firetree.net http://blog.firetree.net Sharing useful things with the world. Tue, 27 Oct 2015 11:21:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 Earth II http://blog.firetree.net/2015/10/27/earth-ii/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/10/27/earth-ii/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2015 11:20:15 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=600 core

Expanded article on Earth system.

Earth (1719 A877A7C-B, pop=30b)

Until recently, Earth was dominated by a vast computer network called the “Virtuality”. Over the centuries, hundreds of billions of people uploaded their minds into this “life after death”. Eventually, living people came to be a minority who were largely excluded from decision-making. Out in the living world, nation-states still existed, cooperating through a fairly strong “Earth Union” – successor to the United Nations. However, aside from a tiny elite, most living people felt entirely disenfranchised. Many chose to go to the colonies rather than live as a second-class citizen.

In the last decade, telepathic radicals from the colony world of Esperanza have infiltrated, and entirely overturned this ancient, conservative society. One by one, they seized control of Earth’s nation states, destroyed the Virtuality’s data centres, and imposed their own brand of totalitarianism. Finally, four years ago the central Earth Union fell completely under their sway, and the remaining conservative nations were conquered in a short, bloody war. The Next Step calls this the “War against the machines”, while the opposition calls it the “Coup”. Today, the “Next Step” radicals are still consolidating their hold over Earth, whilst pushing aggressively on into the Outer Planets.

Old Earth Society:

  • Uploads: There were well over 200 billion uploaded minds in the Virtuality, most of them are many centuries old. The Virtuality absolutely dominated the Earth Union, which effectively existed to construct, maintain and power millions of data centres. There were a few virtual environments – known as the “Shores” – that were deliberately designed for living “visitors”. However, the vast bulk lay beyond, its internal politics and social structures incomprehensible to outsiders.

Earth’s living society has ossified into a rigid caste-system. Interpret social status as follows:

2-3  Underclass (%age increased for interest's sake)
4-6  Peon
7-A  Commoner
B-D  Favoured  "gentle hom/fem" (%age increased for interest's sake)
E+   Elite  "the honourable", "sir/ma'am"
  • Elite: The “0.1%”. These few stood at the apex of the caste system. The descendents of the ancient nobility and super rich. The Elite are the only members of society who could collectively stand against the wishes of the Uploads.

    The Elite can usually be identified by their entourage of retainers. They normally wear their household crest, as do their servants. All Elite are referred to at “the honourable”, and addressed as ‘sir’ or ‘maam’, and eye contact should be avoided. Failure to observe these customs may result in a beating delivered by the noble’s followers. Such beatings are not strictly legal, but they are widely accepted as normal. Few police forces will take action against the perpetrators.

  • Favoured: (1%) Earth’s rich and famous. These are wealthy industrialists, media stars, politicians and academics. A majority of these people are descended from “white” Europeans – their caste’s insularity has prevented them from participating in the intermixing that has bred out most region-specific phenotypes over the last centuries.

    The wealthiest Favoured can afford servants of their own, although none will affect the ostentatious entourages of the Elite. They are address to as “gentle fem” or “gentle hom”.

  • Commoners: (60%) Below the Favoured ones are the ‘Commoners'; Earth’s well educated professional caste. Today, Commoners form the majority of Earth’s population. They have well paid jobs and live in large comfortable homes.

    Offworlders find Commoners the most approachable Earthers. They have a sophisticated urban outlook. Only their attitudes to other castes surprises visitors. Naturally they show the proper deference to their Favoured masters, but their disdain for the lower castes can be quite shocking. It is considered quite acceptable to beat a lazy or disrespectful servant.

    Commoners no longer show much of their racial heritage. Everyone looks much like 20th Century mixed-race Brazilians.

    Commoners typically Uploaded when they died.

  • Peons: (35%) Historically, the Peons were manual labourers who worked in factories or on the land, and who owned little or no property. Today, Peons are servants, drivers, gardeners and so on. Most policemen and the bulk of the armed forces are also from the Peon caste. About 35% of Earthers are Peons. Surprisingly, most Peons are not unhappy with their low status. They work hard and strive to improve their lot, or at least that of their children.

    Peons tend to be less racially mixed than Commoners. They move around less, and retain more of the features that are geographically associated with their birthplace. As a result, racism is still not unknown amongst them.

    Peons are usually addressed by just their family name. E.g. Wilkins, Yuen, Skinner.

  • Underclass: The Underclass form the remaining 4% of Earth’s population. They are the dispossessed who have no place in society. Originally, the Underclass were mostly of East Asian descent. They performed only the most menial of jobs, if any at all.

    Today the Underclass remains a vast underprivileged population. Those who stay on Earth prosper through art and performance, or make a living as prostitutes or criminals. Many leave Earth for a life of asteroid mining or as free traders, or for life in the colonies.

    Surprisingly, the Underclass have a monopoly on computer programming. Earth’s other castes consider programming to be an unsavoury occupation, because Uploads are generally so much better at it, and so the Underclass has made it their own. The best programmers in Human Space are trained in Earth’s Virtual University Of Software Engineering.

    The Wheel of Life religion originated in the Earth Underclass over 500 years ago. It still claims adherents even today. The religion emphasises good works and has little to do with the spirit world.

Recent history

Almost a century ago, the invention of the J1+ drive brought the Core Worlds within easy reach of the Main. The Esperanzan “New Puritan” regime seized this opportunity, and began using Earth’s industrial power to complement its own. A formal alliance between the Earth Union and Esperanzan Commonwealth lead to a series of wars that drove the Xa Imperium completely out of Corridor, and weakened its ability to regulate trade with the Long Republic.

15 years ago, the Esperanzan Puritan regime was overthrown by a telepath-supremacist group who called themselves the “Next Step”. The telepaths have brutally subjugated “betas” (as they call non-telepaths), both on Esperanza itself, and throughout the wider Esperanzan “Commonwealth”.

A concerted campaign allowed the Esperanzans to undermine the member states of the Earth Union. One after another, member states fell to Esperanzan-inspired pro-telepath “Next Step” parties. Ultimately the few remaining hold outs were crushed militarily, and the Virtuality was shut down – effectively killing the hundreds of billions of uploaded individuals. Telepaths cannot interact with uploads, and therefore Next Step ideologues deny their humanity.

The final collapse of the Earth Union came shockingly quickly. In its final days, a few hundred-thousand refugees were able to escape to Procyon, together with millions of uploads. The Outer Planets, and loyalist elements of the Earth Fleet assisted the refugees. It took months for the new regime to purge loyalist elements from the Fleet and bureacracy. During that time, Esperanzan Fleet elements opened hostilities against the Outer Planets, which were able to defend themselves surprisingly effectively. Their defences were lead by the Space Patrol, who used daring tactics to wield their relatively small, lightly armed ships with deadly effectiveness. Finally, the purged Earth Fleet joined the battle, and decisively defeated the belters’ ramshackle forces.

Today, Earth is a highly regulated society, with Thought Police on every street corner. The Outer Planets occupied by the military. An underground resistance continues to fight an insurgency. The military use collective punishment and concentration camps to battle them. The Belt/OP population is too thinly spread to be controlled effectively by telepaths.

Government

Hon. Outo Bradford Michaelson Gates is the Secretary General of the Earth Union. This is a largely ceremonial position. Elected on a “for life” basis by delegates to the General Assembly. Gates is a distant descendent of Bill Gates. Previously known for womanising and snow boarding, he has retained his position and become the figurehead of Next Step’s regime.

Hon. Felicity Khadija Bronson Shoda is the Chairman of the Council. This position is effectively the executive head of the Secretariat. As the Next Step consolidated the power of the Earth Union, once they controlled it, this position has become that of Earth’s supreme leader. Madame Shoda was appointed by the heads of Next Step governments, and lead the vicious campaign to subjugate nations that held out against their rule. Many believe that she is a telepath herself, but she showed no sign of it prior to the Next Step takeover.

Luis Gilroy is the highest ranking Esperanzan in the EU government. His official title is Political Adviser to the Council. In practice, he dictates most of the Secretariat’s executive decisions, which are merely implemented by Shoda and the rest. Gilroy is a powerful telepath.

Gentle fem Maharet Elizabeth Bagshaw Cummings is the Primus of the Alpha Corps. – the Earth branch of Next Step’s feared telepaths’ organisation. She is ultimately responsible for the Alpha & Zero testing programmes, training of Alphas, coralling of Zeroes, and for the Thought Police programme of attitude adjustment, aimed at the general populace.

