GURPS - 4th Edition - Traveller Interstellar Wars

On the other hand, global climate (p. 51) was instituted to make sure the second-tier powers that dominate
continues to undergo a definite that each person is able to serve Terra the ineffectual General Assembly. As
warming trend. Ocean levels have to the best of his ability. Terra has become increasingly inter-
risen steadily for over a century. connected, even the larger nations
Coastal cities worldwide have had to Crime continues, despite the have discovered that they need the
take measures, not all of them suc- Confederation’s best efforts to eradi- support of others – no nation can “go
cessful, to hold back the rising water. cate it. The unification of world law it alone.”
A more serious consequence is that enforcement has made it more diffi-
growing seasons have changed, and cult for criminals to flee across juris- Social Unrest
the traditional grain-producing dictional boundaries. Most public
regions are now drier and warmer spaces are covered by surveillance Not everyone supports the Terran
than in previous years. cameras linked to computers with Confederation government. Most peo-
facial-recognition and other biometric ple have reservations, and almost no
To compensate for the shift in cli- systems. Even with such measures, one feels that it is perfect, but the
mate, new varieties of food crops have there remain areas where the law is majority of people feel that the current
been increasingly “tuned” to grow in ineffective. system at least works.
specific areas. Terra is more than
capable of producing a food surplus. Why “Terrans?”
That there is still starvation in some
places from time to time is due to One odd feature of social development during the 21st century was
inequities of transportation and inad- the rise of the word “Terra” to describe the Human homeworld.
equate planning. The Confederation is
working to eliminate both. The word itself comes from the ancient Latin language, where it
meant “land” or “soil.” The Latin phrase for the entire world was orbis ter-
Standards of Living rarum. Derivatives became the name for the entire planet in a number of
the Romance languages.
Ask almost any American, and he’ll
tell you that standards of living have In English it was rarely used as a name for the whole planet, aside
dropped since the mid-21st century. from a fad for the name in science fiction literature of the mid-20th cen-
Much of the rest of the world has never tury. It did have one stylistic advantage: it easily formed the adjective
had it so good. Today almost every “Terran,” whereas “Earth” could be made an adjective only with awk-
Terran has adequate shelter, clean run- ward constructions like “Earthman,” “Earthling,” “Earther,” and so on.
ning water, reliable electricity, and Although English became the leading language of the United Nations in
access to the global communication the course of the 21st century, the growing number of supporters for
network. planetary unification settled on the name “Terra” for the world.

Malnutrition is still a problem in This choice was popular among speakers of Romance languages – a
some remote regions and a few urban very large segment of the Terran population. It also helped to downplay
areas, but deadly famines covering the prominence of English-speaking leaders in the movement, a bit of nec-
entire nation-states are very rare. essary linguistic camouflage. Many people feared that the progress toward
Transportation difficulties sometimes unification was a new expression of American or British imperialism. The
prevent enough food getting to where choice of a non-English name as a rallying point helped dispel such fears.
it is needed; the Confederation sees
this as a problem of infrastructure, International Affairs However, even with the Imperium
and is working to extend its distribu- presenting a common enemy, some
tion networks in remote areas. This Laws promulgated by the Terran Terrans feel that the world govern-
has the added benefit of increasing Confederation now govern relations ment is too oppressive and that per-
employment in underdeveloped among the nation states of Terra. All sonal freedoms are being sacrificed.
regions. states in the Confederation are theo- These feelings often lead to civil strife,
retically equal members, but in prac- and in some extreme cases even vio-
Health care is more of a problem. tice some are more powerful than oth- lence. Violent protest is most common
Improved sanitation has effectively ers, and the top few nations are more in the developing world, but some
eliminated diseases like dysentery and powerful than all the rest combined. major nation-states (notably the
typhus, and vaccination programs The external threat of the Imperium United States) experience anti-
have done wonders for infant survival. moderates tensions related to this Confederation unrest at times as well.
Long-term preventative care is more power differential, but they are always Most of the Terran Confederation’s
expensive, and is not always available present under the surface. armed forces are actually deployed on
for the segment of the population with Terra – not only as a last-ditch defense
the lowest income. The Terran Health The nations in control of the against Imperial attack, but also to put
Administration tries to make cutting- Secretariat try to maintain a working down rioting or revolt when necessary.
edge medicine available everywhere, relationship with each other and with
but has only mixed success.

Unemployment remains a prob-
lem, but few people are consistently
out of work for very long. The Draft

TERRA 49

There are several worldwide oppo- 21st century would find it oppressive; Birth and Childhood
sition movements on Terra; some of a Western European from the same
them have contacts with the colonies era would find nothing unusual; most The population of Terra has been
and off-world nations. The Africans would consider it a paradise. stable since late in the 21st century.
Confederation’s greatest fear is that Far from being concerned about over-
the Imperium will discover these Cities in the most economically population, the Confederation and
movements and give them financial advanced areas are usually safe, com- most of the national governments try
and technological support. This may fortable, and efficient. Crime is under to encourage citizens to marry and
already have happened to some extent control, largely because unemploy- produce children. Even nations that
– a surge of nationalist opposition dur- ment is low and youths from 12-20 were once overcrowded now have dif-
ing the 2160s may be attributable to (the age when most crimes are com- ficulty raising birthrates above the
external subversion coordinated by mitted) have little free time in which “replacement rate” – a serious prob-
the Vilani provincial governor. to make trouble. lem on a world with chronic labor
shortages.
Terra and the Colonies
Citizens who do have children can
The Terran Confederation’s relationship with its colonies is generally call on a variety of resources to help
good. New colonies are governed by the Colonial Bureau, which provides raise them. Good prenatal care, nutri-
administrative support while encouraging the growth of healthy demo- tion, and pediatric medicine are avail-
cratic institutions. Independent colony worlds can create their own gov- able almost everywhere on Terra.
ernments and laws, provided they operate within the legal framework Most employers and national govern-
established by the Confederation. Naturally, as confrontation with the ments offer generous benefit packages
Imperium continues, Terra is reluctant to allow its colonies too much to parents, including extended mater-
independence. nity leave and subsidized child-care
services.
There is a growing feeling among the colonies that Terra is simply one
world among many, and should have no more rights and privileges than Education
any other member of the Confederation. Compounding this is the fact
that Terran nation-states dominate the Secretariat and the General The primary function of the
Assembly while the off-world nations are under-represented. Confederation’s educational system is
to prepare citizens for public service
Terrans see their predominant position as theirs by right, and are later in life. Everywhere on Terra,
unwilling to make changes that might displace them from it. A few early education focuses on basic liter-
extremists are beginning to suggest that Terrans have a manifest destiny acy and socialization. Later on, stu-
to rule the galaxy. dents are guided toward studies that
will reinforce their individual talents.
THE The rural districts of the first world This may eventually mean university
CITIZEN’S LIFE are less densely populated, but con- if the student shows ability, but it may
tain many suburban areas in addition very well mean a vocational school, or
In later years I discovered that there to their agricultural concerns. This no advanced training at all.
was no shortage of iridium, and the has been made easier by the trans-
campaign for schoolchildren to collect portation net, which was originally Schools are directly funded and
used ballpoint pens and turn them in designed to haul produce to market governed by a variety of national and
for recycling was nothing more than a but is now also used for passenger private organizations. However, the
program to let us feel we were con- travel. It is not uncommon for people Confederation has imposed an exten-
tributing to the war effort. I felt betrayed to commute hundreds of miles every sive body of “education law” that over-
at first, since I had been punished for day to and from their work. rides any national or local policy. Any
taking all the pens from our home and educational institution, from a child’s
turning them in, but now I can look In the developing world, things are first preschool to the most elite uni-
back on all of that with nostalgia. improving because employment is versity, must be legally accredited in
high and wages are better than ever order to operate. Students who attend
– Jerzy Kalinowski, before. Only in the most remote dis- a non-accredited school will find that
colonial administrator on Nusku tricts can severe, intractable poverty their credentials are not accepted by
still be found. The conflict with the the Confederation or any other legal
(2168) Vilani Imperium has made labor one employer.
of the world’s most valued resources,
Depending on one’s cultural view- and improved education has made Accreditation governs how schools
point, life on Terra in 2170 is either even poor nations capable of providing may be funded and how students may
increasingly restrictive and totalitari- skilled labor to the war effort. be selected. It also defines minimum
an or better than it has ever been standards of competence for students
before. An American from the early at each level of development. In par-
ticular, it requires students to learn a
panoply of cultural information: they
must learn at least one language other
than their own; they must be exposed

50 TERRA

to the truthful details of foreign cul- We all go where Terra needs us to be.
tures; and they must become familiar – Public service slogan (c. 2150)
with the Confederation’s human-
rights law. the course of their lives. The standard short of skilled labor. Military veter-
model is much as it has been for cen- ans in particular are likely to accept
The Confederation’s emphasis on turies – a citizen takes an “entry-level” off-world jobs – in fact, most employ-
education is not an accident – it has job with the skills he learned in school ers who can offer such work prefer to
roots in United Nations policy stretch- and during his time with the govern- hire ex-military personnel.
ing back to the 20th century. The ment, then takes on positions of
Confederation’s founders saw them- increasing responsibility as he gains Retirement
selves as establishing a true “world experience.
community” for the first time, and To most Terrans, “retirement age”
they realized that most Terrans would Governments and large corpora- is the point at which one leaves
have to learn how to be citizens of such tions employ most of the working pop- government service, and that can be
a community. That meant instilling ulation. Even so, private enterprise is anywhere from 20-90 years old. The
cosmopolitanism and Terran patriot- alive and well on Terra. Many citizens concept of a period of life when one
ism in addition to technical skill. go into business for themselves; most can kick back and take it easy – the
such ventures fail, but enough succeed “golden years” – has become a nostal-
Naturally, this approach to educa- to make the option a popular one for gic dream. As people age, they take
tion is a point of fierce contention ambitious workers. jobs that are less and less strenuous,
between the Confederation and vari- but most citizens choose to remain
ous national governments. Many cul- Another attractive area for skilled employed until they are physically
tural purists continue to resent the and unskilled workers alike is off- incapable. It is not at all uncommon
imposition of “foreign values” on world employment. Space-based to find a spry octogenarian working at
their children, even after decades of industries (asteroid mining, shipyard a sedentary job, such as clerk or
living under Confederation rule. engineering, and colonial construc- receptionist.
There is a thriving “black market” in tion) have been growing rapidly for
unaccredited education and falsified decades. The colony worlds also have
credentials. booming economies and are always

Public Service The Draft

After completing one’s formal edu- Every citizen of the world must make a contribution to the common
cation, every Terran citizen is subject defense of humanity. We dare not depend on the promptings of individual
to a period of “public service” (i.e., conscience to bring citizens to volunteer. Every one of us must be assessed
government work). This can take and placed where he can do the most good for the greatest number.
many forms: teaching, social work,
public works projects, environmental – Jiang Bangguo,
cleanup and monitoring, scientific delegate to the Secretariat from the Republic of China (2116)
research, and so on. The most com-
mon assignments, of course, are in the The single most pervasive influence in the lives of Terra’s inhabitants
military. is The Draft, a phrase always capitalized in the Terran news media. The
Draft was instituted during the First Interstellar War, and has remained
There is almost no way to avoid in force ever since.
this service – only the most profound-
ly disabled citizens are considered The Terran Confederation tracks every citizen from birth to the end of
completely unfit. It is possible to vol- his life. As he approaches the end of his formal education, the Public
unteer for a government job as one Service Bureau administers a battery of tests to determine where he can
approaches the end of formal educa- be best put to use. When he finishes his education, he is subject to the
tion; such service counts toward the Draft, which determines where he will be assigned for his four (or more)
legal obligation, and may help avoid years of government work.
an undesirable assignment. The nor-
mal term of public service is four Even after completing his required term of public service, every Terran
years, but one can choose to “go citizen remains subject to the Draft until he reaches the age of 40. Should
career” during the initial term, war or some other emergency break out, citizens may be “reactivated,”
remaining in government service pulled out of their private-sector jobs and placed under government
indefinitely. orders once again.

Careers

After a Terran citizen finishes his
time in public service (and possibly
attends university), he is free to pur-
sue his private interests. Most people
hold a number of different jobs during

TERRA 51

LEISURE AND The Uplift Projects
ENTERTAINMENT
Doctor Moreau would be so proud . . .
Terran artists are in the midst of – Lynn Jackson, animal-rights activist (2155)
what some have labeled “high post-
modern cosmopolitanism.” They Genetic engineering is a controversial subject on Terra. Early in the
strive to mix cultures in their work, 21st century, experiments were begun to “uplift” or improve the intelli-
often at the cost of real depth. gence of certain non-Human species. The earliest of these involved sim-
ple selective breeding and special training programs, but with advances
Visual Arts in gene-splicing technology, more fundamental changes have been
undertaken.
Conventional “flat” photography is
still very popular. In fact, the produc- The earliest work was governed by the United States Navy, which
tion of two-dimensional cinema has tried to enhance the intelligence and tractability of the porpoise for use
become a cottage industry; advances as an underwater scout. There is evidence that some animals were tested
in computer-assisted production have in the detection of mines and enemy divers as early as the 1990s, but the
made it possible for even amateurs to projects were dropped when technological solutions proved cheaper.
produce movies as rich and detailed as
the best of the 20th century. More recent experiments with animals have concentrated on their
Filmmakers rarely bother with actors, use in off-world colonization efforts. The most extensive work has been
large numbers of extras, or on-loca- done with chimpanzees, dolphins, and gorillas. These three have all
tion filming any longer – computer given rise to uplifted species, nearly as intelligent and versatile as
software can produce almost any Humans, and quite able to work as junior partners in colonization proj-
desired effect on the screen. ects. Another success created the “neodog,” a variant canine with
improved (but sub-sentient) intelligence and language ability, useful in
Holograms and holographic pro- a variety of jobs. Finally, one of the more unusual projects has created
jections have been a valid artistic the “miniphant,” a smaller but very intelligent elephant that has already
medium for years, but full-round seen service as a riding and draft animal on the colony worlds.
three-dimensional movies are still in
their infancy. As of 2170, most of the engineered animal species are still animals,
more intelligent and cooperative than their wild brethren, but not yet
Painting is still accomplished using capable of acting as Terran citizens. In later decades, this situation will
the same materials that have been change. Engineered dolphins in particular will become an intelligent
used for centuries, although modern partner-species, with full citizenship rights on most Terran-controlled
chemistry has regularized the colors worlds.
and media available. Computer-assist-
ed painting is very popular because Experiments with food crops have been less publicized, but are vast-
the finished work can be stored elec- ly more important to Terra. Food crops are now increasingly “tuned” for
tronically, and the range of effects is optimal growth under special conditions, to tolerate a wider variety of
almost unlimited. rainfall conditions, and to resist pests and disease.

Architecture construction workers find most of Literature
their employment on an assembly line
Materials science and gravitic sup- rather than in the field. There is great pleasure to be had in
port have made it possible for archi- the physical act of reading, of turning
tects to achieve what previous genera- Music and the the pages, touching, feeling, smelling
tions could only dream of. Buildings Performing Arts the paper and the ink, and com-
can be taller, tunnels and bridges muning with the spirit of the author.
longer; undersea installations are fea- Live music remains popular in a One could read The Hound of the
sible, and everything is generally safer variety of styles, but most people listen Baskervilles on electronic paper, I sup-
and more durable. Designs for public to satellite broadcast radio or one of pose. One could also drink fine oolong
buildings have come to reflect the aus- the numerous digital channels. The from a plastic cup, but it loses some-
terity of the governments that commis- Confederation’s Ministry of Culture thing. The best teas deserve bone
sion them, and are devoid of “showy” maintains an enormous catalog of china, and the best literature deserves
features beyond the minimum decora- music available to all citizens, and paper and ink.
tion to make the structure pleasing to this is supplemented by private
the eye. Any decorative features of a commercial networks. – Alyson Graves, literary critic (2144)
design must also be useful.
Live theater is relatively expensive Literature has been changed more
Modern architects make increasing to produce, but is still popular with by the media through which it is pre-
use of prefabricated components, such those who seek the possibility of a sented than by any stylistic factors.
as wall modules with utility unique experience. While there is still a considerable nos-
connections pre-installed. This permits talgia market for traditional paper
buildings to go up faster and more books, most people make use of
efficiently, and means that specialist

52 TERRA

portable readers for “ephemeral” Popular authors often build multiple large followings. The Olympic Games
literature that includes newspapers, plot threads into their creations, so continue, now overseen by the
magazines, short stories and light that readers can follow the character Confederation’s Ministry of Culture
novels. of their choice through the storyline or and held in a different location every
pick alternate endings. four years.
Popular magazines and newspa-
pers proliferate, but are different for Athletics Sports fans remain obsessed with
each reader. A subscriber can choose statistics, and computers have only
from a menu of topics and levels of Sports have changed little since the enabled them to keep track of increas-
detail, and get daily (or even hourly) 20th century. The most popular sport ingly esoteric minutiae. They will
updates customized to his interests on Terra is football (known to argue over anything connected with
and comprehension level. Americans as soccer). Baseball and their favorite team, and sometimes
American-rules football also have come to blows over it.
This sort of content control extends
to novels and short stories as well.

