To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #581: Msgs 7288-7303 
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #581: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 581  7288 14-Apr-1994 Jeff Zeitlin     72:02/7272 Avery and Stre << Subject: 7
 581  7289 16-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  alarm failure << Roger "StarWolf" Myhre
 581  7290 16-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  stations << richard@agora.rain.com
 581  7291 16-Apr-1994 muskrat500@aol.  Zine info << Does anybody know if the I
 581  7292 17-Apr-1994 Roger Myhre      Alarm failure             << Roger "Sta
 581  7293 16-Apr-1994 Leonard Erickso  FTP <<  
 581  7294 17-Apr-1994 "Susan M. Shock  A Strange Request << I bought the boxed
 581  7295 17-Apr-1994 John Bucsek      Starport details << richard@agora.rain.
 581  7296 17-Apr-1994 Barbara Trumpin  Re: TML nightly: Msgs 7292-7294 V72#6 <
 581  7297 18-Apr-1994 Ray_Pullar       Re: Starports << > Also what about the 
 581  7298 18-Apr-1994 James T Perkins  Re: FTP  << Check your spelling.  ftp.e
 581  7299 18-Apr-1994 TML Administrat  Re: TML FAQ? << Curtiss Cicco <1CMC3466
 581  7300 18-Apr-1994 Mark Fletcher    HELP! << I tell me if there was designs
 581  7301 19-Apr-1994 David Johnson -  Re: Bridge Crew << My memory of CT star
 581  7302 19-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     joke <<  
 581  7303 19-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     Regency timeline? <<  

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7288
Subject: 72:02/7272 Avery and Stre
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (Jeff Zeitlin)
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 94 20:52:00 -0500

Subject: 72:02/7272 Avery and Strephon

TS::>>    Actually, ghettoization is probably the wrong word.  What I'm
  ::>>    thinking of is the planet that becomes a "banana republic" - its
  ::>>    only source of foreign (interstellar) exchange becomes raw
  ::>>    materials that high-tech cultures need but will not pay high
  ::>>    prices for.

TS::>Okay, but didn't this exist in the Imperium too?  How is this different
  ::>in TNE?

  It probably did, but when you have several hundred years in which
  to work, it's likely that a number of planets will have "grown"
  out of the condition.  But that was with an empire that expanded
  _without_ stripping worlds of technology.  If a world is taken by
  the RC and sucks up the remnant tech to support the needs of
  "integrated" worlds, it's going to be that much harder for the
  planet so stripped to recover.  Worse, it is entirely likely that
  any assistance that the RC gives such a planet later on will be
  deliberately focussive in its effects, so that the planet can
  realize its "maximum productivity."  It's a completely different
  attitude than the official materials imply that any of the three
  prior empires had.

TS::>>    OK, I finally have it straight, once and for all.  It's NOT in
  ::>>    AV.  It's NOT in TNE itself.  It _IS_ in Survival Margin.

TS::>[FACT ALERT: I don't have *SV* either!  But if anybody's got a *used*
  ::>copy . . . . :-) ]

TS::>>    On P30, Strephon effectively makes his decision to abdicate by
  ::>>    choosing not to cooperate with IRIS.  That this is his attitude,
  ::>>    rather than it being beneath his dignity, is confirmed by the
  ::>>    statement that IRIS will "get me out of this" and by (P31) his
  ::>>    apparent happiness at his claim being disallowed.  So we know
  ::>>    that Strephon has abdicated.

TS::>We learned this in *AV* too.  We're told that Strephon refused to
  ::>cooperate with IRIS because he was distraught by the violence and
  ::>suffering that resulted from his reappearance in Gushemege.

TS::>>    to Norris on P51, where he sends Avery "with them" [the AV],

TS::>So Avery appears in *SV* too?  Do we learn anything more about him
  ::>there?

  No, he's just as much of an enigma.

TS::>>    Strephon confirms Norris's assumption of the title of
  ::>>    Archduke, gives him Jumpstart, and warns him about Longbow.  He
  ::>>    also makes it clear that Norris is the only one left to carry on
  ::>>    the traditions of the Imperium.  Recall also the Domain's last
  ::>>    words to the interstellar communications network: "We keep the
  ::>>    flame".  Though veiled, this can be taken as a reference that
  ::>>    they _know_ that they have the only rightful claim to the mantle
  ::>>    of the 3I.

TS::>Here's an interesting question: does Strephon have this authority?
  ::>Also, we (the `real' us) are told that Strephon is genuine but the informa
  ::>in *AV*, including the ref's info, suggests the PCs, and therefore
  ::>Norris and the rest of the Domain, are less certain.  Does *SV* shed any
  ::>light to confirm to Norris that Strephon is genuine?  What good is this
  ::>`claim to the mantle of the Imperium' if Strephon's identity remains
  ::>suspect?

  But Strephon's identity is _not_ seriously suspect, as far as the
  dip team from AV is concerned.  There's that look that only a
  certain kind of ruler can have, and the Strephon that they meet
  has that look.  Certainly, outside of Gushemege, the other
  factions don't believe it.  But his own faction does believe it,
  and Norris believes it based on the report from the AV.  Norris
  even writes a letter acknowledging Strephon's communication.

  But even if you don't accept that line of reasoning, if it
  pleases "Strephon" to make like he is granting permission for
  Norris to do what he has done anyway, and will not undo, what's
  the harm?  And my statement about the Regency "knowing" that they
  still have the only rightful claim can be justified on a "moral"
  basis:  They alone have remained loyal to the concept of a United
  Imperium, with all that that implies.

TS::>>    Recall, however, that after a much
  ::>>    shorter period, a previous regent (during the Civil War (in the
  ::>>    600s)) took the thrown as Regent, rather than Emperor, until she
  ::>>    was asked, by the Moot, to take the title as well as the
  ::>>    authority.

TS::>This suggests that Strephon *didn't* have the authority to `pass the crown
  ::>on to Norris.  In order to become Emperor, he or his descendant would have
  ::>to be `confirmed' by the Moot - or ignore them like Lucan did.  Of course
  ::>if the only Imperial aristocracy to survive is in the Regency then this
  ::>issue of Moot approval may become moot.  ;-)

  This gets a little foggy.  As Strephon is still alive, no 
  succession need take place at this point, and the other factions 
  are now fighting over which one will win at coup d'etat.  Thus, 
  Strephon does have the right to abdicate and name who he prefers 
  as his successor.  Since this would be an "ordinary" succession, 
  the Moot will need to meet and confirm the choice, but even 
  before that meeting occurs, the heir to the throne wields the 
  power.  Technically, one could say that he is his own regent.  In 
  the case of Norris, he knows the law, and prefers to abide by its 
  spirit.  Norris is de facto the Emperor of the Third Imperium, 
  but he cannot take that title until a Moot convenes and confirms 
  it.  To comply with the spirit of the law, Norris should not 
  explicitly convene the Moot for the purpose of his confirmation; 
  rather, he should wait for the high nobles of the Imperium (who 
  make up the Moot) to come to the conclusion that a meeting of 
  the Moot is necessary, and then to meet to elect an Emperor.  If 
  this doesn't happen in Norris's lifetime, so be it; Norris will 
  remain Regent, and pass the Regency on to whom he thinks best 
  (Avery?  His true-daughter Seldrian?  His seneschal?).  What is 
  important to Norris is not the title, or the personal power, but 
  the way that the power is used, and the results that it 
  engenders.  I have no doubt that, if Norris felt that his mere 
  presence as Imperial ruler was doing more harm than good, he 
  would step down without hesitation.

TS::>> It is not unreasonable to assume that the same will
  ::>>    happen with Norris or his successor, or possibly Avery or one of
  ::>>    his descendants.

TS::>I agree, but what does this say about the eventual fate of the new
  ::>Democrats in the Regency?

  What was the eventual fate of the new Democrats in the British 
  Empire?  Perhaps the Iridium Throne will become the Presidential 
  Chair.  Perhaps even the democrats will realize that when you are 
  governing thousands of worlds, it's simply not practical to have 
  democracy at the highest levels.  You need to make decisions, and 
  to have someone with the authority to do so.  You can't wait for 
  1,000 or 5,000 or 10,000 worlds to vote on the matter and get 
  back to you; you'd face perpetual governmental paralysis.  When 
  you're talking about waiting a month or two for feedback on 
  important, but not time-critical, decisions, Democracy is OK.  
  But when it gets to the point where you must wait the better part 
  of a year, more and more decisions need to be made too rapidly to 
  allow for feedback - even with a Jump-6 network.  At that point, 
  a non-democratic structure is the only one that works.  A similar 
  argument can be made for the inherited position - how long can 
  you afford to wait for the people to make a conclusive decision?  
  When your empire gets too large to allow for this, you need a 
  simple, clear, automatic method of replacement.  Thus, 
  inheritance.  Thus, monarchy.

TS::>> TML::>The fact that the `Rape
  ::>>    ::>Trin' became wide-spread pubic knowledge
  ::>>    ::>mean that it served Norris's purposes somehow.
  ::>>
  ::>>    Not necessarily.  News that is not in the Government's best
  ::>>    interests _will_ get out somehow.  And it will spread by the
  ::>>    fastest available route.  Remember a break-in at a major
  ::>>    Washington, DC, hotel, around about 1974?

TS::>Hmmm, this might be a decidely `American' view about press freedoms.  Any 
  ::>our British friends care to interject a few words about the "Official
  ::>Secrets Act"?  Watergate is a poor example because powerful political
  ::>interests (Democrats) existed who benefited greatly from the disclosure.
  ::>I can't imagine the Isolationists being that powerful in a multi-bloc
  ::>Regency, unless *Norris* wanted them to be.

  Can you really seriously believe that you could suppress the news 
  of the destruction of even a small city on all of over 1,000 
  worlds?  If it doesn't spread through the official press, it will 
  spread through the grapevine.  Which is worse.  You'll get such 
  outrageous stories that you'll _have_ to come forward with an 
  official statement, if only to quash the more harmful rumors.

  As to the UKOSA, I point out that SpyCatcher was published in 
  most of the rest of the world, where the UKOSA couldn't reach.  
  Despite it's autocratic governmental form, the Imperium is more 
  of a Federal structure than anything else.  Individual planets 
  have a great deal of autonomy, and there is freedom of travel for 
  those who have the money.  To actually implement an OSA in the 
  Regency, one would have to _tightly_ control not only the X-boat 
  network, but all of the commercial passenger ships and tramp 
  freighters as well.  Because people _do_ talk.  We would be 
  talking about internal controls on traffic as tight as the 
  interface controls, and that still won't prevent people from 
  talking.  Similarly with UKOSA: It doesn't really stop me from 
  meeting an American friend and talking to him, then he goes back 
  home and writes a book, carefully fogging information that could 
  identify me.  The info is out, despite OSA.  Ooops!

TS::>And keep this in mind.  If *news* of a Virus assault on Trin (or Gram?)
  ::>got off-world (or out-system, at least) then the *Virus* might have as wel
  ::>That's a good enough reason to keep the news under wraps in and of itself.
  ::>So I maintain, if the news broke, it served Norris's interests.

  Not necessarily.  Remember, Regency ship-to-ship contact 
  procedures are designed specifically to restrict the ability of 
  Virus to spread.  And since Virus doesn't spread through human 
  beings, there's nothing stopping the news from spreading by way 
  of people doing spacewalks from one ship to another, after 
  establishing communications by opening up airlocks and waving 
  flags at each other.  Plus, there's lots of low-tech stuff that's 
  still useful for communication, and can't be infected: How do you 
  infect a ball-point pen with Virus? or a piece of paper?

  Information was tightly controlled in the Soviet Union.  That 
  didn't (most emphatically it didn't) stop underground networks 
  from forming and passing the news on through channels that the 
  government _couldn't_ control.

TS::>>    No, not really more powerful.  The primary evolution of Virus
  ::>>    was toward a non-suicidal, and non-homicidal form - because it
  ::>>    is more conducive to spreading Virus, i.e., survival.  This
  ::>>    evolution was facilitated by the ability of many substrains and
  ::>>    strains to interact with each other.  But this kind of
  ::>>    interaction is slowed down when you have a situation in which
  ::>>    the spread of Virus is slowed down.  Thus, strains of Virus
  ::>>    approaching the protected states through the Vargr Extents will
  ::>>    tend to be earlier strains, and therefore more dangerous ones.

TS::>If you meant to write ". . . this kind of interaction *increases* (rather
  ::>than *is slowed down*) when you have a situation in which the spread of
  ::>Virus is slowed down" then I get your point.  Sorry I'm so dense.  :-)

  No, I meant what I wrote.  When you restrict the ability of Virus 
  to spread, the various strains do not have as much opportunity to 
  interact and modify each other.  Thus, less change in Virus.  
  Thus, the survival of more dangerous homicidal strains, as there 
  is less competition from "smarter" versions.

TS::>>    I refer you to the outcome of the Civil War of the 600s.
  ::>>    History _does_ tend to repeat itself.

TS::>Maybe, but Arbellatra was the `one, true choice' that was so missing in
  ::>the Rebellion.  Norris isn't if any other factional power manages to
  ::>survive the Collapse.  *We* know none have (with the possible exception
  ::>of whatever's behind the Black Curtain) but *Norris* doesn't - at least
  ::>not yet.

TS::>>    Can _anyone_ descended from
  ::>>    _any_ factional leader, no matter how "good" his/her lineage,
  ::>>    and how pure his/her motives, establish a _morally_ justifiable
  ::>>    claim to the Iridium Throne?

TS::>Certainly.  Lucan would have enjoyed universal support if he hadn't been
  ::>implicated in the death of Varian.  (That's why Dulinor tried to have him
  ::>killed).  The Imperium doesn't have the `Klingon' tradition of offspring
  ::>bearing the burdens of the crimes of the parents so any `kinder, gentler'
  ::>descendant of Lucan might enjoy widespread support.  An usurper in Illelis
  ::>might gain support if she managed to topple Dulinor - even in Illelish -
  ::>once Dulinor went completely off the deep end into religious fanaticism.
  ::>(Convenient how GDW played that, isn't it?)  Margaret might have done it
  ::>in the Rebellion if she hadn't turned out to be a bigot.  (More convenienc
  ::>A `kinder, gentler' descendant of hers would have advantages similar to
  ::>Lucan's heirs.  Likewise `regencies' in Antares or Daibei might offer
  ::>claims nearly as valid as Norris's and would enjoy similar levels of
  ::>support in their cores had they managed to survive the onslaught of Virus.

  Wait a minute: Dulinor immediately discounted both Varian and 
  Lucan when he killed "Strephon".  Recall that he claimed the IT 
  by right of assassination.  That already means that there's no 
  clear choice; you have two factions: Ilelish and Core.  If Varian 
  had not been killed, the choice still isn't clear:  Varian is the 
  heir apparent, but there is precedent for ascension by Right of 
  Assassination.  In such a case, what's the right answer?  The 
  last time RoA was invoked, the deceased Emperor had no issue.

  But this is mostly beside the point.  Except for Deneb, _every_ 
  faction was directly involved in the war for the IT.  Except for 
  Deneb, _none_ of the factions was willing to see anyone but their 
  choice on the IT.  I view that as the reason why (a) Norris 
  didn't try for the throne himself, and (b) why he withheld his 
  support from _all_ of the other factions.  In light of this 
  selfishness, and the following isolation, can you be _sure_ that 
  any descendent of any of the factional leaders is truly operating 
  from good motives, and not from a tradition of family hatred that 
  says that the other factions took away what was rightfully 
  theirs?

  Also, both the Ziru Sirkaa and the Federation of Antares 
  publically seceded from the Imperium.  Under such circumstances, 
  can any descendent of their leaders assert a legitimate claim to 
  the IT?

TS::>>  I suspect that when/if this
  ::>>    situation arises, and push comes to shove, that the people of
  ::>>    the Regency will stand behind the Regent, rather than the
  ::>>    Pretender.  At that time, when the _people_ realize that the
  ::>>    Regent is in fact the Emperor, the Regent will "reluctantly
  ::>>    accept the summons to the Iridium Throne."

TS::>Despite my points above, I'm convinced you've divined where GDW is headed.

  (sheepish grin) well, it _was_ kind of obvious in the released 
  material, wasn't it?
==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
 ~ QMPro 1.52 ~ "Bones, it's Ensign FullaPb." "He's lead, Jim!"

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7289
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 94 14:01:15 EDT
Subject: alarm failure

Roger "StarWolf" Myhre writes:
>The chances of hitting something out there that would seriously harm the
ship
>is virtualy nil. And most sensors are good enough to pick up something that
>will. And thus the sensors and the controls can be rigged to alarm units
that
>will wake up the pilot.

Of course such things have been known to malfunction . . .
 from time to time.                 Oh dear.

Flying along and with no warning a shuddering CRUNCH reverberates throughout
the ship.  After picking themselves off the deck (assumming g-controls
haven't
failed the crew eventually arrives at the bridge to discovered they have mede
a high-velocity landing with a fair-sized piece of debris.  Could be an
interesting start to an adventure :)  Thanks for the idea!

PBJuzyk

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7290
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 94 14:02:50 EDT
Subject: stations

richard@agora.rain.com

>Next -- Starports.  Don't get me started.  Nothing (IMHO) in all of the
>T/MT/TNE domain is more in need of development work.

I heartily agree (Loren are you tuned in?)- an entire sourcebook or at
least half of one could be of use, possibly with the other portion
devoted to ships w. deckplans similar to the Traders & Gunboats CT
supplement.

>Please tell me which world you want.

My requests:  services available, locations, contact methods and
persons, landing and parking fees, fuels availability, local attractions
for
jump points   high ports  low ports   air ports   asteroid clusters and
claims

There never seemed to be much if any discussion in Traveller WRT space
stations.  Locate one at a jump point and considerable effort is saved,
especially for hub systems typically only used to facilitate travel
(such as Spires, Kruyter, and Phoebus in the RC.  This will of course
detract from such a systems economy - no stopovers by passing ships,
crews, and passengers.

Also what about the construction of a station in the middel of an empty
sector to provide a refueling point for long distances.  If many systems
are at a Jump-4 distance such a station placed halfway would allow Jump-
2 ships to make the journey.  The station would need to be regularly
supply by tanker ships and their fuel prices would be greatly inflated.

>What I haven't figured out yet, is if I want to do this for on-screen
>delivery or on-paper delivery.  Please let me know.

Depends on how length it is - I handicap myself w. a 2400 baud modem :(

====

Cynthia wrote:

> Ask the people living near the border (or well within it) how they
feel >about continual hit-and-run guerilla-style raids.

Sounds like a Viking SAG mission.  As a variant players could play Vargr
and run a SAG mission.  But yes - I agree w. Cynthia in that it would be
more than a minor nuissance to the Regency.  I also feel that at some
point factors of the Regency must move outward to expand the economy.


------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7291
From: muskrat500@aol.com
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 94 14:36:17 EDT
Subject: Zine info

Does anybody know if the Imperial News Service 'zine, dedicated to Classic
Traveller, is still out there? Thanks.
    John K

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7292
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 09:32:50 +0200
From: Roger Myhre <myhre@oslonett.no>
Subject: Alarm failure            

Roger "StarWolf" Myhre writes:
>>The chances of hitting something out there that would seriously harm
>>the ship is virtualy nil. And most sensors are good enough to pick up
>>something that will. And thus the sensors and the controls can be
>>rigged to alarm units that will wake up the pilot.

From: psualum@aol.com writes:
>Of course such things have been known to malfunction . . .
> from time to time.                 Oh dear.

>Flying along and with no warning a shuddering CRUNCH reverberates
>throughthe ship.  After picking themselves off the deck (assumming
>g-controls haven't failed the crew eventually arrives at the bridge to
>discovered they have a high-velocity landing with a fair-sized piece
>of debris.  Could be an interesting start to an adventure :)
>Thanks for the idea!

You are welcome :)


Roger "StarWolf" Myhre
                                                         

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7293
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 94 22:35:29 PST
From: Leonard.Erickson@f51.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: FTP

 
I finally have access to ftp. I'd like to go fetch some things from the
various traveller archives, but the only references I've seen are to
"ftp.engr.uwo.ca" which gets me an "unknown host" response, and
"sunbane" which isn't sufficient.

Help!
- --  
uucp: uunet!m2xenix!puddle!51!Leonard.Erickson
Internet: Leonard.Erickson@f51.n105.z1.fidonet.org

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7294
Date:         Sun, 17 Apr 94 14:49:29 EDT
From: "Susan M. Shock" <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      A Strange Request

I bought the boxed Classic Traveller modules TARSUS and BELTSTRIKE used at
a gaming store awhile back. The previous owner had combined all the character
cards from both games into one box. Could someone tell me which characters go
with which modules? Thanks!
                            Allen

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7295
From: bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek)
Subject: Starport details
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 21:23:35 EST


richard@agora.rain.com and psealum@aol.com briefly mention starports (again).
 
Fortunatly for all of us there is a nice article on generating traffic and
facilities codes for starports that is for use with all variants of traveller.
It appears in The Traveller Chronicle Issue #4 (available now).  
 
For example an A class starport can build starships. But how good are those
facilities? How much traffic can you expect there.  The article gives guides
on how to "roll up" the codes and gives suggestions on how to interpert them
based on what era your game is in.
 
I hope this was of help to someone out there <g>
 
John Bucsek             bucsek@oo.com


------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7296
From: Barbara Trumpinski <trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: TML nightly: Msgs 7292-7294 V72#6
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 21:16:16 -0500 (CDT)

please unsubscribe (trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)


------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7297
From: Ray_Pullar <csh019@cch.coventry.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Starports
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 94 12:47:53 WET DST


> Also what about the construction of a station in the middel of an empty
> sector to provide a refueling point for long distances.  If many systems
> are at a Jump-4 distance such a station placed halfway would allow Jump-
> 2 ships to make the journey.  The station would need to be regularly
> supply by tanker ships and their fuel prices would be greatly inflated.
> 

This exemplifies one of Traveller's basic assumptions: that an interstellar
society would only be interested in the worlds oribiting stars and not in
the space that lies between them.  I think it indicates how a choice of
notation (the hex based star maps) can affect the development of a design.
By having a world-based generation system rather than a star based 
generation system the designer of Traveller made a blunder of cosmic
proportions (pun intended).  In the SF genre this was a common assumption
as well (up until the late 1960s).  It was believed that all colonisation
would be of worlds not of space itself.  O'Neill's work on orbital colonies
led to a new viewpoint.  An interstellar civilisation might actually prefer
to live in space stations rather than on the surface of a world.  For a
start, there's a lot more energy (in the form of solar radiation) available
to it.  And many industrial processes would benefit from zero-g conditions.
Plus, there's plenty of room to expand.

Of course, one of the reasons for prefering space colony life (the cost
of transporting people and goods out of a gravity well) disappears when
you have cheap anti-grav.  But even so, you'd expect a lot more space-based
colonies than Traveller depicts.

Not that this is a problem for the New Era:  the Virus got them.


Jeff Zeitlin comments:
>   When your empire gets too large to allow for this, you need a 
>   simple, clear, automatic method of replacement.  Thus, 
>   inheritance.  Thus, monarchy.
> 

The people of the Regency might not be too keen on this.  After all, look
what happened the last time someone had to decide who got to inherit the
Throne.  Perhaps voting is the easier option after all.  It may be slow,
but what the hell are you in a hurry for?  With a large Empire the
ability of the central government to make decisions that actually matter
(rather than just rubber stamping those made by government agencies) is
extremely limited.  What did Strephon actually do as Emperor?  Until
the Rebellion he hardly figured at all in the lives of most citizens of
the Imperium.  He was just a figurehead, a symbol.  The day to day
running of the Imperium (and any large government) is in the hands of
its' civil servants.  And no-one elects them.  Nor do they inherit their
positions (although there's some doubt about that).

The discussion about the legitimacy of the Regent's claim to the throne
is beginning to resemble Imperial Law 101.  Putting on my Machiavellian
hat, I'd propose that all this stuff about legitimacy doesn't matter one
whit if you've got the power to enforce your will on the population.
Legitimacy is just sugar to make the pill go down a bit easier.  As an
example, the legitimacy of the Third Imperium to call itself the Third
Imperium has always struck me as a brilliant piece of manipulation on
the part of Cleon Zhunastu.  His claim that the Sylean Federation was
somehow the heir to the Second (and by implication First) Imperium
just because one of the last claimants to the Throne happened to live
on Sylea a thousand years ago is like Balastroni in Italy today claiming
to be the Roman Emperor and the legitimate ruler of all of Rome's former
territory in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.  He can claim all
he likes, but that doesn't mean that anyone will bow down before him.
Calling the Third Imperium the Third Imperium was simply an attempt to
convince the rest of the interstellar population emerging from the Long
Night that the Sylean Federation somehow had a right to rule them.
Undoubtedly this claim would have been meaningless except for Sylea's
economic and military strength (in other word's the rest of the
interstellar community didn't have much option).

Another example: the Right of Succession by Assassination seems to me to
have been invented by the Imperial Moot as an expedient measure when
faced with a powerful pretender to the Throne who they couldn't stop.
If some bozo turned up at the Capital with a huge fleet
of warships, killed the Emperor and then declared himself/herself the
new Emperor what was the Moot going to do?  Yup, legitimate the new
Emperor by declaring a "Right of Succession by Assassination" clause in
Imperial Law.  This was a convenient way for the members of the Moot
to avoid being killed themselves.

Quite why Norris has continued to call himself Regent for the 70 years
following the events of Arrival Vengeance I don't understand.  Is he
waiting for a legitimate heir to appear?  From where, exactly?  Since
the AV crew met the real Strephon and Norris believed him to be the
real Strephon and the real Strephon bequeathed the Throne to Norris
(for what it was worth, Strephon may have been ruler on paper but
by that point he certainly wasn't ruler in fact) then Norris (on paper)
is the Emperor and so is whovever he decides to pass the title on to.
Whether anyone else outside the Regency will accept this is moot.  But
then, they didn't accept it at the time of the Rebellion (hence the
Rebellion).  Personally, I think that all this debate about legitimacy
is a waste of time and bandwidth:  we're rehashing  a problem that couldn't
be resolved 70 years ago.  I don't think that it can be solved now either.
 

Ray Pullar



------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7298
Subject: Re: FTP 
Reply-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Administrator)
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 94 09:17:16 PDT
From: James T Perkins <jamesp@sp-eug.com>


Check your spelling.  ftp.engrg.uwo.ca, known numerically as
129.100.100.12.  Directory is /pub/traveller.

Other ftp sites of interest (from the How-to-get-archives document, this
is getting old and crufty and I haven't checked the sites in a long
time) are as follows:

	Host name:		f104.n170.z1.fidonet.org
				FidoNet node 1:170/104.0
	USA phone number:	(918)834-3516
	Available times:	0400-1700 2300-0300 hours CST
	Site administrator:	chuck.mcknight@f104.n170.z1.fidonet.org
				(Chuck McKnight)

	Host name:		ocf.berkeley.edu
	IP Address:		128.32.184.254
	Directory:		pub/games/traveller
	Site administrator:	steveh@ocf.berkeley.edu (Steve Huntsberry)

	Host name:		akbar.cse.nau.edu
	IP Address:		134.114.64.8
	Directory:		fixes,misc,gm
	Site administrator:	wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Bill Wilson)

	Host name:		potemkin.cs.pdx.edu
	IP Address:		131.252.20.145
	Directory:		pub/frp/src/name
	Files:			name2.c
	Site administrator:	bfwong@ocf.berkeley.edu (Raven Blackburn)

	Host name:		watnxt3.ucr.edu
	IP Address:		192.31.146.125
	Directory:		pub/ucrgg
	Files:			thist*,tmap*,tyber*
	Site administrator:	plowe@qubert.ucr.edu (Paul Lowe)
	Creator of materials:	jimv@ucrmath.ucr.edu (Jim Vassilakos)

	Host name (ftp):	ftp.maths.tcd.ie
	IP address (ftp):	134.226.81.10
	Mail server address:	info-server@maths.tcd.ie
	Directory:		jaymin/trav
	Files:			libdist.zip, or
				library.exe, library.doc, core.asc, egavga.bgi
	Creator of materials:	jaymin@maths.tcd.ie (Jo Jaquinta)

	Host name (ftp):	ghost.cc.missouri.edu
	IP address (ftp):	128.206.200.32
	Directory:		/PUB/Traveller
	Files:			Unofficial Library data & some TNE files
	Creator of materials:	GDW, DGP, and others, and provided here by
				ccjoe@mizzou1.missouri.edu (Joe Heck)

James Perkins

__   __/         /   /	    Internet Traveller Mailing List, Administrator
    /     /  /  /   /	   James T. Perkins in Eugene, Oregon, USA
 __/   __/__/__/ _____/   traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7299
Subject: Re: TML FAQ?
Reply-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Administrator)
From: TML Administrator <traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca>
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 94 09:18:20 PDT


Curtiss Cicco <1CMC3466@ibm.MtSAC.edu> writes:
> Is there a FAQ available for this mailing list?

Just the Orientation and How-to-get-archives documents that all new
listees get. What's your question?

James

__   __/         /   /	    Internet Traveller Mailing List, Administrator
    /     /  /  /   /	   James T. Perkins in Eugene, Oregon, USA
 __/   __/__/__/ _____/   traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7300
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 22:10:11 +0100 (BST)
From: Mark Fletcher <mf1@st-andrews.ac.uk>
Subject: HELP!


I tell me if there was designs available for Zhodani Vessels, or even 
Solomani vessels. Also what are the names of all the subsectors in the 
Solomani Rim sector?


_______________________________________________________________________________
   "Everything you know is wrong; watch more TV"     |   Mark Fletcher:     |
     U2, Zooropa 1993.				     |    mf1@st-and.ac.uk  |	
_______________________________________________________________________________



------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7301
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 94 11:36 BST-1
From: David Johnson - CIX Staff <djohnson@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Bridge Crew
Reply-To: djohnson@cix.compulink.co.uk


My memory of CT starship building was that if you got a computer
model (n)vis (replace n with computer number), and the end with the
correct abbrev. (One was to do with protection for nucluar attack),
Then you could reduce the number of crew required by one (to a
mimimun of 1), due to the cleverness of the computer.

In these days of the "virus" and the mistrust of computers, I would
think that even the Scout ships these days would have two crew, one
to fly the ship on the other other to make sure that the computer is
really telling the truth ;-)

Dave
- --
djohnson@cix.compulink.co.uk (David Johnson - CIX Staff)
   using the CIX 'rentasig' facility
How's it going in those MODULAR LOVE UNITS??

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7302
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 05:32:03 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: joke

 
 
 
 
(From a newspaper caricature I saw years ago:)
 
The Arms Race:
 
    U.S.:  "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    Russia: "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    China: "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    Britain: "I say, we have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    France: "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    Germany: "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    Israel: "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    India: "We have the bomb, but we won't use it."
 
    Terrorist:  "We don't have the bomb..."
 
          YY   YY   EEEEE   TTTTTTT
           YY YY    E          T
             Y      EEEE       T
             Y      E          T
             Y      EEEEE      T
 
 
 
Just a pleasant thought,
Rodge

------------------------------

Bundle: 581
Archive-Message-Number: 7303
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 05:35:38 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: Regency timeline?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What would the Timeline/History of the Regency be from the
Rebellion Era (circa 1120) to the New Era?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #582: Msgs 7304-7311 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Wed Apr 20 22:00:03 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #582: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 582  7304 19-Apr-1994 "Britta B. Damw  K'Kree in TNE << KFC:  The K'kreer Free
 582  7305 19-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Re: Orbital Arcologies, OSA, Regency <<
 582  7306 19-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Why Regency, not Imperium. << I thought
 582  7307 19-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  RCES Scenarion <<  The following advent
 582  7308 19-Apr-1994 Steven Gott      Sol Rim Subsectors: << A Ultima
 582  7309 19-Apr-1994 J Roberson       Deep Space Refueling << I always though
 582  7310 20-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Charted Space Info << I just FTP'd thre
 582  7311 20-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     Traveller hypernets, cont... <<  

------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7304
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 08:37:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Britta B. Damwitz   " <bdamwitz@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: K'Kree in TNE

KFC:  The K'kreer Freedom Coalition.

Some folks have asked what the K'kree might be up to in The New
Era.  Here's my idea.  I don't own Path of Tears, so I don't know
the RC time line very well, but this'll get the idea across in a
nutshell.

The Hive Confederation fell to the Virus in the 1130s.  The K'Kree
2000 worlds fell soon afterward, but their destruction was more
swift.  The Hivers were more capable of resistence against the
Virus than the less electronically adept K'Kree.

K'Kree electronics and robotics was far behind the Hivers and The
Imperium.  At their height, the best K'Kree robots were TL13.
Oddly, their starships were totally dependent on robotics.  All
K'Kree ships had robotic engineering crews just ripe for the Virus.
As such, the TL 16 Virus swept through the TL 13 K'Kree fleets like
wildfire.

Further, as the 2000 Worlds of the K'Kree empire were farther from
the site of release of the Virus, a greater proportion of the more
advanced breeds of the Virus struck the K'Kree.  Also, as the
K'Kree ships did have robotic engineers, the K'Kree vampire ships
are now in far better shape than the vampires than Imperial ships
where robots were more rare and so have less access to
maintainence.  (Just where have all the Imperial Vampires gotten
their annual maintenance done for the last 70 years?)

The K'Kree worlds are full of Vampire fleets.  It is an incredibly
dangerous place to go.

The main worlds are in ruins.  However, K'Kree claustrophobia paid
off handsomely for the Militant Vegitarian Centaurs.  Nearly all of
their high population worlds were habitable without special life
support.  Few K'Kree would settle on a world were they could not
roam freely on the plains.  Indeed, any K'Kree who did settle in
shelters on inhospitable worlds was looked at as something of a
weirdo.  Many of these worlds have survived despite the Vampire
ships raging overhead.  Their technology has been blasted back to
the stone age in most cases, however, K'Kree with their out doors
culture and vegitarian appetites are in some ways better suited for
this than other species.

Still, this was the chance their ancient enemies had been waiting
for for centuries.

The Hivers, when they recovered from their fall, saw their chance.
The K'Kree are now utterly powerless.  Immediately, the Hivers
dusted off their old manipulation-invasion plans, and took aim at
the K'Kree culture!

Traveller Historians may recall the first Hiver-K'Kree war.  The
aggressive and militarily superior K'Kree backed off when the
Hivers unveiled their secret manipulations of a few of their
worlds.  Hiver Master Manipulators had socially engineered events
to make a few K'Kree planets turn away from the monolithic backbone
of K'Kree culture.  K'Kree were actually using *MEAT* to sauce
their vegitables!  K'Kree were going into isolation for
*RECREATION*.  These abominations against the K'Kree frightened
them so that they immediately sued for peace when the Hivers
threatened to launch their manipulation across the whole of the
K'Kree 2000 worlds!  The K'Kree quietly nuked some of their own
planets to stop the abomination.

The Hivers have now contacted a few K'Kree worlds and have
manipulated their culture to conform with the ideals of the old
Hiver Confederation.  However, you don't turn a species of fanatics
onto tolerence of other life in just a few years.  These K'Kree are
the missionaries of the Hivers to the rest of their race.  Just as
they have in the Imperium, the Hivers have given the K'Kree the
technology and mission to clean up their entire region of space.
They have formed the KFC:  K'Kreer Freedom Coalition.

You thought RCES was bad with their Smash And Grab tactics?  The
KFC's forces are happy to wipe out any K'Kree not of their herd who
might stand in their way.  You want ground combat "Star Vikings"?
It's much easier to nuke a planet and clean it up with a nuclear
damper than it is to land troops anyway...

Why?  The other K'Kree are intolerant!  They have no regard for the
lives of aliens and other sentient life.  Thus, they must be
converted or destroyed.  [RL note:  You may at some point in your
life have met up with some of the "Good" skinheads?  The ones who
beat up the "Bad" skinheads?  And the graffiti they spray over cars
is stuff like "JUST SAY NO!" or "BE KIND: REWIND!"  Perhaps you've
met the people who attack anyone if they aren't perfectly PC?  The
ones who think all the white males in the world should be lynched?
Picture those guys armed with Grav Tanks, Fusion Guns, Nukes and a
mission from GOD!]

No, the KFC does not eat meat.  (Not usually anyway, as it's not
very good for a K'Kree's digestion)  And no, they don't *usually*
enjoy isolation.  Psychologically, they are just about the same as
they always were, but they are on a different mission now!

Possible Adventures:
KFC finds a Vampire base set up on a technologically crushed high
population planet in the old 2000 worlds.  Well, it seems the
K'Kree inhabitants are helping the Virus.  Hmm...  Better nuke 'em
good, then convert the survivors.

Misjumped RCES meet up with misjumped KFC troops.  Gotta cooperate
to get back to the Hive Confederation.

RCES members call in some KFC troops for a special mission.  (They
trained together in the Hiver Technical Academy)

Scott 2G Kellogg
BTW, Most KFC ships, because of their difficult maintenance and
dome shape are referred to as "Buckets"

"Sir!  There's a KFC Bucket closing in on us!"  :-)




------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7305
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 09:46:02 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Re: Orbital Arcologies, OSA, Regency


[on strange lack of orbital colonies in Traveller....]

Ray Pullar writes:
>Not that this is a problem for the New Era:  the Virus got them.

Which may be part of the reason you don't see many; not just Virus,
but orbital colonies are *fragile*.  If you put a few hundred
thousand or even millions of people in a hull in orbit, it makes a
nice tempting target for an invader or terrorist to hold hostage,
and such a target is much harder to defend than a planetary surface.
(Of course, planets have their problems too.)  And most of the
material that's been published has been in the developing Domain
of Deneb area, which is not only more interested in planetary 
resources, but has had this recurrent problem with the neighbors....
Massilia and Core probably had quite a number of orbital colonies,
but we never saw much of either sector pre-Virus.

Of course, when you have high-efficiency maneuver drives, the 
economic cost of the delta-vee paid by siting your industry on a
planetary surface is low enough to make colonies look that much
less attractive as investments.  Deep space jump refueling stations
would be useful, but supply of such a station would be an order
of magnitude more difficult.  My explanation of the "Battle of
Two Suns" that was "midway between Yres and Menorb" in Regina
that ended the Fourth Frontier War was that INI discovered a secret
Zhodani fleet replenishment station being used to support attacks
on those two worlds sited in deep space and that when the Navy
sent a fleet to destroy the station, they stumbled in on a refueling
Zhodani fleet.

[on the Regency and the Official Secrets Act]

One of the Amber Zones in _Best of JTAS_ #1, "Salvage on Sharmun",
mentions an Imperial Official Secrets Act.  The adventurers' patron,
a scout named Kinson, had to sign the OSA when the ship he was on
was shot down over an interdicted world.  (It was in a fleet carrying
the sector military payroll!)  Undoubtedly the fleet commander had
an Imperial Warrant so that they could go through the area.  The
money was written off as a loss...the culture was too sensitive to
risk recovery.  But that won't stop Kinson....  It was a great
adventure, especially since it was the first real Traveller adventure
I ever ran!  It led into all sorts of complications for the party
I was refereeing (he he he).

About the current (1201) First Regent: it's probably Seldrian.  We
know Avery Aledon has a ministerial/cabinet-level post.  We know
the First Regent's position is hereditary in the same way noble
titles are hereditary.  (I.e., heirs can be chosen by the title holder.)
Avery is most probably Seldrian's direct heir if she adopted him
after _Arrival Vengeance_.  And the players' ages in 1201:
  Strephon Alkhalikoi   born 1049, in 1201 aged 152. (likely dead)
  Norris Aledon         born 1063, in 1201 aged 138. (probably dead)
  Seldrian Aledon       born 1097, in 1201 aged 104.
  Avery Aledon          born 1118, in 1201 aged 83.  

Regency buffs may be interested to note that according to an old TNS
news brief I saw again the other day, "the Duke of Regina's seneschal",
i.e. the now-famed Branj Dilgaadin, announced the beginning of the
Fifth Frontier War to the Marches in 1107, not Norris himself!


