Intermittant Drizzle - Traveller Campaign

From BluWiki

INTRODUCTION

This campaign represents an experiment in pen and paper role playing gaming.

It is a shared narrative campaign, meaning: that the rules system is designed to allow player (characters) to have an active role in designing the game world rather than reacting and operating within a world of the other player's (the GM) creation. And also that the hosting (GMing) of the game will rotate. This second component is designed to allow all players to both create and play characters. It will also make every session one of shared discovery, even for the hosting GM.

The detail will develop as the campaign develops. For example, planets will be described once they are realised during play. As the players reach a planet they will explore, and the hosting GM will develop that world and publish the descriptions. Once discovered by the players, the descriptions become fact and must be adhered to on return visits.

In this way threads will develop organically, as the players draw them together in their own imaginations, rather than being a predestined invention of the GM that is revealed.

This could be seen as modelling the belief that there is no such thing as a genuine conspiracy, merely a whole bunch of unrelated things that the intelligent mind constructs into a pleasing pattern. Alternatively it could simply been seen as a monstrous role-playing version of Once Upon a Time.

The goal of the exercise is to test whether an open game system, with a narrative rules structure, is actually fun to play. The alternative position is that a role playing game requires a clear separation of player (character) and player (GM).

We wanted a setting that we were all familiar with, and Traveller is a reliable, genre non-specific place to have fun in. To quote from a thread in RPGnet:

"Not neatly uniformed space rangers in our pristine star cruisers, righting wrong, but blue collar guys in dirty overalls with beaten up shotguns and mining lasers trying to make our mark before we ended up in some medic's obituary log. There was a humility in that, especially compared to the save-the-galaxy type of stuff you'd see in, say, Star Wars or Star Trek. As a kid, it took me a while to warm up to it. But as an adult who's just entered his fifth term, the thought of squinty-eyed veterans making their way across a cold and lonely universe with nothing more than their friends and a dodgy jump drive becomes as compelling as being a epic swordsman in a fantasy game or a caped crusader in a superhero game. More, even."

Boring But Important - Document versioning and control

This campaign represents the efforts of four guys living in Melbourne, Australia. Commenced early in the year 2006. Anything on this site is by definition public domain or has been approved with the originator.

Drop us a line if you have any comments: Andrew Boswell, Matthew Spencer, Simon Ng, Greg Hallam.

We are indebted to Steve 'Coolhand' Tyler for the use of his beautiful ship images. Check out his web site.

IMPORTANT UPDATE This campaign officially collapsed on the 8th of September 2006. The causes were wandering attentions , a reluctance to relinquish games-mastering ownership, and frustration over some fundamental rules issues.

In terms of the experimental purpose of the game the actual sessions were deemed enjoyable. Cast of Heroes remains a superior narrative rules system, but was found to be inadequate for developing mechanistic number-crunching backgrounds. This is no surprise as the system is cinematic rather than realistic. But the paired need to build the physics of the world was better served by using a matrix-game system, and once we had done that the desire to role-play characters evaporated. Instead the emphasis moved to societal development and other mega-issues, pretty much reducing the original purpose of the campaign to wheel-spinning.

Additionally the shared games-mastering faltered. It seems likely, though as yet unproven, that background material must be developed in a shared fashion as well as the actual hosting. That is: in this campaign Matt built the original premise and the rest of us elaborated on it. This elaboration remained under the cloud of 'did it fit the original vision' rather than 'did it advance the story'. This must be tested, and we intend to start again within a completely defined camapign world. Perhaps H�rn.

Watch out for our next experiment, and enjoy the material here. Bozzie

Contents 1 WHAT RULES? 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3 SOCIETAL BACKGROUND TO THE THIRD EMPIRE 3.1 ETHNICITY & LANGUAGE 3.2 FOOD 3.3 CLOTHES 3.4 ARCHITECTURE 3.5 THE ARTS 3.6 ECONOMY 3.6.1 Money & Banking 3.6.2 Trade & Cargo 3.6.3 The Ship as its Own Bank 3.7 POLITICS AT THE IMPERIAL LEVEL 3.8 RELIGION 3.8.1 New Humanism 3.8.1.1 Collective Monasteries of Enlightenment (CME, 'The Monasteries') 3.8.1.2 Malachitism 3.8.1.3 The Magellan Society 3.8.2 The External Powers League (EPL) 3.9 ROBE & BLASTER, ARISTOCRACY in the 3rd EMPIRE 3.10 THE CIVIL WAR 3.10.1 General Background 3.10.2 Developing Focus 3.10.3 A Heavy-handed Response 3.10.4 Defection & Defenestration 3.10.5 Rebel Consolidation 3.10.6 New Strategies for a New Kind of War 4 TECHNICAL INFORMATION 4.1 TECH LEVELS 4.2 Ship Components 4.2.1 What is a ton (T, dTon)? 4.2.2 Ship Transponders. IFF 4.2.3 Hull Sizes 4.2.4 Power Plants, Maneuver Drives and Jump Drives 4.2.5 Ship's Bridge/Admin 4.2.6 Computer Types 4.2.7 Computer Programs 4.2.8 Crew Quarters 4.2.9 Engineering 4.2.10 Fuel 4.2.11 Shuttles 4.2.12 Modules 4.2.13 Ship's Boats 4.2.14 APC's 4.2.15 Cargo Hold 4.2.16 Armor 4.2.17 Weapons 4.3 TYPICAL SHIP CONFIGURATIONS 4.3.1 5T: Missiles 4.3.2 20T: 'Interceptor' Class Space Fighters 4.3.3 50T: Space Control Fighters (SCF's) 4.3.4 250T: Lancer 4.3.5 350T: Cutter 4.3.6 500T: Corvette 4.3.7 700T: Frigate 4.3.8 1,000T: Destroyer 4.3.9 1,400T: Light Cruiser 4.3.10 2,000T: Cruiser 4.3.11 2,800T: Heavy Cruiser 4.3.12 4,000T: Battleship 4.3.13 5,600T: Dreadnought 4.3.14 8,000T: SuperDreadnought 4.3.15 11,200T: 'TITAN' class warship 4.4 The IMPERIAL NAVY 4.4.1 Fleet 4.4.2 Mobile Infantry (Marines) 4.4.3 The Imperial Scout Corps 4.5 The ARMY of the THIRD EMPIRE 4.5.1 Infantry 4.5.2 AHLC (Army Heavy Lift Corps) 4.5.3 AAC (Army Air Corps) 4.5.4 AMF (Army Maritime Force) 5 STELLAR CARTOGRAPHY 5.1 Bisoro System 5.1.1 Bisoro I 5.1.2 Bisoro II 5.1.3 Bisoro III 5.1.4 Bisoro IV 5.1.5 Bisoro V 5.1.6 Bisoro prime (VI) 5.2 Zul'jaya System 5.2.1 Zul'jaya I 5.2.2 Zul'jaya II 5.2.3 Zul'jaya III 5.2.4 Zul'jaya IV 5.2.4.1 Zul'jaya Prime 5.2.5 Zul'jaya V 5.3 Gorin System 5.3.1 Gorin I 5.3.2 Gorin II 5.3.3 Gorin III 5.3.4 Gorin IV 5.3.5 Gorin V 5.4 Kayva System 5.4.1 Kayva I 5.4.2 Kayva II 5.4.3 Kayva III 5.4.4 Kayva IV 5.5 Ainu System 5.5.1 Ainu I 5.5.2 Ainu II 5.5.3 Ainu III 5.5.4 Ainu IV 5.5.5 Ainu V 5.5.6 Ainu VI 5.5.6.1 Ainu Prime 5.5.6.2 Sintra station (Ainu VIa ) 5.5.7 Ainu VII 5.5.8 Ainu VIII 5.6 Karak'Tomis System 5.6.1 Karak'Tomis I 5.6.2 Karak'Tomis II 5.6.3 Karak'Tomis Prime (III) 5.7 Banata System 5.7.1 Banata I 5.7.2 Banata II 5.7.3 Banata Prime (III) 5.7.4 Banata IV 5.8 Porasi System 5.8.1 Porasi I 5.8.2 Porasi II 5.8.3 Porasi III 5.8.4 Porasi Prime (IV) 5.8.5 Porasi V 5.9 Karak'Gorn System 5.9.1 Karak'Gorn Prime (I) 5.10 Canasola System 5.10.1 Canasola I 5.10.2 Canasola II 5.10.3 Canasola Prime (III) 5.10.4 Canasola IV 5.11 Amedine System 5.11.1 Amedine I 5.11.2 Amedine II 5.11.3 Amedine Prime (III) 5.11.4 Amedine IV 5.11.5 Amedine V 5.11.6 Amedine VI 5.11.7 Amedine VII 5.12 Skotarka System 5.12.1 Skotarka I 5.12.2 Skotarka II 5.12.3 Skotarka III 5.12.4 Skotarka Prime (IV) 5.13 Volbin System 5.13.1 Volbin I 5.13.2 Volbin II 5.13.3 Volbin III 5.13.4 Volbin Prime (IV) 5.13.5 Volbin V 5.13.6 Volbin VI 5.14 Moodah System 5.14.1 Moodah I 5.14.2 Moodah II 5.14.3 Moodah III 5.14.4 Moodah Prime (IV) 5.14.4.1 Moodah Prime 5.14.4.2 Temple Mount Highport 5.15 Antherelin System 5.15.1 Antherelin I 5.15.2 Antherelin II 5.15.3 Antherelin III 5.15.4 Antherelin Prime (IV) 5.15.5 Antherelin V 5.16 Halassa System 5.16.1 Halassa I 5.16.2 Halassa II 5.16.3 Halassa III 5.16.4 Halassa Prime (IV) 5.17 Mavelas System 5.17.1 Mavelas I 5.17.2 Mavelas II 5.17.3 Mavelas III 5.17.4 Mavelas IV 5.17.5 Mavelas V 5.17.6 Mavelas VI 5.17.7 Mavelas Prime (VII) 5.17.8 Mavelas VIII 5.18 Bastoria System 5.18.1 Bastoria I 5.18.2 Bastoria II 5.18.3 Bastoria III 5.18.4 Bastoria IV 5.18.5 Bastoria V 5.18.6 Bastoria Prime (VI) 5.18.7 Bastoria VII 5.19 Rashand System 5.19.1 Rashand I 5.19.2 Rashand Prime (II) 5.19.3 Rashand III 5.19.4 Rashand IV 5.19.5 Rashand V 5.19.6 Rashand VI 5.19.7 Rashand VII 5.19.8 Rashand VIII 5.20 Dathbria System 5.20.1 Dathbria I 5.20.2 Dathbria II 5.20.3 Dathbria III 5.20.4 Dathbria IV 5.20.5 Dathbria Prime (V) 5.21 Nabris System 5.21.1 Nabris Prime (I) 5.21.2 Nabris II 5.21.3 Nabris III 5.21.4 Nabris IV 5.22 Crystavus System 5.22.1 Crystavus I 5.22.2 Crystavus II 5.22.3 Crystavus III 5.22.4 Crystavus Prime (IV) 5.23 Mathrisel System 5.23.1 Mathrisel I 5.23.2 Mathrisel II 5.23.3 Mathrisel III 5.23.4 Mathrisel Prime (IV) 5.23.5 Mathrisel V 6 ORGANISATIONS 6.1 Blue Sun Corporation 6.2 The Atomic Industries Union 6.3 Doomwatch 7 NOTABLE NPCs 7.1 Tan Borjigin 7.2 Grandfather 7.3 Mr Telerak 7.4 Brother Habdad 7.5 Callius Carr 8 CHARACTERS 8.1 Guan yin 8.2 Valley Dao 8.3 Sweet Liberty Drift 8.4 "Cutter" Johanson 8.5 Earl Knecht 8.6 Nicci Spinkle 8.7 Artur Wurst 8.8 Piet Walloon 8.9 Molias Timoshin 8.10 Mustafa Emori 8.11 Intermittant Early Drizzle, a 500t free trader 9 RUMOURS 9.1 Concerning Blue Sun Corporation 9.2 Shipping observations in the Ainu system at date... 9.3 The Staring Committee 9.4 The Coin Collection 9.5 Abandoned yet intact and pristine Colony 10 NOTABLE DRAMATIC MOMENTS 11 PLAY LOG 11.1 Session 1. 1107.001 2006 MS 11.2 Session 2. 1107.015 20060324 MS 11.3 Session 3. 1107.045 20060331 AB 11.4 Session 4. 1107.059 20060505 GH 11.5 Session 5. 200606 MS 11.6 Session 6. 20060721 SN

[edit] WHAT RULES?

We use descriptions from many different rules sets, but very few of the actual rules.

The basic set that informs our attitudes is Classic Traveller (CT). When it comes to the specifics of dice rolling we use Cast of Heroes, the set of rules based closely on RISUS and Wushu. In practice, we swap between a RISUS mechanical resolution system, and a Cast of Heroes narrative resolution system depending on the needs of the moment.

[edit] HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Our campaign history differs from Traveller canon, though we do agree with the current technological levels. Many observers have commented that the CT technological sensibilities were devised in the 70's and therefore failed to anticipate what might now seem inevitable such as transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and networked telecomunications.

However, despite this futurological lapse, basic Traveller provides a really fun level of tech to play in. This campaign therefore has the following historical backstory to explain the retro-tech of Traveller:

a) viable manned base on Mars,

b) AI deep space probes dispatched to likely star systems,

c) Solar system fully colonized, messages returned from deep space probes,

d) Colony ships dispatched,

e) Sometime in here early AI develops jump drive,

f) Contact made with leading edge of AI exploration effort that has evolved far beyond our intentions or control. We take Jump tech. Explosion of human colonization, occupying the many hundreds of worlds prepared by AI. The First Empire. (Inspiration: Alien, 2001.),

g) First Interstellar war between mankind and robots, reasons obscure. Mankind uses the intelligence of next generation AI to defeat the wild strain. (Inspiration: Terminator.),

h) Golden age of space exploration and colonization. The Second Empire. (Inspiration: Star Wars, Dune.),

i) The Virus, an empire spanning attack by latest AI, causes collapse of civilization. The core worlds are depopulated. The Long Night ensues. Outer worlds cut off and must fend for themselves. (Inspiration: Battlestar Galactica.),

j) Mankind has crawled back from the abyss. His jump tech is the emasculated version we see. His machines operate at far lower levels than their theoretical potentials because he will not suffer to have control taken from his hands. Tech is clunky because of his fear of betrayal by the machines. It is better to do it yourself, even if it is slower and is subject to error, than to allow yourself to be a slave of something you do not understand and cannot control. Everyone knows that things could be done 'better' but doing things 'better' means giving up control to automation. Recovery is led by the periphery that had lesser dependence on imbedded technological systems. A new core forms. The Third Empire. A new feudalism emerges. (Inspiration: Starship Troopers, perhaps WH40k, perhaps Fading Suns.),

k) The rebellion. The civil war. (Inspiration: Firefly),

Current Traveller date. Robotics and artificial intelligence are viewed at best with deep distrust, and at worst with violent xenophobia. In all the centuries that mankind has been active in space the only other intelligence found has been of his own creation, and in both cases it has been intent on causing his extinction. Genuine alien life is limited to simple plant and bacteria, though the first wave of colonization by the robots sterilized entire worlds in preparation for humans so who knows what was there originally.

Old Earth lost. Exact location of core worlds lost. Many ruins. A wide range of tech levels over worlds. Because of the emphasis on human intervention and control of technology, transmission of information and technology is far slower than it could ideally be. Thus the cost of production of goods allows a labour intensive market (no robot tractors). The feel is a lot like the Age of Sail. The new core worlds are obviously highly advanced. Doubtless there are some that are experimenting, even today, with blasphemous technologies because they think they can do better this time. B-4-15-8-0-13-7-0-D

The world ships and other structures of a truly progressive future are are either mythical or on a distant horizon.

There are no intelligent aliens, but after nearly two thousand years of aclimitisation, hybridisation and early genetic experimentation, animals on alien worlds have fully adapted to their environments. They are every bit as strange as any truly alien species might be.

The date convention used is the standard CT Traveller one, using a 365 day year, year 1107 of the Third Empire.

[edit] SOCIETAL BACKGROUND TO THE THIRD EMPIRE

[edit] ETHNICITY & LANGUAGE

The ethnic population figures are as follows:

60% "Chinese" (asiatic, whatever you like, but as python said, "if darwin was anything to shout about, the chinese will survive us all without any doubt...)

30% Indian/Central African/Mediterranean (these population blocks are not known in definite figures, but are certainly the largest after the "chinese").

10% Anglo/Mixed (Western white man does not fare well in the far future im afraind, and you germanic types are particularly rare. Hell, you are probably the latest generation of templar grandmasters or something, your population is so few and far between).

I hope you can extrapolate from this the predominant cultures. As always, humans will form cliques and communities, so there are certainly cultural districts in every city of respectable size. In the main however, (certainly for all 'official' (imperial) and 'international' (diplomatic) institutions, the style is that of ancient china, possibly with a slight japanese influence also.

There is such a thing as the Imperial Standard Language, and this is what the news-readers speak. Each Star System has its own accent & slang and the further the characters move away from their home system the more pronounced this accent becomes. The character's home is the Ainu system.

Some planets have their own languages altogether, presenting translation problems for the adventuring crew.

[edit] FOOD

The most common staple is Rice, followed by wheat-based creations (bread is still popular, most often found as a kind of 'flatbread'). After this we have a plethora of greenhouse-grown plant-based foods, and all the familiar veggies and many fruits are here. In fact, apart from main meals, (and shipboard life often means irregular main prepared meals) fruits and vegetables are the main foods consumed. I have decided that in the future, humanity in general finally learns to eat healthy, and the obesity crisisis overcome at last.

Lastly, meats are still present, but are eaten in moderation. Generally, meat forms tha higher end of the food trade, as there is at once a low demand for it generally, but isolated scarcities of it more locally. As for spices and such, Meat is generally prepared spiced (hot), and greens are liberally garnished with dressings and sauces.

Obviously culinary creativity encompasses the gamut of recipies however, so im really only talking about common eating places and resteraunts where food is for the most part made in such ways, (and of course good resteraunts offer more choice anyway).

[edit] CLOTHES

Most clothes are of silk, and vast silk-farms are maintained to produce this resource. The silk trade is quite stable, as the commodity is required come hail or shine, so to speak. However, vast riches are not to be made in it, since prices are fixed, and the main profit to be had is in transporting it.

The most common type of garment is either a smock or tunic, loosely fitting and coarsely woven. Similar breeches or pantaloons are also worn by the unwashed, secured by belts or possibly colourful sashes. Sandals are commonly worn, or if the environment is oppressive then sturdy ankle high shor'-boots.

Alternatively, If you are of the middle class, then a choice of slightly more tailored garments are available. Also, among traders and landowners, a kind of cloak-and-scarf arrangement are commonly worn to denote station, often embroidered with sigils or devices of the owner. the cloak and the scarf are interchangeable, and several societies have developed a code language based on the wearing of these garments, and the nuances thereof.

