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On the trail of the ANNIC NOVA

rancke

Absent Friend
This is a spin-off form the thread about the 'Annic Nova in MgT' thread.

Here's an idea for a campaign that I just had:

So the PCs salvaged the Annic Nova and promptly had it confiscated by the Imperium when they tried to register it (trusting that the salvage laws they read up on in their library data would apply in this case too). Alas, the Imperial officials pretended to believe that it was an Ancient artifact and confiscated it under the authority of Imperial Edict 588. The PCs got a ridiculously inadequate reward and a handshake. What a bummer!

But wait a minute! Somewhere out there, beyond Charted Space or perhaps in a little-known[*] corner of the Vargr Extents, is a functional TL18 society (with TL21 computer technology). Just think about what valuable wonders must be to be found there!

[*] By the Imperium.

The PCs had enough evidence of their find to convince Marc Oberlindes to outfit an expedition and put them in charge. Perhaps a large, well-armed jump-4 ship with enough loyal Oberlindes NPCs to fill out the crew roster and a cargo full of valuable trade goods.

The Annic Nova was spotted several times after it had entered Imperial space. It must have been sighted on other occasions before that, allowing the expedition to trace it back along its route. Perhaps it actually landed on some of the worlds it passed (without anyone realizing its advanced tech level from the outside).

Along the way, all sorts of side adventures are sure to come up. This is, after all, the Vargr Extents. And when they finally reach their interstellar Shangri-La...

Well, yes, just what the Annic Nova's mother world is like would require considerable world-building and a lot of hyper-tech[*] descriptions. What would such a world be like? What sort of adventures can be had there. And what would the expedition try to bring back from there?

[*] As I use these terms: high-tech = what we have on Earth today; ultra-tech = what can be found in the Imperium that's higher than that; hyper-tech = beyond what the Imperium has.


Hans
 
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And would Shangri-la be pleased at having been discovered (would they try to detain the players, perhaps indefinitely)? How much do they know of Charted Space?
 
And would Shangri-la be pleased at having been discovered (would they try to detain the players, perhaps indefinitely)? How much do they know of Charted Space?

That would depend quite a lot on referee (or adventure writer) decisions. A solar system is not a hidden valley in inaccessable mountains. One might wonder how the neighbors can fail to know about them. One answer is that they capture and keep all visitors. Another is that they are in a really inaccessible place (deep in a rift is all I can think of) or hidden inside a nebula.

Another question that would have to be answered is why they would want to keep their existence a secret. Are they a relatively small population that could be overwhelmed by enough TL15 attackers (a three TL advantage is rather a big force multiplier, not to mention a six TL advantage in computer tech).

All this makes for fascinating speculation.


Hans
 
My vote.

I would go with a rift on the basis of their Jump tech. Notice how they don't use L-Hyd, but use Collectors. That to me suggests they might just be located in a place where Collectors are way more useful than traditional Jump fuel, like say a rift.

And maybe they only have TL-J Jump tech because they needed it and they made the spiffy Computers to help them come up with a technology that let them have access to the stars outside their rift.

Laterness,
Craig.
 
That would depend quite a lot on referee (or adventure writer) decisions. A solar system is not a hidden valley in inaccessable mountains. One might wonder how the neighbors can fail to know about them. One answer is that they capture and keep all visitors. Another is that they are in a really inaccessible place (deep in a rift is all I can think of) or hidden inside a nebula.

I don't think nebula are that impenetrable or localized in real life, sci-fantasy of course (and some sci-fi) does create them like that, just like it treats asteroid belts and meteor showers as extreme hazards for the heroes to fly through.

Best bet is sparse stellar region (aka rift) and for those who stray into their territory something like memory wipe and implant trope so they think they found nothing of value. Simply capturing and keeping raises curiosity and increases the visitors and their determination and aggressiveness.

Another question that would have to be answered is why they would want to keep their existence a secret. Are they a relatively small population that could be overwhelmed by enough TL15 attackers (a three TL advantage is rather a big force multiplier, not to mention a six TL advantage in computer tech).

The classic ultra-pacifist meme. And that six TL force multiplier is of no use then. They either won't have anything describable as "force" or they wouldn't use it even facing cultural extinction. Again the implication is (to my mind anyway) advanced memory influence (probably psionic) to make all visitors succumb peacefully without any permanent damage. They come, they see (what they are made to see), they go away disappointed and report there is nothing worth half the effort in going there.

Or maybe they have white globe technology to cloak the homeworld and anything else of interest. Of course it's white globe tech that doesn't apply to space ships as it requires truly huge solar collectors ;) Besides, most simply arent' interested in going "out there" to see what the barbarians are doing. The Annic Nova was built from cobbled together tech by an overly curious citizen who took his family to see what was outside the gates. Coupled with the above high psionic ability to deal with contact issues.