*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7306
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 11:36:19 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Why Regency, not Imperium.

I thought of something else about the Regency while working on something
else.  (I have very good powers of distracting myself!)

>Quite why Norris has continued to call himself Regent for the 70 years
>following the events of Arrival Vengeance I don't understand.

It's actually a pretty responsible step.  As regent, Norris or Seldrian
can't assume the office of Emperor without approval of a quorum of the
Imperial Moot, Lucan notwithstanding.  Somehow I doubt that the nobles
left in the Regency constitute a quorum of votes.  Now, conceivably
this could be circumvented by declaring that the Regency is all that is
left of the Imperium (but this is a questionable call, at best).  The
only other option is for the Regency to technically secede, which it
never did during the Rebellion, unlike Daibei, Vland, and Antares.

Furthermore, by maintaining the fiction of an imperial regency, the
Regency asserts the continued existence of the Imperium.  It's a 
hedge against the future.  The Regency seems to be protecting the
legal rights of the worlds in the Wilds to be in the Imperium, if
anyone still wants to be in one with Deneb.  Otherwise, the possible
lack of any government claiming to be the "Third Imperium" could 
cause problems with the other old governments moving in on the
ungoverned territory.  It's a legal fiction.  Undoubtedly, once
the Regency is able to recontact the other worlds of the old
Imperium and assess the situation, a more permanent decision can
be made.  (In a sense, the Regency is in a semi-permanent state of
"crisis management" until then.)  

Of course, none of this stops anyone from doing anything out there
in the Wilds.  The Regency is only betting that someday, someone
might set up a bargaining table, maybe even they themselves, and
they know they'll want to be in a good bargaining position at that
table.  After all, there's no doubt that someone will have to 
negotiate with a lot of *very* angry neighbors about this whole
Virus business....


*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7307
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 94 17:23:40 EDT
Subject: RCES Scenarion

 The following adventure idea is submitted for the perusal of TML readers. 
If
anyone uses it I would certainly like to hear how it was altered to fit into
a
particula campaign and how the adventure was resolved.

AURORA RCES HQ  -  Khulam Subsector Directorate
  Intel indicates elements of the Kide (3131/Khulam) local military are
seeking offworld assistance in the overthrow of the current TED.  Team is
needed to contact insurgent agent(s) to confirm intel and if possible to
asist
in coup.
- --------------------------------------------------------------
                                    KIDE COUP

  Intel is passed to the players about a senior Kide army officer seeking
offworld help.  If the group is RCES they will simply be assigned the
mission.
If the are free lancers this info (a possibly lucretive if dangerous job)
will
come their way via a government or Free Merchant contact.
  The initial part of the scenario will involve travel to the Kide system,
avoiding the Kide sig-delts, making their way planet-side, and contacting the
army officer - one General Edmond.  One way to get onto Kide would be travel
with Free Merchant contacts (although such will expect payment of some sort)
or posing as merchants themselves.
  Once on the world finding Edmond will be easy - just ask any military
personnel who will direct the PCs to the starport cantina.  Edmond will
initially question PCs to assure their trustworthyness and if assured will
offer ship parts (stored at a starport warehouse for assistancwe with his
plan.  Whatever the agreement he will provide 10% upfront and the rest upon
success of his planned coup.

  His plan involves having the group contact elements of the army, loyal to
Edmone, currently stationed in the jungles west of the Kargamir Sea.  Once a
signal is r4eceived from Edmond the PCs will lead these forces in a
diversionary attack on the starport (keeping damage to a minimun) with the
PCs
used to neutralize the Imperial Guard.  This will hopefully result in some of
the Imp. Gd at Arturo's residence to be sent as reinforcements and allow
Edmond to take Arturo.
  A day or two after they make contact the army unit will come under fierce
attack from guerrillas.  These guerrillas are led by one of the two remaining
TEDs left after Arturo united Kide.  Unless the PCs are extremely careful(or
lucky) they will fall into the hands of these guerrillas.  This is not all
bad
as the TED may easily be convinced to join the coup with his forces taking
the
place of the recently defeated army unit.

  Before agreeing to such an attack the TED has a test for the PCs.  During
the period of civil wars one of the leaders established an ammo cache in the
mountains south of the Kargamir.  The TED has a mpa showing its location and
he wants the group to travel there with four of his men.  The cache is no
doubt protected by automated defenses and while his men wait outside the PCs
are to enter the cache and disarm the defenses and return with as much ammo
as
possible.
  To this end the group will stop at a village along the way and acquire pack
animals - obviously the guerrillas are for simply taking the animals, the PCs
may choose other options.  Travel through the mountains to the cache should
be
fairly easy with maybe one fauna encounter and possibly another encounter
involving a difficult crossing on the mountain path.  The cach is protected
by
a TL9 retinal scanner locking system which requires lockpicking tools for a
Difficult: Intrusion task (lock quality has deteriorated due to age) to
bypass
the system.  BTW from MegaTraveller:

Lockpick Set:  Allows picking of ordinary locks by a dextrous and skilled
user.  Lockpicks are illegal on most worlds; on such worlds the cost rises to
Cr100 or more.
 A lockpick set of a given Tech Level cannot be used against types of locks
of
higher Tech Levels, but it may be used against a lock of higher TL if it is
equipped to deal with that type of lock.  For example, a TL6 kit cannot be
used against electronic locks since these begin to appear at TL7. However the
same kit could be used against a TL7 deadbolt lock, albeit at a slight
disadvantage; the difference in Tech Levels could be used as a DM to the
success roll.

TL          Vol          Weight         Price
- --------------------------------------------------------
5           0.5 liters   0.25 kg        Cr10-100

  The cach is also guarded by a few automated laser defenses, etc. -
Difficult: Observation to locate.  The contents include vast stores of
ammunition and a G-Carrier in very poor condition (wear value 8 or 9, half
normal armor).  Return to the guerilla camp is uneventful and soon thereafter
the signal is rec'd from Edmond.

  When they reach their assigned positions near the starport they are met by
the contact sent by Edmond. She naturally is doubtful about trusting the
guerrilla force but can be convinced by the PCs.  She tells the group to
begin
the attack on the starport in three hours.
  Initially the attack goes smoothly.  The PCs will become involved in a
firefight with a group of Imp. Gd. lift troops (Veteran, TL10) in Combat
Armor
equal to twice the number of PCs.  Their first clue that the plan has gone
awry is when they hear the TED over their radios say, "Those stinkin' Arses
sold us out.  Everyone retreat and if you see the offworlders cut them down."
  Possibly a group of guerrillas will bump into them and another fight will
ensue but soon a number of grav tanks will be seen in the distance.  At this
point all the guerrillas will flee and the Edmond's contact will run up to
the
group.  She will pant in a near hysterical voice that an offworlder, she
thinks with the Guild that Edmond also contacted revealed the plot to the
Imperial Guard.  Edmond has been captured and she needs to get off the
planet.
The group at this time may notice (Easy:Observation) that they are outside
the
warehouse where they rec'd the first shipment of ship parts.
  Shouldthey enter the warehouse they will find a transport vehicle of some
kind which they will be able to load with 1 ton of ship parts.  They arrive
at
the ship and load the parts just as the Kide military is closing in.  By this
time the ship is ready to take off.

  The three AD batteries will each get one attack on the ship before it is
out
of range.  Unless an Average: Sensors check is failed the ship avoids the
sig-
delts and will outrun them to the jump-point.  Should the check fail only one
sig-delt is manned and able to react.  Every time it fires or is struck there
is a 1 in 10 cumulative chance that the power plant will fail rendering the
ship temporarily helpless for long enough for the PCs to escape).
  Obviously the ship parts can be sold but should the group successfully
escape with the woman contact they will be well rewarded by the RC (whatever
that means).

- -------------------------------
PBJuzyk                  'Life is a lemon and I want my money back'
                                                            -Meatloaf

------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7308
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 21:31:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Steven Gott <sgott@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Sol Rim Subsectors:



A	Ultima
B	Suleiman
C	Concord
D	Harlequin
E	Alderamin
F	Esperance
G	Vega
H	Banasdan
I	Albadawi
J	Dingir
K	Sol
L	Arcturus
M	Jardin
N	Capella
O	Gemini
P	Kukulcan


------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7309
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 12:49:14 -0600
From: RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu (J Roberson)
Subject: Deep Space Refueling

I always thought that there weren't deep-space refueling stations in
Traveller because ships don't just refuel, they discharge energy. I know
that was true in 2300AD and I'm pretty certain that's how jump worked in
Battletech, and I guess I always assumed it was true in Traveller. Jump
Drives must discharge accumulated energy before moving on, and they must do
so in a significant gravity well. A deep space station with that much
gravity would need a celestial body, or be a truly immense (possibly Dyson
Sphere-scale) station. Lemme know if I'm wrong. . .


_________________________________
Eugenics: Chlorination of the Gene Pool.

J Roberson      RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu        Priss@io.com





------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7310
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 01:36:25 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Charted Space Info


I just FTP'd three files of mine to the sunbane donations folder.
They are all comprehensive lists relating to Charted Space.  One
is a list of all the subsector names I've seen by sector, one the list of
all sectors/domains/Zhodani provinces, and one a list of allegiance
codes.  (I had them lying around and thought that some of you 
might like to see them.)  If any other FTP site wants a copy, I'll
send it there, but I don't plan on taking requests for e-mail.  All
info is from published sources.

FYI,

- --Steve


------------------------------

Bundle: 582
Archive-Message-Number: 7311
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 00:54:02 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: Traveller hypernets, cont...

 
 
 
 
 
 
Whoops.
 
I forgot about the "period on a line by itself" rule. Here is the
rest of my posting on MaxThink and the building of Traveller
hypernets:
 
 
One way to visualize a hypernet is hierarchically, like this:
 
 
 .                          Master Outline
 .                         --------------
 .                               |
 .                               |
 . --------------------------------------------------------------
 . |                        |                 |                 |
 . |                        |               Writings,           |
 . General            Self-Management      Researches,        Hobbies
 . Knowledge              System            & Studies           |
 . -----------------   ---------------      -----------          |
 . P   S   B   P   A     |                  | | | | |           RPG's
 . h   c   u   o   r     |--Plan Devel.     | | | | |          ---------
 . i   i   s   l   t     |                  | | | | |          |       |
 . l   e   i   i   s     |--Time management | | | | |        AD&D    Traveller
 . o   n   n   t         |    |             | | | | Health
 . s   c   e   i         |    |--Schedule   | | | Thinking systems
 . o   e   s   c         |    |             | | Learning systems
 . p   s   s   s         |    |--Execute    | Self-mgt. systems
 . h                     |                  Philosophy
 . y                     |--Self-evaluation
 
Each of the above branches could then branch out, even to each
other.  Extensive interlinking makes the structure more akin to a
network than a hierarchy.  Networks can include circular routes,
star patterns, group-ins, group-outs, and imbedded hierarchies.
 
 
Speaking of hierarchies, Traveller breaks down rather easily into
a hierarchy.  Here is the Traveller branch from the tree above
expanded to show one possible breakdown:
 
 
 .                                 TRAVELLER
 .    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 .    |         |      |        |     |      |          |     |     |     |
 . Campaign     |      |        |     |      |          |     |     |     |
 . |   |        |      |        |    NPC's   |          |   Flora   |    Mass
 . |   branch 2 |      |        |            |          |     &     |    Media
 . |            |   Adventures  |        ---------      |   Fauna   |
 . branch1      |               |        |       |      |           |
 .              |            Encounters  |    Equipment |        Sophonts
 .        Charted Space                  |              |        |      |
 .        -----------------------     Technology        |       Major  Minor
 .        |           |         |                    Vehicles
 .        |           |         |                ---------------
 .     Sector 1    Sector 2   Sector n           |   |     |   |
 .                    |                       Land  Water Air Space
 .                    |                        |
 .                    |                        |
 .       ------------------------        --cars/tanks--------trains/trams--
 .       |   |           |      |          |  |  |  |  |        |  |  |
 .       |   |           |      |          |  |  |  |  Pogos    |  |  |
 .       |  Subsector B  |  Subsector Etc. |  |  |  Walkers     |  |  |
 .       |               |                 |  |  Hovercraft   Rail |  Cable
 .     Subsector A    Subsector C          |  Tracked           Tubular
 .                       |                 Wheeled
 .                       |
 .             -------------------------
 .             |      |    |   |       |
 .           World 1  |    |   |   World etc.
 .                    |    |   |
 .                World 2  |  World 4
 .                         |
 .                       Terra
 
 
If all traveller material was organized in this structure, rather
than spread out and mixed together, it would be a breeze to learn
and use.  That's where MaxThink comes in.
 
The above diagram took me over 2 hours to construct.  That was
with the hierarchy already in mind -- if I was building this
thing from scratch in this format, modifying the structure during
construction would be a major pain.  And, as you can see, I
rapidly ran out of room for subcategories.  The outline format is
so much easier to work with -- the above classification scheme
could be constructed and in MaxThink in a matter of minutes, and
more completely, with plenty of room to expand.
 
 
 
===========================================================================
 
Contact me if you are interested in purchasing MaxThink.
 
I shall try, within the next couple of weeks, to post an
explanation of Transtext (a hypertext word-processor that works
well in combination with MaxThink) and how it can be used to make
your "Travelling" life easier.
 
 
 
    Good night,
    Rodge
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And now for my snappy end quote:
 
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    "Psychological warfare is buying a poster of a window complete
    with lacy curtains and a very excited dirty-old peeping-tom
    peering in through one corner, and giving it lovingly to your
    sister as a birthday present so she will feel too guilty to
    take it down off her bedroom wall when it starts giving her
    the creeps."
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o o
\___/
 

------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #583: Msgs 7312-7313 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Wed Apr 20 22:00:03 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #583: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 583  7312 20-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     MaxThink and Traveller hypernets <<  
 583  7313 20-Apr-1994 Roger Myhre      Couple of NPC`s           << Here's a c

------------------------------

Bundle: 583
Archive-Message-Number: 7312
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 12:27:45 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: MaxThink and Traveller hypernets

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                ------------------------------------------
                Making Your "Travels" Easier with MaxThink
                ------------------------------------------
 
 
I'm about to explain a type of technology that can make the
creation and organization of Traveller material easier and much
more effective, and which can give you easy access to all of your
Traveller files, notes, and developments you have on computer,
better than any librarian ever could...
 
 
                          ---------------
                          M a x T h i n k
                          ---------------
 
Description:
- ------------
 
MaxThink is a heirarchical outliner.  With it, you arrange
information exactly as you would in a standard outline written on
paper -- With a main-topic, indented sub-topics, and
sub-sub-topics indented still further, etc.  The difference is
that in MaxThink, you can rearrange the structure and content of
the outline so much faster and easier, which is ideal for
organizing knowledge, whether you are writing a book (or many
books), writing a report, catalogging or building your expertise,
or running a TRAVELLER campaign.  The information used in most
RPG's fits nicely into MaxThink's hierarchical structure.
 
Topics consist of text.  They may contain whatever text you want
to include, from a single character to reams of jibbering.  Below
are excerpts from a printout of a sample Traveller-related
MaxThink outline:
 
 
Traveller Outline
    I.  My Traveller Campaign.  Branches:
        A.  Voyages of the Viper
                1.  Viper Branch Timeline:
                    a.  1100-023 - Mustered out on Ruie
                        i.  Deserted Jasper's Brigade with
                            hand-picked crew
                       ii.  Hijacked the Viper, a Fiery Class
                            Close Escort
                      iii.  Firefight with 3 SDB's
                    b.  1100-025 - Departed Ruie system
                    c.  1100-032 - Arrived Djinni system
                    [etc.]
 
                2.  The Viper's Crew:
                    a.  Captain Jay Montosa
                    b.  Chief Engineer Jessip Fordin, ("Fixx")
                    c.  Jr. Engineer Nordik Mantonne
                    d.  Navigator Boris Ultersh
                    e.  Doctor Lexxus Gore, Ship's Medic
                    f.  Merkwook Dymanx, Gig Pilot (Tharian)
                    g.  Chief Gunner Gvurrdon "Growls" Gakghang (Vargr)
                    h.  Maximillian Von Snuffenbuefuer, 2nd Gunner
                    i.  Jacques Reuter, 3rd Gunner
                    j.  Ex-crew:
                        i.  Duord Lintil, Junior engineer --- DESERTED
                            1100-143
                       ii.  Simsil Leech, Gig pilot --- DESERTED
                            1100-143
                      iii.  Crom Deletun, 2nd Gunner --- DESERTED
                            1100-143
                       iv.  Porifir Singtril, 3rd Gunner --- DESERTED
                            1100-143
                        v.  Nodgi Lornimur, 4th Gunner --- DESERTED
                            1100-143
                       vi.  Grutone Shilimm, Ship's Thug --- DESERTED
                            1100-43
                      vii.  Molo Bingham, Chief Gunner --- Assassinated
                            at Tremous Dex 1100-289, laid dead too long to
                            be revived.  Jetisoned his remains into space
                            -- may he rest in peace.
                     viii.  Jack Millax,  Chief Gunner --- FATALLY
                            WOUNDED 1100-342 by Gvurrdon under the
                            influence of mindcontrol during Zhodani
                            confrontation; placed in crionics; lost in
                            Battle of Talos when power to emergency
                            crionic berth #1 was severed (1101-035).
                       ix.  Lingtu Manchu, 2nd Gunner --- FATALLY
                            WOUNDED 1100-342 by Gvurrdon under the
                            influence of mindcontrol during Zhodani
                            confrontation; placed in crionics; lost in
                            Battle of Talos when power to emergency
                            crionic berth #1 was severed (1101-035).
                        x.  Jim G. Stragic -- Ship Trooper ---
                            Vaporized in Battle of Talos, 1101-035
                       xi.  Purcivel Marquann, 1st Mate ---  Fatally
                            wounded in Battle of Talos, 1101-035 --
                            placed in crionic storage, emergency berth
                            #2.
                3.  The Viper's Passenger List:
                    a.  Prisoners
                        i.  Leari Molatav --- In crionic detention
                            in the Gig's emergency low berth
                       ii.  Jessip Noribii -- Fatally wounded; in
                             crionic storage in Gig's emergency low
                             berth
                [etc.]
 
 
Notes concerning the above printout:   You may control the
formatting of printouts, including defining the numbering system
to be used (if any), how many levels are to be shown, margins,
subtopic indentation, and line spacing.  The outline above is
truncated both in its length and depth -- in the outline from
which this printout was generated, each timeline entry has an
action-by-action account of the event, and each character has
subtopics beneath it which fully define that character.
 
 
MaxThink's Display
- ------------------
 
Below is an approximation of what MaxThink looks like on the
screen.  I've shortened it a bit so you could see the whole thing
without scrolling (the actual display takes up the entire
computer screen, so there are generally 19 topics showing rather
than just 8).  Also, the menu includes a highlighted pointer, but
I couldn't depict it in ASCII -- in the display below, imagine
that the Brainstorm menu item is highlighted -- I've used
brackets [] to signify highlighting.  Also, the numeral at the
top of the screen is always highlighted, as can be any of the
numbers in the list.  To depict the text cursor in later screens
when I show you the Edit Mode, I shall use the * sign.
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] TITLE
       1
      [2]
       3
       4
   -> [5]
       6
      [7]
       8
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0.5              155 Kbytes  FILENAME.MT
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Here is an explanation of the above display:
 
Note that I've used square brackets where the program uses
highlighting (reverse video), so topics #2, #5, and #7, and the
Brainstorm menu selection are highlighted.
 
Since there is no cursor present on the screen, this means you
are in TOPIC MODE.  See the arrow to the left of topic #5?  That
is your TOPIC POINTER. It signifies which TOPIC you desire to
work on.  While in topic mode, it can be moved with the cursor
keys:  Up, Down, Right, Left, Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn.  The
Right Arrow key takes you one level deeper into the outline (to
the sub-topics of the currently selected topic), and the Left
Arrow key takes you one level higher in the outline (to the
parent of the currently displayed topics).
 
The Ins key, and the function keys F7, F8, F9, and F10 are your
one-key TOPIC CREATION commands.  F10 and Ins both create a topic
after the one you are currently pointing at (a sibling), F9
creates a topic before the currently selected one (a sibling), F7
creates a topic one level higher (an uncle), and F8 creates a
topic one level deeper (a subtopic, or child).
 
Now, lets take a look at the outline from which the printout
above was taken:
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] Traveller Outline
   -> [1] My Traveller Campaign.  Branches:
      [2] Charted Space (campaign setting)
      [3] Adventures/Scenarios
      [4] Encounters
      [5] NPC Resource
      [6] Starships
      [7] Starport Control -- Protocols and Procedures
      [8] Technology/Equipment
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0.1              155 Kbytes  DEVEL.TRV
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
The list shown in the above display is the top level of a
Traveller outline from a Traveller hypernet (a hypernet is a
system of interlinked files, each of which may be an outline or
any other kind of file).  The list is actually much longer -- to
see the rest of the topics on the list, use the Down Arrow key or
the PgDn key to scroll down the list.  To quickly jump to a
specific topic on the list, press "J" to activate the Jump
command from the command menu, then the number of the topic, then
Enter; or you can select the Jump command by moving the command
highlight by pressing the Space bar until Jump is highlighted,
and then press Enter.  To activate any command, all you have to
do is press the first letter of that command while in TOPIC MODE.
 
 
When a topic's number is highlighted, it means that the topic has
children (sub-topics) below it in the outline tree.  To go to and
see those sub-topics, move the topic pointer to the topic you
wish to see the children of, and then press the Right Arrow key
once.
 
Here is how the above display changes after pressing the Right
Arrow key once:
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [1] My Traveller Campaign.  Branches:
   -> [1] Voyages of the Viper
      [2] Cruising the Abyss Rift aboard the Star Hopper (subsidized liner)
      [3] Venejen branch (Research Station Gamma)
      [4] They Live
      [5] They Came From Beyond -- Junidy (backdated to 1053) branch
          (adapted from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers")
      [6] Reidan/Foreven branch (The Chamax Plague / Horde)
      [7] Asshole of the Universe (the Horde spreads to Roget)
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0.1.1            155 Kbytes  DEVEL.TRV
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
You've moved 1 level deeper into the outline and are now looking
(see above) at the subtopics of the first topic from the previous
level.  Notice the "PATH" indicator on the STATUS line (bottom
line of the display) above.  It shows the path to the currently
selected topic.  Also on the status line is the amount of free
memory space left, the name of the file currently loaded, the
text/heading indicator and the display depth indicator. The F2
key toggles from full-text to 1st-line viewing only, and vice
versa (I'll demonstrate this later).  The "2" on the status line
above means that 2 levels are shown on the screen at once.  To
increase this press the Ctrl and the Right Arrow key.
 
Here is the display after Ctrl-Right is pressed once:
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [1] My Traveller Campaign.  Branches:
   -> [1] Voyages of the Viper
          [1] Viper Branch Timeline
          [2] The Viper's Crew
          [3] The Viper's Passenger List
          [4] The Viper, a Fiery Class Close Escort
          [5] Enemies and Allies
          [6] Tasks for this branch
      [2] Cruising the Abyss Rift aboard the Star Hopper (subsidized liner)
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       3        PATH:  0.1.1            155 Kbytes  DEVEL.TRV
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Notice that the topic pointer is still on the same level as it
was, and that the status-line has changed slightly.  The display
is now 3 levels deep.  To decrease it back to 2, press Ctrl and
the Left Arrow key; to increase it further, press Ctrl-Right up
to 7 more times.
 
Here is the display after pressing Ctrl-Left (collapses the
display back to 2 levels), then Left (moves up one level), then
Down 4 times (moves down the list), and finally the Right Arrow
key (moves down one level):
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [5] Junidy (backdated to 1053) branch -- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
   -> [1] The PC's
      [2] The timeline
       3  The adventure <c:\rpg\trav\invasion.adv>
       4  The timeline told in story form (for TML) <c:\rpg\trav\came.sto>
 
 
 
 
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0.1.5.1          155 Kbytes  DEVEL.TRV
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
I stopped at the above location so that you wouldn't get lost.
Take a look at the path, and compare that with the path in
previously shown displays in this article, and you will know
precisely where you are in the outline. When in the program, you
can always move back up levels to see where you are.
 
Notice the angle-bracketed entry <c:\rpg\trav\invasion.adv>.
That is a link-out to another outline (the one that contains the
adventure).  By having the adventure in a seperate outline, you
can access it from multiple places (such as from here, and from a
subtopic of the Adventures/Scenarios topic you saw earlier on the
top level) within the presently viewed outline or from a larger
hypernet (the above adventure could be accessed from any number
of linked outlines, or from within one or more text files).  The
topic number isn't highlighted because there is nothing "under"
this topic in the current outline (i.e., it has no sub-topics).
 
Now, we shall jump to topic #4 on the list above, which is
another link-out, so we press J, 4, Enter, and then Right -- 3
Downs and a Right would do the same thing.  Then, MaxThink
automatically saves the outline we are leaping out of (if any
changes have been made to it), and loads the outline specified in
the angle brackets.
 
Here it is, showing the entire screen:
 
                     (Actual-size of MaxThink's display):
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] THEY CAME FROM BEYOND
   ->  1  (inspired by INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS)
       2  Junidy/Aramis/Spinward Marches, backdated to the year 1053, was the
          location of this scenario.  I've embellished the story as enacted by
          myself and my players for the sake of reading enjoyability. However,
          the plot-line is essentially the same as the way it unfolded during
          our playing session.
      [3] The Player Characters were:
       4  World Background:
       5  Excerpts from IISS survey records, on file at Junidy Down Starport,
          205/1105:
       6  Junidy/Aramis/Spinward Marches (B434ABD-9 S) -- Junidy is a showcase
          of the adaptability of sophonts. It is but a small world, with an
          atmosphere too thin to support most life, yet it is home to more than
          28 billion citizens.  Two species of intelligent being make Junidy
          their home: Humans, and Llellewyloly, dividing the world's population
          roughly in half between them.
        7 Llillewyloly are quintupedal (i.e., they have 5 legs), each leg
          ending in a tripod of digits.  The being's legs protrude from its
          central hairy body which resembles a big fuzz-ball or the blossom of a
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0.1              132 Kbytes  CAME.STO
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
To get a better bird's eye view of the material, press the F2
key, which toggles the display from showing the full text of each
topic to showing just the first line of each, and vice versa --
it has no noticeable effect if none of your topics are longer
than one line, but comes in very handy when viewing outlines with
verbose paragraphs, as in the display above.
 
Here is the same outline showing only the first line of each
topic (after pressing the F2 key):
 
                     (Actual-size of MaxThink's display):
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] THEY CAME FROM BEYOND
   ->  1  (inspired by INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS)
       2  Junidy/Aramis/Spinward Marches, backdated to the year 1053, was the
      [3] The Player Characters were:
       4  World Background:
       5  Excerpts from IISS survey records, on file at Junidy Down Starport,
       6  Junidy/Aramis/Spinward Marches (B434ABD-9 S) -- Junidy is a showcase
       7  Llillewyloly are quintupedal (i.e., they have 5 legs), each leg
       8  A llillewyloly's toes serve equally well as fingers, being only
       9  Llellewyloly (pronounced "yeah-yeah-wee-lolly") are fully adapted
      10  The cities of Junidy provide the primary shelter for the humans
      11  Junidy is within but a hex or two of the Imperium's coreward
      12  For backdating purposes, as of the year 1053, I estimate the
      13  The Adventure:
      14  Baraka slammed his bony fist down onto his apartment's control
      15  It was funny how much information he got from the stringy
      16  Baraka lived in the Astoria Whaldorf, a run down housing complex
      17  The irritating grating sound of the door buzzer broke the
      18  Big Eddy was a local crime lord, his men regulary shook down
      19  With the fight-or-flight response twisting his gut into knots,
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
HEAD       2        PATH:  0.1              132 Kbytes  CAME.STO
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Notice that the word TEXT has changed to HEAD on the Status line.
 
To get back to the outline you linked-out from, simply press the
Left arrow key to move up to the Main Topic (the title of the
outline), and then press the Left arrow again.
 
So far I've covered many of MaxThink's display features.  Now it
is time to show you the real power of the program...
 
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
       IMPORTANT -- IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS!
                               |
                               |
                              \|/
The commands in MaxThink allow you to manipulate text in ways far
beyond what word processors are capable of.  That is primarily
because blocks of text in MaxThink are PREDEFINED -- each topic
is a defacto block of text which you can DO THINGS TO.  In a word
processor, you have to mark a block of text before you can do
anything to it, but not in MaxThink.  Even more significant than
this is that, by having blocks of text predefined (they are
defined the instant they are created), the relationships between
these blocks/topics are also predefined, being implicit to the
very tree structure of outlines.  This allows you TO MANAGE
BLOCKS OF TEXT BASED UPON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THEM.
 
Because the (sibling, parent, uncle, and offspring) relationships
between topics are known, this makes possible many commands that
can manipulate text based upon these relationships, and also
gives added power to standard block copy/move commands in that
they can refer to these relationships by referring to locations
in the outline's tree.  This allows for the creation of commands
that are far more effective in ORGANIZING TEXT AS PIECES OF
KNOWLEDGE. In word-processed documents, your pieces of knowledge
are organized in a linear fashion, and are therefore much more
difficult to manage well.
 
Therefore, in MaxThink, moving through your documents is much
easier, as is copying, moving, sorting (alphabetically sorting or
interactively rearranging), categorizing, and in general
reorganizing the text (or any portion thereof) contained therein.
 
For typical routine word processing, since paragraphs are
predefined blocks of text in MaxThink, this allows you to create
and manipulate conventional documents more effectively in
MaxThink, even if you want to retain their conventional linear
format.
 
Editing complex documents becomes easier and faster, because
MaxThink allows you to work with text in ways that are closer to
your patterns of thinking.
 
On top of the text-manipulation abilities, MaxThink can also LINK
files together, allowing for the organization of entire knowledge
nets.  It has several very powerful commands designed for
managing not only the relationships between the topics contained
in the currently loaded outline, but also the relationships of
many individual outlines (and other files) to each other!
 
 
 
              Creating a Traveller Outline from Scratch
 
 
 
 
Here's what a new outline looks like:
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  -> [0] TITLE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
To edit the topic currently being pointed at (in this case, the TITLE),
activate the Edit command by pressing "E".  Then you will see a cursor
within the body of the topic.  (I've used an asterisk * to depict the
cursor).  Now you can start typing...
 
 
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  -> [0] *ITLE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
================================================================================
 
 
Enter text, press ESC when entry complete
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
Notice that the menu disappeared.  To exit EDIT MODE and return to TOPIC
MODE, simply press the escape key (ESC).
 
I recommend you keep the title to a mere line or two.  Elaboration should
be reserved for the body of the outline.
 
Your outline after typing the title:
 
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  -> [0] Traveller from scratch*
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
================================================================================
 
 
Enter text, press ESC when entry complete
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Once you have entered the Title, press the F8 key, and start typing to your
heart's content.  F8 creates a subtopic, and works from either TOPIC MODE
or EDIT MODE.
 
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] Traveller from scratch
   ->  1  My Traveller Collection*
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
================================================================================
 
 
Enter text, press ESC when entry complete
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
Next, you can press F8 again and type in the first item in your collection,
or you could press F10 to create the next topic on this level.  Here is the
outline after pressing F10 and entering the text of several items:
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] Traveller from scratch
       1  My Traveller Collection
       2  Traveller Product List
       3  Traveller Wish List
       4  Traveller Bibliography
       5  Traveller Index
   ->  6  Traveller Campaign and Background*
 
 
================================================================================
 
 
Enter text, press ESC when entry complete
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
Note that you can move the cursor with the cursor control keys.   UP and
DOWN will traverse the text of topics.  Using LEFT or RIGHT off of the end
of a topic will move to the parent (LEFT) or to the first child (RIGHT).
In addition, most of the WORDSTAR cursor control key combinations work as
well (move right one word, etc.)
 
Let's say that once you type in the above, you decide to rearrange the
order of the topics.  There are many ways to do this.  First, press the
ESC key to return to TOPIC MODE.
 
 
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] Traveller from scratch
       1  My Traveller Collection
       2  Traveller Product List
       3  Traveller Wish List
       4  Traveller Bibliography
       5  Traveller Index
   ->  6  Traveller Campaign and Background
 
 
================================================================================
MAIN:[Brainstorm]   Copy    Delete    Edit    Files    Get   Insert    Lock
      Jump    Move    Options    Put    Quit    X    Undo   Ref   Z   V   A
Displays menu of BRAINSTORM commands
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The MAIN Menu includes commands and 3 submenus.  The submenus are the
BRAINSTORM menu, the FILES menu, and the OPTIONS MENU.  All the other
entries are commands.  To activate a command move the command highlight
with the Space bar or Backspace key, and press Enter.  Or just type the
first letter of the command to instantly activate it while in TOPIC MODE.
Here is what each of the commands do:
 
C = Copy -- Copies the current topic or selected range of topics to a
    specified location in the outline (see also Get and Put).  The vairous
    methods of copying in MaxThink are ideal for creating new characters,
    ships, planets, or equipment in TRAVELLER, because you can copy an
    existing entry and type over it, or you can use a dummy entry (complete
    with subtopics) which includes only the text that remains the same from
    entry to entry  -- the content descriptors (such as Strength __,
    Dexterity __, Endurance __, etc.) -- then you can just fill in the
    blanks.  Saves a lot of work, especially when designing planets.
 
D = Delete -- Deletes the current topic or selected range of topics.  The
    DEL key on the cursor control pad does the same thing when in TOPIC
    MODE.  Actually, this command sends the current topic to the topic
    buffer, from where it can be relocated if desired, but be careful,
    since only one deletion is held in the buffer.  Each deletion clears
    the material already in the buffer before placing the text of the
    current deletion there.  To get text out of the topic buffer and back
    into your outline, use the Put or Undo commands.
 
E = Edit -- Changes to EDIT MODE, placing the cursor at the beginning of
    the current topic.  The menu disappears, and can't be accessed again
    until you press the Esc key.  In edit mode, your keyboard is converted
    into a typewriter for entering text (in Topic Mode the keyboard is a
    control console or sorts).  The cursor control keypad can be used to
    move the text cursor.
 
G = Get -- Sends a copy of the topic or selected range of topics to the
    topic buffer.  For use with the Put command.  Note that the topic
    buffer isn't usually cleared before a link-out, therefore the GET and
    PUT commands can be used to transfer material between outlines, and
    between MaxThink's two windows (see the Z command).
 
I = Insert -- Creates a topic after the current topic (on the same level),
    and automatically puts you in EDIT MODE.  The F10 key and the Ins key do
    the same thing, though the F10 key will also do this while in EDIT
    MODE.
 
L = Lock -- Locks the current topic or range of topics to the topic pointer
    so that it can be dragged to a new location in the outline.  The
    standard cursor control keys work in dragging UP, DOWN, LEFT (up a
    level), RIGHT (down a level), PgUp, PgDn, Home (to the top of a list),
    and End.  The power in the Lock command lies in the fact that all
    subtopics are dragged along with their parent topic, thus entire
    branches (or groups of branches) of your knowledge tree can be moved
    with ease.  To release the dragged text to the topic pointer's present
    location, press the Esc key.  The Lock command is the most
    fundamentally basic of the interactive sorting commands.  The
    lock-drag-release sequence can allow you to rearrange a list or
    restructure an entire outline in a matter of minutes or even seconds.
 
J = Jump -- Allows you to teleport to anywhere in your outline.  Just enter
    the path of the topic you want to teleport to.  A number entered with
    no dots within it will teleport you to that entry on the currently
    displayed level.  This is tech-level 16 transportation at your
    fingertips!
 
M = Move  -- Allows you to to teleport text from anywhere in your outline
    to anywhere else in your outline.  You may enter the path as in the
    Jump command, or you may point to the end destination with the TOPIC
    POINTER.
 
P = Put -- Copies everything in the topic buffer to the specified location,
    by entering the path, or by moving the topic pointer.  Get and Put used
    in conjunction are another way to teleport text from one location to
    another within your outline.  Get and Put are the only commands that
    can transfer text directly between outlines and across MaxThink's two
    windows.
 
Q = Quit -- Exits the program.  Allows you to save the currently outline
    before quitting.  Also hesitates if there is something in the second
    window.
 
X = The "X marks the spot" command.  This command jumps to your X-list,
    which is a seperate screen that can hold up to 20 shortcuts in the
    current outline.  When you press "X" for the first time, the shortcut
    screen is empty.  To enter the current topic for jumping to it more
    easily later, press the Ins key.  You can move through the shortcut
    list with the topic pointer, selecting which topic to jump to with the
    RIGHT ARROW key.  To remove an entry from the shortcut list, simply
    point to it and press the DEL key.  The "X" command essentially allows
    you to predefine your teleports.
 
U = Undo -- Undoes the last command.  If the last thing you did was create
    a topic, then this command will uncreate it (delete it).  You can also
    undo deletions in this way -- but only the last one you did.  Some
    complex commands in the BRAINSTORM menu can't be undone.
 
R = Ref -- This command will come in very handily when MaxThink's memory
    limits are removed in future versions, but is of limited usefulness
    now.  It creates a word reference list of all the words that appear in
    the current outline.  You can then scroll through the list with the
    topic pointer, and jump to the occurance in the outline itself of any
    word desired (with the Right Arrow key).  This command takes up a lot
    of memory, so it only works on relatively small outlines -- it
    overloads on outlines larger than about 10K.  I expect this will become
    one of Maxthink's most powerful features in the future.
 
Z = Z -- MaxThink has two windows.  That is, you can have two outlines
    loaded in MaxThink at the same time.  To toggle back and forth between
    the two windows, simply press Z while in TOPIC MODE.  The 2nd window is
    always there, even if you've only loaded one outline -- the 2nd window
    comes in handy for jotting down notes that you want to transfer to
    several different outlines later, or as a temporary holding facility
    for transferring material with the Get and Put commands, or for holding
    an extra outline.
 
V = V -- Shows the version number of MaxThink being used.
 
A = A -- Copies the current topic or a range of topics to the file
    CLIP.TXT.  CLIP.TXT can then be converted into another outline, or into
    a document of some other sort.  A useful research tool, ideal for
    selecting info to be printed out for your players.
 
 
continued...

------------------------------

Bundle: 583
Archive-Message-Number: 7313
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 21:38:35 +0200
From: Roger Myhre <myhre@oslonett.no>
Subject: Couple of NPC`s          

Here's a couple NPC's I'm going to use in my upcoming campaign. It has
been upcoming for more than 6 months now :)  Anyway here they are, and I
just can't wait until I throw these two wacky dudes at my players.

Just for the record, these NPC's are Vargr, and not human. And how to
play them? Ever read Under the eye of God by David Gerrold? It is about
two Trackers (sort of bounty hunters) which are brothers, twins if I do
not remember wrong. If you haven't read that book; shame on you.