Among the upper class, greater choice of colours and cut are available again. Moreover, accoutrements such as elaborate hats, ties, pins and ribbons, purses and jewelery are much more common among the monied class.

Among all classes, particularly the middle class, elements of military costume are common in areas of imperial occupation and/or military presence.

[edit] ARCHITECTURE

Sadly, architecture must first and foremost conform to the practical necessities of its environment. On any planet with little or no atmosphere and/or gravity, atmosphere domes are the first layer of construction. Buildings are generally constructed of concrete and/or steel, with more or less glass and other decoratve facings depending on the wealth of the neighborhood visited. All buildings are divided into smaller or larger aparments, the size varying directly with the wealth opf the occupant. Out in the rim, The rarest sign of great wealth or power is a private property where an individual or family reside. Whether private or shared property, architecture remains more or less functional and unappealing to the senses. Interior decorating is another matter however...

[edit] THE ARTS

With the emphasis on human endevour (see religion, below) arts and entertainment would appear in some ways less high tech than in the 20th century.

Live shows on the stage are considered the height of entertainment, in comparison to cinema which is too easily falsified. Sports of all kinds are very popular, and a ship coming into any port would obtain copies of all the telecast local games. With the distrust of everything non-human, cinema, with its too-convincing CGI, is suspect.

God-help-us: all there may be on the screens is football, Big Brother, and Sale of the Century(!) News and documentaries will exist too, now that I think about it.

There will be all of the archival films available, but it would be considered more of a hobby to collect and watch them rather than a common passtime.

The Arts such as painting, pottery (and handicrafts of all sorts), and literature are held in high esteem. We might expect dance to be considered pretty swish and mainstream as well.

[edit] ECONOMY

[edit] Money & Banking

In a society where it would take a fortnight to clear a cheque from a bank headquartered in the very next star system the notion of a true centralised banking is a nonsense.

Cash is essential for this economy to work, either in form of old fashioned notes or some other kind of transferable. To make our lives easier we have notes, and the method of production corresponds to the standard Traveller model.

Every star system will have at least one banking house. In the more primitive places they may be called Credit Unions, Building Societies or even the Post Office, but the principle is the same. These banks will issue either Imperial money and/or local currency depending on the political climate.

Interstellar banking corporations no doubt exist, indeed they must, but the time delay factor remains real. Characters expecting credit on a really big purchase have to accept that it may take a month or more for their credit to be approved. At the government level it is inevitable that major budgetry exchanges could take up to a year to be approved and the finances made available.

Characters are not expected to carry great wads of cash to pay for ship fuel: there will no doubt be debt instruments issued by banks such as bearer bonds, credit notes and even cheques - though again noting the time delay in having the latter approved.

It is fairly obvious from this that the movement of large sums of cash must occur. This movement would be controlled, as much as is possible, and subject to great interest from criminal gangs. The idea of a container load of cash being smuggled off-world is not impossible.

Bank robbery, that staple of role playing, is definitely on the table as an option for the payers to engage in or thwart.

For convenience, we will say that an Imperial dollar (IMD or just $) equals a current Australian dollar (AUD) in buying power. Local currencies will have differing exchange rates, naturally.

[edit] Trade & Cargo

An excellent article on trade in Traveller can be found here.

Cargo can be loaded into ship's holds in one of two ways: by individual handling of odd shaped packages, or by standard cargo containers.

Standard cargo containers come in the following flavours:

• The short 5 ton measures 2.9m x 2.9m x 7.4m (or, if you prefer, around 9' wide and tall and 24' long).
• The long 10 ton measures 2.9m x 2.9 x 14.9m (or around 48' long).

The name refers to the displacement of the container, not the displacement of the contents. Despite the naming, as the dimensions show they can contain less than this to allow them to be handled and a percentage of the container is used in the structure itself and for various equipment and padding to protect the contents.

For convenience, knock off round tons when calculating exactly how much the container can hold depending on such things as refridgeration, gravitics, specific pressures or atmospheres, padding or shuielding, and so on.

For example, an ordinary short with nothing special in it that required no special handling could hold 4 actual tons. A container of fine wine on the other hand would be humidity and gravity controlled and be padded to boot. Its actual capacity is 3T, though it occupies 5T of space.

All cargo containers are space proofed and have attachment points to allow manipulation by any mechanised starport.

Individual packages are highly unlikely to be space proofed and must be loaded and unloaded dirtside. The cargo hold, similarly, must be maintained with an atmosphere and with gravity to prevent the contents from moving and/or spoiling. The cost in the extra handling and maintenance may be balanced by the possibility that you can pack an awful lot more into the hold.

[edit] The Ship as its Own Bank

To cope with large expenditures such as maintenance, refueling and even purchase and settling of cargo costs, some form of electronic banking is necessary as sums of this size in cash is silly.

Therefore, each ship acts as its own bank with a data vault that allows electronic money transfers.

Say a ship has $1,000,000 owing to the financing bank. 10% of that debt is held electronically in the ship's data vault. Thus we may say that $900,000 is owing on the 'bricks & mortar' and $100,000 is literal monetary loan debt. This is the money the crew use to pay costs on the ship including repayments to the bank. This is the fund that electronic payments are made into. It is this money that the crew draw from to repay the complete debt on the ship's purchase.

Disbursements from this data vault to the financing bank are at the crew's discretion, of course. And in an unstable galaxy many captains might find it expedient to pay only the minimum required to service the debt and keep the rest in electronic cash on board.

So then, salvage of ships becomes a lucrative prospect, not just for the physical goods, but to break that ship's electronic safe.

[edit] POLITICS AT THE IMPERIAL LEVEL

During the cataclysmic collapse of the 2nd Empire, mankind was taught a harsh lesson. The artificial life that rebelled and decided that the future of intelligence in the galaxy should be in its pseudo-limbs used every trick in its quest to overthrow mankind. Imbedded systems catastrophically malfunctioned. Networked devices conspired to fail in synchronised displays. Anthropomorphic machines infiltrated into every level of society. These last caused widespread chaos and devastation as they seconded non-technical forces to enhance the destruction. For example: hydraulics workers were instructed to blow the locks on dams by their android bosses, flooding the cities downstream. Android politicians, popularly voted in, roused their ignorant constituents to attack neighbouring cities.

The lesson was clear: you could only trust those who you�d known for years. Perhaps only family members.

In the neo-luddite frenzy that followed, technological systems at all levels were smashed. Only those who could be vouched for were safe from the vigilantes. A second dark age descended, far blacker and longer than that following the collapse of the 1st Empire.

The recovery was led by warlord families. Their primitive system worked because every member of the tribe was blood related. These families grew and interacted with other families, absorbing those they trusted, exterminating those unvouched for or simply too weak to resist. Across known space planets came under the domination of these family organisations. Clans formed as higher structural entities. Technology was slowly recovered but vigilantly scrutinised and ruthlessly suppressed if it showed any hint of allowing the return of artificial intelligence.

The clans held the monopoly on political and technological power. They were the local government, military, police, media: the entire social structure. You were either in a family, or you did what the family said � for fear of your life. It was that simple.

And so the 3rd Empire was born. By uneasy agreement, the clans recognised the hierarchy of Empire. Someone, some clan, must sit at the top of the heap. Competition for this top role is �all�s fair�, and once there that clan had power limited only by the practical need not to cause the whole house of cards to collapse.

Now, 1107 years after the collapse of the 2nd Empire and 362 years after the declaration of the formation of the 3rd, the clans have sole control of government. The franchise is limited only to members of families directly attached to a clan: less than 25% of the total population. Planetary and system governments are clan owned, governed, controlled and exploited. Some governments are allowed to exist that are locally democratic, or corporately owned, but these are in the extreme minority.

Clan�read Aristocratic�governments range from enlightened through despotic to psychotic, with little or no chance for the majority of the citizenry to appeal to a higher authority. Government is seen as an expression of �who owns the till�, rather than a trust from the people. The Aristocracy look back and see that it was through their efforts that mankind survived at all, that through their vigilance artificial intelligence remains suppressed. Their role is one of watchdog to the species, for wolves lurk within and without. They view their totalitarian control and reward both as a necessary evil and a just payment for the service they provide.

The majority of mankind�those unlucky enough to not be born into a notable family or on a non-clan planet�find their life choices limited. In most cases their movement is controlled. Identification checks are ubiquitous in the 3rd Empire. Anyone failing to effectively identify themselves�through documentation or by being vouched for�can expect to be summarily imprisoned.

The standard of living for the average citizen is usually significantly lower than for a clan member. Their opportunity for eduction is limited, as is their chance to advance out of their state of poverty and ignorance. Only the military�and by this we mean the private armies maintained by each clan�offer a chance of advancement. They are the peasants of the future.

Religion reappeared in a stronger form during the Long Night. Along with its foundation stone of the inherent superiority of human life, the Collective Monasteries of the Enlightenment (CME) stepped in to ease the harsh lives of the peasantry. They founded schools and hospitals. They provided the balance of compassion and hope against the fear and repression of the clans.

And so we may ask what holds the Empire together: this star-spanning polity containing such contradictions of compassion and repression?

The answers are the same ones that have held all societies together throughout human history:

• Tradition. The system has lasted up to now, so it must logically be stable and correct. It is the system that saved us from extinction, after all. It may not be perfect, but it is better than the alternative of barbarism or extermination by the machines.

• Fear. The clans are the police, the military, the media. Step out of line and expect to suffer the consequences. On some planets this might mean a visit from the black sedans. On others it might mean finding that loan from the bank a lot harder than it ought to be given the collateral available.

• Apathy. Don�t rock the boat; politics is someone else�s problem. And anyway, with virtually all media outlets in the hands of the clans, everything that the citizens reads, hears and sees confirms the position that they live in the best of all possible worlds and that everything is as it should be.

However, in the overcrowded warrens of Amerdine, Antherelin and Mavelas the poverty and futility of life came to a head. All of these worlds struggle at tech level 6 yet have huge populations: Amerdine has 8 billion souls. These polluted worlds provided a fertile breeding ground for the siren call of freedom. Few could express what that might mean, but the notions of democracy (however that might be interpreted by a population that has never experienced it), prosperity (a Mercedes for everyone!) and justice (down with the aristocrats!) swept them up into an orgy of revolutionary violence.

In a short time houses a, and b were deposed from control of Antherelin and Mavelas. House c was expelled from control of Crystavus. And the Settler�s Union, an organisation created by the CME, seized power from houses d, e, f, and g in Kayva, Banata, Karak� Gorn, and Mathrisel. The wrestle for power with house h continues on Amerdine and with house i on Bisoro.

The Rashand sector is in crisis.

[edit] RELIGION

Humankind's religious beliefs remain diverse. This list describes the religions of the Third Empire.

[edit] New Humanism

The central commonly held belief in the Empire is that humankind is inherently special and unique. This is a reaction to the AI wars that devastated the galaxy, and has been reinforced by the fact that no intelligent alien life has yet been discovered. Like many beliefs, New Humanism has become an umbrella label for a wide range of philosophies, religions and churches, from the simple and humanitarian, to the bizarre and dangerous.

There is a strong preoccupation in New Humanism of the importance of the flesh�, ie the superiority of biological life & intelligence over artificial intelligence. This has manifested itself in various ways - from an emphasis on fitness and health at one end, to the extreme beliefs of the Malachites, (named after their founder) who practise cannibalism, justifying it as the ultimate expression of the Eucharist. ("this is my body, take and eat of it").

The Collective Monasteries of the Enlightenment represents the mainstream of New Humanism. They are defenders of orthodoxy, and base their moral authority on traditions aggregated and distilled from the centuries of preceding religious writing.

A significant organisation within the board boundaries of New Humanism is the Magellan Society. The Society is founded on a number of religious beliefs, and is dedicated to exploring the furthermost reaches of the galaxies in order to prove that humankind is indeed alone and therefore unique.

[edit] Collective Monasteries of Enlightenment (CME, 'The Monasteries')

The monasteries are the largest organised religious group in the Empire, numbering their followers in the hundreds of billions, and with holy men in almost every settled system.

These 'holy men' are the emissaries and preachers of the monasteries, and they bring with them aid in the forms of medicine, food, and legal representation in the courts and tribunals of the empire. Also the largest non-empire affiliated concern in the (known) galaxy, the monasteries are massive landholders who use the produce of their land, mostly agriculture with some minor refining and manufacturing concerns, to fund settler's aid in the border sectors, as well as aid for the underprivileged on the core worlds.

The CME became incorporated under law at the same time as the formation of the 3rd Empire. Its lands and possessions are exempt from taxation. Its administration is not controlled by the aristocracy. However, it is generally supported by the aristocracy as it is seen as the necessary counterbalance to their own form of government. Peasants willingly contribute what they can into the CME coffers as they clearly see the payback in social services. Further, many cash-strapped or tax-wise lords have entered into complex financial arrangements with the CME. They have �gifted� all their lands to the order, thus avoiding all tax obligations, under the understanding that they are allowed to maintain authority to manage the estate. Unwittingly, they have mortgaged their future.

Despite lacking a militant order, the monks and holy men of the monasteries are protected by the masses wherever they go, and the monasteries themselves are protected from theft by a massive private army of security guards drawn and trained from the merchant navy. These men are entirely loyal to the monasteries, and undergo rigorous psychological testing before being hired. The rate of defection amongst monastery affiliated personnel is less than 0.01%.

As yet, neither Imperial forces, nor secular or religious opponents have managed to successfully steal from the immensely rich monastic orders, and their mission to bring relief to the masses continues successfully.

[edit] Malachitism

A cult of New Humanism, founded by Liwi Malachite.

[edit] The Magellan Society

A wealthy and influential religious organisation, the Magellan Society has become responsible for much pioneering of the galaxies. The Society's avowed mission is to prove the aloneness and therefore uniqueness of humankind in the universe. But in a paradoxical twist of logic, there is a significant movement within the Society which believes that if humankind is special & superior, there must be other intelligent life-forms out there for humankind to be superior to. Thus the Society has also been responsible for much of the research into, and exploration for, possible alien life.

The Society operates on a number of levels. At its most basic level, it is a "geographical society" which sponsors cartography and exploration in the name of humankind. As one penetrates the various memberships and levels,the Soicety takes on a greater religious tone, and shrouds itself in secrecy and ritual.

[edit] The External Powers League (EPL)

A radical religious movement whose precepts are rejected by the mainstream of New Humanism, and is considered heretical by the orthodoxy.

There are always kooks, and the EPL is an example of what happens when a bunch of kooks gather some money and influence togther and make themselves heard. Now the fastest growing 'religion' in the galaxy, the EPL believes that there ARE aliens out there much more advanced than ourselves, who are either as yet undiscovered or hidden for enigmatic reasons of their own. Furthermore, according to EPL 'holy scriptures' (of dubious origin), these aliens are our creators, and will one day return to pass judgement over us. Despite being labeled as insane fanatics by the mainstrem media, the EPL gather followers daily, and is often heard referred to as 'New Christianity'.

[edit] ROBE & BLASTER, ARISTOCRACY in the 3rd EMPIRE

Aristocracy in the 3rd Empire works on the system of clans. There are 96 clans, or Great Houses, recognised by Imperial decree. Clans have the right to govern, to conduct research and commerce, and to raise their own military forces. Competition between the clans for prestige is intense and ongoing.

There are three ways of thinking about the aristocracy.

• Firstly, from an organisational viewpoint, clans are legal entities: tremendously rich mega corporations with diversified interests that have familial bonds as part of the criteria for being on their Board of Directors. The aristocracy�s business is advancing their clan at the expense of others, and of positioning their clan for control of the Imperial Seat. Like any management team, the aristocracy are accountable to their stockholders, the members of the clan, for their decisions. Success or failure therefore affects not just financial matters, but the survival and prestige of entire bloodlines.

• The Imperial Seat is held by a clan, and the Emperor is the leader of that clan. Therefore, secondly, from a political viewpoint, clans may be thought of as political parties and the position of Emperor as the ultimate office. When we talk about Imperial companies or Imperial forces, we are talking about the entities controlled by the clan that currently holds the Imperial Seat, plus any additional resources that the Emperor can demand by virtue of his position. Other legal entities such as the Collective Monasteries of the Enlightenment and the Atomic Industries Union may rival clans in raw power, reach and influence. But they are banned from holding the Imperial Seat. The current civil war is a direct challenge to this ancient law, where a non-clan member, a Baku Ram (an archbishop in the ancient language) of the Collective Monasteries of the Enlightenment has declared a rival Imperial government.

• And thirdly, the aristocratic clan system is a manifestation of the traditional �First Estate�. They are the warrior class, the leaders, the samurai. The scale of the 3rd Empire is such that direct control of all services, countries, planets or sectors is not exclusively in the hands of the great houses alone. Some are administered by the church, others by non-clan corporations, others still manage independent government by Imperial decree. However, just as all citizens recognise and respect church members, they also recognise the �landed gentry� of the great houses.

Each clan has a number of families within it. It is the role of the independent and powerful Registrar of the Lists organisation to keep track of the complex lineages. Not everyone can claim to be part of a clan in any meaningful sense. However, like now, many people can look back into their family trees and connect themselves to a clan somewhere.

New ennoblement occurs by imperial decree, much like the Queens Birthday Honours List, though how one gets on the list is open to any and all forms of intrigue and corruption. It is certain that the Emperor himself neither suggests, nor vets the full list of applicants for ennoblement before they are declared. The ennoblement can be either hereditary (1st class) or non-hereditary (2nd class) with the latter considered quite respectable, notwithstanding the lamentable fact that many �shop keepers� (merchants) tend to be elevated to this level.

When ennobled, a person is either accepted into a family and clan, and changes their name accordingly, or has their family name added to a clan�s register. In both cases, the new knight (typically) is considered to have started any meaningful family history from that point and anything before it is unworthy of attention.

Members of the aristocracy can have wide and varied rights and privileges depending on their rank, the specific vagaries of the local legal system, and tradition. Examples of these rights and privileges are: substantial pensions, significant share holdings in clan companies, influence at the Imperial Court, ancestral lands, immediate inheritances, rights of free passage, right of escort, the right to bear arms, governorship or other direct government leadership role, right of decree (ability to enact Imperial law), right of ennoblement (ability to ensure ennoblement through Imperial decree), right of pardon, right of taxation.

[edit] THE CIVIL WAR

The civil war occurring in our protagonist's home sector is the single greatest political and military threat to the Third Empire's stability. Although the Imperial core is not threatened directly, and is indeed perfectly stable and peaceful, the burgeoning Rebel Empire that has arisen in recent years has thrown light on how thinly stretched imperial forces have become in administering such a massive and massively growing area of space. There are several factors contributing to this, which have now come to a head in this organised rebellion in the Rashand sector.

[edit] General Background

Because the majority of wealth, major industry and population centres still reside in the core worlds, so too does the empire's political power radiate from those worlds. Worlds that are more than a few jumps distant must operate with a certain level of autonomy, while still maintaining loyalty to the Imperial government and its policies.

