Unfocused Thoughts on the 5th Millennium

A Traveller thing I've been working on to fight the Blues.

• It's a homebrew Traveller setting that keeps as many of the assumed setting elements of Traveller as possible.
• I'm keeping the name "Imperium" but it is not set in the "Third Imperium."
• The overall political situation of the Imperium in the 5th Millenium is not unlike the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century.  The imperial throne is contested (and most people in the further provinces of the Imperium don't even know who the candidates are) and large swathes of territory are becoming de facto independent.
• There are also parallels to later Roman history - for example, Terra has been "sacked' by human and alien "barbarians," but since it is no longer the Throneworld its relevance is mostly psychological.
• Play will focus on the Zenobia sector, which lies close to (on?) the border with [Click] Space.  It is normally ruled by a Warduke, but due to the confusion about the emperors there are currently two Wardukes in the sector gearing up for war.
• I'll be using the aliens from the Directorate setting I made because I like them and don't really have a good sense of what the OTU aliens are like.
• The players will start in the only subsector I've developed so far, Palmyra.  Here's a map:

• The Palmyra subsector is at the heart of the dispute between the two Wardukes.  Warduke Ignatius Casso has built a powerful defensive line at the capital of Palmyra and the planets of Hannibal and Sinbad.  His rival's primary toehold in this subsector is Al-Mahdi
• In addition to the the looming presence of the [Click] (subbing in for Sassanids) and the two Wardukes threatening to war with each other, the region also holds a large number of ruins of an ancient alien empire. 
• The [Click] claim to be the successors to this empire, but archaeological records clearly show it was ruled by a different species.
• I'm using Mongoose Traveller (1st edition) because it's the one I have and I like it.
• I'm not sure I'll actually keep the time as the "5th Millennium" because it seems too distant from our time for a lot of the references in the planet names. 
• However, the far off date allows me to explain some of the clunky technology of Traveller.  Progress is a myth.
• One thing I want to establish very clearly is that there is no FTL communication.  If you want news from another planet you need to get it from a free trader who has been there recently.

That's more or less what I've got for now.

The Bureau of Astropsychics

Jump travel is incredibly hazardous.  Misjumps can see passengers spend thousands of years in jumpspace or have them "blown" off course by thousands of light years.  During the early days of Terran space travel, when much of known space was still unexplored, there was little guarantee that the destination you were jumping to would have a source of fuel to allow one to jump back or a habitable planet to allow ships to resupply.  Certainly there were a number of electronic mechanisms designed to detect suitable planets, but due to the fact that these relied on light to gather their information, they often showed only what a given system was like hundreds or thousands of years in the past.

It was to solve this problem that the Directorate, or perhaps a Terran polity pre-dating the Directorate, created the first astropsychics.  By using the psychic potential of the human mind that had already been identified decades or even centuries earlier, astropsychics were able to create images of sections of unknown space as it currently was.  Thus, they could identify whether or not a planet still possessed water or a gas giant had remained relatively stable, thus ensuring the exploration ships would be assured of a return trip, barring other misjump issues.

Even the most powerful astropsychics are not omniscient, and thus over 96% of the galaxy remains uncharted, and areas such as the Boom Worlds have only been recently discovered through the use of "chaining."  Initially, this practice began when astropsychics would telepathically beam the portions of the galaxy they had mapped to the next astropsychic an a long line in order to prevent the psychics from collapsing from exhaustion.  Eventually the Bureau's non-psychic board decided that a system by which these astropsychics would be mentally linked and kept in quasi-suspended animation would both be more cost effective and would return results more quickly.  This technology eventually led to the creation of the polyminds used as astrogators in Directorate highliners, the massive ships used to make the incredible jumps necessary to reach the Boom Worlds and other fringe areas of the Directorate.  

Due to the potential for mental degradation and insanity, Ultra-Terrans are almost never subjected to the extreme forms of torture, drug regimens, and cybernetic enhancement required to create an astropsychic.  Instead the bureau relies on a steady stream of drifters, vagabonds, and convicts in order to fill their ranks.  The governing board of the Bureau, and most of its top members, are not themselves psychic, though they often possess certain cybernetic enhancements designed to shield them from the psychic powers of the lower members.

The average astropsychic - those which have not been merged into a polymind or driven mad - also possesses a number of skills that make them capable assassins.  The Bureau has been unable to figure out a way to only awake the psychic powers necessary for advanced astrogation, though it is unlikely that they desire to do so.  The Bureau sees itself as chronically underfunded, and it is a well known secret that to increase its funds they often train their astropsychics to be hired killers.  These are then leased out to various megacorps, noble houses, and merchant guilds to allow them to compete in the microwars permitted by the Steering Committee in order to make sure the existing structure is "the fittest."  While this is technically illegal, the exalted status of the Bureau combined with the importance of their clients means they are likely never going to be prosecuted or reprimanded.

