History of the RimWorlds #4 – Setting the Scene for the Imperium

Two centuries after the Fall of the Thongaloros Empire, discussed in my previous blog entry, the following event is recorded:

-143 Aslan colonise Yuwe/Lymethius.

103 Thongaloros Empire falls to the Outrim Barbarians.

323 Ftaioiaftew/Gazul settled by Aslan of Huiha Weakhayuwikhye.

Huiha Weakhayuwikhye settled at the Rimward end of the Rimworlds, four hundred years after Huiha Esoyatre and Huiha Khysokhou colonised systems in what are now Lymethius and Cabria Subsectors. While there seems to be a sense of relationship between Huiha Esoyatre and Huiha Khysokhou, with Huiha Weakhayuwikhye there is a sense of separation – the only common element is that all three Huiha are Aslan.

While current records aren’t clear – ie I haven’t done any development on the subsector Rimward of Gazul – I would assume that Huiha Weakhayuwikhye in fact ended up occupying several worlds over the Rimward border for, as we shall see, Huiha Weakhayuwikhye eventually played a fairly crucial role in the Rimward Coalition and this, in turn, implies that the Huiha had sufficient resources to successfully resist Imperial expansion.

And then finally the 3rd Imperium steps on stage in the RimWorlds.

History of the RimWorlds #3 – Vanished Empires

And then we come to this entry in the chronology:

103	Thongaloros Empire falls to the Outrim Barbarians.

A single line of text that manages to say both much and nothing at the same time. “Outrim Barbarians”, by the way, was an early term used by me to describe non-Imperial peoples living beyond the Imperial frontier. This term is similar to one that appears in early GDW Library Data and which is used to refer to Zhodani and Vargr in particular. As with the GDW term, “Outrim Barbarians” has fallen out of favour as I continued to develop the RimWorlds.

By the time I was constructing my website, I had expanded the one line reference above to a Library Data entry that read as follows:

Thongaloros Empire
Stellar Empire that extended through much of the Rimworlds sector and which collapsed in 103. The dominant sophonts of the Empire was a hexepedal reptilian race called the Tsalur. Small pockets of Tsalur survive on Xcothal/Nolgor and in the Hand of Ssra'ka Aissr in Cabria Subsector. Artifacts and ruins from the Empire still turn up from time to time.

This entry actually drew together two threads of RimWorlds development.

During the initial Traveller campaign I ran, which centred on my friend John’s ex-Scout character Ezra Weinbach, I introduced the Tsalur Minor Race. The Tsalur Warriors were a hexepedal reptilian people living in caverns beneath the surface of the nearly airless planet Xcothal in Nolgor Subsector, and were actually based on a 25mm Fantasy figure I had inherited.

At about the same time, the chronology entry concerning the fall of the Thongaloros Empire was made. Shortly after that, I began to wonder about this early Empire – who were the people (probably not human as 3rd Imperium humans only showed up in the RimWorlds some 400 years after the Empire had collapsed, and any earlier human populations were refugees or sublighters, and in fairly small numbers)? How big had this empire been? Why had it collapsed? What traces had it left? Was I entirely happy with the name of the Empire (the answer to this question is ‘No’, but it is a name that Imperial researches have tried to extract from the records of a dozen different Minor Races, as well as Empire inscriptions, with no apparent surviving pronunciation guides)?

The linking of the Tsalur to the Thongaloros Empire was a bit of an inspired joke on my part. What if researchers discovered records of a vanished stellar empire? And what if different researchers discover and study a fairly primitive and aggressive Minor Race? Would they necessarily link the two together, particularly if the Tsalur Minor Race is only extant on one planet within Imperial space, and the ruins of the vanished Empire are only found on a handful of worlds along the Imperial border?

I saw no need to DGP the situation to death. Not knowing all the answers is part of the fun of being a Referee. When you come to write a scenario, the process of mapping it out, and then running players through it, serves to answer the questions for you.

