What Was The Catastrophic Event That Caused The EW?

[mike wightman]

He also mentions that the event may have been triggered by the Zhodani core expeditions finally getting to where Grandfather's Oracle pointed them towards.

So

how about Grandfather realised supraspace meta-intelligences were possible but the only way to be sure would be to use the power of the Sagittarius A black hole to establish a connection

the Zhodani were guinea pigs after a fashion. The two "families" of Droyne that were working on the project (along with their protoZho helpers) were a casualty of the War of the Ancients. In the fullness of time when the modern Zhodani discovered the Oracle device Grandfather (and/or his agents) ensured the device would now grant the Zhodani cryptic clues.

And now for the switch - no device of Grandfather's or of Zhodani making is responsible for the wave. Rather when the Zhodani finally discover the Oracle's twin it is the supraspace meta-intelligence(s) that attempt to make contact and generate the wave

This allows another Deus ex machina - the wave will stop when it reaches the region of space in the Spinward Marches that corresponds to Grandfather's three world pocket universe.

 

[mike wightman]

You mean you haven't done so already?

So did technology come first, forming magic from folks that could use it or magic come before technology for folks that couldn't use magic?

Smelting and working metals was akin to magic to our ancestors. They learned how to do it long before atomic theory and material science could explain what was going on. You could say the same for some medicines in that they were used long before the science was understood.

 

[mike wightman]

Some final thoughts about this EW scenatio.

Spoiler:

What's left of the Star Vikings head off on a mission to the core - check out the latest MgT 2300 Adventure Bayern for what happens when you encounter a supraspace meta-intelligence

When the wave gets to Grandfather space

Spoiler:

the referee finally has a reason for saying no more psionics ever, or making a psionic supers game or just maintain the status quo...
hmm, a 1d6 roll for... nah, that would be silly

 

[DED]

After Marc's retcon of the EW in AotI, I think Azathoth makes the most sense now.

 

[mike wightman]

Marc was never told the original nature of the wave, and I know that Don was never a fan of TNE and made a considerable mistake with where he thought the wave was at the various timestamps we have for its location.

 

[daryen]

Personally, I made the EW a big ole nothing-burger for anyone besides the Zhodani. Because it's main meta-game function was to flatten the Zhodani. It was necessary, as the Zhos were protected from Virus by the Regency. Having the EW flatten them resets them down to what everyone else was at despite not getting hit by Virus.

At that point, you can either use it to add in more psionics, or severely curb it. It can do whatever you want with it.

However, after the recon, nothing that has been done or written before matters or has any relevance. It is a completely new thing and whatever Dave or MJD thought, intended, or said matters at all. The retcon has tossed it all out. So it really isn't useful or necessary to know what was done with the EW before. It's now a whole new thing.

 

[mike wightman]

That assumes we will ever find out what Marc intends - here's hoping he writes another novel...

until then I will model the wave IMTU on the original, along with my take on how the Star Viking et al defeated Lucan and the atrocity they committed to do so. The most important thing is that it is something that can involve a PC group.

Their expedition to the core could be interesting with all the new stuff coming from T5 and MgT.

 

[MichaelSTee]

I do think it's funny (kinda) that Marc says he is "bound by canon", but then can de-canonize something written by a licensee, like DGP or Avenger.

 

[tjoneslo]

I would love to know what Don McKinney wrote in the Mongoose 1st Zhodani book (a book I do not own), as that contains the official "The wave is an FTL phenomenon" retcon. The version in the TNE books is the original, and was there to flatten the Zhodani, else they become the new Third Imperium.

 

[mike wightman]

I don't think Don was a fan of TNE, nor do I think he got the location of the wave in 1119 correct. The regency sourcebook gives enough information to place the wave in 1105, 1119, 1201 and 1206. It is not FTL, and the original author says it travels at c.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why the wave is mapped incorrectly on the Traveller Map also.

 

[Spinward Flow]

The version in the TNE books is the original, and was there to flatten the Zhodani, else they become the new Third Imperium.

The hilarity being that with psionics becoming "normalized in society" what you wind up with is the Third/Fourth Imperium Republic of Regina turning into the new (and improved? better?) Zhodani Consulate.

After all, if you can't beat them ... just flatten them arbitrarily, then become them?

 

[tjoneslo]

I don't think Don was a fan of TNE, nor do I think he got the location of the wave in 1119 correct. The regency sourcebook gives enough information to place the wave in 1105, 1119, 1201 and 1206. It is not FTL, and the original author says it travels at c.

