OTU Only: The Jump Drive and CJ Cherryh

[Supplement Four]

I've never read any of CJ Cherryh's works, aside from what she's written for Thieves World (which I quite liked), and for years, I've wanted to dip my toe into her Alliance/Union universe. Downbelow Station and Merchanteer's Luck are on my list.

I was looking at a wiki today, and I saw a description of the Jump Drive used in Cherryh's universe:

The jump drive, derived from the theoretical physics work of Estelle Bok at Cyteen Station in 2230, allowing faster-than-light travel. When ships jump, they shift into a space parallel to normal space and appear to move at faster-than-light velocity until they re-enter normal space via their trajectory encountering a star-sized mass. Ships emerging from jump possess a large velocity relative to and pointed at the target mass; the jump drive is also used to lower this velocity to more reasonable levels. Jumps of larger than a few light-years result in the destruction of the jumping ship, so ships' courses hop between stars and other nearby stars or jump points, large collections of matter that are not large enough to achieve fusion. Jumps appear to take days to weeks from the perspective of the crew of the ship, but weeks to months from the perspective of the residents of stations and planets. The experience of jump is unpleasant enough to threaten the sanity of most of those who endure it without being tranquilized - spacers seem to fear few things more than "jump without trank".

Now...doesn't that sound familiar?

 

[Whipsnade]

Now...doesn't that sound familiar?

Same, but different.

Mass based jump precipitation is a necessity in Cherryh's Merchanter setting and an annoyance in Traveller. Despite needing to aim at a mass to exit jump, Cherryh's ships exit jump much more closer to said mass than Traveller's ships do. Unlike Traveller's retention of vector through jump, Cherryh's ships exit jump at huge, even near-c, velocities regardless of their velocity entering jump.

The time dilation associated with Cherryh's jump drive is another marked difference. It's also a fascinating one. Such an effect would make for a great ATU as the difference between Travellers and everyone else would be heightened. (Piper has time dilation in his setting too. During the trial in Little Fuzzy, Jack Holloway mentions his apparent age differs from his actual age because of the lengthy FTL trips he's taken.)

IMHO, quite a bit of Traveller pollinates Cherryh's Merchanter universe. Apart from the general similarities in FTL drives, the Hani might as well be Aslan and the Kif have influenced MTU's take on the Vargr for decades now.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Yeah, there are those things.

Same, but different.

Mass based jump precipitation is a necessity in Cherryh's Merchanter setting and an annoyance in Traveller. Despite needing to aim at a mass to exit jump, Cherryh's ships exit jump much more closer to said mass than Traveller's ships do. Unlike Traveller's retention of vector through jump, Cherryh's ships exit jump at huge, even near-c, velocities regardless of their velocity entering jump.

The time dilation associated with Cherryh's jump drive is another marked difference. It's also a fascinating one. Such an effect would make for a great ATU as the difference between Travellers and everyone else would be heightened. (Piper has time dilation in his setting too. During the trial in Little Fuzzy, Jack Holloway mentions his apparent age differs from his actual age because of the lengthy FTL trips he's taken.)

IMHO, quite a bit of Traveller pollinates Cherryh's Merchanter universe. Apart from the general similarities in FTL drives, the Hani might as well be Aslan and the Kif have influenced MTU's take on the Vargr for decades now.

Nice to see I am not the only one who thinks so. As to the Kif being the Vargr I never thought of it but now that you pointed it out, I totes see it. Thanks!

 

[Whipsnade]

Nice to see I am not the only one who thinks so.

Please understand, I am not suggesting that Cherryh picked up some early Traveller product, read a sidebar or Library Data entry about the Aslan, and decided to reskin them as the Hani.

It's just that if you mull over a sophont evolved from pre-sentient ancestors with "feline-ish" behavior, you're going to end up with something like the Aslan/Hani.

As to the Kif being the Vargr I never thought of it but now that you pointed it out, I totes see it. Thanks!

I remember reading The Kif Strike Back in the mid-80s and telling myself "That is how I want to present the Vargr..." Again, I'm in no way suggesting Cherryh reskinned the Vargr for her novels, but the similarities between charisma and sfik are just too striking not to use.

Check out this explanation of sfik and the society which relies on it:

Their social and political [dis]organization revolves about a quality called sfik, which combines face, authority, and ferociousness. Sfik is gained through victory in combat, or possession of something of value, or just the respect of others: followers with strong sfik give more sfik to their leader. A kif that loses sfik is likely to have its followers either defect or kill it. As a result, the kif are prone to change sides at the first sign of weakness. They seem to have no other moral values; they are pirates and cannibals, and are generally deemed troublesome by the other species.

I'm a well known crank about how aliens should be more alien. IMHO, a player-ready alien race is a contradiction in terms. IMHO in the hands of too many referees and too many players too many of the aliens in Traveller all too often end up being little more than "Bob the Cat, Dog, Horse, Bear, Starfish, or Whatever from Accounting".

