The Aramis Adventure, Traveller game

[tonyz]

Well, that went pretty well, and we are now thinking of running one session every two weeks or so (probably on Friday afternoons but am open to other suggestions), at least until one of my other campaigns ends and I can run this one more full-time.

(Note: I can run a lot of different things but not more than two weekly campaigns. My brain would explode. So if you want me to run Traveller full-time you have to tell me which of my other campaigns you want me to drop to provide time.... the biweekly thing is a compromise and we'll see how it works out.) First session this Friday, with everyone to meet each other and your starship and the first world.

Infodump follows.

[tonyz]

(Infodump part 1)

Commercial opportunities in the Aramis subsector
A report prepared for Plankwell Investment Trust, LLC, of Rhylanor.
093-1103

The Aramis subsector has been in relative economic stagnation since the
conclusion of the Fourth Frontier War; although the main battle fleets bypassed it
(with the exception of one Zhodani raiding squadron), the departure of most of
the 213th Fleet in 1083 to help cover the Regina subsector left a considerable void
which was rapidly filled by Vargr corsairs, who did considerable damage to the
stargoing infrastructure of the subsector before the Fleet returned in 1084. A
new naval base is under construction at Paya to help provide extended naval
coverage, but most merchant lines operating in the subsector maintain armed
vessels. Internal piracy (as opposed to Vargr corsairs) is relatively rare but not
unknown; internal hijacking is a more common threat to ship security.

Of the thirteen Imperium-wide business enterprises (popularly known as "mega-
corporations") only three have major known interests in the Aramis subsector.
(At least to the best of our knowledge: hidden owners are not uncommon.)
Tukera Lines, with its dominant position in interstellar shipping, has regularly
scheduled service along the x-boat routes and its wholly-owned subsidiary
Akerut Lines provides about 60% of the regularly scheduled shipping in the
subsector. Tukera is believed to be expanding its interests in the subsector by
various indirect means; their main operations office is on Junidy.

Sternmetal Horizons has a number of mining interests throughout the subsector
and is heavily involved with the ongoing military situation on Aramanx. They
suffered heavy losses from Vargr corsairs during the Fourth Frontier War and
are known to be fortifying a number of their operations centers with planetary
defense weapons (we know about this since they purchased rather a lot of
PD lasers here on Rhylanor. Exercise caution around their bases).

Sharurshid carries on a good deal of trade and speculation, particularly
in the food and luxury items in the subsector; they have considerable
influence on Towers and Junidy and own L'ouel d'Dieu outright. Be careful
of their competition when luxury goods are involved, particularly ones which
have been traded for a long time.

Naasirka and Ling Standard Products have a low level of interest in the
subsector but this appears confined to their current plants and they are not
known to have any expansion interests in this area.

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Astrographically the subsector divides into three areas: the Aramis Trace (systems
connected by jump-1 to Aramis), the Towers Cluster (systems accessible by jump-1
from Towers), and the Scatters (everything else.)

The Aramis Trace is generally a civilized area and well-connected to Rhylanor by x-boat
lines and a regularly scheduled Tukera shipping service. Most economic niches in this
area are already filled, and the Trace remained undamaged during the Fourth Frontier War
due to considerable naval presence.

Aramis itself, the subsector capital, is famous for its extensive mining facilities
and for its dry scorching-hot chlorine atmosphere. Most inhabitants live
underground and ships are recommended not to spend more time in-atmosphere
than necessary. Almost the entire population is concentrated in Leedor City,
which houses the subsector governmental offices and the residence of Leopold
Bolden-Tukera, 19th Marquis of Aramis, the official subsector governor for the
Imperium. Political intrigue is ever-present. The Naasirka yards at Aramis
are the main site for starship construction in the subsector (though the Navy
subsidizes construction at Paya to have an alternative to Aramis for light
unit repair and rebuilding).