THE TERRAN

CONFEDERATION

The Terran Confederation is the Terra can oppose the combined two-thirds majority; the Board must
name assumed by the United Nations strength of the rest of the Five. For then appoint a new Secretary-General
in 2124, at the conclusion of the First reasons of national pride and history, to finish out the current term.
Interstellar War. It has undergone sev- this is especially irritating to politi-
eral reorganizations over the years, cians in China and the United States, The Secretary-General has a variety
and has expanded its control from the even several generations after the of executive powers. He is the admin-
nations of Terra to the stars. formation of the Confederation. istrative head of the Confederation,
and all of the government’s ministers
The Terran Confederation still Secretary-General and department heads report to him.
occupies the old UN grounds in New He is the Commander-in-Chief of the
York City in the United States, but the The Secretary-General is the lead- Confederation’s armed forces during
building itself was expanded in 2098. ing official of the Terran wartime. He also holds a very good
The Secretariat and General Assembly Confederation. He is appointed by the “bully pulpit” position, and (if he is
meet there, and the Secretary-General Advisory Board of the Secretariat personally persuasive) can effectively
of the Terran Confederation has his (p. 54), serves a five-year term, and sway world opinion. The Secretary-
offices there, but many of the can selected for any number of subse- General is often considered a mere
subdivisions of the government are quent terms. He can be deposed by a puppet of the Advisory Board, but in
headquartered elsewhere on Terra. vote of no confidence in the Advisory fact a capable holder of the office has
Board, if the vote passes by at least a tremendous power of his own.
POLITICAL
ORGANIZATION A World
Under Siege
In rough order of strength and
influence, the main powers of Terra in Since the Third Interstellar War, Terrans have developed a “siege
2170 are the United States of America, mentality” even though the world is no longer under direct military
the European Union, the Republic of threat. Although peace has permitted the Confederation to dial back its
China, the Republic of India, and rhetoric about the threat of enemy invasion, it continues to emphasize
Japan. Together, these five nations that all citizens must work together. “Do your part” is a common slogan.
provide the economic and political
muscle to keep the Terran This has led to a mild xenophobia among the Terrans who have never
Confederation in power. No single left the world. In many places on Terra, visitors who look “alien” are
nation is so powerful as to dominate subject to suspicion, especially if they resemble the movie stereotype of
world politics, but so long as the “Big a Vilani: short, dark-skinned, delicate-featured, and always wearing
Five” partners cooperate, they can highly ornate and impractical garments. Vilani spies, of course, are said
exercise absolute control over the to carefully blend in – so anyone can be an Imperial agent . . .
Confederation.
Of course, citizens who have traveled to other worlds quickly become
Over the years, individual mem- sophisticated enough to recognize how ludicrous all of this is – yet
bers of the Big Five have sometimes another way in which Terran and colonial culture are beginning to
tried to gain a dominant position, or diverge.
to assert their independence from
Confederation control. Such attempts
have always failed – no nation on

TERRA 53

One power that is not granted to with the Advisory Board, a council of without needing a General Assembly
the Secretary-General is the role national representatives. vote. The Board must also approve
of Commander-in-Chief of the any new law passed by the General
Confederation’s armed forces during The Advisory Board consists of 12 Assembly before it can go into effect.
peacetime. When no active hostilities voting members. Ten of these are Of course, Confederation laws are
are under way, command of the appointed, two each by the national enforced by the agencies of the
military is held by the Minister of War. governments of China, the European Secretariat, which have considerable
Union, India, Japan, and the United influence over how those laws are
Secretariat States. A member of the Advisory interpreted on a daily basis.
Board serves until replaced; the length
Together, the various agencies of of his term is determined by his home General Assembly
the Terran Confederation government government, with the only restriction
form the Secretariat. The original being that it must be no less than two The General Assembly is the main
Secretariat of the United Nations was years and no more than 10. The last deliberative body of the Terran
simply the Secretary-General’s admin- two members of the Advisory Board Confederation. It consists of one vot-
istrative staff. Much of the work of the are chosen at random from among the ing delegate from each nation of
UN was done by various outside members of the General Assembly. Terra, and one from each independent
offices and commissions. Some of These two “rotating seats” are occu- off-world state (as of 2170 there are
those organizations still exist, pied for one calendar year at a time, four of these, representing Luna,
although most have been absorbed cannot be held by the Big Five nations, Mars, Nusku, and Prometheus).
into the Secretariat, which has grown and cannot be granted to the same Delegates to the General Assembly are
dramatically. Today, the Secretariat is nation twice in a row. The Secretary- selected by their home governments –
the core of the Terran Confederation, General presides over meetings of the some are elected by popular vote, but
and it dwarfs the rest of the original Advisory Board, but does not vote most are appointed. Terms are set at
United Nations structure in size and except to break ties. the pleasure of each nation. Terran
influence. colony worlds that do not yet have
The Secretariat not only imple- home rule are represented by non-vot-
The Advisory Board ments Confederation policy, it has a ing members appointed by the
leading role in making it. The Advisory Colonial Bureau; these are sometimes
The Secretary-General commands Board is the body that most often appointed from the colony’s popula-
the Secretariat on a day-to-day basis. writes new Confederation laws for the tion, sometimes not. Occupied Vilani
However, ultimate control of it rests consideration of the General worlds are not represented.
Assembly. If the Board musters a two-
thirds majority, it can pass new laws The General Assembly is not con-
tinually in session. It routinely meets
Civilian Control for about six months out of each
calendar year, and can also be called
Civilian control of the military has been a guiding principle of the into session by the Secretary-General
Terran Confederation charter from the beginning. Serving members of if an emergency requires it.
the Confederation military are forbidden from holding civilian office,
and general officers are discouraged from expressing political opinions A President manages meetings of
while on active duty. the General Assembly. This official
also serves as the “head of state” for
The Commander-in-Chief of the Terran armed forces during wartime the Terran Confederation. A President
is the Secretary-General of the Terran Confederation. Under him is the is elected at the beginning of each ses-
Minister of War, who, assisted by the Secretaries of the Navy and Army, sion, and serves until the beginning of
controls the armed forces in peacetime. The Minister of War supervises the next. If there is more than one ses-
the combined Chiefs of Staff of the Army and the Navy. The most senior sion in a given calendar year, it is tra-
military officers in the Confederation are therefore third in the chain of ditional for the same person to be
command for the armed services. elected President, but this has not
always happened.

The General Assembly has the
power to pass Confederation laws,
although any such law must also be
approved by the Advisory Board of the
Secretariat before it can be imple-
mented. It also has limited authority
over the Secretariat’s budget, and has
sometimes used that power to starve
Confederation programs that are
unpopular in the minor Terran
nations. Aside from these specific
powers, the General Assembly has
almost no way to influence events,

54 TERRA

unless the Big Five powers are in dis- Important Terran Confederation
agreement. At most times, the General
Assembly only serves as a toothless Agencies
forum for international debate.
The major agencies of the Secretariat are listed below, along with the
The fact that minor Terran nations locations of each one’s headquarters. During much of the 21st century,
have almost no representation except these agencies were located together at UN Headquarters in New York
in the General Assembly causes some City, United States. As the Secretariat grew in numbers and influence, it
tension between them and the Big was increasingly inconvenient to find office facilities in the same city.
Five states. Meanwhile, the vast over- When the Interstellar Wars began, the new Terran Confederation decid-
representation of Terra causes some ed to disperse the major agencies; this helped with the office-space prob-
bad feeling among the off-world lem and also helped ensure that no one city would be too tempting a
states. The colonists feel that they are political target for Imperial attack.
entitled to more equitable representa-
tion, since the brunt of any military Ministry of Justice: Geneva, Switzerland
action would fall on them first. Ministry of War: New York City, United States
Ministry of Trade: Brussels, Belgium
National Governments Ministry of Production: Chicago, United States
Ministry of Education: London, United Kingdom
In theory, any nation in the Terran Ministry of Health: Beijing, China
Confederation may choose any gov- Ministry of Culture: Kyoto, Japan
ernment it pleases, provided its citi- Colonial Bureau: Paris, France
zens approve. In practice, the Public Service Bureau: Mumbai, India
Confederation will intervene if the Terran Starport Authority: Phoenix, United States
local government becomes too oppres-
sive – and the Confederation defines Political Parties return to the days of nation-state
what it considers “too oppressive.” supremacy. Their position on inter-
This may take the form of political or There are hundreds of political stellar politics is mixed – most call for
economic sanctions, or occasionally parties on Terra, sometimes more a militant policy toward the Vilani,
even military action. than a dozen in a single country. In but a few actually regard the
the last few decades, several parties Imperium as a potential ally against
Republics and Democracies: The (or alliances of parties) have become the “tyrannical” Confederation
vast majority of Terran nation-states global in scope, and a few now span regime.
are republics or representative democ- several worlds.
racies. The Confederation explicitly Conservatives: The conservative
prefers this form of government for its Imperialists: This party calls for an bloc spans a wide but loosely organ-
member states. aggressive program of interstellar ized group of national and super-
expansion, with new worlds to be national parties. Most conservative
Limited Monarchies: There are very ruled directly from Terra. Naturally, parties prefer minimal government
few hereditary monarchies left on Terra. this means an even greater military and government spending (except for
The European Union nations of the commitment against the Vilani defense) and a laissez-faire approach
United Kingdom and Spain are typical Imperium. Some members are overt to business and general economic pol-
examples – each is a constitutional racists, promoting an ideology that icy. Conservatives tend to work within
monarchy, in which the monarch is claims natural Terran superiority over the Confederation system, and are
head of state but the head of government the Vilani. Although the Imperialist often very influential.
and most lesser officials are elected. Party is well organized and unified, it
is rather small and has little real influ- Socialists: Dozens of socialist and
Principalities: These are small ence. It is most popular in the Big Five liberal-democrat parties exist around
nations ruled by a prince or other nations, notably China and the United the world, dominating the govern-
minor noble, usually with some form States. ment of many nation-states. These
of democratic input from the populace. parties often cooperate in a loose
Examples include the European Union Nationalists: Nationalist parties are “socialist bloc” within the
nations of Monaco and Liechtenstein, found everywhere on Terra. They are Confederation government. Socialists
or the Sultanate of Brunei. most common in the developing generally favor an activist
nations, but even the Big Five nations Confederation government, controls
Dictatorships: As of 2170, no occasionally give rise to these move- on business, an interventionist eco-
Terran nation-state is ruled by an ments. Although they have many nomic policy, and a conciliatory
overt dictatorship. Governments of supporters, they have difficulty coop- approach toward the Vilani
this type usually run afoul of the erating and have little actual power Imperium. As of 2170, socialists form
Confederation’s human-rights laws, in the Confederation government. a majority of both the Advisory Board
and are quickly deposed. Some people Nationalists resent the existence of the and the General Assembly.
wrongly consider the military govern- Terran Confederation, and call for a
ments imposed on occupied Vilani
worlds to be dictatorial, although such
governments are only intended to be
transitional in nature.

TERRA 55

Major Nation-States

United States of America: The United States has a politics. China encourages its population to migrate to
large and relatively young population, an advanced the colonies, by subsidizing transportation costs for
technological base, and a sound economy. As a result it families willing to relocate. China also financed and
remains the most powerful single nation on Terra, equipped one of the early Phoenix Expeditions (p. 57).
although it no longer holds a dominant position in
world affairs. It has an extensive space program, pro- Republic of India: India is the most populous nation
viding the largest share of Marine and Naval personnel, on the planet, a lively democracy and a major center of
as well as a substantial portion of the Navy’s shipbuild- Terran culture. Although it is technologically backward,
ing budget. American entrepreneurs are very prominent it can provide a great deal of manpower for projects all
among the Free Traders, and are heavily involved in over the Terran Confederation. In particular, it is one of
colonial development. the largest sources of recruits for the Terran Army.

The United States was a stumbling block to world Japan: Japan is one of the wealthiest nations on
unification for decades. Until the First Interstellar War, Terra. It experiences constant severe labor shortages,
it opposed any attempt to create a world government in and so provides relatively little manpower for the
which it would not play a leading role. Even today, the Terran armed forces and colonial ventures. Instead it
United States still has one of the most vocal nationalist provides financial backing for commercial and govern-
movements on Terra. ment projects. It is also a technological leader in sever-
al fields, notably computers, robotics, spacecraft
European Union: Technically, the European Union design, and advanced physical research.
is an alliance of nation-states, but after almost 200 years
of cooperation the alliance is so close as to almost con- Republic of Korea: After the reunification of the
stitute unification. The three leading nations of the Korean peninsula in the mid-21st century, Korea spent
Union remain France, Germany, and the United almost half a century integrating the devastated society
Kingdom. The Union stresses “soft power” in world of the north. Korea has been slowly recovering ever
affairs, concentrating on economic and moral influence since. While its economy is not on a level with the
rather than direct political or military control. The United States or European Union, it is respectable and
Union is the second largest economic power on Terra, growing stronger with each passing decade. Korean
trailing the United States by the smallest of margins. It entrepreneurs are very active in the Free Traders.
has a very extensive space program, and is the largest
single contributor of ships for the Terran Navy. Russia: After the breakup of the old Soviet Union,
many of its smaller republics eventually joined the
Republic of China: In the course of the 21st century, European Union. Russia’s nationalistic tendencies led it
the Communist government of China gradually faded to chart an independent course. Its vast natural
into a more moderate state, still authoritarian but with resources and enormous land area have made it a
trappings of Western democracy and capitalism. China power to be reckoned with on Terra, although develop-
has a very large population, and has done a great deal ment has been stubbornly slow. Although Russia is not
to catch up with the most advanced nations over the a first-tier nation, it had a space program of its own
last century. As a result it has a powerful voice in Terran before Vilani contact, and so its presence in space is still
larger than its rank on Terra would indicate.

Greens: The “Greens” form a fairly COLONIAL dependents and civilian employees of
well organized bloc of local environ- ADMINISTRATION the military), the world is under mili-
mentalist parties, with members tary government. Where both Navy
worldwide. They feel that the greatest Terran civilian colonies that have and Army personnel are present, a
threat to the continued existence of not been granted their independence joint-force command is established,
humanity is environmental rather are administered by the Confed- with the Navy tending to dominate.
then military or political. They favor eration’s Colonial Bureau. The
very strict economic controls and a Confederation Navy and Army control Garden worlds, and worlds that
less belligerent policy towards the all military outposts and installations, might yield useful resources, are tar-
Imperium. They have little direct as well as all occupied worlds. gets for civilian colonization. The
influence in the Confederation gov- actual work of colonization is left up
ernment, although they usually con- Terran Colonies to national governments, corpora-
trol a consistent block of votes in the tions, and even small private organiza-
General Assembly and can sometimes Terran policy is to place at least a tions. The Colonial Bureau oversees
push their proposals to center stage. military outpost in every system the process – it declares worlds open
within the Confederation’s sphere of for colonization, allocates land or
influence. Where the population of a resource claims, and provides the
world is composed solely of military initial framework of planetary
personnel (including military government.

56 TERRA

A colony world is usually granted The Phoenix
“home rule” (political independence) Expeditions
as soon as its stable population is
around a million, and as soon as a The Phoenix Expeditions were a series of dozens of long-range colonial
local government is ready to take over ventures, started even before the First Interstellar War and continuing
for the Colonial Bureau administra- throughout the 22nd century.
tion. Once home rule is granted, the
world gets its own seat in the General The original idea behind the Phoenix Expeditions was to send self-
Assembly and begins to take part in contained colony ships into areas far beyond Vilani space. Named after
Confederation government. a mythical bird that was reborn from the ashes of its own destruction,
each ship carried the tools and supplies to establish a new Terra, and also
Occupied Worlds the records and history of the old.

Occupied Vilani worlds are placed The earliest Phoenix ships did not make use of jump drives, and incor-
under martial law, with the specifics porated primitive suspended animation technologies. Various systems of
depending on the individual situation. constant acceleration were used on many of these vessels, and the ships
Joint military commands are the most were targeted at systems thought likely to have habitable worlds. Later
common, with the Army tending to ships incorporated jump drive, which obviated the necessity for
predominate since it usually has the suspended animation and increased the chances of success.
largest number of personnel on an
occupied world. Rarely, a governor Each expedition was to find a suitable world as far from Imperial
from the Colonial Bureau will influence as possible, and to start a settlement there. Some expeditions
be placed in charge of military headed to rimward, searching for worlds that the Imperium would never
occupation forces. find. Others moved through Imperial space, hoping to establish new
colonies in the Imperial flank or rear. They were expected to be out of
As of 2170, the Terran contact with Terra for generations, and for security reasons were ordered
Confederation’s policy is to treat to be cautious about re-establishing contact with Terra.
occupied worlds as humanely as pos-
sible, with an ultimate goal of inte- Different theories of what constituted a viable colony startup influ-
grating them into the Confederation enced the ships’ size, payload, and layout. Numerous designs and vari-
as member nation-states. This policy ants existed; practically every expedition had its unique features. An early
has been tested once – on Nusku – Phoenix expedition was usually built into a single hollowed-out asteroid,
with considerable success; it remains fitted with reactionless drives and carrying tens of thousands of colonists
to be seen whether other Vilani in suspended animation. After the jump-2 drive became available, a
worlds will be as easy to integrate into Phoenix expedition usually consisted of four to six superfreighters (about
the Terran system. 10,000 dtons in size), escorted by eight to 10 smaller ships equipped for
exploration work and armed for self-defense.

THE TERRAN NAVY

The Terran Confederation Navy that been built by the spacefaring and the United States, with minor
was officially established in 2125, just nations and were operating under contributions from Australia, Canada,
before the outbreak of the Second joint UN command. In its earliest Japan, and Korea. Since then it has
Interstellar War. The new force com- years the Navy was still dominated by become more broadly based, with
bined a number of national flotillas China, the European Union, Russia, ships and manpower coming from
dozens of Terran nations.

THE NAVY
LIFE

The Navy is the most prestigious
military organization in the Terran
Confederation. It receives a substan-
tial portion of the military budget, the
best personnel from The Draft, and
the public relations benefit of numer-
ous victories in previous wars. The
Navy claims, with some justification,
to be the main defense between Terra
and absorption by the Vilani
Imperium.

