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First off: I attached two files concerning the nobility, from a
recent discussion on Usenet. If you already saw them, consider it 'for
the record'. Of course, further comment is appreciated.
From my point of view, the noble rankings in Traveller are only
the bare-bones of the Imperial nobility. Aside from non-human/human,
rank/blood, and high/young divisions within the nobility, there is also
-- traditionalist vs. modern (i.e. are clones legal heirs? How about
'geneticly perfected' nobles, more attractive and smarter than the
commoners?)
-- imperial vs. regional vs. pan-racial/pan-religious nobles
-- merchantile vs. military nobles
(I'd bet good money that these issues have been discussed before, but
the old archives are still inaccessible and these questions are too
interesting)
Secondly: I don't have a copy of the old MegaTraveller rules: could
someone fill me in concerning which sectors are in which domains?
Thirdly: There was once a game called Invasion: Earth, where the
Third Imperium faced off against the Solomani of Terra. What I want to
know is: 1) What are the main strategic considerations of invading a
high-tech, heavily-defended world without just nuking it?
Should you go for the do-or-die assault on the 'hardpoints'
of system defence? Or start at the poles - or the oceans -
and work your way in?
2) What are the advantages/disadvantages of the invaders carrying
fighter aircraft, rather than just using the warships for
orbital fire? I understand that the fighters can carry
a lot of very useful payload, but couldn't you just launch the
payload from near orbit, without risking the pilots on the AA
fire (I believe it was Peurelle (spell-check) who got rid of
future fighters, since high-tech AA becomes just too (beep)
accurate).
3) How would High-population woulds configure their system defences?
At TL 15? At TL 12? At TL 10? As an example, how
is Capital/Core defended? How would this defence contrast
with a 'troubled, strategic' world, like Terra/Solomani Rim?
With the defence of a Depot? With the defence of a minor,
backwater world?
4) The Third Imperium chose to create hardpoints throughout their
their empire; information/communication nodes called scout
bases, military ones called naval bases, and fortress-systems
called Depots. Why did the Imperium choose this method -
basically, thinly spreading warships thorughout the Imperium - to
protect itself? If they had chosen a 'multiple hard-shell
route' (i.e. the Roman frontier, the Great Wall of China),
there would be few assets available for regionalists to launch a
rebellion. Moreover, the only reason I can think of for
spreading ships like this is A) the military is a militia (good
enough for the colonial navies, but not so good at accounting
for serious Imperial warships in Massillia, say) or B) Imperial
suppression of dissidents within the Empire (rather likely,
now that I think about it. Of course, no hint of major
anti-Imperial hostility is given in Classic Traveller, but GDW
never worry's about continuity, do they :->)
5) Apparently, the defense of mains (long, jump-1 routes) is
crucial to the Imperium. I suspect that the top/end points
of these mains would be closely watched. What's the best way
to do so? (Incidentally, Norris successfully defended his
Domain from Virus by massing his fleets at these chokepoints)
I suspect that it is exactly for this purpose - and
for defending High-pop worlds - why capital ships are built at
all. Why ships, and not static installations a la the Death Star?
After all, you can run a static hardpoint a good bit
more cheaply than you can a mobile one. (why dies 'bitzberg'
and 'Magnot Line' keeps coming into my head? ;-)
4) The 'High Guard' of the book of the same title refers to the
convoy's watch over refuelling merchantmen (I never read the
book - it's a guess). This principle is extendable to cover a
host of circumstances, of course. Am I missing anything about
the High Guard's function?
Again, I feel that these questions have been hit upon 10 times already,
but... I'd love to know.
Alvn Plummer
(Who really, REALLY needs those old TML bundles...)
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>From [email removed] Fri Aug 5 08:27:34 1994
Path: [email removed]
From: [email removed] (Edward Swatschek)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Another Traveller Question (for someone else)
Date: 5 Aug 1994 00:17:38 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! Communications Corp.
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Message-ID: <31s0f2$[email removed]>
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David P. Summers ([email removed]) wrote:
> [concerns original Traveller]
> The Imperium has a hereditary fuedal structure, rom the Emperor down to
> the Dukes who rule the subsectors. There are also lower levels of
> nobility (Barons and Knight). My question is how this relates to
> to rule of individual worlds. Do they all have their own governements
> or does the Imperium rule any directly? If so, how many and who rules
> them? Barons?
