Trying to remember the Star Vikings

[Stei'awtliyrl]

Trying to churn up rusty memories of a decade ago because I'm highly intrigued by the Star Vikings fate in Out of the Darkness.

From what I can recall, and research on the forum, the Star Vikings emerged after the collapse as a group of adventurers who scoured the rimward subsectors of Diaspora looking for 3i relic technology untainted by Virus. When they found such technology they either salvaged it (if said technology wasn't in the possession of someone else) or siezed it (if it was) and (from here the memories get REEEEEAL hazy) sold it off? Kept it?

So, first question, what was the Star Viking's mission? It seemed like they had a noble purpose tainted by ignoble execution. Desperate times and desperate measures.

They apparantly pursued their mission aboard modular ships with underpowered meson spinal mounts?

Would these ships still be practical or even around by the time of 1248? What would the Star Viking Exodus Fleet be composed of? Is it a group of longships, or a Galactica-esque "rag-tag fleet"?

The original Vikings are 50 some-odd years older than they were back in their raiding years. Have they existed as an organization, continually recruiting younger crews to their cause? Or are the greybeards leaving the galxy with a fleet full of idealistic young crewmembers seeking adventure beyond Charted Space?

I really like the image of the Star Vikings leaving behind a society that no longer values them to rescue a civilization far beyond Charted Space. I'm just trying to figure out who these people were, so I can start working on who they've become.

 

[MJD]

Some are older folks, some the 'second generation'. The lognships are still in use, or newer versions in some cases, built around commonality for cheapness - which means some new hulls have first-generation modules attached, some old hulls have new modules etc.

 

[remoh]

Hey Martin,

What if any supplements will being coming out for the Star Vikings?

I am interested in more information on this faction, too.

 

[mbrinkhues]

The term "Star Viking" was coined by their enemies like the "Traders Guild" and the "Empire of Solee", playing on the over-represented Hollywood part of the Norseman (Most where traders, not raiders)

They came from two groups:

The Reformation Coalition Exploration Service (RCES) was an official government organisation charged with charting the space, contacting other planets, salvaging maschinery and, if necessary, stealing them. The latter was mostly done with technologie in the posession of "Technologycally Elevated Dictators (TED)", dictators using relict technology to rule a low-tech populace.

The second group where Freelancers, often former RCES personal that now worked on it's own agenda. They where less controlable and more prone to grab whatever they could.

All goods brought back from "the wilds" had to go through an inspection and price acessment and where than put up for sale on an official trading system. This system was called "Auction" and was held regularly with the intervall depending on the volume the world could expect.

Each planet could post "Salvage bills", allowing it to get critical spare parts (Say life support gear) without having to bid against other interests. Such goods where automatically taken over and the acessed price paid. The rest went to auction. The money was splitted by a certain key with some of it going to the RefCol coffers.

The modular ships (Clippers) where basically a spine (With IIRC a meson gun) with various grapples for up to 400dt sized modules. Range and loadout depended on the ship series and techlevel. The RefCol had a TL of 12 but some Clippers used higher-level Jump Drives. Clippers where around 1200-2000dt, the modules where fully encased units, a bit more complex than a cutter module and could be exchanged with minimal gear (basically a small craft or some guys in EVA suits in a pinch). The clipper was a non-streamlined open structure and carried a 400dt Oiler (Manta class) on it's back since it could not skim

Based on the Clipper they later build two types of semi-modular warship (Lancer class DD, Fusilier class DD) that mainly differed in weaponry (One had a spinal meson gun, one a PB). These ships where closed structures and could skim for fuel and they where non-modular

Another RCES ship was the 400dt Vixtrix class sloop, a quite fast (M=4) resonably long-legged (J=3 IIRC) raider. The craft was athmosphere capabel, had some ground attack weapons (Plasma guns - Those are quite low-powered in TNE) and a mission pod. Not a true module, it wouldn't hold athmosphere without the ship, could not be changed without a dock. Those ships make interesting "Adventure craft"

The also had a mission-pod variant of the Type-S IIRC. Aside from that, they used various small starships, including Gazelles, Far Traders and Subbies.


The original Clippers would be semi-useful. The later models (aka Thunderchild and Belladonna class after the first) with the higher-tech J-Drives make a rugged plattform for the mission. Depending on wether or not the RefCol build them to higher tech standards, a TL-14 variant would IMHO be the best option with better/lighter armor and better fusion plants than the TL-12 originals.

