I'm writing a traveller scenario and need a mineral resource which is incredibly valuable together with a reason for it being valuable. It kind of struck me that in a traveller universe there are a lot of minerals because there are a lot of planets...so how to come up with one which is very valuable?
Unobtanium in Traveller
- Thread starter ravells
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djwildstar
SOC-11
The two canonical unobtanium items in Classic Traveler are:
- Lanthanum, a real element (#57, La) that in Traveller is the ideal material for manufacturing jump grids - and therefore high-quality Lanthanum deposits are always in demand. According to Wikipedia, Lanthanum is a malleable, ductile, soft metal that oxidizes rapidly on exposure to air. It is obtained from rare-earth minerals such as monazite and bastnasite.
- Zuchai crystal is a fictional material used in the focussing elements of jump drives. The crystals are naturally-occurring on some worlds and can also be manufactured, but the natural crystals are preferable.
- Lanthanum, a real element (#57, La) that in Traveller is the ideal material for manufacturing jump grids - and therefore high-quality Lanthanum deposits are always in demand. According to Wikipedia, Lanthanum is a malleable, ductile, soft metal that oxidizes rapidly on exposure to air. It is obtained from rare-earth minerals such as monazite and bastnasite.
- Zuchai crystal is a fictional material used in the focussing elements of jump drives. The crystals are naturally-occurring on some worlds and can also be manufactured, but the natural crystals are preferable.
Doyle Hunt
SOC-10
Chemistry is the same, no matter where you go, so the idea of "new planets = new minerals" doesn't really pan out. However, even without inventing "unobtainium" you can make the scenario work:
On a low-tech world without electricity, extracting aluminum from bauxite is extremely difficult, so aluminum would be unobtanium locally, even if it's common elsewhere.
On a desert world that never had ocean life, you probably don't have sedimentary rock, or shellfish, and so would find it difficult to make concrete because there's no source of cement.
A world without trees proabably won't have anything resembling amber.
Rare earth elements such as lanthanum are rare even on Earth, and are just as likely to be rare elsewhere.
A geologically inactive world, with only one tectonic plate and no molten cose, probably doesn't have quartz crystals. Or diamonds. Or any other crystals that form as a result of both heat and pressure.
As an aside…
In the Classic Traveller adventure "Leviathan" zuchai crystals were introduced. The concept was ported over to MegaTraveller and zuchai crystals were stated to be vital components of the jump drive. If they're vital to jump drives, then zuchai crystals would have had to exist on Earth, since the Solomani were one of the races that invented jump drive. But, we don't have anything with that name. So, what are Zuchai crystals? In my Traveller universe, Zuchai was the name of the Vilani scientist who invented jump drive, and the crystals ended up bearing his name, as "Zuchai's crystals" but over time the possessive form was lost, leaving just "Zuchai crystals." On Earth, they're called Galena, the same crystals once used in early-twentieth century crystal radio sets.
On a low-tech world without electricity, extracting aluminum from bauxite is extremely difficult, so aluminum would be unobtanium locally, even if it's common elsewhere.
On a desert world that never had ocean life, you probably don't have sedimentary rock, or shellfish, and so would find it difficult to make concrete because there's no source of cement.
A world without trees proabably won't have anything resembling amber.
Rare earth elements such as lanthanum are rare even on Earth, and are just as likely to be rare elsewhere.
A geologically inactive world, with only one tectonic plate and no molten cose, probably doesn't have quartz crystals. Or diamonds. Or any other crystals that form as a result of both heat and pressure.
As an aside…
In the Classic Traveller adventure "Leviathan" zuchai crystals were introduced. The concept was ported over to MegaTraveller and zuchai crystals were stated to be vital components of the jump drive. If they're vital to jump drives, then zuchai crystals would have had to exist on Earth, since the Solomani were one of the races that invented jump drive. But, we don't have anything with that name. So, what are Zuchai crystals? In my Traveller universe, Zuchai was the name of the Vilani scientist who invented jump drive, and the crystals ended up bearing his name, as "Zuchai's crystals" but over time the possessive form was lost, leaving just "Zuchai crystals." On Earth, they're called Galena, the same crystals once used in early-twentieth century crystal radio sets.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Not really rare, in the sense that they are not abundant. They are generally common but distributed (rarely found as minerals, hence the element tag) and recovering them is difficult and involved.
The thing is, the starting chemicals are NOT the same in all stars.
