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Help Me Identify a System!

Garnfellow

Garnfellow

SOC-13
Peer of the Realm
I am designing a scenario that would take place in an isolated system completely controlled by the Schunamann und Sohn AG, LIC megacorporation. Basically, this system, would consist solely of a sun and gas giant with a few barren moons; on one of these moons SuSAG maintains a research station wherein possibly illegal experiments are conducted.

Anyone have any ideas for where to locate this system?
 
Does it matter where in the Imperium? A specific domain, sector, or subsector? Off hand I'd say you're looking at a UWP something like:

Class E Starport - They don't want visitors and have no accommodations for them.

Size 1 or 2 - A small moon, possibly orbiting (one of) the gas giants to make wilderness refueling for SuSAG ships (which would have purifiers aboard of course).

Atmosphere 0 or 1 - Because it's a small moon.

Hydrographics 0 - Because it's got no atmo to speak of.

Population 2 - A bigger research station might be too hard to keep secret, a smaller one might not be enough to do good work.

Government 1 - Company seems pretty obvious.

Law Level ? - Unfortunately the highest possible roll would only get a LL6. It should really be much higher for anyone not connected with the facility of course. I'd use the LL as a guideline for how free the employees are and what kind of weapons are common in the security section. Anyone not supposed to be there would face LLF at least .

Tech Level ? - Kind of depends on what's being researched. Again the best roll would be TLA but whatever it is should only represent what would be commonly available to visitors. You know, the ones who will be isolated, locked up, and interrogated ;) So conditions for "guests" may be very primitive. The facility of course will sport bleeding edge research and top level tech, TLF at least. And the employees will no doubt be very comfortable too and enjoy a similar level of tech.

Basically what I'm saying is you could pick just about any backwater world and "make up" the background of the secret SuSAG base. In fact if it is secret and questionable the UWP could be anything at all on the charts, and something far from the truth to insure nobody thinks it worth visiting. Even X100000-0. A barren world. Add hints of pirates to keep people away...

"I heard The Beowulf was going to jump through there and skim to get over the gap to the other main and they were never seen again. The IN looked into it and found nothing. About 3 years later the IISS picked up a weak Signal GK a parsec away..."

"...This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone ...
Mayday, Mayday ...
we are under attack ...
main drive is gone ...
turret number one not responding ...
Mayday ...
losing cabin pressure fast ...
calling anyone ...
please help ...
This is Free Trader Beowulf ...
Mayday ..."
 
Many thanks on the thoughts; they seem on the money. I really don't have any druthers for where in the Imperium this occurs -- the scenario will essentially be a one-shot. I'm unfamiliar with the Imperium starmaps and frankly a little overwhelmed, so any suggestions on Region, Sector, Subsector is most welcome. I think the only important thing is that the system is off the beaten path and under SuSAG control.

The basic pitch for this adventure is "Traveller meets Resident Evil." The illegal technology being researched is nanotech, self-replicating nanites designed to repair neural pathways and repair cellular damage, making the users effectively immortal. It sort of works, but there's a catch . . . the nanites destroy higher brain functions and rewire the neurological connections, effectively making zombies. And much of the station is overrun when the PCs arrive. I have no idea what tech level this should be, but fairly high.

As far as law level, while the facility is fairly secure I do envision regular (supervised) vendor visits.

I do have a question about starports in the Imperium. "Technically a starport is Imperial territory." Could a megacorporation have its own facility (say, equivalent to a class D starport) that is private property and not subject to Imperial law?
 
Garnfellow said:
Many thanks on the thoughts; they seem on the money.
Click to expand...

You're welcome, and apologies for the hit and miss (this time a miss) unofficial official...

Welcome aboard Garnfellow :D

Garnfellow said:
I really don't have any druthers for where in the Imperium this occurs -- the scenario will essentially be a one-shot.
Click to expand...

Then perhaps another thought which occurs to me a bit late, how about a big research starship? They can park it in orbit of any gas giant for convenient fuel and when they need to, just jump to a new system. Might even add some "fun" :devil: to the Resident Evil-ish plot. Stop them before they jump!

Garnfellow said:
I'm unfamiliar with the Imperium starmaps and frankly a little overwhelmed...
Click to expand...