It depends. :) Most nobles don't rule, and most worlds have thier own
governments (but all have some sort of noble representation between them
and the Imperium). The more important worlds will normally have Dukes and
Counts associated with them, the with most senior of the subsector's Dukes
being in charge of the subsector. If my memory is accurate, the Duke of
Regina does not rule Regina (but was in charge of the subsector's (and
sector's?)) Imperial government; the Marquis Aramis, however, does rule
Aramis directly.
There is a distinction made between honour, rank, and high nobles.
Honour nobles have gained for performing some service (military, science,
etc.); rank nobles are the less important local Imperial representatives and
administrators; high nobles are the oldest and most powerful nobles.
Edjs _
------ _ // CIS : [email removed]
[email removed] \X/ GEnie: [email removed]
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>From [email removed] Fri Aug 5 08:26:43 1994
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Path: [email removed]
From: [email removed] (Steven M Bonneville)
Subject: Re: Another Traveller Question (for someone else)
Message-ID: [email removed]
Sender: [email removed] (Usenet News Administration)
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Organization: University of Minnesota CIS
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Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 06:22:44 GMT
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David P. Summers ([email removed]) wrote:
> [concerns original Traveller]
> The Imperium has a hereditary fuedal structure, rom the Emperor down to
> the Dukes who rule the subsectors. There are also lower levels of
> nobility (Barons and Knight). My question is how this relates to
> to rule of individual worlds. Do they all have their own governements
> or does the Imperium rule any directly? If so, how many and who rules
> them? Barons?
Hmmm, big question. It depends on what worlds. The Third Imperium is
a "feudal confederation". Member worlds pay fairly minimal taxes to
support the Imperial government and interstellar military, accepts the
jusrisdiction of the Imperial Ministry of Justice over certain "High
Laws" that the empire requires all sophonts to adhere to, and in return
get protection of trade, diplomatic arbitration with Imperial and extra-
Imperial worlds, but are otherwise allowed to control their own affairs
in-system. Some (Archduke Dulinor comes to mind) think that the Imperium
should require world governments to behave in a democratic manner, but
in general the Moot doesn't agree.
Many worlds are not ruled directly by the Imperial nobility, but have
locally chosen leaders. Some worlds are ruled directly by the Office
of the Emperor, like Terra/Sol or Capital/Core, for various political
reasons. Before the Rim War and martial law on Terra, it had a
Secretary-General. However, many other worlds are run either by
"rank nobles" who hold positions in the Imperial bureaucracy, or by
"high nobles" who directly oversee Imperial territories. Some worlds
are also ruled directly because they are Reserves, or Depots, and some
are placed under interdict and left totally alone. But the vast majority
of worlds are run locally.
There are far more honor nobles ("celebrities" of any stripe from a
Sir Alec Guinness to a Sir Isaac Newton to a Viscount Montgomery of
Alamein) and rank nobles than high nobles, but no exact figures exist.
Let's see if I can figure out about how many high nobles we have:
Archduke (SocSt G): They run the seven multi-sector Domains. Not
counting Sylea (the emperor's domain), but counting
Norris in Deneb after 1116, there are six.
Duke (SocSt F): Twenty senior subsector dukes are recognized as
sector dukes. There are about another 200-300
subsector dukes. (The Imperium has territory in
more than twenty sectors, but they don't all rate
sector dukes.)
Count (SocSt E): At two to three worlds each, there are probably
four thousand Imperial counties.
Marquis (SocSt D): At one world a piece (roughly), figure about nine
thousand or so.
Figure about 13200, and you have a fair guess for the *high* nobles
above SocSt-C. However, some will be overlap (the same person has
*two* or more titles), some will be vacant, and some positions will
be filled by lesser nobles that usually expected, especially on the
frontier. In places these nobles will be in charge locally -- in
others, they will merely be the local Imperial authority (which isn't
exactly small peanuts itself), especially in the case of rank nobles.
In most cases, you get to choose what works for you.
If you want to find more information, your best bets are:
--> GDW
MT _Imperial Encyclopedia_ good general info, best bet
CT _Library Data N-Z_ older, but ok if you can find it
TNE _Survival Margin_ useful background info, Rebellion era
--> Digest Group
_Travellers' Digest_ #9 Capital/Core issue
_Travellers' Digest_ #18 "Concise History of the Imperium" article
CT == Traveller; MT == MegaTraveller; TNE == Traveller: The New Era
I'd also recommend the Traveller Mailing List, but it's undergoing a
change of moderation right now, so it's off-line.
Happy Travelling!
Steve Bonneville
[email removed]
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