In response to Bob Mahoney's query:
> As an aside, I never received any answers to my earlier question:
> Is anyone else using the GDW "Shattered Imperium" campaign background?
I thought that the "Shattered Imperium" background was THE most
valuable aspect of MegaTraveller. I used to have a tough time
coming up with plots for my Traveller campaign, but the
Shattered Imperium is just spilling over with them. My
campaigns tend to be based on roughly equal portions of
military, political, and economic intrigue -- the SI setting
is conducive to all of these things.
I am currently in the process of setting up my first SI
campaign. The campaign will take place in the Spinward
Marches, where Lucan and Norris are duking it out for
support of the citizenry. Lurking in the background, an
alien race with expanionist tendencies has recently entered
through an ancient technological artifact (a jump gate of
sorts -- similar but not identical to the one described
in previous TML articles) and is preparing for a covert
invasion....
The only player (at this point) is a pirate character, and
most of the adentures will be tailored with this in mind.
What follows is a rough, unedited set of notes that I
have been using to flesh out the major players and
plotlines. It may contain inconsistencies and hazy
areas, and should be treated as raw material. I offer
it as an example of what a Shattered Imperium campaign
might be like.
One last note: I strongly recommend "The Rebellion
Sourcebook" supplement for anyone trying to run an SI
campaign. It contains a wealth of material about who
is doing what to whom in the struggle for inter-galactic
power. It is virtually free of game mechanics and could
be used in other game systems (old Traveller certainly).
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Notes on Trav Campaign
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- - The thrust of the campaign is the presence of aliens in the
Spinward Marches.
- - The aliens got there through a jump gate, the location (and
in fact, the very existence) of which is unknown. The gate
may be a two-way device. If not, there will exist another gate
which leads to the aliens' home part of the universe.
- - There are several races of aliens which tend to serve very
specialized roles/classes. There is at least a warrior class,
a worker class, and a leader class. Each of the classes exceeds
the average human in their particular capacity but are inferior
in other capacities.
- - The aliens are in possession of some extremely advanced
technology (including the jump gates, some starships, weapons,
machinery, etc) -- but they didn't invent it. They don't
even understand it completely, although there is a scientist-like
class which devotes almost all of its time to discovering the
secrets of the technology.
- - The technology was actually created by yet another highly
advanced race which is for the most part extinct. The reason
for this extinction is as yet undetermined.
- - The aliens are extremely expansionist and war-like. They
aren't inherently evil, but for centuries they have been at
odds with each other over various and sundry issues, not the
least of which is the possession of property (or lack thereof).
The discovery of the gate and the human race has given them
a new alien to conquer and a reason to temporarily join forces.
Of course, each race sees itself in the dominant role both during
and after the conquest -- cooperation is still not exactly their
strong suit.
- - No one knows about the aliens yet, but their effects have
been felt and a very few of those in the know are aware that
SOMETHING is out of place. Particularly, Norris and Lucan have
both lost warships to encounters with the aliens. Each suspects
that the other is somehow involved.
- - Lucan and Norris are maintaining the outward appearance of
cooperation and negotiation, but it's strictly diplomatic
maneuvers.
- - What Lucan really wants is for Norris to buckle
under, for Noris's considerable forces to fall in line with
Lucan, and for Norris himself to be replaced by a loyal Lucan
supporter. Lucan isn't trying an outright assault because
it would consume a considerable amount of his
resources to engage Norris's forces, and Norris's forces
are too loyal to provide any assistance of their own to Lucan.
Such an assault would have political as well as military costs
because the people of Norris's domain are highly loyal. Despite
the fact that Norris professes loyalty to the Empire, Lucan
does not wish to force them to choose between Norris and himself,
for Norris is a more charismatic leader and has greater presence
in their daily lives. Lucan's plan is to strategically apply
covert military pressure and try to force Norris to make the
first outwardly aggressive move. If Norris makes enough visible
moves against Lucan, Lucan can portray him as anti-imperial and
wage a stronger political campaign on those grounds. One of
Lucan's ploys in this vein is to try and appoint highly charismatic
officials in Norris's arena of control in order to counter
Norris's own charisma. Of course, they are basically figureheads,
and the real power is in the hands of a small group of Lucan's
real lieutenants who are considerably less charismatic. This
combination of charismatic figureheads and brutal power holders
tends to severely tax the loyalty of Lucan's forces, which is
yet another reason why an outright military assault would be a
costly move for him.
- - What Norris really wants is for Lucan to give in and leave
him alone. Norris believes that Strephon is still alive,
and that Lucan is a sorry replacement. Norris keeps a tight
reign on his political image and power. He intends that the
citizens should eventually feel more loyal to him personally than
to the empire. When the time is right, he will transfer this
support to Strephon. Until then, he wants to keep it out of
Lucan's hands. When the news of the assassination reached Norris's
domain, it was politically necessary for Norris to claim to
support the empire without claiming support for any particular
claimant of the throne. If he had done otherwise, it would appear
that he was yet another pretender, and not a strong one at that.
In this way, he was able to hold onto the loyalty of the citizenry
and at the same time gain some real political power of his own.
Norris is now trying to gently transform that loyalty directly
onto himself, but he has not progressed far enough to make an
outward attack on Lucan. Such an attack would weaken his platform
of support for the Imperium visibly. Although he would doubtless
maintain many of his supporters, he knows he would lose many to
Lucan's side. Norris knows that Lucan is trying to provoke him
to make exactly such a mistake, and is carefully guarding his
actions to maintain the outward appearance of cooperation (much
to Lucan's consternation). Norris takes advantage of any opportunity
to make Lucan look foolish or violent, and there have been many
such opportunities. To date, Lucan's efforts to weaken Norris's
support have only made it stronger due to Norris's impressive
military and political savvy. Norris does not want to side with
Strephon until the loyalty of his constituents is unshakable and
Strephon can gather enough military and political support of his
own to appear to be a suitably strong figure.
- - Contrary to the beliefs of Archduke Norris and the guarded hopes
of billions of citizens, Strephon is dead. Dulinor killed him
on that fateful day in 1116. The person claiming to be
Strephon is actually an actor who replaced him in routine diplomatic
functions when the need arose. Secreted away by Strephon's closest
supporters, this actor has undergone surgery to make him as physically
indistinguishable from Strephon as possible and is constantly under the
advisement of the supporters who engineered the masquerade. This
handful of men desires first that the Imperium be brought back
under control long enough to peacefully hand the reigns of power
down to a capable successor (certainly not Lucan) and second to
avenge the death of Strephon. The "new" Strephon makes frequent
public appearances to gain support, but his private appearances
are avoided whenever humanly possible to prevent discovery that
he is not the real Strephon. The engineers know that such a
discovery will irrevocably ruin not only their own lives, but
their hopes of restoring peace to the Imperium. They guard
the secret with an appropriate amount of vigor.
- ---
Ed Driscoll
The University of Michigan
[email removed]