In Classic Traveller, the Ancients tend to get blamed for everything, from population movements to Rosette systems. In the RimWorlds, the Thongaloros Empire did do some impressive stuff, though only using Tech Level 13 or 14 technologies – they had a pretty forthright labour policy, for example, and were not shy about shifting fairly massive population numbers about as required for various projects. They also controlled all Jump Drive technology within the Sector for a period of at least 500 years – restricting subject races to non-Jump capable ships that were carried between systems on gigantic Carriers. This explains some of the unusual population distributions within the Sector, the fact that there are fairly substantial Minor Race populations mixed together on certain worlds, and the fact that some Minor Races no longer know for certain what or where their system of origin was.

As to the fall of the Empire, the basic explanation would appear to be that a thinly spread, technologically advanced master race-society crumpled and collapsed when fresh, Jump-capable migrants moved into the Sector and refused to accept the status quo. Aslan ihatei had settled Yuwe/Lymethius some two hundred years before the fall of the Empire, and Yuwe is deep within the Sector. If the ihatei had been rewarded with land for services, it may have been deemed advisible to move them as far away from the Coreward Whisp as possible to reduce the temptation for them to side with any newcomers, especially if the Tsalur had not realised that settled Aslan will drive off incoming ihatei as a matter of course.

So, the identity of the destroyers of the Empire is still unknown – it may have been an alliance of Minor Races rising up to pull down the oppressors, it might have been newcomers coming up the Whisp from the Spinward March, it might have been a combination of the two. Suffice to say, the Tsalur survive as savage primitives on Xcothal/Nolgor and as a fairly powerful Pocket Empire in the Hand of Ssra'ka Aissr in the Cabria and Entorth Subsectors. The Thongaloros Empire is no more, but occasionally tunnel systems are found on certain out of the way planets, and strange starships are discovered orbiting barren moons, and odd step-pyramids are located deep in the jungle. Teleportation devices have been found, and strange plasma weapons, as deadly now as they were a thousand years ago.

In short, a secret box of puzzles and plot-hooks.

History of the RimWorlds #2

The dating system used in my Traveller campaign is the same as that used in Classic Traveller – ie it has been some one thousand one hundred and nine years since Cleon I founded the Third Imperium. To put this into perspective, if today’s year, 2010, equals Third Imperial Year 1109, then Cleon I ascended the Iridium Throne in 901 AD. On Earth at the beginning of the Tenth Century AD, Harald Finehair ruled a united Scandinavia, the Kievian Rus dominated Russia, and historians traditionally viewed this period as the darkest part of the European Dark Ages.

The first entry in my History of the RimWorlds is intriguing:

-3410

Maasubi Religion founded by the Prophert Ragarn

The Maasubi Religion is the faith of the Most Excellent Order of Tijur, Talur and Belesarn – known as the Tijur Monks – of Lotarf/Nolgor. Of Ragarn’s story I know as little now as I did when I first pencilled the entry into my notebook sometime before December 1984.

Ragarn’s religious mission, if I have the date correct, takes place at the height of the 1st, or Vilani, Imperium, nearly one thousand years before the Solomani achived space flight. When I recently rechecked this date, my first reaction was that I had placed Ragarn’s story too early in the timeline. After playing around with several alternate interpretations of the date entry, I found that the decider here was whether Maasubi owed its origins to Vilani or Solomani mysticism. As I write this, I find myself beginning to come down on the side of the Vilani for several reasons:
· The word ‘Maasubi’ appears to me to have a certain Vilani flavour to it with the long first vowel;
· There are relics of Vilani culture and language scattered around the edges of Imperial space in the RimWorlds – such as the Rimward Coalition trade tongue Khishsuun, the Vilani/Solomani language Mersim spoken by the inhabitants of the Khedivate of Nutharal/Cabria, the Old Vilani dialect Siikharsim spoken in the Dathynan Concordance in Gazul Subsector, and the Vilani dialect Khasikha spoken in the Geithurian Republic;
· Plus given the brevity of the 2nd Imperium, the most likely pre-Third Imperium human migrants into the remote RimWorlds are Vilani, fleeing “something” –Vargr incursions or persecution by the Bureaux - by moving across Corridor Sector and into the Spinward March. Some of the Vilani exiles lingered in the March, while others pressed on, seeking to put more distance and time between them and whatever it was that had set them to flight. When the 3rd Imperium began moving into the March in the 4th Century, the Vilani exiles who had remained behind either submitted, or started running again, eventually passing up the Whisp towards Intergalactic space in the wake of the earlier migration.

