Need Help Finding A Location For My Campaign

[Solomani666]

I need help locating a suitable sector for a campaign I am running.

The campaign takes place in a pocket empire that is up against a larger Aslan empire. The Aslan empire was started by a clan that fled and survived the purges. The Human empire was started by a lost colony ship from the Second Imperium that either misjumped or travelled via wormhole.

Terellian (Human) 15+ systems
Saurons (Reptillian) 8+ systems
Kazan (Aslan) 30+ systems
Gorm (Minor Race) 3-5 systems
Other minor races 10+ systems

I figure 4 subsectors should about do it. Once I have the location I will adjust the number above accordingly to fit the area.

I prefer that the territory:
Not boarder the Zhodani
Not be too far from the Marches if possible

I also plan to have a stable wormhole leading to a system in the Marches.
Any suggestions on which system?

I was considering the idea that the wormhole may have been caused by the Darrian startrigger.

 

[Appelcline]

I also plan to have a stable wormhole leading to a system in the Marches.
Any suggestions on which system?

I was considering the idea that the wormhole may have been caused by the Darrian startrigger.

Kardin (Darrian 0429). Off trade routes. Amber zoned. Near Darrian space. Apparently guarded by the Darrians. Apparently an Ancients site.

 

[Whipsnade]

The campaign takes place in a pocket empire that is up against a larger Aslan empire.

Solomani,

Okay, you're either going to have to fiddle with some of your prerequisites or ignore the big chunks of the OTU. (Not that ignoring big chunks of the OTU is a bad idea!)

The Aslan empire was started by a clan that fled and survived the purges.

The trouble here is that the Cultural Purges took place very soon after the Aslan reverse engineered jump drive from TNS Pathfinder. The Aslan of the period would have had jump1 or jump2 at the most, which will make it hard for anyone to cross the Great Rift along the jump5 Rift Route.

The Human empire was started by a lost colony ship from the Second Imperium that either misjumped or travelled via wormhole.

A lost colony mission or a mission which deliberately got lost is your best bet. Misjumps are good for 36 parsecs tops and that will only take you across a single sector. As you'll see below, you're going to be crossing a lot of sectors to meet your other requirements.

I prefer that the territory: Not boarder the Zhodani...

Not much trouble there and it's a good precaution as the Consulate tends to be rather "muscular" within a sector or so of their border.

Not be too far from the Marches if possible

That's going to be a problem. The Marches sector is a frontier, but it's an internal frontier. It's undeveloped thanks to several reasons, but it's not the "edge of the known universe" by any stretch of the imagination. You're going to need to head spinward four or more sectors before you reach a region that's as empty as you'll need. (Of course you can ignore the OTU if you want to.)

I think you need to go further afield, but I'll explain why later.

Pop over to zho.berka.com to look at the maps there. Sectors like Astron, Theta Borealis, or Khaeaw seem to fit your requirements.

I also plan to have a stable wormhole leading to a system in the Marches.
Any suggestions on which system?

Shonner's suggestion is the best, but I've got a few ideas about how to "gussy" it up some.

I was considering the idea that the wormhole may have been caused by the Darrian startrigger.

Like the Aslan clan fleeing the Cultural Purge, that's another of yourOTU problems.

You see, the Darrian star trigger was a fake between 489 and just after the Fifth Frontier War. The Darrians couldn't get it to work and actually faked a demonstration somewhere in the Foreven sector. It was only after additional materials were uncovered that the Darrians finally worked out what had actually happened to cause the Maghiz and were able to design a working trigger. (This is all covered in the campaign in AM:8.)

About the wormhole now. Placing an active wormhole in the Marches raises all sorts of problems, not the least of which is why, if your original colonists used it, no one has followed them since. The original colonists will also be able to eventually work out where there are when they exit the wormhole too. Even if they're four or so sectors away from the Marches, they can still send a mission back using jump drive.

