Making a Run for It

 

   My balls are gonna get fried off, the short squat man thought gloomily, looking at the 10 megaton warhead he was working on.

   The missile was huge and packed with antimatter, fully twenty feet long, and it was pitch black(as dark as the fat bomber that carried it).

   "Hey Bertoni!" a shout rang out, crossing the huge flight bay. "Bertoni" was Adam Bertoni and he was wearing the traditional gray and green cammies of a crewman, obviously covered in grease, solvent, fuel oil, and god knew what else. He popped his head out of the massive bombers’ ordinance bay at the sound of the voice.

   The huge stub of a recently smoked New Cuba cigar stuck prominently out of Bertoni’s mouth, a chief petty officer whose swarthy dark Italian/Arabic looks made him stand out prominently among the mainly Anglo crew. The Flight Deck Officer of the assault carrier Yorktown, Bertoni growled for a second and then laid down his tools, stood, and walked towards Cob, the man who had addressed him. Cob wasn’t really his name; it stood for "Chief of Boat" and Toshi Ames was the most senior petty officer on the ship. As the two men walked towards each other, Bertoni looked at the master chief, eyeing the short Asian man. All three of the Yorktown’s top personnel had been reassigned after the Yorktown’s shakedown a month ago, and Captain Frederico Be Doya, the XO Thea Belo, and Toshi Ames had been placed aboard in some bullshit shakeup that had cost the crew dearly in morale. Since the fighting had started, shipboard morale had been crushingly low, and Bertoni had been working hard to build it back up again, but he had achieved little in the previous weeks and months and to have the ship’s top three managers---"the command" as they were called---replaced all at once meant a complete change in the ship’s operating style. No crew ever liked that. Not that Ames was a bad guy, but Bertoni had been in the service for nearly 20 years and he had met many assholes during that time. He had served with Ames for a few weeks and he hoped that Ames wasn’t that sort of guy. 

The inside of a Dyson Sphere

The Secret of Eternal Life

A classic

I just had to add it: a classic.....happy holidays to all!

Corfu vs Olde Earth

So this is the capital of the remains of the Anciene Republik, in comparison to Olde Earth and Mars. With over one trillion people, Corfu has serious environmental problems (as seen from this photo from orbit). If you want to write the capital world of Corfu, join our team! You (mostly) have a free hand as almost nothing has been written about this heavily-overpopulated capital world.

Crux Aliens

Okay, so I thought I would put out a nice photo of all the aliens living within the Dusarra Dyson Sphere and I think I got most of them. I am leaving a few available open slots for anyone who wants to write up the Dyson Sphere; you can pick 7 additional alien races that you want. The photo below shows some random alien race pictures, of which I know nothing about. Maybe you wanna write about them? Come join the fun!

Kobra Worlds SECTOR

Okay, so this is the Kobra Worlds Sector and the red area is the Kobra Worlds Polity. They grey area is the Fourth Interstellar Union, which has most of its worlds in the adjacent sector. Enjoy!

Fluid Worlds in Traveller

Sooo, I've always been fascinated by "fluid worlds" in Traveller (and why the world would anyone want to live there!?). I couldn't possibly dream of living on a planet where you probably can't see more than a mile or two around you, where the winds are so high that you have to move about in specialized armored survival suits to live, and where the air itself (usually methane) would kill you. I guess important mineral deposits would draw miners and such, but you'd certainly have a hard time growing food; I'd personally move all of it into orbit (in agristations). What I can imagine is all the nifty imported goods you could trade with such a place! You'd make a killing on just about anything, but especially survival gear, foodstuffs, clothes, medicine, and just about everything else since it would be nearly impossible to build enough buildings or cities on the surface to support such industry.

As you can see below, the planets' Majesty and Carahue are both fluid worlds, located in the Calafate subsector. Both have interstellar-level technology and both are technologically uplifting several worlds around them, mainly to increase trade. The high-population Tarbox System is also assisting uplift in the area. Targets of uplift in the subsector are the regional capital (Calafate) and the Dominion System, which is a Earth Prime agriculture world. 

Cool Story I Had to Add

CHAPTER FIVE June 4, 2393
Asin hadn't opened her birthday present in the entire year she'd been trapped alone, waiting for her parents to return.

The clock she and her father had built made it official: she was fifteen. The crowbar with the pink ribbon was still on her mother's workbench, so she picked it up and went to the crate.

She was sure it was a JE-50 robot kit, but when she pried the top off, she couldn't believe her eyes. It was the JE-55, which wasn't supposed to be out until .. well ... now.

The container was massive. lt contained all the parts to build the JE-55, but it was next-gen and also had a six-by-six­by-eight foot self-contained "store" that she knew would provide all sorts of upgrades. It looked like her father had ordered every possible option from the manufacturer in Jade City, one of the five major cities on the ship.

