Mercenary and Marines

Rereading the introduction to Book 4: Mercenary for the first time since the early 1980’s was a rather telling experience. Mercenary was the first Traveller rule book to suggest the likely shape of the future 3rd Imperium, and it was quite a different thing to what it later became. In fact, part of the passage is worth quoting as, on rereading it, I begin to remember what formed my ideas on Nobility within the Traveller setting, and where the general political shape of my RimWorlds campaign came from:

“Traveller assumes a remote centralized government (referred to in this volume as the Imperium), possessed of great industrial and technological might, but unable, due to the sheer distances and travel times involved, to exert total control at all levels everywhere within its star-spanning realm. On the frontiers, extensive home rule provisions allow planetary populations to chose their own forms of government, raise and maintain armed forces for local security, pass and enforce laws governing local conduct, and regulate (within limits) commerce. Defence of the frontier is mostly provided by local indigenous forces, stiffened by scattered Imperial Naval bases manned by small but extremely sophisticated forces.”

-Traveller Book 4: Mercenary 1978

I started thinking about the Imperial Marines again after a couple of my players rolled up Marine characters. How are Imperial Marines organised – beyond the company/regiment TO&E that appeared way back when in a (paper) copy of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society? How are they deployed, and what is their mission?

I recall reading somewhere - and I can’t remember where, though I think it was in connection with a discussion about the Fifth Frontier War boardgame on the Citizens of the Imperium discussion boards – an estimate that there is a regiment of Imperial Marines assigned to each Subsector. Looking at my population figures and likely budgets for the Imperial Navy, a regiment of Marines seems far too few to both serve as a ground force spearhead and to provide ships’ troops for the fleet. After doing a little research – reading up on the US Marines (basically a pocket army) and the Royal Marines (basically a short division within the British Armed Forces) - I began come up with ideas about how I wanted Imperial Marines to work in the RimWorlds.

The Imperial Marines are a pocket army. Serving primarily as Light Infantry (deploying on potentially hostile worlds, their support equipment is constrained by what can be landed from orbit in what could possibly be a “hot” landing zone), their primary roles are to spearhead planetary assaults and secure a perimeter for larger ground force commands to deploy; secure and protect Imperial property planetside, or within a system; and to protect Imperial Navy and Subsector Navy installations and starships. The Imperial Marines are a ready-reaction force intended for rapid deployment to stabilise situations of hostility, or to rapidly overwhelm hostile forces.

Marines have two initial career tracks – Marine Infantry and Support. All Marines, regardless of career track, are riflemen first. That is what they are trained as in Basic Training. The annals of Marine History include many famous actions where the cooks, drivers, storemen and datatechs dropped what they were doing, grabbed their FN187 Gauss Rifles, and manned the barricades alongside their more combat oriented brethren. Looking through the potential Skill List for Support track personal, we find the artillerymen and vehicle gunners, the drivers, the mechanics, and the Combat Engineers who support the Marine Infantry during planetside deployments. Marine Infantry are the teeth of the force. Trained to fight in hostile environments, and in space and aboard starships, as well as on conventional battlefields, Marine Infantry are combat specialists. A third career track, that of Marine Commando, is only open to the best of Marine Infantry and Marine Support. Marine Commandos are the eyes and ears of the Marine deployment force, reconnoitring and feeling out the enemy, and often operating deep behind enemy lines.

Fleet Marine Force Command RimWorlds Sector (FMFCRw) is based at Sector Fleet Command Headquarters, currently on Thiroor/Gazolan, and falls under Sector Fleet Command RimWorlds Sector. Fleet Marine Force Command consists of nine Imperial Marine Divisions, deployed in the nine Subsectors of the RimWorlds controlled by the Imperium. The deployments, from Coreward to Rimward, are as follows:

827th Marine Division, Kaorin Subsector
852nd Marine Division, Berimer’s Sceptre Subsector
853rd Marine Division, Daltharmai Subsector
900th Marine Division, Gazolan Subsector
902nd Marine Division, Thurgandarn Subsector
351st Marine Division, Gamelea Subsector
409th Marine Division, Nolgor Subsector
478th Marine Division, Miazan Subsector
496th Marine Division, Gazul Subsector