The Imperial navy has historically enforced this extremely efficiently, and the vast majority of starship construction and research is still conducted by that body. As a result of these combined systems, policy, laws, economic budgets, taxation, military actions and all the other major and minor doings of governments are handed out from the core worlds in a stilted fashion, often becoming irrelevant or dangerously inaccurate by the time they reach the outer fringes, if they reach there at all.

Though the system is slow and inefficient, it might still work if all the local Viceroys interpreted Imperial directives in the same way, with the same good intentions. On the fringes however, and in places where the Imperial navy presence was weak, local governments begin to formulate their own policies rather than wait for instructions from the capital.

For some time the Navy had been unable to compete with rate of settler expansion, and sector garrisons had grown increasingly outnumbered by the settler's ships they are sent to 'oversee'. Moreover, out on the colonisation 'rim', where times are always tough, and new settlements scrape by with few resources and little industry, Imperial 'interference', and especially taxation, is resented.

[edit] Developing Focus

In Rashand, that resentment grew large in one man, who gave it a banner, and rallied like-minded settlers around him. That man was the Buka-Ram, Hsi Wang Mu, now the newly crowned (rebel) Emperor Telema I.

Hsi Wang Mu was the leading holy man and preacher of the Rashand sector, sent by the Collective Monasteries of Enlightenment to head up their aid operations there. After years of seeing settlers struggle to survive in the face of Imperial neglect, his desire to improve the settler's lives overcame his loyalty to the empire.

Whilst the empire provides peace and prosperity to inner worlds, they condemn the outer worlds to years of poverty and an agonisingly slow development of infrastructure, whilst still more worlds are colonised and new border worlds are formed. As senior holy man in Rashand sector, the Buka-Ram, Hsi decided that helping the settlers was more important than holding to imperial law, and so formed an underground aid organization, the Settler's Union. By means of this union, resources were collected, refined, spirited past Imperial taxmen, and distributed to where they were needed most.

The movement grew rapidly, employing thousands of ships and millions of settlers, including many aid workers and holy men who defected from the empire to help Hsi. The sector's Navy knew what was happening, but were far too undermanned and under equipped to effectively stop it. For every ship they detained, twenty more got away, and for every cargo they confiscated, dozens disappeared, or were only half of what they should have been according to records. The documents of the local imperial registry of goods soon became worthless, as most movement of goods happened off the books, and there was never enough passing through regular channels at one time to tax the settlers moving it. Tax collected dropped nearly to zero, and soon even the imperial storehouses were not impervious to 'human error in the records', as sympathisers helped rebels to steal yet more from under the imperial navy's nose. Something had to give, the core government was demanding results, and so sector Viceroy Vorlaand Tirek decided drastic measures were called for.

[edit] A Heavy-handed Response

The Navy landed gunboats on a small mining colony known to harbour rebel sympathisers and distributors, and 400 marines took the miner's families hostage. A simple message was broadcast through the media sector-wide: "the settler's union would make up the required sum of defrauded tax owed by the sector, or the miners and their families would be taken into custody for treason. Any adult found guilty would be executed, while the children would all be processed through the criminal youth resocialization centres".

It was this last threat which blew the situation wide open, because most of the children were young and innocent, and the resocialization centres are hellish places, filled with the insane, and those driven to be so by a harsh society. Any child sent there would either die there, or have their spirit broken.

The miners, who had peacefully protested the holding of their families under the guidance of Hsi, stormed the complex. The marines were overrun and forced to withdraw, but not before they slaughtered nearly 2000 settlers, most of them civilians from amongst the miners families. All holy men have an innate horror of violence, but when Hsi heard of this slaughter, callously reported by the Imperials as 'collateral damage', his heart was hardened, and his mind closed on all avenues of action but revenge.

Viceroy Tirek had wanted decisive action, and the marines sent in had very specific instructions as to what they should do in the event of the miners becoming militant. The first reports he received over the space-net were good, and he was certain that this blow would be the first step to dismantling the insidious union that had pervaded his sector and ruined his reputation with the core.

[edit] Defection & Defenestration

Only 43 marines from 400 had been wounded or killed in action. What the Viceroy had not counted on was how deeply the union had pervaded the sector, and the reports he received in the weeks following that disastrous massacre were grievous indeed for his administration.

The outrage of what the Imperial forces had done was massive, and it was seen and felt across every world in the sector.

News of what had occurred spread among the rebels almost instantly, as they now had ships and agents on almost every world, and Hsi has sent out a damning report before the slaughter was even complete.

The first result of this report was an indication of what was to come: when the surviving 376 marines (19 wounded) disembarked from their gunboats back aboard the cruisers on which they had come, they found that the ships had defected to the rebels. The marines were captured, disarmed and summarily executed, by means of ejection from the airlocks, 20 at a time, alive. Some resisted of course, but the naval personnel on the defecting cruisers were skilled at shipboard combat, and there were few casualties, other than among the doomed marines.

Over the next 3 months, Imperial crews across the sector mutinied, or simply defected, en masse, flying to rebel strongholds where they prepared to withstand the imperial counterstroke.

[edit] Rebel Consolidation

The counterstroke never came. The union had been so effective, so pervasive in every stratum of society that the imperial forces had lost almost half their forces at a stroke, and several whole systems had openly declared themselves a separate empire, achieving almost bloodless coups overnight. The effect was staggering.

For the first time in remembered history, a rebel force had opposed the Empire and won. An unknown assassin killed the Viceroy in the third week of the revolution, and the Imperial forces reeled in disarray. For 6 months this continued, with the rebels consolidating their power, pulling down and destroying symbols of the Third Empire, and transferring the beaureaucratic power to member of their own organizations. During this time, many people drifted away from the Imperial-held worlds, moving to the rebel worlds for a chance at gaining the freedoms they so deeply desired, and were fervently promised.

The Mavelas system took in the majority of these refugees, swelling the population to nearly half a billion people, and this made Mavelas almost by default the Rebel seat of power. The systems of Antherelin and Crystavus were also consolidated by the rebels, while civil war still rages on the worlds of Bisoro, Canasola and Amedine. A new development has arisen in the last month however, which promises to check the swift advances and victories of the Rebels.

[edit] New Strategies for a New Kind of War

A new Viceroy has been sent directly from the Core planet, the Empire's capital, Shiseido. This man is shrouded in mystery; few have actually seen him, yet he has brought with him an entire battle fleet of the Empire's finest, with which to crush the rebellion.

Whether this will prove enough is yet to be seen, as the rebels have retrofitted several heavy manufacturing facilities to construct their own brand of cruiser and destroyer class starships, as well as a massive quantity of remote-detonation demolition hulks, designed to blend seamlessly with the rest of their scarred veteran fleet.

So, while the newly-created Rashand liberals party acts as a legitimate political front for the militant revolutionaries, the new Viceroy has used executive powers to postpone an official election, and is expected to use any and all resources at his disposal to try and salvage a positive resolution of this conflict for the empire.

There are rumours among the rebel intelligence corps that the new Viceroy is in fact an agent of Blue Sun corporation, and he certainly wields immense power, but similar rumours become attached to almost every Imperial power figure. Nonetheless, The outcome of this struggle is far from certain either way, and it is fairly certain that the Empire cannot spare much else to send further reinforcement to Rashand sector.

As the mysterious new Imperial Viceroy plans his secret offensive, and the rebel forces prepare to meet it, Hsi Wang Mu has been given the ultimate honour of universal acclimation into public office, Re-titled Emperor Telema I after the famous 'last benevolent emperor of the new era'. Whether he and his followers can weather the coming storm, no one can say.

Even among the faithful, among whom the Imperial Aristocracy number themselves, there is confusion. The early, easy (though monumental) picture of an orthodox religious coup is doubtful. While the nature of the rebel Empire certainly has a religious character, and the Baku Ram is indisputably an ordained official, it remains uncertain whether he is still acountable to the Monasteries of the Enlightenment.

The civil war represents a challenge not only to the balance of secular and religious governance of the Empire, but also to the unity of the Monasteries of the Enlightenment - perhaps the one unifying force humanity has known since the collapse of the First Empire.

[edit] TECHNICAL INFORMATION

[edit] TECH LEVELS

This chart shows the agreed tech levels as they appear in the campaign. They are an amalgamation of many editions of Traveller, along with our own views on the matter.

The examples given represent not when such a piece of technology may have been invented, but when it came into reliable production in numbers sufficient to make it indicative of the age. For example, the barometer may have historically been discovered and described in the Renaissance, but it was not until later that it was consistently made and utilised.

Items in italics can be produced at the indicated tech level but because of the prevaling universal cultural attitudes (see Historical background) the responsible scientists of the time choose not to pursue them. Any experimentation or production of these items would be a reprehensible crime against humanity, and dealt with accordingly. Plot hooks aplenty there.

Paraphrasing one of the religious commandments in Dune, Thou shalt not create a mind in the image of man's.

TL	HISTORICAL AGE	MILITARY EXAMPLES	OTHER EXAMPLES
0	Stone Age (fire)	Stone-tipped spear
1.1	Bronze Age (eg. Athens)	Bow, shortsword	Abacus
1.2	Iron Age (eg. Rome)	Broadsword	Wind sock, cement
1.3	Medieval (Steel)	Crossbow
2	Renaissance (eg. 1400-1700)	Muzzle-loading firearms	Spy glass, perspective, loom
3	Pre-Industrial (eg. 1700-1860)	Black powder revolver	Binoculars, compass, Pocketwatch, lighter than air flight, microscope, barometer
4	Industrial Revolution (eg. 1860-1900)	Breach loading firearms	Telescoping sight, steam engine, electricity generation, chemical photography, electric lighting
5	Globalisation (eg. 1900-1940)	Self loading pistol, flame thrower, rocket launcher, water cooled machine-gun	Geiger counter, thermometer, radio, internal combustion engine, powered flight, analytical engines, submersibles
6	Technological Age(eg. 1940-1960)	Self loading rifle, SMG, LMG	Metal detector, fission, jet powered flight, mainframe computing, rotary wing aircraft, anitbiotics
7	Space Age (eg. 1960-1990)	Assault rifle, granade launcher, surface-air-missile (SAM), guided munitions, caseless munitions, taser	Echo sounder, IR goggles, manned rocketry, personal computing, portable computing, chemical sniffer, scanning electron micrograph, advanced ceramics
8	Information Age (eg. 1990-2020) Current galactic average	Non-ferous sidearms, flame rifle	GPS, laser ear, LI goggles, fusion, plasma, radar defeating stealth technology Networked computing,
9	Early stellar (eg. 2020-2100) High water mark of the First Empire	Advanced combat rifle, hand flamer, diergol munitions, Ablat (equivalent) armour	Laser spectrometer, ion drive, jump-1 drive, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybernetic enhancement (transhumanism), neural interfacing, robotics
10		Accelerator rifle, electrothermal rifle, snub pistol, snub SMG, man-portable laser, Combat Environment Suit (CES), reflec armour	Imagecombo binoculars, voice stress analyser, jump-2 drive, antigravity, high capacitance portable batteries
11		Electrolaser, electrothermal pistol, monowire, screamer	Multiscanner, jump-3 drive
12	Third Empire Core worlds	Gauss rifle, laser rifle, PGMP-12	Ballistic capsule, medical scanner, jump-4 drive
13	Third Empire active research	gauss pistol, maser rifle, stun-gun, PGMP-13, battledress	Jump-5 drive
14	High water mark of the Third Empire	Laser pistol, X-ray laser, fusion gun, PGMP-14	Densometer, jump-6 drive
15		PGMP-15 (blaster rifle), X-ray laser pistol	Neural activity sensor (life signs scanner)
16	High water mark of the Second Empire	PGMP-16 (blaster pistol)	Hyperdrive
21			Rosettes
25			Ringworlds
27			Sphereworlds, worldships, teleportation

[edit] Ship Components

[edit] What is a ton (T, dTon)?

A ton (T), or dry ton (dTon) in the context used here is a measure of volume. It is the space 1000 litres of liquid hydrogen occupies. This is around 14 cubed metres (14m3), or an area 3m x 3m x 1.5m.

Now, if you have a look at the published Traveller material, they always drew their deckplans with a scale of 1 square equalling 1.5m x 1.5m. Two of these squares side by side were called a ton and measured 3m by 1.5m. Therefore the ceiling of such a space was just over 3m.

A three metre (9'+) ceiling in a spaceship always struck me as being highly unlikely (given that we are also allowing for artificial gravity). If we imagine that space will be at a premium then surely the interior of these ships will resemble traditional submarines.

In any case, when we talk about tons, we are talking about this measurement. With regard to deckplans, the more spacious the floorplan, the lower the ceiling. The reverse is also true: a floorplan that looks cramped must have a high ceiling, and may well be better suited to zero gravity occupation.

[edit] Ship Transponders. IFF

The technology described here represents a deliberate defeaturing of the system in Traveller TNE that was indicated in the collapse of (our) Second Empire.

The Identification, Friend or Foe procedures for starships are broadly similar to that used for (real world) aircraft and ships.

Its purpose is to assist in traffic control to avoid collisions and facilitate efficient docking & departure, and for the military to avoid engaging friendly units.

The general principles are described here. Broadly, IFF responds - squawks - when interrogated by sensors, identifying the ship to the detector, and notifying the interrogated ship that it has been seen.

The Communications or Sensors officer on deck would report that the ship has been pinged, and the recognised next action would be to open direct communications to complete the identification process.

Transponders are fitted by law to all starships at construction. They are black box units, and it is an offence to modify them. This includes turning them off so they give no reply though, of course, that is precisely the response of enemy military vessels because they do not have friend encryption.

Transponders squawk in different modalities, or defined electromagnetic bands, to easily distinguish broad categories of orginating ship.

The following modes are used:

• Modes 1 to 5 are codes used by non-starships.

• Mode 6 is an unencrypted two digit hexadecimal code used by non-jump capable civilian spacecraft.

• Mode 7 is an encrypted four digit hexadecimal code used by carrier borne fighters to assist in their recapture.

• Mode 8 is an unencrypted four digit hexadecimal code used by civilian shipping. The code nominally identifies the class, size, and destination (inbound/outbound) of the ship. The code defaults but is further set by the bridge crew under advice from Traffic Control.

• Mode 9 is an encrypted four digit hexadecimal code used by the military to positively identify friendly craft.

Civilian vessels respond in modes 6 or 8, depending on their class. Civilian vessels responding as military vessels or failing to squawk at all are considered pirates by Imperial law.

Military vessels respond in military modes 7 or 9 and simultaneously in civilian modes 6 or 8 so that civilian traffic control can track them to avoid collisions around ports. The paired civilian squawk includes notification that the vessel is military. Military vessels responding solely as civilian vessels are in breach of the Articles of War, and their captains liable for (war) criminal charges. During declared time of war, it is permitted for military ships to disable the mode 6 or 8 squawk, making them silent to all accept allied ships with appropraite decryption protocols.

Ex-military vessels are required by Imperial law to have their military transponders (with their encryption/decryption equipment) removed prior to sale.

A mode/identification manual is part of the standard documentation of any bridge, though these manuals may become out of date, particularly during wartime. At its simplest, the manual lists number ranges and the type of ship that is expected to squawk in each range. For example, civilian 100T free traders might be expected to squawk in mode 8 in a range between 1100 and 1199.

A manual's coverage will depend on its source. Military manuals will have both military and civilian codes. Civilian manuals will vary in quality and completeness. Those produced by The Traveller's Aid Society and by A class starports will have greater coverage and be more up to date than those of less well funded facilities. Poorer facilities may list only their own traffic control code system, and these might have nothing in common with other facilities.

In a game application: the Intermittant Early Drizzle, when coming into a system, will automatically squawk an unencrypted 4 digit hexedecimal code in Mode 8 when traffic control detect them on their sensors. The bridge crew would probably be advised to alter this code after they have spoken to traffic control to assist in tracking them so they don't get accidentally driven into something or reported to system defence.

They could change their code so that they would squawk as a 5,000 ton sleeper ship bound for Shiseido, and this is what would show up on the traffic controller's board. However, more detailed sensor analysis would still reveal an awful lot about the ship from its emissions.

As at 1107.045 the Intermittant Early Drizzle does not have the ability to squawk in modes 7 or 9, nor can its transponder be turned off.

[edit] Hull Sizes

Most Ships whether military or civilian are built according to common hull types classified in order of ascending hull size. Each hull size is given a 'class', so that a bulk cargo freighter might be constructed with a 'Dreadnought' class hull. NOTE: the ship types listed here, in terms of hull size and ship's descriptions, are 'default' ship designs. There are of course myriad customized ship designs, and any prospective buyer may apply to a Naval architect to have a custom design of any size ship drawn up, for a percentage fee...

Hull size and all internal dimensions are measured in displacement tons, the volume that 1,000 litres of liquid hydrogen will displace: 14 m3.

[edit] Power Plants, Maneuver Drives and Jump Drives

Power Plants, Maneuver Drives and Jump Drives are all divided into 24 classes, designated A-Z omitting the letters I and O. A class indicates the smallest/weakest class, whereas Z class indicates the most powerful class currently available.

[edit] Ship's Bridge/Admin

All ships, Both Military and Civilian are Required to allocate at least 20 Tons displacement for Bridge/Admin Facilities.

[edit] Computer Types

Computers Vary in tons displacement, CPU size and Hard Drive Memory. Listed here are the computer types and their stats.

Type 1: Mass 1; CPU 2; Memory 4

Type 1.2: Mass 1; CPU 4; Memory N/A

Type 2: Mass 2; CPU 3; Memory 6

Type 2.2: Mass 2; CPU 6; Memory N/A

Type 3: Mass 3; CPU 5; Memory 9

Type 4: Mass 4; CPU 8; Memory 15

Type 5: Mass 5; CPU 12; Memory 25

Type 6: Mass 5; CPU 15; Memory 35

Type 7: Mass 5; CPU 20; Memory 50

[edit] Computer Programs

Recon

- Long Range Mapping Array: 1

- Geological Survey Array: 2

Sensors

- Class I Sensors: 1

- Class II Sensors: 2

- Class III Sensors: 3

- Class IV Sensors: 4

Weapons

- Target: 1

- Multi-Target: 1

- Launch: 1

- Return Fire: 1

- Anti-Missile: 2

Civilian

- Anti-Hijack: 1

- Maneuver: 1

- Maneuver/Evade: 1

- Jump I: 1

- Jump II: 2

- Jump III: 2

- Jump IV: 2

- Jump V: 2

- Jump VI: 2

- Navigate: 1

ECM

- ECM Class I: 3

- ECM Class II: 4

- ECM Class III: 5

- ECM Class IV: 6

ECCM

- ECCM Class I: 3

- ECCM Class II: 4

- ECCM Class III: 5

- ECCM Class IV: 6

[edit] Crew Quarters

Staterooms for flight crew and other shipboard personnell must be allocated a regulation 4 tons displacement each. Although it is permitted for personnell to 'double up' in staterooms, it is standard procedure for ship designs to provide at least one stateroom for every permenant member their crew.

[edit] Engineering

All ships, both Military and Civilian, must allocate a regulation 15% of total hull displacement to an Engineering section. Although ships have been known to run with less, there are significant risks in terms of maintenance and substantial fines that captains run in doing so.

