All Things Vargr

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Warships

To a Vargr, a starship, or even a spaceship, is a means to an end. And thereby hangs a tail.

Vargr usually don't categorize ships, except by how fast they go and how well they are armed. And possibly, how survivable they are.

So the first adjective would indicate the possible speed of the ship, and the second the amount of armament it carries. In a way, it's like humans defining everything as a cruiser, whether patrol, colonial, frontier, light, strike, armoured, protected, heavy or battle.

The Eskimos have fifty ways to describe snow, despite appearances, Vargr do have an overwhelming interest in the combat capability of any particular transport, not just starships, it's just starships give them access to an entire universe of opportunities, opportunities that are there for anyone with enough intestinal fortitude and firepower.

The holy grail of many Vargr is to captain a fast ship with a spinal mount; it doesn't really matter the size of the spinal mount, except that it is a spinal mount, and would blow away any run of the mill Corsair that was unfortunate enough to stray into the gunsights.

A battleship would be identified by an inflection on the second adjective that indicated that the speaker was very impressed by the spinal mount that could be brought to bear. Not that you'd expect any Vargr political entity to have a battleship, and if they did, it wouldn't be termed as such. It would be a starship. A very fast, incredibly well-armed, jump capable transport.

 

[savage]

Vargr: Warships

To a Vargr, a starship, or even a spaceship, is a means to an end. And thereby hangs a tail.

Vargr usually don't categorize ships, except by how fast they go and how well they are armed. And possibly, how survivable they are.

Pack is one of the most important Canine features, however, I think some of these statements undermine Vargr as an effective race. And they are an effective intellectual race. As canine-based they'd have a strong sense of smell that may lead them stronger than vision. Not every Vargr would want to be a ships captain. Perhaps its as common as kids that want to be fighter pilots today. There sense of smell could make them not really like ship board lack of sensory diversity.
In fact, most canines are happy not to be the lead of the pack. This would allow huge infrastructure to occur into subsector governments. Perhaps these governments are more oligarchy driven than pack leader which explains some of the Rebellion hype and how control is easily lost. More over, it explains why sector wide government is not common for them. There is evidence that Vilani have impacted the Vargr as a race. This is not unlike our impact today on other species on Earth. A canine can follow single orders some knowing 400 word commands. A scientist just argued that gorilla's are entering the stone age. Perhaps from watching human use of tools. I could go on but neighboring intergalactic cultures could impact each other over centuries. Perhaps larger Vargr communities are just around the corner.

If there was one OTU thing i would change, it would be their TL. I would put them at a lower TL and IMTU i do just that. High Vargr TL is 13 giving them healthy fear of the Imperium and Zhodani.

 

[Condottiere]

Outside of the Zhodani, whom I find I have little interest in, the Vargr are probably the closest we get to an interstellar species/polity that we can actually state that we can more or less understand.

Aslan it's claimed, are too heavily anthropomorphized.

I gave up the pilot dream due to developing myopia, though I suspect I probably would have eventually flunked out of any air force academy I would have attended. Before that were fireman and police chief.

The little thought experiment with ship categorization for the Vargr was due to my playing around with how I believe the Solomani should be doing theirs.

From the Vargr perspective, transport is a means of getting you from one place to another faster, than if you had to go on foot, and the transport itself doesn't really matter, beyond if it's able to do that, and what it's capabilities are to help you achieve your objective at the end of that leg of the trip.

A ship with a single turret allows a Vargr to go avargring, though only the most optimistic of Vargr will think that they'll get back to enjoy the loot, let alone intact.

Armed is armed, it's just a question of the degree to which anyone or anything is armed, so a single turret may get a Vargr to have a mehish inflection, whereas a spinal mount may get a highly enthusiastic response and glowing eyes as they utter the adjective armed.

Of course, since practically everything spaceshippy in Vargr space would normally be armed, if only as a deterrent, the term armed can sometimes be dropped, as the normal trend in languages is to contract, so possibly the term unarmed can be included, which can be code for foolhardy, courageous, trusting, or easy meat.

 

[savage]

I don't see it. Any culture reaching a superiority level of ours today with interstellar reaches would require organization skills. That includes ship classifications and advanced planning. I do agree that they may be highly focused on at least one armament.

We really need to ask ourselves what makes sense for an interstellar culture with staying power. Any carnivore pack species will modify it's territory if the food source is gone or limited. It's not all about greed with the Vargr, it's about the hunt. It may be the hunt for charismatic authority over others or the best solution to a product transportation issue. Vargr Merchant Princes/Princesses may be extremely cunning in negotiations and following contracts from their perspective.

That being said, what did the Ancients do to make Vargr a viable experiment in interstellar cultures? We're not talking about my russell/beagel, Minos, hopping in the suv and assuming it's his! Not caring about the details, just roll down the window.
The Traveller Vargr would need to be very clever and worry about the details to be successful. In CT, we worried less about cultural details. The Vargr made the perfect Caribbean Pirates working lone ships or with Pirate Lords.