This last point neatly explains the various Vilani dialects in various parts of the RimWorlds Sector, as they are indicative of several migrations of isolated populations over a period of perhaps one thousand years. This time frame is important as it neatly straddles the mysterious Thongaloros Empire.

In concept, Maasubi appears to be a meditative and martial monastic religion, something akin to Shoalin Buddhism. Additionally, Tijur Monks, particularly from Lotarf/Nolgor, are attributed Psionic powers. By 1109, Lotarf, Shenn and Thrisk are the sole remaining strongholds of Maasubi in the Rimward subsectors of the RimWorlds, though other monestary planets may exist in the Coreward subsectors, towards the Whisp route back to the Spinward March.

-609	Droyne colony ship reaches Yuar/Cabria.

Droyne turn up all over the place. I quite like Droyne, and really should re-read the material I have on them. Yuar/Cabria is an interesting system for them to be occupying as it controls the Jump-3 route across the middle reaches of the Uedhkinthuez nakhae – The Black Beast – a Rift running Rimward from Gyffd and Gaidon in the Cabria Subsector. The Yuar Droyne are only Tech Level 12, but have a population in the billions. It is assumed that they arrived in the RimWorlds prior to the rise of the Thongaloros Empire but what their relationship with the Empire was like is unknown.

-143	Aslan colonise Yuwe/Lymethius.

There are three known Aslan Clans in the RimWorlds; Huiha Esoyatre, Huiha Khysokhou and Huiha Weakhayuwikhye. Of the three, Huiha Weakhayuwikhye is the most isolated at the Rimward end of Gazul Subsector, and the last to settle in the RimWorlds Sector, arriving some four hundred years after the other two Huiha. Huiha Esoyatre and Huiha Khysokhou are both member-states of the Outrim Alliance and Huiha Esoyatre has been taking a greater leadership role within that alliance since the 4th Outrim War of 1080 – 85. It is possible that Huiha Khysokhou owes its origins to Huiha Esoyatre ihatei who struck out on their own to seize new lands.

Huiha Esoyatre and Huiha Khysokhou appear to have settled Yuwe/Lymethius during the Thongaloros Empire period of RimWorlds history. It is possible that the Huiha were welcomed as mercenary soldiers and given the land they craved in returned for serving the Empire as soldiers. When the Empire began to weaken, the Huiha expanded into whatever niche they could find, and fought to hold what they already had.

Given the date of settlement, it would appear that the ihatei that formed Huiha Esoyatre left Hierate space early on, crossing the Great Rift and the Trojan Reach before finding their way up the Whisp to the RimWorlds.

A History of the Rimworlds

My original “History of the RimWorlds” consists of two and a half pages of pencilled dates and brief notes in a 1B4 School Exercise Book. This list of dates has further additions in the margins and other spaces. A typed version of this list, including all the pencilled additions, is included in the notebook and is titled “Fourth Draft of the Complete History of the RimWorlds” and dated 22 December 1984. It was typed on my Grandmother’s Empire typewriter, the same machine I used for many of the articles I wrote for Grim Reaper magazine.

The typed version of the “History” served as the template for my website “History of the RimWorlds” when I began developing the website Traveller pages in 2008 – 2009. While writing the ‘Accidents in Astrogation’ articles for my blog in 2010, I further expanded and updated this “History” as I developed a few new ideas and personalities.

So, this is where the story of the RimWorlds begins, in the basic organisation of its history as a series of 'chapter headings'.

History of the Rimworlds
Imperial expansion into the Rimworlds has been, from the very first, sporadic and under resourced. Consequently, the Sector Dukes were forced to rely heavily upon their Subsector Dukes and the planetary and subsector navies at their command.