[edit] Fuel

Fuel requirements vary between ships, but most ships allocate fuel storage according to the following formulae:

Fuel Required for One Jump at total drive Capacity: 0.1MJn where M = Mass displacement of Ship, and Jn = No. of Jump.

Fuel required for Normal 'in-system' use of Manuever Drive: 10Pn where Pn = Power/Drive Maximum Drive Potential.

[edit] Shuttles

Standard Shuttle Displacement is 95 Tons

[edit] Modules

[edit] Ship's Boats

Regulation Ship's Boats must be allocated at least 30 Tons each.

[edit] APC's

Both Military and Civilian APC's require at least 10 Tons displacement allocation each for shipboard storage.

[edit] Cargo Hold

There are no regulation concerning cargo hold displacement allocation. Consequently, Cargo holds are as varied as ships, most being customised in some way to carry specific cargos. Military ships tend to allocate a minor displacement for cargo, to carry personnel luggage, prisoners, captured equipment and whatever other miscellaneous items may end up aboard.

[edit] Armor

The Armor installed on ships depends greatly upon the role of that ship, and how much displacement the Naval architect wishes to give up. Listed here are the Classes of Armor available and their displacements. Plate armor and Laser Shielding displacements are cumulative.

Armor Plating

- Fighter Armor: Smaller Fitted Armor Plates designed for Fighters; 1/10 of Total Hull Displacement

- No Armor: Architects may elect to install no armor on a ship, in which case only the bare structural shell will protect the crew from space. Although all hulls are designed to withstand minor collisions with space debris, a hit from any kind of weapon or a major collision will likely cause catastrophic hull breaches and de-pressurisation in ships with no armor.

- Light Class Armor: Provides the minimum of protection from weapons and collisions; 1/50 of Total Hull Displacement

- Medium Class Armor: Standard Military Armor Plate, able to withstand basic weapons fire; 1/25 of Total Hull Displacement

- Heavy Class Armor: Unique to Capital ships, may withstand minor missile barrages; 1/10 of Total hull Displacement

Laser Deflection Shields

No Shields: Laser energy will be fully absorbed by hull/armor.

Class I: Basic Shielding, unable to absorb sustained laser fire; 1/100 Total Hull Displacement

Class II: Improved Shields, can absorb long-range laser blasts: 1/75 Total Hull Displacement

Class III: Provide better absorbtion to fast, maneuverable ships: 1/50 Total Hull Displacement

Class IV: Standard Military Shields, may absorb medium laser barrages: 1/25 Total Hull Displacement

[edit] Weapons

The Naval Weapons Available are generally divisible into 4 Categories: Mass drivers, Beams, Missiles and Indirect Fire Ordnance (Mines). These strength of these weapons is determined by the way in which it is mounted. Classes of weapon mount are listed here, along with Tons displacement:

Weapon Mountings

- Light: 0.5 Tons. Smaller, less powerful versions of standard weapons, single capacity missile racks. Light mountings are for Naval architects who dont have a lot of money or space to spare.

- Standard: 1 Ton. Most non-military weapons use standard mountings. Single Turret standard power weapons and 3 missile racks. All Sandcaster defense weapons use standard mountings.

- Heavy: 5 Tons. Military Grade Mounting. Double Turrets, 5 Missile Racks. Some high-powered weapons (eg: Neutron Cannons) require at least heavy mountings to operate.

- Spinal: 10 Tons. Extremely powerful Mounting. Triple Turrets, 10 Missile racks. Ion Cannons Require a spinal mounting to operate.

- Ordnace Delivery bay: 20 Tons. Indirect fire ordnance may only be deployed using these bays, which are heavily armored to minimise the chance of damage to the parent ship if explosives should detonate prematurely.

- Axial: 10% of the ship's mass, minimum 400T. These are the big guns. Axial or core weapons are massive particle accelerators or plasma generators that consume enormous amounts of power. They are integral to the structure of the ship - the ship is effectively built around them. When fired at another ship, imagine the plasma bolts of the bugs in Starship Troopers (movie) - small ships are vaporised, and large ships are cut in half. When discharged at a planet the particles interact with any atmosphere, creating a superheated, radioactive firestorm that can turn a city into glassy slag.

Here is a list of weapons available, divided into weapons class.

Mass Driver

- Fletchette:

- Plasma (aka HEAT rounds):

- Armor Piercing (aka HESH & APDS-DU rounds):

Beam weapons

- Laser Cannon:

- 'Hard Beam' (aka Particle Accelerators):

- Neutron Cannon (aka Ion cannon, aka Plasma Generators):

Missiles

- Nuclear Warhead:

- High Explosive Armor Piercing Warhead:

- Chemical Delivery Warhead:

- Bio-Agent Delivery warhead:

Indirect Fire Ordnance

- Proximity Mine:

- Limpet Mine:

- Remote Detonation Mine:

- Anti-Personnel Drone:

[edit] TYPICAL SHIP CONFIGURATIONS

[edit] 5T: Missiles

For example:

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
Miniaturized power plant	Rocket thrusters	N/A	N/A	2	N/A	1 (Maneuver/evade, Class 1 ECM)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Missile armor	N/A

Armament: Nuclear warhead/Armor piercing high explosive warhead (APHEW).

[edit] 20T: 'Interceptor' Class Space Fighters

For example: The Tiger interceptor

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
4 (A)	1 (A)	N/A	N/A	11	N/A	1 (Target, Sensors I, Maneuver/Evade, Class I ECM)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1 (cockpit)

Armament: 2 Standard Laser Cannons/2 Standard Mass Drivers (Designs Vary)

[edit] 50T: Space Control Fighters (SCF's)

For example: The Cobra Space Superiority fighter

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
4 (A)	1 (A)	N/A	N/A	33	N/A	1 (Target, sensors 1, Maneuver/evade, Class 1 ECM)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	6 (Fighter armor/class 1 laser deflection)	N/A

Armament: 4 standard laser cannons.

[edit] 250T: Lancer

For example: the ‘Lancer’ class Scout

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
10 (C)	5 (C)	20 (C)	138	50	39	2 (Long range mapping array, sensors 1, Maneuver/evade, Class 1 ECM, jump 1)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
36	N/A	N/A	30 (1 ship’s boat)	N/A	N/A	20

Armament: none.

[edit] 350T: Cutter

For example: the ‘Cutter’ class Scout

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
16 (E)	9 (E)	30 (E)	52	100	50	3 (Long range mapping array, geological survey array, sensors 2, maneuver/evade, class 2 ECM, jump 2, navigate)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
40	N/A	N/A	30 (1 ship’s boat)	N/A	N/A	20

Armament: none.

[edit] 500T: Corvette

For example: The ‘Corvette’ class Scout

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
22 (G)	13 (G)	40 (G)	75	185	36	4 (Long range mapping array, geological survey array, sensors 3, target, launch, maneuver/evade, class 3 ECM, class 1 ECCM, jump 3, navigate.

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
48	N/A	N/A	30 (1 ship’s boat)	N/A	16 (Light class armor/class 2 laser deflection)	20

Armament: 2 heavy laser cannons, 1 sandcaster.

[edit] 700T: Frigate

For example: The ‘Frigate’ class Gunboat

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
37 (M)	23 (M)	N/A	105	60	86	2 (Target, sensors 1, launch, Maneuver/evade, Class 2 ECM)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
40	275 (3 shuttles)	N/A	N/A	20 (2 military APCs)	28 (Light class armor/class 3 laser deflection)	20

Armament: 3 standard mass drivers, 1 sandcaster.

For example: the ‘Frigate’ class Scout

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
31 (K)	19 (K)	55 (K)	105	320	31	5 (Long range mapping array, geological survey array, sensors 4, target, launch, maneuver/evade, class 4 ECM, class 2 ECCM, jump 4, navigate)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
52	N/A	6 (outpost module)	30 (1 ships boat)	20 (2 military APCs)	16 (Light class armor/class 2 laser deflection)	20

Armament: 2 heavy laser cannons, 1 sandcaster.

For example: the ‘Frigate’ class Marine Assault Carrier (MAC)

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
28 (J)	17 (J)	50 (J)	105	240	26	4 (Sensors 3, target, launch, maneuver, maneuver/evade, anti-missile, class 2 ECM, jump 3, navigate)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
36	N/A	120 (4 troop pods)	N/A	N/A	42 (Medium class armor/class 3 laser deflection)	20

Armament (12): 2 heavy laser cannons, 2 sandcasters.

For example: Navy ‘Whisky’ class frigate

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
28 (J)	17 (J)	50 (J)	105	240	45	4 (Sensors 3, target, multi-launch, maneuver, maneuver/evade, return fire, class 3 ECM, class 3 ECCM, jump 3, navigate)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
48	N/A	N/A	30 (1 ships boat)	10 (1 military APC)	56 (Medium class armor/class 4 laser deflection)	20

Armament (47): 5 heavy laser cannons, 2 spinal ion cannons, 2 sandcasters.

[edit] 1,000T: Destroyer

For example: the ‘Destroyer’ class Gunboat

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
43 (P)	27 (P)	N/A	105	85	71	5 (Sensors 1, target, launch, multi-target, maneuver, maneuver-evade, class 2 ECM, return fire, anti-missile)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
116	275 (3 shuttles)	N/A	60 (2 ships boats)	20 (2 military APCs)	34 (Light class armor/class 3 laser deflection)	20

Armament: 10 heavy mass drivers, 4 heavy laser cannons, 4 standard missile racks (2 missiles per rack) 2 spinal ion cannons, 2 sandcasters.

For example: the ‘Weasel’ class Navy destroyer

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
34 (L)	21 (L)	60 (L)	105	330	12	4 (Sensors 3, target, launch, multi-target, maneuver, maneuver-evade, class 3 ECM, class 3 ECCM, return fire, anti-missile, jump 3, navigate)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
80	190 (2 shuttles)	N/A	N/A	10 (1 military APC)	80 (Medium class armor/class 4 laser deflection)	20

Armament (133): 6 heavy laser cannons, 4 ordinance delivery bays, 2 spinal ion cannons, 3 sandcasters.

[edit] 1,400T: Light Cruiser

For example: the ‘Cruiser’ class Marine Assault Carrier

Power.	Man. Drv.	Jump Drv.	Engineering	Fuel	Cargo	Computer.
40 (P)	25 (P)	70 (P)	210	450	65	4 (Sensors 2, target, launch, maneuver, maneuver-evade, anti-missile, class 2 ECM, jump 3, navigate)

Crew Qtrs.	Shuttles.	Modules.	Boats.	APCs.	Armor.	Bridge.
48	N/A	360 (12 troop pods)	N/A	N/A	84 (Medium class armor/class 3 laser deflection)	20

Armament (24): 4 heavy laser cannons, 4 sandcasters.

[edit] 2,000T: Cruiser

Standard "Cruiser" Class

Power: 43 (P)

Maneuever Drive: 27 (P)

Jump Drive: 75 (P)

Bridge: 20

Computer: 5 (Type 5)

Programs:

- Sensors IV

- Target

- Multi-Target

- Launch

- Maneuver

- Maneuver/Evade

- Return Fire

- Anti-Missile

- Class IV ECM

- Class III ECCM

- Jump IV

- Navigate

Crew Quarters: 108

Engineering: 210

Fuel: 450

Shuttles: 95 (1 Shuttle)

Modules: N/A

Ship's Boats: 30 (1 Boat)

APC's: 10 (1 Military APC)

Armor: 112 (Medium Class Armor/Class IV Laser Deflection)

Weapons: 128

Armament:

- 7 Heavy 'Hard Beams'

- 6 Heavy Missile Racks (4 Missiles per Rack)

- 3 Sandcasters

- 2 Spinal Ion Cannons

- 2 Ordnance delivery Bays

Cargo Hold: 7

Carrier

Power: 46 (Q)

Maneuever Drive: 29 (Q)

Jump Drive: 80 (Q)

Bridge: 20

Computer: 4 (Type 4)

Programs:

- Sensors IV

- Target

- Launch

- Maneuver

- Maneuver/Evade

- Class IV ECM

- Class III ECCM

- Jump IV

- Navigate

Crew Quarters: 80

Engineering: 300

Fuel: 840

Shuttles: N/A

Modules: 230 (4 Interceptor Bays [80]/3 SCF Bays [150])

Ship's Boats: N/A

APC's: N/A

Armor: 280 (Heavy Class Armor/Class IV laser Deflection)

Weapons: 52

Armament:

- 10 Heavy Mass Drivers

- 2 Sandcasters

Cargo Hold: 39

[edit] 2,800T: Heavy Cruiser

Standard "Heavy Criuser" Class

Power: 49 (R)

Maneuever Drive: 31 (R)

Jump Drive: 85 (R)

Bridge: 20

Computer: 5 (Type 5)

Programs:

- Sensors IV

- Target

- Multi-Target

- Launch

- Maneuver

- Maneuver/Evade

- Return Fire

- Anti-Missile

- Class IV ECM

- Class IV ECCM

- Jump IV

- Navigate

Crew Quarters: 236

Engineering: 420

Fuel: 1,160

Shuttles: 190 (2 Shuttles)

Modules: N/A

Ship's Boats: 60 (2 Boats)

APC's: 20 (2 Military APC's)

Armor: 224 (Medium Class Armor/Class IV Laser Deflection)

Weapons: 296

Armament:

- 15 Heavy Laser Cannons

- 15 heavy 'Hard Beams'

- 6 Sandcasters

- 6 Spinal Ion Cannons

- 4 Spinal Missile Racks (10 Missiles per Rack)

- 2 Ordnance Delivery Bays

Cargo Hold: 4

[edit] 4,000T: Battleship

Standard Military "Battleship" Class

Power: 52 (S)

Maneuever Drive: 33 (S)

Jump Drive: 90 (S)

Bridge: 20

Computer: 5 (Type 5)

Programs:

- Sensors IV

- Target

- Multi-Target

- Launch

- Maneuver

- Maneuver/Evade

- Return Fire

- Anti-Missile

- Class IV ECM

- Class IV ECCM

- Jump IV

- Navigate

Crew Quarters: 308

Engineering: 600

Fuel: 1,600

Shuttles: 190 (2 Shuttles)

Modules: N/A

Ship's Boats: 120 (4 Boats)

APC's: 20 (2 Military APC's)

Armor: 560 (Heavy Class Armor/Class IV Laser Deflection)

Weapons: 360

Armament:

- 20 Heavy Laser Cannons

- 10 Spinal Neutron Cannons

- 10 Spinal Missile Racks (10 Missiles per Rack)

- 10 Sancasters

- 10 Standard Mass Drivers

- 2 Ordnance Delivery Bays

Cargo Hold: 42

SuperCarrier

Power: 52 (S)

Maneuever Drive: 33 (S)

Jump Drive: 90 (S)

Bridge: 20

Computer: 4 (Type 4)

Programs:

- Sensors IV

- Target

- Launch

- Maneuver

- Maneuver/Evade

- Class IV ECM

- Class IV ECCM

- Jump IV

- Navigate

Crew Quarters: 100

Engineering: 600

Fuel: 1,640

Shuttles: N/A

Modules: 800 (15 Interceptor Bays [300]/10 SCF Bays [500])

Ship's Boats: N/A

APC's: N/A

Armor: 560 (Heavy Class Armor/Class IV Laser Deflection)

Weapons: 54

Armament:

- 10 Heavy Mass Drivers

- 4 Sandcasters

Cargo Hold: 47

[edit] 5,600T: Dreadnought

Standard Military "Dreadnought" Class

Power: 55 (T)

Maneuever Drive: 35 (T)

Jump Drive: 95 (T)

Bridge: 20

Computer: 5 (Type 5)

Programs:

- Sensors IV

- Target

- Multi-Target

- Launch

- Maneuver

- Maneuver/Evade

- Return Fire

- Anti-Missile

- Class IV ECM

- Class IV ECCM

- Jump IV

- Navigate

Crew Quarters: 344

Engineering: 840

Fuel: 2,280

Shuttles: 380 (4 Shuttles)

Modules: N/A

Ship's Boats: 180 (6 Boats)

APC's: 40 (4 Military APC's)

Armor: 784 (Heavy Class Armor/Class IV Laser Deflection)

Weapons: 464

Armament:

- 20 Heavy Laser Cannons

- 15 Spinal Neutron Cannons

- 15 Spinal Missile Racks (10 Missiles per rack)

- 10 Heavy Mass Drivers

- 10 Sandcasters

- 4 Ordnance Delivery Bays

Cargo Hold: 78

[edit] 8,000T: SuperDreadnought

[edit] 11,200T: 'TITAN' class warship

[edit] The IMPERIAL NAVY

The Imperial Navy has a history stretching back several centuries. Over the last two centuries its role has largely been one of colonial policing, piracy suppression and stellar mapping. The current crisis has placed new demands on the structure and capabilities of the service, with intense and sometimes acrimonious debate over role and organization, sparking a flurry of new designs and ship building programs.

The Navy includes the following services:

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Mobile Infantry (Marines)

Marines deployed as per Starship Troopers (movie) & Aliens (movie) in landing craft and are not in powered armour. They might have support ordinance including air support vehicles and tanks.

Mobile Infantry combat doctrine is to deliver irrestible force to a specific location at a specific time.

[edit] The Imperial Scout Corps

[edit] The ARMY of the THIRD EMPIRE

Notes for future development: pure Army are not normally expected to make opposed landings. They have access to heavier support and exploitation equipment, and advanced engineering capability. Their role is to hold land taken by Marines, fortify it, and conduct protracted operations on planets. Significant inter-service rivalry exists between Marines and Army, where the former accuse Army of being 'drab plodders' and the latter charge the Marines with being 'glory boys who lack staying power'. To a degreee, both views are correct.

Army combat doctrine is to become an immoveable object over a nominated area until told otherwise.

[edit] Infantry

Combined arms forces up to and including troops in full Battledress.

[edit] AHLC (Army Heavy Lift Corps)

Spacecraft used by the Army to transport its troops and equipment. The Army believes the purpose of space travel is to get to planets, and does not waste money by building ships whose purpose is to attack other ships. Generally speaking, AHLC vessels require Fleet protection.

[edit] AAC (Army Air Corps)

Aircraft and close orbital craft.

[edit] AMF (Army Maritime Force)

The wet navy.

[edit] STELLAR CARTOGRAPHY

Within Rashand sector, inhabited systems are identified by their primary political alliegance, followed by the standard traveller 'planetary characteristics index'. These are listed firstly in abbreviated form for easy reference, and also in expanded form for more in-depth research and reference regarding individual planets and systems. In addition to these, we have also used a basic system to categorise planets according to their mineral richness, soil fertility, no. of sattellites plus any other miscellaneous facts which may be revlevant to characters, or which come to light over time. This system is the MFSO (Minerals,Fertility,Sattellites,Other) system, with each category being divided into the following descriptive levels:

Minerals: Ultra Rich, Very Rich, Rich, Average, Poor, Very Poor.

Fertility: Alluvial, Fertile, Arable, Hard Scrabble, Subsistence, Barren, Hostile, Toxic.