Understandably so :)

Garnfellow said:
I have no idea what tech level this should be, but fairly high.
Click to expand...

No real reason to even state a TL, it is simply "beyond current TLs" and not reproducible outside this lab by these (now lost) scientists.

Garnfellow said:
I do have a question about starports in the Imperium. "Technically a starport is Imperial territory." Could a megacorporation have its own facility (say, equivalent to a class D starport) that is private property and not subject to Imperial law?
Click to expand...

Shirene, a world in the Spinward Marches, is wholly owned by Al Morai (just a sector wide starship line, might not be a Megacorp). I've always figured the Starport was Imperial Territory, but the shipyards are booked until the end of time exclusively for Al Morai.

Al Morai used to own another world in the Spinward Marches, Windsor, but sold it to a Megacorp, Ling Standard Products (LSP). Presumably the Starport is Imperial Territory but truth be told the line blurs when you start talking Megacorps and Imperial.

I'd say any "port" facility that a Corp (Mega or other) or World Govenment owned would not be Imperial Territory, but it would also not be the Starport listed in the UWP.
 
Last edited:
far-trader said:
Shirene, a world in the Spinward Marches, is wholly owned by Al Morai (just a sector wide starship line, might not be a Megacorp). I've always figured the Starport was Imperial Territory, but the shipyards are booked until the end of time exclusively for Al Morai.
Click to expand...
Strangely enough, the writeup of SuSAG in JTAS#16 states that at the end of the Third Frontier War, SuSAG had established a CBW plant on Shirene.

As an aside, Al Morai is certainly sector-wide in a literal sense, but its assets are not overly impressive (except for owning an entire world) compared to the assets of Oberlindes Lines, a so-called subsector-wide line. Perhaps Al Morai is unusually small for a sector-wide company and Oberlindes unusually large for a ubsector-wide line?

Al Morai used to own another world in the Spinward Marches, Windsor, but sold it to a Megacorp, Ling Standard Products (LSP). Presumably the Starport is Imperial Territory but truth be told the line blurs when you start talking Megacorps and Imperial.

I'd say any "port" facility that a Corp (Mega or other) or World Govenment owned would not be Imperial Territory, but it would also not be the Starport listed in the UWP.
Click to expand...
The Amber Zone Planetoid P-4836 describes a planetoid in the Rabwhar system owned by Sternmetal Horizons (not, alas, SuSAG). It has a starport equivalent to a Class C (with refined fuel). Unauthorized ships are not permitted to land except in an emergency. "Imperial regulations require all but purely military spaceports to permit ships in distress to dock."


Hans
 
Garnfellow said:
Basically, this system, would consist solely of a sun and gas giant with a few barren moons; on one of these moons SuSAG maintains a research station wherein possibly illegal experiments are conducted.

Anyone have any ideas for where to locate this system?
Click to expand...

Maybe any place that offers a Red Giant or Supergiant that's melted/blasted away the inner planets and the outer orbits are the only things left ?

I'm not sure if Travellermap.com offers the main star data or not, in their database. Otherwise I'm sure some of the regulars could offer suggestions on that avenue of thought.

http://www.travellermap.com/SEC.aspx?sector=Spinward+Marches

doesn't look like it does.

I'll try importing into MySQL and see if any of the Spinward Marches planets fit the basic requirements, since I'm learning MySQL anyway.


>
 
Here's the corrected data query...