However these two brothers (from the same litter) joined the Oruelaen, a
psionic group working for the King of Thirz Empire. This group are
mainly infromation gatherers and observeres for the King. Tasks as
bodyguards for diplomatic envoys and doing research for the King are
their main job. They do not get into "James Bond" work often as they are
few and expensive to train. This group are not secret, but the number of
members are. In fact there are less than 300 members of the group.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
**Eskhevaedz**

^BStats:^B 4A8687-8-X    ^BInitiative:^B 5   ^BWeight:^B 54   ^BLoad:^B 36   ^B
Throw:^B 16   ^BUCD:^B 1

^BHits:  Scratch   Base   Serious   Critical   ^B     ^BPri Mot:^B V.
Violent
^B------------------------------------------^B        ^BSec Mot:^B S.
Ambitious
^BHead:^B     8       16       32        33+          ^BCareer:^B Oruelaen
^BChest:^B   18       36       72        73+          ^BRank  :^B O4/Major
^BOther:^B   12       24       48        49+          ^BCash  :^B 120,000
    
^BEquipment:^B                                        ^BOther careers:^B
None^B 
^B----------
Flak Jacket
5mm Oruelaen Issue Gauss Pistol
Communicator
Hand Computer
IR Goggles
^B
^BSkills:^B                                ^B      ^B     ^BPsionics:
^B-------^B                                      ^B     ---------
Slug Pistol 5/9                              ^B     ^BTeleperception  1/9
UM          2/6                                ^B     ^BSense
5/13
Forgery     2/12                              ^B     ^B Clairvoyance  1/9
Pilot (I/G) 1/11
Swimming    1/9
Observation 2/8
Research    4/10
Willpower   2/8
Computer    0/8
History     4/12
Act/bluff   3/10
Lang (zoo)  2/9
Lang (gal)  1/8
Lang (lin)  1/8
Leadership  2/9
^B
^B
^BCharacter Description:
^B----------------------
Eskhevaedz comes from the same litter as Uerzrro (NPC no 0002). As they
grew up far from others they stuck together in all situations. When
they came of age they both decided to join the Thirz Empire Navy.
As many in the Thirz empire are tested for psionic ability when they
enter the service, they were found to have the requirements to become a
part of Oruelaen, a psionic military group in Thirz Empire.

As Eskhevaedz are physically larger and more charismatic sophonts tend
to notice him and ignore his smaller brother. Thus removing the
attention away from him, which in many cases work out to their
advantage.


**Uerzrro**

^BStats:^B 4B8585-8-X    ^BInitiative:^B 3   ^BWeight:^B 42   ^BLoad:^B 36   ^B
Throw:^B 16   ^BUCD:^B 1

^BHits:  Scratch   Base   Serious   Critical   ^B     ^BPri Mot:^B Loving
^B------------------------------------------^B        ^BSec Mot:^B V.
Violent
^BHead:^B     8       16       32        33+          ^BCareer:^B Oruelaen
^BChest:^B   18       36       72        73+        Rank^B O2/1st
Lieutenant
^BOther:^B   12       24       48        49+          ^BCash  :^B 100,000
    
^BEquipment:^B                                        ^BOther careers:^B
None^B 
^B----------
Flak Jacket
5mm Oruelaen Issue Gauss Pistol
Communicator
Hand Computer
IR Goggles
MedKit Personal (several)
^B
^BSkills:^B                               ^B      ^B      ^BPsionics:
^B-------^B                                    ^B       ---------
Slug Pistol   6/10                         ^B      ^B Telepathy      1/9
UM            1/5                             ^B      ^BLife Detect  3/11
Pickpocket    1/12                            ^B      ^BProbe        2/10
Pilot (I/G)   3/14                            ^B      ^BAssault      2/10
Swimming      0/8
Observation   1/6
Investigation 2/7
Research      2/7
Streetwise    1/6
Willpower     2/7
Computer      0/8
History       4/12
Medic (TA)    1/9
Act/bluff     2/7
Persuation    1/6
Leadership    0/5
^B
^B
^BCharacter Description:
^B----------------------
Uerzrro comes from the same litter as Eskhevaedz (NPC no 0001). As
they grew up far from others they stuck together in all situations.
When they came of age they both decided to join the Thirz Empire Navy.
As many in the Thirz empire are tested for psionic ability when they
enter the service, they were found to have the requirementst o become
a part of Oruelaen, a psionic military group in Thirz Empire.
^B
Of the two Uerzrro is the quite one, even though he is far better
shot and driver. Being smaller and more quite tends to work in his
favor as most sophonts just ignore him, and consentrate on his bigger
brother, thus giving him a upper hand.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry for any bad wrapping of the lines that might occur. I have
tried to weed out the long lines, but I'm not sure if I have been too
successful with it.

As an added bonus I'll include the stats for the 5mm Oruelaen Issue
Gauss Pistol:

TL:     15
Ammo:   5x25mm
Empty   1.264Kg
Loaded  2.251Kg
Ammo    0.987Kg
Mag:    28/0.767
Weapon: 2633Cr
Ammo:   0.157/5.9Cr

ROF:    5
Dam:    4
Pen:    1-2-nil
Blk:    1
SS:     1
Brst:   4
Rng     31

This weapon are given to all Oruelaen operatives, and they get to keep
it after they have ended their service, provided it is a honorary
discharge. All the weapons are marked and numbered so a stolen weapon
will be easily tracked. Even when the number is removed the weapon will
stand out from the rest as it is not available commercially anywhere.



Roger "StarWolf" Myhre
 

------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #584: Msgs 7314-7316 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Wed Apr 20 22:00:03 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #584: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 584  7314 20-Apr-1994 Roger Myhre      Travel time               << I don't kn
 584  7315 20-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     (cont.) MT and Traveller hypernets <<  
 584  7316 20-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     MT and Trav hypernets, part 3 <<  

------------------------------

Bundle: 584
Archive-Message-Number: 7314
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 21:38:36 +0200
From: Roger Myhre <myhre@oslonett.no>
Subject: Travel time              

I don't know if this subject has been disgussed here, if so I apology
for wasting bandwith. But there has been a few things that nag me, and
that is the travel from jump point to the mainworld. What if the 100
diameter from the central star exceeds the habital zone?


100-Diameter table for stars in AU                      

Spectral 
class  Ia       Ib      II      II      IV       V      VI
- --------------------------------------------------------------
B0     46.40    27.84   20.42   14.85   12.06    9.28     _
B5     69.60    32.48   18.56    9.28    4.92    4.08     _
A0    125.28    46.40   16.70    5.75    4.18    2.97     _
A5    138.27    51.04   12.99    4.27    2.50    1.67     _
F0    161.47    54.75   14.85    4.36    2.50    1.58     _
F5    189.31    55.68   16.70    4.83    2.41    1.30    1.06
G0    276.54    77.95   23.20    6.59    2.32    0.96    0.95
G5    421.31   118.78   34.34   10.21    2.60    0.84    0.47
K0    606.91   200.44   50.00   14.85    3.06    0.84    0.37
K5    937.28   363.78  115.07   38.98     _      0.53    0.28
M0  1,361.38   795.30  660.74  211.58     _      0.51    0.24
M5  2,802.56 1,923.74  660.74  211.58     _      0.33    0.10
M9  3,247.07 2,668.93  863.97  334.08     _      0.19    0.05

The table above is calculated from book 6 Scouts, based on the stellar
sizes given there.


Habitable distance in AU                                        

Spectral 
Class    Ia      Ib      II      III     IV      V       VI
- ------------------------------------------------------------
B0      614.80  614.80  307.60 307.60  307.60  307.60     _
B5      307.60  154.00  154.00  77.20   38.80   38.80     _
A0      307.60  154.00   38.80  19.60   10.00   10.00     _
A5      307.60   77.20   19.60  10.00    5.20    5.20     _
F0      307.60   77.20   19.60   5.20    5.20    2.80     _
F5      154.00   77.20   19.60   5.20    2.80    1.60    1.00
G0      307.60   77.20   19.60   5.20    2.80    1.00    0.70
G5      307.60   77.20   19.60  10.00    2.80    0.70    0.40
K0      307.60   77.20   38.80  10.00    1.60    0.70    0.40
K5      307.60  154.00   38.80  19.60     _      0.20    0.00
M0      307.60  154.00   77.20  19.60     _      0.20    0.00
M5      307.60  307.60  154.00  38.80     _      0.00    0.00
M9      307.60  307.60  154.00  38.80     _      0.00    0.00

The numbers above give the distance to the habital zone in AU. This data
can be found on page 193 of TNE rulebook. Those places that has been
anotated with "0.00"  there is no habitable zone.


Travel distance  from 100 diameter of sentral star to habital zone in
lightseconds      

Spectral 
Class    Ia        Ib      II     III     IV      V      VI
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
B0         0         0       0       0      0      0       -
B5         0         0       0       0      0      0       -
A0         0         0       0       0      0      0       -
A5         0         0       0       0      0      0       -
F0         0         0       0       0      0      0       -
F5    17,655         0       0       0      0      0      30
G0         0       375   1,800     695      0      0     125
G5    56,855    20,790   7,370     105      0     70      35
K0   149,655    61,620   5,600   2,425    730     70       0
K5   314,840   104,890  38,135   9,690      -    165       0
M0   526,890   320,650 291,770  95,990      -    155       0
M5 1,247,480   808,070 253,370  86,390      -      0       0
M9 1,469,735 1,180,665 354,985 147,640      -      0       0

The numbers calculated here has been found with the following formula.
LS = ((SD-HO)*150,000,000)/300,000
LS = Distance in Lightseconds.
SD = Outer limit of Central star's 100 diameter in AU
HO = Habital zone Orbit in AU

The TNE rules mention that a starship must exit jumpspace at least
100 diameters out from a body, but it fails to mention that exiting
jumpspace in many system will put the starship several AU from its
target world due to that the 100 diameter of the central star is
stretching further out than the habital zone.

Thus in extreme cases there will take several years travel in normal
space before the mainworld will be reached. Taking the most extreme
example, a M9 Ia star. Travel from jump point to the mainworld will
take little more than 5 years if 100 gee hours of thrust is spent.
This will be reduced if the craft is refueling at gas giants on the
way.

This type of influence from the sentral star will have to be dealt with
in some way. There is two way to deal with it.

1. The problem doesn't exist. Only the size of the mainworld matter.
Thus ending this discusion once and for all.

2. Let the matter stand and find a way to explain how the history could
evolve as it did, even for several days, or weeks of travel had to be
commited. Even years in the extreme.

I will go for option 2. Because it is an interesting discusion. And I
have taken the reservation that the mainworld always are in the
habitable zone.

Taking the example above, but with MT rules, a ship under constant 1 gee
acceleration would make the same trip in 153 days. Here we get into a
trouble with the fuel duration.

The TNE gee hour system makes the game more fun, but then again it makes
high gee traders unnecessary. High gee are only usable in combat. If you
got a 1 gee ship or a 5 gee ship does not matter when you only can spend
20 gee hours of fuel. Most of the ships in the TNE book only got about
20 to 30 gee hours to spend. That might depend on their low tech, where
their powerplant and crew accommodations takes up a lot of space.

The effect of limited gee hours, will make the end of wilderness
refueling at gas giants in most cases. Unless you'll be too far outside
the habitable zone, and spend several days worth of travelling. If the
system configuration allows it, it would be wise to fuelscoop at a gas
ggiant.^M 


If the distance is so long that the travel will take several weeks or
months, it would be more adviseable to put up a trading post on a planet
outside the 100 diameter limit of the central star, and let merchants
trade there, and then use ships built specially for in-system travel.
When they don't have to lugg around a jumpdrive, the space can be taken
up by reactionmass, increasing the gee hours.

If the travel time is truly long, the crafts would probably be manned by
robots, for plain cargo runs. Passenger should be placed in  lowberth
for the duration of the travel. Any sophont crew should be of the type
with strong willpower and a steady psyke. Which are necessary to stand
the condition of prolonged confinement to enclosed spaces, and dull
rroutines. ^M 



This will also change the strategic, and tactical fighting for a system,
compared to how it was considered in MT. The gas giants are suddenly
the single most important part in a system to ensure victory. In case
warships has to spend several weeks or months to get to their targets,
they will be commited soon as they cross the 100 diameter boundary of
the central star. If the battle for the gas giant is lost, only fleet
tankers may help them out again. If the captains are desperate enough
they might risk a jump out of the system. In many ways fighting ship can
have far less gee hours to spend for travelling than merchants, when
they need fuel for combat maneuvers. A good estimate is to use about
half the reaction mass to the travel and the rest for the battle for the

gas giant. Over-confident, or desperate commanders may order the use of
jumpfuel for combat maneuvers or for travelling. Either way fighting
ships should refuel their jump fuel before they start the travel inwards
in the system. Systems where it will take more than a month or two of
travel will be quite safe from invasion, when a fighting ship will get
problems with morale, and the tactical initiative will be lost. Two
months gives a lot of time to prepare to meet an enemy.

The real fun of the calculus start when there is a binary or trinary
star system, and the companion stars overlap the central stars 100
diameter limit. Some may even at times have their 100 diameter limit
overlap the main world. But I will leave this kind of calculus to the
reader when my own maths skills ends long before this level are
reached.


I would like to get comments on this, either here or mail me personally.


Roger "StarWolf" Myhre
                                                                                                           

------------------------------

Bundle: 584
Archive-Message-Number: 7315
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 12:37:54 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: (cont.) MT and Traveller hypernets

 
 ...continued (MaxThink and Traveller hypernets)
 
 
Special Key Commands in Topic Mode
- ----------------------------------
 
F5 -- Your next question is probably "How do you mark a range of topics?"
      In TOPIC MODE, the F5 key starts the marked range on the currently
      selected topic, and then you move the cursor with the cursor control
      keys to elsewhere on the currently listed level, and press F5 again
      to mark the other end of the range.  Most of the menu commands and
      special key commands work on a range as well as an individual topic,
      though there are exceptions.  In addition, many commands allow you to
      type in a range -- but marking a range with the F5 key is usually
      easier.   In edit mode, F5 activates the text marker, for
      standard word-processor block copies/moves/deletions.
 
Shift-F6 -- Define the Macro.  Extremely powerful, even though limited to
            about 80 keystrokes.  This feature allows you to create
            powerful command combos on the fly, including editing text and
            the activation of commands. Unfortunately, MaxThink can only
            have a single macro defined at one time -- Therefore, until
            this feature is upgraded, having a third-party macro program
            (or macro-capable operating environment) can boost the power of
            MaxThink by at least a magnitude.  Works the same in Edit Mode,
            and allows the switching of modes within the macro.  To use,
            press Shift-F6 to record your macro, and again when you are
            finished.  Press Shift-F6 twice to clear the current macro --
            it is a good habit to clear the macro after finishing up with a
            destructive or data-shuffling macro.
 
F6 -- Execute the Macro.  Be sure you remember which mode you defined the
      macro in, for you will need to start the macro in that mode for it to
      work right.  The same keystrokes mean different things in MaxThink's
      various modes, so getting this right is critical.  Saving the outline
      before extensive macro use is definitely a good idea.
 
F7 -- Creates a topic one level up from the current topic, moves the topic
      pointer to the new topic, and automatically enters EDIT MODE.  Works
      just as well from EDIT MODE.
 
F8 -- Creates a subtopic under the current topic, moves the topic pointer
      to the new topic, and automatically enters EDIT MODE.  Works just as
      well from EDIT MODE.
 
F9 -- Creates a topic immediately before the current topic on the current
      level, moves the topic pointer to the new topic, and automatically
      enters EDIT MODE.  Works just as well from EDIT MODE.
 
F10 -- Creates a topic immediately after the current topic on the current
       level, moves the topic pointer to the new topic, and automatically
       enters EDIT MODE.  Works just as well from EDIT MODE.
 
 
 
 
THE BRAINSTORM MENU
- -------------------
 
The pinnacle of MaxThink's text-manipulation technology lies in the
Brainstorm Menu.  Pressing Enter while the Brainstorm item is highlighted
(being the first entry on the main menu, it usually is highlighted), or
typing "B" from anywhere on the main menu, will change the menu display as
below:
 
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [0] Traveller from scratch
       1  My Traveller Collection
       2  Traveller Product List
       3  Traveller Wish List
       4  Traveller Bibliography
       5  Traveller Index
   ->  6  Traveller Campaign and Background
 
 
================================================================================
BRAINSTORM:[Main]   Binsort    Categorize    Divide    Fence    Gather    Join
            Levelize    Prioritize    Randomize    Sort    Tag    Untag
Return to Main Menu
TEXT       2        PATH:  0                194 Kbytes
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Let's say your mind is going a mile-a-minute, and you are being bombarded
by your imagination with lots of ideas.  You start pressing F10 every few
seconds, creating a new topic and type like mad entering text.  It's all
you can do to keep up with your thoughts, so you don't bother categorizing
as you brainstorm.  Before too long, you have a very long list of possibly
unrelated ideas, task reminders, and observations.  That's where the
Brainstorm commands come in.
 
Or, perhaps you have generated a very long list of vehicles of every
conceivable description.  Selecting a particular type of vehicle for game
play would then require searching across many irrelavent entries.  Sorting
them into categories would make finding a specific kind of vehicle much
easier in the future.  This is where the Brainstorm commands come in.
 
Again, all you have to do is type the first letter of the command, so from
the main menu you would type B (to select the Brainstorm Menu) followed by
the first letter of the brainstorm command you wanted to activate.  Of
course you could use the Space bar and Enter key to make the selection
instead.
 
 
 
 
 
                     ----------------------
                     SUPER-POWERED COMMANDS:
                     -----------------------
 
Typing from the main menu:
 
BB = Brainstorm/Binsort -- Best used after marking a range.  This powerful
     command turns the selected topic or range of topics into bins numbered
     from 1 up to 16 into which the rest of the items on the same level can
     be interactively tossed into with ease.  Simply determine your
     categories, place them at the top of the list, mark them, and then
     press BB.  They will be seperated from the rest of the items on the
     level by a line marked prominently with +++++BINSORT+++++++ (I call
     this the "Binsort Barrier").  For the item at the top of the remainder
     of the list below the Binsort Barrier, type the number of the bin you
     want it sent to and press Enter, and that topic is instantly MOVED to
     the sub-level below the topic (bin) chosen, becoming a subtopic of it.
     The next item on the list instantly steps up for its turn to be
     categorized in this way.  To skip an item on the queue, press Enter
     and it will be sent to the end of the list for reconsideration later
     (thus, you can scroll through the list if you want).  If you want to
     send an item to two or more bins, Alt-C will make a copy of whatever
     item in the you are currently pointing at.  Binsort is arguably the
     most powerful command in the program, competing for this position with
     the Brainstorm/Gather command, the Brainstorm/Sort command, and the
     Lock Command.
 
     The Traveller vehicles list mentioned above can thus be easily sorted
     into the categories of Land Vehicles, Water-borne Vehicles, Air
     Transport, Sub-light Spacecraft, and Starships.   Those categories
     could then be further subdivided (by using BB again) -- For example,
     Land Vehicles could be subdivided into Tracked Vehicles, Wheeled
     Vehicles, Air-Cushioned Vehicles, Legged Vehicles, Pogos, Rail
     Transport, Tubular Transport, and Cable Cars.
 
 
BC = Brainstorm/Categorize -- Restructures a list divided by fences so that
all the topics between the "fence" topics become subtopics of those fences.
Useful for reversing a Levelize (see below) but also useful for outline
building similar to Binsort above.  Some people think best in terms of
boundaries rather than in subclasses.  These fences represent boundaries.
Simply move your topics around so that they are within the proper
boundaries (delineated by the fences), and then type BC.  To make a topic
into a "fence" topic, use the Brainstorm/Tag command below.
Brainstorm/Categorize is best used with a marked range.
 
BD = Brainstorm/Divide --  Divides a topic by line, paragraph, sentence, or
     word.  Great for breaking up documents into their component bits of
     knowledge.  If you want to retain the orignal undivided topic in your
     outline, then make a duplicate of it first with Copy or Get/Put, and
     then Brainstorm/Divide the duplicate.
 
BF = Brainstorm/Fence -- Places a fenced topic before, after, or as a
     subtopic of, the current topic.  The first 11 characters of a "fence"
     are 10 equal signs followed by a space.  You can enter the text to
     follow the fence in the command itself, or you can go back and edit
     the topics created by this command.  This command provides a way of
     inserting boundaries into lists.  It is very useful in conjunction
     with Brainstorm/Categorize.
 
BG = Brainstorm/Gather --  An extremely powerful interactive
     sorting/moving/copying command.  This command has its very own buffer,
     and has two modes of operation:
 
         Brainstorm/Gather/Auto -- Gathers globally or selectively into
         MaxThink's Gather buffer all topics that contain a search string
         specified by the user.  The topics in the buffer may then be
         copied or moved to the desired location.  If moved, they no longer
         exist from where they were gathered.  If copied, they still can be
         found in their original locations as well as in the new one.  This
         command is perfect for gathering all the material on a particular
         subject from within an outline/document, for instance to gather
         all the topics that mention a particular character, government, or
         alien race.
 
 
         Brainstorm/Gather/Manual -- Probably my favorite command, because
         it gives you full juggling control over your material, and is best
         used for the sorting of ideas and random thoughts.  When this
         command is active, the F5 key becomes the grab key.  The cursor
         keys move the topic pointer as normal, but most other keys will
         not work, except for the following:  When the F5 key is pressed,
         the current topic (and all of its subtopics) are moved to the
         Gather buffer.  The F7, F8, F9, and F10 keys will reinsert the
         last gathered topic to the level above, to the level below, as the
         topic immediately before, or as the topic immediately after the
         current topic, respectively.  Topics in the buffer are NOT wiped
         out by subsequently gathered topics, but is cleared (as explained
         below) when the command is completed or exited.  This command
         operates on the Last-In-First-Out principle, and you can cycle
         through the gathered topics by spitting them out (with F7, F8, F9,
         and/or F10) and reswallowing any of them at any time with F5.
         After you are through gathering, or gathering/juggling, or
         swallowing/spitting, you may press Esc to abort on those items
         left in the Gather buffer, or press Enter to copy or move the
         items left in the Gather buffer.  Esc sends the topics still in
         the buffer back to where they came from, while Enter sends the
         topics (or copies of them as you desire) to the location you
         specify.
 
         This command competes with the Binsort command because not only
         can you interactively categorize topics, you can regrab any topic
         that you decide you don't want to put there.  However, this
         command is more of a general purpose interactive copy/move command
         with more emphasis on moving around, and therefore it is not as
         streamlined as Binsort is for categorical sorting.  The
         grab/move-cursor/reinsert sequence of the Brainstorm/Gather/Manual
         command is even more powerful than the Lock command at rearranging
         lists and reorganizing entire outlines, and is best used for
         industrial-sized outline remodeling jobs.  :)
 
BJ = Brainstorm/Join -- Join a marked or specified range of topics by line
     or word.  Joining by line saves paragraph information (useful for
     redividing back into paragraphs later), while joining by word
     wordwraps the joined material into a single paragraph.  Great for
     combining gathered concepts into essay form for editing.  Some data is
     better viewed in paragraph form rather than outline form, for
     instance, that is how I prefer character descriptions.
 
BL = Brainstorm/Levelize -- This command collapses a specified portion of
     your outline from multiple levels into a single level.  You may
     specify how many levels to collapse.  Levelizing starts from the
     current level and affects the sub-levels below it.  The most useful
     feature of the command is that it allows you to specify if you want
     the parent topics to receive fences (labels) or not.  This allows the
     use of the Brainstorm/Categorize command to refold a levelizedlist
     back into its orginal hierarchical structure.  Brainstorm/Levelize
     converts outlines or portions thereof into boundary-separated lists,
     and Brainstorm/Categorize converts them back again.
 
BP = Brainstorm/Prioritize -- Similar to the Binsort command in execution,
     this command is used to order a marked or specified range of topics
     from high-to-low or low-to-high priority.  The screen is divided by
     the Priority Barrier, and the marked topics form a selection queue
     below the barrier.  You then move the topic pointer through the queue,
     and press Enter when you are pointing at the highest (or lowest)
     priority item.  The topics so chosen are sent to the list above the
     barrier, ranked in the order they were sent to that list.  This is
     like the procedure used by kids for picking teams for a kickball game
     or other team sport.  When you are done selecting, or when you abort
     using the Esc key, you are returned to Topic Mode, and the order of
     the topics in the current level is reflected by whatever prioritizing
     you did.
 
     This command is most useful for short or medium-sized lists.  Long
     lists are rather cumbersome for this technique, and are better
     prioritized using the Lock command or the Brainstorm/Gather command.
     Where precise prioritizing is not needed, a very useful technique is
     to manually grade/label each topic with its priority rating (say,
     on a scale from 1 to 5, for instance) at the beginning of the topic,
     and then sort the list (this rating can then be easily removed with
     the Brainstorm/Untag command - see below).  Brainstorm/Binsort can be
     used in a similar fashion to categorize topics into bins labeled
     Priority One to Priority Five.
 
BR = Brainstorm/Randomize -- Randomizes the order of a marked or specified
     range of topics.  Great for busting up assumptions and preconceptions.
     Reading down a list after it has been randomized can give you many
     more ideas, because it will expose you to many more relationships as
     you associate each item on the list with the next.  And yes, as you
     observant ref's have instantly seen, this command can also be used for
     randomizing encounter tables, or any kind of table, and even for
     rolling dice (to roll multiple dice, randomize an entire distribution
     list).  With this command and a macro, you can rapidly generate as
     many random numbers as you need for character generation or what have
     you.  A similar macro can be used for skill selection.  Note that
     these numbers and selections are not truly random, as they rely on the
     use of a computed or stored "seed" value, but it approximates
     randomness well enough for RPGaming purposes.
 
BS = Brainstorm/Sort -- Sorts a marked or specified range alphabetically
     according to ASCII value or in the standard order used in
     dictionaries.  Sorts in ascending or descending order, as you specify.
     You may also specify the column on the screen which to sort from,
     which makes MaxThink a basic database program on top of everything
     else!  Thus, you can sort your Traveller bibliographies and product
     list by Title, Author, or Publisher; sort your AD&D spells by name,
     level, or type of magic.
 
BT = Brainstorm/Tag -- Places a user defined string (or "fence") at the
     beginning of a topic or each of a range of topics.  The default fence
     is 10 equal signs.  This command works well in combination with the
     Brainstorm/Categorize command above.  It is also useful for creating
     data fields within topics, giving them temporary or permanent labels.
     Once you have labeled everything you need to, the Brainstorm/Sort
     command can by used to order them.
 
BU = Brainstorm/Untag --  Removes a specified number of characters from the
     beginning of a topic or each of a range of topics.  Useful for
     removing fences and labels.
 
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                -----------------------------
                Creating a Traveller Hypernet
                ------------------------------
 
Linkouts are contained in angle brackets <>, and can be placed
anywhere within a topic.  A link-out usually contains a path and
filename <y:likethis.mt>, which can be another outline, or a file
in a different format (usually ASCII).  Angle brackets can also
contain call outs to DOS, to load programs to view files of
specific data formats. For instance, the linkout <dos 123
d:\trav\spread\koors.wks> would load the lotus spreadsheet named
koors.wks from its directory on my hard disk. More useful, would
be call-outs for loading a graphics file viewer, along with the
filename to be viewed -- such call-outs could be quite useful if
placed in the appropriate locations in an adventure write-up, for
instance.
 
MaxThink includes its own file viewer to read non-outline files
specified within angle brackets.  As usual, all it takes to
link-out to view the file is a press of the Right Arrow.
However, MaxThink's text file viewer can only view the first 20k
of a file -- the remedy for this is to specify a dos call
to run your favorite file viewer (the one I use is LIST by
Vernon D. Buerg), like this:  <dos list c:\example\filename.any>.
Here are some examples of link-outs and call-outs:
 
        <filename.any>   If this is a MaxThink outline, MaxThink will
                         save the current outline and load this one.
 
        <filename.any>   If this is any other kind of file, MaxThink will
                         try to view it with its built-in file viewer.
 
      <y:filename.any>   The use of the y: (or other non-drive letter)
                         assumes you've predefined y: using DOS's SUBST
                         command.  This saves having to include the entire
                         path in the link-out, and provides for portibility
                         between DOS systems with various drive
                         configurations.
 
<dos list filename.any>  Use this callout to view a text file greater than
                         20K in size.
 
<dos cshow picture.gif>  Here's a callout for viewing graphics files.
 
 
MaxThink has many more menu and key-based commands and other
features that I haven't even mentioned yet, but I've been writing
all day, and I'm about ready to pass out.
 
My Traveller hypernet has grown many times too large for MaxThink
to handle as a single outline, as it measures several megabytes
in size.  Therefore, it includes scores of interlinked outlines.
It also contains link-outs to every bun or text file downloaded
from Sunbane and every text file I've obtained from the HIWG and
other sources.
 
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               ---------------------------
               A SAMPLE TRAVELLER HYPERNET
               ---------------------------
 
I shall wrap up by printing out below one of the outlines
contained in my Traveller hypernet.  It will allow you to see how
I keep track of the various branches in my Traveller campaign,
and the players in each:
 
 
My Traveller Campaign.  Branches:      <y:campaign.trv>
  - Player survey for scenario selection <y:psurvey.cmp>
  - ========== Branches -- by players included
     - Solo branches
        - Solo 1 branches (Carlin)   <y:carlin.cmp>
           - Cruising the Abyss Rift --             <y:abyss.bra>
           - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej2.bra>
           - They Live -- (beyond charted space)    <y:they.bra>
           - Venejen -- (Carlin) 12/25/93 <y:venej1.bra>
           - Voyages of the Viper -- (Talos)        <y:viper.bra>
        - Solo 2 branches (Dan)      <y:dan.cmp>
           - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej3.bra>
        - Solo 3 branches (Brandon)  <y:brandon.cmp>
           - Generations -- (Far Frontiers)         <y:gen.bra>
           - Leader of the Pack -- (Spinward Main)  <y:pack.bra>
           - Solar Flare Mystery -- (Old Expanses)  <y:flare.bra>
        - Solo 4 branches (Matt)     <y:matt.cmp>
           - Adventures of Jax Plax -- (Regina)     <y:regina1.bra>
           - Sold into Freedom -- (Freedonia)       <y:frdonia.bra>
        - Solo 5 branches (Chris)    <y:chris.cmp>
           - VACC SUITS, Inc. --  Glisten           <y:vacc.bra>
     - Duo branches
        - Duo 1 branches (Carlin & Brandon) <y:duo1.cmp>
           - Asshole of the Universe - (Roget)      <y:horde2.bra>
           - Alternate Reality -- (Terra 1994)      <y:selves1.bra>
           - Homos and Holographs -- Regina         <y:holos.bra>
           - Predator -- (Terra 1994)               <y:pred.bra>
           - Rescue on Ruie -- (Regina, Ruie)       <y:ruie1.bra>
           - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej4.bra>
        - Duo 2 branches (Sky & Dan)     <y:duo2.cmp>
           - Adventures in Moss -- (Regina)         <y:moss.bra>
        - Duo 3 branches (Carlin & Rinehart) <y:duo3.cmp>
           - Research Station Gamma -- Venejen   <y:venej3.bra>
     - Group branches
        - Group 1 branches (Sky, Matt, Dan, Raimi, Carlin)    <y:group1.cmp>
           - Chamax Plague -- (Reschev)             <y:horde1.bra>
        - Group 2 branches (Chris, Sky, Dan, Matt, Carlin) <y:group2.cmp>
           - Spinward Main -- (Regina)              <y:main1.bra>
        - Group 3 branches (Deandre, Dan, Sky, Matt) <y:group3.cmp>
           - Spinward Main -- (Regina)              <y:main2.bra>
        - Group 4 branches (Sky, Dan, Brandon)       <y:group4.cmp>
           - Down on Dinomn -- (Dinomn/Lanth)       <y:dinomn.bra>
     - Dead branches
        - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej1.bra>
        - They Came From Beyond -- (Junidy)      <y:junidy1.bra>
     - Abandoned branches                    <y:lost.cmp>
  - ========== Branches -- by branch name
     - Adventures in Moss -- (Regina)         <y:moss.bra>
     - Adventures of Jax Plax -- (Regina)     <y:regina1.bra>
     - Alternate Reality -- (Terra 1994)      <y:selves1.bra>
     - Asshole of the Universe - (Roget)      <y:horde2.bra>
     - Chamax Plague -- (Reschev)             <y:horde1.bra>
     - Cruising the Abyss Rift --             <y:abyss.bra>
     - Down on Dinomn -- (Dinomn/Lanth)       <y:dinomn.bra>
     - Generations -- (Far Frontiers)         <y:gen.bra>
     - Homos and Holographs -- Regina         <y:holos.bra>
     - Leader of the Pack -- (Spinward Main)  <y:pack.bra>
     - Predator -- (Terra 1994)               <y:pred.bra>
     - Rescue on Ruie -- (Regina, Ruie)       <y:ruie1.bra>
     - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej1.bra>
     - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej2.bra>
     - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej3.bra>
     - Research Station Gamma -- (Venejen)    <y:venej4.bra>
     - Solar Flare Mystery -- (Old Expanses)  <y:flare.bra>
     - Sold into Freedom -- (Freedonia)       <y:frdonia.bra>
     - Spinward Main -- (Regina)              <y:main1.bra>
     - Spinward Main -- (Regina)              <y:main2.bra>
     - They Came From Beyond -- (Junidy)      <y:junidy1.bra>
     - They Live -- (beyond charted space)    <y:they.bra>
     - VACC SUITS, Inc. --  Glisten           <y:vacc.bra>
     - Voyages of the Viper -- (Talos)        <y:viper.bra>
 
 
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Note that it would have probably taken me 10 times longer to
organize the information in the example outline above using a
word processor, because of the way I've ordered the information
(in a way most useful to me).  If I had to use a wordprocessor to
it, I probably would not have embarked on the task of organizing
my campaign records in the first place.  Each branch entry in the
outline above includes a linkout to the file that contains the
information for that branch, so getting to any information on
my campaign is quick and easy.  No shuffling through piles
of papers.
 
Having MaxThink would allow you to do the following:  Keep
records on your campaign, organized the way you want.  Make your
own adventures for and custom developments to the game, and keep
all these writings organized in a single structure so that you can
easily find what you need when you need it.  It's like having a
road system to access your knowledge, with highways leading to
major areas, and roads branching off leading to the various
pieces of information contained.
 
Your Traveller hypernet could in turn be hooked-into and made
accessible from any number of other hypernets.  For instance, on
my computer, I have an all-encompassing hypernet (which I call my
"Master Outline"), which links to and therefore encompasses
almost everything I've ever written over the past few years,
including a branch designed for Self-Management (to plan,
schedule, and execute projects, programs of activities, and
individual tasks).  It also contains a branch on Business,
another containing my personal Researches, and another for my
favorite hobby (RPG's).  Each branch of my Master Outline
branches off, so the whole contains a great many reference areas
and development areas relating to many different subjects
(philosophy, ideas, nutrition, sleep, exercise, property
management, hypertext/hypernet technology, catalogs of utilities,
bibliographies on several subjects, etc., etc., etc).
 
Each branch of a hypernet can be referred to as another hypernet
(or subnet) if it in turn links-out or branches (otherwise it is
just a file of some kind, like an outline or document, but not a
hypernet in and of itself).  My RPG hypernet has a huge branch
dedicated to AD&D, and another even larger branch designed to
support my Traveller campaign and TML activities.
 
One way to visualize a hypernet is hierarchically, like this:
 
 
 .                          Master Outline
 .                         --------------
 .                               |
 .                               |
 . --------------------------------------------------------------
 . |                        |                 |                 |
 . |                        |               Writings,           |
 . General            Self-Management      Researches,        Hobbies
 . Knowledge              System            & Studies            |
 . -----------------   ---------------      ---------            |
 . P   S   B   P   A     |                  | | | | |           RPG's
 . h   c   u   o   r     |--Plan Devel.     | | | | |          ---------
 . i   i   s   l   t     |                  | | | | |          |       |
 . l   e   i   i   s     |--Time management | | | | |        AD&D    Traveller
 . o   n   n   t         |    |             | | | | Health
 . s   c   e   i         |    |--Schedule   | | | Thinking systems
 . o   e   s   c         |    |             | | Learning systems
 . p   s   s   s         |    |--Execute    | Self-mgt. systems
 . h                     |                  Philosophy
 . y                     |--Self-evaluation
 
Each of the above branches could then branch out, even to each
other.  Extensive interlinking makes the structure more akin to a
network than a hierarchy.  Networks can include circular routes,
star patterns, group-ins, group-outs, and imbedded hierarchies.
 
 
Speaking of hierarchies, Traveller breaks down rather easily into
a hierarchy.  Here is the Traveller branch from the tree above
expanded to show one possible breakdown:
 

------------------------------

Bundle: 584
Archive-Message-Number: 7316
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 12:45:59 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: MT and Trav hypernets, part 3

 
 
(I somehow split the file again.  Here's the last part again, for
the sake of continuity):
 
Speaking of hierarchies, Traveller breaks down rather easily into
a hierarchy.  Here is the Traveller branch from the tree above
expanded to show one possible breakdown:
 
 
 .                                 TRAVELLER
 .    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 .    |         |      |        |     |      |          |     |     |     |
 . Campaign     |      |        |     |      |          |     |     |     |
 . |   |        |      |        |    NPC's   |          |   Flora   |    Mass
 . |   branch 2 |      |        |            |          |     &     |    Media
 . |            |   Adventures  |        ---------      |   Fauna   |
 . branch1      |               |        |       |      |           |
 .              |            Encounters  |    Equipment |        Sophonts
 .        Charted Space                  |              |        |      |
 .        -----------------------     Technology        |       Major  Minor
 .        |           |         |                    Vehicles
 .        |           |         |                ---------------
 .     Sector 1    Sector 2   Sector n           |   |     |   |
 .                    |                       Land  Water Air Space
 .                    |                        |
 .                    |                        |
 .       ------------------------        --cars/tanks--------trains/trams--
 .       |   |           |      |          |  |  |  |  |        |  |  |
 .       |   |           |      |          |  |  |  |  Pogos    |  |  |
 .       |  Subsector B  |  Subsector Etc. |  |  |  Walkers     |  |  |
 .       |               |                 |  |  Hovercraft   Rail |  Cable
 .     Subsector A    Subsector C          |  Tracked           Tubular
 .                       |                 Wheeled
 .                       |
 .             -------------------------
 .             |      |    |   |       |
 .           World 1  |    |   |   World etc.
 .                    |    |   |
 .                World 2  |  World 4
 .                         |
 .                       Terra
 
 
If all traveller material was organized in this structure, rather
than spread out and mixed together, it would be a breeze to learn
and use.  That's where MaxThink comes in.
 
The above diagram took me over 2 hours to construct.  That was
with the hierarchy already in mind -- if I was building this
thing from scratch in this format, modifying the structure during
construction would be a major pain.  And, as you can see, I
rapidly ran out of room for subcategories.  The outline format is
so much easier to work with -- the above classification scheme
could be constructed and in MaxThink in a matter of minutes, and
more completely, with plenty of room to expand.
 
 
 
===========================================================================
 
Contact me if you have any questions.
 
 
 
    Good night,
    Rodge
 
 

------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #585: Msgs 7317-7329 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Sun Apr 24 22:00:02 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #585: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 585  7317 20-Apr-1994 Ted7@world.std.  Rodger's wondering << Roger Sanger spea
 585  7318 20-Apr-1994 Ted7@world.std.  Why the Regency Won't Reconquer the 3I 
 585  7319 20-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Traveller Background 15 << Gentlesophon
 585  7320 20-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Earth Colonies Campaign << Gentlesophon
 585  7321 20-Apr-1994 Barbara Trumpin  Re: TML nightly: Msgs 7316-7318 V72#11 
 585  7322 20-Apr-1994 "Alexander W. H  Regency will conquer 3I << Ted,
 585  7323 19-Apr-1994 Jeff Zeitlin     72:7/7297 Regency and Suc << Subject: 7
 585  7324 21-Apr-1994 gdw.support@gen  <<  
 585  7325 21-Apr-1994 Joseph Block     Cheap LISTSERV reception, t <<  If you 
 585  7326 21-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Zhodani and Regency << Actually, the Zh
 585  7327 21-Apr-1994 Mark Cook        Re: Deep Space Refueling << In TML Arch
 585  7328 21-Apr-1994 "Alexander W. H  Charted Space list? << Steve, 
 585  7329 21-Apr-1994 "Britta B. Damw  Adventuring in the KFC << Path of Blood

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7317
From: Ted7@world.std.com
Subject: Rodger's wondering
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 16:23:46 -0400 (EDT)


Roger Sanger speaks of the necessity of Peace in the Regency area:

>Therefore, the Regency, the Zhodani Consolate, the Darrian
>Confederation, the Sword Worlds, and all the governments further
>spinward each have a very high stake in keeping the peace and
>tolerating each others' presence.

