Clones for Mongoose Traveller

Clones and cloning have appeared in Traveller at least as early as the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society 2 (1979). The MT adventure Arrival Vengance has clone NPCs and clone themes. The TNE Regency Sourcebook has several Library Data entries on clones. GURPS Traveller: Nobles has a discussion of clones and inheritances. And Mongoose Traveller’s Pirates of Drinax adventure has several clone NPCs.

But I believe Traveller⁵ is the first edition to provide detailed rules on how to generate and use clones. And Agent of the Imperium integrates clones into the fabirc of the Third Imperium. The concept is useful and interesting enough to gank for Mongoose Traveller.

Clone Creation

A typical TL13 clone production line.

A clone is a biological copy of an existing being, known as a pattern, and created using the pattern’s own genetic material. Most clones are produced in artificial wombs called metabolic chambers; such clones are sometimes called vat-grown. Some clones follow a normal gestation period, after which they are removed from the chamber and allowed to mature normally like any naturally-born child. The metabolic chamber can also be used to accelerate growth to about one year per week. This forced growth process allows for the creation of adult clones, though this technique also accelerates the aging pattern of the clone.

A force-grown clone body has no developed personality, though it is possible to implant a recorded personality, skills, and memories into the clone’s brain. The implant may be an unaltered recording copied from the pattern, or the implant may be selectively edited to remove memories or shape the personality to better support the clone’s intended purpose.

Generating Characteristics

Clones resemble their pattern in many ways but often exhibit subtle or not-so-subtle differences. Even individual clones from the same batch may have different scores in some characteristics.

Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance: A clone's physical characteristic scores are generated by throwing 1D and referencing the following table.

Clone Characteristic Scores

Pattern Characteristic Score	1D Roll
	1	2	3	4	5	6
2-	2	3	4	5	6	7
3–4	3	4	5	6	7	8
5–6	4	5	6	7	8	9
7–8	5	6	7	8	9	10
9–10	6	7	8	9	10	11
11+	7	8	9	10	11	12

For example, a pattern has a Strength of 14. Throwing 1D generates a 3, so consulting the “11+” line results in a clone Strength of 9.

Intelligence: A clone that does not receive a personality implant generates an Intelligence score just as with a physical characteristic, by throwing 1D and consulting the “Clone Characteristic Scores” table. A clone that does receive a personality implant uses the same Intelligence score as the pattern, but scores below 2 are raised to 2 and scores above 12 are lowered to 12.

Education and Social Standing: These characteristics do not have genetic components. A clone that does not receive a personality transplant generates these characteristics with 2D just like a new character. A clone that does receive a personality implant uses the same Education and Social Standing scores as the pattern, though scores below 2 are raised to 2 and scores above 12 are lowered to 12.

Other Traits

Skills: A clone that does not receive a personality implant has no skills. A clone that does receive a personality implant receives all the skills and skill levels of the pattern.

Aging: Clones that were force-grown to a physical age of 18 begin making aging checks at age 26 instead of 34.

Guest Clones

Guest Clones are deliberately-created clones intended to be cheap laborers. A guest is a skilled duplicate of the pattern, lacking only the memories of the original. A suitable pattern provides genetic material samples, and personality and skill recordings. Guests are then force-grown and implanted with an edited recorded personality and skills. Although memories are supposed to be edited out of the personality, the process sometimes fails. Guests are typically sterilized when created, and many have physical markings that clearly designate their status.

The legal status of guest clones within the Imperium and the Solomani Confederation is often unclear, and individual worlds may grant expanded or restricted rights to guests. Imperial law considers permanent, uncompensated labor to be the equivalent of chattel slavery, but has repeatedly found that indentured labor is acceptable provided the term of service is delimited and the guest receives “reasonable” compensation and treatment.

Costs of Guests

Factories sell guest clones—or more properly, indenture contracts for guest clones—singly or in batches. These contracts generally range from 4 to 8 years in length, and may be purchased outright for Cr182,000 or can be financed for Cr36,000 down and monthly payments based on the term in years:

Clone Payments

Term (Years)	Monthly Payment (Cr)
4	3,640
5	2,912
6	2,696
7	2,311
8	2,022

Indentures can be sold, traded, or bought out early if the owner wishes. In any case, each clone is legally obligated to fulfill the terms of the indenture to the best of its ability. Once the indenture is complete guests are freed from further service. Although rare, escaped guests that are still under contract are subject to repatriation and may be hunted by bounty hunters.

Because the guest clone inherits an edited personality scan of its pattern, the clone has the same scores for all three mental characteristics (Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing) as the pattern. The guest also has the same skill levels.

Guests in Magyar

Although there are countless varieties of guests in Magyar and Dark Nebula sectors, a few clones are reasonably common in this region:

Alvin Y is a Solomani guest soldier well-suited for combat roles: physically strong and resilient, but experienced with military tactics. A product of NewGenAssist, the guest’s pattern served four terms in the Confederation Army. Str=[6+1D] Dex=[2+1D] End=[6+1D] Int=9 Edu=10 Soc=6; Athletics 0, Explosives 2, Gun Combat (slug) 3, Heavy Weapons (artillery) 1, Leadership 1, Medic 0, Melee (blade) 1, Pilot 0, Recon 1, Stealth 0, Survival 0, Tactics (military) 2.

Cymene is a resourceful Solomani guest laborer able to thrive on the harshest of colony worlds. A product of ConTech, her pattern spent eight years building up a new colony on a cold desert planet, even marrying and raising a family. Occasionally a Cymene will inadvertently remember details from that past life, one of the few known flaws in an otherwise remarkably reliable clone. Str=[5+1D] Dex=[3+1D] End=[6+1D] Int=9 Edu=8 Soc=7; Animals (veterinary) 1, Athletics 0, Drive 0, Flyer 0, Mechanic 0, Navigate 0, Profession (agriculture) 1, Recon 0, Streetwise 0, Survival 3.

Doctor Galena is a female guest produced by ConTech. Her pattern was a famous Solomani doctor who authored one of the standard medical reference works in Magyar sector, A New Anatomy of the Solomani Body, first published in 1011 and now in its 12th edition. A small woman with a raspy voice and cantankerous attitude, “Doctor Gal” was wildly popular in her day, hosting a long-running holovid series from 1028–1042, answering basic medical questions. Although the pattern died in 1072 at the age of 114, her clones are ubiquitous on Solomani worlds. Str=[2+1D] Dex=[4+1D] End=[6+1D] Int=10 Edu=12 Soc=11; Advocate 1, Art (write) 1, Athletics 0, Diplomat 0, Drive 0, Electronics (computer) 1, Investigate 0, Language 0, Medic 4, Persuade 0, Science (biology) 2, Science (genetics) 1, Vacc Suit 0.

Margeaux is a female guest based on the famous Imperial performer, Margot Furst. Born on Dingir in 1034, Furst was a talented singer and actress who exploded onto the entertainment scene when she was still a teen, appearing in a string of smash holovids. She struggled with fame, losing her fiance in an air/raft accident when she was only 28. In her later years Furst continued to be a successful star but behind the scenes struggled with drug use, dying while on vacation on Terra in 1074. Cynosure Entertainment, which owned her image and genetic pattern, released the Margeaux clone posthumously to “honor Margot’s eternal legacy.” Various Margeaux clones have gone on to star in a dozen or more Cynosure hits since Furst’s death. Str=[3+1D] Dex=[4+1D] End=[5+1D] Int=10 Edu=5 Soc=12; Art (performer) 4, Carouse 2, Deception 1, Drive 0, Electronics 0, Persuade 0, Steward 0, Stealth 1, Streetwise 1.

