Jump Transitions

I have started marking some of the trade links I generated, using GURPs: Far Trader, onto my sector map. So far, I’ve worked through all the Main and Feeder Routes for Lymethius, Gamelea, Cabria and Miazan Subsectors. I have a feeling that I’m not quite doing it right as I’m working off the BTN numbers, rather than the WTN numbers, as these seemed more logical to use.

The thick red lines, such as between Yuakteisye/Lymethius and Gamelea/Gamelea, are 10.5 BTN Main routes. This represents GCr50 – GCr100 (GigaCredits), or 5 – 10 million tons of trade per year, or 100 thousand – 500 thousand tons of trade per week.

The thinner red lines represent the 10 BTN Main routes, which see 50 thousand – 100 thousand tons of cargo per week and are worth ‘only’ GCr10 - GCr50 per annum.

The thick blue lines represent the 9.5 BTN Feeder routes while the thinner blue lines represent the 9 BTN Feeder routes. 5000 – 10 thousand tons of cargo needs shipping along the 9 BTN Feeder Routes each week, while 10 thousand - 50 thousand tons are shipped weekly along the 9.5 BTN Feeder Routes.

These numbers make interesting reading when trying to work out how many ships, and of what size, might be plying the trade routes of the sector. When the numbers are plotted on a map, we begin to see places where ships of a considerable size might be required just to move the available freight economically.

For example, if 100 thousand – 500 thousand tons of trade per week needs to be moved between Yuakteisye/Lymethius, in the Huiha Esoyatre, and Gamelea/Gamelea, in Imperial Space – or Bryak/Gamelea, as this system is part of the 10.5 BTN route – then how many ships ply this route? And looking more closely at the route, I see a problem. In this case, trade is supposed to stage through Nearo – Jump-3 from Yuakteisye – except there is a small problem. Nearo is a dead system; all higher life forms on its primary world were destroyed in a nuclear and biological attack during the 1st Outrim War, 200 years ago. Oh, and there are no gas giants for refuelling in the system, either.

Bother.

It looks like I will have to swing the Yuakteisye – Bryak route rimward through Kidan, Kalar-Wi and Varch. This has the advantage of reducing the stages to Jump-2 as well as ensuring refuelling is available, but exposes Huiha Esoyatre/Imperial trade to the vagurities of Kalar-Wi factional politics.

More thought required, as well as a map redraw.

Characters who can Drive the Story #3

In my last post, the finger of suspicion was pointing in the direction of Dentian Venuraski, later Sector Duke Dentian I, as the murderer of Sector Duke Kolin I in 550.

To recap, in 550 Kolin I, at the age of 72, was on campaign in Gazolan Subsector, attempting to pacify a hostile and potentially dangerous pocket empire rimward of the Klarthur Confederacy. His son and heir, Metch, was, we have decided, serving as a theatre commander in Gazolan Subsector – possibly in a Ground role, but more likely as a Task Force Commander - with a Fleet Admiral and a Ground Force Commander to keep him from making any serious mistakes.

So where was Kolin’s nephew, the future Sector Duke Kolin II? While pondering this question, I re-read this passage from Origins of the Rimworlds Sector 497 - 557

“As tensions eased along the Spinward frontier, Viceroy Kolin turned his eyes Rimward and set his scouts in motion again.

“Following the path of least resistance, Imperial colonisation moved Rimward from Berimar’s Sceptre Subsector into Thurgandarn, and then into Nolgor Subsector. In 540, the years of planning and effort paid off. The Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds was formerly established with its initial capital on Raelamr/Thurgandarn and Kolin Venuraski was invested as its first Sector Duke.

“Great mineral resources were discovered in the Gazolan subsector and these fuelled the rapid expansion of the Duchy. This expansion was not unopposed. Ten years into his reign, Sector Duke Kolin I’s driving ambition led his downfall when he was killed on campaign. Gazolan subsector was to claim the life of his son and successor, Metch (reigned 550 – 552), before being finally pacified.

“The Perrsherrik Rift in Nolgor Subsector halted the march to the Rim for a few years, but by 552 Imperial forces under Sector Duke Kolin II Venuraski had penetrated the Coreward end of Gazul Subsector.”

