GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Per Agent of the Imperium the Wave is "visible" in jump space, but has no effect on those who encounter it there.
Galaxiad General Discussion
- Thread starter robject
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Per Agent of the Imperium the Wave is "visible" in jump space, but has no effect on those who encounter it there.
[m;]PraegerU is a political channel.[/m;] I don't see how it's in any way relevant. (Especially since I've sat through several 20+ minute Praeger vids).
[m;]public warning: Praeger is off topic and considered political[/m;]
Two Empress Wave Solutions
Activating the Experiments button on the TravellerMap shows us the 1105, 1120, 1200 and 1248 positions of the wavefront. This alone tells us that the phenomenon is propagating at a rate of roughly one parsec per year. Yes, NB, that's faster than the speed of light. It's a psionic phenomenon. It does not have to obey physics. It also is a form of psionic FTL communication.
The first step toward a solution to the Empress Wave is knowing it is coming. So many hundreds of worlds are not given a single shred of warning and are engulfed without any preparation. The Zhodani has their means. Other powerful Psions have individual means to getting a 'feel' that something wicked is coming. Ancients sites may give clues, should a Referee be cryptic and generous. That is another long way around to learning of the coming Wave. Coreward probe ships can encounter the Wave and then return somewhat safely to report that "something is out there and it's coming". Thus, foreknowledge is key to taking steps toward a solution to the Empress Wave.
The next step is deciding what to do about the Empress Wave. So many governments are going to have a big task on their hands. Many governments are going to brush this news under the rug and deny it all. Democracies can freeze up in indecision or failure to reach a quorum. Those worlds with psions are going to be in one degree of more danger than those without. Deciding and coming to a planned and funded solution is another key to mitigating the losses of life and sanity. Once that is done, then comes another task. Who gets saved and who stays behind? Only Low Population worlds can hope to evacuate depending how much time the phenomenon will take before washing over a given world. Praise Strephon for Longbow II.
In My Traveller Universe, (and that seems important to disclaimer), those worlds lucky enough to catch wind of the phenomenon and do something about it have to come up with the How to survive the Empress Wave, Mind Tsunami, Fienzhatshtiavl, Yonder Chilling Thought, the Dread and the myriad of names various races give to that Something Wicked This Way Comes. Two solutions came to mind for the past three years that I have datamined for Empress Wave canon and attendant speculations. Arriving at a happy medium of what the Wave was and what it was not, I found two solutions.
The first solution to weathering the Wave was formed from nested, layered, and sealed defenses. I proposed a Vault solution wherein the most powerful and sensitive psions, psionics students, sensitives near Awakening, (a Traveller5 vocabulary term), and as many mundane sophonts as can afforded space in the Vault. Deep underground, or nestled in a remote and hidden asteroid, anywhere with heavy elements already in place, is the Vault. Inside this Psi-shielded Vault are layered protections against psionics. Using the same technology as the Psi-Shield Helmet from Tech Levels 13 and up, the Vault is a shell of such protections aside from mundane Vault doors, stores of frozen foods, weapons and other gear that would be needed on the backside of the Wave's passage. Additionally, each Vaulted sophont wears a Psi-Shield Helmet integrated with a Low Berth, cryo-sleep capsule, one to each. I envisioned a grand, realm-sized underground chamber lined with such protections. Then before the Wave arrives, each lucky person (for there will be protests and riots outside the Vault, sophonts begging to be saved too, unless the Vault location remains a secret), will enter cryo-sleep per Low Berth rules. The person is then to sleep through the coming Wave, unable to harm themselves their fellow mates and hopefully sheltered from the phenomenon.
Eleven years (or so) later, the first mundanes are to revive after a large computer's clock (or a complex, mundane clock) says to begin. They will have no Medics to help them and must rise on their own. Many will die. Low Berth rules pretty much guarantee it. Those mundane sophonts who are approved Medics will then be charged in waking up the Vault-mates who are Soldiers, Marines and others capable of erecting Vault security. Those armed forces are to help the first Medics begin reviving more mundanes and then comes the task of waking the first confirmed psions. There will be pointing of guns, questions, tests, tag-and-release conditions that will likely mean the post-Wave psion who survives Low Berth, cryo-sleep rules will be under surveillance for the rest of their lives.
