Mixed race crews

[rancke]

I think the most common mixed race crew within the Imperium is likely to be human, vargr, aslan and then whatever minor races happen to exist within the sub sector the adventure begins.

I still think Bwaps have a good chance of getting into the mix, as long as the ship isn't engaged in any criminal activities.


Hans

 

[BlackBat242]

How about dropping the alien stereotyping and accepting that individuals of any race may find a reason to be crewing a ship - yes, even a solitary K'kree.

There are umpteen billions of K'kree, yet not one of them can stand to be solitary and part of a crew with meat eaters.

Absolute tosh, there is more variety in humans here on Earth today than in the stereotyped aliens of the OTU.

You do have a good point here, so long as we moderate, but not entirely do away with the canon racial traits.

The last CT campaign I ran had a solitary K'Kree as the ship-owner/group leader.

He was a refugee - he had been crew on a K'Kree "scout" (the smallest type of ship that K'Kree can live on for an extended period), which was damage. The rest of the crew had been killed, and he coped the only way he could - kept their corpses around for "company", carrying out imaginary conversations to remain functional. This wasn't hard, as scout crews are considered borderline mental cases anyway (no truly sane K'Kree can live in a ship without an open commons and "herd" of 20+).

Unfortunately, by the time another ship (human) chanced upon the J-drive-damaged ship, they had begun to rot, and he had gone completely insane (from a K'Kree viewpoint). He had jettisoned their bodies, and the olfactory relief (plus not having to see their decomposing bodies) was such that he began to "enjoy" the solitude.

The smell of meat-eating humans wasn't nearly as bad as that of rotting K'Kree (clean, unspoiled meat & blood was almost like perfume by then), so that didn't bother him. However, when he was repatriated, the sight of the K'Kree Ambassadorial "welcome committee" triggered a PTSD flashback, and he saw (and smelled) them as a group of rotting zombie-K'Kree, come to turn him into one of them. He fled, and worked his way deeper into Terran space.

He eventually got a ship built (by a Droyne krinaytsoyni ship designer, who signed on with him. He signed on a pair of "felinids" (one Aslan male outcast who was an ex-Terran Navy fighter pilot, and the other a custom-created minor-race ex-Terran small-craft maintainer), and eventually a couple of humans (one an Anne McCaffrey-style heavyworlder) (all PCs), as well as a handful of human NPC crew.

Yes, there was even a Vargr Medic PC in the company (which had, by then, grown to a 3-ship Mercenary/Exploration corporation) before the end of the campaign.

{Edit: And no, the K'Kree never started eating meat.}

 

[mike wightman]

I still think Bwaps have a good chance of getting into the mix, as long as the ship isn't engaged in any criminal activities.


Hans

I always picture them as being common in large star ports, and possibly on large liners too.

I should have included them

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

How about dropping the alien stereotyping and accepting that individuals of any race may find a reason to be crewing a ship - yes, even a solitary K'kree.

There are umpteen billions of K'kree, yet not one of them can stand to be solitary and part of a crew with meat eaters.

Absolute tosh, there is more variety in humans here on Earth today than in the stereotyped aliens of the OTU.

Sure, it is very possible. Just remember that the rest of K'Kree society thinks of those solitary ones as potentially dangerous sociopaths.

 

[Dagrill]

Having an Aslan and a Vargar on the same crew is a wild idea but impractical so pays your money and makes your choices.
I could see a Hiver (Bob) sitting on his acceleration couch as a navigator or better yet, down in Engineering.
Vargar = Gunner/security/Pilot
Aslan = Security/Navigator

An Aslan female IMTU has no problem with the Vargr she has encountered, other than a tendency to treat them as pets and having a sex based split Aslan can fill a multitude of roles.

Regards

David

 

[GypsyComet]

Sure, it is very possible. Just remember that the rest of K'Kree society thinks of those solitary ones as potentially dangerous sociopaths.

Considering that those even somewhat capable of lone operations are given the nastiest and most dangerous jobs in the K'kree military, the survivors *are* dangerous psychopaths.

 

[BlackBat242]

Sure, it is very possible. Just remember that the rest of K'Kree society thinks of those solitary ones as potentially dangerous sociopaths.

Considering that those even somewhat capable of lone operations are given the nastiest and most dangerous jobs in the K'kree military, the survivors *are* dangerous psychopaths.

Exactly!

 

[Tobias]

Or, as I suggested, krinaytsoyni Droyne.

I completely forgot about these guys, I had to look them up in AM5.

