Forbidden Science of the Second Imperium

[Andrew Boulton]

"There are things in the Universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless, and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We've tried and we've learned that we can either stay out from underfoot or be stepped on. They are a mystery and I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the Universe, that we have not explained everything. Whatever they are, Miss Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957 and they must walk there alone."
- Ambassador G'Kar, Mind War

 

[Rossoneill]

Since i am running a mileau 0 campaign in roughly year 20 of the 3rd Imperium these are interesting ideas, especially as the players have just encountered a mobile starport of the 2nd Empire

 

[parmasson]

Imagine it. An entire army of loyal no vacc suit required attack zombies! Simply loose your new space zombies near an orbital station you wish to conquer and the beasties float in, get inside and BOOM! Now its your space station! Very little IR signature to detect, no expensive Battle Dress ™ to go wrong.

To quote C.M. Burns
"Excellent . . . "

 

[kafka47]

I was thinking about the Archelogist profession as a subset of the Scouts Exploration branch. Can anyone help fill in the details for a Chargen? Wouldn't this also make a great prestige class...if we are to think of the T20 angle.

 

[Michael Schulz]

H'mm. I dunno how it would work for other versions of Traveller, but I would start by looking at the Professor career path in TNE. Personally, I'd keep most archeologists pretty close to that template, maybe with a lower special adventure threshold. For mystery archeologists working for the IISS' Heritage Recovery and Preservation Division, I'd combine the Professor template with the scout's template and a hint of the Criminal career path...

 

[kafka47]

I always found the Academic or Scientist profession too rigid for an Indiana Jones type character. What we need is a template for a diverse set of skills eg. firearms, science, social sciences and piloting of different vehicles plus some of the softer skills eg. prospecting or archeology.

Sounds like we might just have to create a new career path...

 

[mike wightman]

You could take a couple of levels of Scout... with referee's permission of course.

That would complement things nicely...

 

[Michael Schulz]

Originally posted by kafka47:
I always found the Academic or Scientist profession too rigid for an Indiana Jones type character. What we need is a template for a diverse set of skills eg. firearms, science, social sciences and piloting of different vehicles plus some of the softer skills eg. prospecting or archeology.

Sounds like we might just have to create a new career path...

See, I think those are skills they should be able to acquire as grad students. I mean, really, by the time someone takes the Professor career template in TNE, they have already gone through at least two previous terms as students. Now I think for both Students and Professors there needs to be some space for slack/sabbatical. When it comes right down to it, I think those two pursuits allow, if not encourage people to develop themselves in incidental ways. I would suggest one or two skill levels per term that can be spent on any skill that is not clearly limited to another career (ie. medicine or use of military grade weapons, starship tactics, etc.)

 

[robject]

Ah, Sabbatical! That's a very good solution, I think.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

What about all those things that are discovered, then stored somewhere that they become lost in the bureaucracy? (A la Indiana Jones' lost Ark?)

 

[mike wightman]

Secret warehouses full of lostech, hidden in asteroids or in deep space...

and guarded by...

 

[kafka47]

One need not even go into Deep Space. One of the best ways to bury a cache is to build a city over top of it. Think of American Treasures.

I would rather think of lost systems on frontiers whereby, a new system could easily be seen by the eye but who bothered to update the starcharts...

As my image of the ROM is a bunch of Pocket Empires cobbled together under the nominal rule of the Emperor and his/her Armed Forces. Lots of systems can "disappear" only to be reconnected after the Long Night is over. These systems could even been inhabited with the original settlers reverting to barbarism or preserve high tech culture as a Feudal Technocracy.

 

[mike wightman]

So underground ruins, hidden by the cities built on them since their ruin.

Patrolled by...

 

[mike wightman]

Ok, leaving the cyber-zombies to one side for a moment, how far up the tech tree could the mad scientists of the Rule of Man have climbed?

Canonically the Terrans achieved some TL12 capability by the end of the Interstellar Wars, and certain T4 sources give the ROM relics a TL of 14.

But in the secret labs, where all the crack-pot schemes were developed before being buried as "things man is not meant to know", what sort of technology was developed?

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Ok, leaving the cyber-zombies to one side for a moment...

Must we master? OHH, wha bout tha geneered werewolfs then?

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
...how far up the tech tree could the mad scientists of the Rule of Man have climbed?

Anything is possible. I don't limit reserch science (fiction) by TL so if you can dream it some mad scientist is working on it somewhere. TL does bring a better chance of success, er, well, perhaps success is the wrong word. I don't mean to imply that they get it right more often than wrong.

Example of "success" from an and old horror-movie...

Scientist is working on cure for cancer in his lab by radioactively (iirc) bombarding cancer eating cells to enhance them into super cancer eating cells. Oops, he succeeds, only too well, and the now giant mutated cells go around attacking whole people and animals as if they were one big cancer cell. Or something like that.

 

[kafka47]

Naturally, there is also the old stand-by a really nasty alien animal who has decided to make its den in the lab.

On the weird side, this animal could be the (fe)male of its species. The small creatures that look completely different that the party killed because they were a nuisance earlier were its young. Psionically talented the creature is able to project nightmares (those of the variety of sleep & waking) through Send Thoughts, as a crude way of paralyzing prey. Naturally, when the creature finally makes its appearance...it is something horrible.

 

[Michael Schulz]

And I don't think any of us should forget the tiny cabal of experimental anagathics users who may, or may not have been manipulating the moot since it's inception. The IISS Hertiage Division has had a handful of run ins with them. A nasty lot. Rumored to survive on a fluid derived from the cerebreal cortex of illeagally created clones; that and a compound extracted from the flora of a world that hasn't been on the star charts in 2000 years.

"My dear Professor, are you seriously asking me if I saw the fall of the 2nd Imperium? I do hope you're kidding. I don't look that old, do I? No, I'm afraid I'm far too young for that. In fact, I can barely remember the opening salvos of the Civil War. My father, on the other hand, has stories from the Rule of Man that I'm sure you would find quite thrilling. It's a pity I can't let you live long enough to hear them...

 

[mike wightman]

Hmm, is the original Vilani Emperor dead I wonder...

Stargate type sarcophagus, with consumables like the ones listed above by Cad Lad...

 

[Andrew Boulton]

"certain T4 sources give the ROM relics a TL of 14."

Please don't go there...

 

[parmasson]

Ok, leaving the cyber-zombies to one side for a moment . . .

Do remember that is just when they are likely to attack!

1. Experimental matter transport technology based on a fuzzy sketch found at an archeological site.
Oooo messy "the fly" like trouble.

2. Homicidal AI systems.
3. How about experimental FTL drives that have never been tested.

4. Uber-addictive combat drugs that make you a god on the battlefield but . . .
5. Special interrogation equipment that uses psi technology and tends to leave its victims a bit twitchy afterwards.
6. Prototype black globe devices that are difficult to turn off