TERRA 57

Recruitment comforts are minimal. Of course, number of former Imperial personnel
and Training comfort is a relative thing . . . for some in its ranks. These are deserters from
spacehands, their current assignment the Imperial Navy who have chosen
Most naval personnel are drafted, is paradise compared to their civilian to enlist and been accepted into the
but a certain number are volunteers life on Terra. Confederation Navy because of their
who hope to enlist before a less desir- expertise and skills. Naturally, con-
able service claims them. The Navy Procurement cerns about espionage and sabotage
tries to “cherry pick” its candidates mean that Naval Security keeps a
from among the Draft pool, and The two largest military shipyard careful eye on them at all times.
advertises to persuade the best and complexes are in the Terra and Nusku
brightest to come in on their own. systems. Civilian shipyards are also ORGANIZATION
important, since the Navy can com-
Every recruit receives eight weeks mandeer civilian vessels in time of Terran Navy organizations are
of basic training, which includes war. The Navy’s Bureau of Ships normally simple ad hoc groupings of
indoctrination to the Navy life, basic reviews all designs manufactured in ships. All formations are adapted to
military courtesy, and physical train- the Confederation, with a view their individual mission, and
ing. If the recruit does not speak or towards their possible use in wartime. although there is a “typical” organiza-
read English, he is given a crash Every civilian shipyard in the tion on the books for each type of
“total-immersion” course in that lan- Confederation has a Naval Liaison squadrons, this is often modified for
guage; modern teaching methods detachment to carry out inspections various reasons.
mean that a bright student can gain a as ships are built, and to track what
working knowledge of the language in vessels are being produced, so the Unit Hierarchy
a few weeks. Basic training turns the Navy knows what’s available in the
civilian into a spacehand, and pre- event of a crisis. Theater of Operations: A theater of
pares him mentally, physically, and operations (“theater” for short) is a
emotionally for military service. Basic A significant portion of the Terran grouping of star systems in which a
training also identifies those who are Navy’s ships are of Imperial design. fleet or fleets are assigned to operate.
constitutionally unfit for naval serv- Some of them are even of Imperial The commander of a theater is nor-
ice, and enables them to move into manufacture, adapted in Terran ship- mally the most senior admiral among
other fields better suited to their yards for Confederation service. For the fleets of those assigned. Theaters
personality. decades, Terrans have been deliber- are given unique names according to
ately capturing Imperial ships and the most important star system that
After completing Basic, the recruits shipyards, making use of the ships, they contain. As of 2170, the Navy
receive six to 12 weeks of advanced the technology, and facilities to fill maintains three theaters: the Terran
training in some technical specialty. out the Navy. Terran naval architects Theater, the Nusku Theater, and the
There are dozens of specialties, each have a tradition of adapting Imperial Procyon Theater.
representing a specific job to be done technology into their designs.
in the Navy. Not all of these are per- Fleet: A fleet is a grouping of sever-
formed on spaceships, since the Navy In addition to Imperial ships and al squadrons under a single admiral.
runs ground installations in support Imperial designs, the Navy has a Fleets are numbered, theoretically in
of their fleet elements.
The Language of the Navy
Many naval officers are “mus-
tangs,” who rise from the ranks after When the Terran Confederation Navy was established, its leaders
distinguishing themselves in some faced the problem of establishing a unified command over starship flotil-
way. However, the Navy also recruits las originally built by a dozen different nations. English was the only lan-
new personnel directly into its officer guage that most of the new Navy’s personnel had in common. It had long
corps. New officers sometimes join been the common language of international aviation, and a great many
through the Naval Officer’s Training people learned it as a second tongue in civilian life. Although the impo-
Corps (NOTC), which is sponsored at sition of a single language was not politically popular, it proved the only
various Terran universities. The way to proceed in the press of events during the First and Second
Navy’s elite officer-training institution Interstellar Wars.
is the Confederation Naval Academy,
which is based on Luna. After the Second Interstellar War, the immediate threat of Vilani
attack subsided, and the Terran Navy had grown considerably. The use
On Duty of English had become ingrained, and was recognized as a permanent
official policy in 2143. In the following years, the other Confederation
Life on a ship in space can be armed forces began to follow suit, as did the Confederation civilian gov-
cramped, boring, and dangerous. ernment. As of 2170, the Confederation still uses several languages for
While the Navy tries to make as much official business, but English is by far the most frequent.
living space as possible available to
sailors, every bit of a military space-
ship must be used to the maximum,
and this often means that crew

58 TERRA

the sequence in which they were The Terran
created, but this convention is not Marine Corps
always followed. In particular, some
fleets are named, the main example Like most of the Terran Confederation’s armed services, the Terran
being the Home Fleet based at Terra. Marine Corps was first assembled out of units from several nations; in
A fleet will have support elements, this case, not all of them were conventional marines. In general, the com-
such as transport and tanker ponents were elite infantry units, chosen for their traditional high stan-
squadrons, as well as combat dards of training and their ability to operate independently for extended
elements. periods.

Squadron: Squadrons are made up Terran Marine units tend to be battalion-sized and smaller, since
of similar ships when operating as interstellar transport is often at a premium. They are among the most
part of a fleet or larger organization,
but will have support and logistical highly trained and well-equipped of the Terran forces,
elements attached when they are serv- although they lack heavy armor and support artillery
ing on their own. Squadrons are num- that would take up too much scarce transport space.
bered and identified by their type: the They are designed to be the first combatants onto
19th Destroyer Squadron, the 5th the battlefield, and to hit the enemy hard enough to
Tanker Squadron, the 21st enable follow-up forces to land and continue the
Transport Squadron, and so on. offensive. Terran Marine detachments also serve as
The names are often abbreviated: ship’s troops aboard Terran Navy vessels.
DesRon 19, TankRon 5, TranRon
21, and so on. Fleets of ships and land-based and partly orbital, while
the men aboard them need fuel, food, others are deep-space installations
Individual Ship: Ships are air, water, spare parts, and thousands and completely space-based.
commanded by officers given the of other items to keep operating.
courtesy title of “Captain” regardless Warships consume ammunition and OPERATIONS
of their actual rank. Small craft, such energy at a fantastic rate, and need
as ship’s boats or landing vessels, gen- repairs after almost every battle. The Navy’s overall purpose is to
erally do not follow this rule. A ship of defend the Terran Confederation, and
a given type will have a standard crew Keeping a fleet of fighting starships to project the Confederation’s power
laid down in regulations, but will functioning requires transport ships, into enemy territory in pursuit of
often vary from that organization due tankers, and other support vessels in Terran political goals. In pursuit of
to casualties or specific mission large numbers. The Terran Navy this purpose, the Navy undertakes a
requirements. maintains an extensive support arm, variety of operations.
and in wartime supplements this fleet
Departments and Sections: Below by commandeering civilian shipping. Power Projection
the individual ship level, crews are Even so, it is almost impossible to
divided into smaller units called keep all needs satisfied during actual One of the overriding principles of
departments. A department handles a combat operations. This is one reason Terran Naval doctrine is the idea that
major system aboard a ship, such as why open war against the Vilani tends a winning force must maintain the
engineering, gunnery, life support, to develop a years-long cycle of momentum, continuing to push its
electronics, communications, com- advance and consolidation (see The “center of mass” through the initial
mand, and so on. A section is a subdi- Pace of Operations, p. 26). areas of resistance and into the
vision of a department, usually han- enemy’s rear areas. In this, the
dling a specific subsidiary system. Naval Bases Confederation Navy follows one of the
Power generation is a section under principles of the 18th century
the engineering department, for A naval base is a facility for the Prussian king Frederick the Great:
example. repair and maintenance of naval star- “always fight your battles on someone
ships. Most have yards for the con- else’s territory.”
Ground installations consist of struction of small, non-jump-capable
departments and sections, with an craft. A few are Navy-owned ship- Naturally, it isn’t always possible
overall commander and a staff if nec- yards, used for putting together the for the Terran Navy to stay on the
essary. Extremely large ones, such as largest naval vessels. Some bases also offensive. So far, the Imperium has
major naval bases, will be commanded contain depots – stockpiles of the myr- always taken the initiative at the
by an admiral. iad other things needed to keep a fleet beginning of each conflict, and in fact
operating. Terran strategic planning assumes
Support and Logistics that war will start with an Imperial
The Terran Confederation has so attack. Terran doctrine still calls for
Amateurs study tactics, professionals few naval bases that there is no stan- the Navy to carry the war to the enemy
study logistics. dard layout or table of organization as soon as possible.
and equipment. Some are partly
– Ancient military axiom

Any complex system eventually
breaks down, but preventative mainte-
nance can keep this from happening.

TERRA 59

System Defense

Kill everyone they send. Eventually, Marine Line Battalions
they’ll stop coming.
Marine combat battalions have several different tables of organization
– Ancient military axiom
and equipment, depending on the original nationality of the unit and its
Protecting a world can be as com-
mission. Despite efforts to standardize, and many decades after the first
plicated as the defenders care to make
national units were converted to Terran Confederation Marines, many
it. The guiding principle is to do as
much damage to invading ships as Marines (and the nations who supply them) resist any attempt to change
possible, as far from the defended their “unit traditions.” For example, the American Marines insist on a
world as possible, and keep hitting squad consisting of a squad leader and two four-man fireteams, built
around a man-portable ETC-GPMG (Electro-Thermal/Chemical General
them until they stop coming.
Purpose Machinegun), resisting the gauss GPMG in use by practically
The Terran Navy often fights
every other Marine unit. British Marines use a section organization, with
defensively in order to keep Imperial
forces away from a critical world. a section leader and three fireteams, two built around a Gauss GPMP
Sometimes this defense is carried out team and one around a sniper team.

by squadrons specifically designed for

the purpose, including non-jump- Current Terran doctrine only and can be sacrificed if necessary.
capable fighters and “system defense labels one world as absolutely critical Naval strategists must weigh the cost
boats.” The Navy also operates moni- to the Confederation’s survival – Terra of any defense against the damage
tors, large orbital stations that mount itself. Any defense of Terra itself is that can be done to the Imperial
very heavy weapons. Of course, the likely to be fought to the last man and offensive.
very last-ditch defense of any world is ship. Other worlds are less important,
in the hands of the Terran Army. The Navy sometimes “defends” the
Confederation with a strategy of

ambush and commerce raiding. It’s

relatively easy for a small Terran

The Terran Strategy squadron to move behind the “front
lines,” waiting to ambush a thinly

As of 2170, there have been three Interstellar Wars between Terra and guarded Imperial convoy. This tactic
the Imperium. Each was begun by an Imperial attack against Terra, and is particularly useful given the
each ended with Terra in control of more territory than before. The Vilani arrangement of stars around Terra.
didn’t even attempt to conquer Terra during the first two wars; during the Any Imperial attack has to move
third, they were forced by their own internal politics to stand down before through the Nusku or Procyon star
completing the conquest. Since the end of the Third Interstellar War, systems; even after an offensive moves
Terran planners have come to suspect that the Imperium is simply not on, any Vilani supply convoys must
structured to permit lengthy campaigns of conquest. Terra has developed move through the same vulnerable
a strategy that depends on this inherent limitation on the Imperial system. choke points. Indeed, the Navy has
hidden caches of supplies and spare
The Terran strategy is one of aggressive defense. The Terran Navy is parts on many small moons and aster-
deployed to meet any Imperial attack as far from Terra as possible. If an oids in those systems, and in others
invasion force advances toward Terra, it is to be harassed and delayed. that might prove to be useful ambush
The Terran Navy will try to inflict as much damage as possible, but will points. These caches can help com-
avoid being trapped into any pitched battle in which the Imperium has merce raiders to continue operating
the advantage. Meanwhile, commerce raiders will attack Imperial sup- long after their direct supply lines
port squadrons and commercial traffic. back to Terra are cut.

Eventually the Vilani attack will bog down, hopefully still at a distance

from Terra itself. At that point, if the Terran Navy has avoided suffering

critical damage, it can go on the offensive. The counterattack will be driv- Convoy Escort
en by political objectives – the goal will be to win concessions from the
Imperial government, whether these are territorial or simply commercial Of course, the Confederation is vul-
in nature. As soon as such concessions are won, the Confederation will nerable to a commerce-raiding strate-
ask for or accept a peace. gy too. While the Vilani don’t deliber-
ately use raids to the same degree,
This strategy is one of limited objectives, and isn’t designed to over- they are not above attacking a
throw the Imperium. Terran planners recognize that the Confederation defenseless merchant convoy if the
doesn’t have sufficient resources for such a conquest, and won’t have opportunity presents itself. Thus, in
such resources for decades or centuries to come. Instead, the Terran wartime every civilian or military
strategy is designed to buy time – permitting the Confederation to survive transport convoy needs an escort.
and grow until it does have the strength to challenge the Imperium on
equal terms. The primary problem with
escorting a convoy during a jump is

the difficulty of coordinating when a

60 TERRA

group of vessels exits jump space. The bombardment group, also group continues to provide fire
With preparation and care, a portion completely naval, conducts the support from orbit.
of the escorting vessels can arrange to preparatory bombardment of the tar-
arrive in advance of the main convoy, get areas on the world, focusing on The assault group consists of the
securing the region of emergence for anti-starship defense installations and Marine assault teams, the landing
the incoming vessels. defenses in the landing zones. Its job craft that carry them to the world’s
is to “suppress” planetary defenses so surface, and squadrons of small
Expeditionary Forces that the Marine and Army units can attack ships that provide direct fire
land and do their work. Even after the support. The assault group’s task is to
The marines are the point of the ground forces are well established on secure a safe landing zone, in which
arrowhead – they make the opening. the planet’s surface, the bombardment the bulk of the Army troops and sup-
The Army forms the two edges of the port equipment can be brought to the
arrowhead – it widens the hole the target world’s surface.
Marines make, and carries the rest of
the arrow through to the heart of the Terran Naval Tactics
target. The Navy is the shaft of the
arrow, the part that gets the head No captain can go far wrong who lays his ship alongside an enemy.
where it’s going. All the parts work – Admiral Horatio Nelson
together to accomplish the job. None
of them can do it alone. Terran naval technology emphasizes beam weapons, which can do
horrendous damage to enemy ships, but which cannot attack effectively
– Admiral Roger Marbury St. John, at very long ranges. Imperial warships, on the other hand, emphasize
Terran Confederation Navy (2164) fast, stealthy, long-range missiles that can be launched from outside the
Terran “engagement envelope.” As a result, Imperial warships can often
When the Navy does go on the hold the range open, avoiding the solid punch of Terran beam weapons,
offensive, the goal is to convince the wearing down the Terran defense with wave after wave of missiles.
Vilani Imperium (or rather, the Avoiding this situation is the primary consideration of Terran tactical
provincial government) that peace doctrine.
would be less disruptive than contin-
ued warfare. The fastest way to In main-fleet engagements, the Terrans have little choice but to close
accomplish this is with a full-blown with the enemy, absorbing the punishment of missile attacks until the
assault against a Vilani outpost or main beam weapons can be brought to bear.
colony world. An expeditionary force is
the organization formed to carry out Terran ships use stealth, electronic countermeasures, and lots of
such an assault. point-defense fire in order to prevent missiles from locking onto or
reaching their targets.
Expeditionary forces are always
joint operations, involving both the The Terran Navy has also deployed several classes of “missile boats” –
Terran Navy (along with the Marines) small, cheap ships that are not expected to survive any major engage-
and the Army. The initial planetary ment, but which can fire substantial volleys in a short time. Imperial
assault is the task of the commanders who don’t expect such attacks from the Terrans are often
Confederation Marines, while follow- taken by surprise.
up forces normally belong to the
Army. The Navy provides transporta- Whenever possible, the Terrans use stealth and misdirection to lure
tion and support for the assault and the Vilani close. If a battle is to be fought close to a planet or other body,
ground campaign. Terran warships will lurk on the surface or in close orbit, waiting to “pop
up” and fire beam weapons at any enemy that wanders too near. Terra
An expeditionary force intended to has also experimented with “Q-ships,” armed warships that mimic the
take a world consists of four parts: the shapes and energy signatures of unarmed freighters, in order to bait
security group, the bombardment commerce raiders.
group, the assault group, and the
transport group. Terran tacticians also recognize that Imperial naval engagements pro-
ceed according to a very strict doctrine. While individual Imperial com-
The security group is composed manders might be capable of departing from the preset plan, they are
entirely of Navy ships, and opens the strongly discouraged from doing so. Once their initial plan begins to
assault by clearing the system of come apart, lower-level Imperial officers become unsure what to do, and
enemy space forces and securing the tend to fall back on a few standardized maneuvers. Terran commanders
vicinity of the world to be attacked. who can anticipate these can often win battles, even against superior
This includes neutralizing any satel- odds, if only the Imperials can be denied the initiative.
lites in orbit over the target world.
The security group also protects the Terran naval tactics are constantly being rewritten in the face of bat-
other groups from counterattacks, tle experience, training maneuvers, and technological advancement. Any
whether by raiding forces left behind flag officer with combat experience, as soon as he can be spared, is sent
in the target star system, or by on a tour of the training facilities to teach others what he knows before
Imperial task forces jumping in from he is returned to the front.
elsewhere.

TERRA 61

The transport group is usually a Long-Range Exploration by a cooperative Terran mercantile
combination of Navy warships and concern. These “merchant” ships
civilian ships pressed into wartime Survey and exploration of worlds cross the frontier and make their way
service. Once a landing zone is outside of the Terran sphere of influ- as deep into the Imperium as possible,
secured, the transport group brings in ence are performed by two groups, visiting worlds that the Navy doesn’t
the remainder of the ground forces, both of which are connected with the expect to fight over for centuries.
and it continues to land supplies as Confederation Navy.
necessary until the campaign is con- In recent days there has been a
cluded. Returning transport ships Exploration outside the Imperium tightening of restrictions on Terran
carry wounded troops to hospital is the responsibility of the regular traders within the Imperium. The
ships with the transport group. Navy, and is carried out by survey Navy has responded by making use of
cruisers of between 400 and 1,000 “Terrani,” Terran citizens of Vilani
System Survey dtons. Crews of these vessels number ancestry, who speak the language and
about 25-100, and are specially select- know the customs. Ships carrying
One duty of the Navy is to perform ed for their experience in biology, such crews are often given falsified
detailed surveys of every system it can planetography, meteorology, and Imperial registration. In particular,
get a ship to. This is usually accom- first-contact methodology. many Terran ships inside Imperial
plished by fitting out ex-merchant ves- space have Nusku registration, issued
sels with astrographic survey gear. Exploration within the Imperium by sympathetic Nuskan officials
Such ships carry a mixture of regular is forbidden to the Confederation before the planet officially changed
and retired Navy personnel on long- Navy, according to the treaty that hands at the end of the Third
term missions designed to last three to ended the Third Interstellar War. Interstellar War. Some Imperial offi-
five years. Private concerns have pro- Naturally, the Navy circumvents this cials know about this ruse, but they
duced several designs for purpose- restriction any way it can. The most cannot issue an Imperium-wide can-
built survey vessels, and the Navy has frequent tactics is to officially dis- cellation of Nuskan ships’ papers
begun hiring private companies for charge naval officers, and send them without risking loss of face and
this work on an experimental basis. out with civilian crews (many of removal from office.
whom are also retired Navy
personnel) in civilian vessels supplied

TERRAN

GROUND FORCES

The Terran Confederation Army is want to participate. Since most habit- language – but most soldiers do learn
designed to deal with enemy forces able worlds are underpopulated by English early in their careers if they
within bombardment range of a given Terran standards, this is a very attrac- didn’t already speak it on enlistment.
world – usually about 40,000 miles. tive option to citizens of a densely
Anything beyond that is the Navy’s job. populated area such as China or the Basic and advanced training takes
The Army therefore includes things Indian subcontinent. The call “To the place at one of more than a dozen
not traditionally assigned to an army – Stars!” has been sounded in Chinese, training bases throughout Terra. The
“wet” naval vessels both surface and Hindi, Urdu, Malay, and a dozen other Army also maintains bases on Mars
subsurface, and aircraft capable of languages of the developing world. and in the asteroid belt, for low gravity
operating both in atmospheres and (to and vacuum-conditions training.
a limited extent) in space. Recruitment and
Training As with the Navy, the Army pro-
THE motes many of its officers from the
ARMY LIFE Army recruits are drafted, but (as ranks. The Army also maintains three
with the Navy) many citizens volun- military academies to train new offi-
Many Terrans view the Army as a teer. Soldiers go through an eight- cers coming directly from the civilian
means to an end, a way to get techni- week period of basic training, and population: Fengshan (China),
cal training and to see the world with- from eight to 16 weeks of advanced Hamburg (Germany), and West Point
out spending a fortune. A lucky soldier training. Basic training consists of (United States).
can even earn an offworld assignment; physical and mental conditioning to
many such soldiers end up settling in the military life, along with basic On Duty
the colonies rather than returning weapons familiarization. Advanced
home. training adds the knowledge required After training is completed, a
by the recruit’s military specialty recruit is sent to his duty station.
This “military emigration” is (infantryman, grav mechanic, tanker,
encouraged by the Terran Con- and so on). The Army differs from the As of 2170, most of the Terran
federation, which provides land grants Navy in not sharing a single common Army is still stationed on Terra itself.
and other incentives to soldiers who As a matter of policy, new soldiers are
usually posted away from their home
countries, to ensure that they remain
loyal to the Confederation and avoid