Sattellites: Small (1/1000th of planet size), Medium (1/50th of Planet size), Large (up to 90% of planet size).

Other: N/A (Not fixed, can be anything interesting or unique to individual planets).

Note that the above sub-categories describe each planetary environment in relation to an ideal environment suitable to human life. In addition to the MFSO system of classification, each planet is assigned a 'rating' according to how close it is, on average, to an ideal 'home world' environment for human life. These ratings are color coded, as follows:

WHITE: Paradise (Ideally terrafromed world, population may be 120% of homeworld maximum) Sweet Spot (Environment Identical to Home world)

GREEN: 1/2 (Close to ideal conditions, Air breathable, Population may reach 80% of homeworld maximum)

YELLOW: 1 (Acceptable conditions, Breathing apparatus required in atmosphere, Mantenance costs are 50% more than homeworld standard, Population may reach 50% of homeworld maximum). 2 (No agriculture may occur on Yellow-2 worlds, unless terraforming takes place.

RED: 1/2 (Hostile environment, Bio-Domes neccessary for survival, Maintenance costs are 100% of homeworld standard, Only minor Populations can settle on Red worlds, No Agriculture may occur on Red worlds, unless terrafoming is used).

Using the above classification systems combined, basic planetary stats and environmental information may be gained at a glance. This is also a relatively basic system which can be used as a template for mapping entire sectors quickly and easily. Further information on planets and systems will be added by players as the campaign progresses, revealing the rich cultural, social and political differences of each system through the experiences of the characters.

Systems are listed in a top-to-bottom, left-to-right manner with regards to the sector star map provided at the bottom of this section. PLEASE NOTE: the sector starmap does not take into account the distance between systems in a third dimention, for obvious reasons. However, rather than invent a system of notation to represent this, we are assuming that the systems are all within a similar distance to each other in a third dimention as they are in terms of standard compass directions; that is, their relative distances from one another in a vertical dimention have a negligable effect on travel times. For further information on travel times and jump drives, please refer to the 'tech' section of this site.

[edit] Bisoro System

STAR: Orange Dwarf

[edit] Bisoro I

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Barren	2 small moons	Volcanic. Research station

[edit] Bisoro II

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Barren	1 medium moon	Volcanic.

[edit] Bisoro III

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Subsistence	1 small moon, 2 medium moons	N/A

[edit] Bisoro IV

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 medium moon, 2 large moons	N/A

[edit] Bisoro V

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Barren	1 small moon	Rare metals, battlefield ruins

[edit] Bisoro prime (VI)

Sweet spot
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hard scrabble	1 medium moon	N/A

Alliegance: CIVIL WAR (Imperial vs. Rebels)

System code: B5SA673A

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 5

Atmosphere: Standard

Hydrographics: All Water

Population: 8 million

Government: 7, Civil War.

Law level: 3, Wartime Imperial standard.

Tech index: 10

Trade: Non-industrial, Rich.

Military Presence: None

[edit] Zul'jaya System

STAR: White Bright Giant

[edit] Zul'jaya I

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 small moon, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Zul'jaya II

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 small moon, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Zul'jaya III

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 small moon, 1 medium moon	Volcanic, Abandoned Research Station

[edit] Zul'jaya IV

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	3 small moons, 2 large moons	Zul'jaya Prime on large moon

[edit] Zul'jaya Prime

A satelite of the gas giant Zul'jaya IV.

Alliegance: Atomic Industry Union

System code: B100515A

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 1

Atmosphere: None

Hydrographics: None

Population: 300,000

Government: 1, Corporate.

Law Lavel: 5, Imperial standard.

Tech Index: 10

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: None

A small moon.

Separatist world.

HQ of the Atomic Industry Union, a very powerful corporation that conducts R&D and manufacturing operations here.

[edit] Zul'jaya V

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very Rich	Barren	2 medium moons	Volcanic, rebel base

[edit] Gorin System

STAR: Yellow-White Supergiant

[edit] Gorin I

Red 2 (Gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	2 largemoons	Rare petrochecmicals

[edit] Gorin II

Red 1 (Gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	5 small moons	N/A

[edit] Gorin III

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Gorin IV

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Gorin V

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Hostile	1 small moon. 1 medium moon	Pirate base, water reserves/storage

Alliegance: Seperatist (Direct Democracy) System code: A550320D

Starport: A class

Planetary Size: 5

Atomsphere: Thin

Hydrographics: None

Population: 80,000

Government: 2, Direct Democracy.

Law Lavel: 0, Anarchic law code (or lack thereof).

Tech Index: 13

Trade: Non-industrial, Poor.

Military Presence: None

[edit] Kayva System

STAR: Red Supergiant

[edit] Kayva I

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Kayva II

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Kayva III

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	2 small moons, 2 medium moons	Rare gases

Alliegance: Settlers Union System code: D9834C17

Starport: D class

Planetary Size: 9

Atomsphere: Dense

Hydrographics: 30%

Population: 50,000

Government: C, Charismatic Oligarchy.

Law Lavel: 1

Tech Index: 7

Trade: Non-industrial

Military Presence: Scout Base

[edit] Kayva IV

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	2 small moons, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Ainu System

STAR: Yellow-White Dwarf

[edit] Ainu I

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	1 large moon	Research station, alien animals

[edit] Ainu II

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Hostile	1 small moon, 1 medium moon	Research station, labour camp

[edit] Ainu III

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Por	Toxic	1 small moon, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Ainu IV

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Hostile	1 large moon	Research station, abandoned colony

[edit] Ainu V

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Ainu VI

Red 1 (gas giants)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 large moon	Ainu Prime is satellite

[edit] Ainu Prime

Alliegance: Imperial

System Code: B5467(6/8)59

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 5 (Total surface area: 200,960,000 km2)

Atmosphere: Thin, Tainted.

Hydrographics: 60% (40,192,000 km2 dry land)

Population: 20,000,000 (total av. density: 0.1/km2; av. density if all pop on land: 0.5/km2)

Government: 6/8, Captive Government/Civil Service Beauracracy (Imperial)

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard

Tech Index: 9

Trade: Non-industrial, Agricultural.

Military Presence: Naval Base

Primary produce of Ainu is agricultural. It uses advanced methods and equipment and is very efficient. Produces foodstuffs across the board, but is notable for its wine, olive oil, leafy vegetables (spinach, boc choy etc.), and oils extracted from a wide variety of crops suitable for culinary or engineering purposes.

Despite being technologically advanced and prosperous, Ainu has a farming mentality. That is: they don't take to flashy ways, their speech is laconic and practical, and they are staunchly pro-empire. In contrast, Sintra is cosmopolitan. While still pro-empire, Sintra views those on Ainu as being boring and unimaginative. Ainu views Sintrans as being gaudy, loud and facile. The head quarters of the marketing boards of most of the industry on Ainu are located on Sintra. There are tax implications in this too. A useful metaphor might be to imagine all of Ainu as inhabited by those farming people seen in Safeway adds, while Sintra is inhabited by the Safeway managers and marketers. They might put on Acubras and moleskins to come down every now and then, but you can spot them because they are clean.

[edit] Sintra station (Ainu VIa )

Orbital city (Highport) around Ainu Prime.

Imperial free city - pays taxes to the Empire, and has Imperial police aboard. Population: 100,000. Has full customs, loading and docking facilities. Considered a safe and reliable port. Ruled by council of 13 elected [business] leaders. Current disagreement among counsellors over what position to take in the growing rebellion.

Sintra is a ring orbital structure with a diameter of around 2km. Its outside edge is approximately 100m wide, giving it a circumference of roughly 6.25 kilometres, and total primary living area of around 628,400 square metres. It has simulated gravity due to rotation. Due to the small size (though huge as a manufactured object) the coriolis effect is noticeable. Natives of Sintra are completely comfortable in this environment, but feel uneasy planetside. They have a distinct walk, much like a sailor's roll. Visitors to Sintra acclimatise to the effect quickly, though may feel unsteady or even nauseated at first.

Large ships can only dock at the hub, though they rarely do so. Most cargo transfers are done directly from planetary 'trucks' into ships hold in various orbits, with Sintra merely choreographing the event. Passenger buses and liners either dock at the hub and then take elevators to the rim, or ferry in shuttles. Shuttles (less than 100T) docking at Sintra match the velocity of the outside edge.

Tugs - bull nosed ships with massive manoeuvre drives - buzz constantly around the city. They escort incoming ships and send them on their way, and generally marshal the chaos around the city to avoid collisions. Port authorities monitor all traffic in the vicinity of Sintra and are alert and pro-active in deterring unescorted vessels from approaching too close. If threatened, tugs are used to barge interlopers into safer trajectories.

The hub of Sintra houses the administrative personnel. It is at close to zero gravity, rotating at a lower speed. Via bearings it is attached to the outer ring by monowires. Access to the hub is via shuttle, and has extreme security protection, up to and including direct interdiction: laser cannon. It is a TL14 object.

Vincent Phu's emporium

Trading post. Honest, though has connections.

The Khan Bar'

Common watering hole.

The Registry

Public ship and company registry offering contracts for trade.

Vinnie's Used Ship Dealership and Repair Service

Can service the ship cheaper.

Slattery and Sons

Insignificant trading firm that holds offices on Sintra. There is nothing to recommend them, except that they may deal in less than legal cargos.

Bar Code

Upmarket dance club. Looks swish, but has vapid patrons. Expensive cocktails. Run by [Russian] Mafia as money laundering operation.

The Gallery

Famous gaming house. Has respectable area. Behind the red curtain are hard boys who are good at finding concealed weapons. High rollers hang out here. Table five plays Texas Holdem. After a while players invited to an even more private area. Private members area. Play blackjack.

Corie's Banjo Parlour

A warehouse in a shitty part of the station. Has secret knock. Armed guards at door. Big compartmentalised warehouse. Much activity. Guns in crates. Pressurised barrels of perishable goods. Corie known to Guanyin.

The Ainu Vintner's Marketing Board

Official organ of the wine growers of Ainu. Cargos on fine, renowned, Ainu wine can be negotiated here.

By A Whisker

Famous barber. The list of people who wish to have their hair cut here is long and includes all of the rich and famous of both Ainu and Sintra. The exclusivity of the patron list is not matched by the decor. It is close and intimate - not at all what celebrities might favour. Because of this they are at ease and tell the Proprietors, Carlo and Shane, an awful lot of things.

Mr Pang

Without doubt one of the very best tailors within six or seven [parsecs]. To those who have the subtlety to notice, a suit tailored by Mr Pang attracts admiration to the wearer.

[edit] Ainu VII

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Ainu VIII

Green 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Barren	1 large moon	Volcanic, alien plants

[edit] Karak'Tomis System

STAR: Orange Dwarf

[edit] Karak'Tomis I

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very Poor	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Karak'Tomis II

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 small moon, 1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Karak'Tomis Prime (III)

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	1 large moon, 6 medium moons, 15 small moons	Karak' Tomis on medium moon

Alliegance: Imperial

System Code: C8CA6(6/8)56

Starport: C class

Planetary Size: 8

Atmosphere: Insidious

Hydrographics: All

Population: 4,000,000

Government:6/8, Captive government/Civil Service Beauracracy.

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard.

Tech Index: 6

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: Naval Base, Scout Base.

[edit] Banata System

STAR: White Dwarf

[edit] Banata I

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Banata II

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Banata Prime (III)

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Subsistence	1 small moon	Volcanic, abandoned colony

Alliegance: Settlers Union

System Code: A1473C1E

Starport: A class

Planetary Size: 1

Atmosphere: Thin, tainted

Hydrographics: 70%

Population: 3,000

Government: C, Charismatic Oligarchy

Law Level: 1

Tech Index: 14

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: Scout Base

[edit] Banata IV

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Porasi System

STAR: Yellow Dwarf

[edit] Porasi I

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	2 large moons	N/A

[edit] Porasi II

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Subsistence	1 medium moon, 2 small moons	Research station, global storms

[edit] Porasi III

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 large moon, 1 small moon	Volcanism, toursim, active settlement programme

[edit] Porasi Prime (IV)

Green 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very poor	Subsistence	2 small moons	Pollution, battlefield ruins

Alliegance: Seperatist (Representative Democracy)

System Code: E8878496

Starport: E class

Planetary Size: 8

Atmosphere: Dense

Hydrographics:70%

Population: 700,000,000

Government: 4, Parlimentary.

Law Level: 9, Conservative anti-weapons.

Tech Index: 6, Industry mostly Mining/Refining , Ocean bio-seeding.

Trade: Rich

Military Presence: None

[edit] Porasi V

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Hostile	1 large moon	Rare metals, abandonned colony

[edit] Karak'Gorn System

STAR: Red Bright Giant

[edit] Karak'Gorn Prime (I)

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	2 large moon, 5 medium moons, 13 small moons	Volcanic, Karak'Gorn prime is large moon, abandoned colony, naval ordinance arms cache

Alliegance: Settler's Union

System Code: A4461C18

Starport (highport): A class

Planetary Size: 4

Atmosphere: Thin, Tainted.

Hydrographics: 60%

Population: 500

Government: C, Starport Administrators

Law Level: 1

Tech Index: 8

Trade: Non-industrial

Military Presence: Scout Base

Fairly desolate.

[edit] Canasola System

STAR: Yellow Dwarf

[edit] Canasola I

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Subsistence	1 small moon	Corporate base

[edit] Canasola II

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Subsistence	1 medium moon	Battlefield ruins

[edit] Canasola Prime (III)

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	none	Labour camp

Alliegance: CIVIL WAR (Imperial vs. Rebels)

System Code: D0156737

Starport: D class

Planetary Size: 0, Asteroid Belt.

Atmosphere: Trace

Hydrographics: 50%, Frozen.

Population: 6,000,000

Government: 7, Civil war.

Law Level: 3, Wartime Imperial standard.

Tech Index: 7

Trade: Non-industrial

Military Presence: Scout Base

[edit] Canasola IV

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Amedine System

STAR: Orange Dwarf

[edit] Amedine I

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Subsistence	1 large moon	Battlefield ruins

[edit] Amedine II

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very poor	Barren	1 medium moon	Volcanic, rare alien plants

[edit] Amedine Prime (III)

Green 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Arable	1 medium moon	Labour camp, rebuilt colony (partial ruins)

Alliegance: CIVIL WAR (Imperial vs. Rebels)

System Code: C5709736

Starport: C class

Planetary Size: 5

Atmosphere: Standard, Tainted.

Hydrographics: None

Population: 8,000,000,000 (eight billion?)

Government: Civil War

Law Level: 3, Wartime Imperial standard.

Tech Index: 6

Trade: Non-Agricultural, Industrial, Poor.

Military Presence: None

[edit] Amedine IV

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	none	N/A

[edit] Amedine V

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	none	Anomolous geomagnetic fields, battlefield ruins

[edit] Amedine VI

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Barren	3 small moons	Volcanic, research station

[edit] Amedine VII

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	2 large moons, 1 small moon	Labour camp

[edit] Skotarka System

STAR: White Dwarf

[edit] Skotarka I

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very Rich	Toxic	2 small moons, 2 medium moons	N/A

[edit] Skotarka II

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 large moon	Volcanic, rare corrosives

[edit] Skotarka III

Green 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Barren	1 small moon, 1 large moon	Labour camp, abandonned colony

[edit] Skotarka Prime (IV)

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Barren	1 medium moon	Labour camp, research station

Alliegance: Imperial

System Code: C4306(6/8)57

Starport: C class

Planetary Size: 4

Atmosphere: Very thin

Hydrographics: None

Population: 6,000,000

Government: 6/8, Captive government/Civil Service Beauracracy.

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard

Tech Index: 7

Trade: Non-Agricultural, Non-Industrial, Poor.

Military Presence: Scout Base

[edit] Volbin System

STAR: Red Dwarf

[edit] Volbin I

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	2 small moons, 1 large moon	Pollution, rare metals

[edit] Volbin II

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Volbin III

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 medium moon	Rare gems

[edit] Volbin Prime (IV)

Sweet spot
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Arable	1 medium moon	Labour camp

Alliegance: Atomic Industry union

System Code: E5447158

Starport: E class

Planetary Size: 4

Atmosphere: Thin, Tainted.

Hydrographics: 40%

Population: 80,000,000

Government: 1, Corporate.

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard

Tech Index: 8

Trade: Agricultural

Military Presence: None

[edit] Volbin V

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very poor	Subsistence	1 large moon	Research station

[edit] Volbin VI

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 small moon	Charismatic local leader

[edit] Moodah System

STAR: Red Sub-Giant

[edit] Moodah I

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	1 small moon	Pollution, alien animals

[edit] Moodah II

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Moodah III

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	1 small moon, 2 medium moons	Corporate base

[edit] Moodah Prime (IV)

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 small moon	Rare Metals, Hostile Alien Insects

Alliegance: Seperatist (Representative Democracy)

System Code: A533549D

Starport: A class

Planetary Size: 5 (Surface area - 200,960,000 km2. Compare to Earth - 510,065,600)

Atmosphere: Very thin

Hydrographics: 30% (140,672,000 km2 dry land)

Population: 260,000 (0.0013/km2 over whole planet; 0.0018/km2 if concentrated over land)

Government: 4, Parlimentary.

Law Level: 9, Conservative anti-weapons.

Tech Index: 13

Trade: Non-industrial, Poor.

Military Presence: None

Predominantly dry planet.

Major city rests on edge of lake.

Strong Mafia influence.

Animal inspirations: Russian site that has elaborated on the After Man thought experiments

[edit] Moodah Prime

Moodah IV is a desert planet broadly analogous to Mars. Gravity is 5/8ths of Earth, and the air is thin, but breathable. Its 30% water is contained mostly at the poles in ice. Its distance from the red giant system sun gives it a generally cool weather system, with the equator approaching English temperatures, giving way to Siberian conditions as one travels towards the poles. In general, it would be classified as a cold desert, though parts can become quite warm depending on the season and latitude.

Moodah was colonised early during the 2nd Empire and the records that remain indicate that it was at that time a lush, jungle world. Speculation exists amongst Moodah�s academic community that the planet was glassed during the (i) phase of the collapse of that empire by forces unknown. Significant archaeological remains exist, and exploration teams are not uncommon. Consistent reminders of this past include the Cathedral mountains, rearing structures generally believed to be remains of a devastated city, and The Ribbon, a network of pylon mounted wires that crisscross the planet whose original purpose remains unknown.

There are two significant settlements on Moodah IV, though hundreds of tiny settlements dot its vast deserts.

Trebor crouches at the edge of the northern ice sheet with a population of just over 50,000 citizens. The environment is unsuitable for open agriculture but significant primary production occurs within gigantic glass houses. This produce is transported south, but is secondary to the main object of the city. At �power stations� dotted strategically on the ice, enormous energies are directed to create melt water which is then channelled into the one permanent river system: the Utah.

The Utah gushes a tortuous 6,000 kilometres south, losing 80% of its volume in evaporation, to the one permanent large body of water, Lake Shoshone. This equatorial 3,000 km2 body is perhaps best thought of as the planet�s only sea. It is highly mineralised, due to the course of the Utah over the plains. For the same reason, dredging of Lake Shoshone is an unending task that consumes considerable mental and physical effort.

