Third Imperium - Twilight and the Long Night

Twilight and the Long Night

Historians generally acknowledge the beginning of the Twilight of the Second Imperium as starting with the monetary crisis of -1776 Imperial. When the Imperial Treasury on Hub refused to acknowledge the monetary issue made by the branch treasury at Antares, shockwaves of fiscal doubt spread throughout the empire. As with all large interstellar polities, the lifeblood of the Second Imperium was interstellar trade, and once it became unclear that the currency issued by one part of the Imperium would be recognized in another, commerce began its inexorable grind to a halt.

Though the damage began almost immediately, the Second Imperium was a vast and resilient polity, and took two and a half centuries to completely collapse - its death throes are generally recognized as ending in -1526 Imperial when the last remnant state claiming to be the Rule of Man splintered and broke apart. This period of Twilight was followed by a fifteen hundred year period of chaos commonly referred to as the Long Night, which only ended when Cleon transformed the Sylean Federation into the Third Imperium and declared himself Emperor in the year 0.

During the Long Night, interstellar trade was reduced to trickle in most regions of the former empire. Remnant states arose in some places, while in other regions some systems were cut off from galactic society by stellar geography or mere neglect. Many planets, lacking regular shipments of Imperial products, regressed technologically, descending into pre-industrial societies. Others, deprived of essential commodities and unable to meet their needs with domestic production, simply died off. Where interstellar travel was still possible, successor states that came into contact with one another began warring as often as they began trading. Miniature empires rose, prospered, and fell throughout the Long Night, and in many cases, surviving records are fragmentary or entirely missing. One of the great endeavors of academia in the Third Imperium is unearthing and understanding information about this period.

Despite the chaos and uncertainty of the Long Night, it was also a period of growth and expansion for humanity. Unfettered by the cumbersome bureaucracy of the First Imperium and the military rule of the Second Imperium, humanity expanded far beyond its former borders. Solomani made contact with the Darrian strain of humaniti - and after receiving the jump drive from Solomani traders, the Darrians achieved (and lost) technological capabilities as yet unmatched in human history, including the infamous Star Trigger. Humaniti made contact with the K'kree, and established stronger relations with the Aslan. In addition, while the areas formerly occupied by the Imperium had descended into chaos, other regions of the galaxy had not. The Zhodani Consulate never experienced the Long Night and grew to its present size during that era. The Vargr and Aslan experienced some of the greatest surges of expansion in the racial histories. In the case of the Aslan, their push into human held regions of space resulted in the first in a series of border wars that spanned nearly fourteen hundred years and didn't end until the nascent Third Imperium finally organized resistance to the incursions.

The ending of the Long Night was set into motion with the founding of the Sylean Federation, an interstellar state founded in the Sylea system in what is now the Core Sector in -650 Imperial. The Federation had a tightly controlled, highly centralized government, and thus it too nearly six centuries to grow, mostly by using its dominant trading position to draw several surrounding systems into itself. The typical Sylean method of expansion was to establish a trading relationship with another system, arrange for their trading partner to become dependent upon Sylean goods, and then use that dominant position to force the system to agree to join the Federation. In -30 Imperial, Cleon Zhunastu took control of the industrial consortium that was the real power in the Federation and set about expanding its borders. Over thirty years of flexing Sylea's economic, diplomatic, and military might, Cleon had vastly increased the size of the Federation, extending it to encompass nearly all of what is now the Core Sector.

Cleon envisioned a dominion that extended well beyond a single sector, and realized that the heavily centralized Sylean government was not suited to such a task. Through intense political maneuvering, Cleon's allies convinced the Grand Senate of the Federation to propose that the Imperium be revived and that Cleon should be crowned the first Emperor of the Third Imperium. This claim was made plausible due to the fact that one of the last claimants to the throne of the Rule of Man during the Twilight years had used Sylea as his capital. Thus, Cleon was able to trace the legitimacy of the Sylean Federation itself through this petty emperor to the Rule of Man, and consequently to the original Vilani Empire. In a somewhat perverse way, the primary proponents of the legitimacy of the Ramshackle Empire as the legitimate heir to the First Imperium are the Emperors of the Third Imperium, as their claim to rulership is based upon that connection.

Given that Cleon had instigated the political maneuvering that led to him being offered the crown, Cleon, of course, accepted immediately. 651 years after the Sylean Federation had been founded, it was dissolved. Cleon declared that the year of his ascension to the Imperial Throne to be a Holiday Year to mark his coronation, proclaiming it to be Year Zero of a new calendar. Though most of the galaxy didn't know it yet, the Long Night had ended, and the Third Imperium had begun.

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Third Imperium - Second Imperium: The Rule of Man

Second Imperium: The Rule of Man

The humans from Terra were still balkanized when they discovered Jump drive and began colonizing their solar system in 2058 A.D. Because of the dearth of nearby stars, the Solomani were confined to their own solar system for the next four decades despite having the Jump drive. During this time period, the Terrans developed an extensive variety of jump-capable ships that were tested by years of use before they were able to make the leap to another star. It wasn't until 2094 A.D. that they were able to mount an expedition to Barnard's Star, and it wasn't until 2096 A.D. that the Terrans encountered the Vilani in that system.

The discovery that they were not only not alone in the universe but that the aliens they discovered were also human sent shockwaves through Terran society. The stories the Terrans heard of the Imperium's size staggered them. The fact that most worlds more than a few parsecs away from Terra were already claimed and inhabited was a source of consternation. Even so, joint international expeditions met with Vilani representatives and explored nearby star systems. In 2110 A.D., the Terrans launched an effort to colonize Barnard's Star even though Vilani prospectors were already working on the system's primary planet. This rush to colonization almost inevitably led to conflict between the upstart Terrans and the Imperials.

Things came to a head in 2113 A.D. (-2405 Imperial) when a caravan of Vilani vessels ignored Terran traffic signals, resulting in a confrontation that became the spark that ignited the First Interstellar War. Although this resulted in what was ostensibly a Terran victory in 2121 A.D., the Imperium didn't even really know it had been in a war. Because of the Imperial Bureaux system devolved so much responsibility for managing local affairs downward to provincial governors, the first war was fought with only the resources available in the region. Because being unable to handle such matters without help from the Imperial throne was seen as a failure for a provincial governor, resulting in a loss of prestige and personal power, there was significant reluctance on the part of the Vilani provincial authorities to seek help from the central authority.

On the Terran side, the war, although a victory, exposed command and control issues resulting from having fractured forces drawn from multiple nations. After much negotiation, in 2122 A.D. most of the nations of Terra signed the Treaty of New York, placing their space-faring forces under the centralized control of an empowered United Nations. In 2123 A.D., most of the off-world colonies were invited to join the compact, and by 2130 the organization was formalized as the Terran Confederation, placing all Solomani possessions under a single governmental authority.

Over the next one hundred and eighty years, the Terran Confederation and the First Imperium fought a series of wars, although the exact number is subject of some debate among historians. Due to the slowness of interstellar communication, no consensus can be reached as to when the later conflicts began or ended due to the array of armistices, ceasefires, and relatively rare periods of peace. In many cases, conflict would begin in one region before news of a peace accommodation could reach the local area or the respective capitals, sparking a new conflict. Although most scholars generally count seven interstellar conflicts between the Terrans and the Vilani following the first, there is much disagreement as to when each one began or ended, and some scholar maintain that there more or fewer wars than this number. As a general matter, academics have mostly agreed to simply refer to the wars between the Terran Confederation and the First Imperium as the "Nth Interstellar War", with proper accounting requiring that the specific dates of the war being discussed to be defined by the speaker.

The Second through Seventh Interstellar Wars were back and forth affairs, mostly confined to the Dingir and Sol subsectors, fought between the Terran Confederation and the Vilani provincial authority. It was not until the Solomani seized Dingir itself in the Eighth Interstellar War that the Vilani Emperor took notice and dispatched a sizeable fleet to the theater of operations. Unfortunately, by then the Terrans has developed the Jump-3, which gave them a strategic advantage so great that they were able to crush the Imperial forces, forcing them to relinquish control of the Solomani Rim. From that point on, the Terrans were on the offensive. The Treaty of of Ensular, signed in 2299 A.D., ended the war with the Vilani ceding all territory rimward of Vega to the Terrans.

Primed by centuries of decline, corruption, and decay, the Vilani Empire collapsed almost immediately after this defeat. The Terrans, emboldened by their victory, fell upon the former territories of the disintegrating empire like wolves, with the Terran Confederation setting out to swallow an opponent hundreds of times larger than itself. The entire Terran officer corps, more than one hundred thousand strong, was dispatched to the former Imperial domains, but even that was not enough. Junior officers found themselves thrust into positions of authority far exceeding anything they were prepared for: Ensigns found themselves commanding entire space stations, lieutenants found themselves acting as planetary governors, commanders were placed in charge of entire subsectors. The Vilani Empire had been vast and unwieldy even with the massive Imperial bureaucracy, and the Terran Confederation simply didn't have the manpower to effectively assume control of it. For fifteen years, the Terran forces tried to impose military rule upon the remnants of the First Imperium.

