Accidents in Astrogation – Lymethius Subsector #1

Spinward of Gamelea Subsector lies Lymethius Subsector. Astrographically, Lymethius consists of the Tallu, Kalar-Wi and Yuakteisye Clusters and the Julnar and Aaron Reaches.

Ouron, Finduil and Por’via are Imperial worlds and are considered part of the Julnar Reach and, along with Anar, are part of the Duchy of Gamelea, while the Aaron Reach, named for the bright F5 primary of the Lysarnor System, contains the bulk of the population of the Geithurian Republic at Appaer, Geithur and Lysarnor.

The Tallu Cluster is divided between the Imperium, with its toehold at Anar; the Geithurian Republic, holding Jul’ni and Coroson; and the independent systems of Tallu, Auru and the dead world of Nearo. Only Kidan and Masaad of the Kalar-Wi Cluster lie within Lymethius Subsector. Kidan was seized by Huiha Esoyatre ihatei in 1106 following the collapse of the Kalar-Wi State at the end of the Kalar-Wi War. Now known as Yaitlaorail, the 40,000 Kalar-Wi of Kidan are seeing a massive influx of Esoyatre Aslan moving onto their planet. Yuakteisye Cluster consists of the four systems settled by the Aslan Huiha Esoyatre and lies across most of the trade routes between Lymethius and Cabria Subsectors.

A scattering of systems along the Spinward edge of Lymethius Subsector provide routes further Spinward into Per Vulia Subsector.

The 2nd Rimward War (793 – 794) in Gazul Subsector blunted Imperial consolidation of the Julnar Reach route around the end of the Perrsherrik Rift. The Geithurian Republic and Huiha Esoyatre formed an alliance to prevent further Imperial expansion through the Tallu Cluster and Huiha Esoyatre then became the driving force behind what is now known as the Outrim Alliance. The Outrim Alliance has fought four wars with the Imperium since the early 10th Century to contain Imperial expansion and fix the border fairly much where it is today.

Lymethius Subsector is home to two Major Races – humans of mixed Vilani and Zhodani stock, and Aslan – and three Minor Races: the ursoid Purvions of Tallu, while related to the Purvions of Lithia/Miazan, have a comparatively High Technology civilization and have successfully maintained their independence for nearly 1000 years; the diminutive psionic Aaronites from the warrens of Lysarnor are valued mechanics and crafts-sophonts; while the Tharoysa of Dysa Metharoth have a reputation as shrewd merchants.

There are a number of languages current in Lymethius Subsector:
Cassingal: - dialect of Gazolin Imperial Basic, Cassingal has spread over the coreward border of Gamelea Subsector and is spoken on all the worlds of the Julnar Reach - Tulvan, Julnar, Leminkainen, and Ouron, Finduil and Por'via in the Lymethius Subsector. Gamelea Imperial Basic speakers and Cassingal speakers can understand each other, though quietly laugh at each other’s accents and spelling conventions.
Gamelea Imperial Basic: - spoken on Anar, and by Gamelea Ducal officials on Ouron, Finduil and Por'via.
Kassuriik: - main language of the Purvion Minor Race of Tallu and related to the Kassuriik spoken by the Purvions of Lithia/Miazan.
Khasikha: - Vilani dialect used as a native language by the inhabitants of Appaer/Lymethius and subsequently adopted as the official language of the Geithurian Republic.
Lhosuwha: - main language of the Tharoysa Minor Race of Dysa Metharoth/Lymethius.
Phijudas: - main language of the Aaronite Minor Race of Lysarnor/Lymethius.
Trokh Esoyatre: - dialect of Trokh spoken by Aslan of Huiha Esoyatre of Yuwe, Atlasiykh, Faiwawhwe, Yuakteisye and Yaitlaorail in Lymethius Subsector.
Vriok: - main language of the Kalar-Wi Minor Race spoken on Kalar-Wi and the worlds of the old Kalar-Wi Empire, including Kidan and Masaad in Lymethius Subsector.

Lymethius Subsector contains twenty-six worlds with a total population of 186.202 billion sophonts. The highest population, A, is at Appaer and Yuakteisye, and the highest Tech Level, C, is at Appaer, Yuwe and Tallu.