So, contrary to what I suggested had happened a couple of posts back, expansion Rimward began soon after Kolin I signed the Treaty of Choraptur with the Klarthur Confederacy in 530. Imperial forces encountered little or no resistance as they moved through Thurgandarn Subsector and the Coreward end of Nolgor Subsector, advancing about a parsec a year until, sometime in the mid/late 540’s, Kolin’s Scouts ran into the Perrsherrik Rift. The establishment of the first Sector Duchy capital at Raelmar (Thurgandarn 0808) in 540, close to the advancing wavefront in Nolgor Subsector, and handy to the increasingly problematic Gazolan Subsector to Spinward, would seem to indicate the choice of capital was governed by the proximity of perceived flash points.

The Perrsherrik Rift was to hold up the Imperial advance for several years until Antoi Perrsherrik’s original crossing point through the Thrisk and Lotarf systems was secured. Imperial expansion then continued Rimward, encountering progressively stiffer resistance from the Zoni of Lur and the Dokari Diarchy in Core-Spinward Gazul Subsector until Kolin II’s reign when the 1st Rimward War was finally fought.

It was on this front – the march to Rimward – that Kolin Venuraski would gain command experience and why, I believe, he fought the 1st Rimward War. To Kolin I would go the honour of establishing the RimWorlds Sector. Kolin II sought his place in history by taking the Imperium to the edge of Intergalactic Space. With this goal in his mind, the war in Gazolan was a distraction for Kolin II, robbing him of the fleet elements he needed to put down the Zoni and to break up the Dokari Diarchy.

The transition between Kolin I’s administration and that of Metch, in the midst of the Gazolan War, would have effectively stalled Kolin II’s Rimward campaign. It is likely that Kolin II was required to be present for Metch’s investiture, which would have taken him out of the Gazul theatre and his conflict with the Dokari Diarchy. Given his Rimward focus, which he returned to with a vengence after Metch’s death, I am inclined to believe that Kolin II did not murder his uncle.

So, where was Dentain during this time? If Kolin II was in his fifty’s when he died in 557, and Dentian was five or six years younger, then that would make Dentian somewhere between 46 and 50 when his brother won the 1st Rimward War and was killed at the Battle of Gorth. This would make Dentian between 39 and 43 when Kolin I was murdered in 550.

Given that by 550 the conflict in Gazolin Subsector had been under way for upwards of five years, and that Dentian’s brother already had the Rimward front in hand, I suspect that Dentian – the younger of the refugee cousins - would have been put to work in some fashion in Gazolin, as another Venuraski theatre commander may very well have been of use there.

Was there some military disaster associated with Dentian, or one of his entourage in 549 – 550? A public dressing down, or similar humiliation by Kolin I, may have been the tipping point where a “disgruntled gardener” sought to do service, or regain face, by removing the Sector Duke. As Dentian did not immediately stake a claim to the Sector Duchy, nor was executed by Metch, Kolin’s successor, could it be that Metch supported his younger cousin in the face of accusations over the deeds of a minion? Metch had a war to fight, and with only two years to live, he may have taken Dentian’s word instead of waiting for the findings of a formal inquiry, which would have taken time to deliver a verdict. The murderer’s identity was discreetly buried, possibly along with his body, and Metch took the Ducal coronet.

And here’s a thought – was the indomitable Kolin I in failing health at this time? The stress of command in an increasingly bloody war, coupled with the onset of some form of age-linked neurological disorder, coupled with some form of setback that caused the Sector Duke to fly into a public rage? While TL 13 medical technology might be able to cure such things, if the patient is in a borderline state and is then suddenly pushed over the edge, the harsh words and decrees might be issued before the medics could make a difference.

I think we have processed this inquiry about as far as we can, without coming right out and making a definite statement. By examining the character and times of one individual, and it must be admitted that Kolin I Venuraski is one of those exceptional individuals, we have been able to cast some light of a personal nature upon events five hundred years before the current campaign time. This, in turn allows us the possibility of artefacts, or people, with links to those far distant times who, in turn, will have value or motivations of their own which can set events in motion even in the current time.

