So it is confirmed: I’ll be running a second Traveller game for my other gaming group at some point in the foreseeable future. As stated in the previous post about this, I very much want to try and get the feel of ‘The Expanse’ series, which necessitated figuring out the rest of the system specifics. The below is what I’ve come up with thus far.
World Government
Porozlo has a Balkanized government.
- No central ruling authority exists. Rival governments compete for control.
- The Private Ownership bloc (PO-bloc), which comprises about two fifths of the nations and over half the population of the planet, severely limits the size of corporate concerns by intensive regulation, fearing the ability of large multi-world concerns to influence and dominate local governments.
- The Free Commerce bloc (FC-bloc) contains fewer nations, but is generally more industrialized and technologically advanced, and does not impose limits as do the PO-bloc nations.
- Ever since House Anjiliac assumed the countship, they have been attempting to unify this system under a single government. These efforts have been frequently stymied by the constantly feuding nation-states of Porozlo
System Notes
Planetary (GURPS) Tech Level is 9^ but is gradually entering 10^.
Porozlo is a Binary System:
- Primary is M1 V (Mass: 0.45, Temp: 3600, L-Min .07, L-Max .08, M-Span 70) – is about 49% size of Sol
- Secondary (Companion) is M9 V This star is also almost 16,000km smaller than Jupiter, so it is very dim
1st World – Altmac
- rockball close into the sun. 0.2AU/2 LM – Icy Core.
- Contrary to Utzig, there are NO satellites here
- A prison is located on this rock. It is an in-system Red Zone. I’m presuming that a count could declare something like that. I know that sub-sector dukes do have red zoned prisoners on crap worlds, so it seems logical for a count to have the same thing, just on a smaller scale.
2nd World – Porozlo
- MainWorld – I moved it further from the sun than Utzig has it listed. Looking at that site, the Mainworld is now in that empty space that is .55AU/4LM from the Primary
- 11 hour rotation, 220 day orbit
- Two moons.
- Borsodi – closer moon, mini-Mars without the atmo, being mined, has domed facilities
- Dreher – more distant moon, being mined, has domed facilities
- This is where Nemso Orbital – the main highport – is located; originally, this starport was mostly paid for by Nemso during construction but is now operated by the Imperium SPA after they bought it out
- All nation stuff in the “Traveller: The New Deal” Wiki is still applicable
3rd World – Atrake
- iceball, 0.9AU/7LM – Icy Core.
- Lángos -outer moon, being mined
- Rántott – inner moon, being mined
- Minimal activity here … this world and its it’s two satellites are nominally under PO-Bloc control, but the distance from home has led them to basically ignore planetary directives at will. The count’s Colonial forces frequent this region so it is very friendly toward them.
4th World – Adwuj
- molten ball, 3AU/24 LM – Molten Core. 3 Sats.
- Quite frequently referred to as ‘the Furnace’ due to the molten core of the planet (including the very active volcanoes) as well as the relative proximity of the Porozlo Companion star.
- Gulyás – inner moon
- Pörkölt – mid-moon
- Palacsinta – outer moon
- Not much info on this just yet.
5th world – Amasec
- 5.8AU/47 LM – Icy Core. 7 Sats
- This world and its satellites are devoted to mining.
- No less than seventeen different corporations from the Porozlo mainworld (nearly all from the Free Commerce bloc … but not all) have set up shop on either this world or one of its satellites. As a result, this region is the freaking Wild West. Efforts are being made to create a unified ruling council from the corporate interests…
- Due to the placement of this planet squarely between the Porozlo mainworld and Vilnaf (aka the Outer System), the entire region – planet plus moons – was often known as the ‘Midway Region’ which has then been shortened simply to just ‘Midway’ (which covers the both the planet & its moons.)
- If a conflict is going to happen between Colonial and Footholder forces, this region is where it is going to take place. By unspoken agreement between Colonial and Footholder governments, Midway acts as a form of a DMZ. Colonial ships do not venture further Outbound than this and Foothold forces likewise do not approach further Sunward.
- Gesztenyepüré – moon 1, called simply ‘Gezta’ by locals.