Each Marine Division consists of four Marine Infantry Regiments, an Armoured Battalion, two Light Armour Reconnaissance Battalions, a Commando Battalion, two Engineering Battalions, a COACC Wing, an Artillery Regiment, and a Logistics Regiment. From this formation are drawn the Ships’ Troops of all Imperial Navy and Subsector Navy ships within that subsector, all Navy Base and Starport Security details within that subsector, the Security details for many high ranking Imperial Officials within that subsector, as well as garrisons for important installations, troops deployed on Police Actions and Counter Insurgency Operations, and the Marine Expeditionary Units - Ready Reaction forces deployed aboard ship for months at a time, awaiting the order to Jump and deploy.

Solo Traveller - Aloin's Saga Backgrounder #4

Having introduced two Navy vessels into Aloin’s story, the designs of which are now in the Starships and Space ships page, it seems appropriate to examine the Imperial and Subsector Navies as I see them operating within the RimWorlds.

When Kolin Venuraski (later Sector Duke Kolin I) launched the settlement of the RimWorlds by the 3rd Imperium in the 6th Century, he had at his disposal a small flotilla of Imperial Navy ships for the protection of his colony fleet. This flotilla was augmented by such armed auxiliaries as his supporters could buy, equip, or supply. And as they spread out and were granted, or took, planetary holdings, it soon became imperative for each Noble to possess at least a couple of armed ships to both protect their fief, and to send to serve the Sector Duke when he called for aid. Kolin I took his duties as Sector Duke, and head of his comitatus, very seriously and he did not hesitate to downgrade Houses Major to House Minor status if they did not fully support him.

While numbers of available ships, and the technology level of their build, have fluctuated over the centuries, the current system for the defence of the RimWorlds has changed little from Kolin Venuraski’s day, nor from the House Trumer restoration of the Sector in the 10th Century. There is an Imperial Sector Fleet, currently utilising Tech Level 15 ships, charged with defending the nine Imperial controlled Subsectors of the Sector. Headquartered at the Sector capital Thiroor/Gazolan, Sector Fleet has at least one base in each Imperial Subsector and regularly shifts squadrons between them to maintain a state of readiness. The Reserve Fleet of older, Tech Level 14, units is based at Raelmar/Thurgandarn. There is no mothball fleet as all surplus units are sold to Houses Major to augment their Subsector Fleets.

Each Subsector Duke maintains a Subsector Fleet as his or her comitatus and is responsible for the defence of that subsector, as well as being obliged to commit units to assist the Sector Duke as required. As the standing a House Major holds is dependent upon the resources it can both commit to the defence of its Subsector, and to the defence of the Sector, very few recalcitrant Houses have survived the refusal to render aid. "Send ships or grasp the diadem" is a saying that we might translate as "Do your duty, or take charge", with the implication that the act of taking charge involves irrevocably committing the resources and fortunes of your House to both overthrowing the current Sector Duke and dealing with whatever problem was threatening the Sector.

Houses Major of Siridar-Count and Siridar-Baron rank can, and often do, maintain Planetary Navies which both defend their respective systems, and support their Subsector Duke as required. This ships may be built locally, or purchased from shipyard systems. Even System Defense Boats can be moved from system to system if there is sufficient Jump-capable transports of suitable tonnage available.

On the whole, this system works reasonably well with Subsector Fleets, usually backed up by a Sector Fleet squadron, being sufficient to maintain order or deal with most border incursions, and the heavy units of the Sector Fleet being committed only in the event of a major war.

In Miazan Subsector, the bulk of the 12.1 billion Imperial sophonts are concentrated in just three systems – Nakaya, Exxilon and Miazan.

The 6.2 billion inhabitants of the isolated Nakaya system make do with an average Tech Level of 7 – below Interstellar, meaning that they lack the technology to produce the machines that produce the machines that manufacture starships. While the Siridar-Baron of Nakaya maintains a few orbital forts and a large System Defence Boat flotilla, these have all been purchased from elsewhere and have to be maintained by expensive off-world technicians. Nakaya does contribute approximately one fifth of the annual Miazan Subsector Navy Budget of TCr 5.1.

