Tell us Your Ideas for Solomani Supplements
- Thread starter dmccoy1693
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Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
So THAT'S where the Annic Nova came from ... the THIRD DIMENSION !!
It all makes sense now (to somebody) ...
It Came from the Third Dimension was panned by critics when it hit theaters in 1953. Its characters lacked depth.So THAT'S where the Annic Nova came from ... the THIRD DIMENSION !!
It all makes sense now (to somebody) ...
Reminds me that I came up with an "ancient artifact"/prototype that was an extremely-long-range Jump drive that only worked where Jump drives couldn't. Testing it within the Jump Plane would result in a misjump directly to the nearer of the upper or lower boundaries of the Jump Plane, where ordinary Jump Drives wouldn't work. The weird [some synonym for "jump"] drive would, if anyone trusted it at that point...
Doesn't work that way. There's only one "plane" of systems in n-space that are connected, and it's not of need flat. It connects to the 36 levels Jspace, but they all share access to the same list of systems. J1 travel is plane 1. J2 travel is plane 2, J3 travel is plane three, etc.
It is unclear (A12) if Yskodray's pocket universes' J-spaces are connected to the main universe, but since to get in you must use a portal....
The above is based upon a number of sources, including Marc himself.
Extrapolating from Marc's statement that the OTU is indeed 2d on the interstellar space...
J-space probably is Yaskodray's creation.
You don't have 36 different planes of J-Space-connected systems. You have 36 2d branes interconnected into a single non-flat sheet which burbles through a single set of systems; those systems are all connected to the singular set of 36 J-spaces, 36 H-spaces (whether H1, H2, and H3 are the same as J10, J20, and J30 is unclear), etc. Other systems are not. So your gen ship gets there, and it's no longer connected to J-space.
YTUMV, and probably should, but based upon Marcs comments, the OTU has orphaned systems.
And maybe what they brought back with them ?
IMTU the 2D maps are more like a subway map. The J6 limit creates the third dimension.
I've found 3D astrography too much of a pain to use in play.
Agreed, hence the amorphous hand wave. “Above” or “below” the plane is also amorphous. It’s enough for us, such that the Marches are like 60-110 parsecs “above” Core, while the Julian Protectorate is about 20-70 parsecs “below.” It doesn’t really have any effect on normal travel (thankfully) but provides enough depth (ha!) to not have to discuss it again.
The Rifts in Charted Space are located such that I can declare there are no stars of note in the “layers” between Core and elsewhere. At least, not yet
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Which is why at some point it will need computer aided astrography.
While I'm sure other science fiction authors have covered it, Traveller Companion does dive into jump currents, that would sort of influence trade routes and communication nodes.
While I'm sure other science fiction authors have covered it, Traveller Companion does dive into jump currents, that would sort of influence trade routes and communication nodes.
dmccoy1693
SOC-13
After reading your thoughts here and from other Traveller fans elsewhere on the internet, I wrote a blog post on the Solomani.
Read my thoughts on the Solomani here.
Read my thoughts on the Solomani here.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Here's a thought for you.
The Solomani Party and their overtly racist policies amount to essentially a "political fad" for a time that waxes and wanes periodically, rather than being some kind of all powerful unifying TRVTH that unites and overcomes everything in the path of the Solomani peoples forever. In other words, it's a "tribal instinct" that sort of comes and goes throughout history.
Now consider the possibility of portraying that overtly racist policy in a different light.
Rather than being the all powerful defining force of the Solomani identity ... what if instead it was more of a "brittle grip" kind of situation?
The overtly racist policies of the Solomani Party are somehow "failing" to retain the "hearts and minds" of the Solomani people, meaning that the influence of the Party is waning rather than growing. How would the Party react to such a slow rejection and turning away from their desired racial purity goals? Easy answer ... by doubling down on the things that are losing them support, becoming more extreme and more intolerant, to the detriment of all in order to prop up the few who remain aligned with their beliefs and views and still support the Party.
In other words, the Solomani Party still has a "grip" on the Solomani Confederation ... but that influence is waning ... and the Solomani Party doesn't like this turn of events one bit. So they tighten their "grip" on the Solomani, but the means they use to do so are "brittle" and if they squeeze too hard the Solomani Party will be replaced as a major power broker in the Confederation, relegated to the backwater worlds that still support their policies (despite the damage it does to their societies and development) and becoming an even more extremist movement in the process.