Code: 
mysql> 
mysql> use trav;
Database changed
mysql> 
mysql> # size from 0 to 2 and govt = Corp/Company
mysql> select system, hex, upp as uwp from Spinward_Marches
    -> where (ascii(mid(upp, 2, 1)) between 48 and 50) and mid(upp, 6, 1) = 2
    -> order by hex asc;
+----------------------------+-------+-----------+
| system                     | hex   | uwp       |
+----------------------------+-------+-----------+
| Hefry                      | 1909  | C200423-7 | 
| Zila                       | 2908  | E25672C-7 | 
+----------------------------+-------+-----------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> 
mysql> # govt = Corp/Company
mysql> select system, hex, upp as uwp from Spinward_Marches
    -> where mid(upp, 6, 1) = 2
    -> order by hex asc;
+----------------------------+-------+-----------+
| system                     | hex   | uwp       |
+----------------------------+-------+-----------+
| Xhosa                      | 0115  | EA95124-4 | 
| Kardin                     | 0429  | E453123-6 | 
| Bularia                    | 0430  | C774622-5 | 
| Froin                      | 0539  | C535225-9 | 
| Rapp's World               | 0712  | C592320-8 | 
| Quar                       | 0808  | B532720-B | 
| Debarre                    | 0830  | B854123-9 | 
| 875-496                    | 0834  | E888421-7 | 
| Condyole                   | 0901  | E7A1522-8 | 
| Avastan                    | 1037  | C433520-A | 
| Tarsus                     | 1138  | B584620-A | 
| Edinina                    | 1213  | E400220-5 | 
| Stellatio                  | 1216  | D5A4420-4 | 
| Flexos                     | 1233  | E5A1422-6 | 
| Tionale                    | 1511  | C674321-8 | 
| Biter                      | 1526  | B354623-A | 
| Phlume                     | 1611  | C887624-8 | 
| Whanga                     | 1806  | E676126-7 | 
| Hefry                      | 1909  | C200423-7 | 
| Trane                      | 2038  | C639422-B | 
| Pscias                     | 2106  | X355423-1 | 
| Carse                      | 2224  | C463325-9 | 
| Gorram                     | 2322  | X554220-0 | 
| Garrincski                 | 2520  | B632520-7 | 
| Heguz                      | 2706  | E66A224-C | 
| Carey                      | 2726  | C579221-9 | 
| Tussinian                  | 2731  | B678324-7 | 
| Hexos                      | 2828  | B534420-8 | 
| Zila                       | 2908  | E25672C-7 | 
| Nasemin                    | 3003  | B98A422-B | 
+----------------------------+-------+-----------+
30 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> 
mysql> notee
 
Last edited:
Gadrin,

That is *extremely* cool of you. Based on far-trader's input, I had a uwp of D200216-A, and based on your output the Arba system seems like a reasonably close match.

Interesting.
 
(Apologies -- I'm still getting the hang of reading these planetary profiles!)

After looking a little more closely, Gadrin, is your SQL statement actually pulling out size < 3 and population = 2?

I think the statement might need to be

mysql> select system, hex, upp as uwp from Spinward_Marches
-> where mid(upp, 2, 1) < 3 and mid(upp, 6, 1) = 1
-> order by hex asc;

I dunno, though. Nothing more dangerous than a guy who knows a little SQL and a little uwp . . .
 
Oops my bad, you're correct it is indeed spot 6 not 5. I was working off a stylized output from another script and skipped starport.:oo:

Code: 
Drellesar System Information - B310550A
---------------------------------------
Starport         B    B - Good Quality Installation. Refined fuel is available, as is annual
                        maintenance overhaul. A shipyard capable of building non-starships 
                        is present, along with capabilities to service starships.
Size             3    3000 miles (4800 km). 
Atmosphere       1    Trace. 
Hydrographics    0    No free standing water. 
Population       5    Hundreds of thousands. 
Government       5    Feudal Technocracy. 
Law Level        0    No laws affecting weapons possession or ownership. 
Tech Level       A    Average Imperial. GURPS TL 9-10.

I'll fix the two queries.
 
Well I wrote a get_uwp_details() procedure for MySQL today. However the text for those Govt = Corporation/Company systems is 74K and vBulletin only allows 10K for each post.

I don't seem to have the ability to ATTACH FILES that others do.

So here's a few...

Code: 
mysql> call get_uwp_details("Xhosa","EA95124-4");
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| System Details                                                                                                                    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Xhosa System Information - EA951244                                                                                               | 
| -----------------------------------                                                                                               | 
| Starport:      E - Frontier Quality Installation. Essentially, a bare spot of bedrock with no fuel, facilities, or bases present. | 
| Size:          A - 10000 miles (16000 km).                                                                                        | 
| Atmosphere:    9 - Dense, tainted.                                                                                                | 
| Hydrographics: 5 - 50% water.                                                                                                     | 
| Population:    1 - Tens of inhabitants.                                                                                           | 
| Government:    2 - Participating Democracy.                                                                                       | 
| Law Level:     4 - Light assault weapons (including submachineguns) are prohibited.                                               | 
| Tech Level:    4 - circa 1860 to 1900.                                                                                            | 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
10 rows in set (0.09 sec)

