A Traveller, newly arrived on Wu, might be amazed by the shimmering Great Outer Ocean, or the soaring arcologies of Gyon, or the genetic manipulations seemingly worked and wrought upon every plant, every animal, and even every onworld inhabitant. But it is the stillness, a strange, uncanny hush that Travellers usually find most remarkable about Wu: densely populated cities with all citizens striving in concert toward one, mutually understood, end. —The Savage Main: Dark Nebula and Magyar Sectors, 3rd Ed. Farstar Publishing (Marlheim: 1095).
Wu (Magyar 0203 B66A99A-E). Pre-Rich, High Population, Water World. Capital of the Wuan Technology Association, a member-state of the Solomani Confederation. Subsector administrative center for the Confederation. Homeworld of the Wuans.
System Data
Binary stellar system. Primary Hayan. Spectral Class F9 V. Mass 1.14 M☉. Stellar Diameter 0.011 AU. Luminosity 1.8 L☉. Absolute Magnitude +4.20; Near Companion Geum. Spectral Class G9 V. Mass 0.84 M☉. Stellar Diameter 0.0073 AU. Luminosity 0.49 L☉. Absolute Magnitude +5.60.
The Wu system is located in the Urartu Cluster, sometimes known as the Clan Cluster, a string of 38 worlds connected by Jump-1 distances.
Wu System Navigation Data
| Orbit | Name | UWP | Remarks |
|---|
| Primary | | Hayan | F9 V | |
| 1 | | Nakta | Y610000-0 | Tz |
| 2 | | Nensho | F8A1516-8 | Rs |
| 3 | | Koru | F50076A-7 | |
| 4 | | Famu | Y777538-6 | Tr |
| 5 | | Suseok Belt | H00066A-7 | |
| 7 | | Winsek | Size U LGG | |
| 8 | | Palgan | Size V LGG | |
| | | | | |
| Companion | | Geum | G9 V | |
| 2 | | San | Y7C1000-0 | Ho |
| 3 | | Wu | B66A99A-E | Hi Pr Wa Cp (Wuans) |
| | 35 | Dal | F10086A-A | Lk Rs |
| 4 | | Ogami | H100616-7 | Co |
| 6 | | Chol | Size P SGG | |
| 7 | | Puleun | Size U LGG | |
| IS Form 11 | Star System Data |
Planetary Data
Wu, the mainworld, orbits the companion star Geum. Mean Orbital Radius 126 million km (0.84 AU). Period 307.55 days. Rotation Period 27h 53m 37s. Axial Inclination 34° 55′ 4″. Diameter 9,760 km. Mass 0.43 M🜨. Density 1.02 g/cm3. Mean Surface Gravity 0.765g. Surface Atmospheric Pressure 1.224 atm. Composition standard oxygen-nitrogen. Hydrographic Percentage 96%. Mean Surface Temperature 14.24° C. Satellites Dal (F10086A-A).
The Wu mainworld contains an island chain that rings the shallow, 5,000 km-wide Inner Sea and is surrounded by the Great Outer Ocean. The chain includes three larger islands as well as numerous smaller islands. The largest island, Keun (2,955,385 km2 in area), stretches from the equator to approximately 60° south latitude. The second largest island, Maejil (869,231 km2 in area), lies almost entirely within the southern hemisphere, and its southern coast remains bitterly cold for most of the year. The third largest island, Jageun (521,538 km2 in area), straddles the equator and enjoys a temperate to warm climate.
Wu once supported a native ecosystem dominated by a diverse phylum of pseudo-arthropods ranging in size from tiny 4mm long specimens all the way up to a 3m-long armored species that resembled a flattened lobster. But approximately 1.2 million years ago the oceans of Wu underwent rapid acidification, which triggered a global extinction event that wiped out all life except for a sort of deep-sea pelagic worm.
| World Map Grid |
| World Name (and UWP) Wu B66A99A-E | Subsector and Sector Location of World Clan/Magyar |
| Date of Preparation 112-1100 | Hexagon Scale (km) 1,005 |
 |
| IS Form 8-F | Size 6 World Map Grid |
History
The Urartu Cluster contains several habitable worlds, and during the Interstellar Wars Asian corporate interests on Terra sponsored a major colony on the garden world of Choan, now known as Sharn (Magyar 0601), far beyond the borders of either the Ziru Sirka or the Terran Confederation. Well supported by Korean and Japanese funds, by -2000 the Choan colony had grown enough to establish an outpost on Wu. Although Wu’s high hydrographic percentage made the world unattractive for large scale colonization, the planet was appealing for a major research center.
By -1900 the parent corporations back in the Solomani Rim had all collapsed or been bought out by the so-called “Vilanicorps,” leaving the Cluster holdings independent. Over the next 400 years Wu and the surrounding worlds grew and flourished, unimpeded by the slow collapse of the distant Second Imperium. Wu specialized in manufacturing high-tech products for export, and by -1500 most worlds in the region were trading among themselves. Aslan merchants, often from the Tralyeaeawi clan, carried goods to and from more distant markets.
But the following centuries saw the rise of Reaver fleets capable of sacking entire worlds. As interstellar commerce faltered, populations and technology levels across the region fell back precipitously. By -1100 Wu emerged as the capital of a small interstellar polity, the Wuan Technology Association, stabilizing at TL11. While Reavers devastated much of the region, the Wuan worlds avoided destruction by cultivating alliances with various Reaver factions. A few centuries later the Wuans used similar strategies with encroaching Aslan clans and corporations. By -800 the Wuans became allied with the independent Aslan clan Tlaiowaha, an offshoot of the Tralyeaeawi.