Such Imperial Naval units as were assigned to the Rimworlds Sector from time to time were very much used as a mobile reserve to shore up the various fortress worlds that were used to dominate volumes of space.

Berimar’s Sceptre, Gazolan and Thurgandarn were the most stable of the Rimworlds subsectors and, apart from the confusion of the Seventh Century Civil War and the Sarkul Wars of the Ninth Century, enjoyed an extended period of peace. Kaorin Subsector, after the loss of Riinu Subsector to the Klarthur Confederacy in the late Seventh Century, has also developed a thriving economic and industrial base.

Daltharmai, Gamelea, Nolgor, Miazan and Gazul Subsectors have always been under resourced and have faced increasingly well-organised and technologically adept alliances of non-Imperial states.

Table of Dates and Events
-3410	Maasubi Religion founded by the Prophert Ragarn
-609	Droyne colony ship reaches Yuar/Cabria.
-143	Aslan colonise Yuwe/Lymethius.
103	Thongaloros Empire falls to the Outrim Barbarians.
323	Ftaioiaftew/Gazul settled by Aslan of Huiha Weakhayuwikhye.
497	First Imperial presence in the Rimworlds in Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre subsectors.
540	Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds established with its capital on Raelmar/Thurgandarn. Kolin I Venuraeki is first Sector Duke.
552 - 557	1st Rimward War. Sector Duke Kolin II extends Imperial Rule into the Gazul Subsector against the opposition of the Rimward Coalition.
557	Admiral Alleen hault-Hikisaku appointed Governor of the Trans-Nolgor Territories by Sector Duke Dentian I.
572	Ftaioiaftew/Gazul joins the Rimward Coalition.
573	Korbal/Gazul is settled by Aslan ihatei from Huiha Weakhayuwikhye of Ftaioiaftew/Gazul. Korbal is renamed Ikhyowou as the ihatei consolidate their hold on the planet.
593	Act of Recognition passed by Sector Duke Dentian I reorganising the Trans-Nolgor Territories as Gazul Subsector, and confirming Governor hault-Hikisaku as Subsector Duke Alleen I of Gazul.
594	Sector Duke Dentian I is forced to abdicate. The Sector Duchy passes, by Imperial Writ, to House Zenartoria of Heriem/Thurgandarn.
602 - 610	Civil War. Death of Sector Duke Dentian II in 610 and fall of House Zenartoria. House Maranth of Daltharmai/Daltharmai becomes Ducal House and brings stability to the Rimworlds.
652	Colonisation of Kasmir/Gazul.
690 - 699	Reign of Sector Duke Morthar II the Weak. Imperial control of the Sector, disrupted during the Civil War of 602 – 610, continues to weaken. Morthar is assassinated by his cousin, Deserai, who succeeds him as Neal Zuro II. During Morthar’s reign, Riinu Subsector is mostly lost to the Klarthur Confederacy.
768	House Hikisaku of Gazul/Gazul succeeds House Maranth as the Sector Ducal House.
793 - 794	2nd Rimward War in Gazul Subsector. A cease-fire establishes a Demilitarised Zone through Ftaioiaftew/Gazul, Gorth/Gazul and Dathyna/Gazul.
794	Battle of Dathyna. Final battle of the 2nd Rimward War. Sector Duke Karthundal Hiksaku is killed when his flagship is lost with all hands.