The instruction chip laid out all the details, so even a beginner could put the JE-55 together. Asin was not a beginner. She went to work. Her father had always taught her that precision and attention to detail were the keys to why his robots so rarely had breakdowns.

Though she could have probably figured it all out on her own, Asin read the instructions carefully and followed them to the letter. Her weld bonding was better than that of most people who had been at it for twenty years.

It took six hours, but she had the first of the robot's hands together.

 Asin went to get some food. Robot Maintenance Bay 14 had a cafeteria and a kitchen. There was a massive amount of food there because they had shared it with the pilots in the nearby fighter squadron, SAQ-135, which went by the nickname Ice Devils

The only place other than the repair bay she had access to was the Ice Devils' launch bay. She didn't like to go there often, though, because it was so big and empty. All but one of the fighter ships was gone, and she knew the reason none of them had come back. Asin made some powdered eggs and heated a can of soup. It wasn't much of a birthday lunch, but it was probably the first time in a year she had been at all happy.

Being locked in had been terrible at first. The battle had raged on outside, though she couldn't see or hear it, and she had wanted to run out and try to find her parents. It hadn't been possible, and even if it had been, she knew her father would have wanted her to stay put. Every day, Asin had prayed they were safe in another part of the ship and were just as trapped as she was.

Now that she was fifteen, it was time to get back to living.

She read the manual as she ate. It was going to take weeks to build, which was great because she loved a challenge. When it was done she would activate her robot and give it its first task.

The JE kit series was unique in that the models were sort of like video games. Each robot was designed to do real work, and every time it completed a task it earned experience points. When it had accumulated enough points to go to the next level, Asin would get to choose an add-on.

The add-on list was awesome. There were speech upgrades, skills, personalities, and physical add-ons. The upgrade "store" that came with it had all of these, and when she chose how to spend her experience points, the store would dispense the upgrade like a vending machine.

She was excited because she would get to keep working on building and improving the robot for years. Some of the upgrades would take a long time to earn.

Asin was most excited about level seven, when she could choose the artificial intelligence conversation upgrade.

The JE-55 was different because it was the first model designed specifically with the ship Magellan in mind. The earlier models had been aimed at the Earth and Mars outpost markets. Many of the tasks were simple household chores, but the 55 also included tens of thousands of possible tasks that were unique to the Magellan.

The kids at her school would have been so jealous. Asin gave a little sigh. She missed her parents, friends, and her teachers. She hoped they were all right, but the undeniable fact that a year had passed without a single person returning made her think that maybe the ship was just a floating, destroyed mess, except for her little part.

"Just keep going, Asin," she said aloud. It was what her father always told her when she would get frustrated or stuck on a task, and it always made her stop feeling sorry for herself and get back to work.

It didn't matter if she was he ony person left on the ship or not; she was alive and she was going to build a robot. The two of them would figure a way out of this mess.


If you wanna read more on this story, buy this book: Byrne, Arthur. The Magellan Apocalypse: Asin's Hope (The Magellan Apocalypse series Book 2) (Kindle Locations 1876-1877). Brian D. Meeks

The Tri-System

So I was looking at this photo and decided to name it the Tri-System. I don't have another information on it, do you? If you want to play in the Traveller Republik universe, feel free to join us and work on small projects like this one. The Tri-System needs details, folks! Come join us!

Dusarra Dyson Sphere location

Dusarra Dyson Sphere

When humanity began exploring the stars they found an incredible number of "technofossils", items from alien races who have existed (and possibly died out) long before we reached the stars. While charting new territory in the Crux Arm of the galaxy, starpilot Jaisun Dusarra made the discovery of a lifetime: a partially completed Dyson Sphere. Long imagined by Earth scientists, Dusarra's find shook the galaxy...especially when it was discovered it was inhabited by a remarkable number of alien races (an astounding 32 races). Only a small percentage of the sphere is habitable (around 2%) and the rest if it appears abandoned, and the locals refuse to talk about the issue. While two percent seems like a small amount, it actually equals out to around 280,000 Earth-sized planets and that number is needed when the Crux aliens inside the sphere are counted.....(to be continued, by you??)

Smart Paper

Smart Paper by LEG [leg@telekabel.at]

One of the outstanding products of TL8 science is Smart Paper, a material that looks and feels very much like thick, glossy paper, but is actually a controllable display surface. It combines the advantages of paper and screen, and has countless applications. There are several ways to make Smart Paper. Some manufacturers use thousands of tiny spheres with one dark and one bright hemisphere embedded between thin polymer foils, others make sheets out of crystal particles that can assume a certain color and level of brightness and maintain it without power.

There are two versions of Smart Paper: Normal and Advanced.

Normal Smart Paper is early TL8 and cannot change very quickly. Its surface can change many times per second, but not quick enough for video applications. The resolution of Normal Smart Paper is equal to that of a 20th century newspaper.