Earth Union Navy

The Union Fleet is ordered along caste lines. All officers are Commoners, and ratings are Peons. Very occasionally a Favoured will serve in an executive capacity, they will never command ships or outposts. Peons may be promoted to officers (and Commoner status) if their service is especially outstanding.

Officers wear smartly-cut, tailored, black uniforms. Ratings wear colour-coded jump suits – orange for flight-deck techs, green for stewards, blue for security.

Mars (B4F1864-A pop=800m)

Mars has been successfully terraformed, and has a population of 800m – Only the depths of the Mariner Valleys currently have a high enough air pressure for breathable atmosphere.

Conditions. Mars has been warmed by addition of CFCs and ammonia to the atmosphere. This has increased the atmospheric pressure sufficiently that pressure suits are no longer required. Manufacture of CFCs is a significant local industry. A genetically engineered ecosystem of lichens and algae have been introduced, which have darkened the surface, and given it a green tinge – particularly in low lying areas. A series of engineered comet impacts have increased the amount of water sufficiently that there are a few small, very salty seas – extremophile cyanobacteria have been introduced, and are in the process of generating an oxygen atmosphere. Orbiting mirrors are speeding this process, as well as helping to drive local water cycles.

Over the centuries, Mars has attracted disaffected people from Earth. They come to homestead, often in the highlands. Life is tough, but freedom is sweet. Mars is governed by the Martian Terraforming Authority (MTA) – an agency of the Earth Union. The colonial authorities have a very hands-off policy. Everything is permitted, unless it’s definitely going to cause trouble. Regional government is allowed free-reign within their own areas, so populous cities usually have a higher law-level than L4 – L7 is common but L9 is imposed in some places. Up in the highlands, most places are a law unto themselves. The authorities make some effort to control unauthorised spaceship use, and try to restrict weapons import or manufacture, but aside from that…

Much of the population are Earth peons, or outcasts. Travel to Mars was historically much cheaper than purchasing passage on an interstellar colony slow boat, so many chose it, even though conditions on Mars were harsh. Much of Mars’ terraforming was paid for by immigration fees. Typically, colonists would either homestead, or work in mines – extracting salts or fluorite to drive the terraforming process. Many died. Those who thrived were able to afford to move to the lowlands, and join the burgeoning middle classes.

In the immediate aftermath of the Coup, Gentle hom Mario Landis Wang, the Director of the MTA declared that the MTA did not acknowledge the legitimacy of the new Earth Union administration. He called for the matter to be referred to the World Court. Three months later, the Alpha Corps mounted a botched assault on the MTA’s central administration dome. The intent was clearly to use telepathic operatives to quietly take control, and “persuade” the MTA’s top management to declare in favour of the new regime. Instead, many of the telepaths were captured and spirited away to a secret wilderness location. Guarded by remote controlled drones, they were unable to use their telepathy to escape their predicament. Wang made a show of turning them over to the colonial courts for a show trial. Five days later, the MTA dome was bombarded from orbit and EU jump troops violently seized the levers of power. Wang remains at large, now the leader of the Mars Resistance. Nothing has been heard from the detainees for years. It is widely assumed that the Resistance has them in stasis, somewhere.

The Outer Planets

The Outer Planets had a much more vibrant culture. Light-speed delays forced the Virtuality to be much more fragmented than on Earth, so uploads preferred to avoid the far reaches of the solar system. The Belt & Saturn system are an economic power-house, concentrating on resource extraction, high-tech manufacturing and advanced R&D.

There is a large O’Neil colony-style space station (like Babylon 5) at the jump point to Esperanza (pop=300k). Named “Threshold”, this station was constructed nearly a century ago to capitalise on the (then) new J1+ trade route to Corridor. Since then, it has grown and grown. All of the original parkland has now been given over to business districts and villas for the wealthy. The sub-surface volumes are incredibly crowded. The surrounding space is filled with old space vessels, used as overspill. Plans for a replacement station have been on the drawing board for decades. The new Next Step Earth government has finally funded the project, and the skeleton of “Threshold-2″ can be seen under construction a few tens of kilometers away.

By contrast, the similar station “Elysium” at the jump point to Wolf 359 is a ghost town. This station was constructed nearly 400 years ago. Today it is shabby and under utilised (pop=50k). Whole sections have been closed down, and are the preserve of refugees and criminals.

The Asteroid Belt is home to around 1 billion “belters”. A majority of these are homesteaders, who live in independent village-sized groups, on bodies that have been claimed under the terms of the Homestead Treaty. There is a degree of dissatisfaction amongst the less well-off homestead residents. Several large interstellar colony vessels have been launched over the last century, carrying disaffected belters to pastures new. There are a number of bubble-world habs that have been constructed from iron-rich planetoids – the Iron Angels. They are spun for artificial gravity, and use giant mirrors to provide “outdoors” conditions on their inner surfaces. Each bubbleworld is home to tens of millions of belters. The Belt is mostly run on libertarian anarchic principles. The Space Patrol provides a light-touch policing function.

There is a small colony on Jupiter’s moon Callisto (pop=800k). This moon-like worldlet is the only place in the Jupiter system that is safe from the giant planet’s intense radiation belts. Callisto’s main industry is extraction of Helium-3 from Jupiter’s atmosphere. The fuel is tanked up and send down to the Inner system in robotic ships, or fired by rail gun. The Callisto rail gun was briefly militarised by the Outer Planets Alliance, until Earth Union fleet units disabled it in 2719 CE. There is a Space Patrol base on Callisto.

Patroclus colony (pop=25k), at Jupiter’s L5 point mines water ice and sells it to asteroid miners.

Saturn’s moon Titan (pop=150m) has the largest population of any body in the outer system. It has been successfully terraformed, following a pattern that is being emulated by human terraformers of several gas giant moons (e.g. Eridani – 1817). Vast quantities of sulfur hexfluoride have been added to the atmosphere, and warmed by giant orbiting mirrors. Today Titan is a small water-world. Traditionally, the population lived aboard gigantic floating cities – the capital of Titan is Kraken, a floating city-state with a population of 15m. Kraken is renowned as a hub of the arts – theatre, poetry, comedy. Every three years, the Kraken Festival attracts performers and sophisticated audiences from across the solar system and beyond. Floating vegetation-mat species have been imported from a distant world, and now support an oxygen breathing ecosystem – called the “Islands”. The largest island city is Prometheus, a manufacturing hub, and home to the Titan Institute of Engineering – a respected university. Titan’s main industry is the mass production of organic materials.

Enceladus is also home to a substantial population (pop=20m).

The Saturn system is also home to hundreds of orbiting space colonies – usually wheel, or cylinder patterns, with populations ranging from 1k to 10m. Their biospheres are sustained by hydrocarbons exported from Titan. In some ways, these Saturn colonies have better living conditions than the moons: they can spin for higher gravity. The Space Patrol headquarters is on Island One, one of the larger colonies.

Space Patrol

Space Patrol SymbolThe Outer Planets have no central authority, however the Space Patrol is a single organisation that weaves a common thread through all of the OP communities. Cadets are recruited from across the solar system, and trained at their headquarters in orbit around Saturn. From there, officers are dispatched to every community, dispensing justice, and upholding civilized ideals. For centuries, Patrol officers have been the idealised lone heroes of popular imagination.

The Space Patrol sigil is a silver spaceship. Patrol officers wear black jump suits with the silver spaceship swoosh across the breast. Rank is denoted by silver stars on the left shoulder. Cadets wear orange jump suits, with a silver-on-black spaceship patch on the left breast.

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QS Supplies. Avoid these spamming pests. http://blog.firetree.net/2015/10/06/qssupplies-avoid-spamming-pests/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/10/06/qssupplies-avoid-spamming-pests/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2015 08:58:48 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=591 Months ago, I bought several bathroom furniture items from QS Supplies. Ever since, they have bombarded me with unwanted e-mails. They have ignored repeated requests to remove me from their mailing lists. There are plenty of more professional suppliers out there, I strongly urge you to use one of them.

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Procyon II http://blog.firetree.net/2015/09/14/procyon-ii/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/09/14/procyon-ii/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2015 08:26:31 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=582 1919 A767957-C, pop=3b, F5IV white subgiant

Expanded details about Procyon.

Procyon-Ac is a rocky planet in the habitable zone of Procyon-A, about 2AU from its star. Its oceans are home to cyanobacteria which have given the world an oxygen atmosphere, but there are no higher forms of native life. The world is just emerging from a desert phase, caused by the Procyon-B’s expansion into a red giant. That star has now shed most of its mass, and is a hot white dwarf. Continuing comet impacts have replenished Procyon-Ac’s water oceans. Planetologists expect this process to continue, so that the planet will become a water world within the next 100 million years.