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.17 sec)

mysql> call get_uwp_details("Kardin","E453123-6");
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| System Details                                                                                                                    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Kardin System Information - E4531236                                                                                              | 
| ------------------------------------                                                                                              | 
| Starport:      E - Frontier Quality Installation. Essentially, a bare spot of bedrock with no fuel, facilities, or bases present. | 
| Size:          4 - 4000 miles (6400 km).                                                                                          | 
| Atmosphere:    5 - Thin.                                                                                                          | 
| Hydrographics: 3 - 30% water.                                                                                                     | 
| Population:    1 - Tens of inhabitants.                                                                                           | 
| Government:    2 - Participating Democracy.                                                                                       | 
| Law Level:     3 - Military weapons (automatic fire guns, except SMGs) are prohibited.                                            | 
| Tech Level:    6 - circa 1940 to 1969.                                                                                            | 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
10 rows in set (0.09 sec)

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.11 sec)

mysql> call get_uwp_details("Bularia","C774622-5");
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| System Details                                                                                                               |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bularia System Information - C7746225                                                                                        | 
| -------------------------------------                                                                                        | 
| Starport:      C - Routine Quality Installation. Only unrefined fuel is available. Reasonable repair facilities are present. | 
| Size:          7 - 7000 miles (1 1200 km).                                                                                   | 
| Atmosphere:    7 - Standard, tainted.                                                                                        | 
| Hydrographics: 4 - 40% water.                                                                                                | 
| Population:    6 - Millions of inhabitants.                                                                                  | 
| Government:    2 - Participating Democracy.                                                                                  | 
| Law Level:     2 - Portable energy weapons, including laser rifles or carbines, are prohibited.                              | 
| Tech Level:    5 - circa 1900 to 1939.                                                                                       | 
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
10 rows in set (0.09 sec)

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.11 sec)

mysql> call get_uwp_details("Froin","C535225-9");
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| System Details                                                                                                               |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Froin System Information - C5352259                                                                                          | 
| -----------------------------------                                                                                          | 
| Starport:      C - Routine Quality Installation. Only unrefined fuel is available. Reasonable repair facilities are present. | 
| Size:          5 - 5000 miles (8000 km).                                                                                     | 
| Atmosphere:    3 - Very thin.                                                                                                | 
| Hydrographics: 5 - 50% water.                                                                                                | 
| Population:    2 - Hundreds of inhabitants.                                                                                  | 
| Government:    2 - Participating Democracy.                                                                                  | 
| Law Level:     5 - Personal concealable weapons (such as pistols or revolvers are prohibited.                                | 
| Tech Level:    9 - Interstellar community.                                                                                   | 
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
10 rows in set (0.06 sec)

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.08 sec)
 
Last edited:
Gadrin: zip the code files, then upload them in the files area, and then find the link for that file by right clicking, and selecting "copy link location"; then post the link in the desired location elsewhere as a link, not an attachment.
 
aramis said:
Gadrin: zip the code files, then upload them in the files area, and then find the link for that file by right clicking, and selecting "copy link location"; then post the link in the desired location elsewhere as a link, not an attachment.
Click to expand...

Well the actual code from the db is going thru beta and sometimes changes several times. So I'll wait to post the actual code to run it once it looks stable.

The output I don't mind though, just as long as people understand it's still
in development.

I'll give it a shot with the extracted data.

>
 
I just want to thank everyone for their input. After some deliberation, I have settled on one of the first suggestions that got thrown out: the Arba system, which fits my needs almost perfectly. I think the only difference from the canonical UWP and what I want is the government type and law level, and as someone noted above, that information could easily be out-of-date or intentionally erroneous. It certainly fits the background of the adventure if SuSAG has altered the official records.

I am thinking the adventure will open on nearby Rabwhar; this is where the PCs meet their contact. I do have some follow-up questions about Rabwhar, though.