History of the RimWorlds #10 – Missing Years

A chronology is a series of date pegs that one hangs events from. A history takes these date pegs and attempts to construct a narrative that carries the reader along with it. The problem with the latter approach is that without enough of the former, the story moves in fits and starts, just like a jerky piece of film. And, just like a jerky piece of film, when you look closely, you realise that there are pictures missing.

When we last left Viceroy Kolin Venuraski, the Treaty of Choraptur, settled in 530, had reduced tensions with the Klarthur Confederacy along the Spinward Frontier of the Imperial RimWorld Territories. This enabled Kolin’s exploratory missions to begin to move Rimward again.

“Following the path of least resistance, Imperial colonisation moved Rimward from Berimar’s Sceptre Subsector into Thurgandarn, and then into Nolgor Subsector.”
- The Origins of the Rimworlds Sector 497 - 557

What is interesting, here, is that the Chronology states:

History of the RimWorlds

497	First Imperial presence in the RimWorlds in Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre subsectors.
525	Lord Kolin Venuraski is created Viceroy of the RimWorlds by Imperial Patent.
526	First Imperial contact with the Klarthur Confederacy in Riinu Subsector.
530	Treaty of Choraptur defines the border between the Klarthur Confederacy and the Imperial RimWorld Territories.
540	Sector Duchy of the RimWorlds established with its capital on Raelmar/Thurgandarn. Kolin I Venuraski 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.

Whoa! In 540, Kolin Venuraski becomes Duke Kolin I of the RimWorlds Sector, and twelve years later Sector Duke Kolin II is fighting the 1st Rimward War in Gazul Subsector. Besides taking twelve years to move the frontier 14 parsecs, what happened to Kolin I whose career has played such a part in the Imperial narrative of RimWorlds history for the last 55 years?

The Origins of the Rimworlds Sector 497 – 557, quoted above, is part of a longer essay, entitled The RimWorlds Sector: An Imperial Overview, which I wrote to bring together all my notes into some sort of coherent form. It is still a work in progress as I add to it. It picks up the narrative thusly:

In 540, the years of planning and effort paid off. The Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds was formerly established with its initial capital on Raelamr/Thurgandarn and Kolin Venuraski was invested as its first Sector Duke.

Great mineral resources were discovered in the Gazolan subsector and these fuelled the rapid expansion of the Duchy. This expansion was not unopposed. Ten years into his reign, Sector Duke Kolin I’s driving ambition led his downfall when he was killed on campaign.

Gazolan subsector was to claim the life of his son and successor, Metch (reigned 550 – 552), before being finally pacified.

The Perrsherrik Rift in Nolgor Subsector halted the march to the Rim for a few years, but by 552 Imperial forces under Sector Duke Kolin II Venuraski had penetrated the Coreward end of the Gazul Subsector.

So, we learn a little more about Duke Kolin’s fate, but not much.

At some stage I wrote a brief biography of him for my Library Data:

Kolin I Venuraski
Kolin Venuraski (478 - 550†), Sector Duke of the Rimworlds 540 - 550. Head of a cadet branch of the House of Deneb, Kolin saw, early on, the possibilities for expansion into the Rimworlds. Through deft manoeuvring, Kolin succeeded in having himself appointed to head the Imperial Commission that considered the Scout Service reports on the Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre Subsectors. Shamelessly exploiting his position, Kolin was made Viceroy of the Rimworlds in 525. Pooling the resources of his immediate family, and tapping the fortunes of his cousins, Kolin organised the massed settlement of the Thurgandarn Subsector. Part of his success lay in his ability to recruit talented younger members of the other Houses Major of the Greater Deneb Sector and skilfully exploit their skills and resources to achieve his own great aim. In 540, the years of planning and toil paid off with the creation of the Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds and the investiture of Kolin Venuraski as its first Duke. Ten years later, Kolin’s driving ambition led to his downfall when he was killed on campaign in the Gazolan Subsector, killed, it is said, by a disgruntled gardener.

Hmmm, death by gardener. Sounds a bit like a myth, especially with the “it is said” qualifier, but still a suitably delightful end to such a colourful character.

Having drawn together such threads as exist, I feel the urge to flesh out the narrative a little as there was obviously a major conflict in the Gazolan Subsector which I want to learn more about, and I want to develop Kolin's relationship with Kolin II. But, that’s a project for another day.