I don't know....  Consider the Consulate's view once you give them
the goal of disposing of the remainder of the 3rd Imp and their 
willingness to take the longer view:

Continue supporting their Vargr client states (becomes easier once
competion with impies ends with impi demise) provides most of their
clean border that they do not already provide.

They cover a bit more of their own border (hard border with Regency)

They assault Regency (they have SEVERAL SECTORS worth of spare navy
to draw on.

They don't have to win - they just have to make the Regency draw off 
enough forces to let the Virus in.  The Virus can do most of the work.

The Zho pull back and seal off their border, and spend 50 years 
changing their technology to include a non-computer pyschic component
(ie Virus proof) to their ship control systems.

They come back after 50 years and easily take over the corpse of the 
Regency, neatly rebuilding the Spinward Marches as Zho societies.

Part of the problem it seems to me about depending on the Vargr is
that the Vargr over the long run do not form stable societies.
The Virus problem will eventually be at the wrong place at the wrong
time during an unstable period and then - bye-bye Vargr state.  On
teh other hand, I'll wager that the Vargr are BETTER are rebuilding 
collapsed societies than humans are...  Perhaps contact will come to
the Regency from Vargr merchants moving through Vampiure areas in
Vampire-proof ships...


Roger Sanger asks:

>How far could a well-stocked 5k-ton vessel go without starport
>support?

>How far could a solar-powered ship go without starport support?

Both questions have the same limits:

The vessel will be fine until something important wears out and needs to be replaced.
(engines, avionics components, life support components, water recycling system, maneuver and
jump drives, power systems, airlock seals, reaction mass pumping systems, battery failure, and
several other things that may have a slight chance of failing over time - some of which are detected
and fixed during semi-annual maintenance which won't be done w/o starport support).

The crew will be fine until they cannot restock with supplies.
(life support or recycling system failure; lack of planets with terran life; small craft failure stopping
the crew from landing, etc.)

>Couldn't such a ship successfully travel across the map and back
>in less than 10 years' time?
According to GDW's spacecraft maintenance requirements, probably not.  Something important
would fail and cause the ship to stop moving before then.

>What would its probability of
>success be (at the beginning of the collapse)?  (Toward the
>beginning of the New Era)?

Worse toward the beginning, I'd imagine, as you can add the hazards of:

   o  paranoid surviving planets with space defenses still operating
   o  pirates who'd love another operational ship
   o  Virus vampires
   o  Virus infection

>And what of the MegaCorporations?  Wouldn't they want to reclaim
>their companies' assets?

Only where they have survived.  However, consider that many corps (or pieces of Megacorps) had
assets (factories, facilities, transportation & distribution nets) that may well have been destroyed or
taken over during the Collapse, or had assets on far flung planets that went out of contact when
the Collapse came.  These Megacorps need to survive the Collapse and the Chaos afterward
deprived of the assets that made them Megacorps in the first place.  Most Megacorps are more
likely to survive as deserted corporate skyscraper HQs, with a few ancient managers pushing
meaningless paper from office to office because that's what they have always done - since the
collapse.

Doesn't mean it cannot happen.  It can even lead to some interesting problems:

Megadodo of Taj Mahal sending mercs to retake a working factory from Megadodo of Bainbridge,
because the Bainbridge office no longer believes that the Taj Mahal office has jurisdiction based on
a memo they received 70 years ago releasing them to reorganize as the local director saw fit...

Amtgeschafft IG demands of the government of Caledonia 70 years in back rent of their electronics
factory which was taken over by the government as an emergency measure 70 years ago - after
the Megacorp pulled its personnel off-planet.

>Just wonderin'

just answerin'    :-)

                                                         Ted7



------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7318
From: Ted7@world.std.com
Subject: Why the Regency Won't Reconquer the 3I this Week
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 16:24:47 -0400 (EDT)

Lazerbrain asks:

>Here's a thought...once the phobia over the Virus fades, what will 
>keep the entire Regency, Vargr, and every other sentient along the 
>border from mobilizing fleets and literally PLOW back into the 
>Imperium?

Short list:

1. Number and type of ships.  The Regency Navy has been evolved to
   keep a sealed border.  These are MUCH different set of ships that
   would be used for planetary and system conquest - not to mention
   the possibility of fighting major fleet battles.

   Further, every time you move your border, you have to guard an
   additional system - meaning more guard ships that must be built,
   crew hired, and supported.  What from?  From anything that may
   be out there - and as you expand your border in 1 direction, you 
   have to guard from 3 directions (every direction but behind).

   Not everyone in the Regency wants all their income sucked into
   taxes to built military spacecraft.

2. Support required.  Each time you send your fleet further and 
   further, you need to support it (meaning more ships used in the
   supply line instead of supporting the economy at home).  Everytime
   you take a planet, you need to maintain the troops you leave on
   it.  Also, once you start taking junked planets, you need to pour 
   in resources to rebuild them.

   Not everyone in the Regency wants all their income sucked into
   taxes to support the military they did not want to buy in the 
   first place nor to support a large chunk of the old 3Imp!

3. Troops required.  Even light occupation forces add up given a lot
   of planets.  These are troops that will be away for longer and 
   longer periods of time as you move further away.  Each trooper is
   someone who cannot help the Regency economy - and needs to be fed,
   clothed, armed, and ammoed from Regency factories.  The more
   planets you occupy simultaneously, the more troops you need.  Oh,
   and regardless of the TL on the assaulted planets, there will 
   probably be some casualties.  As these mount, these assaults will
   lose support.

   Not everyone in the Regency wants to grind their children in 
   Norris's war machine.

4. Time.  Pacifying planets takes time.  It does not happen over 
   night.  Regency forces cannot go "Hell for leather" too far before
   the available forces, transport, supplies are all engaged 
   somewhere and are forced to wait for some actions to conclude 
   before continuing.  Not to mention a much longer period of time
   used to digest and support a given planet so that it is not a 
   drain on the Regency.

   Not everyone in the Regency wants to spend their life in service 
   on some wreteched wreck of a planet or in jump space.

To sum up briefly, the Regency cannot afford it.

>It all seems rather pointless!
   
Another reason I did not buy TNE.

			Ted7

 

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7319
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 19:40:19 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Traveller Background 15

Gentlesophonts:

Well folks, I've been away from the 'Net for a while out into the `real'
world but I'm back to a pile of TML so here goes.  (I've been asked to
cut down on my amount of quoting so if I cut too much, please bear with
me.)

From Saturday night, Jeff Zeitlin <jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com> writes:
  
>   Perhaps even the democrats will realize that when you are 
>   governing thousands of worlds, it's simply not practical to have 
>   democracy at the highest levels. 

Etc. (I've cut a lot here.)

I've heard this arguement before and I don't buy it.  Certainly *direct*,
participatory democracy, or *demarchy*, isn't feasible but that's not
most folks' experience with `democracy' anyway.  A representative democracy
can deal with a large, interstellar state just as easily as a hereditary
aristocracy.  The difference comes from the roots for *-archy*, which
pertains to the nature of the ruling authority, and *-cracy* which pertains
to the source of that authority.  Admittedly these boundaries are
often confused but the difference between, say, *democracy* and *demarchy*
is that in a democracy the people (demos) *consent* to being ruled while in a
demarchy the people rule directly.  A *monarch* is a single ruler but the
source of that ruler's authority is not clear.  In an *autocracy* though
the single ruler's authority comes from herself - not the `people'.

Thus, a democracy might be an *autarchy* with ruling authority invested in
a single ruler.  (Captain Picard is this sort of ruler - he has absolute 
authority but that authority rests upon the consent of his crew - or at
least a majority.)  A democracy might be an *oligarchy* with ruling authority
invested in a group of individuals.  (Modern representative democracies like
the US would fit this category.)  Or a democracy might be a *demarchy* in
which everyone participates in the decision making.  (A typical gaming
group would fit this category.)

In a sense *all* states are `democractic' - even oppressive ones - because
any large group must enjoy some degree of consent from a majority of group
members in order to function.  Thus, the Soviet Union `collapsed' when the
leadership no longer enjoyed sufficient consent from the `governed'.  One
might make a similar arguement for the aristocracy of the Old Imperium and
the Regency.

The key then, I think, when we're talking about `democracy' is the degree
to which the populace has the opportunity to express its `consent'.  With
a hereditary aristocracy there are no `sanctioned' methods for the people
to express their lack of consent except through revolution.  In a `republic'
the people have regular opportunities to express some sort of consent
through voting.  The distinction here might then be between `regulated'
democracy and `unregulated' democracy.  An `unregulated' democracy relies 
upon non-consensual methods of transferring authority (heredity or
abdication say) while regulated democracies have some consensual method
such as elections.

Therefore, a `regulated', democractic oligarchy or autarchy could just as
effectively govern a large, interstellar state as could the `unregulated',
democratic oligarchy of the Old Imperium and Regency.
 
>   Can you really seriously believe that you could suppress the news 
>   of the destruction of even a small city on all of over 1,000 
>   worlds?

Etc. (Again, a lot is cut.)

Certianly.  All I have to do is patrol the dozen or so worlds within jump
distance of the `source' world.  Choke points at the refuelling sources make
it easy to stop all but the most concerted efforts.  If I already have such
a plan in place prior to the incident then I can implement this plan as soon as
news arrives at the `authorities' (possibly expanding my net to include news
from this second `source' world as well) and long before any sort of group
forms to undertake a `concerted' effort to counter my plan.  Remember how
the news of Strephon's assassination preceded the `official' news through
discrete government channels?  (That's how Norris `became' Archduke.)  One
wonders in that case if such a plan even existed and yet Norris was successful
at *proclaiming himself* Archduke without news to the contrary *ever* leaking
out!  Norris was an *expert* at this sort of behavior - he owed his very
position as Regent to it.  I'm convinced that news of the `Rape of Trin'
served his interests or else it would not be *widely* known.
 
>   Information was tightly controlled in the Soviet Union.  That 
>   didn't (most emphatically it didn't) stop underground networks 
>   from forming and passing the news on through channels that the 
>   government _couldn't_ control.

Let me turn this example on its head.  The CIA professed to be `surprised'
by the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and has even taken congressional
heat for being `unprepared'.  I find it difficult to believe that such was
the actual case - especially in light of the clear incentive for the CIA
and the rest of the Western intelligence community to continue to support
the fiction of the Soviets as a credible adversary.  Remember, `liberals'
in the West have never expressed the view that the Soviets were *unable*
to threaten the West but rather merely posited that they were *uninterested*
in threatening the West.  *Both* sides, `apparently', were caught unawares.

>   Wait a minute: Dulinor immediately discounted both Varian and 
>   Lucan when he killed "Strephon".  Recall that he claimed the IT 
>   by right of assassination.

Etc.  (Again, a great deal of discussion about the nature of legitimate
claims to the Iridium Throne has been cut.)

Obviously Dulinor *never* `discounted' the possible claim of the Twin
Princes or he would not have sent his agent Imprey(?) to assassinate them.
 
>   But this is mostly beside the point.  Except for Deneb, _every_ 
>   faction was directly involved in the war for the IT.  Except for 
>   Deneb, _none_ of the factions was willing to see anyone but their 
>   choice on the IT.

Not true.  The Vilani never sought the Throne but instead seceded.  Daibei
never sought the Throne.  And both Lucan *and* Margaret had *legitimate*,
hereditary claims to the Throne.  Lucan`s, and later Margaret's, claims
were weakened not by their hereditary legitimacy but by questions about
their character - respectively, Lucan's fratricide and Margaret's bigotry.
Heirs of either would not share this stain and might make *very* effective
claims upon Norris and his heirs to turn-over their Regency to the legitimate
ruler.

I'm not suggesting that Norris would want to preserve the Quarantine in order
to avoid such a legitmate claim (although as time passes his heirs might).
But clearly the possibility existed (exists?) for a *seemingly* legitimate
heir to Lucan or Margaret to come forward that still suffered from `hinted'
questions like their forebearer.  Such a situation is a prescription for 
a *Second* `Rebellion' and Norris might have wished to avoid such a possiblity
while taking the chance that he might also be forsaking a truly legitimate
heir.

Besides, if this isn't the reason the Regency maintains the Quarantine 
what is?

Peace,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7320
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 19:50:36 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Earth Colonies Campaign

Gentlesophonts:

I've had several postive responses to posting information about the Earth
Colonies Campaign and no negative responses.  I'm quite busy at the moment
but look for some Earth Colonies material in a week or so.  I beleive I'll
start with the 3D campaign area and a brief introduction.

Unfortunately, the EC info isn't in an electronic format that is compatible
with my 'Net access and level of skill.  (I'm using my employer's UNIX work-
station while the EC material is in Mac format at home.)  Therefore what
appears here will have to be transcribed after hours and on weekends and will
thus only be a summary.  You can get the newsletter *Melbourne Times* if
you're interested in details.

Thanks for your interest.

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7321
From: Barbara Trumpinski <trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: TML nightly: Msgs 7316-7318 V72#11
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 21:25:40 -0500 (CDT)

please unsubscribe:  trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu


------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7322
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 22:49:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Alexander W. Holt" <awh2@crux4.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Regency will conquer 3I

Ted,
	I don't think I agree with you.

1.  In point one you said that the Regency Navy has evolve to using 
different types of ships.  Well supposed that would the RQS job to keep 
the quarantine.  No?  And what the major fleet battles are there to be 
fought.  Most pocket empires (supposedly) will no have squadrons of 
battle riders.  

Every time you move the border, the whole border has the possiblity of 
moving.  If you decide to had another planet that may free up resources 
for a planet behind it, because it no longer jump accessible from the 
wilds.

Who says you any more taxes are needed.  You could reduce the amount of 
forces held in the interior of the Regency.  This one thing I one aspect 
of the 3I that I never understood, why they kept  a incredible amount of 
naval power in the interior of the 3I.  The way I see it is that allowed 
the Rebellion to happen.  

2.  What is an investment?   Essentially you build something for the 
future.  Regency will not have "all" of its income "sucked" into taxes.  
Won't the private sector get into this is well.    

About the support required.  That is a longer term investment as well. 
Those supports will build up the infrastructure needed for being larger.
  
3.  Who says anything about occupation forces.  A lot of planets might 
want to join the Regency given the chance.  Yes some planets would 
eventually need to be occupied, but given the Regencies tech level 
advantage, the time to occupation would be limited.  Look at the allied 
powers occupation of Japan and Germany for example.  You defeat the 
country and then leave a small fraction behind.

About the loss of support.  Why?  People will give up support when the 
feel it is no longer a just or worthy cause.  If the Regency performs 
well (no reason to thing that it will not),  why would be people give up 
support.  

Who says that it is war machine and that everyone's children would be in 
it.  

4.  Ok.  I already mentioned time issue.  Just look at how long it took 
Japan and Germany to get on their feet.   Take a look at East Germany 
today.  After 3 years it is now on the upward track according to stats 
and given 10 more years will be help out the whole of Germany.  

Your right, the Regency can't afford it if every one lives like Americans 
today do.  Saving only 5% of their income and have stupid laws that 
essentially hinder us.  If the Regency saves around 10% of income the it 
can easily afford it.  


						Alex

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7323
Subject: 72:7/7297 Regency and Suc
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (Jeff Zeitlin)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 94 17:41:00 -0500

Subject: 72:7/7297 Regency and Succession

TS::>Jeff Zeitlin comments:
  ::>>   When your empire gets too large to allow for this, you need a
  ::>>   simple, clear, automatic method of replacement.  Thus,
  ::>>   inheritance.  Thus, monarchy.
  ::>>

TS::>The people of the Regency might not be too keen on this.  After all, look
  ::>what happened the last time someone had to decide who got to inherit the
  ::>Throne.  Perhaps voting is the easier option after all.  It may be slow,
  ::>but what the hell are you in a hurry for?  With a large Empire the
  ::>ability of the central government to make decisions that actually matter
  ::>(rather than just rubber stamping those made by government agencies) is
  ::>extremely limited.  What did Strephon actually do as Emperor?  Until
  ::>the Rebellion he hardly figured at all in the lives of most citizens of
  ::>the Imperium.  He was just a figurehead, a symbol.  The day to day
  ::>running of the Imperium (and any large government) is in the hands of
  ::>its' civil servants.  And no-one elects them.  Nor do they inherit their
  ::>positions (although there's some doubt about that).

  Your point is conceded from the viewpoint of _real_ power.  The 
  problem is that of _perceived_ power, and guidance.  The United 
  States, for example, could in fact get along quite well without a 
  President; yet let him get assassinated, and the Vice President 
  will have to take the Oath of Office as soon as possible, to 
  prevent a world-wide panic because "nobody is at the helm" of 
  "the most important nation on Earth".  Similarly with the 
  Imperium or the Regency.  There must be someone at the helm, or 
  the people will lose confidence in the government.  With the 
  Spinward States, I get the impression that it was Norris's 
  personal charisma that was what made it possible for the other 
  states to put aside their distrust of each other and work 
  together for mutual survival.  If Norris dies with a 
  "hand-picked" successor, the other states will likely give that 
  successor the benefit of the doubt, and see how well things work 
  out.  In the event that Norris dies without a successor, the more 
  opportunistic factions in the _other_ states may prevail in their 
  counsels, and the Spinward States would then go down together.

  So, why won't they hold off long enough for the Regency to hold 
  an election?  Well, maybe they will.  But what happens if the 
  first round of balloting (which must take _months_) doesn't 
  produce a clear choice?  How long are the other states going to 
  wait for a clear choice in the Regency?  These are questions that 
  must be considered.  Remember that both the Vargr and the Aslan 
  took advantage of a perceived weakness in the Imperium when there 
  was no clear choice.  Why should they refrain again?  In the case 
  of the Domain of Deneb, a local charismatic leader was able to 
  stabilize the situation.  But there is no similar leader waiting 
  to step in if Norris is removed from the picture.  Thus, Norris, 
  even more than the previous Emperors, _must_ have a heir 
  apparent.  Such a person need not be related by blood.  But the 
  provision must be there for _that_person_ to take over on zero 
  notice.

TS::>The discussion about the legitimacy of the Regent's claim to the throne
  ::>is beginning to resemble Imperial Law 101.  Putting on my Machiavellian
  ::>hat, I'd propose that all this stuff about legitimacy doesn't matter one

  Conceded, again.  But it takes _one_ person to provide that 
  inspirational leadership that makes it possible for the empire to 
  assert that legitimacy and have the people go along with it.  
  Even that might not be enough; we don't know how bloody the 
  "Pacification Wars" really were.  But the perceived image of 
  legitimacy, and a charismatic leader, almost certainly helped.

TS::>Another example: the Right of Succession by Assassination seems to me to
  ::>have been invented by the Imperial Moot as an expedient measure when
  ::>faced with a powerful pretender to the Throne who they couldn't stop.
  ::>If some bozo turned up at the Capital with a huge fleet
  ::>of warships, killed the Emperor and then declared himself/herself the
  ::>new Emperor what was the Moot going to do?  Yup, legitimate the new
  ::>Emperor by declaring a "Right of Succession by Assassination" clause in
  ::>Imperial Law.  This was a convenient way for the members of the Moot
  ::>to avoid being killed themselves.

  Actually, the RoA was created by the Moot to rid themselves of a 
  dangerous lunatic who had achieved the throne by normal and legal 
  succession.  They didn't know he was a lunatic when the 
  legitimized him.  They hired a fleet admiral to bump him off.  
  The payment was the Iridium Throne itself.

TS::>Quite why Norris has continued to call himself Regent for the 70 years
  ::>following the events of Arrival Vengeance I don't understand.  Is he
  ::>waiting for a legitimate heir to appear?  From where, exactly?  Since
  ::>the AV crew met the real Strephon and Norris believed him to be the
  ::>real Strephon and the real Strephon bequeathed the Throne to Norris
  ::>(for what it was worth, Strephon may have been ruler on paper but
  ::>by that point he certainly wasn't ruler in fact) then Norris (on paper)
  ::>is the Emperor and so is whovever he decides to pass the title on to.
  ::>Whether anyone else outside the Regency will accept this is moot.  But
  ::>then, they didn't accept it at the time of the Rebellion (hence the
  ::>Rebellion).  Personally, I think that all this debate about legitimacy
  ::>is a waste of time and bandwidth:  we're rehashing  a problem that couldn'
  ::>be resolved 70 years ago.  I don't think that it can be solved now either.

  Well, Strephon didn't really make Norris the heir to the throne.  
  He made it clear that Norris was the only one left to carry on 
  the traditions, but as far as Norris's rank goes, he was only 
  confirmed in his self-assumed title of Archduke of the Domain of 
  Deneb.  It was basically when the Collapse came that the Domain 
  sealed its borders, and basically proclaimed to its people that 
  it was the Regency for the Imperium that Was.  After that, it was 
  just common usage that got "out of hand".
==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
 ~ QMPro 1.52 ~ Not by killing others.

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7324
From: gdw.support@genie.geis.com
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 03:39:00 UTC
Subject: 

 
 Alistair Langsford,
 
 I have been attempting to contact you, but the address I have
 keeps bouncing. Could you verify that
 
 langsl@cbr.hhcs.gov.au
 
 is your correct address?
 
 Thanks
 
 
 Loren Wiseman

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7325
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 00:02 EST
From: Joseph Block <0006316815@mcimail.com>
Subject: Cheap LISTSERV reception, t

 If you get two of these, it is because my machine crashed while
sending the first
This is going to several lists since it is getting to be that time of
year when students lose access again. 

No flames for being off topic or commercial please; I'm providing
this information as a recommendation from a satisfied customer and
gain nothing (in fact I'm paying to send it) if you decide to act
upon it other than your continued participation in these lists.  

MCIMail allows unlimited free message reception for $35 annually. 
There is no connect time charge for downloading the messages on the
9600 baud 800 number.  Outgoing messages are charged per message,
depending on the number of characters.  Admittedly the outgoing mail
isn't cheap, but you can use Cserve/AOL/Delphi/Whatever for that. 
MCIMail also has a special student rate that is (I think) $5 per
month, but includes 100 free outgoing messages (the first 500 chars
anyway).  I don't happen to have the 800 number with me.  Other than
a free account, it is hard to beat $3 a month for your email fix.

You should also contact netcom (info@netcom.com) about their service.
 Also, check out Intercon's WorldLink.



------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7326
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 10:04:16 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Zhodani and Regency


Actually, the Zhodani have no real motivation to smash the Regency,
and a lot of good reasons not to, for now.  

>They assault Regency (they have SEVERAL SECTORS worth of spare navy
>to draw on.

Which they weren't willing to use during the Fifth Frontier War, and
they probably won't want to use now.  Also, consider that the
Zhodani are probably using spare fleets not attached to the Core
Expedition and other pursuits to help their Vargr client-states
maintain the quarantine coreward of Windhorn.

>They don't have to win - they just have to make the Regency draw off 
>enough forces to let the Virus in.  The Virus can do most of the work.
>
>The Zho pull back and seal off their border, and spend 50 years
>changing their technology to include a non-computer pyschic component
>(ie Virus proof) to their ship control systems.

Except that they won't have the Regency doing part of the job for
them anymore, they'll lose a lot of their own ships needed for the
quarantine in the process, and they'll lose the Windhorn-Great Rift
choke point in Corridor that has made holding Virus off for this
long feasible.  And they'll lose every other ally they ever had in
the region, forever.

>They come back after 50 years and easily take over the corpse of the 
>Regency, neatly rebuilding the Spinward Marches as Zho societies.

Why just the corpse?  If the Zhodani stay on good terms, there is
a good chance that as long as the current situation holds, the
Regency will side more and more closely with them.  They've already
begun to accept psionics -- this, in the Marches!  They've begun to
implement democratic reforms which are even more far reaching than
Zhodani democracy.  There's probably a faction in the Zhodani
government that figures if things keep going their way, they might
be able to *civilize* the Regency without any more bloodshed!
(From a Zhodani point of view, of course!)  

After all, the Zhodani Consulate is now humaniti's biggest living
government, and the Regency is the second largest.  If they can
be converted to an ally or client-state of Zhdant, the advantages
are enormous.  And there is only the memory of the Imperium left
(for now) as an alternative.

(Of course the various Vargr and Aslan New Lords are still around,
 but the Regency does seem to be becoming more and more influenced
 by Zhdant.  It's small now, but it doesn't have to stay that way.)

 
*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7327
From: Mark Cook <markc@CSOS.ORST.EDU>
Subject: Re: Deep Space Refueling
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 08:43:09 -0700 (PDT)

In TML Archive-Message-Number 7309, J Roberson <RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu>
writes:

> I always thought that there weren't deep-space refueling stations in
> Traveller because ships don't just refuel, they discharge energy. I know
> that was true in 2300AD and I'm pretty certain that's how jump worked in
> Battletech, and I guess I always assumed it was true in Traveller. Jump
> Drives must discharge accumulated energy before moving on, and they must do
> so in a significant gravity well. A deep space station with that much
> gravity would need a celestial body, or be a truly immense (possibly Dyson
> Sphere-scale) station. Lemme know if I'm wrong. . .

You're wrong. :^)

mark f. cook * 2055 sw whiteside dr. * corvallis, or * markc@csos.orst.edu
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
"When your enemy falls, don't rejoice -- but don't pick him up either."
                                             - Yiddish proverb

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7328
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 15:13:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Alexander W. Holt" <awh2@crux4.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Charted Space list?

Steve, 
	I just checked sunbane and I could not find it.  Anyone else found it?

							Alex

------------------------------

Bundle: 585
Archive-Message-Number: 7329
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 19:14:32 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Britta B. Damwitz   " <bdamwitz@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: Adventuring in the KFC

Path of Blood:  Adventuring in the KFC.

The KFC has found a deadly challenge!  The planet of
G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga (B8669RK-D in the K'trekreer Sector) is
a K'kree planet held by the old intolerant regime of the
unenlightened T't'tkahk Xeng Kirr (2000 worlds).  They have not yet
built an operative jump drive, but they have managed to keep a
force of in SDBs that have succeeded in holding the swarms of
vampire fleets at bay.  It is a prime planet of 4 billion K'kree.
The KFC would dearly love to get their hooves on
G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga.

However, the evil decadent TES (Technologically Elevated
Steppelord) has rebuffed the KFC's attempts to convert them from
their old fashioned ways.  Therefore, they must die.

But, G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga is too well defended for a simple
SAS (Smash and Smash) mission.  Nuking the planet from orbit is not
an option.

The KFC mission planners have devised a coup that should allow the
KFC to take over G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga with deadly simplicity.
By dropping an asteroid on the main population center, it would
utterly swamp the planetary forces.  The bombardment will be seen
as an opportunity for the hovering vampire fleets.  The KFC fleet
would arrive to provide aide and assistance including some large
KFC dreadnoughts (The KFC Super Buckets).

Once in position, the KFC would insert itself into the positions of
power and gradually take over.  Once in power, they can safely
convert any survivors of the bombardment.

The asteroid is to be targeted on the main population center, which
is far from the industrial centers.  (Precaution from the days when
the Virus ran rampant on G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga.)  This is
fortunate as the asteroid will cause a maximum of chaos in the herd
without losing too much of the high tech industrial power that the
KFC so desperately needs to carry their mission out across the
entire T't'tkahk Xeng Kirr (2000 worlds).  Also the grief of the
loss will make the survivors more willing to look up to their brave
'saviors' and so conversion from their evil ways will be
facilitated.

The job of the players?
The players are the crew of the Xing't't!.  An old K'kree
Xeekr'kir! class merchant ship, renovated by the KFC.  In the hold
is the 100 tons of the fusion powered mass driver that will drive
the asteroid across the system to G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga.  The
crew must transport the drive to the system's asteroid belt, power
it up, and set it on course, all the while avoiding all detection
by the G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wuggan defenses.

The unloading of the drive will be a difficult operation.  To do
so, the crew must set it out in (gasp) vacc suits!  It will require
3 weeks of work in hard vacuum.  The isolation and close quarters
inside the suits, even with the open area of the ship for relief,
will be quite a strain on the pastoral K'kree.

Once the drive is set up, the crew of the Xing't't! must make a
microjump to G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wugga.  There they must pick up
their agents who have laid the ground work for the conversion of
the planet.  G'ekuwadlewix!-wugga-wuggans are suspicious of the KFC
crews, but, since they are K'kree, they are not overly aggressive
toward them.  Refs:  treat encounters with the militia as law level
9.  This will give them an excellent opportunity to view the fine
planet they have just marked for demolition.

What a pity these barbarians are such racists.  It's a good thing
we're here to save them.

Scott 2G Kellogg



------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #586: Msgs 7330-7338 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Sun Apr 24 22:00:02 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #586: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 586  7330 20-Apr-1994 Jeff Zeitlin     72:8 Various << Subject: 72:8 Various
 586  7331 22-Apr-1994 John Bucsek      Space Colonies << Ray Pullar writes in 
 586  7332 22-Apr-1994 Grant Sinclair   Droyne and Chirpers << I have a questio
 586  7333 22-Apr-1994 gerald.s.willia  Re: Deep Space Refueling << > > I alway
 586  7334 22-Apr-1994 John Bucsek      Challange 72 << To those interested I p
 586  7335 22-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Re: Charted Space list? << Alexander W.
 586  7336 22-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Rape of Trin << Ummm...I've been notici
 586  7337 22-Apr-1994 Wilson MacGyver  SF books on virus << A while ago there 
 586  7338 22-Apr-1994 David Johnson    *Shall Not Perish* 1 << Gentlesophonts:

------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7330
Subject: 72:8 Various
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (Jeff Zeitlin)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 22:17:00 -0500

Subject: 72:8 Various

72:8/7304 K'kree in TNE

TS::>KFC:  The K'kreer Freedom Coalition.

  Stop reaching!  I refuse to allow bad puns to become part of the 
  background of my universe! :)

TS::>Some folks have asked what the K'kree might be up to in The New
  ::>Era.  Here's my idea.  I don't own Path of Tears, so I don't know
  ::>the RC time line very well, but this'll get the idea across in a
  ::>nutshell.

TS::>The Hive Confederation fell to the Virus in the 1130s.  The K'Kree
  ::>2000 worlds fell soon afterward, but their destruction was more
  ::>swift.  The Hivers were more capable of resistence against the
  ::>Virus than the less electronically adept K'Kree.

  So far, I agree with you.  The destruction of the 2KW would have 
  _had_ to be as swift as (or swifter than - see later) that of the 
  Imperium, Confederation, and Hierate, and the Trailing Extents.  
  Remember, the Deyo-based transponder was in virtually universal 
  use by the time Virus was born.  The Hivers weren't really less 
  susceptible, though; they were just able to identify and take 
  countermeasures faster due to their advanced computer knowledge.  
  Even today, in 1201/NE1, they're still cleaning up the damage.  
  But the important thing was that they were able to maintain 
  continuity of culture and of communication.

TS::>K'Kree electronics and robotics was far behind the Hivers and The
  ::>Imperium.  At their height, the best K'Kree robots were TL13.
  ::>Oddly, their starships were totally dependent on robotics.  All
  ::>K'Kree ships had robotic engineering crews just ripe for the Virus.
  ::>As such, the TL 16 Virus swept through the TL 13 K'Kree fleets like
  ::>wildfire.

  When you look at the design of K'kree starships, and the psych 
  profile of most K'kree, it's not so odd.  It's fairly easy for 
  even a human to get claustrophobic in an area where there's a lot 
  of machinery, and space is a consideration.  And it certainly 
  would make their systems highly susceptible to Virus.  Possibly 
  more susceptible than the other empires.

TS::>Further, as the 2000 Worlds of the K'Kree empire were farther from
  ::>the site of release of the Virus, a greater proportion of the more
  ::>advanced breeds of the Virus struck the K'Kree.  Also, as the
  ::>K'Kree ships did have robotic engineers, the K'Kree vampire ships
  ::>are now in far better shape than the vampires than Imperial ships
  ::>where robots were more rare and so have less access to
  ::>maintainence.  (Just where have all the Imperial Vampires gotten
  ::>their annual maintenance done for the last 70 years?)

TS::>The K'Kree worlds are full of Vampire fleets.  It is an incredibly
  ::>dangerous place to go.

  Yes, I can easily go along with this.  I'd suspect that there was 
  comparatively _less_ actual destruction in the 2KW than in any of 
  the other empires, because the various strains of Virus have had 
  the time to learn how to be more survival-oriented.  (Assuming 
  that you accept an unwritten premise in your argument.  I 
  address this later.)  The questions that come up here are:  

  (1) How fast did Virus really spread?  

  The XBoat network in the Imperium was an essentially zero-layover 
  system with an average point-to-point distance of between J2 and 
  J3.  Thus, we can suggest that within the Imperium, the spread 
  speed was J2.5/week.  Outside the Imperium, the jump rate would 
  be lower, as there was no continuous zero-layover network in 
  place, and "tramp traffic" density would likely be lower, as the 
  economies of the minor states in the area would likely not be 
  able to support the level of trade that the Imperium could.  
  Assume, for argument, that this reduces spread to J2/week at 
  best; we could probably cut that a little bit, and say that it 
  will cross three sectors (spin to trail) in one year.  Thus, from 
  the release in 1129, we can estimate that Virus made it to the 
  2KW by 1131 or 1132 at the absolute latest.

  (2) How fast did Virus evolve?  

  This question we have no useful data on.  If evolution was fast 
  enough, then the characterization above is accurate.  However, if 
  it took five years for the first strains of "survive as long as 
  possible while infecting others with quick suicide strains" to 
  appear, then the destruction of the K'kree worlds will be as 
  widespread and as serious as the destruction of the Imperium.

TS::>The main worlds are in ruins.  However, K'Kree claustrophobia paid
  ::>off handsomely for the Militant Vegitarian Centaurs.  Nearly all of
  ::>their high population worlds were habitable without special life
  ::>support.  Few K'Kree would settle on a world were they could not
  ::>roam freely on the plains.  Indeed, any K'Kree who did settle in
  ::>shelters on inhospitable worlds was looked at as something of a
  ::>weirdo.  Many of these worlds have survived despite the Vampire
  ::>ships raging overhead.  Their technology has been blasted back to
  ::>the stone age in most cases, however, K'Kree with their out doors
  ::>culture and vegitarian appetites are in some ways better suited for
  ::>this than other species.

  Yes, I'll buy this.  Also, as K'kree did not build as densely as 
  other races did, the damage in terms of lives lost was probably 
  lower among the K'kree than among other races.  Even if the 
  material damage was as high or higher.

TS::>Still, this was the chance their ancient enemies had been waiting
  ::>for for centuries.

TS::>The Hivers, when they recovered from their fall, saw their chance.
  ::>The K'Kree are now utterly powerless.  Immediately, the Hivers
  ::>dusted off their old manipulation-invasion plans, and took aim at
  ::>the K'Kree culture!

  I have a problem with this.  The Hivers only created this plan as 
  a response to K'kree aggression.  Militarily, the Hive Federation 
  was taking a beating; this is why they resorted to the 
  psychological warfare of manipulating the K'kree culture.  Once 
  the K'kree realized that they valued their cultural uniformity 
  more than they valued their mission of spreading vegetarianism 
  through the cosmos, they backed off.  That's why the Hivers never 
  actually put their full-scale plan into effect.  Even given the 
  opportunity, I don't see that the Hivers would necessarily feel a 
  need to do anything about the K'kree.  This, of course, could 
  change down the road.

TS::>Traveller Historians may recall the first Hiver-K'Kree war.  The
  ::>aggressive and militarily superior K'Kree backed off when the
  ::>Hivers unveiled their secret manipulations of a few of their
  ::>worlds.  Hiver Master Manipulators had socially engineered events
  ::>to make a few K'Kree planets turn away from the monolithic backbone
  ::>of K'Kree culture.  K'Kree were actually using *MEAT* to sauce
  ::>their vegitables!  K'Kree were going into isolation for
  ::>*RECREATION*.  These abominations against the K'Kree frightened
  ::>them so that they immediately sued for peace when the Hivers
  ::>threatened to launch their manipulation across the whole of the
  ::>K'Kree 2000 worlds!  The K'Kree quietly nuked some of their own
  ::>planets to stop the abomination.

  Yes.  This is what I was referring to above.  The Hivers have no 
  _need_ to be proactive; they already have the best defense that 
  they can against the K'kree.

TS::>The Hivers have now contacted a few K'Kree worlds and have
  ::>manipulated their culture to conform with the ideals of the old
  ::>Hiver Confederation.  However, you don't turn a species of fanatics
  ::>onto tolerence of other life in just a few years.  These K'Kree are
  ::>the missionaries of the Hivers to the rest of their race.  Just as
  ::>they have in the Imperium, the Hivers have given the K'Kree the
  ::>technology and mission to clean up their entire region of space.
  ::>They have formed the KFC:  K'Kreer Freedom Coalition.

  I told you: you may not make bad puns! :)

TS::>You thought RCES was bad with their Smash And Grab tactics?  The
  ::>KFC's forces are happy to wipe out any K'Kree not of their herd who
  ::>might stand in their way.  You want ground combat "Star Vikings"?
  ::>It's much easier to nuke a planet and clean it up with a nuclear
  ::>damper than it is to land troops anyway...

  Remember that the other "unreconstructed" K'kree will see these 
  K'kree as aberrant/perverted.  Any fights would likely be to the 
  death of every last K'kree on one side or the other, civilians 
  and foals not excepted.  This is not what I would consider ideal 
  territory for "missionary" work.  The only way I see this helping 
  the Hivers is that it keeps the K'kree busy with their own 
  internal battles, thus they are not causing trouble for their 
  neighbors.  But I don't see the Hivers forming an RC-like 
  alliance with any K'kree.

TS::>Why?  The other K'Kree are intolerant!  They have no regard for the
  ::>lives of aliens and other sentient life.  Thus, they must be
  ::>converted or destroyed.  [RL note:  You may at some point in your
  ::>life have met up with some of the "Good" skinheads?  The ones who
  ::>beat up the "Bad" skinheads?  And the graffiti they spray over cars
  ::>is stuff like "JUST SAY NO!" or "BE KIND: REWIND!"  Perhaps you've
  ::>met the people who attack anyone if they aren't perfectly PC?  The
  ::>ones who think all the white males in the world should be lynched?
  ::>Picture those guys armed with Grav Tanks, Fusion Guns, Nukes and a
  ::>mission from GOD!]

  As above, strike "converted or".  K'kree are not likely to 
  convert.  Especially when the evangelists are perverts.

TS::>No, the KFC does not eat meat.  (Not usually anyway, as it's not
  ::>very good for a K'Kree's digestion)  And no, they don't *usually*
  ::>enjoy isolation.  Psychologically, they are just about the same as
  ::>they always were, but they are on a different mission now!

  But the mentality that would allow for this kind of mission is 
  itself a sign of major perversion!  Remember that no K'kree, 
  anywhere, has a loyalty to other than the Steppelord of the 2KW, 
  through the normal chain of command.  Since all K'kree have this 
  loyalty, it is unthinkable to fight against other K'kree unless 
  they are diseased (perverts).  And since one does not voluntarily 
  become a pervert, it is useless to try to convince a pervert to 
  drop their perversion.  They are therefore not fit to survive, 
  and must be destroyed, to prevent the spread of the infection.

TS::>Scott 2G Kellogg
  ::>BTW, Most KFC ships, because of their difficult maintenance and
  ::>dome shape are referred to as "Buckets"

TS::>"Sir!  There's a KFC Bucket closing in on us!"  :-)

  <smack!> I warned you!


72:8/7305 Space Colonies; OSA; Regency

TS::>About the current (1201) First Regent: it's probably Seldrian.  We

  I could actually see Norris handing it over to Branj, his 
  seneschal.  Remember, Branj was psionic, and would have known 
  intimately what Norris wanted to accomplish as Regent and with 
  the Regency; he also would be intimately acquainted with Norris's 
  methods.  He'd be the ideal choice.  If it was impractical for 
  political reasons, I'd go second with Seldrian, with an 
  admonishment from Norris to "listen well to Branj; I have always 
  found his advice valuable."

