But AM3 states that TL 15 is the top TL for Vargr worlds.
Even ignoring Gvurrdon 0439 A 000002-G Lo nIn As 220 Va
for having a popiulation of _2_, we still have
Oh, by all means let's ignore that
.
Gvurrdon 3034 A424451-G G nIn Cp 302 Vk
In AR1 it's explained in the same way Darrian was, as some sort of relic technology (
mysterious relic technology to boot).
Apparently this planet is the capitol of the Commonality of Kedzudh, an 8 world Vargr state, despite having a population of less than 40,000 sophonts. It's also their only type A startport and has a Vargr Naval base. If it were a human world I'd assume that Kedzudh was the name of the planet but considering the Commonality is a Vargr polity it might well be named for it's founder, favorite breakfast, or the like. I'm a bit dubious about the concept but it is canonical (and provides sufficient justification for the rare TL 16 Vargr Corsair). It's a feudal technocracy too, so I'm imagining a Vargr Gilgamesh Wulfenbach as the head of state....
The Commonality is a prime example[*] of what I consider the downside to insisting that every UWP and every combination of UWPs can be explained
somehow. Perhaps you can. I don't think so, but let's not take that discussion again. But even if you can, it doesn't mean you couldn't have come up with something far better if you'd vetted those UWPs a bit.
[*] Another is the 40th Squadron.
According to the UWPs in AM3, the Commonality of Kedzudh consists (in 1111) of the following 9 member systems:
1 TL 7 world with population 200,000,000
1 TL 8 world with pop 800
1 TL 10 world with pop 5,000
1 TL 10 world with pop 60,000
1 TL 12 world with pop 400
1 TL 12 world with pop 50,000
1 TL 13 belt with pop 800,000
1 TL 14 belt with pop 100,000
1 capital with pop 30,000, ostensible TL 16, real TL not mentioned (I'm assuming TL14).
The capital has a Class A (Class V) starport, the rest all have Class B (Class IV). Even the pop 400 and pop 800 ones...
According to AR1, seven of these worlds (or possibly five or six of them together with some that has left the Commonality since[*]) founded a loose alliance with each world retaining control of its own internal and external relations, but contributing to a common navy-cum-police force. Now, just how independent can a world with 5 or 50 or 60 or 100 thousand inhabitants be? Well, assuming a military budget of 10% of GWP, the world with 100,000 inhabitants could afford to maintain two and a half 800 dT frigates (double that if they don't spend anything on an army, but without accounting for any contribution to the Kedzudh Patrol), so that one might just be able to hold its own. And for a fact, none of the worlds are what you would call desirable -- vaccuum worlds, tainted atmospheres, low gravities -- so they propably don't face much threat of invasion. But there are still corsair raids to content with. Why would a world with a yearly budget of MCr93.75 ally itself with one with a budget of MCr1.83, not enough to maintain a 100 T scout? What can the pop 5,000 world contribute? And then there is the pop 200 million world. Too low TL to build ships of its own, but the writeup states that they buy ships from the Thoengling Empire. Here we have a budget of MCr28,600. Only MCr4,360 effectively if they buy TL 11 ships, but still an order of magnitude more than its strongest ally and able to field a navy that could fend off the Kforuzeng in their prime. Essentially that world will be carrying all the others.
[*] The world in hex 3233, nowadays an Imperial client state, would be a good candidate. Another may lie in the subsector to trailing in order to make the capital more central to the original setup as AR1 claims it was.
My suggestion would be to fiddle with the population levels of these worlds to get a total budget that is more or less the same. The TL 7 world lowered to 80 million, the TL 14 world maintained at its present population, the one with pop 5,000 upped by three levels and the medium-pop worlds all upped by one level. Finally the TL 8 world upped to 2 million to make a sixth charter member (The last low-population world becomes an outpost of one of the other worlds (and lose its Class VI starport)). That would give budgets ranging from MCr183 to MCr940 totalling MCr4,150[**] (all converted to GTL11 credits for comparison). At those levels all the worlds are vulnerable to a strong corsair fleet and a combined fleet makes sense. And the maintenance of the whole fleet can actually be performed inside the Commonality.
[**] A bit lower, actually, as I've neglected to account for trade classifications and can't be bothered to correct that now.
Here are the original UWPs with my proposed amendments below.
Code:
#PlanetName Loc. UPP Code B Notes Z PBG Al Budget(In GTL11 Cr)
#---------- ---- --------- - --------------- - --- -- ------
? 2633 B300223-C Lo Ni Va 410 Vk -
? 2634 B333887-7 Na Po 201 Vk 4,360
? 2735 B97A365-A Lo Ni Wa 502 Vk -
? 2832 B200443-A Ni Va 602 Vk 8.57
? 2833 B000525-D Ni As 822 Vk 293
? 2834 B74A421-C Ni Wa 503 Vk 18.3
? 2936 B000598-E Ni As 123 Vk 94
Kedzudh 3034 A424451-G G Ni Cx 302 Vk 28
? 3035 B352231-8 C Lo Ni Po 801 Vk -
-----
4,802
#PlanetName Loc. UPP Code B Notes Z PBG Al Budget(In GTL11 Cr)
#---------- ---- --------- - --------------- - --- -- ------
? 2633 D300223-C Lo Ni Va O:2834 410 Vk -
? 2634 B333787-7 Na Po 201 Vk 436
? 2735 B97A665-A Ni Wa 502 Vk 714
? 2832 B200643-A Na Ni Va 602 Vk 857
? 2833 B000525-D As Ni 822 Vk 293
? 2834 B74A521-C Ni Wa 503 Vk 183
? 2936 B000698-E As Na Ni 123 Vk 940
Kedzudh 3034 A424551-G G Ni Cx 302 Vk 280
? 3035 B352631-8 C Ni Po 801 Vk 447
-----
4,150
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments?
Hans
