A thread of 5 messages, 18 April 1989 to 19 April 1989, in the order they were sent.
Does anyone know the origin of the Sword World's on the Spinward Marches map?
They sortof *jump* out at you (Beater, Biter, Sting, Sacnoth, etc.) and I was
wondering if anyone knew anything about their history.
- -- Fred Schiff ([email removed])[More mail that was sent to traveller-request instead of traveller -- James] >Does anyone know the origin of the Sword World's on the Spinward Marches map? >They sortof *jump* out at you (Beater, Biter, Sting, Sacnoth, etc.) and I was >wondering if anyone knew anything about their history. > >-- Fred Schiff ([email removed]) The Sword Worlds was a background created by H. Beam Piper for his space epics. The only book in the series I recall that mentioned the Sword Worlds explicity in _Space Viking_. Pretty good story, actually. The GDW Sword Worlds are not detailed anywhere, so I use stats based on H. Beam Piper's work. The names used on the Spinward Marches map correspond to most famous named swords, ("Beater" and "Biter" being the orc names for "Orchrist, the Goblin Cleaver" and "Glamdring, the Foe Hammer" from _The Hobbit_. "Sting" was Bilbo's name for his dagger/sword. Other names mentioned on the map include Excalibur and Durandal, I believe (or maybe they're from Piper and I'm just confusing the two). Durandal was the sword of Roland, I presume you've heard of Excalibur. Larry Smith [email removed] or {mit-eddie,yale,uw-beaver}!apollo!lsmith
The concept of the Sword Worlds comes from H. Beam Piper's book _Space_Viking_
(I didn't care much for it, although many of my friends enjoyed it.) It's
a space opera. Many of the names are retained (Gunn, Excalibur, Mithril,
et al) but more are added in Traveller. Most of the other worlds are, of
course, named after swords. Sting, Andruril, Narsil, etc from LOTR, Mjolnir,
etc from Norse mythos; Excalibur, etc from Arthurian legend; and so on.
Hope this is what you were looking for.
Nick Christenson
[email removed]"The Sword Worlds where the men are men and the women are men too..."
The above is from an article for Journal No. 18 entitled
Contact: Sword Worlders, according to the article SW's are decended from
Solomani Exiles which arrived in the subsector ca. -400 they first settled at
Gram in -399. Although not part of the Imperium they did take advantage of
Imperial trade, until the First Frontier War where Imperial alliances with the
Darian Confederation brought the Sword World and Darian problems to a head.
This tension continues to this day. The article was written in 1108 or so, in
and around the Fifth Frontier War. The Sword Worlds are part of The OutWorld
Coalition.
The original settlers of the Sword Worlds were of Germanic and Nordic stock.
The official language is a variant of Icelandic. Each world of the Sword
Worlds has a different culture although all are male dominated and any
women in "male" jobs are expected to exhibit male rather than female behavior,
at least in public. Which leads to the statement at the beginning of this
article.
Psionics are not repressed as they are in the Imperium, but they are not
an integral part of society either, like the Zhodani. Psi powers are viewed
with distaste by Sword Worlder men, and any male with them will be reluctant
to admit to them or use them in public.
The Sword World Confederation is a true confederation with individual systems
having complete autonomy. Each world maintains their own armed forces and
makes their own laws and completely regulates their own internal affairs. A
Confederation Council, made up of representatives on all the worlds. It
regulates interworld trade and so forth. The so-called "metal worlds" (Iron,
Bronze, Mithril and Steel) have been designated resource worlds, and placed
under the direct administration of the Confederation government for further
development. [As an aside, if any of you have been run in Mission on Mithril,
you know what these worlds are like. What a night that was for my character.]
There are no permanent inhabitants, just members of the Confederation Patrol
and various mining and resource company employees.
Character generation is the same as for normal Imperial citizens, however the
Scout Service is replaced by the Patrol Service.
The above is excerpted(sp?) and paraphrased from
_The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society_
No. 18, article _Contact: Sword Worlders_ by Loren Wiseman.
There is a character class, Patrol Service, that if people wish to have, I
will issue a follow up article, I do not know if this issue of the _Journal_
is still available. If there is a request, I will be glad to type in the
Patrol Service character class, there is also a chronology of the Sword Worlds.
Let me know if anyone wants the chronology too.
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Greg Givler Q-Link: Commodore
Telecommunications Coordinator CompuServe: CBM/Support 76703,2047
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The above opinions are usually mine, but sometimes I just repeat things.
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!eFred Schiff ([email removed]) writes: >Does anyone know the origin of the Sword World's on the Spinward Marches map? >They sortof *jump* out at you (Beater, Biter, Sting, Sacnoth, etc.) and I was >wondering if anyone knew anything about their history. Most of them are the names of mythological swords (hence Sword Worlds). I don't recognise them all, but some are from Tolkien's books (e.g. Sting). Also present is Excalibur. There also the unpopulated worlds with the names of metals. "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: [email removed] UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: [email removed]