  ::>know Avery Aledon has a ministerial/cabinet-level post.  We know
  ::>the First Regent's position is hereditary in the same way noble
  ::>titles are hereditary.  (I.e., heirs can be chosen by the title holder.)
  ::>Avery is most probably Seldrian's direct heir if she adopted him
  ::>after _Arrival Vengeance_.  And the players' ages in 1201:
  ::>  Strephon Alkhalikoi   born 1049, in 1201 aged 152. (likely dead)

  Not necessarily.  If the Alkhalikoi line had a lot of Vilani 
  blood in it, he could still be alive, as lifespans of 200 
  standard years are not surprising among the pure Vilani.

  ::>  Norris Aledon         born 1063, in 1201 aged 138. (probably dead)

  Ditto, though I would tend to agree with you here.  Somehow, the 
  drawings of Strephon had him looking "more Vilani" than the (IMO) 
  very definitely ethnically Solomani Norris.

  ::>  Seldrian Aledon       born 1097, in 1201 aged 104.
  ::>  Avery Aledon          born 1118, in 1201 aged 83.

TS::>Regency buffs may be interested to note that according to an old TNS
  ::>news brief I saw again the other day, "the Duke of Regina's seneschal",
  ::>i.e. the now-famed Branj Dilgaadin, announced the beginning of the
  ::>Fifth Frontier War to the Marches in 1107, not Norris himself!

72:8/7306 Why Regency v. Imperium

TS::>It's actually a pretty responsible step.  As regent, Norris or Seldrian
  ::>can't assume the office of Emperor without approval of a quorum of the
  ::>Imperial Moot, Lucan notwithstanding.  Somehow I doubt that the nobles
  ::>left in the Regency constitute a quorum of votes.  Now, conceivably
  ::>this could be circumvented by declaring that the Regency is all that is
  ::>left of the Imperium (but this is a questionable call, at best).  The
  ::>only other option is for the Regency to technically secede, which it
  ::>never did during the Rebellion, unlike Daibei, Vland, and Antares.

  Yes, this fits in nicely with my own theory.  In fact, it appears 
  to be just another perspective on it.

TS::>Furthermore, by maintaining the fiction of an imperial regency, the
  ::>Regency asserts the continued existence of the Imperium.  It's a
  ::>hedge against the future.  The Regency seems to be protecting the
  ::>legal rights of the worlds in the Wilds to be in the Imperium, if
  ::>anyone still wants to be in one with Deneb.  Otherwise, the possible
  ::>lack of any government claiming to be the "Third Imperium" could
  ::>cause problems with the other old governments moving in on the
  ::>ungoverned territory.  It's a legal fiction.  Undoubtedly, once
  ::>the Regency is able to recontact the other worlds of the old
  ::>Imperium and assess the situation, a more permanent decision can
  ::>be made.  (In a sense, the Regency is in a semi-permanent state of
  ::>"crisis management" until then.)

  Again, this fits in with my discussion on the legitimacy of the 
  Regency.  You carry it farther into the future, and in a 
  slightly different direction, but it's scary to see someone read 
  your mind so accurately! :)

TS::>Of course, none of this stops anyone from doing anything out there
  ::>in the Wilds.  The Regency is only betting that someday, someone
  ::>might set up a bargaining table, maybe even they themselves, and
  ::>they know they'll want to be in a good bargaining position at that
  ::>table.  After all, there's no doubt that someone will have to
  ::>negotiate with a lot of *very* angry neighbors about this whole
  ::>Virus business....

  ...but how much of that anger will be along the lines of "Of 
  course we were researching it!  But you don't think we would have 
  actually _released_ it, do you!?"?
==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
 ~ QMPro 1.52 ~ Coming soon: Netware for Nintendo

------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7331
From: bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek)
Subject: Space Colonies
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 00:09:22 EST

Ray Pullar writes in message 7297 about orbital colonies in response to
another writers comments about refueling stations to bridge empty sectors.
 
Before I go on about orbital colonies I would like to mention that the Aslan
bridged the rift using similar methods. It is briefly mentioned in the GDW
Aslan alien supplement.  Basically what they did was to drop off a fuel
bladder halfway. Jump back to get another, then jump back to the one they
dropped off.  Then they would refuel from the bladder allowing a jump-3 ship
to bridge a jump-6 gap.
 
As for orbital colonies, I have a fasination with them so I am attempting to
design an O'neill colony using traveller FF&S rules.  For reasons Ray
mentioned (cheap anti-grav) colonies would only be viable at lower (TL8 - 10)
tech levels.  I'm using TL10 as a cut off because since you have this TL8
monster in orbit you might as well use it and upgrade parts of it.  
 
Using the statistical functions in my HP-48 I have extrapolated the ship hull
tables to attempt to get realistic Traveller numbers for the hull.  Figuring
Light alloys would be the easiest material to use in terms of economics (mass
drivers sending lunar materials to orbit or asteroid mining) I have come up
with a 6.46E10 hull rating that encloses 9.044E11 cubic meters or in simpler
terms the hull is a cylinder 6km in diameter and 32km long.  It has a hull
thickness of 50cm giving an armor rating of 85. O'neill's figures state that
based on medical observations of astronauts on the Apollo missions, 50cm of
rock will adequately protect a human for a 30 year stay in open space.  Low
earth orbit studies don't work because the crew is still protected by the
Earth's magnetic field.  I also gave the hull an internal structure good for
8G's of acceleration in an effort to allow for the stresses the hull will see
due to the use of station keeping thrusters plus the rotation of the colony.
The mass in metric tons so far is 1.4e9 tonnes for the hull and 1.35e8 tonnes
for the internal structure. Price so far is 3.5e6 MCr.
 
I also intend to add an average of 10 meters of rock and dirt to the station
for landscaping purposes.  This mass has not been accounted for yet.  Other
systems like solar power, nuclear fission (to be added as a backup at TL9),
fuel storage and docking bays have not been figured in yet. The mirrors to
reflect sunlight into the station have also not be added yet. I did figure out
the normal extended life support for a smaller station and that required at
least 50 GW of power to operate (hence the need for fusion).
 
I intend to post my final design when completed (It'll take a while yet <g>).
So comments at this time are welcome.  As a last note, A colony of this size
can support at least 2 million inhabitants.  Extended life support is not
necessary since the colony does have a working ecosystem.  The fusion power
option may be useful for a colony out in our asteroid belt where the sun will
probably be too weak to support a natural ecosystem. And finally, O'neill
states that the maximum size of a colony using current (1970's-80's) tech and
Light alloy / Iron materials is 15miles in dia and 75 miles long.
 
Given the interlocked structure of the Imperium there really was no drive for
any planet to go through the expense of constructing colonies such as these.
But here in the new era, or in your own campaign, I can see colonies present
in lower TL systems as those systems develop their own path to the stars. 
 
One other component is needed to build large colonies, and that is a smaller
factory colony (not larger than Babalon 5) to build the components for the
large colonies.
 
Such colonies would also be virus resistant (in my mind) due to the low TL
present.  The colony doesn't really need a large networked computer.  Once
it's in a stable orbit and is spinning it stays that way.  I'm sure a small
computer (to small to host a fully sentient AI) is all that is necessary to
provide the station keeping and rotational corrections needed.  The main
reason Starship computers are so complex (as I understand it) is because of
the complex nature of the Jump calculations and the extreme precision needed
to energize the jump coils (See the Starship Operators Manual from DGP)
 
Any feedback? Comments?
 
John Bucsek                     bucsek@oo.com

 


------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7332
From: Grant Sinclair <grant@cleese.apana.org.au>
Subject: Droyne and Chirpers
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 22:09:04 -40962758 (CST)

I have a question on Droyne and Chirper generation.  According to the 
"continuation" method of the Alien Module, there should be something like 
2 to 2.5 worlds per subsector with Droyne or Chirpers, but "official" 
sectors do not seem to have anything like this many.

For example, from Travellers Digest:
Trojan Reach 9   (14 subsectors worth of systems)
Ealiyasiyw 22    (16)
Deneb 10         (13)
Riftspan Reaches 5 (108 worlds)
Reft 4           (4 or 5 subsectors worth)

From Knightfall:
Massilia 10 (16 subsectors)

Other official:
Diaspora 28 worlds
Hinterworlds 21
Vland 13
Spinward Marches 13

The numbers are rough (counted by eye) but should be near enough for this 
purpose.  Does anyone know if this is deliberate?  If so, why?  Or was it 
an accident or a bug in a generation program?

------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7333
From: gsw@aloft.att.com (gerald.s.williams)
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 09:54:52 EDT
Subject: Re: Deep Space Refueling

> > I always thought that there weren't deep-space refueling stations in
> > Traveller because ships don't just refuel, they discharge energy. I know
> > that was true in 2300AD and I'm pretty certain that's how jump worked in
> > Battletech, and I guess I always assumed it was true in Traveller. Jump
> > Drives must discharge accumulated energy before moving on, and they must do
> > so in a significant gravity well. A deep space station with that much
> > gravity would need a celestial body, or be a truly immense (possibly Dyson
> > Sphere-scale) station. Lemme know if I'm wrong. . .
> 
> You're wrong. :^)

Officially, they don't work that way, although some of the early CT
material seems to imply that you must end at a star system.  I find
it useful from several angles to force jumps to only be to large
celestial bodies:

o It prevents certain "abuses", such as creating a jump-1 ship
  that's 95% jump fuel (in drop tanks for you purists) and can
  jump 30 times without refueling.  I guess such a ship would be
  useful for exploration purposes, but this blows a hole in the
  effectiveness of the Great Rift as a barrier to travel (early
  CT definitely suggested that you could not jump further than
  jump-6 without refueling).  Allowing jumps only to celestial
  bodies does not eliminate such ships, but only allows them to
  operate along J-1 routes.  Without this restriction, the Virus
  would be much harder to stop (and the Regency's blockade would
  be futile, but I don't want to get into that discussion).

o It explains why misjumped ships always end up in star systems
  (at least according to the rules I have, which don't include
  TNE).

o It helps to explain the 100-diameter limit.  The presence of
  the 100-diameter limit means that gravity wells play a part in
  jump mechanics.  Technology will eventually determine what the
  effect is and attempt to exploit it.  Since 100 diameters seems
  to be a constant, it makes more sense to determine the effect
  from the start and use it to explain jump mechanics.

o It eliminates certain "free energy" scenarios by microjumping
  away from a star or planet then gaining more kinetic energy
  than total energy you put into the jump (note microjumps would
  only be to celestial bodies also).  This "free energy" problem
  is often misunderstood: thrusters were fine, they just used
  too little energy for the kinetic energy they imparted.

o It can be used as a hand-waving aid to improve "feasibility"
  of jump drives.  If you accept that in some dimension space is
  curved by gravity, then jump drives might make use of this by
  exiting normal space and heading along an "equipotential line"
  towards another star or planet.  The 100-diameter limit would
  then represent a compromise, which is close enough to the
  celestial body to make use of this effect, but far enough away
  to insure that you don't crash at the destination (energy loss
  during the jump could cause you to arrive closer to the star
  or planet).  The distance also makes it easier to target the
  destination.  Notice that this interpretation does not preclude
  precision jumps, which can be within the 100-diameter limit.
  If you really want to prevent jumps to or from within that
  limit, do some hand-waving about "second or third order effects
  of the gravitational potential well" (this can also be used as
  an explanation to allow jumps to a planet's 100-diameter limit
  even if it is inside of a star's 100-diameter limit).

o This interpretation does not preclude jumps to interstellar
  space, just makes them very difficult and more dangerous.
  The two ways to do it are to start your jump from well beyond
  the 100-diameter limit (in which case even gravity wells as
  small as large ships could pull you back to normal space, but
  targetting would be VERY difficult) or to expend extra energy
  during the jump to bring the ship up to a "zero gravitic
  potential" and into normal space (probably the way they would
  get those extremely rare refueling stations out there).

o An interpretation of jump mechanics can by itself open new
  adventure possibilities, or can be used as a lead-in to a new
  adventure ("You come out of jump and see--blackness, an utter
  void of blackness" as the ship emerges in the center of a
  dark cloud that only a few pirates knew about, until now).

o As far as "discharging energy" is concerned--that never was
  a part of Traveller.  That was a hack to let the 2300AD 
  universe have a "Traveller" feel rather than a "Star Trek"
  feel while still using stutterwarp drives.

,-----------------.
|Gerald S Williams|
|gsw@aloft.att.com|
|  (610)712-7237  |
`-----------------'

      _  |     ____/    _  |
     /   /    /        /   /      /                     /
    /   /  ____ |     ____/   _  _/    __ |    __ |    /      ____/
   /   /        /    /          /     /   /   /   /   /    ____
______/  ______/  __/         ___/  _____/  _____/  ___/  ______/


------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7334
From: bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek)
Subject: Challange 72
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 14:41:47 EST

To those interested I picked up Issue 72 of Challange at the game store today
(Friday 4/22) so it is out.  It looks like Traveller News Service is gone (but
why? we still have the Regency around) and replaced with CINETWORK (Coalition
Information Network) that reads the same as TNS did. Of the 5 Traveller:TNE
articles two are excerpted from FF&S and so are of limited interest to those
of us with FF&S.
 
Also seen: Smash and Grab. The scenerio book for Star Vikings.  Looks
interesting.  Various areas are detailed (an old airport on one world for
example). One (maybe two) worlds detailed in the way the worlds were detailed
in PoT.  Some more RCES hardware is shown.  I only thumbed through it, but it
looks like it's worth it.  My only problem was the $18 price tags on the front
while $14 is printed on the back of the book.  So of course I pointed out the
discrepency to the manager of the game store.  It seems they charge whatever
they are invoiced for, so now the manager is waiting to hear back from the
distributor. I also seem to remember paying an extra dollar for FF&S when it
came out too.  I think I'll be more patient this time <g>.


John Bucsek               bucsek@oo.com


------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7335
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 15:06:38 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Re: Charted Space list?


Alexander W. Holt writes:

>        I just checked sunbane and I could not find it.  Anyone else found it?

Well, I dumped them into the "top-level" /donations file, where nobody
can get at them until the archive maintainer decides where they go.
I have no idea if that's where they should have gone, or even if anyone
in maintaining sunbane right now.  If there is somewhere else I should
put them, or something else I need to do, someone *please* tell me!

I'd post the lists to TML, except the three of them run about 26k
together.  If this is what I should do instead, again, please let
me know.  

*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7336
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 15:14:25 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Rape of Trin


Ummm...I've been noticing talk lately that Norris might somehow be
able to keep the Domain from finding out about the Rape of Trin.

How?  Besides the billion people down there, some of whom *must*
be related to off-worlders, there is (or was) a major *tourist
trade* to see the renowned "Veil of Trin".  Not to mention the
off-world trade.  It would be like hiding, oh, an atomic strike
on San Franscisco!  Sure, you could cordon it off for a while and
say nothing, but pretty soon people are going to want to know
what the *hell* is going on in there, and why they can't send
mail to Uncle Joe, or go into town.  People will get awfully
suspicious _something_ nasty is going down in there, and pretty
fast, even with one week jump travel.


*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7337
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 2:04:22 EDT
From: Wilson MacGyver <macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: SF books on virus

A while ago there was a bunch of messages on SF books which deal with AI
virus. If someone kept the list, could you send me a copy? Thanks.

------------------------------

Bundle: 586
Archive-Message-Number: 7338
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 19:25:13 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: *Shall Not Perish* 1

Gentlesophonts:

Here's a first take at the Regency sourcebook I mentioned back in TML msg
574/7200:

REGENCY TIMELINE

I don't have TNE so I'm not going to be able to help much but here's
a template to get us to TNE.

1121-1130 (Hard Times)
1131-1140
1141-1150
1151-1160
1161-1170
1171-1180
1181-1190
1191-1200

Significant dates would seem to be needed for the following:

Declaration of the Regency
Establishment of the Quarantine
The `Rape of Trin' (Gram?)
Death of Norris(?)
Openings to the Zhodani(?)
Others?

THE QUARANTINE LINE

Details about the establishment of the Quarantine.  What's the rational for
it?  How was it initially established?  What challenges faced the Regency as
it was being established?  What is the actual line (which worlds)?

SUBSECTOR MAPS AND UWP DATA

Which subsectors?  Is the capital still at Mora in Mora(?) Subsector?  What are
the other major subsectors of the Regency?  Regina?  Rhylanor?  Deneb?  Let's
follow the *Path of Tears* format with Imperial Era (IE) and Post-Imperial
Era (PIE) UWP stats.

MAJOR WORLDS OF THE REGENCY

Brief descriptions of Mora, Regina, Vincennes, Glisten, Lunion.  What others?

REGENCY GOVERNMENT

Using the *World Builders' Handbook* model, executive authority is obviously
held by a `ruler' - the Regent.  What about legislative authority?  Under
the Imperium this was also held by the `ruler' - the Emperor.  The suggestions
of greater `democracy' in the Regency might be apparent here.  In a mulit-
body legislature (Moot?) the aristocracy would certainly still have a voice
so let's call the upper house the `Chamber of Nobles'.  A second body might
be the `Chamber of Delegates' that is composed of representatives from
individual worlds (probably with representation weighted by population - one
doubts Pop 1 worlds will have the same say as Pop A worlds, especially since
the Chamber of Nobles will already reflect this bias).  Might there be a
third (or fourth?) house?  Generally, legislative authority in the Regency
would be classed as `several councils' in *WBH* terms.

While primary authority will be executive (the Regent), secondary judicial
authority might also exist to complement the secondary legislative authority.
Again, under the Imperial system judicial authority was held by the single
ruler and `delegated' down through the aristocracy.  My sense is that the
Regents will still maintain judicial authority similar to the Imperial model.

Therefore, in *WBH* lingo the Regency has a primary executive/judicial ruler
with several secondary legislative councils.

*POT* apparently has a table of all RC worlds, their populations, political
bloc and number of representatives.  Anyone care to post a list of Regency
worlds with populations (maybe Roger's hypertext can help here?) and we can
work on representatives from there?

REGENCY POLITICS

These political blocs have been suggested:

Isolationists want to maintain the Quarantine.
Expansionists want to move out into the Wilds.
Democrats seek to expand `democratic' values.
Aristocrats want to maintain the noble aristocracy.
Tolerants favor a relaxation of psi prejudices.
Santanocheevists oppose any moves toward accommodation with the Zhodani.
Imperialists still hope to one day resurrect the Old Imperium.
Autnomists favor independence and a complete break from the Imperial past.

Here's an `alliance' template:

     Iso  Exp  Dem  Ari  Tol  San  Imp  Aut
Iso   -    x    ?    ?    ?    o    x    o
Exp   x    -    ?    ?    ?    o    o    o
Dem   ?    ?    -    x    o    ?    x    ?
Ari   ?    ?    x    -    ?    ?    o    ?
Tol   ?    ?    o    ?    -    x    x    ?
San   o    o    ?    ?    x    -    o    ?
Imp   x    o    x    o    x    o    -    x
Aut   o    o    ?    ?    ?    ?    x    -

codes: o = favorable, x = opposed

What is the nature of the Regency government?  Someone mentioned that Avery
from *AV* serves as a cabinet minister(?) to Seldrian (the Regent) which
suggests some sort of ministerial portfolios (cabinet posts for Americans).
What is the nature of the relationship between the Regency Moot and the 
Regent?  Does the Moot have any `real' power?  What about the relationship
between the Chambers of the Moot?  How are members of the Chamber of
Delegates chosen?  Is this decided by each individual world or are there
`common' standards throughout the Regency?  If there is some sort of voting,
who gets to vote?  Everyone?  Adults only?  Literate adults?  Propertied
adults?  How long after I move from Junidy to Strouden can I vote there?

Remember that even a system where *only* the Chamber of Nobles has some sort
of `limited' veto power over the Regent is one that is more `democratic' than
was the Old Imperium.

REGENCY LANGUAGE

Anyone care to offer a few examples of Riftian jargon after 70 years of
divergence from Galanglic?

QUARANTINE SERVICE AND REGENCY PATROL

Again, without TNE I can't do much here.  Has the old DSS really become the
Quarantine Service?

REGENCY NAVY AND ARMY

This would seem to follow pretty much the Imperial model although there
looks like there might be a good debate taking off on this issue now.

QUARANTINE AREA OF OPERATIONS

What's the mission of the Quarantine Service?  Can anyone produce a map
of the entire Quarantine Line?  Are there any places were the Quarantine Line
has recently been expanded?  To follow the *POT* template we ought to provide
maps and UWP data for such worlds.

REGENCY MEGACORPS

This seems to be the equivalent of the *POT* material on the Star Guild.
Do all the megacorps still exist in the Regency?  What have they been up
to in the last 70 years.  Ideally, *all* major operations for each megacorp
throughout the Regency should be identified.  Where do the megacorps come
down among the various political blocs?

*****

There you have it - an excellent starting point for development.  Let me
suggest the following guideline.  If you want to develop a particular aspect
of the Regency - say, Ling-Standard Products operations or Santanocheevist
political goals and strategies - just post a message stating your intent.
First come, first serve.  If someone else comes along with similar interests
we'll just steer them toward the other person and you can collaborate.  Keep
us informed of what you're doing.  I would prefer to see most `work' done
on the TML so we all can contibute our cr0.02's worth.  :-)

Peace,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #587: Msgs 7339-7350 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Sun Apr 24 22:00:02 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #587: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 587  7339 22-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Traveller Background 16 << Gentlesophon
 587  7340 22-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Norris the Manipulator << From Friday n
 587  7341 22-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Re: Regency and Zhodani << Jeff Zeitlin
 587  7342 22-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  New Products << Saw Challenge #72 and S
 587  7343 23-Apr-1994 Dane Johnson     Re:  TML nightly: Msgs 7330-7338 V72#13
 587  7344 23-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Earth Colonies 1 << Gentlesophonts:
 587  7345 23-Apr-1994 "Britta B. Damw  Re: KFC in the TNE << On Sat, 23 Apr 19
 587  7346 23-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  Misc. << >... Hitler didn't use the Rom
 587  7347 24-Apr-1994 Tad Peters       subscribe << subscribe tad@kaiwan.com T
 587  7348 23-Apr-1994 "Britta B. Damw  RE: K'kree in TNE (longish) << This tur
 587  7349 23-Apr-1994 J Roberson       Das Drittes Reich << >>... Hitler didn'
 587  7350 23-Apr-1994 J Roberson       Star System Generator << This isn't dir

------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7339
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 20:35:59 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Traveller Background 16

Gentlesophonts:

From Thursday night, Alexander W. Holt <awh2@crux4.cit.cornell.edu> replying
to <Ted7@world.std.com> writes:

> 1.  In point one you said that the Regency Navy has evolve to using 
> different types of ships.
> Most pocket empires (supposedly) will no have squadrons of 
> battle riders.

This would seem to me to be a good place for development.  What are the
nature of Regency naval forces?  Rather than focusing on the details of
ship design let's concentrate on tactics, strategy and design philosophies.
Both Ted7(?) and Alex have raised some good points about these issues.
Let's start exploring them. 


Steven M Bonneville <bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu> writes:

> After all, the Zhodani Consulate is now humaniti's biggest living
> government, and the Regency is the second largest.

The idea of a Zhodani-Regency alliance is intriguing.  (If the Federation
and the Klingons can do it in 80-some years why not the Zhos and the
Denebians?)  Scott Kellog has been posting some *very* original stuff on the
K'kree.  Maybe we could do something similar for the Zhodani and *finally*
flesh them out into `real' human beings.  Except for the Imperial psionic
bias that we all bought into back in the heydays of the 5FW, can anyone
come up with a good reason not to see the Zhodani in a postive light?


Jeff Zeitlin <jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com> writes:
  
>   In the event that Norris dies without a successor, the more 
>   opportunistic factions in the _other_ states may prevail in their 
>   counsels, and the Spinward States would then go down together.

Certainly Norris anticipated this point and has made arrangements for his
successor.  While I suspect this is (will be?) Seldrian what's to stop
Norris (or his successors) from holding an election for the successor
*prior* to the demise of the current Regent?  The current system in
Mexico in which the reigning, er, excuse me, *presiding* President virtually
hand picks his successor might serve as a good model.  Even if elections
were held and it took several months to poll all the worlds in the Regency
a leadership crisis could still be avoided.  (The recent assassination of
the Mexican successor provides an interesting insight into problems with
the `hand picked' option.)

Other alternatives to `hand picked' or `elected' successors also exist.  There
might be a specific chain of command in the event of the demise of the
Regent - a `Vice' Regent or some such thing.  The Sector Dukes of the
old Domain would be good candidates.  The Sector Dukes (Vice Regents?)
might even rule as a quadumvirate until the Regency Moot met to select a
successor.

The point is there are several ways to avoid a leadership crisis and its
inherent instability.

BTW, what is the noble hierarchy in the Regency?  Under the Domain there
were four Sector Dukes under Norris, right?  These still ought to be around.
I know Norris was sometimes referred to as Sector Duke at Regina but at
other times it seemed the Duchess of Mora was the chief duke in the 
Spinward Marches.  (Isn't that why Norris's capital is at Mora?)

Maybe we ought to identify these figures as part of the development of
the Regency.  There ought to have been Sector Dukes for the Marches,
for Deneb, for Reft and for the Trojan Reach - each of which also held
a subsector fief.  In the Marches there were Dukes for Regina (which
included Jewell), Vilis, Lanth(?), Rhylanor (which included Aramis),
Lunion, Mora, Glisten and Trin's Veil.  What about Deneb, Reft and
Troy?  Which subsectors managed to survive the Vargr incursions, the
Aslan invasions, and the onslaught of Virus?

Happy Travelling,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7340
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 22:17:57 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Norris the Manipulator

From Friday night, Steven M Bonneville <bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu> writes:

> Ummm...I've been noticing talk lately that Norris might somehow be
> able to keep the Domain from finding out about the Rape of Trin.

> It would be like hiding, oh, an atomic strike
> on San Franscisco!

Not exactly.  It would be like hiding an atomic strike on San Francisco
if you could only get there by air from L.A., Portland, Seattle, San Diego,
Reno and Honolulu or overland (not by highway) by 4WD vehicle and the
only communication in and out was by USmail.  Sound a little easier?

> Sure, you could cordon it off for a while and
> say nothing, 

Ah, but there's the rub!  Norris wouldn't say *nothing* - Trin would be
suffering from a biological plague, or a civil war (like Joyeuse in the
Sword Worlds), or an *ihatei* or K'kree invasion, or a sudden nova . . . .
In the days of the Imperium they called this - you got it - Interdiction!

> People will get awfully
> suspicious _something_ nasty is going down in there, and pretty
> fast, even with one week jump travel.

Sure they would, but you wouldn't have the whole darn Regency so afraid of
the Virus they don't want to venture out beyond the Quarantine Line.  In
fact, nasty little rumors, especially if they hinted at something *really*
bad, would actually *help* the interdiction of Trin.

Remember, Norris is like Napoleon, only, for some reason, no one managed to
paint him putting the Archducal crown on his own head.  :-)

Peace,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7341
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 23:42:30 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Re: Regency and Zhodani

Jeff Zeitlin writes:

>I could actually see Norris handing it over to Branj, his
>seneschal.

Yeah, I suppose so.  The only obstacles are three things, IMHO.  
First, Branj is probably about as old as Norris -- especially 
if he did announce the beginning of the 5FW.  New blood is good. 
Second, it takes Seldrian out of immediate sucession to Norris'
old job, and Seldrian *is* Norris (being a gender-flipped clone).
Third, the nobles wouldn't like it -- I remember an adventure 
where a count was replaced by a knight by Lucan, and one of the
old guard turned up his nose and said "It is not appropriate for
a knight to replace a count."  Branj might not even be a knight!
Politically, it might be better to have a First Regent that is
also a subsector duchess.

>Not necessarily.  If the Alkhalikoi line had a lot of Vilani
>blood in it, he could still be alive, as lifespans of 200
>standard years are not surprising among the pure Vilani.

The Alkhalikoi weren't long-lived as emperors went.  They were
pure Solomani until Zhakirov married in the late 600s, and
most of them lived to be about one hundred.  And Strephon had
little left to live for.  

Now the Lentuli dynasty, that's another story.  Martin III was
167 when he died -- and I think he was *also* Solomani in
descent!  (Medical technology, I guess, and Martin III looks
like he was an ornery critter.)

>Regency.  You carry it farther into the future, and in a
>slightly different direction, but it's scary to see someone read
>your mind so accurately! :)

I knew you were going to say that.  :)

*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7342
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 23:56:23 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: New Products


Saw Challenge #72 and Smash-n-Grab in the store today (and I haven't
been in for a while too....)  The news in Challenge is in a really
annoying new rococo format that makes it harder to read.  Of course,
IMHO, Challenge was one of the casualties of the Rebellion.

On the other hand, S&G is professionally done, and I didn't even see
any typos, which Rebellion-era players will agree is astounding for
GDW.  (Now I've jinxed it, I bet....)  About five adventures on 
different worlds in the AO.  The military tone of several makes me
begin to see why we're using T:2000 rules. :)

Aside: In a sidebar, a RC marine wonders idly about the Purple Heart:
  "Where did it come from, and who's that guy on the front?"  !!!!
  The US Purple Heart does have a guy on it -- George Washington.
  Is the RC issuing US-style purple hearts?  Did the Imperium and/or
  Solomani?  Maybe it's inspiration to reclaim Terra by the US
  quadrimillenial in 1258!  (Temporally speaking, this would be like
  issuing a medal today with an Egyptian MIddle Kingdom pharaoh's
  face on it.  I don't blame her for not knowing.)

As far as the store I saw S&G at was concerned, price was $14.

*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7343
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 01:00:05 -0700
From: Dane Johnson <dane@halcyon.com>
Subject: Re:  TML nightly: Msgs 7330-7338 V72#13


  jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (Jeff Zeitlin) opines:
- ----	
	  So far, I agree with you.  The destruction of the 2KW would have 
	  _had_ to be as swift as (or swifter than - see later) that of the 
	  Imperium, Confederation, and Hierate, and the Trailing Extents.  
	  Remember, the Deyo-based transponder was in virtually universal 
	  use by the time Virus was born.  The Hivers weren't really less 
	  susceptible, though; they were just able to identify and take 
	  countermeasures faster due to their advanced computer knowledge.  
	  Even today, in 1201/NE1, they're still cleaning up the damage.  
	  But the important thing was that they were able to maintain 
	  continuity of culture and of communication.
- ----
Um, I guess I'm not wholly following you here.  The Deyo-based
transponder was in virtually universal use *IN THE IMPERIUM* and in
those ships which did trade across the border (ie, within a subsector or
two of the Imperial Border you'd find (say) one in two with a Deyo).
The Vargr, Solomani, Aslan, Hivers, K'kree, Zhodani and whomever would
have only a handful of the total ships within their spheres of influence
equipped with such technology.  The Deyo would allow the Virus to 'leak'
from Imperial computers to, say, Aslan through an Aslan ship with a
Deyo, but to infect other Aslan ships would require the Virus to adapt
itself to whatever protocols the Aslan are using.  The Deyo provided the
initial infection, but was no longer the prime means of transmission.

Basically, the rest of Known Space ought to have seen generally slower
infection rates, unless they had some communication system comparable to
the Deyo transponder hooey.  Plus, the K'kree have really sucky computers.

Jeff also mentions speed o' infection:	  
- ----	
	  (1) How fast did Virus really spread?  
	
	  The XBoat network in the Imperium was an essentially zero-layover 
	  system with an average point-to-point distance of between J2 and 
	  J3.  Thus, we can suggest that within the Imperium, the spread 
	  speed was J2.5/week.  Outside the Imperium, the jump rate would 
	  be lower, as there was no continuous zero-layover network in 
	  place, and "tramp traffic" density would likely be lower, as the 
	  economies of the minor states in the area would likely not be 
	  able to support the level of trade that the Imperium could.  
	  Assume, for argument, that this reduces spread to J2/week at 
	  best; we could probably cut that a little bit, and say that it 
	  will cross three sectors (spin to trail) in one year.  Thus, from 
	  the release in 1129, we can estimate that Virus made it to the 
	  2KW by 1131 or 1132 at the absolute latest.
- ----

Similar high-speed communications channels must have existed in all the
major interstellar governments, though, so actual virus transmission was
probably much higher.  Although direct infection through Gateway, etc.
might have been as slow as you suggest, it would be much faster (IMHO)
for the virus to have spread through the Solomani Confederation, the
Hive Federation and thence to the Two Thousand Worlds, each of which
has an effective common border.  Thus, transmission speed can be kept at
about J2.5 for the whole distance.

<Shrug>  Just my Cr0.02

Dane
	
djohnson@willamette.edu   dane@halcyon.edu

TNS Stringer ------ Terra/Solomani Rim (1827 G867975-8)
"My opinions are those of my fuzz-brained, cat-sniffing Norwegian Elkhound."
	

------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7344
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 94 10:31:37 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Earth Colonies 1

Gentlesophonts:

Here's the first installment of Earth Colonies campaign material.  I'll
wait for response to this before I post anymore.

COLONIES SPHERE OVERVIEW

The Colonies Sphere is a region of charted space centered on the Sol system.
The Sphere measures 30 parsecs in diameter and consists of over 500 systems
scattered among 56 subsectors.  Each subsector is eight parsecs wide, ten
parsecs long and nine parsecs high, containing 720 cubic parsecs.  Three
dimensional locations are similar to standard Traveller conventions with 
the addition to the standard four-digit hex notation of a two-digit decimal
notation for the z-location (vertical).

Coordinates in the z-plane increase from `upward' (zenith) to `downward'
(nadir), just as standard x-coordinates increase from spinward to trailward
and standard y-coordinates from coreward to rimward.

[The Earth Colonies Sphere system locations are based upon the `real' locations
given for the *2300AD* "Near Star Map".  The three-dimensional Cartesian
coordinates given in lightyears (cyr) have been manually entered into an
Excel (Macintosh) spreadsheet where they are converted to parsecs (pc) and
translated to three dimensional hex grid locations.  I will be more than 
happy to provide an electronic copy - you can figure out how to convert it
from Mac Excel to your favorite application - to anyone who sends me an
unformatted 3.5-in disk and sufficient postage to return it to you.  Overseas
folks contact me first so we can work out currency exchange details.]

Many worlds in the Colonies Sphere have been settled by Humans and Dolphins
from Earth during two major migrations.  The first occurred before the advent
of jump drive and the second from several different worlds after jump drive
was invented.  Two other sophont races, the Aeroi and the Meren, have
settled worlds on the fringes of the Sphere from their own regions of space.
The Earth Colonies campaign occurs at the beginning of the 31st Century AD.

While several independent worlds exist most worlds claim some sort of
allegiance to one of the major Terran insterstellar states in the Sphere.
These major states are:

*Commonwealth of Earth (Earth/Sirius 1720.19 A867988-D): Homeworld to both
Dolphins and Humans, Earth is also the capital of the largest state in the
Colonies Sphere.

*Abrahamic Synod (New Canaan/Gaea 2215.10 A865999-D): Settled by followers
of the Abrahamic faith who fled Earth during the Sundering.  New Canaan
sends missionary vessels throughout the Colonies Sphere and beyond.

*Empire of Aztlan (Aztlan/Procyon 0911.20 A9879A7-D): The strongest military
power in the Sphere, the Empire of Aztlan seeks to expand its control among
the many independent worlds of the Colonies Sphere.

*Federation of Nyanza (Nyanza/Nyanza 1531.12 A86898A-D): Nyanza's settlers fled
the African continent and surrounding oceans during the Sundering.  The worlds
of the Federation are the most cosmopolitan (`multicultural' in PC Newspeak)
in the Colonies Sphere.

*Ouroran Community (Amazonas/Ourora 1934.24 A766955-D): By far the major
economic power in the Colonies Sphere, the Ourorans often find themselves
in fierce competition with the Aeroi.

The two extraterrestrial races encountered so far have established outposts
and settled several worlds in the Colonies Sphere.

*Aeroi Worlds (hvi-Unapfi/Auriga 1909.09 A893847-D): The Aeroi are native to
a world far beyond the Colonies Sphere.  Aeroi merchants, based at hvi-Unapfi,
travel to every major world in the Sphere.

*Meren Worlds (Dedn/Europa 2934.30 AA6A865-D):  The Meren are also from beyond
the Sphere.  Their expansion into the Sphere, including sometimes violent
competition with the Aeroi, has lessened recently as their attention has
mysteriously turned inward.

In addition to the major Colonial States, several smaller states have been
established by settlers from Earth.  Most of these lag a tech level or two
behind the major Colonial States.  These states include the Republic of
Kiangsi, the Rajasthani Confederacy, the Dolphin-dominated Theridian League,
the isolationist Republique Quebecois, the Empire of Shinnihon based at
Ehime and the Kingdom of Hejaz.

COLONIES SECTOR

Subsectors in the Colonies Sphere follow the same Traveller convention with
the addition of a Roman numeral to denote the `level' of a particular 
subsector.  Levels run vertically `downward' from I to IV.  An asterisk (*)
indicates the subsector is unexplored by the Commonwealth Scout Service.
(Other subsectors may only be partially explored.)  The subsectors of
Atlantis, Susanowo, Sarasvati, Chalputepec, Siva, Jaxartes, Missisquoi and
Europa, while part of the Colonies Sector, are technically not included in
the Colonies Sphere.

A-I   Atlantis*                          I-I   Quetzalcoatl*
A-II  Oh-kuni-nushi                      I-II  Arcturus (Nouveau Quebec)
A-III Muntu                              I-III Kiangsi (Kiangsi)
A-IV  Siva*                              I-IV  Theta Centauri
B-I   Ehime (Ehime)                      J-I   Bootes
B-II  Castor                             J-II  Jagannath (Rajasthan)
B-III Santa Fe                           J-III Siddhartha
B-IV  Oceania*                           J-IV  Southern Triangle
C-I   Auriga (hvi-Unapfi)                K-I   Cepheus
C-II  Brahma                             K-II  Vega
C-III Orion                              K-III Fomalhaut
C-IV  Pacifica*                          K-IV  Tunghai
D-I   Susanowo*                          L-I   Shang-ti
D-II  Lorelei                            L-II  Hejaz (Hejaz)
D-III Ptah                               L-III Vishnu
D-IV  Jaxartes*                          L-IV  Amaterasu
E-I   Hyrcania                           M-I   Sarasvati*
E-II  Denebola                           M-II  Isauria*
E-III Alpha Crucis                       M-III Gilgamesh*
E-IV  Tanagra                            M-IV  Missisquoi*
F-I   Ursa Major                         N-I   Mercia
F-II  Pollux                             N-II  Nyanza (Nyanza)
F-III Procyon (Aztlan)                   N-III Wanganui
F-IV  Draconis                           N-IV  Masada
G-I   Capella                            O-I   Hibakusa*
G-II  Gaea (New Canaan)                  O-II  Aquila
G-III Sirius (Earth)                     O-III Ourora (Amazonas)
G-IV  Alpha Hydri                        O-IV  Xanadu*
H-I   Cassiopeia                         P-I   Chalputepec*
H-II  Pegasus                            P-II  Zarathustra*
H-III Theridia (Therid)                  P-III Cinnabar
H-IV  Phoenix                            P-IV  Europa

*****

That's all for now, except for the following pitch:

EARTH COLONIES DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE (ECDL)

Only the most rudimentary of structure has been developed to date for the
Earth Colonies campaign - basic system locations have been determined,
a few central subsectors have been mapped and UWP data generated, major
Colonial States have been identified, general technology levels set, and
major non-human races created.  The remainder of the campaign environment
will be developed by the Earth Colonies Development League.  The League 
is responsible for creating, coordinating, maintaining and publishing all
campaign background material.