In Places/Spaces Deep Plans for 2014

My parents went a bit overboard this Christmas

• As I've mentioned a few times on G+ and on this blog, my chief goal is to have Traveller be my main game for 2014.
• In that vein, I also want to do more to promote STARSLUGS.  A few of us who are planning to run Traveller games on G+ are trying to meet a couple of times to hash out how we want this thing to work.
• Finish Feudal Anarchy.   This will probably include renewed attempts at a playtest campaign.  Stay tuned.
• Get those guys in the top picture painted and killing each other.  I'm planning on using them as part of an imagi-nation project for the fake German polities of Rotland and Blauland (named after the two sides in the original Prussian wargames).  I'm not sure if I'm going to use Charge! or a modified version of By this Axe (With this Bayonet?) yet.
• I also want to get my version of the Wilderlands closer towards being game ready.  This might have to wait until D&D Next is out (which I believe is sometime this summer).  As mentioned above, I'm not planning on running it this year, at least not as my main thing, but I do want to start hammering some stuff out.
• I have a couple of ideas for space themed microgames I'm kicking around, including a card game designed to simulate Star Trek-style ship combat and one about playing raiders in a Foundation/Space Viking-like space-pocaypse.
• Finally, I want to set up a reading list of Traveller-esque/applicable science fiction to spend the year reading.   I might do blog posts about what I thought about them when I'm done.  We'll see.

Aliens(?) of the Directorate: Ultra-Terrans

Appearance and Biology

Ultra-Terrans are, technically speaking, humans, though the degree to which they have been genetically and cybernetically modified may make this fact seem incredulous to some observers.  They appear as aesthetically perfect humans, often with strangely colored skin or eyes or both.  They often possess redundant organs and other systems designed the help their human-like bodies cope with their decadent lifestyles.  Their DNA shows a great deal of "junk code," which act as special genetic markers, allowing them access to a number of services, institutions, and equipment unavailable to normal Directorate citizens.

History

Ultra-Terrans are the result of thousands of years of genetic experimentation on Sacred Terra, and they existed even before the founding of the Directorate.  Sometime before humans discovered the jump drive, the ancestors of Ultra-Terrans were able to use their money and influence to make themselves a class apart from ordinary Terrans.  Not content to hold their position through monopolizing force, wealth, and political rights as the nobles of Terran antiquity had done, those that would become Ultra-Terrans invested in technologies that would allow them to make their delusions of exceptionalism a reality.  It is believed that sometime during the colonization of the other planets of the Sol system, this led to a terrible war that saw the Ultra-Terrans cast down for a time, but with the creation of the Directorate's Steering Committee they were once again able to cement their position at the head of humanity.

Psychology

Ultra-Terrans are arrogant in the extreme, obsessed with decorum, and extremely competitive.  They seek to prove their superiority over other humans, other Ultra-Terrans, and other species in order to justify their position at the head of the galactic community.  Some Ultra-Terrans take on a paternalistic attitude towards normal humans, a fact that many of those so patronized find even more irritating than the normal mode of Ultra-Terran behavior.

Flavor
Ultra-Terrans are 40k space marines in a setting otherwise inhabited by Han Solos.  They also possess more than a dash of the inhuman strangeness that the nobles of Franke Herbert's Dune have, often to the exaggerated degrees seen in the David Lynch film.  Ultra-Terrans often engage in practices that are repulsive to nearly all humans, such as incest (or more often clone-cest) and cannibalism, having various modifications designed to negate the undesirable effects of these activities.  They are that knight from Jabberwocky... in Space!

Ultra-Terrans as Player Characters
One cannot make an Ultra-Terran character by choice, much as one cannot chose to enter the nobility.  If, while making a human character, you roll a high enough status to enter the nobility, roll 1d6.  If your Social Score is an A, you have a 1 in 6 chance of being an Ultra-Terran, if it is a B, a 2 in 6 chance, and so on.  Ultra Terrans add 2 to two of the following characteristics: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, or Intelligence; however, no score may be brought above B/12 in this way.  In addition, the player must figure out a way in which their character looks eerily inhuman, such as "Dune eyes," cobalt colored skin, a complete lack of hair, etc.  The character also gets a silly space prefix applied to their title, such as Astroduke, Galactoviscount, or Metabaron.

All I Want for Christmas is a Shambleau

In addition to the raw materials created by the Solar Event, traders in the Boom Worlds deal in a wide variety of exotic goods.  These are, of course, heavily regulated by the Terran Directorate.  However, there are a number of goods that are completely illegal under Directorate law, with only smugglers, aliens, and pirates to act as purveyors.  Below are a few of the more common, interesting, and exotic ones.

Terran Animals
Strangely, historical accident has created a situation where animals once native to Sacred Terra are now more common on the world Minerva than in the rest of the Directorate.  When the Guild of Redistricters decided to convert Terra into a Metroworld over a century ago, a number of Terran animals became "extinct," existing only as data collected on their respective genomes.  After the failure of the Athena Group's first colony on Prometheus, the megacorporation began researching the possibility of "resurrecting" these animals as part of a future terraforming attempt.  The results of this project can be seen on Minerva, which teems with ancient Terran animals such as zebras, tortoises, and gigarhinos.  These animals are often sought as pets by wealthy nobles, or occasionally simply for their pelts or other animal products.  However, the populations of these animals are tightly controlled on Minerva, and tampering with their numbers by hunting or capturing them is completely forbidden.

