As I reviewed the current Dark Nebula data on Traveller Map I realized that the population of Kusyu had been increased from 4 billion in Classic Traveller to 70 billion. I initially assumed this reflected a change made in MegaTraveller or Mongoose Traveller but after checking those sources, no dice.
In fact, the population of Kusyu has proven much more consistent than the location of Kusyu over various editions:
- CT Aslan (1984): 4.6 billion
- MT Referee’s Companion (1988): 4.6 billion
- Travellers’ Digest 17 (1989): 4.631 billion*
- MT Solomani and Aslan (1991): 4.631 billion*
- GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2 (1999): 4.6 billion
- Mongoose Traveller Aslan (2009): 4.6 billion
- Mongoose Traveller Pirates of Drinax(2017): 4.6 billion
* Note that the subsector data contradicts the text, listing Kusyu with Pop 9 and Pop multiplier 7.
Agent of the Imperium lists Kusyu as Pop 9, while Traveller5 Book 3 lists Kusyu as both Pop 9 (p 287) and Pop A (p 242).
Now curious, I looked at other high population worlds in the sector. “High population” is a trade classification assigned to worlds with population codes of either 9 (billions) or A (tens of billions). The location and names of all high population worlds in Dark Nebula are identified in the Classic Traveller supplement Atlas of the Imperium (1984). The MegaTraveller supplement Solomani and Aslan then provided full sector data for all Dark Nebula worlds and is generally consistent with the Atlas.
Further review of the Traveller Map data showed that the Aslan worlds of Troi’ (DARK 1923), Eakhoi (DARK 2123), Oiirl (DARK 2430), Hai Ei (DARK 0836), and Steisua (DARK 1135) also had their population levels increased from 9 to A.
Who Cares?
Changing the population levels of just six worlds from 9 to A is actually a much bigger deal than it seems on first blush, profoundly impacting the overall population of the entire sector. And in Traveller, population is inextricably tied to economic clout. If we only focus on the high population worlds in the original Solomani and Aslan data, Dark Nebula sector contains 50 billion Ormine, 162 billion humans, 138 billion non-aligned Aslan, and 256 billion Hierate Aslan. Following the adjustment of just six worlds to Pop A, the overall population of Hierate Aslan in the sector soars to 547 billion Aslan—over double.
I suspect that the changes were made by a well-intentioned T5SS reviewer looking at the overall population of Dark Nebula compared to surrounding sectors: the Solomani Rim, for example, has a total population of 1,660 billion; Magyar, 552 billion; and Dark Nebula, before adjustment, 650 billion. Given that Dark Nebula contains the homeworld of one of the six major races, 650 billion might seem a little low.
But I actually think that goosing the sector population to 936 billion was probably the wrong way to go here. Statistically, the original population of Dark Nebula falls well within expectations. Using 2D - 2 to determine population levels, with 487 total worlds, Dark Nebula would have on average of 14 pop A worlds. The original dataset had 13 pop A worlds, so fairly close.
We should also remember that the sector data for the Solomani Rim was intentionally massaged to reflect the setting description: a highly developed, industrial powerhouse. The Rim’s population and economic numbers have always been outliers by design.
A Case for Reversion
With this in mind, I’m not sure that transforming Dark Nebula into an economic powerhouse best reflects the established setting. In some ways, allowing the sector to lag economically and technologically seems more appropriate, given my understanding of the setting history. Consider: something has always been odd—and I think, intentionally so—about the layout of Dark Nebula sector. As many others have previously noted, the Aslan differ from all other major races in that their homeworld lies on the edge of Hierate space rather than in the center of their polity. When Aslan took to the stars they discovered that Humans had already settled the territories immediately trailing and coreward of Kusyu, forcing the Aslan to initially expand spinward and rimward.
During the Long Night, the Aslan amassed enough power and technology to challenge those neighboring Human systems. As described, the Border Wars were a slow-moving, incredibly complex series of low-level conflicts along the coreward and trailing border of the Hierate. Eventually, several treaties between various clans and Human powers established buffer zones around these border areas, culminating in the Peace of Ftahalr.