800	Arkuru Sethlemarl, Fleet Admiral of Miazan Subsector, is made Governor of Celephais/Miazan.
810	Sector Duke Liarb II Crensea is killed in fresh fighting in the Lymethius Subsector against the rising Outrim Alliance.
841	The Sector fleet revolts against the policies of Sector Duke Neal-Zuro III.
842	Death of Sector Duke Neal-Zuro III and the outbreak of the Sarkul Wars.
842 - 906	Sarkul Wars
844	Colonisation of Tulvan/Gamelea.
845	Battle of Sleipner. Sector Duke Admiral Konyor Tiable is killed. Grand Admiral Stalmar Carlslein reigns as sole Duke until 847.
847 - 850	The Dual Sector Duchy. With the proclamation of Admiral Kranan hault-Lerneister as Sector Duke by his fleet, the Sector is split between hault-Lerneister and Stalmar Carlslein. By 849 each has successfully put down all rivals within his Domain.
851	The Pilgrims, a religious sect, purchase and settle Omega Vasalai IX/Miazan. Sector Duke Admiral Kranan hault-Lerneister, the last of the Sector Admirals, dies on Rorena.
852	Emanon/Gazul settled by colonists from the Dathynan Concordance capital Dathyna/Gazul.
882	3rd Rimward War. The Rimward Coalition takes advantage of the Sarkul Wars to expand its borders. By treaty, the Demilitarised Zone now consists of Kralkor II/Gazul, Ikhyowou/Gazul, Arnak/Gazul and Emmanon/Gazul. Ftaioiaftew and Dathyna rejoin the Rimward Coalition.
884	Governor Arkuru III Sethlemarl of Celephais takes the title of Viceroy.
885	Odinite discovered on Tulvan/Gamelea.
906	Leonid I ‘the Great’ Trumer of Ulvar/Kaorin receives Imperial support as Sector Duke of the Rimworlds. In a rapid campaign of bluff and intimidation, he pacifies and unites the Imperial portion of the Sector. Chi’leur Geyukthi, Leonid’s aide de camp, is made Duke of Miazan Subsector. Lanyard I Sethlemarl is confirmed as Viceroy of Celephais.
925 - 930	1st Outrim War. Nearo/Lymethius is devastated by nuclear and biological attack.
954 - 962	2nd Outrim War.
959	Colonisation of Solaris/Nolgor.
975	Colonisation of Feor/Gamelea.
999	Alexuv III, the last Trumer Sector Duke, dies. House Geyukthi of Miazan/Miazan inherits the Sector Duchy.
1007	Colonisation of Auru/Lymethius.
1022	Klorin Asteroid War. Varch/Gamelea is conquered by Kalar-Wi/Gamelea. Viceroy Odulu Calon Sethlemarl-Geyukthi of Celephais/Miazan and Subsector Duke Petron III of Gamelea/Gamelea are killed in the fighting.
1025 - 1038	3rd Outrim War. Fall of House Geyukthi.
1025	Subsector Duke Tolarman of Gamelea/Gamelea is killed in the opening weeks of the 3rd Outrim War.
1031	Fleet Admiral Yuri Sethlemarl, Viceroy of Celephais/Miazan, is elected Sector Duke by the Fleet and charged with winning the 3rd Outrim War.
1031 - 1032	Rivokul War on Kamperel/Miazan. The People's Justice Army overthrow House Rivokul, Siridar-Barons of Kamperel, exposing their corrupt practises.
1037	Siege of Gamelea/Gamelea by Outrim forces during the 3rd Outrim War.
1039	Colonisation of Breknor/Cabria by the Hunt of Rronurl, a Vargr band.
1041	Death of Sector Duke Yuri Sethlemarl.
1042 - 1044	Rimbaud War.