History of the RimWorlds #8 – Expanding Time

I have just spent a bit of time updating my time line and library data files on my website. Cross referencing everything, and trying to ensure that there are no glaring errors, is a bit like remodelling a jungle-gym - connections have to be tested, and links/return links checked out otherwise you end up in a tangle.

So, the expanded timeline, going forward from the beginning of the Imperial presence in the RimWorlds, now looks like this:


History of the RimWorlds

497	First Imperial presence in the Rimworlds in Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre subsectors.
525	Lord Kolin Venuraski is created Viceroy of the RimWorlds by Imperial Patent.
526	First Imperial contact with the Klarthur Confederacy in Riinu Subsector.
540	Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds established with its capital on Raelmar/Thurgandarn. Kolin I Venuraski is first Sector Duke.

While this may not appear to be a huge breakthrough, it does represent a move forward in the development of the Sector.

Interestingly, when the Sector capital is established on Raelmar/Thurgandarn some fourteen years later, Kolin Venuraski is sufficiently confident in the security of his Spinward Border, that he establishes his capital some 17 parsecs from the terminus of his Whisp Route supply line in Berimar’s Sceptre Subsector and 16 parsecs from the nearest Confederacy outposts in Riinu Subsector. While ideally placed to oversee Rimward expansion into Nolgor Subsector, being at least four weeks behind the news to Spinward would be a major disadvantage if this frontier remained a flash point. At this point, I can only conclude that Venuraski’s Imperial Officials managed to reach some form of accommodation with the Confederacy Supreme Council.

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 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.

Accidents in Astrography: Nolgor Subsector #1

From Gilanda and Canblyne in Gamelea Subsector, the Nolgor Run crosses Nolgor Subsector from Xcothal to Shenn and Lotarf, skirting the Rimward edge of the J-3, or Canblyne, Rift. Astrographically, Nolgor Subsector is fragmented and resource-poor. The Nolgor Run, which should have become a major trade route enhancing the economic development of the subsector, has instead become a dismal tour of a series of Non-Industrial and Agricultural worlds with moribund economies.

After serving as a forward base during the Rimward Wars of the late 7th Century, Nolgor Subsector stagnated as the colonies further rimward in the Imperial-controlled Coreward half of Gazul Subsector developed and prospered. Home to a native Minor Race, a transplanted Minor Race, a regressed human colony, and an Imperial Prison Planet, Nolgor Subsector has never lost that feeling of being a wild frontier. This is in spite of being surrounded by more economically successful, and politically stable, Imperial subsectors.

The crustacean-like Zoni Minor Race of Lur proved incredibly difficult for the Imperial authorities in Nolgor Subsector to deal with. Alternatively neutral and hostile, the Zoni consumed a disproportionate amount of subsector resources in containment and pacification efforts, none of which proved effective in the long run. Even Admiral Kranan hault-Lernester’s famous ‘Pounding of Lur’, during his ‘March to the Rimward Border’ campaign in the early part of the Sarkul Wars, only bought a century of respite from Zoni raids. And this was after hault-Lernester had systematically destroyed every single shipyard and ship repair facility in the Lur system, and then bombed every heavy industrial site on the planet. This on-going commitment to contain the Zoni became a serious drain on the economies of the Imperial planets of the subsector, hampering efforts to stimulate trade and technological development, while political mismanagement heightened resentment at the planetary level.

The saurianoid Tsalur of Xcothal acknowledge that they are not natives of the world they currently call their own, and that they have lost all records of where their homeworld might be. They appear to have been settled on Xcothal by the Thongaloras Empire over a thousand years ago and survived the fall of that empire as well as the subsequent turbulent centuries prior to the arrival of the Imperium in the RimWorlds in the early 6th Century. With a fierce warrior culture, the Tsalur respect strong leadership and will willingly follow even non-Tsalur if they demonstrate this quality. This has lead some xeno-anthropologists to theorise that the Tsalur were culturally manipulated to fill some form of slave-warrior niche within Thongaloras society, and that this imprinting still survives some 900 years after the imprinting society vanished from the Galactic stage.

Little is known of the Shenni of Shenn apart from the fact that they are humanoid and have a fighting caste that wears chitin-like armour and serve the Theocrats of Lotarf with fanatical loyalty. Within the last decade or so it has become apparent that the Shenni are actually a Zoni Hive that established itself on Shenn nearly a thousand years ago, and who were subverted by early members of the Order of Saint Belesarn of Lotarf some four hundred years later.