Psychic Frontal Lobes
A recent fad among the minor nobility of the Directorate - those that lack the genetic markers and cybernetics that distinguish the nobility of Sacred Terra - is to consume the right front lobe of aliens, and sometimes even humans, believed to have possessed psychic potential.  The goal behind this activity is obvious.  Unfortunately, a huge market of "fakes" has grown up to satiate the demand for lobes.  Many unscrupulous smugglers simply sell non-psychic lobes or those of non-sophants with unusually large brains.  In any event, it is the official position of the Bureau of Astropsychics, as well as the High College of Medicine that this practice is inefficacious.  The Low College of Medicine and the Board of Epicures is still holding debates on the subject.

"Juice"
This strange substance is rarely seen in Directorate controlled space.  Its precise nature is a mystery to Directorate authorities, but it seems to only be used by the mutant populations of the Boom Worlds, mutant or otherwise.  Its illegality is due to the fact that its production seems to be linked with the kidnapping of healthy terrans.

Rejuvenex
This anti-aging drug was created by Asklepios Pharmaceuticals, a megacorp that was purchased by the Athena Group a little over a year ago.  It supposedly relies on substances found only on worlds with ruins from Interstellar Empire present on them.  It was taken off the market after several users, began to show symptoms similar to the mutagenic properties of the Boom Worlds.  Still, desperate and vain minor nobles and merchants often desire the drug, believing that they will not gain mutations in the same way that the second wave of Boom Worlds settlers have not gained mutations from whatever energies caused them in the first wave.  The Kruelians have taken up the manufacture of a coarse, unrefined form of the drug that is more cheaply available.

Xamblai
These strange creatures appear similar to females of a large number of species, purportedly due to their ability to shape shift.  They are supposedly capable of giving their "owner" all manners of physical and psychic pleasure, but it is well known that the eat the life force of those who utilize their... services.  Unlike other natives of the Boom Worlds, they do not have any significant populations of mutants, leaving Directorate scholars to conclude that they are foreigners, perhaps from the same sector as the Ningaubles.  They are often traded as commodities by Kruelians and [Click]s, thus their inclusion here.

Wheat
Most consumables on Directorate worlds consist of meat animals, nutrient-sludge, and occasionally the edibles native to nearby garden planets.  However, recently a movement towards culinary "primitivism" has started on a number of high population and non-agricultural worlds.  These people desire a large amount of the ancient Terran grain known as wheat, which is still farmed on a large number of Directorate worlds.  However, the Directorate uses this grain to create the foodbars used by their armed forces and most spacers, and thus normally has a monopoly on the substance.  A few enterprising smugglers have begun moving wheat to feed the growing market for bread and biscuits in Directorate space.

Clicking this link will take you to a table showing the availability and prices of these goods.  Xamblai are not included because they are typically sold as individuals or small groups, not by the ton.

Aliens of the Boom Worlds

These sophants are not available as options for player characters.  Instead, they represent some of the most numerous aliens in the Boom Worlds, or at least the ones that the Terran Directorate has encountered.  Many of these species belonged to a political entity known only as the Interstellar Empire before the solar event caused this polity to collapse.

The Founders

This species is no longer believed to exist, though certain similarities to their self-depictions and the Kruellians have lead some xenologists to hypothesize that they are one and the same.  Sources say they founded the Interstellar Empire during the height of the [Click] Imperial Period.  Their technology seems to have been more advanced than the Directorate's in some ways, less advanced in others.  They were particularly adept at genetic manipulation.

Thool

The Thool (singular and plural) are one of the most commonly encountered aliens in the Boom Worlds, and many of their colony worlds have been brought under the control of the Directorate.  Most of the planets where their colonies are located are fluid ocean worlds.  These colonies usually exist as great domed cities under these oceans, leading xenologists to believe these are not their natural habitats. Their biology seems too fragile and complex to have evolved naturally, and it is believed that they were uplifted - or perhaps even created - by the enigmatic founders of the Interstellar Empire.  The Thool see these figures as gods.

Kruelians
Kruelians are larger than many sophant species, and seem to be very prone to whatever forces cause the mutations seen in the Boom Worlds.  They are believed to have been the leaders of the Intestellar Empire before its collapse, and many continue to act as petty warlords, cult leaders, and crime lords using the remaining institutional structures of that empire.  While often viewed by other species as crass and vulgar, they show a remarkable curiosity, and it is not unusual for them to act as scientists or xenologists among the races of the fall empire.

