War in the Federation

[Ran Targas]

Was playing Halo 2 the other day when the idea came to me; what if the Hiver Federation was more like the Covenant with the Hivers filling the roles of the Prophets, the Ithklur as the Brutes, and Humans as the Elite? Then, I transposed this hypothetical situation into MTU as a possible campaign setting.

The scenario: Things are not well in the Federation. Hivers have become isolated intellectually and philosophically from their empire, leaving Fed Humans and Gurvin in tacit political control. But factions are quickly developing, predominately along racial lines. In the vacuum of Hiver leadership, the minority Ithklur (still not as tame as they have let on) have decided to wrestle military domination of the Federation from the other Fed races (Humans, Gurvin, Za'tachk, etc.). The Hivers, when they do react, prove to have totally lost control of their subjects; the Ithklur turned on their masters at the first sign of resistance and have killed many in their quest for power.

As Ithklur forces drive outward toward the border regions, the Solomani, 3I, and K'kree react by reinforcing their borders; the unstoppable force meets the immovable object. And the Ithklur advance shows no sign of slowing; a subject of much consternation for all of Humaniti.

The players could be Vilani or Solomani trapped deep inside the Federation, Federation humans trying to fight back, or maybe some mix forced to deal with the rapidly declining social situation for non-Ithklur. The could also be Solomani or Imperial spies infiltrating Federation worlds already subjugated by the Ithklur to determine the true threat.

Just a thought, any merit to it?

 

[Ran Targas]

Wow, I guess this is either too different or just plan boring. Sorry.

 

[DaveChase]

Nah, not boring, not as many people reading and posting in the Main Traveller area

Also even though when many people are reading and posting up here in Traveller zone some posts just seem to fade away.

I have also noticed that Traveller players/fanatics are either a Hiver lover or could careless. Now Drones on the other hand always seem to get some bites.

I like the Hivers myself, one of the true alien of aliens in the Traveller universe. Can mess up a players mind with out even having to work very hard at it.

As for the scenario you are presenting,
How would, or why would players want to get involved?
What opportunities are there for profit, knowledge, etc?

Are you wanting to have a new war and make an entire change to the universe
or
Are you wanting something that is happening outside of Imperial control to tempt your players into going somewhere new and different
or
are you just wanting to speculate on the possibility and outcome of such action taking place in Hiver Federation.

Dave Chase

 

[Ran Targas]

I think this could provide an interesting situation; there's a serious threat from outside the 3I with Humans (the Federation kind) on the losing side and taking the brunt of the casualties. Does the 3I or Solomani or some other faction take action or does anybody really care about what happens inside the Federation?

 

[DaveChase]

You might be forgetting some others

Large Corps (Mega Corps) wanting to get a piece of the pie. Send in characters to be the unofficial takers. If they lose or get killed, no Corp is blamed but if they succeed, big returns for the Corp (with maybe the players on the run for their lives

Fed citizens appeal to nearst 3I worlds for help
rescue
food
ships
refugees
etc (think B5 during the Shadow war)

Pirates, mercs, thrill seekers and treasure hunters seeing a new prize/payout

Rescue groups/good Samaritans trying to help those less fortunate

Just some ideas.
This could take place say in a small pocket of the Federation. Some Hivers have decided to test the Hiver way of life and see if the Federation can stand up to such. That way it could be an isolated section and not effect the entire Fed space. And it just so happens be on X's border.

Dave Chase

 

[kafka47]

Sorry I don't play Halo but your outline looks interesting enough. I would be interested to see if it can be linked up with the vapor canon...whereby the Hivers nuked a minor Human Race early in their starfaring past as being a trigger event for your scenario. Could be that this human civilization had something on the Hivers maybe even a virus that was only affecting the Hivers or gave them something like psionics...and that scared the hell out of the high council of manipulators.

 

[Ran Targas]

The backstory of Halo is a very stratified non-human theocracy (the Covenant) attacking the heretical humans; a class of Prophets rule over a number of servant races, each one assuming a specific role. The Brutes are reptiloid gorillas used as shock troops just as the Elites are the razor sharp tip of the Covenant military. Other races fill lesser functions. During Halo (1), the Elites are the guardians of the Prophets, much like the Praetorian Guard or Swiss Guard. In Halo 2, the Brutes wrestle this coveted position from the Elites, labelling the entire Elite race as traitors to cement their new power.

I always thought the Hiver Federation was rather boring and definitely stagnant where it could be much more interesting. Additionally, IMHO, the subject races, particularly the Ithklur, were made to be nothing less than defeated and dominated pets. So when I started to see similarities between the Covenant and the Federation, I followed the transposition to its inevitable completion. Now that's heresy!

But imagine the Ithklur, starved of their inate ferocity for centuries, let loose on a doe-eyed population made sheep by Hiver manipulation; that would be frightening.

 

[epicenter00]

I actually like this idea a lot, Ran. I just didn't comment because IMTU, the races of the Hive Federation, particular the Hivers themselves are practically extinct.

I'd like to see more abuse of the Hivers myself. While Hivers are probably the most alien of the Traveller aliens, I've never really liked them - their racial trait of manipulation always seems (and is played off by GMs) as too perfect, like everything is one of their plots, and everything, no matter what happens was actually planned by the Hivers in the end. Blah. Dull.

IMTU, they ran into a force that wasn't interested in negotiation or talking, but I think your idea could be more interesting. I've always thought what would happen if a Hiver manipulation went really wrong. For instance, if the Ithklur fought some enemy in a short war, one where the Ithklur fought sort of poorly - perhaps it led to diplomatic solution, or even a Hiver victory in the end, but some Hivers became concerned their "pacification" measures against the Ithklur were robbing the Ithklur of some "essential fire" that made the Ithklur valuable in the first place. Some manipulator gets to reintroducing certain elements reinforce the Ithklur's warrior spirit and it works too well...