Empress Wave Resources

[The Pakkrat]

The Future of Psionics

I cast the psionic talent of Thread Necromancy.

Once the Dread Revelation has passed and the aftershocks and tremors of the mind have quieted to mere notions, can a sophont Awaken (per T5), be tested and trained in psionics on the backside of the propagation safely so long as they remain Coreward of the Wave?

I ask because Knoellighz and Gvurrdon suffer "Yonder Chilling Thought" long before it enters the Spinward Marches. Though there is only a fraction of tested and trained Vargr Psions and are barely missed or forgotten, euthanized or caged, or somehow weather the event with minor mental damage, there might not be any reason to for the Gvegh to warn the Regency without something to be gained.

IMTU One world I found on TravellerMap took the sudden madness of its very few Psions as a sign from the Ancients to wage war in Ghoekhnael and Rimward into Knoellighz Sector.

So, it begs the question of whether psionics survives once the Empress Wave is long past.

From the Library of Future History stacks, this is the Pakkrat, for Net-7 News Historical Column. Tomorrow's News today!

 

[maksimsmelchak]

1248 is, as far as I can tell, OTU canon. It's on the list of canon sources Marc suggested I get familiar with.

1248 is canon, but Marc appears to be straying form it as of Agent...

It's all in flux anyway.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[Whipsnade]

So, it begs the question of whether psionics survives once the Empress Wave is long past.

The Wave effects everyone, not just psions. A world without psions is still going to experience a wave of insanity. Psions are going to have the same chance of survival as everyone else.

 

[mike wightman]

The original meta game reason for the empress wave was to make psionics more common in the setting at some point in the future of the TNE line. Since TNE died before the wave ever made it to a region of space detailed in canon at the time and the supplement(s) that would detail it were still in conceptual rather than draft stage we will never find out what could have been apart form what Dave Nilsen said in his extended Q&A session a few years ago and the interpretation MJD made for the 1248 setting.

Note:
TNE never gave details
MgT has changed it in a major way
Marc has changed it in his novel.

 

[Graham2001]

I was reading through this thread and the latest iteration of this metaevent reminded me of a game called 'Stars Without Number' that came out in 2010.

Part of the backstory to that games 'default setting' is an event called 'The Scream' a wave of psionic energy propagated at FTL speed, that destroys psi based technologies,kills/burns out/drives insane anyone with psychic powers and destroys every ship that is in Jump at the moment the wave passes, as the human race at that point in the game is dependent on psionic technology human space (and it is inferred other races outside it.) fall into chaos and the setting is built around the recovery phase.

That is what Marc's current version of the Empress Wave feels like.

 

[lostscout5]

I was reading through this thread and the latest iteration of this metaevent reminded me of a game called 'Stars Without Number' that came out in 2010.

Part of the backstory to that games 'default setting' is an event called 'The Scream' a wave of psionic energy propagated at FTL speed, that destroys psi based technologies,kills/burns out/drives insane anyone with psychic powers and destroys every ship that is in Jump at the moment the wave passes, as the human race at that point in the game is dependent on psionic technology human space (and it is inferred other races outside it.) fall into chaos and the setting is built around the recovery phase.

That is what Marc's current version of the Empress Wave feels like.

Here's a thought. What would 'The Scream' / 'The Empress Wave' do in the 'Dune' universe. The navigators use spice enhanced psi for interstellar travel. Could be a slight problem.

 

[Whipsnade]

That is what Marc's current version of the Empress Wave feels like.

While there are some similarities, the Scream differs in important ways from the current version of the Wave. There's definitely a "shared" or "basic" idea behind both. The details are very different and we all know where the devil lays.

The Scream disrupts and destroys it's setting's FTL systems. Ships in Drill Space and the psionically operated/controlled FTL "gates" between Core worlds are destroyed.

The Wave does nothing to jump. In AotI, both ISS Talon and the Lagashs "jump over" the Wave. The Lagashs even see the Wave while in jump space with no effect.

The Scream kills/maddens psions directly and kills/effects others indirectly when psionic-reliant technologies fail. Only a few psions are left alive and fewer are sane once the Scream passes. Psionics as a discipline and science is all but gone after the Scream.

The Wave maddens only and not all the time or in the same manner. The Wave only kills indirectly, death is just one of many results of the widespread insanity it causes. If they survive the societal upheaval, psions are alive after the Wave passes. Psionics is still alive too.

The Scream, as previously mentioned, directly effects/destroys technology. Some technologies cannot be recovered and/or rebuilt after the Scream.