In 2317, the Terran Secretariat voted to transfer control of the conquered territories directly to Terra, a move that would have wrecked havoc across the former dominions of the Imperium. Admiral Hiroshi Estigarriba, commander of the Terran Navy, realized the cost such a transfer would impose, and moved to install himself as regent of the Vilani Empire and protector of Terra. The personal loyalty the officer corps held towards Estigarriba smoothed the way for this takeover, as did the fact that the Terran forces had integrated Vilani military assets into their own ranks. The Terran fleet headquarters at Dingir became the capital of the new Imperium, but the administrative hub remained on Vland. The Terran Confederation was simply dissolved.

What might have been a temporary situation was transformed into a permanent shift when Estigarriba died and his chief of staff succeeded him, crowning himself Emperor Hiroshi II. For the next five hundred years or so, the combined Solomani-Vilani Empire dominated interstellar politics. This period, known either as the Rule of Man or the Ramshackle Empire, depending on how the speaker feels about this period, is officially referred to as the Second Imperium. Hiroshi II transferred the government from Dingir and Vland to a centrally located world named Hub by the Terrans and Ershur by the Vilani, and the capital remained there for the next four centuries.

Depending on who one asks, the Second Imperium was either a period of innovation and progress following the stagnation of the First Imperium, or a time of chaos and growing instability. Solomani migrated from the Terran dominions and spread throughout the new empire, brining with them their ambition and exuberance. The rigid Vilani caste system was swept away by the new regime, opening the way for a newly dynamic society to emerge, but also creating an uncertainty alien to the denizens of the First Imperium. The Terrans swept aside the old system, unleashing an era of invention and devlopment, but weren't able to come up with a replacement that allowed them to effectively manage such a vast domain.The First Imperiums caste system and heavy economic control had been cumbersome and employed a bloated bureuacracy, but the system of military rule employed by the Second Imperium wasn't any more effective, and in the end it proved to be just as brittle.

In -1776 Imperial or 2742 A.D., the Second Imperium faced a financial crisis that marked the beginning of the end for the regime. The treasury at Hub refused to honor a monetary issue from the Imperial treasury at Antares, resulting in a monetary crisis that shattered the confidence in interstellar trade and effective governmental power. Though the Rule of Man limped on in some form or another for the next two and a half centuries, the writing was on the wall: Eventual collapse was inevitable. The Twilight had begun.

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Third Imperium - A Note About Races in GURPS and Races in GURPS: Traveller

Races in GURPS

Races in the GURPS game system are essentially fixed-cost point packages paid for during character creation. For the most part, they are an array of advantages and disadvantages that reflect the characteristics of that race. One generally cannot pick and choose which racial characteristics one wishes to have out of a racial package - one is either a member of the race, with all of the benefits and drawbacks that entails, or one is not. On a side note, there are some advantages and disadvantages that are usually only available as part of a racial package, although magic and extremely high-technology could conceivably change that.

Note that racial disadvantages do not count against a character's 40 point disadvantage limit for the purpose of character creation. In a similar manner, racial quirks do not count against the character's 5 point quirk limit. It should also be noted that some racial packages have very high point totals, and as a result may be difficult or even impossible to take when using a standard 100 point character build.

Races in GURPS: Traveller

As a general rule of thumb, all of the races found in the various GURPS: Traveller sourcebooks, including GURPS: Humaniti and all of the GURPS: Alien Races books, are available as character options in the Third Imperium. I will note that all of those sourcebooks are GURPS Third Edition books, and thus the point costs for those racial packages may be inaccurate for GURPS Fourth Edition. I am in the process of converting all the the racial templates to the more recent edition, but this is a time-consuming process and likely won't be completed for quite a while. Any player wishing to play a particular race that has not yet been converted should contact me and I will do the necessary conversion.

I will also point out that the area covered by the Third Imperium and its neighbors is huge. Space is vast, and between the various interstellar civilizations detailed in the setting, there are tens of thousands of inhabited star systems. Consequently, this means that there are likely a myriad of minor alien races that are not detailed in the official GURPS: Traveller sourcebooks. With some modification, races from GURPS: Aliens, GURPS: Uplift, or GURPS: Lensman could be fit into the GURPS: Traveller setting. It is plausible that a race from GURPS: Fantasy Folk or even GURPS: Myth could be modified to fit the setting as well, although that determination would have to be made on a case-by-case basis. If a player wishes to play a particular race from one of those sources, they should contact me and we can work together to place them into the setting and establish an appropriate point cost.

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Third Imperium - Major Race: Vargr

Vargr

The Vargr are a major race of intelligent humanoid beings who resemble anthropomorphic wolves. They are unique among major races, and indeed most sapient species, in that they were not the product of natural selections, but are rather the culmination of an experiment in artificial evolution by the Ancients.

Vargr were initially a puzzle for xenologist. The Vargr did not seem to "fit", having a biochemistry and genetic makeup distinct from most other native flora and fauna indigenous to Lair, their purported homeworld. This was not a new puzzle: Similar problems had confronted scientists studying the origins of the Vilani, Zhodani, and many human minor races collectively known as Humaniti. All of these enigmas were solved after contact with the Solomani, the humans from Earth. It was eventually discovered that the Vargr, like all the races of Humaniti, has a Terrestrial genetic origin.

Unlike Humaniti, the Vargr were not simply transplanted. During the early years of the Third Imperium, researchers concluded that they were the result of genetic manipulation of Terran carnivores of canine stock, probably wolves or proto-wolves. Archaeological data and other evidence suggests that the Ancients were responsible. Vargr retain many of the characteristics of their canine ancestors, to a greater degree than humans do with other primates. Also, some 300,000 years of natural adaptation took place, as the Vargr appear to have not been fully fitted to the environment of Lair, and this produced rigorous conditions which made natural selection essential to the survival of the race. Thus, the Vargr are in effect, products of both genetic engineering and some degree of evolution.

Although most Vargr live in the Vargr Extents, a region of slightly more than twenty-one sectors of space coreward of the Third Imperium situated between the Zhodani Consulate and the Two Thousand Worlds of the K'Kree, Vargr can be found throughout the galaxy, often as traders and corsairs, but also as citizens of every major government in the region. They can be found relatively often in the Third Imperium, with some having even having risen to the ranks of the nobility. They are also found as citizens of all of the other interstellar nations, although they are fairly rare in the Two Thousand Worlds due to the vegetarianism the K'kree require of all those who reside within their dominions. Within the Extents, there are believed to be more than 1,100 independent multi-world government, although many or only small clusters of a handful of worlds. Cataloging the various governments is almost an exercise in futility, as by the time one were to complete such a project, the swirling chaos of Vargr society would have swept many away, and replaced them with new governments.

Physiology

Vargr are upright bipeds who resemble a humanoid wolf with a bipedal posture and arms ending in hands instead of paws. Vargr legs are digitigrade - that is , they walk on their toes, their heel not touching the ground. Their bodies are covered with short fur, usually gray, brown, black, or rust colored, although a wider variety of patterns appear than in terrestrial wolves. Their fairly long tails end in a flaring brush. Their muzzle is shorter and less pronounced than a Terran canine, but still quite evident with strong jaws and sharp teeth. They have other characteristics consistent with terrestrial mammalian origin. Vargr biochemistry is terrestrial, making them closer cousins to Humaniti than any other non-Human species encountered off Terra.

A typical adult male Vargr stands five feet, four inches tall and weights approximately 135 pounds., while Vargr females are an inch or two shorter and five to ten pounds lighter. On average, Vargr aren't as strong as Humans, but their reaction speed is measurably faster, although there are vide variations among individuals.

Vargr hands are similar in shape and functionality to Human hands, though with significant internal differences. Vargr are normally able to use the same equipment without modification or additional practice. Their hands tend to be somewhat more slender and flexible than Humans, at least on the average, though there is considerable variation. Vargr fingers retain sharp pointed non-retractable nails useful as claws in close combat, although not as dangerous to an opponent as their teeth.

Vargr are built for sprinting: They can run approximately twice as fast as Humans for a short period. they tire more quickly and because of the fur that covers most of their body, they cannot col off by sweating; instead they pant. The combination of bipedal posture and digitigrade leg design means a Vargr cannot kick effectively.

