Traveller Universe Basics
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:49 pm
This thread is for description of the universe basics IMTU (In My Traveller Universe) which is what will be true for this campaign. There may be differences between this and the canonical Traveller universe.
The following is an adapted version of the Traveller description by Marc Miller.
TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCE PROVIDES A FOUNDATION
The technological basis for Traveller provides a common ground from which all extrapolations and story ideas can spring.
The Jump Drive: The secret of interstellar travel is the jump drive. While in normal space, travel is limited to the speed of light (and it takes years to go from one star to another), jump drive leaps around space: a jump covers one parsec (3.26 light years; the average distance between stars) in about a week. This is one hex on the flat 2-D Traveller starmaps. There are higher levels of Jump drive, titled Jump-2, Jump-3, etc... Each higher level enables jumping further in the same amount of time. So a Jump-2 drive enables jumping 2 parsecs or 2 hexes in 1 week while Jump-3 does 3 hexes and so on. The current highest maximum known Jump level is Jump-6.
Communication Limited To the Speed of Transportation: But the universe is so vast that even the mega-speeds of jump drive can't work miracles. There is no known communicator that can send messages faster than light-speed. Communication is limited to the speed of transportation; a message to the edge of the empire needs to be carried there via a jumping ship. For an empire 300 parsecs to the border that message takes more than a year to deliver, even under the best of circumstances. News of war, conflict, invasion, disaster, or even peace takes just as long to get back to the center of government. This affects social and governmental organization.
Gravity Manipulation: The advance of technology has resulted in practical methods of gravity manipulation. Gravity manipulation expresses itself in three ways: as artificial gravity, as inertial dampers, and as thrusters.
Artificial gravity is built into the deck plates of starships, many other vehicles and structures, rendering a natural environment most like that of a planet surface.
Inertial dampers eliminate the extremes of inertia that can pull and push people and equipment as it maneuvers. Although such dampers are imperfect, they do allow a normal environment on ships as they maneuver, and they allow extreme physical maneuvers on small craft as they perform high-G maneuvers.
Thrusters are the final aspects of gravity manipulation: they move vehicles forward without the necessity of reaction mass (as required for rockets). Thrusters work like rockets, but without the requirements for large amounts of rocket fuel. This is impossible under the laws of physics as known to 21st Century Terrans.
Fusion Power: Cheap fusion power means that the inhabitants of this universe are not tied to gas stations or complex fuel systems. Hydrogen taken from water, ice, even the methane of gas giants like Jupiter is all that is required to produce abundant electricity. Once a culture rises to the minimum required tech level, its cities depend on electricity produced by efficient, pollution free fusion power. Starships draw their fuel from the worlds they visit.
SOCIAL SCIENCE ADDS CHARACTER AND FLAVOR
The social sciences add a characteristic flavor to this universe by emphasizing the effects of the social sciences on societies in the universe. Psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, and economics all impact the activities of the people and the stories of this universe.
A Cosmopolitan Universe: Traveller is a diverse, heterogeneous universe composed of many different factions, concepts, races, communities, and individuals. People (and the term is used to refer to "beings") come in many different forms, all of whom constantly interact as a matter of course. Naturally, there is conflict, antagonism, friction, and strife between various groups, but the universe itself allows any with talent to rise to the top.
A Human Dominated Universe: Through a combination of fortuitous accident and strong-willed effort, humanity has reached a position of dominance in the universe. Three distinct groups of humans (the Vilani, the Solomani, and the Zhodani) have each created empires that span thousands of stars and trillions of citizens. In addition, more than a hundred additional human societies scattered among the stars; each is, in its own way, a commentary on the strengths and the particular weaknesses of the human condition.
Duty, Honor, and Loyalty: Naturally (see: Communication Limited To The Speed Of Transportation), interstellar society values people (human or not) on whom it can depend: those who are loyal and who faithfully do their duty are the ones to whom society awards responsibility. A natural nobility arises of those leaders of society who faithfully and with innovation follow the orders of their superiors. At the same time, superiors have learned to express their orders in the most general of terms: to give greater freedom of action.
There Is No "Prime Directive": Interstellar governments have never felt it their duty to impede development, especially economic development. As a result, no government has ever promulgated the "Prime Directive_ (that undeveloped cultures and societies be allowed to develop without interference until they can enter the community of interstellar civilizations). Instead, economic forces have driven the development of those worlds rich in natural or exploitable resources, and have retarded the development of worlds without resources.
Everything Is Driven By Economics: Regardless of the pronouncements of political, moral, or cultural leaders, action in this universe takes place because it will produce some economic advantage. Economic advantage generally means rewards in a monetary sense, but it can also mean rewards in political or social power. But at the foundation of all action is economics.
Wheels Within Wheels: The quest for meaning is always fruitful in the Traveller universe. Environments shape events, ideas, concepts, and beliefs, but they are also shaped by the thinkers themselves. And as those thinkers (be they readers, players, or viewers) learn and mature, they begin to have new insights into their beliefs. For example, the uninformed consider the Zhodani (an human race with some ability in psionics) an evil empire intent on destroying the Imperium. Only with time is it possible to see these Zhodani as humans with families, goals and desires just like other humans. And only with time is it possible to see that some Zhodani are evil. In the Traveller system, Wheels within Wheels constantly shows new ideas and new facets of old ideas to the participants.