L'ouel d'Dieu is a water world administered as a source of exotic seafood by the Vland-based megacorporation Sharurshid. The Ministry of Colonization is
attempting to have it opened for settlement but Sharurshid's fears of damage to the
ecosystem have so far prevailed against the Ministry of Colonization. The
Marines maintain a "wet operations" training base somewhere on the planet.

Natoko is undeveloped and primarily in use as a starship maintenance facility for Tukera Lines. It is a near-desert world with little appeal. Mineral surveys might
be of some value if Tukera's grip on the world ever relaxes. Visitors to the planet's
eastern hemisphere are advised to pay careful attention to the Navy's
occasional announcement of live-fire planetary bombardment exercise areas.

Reacher's methane atmosphere has been mined extensively for various
petrochemicals and other organic compounds created by bacterial action in its
atmosphere, but the system is currently in economic collapse after the introduction
of new synthesis technology at Aramis and Patinir removed most of the markets;
violence against outworlders is on the increase as a result and the TAS declared
Reacher an amber zone in 1099

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The economy of the Towers Cluster is oriented primarily toward local production
and agricultural export to the Vargr Extents to coreward. There is very little
connection with the rest of the subsector and it is suggested that considerable profits
may be available for exploitation. Tukera's wholly-owned subsidiary line, Akerut,
runs service through the major worlds of the Towers Cluster to connect to Tukera's
service lines along the Aramis and Junidy x-boat routes, and Imperiallines provides
intermittent bulk service transport among class C starports, but neither line is
particularly known for its economic innovation or entrepeneurship.

Carsten is a lawless mining world with small pockets of radioactives near the
surface. Prospecting and support of the miners' vices provide a small but
steady trade with Aramanx; occasional rumors of large deposits have so far
failed to pan out, and the world's atmosphere is unconducive to colonization.

Pavanne is so far unsettled. Sternmetal Horizons maintains a beacon
at a landing field that was formerly in use for mining ships in the area, but
no data is available on what was mined or why the mines were abandoned.
A very small rockball with a trace atmosphere is unlikely to have highly
valuable mineral deposits.

Aramanx is a very promising world for economic development due to its large
population (approximately 2 billion but census records are unreliable due to the
planet's twenty-some competing governments). Minor wars are frequent and
it is possible that a large planetary war may break out in the near future,
particularly after Sternmetal Horizons funded the mercenary unit that spear-
headed Lovenyi's conquest of several minor countries surrounding it.
Reliable and discreet merchants can usually find cargo to or from someone on
the planet, but Aramanx produces little other than raw materials (and people)
that the rest of the subsector desires so foreign exchange is always a problem.
Carefully check the terms of any contract with an Aramanx-based entity to
see what currency you're being paid in. Profit potential is estimated to be
very considerable.

Zykoca has been interdicted since 902 when local mobs broke into the
starport and destroyed it. We do not have reliable data on the planetary
population but it is suspected to be extremely xenophobic as the Navy
maintains a satellite interdiction net. As an agricultural world it should be
a natural trading partner for Aramanx, and a vital trade nexus between
Aramanx and the rest of the Towers Cluster if trade can be opened up,
particularly since the system has no gas giant so Zykoca cuts the
Towers Cluster in half for jump-1 ships (another reason for Aramanx's
relative backwardness).

Nasemin is a water world with extreme weather conditions due to an energetic
sun, a high axial tilt, and a large close moon. The local lifeforms are equally
energetic and the population supports itself by hunting them, particularly
the 40,000-kilogram byssal, whose opelian gland provides a so-far impossible-
to-synthesize compound with extensive anti-inflammatory and possibly
anagathic properties. Drug auctions are often wild affairs, and the well-
rewarded miners are frequently high spenders, but overall trade volume is
small.

Yebab is another methane world occupied by the Ebokin, a minor race
with extreme conservative and bureaucratic tendencies. Mostly they ignore
offworld technology and merchants unless they are bothered, but the
relatively large population base of this world indicates that trade would be
extensive if we can find something that the Ebokin are willing to buy, or
to sell.