Marlowe is a male guest marketed as a fixer, a general purpose investigator skilled at infiltration and—if necessary—physical persuasion. A product of Kline Synthetic Technologies, the pattern for Marlowe had served four terms working for the Gladwell Security Agency in Magyar sector. Str=[5+1D] Dex=[4+1D] End=[6+1D] Int=12 Edu=8 Soc=5; Deception 0, Drive 0, Electronics 0, Gun Combat (slug) 2, Investigate 2, Melee (unarmed) 1, Persuade 2, Recon 1, Streetwise 2.

Mascon is a versatile and well-educated guest sold by Totaliti Workforce, able to assist with many tasks onboard merchant starships. The female pattern completed five terms in the merchant marines of Daibei, rising to First Officer. Str=[1+1D] Dex=[2+1D] End=[2+1D] Int=12 Edu=10 Soc=8; Admin 1, Animals 0, Astrogation 0, Athletics (dexterity) 1, Broker 0, Electronics (comms) 2, Language 0, Leadership 1, Mechanic 2, Medic 0, Persuade 0, Pilot (spacecraft) 3, Steward 0, Vacc Suit 1.

Modesti is a female Solomani guest produced by ConTech, a tough and streetwise clone often employed as a bodyguard, courier, or enforcer. As Modesties are associated with illicit activities, they are occasionally banned altogether from Imperial worlds with Law Levels of 7 or higher. Str=[4+1D] Dex=[3+1D] End=[5+1D] Int=11 Edu=5 Soc=7; Athletics (strength) 2, Deception 1, Diplomat 0, Drive (grav) 1, Electronics 0, Flyer 0, Gun Combat 0, Melee (unarmed) 3, Pilot 0, Recon 0, Stealth 1, Streetwise 1, Vacc Suit 0.

Roger Echo is a skilled guest soldier trained to fight in harsh wilderness environments. A product of SuSAG, the pattern was an Imperial Army sergeant experienced in special reconnaissance, having served three terms—including four separate deployments in warzones. Str=[5+1D] Dex=[3+1D] End=[5+1D] Int=6 Edu=6 Soc=8; Athletics (endurance) 1, Drive 0, Electronics 0, Gun Combat (slug) 2, Heavy Weapons 0, Leadership 1, Melee (unarmed) 1, Recon 2, Stealth 1, Survival 1, Vacc Suit 0.

Sung is an experienced Solomani belter capable of working extended hours in zero-G environments. A product of Argent Mining, Sungs are prized for their relentless focus and meticulous work. This guest clone is not available outside of the Wuan Technology Association. Str=[5+1D] Dex=[5+1D] End=[6+1D] Int=9 Edu=8 Soc=7; Athletics (dexterity) 2, Astrogation 0, Carouse 0, Electronics 0, Mechanic 0, Pilot 0, Profession (belter) 2, Science 0, Vacc Suit 1.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2020 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.

Potential Starship Engineers

“The engineer is essential for the proper operation of any starships. Expertise qualifies the individual for such jobs, and can be used to get working passage on a ship in need of help. Greater levels of expertise enable the individual to handle problems of greater complexity and jobs with higher levels of responsibility” —The Traveller Book, p. 23.

After reviewing expected salaries for starship engineers as well as the prices of indentured clones and robots, I generated several interesting candidates for my Mongoose Traveller game:

Vladan Merritt

UPP 47B888

Species human

Gender male

Age 34

Homeworld Hrongding (Magyar 2817 B621511-C)

Service Scouts, 1 term; Navy, 3 terms

Rank Sublieutenant

Skills Admin 0, Astrogation 0, Electronics (computers) 1, Engineer (J-drive) 1, Engineer (M-drive) 1, Engineer (power) 2, Gun Combat 0, Gunner 0, Leadership 1, Mechanic 1, Medic 0, Melee (blade) 1, Pilot 0, Survival 0, Vacc Suit 1

Possessions submachine gun, wafer jack

Money Cr55,000

Comments Vladen is a square-jawed perfectionist of medium height with a short, military-style haircut. He joined the Scout Service but his courier ship was destroyed during a pirate attack in the Dexter (Magyar 2416 B587510-B) system. Forced out of the IISS, he was drafted into the Navy and assigned to Engineering Branch. His superiors noted his mechanical aptitude and he was quickly promoted, gaining a commission in his second term. During his third term, Vladan’s patrol cruiser Uniti was attacked by Solomani pirates. Although the engineering section was holed during the battle, Vladen stayed at his post long enough to get the maneuver drive back online, saving the entire ship. Although he received a citation for his actions, the event spurred Vladen to leave the Navy to see more of Charted Space. He will request a monthly salary of Cr5,600.

Zeke Dimitar

UPP 8656A3

Species human

Gender male

Age 26

Homeworld Clarmoment (Magyar 2415 B543426-B)

Service Merchant, 2 terms

Rank 4th Officer

Skills Drive 0, Electronics (Computers) 1, Engineer (J-drive) 2, Engineer (Power) 1, Gun Combat 0, Medic 2, Vacc Suit 1

Possessions body pistol

Money Cr10,000

Comments Zeke is a large, heavy-set man. He is friendly and talkative, though rough around the edges. Despite his crudeness, he is surprisingly knowledgeable about Jump drive theory. Zeke was recruited by Ling-Standard Products and given advanced engineering training at the LSP Merchant Academy on Dexter (Magyar 2416 B587510-B). Following graduation he was assigned to the LSP merchant fleet, where he served on various freighters carrying LSP goods into the Solomani worlds of Magyar and Dark Nebula. Although a competent engineer, Zeke was a loafer and bellyacher, and quit LSP after only two terms. Zeke is conflicted about his hasty exit: he likes to brag about having worked for a megacorporation, but he is quick to enumerate LSP’s numerous real and perceived faults. Zeke will request a monthly salary of Cr4,800.

Dr. Yan Golt

UPP 476BF7

Species human

Gender male

Age 30

Homeworld Fornorb (Magyar 2616 C997A85-A)

Service University, Citizen 2 terms

Rank Manager

Skills Admin 2, Astrogation 1, Deception 1, Drive 0, Electronics 0, Engineer (power) 2, Flyer 0, Language 0, Leadership 1, Mechanic 0, Melee 0, Profession 0, Science 0, Steward 0, Streetwise 0

Possessions none

Money Cr20,000

Comments Dr. Golt is a slender man of medium height with a thin face and an affable but slightly distracted demeanor. He studied engineering at the Imperial University of Seloo. Graduating with honors, he was recruited by the University’ Advanced Power Plant Research Institute, where he was quickly pulled into administration and promoted to assistant director. He soon discovered that the Institute was conducting secret military research for the Imperial Navy in contravention of its charter, but he helped cover up this information. Bored with administration, he resigned. Although he has never worked onboard a starship, Dr. Golt imagines an invigorating opportunity to pursue his passion for “true’ engineering. Although extremely knowledgeable, he has limited real world experience and occasionally becomes consumed with interesting but impractical ideas. Dr. Golt will request a monthly salary of Cr4,000.

Aleg Anatol

UPP 8CAC55

Species human

Gender male

Age 21

Homeworld Kline (Magyar 3012 A541987-E)

Service Drifter, 1 term

Rank N/A

Skills Admin 0, Athletics 0, Carouse 0, Jack-of-All-Trades 1, Melee 0, Recon 0, Stealth 0, Streetwise 1, Survival 0

Possessions wafer jack

Money Cr100

Comments Aleg is a strapping, clean-cut figure with a winning smile and a friendly, confident demeanor. A remarkably quick study, he is inquisitive and highly observant. Aleg is also an extraordinarily successful con man and imposter. Aleg’s mother had been a successful executive with Allied Prefabricated Ships & Vessels until she was arrested for embezzlement when Aleg was still a teenager. He has spent the last five years wandering the sector, successfully running a series of fraudulent schemes. He has unfortunately drawn the attention of the Imperial Ministry of Justice and is being actively pursued by at least two dedicated agents. Aleg is currently claiming to be a starship engineer and is seeking working passage to the next three starports. An expert forger, he can produce documentation showing he is a veteran of the Klinean Naval Reserves, rated as class 1 jump drive engineer.