If we now step back and say "how does this work?" Then we must assume a more robust culture; with Vargr art, Vargr textiles, Vargr medicine, and Vargr construction. Shear numbers of Vargr Corsairs make little sense. In the invasion of Corridor, 500 ships are seen attacking Depot. The 3I Navy considers it unusual. This indicates more than fierce independence but also a more diverse culture than assumed in the previous discussion.

 

[Condottiere]

I sometimes look at our modern civilization and economy, and wonder not only how they can continue to function, but how they managed to come in existence in any event, beyond the dawn of the twentieth century.

Sometimes you have to take it on faith, or as the scifi technical term, handwavium.

My personal estimation is if only ten percent of the Vargr decided to go avargring, the Imperium would be over-run, even if they had to make Death Star trench runs against Tigresses, sheer attrition favours the Vargr.

It's canonical that Vargr reach rarely extends beyond their grasp, whether political or commercial. That doesn't mean that every Vargr has dreams of being the alpha dog, or at least the alpha dog amongst his immediate companions or even the top dog of his workplace, but it does mean that that testosterone boost during puberty pushes him to try, probably encouraged by his caregivers, much like children are encouraged to try out for sports.

Not all are capable, and some do it just for fun or for the exercise; very few turn professional, and less are very good at it.

Some are just sociopathic enough be very successful at it. Or at least, becoming CEOs of large corporations.

I think that most Vargr are busy smelling out opportunities, business or otherwise, and digging up business plans and technical innovations, allowing them to carve out a niche in their local economy, until someone more innovative or efficient comes along and steals their customers.

They probably lack an institutional memory, which means the same things can be invented again and again. Also, likely no patent office.

 

[savage]

I sometimes look at our modern civilization and economy, and wonder not only how they can continue to function, but how they managed to come in existence in any event, beyond the dawn of the twentieth century.

Sometimes you have to take it on faith, or as the scifi technical term, handwavium.
...

They probably lack an institutional memory, which means the same things can be invented again and again. Also, likely no patent office.

Modern civilization is held in place by those that want it this way. The powerful and wealthy. They play back and forth as they have for many centuries.

Vargr, Aslan, K'Kree civilizations would more than likely have the same functional behavior. No reason to believe differently. And there is no reason to believe some governments have lawyers and patent offices in Vargr space and others do not.
Handwavium works in a game instance but if we're analyzing Vargr society then we need to be cautious about assuming too much.

For an advanced civilization to exist it must have organization and structure. Now perhaps at TL28 memory is genetically passed on and pure communism or complete democracy works. But not in the OTU major alien races from Terran decent.

 

[Condottiere]

I think the Vargr are very capitalistically minded when it comes to commerce.

Possibly also as to how they invest their political capital.

And I think politics for them has to be more paws on.

 

[DED]

I like your interpretation of the UWPs and the political ramifications of the Glory of Taarskoerzn forcing "western" and "eastern" halves.

Vargr: Irrghstrn Manifestos or Game of Bones

http://www.travellermap.com/?options=25591&x=-45.007&y=85.574&scale=61.8203125

Since I didn't find much material, canon or otherwise, on this particular region of space, a lot of the foregoing was speculation based on the UWP. I tend to take the default Traveller setting as turn of the century, and as I understand it, the Glory of Taarskoerzn expanded late or later, which means that the map is inaccurate for this period of time.

Trying to draw lines of communication from Western and Eastern Manifestos seems impossible, without touching on a Glory controlled system.

That would imply, for a polity that is heavily concerned with centralization and central control, that it's authority is even remoter, even if you don't assume it sets up a huge, heavily defended space station(s) anchored in empty hexes, connecting both halves, instead of detouring around Glory.

This seems to leave the Vargr systems in Eastern Manifestos pretty much on their own, excepting naval bases in the important systems.

The most significant two systems appear to be Daekvagul and Uekhourg, equally powerful, both that could be perceived to have diametrically opposing forms of governance and ideology, and surrounded by any number of other systems that can be sources of minor or major annoyances.

Uekhourg's power bases are close together, ironically considering their more chaotic form of governance, but frustrated from expansion, whereas Daekvagul has a powerful navy, but prefers the soft power approach.

 

[Condottiere]

You have to remember it's pure conjecture on my part.

Though my projected timeline sees an apocalyptic interstellar war enveloping that subsector, between those two rivals, setting the scene for Taarskoern expansion towards Imperium space.

 

[DED]

Well, that is what happened during MT/the Rebellion.

 

[FreeTrav]

Vargr: Military Packs

Rather surprisingly, I recently discovered that the Vargr are a lot more interesting than I ever imagined them to be, if you start reading between the lines, even assuming that what I extrapolated from them was never the author's original intent. ...

Condottiere, I would very much appreciate it if you would compile all of these posts together (revising as you feel needed), and submit the result to Freelance Traveller (editor@freelancetraveller.com - please include your real name for credit) for inclusion in a future issue of the magazine. I can easily see this being either a Lecture Hall and Library or a Club Room article, certainly "deep" enough to rate being a Featured Article.

 

[Lycanorukke]

Damn I missed this thread. And a very interesting one which a lot of reading.