Jesedipere is primarily a groat-ranching world, and a center for trade with
the Vargr; it serves as an interface world for Imperial merchants unwilling
to enter the Vargr Extents and Vargr merchants unwilling to come
deeper into the Imperium. Agricultural equipment, and anything the Vargr
will buy, are expected to be in high demand here.

Fenetman, like Carsten, is a mining world, with occasional pockets of
lanthanum (vital for jump drives). Sternmetal Horizons maintains a buying
office on the world, probably to keep anyone else from getting a foothold.
It is possible that they have other interests in the world as well as it is
hard to see what profit they make from the establishment or the very
small population of prospectors.

Towers is difficult to deal with as the population's strong sense of honor
and injury (including an active dueling code which outsiders are expected
to conform to) leaves them very scornful of merchants and in favor of
self-sufficient production, which their industrial base is too small to support.
The hospitality of Towers' nobility is legendary to those they invite and this
might lead to a foot in the door, particularly if personal connections can
be established. The first step will be the hardest. Possibly the byssal trade
from Nasemin could be a foothold.

Rugbird is an extremely dangerous system and dominated by an Air Miners'
Council that provides very little voice for anyone else. As the import-export
trade from the system is mostly tied up by a thirty-year contract with
Akerut signed in 1083 under wartime urgency conditions, we do not see
how to get a foot in the door here. Orbital habitat expansion is thought
to be underway.

Junidy, finally, has nearly 90% of the sector population (28 billion), but
its extremely repressive government has hindered technical growth in
the interests of preventing planetary suicide by civil war. Approximately
14 billion humans and 14 billion Llellewyloy (a minor race colloquially known
as "Dandies" or "Dandelions" due to their appearance) share a small planet
in an uneasy co-dominion. The trade opportunities are probably limitless
given the population size and local industrial capacity, but we are not sure
how to navigate the planetary bureaucracy or the minefield of Llellewyloy
customs, or indeed if anyone there is concerned with offworld exporting.
Junidy is also the center of Akerut and Tukera operations in the subsector
and they may have extensive local penetration. The Imperial Scout Service
maintains a large repair and maintenance complex here as well as many
other facilities.

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The Scatters, in order of distance from the Aramanx Trace...

Patinir is an asteroid belt with extensive and ongoing mining
operations. Prospecting is reasonably profitable but with the usual risks.
The local ruling council (descendants of the First Miners) supervises
activity but has little actual sway outside the two Trojan asteroid clusters
-- the reminder of the Patinir Belt is fairly lawless.

Lewis is an interdicted world belonging to the Tukera family and
data is heavily restricted. It may be used as a vacation estate by family
members (who can travel there under special license.) Trade is probably
impossible as Tukera is thought to maintain an armed guard in the
system. There are some rumors that the Tukeras sold part of the planet
to colonists when the megacorporation was in financial difficulties after the
Third Frontier War but verification has so far been impossible with the
data at hand.

Pysadi is a minor agricultural colony dominated for the last several
centuries by an anti-industrial cult known as the Holy Church of Mother Pysadi and exports are generally limited to food products, including the incomparable Pysadian trake. The Church opposes the use of
mind-altering substances so few trakes are distilled.

Trakes also grow on Zila (it is not clear which planet they
originated on) but the attitude toward fermented products here is very
different. Zilan wineries conduct a very extensive trade with Aramanx
and Junidy, and the best Zilan vintages are sold throughout the Marches,
mostly by Tukera, which controls their export. Zilan local government
tends to be highly paternalistic.

Violante is divided into extensive noble's estates and serves
primarily as a vacation and resort for various families from the Deneb
sector and some local nobility; trade is primarily limited to luxury products and passengers but there could be openings here as trade is
relatively uncontrolled except for immigration.

Focaline is basically a giant groat ranch and depends a lot on the
Vargr trade. Little data is available as starships are usually only on-planet for the major roundup periods and immigration is restricted due
to groat ranches' need for extensive space.