This is a very interesting world, TL6 and controlled by a military dictatorship, law level A. (Which in Mongoose Traveller, at least, is described as "All weapons, drugs, data, psionics are prohibited. No offworlders permitted.") It has a class D starport and a Scout base.

The way I read the MongTrav law level table, it appears that no offworlders are permitted, period, even in the starport. (Some of the lower law levels allow offworlders in the starport but nowhere else.)

So how would this work? Is the starport on this world still under Imperial jurisdiction? How would the Imperium administer something like this? And how would the Scout base work? I'm personally envisioning a situation like the U.S. Guantanamo Bay base on Cuba -- despite the Rabwharian government dislike of the situation, it's something they have to tolerate. And maybe the base in located on an isolated island that can't be directly accessed by the native population.

I have to say, it's a lot of fun to take these UWPs and then spin out stories from a bunch of hexidecimal code.
 
Garnfellow said:
The way I read the MongTrav law level table, it appears that no offworlders are permitted, period, even in the starport. (Some of the lower law levels allow offworlders in the starport but nowhere else.)
Click to expand...

Maybe run it like Cold War Berlin, where it's perceived as some horrid, garrisoned, place but the SPA still has enough land for crews to stretch their legs and get a meal from the canteen.

I've sort of a similar place in Reaver's Deep, Lestrow which is part of the Grand Duchy of Marlheim, a totalitarian, separatist, supremacist type of place, C class starport. I use the rationalization that they're not so dogged on humans as non-humans (meaning Aslan) who are passing thru. Of course if you're human and bringing in non-humans (like Aslan) or hauling their freight, expect trouble.

My current setup there is if the players were to visit, they'd be secret employees of the IISS or Imperium and meet a contact that uses the place
for gaining info on the rimward portion of the area. An Aslan 400-ton freighter is sitting impounded on the military side of the starport, the prize of the system's SDB who caught it refueling at the gas giant after it misjumped into the system. The imperium is interested in finding out what the nav-comp on the ship has on it and the player's might be enlisted for such an adventure, should they be game. Otherwise, info is coming in from off-world about Aslan activity on a nearby world only J-2 away. The idea would be to leak info to the duchy Security to get them to deal with it if possible.

Sorry to blather....:oo:

>
 
No Outsiders Permitted....

Garnfellow said:
I just want to thank everyone for their input. After some deliberation, I have settled on one of the first suggestions that got thrown out: the Arba system, which fits my needs almost perfectly. I think the only difference from the canonical UWP and what I want is the government type and law level, and as someone noted above, that information could easily be out-of-date or intentionally erroneous. It certainly fits the background of the adventure if SuSAG has altered the official records.

I am thinking the adventure will open on nearby Rabwhar; this is where the PCs meet their contact. I do have some follow-up questions about Rabwhar, though.

This is a very interesting world, TL6 and controlled by a military dictatorship, law level A. (Which in Mongoose Traveller, at least, is described as "All weapons, drugs, data, psionics are prohibited. No offworlders permitted.") It has a class D starport and a Scout base.

The way I read the MongTrav law level table, it appears that no offworlders are permitted, period, even in the starport. (Some of the lower law levels allow offworlders in the starport but nowhere else.)

So how would this work? Is the starport on this world still under Imperial jurisdiction? How would the Imperium administer something like this? And how would the Scout base work? I'm personally envisioning a situation like the U.S. Guantanamo Bay base on Cuba -- despite the Rabwharian government dislike of the situation, it's something they have to tolerate. And maybe the base in located on an isolated island that can't be directly accessed by the native population.

I have to say, it's a lot of fun to take these UWPs and then spin out stories from a bunch of hexidecimal code.
Click to expand...

Why not an orbital facility? Bare minimum of services available through the scout base (they are more oriented towards servicing their own needs - but other ships can dock for various purposes) - no excursions allowed to the planets surface:nonono: The entire situation is not bad enough (hasn't degraded that far?) for an amber or interdiction... but there's enough wiggle room that you can have some fun with it.... that's what I would do... (in fact, that's exactly what I *will* do IMTU) Thanks for the cool idea!

Rumor overheard from a courier for Garnfellow Shipping..... :rofl:
 
Thanks again, everyone, for the very helpful suggestions. Arba was a perfect fit and we had a freaking blast with our first Traveller game.
 
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