1044	Duke Olgarthi Ulanor of Nolgor/Nolgor becomes Sector Duke of the Rimworlds following the abdication of Sector Duke Arkuru Sethlemarl (Viceroy Arkuru VI) of Celephais/Miazan.
1046	Birth of Iroioah Foesplitter, Patriarch of E’kho Tlanoweas of Khekheawaoh/Cabria.
1051	Ektran Rebellion. An uprising against Kamperelian businesses dominating the economy of Ektra/Miazan leads to Kamperelian military intervention and the annexation of the system.
1053	Birth of George II Fairweather von Lukaskow of Kartivia/Gazul.
1054	Birth of Ezra Weinbach.
1062	Birth of Bulgor Ramon.
1072	Anoth/Cabria colonised by the Hand of Ssra’ka Aissr, a Tsalur warrior clan.
1079	Zhodani mercantile base established on Eurl/Cabria.
1080 - 1085	4th Outrim War.
1082	Conquest of Florana/Miazan by Kamperel/Miazan.
1084	Rebellion of Pheidos/Gazul. Subsector Duke Calib IV of Gazul/Gazul is assassinated during a state visit to Pheidos.
1085	Battle of Anthorann/Gamelea. Grand Admiral Odg’tal Alveuk leads the Kalar-Wi Planetary Navy to a crushing victory over Outrim Alliance forces (4th Outrim War). The Black Comet Organisation (B.C.O.), a loose federation of pirates and revolutionaries, rises to power in the aftermath of the war.
1087	Kerak/Gamelea is abandoned in the aftermath of the 4th Outrim War.
1089	Hasku/Gazul is opened up for settlement.
1090 - 1095	Zoni Wars.
1090	Count Liarb X of Daxam/Gazul is killed in a Zoni attack on Kartivia/Gazul. Colonisation of Fiona/Lymethius.
1091	Battle of Pheidos. Count Yohanus VII of Daxam/Gazul is killed in battle against the Zoni Raiders. Count Dana of Daxam/Gazul is killed during the 1st Siege of Lur/Nolgor.
1092	Annexation of Thrisk/Nolgor by Lotarf/Nolgor.
1093	Declaration of Independence by Naos VI/Nolgor.
1097	Death of Sector Duke Edenar Ulanor and the end of House Ulanor of Nolgor. A Black Comet Organisation Starfleet defeats the 112th Imperial Task Force at the Battle of Waldak/Nolgor. Later this year, battles at Sleipnir/Nolgor and Jotham/Nolgor occur before the B.C.O. pirate fleet is finally defeated.
1098	Death of Jarmata Zaparino, leader of the B.C.O., in a gunfight in Canblyne Startown, Canblyne/Gamelea.
1099	Annexation of Gaidon/Cabria by Kalar-Wi/Gamelea.
1100	Death of Jan Brenlsky, nominal head of the B.C.O., on Vanvlack VII/Gamelea.
1101	Nuclear war forestalled on Feor/Gamelea by Imperial intervention.
1103 - 1105	Kalar-Wi War. Following the defeat of the Kalar-Wi, the systems of Varch/Gamelea, Anthorann/Gamelea and Rimbaud/Gamelea are reclaimed by Imperial authorities. Warlord Vran’kal Youka of Kalar-Wi flees into the Outrim and Kalar-Wi is forced to accept an Imperial garrison.
1105	Death of Duke Adryos Urzov IV of Gamelea/Gamelea.
1106	Occupation of the Kalar-Wi colony world of Kidan/Lymethius by the Huiha Esoyatre.
1107	Death of Sector Duke Mekal Hendrian and the accession of his brother as Akansair II.
1109	Major war breaks out on Welthor/Lymethius. Subsector Duke Mah’radys IV of Miazan is deposed and executed by a military junta. Civil war breaks out on Miazan/Miazan. The Imperial garrison on Kalar-Wi/Gamelea is withdrawn and Warlord Vran’kal Youka returns to power.