62 TERRA

Army Slang between these two states. Engineers
perform both combat and support
Like most soldiers, Terran Army troops sprinkle their conversation operations, as do military police.
with a level of casual profanity that is not dealt with here. The following
is a sample of their tamer slang. Troops are also classified by arm of
service, and there are dozens of these.
Basha: From the Nepalese (Ghurka), an improvised shelter in the The major service arms are infantry,
field. Also a verb, as to “basha up” is to rig a shelter and go to sleep. cavalry, artillery, armor, aviation, and
engineers.
Blat: To fire small arms, from the sound made by them.
Blue Helmets: Garrison forces, especially those deployed on Terra. The Theater: The Confederation Army
term is normally derogatory. and Navy share the same theater
Flying Coffin: Any grav vehicle, but especially a grav tank. designations (see p. 58).
Gropo: Any infantry, contraction of “ground pounder.”
Impy: Plural “Impies.” Derogatory epithet for Imperials. Field Army: A field army (in the
Lanni: Plural “Lannies.” Derogatory epithet for Imperials, a shorten- sense of a specific unit) consists of two
ing of “Vilani.” to five corps and a number of sup-
Oslo: Outer Space Liaison Officer. This term has replaced “Space porting units. At the army level, sup-
Cadet” as a derogatory term for an incompetent officer. porting units typically outnumber the
POL: Verb, to refuel, from the acronym POL (“Petrol, Oil, combat units: an army will have trans-
Lubricants”). port, signal, intelligence, military
Provo: Short for Provost Marshal, a nickname for Military Police. police, quartermaster, ordnance,
Redcap: Nickname for military police of British origin, who wear red maintenance/repair, and administra-
caps. Sometimes applied to all military police. tive units, plus whatever other attach-
Rupert: Derogatory epithet, a talentless or incompetent junior officer. ments are needed to accomplish its
Sapper: An engineer, especially a combat engineer. mission.
Squaddie: Any enlisted soldier.
Stonk: To hit an area with artillery fire. Corps: A typical corps has from
Stonking: Excellent, good, large. three to five divisions, along with
Tactical: To “go tactical” is to check equipment, discard unnecessary brigade or battalion-sized artillery,
items (especially if they rattle) and generally prepare for action. recon, air defense, and other combat
Terrani: A person of mixed Vilani and Terran ancestry, or a person units, plus combat support of the
born on Terra of Vilani parents. same type found at army level but
Yomp: To march cross-country with full pack, without transport. smaller. Units assigned to a corps are
sometimes split up and assigned to
involvement in local politics. Some have formal tables of organization, and individual divisions for special pur-
soldiers earn an assignment off world, are assembled on a case-by-case basis. poses – a division might have addi-
usually to an occupation force on tional artillery attached for an assault,
Nusku or some other former Imperial Individual national preferences are or engineers if demolition is required.
colony. still reflected in many of the lower-
level organizations – this is especially Heavy Division: Sometimes called
Conditions of deployment can vary true of the Terran Marines. For exam- a tank division or an armored division,
widely. Soldiers may be quartered in ple, units of French origin often use this unit consists of two armored
comfortable barrack blocks safe in the the binom rather than the fireteam as brigades and a mechanized infantry
middle of a friendly Terran popula- the smallest tactical unit. brigade, along with an artillery
tion, or in portable shelters on a polar brigade and other supporting arms
icecap. Their duty may simply be to Unit Hierarchy and assets. The assorted support units
stand ready to defend their position normally assigned to a division can
against Imperial attack. It may be to Troops are classified according to total one or two brigades’ worth of
help a newly conquered world inte- several different criteria. First, there is personnel and equipment. It is used
grate itself into the Confederation. It the broad distinction between combat where concentrated firepower is
may be to help keep the peace, in a troops and support troops. Combat needed.
restive region of Terra or on a rough- troops are those intended to directly
and-tumble colony world participate in combat, such as Mechanized Division: This unit con-
infantry, cavalry, artillery, tanks, and sists of two mechanized infantry
ORGANIZATION so on. Support troops are intended to brigades, an armored brigade, and an
provide support for combat troops. artillery brigade plus other supporting
The largest Army unit for which a Quartermaster, transport, signal, arms and assets. Mechanized divisions
standard table of organization exists is intelligence, maintenance, adminis- offer a mix of troop types, and are used
the division. Divisions can be compo- tration, and medical units, among oth- where flexibility and adaptability are
nents of larger formations (primarily ers, fall under this classification. Some needed.
corps and armies), but these do not troops exist in a kind of twilight
Mobile Division: Sometimes called
an airmobile division, this unit con-
sists of two airmobile infantry brigades
and a cavalry brigade, plus other sup-
porting arms and assets. Mobile divi-
sions are used in situations where
speed and flexibility are important.

TERRA 63

Battalion: Battalions contain three

to five companies, almost always a

The Two Terran Armies mixture of types, under a headquar-
ters company. Lower-echelon units
In practice, there are two Terran Confederation Armies: the field Army, usually depend on the troops in the
and the planetary defense Army. While the distinction is not part of the offi- battalion headquarters for administra-
cial Army organization, in practice most Army units can be classified into tive support and preventative mainte-
one or the other category. nance. Major repairs are undertaken
at higher echelons.
Field Army units land on a world after the Marines have opened a
beachhead, defeat any Imperial troops remaining on the world, and Company/Squadron/Battery:
occupy the world for the first few months after it has been secured. Infantry companies contain three or
Planetary-defense Army units operate behind the front lines, holding key more infantry platoons accompanied
worlds and acting as their final line of defense. by a weapons platoon and a company
headquarters, which contains com-
Troops of the field Army are equipped and trained to a standard just mand as well as administrative and
beneath that of the Terran Marines. They specialize in mobile warfare – combat support elements. Among cav-
striking hard, crippling the opposition with precise application of locally alry and reconnaissance units of some
overwhelming force, and neutralizing the logistical and command-and- nationalities, a company is called a
control infrastructure of the enemy. Their officers and technical staff squadron. In artillery units, a company
come from the richest nations on Terra, and their rank-and-file soldiers is called a battery, and consists of sev-
tend to be from nations of the second tier. eral gun sections under a battery head-
quarters with a fire direction center.
Planetary-defense Army troops are recruited primarily from the
developing world. Their training and equipment, while rarely inade- Platoon/Troop: In Confederation
quate, are at a standard lower than those of the field Army. They are service, a platoon contains about 40
trained in police and constabulary duties, and place emphasis on defen- soldiers, although the number varies
sive rather then offensive tactics. Their logistical requirement is larger, with different types. Infantry platoons
since many of the officers and enlisted men bring spouses and families consist of three to five sections or
along on deployment. squads, under a platoon leader (typi-
cally a junior lieutenant) and his assis-
It is an open secret that planetary defense units are often deployed to tant (typically an NCO). A
areas where loyalty to the Terran Confederation is shaky. They are much Confederation mechanized infantry
more likely to see action against internal rebels than against the
Imperium.

platoon contains a machinegun sec-

tion and an anti-armor section as

Infantry Division: An infantry divi- Regiment: A regiment is usually additional support. Weapons platoons
sion consists of two infantry brigades three or more battalions, and is usual- contain crew-served weapons sec-
and a mechanized infantry brigade, ly an administrative unit with its own tions; armor and cavalry platoons con-
plus supporting troops. They are used military traditions rather than a unit tain three to five vehicles of the appro-
in rear areas where security and short- likely to be deployed in the field. priate type. Among cavalry and recon-
range patrols are more important than naissance units of some nationalities,
pure firepower. a platoon is called a troop.

Garrison Division: Garrison divi-

sions consist of a cavalry brigade, two

garrison infantry brigades, and a civil Military Police
affairs brigade, plus other supporting

arms and assets. Garrison divisions and Civil Affairs
serve in Terran “hot spots” and on
occupied worlds, and are intended to The Terran Provost Marshal’s office is in charge of training and support
help move a region or world toward of the various MP (military police) units in Terran service. Military police
reliable self-government under the provide area security, maneuver and mobility support, police intelligence
Terran Confederation. A civil affairs operations, internment of prisoners of war, resettlement or relocation of
division is organized identically to a displaced civilians, and law and order in the area of operations.
garrison division, but with two civil
affairs brigades and one garrison Military police are not the same as Civil Affairs units, although some
infantry brigade. of the duties overlap. Civil Affairs units are designed to impose military
government on a region whose loyalties to the Confederation are uncer-
Brigade: A brigade consists of three tain, but where active combat is not taking place. They sometimes fight
to six battalions, along with support- insurgents, but more often they are intended to prevent rebellion by guid-
ing units, under a headquarters. ing the civilian population into the Terran fold. Civil affairs units build
Supporting units that are smaller than infrastructure, train local civilian officials, provide security support, and
battalions are often attached directly perform intelligence gathering against potential rebels.

to the brigade headquarters.

64 TERRA

Section or Squad: Some nationali- Terran Ground Tactics
ties use these terms interchangeably,
but a section is usually larger than a Terran small-unit tactics have undergone considerable change in the
squad. Terran Army regulations have last few decades. In the 21st century, the most advanced Terran armies
recently settled on the section as three depended on satellite navigation and communications systems that were
fireteams and a section leader, and the extremely vulnerable to high-tech jamming. An overdependence on
squad as two fireteams and a squad “smart bombs and snake eaters” – precision-guided munitions and high-
leader, and have also defined a weapon ly-trained advance spotters with laser designators – meant that Terran
or vehicle crew as a section if it con- armies were at a disadvantage when operating outside their satellite
tains three or more soldiers. network.
Mechanized or mobile infantry squads
contain transport vehicles sufficient to New equipment and new techniques had to be developed if the
carry the unit. Terrans were to defeat the Imperials. Today, Terran units are much less
dependent on the high-technology infrastructure that they once used on
Fireteam: A fireteam is three to five Terra. Of course, their techniques still benefit if the enemy can be denied
soldiers, normally four. One is desig- the high ground of space and close orbit, even if only temporarily.
nated the team leader, usually a senior
private or a corporal. ground assets. A well-garrisoned and and equipped to take over ordinary
supplied world can hold out for police and constabulary tasks.
Binom: A binom is two soldiers, months or even years, and can inflict
and is used by some nationalities (pri- casualties on an invading force far out Planetary Invasion
marily the French) under the fireteam. of proportion to its own numbers. On
In cases where both soldiers in a the other hand, a poorly trained, inad- One of the most difficult opera-
binom are the same rank, one will equately equipped, and improperly led tions faced by the Army is an opposed
have seniority. Binoms seldom con- defense force can collapse within landing on a fully defended world.
tain officers. When a vehicle crew is a days. Such operations require a assault
binom, it usually consists of a driver force at least three times larger than
and a vehicle commander/gunner. Military Occupation the defending force, with more being
preferred. Once the Navy has cleared
OPERATIONS Forces on an occupied world will the system of spaceborne opposition,
initially consist of the invasion troops. and has dealt with the ground-based
Terran Army units are assigned a These will gradually be replaced by air defense forces, assault landings
variety of missions, and are trained garrison and civil-affairs divisions as can begin. Speed and overwhelming
and equipped for several specific resistance to the occupation declines. force are necessary, and the invaders
duties. Gradually, the military occupation will must retain the initiative throughout
be lifted as local forces can be trained the entire operation.
Planetary Defense

A properly conducted planetary
defense requires both space and

THE TERRAN
MERCHANT MARINE

Through Terra’s past, there have history – and their fortune – or die of 8-30 men. The largest freighters, up
always been men who made history trying. to 10,000 dtons in size, may have
while seeking personal fortune: the crews numbering over 100.
Greek merchant-adventurers in Persia MERCHANT
in the decades before the Macedonian TYPES Armed Merchant Marine
conquest, the British East India
Company on the Indian subcontinent There are almost as many mer- Shortly after the formation of the
in the 18th and 19th centuries, the fur chant ship designs as there are ship Terran Confederation Navy, the
trappers of North America during the owners, since each one is customized Confederation decided to encourage
same era, and countless others. Few of to suit the tastes and requirements of the construction of armed merchant
these men were consciously trying to its captain. Sizes range from 100 to vessels. The purpose was twofold: to
found an empire, but that is precisely 800 dtons or more, and almost all are enable Terran merchant shipping to
what they did. equipped with jump-2 drives. Smaller defend itself against pirates and other
ships, owned by small corporations or hostiles during time of peace, and to
The merchant princes of 2170 even individuals, usually have crews provide a backup force that the Navy
occupy a similar niche, and will make could requisition during wartime.

TERRA 65

The program was backed by a are nearby, so “company towns” soon enormous priority. In general, howev-
number of Terran corporations, and grew up near the facilities. Later, these er, merchant corporations are divided
accelerated dramatically after the cap- settlements became cities in their own into departments that report to a sin-
ture of the Nusku shipyards in the right, and industrial firms found it gle controlling body, usually a board
Third Interstellar War. Today the cost-effective to “farm out” civic of directors.
Terran merchant marine includes affairs to specialist companies under
dozens of privately owned armed long-term contracts. The Terran Confederation is still
freighters, many of them operating small enough that it is only a few
inside Imperial space. weeks journey from one end to the
other, so most Terran corporations
The Free Traders are still operated from a central head-
quarters on or near Terra. Outlying
Founded in 2123, the Free Traders Foundation was a nonprofit organ- operations have some independence
ization intended to promote open markets and interstellar trade. The of action, but they are constantly
brainchild of Japanese industrial magnate Yukio Hasegawa, the subject to orders from the home
Foundation helped Terran entrepreneurs acquire ships and begin carry- office.
ing Terran goods into the Imperium, at first without the knowledge or
approval of the Terran government or Imperial administrators. Departments

Although it occasionally continues to act at cross-purposes with the Like a single vessel in the Navy, a
Terran government, the Foundation is now a very powerful organization. merchant ship is divided into depart-
It is particularly influential in the new Nusku Republic, where its ments: engineering, piloting and navi-
member corporations have invested heavily. gation, supercargo, and so on. On
larger vessels, each department has an
Naturally, the Foundation is even less popular with Imperial officials officer in charge; on smaller ones, a
than with the Confederation government. Many observers fear that Free department may consist of a single
Traders’ activities within the Imperium may be provoking a new out- person.
break of war.
Enlisted and Officer
Bureau of Colonization Corporate Ranks
Merchant Fleets
Established in an attempt to bring Each jump-capable merchant star-
organization to extraterrestrial colo- Merchant companies find it con- ship is commanded by a captain,
nization efforts, the Terran Bureau of venient to organize themselves into regardless of the size of the ship or its
Colonization is responsible for regu- regional territories, rather like the crew. If necessary, a ship will have
lating all new settlement efforts. The Navy’s theaters of operation, although subsidiary command staff, usually led
Bureau operates out of administrative they are usually called something else. the first officer (or executive officer)
offices in Paris, France, and oversees A ship will be assigned to operate out who is given the rank of lieutenant.
the appointment of local governments of a particular district, using a partic- Some companies call their division
for all Terran colonies. Before its ular starport as a home base, return- heads “commanders” and others call
establishment, colonial government ing there after trade missions, some of them “chiefs,” often applying the for-
was a hodgepodge of national regula- which can last years. mer usage on large vessels and the
tions and local groups; the Bureau latter on smaller ones.
brought consistency to the operation. MERCHANT
ORGANIZATION Shipboard Operations
Although the Colonial Bureau
appoints a Terran governor for each Merchant corporations are busi- All ships have engineering, naviga-
colony, the actual work of building ness ventures, not military commands tion, and command departments. On
and operating a colony is usually dele- (although some are run as if they small ships, these consist of an engi-
gated to a corporation or other private were). Each is organized differently, neer, a navigator, and a pilot/captain.
group, under the governor’s supervi- according to the wishes of its On larger vessels, there will be depart-
sion and control. As a result, private governing body. ment heads and subsidiary crewmen.
companies or consortia operate most Larger passenger ships have steward
colonies. A few companies even spe- Each nation-state on Terra has its divisions, while smaller ones have a
cialize in colonial administration, pro- own law code concerning business single steward devoted to passenger
viding police, infrastructure, and operations – some loose, some highly comfort.
government services under contract. restrictive, some in between. The
Confederation has made some Crewmen are always assigned to
The first such efforts involved min- progress in coordinating and monitor certain vital ship systems, on
ing or industrial firms that opened condensing the plethora of national a rotating watch system that varies
operating facilities on remote worlds. regulations, but this is not an with the size of the ship and crew. On
Workers do better when their families smaller ships, the entire crew often
rotates “bridge watch” and monitors
all systems from a central location.

66 TERRA

Life aboard a Terran merchant ships reached their destinations. The supplier of parts and systems for other
ship is usually quite spartan. Crew first colony to be established, at major shipbuilders in the Terran sys-
quarters are crowded and only mar- Prometheus, began with a Behmer- tem. It is also a major military
ginally comfortable. Most merchant staffed administration that was quite contractor. Finally, it is an important
ships, especially the smaller ones, successful. financial backer for a variety of deep-
work their crews very hard – 16-hour space ventures.
shifts are not unheard of when a ship Today, Behmer AG has become the
is in the midst of arrival or departure Confederation’s leading provider of Named after its most famous CEO,
operations. administrative services for low-popu- Yukio Hasegawa (p. 43), Hasegawa
lation colony worlds. Industrial firms Limited has gone through a number
MAJOR that establish offworld colonies often of name changes and other reorgani-
CORPORATIONS call on Behmer to help set up and zations since its foundation in 2092.
maintain local government. The Most recently (2168), the firm’s head-
As of 2170, the following Terran Terran Confederation has also con- quarters were moved to London, and
corporations are the most prominent tracted with Behmer for civilian it was reincorporated under British
ones involved in deep-space industries administration on occupied Vilani law to take advantage of favorable
and interstellar trade. worlds; the company is given some European regulations concerning
credit for the successful integration of deep-space industry.
Asteroidenbergwerke Nusku into the Terran Confederation.
GmbH The current CEO is Yoshira Ehara,
FarStar Association the grandson of Yukio Hasegawa.
Asteroidenbergwerke is, by a sub- Although Hasegawa established the
stantial margin, the Terran The FarStar Association is a loose Free Traders Foundation, he always
Confederation’s leading operator in organization of independent trade kept his firm separate so that the inde-
deep-space mining and heavy industry. brokers rather than a real corporation, pendence of the Foundation would
The company was established in the but its service is still valuable. If an not be compromised; that tradition
2030s, and was one of the first private independent merchant captain is will- continues to the present day.
firms to engage in mining operations in ing to commit to a regular route,
the Terran planetoid belt. It was heavi- FarStar will see to it that he always Hellenic Industries
ly involved in the European Union’s has the best cargo available when he Limited
generation-ship program, helping to arrives. On the other hand, woe
construct and man a number of the betides the captain who is consistent- Founded in 2134 by a consortium
colony ships. ly late, or who misses a pickup. of Greek and British investors,
Getting on the FarStar blacklist can be Hellenic Industries specializes in the
Today, Asteroidenbergwerke has very bad for business . . . manufacture of small spacecraft. It
operations in a dozen star systems, has shipyard facilities in the Terran
and is the sole owner-operator of two Hasegawa Limited asteroid belt, in orbit around Luna,
Terran industrial outposts. In particu- in the Prometheus system, and
lar, it is the Confederation’s leading This firm operates no starships of elsewhere.
supplier of the rare-earth metal lan- its own, but it builds ships in the
thanum, critical to the production of Terran shipyards. It is an important
jump-drive equipment. Although it
does not operate an interstellar trans-
port line of its own, it is a major ship-
per of construction equipment, heavy
industrial equipment, and refined
metals.