I say eleven years, because the Wave has both a cresting wavefront, a thick wash that lasts a full month and a fallout-style aftermath that continues to destroy civilization for the next decade or more. Most Vaults will shoot for a dozen years depending on their intel on the Wave.
RESULT: If the solution works or works on a level to preserve even a fraction of the world's initial population, then those Vaulted sophonts will have to get ready to crack open the Vault doors and re-explore their ruined civilization. Many worlds will be Die Back (Di). Less than that will be sophonts driven into a maddened, throwback, barbarian status that the Vaulted will have to defend against while making way to whatever is left of the local Downport 11 years later. Many sophonts, animals and even plants will be affected by the Wave regardless if they are psionic or not. For lack of space per post, see the {Secret} of Ksethu that I wrote on the wiki for more results of the Vault solution. The results are varied and subject to a Referee's sadistic interpretation.
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Ksethu_(world)/secret
The second solution will come in another post due to word count limits.
Activating the Experiments button on the TravellerMap shows us the 1105, 1120, 1200 and 1248 positions of the wavefront. This alone tells us that the phenomenon is propagating at a rate of roughly one parsec per year. Yes, NB, that's faster than the speed of light. It's a psionic phenomenon. It does not have to obey physics. It also is a form of psionic FTL communication.
The first step toward a solution to the Empress Wave is knowing it is coming. So many hundreds of worlds are not given a single shred of warning and are engulfed without any preparation. The Zhodani has their means. Other powerful Psions have individual means to getting a 'feel' that something wicked is coming. Ancients sites may give clues, should a Referee be cryptic and generous. That is another long way around to learning of the coming Wave. Coreward probe ships can encounter the Wave and then return somewhat safely to report that "something is out there and it's coming". Thus, foreknowledge is key to taking steps toward a solution to the Empress Wave.
The next step is deciding what to do about the Empress Wave. So many governments are going to have a big task on their hands. Many governments are going to brush this news under the rug and deny it all. Democracies can freeze up in indecision or failure to reach a quorum. Those worlds with psions are going to be in one degree of more danger than those without. Deciding and coming to a planned and funded solution is another key to mitigating the losses of life and sanity. Once that is done, then comes another task. Who gets saved and who stays behind? Only Low Population worlds can hope to evacuate depending how much time the phenomenon will take before washing over a given world. Praise Strephon for Longbow II.
In My Traveller Universe, (and that seems important to disclaimer), those worlds lucky enough to catch wind of the phenomenon and do something about it have to come up with the How to survive the Empress Wave, Mind Tsunami, Fienzhatshtiavl, Yonder Chilling Thought, the Dread and the myriad of names various races give to that Something Wicked This Way Comes. Two solutions came to mind for the past three years that I have datamined for Empress Wave canon and attendant speculations. Arriving at a happy medium of what the Wave was and what it was not, I found two solutions.
The first solution to weathering the Wave was formed from nested, layered, and sealed defenses. I proposed a Vault solution wherein the most powerful and sensitive psions, psionics students, sensitives near Awakening, (a Traveller5 vocabulary term), and as many mundane sophonts as can afforded space in the Vault. Deep underground, or nestled in a remote and hidden asteroid, anywhere with heavy elements already in place, is the Vault. Inside this Psi-shielded Vault are layered protections against psionics. Using the same technology as the Psi-Shield Helmet from Tech Levels 13 and up, the Vault is a shell of such protections aside from mundane Vault doors, stores of frozen foods, weapons and other gear that would be needed on the backside of the Wave's passage. Additionally, each Vaulted sophont wears a Psi-Shield Helmet integrated with a Low Berth, cryo-sleep capsule, one to each. I envisioned a grand, realm-sized underground chamber lined with such protections. Then before the Wave arrives, each lucky person (for there will be protests and riots outside the Vault, sophonts begging to be saved too, unless the Vault location remains a secret), will enter cryo-sleep per Low Berth rules. The person is then to sleep through the coming Wave, unable to harm themselves their fellow mates and hopefully sheltered from the phenomenon.