Normal Smart Paper has only very crude sensors to detect stylus movements on its surface. It can function as a simple touch screen, but writing can only be recognized with a Smart Pen, and it does not react very quickly. Users scribble on a small writing pad at the bottom of the page, which offers a quicker response.

Advanced Smart Paper is available at late TL8 or early TL9. Its resolution is like that of a modern high-quality art book, and it can change so quickly that it can be used to display video images in perfect quality.

Advanced Smart Paper has a fine latticework of sensors that can detect the movements on a stylus with a special electrically conductive tip (a dozen cost $50) or a Smart Pen. The overall quality of handwriting recognition depends on the Computer attached to the Smart Paper sheet. See Handwriting Recognition below.

Smart paper requires only minute amounts of energy, and all this comes from a tiny solar cell in one of the corners of a page or on the cover. Smart Paper can maintain its content without energy, but the quality of the image degrades after a few months. GMs take note: The good old barely-legible treasure map, the mainstay of many adventure stories, makes its comeback in the computer age as Smart Paper that has been in a dark corner for too long.

The Tantal

The Tantal are an ancient race of beings, living somewhere in the Milky Way (you can choose its location if you want to write more about this race). Their homeworld is classified Red Zone because the Tantal are some of the most powerful telepathic species in the known galaxy. Not much is known about their homeworld; technology use is hard to discern from orbit because of heavy reflective cloud cover, they may be completely non-technological. The Tantal themselves have the psychic ability known as "telesthesia", which means they can see through the eyes of other beings, hear through their ears, etc. Luckily, the range of this ability appears to be line-of-sight. Oddly, other psionic beings that come into contact with the Tantal sometimes have their psi abilities raised enormously (which is surely one of the reasons why this world is a Red Zone). In addition, other empaths that have worked with the Tantal say the race is so alien in mindset that they often cannot comprehend what they are seeing and hearing through other peoples senses. Finally, special permission by the local human orbital guard stations is needed before planetfall can be made.

High Population Worlds: Kobra Sector

Okay, so one of the key parts of Traveller as a game is the importance of high-population worlds. For most gamers, they will be involved with interstellar trade and most of the demand for such goods comes from the billions of people who live on high-pop planets. These worlds are also where the majority of the citizens live, where the majority of the taxes come from, and are strategic choke points in an regional conflict. For Kobra Worlds, the region was hit heavily by the Collapse so only a few high-population planets exist, most notably on "Earth Prime" worlds. Also, if you notice, more a third have lost their main starport and only a handful break TL10, the rest are fairly low-tech worlds but just because you are low-tech doesn't mean you don't import off-world goods! In fact, I would think that demand for high-tech goods for the billions of people on low-tech worlds would be in huge demand, but your mileage on this issue may vary. 

Random Post: TL15

So I found this cool article (somewhere) and will repost it here. It tells us whats available at TL15 within the Third Imperium, and how good (or not so good) it is as this tech level.

Stuff to remember at TL15:

+ Artificial Intelligence (AI) is "early production" at best. Closer to a Ford Model T than to a current model Ford Focus. Shipboard computers and other big systems "appear" smart but they are expert systems without real creativity. And AIs are often quirky (Think of the B5 AI that got "deactivated very quickly")

+ The nobility uses tech to impress. A floating palace (even more so if the world does NOT have gravtech) isn't all that uncommon nor is it "high tech" by imperial standards.

+ At TL10+ GravTech is everywhere. A modern Traveller city might look like a cross between "The Jetsons" and "5th Element" with three dimensional traffic grids. Or (for a bleaker view) like Earth in Pournelles CoDominion where the rich use Gravlimos (In the book they use helicopters) to move between work-enclaves and home-enclaves bypassing the slum zones in between

+ Energy is cheap. Any TL9+ planet can get all the energy it wants almost for free by putting a few solar satellites in orbit. Access to space is like taking a plane to America in the 1970s at that TL. At higher TLs it's "taking the tram"

+ No surprises. Tech is an incremental think with little jumps between TL9 and TL15. It gets more refined, more effective but remains the same.

+ Access to space is cheap. A 20dton Launch has the same cargo capacity to GEO as a Delta IV heavy but it's reuseabel with a turn-around time of hours, needs no special lauch pad (A concrete pad is IMHO recommended) and costs a measely 14 Million. And even the Air/Raft can (slowly) reach orbit if necessary. So basically every planet of TL9+ will have a huge orbital infrastructure (unless severe athmosphere conditions intervene) and lots of boats (some bigger than a players starship) running around in system.

Kobra Worlds Alliance (MAP)

Okay, so here is a map of the Kobra Worlds Alliance, stretching across three subsectors. Its basically a mini-polity in thrall to the trillion-population planet Kobra World. I have finished all the info on the map yet (naval bases, GG, etc) but will soon but I hope you enjoy the preview!