The city of Brigham squats astride the mouth of the Utah. Official census records indicate a population of 150,000. Estates spread right around the Shoshone amid the hardy forests that cling to the lake�s edge.

Five islands cluster in the Shoshone, the most significant of which is University Island. It is, as the name suggests, a haven of academia and research. Through subsidisation from off-world interests University Island manages to largely remain aloof from local government meddling, while still remaining staunchly Moodahvian in outlook and loyalty.

Spaceport facilities are provided by the excellent quality Buchanan field 60 kilometres east of Brigham in the Bonneville Salt Flats. Buchanan can accept large craft but generally acts as a landing field for shuttles, while the parent craft remain in orbit at Temple Mount Highport. Traffic control is managed from Temple Mount. Connection to Brigham, and from Brigham to Trebor is by high speed tech 12 monorail.

Government is provided by a representative democracy on a parliamentary model with four year terms. Voting is voluntary and the franchise is broad. There are several parties whose policies differ only in detail, and transition is usually smooth and unremarkable. However, the elected government is largely window dressing as the real decisions concerning all aspects of the economy and development of Moodah are in the hands of seven family concerns. Between them these family businesses control every aspect of commercial life on Moodah. While the model is distinctly Mafia-like, in general Moodah is as efficient and prosperous as a corruption-ridden personality-driven society could expect to be.

Exports from Moodah include: salt, borax, sodium nitrate, copper, iron, lead-zinc, chromite, gold, silver, uranium, beryllium, mica, lithium, and (mineral) oil from deposits that clearly predate current climatic conditions. In the quantities currently extracted the payback on these minerals hardly covers the costs. Consequently Moodah is a net importer. Additionally, Moodah boasts what is termed �archaeological tourism� where researchers explore in the hope of uncovering something noteworthy.

The high technology index is an anomaly, and one generally believed to be an artefact of proximity to 2nd Empire finds, small population, and despotic acquisition of technology.

Native Moodahvians tracing their ancestry to 2nd Empire times are universally tall and thin with enlarged chests. They are a reserved and insular people, unsuited both physically and mentally for space travel. With their long adaptation to the planet�s atmosphere they use the ubiquitous breath-packs only occasionally during exercise. Other Moodahvians with less than 3 generations of heritage are indistinguishable from human average.

Outside of the urban reaches, two other types of native Moodahvian exist, though they are either discounted as apocryphal, or disregarded as sub-human. They are the dwarfish Kittring, and the giant Urku, both the result of mutations following the devastation of the 2nd Empire bombardment. Cumulatively, their technological capability is only around index 3, and they subsist in the deserts where they raid isolated parties. A few have settled in the forests around Shoshane where they are considered vermin. Their overall population number is unknown. No one has ever been successfully prosecuted for causing the death of either a Kittring or an Urku.

Fauna examples:

• Dromah � locally adapted descendants of the camel,
• Dewbacks � lizards reaching the size of goannas that range Moodah and whose primary diet is insects,
• Wrorts � salt tolerant toads that exist anywhere where there is open water and whose bite and excretions are highly toxic,
• Grybs � giant reptilians of obscure taxonomy. They are ambush hunters, uncommon, and very dangerous,
• Brigham ducks - lizardfish of the Shoshane, one of the few non-crustacean species that can stand the salinity of that water. When caught and dried they are considered a delicacy and are used in dozens of recipes. The pungent smell of their drying flesh is unpleasantly noteworthy to visitors to Moodah.
• Birds of all descriptions - most notably of the wading sort that consume the crustaceans of the Shoshone,
• Insects, arachnids, and crustaceans fill the remaining ecological niches � a significant number of which are aggressive, highly venomous, and toxically inedible. While some can be traced to Earth species, many remain taxonomically unclassifiable and are believed to be genuine native alien species.

Flora examples:

• Hedgehog carpet - a low growing grass species that annually retreats, leaving woody spikes to protect its core. As the plant grows a lawn of 1" spikes covers increasingly large areas. Many insect species make their homes in amid the protection of the spikes.
• Squashballs - a low growing vine that produces baseball sized fruit. A significant source of water in the arid regions, the squashballs themselves are bitter to the taste and can cause gastric upset. Many grow to great size. These can be gutted and dried, making them useful as water gourds.
• Cokon tree - A deep rooted tree producing fruit in dense clusters. When young, the fruit are fleshy and edible, providing an excellent source of nutrition. These fruits - actually modified flowers - are pollinated by wasps. Once pollinated, the fruits grow and transform into cottonwool-like structures, while the cases expand, harden and then split to release the airbourne seeds. The fluff, called cokon, has many household uses.
• Cactuses, and cactus-like plants with deep tap roots and waxy leaves form the majority of the remaining flora.

[edit] Temple Mount Highport

Temple Mount is the class A highport in orbit above Moodah IV. It was built as a joint effort by the business families of Moodah IV and by treaty is a neutral meeting place for those community leaders. Where, on the planet�s surface, anything goes, on Temple Mount any form of overt conflict or impolite behaviour is collectively severely dealt with.

Hotel and entertainment facilities are first class.

To ensure this neutrality much of the running of the station has been turned over to the Collective Monasteries of the Enlightenment. In addition to the routine functioning of a spaceport, they also run a class B hospital which is well stocked, maintained and staffed, and completely capable of dealing with any �hunting accidents�. Needless to say, associates and employees of the seven families are given priority treatment. However, as a general rule the families have a visionary attitude to medical care and are generous with their subsidies. The Monastery medical staff therefore offer free treatment to anyone else, subject to any �priority� patients coming first, of course.

Traffic control is governed by Temple Mount�s tech 12 equipment, however under normal circumstances it limits itself to orbital and system docking and loading. Close orbit and planetary operations are in the hands of Buchanan field, though generally anyone is free to fly anywhere. The caveat on this is that many family estates jealously guard their own airspace and may open fire on any unexpected intruders.

Shipyards are capable and efficient as long as you have family associations. For anyone else the job will be at the highest charge rate, merely of average quality, and be scheduled for work only when there is no more important customer�s vessels in the shop.

[edit] Antherelin System

STAR: Yellow Dwarf

[edit] Antherelin I

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	2 medium moons	Battlefield damage, electrical storms (stellar proximity)

[edit] Antherelin II

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1, small moon, 1 medium moon, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Antherelin III

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	2 small moons, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Antherelin Prime (IV)

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Hostile	1 medium moon	Research station, thriving alien ecosystem

Alliegance: Rebel Imperial

System Code: C7758B96

Starport: C class

Planetary Size: 7

Atmosphere: Standard, Tainted.

Hydrographics: 50%

Population: 500,000,000

Government: B, Aristocratic: Lord Marcellus II.

Law Level: 9, Martial Law.

Tech Index: 6

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: Naval Base

[edit] Antherelin V

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 small moon, 1 large moon, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Halassa System

STAR: Red Bright Giant

[edit] Halassa I

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Halassa II

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Halassa III

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Halassa Prime (IV)

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

Alliegance: Atomic Industry Union

System Code: C9652159

Starport: C class

Planetary Size: 9

Atmosphere: Standard

Hydrographics: 50%

Population: 600

Government: 1, Corporate.

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard.

Tech Index: 9

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: None

[edit] Mavelas System

STAR: Red Dwarf

[edit] Mavelas I

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 small moon	Geomagnetic fields

[edit] Mavelas II

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Mavelas III

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	1 small moon, 2 medium moons	N/A

[edit] Mavelas IV

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Baren	2 small moons	N/A

[edit] Mavelas V

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Subsitence	1 small moon	Rebel base, thriving alien ecosystem

[edit] Mavelas VI

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hard scrabble	1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Mavelas Prime (VII)

Green 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Subsistence	1 large moon, 1 medium moon	Volcanic

Alliegance: Rebel Imperial

System Code: E5938A96

Starport: E class

Planetary Size: 5

Atmosphere: Dense, Tainted.

Hydrographics: 30%

Population: 800,000,000

Government: A, Aristocratic: Emperor Telema I.

Law Level: 9, Martial Law.

Tech Index: 6

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: Naval base

[edit] Mavelas VIII

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Bastoria System

STAR: Red Sub-Giant

[edit] Bastoria I

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	1 small moon	Research station

[edit] Bastoria II

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very poor	Toxic	1 medium moon	Labour camp, alien animals

[edit] Bastoria III

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Hostile	2 medium moons	Rare metals

[edit] Bastoria IV

Red 2 (gas giant
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Toxic	2 small moons, 1 medium moons, 1 large moon	Volcanic, battlefield ruins

[edit] Bastoria V

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 small moon	Charismatic local leader, tourism, settlement program

[edit] Bastoria Prime (VI)

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Barren	2 small moons	Volcanic, pollution

Alliegance: Imperial

System Code: D5878(6/8)56

Starport: D class

Planetary Size: 5

Atmosphere: Dense

Hydrographics: 70%

Population: 600,000,000

Government: 6/8, Captive government/Civil Service Beauracracy.

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard

Tech Index: 6

Trade: Rich

Military Presence: None

[edit] Bastoria VII

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 medium moon	Alien flora with great pharmceutical potential, battlefield ruins

[edit] Rashand System

STAR: Orange Dwarf

[edit] Rashand I

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 medium moon	Alien flora with pharmaceutical uses, battlefield ruins

[edit] Rashand Prime (II)

Sweet spot
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Subsistence	N/A	N/A

Alliegance: Imperial (Sector Capital)

System Code: B898A(6/8)5A

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 8 (8,000m diameter or 12,800km diameter; total surface area 514,457,600km2.)

Atmosphere: Dense, Tainted.

Hydrographics: 80% (411,566,080 km2 water; 102,891,520 km2 land)

Population: 30,000,000,000 (density averaged over whole planet 76/km2; density if pop concentrated on land 381/km2)

Government: 6/8, Captive government/Civil Service Beauracracy.

Law Level: 5, Imperial standard.

Tech Index: 10

Trade: Industrial

Military Presence: Naval base

[edit] Rashand III

Sweet spot
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	hard scrabble	1 small moon	Corporate base

[edit] Rashand IV

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Hostile	1 small moon	valuable gems

[edit] Rashand V

Red 2 (gas giant)
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	2 medium moons, 1 large moon	N/A

[edit] Rashand VI

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	1 small moon	N/A

[edit] Rashand VII

Green 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Subsistence	1 small moon	Labour camp, corporate base

[edit] Rashand VIII

Red 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Poor	Toxic	2 small moons	Rare gasses

[edit] Dathbria System

STAR: White Sub-Giant

[edit] Dathbria I

Yellow 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hostile	1 medium moon	Volcanic, tourism, settlement program

[edit] Dathbria II

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Rich	Toxic	1 medium moon, 1 large moon	Pollution, corporate base

[edit] Dathbria III

Yellow 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Subsistence	1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Dathbria IV

Red 1
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Very rich	Toxic	1 medium moon	N/A

[edit] Dathbria Prime (V)

Green 2
Minerals	Fertility	Satellites	Other
Average	Hard scrabble	2 small moons	N/A

Alliegance: Galactic Banker's Guild

System Code: B8678196

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 8

Atmosphere: Standard

Hydrographics: 70%

Population: 500,000,000

Government: 1, Corporate.

Law Level: 9, Tight bank security policy.

Tech Index: 6

Trade: Rich

Military Presence: None

[edit] Nabris System

STAR: Red Dwarf

[edit] Nabris Prime (I)

Green 2

M: Average

F: Hostile

S: 1 small moon, 1 medium moon

O: Volcanic, Pirate Base

Alliegance: Seperatist (Representative Democracy) System Code: D2604417

Starport: D class

Planetary Size: 2

Atmosphere: Standard

Hydrographics: None

Population: 40,000

Government: 4, Parlimentary.

Law Level: 1

Tech Index: 7

Trade: Non-industrial

Military Presence: None

[edit] Nabris II

Yellow 1

M: Poor

F: Toxic

S: 1 medium moon

O: Volcanic, Hostile Alien Microbes

[edit] Nabris III

Red 1 (Gas Giant)

M: Poor

F: Toxic

S: 2 small moons

O: 1 large moon

[edit] Nabris IV

Red 2 (Gas giant)

M: Poor

F: Toxic

S: 1 small moon, 1 medium moon, 1 large moon

O: Rare Corrosives

[edit] Crystavus System

STAR: Orange Giant

[edit] Crystavus I

Red 2

M: Very Rich

F: Toxic

S: 3 small moons

O: Battlefield Ruins

[edit] Crystavus II

Red 2

M: Rich

F: Toxic

S: 1 medium moon

O: N/A

[edit] Crystavus III

Yellow 2

M: Rich

F: Toxic

S: 1 small moon, 1 large moon

O: Rare Gems, Rare Alien Plants

[edit] Crystavus Prime (IV)

Green 1

M: Rich

F: Subsistence

S: 1 small moon

O: Extreme Pollution

Alliegance: Rebel Imperial System Code: B2036A8A

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 2

Atmosphere: None

Hydrographics: 30%

Population: 9,000,000

Government: A, Aristocratic: Lord Dempsey I.

Law Level: 9, Martial Law.

Tech Index: 10

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: Naval base

[edit] Mathrisel System

STAR: Yellow-White Dwarf

[edit] Mathrisel I

Red 2 (Gas Giant)

M: Very Rich

F: Toxic

S: 2 medium moons, 1 large moon

O: N/A

[edit] Mathrisel II

Yellow 1

M: Poor

F: Hostile

S: 1 small moon, 1 medium moon

O: N/A

[edit] Mathrisel III

Yellow 2

M: Poor

F: Hostile

S: 1 small moon

O: N/A

[edit] Mathrisel Prime (IV)

Yellow 1

M: Rich

F: Hostile

S: 1 small moon

O: N/A

Alliegance: Settler's Union System Code: B1013C1X

Starport: B class

Planetary Size: 1

Atmosphere: None

Hydrographics: 10%

Population: 8,000

Government: C, Research Station Officials.

Law Level: 9

Tech Index: 15, Private research station.

Trade: Non-Industrial

Military Presence: Scout Base

[edit] Mathrisel V

Red 2

M: Rich

F: Toxic

S: NONE

O: N/A

[edit] ORGANISATIONS

Apart from government organisations such as the Imperial and the rival Imperial aparatus, there are a number of significant corporate entities.

[edit] Blue Sun Corporation

Blue Sun Corporation is the equivalent of the Psionics Institute. They are an Imperial affiliated corporation conducting research into psionic powers and are ruthless in pursuing their goals and maintaining their secrets. No one knows if there is such a thing as psionics, but Blue Sun is well funded and their field operatives have clearance sufficiently high to make them feared even by Imperial authorities.

[edit] The Atomic Industries Union

[edit] Doomwatch

An Imperial organisation concerned with investigating and suppressing immoral science. Doomwatch was established after the collapse of the 2nd Empire to root out and snuff out any research that might resurrect artificial intelligence.

They have an aura of the inquisition about them. A research station visited by Doomwatch auditors can expect their work to be examined in detail. Any hint of the work being 'unsound' will result in its total suppression and all staff despatched to re-education resorts. Doomwatch members are drawn from the highest ranks of the scientific community. The organisation as a whole, and its members in particular, may be thought of as the scientific Supreme Court. All appeals end up there. Its rulings are absolute and final. It is the ultimate mark of (scientific) respect to join its ranks.

Most research centres would fear a visit from Doomwatch. Facilities examined and passed happily advertise their endorsement; it's like having the ISO 3 ticks.

[edit] NOTABLE NPCs

Here we have a list of non-player characters that may or may not recur as the campaign progresses:

[edit] Tan Borjigin

and his crew of interstellar repo-men. He has a fast ship, geared for pursuit and interception (ship name: Latent Modesty). The ship is registered at Sintra Station in the Ainu system. His crew are trained in boarding actions. They search the insurance and banking wanted lists for information on defaulting mortgage payments on ships. Then they hunt them down, repossess them, and return them to the bank. For this service they are paid a percentage of the resale value based on the outstanding owed.

[edit] Grandfather

is the local Godfather on Sintra Station in the Ainu system. He is often found in the Gallery. He has connections to the crime family that operate out of Moodah and Amerdine.

[edit] Mr Telerak

is an information broker that operates out of Sintra Station in the Ainu system.

[edit] Brother Habdad

A senior priest at the Monastery on Moodah

[edit] Callius Carr

The proprietor of the Sun Lounge, a large bar/entertainment complex on Moodah. He is pencil slim, sharply tailored, reserved in speech, but has tabs on everything going on. He seems to have "trade connections".

[edit] CHARACTERS

It is the characters that make a role playing game. This list contains the profiles and backgrounds of characters both alive and deceased that have pursued their dramatic goals.

[edit] Guan yin

Ground Force Commander.

Rank: Merchant 4th officer, Imperial scout 1st class, Army liason (captain), Navy Liason (Lieutenant). Retired (injury)

Age: 28 8888A4

Blade (Sabre) 2; Gun (Pistol) 2; Gun (Rifle) 1; Gun (SMG) 1; Mechanical 2; Pilot 1; Tactics 1; Jack-of-trades 1.

Current Funds: $50,000

Income: $0 per month

TOTAL: $0 per month

Weapons: Sword: Navy Sabre, Pistol: .33 calibre 6-cylinder revolver; Rifle: .30 calibre projectile carbine

I enjoy more than my share of honor for what I've done, but then the gaining of such reputation has not been easy, and I have no regrets. Honored by the scout corps boys to this day, and an official affiliate of the Monasteries, I am known and liked in many systems. And yet there are hardly any who really know me, and of those that do, hardly any who I can call friend. It seems I am destined to live a life of paradoxes, to be an enigmatic mystery to all I meet. And I'll not deny, that's the way I like it, most of the time...

Backstory:

Guan grew up in the wealthy suburbs of Skotarka, a prosperous yet socially isolated imperial world in Rashand sector. The only child of doting parents, he was given everything his heart desired and what he was not given, he learned to steal or extort from the servants of his families massive estate. His Mother Kioko Nakayama was an imperial diplomat and personal assistant to Viceroy Tirek, until he and all his personal staff were assassinated during the rebellion, including Kioko. Guan's Father Hugo Boeglin was a successful industrialist who had prospered on the inner systems until he offended a high-ranking official at a state function, and was unofficially exiled to the border sector of Rashand, given the honor of heading up "Imperial industry development" there. He met Kioko at a dinner held to welcome him and introduce him to colleagues, and from that day they became political allies, she for her skilled politicians mind, he for his business acumen. Their marraige was one of convenience, although both them being attractive adults, it was unsurprising that a child came of it. In any case, when Guan was born, he was first and foremost a PR tool for his ambitious parents, and despite his pampered lifestyle, the most important thing his parents ever gave him was a deep well of cunning and social agility.