All this makes for fascinating speculation.

Indeed! Thanks for the inspiration :)

What else might we have going on there?

Are they maybe an ancient lost colony of Zho? Or Atlanteans? Or...
 
GM: The AN had a missjump taking it through time and space.

The adventurers trace the ship back to... nothing. Absolutely no trace of the ship anywhere once they get so far. Sorry, that would be pretty boring but the adventure is in the journey.
 
What if the AN is the lure on the end of a long fishing line that is meant to capture interest parties.

Not only do you have the Imperium taking the bait but others as well. The race is on to discover the builders of the ship and reap the rewards of their labor. Only to discover it a trap and they all end up in a zoo for ET.

On the Psionic theme sugested in this post: They just need a couple of slobs to do their dirty work for them and the AN was the bait need to collect our hapless heros...
 
The AN is not that high tech a ship, just uses different way to store energy for a jump. As Rancke pointed out correctly fusion is more efficient than solar. The comp is so primitive it takes up 5 tons of space vs. MgT 0 space for modern computers. The ship was owned by short humans, has Anglic labeled products aboard and is not ancient and it has J-3. Ancient ships are magical, this is merely sybaritic.

It is also clearly is stated that ship may be registered with Imperium for 100K and will not be confiscated if paid.

IMTU the ship is Geonee built and with a new TL14 Solar collector re-fitted that gathers energy in hours, not days. The collector by the by is 1KM across, that makes the ship a space eater near stations and busy ship lanes.

The only other ship I know of using collector tech is IISS Fast Courier that has solar panels to free it of fuel need for on-board power, it uses fuel just for jumping, non-IISS Courier ships lack this feature too.
 
The AN is not that high tech a ship, just uses different way to store energy for a jump.
Yup, and why do we insist that energy must be electricity - energy exists in many forms and who knows how jump potential energy is stored.

It is also clearly is stated that ship may be registered with Imperium for 100K and will not be confiscated if paid.
Exactly, no Ancient artefact of higher than Imperial technology, just a less efficient and more space hungry method to store jump potential energy.

IMTU the ship is Geonee built and with a new TL14 Solar collector re-fitted that gathers energy in hours, not days. The collector by the by is 1KM across, that makes the ship a space eater near stations and busy ship lanes.
Nice idea, much better than waving psionics did it or the Ancients did it at every problem.
 
the collectors could be em collectors and not just photovoltaic.
Bingo, the collectors are collecting and channelling photons directly into a huge crystalline "storage chamber" much like a laser uses. It could even be collecting charged particles from the solar wind as well or instead...
 
Back to the thread.

So their world may be in one of the rifts, or it might be just beyond Charted Space. If in a rift, they might be a bit xenophobic. If xenophobic and riftian, it seems more interesting to make them high-tech enough to be able to wipe memories. Gives the whole adventure a sort of Odysseic feel. Could be that the players stumbled upon the world more than once (ah, that's a Star Trek plot, isn't it?)

Otherwise, they may just be not that well known. Could be a world struggling against larger Vargr states, for example. OR they could be quietly running a set of Vargr states. When they detect a weakness in the Imperium or the Consulate, they send the Vargr to pillage.


It might be uber-high tech, but it might not be -- perhaps the collectors are experimental, but the rest of their world is (almost?) typical. That doesn't mean they're peaceful.


I think they must be "relatively" local, since they use Vilani numerals. Within the influence of Charted Space.

Unless they are the true Vilani, and Vland is a sham...
 
At least one if not several over the franchise. Of course they stole, er, borrowed it. It's a classic as you noted :)

Player: "Aha, we've discovered a secret, hidden, Shangri-la high-tech culture!"

Shangri-la representative: "Oh, it's YOU again? Okay, okay, hold still while we re-scramble your brain..."
 
... The Annic Nova was spotted several times after it had entered Imperial space. It must have been sighted on other occasions before that, allowing the expedition to trace it back along its route. Perhaps it actually landed on some of the worlds it passed (without anyone realizing its advanced tech level from the outside...

Annic Nova? The plague ship?? The one where the crew and passengers were found dead and the players inadvertently brought the disease back to an inhabited world (IMTU)??? You want to try following that ship's back trail????

Oooh, you are devilish!

I really never thought of Annic Nova as high tech either. I considered it alternate-tech: Model-3 computer three times bigger than normal, oversized laser armament that doesn't seem to be any more powerful than standard lasers (though they did get a +1 to hit for improved fire control), two jump drives taking up about the same space that a jump-F and jump-J would have taken - where a single jump drive and a spare set of accumulators would have done as well.

