Barely There: Ursa Worlds of the Imperium

[Garnfellow]

Gateway to Destiny, set in 990, lists no less than 14 "Imperial Ursa" worlds in Ley Sector.

The T5SS data for 1105 only has Ursa on 2 worlds -- 600,000 on Khush (1804), listed as the Ursa homeworld, and another 150,000 on Miip (0819).

What has happened here? While Gateway says "Ursa are still quite rare, and live in small communities on several worlds" (36), they were a PC race in T20 and the GenAssist purge occured during the Rule of Man nearly 3,000 years ago.

So I can seeing rolling them back, but maybe not that far back?

 

[Whipsnade]

That is a substantial roll back, isn't it? While I've never been a fan of the Ursa or T20's four-armed geeks whose name I can't remember, that's quite a pruning.

Weren't the number of Droyne worlds cut back in T5SS too? Maybe they're making "room" for all the previously unknown NILs T5 suddenly gave us. Maybe they don't like the Ursa. Maybe they're dialing back all the non-GDW minor races. Maybe it's just something they want to do.

Who knows?

 

[aramis]

Gateway to Destiny, set in 990, lists no less than 14 "Imperial Ursa" worlds in Ley Sector.

The T5SS data for 1105 only has Ursa on 2 worlds -- 600,000 on Khush (1804), listed as the Ursa homeworld, and another 150,000 on Miip (0819).

What has happened here? While Gateway says "Ursa are still quite rare, and live in small communities on several worlds" (36), they were a PC race in T20 and the GenAssist purge occured during the Rule of Man nearly 3,000 years ago.

So I can seeing rolling them back, but maybe not that far back?

I've forwarded this for Marc.

 

[Enoki]

That is a substantial roll back, isn't it? While I've never been a fan of the Ursa or T20's four-armed geeks whose name I can't remember, that's quite a pruning.

Sydites... The improbable and rather ridiculous Sydites.

 

[savage]

Sad to hear this. The Ursas we're some of my favorites.

 

[aramis]

Sydites... The improbable and rather ridiculous Sydites.

I like the sydites...
And the "improbability" as an evolved is inherently NOT a problem - they're genetic mods by the ancients. Given the variations on what they did to Vargr, at least SOME of them had the skill to add limbs....

 

[GypsyComet]

There are also two Ursa communities in Fornast, and two in Corridor.

 

[Enoki]

I like the sydites...
And the "improbability" as an evolved is inherently NOT a problem - they're genetic mods by the ancients. Given the variations on what they did to Vargr, at least SOME of them had the skill to add limbs....

I know about their back history. They're in the part of the 'verse I use. I just don't see what an extra pair of arms buys. Being brutes for manual labor is reasonable, assuming you don't substitute technology. After all, digging a ditch is better done with a backhoe than with brutes using picks and shovels...

 

[aramis]

I know about their back history. They're in the part of the 'verse I use. I just don't see what an extra pair of arms buys. Being brutes for manual labor is reasonable, assuming you don't substitute technology. After all, digging a ditch is better done with a backhoe than with brutes using picks and shovels...

What it buys is:

• the ability to handle/carry boxes (and/or children) far more stably
• To hold the tool and the workpiece at the same time.

Many the day I wanted a third hand to hold something

 

[tjoneslo]

Gateway to Destiny, set in 990, lists no less than 14 "Imperial Ursa" worlds in Ley Sector.

The T5SS data for 1105 only has Ursa on 2 worlds -- 600,000 on Khush (1804), listed as the Ursa homeworld, and another 150,000 on Miip (0819).

What has happened here? While Gateway says "Ursa are still quite rare, and live in small communities on several worlds" (36), they were a PC race in T20 and the GenAssist purge occured during the Rule of Man nearly 3,000 years ago.

So I can seeing rolling them back, but maybe not that far back?

I looked through the Gateway to Destiny as well and found the 13 IU worlds.
Mur Mura (0614), is listed as IUL in the book, Traveller Map has it listed as IL for the 990 data, so not included in the count.

Miip (0819) and Khush (1804) are the Ursa worlds in 1105.

Tomauu (1110) in 990 has 4 billion population, and is one of the Ursa worlds. In 1105 the world is listed as Arum (1110), and has lost roughly a billion sophonts in the last century, and is now a Luriani cultural world. This is 25% of the population gone.