After attending the most pretigious schools and Colleges on Rashand, Guan abruptly rebelled from his parents guidance when he reached his majority at age 16. He immediately shipped out aboard a mid-range merchant vessel, securing a junior officer's post despite his young age through blackmail and extortion. Surprisingly to the captain he served with, he was remarkably able at this job, and the ship ran with increased efficiency while Guan was aboard. He flew with the merchant ship for two years, learning to repair and maintain the rickety mechanical equipment of the free trader, as well as learning to shoot with a compact body pistol which he aquired soon after joining the ship to ward off the menacing crewmen jealous of their new young and brash officer, who had barely begun to shave. Quite apart from the skills he gained however, it was the social ties Guan formed in those years which served him well in the next phase of his life. For like most men his age, Guan had little patience for repetetive tasks. Consequently, when he had learned as much as the traders could teach him, he jumped ship halfway through his contracted term and looked for something new. He was 18 years old. The information he had stolen from the captain's diary prevented the captain from reporting his actions.

Always a fit and healthy youth, Guan saw a promotional poster and thought to test himself by joining the imperial scout corps. At that time the imperial navy of Rashand sector was engaged in a minor war with a pirate stronghold along the lower reaches, and the first ship Guan joined was sent into action in the front lines. Their combat assignments were to act as observers, espionage and sabotage operatives. At the pivotal battle of Naurung, Guan distinguished himself by thwarting an attempt by pirate vessels to ambush imperial forces, and also destroying a key enemy tracking station. For these action he was awarded with the Imperial scouting corps highest honor, to be named Imperial Scout, first class. Unfortunately, he also sustained a crippling wound from a sabre cut to his thigh, and even after months of painful healing and therapy, his walk was forever stricken with a limp, and in cold weather it still pains him to be outdoors.

Due to this terrible injury, Guan was unable to continue serving with the scouts, even once the corps returned to peacetime duties. He was granted official status as a recognised patron of the scouts corps, and allowed to serve out his term in an advisory capacity at HQ. Although this was legitimate work, the corps really had no need for guan, and he was told he would not be re-enlisted when his four-year term lapsed. His skills as a tactician and veteran combat operative did not go unnoticed however, and after his term with the scouts was over, he was approached to take part in a special program with the combined imperial land/navy forces. Guan was now 24 years old. He was to be well paid acting as a liason to the Army and the Navy, in an advisory and training capacity. He served for four years in this program, training combat troops, and acting as a consulting tactician during maneuvers and training exercises. During this time he was awarded the army rank of Captain, and the naval rank of Lieutenant. Although these ranks were granted outside the usual process of advancement and promotion, Guan was sworn into a small division of the Imperial Navy known as the 'advisory officer's committee'. He also took the basic army weapons training during this time, learning to wield both rifles and sub machine-guns with competence. In addition to these weapons, Guan also refined his skill with a body pistol, and in bitterness at his persistently troubling leg wound, he learned respectable skill with a naval sabre, vowing to never be caugt out by an enemy's blade again.

As always, Guan used the time he spent in the employ of imperial forces to make contacts and gather information. He is not lacking in social skills, and is respected, even liked by almost all who meet him. The most valuable contact he made during those years was his work with Shung-do, a respected holy man of the monasteries. Shung-do was attempting to open a trade route to a water-starved bio-research colony, lest the lack thereof should cause the colony to shut down and the inhabitants left homeless. Guan used his military influence to have ships sent to the colony bearing the materials to build a substantial starport complex, opening the way for trade ships to land there, as well as parking in orbit for long range goods transferral. In return, Shung-do granted Guan the status of 'offical affiliate of the monasteries', guaranteeing him aid and support if ever he should call upon the monasteries for such. With this and his other assorted honours to his credit, Guan left the AOC program after one term, to seek his fortune whereever he could find it. It is at this stage that he signed on with the crew of the IED, having formed a fast friendship with the ship's pilot, Valley Dao. his motives in doing so are cloudy, and his status as the ship's ground tactician has yet to be confirmed in the field. He has high hopes of finding both good fortune and adventure with this crew, and perhaps even of discovering what he is really searching for...

[edit] Valley Dao

Pilot.

Rank: Imperial Scout (retired)

Age: 36. 9A9CA5

Blade (sword) 1; Blade (knife) 1; Ranged (pistol) 1; Ranged (Rifle) 4; Pilot 1; Disguise 1; Hand to Hand 2; Intrusion 2; Perception 1; Stealth 2.

Current Funds: $17K

Income: $0/month

TOTAL: $0/month

Weapons:

Blade: Katana. Rifle: Laser Carbine. Blade: Throwing Knives. Pistol: Laser

Backstory:

Valley Dao is an asian of middle height and athletic stature. He says little and, when he does, speaks softly. Smiles come rarely to his face, and never spread from his mouth. His eyes are often focussed on the distance, into the black space between the stars. Having newly joined the Intermittent Early Drizzle crew as the pilot, he has demonstrated an aptitude for handling the small craft.

Valley is reticent, and has revealed only a little of his past, the son of a merchant on Halassa. He met Sweet Liberty Drift on a trader between Volbin and Rashand, and they have travelled together since, selling their combined skills to various captains. Despite their benign history, a palpable tension exists between them. Valley takes a personal (and almost intimate) responsibility for Liberty, but seems tormented whenever he is with her; for her part, Liberty appears afraid of Valley, but clings to him as if he is the only person who can protect her from a deeper fear. While most of the crew seem quite happy to resort to violence in the rough and tumble of free trade, Valley shies from it. The XO, in one of his sober moments, watched Valley long enough to report to the Captain that the robot, as he calls him, had a darkness about him that didn't suggest fear of being hurt, but perhaps fear of doing the hurting. Other than Liberty, he has a quiet respect for Guan, who is clearly a man of capability.

When Valley isn't on the bridge or shadowing Liberty, he secludes himself in his cabin. No one has gone into his private space, but the crew occasionally see glimpses of a sparse and austere chamber, adorned with a simple photo sitting on a cloth-covered case. He wears funcitonal ship overalls, both on and off the ship, with an elastic body suit underneath. He carries no personal possessions, and does little with his money. Water is all he drinks. No matter whee he is, he always sits where he can see everyone in the room. Perhaps predictably, Valley is always the designated driver.

Unknown to the crew of the IED, Valley Dao is a name given to Jen Shiao by the Empire. A skilled professional assassin, Valley's last job proved to be the catalyst for an enormous existential shift of his life compass. Charged with assassinating the local Viceroy's daughter in a game og blackmail, he found he could't pull the trigger. The conditioning of a lifetime suddenly gave way to a deeper morale outrage. Displaced and rudderless, he did the only thing that made any sense: he vowed to protect the person that had once been his target, Sweet Liberty Drift. Despite his apparent change of heart, Valley continues to struggle for meaning greater than his present circumstances, to create for himself a morale framework that is founded in something spiritual and profound and enduring. Where before he believed in the rightness of the Rebellion's aim of self-determination, he is now struggling with notions of personal liberty, with the concept of love and compassion as bases for the social contract.

Valley Dao has joined the Intermittant Early Drizzle because she seems a ship crewed by outcasts who are least likely to judge a former assassin. He keeps his equipment in his berth: a laser rifle and a silenced pistol, several knives, throwing stars, electronic lock picks, disguise kits, hand computer, med kits, EO/IR sensors and sights and so on. The body suit he wears is a thermal regulator and also functions as a compression suit, improving blood flow through his body. Finally, he keeps a sword, an antique katana, in a secret compartment in his case. The photo in his room is the only image he has of his parents, who worked as merchants for a large interstellar mining conglomerate.

He hasn't used or even touched any of his trade pieces since meeting Liberty. Like an addiction, they call to him (violence is always the most decisive solution) but he fights the darkness in his soul. The only person he is prepared to protect is Liberty. He calls her Liberty, despite it being her middle name, because he likes the ring of it. Liberty makes sense to him.

[edit] Sweet Liberty Drift

Medical Officer.

Rank: Doctor (Trauma Surgeon)

Age: 24. 6A7BB9

Medicine (surgery) 3, Medicine (trauma) 3, Science 2, Politics 1, Diplomacy 2, History 1

Current Funds: $42,000

Income: $10,000 /month (currently inaccessible)

TOTAL: $10,000 per month.

Weapons: None

Backstory: Sweet Liberty Drift, commonly called Liberty by the other IED crew, is the daughter of the Viceroy Vorlaand Tirek [1] (recently assassinated), but is currently assuming the identity of a minor government official's daughter on the IED. Liberty is passionate and deeply committed to helping others, and practices her profession with uncommon skill and dedication. Normally lively, she is subdued (especially in the presence of Valley Dao) on the IED, but has found a place for herself amongst the rough and ready crew. She commands a good deal of respect from all but the lecherous XO and the co-pilot, who finds Liberty's beauty intimidating. Valley treats Liberty with particular deference, even for a man who seems to defer to just about everyone.

Liberty studied medicine at the University of Aleus Prime, a renowned institution some two sectors coreward of her home on Rashand. At the tender age of twenty, she graduated with honours and joined the staff of the Rashand Prime Central Hospital, specializing in trauma medicine. A further two years earned her a surgeon's license, but her career was cut short when she was abruptly whisked from Rashand only days before her father was killed. It is unclear how she met Valley, although they claim it was on a trader travelling from Rashand, but the two have travelled together across several systems, always offering their services as pilot and medic. Few have turned them down, not least because of Liberty's consumate skill.

Other than medicine, her other passion is botany. She has a sizeable collection of exotic flora, all displayed in a purpose built cabinet that has been fitted into her cabin aboard the Intermittent Early Drizzle. When she isn't preserving and documenting her collection, she spends time in the medical bay, studying the genetic history of her prizes, or with the rest of the crew in the IEDs viewing deck, staring out at the stars. She is often shadowed by Valley, who stands watch over her no matter where she goes. It makes her palpably uneasy, although she seems to be growing accustomed to, and perhaps even comfortable with, his solicitude.

Despite her patent aristocracy, Liberty has a sharp tongue and a foul mouth when she is confronted by needless physical suffering. When on-baord, she always cloaks herself in the authority of a medical gown or a doctor's uniform, but off-board she is apt to wear boots and floral dresses, if the weather permits, or artifical fur jackets cinched at the waist over elegant trousers or dresses.

[1] On Rashand, it is customary for the daughter to adopt her mother's name. The Viceroy's wife, Aria Drift, was a noted pianist before her untimely death at the age of forty-seven from an aggressive form of cancer. It is said that Liberty has her mother's grace and her father's sharp intellect.

[edit] "Cutter" Johanson

S1, Gunner.

Rank: Army Major (retired), Naval Lieutenant (dishon. discharge)

Age: 46. A9B893

Mechanical (3); Gunnery (1); Admin. (1); Tactics (1); Jack-of-trades (2); Gambling (1).

Current Funds: $37,000.

Income: $4,000 per month pension.

TOTAL: $4,000 per month.

Weapons: Blade: - insert weapon here –. Pistol: - insert weapon here –. Rifle: - insert weapon here –

Backstory:

"Cutter" Johanson's father was a shipping magnate, mainly transporting copper, iron and other metals in from the mining colonies in the outer rim. Johanson went through the imperial schooling system, graduating from high school with average marks. His father, who wanted him to follow in his footsteps and take over the family business, was disappointed when Johanson chose not to take a commerce/trade at the local imperial university.

He was so upset by his son’s perceived lack of ‘family loyalty’ that he disowned Johanson and elevated his second son Tobias to the position of family heir. Thus freed from his parent’s control, Johanson was free to make his own way in the world.

Choosing to follow a martial career path after completing school, Johanson signed up at the local colonial army base for imperial service. He served there for several years, attaining the rank of Major before being laid off during military budget cuts to the officer corps.

Looking to see more action than he had in his relatively quiet colonial army service, Jaohanson used his limited influence as an officer to obtain a commission with the imperial navy, on a cruiser passing through his home system on its way to combat in the outer rim. After a few years fighting counter-imperialists however, he had only achieved the rank of lieutenant when misfortune struck.

The cruiser Johanson was serving on was besieging a rebel colony, and one of the ensigns under his command refused to fire upon several unarmed rebel settlements. Lieutenant Johanson beat the young ensign almost to death, crippling him terribly, when the ensign ignored repeated orders to fire his laser battery. During Johanson's court-martial for this assault, it came to light that on this occasion and others previously, Johanson had been on-duty whilst heavily under the influence of alcohol and other, illegal stimulants. He was dishonourably discharged, convicted with a 4-year (suspended) sentence for otherwise meritorious conduct.

After his discharge, Johanson wandered the outer rim for several years, working sometimes as a mercenary, other times as a repairman and dockworker at spaceports. Several months ago Johanson met Knecht, a successful merchant captain come to the outer rim as a trader/adventurer type often seen among the minor nobility and merchant class. Seeing an opportunity to turn his fortunes around, Johanson befriends the captain, and joins his crew providing valuable experience of the outer rim and its ways, as well as shipboard and repair skills. Together they are ready to make their fortunes in a time of civil war and political intrigue.

[edit] Earl Knecht

Rank: Knight 1st Class of the 3rd Empire, Merchant Captain (independent trader).

Age: 46. 78AB9B

Pistol (2); Blade (1); Space combat, tactics (3); Pilot (1); Navigation (1); Electronics (2); Vacuum suit (1).

Current Funds: $103,000.

Income: $8,000 per month pension. $5,000 per month Barony net profit.

TOTAL: $13,000 per month.

Weapons: Pistol .75 calibre recoiless gauss pistol (TL12). Blade.

I keep my old bleached grey uniform and wear elements of it often. I don't have to look flashy, but I do like to look smart. I always wear my battered Captain's hat, replete with Imperial skulls and daggers and eagles. Sometimes I forget to shave. I drink only rarely and very moderately, and smoke only when completely perplexed, or in the depths of despair, then I feel sick and throw it away before finishing (the men know that something really serious is happening when the captain lights up). I keep a book of common prayer in my cabin - given me by my father - and I take it out for funeral services, or when I am sure that I will not be disturbed. My most treasured possession is a locket given me by my mother. I wear it on a chain around my neck.

The idea of finding my parents' murderers is something that lingers in the back of my mind, like an itch.

Backstory:

Earl's father was a diplomat and trader, brokering agreements in the most strife-torn sectors of the Empire. For his long years of service, Jedidiah Knecht was awarded a knighthood of the Empire first class, and retired on a substantial pension. Sadly, both he and his wife were killed during a hi-jacking of a pleasure-cruise star liner.

With his parents dead and the title non-hereditary, Earl took an internship at the Imperial Merchant Navy College, and received commission to join a cargo freighter bound for the rim. Years of loyal service to the Empire saw Earl rise to the rank of captain, and eventually command his own merchant cargo/passenger ship.

During his career he dealt with all aspects of merchant shipping, including defense and evasion from pirates, and cooperation with the Imperial Navy. In a reputation making event, he coordinated closely with military efforts, acting as bait in an operation to flush out pirates. During this operation a number of Imperial vessels mutinied, demonstrating even then that loyalty amongst the Imperial Officer core was suspect. Using initiative and revealing a cool personality when taking risks, Knecht deceived the enemy fleet so that it turned on itself. During the official court of enquiry following the operation, Knecht's efforts were recognized. The Emperor (apparently) intervened at Knecht's mustering out and bestowed an hereditary Knighthood on him. He was granted a 500T free trader with � of the payments waved.

Knecht is economical with his words and orthodox in his values. He considers himself a merchant captain, first and foremost, and any and all other considerations are secondary to the smooth, safe, profitable running of his ship. He values all of the crew for the unique talents they bring to their roles, overlooking their foibles, perversions and plain wrong-headedness as being their own business. Like a father, though, he considers it his unpleasant duty to reprimand or even discipline them if they break what he considers to be obvious and inviolable rules.

As a man who has suffered personal tragedy he dislikes fighting in general and gunplay in particular. Perhaps, in an inevitable contradiction, his weapon of choice: the .75 cal. recoilless is a notorious symbol of force: a one-shot argument stopper.

He appreciated the knighthood and is proud to wear the symbols, as if winning it in some way makes up for the loss of his parents. It never can, of course, and so he acts the noble father to his crew, though he had no father to model his behaviour on: a dysfunctional man leading a dysfunctional crew.

[edit] Nicci Spinkle

Co-pilot and ship's accountant.

Merchant 3rd Officer 39AB6A Age 38 5 Terms

Cr 6000

Administration (3); Pilot (2); Navigation (2); Electronics (1); Mechanical (1); Vacc Suit (2).

What do you mean �around fifty thousand bottles"? What do you think we have on deck four, a Schroedinger's Hold? There's a leeway of thirty two thousand dollars on the two capacities that might fit your description! Where's that money coming from, the allowance Daddy sends you?

Nicci was born on a vineyard on Ainu, the third child of a settled and traditional family. Their holding was moderate by commercial standards, producing only 30,000 litres in a good year, but had been family owned for generations beyond memory, stretching back to the mythical Second Empire.

From an early age her life appeared to have been mapped out. Her schooling was unremarkable and she duly fell in love with a boy from a neighbouring farm. The match was acceptable to the families and, without a ripple, another generation appeared to be on the horizon and the rhythm of Ainu life would be undisturbed.

However, Praag Ananthapavan decided to see a little of the galaxy before he settled down. With tearful farewells, he joined the Imperial Navy. Letters returned regularly, and Nicci vicariously enjoyed the sabbatical (from farming life) of her future husband. As his term neared completion and homecoming preparations were being made, Praag was killed in an accident too trivial and all too common in the Navy to warrant comment.

Nicci decided that she was irrevocably heartbroken. Rejecting the apparently inevitable of finding another suitor, she left her father's lands and joined the navy: the Merchant navy. In her mind she relived the adventures that her husband that never was might have had, had he lived.

Time passed and she matured, left the service, and found herself still alone. A life back on Ainu held no attraction for her. Her horizons had broadened. Her ingrained attitudes had not changed, however, and so when she was invited by a respected colleague from the navy, Baron Knecht, to join his crew, she agreed. In the Intermittant Early Drizzle she found what she was looking for: land of her own. The ship needed to be tended. It needed to be loved and cared for. Not some flashing light wonder, the IED, but a living thing, like the land, that gave the best to those that paid attention.

She takes the other crew members' peculiarities with a grain of salt. In her years of service she had met all sorts, and she deports herself as if there is nothing left in the galaxy or human behaviour that can surprise her. In Valley Dao she found someone to admire. His calm and methodical nature comforted her. Liberty, however, rubs Nicci up the wrong way. Liberty's aristocratic bearing and apparent fragility only strengthens Nicci's contempt for what she calls the "useless Aristocracy": weak jawed and helpless, prevented from starving only because of inherited wealth. That her touchstone of strength, Valley, seems to spend all of his spare time protecting her only confirms this belief.

Her own (minor) nobility is a thing of little importance to Nicci. Her family worked the land and sweated for every boon. True nobility is something that a person earns, she believes, and not something that is issued at birth.

Nicci is apolitical. Anything outside of the ship and its crew – her surrogate family (with all the love and hate implied in that relationship) – is of no interest to her. Indeed, the affairs of state, of government, and of dynasties are beyond her earth-bound comprehension.

[edit] Artur Wurst

Chief Engineer.