IMTU, making the Vargr more like the Kif quickly drove home the point to my players that they weren't dealing with an uplifted Lassie.

 

[flykiller]

making the Vargr more like the Kif quickly drove home the point to my players that they weren't dealing with an uplifted Lassie.

but the vargr are in fact uplifted lassies, yes?

which reminds me. can zhodani read vargr minds? not that I care about cannon but it's nice to fit in with it where possible.

 

[mike wightman]

Can we please put to bed once and for all the notion that the Vargr were uplifted dogs.

There were no dogs when the Ancients visited Earth.

Dogs were/are a result of the domestication and selective breeding of a now extinct wolf like species that occurred sometime during the past 12.000 to 30,000 years.

 

[Whipsnade]

but the vargr are in fact uplifted lassies, yes?

No.

They are not uplifted Lassies. They are not uplifted Canus familiaris. They are not uplifted Canus lupus. They are not even uplifted Canina or Canini.

The Ancients' samples were of the family Canidae and "almost certainly" of the genus Canis. That includes dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, dholes, and a large group of subspecies colloquially known as African wild dogs but which are not dogs but are instead genetically closer to dholes.

Because, as Our Absent Friend Hans always kindly reminded me, "almost certainly" doesn't mean "absolutely only", moving the sample bracket back to the "absolutely only" Canidae level adds Vulpini and Cerdocyonina with all their fox species and subspecies along with the small number of Urocyon fox species.

which reminds me. can zhodani read vargr minds?

Yes.

There's a chart somewhere that lists DMs for telepathy and the like between humans and other alien species. The Vargr, being Terrestrial-descended, suffer no DM. Elsewhere in canon, MT's Vilani & Vargr perhaps, we're told the Zhodani "manage" their border with the Extents by occasionally "adjusting" the corsairs they capture before letting them go home. Finally, in Our Absent Friend Don's Zhodani book for MgT, there's also a large psionic-based Vargr client state the Zhos have set up and support.

 

[Whipsnade]

Can we please put to bed once and for all the notion that the Vargr were uplifted dogs.

I've been trying for decades now, Mike. They simply will not listen.

 

[mike wightman]

I know what you mean.

Back on topic there are two books that I think are required reading for a Traveller ref - Merchanter's Luck and Rimrunners.

 

[flykiller]

but the vargr are in fact uplifted lassies, yes?

No. They are not uplifted Lassies. They are not uplifted Canus familiaris. They are not uplifted Canus lupus. They are not even uplifted Canina or Canini. The Ancients' samples were of the family Canidae and "almost certainly" of the genus Canis. That includes dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, dholes, and a large group of subspecies colloquially known as African wild dogs but which are not dogs but are instead genetically closer to dholes.

ok. but still considerably closer to us than any alien ...

which reminds me. can zhodani read vargr minds?

Yes. There's a chart somewhere that lists DMs for telepathy and the like between humans and other alien species. The Vargr, being Terrestrial-descended, suffer no DM.

... as illustrated.

I wonder if they'd chase a ball ....

 

[mike wightman]

Do Solomani pick insects out of random stranger's hair?

 

[Whipsnade]

Back on topic there are two books that I think are required reading for a Traveller ref - Merchanter's Luck and Rimrunners.

Good choices. Let me add Tripoint, especially from a "trading & wheeling & dealing" standpoint.

The protagonist's mother is their ship's trader/purser. At one point she wants the ship to quickly leave a station in pursuit of another but is overruled by the captain because enough cargo hasn't been assembled yet.

Determined to chase the other ship, she accesses the station's public computer's trading system - "going on-line" like that was rather prescient by Ms. Cherryh - and begins bidding on every data, information, and documentation delivery contract she can find.

She disrupts the market so much that trading/bidding is suspended for a period but not before she's assembled a cargo of data-info-documents which:

• Pays the bills for the trip
• Requires the ship to leave immediately to meet delivery requirements
• Allows the ship to carry less mass and thus travel faster

That episode really opened my eyes as a referee.

 

[flykiller]

Do Solomani pick insects out of random stranger's hair?

(heh. have you seen women at the hair-dressers and nail salons, gabbing away?)

humans are evolved (... if you believe in evolution ....), but vargr are lifted straight up as-is.

 

[Condottiere]

Some random Youtube video alleged the peasants did, and it may have been their only source of protein.

You can play Vargr as anything between Gnolls to the Rats of Nimh; parallel evolution and selective breeding may have gotten them back to Lassie aptitude.

 

[Supplement Four]

Back on topic there are two books that I think are required reading for a Traveller ref - Merchanter's Luck and Rimrunners.

I'm really enjoying Downbelow Station. I read the first two chapters while in the wait room for my annual check up today. The first chapter is a long history lesson about the universe, telling the reader how things got the way they are.

It reminded me of a new Ref explaining the history Terra, contact with the Aslan and the Vilani of the First Imperium, the diaspora of the Rule of Man, then the Long Night, resulting in the current politics and culture of the Spinward Marches today. True, the events are much different and not as spread out, but several hundred years are covered in that first chapter, explaining a deep, intricate history.

