OTU Only: Development of the OTU

[SpaceBadger]

I've been skimming through some of my old gaming magazines this evening, and found an article that reminded me of way back when we didn't have this huge amount of history and background that we call the OTU.

The first mention I can recall of the Imperium was in Book 4 Mercenary in 1979, and that was only a brief mention of the Imperium as a distant central government that did not exercise a lot of control out on the frontiers. Skimming the book, I see that we were also introduced to a couple of megacorporations, Sternmetal Horizons LIC and Ling Standard Products.

Supplement 3 Spinward Marches came in 1980, with a few mentions of the Zhodani and the Frontier Wars, but some of what was in that book was incomplete or inconsistent with the setting as it developed later.

The first actual map of charted space that I ever saw was in an article in Different Worlds #9 in August 1980, "The Imperium, A Traveller Campaign" by Marc Miller and Frank Chadwick. The map was accompanied by a brief history and timeline which revealed that the Imperium was actually the Third Imperium, built on the ruins of the Vilani Empire and the Rule of Man, after the Long Night.

The paragraph about the other major races in particular shows the early stage of development of the setting:

The Aslan, a race evolved from carnivore/pouncers and characterized by strong family-based social organization.

The Vargr, genetically manipulated from carnivore/chaser stock by the same Ancients who disseminated humaniti to the stars. The Vargr have long suffered from an inability to organize themselves (to any degree and for any length of time) above the star system level, and their empires tend to rise and fall with unsurprising regularity. In addition, the Vargr suffer from a racial inferiority based on the knowledge that they are not the products of evolution; that they were manipulated into intelligence by someone else.

The Centaurs (a misnomer actually, since they certainly do not look like the centaurs of Greek mythology) are evolved from herbivore/intermittent stock. With six limbs and a centrally-placed head, they are most notable for their slow pace of life and philosophical outlook.

The Hive is a communal life form derived originally from omnivore/eater stock.

Further details of the Imperium developed in JTAS, including the Contact articles which expanded and re-imagined the major races.

Anybody else know of other details of the Third Imperium setting that came out any earlier than these?

 

[robject]

Not earlier, but there's a 1981 GenCon/Origins GDW Handout "Aliens for Traveller" that has the six major races explained as we know them today, from which apparently came the Contact! articles.

 

[mike wightman]

1979 Aventure 1 The Kinunir details an Imperium, the details of which are later changed.

I like to call the Imperium of Kinunir, Mercenary and the early Journals as the proto-OTU.

A much darker Imperium in this setting

 

[Cryton]

Not earlier, but there's a 1981 GenCon/Origins GDW Handout "Aliens for Traveller" that has the six major races explained as we know them today, from which apparently came the Contact! articles.

That handout, or one very much like it (labeled Aliens for Traveller Draft Material) can be found in the front of FFEs The Classic Alien Modules 5 - 8 (FFE 0022).

Its a good read.

 

[DonM]

The original version of the Imperium setting article appeared in Different Worlds magazine in the Aug/Sept 1980 issue. Modified elements of it appear in a variety of places, including The Traveller Adventure.

 

[Sturn]

1979 Aventure 1 The Kinunir details an Imperium, the details of which are later changed.

I like to call the Imperium of Kinunir, Mercenary and the early Journals as the proto-OTU.

A much darker Imperium in this setting

I glanced back at these and see what you mean. A definite darker, but more realistic, view of the Imperium.

Am I the only one thinking I would have liked this darker Imperium more then what we ended up with/

 

[dean]

I glanced back at these and see what you mean. A definite darker, but more realistic, view of the Imperium.

Am I the only one thinking I would have liked this darker Imperium more then what we ended up with/

Nope. Darker is better for Adventure! Not to mention more interesting in general.

 

[DangerousThing]

I glanced back at these and see what you mean. A definite darker, but more realistic, view of the Imperium.

Am I the only one thinking I would have liked this darker Imperium more then what we ended up with/

I agree with you. The darker Imperium gives a reason for the characters to break the laws occasionally with some justification - such as breaking a senator out of prison.

 

[Carlobrand]

I glanced back at these and see what you mean. A definite darker, but more realistic, view of the Imperium.

Am I the only one thinking I would have liked this darker Imperium more then what we ended up with/

"Robbins' claim fails because the Hobbs Act does not apply when the National Government is the intended beneficiary of allegedly extortionate acts."
Justice David Souter, for the majority, WILKIE v. ROBBINS

The Hobbs Act was a 1946 law that criminalized extortion that interfered in interstate commerce (Feds have no jurisdiction over such acts within a state's borders). In a nutshell, this case involved a rancher and BLM officials butting heads when, owing to a series of errors, the BLM lost an easement to a road crossing the rancher's property. The rancher accused certain BLM officials of using their power to extort an easement from him when he proved unwilling to grant it otherwise. Some of BLM's behavior in the head-butting contest were noteworthy enough to draw a sharp dissenting opinion from some of the other justices hearing the case. However, while it might maybe have earned the BLM employees some sort of internal disciplinary consequence, it wasn't technically illegal when it was the government's employees doing it.

