I think it's a writer's error. He meant advanced compared to what he and the reader knew about (TL 9 vs. TL 7). As library data writing it should really have been primitive robotic systems (compared to Imperial average TL 12 or even Imperial maximum TL 15).How are we crediting advanced robotic systems to a TL9 society? Granted, that's the wording of the Traveller Adventure entry on Paya, but I'd recommend we take that with a grain of salt - or else submit Paya for errata treatment. The fact that they rely heavily on robotics is noteworthy among Imperial worlds, but their robotics would be limited to "high data" basic learning systems requiring some human oversight; they are three tech levels away from autonomous systems.
One wonders just how much Oberlindes and the Navy pay in rent. Perhaps there are other sources of income, such as diamond mines kept open by robots.TA tells us Paya was settled about 800 years ago, that it has a gas giant and a naval base, that it is, "a small, nearly unpopulated world which is the subsector headquarters for Oberlindes Lines." Further information reveals that the population of Paya stood as high as 12 million before a natural disaster and subsequent evacuation left the few hundred of this Society of Evolutes as the sole heirs to the planet, and that these few hundred are "fabulously wealthy" owing to the leasing arrangement Oberlindes has for that A-starport and the Imperials have for that naval base. The book example has the locals spending outlandishly to build infrastructure for their future population: one antagonist is described as building a "personal city" named after himself.
Paya's infrastructure is interesting because it is distorted by two factors: The fact that it was already built by 12 million people and the current population fell heir to it, and the fact that the Chosen don't want to allow immigration. This means that robots may be economically inferior to living beings and still be employed by the Chosen because their chief concern isn't economic and they can afford a little inefficiency in favor of political goals.
Whatever sum of money they receive in rent from the offworlders must be spent on imports (or services from the offworlders). Or saved for a rainy day, but eventually it'd be spent on imports.Which suggests a couple of points:
1) The Payan population has wealth a couple or three orders of magnitude above the norm for a population their size. Their TL9 robotic systems would greatly increase their production base, but I don't think even that would supply the resource needs for the kind of construction being hinted at, and they've got lots of moola available to apply toward filling in any gaps. Ergo, the level of import is likely to be an order of magniture or two higher than the norm for a population of this size.
The UWP population score isn't about censuses and citizenships. So the standing population of those facilities ought to be included in the population score. It's perfectly obvious from the text, however, that they aren't.2) Neither the naval base nor the starport are under the jurisdiction of the Paya government. Ergo, the populations of those facilities, assuming they reside within the Imperial jurisdiction (and the Society of Evolutes is unlikely to agree to anything else), are not likely to be counted in the Paya census.
I'd say that was a given.Given the needs of a naval base, the system's Imperial population could well be one or two orders of magnitude above the local jurisdiction's planetary population.
Agreed.Under ordinary circumstances, this would drive growth of the local planetary population as people immigrated to take jobs indirectly serving the base. However, the local population's resistance to immigration except in a tightly controlled form, combined with the limited production capacity of the small local population - even after accounting for use of robotics to extend productivity, and especially given that much of that productivity is being focused on local infrastructure development - could lead to the base needing to import more than would otherwise be normal for it.
So what is the population of Paya in 1105? According to the official lists the population multiplier is 6, which means that in the 30 years from the catastrophe, they've increased by somewhere between 100 and 190. (They don't seem to be in a lot of hurry). A random die roll suggests a population of 677. (BtC claims 620 in 1120, but for reasons given below, I don't think that can be right).
Side note: This seems a remarkably low population expansion for a society that has 'made "be fruitful and multiply" a key part of their lives' and has hired 'thousands of host mothers from offworld'. One such host mother has contracted to bear five children in the next five years. [p. 86] Unless this practice has only just been instituted, there should already be thousands of children added to the number of adult citizens. I suppose one has to posit that children don't count until they're, say, 18.
What about other inhabitants?
a) There's the 'thousands of host mothers'. The minimum that implies would be 2000, give or take. It could easily mean several thousands more. (Which, incidentally, means that in 1106 the number of Payan citizens should be in the thousands and by 1111 (the date of the UWPs in SMC) above ten thousand. In 1120 there should be several tens of thousands. :devil
b) (Surmise only): Technicians hired on five-year contracts to supervise the robotic equipment and other providers of various services.
c) (Surmise only): Mercenaries to keep the host mothers and technicians and servants in line. Problem with that is making sure the mercenaries don't get any ideas.
d) Starport residents. The starport is almost certainly located in the shell of the one they had 30 years ago for a population of 12 million. Parts will have been closed down to reduce the maintenance requirements, but the Imperium will not have given any of the territory back. Most offworlders (sich as the Imperiallines office) will fit inside the extrality fence. The old startown outside the fence is a ghost town. (The question here is why they're keeping up the services of a Class A starport. The astrography around Paya is a bit awkward and it looks to me like most of traffic between the Regina subsector and the Towers Cluster would bypass Paya.) Call it a couple of hundred starport employees and employees of smaller companies?
Partial list of starport residents:
* Starport Authority
* Imperial consulate
* Paya's high noble (probably owns an estate somewhere nice outside the starport -- much to the annoyance of the Chosen -- but his office could be inside the starport)
* Imperiallines
* Ministry of Justice agents (3?)
* Chandler
* Vendors (?)
* TAS office
* Representative of Paya's Government-in-Exile
* Imperial consulate
* Paya's high noble (probably owns an estate somewhere nice outside the starport -- much to the annoyance of the Chosen -- but his office could be inside the starport)
* Imperiallines
* Ministry of Justice agents (3?)
* Chandler
* Vendors (?)
* TAS office
* Representative of Paya's Government-in-Exile
Who else?
e) Oberlindes personnel and shipyard workers. The shipyard is the one that was there 30 years ago, a small one by some standards, but capable of handling ships in the low size rtange that Oberlindes runs (By TCS rules 12 million people means a shipyard capacity of 12000 dT). The local manufacturers of ship components would be defunct, so I don't know how much sense it makes to build starships there, but maintenance and repairs seems reasonable. Call it a couple of hundred Oberlindes employees?
f) Imperial navy base personnel. Looking at Paya's astrographical location, the base is probably intended as a repair base more than as a defensive measure. I'd suggest that the base would be mostly under caretaker rule, ready to be activated in case of war. Call it a thousand?
Hans
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