Robertina Nine

UPP 78A987

Species human clone

Gender female

Age 19

Homeworld Coglan (Magyar 2214 AA9A8A6-E)

Service N/A

Rank N/A

Skills Electronics (computers) 1, Engineer (M-drive) 1, Engineer (J-drive) 1, Engineer (power plant) 1, Mechanic 1, Profession (construction) 1, Science 0, Survival 0, Vacc Suit 0

Possessions none

Money Cr0

Comments Robertina Nine is a guest clone produced by Totaliti Workforce, well suited for construction and engineering tasks. She is a small, slender woman with short dark hair and a prominent red facial tattoo of the Totaliti corporate logo, a status identifier. Tough and clever, her pattern spent four terms building and rehabbing starport facilities. Robertina was sold to the free trader Logan, but when the ship’s captain attempted to assault her she fled at the next starport. After seven months on the run she was caught by a Totaliti bounty hunter. The company will tell prospective buyers that she was repossessed because her former employer fell into arrears. Her 5-year indenture can be bought for a down payment of Cr36,000 and monthly payments of Cr2,912.

Spr0cket

Starport Mechanic Toolbot

Manufacturer Popov Robotics

Model Tinker 5600

Cost KCr100

TL12

Hits 56

Speed 6m

Traits Armor (+2), Large (+1)

Programming Basic (mechanic)

Skills Engineer 0, Electronics 0, Mechanic 0

Comments The Tinker 5600 is a common toolbot found in starports throughout Magyar, designed for delicate repair work on electronics and control systems. It has a large cylindrical body that rides atop a set of motorized tracks. Its two light tentacles and two light arms allow it to access restricted work spaces inside a starship. The Tinker, a blatant copy of Tukera’s 232-BHR-7, is notorious for its tendency to fail at inopportune moments. Spr0cket can be financed for a 10-year term with a down payment of Cr20,000 and monthly payments of Cr800. However, Spr0cket requires monthly repairs of Cr170 in order to continue to function.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2020 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.

Man or Makhidkarun? The Costs of Artificial Persons

Now that we have looked into salary costs for a human starship Engineer across editions, let’s consider the artificial person options: robots, clones, and synthetics.

Calibration

First, given the disparity between Engineer salaries across editions, I wanted to double check costs in general. Here are some common commodities:

Purchase Prices Across Editions (Cr)

Item	CT	MT	MgT	T5
Shotgun	150	150	200	300
Reflec Armor	1,500	1,500	1,500	100
Vacc Suit	10,000	7,000	11,000	10,000
Air/Raft	600,000	389,000	250,000	60,000
Free Trader	37,080,000	36,915,000	45,342,000	61,100,000
Source	The Traveller Book	Imperial Encyclopedia	Core Rulebook	v5.10

There is a reasonable correspondence across editions, with a couple of anomalies in Traveller⁵. (I really wonder if the air/raft cost is potentially a typo.) Each of the editions also have some baseline cost of living figures that we can compare to the expected salaries of regular ship engineers. In MT, MgT, and Traveller⁵ these costs are associated with the SOC characteristic:

Monthly Living Costs Across Editions (Cr)

Category	CT	MT	MgT	T5
Regular Engineer	4,400	1,200	4,000	500
Poor Lifestyle	300	500	400	200
Average Lifestyle	400	1,750	1,200	700
Rich Lifestyle	900	3,000	5,000	1,200
Source	Traveller Book 109	Player’s Handbook 30	Core Rulebook 92	Traveller5 Book 1, 44

While the monthly cost of living values are consistent within the editions, they vary greatly across editions, particularly at the higher end of the scale. And what’s more, the relationships between an engineer’s salary and standards of living vary widely. In MT and Traveller⁵, the monthly salary of the engineer is below the average cost of living. In MgT, the salary nearly supports a rich standard of living. But in CT, the lucky engineer’s salary supports a lifestyle almost 5x that of a rich citizen!

I think an engineer’s salary should be better than average but less than rich: a starship engineer is a critical position that requires technical training and involves long hours in occasionally dangerous conditions. To me, the CT costs of living seem much too low compared to an engineer’s salary; in MT and Traveller⁵, the salary seems much too low.

The MgT number falls in the right place, but still looks a bit high—until you consider that few engineers are probably spending 52 weeks a year in space. A long term megacorp contract probably provides at least a month a year unpaid leave, and maybe closer to two. And most independent engineers might spend a few months in space, take a month living high on the hog, and then wait months before landing their next assignment.

Here I am influenced by John McPhee’s great nonfiction book about merchant marines, Looking for a Ship. There the pay was good but the opportunities limited: sailors might spend months every year stuck in port, waiting for their next chance to go to sea. A typical starship engineer only employed 6–9 months a year at the MgT salary can still afford a better than average standard of living, but not exorbitant.

I think the takeaway is that costs are generally within an order of magnitude across these four editions, with a few weird exceptions. You could use a T5 number in MT or a MgT number in CT and generally be in the zone. Just don’t expect a perfect correspondence.

Robots

A TL14 synthetic meets a TL13 heavy construction robot.

As I have already noted, while robots have always been in Traveller in one form or another, there’s no single benchmark model that spans all editions. The closest we can get is the TL12 Tukera 232-BHR-7 model starport mechanic, which first appeared in the DGP 101 Robots supplement (18), written for CT. As it happens, this model can substitute for the Engineer position so it’s the perfect place to start. The 232-BHR-7 was converted to MT as the “Starship Maintenance Robot” in MegaTraveller Robots (5). Both versions are fairly similar in capabilities and costs: Cr101,000 in CT and Cr103,972 in MT.

The 232-BHR-7 reappears in the TNE supplement Vampire Fleets (81), but the cost jumps an order of magnitude to a whopping Cr1,839,130! I am much less familiar with TNE than other editions of Traveller, so I am not sure if this cost reflects the new design system, the post-Virus setting, or some combination of the two.

The very same price is cited for the Tukera SM-232 mechanic robot in Traveller Hero Book 2 (52). But that said, the costs of the robots in the Traveller Hero Special Supplement 1: Robots of Charted Space appear to be generally lower than the costs for CT robots of similar capabilities. For example, the Sharurshid Astrotech IV, “a fine example of a mechanic/technician robot encountered in shipyards and garages across the 11,000 Worlds of the Imperium,” is only priced at Cr73,750. Given this, I’m strongly inclined to just set aside the TNE pricing.

As far as I know, the 232-BHR-7 has not yet been converted to either Mongoose Traveller (1e or 2e) or Traveller⁵. MgT2 uses a fairly abstract system for detailing robots that most closely resembles the system used for animals. I find this approach works very well as a game mechanic, but when combined with the relative lack of examples it’s hard to cost out a MgT2 version of the 232-BHR-7. Traveller⁵ also lacks for example robots—but in contrast to MgT, has a design system so detailed and complex I honestly can’t be bothered to puzzle it out.

My gut feel, based on looking at the examples in MgT2 Central Supply Catalog and the first two issues of the T5 Xboat zine, is that robots generally seem to be more expensive than in CT or MT: perhaps something like 2 to 3 times more expensive. Since neither system has a very close comp for the 232-BHR-7, I’ll simply analyze two different robot price points for our comparison: Cr100,000 and Cr300,000.