Balkanized Worlds in Kobra Sector

Okay, so one of the Traveller government types I really enjoy is "balkanized worlds", which is a planet with no global government, but many independent nations: like our happy planet Earth! What I like best about these types of worlds is the possible intrigue, infighting, etc all located in one place; you don't have to travel to another solar system to encounter a different type of person/government/religion, which I find very cool. A balkanized world is a "Type 7" government and can be very useful in campaigning, but it can also be a pain in the butt. One of the more difficult problems I had was to try and explain why a high-pop high-tech subsector capital could run an entire subsector, without being united itself on its own home planet (aka balkanized). At lower tech levels, these types of worlds are fairly common but as these levels advance, they become less and less prevalent. In the Kobra Worlds, both Rhayder and Schwayder are subsector capitals and both are balkanized (oh lucky me!). Both have low enough tech levels to explain the situation fairly easily, that and they are both located in the Collapse Zone. Overall, a balkanized planet can be a fantastic place to role play because you don't even have to leave the world to find conflict, and they tend to be lower tech, which can be helpful most of the time since the locals will often have shotguns and rifles....and you have TL15 plasma weapons!

Waterworlds in Kobra Sector

Okay, I've always been fascinated by waterworlds ever since Kevin Costers' epic movie "waterworld" came out. When I saw the film, I finally realized (on an huge scale) just how cool (and difficult) it could be to live on a planet that was covered almost exclusively by water. The new official addition of a planetary discription of an "ocean world" also perked my interest; any size A world with A water. Recently, I also read a sci-fi book where space ships that mis-jumped somehow ended up in a vast ocean sub-universe, with the ships crashing into the sea and many becoming island nations (if they didn't promptly sink). This "Endless Blue" sea pocket universe was pretty cool, even though the author didn't execute the book (or characters) very well. As you can see from the data below, most waterworld colonists survived the Collapse on the majority of these planets. I really find that odd since it would be very hard without technology to survive on such a planet: little to no manufacturing industry could be made, few if any medicines could be created, and large populations would surely be prohibitive due to such restrictions. Due to the Collapse, about half these worlds have lost their starport, but the majority still have significant populations on them (tens of millions).Overall I find waterworlds to be interesting places where you can meet really unique people (aquatic or geneered humans) and find unusual tools and weaponry (sonic weapons and blue-green lasers) as well as a great place to rest and relax, eat amazing seafood (or have it try to eat you!), and adventure in some very cool undersea settings. The planet Nemo is my favorite, of all these planets listed below, mainly because it still has a good-sized  population and is a very large planet indeed. Excelsior!

The Farris Family

Farris  Family: The single most wealthiest family on Kobra World, the Farris family is renowned for achieving wealth on their own, without the usual kickbacks and power mongering that define so many wealthy families. Their propensity for marrying Simes (an alien race located in the Black Forest Zone) marks them as mavericks and many people who despise aliens also reject the Farris family as well. This branch of humanity appears to generate outstanding economic leaders, and a short list of living members and their accomplishments is provided below:

Bett Farris: The current Governor of Kobra World, this senior matriarch of the family dominates her clan by sheer ability. She is currently age 52 and generates 12% of the family’s wealth by her position alone. Her marriage to Sels Farris, a Sime, was unprecedented for a politician of her stature and sparked widespread protests among human first radicals.

Wyner Farris: Brother of Bett and a Council Member on planet Kobra World, his recent close call from an assassins bullet has thrown the entire political situation on Kobra World into chaos. Senior family members have rallied to his defense however, and support from other planetary officials is solid as well.

Duvvan Farris: Current head of Zeor Industries and senior patriarch of the clan, Duvvan is currently 73 years old and gives a wide latitude to most family members, unlike many previous leaders of his house.

Yamile Farris: Wife of Duvvan and founding member of Doctors Without Borders (Kobra subsector) she is also a medical doctor as well and has generously supported the medical fields all across the region. Her role as President of Maxx Pharmaceuticals places her in a dominant role for medical nanotech production.

Payel Farris: A Commodore within the Kobra Defense Forces, her command has recently been enlarged by two attack cruiser divisions; a significant upgrade in firepower and a testament of her loyalty. Her campaigns against subsector-wide pirates is widely known and applauded but as a half-Sime she has been denied the military advancement several times over.

Klyd Farris: A senior Admiral in in the Kobra Navy, Admiral Farris is currently preparing to stage operations against the Union for its most recent attacks on Kobra World. He is 42 years old and brother to Payel. 

Sortine Farris: Governor of the Maroan Homeworld and a major contributor for life-extension medicines, she is also Senior Director of the JW Medical Combine on that planet. Wife of Kamal Farris .

Kamal Farris: Head of JW Medical Combine, which produces anti-aging drugs by the gallon, he is also a senior family member due to his age(66). He has survived several assassination attempts by Onesider rebels and he personnally funds rescue operations out of his own pocketbook in neighboring sectors.