Vargr eyesight is notably sharper than Human sight, but responds somewhat differently to color; to Humans, Vargr color patterns frequently seem excessively unusual, sometimes muddy, at other times garish and clashing. Vargr have a similar reaction to human color sense, finding it outlandish. A Vargr's hearing is excellent, but again slightly out of phase with that of humans. Sounds that are generally too high-pitched for human ears can be detected, but lower ranges are often vaguely sensed rather than heard. Though Vargr have keener noses than human, their sense of smells lack the acuity of their canine ancestors and they cannot match that of the K'kree.

Vargr voice boxes were modified to make them capable of speech, but their canine heritage is reflected in their extensive non-verbal body language. Tails, the movement of ears, and the state of their fur serve as an unconscious means of signaling a Vargr's emotional state to other Vargr (and to a lesser extent, to Humans, who have long racial experience with canines). Vargr speech is not quite the mixture of barks and howls that some make it out to be, but does have a strong echo of their canine ancestry. Vargr can and do howl, albeit not without the same intensity of a wolf (at least not without some practice and training). Some Vargr speech is often lost on humans, as some high notes are above their hearing threshold.

Psychology

Vargr retain a number of mental and behavioral traits that bean an obvious relationship to the instinctive behavior of the canines they were derived from. Vargr are still very much pack-oriented carnivores. The traits most other races find negative about the Vargr is a nature often characterized as inconsistent, chaotic, and impulsive. Vargr can seem intensely loyal to a cause and then suddenly shift allegiance. The rapid evolutions in Vargr politics and commerce are bewildering, and maps showing national boundaries are rarely accurate for more than a few decades.

Gregariousness

Vargr are a gregarious people, enjoying the company of one another and demanding the security and comfort of fellowship with others of their own kind. As a rule, Vargr enjoy living in close proximity with one another. At a family level, they tend toward extended families. Solitary confinement is a form of torture for most Vargr. They have less of a sense of privacy and personal modesty than Humans - at least within the pack.

Charisma and Dominance

Group behavior of Vargr is characterized by a constant struggle for dominance within the group. The ability to exert authority over others derives from an individual's prestige and force of personality. Vargr have many different words to describe this important characteristic, but Humans call it charisma.

A charismatic Vargr radiates confidence and ability in voice, manner, and posture, and other Vargr are naturally drawn to him. Charisma is also affected by events: defeat has a profound negative impact on an individual's bearing and conduct, signaling to others than he has failed. Vargr are constantly moving to the next challenge, and much Vargr behavior is based on a need to continually reaffirm their abilities, win the approval and support of others, and to prove, over and over, that they are worthy of the respect and admiration of their fellows.

Vargr with lower charisma are usually loyal followers. They are aware of their own lack of the qualities they see in charismatic leaders, and so attach themselves to a leader in the hopes that a little bit of his or her reflected glory will help them. A Vargr follower transfers his attentions from proving he is better than other Vargr to proving his group is better than other groups.

Racial Pride

Vargr possess a fierce personal pride. Vargr are easily insulted, which sometimes leads them into getting involved in conflicts without regard for the consequences. Vargr pride extends to their race: They do not like to be placed into a subordinate position compared to non-Vargr. Their unusual origin as an artificially uplifted species is a touchy subject. Some Vargr do not wish to discuss it. Others take pride in it, seeing themselves as the product of a successful attempt to develop a superior species. Some believe Vargr should be recognized as the natural successors to the Ancients.

Vargr Society
Vargr social organization is not easily comprehensible to outsiders. Analogies from history are prone to be easily misinterpreted. There are as many, if not more, distinct Vargr societies as there are Human ones. The key elements that characterize Vargr societies are strong emphasis on collective and informal lines of authority and and equally strong tendency to pack-tribe-nation loyalty.

Although gregarious, Vargr tend to be more cohesive on a small scale, in bands of small groups. A Vargr gives loyalty to a charismatic leader and follows that leader over the dictates of a higher authority if necessary. Vargr are always susceptible to the lyre of some other group if the charisma of its leader is superior. Vargr tend to place much more value in their group leader than in abstract or impersonal institutions such as "governments" and "nations". A common Vargr saying is "If I can smell my leader's confidence, I needn't fear."

Vargr have little use for concepts such as "title" or "rank" or 'chain of command", They respect an individual they can see, hear, and smell. Consequently, larger Vargr hierarchies tend to be groups of smaller bands welded together by a single Vargr leader who maintains close personal contact between his subordinates, each of whom has their own band of subordinates who they maintain a charismatic position over. These organizations can have as many layers as the various leaders are able to maintain. As one might expect, centralized authority is very tenuous at the higher levels of Vargr society.

Pack Dynamics

Small Vargr groups with shared purpose tend to be very cohesive. For pack-mates, "work" and "home" lives are rarely separated. Packs are often part of larger organizations, but in general the loyalty of such groups' component members will be greater toward their own immediate leader than toward the parent institution they are part of. Vargr who work together tend to establish an informal hierarchy of dominance, and when a new individual enters the group there will be tension as their position is sorted out as they are required to demonstrate their competence and secure their place within the group.

For all the backbiting that goes on within a pack, it will rapidly close ranks against an outsider who is seen as a threat. A Vargr joining a new pack must be careful that they don't mark themselves as a threat to the pack itself, which would result in their being reclassified as an enemy of the entire group.

Loyalties

For a Vargr most loyalties are temporary, but are still strong while they exist. A Vargr does their best for a group as long as they remain within it, but almost never has the intent of remaining within it forever, and other Vargr do not expect them to. Vargr often switch from one group to another, even to groups that are diametrically opposed to the goals or ideals of their previous group so long as the change improves the Vargr's own lot by enhancing their charisma and dominance.

A successful Vargr group does well, it's leader's charisma is enhanced, which will attract more members. The influx of low-status, low-charisma Vargr into a group will enhance its stability, because it means the status of existing members rises automatically, which means promotion no longer requires direct challenges of one's superiors. The equation "growth equals stability" is vital to Vargr organization, and is essential for understanding how Vargr society can actually succeed.

Ambitions of individual Vargr in a successful group are channeled toward doing better than others of equal rank in the hope of impressing their immediate leaders and obtaining promotion. A successful Vargr group is rewarded by more success until it reaches the natural limits of the enterprise - either the ability of its leadership to remain in close contact with their subordinates. When this happens, either new leadership takes over, or the group splinters as Vargr abandon it to seek out other opportunities.

Egalitarianism

Although Vargr groups emphasize dynamic leadership, Vargr societies tend to be essentially egalitarian: Static systems that lock individuals into hierarchies are foreign to Vargr thinking. The concept that even the lowest status Vargr can, with sufficient charisma, aspire to rule as a prince, is found in all Vargr cultures.

Vargr Racial Template [21 points]

Note that this template has been updated to reflect the point costs for GURPS Fourth Edition. In addition, while all the tendencies listed are racial tendencies, as with all species, there is considerable variation between individual Vargr. That said, varying too far from some of the "normal" Vargr characteristics may requires a character to take an unusual background. The information given here is an overview of Vargr sensibilities, society, government, and social mores. A considerably more detailed amount of information can be found in GURPS: Traveller - Alien Races 1. Those who wish to play a Vargr character should probably look through the material found in that volume.

Attributes

ST -1 [-10 points]; DX +1 [20 points]. Vargr are somewhat smaller than Humans, but have faster reflexes.

Advantages

Vargr are smaller than Humans, but have superior senses, faster reflexes and are better short-distance sprinters. They possess natural weapons (claws and teeth) and protection (fur).

• Acute taste/smell +3 [6 points]


• Acute vision +1 [2 points]


• Claws (+2 damage) [15 points]


• Enhanced Move 1 (doubles Move, with the limitation that running fatigue begins after 5 seconds -30%) [14 points]


• Fur (DR 1, keeps warm) [5 points]


• Teeth (1d-1 bite in close combat) [5 points]

Disadvantages

• Cannot kick [-5 points]. Due to their digitigrade posture, Vargr cannot kick in close combat unless a foe is prone and the Vargr is standing, in which case they can stamp downward. This disadvantage's cost is set at -5 points, cancelling the point cost Vargr pay for having sharper than normal teeth.


• Chummy [-5 points]. This is the famous Vargr gregariousness, a "pack mentality" that leaves them happiest when in groups they have come to find trustworthy, whether among Vargr or not.


• Curious [-5 points]. Even more than Humans, a Vargr will go out of his way to investigate new things.


• Easy to Read [-10 points]. Vargr find hiding their feelings an alien concept. Even if the Vargr doesn't say what he thinks, which he usually will, posture, facial expression, and ruffled fur are all easy for other Vargr to read. These cues are also fairly obvious to Humans, as Vargr are descended from canines and Humans have been reading their dogs' body language for millennia. The correlation is not total, but comes close enough.


