DROYNE AND CHIRPERS
The Ancients transplanted populations of Droyne to an unspecified number of
worlds. After the Final War, these populations slowly began to decline as the
Droyne on all these worlds began to lose their ability to caste. Uncasted
Droyne become _Chirpers_. By -75,000 all known Droyne worlds were in serious
declines. At that point Yaskoydray made a tour of (all?) the Droyne worlds and
introduced the practice of using _coyns_ to help with the casting ritual (coyns
were known to the Droyne of the Ancient Era but not used to caste back then).
On about 20 of the worlds the practice eventually took hold (Yaskoydray visited
on more than one occasion. Presumably the coyn ceremony didn't 'take' with
all twenty Droyne worlds right from the start. The last 'tour' Yaskoydray made
took place around -1000); the rest remained Chirper worlds. Note that there are
two types of Chirpers: those who can still caste if taught how to use the coyns
and those who have lost the ability to caste no matter what. By now most
remaining Chirpers are of the second variety, but there are exceptions.
Note: Imperial scientists do not know about Yaskoydray (except as an
ubiquituous Droyne myth). They believe that one Droyne world developed both the
novel use of the coyns and starfaring capability and spread the coyns to all
the other Droyne worlds before abandoning starfaring once more.
Important note: Some of the dates given in MT material for Droyne evolution and
for the history of the Ancients are wrong (Short version: The Ancient period
runs from around -310,000 to around -290,000; any date that has Ancient
activity before this time is wrong). These dates were used in the 1st edition
of the GT corebook, but were corrected for the 2nd edition.
There exists a map showing principal Droyne and Chirper worlds in the Imperium.
It is very large scale, however, and is furthermore demonstrably inaccurate in
some cases (there are known Droyne and Chirper worlds that are not shown on the
map).
[Map]
The following worlds are known to have Droyne and Chirper populations. The
shaded sectors on the map may be assumed to be complete and accurate. Other
sectors have not been described in enough detail to be sure.
[List]
Rill/1923 Corridor Chirpers [TD3:47]
Vanejen/3119 Sp. Mar. Chirpers [AM8:44-47]
More references: RC:50-58
VARGR
The only known Vargr homeworld is Lair. It is conceivable that other worlds had
Vargr populations that either died out or were discovered by other Vargr who
didn't realize this, but no such world has been described yet.
JTAS8:13-15; JTAS21:9-14; V&V:40-97
OTHER SPECIES
There are no canonical references to other sentient species being transplanted
by the Ancients, but there's no reason why some shouldn't've been. Thus you may
have a minor non-human race that got spread to one or more nearby worlds - or
to worlds at opposite ends of the Ancients' territory, for that matter. The
Ancients may likewise have geneered other species -- either from other Terran
animals or from animals from other worlds -- that either died out or just
remained a hitherto unmentioned minor race.
TERRAFORMING
[The Ancients messed about a lot with terraforming.]
3) The Hiatus (Long Interval between -290,000 and -10,000)
The popular conception is that no one had interstellar travel during the
Hiatus. This may not be completely true. Unknown aliens from coreward built
some pyramids on Yorbund (Spinward Marches 2303) about -50,000 [Sh:xx]. Some
worlds may have had brief periods of interstellar capability, either through
the use of Ancients ships, SLT flight, or even self-invented jump drives. If
you choose to introduce something like that, you must make sure it goes away
again without leaving too much of an imprint (The Ancient ship disappears one
day, the world with the jump drive tecchnology destroys itself in a war before
it can spread beyond a few colony worlds, etc.).
4) The Vilani, Part I (1st Colonisation Wave)
5) The Consolidation Wars (2nd Colonisation Wave)
6) The Terran Confederation
7) Vilani exodus (3rd Colonisation Wave)
Between -2450 and -2300 a spate of unauthorized colonies were set up by Vilani
malcontents. By this time the Siru Zirka had become moribund, wracked by
frequent civil wars and economic recessions. Many Vilani were able to see what
was going on, but most resigned themselves to enduring what could not be cured.
However, around -2450 a new philosophy spread to a number of worlds throughout
the Imperium. Its origin was never traced and it had no formal name, but it
could be summed up in the phrase "Let's get out from under!" Over the next
century some 80 or 90 expeditions set out secretly, in defiance of
long-standing Imperial edicts, to carve out a new life far from the decaying
1st Imperium. These expeditions went in all directions, but the greatest number
headed spinward to Deneb, Provence, and Tuglikki. A few even made it as far as
Gvurrdon, Reft, and the Spinward Marches (In the Marches Vanejen and Algine
were the only two worlds where these colonies survived for more than a few
certuries, but other worlds could have gotten colonies that failed).
The pattern of development for 3rd Wave colonies was the same for more than 80%
of them. All of them were established on H-prime or H-norm worlds. On
practically all of them the colony was successfully established and prospered
for a while. Eventually the lack of contact with a supplier of essential
technology would cause the colony to lose some of its technology. A few managed
to hang on to Industrial technology, but most slid all the way down to
Pre-Industrial levels. At this point a few of the colonies died out; most of
the rest decivilized, losing many of their traditional Vilani cultural traits
in the process; and a very few managed to adapt to changing conditions and hang
on to their culture.
8) The Rule of Man
The Diaspora
9) The Long Night
10) The Sylean Federation (-650 to 0)
11) The coming of the 3rd Imperium (0 to 76)
12) The Pacification Campaigns (76 to 120)
The Pacification Campaigns present a splendid opportunity to get a group of
people on to your world - whether it be the original settlers or just a new
bunch to complicate life for the extant population.
OTHER NOTES
Technology to overcome [sic] the hydrogen atmosphere of St. George/2616 Vland
was developed in 360 (or rather, just prior to -- St. George is settled in
360).