Yoser Farris: Governor of High Singapore, one of the most important habitats in the Kobra World system, he has recently approved upgrading the Kobra orbital forts, an effort which cost billions but was necessary according to his press secretary. A wealthy man in his own right, Yoser races 100 meter yachts on nearby Marsalla's seas, winning several titles every year.

Rena Farris: Senator from Twilight Sector, she has been on Olde Earth for more than 10 years, trying to influence the recolonization of the "collapse zone" by the Anciene Republik, with little success. Her efforts have been blocked however by the Socialists and the Dolists on that world. She is the only Sime ever confirmed as an eCatholic. 

Jateen Farris: Current favorite among the Dolist crowd, she is a well-known and widely recognized actress across dozens of worlds. Despite her popularity, she must always conceal her arm tentacles (being Sime).

Raul Farris: Major board member on Zeor Industries staff, he is currently holding up the votes in the Committee to reorganize Zeor during this time of crisis. Family members are reportedly very angry with his withholding efforts, and public statements have been widely displayed in vid-papers across the planet at people's dissatisfaction with this black sheep family member.

About Mmm

Mmm is a single creature: an insectile hive-mind, with a single intelligence that controls all the billions of creatures that make up Mmm. Individual Mmm drones of visible size look, in general, like insects, and are modified for various uses. Mmm's homeworld is a small but fertile world with an average temperature of 80°, air pressure of .8 atmospheres, and .6 G. Planetologists believe that only Mmm's micro-management of the ecology has allowed the little sphere to keep so much atmosphere and water. Mmmm is located primarily in the Urbanos Sector and supports the Oceanic Alliance against its debilitating war against the Riders. More on this cool thing later....

Unemployment on a 1 trillion pop world (EEK!)

So I began to take a closer look at the population of Kobra World and realized I had a problem, the neighboring worlds and sectors in the Collapse Zone couldn't possibly sustain its level of economic growth, or even a low level of stagnation. Early on, I had imagined that the various worlds of the Kobra Alliance were helping the 1 trillion people survive, but looking at it now, the numbers just fall too short. For one, there are just a handful of agricultural worlds nearby, no where near enough to support a city-planet the size of Kobra: starvation issue!!! Also, I would guess that the governor of the planets' primary job would to try and get work for the unemployed on the planet, which I guessed was between 200-300 billion people! With that many citizens just sloshing around the planet and not producing anything and sucking down resources, I think I have a serious problem. I mean 1 trillion people on a planet would consume a VAST amount of products, food, medicine, etc. and the local Kobra Sector in its entirety still cannot support this number of people. In addition, with so many unemployed, there is a very bad secondary problem: idle hands are the devils workshop. People tend to get into mischief when they are bored and have nothing to do. I think I am missing out on how bad it could really be on Kobra World, that it most likely could be more of a "crime world", with billions and billions of pick pockets, thieves, et al. I guess I will have to rethink this but only a few options present themselves. First, Kobra World itself is at TL18-20, and therefor could use advanced 3D food printing technology. That alone could solve most of my problems. Second, at TL18 antimatter plants are available, so that covers energy. Third, Kobra World could use automated mining ships across the sector (or even manned ones) to support the vast influx of resources needed to sustain the city-states' technological civilization. Or, several jump conduits are still open at Kobra World and bring goods and services from other nearby sectors? I will ponder more. Any feedback is welcome.

So Far to Go

So this map is the region of space nearest the Kobra Worlds Alliance. It shows the adjacent sectors next to it and the path our "heroes" will journey on. 

Kyancutta subsector world data

Alborghetti        2505     C7B2574-A M Fl Ni            B823 Kw A1 V G5 V       
Andacollo              2501     D54977A-8                    W302 CZ G1 V               
Bradley's World      2804     X539000-0   Ba Lo Ni          014 -- M0 V           
Caracol           2609     A562302-B J Lo Ni             710 Kw A6 V           
Dagomarsh             3102     B110846-B   Na Ic             403 Re M9 V               
Darkdowner             3004     B654875-9   Ep Ex            R534 Re G7 V M6 D               
Diamond System         3003     B7A3366-8   Fl Lo Ni O:3102   800 Re M2 V               
Dome                   3002     X223001-A   Lo Ni Po Re      R323 Re K4 V               
Gastenhowe             2903     C6A4420-7   Fl Ni             614 Re M5 V M3 V               
Greater Darwin        2702     X525000-0   Ba Lo Ni          001 -- K3 V                
Helper              2905     X334000-0   Ba Lo Ni          000 -- K8 V M1 V           
Hyannisport            3008     B471669-7 M Ni O:3209         500 Re K7 V               
Hyperion               2902     CAAB200-B   Fl Lo Ni Iw       313 Re K2 V M2 V               
Iptomil'ishi        2901     B231898-C   Na Po Cp          523 Re G2 V K3 V              
Itabuna                2605     X443574-7   Ni Po            B603 Kw G9 V               
Kasyanov         2709     C624856-7 M                   902 Kw F6 V F8 D       
Kennebunkport          3105     C31278C-6   Na Ic            A701 Re M6 V A3 D               
Kyancutta              2602     B65898B-9 M Hi Ep            W515 CZ F0 V               
Layover          3207     C898434-7   Ni Ep             123 Re A2 V G0 D           
Linblader           3109     B7878CB-9   Ep                822 Re K7 V           
Llyra                  3203     E862621-4   Ni Co             524 Re G3 V               
Novaya Qom             2601     C562355-5   Lo Ni            W401 CZ F1 V M6 V               
Tressoma               2704     X7B2000-0   Fl Ba Lo Ni       000 -- M1 V               
Valledupar             3205     B747510-A M Ag Ni Ep          103 Re M0 V               
Zorritos           2506     D9C58BB-4   Fl                800 Kw M8 V F3 D       
       