• Proud [-1 point]. Vargr are always concerned with their own status within any individual group, and that group's status in society. They are also quick to take offense at racial slights.


• Reduced Fatigue (-1 fatigue) [-3 points]. Vargr are good sprinters, but lack the long-distance endurance of Humans.


• Reduced Hit Points -1 [-2 points]. The lighter Vargr build results in the average Vargr having an HT of 10, but only nine hit points.


• Reputation -2 [-10 points]. Vargr have a universal reputation as chaotic, easily swayed, and potentially disloyal.

Character Creation Notes

Common advantages for Vargr characters include Charisma, Status, and on occasion a Military Rank (most often for Vargr who serve as corsairs). Vargr also commonly have the disadvantages Impulsive or Paranoid.

Vargr characters almost never have the disadvantages Code of Honor (save for the Pirates' Code, which can reflect a cohesive Vargr pack), Fanaticism (to anything other than a high-charisma leader), Honesty, Sense of Duty (to any group larger than a pack or family group), Shyness, or Xenophobia. Any Vargr with one of these disadvantages would need to take an Unusual Background and describe just how they came by it.

Most of the character templates found in the GURPS: Traveller sourcebook are suitable for Vargr, as are the templates found in the Vargr chapter in GURPS: Traveller - Alien Races 1. I note, however, that the templates have not been updated to reflect the point costs for GURPS 4th Edition, and thus anyone who wishes to use them should consult with me and I will do the appropriate conversion. I intend to convert these templates as time permits, but there are a lot of them and it may take me a while to get to all of them.

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Third Imperium - Ship Patrons

Ship Patrons

The Traveller setting has a somewhat unique advantage for characters: The Ship Patron. This means that you are in such good graces with your former service or other patron appropriate to your past that they have given you the use of a ship, You don't necessarily own the ship - the scout Service, the bank, your wealthy parent, or someone else does, but you have the use of it. Such a patron may also provide additional benefits and responsibilities. Your ship patron should be from the service you served under. The patron must make sense with respect to your background.

The cost of a Ship Patron is highly variable, dependent upon the jump fuel capacity, jump rating, acceleration, and equipment on the ship. The base cost for a ship with Jump-1, fuel for 1 parsec, 1-G acceleration, that is either streamlined or has a ship's vehicle is 10 points. In addition to the ships listed below, there are many models of ship that could conceivably be the subject of the Ship Patron cost. You will need to lay out your character background and explain how that connects to your ship patron, after which we can calculate the point cost.

Fuel Cap. in Parsecs	Cost
2	+7
3	+12
4	+15
5	+17
6	+18
7	+19

The standard method for calculating the cost of a Ship Patron is to start with the basic cost of 10 points and add points for the ships's jump fuel capacity in parsecs (regardless of how many jumps it takes to go that far) according to the table to the right. To that, add the following:

• For every Jump level after Jump-1 add +4 points.
• For every 1 G of acceleration above 1 G, add +2.5 points.
• If the ship has a vehicle to get to the surface and is streamlined add +2.5 points.
• If the ship has 5 low berths, add +1.5 points.
• For every 10 additional low berths after the first 5 add +0.5 points.
• If the ship has fuel scoops, add +2 points.
• For the first armed turret, add +5 points.
• For each additional armed turret, add +2.5 points.
• For every 3 tons of cargo capacity, add +1 point.
• For every 6 spaces of staterooms suitable for commercial passenger service after the first 3 staterooms, add +1 point.

Characters with common background elements can split the cost of a Ship Patron; for example, two former members of the IISS could split the point cost of a scout/courier or seeker as a patron. In the case of larger ships, splitting the point cost is almost necessary to avoid the cost becoming prohibitively expensive.

Specific costs for some of the more common Ship Patrons are:

Suleiman-Class Scout/Courier: 23 points.

A character who has served at least 12 years in the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service may receive a 100 ton Scout as a mustering out benefit. The ship is under the character's control and may be used as they wish, but it is subject to several restrictions. The user is responsible for all costs and maintenance. He and his ship are subject to recall to active service at the discretion of the IISS and must consequently inform the IISS of their location each time they enter a starport. This reduces the ship cost by 5 points. The ship is not fitted suitably for commercial passenger service. The turret is not armed when provided to the user. Any armaments desired must be added at the user's expense. These ships commonly have a three man crew of pilot, copilot, and engineer.

100-ton streamlined hull. DR 200, Basic stealth, Basic Emissions Cloaking, Heavy Compartmentalization, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 20 Maneuver, 3 Jump, 20 Fuel, 1 Space Dock (holds up to 250 cubic feet of air/raft), 4 Staterooms, Utility, 2 Fuel Processors, Turret, 12.5 cargo (+3 in turret). 15,000 HP. Acceleration 2 G, Jump-2, carries enough fuel for 2 parsecs worth of Jump. Cost 26.4 Mega Credits.

Suleiman II-Class Seeker: 29 points

Some former scouts are issued a Suleiman II-class ship. This uses an identical hull as the scout-courier, but has been modified for use as a mineral surveyor and similar duties. The user is responsible for all costs and maintenance. He and his ship are subject to recall to active service at the discretion of the IISS and must consequently inform the IISS of their location each time they enter a starport. This reduces the ship cost by 5 points. The ship is not fitted suitably for commercial passenger service. The turret is not armed when provided to the user. Any armaments desired must be added at the user's expense. These ships commonly have a three man crew of pilot, copilot, and engineer.

100-ton streamlined hull. DR 200, Basic stealth, Basic Emissions Cloaking, Heavy Compartmentalization, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 20 Maneuver, 3 Jump, 20 Fuel, 1 Space Dock (holds up to 250 cubic feet of air/raft), 2 Staterooms, Utility, 2 Fuel processors, Turret, 20.5 Cargo (+3 in Turret). 15,000 HP. Acceleration 2 G, Jump-2, carries enough fuel for 2 parsecs worth of Jump. Cost 26.4 Mega Credits.

Beowulf-Class Free Trader: 36 points

A character serving a minimum of 12 years in the merchant as a previous career may have acquired an interest in a starship. This will probably have soaked up all of his free cash. In addition to the point cost for the ship, the loan to the bank (payments of 240^th of the purchase price, due monthly) results in a -5 point reduction in cost. These ships commonly have a six man crew of pilot, navigator, sensor/comms operator, steward, and two engineers. One of the crew usually doubles as a pilot for the air/raft typically carried in the cargo hold. The turrets are not armed when provided to the user. Any armaments desired must be added at the user's expense. Custom modifications are common, and the interior layout of a Beowulf-class free trader may be radically different from the norm.

200-ton streamlined hull. DR 100, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 16 Maneuver, 4 Jump, 20 Fuel, 5 Low Berths, 10 Staterooms, Utility, 2 Fuel Processors, 2 Turrets, 69 Cargo (+6 in the Turrets). 22,500 HP. Acceleration 1 G, Jump 1, carries enough fuel for 1 parsec worth of Jump. Cost 28.8 Mega Credits.

Empress Marava-Class Far Trader: 38 points

A character serving a minimum of 12 years in the merchant as a previous career may have acquired an interest in a starship. This will probably have soaked up all of his free cash. In addition to the point cost for the ship, the loan to the bank (payments of 240^th of the purchase price, due monthly) results in a -5 point reduction in cost. The Empress Marava class far trader has greater Jump capacity than the Beowulf-class far trader, but has less cargo space and can carry fewer passengers. These ships commonly have a six man crew of pilot, navigator, sensor/comms operator, steward, and two engineers. One of the crew usually doubles as a pilot for the air/raft typically carried in the cargo hold. The turrets are not armed when provided to the user. Any armaments desired must be added at the user's expense. As with the Beowulf-class free trader, custom modifications to the Empress Marava-class far trader are common.

200-ton streamlined hull. DR 100, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 15 Maneuver, 6 Jump, 40 Fuel, 3 Low Berths, 1 Space/Dock (holds up to 250 cubic feet of air/raft), 10 Staterooms, Utility, Fuel Processor, 2 Turrets, 48 Cargo (+6 in the Turrets). 22,500 HP. Acceleration 1 G, Jump 2, carries enough fuel for 2 parsecs worth of Jump. Cost 37.6 Mega Credits.

Vanderbilt-Class Yacht: 33 points

A character who has expended points to acquire a Social Level of 3 or above may buy a 200-ton yacht as a personal interstellar transport. The staterooms are not set up for commercial service. The turrets are not armed when provided to the user. Any armaments desired must be added at the user's expense. These usually carry a crew of nine consisting of a pilot, navigator, sensor/comms operator, two stewards, two medics, and two engineers, although individual owners may decide to vary wildly from this complement. Two of the staterooms are usually merged to form a suite for the owner, and two more are merged to form a lounge area.