Both CT and MT have required annual maintenance for robots equal to 1% of the purchase price. There is no similar cost in either MgT or Traveller⁵. This is a little surprising for T5 since there is an entire section on robot “disease and illness.” While I think adding maintenance costs makes sense, the overall effect is pretty negligible, so I haven’t included this in the analysis.

Both CT and MT allow robots to be financed, just like starships, to make them more affordable to the average Traveller. The MT book assumes that robots can be financed for a term of up to one half the robot lifespan, which varies by TL. A TL12 robot has an expected lifespan of 40 years, so can be financed for a term of up to 20 years. To calculate finance costs, assume 20% down payment. Then take 80% of the purchase price and divide by six times the term in years to get the monthly payment price.

So let’s see how 5 and 10 cumulative years of human Engineer salary compares to the purchase price of a KCr100 and KCr300 robot:

Robot v. Human Costs over Time (KCr)

Category	5 Years	10 Years
	Robot Purchase Price	100–300	100–300
CT Human Salary	264	528
MT Human Salary	72	144
MgT Human Salary	240	480
T5 Human Salary	30	60

Over a 5 year period, the KCr100 robot is cheaper than a human Engineer in CT and MgT, and more expensive in MT and Traveller⁵. Meanwhile the KCr300 robot is more expensive than a human in all systems. Over a 10 period, the KCr100 robot is cheaper in CT, MgT, and MT but the KCr300 robot is only cheaper in CT and MgT. So over a 5 and 10 year period, robots are usually cheaper than humans in CT and MT, always more expensive in T5, and a toss-up in MT.

Beyond cost, there are other considerations when comparing humans to robots. Below TL16, robots might be intelligent but they are not sentient and lack true initiative. So in the Imperium circa 1105, robots are considered property and not citizens because they are “non-living.”

Robots can be bought, sold, or scrapped with impunity. Robots are reliable, untiring, and never lose focus, but are relatively inflexible and limited in scope. A robot will not complain about its berth, duties, or having to take a dog watch. A robot will not demand higher wages, pick fights with other robots, or run off with a starport vending machine. But a robot will also not take it upon itself to tune the maneuver drive, or question the passenger who keeps skulking around the cargo bay. A robot will be hard-pressed to work on the electronics system if it has not been programmed with that skill. And many worlds in the Imperium have strong cultural prohibitions and prejudices against robots.

Robots, at least at the lower end of the price scale, are a reasonable alternative to humans for small, independent ships in CT, MT, and MgT—but much less so in Traveller⁵. With nearly unlimited cash and an ability to plan long-term, megacorporations probably make extensive use of robots on their starships due to their longevity and reliability.

Clones

While clones are described in virtually all editions of Traveller, Traveller⁵ is the first to provide detailed game mechanics. And here we are talking specifically about guest clones, which are clones “produced to provide cheap labor” (Traveller5 Book 1, 116). In terms of role, they resemble the “fabricants” from Cloud Atlas.

“A guest is a skilled duplicate of the pattern, lacking only the memories of the original… Guests have force-grown organic bodies, cloned brains, and edited implanted personalities (an edited recording of the original personality). Guests are typically sterilized when created.” (Traveller5 Book 1, 116).

These rules are complemented by Marc Miller’s novel Agent of the Imperium, which provides useful color:

The best [astrogator] candidate was Legend’s strange woman with a strange name that told me more: Florine Ten. A clone by the name, and now I understood the tattoos: status identifiers applied by her creator.

* * * * *

I told Legend’s captain I needed his astrogator for Xyneid. He objected; she was his property; he could not let her go without compensation… She was indeed property; technically not a slave, but certainly not free. And yet, the record showed her factory-option skillset made her a capable astrogator and a tolerable pilot; I suppose her owner saved money using her instead of paid crew.

* * * * *

[Her] clone batch owed a joint debt to the factory that created her and her sisters. If she defaulted, her sibs would bear its burden.

(178-179)

A guest clone takes 19 weeks to create at a cost of Cr182,000. There is no price difference between cloning a raw recruit or an experienced veteran, so presumably most guest clones are created from highly experienced and skilled patterns.

Clone v. Human Costs over Time (KCr)

Category	5 Years	10 Years
Guest Purchase Price	182	182
CT Human Salary	264	528
MT Human Salary	72	144
MgT Human Salary	240	480
T5 Human Salary	30	60

A look at the long term costs of a guest contract compared to engineer salary shows that, contrary to Traveller⁵’s claim, guests are clearly not a cheaper option in that system, even over 10 years. In contrast, in CT and MgT guest clones are significantly cheaper than naturally born humans, even over just 5 years.

A guest clone is a sophont and subject to all the rights and privileges afforded any other citizen. That said, as shown in Agent of the Imperium, guests are considered property by their owners and are clearly subject to exploitation. I assume that guest clones avoid the Imperium’s strict prohibition against chattel slavery by being treated as indentured servants with contracts of limited term, perhaps no more than 4 or 8 years in length. (A guest clone of a human is force-grown to age 18, and begins aging at 26, so a maximum 8 year contract seems appropriate.) Agent implies that runaway clones might be subject to capture and return by bounty hunters.

There is some natural variability in the physical characteristics of guest clones, but their mental characteristics and skill levels are consistent. A guest clone’s personality is edited in order to encourage a contented and happy worker. So all of these factors, plus the strength of the factory contract, make a guest clone a more reliable option than a “natural” human.

Synthetics

Synthetics are biologically based artificial creatures: essentially, Blade Runner replicants or the hosts of the rebooted Westworld TV series. “Synthetic” is a generic term for any such creature, while “android” is specifically used to describe a synthetic human. Synthetics fall somewhere between clones and robots in terms of capabilities, and in some ways are superior to both. A synthetic has the consistency of a robot, as all iterations have the same characteristics. They also have behavioral control codes that keep them more reliable than clones, but synthetics also have more flexibility than robots.

Synthetics are described in Marc Miller’s “Ref’s Notes: Robots” from the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society 2 (1979):

Android: A biologically-based being created to a set of specifications for some purpose or duty. Androids exhibit life, in that they are biologically living; their distinction is that they were created, rather than having evolved. Androids generally are incapable of reproduction, and can be identified by close inspection. Some suggestions concerning androids in science fiction include permanent identifying marks such as tattoos or a blue dyed skin

(10).

Forrest Johnson provided simple mechanics for creating android characters in “Alternate Characters for Traveller” from The Space Gamer 32 (Oct 1980). But Roger Moore took up this idea and really ran with it in the excellent “Androids in Traveller” from White Dwarf 30 (Apr/May 1982). Unfortunately, the whole concept drops out of the game until Traveller⁵. (Although several “vatgrown” NPCs in the Mongoose Traveller adventure Pirates of Drinax might qualify as synthetics.)

Synthetics are detailed in Traveller⁵ Book 1, which even provides an example synthetic engineer, but this “premium” model has extra skills and a monstrous cost of Cr8,600,000! A batch synthetic engineer, in contrast, with SDEI 6666 comes with 9 skill points and “only” costs Cr1,296,000. Let’s say it has the following T5 skills: Engineer-6, Jump-1, Small-Craft-1, Pilot-1.

But at this price point, the synthetic engineer is far more expensive than any of the options we have considered:

Synthetic v. Human Costs over Time (KCr)

Category	5 Years	10 Years	40 Years	100 Years
Synthetic Purchase Price	1,296	1,296	1,296	1,296
CT Human Salary	264	528	2,112	5,280
MT Human Salary	72	144	576	1,440
MgT Human Salary	240	480	1,920	4,800
T5 Human Salary	30	60	240	600

A synthetic is only more economical than humans over a 40 year period in CT and MgT and is still not cheaper at 100 years in Traveller⁵. There is no discussion of synthetic aging, but considering that clones have only an 8 year window before they begin aging checks, synthetics probably don’t have extraordinarily long lifespans and so long term financing is probably not available. This suggests androids would only be viable to high nobility, governments, and megacorporations.