The Wave, as previously mentioned, indirectly effects technology. While specific items are damaged or destroyed by the insane populace, the technology itself is not lost.

The Scream directly effect many more things than the Wave and that makes the Scream more of a "slate wiper".

 

[The Pakkrat]

Averaging the Interpretations

Via satellite, this is Net-7 News!

This thread has given me plenty of similar and different, wide-ranging interpretations of the Empress Wave, Yonder Chilling Thought, Dread Revelation, and other names - a new one appears in my book. Shooting for an averaging effect with all that has been posted above, I find everyone's opinions helpful and encouraging. I discovered that though unintentional, the meta-gaming, story-driven phenomena of the Empress Wave to be the impetus for much more story now.

I find that each of the above posts had something to say, at least to my reading, that the Empress Wave has something to contribute to their Traveller Universes. Whether someone's canon is the definitive, we have learned that the device, the Wave, is subject to wide interpretation so as to fit a given Referee's presentation of Charted Space, OTU or not.

I took a loose average of those valuable interpretations and present my own in my book, Zhevra's Dance. Just as Mr. Miller's book touches on the subject, I too took a roundabout waltz to the topic. I have been told that a tale just prior to The New Era, the 1180s through 1190 is a worthy timeframe for a Vargr-centric book. The Vargr Extents/Splinters suffers the Empress Wave long before Regency and the remnant pocket empires of the Collapsed Third Imperium. It became a subtle, sublime and driving force to push on the already-chaotic and charismatic Major Race.

Additionally, I have been PMed that it is about time a Vargr book for Traveller be written. I am very excited to write this novel as I was spurred into action mid-November during the NaNoWriMo challenge. The Empress Wave coupled with Virus Era and suffered by the Vargr, its ethnicities and polity shards, allow us to step outside humanity, look back at the human condition objectively and still identify with it.

A hearty thanks to all who have contributed their thoughts on the propagating wave from the center of the galaxy. Know that your posts have helped me write the novel. Finishing the third book at a total of over 180K words and still growing in the denouement, I am soon to begin editing and having beta readers give it a go.

From the Writers' Desk high over Roethoeegaeaegz, this is the Pakkrat for Net-7 News.

 

[lostscout5]

Hmm, seems a lot of us have been writing Traveller novels of late. I look forward to reading yours Pakkrat. I've always enjoyed the Vargr perspective.

 

[kliner]

Ronald B. Kline, Jr. (talk) 07:35, 17 August 2017 (EDT)What triggered the wave and to what purpose? Did grandfather mess with the wrong Primordials and trigger an event? Which story did I miss?

 

[mike wightman]

The IMTU explanation:

Grandfather invented the jump drive by detonating a device that produced an 'interface membrane' between our universe and the jump dimensions previously only accessible by psionic teleportation. This membrane propagated at the speed of light and in its area of effect mechanical jump drives could now access the jump dimensions.

There were/are many races that pre-dated the Ancients, none of which achieved jump drive technology, but at least one - the Primordials - could achieve an inferior form of FTL via psionic teleportation. Other elder races elsewhere in the galaxy moved between the stars at STL speed or as lightspeed electronic personality transfer and the like.

When the jump wave eventually infringed on a Primordial automated research facilities - the Primordials having long since disappeared - the machines left behind considered the wave of such interest that they cloned Primordials and downloaded personality recordings into them.
These Primordials then began the long search for where the jump wave had come from...

Unfortunatly a race or races that pre-dated the Primordials did not respond kindly when the jump wave washed over their region of space, it interfered with their psionic communion with metaconscious jumpspace entities.
One of these races researched the jump wave and when they were ready detonated a counter wave - which had an unforeseen effect on the jump membrane. This is what would become known as the Empress Wave. Although initially it would cause the jump membrane to be inaccessible preventing ships from jumping, the membrane would repair itself. It also allowed for psionic potential to develop within psionically dormant life forms, or scramble the psionic potential of those with already developed psionic ability.
The more worrying effect was to allow the metaconscious jumpspace entities to become aware of the life forms within our universe, in some cases communicating, in some possessing, in some driving them insane, and in some causing death.

All of this is cobbled together from various sources - the driving force behind the Zho core expedition, the First Starfarers sidebox in MT, DGP's intention of the 'baddies from the core' (Primordials/Sparlkers which are mentioned in MT Knighfall), Dave Nilsen's answers to questions about TNE, T5 tech chapter...

The official version - a race of humans was transplanted to the galactic core by the Ancients. They got into some sort of bother. They sent out a signal - with a psionic component - for help which became known as the Empress Wave.