Kyancutta Subsector (Kobra Sector)

Okay so I am working on finishing all the subsector maps for the Kobra Worlds sector to be made into a little black book. In the Kyancutta Subsector, there are two major polities in this region, the Kobra Worlds Alliance and the Fourth Interstellar Union, both of which are vying for dominance in the area. Luckily, with its massive population, Kobra World is the 800lb gorilla in the room and is steadily advancing its colonization and uplift plans to maturation. The larger Union has tried (several times) to incorporate the Alliance into its sphere, but it just doesn't have the military power to do so; only a third of the Union worlds are in Kobra Sector, the rest in the adjacent Ivanhoe Sector. Kyancutta subsector is dominated by Union worlds, but several Kobra Worlds lay nearby. The high-population world Kyancutta is the subsector capital of this region. The Iptomil homeworld is also located here; for more information on them, click HERE.

The megapop planet Kobra World

Well, this is the capital of the Kobra Worlds Alliance (a small pocket empire of 23 worlds), and also the largest population in the sector: over 1 trillion people live on this city-planet. It also has a very high technology level, and specializes in AI construction and advanced bioengineering (TL 18-19). The leaders of this world are intent on uplifting the neighboring star systems to higher tech levels, making them interstellar trading partners. So far, this effort has been successful to date, with nearly no opposing forces or groups standing in the way. I will post more about this planet shortly. Here is the main section on the website covering the Kobra Worlds. Enjoy!

Political Parties on Kobra World

This is original content, made by me and its a work in progress. Enjoy!

KOBRA WORLD POLITICAL PARTIES
Claytonist: A grand philosophy that takes parts from communism, Buddhism, and techno literacy. Many human worlds subscribe to Claytonism, and its pro-environment format, as well as the technological aspects of the philosophy, including eism and cyber-relativity. Pro-Uplift.

Conservative: There are several "conservative" parties in the Kobra World government, most having an aversion to change. Many moral and faith based organizations are conservative in nature, as are many economic groups that find their political home here. Pro-Uplift.

Democratic: There are several parties in this grouping, the most important being the Democratic Dolist League, a group with billions of adherents. The Democratic Socialist Party also has widespread support. Anti-Uplift.

Ecological: Varying groups vie for this title, from tree huggers to dyed-in-the-wool terrorists to strait ‘green’ parties. Most are radical fringe groups with little public support. Anti-Uplift.

Independent: Thousands of so-called ‘independent’ parties have sprouted up, most of them being anti-government zealots. 

Liberal: Primarily a ‘spend spend’ party intent on greater and greater benefits for their votes, the Liberals are the antithesis of the Conservatives. On Kobra World they are a large centrist party, some members of which still favor some kind of large-scale federation for nearby surrounding worlds. Pro-Uplift.

L-Republican: An ancient political party that supports limited government, the L-Republicans are steeped in the history of humanitys' homeworld. Center-right party. Pro-Uplift.

Maronite (eCatholic): A huge organization of politically aware religionists, the Maronites have followers in the trillions across the galaxy, all receiving direction by the ePope on Olde Earth. Pro-Uplift.

Popular Party (Dolist): Widely discredited party whose recent failure to elect their leader into power (Wilson Tang) sparked partisan fighting with this political group, and their fall from power. Anti-Uplift.

Unity: The Unity party is a center-right party that supports independence for all newly developing worlds in the sector. This group remains neutral during the annual budgetary fights within the government. It is a coalition of opposition parties who favor an independent Kobra sector, with its own regional currency and military force. It does not support Uplift efforts across the region.

New Alien Race

Hey hey, this is a new alien race I made up. They are located in the lower Orion Arm. Enjoy!