200-ton unstreamlined hull. DR 100, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 12 Maneuver, 8 Jump, 60 Fuel, 15 Space/Dock (holds up to 7.5 tons of vessel or 3,750 cubic feet of one or more air/rafts, has two doors), 15 Staterooms, Utility, Vehicle Bay (30-ton ship's boat), 2 Turrets, Fuel Processor, 2 Turrets, 5 Cargo (+6 in the Turrets). 22,500 HP. Acceleration 1 G, Jump 3, carries enough fuel for 3 parsecs worth of Jump. Cost 45.5 Mega Credits.

Animal-Class Safari Ship: 27 points

A character who has expended points to acquire a Social Level of 3 or above may buy a 200-ton safari as a personal interstellar transport. The staterooms are not set up for commercial service. The turret is not armed when provided to the user. Any armaments desired must be added at the user's expense. These ships usually carry a crew of seven consisting of a pilot, navigator, sensor/comms operator, steward, medic, and two engineers, although individual owners may decide to vary wildly from this complement. Two of the staterooms are usually merged to form a suite for the owner, and two more are merged to form a trophy room or lounge area.

200-ton streamlined hull. DR 100, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 11 Maneuver, 6 Jump, 40 Fuel, 15 Space/Dock (holds up to 7.5 tons of vessel or 3,750 cubic feet of one or more air/rafts), 11 Staterooms, Sickbay, Utility, Vehicle Bay (30-ton ship's boat), 1 Turret, Fuel Processor, 5 Cargo (+3 in Turret). 22,500 HP. Acceleration 1 G, Jump 2, carries enough fuel for 2 parsecs worth of Jump. Cost 35.5 Mega Credits.

Broadsword-Class Mercenary Cruiser: 78 points

A character with an extensive mercenary or military background may be able to acquire an 800-ton Broadsword-class mercenary cruiser. Affording such a ship will probably require several characters to have pooled all of their free cash and taken out a loan. In addition to the point cost for the ship, the loan to the bank (payments of 240^th of the purchase price, due monthly) results in a -5 point reduction in cost. The staterooms are not set up for commercial service. These ships usually carry a crew of seventeen consisting of a captain, pilot, navigator, sensor/comms operator, two medics, three engineers, and eight gunners, plus whatever mercenary infantry the ship carries. members of the mercenary complement usually provide the gunners, reducing the crew of the ship to nine. The ship comes equipped with the two modular cutters, but not with the four modules. The user will have to provide the modules at their own expense.

800-ton unstreamlined hull. DR 100, 4 turrets with three 360-MJ lasers each, 2 Turrets with 3 missile racks each, 2 Turrets with 3 sandcasters each, Basic Bridge, Engineering, 175 Maneuver, 32 Jump, 240 Fuel, 1 Space/Dock (holds up to 250 cubic feet of air/raft), 22 Staterooms, Sickbay, 2 Utilities, Vehicle Bay (two 50-ton modular cutters and two spare 30-ton modules), Fuel Processor, 80.5 Cargo. 60,000 HP. Acceleration 2 G, Jump 3, carries enough fuel for 3 parsecs worth of Jump. Cost 222.9 Mega Credits.

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Third Imperium - Starships and Space Combat

Starships

In the Imperium, a "starship" is a spacecraft that is equipped with a Jump Drive. A spacefaring craft that is not equipped with a Jump Drive is simply a spaceship, a ship, or a small craft. Spacecraft are rated in "dtons", which stands for "displacement tons", meaning the volume displaced by one ton of liquid hydrogen. A ship must be at least 100 dtons in size to accommodate the power plant, drives, and fuel required to be jump-capable. The term "small craft" is usually reserved for spacefaring craft that are smaller than 100 dtons in size. Ships that travel between stars via slower than light methods such as, sleeper ships or generation ships, are not classified as "starships", but are merely "spaceships". While cruisers, battleships, and dreadnoughts displacing 50,000, 100,000, and even 500,000 dtons are in service, most characters will deal with much smaller ships such as the 100 dton Suleiman-class scout/courier, the 200 dton Beowulf-class free trader, the 200 dton Empress Marava-class far trader, or the Animal-class 200 dton safari ship.

Typical Starship Crew

Running a starship competently requires crew members with a certain array of skills. Running a starship well requires a crew with a more extensive range of skills. Listed below are both the minimal required range of skills and the more expansive range of skills that well-run ships have available.

Bridge Crew

Every starship requires someone with the Pilot [Starship] skill and the Astrogation skill if it wants to successfully use its Jump Drive. Spaceships should have a crewman with the Electronics Operation [Sensors] skill and a crewman with the Electronics Operation [Communications] skill. Although not absolutely necessary, a crewman with the Computer Operations skill is highly recommended. If a ship is equipped with defensive screens such as black globe generators or meson screens, then a crew member should have the Electronics Operation [Force Field] skill. Most ships that player characters have access to are not large enough to have defensive screens. Ships that expect to go into combat usually have a commanding officer with the Leadership and Tactics skills. Note that having a commanding officer with Leadership can give crew members bonuses (and help them avoid penalties) to their skill rolls by coordinating their actions through orders (via a Leadership skill check).

Given that starships are regularly completely cut off from the outside world for week long periods, having crewmen who can perform maintenance and repairs on the various systems on a ship is recommended. A character with the Computer Programming skill and a character with the Electrician, Electronics Repair, or Engineering [Electronics] skill (or some combination of the three) is advisable.

Engineering Crew

A starship should have at least one crewman with the Engineering [Starship] skill as well as crewmen with the Mechanic [J-Drive], Mechanic [M-Drive], and Mechanic [Power Reactor] skills. For starships, a crewman with the Mechanic [J-Drive] skill is critical if the ship intends to try to enter jump-space at any point. Having crewmen with the more specialized Engineer [J-Drive], Engineer [M-Drive], and Engineer [Power Reactor] skills is optimal, especially if the ship intends to be in service for long periods of time. As with the bridge crew, having crewmen who can perform routine maintenance and repairs on the ship is recommended. Having a crew member with the Machinist skill allows for the creation of replacement parts while in flight.

Weapons Crew

Armed ships should have a crew member with the Gunner [Laser] or Gunner [Missile] skill, or both for every turret carried by the ship. Larger ships that have weapon bays or spine mounted guns have larger weapon crew requirements, but most of those ships are so large that he chance one will ever come under the control of a player character is remote.

Medical Crew

As noted before, most starships can expect to be regularly out of communication with the rest of the universe for periods of at least a week at a time. Starships that journey into unknown or hostile areas can expect to be isolated from assistance for longer periods. Consequently, most starships carry at least some medical crew. Crew members with the skills Diagnosis, Physician, and Surgery are generally considered to be an integral part of a ship's crew. Ships that carry passengers always have medical personnel. Within the Imperium, ships that carry low-berths are required to have trained medical personnel as part of their complement.

Miscellaneous Crew

Ships that carry small craft such as air rafts should have at least one crew member with the Pilot [Small Craft] skill. It is recommended that the crew include someone with the Engineering [Small Craft] and Mechanic [Small Craft} skills as well. Ships that intend to carry cargo will find it advisable to have crew members with the Freight Handling and Merchant skills. Ships that carry passengers often find it necessary to include crew members with the Diplomacy and Savoir-Fair skills.

Jump

Jump is a means of travelling faster than light by way of entering jump-space. Jump is also the only means of faster than light travel in the Traveller setting. Ships in jump-space are isolated and may not communicate with or be detected by anything in normal space. A ship in jump-space may also not communicate with or be detected by anything else in jumps-space. Jump drives are rated from Jump-1 to Jump-6, which measures the maximum range in parsecs the drive can convey a ship in a single jump. A starship can make a jump equal to or less than its maximum jump range, but normally only in even parsec units - the only exceptions are mishaps or micro-jumps. No matter how far a starship travels, a jump takes roughly a week (specifically 168 hours plus or minus 0% to 10%). Powering a jump requires liquid hydrogen which both powers the creation of the "hole" into jump-space, serves as coolant for the Jump Drive, and provides the jump "bubble" that separates the ship from jump-space while it is in transit. Every jump requires 10% of the ships tonnage in fuel per parsec traveled - even though every jump takes roughly the same amount of time, longer jumps consume substantially more fuel than shorter jumps. A micro-jump counts as 1 parsec for the purpose of fuel consumption.

Skill Checks for Jump

A successful jump requires three skill rolls: A Pilot [Starship] roll, an Astrogation roll, and a Mechanic [J-Drive] roll. If any of these rolls fails, then something will go awry in the course of the jump. A critical failure on any of these rolls can be disastrous. Flying a ship using unrefined fuel imposes a -2 penalty on all of these skill checks. The potential results of a failed check are:

• Pilot [Starship]: A failed Pilot [Starship] check results in no jump. In a no jump, the jump drives simply fail to operate.


