Galaxiad General Discussion

[robject]

Surprisingly, I didn't see a thread dealing with the Galaxiad in general.

I'll open it with this question.

Is there going to be any material bridging Martin's work on 1248 to the 1900 Galaxiad, or is there just going to be a dive into the later period with a generalised sourcebook providing a framework as to what passed in the 600+ years between those eras?

Probably the latter. But: note that the term "Galaxiad" refers to a period reenactment wafer network. This gives Marc a vehicle to range over different time periods, including the golden era. Theoretically that could be used to tie up some loose ends (?) without needing a comprehensive sourcebook into every era.

 

[mike wightman]

It's difficult to talk about the Galaxiad when all us poor proles have is a two page document released a long time ago, if we are lucky, while those inner circle illuminati throw us the fish heads and laugh...

more seriously, without more to go by the setting can not be discussed by the rank and file. The ramifications of some of the T5 technologies up to TL20-21 are open to discussion, but we don't know how the setting will incorporate them.

Will the Galaxiad open up the whole galaxy so we can find out more about the Essaray, the Abyssals etc?

Has Grandfather hidden himself away because he fears his children and grandchildren (MgT canon has pretty much established that the statement Grandfather kept careful count is nonsense - unless MgT Secret of the Ancients isn't canonical), or is it due to his interaction with older races...

has there been a greater diaspora of humanity since learning to live with Virus and incorporating machine intelligence...

are there human enclaves that embrace transhumanism (wafer tech, personality downloads, memory capture, artificial bodies, clones, augmentation, genetic modification, psionics)...

are there human enclaves that reject transhumanism (see list above)...

for human in the above two substitute any OTU race

in the absence of an Imperium to scrub worlds have some of the very high threat situations presented in AotI re-occurred and actually gained a foothold...

did the Zhodani ever finish their dance...

is there a 'war in the heavens'...

 

[mike wightman]

But: note that the term "Galaxiad" refers to a period reenactment wafer network. This gives Marc a vehicle to range over different time periods, including the golden era. Theoretically that could be used to tie up some loose ends (?) without needing a comprehensive sourcebook into every era.

Better yet, the contradictions can be explained as slight variations in the historical data.
It's a bit like our vision of the dark ages is, for the most part, wholly wrong unless you take the time to actually read accurate historical records - many of which are biased due to the original authors back in the day being biased when writing their version of current events (see the real history of post roman Britain up to the reign of HenryVIII), then there are common misconceptions that are just plain wrong but they have been repeated so many times people today think them true - medieval people thinking the world was flat for example.

A history of charted space is very different if written by an Imperial author, a Zhodani author or a Solomani author.

Even some of the glaring tech paradigm changes can almost be forgiven if viewed through a distorted historical lens.

 

[robject]

Precisely so.

 

[Quint]

Originally I was looking forward to the Galaxaiad to help clear up what canon was, given some of the mess that came with MgT, GT, and T4 all weaving in and around each other after MT and TNE. That said I kind of care less about that now and look at it as an opportunity to hopefully get Marc's take on Known Space, Agent of the Imperium was eye-opening and enjoyable. It gave a fair amount of hope that the Imperium and Known Space was actually pretty scifi rather than... heck I don't even know how to describe what it had turned into in my mind.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a higher tech level, I also like the idea of actual new content as opposed to re-worked version of old content and concepts. I'm less interested in a system-by-system description of the Galaxy and more interested in a explanation of how it all hangs together and "where the action is".

D.

 

[Blue Ghost]

It's difficult to talk about the Galaxiad when all us poor proles have is a two page document released a long time ago, if we are lucky, while those inner circle illuminati throw us the fish heads and laugh...

Will the Galaxiad open up the whole galaxy so we can find out more about the Essaray, the Abyssals etc?

*much snippage*

All I can say it .... https://youtu.be/MKx3JlTnHbc

In all seriousness, it sounds like another story vehicle to keep the OTU setting moving forward.

I'm still a CT 3I kind of guy. I've read the TNE setting, the GT take on Traveller and a few other flavor pieces here and there, and the more I read about advancing the Traveller-verse, the more I'm a hobbyist / fan of the old 3I as fertile ground for stories and adventure.

I'm curious if perhaps getting the games rule set back to a GURPS like flavor with some alternative backdrops might be the answer for introducing the Galaxiad.

 

[robject]

First, a quote from Marc.

That cursed canon I need to conform to.

So there's things I can say about Galaxiad, and things I can't say. Sometimes I know things that I can say, but unless someone asks, I forget that I know it and can say it. You get the idea.

So for instance I can tell you:

* the Wave messed things up, but good.