Paya was hit by an asteroid in 1074 and the population mostly
evacuated to Inthe and Reece in the Regina subsector; a few obscure cultists remained on their mountain range opposite the asteroid impact.
The Navy has been constructing a base here since 1087 and it is thought that Oberlindes Lines, a small merchant company from the Regina
subsector, may be establishing a trade station here.

Dhian has a very repressive government and little information
about the world is available. Offworld merchants are treated reasonably
well but the world is so low-tech that few commercial products are
available except quaint native curiousities.
NB: Food synthesizers and oxygen generators are on the contraband list.
It is thought that the local government attempts to maintain a monopoly
on both oxygen and food production as a means of social control.

Heguz is currently unpopulated after the disappearance of two
previous colonies on this water world. An orbital beacon and survey platform are maintained by the University of Rhylanor's oceanology department.

Corfu was interdicted in 1061 by the Scout Service due to a still-
not-understood disease. The Scout Service claims that the vid drama "Berserk Lepers of Corfu" is wildly overblown, but no manned ships are
allowed to take off from the planet and landings are strongly contraindicated. Medical research continues, and an occasional relief effort takes place.

The Lablon Planetary Cartel focuses on high-quality groat export
and has succeeded considerably better than Focaline or Jesidipere; the
world has little contact with the rest of the subsector and depends heavily on Vargr trade.

(It should be noted that a jump-1 route from Lablon to Jesidipere exists
through the Firgr subsector but this requires exiting Imperial space and
the usual cautions about travel in Vargr zones are indicated. Paya and
Dhian are also part of the Spinward Main with eventual jump-1 connections
to Mora and Regina, despite their remoteness from the rest of the
subsector.)

[tonyz]

I'll try and have a short datapacket for the group this Friday (subsector map and world stats, and maybe a few other things that your characters would
probably know.)

[tonyz]

(Note 1: Imperial dating system puts the day of the year first, thus 001-1105 is New Year's Day on 1105 of the Imperial dating system. Worlds are mentioned as world/subsector, so "Natoko/Aramis" would be from the Natoko system in the Aramis subsector.)

(Note 2: the campaign starts on 365-1104)


Traveller News Service
Local datestamp 363-1104 Aramis/Aramis
Selected for importance by on-planet filtering algorithms

Aramis/Aramis
363-1105

Euler hault-Mkande, chamberlain to the Marquis of Aramis, announced today that the Marquis had extended invitations to his New Year's Eve party to the local representatives of Creideiki Four and Efate Gravitics Habitats LLC, the two competing Heguz colonization projects. The Marquis' party invitations are highly sought after and usually announced well in advance. Unofficial sources speculate that the Marquis is trying to broker a joint effort between the two factions in the interests of heading off later social unrest once the world is colonized. Few issues have raised as much heat lately in the social circuit in Leedor, the capital (and only city) of Aramis.

Local reaction is mixed. An employee of the Ministry of Colonization stated "We can only applaud the Marquis' efforts to harmonize the two competing colonization projects, and look forward to a synthesis of the best of both approaches. But we strongly urge caution until the ongoing ecological and tectonic survey of this world is completed." This is line with the Ministry's long-standing efforts to avoid problem colonizations such as that of Dhian or Ruie.

Notorious local historian Quinta Vorman Shigastelli opined, "I'd love to have an invitation to the Marquis' party too, but does he really expect that a bunch of back-to-the-ocean dolphins and a gang of high-tech cyborg robber barons are ever going to agree on anything? It's been 170 years since the last colony there vanished and the Ministry still doesn't know what happened to it. Naturally they'd try and slow-track another." When asked about her personal preference on the affair, Quinta joked that the ideal solution would be "make all the humans swim and have the dolphins live in the flying cities."