But if economics are not a motivator, why create synthetics? As Roger Moore suggested,

Android populations are typically created and maintained by human societies requiring their services in occupations involving much physical labour, repetitive tasks, and considerable to extreme hazard. The tasks do not usually require above-average intelligence or planning to carry out, as well. The human population in charge of the androids is generally unwilling to perform these tasks themselves and cannot or will not use robotic assistance. Problems often arise due to the androids’ similarities to humanity; androids may be equated with slaves and suppression of their rights to proper care may occur, or well-intentioned humans may believe them equal to humanity and develop expectations of them that the androids cannot meet. Androids are often seen as expendable and given little control over their fates.

“Androids in Traveller,” White Dwarf 30, 10.

It’s not clear to me whether synthetics would be afforded the same protections given to sophonts in the Third Imperium. I am inclined to think that they probably are not, which has rather dark implications: synthetics are probably vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous entities, much as in Blade Runner or Westworld.

Conclusions

After reviewing the costs of different options for filling a starship engineer position, humans, low-end robots, and guest clones are all reasonable choices for even smaller ships in every edition except Traveller⁵, where humans are always the lowest cost solution. On a cost basis, synthetics are never a better option than humans in all editions.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2020 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.

A Credit to the Service: Crew Salaries Across Editions

I was recently preparing for an upcoming session of Traveller when I fell down a rather interesting rabbit hole. The PC’s ship, the Starjammer, has a minimum crew of 4 in Mongoose Traveller 2e: Pilot, Astrogator, and 2 Engineers. Although multiple PCs have the Pilot and Astrogator skill, only one PC has the Engineer skill.

I thought this gap would make for an interesting scenario: the starport impounds their ship until the PCs can demonstrate they meet the minimum crew requirements. As most of my players are fairly unfamiliar with Traveller, this setup provides a nice opportunity to introduce the dreaded Imperial bureaucracy, explain the various crew positions of a starship, and to give them a reason to explore the starport and try their hands at recruiting.

I ultimately wanted to give the PCs some interesting choices to fill the missing Engineer position. They could try to find an Engineer willing to work for passage, or hire one. They could contract a guest clone. Or perhaps they might buy a robot or android with the Engineer skill. Or upload a new computer program. (I quickly ruled out this last option.)

This immediately led to some questions: just what are the minimum qualifications needed? Which choices would be available to the PCs based upon the star system, and how easy would these choices be to track down? What are the trade-offs between the different choices? I assumed that the options would vary by cost, quality, and length of commitment and that each choice would offer pros and cons. Human labor might be cheap but unreliable and short-term; robots might be expensive up-front but better long-term investments.

To start, I looked at the human option.

Recruiting

There are at least two different systems for recruiting starship crewmembers. Assignment Vigilante has a detailed system based on the troop recruitment system in Mercenary. Both systems differentiate potential recruits into four categories determined by career history: recruits have served 0-1 terms, regulars 2-3 terms, veterans 4-6 terms; elite NPCs have 4 or more terms using the enhanced generation system, which provides more skills. The Vigilante system calculates the number of respondents by category to a recruiting posting based on the local Starport, Population, Government, Law, TL, and so on.

This approach is useful for the recruiting of a large crew for a capital ship or similar. For Adventure-class starships, I much prefer the role-playing approach of The Traveller Book, in which the PCs advertise and then interview applicants: “Of course, applicants will be limited (perhaps 1D; one to six applicants per week), and the adventurers cannot be too choosy” (98).

I generated a handful of crewmembers with either naval or merchant backgrounds and levels in Engineer. What would each of these NPCs cost to hire on? In Mongoose Traveller 2e, monthly salaries for crew are detailed in the “Running Cost Summary” table on page 145 of the core rulebook. But as I didn’t see any details on minimum qualifications for each position, I started looking at other editions. And then I realized just how different the different editions are when it comes to starship crews.

Crew Requirements

All of the various editions establish minimum numbers of crew for starships based on the size of the ship, number of passengers, mission, and so on. These minimum crew numbers are divided into different required positions. These positions are fairly consistent across editions, which masks some of the underlying differences.

In almost all editions, the Starjammer should have a minimum crew of 1 Pilot, 1 Navigator (Astrogator), 2 Engineers, and 1 Medic. (Only MgT doesn’t have the ship’s doctor requirement, but one PC happens to be an Ex-Army soldier with Medic 3 who could serve in the role.) It’s only when you dig down into the details do you see the crew differences between editions.

So what are the qualifications for occupying one of these positions, and how much would it pay? In some editions, it depends upon the crewmember’s experience and rating with the associated skill. So let’s look at the expected skill levels for engineers of different experience levels across editions. The associated skill levels by term vary based on system:

Engineer Skill Levels by Terms Across Editions

Classification	Terms	Expected Max Skill Level
		CT/MT	MgT	T5
Recruit	1	1	0	1
Regular	2	2	1	2
Veteran	4	3	2	4
Elite	5	4	3	6

Note that these assumed skill levels are a fairly coarse estimate, and there is a LOT of variability due the vagaries of character generation.

Further, it’s important to point out how the Engineer skill differs across editions. In CT and MT, there is only one Engineering skill, which covers “the operation and maintenance of starship maneuver drives, jump drives, and power plants.” In MgT and Traveller⁵, there are various subskill specializations under the Engineer skill: J-drive, M-drive, life support, and power.

Calculating Salaries

Now that we have established the different types of engineers that might be recruited, we can calculate their expected salaries by system.

Classic Traveller

Referring to The Traveller Book, “Crew members must be paid monthly. Non-player characters must be paid using the standard crew salary schedule” (52). Standard crew salaries—and the minimum skill level required by position—are detailed on pages 55 and 59.

Note that The Traveller Book suggests two different salary modifications to reflect expertise or seniority. On pages 52 and 55, crew salaries increase +10% for each level of expertise above level 1. On pages 59 and 60, the most skilled engineer, steward, medic, and gunner on the crew are given titles (chief engineer, purser, ship's doctor, and chief gunner) along with +10% more pay.

All CT positions require a minimum relevent skill level of 1, except for Steward, which can be level 0. An engineer recruit with Engineering-1, then, would command the minimum Cr4,000 per month while an elite engineer with Engineering-4 would draw Cr5,200 per month. If she were also the chief engineer she would draw Cr5,600 per month.

MegaTraveller

Crew salaries are described in the Imperial Encyclopedia on page 89, which mirrors the language from The Traveller Book. That said, the formula on page 93 is a bit more complicated and far less generous than CT: “Engineering Crew: Cr500 times [Basic Rank Number] plus 10% for each level of Engineering skill.” For simplification purposes, assume terms and rank are equal, even though terms generally outpace rank.

An engineer recruit, then would command only 14% of what they would in CT: Cr550 per month. An elite engineer gets Cr3,500, which is only 67% of what they would in CT. While I didn’t see a minimum skill level for crew positions, the Imperial Encyclopedia notes “In order to be hired for working passage, the individual must have some expertise in the position for which he or she is hired” (87).

Mongoose Traveller

As noted previously, in Mongoose Traveller, crew salaries by position are detailed on page 145 of the core rulebook. All engineer positions are paid Cr4,000 per month, consistent with CT. But there is no differentiation for prior rank or skill levels, so our elite engineer draws no more salary than the recruit.