Humans have seeded the world with Earth species, which have taken vigorous hold on land. Human settlements tend to be built in mature woodland, in order to shade them from harmful UV-A radiation.

Procyon was amongst the first of Earth’s off world colonies. Planted centuries ago by slower-than-light colony ships, before the discovery of jump drive. The earliest population was from Earth’s European continent. These people are known as the “Old Andorians”. In the centuries since, most immigrants have come from the Outer Planets (“Belters”), or Earth’s underclass. This is a balkanised world, mostly governed by mega corporations whose philosophy is akin to the mercantile spirit of Earth’s Belters. The most prominent geographical state is “Andor”. There is a global “Steering Committee”, which acts as a talking shop for intercorporate cooperation.

Most people on Procyon are notionally citizens of a geographical state, but their principle connection is to one or more corporations. It is the corporations that provide medical, social care, and even schools and universities. There are cultural difference between corps too. Old Andor is the only state whose citizenship has any standing. An Andorian ID is sufficient to gain access to the best clubs.

Social status:

2-3 : Stateless. Refugee or deep ocean nomad.
4-10: Corporate citizen.
11+ : Old Andorian

Since the fall of Earth to the totalitarian Esperanzan Commonwealth, Procyon has become the last bastion of freedom in the Core Worlds. The Commonwealth has blockaded Procyon, cutting off its supply of antimatter. The routes through Esperanza and Corridor are out of the question, but the Earth Union fleet is also blockading Epsilon Eridani. Procyon’s traders’ only option is to jump via Sirius to Kapteyn, where they must deal with the historically hostile Xa Imperium.

A stream of refugees from Earth and the Belt have arrived. Some of them have brought great wealth, knowledge or resources with them, but most arrived with nothing. These refugees have been housed in cramped tent-cities – for many of them, movement is strictly limited – there have been disturbances, and tensions are on the rise.

The arrival of millions of Uploads has placed further strain on Procyon’s economy. The Uploads’ data centres require vast amounts of power to operate, and power is in short supply. Without antimatter, the world has been forced to fall back on fusion generators, which produce orders of magnitude less energy. Without the power to run them, many Uploads remain in storage.

Most corporations are members of the Procyon Defence Alliance (PDA), which operates a fleet of monitors and system defence boats, and coordinates a rag tag assembly of corporate warships and ships that have defected from the Earth Union Fleet. The PDA also operates a significant missile PD network, and is currently building out a fleet of robot battle stations.

Procyon is subject to fairly frequent asteroid and comet impacts. There is a well-established early warning and impact deflection system.

Cities

Laikan Capital city of the Old Andorians. Founded over 500 years ago, it is the colony’s second oldest settlement. Laikan is temperate on the coasts and cold inland, with good access to sea fishing (of imported species), maritime climate farmland, and heavily wooded forests. Skiing is popular.

Harbourtown Procyon’s largest city, and principal starport – 30m people packed into an urban sprawl near the mouth of the Merciful River. A subtropical paradise. The city is owned and run by Ling, one of Procyon’s major corporations. Harbourtown’s urban hinterland is home to 250m people, its rail hub serves over a billion. It is mostly beyond Ling’s charter – within the larger United Corporations zone. UC is a hugely successful investment trust – effectively corporate “neutral ground”. Habourtown’s government chafes at its territorial restrictions – Ling have repeated tried to win additional concessions from UC, but its board have always frustrated their advances.

The starport is located in UC territory, officially controlled by the Harbourtown mayor, but its day to day operations have been contracted out to Serendipity. The vast nearby shipyard is owned and operated by Andor Inc. – It supports a huge industrial ecosystem of spacecraft design & construction industries.

Harbourtown is ringed by squalid refugee camps. Every day, tens of thousands of refugees make their pilgrimage into the city, to look for work, or beg on the streets. Organised gangs prey on them. The Harbourtown Agency (law enforcement) do their best to keep the refugees away from the business districts, but they are losing the game of cat and mouse. Roadblocks and checkpoints on major arterial roads do nothing to keep them out. The Agency is in the process of blocking off minor roads that lead into the city. Many streets on the outskirts have been bisected by ugly new concrete walls, topped with barbed wire.

New Miami. The principle city of The Coves. New Miami lies at the heart of an extensive river and canal network – much of the Coves’ coastal culture extends deep inland here. The Spire, Procyon’s largest archology lies at the heart of the city. It is the capital of Florida-2, a weak nation state whose only real remaining power is as the government of the Spire.

Regions

Old Andor The first region to be settled. Old Andor is the closest Procyon has to an old fashioned nation state. Citizens elect a Congress, whose laws are enforced by an independent judiciary. Old Andor’s legal system which is based upon the ancient common law, form the informal basis for all of Procyon’s myriad of intersecting, and contradictory legal systems. Many corporations domicile themselves here, in order to take advantage of free access to Andor’s courts. Others commonly pay to have their contracts enforced here. Even in-house corporate justice systems are usually based on Andorian precedent.

Old Andor is mostly old-growth forest – it has the oldest trees on Procyon. Many of them date back to the first settlement, over 500 years ago. Its network of small towns, and liveable cities nestles beneath the protective foliage.

Central Ocean Procyon’s four continents cluster around this large ocean. The vast majority of seagoing traffic crosses this ocean. It is administered by the Central Ocean Authority – an independent agency, sponsored by most of the world’s largest corporations. COA directly controls a number of coastal islands, and leases land in all important ports. It is funded by corporate subscriptions, and by fees paid by shipping companies.

COA operates a fleet of maritime patrol craft, and half a dozen aircraft carriers. They provide traffic control; a search and rescue service; customs inspections; piracy suppression; and general security service in the Central Ocean Zone. The Zone is defined by treaty as extending 1000m inland. This has lead to jurisdictional conflict with a number of coastal governments.

Coves The eastern coast of Wulf, on the Central Ocean, is a patchwork of independent statelets and corporate enclaves. Originally a new frontier, this whole 1000 km strip is now home to the most dynamic economy on Procyon. Traditionally, coastal transport by sea was more important than travel by land, and there are still huge numbers of sea going vessels steaming up & down the Coves. Traders, floating offices, ferry boats, yachts, and liveaboard luxury liners fill the seas. Travelling from marina to marina is a common way to spend a holiday, or even a lifetime. Nowadays, the land transport links are equally good of course. The Wulf Infrastructure Community (Winco) operates high speed rail, and local highway networks.

The Garden is the vast interior of Wulf – Procyon’s western continent, across the Central Ocean from Harbourtown. The Garden is millions of square kilometers of agricultural land – mixed grains and mature trees for shade. Most of the area is owned and run by agricorps, and tended by fleets of robotic farming machines. They also operate gigantic glasshouses. Squeezed in between the mechanised farms, are millions of smallholdings, owned by individuals and small family businesses. The small holdings are farmed much more intensively, and produce a significant propertion of Procyon’s fruit and vegetables. Thousands of small towns serve the smallholdings and host machine repair shops and accomodation for agribusiness workers.

Farshore is the western coast of Wulf. This is as far from civilization as you can get on Procyon – the edge of the world, with nothing but mountains and 2000 km of mostly empty farmland behind you, and the aching emptiness of the Uncharted Seas ahead of you. A scattered population of people who value their privacy have colonised these lonely cliffs & beaches, but the region is mostly the preserve of Procyon’s military. Is it peppered with bases, spaceports, weapons test ranges, planetary defence installations, etc.

Uncharted Seas Beyond the Central Ocean, the “uncharted seas” are a chaotic, lawless place. Governments that control “outer” coastlines often patrol their nearby waters, but the deep ocean belongs to no man. It is sparsely populated by nomad fishermen, idealistic seagoing communities, floating refugee camps, and isolationist cults. The only law here is the Close Orbit Command, who only deign to drop in to deal with the most urgent humanitarian emergencies, or egregious atrocities.

Corporations

Andor Inc. construction, starships

Huge, conservative corporation. Largely unionised workforce. Takes recruitment very seriously – generally expects employees to work with them for life. Benefits are extremely generous. All employees over a certain grade can live for free in corporate archology. There are company holidays, company schools, company medical care. Employees who resign are blackballed, and cannot rejoin, unless an executive approves it. They also lose all retirement benefits.

Specialises in heavy construction & civil engineering: Archologies, defence installations, bridges, roads. Some of the work is now accomplished using Xa-derived nanobots: They are mainly used for excavation, and landscaping. 3D printing is heavily used for fabrication of building components, both on site, and in specialised fab centres. Andor has the most advanced statis fields in known space: they use them to reinforce building cores, and spacecraft hulls.