Hunters

These beings are most often found in the employ of Kruelians, leaving many to believe that they are some sort of warrior caste from the Intestellar Empire.  They vary somewhat in appearance, with individuals being heavily genetically and cybernetically modified for their various combat roles.  Their internal structure appears remarkably flexible when compared to creatures that rely on either an endo or exoskeleton.  They do not seem to possess any way to reproduce, and it is believed that the current members of the species are relics from the time of the Interstellar Empire.

Ningaubles

This strange race does not actually appear to be native to the Boom Worlds.  Instead, they seem to have arrived after the chaos created by the solar event.  Xenologists believes that every member of their species possesses at least some psychic ability.  They often serve as information brokers in the Boom Worlds, using a combination of technical skill, psychic talent, and extensive contact networks to acquire their "goods."

Aor Beings

These creatures are perhaps the strangest the Terran Directorate has ever encountered.  Thus far, they have only been found in the vacuum of space, and all attempts by the Scout service to make contact with them have failed.  They are extremely massive, some being as large as the highfreighters piloted by the Directorates strongest astropsychics.  They do not utilize jumpsace to travel, but seem capable of some other form of FTL travel, though it is unknown if this form is affected by time dilation.  They are named for the planet Aor, where the Kruelians and Thool assert that they originate.  This planet is currently considered a Red Zone by the Directorate.

Aliens of the Directorate: Froguloids

Appearance and Biology

Froguloids appear as humanoid frogs roughly 1m in height.  They typically have green skin, though males often possess more exotic colors.  Sexual dimorphism is fairly subtle in Froguloids, but there are enough differences to tell one gender from another.  Froguloids require a larger amount of food - especially protein - and moisture than terrans, though they can usually exist in the same environments.

History

Froguloids were originally created by terrans as an experiment in uplifting.  It was thought that the process would be fairly easy since the anatomy - as opposed to the physiology - of a frog is not that dissimilar from a human.  Froguloids have long been employed by Imperial scientists in order to jump start the terraforming process on prospective planets.  It was thought that their fast metabolism as well as their propensity for mutation would help scientists identify potential atmospheric hazards undetectable by the Directorate's astropsychics.  This history has made Froglings somewhat paranoid, though not enough to damage their relationship with other species.

Froguloids now have their own systems and colonies, with a capital known as Frogulon.  They are still technically part of the Terran Directorate, but they enjoy a great deal of autonomy.  Their social structures are more or less the same as terran society except as noted below.  There is also a splinter state known as the Bullywug Star Empire, but this is fairly small and acts more as a base for piracy than an actual state.

Psychology

Froguloids are fairly gregarious and adventurous, though they have a habit of distrusting terrans.  They make excellent traders, scientists, and explorers, a fact that both terrans and Froguloids take credit for.  

They enjoy diversions of all sorts, but often tire of things very quickly.  Forguloids often become frustrated with humans, whom they accuse of being "slow." They are also known for their propensity for drink and mind altering substances, though these are usually very strong by human standards to account for the differences in Froguloid biology.

Flavor

Froguloid society largely resembles its human counter part, including both noble titles and dress; however, they possess strongly entrenched "houses," or large family units, that act as the major political players on both Frogulon and in the Bullywug Star Empire.  They are a mix of Toad of Toad Hall, Mass Effect's Salarians, and Frog from Chronotrigger

Froguloids as Player Characters

Small (1d6 Strength, 3d6 Dexterity,) Fast metabolism (+2 DM to Initiative, double life support costs,) can survive underwater 10x as long as human characters.

Aliens of the Directorate: Reptoids

Appearance and Biology
Reptoids are, as the name suggests, vaguely reptilian humanoids.  They are taller than humans on average but typically appear leaner.  Their heads are large and round, with strangely beak-like mouths and massive, deep-set eyes.  Unlike Terran reptiles, Reptoids are able to regulate their own body temperature - though they tend to still be more vulnerable to cold than other sophants.

Females and males are virtually indistinguishable to other species.

History
Reptoids constantly rewrite their own history, so it is difficult for outsiders to know the truth.  Reptoids use scholarship of all types in order to justify or undermine existing power structures rather than to satisfy intellectual curiosity. They currently possess no true homeworld, and some Reptoid officials have told Directorate scouts and xenologists that they originated on Terra, and that they were responsible for uplifting humans.  These Reptoids claim their species did this in order to use the humans against their [Click] masters, a plan which apparently backfired.

While a compelling story, and one that seems to have precedents in ancient Terran legends, scholars of comparative xenology at many of the Directorate's state funded techno-universities have confirmed that the Reptoids make similar claims about the [Click] and a number of other alien species with which they have contact, supposedly slotting themselves into existing mythologies in order to place themselves in an ideological position of power.

What is known about them is that they were one of the first species to rebel against the [Click] Empire when the Directorate began reaching its hand out to grasp the stars.  Since then they have served the Directorate as spies among other alien populations, though several members of the Steering Committee and the College of Thought believe they are using this position to spread misinformation and to further their own interests.  Outside of their limited governmental function, Reptoids are typically second class citizens in Directorate space.

