"Black Imperium"?

[EvilDrGanymede]

I presume this corresponds to the solid black bits of the TNE map... but what's actually going on behind the Black Curtain - in both TNE and 1248?

Is it a Borg-like nightmare (well, from everyone elses' perspective anyway) of Virus and Humans merging? Or a Transhumanist Imperium might be fun

.

Or is it just 'Black' because nothing can enter or leave it? Is everything dead in there?

Or perhaps the mysterious Empress psionically manifested there with her Uberpowers and set up shop somehow...

Any hints, clues, etc?

 

[savage]

I go for the beserkers wiping out human life or enslaving it for its own good. Perhaps forcing cyborg implants on them but never borg, never equals.

Savage

 

[daryen]

It is the Black Curtain because whatever enters never leaves. Therefore people quit entering a long time ago. What was behind the Curtain was never explained in TNE.

The tidbits MJD has shared on the boards, while not revealing what is behind the Curtain, definitely show that the 1248 sourcebook will explain the mystery. (I figure we will at least get a pretty good look when the restored Ziru Sirka tears down the Black Curtain.)

 

[MJD]

They don't tear it down. They go in, in massive force.

And then something comes out.

 

[Falkayn]

Originally posted by daryen:
It is the Black Curtain because whatever enters never leaves. Therefore people quit entering a long time ago. What was behind the Curtain was never explained in TNE.

The tidbits MJD has shared on the boards, while not revealing what is behind the Curtain, definitely show that the 1248 sourcebook will explain the mystery. (I figure we will at least get a pretty good look when the restored Ziru Sirka tears down the Black Curtain.)

But, there is no actual curtain ... therefor elight will make its way out of those areas, admittedly slowly by Traveller standards, but still fast enough that a scout ship hoevering a safe distance off the black curtain is going to be able to gather lots of data about what's going on in there. Perhaps that's the sort of detail canon normally handwaves away ('there's too much noise from an inhabited system to make anything out').

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Originally posted by MJD:
They don't tear it down. They go in, in massive force.

And then something comes out.

Damn you, Martin - you're enjoying this, aren't you! (then again, we are asking for it, Maybe we're just masochists )

Though Daryen has a point - unless there's something darn weird going on (ie a sector-sized Black Globe), ships should be able to detect radio traffic from outside the Curtain. Granted, it'll be several years - or possibly even decades - out of date, so it may not be all that useful. A ship 20 hexes or so outside the edge of the Curtain should just be hearing what was going on in 1130 at the edges. Get a bit closer to the edge and you can hear the dying screams of Lucan's people, which are still propagating at lightspeed throughout the Imperium. What fun....

Of course, if it really is TOTALLY QUIET in there, then that's bound to scare the living bejeezus out of anyone around the Curtain...

 

[MJD]

Yes, I'm enjoying this. Kinda itching to just spill the whole thing but it'd take a book. And of course I have to finish writing THIS one first.

The black Curtain is not a spacial phenomenon or anything. Light goes in and out. Thing is, ships that get close to the edge vanish, or turn up as wreckage. There is no clear 'event horizon'; some ships have got in further than others and come back alive.

But there is a point that you don't come back from. It's just not fixed, that's all.

 

[Arsulon]

Neat. I seem to remember a little "academic" write up in the TNE rulebook attributed to the University of Delphi: it mentioned WHEN the area inside the Black Curtain WAS investigated, it was tough finding documents pertaining to Lucan because they'd been destroyed by mobs. I think it was dated to the 1240's or something. Does this little tidbit count as canon in that we can expect there were expeditions beyond the Curtain by that point?

 

[MJD]

By 1240 the Curtain is gone and what remains of the Black Imperium is laid bare.

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

I'm betting that any ships going beyond the Curtain hear this eerie piping music coming in a a signal from outside, and then when they get to the centre the Daemon Sultan Azazoth shows up and kills 'em all.

That's my theory anyway.

(and if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read some HP Lovecraft )

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by Evil Dr Ganymede:
I'm betting that any ships going beyond the Curtain hear this eerie piping music coming in a a signal from outside, and then when they get to the centre the Daemon Sultan Azazoth shows up and kills 'em all.