It is hard (DM:-2) to join Andor Inc., but employees have a fast track to Andorian citizenship. Employees of rank 3+ automatically get at least SOC-10 when they muster out.

Serendipity transport, mining, insurance, hospitality, defence, government

Aggressive conglomerate, originally based in the Earth system’s belt. The leadership is still mainly belters or citizens of the Outer Planets. They respect the Universal Spirituality, and offer spiritual advice and retreats to all staff. Serendipity invented the now common practice of contracting out core government services, such as defence and foreign policy. Many governments on Procyon and in the Outer Planets have been subsumed by its corporate embrace. Serendipity’s military is very powerful – they offer law enforcement, space patrol, ground forces, and full space navy services. Much of that capability has now been signed over to the PDA – a decision which the Serendipity board seems to be regretting. Conversely, many of the company’s rivals are concerned that the PDA leadership is too close to the Serendipity board.

Serendipity also runs a well regarded shipping line, offering freight, but specialising in passenger liners. That business integrates seamlessly with their chain of luxury hotels, and associated retail outlets. Their space defence & logistics operations have also allowed them to branch out into asteroid mining – another highly successful venture.

The three legs of the Universal Spirituality are core to Serendipity’s thinking:

  • Statis: is the watch word of the Government Services Division. Their goal is to ensure the continuity of the states they serve.

  • Entropy: guides the operation of mining & resource extraction divisions. The idea that everything is impermanent informs their zeal for building anew.

  • Cusp: The veneration of change and risk-taking lies at the heart of Serendipity’s Armed Forces Division. Their informal motto is “Who Dares Wins”.

Ling mining, electronics, manufacturing, vehicles, small arms

Ling have specialised in asteroid mining, and planetary mining for centuries. They were founded on Ganymede in the early days of STL colonisation, but moved to Procyon around 200 years ago. They are the “Ford” of 28th century industry – nearly 30% of all vehicles are made by a Ling fab – everything from small space craft, huge ocean going ships, to aircraft and domestic automobiles. They are also major manufacturers of reaction drives. Their small arms business is highly innovative – their newest product is the Ling gauss rifle. Since the Emergency, Ling has been trying to build up a starship weapons division, but their products have so far failed to find a market.

Ling has a small but well trained security force – Ling Security. They are not at all afraid to use it to further their corporate interests. It is also available for hire. Missions are often guarding or escorting valuables, but less legitimate activities are rumoured.

Ling’s people are very proud of their corporation’s heritage. Ling invented many of the industries in which they still compete, and employees tend to believe that the “Ling way” is always the best way. If outsiders out-innovate them, then Ling’s people tend to use that as a spur for their own business – to drive them to prove that they are still the best. In truth, they have been eclipsed in several areas – while their vehicles are ubiquitous, their quality and reliability has been surpassed by Serendipity’s “Fortuna” brand.

Dog Star retail, resource extraction, fuel, construction

A “bread & butter” operation. Dog Star operate a range of retail ventures, usually aimed at the budget end of the market. they are perhaps best known for their Star-Mart supermarket chain. The Star-Mart brand is also used at spacecraft refuelling stations, at starports and jump stations. Dog Star has great experience of space based resource extraction – especially gas giant skimming and comet capture and disassembly. They have a construction division that specialises in large-scale hostile environment habs.

Dog Star are the most down to Earth of Procyon’s major corporations. They have no idea of being more than a good employer and profitable business. Employees tend to sneer at the grandiloquent pretentions of others corps. Dog Star tends to excel in logistics and management. They would say that their practicality gives them the edge over their more self-absorbed competitors.

Mitsubishi banking, insurance, electronics, manufacturing, heavy plant

Mitsubishi is a truly ancient Earth-based corporation. Much of the corporate structure remains on Earth, and has now been subverted by Next Step radicals. They especially mistrust Mitsubishi, because of the corporation’s focus on computer and upload systems. The majority of Earth’s uploads ran on Mitsubishi hardware. The corporation manufactures a wide range of electronics, from comms to power plants. Their Transdimensional Research Division did the basic research that lead to the revolutionary J1+ and J2 drives.

Tradition is very much emphasised in the Mitsubishi corporate culture. Architecture, interiors, and industrial design are consciously influenced by ancient Japanese styles. Employees are encouraged to take part in Japanese living history – from tea ceremonies to battle reenactments. Japanese swords are regularly used by Mitsubishi’s security troops.

Schunamann & Son chemicals and pharmaceuticals

The Core Worlds’ largest drugs company. Their revenue from pharmaceuticals is larger than all of their competitors combined. The Earth Union held a decades-long inquiry into SuS’s alleged monopoly abuse. The company fled to Procyon’s jurisdiction in 2712 CE in order to escape the sanctions that they expected the inquiry to recommend. There are dark rumours that SuS’s psi-drugs division is in collusion with the Next Step. Whatever the truth of that, SuS’s assets in the Commonwealth have been seized by the new radical government.

Their Procyon-based operation is alleged to be working on psi-suppression agents, but there have not yet been any publicly acknowledged breakthroughs.

High-technology is the corporate raison-d’etre. Architecture tends to be brutalist. Interiors are clinical white, with lab-coated employees going about their business in hushed seriousness. Visitors often find SuS facilities a little creepy.

Amazon Investment, logistics & data warehousing, dimensional engineering.

Amazon was responsible for the majority of the Virtuality hosting centres on Earth. This gave them enormous influence with the Uploads. Wealth poured into their coffers, and Amazon became the richest, most influential corporation in human history. Later, Amazon’s researchers discovered grid energy and stasis fields, which were originally used to make Virtuality servers cheaper to run. This grounding in dimensional engineering, and close connections with the Uploads lead Amazon to be the principle product developer of J1+ technology (using principles originated by Mitsubishi).

In the 26th Century, a reformist zeal swept Earth, and lead to a series of enquiries into Amazon’s alleged corruption. Many of the company’s investments were confiscated, but the rump of the company fled to Procyon, and continued to hold its dominant position in many industries. It is widely believed that powerful Uploads protected the company, even while professing to hold it to account. Amazon’s corporate culture remains very influenced by Earth’s caste system. Low level workers are treated as proles, and offered no promotion opportunities. Corporate leadership is recruited from Earth Favoured or Andorians who are seen as their equivalent on Procyon.

Since the Coup, all of Amazon’s holdings on Earth & Mars have been dissolved. It has lost the majority of its income. Many R&D facilities on Procyon remain, but the company relies on subsidies from the PDA to keep them running. This has lead to a freer, more collaborative atmosphere in those R&D facilities – scientists, both human & uploads have made remarkable advanced in them over the last decade.

Amazon’s corporate offices and business ventures are all run with a ruthless efficiency. Long hours are expected, and failure is harshly punished. This attitude has become even more extreme since the holding on Earth have been lost. By contrast, the R&D facilities have shed this oppressive atmosphere, and become very open, freewheeling, can-do places. Nuclear dampers have been a recent spectacular success. Amazon corporate officers are often made to feel less than welcome here. In turn, they dismiss the researchers as Underclass scum.

Start-ups. This is not one corporation, but a whole category. Despite the mega-corps’ dominance of Procyon’s society, there remains a space for new and innovative businesses to thrive. Often started by successful corp employees, or by the independently wealthy, start-ups are usually supported by one or more of the large, established corporations. More often than not, a large corp will buy out a successful start-up before it gets to the point of challenging them in any real sense.

Examples:

  • Rory. A retail outlet specialising in boutique cybernetic upgrades.

  • Ginko. Offers innovative off-world banking and investment opportunities. Has links with Fteirle traders and Xa corporations. Founded by Madelaine Chen, a successful operator of independent merchant ships.

  • B. Extremely fashionable clothes for rebellious youth. Corporate schools tend to be hidebound and inward looking. B caters to young people who want to be part of a broader world. They have introduced many styles from newly arrived Earth immigrants – much to the horror of many parents.

  • Stellography. Purveyors of the very best astrogation software. This software can improve the accuracy of the notoriously tricky J1+ calculations, and is considered essential for achieving J2. Founded by an unknown number of uploads, and a number of high ranking ex-Mitsubishi employees. Mitsubishi is currently suing Stellography in the Andorian courts.

Organisations

Procyon Defence Alliance (PDA): Formed during the “Emergency” that lead to the Next Step’s coup on Earth. The PDA is Procyon’s global military force. Prior to the Emergency, the Core Worlds had been at peace for centuries. The Earth Union had built a navy in order to project power outwards in support of its trade; the Outer Planets had a well equipped Space Patrol; but there was thought to be no need for a military within the Core.