Psychology
Reptoids are known for their paranoia, deceitfulness, and self-serving natures.  Every Reptoid believes himself to be the most important being in the universe and all other things existing solely as resources to be exploited.  To humans, this often makes them appear as a species of sociopaths.  It also has made it easy for other interstellar powers to manipulate them.  This attitude is believed to have been in part due to their evolution - since their ancestors are believed to have eaten their own siblings, children, and even parents.

Flavor
Reptoids are consummate schemers and sadists in the Harkonnen mold; however, to the face of their human superiors they tend to be obsequious and fawning to a ludicrous, obviously feigned degree.  They tend to dress similarly to the dominate species in the part of the galaxy they're in - Terran fasions in the Directorate, [Click] garb in the alien successor states.  Armin Shimmerman would play a Reptoid.

Reptoids as Player Characters
Natural Armor, Natural Weapons (Claws), -1 to tests made in cold environments, regenerate any lost limb in 1d6 weeks, and roll twice for Social Standing, using the lower score as their standing among non-Reptoids

The Freetrader Conventions become STARSLUGS and some thoughts on homebrew Traveller settings

At the suggestion of Zak, the Freetrader Conventions will hereafter be known as the Simple Translation Agreement Rules Simulating Lastingly Unified Galactic Sectors, or STARSLUGS for short.  I've also been made aware of this handy document which should help in converting characters from other versions of Traveller if anyone wanting to run GT or MT decides they want in on this whole STARSLUGS thing.

On a tangentially related note, in a comment on my initial Boom Worlds/Galaxy of Fear post, Greg stated that "whenever I have seen different settings using Traveller, my mind refuses to accept it," which is a sentiment that seems to be common, even if it is not universal.  It is also a sentiment that I have a hard time understanding.  Looking at Classic Traveller, and even at the more recent Mongoose edition which I'm reading, I see a game that almost demands that you make your own setting.  It provides the referee with the tools to generate the sectors, worlds, and even the ships in which the game takes place.

Now this is not to say that there isn't a setting implied by the rules.  The most notable example of this in both CT and Mongoose Traveller is the presence of the Scout Service; however, the underfunded Star Fleet character of the scouts makes them something I'd include in a setting anyway, and I see that as little different than keeping beholders in a D&D game.

And I think that's really the key of what I'm saying: I view the implied setting of Traveller the same way I view the implied setting of D&D. They are both a set of elements borrowed from various pieces of source fiction that have been combined to make the game feel a certain way, but that are malleable and subject to the desires and inspirations of the referee.  Traveller, at least as presented in the LBBs and the Mongoose corebook, is a toolbox for making your own science-fiction adventures in the far future.

For some neat examples of this philosophy from the early days of Traveller, check out Freelance Traveller's Other Roads.  Particularly interesting to me are these two campaigns, run by two different referees at the same time in different parts of the galaxy.  They are what finally convinced me that STARSLUGS would be a good idea.

The Freetrader Conventions

The Signing of the Convention Treaty on Geneva IV

In order for freetraders in the Space Cantonment, Directorate Space, and other willing sectors, to prosper and thrive, the referees of those campaigns have set out the following articles in order to ease movement between them.

Article 1
Characters may move between Directorate Space and the Space Cantonment freely provided they meet the standards required in other articles.

Article 2
Characters are bound by the rules of the version of Traveller being used in the game they are currently playing.  This includes things such as the rules for combat (both personal and ship-based), weapon damage, the functions of certain technological items, etc. 

Article 3
There is one exception to the rule presented in Article 2: skills.  Characters use whatever skill they possess that is closest to the one in the system currently being run.  This means that characters from the Cantonment (and possibly other CT games) possess broader skill categories than those the Directorate.  Skill acquisition is also based on the characters native system, and not on the system currently being run.  Skill rolls function as other items described in Article 2.

Article 4
Characters may bring their own personal effects with them, but not those held in common with other members of their party/crew.  This includes any ships the characters rolled on the benefits table, assuming the ship is being used by other party members.

Article 5
Psions, astropsychics, and aliens must submit their characters to the referee at least 48 hours in advance so that the referee has the time to read over any relevant sections of their rules/come up with how certain foreign abilities work in their area of space-time.

Signed
Representing the Cantonment: Chris Kutalik
Representing the Terran Directorate: Evan Elkins

Aliens of the Directorate: the [Click]

This write up originally appeared on my old Traveller blog, but I have edited it in order to make it more in line with my current conception of my Traveller setting.

Appearance and Biology 

Male [click] aliens appear as furry creatures slightly larger than a human in stature.  From their furry faces peer a set of compound eyes and mandibles.  Their actual skin is a carapace designed to insulate their bodies from their planet’s notoriously harsh days and nights, as well as to protect them from predators.  Females are little more than mobile bloated egg sacks.  Similar organisms exist on the [click]’s home planet, though their fur is usually hidden beneath an outer carapace.  It is theorized that these creatures are to the [click] what gorillas are to humans.

