The Highland-Avalon-Alighieri finger

[rfmcdpei]

Discussion in the previous thread about Ploughshare reminded me of Clay Johanson's American Extrasolar Colonization Administration article, which discusses American scientific and colonial activity in the American Arm. The Beta Aquilae cluster, accessible by tug and brown dwarf from the direction of Vega, is one focus. Another focus, easily accessible by conventional stutterwarp, is on a finger leading to three worlds.

Highland: Discovered by the American Space Force in 2267, Highland is considered by many in AECA to be prime territory. With its temperate climate and fertile soil, Highland would make an ideal colony if not for one thing: the Ravvers.

These native life forms are one of the most vicious and dangerous life forms ever encountered by man, and large numbers of them infest all of Highland's major landmasses. Adventurers may be asked to search for a means to neutralize these creatures so that colonization might begin.

Avalon: This mysterious, clouded world located in the DM+51 2402 system is another potential colony world. It is most notable for its abundance of petrochemicals.

Alighieri: This fiery world quickly attracted the attention of AECA. Despite the tremendous mineral wealth of King, America's first colony world, Alighieri's almost normal gravity and lower temperatures make this mineral-laden world seem inviting. The player characters may be asked to perform a survey of Alighieri's surface to search for possible colony sites.

Avalon is detailed by 2320. Highland doesn't receive similar treatment, but Clay Johanson's Highland article provides background and we know that Australia is actively searching for a way to set up a viable colony on Highland. Johanson seems to have forgotten Alighieri's location, but Kevin Clark did some detective work and suggested that a likely location would be in the DM +45 2688 planetary system, the most distant star in this finger from Earth.

There are obvious adventuring possibilities for all three worlds. How well are the Nigerian and American settlements holding up on Avalon? Is Australian anti-ravver technology proceeding fast enough? What is going on in Alighieri, if anything? Are the Americans interested in bootstrapping other friendly states into Tier 3 status? Might the Indonesians be looking at this finger? Et cetera.

Thoughts?

 

[Colin]

The Highland-Alighieri link doesn't exist. That was an error in the original 2300AD map. They made a link where none can exist. When Ted Lindsey made the map, we discovered that those worlds were unreachable. That's why they aren't covered.

 

[rfmcdpei]

The Highland-Alighieri link doesn't exist. That was an error in the original 2300AD map. They made a link where none can exist. When Ted Lindsey made the map, we discovered that those worlds were unreachable. That's why they aren't covered.

Huh. Does that mean that Alighieri exists elsewhere, or does it exist at all?

 

[Colin]

I would have to check my notes. I suspect that it doesn't exist.

 

[shanksow]

Why not have a adventure searching for a brown dwarf that could make those worlds reachable for future colonization efforts. Or scientists have come up with a way to make the eber star drive usable by humans finally after years of research and there is finally a test vehicle ready for the big jump now?

 

[Colin]

Or scientists have come up with a way to make the eber star drive usable by humans finally after years of research and there is finally a test vehicle ready for the big jump now?

Ssshhhh. There has to be some use for the dozen-some-odd full-body cyborgs, no? Now there's a campaign idea...

 

[epicenter00]

"It's a conspiracy, Scully. Look at these maps. Highland-Alighieri finger. It's here on this map in 2300, but now look at this one. Here's the one that Imperial Office of Stellar Cartography put out in 2320. It's gone."

"Mulder, that was just projection. Nobody ever lived there. It was just a bunch of estimates by astronomers on Earth looking through telescopes on which systems could be reached. When they went out there, they found the gap was too big."

"But this one name, Colin, keeps showing up persistently attached to all of the records."

"Not everything is a conspiracy. Look, in a few years, Trilon will set up a tugship route and we'll go out there, you and I and we'll see for ourselves."

"That's just the thing, Mulder. There is no tugship route. There never will be. See here, 2318 board of directors meeting. Under the advisement of "Colin" Trilon moves to drop the expensive tugship route. In addition, he suggested the announcement be kept "low key" to prevent "public disappointment." Trilon dropped the tugship project two years ago. They're hiding something out there!"

 

[Colin]

The link from Vega to Highland is over 11 light years.

epicenter00, please stay where you are. Medical personnel equipped to deal with situational psychosis* have been dispatched to your location.


*Snap

 

[Peter Schutze]

>Adventurers may be asked to search for a means to neutralize these creatures so that colonization might begin.

Like the electrical field one in the adventure http://www.geocities.com/pentapod2300/mag/highland.htm that introduced us to highland and the Ravvers ?

>infest all of Highland's major landmasses

So the base "In 2298, AECA set up an exploratory base on Oberlin Island" described in the article was just abandoned despite being selected because it was Ravver free ?

That seemed to me to be bigger than the individual islands on Botany Bay that Australia settled.