As the Next Step party overthrew government after government on Earth, the prospect of the EU Navy falling into their hands came closer and closer. The PDA was formed to counter that threat. At its core were the patrol forces of each of Procyon’s corporations and states. These were typically 200-600t corvettes, with a handful of 1000-2000t frigates. The fleet was bolstered by large numbers of converted freighters, anywhere from 200t to 10,000t – fortunately freighters are often armoured in the Core Worlds, because of the danger from X-ray flares in the Wolf-359 system.

In the aftermath of the Coup, large numbers of Earth Union ships defected, and have added to the PDA’s strength. Procyon’s industry quickly rose to the task of filling out this motley fleet. Captured planetoids have been converted into monitors, and highly effective 400t SDBs are now being launched at the rate of 3 per day. The problem now is a critical shortage of trained crews.

Chargen: Procyon-based characters can switch from Space Patrol or Merchant Marine careers to Navy, for one or two terms before the present day. They retain their Patrol or Merchant rank. Navy careers were not available on Procyon until 8 years (2 terms) ago. Navy characters may roll twice for advancement, but only get the extra skill roll if they succeed first time.

Having created the PDA with wide powers, several corporations are now regretting handing over such control to a third party. All in-system patrol work is now carried out by the PDA, which strives to be even-handed. That eliminates a key avenue of influence that that previously open to the corps. Consequently, there is lots of infighting. The PDA high command is heavily influenced by uploads who have escaped Earth, and they are struggling to root out corruption and corporate spies.

Close Orbit Command (COC): This agency is responsible for managing the close orbit environment. They regulate shipping, and satellite slots. They operate the high port (“Close Orbit One”). They have a fast response search, rescue and salvage fleet. COC is mostly funded from fees charged to shipping for berths at Close Orbit One, and charged to ground based starports for their traffic control services. Notionally controlled by the Procyon Chamber of Commerce.

Central Ocean Authority (COA): Manages surface shipping in the Central Ocean. Operates and licenses sea ports.

Procyon Chamber of Commerce: Originally a talking shop for Procyon’s corporate leaders, this body has become the defacto world government. It has very weak powers: It is the enabling authority for the PDA, COC & COA agencies, but it exerts little executive power over them. It can act as an ad hoc supreme court, where member corporations cannot agree on another jurisdiction (which would usually be the Andorian courts). It’s most important functions are purely political. The President and her staff have a very high public profile, and are very capable of knocking heads together behind the scenes.

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Can we power electric cars? http://blog.firetree.net/2015/02/04/can-we-power-electric-cars/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/02/04/can-we-power-electric-cars/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2015 08:57:13 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=579 There were 240.0 billion car miles driven in the UK in 2013. That’s 386.2 billion car kilometres. [source]

If electric motoring costs 0.34 kWh per kilometre (from your 4 year old link), then that requires (386.2 × 0.34 =) 131.3 TWh of extra electrical energy.

Total electricity generation was 359 TWh in 2013. [source]

So switching to all electric cars would required the UK to increase electricity generation by 37%, according to the article you linked. If we all drove Teslas, which achieve 0.24 kWh/km, then generation would only need to increase by 26%.

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What are the chances of rolling “snake eyes”? http://blog.firetree.net/2015/01/18/snake-eyes/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/01/18/snake-eyes/#comments Sun, 18 Jan 2015 10:03:23 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=556 We were play testing my friend Sam’s board game this weekend. It features “annihilator towers” – you build up N levels of tower, and then roll N 6-sided dice to determine the damage dealt. Here’s the wrinkle though: If you roll two or more ones, then the tower explodes and the damage is dealt to the home team. What are the chances of rolling two ones, for a given tower level?

We thought a little about it, but nobody was keen on sitting down and actually working it out. I wrote a little Python program that produced statistical answers. That was sufficient to practically answer the question, but what’s the “real” answer?

First the Python simulation:

  import sys, random
  def roll(n):
    R = [random.randint(1, 6) for i in range(n)]
    return len(filter(lambda x:x==1,R)) >= 2

  N = 100000
  dead = 0.0
  for i in range(N):
    if roll(int(sys.argv[1])):  dead += 1

  print dead / N

And the results:
N Dice Prob. of 2+ ones
2 0.02807
3 0.07452
4 0.13220
5 0.19485
6 0.26325
7 0.33054
8 0.39793

So, how to calculate it?

The chance of rolling exactly two ones on N dice is:

(1/6)2 × (5/6)N-2 × combin(N,2)

combin(N,2) is the number of ways of choosing two dice from N dice. The formula is:

combin(n,k) = n! / k!(n-k)!

But we’re not finished yet. We need to count the possibilities where we roll more than two ones. In general, the chance of rolling exactly k ones on N dice is:

P(N,k) = (1/6)k × (5/6)N-k × combin(N,k)

So the chances of rolling two or more ones for N dice is:

N
ΣP(N,k)
k=2

So for 3 dice, it’s P(3,2) + P(3,3). For four dice it’s P(4,2) + P(4,3) + P(4,4), etc. Here’s a Python program to calculate that:

  from math import factorial as f
  def combin(N,k):
    return f(N)/(f(k)*f(N-k))
  def P(N,k):
    return (1.0/6)**k * (5.0/6)**(N-k) * combin(N,k)

  import sys
  N = int(sys.argv[1])
  print sum( [P(N,k) for k in range(2,N+1)] )

And the results…
N Dice Prob. of 2+ ones
2 0.0277777777778
3 0.0740740740741
4 0.131944444444
5 0.196244855967
6 0.263224451303
7 0.330204046639
8 0.39532309766

That accords pretty well with the numerical results. Apparently I have managed to remember something from my A-level maths!!

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Spacecraft – High Tech http://blog.firetree.net/2015/01/04/spacecraft-high-tech/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/01/04/spacecraft-high-tech/#comments Sun, 04 Jan 2015 07:00:39 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=516 This is the second part of my article on Ad Astra space drives. Part 1 is here. Today, TL9 – TL11.

Tech Level 9 (without antimatter)

The perfection of deuterium/tritium fusion rockets revolutionises space travel. It is finally possible for a shuttle to take off from Earth, fly to the Moon and back, all without refuelling. Interplanetary travel becomes truly practical. Cheap VASIMR thrusters powered by fusion electric plants can haul large loads, even to the outer planets – although travel times are measured in months or years. For those in a hurry, fusion rockets with drop tanks can halve travel times.

D/T fusion drives use tonnes of hydrogen propellant, but also need hundreds of kilos of deuterium & lithium fuel. Deuterium is widely available, or can be purified from large quantities of plain hydrogen, given time. Lithium must be mined or filtered from sea water. D+Li typically costs Cr300/kg.

Nuclear salt water drives are even more capable – putting Mars only 2 weeks away. Unfortunately their highly toxic exhausts restrict them to military use, or uninhabited volumes.

Jump drives can be constructed at this tech level, although they are not discovered until TL10. Some interstellar travel is conducted by TL9 craft, even though a journey typically takes a whole year. Star ships at this tech level almost invariably place passengers in low berth, even for journeys of a single jump.

TL9 Shuttle

TL9 Moon shuttle 200t, MCr89, 37t cargo

200t streamlined cone configuration, with high thrust D/T fusion rockets. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 50% of the hull, which is enough for 27.7km/s of delta-V. This ship can launch from Earth, fly to the Moon and back in 3 days, and land – all without refuelling. (Note the heat radiator fins.)

TL9 Mars ship

TL9 Mars ship 200t, MCr45, 9 months, 130t cargo

200t dispersed structure, with VASIMR thrusters capable of 0.00016G. A D/T fusion plant generates the necessary 52MW. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 15% of the hull, which is enough for 52km/s of delta-V. A round trip to Mars (closest approach, no landing) takes 9 months.

TL9 NSW Mars ship 200t, MCr160*, 4 weeks, 106t cargo

200t dispersed structure, with a nuclear salt water drive capable of 1G. Water propellant tanks fill 20% of the hull, which is enough for 223km/s of delta-V. A round trip to Mars (no landing) takes between 4 weeks and 5 months, depending on the season. Cargo capacity is 106t.

* – This ship is highly capable, but has significant disadvantages. Firstly, refuelling is ruinously expensive. MCr100 of the MCr160 price tag is the 2000kg of highly enriched uranium that the ship burns during its round trip. Secondly, the exhaust is very toxic. Fortunately the propellant is expelled at many times solar escape velocity, but extreme care must be taken to ensure that it is never pointed at inhabited bodies. The drive would be quite capable of launching from a planet’s surface, but using it in an atmosphere is universally illegal.