History

The [click] were once the proprietors of a massive empire that included several other species.  They ruled through fear and grand displays of extravagance that both terrorized and mesmerized their various slave species.  However, their natural propensity for infighting eventually led to the rapid collapse of their empire about the time humankind first discovered the Jump drive.  Their handiwork can be seen in the Caliboi, which humans of the Future-past know as Mu-tants.

Today the [Click] Empire is no more, but it has left a number of domains controlled by petty [click] warlords and clans.  The Terran Directorate has been gobbling these up for several years now, and few of the remaining states would be able to resist a Directorate invasion.

Psychology

[Click] culture is largely patriarchal.  Unlike other species, this is due to a strong biological imperative.  Female [click] are essentially non-sapient, and the males treat them as a commodity.  Fierce competition exists between males for who possess the most females, and war leaders will often lead raids on enemy worlds to capture women.  Oddly, this practice has also led to the kidnapping of the females of other species to display as trophies, despite the fact that the [click] cannot mate with them.

The largest class of the [click] is infertile males.  These males have usually been sterilized at birth in order to keep them in a submissive state to be used as work horses for the bureaucratic and military functions of the successor states.  A thin upper echelon maintains their fertility, but they must constantly protect it from up and coming fertile males.

Flavor

Most view the [click] as decadent.   Their clothing vaguely resembles that of the various desert peoples of Earth, with robes designed to insulate the wearer against harsh climatic conditions.  However, since the [click] have left their desert home world, the rarely need such clothing.  Today it serves a primarily decorative function and is usually bestudded with jewels and rare materials in order to show the prestige of the wearer.

The [click] are more or less space-stag beetles, and spend much of their time competing with each other for position, rank, and females. Since they are intelligent, this usually take the form of more subtle contests and schemes, though physical violence is quite common among them.  They take slights to their prestige very seriously.  [Click] consider themselves superior to other species, and they do not tend to treat with them on equal terms.  This does not mean they do not enter into negotiations when necessary, simply that they only do so begrudgingly.

[Click] as player characters

Armored; Natural Weapon (claws);  Notable Endurance; Weak Dexterity

All [click] characters are male.  Any with a Social Standing less than 11 are infertile.

Organizations of the Boom Worlds

In addition to the organizations described in the Mongoose Traveller core books - the Army, Navy, Scouts, etc. - there are a number of organizations unique to the Boom Worlds setting.*

The Third Section
The Third Section is a subcommittee within the College of Thought.  It's original purpose is long lost to history, but after the last war with the [Click] broke apart the last pieces of their empire, the Third Section became the Steering Committee's secret police.  Due to issues of logistics and manpower, the Third Section is rarely deployed and, despite assertions to the contrary, the Directorate is not able to maintain anything close to a police state; however, when revenue begins to dry or Steering Committee members see their megacorps begin to hemorrhage profits, Third Section agents may be deployed.  The results of these deployments are always disastrous.

The Bureau of Astropsychics
The ostensible purpose of the Bureau of Astropsychics is to train psychic-potentials in the art of psychic-astrogation.  This art has led to the discovery and exploitation of a number of new sectors, as well as the creation of the mutants that make the extreme jumps required to access the Boom Worlds possible.  However, it is a well known secret that the Bureau of Astropsychics also illegally trains a number of its members in the art of psychic warfare.  These adepts are often hired out to Directorate authorities or feuding noble houses, making it unlikely that the members of the bureau will ever be prosecuted.

The Athena Group
One of the many megacorps of Directorate space, the Athena Group specializes in terraforming.  Its greatest success is often said to be the planet Minerva, which currently acts as its corporate headquarters in the Boom Worlds.  Athena is equally known for its infamous failure, the colony on Prometheus.  The  reasons for the colony's failure are a mystery to all but the highest level officials within the company.  Many conspiracy theorists - at least those with any sense of the interstellar economy - assert that the Athena Group also serves as a weapons developer for the Third Section, or any number of other shadowy organizations.

The Pirates of Guthrum
Guthrum was one of the first planets settled after the Boom Worlds was discovered.  Unfortunately for that first wave of settlers, the residual energies of the solar event had not yet calmed enough to prevent them from mutating.  Now Guthrum is under Directorate interdiction, for its mutant population - which seems to be reasonably self-sustaining - often attacks those who enter their system.  In addition to this, they are also known to engage in piracy and lead raids on nearby systems.  Their brutality is legendary, but savvy free traders know that it is possible to reason with them.

The Oniax Syndicate
The solar event which created the Boom Worlds and destroyed the alien interstellar empire that once existed in that remote corner of space left in its wake the mutated descendants of a once glorious people.  Some of these descendents have accepted Directorate rule, but few did so willingly.  Directorate officials believe that the Oniax Syndicate is one of a number of "criminal" syndicates within the territory newly acquired by the Directorate based around pre-existing alien noble houses.  The Oniax Syndicate is known to engage in piracy - sometimes alongside the Pirates of Guthrum, sometimes opposing them - and to be a large producer of the alien drug known simply as "juice," which seems to sooth the pain of the mutants produced in this region of space while having now affect on those with more standard biologies.