The following is an adapted version of the Traveller description by Marc Miller.
TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCE PROVIDES A FOUNDATION
The technological basis for Traveller provides a common ground from which all extrapolations and story ideas can spring.
The Jump Drive: The secret of interstellar travel is the jump drive. While in normal space, travel is limited to the speed of light (and it takes years to go from one star to another), jump drive leaps around space: a jump covers one parsec (3.26 light years; the average distance between stars) in about a week. This is one hex on the flat 2-D Traveller starmaps. There are higher levels of Jump drive, titled Jump-2, Jump-3, etc... Each higher level enables jumping further in the same amount of time. So a Jump-2 drive enables jumping 2 parsecs or 2 hexes in 1 week while Jump-3 does 3 hexes and so on. The current highest maximum known Jump level is Jump-6.
Communication Limited To the Speed of Transportation: But the universe is so vast that even the mega-speeds of jump drive can't work miracles. There is no known communicator that can send messages faster than light-speed. Communication is limited to the speed of transportation; a message to the edge of the empire needs to be carried there via a jumping ship. For an empire 300 parsecs to the border that message takes more than a year to deliver, even under the best of circumstances. News of war, conflict, invasion, disaster, or even peace takes just as long to get back to the center of government. This affects social and governmental organization.
Gravity Manipulation: The advance of technology has resulted in practical methods of gravity manipulation. Gravity manipulation expresses itself in three ways: as artificial gravity, as inertial dampers, and as thrusters.
Artificial gravity is built into the deck plates of starships, many other vehicles and structures, rendering a natural environment most like that of a planet surface.
Inertial dampers eliminate the extremes of inertia that can pull and push people and equipment as it maneuvers. Although such dampers are imperfect, they do allow a normal environment on ships as they maneuver, and they allow extreme physical maneuvers on small craft as they perform high-G maneuvers.
Thrusters are the final aspects of gravity manipulation: they move vehicles forward without the necessity of reaction mass (as required for rockets). Thrusters work like rockets, but without the requirements for large amounts of rocket fuel. This is impossible under the laws of physics as known to 21st Century Terrans.
Fusion Power: Cheap fusion power means that the inhabitants of this universe are not tied to gas stations or complex fuel systems. Hydrogen taken from water, ice, even the methane of gas giants like Jupiter is all that is required to produce abundant electricity. Once a culture rises to the minimum required tech level, its cities depend on electricity produced by efficient, pollution free fusion power. Starships draw their fuel from the worlds they visit.
SOCIAL SCIENCE ADDS CHARACTER AND FLAVOR
The social sciences add a characteristic flavor to this universe by emphasizing the effects of the social sciences on societies in the universe. Psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, and economics all impact the activities of the people and the stories of this universe.
A Cosmopolitan Universe: Traveller is a diverse, heterogeneous universe composed of many different factions, concepts, races, communities, and individuals. People (and the term is used to refer to "beings") come in many different forms, all of whom constantly interact as a matter of course. Naturally, there is conflict, antagonism, friction, and strife between various groups, but the universe itself allows any with talent to rise to the top.
A Human Dominated Universe: Through a combination of fortuitous accident and strong-willed effort, humanity has reached a position of dominance in the universe. Three distinct groups of humans (the Vilani, the Solomani, and the Zhodani) have each created empires that span thousands of stars and trillions of citizens. In addition, more than a hundred additional human societies scattered among the stars; each is, in its own way, a commentary on the strengths and the particular weaknesses of the human condition.
Duty, Honor, and Loyalty: Naturally (see: Communication Limited To The Speed Of Transportation), interstellar society values people (human or not) on whom it can depend: those who are loyal and who faithfully do their duty are the ones to whom society awards responsibility. A natural nobility arises of those leaders of society who faithfully and with innovation follow the orders of their superiors. At the same time, superiors have learned to express their orders in the most general of terms: to give greater freedom of action.
There Is No "Prime Directive": Interstellar governments have never felt it their duty to impede development, especially economic development. As a result, no government has ever promulgated the "Prime Directive_ (that undeveloped cultures and societies be allowed to develop without interference until they can enter the community of interstellar civilizations). Instead, economic forces have driven the development of those worlds rich in natural or exploitable resources, and have retarded the development of worlds without resources.
Everything Is Driven By Economics: Regardless of the pronouncements of political, moral, or cultural leaders, action in this universe takes place because it will produce some economic advantage. Economic advantage generally means rewards in a monetary sense, but it can also mean rewards in political or social power. But at the foundation of all action is economics.
Wheels Within Wheels: The quest for meaning is always fruitful in the Traveller universe. Environments shape events, ideas, concepts, and beliefs, but they are also shaped by the thinkers themselves. And as those thinkers (be they readers, players, or viewers) learn and mature, they begin to have new insights into their beliefs. For example, the uninformed consider the Zhodani (an human race with some ability in psionics) an evil empire intent on destroying the Imperium. Only with time is it possible to see these Zhodani as humans with families, goals and desires just like other humans. And only with time is it possible to see that some Zhodani are evil. In the Traveller system, Wheels within Wheels constantly shows new ideas and new facets of old ideas to the participants.