 

[Tobias]

How about dropping the alien stereotyping and accepting that individuals of any race may find a reason to be crewing a ship - yes, even a solitary K'kree.

There are umpteen billions of K'kree, yet not one of them can stand to be solitary and part of a crew with meat eaters.

Absolute tosh, there is more variety in humans here on Earth today than in the stereotyped aliens of the OTU.

That's something I agree with in general. But I wouldn't go too far in the other direction either, because that way lie rubbersuits of a different flavor.

It's a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, I find the stereotyping problematic, especially since it is based on crude biologicism, most problematically in the Aslan. (It's like as if Aslan wrote a fictional RPG on primate aliens and made sure to emphasize the extraordinary cultural importance of trees in "human" society, or the common ritual of social grooming, etc.)
It doesn't help that this model has its roots in the obnoxious social darwinism that informs a lot of the science fiction that formed the basis of Traveller.

On the other hand, saying that Aliens can be just as diverse as us often tends to cut out the "as diverse" part and you end up with physically fantastic aliens who all talk and act like early 21st century Americans (and quite often all breathe the exact same atmospheric mix humans do.) See the "Schlock Mercenary" webcomic (with some noteworthy exceptions) for an example of this.

Finally, of course there are some biological features one cannot dismiss as influence on an alien's behaviour. Hivers cannot speak. There are three times as many Aslan females as there are males.

The best, though still very much imperfect approach I can see to solve this problem is to adopt a less detailed, more sketch-like approach. Set a few sophontological constants for the species in question and let people work within that.
However, this is generally unsatisfying in a sourcebook, since people hunger for color or details. This can be solved by including an example culture (such as the main world's, if it is culturally homogenous.)

And on the third hand, developing a fictional alien culture that is both different and diverse (it needs not be as diverse as Earth's, of course, because that would just be another case of applying Earth standards) is an undertaking beyond the scope of a mere alien module.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Considering that those even somewhat capable of lone operations are given the nastiest and most dangerous jobs in the K'kree military, the survivors *are* dangerous psychopaths.

I like this and have spun it off into its own thread.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Mixed Crews

Having an Aslan and a Vargar on the same crew is a wild idea but impractical so pays your money and makes your choices.

I don't follow you. Why should it be impractical to have both Aslans and Vargr on the same crew?It's not like they got along like cats and dogs. AFAIK there is no inherent antipathy between the two races.

I never did consider them to both act as cats and dogs from Sol space.
I imagined them being more like people from differing faiths, always arguing the merits of their faith and the flaws of the other’s.
Each is trying to “Out Honor” the other in performance of actions as well as in their thinking. Constantly arguing with each other as long as it is not a mission critical time. It would get old after a while.

(Though Trader Jim did find a way to make K’Kree burgers and tacos from other parts of their anatomy)

That’s tasteless

Then tell Trader Jim That! >.<

 

[rancke]

I imagined [Aslans and Vargr] being more like people from differing faiths, always arguing the merits of their faith and the flaws of the other’s.

Each is trying to “Out Honor” the other in performance of actions as well as in their thinking. Constantly arguing with each other as long as it is not a mission critical time. It would get old after a while.

There are all sorts of Vargr cultures. If there aren't any culturally Aslan Vargr then it's only because no Vargr ever got as far as the Hierate.

(Did any Vargr ever get as far as the Hierate? I don't know, but I wouldn't object to the idea did someone write it up.)

Anyway, I'm convinced that there are Vargr who would get along fine with Aslans. And some that wouldn't be able to stomach the smug, self-satisfied hypocrites. But then, I'm sure there are Humans who can't abide them either. (Yes, I have a very low opinion of mainstream Aslans).


Hans

 

[Blue Ghost]

I started thinking about an Hiver crew member as a navigator/computer expert in an otherwise human crew. What do others think of this combination?

Also, what combinations are feasible/possible/probable?

What combinations would simply not work (and why)?

What special ship needs would be required to accommodate differing combinations?

Then the idea expanded rapidly.

I'm working up the idea of a 2-5000dton merchant trading/exploration vessel and looking for the "best" crew and positions a savvy group would bring together. Basic assumption is 1+ crew member per 100dtons.

I think any combination is feasible within the behavioral parameters of the crew members; i.e. the K'Kree, to me, are the only ones who pose a real sociological problem of integration. A Vargr, Aslan, Vegan, Bwapt, Droyne, Virushi and human (your variety) could all serve on the same ship, and in close quarters too.

You might run into some problems with the more "outlandish" races from T4 or GURPS.