The warships classes based on the Clipper are semi-useful since their non-combat capabilitie is very limited.
Bard/Sara(Link) have the stats on the Fusilier (PB armed) and the Lancer (Meson armed), both are J=2, M=2. They also have the TL12/14 Belladonna (J=5, M=2)

 

[epicenter00]

The Reformation Coalition (everyone else called them the Star Vikings) is a government. A multiplanetary coalition which definately has echoes of the pre-Constitutional United States. They were founded in 1200 as the League of the New Dawn. This League had this rosy view that the entire universe was just waiting to be recontacted and reknit into a galactic community. After getting enough help from the Hivers to start repairing and laying down new ships, they sent out trading scouts to reopen trade.

None of these scouts returned. When they found out through the rag-tag network of free traders that many of these ships had been seized (and sometimes destroyed) by the natives of the worlds they visited (with the crews meeting similar uncertain fates), the trauma led to anger. The League recreated itself as the Reformation Coalition, a much more military organization.

They mostly used relic ships from the 3I era when they first started. They had a single Class A Starport and were hoping to upgrade a number of B class Starports to A soonish when the sourcebooks for TNE were written. Because of their lack of shipbuilding resources, I'd imagine the RC would continue to use relic starships for quite a few more years, maybe even a decade or two. The modular clipper you mentioned was one of their first homegrown ships.

The RC basically saw themselves as trying to hold back the forces of xenophobia and trying reknit together a galactic society by combatting the forces of ignorance and xenophobia before it became deeply entrenched.* Their primary tactics to combat this were to use education and uplift - more or less like the Peace Corps backed up by Marines. They'd show you the benefits of being part of galactic society - higher technology, better healthcare, wealth from trade, ⌧ographic magazines from 20+ parsecs away. Okay, maybe not so much the last one.

Anyone who didn't like what the RC was saying were pretty much seen as reactionaries, anti-tech, and xenophobes. People like this were the target of high-tech commando raids that'd take your high tech devices away to be put to "better use" somewhere else, assassinations, agitprop operations, etc.

To do support all this as well as fuel their own recovery (most worlds in the RC were not immune from TL collapse themselves), they needed to build up their own infrastructure. Instead of doing R&D to develop their own technology, they decided to go the quick route and fuel their development using salvaged high technology.

To do this, they engaged in salvage of technology as well as the infamous "Smash and Grab" raid where they would take it from people who weren't using it or weren't putting it to good use in their opinion.

Afterwards, they'd carry their loot back to any number of Coalition worlds and sell it off in an auction. The auction on Aubaine was the largest and usually referred to as the Auction. There were some complex rules on reserving certain technologies that came in such, but for the most part, they'd just sell it off.

The TNE rulebook goes into much more detail. As does "Survival Margin" and "Path of Tears." PoT is the sourcebook I'd suggest getting if you want to know the nitty-gritty on the RC.

* Considering this is a universe with mystic dictatorships, technical priesthoods, and TEDs, this was always a bit shaky to me.

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by epicenter00:
... the infamous "Smash and Grab" raid where they would take it from people who weren't using it or weren't putting it to good use in their opinion.

Epicenter00,

The operative words being in their opinion.

What few TNE materials we do have a hint that the RC wasn't all sweetness and light and that the RCES wasn't staffed by stalwart, square-jawed heroes full of selfless devotion to the ideal. Still the gulf between their words and deeds was quite jarring.

Sadly, GDW folded before we could get a more nuanced and mature look at the Star Vikings.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Mack]

I certainly didn't ever expect to see the words "mature" and "Star Vikings" used in the same sentence!

 

[Whipsnade]

Mack,

Read that sentence again. I don't think you quite got the meaning of it.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[epicenter00]

Originally posted by Bill Cameron:
The operative words being in their opinion.

What few TNE materials we do have a hint that the RC wasn't all sweetness and light and that the RCES wasn't staffed by stalwart, square-jawed heroes full of selfless devotion to the ideal. Still the gulf between their words and deeds was quite jarring.

Sadly, GDW folded before we could get a more nuanced and mature look at the Star Vikings.


Have fun,
Bill

It wasn't a popular view in my group (and still isn't) but I always had that the Star Vikings really lived up to their name (and worse) at times. You already have the nebulous region of the "Freelancers" who were doing the exact same thing as the RCES / RCMC / RCN without nearly as much oversight which is just asking for trouble. They also touched on how many of the RC world governments were sending their own "deniables" out to stir up trouble in the Wilds as well.

However, the really upopular part was when I likened the RC to Reagan's America with the Wilds being Central and South America. I still maintain it's a valid comparison and more valid the more you look at it, right down the righteousness and idealism back home and the cynicism and death squads out there.