That's my theory anyway.

(and if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read some HP Lovecraft )

Damn it! You just had to go and give away the big secret didn't you. Sheesh!

Hunter

 

[savage]

All sounds fine to me. And I recall the ships going in and the virus ships heading in and all of that but if the black imperium is some mutated nightmare and the surounding subsectors become less than liveable it will make things all the better. Nothing like a war of attrition

Savage

 

[kafka47]

Could the Black Curtain phenomena be related to the Wild Space phenomenae in Gateway. Or is the Black Imperium related to a darker force that we have not yet seen in Traveller?

Is the Black Curtain and Empress Wave related? Interested sentients want to know Martin...

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Originally posted by kafka47:
Could the Black Curtain phenomena be related to the Wild Space phenomenae in Gateway.

Wild Space?? Suddenly I'm having Spelljammer flashbacks...

 

[Arsulon]

It's actually called the Black Curtain because the outer mantle consists of dark chocolate. The innner layer (apx. 12-16 parsecs) is made of bonded superdense nougat and caramel. At the centre there's a big nut (a.k.a. Lucan.)

 

[MJD]

The Black Curtain is NOT NOT NOT NOT *NOT* some Star Trek spatial phenomenon! It is sort of like the Iron Curtain... ie it is a region we don't get information from inside, but not because of anomalies or other star trek type stuff, just because ships don't come out again.

Why? The reason is fairly simple. Seems likely that something kills them.

The Curtain is not linked to Deadspace. Or to the Wave, which is also not linked to Deadspace except in the most vaguely general way (both are manifestations of abnormal physics, for one thing).

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Originally posted by MJD:
The Curtain is not linked to Deadspace. Or to the Wave, which is also not linked to Deadspace except in the most vaguely general way (both are manifestations of abnormal physics, for one thing). [/QB]

OK, you got me here... what's Deadspace?!

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by Evil Dr Ganymede:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by MJD:
The Curtain is not linked to Deadspace. Or to the Wave, which is also not linked to Deadspace except in the most vaguely general way (both are manifestations of abnormal physics, for one thing).

OK, you got me here... what's Deadspace?! </font>[/QUOTE]From the Gateway Domain Sourcebook

One curious phenomenon in the region is what is now termed as Deadspace. This is an area where Jump drives behave erratically or not at all. Physical and temporal laws seem to be also distorted in the region. The exact region where this occurs is vague, but most reports have originated from a region somewhat to Rimward-Trailing of the point where the four sectors of the Gateway domain meet. Occasional reports from other areas have not been verified, but according to some scientists the area of effect is widening.

Hunter

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Originally posted by hunter:
One curious phenomenon in the region is what is now termed as Deadspace. This is an area where Jump drives behave erratically or not at all. Physical and temporal laws seem to be also distorted in the region. The exact region where this occurs is vague, but most reports have originated from a region somewhat to Rimward-Trailing of the point where the four sectors of the Gateway domain meet. Occasional reports from other areas have not been verified, but according to some scientists the area of effect is widening.

Iiiiiiinteresting. Is this something new concocted for the T20 book, or is it mentioned in earlier versions of Trav?

I like it though. Clearly there are some areas of the universe where the Gauntlet rating* is higher .

*: (WW 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse' reference)

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by Evil Dr Ganymede:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by hunter:
One curious phenomenon in the region is what is now termed as Deadspace. This is an area where Jump drives behave erratically or not at all. Physical and temporal laws seem to be also distorted in the region. The exact region where this occurs is vague, but most reports have originated from a region somewhat to Rimward-Trailing of the point where the four sectors of the Gateway domain meet. Occasional reports from other areas have not been verified, but according to some scientists the area of effect is widening.

Iiiiiiinteresting. Is this something new concocted for the T20 book, or is it mentioned in earlier versions of Trav?

I like it though. Clearly there are some areas of the universe where the Gauntlet rating* is higher .

*: (WW 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse' reference) </font>[/QUOTE]Deadspace is new to the game and unique to the Gateway region. It has never been encountered anywhere else in Charted Space.

Hunter