Navy Lieutenant 676597 Age 46

Engineering (3); Blade Combat (2); Gunnery (1); Jack-o-T (1); Vacc Suit (1); Mechanic (2); Ships' Boat Pilot (1); Aircraft Pilot (1).

$26,000 savings, in the IED data vault.

[edit] Piet Walloon

Engineer's mate, S2.

Navy Lt Cmdr 6A88B8 Age 30

Engineering (2); Sensor operations (2); Gunnery (1); Mechanical (1); Pilot (1).

$6,000 savings, in the IED data vault.

[edit] Molias Timoshin

Chief trade negotiator.

Retired Bureaucrat Director 719A88 Age 46 7 Terms Cr 80000 Administration-1, Brawling-2, Leader-1, Liaison-1, Vehicle-3 High Passage, Middle Passage x3

[edit] Mustafa Emori

Cabin boy to Molias.

Rogue 497878 Age 22 1 Term Cr 0 Streetwise-2

[edit] Intermittant Early Drizzle, a 500t free trader

The Intermittant Early Drizzle is a decommissioned and civilianised long range scout. Fuel tankage has been reduced to increase the cargo space. The original tight bunk spaces have been reconfigured to be a large stowage compartment, a spacious ablutions facility for the greater number of crew, and a fully featured infirmary.

The generously sized new cabins are arranged in a split level fashion, with the entrance to some being a few steps up, and short ladder/stairs down to the rest. This makes maximum use of the available space, and creates many nooks and crannies that give the illusion of space and privacy: an important consideration in a low-ceilinged ex-military vessel.

• Tonnage: 500
• Gross volume: 7000 m3
• Shape: Wedge
• Dimensions: Length 50m; Aft width 50m; Bow width 25m; Centre height 17m;
• Builder: mk Orion
• Mass, fully loaded:
• Mass, unloaded:
• Crew: 6
• Propulsion: Da Ying Jump Drive
• Jump: 2
• Manoeuvre: Solus HEP Fusion Torch
• Max combat g:
• Roll:
• Yaw/pitch:
• Aramament: 2 Laser Turrents, 1 Sandcaster.
• Sensors: IR/EO, Radar, Lidar, ECM/ECCM, ESM, MAD, RAD

Development and Class Notes:

The Imperial Navy began development of the Tiger-moth class Deep Scout in response to growing demand in the Scout Service for a ship that was capable of long endurance operations beyond the borders of secure Imperial space. The Tiger-moth was one of three put forward in the competitive tendering process requested by the Navy. It was seen as the most capable of the three tenders, but eventually it lost out to the ship from Consadyne Autonomics, the now infamous Nova Class, which is known more for its inadequate endurance and poor firepower than for its strengths as a Deep Scout. The Tiger-moth lost out principally because of its cost; the Imperial Navy could not achieve the numbers required in service at the unit price that MK Orion has estimated.

However, the Tiger-moth was not consigned to the debris belt of history. Two years after the tender had finished, the Imperial Navy opted to acquire a more limited number of Tiger-moths (at a consequently higher price) to service its elite Scout arm, the HTRG. The design was modified slightly to increase its fuel capacity, and additional mission systems were included to provide it with a sensor edge over likely pirates, commerce raiders and smaller military vessels, such as system patrol boats. Its only foible in the forty years of service was the crudity of its engines. The Solus HEP was built to last; it was built to be maintained by a small Scout crew. But it wasn't the prettiest or the cleanest of fusion torches: all the cabling and wiring, all the pumps, regulators and compressors, were exposed to make maintenance easy. It took a special hand to get the most out of it, but for those who know its ways, it has surprising performance.

The Tiger-moth was formally decommissioned by the Navy, but they survive to today, used by bounty hunters, private scouts and even traders (the large fuel tanks often being stripped and fitted out as cargo holds). Although no longer official, they are still admired enough that unofficial use by the government persists. When another ship sees a Tiger-moth, they know to treat it and its occupants seriously.

The Command Information Centre The CIC is the heart of the Intermittent Early Drizzle. Set in the very centre of the ship, just below the turrent control room, and between the two life rafts, the CIC is where the ship is commanded and piloted from.

In the centre of the room is the commander's chair. Embedded in the arms of the chair are two multi-function displays that the comander (or TACCO, where the commander is off-deck) can use to display threat informaiton, sensor feeds, navigational data or even tactical analysis plots. In addition, the chair arms have an array of buttons that control everything from the CIC intercom system, the ship announce system, the life raft activation sequence, self-destruct, external comms and so on.

Arrayed around this central point are the pilot's station, fitted with three multi-function displays and controlling joysticks, the navigators station, again equipped with three multi-funciton displays and fed by a dedicated nav computer and two sensor stations--S1, which controls all the ELINT, ECM, ECCM, MAD and Radiation detectors, and the S2, responsible for tracking, MTI, SAR and ISAR RADARs, the targetting LADAR and the EO/IR turrets. S1 is also fitted with secondary flight controls, and the co-pilot occupies this seat when in the CIC.

The whole room is air conditioned and bathed in a dull green light. Emergency fire suppressant and O2 plugs are available, although most crew don't don their vacc helmets except in unusual circumstances. It is possible for any station to slave the laser turrets and counter-measure control, but both of these systems are normally controlled by the dedicated combat intelligences designed to optimise firing solutions and minimise response times.

The AL-J3 'Marvis' Life Raft The IED is fitted with two Marvis life rafts. Each life raft is capable of 6 person weeks of sustainment when fully equipped, providing a full scrubbing and recycling facility, albeit with limited accommodation. A limited range (~2AU at 0.1g) maneouvre unit, a low power IFF and a high power pulse emergency beacon are used by the raft to signal SOS. No voice comms are available, but the beacon can be configured to digitize voice when necessary. The IFF is coded to that of the mother ship (in this case the IED) and prefixed with a two bit message indicating that the IFF belongs to a life raft.

The raft has the capacity to land safely on any planet with appropriate atmospheric and gravitaitonal conditions by deploying a three canopy chute made of nanotube polymer. Highly caustic envrionments, or thin atmospheres coupled with high gravities tend to result in occupan death, despite the presence of high grade inertial compensators on board.

The Klaxon-class Twin Turret System Designed by Vivette Systems Atomics, the Klaxon-class twin turret system is centre mounted in the IED, just aft of the CIC. Two crew-less turrets are situated in a vertical shaft. During normal oeprations, the turrets are stowed in the shaft, but for combat, they emerge opt and bottom. The mounts rotate 360 degrees and swivel through the vertical plane. The turrets are slaved to a central turret control room via the combat intelligence computer system (CICS).

Two weapons control stations are manned by gunners, whose primary roles are to monitor turret performance parameters, including heat build-up, battery capacity and any other possible performance factors. In reality, the CICS does this job, and the human operators are merely present in the event that the computerised control of the turrets fails. The use of laser turrets on the IED minimises the potential for stores detonation. Nevertheless, the batteries used to run the lasers are volatile systems, and so a blast panel exists on each turret to vent any critical explosions away from the ship.

When the turrets are in use, two blast doors secure the turret shaft against explosions from the turret or external systems. The shaft itself contain no hatches which would compromise the internal safety of the ship. Instead, the bottom turret can be swung out and the shaft entered through the exposed opening.

Typical cabin configuration Cabin modules are supplied by Imperihome. Their interior dimensions are roughly 5m x 3m x 2.8m. Their thick walls contain the connection infrastructure and access panelling, giving them approximately 4 tons total displacement. The space is designed for modular installation, and ease of maintenance, not for first class in-built comfort features.

The design incorporates a solid partitioning that separates the main cabin area from the entrance way to facilitate privacy. This wall then acts as a wardrobe. In the IED the doorway is replaced in some cabins by a partial ceiling mounted hatchway and a short, broad ladder.

Three of the four walls and the roof are vision-active (or, primitively: flat panel TV sets). Thus, almost all of the wall and roof space in the cabin may be configured at will to take any appearance. This can be static scenes from a large library of images, time looped scenes, or areas can be defined for displaying actual programme content (for example, a football match or other recorded entertainment).

Furnishings such as beds, tables, and additional storage space is entirely at the discretion of the occupant.

[edit] RUMOURS

Rumours are generated by all the players during play. Each GM is free to pick up any of these threads and weave them into a session, or build onto them.

[edit] Concerning Blue Sun Corporation

They control a vast network of shell companies. Can use Imperial assets. Has arrangement with Imperial authorities - can command infrastructure. Has research stations on uncharted systems. Some breakthroughs are based on experimentation in the dangerous past. Everyone works for Blue Sun somehow. The rebellion bases some of its objection on the supposed power of Blue Sun. None of the crew have had any known contact with a Blue Sun operative.

[edit] Shipping observations in the Ainu system at date...

Fleet movements: a carrier (Coral Sea), 2 battleships (Churchill, Napoleon), 5 cruisers (Long March, Boulevard of Triumph, Mighty Are The Righteous, Dawn Till Dusk, Pale Rider), a dozen destroyers (Achilles, Ajax, Chicago, Musashi, Langsdorf, Scorsese, Wachowski, Hitchcock, Gordon, Calaghan, Bronson, Chopper Reid), and 2 marine assault carriers (The Butterfly Effect, Don't Look Now). Total fighter complement: 120. Total marine complement: battalion strength (around 600, organised by combat squads of 20 men).

Private ships in the system; 100T: Charisma Sponge, Last Call for Happy Hour, Detroit, Fully Franked, Nothing To See Here, Don't Touch That, Baffles Removed; 200T: Velvet Glove, Big Kahuna Burger, Chimney Sweep, Secessionist, Sabot Thrower, Che Guevara, Terrible Cherub; 300T: Chicken Tikka, Latent Modesty, Marketing Gaff, Black Box Certainty; 400T: Decalogue, It's a Mystery, Methode Champenoise Trader, MacQuarie II, Express of the Skies; 500T: Intermittant Early Drizzle, Mildura Maru, The English Patient, Dr Pepper; 600T: Dreamweaver, Jabberwock, Diamond Princess, Leviathan, Jade Princess, Frank Lloyd Mao's yacht, Hiphoprisy, Sea Bird, Fat lady Sings; 700T: Emerald Princess, Island Trader, D631 Bulk Carrier, D694 Bulk Carrier, D894 Bulk Carrier, D784 Bulk Carrier, D245 Bulk Carrier, Oolong, Unlikely Love Affair, Phonograph, Synchrotron; 800T: M1153 Bulk Carrier, M1145 Bulk Carrier, M1168 Bulk Carrier, M1139 Bulk Carrier, Standing Room Only, Ruby Princess, Star of Ainu; 900T: Coriolis Effect, Howard Brothers Trucking, Sapphire Princess, Substance Abuse.

System is buzzed by a rebel ship that jumps in at about 56 light minutes, watches for a couple of hours but following flashes that would indicate that it has been engaged jumps out again.

[edit] The Staring Committee

A nickname for the board of directors of the Magellan Society, either as a corruption of their offcial title, The Steering Committee (sic) or because of they are noted for their introspective silence. Their names are not public, nothing is known of them. Perhaps they are the shadowy power brokers . Maybe they are just Zennishly religious.

[edit] The Coin Collection

Concern has been expressed by a number of unnamed private collectors that a noted collection of coins on Amerdine may be at risk due to the continuing political instability and lawlessness. The collection, in the possession of name and stored at his remote chateau in the name region, is believed to be worth several million dollars.

[edit] Abandoned yet intact and pristine Colony

When the IED first picked him up on Moodah, Molias mentioned he was eventually bound for the Banata system, in search of an abandoned settlement there. Skilled in prospecting and 'salvage', Molias was curious when he first heard of the abandoned colony on Banata, due to the complete lack of explantion for ite abandonment. The colony is structurally sound, and has not been breached by any looters, at least none who have returned from its underground chambers. Supposedly a farming colony, now the only permanant residnets of Banata are the Settler's Union garrison in their orbital station high over the planet. Any who wish to attempt legal salvage are issued with permits by the SU officials, though they now discourage most from doing so, the number of failed expeditions having grown alarmingly high. Molias is determined to attempt the project however, as the plants originally grown in the colony seem to have mutated and adapted to their untended existence, and would fetch a high price from research stations anywhere in the galaxy. Despite being exposed to the unshielded radiation of the colonies untended power plant, fertilisation spores have been detected emitting from the colonies ventilation exhaust ducts, which indicates that vegetable matter still thrives within. Who knows what strange mutations the plants may have undergone?

[edit] NOTABLE DRAMATIC MOMENTS

[edit] PLAY LOG

This section contains the records of each play session, with the real and game dates. Each GM is free to elaborate on the developing world, but must not contradict anything that has already happened, or been defined.

[edit] Session 1. 1107.001 2006 MS

• IED arrived in sector, made planetfall immediately on Moodah to refuel, service, look for a job etc...
• Picked up eccentric trader named Molias Timoshin, and his good man, Mustafa. Plus Molias' 10 ton of assorted bric-a-brac from his antique shop.
• Also took on a hold full of water, guarded by two mafia hard boys.
• Encountered pirates between Moodah and Amedine. Enaged in a brief fire fight, during which several pirate craft were destroyed.
• Made planetfall on Amedine. Paid off by Mafia types, then obliged to thwart a terrorist plot to destroy the city. As it turned out, they were transporting nuclear rods or somesuch, and these were to be used in the bombing. Because of this and their suspicious albiet unknowing mafia dealings, the Imperials dragooned them into helping out, which they did admirably, preventing a crucial power plant from being destroyed. Unfortunately, the terrorist leader escaped.

[edit] Session 2. 1107.015 20060324 MS

• The IED took on refugees and medical supplies from war-torn Amedine, making for the imperial system of Karak'Tomis.

• There was a brief stopover in the Karak'Gorn system en route, an abandoneed settlement with a starport run by the Settlers Union. Here the IED's vehicle bay was retro fitted to house a shuttle, and the cargo bay was adjusted accordingly to garage the ATV. Molias went down to the surface and discovered a sealed hanger chamber among the ruins with several intact and functional laser batteries for shipboard use. The captain decided not to act on the this information however, as any illegal salvage operation would surely have been detected and acted upon by the scout base in orbit.

• Upon reaching the Karak'Tomis system, the refugees were processed in orbit, and Molias got a tidy profit on the medical supplies from an independant clinic. In the (imperial) news, it was reported that the election had been postponed by the current Viceroy, due to an unspecified 'immediate security threat'. In addition, it was commented on by the media that an unusual buildup of imperial naval ships in this sector came at a time of remarkably slow military traffic. Speculation if rife as to the meaning of these breaking news stories.

• The IED signed up to transport critically wounded imperial naval personnel to the military hospital on Ainnu, and Molias also managed to secure a surplus shipment of Heavy construction and agricultural machinery at a bargain price. With these cargoes it was hpoed the IED could turn a massive profit on Ainnu.

• The IED joined a convoy of other ships carrying wounded, protected by a light fleet of Imperial navy craft. Nontheless, the trip was uneventful, and no hostile forces were encountered.

• After parking in orbit at Ainnu, the wounded were successfully transferred to the Hospital complex, and Molias found a buyer for the heavy machinery at a large markup from purchase price.

[edit] Session 3. 1107.045 20060331 AB

• The journey to the Ainu system was uneventful.
• Once in system the IED was directed to the Navy base on an inner planet.
• Whilst there a person in Navy uniform invited the crew to carry a piece of data to the HQ of the Atomic Industries Union. Payment in cash. They accepted, and left the base for Sintra.
• On route to Sintra they decoded the message to reveal an image of a previously unknown fighter, presumably of Imperial design.
• At Sintra Guanyin came on board as a new crew member after settling gambling debts and bringing on cargo of his own.
• Valley contacted the information broker, Mr Telerak, and asked for any information on the image he had decoded.
• At a bar, Valley noticed a well-dressed person observing him. He followed the man, and discovered that he in turn was being followed. In a brief scuffle Valley disabled his follower, but discovered nothing except the man tailing him had a tatoo of a religious organisation thought extinct.
• Molias negotiated to fill the hold with duty free wine, a mixed blessing as the profits could be huge, but so could the penalties and the quantity is simply staggering. The wine is bottled, boxed, and loaded into 5T cargo containers. Each container is gravity, pressure, and atmosphere controlled and has a usable capacity of 3T. Each container has 135 boxes, or 1620 bottles in it. The crew bought outright each container for $16,200 (that's a duty free $10 per bottle - RRP $25+). There are 32 containers, representing out of pocket $518,400.
• Satisfied that everything was in order, they left the system and headed to Zul'jya, HQ of the AIU.
• There they were left in orbit for a considerable period of time after having presented their credentials. A shuttle approached the ship and the exchange of data block for cash occured.
• While there a device was placed on the hull of the IED. None of the crew was aware of this.
• Course set for Moodah.

[edit] Session 4. 1107.059 20060505 GH

• On the first day of the trip to Moodah, Guan went down to the engine room to replace some ventilation filters. Piet and Cutter were there, looking at copies of Xeno Monthly, a fringe magazine exploring purported evidence of alien existence. Piet is slightly embarrassed to be caught by Guan.
• A warning siren suddenly went off. The ship had suffered a hull breach in the cargo hold and the emergency systems dropped the ship out of hyperspace. Underneath one of the crates of wine in the cargo hold were cracks in the floor, through which atmosphere was leaking. Knecht went outside the ship and found cracks in the hull, caused by a device affixed to it. The device was detached and identified as a limpet mine of some sort, now inert. Valley examined the device back inside the ship and removed the detonator in order to ascertain the actual triggering mechanism. The detonator exploded as he removed it, causing severe injury to his hands, and eliminating any evidence as to how it worked.
• Piet did temporary repairs on the hull, and the journey continued to Moodah. Several days later, Cutter showed Knecht a photo he had found in a 2 month old copy of Xeno Monthly. It was the same photo of an unknown spacecraft that was on the coded datafile delivered to the AIU!
• Upon arrival at Temple Mount (Moodah's highport), spaceport control indicated that all ships were being inspected. The increase in security turned out to be a result of recent bombings at the spaceport. The IED dropped out of orbit on an uninhabited part of the planet and unloaded its cargo of wine, and left Cutter and Piet guarding it. The IED then resumed orbit and was inspected.
• At the station, Guan and Knecht took Valley to the local Monastery for medical treatment and spoke to Brother Habdad, who was only too pleased to assist Guan as an Honorary Associate of the Monasteries. Brother Habdid suggested speaking to a Callius Carr at the Sun Lounge to arrange offloading the cargo.
• Knecht and Guan took the ship's shuttle down tot he planet, leaving the rest to enjoy the facilities at Temple Mount.
• Guan visited the Sun Lounge, a bar and entertainment complex in the city, and convinced Callius Carr, the apparent proprietor, to meet him the following day at the local golf links for a discreet and detailed chat about the cargo, including Guan's own personal cargo he wished to sell.
• Both Guan and Knecht are now spending the night at a hotel.

[edit] Session 5. 200606 MS

A side trek into another part of the galaxy, or at another time, or a dream sequence. No one knows.

[edit] Session 6. 20060721 SN

A background development session using Matrix-game methodology.