What you need is a wormhole which leads to a very distant region and which is only active every so often. The distant region means no one is coming back without using the wormhole and shutting the wormhole down for long periods means it's not going to be stumbled across or even remembered. So, put your wormhole's eixt in another galatic arm and tie it's operation into the orbit of some distant stellar companion much like Niven and Pournelle did with an intermittent Alderson drive tram line in The Gripping hand.

Good luck and please let us know how things turn out.


Regards,
Bill

 

[Solomani666]

First, thank you for taking the time to read and reply to this.

The trouble here is that the Cultural Purges took place very soon after the Aslan reverse engineered jump drive from TNS Pathfinder. The Aslan of the period would have had jump1 or jump2 at the most, which will make it hard for anyone to cross the Great Rift along the jump5 Rift Route.

In the origional campaign, the Kazan were distant cousins of the Aslans (No dew claw for instance) and were possibly even seeded in the region by the ancients. I'll probably have to stick to this idea.

Pop over to zho.berka.com to look at the maps there. Sectors like Astron, Theta Borealis, or Khaeaw seem to fit your requirements.

Thanks. I just found this beauty... www.TravellerMap.com

Astron it is then...

Shonner's suggestion is the best, but I've got a few ideas about how to "gussy" it up some.

The Darrians were only considered because I could use the Maghiz as a way of possibly explaining how the wormhole was created. Looking back this seems like a bad idea.

I think I would rather have the wormhole closer to the Spinward Marches possibly even in it. What would be the ideal system?

I am also interested in these other ideas of yours.

You see, the Darrian star trigger was a fake between 489 and just after the Fifth Frontier War. The Darrians couldn't get it to work and actually faked a demonstration somewhere in the Foreven sector. It was only after additional materials were uncovered that the Darrians finally worked out what had actually happened to cause the Maghiz and were able to design a working trigger. (This is all covered in the campaign in AM:8.)

I meant to say "Maghiz".

About the wormhole now. Placing an active wormhole in the Marches raises all sorts of problems, not the least of which is why, if your original colonists used it, no one has followed them since. The original colonists will also be able to eventually work out where there are when they exit the wormhole too. Even if they're four or so sectors away from the Marches, they can still send a mission back using jump drive.

IMTU:
1. Wormholes are normally closed and are only opened when bombarded by exotic particles, like those prduced by ships jump drives when entering jump space.
2. They are not detectable with normal sensors when closed.
3. It will not be in a well traveled part of the system it is in. Possibly even near the edge of the system.

Given the above the chances are that the wormhole would never be discovered.

After entering a wormhole if you do not power down the jump engines to the point where they only emitt the nessessary exotic particles, you will destroy the engines and the ship in short order.

The Terellians were able to modify and reprogram their jump engines just in time, but with the ship taking very heavy damage. With life suport failing and most of their equipment lost to jump (worm?) space, they were forced to crash land on a nearby planet... Which just happened to be inhabited by a very large, primitive, and warlike species called the Gorm, eventually resulting in their first enslavement...

What you need is a wormhole which leads to a very distant region and which is only active every so often. The distant region means no one is coming back without using the wormhole and shutting the wormhole down for long periods means it's not going to be stumbled across or even remembered. So, put your wormhole's eixt in another galatic arm and tie it's operation into the orbit of some distant stellar companion much like Niven and Pournelle did with an intermittent Alderson drive tram line in The Gripping hand.

The Terellians know about about the wormhole.

In the origional campaign, the Imperium had recently come out of a long night and the Terellians were using it to contact the Imperium covertly.

 

[aramis]

THe problem with wormholes at all is that, once someone comes out, it's just a matter of time before serious research happens.

Now, to minimize that, for SOTA, GDW put the wormhole in an empty hex. Sure, you can detect it (since it's mechanical), but first you have to be in range to spot it. Which basically means a misjump or a (usually unprofitable) double or triple jump.

So, if you want the wormhole to the marches, an empty hex is the best option, especially if you pick one not on a J2 route.

Some good spots: 2013, 2014, 2114, 1616,1617, 1016, 0924, 0925, 1024, 1034,1035,1135,1136