The Wuans maintained rudimentary bioengineering capabilities throughout the Long Night. They were able to produce early synthetics and could create such wonders as the singing orchid, or glow tree, or Wufish, all of which can still be found on Wu. But perhaps the most enduring product was the Wuan miniphant (Microelephas wuensis), a beast of burden used on low tech worlds from Langere to the Spinward Marches.
Wuan culture evolved to prioritize collaboration, cooperation, and efficiency. While the Vilani used social engineering to achieve similar goals, the Wuans turned to bioengineering. During the Long Night the Wuans undertook an ambitious eugenics project to self-geneer themselves into an entirely new subspecies of Humaniti. For each role in Wuan society there is an associated, highly specialized genotype that has been expressly engineered to perform that role. While there may be dozens of different roles and hundreds of variants, the apparent conformity of Wuan society can be unnerving to visitors.
The Wuan Technology Association arose from the Long Night as a loose coalition of allied corporations, and held considerable economic and political influence across the region. The Association helped broker the Treaty of Dark Nebula in 212, which brought a temporary halt to Human and Aslan conflict. Although the Association, like several other Magyar states, never joined the Third Imperium, the Wuan worlds became formal Imperial client states in 540.
The Wuans attempted to maintain this independence after the Solomani Autonomous Region was established in 704, but eventually the Wuan worlds conceded to the inevitable. The Association was instrumental in the development of the new Solomani Autonomous Region Navy. And although Wuan representatives argued that the 871 Charter of Confederation was needlessly provocative, the Association was admitted into the new Solomani Confederation as a founding member-state. Similarly, the Association unsuccessfully attempted to stave off the Solomani Rim War, correctly predicting the disastrous outcome for the Confederation.
Socio-Political Data
Total World Population 4.15 billion. Primary Cities Gyon, 1.8 billion; Daini, 900 million; Jeum, 600 million; Kure, 450 million; High Nara, 360 million. World Government Impersonal Bureaucracy (Wuan Global Council). Law Level Extreme (All weapons prohibited). Tech Level High Stellar (14). Primary Trade Goods consumables, data, rares, novelties.
Despite being one of the one of the most prosperous and technologically advanced Solomani member-states, the Association has an uneasy relationship with the Confederation. While the Solomani are generally more accepting of geneering than the Imperials, the Wuans raise deep-seated anxieties about genetic supermen. Further, the Wuan indifference toward the “traditional” Solomani family structure and their desire for better relations with the Imperium make the Association suspect in the eyes of many Party officials. For their part, the Wuans distrust the more racist policies of the Cause as well as the creeping tendency toward centralization within the Confederation government.
As of 1100 the Association consists of several large Wuan corporations with principal status and twice that number with associate status. The principal corporations are the equivalent of sector-wide concerns operating within 30 parsecs of Wu. The associate corporations are generally limited to a few worlds or subsectors in scope. The Association has been extremely successful in exporting goods and services outside the Confederation, cultivating markets within the Aslan Hierate, on the unaligned worlds of Reavers Deep and Dark Nebula, and with independent polities such as the Carrillian Assembly and the Gerontocracy of Ormine. Although the Association was not a direct combatant in the Solomani Rim War, the conflict eroded many lucrative trade routes and markets in Imperial sections of Daibei and Magyar.
Wu is an important center for trade and commerce for the region: an estimated 5 million passengers and 100 million dtons of cargo pass through the system each year. Although Wu does not carry an Industrial trade classification, Association members have established offworld manufacturing facilities throughout the resource-rich system. Wu’s only large moon, Dal, has a population of 743 million and is an important production center for power plants, jump drives, and maneuver drives. Wu Down Starport is located just outside the capital city of Gyon, a megalopolis that sprawls along the eastern shore of Keun Island. The highport, though, is located at High Nara, a gleaming orbital city of 360 million, situated at the Wu-Dal L5 Lagrangian point. The starport is only rated Class B but has extensive facilities for building spaceships and repairing starships. SolSec and several Confederation ministries have located their Clan subsector coordinating offices at High Nara, which also hosts subsector-level permanent committees of the Interstellar Solomani Party.
The Association maintains a large trading fleet but does not have its own navy, relying on the Solomani Confederation for defense. Confederation Naval Base Sereniti, located in a military reservation on the far side of Dal, is the headquarters for the Clan Subsector Fleet. Sereniti Base has a modest orbital component at the Wu-Dal L2 point, and is the home port of the 53rd FleetRon and 19th CarrierRon. A co-located Army base on Dal supports the Solomani 44th Grav Tank Corps. The Confederation Army conducts protected forces training on the moon’s surface.
Wuan goods are as renowned for their quality and elegance as for their incorporation of advanced technology. Wuan design shows strong Aslan influence with graceful, balanced, and organic shapes but Wuan design lacks Aslan ornamentation, preferring a spare aesthetic with clean lines and a seamless mix of artificial and natural textures. Within the Confederation, the Association lags behind only its great rival the Boötean Federation for production of jump drives, power plants, meson screens, and nuclear dampeners. And the Association is unsurpassed for geneered agricultural products, androids and other synthetics, as well as clones. While member corporations such as Argent Mining use guest clones extensively, they are never sold outside the Association. Within the Association clones are afforded greater rights than elsewhere in the Confederation.
Wuan culture is remarkable for its stability, cohesiveness, and relative harmony. Despite the dramatic separation of the population into genetic castes, the different segments enjoy reasonable equality and most individuals express great contentment in their assigned roles. But that said, Wuans are not automatons and fully capable of individual agency. Occasional individuals reject their assignments entirely, and communities of such nonconformists have sprung up around Wu Down Starport and just outside the city of Jeum.
Copyright Information
The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2019 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.
Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications' copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.