Design Notes

The series of basic overviews of the six developed subsectors of the RimWorlds, collectively known as “Accidents in Astrography”, has been a lot of fun for me to write. I have taken the opportunity of both revisiting these subsectors after many years, and gleaning information for my website – in particular Languages and Library Data – as well as creating some new material, such as some historical and Astrography details.

What is interesting is that I can still see the early development layers, and what Science Fiction was influencing me, as I wrote up the three original subsectors of Gamelea, Nolgor and Miazan. Gazul Subsector came next, but was only partially developed (and only one game was set there, from memory). Lymethius Subsector was developed to provide a little background for the Outrim Wars, and for a late period Esra Weinbach game – so named for the longest serving character in the RimWorlds - while Cabria Subsector was fleshed out to provide a bigger battleground in which to resist Imperial expansion. A recent, abortive, attempt to run a PBeM game resulted in me expanding the Hunt of Rronurl and Huiha Khysokhou.

One of things that enrich a campaign, in my opinion, is a deep background. Things on the surface happen for a reason; and the reason, or reasons, lie back in time. Like creating a character for a novel, a lot of this material will never see the light of day, but if the novelist or Referee has worked out this detail, he/she will know why things are happening that effect the Player Characters.

I’m a firm believer that a campaign needs both a chronology and a macro-map. The former can be just a series of bullet points collecting together significant events, or it can be an in-depth account of all events that have gone before, while the latter can just shows a high-altitude view of the campaign area, or a meticulous survey of the all regions surrounding the campaign area.

A chronology fixes the game in time, and gives reference points for the character – if the players know that the Imperium defeated the Kalar-Wi Empire in 1105, and they encounter a Kalar-Wi warship in the Border Worlds in 1109, it is possible that this ship is a relic of the war. The Kalar-Wi lost three systems to the Imperium in that war, as well as having their homeworld occupied. If the ship is wrecked it might have a treasure horde, looted from one of the worlds the Kalar-Wi lost, but if it is cruising, it could be an “unsurrendered” raider bent on revenge attacks. Likewise, a sector map showing subsector capitals allowed me to write up the likely course of the Sarkul Wars of 842 – 906 when I came to that section of the Imperial History of the RimWorlds. Up until that time, I had no idea what the Sarkul Wars were about; except that they were some form of civil war and that they disrupted the RimWorlds for sixty years. The character of Principle Secretary Lissa Sarkul only emerged as I began to write that section – and my love of Byzantine History allowed me to create the Byzantine levels of that conflict – where the clannish Subsector Dukes and Admirals actively resisted the centralising Sector Duke. The seeds of the war were planted two centuries prior to Lissa Sarkul, but her policies in the name of her Sector Duke revived the centrifugal nature of the original ‘gentleman-adventurer’ nature of settlement of the RimWorlds.

For my next series of articles on the RimWorlds, I’m going to look at the history of the region, and possibly do a little exploration into the Outrim Void to map the worlds I’ve hinted at in my accounts of Lymethius and Cabria subsectors.

Accidents in Astrogation – Cabria Subsector #2

Cabria Subsector is home to four Minor Races; the Kiang of Gaidon, the Ly-ly of Gyven's World, the Gdemiar of Naird, and the Ta'tero of Wyern; as well as systems settled by migrant populations of Aslan, Vargr, Purvions, Tsalur, Kalar-Wi, Solomani sub-lighters, Zhodani merchants, Darrian exiles, a Hiver Society, Sword World miners, general misfits and Droyne. With such a collection of divergent races within such a small amount of space, a variety of languages are spoken within the Subsector:

Aerrghvi: – Vargr dialect of Gvegh, one of the major Vargr language groups, spoken by the Vargr mercenary clan settled on Lo-Taisang/Cabria and who trade regularly along the Miazan Main.
Arrghoun: – Ancient Vargr language, spoken by Vargr of the Hunt of Rronurl, indicating that their ancestors left the Vargr Extents some 2,000 years ago.
Dwerk: – Dominant language of the Gdemiar Minor Race of Naird.
Fahlok: – Dominant language of the Ly-ly Minor Race of Gyvern’s World.
Igzgal – Vargr dialect spoken by the Vargr mercenary clan settled on Tonivar/Cabria and who trade regularly along the Miazan Main.
Kassuriik: - Main language of the Purvion Minor Race of Lithia/Miazan and spoken on the Purvion colony worlds of Pythor and Klearo.
Khasikha: - Vilani dialect used as the official language of the Geithurian Republic in Lymethius Subsector.
Mersim: – Vilani/Solomani language spoken by the inhabitants of the Khedivate of Nutharal, settled on Nutharal and Brol.
Miazan Imperial Basic: - Dialect of Imperial Basic spoken along the Miazan Main, and on worlds to trailing of the Uedhkinthuez nakhae Rift.
Oynprith: - Main language of the Droyne colony of Yuar/Cabria.
Rur’ur’lm: – Main language of the Ta'tero Minor Race of Wyern/Cabria.
Shtanzhret: – Dialect of Zhodani spoken by the small Zhodani enclave settled on Eurl/Cabria.
Te-Zlodh: - Main Darrian language as spoken by the Darrian exiles settled on Withor/Cabria.
Trade Lingo: - A pidgin language commonly used by merchants moving to and fro across the Imperial Border. Using base words from Imperial Basic, Gvegh and Trokh, Trade Lingo can convey basic concepts around buying and selling goods and passing news.
Trokh Khysokhou: - Dialect of Trokh spoken by Aslan of Huiha Khysokhou of Awakea, Khekheawaoh and Heaohwiy in Cabria Subsector and Salau and Kahuai in Entorth Subsector.
Trokh Esoyatre: - dialect of Trokh spoken by Aslan of Huiha Esoyatre in Lymethius Subsector.
Tsalui: - Native language of the Tsalur Minor Race of Xcothal/Nolgor and of the Hand of Ssra'Ka Aissr Pocket Empire in Cabria and Entorth Subsectors.
Vriok: - the main Kalar-Wi language spoken on Kalar-Wi/Gamelea and the worlds of the old Kalar-Wi Empire such as Loa-Wi, Gaidon and Yolurlund.