The primary mechanism for the League's activities is the newsletter *Melbourne
Times* (MT#4 is due out shortly).  All newsletter subscribers become *de facto*
members of the League.  Other information of a more specific nature will be
published in a series of Working Papers available from the *Melbourne Times*
at a minimal cost.

So churn up your creative juice and become a developer.  Developers will be
responsible for individual subsectors (an 8pc x 10pc x 9pc region), for
individual states, and for individual non-human races.  General purpose
developer positions are possible too.

Happy Travelling,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7345
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 10:55:29 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Britta B. Damwitz   " <bdamwitz@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: Re: KFC in the TNE

On Sat, 23 Apr 1994, Dane Johnson wrote:
>I dunno if you've seen Smash & Grab yet....

Nope.  I don't own Path of Tears.  From what I've heard, it doesn't
*sound* like I'll be buying it either.  Just not useful for the stuff
I do.  (Classic Trav setting mostly)
 
>...And you thought you were kidding with the KFC, didn't you?
>
><Shudder>

Actually, no, I wasn't kidding.  It started out as a serious attempt
to figure out the K'kree in the new era.  IMHO, from the Hiver point
of view, manipulating their long term, diametrically opposed enemy: the
K'kree would be a MUCH higher priority than would be helping out the
humans who the Hivers *know* they can get along with.

They know that the K'kree will eventually regain space flight, and
so they now have a golden opportunity to get their tentacles into
controlling the Centaurs toward something more constructive than what
they were like before.  Remember, the K'kree have *exterminated* several
sentient species before *just* because they ate meat!  This is something
the Hivers *must* stop because of their 'mothering' instinct.  It is
also diametrically opposed to the way the Hive Confederation worked.

I think that manipulating them to follow the Hiver way would be the
highest priority that the Hivers would have.  I also think that the
fanatically militant and utterly pitiless K'kree would take their mission
*deadly* seriously.  I can't see even the Hivers breeding the fanaticism
out of the K'kree in only a few years.

Thus, we get the KFC (or something very similar to it.)

I admit that I started playing up the parody aspect of it (Oh no!
a KFC super bucket!)  But if you take that away, it's all quite serious.
Smashing asteroids into planets is just the sort of thing the K'kree
woud do (and have done) in the past.

Scott 2G Kellogg



------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7346
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 94 12:36:25 EDT
Subject: Misc.

>... Hitler didn't use the Roman eagle clutching a swastika in its claws >by
coincidence.

Yes it is 50 years later but that's why Hitler called it the _Third_ Reich.
- -------------

I also would like to add my voice to seeing info on the Earth Colonies
campaign.
- --------------

From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
>issue of Moot approval may become moot.  ;-)

A big F-Troop hat slam to you :)
- --------------
From: Shock <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> Some people don't like ...

My take on the situation is similar to what occurred where I work about 
2 years ago.  When our union steward left we were assigned a new steward by
the Chief Steward.  There was much complaining and at a meeting we demanded
the right to choose our own steward.  We might even have chosen the same
person picked by the Chief Steward but we wanted it to be OUR choice not to
have the decision handed down from on high.

The Virus and events leading up to TNE are such a radical departure from
the 3I setting established from the time of CT (way back in the mists of 
time) that it throws a serious monkey wrench into the direction of most
campaigns that were in existence not to mention upsetting the sensibilities
of devoted players of Traveller.  Try making any change and see what the
result is, for example the Channel Tunnel, the formation of the EC, the
reunification of Germany, NAFTA, the proposed Health Care plan, etc.

Perhaps the reaction would be slightly different if GDW had polled gamers
thru their magazines, at conventions, and thru the various mailing lists. 
Just my 2Cr worth.  

PBJuzyk
Reading, PA

------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7347
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 01:06:06 -0700
From: tad@kaiwan.com (Tad Peters)
Subject: subscribe

subscribe tad@kaiwan.com Tad Peters



------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7348
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 15:41:17 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Britta B. Damwitz   " <bdamwitz@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: RE: K'kree in TNE (longish)

This turned into a very long reply, so I've had to edit some of
it out to prevent boring the TML.  I hope Jeff Zeitlin doesn't
object to my cutting of some of the points where we agree.

Jeff Zeitlin writes:
}::>KFC:  The K'kreer Freedom Coalition.
}
}Stop reaching!  I refuse to allow bad puns to become part of the
}background of my universe! :)

I take it then that you have taken the Sword Worlds, Mongo, and many
other bits of the Traveller universe out of 'your' universe...  :-)

}::>K'Kree electronics and robotics was far behind the Hivers and The
}::>Imperium.  At their height, the best K'Kree robots were TL13.
}::>Oddly, their starships were totally dependent on robotics.  All
}::>K'Kree ships had robotic engineering crews just ripe for the Virus.
}
}When you look at the design of K'kree starships, and the psych
}profile of most K'kree, it's not so odd.  It's fairly easy for
}even a human to get claustrophobic in an area where there's a lot
}of machinery, and space is a consideration.  And it certainly
}would make their systems highly susceptible to Virus.  Possibly
}more susceptible than the other empires.

I guess I worded that badly.  What I meant was that I find it odd
that the 2000 worlds (an otherwise normal TL 15 nation) found itself
totally reliant on TL 13 technology for its spacecraft.  That IS odd.

}::>Further, as the 2000 Worlds of the K'Kree empire were farther from
}::>the site of release of the Virus, a greater proportion of the more
}::>advanced breeds of the Virus struck the K'Kree.
}
}Yes, I can easily go along with this.  I'd suspect that there was
}comparatively _less_ actual destruction in the 2KW than in any of
}the other empires, because the various strains of Virus have had
}the time to learn how to be more survival-oriented.  (Assuming
}that you accept an unwritten premise in your argument.  I
}address this later.)  The questions that come up here are:
}
}(1) How fast did Virus really spread? [deleted]
}(2) How fast did Virus evolve? [delete]

K'Kree robotics (so we are told in Book 8 and 101 robots) is highly
dependent on the use of "Master -- Slave" type systems.  That being
where one robot with a computer brain communicates directly
electronically with brainless robots and in coordination with other
brained robots.  This is to keep an electonic 'herd' together, much
as their organic masters follow their herd.  I submit that this type
system will be the most vulnerable sort of electronic network that
the Virus would encounter in all of the known Traveller universe.
This should greatly increase the rate of spread of infection.

From my readings of what we have on the Virus, it is sometimes affected
by the software and design of the system it takes over.  If the "Master
- -- Slave" type system/design philosophy, was incorporated at all into
the Virus, one would see an increased proportion of cooperation in the
Virus strains in the 2000 worlds.  Thus we would see fewer bits of
random destruction, but more coordinated efforts leading to
destruction on a vaster scale as individual vampire robots become
packs, and indivicual vampire ships grow into vast fleets.

}::>The Hivers, when they recovered from their fall, saw their chance.
}::>The K'Kree are now utterly powerless.  Immediately, the Hivers
}::>dusted off their old manipulation-invasion plans, and took aim at
}::>the K'Kree culture!
}
}I have a problem with this.  The Hivers only created this plan as
}a response to K'kree aggression.

Not really.  The Hiver way is more along the lines of "If you don't
like your neighbor, change him until he suits you."  They would have
come up with some similar plans even if the K'kree were losing the
war, or even if there was no war at all.  The war made the
manipulations imperative for the Hivers, but they would have done
the same thing without it.

}Militarily, the Hive Federation
}was taking a beating; this is why they resorted to the
}psychological warfare of manipulating the K'kree culture.  Once
}the K'kree realized that they valued their cultural uniformity
}more than they valued their mission of spreading vegetarianism
}through the cosmos, they backed off.  That's why the Hivers never
}actually put their full-scale plan into effect.  Even given the
}opportunity, I don't see that the Hivers would necessarily feel a
}need to do anything about the K'kree.  This, of course, could
}change down the road.

Well, by my reading, psychological manipulation is never the last
resort of the Hivers.  It is the *FIRST*.  The Hivers believe in the
"Peaceful coexistance of all races."  Thus the K'kree, with their
policies of exterminating other species, are anathema to the Hivers.
Further, the Hivers tend to take the long view of things, being patient
molders of other species (The Ithklur for example).  As they are often
looking toward the future, they know that eventually, the K'kree will
indeed rise again from the ashes.  They know that the K'kree who do
rise may be just as horrible as their previous ancestors were.

It seems logical, therefore, that the Hivers will take an extreme
interest in how the K'kree develop in the next few generations given
how wide spread they are and the power they are likely to yield in
the future.  The Hivers also know the principle of manipulation very
well.  A few words spoken in a few ears can have as much impact on a
culture as warship 10 years later.  If the Hivers are to manipulate
the K'kree to make such a radical change as becoming a peaceful race,
which is willing to live with others, the changes must be started
as quickly as possible.

The Hivers have manipulated and 'mothered' many different races to
conform with their ideals.  They could not effectively do so to the
K'kree as the Centaurs were too powerful militarily.  Once that hold
is gone, there is no reason what so ever for the Hivers to treat the
K'kree differently than any other species (excepting the reasons
I've given above).  The K'kree would be targetted for manipulation
as surely as the Ithklur were, and just as the Humans of the RC are
being targeted.

}::>Traveller Historians may recall the first Hiver-K'Kree war.  The
}::>aggressive and militarily superior K'Kree backed off when the
}::>Hivers unveiled their secret manipulations of a few of their
}::>worlds.  Hiver Master Manipulators had socially engineered events
}::>to make a few K'Kree planets turn away from the monolithic backbone
}::>of K'Kree culture.  K'Kree were actually using *MEAT* to sauce
}::>their vegitables!  K'Kree were going into isolation for
}::>*RECREATION*.  These abominations against the K'Kree frightened
}::>them so that they immediately sued for peace when the Hivers
}::>threatened to launch their manipulation across the whole of the
}::>K'Kree 2000 worlds!  The K'Kree quietly nuked some of their own
}::>planets to stop the abomination.
}
}Yes.  This is what I was referring to above.  The Hivers have no
}_need_ to be proactive; they already have the best defense that
}they can against the K'kree.

But they don't need a defence against the K'kree.  There is no reason
to defend against the K'kree.  The K'kree simply will be converted and
brought into the Hiver fold, just as any other species (Human, Ithklur,
etc.)  Standard Operating Procedure for Hivers.

}::>The Hivers have now contacted a few K'Kree worlds and have
}::>manipulated their culture to conform with the ideals of the old
}::>Hiver Confederation.  However, you don't turn a species of fanatics
}::>onto tolerence of other life in just a few years.  These K'Kree are
}::>the missionaries of the Hivers to the rest of their race.  Just as
}::>they have in the Imperium, the Hivers have given the K'Kree the
}::>technology and mission to clean up their entire region of space.
}::>They have formed the KFC:  K'Kreer Freedom Coalition.
}
}I told you: you may not make bad puns! :)

Who are you to tell me what I may and may not do?

}::>You thought RCES was bad with their Smash And Grab tactics?  The
}::>KFC's forces are happy to wipe out any K'Kree not of their herd who
}::>might stand in their way.  You want ground combat "Star Vikings"?
}::>It's much easier to nuke a planet and clean it up with a nuclear
}::>damper than it is to land troops anyway...
}
}Remember that the other "unreconstructed" K'kree will see these
}K'kree as aberrant/perverted.  Any fights would likely be to the
}death of every last K'kree on one side or the other, civilians
}and foals not excepted.  This is not what I would consider ideal
}territory for "missionary" work.  The only way I see this helping
}the Hivers is that it keeps the K'kree busy with their own
}internal battles, thus they are not causing trouble for their
}neighbors.  But I don't see the Hivers forming an RC-like
}alliance with any K'kree.

Yes, the KFC will undoubtedly spend a great deal of time fighting
the traditional K'kree.  This will buy time for Hiver manipulators
and observers and give the Hivers the time and pressures they need
to change the fabric of K'kree society.  And undoubtedly there will
be many such massacres as there were in the scenerio I presented
"Path of Blood" However, I submit that the KFC K'kree would have
some attitude of sympathy for the traditional K'kree, with a sort
of "There, but for the grace of Hivers, go I" air.

Also, it must be noted that even the "traditional" K'kree have the
missionary spirit:  Witness all the K'kree client races which have
been converted to vegitarianism.  With a bit of a push from the Hiver
manipulation teams, I think they would be willing to convert the
poor "traditional" barbarians, provided it doesn't take any more
effort than it did to make the original "client" races.  Conversions
and manipulations would follow the plans laid out by the Hivers.

}::>Why?  The other K'Kree are intolerant!  They have no regard for the
}::>lives of aliens and other sentient life.  Thus, they must be
}::>converted or destroyed.
}
}As above, strike "converted or".  K'kree are not likely to
}convert.  Especially when the evangelists are perverts.

If the K'kree managed to convert "inferior" (non K'kree) species
like omnivores to vegitarianism, I see no reason why they would
not try to convert their own relatives to "peaceful co-existance".

}::>No, the KFC does not eat meat.  (Not usually anyway, as it's not
}::>very good for a K'Kree's digestion)  And no, they don't *usually*
}::>enjoy isolation.  Psychologically, they are just about the same as
}::>they always were, but they are on a different mission now!
}
}But the mentality that would allow for this kind of mission is
}itself a sign of major perversion!  Remember that no K'kree,
}anywhere, has a loyalty to other than the Steppelord of the 2KW,
}through the normal chain of command.

I strongly suggest that you go back and read "Lords of Thunder"
in MegaTraveller Journal #4 by W.H. Kieth.  Basically, it involves
the Steppelord a K'kree Empire, an offshoot of the 2000 worlds.
The empire was formed by some True Believer K'kree steppelord who
wanted to exterminate all carnivorous life, and unite
omnivore/vegitarians under K'kree rule.  He was unsatisfied with
the current level of effort in that department.  The Empire he formed
was never recognized by the 2000 worlds.  Obviously, K'kree are indeed
capable of loyalties to someone other than the Steppelord on Kirur.
Especially when they haven't heard from him in about 70 years and he's
probably dead anyway.

}Since all K'kree have this
}loyalty, it is unthinkable to fight against other K'kree unless
}they are diseased (perverts).  And since one does not voluntarily
}become a pervert, it is useless to try to convince a pervert to
}drop their perversion.  They are therefore not fit to survive,
}and must be destroyed, to prevent the spread of the infection.

The omnivores that the K'kree converted to vegitarianism would fall
into the category of 'perverts'.  Yet the K'kree spared the effort
to convert them.  I don't think that the KFC will have any different
attitude toward "traditional" K'kree.  Some will be converted, some
will be massacred.

IMO, if the Hivers are capable of manipulating a human culture that
has been an aristocracy for thousands of years into a democracy
practially overnight, then the above mentioned changes for K'kree are
not out of bounds.

Scott 2G Kellogg




------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7349
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 11:07:55 -0600
From: RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu (J Roberson)
Subject: Das Drittes Reich

>>... Hitler didn't use the Roman eagle clutching a swastika in its claws
>>by coincidence.

>Yes it is 50 years later but that's why Hitler called it the _Third_ Reich.

Kameraden. . .

When Hitler referred to Nazi Germany as the Third Reich, the assumption was
that the reign of Otto von Bismark had been the second Reich, with the
reign of Charlemagne being the first one. Of course, for Hitler much of
this was more likely propaganda to sway the Tutonic masses. Of course, I'm
sure he linked Germany's might to the Glory of Rome, but nontheless Ancient
Rome was not one of the Reichs.


_________________________________
Eugenics: Chlorination of the Gene Pool.

J Roberson      RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu        Priss@io.com





------------------------------

Bundle: 587
Archive-Message-Number: 7350
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 1994 11:08:12 -0600
From: RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu (J Roberson)
Subject: Star System Generator

This isn't directly Traveller-related, but. . .

The other day I grabbed a Star System Generator for GURPS. I have the
macintosh version, there's also a PC version. Both are available at
netcom.com in the pub/cain directory (maybe pub2/cain; I'm not sure).

Anyway, it's an *excellent* program. It looks good and generates an entire
galaxy, globular cluster, and galactic core, replete with sector maps which
can be exported as ASCII text for printing. It's not Traveller, but for
being able to punch up a map on the computer and let your players play
navigator, it beats coding it yourself.


_________________________________
Eugenics: Chlorination of the Gene Pool.

J Roberson      RJR96326@vax1.utulsa.edu        Priss@io.com





------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #588: Msgs 7351-7362 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Wed Apr 27 22:00:03 EDT 1994
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Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
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TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #588: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 588  7351 24-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Re: Regency Nobility << David Johnson w
 588  7352 24-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Communications Routes << >Similar high-
 588  7353 24-Apr-1994 Dane Johnson     Review: Smash & Grab (Long) <<  
 588  7354 24-Apr-1994 b.borich@genie.  Surprise package <<     Thursday night 
 588  7355 24-Apr-1994 "Britta B. Damw  Zhodani in TNE << Steven M Bonneville w
 588  7356 24-Apr-1994 "Susan M. Shock  RE: Smash and Grab review << Dane, it w
 588  7357 24-Apr-1994 David Johnson    *Shall Not Perish* 2 << Gentlesophonts:
 588  7358 25-Apr-1994 Andy Lilly       Tarsus, 100 Diameters << Hi all,
 588  7359 25-Apr-1994 roger moore      Meson Guns! << I got my first chance to
 588  7360 25-Apr-1994 Diane Kelly      Rape of Trin and Safe Sex << Regarding 
 588  7361 25-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Traveller Background 17 << Gentlesophon
 588  7362 26-Apr-1994 John Bucsek      Space Colonies revisited << Ok. I've fi

------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7351
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 00:36:24 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Re: Regency Nobility

David Johnson writes:

>This would seem to me to be a good place for development.  What are the
>nature of Regency naval forces?  Rather than focusing on the details of
>ship design let's concentrate on tactics, strategy and design philosophies.

I'm not going to delve deeply into this pandora's box, just note that
one thing the Regency will need are fast reaction fleets to deal with
a direct attack by a Vampire Fleet.  (That may be how Trin got hit...
a fleet attacked and one got through in the confusion.  Since Trin is
so deep in the Regency, I wonder if it got any other places on the way.)

>BTW, what is the noble hierarchy in the Regency?  Under the Domain there
>were four Sector Dukes under Norris, right?  These still ought to be around.
>I know Norris was sometimes referred to as Sector Duke at Regina but at
>other times it seemed the Duchess of Mora was the chief duke in the
>Spinward Marches.  (Isn't that why Norris's capital is at Mora?)

Deneb is a bit odd.  First the usual lowdown.  Under a domain archduke
were the subsector dukes.  In most sectors, the senior subsector duke
at the sector's seat of government was considered the sector duke, and
had slightly more respect.  Under them came the counts, who ran two
or three world counties, and under them the marquis who ran individual
worlds.  Sometimes frontier positions seem to have been held by lower
ranking nobility than usual, or lay vacant.

We know who the sector dukes in the Regency were in the late 1120s.

SPINWARD MARCHES: Duchess Elane Shankarr Muudashir of Mora
                  Born: 1095.  Succeeded: 1121.
                  Matriarch of Mora.  Probably Marquise of Mora.
                  [MTJ #2, "DIS News Briefs", p.3]
DENEB:  Duke Aleksandr Lagaashinga of Deneb
        (No other info avaiable.  Know that he's sector duke since
         Deneb is clearly identified as sector capital in the UWPs).
        [MTJ #3, "DIS News Briefs", p.97]
TROJAN REACH:  Duchess Sharik Arcadia of Gazulin
               Career marine.  Promoted to sector duke in 1118
               in the wake of the suicide of Duke Alexander Quinn
               of Tobia, after its fall to the Aslan.  Since
               Pax Rulin is administered from Spinward Marches/Glisten,
               she is also probably the *only* duke in Troy.
               [TD #20, "Trojan Reach Library Data", p.29]
               [Pax Rulin info from Adv. 4 _Leviathan_]
REFT:  Irrelevant.  The capital of Reft is at Cyril/Moibin, on
       the Ilelish side of the rift.  The "provincial capital"
       on the Deneb side is at Lintl/Vestus, and really was only
       a glorified subsector capital which had all governmental
       duties for Vestus, Macon, and Usher subsectors (A, B, and
       E).  Macon and Usher don't have central capitals of their
       own.  [TD #20, "Reft Sector Overview"]

Duchess Elane is most likely still in power in 1201, since the 
Matriarchs seem to be long lived, if her predecessor is any example.

On the Spinward Marches capital:

For a long time, everyone simply assumed it was Regina, or maybe 
Rhylanor.  Part of the reason is because of how large the Duke
of Regina loomed over the area during the 5FW back in the days
of Classic Traveller.  Mora was first identified as sector capital
in _Spinward Marches Campaign_, but not many people noticed, 
especially since the supplement was chock full of typos and about
half lifted from the old _Spinward Marches_ and _Citizens of the
Imperium_ supplements (although the Citizens section was so screwed
up by typos as to be worthless).  Since the back story of the sector
says Mora was settled first, in 60, it makes sense that it's sector
capital.  The main reason the domain capital is also at Mora is
that it is near the center of the Regency -- Deneb is too far to
trailing, especially with Corridor closed.  The fact that it was
already a sector capital didn't hurt, either.  

As archduke, Norris can only appoint new knights and baronets, but no
peers.  This could cause a problem.  Norris used to have an Imperial
Warrant from Strephon that would have allowed him to create peers
subject to the review of the emperor, but Strephon got "killed"....
Doubtless the Regency has developed some sort of workaround as part
of the First Regent job, for now.

 
*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7352
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 00:50:58 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Communications Routes


>Similar high-speed communications channels must have existed in all the
>major interstellar governments, though, so actual virus transmission was
>probably much higher.
 . . . etc. . . . 

Almost definitely.  We know that at least the Solomani Confederation
had an effective Imperial-style xboat route since they were still
part of the Imperium when the main system was completed in 718, even
though they had just recieved autonomous region status in 704.  The
routes show up on maps of the Solomani Rim sector.  The level of
formality of the high speed systems undoubtedly varied among the other
major governments...I can see the Hiver and K'kree having decent 
commo systems, but each Aslan clan would probably have its own slower
independent courier network, and so on.

It seems to me that the real pre-cursor to the Rebellion is the
Solomani Rim War.  We're all so used to maps of the Imperium in 
its latter days that its easy to forget what it was like in, say
the late 600s, when it still had open frontiers, and its rule
stretched beyond Terra.

*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Beware the tablespoon my son,
                                 |  The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch,
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  |  Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
                                 |  The serious Bandwidth!"
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7353
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 03:17:10 -0700
From: Dane Johnson <dane@halcyon.com>
Subject: Review: Smash & Grab (Long)


 
_Smash & Grab_ has been out for awhile now, and since I haven't seen a
review of it I thought I'd throw my initial opinions on the fire to see
how many people agree with me on this.
 
CAVEAT:
    I don't like the TNE setting overly much.  Extreme distaste is probably
not too strong a term.
 
Overview:
    Smash and Grab is a 126 page sourcebook for Traveller: TNE.  The cover
is computer generated.  It purports to have five Hot Recovery missions
for the RCES.  As it says on the back cover "_Smash and Grab_ is a
collection of sweat-in-your eyes, ozone-in-your nostrils combat adventures
that will leave your player characters (those that survive, anyway) combat-
hardened veterans when it's all over." 
     'Nuff said.
 
Specifics:
    Five adventures and eight pages of equipment at the end.
 
    Adv. 1:  "...a bit different from the usual smash-and-grab..".  About 
25 pages long, which includes the Promise subsector UWPs and several
full-page, but crude, maps and various and sundry artwork.  A full three
and a half of these pages are given over to the Briefing, which is intended
to be *read verbatim* to the players.  *THREE AND A HALF PAGES*.
    Basic gist of the adventure is the recovery of the crew of one of the
twelve original starships sent out by the Dawn League (that's why it's
different from the usual smash and grab, by the way).  So, land on the planet,
attack the prison, meet up with some Imperials who slept through the collapse,
collect the crew, and leave.
 
    Adv. 2:  Land on the planet, attack the Droyne at the starport, unplug
the virus-infested AI computer that leads them and steal his SIMMs, leave.
About 20 pages, with about 5 of them full page, but crude, maps.  The
briefing runs about a page and a half (remember, it's supposed to be read
*verbatim* to the players).  You also get to 'parachute drop' from orbit.
 
    Adv. 3:  About 20 pages.  The TED in this adventure is actually a rogue
RCES agent.  Land, attack the psionics institute, unplug the virus-infested
AI computer, which...get this...is *psionic*, and mind-controlling the
aforementioned rogue RCES agent, and leave.  (This one reminded me of a
review of the Fiend Folio I read lo these many years ago in the Dragon.
"Ah, but *this* Mummy is _green_ and drains life levels.")  The briefing
runs about a page.
 
    Adv. 4:  Sneak onto the planet, pass yourself off as being from a distant
land, try not to look like spies (and thus find yourself executed) while
you try to find one of the RCs missing starships & crews.  Not as much shooting
as in the earlier scenarios, although it's set up to be nearly impossible not
to seem like spies (and thus have to shoot your way off the planet).  The
briefing is mercifully under a page.  About 20 pages, two of which are taken
up by a spread of floorplans for one of the local's palaces.  This is
basically a circular tower with most of the upper two floors (ie, the right
hand page) 90% "open to the air" (ie, no actual rooms or anything).
 
    Adv. 5:  Planet A. is having a civil war with both sides possessing
Nuclear weapons.  So, attack the planet, stealing some warheads from one
side and destroy a few on the other side to, get this, "...teach the
locals a lesson and reduce their arsenals, but not eliminate them altogether,
as the warheads being used are...[needed] to defend their world against
the vampire fleets."  Also, by GM fiat, most of the important equipment is
lost during the drop to the planet.  Runs about 18 pages, with under a page
worth of briefing.
 
 
Conclusions:
    1.  Out of five adventures, two had controlling AI computers and two
had TEDs who had captured a team of RC agents.  All were basically "run around
until you've had enough intrigue and then start shooting at things"-type
scenarios, if they weren't outright combat missions.  One let you fight
aliens, one let you fight psionics.  Yup, an RC campaign will have *lots* of
variety :/  <Yes, I've got Path of Tears.  This book is pretty far from the
"kindler, gentler" PoT.  It's not incompatible, but definitely much more
militant.>
 
    2.  From the introduction on page 5:
 
    "...[W]e have actually scripted the briefing so that the 
referee can read it verbatim.  Our experience is that this is easier
on the referee than having him or her make up the words of the briefer.
Also, having a script enables the referee to engage in some roleplaying,
and makes the briefing that much more real for players."
 
    Yeah, after all, you wouldn't want to roleplay any of your NPCs or
<shudder> have to *make up* part of an adventure yourself, would you?
    <"Captain, Counselor Troi is detecting sarcasm.">
 
    3.  Anybody who thought TNE wasn't a military role playing game
can go stand over in the corner.
 
    4.  Oh, yeah, nearly forgot.  Also from the intro:
 
    "All five of these worlds...will continue to figure in Coalition
operations and politics.  And since the Characters are *NOW EXPERTS*
on these worlds, having gained their experience the hard way..." <Emphasis
mine>
    Hmmm, yeah, landing and attacking a prison makes me an expert on the
whole world.
 
    5.  As someone mentioned, no Glaring Typos (for which GDW gets praise).
However, the grammar is occaisionally pretty klunky (not that I'm necessarily
one to point a finger, but I can at least recoginize it).
 
    6.  For no apparent reason page 126 has the "cross-hairs" page number
that was used (I believe) in Brilliant Lances.
 
    7.  Ads for Star Vikings (which looks like a book full of NPCs) and
the RCES Equipment Guide.
 
Alleged TML Terrorist,
Dane
 
djohnson@willamette.edu   dane@halcyon.edu

TNS Stringer ------ Terra/Solomani Rim (1827 G867975-8)
"My opinions are those of my fuzz-brained, cat-sniffing Norwegian Elkhound."

------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7354
From: b.borich@genie.geis.com
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 14:01:00 UTC
Subject: Surprise package

    Thursday night my wife gave birth to a bouncing baby girl, 7lb.s 9
ounces. Do to this fact, I might be a little late in answering current
mail <grin>, so please excuse me for a few days.

------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7355
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 1994 20:21:45 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Britta B. Damwitz   " <bdamwitz@lonestar.utsa.edu>
Subject: Zhodani in TNE

Steven M Bonneville writes:
>After all, the Zhodani Consulate is now humaniti's biggest living
>government, and the Regency is the second largest.

David Johnson writes:
}The idea of a Zhodani-Regency alliance is intriguing.  (If the
}Federation and the Klingons can do it in 80-some years why not the
}Zhos and the Denebians?)  Scott Kellog has been posting some
}*very* original stuff on the K'kree.  Maybe we could do something
}similar for the Zhodani and *finally* flesh them out into `real'
}human beings.  Except for the Imperial psionic bias that we all
}bought into back in the heydays of the 5FW, can anyone come up
}with a good reason not to see the Zhodani in a postive light?

Ahem.  Thank you.  But as I have often said, there is a reason why
my nickname is "2G"  I hope to correct miss-spellings of Kellogg.
[Come on!  It's on your breakfast table every dang morning! :-]

As to the Zhodani not being "Real" human beings, I haven't done
that yet for TNE.  However, if you want to read about "Real"
Zhodani in action, I suggest that you go back to the archives and
find the (unfinished) chapters of "The 4.5th Frontier War".  A
series of adventures I wrote (and perhaps one day will finish)
involving a crew of Zhodani wandering about in Iakr Sector (Foreven
to you Imps) during 1102, trying their damndest to solve a mystery
while the Spinward Marches boils up to a war fever.

[Basically, a SORAG "True Believer" defector was trying to ignite
the 5th Frontier War by playing the Zho navy off the Imperials]

Yeah, I know I wrote it, so I'm at risk of blowing my own horn, but
it is the ONLY treatment of the Zhodani I have ever seen that takes
them seriously to my satisfaction.  One day, perhaps I'll get
around to writing up the last 2 chapters.  Not at the moment
however.

So what are the Zho's up to now?  Well, as Steve noted, they have
"Won" the series of frontier wars by default.  The Imperium is
gone.  The Regency is not a threat to them.  As we have learned in
MegaTrav, the Zhos didn't really want to try to absorb the entire
Imperium after all.  All they wanted was to scare the Imps into
never invading the Consulate.  Now they never will.

However, it would indeed appear that the Zhos will absorb the
Regency after all.  Though, not militarily.  As has been noted, the
Regency now has begun to accept psionics.  You can be a psi in the
regency and *not* get lynched.  This will of course weaken the
interest of the Zho military (and the common Zhodani) who wanted to
make the galaxy safe for psionics.  The Regency just isn't the
threat it used to be.

What they will do is to increase trade with the Regency and thus
expand their interests in it.  That will provide a broader power
base from which they can begin to move the Regency toward the
acceptance of a Psionic upper class, and when that notion is
accpeted, they will mold and promote that psionic class toward the
image of the Zhodani psionic "noble".

Note the manipulations already ongoing:  The Regency is not only
accepting psionics, we are told is becoming more and more
democratic.  Remember, the Consulate *IS* a democracy.  [The vote
is limited to the Psionic upper classes.]  But it is democratic.
It won't be long before the citizens of the Regency will look
toward their psionic citizenry to start molding their society.  [We
look to psych/sociologists for social planning, wouldn't one tend
to give more creedence to a psych/sociologist who is also a
telepath?]

As to what's going on in the Consulate?  Well, mostly a
technological explosion.  The Consular Navy needs weapons to fight
the virus.  There will undoubtedly have to be Regency cooperation
to keep the virus at bay.  Thus there will be some technology
transfers, but there don't need to be that many.  The Consulate in
1120 was a TL14 Borderline TL15 society.  Zhdant (the homeworld was
the only TL15 world in the Consulate).  That technology will be
called upon to fight the virus.  The jump from TL14 to TL15 will be
a very swift one.  My guess is that in 1200 the Consulate would
have several TL 15 worlds near the borders of the Virus (Spinward
Marches) and on those worlds will be a growing development of TL16
items.  Thus the Consualte of 1200 will be about on par with the
Impierium of 1120.

I would also speculate that the cooperation of the Regency in
fighting the virus (shared intelligence at the very very least)
would begin to see some authorizations of TL16 Technology Transfers
from the Imps to the Consulate.

Regency/Consulate Trade?
Well, the Regency is now cut off from Imperial markets.  They need
someone to trade with.  Consulate Traders will find growing
acceptance in Regency markets as the psionic prejudices wear away.
[Investors!  Put your stocks in inter-face trade lines!]

Take a look at history:
WWII.  The US provided arms, equipment, & manpower to the fight,
while never being actually attacked at its industrial sites.
Result:  The US became the major industrial force on the planet and
dominated world politics for many years before the Russians began
pushing to compete in the cold war.  The standard of living in the
US was the highest in the world for years after the war.

The Consulate has never been hit by the virus and is providing
arms, equipment and manpower to fight off the virus at the
Regency's borders.  Think what it must be like at home in the
Consulate...

Back to Zhodani Technology:
Someone suggested (I forget who) that the Zhos would pick up the
neural interface technology from the Imperials.  Well, note that
the "Neural Jack" as described is only TL13.  The Zhos already have
it.  Indeed Neural Interface Technology would be a LOT easier for
the Zhodani.  Consider:  To make a DNI (Direct Neural Interface)
you need a hyperaccurate map of the human brain.  Not only that,
but of the individual's brain in particular.

Imagine how much easier would this be if you are a telepath.

The Zhodani probably developed Neural Interface Tech at a much
relatively lower level than the Imperials.  I'd say that a DNI
would be TL 11 or 12 (possibly even lower) to the Zhodani.  Indeed,
while the Zhodani may have been TL14 overall in 1120, their psionic
technologies would be somewhere around TL16-17-18 relative to the
Imperials.  [That means Neural Rifles, Neural Scanners etc.]  Note
that while only a fraction of Imperial worlds had a psi-institute,
*EVERY SINGLE PLANET* in the Zhodani Consulate had at least one. 
They are way ahead of this game and will stay that way.

Summary:
The Zhos appear to be manipulating the Regency just as the Hivers
are doing so to the RC.  With the huge resources of the Consulate
vs the Regency, plus the fact that the Consulate is far less
exposed to Virus.  There will be little to keep the Consulate from
doing whatever they wish.  But they don't need or want a war.

They've already won.

That won't stop them from expanding their interests tho.

Scott 2G Kellogg



------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7356
Date:         Sun, 24 Apr 94 22:23:42 EDT
From: "Susan M. Shock" <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      RE: Smash and Grab review

Dane, it would have been nice if you had mentioned early on that you were going
to be revealing some stuff about the adventures. Some GM's who might have
wanted to run that scenario and who have players who read this list might be a
tad upset right about now.
  Smash and Grab was never purported to be anything but combat-oriented
scenarios. And I'll tell you something; the people in my group, two of whom
have been involved in Traveller since it's beginnings, prefer adventures with
action. I ran "Shadows" for them not too long ago; they were bored silly. I
myself like that adventure, but they wanted something with some combat. Not
ALL combat, but a little action/adventure feel. To be frankly honest, some of
the original Traveller scenarios were a bit short on action. I have no problem
with the adventures in SAG.
  To each his own. Maybe the next scenario book will be more mystery/problem
solving than this one. And then all the guys who used to play Merc campaigns
will complain about it. Oh well.

------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7357
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 94 23:23:01 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: *Shall Not Perish* 2

Gentlesophonts:

Steven M Bonneville <bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu> writes:

> (That may be how Trin got hit...
> a fleet attacked and one got through in the confusion.  Since Trin is
> so deep in the Regency, I wonder if it got any other places on the way.)

Hey, wait a minute!  That couldn't have happened because there's no way
Norris could have hid what happened to these `other' planets, right?  ;^)

> We know who the sector dukes in the Regency were in the late 1120s.
> 
> SPINWARD MARCHES: Duchess Elane Shankarr Muudashir of Mora

Okay, how influential is Duchess Elane?  Can anyone identify the dukes
`under' her?  Did I get the subsectors right: Regina, Vilis, Lanth,
Rhylanor, Lunion, Mora, Glisten and Trin's Veil?  Does Norris still
hold the Duchy of Regina or does Seldrian (or someone else, Branj?)?

> DENEB:  Duke Aleksandr Lagaashinga of Deneb

So in TNE it's still Duke Aleksandr or else his descendant.  What are the
subsector duke positions in Deneb?  Are there some `dukes-in-exile' for
subsectors overrun by the Vargr or Virus?  Such folks would make great
candidates for the House of Nobles.

> TROJAN REACH:  Duchess Sharik Arcadia of Gazulin

Yes, I remember her now.  Did *TD* mention her rank?  That would give
some indication of her age.  Again, either she or her descendant ought
to still be around.  Again, what duchies existed in Troy?  How many are
now just `duchies-in-exile'?

> REFT:  Irrelevant.  The capital of Reft is at Cyril/Moibin

Good point.  Won't the Duke/Duchess of Vestus be of greater precedence
than your average duke?

The question remains: where do these sector dukes and all the subsector
dukes fit into the Regency power structure?  Did Norris bring all his
courtiers from Regina with him to Mora when he became Archduke (like
Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton) or did he take advantage of the existing
court structure at the sector capital at Mora?  While the sector court
at Troy might have been minimal, the Deneb sector court under Duke
Aleksandr ought to have been on the same order as that at Mora, right?

I think we're beginning to see that the whole idea of the Regency and
of any `democratization' in the Regency rests upon much more than just
Norris.

> Part of the reason is because of how large the Duke
> of Regina loomed over the area during the 5FW back in the days
> of Classic Traveller.

Hmmm, for a `simple naval intelligence officer with no intentions of
ruling' Norris seems to have developed an interesting pattern of enhancing
his own importance.  (And before anyone starts claiming I'm heading some
anti-Norris effort let me say for the record that I really like the guy.
I just don't see him as `simple' or merely `benevolent' at all.  He's the
sort or politician *extraordinaire* that would put Machiavelli, Richelieu,
Larry Atwater, and James Carville to shame!) 

> Doubtless the Regency has developed some sort of workaround as part
> of the First Regent job, for now.

Another good point.  An Archduke can't establish new peers but a Regent
might establish all sorts of `governors' and other administrators to help
him carry out his duties.  (Don't these sorts of figures appear in the
`future history' side bars in TNE?)  [FACT ALERT: I don't have TNE!]
Might this be some of the source of the `democracy' in the Regency?
How will the traditional peerage react to such a move?

I'm *really* enjoying this!

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7358
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 15:13:34 +0100
From: A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk (Andy Lilly)
Subject: Tarsus, 100 Diameters

Hi all,

Just a quick note, working on the principal that the less time my head spends
outside my bunker, the less chance it has of being hit by spurious flak.

TARSUS
Someone wanted to know which character cards went in the Tarsus (CT) adv:
Shark Resteff, Ganidiirsi hault-Reitan, Renard Ruche, Gaz Donnerkindt,
Tali Calcidor, Stashu Nagoya, Sten Commarre, Trow Backet,
Larin Imuspress, Dr. Amun Shimullu, Orinde Windhoek, Anicia Pantabreve.
Personally, I'd use different names... :)
100 DIAMETERS: LOSS OF ENERGY
As already explained on TML, No, jump drives don't need a gravity well to
expend their energy after a jump. There are reasons why high speed or FTL
drives might require gravity fields to speed/slow them (sling-shotting, etc.)
but this is not the case in Traveller (ooops, opportunity to get jumped on
here, so I'd better add: in my opinion, in my universe, at the current
instant in time, subject to review... phew... that was close!)
100 DIAMETERS: EXCEEDING HABITABLE ZONE FOR A STAR
1) Not all inhabited worlds are in the habitable zone. This is a possibility
for explaining why outer worlds are inhabited when they seem to have no
other redeeming feature.
2) Why keep beyond 100 diameters? Well, in my world, opinion, instant, etc.
gravity wells disrupt jump-fields and can 'pull' ships off-course. I retain
the 100-sun diameter limit for inter-system jumps on the principal that
when travelling several light-years 'through' the Nth dimension, you can't
afford to have your nav calculations affected by such gravity; it's bad
enough that the whole universe is expanding, planets move around suns, etc.
let alone putting another factor in. So for a big star the party's ship
arrives at the edge of the system to make sure they arrive approximately
where they expected, and not in the middle of a planet or sun.
Now, in-system jumps... travelling a few AUs is so much less distance than
inter-system that gravity can be allowed for a bit - you don't have to rely
on old nav charts - you're in system, you can scan around and see exactly
where you are, where the planets and sun are, and even map or calculate the
gravity variations across the local system. Now you're ready to do an in-
system jump which can go within the sun's 100 diameters but still ought to
stay outside 100 diameters of planets and the like - fluctuations in the
gravity 'contour map' may still pull you off line, so you want to keep clear
of planets, just for safety (i.e. star law 287312 dictates...)
In my game (personal opinion at this instant, etc.) you can activate a
jump drive anywhere you like, even on a planet's surface... Of course that
doesn't mean you'll arrive where you wanted... and in the latter case you'd
better be hovering, or most of your landing gear's outside the jump field...