A quarter of Dark Nebula still falls into the Buffer Zone while another quarter, running along the trailing border was probably part of buffer zones recently absorbed by the Solomani Confederation. We know that Aslan allow captured worlds to regress technologically and that the various treaties were designed to limit outside interference within the buffers. Given this history, it’s not all that surprising that the border regions would have a notable lack of class A or B starports as well as significant technological lag—many worlds remain stuck at industrial tech levels even in 1105.
I’d also argue that keeping the Aslan Hierate worlds in Dark Nebula at somewhat lower population levels is not inconsistent with the known setting details. The Aslan are notable for their incessant hunger for acquisition and expansion of territory, and we know that the most powerful clans quickly laid claim to the best worlds around Kusyu, forcing the lesser clans to look farther and farther afield for new lands.
We also know that Aslan males have very different conceptions of value than Aslan females, whose thinking is much more in line with Humans. Aslan males place tremendous weight on cultural and historical value, unlike the much more pragmatic and unsentimental females, who calculate value in conventional economic terms. While a female Aslan might view a large stretch of arid, infertile land as a waste of clan resources, a male might treasure this same tract if it had been the site of an ancient battle, particularly one involving an ancestor. So it’s not hard for me to imagine that many clans would view the ancestral worlds of Dark Nebula as essentially one great historic district, to be preserved for cultural significance—with serious industrial production relegated to worlds deeper in the Hierate.
Further, I have to wonder about the economic viability of Hierate worlds with a Population level of A, or at least those with pre-stellar tech levels. As GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 2 explains, “If possible, Aslan cities sprawl sideways rather than towering upward, because each male wants his own patch of land, and will not settle for a patch of floor 30 stories up if there is any alternative” (23). Cramming Aslan populations into tightly-packed cities or even high tech arcologies is probably only a measure of last resort.
Further, split-clan control probably leads to ecological disaster for many high-population, habitable worlds: a classic example of the tragedy of the commons. In the absence of high tech solutions, individual clans likely struggle to coordinate responses to planet-wide ecological challenges caused by extreme population pressure.
And the unique dietary requirements of Aslan potentially impose serious limitations on the development of high-population Aslan worlds. Aslan are almost exclusively carnivorous and prefer fresh meat over synthetic substitutes. Meat production is inherently inefficient, and technology can only provide so much relief given Aslan insistence on “analog” dining. So a few pop A worlds could readily siphon off energy resources from across an entire subsector.
I am certain the Hierate contains plenty of high population, industrial hellholes where low status Aslan and unassimilated aliens toil in monstrous factories run by clan-controlled corporations. But given what we know about the Aslan I wonder if they might not expand to secondary worlds within a system before they started packing populations onto the mainworld? If I needed to establish a Hierate with more economic clout than currently shown in sector data, I would turn to the secondary worlds before I started converting too many worlds from Pop 9 to Pop A.
Recommendations
Putting all of this together, I think it makes sense to revert many of these changes in Dark Nebula, beginning with Kusyu. I really can’t see any compelling justification for increasing the population of the Aslan homeworld to 70 billion, and it contradicts almost every prior source.
Here are my full recommendations for reverting population levels:
- Kusyu (1226) - Change UWP to A876976-E to revert population level back to 9 and PGB to 403, consistent with prior sources. Change Economic extension to (F8H+4) and Cultural extension to [9E4D].
- Troi’ (1923) - Change UWP to E787978-8 to revert population level back to 9. Add Pr to remarks, change Importance to { -1 }, Economic extension to (C8A+1), and Cultural extension to [A859].
- Eakhoi (2123) - Change UWP to C786976-A to revert population level back to 9. Add Pr to remarks, change Economic extension to (H8D+1) and Cultural extension to [9B4A].
- Hai Ei (0836) - Change UWP to E665979-8 to revert population level back to 9. Add Pr to remarks, change Importance to { -1 }, Economic extension to (G8A+1) and Cultural extension to [B86A].
As a compromise, I would recommend retaining the populations of Oiirl (DARK 2430) and Steisua (DARK 1135) as A. This alone increases the overall population of Hierate Aslan in Dark Nebula to 355 billion.
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