• Astrogation: A failed Astrogation roll results in a misexit from jump-space. A misexit usually occurs near a world in the destination star system or in deep space as the ship exits jump-space near an unexpected stellar object, planet, comet, or asteroid. A disastrously bad Astrogation roll could result in a misexit in the starting star system as the ship exits near a gas giant or other planet in the originating system.


• Mechanic [J-Drive]: Failures involving Mechanic [J-Drive] rolls are called misjumps, and can have the most dramatic effects. A misjump can take the form of a no jump, a failed jump, or a misdirected jump. A no jump is identical to the no jump described for a failed Pilot [Starship] roll. A failed jump results in the ship entering jump-space for a week and then exiting in roughly the same place that it started. A misdirected jump or misjump results in the ship emerging from jump-space in an unintended location, usually far in distance and location from the intended destination - misjumps of 30 parsecs are not common, but they are not unheard of either. Until a ship exists jump-space, it is impossible to tell the difference between a failed jump and a misdirected jump.


• Disaster: A critical failure on any of the three required skill checks results in a disastrous outcome. In addition to the possibility of a misexit, failed jump, or misdirected jump, a disaster may result in the ship being damaged in transit, or potentially even destroyed entirely.

Note that while a ship cannot be detected or communicated with while in jump-space, it can be detected while entering and exiting jump-space using starship sensors. A series of successful Electronics Operation [Sensors] rolls can detect a ship entering jump-space and determine the approximate size of the ship, the time it left the system, and the direction of the jump, although there is no way to determine the distance of the jump. A similar series of Electronics Operation [Sensors] skill checks can detect a ship leaving jump-space as well as the approximate size of the ship, the distance it traveled in jump-space, and the time it entered the system.

Jump Types

When starships emerge from jump-space, they retain the same vector they had when they entered jump-space. As stars (and everything else) are also moving through galactic space, this vector is also imparted to a jumping ship. This means that a ship can choose to try to take advantage of this fact by coordinating its velocity and direction when it enters jump-space with its hoped for speed and direction when it exist jump-space. This results in different types of jumps as follows:

• Standing Jump: A standing jump is calculated to give the jumping ship the same vector as the destination system. This is usually the safest type of jump, as it minimizes the possibility of colliding with an unanticipated object in deep space.


• Running Jump: A running jump is made with high speed upon entering jump-space. If properly calculated, the ship only needs to decelerate as it approaches its destination at the end of its jump. If poorly calculated, the ship will exit jump space with a vector that may place it wildly at odds with its intended destination and might be required to make substantial course corrections.


• Micro-Jump: A micro jump is a jump within a single star system. As with all jumps, a micro jump takes about a week, and it uses up as much fuel as a one parsec jump. In some cases, a micro jump is a quicker way to move about a star system than using M-drives.

100-Diameter Limit

Matter in normal space interferes with ships in jump-space. If a ship in jump-space passes within a 100-diameter sphere of an object of more than 1 mile in diameter, the ship is usually "precipitated out" of jump space into normal space. This tendency tends to protect ships from exiting jump-space within another object. The primary job of a ship's Astrogator is plotting a course that avoids such objects to prevent exiting jump-space early. It is possible to enter jump-space within the 100-diameter limit, although it makes a successful jump more difficult. Attempting to jump from within the 100-diameter limit imposes a -4 penalty on all three of the required jump-related skill checks. Attempting to jump within 50 diameters of an object imposes an additional -4 penalty on all such skill checks, while attempting to jump while within 10 diameters imposes a further -4 penalty to jump-related skill checks. These penalties are cumulative, so attempting a make a jump from within 10 diameters of an object using unrefined fuel requires all checks to be made at a -14 penalty.

Any failure of one of the three required skill checks while attempting a jump from within the 100-diameter limit results in a misjump, with potential effects identical to a normal failure of the Mechanic [J-Drive] skill roll. Many of the most dramatic known misjumps are the result of crews attempting to jump from deep within the 100-diameter limit.

Spaceship Combat

Space combat in Traveller takes place on a two-dimensional hex map. Once again, this is an abstraction made for game-play reasons. One could construct a means of conducting combat in three dimensions, but that would be more time consuming than practical. Each hex in space combat is approximately 10,000 miles across. For reference, this means that the Earth and the Moon would be 24 hexes apart. Earth is about 0.8 hexes in diameter, and the Moon would be 0.2 hexes in diameter. On this scale, a light-second is about eighteen hexes.

Combat takes place in 20 minute turns, with each turn comprised of seven phases. Each ship is represented by two counters: One showing its current location, and one showing where it will be next round (its "vector counter"). Note that action in these phases is more or less simultaneous. All ships make detection rolls, then all ships engage in maneuvers, and so on. The seven phases are:

• Detection and Communication: Ships can make Electronics Operations rolls for each type of sensor they have (usually some combination of Radscanners, PESA, and AESA). If a ship has multiples of the same type of sensor, they only make one check for that type using the one with the combination of operator skill and scan are the highest. One individual may make checks for more than one type of sensor, but each extra sensor that a character tries to use imposes a -2 to all of his Electronic Operation [Sensor] rolls as he has to divide his attention among multiple systems. Note that beam weapons can only be directed against foes detected with AESA or PESA. Detecting an object with one type of sensor does not automatically detect it with other types of sensor, although it can give a bonus to do so. Radio communications must be declared in this round, but if communications are opened, they may be conducted freely throughout the round.


• Maneuver: All ships with working maneuver drives may maneuver, starting with the ships with the lowest acceleration and then proceeding in reverse order to the ship with the highest acceleration. If two ships have the same acceleration, then the larger ship goes before the smaller ship. If the ships are still tied, then their commanding officer (or pilot) must engage in a contest of tactics skill with his counterpart from the the opposing ship, with the winner going second. The pilot (or gunner for a missile) determines how the spacecraft will maneuver by placing the ship's vector counter a number of hexes in any direction to a maximum of that ship's acceleration. Ships that have an acceleration rating of less than one G can only accelerate fractions of a hex each round (meaning their maneuvers are only effective once every couple of rounds).


• Movement: In the movement phase all ships move according to their movement vectors determined in the previous phase. Basically, place a placeholder counter on the ship's current location and move the ship to the vector counter location. Then take the vector counter and place it the same number of hexes away from the ship as the ship is from the placeholder along a straight line drawn from the placeholder to the ship. Spacecraft that pass close to objects with lots of mass, such as a planet or moon, will have their motion affected by the gravity of such objects. If a spacecraft's movement intersects with a planet, the ship may collide with the planet or land on the planet. If a ship (or missile) ends its movement in the same hex as another ship, it may attempt to ram the other ship.


• Direct Fire: Ships may fire beam or gun weapons at one another in this phase. All combat is simultaneous, so all attacks are resolved before any damage is applied. Each gunner must choose whether to shoot and who to shoot at in this phase. Each gunner can only shoot at a single target in a round. Each weapon only makes one attack roll in a round - weapons with a high rate of fire gain a bonus to their attack roll rather than multiple attacks. Gunners attack using their appropriate Gunner skill, with an attack roll scoring a number of hits equal to half the margin of success of the attack roll (rounding down, with a minimum of 1). Spacecraft with at least 0.1 G of acceleration may attempt to Dodge incoming fire. Ships attempting to ram other ships may not Dodge point defense fire. Once all attacks are calculated and applicable Dodge rolls made, all damage is applied to all ships that suffered hits.


• Collision and Point Defense: Ships attempting to ram other spacecraft do so in this round. Defending spacecraft may use point defense fire as a last resort, attempting to destroy an incoming "ramming" opponent. Attacks are made as normal for beam weapons in a point defense attack, but gain bonuses due to the close range. A single gunner may make multiple point defense attacks depending upon the rate of fire of his weapon. If both spacecraft are attempting to ram one another, the collision automatically happens. Otherwise, the pilots of the respective ships engage in a contest of Piloting skill (Gunner's piloting missiles use their Gunner skill for this contest). If the rammer loses or ties, it misses the target. otherwise, the collision happens. Ramming an asteroid, moon, or planet usually won't destroy the target, but can devastate an area.


