T4 Only: Selean Federation Background
- Thread starter ManOfGrey
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ManOfGrey
SOC-12
Lauursha
Lauursha
2214 E849555-5 Ni 904 A1 V
A century ago, as Zimiin began to lift itself out of the Long Night and Jump drive was rediscovered, the first thing the Zimiins did was to begin to recolonize Lauursha. Lauursha, a close neighbor of Zimiin and only one parsec away, was certainly within the range of their old Jump-1 technology. And Lauursha had the one thing the Zimiin didn't, and needed badly... water!
Lauursha's atmosphere, while not particularly conducive to human life, was denser than what the Zimiins were accustomed to back home, and though tainted with carbon dioxide, this only proved beneficial to terrain-based crops. Plus the fact the atmosphere, though thin, was dense enough to allow crops to be planted unprotected outdoors without the need for protective shelters, ultimately proved to be a boon.
However, that boon was some time coming. The pH balance in the soil was completely wrong for terrain crops, and no nutrients existed in the Lauurshan dirt, so an extensive program of chemically conditioning the topsoil to make it suitable for agriculture was instituted. Now, a century later, those efforts are bearing fruit, (and in some cases, literally.)
However, it has taken so long, sociological change has begun to catch up with Lauursha.
Before the formation of the Federation two years ago, Lauursha was a colony being administered from Zimiin. Now, as part of the Federation, Lauursha finds itself an independent "nation." A "nation" whose independence is very much still dependent on its founders. Lauursha needs Zimiin just as much as Zimiin needs Lauursha. And now that a higher technology has become available from Sylea, that symbiotic relationship has shifted into overdrive.
Trade between the two worlds was once conducted by a fleet of close to a hundred Far Traders built on Zimiin. Now most of that trade has fallen upon the shoulders of a dozen large, 3000 ton Armed Freighters that constantly ply the distance between Zimiin and Lauursha, delivering the high-tech goods that Lauursha needs to survive in a harsh environment, in exchange for the food Zimmin needs to feed itself.
This logistical change, however, it not without its critics. While loading and unloading on Zimiin, and its class 'A' orbital starport facilities, is relatively easy. Unloading the Large Armed Freighters are not so easy once they reach Lauursha. Unable to land on the planet, and the concrete slab it calls a 'starport,' loading and unloading is now dependent upon a fleet of shuttlecraft based on Lauursha. It takes an average of 23 round trips to orbit to unload a single freighter. Logistical bottlenecks are common. However, to date, it has proven less expensive to maintain a dozen, albeit large freighters, and dozens upon dozens of shuttlecraft, than it did the hundred jump-capable Far Traders that were once required. Whether this continues to be the case as the freighters and shuttlecraft age and need repairs, remain to be seen. Lauursha does not have the technological infrastructure necessary to manufacture replacement parts for either.
A benefit, however, of using both the Far Traders, and the Large Armed Freighters, is their Jump-2 capability. A single Jump-2 equates to two Jump-1s. Therefore, neither ship needs to refuel at Lauursha, and is perfectly capable to return to Zimiin without depending on non-existent fuel from Lauursha's Class 'E' starport, or wilderness refueling from the Lauurshan solar system's lack of gas giants.
The biggest difference between how the two worlds interact since the foundation of the Federation is, that instead of Zimiin issuing edicts, they now find themselves in the business of issuing contracts.
Lauursha
2214 E849555-5 Ni 904 A1 V
A century ago, as Zimiin began to lift itself out of the Long Night and Jump drive was rediscovered, the first thing the Zimiins did was to begin to recolonize Lauursha. Lauursha, a close neighbor of Zimiin and only one parsec away, was certainly within the range of their old Jump-1 technology. And Lauursha had the one thing the Zimiin didn't, and needed badly... water!
Lauursha's atmosphere, while not particularly conducive to human life, was denser than what the Zimiins were accustomed to back home, and though tainted with carbon dioxide, this only proved beneficial to terrain-based crops. Plus the fact the atmosphere, though thin, was dense enough to allow crops to be planted unprotected outdoors without the need for protective shelters, ultimately proved to be a boon.