The Hammerstar Supernova

The Hammerstar was a hypergiant star located in the Orion Arm spur. It went supernova in the year 53,250 AD and directly killed over 400 billion people within its blast zone. In its wake, a destructive anti-technology "wave" or "collapse" began to move across the surrounding areas. Regional shipping, planetary governments and organizations, all suffered serious damage as the Collapse swept outwards. Over its 20,000+ year expansion, it killed untold trillions of humans and aliens in the lower Orion Arm. One of the most critical aspects of the terrible destruction caused by the Hammerstar was the sudden and abrupt failure of every jump conduit within 5000 parsecs, and the isolation of the Jerlea Ringworld with its 12 trillion population. Civilization fell toward the tip of the lower Orion Arm. The Heller expedition of 88,050 AD reached a full two kiloparsecs to trailing and still did not find the far side of the devastation zone, if one existed. Macro Economists explained this phenomenon as a kind of anti-synergy; the opposite of the kind that has made the galaxy, overall, stable for 690+ centuries. To this day recovery in the region has been sparse at best, although some high-tech micro-empires were able to withstand the Collapse and remain viable. There have been other regional collapses across the galaxy but none involving this much territory, and none have been attributable directly to a supernova.

My Favorite Traveller ship

Yeah, I love this beast! It is just too cool! This is the ship that our adventurers will be travelling on, leaving from Kobra World and then onto the Jerlea Ringworld, and then finally to Urbanos. I hope you enjoy the ride, I certainly am having fun writing it!

The Collapse Zone

The Collapse Zone is a region of space for those Traveller players who like that sort of thing. It was caused by the supernova of a hyper-giant star known as the Hammerstar, and reeked tremendous damage across space. This is a fast and simple graphic, showing the Collapse Zone compared to where Corfu and Olde Earth are located. Enjoy!

 

The Spread of Humanity

So this map, which is being professionally done for me by a friend, is hand drawn for now. It shows the expansion of humanity across the Milky Way galaxy. I am always open to suggestions and changes, I am very flexible when it comes to collaboration. Let me know what you think? The current year in which we write is a little over 100,000 AD.

Urbanos Subsector Map

This is the map of the Urbanos Sector, with the names of all its Subsectors listed. I know its a pretty boring map, but I am not a graphics person. It will be updated one day, I am sure. Enjoy!

Alien Race

I have played and created in the Traveller universe for over 30 years and just love it! Below is a dangerous alien race located in the Kobra Worlds Sector.

 

The Spice

So, insterstellar combat will add some spice into the JTAS-K on the trip between the Kobra Worlds Sector, the Jerlea Ringworld Sector, and the Urbanos Sector. In Urbanos, the ultra-high-tech alliance includes the humans of Minerva and Urbanos, the humans and Dolphins of Fronomios, the ancient Bushi avian race, and the creature know as Mmmm. They are in conflict with a super-deadly race of microscopic viruses known as "the Riders", who take over humanoid bodies and wage war on the "free humans". This map below shows how the conflict is progressing, with the Oceanic Alliance losing the war on both fronts. The second front is a force or alien race, that I haven't decided yet. I am looking for some advice in that area since waging war against a bunch of ultra-tech worlds (TL18-20) is extremely difficult at best. And yes I know Mmmm and the Riders are from GURPS, I just love them too much to not include them in my new universe. I will most likely take them out later, or just rename them, but for now they stay.

So who is the second race/power invading from the south east? Give me some ideas, people :)

JTAS-K

I will be shortly putting out a little book similar to the Journal of the Travellers Aide Society. It will be free, fun, and open to anyone who would like to contribute. Below is a feature article from JTAS-K #1. Enjoy!


The Dolphins of Fronomios
The planet Fronomios was colonized directly from Olde Earth over 80,000 years ago, with nearly 50,000 colonists in stasis and several hundred modified (uplifted) dolphins. The colony was funded from an "green" non-profit organization that was deeply worried about environmental degradation on humanity's homeworld and included those who were like-minded. Even with jump technology the journey took almost a year and the colonists (mostly from the European subcontinent) were grateful to see a nearly pristine world that they could occupy with only a little terraforming needed, mainly the introduction of human food plants and animals. As a growing colony, Fronomios build strong trade alliances with its neighbors over the following millenia, becoming a major source of robotics and android production before the Collapse. The population of the planet also grew substantially during that time to numbers so large that the original charter enforcing "green" government nearly had to be set aside; the population had grown to over 140 billion people and had no sign of stopping its growth. In the end, large floating cities housing these billions were built in the sky prevented a disaster on the ground and in the oceans.

At the same time, the technology from the oceans of Fronomios became very dominant in the sector as sonic weaponry developed by the dolphin population became incredibly popular among planetary police forces and mercenary units. This weaponry boosted the offworld trade of Fronomios into the hundreds of billions of credits and the resulting surge in finances spurring even greater research and development on the planet, leading to huge advances in technology. By the time of the Collapse, the tech level of the planet had far surpassed its neighbors and exploded to the highest level in the sector; eventually it decreased due to those effects, stabilizing at a surprising TL18.