Eleven years (or so) later, the first mundanes are to revive after a large computer's clock (or a complex, mundane clock) says to begin. They will have no Medics to help them and must rise on their own. Many will die. Low Berth rules pretty much guarantee it. Those mundane sophonts who are approved Medics will then be charged in waking up the Vault-mates who are Soldiers, Marines and others capable of erecting Vault security. Those armed forces are to help the first Medics begin reviving more mundanes and then comes the task of waking the first confirmed psions. There will be pointing of guns, questions, tests, tag-and-release conditions that will likely mean the post-Wave psion who survives Low Berth, cryo-sleep rules will be under surveillance for the rest of their lives.
I say eleven years, because the Wave has both a cresting wavefront, a thick wash that lasts a full month and a fallout-style aftermath that continues to destroy civilization for the next decade or more. Most Vaults will shoot for a dozen years depending on their intel on the Wave.
RESULT: If the solution works or works on a level to preserve even a fraction of the world's initial population, then those Vaulted sophonts will have to get ready to crack open the Vault doors and re-explore their ruined civilization. Many worlds will be Die Back (Di). Less than that will be sophonts driven into a maddened, throwback, barbarian status that the Vaulted will have to defend against while making way to whatever is left of the local Downport 11 years later. Many sophonts, animals and even plants will be affected by the Wave regardless if they are psionic or not. For lack of space per post, see the {Secret} of Ksethu that I wrote on the wiki for more results of the Vault solution. The results are varied and subject to a Referee's sadistic interpretation.
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Ksethu_(world)/secret
The second solution will come in another post due to word count limits.
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ShawnDriscoll
SOC-14 1K
5-minute video presentations was my subject is all. Yes, channels will also have 20+ minute videos. But those are not the same format.
20+ minutes would be too long for Traveller videos explaining parts of the 3rd Imperium. They would need to be short and succinct.
In it's original presentation in Hard Times and mentions in the rest of TNE, it was a light speed phenomena. The Mongoose Zhodani book, written by Don, changed that to the 1 parsec per year for reasons of having the Wave make sense within the Traveller History.
If you want the wave to hit the coreward edge of the Spinward Marches around 1200, it needs to be far enough corward around 1000 to not be impacting the Zhodani Consulate during the Fifth Frontier war.
Second Solution to the Wave
The second solution to surviving the Empress Wave that I envisioned involved not evading or running Rimward before the phenomenon. It is a much smaller and repeated process that plunges into the wave front. Starships with a two-parsec or better capability will be altered, refitted or specifically designed for the transport of colonists to a target world already finished suffering from the Empress Wave.
This target colony world will be Garden, Terra-prime, Agricultural and hopefully Rich in Trade Classifications. Long range telescopes or previous Scout missions will have found suitable places for brave souls to colonize beyond the last aftermath effects of the Empress Wave. In my sector development of Angfutsag Sector for example, I found two and only one of those was fully beyond the last effects. Referees using this solution will need to locate a target world for post-Wave colonization.
Taking into account the same foreknowledge, governmental compliance, secrecy and selections on who is chosen to live past the Empress Wave as detailed in the previous post, the world must then refit every Jump-2+ starship it can with Psi-Shielded cargo holds full of Low Berths. Like the Vault solution, this vessel of any size is layered with TL-13+ Psi-Shielding in the Low Berth sections. Sophonts are to sleep in Psi-Shield Helmets in addition to the vessel's 'Vault'. Mundanes, psions, psionic students and everything in-between are to sleep the entire flight to the target world.
Who is to fly the thing? Robots, ship's computer and a series of Jump Tapes for both the journey and the return trip for more sophonts. The number of escaping waves of Vault-ships that can save civilizations will depend on how much time and intel that world has before the arrival of the Empress Wave. Robot crews, ship computers, Jump Tapes and anything else a world can afford to protect a flight will be utilized. The vessel must arrive at the target world, at the colony beacon, land and begin reviving its sleeping passengers.