- Halászlé – moon 2, called simply ‘Hala’ by locals
- Kürtoskalács – moon 3, called simply ‘Kurto’ by natives
- Dobostorta – moon 4
- Töltött – moon 5
- Káposzta – moon 6
- Pálinka – moon 7, has a Domed facility and sizeable population. This is probably the “Vegas” of the system
6th World – Vilnaf
- Ringed gas giant, 11.4AU/1 LH 34LM – H2/CH4
- Unicum is the closest major moon to the gas giant. Diameter: 3500 km Surface Gravity: 0.183G Length of Day: 42 Standard Hours Heavy mining activity to support the ‘Outer Zone’ with Power Cells and components. Viciously hostile surface with hundreds of active volcanoes and vast quantities of sulfur dioxide. All settlements are underground ones.
- Rétes is another moon with minor activity Diameter: 3050 km Surface Gravity: 0.14G Length of Day: 84 Standard Hours Supplies the ‘Outer Zone’ with beef & vegetables; uses smaller greenhouses and orbital mirrors than Foothold. Crust largely composed of ice. Subterranean saltwater oceans in some regions.
- Tokaj is another moon with activity Diameter: 4800 km Surface Gravity: 0.13G Length of Day: 168 Standard Hours TL9^ Shipyard is present here
- Foothold is the largest moon in the Porozlan system as well as the largest headache for Count Para thanks to ill-advised actions taken by his grandfather in the years immediately following the Third Frontier War.
Foothold
- Porozlo had been occupied by Zhodani forces for much of the final year of the conflict and, as a result, the entire system was in chaos when the war ended. Recovering from the chaos required a great deal of capital, which was something the Count at the time did not have. With a desperate need for money quickly, Count Istvaan entered into an agreement with a consortium of mining interests out of Rhylanor that allowed them to establish a colony on the larger moon of the system’s gas giant. The consortium’s official name for their new colony was a string of numbers but it quickly became known instead as Foothold thanks to an offhand remark made by the Consortium director at the time about the now having a foothold in the system. It was not intended to be a portent of things to come…
- Within a decade, House Anjiliac regretted this policy as the ‘Footholders’ were thriving, having effectively assumed complete control of the entire moon as well as having extended their influence to the other satellites of Vilnaf. Without the count’s permission or knowledge, the Footholders had also begun constructing their own shipyard. This would provide them with even more political power throughout the system, which cemented their effective rulership of Vilnaf and its satellites.
- Count Istvaan’s son, Endre, would move to revoke the colonial franchise when he ascended to the countship but by that point, it was too little, too late. The Footholders were firmly in control of the Outer System and Count Endre’s efforts met fierce resistance, both legal and illegal. Dirtside, the constantly simmering global conflicts between the rival Free Commerce and Private Ownership blocs abruptly flared up into all-out war with agents of the Footholders discreetly backing both sides. When Lord Endre died at the unseemly age of sixty-three, his personal physicians would attest that his constant stress over how to ‘revenge himself’ against the Footholders.
- His son, however, already had plans in motion. Careful political manipulation by Count Para quickly saw fruit as legal actions at Rhylanor resulted in the mining consortium backing the Footholders collapse into internecine conflict and legal squabbling, thus cutting off a significant portion of their funding. This would force Foothold, out of financial necessity, to stop interfering with the global conflict, which was one of the count’s count’s primary intentions as it allowed him to pressure the warring factions into a peace settlement; Lord Para had also expected the pseudo government of Foothold to splinter into smaller, warring factions but to his very great surprise, his actions had the opposite effect. With two ruling members of his family in a row actively ‘persecuting’ them, Footholders now had an Enemy to focus their ire upon while they continued on. If something went wrong, well, clearly it was the Anjiliacs fault.
- Currently, Foothold remains in nominal control of all the moons of Vilnaf. To maintain legal pretense of appearing legitimate, they pay taxes to the count grudgingly. Despite having been forced to withdraw to their sphere of influence, they are still something of a military power (although they utilize principally system defense boats, ala the Stardrake-Class 200 ton SDB.) They have an unknown number of such vessels available.