Finding Solitude Cluster:

[archhealer]

Ok, I'm trying to set up a campaign setting for T20, and while I like the OTU, I'm not sure i"m ready to handle putting my players (You'd have to know them to understand) into a universe THAT big. So I came up with an alternative, but now it's already coming up as to "Where is it" in relation to the OTU.

Solitude Cluster is a small, disc-shaped (Thus allowing the 2D starmaps, more or less) cluster of stars, just barely large enough to qualify a single sector. It exists just below the primary disc of the standard OTU Galaxy, and is reachable only by a single path of Jump-3 and Jump-4 star systems, most of which are pretty empty, barren places.

How'd it happen: Well, at SOME point in the history of the OTU, an Emporer (Dates and names are where I'm getting hung up) whose astronomers and scientists were aware of the existence of the cluster (But not much else) Put together a large colonization project, funded in large part by huge investments by various large corporations (In return for certain freedoms and rights within the newly colonized cluster).

However, to keep as many things similiar to the OTU as possible but on a smaller scale(In case later I wan tto integrate them), I made it consist of many different groups, including humans (No Zhodani, but all the other significant human groups), vargr, a few aslan, and a handful of others. After that, due to a few unforseen disasters, the Colony largely lost contact with the Imperium.

Now, I have a few ideas about how to place this event in the game ( I want the Cluster fairly well established in at least a couple of subsectors). I was hoping for some ideas/feedback from the rest of you more experienced Travellers.

Emperors of the Flag: One of these nut-jobs could have done this, and that'd give the colony time to establish itself and have a relatively similiar tech-level and infrastructur to the standard OTU.

995: If it happens this late, That'd mean the campaign itself would have to happen centuries later, sometime around 1300 or 1400, probably. I'm not very experienced with Traveller, so I've no idea what the status of the OTU is at that point. On the other hand, it'd allow the colony to start out with the same TL as the standard T20 setting...

Those are all I've got so far. I'd love some help either with a more valid option or fleshing one of these out.

 

[far-trader]

First thing that popped into my head is it's a "relocation" program. Some Noble's little hole to throw all the troublemakers into. Both a penal colony and hardship duty, with the fun of an off the records region for less scrupulous corporations to "live test" some ideas, for a fee of course.

After time the region was forgotten by most but kept even more closely guarded by others. Most of those living in the region will have had no real contact with the proper Imperium for some time. It may even be a thing of myth to many.

Getting out, or in, is not easy since you have to run a gauntlet of MegaCorp guarded systems.

Something like that. One possible idea anyway.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

995: If it happens this late, That'd mean the campaign itself would have to happen centuries later, sometime around 1300 or 1400, probably. I'm not very experienced with Traveller, so I've no idea what the status of the OTU is at that point. On the other hand, it'd allow the colony to start out with the same TL as the standard T20 setting...

OTU timeline ended about 1201 and is set for startup again in the next product to come out as "The New Era 1248" (1 or 2 years from now and produced by Far Future Enterprises); when the 4th Imperium immerges from the chaos of the Rebellion and Collapse of the 3rd Imperium (from 1122 to 1201).

Starting in this time frame allows you to say that due to the Rebellion and Collapse, your pocket was cut off from the Imperium and is now ready to explore towards that territory (eventually).

 

[Rossoneill]

Some ideas to explain the colonizing .
1.There might have been a misjump accident or they might have been running away from a war they lost and not knowing that no one cares about it or them anymore,or being exiled .
2.It could be a group of colony ships and colonists that some one wanted to get rid of
For whatever reason Greed ,Hatred,Religion,Population Pressure ,Rebellion, Etc.)and set up a deliberate misjump plot and sabotage for the fleet which fried all the jump engines and possibly wiped the ships memory cores and by the time that they have rebuilt or repared the jump engines and computer cores they have either forgotten about the rest of the Imperium or no longer care because home is here now .
3.Or they could be paranoid and trying to hide from The Enemy and arm to the teeth so that when The Enemy come for them they can fight back .
4.It could be that the minerals to make J3 or better engines are not available here and that without them it takes a lot of ships to establish fuel dumps to get out
This also supposes that there are few or no gas giants on the route out .
5.Or the way out could be guarded by either automated or manned defenses
If automated it could be very old defenses that are there for another reason entirely but will still work either fully or with partial effectiveness on ships trying to pass through the System
Or it could be when they arrived that they worked fully but over the centuries that they degraded,
but the colonists now have them in the records and myths Like Here There Be Dragons,and stay far away .
One good automated Meson cannon can be a great Deterrent it can be buried on a planet , or on a capital ship or in orbit at the gas giant .
If a manned blockade or base any of the reasons above can be used ( but manned blockades are hard to justify over decades and really hard over centuries )
Of course The Xenophobic humans or Aliens work good for a blockade .
It might not be a real blockade just defenses to keep the evil (insert favorite Race Here)away from contact .
One of my favorites is the Killer Virus or Disease or Plague .
It can be Natural Mutated or Bio enginered ,when you use just the Plague option when you are ready to recontact the Imperium the colonists can discover the cure and rejoin the Imperium .
Or maybe the have the cure now but there are automated defenses that some dead systems set up to keep out the possibly plague ships that were deployed too late as the Plague was there already
Most of these ideas can be combined if wanted or needed
Hope this gives you some ideas .

 

[archhealer]

Wow, I wasn't fully prepared for that much response info! Thanks, everybody. Incidently, I REALLY like the idea of MegaCorps guarding the passage systems into the cluster, as it allows the gradual (Controlled) influx of new technologies and ship designs from the OTU's corps, thus allowing me to use standard published ship designs (Saving me the trouble of creating, from scratch, and entire sector's worth of 200 years of new designs). And if there's a couple of different passages into the cluster, that would allow multiple megacorps to be competitively in control of things: They all have interests there, but HAVE to cooperate to keep things under wraps from the general public (Especiall those obnoxious TAS Journalists...).