* the focus is on the Republic of Regina, which is an "empire" of over 100 worlds.

* the Republic of Regina reaches TL 17 somewhere around 1900. I don't know how it reaches TL 17, though. Trade? Research? It's highly possible in my mind that someone else invented the Hop Drive, and the Republic has to go barter for the technology.

* the Republic is built on a few core Strong Worlds that have attracted a sphere of influence. And it's kind of a mess.

* the Republic is psionic-friendly, and the Cronor subsector worlds are "Zhodani" in name only, if that.

* in my mind, an ideal exploration ship includes a Collector and a Black Globe.

* the Duchy of Mora is a shell of its former self, but is a lone Strong World in the middle of Wilderness. I think that traffic from Rhylanor to Mora is low, and routes are not patrolled well.

* Virus qua Virus is no more, and the term is long gone. Self-aware starships are as possible via TL16 tech as by Cym tech.

* there are approximately 40 parsecs' distance average between neighboring empires in any particular direction, and those empires are similarly a few subsectors in size.

* small empires (each more or less half a sector in size), centered on a few core Strong Worlds. The smaller of these are typically on the verge of collapse. One empire each in these sectors.

Stiatlchepr
Ziafrplians
Spinward Marches
Karleaya
Hlakoi
Dark Nebula
Solomani Rim
Daibei
Ilelish [centered on Suerrat]
Core
Vland
Meshan (probably half Human Half Vargr)
Ley

and:

Three? in K'kree territory
Two? in Hiver Territory

 

[The Pakkrat]

Guessing

I'm guessing that the Vargr Extents that became the Vargr Splinters, then Vargr Shards and are left now in the Galaxiad with the Vargr Shambles. The Vargr Enclaves, distant and out there as they are downgraded to the Forgotten Territories.

I'm guessing that if asked, many Vargr of any ethnicity would long to see or hear of at least one forming or reforming empire, other state or conglomeration of worlds. The Golden Era Vargr worlds, remembered by Vargr in 1900, are but a cub's dream and a nightmare best forgotten by other sophonts.

But out there in the Coreward edge of Charted Space has to have something, right? What brave, lupine souls will brave them from the inherited Safes? Will those that remain see the return of the bold Corsairs and true Charisma again? Or have the Aekhu and Gvegh descendants have accepted the collars of the Republic of Regina and other Human states?

I'm guessing that my Galaxiad Vargr character will snap his or her chain leash and rediscover the Vargr homeworld once more. The legends of Lair have not died in their heart.

 

[Condottiere]

It's a dog eat dog galaxy.

 

[Reban]

So there's things I can say about Galaxiad, and things I can't say. Sometimes I know things that I can say, but unless someone asks, I forget that I know it and can say it. You get the idea.

Rumsfeldian.....

But from the rest of your description of the post-Virus, post-Wave, post-Hop universe it reminds me of ST:TNG....

Focus on republic...high technology...core strong worlds...exploration ship with collector and black globe...

Galaxiad itself has a flavor of holodeck adventures to it....

....but obviously that'll be in a Traveller way.



Most interesting will probably be Hop drive's effect on the size and spread of empires.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

You all know I really, really, like 1248, but I don't mind removing bits and pieces of it as long as we progress the OTU to 1902. And make it a good story.
So understand my comments on making the transition better are in the spirit of Marc's philosophy of keeping as much canon as possible, in this case 1248.
Unless Marc say some is not anymore.

ALL of 1248 was canon (yea I hear you all grumbling ). But then the speed and deadliness of the Empress Wave were changed in MgT. I looked at what can be kept and what has to go. IMHO :coffeesip:.
Some things became apparent to me.
1.The Wave and 1248 cannot both be completely right.
2.The Wave trumps TNE and 1248 if there is a conflict.
3.Many 1248 events occur LONG BEFORE the Wave would come to cause a conflict.
4.With the exception of Avery's expedition coreward to determine the nature of the Wave and a few sentences about the Vargr, all history prior to 1202 can happen as the Wave does not interfere or impact the event from occurring.
5.Going forward from 1202 events should be examined based on location and year. If invalidated the dependent events down the line should be as well
6.The remainder should still be canon. Unless Marc says its not. rinse and repeat as necessary.

The above is important as 1248 writes quite a bit about events between 1130 and 1202. Some of these may impact things even 700 years later. Like the K'kree and the Gods of Thunder. The Solomani if the find out what the Hivers did to them (think we hate the Baggins, Forever). Many of these "permanent" things occur in the 1100s.

1202 is the first critical year as that is the year the Wave hits the Marches. Unless something saves the Marches or interferes with the Wave, TNE Keepers of the Flame is toast. The Star Vikings live in blithe ignorance and even by 1248 won't get hit for a few decades. Except when they meet the Keepers Their TNE history won't change a bit due to distance from the Wave and relative isolation.