However, that boon was some time coming. The pH balance in the soil was completely wrong for terrain crops, and no nutrients existed in the Lauurshan dirt, so an extensive program of chemically conditioning the topsoil to make it suitable for agriculture was instituted. Now, a century later, those efforts are bearing fruit, (and in some cases, literally.)
However, it has taken so long, sociological change has begun to catch up with Lauursha.
Before the formation of the Federation two years ago, Lauursha was a colony being administered from Zimiin. Now, as part of the Federation, Lauursha finds itself an independent "nation." A "nation" whose independence is very much still dependent on its founders. Lauursha needs Zimiin just as much as Zimiin needs Lauursha. And now that a higher technology has become available from Sylea, that symbiotic relationship has shifted into overdrive.
Trade between the two worlds was once conducted by a fleet of close to a hundred Far Traders built on Zimiin. Now most of that trade has fallen upon the shoulders of a dozen large, 3000 ton Armed Freighters that constantly ply the distance between Zimiin and Lauursha, delivering the high-tech goods that Lauursha needs to survive in a harsh environment, in exchange for the food Zimmin needs to feed itself.
This logistical change, however, it not without its critics. While loading and unloading on Zimiin, and its class 'A' orbital starport facilities, is relatively easy. Unloading the Large Armed Freighters are not so easy once they reach Lauursha. Unable to land on the planet, and the concrete slab it calls a 'starport,' loading and unloading is now dependent upon a fleet of shuttlecraft based on Lauursha. It takes an average of 23 round trips to orbit to unload a single freighter. Logistical bottlenecks are common. However, to date, it has proven less expensive to maintain a dozen, albeit large freighters, and dozens upon dozens of shuttlecraft, than it did the hundred jump-capable Far Traders that were once required. Whether this continues to be the case as the freighters and shuttlecraft age and need repairs, remain to be seen. Lauursha does not have the technological infrastructure necessary to manufacture replacement parts for either.
A benefit, however, of using both the Far Traders, and the Large Armed Freighters, is their Jump-2 capability. A single Jump-2 equates to two Jump-1s. Therefore, neither ship needs to refuel at Lauursha, and is perfectly capable to return to Zimiin without depending on non-existent fuel from Lauursha's Class 'E' starport, or wilderness refueling from the Lauurshan solar system's lack of gas giants.
The biggest difference between how the two worlds interact since the foundation of the Federation is, that instead of Zimiin issuing edicts, they now find themselves in the business of issuing contracts.
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BRJN
SOC-12
Adventure plot: somebody wants to use a Far Trader as an interface vessel to unload the big barges at Lauursha. The existing shuttle crews are unhappy. ("They are going to take away our jobs! " besides, logistic bottlenecks are a source of overtime pay and job security.) Crew of other Far Traders have heard exaggerated rumors and think they are all going to get demoted into being 'glorified elevator operators".
Likely long-term solution: containerized cargo loads, perhaps based on the 50-ton Cutter's cargo module. Maybe inventing the classic boat type in the process.
Likely long-term solution: containerized cargo loads, perhaps based on the 50-ton Cutter's cargo module. Maybe inventing the classic boat type in the process.
ManOfGrey
SOC-12
Knash
Knash
2216 B8A6000-7 Ba 023 M0 V
Tragically Knash is typical of the worlds whose populations did not survive the Long Night. Once a beacon of Vilani technology, it now stands in ruin.
Knash itself is a very geologically active world, with thousands of volcanoes spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As a Solomani crew once put it...
"Atmosphere is 71 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, traces of argon gas."
"Just like home."
"Only if you're breathing through an exhaust pipe. CO2 is over 3 percent. Two minutes without a suit, you're dead."
Actually the weather is quite mild, everything considering, so a full environment suit is not necessary. But the use of oxygen tanks are.
The red dwarf star the planet orbits around is cool enough that a runaway greenhouse effect has not occurred, but the atmosphere is tainted enough to keep the temperature quite comfortable for humans. Sea-life is abundant, enjoying a very diverse eco-system. But, so far, plant life is only now making a significant hold on land. Scientists think this should occur naturally in the next one to two million years, with amphibians crawling out of the seas soon afterwards.