Scoundrel

Mongoose Traveller Book 6: Scoundrel
By Gareth Hanrahan

Taking the Rogue and Drifter career paths from the Mongoose Traveller Core rules, this supplement expands them in a similar fashion to what has been done with other careers in previous books in this series. Also covered are Barbarians and Belters, two other marginalized groups.

Career paths for Scoundrels can be:
Intruder: which divides into Hacker, Burglar and Faceman (Facebeing?).
Smuggler: which includes Blockade Runner, Bootlegger, and Smuggler Crew.
Organised Criminal: Assassin, Enforcer, or Co-ordinator.
Pirate: Corsair, Boarder, or Jumpcusser.
Scavenger: Wrecker, Salvage Expert, or Tombrobber
Wanderer: Hitchhiker, Vagabond, or Bandit
Barbarian: Warrior, Tribesman, Shaman.

Imprisonment can be an occupational hazard for a Scoundrel, particularly during Character generation. A nice little metagame about Incarceration features just after the chargen section and can see your Scoundrel put away for up to 4 terms, especially if the Scoundrel’s lawyer isn’t much use, and the DMs are against you! Adventure 2: Prison Planet apparently has a Prison skill section that one’s character can use while inside or alternatively, there is a Prison Skills table attached to the Incarceration section to ensure that all is not completely lost while the character is doing time.

Criminal organisations are examined from a game point of view, and some of the concepts used to develop Intelligence agencies in Book 5: Agent feature in the fleshing out of such organisations, particularly the concept of Trust. The more Trusted a criminal is within his or her organisation, the more likely he or she will receive aid and assistance in performing heists or being extricated from a sticky legal situation. Of course, membership of such an organisation can be a source of future adventure hooks, particularly if the character thinks he or she has ‘left that life behind’. Several sample Organisations, ranging from the criminal, through the Political to the Religious, are presented to demonstrate how such organisations can be detailed for one’s own campaign

Piracy is looked at in some depth and both the pro and con arguments concerning piracy, particularly in a Traveller setting, are presented, including the fact that the practicalities of space piracy have been a long-running debate amongst Traveller fans. While the writer seems to needlessly split pirates into specialities (and some pretty artificial specialities at that), there is a nice reminder of one of Science Fiction’s more enduring pirate types, the raider or Star Viking.

There’s a nice little ship encounter table for pirates hunting prey near a main world, and a modified table for pirates working the Belt or outsystem. A pirate attack on merchant shipping is broken down into a series of tasks rolls which allows the process to be metagamed or played out in detail as required, and there are sections on Pirate Hunters, Pirate Bounties, and how to factor Pirate Loot.

The Intrusion section describes how a heist can be broken down into a series of skill rolls, allowing several jobs to be run in a session. Alternatively, the task rolls can be expanded upwards again as part of a roleplaying session. Helpfully, various security features for various tech levels are also considered as part of fitting out the target of the heist. Computer Hacking and how this works with the Traveller Core computer rules is also covered in some detail and a ‘sample target’ is described in sufficient detail to be lifted wholesale and dropped into a session.

The mechanics of smuggling are considered, including suggested levels of security checks at starports, and how a successful smuggler might go about subverting them. This section also includes several small scenario ideas that both describe a situation and then put several twists on it.

And then finally there’s a section on fencing illegal goods that, much in the way that the trade tables work, allow various DMs to influence the final price that the criminal gets for the loot.

An extensive equipment section, featuring a variety of clever little gadgets, leads into the starship section which features 11 ship designs, with floor plans, for pirates, belters and scavengers, their prey, and those who seek to bring down the villains.

Small sections on Belt mining, odd jobs for Drifters, Scavengers, gambling and con games, and Barbarians round out the book.

When I started to write this review, I must confess that I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic. But going back through the book again, I began to realise that there were quite a lot of very good ideas in here. Little things, like how much a pirate might make from a looted ship, or how to work out a criminal’s standing within an Organised Crime Group and what level of support that organisation might consider granting to that member, are just so useful when the GM is trying to be consistent, yet provide a challenge without stacking the deck against the player.