If you want to build a story about the history of the Ursa, here might be an interesting starting point. The ongoing war between the Ursa and the Luriani.

During the Rim War, the political in the Gateway domain were numerous. I can only imagine the Luriani, wanting to increase their poltical power, found the Ursa an impediment.

 

[GypsyComet]

If you want to build a story about the history of the Ursa, here might be an interesting starting point. The ongoing war between the Ursa and the Luriani.

During the Rim War, the political in the Gateway domain were numerous. I can only imagine the Luriani, wanting to increase their poltical power, found the Ursa an impediment.

The existing narrative suggests the opposite, though. The Ursa initially found a philosophical ally in the Luriani.

The out-of-game reason is probably related to scaling back a race that simply does not breed very fast from the initial placement by their creator (Hunter Gordon). It is easy to assume that the Ursa are still on all of those worlds, but do not rise to 5% of the population and thus do not call for even an "Ursa0" note. The worlds with low total populations might still call for an Ursa note, but that would be case by case.

 

[aramis]

Bears breed about as fast as chimps... most sows will cub every other or every third year from age 5+, with twins.

Chimps typically have one child every 1-2 years after age 4.

Also note that twins are considerably more common in bears than chimps. As in, the norm in bears, and rare in chimps.

The thing that makes the overall population growth lower is the higher bear cub mortality; make them sentient and cooperative, and that's likely to drop to chimp-like rates.

Certain biologists in Ak Dept of Fish and Game have equated bear intellect to that of primates, including lesser apes; one even used the term "protosentient"... (Yes, he's a traveller player.)

 

[GypsyComet]

That may have changed with the uplift, or social pressures given their flight.

It could also be that they started with a very small population, since smuggling ten thousand across the Rule of Man seems unlikely.

 

[Garnfellow]

That may have changed with the uplift, or social pressures given their flight.

It could also be that they started with a very small population, since smuggling ten thousand across the Rule of Man seems unlikely.

Campaign idea: Grizzly Adams meets Battlestar Galactica.

 

[savage]

There are also two Ursa communities in Fornast, and two in Corridor.

It seems the Vland would have taken mercy on the Ursa to feed any, we're better than humans" sentiments. Fornast makes sense but Vland and Corridor would've made more sense.

 

[GypsyComet]

It seems the Vland would have taken mercy on the Ursa to feed any, we're better than humans" sentiments. Fornast makes sense but Vland and Corridor would've made more sense.

That assumes their destinations were planned.

 

[savage]

That assumes their destinations were planned.

I don't think so but the Ursa may have gambled on it.

 

[Aramais]

Unless I am butting heads with Gypsy Comet, I have urged through channels that at least some of the Ursa population be restored.

"In the Lay of the Black Ursa, we know that most of the Ursa ships went toward Ley, possibly a few toward Fornast. Most of the Ursa were Browns, the large and very dangerous Ursa bred for hard work and combat by the hated GenAssist. GenAssist also began to uplift the European strain of my own forebears, the Black Ursa. We were smaller, possibly more "tractable," less likely to turn on humans. The Brown Ursa feared us for that reason, saw us a dangerous spies and potential overseers.

"When GenAssist turned on us, when we became hunted, the Browns banded together. They obtained ships, rescued as many as they could, and started toward a far star -- what is now called Ley. Still fearing that we were stooges for the humans, they left us few Black Ursa behind...save for one ship, commanded by Joseph Largeheart. Largeheart also thought we were a risk, but he disobeyed, landed his shuttles, and took my forebears on.

"The other Browns were afraid, but they would not destroy the massive freighter. Instead, they fed bad data to its jump sequence, causing our lone ship to misjump. We were far from the fleet when we emerged at _________.

"The Vilani are almost decent people. They repaired Largeheart's drives and offered him fuel and assistance, provided that he would agree to a destination that suited the Vilani purpose. They wanted us to go toward the Spinward Marches, where we might be a potent force against the mysterious ZHodani humans coming toward the Marches.

"We went, but our ship's life support was giving out. When we reached Shishkala, the Blacks voted to stay there, giving the Browns their chance to go further. We stayed, made our home there.