Red dwarfs commonly cause intense solar-flare activity and high ultra-violet radiation output. However, this particular red dwarf seems to be old enough that such activity has mitigated somewhat for the last half-billion-years or so, long enough for life to take hold.
During the height of Ziru Sirka, (the First Imperium,) the Valini built a dozen massive Plexiglas domes to protect a population of six million people scattered across the "eastern" hemisphere -- the side of the planet tidally locked towards the sun. But as the Long Night descended, and interstellar trade ceased, the population no longer had the technology to maintain the domes that protected their continued existence. One by one, over the course of six centuries, each eventually cracked, and failed. Massive graves have been found underneath each of the cities, with the remains of hundreds of thousands of people huddled together in sub-terrainian caves they tried to seal off from the encroaching, poisonous atmosphere.
Situated equally between Sylea and Zimiin, the two "core" worlds the Sylean Federation have been jointly trying to repair the smallest of these massive domes in order to begin recolonization of the planet, but it's been slow going. While they have established an underground "B" class starport in order to facilitate operations, they have only been able to bring Knash's industry to a Tech Level of 7, which is far insufficient to repair the damage to the domes built so long ago.
The domes, measuring kilometres across, obviously cannot be built off-world and transported to the planet.
The Sylean Federation, and now the nascent Third Imperium, maintain a presence in the system in the form of two or three patrol craft to chase off anyone who might wish to interfere with recolonization efforts, or somehow lay claim to the system themselves.
Knash
2216 B8A6000-7 Ba 023 M0 V
Tragically Knash is typical of the worlds whose populations did not survive the Long Night. Once a beacon of Vilani technology, it now stands in ruin.
Knash itself is a very geologically active world, with thousands of volcanoes spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As a Solomani crew once put it...
"Atmosphere is 71 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, traces of argon gas."
"Just like home."
"Only if you're breathing through an exhaust pipe. CO2 is over 3 percent. Two minutes without a suit, you're dead."
Actually the weather is quite mild, everything considering, so a full environment suit is not necessary. But the use of oxygen tanks are.
The red dwarf star the planet orbits around is cool enough that a runaway greenhouse effect has not occurred, but the atmosphere is tainted enough to keep the temperature quite comfortable for humans. Sea-life is abundant, enjoying a very diverse eco-system. But, so far, plant life is only now making a significant hold on land. Scientists think this should occur naturally in the next one to two million years, with amphibians crawling out of the seas soon afterwards.
Red dwarfs commonly cause intense solar-flare activity and high ultra-violet radiation output. However, this particular red dwarf seems to be old enough that such activity has mitigated somewhat for the last half-billion-years or so, long enough for life to take hold.
During the height of Ziru Sirka, (the First Imperium,) the Valini built a dozen massive Plexiglas domes to protect a population of six million people scattered across the "eastern" hemisphere -- the side of the planet tidally locked towards the sun. But as the Long Night descended, and interstellar trade ceased, the population no longer had the technology to maintain the domes that protected their continued existence. One by one, over the course of six centuries, each eventually cracked, and failed. Massive graves have been found underneath each of the cities, with the remains of hundreds of thousands of people huddled together in sub-terrainian caves they tried to seal off from the encroaching, poisonous atmosphere.
Situated equally between Sylea and Zimiin, the two "core" worlds the Sylean Federation have been jointly trying to repair the smallest of these massive domes in order to begin recolonization of the planet, but it's been slow going. While they have established an underground "B" class starport in order to facilitate operations, they have only been able to bring Knash's industry to a Tech Level of 7, which is far insufficient to repair the damage to the domes built so long ago.
The domes, measuring kilometres across, obviously cannot be built off-world and transported to the planet.
The Sylean Federation, and now the nascent Third Imperium, maintain a presence in the system in the form of two or three patrol craft to chase off anyone who might wish to interfere with recolonization efforts, or somehow lay claim to the system themselves.
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Interesting write-up, but a minor problem with the back-story: Novae do not leave behind Red Dwarfs.