RESULT: Many will die. Low Berth rules will kill off a percentage. Mundanes will revive first. The Medics to survive cryo-sleep will be charged in helping the robots continue revival of more. Security team will be awakened second. Weapons in hand, the mundanes will then start reviving psions, psionic students of any Stage (a Traveller5 vocabulary word), and all the rest aboard the landed vessel. Colonization or a walk to the colony compound structures (if any) will then welcome the passengers who survive and are still sane to their new world.
This result says that civilization will start from colonization, with or without any previous relic ruins present. It will at first be a pastoral result, the only starships will be the colony ships which continue to ferry new arrival sophonts until the source world can no longer be saved. This result is also a Traveller challenge of Exploration, world-building, and the long slog to returning to the stars. Local fauna and flora will need taming. The world will need to be protected both planetside and in the system once space travel is attained once more.
This solution is more risky, but has more of a pristine reward if the world is untouched by sophonts. The vast majority of worlds using this solution will already know their target world, arrive there and pick up the pieces from the pre-Wave civilization collapse that they knew from before the phenomenon.
Since, as been said previously, the Empress Wave can be seen in Jump Space, but if timed right, those in a jump bubble or jump field are outside the universe for the week as they plunge through its initial crest. With the vulnerable sophonts asleep and after a series of successful jumps, the colonists can arrive hopefully with minimal psychic damage as mention in the Ksethu Vault solution. There will be psions who are still vulnerable to the Wave. The final damage numbers will be up to the Referee. There is no hardline formula that can cover every minute permutation of events involving this solution or the Vault solution.
Which solution a given world chooses depends on their galactic position, government and population cooperation, tech levels available, population size, psionics presence, and a myriad of other factors. This may be why the Empress Wave is so enigmatic. Finding the right solution for sophonts to survive such a phenomenon, even to the point of a pastoral Charted Space, is the purview of any given Referee's Traveller Universe.
The second solution to surviving the Empress Wave that I envisioned involved not evading or running Rimward before the phenomenon. It is a much smaller and repeated process that plunges into the wave front. Starships with a two-parsec or better capability will be altered, refitted or specifically designed for the transport of colonists to a target world already finished suffering from the Empress Wave.
This target colony world will be Garden, Terra-prime, Agricultural and hopefully Rich in Trade Classifications. Long range telescopes or previous Scout missions will have found suitable places for brave souls to colonize beyond the last aftermath effects of the Empress Wave. In my sector development of Angfutsag Sector for example, I found two and only one of those was fully beyond the last effects. Referees using this solution will need to locate a target world for post-Wave colonization.
Taking into account the same foreknowledge, governmental compliance, secrecy and selections on who is chosen to live past the Empress Wave as detailed in the previous post, the world must then refit every Jump-2+ starship it can with Psi-Shielded cargo holds full of Low Berths. Like the Vault solution, this vessel of any size is layered with TL-13+ Psi-Shielding in the Low Berth sections. Sophonts are to sleep in Psi-Shield Helmets in addition to the vessel's 'Vault'. Mundanes, psions, psionic students and everything in-between are to sleep the entire flight to the target world.
Who is to fly the thing? Robots, ship's computer and a series of Jump Tapes for both the journey and the return trip for more sophonts. The number of escaping waves of Vault-ships that can save civilizations will depend on how much time and intel that world has before the arrival of the Empress Wave. Robot crews, ship computers, Jump Tapes and anything else a world can afford to protect a flight will be utilized. The vessel must arrive at the target world, at the colony beacon, land and begin reviving its sleeping passengers.
RESULT: Many will die. Low Berth rules will kill off a percentage. Mundanes will revive first. The Medics to survive cryo-sleep will be charged in helping the robots continue revival of more. Security team will be awakened second. Weapons in hand, the mundanes will then start reviving psions, psionic students of any Stage (a Traveller5 vocabulary word), and all the rest aboard the landed vessel. Colonization or a walk to the colony compound structures (if any) will then welcome the passengers who survive and are still sane to their new world.