Don McKinney, at the direction of Marc, reconed/overwrote the Wave to be an FTL phenomena, and had that established by publishing it in the Mongoose Zhodani book. So, according to canon, the TNE and 1248 books are now incorrect in their placement of the wave. I know Joshua updated the Traveller Map location to match the FTL changes for the wave.

 

[mike wightman]

In 1119 the wave was 26 parsecs to coreward of the Imperial boundary, which puts it in the middle of the Zhodani consulate. I still do not understand why people think the wave was further away - someone hasn't read the source material closely enough.
At the typical start date of a Third Imperium campaign in 1105 the wave would be 14 light years or 4 and a bit parsecs further away at 30 parsecs, still well inside the Zhodani consulate.

Remember Strephon wasn't observing the wave directly, he was observing the messages sent from a now defunct Longbow observation station to the Longbow focal station filtered through Crocker.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

OK, so looking at the Traveller Map, you have the EW 1.5 subsectors away from the Zhodani Consulate border in 1105. The EW is already 3/4ths of the way through Chit Botshti sector which was dominated by Zhodani worlds. That puts it within a years travel time by jump-5 ship from the Imperium's border.

So why hasn't the Third Imperium sent out a reconnaissance squadron of Explorer class Scouts to get some details on what the EW effects are?

 

[mike wightman]

Because they don't learn of the wave until 1116...

 

[Dragoner]

Don McKinney, at the direction of Marc, reconed/overwrote the Wave to be an FTL phenomena, and had that established by publishing it in the Mongoose Zhodani book. So, according to canon, the TNE and 1248 books are now incorrect in their placement of the wave. I know Joshua updated the Traveller Map location to match the FTL changes for the wave.

IIRC talking with Don, he said the effect of the wave was that everyone checks for psi.

 

[mike wightman]

Dave Nilsen gives a much more comprehensive guide to its effects.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Because they don't learn of the wave until 1116...

When it was still moving at lightspeed. When it is moving at a parsec per year, the effects should have been noticeable by the Fourth Frontier War (and they could have been the cause of it).

 

[mike wightman]

Thus the old rule, the law of unintended consequence.

In TNE canon the wave travels at c and is 30 parsecs from the Imperial border in 1105, The Zhodani are not that bothered by it, although all those proles suddenly gaining psionic ability and the numerous Intendents and Nobles dropping down dead or being possessed is likely to have been noticed

The fixed point appears to be the trip by Strephom in 1116 to the Longbow focus station which has found evidence for the wave in the data obtained from a now defunct Longbow Station.

Why did the Zhodani not notice the wave during their core expeditions, why did the Imperium not notice the wave when it built its Longbow stations a couple of sectors beyond the Zhodani and Vargr?

Answer - they overjumped the wave and so were unaware of it, It isn't until the wave hits somewhere that is being actively observed that Longbow becomes aware of it.

And now the reason the wave can not be FTL - the Longbow station would have been wiped out before it could observe the wave, therefore the wave could not have been observed.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Thus the old rule, the law of unintended consequence.

In TNE canon the wave travels at c and is 30 parsecs from the Imperial border in 1105, The Zhodani are not that bothered by it, although all those proles suddenly gaining psionic ability and the numerous Intendents and Nobles dropping down dead or being possessed is likely to have been noticed

The fixed point appears to be the trip by Strephom in 1116 to the Longbow focus station which has found evidence for the wave in the data obtained from a now defunct Longbow Station.

Why did the Zhodani not notice the wave during their core expeditions, why did the Imperium not notice the wave when it built its Longbow stations a couple of sectors beyond the Zhodani and Vargr?

Answer - they overjumped the wave and so were unaware of it, It isn't until the wave hits somewhere that is being actively observed that Longbow becomes aware of it.

And now the reason the wave can not be FTL - the Longbow station would have been wiped out before it could observe the wave, therefore the wave could not have been observed.

OK, doing a little back-of-the-envelope math here. Assuming that the Traveller Map and the Traveller Wiki are correct currently, we have some stuff to work with.

Those state that the EW is moving at 1 parsec per year. The Wiki says that the Longbow collector plane was located in the Depot (Lishun 1219) system. The galactic habitable zone for the Milky Way goes from 13,000 LY to 33,000 LY from the galactic center (about 6100 parsecs).
The first Zhodani Core Expedition launched in -4006. The seventh Core Expedition found a Zone of Barren Worlds after the third Rift gap between spiral arms at 4179 pc from start point and the eighth Core Expedition found the same Zone of Barren Worlds lasting until the fourth Rift gap between galactic arms.

And I just read the Wiki entry about the Wave Chasers, so I'm going to stop here to digest this.....