Novae occur when a close-orbiting White (Degenerate) Dwarf companion star accretes enough material on its surface from its primary to initiate a localized fusion reaction. The companion star "flares-up" for a brief period (usually several weeks) before settling back down. If the companion is massive enough and accretes enough material, you can get a Type Ia Supernova, which destroys the original white degenerate-dwarf companion catastophically (and likely wreaks havoc with the rest of the system).
What Red Dwarfs do commonly cause are intense solar-flare activity and high ultra-violet radiation output. Perhaps an especially intense and prolonged period of flare-ups of such behavior half-a-million years ago might accomplish your narrative objective.
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ManOfGrey
SOC-12
Gaar
Gaar
2729 C360211-B De LowPop 120 M9 V
The Solomani established a research station on Gaar about fifty years before the gradual collapse of trade routes isolated the planet from the rest of the Confederation. Ironically, the troubles that the Solomani were facing in the waning days of the Rule of Man most likely worked to Gaar’s advantage. Knowing that the trade routes were becoming more and more unreliable, the Solomani built the station on Gaar to be totally self-sufficient, something that was rare at the time, even for a medium-sized outpost. Extensive hydroponic gardens, and even limited animal husbandry, were built into the extensive structure that would serve as the home for the inhabitants for over eight hundred years.
Gaar itself is a desert world – a moon tidally locked with a larger planet, which itself is tidally locked with the M9 V main sequence red dwarf. Both have breathable atmospheres, but at the time it was assumed Gaar would provide plenty of protection for the inhabitants from the nearby sun. And for eight hundred years this has proven true. Given enough “industry” to keep their equipment running all this time, the inhabitants of Gaar have continued their research, century after century, while surviving in the old station generation after generation.
The station itself is located in a sealed environment on the “dark” side of the moon. Its sun will hardly peak over the horizon before dipping once below the distant mountains. When Gaar is nearest the sun, then the moon blocks the station by turning the far side towards the star, leaving the station in Gaar’s shadow. When Gaar is farthest from the sun, the planet it orbits blocks the sun’s devastating heat from its moon. The sun only peaks above the horizon as Gaar transitions from apogee to perigee twice a day. The surface is habitable, with a standard oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere. On the dark side, temperatures can rise to 140 degrees Centigrade, but down to -50 degrees during the “night” cycle.
The only water on the planet is generated by the human population from hydrogen pockets drawn from deep wells sunk into the moon, which is mixed with the oxygen taken from the atmosphere. The habitat is sealed, much like a starship. Bodily fluids are reprocessed, and even perspiration is filtered from the air inside the station. Over the centuries, strict population control has kept the inhabitants from producing so many offspring that the station’s ability to sustain them has never been put to the limit. The population of Gaar has hovered around one hundred inhabitants for eight centuries now, since only “replacements” are “authorized.”
Contact with Gaar was established by the Sylean Scout Service about thirty years ago. And, again, it is fortunate for the inhabitants it was the Scouts that made contact, since it is doubtful that either the military, or some free trader, would understand the significance of the research that the inhabitants have been conducting.
The red dwarf that Gaar is in orbit around, against the Laws of Physics, is gaining mass. And now, after eight hundred years of observations, that conclusion is indisputable.
In fact, in the last century, that process has begun to accelerate.
No one understands how this is possible. One hypothesis has suggested that Gaar’s sun is either gaining mass, or energy, from a source outside our normal three dimensions. Most scholars laugh at this proposition… at least until they are asked where else could such matter come from? If true, however, the implications are staggering.
It has been known for millennia that even the lives of stars is finite, and one day, trillions upon trillions of years from now, the last star will burn out. Except, it seems, for Gaar’s sun. But why only this sun? Could there be others?
It was these questions that prompted the Scout Service to convince a young Duke Cleon to incorporate Gaar into the Sylean Federation, and consequently into the burgeoning Third Imperium, despite its distance from the rest of the Federation.