With a population of 575 million sophonts, the Exxilon system is just on the edge of developing a native starship building industry at Tech Level 9 – or it will be when it develops its starport further. Like Nakaya, its greatest contribution towards the defence of the subsector is to finance shipbuilding elsewhere.

And elsewhere just happens to be the Subsector capital of Miazan. With a Tech Level of 12, an A Class Starport, and a population of 5.2 billion, Miazan has a yard capacity of over 6 million tons and the ability to produce ships of up to 100,000 tons in size. It is also the only major starship producing shipyard facility in Imperial-controlled space within the Subsector.

For the last decade, yard space at Miazan has been at a premium as House Geyukthi, Dukes of Miazan, have sought to replace Navy losses incurred during the 4th Outrim War and the Kalar-Wi War, as well as encourage the expansion of interstellar trade required to boost the subsector, financially. With such a bottleneck in the supply chain, and the smaller shipyards at Celephais out of action due to damage sustained during the Kalar-Wi War, the Miazan Subsector Navy is finding itself being out-built by neighboring polities that it is obliged to defend against.

Solo Traveller - Aloin's Saga #6

For the next three weeks the Iridium Queen remained dockside at Miazan Highport while Captain Lukk looked for a cargo. The enforced layover gave Aloin an opportunity to explore a little of the immense flying city that was the Highport.

With a population of four and a half million sophonts, and orbiting a planet with a population of 5.2 billion, Miazan Highport was a bustling centre for trade, commerce, manufacturing and shipbuilding. While small craft and small starships where actually built within the structure of the Highport, Aloin was able to take a Virtual tour of three of the major yards that occupied the outer orbitals around moonless Miazan. Pride of place in the Sharmon-Agilleur Yard was the nearly completed hull of an immense 20,000 ton Daiishaluur Class megahauler. Out beyond the commercial yards lay the Navy Yards, but these were all off limits to the public, much to Aloin’s disappointment.

By way of compensation, he was able to study two 60,000 ton Segaramii Class Cruisers, in port for crew rotation, from a public viewing gallery. The two behemoths kept station only 200 kilometres out from the Highport, and were clearly visible through the low-power telescopes in the viewing gallery.

Otherwise kept on a tight reign by Kiirgun, Aloin was on hand when six large harvesters were dropped on the Iridium Queen’s dock by a cargo hauler. After helping Kiirgun hitch up the ungainly machines to the ship’s crane boom, Aloin was given a quick lesson in stowing and securing non-container shaped cargo. They had barely finished fastening the last of the tie-downs when the call to secure ship for departure came through their handcomps. “Old lady’s in a hurry,” Kiirgun muttered as he swung the ramp in-board and secured the hold doors. “Double check the seals, lad,” he said to Aloin. “If we vacuum weld these things, the Captain will be very displeased.”

Falling away from the Highport, Captain Elera Lukk swung the Iridium Queen’s nose around onto her departure heading. Beside her, Miska Ilurrin finished feeding the datapoints downloaded from Miazan Traffic Control into the Nav computer. The navigator grunted with disgust. “Thrown us way out in the JZ,” she muttered. “At least 120 diameters. Says there’s a lot of traffic outbound. Says we gotta go deep to clear a megahauler bound for Exxilon.”

The bridge hatch hissed open and Aloin slid into his seat at the Scan position. Captain Lukk glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Captain, sorry, Captain, I’m late, Captain,” Aloin said, quickly running a check on Scan. “Been helping Kiirgun tie down the cargo and thought I’d better have a shower before reporting.”

Lukk grinned at Miska and winked. She then glowered at Aloin. “In future, Mr Grathikka, please advise the bridge prior to your ablutions,” she said sternly. “We tend to have our hands full departing major ports and can’t spend time chasing around after laggards.”

Aloin blushed. “Sorry, Captain,” he said again.

As the hours passed, the Iridium Queen fell deeper to nadir of Miazan, dropping below the system ecliptic plane and into the outbound Jump Zone. At last Aloin could contain his curiosity no longer. “Where are we headed, Captain?” he asked.