Though slight on details as of yet, the Jump Drive is mentioned--and how it changed things for mankind.

And, I like how Cherryh uses the term "merchanteer" in the same way the term "Traveller" is used--referring to a particular class of people who live and work in space and in the space stations rather than on Earth or some other world.

 

[Whipsnade]

I'm really enjoying Downbelow Station. I read the first two chapters while in the wait room for my annual check up today. The first chapter is a long history lesson about the universe, telling the reader how things got the way they are.

IMHO Downbelow Station is the best book to start the series with because of the chapter you mention. (Cherryh does say you can read almost all her Merchanter series in any order.)

Though slight on details as of yet, the Jump Drive is mentioned--and how it changed things for mankind.

Cherryh usually shows more than tells, the chapter you mentioned not withstanding. Pay attention to the "asides" her various characters have regarding apparent life span differences between "merchanter" and "stationer". Jump induced time dilation means a merchant crew member will deal with multiple generations of stationers. That leads to some odd social interactions; "I remember when your grandmother did this job..."

There's also rejuv (anagathics) , the cost and availability of which Cherryh never really explains. With rejuv and jump's time dilation, some Fleet personnel, for example, are well be over a century old.

And, I like how Cherryh uses the term "merchanteer" in the same way the term "Traveller" is used--referring to a particular class of people who live and work in space and in the space stations rather than on Earth or some other world.

Cherryh's never better than when she's exploring the differences in beliefs, perceptions, and thinking between different societies (and even species). Take the world Pell for example.

It's the first biosphere beyond Sol Man discovered, yet it hasn't been colonized in any meaningful sense. Why? Because, as that first chapter explains, the cultures which left Sol to live around other stars were space-based ones. They lived aboard ships and stations. They mined planetoids to build more ships and stations. They learned to live without a planet. That's normal for them.

Sure, Pell has what Traveller would call a tainted atmosphere with excess CO2 among other things, but you'll see that the necessary masks aren't too bothersome and domes are easily built. Agricultural production takes place with native labor, but being assigned to work on the planet is viewed as a punishment. Stationers far prefer living in what seems to us "planet people" as a fragile, crowded, orbital habitat. It's that attitude, plus the lack of colony ships from Earth for various reasons, which has kept Pell from being truly colonized like Cyteen and others.

 

[Supplement Four]

IMHO Downbelow Station is the best book to start the series with because of the chapter you mention. (Cherryh does say you can read almost all her Merchanter series in any order.)

It is really gripping me. I think I want to go back and re-read chapter one--just to let it all sink in better. That chapter is dense.

I'm going to really lke this universe. I see pieces of all sorts of scifi that I love: Traveller, Babylon 5, etc.

Downbelow Station is the hard-print book that I'm reading right now, but I'm also listening to another book atm during my commute: Star Trek The Face of the Unknown, by Christopher L. Bennett, which is proving to be an excellent Star Trek novel. It's a sequel to the TOS first season episode The Corbomite Maneuver, and the story hasn't stopped amazing me. It's very "Trek" and very scifi. My only gripe about that one is that the narrator seems like he's reading the news. The book would be better read in the traditional way, I think.

That's the problem with audiobooks. The narrator is just as important as the writer--or close to it.

As for Cherryh's stuff, I'll be reading more Alliance-Union stuff after this.

That episode really opened my eyes as a referee.

That is cool.

Any other moments like that from, well, any works that made you look at the Traveller game differently?

 

[JimMarn]

ok. but still considerably closer to us than any alien ...



... as illustrated.

I wonder if they'd chase a ball ....

Well... that might be a way to start a fight in a space port bar with lots of Vargr in it.

Cherryh writes good stories. When I read her's I get a feel for the other being's ideas, thoughts, outlooks, etc.

 

[mike wightman]

One of my gaming treasures is the Company War boardgame by Mayfair Games.

C.J. Cherryh wrote an article specially for it, which went into some detail about jump etc.

Most of it has found its way onto the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance–Union_universe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_(Alliance–Union_universe)

 

[Supplement Four]

One thing that bothers me about Cherryh's Hugo winning novel: What was all that raw material used for?

Before the war starts, when the Grand Circle is in full effect and Earth's power is at her height, there are nine star systems feeding trade in raw materials. One of those nine is Pell, where an earth-like world exists.

This is before Jump is discovered. Ships travel at near-light speed, and it takes years between destinations and decades to reach Earth.

What in the world is all that raw material being used for?

NINE star systems.

This isn't Star Wars where a couple of Death Stars and 10,000 Star Destroyers need to be built.

One star system should be more than enough to support Earth--two systems if the Earthers don't want to mess up their own system and strip mine another. But, this should be that first star system that was discovered with the two year LTL travel speed.

Just think of the cost! It's a four year round trip to the closest system! Yet, nine stations are built in nine systems--each supporting the other.

Why does that happen? Build a massive space station just to build another one?

It makes no sense to me.