The Order of the Universal Principle
The Order of the Universal Principle is a strange movement that has taken the idea of a unified theory of physics to what Directorate officials consider an unhealthy extreme.  They have eschewed scientific searches, preferring meditative rituals designed to align one's consciousness with that of the universe.  These meditations often, bizarrely, occasionally lead them to commit assassinations, suicide bombings, and other acts of terror.  These often coincide with the members of the Order ranting insanely about the secret significance of a "divine number."  The precise digit has, so far, been different at each event.  The Directorate considers them a great threat to the safety of its citizens.

Darkstar Defense
Founded on Pinkerton, a metroworld close to Sublime Terra, Darkstar Defense initially served as a mercenaries during the [Click] Wars under the name Pythagoras Ltd.  After several name changes, Darkstar Defense changed its roll to that of a privatized police force utilized on a number of metroworlds, particularly those owned by members of the Steering Committee or one of the Terran noble houses.  They provide most of the security forces in the Boom Worlds, acting as customs agents, criminal investigators, and of course good old hired muscle.

The OpProl
A technical term for a supposed unified resistance group among the farmers and workers of the Boom Worlds, the existence of the OpProl is hotly debated outside the Steering Committee and its various colleges.  Directorate propaganda attributes a large number of radical political views to this organization, including mandatory sterilization of all citizens who currently posses a faufreluches social standing of 8 or higher, affirmative action for Froguloids, Dogoids, reparations for the [Click], and some vague terror called "soshialsm."  Whether or not these views are held by anyone the Directorate would identify as an OpProl, it is true that a number of farmers and workers have begun stockpiling weapons on the worlds of Ceres and Nibelung.

*In addition, I have renamed the TAS to the Traveller's Guild because guilds in my sci fi make me happy.

Home Group Boom Worlds Session 1 Highlight Reel

Last Saturday I ran Mongoose Traveller for my home group - which they chose over WFRP for various reasons.

The characters they generated were...
Wolfgang - a retired star marine who spent much of his earlier career worried he had become a terminal lance

Baron Abolone - an incompetent upperclass twit whose mental capacity leaves much to be desired even with his genetically engineered background

and Steve McQueen - a crippled pilot named after the famous Astronomer (who has not yet been born in our timestream and who was himself named after the director, not the actor)

Their ship is the Tutunus.  It's vaguely phallic shape was not lost on my players.

Highlights from the session include:

•  Accepting a mission from a cobalt-blue skinned noble who desired a large number of "black cylinders" be recovered from one of the moons of the alien controlled world of Diteen.
• Realizing their jump drive made this job they just accepted impossible.
• The introduction of coffee into the metabolism of Ceres' clone-kiosks.
• Training some farmers on Ceres in the manufacture and use of TL 7 firearms in exchange for an upgrade to their jump drive.
• Nearly being attacked by mutant alien pirates, then making a deal with them to get an escort ship in exchange for 3 gallons of human blood (made during the three day travel time within the Diteen system by the players with the help of the medibot)
• Paying the vampire-drugie-mutant-alien pirates to do their job for them, followed by the pirates jumping to the next system over, which happens to be the largest alien pirate base in the subsector. 

The players are currently on Diteen's single scout outpost (which lies on an island in a fluid-ocean on the planet, well above the terraformed dome-cities of the alien inhabitants of Diteen) trying to figure out how to get the cylinders from their former "employees." Next Saturday they should have a couple more people to add to their crew.

Adventures in a Galaxy of Fear

The Directorate Sees All

The Terran Directorate believes that the iron grip of its power stretches across the whole of Space and that its Steering Committee controls the fates of man and alien alike.  It is certainly true that the Directorate is powerful and after the recent wars, plagues, and a few corporate take overs there exist only a few minuscule polities that are able to maintain any sort of independence. Most organisms in owned space are, nominally at least, owned by the Directorate and subject to its edicts.

A Meeting of the Infamous Steering Committee

The heart of the directorate is, of course, Terra.  The sacred home of humanity now almost entirely consists of an enormous and highly stratified city.  Its class of exceedingly rich, genetically modified nobles live in great dome-estates above the class while those who cannot afford those luxuries must toil away in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the surface.  The few remaining habitable zones on the surface either serve as private reserves for the nobles.  The rest was destroyed long before the existence of the Directorate during the Time of Troubles, an event that the Directorate often uses to justify its own existence.

Terran Nobles Often Have an Otherworldly Appearance

But the range of worlds claimed by the Directorate is vast, and that is only Terra.  While genetically modified nobles often govern other worlds, many of the Directorate's upper class are little more than common humans - though no aliens may enter their ranks.  Access to technology varies widely across the worlds, and many possess only a smattering of sapients who live and hunter gatherers and remember the sublime light of the Directorate as little more than a warped myth.  