Lukk chuckled. “We have a hold full of agricultural machinery, Mr Grathikka. Where do you think?”

“An agricultural world?”

“Very good. And what is the nearest agricultural world to Miazan?”

Aloin thought quickly. “Bromus, Captain?”

“Well done, Mr Grathikka. I am so pleased that I was not wasting oxygen when we discussed the systems of the Miazan Subsector and their trade classifications.” Lukk half-turned her chair to look directly at Aloin. “Now listen, lad,” she continued, “Bromus is a primitive little dung-hill of a planet, and it’s run by a tin-pot little cockerel. But remember, it’s his dung-hill and he’s in charge. We’re just going to slide in quietly, off-load our hold-full of machinery, buy a hold-full of beets or potatoes or whatever he’s got a surplus of, and get the Void straight out of there.

“I will remind you of this, closer to dirtside, but while down on Bromus I want you to stick close by me, or Kiir, or Miska. The Bromosians are a backward bunch and don’t like off-worlders. We’ve wasted enough time on this trip and I don’t have the time or patience to break you out of some backwater jail if you wander off on your own. You hear me?”

Aloin nodded. “Yes, Captain, I’ll stick close.”

Mollified, Lukk swung her chair back to face her board. “All right then, “ she said. “We’re about an hour from Jump. How about you go make us a hot cup of xhu and see if Kiir put any sandwiches in the pantry.”

Relieved, Aloin squeezed out of his station and headed aft towards the crew commons. As the bridge hatch slide closed, Miska glanced at Lukk. “You riding him, ‘lera?”

Lukk glared at her navigator. “I’m trying to put some sense in his damn-fool head before he gets it shot off,” she snapped and fumbled her pipe out of her pouch.

Miska shrugged. “He been off 'is homeworld a couple’a weeks, ‘lera. Can’t grow sense like ‘tatoes. Sometimes, gotta feel a little pain to learn.”

“You telling me my job, demi-sister?” Lukk muttered as she tamped leaf in her pipe. “And we’re keeping him close on Bromus,” she added, jabbing her pipe stem at Miska. “If he’s to learn a painful lesson, it will not be there, not with those inbred xenophobes. We’re only doing this run because we need the cash. In and out, no dramas, you hear?”

Miska touched an old scar on her throat. The gesture made Lukk wince and glance away. “No dramas, ‘lera,” Miska agreed. “Want the boy safe, and not terrified to death by a scared old woman.”

Clamping her pipe in her teeth, Lukk glared at Miska. “You have the bridge,” she said through gritted teeth as she slid off her chair, stood up, and stretched. “I’m going to see where that cup of xhu has got to.” Turning on her heel, she stomped through the hatchway and down the corridor towards the commons.

Commentary:
The game moves a little further on and I’m having fun exploring both the background of the adventure (the Highport, navigational regulations) and the relationships between the characters – Elera Lukk and Miska Ilurrin are demi-sisters, which is a surprise. And Miska is rather taciturn due to an old injury, perhaps the scar tissue restricts her ability to speak and/or shape certain words or sounds?

I still have the basic game plotted out, and very soon I start to use some of the encounter tables from the rules to throw wild cards into the mix. To date, the speculative trading is done purely on dice rolls, which is why Lukk has had to sit dockside for weeks at a time waiting for cargoes. Very soon she gives in and starts hauling freight which, while not as lucrative, at least guarantees a regular pay check. Also, I need to work out the Iridium Queen’s running costs as that will have a bearing on some of the storyline as well. And I need to write-up the Segaramii Class Cruisers I, oh so casually, created in my narrative.

Sector Fleet

Sector Fleet
by Martin J Dougherty
Mongoose Publishing

Marc Miller first examined the Traveller Imperial Navy in detail in MegaTraveller’s Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium. This book expanded on the Classic Traveller Supplement 9 Fighting Ships, which was purely a collection of ship stat blocks, to include a small section on the Fleets of the Imperium, and how they were organised. It also examined how this organisational structure had adapted to the Imperial Civil War era of the MegaTraveller setting.