I do find some of the career path subdivisions baffling in their terminology and wonder if the writers have got themselves locked into a template that doesn’t always quite fit. Though having said that, the career path names can sometimes be quite evocative. And once you start thinking in that direction, they can be a good aid in working out the psychological worldview of the character.

Over all, I think Scoundrel is a good book, and one I intend to buy in hard copy when the opportunity presents itself.

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 Astrogation – Miazan Subsector #1

Lying Rimward of Gamelea Subsector, Miazan Subsector contains two stellar constellations and a small scattering of stars along the edge of the Rimward Deep. The Miazan Main runs Rimward along the Spinward edge of the Miazan Subsector from the Tonivar Cluster in Cabria Subsector to Hydrot, while the Kamperel Cluster dominates the Coreward centre of the subsector.

Miazan Subsector contains seventeen systems with a total population of 65.6777 billion sophonts. The highest population, A, is at Kamperel, and the highest Tech Level, D, is at Golus and Janda. Twelve of the seventeen systems are members of the Imperium, the three systems of the Kamperelian Cluster are members of the Kamperelian Republic, and the systems of Lithia and Huop are non-aligned.

House Rivokul, loyal retainers of the House Geyukthi Dukes of Miazan, had been Siridar-Barons of Kamperel/Miazan since the middle of the 10th Century. Outrageously corrupt, they mercilessly exploited the enormous population of their small, poor, world. During the 3rd Outrim War (1025 – 1038) the Outrim Alliance smuggled arms to various resistance groups on Kamperel and a popular uprising, known as the Rivokul War, broke out in 1031. After a bitter 18-month struggle, the People’s Justice Army of Kamperel emerged victorious as the dominant rebel faction, House Rivokul’s Mercenary force had been smashed, and all members of House Rivokul had been executed.

By the time the 3rd Outrim War had been concluded in 1038, House Geyukthi was in decline, a new Sector Duke was on the throne, the People’s Justice Army ruled Kamperel with an iron fist, and the Van Zaquerl family was in total control of the People’s Justice Army. Within fifty years, Kamperel had gained control of Ektra and Floranna, the other two systems in the Kamperel Cluster, while relationships with the Imperium continued to sour.

During the 4th Outrim War (1080 – 85), the Kamperelian Republic sided with the Outrim Alliance, effectively paralysing the Miazan Subsector Fleet until the Kalar-Wi Navy smashed the main Outrim Alliance force at the Battle of Anthorann in 1085. Since the war, most trade traffic from Gamelea Subsector has been rerouted via the Kalar-Wi and Tonivar Clusters to avoid Kamperelian space. Relations with Kamperel thawed enough to provide an alternate route during the Kalar-Wi War (1103 – 1105) but most regular shippers still prefer the Kalar-Wi/Tonivar route for Jump-2 ships.

Merchants wishing to avoid Zoni space in Nolgor Subsector favour the route from Celephais via Byer’s Planet and Naltor to Dariak/Gazul, though this route benefits merchants out of Gamelea more than traders from Nolgor Subsector.

Lithia is an non-aligned world that has established strong commercial links with the Imperium through the pharmaceutical industry, while Huop is a non-aligned world that has been essentially settled and developed by three Imperial mega-corporations. It remains vulnerable to incursions by Outrim raiders.

Miazan Subsector is home to two Minor Races; the humanoid Olkathi of the deserts of Golus and the ursoid Purvions of the rain forests of Lithia.

There are three main dialects of Imperial Basic spoken in the Miazan Subsector:
1) Gamelea Imperial Basic: - spoken on Celephais, Byer’s Planet and Naltor.
2) Miazan Imperial Basic: Dialect of Imperial Basic spoken along the Miazan Main, and on Nakaya and Epoch.
3) Kampereli Basic: - Dialect of Miazan Imperial Basic spoken on Kamperel, Ektra and Floranna in Miazan Subsector.

Other languages spoken in the Miazan Subsector include:
Sahsah sai – Main language of the Olkathi Minor Race of Golus/Miazan.
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.
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.

