Chuck on ornithopters:
There is a megatraveller vehicle spec for an ornithopter, with a picture,
a description, and the additional design rules required, in the Phoenix
Factor scenario in Challenge 65, also written by Charles Gannon. Basically
it's a set of wings which are propelled through the atmosphere by having
the driver flap them (ie muscle power). It's intended as a low TL vehicle
for low gravity, dense atmosphere planets.
Pierre-Louis on TNE character generation:
Anglic/Galanglic:
Probably the Vilani would learn Solomani if they needed to in order to
trade. Galanglic is, surely, really intended as a lingua franca, in the
same way that English is used today, throughout the world. Speaking to
the rest of your family, or at the bar, or whatever, you would use the
local language, whatever that might be.
English would not be the first language of many Solomani, but it is the
common second language. I disagree with your comment on NASA technology. On
some areas other than technology the others might have a lead, or parity
(and by the way, despite 2300AD, the ESA is not yet completely French).
Nobles:
Well you might think that these hereditary systems are soon got rid of in a
rational society, but half the countries in the current EEC have
constitutional monarchies. My feeling is that there would be a lot of people
going round in the post hard times era CLAIMING noble or high military rank,
just as after the American Civil War everyone felt they should be Colonel,
or General something. The lingering IDEA of a nobility would still be
prevalent after 1100 years of aristocratic rule. How it would be implemented
in practice, and whether anyone could enter into a true Noble career (ie an
Imperial noble, rather than one locally enfranchised), would be questionable.
Missing Careers:
Yes, see my previous note. Good point on the religious one, I really think
that this is one of the missing elements in Traveller. Some quasi religious
organisation, like the Bene Gesserit in Dune, or indeed the Dia Khovaria in
SpaceMaster, could be introduced without offending people's sensibilities
(for another good reference, see the Templars in Dan Simmons' Hyperion).
I used to use an organisation called the Guild of the Divine Word (geddit?)
in my games. I reasoned that the focus of interstellar religion in the
Imperial era, the questions of who am I and why am I here, would revolve
around the identity of the Ancients. I evolved the WordGuild (as I began to
call it as I started to take it more seriously) as a response to Mystery of
the Ancients and the stuff GDW did to explain them away. As a gaming mechanism,
it prevented players from double guessing the referee, having read the
published material. Because the WordGuild acted as a kind of interstellar
Fortean Times, investigating and evaluating every unexplainable story, or
anything linked to the Ancients, the GDW official theory became just one of
several alternative theories. That way I kept some of the mystique that
disappeared in the official game with Grandfather. Anyhow, to return to the
point, the other reason that such organisations help the game, above and
beyond adding colour, is that they tend to have more complex motivations
than the main Imperial establishment, and in the absence of a major war this
meant more interesting scenarios (plot is about conflict, as they will tell
you on most writing classes).
Stone masons:
Ah, its all beginning to fall together, the hivers are in league with the
masons ....
Cheers
Mark
"Star Viking - A game of interstellar raiding and plunder ... Not a
Traveller game, but adaptable with a little effort"
Just Detected, JTAS #10