Rhylanor/Rhylanor
335-1104

At a press conference today, Sternmetal Horizons LIC spokesman Naa Phlumori announced that Sternmetal would be stepping up its efforts to revoke the price controls recently placed on domestically produced lanthanum, which is important in the production of jump drives. "We understand that the ongoing naval buildup requires that the Navy secure supplies of this vital element", she said in a strongly worded prepared statement, "but we believe that the Navy was wrong to call for price controls, the Duchess of Mora was wrong to enact them, and we will if necessary pursue our lobbying efforts all the way to Emperor Strephon himself. In our thousands of worlds, there are more than enough people willing to find lanthanum, improve production techniques, reopen older mines, and search belts and asteroids. If they are not rewarded for their efforts, they will not do so. The Navy is securing low costs for the moment, but this shortsighted policy will stifle development of domestic sources for years to come. The Navy will end up paying the Vargr for the same ships they will have to fight them with." The largest source of lanthanum near the Spinward Marches is Scangen, in the Vargr Extents.

No immediate comment was available from Navy sources. The justificatory appendix of the Duchess of Mora's 1103 decree cited the need to build up naval forces decimated in the Fourth Frontier War and neglected since that time. Unofficial sources within Yard 61 at Rhylanor suggest that the Navy is planning a ten- to twenty-year buildup of high-jump cruisers and given the long lead-time of jump-drive construction wants to make sure it has its supplies well in hand.


Junidy/Aramis
327-1104

The hostage standoff on Junidy continues as two hundred Lawnmower Movement terrorists refused to surrender their weapons, citing concerns that the Equality Police had reneged on the deal reached three days ago. The Lawnmower Movement seized a police station in the town of Clayolliwy a week ago, calling for a reconsideration of the latest revision of the Equality Statues. One masked terrorist was heard to state "We'll hold this police station until the damn Dandies see reason and back down."

A spokesman for the Equality Police commented that "There is an administrative process for revision of the Equality Statues, and we regret that these fine citizens have not chosen to avail themselves of the provided methods. We also find it distressing that they are conducting political rallies in a decidedly one-race fashion, without including an equivalent number of Llellewyoly protestors." When asked how many Llellewyoly would be likely to join the pro-human Lawnmower Movement, which seeks an end to the bi-racial codominum over the planet and separation of human and Llellewyoly to separate continents, the spokesman replied "You can't possibly be serious. Everything must be conducted biracially."

Unofficial sources suggest that the Equality Police have not yet resorted to tranquility gas because the Lawnmover Movement may have seized a number of hostages of unknown race in the police station, including a number of youngsters there for "Take Your Podling Or Child To Work Day."

[tonyz]

The Invictus's emergency com channels come alive with flaring urgency. This is kind of odd, since the ship is on a repair pad, generally powered down, with the drives all over the deck as the maintenance guys work on them... there's nothing the ship could do even if it the computer wasn't down running upgrade processing. But apparently Imperial Navy emergency comms are supposed to wake up and answer priority messages even if they're dead, or if the pilot is... maybe cryo-resurrection technology depends on loud enough radio volume?

Anyway, comm screens wake all over the ship. No video, just the Navy black-white-red Emergency display of scrolling text, guaranteed to draw attention. The voice is synthesized, calm and soft and sultry, designed to kick every human subconscious trigger right in the gut and make sure you hear. Iron Nun with ruler raised, lover saying "Listen...", father saying "Son, pay attention." It doesn't work quite so well with Vargr... but the content, text or speech, is utterly compelling.


"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! All ships, all small craft, clear Leedor airspace immediately on least-time vectors we are transmitting now. Freighter Titan has suffered drive failure on re-entry trajectory and is entering Leedor airspace uncontrolled. Repeat, all ships and small craft in Leedor airspace, clear that airspace immediately. Trajectory estimate to impact within five kilometers of Aramis Navy Downport in seven minutes... mark."

[tonyz]

We'll be running our next session on Friday December 4 from around 3 PM until the Magic players kick us out. Since I'll be out of town on the 18th (family vacation to Tucson) we'll also be running a session on Dec 11th, same time.