In some ways this makes sense: MgT characters have many level 0 skills, but relatively fewer higher rank skills than CT or MT. This is offset by the fact that MgT skill checks are modified by characteristics, allowing MgT characters to be comparable to CT characters with higher skill levels. This also means that an NPC with low skill level but a high characteristic score might be better at some applications of their skill than an NPC with a higher skill level but a low characteristic score. Why should the veteran with shaky hands and blurry vision get paid substantially more than the young whippersnapper with the steady hands and sharp eyes, if they both have similar levels of competence?

There doesn’t seem to be a minimum skill level to qualify for a crew position, which also makes sense given the dearth of skills above level 0 in MgT. If you set the bar for crew qualification at level 1 you might have a hard time crewing even a small starship in MgT.

Traveller⁵

This edition takes a very different approach to crew salaries. In MegaTraveller, you are paying for the person based on their experience and expertise. In Traveller⁵, you pay for the position based on the needs of the ship. The base salary is Cr100, multiplied by the minimum skill level needed for the position. As with MgT, an overqualified veteran, therefore, gets paid the same as the qualified engineer with much less experience.

The minimum skill level for the Engineer is equal to ship’s power plant (Book 1, page 44). I’ve got to admit, I have a very hard time following the Traveller⁵ design sequence here, but I think this should read the “ship’s power plant potential,” which I think should be 5 for the Starjammer.

Traveller⁵ further distinguishes between a standard engineer and the chief engineer, which should be rated at the power plant +1. So I think the salary should range from Cr500 to Cr600. At the recruit level, this is only 13% of the salary of a CT or MgT engineer, but roughly comparable to MT. But pity the poor elite engineer in T5: he’s only getting 12% of the CT salary! Even if I am wrong about the power plant, a potential 8 plant requires a Engineer-8 crewmember, whose pay is only Cr800 per month: 16% of the MgT salary.

Ship Engineer Salaries Across Editions

Classification	Monthly Salary (Cr)
	CT	MT	MgT	T5
Recruit	4,000	550	4,000	500
Regular	4,400	1,200	4,000	500
Veteran	4,800	2,600	4,000	500
Elite	5,200	3,500	4,000	600

Given that prices for common items are generally consistent across the different editions, the disparity in crew salaries was a bit surprising to me. Although almost certainly unintentional, “In CT/MT you pay for the person, and in MgT/T5 you pay for the position” reflects a fundamental change in the nature of professional work between the late 1970s/early 1980s and the early 2020s. Where once experience and time in service could have been expected to be reflected in salary, not so much today—even with record low employment. Interestingly, no system I looked at considered adjusting salary schedules based on EDU scores! Evidently in space, there are no MBAs.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2020 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.

Llyrnians

Wicker Orbital Hostage Crisis: On 152-1041, Solomani terrorists seized an entire concourse of the highport at Wicker (Magyar 2728). They took over 200 hostages, demanding repatriation to the Confederation and the immediate release of several elderly Rim War veterans still held in Imperial prisons. Duke Solon Kossuth’s only answer was to cut power and contragrav to the captured section—and then send in his Llyrnian marines, fresh from Massilia sector. Within hours the Llyrnians had retaken the Highport in a bloody, terrifying assault that left no terrorist alive. Most could only be identified afterwards through genetic testing.

Emblem of the elite 3rd Battalion, 1st Fugue Grenadiers: The Llyrnian Marines.

The Llyrnians of Llyrn (Shinalo-6 Gee [F8 V] C433AAC-D) are a minor race native to Massilia sector. Their homeworld is the cold satellite of the gas giant Wenoshee. Lyrnians are trisexual producer/collector cavern dwellers, with Delver, Feeder, and Warrior genders. Delvers build and maintain tunnels, Warriors defend the community, and Feeders bear and care for offspring.

Llyrnian Warriors constantly vie with Warriors of rival communities over territory, fighting ruthless battles in narrow, dark tunnels. Warriors adapt easily to life aboard spaceships and make excellent marines. By tradition, Llyrnian Warriors serve as security troops on Geonee ships.

Adult Llyrnians vary in size by gender, but most Delvers and Warriors are about 1.7m long and weigh about 64kg. Llyrnians have cylindrical bodies that exhibit trilateral symmetry, with three “legs” on the bottom and three “arms” spreading from the top. Three “mouths” open under the arms as feeding organs. The body is covered by a tough external coat made of organosilicates, and the arms end in tough claws. The body ends in a “head” which holds the secondary sensory organs. These include three breathing orifices which also function as olfactory organs, and a visual band that circles the whole head.

Llyrnians breathe oxygen to convert waste products back to organosilicates and sulfur. Llyrnians exhale sulfur dioxide, a waste gas, in order to cool themselves, giving them their infamous brimstone smell.

Like many noble families in Massilia sector, the Kossuths incorporated Llyrnian marines into their personal huscarle units. When Duke Solon raised the 1st Fugue Grenadiers he made sure to include Llyrnian troops, which he freely deployed to bring New Mars subsector under the Imperial heel.

The Black Alberta was a notorious pirate ship that plagued the subsector in the 1030s and 1040s. An older Texas-class light cruiser formerly in service to the planetary navy of Union (Magyar 2927), the Alberta disappeared in early 1003 soon after word arrived of the armistice between the Imperium and the Solomani Confederation.

The rogue cruiser reappeared decades later to harass shipping throughout the subsector and was blamed for the loss of the Allegheny, a 50,000dt Ling-Standard Products ore superfreighter valued at several billion credits. On 137-1047 the Alberta was lured by a q-ship into a trap in the Iatur (Magyar 2628) system. After a brief firefight the Alberta’s power plant was destroyed, leaving the ship disabled and adrift in the Euxine Belt. Duke Solon’s own Llyrnian marines then undertook a daring boarding action that resulted in the recovery of the Alberta and the massacre of its entire pirate crew.

Following Duke Noah’s abdication, most Llyrnians of the 3rd Battalion resigned their commissions and followed their duke into exile. Most presumably continue to serve the Kossuth family.

Llyrnian Marine C79527

Str 12 (+2), Dex 7, End 9 (+1), Int 5 (-1), Edu 2 (-2), Soc 7

Traits Armor (+3), Claws, IR Vision

Skills Athletics (dexterity) 2, Gun Combat (slug) 2, Melee (natural) 3, Recon 1, Survival 1, Vacc Suit 2

Equipment Accelerator Rifle (3D), Combat Armor (+13)

Claws All Llyrnian Warriors have claws tough enough to rend open vacc suits and even breach combat armor. The claws use the Melee (natural) skill, have the Armor Piercing 2 trait, and do 2D damage.

IR Vision A Llyrnian can see clearly in darkness.

Llyrnian marines are justly feared as assault troops, tenacious in boarding actions and close quarter fighting.

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.

The Union Affair

KOSSUTH, Noah Elster. Second Duke of Fugue. K.B., C.S. Born 099-1020 on Orichalc/Massilia, second issue of Count Solon Kossuth of Orichalc and Lady Nicola Aelia SEROVA of Keum. Inherited the Duchy of Fugue in 1074, abdicated 1096. Succeeded by Duke WEEBAS of Adni.

Married (on 094-1061) Dame Camilla Kristina RIGBY of Beta. By this marriage he had issue:

1. Joanna Rigby KOSSUTH (b. 261-1062)
2. Lydia Rigby KOSSUTH (b. 261-1062)
3. Marcus Rigby KOSSUTH (b. 294-1071)
4. Valens Rigby KOSSUTH (b. 159-1072)

from Urquhart’s Peerage, 232nd Edition (Capital: 1102).

The House Kossuth Coat of Arms.