Behmer
Aktiengesellschaft

Behmer AG (nicknamed “The
Bag”) is a consulting firm founded in
the early 21st century, working with
small Terran nation-states to solve
local economic and social problems.
During the 2050s the company
became a major contractor to the
European Union’s generation-ship
program. Behmer personnel left Terra
as some of the earliest interstellar
colonists, prepared to set up new
governments when the generation

TERRA 67

High Frontier Terran Starport
Development Authority
Consortium
In 2160, the Terran Confederation created the Terran Starport
Terran industrialist Umar bin- Authority to regularize the operation of starports and civilian shipyards.
Abdallah al-Ghazali (p. 44) used his The Authority oversees tower and traffic operations, and controls the
personal fortune to acquire the assets day-to-day operations of every starport in the Confederation. The
of this near-defunct trading corpora- Authority is operated by a Director, who is appointed by the Secretary-
tion in 2157. This move made al- General and reports directly to him. The headquarters and main offices
Ghazali the Chief Executive Officer, of the Authority are located in the largest Terran “downport,” near
majority stockholder, and Chairman Phoenix, Arizona.
of the Board of Directors. With the
new infusion of capital he provided, Novotny Factoring Smutny Associates
the Consortium invested heavily in
shipyard facilities on Nusku, and David Novotny was a British citizen Pavel Smutny was a Croatian geo-
began construction of a series of of Czech ancestry. Just before the First logical engineer who was one of the
small, fast merchant ships designed to Interstellar War, he founded one of the first scientists to travel to Prometheus
penetrate Imperial space without earliest firms to carry on regular trade using the newly invented jump drive.
attracting undue attention. with the Prometheus colony. His firm He spent several years performing
grew rapidly after the war was over, resource surveys for the Prometheus
It is rumored that the Consortium especially once demobilization placed colony, and was the first to discover
is in an unofficial partnership with the a large number of jump-capable ships the unusual “Prometheus amber” pro-
Terran Confederation Navy, and that onto the civilian market. duced by certain woody plants on that
al-Ghazali’s ships are engaged in planet. In 2108 he established a plane-
covert scouting and espionage mis- Today, Novotny Factoring is one of tary-survey company, which took part
sions while they travel within the the largest firms managing trade in the initial surveys of several worlds
Imperium. between Terra and the colonies. It in the “Outback” region to rimward
normally specializes in “there-and- and trailing of Terra.
Hill and Masterson back” trades rather than long trade
routes – it arranges for shipping of Today, Smutny Associates remains
Hill and Masterson (often called colonists and manufactured equip- a small but very influential firm, with
“H&M”) is a large American manufac- ment out to the colonies, followed by unmatched expertise in planetary sur-
turing concern, with installations on immediate shipping of exotic colonial vey and early exploration. Although it
Terra and several of the colony goods back to Terra. The exception is operates no ships of its own, the firm
worlds. The firm specializes in heavy the route between Terra and Nusku, often provides scientific teams for
vehicles, and is the primary supplier where Novotny Factoring has become Terran exploratory ships traveling into
of gravitic vehicles under contract for a major player in industrial trade uncharted space.
the Confederation Army. It also pro- between the Confederation’s two
duces one of the most popular civilian major worlds. The firm operates a Topornin/Rostovtzeff
grav vehicles, the Hill and Masterson small merchant fleet of its own, and
“Phoenix Air/Raft.” also leases space on other carriers. Topornin/Rostovtzeff T.O.O. (Tovar-
ichestvo c Ogrannichnuu Otvetstvenuu
Kaufmann Redwing Express, or “limited liability partnership”) is the
Sternenschiffbau AG Incorporated largest Russian company engaged in
offworld trade. Within the Terran
This corporation operates one of Redwing Express is a recent addi- Confederation itself it is a relatively
the largest private shipyards on Terra, tion to the ranks of Terran space minor player, but it is investing heavi-
located in the L-5 position. Kaufmann industries, established in 2158. It may ly in potential trade into the Vilani
builds a variety of civilian ships, and be a new company, but it has a repu- Imperium. It has been quite successful
has a long-term contract with the tation as a hard worker, and has in opening markets on the kimashar-
Navy to build warships. expanded very rapidly. It specializes in gur worlds closest to Terra, sometimes
private courier service to every world using innovative techniques (i.e. smug-
Octave Kaufmann was a graduate in the Terran Confederation, carrying gling) to avoid Imperial restrictions on
student assistant on the UNSCA team data, small cargoes, or important pas- Terran trade.
that developed the first reactionless sengers. Redwing’s distinctive paint
thruster in 2064. By the time of his jobs, guaranteed service, and “can do” Topornin/Rostovtzeff is the second-
death in 2104, he was the holder of 18 attitude take the customer’s mind off largest participant in the Free Traders
patents related to gravitic and thruster its high fees. Association (after the High Frontier
technologies. He retired from UNSCA Development Consortium, and oper-
in 2087 to found Kaufmann ates several exploratory-trade ships of
Sternenschiffbau, and headed the its own.
company’s research division for the
remainder of his life.

68 TERRA

CHAPTER FOUR

THE IMPERIUM

Never forget that the Vilani are the same wants and needs. Their cul- None of this is new. We’ve been here
Human. ture is unusual by our standards, but before, and we’ve won before.
our ancestors from Cortez to
We aren’t up against out-and-out MacArthur all managed to deal with – Lt. Colonel Jing Xue,
E.T.s, with wavy tentacles and divergent cultures. opening lecture on Vilani Psychology,
retractable eyes. The Vilani may not be
exactly like us, but at bottom they have Copernicus Naval College (2165)

IMPERIAL SOCIETY

The initial thing that any Terran status quo, and to keep Vilani society rational, scientific people with a
notices about Imperial society is its vibrant. worthy goal in mind – to
stable, monolithic nature. Like many transform society into a tool for giving
first impressions, this one is only a Conservatism people a place, and making them
partial truth. The Vilani have devel- happy with that place. A more exact
oped a culture that spans thousands of Not long after Terrans encountered Terran analogy might be to pre-indus-
star systems, and they specifically dis- the Vilani, one wit observed that “they trial China, where Confucian ideology
courage other folkways, but it’s still make the ancient Egyptians look like was developed along similar lines and
Human nature to differentiate if given wild-eyed revolutionaries.” The Vilani for similar purposes.
half a chance. As remarkable as the made their last major technological
Ziru Sirka may be for its homogeneity, innovation at about the time Terrans To the Imperial viewpoint, change
it only got that way, and only stays that were figuring out how to smelt iron. brings dislocation and unhappiness. It
way, thanks to numerous processes can also create new wealth and oppor-
that actively work to keep it so. This is not due to a flaw in Vilani tunities, but once one reaches a cer-
psychology. The Vilani once had a tain reasonable quality of life, is con-
VILANI technologically advancing society tinuing forward worth the cost? More
PSYCHOLOGY much like that of Terra. They are not than 3,000 years ago, some Vilani
incapable of learning new things, or came to the conclusion that it wasn’t,
The Imperium is built on four pri- even of inventing them. They simply and over time they convinced every-
mary psychological principles, which choose not to. one else. Vilani conservatism is a con-
are drilled into Vilani from birth. All scious choice, designed to maximize
four are designed to maintain the Terrans sometimes compare Vilani happiness in Imperial society, and it
conservatism to that of ancient Egypt was deliberately imposed a long time
or the Inca. This misses a critical fact: ago.
Imperial society was developed by a

THE IMPERIUM 69

The average Vilani citizen may not That’s typical of the Vilani way. In their ideal civilization. Instead, they
be aware of the history of this change, every field of endeavor, someone assume that people will still be people,
but he believes whole-heartedly that already thought it through thousands of primarily interested in their own per-
his happiness – and that of others – years ago. The Vilani believe that their sonal welfare. Imperial society makes
depends on life carrying on in its ancestors came up with a solution to room for those selfish impulses, and
unchanging way. So long as tempta- most problems, and in many cases deals with them by channeling them,
tion can be avoided, most Vilani will they’re right. Theirs is not a blind con- not by hoping that they will cease to
stick to traditional ways even if it servatism, but one that makes sense, exist.
means minor inconvenience. Every given the work their ancestors did to
day of their lives, they are reminded ensure that the traditions would be Within these boundaries, the Vilani
that what might be convenient or worthy of respect. have come up with their own peculiar
expedient could also be the start of a form of collectivism. Under the
slippery slope to social breakdown. Collectivism Imperial system, there is a basic stan-
dard of living to which everyone is
Of course, in many cases the Vilani Terrans sometimes compare entitled; while not lavish, it is more
citizen doesn’t have to choose incon- Imperial society to the Communist than adequate to support life. As in
venience by following tradition. For nation-states of 20th-century Terra. Terran society, there are rewards for
example, a common Terran joke This comparison is understandable, hard work and success. But these
claims that there’s an easy way to tell especially given the command-driven rewards are usually not monetary, but
a Vilani: he’s the one standing at an nature of the Imperial economy, but directly material. Housing is handed
intersection at two in the morning, there are several major points of out by one’s employer, as are food,
rain pouring down on him and not a difference. clothing, entertainment devices, and
car in sight, waiting for the light to other “perks.” The higher one is on the
change so he can cross the street. As The most important difference is social ladder, the better one’s standard
with many jokes, there’s some truth to that the Vilani do not believe in the of living.
this one. The average Vilani citizen, historical inevitability of their system.
finding himself in such a situation, They see the Ziru Sirka as an achieve- Of course, this concession to
never dreams of jaywalking – although ment, the product of their race’s Human acquisitiveness has been
he might at least think about the idea proudest moment. They believe that it placed within boundaries that keep it
long enough to reject it. What really needs constant maintenance, or else from getting out of hand. For exam-
prevents this humorous situation things will eventually fall back into the ple, the only way to get better perks or
from happening is that the Vilani have bad, chaotic old ways. a higher standard of living is through
already considered it. Their cross- promotion. In other words, there is no
walks go under the road, and have for Another difference is that the impersonal way of acquiring them –
millennia, so no pedestrian is ever Vilani are not “utopians” – they don’t one’s superiors decide when they are
forced to wait in the rain. assume that Human nature will deserved. In Terran society, no matter
change to match the requirements of how you get the money, you can buy
the goods. In the Imperium, if you’ve
Advertising produced like no one else, but at the
expense of others, you’re more likely
The Vilani have been exposed to no advertising since the founding of to be demoted than promoted.
the Ziru Sirka and the creation of its command economy. There are very
few competing products, and items mostly differentiate themselves This is not to say that Imperial
according to status. For example, there are different types of shoes, but society has no money; it’s just that
who has the right to draw each type from the store varies according to money exists entirely for accounting
class. Since product and consumer are already matched, there is simply purposes. It’s associated with a person
no point to taking up time or space in the media to tout a product; at as one of several metrics used to eval-
most, a factual report will be broadcast on the news channels to inform uate him, but he has no control over it.
citizens that a new item is available. Money in Vilani space has long since
evolved to become a virtual represen-
When Terrans first burst on the scene, they brought their competing tation of production, with no other
products and the concept of advertising with them. At first, many Vilani social or legal role.
believed the loud, colorful, 30-second “news programs” that promised
amazing things. The common Vilani soon learned the truth of the mat- Another check on Vilani greed is a
ter and rapidly swung to the opposite view; many decided to mistrust kind of “potlatch” custom. When a
anything a Terran merchant said. Vilani citizen is promoted to higher
professional or social status, he is
Since then, Terran trade concerns have adapted their advertising to expected to be generous with gifts to
Vilani viewpoints, and won back some of the customers they alienated his colleagues, subordinates, neigh-
during the first burst of commerce. A few unscrupulous merchants still bors, and family members. It’s consid-
try to take advantage of Vilani gullibility, but Terran companies and ered a point of honor to give more
government try to police this for their own future benefit. back to the community than one takes
from it. Following this tradition gives
the successful citizen prestige, and
also engenders good relations within
the social circle.

70 THE IMPERIUM

Efficiency The Vilani Hero

In Vilani society, “perks” are Vilani stories are Human stories, with protagonists and villains,
assigned according to personal and action, mysteries, and all the usual things Humans find interesting.
group production. Greater production However, certain classes of hero typical of Terran mythology never
means more perks: more and better appear in its Vilani counterpart. There are no “lone wolves,” and no peo-
personal goods, more luxuries, more ple who seek personal revenge after being failed by society. Vilani heroes
status. However, in their quest for are also not quixotic; there’s always a point to their actions. George Leigh
increased production, Vilani citizens Mallory’s excuse for adventure (“Because it’s there!”) is incomprehensi-
are constrained in two notable ways. ble. The Vilani hero works within the system. For example, while many
Vilani dramas hinge on crimes, they are always recognizable “police pro-
In places where business can move cedurals,” with an emphasis on “procedure.” Holovids that get into the
forward only on a zero-sum basis, for nitty-gritty details of investigation and the hunting down of a perpetrator
example by putting a competitor out are endlessly popular. So is a more unusual kind of story that follows the
of business, a Vilani has no room to criminal as the system brings him to justice.
maneuver. It’s unacceptable to ruin
someone else for your own benefit. “Disaster movies” are also popular. The Vilani are perfectly aware that
(Naturally, there are some who do not the universe itself is not under their control, and they get a visceral thrill
follow this principle, especially the out of seeing their heroes fight back against what an unfeeling galaxy can
most powerful nobles, who are usual- hurl against them. Again, the emphasis is on how the Vilani way of life
ly quite willing to destroy their rivals can help people through difficult times. If a hero has to deal with the con-
to get ahead.) sequences of, say, an asteroid strike, there is always a contrast between
how desperate things are when he is by himself, and how things start to
Technological innovation is also look up when society begins to piece itself together again. Unlike the con-
extremely slow, so increases in pro- ventions of Terran “post-apocalyptic” stories, other Humans are never
ductivity aren’t likely in that arena villains in Vilani disaster fiction. Instead, the hero provides the seed of
either. inspiration around which fearful or misguided Vilani can gather to
rebuild a proper society.
Within these constraints, the best
way to prove one’s worth is with effi- One common Vilani hero is the protagonist who goes “from rags to
ciency. One of the few areas in which riches,” in the style of a Horatio Alger story. Vilani society promotes the
the Imperium does permit innovation notion that anyone can go far, if he works within the system and shows
is in business processes – the question talents that the Ziru Sirka needs. Such social mobility is less common
of how one gets work done. A success- than it was long ago, but the ideal still holds strong, and the common
ful innovator in this area can earn Vilani citizen loves this kind of story. A weirder version of this genre is
rapid promotion and lifelong respect. about the hero who starts humbly and stays poor, but who sets things up
There is, therefore, an incentive to so that his descendants can gain wealth. In a way, this tale is an anodyne
think of better ways to work. for the vast majority who never get to riches themselves; it assures them
that their efforts are going to pay off down the line even if there’s no sign
Of course, the Vilani are extremely of it now.
conservative when it comes to chang-
ing how they do things. Their indus- gain consensus from both. If consen- emphasis on efficiency. If Terrans
trial civilization is more than 8,000 sus can’t be reached, the innovator have a genuinely better way of doing
years old, and most processes have might publicize his idea until some something – for example, in computer
undergone generations of refinement. other factory can be found willing to technology or medicine – the Vilani
A bright manager is up against the col- give it a try. are nearly helpless to counter it. The
lective brainpower of millions, if not necessary dip in production caused by
billions, of his ancestors when trying In theory, this means that Vilani new capital investment is not support-
to improve the way things are done. industry is extremely efficient. able, unless the investment is going
However, the organizational resist- towards the “tried and true.”
If a Terran dreams up a potentially ance to change caused by the need to
more efficient way of organizing the reach consensus means that radical On the other hand, when the Vilani
factory floor, he will likely think to ideas rarely find a test bed. Most do come to understand a Terran
himself, “Let’s give it a try and see how changes are merely incremental process or technology well enough to
it works.” A Vilani will assume that tweaks to a pre-existing process. Even have confidence in its implementa-
someone has already shown that it is those are hard to implement, and tion, the rewards are great. Some for-
not as good as the way things are done many potential innovators are content ward-looking Vilani rapidly moves up
now. If his idea appears promising, he to let things lie. the chain of command due to his suc-
assumes it’s because he hasn’t seen the cess, and Terra loses a bit more of its
hidden flaws yet. He will spend a great Note that Terran technological advantage in flexibility.
deal of time in the historical archives superiority in some fields is a two-
researching the idea; he will only pro- edged sword because of this Vilani
ceed if he can’t find a previous exam-
ple. Even then, it is assumed that the
way to proceed is to bring it up with
his superiors and his employees, and