This result says that civilization will start from colonization, with or without any previous relic ruins present. It will at first be a pastoral result, the only starships will be the colony ships which continue to ferry new arrival sophonts until the source world can no longer be saved. This result is also a Traveller challenge of Exploration, world-building, and the long slog to returning to the stars. Local fauna and flora will need taming. The world will need to be protected both planetside and in the system once space travel is attained once more.
This solution is more risky, but has more of a pristine reward if the world is untouched by sophonts. The vast majority of worlds using this solution will already know their target world, arrive there and pick up the pieces from the pre-Wave civilization collapse that they knew from before the phenomenon.
Since, as been said previously, the Empress Wave can be seen in Jump Space, but if timed right, those in a jump bubble or jump field are outside the universe for the week as they plunge through its initial crest. With the vulnerable sophonts asleep and after a series of successful jumps, the colonists can arrive hopefully with minimal psychic damage as mention in the Ksethu Vault solution. There will be psions who are still vulnerable to the Wave. The final damage numbers will be up to the Referee. There is no hardline formula that can cover every minute permutation of events involving this solution or the Vault solution.
Which solution a given world chooses depends on their galactic position, government and population cooperation, tech levels available, population size, psionics presence, and a myriad of other factors. This may be why the Empress Wave is so enigmatic. Finding the right solution for sophonts to survive such a phenomenon, even to the point of a pastoral Charted Space, is the purview of any given Referee's Traveller Universe.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
This is a complete retcon and has the unintended consequence that it breaks one of MWM's cardinal rules - no FTL communication period. Odd that he would break his own rule
Bland knows it is coming by IY 700, he has a further 500 years to learn a lot more about it.
Perhaps he decides the Imperium has to suffer the Rebellion, Hard Times, TNE so that something better can come out of the other side...
This is another area where the retcon makes no sense whatsoever. The Zhodani should be well aware of the wave, its properties and likely effects and have had the longest time to do something about it. For it to suddenly manifest itself on the edge of Zhodani space to cause the upheaval makes no sense at all.
As already mentioned, Bland has known about it for four hundred years by 1100, that's a lot of time to work out contingency plans.
I have stuck with the TNE version of a light speed wave and the effects and reasoning that Dave Nilsen explained.
So why don't the Zhodani do this, with their knowledge of the wave from their various core expeditions? And what will Grandfather do about the wave washing over his pocket universe realm? Not to mention his children and grandchildren in hiding (MgT canon).
Hurry up and post it
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Where is the Empress Wave mentioned in Hard Times? Do you mean Survival margin?
So that's the reasoning.
Did anyone stop to consider that the Zhodani had learned to mitigate the waves effects and that the reason for the FFW from the Zhodani perspective was to do something about it once and for all? There is no reason to make it an FTL phenomenon.
Either the Zhodani have learned about it during their core expeditions (which given the events of Agent seem likely) and have developed workarounds such as jumping past the wave, or multiple psionic shields and bunkers as pakkrat suggests, or... actually ther is no or, the Zhodani know about the wave and can mitigate it.
Bland
Was it not said that Bland's Wafer, as well as the others, would likely degenerate, break down or otherwise be nonfunctional past 900IC? If so, then Bland might have less time than believed to Decide on a solution.
My solutions take other Major Races into account, especially because they don't have Bland, Longbow II or the Zhodani star map as resources. The two I offered are more for those who are not the Third Imperium. They are not humanocentric solutions.
There will be grand losses. Asteroid worlds, Vacuum worlds, worlds with less than breathable atmospheres, Deserts, Low Populations and less than interstellar Tech Levels are going to Die Back (Di). The Empress Wave will, far more than the Virus Era problem, turn Charted Space into a very quiet and pastoral Traveller Universe with grand spaces between pockets of survivors.
And I gleaned this from outside the Moot.
Was it not said that Bland's Wafer, as well as the others, would likely degenerate, break down or otherwise be nonfunctional past 900IC? If so, then Bland might have less time than believed to Decide on a solution.
My solutions take other Major Races into account, especially because they don't have Bland, Longbow II or the Zhodani star map as resources. The two I offered are more for those who are not the Third Imperium. They are not humanocentric solutions.