Noah Elster Kossuth, the former Duke of Fugue, embodied the anxieties over Imperial corruption in Magyar sector. The Kossuths were an old noble family of Solomani descent, originating in Massilia sector and enjoying numerous ties to the Ling-Standard Products megacorporation. Duke Noah’s paternal grandfather, Lyman Kossuth (946–1031), was confirmed by the Emperor Styryx in 977 as the Count of Orichalc (Massilia 0539 B78A974-E). While Lyman was a quiet, unassuming man his wife Juliana, descended from a lesser branch of the Hortalez family, proved far more ambitious. A natural schemer with many connections within the Massilia nobility, she lobbied incessantly for her husband to be promoted to a subsector duke, but to no avail.

Their son Solon Kossuth (b. 987) inherited his mother’s ambition. He was confirmed as the new Count of Orichalc following his father’s death in 1031, but he and Juliana continued to agitate for a dukedom. In 1038 the Emperor Paulo III awarded Solon with the newly-revived Duchy of Fugue, located in New Mars subsector of Magyar—some 80 parsecs distant. Fugue was a war-ravaged duchy captured in the Solomani Rim War, with its capital at Wicker (Magyar 2728 A541843-C): a poor, frozen hellworld on the very edge of the Imperium. The promotion was considered a humiliating slight, perhaps compelling the Lady Juliana to commit suicide in 1039.

Solon was a cold and resentful man who turned his energies toward bringing his new duchy fully under Imperial control. Many worlds of Fugue were still under martial law, and several harbored ongoing insurgencies. In addition, piracy had grown endemic to the subsector. The Duke quickly raised a brigade of huscarles, the 1st Fugue Grenadiers, which included an elite battalion of Llyrian marines that he had brought with him from Orichalc. Calculating and meticulous, Duke Solon attempted to play up his Solomani heritage as he cultivated allies and methodically crushed opposition. The Duke tirelessly promoted the interests of Ling-Standard Products in the subsector, fully supporting aggressive legal actions to regain LSP property that had been seized centuries earlier by the Solomani Party.

The Duke had five children: Solon (b. 1018) and Noah (b. 1020) with his first wife Nicola, and Kenan (b. 1029), Joshua (b. 1033), and Susanah (b. 1035) with his second wife Marava. The younger Solon was greatly favored by his father: handsome, athletic, and intelligent, he received an Imperial Navy commission with the Daibei sector fleet and was rumored to be a potential candidate for admiralship. But the younger Solon was killed in a training accident in 1047, leaving Noah Kossuth as the next in line.

Duke Solon, who enjoyed pitting his children against each other, regarded the impulsive and entitled Noah with contempt. Noah was considered cruel, prone to violent outbursts, and often fell afoul of the law. Duke Solon openly toyed with naming another one of his other children as his heir, but he died suddenly in 1074 before he could make good on this threat and Emperor Strephon confirmed Noah as the new Duke of Fugue.

Duke Noah soon revealed himself to be both erratic and inept. He saw his office as little more than a means to enrich himself and his family. Kossuths were appointed to several corporate boards and obtained positions in planetary and Imperial government. The duke’s eldest child and heir Joanna (b. 1062) acted as his seneschal, while his sons Marcus (b. 1071) and Valens (b. 1072) were drawn to a series of disreputable—and usually unsuccessful—business ventures. Marcus was murdered under mysterious circumstances in 1093, reportedly by members of the Jarslavi Cartel. Meanwhile the Duke’s brothers Kenan and Joshua were rumored to have dabbled in radical Solomani politics.

In 1094 several members of the Kossuth family were caught up in a corruption investigation conducted by the Imperial Ministry of Justice and the Kline Security Directorate. The resulting scandal, which quickly became known as The Union Affair, involved a complicated scheme to move the Xboat link from Beta (Magyar 3128 C576ADA-9) to Union (Magyar 2927 C974AA8-A). Instead of upgrading the Beta starport to Class A in 1110 as planned, LSP would have received a lucrative contract to construct a new starport and associated shipyards at Union. Justifying such a change required falsifying IISS trade data as well as Imperial Starport Authority reports. Millions of credits changed hands, and many ended up in accounts controlled by various members of the Kossuth family.

Although unsightly, bribery is not actually illegal under Imperial law—but falsifying Imperial documents certainly is. What’s more, the investigation uncovered even more nefarious activities: the Duke’s brothers Kenan and Joshua had been selling TL15 meson gun designs obtained from LSP to agents of the Solomani Confederation. Kenan and several LSP executives were arrested on charges of treason, while Joshua fled to Aldebaran. The investigation also ensnared the hapless Baron of Dirramu, who had married Duke Noah’s daughter Lydia (b. 1062).

The activities at the heart of the Ministry investigation were certainly unseemly, but the associated public uproar was vastly worse: the Union Affair seemed to confirm the very worst suspicions about the Imperial nobility and prompted anti-Imperial riots on Union, Beagle, and Beta.

A more savvy noble might have been able to recover from the Union Affair, but Duke Noah made the situation worse by failing to accept any responsibility. He also refused to acknowledge a summons from his superior, Sector Duke Shulgi Inaari of the Solomani Rim. For many months Duke Noah blamed his troubles on Solomani Confederation agents, and in defiance even mobilized the Unified Army of Fugue to put down the riots and “defend the subsector against foreign incursions.”

The Duke only changed course with the arrival of Duchess Shanika Kerana Adelbert of Walpurgis. She entered the Wicker system at the head of the 413th BatRon and accompanied by several companies of Imperial Marines from the 1,670th Line Regiment. In the face of the inevitable, Duke Noah stood his forces down and surrendered to the Duchess.

She carried a simple offer: Duke Noah could stand trial at Eleusis (Solomani Rim 2109) for various high crimes, including perjury of his fealty oath, abuse of office, dereliction of duty, moral turpitude, and conduct unbecoming an Imperial noble. Even if acquitted the Kossuth family would be ruined. But if found guilty Duke Shulgi would recommend the death penalty as well as revocation of the title of Fugue along with all other noble titles associated with Noah’s children and siblings.

Alternatively, Duke Noah could plead guilty and abdicate his title. And in exchange Duke Shulgi would issue a pardon and would not pursue further action against the Kossuth family. In 1096 Noah Kossuth abdicated and fled Wicker; his current whereabouts are unknown. Emperor Strephon moved quickly to install the Bwap Duke Weebas, a reformer who is expected to clean up the subsector.

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.

T5 + First In: Stellar System Generation

The two primary methods I use to generate star systems for Traveller games are GURPS Traveller: First In and Traveller⁵. First In, as might be expected, takes a fairly granular approach and is pretty formula heavy. Not being an astrophysicist myself, I can only assume the additional complexity provides additional accuracy. In contrast, Traveller⁵ opts for simplicity in exchange for a much less granular product. However, it seems the Traveller⁵ designers tried to ensure that their results would roughly correspond with a more detailed system like First In. For example, Traveller⁵ assumes that worlds in orbit 0 or 1 are tide-locked to their star. And that simplification holds up fairly well.

In addition to being more granular, the First In design sequence is also somewhat more realistic than the sequences used by other versions of Traveller. It’s an open question how hard the science of Traveller is supposed to be. Purists might argue that any setting with FTL drives can’t be “hard science fiction,” and certainly many of Traveller’s most direct literary influences are pulp stories, where the emphasis was as much on adventure as science.

But that said, Traveller does retain a certain level of grittiness. And there‘s some evidence that the Third Imperium setting is a little bit harder than the “raw” Traveller ruleset, which can be plenty gonzo if a referee wanted to run it like that. By incorporating just a few elements from First In to Traveller⁵, we can bring a little more realism to system generation without adding too much complexity.