Fingalna is the homeworld of the Visi, a regressed Human colony. Sometimes known as the Aulteltec, the Visi seem to have appeared in the RimWorlds during the Late Thongaloras Empire, perhaps aboard Long Night period sublight ships. On the dozen or so planets where Aulteltec settlements have been identified, they are characterised by the existence of massive stone step pyramid structures in the centre of settlement areas. Fingalna is the only known planet where Aulteltec culture has survived as a living entity.

Political fragmentation during the 11th Century caused the Voivodate of Naos VI and its colony of Slepnir to refuse to acknowledge the subsector leadership of the House Ulanor Dukes of Nolgor. At a stroke, nine and a half billion sophonts and the subsector’s only industrial world were removed from the moribund economy, plunging the subsector into economic depression. When the Theocracy of Lotarf, with its daughter worlds of Shenn and Thrisk, followed suit, only 135 million sophonts on 13 worlds still remained Imperial citizens, under one and a half percent of the subsector’s population of 9.8 billion.

Accidents in Astrography: RimWorlds Sector

This is the original sector map of the RimWorlds Sector, as drawn by me back in 1984 or 1985. Gamelea Subsector occupies the K region of the sector.

The light green area of the map shows the part of the sector under Imperial control. The blue area in the Lymethius subsector (Subsector J) is the Geithurian Republic, a human-dominated but anti-Imperial polity.

In Subsector L (Nolgor Subsector), Lur (homeworld of the insectoid Zoni), the Theocracy of Lotarf and the splinter state of Naos VI are all resisting Imperial control, while in Miazan Subsector (Subsector N), the Republic of Kamperal has become increasingly hostile to Imperial control to the point that the Miazan Subsector Duke is preparing to declare that a state of rebellion exists within the borders of the Imperium.

Gamelea, Nolgor and Miazan subsectors are all beset with political weakness, stagnant economies, corruption and hostile neighbours. Each subsector has its own unique flavour and all offer challenges to adventurers.

Accidents in Astrography: Gamelea Subsector #1

The Gamelea Subsector was the first subsector generated for my RimWorlds Traveller Campaign.

In and of itself, the Gamelea Subsector isn’t very unusual, until you start looking at it from an economic and political point of view.

The Gamelea Subsector lies nearly at the Rimward edge of Imperial space within the RimWorlds Sector (Miazan Subsector, off the bottom of the Gamelea Subsector map, marks the Imperial frontier to Rimward). This, in itself, isn’t a problem until you start looking for the obvious links coreward of Gamelea. While the Xboat route links Kalath and the worlds of the Gamelea cluster via Julnar to the core worlds, this is a Jump-4 link. A Jump-3 route is possible from Kalath to Leminkainen but with Leminkainen’s poor D Class Starport, there’s not a lot of support for ships smaller than Long Liners or Megacorp Longhaulers. It would seem that the heart worlds of my Traveller campaign were actually unreachable for standard adventurer type Jump-2 ships.

When I started looking at my Traveller campaign again a couple of years ago, I began to realise that the J-3 Rift running through the subsector was a major impediment. This Rift, incidentally, continues to Trailing, bisecting Nolgor Subsector as well, and continuing over the Sector border. I suppose I could have just thrown a couple of systems into the Rift and then the problem would have gone away, but the mapping of the Lymethius Subsector, to Spinward of Gamelea Subsector, had thrown up a reach just inside that subsector border that looked as if it might provide a solution to my shipping quandary.

When I started working with Dave Redington on The BurrowWolf webcomic, I redrew the Border Worlds area on a J-6 map template I discovered on Berka’s Zhodani Base website. In this format, star patterns that were not readily apparent in the conventional 8x10 subsector map format leapt into view and suddenly provided a reason for the Imperium's dogged defence of these worlds through a series of border wars with the neighbouring stellar polities.

So, the lesson I learnt through this process is that terrain, even in space, is what defines a polity and access ways and borders exist for reasons. In works of fiction, a plausible reason why something exists enhances the story background, and gives possible hooks for future stories.