In 2006, Martin Dougherty published Grand Fleet, the first comprehensive work on the Imperial Fleet, its composition, mission, and organisation, through Avenger Enterprises. In 2010, Martin expanded upon his earlier work and released Sector Fleet for the current version of Traveller from Mongoose Publishing. As Sector Fleet is about twice the page count of Grand Fleet, it is obvious that Martin has given the subject of the Imperial Navy, the way it recruits and functions, its facilities and resources, and the way it interacts with the Imperium, considerable thought.

Sector Fleet gives a Gamesmaster a comprehensive picture as to how an institution like the Imperial Navy might function – not as a deux ex machina, but as a series of systems that follow their own internal logic and traditions based upon experience and the demands placed upon them by the government that they serve.

As a bonus, Martin provides a pretty comprehensive breakdown as to how the Spinward Marches Sector Fleet is deployed just prior to the 5th Frontier War, and what its structure looks like. Even if you don’t game in the Spinward Marches, or use the 3rd Imperium Background, this section is invaluable for the insight it provides a Gamesmaster with an interest in running a Naval campaign. From Martin’s baseline numbers, it is possible to extrapolate upwards or downwards, depending upon whether you favour a small ship or a large ship campagn, or even just compare Trillion Credit Squadron-derived budgets against.

This supplement is well worth getting, even just as another tool in a Traveller Gamesmaster’s toolbox.

History of the RimWorlds – Design Notes

When I began constructing the subsectors that were to become the core areas of my Traveller campaign, I had no idea of their history. Later, as I learned more about GDW’s 3rd Imperium campaign setting, I envisioned my campaign area as being “just off the map” of the Spinward March. Later again, when I discovered that the Trojan Reach had overwritten “my” bit of space, I ignored the entire issue of interlinking until my friend Chris came up with the concept of the Whisp and the Veil. In the interim, for the RimWorlds I had developed a List of Sector Dukes, Subsector Duke Lists for the four Imperial Subsectors of Gamelea, Nolgor, Miazan and Gazul, and family trees of the Houses Major that held these four Subsectors.

In 2008, as I began writing up my Traveller material for my website, I worked up a History of the RimWorlds from the 1984 chronology. This, in turn, led to an expanded Imperial History of the RimWorlds. As this History grew longer and longer, I eventually broke it up into the various sections, or chapters, that it now appears in. The Imperial History of the RimWorlds drew heavily on the Sector and Subsector Ducal Lists, and as I came to consider dates and events in the chronology, and what was actually happening behind the scenes at those times, having the family trees proved a real bonus. In one place I suddenly had a cast of characters, in the relatives of the ducal encumbrants, who had their own motivations and desires and whose actions and reactions could also reverberate both forwards and backwards in time. This was all some years before I discovered T4’s Pocket Empires, but the principle was very much the same.

The current power structure in the RimWorlds dates back to the initial Imperial colonisation of the Sector by Lord Kolin Venuraski of Deneb and his Chartered Private Equity Company in the early Sixth Century of the 3rd Imperial era. This is very much based on a form of the comitatus system, similar to that used and understood by Count Belisarius in the Sixth Century AD on Terra, crossed with the merchant-adventurer company common in England in the Sixteenth Century AD. Under this system, Houses Major and Minor contributed resources to Lord Kolin’s exploration and settlement of the RimWorlds in return for resources and land (ie planets or systems). Under Lord Kolin’s leadership, the Houses Major and Minor agreed to contribute military forces for the mutual defence of the territories claimed for the Imperium and to support such Imperial Forces and agents as were assigned to the RimWorlds.

So in the RimWorlds, unique amongst Imperial Sectors, the Subsector, or Colonial, Fleets are the first line of defence and maintain law and order within the various Subsector Duchies. The nine Imperial Subsectors share between three and four Imperial Fleets amongst them, so these fleets tend to act as a strategic reserve under Sector Ducal control. RimWorlds Subsector and Sector Dukes have traditionally led their forces from the front and the chronology and family trees are filled with the premature deaths of senior figures during various battles. This becomes understandable if one is also aware that many members of the Houses Major and Minor also hold senior command positions, either within their Household forces, their Subsector forces or the Sector Command Structure.