Population I stars (the current generation, presumed 3rd gen) are young, moderately high metalicity stars - their accretion disks are loaded with metals.
Population II (2nd gen) stars are much lower metalicity - they had little in their disks, but had some. Mostly stuff in the oxygen and lower range, with some traces of metals. The rocky bodies will have very low to no metal, depending on just how much the progenitor star generated prior to its supernova.
Population III (1st Gen) stars have only what metals they themselves generated. They can't have disk-formed planets other than Gas Giants and iceballs of frozen hydrogen.
4th Generation have yet to be formally codified with a population number, however, they will have even higher metalicity, and may have some exotic stuff, and will have much higher metal content in their accretion disks. The ratio of silicon to iron to uranium will be different in their disks, and thus their resultant worlds. It's possible some of the high metalicity pop I stars are actually young 4th gen ones.
So, if one goes to a 4th Gen star, the worlds should have much better metal content, and may have some interesting (read: high atomic number) naturally stable traces. The theoretical 5th gen should be even higher still.
Another rare material could be neutronium. Neutronium is a theoretical gravity-compressed material usually only found in a neutron star. Most science-fiction treats it as an extremely dense and hardened material - starship armor, etc... With artificial gravity, neutronium could possibly be produced in a lab.
Other elements could also be produced this way. Basically a fusion lab.
I just read that a Japanese lab just created the first instance of element 113 on Earth. It almost immediately decayed into another element, but I guess the results were there. That makes it one of the rarest elements on Earth.
I've always wondered if you could compress water by stripping it of all of it's electrons. Could Ionic Water be easier to store - possibly in a powdered form? Instant water, just add electricity to restore it to normal electron levels.
Other elements could also be produced this way. Basically a fusion lab.
I just read that a Japanese lab just created the first instance of element 113 on Earth. It almost immediately decayed into another element, but I guess the results were there. That makes it one of the rarest elements on Earth.
I've always wondered if you could compress water by stripping it of all of it's electrons. Could Ionic Water be easier to store - possibly in a powdered form? Instant water, just add electricity to restore it to normal electron levels.
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mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Ever heard of a covalent bond?
It's what holds water molecules together.
Remove the electrons and your water molecule falls apart.
It's what holds water molecules together.
Remove the electrons and your water molecule falls apart.
One thought is to remember that humans developed from life on Earth, so as we travel the stars, we encounter worlds with which we are less biologically compatable. So for instance, eating the chickens on another planet may possibly not taste quite as good or be as nutritious. Even if we take the chickens with us from Earth, they still eat the local feed and turn out less than ideal.
So unobtanium might simply be good chickens.
So unobtanium might simply be good chickens.
Agreed, it is called conformational isomerism and each planet could have a different rotamer library.....
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Agreed, it is called conformational isomerism and each planet could have a different rotamer library.....
It sounds like I stumbled into a Kellogg sanitarium! Ummm..... why are you holding that hose and looking at me like that?
o:Uhhh... yes it does. If you have different Population classes for the primary star and you'll have different element abundance ratios for the planets. Additionally, different gravitational fields and different temperatures on the different planets will produce minerals in different abundances. Some minerals and/or compounds will only be found on certain planets.
However, even without inventing "unobtainium" you can make the scenario work:
No. They aren't rare physically. What makes them rare is their chemical properties. They don't form their own ores. Instead they're found in small precentages tied up in other compounds which are a bitch to process.
Your suggestions regarding bauxite, sedimentary rocks, amber, and others are spot on. I was going to bring up amber, corals, limestone, marbles, and others before reading your post.
That's an excellent suggestion.
Doyle Hunt
SOC-10
Whatever it sounds to like you is of no consequence.
Rare earths are not rare because there isn't much of them sitting around. One of them, cerium IIRC, is something like the 20th or 22nd most abundant element on the planet. Rare earths are rare because they're a pain in the ass to identify and refine.
They have a quirk associated with their outer electron shell that makes them hard to identify. This quirk leaves a rare earth element with geochemical properties that prevent it from forming concentrated ores. Putting it another way, rare earths don't like to hang out with themselves, they'd much rather hang out with other elements and compounds.
All this means that rare earths are present in various ore deposits somewhat like gold is present in seawater. They're very hard to spot, they appear in concentrations which are so low finding economically exploitable deposits is hard, and separating them out of even "good" deposits is both costly and time consuming.