Tech Level 10 (without antimatter)

Fusion drives continue to evolve. Highly efficient thrusters reduce the minimum time for an Earth-Mars journey to less than 3 weeks. These drives are so efficient that waste heat is now a serious problem. Thruster-driven ships have huge radiator fins. Many also employ trans-dimensional heat sinks, which store excess heat in foamed higher dimensions.

Rockets are now able to use the deuterium/helium-3 fusion reaction, which produces more energy, and requires much less heavy shielding. Shuttles can move around planetary systems with ease, and interplanetary craft can use much more energetic transfer vectors.

Helium-3 fusion drives & power plants CANNOT burn pure deuterium as they lack the proper shielding. He3 is usually only available at high-tech A- or B-class starports. It typically costs Cr10,000/kg. He3 may be manufactured from deuterium, but this process is slow and costly. Alternatively it may be collected from gas giants or mined on airless inner-system worlds.

TL10 is the usual capability level of interstellar civilizations. These ships can be found working in every inhabited, civilized system. They are widely traded, easy to use, cheap to run, and well understood.

TL10 shuttle

TL10 shuttle 200t, MCr59, 82t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with high thrust He3 fusion rockets. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 35% of the hull, which is enough for 34.5km/s delta-V. A round trip to the Moon takes only 3 days.

fred_gambino_06

TL10 Mars ship 200t, MCr81, 86t cargo.

200t dispersed structure, with D/T fusion thrusters capable of 0.01G. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 30% of the hull, which is enough for 178km/s of delta-V. A round trip to Mars (no landing) takes between 6 weeks and 7 months, depending on the distance.

ivan_rastrigin_02

TL10 interplanetary shuttle 200t, MCr118, 52t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with He3 fusion rockets, and a D/T fusion thruster. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 40% of the hull, which is enough for 18km/s of high-thrust delta-V AND 112km/s of delta-V at 0.01G. This ship can launch from Earth, fly to Mars, land, and return – all in 2 months, without refuelling. A round trip to the Moon takes only 2 days.

z42533032

TL10 jump courier 200t, MCr130, 40t cargo.

200t spherical configuration, with He3 fusion rockets (6G), and a D/T fusion thruster (0.01G). Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 40% of the hull, which is enough for 41km/s of high-thrust delta-V OR 255km/s of delta-V at 0.01G. The ship is designed to take advantage of drop tanks


Antimatter

Affordable antimatter enables a quantum leap in space craft technology. Suddenly, interplanetary journeys can be completed in days, rather than weeks.

Tech Level 9 with antimatter

TL9’s usual fusion rockets can be supercharged by injecting small (0.1%) amounts of antimatter into the fuel stream. Antimatter-catalysed fusion rockets can be used for interplanetary travel – often supplemented by drop tanks. Antimatter can be purchased at most A- and B-class starports, but prices can be very variable. MCr10/kg is typical. Pre-mixed deuterium/antimatter fuel pellets are often available for about Cr20,000/kg.

Pure antimatter rockets also become available at TL9. Whilst useless for long journeys, they enable highly manoeuvrable military fighter craft. Engines that can pull 6G for a whole hour are possible, although they would normally be used at lower thrusts, or for many shorter burns. Antimatter-rocket driven missiles are even faster.

jason_felix_01-crop

TL9 interplanetary antimatter shuttle 200t, MCr75, 70t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with antimatter catalysed fusion rockets (no thrusters). Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 40% of the hull, which is enough for 82km/s of high-thrust delta-V. This ship can launch from Earth, fly to Mars, land, and return in 3 months, without refuelling. A round trip to the Moon takes 15 hours.


Tech Level 10 with antimatter – torch ships.

Finally, at TL10 with antimatter, interplanetary travel becomes an every day convenience. Antimatter catalysed fusion thrusters have both super-high efficiency and high thrust – so there is no need for separate rockets for launch or landing. One “torch” ship, can do everything.

lewis_fischer_01

TL10 interplanetary antimatter shuttle 200t, MCr75, 76t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with an antimatter catalysed fusion torch drive. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 40% of the hull, which is enough for 1022km/s of delta-V at 1G. This ship can launch from Earth, fly to Mars, land, and return in a week, without refuelling. A round trip to the Moon takes 6 hours. Even a trip to Jupiter takes 9 days (with drop tanks).


Tech Level 11

Even without antimatter, fusion drive technology continues to develop. Procyon’s space fleet is largely limited to this capability level, because of the Commonwealth’s antimatter blockade.

Efficient Helium-3 fusion thrusters are now available, even though journey times are still measured in weeks. These drives are not powerful enough to launch or land, so ships still tend to be specialised between long-haul space-only craft – equipped with thrusters, and streamlined landing craft equipped with rockets.

Monopole catalysed fusion is the one TL11 innovation that might compete with antimatter, if only magnetic monopoles were easier to obtain. Monopoles make it far easier to manipulate the powerful magnetic fields required to initiate fusion, and can also be held in the mixture to help compress it. The result is every bit as efficient as antimatter catalysation, with the added advantage that the monopoles are not used up during the reaction, so fuel costs are minimal. Unfortunately monopoles are so rare that a single gram costs up to a million credits. Drives require hundreds or thousands of grammes.

maciej_rebisz_03-crop

TL11 interplanetary ship 200t, MCr38, 90t cargo.

200t close structure, with a Helium-3 fusion torch drive. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 35% of the hull, which is enough for 431km/s of delta-V at 0.1G. A round trip to Mars takes just over two weeks, Jupiter and back is only 6 months.

(Thank you to conceptships.blogspot.co.uk for many of the space craft images used here.)

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Spacecraft – Low Tech http://blog.firetree.net/2015/01/02/spacecraft-low-tech/ http://blog.firetree.net/2015/01/02/spacecraft-low-tech/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2015 14:00:00 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=488 Ad Astra space travellers are forced to use somewhat more realistic space drives than in “traditional” Traveller. Even with antimatter, high-tech interstellar craft typically take a week to travel to or from the jump point. Without antimatter, travel times stretch into months.

I’ve updated my Traveller ship design spreadsheet to reflect this new reality. This article describes the primitive drive technologies available at TL6 – TL8, together with some examples.

(This is the first part of my article on Ad Astra space drives. Part 2 is here. Today, TL6 – TL8.)

Tech Level 6 – Low orbit, via multi-stage rockets.

The dawn of the space age is dominated by primitive chemical rockets. These beasts are too inefficient to reach orbit, so they use huge multi-stage boosters to launch tiny payloads into low orbit. On the plus side, the huge propellant flow serves to cool the engines, so there is no need for dedicated radiators.

Chemical rockets need liquid oxygen, and liquid hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is widely available, but oxygen is rarely sold as fuel, except on low tech worlds.

Ion drives are available, but they are so slow that even tiny probes take years to reach targets in the inner system. These primitive space craft have tiny power requirements, so fuel cells usually suffice.

Space Shuttle

TL6 low-orbit shuttle 200t, MCr43, 36t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with chemical rockets. Tanks fill 60% of the hull, which is enough for 4.6km/s of delta-V – sufficient for orbital manoeuvres and landing. Launch is achieved by using a large external drop tank, and two detachable booster rockets. The shuttle cannot fly higher than low orbit.


Tech Level 7 – Interplanetary flight barely possible.

Solid-core fission (NERVA) rockets can fly higher, and are far safer than chemical rockets. They still require multiple stages to reach orbit. VASIMR thrusters, powered by nuclear power plants, make interplanetary travel just barely possible.

NERVA rockets use tonnes of common hydrogen as a propellant. Their solid radioactive cores require frequent replacement too, and those can usually only be found at A- & B-class starports, on relatively primitive worlds. Many governments restrict the sale of highly enriched uranium, since it is a component in simple fission bombs.

Note the distinction between propellant, and fuel. Propellant is an inert substance – usually hydrogen – that is accelerated out of the drive’s nozzle, in order to throw the craft forward, in accordance with Newton’s third law. Fuel is the energy source that powers the drive. This can be fissile material such as enriched uranium, or at higher tech levels, fusion fuels such as deuterium, lithium, or helium-3, or even antimatter.