Thanks! And of course, if any of you feel like using this yourselves, I'd LOVE to hear what you did with it and how it went.

 

[Shadowdancer]

The original colony could have been established prior to The Long Night, and contact with it was lost during The Long Night. Then it has recently been rediscovered by megacorporation-sponsored exploration missions. Contact with the Imperium has been re-established, but only very tentatively and is strictly controlled by the megacorporations. The re-contact with the colony has been kept secret, for now, from the public.

 

[LordVince]

Nice idea. Especially making use of the well known stellar phenomena of "Globular Clusters" that exist just a little bit "abouve" and "below" the main body of the galactic disk.

The Long Night scenario gives this Cluster the time it needs to develop multiple worlds in the region -- remember, the Long Night was a Thousand (give or take) years long.

If you go the route of the Pre-Long Night establishment of the settlements, I would further modify it by making the "refugees" a Fleet from the Flag Emperors period -- say, the followers of some Admiral who made a bid for the Throne, but were repulsed. Seeing that his/her Coup was failing, the "Admiral" (or maybe his First Officer, after the Admiral's death), gathered his Fleet, raided a Depot for fuel and supplies, then jumped into the Big Dark.

Going this route -- using a Rule of Man era group -- allows you to have racial representation for both Solomani and Vilani, as well as a few Lesser Men, AND have some Vargr, as well (the Vargr were known to the Zira Sirku).

Now, here's a couple of neat twists to consider...

Somewhere around the end of the Long Night, in the early years of the 3I, a couple of Aslan Ihatea (?) groups misjump into the cluster. Bam! By 995 you have several worlds with "Third Imperium-like" racial/cultural mixes, as well as a handful of Aslan worlds which may, or may not, be part of the Cluster Civilization.

Now, here's the really killer idea...

Instead of it being some Third Imperium or Solomani outfit that "recontacts" the Cluster, it's the Darriens! (Daryens?) In GT, they mention that the Darriens are sending "missions spinward" and that some of those ships return "heavilly damaged" -- that could be because, instead of "spinward", the Darriens are going "south" to the Solitude Cluster, and some of the folks there aren't happy to see them.

Making it the Darriens also helps explain the question of "why now?", concerning the recontact -- the Darriens have a slightly higher average Tech Level than the Third Imperium (I think it's TL-16 vs the 3I's TL-14, but I'm not 100%) The Darriens fly more Jump-6 ships than the Imperium does.

But, of course, you should STILL have an Imperium MegaCorp find the Cluster -- but only in the last few years. They are keeping the discovery a secret, until they've established themselves. And for further "fun", toss in a Solomani MegaCorp that's just appeared at the fringes of the Cluster...

 

[stofsk]

Great thread. It's actually applicable to my own setting, which is very much a domain-sized area of space that has no ties to Old Earth. It's also home to some aliens as well. Humans are meant to be the new kids on the block.

I like the idea of setting it in a 'globular cluster' and running with it. The original colony fleet were fleeing Old Earth for reasons lost in the mists of time. Were they fleeing Monsters From Beyond The Stars? Were they skipping out on paying the rent? Who knows...

The idea of a globular cluster is a nice one, kind of like having your own pocket universe in a way.

 

[archhealer]

Ok, here's how it's panning out: I'm going with the late Rule of Man era colonization project, and it was secret even then; the gov't wanted to use it for experimental terraforming, and for sending large numbers of 'unwanteds' to see if they could hack a feasable colony out of it. Additionally, a number of private interests seeking their own colony projects (Religious groups, political seperatists, and corporate interests) were covertly allowed access. Then, of course, The Long Night happened (If I have the chronology right here) and contact was lost, but the cluster continued to develope, amazingly, still under the Colonial Parliment government. However, sometime around the mid 700's (3I time) contact was re-established via a deep-range scout mission. The information, however, was quickly hushed up by the Imperium until they could be certain their own political interests were fixed. To that end, a number of Megacorporations were allowed to send secret 'splinter' organizations into the cluster to establish a sound cultural and economic presence within the cluster, to aid the Imperiums interests.

Unfortunately, allowing the megacorps in first proved a mistake. They promptly began to take over entire planets and systems, claiming them as their own independant territory. The interests of the Corporations began to diverge form those of their 'parent' companies under what little law existed, and the gov't, now the Imperial Colonial Council (ICC), had few resources to fall back on (Only so much supplies and so many ships can be secretly shunted into an officially non-existent place before people start asking questions).

To establish their own power, they began passing trade and commerce laws, and managed to gain significant control of the bank, thus gaining more influence with the nigh-unstoppable corporate interests.

As it stands now: The ICC controls trade and finance, but little else. However, you'd be amazed how much influence that gives them. The megacorporations almost invariably have navies much larger than the ICC, but don't dare move against them for fear of leaving themselves open to attack by another company.

Colonies are frequently governed and owned by corporations, and disputes and even outright war between them are not uncommon.

A few large corporations produce almost all major Starships, and patents and copyrights on some designs disallow their production by other companies. Private or planetary shipyards must apply for permits and licenses to build these designs.

IT's pretty good; so far, it actualy simplifies a lot of thigns, and I can use most of the standard hierarchy for things like Imperial Navy and such, just that there's not as many of them. The players like it so far, even though we've barely started (In the year 995, just in case i want to send them to the main universe later). It makes for LOTS of opportunity for conflict, intrigue, and all sorts of stuff. And, it's a small area, so easier to keep track of.