"The vessel went only ____ jumps further, to ______________, and the Browns established their home there.

"Alone, far from the vast majority of our people, we have respected the Vilani, but been watchful. We have always feared the Solomani -- generally with good reason."

--Dame Gabrielle Trumpet, circa 1104

Copyright (c) 2016 by Gregory P. Lee

 

[Garnfellow]

I guess I should admit that I am not a huge fan of the Ursa, at least as conceptualized in T20. I don't know that it's entirely rational for me to accept uplifted dolphins and apes but balk at bears, but there you go. However, if you pitched Ursa to me as a human chimera that only superficially resembles a Terran bear, a hybrid species with bear genes but also other mods designed for high gravity worlds, I can get on board.

It's sort of like how people hated the Mongoose Aslan module because the Aslan didn't look alien enough. (I think Hans called them "Lion-Men from Mongo.")

Unless I am butting heads with Gypsy Comet, I have urged through channels that at least some of the Ursa population be restored.

Here are the "lost" Ursa worlds:

Hex	World	990 UWP	Remarks
0406	Peraan	D865669-4	Ag Ni Ri
0707	Liberty	E796442-8	Ni
0905	Haze	A989331-A	Lo Ni
1107	Aevan	C7988D0-1
1110	Tomauu	D8589B8-8	Hi
1203	Shaasi	C888320-8	Lo Ni
1812	960-604	D9B6636-4	Fl Ni
0123	Urewr	C887A85-9	Hi
0224	Rising	B969454-A	Ni
0322	Xenophone	C88A667-7	Ni Ri Wa
0929	846-395	B9C7258-D	Fl Lo Ni
1524	586-281	E8B5333-6	Fl Lo Ni

Peraan, Haze, Shaasi, and Rising are all lower-population, larger-sized habitable worlds that seem like good fits for Ursa. Urewr also has compatible physical characteristics, but with 50 billion inhabitants even if the Ursa are a tiny proportion of the population, that could be a LOT of bears.

 

[Aramais]

I guess I should admit that I am not a huge fan of the Ursa, at least as conceptualized in T20. I don't know that it's entirely rational for me to accept uplifted dolphins and apes but balk at bears, but there you go. However, if you pitched Ursa to me as a human chimera that only superficially resembles a Terran bear, a hybrid species with bear genes but also other mods designed for high gravity worlds, I can get on board.

It's sort of like how people hated the Mongoose Aslan module because the Aslan didn't look alien enough. (I think Hans called them "Lion-Men from Mongo.")


Here are the "lost" Ursa worlds:

Hex	World	990 UWP	Remarks
0406	Peraan	D865669-4	Ag Ni Ri
0707	Liberty	E796442-8	Ni
0905	Haze	A989331-A	Lo Ni
1107	Aevan	C7988D0-1
1110	Tomauu	D8589B8-8	Hi
1203	Shaasi	C888320-8	Lo Ni
1812	960-604	D9B6636-4	Fl Ni
0123	Urewr	C887A85-9	Hi
0224	Rising	B969454-A	Ni
0322	Xenophone	C88A667-7	Ni Ri Wa
0929	846-395	B9C7258-D	Fl Lo Ni
1524	586-281	E8B5333-6	Fl Lo Ni

Peraan, Haze, Shaasi, and Rising are all lower-population, larger-sized habitable worlds that seem like good fits for Ursa. Urewr also has compatible physical characteristics, but with 50 billion inhabitants even if the Ursa are a tiny proportion of the population, that could be a LOT of bears.

Marc has agreed that restoration might be prudent. To whom do I speak?

The truth can be told regarding my interest in Ursa. Someone High Up in the
Traveller Universe kept asking if my interstellar circus would have bears. I started discussing some kind of uplifts, being unaware that T20 had done it already. Jim explained it to me. We then added two characters. More recently, as Gabrielle and Roland found their voices in the novel that will soon be Kickstarted (as soon as Marc and I both have ten minutes to work at the same time), Jim Kundert pointed out that my Ursa were a bit small, and that circus bears were usually the smaller European bears anyways. And thus we concluded that there were indeed Blacks and Browns.

I believe it was Thomas Edison who said, "Necessity is the mother of all bullshitting." Or something like that.