Aslan and K'kree

GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2
by Andy Slack, David Thomas and David L. Pulver

The second in the GURPS Traveller line of Alien books examines the Aslan and K’kree Major Races in some detail. Having recently read the Mongoose Traveller Aslan book, I was interested to compare the two works, particularly as I still refer to the original GDW Aslan Alien Module for guidance for the Aslan character I am playing in a Classic Traveller PBeM.

Of the three works, the sketchiest is the original Aslan Module – the Aslan were still in a state of development and, consequently, were treated in a broad-brush fashion. Andy Slack appears to have been the lead writer on the GURPS version and, as he says in his notes on the Steve Jackson Games support site, he was very conscious of both the Classic Traveller Aslan, and the reworked Aslan of Digest Group Publications MegaTraveller. With the latter material subject to copyright issues, the GURPS material had to walk a fine line between regurgitation and rewriting, while still offering something new for players who had moved on to GURPS Traveller from the earlier versions of the game.

And I think Andy and his co-writers pull it off. There is a warmth about the telling of the Aslan story that indicates to me the writers know their subject well and have an affinity for it. There are nice, new little cultural touches, as well as broad-brush considerations of the Hierate, its politics and why Aslan in this book may differ from earlier accounts. Some nice starship deck plans round out the Aslan section.

The K’kree section, in contrast, feels a little more mechanical. A species of militant claustrophobic vegetarians who dislike technology but who are bent of galactic conquest does take a pretty big hit on the believe-o-meter. While the material from the original GDW Alien Module is worked over nicely, and there are some good tips for Refereeing K’kree (like being careful the K’kree player doesn’t treat his compulsory entourage as a skills grab bag), I find that I would probably only use K'kree in my campaign as NPCs as there are a number of downsides to them that could make them very frustrating to play as Player Characters.

This book concludes with two minor races, the Inyx and the Devi Intelligence. Of the two, the latter – a dimorphic intelligent fungoid species – actually interests me the most and is a race I would seriously consider adding to my game. The Inyx, on the other hand, a race of aquatic ergovoric parasites, don’t interest me as much. In some aspects, they are so alien that I can see very little scope for interaction between them and Humaniti or any of the other Major Races, which for me lessens their usefulness as characters in a Traveller game.

Finally, comparing GURPS Aslan with Mongoose Traveller Aslan, I find myself wishing to graft the cultural elements of the GURPS version onto the Mongoose Version, and this is simply for story telling reasons, as I do like what Mongoose has done with Aslan.

Sadly, GURPS Traveller Alien Races 2 appears to be out of print from Steve Jackson Games – I seem to recall that I picked up my copy through eBay UK – though it is available as a pdf from Steve Jackson Games’ e23 e-shop and would make a valuable addition to a Traveller Referee's toolkit of ideas.