Planetary Size and Atmosphere

Here’s a good example of where the Third Imperium setting diverges from raw Traveller rules. In Traveller⁵ a mainworld’s atmosphere is generated by Size plus Flux. But this can easily result in worlds much too small to retain the atmosphere generated. A size 3 world, for example, could have a dense oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere of 8, even though the world simply has too little mass to retain oxygen molecules.

During the T5SS review of Third Imperium sector data, Donald McKinney employed a very simple hack to ensure that the atmosphere code was always paired with a plausible planetary size: If Atmosphere is 1, A, B, or C, adjust Size to 3+. If Atmosphere is 2 or 3, adjust Size to 4+. And if Atmosphere is 4-9, adjust Size to 5+. This simple adjustment goes a long way toward making Traveller worlds that line up with planetary science.

Orbital Zones

Traveller⁵ does not consider inner and outer orbital zones—the limit points beyond which planets are unlikely to form or be captured. While Traveller⁵ implies that worlds could be placed all the way out to orbit 17, First In assumes that most main sequence stars rarely have planets beyond orbit 8 or 9.

Rather than grind out a bunch of formulas to determine orbital zones, I use the following reference chart when fleshing out a star system. I keep a version of the following Orbital Zones table in an Excel file and just select the column that most closely matches the spectral type of the primary star. Then I cut and paste this column into a new worksheet that then forms a template for populating the system. Since giants, subgiants, and other stars off the main sequence are fairly rare, this chart works for 99% of the systems I work with.

Main Sequence Stars Orbital Zones

Orbital Zones by Spectral Class												Distance (AU)
A0	A5	F0	F5	G0	G5	K0	K5	M0	M5	M8		Min	Avg	Max
	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0.15	0.20	0.30
1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1		0.30	0.40	0.55
2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2		0.55	0.70	0.85
3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3		0.85	1.00	1.30
4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4		1.30	1.60	2.20
5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5		2.20	2.80	4.00
6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6			4.00	5.20	7.60
7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7			7.60	10.00	15.00
8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8				15.00	20.00	30.00
9	9	9	9	9	9	9						30.00	40.00	58.00
10	10	10										58.00	77.00	115.00

Light gray cells indicate orbits beyond the inner and outer orbital zones. No worlds should be placed there. Light green cells are the Habitable Zone (HZ) orbits, light orange cells are HZ-1 orbits (with hot or tropical climates), blue cells are the HZ+1 orbits (cold or tundra climates), and light blue cells are HZ+2 orbits (frozen climates). The dark blue line indicates the snow line, the point beyond which the largest gas giants are likely to form during planetary formation. Note that this chart reflects GURPS Space 4e data, which slightly tweaked the First In formulas.

One consequence of the chart is the Traveller⁵ “number of worlds” is occasionally much larger than the available orbits. An M8 V star, for example, only has 6 open orbits—but could potentially have as many as 20 worlds (the mainworld + 3 belts + 4 gas giants + 12 other worlds) under Traveller⁵. In such cases, one would probably need to count gas giant satellites in order to ever get to 20 worlds.

It’s worth noting that the T5SS review removed most primary stars with less mass than M3 V: another example of the Third Imperium setting using somewhat different rules than Traveller⁵.

Mainworld Type

Traveller⁵ uses a simple Flux roll to determine whether the mainworld is a planet or satellite, without consideration to orbit or mainworld size. In First In, tide-locked worlds do not have satellites, period. The maximum size of a satellite is 7, and the satellite needs to orbit a sufficiently large planet. Once you know the mainworld size and orbit, I use a simple method to determine whether the world is a planet or satellite.

• Orbits 0 or 1, always planet
• Orbit 2+, size 1 or 2, always satellite
• Orbit 2+, Size 34567, Roll 2D + Size. If > 9, the mainworld is a planet, otherwise a satellite
• Orbit 2+, Size 8+, always planet

Forbidden Zones

In First In, “If the star is a member of a multiple star system, planets will not form at certain distances. The presence of a companion star makes a stable planetary orbit impossible in these zones.” The following chart establishes forbidden zones by Traveller⁵ orbit.

Forbidden Zones

Companion Distance	Orbit	Forbidden Orbits
Companion	<0	0
( Close )	0	0,1
	1	0,1,2,3
	2	0,1,2,3,4
	3	0,1,2,3,4,5
	4	1,2,3,4,5
	5	2,3,4,5,6
{ Near }	6	4,5,6,7
	7	5,6,7,8
	8	6,7,8,9
	9	7,8,9,10
	10	8,9,10,11
	11	9,10,11,12
[ Far ]	12	10,11,12,13
	13	11,12,13,14
	14	12,13,14,15
	15	13,14,15,16
	16	14,15,16,17
	17	15,16,17

By looking at the data like this, it becomes clear how hard it is to have a close companion star and a habitable world.

Example: The Wair System

So, if we put all of these tweaks together and apply them to Traveller⁵ system generation, we get a bit more realism with not too much more fuss. Since I primarily play in the Third Imperium setting, I generally begin with some basic details of the system. The Traveller Map gives us the stars, the number of worlds, and the number of gas giants and planetary belts. We just need to arrange these details into a coherent pattern.

Let’s use, as an example, Wair: a high population world in Alpha quadrant of Magyar sector, bordering Dark Nebula. Here are the Traveller Map data:

Wair T5SS Details

Hex	Name	UWP	Remarks	{Ix}	(Ex)	[Cx]	N	B	Z	PBG	W	A	Stellar
0116	Wair	C89A98C-C	Hi In Wa Pz	{ 3 }	(C8E+5)	[CC8F]	-	-	A	701	11	SoCf	G2 V M6 V

Pulling the G0 V column from the Orbital Zones table, we pick up the Traveller⁵ worldgen sequence and roll for the mainworld placement and get HZ+1, which is orbit 4. With its high hydrographic percentage (A), Wair is a good candidate for being a Hoth-type ice world. Because of the world’s size (8), it is a planet.

Magyar 0116 Primary System

Orbit	[Primary]	G2 V
0
1
2
3
4	Wair	C89A98C-C
5
6
7
8
9
10

With the mainworld placed, we now locate the M6 V companion. We can use the Traveller⁵ placement rules for companion stars, but the Forbidden Zones chart establishes some restrictions: since the mainworld is in orbit 4, that precludes the companion from occupying orbits 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. With some fiddling, we determine that the second star is a near companion in orbit 8. This makes orbits 6 and 7 forbidden zones. We can cut and paste from the Orbital Zone table to establish the entire system template.

Magyar 0116 System Template

Orbit	[Primary]	G2 V
0
1
2
3
4	Wair	C89A98C-C
5
6
7
8	[Companion]	M6 V
	0
	1
	2
	3
	4

Now the entire system is ready to be populated using the rest of the Traveller⁵ Other Worlds sequence. We start by placing the one gas giant, and then move on to placing the 9 remaining worlds.

The Wair (Magyar 0116) System

Orbit	Braw	G2 V
0	Braw-1	Y400356-7	Mi Tz
1	Nevis	Y8C7000-0	Tz
2	Gale	FAB9679-8	Mi Ho
3	Dour	YB20000-0
4	Wair	C89A98C-C	Hi In Wa Pz Co
5	Bidean	Size P SGG
6
7
8	Merrit	M6 V
	0	Trune	YDB4000-0	Tz
	1	Opan	YC10000-0	Co Tz
	2	Tey	Y8B5000-0	Fr
	3	Min	F3108BC-7
	4	Hirta	Y300433-7	Mi

By using the charts, the system details were generated fairly quickly. The Wair system appears to be a resource-rich, highly efficient economic center that only lacks a nice shirt-sleeve world. The distant secondary world of Min, orbiting the M6 V companion Merrit, seems interesting: a small, airless, pre-high population world ruled by a charismatic dictator. Political exiles, perhaps? Maybe an Aslan community?

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.