What is the TL of the flegling 4th imperium in The New Era and what is the TL of Terra in the New Era or at least the time period in the New Era where you play or people will most likely be playing in (sorry I dont know if you can answer such a broad question but I sure hope you will try)
TL in the New Era
- Thread starter chron187
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No one knows the official TL of Terra since no canonical sourcebook was ever published about Terra or the Solomani Rim.
I like to think that Terra is the center of a pocket empire of some sort, but given Terra's notoriety, I find it hard to believe that Virus would just ignore the world. Especially since Cymbeline, the Virus homeworld, is a close neighbor.
I like to think that Terra is the center of a pocket empire of some sort, but given Terra's notoriety, I find it hard to believe that Virus would just ignore the world. Especially since Cymbeline, the Virus homeworld, is a close neighbor.
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
One could also (arguably) that Terra's possible PE IS not affected by Cymbelline's vampires, as they are engaged in a war up and down the so-called Vampire hwy with the Black Curtain's AI's..
and that Sol-subsector has no ready mains for the Cymbelline fleets to use...IMTU, I set it at TL-12 at least...
and that Sol-subsector has no ready mains for the Cymbelline fleets to use...IMTU, I set it at TL-12 at least...
IIRC the popular "Children of Earth" setting gives them TL 12, with one or two member systems at A or B. Also there is a PE centered at Dingir that is an off and on rival of Terra.
Your right about no mains in the Sol subsector, but that should be no problem for Imperial warships. The average jump ratings were 3 or 4 parsecs, with some jump 5 strike vessels The Vampires could easily span the gaps, and they could even have reserve fuel for quick retreats.
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
Add to that GAB that they've had 70 years of neglect, and at best a scattering of C or worse STarports(like Promise/Diaspora) in their possession in the Wilds (IIRC, somebody NUKED cymbelline 1127???Lucan, oh yeah, him...Not that the silicon life forms really have to breathe much, being a different form of life..
Dave Hale's stuff is good mind ye (good enough fer me to pirate fer MTU), but I have no idea if MJD & Coy. have any deals with him fer his stuff
(ANd ye and I can argue all day long "what is /isn't canon", but why waste time? Does T-20 have working rights to it, yes or no?).Last time I checked, it was a no.
If no...then whatever MJD, Hunter, & coy. come up with is gonna be it.
Dave Hale's stuff is good mind ye (good enough fer me to pirate fer MTU), but I have no idea if MJD & Coy. have any deals with him fer his stuff
(ANd ye and I can argue all day long "what is /isn't canon", but why waste time? Does T-20 have working rights to it, yes or no?).Last time I checked, it was a no.
If no...then whatever MJD, Hunter, & coy. come up with is gonna be it.
Question: Is all of Charted Space ca 1200 been mapped? It's true that most starports would be C or less, but what about the rare exception? I could see the ground based Virii working with the Vampire fleets to rebuild the infrastructure to maintain each other. In fact maybe the Black Curtain is doing thier own settlement and client state programs similar to the Regency and the RC?
True that the good starports will be far and few between, there is all those derelict ports and warships that are scattered thru out the Wilds. If humans can adapt and repair from the ruins, why not the Vampires and thier servents (humans, bots, vehicles, etc)?
So I say it's possible, hard but not impossible, to maintain some level of ship performance for 70 years. Not to mention the occasional suicidal Vampire that attacks Sol subsector just because there's a bunch of thriving uppity humans.
In this case I'm treating Hale's work as a good estimate and stop gap until a more definitive answer is given.
Somewhere in the TNE corpus (the Challenge expose of TNE, I think) it is said that because Terra had the records of how technology was invented and created it recovered alot better than other worlds. I think that Terra could be even higher in Tech than the CoftheE stuff surmises.
In fact I was told by some techie friend the other day that NASA or someone has a 'tacit technology programme' that aims to preserve knowledge and skills about essential obsolete technology (such as floppy disks or 8086 processors)in case disaster strikes.
Traveller has always conceived Terra as a vast 'living history' museum (just look at the way Europe is described in GT: Rim of Fire or generally in the Digest) - so the tech knowledge to recover could be easily available.
Other factors that might lead to Earth recovering quickly include:
(1) Terra is out of the way jump wise - which is why the bland Vilani did not homogenise it.
(2) Virus is genetically Solomani! The Cymbeline lifeforms were little more that 'insectoid' until the Terran Navy Milspec chips were scattered on Cymbeline in the Interstellar Wars.
In the last days of Megatraveller the ultra liberal pansophontist wing of the Solomani party led by Joshua Davhin was gaining the upper hand in Solomani politics. One of Dahvin's last acts before the collapse was to formerly recognise the Cymbeline chips as being part of the Solomani races.
In fact it was a hinted at first in TAS reports that Cymbeline was nuked by the fascist wing of the Solomani party to quell Dahvin's liberal rise to power.
In light of all this, it is possible that some Virus ships looked to Terra as the creation world, perhaps even seeking the holy grail of the original Milspec code exhibited at the London Science Museum in South Kensington!
In fantasy as in life all things are possible!
In fact I was told by some techie friend the other day that NASA or someone has a 'tacit technology programme' that aims to preserve knowledge and skills about essential obsolete technology (such as floppy disks or 8086 processors)in case disaster strikes.
Traveller has always conceived Terra as a vast 'living history' museum (just look at the way Europe is described in GT: Rim of Fire or generally in the Digest) - so the tech knowledge to recover could be easily available.
Other factors that might lead to Earth recovering quickly include:
(1) Terra is out of the way jump wise - which is why the bland Vilani did not homogenise it.