THE IMPERIUM 71

Chauvinism threat presented to the Imperial way of Life diverges when the child starts
life by the existence of a powerful star- socializing. Even Terrans recognize
As with most peoples, the Vilani faring culture – such as that of Terra – this as a critical period in life, when
believe that their civilization is the best that is outside Imperial control. the child learns that other people have
of all possible societies. In their partic- their own thoughts and their own
ular case, they have some grounds for At present, most of the men and needs. Children are gradually drawn
making that judgment. Most Human women in charge of Imperial military into group interaction, and begin to
cultures are as they are by historical equipment truly believe that, thanks to learn how to work with others. It’s at
accident. In contrast, the Ziru Sirka their non-Vilani ways, the Terrans this point that Vilani society begins
was designed quite deliberately to can’t present a threat. However, the teaching its distinctive ways to its
reflect Vilani values. Where the Vilani’s notion that the existence of independ- newest members.
legitimate pride oversteps its bounds is ent Terra strikes at one of the pillars of
in its exclusivity – the need to judge society is slowly starting to filter into Education
other cultures as inferior. the proper channels, with potentially
explosive results. On Terra, the education system is
Vilani cultural exclusivity derives geared toward the acquisition of
from the ancient era of the THE VILANI knowledge, the socialization of chil-
Consolidation Wars, when the proto- WAY OF LIFE dren, and the development of problem-
Imperium brought every known star- solving skills. The Imperium’s schools
faring society under its own control. Vilani are much like Terrans in the are much the same, with the notable
In fact, the Consolidation Wars were broad outlines of their lives – they are exception of not teaching their children
fought in order to ensure the stability born, they are educated, they choose a how to solve problems themselves.
of Imperial civilization. The wars were career, they grow old and die, they give
a solution for an economic problem way to their descendants. The details, To a Vilani, “problem-solving” is
(that of unregulated innovation and however, are significantly different. equivalent to “finding out what others
competition), not a cultural one. have done.” They learn how to resolve
difficulties by relying on the develop-
Human? I don’t know. I mean, they look ment of group consensus and investi-
Human enough, but I’ve seen a bunch of Vilani gation of historical databases for
three-year-olds in class. They pay attention for previously successful procedures.
hours on end. That’s not Human.
To a Terran observer, Vilani class-
– Bill Rodriguez, Nusku colonist (2163) es look like throwbacks to an earlier
age. Students of similar age gather
Thus, the imposition of Vilani tra- Birth and Childhood physically in the same room, as
ditions on non-Vilani was never their opposed to using computer-aided tele-
primary intention. Indeed, the early For most of Vilani history, it was education and proceeding at their
Imperial Vilani considered other cul- safer to give birth than it was in a cor- own pace. From the earliest age, chil-
tures to have plenty of merit, at least responding period on Terra. Vland’s dren are taught to work together, the
for the non-Vilani who created them. native disease organisms find it diffi- stronger students assisting the weaker
However, in the centuries since the cult to attack Humans, so Vilani ones so that the group as a whole
end of the wars, the Vilani have come women didn’t have to worry about attains its goals. Children are also
to see the imposition of their tradi- many of the postpartum infections exposed to a wide variety of tasks, so
tions as an active blessing to the sub- and illnesses that attacked their that everyone has the experience of
jected peoples. In effect, they have Terran sisters until the 20th century. being a leader as well as needing help
moved from the rational notion that Similarly, children were much better from others.
the Ziru Sirka is the best social form off, as scourges like measles and scar-
for Vilani to the irrational belief that let fever simply didn’t exist. Some Classes mix students from different
it’s the best social form for everyone. Terran observers have suggested that social classes; the goal is to get chil-
Vilani collectivism grew out of the fact dren used to working with people who
Fortunately for Terra, the Vilani no that they could become emotionally are not their friends or social equals.
longer have the will they once had to attached to children with less fear of Once students have mastered the basic
impose their culture on others. If they their dying young. In any case, in the skills (the Vilani equivalent of elemen-
still exhibited the same sense of focus modern day a Terran would find the tary school), they are segregated some-
that their ancestors had, the birth process quite familiar: pre-natal what in order to give members of each
Confederation would not last long care, a trip to the hospital, and then a social stratum training specific to their
against the might of the Imperium. brief period of time off work for the expected position in life. However,
However, Vilani complacency has left parents. even in the final years of school, all stu-
only a few economists aware of the dents, highborn and low alike, will
share a few courses. After graduation,
it’s expected that a Vilani will be able
to work with his equals, take instruc-
tion from his superiors, and give
instruction to his subordinates – all
smoothly and without resentment.

72 THE IMPERIUM

The Class System are manager-class, too. Damgarii run shangarim Makhidkarun. The shugilii
the day-to-day operations of the caste controls Naasirka. The in-
Every Vilani citizen falls into one shangarim. dustrialists run Sharurshid (p. 14).
of three social classes: engarii,
damgarii, and enshii. These very old The modern ruling class is an The ruling class contributes its best
Vilani words are usually translated as amalgam of three different groups. members to the Igsiirdi, the actual rul-
“commoners,” “merchants,” and The first group is the original enshii ing council of the Imperium, which
“nobles.” Of course, any translation class, derived from the aristocratic provides the closest thing the Vilani
from Vilani to English is difficult, and rulers of Vland’s earliest agricultural have to a career in pure politics. The
this one is looser than most. It gives towns. Igsiirdi in turn selects the Ishimkarun
the sense of a feudal society, which the or “Shadow Emperor.”
Imperium most certainly is not. The second group is the shugilii.
Another way to translate the three Native life on Vland is almost incom- Careers
names of the social groups might be patible with Human biochemistry;
“employees,” “managers,” and “execu- without careful preparation most In Vilani society, there are few
tives.” These translations, while not foods are toxic. Beginning in prehis- career changes. It is assumed that a
exact, better reflect the way Vilani toric times, the shugilii caste devel- person will pick a career at age 14 (18
interact in a technologically advanced, oped (and hoarded) safe methods for Terran years), use the last few years of
industrial society. food preparation, on which society his schooling to prepare for that pro-
came to depend. With advanced tech- fession, and then stick with it until the
All three classes are hereditary. nology and interstellar trade the need end of his working life. This lack of
Children are assumed to be worthy of for these secret techniques declined, movement has led to the common
the same status as their parents unless but the shugilii retained a role as the translation of the Vilani word ii as
they clearly show they aren’t. No stig- guardians of tradition, the closest “caste.” This is something of a mis-
ma attaches to mixed marriage, but in thing Vilani society had to a priestly nomer, since there’s no requirement
such cases, children are assigned the caste. for any citizen to have the same career
status of the lower-class parent at as his parents. Indeed, youngsters are
birth. Finally, there is a group of wealthy actively encouraged to look for work
industrialist clans, who derive both outside their parents’ professions, as a
It’s important to note that even in wealth and status from times prior to check against nepotism.
this late and somewhat ossified peri- the Consolidation Wars. Over the last
od, there is still mobility between the 3,000 years, these three groups have Social class most often dictates
classes. Most Vilani start out their melded, though there are still minor career choice. Careers are assigned to
careers in the class to which they are differences between them. each social class based on the amount
born, but promotion is always a pos- of leadership required, so a young cit-
sibility, and the most promising chil- Early in Vilani history, each sub- izen needs to pick something appro-
dren may be raised a class immedi- group of the enshii class established priate to his class unless he is specifi-
ately after completing school. Vilani one of the three great shangarim, or cally chosen as promising (or hope-
society depends on this mobility as its “bureaus.” To this day, each portion of less) during school. Of course, any
primary way of channeling natural the ruling class tends to gravitate into profession that is normally organized
Human acquisitiveness and competi- certain sections of the Imperial gov- in a hierarchical manner will need the
tiveness. It’s also an important tool ernment. Descendants of the original participation of people from different
for preventing people from acting enshii tend toward the officer class of social classes.
badly – as well as promotions, there the Army and Navy, and control the
are demotions.

Engarii, commoners, or “employ-
ees” are by far the most numerous
group of Vilani. They make up the
workaday people who go to their jobs,
do what they’re told, then go home at
night with few large thoughts in their
heads. Engarii form the bulk of the so-
called “Low Vilani” culture (p. 15).
Enlisted men and NCOs in the military
are usually engarii.

Members of the damgarii, or “man-
ager,” class are almost entirely the
industrial “petty nobility” – allied with
the great industrialists of the distant
past, but not as rich or successful in
the present. Managers fill the positions
of junior and mid-level officers in the
military, and virtually all scientists

THE IMPERIUM 73

VILANI

Classes CULTURE
and Careers
Trading is about value, and value
(once you get past the basics of life)

In many cases, a Terran with only a vague idea of Vilani social struc- depends very much on culture.
ture can guess at an occupation’s class. There are cases where historical Terrans who intend to work in
accident or confusion with the Terran status of a career can be confusing. Imperial society need to understand
Several common professions and their associated social classes: what drives the Vilani when they’re
not working.
Artist or entertainer: Commoner

Doctor or surgeon: Executive (the medical profession derives from the

ancient shugilii caste) Visual Arts
Engineer or technician: Commoner
Factory worker: Commoner Vilani art is at the same time very
Merchant captain: Manager abstract and very literal. Their visual
Merchant deck hand: Commoner (even including highly trained art and decoration bears some resem-
blance to the classical Muslim art of
technicians) Terra, with an emphasis on repeating
Military enlisted man: Commoner geometric figures. The difference is
Military junior officer: Manager that despite the similarity in form,
Military senior or “flag” officer: Executive there is no metaphor in modern Vilani
Police officer: Commoner art. Medieval Muslims used abstrac-
Scientist: Commoner tion in order to get around a religious

stricture against representative

images; the figures were intended to

Once ready to begin work, a new 115 to 118 Terran years), he is merely “be” something despite not literally
adult is seconded to an older person in an irregular consultant to his succes- looking like that thing. In Vilani paint-
the same profession. He remains sor. After his 91st birthday (about 119 ing and sculpture, a square is just a
under this mentor’s tutelage until that Terran years), he is out of the work- square.
person dies, is promoted, or specifical- force entirely, and is supported by a
ly resigns in favor of his charge. This basic stipend made available to all In fact, the current style developed
last option often occurs when it retired citizens, the luxury of which just before the Consolidation Wars, at
becomes obvious that the apprentice depends on his position while a time when the symbols of Vilani art
is a prodigy; it normally takes no more younger. were as complex and meaningful as
than 20 years to discover this fact. anything produced by a Terran cul-
Of course, while they may stop ture. In the intervening 3,000 years,
The Vilani have no strict concept of working, older Vilani aren’t lacking however, the “symbols” have become
seniority. When it becomes necessary for responsibilities to fulfill. In partic- independent of their original mean-
to reorganize a group of workers, it is ular, they are the caretakers of their ings; artists keep using them because
the responsibility of the group’s leader extended family’s youngest children, that’s what is done, not because they
to design the new organization and yet another piece of social engineering have something to say with them.
recommend his design to his own designed to instill young Vilani with
superiors. Even sudden death is no trust in authority. Paradoxically, this makes art very
accessible to the Vilani masses.

excuse, as a leader is supposed to have

instructions at the ready for this event

(leading to Terran jokes about “Last The Vilani are crazy for geometric figures. I
Will and Departmental Restructuring”

documents). It is assumed that the remember one I had to chaperone in Paris; we

reorganization will take place solely spent two hours in the Louvre and she didn’t
on the basis of competence, not on

“time in grade” or any other measure like a single thing. Eventually we ended up at an
of seniority. old amusement park on the outskirts of the city

Retirement – and she declared this rundown hedge maze we

A Vilani’s working life starts to went through to be the finest piece of Terran art
come to an end on his 85th birthday she’d seen.
(about 110 Terran years). On that day
he starts working three days in six – Vincent Royce,
rather than the usual four. The next Ministry of Commerce official (2150)
year, this drops to two, and so on.
From age 88 to 90 (about the age of

74 THE IMPERIUM

Museums and galleries are popular Vilani Longevity
entertainments for even the lowest-
class employee – there’s nothing to The Vilani are much longer lived than Terran Humans. Barring illness
understand, you just look and enjoy. or injury, a Vilani citizen can expect to reach an age of 130 Terran years,
This makes objets d’art a favorite trade and some Vilani live for more than another half century past that.
good, though it’s difficult to predict in
advance what will appeal to a Vilani. This is yet one more factor that lends stability to the Imperium. Despite
For example, they don’t see the point working for nearly 100 Terran years, a citizen will still draw goods from
of painting real-world objects: “Why the economy for several more decades after that. This has the effect of
not just use a photograph or slowing economic growth, as so much production is siphoned off for the
hologram?” elderly. Of course, as is typical for the Imperium, this is considered a point
in the retirement system’s favor and not a drawback.
Conversely, Terran abstract art is
considered either interesting or so Vilani longevity apparently breeds true. People of mixed Vilani-Terran
horribly “wrong” that it provokes parentage already show signs of extended vigor and health. The few peo-
laughter. For example, most Vilani ple of mixed heritage who were born prior to 2070 are routinely clearing
find Jackson Pollock merely amusing, their century mark.
while geometric artists like Piet
Mondrian are accepted as fine art. with the odd side effect that they pre- Imperium is duriir, which is played on
fer to stick to the same course for every a field shaped like two wedges pointing
Athletics game rather than trying different chal- at one another. The wedges are divided
lenges. When they play in groups, they into five zones, each containing a play-
Like Terrans, Vilani enjoy testing invariably play “best ball,” with the er. The object is to make the ball (hit
their physical limits, but a quick group scoring according to the best with rackets) fall in the opposing
examination of Vilani sports shows performance among the players. team’s wedge – the further in, the more
that they choose their adversaries Construction of an uskamsii course is points. The twist is that only the player
carefully. Competing as an individual expensive, and access to one is restrict- in the wedge’s “point” is allowed to
is distasteful; while such sports existed ed to manager-class or better. One knock the ball into the other side. The
in the past, no one plays them any trade item that is very popular among other players defend against the lobs of
more. Instead, the Vilani stick to team Vilani commoners is a dedicated hand- the opposing team’s “point man,” and
sports, or individual sports where the held computer game that simulates work to knock the ball back to their
competition is impersonal. Terran golf. own point player. In a way, the game
resembles Terran volleyball, with the
As an example of the latter, the Team games are deliberately coop- distant players working the ball for-
Vilani play uskamsii, a game with a erative, possibly as an attempt to ward a step at a time until the player at
remarkable resemblance to golf – one obscure the fact that one team is delib- the front can smash it towards the
uses a club outdoors to drive a small erately trying to defeat the other. The territory of the other team.
ball towards a distant target in a mini- most popular such game in the
mal number of shots. Vilani view the
uskamsii course itself as the opponent,

Vilani Architecture

Vilani architecture is much like the other Vilani art Vilani cities are planned under the assumption that
forms – oddly familiar to a Terran visitor, but different most transport traffic will be communal rather than
enough to seem alien. private. Only high-ranking manager or executive-class
citizens will own their own ground cars or air/rafts.
The buildings themselves are massive, blocky, and Depending on the distance to be traveled, a Vilani com-
monumental. Terrans often describe the prevalent style moner will take a “people carrier” or use the slidewalk
as a mix between Babylonian ziggurats and mid-20th until he gets near his destination, at which point he
century Russian concrete triumphalism. There is not hops off and walks along a side road to his goal.
much adornment or ostentation. What decoration there
is serves to remind the observer of the sober ideals of Vilani buildings are almost always square or rectan-
the Imperium: collectivism, efficiency, and respect for gular, which means that when combined with a city’s
the past. radial layout, there are innumerable triangular bits of
land left over. This is deliberate; the leftover space is
Most cities are built on a radial plan, with long used for parks and other public facilities. From the air,
boulevards down which gravitic vehicles travel. The Vilani cities are checkered with green or whatever other
boulevards are also very wide, with grass (or at least an color the local flora favors, despite the massive, boxy
unused area) down the center to give vehicles a place to buildings.
put down in case of an emergency. Pedestrian side-
walks (or slidewalks in richer or larger cities) run along
both edges of the street.

THE IMPERIUM 75

THE VILANI IMPERIUM

The Imperium is so vast that it’s negotiate directly with one another, The key to this is that the Shadow
difficult to conceive just how big it and indeed any such negotiation is Emperor’s day only has 32 hours, the
really is. The very fastest Imperial considered treasonable. This has same as even the poorest subject on
courier services require about two peculiar effects on the day-to-day Vland. With the events of thousands
years to carry a message from the operations of the empire, as always of worlds swirling around him, it is
rimward frontier to Vland. A more reinforcing its stability and far beyond the realm of possibility
typical traveler would take over five changelessness. that he could affect more than the
years to make the same journey – and tiniest fraction of them.
to reach the Imperium’s coreward The Shadow Emperor
frontier, even more time would be The Vilani solution to this problem
needed. There are many things impeding is not delegation, but precedent. Every
change in the Imperium, but if one is Ishimkarun has over 3,000 years of
During Terran history, empires most important it’s this: the rulings from his predecessors to fall
have always been limited by the time it Ishimkarun or “Shadow Emperor” is back on. Until he specifically authoriz-
took for instructions to go from the the sole source of law. es a change to a previous decision,
center to the edge. Terran empires that that precedent rules. Procedure is fol-
were more than six months “across” At first sight this seems contradic- lowed because, once upon a time, it
have never lasted very long. The Vilani tory. The Terran experience indicates was the law laid down by some near-
have therefore come up with some- that a dictatorship can change more forgotten Emperor to deal with a sim-
thing completely unfamiliar to Terran quickly than a democracy, as there’s ilar situation. Fortunately, the system
observers – a political system that can no need to “play politics” when it of precedents is highly refined, and
hold itself together despite huge comes time to make a decision. since the Ziru Sirka has been so static,
problems with communication. However, even on Terra there have it can cover almost everything.
been cases of absolutism in which However, when something novel hap-
POLITICAL things were almost unmanageable, pens, it can take a long time for the
ORGANIZATION because every decision had to go message to get to the Imperium’s
through one person. There’s a fine bal- “head” and for the response to return.
The Imperium is organized as a ance between centralization and dele-
star, with the Shadow Emperor at the gating when it comes to getting things When a new situation arises, or if
center. The three shangarim and two done, and as always the Ziru Sirka was an old law needs revising, it is the duty
military services are linked to him and specifically designed to slow things of the shangarim and the military serv-
him alone. There is no official channel down. ices to bring it to the Emperor’s atten-
permitting the five power groups to tion. More to the point, they must try
to bring it to his attention.
Vilani Dissidents
and Secret Even with the vast majority of mat-
Societies ters handled by following precedent,
there are still far too many things for
There are no dissidents in Vilani space. Ask any Vilani – he’ll tell you the Emperor to examine. The five
so, loudly and emphatically. points of the “star” surrounding him
have to compete for his time, strug-
The primary purpose of the Imperium is to get everyone to toe the gling to gain the minutes needed to
line, reducing strife and so maximizing happiness. Unfortunately this outline the problem, advise the
purpose contains a fundamental flaw: it assumes that everyone will be Emperor on the solution, possibly
happy with the same thing. Despite the best efforts of Vilani society to wait for him to consult with outside
instill love for the way things are, mistakes will be made, and sometimes experts, and then make a change to
sheer Human contrariness will leave someone dissatisfied. If only one the established procedure. Only the
person feels this way, he usually stays very quiet. If two of them get most critical matters are raised, and
together, they form a secret society. on everything else the affected persons
have to make do.
In the Imperium’s core, the police are well-funded, and are very good
at finding and dealing with the “socially ill.” Out on the Rim, the level of Naturally, in such a system the ulti-
control is much lower. Secret societies of all sorts have popped up and mate sign of Imperial disapproval is
maintain a precarious existence. While they are difficult to find by defi- the loss of the Emperor’s attention.
nition, a Terran who can plug into one and cater to its needs can turn a For example, if one of the shangarim
tidy profit – and crack open the Imperium just a little bit more for the begins to act up, the Emperor only has
next trader to come along. to make his displeasure known for the
other four groups to have a field day.
They divide the disapproved
shangarim’s “face time” among
themselves, thereby getting more of
their own agendas advanced. They can

76 THE IMPERIUM

also start to cheat the outcast group

with impunity. Shipments arrive with

defective parts, if they arrive at all; The Emperor doesn’t rule the Imperium. No

prices are raised; promising recruits one does. They think the ghosts of ten trillion
are poached. The only recourse is to

get the Emperor to stop it, and the dead Vilani will rise up out of their graves if
Emperor won’t even listen to the black anyone ever has an original thought.
sheep until it comes back into line.

