Annic Nova Questions

[robject]

Thread Resurrect

Where did the Annic Nova come from?

I've heard that they could be from rimward of the Marches... Leviathan territory.

I suppose they could be to spinward.

Assuming their serial number is Vilani, could they be coreward from the Vland sector? Being humanoid, is it yet possible that they're from Vargr space coreward?

Hmm, if it's possible, then it makes sense why the Imperium hasn't contacted them -- we just don't go very far into Vargr space.

What are your theories, suppositions, and wonderings about it?

 

[Arthur Denger]

Annic Nova - WARNING - Possible spoilers follow...

Where did the Annic Nova come from?

I've heard that they could be from rimward of the Marches... Leviathan territory.

I suppose they could be to spinward.

Assuming their serial number is Vilani, could they be coreward from the Vland sector? Being humanoid, is it yet possible that they're from Vargr space coreward?

Hmm, if it's possible, then it makes sense why the Imperium hasn't contacted them -- we just don't go very far into Vargr space.

Well, here's my take:

WARNING: Possible spoilers follow...

The case that the Annic Nova was basically an RV (Recreational Vessel) crewed by well-to-do family members of a minor race from somewhere coreward has always seemed to me to be a valid one. Because of the star collector/jump capacitor technology I'd always imagined the Nova itself having been constructed by the Darrians or the Droyne (though there is no real evidence of this, and I don't recall its controls being psionically actuated). Perhaps it was specifically built for export to the non-psionic market.

The two small craft which serve as the maneuver drives certainly seem close to Imperial Standard designs, so it's possible the starship may have been Old Vilani in origin, or maybe it was a hybrid, cobbled together of various human and non-human made components. We don't really know how long the Annic Nova had been jumping around on autopilot, nor do we know the technology behind its unorthodox J-drive, so it could (in theory) be quite ancient. I would assert that due to the registration, the Annic Nova surely operated at least on the periphery of Imperial Space, if not solely within it.

There was some media evidence on board which linked the starship crew with the exotic world Victoria, though the exact nature of that link remains vague, and I think Victoria can easily be ruled out as the world of origin. Perhaps the crew called there and subsequently contracted the fatal disease. Or, they could have contracted it from another prior destination, or even brought it with them from their homeworld. Many of the details in this Adventure were left to the discretion of the ref.

One thing is certain: twenty-seven years later, the story is still as compelling, the mystery still as intriguing as it was when Double Adventure 1 first rolled off the press.

 

[jfetters]

Well, here's my take:

WARNING: Possible spoilers follow...

The case that the Annic Nova was basically an RV (Recreational Vessel) crewed by well-to-do family members of a minor race from somewhere coreward has always seemed to me to be a valid one. Because of the star collector/jump capacitor technology I'd always imagined the Nova itself having been constructed by the Darrians or the Droyne (though there is no real evidence of this, and I don't recall its controls being psionically actuated). Perhaps it was specifically built for export to the non-psionic market.

The two small craft which serve as the maneuver drives certainly seem close to Imperial Standard designs, so it's possible the starship may have been Old Vilani in origin, or maybe it was a hybrid, cobbled together of various human and non-human made components. We don't really know how long the Annic Nova had been jumping around on autopilot, nor do we know the technology behind its unorthodox J-drive, so it could (in theory) be quite ancient. I would assert that due to the registration, the Annic Nova surely operated at least on the periphery of Imperial Space, if not solely within it.

Yeah, that was kind of the take I had as well - the "nacelle" boats looked very Imperial, so that implied some kind of somewhat local customization. But the main ship was so different (especially in the J-Drive), I had thought it was from a minor human race from far spinward (since coreward would entail moving through Vargr space, and I don't see that happening very easily, but it is certainly a possibility).

One thing is certain: twenty-seven years later, the story is still as compelling, the mystery still as intriguing as it was when Double Adventure 1 first rolled off the press.

Absolutely agreed!