This Froguloid Has no Idea of His Citizenship Status...

...While the People of the Metro-World of Clovis Benefit Enormously from Directorate Trade policies

As such, the ability of the Directorate to directly affect the lives of most of its citizens is minimal, though often crack downs will occur when one of the genetic elite is dispatched to crack heads and bring the localities in line with the will of the Steering Committee.  The effect of all of this is to create a kind of standard culture for so-called "spacers" - even if this is highly variable, again due to the scale involved - and billions of separate ones for the inhabitants of various planets.

The most recent project dictated by the Steering Committee has been the colonization and exploitation of the so called Boom-Worlds.  These worlds exist in a remote sector far removed from Sacred Terra, but a recent solar catastrophe in the sector's Galactic Southeastern edge have brought them to the Directorate's attention.  The solar event is believed to have dispersed a large number of heavy atomic particles that would be suitable for extraction and refining in the service of the Directorate's military and monetary ambitions.

A Depiciton of the Boom Worlds Drawn by One of the Directorate's Most Powerful Astro-Psychics

Early colonists also claim that the event destroyed a vast interstellar civilization.  While it is the belief of the Directorate that these peoples and their rules must have been inferior, since they were destroyed by a mere exploding star, the ruins of this empire have attracted scholars and looters from across Space.  So have the remaining alien populations on the planets that saw only small amounts of increased radiation from the event.  Xenologists claim that many of these populations show notable physical changes from depictions of members of the same species from before the solar incident.  In some rare incidents aliens have shown bizarrely aggressive behavior that would seem at odds with their previous levels of sophistication.

Adventurers Exploring one of the Many Alien Ruins in the Boom Worlds

Access to these worlds is made possible only by a genetically modified group of tortured humans whose minds work in tandem in order to maintain the massive warp bubbles involved - far larger than those used by normal Directorate ships.  The fact that these near catatonic members of the human race are a rare commodity in the Directorate means that access to the Boom Worlds is extremely limited, with regular travel only available to megacorps possessing writs from the Steering Committee itself and the convicts they sometimes employ.  Return trips are even harder to arrange for those not carrying raw materials on the megacorps' massive barges.

It's Hard to Sustain a Warp Bubble

Despite the isolation and the inherent dangers of the region, many see the financial opportunities and distance from the hands of the Steering Committee as a chance for a freedom that is impossible in other regions of space.  There's money to be made in those stars.

As if I needed another project...

In honor of both the first year anniversary of this blog and my new found love of Mongoose Traveller, I've decided to start a side blog dedicated to the development of my Terran Space setting.  You can find more about the project here.

I'll definitely be updating In Places Deep far more regularly, but I felt that another blog would both help me better collect my Traveller setting related material in an organized fashion and help maintain the OSD&D theme of this blog.

Question for Traveller Fans

What does PBG stand for?  I've noticed it in some online Traveller tools, but there is nothing on it (that I can find) in the Mongoose book.

Thanks.

The Periphery: Subsector Map and Updated UWPs

click to embiggen

Ceres     0102   B557565-8   T C    Ag Ga NI      GG

Pepin     0104   A547477-11  N R T  Ga NI         GG

Laconia   0107   C958963-6   S R    Ga Hi         GG

Hohenstaufen 0108 B794422-8  T      Ga NI         GG

Enaar     0202   DABA988-7   S      Fl Hi In Wa   GG

Guthrum   0204   E646440-5   P      Ga Lt NI      RG

Nibelung  0206   B1219B9-10  S R T C   Hi In Na Po G

New Iconia 0304  A5A95A9-11 N T C  Fl NI          GG

Antioch   0305   B547551-11 T      Ag NI          GG

Diteen    0306   C9A9878-9  S P    Fl           AG  

Prometheus 0307  C615000-5         Ba IC Lt NI    RG

Shalom    0309   C888566-5         Ag Ga Lt NI    GG

0ndizak   0405   E326500-9  S      NI             A

Hattin    0408   D330766-3  S      De Lt Na Po    G

New England 0503 B551754-7  T      Po             G

Crecy     0504   C657A99-10 S C    Ga Hi          GG

Kasander  0505   C250689-7         De NI          G

Martell   0508`  B575763-5  S R    Ag Ga NI       GG

Clovis    0509   A100524-15 S T C  Ht Va          GG

We Made It 0701  D310879-6         Na             GG

Minerva   0703   A6578C9-12 R T    Ga Ht Ri       G

Caesarius 0803   C2018B9-10 T C    IC Va          GG

Thule     0804   C7CA552-11 S R P  Wa             AG

Alexios   0805   D3226B6-8  S      Na Po          GG

Aor       0806   X767310-4         Ga Lo          RG

Not sure if anybody cares about my Traveller nonsense, but here is some more of it anyway.  I'm rather smitten with Mongoose's version of the rules, and I might start another blog to service my development of a setting for it.  Not sure if that'll happen yet, but I'm thinking about it.


The key for the maps can be found here.