Dream Chaser

TL7 orbital shuttle 200t, MCr47, 56t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with solid-core fission rockets. Propellant tanks fill 40% of the hull, which is enough for 5.1km/s of delta-V – sufficient for orbital manoeuvres and landing. Launch is achieved by using a large external drop tank. The shuttle can lift large cargoes to high orbit.

goce

TL7 Mars ship 200t, MCr26, 3 years, 132t cargo

200t dispersed structure, with VASIMR thrusters capable of 0.00001G. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 14% of the hull, which is enough for 12.1km/s of delta-V. A round trip to Mars (closest approach, no landing) takes 3 years.


Tech Level 8 – Routine Lunar transfer.

The apex of the fission age. Gas-core fission rockets are finally able to power single-stage-to-orbit shuttles. These flexible workhorses can make routine journeys between gas-giant moons, or even make interplanetary trips, when equipped with drop tanks. Fission shuttles are commonly used even today – as they are simple, robust and reliable.

Fission rockets require their own specific fuel. This is pretty much always available at A-class starports, and on lower-tech worlds, but can be hard to come by elsewhere.

VASIMR thrusters continue to improve, now capable of hauling bulk freight interplanetary distances in months rather than years. The power usually comes from advanced fission plants.

Venturestar

TL8 orbital shuttle 200t, MCr49, 37t cargo.

200t streamlined wedge configuration, with gas-core fission rockets. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 55% of the hull, which is enough for 16km/s of delta-V. That is sufficient for launch, orbital maneuvres and landing, without needing external boosters or tanks. If it’s refuelled in orbit, the shuttle can fly to Luna in 2 days, or Mars in 12 months – land and return.

Mission 2 Mars

TL8 Mars ship 200t, MCr26, 18 months, 130t cargo

200t dispersed structure, with VASIMR thrusters capable of 0.00004G. An advanced fission plant generates the necessary 7MW power. Hydrogen propellant tanks fill 15% of the hull, which is enough for 26km/s of delta-V. A round trip to Mars (closest approach, no landing) takes 18 months.

(Credit goes to the Atomic Rockets site for immense help designing all of these drives.)

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Ad Astra – Index so far http://blog.firetree.net/2014/12/15/ad-astra-index-so-far/ http://blog.firetree.net/2014/12/15/ad-astra-index-so-far/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:37:24 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=472 I’ve been working on “Ad Astra”, a space opera campaign for Traveller. I thought I’d publish a bit of the background information… it’ll be useful for potential players, and I relish feedback from my critical friends.

First up, Earth…

http://blog.firetree.net/2015/10/27/earth-ii/

To understand the “Ad Astra” universe, you need to understand how jump drives work…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/18/jump-drives/

Procyon is the “last bastion of human freedom”. Our heroes will be based here…

http://blog.firetree.net/2015/09/14/procyon-ii/

The remaining Core human worlds…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/20/epsilon-eridani/

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/20/centauri/

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/21/dx-cancri/

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/21/lalande/

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/21/wolf-359/

The big bad! And a first glimpse of the Corridor. Esperanza is where humanity first met aliens…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/22/esperanza/

Five wars were fought, over nearly four centuries, before the Corridor was finally won for humanity…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/23/corridor-worlds/

The Xa Imperium. Humans and their allies have pushed this state back to about a third of its former size…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/24/xa-imperium/

As requested by Matt Fitzgerald. A somewhat sketchy timeline for my new Ad Astra Traveller setting…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/25/timeline/

The Long Republic is a human government, where the people usually live on the move, in gigantic “Caravan Ships”.

The nomads have access to mysterious alien “grav” technology, that allows their ships to float without any known means of support…

http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/26/long-republic/

That’s the end of Ad Astra articles for the moment. I’ve got plenty of other stuff written down though, and some of it is suitable for players. So there may be more in the future.

I have very much enjoyed the discussion that the posts have generated. Thanks to all.

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The Long Republic http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/26/long-republic/ http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/26/long-republic/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2014 07:00:13 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=442 A small Caravan-ship drifting over the plains of Weg.
A small Caravan-ship drifting over the plains of Weg. (by Ian McQue)

Weg (0512 A5629A9-A, pop=8b)

Orange jungle, forest, savannah, desert, tundra

The Long Republic (Langerepublik) is a huge German-speaking state that grew out of the human colony world called “Weg” (The Road). Weggers live as nomads, constantly on the move, either on their home world, or in “Caravan Ships” that ply the Main. Weggers are allied with the mysterious “Spiders” who live somewhere in the coreward Main. This has given them access to technology that baffles Core world scientists – particularly gravity generators and apparently reactionless thrusters. This technical edge allowed them to drive the Xa Imperium back along the Main, almost to Xa-Xa.

Colonisation of Weg

Weg was settled in 2271 CE during the “human diaspora” period, by settlers from Bessel (1417). The colonisation project was promoted by the Xa Emperor, in order to create a human buffer between the Xa Imperium and the inscrutable Spiders. The Weg colony also well placed to prevent Khigrish refugees from Misaruu from settling on the borders of the Imperium.

Weg is a hostile, though habitable world. The early colonists were not overjoyed at the prospect of living there. The narrow habitable belts move slowly from the poles in high summer, to about 30 degrees latitude in the depths of winter. No point on the surface of the planet is habitable for all of the 3000 day year.

Eventually they decided that a nomadic lifestyle was the only real option. Fortunately much of the planet’s surface is rolling grass-hills and tundra. Earth grazing animals such as sheep and hardy cattle can survive on the coarse grasses that grow abundantly in Weg’s temperate bands. The long year (9 Earth years) meant that the colonists only had to travel about 3 miles per day to keep within the “Grün”, as the moving temperate belts came to be known.

Within a few decades, the pattern of nomad life was set. Caravans follow the seasons South along the Weg (the nomads’ “Road”). They pass through the dangerous and unforgiving “cool jungles” during mid-winter, and trek North again with the Spring, eventually to meet up at the pole for the midsummer “Moot”.

The Spiders

Many Weggers were recruited by the Xa to form part of a border force to deal with the Spiders, who were encroaching on Imperial territory from coreward. Rather than fighting the Spiders, an alliance was forged. Armed with the Spiders’ gravitic technology, the Weggers were able to expel the Xa from their world in 2375 CE, and ultimately help the Spiders to push the Xa back as far as Junction (0712).

The Abstract Republic

Free from the Xa, and armed with counter-grav technology, the Weggers took their nomad lifestyle to the skies, and from there, to the stars. By about 2500 CE millions of nomads were plying the Main in huge grav-powered Caravan Ships. They became a common sight throughout the Xa Imperium and far beyond. They have several base worlds very, very far from human space. Glitzern (1123) and Steinkreis (2507) are notable examples.

As their range grew, so did their influence. Their trade networks enriched not only Weg, but all the worlds they visited. The Xa Emperors reconciled themselves to the idea of a free Weg, and settled for exacting huge taxes from the now prosperous traders. Many Xa worlds near to Weg began to fall under its influence. Weg trading posts were enthusiastically welcomed on Ramm (0811) and Xa-Xierru/Himmel (1212). The Imperium tried to counterbalance the Weggers’ increasing power by setting up a rival human colony at Xa-Bri/Junction (0712). Junction became tremendously successful, but its success only helped the Weggers, rather than constraining them.

Nomad society still looked to Weg as its home. Returning for a Moot is a vital part of a Caravan’s rhythm of life. Moots are where marriages are made, and deals are struck. Despite the vast distances they travel, Weggers still saw themselves as part of a single family – they called it the Abstract Republic.

long-republic The Long Republic

By the 2600s, the Nomads were essentially running the entire Spinward section of the Xa Imperium. The Xa’s most populous world, Xa-Xierru (1212) was looking more to Weg and Junction for trade and influence, than it was to the Imperial capital. Frustrated by their waning influence, successive Xa emperors sought to constrain nomad “piracy” through ever more aggressive naval policing actions.

Matters came to a head in 2673 CE. Exasperated by the Imperium’s repeated hostilities, the Abstract Republic forged a secret alliance with the Esperanzan Commonwealth. When the Xa Navy launched its next punitive raids, the alliance counterattacked with devastating force. Esperanzan jump-1+ technology, combined with the Nomads’ reactionless thrusters gave the allies both a strategic and a tactical edge over the Xa. All Imperial worlds Spinward of Gateway fell to the Nomads, who have governed them ever since, as the Long Republic.

Citizens and sub-citizens

Weggers are full citizens of the Long Republic, which is in theory, a fully participatory democracy. Local decisions are made by citizen votes, but most day to day central decision making is performed by clan representatives. All citizens belong to a clan – Clans were the “nations” of Weg, while the culture was bound to a single planet.