The only remaining danger to the – Juan Santiago, Imperial Years (2168)
Emperor’s authority is the creation of

ad hoc connections between the points

of the star. For the Imperial system to

work, everything must go through the The Igsiirdi Igsiirdi (the three shangarim, the
Emperor. As a result, communica- Army, the Navy, and the Emperor-
tions between the shangarim and the The Igsiirdi is composed of repre- appointed faction) puts forward a
military are very restricted. It is possi- sentatives of the branches of Imperial candidate. This nomination process
ble for a shangarim official to take government, who advise the Emperor usually produces six names, but
direct command of military units in and try to get Imperial legislation sometimes more than one faction will
the field, but the necessary protocols passed on their behalf. Strictly speak- put forward the same name.
are so restrictive that only the most ing, the Igsiirdi has 300 members, but
talented bureaucrats can accomplish only 15 “Speakers” are authorized to Voting then begins – openly, it
much. Most shangarim executives talk directly to the Emperor – one should be noted, not by secret ballot –
content themselves with outlining each for the Army and Navy, three for in a series of rounds. After each round
strategic goals for their province, let- each of the shangarim, and four of voting, the candidate receiving the
ting the military figure out how to “members at large” appointed by the least votes is dropped from the ballot.
attain those goals. current Emperor. The remainder of The process continues until one candi-
date obtains a majority of the votes. At

this point, one more ritualized vote is

Sharurshid held with only that person on the bal-
lot, so that the new Emperor is always

Of the three bureaus, the one most likely to be encountered by Terrans formally elected with 100% of the
on a day-to-day basis is Sharurshid, the Vilani shipping and trading con- vote.

cern. This is not only because it is engaged in the business likeliest to get The Shangarim
adventurers into the Imperium – buying and selling – but also because it’s

in control of the space closest to Terra. The shangarim, or “bureaus,” are
It’s fortunate for the Terran Confederation that Sharurshid is its three huge agencies that manage the
day-to-day operations of the
neighbor. As the shangarim most used to commerce and transport, it was Imperium. Taken as a bloc, they are
the likeliest to accept Terran overtures to trade. While relations can be the single largest faction in the
frosty at times, the potential for profitable transactions always brings Igsiirdi, though they often vote at
Sharurshid back to the table. If Terra had been next to Makhidkarun, cross-purposes.
with its more authoritarian style, things might have been very different.

Each of the shangarim stems from

a specific power group in early Vilani
The protocols controlling commu- the council is the power base on which society aristocrats, shugilii, and indus-
nication between the various agencies the Speakers rely to define the agenda trialists. Not long after the Vilani
are very deep – once again, the benefit for their presentations to the began expanding into space, the
of 3,000 years of refinement – but they Ishimkarun. Members of the Igsiirdi power of each of these groups was
tend to fall into factions behind differ-
quite specifically avoid topics that ent Speakers, making up informal threatened; their response was to reor-
could let two or more factions ganize the government along corpo-

conspire against the throne. political parties that push different rate lines. Each group established one
Communication outside the approved viewpoints within their own factions. of the shangarim as a overarching cor-
The other major role of the Igsiirdi porate bureaucracy. Each of the
protocols is high treason, and the fac-

tions are always on the lookout for is the selection of the new Emperor bureaus was then handed a territory
upon the death of the previous one.
signs that their competitors are engag- When the Emperor dies, all Igsiirdi to run; these spheres of influence were
ing in it. The one item that is guaran- largely distinct, although in a few

teed to draw the Emperor’s attention members capable of doing so are regions they overlapped in complex
immediately is evidence of extra-legal expected to report to the Imperial ways. Despite the enormous disloca-
communication, and coming up with Palace on Vland, where the death is tions of the Consolidation Wars, the
such evidence invariably leads him to announced and three days of mutual three shangarim have hung onto
examine more of the loyal branch’s consultation begin. At the end of the power ever since.
three days, each segment of the
issues for a while afterwards.

THE IMPERIUM 77

Makhidkarun is the aristocratic to the people higher up in the hierar- The title of saarpuhii (“underking”)
agency, specializing in services often chy, and even to the Emperor (though appears to derive from the various
associated with government on Terran in practice the Ishimkarun rarely pays nation-states that existed on Vland
worlds. Police, media, infrastructure, attention to anyone more than a level before spaceflight. Today a saarpuhii
and similar services are under its con- below). Every manager has a book to oversees a substantial portion of a sin-
trol, or licensed to the other follow, and is more bureaucrat than gle sector, usually 80-150 worlds in all.
shangarim. Its primary territory is the noble. A saarpuhii on the Imperial frontier is
area around Vland. the official most likely to hold strate-
The Imperial Hierarchy gic control over local wars, overseeing
Sharurshid is the industrialist punitive expeditions against rebels or
shangarim. Its areas of interest are the The highest rank in the Vilani rul- barbarians. The saarpuhii whose
production and distribution of goods, ing class is that of Ishimkarun, or domain is closest to Terra is the
and the continuing development of “Shadow Emperor.” He is selected by Saarpuhii Kushuggi (“Underking of
colonies as markets. All unarmed the Igsiirdi, and serves for life or until the Rim Worlds”).
ships in the Imperium belong to he chooses to abdicate (which almost
Sharurshid, so while this agency for- never happens). The Emperor lives in Below the Saarpuhii Kushuggi are
mally owns the territories near the extreme seclusion; he never appears in 10 sarriiu (“supreme governors”), who
Terran Confederation, it can be found public, and aside from his own family oversee about a dozen worlds apiece.
operating anywhere the Vilani go. and household staff he almost never Each subsector’s capital is usually the
meets with anyone other than the 15 seat of a sarriiu with unusually high
Naasirka is the bureau derived Speakers of the Igsiirdi. prestige. There are normally 2-4 lesser
from the shugilii caste. At first solely sarriiu per subsector as well.
concerned with food production, it Beneath the Shadow Emperor
has branched out into other “basics,” stands a set of 12 apkallu kibrat arban The sarriiu in turn are supported by
notably energy production and (“Great Ministers of the Four shakkanakhu (“provincial governors”),
distribution. Quarters”). This title is one of extreme who appear to occupy a very flexible
antiquity, and appears to be from a level in the bureaucracy. A
IMPERIAL dialect of Vilani that is now otherwise shakkanakhu normally governs 3-6
ADMINISTRATION extinct. The title denotes a position of worlds – but in one known case, a
immense power, and is reserved for shakkanakhu in the Kushuggi province
With huge travel times between the leaders of the shangarim and their clearly manages more worlds and peo-
Vland and the Rim (or any other fron- highest assistants. Each of these ple than the weakest sarriiu of the area.
tier for that matter), the Imperium nobles oversees the activities of his It’s not entirely clear why this is the
depends on its hierarchy. In many bureau over at least 2-4 sectors. In case, but there’s reason to believe that
ways, it’s organized like a Terran cor- most cases, the power of the apkallu the political subdivision of provinces
poration, with “vice-presidents” and kibrat arban is limited to grand strate- can be quite fluid if something is
“upper management” and “middle gy – the sheer size of a noble’s domain upsetting the situation. Apparently the
management” controlling successively at this level prevents much control Terran Confederation is doing just
smaller political divisions. It’s impor- over the details of government opera- that, and things are being reorganized
tant to note, in particular, that none of tion. Another informal name for these in odd ways according to needs
them rule a domain – they manage nobles is karunii (“petty emperors”). perceived by the current saarpuhii.
them. They are completely answerable
The business end of Imperial gov-
ernment can be found at the lowest
level of the hierarchy that is routinely
a week or more away from its superi-
ors. These iishakku (“governors”) each
get a planet to manage, or sometimes
part of a particularly populous or
important planet. Most citizens will
deal with the local iishakku or his
staff, if they need to interact with the
Imperium at all.

All of the above titles are hereditary.
Vilani noble families employ a rule of
inheritance that is very unusual by
Terran standards: only the third and
later children are eligible to inherit a
noble’s hereditary titles, and adoption
for the purpose of obtaining an heir is
not permitted. A noble’s first and sec-
ond children are still members of the
executive class, but they must earn
new titles for themselves. It’s routine

78 THE IMPERIUM

for a noble family to lose a hereditary diverse than a proper Imperial colony. be more familiar with the concept of
position for lack of any legal heir, forc- Nearly everyone living there is, at least trade than your average Vilani on a
ing the family’s superiors to choose a indirectly, connected with servicing more hospitable world.
new clan to hold the position. This passing traffic or performing whatev-
causes a certain amount of “churn” in er other intended function the outpost The final difference is that the pop-
the Imperium’s upper hierarchy, may have. ulation mixture is often odd. Vilani
preventing any one family from colonies are just that: Vilani colonies.
monopolizing power.
You know, if we behaved ourselves, I think
Below the rank of iishakku comes the Vilani are so complacent they’d let us
the bulk of the Imperial ruling class, colonize all the empty worlds in their Imperium,
the pool of potential leaders from from one end to the other. Good thing I have no
which the shangarim and the military intention of being a good boy by their standards,
services can draw. There is a bewil- just so I can breathe canned air for the rest of
dering variety of non-hereditary titles my life.
at this level, indicating the degree and
kind of authority held by each individ- – Bill Rodriguez, Nusku colonist (2166)
ual. It can be particularly difficult for
Terrans to navigate the lower Imperial This makes an outpost more cos- There are many other races in the
hierarchy, even if the titles themselves mopolitan than a colony, as the Imperium, but with the exception of
are properly translated – is a “Third world’s citizens are used to dealing the Vegans (p. 88), none of them are
Minister for Quality Control” senior to with people from outside the commu- the majority on any world within easy
an “Undersecretary of Employee nity. They’re often more tolerant of dif- reach of Terra. On outposts, however,
Relations,” or the other way around? ference too, though this is a matter of it’s not unusual to see members of the
degree as compared to their colonial more important subject races,
One non-hereditary title that does brethren rather than actual toleration. particularly the Suerrat (p. 86).
occur frequently is that of kiduunuuzii If nothing else, people on outposts will
(“holder of special privileges”). This
title is awarded to particularly effective Vilani Settlement
leaders, including “troubleshooters” Patterns
who have a history of solving problems
wherever they go. The title of kidu- For the entire, glorious period leading up to the Consolidation Wars,
unuuzii is even awarded to very talent- the Vilani had their choice of worlds. With only a few exceptions, such as
ed members of the manager class, Geonee and Suerrat space, no one else laid any claim to a significant
often as a preliminary to granting number of planets.
hereditary noble status.
As a result, Vilani colonists were quite choosy, and the majority of
Colonies vs. Outposts Vilani colony worlds are reasonably Terran (or, rather “Vland-like”). The
Vilani started substantial colonies on less hospitable planets only when
There are about 10,000 star sys- a valuable resource beckoned, or a bridge was needed between two
tems in the area of space controlled by important colony areas.
the Imperium. Of these, about 4,000
include planets inhabited by substan- Similarly, there has never been any reason to let planetary popula-
tial Vilani populations, and another tions get out of hand: there is always more land out there somewhere,
4,000 contain outposts of some kind. and the benevolent Imperial government is willing to move people to new
The rest are simply empty systems colonies in the unlikely event that they wish to. There are still empty
contained within the Vilani sphere, worlds well worth living on throughout Imperial space. Even the most
but otherwise of no note at all. populous worlds, barring Vland itself, rarely have more than a few billion
citizens.
The Vilani don’t colonize “difficult”
or inhospitable worlds unless there is Still, a merchant run down a Vilani-inhabited main is something of
something else compelling about a hit-or-miss proposition. By sheer random chance, several “good”
them. Sometimes this is a resource, worlds will sometimes be lined up, with markets of hundreds of millions
but most often the attractive feature is to tap, while a run of bad luck will turn up minor outposts and empty
sheer location – the system is a neces- star systems stretching for parsecs.
sary stopping point along a route from
one place to another, and the Vilani
had to pick somewhere in the system
to put their facilities. These are
Imperial outposts, and they’re differ-
ent from Vilani worlds in a number of
important ways.

Most obviously, they are much less
densely populated, and much less

THE IMPERIUM 79

SUBJECT RACES

While it’s common to use the term In fact, the Vilani are stubborn few non-Vilani races to occasionally
“Vilani Imperium,” it’s important to about their crusade to bring “good hold high positions in the government.
remember that the Vilani are not the government” to the rest of the galaxy.
only intelligent species under its rule. Only the really hopeless cases get History
About 10% of the Imperial population blockaded or interdicted; the
are Humans of other stock, no more Imperium will keep banging its head Little is known about early
Vilani than they are Terran. Another against the wall if there’s the slightest Anakundu history. At some point the
10% are alien species, with no chance that a race will come around race was apparently reduced to a very
biological ties to Humans at all. to the Vilani way of life. This means small population, causing a genetic
that the Imperium has to deal with “bottleneck” that has left them in the
As far as possible, the Vilani try to uprisings every now and then – but it throes of a serious evolutionary dead
integrate these races into Imperial normally enjoys an overwhelming end.
society, but for a variety of reasons advantage over such rebels. Client
this effort isn’t always successful. revolts are rarely more than small hur- The Anakundu were first contacted
dles in the way of the Vilani obsession by the Vilani about 4,000 years ago. At
First, many were brought into the with making everyone else just like that time there were only a few tens of
Imperium by force. Thousands of them. thousands of them, living in small
years may have worn off the worst of hunter-gatherer groups on one of their
the sting, but a few races that were home world’s continents.
once only moderately less powerful
than the Vilani still remember their Primitive and unthreatening, the
glory days. Anakundu received aid from the
Imperium so that they could be incor-
porated into galactic civilization.
Among the Vilani coming to Nuiya
were medical doctors, who soon
noticed that the Anakundu had a short
maximum lifespan, even setting aside
deaths caused by their primitive state.
Eventually the Vilani developed a drug
that let the Anakundu live somewhat
longer; out of amazement at the
“magic” their benefactors possessed,
they willingly became Vilani clients.

For the last 2,000 years the
Anakundu have enjoyed equal status
with the Vilani, though they are heavi-
ly outnumbered by their allies. They
live entirely by Vilani culture, and have
nothing but disdain for the primitive
ways of their ancestors.

There are also aliens that simply ANAKUNDU Physiology
can’t be integrated, for reasons of psy-
chology or physical difference. Some The Anakundu are a minor Human Externally, the Anakundu look
such aliens are actively blockaded race native to Nuiya, in the Mikadira much like Vilani or Terrans. Their
onto their home worlds, with Imperial sector. They were at a Neolithic level of home continent on Nuiya was in the
naval squadrons to ensure that they development when the Vilani came, extreme north, so they are usually very
launch no expeditions into space. lifting them to modern conditions over pale. The major exception is around
Others are still primitive, and are the next 1,000 years. Since then they their eyes. Their homeworld’s primary
“interdicted” – shielded by the Navy have been staunch allies of the star is quite bright, and their snowy
from all outside contact. Imperium, and in fact are one of the home environment made for a great
deal of glare. As an adaptation,
Anakundu eyes are black, surrounded
by a dense spray of freckles that
reduce reflection from the cheek-
bones.