• Launch/Docking: Ships can launch missiles and other craft in order from lowest to highest captain initiative (conduct a contest of Tactics skill among the commanders of the various ships to determine this initiative order, with the ships with the better results going after the ships with the worse results). Ships can also dock with other ships if they have matched courses and velocities. One of the two docking spacecraft must be able to maneuver, and the other must either cooperate or be crippled and unable to maneuver. Neither spacecraft may maneuver in the next combat round, and the docking maneuver isn't complete until the start of the next docking round. Docking can be performed more quickly, taking only a single docking phase to complete, but doing so requires a Piloting skill roll and the ships suffer collision damage if this skill roll fails. Docked spacecraft can maneuver while docked provided they continue to match courses and do no exceed 1 G in acceleration. Undocking requires only a single phase and does not restrict maneuvering. A ship can recover smaller craft into a spacedocking or vehicle bay using the same procedures as required to dock with another spacecraft.


• Damage Control: As the name of this phase implies, engineers on the various ships can attempt to repair damage to their spacecraft. An engineer can repair either hull damage, damage to a specific subassembly such as a turret or bay, or to a major subsystem such as the M-Drive or Power Plant. Such attempts require mechanic or Engineer rolls with penalties if the hull or subassembly is disabled. A chief engineer coordinating repairs can give other engineers a +1 to their skill rolls with a successful Leadership roll. The number of points of damage repaired are equal to the margin of success of the applicable engineer or mechanic rolls. Repair teams repair damage equal to the average margin of success multiplied by the number of members of the team. A critical success doubles the points of damage repaired, while a critical failure can cause injury to the engineers working on the system and additional damage to the ship. Repairs can be rushed, potentially restoring large numbers of hit points to the ship in a short time, but any failure is treated as a critical failure.

Small vessels often have a single crewman occupying multiple roles on a ship. If a crew member fills multiple roles during a space combat, he suffers -2 penalty to all skill checks for each extra task he is performing. Actions counted as a single task for purposes of space combat are: Piloting, firing a single weapon or set of linked weapons at a single target, controlling a missile or salvo of missiles, acting as a sensor operator, damage control, engaging in complex communications such as coordinating a squadron or tracking a signal, or operating a meson screen. For ships attempting to enter jump-space while in combat, Astrogation is counted as another task. If a ship has two or more crew members engaged in multiple tasks, it should have a commanding officer who does nothing but give orders who can make a Leadership roll; otherwise the crew will suffer an additional -1 to their skill checks.

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Third Imperium - First Imperium: The Vilani Empire

First Imperium: The Vilani Empire

In approximately -9200 Imperial, or 4800 B.C., a strain of humanity that had been settled on the planet Vland discovered the Jump drive. As the Ancients had been wiped out nearly two hundred thousand years prior, and the Droyne had apparently abandoned the use of Jump drive, this made the Vilani the only Jump capable civilization in the Orion Arm. Over the next several thousand years, the Vilani leveraged this technological edge to dominate their neighbors and carve out an empire that spanned hundreds of parsecs. Over the centuries, the Vilani discovered several other non-Vilani human civilizations, as well as non-human aliens such as the Vegans.

Initially, the Vilani sought to exert their influence over the civilizations they came into contact with via trade and economic muscle. However, as the races that the Vilani came into direct contact with explored beyond the reaches of Vilani influence, civilizations gained access to Vilani technology without being assimilated into Vilani culture. Starting in -5400 Imperial, or 900 B.C., the Vilani launched a series of conflicts now known as the Consolidation Wars. Over the next thousand years, the Vilani conquered and subjugated its neighbors to Vland's rule until there were no civilized states on its border.

In -4045, the Vilani formally established their holdings as an interstellar empire, which they referred to as the Ziru Sirka - the Grand Empire of the Stars. The First Imperium, as it is now known, controlled approximately 27 sectors of space, and incorporated somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 inhabited worlds. Control came at a cost. When the Consolidation Wars began, the Vilani ceased exploring and focused on claiming control over known space. Once the Consolidation Wars ended, the Vilani were confronted with the difficulty of administering a vast empire in which getting a message to the outlying regions could take a year or more.

The Vilani responded to the challenge of managing their interstellar empire by dividing their efforts and becoming more hidebound and conservative. The entire Ziru Sirka was divided into three administrative districts known as Bureaux, which managed their respective regions mostly autonomously from one another, subject only to supervision from the Emperor. Vilani culture also became quite inflexible, with a caste system dominating the lives of the citizenry. Throughout the existence of the Ziru Sirka, a citizen could expect to have their entire life determined by the circumstances of their birth. As one might expect, this rigid stratification of society resulted in stagnation. Not only did exploration cease, technological progress ground to a halt. It took the Vilani nearly three thousand years to go from Jump-1 drives to Jump-2 drives. After the Ziru Sirka came into being, even that slow pace of technological advancement ended.

With no enemies of note on its borders, the Ziru Sirka lasted for 1,200 years despite its obvious flaws. Meanwhile, things were stirring in the rest of the galaxy. In 900 B.C., the Zhodani discovered Jump drive technology. In 180 B.C., the Hivers did as well. The K'Kree unified their homeworld in roughly 200 A.D., and discovered Jump drive technology in about 375 A.D.

In 2087 A.D., or -2431 Imperial, the Solomani discovered the Jump drive, and within the next ten years, came into contact with the First Imperium. Within twenty years, the Solomani and Vilani were at war.

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Third Imperium - Major Races

Major Races

In the Third Imperium, the designation of a race as "major" is a relatively arbitrary distinction based upon a single well-defined criteria: Did the race in questions develop Jump drive technology on its own. If yes, the race is classified as a major race. Races that received Jump drive technology through contact with other interstellar civilizations or based upon the discovery of the artifacts left behind by another race are classified as minor races. There are currently eight acknowledged major races, three of which are strains of humaniti - the Solomani, the Vilani, and the Zhodani - and two of which - the Ancients and the Droyne - are only recognized as major races based on archaeological evidence.

Designation as a major race has no direct relationship to the power, influence, or importance of that race. Several "minor" races are important players in known space, while at least one major race is decidedly not. The Droyne are a major race, but they rarely make Jump capable ships, and have no discernible impact on galactic society or politics. On the other hand, achieving Jump drive technology before their neighbors has enabled several of the other major races to carve out extensive holdings and impose their will upon their less lucky neighbors.

The known major races are:

Ancients: Little is known of the Ancients due to the fact that they apparently died out two hundred thousand years ago, leaving behind little but a handful of enigmatic artifacts, but they are regarded as a major race. They are known to have moved vast numbers of humans and scattered them across the Orion Arm, and to have transplanted wolves from Earth to Lair. They are also known to have waged a millennia-long interstellar war that seems to have wiped them out. These events which could only have been accomplished with the aid of Jump drives, coupled with a handful of examples of Ancient technology that clearly show Jump capability, have led to the Ancients being classified as a major race.

Aslan: The Aslan are roughly human-sized bipedal carnivores descended from pouncing hunter stock. Their appearance is superficially reminiscent of lions from Earth, so the first humans to encounter them dubbed them the "Aslan", and the "lion-like" comparison has stuck ever since. They are not related to lions or any other Earth feline in any way. Aslan have a retractable dewclaw on their thumb which they can use as a weapon. Aslan females outnumber Aslan males by about three to one. The Aslan are organized into clans, which are dominated in almost all by the female members. Female Aslan control trade, commerce, industry, and every other aspect of Aslan society, leaving politics and warfare as the only professions available to male Aslan. Young male Aslan, called Ihatei, are expected to seek out and obtain land holdings to prove their worth, givin aslan society a permanent expansionist bent. Though the Aslan Hierate is dominated by the Aslan, they have ranged far beyond its borders, and many have become loyal Imperial citizens.

Droyne: The Droyne are only considered to be a major race as a result of archaeological discoveries showing that the race had Jump capable ships as far back as eight thousand years before the present day. Droyne society is divided into rigid castes, membership of which is determined in a Droyne's adolescence. Changes in diet and environment morph an individual Droyne into a form suitable for their caste, and Droyne of different castes can look very different. The six castes are: Drone, leader, sport, technician, warrior, and worker. Most Droyne are about three feet tall, but warrior and worker caste Droyne can be larger than the average human. Droyne are hairless and grey, with small wings and tails, making them look a bit like gargoyles. Other than the sport caste, most Droyne are unimaginative and uncreative. How a race like the Droyne discovered Jump drive technology is a mystery. Why they apparently gave up Jump drive technology ages ago is also a mystery. The Droyne are genetically identical to the Chirpers.

Hivers: Hivers are a non-humanoid six-fold radial symmetrical race that vaguely resemble starfish. They move about on five of their limbs which they use interchangeably as arms and legs, while the sixth limb has evolved into a "head". Hivers are extremely alien, and can be described as unsentimental, uncaring, and even callous. They simply drop their offspring off in the wilderness and any who survive their first five years become part of whatever Hiver settlement they then happen to wander into. Hivers are hermaphroditic, and have no particular courtship or bonding rituals - whenever two Hivers meet they "mate" by joining together one of their limbs which has evolved into their sexual organ. To preserve genetic diversity in their species, they occasionally send "ambassadors" around to the various worlds of the Hiver Federation to shake hands with other Hivers on multiple planets. The Hivers are mostly nonviolent, and have fought only one war, against the Two Thousand Worlds of the K'kree. The Hivers won, although the specifics of their victory are unclear. Hivers are mostly found in the Hiver Federation, but individual Hivers have traveled throughout known space.