 

[robject]

One thing is certain: twenty-seven years later, the story is still as compelling, the mystery still as intriguing as it was when Double Adventure 1 first rolled off the press.

And that's why it should be brought back into canon!

I'm leaning towards a coreward address. After all, there are lots of worlds there which used to be First Imperium.

 

[Arthur Denger]

...But the main ship was so different (especially in the J-Drive), I had thought it was from a minor human race from far spinward (since coreward would entail moving through Vargr space, and I don't see that happening very easily, but it is certainly a possibility).

You could be right about the Annic Nova originating from Spinward. If they had developed their own J-drive, wouldn't they then be considered a major race?

And that's why it should be brought back into canon!

I was unaware Shadows/Annic Nova had been stricken from the canon rolls. When did that happen?

 

[jfetters]

You could be right about the Annic Nova originating from Spinward. If they had developed their own J-drive, wouldn't they then be considered a major race?

I guess it depends on whether or not they stole it from someone.

 

[Vargas]

I was unaware Shadows/Annic Nova had been stricken from the canon rolls. When did that happen?

I don't believe it ever has. However, I think there are some individuals who disavow its existance because they feel it conflicts with the starship design system.

 

[robject]

I guess it depends on whether or not they stole it from someone.

Hey, trade happens... jump drives and smallcraft could be sold by Oberlindes to the Vargr, who pass some of them along to other peoples, who can copy those designs. (Or, alternately, they can be taken from stolen ships converted to Vargr corsairs...)

I imagine that a people in Foreven might have more influence from the Zhodani than the Imperium, but maybe not.

 

[robject]

I don't believe it ever has. However, I think there are some individuals who disavow its existance because they feel it conflicts with the starship design system.

Ah, that may be so. Perhaps the problem is that there is one unanswered question that really should be answered. It has one potentially disturbing feature that, unless properly constrained, would invalidate the OTU.

To wit: its accumulators allow it to jump without fuel. If those accumulators simply store plain energy, and they can be copied by the Imperium, then there are problems.

Too much freedom of travel. Replace the canopy collector with a small power plant. You can cross any rift you like, albeit slowly. Every ship will have a Jump-6 drive and no jump-fuel requirement. What does that do to merchant activity? What does that do to warfare? It changes everything, which might be cool for a new milieu, but not for CT, nor MT, nor TNE.

If, on the other hand, those accumulators can only charge from a canopy pointed at a star, or those accumulators cannot be built at TL15, then all is well.

That, in my opinion, is the easiest way to 'fix' a potential 'problem'.

Another possible fix is to say that the jump drives themselves are exotic; however, in the ship's description it's plain that the obvious difference is the canopy and accumulators. The jump drives are even labelled with CT module names -- Jump drive-J and Jump drive-F or something like that -- so they're likely to be standard.

 

[Gruffty]

In the bar of the living area (no. 6, Quarters Deck) there is

at least one bottle labelled in Anglic, and dated about 20 years ago.

The adventure is set in 1105, so the bottle dates from approximately 1085. We can surmise that the AN passed through Human occupied space, or has come into contact with traders who have Human wares for sale, roughly 20 years ago and that at that time at least one member of the crew or a passenger was still alive.

 

[Ishmael]

Its been a long time, so I've forgotten lots, but the collector would have been a solar collector of some kind?
If so, I see no problem because for merchants, time=money and the amount of time required by solar panels to collect and store a few thousand megawatts would be considerable. As far as crossing a rift?..think how much longer it'd take for the collectors to do that job when parsecs from the nearest star.

( assuming the idea of a hi-output fusion powerplant for a j-drive gulping lots of hydrogen implies lots and lots of power needed. )

 

[jfetters]

That's a real good point, Ishmael. It's a protype drive made by some rich mad scientist, which would never pay for itself in the real world...

 

[Hyphen]

Dear Folks -

FWIW, you may also like to read all the old speculations I gathered together on my website.