Why mention this? Just to make a point: just because the overall picture is one of goodness and niceness does not mean there isn't some meanness lurking down where the rubber meets the road. That the Imperium as a whole is not terribly dark does not mean parts of the Imperium are not terribly dark. Imperial officials are people too - some of them are corrupt, some of them are petty, some of them think the ends justify the means, some of them can't seem to separate their personal biases out when they make decisions and take actions, and when all is said and done, some of the laws the government applies to us commoners won't apply to the agents of government. So, if you want it dark, make it as dark and nasty as you want. It just means the Wise and Benificent Duke of Regina is more interested in court intrigues and the Vast Zhodani Threat than in what the trench-level Imperial officials are doing to the common Imperial citizens.

For every Eisenhower, there is a Hoover.

 

[Timerover51]

If I may put my 2 Cr Imperial in (allowing for inflation), what is ordered at a high level still has to be implemented by the people on the spot, and it might not necessarily be in accordance with what has been ordered.

On the 28th of June, 1740, the Duke of Newcastle, Principal Secretary of State, delivered to him His Majesty's instructions. On the receipt of these, Mr. Anson immediately repaired to Spithead, with a resolution to sail with the first fair wind, flattering himself that all his delays were now at an end. For though he knew by the musters that his squadron wanted 300 seamen of their complement, yet as Sir Charles Wager* informed him that an order from the Board of Admiralty was despatched to Sir John Norris to spare him the numbers which he wanted, he doubted not of his complying therewith. But on his arrival at Portsmouth he found himself greatly mistaken and disappointed in this persuasion, for Admiral Balchen, who succeeded to the command at Spithead after Sir John Norris had sailed to the westward, instead of 300 able sailors, which Mr. Anson wanted of his complement, ordered on board the squadron 170 men only, of which 32 were from the hospital and sick quarters, 37 from the Salisbury, with officers of Colonel Lowther's regiment, and 98 marines; and these were all that were ever granted to make up the forementioned deficiency.

(*Note. Sir Charles Wager was at that time First Lord of the Admiralty in Walpole's Ministry.)

But the Commodore's mortification did not end here. It was at first intended that Colonel Bland's regiment, and three independent companies of 100 men each, should embark as land forces on board the squadron. But this disposition was now changed, and all the land forces that were to be allowed were 500 invalids, to be collected from the out-pensioners of Chelsea College.* As these out-pensioners consist of soldiers, who, from their age, wounds, or other infirmities, are incapable of service in marching regiments, Mr. Anson was greatly chagrined at having such a decrepit detachment allotted to him; for he was fully persuaded that the greatest part of them would perish long before they arrived at the scene of action, since the delays he had already encountered necessarily confined his passage round Cape Horn to the most vigorous season of the year.** They were ordered on board the squadron on the 5th of August; but instead of 500 there came on board no more than 259; for all those who had limbs and strength to walk out of Portsmouth deserted, leaving behind them only such as were literally invalids, most of them being sixty years of age, and some of them upwards of seventy.

(*Note. A local name for Chelsea Hospital, a home for old and disabled soldiers. It was founded by Charles II and the buildings were designed by Wren.)

(**Note. The squadron did not reach the neighbourhood of Cape Horn until March when the autumn of the Southern Hemisphere had begun and with it the stormy season.)

To supply the place of the 240 invalids which had deserted there were ordered on board 210 marines detached from different regiments. These were raw and undisciplined men, for they were just raised, and had scarcely anything more of the soldier than their regimentals, none of them having been so far trained as to be permitted to fire. The last detachment of these marines came on board the 8th of August, and on the 10th the squadron sailed from Spithead to St. Helens, there to wait for a wind to proceed on the expedition.

Anson did sail around the world in the 60-gun ship Centurion,the only one of his eight original ships that made it. However, what I am trying to show is that you might have an Imperial Warrant, but how those to whom you give orders to implement those orders is another matter entirely.

[Emphasis added in the quote.]

 

[McPerth]

I agree with you. The darker Imperium gives a reason for the characters to break the laws occasionally with some justification - such as breaking a senator out of prison.

Aside from the Imperium in OTU not being as dark, another reason that don't allow you to breack an Imperial Senator out of prision is that Imperial Senate (and so Imperial Senators) doesn't exist in OTU :devil:.

I like OTU's Imperium being more or less benevolent, and I believe there's yet broad place for adventuring, as while the Imperium might be benevolent, not all Imperials are.

And about it, I encourage you to read again Cryton's signature, whose definition of the Imperium made me think quite a lot about it . EDIT: And I'm pretty sure not all Imperial Officers and Nobles agree about how much strong/week/good/evil/blind the Imperium has to be/can risk to be/can/must/chooses.

 

[pendragonman]

Aside from the Imperium in OTU not being as dark, another reason that don't allow you to breack an Imperial Senator out of prision is that Imperial Senate (and so Imperial Senators) doesn't exist in OTU :devil:.