There will be grand losses. Asteroid worlds, Vacuum worlds, worlds with less than breathable atmospheres, Deserts, Low Populations and less than interstellar Tech Levels are going to Die Back (Di). The Empress Wave will, far more than the Virus Era problem, turn Charted Space into a very quiet and pastoral Traveller Universe with grand spaces between pockets of survivors.
And I gleaned this from outside the Moot.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
The original wafers, but they can be copied and updated. By 900 the Imperium has advanced to experimental TL16+ technology (they had experimental TL15 stuff back in 700), personalities can be copied and overlayed by machines without wafers - if Expedition to Zhodan is anything to go by (unless it requires a retcon that every PC has to be fitted with a wafer jack while on board Rock).
The Zhodani find out about it long before the Imperium, and if worlds do get wrning and can take precautions as you suggest then it makes most sense for the Zhodani to do so first.
Islands of garden worlds separated by subsector distances - an ideal setting for a Hop drive culture
I like your work on this by the way
The other Major Races may have built in solutions due to their cultures.
The Aslan on the whole have a higher base Tech Level will help them. Specifically, in Mongoose 1e randomly generated worlds for Aslan are built on 1D6+8 with at worst a -5 DM due to Starport and population with a minimum TL of the equipment needed to breath the atmosphere (MgT1e Aslan pg 152 and in turn MgT1e CRB pg 179). This may help when Virus, and in turn the Wave hits them. During the Golden Era, each world is relying LESS on imported technology.
Similarly, the K'kree in Classic Traveller by their nature prefer habitable worlds and when not they don't go there or put much into them. This is reflected by their random world generation where Pop is modified by Environment, and TL in turn is 1D6+9 with a minimum due to atmosphere. Same deal here. Less reliance on imports so they only have to worry about the plants going crazy.
Imperial worlds have wacky UWP in comparison (eq. Size 0 worlds with TL 3?
o
The Aslan on the whole have a higher base Tech Level will help them. Specifically, in Mongoose 1e randomly generated worlds for Aslan are built on 1D6+8 with at worst a -5 DM due to Starport and population with a minimum TL of the equipment needed to breath the atmosphere (MgT1e Aslan pg 152 and in turn MgT1e CRB pg 179). This may help when Virus, and in turn the Wave hits them. During the Golden Era, each world is relying LESS on imported technology.
Similarly, the K'kree in Classic Traveller by their nature prefer habitable worlds and when not they don't go there or put much into them. This is reflected by their random world generation where Pop is modified by Environment, and TL in turn is 1D6+9 with a minimum due to atmosphere. Same deal here. Less reliance on imports so they only have to worry about the plants going crazy.
Imperial worlds have wacky UWP in comparison (eq. Size 0 worlds with TL 3?
oThis is a complete retcon and has the unintended consequence that it breaks one of MWM's cardinal rules - no FTL communication period. Odd that he would break his own rule
This is another area where the retcon makes no sense whatsoever. The Zhodani should be well aware of the wave, its properties and likely effects and have had the longest time to do something about it. For it to suddenly manifest itself on the edge of Zhodani space to cause the upheaval makes no sense at all.
Seconded. It started as a light-speed phenomenon, makes sense. Then it got re-written by Mongoose.
There was a thread where someone pointed out that the speed change completely invalidates the whole 1248 era timeline and squishes it flat. So I guess we have to pick which flavour of canon we take, 1248 or Mongoose.
Just going by any map of Charted Space, the Zhodani Consulate has a coreward frontier about two sectors more coreward than the Imperium. So that's almost 80 parsecs, which means it's been rolling the Consulate flate for almost 80 years if you use the new speed, about two hundred and fifty years if you use the original speed of light speed.
At the very least, you'd expect that the Imperial Ambassador on Zhodane to write. "Dear Emperor..." (Unless that's what got the last one killed.)
And oh yes, their Core Expeditions. They should have known about this for a few hundred years before that. Even if there was no active Expedition, they'd have outposts etc, at least for a little ways.
That would be nice, we'll have to see if it comes up in the next book.