Humble, humble, humble. That's to make up for not prostrating myself
elsewhere in this article. Everything I said in this and ALL previous
articles is my personal opinion, has always been stated as such and can be 
substantiated as such in a court of law.
Any comments? Good! Complaints? May you be plagued by Jehovah's
Wit... oops can't use them... by the Morm... no, still religious...
ah, by Taxmen... no there's bound to be one out there listening at this
very minute... got it! Plagued by ants... Uh oh, here come the ant-liberation
and equal rights group...
Crack! pHIZ! Ratatatata. Sound the alarms! We're under fire! Man the bunkers!

Yours, retiring to a safe distance...

Andy
Commander Lilly, PITS (Political Intelligence Team, Scout)
Nothing I say or do in any way reflects the views of my very kind and
generous employers.


------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7359
From: roger moore <moore@csf.cern.ch>
Subject: Meson Guns!
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 17:18:21 +0100 (METDST)

I got my first chance to have a real read of FF&S last weekend and the first 
thing that struck me were the lengths gone to to explain how the technology 
works - something I like about Traveller. However what I didn't like was the
way that they then used this to eliminate key elements of the MT and CT
universes, especially when there are huge inconsistencies in what they allow.

For example - no thruster plates due to non-conservation of linear momentum
however they explain Jump drive by saying that this conserves linear momentum,
and just changes you position in space. However this violates conservation
of ANGULAR momentum which is derived directly from the linear conservation
law, so in effect J-Drive is no more justified than Thrusters.

HEPlaR drives are a very nice alternative technology and if TNE was a game
with no previous background (although some would argue that it is :-) I
would use them however, IMHO, it alters the game too much from MT/CT.

The biggest inconsistency though has gor to be MESON GUNS! For a book that
explains in huge physical detail how things work why do they leave these in?

FF&S : mesons are a subatomic particle which transmit the strong nuclear force
       and which don't interact with matter.

WRONG! Firstly if they don't interact with matter exactly HOW do they transmit
the strong nuclear force? The fact is the mesons DO interact very well with
matter. When a meson hits material it produces a shower of particles with
will penetrate the material to a certain depth depending on the material type
and the original meson's energy. The original meson is lost when it creates
the shower and does not go sailing through matter as FF&S seems to think.
In short the meson gun is in no way different to a particle accelerator so
why leave this is FF&S while taking out other stuff?

Roger




------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7360
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 12:54:54 -0400
From: Diane Kelly <dkelly@acpub.duke.edu>
Subject: Rape of Trin and Safe Sex

Regarding the whole Trin question:

I think it's obvious that the destruction of Trin by the Virus _is_ known to
the general public of the Regency.  Recall that in the sourcebook the event is
called the "rape of Trin."  Events that are kept secret don't get dramatic
nicknames like that.  The Regency government might refer to it as "the Trin
Incident" or "Virus Event Trin," but a vivid term like "rape of Trin" would
point to a widely-known event, famous in popular media.
	
	To diverge momentarily into psychobabble, would the folks at GDW have
picked a lethal computer virus as the agent of the Imperium's destruction if
AIDS was not a major concern in American society right now?  The parallel is
awfully close.  Most science fiction is really about the present anyway, and
Traveller appears to be no exception.

	On an unrelated topic, what's the TAS up to these days?  Did they die
with the Imperium, or has it survived as a secret underground brotherhood in
the Wilds?

Jim Cambias
When I Travel, I Only Take Along One 'L'
Misusing My Wife's Internet Account
At Duke

------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7361
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 94 22:28:40 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Traveller Background 17

Gentlesophonts:

From Monday night, Andy Lilly <A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk> writes:

> Someone wanted to know which character cards went in the Tarsus (CT) adv:

> Orinde Windhoek

Any relation to Trace Windhook?  The `most wanted man in the Imperium'.
[FACT ALERT! I don't have *Tarsus*!]

> Crack! pHIZ! Ratatatata. Sound the alarms! We're under fire! Man the bunkers!

Glad to have you back, but *man* the bunkers?  :-)


Jim Cambias <dkelly@acpub.duke.edu> writes:

> I think it's obvious that the destruction of Trin by the Virus _is_ known to
> the general public of the Regency.

I agree.  My position has been that since the Virus attack on Trin *is* public
knowledge then it *must* serve the interests of Norris (or whomever the 
current Regent is) - otherwise he would have kept it secret.  I guess my
position has gotten a little confused because I've been expending so much
bandwidth arguing that Norris *could* have suppressed the news if he'd
*wanted* to in order to make my point that he *didn't* want to suppress it.
(Is this what happens when we don't `quote' extensively?)

Anyway, I came up with the opinion that Norris *must* have wanted the news
of Trin to leak out in order to promote the widespread sentiment in the Regency
*against* expanding beyond the Quarantine Line.  If you've been following
the discussion you've already seen my opinion of the rational behind these
actions.  If you don't buy that, maybe it helps the Zhodani to manipulate
the Regency if it stays put behind the Quarantine Line.

	
Scott 2G Kellogg <bdamwitz@lonestar.utsa.edu> writes:

> David Johnson writes:
> } . . . Scott Kellog has been posting . . . 

Ooops!  I apologize.  I'll remember, "Two gees!"

> It won't be long before the citizens of the Regency will look
> toward their psionic citizenry to start molding their society. 

Wow!  This is chilling, but it makes a lot of sense.
 
> [We
> look to psych/sociologists for social planning, wouldn't one tend
> to give more creedence to a psych/sociologist who is also a
> telepath?]

Counselor Troi, can you tell us anything?  :-)  This TNE just keeps getting
more and more original!

> The Consulate has never been hit by the virus and is providing
> arms, equipment and manpower to fight off the virus at the
> Regency's borders.  Think what it must be like at home in the
> Consulate...

Does this mean fashionable Zhodani of the mid-1200's will be driving
gravcars made in the former Wilds?  Or by Viral factories?  :-)

> The Zhos appear to be manipulating the Regency just as the Hivers
> are doing so to the RC.

Oh boy!  I'm loving TNE to death.  Just think, I can play a human puppet in
the Wilds trying to make the galaxy safe for Hivers OR I can play a human
puppet in the Regency trying to keep the galaxy safe for Zhodani.

Then again, we still have the Solomani.

Peace,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA


------------------------------

Bundle: 588
Archive-Message-Number: 7362
From: bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek)
Subject: Space Colonies revisited
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 01:46:50 EST

Ok. I've finished up my preliminary work on a Space colony for Traveller.  For
now preliminary it will stay since I think that I've generated enough info for
the thing to be usable.
 
Secondly, why go through the trouble?  Because no matter what era of traveller
you are playing there were always emerging worlds and I believe that the use
of orbiting colonies are the step that will be used.  Some ways to use
colonies would be: 1) As a setting for the development of the first Jump
capable ship. 2) Lot's of uses for a colony in a balkanized system. 3.) The
colonies are the space faring government in the system, and the planet is home
to a space fearing, zenophobic government. 
 
Well, anyway here's the info:
 
I started to design the colony using FF&S.  I designed the colony to 8G's and
the mirrors to 10G's to try to compensate for the acceleration and stress
caused by rotation.  Note that the mirrors are external to the hull and add to
the mass and volume.  I don't really see the point of completing the design as
this "vehicle" is so large that I think the numbers I've come up with so far
are good enough to provide a general idea of the size of the colony.  As
mentioned further in this message, items such as cargo bays, docking
facilities, additional power generation, and zero-gee industry can be added
externally to the station and connected through the counter-rotating hub at
the stern of the colony.  The power requirement for Life support is way too
large for a self-contained ecosystem. The amount is there for reference only.
Other items of interest:
To simulate a 1 G gravity field the colony must rotate at .547 rpm.
Velocity of the outer skin of the colony rotating at .547 rpm = 383 mph


O'neill Two     TL-8 orbital habitat.
Rate: 66,716,768,952       Total Hull volume = 934,034,765,328
Hull and Internal structure = Light alloy
Armor rating = 85

                      Mass         Volume      Power  Surface area   Price
Item:               (tonnes)      (Meters^3)    (MW)    (meters^2)  (MCr)
Hull Material    1,468,574,005    244,762,334                       587,430
Internal Struct.   238,218,730     23,036,455                        92,145.82
Life Support (Ext) same as--->  6,971,729,388 1.74x10^8         435,733,087
Landscaping     62,568,591,797 62,568,591,797                    31,284,296

Engineering
Solar Array TL-8       678,584      4,523,893  56,549  28,274,333   169,646
Mirrors            747,862,500   +106,837,500                       747,862

Totals:         71,995,654,954 864,222,121,461                  468,614,466



                O'neill Colony Two
                       "The Rough Sketch"

                                                        .............
                                            ............  mirror
                               .............
                  .............  
   _..............                                                  _
| | |______________________________________________________________| |
| | |                                                              | |
|_| |                                                              | |
| | |                                                              | |
|_| |                                                              | |
| | |                                                              | |
| | |______________________________________________________________| |
| |_|                                                              |_|
^ ^                                                                 ^
| |                                                                 |
| |__ Stern Engineering                         Bow Engineering ____|
|
|_ Cooling array (environmental)


The colony is basically a cylinder 32km long and 6km in diameter.
Bow Engineering is 7km in diameter and 250m long and houses the solar power
array along with a few small maintance airlocks. It also houses the cables
that hold the mirrors in position at the proper angle.
Stern Engineering (7km in diameter and 500 m long) contains some of the power
distribution network along with
most of the environmental machinery.  A ballanced ecosystem in the cylinder
reduces the need for full use of the extended life support system. External
power is required for full use of the life support system.  The daily function
of life support is to remove excess heat collected/produced by the ecosystem.
The waste heat is dumped through radiators at the stern of the station.

The stern of the station also contains a counter rotating docking section (not
shown).  My design philosphy is to minimize the machinery and this design does
not include the docking bays, zero-gee manufacturing, etc. The "industrial"
area will basically hang off the back of the colony connected by a 50 to 500m
in diameter access tube. It is this tube that is counter-rotated.
 
The main cylinder contains 94 square miles of usuable land. Most of this land
will have to be devoted to agriculture to keep the ecosystem functional.  Note
that some housing will also exist on the lower slopes at each end of the
cylinder, and that some residents might enjoy living in the lower gravity
conditions that exist higher up on the slope.  I would think that a minimum of
2 million humans could live here.  I don't know how to calculate a reasonable
population density but I believe that even 4 million is not unreasonable.
 
My design also allows 10meters of soil (in addition to the hull thickness) to
allow GM's to use a wide variety of terrain inside the colony.

In order to build this colony, a smaller station must be built first to
provide the industrial capacity to build the colonys components.  This smaller
colony O'neill One houses about 10,000 to 20,000 workers and is also
self-sustaining.  O'neill two as I have designed here is based on the O'neill
three colony as shown in the book The High Frontier.  Other ideas have come
from the Japanese Gundam series.  The OAV Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket show a
lot of the Rhia colony.  Currenly Gundam is not available commercially so find
your local Japanese animation group if you're interested.

Some last thoughts: I haven't included an altitude control system as I have no
clue on what would be required.  The colony computer and the Virus.  Compared
to a Starships computer, the colony's computer is an idiot. Remember that the
colony can be built with current 1970's and 80's tech.
Best book on the subject: The High Frontier, Human colonies in Space by Gerard
K. O'Neill. William Morrow and Co., Inc. New York 1977  ISBN 0-688-03133-1
Library of congress 76-27860
Other low tech space ideas: Deep Space. by R. Talsorian Games for Cyberpunk.
Lots of vehicle and space station ideas, but they lack the detail a Traveller
player is used to.
 


------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #589: Msgs 7363-7379 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Wed Apr 27 22:00:03 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 22:00:03 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #589: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 589  7363 25-Apr-1994 Dane Johnson     Spoilers on Smash & Grab... << Erp.
 589  7364 26-Apr-1994 Kerry Harrison   Aldebaran Sector << I'm in the process 
 589  7365 26-Apr-1994 Andy Lilly       TCH Character Generation Program << ANN
 589  7366 26-Apr-1994 "Les Howie"      Some questions about TNE Ship Design (F
 589  7367 26-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Re: Regency Dukedoms << David Johnson <
 589  7368 26-Apr-1994 164MCCONNELL@we  Articles << What are the articles for t
 589  7369 26-Apr-1994 "Susan M. Shock  Mistake in SMASH AND GRAB << Well, sad 
 589  7370 26-Apr-1994 David Johnson    *Shall Not Perish* 3 << Gentlesophonts:
 589  7371 26-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  muskets & lasers << Considering the dis
 589  7372 26-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  Regency MegaCorps << >And what of the M
 589  7373 27-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     The Fall of Trin << Cover up the cause 
 589  7374 27-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     Aldebaran Sector << Dear Kerry Harrison
 589  7375 27-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     Aldebaran... << Boy do I feel sheepish.
 589  7376 27-Apr-1994 Adrian Hurt      PC's and Space Stations << djohnson@ged
 589  7377 27-Apr-1994 psualum@aol.com  NPC << SASH JORDIN
 589  7378 27-Apr-1994 Derek Wildstar   Beta Archives on the World Wide Web << 
 589  7379 27-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Trin, Zhodani & Regency << David Johnso

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7363
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 23:26:41 -0700
From: Dane Johnson <dane@halcyon.com>
Subject: Spoilers on Smash & Grab...


Erp.

	In a fit of well meaning, but quite likely misdirected, energy I
rifled off a review of Smash & Grab that Allen Shock was right to point out
spoiled several plot elements.  Probably at least one thing out of each of
the scenarios.  I did this unthinkingly (hoping to put in enough of a
description to get my point across without reproducing the whole adventure)
and didn't really consider that I'd potentially be spoiling it for others.

	In the event that I've screwed up somebody's campaign, let me
apologize right here and now.  It was a dumb thing for me to have done
(at *least* without a warning), and I'll try not to do it again. <Sheepish
look>

Dane
djohnson@willamette.edu   dane@halcyon.edu

TNS Stringer ------ Terra/Solomani Rim (1827 G867975-8)
"My opinions are those of my fuzz-brained, cat-sniffing Norwegian Elkhound."

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7364
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 01:43:21 -0500 (CDT)
From: Kerry Harrison <kerry@illuminati.io.com>
Subject: Aldebaran Sector


I'm in the process of generating the Aldebaran Sector and then Collapsing it 
to bring it into TNE for HIWG.

If anyone has any pet minor races or worlds of interest they would like to 
have located in the sector (it's immediatly rimward of the Solomani Rim) 
now's the time to let me know.

Kerry Harrison
Aldebaran Sector Analyst, HIWG

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7365
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 10:30:35 +0100
From: A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk (Andy Lilly)
Subject: TCH Character Generation Program

ANNOUNCEMENT (slightly out-of-tune trumpet fanfare...)
The beta version of my MegaTraveller character generator is now available
on sunbane (at ftp.engrg.uwo.ca, directory /pub/traveller/software, file
tchbeta.exe). Download said file and run it and it will automatically
extract the main file (TCH_BETA.EXE) and a text file (TCH_BETA.TXT). Read
the text file - it does explain why the program might seem too 'flexible'
in its handling of the rules.
Just to remind people, the program runs under Windows (3.1, probably 3.0)
on PCs and has been substantially rewritten (in a car-crusher) to compact
its screen into 640x480, so everyone ought to be able to see all of it.
When the final (pay cash or else) version appears, people who have
contributed (with errata, _useful_ comments, etc.) will get reduced price
or free copies. For those of you who download the program, please pick it
apart (by comparison with the MT books, etc.) as I'm trying to make it as
letter-perfect as possible. Please please please note the comments in the
text file about the flexibility rules - i.e. if the 'Rules' selection is
not set to 'Strict' then yes the program deliberately allows you to re-enter
the same College as many times as you want, etc. The text file has an example
(near its end) to explain this. Charisma is for all races; it's just how
pretty you look. For Vargr, 'Social Standing' represents the Vargr 'Charisma'
since it is a measure of their social rank. If you can't handle things like
this, tell me and the next version will fix them.

Thanks to those people who have already replied on the alpha version
(especially those who gave it rave reviews)

Andy
Commander Lilly, PITS (Political Intelligence Team, Scout)
Nothing I say or do in any way reflects the views of my very kind and
generous employers.


------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7366
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 11:21:03 ADT
From: "Les Howie"  <lhowie@192.219.29.90>
Reply-To: "Les Howie"  <lhowie@Prograph.Com>
Subject: Some questions about TNE Ship Design (FF&S?)

Having read a few things about TNE, I am now trying to decide on upgrading to 
it, or staying classic.  I have never used the GDW universe, so the history 
aspects are not important to me.  I hope that some folks out there can help me 
understand a few things:

(1) What are the major areas change.  I have heard that it uses 2300 style 
combat.  What else?

(2) Has the Task system been retained?

(3) How has ship designe been changed?  What are the major paradigms?  Can ships
be designed without having a dedicated Cray to do the calculations (my main beef
about megatraveller)

(4) I noticed a comment in last night's TML about chnages in "scientific" 
rationalizations.  What material changes does this cause?

Thanks in advance for your input on this.

Les Howie
Prograph International


------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7367
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 09:47:39 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Re: Regency Dukedoms

David Johnson <djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov> writes:

>Okay, how influential is Duchess Elane?

Pretty influential, and probably *very* conservative.  She's
the hand-picked successor of Delphine, who seems to have been
the right-wing leader in the Marches since 1014.  Mora was the
industrial hub of the Marches...now it's also the political 
hub of the whole Domain.

>> TROJAN REACH:  Duchess Sharik Arcadia of Gazulin
>
>Yes, I remember her now.  Did *TD* mention her rank?  That would give
>some indication of her age.  Again, either she or her descendant ought
>to still be around.  Again, what duchies existed in Troy?  How many are
>now just `duchies-in-exile'?

No, we don't know a lot about her.  As far as I can tell, Troy only had
two duchies for three subsectors: Tobia and Gazulin, Pax Rulin being
under the control of Glisten.  [Although I once ran a high-powered
campaign that put one in Egyrn...my Imperium had picked up a vacant
world there.  They put a duke there because (1) they wanted more worlds
in the area, and (2) his enemies at Court wanted him out of the way.  
Fun, but *not* canonical.]

>Good point.  Won't the Duke/Duchess of Vestus be of greater precedence
>than your average duke?

Probably.  I didn't look real close, but Reft may only have two duchies
also, Moibin and Vestus.  Furthermore, the text in TNE suggests that
the Regency has extended its' power out into Old Islands and New Islands
subsectors in the middle of the Great Rift, as seen on the "Black Curtain"
map.  (Mostly, there are supposed to be outlying listening posts and
RQS bases there.)  Classic Traveller players may remember those worlds
from _Trillion Credit Squadron_.  Lots of little human governments of
Terran descent (21st century STL, pre-contact), and substantial fleet
manufacturing capability at about TL12.  I think they were supposed to
have unified in 1106, after TCS.  (Wonder if Dulinor bought part of
his last fleet from them?)

Other interesting notes from TNE:  apparently Trin wasn't the only
world hit by a "leaker", just the most notorious (maybe none of the
others got to a hi-pop world.)  Also, at the beginning of the crisis,
the Regency sent some fleets to Riftspan Reaches to help the Aslan
close and seal the jump-5 route.

Oh, and about the side-bar "Regency Sector Governor" from TNE.  Watch
the dating system.  If they're using New Era dates in notes from
somewhere, that seems to me an indication that there's been contact
and perhaps some level of unification with the Reformation Coalition,
since the RC developed the New Era dates.  So far, this suggests
a reunification in the 1240's, although the worst seems to be over
before then.  (As in the "Eneri Kuniholm" entries.)



*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Uh oh, there's that bear again."
                                 | 
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  | **WHAM!!!**
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7368
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 16:28:33 -0700 (MST)
From: 164MCCONNELL@west.cscwc.pima.edu
Subject: Articles

What are the articles for traveller?

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7369
Date:         Tue, 26 Apr 94 22:01:17 EDT
From: "Susan M. Shock" <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      Mistake in SMASH AND GRAB

Well, sad to say, I seem to have found an error in the book Smash and Grab.
***CAUTION: SPOILER COMING*** (Stop here if you don't want to know).
   The first scenario in the book has the characters attempting to rescue the
crew of the DLS HELIOS, being held captive by a TED to be traded to a vampire
ship. This contradicts the PATH OF TEARS sourcebook, which states the HELIOS
is now a member of the vampire fleet at Mitchell, her crew dead. The reason
given in the scenario for HELIOS being captured by the TED was a misjump which
brought it to the system. In POT, DLS Brilliant was lost to a catastrophic
misjump. I would suggest using Brilliant as the ship in the adventure. It
seems to me that SAG and POT were being written simultaneously and were not
checked througholy to make sure facts from one did not contradict the other.

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7370
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 22:43:20 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: *Shall Not Perish* 3

Gentlesophonts:

First, another appeal for non-traditional background.  
From Tuesday night, Les Howie <lhowie@Prograph.Com> writes:

> I have never used the GDW universe

Care to share any background details? :-)


Now on to more Regency background.
Steven M Bonneville <bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu> writes:

> >Okay, how influential is Duchess Elane?
> 
> Pretty influential, and probably *very* conservative.

Okay, so she's probably not much for this new `democracy'.  As *the*
autocrat she's the most likely leader of the Aristocratic bloc.  Maybe
this bloc is called `Muudashirites'?  You might expect Duke Aleksandr
of Deneb to be prominent in this bloc as well.

> >> TROJAN REACH:  Duchess Sharik Arcadia of Gazulin
> 
> No, we don't know a lot about her.

Okay, but as a newly-elevated noble who had a career as a marine one
might expect her to be more egalitarian than the typical aristocrat.
A candidate to lead the Democratic bloc?  Anyone for `Arcadians'?

BTW, if Sharik succeded Duke Alexander of Tobia as Sector Duke of Troy
then doesn't that mean that the Duchy of Tobia is vacant?
  
> As far as I can tell, Troy only had
> two duchies for three subsectors: Tobia and Gazulin, Pax Rulin being
> under the control of Glisten.

Okay, we've got we've got ten duchies so far (Regina, Vilis, Lanth,
Rhylanor, Lunion, Mora, Glisten, Trin's Veil, Gazulin and Vestus)
plus whatever remains in Deneb.  Can anyone help there?

Let's say Seldrian is Duchess of Regina (which includes Jewell), Elane
holds Mora and Sharik holds Gazulin.  We've established the Duke (male
or female, in all cases) of Vestus as being of greater precedence due
to the larger duchy.  Similar cases would exist for the Duchies of Rhylanor
(Aramis) and Glisten (Pax Rulin in Troy and parts of District 268 right?).

So far, the Regency nobility breaks down as:

The Regent (and possibly Archduke of Deneb, especially if Avery *is* a clone
            of Strephon, the Aledon's might want to retain the Archduchy)
Duchess of Mora, Elane
Duke of Deneb, Aleksandr or his heir
Duchess of Gazulin, Sharik or her heir
Duchess of Regina, Seldrian (or instead Branj or an Aledon neice or nephew?)
Duke/Duchess of Glisten
Duke/Duchess of Rhylanor
Duke/Duchess of Vestus
More prominent Dukes/Duchesses in Deneb
Duke/Duchess of Lunion
Duke/Duchess of Trin's Veil
Duke/Duchess of Vilis
Duke/Duchess of Lanth
Remaining Dukes/Duchesses in Deneb

And finally, just to stir the pot:

> Oh, and about the side-bar "Regency Sector Governor" from TNE.  Watch
> the dating system.  If they're using New Era dates in notes from
> somewhere, that seems to me an indication that there's been contact
> and perhaps some level of unification with the Reformation Coalition,
> since the RC developed the New Era dates.  So far, this suggests
> a reunification in the 1240's, although the worst seems to be over
> before then.  (As in the "Eneri Kuniholm" entries.)

How do we know this `Sector Governor' is from the *Domain of Deneb*
Regency?  [FACT ALERT: I don't have TNE!]

Peace,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas USA
 

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7371
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 07:38:49 EDT
Subject: muskets & lasers

Considering the discussions re. laser vs. musket penetration I have
played with some of the numbers and come up with the following chart
which shows the d6 damage at short range after penetration of personal
armor:

			short
TL			range		no armor	BC body suit	flak jacket
- --			-----		--------	------------	-----------
6  Rifle-Musket	60		3* (1)	2* (0.7)		2* (0.7)
12 Gauss Rifle	100		4 (12)	3 (9)			3 (9)
10 ACR - HEAP	80		5 (25)	3 (15)		3 (15)

8  DEI Carbine	200		5 (5)		5 (5)			0 (0)
13 CLC Carbine	300		7 (21)	7 (21)		0 (0)

* Fires only every third action

(#) Indicates total damage at the weapons full ROF


This table shows that compared to the laser carbines muskets inflict
little damage unless the target is wwearing a flak jacket (or better)
armor - assuming an area covered by the flak jacket is hit.  The cloth
armors offer no protection against a laser which also has some
additional benefits.

The short range is five times that of the rifle-musket, there is no
recoil so it is an excellent choice of weapon for zero-g combat, and
when used in a vacuum the CLC laser inflicts the listed damage to a
range of 2400 meters.

Obviously when facing armored foes these lasers are as useful as
flashlights but then high-tech armor has to have some benefits.

PBJuzyk             "You can't choose your death, Death chooses you"

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7372
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 07:44:28 EDT
Subject: Regency MegaCorps

>And what of the MegaCorporations?  Wouldn't they want to reclaim their
>companies' assets?

Considering the fear and confusion at the time of the Rebellion and
Collapse MegaCorps (MCs) would lose interest in their holdings.  When
the tales of Virus first enetered the Domain of Deneb a number of the
MCs would probably have sent a mixture of company assets and hired
agents to contact branches of the MC in the 3I Core.

These would have met with varied fates including falling victim to
forces of the Rebellion, Privateers, corsairs, Virus-controlled ships
planets, & stations, and even populations tired and/or made paranoid by
the Rebellion/Virus threat.  Since disregard of the quarantine does not
seem to occur to any large degree it can probably be assumed that the
missions sent by the MCs universally met with total disaster (i.e. they
didn't return).

Since the year 1200 many of the MCs will probably be looking with
increasing interest at files from the time of the Rebellion and finding
a number of interesting data.  With the collapse of society most
inventories will probably be assumed to have been confiscated or
destroyed by someone in the intervening 75 years.  It is possible that
ships both under construction and those already built might exist but
again they will most likely have been confiscated or even captured by
Virus.  The final type of data rediscovered will be of most interest to
the remaining MCs within the Regency.

DATA - R&D and Industrial Espionage.  The past 75 years has certainly
been less than stable - even within the Regency.  Even though MCs have
continued R&D the quality of the work in many cases is inferior to what
was done before Collapse.  The quantity of projects has also undoubtly
decreased along with the loss of MC assets beond the Regency.

As the MCs continue to look at these old files listing the type and
location of R&D they will begin to form ideas for sending teams to
search and recover that data.  In some cases the site of such missions
might be original sector or corporate HQs.  These missions can be
expected to have to overcome the unknown just to arrive at the system
containing their target and then in some cases perform extensive survey
& sensor work to locate facilities.  These facilities may be under
control of Virus, genetic experiments, and planetary populations who
possess the range of attitudes possible in the Wilds.  Quite a number of
such missions could be run for campaigns operating within the Regency.

********************************

DATA REQUEST - Can anyone tell me what published material for any
version of Traveller contains data on the systems in Deneb, Corridor, &
Vland?  Thank you in advance.

PBJuzyk               "You can't choose your death, Death chooses you!"

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7373
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 00:35:50 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: The Fall of Trin



Cover up the cause of the death of several billion people?  I don't think so.

As the Brits would say:  "Not bloody likely!"  (Heavy Michael Caine / Cockney
accent).

Norris couldn't have covered up a tragedy of that scale even if he wanted to,
and he would have lost his credibility if he had tried to do so.  The
fall of Trin couldn't have been completely contained -- records, people, 
escapees, rescue attempts, etc. -- word would get out.

Just a thought,
Rodge.


------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7374
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 00:40:00 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: Aldebaran Sector



Dear Kerry Harrison,

Where is the Adebaran Sector?

Rodge.



------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7375
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 00:53:11 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: Aldebaran...


Boy do I feel sheepish.  He said where it was.

But I'm a visual person, and need a map.  Here's one:

 
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|               |               |              |              |              |
| Reaver's Deep | Daibei        | Diaspora     | Old Expanses | Hinterworlds |
| Aeitle Sakh   |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
| <REAVERS.SEC> | <DAIBEI.SEC>  |<DIASPORA.SEC>| <OLDEXP.SEC> | <HINTER.SEC> |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|               |               |              |              |              |
| Dark Nebula   | Magyar        | Solomani Rim | Alpha Crucis | Spica        |
| I'aheako      |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
| <DARKNEB.SEC> | <MAGYAR.SEC>  |<SOLOMANI.SEC>|<ALPHACRU.SEC>| <SPICA.SEC>  |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|               |               |              |              |              |
| Ustral Quad.  | Canopus       | Aldebaran    | Neworld      | Langere      |
| Ftahtuak      |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|               |               |              |              |              |
| Banners       | Hanstone      | Malorn       | Hadji        | Storr        |
| Iyiyukhtoi'   |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|               |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              | RimReach     | Phlange      |
|               |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
|               |               |              |              |              |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Rodge.

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7376
From: adrian@cee.hw.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt)
Subject: PC's and Space Stations
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 10:05:52 +0100 (BST)

djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson) writes:
>From Monday night, Andy Lilly <A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk> writes:
> 
> > Sound the alarms! We're under fire! Man the bunkers!
> 
> Glad to have you back, but *man* the bunkers?  :-)

Yes, *man* the bunkers!  PC PC's (politically correct player characters) can
stand outside the bunkers if they wish. :-)

bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek) writes:
>  
>							Some ways to use
> colonies would be: 1) As a setting for the development of the first Jump
> capable ship. 2) Lot's of uses for a colony in a balkanized system. 3.) The
> colonies are the space faring government in the system, and the planet is
> home to a space fearing, zenophobic government. 

I've been playing the computer game "Frontier" recently, and for reasons
which are not Traveller-related and would take quite a bit of space to
explain, I spent some time considering the planet Riedquat.  Those of
you who have played "Frontier", or its predecessor "Elite", will know
that name; Riedquat is an anarchic world, a haven for pirates and a
great place to go if you want to kill something or buy stuff to smuggle
to somewhere else.  In "Elite" it had a small, basic space station to
serve as a starport, mainly because "Elite" didn't simulate landing on
planets so orbital ports were the only place you could go and trade.
In "Frontier", the station has been upgraded, whereas almost all other
star systems in that region still have the same small stations that they
had in "Elite".  What I wanted to figure out was why.

Riedquat is the home of numerous families who compete for dominance of
territory.  The competition is waged with any weapons available.  Think
of a cross between Bosnia and the town in "A Fistful of Dollars", on a
planet-wide scale.  At some time in the past, someone managed to get a
small space station in orbit.  Nowadays, as more powerful weapons have
found their way to the planet, there is no ground port because if one
was built, it would probably be destroyed again within a day.  Besides,
the economy of the planet is agricultural.  Practically anything which
can be grown is available there, especially narcotics.  Any family which
made the effort to build a ground port would be spending less time on its
agriculture, which would leave it with less money to import weapons with
which to defend itself.  For the same reason, no-one has built any arms
factories there; doing so would temporarily leave the builders poorer
and thus less able to afford to defend themselves, and the factory would
probably be destroyed soon anyway.  All families therefore depend on the
orbital port in order to sell their products and buy weapons.  The port
presumably has some shuttles which can take weapons down and narcotics
up, and which do not need a ground port to land.

Now comes my speculation.  The people in the orbital port realised that
they were in a unique position.  With more civilised planets, the orbital
port depends on the planet below for trade goods.  It is built, maintained
and controlled by that planet.  In the case of Riedquat, though, it is the
planet which is dependent on the orbital port.  The orbital port takes a
percentage of the price of all goods going both ways, payable by the people
on the ground.  It also does everything possible to make space travellers
welcome; docking fees are among the lowest around, and there are very few
laws except those needed to protect the station itself.  A squadron of
fighters enforces those laws.  The port exercises almost total neutrality
in its dealings with the families on the ground; it trades fairly and
equally with all.  Except, that is, if a family decides to object to the
trade tariffs being charged.  Then the port just stops trading with that
family.  The family is then left with a surplus of tradeable goods and a
shortage of weapons with which to defend them, making it a perfect target
for any neighbour who fancies a bit of plundering, which basically means
everyone.  At the same time, the people of the orbital port make it quite
clear that they have no ambition to take any land for themselves.  They do
not have the manpower to take or hold any ground.  Besides, if they did
show any inclination to do so, then given time they would easily be able
to conquer the whole world, as they have the advantage of controlling the
only way for weapons to enter the system.  So at the first sign of such
ambition, the families on the ground would have good reason to temporarily
forget their squabbles, unite and attack the port first.  But while the
port people show no intention of taking land, the families continue to
concentrate on fighting each other.  The space port continues to dominate
the planet's economy.  And anyone who visits the system had better be well
armed.

- -- 
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET: adrian@cee.hw.ac.uk
 UUCP: ..!uknet!cee.hw.ac.uk!adrian  |  ARPA:  adrian@cee.hw.ac.uk

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7377
From: psualum@aol.com
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 05:12:17 EDT
Subject: NPC

SASH JORDIN

Sometimes musicians are wonderful inspiration for rpg characters, such
as the one bard from one group I used to game with by the name of Eddie
van Halfling.  Although I have only heard one song by Sass Jordon (and
then only because one Philadelphia DJ likes her music) I just couldn't
help creating the following character by melding this inspiratiuon with
someone I knew briefly in college.  This character may be a useful NPC
in Reformation Coalition campaigns.  Should any of you use her I'd love
to hear in what capacity and what alterations she underwent.

  Sash Jordin is from Lucifer where she was once a mechanic.  After some
time it seemed to her a dead-end and in an effort to find something
better she became mixed up with some fringe elements (they call
themselves privateers but that's not what the Free Traders call them).
During this time Sash did manage to make a government contact that was
able to have her accepted at a Hiver Technical Academy.  After that she
spent some time as an RC employed trader before striking off on her own.
  With her heavily mortgaged (40 years) Far Trader, 'High Road Easy' (or
the 'Easy" as Sash refers to her) she began plying the trade routes of
the Coalition with an occassional foray into the Wilds.  On one such
trip she located a badly damaged 200 ton ship with several hull
breaches.  It did posess an operation Jump-3 drive unit.
  Upon her return to the RC she sold most of the ship as salvage and
kept the Jump drive.  Shortly thereafter Sash touched down at Aubaine
for annual maintenance and also consulted with a Hiver Engineering
specialist she knows.  She then arranged to have the 'Easy' refitted
with the new drive unit at practically no cost as the starport got her
J-2 drive in exchange.

  Now Sash's most frequent run is Lucifer-Aubaine-Kruyter-Nike Nimbus
with an occassional side-trek to Aurora and Eos.  She can also make the
Aubaine to Oriflamme run in two jumps instead of the usual four and has
been well paid a number of times for doing so discretely.

  Physically Sash has a wiry build with close-cropped hair dyed red and
a wisp of longer blonde hair at her neck.  Since becoming owner/operator
of the 'Easy' she has had to watch the bottom line to make her payments
on time but will not risk her crew unduely.  When in a confrontational
encounter Sash will attempt to talk her way out but is not a sniveling
coward - if necessary she will fight using a Gauss pistol by preference
(or hand-to-hand on high law worlds).  In business deals she is a shrewd
bargainer and if she feels a particular offer will not provide a safe
margin for profit she will have no qualms about turning it down.


Sash Jordin
	female human		UPP: 5 9 6 A 8 5 - 0 - 5
	Age: 37			Weight: 49
	Home world: Lucifer	Rank: Ex-trader 3rd Officer
	Initiative: 1		Load: 33
	Throw Range: 20		Unarmed Combat Damage: 1
	Hit Capacity(base):	Head:       12
					Chest:      33
					All Others: 22
	Skills:
		Mechanic 2/7			Slug Wpn-Pistol 2/7
		Unarmed Martial Arts 2/7

		Forgery 2/11			Ground Veh-Wheel 1/10
		Pilot-Interface/Grav 2/11	Stealth 2/11

		Environment Suit 1/7		Zero-G Envirnment 3/9

		Gambling 1/11			Sensors 4/14
		Ship Tactics 1/11			Streetwise 2/12
		Survey 2/12				Willpower 2/12

		Admin/Legal 2/10			Astrogation 5/13
		Communications 4/12		Computer 5/13
		Electroniccs 2/10			Gravitics 1/9
		Marketing 6/14			Robotics 1/9
		Ship's Engineering 4/12		Starship Architecture 1/9

		Bargain 4/9				Bribery 1/6

Contacts:	homeworld - computer specialist
		offworld  - legal specialist, government, trader, Hiver
				Engineering specialist




Far Trader: High Road Easy, Luhtalan registry
  40 year mortgage (approximately MCr 0.24/month)
  Wear Value = 7
  Altered as follows:	J2 drive, 2 passenger staterooms, 112 cu m cargo
				area removed, J3 drive (wear value 4) plus 140 	
				cu m extra fuel tankage installed

Altered Stats:
	Mass (loaded/empty) = 2000.38/1173.78
	Maint = 93
	Excess power = 0.7715 MW
	Jump Performance = 3 (560 cu m)
	G-Turns = 48 (92.8 using jump fuel)
	          27.3 hours to refine 1160 cu m
	Damage Tables - as per far Trader except:

	Area		Surface Hits	Internal Explosion
	------------------------------------------------------------------
	4-5		1:Ant			1-2:Elec, 3-11:Qtrs, 12-20:Hold
	16-17					1-9:Eng, 10-20:Hold
	18-19		1:AL			1-9:Eng, 10-20:Hold

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7378
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 10:44:43 -0400
From: Derek Wildstar <wildstar@quark.qrc.com>
Subject: Beta Archives on the World Wide Web

Speaking of hypertext documents for the Traveller referee,
please give this a try, and let me know what you think!  

Because of several people asking for easy access to the GDW-Beta (and
also the TNE-Pocket) information, John Lewis and I used the current
GDW-Beta archives as a "test project" for placing this information
on the World-Wide-Web.  For the test, we used the GDW-Beta archives,
since they were only around 2.5 meg.

For those of you familiar with the World Wide Web, the URL is:

http://muon.qrc.com/gdw_beta/beta.html

The IP address is 198.178.200.101, if it's not in your nameserver.

BTW: "muon.qrc.com" is the MacII that lives on John's desk, so it may be
unavailble (there is an 8-user limit) or slow from time to time during 
the day.  Don't panic, just try again in a few minutes.  If there are any
real problems, contact John (jlewis@quark.qrc.com) or myself
(wildstar@quark.qrc.com) by e-mail.  If you can't get through by e-mail,
then we've got bigger problems to worry about than a Traveller server.