I think the Vargr are very capitalistically minded when it comes to commerce.

Possibly also as to how they invest their political capital.

And I think politics for them has to be more paws on.

Which brings it nicely into the V&V book with 'Junk Dealers' and 'Emissaries'.

The 'Junk Dealers' are the middle men and facillitators for the corporate side of things. They keep a finger on the pulse of which companies are on the up and which ones are going out. They snap up bargains from liquidations, fire sales, or coarsair booty and offer 'just in time' delivery to those who need it (for a nominal fee of course). And it doesn't have to be just equipment, think modern day headhunters obtaining needed skills for someone by offering a better deal. They are close to human brokers, but instead of dealing in giant lots of generic goods or people, they offer a much more personalised service. If you need something right now, a good Junk Dealer will probably have what you need and if they dont they know someone who does....all for a fee of course.

And then you have the 'Emissaries' acting basically as the middle men working between various disparate groups. I always pictured them as something like third party diplomats - a neutral party to organise things between two groups and with a form of diplomatic immunity. As long as the Emissary is 'on the clock' no one in their right mind would interfere with them or suffer consequences like the Khwarezmia did when they messed with Mongol diplomats. Indeed a school for emissaries is mentioned in V&V and they are well respected by most as neutral arbiters.

Now back to reading...

 

[Condottiere]

When I lived in the States, I loved hitting the yard sales and swap meets on the weekend.

It's a very grey market, especially since there's no paper or electronic trail.

Vargr tax collection and forensic accounting must be very challenging Vargr professions.

 

[Lycanorukke]

When I lived in the States, I loved hitting the yard sales and swap meets on the weekend.

It's a very grey market, especially since there's no paper or electronic trail.

And perfect for typical PCs. They often need to obtain (or offload) grey market items quickly with no questions asked or messy starport paperwork to fill out.

And even if the stuff perfectly legal, knowing someone who can handle selling all that crap from your last mercenary encounter is invaluable.

 

[Condottiere]

Condottiere, I would very much appreciate it if you would compile all of these posts together (revising as you feel needed), and submit the result to Freelance Traveller (editor@freelancetraveller.com - please include your real name for credit) for inclusion in a future issue of the magazine. I can easily see this being either a Lecture Hall and Library or a Club Room article, certainly "deep" enough to rate being a Featured Article.

You may have to narrow down the desired subject matter and word count.

 

[Quint]

For what it is worth I have always seen large non-Vargr polities as potentially stabilizing (and sometimes extremely destabilizing) for nearby Vargr polities. The Charisma-boost that comes from having powerful allies, regular diplomatic relations, etc. ends up "calming down" the churn that exists in normal Vargr society. Amusingly, even having a "powerful enemy" that is being consistently defied can act as a stabilizing influence for the Vargr if they can successfully balance survival and provocation.

So, the Vargr polities that border Zhodani and Imperial space tend to be more stable that the coreward borders and deep interior of Vargr space. This is, IMHO, likely quite true on the Zhodani border (because the Zhodani are quite adept at being able to "play the right notes" with the Vargr to get them to behave) whereas the Imperials tend to employ effective carrot and stick routines of gunboat diplomacy.

Looking at Agent there may very be some real possibility for the sale of decommissioned Imperial warships to Vargr states with some very hardcore software and hardware locks that prevent them being used in Imperial space. Heck, even for purpose-built "Vargr warships" that come from Imperial shipyards - and yet have safeguards installed. Especially if there is a "Imperial Naval Advisor" onboard with friendly polities that keeps it working merely by their presence...

Just my two cents,

D.

 

[Condottiere]

Going along with the Motie theme, I think that the Vargr will turn out to have excellent engineers, mechanics and hackers among their number.

Outside of building hulls, there has to be extended lead times for more complex equipment, especially jump drives and spinal mounts.

The Vargr can build them, but maintaining reliable or any supply chains is a massive undertaking, beyond the actual manufacture.

 

[mike wightman]

Vargr AM - extended character generation.

Vargr have planetary navies and subsector navies. Infer from that what you will...

 

[Condottiere]

Darth Vargr

 

[Condottiere]

Vargr: Daekvagulian Naval Hierachy

Daekvagul through contact with the Imperium, developed a more disciplined and hierachical to organize their military around:

Their charismatic dictator has taken, more accurately, reluctantly forced to accept the rank of Admiral of the Fleet

Admiral of the Fleet
Commodore
Master and Commander
Lieutenant in Command
Lieutenant

Pack leaders are accorded the rank of lieutenant, which also implies that they represent the interests of the Service and the State, which incidentally, happen to be run by the same person.

If more than one pack forms the crew of a ship, one pack leader will be promoted to Lieutenant in Command.

Vargr ships considered as major combatants may require an individual with the requisite charisma and experience to get automatic respect from his assigned underlings, and have demonstrated the utmost loyalty to be entrusted with a powerful warship. He is appointed Master of the ship, and Commander of the crew.

Commodores are proven commanders, both in loyalty and capability, assigned to lead and control a flotilla, which could consist upto fifty ships of various sizes.