Traditionally, most Houses Major practised patrilineal inheritance for their major titles and offices. Daughters tended to receive minor holdings and offices and were married off to secure alliances between Houses. Heiresses often found themselves in the position where they could hold command rank in the military but were somehow considered incapable of holding a political position in their own right. House Hikisaku of Gazul/Gazul was unique amongst Houses Major in that they practised primogeniture inheritance. This policy was attributed to Admiral Alleen hault-Hikisaku, Governor of the Trans-Nolgor Territories, who was confirmed as Subsector Duke Alleen I of Gazul Subsector in 593, upon the elevation of his family to House Major status. Amongst Houses Minor, patrilineal, matrilineal and primogeniture inheritance all find their supporters and adherents.

In reviewing the Imperial History of the RimWorlds document on my website, I feel disinclined to cut and paste it into this blog as this would be, I feel, lazy blogging. Instead, I will endeavour to précis what I have already written and, perhaps, expand upon it so that readers of both sources will see a campaign’s deep background unfold and grow before them, hopefully for the betterment of my on-going game.

Accidents in Astrogation – Miazan Subsector #2

Miazan Subsector, as an Imperial political entity, is slowly evaporating. Over 80% of the subsector’s population is located in the Kamperelian Cluster and has been effectively lost to the Imperium since the end of the Rivokul War in 1033. The Cabria Subsector systems of Lo Taisang and Tonivar, long attached to the Duchy of Miazan, were settled by demobilised Vargr mercenary clans and while these populations bravely resisted both Outrim Alliance and Kalar-Wi aggression over the last century, their total population still numbers just slightly over a million sophonts. While this is often enough to slow down small numbers of raiders, their low Tech Levels (TL 9 and 8 respectively) and poor port facilities preclude the long term stationing of more effective Naval elements in-system.

Within Miazan Subsector proper, Nakaya, Exxilon and Miazan systems support the bulk of the Imperial population – 6 billion sophonts in the relatively isolated low-tech Nakaya system, 5 billion sophonts in the Miazan system, and another half billion in Exxilon system. Of the three High Population systems, Miazan maintains a Tech Level of 12, while Exxilon has a Tech Level of 9. Nakaya lags well behind the times with a Tech Level of 7. The Tech Level D worlds of the subsector, Golus and Janda, have high tech research or production facilities with very small populations.

In the two decades since the end of the 4th Outrim War in 1085, the Miazan Subsector Dukes have had to cope with a shift of Sector political power away from the Outrim Frontier; the growing threat of the Kamperelian Republic squarely across Imperial supply lines; and the unification and growth in power of the Hunt of Rronurl, a Vargr polity of some six to eight worlds lapping around the Spin/Rimward end of the Miazan Subsector. With only the Naval Bases at Miazan and the fortress world of Celephais, the Miazan Subsector Navy has recovered slowly from losses suffered during the 4th Outrim War and replacement units have been restricted to Miazan’s Tech Level 12 Naval Yards. Falling behind in numbers, and loosing the technological edge that the Imperium has traditionally enjoyed, military planners on the Ducal staff are experiencing sleepless nights as they await deployment decisions at the Sector level.

Accidents in Astrography: Nolgor Subsector #2

Cursed with a Ducal House with lofty ambitions and insufficient resources, Nolgor Subsector has often seen its armed forces drawn away, either in pursuit of, or in support of, the Sector Ducal crown. This constant drain has contributed to the inability of the Subsector authorities to maintain control over the worlds within the Subsector. Of the twelve Naval bases in the Subsector, seven remain under Imperial control. The loss of the huge Tech Level 12 shipyards of Naos VI reduced the Subsector Navy’s ability to recover from losses quickly. The next largest yards, at Nolgor, are only Tech Level 11 and have only 1% of the capacity of the yards at Naos VI. Imperial Naval units assigned to Nolgor have to be serviced at Gamelea, as this is the nearest Tech Level 15 facility, and once sent out of theatre for servicing often don’t come back again as they’re promptly reassigned along the Outrim frontier or sent into Miazan Subsector.

