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.