I actually suspected it was lower tech than the book-2 Imperial norms - the designers were meeting the same standards with equipment that took up a lot more space. The ship had no maneuver drives, needed to have the pinnace moored in the cargo bay for maneuver. (Why the two pinnaces weren't designed to do the same from their docked position is beyond me.) At that, the pinnaces consumed atrocious amounts of fuel - 1 dTon to generate 0.1g for a 600 dTon ship for 10 minutes. Suggests a lack of maneuver drive technology. So, a lower-tech minor race that was acquiring jump drives from elsewhere and adapting their technology around it.

What is really interesting is that the disease that killed every passenger and crewman of the ship has only about a 16-28% infection rate and a 7% mortality rate among Imperials. Whoever the occupants were, whether they're the original shipbuilder species or acquired it from elsewhere, they have no resistance to diseases that Imperials are able to fight off. Although, in fairness, it did kill about a million people on Keng. :devil:
 
the disease that killed every passenger and crewman of the ship

surely it was some kind of high energy weapons fire that killed them? in stateroom E, 'charred black as if by flame (possibly by a plasma gun)'; stateroom H - the dead bodies cause the disease but isn't that due to putrefaction?

which begs the further question: who found the annic nova first, and burnt that room, and killed the crew???
 
surely it was some kind of high energy weapons fire that killed them? in stateroom E, 'charred black as if by flame (possibly by a plasma gun)'; stateroom H - the dead bodies cause the disease but isn't that due to putrefaction?

which begs the further question: who found the annic nova first, and burnt that room, and killed the crew???

Umm, I guess I should issue a spoiler alert at this point, though the module's pretty well known.
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Spoiler:

Annic Nova was closed up when found - no evidence that anyone forced their way aboard, or the players could have used the same route to get in. No evidence that anyone abandoned her either - both pinnaces in place, no place for other vehicles. The ship was armed and no battle damage is documented. Ergo, either all the people aboard died aboard, and no one came on or left; or someone was welcomed on, then killed people and left without taking anything obvious when it would have been easy and profitable to pillage the ship (a cargo of tobacco, jewelry and some wines were left); or you're proposing a locked room mystery. It's an interesting view, but the game itself doesn't hint in that direction.

You have one room charred by fire and another room, otherwise undamaged, containing bodies dead recently enough to still be in the midst of putrefaction (i.e. described as "exhibiting considerable corruption" rather than as bones or mummified remains). The bodies are not described as burned or with other obvious injury; putrefaction would cover some injuries but not extensive charring. The room with the bodies is locked; bedroom doors generally lock from inside, not from outside, and those are the only remains on the ship.

So, you've got bodies in a locked room on a locked ship with no signs of remains elsewhere on the ship, and they died under circumstances that allowed them to congregate together and lock a door before dying. Ergo, they were aware they were dying, it wasn't swift enough to drop them at their work stations, and it was of a manner that made it comforting or preferrable to be lying together in a bed when it happened. And yet, the ship's atmosphere was fine, the ship's pantry held food, and the game described no signs of violence in the ship other than the burned room. Options: disease, radiation, poison, or a homicide/suicide by one of the room occupants.

The disease that affects the characters is described as an airborne virus, not putrefactive bateria. The bacteria that will eventually rot your body are in your body right now - your body's defenses hold them at bay, and they don't go leaping to attack others. Viruses require a living host - they hijack the living cell's machinery to make more of themselves before bursting out, killing the cell.

If I enter a locked room with a collection of dead bodies and walk out with a virus that requires a living host to thrive, it is a good bet - not a certainty, but a good bet - that I have encountered the same agent which killed some or all of the people in the locked room. I conjecture that someone brought the illness aboard, became ill, died, the body was ejected into space and the room burned to prevent infection, but it was too late. A few days later, the remaining occupants became ill within a day of each other, confining the ill to the same room for care before the last fell ill and realized there was no hope. I conjecture also that the disease was well known in the Marches but unknown wherever these people had come from: the players have a fair chance of fighting the disease off, but it killed at least 4 and possibly more aboard the ship with no survivors.


(Thank you, Aramis.)
 
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What is really interesting is that the disease that killed every passenger and crewman of the ship ...

Interesting! I heard that there was a third smallcraft -- you know, the one that's missing, the one which ordinarily pushes the ship -- and was used to abandon ship. All this from hearsay and some circumstantial evidence.
 
Interesting! I heard that there was a third smallcraft -- you know, the one that's missing, the one which ordinarily pushes the ship -- and was used to abandon ship. All this from hearsay and some circumstantial evidence.

That discussion's on my website under Repair bays --> canon problem #4 - the Annic Nova backstory.

Oh, and FWIW, Winchell Chung (who did the original artwork) is - Right Now! - re-doing the A-N in 3D. Textured & everything.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nyrath/sets/72157626769746781/with/7578371672/

Just make sure you go back thru the photostream for gems such as this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nyrath/7532227570/in/set-72157626769746781/
 
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