Frankly, it probably wasn’t a hard decision to come to. Since Gaar is largely self-sufficient, the cost to the Imperium to maintain the station is negligible. Two Subsidized Merchants make the six-month round trip between the Federation and Gaar, four times a year, supplying it with those few goods and parts it cannot manufacture itself. However, costs are beginning to rise since the inhabitants of Gaar are in the process of abandoning the moon that has been their home for so long.
Computer projections indicate that as the star continues to grow, the aging station will eventually be unable to protect them. They are in the process of building a new station on the dark side of the planet Gaar presently orbits, and eventually will relocate there, although construction is expected to take decades.
The system has no Gas Giants, and no hydroponics, so refueling passing starships is out of the question. With almost nothing in the way of natural resources, there is little that raiders might be interested in. However, the Navy maintains a small garrison on the moon’s class C Starport in the form of five fighter craft. Most of the naval personnel that maintain the garrison are natives of Gaar, which accounts for nearly twenty percent of the population.
Gaar
2729 C360211-B De LowPop 120 M9 V
The Solomani established a research station on Gaar about fifty years before the gradual collapse of trade routes isolated the planet from the rest of the Confederation. Ironically, the troubles that the Solomani were facing in the waning days of the Rule of Man most likely worked to Gaar’s advantage. Knowing that the trade routes were becoming more and more unreliable, the Solomani built the station on Gaar to be totally self-sufficient, something that was rare at the time, even for a medium-sized outpost. Extensive hydroponic gardens, and even limited animal husbandry, were built into the extensive structure that would serve as the home for the inhabitants for over eight hundred years.
Gaar itself is a desert world – a moon tidally locked with a larger planet, which itself is tidally locked with the M9 V main sequence red dwarf. Both have breathable atmospheres, but at the time it was assumed Gaar would provide plenty of protection for the inhabitants from the nearby sun. And for eight hundred years this has proven true. Given enough “industry” to keep their equipment running all this time, the inhabitants of Gaar have continued their research, century after century, while surviving in the old station generation after generation.
The station itself is located in a sealed environment on the “dark” side of the moon. Its sun will hardly peak over the horizon before dipping once below the distant mountains. When Gaar is nearest the sun, then the moon blocks the station by turning the far side towards the star, leaving the station in Gaar’s shadow. When Gaar is farthest from the sun, the planet it orbits blocks the sun’s devastating heat from its moon. The sun only peaks above the horizon as Gaar transitions from apogee to perigee twice a day. The surface is habitable, with a standard oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere. On the dark side, temperatures can rise to 140 degrees Centigrade, but down to -50 degrees during the “night” cycle.
The only water on the planet is generated by the human population from hydrogen pockets drawn from deep wells sunk into the moon, which is mixed with the oxygen taken from the atmosphere. The habitat is sealed, much like a starship. Bodily fluids are reprocessed, and even perspiration is filtered from the air inside the station. Over the centuries, strict population control has kept the inhabitants from producing so many offspring that the station’s ability to sustain them has never been put to the limit. The population of Gaar has hovered around one hundred inhabitants for eight centuries now, since only “replacements” are “authorized.”
Contact with Gaar was established by the Sylean Scout Service about thirty years ago. And, again, it is fortunate for the inhabitants it was the Scouts that made contact, since it is doubtful that either the military, or some free trader, would understand the significance of the research that the inhabitants have been conducting.
The red dwarf that Gaar is in orbit around, against the Laws of Physics, is gaining mass. And now, after eight hundred years of observations, that conclusion is indisputable.
In fact, in the last century, that process has begun to accelerate.
No one understands how this is possible. One hypothesis has suggested that Gaar’s sun is either gaining mass, or energy, from a source outside our normal three dimensions. Most scholars laugh at this proposition… at least until they are asked where else could such matter come from? If true, however, the implications are staggering.
It has been known for millennia that even the lives of stars is finite, and one day, trillions upon trillions of years from now, the last star will burn out. Except, it seems, for Gaar’s sun. But why only this sun? Could there be others?
It was these questions that prompted the Scout Service to convince a young Duke Cleon to incorporate Gaar into the Sylean Federation, and consequently into the burgeoning Third Imperium, despite its distance from the rest of the Federation.