Originally uplifted to sentience on Olde Earth, the Dolphins of Fronomios have continued to genetically tweak their species over time, and also created numerous mechanical sets of "waldoes" to be able to move around on land and in space. Their increasing intelligence worried many in the scientific community across the sector and actually led to a ban on such practises for over 10,000 years on Fronomios itself. This techno-supression enflamed a great deal of anger on the planet, but recently research into the field has increased dramatically since the outbreak of the _____ War. Cybernetic augs (or augments) are currently popular with the dolphins and genetic experimentation continues.

Overall, Fronomios is now considered one of the five most powerful and technological capable planets in the Urbanos sector. It enjoys dominant trade rights across the region and has even colonized 6 other worlds with dolphins further down the Orion Arm: recent communications with these daughter colonies, unfortunately, have been cut off by the advances of the ______.

The Minervans

The Minervans are humans who settled in the Urbanos Sector tens of thousands of years ago. They have always been heavily involved in the region. Below is a photo of the habitable planets in their system; Minervans are expert terraformers and Minerva'At is still being transformed.

 

The Local Map

So I have been working on the local map for a day or two, this is the region that our adventurers in the Journal of the Travellers Aide Society (Republik) will travel, from Kobra World to the Jerlea Ringworld, to Urbanos. This whole area is the Collapse Zone. 

The Inspiration

So, I was watching another website (I forget where) and he developed some pretty nifty software on how to create sector and subsector maps instantly from data. I was thrilled and went ahead and did the ultra-modern sector of Urbanos, and below is what it generated. This map was so freakin cool it inspired me to work more on the TrR and its myriad of worlds. 

The Ancients

Okay, so I have been working on an overall skeletal structure for what the Traveller Republik galaxy looks like, and why. There is an enormous amount of work to be done to fill in the 100,000 years of human history in TrR, and here is a little blurb of it. Remember, we are looking for team members to help create this universe; your contribution can be small, like telling us about the cool alien race you made and that now lives in TrR. Or you could contribute more, and we are looking for HIWG member-like people as well. Cheers!


"The "Originators" are considered to be the oldest alien races known to exist, and there are over a dozen of them. The oldest of them all is known as "the Fathers", and its been proven over and over that the Fathers spread humoid life across our galaxy. On thousands of worlds in the Milky Way, humans and near-humans are located; most can interbreed with humanity's main stock from Olde Earth. Why the Fathers did this is unknown, but many of their technofossils remain, mainly in the Orion Arm of the galaxy. The Father's homeworlds, located in the Orion Spur, still have advanced defenses that automatically fire on any approaching ship or small craft, therefore they are off limits to every race. Hundreds of star systems have also been terraformed by the Fathers, and many are unique like the Castle System (with five habitable worlds), the Halden Diamond (four habitable worlds in a rosette configuration), and the fantastical Tyree "Zoo" (two dozen low-tech alien homeworlds orbiting the red giant Tyree in the Perseus Arm of the galaxy).

The Fathers disappeared over a million years ago; theorists believe that they may have died out, wiped each other out in a war, are hiding out in a pocket universe, or just simply devolved into lower life forms. No one knows for sure.

Two additional alien races have colonized the Milky Way extensively and also left vast technofossils laying around, the P'zirr and the Mnxorn. Both of these races existed at the same time and apparently fought a genocidal war against each other. In the end, the reptilian Mnxorn were wiped out and the P'zirr Empire blasted back to a few dozen gas giant worlds, where they thrive. To this day, the P'zirr refuse contact with all other races but the wreckage of their war can be seen across most of the galaxy.

The last known ancient race that was extremely powerful and held significant influence on the Milky Way galaxy was the Makers, and a great deal of their technology is still around and functioning (and highly dangerous). They lived over 500,000 years ago and Maker technology is organic in nature, able to pervert any living thing they come into contact with into monstrous forms. Maker technology is worth enormous amounts of money, and is incredibly lethal to be around."

More Urbanos Sector details

The graphic shown below is the location of the homeworlds of the "Big Five", the five most powerful and populated planets in the region. The Big Five initally formed the Oceanic Alliance, with the help of the AI named "Ocean", and their forces continually wage war against the nearby threats that have been so succcessful against the adjacent sectors. 

Urbanos Sector details

Okay I worked up some Urbanos Sector details and thought I would share. The extremely high population world of Urbanos is located in the lower Orion Arm spur of the galaxy. It has an enormous population, well over 100 billion people and is technically a city-planet, with the entire surface covered with one gigantic stprawling city. Urbanos, along with the other Big Four, have built up a large alliance of planets, the Oceanic Alliance and is extremely high tech, the Minervans and the alien Bushi race are above tech level 18, making the Alliance extremely powerful. Unfortunately, it is also under attack, from two different directions by two completely sperate enemies. For now, here is a map showing the largest populated planets in the Urbanos Sector.