Most other humans in LR space are “sub-citizens”. They can elect representatives who then participate in votes as honourary citizens. Most aliens are treated as foreigners – colonials who have no direct power.

Citizens are permitted (usually expected) to carry arms. In most cases, this is a dagger or knife of some kind. Others may not carry weapons, unless it’s as part of their job.

Social standings…

  • Weg – None: 2-4, Subcitizen: 5-6, Citizen: 7+
  • Long Republic – None: 2-7, Subcitizen: 8-9, Citizen: A+

Junction (0712 A575887-A, pop=100m)

Blue/green jungle, farm, purple savannah, desert

Sometimes called “The Fork”. Junction is the great melting-pot. Travellers from far and wide are drawn to this world. It stands at the meeting point of three great trade routes. It is principally a human world (English is the main language), but there are substantial populations of Xa, Khigrish, Bol, Spiders, Fteirle, and small numbers of many more species.

English-speaking humans (originally from Earth) run the planet through the Junction Council. They have done so ever since an ancient dispute between the Xa-Imperium and the Weggers – Xa-Bri was turned over to Earth humans in a compromise deal, as they were perceived as neutral. Since then, the Weggers have come to dominate this part of the Main, but they have largely left Junction’s government alone.

Outback: Most of the rural population are still Xa. Remnants of Junction’s history as “Xa-Bri”. The Xa lords guard their territory jealously. Travellers from Junction generally need permission in advance from the Xa.

Shipyards: Weggers run the shipyards, which make Weg technology available to all-comers… for a price. Reactionless thrusters, grav-plating, inertial dampers. Many trading ships make a point of having their annual maintenance done here, because the quality of the workmanship is so highly regarded.

Hiring Halls: If you want a job, this is the place to come. Ship’s crew are often recruited here. They also operate indenture contracts, where applicants can offer themselves for fixed term contracts, without necessarily having foreknowledge of what’s involved. A variety of different halls compete for trade. Some specialise in certain skills, or species, while others concentrate on certain types of contract. There is a great deal of cross-trading between Halls, so it can be difficult for a job seeker to really know who they are dealing with.

Trading Markets: Wares and trinkets from up and down the main are sold at a variety of markets. Different markets specialise in different commodities: tech, food, slaves, ships, information, gems, etc. Markets tend to be held at particular times of day, so a venue might host a ship auction in the morning, and an information auction in the afternoon. The markets are complemented by a host of permanent shops which cater for a myriad of different specialities.

Alien quarters: Certain residential districts attract clusters of aliens. The various quarters contain many shops and businesses catering to the special needs of the residents.

Nomad quarter: There are many Weggers on Junction. This area caters for their needs. The nomads tend to be disdainful of the Junction authorities, and run things according to their own rules.

Crime is rife. Criminals are organised into guilds, each specialising in particular forms of crime… Pirates’ Guild. Mercenaries’ Guild. Pickpockets’ Guild. Burglars’ Guild, etc.

Nomad assault drop ships landing on Xa-Xierru
Nomad assault drop ships landing on Xa-Xierru (Ian McQue)

Other worlds

Procyon has less information about the other worlds of the Long Republic.

Vorposten (1413) (“Outpost”) The last outpost of the Long Republic before Gateway. A bubble world, which has become a sort of museum of the nomad lifestyle, aimed at Commonwealth and Xa tourists.

Uberwachen (1412) (“Overwatch”) A lawless “wild west”. Most inhabitants are ranchers, who live hundreds of kilometers from the occasional small towns.

Bogenlicht (1312) (“Arc Light”) The only habitation is essentially a large bar, which attracts unsavoury sorts from the Long Republic, Corridor, Xa, and further afield.

Quixote (1211) An inhospitable world with sweltering heat and a crushing, toxic, ammonia atmosphere. This is a popular destination for big game hunters, who come to hunt “Bandersnatch” – giant, aggressive molluscs.

Himmel / Xa-Xierru (1212) High-population Xa world, now controlled by the Long Republic.

Angelpunkt (1112) (“Lynchpin”) A major stopover for nomads travelling to and from the Xa Imperium. The starport offers extensive maintenance and construction facilities.

Bastion (1011) This desert planet is the Long Republic’s principle military depot.

Joyeuse (1012) A garden world, mostly populated by French-speaking Catholic settlers.

Das Auge (0912) (“The Eye”) Dead world ruled by an inscrutible, ancient, artifical intelligence.

Ramm (0811) Xa agricultural world.

Forn (0812) The main industry is extraction and processing of Forna – a relaxing drug, and mild psionic enhancer. Forna is extremely popular within the Commonwealth.

Grenze (0713) (“Frontier”) This is the Rimward limit of the contiguous Long Republic. Beyond are the worlds that the Weggers call “Wildnis” (The Wilds) – a collection of minor worlds with little or no government, and no interstellar law. Grenze itself is a backwater, with little or no trade or industry of its own.

Ballon (0610) The Long Republic’s frontier with the Spiders. The colony is sited on a grav-suspended cloud city platform.

Freihafen (0611) (“Free port”) Maintenance port and trading station. Rival to Junction (0712).

2 G Hydri (0411) Most through traffic simply refuels at the gas giant and continues on its way.

Distant Long Republic outposts

Boxenstopp (0518) (“Pit-stop”) A distant outpost of the Long Republic. Nomad ships stop off here for a few months or years, on their way to or from Uo – a popular destination. There is a small colony of Khigrish on the far side of the planet.

Glitzern (1123) Wegger mining colony, named for its large, glittering quartz deposits. Most workers are recruited at the hiring halls on Junction (0712).

Steinkreis (2507) (“Stone circle”) Long Republic outpost, established to protect and nurture nomad travellers in the Aldebaran Main.

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Timeline http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/25/timeline/ http://blog.firetree.net/2014/11/25/timeline/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2014 07:00:47 +0000 http://blog.firetree.net/?p=391 This is a very basic timeline for the Ad Astra universe.

2037 first dying person Uploaded.

2042 first commercial fusion reactor.

2054 first permanently manned moon base.

2066 first asteroid mining mission completed.

2093 asteroid belt population reaches 1 million.

2104 The United Nations declares that environmental collapse on Earth is “inevitable”. The UN Interstellar Colonisation Initiative is created.

2123 C-Jammer, the first interstellar colony slowboat launched. It is powered by a combination of multi-stage fusion rockets and a solar sail – illuminated by fixed lasers.

2124 first of the “water wars” launched by the Sovereign State of California.

2166 Centauri colony founded around Alpha Centauri..

2188 Procyon colony founded around Procyon A.

2198 Esperanza colony founded around Epsilon Indi.

2201 first contact with aliens. The Xa declare that Esperanza is part of the Xa Imperium.

2209 Bessel colony founded around 61 Cygni A.

2220 Hong Kong launches first human-built jump-capable starship – the C-Breaker.

2239 First Xa War. Esperanzans defeated, and accept their place in the Xa Imperium.

2239-2378 Human diaspora. Humans from Esperanza and Bessel start to push out into the Main, colonists take passage on jump ships, or hire on as labourers. Earth continues to launch slower than light colony ships, this time to much further destinations. Jump ships from Earth remain limited to the Core worlds.

  • 2254 Earth receives first shipment of antimatter from Esperanza. Antimatter-powered ship enable the flow of colonists and industrial goods from Earth to vastly increase. Esperanza colony grows rapidly.

  • 2271 Colonists from Bessel settle on Weg.

  • 2294 Earth Union declares environmental catastrophe averted, thanks to “unlimited” power from antimatter.

  • 2345 New Puritans exterminate last batwing alien on Esperanza.

  • 2375 Weg rebels against the Xa Imperium.

2378-9 Second Xa War. Esperanza wins its freedom from the Xa. Nebelwelt colony founded in the Gliese 892 system.

2420-54 Third Xa War. Casseopeia captured.

2521-27 Fourth Xa War ends in stalemate.

2609 scientists on Earth perfect the jump-1+ drive.

2616 DX Cancri colony founded.

2627 Fifth Xa War. The Esperanzan Commonwealth, allied with the Earth Union, finally conquers Xa-Arrack, renames it Gateway.

2673 Sixth Xa War. The Xa Navy launches a punitive strike against Gateway, in an attempt to suppress human piracy. Allied forces of the Esperanzan Commonwealth and the Long Republic breach imperial defences, and devastate all Xa shipbuilding yards.

2705 Esperanzan telepath Illuminati proclaim Year Zero. Next Step party founded.

2718 Earth Union falls to the Next Step.

2720 scientists on Procyon perfect the jump-2 drive.

2722 present day.

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