Frankly, it probably wasn’t a hard decision to come to. Since Gaar is largely self-sufficient, the cost to the Imperium to maintain the station is negligible. Two Subsidized Merchants make the six-month round trip between the Federation and Gaar, four times a year, supplying it with those few goods and parts it cannot manufacture itself. However, costs are beginning to rise since the inhabitants of Gaar are in the process of abandoning the moon that has been their home for so long.
Computer projections indicate that as the star continues to grow, the aging station will eventually be unable to protect them. They are in the process of building a new station on the dark side of the planet Gaar presently orbits, and eventually will relocate there, although construction is expected to take decades.
The system has no Gas Giants, and no hydroponics, so refueling passing starships is out of the question. With almost nothing in the way of natural resources, there is little that raiders might be interested in. However, the Navy maintains a small garrison on the moon’s class C Starport in the form of five fighter craft. Most of the naval personnel that maintain the garrison are natives of Gaar, which accounts for nearly twenty percent of the population.
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Silly question...
Did Game Designers' Workshop publish the UWP statistics for the Core Sector anytime between The Atlas of the Imperium in 1984, and First Survey/Milieu 0 in 1996? And, if so, where? Thank you.
I believe DGP published some of the subsectors of Core Sector in Traveller Digest during this period. The T4 Core Rulebook also had a divegent version of the Core Subsector, IIRC.
No. But, as noted by Whulorigan, Digest Group did in their mag, Traveller's Digest. I don't remember which issue.Silly question...
Did Game Designers' Workshop publish the UWP statistics for the Core Sector anytime between The Atlas of the Imperium in 1984, and First Survey/Milieu 0 in 1996? And, if so, where? Thank you.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Why silly?Silly question...
Did Game Designers' Workshop publish the UWP statistics for the Core Sector anytime between The Atlas of the Imperium in 1984, and First Survey/Milieu 0 in 1996? And, if so, where? Thank you.
Traveller's Digest (by DGP, as noted already) issues 8, 9, and 10 have material for several subsectors of Core Sector.
ManOfGrey
SOC-12
OK... you asked.
For a campaign I had in mind, I thought I would flesh out some, (if not all,) of the worlds that are notated as belonging to the original Sylean Federation as listed in T4's First Survey and Milieu 0. And in doing so I was comparing the UWPs listed in First Survey to those listed on TravellerMap.com, and noticed a few inconsistencies. Most of these inconsistencies are easy to explain, especially if one takes into account that 1000+ years have passed between these two snapshots in time. But a few has got me curious.
This became more apparent when you compare the two UWPs between the two sources for the planet Gaar.
First Survey: C360211-B De LowPop 120 M9 V
TravellerMap: B560224-A De LowPop 320 M3 V
Most everything is normal. The population increased, the Starport got better, and their Technological Level increased. That all makes sense in the grand scheme of things.
But the planet got bigger, and so did the star it orbits around.
Which I found very interesting. Hopefully that led to me having to write, (what I hope is,) some entertaining science fiction.
But that got me thinking. Atlas of the Imperium doesn't list UWPs. So I was curious what resources TravellerMap might be using.
Granted, maybe I should have looked before I asked... TravellerMap does list their sources. And you are absolutely correct... TravellerMap lists issues 8, 9 , and 10 of Traveller's Digest as their source for the Core Sector. Thank you!
Now... is any of this terribly important? Probably not. Hence... silly.
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Be aware that the Traveller Map data has gone thru a vetting process associated with the release of T5; some of the worlds whose planetary and stellar data did not make sense astrophysically/planetologically were updated according to a standardized procedure to make them more believable.
I made the Milieu 0 data on Travellermap.
Some History and Notes on the UWP:
DGP
The DGP UWP data and Library reflect the the Golden Age (IY 1105) , neither Rebellion, nor Milieu 0. As with all the DGP stuff it's not necessarily "canon" unless mentioned somewhere else. Some associated Library Data in Traveller's Digest made it into Milieu 0 book. Of note, the Chanestin Kingdom and Interstellar Confederacy I mentioned in a previous reply are in the Milieu 0 book.
T4
As noted, the Chanestin Kingdom and Interstellar Confederacy info are canon. The UWP is IY 0. YEA!
