Deepnight Revelation Alternative Secondary vessels: Part One - Scouts

Sector Conversion-Rationalization Process - The Beyond (D, H, L, P)

What follows is a ramble that has not been edited. It is an exercise in Sector Sausage Making:

1.      Import the 1991 and OTU versions into excel as NEW and OTU.

2.      Use my Report tab to examine/analyze  the NEW tab more closely.

3.      Add columns to NEW to match OTU and T5 guidelines.

4.      Copy Florian League worlds (8) from OTU to NEW. Mostly this validated the columns and seems to have added some gas giants.

5.      Strip remarks from all but Florian worlds

6.      Aslan world (59) fix. There are only 27 in the OTU version, all split control. So take the NEW versions, keep government and law level. Use Drinax Book 2, p. 42 to determine new government types and allegiance codes.

·        0 = 0 AsXX - these 3 worlds are 0 pop

·        G = ? As [any] gov type 1 allowed. Using AsXX to pass the buck. If Gov = 7 then AsSc

·        H = 7 AsSc - Split control

·        J = AsWc - roll to determine gov, ignoring 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

·        K = ? AsMw - roll to determine gov, ignoring 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

·        L = ? AsTx - pick a number, all a represented in the Reach. All but T2 could be gov 7

·        N = ? AsTv - roll to determine gov, ignoring 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

·        M = ? AsVc- roll to determine gov, ignoring 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

7.      Aslan Name check: there are two high-population Aslan worlds named Layeaukhtyei. Not strictly disallowed, but annoying enough for me to use Pasiili's Vilani Tools to generate the name Khteiaueaou for hex 3034. Also, there is an Iroioah 2539, which matches the name of a world in the Reach. I renamed this one to Khteareaye.  The wonderfully named Shitfaowol, I left alone.

8.      Stars:  No need to determine stars yet except for one special case. Although in the real world Delta Cephei is closer to Sol than Deneb, I want to keep its old position as established in the 1981 edition and the OTU.  (After all Traveller creates a 2D version of the galaxy, so I figure fudging is fine: what we call a map is more a "Jump Space Projection" of stellar positions. Sure, I'll run with that. So, Delta Cephei is located at hex 2922. I copied Delta Base from the OTU directly over Zono, then kicked the tech level up from A to D. Because I can.

9.      Now to look at the general population of worlds. Using my Demographics white paper, I determined that The Beyond has been fully settled for more than 400 years, so there is no limitations on populations. But even with the established Aslan and Florian worlds, I want to go through the process.

10.   Step One: system and physical generation, which is pretty much done. I'll circle back to stars later more for flavor than anything else. But I do want to do a T5SS-like cleanse. Mainly fix bad size-atmosphere ratios on really small worlds. All size 0-1 should get 0 atmosphere. Most atmosphere 4-9 worlds should be at least size 4. T5SS seem to be going for size 5 and doing things to fix all the habitable worlds and star combinations with stars M5 and worse. I think that's a bit overkill. I'll allow thin atmosphere size 4 worlds and TRAPPIST seems to indicate we can do M8 and possibly habitable. So here's the deal:

·        Atm 6-9, minimum size 5 (7 worlds failed - increase all to size 5)

·        Atm 4-5, minimum size 4 ( 6 worlds fail - increase to size 4)

·        Size 0,1, atm = 0 (2 size 1 worlds had atm = 1. I decided to keep it that way - like Pluto)

·        Hex 2907 Sred Ni Heptad: Size V? No. Just substitute OTU 2908 Nine Hells to that location

11.   Step Two: Place minor races. I could drop in each subsector or roll for each system, but instead I'll use another random method.  There are 357 systems in the sector. With a 1:36 chance of a minor race per system, that's ten. So I'll randomly generate 10 numbers between 3 and 359 (to match system rows on the spreadsheet) and place them by hex.

12.   Step Three: Detail Minor Races

·        4 = 0104 - D440234-9 - I'm going to call that an archeological site (Ancients?)

