Empty Stars

[77topaz]

While browsing TravellerMap today, I noticed the appearance of a large group of (unofficial) sectors to rim-spinward of Charted Space that I hadn't seen before. Looking at the Wiki, this region appears to be called the Empty Stars, and created by Ade Stewart ("Alegoric"). In general, there appears to be a very large amount of information/content about this region/setting on the Wiki (more than 1000 pages, a noticeable fraction of the Wiki's 36k total), and the TravellerMap data for the region spans an impressive 67 sectors, but I couldn't find any discussion about it on these forums. So, I decided to create a thread for this setting, since I think it deserves one!

 

[Grav_Moped]

Interesting -- I'd run across it before, and in looking at it again realized that the Lon Beon mythology reminds me of where the Galaxiad setting seems to be headed (Sufficiently High Technology as to be conflated with magic, that's also mythology).

Wide setting variety is enabled by choice of era.

Alegoric put a lot of work into that ATU (or, perhaps more properly a "hidden/secret history" slice of the OTU).

The provided wiki link doesn't work properly for me; this one does:

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Distant_Fringe

 

[77topaz]

The provided wiki link doesn't work properly for me; this one does:

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Distant_Fringe

Ah, yes, thanks for pointing that out - I'd assumed the standard /wiki/ interfix in the URL that Wikipedia uses, as well as Wikia. I've fixed the link now - note that the Distant Fringe is only a part of Alegoric's overall region/setting.

 

[Alagoric]

The Distant Fringe is a remote, human-dominated region on the edge of the Great Void (the name that they give to the huge void that the Great Rift joins onto), inhabited by refugees from the Terran Confederation who fled the nuclear destruction of Terra at the hands of the Vilani during the "Final" (Third) Interstellar War in 2147AD.

They believe that Terra is a nuked wasteland and are also convinced that the Vilani Ziru Sirka is still hunting them down, hell-bent on the absorption of the last proud remnant of Terran humanity. They have no idea that Terra eventually defeated the Vilani, or indeed of any of the subsequent history of Charted Space.

In a symbolic act of separation from the homeworld, all records of the sectors they passed through on the epic journey were deliberately destroyed. At present, there is no extant information about the route between Terra and the Fringe.

 

[Alagoric]

One of the reasons I wanted to create this region is that the TU contains only a few areas that are true wildernesses. Of the 70 or so sectors in the region, only two are truly inhabited (Far Home and Halcyon), and a few of the surrounding regions are partially inhabited (Bourne Sector, Divide Sector and a couple of others).

But what would a wilderness be without some intriguing legends, rumors and mysteries? Far off to spinward, supposedly, are the mythical realms of Lon Beon and the Empire of Thrax, fantastically advanced regions that reputedly have hop drives, ansibles and other ultra-tech. Off to coreward - and far more accessible - is a region of dead worlds, civilizations that appear to have been wiped out (reason, of course, unknown) a few hundred years ago. To trailing are lost colonies, insular, xenophobic and barbaric petty states populated by the descendants of vessels lost on the journey from Terra millennia before. And to rimward is the previously mentioned vast and empty Great Void.

And just to add to their issues, they've never cracked Jump-3. They're stuck with Jump-2 (DeVoss-type) drives. They know Jump-3 is possible, but the tech stays tantalisingly just beyond their capability. They came really close with the Langstrom Drive project, but an enormous natural catastrophe overtook the region just before it came to fruition. Maybe a brave band of adventurers can recover Dr Langstrom's lost work and begin a whole new age of interstellar travel.

 

[Timerover51]

Looking at the Traveller Map, how many of the sectors to the Rimward of the Solomani Sphere are official? I was looking at putting in a sector to the Rimward of the Solomani Sphere, most likely adjacent to Ahriman, but I have no interest in having to account for the nearby sectors. Can those be ignored, or do I have to go further out? Are all of those apparently Aslan Sectors official or not?

 

[Alagoric]

You can click the "dim unofficial data" on Trav Map "Show Options" box, which may help. Aktifao, Uistilrao, Ustral Quadrant, Canopus, Aldebaran, Neworld, and Langere Sectors mark the rimward limit of "official" data, rimward of there you're pretty much in uncharted space.

 

[Cryton]

A little late to the thread, but I am absolutely loving your work Alagoric.



It is absolutely the perfect setting for a game I'm about to start.



By chance would you have anymore to share on the setting that's not already on the Wiki or TravellerMap? Or have you deliberately left the rest for GM's to fill in for themselves?



~Cryton

 

[flykiller]

It is absolutely the perfect setting for a game I'm about to start.

just curious. the setting is indeed vast, perhaps a little too vast for a human character to access, especially at j2. in what way is it perfect for your game?

 

[Cryton]

just curious. the setting is indeed vast, perhaps a little too vast for a human character to access, especially at j2. in what way is it perfect for your game?

Why by playing as members on the Lon Beon, probbly using a variant of the Mindscape rules setting.

 

[Cryton]

Basically, the legends of the Lon Beon are true. They are a TL 21+ polity with access to Hop drives and Zero-point power (replacing M/AM for TLs). And the Distant Fringe is being targeted by Societal Engineering(the Lon Beon Holo-vid series is a part of it) in preparations for contact.

 

[wellis]

Basically, the legends of the Lon Beon are true. They are a TL 21+ polity with access to Hop drives and Zero-point power (replacing M/AM for TLs). And the Distant Fringe is being targeted by Societal Engineering(the Lon Beon Holo-vid series is a part of it) in preparations for contact.

So some sort of alien race is going to be contacting the Distant Fringe soon?

 

[flykiller]

So some sort of alien race is going to be contacting the Distant Fringe soon?

aren't they always?

 

[Cryton]

So some sort of alien race is going to be contacting the Distant Fringe soon?

Nope. The Lon Beon, a TL21+ human race thought to be nothing more than a made up polity for Trid series, is actually grooming the TL 12 polities to be contacted by themselves, and have been socio engineering the locals so that they can handle meeting them without insta panic/fear.

 

[BRover]

Scattered hither and yon are various such sectors. I believe this set is the largest--but they are not so easy to find. The credits page of the Traveller Map (https://travellermap.com/doc/credits) lists the areas waaaay down:
Sectors of the Third Imperium
Beyond the Imperium
In Review
Referee's Preserve
Apocryphal Data
Unofficial Data
Faraway Sectors
Borders and Routes
Galactic Structure

 

[Winged Cat]

The original location of the Distant Fringe conflicted with Mongoose's Deepnight Revelations campaign, which has a higher claim on canonicity. So, the Distant Fringe has been moved to rimward-trailing. (It fits well in its new location with the extended star/rift map.)