I like OTU's Imperium being more or less benevolent, and I believe there's yet broad place for adventuring, as while the Imperium might be benevolent, not all Imperials are.

And about it, I encourage you to read again Cryton's signature, whose definition of the Imperium made me think quite a lot about it . EDIT: And I'm pretty sure not all Imperial Officers and Nobles agree about how much strong/week/good/evil/blind the Imperium has to be/can risk to be/can/must/chooses.

Ok, not Senators. Moot members. Not alot of difference there.

 

[rancke]

1979 Aventure 1 The Kinunir details an Imperium, the details of which are later changed.

I like to call the Imperium of Kinunir, Mercenary and the early Journals as the proto-OTU.

A much darker Imperium in this setting

The details of the proto-OTU are exceedingly scanty and most of the darkness is a result of assumptions built on top of this great dearth of information. Very little, if any, of the early details require a Dark Imperium to accomodate them.

All in all, I much prefer the greater amount of detail that has accumulated over 30 years and more.

I glanced back at these and see what you mean. A definite darker, but more realistic, view of the Imperium.

Am I the only one thinking I would have liked this darker Imperium more then what we ended up with.

Nope. Darker is better for Adventure! Not to mention more interesting in general.

I disagree most emphatically. You don't need a Dark Imperium to have adventures. All you need is an imperfect Imperium, and no one has ever depicted the Imperium as being perfect.

I agree with you. The darker Imperium gives a reason for the characters to break the laws occasionally with some justification - such as breaking a senator out of prison.

I have no problem fitting such adventures into the present-day version of the Imperium. And if I really want a Dark Imperium to fight, I can just select one of the more than two hundred nondescript duchies and give it an Evil Duke.

Aside from the Imperium in OTU not being as dark, another reason that don't allow you to breack an Imperial Senator out of prision is that Imperial Senate (and so Imperial Senators) doesn't exist in OTU :devil:.

The senator in question was a member of the Senate of the Duchy of Regina and he was being kept prisoner by a cabal of mid-level duchy officials.[*]

[*] My personal explanation, not canon.​

I like OTU's Imperium being more or less benevolent, and I believe there's yet broad place for adventuring, as while the Imperium might be benevolent, not all Imperials are.

Within a broad framework provided by the Imperium, the individual duchies can have very different 'feels'. It's just a matter of tweaking the history and the culture and the personality of the duke of the individual duchy.


Hans

 

[mike wightman]

Am I the only one thinking I would have liked this darker Imperium more then what we ended up with/

Not alone at all (as the other replies show).

The darker Imperium and the proto-OTU are my default setting

 

[mike wightman]

Nope. Darker is better for Adventure! Not to mention more interesting in general.

I couldn't agree more

 

[mike wightman]

I agree with you. The darker Imperium gives a reason for the characters to break the laws occasionally with some justification - such as breaking a senator out of prison.

I always got the feeling that the players were almost like the rebels of Star Wars - or stainless steel rats

Perhaps the folks at GDW moved away from the darker Imperium and players as rebels in order to distance themselves from the Star Wars universe.

 

[sfchbryan]

Nope. Darker is better for Adventure! Not to mention more interesting in general.

We have had darker already.

TNE is why I left Traveller for a decade.

 

[Cryton]

We have had darker already.

TNE is why I left Traveller for a decade.

TNE was way to dark. I much prefer the more "Shadowy" proto-Traveller/CT Imperium to anything that came after it. Like my signature says and the thread I started about in IMTU section goes over:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=25867

The 3I started a lot more adventure friendly, though a darker place, than the 3I became. Dark enough to be fun, but not so dark that you had to overthrow an Empire.

~Rich

 

[rancke]

The 3I started a lot more adventure friendly, though a darker place, than the 3I became. Dark enough to be fun, but not so dark that you had to overthrow an Empire.

I've been thinking about that for the last couple of days, and I wonder if that's actually true. What about the Imperium of the early days was later changed to something less dark? I'll grant the imprisoned senator (although I submit that he can easily be fitted into the later picture of the Imperium), but what else is there? According to The Kinunir, the Imperium arrests people who trespass on interdicted areas. Well, you don't need to be a Dark Empire to do that; any shade of empire tend to arrest awbreakers. A lot of the early adventures assumed that the PCs would break laws right, left, and center, but how many of them featured a dark Imperium? Darker than the Imperium became later, I mean.

I suspect the early Imperium wasn't so much dark as largely not described at all. Which allowed people to project the Star Wars Empire on their own campaigns, but didn't make the 3rd Imperium either light or dark but just nondescript.


Hans

 

[whartung]

We have had darker already.

TNE is why I left Traveller for a decade.

I never considered TNE dark. That's like saying 1946 Europe was dark. Somehow I don't think that's what the people were feeling.

TNE was all light -- the darkness was lifting, that was the entire point. The universe was different, more dangerous perhaps, but that's the past. TNE is about making a new future. The METHODS may have been questionable if you didn't care for the Star Vikings et al. But, I mean, damn, all you can do is go up from what TNE was bubbling out of.