(2) Virus is genetically Solomani! The Cymbeline lifeforms were little more that 'insectoid' until the Terran Navy Milspec chips were scattered on Cymbeline in the Interstellar Wars.
In the last days of Megatraveller the ultra liberal pansophontist wing of the Solomani party led by Joshua Davhin was gaining the upper hand in Solomani politics. One of Dahvin's last acts before the collapse was to formerly recognise the Cymbeline chips as being part of the Solomani races.
In fact it was a hinted at first in TAS reports that Cymbeline was nuked by the fascist wing of the Solomani party to quell Dahvin's liberal rise to power.
In light of all this, it is possible that some Virus ships looked to Terra as the creation world, perhaps even seeking the holy grail of the original Milspec code exhibited at the London Science Museum in South Kensington!
In fantasy as in life all things are possible!
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
"take us to Kensington" is what its saying sir..."--puzzled Terran Scout to skipper of TRNS Indomitable, 1202...
excerpts from diaries "dealing with Cymbelline", by DR Hamid ibn Harrison.
excerpts from diaries "dealing with Cymbelline", by DR Hamid ibn Harrison.
wasn't this the plot from Star Trek 1.
Hopefully traveller fans can do it better.
You can see pro Terran vampires (prophet strain) at Cymberline, vetoing any vamp excursions in the direction of Terra, and organising those Lucan hating cymberline vamps to start a crusade against the core. Hmmh, could they be a power behind the throne?
PS. Hi Liam, welcome back.
Cheers
Richard
Hopefully traveller fans can do it better.
You can see pro Terran vampires (prophet strain) at Cymberline, vetoing any vamp excursions in the direction of Terra, and organising those Lucan hating cymberline vamps to start a crusade against the core. Hmmh, could they be a power behind the throne?
PS. Hi Liam, welcome back.
Cheers
Richard
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
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I'm sure we heretical few can do better than ST-1, aye.
Makes fer an interesting twist though, must admit.
PS, glad to be back too Richard, give me holiday best to Em, wee Miss Megan, and all yer mates at the tables!
Merry christmas,
Slainte!
Funny I always got the impression that Terra was treated like some sort of quaint historical oddball. Trying to resurrect past glory and comercialize it for the present. Leaving the boys at Home, to keep the Cause alive... Sort of, the National Heritage sites in the UK, creating history into a themepark. As the Solomani of Terra did not actively oppose Imperial Occupation, until they were sure that fellow Sols were massed one jump away...
So I could picture Terra being very much like Canada or Czechoslovakia...passively watching the world go by but ready to stand up for the winning side. With the odd bleep of activity in between that may antagonize larger powers...
(Come on don't tell me the Solomani Party underground in the occupied territories did not have access to military intelligence for the events in 1116...before the official newscasts?)
So I could picture Terra being very much like Canada or Czechoslovakia...passively watching the world go by but ready to stand up for the winning side. With the odd bleep of activity in between that may antagonize larger powers...
(Come on don't tell me the Solomani Party underground in the occupied territories did not have access to military intelligence for the events in 1116...before the official newscasts?)
Cleon the Mad
SOC-12
True, but I always thought/assumed that the nuke was mostly to set off an EMP pulse in an attempt to kill the Cymbelline "chips". Kind of a "Hey, we have the virus chips now, so to make sure those Solomani don't have access to them..." sort of move.
Then again, my knowledge of TNE/Hard Times timeline is spotty, so I could be wrong in even my most basic assumptions of that era.
In my TNE campaign (which continued from my Hard Times campaign and was pre C of the E) some of the Cymbeline chips had been taken to Earth by Dahvin and the liberal Solomani. This meant that when virus struck the 'pure' code of Cymbeline/the Milspec chip was already connected to the Terran net. Virus came and met the ancestors so to speak and Earth prevailed by the assistance of fully integrated Cymbeline chips that viewed Virus as a kind of schizophrenic relative.
Could have happened elsewhere in the Imperium - or is that heresy!
Could have happened elsewhere in the Imperium - or is that heresy!
Yes! You've struck a very good idea, Elliot! While my in TNE variant Dahvin was arrested and executed by SolSec (this was one of the "sparks" which ignited the Gaian Revolution of 1127), the chips he brought with him were well hidden with an associate of his, and connected to the Sol datanet by the Unity of Gaia in its early years. They are another race of the Unity, with full citizen rights - yet another reason for other politiesd to see the Unity as strange (if not evil) for the very least, but they DO have ways to combat the virus (called the "Innoculation" (sp?)), which is a very good thing they could offer their allies.
Ofcourse, Terra (now Gaia) has suffered from several Black War strikes during the Rebellion and the Solomani Civil War that followed the Gaian Revolution. The Unity of Gaia had to deal with many problems - from severe economic depression through a multi-front Civil War to the results of the Wars' destruction - but thankfully not much with the Virus. Gaia (formerly Terra) is TL13, and several Unity worlds are TL10-12, after about 60 years of recovery.
DED
SOC-12
I believe that in the 1248 forum, it was discussed that Harold Hale was recruited to work on the Solomani Rim supplement. COE would not be used however as it didn't fit in with Martin's plans for the area. Playtesters could always run through the posts to find out if I'm remembering correctly or not.
Also in the playtest files is enough info on what's going with Terra to figure out its approx TL. I don't want to spill anything that isn't kosher to divulge.
Also in the playtest files is enough info on what's going with Terra to figure out its approx TL. I don't want to spill anything that isn't kosher to divulge.