Accidents in Astrogation: Gazul Subsector #2

Gazul Subsector is an artificial construct. The bulk of the subsector’s Imperial population dwells in a system midway between the two political hubs of Dokar in the Dokar Main and Gazul in the Gazul Run. The political astuteness of House Hikisaku brought Gazul Subsector into existence and House Crensea has maintained it for the last three centuries as an independent Imperial political division, not just as a frontier zone of Nolgor Subsector. During this period, two Gazul Subsector Dukes wore the Sector Ducal coronet and Gazuli Naval units defended both their own Rimward frontier as well as the Spinward frontier in Miazan and Gamelea Subsectors in various border wars, which, considering that the bulk of the Gazul Subsector Navy operates with Tech Level 11 or 12 equipment, is no small achievement.

Website Update #7

After a bit of a painting drought, brought on by short winter days, I finally got a bunch of figures finished, including 30-odd of these fine fellows - Crusties from Ground Zero Games.

I also received some figures from Rebel Minis which will bolster my Kamperalian Republican Force when painted. Full details are on my painting log.

Accidents in Astrogation: Gazul Subsector #1

The Gazul Subsector is made up of several distinct astrographical regions; the Dokar Main, consisting of 13 systems at the Spinward/Coreward end of the Subsector; the Gazul Run, a broken Main to Trailing/Coreward; and the Rimward Arc, a scattering of non-Imperial systems across the Rimward end of the Subsector.

The Imperial population of Gazul Subsector has always been low. Even after some 500 years of settlement, Imperial citizens still only number some 8.674 billion, scattered over eighteen systems, out of a total population of 68.939 billion sophonts for the twenty-six worlds of the subsector.

The most populous system in the subsector is Dathyna, capital of the Dathynan Concordance, and one of the prime movers of the anti-Imperial Rimward Coalition. 55 billion sophonts of, mainly, Vilani ancestry loyally support the Charismatic Oligarchy of the Concordance and fill the ranks of the Coalition’s ground forces. The next most populous system is Daxam, lying midway between the Dokar Main and the Gazul Run. With a population of just over 8 billion sophonts, Daxam is a fortress world, protecting Imperial communications between the Spinward and Trailing frontiers of the subsector. Daxam’s relatively low Tech Level of 9 has prevented it from becoming more dominate than it is in Gazuli politics, though economically it outperforms all other Imperial planets in the Subsector put together, by several orders of magnitude.

Axal, Xudar and Gazul, all at Tech Level D, are the most technologically advanced systems in the Subsector, and all are members of the Imperium. The most advanced non-Imperial systems are Ftaioiaftew and Ikhyowou at Tech Level B, with Dathyna at Tech Level A close behind.

Sector Duke Kolin II began the process of Imperial expansion into Gazul subsector in the mid 6th Century. The badly organised Rimward Coalition, consisting of a number of small polities, actively resisted this expansionistic drive through a series of three Rimward Wars.

The 3rd Rimward War was concluded in 882 and an uneasy peace has ensued along the Demilitarized Zone running through Kralkor II, Ikhyowou, Arnak and Emmanon. Dariak, on the Spinward end of the Dokar Main, has never been formally incorporated into the Imperial portion of Gazul Subsector, even though it is used as a fueling point for ships bound into the Miazan Subsector. The 8,000 or so frontiersmen who have settled on Dariak have shown little interest in accepting invitations to join the Imperium, and it is rumoured that certain commercial interests prefer the current state of affairs just as they are.

There are two main dialects of Imperial Basic spoken in the Gazul Subsector:
1) Spinward Gazuli Basic: Dialect of Gazuli Basic as spoken along the Dokarian Main in Gazul Subsector, and on Meklin in Nolgor Subsector.
2) Gazuli Imperial Basic: Dialect of Imperial Basic spoken along the Gazul Run, and on Daxam, Kasimir and Kothgar.

Other languages spoken in the Gazul Subsector include:
Trokh Weakhayuwikhye – a dialect of Trokh spoken by the Aslan of Ftaioiaftew and Ikhyowou.
Siikharsim – a dialect of Old Vilani spoken in the Dathynan Concordance.
Unturran – main language of the dominant cultural group of the regressed human colony of Kralkor II.
Khishsuun – Vilani dialect/pidgin language used as a trade tongue by worlds of the Rimward Coalition.