Nolgor Subsector consists of 20 systems. Weak and divided, only 14 systems are under Imperial control. The Hegemony of Lotarf, controlling Lotarf, Shenn and Thrisk; the Zoni of Lur; and the Voivodate of Naos VI, controlling Naos VI and Sleipner, effectively divide the subsector in two. With a total subsector population of 9.87 billion sophonts (9.8*10^9), of which less than 0.5% are non-Human, 135.5 million are Imperial citizens, 156.2 million are subjects of the Hegemony of Lotarf, 34.5 million are estimated to inhabit Lur, and 9.5 billion dwell within the borders of the Voivodate of Naos VI.

The highest Tech Level in the subsector, Tech Level E (14), is at Meklin, while the most densely populated planet is Naos VI. Lotarf, with a population of 107 million, is the next most populous planet. Zovanta and Kuan-Ti are Red Zones, Zovanta on account of its primitive inhabitants and Kuan-Ti as it has been incompletely explored. Tarkos IV is an Imperial Prison Planet.

There are three main dialects of Imperial Basic spoken in the Nolgor Subsector:
1) Nolgor Imperial Basic: - spoken along the Nolgor Run to Trailing of Gamelea Subsector.
2) Spinward Gazuli Basic: Dialect of Gazuli Basic as spoken along the Dokarian Main in Gazul Subsector, and on Meklin in Nolgor Subsector.
3) Thurgandarni Basic: Dialect of Imperial Basic common in the Thurgandarn Subsector, Coreward of Nolgor Subsector, and spoken on Solaris, Slepnir and Naos VI.

Other minor languages include Tsalui, the native language of the Tsalur Minor Race of Xcothal; Zyaos, the native language of the Zoni Minor Race of Lur; Algrath, the native language of the Shenni Minor Race of Shenn; Veultaqual, language of the regressed human Visi people of Fingalna.

Accountants in Space

In April of 2008 I began drawing up a spreadsheet containing all the statistical data I had to hand on the six subsectors I had developed in detail for my Traveller campaign. I had been working on the history of the RimWorlds Sector just prior to this, and had narrated a major civil war that had wracked the region several centuries prior to the current campaign date, the Imperial year 1109. This civil war was followed by a couple of centuries of intermittent conflict along both the Rimward and Spinward Imperial borders. As I was doing a lot of starship combat wargaming at the time, using the Full Thrust rules from Ground Zero Games, I wanted to have an idea of both the resources available to the various combatants and whether the scenarios I was happily belting out on my computer were actually feasible as military campaigns.

Using the formulas and exchange rates from CT: Adventure 5 Trillion Credit Squadron (and after having a quick look at the similar but different formulas in Striker), I worked out planetary military budgets and port capacities for all the planets I had developed, plus the total naval budgets for the various non-Imperial alliances, as well as Imperial Subsector Naval, Sector Naval and Imperial Naval budgets for all the developed subsectors.

It was an interesting exercise, and has given me a much more detailed understanding of my area of space. The next step is, of course, to develop the naval fleets of the various polities and, possibly, game with them. I have attempted this at a minor level in the past, gaming out the Miazan Subsector Rebellion, but found that battles fought under the CT: High Guard rules are incredibly boring buckets-of-dice fests, especially if attempted solo.

I was fascinated to discover the ‘collapsing’ mechanism used both by GDW for Traveller: The New Era, and by writers for Traveller T20 for the 900 period prior to the ‘Golden Age’, to shift Baseline UWPs forward or backward in time. Coupled with my discovery of the T4 Supplement Pocket Empires, I began to conceive of a metacampaign, possibly starting from a point two centuries prior to the current campaign date – 1109 – and rolling forward to see if I would achieve a result similar to my current campaign. I began working my existing data into the various formulas for Pocket Empires, though gaps in my Excel programming knowledge has rather stalled that part of the project at present.

The universality of such tools as Excel make such thought exercises quite doable now days, and a lot more fun than trying to keep your millions, billions and trillions in order with a pocket calculator and a pencil. The job of Interstellar Megalomaniac has just got that little bit easier.