·        35 = 1306 - A733587-C : Roll native as D733630-5, hold for now

·        54 = 1908 - B955687-A : Roll native as X955302-0, hold for now

·        110 = 0616 - B5679B9-8: Roll native as B567883-8, that’s interesting, hold for now

·        134 = 1417 - E412456-8: Roll and got ruins : possible Ancient site

·        152 = 2113 - A668623-8: Roll native as D668988-7, hold for now*

·        171 = 2720 - X410000-0: Roll and got ruins : possible Ancient site. Old observatory…

·        272 = 3128 - C876672-B: Roll native as C876627-6 - now Aslan, so likely occupied

·        306 = 1335 - X912100-8: Rolled as exotic race, so "weird" - leave as is

·        321 = 2138 - B764676-A: Roll native as X764558-3 - now Aslan so likely occupied

So, of the 10, 3 are likely ancient sites, 1 is a "weird" alien, 2 are worlds occupied by Aslan, leaving 4 "independent" minor race worlds.  I should go on to the next layers, but I want to pay homage to the previous versions if possible and plausible. *I want to keep the Sred*Ni, so Hex 2113 looks like a good homeworld for them. I'll make it I'Sred!Nispr (can't use a * because it will break my conversion process).  The last 3 minor races will be done after other effects.

13.   Step Four: Determine scattered Ancient, Zhodani, Vilani, Solomani and Aslan worlds.  From the table we get:

·        Ancients: Droyne: 0, Chirpers: 2, Minor Humans: 2 

·        Zhodani: 0, Vilani: 1, Solomani: 0, Aslan: 2

14.   Step Five: Detail these worlds:

So, I'm going to tweak these rolls and modify a bit to stick a bit to the OTU.  There are 2 Droyne worlds on that map, at 2624 and 1535.

·        I'm just going to put one at 2624 but drop the world size from 9 to 5 and the roll population, so : C5556AB-7. Generate name: Mefebit

·        1535 doesn't exist, so the nearest likely world is 1632: So, I'll roll the population and get C56525A-A. Odd, but I'll run with it. Generate name: Turtsirho

Chirpers, I removed, but I'm going to add them back in and drop in one Human minor race and put them both on the same world. (I did say only one minor human race per sector and… No Flying Humans!). Pick a random world and I get hex 0924 C876976-8. Roll pop: Humans first for 676, then Chirpers 672. Do population digits 6 and 2, so we get, let's say 8 million, 70% Human, 30% Chirper.  "Original" stats: E866676-2 - I'm going to assume the taint is from pollution later on. Finally, randomized from Wikipedia random articles and artistic license we get random names: World = Merek, Human race = Mereki.

Now for the ancient Vilani settlement. Randomly hex 1231 D853889-C. Roll for population and get D853100-6. Don't think that viable. Maybe a note for the world that there's some 4000 year old ruins.

For the Aslan worlds I get:

·        Hex 1501 C526375-B, rerolled as C52695A-A, Code AsWc, random name = Aioaoa (who needs consonants?) A possible "pocket empire" world

·        Hex 3007 B894985-B, rerolled as E894325-2, Code AsWc, random name = Aueaiai (a theme!) This one looks like an aberrant colony trying to lay low

What I didn't get from my tables is a scattering from the fallen Sindalian Empire. This is a special case, unique to The Beyond.  I'll treat it as D-1 and roll to get 5 (!) surviving Sindalian era settlements:

·        Hex 2739 - that's an Aslan world, population 9, so those people are absorbed or fled by now. Let's assume some fled: one subsector Spinward to Hex 1837 C545496-9, rerolled as C54587B-7, a potential pocket empire later on. Random wikiname = Charanta

·        Hex 3003 AA86785-B, rerolled as DA866AB-3, a nasty dictatorship with a potential for heavy muscle cannon fodder. Random = Pritchard

·        Rerolled the alien world at Hex 1908. Cool. So, keep the original stats, B955687-A, make the race (wikiname = um, I randomly got Zygon (a spider), but I'll try to get one that's not a Doctor Who thing, how about Gmina) a 10% minority. Name the world:  Astana. Possible pocket empire

·        Hex 0328 C645344-6, rerolled as D645644-3, another primitive world random name = Keshto

·        Hex 0314 A8649A6-A (named Intercourse, that has to go) rerolled as A864855-A, a good pocket empire candidate. Random name: Dalman. But I think instead, I'm going to use Corella and have an excuse for the slightly renamed Corellan League.