Go to:
==> Tavonni Repair Bays
==> Canon Problems
==> CANON PROBLEM 4: The Annic Nova Backstory

 

[Arthur Denger]

ANNIC NOVA speculation

Ah, that may be so. Perhaps the problem is that there is one unanswered question that really should be answered. It has one potentially disturbing feature that, unless properly constrained, would invalidate the OTU.

To wit: its accumulators allow it to jump without fuel. If those accumulators simply store plain energy, and they can be copied by the Imperium, then there are problems.

Too much freedom of travel. Replace the canopy collector with a small power plant. You can cross any rift you like, albeit slowly. Every ship will have a Jump-6 drive and no jump-fuel requirement. What does that do to merchant activity? What does that do to warfare? It changes everything, which might be cool for a new milieu, but not for CT, nor MT, nor TNE.

Just because the ANNIC NOVA may jump without conventional water 'fuel' does not mean it jumps without energy, and that energy apparently takes a very L-O-N-G time to store up. I think the key here is the term 'jump accumulators'. There is a reason why contemporary OTU starships use jump capacitors. Either the technology for jump accumulators is unavailable at TL15, or (more likely) it is obsolete technology, having been bypassed or discarded in favor of current jump caps/hull jump grid systems.

Maybe stellar collector/jump accumulator technology limits a starship to a preset jump distance, based directly on the J-drive: Jump-2 and Jump-3, in the AN's case. It's possible that jump accumulator technology maxes out at J-3. The drive size to jump distance ratio seems inefficient, too. And remember, the ship's computer is approximately three times the mass of comparable models in Imperial Space, in 1105. That could mean that this is a very old ship, far older than the original Beowulf or Sulieman, even the antique Gazelle, for example.

If, on the other hand, those accumulators can only charge from a canopy pointed at a star, or those accumulators cannot be built at TL15, then all is well.

That, in my opinion, is the easiest way to 'fix' a potential 'problem'.

Another possible fix is to say that the jump drives themselves are exotic; however, in the ship's description it's plain that the obvious difference is the canopy and accumulators. The jump drives are even labelled with CT module names -- Jump drive-J and Jump drive-F or something like that -- so they're likely to be standard.

Here, the Droyne hand-built theory would seem a good fit. I do really wonder about the possibility of Darrian technology in the ANNIC NOVA design, too. Is there any possibility they could have constructed such a ship?

...The adventure is set in 1105, so the bottle dates from approximately 1085. We can surmise that the AN passed through Human occupied space, or has come into contact with traders who have Human wares for sale, roughly 20 years ago and that at that time at least one member of the crew or a passenger was still alive.

That would place the Anglic labelled wares circa the Fourth Frontier War, would it not? Which also could raise some interesting questions, not least of which might be the presence of a biological agent intended for weapons use, but accidentally released by the trader crew. Or maybe the ANNIC NOVA carried a couple of families of refugees from a world infected by such a plague, desperately trying to escape it... then the plague catches up with them, as they've unwittingly brought it aboard with them.

...It's a protype (sic) drive made by some rich mad scientist, which would never pay for itself in the real world...

With all due respect, and while anything is possible, I find this theory to be one of the more far-fetched.

Dear Folks -

FWIW, you may also like to read all the old speculations I gathered together on my website.

Go to:
==> Tavonni Repair Bays
==> Canon Problems
==> CANON PROBLEM 4: The Annic Nova Backstory

Thanks, David! Very interesting reading, and highly recommended. One excellent point (which I had overlooked) is the presence of a third docking ring and the apparent absence of an additional ship's boat. That begs the question, was the ANNIC NOVA successfully evacuated? What became of the survivors?

 

[jfetters]

With all due respect, and while anything is possible, I find this theory to be one of the more far-fetched.

Yeah, it wasn't meant to be a serious theory. But the economics of it does raise interesting questions, as whereever it came from, I think it would be unlikely to have been a mass-produced vessel. But who knows? That's one of the things I love about this anomaly.

 

[Arthur Denger]

Agreed. It would be fun to see someone develop a serious prequel/sequel to these great early Double Adventures, something like "Epidemic/Return to Yorbund". The original adventures are vague enough that it could probably be done in the original style, and without revealing all aspects of the mystery.