 

[Blue Ghost]

It's a dog eat dog galaxy.

https://youtu.be/YvP1IwoJJXU

In all seriousness, it sounds like the Galaxiad are the GDW equivalent of the Borg ... minus GDW.

As a long time fan I have issues with a massive "super threat" species or thing that's going to come and threaten all of Traveller space, possibly forcing an uneasy confederation between the major players; Aslan, Soli, Imp, Zhos, Hives and K'Kree. It just feels a little too artificial or cliche. Does it really need to be so?

 

[Thot]

[...]
* small empires (each more or less half a sector in size), centered on a few core Strong Worlds. The smaller of these are typically on the verge of collapse. One empire each in these sectors.

[...]Dark Nebula
Solomani Rim
Daibei
[...]

Looking forward to reading more about them.

But if Virus is long gone, why are there still so many Wilds? Wouldn't all the empires expand naturally until they reach another empire's buffer states? Or are all the invidual planets between the empires the actual "buffer states"?

 

[Nathan Brazil]

But if Virus is long gone, why are there still so many Wilds? Wouldn't all the empires expand naturally until they reach another empire's buffer states? Or are all the invidual planets between the empires the actual "buffer states"?

I suspect the Empress Wave. Agent of the Imperium has it driving even "non-thinking" plants insane by having them grow and die at the wrong times year and outright killing or driving non-psions and creatures insane. The insane survivors go on ramages warring and destroying technology and each other.

Tech decline AND ecological disaster. Gonna take a long time to recover.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Sorry for poking my nose in here, but the Galaxiad, to me, seem like the Traveller equivalent of SFB's Andromedans ... minus the power absorbing panels and all the other doo-dads that the Andros get (which, by the way, made them a real problem with the old commander's edition).

As a fan I'm patient enough to wait for an actual draft to be made public. But it's like if Virus was bad ... what are these guys going to be like? Heck, I didn't even game in TNE.

 

[Timerover51]

I confess my ignorance. What is "Galaxiad"?

 

[Nathan Brazil]

It is the campaign setting of the Traveller 5 RPG. It takes place in the OTU in centered on the Spinward Marches in the year 1902. 800 years after the 3rd Imperium Golden Age. Being OTU, this means Rebellion, Virus, TNE, 1248 (well some of it anyways) happened and the Empress Wave knock everyone down.

 

[mike wightman]

IMTU-(Galaxiad) I explain the Empress wave thus:
Grandfather didn't invent jump drive, he invented a device that when detonated created a membrane between our universe and the extra dimensions of psionic/jump space. This interface travelled at light speed and in its wake a ship equipped with a jump drive could access jump space - jump drive had been invented.

The jump wave kept spreading.

Eventually it would wash over a region of space occupied by another very advanced race and it caused havoc within their psionic society.

Their reaction was to use their reality manipulation technology to launch a counter wave back at the source of their nemesis, This wave would travel at light speed at first but accelerate as it encountered jump using civilizations. In its wake we have the psionic devastation (remember psionic potential exists in plants and animals, not just sentient beings), and possible interruption of jump travel for a while.

The odd consequence of this is that the counterwave actually opens up the possibility of higher order hop and skip drives.

 

[Thot]

It is the campaign setting of the Traveller 5 RPG. It takes place in the OTU in centered on the Spinward Marches in the year 1902. 800 years after the 3rd Imperium Golden Age. Being OTU, this means Rebellion, Virus, TNE, 1248 (well some of it anyways) happened and the Empress Wave knock everyone down.

Unfortunately, we don't know much more than that... other than that there is a "Republic of Regina" and the empires are generally much smaller than in the early 1100's.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

There are a few other pieces of "canon" with regards to Galaxiad.

A.The T5 book (not the T5.09 PDF unfortunately) published a map of the Galaxy. The flavor text indicates that it was prepared by the IISS for Second Survey. This was reproduced on the travellermap website
Map of the Galaxy
B.The Essaray are real. MgT published "The Fall of Tinath" adventure as part of the MgT2e Starter Set (and available separately) and clearly indicates it is in the OTU universe and the same galaxy. They exist in Galaxiad (see D below).
C.The T5 book has a clear timeline of the eras of history. Among them is TNE (The New Era) and 1248 (The New New Era).
D.There is a Galaxaiad Introduction pdf. http://www.traveller5.net/GalaxiadIntroPublic.pdf
E.Agent of the Imperium does not take place in 1902, but supports, hints at or gives credence to the Galaxiad Introductuon.