So if you're creating material in which the Solomani Party has entered this "downward slide" while trying to maintain their "brittle grip" on the Solomani Rim you can have all kinds of settings and adventures in which the Solomani Party is a factor in society without necessarily being a beneficial or automatically respected factor (and possibly a hindrance to local parochial interests). That then sets up a scenario in which "the center cannot hold" and fragmentation becomes the overarching trajectory of the narrative, in which new forces and interests arise to fill the vacuum left behind by the retreating influence of the Solomani Party and their overtly racist politics, schemes and actions.
In other words, a slow crumbling slide of support ... rather than a sudden shattering (like what happened to end the multiple Imperiums). That way, you aren't just telling the same stories with a different cast of characters.
The Solomani Party was a "solution to a problem" for the Solomani in the past and one that they accepted (readily) in that past.
But times have changed ... and in the "present" the Solomani party is more of a "problem seeking a solution" than they have been which will refuse to go quietly into the dustbin of history recounting the days of Humaniti among the stars.
Princess Leia: "The more you tighten your grip Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
Such is the destiny of almost all extremist movements as they "purify" themselves through increasing extremism into an evolutionary dead end that cannot survive their own fanaticism. They may hold sway for a time, but rarely are they stable enough to endure for all eternity ... particularly when confronted with freedom of thought and the continuing imperative of enlightened self-interest.
So ... if you characterize the Solomani Party as having a "brittle grip" on Solomani society, which is in decline (and the Party doesn't want to be in decline, because being in decline isn't "for the good of the party" per Orwell's 1984) ... the setting of the Solomani Rim gets a LOT more interesting and diverse!
Your mileage may vary, of course.
Is there a write-up on Smade's Planet? How do they maintain "independence" from the Confederation itself? Is it a sham?
A propaganda item put forth by TAS on behalf of the Imperium?
A propaganda item put forth by the Confederation showing "See, Confederation membership is voluntary. Honest we swear
"?Since CT Solomani Rim came out before the CT Alien Modules, what might have been the thinking there?
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Smade's Planet, also known as Demeter, is a low-tech, low-population world located in Gemini Subsector of the Solomani Rim.
The Solomani established an agricultural colony on the planet in 714. During the Solomani Rim War the Confederation housed a major Ministry of Genetics agricultural research project aimed at engineering animals to better tolerate its pollen-rich tainted atmosphere. An Imperial orbital bombardment eradicated the starport, all suspected biowar stations, and the surrounding farming communities.
The system was the site of face-to-face negotiations between Solomani Grand Admiral Wolfe and his Imperial counterpart Admiral Adair to end the Rim War.
Panmunjom.
The Solomani established an agricultural colony on the planet in 714. During the Solomani Rim War the Confederation housed a major Ministry of Genetics agricultural research project aimed at engineering animals to better tolerate its pollen-rich tainted atmosphere. An Imperial orbital bombardment eradicated the starport, all suspected biowar stations, and the surrounding farming communities.
The system was the site of face-to-face negotiations between Solomani Grand Admiral Wolfe and his Imperial counterpart Admiral Adair to end the Rim War.
Panmunjom.
Smade's Planet might be a good place to put an unauthorized research facility, it would be away from the prying eyes of Sol Sec Security. With lots of places to put one and very few people to know about it . It would be of the best entrust of the Ministry of Genetics and the Ministry of Science & Technology to keep Smade's Planet out of the Confederation for plausible deniability if something was to go wrong there.
BRJN
SOC-12
An archeological expedition finds something of Historical interest - a starman's diary, perhaps. Ownership is not certain but there are several claimants. Of interest is the diary passage describing a search for some long-lost relic and how close they were to locating it for real. Sort of like Robert Ballard and _Titanic_ - maybe the space station used on the 'far end' of the jump when J-3 was rediscovered after the Long Night and a route was created from Earth to the long-abandoned Rimward frontier colonies.
Book One is the diary.
Book Two is the station.
Book One is the diary.
Book Two is the station.