15.   Step Six: Build Pocket Empires The candidates are:

·        Hex 1501 Aioaoa C52695A-A, an Aslan enclave, possibly an "aberrant" clan. House rule: do not intrude into Foreven and step on the Reserve. In many versions of Foreven, we'd be right at the Avalar consulate. In the OTU we would be at the edge of Die Weltbund.  So, I'm going to leave this as a single world, fortified against attack. Red Zoned. Finalize to B52695A-B. Monitors with particle accelerator spinal guns. Stay Away!

·        Hex 1837 Charanta C54587B-7, a tertiary world settled from a Sindalian refugee world overrun by Aslan. In the OTU, this is around the Storm worlds, but in the RAW map, it’s a sparse location. And it's balkanized. Leave it as is and finalize as an Amber zoned NaHu world.

·        Hex 1908 Astana B955687-A, a Sindalian refugee world with native Gmina reduced to reservations. This puts us at the edge of Die Weltbund in the OTU and the Principality of Bruhkarr from the 1991 version. Since there's a French theme over in Strend, I want to go with a German theme, but that's from a later wave. Let's assume a colony on 1907, leave that world as Apprati, now independent, and leave it at that. Finalize both worlds as NaHu for now, but possible annexation or threat from the Germans in the future.

·        Hex 0314 Corella A864855-A, a Sindalian refugee world that will from the core of the Corellan League. This I can build out as a weak federation, starting with settlement in -1400 and expansion from -1200 to 400, when the first thin wave of Imperial settlers began to arrive. Size will correspond to the more to the OTU Comsentient Alliance, since I'll keep the Eslyat around if I go on to do the Vanguard Reaches. So those worlds that make up the region will get a bit of a review, keeping tech level limited to B or C, names reasonable and statistics in line with the rules.

·        Now we can look at tertiary effects from the pocket empire. Mainly this allow the Sred*Ni to become an interstellar race, either from Corellan, Aslan or Florian contact and expand into the space where the three states intersect, namely Subsector G, which should become I'Sred*Ni Heptad (instead of K), Heptad to me means seven worlds, so besides 2113, add 2011, 2012, 2115, 2116, 2312 and 2413.

16.   Step Seven: Settlement waves effects. Since the Thick wave of full settlement hit in the Civil War Era, the entire region can be considered settled. Most worlds can be left as-is, with a review as above.

17.   Step Eight: Adjust political borders. This allows for the building of new pocket empires formed in the last few hundred years. Here, I will try to bring in smaller states from both versions of the sector. Subsector A can get the Mapepire Cluster; B and C gets Die Weltbund. D I would like to leave as independent worlds, including a clump of Imperial client states. E and F and most of I and J would be the Corellan League. G would be a convergence zone with the Sred*Ni in the middle. H is mostly Florian. K could have a reworked Stormhaven Republic, stretching up into G. L is mostly Aslan and P is all Aslan. M, N, O are at the further margins. Settlement will be more sporadic, with room for some small states (Jarnac Pashalic, Murian Colonies, Zydar Codominium). Working through in detail by Subsector, building a document, starting in the Core, Trailing corner (Subsector D):

D:  The goal is to remove all pocket empires form this subsector, so the Mal and Sred names need to go. I've already replaced the "V" world and dropped in one each primitive Aslan and Sindalian world. Arbitrarily, I'm going to assign on Vargr world, since I don't want to sector to be completely Vargr-free. I'm going to assume a balkanized, fairly high tech world. If it ever got too uppity, the Imperium would have paid a visit from the Five Sisters, so let's take Hex 2706 Snoutylous B876985-A and make it A876874-C with a Gvegh name: Thoznaen.

Detailed write-up on Thoznaen, plus Aueaiai and Pritchard from above. 

Now, remove all the Sn* names. This leaves Midway, Thrape, Sannavall and Mornavin, which I will leave as-is. 2907, I dropped in from OTU as Nine Hells, but its kind of a nice agricultural world, so I'll make it part of the long-dead Thoznaen Empire and give a half Vargr population and a Gvegh name: Thaezdhugh.  Tweak the others, adding detail, stars and worlds per T5.10, Book 3, p. 24, 28, 29 (except house rule, use 2D-2, not 2D for Worlds number).