K'kree: The K'ree are gregarious, hexopodal herbivores that walk on four legs and use their remaining two limbs as arms. They are nicknamed "centaurs", although they don't really look much like the classical conception of centaurs. They can also smell the meat on your breath and think the universe would be a better place if you and all your kind were wiped out. Descended from herd animals, the K'kree are both social and claustrophobic - a K'kree who is isolated from other of his kind or confined to a small space for any extended period of time will probably die. K'kree are rarely found outside of the Two Thousand Worlds because they generally don't travel in anything less than a large group, and that kind of travel is incredibly expensive. Any K'kree who would willingly choose to live by themselves among other races would be considered insane by his fellows.

Solomani: Humans from Old Terra. They achieved Jump drive technology quite late in galactic terms, but their energy and exuberance allowed them to confront and defeat the First Imperium, dominating the Second Imperium and migrating throughout known space. As the Solomani conquerors merged their holdings with the First Imperium in the process of creating the Ramshackle Empire, Solomani are found throughout the Third Imperium as well as the Solomani Confederation.

Vargr: Vargr are genetically modified wolves transplanted from Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago by the Ancients. They are chaotic, anarchic, and often violent. Though they have a fundamental pack mentality, they tend to reject authority, although this attitude is by no means universal. Most Vargr are found in the Vargr Extents, but large numbers of them emigrated to other regions, including the Third Imperium, where many have become loyal Imperial citizens.

Vilani: Vilani are humans transplanted to Vland by the Ancients hundreds of thousands of years ago. They were the first strain of humanity known to achieve Jump drive technology, and they carved out a huge interstellar empire known as the Vilani Empire or the First Imperium. Culturally, Vilani tend to be very conservative, and almost hidebound, but are otherwise very similar to humans from Earth.

Zhodani: The Zhodani are humans who the Ancients transplanted to the planet Zhdant hundreds of thousands of years ago. As Zhdant is a lighter gravity world than Earth, they are on average taller and thinner than either Solomani or Vilani. A notable percentage of Zhodani are psionically gifted, and Zhodani society has embraced psionics as a boon to their lives. The Zhodani Consulate is run by psionically capable individuals - psionic talent is a requirement to hold government office in the Consulate. Most Zhodani live within the Zhodani Consulate, but they do have friendly relations with several neighboring states and some of these humans have emigrated to the Vargr Extents or the Aslan Hierate. They are rarely found in the Third Imperium, as the Imperials are hostile to the use of psionics and will generally assume any Zhodani in their midst is using telepathy to spy upon them.

Each race will be more completely detailed, including its GURPS point value, in a linked description.

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Third Imperium - Ancients: The Mysterious Forerunners

Ancients: The Mysterious Forerunners

Very little is known about the race known to those within the Imperium only as the "Ancients", the "First", the "Forerunners", or the "Precursors". In fact, nothing of consequence is known about the race itself, as they left no known depictions of themselves, precious little in the way of written records, and a scant handful of artifacts scattered across hundreds of planets. Most of what is known has been gleaned from archaeological evidence found from a handful of surviving sites which are mostly subject to restricted access rules and open only to selected researchers. The remainder of what is "known" about the Ancients is conjecture and educated guesses extrapolating from the scanty actual information. The discovery of an Ancient site has been, on occasion, sufficient to place an entire world under Interdiction.

It is generally accepted that the Ancients first appeared as a spacefaring interstellar civilization between 400,000 and 300,000 years ago. The handful of surviving artifacts they left behind show them to be highly technologically advanced, surpassing current technological capabilities in many areas. Scholars believe that for reasons that are currently unknown, the Ancients took samples of early hominids and seeded them on planets throughout the Orion Arm, and possibly beyond. To date, the Imperium has found more than four dozen existing strains Humaniti, and archaeological evidence has been uncovered of at least a dozen more that died out prior to being contacted by any spacefaring race. Currently, general consensus is that the actual original home world of humaniti was Terra, a fact that the Solomani Confederation plays up in its propaganda as a means of promoting their claim to supremacy among human civilizations.

The Ancients also, once again for reasons unknown, are believed to have taken early canines from Terra and genetically modified them into the Vargr after seeding them on the planet now known as Lair. Genetic testing has confirmed that wolves and Vargr share a common ancestor, demonstrating this link. Why the Ancients chose to transport and modify canines and hominids and not any other species from Terra is a mystery. Why the Ancients chose to only transplant species from Terra is also a mystery. Some scholars have noted that just because humaniti and canines are the only two transplanted species that have been found by the civilizations in known space does not necessarily mean that there are not others, only that no one has found them.

It is sometimes difficult to determine what evidence shows the Ancients actually did as opposed to what they are credited with doing. Almost any unusual structure or odd circumstance will be attributed to the Ancients in some circles, whether there is actual evidence supporting this conclusion or not. The multi-world rosette in Tireen is generally acknowledged as the work of the ancients due to the discovery of Ancient artifacts on some of those worlds, but several other odd configurations of planets have been attributed to the Ancients with substantially less than convincing evidence. Similarly, any sophont or other form of life that has an unusual or unexplained attribute will find someone championing the notion that the Ancients are responsible for that attribute.

At some point between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, evidence suggests that the Ancients became involved in a war that lasted for several millennia. Whether the Ancients were fighting an as-yet unidentified second race or fell to fighting against one another is not known. What is known is that the Ancients were completely wiped out as a consequence of this war. Many scholars have conjectured that the war reshaped entire world, indeed, many existing asteroid belts throughout known space are believed to be the result of world-shattering weaponry used in this conflict. There is an entire cottage industry producing books theorizing that one or another planetary myth or legend is actually based upon some example of Ancient military technology. In some cases, this supposition is probably correct. The proposition that legends of vast, implacable, violent gods found in Vilani mythology are in fact the stories of Ancient warbots running long after their masters had disappeared has been buttressed by the discovery of several large pieces of Ancient machinery on Vland. Indeed, some scholars speculate that deconstructing Ancient technology helped the Vilani develop Jump drive technology as early as they did.

Despite more than ten thousand years of exploration and study, the Ancients remain almost as much of a mystery as they were when the Vilani first left Vland in sublight ships. Actual information about them is scant, leading to an annoyingly incomplete record of their existence that is coupled with speculation run rampant. Though their actions seem to have reached across the millennia to shape modern interstellar civilization, the Ancients remain a nigh-impenetrable enigma.

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Third Imperium - Calendars and Dating

Calendars and Dating

By default, Traveller renders dates using the Imperial calendar, which counts the official founding of the Third Imperium as the "zero" year. The Imperial calendar starts its count of years at year 0 instead of year 1 because when Cleon I announced the conversion of the Sylean Federation into the Third Imperium, he declared that year to be a "jubilee year". It is currently the year 1120 by Imperial reckoning.

There are several other widely used means of accounting for dates in the Traveller universe. The first is the Vilani calendar, which dates to the founding of the First Imperium. Year 1 on this calendar is the equivalent to 473 A.D. on the Solomani calendar and the year -3084 on the Imperial calendar. The Third Imperium was founded in the Vilani year 3084, and it is currently the year 3882 by Vilani reckoning. Note that these dates don't align perfectly with the other two calendars, due to the fact that the Vilani year at 446 standard days in length is longer both the Solomani year and the Sylean year.

Another notable non-Imperial means of recording years is the Solomani calendar, which is basically the modern Gregorian calendar. By Solomani dating conventions, the Third Imperium was founded in 4251 A.D., and it is currently the year 5641 A.D. While the use of Solomani dating is fairly rare in the Imperium, nationalistic political considerations means that its use is common in the Solomani Confederation. Once again, the year counts don't line up perfectly, due to differences in the lengths of the Vilani, Sylean, and Solomani years.

The Aslan use their own dating system, based on the orbital period of their homeworld Kusyu, which is about 320 standard days long. Their calendar dates to the selection of their first ruling council of 29 clan leaders in -2083 on the Imperial calendar. According to the Aslan calendar, it is currently the year 3645.

The Zhodani also have their own calendar, which dates back to the first Psionic Games in -6731 on the Imperial Calendar (alternatively 2209 B.C.), The Zhodani count by Olympiads, which are held once every three Zhodani years. Each Zhodani year is only 273 standard days long, and consequently each Olympiad is 819 days long. The Zhodani are currently in the 3741^st Olympiad.

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