 

[robject]

Production Number of the ANNIC NOVA

Remember that the name 'ANNIC NOVA' is a registration number. Wherever it comes from, it was registered with a pair of numbers, which could describe its ability (in which case we have a basis for ship designs which fall anywhere inside those parametric ranges) or a serial number (in which case we have a minimum production count). It could also mean something else that's unrelated to shipyard production. But I'm not sure what that would be. Maybe a routing number, or a lot number as a piece of cargo (carried inside of what?).


20-year-old bottle of wine?

All the wine tells us is that they like wine. Perhaps they were visiting an arcology on Yorbund, and bought the bottle from a trader, or a store, etc.


Non-Useful Jumpdrives?

That's what I'm nailing down for myself. Canonically, we really can't tell if these are useful or not. It's tricky having to decide for yourself what their parameters should be, if you're into that kind of thing. As you can tell by the twenty years of discussion it's spawned.

In order to preserve the OTU, they can't be superior, which means the listed limitations are important.

Can the accumulators charge faster? Can we use a power plant to charge them? Can the two jump accumulators power a single Jump-5 drive? Can all three accumulators power a single Jump-6 drive (we can install a power plant-A and a fuel bladder to run life support)?

Even used as-is, the ship has a certain espionage value that ordinary ships might not have; it can refuel in a barren system.

If you can replace the collector with a power plant-A, then you can reach any world without stopping in any other system. It's slow, but arrival is unblockable. That's great for a strike fleet. That's great for Virus. That's bad for any defending empire; the borders are 100% porous.

If you can charge that sucker faster than 1-6 weeks (using a bigger power plant perhaps) then you have to explain why the design can't be copied by a TL-15 civilization. Maybe it's TL17. Jump drives aren't TL17; I suppose the accumulator-collector pair are.

So if the accumulator and collector are high tech, then the problems seem to melt away.... except the rest of the ship doesn't seem particularly high tech.

So that's how my mind is working this week. Trying to get some traction.

 

[selunatic2397]

I have had many groups of travellers find the Annic Nova.

Most just sold it...3 asked me about the accumulators...

I told them it was probably Tech16...they couldn't construct them at Tech15...and yes, they could use them in their ship...which they did.

It didn't have an impact on the Imperium...just one ship anyway...

Until they [ a player who was into roleplaying and was "drunk" ] bragged about their ship's range in a bar...

I promptly had "pirates" steal it!!!

Making the accumulators Tech16 worked fine for my players, and the canopy taking 1-6 weeks and a lot of space folded up led to it being dismissed and sold off.

 

[robject]

I have had many groups of travellers find the Annic Nova.

Most just sold it...3 asked me about the accumulators...

I told them it was probably Tech16...they couldn't construct them at Tech15...and yes, they could use them in their ship...which they did.

It didn't have an impact on the Imperium...just one ship anyway...

Until they [ a player who was into roleplaying and was "drunk" ] bragged about their ship's range in a bar...

I promptly had "pirates" steal it!!!

Making the accumulators Tech16 worked fine for my players, and the canopy taking 1-6 weeks and a lot of space folded up led to it being dismissed and sold off.

Yes, the odd equipment is the canopy and accumulators. Therefore, it seems to do the least harm to put all the limitations onto them. Making them high-tech is a good way to go.

 

[robject]

Registration Number

IMTU the registration number encodes its design, sort of like a madman's USP. Since the canopy + accumulators are intended to be inferior to Imperial designs, I figure they're assumed (!).

4: 4 x 150 tons = 600 tons
00: utility vessel (100 tons of machine shops)
00: long-duration vessel (hydroponics and extra living space)
19: Jump configuration 19
- divide by 6 to get the primary jump number
- remainder is the number of backup drives, at rating minus 1
00: no maneuver drive
024: smallcraft (in this case, probably two 40-ton pinnaces and one 50-ton tug)