But there's a lot 'on hold' in the setting. Which canon is final? 1248? Mongoose? Both? Neither? We've been getting hints and rumours that "Galaxiad" is out there, it would be nice to see that. Of course Marc had surgery, all the best for a speedy recovery, but that really slowed down progress on all the irons he had in the fire.
Yes, that would be the easy way out. And they would be wrong.
The Traveller 5 rulebook and current PDF acknowledges that Virus, TNE, and 1248 happened (pg 17 The Eras of History). My assumption is these eras are desired to be kept. But how?
Many of the 1248 history events occur in blissful isolation no matter how strong the Wave is. The Wave cannot impact them unless it is made even faster. Since the Virus isolates large regions of space from each other, no one can share knowledge of the Wave even it exists. Things like:
- 1130s The Solomani Confederation is in a standoff with Virus, but falls apart due the reappearance of the Sauron Supermen from the Gene Wars (not just about Apes, Dolphins and Ursa any more...) who become a thing on some worlds.
- 1150s Lucan becoming a Viral entity defeating Virus in his domain.
- 1150s Two Thousand Worlds - K'kree homeworld taken over by an alliance of a "friendly" Virus strain and The Lords of Thunder. The K'kree begin their holy war to cleanse Charted Space of meat eaters.
- 1160s The Solomani are the second to recover from Virus (after the Hivers). Hiver fleets and manipulations keep the Solomani from expanding much. But it gets harder. The effort is what causes the Hivers to work on Plan B: The Reformation Coalition. Plan C was exterminate the Humans in one manner or another.
- 1210s The rise of the Droyne in the Reformation Coalition.
Some won't happen because the Wave overtakes the location before the event would otherwise occur. Like:
- The Vargr states surviving in Gvurrdon Sector
- The Regency portion of TNE.
- 1211 The Scouring of Vland by Viral Lucan. The Wave passes over Vland around this year with the faster Wave
- 1211 the RC final battles with Virus. Virus is being driven away from things happening Coreward. Maybe Lucan, Maybe the (now) Gods of Thunder]
- 1211 The Vilani bid to take Capital and assert supremacy
- 1219 The Taking of Capital by the Regency. Viral Lucan is deactivated.
- 1247 The Battle of Gateway Station. The journey to Gateway Sector may involve crossing the wave.
- 1248 The establishment of Emperor Avery of the 4th Imperium - portions of the 4I are overtaken by the Wave by this point.
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Maybe there are unrevealed deus ex machina waiting in the wings to save the Regency and other areas?
Just remember. Virus and The Empress Wave are both machinae to start with.
Like the rise of the Droyne in the RC. In 1210, they are forcibly casting Chirpers, increasing populations and forming political blocs in the Coalition. Perhaps there is more to it?
Speaking of Droyne, since Yaskodray's pocket universe gets wiped out in Secrets of the Ancients, it takes a while to make a new one. Maybe he might get involved. Not because he "likes" us, but because the Wave will interfere with another experiment or his cooking a up new pocket universe.
And THAT, Just Won't Do...
Just remember. Virus and The Empress Wave are both machinae to start with.
Like the rise of the Droyne in the RC. In 1210, they are forcibly casting Chirpers, increasing populations and forming political blocs in the Coalition. Perhaps there is more to it?
Speaking of Droyne, since Yaskodray's pocket universe gets wiped out in Secrets of the Ancients, it takes a while to make a new one. Maybe he might get involved. Not because he "likes" us, but because the Wave will interfere with another experiment or his cooking a up new pocket universe.
And THAT, Just Won't Do...
What if the Empress Wave was not moving at a constant speed since its formation? What if it were gaining or losing "velocity" over time? Perhaps losing intensity (i.e. dissipating) while gaining speed? Or visa versa? Or some other combination? The "acceleration/deceleration" itself need not be constant either, but could be changing rate with time.
I know that is not the current status of the Canon, but could that be a potential fix for at least some of the issues addressed?
(Frankly, I rather like the possibility that it might open the door to at least the possibility (at sufficient Ultra-TL) of FTL-communication).