Next, leaving stats alone if within bounds, except gov: all the former Sn* are 8, so re-roll all those gov-law combos, adjust TL if gov changes call for it.  Two implications: a High pop world: Hex 2608 is now A8769D9-A and deserves a description; hex 3206 is now C313366-A and needs an owner. For the later, the nearest states are Strend and the Floriani, so instead, lets add another Vargr majority (8) and make it military rule with a corsair base. Drop the law level to 1 and make it an amber zone, named: Thozgul. Arbitrarily a gas giant moon. The former, a high population religious dictatorship, needs a story. So, I'm going to dig out a third version of The Beyond (Jeff Zeitlin), and use his name for the subsector, Marrakesh, make that the name of the world, and make it an Islamic Republic, but Sufi, so less strict than say, Iran. Drop the starport to B and tech to 8 so it doesn't dominate the subsector and write it up.

That's four detail worlds written up, some subsector background. Good enough. The rest get names pulled from Zeitlin or semi-random with minority Vargr populations on 2604 and 2705. Now 2001 and 3201 are Kazar and Vrel on the OTU map, listed as NaVa, so I'll keep the names (1991 stats) with Vargr minorities, so CsIM and NaHu with the Varg3 noted. Finally, some of the starports are too good, left over from the Sn* regime. So, some downward adjustments in starport and TL are in order.

Finally, finish adding stars. Add temperature from Moongose core rules and climate codes from T5. Add Satellite status from T5 and a fudge (I only use "Sa", not "Lk", because the later adds confusion and I would rather just use it if a world is locked to a moon). Twilight zone two of the worlds with M class stars (of the other two, one is a satellite, the other a  small cold world, so I gave it a pass). And done.  Onto the next subsector.

H: This should be the easiest. The Floriani worlds are already done, copied straight from Cannon with all details intact. The three Aslan worlds just need polishing: Trade codes, stars, worlds.  That just leaves 11 to do, with only prior notes on hex 2720 Aacheon X410000-0 an ancient site - also just polishing, so 10 left.  I already have a procedure for the Sn* worlds, so that's 5 more, leaving 5 to adjudicate. Three are barren, so keep as-is, names and all and the last two are small corporate outposts. Keep.

Going back to the Sn*. 2511 becomes A7668C9-B and gets the name Lod from Zeitlin. 2811 turns out to be captive, so it becomes Amsigiiga, a colony of Lod - something to write about in the world detail.

L: Mostly Aslan, so filling in codes and stars and such is most of the work. I was going to make a star generation tool, which seems like a bit of work, then I realized someone must have already done it to make the OTU data. So, I'm going to start pilfering it, adjusting only as I need to. It will then more or less match the OTU in distribution and general location if I steal subsector by subsector.  Delta Base, Delta Cephei itself, I've already (re)placed. So that one is good.  The Droyne world 2624 Mefebit is coded as NaDr. The rest are barren world. Now the Aslan. The most interesting is 3128 Ka'aheakh, which I've determined has aliens as half the population. The race was TL6, so that speaks to at least a good write-up for the aliens named Ktiauao by their occupiers.

P: Even easier, all Aslan, no aliens or anything. I'll clean, fill, find four worlds to write about. There are 5 high population worlds, and I always write them out, since they have undo influence. So that's at least five paragraphs. Maybe another if I find an interesting world as I go through the stats and check codes. Aside: so I was looking for the Aslan term for "domain". Nope. "Territory"? Here's some: hasoi - land, khtyei - holding, soistsea - unknown lands, tlasoistsea - bounty of new lands.  So for the Aslan name for the subsector (and the one above, "Inconstant Star Domain" I'll render as Eaytyehasoi).

18.   Step Nine: Finalize trade routes, political structures and diplomatic status. For this, articles will need to be written for each of the states and for major or interesting worlds. Begin with Government codes:

·        Corellan League: CoLg

19.   Step Last: Make sure all the worlds have stars and additional information such as number of worlds, bases and zone status. Add climate status to worlds and locked, satellite status to make the system more believable and interesting.

·        Too many gas giant system. The opposite was my big complaint with the OTU version, but the 1991 version has 331 of 357 with gas giants. If you go by 10+ = no gas giant, it should be 1:6 without, so it seems far to drop another 30 systems down. 103 systems have 1 gas giant, so avoiding changing any Florian worlds, I'm going to arbitrarily remove every third single gas giant. There, now 58:357 are without, which is close enough to a regular distribution.