If you're not familiar with WWW, there are several routes you can use to
access this information.  First of all, there are several WWW browsers
that are freely available for most major platforms; running a WWW browser on
your own machine is definitely the preferred way to go.

Failing that, there are a number of browsers accessable by Telnet.  I am
aware of the following (in general, telnet to the address given, and follow
any special instructions for that site):

info.cern.ch
	No password required.  Located in Switzerland; probably a good
	choice for European users, but not for North Americans.

ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
	Log on as "www".  Uses the Lynx full-screen browser, which
	requires a vt-100 terminal (or emulation).

www.njit.edu (128.235.163.2)
	Log on as "www".  Full-screen browser.

vms.huji.ac.il (128.139.4.3)
	Log on as "www".  Line-mode browser with "extra features".
	Located a Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.  Accesses a
	dual language Hebrew/English database, with links outside.

sun.uakom.cs
	Located in Solvakia.  Uses a slow link, use only if nearby.

info.funet.fi (128.214.6.102)
	Log on as "info".  May not be working.

fserv.kfki.hu
	Log on as "www".  Located in Hungary.  Uses a slow link, use 
	only if nearby.
	

As I said before, the absolute best way to access this information is to use
a browser program that's local to your machine (and preferably uses all of
the bells and whistles at it's disposal).  Failing that, use one of the
telnettable browsers.

IMHO, the "best" one  (at least for North American users) is at
ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (the one at www.njit.edu is slow).  From either one
(these are the only two I've used), select the "GO" command to enter a
URL, and type the GDW-Beta URL:

http://muon.qrc.com/gdw_beta/beta.html

This will get you to the main page for GDW-Beta (where the charter, disclaimers,
and other legalistic garbage is, along with the good stuff: links to the
documents).  From the ukans browser, tab over to the link that you want to
follow, and hit enter to call up the next document.  Use the left arrow to 
back out.  The njit one is a little more klunky - each link has a number,
and you have to Query that number to call up the next document.

They all have help information, so take your time and read the documentation,
and you shouldn't have too many problems.


wildstar@quark.qrc.com
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     On the Internet

------------------------------

Bundle: 589
Archive-Message-Number: 7379
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 09:36:05 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Trin, Zhodani & Regency


David Johnson <djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov> writes:

>I agree.  My position has been that since the Virus attack on Trin *is* public
>knowledge then it *must* serve the interests of Norris (or whomever the
>current Regent is) - otherwise he would have kept it secret.

And our position is that there is no way that the Regency government
could hide the scourging of a subsector capital for more than a limited
period of time.  Besides, we don't know enough about how that "leaker"
got through the Quarantine.  It's possible that the leak was "noisy"
enough that everyone knew it was coming, and despite heroic efforts
didn't stop it in time (since it apparently stopped after Trin).  Of
course, it's possible that a far trader snuck into system and only
hit Trin.  There's too many people here who would know about it,
especially if a quarantine is either now or was temporarily needed
around Trin.  (But this topic seems to be mostly talked out, now.)

[Zhodani comments from several people deleted]

My original comments about the Consulate-Regency connection were
slightly exaggerated to make the point, since we really aren't 
used to thinking about that possibility.  While they are temporarily
allied, as Virus threat decreases, strains will reappear in the
relationship.  Also, eventually, the pocket empires will recontact
the Regency, and the citizenry of the Regency yet feels more closely
akin to the old Imperium than the Consulate.  Still, the Zhodani
are no longer the primary source of friction -- I expect that the
ihatei Aslan are harder for the Regency to negotiate with.  That
may *lessen* as the Viral quarantine ends, since the old Hierate
would then be open for re-colonization.  And even after re-contact,
the Regency may still want to go its own way.  We'll see.

*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Uh oh, there's that bear again."
                                 | 
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  | **WHAM!!!**
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

End of TML Bundle
******************
To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Date: Sun, 01 May 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #590: Msgs 7380-7391 
Approved: by traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin) Sun May  1 22:00:03 EDT 1994
Reply-To: traveller@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Submissions)
Errors-To: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca
Precedence: bulk

TML bundles come from the archives maintained by
traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 01 May 94 22:00:04 EDT
From: traveller-request@engrg.uwo.ca (TML Admin)
Subject: TML bundle #590: Table of Contents

BUN# =AMN= =DATE====== =FROM==========  =SUBJECT/BODY==========================
 590  7380 27-Apr-1994 Roger Myhre      100 diameter              << A.S.Lilly@
 590  7381 27-Apr-1994 John Bucsek      Zhodani and the Regency << I have seen 
 590  7382 27-Apr-1994 David Johnson    *Shall Not Perish* 4 << Gentlesophonts:
 590  7383 28-Apr-1994 langsl@cbr.hhcs  Mail probs <<                   I N T E
 590  7384 28-Apr-1994 Andy Lilly       Manipulation << Hi all,
 590  7385 28-Apr-1994 Stewart Eyres    Aramis 3110 A-6B0556-B A Ni,De,Cp,Ng <<
 590  7386 28-Apr-1994 Roger Sanger     Collector's items for sale... <<  
 590  7387 28-Apr-1994 "KMCCARTHY"      Bank loan refused, re<Space <<         
 590  7388 28-Apr-1994 Steven M Bonnev  Regency Matters << David Johnson <djohn
 590  7389 28-Apr-1994 Richard Johnson  That Mapping Thing again << G'morning. 
 590  7390 28-Apr-1994 David Johnson    Shall Not Perish - Megacorps << Gentles
 590  7391 28-Apr-1994 "James M. Kelle  Zho & domain << Hi there I'm Back....

------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7380
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 16:40:37 +0200
From: Roger Myhre <myhre@oslonett.no>
Subject: 100 diameter             

A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk (Andy Lilly) wrote:

>100 DIAMETERS: EXCEEDING HABITABLE ZONE FOR A STAR
>1) Not all inhabited worlds are in the habitable zone. This is a
>possibility for explaining why outer worlds are inhabited when they
>seem to have no other redeeming feature.

>2) Why keep beyond 100 diameters? Well, in my world, opinion, instant,
>etc. gravity wells disrupt jump-fields and can 'pull' ships off-
>course. I retain the 100-sun diameter limit for inter-system jumps on
>the principal that when travelling several light-years 'through' the
>Nth dimension, you can't afford to have your nav calculations affected
>by such gravity; it's bad enough that the whole universe is expanding,
>planets move around suns, let alone putting another factor in. So for

Just to play the rules advocate for a while :) I (mis)quote some rules
that can be found in various books. For instance in Referee's Companion
page 20 it says that you can enter jump from any spot in the system but
only safely outside the 100 diameter limit.

And on page 13 in SOpM it says that a ship cannot enter within the 100
diameter limit of another body. I believe this is mentioned elsewhere
too.

Now comes the monkeywrench. This is taken from Imperial Navy Handbook
(INH) Revision May 28, 1992. (If you can't find it, it is because it is
a working document put on ice :) )
Rob Prior: The gravity gradient of a dense object extends further out
than one from a less-dense object. A ship can arrive within 100
diameters of a neutron star (which virtually guarantees destruction
from tidal forces) yet must also arrive 100-diametersfrom a red giant
(which is mostly hot vacuum).


>a big star the party's ship arrives at the edge of the system to make
>sure they arrive approximatel where they expected, and not in the
>middle of a planet or sun. Now, in-system jumps... travelling a few
>AUs is so much less distance than inter-system that gravity can be
>allowed for a bit - you don't have to rely on old nav charts - you're
>in system, you can scan around and see exact where you are, where the
>planets and sun are, and even map or calculate gravity variations
>across the local system. Now you're ready to do an in system jump which
>can go within the sun's 100 diameters but still ought stay outside 100
>diameters of planets and the like - fluctuations in the gravity
>'contour map' may still pull you off line, so you want to keep of
>planets, just for safety (i.e. star law 287312 dictates...) In my game
>(personal opinion at this instant, etc.) you can activate a jump drive
>anywhere you like, even on a planet's surface... Of course that doesn't
>mean you'll arrive where you wanted... and in the latter case you'd
>better be hovering, or most of your landing gear's outside the jump
>field.

I do also let my players acticate their jumpdrive where-ever they want,
if they are crazy enough. It is a great way to put them where you want
them :)


Roger "StarWolf" Myhre
                                                                                                                     

------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7381
From: bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek)
Subject: Zhodani and the Regency
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 13:59:22 EST


I have seen many threads dealing with the Zhodani either manipulating or
absorbing the Regency. 
 
Now my opinion on the whole situation stems from the data in the Rebellion
sourcebook explaing Zhodani motivations.  From that data I feel that if
anything, the Zhodani are more than happy to have a small, stable government
like the Regency on the borders.  As long as the Regency does not attempt any
expansion in the direction of Zhodani territory, the Zhodani will leave the
Regency alone.
 
Some quotes to further my belief:
from p66 of the Rebellion sourcebook;
   The Zhodani are not expansionist nor are they Imperialistic.  They long ago
reached the practical size limit for their empire, and they are satisfied with
their territory.

To paraphrase some info... The frontier wars were fought to keep the Imperium
out of Zhodani terrirory.
 
Another quote from p66
Nothing is more acceptable for the Zhodani than to have many small human
governments on its borders; each is large enough to be stable, yet small
enough to pose no threat.

Of course very little info has been released about the Regency and the Zhodani
in the New Era except for the fact that they exist.  From the rebellion info,
I would guess that if anything, the Zhos would aid the Regency against the
Virus while also conducting undercover operations to ensure that the Regency
stays small enough to not be a threat.  As for the Zhos conquoring the Regency
in some way; I don't think so.
 
 
John Bucsek
bucsek@oo.com


------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7382
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 14:41:15 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: *Shall Not Perish* 4

Gentlesophonts:

I dug out *Travellers' Digest* #19 and came up with the following info
for Deneb Sector c1120.

The Sector capital, presumably Duke Aleksandr's seat, at Deneb/Usani is
not the Subsector capital, which is at Usani/Usani.  Does this mean there
would be a separate duke at Usani?

Anyway, duchies were at Pretoria/Pretoria, Lamas/Lamas, Antra/Antra,
Arleshanu/Million, Magash/Sabine, Inar/Inar, Dunmag/Dunmag, Imone/Star
Lane, Vincennes/Vincennes, Usani/Usani, Geiishir/Geniishir, Qevar/Gulf,
and Zeng/Zeng.  Atsah had already been overrun by the Vargr and a client
state established at Atsah/Atsah.  Whether this was under the subsector
duke or a Vargr warlord is unkown.  Kamlar was probably administered from
Usani and Vast Heavens probably from Geniishir.

I beleive I read somewhere that Lamas had been destroyed in a Vargr attack
and that most of the coreward subsectors had been overrun at one point during
the Rebellion, including Aramis in the Marches.  Can anyone shed some light
on this.

I also believe I've read here on TML that the Quarantine Line now extends
down the center of Deneb leaving Antra, Million, Dunmag, Atsah, Usani,
Geniishir, Kamlar and Vast Heavens to the Virus.  [FACT ALERT: I don't
have TNE!]  If this is the case, then the only remaining Regency duchies
are Pretoria and Lamas (both possibly overrun by Vargr), Sabine, Inar, Star
Lane, Vincennes, Gulf and Zeng.  Duchies-in-exile might then include Antra,
Million, Dunmag, Usani, Geniishir and possibly Atsah.

Any help in this area, canonical or otherwise, would be appreciated.

Happy Travelling,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7383
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 10:38:11 +1000
From: langsl@cbr.hhcs.gov.au
Subject: Mail probs


                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                      Date:  Sent on: 28-Apr-1994 10:37am
                                      From:  Alistair Langsford
                                             LANGSFORD ALISTAIR
                                      Dept:  Information Services
                                      Tel No:289 7870

TO:  Remote Addressee                     ( _traveller@engrg.uwo.ca )


Subject: Mail probs

<From: gdw.support@genie.geis.com
<Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 03:39:00 UTC
<Subject: 
<
< 
< Alistair Langsford,
< 
< I have been attempting to contact you, but the address I have
< keeps bouncing. Could you verify that
< 
< langsl@cbr.hhcs.gov.au
< 
< is your correct address?
 
langsl@cbr.hhcs.gov.au is my correct address, according to my local 
internet guru. Other people have reached me successfully on this address 
just recently. I also think this is the address which TML is using (MR TML 
Admin Sir, is this correct?) You could try this again though, as we have 
been having mail problems so my guru tells me. He suggests you also try:

langsl@hhcs.gov.au
langsl%cbr.hhcs.gov.au@sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au
postmaster@hhcs.gov.au

<Loren Wiseman

Alistair, who may be at one of the above addresses. 


------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7384
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 10:11:24 +0100
From: A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk (Andy Lilly)
Subject: Manipulation

Hi all,

Sorry, can't remember exact quotes, but here are two thoughts on manipulation:

RAPE OF TRIN
News got out. But whose news? [FACT ALERT (to borrow from Dave Johnson): I 
don't have any TNE stuff!] My 'Commander Lilly' character eventually got 
promoted to be an Imperial Count. There were lots of planetary 'rapes' (some 
even instituted by my own intelligence operatives) but my own people only 
ever heard what I wanted to hear. I didn't have to lie, just shift the blame 
or emphasis, spread a little rumour. If I wanted something to sound as if it 
had leaked, my intelligence people leaked it, then I denied it but, directly 
afterwards, also denied something people knew to be true (i.e. grass is now 
officially blue, not green). You only have to look at other world-scale 
manipulations to know that news can get out with no effect whatsoever...
For example we've just had a documentary on the De Beers and Anglo-American, 
i.e. the controllers of 80%+ of the world's diamond market. Basically, 
diamonds are not exactly the rare things most people believe. It's only by 
careful manipulation of the media, markets, etc. that Anglo keep the diamond 
prices nice and high (allegedly, I'm just repeating what the program said; I 
have no personal knowledge of the reality of the situation... but I can 
smell a rat as well as the next Aslan). Okay, so the program says this 
pretty blankly and also mentions exploitation of the poor natives, etc., etc.
Even if this program was watched by every person in the US and UK, just how 
many people are still going to go out and buy a diamond ring for their 
engagement, etc. The Anglo (et al.) marketing specifically includes details 
of how to encourage such sales - I think the program said over the past few 
years their advertising had persuaded 20-30% of Japanese now give diamond 
rings for such occasions!

The power of the media...

Someone else said:
> The Zhos appear to be manipulating the Regency just as the Hivers
> are doing so to the RC.
And then (I think) David Johnson said:
>Oh boy!  I'm loving TNE to death.  Just think, I can play a human puppet in
>the Wilds trying to make the galaxy safe for Hivers OR I can play a human
>puppet in the Regency trying to keep the galaxy safe for Zhodani.
>Then again, we still have the Solomani.

Hmmm... Who's actually manipulating whom? [FACT ALERT: No TNE; see above] If 
the Regency, Coalition, etc. are getting back anti-virus help, aid in 
raising their technology, etc., wouldn't they quite happily play ball with 
whatever their 'manipulators' desired. To take a vague analogy, look at how 
Japan built itself back up after WWII (hope this isn't a contentious issue). 
Back then they were 'beaten', but now they're doing pretty well for 
themselves. Perhaps the general populace think their own governments are too 
weak to resist these outside influences but I'd bet my shirt (a nice blue 
and grey striped one; hell I'll throw in the John Major blank grey tie as 
well) that the Regency (etc.) leaders aren't taking this lying down. They 
don't have to throw off their helpers the instant they're back to a stable 
position of strength; they can just quietly keep growing, looking 
reassuringly docile to the Zho and Hivers, etc. And if they pull new 
strengths from the outside influence - e.g. a resurgence of psionics in the 
4th Imperium (?) then they can't really lose, can they? Of course a good 
diplomat in the Zhos or Hivers will already have anticipated this and will 
have counter-measures in place, e.g. remote (flase holding companies, etc.) 
control of certain critical raw materials within the new Imperium, holds 
over important officials (spying, bribery, blackmail, etc.), etc. etc.

If a government says grass is green, run straight out your front door and check!

Yours, cynically,

Andy
Commander Lilly, PITS (Political Intelligence Team, Scout)
Nothing I say or do in any way reflects the views of my very kind and
generous employers.


------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7385
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 09:24:33 +0100 (BST)
From: Stewart Eyres <spe@jb.man.ac.uk>
Subject: Aramis 3110 A-6B0556-B A Ni,De,Cp,Ng

Hi there, 

At the suggestion of Rodge Sanger, I'm posting world write-ups I have for
Aramis subsector.  Due to work load, I'll probably send one a week.

The format is homegrown, and this is what my players see;  there is some 
more detail which I don't have on computer.
Aramis Subsector                                        Spinward Marches
 
World ID:       Aramis 3110 A-6B0556-B A Ni,De,Cp,Ng
 
Distances:      Main World to Jump Point = 963,000 km
                Main World to Gas Giant = --
                Jump Point to Gas Giant = --
 
Physical:       Diameter= 9500 km, Atmosphere= 10 atm, Corrosive;Methane, 
cold,
                Gravity= 0.77 g, Hydrographics= 1 %, Ammonia Ice
 
Demographic:    Starport= Ay, Population= 619,000
                Government=Feudal Technocracy; headed by the Marquis of 
		Aramis, Law Level=Six
 
Trade:          Classifications=Non-industrial, Desert
                Base Cargo Cost= Cr 452 per klitre
                Major Exports
                Raw= Precious Metal Ores, Ferrous Metal Ores.
                Agricultural= --
                Processed= --
                Manufactured= Electronics.
 
Comments:       Aramis is the capital of the subsector to which it gives 
		it's name.  This has come about not through the usual process 
of economic and cultural dominance which determines the site of most subsector 
capitals, but simply because of the world's proximity to Rhylanor subsector, 
from which the region's government is directed.  The world  itself is ruled 
directly by Marquis Leonard of Aramis, and all major contracts  and posts are 
held at his sufferance.  Almost the entire world population lives within the  
underground city of Leedor, which the Marquis holds as his fief from the 
Emperor.  This city  grew up in the wake of the mining which carved the caverns 
it occupies.  The mining continues  beyond the current city boundaries, and 
still provides a major source of export.  During the  Civil War, the mines were 
briefly occupied by Imperial Marines to ensure continued production. When the 
world was scheduled for inclusion in the X-boat network, a period of great 
growth  came about.  The scout base was established at this time, and Naasirka 
underwrote the  starport  upgrade, taking control of the shipyards.  Much of 
the original X-boat infrastructure  for the region was built here as a result.
  In the late 700s, the increasing strategic importance of both the subsector, 
and the X-boat route through the system, lead to the establishment of a naval 
base on the world. The world had by then developed into a trade and commerce 
centre.   As the subsector population increased, calls came to move the capital 
to a more central  position.  This has been resisted up to now, and Aramis' 
pre-eminence has been aided by the fact that six major transport lines run 
scheduled services through the system.  In addition, the world's starport 
remains the only major source of overhaul for starships operating in the 
subsector. 
 
Subsector D                                                     Deneb Domain

Those of you who have read this may have noticed that the distance to 
jump point is more than 100 planetary diameters.  This is because of a 
modified ruling I use for determining the Jump Point, which I introduced 
purely to allow accessible, habitable planets orbitting big stars.

We've discussed jump distances before on TML, and I originally suggested 
that the distance you should use was the point at which gravitational 
acceleration became the same as it is 100 diameters from Terra.  
Unfortunately, as someone pointed out at the time, if you work out the 
algebra, because a star/planet/whatever's mass increases faster than the 
gravity reduces, the result is that you end up with even greater jump 
distances;  for the big star I was looking at, the jump point became 
something like 400 diameters, which took months to travel to.

After this, I came up with a different method; I assumed that the jump 
point was at the distance where the 'radial gravitational spatial gradient' 
was the same as at 100 diameters from Terra, i.e. the rate of change of 
gravitaional acceleration as you move away from the central mass.  This 
gives the following formulae for the jump point distances:


Star

distance = 117.5 x (cube root of star's mass) million km

with the star mass in Solar masses (as in Scouts)

Planet or gas giant

distance = 1.28 x (cube root of mass) million km
	 = 160 x (cube root of density) x (UWP size digit) thousand km

where the planet or gas giant's mass is in Earth masses.

This gives planetary jump points of roughly the same size, but reduces 
stellar and gas giant jump points.  Provided you are willing to live with 
the reduced gas giant distances, I think this gives a reasonable method 
of reducing the jump point distances for large stars.  It also has the 
interesting effect of allowing straships to emerge from jump within the 
star if the astrogator is careless in plotting his jump vector.

If you don't like this, or my write-up, please don't flame me, as I don't 
care :-)  Your welcome to post alternatives, but this is what I use, and 
I'm happy with it.

Sorry, Rodge, I appear to have been semi-conversationalist in this post ;-}

_____________________________________________________________________________
"Traveller Done Wrong 
	- Let's get the Fiction back into Science Fiction Roleplaying"

Stewart								N.R.A.L.
								Jodrell Bank
								Macclesfield
spe@jb.man.ac.uk						Cheshire
								SK11 9DL
____________________________________________________________________________


------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7386
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 02:39:33 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: Collector's items for sale...

 
 
 
TRAVELLER ITEMS FOR SALE:
- -------------------------
 
 
I've aquired a spare of each of the following collector's items:
 
 
 
     Name:                                        Condition:
     -----                                        ----------
 
==== Vilani & Vargr: The Coreward Races, by DGP.  It's in new condition.
 
==== Alien Module 7:  Hivers                      Also like new.
 
==== Alien Module 2 -- K'Kree                     Good.
 
==== Starship Operator's Manual                   Good.
 
==== The Flaming Eye Campaign Sourcebook          Excellent.
 
==== Early Adventures                             Good.
 
==== Atlas of the Imperium                        Fair.
 
==== Spinward Marches Campaign                    Fair.
 
==== Megatraveller Journal 1                      Good.
 
==== Traveller's Digest  5                        Excellent.
 
==== Traveller's Digest  8                        Excellent.
 
==== Traveller's Digest 13                        Excellent.
 
==== High Passage 2  (fasa)                       Excellent.
 
==== High Passage 3  (fasa)                       Excellent.
 
==== High Passage 4  (fasa)                       Excellent.
 
==== High Passage 5  (fasa)                       Excellent.
 
 
 
 
 
If you are interested, drop me a note.
 
Rodge.

------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7387
Date: 28 Apr 1994 09:14:05 U
From: "KMCCARTHY" <KMCCARTHY@qmgate.osc.hq.nasa.gov>
Subject: Bank loan refused, re<Space

                       Subject:                               Time:8:30 AM
  OFFICE MEMO          Bank loan refused, re<Space Colonies   Date:4/28/94
bucsek@oo.com (John Bucsek) described his TL-8 O'Neil Colony Two as:

>"Price: 468,614,466 MCr...The colony is basically a cylinder 32km long and
>6km in diameter....I don't know how to calculate a reasonable population
>density but I believe that even 4 million is not unreasonable."

Given the price the MONTHLY mortgage payment would be ~1.43 MCr PER PERSON
(assuming a pop of 4 million) given a 5% interest rate and 100 year loan. 
Also, this doesn't include the initial cost of putting 4 million people in
orbit--no small sum for a T-8 society (no grav).  IMHO, there is no way that
any government or private corporation would  back this venture.

But you say, "The cost is spread over the population of a whole world."  If you
assume that the world has a unified government and a population of 1 billion
the MONTHLY mortgage payment would be 5,739 Cr, or 68,875 Cr/year.  IMHO, there
is no way that any government or private corporation would  back this venture.

Finally, I have heard a formula quoted from "High Guard" saying that a world's
ability to build spaceships is one ton per 1,000 population.  I may be wrong
here because I don't own a copy.  The Hull Material    mass is 1,468,574,005
tons which would indicate that construction time for the 1 billion pop. world
above would be 14,686 years.

I respect John's opinions and efforts, but the math doesn't work.  Maybe that's
why Earth doesn't have one now.  This is especially true in the T:TNE era when
you know grav technology is "just down the pike" and there are vampire ships
out there that would drool to do a high delta gee ram!  BTW, the planet
couldn't afford the fleet to protect it either.

At least in the T:TNE era,  I assume that rational paranoia, if nothing else,
would limit the size and number of orbital habitats, starports, etc.  Also,
there would be MUCH less incentive to built high population cities.

Any, thoughts, comments, flames?

Kevin Mc Carthy
kmccarthy@qmgate.osc.hq.nasa.gov



------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7388
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 08:49:48 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Regency Matters


David Johnson <djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov> writes:

>BTW, if Sharik succeded Duke Alexander of Tobia as Sector Duke of Troy
>then doesn't that mean that the Duchy of Tobia is vacant?

Heck, since Tobia was overrun by Aslan New Lords fleets, it may be
*gone* as a duchy.  (But still be a friction between the Regency and
the New Lords!)  Of course, it is also possible that there still
is a Duke of Tobia, but was either too young or in the wrong place
(like still at Tobia) to take command of the sectors defense in
1118.  Besides, with the fall of the subsector, the position would
become less important.

>How do we know this `Sector Governor' is from the *Domain of Deneb*
>Regency?  [FACT ALERT: I don't have TNE!]

We don't, of course.  However, I thought that it would make sense,
especially considering that "Spinward Marches" is hardly an 
appropriate name for a sector containing half of a pocket empire
and it's capital.  It's not exactly the frontier anymore.
Similarly, I expect a renaming of the Solomani Rim sector, 
eventually, and Core.  (Although they may save the old names as
historical nostalgia -- if anyone is feeling that nostalgic!)

>The Sector capital, presumably Duke Aleksandr's seat, at Deneb/Usani is
>not the Subsector capital, which is at Usani/Usani.  Does this mean there
>would be a separate duke at Usani?

Really?  Interesting -- I'll have to have a look at that.  I only
remember a baroness at Usani (in an old TD or MTJ).

>I beleive I read somewhere that Lamas had been destroyed in a Vargr attack
>and that most of the coreward subsectors had been overrun at one point during
>the Rebellion, including Aramis in the Marches.  Can anyone shed some light
>on this.

On Rebellion-era domain maps, I recall even parts of Regina subsector
were over-run.  However, by TNE the area seems to have been re-taken.
Some of those worlds, in the Marches at least, seem to get captured
temporarily every time that there is a Frontier War, but they always
are re-taken.

Of course, this last time wasn't just a frontier war, but things seemed
to be under control on the Vargr front by the time Virus hit.

[comments on Quarantine Line]

It probably isn't that bad.  Remember, the Quarantine Line has to be
fairly *wide* in order to work right.  Some of those subsectors may
be buried in the Quarantine Line but still able to function on some
reduced level -- the RQS probably has bases in there for refueling
and replenishment.  Admittedly, living on a world in the Line and
traveling into the greater Regency would be a hassle, but possible.

*******************************************************************************
 Steve Bonneville                | "Uh oh, there's that bear again."
                                 | 
 bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu  | **WHAM!!!**
*******************************************************************************


------------------------------

Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7389
From: richard@agora.rdrop.com (Richard Johnson)
Subject: That Mapping Thing again
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 08:47:55 -0700 (PDT)

G'morning.  (or evening, as the case might be.)

I have chosen the wordl system to build a full set of charts around.
(drumroll, please)
Terra.

The best other suggestion I had was Regency.  Since I don't have the
TNE books, but I _do_ have a set of information about our local 
system, I went for the "easy" way.  :=)

Looks like it's gonna be in excess of 70 8.5X11 inch pages.  This is
just for the 40 or so likely natural bodies, plus some human-
created ones as well, and some notable asteroids.

The *BIG* problem I'm encountering is choosing a tool that will:
  1. be easy for me to use to create the charts
  2.  Produce files easy for people to view or print
  3. Be widely available.


So far, I have (kind of) settled on Word for windows (v 6--the one
that's supposed ot be Mac compatible).  This leave X11 users out in
the cold, except I think I can save the files as postscript when
I'm done.  Anyway, please send me your requests for other formats
(I think) GIF is gonna be _tough_ to generate from this.

- -- 
Richard Johnson      richard@agora.rain.com
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7390
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 94 13:37:05 CDT
From: djohnson@geds01.jsc.nasa.gov (David Johnson)
Subject: Shall Not Perish - Megacorps

Gentlesophonts:

PBJuzyk <psualum@aol.com> writes:
 
> As the MCs continue to look at these old files listing the type and
> location of R&D they will begin to form ideas for sending teams to
> search and recover that data.
> Quite a number of
> such missions could be run for campaigns operating within the Regency.

I think this is a good take on the Regency megacorps that provides
excellent adventure possibilities.

See *The Cosmic Computer* another `Future History' novel by H. Beam Piper
that occurs prior to the period of the Space Vikings.  (In fact, *The
Cosmic Computer* occurs just following the System States War between
the Terran Confederation and the rebels who fled to found the Sword
Worlds.  Sound familiar?)

In *Computer*, the protagonist, Conn Maxwell, returns to his backwater
homeworld, Poictesme, after attending university on Earth.  His father
heads a company that salvages military hardware left behind from the
war.  The home folks want him to help them find Merlin, a `super'
computer rumored to have been left behind by the Confederation military.

As I've mentioned previously, the megacorps ought to figure prominently
in a Regency sourcebook.  With the exception of the Vilani megacorps
all of them ought to be alive and relatively well in the Regency.

The megacorps c1120 from *MegaTraveller Journal* (may it rise again!) #3:

Delgado Trading (miniturization, heavy mining & refining, publishing and
   trading)
- -A key player in the war against the Virus.

General Products (starships, non-starships, heavy machinery)
- -Quality problems were threatening existence by Rebellion.  Domain/Regency
 susbsidies would be likely in order to maintain a major shipbuilder (cf.
 the Chrysler bailout).

GSbAG (starships)
- -Probably doing well equipping the Quarantine Service and the Deneb Navy.

Hortalez et Cie (banking and investment)
- -With addition of Zirunkariish assets most likely dominates Domain.

Instellarms (military products)
- -Probably doing well, although mercenary actions can be expected to be
 limited in Deneb by government efforts to conserve resources.  Can be
 expected to favor the Expansionists and Santanocheevists.

Ling Standard Products (mining, electronics and computers, starships,
   starship systems, power generation, small arms)
- -Probably the primary commercial and military contractor combating the Virus.

SuSAG (chemicals, pharmaceuticals, geneering, extra-Imperial psi drugs)
- -Will the illegal psi drug manufacturing move into the Regency?  Obviously,
 SuSAG will support the Tolerant bloc, if not openly then certainly with
 financial backing.

Sternmetal Horizons (mining, manufacturing, power generation, food processors)
- -Probably doing well.

Tukera Lines (shipping)
- -Probably still active and possibly a supporter of the Imperialist bloc.

Vilani Bureaux (probably not active in Deneb after the Collapse):
  Makhidkarun
  Sharurshid
  Naasirka (assets acquired by LSP?)
  Zirunkariish (assets acquired by Hortalez)

Might there be any sector or domain corporations which now rival the former
megacorps in influence and power in the Regency?  What commercial interests
are not represented by the Imperial megacorps?

It seems to me the megacorps were always `ignored' as the major players 
they must have been in the Imperium - with the exception of Tukera's role
in Margaret's faction during the Rebellion.  They ought to be very
powerful players in the Regency.

Happy Travelling,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

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Bundle: 590
Archive-Message-Number: 7391
Subject: Zho & domain
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 94 19:12:06 PDT
From: "James M. Kelleher" <kelleher@holonet.net>

Hi there I'm Back....

Ok lets start, Scott (2g) Kellogg: I don't think a telepath is going to be
much help in mapping someone's BRAIN; His/her's MIND maybe; Even my wife
noticed that! how about a clairvoient Doctor. Hummm and even then I'm not 
so shure that the Zho's would be all of that much ahead in Nural jack tech. 
After all they have all of those nifty Flicking controls...

Some of you hace been talking about the Regancy. I too have been in a high 
powered game and had a character installed as Duchess of Egryn... She does
not have time to adventure, Reigning, Working for Norris and Intellagence
( Only a few people know about this... :-) ) and using her unexpected 
talents as a Fleet commander to help the Domain's Vargar problem. She is 
a very buisy lady. As is the rest of her family...
Over the years I have devloped a picture of Norris that is ( ONLY in my 
version of the Traveller universe ;-)) interesting. He and my Duchess grew up 
on Regina and know each other very well, as such she is one of the people he
trusts to tell him when she thinks he is going off the trail. She takes this
VERY seriously BTW. Norris was the younger Son and as such did not expect to 
reign so he decided that he would do something fun during his career. Then
POW there he is no more Mr. Background there he is reigning. Wow this is 
not what I expected, but I'll Try to do the best I can. And so he has, I 
feel that he has a talent, ( like Justinian ! ), to pick unlikely persons
to do jobs for him, But they turn out to be monstrously successful. ( who'd
ever think that a 70 year old Eunich would turn out to be one of the Military
geniuses of his time ? [ Narsess of course ! ]). So given this and his 
Cahrsima and political astutness I think he will do well by the Regancy. As
will all of those who belive in him and his stance... I think that Seldarion
will probably succeed him than maybe Avery. The Nobility will have by that
time have built up a tradition of service to the Regancy or will have fallen 
by the wayside.
I like some fo the political factons and will prob. use tham in addition 
there are a few others... Anybody remember the Psionic knights about time
they came out of the Closet... OOps I'd better be carefull I might let to
much slip some of my player's lurk here Hi, James and Catie...

On the Zhodani next door. Why spend time and money and lives conquering the 
Regancy when they are turning into good neighbors? But I don't think that 
the Zhodani would get to far trying to covertly modify the culture.
First, ( as Marcus remarked to one of the "covert" Marines on board. " Covert
IS spelled with a C!" ) The Zho's I'm afraid not subtile enough to pull it 
off. In addition ( In My universe at least. ) the Scout Service has been 
doing manulipitions all along now ( Some one has to fix all of those poor 
planets' cultures after being contaminated. Surelly you don't think TED's 
are NEW do you ? ;-) ) I think thay will be looking for anything like that 
here.
I also feel that there are strong political factions in the Consolate as 
well some of whom would want to keep hamds off and see if the people next
door will devlope into ( naturally ! ) the best culture ( Zhodani of Course )
and others would see the different culture as a stimulas for their own 
slightly stagnating culture.

More on the group of Characters They are on this weird covert mission to Ruby
They arrived on Ruby Flak and Marcus accually talked and determined that both
of their govenments had given them the same Contact! so they decided that 
Flak should go and make the drop. When he arrives he finds that the contact
has been taken off to jail by the local police. Not the Tvarchedl'. Flak has 
to fend off the lady by implying that he is Gay... She tells him that some 
person has payed for the girls to take care of anyone who comes in for free
for that week. Flak comes back to the ship and reports.
Gunnar goes up and informs the troops that there is a free house and is almost 
trampled by them. ( he figured that this will make it easy to find them if 
needed ) 
Flak left.
Gunnar left.
Falk went to the covert Tvarchedl' office and identified himself and told 
that he needed help with this mission as his contact is languishing in a 
local jail. They get excited and promise all the help that they can give.
So Flak got a turban, false moustache and a Car and driver. and headed 
for the police station when he arrived he saw a man, Big, wearing a trench 
coat Shades, and a hat walking past the station. Uh Oh that looks like Gunnar
I'd better get him out of the way for a while. So he calles on the car phone
and askes his Tvarchedl' people to arrest Gunnar.
Gunnar has put on his Trench coat hat and shades and gone for a walk past the
police station, When four cars pull up and turbans come pouring out, They 
arrest him then as they are putting this obvousely Sword Worlder in the car
they noticed his psi shield... a natural one ( you have to be in close 
proximity to tell if a shield is natural or not... ) They start asking him
pointed questions. Gunner is thinking "Flak I'll get you for this... Some day"
and then produces Id showing his Sorag idenitiy. ( Flak is not the only one 
with several covert idenitiys! )
The Police are all watching the show four tvarchedl' cars one man being 
arrested and even before the media get their cameras rolling he is let out 
and continues on his walk!
at about that time Flak & Co. invade the policce station. Flak rants and 
raves about how horrible and ilegal the recent actions of the local police 
have been and he goes through the cells and sets some fo the prisioners Free
some for reeducation and at about that time the Military Governor shows up 
and they have a shouting match Flak finds out that the media is outside and
he convinces the Governor how to turn the situation to his advantage and 
he asks for a delivery truk to be parked around the side so he can port into
it so he won't be recognized by his shipmates who do not know about his real
idenity.
Mean while Gunnar goes to the "house" and engages a slim dark haired girl
( Exocitic fo rhim...Blond Blue eyed... ) then reports back to the ship.
just in time to see the reruns of the press ( why do they call it the 
"press" Hungh? ) reports. He sees himself being let go and FLAK walking up to 
the police station shure he is waring a false moustache but as Catie mentioned 
in a story where one of her Zho cahracters on catching one my characters,
"Dear Lady you can disguise a face but you can't disguise a walk". Marcus 
( who has devloped soem supisions about Flak's real idenity ) recognized Flak 
as did Gunnar ( Who already knew, Gunnar is a Brigadeer General and works for 
INI ).
Flak goes to the "house" and makes contact gets the information, and heads
for the spacce port. He arrives to find a riot, The Zhodani Tvarchedl' are
going on a rampage and arresting people off of the streets and talking over 
police stations... ( Our Gm is playing this as a newly [ 5th] taken planet.)
After Flak convinces a guard that he is a ships crewman and wants to rejoin
his ship they tell him to wait until they can get him in finally he gets to 
the ship, Gives Marcus the information does not notice Gunnar or anyone else
as he goes to his room and colapses, One tired man he used a lot of psi.
Gunnar will deny being out side of the station if Flak ever asks.
Oh what a tangled mess. Flak is a Zhodani Gunnar is the Ini operator watching
him. The other two marines know Gunnar is Ini, Flak does not but he discovered
that the marines can't be read they have psi shields. Mahgs and Gunnar's are 
natural although they both have implanted shields. Doug's is an Implant.
this makes Flak very nervious as he is no longer shure who is who anymore.
Oh I forgot we had a run in with one of the pirates and found out why the 
Zho's are putting up with the Vargar pirate base in their system a Bio weapon
this is why both governments have put pressure on this group to do this OP.
Gunnar is VERY unhappy with the planning and orders that have been givin.
So is Flak, Marcus, and the troop commander Colonel Whotsisname Who has been 
not at all happy about the ring of command that these two marines have after
all they are only sergents. Just before the raid Gunnar is going to tell him
and inform him that during this part of the mission thsy are not sergents and
they do outrank him and he sould listen to them ( especally if the want to 
make it back as they ar eonly grund pounders, Why oh why couldn't Ini found
some marines? ).
I apligise fo rany spelling errors and I hope that you find my comments as
interesting as I find most of yours. I am going to play as long as my group 
wants, During the events leading up to the formation of the Regancy. The 
Regancy and Consulate treaties. and then start the children and maybe later
the grandchildern. I have already given thought to the children of soem of my 
characters. The son fo my Duchess wil go to the Naval Academy then into the
Navy of course. Then she and her husband get sent by Norris on a Diplomatic 
mission to Zhodant and beyond. He musters out and hangs around fo ra year 
then tells his sister that he is going on a hunting trip where upon he runs
away to join the scout service! The daughter will go to the niversity then 
come home. She has been influenced by the liberals at school and while Mom 
is gone she institutes some of those policies at home. She almost bankrupts
the Duchy but she is fically saved by this accountant who she decides to 
marry! When MOM comes home she is NOT going to be happy!
The grand childern have not been given quite as defined backgrounds but one 
fo the more exotic looking ones will be a singer...
Uh Oh I think I've rammbled on for too long now...
see all of you soon.
jim

- -- 
Remember: no matter where you go...
There you are...
B. Banzi

James M. Kelleher
kelleher@holonet.net


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