And what sort of extraction abilities will the 57th Century Imperium have compared to 21st Century Earth? Better or worse?
Yeah, the problems of identification and separation of rare earths have pretty much been conquered in the last century.* Heck, computers make common use of several - all have commercial and industrial uses.
Interesting for a sci-fi RPG is that being heavier than iron - rare earths are a product of supernova's and red giants (that have burned up their helium - asymptotic giant branch stars on the H-R diagram) and some natural fission.
[*-of course, this doesn't speak to 'policy' problems. Like the case with monazite - a mineral loaded with rare earths (like Lanthanum in the case of monazite-LA ) but also radio-actives. In the U.S. it is uncompetitive to mine due to regulations... IIRC, it is the largest natural source of Thorium - of which there is more in nature than Uranium - which has interesting power generation uses...]
Interesting for a sci-fi RPG is that being heavier than iron - rare earths are a product of supernova's and red giants (that have burned up their helium - asymptotic giant branch stars on the H-R diagram) and some natural fission.
[*-of course, this doesn't speak to 'policy' problems. Like the case with monazite - a mineral loaded with rare earths (like Lanthanum in the case of monazite-LA
) but also radio-actives. In the U.S. it is uncompetitive to mine due to regulations... IIRC, it is the largest natural source of Thorium - of which there is more in nature than Uranium - which has interesting power generation uses...]Lycanorukke
SOC-13
The only stuff in Trav I can remember like that is Omnesium (Element 118 - aka eka-radon) which is mentioned in Knightfall and the never published "Omnesium Adventure". Supposably a couple of tons is worth billions of credits, and has interesting effects for jump drives.
As for rare earths - there not actually that rare, just difficult to obtain/extract - they dont usually show up in huge deposits but are more dispersed, and as Whipsnape mentioned a pain to refine (eg: Neodymium is a rare earth but is used in just about every hard drive magnet or powerful electric motor, and is about as common as copper).
As for rare earths - there not actually that rare, just difficult to obtain/extract - they dont usually show up in huge deposits but are more dispersed, and as Whipsnape mentioned a pain to refine (eg: Neodymium is a rare earth but is used in just about every hard drive magnet or powerful electric motor, and is about as common as copper).
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A better unobtanium might be of a biological nature.
Nature's own kitchen.
Immortalis Ursae - common name Immortium.
Second life stage bio-imager planar recording.
Image width ~1.1 mm. Source unknown.
Synopsis:
A parasitic organism that can only reproduce in the complexity of its human host (to date) - and only rarely more than once per its own lifespan. A microscopic creature of immense medical value [purportedly - immortality] and so rare that further study to reproduce them is hampered by their value as well as the fact that once an active (second life cycle stage) specimen is removed from its host, not only is its benefits lost, but the organism expires. Their first stage lifeform survives exceptionally well, but any attempt at instigating their life cycle change outside a human host has resulted in expiration.
The original source of Immortalis Ursae remains a mystery. In excess of MCr 56 has been rumored to have been paid for a single specimen, however, possession and transport is universally prohibited. See BIOREG 351S-21.13, and findings pursuant to ISW-173852/1005-312.
Reproduction: unknown; suspected asexual, host dependent.
Lifespan: unknown; reputedly several 1000 years.
Life Cycles: unknown; at least two.
...
Second life stage bio-imager planar recording.
Image width ~1.1 mm. Source unknown.
Synopsis:
A parasitic organism that can only reproduce in the complexity of its human host (to date) - and only rarely more than once per its own lifespan. A microscopic creature of immense medical value [purportedly - immortality] and so rare that further study to reproduce them is hampered by their value as well as the fact that once an active (second life cycle stage) specimen is removed from its host, not only is its benefits lost, but the organism expires. Their first stage lifeform survives exceptionally well, but any attempt at instigating their life cycle change outside a human host has resulted in expiration.
The original source of Immortalis Ursae remains a mystery. In excess of MCr 56 has been rumored to have been paid for a single specimen, however, possession and transport is universally prohibited. See BIOREG 351S-21.13, and findings pursuant to ISW-173852/1005-312.
Reproduction: unknown; suspected asexual, host dependent.
Lifespan: unknown; reputedly several 1000 years.
Life Cycles: unknown; at least two.
...
* - extra creds to folks who can identify the RW creature in the image - and it's Dr. Who tie in!
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It's a tardigrade or water bear...