When Don McKinney, the author of the Mongoose Zhodani book, asked me to update the wiki to include the changed rate of the wave. Do I did more math, and based upon the distances, the Zhodani would have know about the wave for 2,500 years before Longbow detected it. They should have encountered it during the Fourth Core Expedition, even if they didn't understand the full import of the problem.
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Talk:Empress_Wave
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Core_Expedition
Wave Resistance Hypothesis
In my novel Zhevra's Dance, two characters try to guess that the Empress Wave does not move at a constant speed. They guess that High Populations of minds, (sophont, sentient, animal, plant, etc.) being contacted by the psionic Wave slow the phenomenon temporarily. Then once the dread psionic message is delivered, the wave front moves on and catches back up with the rest of the entire Wave. One can imagine a flowing syrup of Wave energy being resisted by every mind it strikes, being slowed the most by High-Population worlds. Then the Wave rejoins its original border.
Whether the Wave is weakened when slowed is the preference of the Referee or the writer.
This is a non-canon answer to What If the Empress Wave does not propagate at a constant rate. YMMV, book spoilers and such.
In my novel Zhevra's Dance, two characters try to guess that the Empress Wave does not move at a constant speed. They guess that High Populations of minds, (sophont, sentient, animal, plant, etc.) being contacted by the psionic Wave slow the phenomenon temporarily. Then once the dread psionic message is delivered, the wave front moves on and catches back up with the rest of the entire Wave. One can imagine a flowing syrup of Wave energy being resisted by every mind it strikes, being slowed the most by High-Population worlds. Then the Wave rejoins its original border.
Whether the Wave is weakened when slowed is the preference of the Referee or the writer.
This is a non-canon answer to What If the Empress Wave does not propagate at a constant rate. YMMV, book spoilers and such.
Another consideration on the relative speed of the Wave:
1202 is more or less the year when the Empress Wave enters the Spinward Marches.
At a speed of 1pc per year, by 1902 the Wave has left CT Charted Space around the 1450's and is ready to leave Sectors in the (x,15) rows
Empress Wave ~1450, speed 1pc/yr
Empress Wave ~1902, speed 1pc/year
If the speed was kept at 1ly/yr, by 1902 Charted Space would still be dealing with the Wave, with the Aslan, Solomani, and Hivers in disaster mode. The wave is still in Aldeberan Sector
Empress Wave ~1902, speed 1ly/year
Put another way imagine playing Pocket Empires. The slow wave means worlds are being destroyed every turn as the curtain opens. The fast wave means the Aslan, Solomani and Hivers have maybe 200 years less of turns compared to the Marches.
Now add the Hop Drive and hilarity WILL ensue:devil: :smirk:
1202 is more or less the year when the Empress Wave enters the Spinward Marches.
At a speed of 1pc per year, by 1902 the Wave has left CT Charted Space around the 1450's and is ready to leave Sectors in the (x,15) rows
Empress Wave ~1450, speed 1pc/yr
Empress Wave ~1902, speed 1pc/year
If the speed was kept at 1ly/yr, by 1902 Charted Space would still be dealing with the Wave, with the Aslan, Solomani, and Hivers in disaster mode. The wave is still in Aldeberan Sector
Empress Wave ~1902, speed 1ly/year
Put another way imagine playing Pocket Empires. The slow wave means worlds are being destroyed every turn as the curtain opens. The fast wave means the Aslan, Solomani and Hivers have maybe 200 years less of turns compared to the Marches.
Now add the Hop Drive and hilarity WILL ensue:devil: :smirk:
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GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
The change was published by Mongoose, but decided on by Marc.
Agent of the Imperium, written by Marc, documents that the Zhodani are aware of and, in their own special ways, attempting to protect themselves from the Wave LONG before the Frontier Wars begin. I'd have to go back to that chapter to see if there is an indication of how long they've known it was coming, but back into the earlier Core Expeditions makes sense.
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Meh. Why not a Twitch channel with a weekly LIVE show that is recorded and made available in the channel for replay as well?
Could have Marc, Robject, Aramis and a host of other grognards and persons skype in to explain, in their own words, what the history is on a given subject, and even field questions from the channels chat if they felt so inclined.
Just tossing that out there.
~Cryton
