the basics of my Alliance pay scale:
A normal hour of work (each of the 8 hours per day, 6 days a week) earns the worker 3 credits.
The first two additional hours (over the first 8) is 4 credits.
Each hours over the first 10 hours a day earns you 6 credits.
Working in the resting day (you chjoose which day on the week) multiply everything by 1.25.
I haven't thought yet about the multipliers for skilled work and about bonouses for exceptional conduct (that is, what you get as an official if the citizens are very pleased with you and elect you as "the specialist of the month").

Assuming a 28-day-long month, and without the "skilled" multipliers, this gets you:
- On a standard, 8-hours-a-day, 6-days-a-week job, you'll get 576 Credits a month.
- Working "full time", that is, as a soldier or a starship crewmember, you'll get 3,364 credits a month.

And Cr576 per month is an OK wage, not very high but adaquate, especially since education, short-range public transit and medical care are free. Ofcourse, working more, or studying to become better at what you do, will make your living conditions "good" instead of just "ok".

And remember, "skilled" work means that you have a qualification for the specific job you're doing (and there are several levels of it, think of the Traveller skill system), not just a general "degree".