The bad news: Millieu 0 data was generated ...poorly... There are other threads from yesteryear that go into detail. Something about a Sunbane server lack of good randomization and garbled UWP. I do not recall if the DGP data suffered from this too. Someone more grognardy and better memory than I , Please help!
Travellermap
The primary map reflects 1105 data. The Imperial Sectors are canon and built to be accurate and COMPLIANT using the T5 rules.
The experimental IY 0 map is my effort to clean up the Milieu 0 Sector data to make it T5 COMPLIANT. So the badly generated appearing UWP data is "massaged" to get thru the Travellermap's T5 data and errata checker.
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The T5 checker says a piece of data is "in error" if it could not be recreated using the rules. So if say a Milieu 0 planet is size 4 with an atmo of C (12) you could not roll this with 2D6-7+4 (planet size). The highest. you could get is 9 (12-7+4). The checker reports the closest compliant value so I raised or lowered as appropriate.
Marc considers DGP material canon unless overwritten by new materials.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
It's worse than that. A conscious decision was made during T4 development to scramble and misdirect prior data, even if only a little, so that the weight of Canon was less of a concern for brand new players. It's why Core Sector in M:0 has two worlds with the name of the Chanestin capital world, for example, and many worlds have different names than the MegaTraveller era development surge (more below) gave them.
I respect the goal, but the Imperial Core was so lightly represented in prior works, even considering the efforts of DGP, that the only effort really needed was aggressive back-dating.
The Sunbane thing goes back further, to late Classic, when the data underlying the Atlas of the Imperium was generated. The algorithms for many sectors were error-ridden, leading to statistical anomalies if you looked at the UWPs closely. In a few, presumably first generated, sectors, the algorithms were much worse. Spica was one of these, IIRC, though there were several. The results were entire sectors full of tiny airless rockballs, or a *really* high incidence of one physical UWP trio. This wasn't caught, and those UWP collections were housed on the Sunbane server (alongside the early TML archives, I think) until the desire to detail *everything* led to the creation of the History of the Imperium Working Group (HIWG), who proceeded to run a fine-tooth comb through it all. At that point the obvious problem sectors emerged. Some, with dedicated HIWG Sector Analysts, were cleaned up to the standard that would hold until the T5SS project began. A few, like Spica, persisted in their original forms until T5SS.
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daryen
SOC-14 1K
The planetary and stellar changes are things that changed within the game's universe. They are flat out retcons.
With very few exceptions, a size "3" planet isn't going to have a standard, breathable atmostphere. A size "5" planet, however, definitely can. Likewise, an M9V start is very problematic to have a habitable planet around. An M3V, while still not great, is at least a lot more plausible. So ... these changes are likely someone going through an adjusting the UWP to make them more plausible. Honestly, I would have done the world size one myself, and for the star, I'd gone with an M1V or M0V myself, but maybe they already did that too many times, so they settled on M3V as a change of pace.
Do note that I can't speak authoritatively on that change or on Core sector data. But I'm still gonna place my money on that being an outright retcon. And note that there are a LOT of little retcons in the OTU data. Not just corrections, but straight up retcons.
(Quite side note. This is NOT a complaint. I'm perfectly fine with all of these retcons. Heck, at one point I tried to do more. But the change above is not a mistake. It is an intentional change that is meant to retroactively apply to prior material, too.)
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Better explanation is that the first survey data was "falsified" by the Scout responsible for collecting it.
WHY the data would have been falsified leads to all kinds of questions and possibilities ... ranging from incompetence to negligence to bribery to cutting a deal to stay alive (threat to survival roll) with the natives who were not pleased about being surveyed.
NEW DATA SOURCE: Mongoose Publishing's new book The Third Imperium history section has 6 pages on the Sylean Federation pre-Imperium and 2 pages of historical subsector maps showing the specific borders and systems of the Interstellar Confederacy and Chanestin Kingdom at their height. No UPP, but the old world names are given, the world type (asteroid, wet, desert) like Atlas of the Imperium and the borders. No more guessing, as far as canon goes...