The most unusual aspect of the
Anakundu is their sleeplessness and
associated short lifespan. As an

80 THE IMPERIUM

infant, an Anakundu sleeps six or Army is especially fond of them as time when that process was much less
seven hours per night; he will gradu- ground troops, valuing their stoicism painful. When the Ziru Sirka began,
ally lose another hour for every 10 and stamina. their home world was peacefully
Terran years of life. While they have annexed, and the Answerin have been
adapted somewhat to this condition, Anakundu in the loyal subjects ever since.
there are fundamental limits reached Interstellar Wars
at about two hours of sleep. Without Physiology
medical intervention, at some point If it weren’t for their extremely pale
between 45 and 50 Terran years of skin and their freckled “eye-shades,” The average Answerin is 3” taller
age, an Anakundu will drop rapidly one might never realize that an than a Terran or Vilani, and some-
into mute senescence, insanity, then Anakundu is not a Vilani. They have what heavier, although slimmer in
death. adopted Vilani language, and live proportion due to his greater height.
entirely within Vilani culture. His world’s twin suns are heavy emit-
The Imperium treats this condi- Although their short lifespans tend to ters of ultraviolet light, so even the
tion with gakinisharra, a drug that limit their promotion in Vilani society, lightest-skinned Answerin is dark by
slows the process and holds off the Anakundu can be found even in the Terran standards, and many are black
two-hour limit until age 75-80. While Imperial executive class. in the literal sense of the word. Their
still tragically short by Vilani stan- hair is invariably black too, and usual-
dards, this lifespan has been all the Most often, a Terran will discover ly slightly wavy; a few have straight
Anakundu could expect for thousands the difference by bumping up against hair. Their only unusual facial feature
of years, and they do not look for Anakundu sleeplessness. Running is a pronounced epicanthic fold in the
more. across a pale, black-eyed ghost in the manner of Terran East Asians, an
dark of night, when everyone else is adaptation to the strong light in which
It is worth noting that the asleep, is a memorable experience. they developed.
Anakundu sleep deficit resembles Sometimes an Anakundu will specifi-
some Terran chromosome disorders. cally use the wee hours to get away What makes the Answerin unusual
It is believed within Confederation with something under the noses of among known Humans is their ability
medical circles that their condition dreaming Terrans. to consciously trigger adrenaline
could be cured with gene therapy. surges, which enhance their strength
Vilani medical science has not Terran soldiers often call the and speed for approximately a
advanced to this stage, however, and Anakundu the “night-fighters” or minute. Once the minute is over, they
no Anakundu has ever submitted to “spooks,” and hold them in consider- are debilitated for the next hour. This
the tests that would be needed to able respect. The average Terran conscious control over an involuntary
establish the truth. doesn’t know about the Anakundu “fear” reaction has had a profound
racial weaknesses. They just know effect on their psychology and culture.
Psychology that these slender troopers are brave,
determined, and can win an engage- Psychology
Fatalism and subordination are the ment just by staying awake and
two main prongs of Anakundu cul- shooting long after their Terran foes The Answerin are very interested in
ture. They never recovered from the have collapsed from exhaustion. self-control, particularly control of
shock of being contacted by a vastly fear. They do have emotions, showing
more advanced Human race. While ANSWERIN happiness, anger, love, and so on
they have long since caught up with when there is no reason to suppress
the Vilani and become Imperial part- The Answerin are a Human race, them. Fear, however, is viewed as a
ners, their continuing deficit in lifes- much like Terrans or the Vilani. mental illness, and the Answerin have
pan makes them feel inferior to this Unlike some Human races, they are spent the last 3,000 years trying to
day. Most Anakundu accept their difficult to distinguish from the two cure it.
“fate,” and live their lives accordingly. main types of Human, but they pos-
This attitude spills over into other sess unusual internal changes, and a Answerin culture is structured
things, so it’s virtually unheard of for psychology to match. around keeping fear from becoming
an Anakundu to complain about any- an issue, partly through removing
thing. Even the normal Human desire History causes, and partly through carefully
to make things better is muted; an cultivating personal bravery as part of
Anakundu must be suffering more Not much is known about the their lives. They’re not insensitive to
from, say, cold or hunger before he Answerin, as they live far to coreward of danger, but they believe that an irra-
becomes motivated to try and solve Terra – in fact, it is believed that they tional response to it is counterproduc-
the problem. hail from near Vland itself. Most tive. During their lives, they bend
Answerin met by Terrans are soldiers, every effort toward learning how to
On the other hand, Anakundu fol- so detailed questioning is often difficult. stay calm and continue functioning
low orders willingly. They are espe- when every other Human race would
cially valued for their ability to stay Still, it is known that they encoun- be wasting mental resources battling
awake for 20 consecutive hours at tered the Vilani fairly early on, before fear, or would have given in to the
will, and more than twice as long with the founding of the Ziru Sirka. Their emotion entirely.
minimal difficulty. The Imperial civilization was primitive, so they
rapidly acquired that of the Vilani at a

THE IMPERIUM 81

Answerin in the They obtained this status by having If the humidity drops below 20%,
Interstellar Wars unparalleled heads for bureaucratic however, even that stopgap starts to
detail, which gives them the ability to fail, and a Newt will have to wear a full
Their unique psychology makes take on fussy management jobs that environment suit in what is otherwise
the Answerin very useful as soldiers, even Vilani find difficult. a perfectly hospitable place.
and many members of their race are
in the Imperium’s armed forces. Many History Bwap eyes are large and apparently
Answerin are in other professions, but pupil-less, being entirely a shiny black.
Terran Humans almost never Originally hailing from the world of Their skins, always damp, are dark
encounter these members of the race. Marhaban, the Newts had begun their green and blue. They sport complex
Industrial Revolution when they were color patterns, some of them natural,
An Answerin soldier’s adrenaline first contacted by the Vilani. This was some applied with waterproof paints
surge makes him doubly dangerous. before the Consolidation Wars, and to act as markers of social status and
Terrans often call Answerin “berserk- the Bwaps picked up Vilani technology position.
ers,” despite the fact that they are with great speed, coming up to a par
invariably quite calm while punching with their Human visitors within 100 Females are outnumbered 10-to-1
holes through walls, overturning cars, years. by males, and are sequestered on
and otherwise doing things no Human Bwap colony worlds, so all Bwaps
has any right doing. They are greatly The Bwaps soon had a small inter- encountered by Terrans are male.
stellar state of their own, but when
feared in wartime – although it’s the Ziru Sirka was proclaimed they Psychology
worth noting that this is a respectful voluntarily joined the new empire.
fear, as most Terran soldiers also The Imperium’s ideals of order and Newts are focused on hierarchy
admire Answerin strengths. stability appealed to them greatly, and procedure, an attitude that some-
and they threw themselves into the times makes them “more Vilani than
Fortunately, while Answerin are new project. Over time, they became the Vilani.” The Imperium’s founders
grouped into their own units, they are the most useful Vilani partner in the acknowledged that the society that
commanded by Vilani, so they are running of the Imperium, and have they were creating ran counter to some
stuck with fossilized tactics that make spread throughout the entire state. deep Human motivations, but that is
them vulnerable. Every time war not the case with the Newts. Of all the
breaks out, the Terran forces are Physiology races ruled by the Ziru Sirka, they are
armed with a whole new set of clever the most psychologically suited to it.
ideas for getting the Answerin to The Bwaps are 4’ to 5’ in height and
“burn off” their surges, rendering bipedal, but otherwise have a superfi- Conceptually, the Bwaps view the
them useless for combat afterwards. cial resemblance to the Terran crea- world as Wapawab, the tree of life,
It’s to Answerin credit that Terrans do tures that supplied their nickname. with everything connected to every-
have to come up with new ideas every Like Terran newts, they are amphibi- thing else, and everyone performing a
time; the Answerin are rarely taken in ous, and they do require high levels of function for the good of the whole.
more than once by any given gambit. humidity to protect their skins. In Each tries to place himself and others
most Human facilities they will wear in that tree and then interact in an
BWAPS special robes and head-cloths that appropriate manner. In particular,
draw water from small attached tanks. they have a fondness for being the
Of all the Imperial subject races, “cogs in the machine.” This means
the Bwaps (also called “Newts” by that the majority of them encountered
most Terrans) are the most successful. by Terrans are bureaucrats, trying to
keep things in order. Or, as some
Terrans have put it: “They think the
Imperium’s a tree, and it’s their duty
to keep us saps running.”

Balancing out their fetish for
bureaucracy is their incorruptibility.
As part of insisting that every rule be
followed, they would never dream of
“polluting the water” by taking a bribe
or looking the other way. As the
Imperium is designed to run smooth-
ly if the rules are followed, a Bwap
can be your best friend when dealing
with the Vilani, a bulwark against the
corruption that is shot through the
system.

On the other hand, if you’re a rule-
breaker, they can make your life
impossibly difficult.

82 THE IMPERIUM

Bwaps in the Imperium, looking for riches to bring judge the distance to the next tree
Interstellar Wars home. Their fundamental dishonesty branch. Their “hands” are actually
was understood, so deals were always their feet – one more reason why they
As well as being common sights in structured to make it worth their avoid standing on solid ground.
the Imperial bureaucracy, Bwaps are while to stick to the contract. Give a
found wherever their peculiar knack Dishaan half a chance, though, and Psychology
for detail can come in handy. This he’d cheat you blind.
includes systems maintenance, from The proto-Dishaan were pack ani-
as high-profile as heading a starport This propensity for chaos ran mals, roaming in groups of 20 to 30
traffic control system to as lowly as against the grain of Vilani goals in the and driving predators away from their
janitorial work. They are also com- period leading up to the Consolidation kills. Their social structure was based
mon on water worlds, where not only Wars, so the Dishaan were one of the entirely around feeding rights, as
can they help run things, they can go first races to be attacked. It took 80 maintained by continuous “pecking
underwater for long periods of time to years of war to finally break the order” squabbles. Intelligence gradu-
work on niggling problems. Dishaan, and then the Vilani were left ally developed as the Dishaan evolved
with the problem of what to do with ever more elaborate ways of subjugat-
Bwaps are also commonly encoun- their new client race. It proved virtual- ing their pack mates without resorting
tered in criminal investigations. ly impossible to impose Vilani culture to physical violence.
Despite their reputation for focusing on the Dishaan without piling on out-
on the small things, they are as imagi- rageously negative consequences for The modern-day Dishaan is still
native as Humans when it comes to straying. constantly looking for angles, and has
interpreting data, and their dogged absolutely no compunction about
ability to check every possibility makes For the last 4,000 years, every doing anything that puts him one step
them effective, if slow, forensic officers. Dishaan has been under constant sur- ahead of someone else. He is honest
veillance, from birth to death. The exactly as long as it’s to his advantage.
There are not many Bwap traders Vilani strategy is to make certain that The second he decides that cheating is
or military personnel, but the race is any deviation from acceptable norms better, that becomes his strategy.
peripherally associated with each is punished to an extent far greater
field. Bwaps are often the best people than the potential gain of the crime. Dishaan in the
to approach when trying to find a par- Most Dishaan are not allowed to leave Interstellar Wars
ticular cargo, as they can often tell you their world unless they have consider-
down to the last detail who has what able assets under Vilani control, Within the Imperium itself, the
and how much. Terrans often use which can be confiscated if their Dishaan are not as untrustworthy as
Bwaps as de facto brokers on Vilani owner gets out of line. Those who do they could be. On their home worlds
worlds. Similarly, while they rarely travel are usually merchants, though they are constantly watched (by other
engage directly in military operations, some work for the armed forces as Dishaan, in fact, as “traitors” are amply
they are excellent in support roles, or solitary commandos with fearsome compensated). Since the Vilani harshly
as engineers aboard starships. reputations among Terrans.

DISHAAN I hate the Dishaan. Wrinkly, vulturous,
black-hearted, love to scare you half to death. I
Psychologically incapable of think- get enough of that from my unit.
ing past their own best interests, the
Dishaan are in many ways the antithe- – Staff Sergeant John Sevdalian (2175)
sis of the Vilani ideal. The Ziru Sirka
has gone to heroic lengths to curb these Physiology punish lawbreaking, the calculation to
impulses, but now that they are inter- break the rules rarely works out.
acting with a non-Vilani state, the The Dishaan are five-foot-tall tree-
Dishaan are falling back into old habits. dwellers with stubby legs that make In Terran space, however, anyone
them ungainly on the ground and dealing with a Dishaan needs to watch
History long, powerful arms that make them carefully – offworld they wear
masters in a forest canopy. Each arm portable surveillance devices, but
Before the founding of the Ziru is tipped with a large curved claw; these don’t work very well outside of a
Sirka, several non-Vilani states these are intended to make grabbing Vilani infrastructure. On the other
flourished in parts of what is now the next branch easier, but they are hand, this also means that once out
Imperial space, and one of the most also extremely effective in hand-to- from the ever-watching eyes of the
successful was Ushkaq Sasutxi, the hand combat. The claws are also used Vilani they’re willing to cheat their
Dishaan Hegemony. to take apart the carrion on which the masters in return for Terran goods;
Dishaan feed. Two widely set eyes on the race has been a valuable conduit
Over the course of 1,000 years, the a broad, neckless head help them for transferring Imperial technology
Dishaan built up a small empire of into Terran hands.
about 20 worlds based on Vilani tech-
nology. Moreover, they were great
traders of the period, ranging far and
wide across much of what is now the

THE IMPERIUM 83

A few Dishaan take “cheating” to all times. While they can digest veg- Geonee men and women can only
its ultimate level, and love murder and etable matter, and even use it as fla- interact as relatives or, if courting,
looting for their own sake. In most voring in some dishes, they have a though the agency of a semi-intelligent
eras there has been no outlet for this hard time with more than a small creature called a cerosee that is native
impulse, but recently the Vilani have amount of it in the diet. to the Geonee homeworld. The Geonee
returned to a tactic they used in the generally do not discuss this subject,
Consolidation Wars after the Dishaan Psychology and the cerosee are so shy and cautious
were conquered. Solitary Dishaan – that it is still not entirely certain that
even a unit as large as a platoon is The Geonee possess much the they actually exist. Some who study
hard to hold together in wartime – are same basic psychology as other the Geonee believe that they may be
introduced into the field of operations Humans. Most of their psychological metaphorical, a variety of “Cupid” in
and told to run wild. In forests or differences are imposed on them by the Geonee courtship ritual.
cities with high buildings they can their society.
make their way around far above the The Geonee are extremely proud of
heads of Terrans, wreaking havoc Culturally, the Geonee are sexually their past, not only the relatively
behind the lines. These “Wreckers” are dimorphic. Males are active and recent past when they were a space-
detested by Terran troops, and few aggressive, while women are expected faring power, but also a hypothetical
survive capture. Equally few are to be shy and retiring. In earlier times, Golden Age hundreds of thousands of
around to be captured in the first women were actually considered chat- years ago. During this Golden Age, the
place, however, as the Wrecker mind- tels of their male relatives, but the Geonee believe they had an even more
set is fortunately rare even among the Vilani ended this practice when they advanced and widespread empire
Dishaan. imposed their culture on the Geonee. than that of the Imperium. They can
Even so, to this day Geonee women be quite prickly about the subject,
GEONEE are rarely encountered off a Geonee- despite the fact that there is some evi-
dominated world. dence to suggest that they are wrong
The Geonee are a variant of the in this belief.
Human species, one encountered by
the Vilani not long after they went to
the stars. What was most shocking
about the encounter was that the
Geonee had the jump drive as well,
though it eventually came out that
they had reverse-engineered it from a
derelict ship they discovered in their
home star system.

History

The Geonee were the greatest rival
of the Vilani for over 3,500 years. They
were the toughest opponent during the
Consolidation Wars, but they were
finally defeated (about the 4th century
B.C.) and have been under Vilani rule
ever since. Despite the millennia of
subjugation, they still live on dozens of
worlds somewhere to coreward of
Terra, and are sometimes encountered
by travelers headed in that direction.

Physiology

Geonee are smaller than most
Humans, having adapted to a hot,
high-gravity world; they average about
5 feet tall and 160 pounds, both male
and female. Despite their small size,
they are very strong and dense, with
very little fat on their bodies.

The only other notable difference
between the Geonee and Terrans is in
their diet. Geonee are borderline
carnivores, preferring to eat meat at

84 THE IMPERIUM

Anachronisms

Long-time players of Traveller probably recognize Wars period, it’s unlikely that an Imperial official will
the Nugiiri as the Droyne, an enigmatic race scattered even realize that an encountered Droyne is a member of
throughout Imperial space and beyond. They will know this long-neglected species; he will likely dismiss it as
a great deal more about the Nugiiri than anyone living belonging to some minor race he’s never seen before.
during the Interstellar Wars era. By the time of the
Third Imperium, much of the mystery about the Nugiiri ● The Nugiiri are psionic: In the Interstellar Wars
has been dispersed; GMs need to make sure that things period, Terrans do not know that psionic powers exist,
their players might know don’t leak out to the advantage while the Vilani have only a very limited understanding
of their characters. These are: of the phenomenon. If Terrans were to make a break-
through on this front, it would likely be from study of the
● The Nugiiri are not native to Kilennur: This is Nugiiri from Kilennur. However, there is a paradox here
the one fact that Terrans have a chance to find out for – there’s no particular reason to study the Nugiiri in the
themselves. If anyone with knowledge of the biological first place until it’s understood that they have fantastic
sciences can examine both the Nugiiri and Kilennur’s powers of the mind.
biosphere, it will be obvious that the Nugiiri are from
elsewhere. ● The Nugiiri are an offshoot of the Ancients:
During the 22nd and 23rd centuries, it’s not even clear
● The Nugiiri are part of a widely-dispersed race: that there ever was an Ancient civilization, much less
Even if they are discovered to be non-native to their that the Ancients were derived from a single race, or
“homeworld,” it’s still not obvious that the Nugiiri got that that race is the Droyne. While the Nugiiri of
there by colonizing the planet on their own initiative. Kilennur have a high-technology society, they are some-
Based on what the Terrans know, it’s much likelier that what behind the Vilani. Their artifacts are radically dif-
the Nugiiri got their knowledge of interstellar travel ferent from Vilani ones, but this can easily be explained
from the Vilani at some forgotten point in the past. It away as the effect of alien thought processes working on
would take a major archaeological expedition to discov- technology received from the Imperium.
er evidence to the contrary (specifically, that the Nugiiri
have been living on Kilennur for much longer than the ● The Nugiiri and the Chirpers are related:
Vilani have been in space). Between the Ancient period 300,000 years ago and
70,000 years ago, the Droyne began losing their ability
Even the Vilani are unaware of this, despite there to caste. As this is a critical step to their development of
being multiple worlds with native Droyne colonies in full intelligence and adulthood, the colonies that lost
the Imperium. Since the Vilani invented jump drive, the this ability completely became “Chirpers,” semi-intelli-
Droyne have been so secretive and unconnected with gent creatures apparently no more related to Droyne
the universe as a whole that no one has realized that it’s than chimpanzees are to Humans. Some colonies devel-
the same race on all of their worlds. In each case, they oped “coyns” – coin-like focuses for the psionic casting
have been written off as simply another minor race, one ritual – and recovered, but many did not. In the
native to the world where they were found. Imperium, only the Geonee (p. 84) are in a position to
make the connection between the two, but as Chirpers
In many cases, Droyne colonies are barely at the are involved in the courtship rituals of this repressed
industrial level of technology. In the case of those (like race, and they have their own name for the Chirpers,
Kilennur) that are more advanced, thousands of years the topic is never discussed.
of complete disinterest by the Droyne in the affairs of
the Vilani have allayed all concerns. In the Interstellar

Geonee in the NUGIIRI trailing of the Urima subsector, about
Interstellar Wars a year’s travel from Terra. Their native
One of the most unusual races technology varies from Vilani norms
The race is particularly interesting known to the Terrans are the Nugiiri. like that of no other known race; what
to Terrans for two reasons. One is that Winged bipeds with an odd mixture of this implies about their origins and
there is some contradictory evidence lizard-like and insect-like characteris- psychology is not yet clear. They were
that they are the Ancients, or at least tics, they mostly keep to themselves already relatively advanced before the
descendants of the Ancients (p. 13). and have been difficult to investigate. Vilani conquered them, and they even-
More practically, they are interesting tually allowed themselves to be
because they are the Vilani’s most History absorbed by the Ziru Sirka in return
restive subject race. Even before Terra for a promise to be left in isolation on
appeared on the scene, they had more What is known of the Nugiiri past is Kilennur’s southern continent. They
than once revolted unsuccessfully largely conjectural, but Terran xenolo- have kept their part of the bargain in
against the Ziru Sirka. Given an gists have managed to construct the the centuries since, and are only rarely
opportunity to ally with the following theory. seen off their home world.
Confederation, there is reason to
believe that they will take the chance. The Nugiiri appear to be native to
Kilennur, a world to spinward and

THE IMPERIUM 85

Physiology Nugiiri in the Physiology
Interstellar Wars
The Nugiiri are hexapods, with a The Suerrat are Human, though
pair each of arms, legs, and wings. By and large the Nugiiri keep to the casual observer might be forgiven
Their home world has lower gravity themselves, and actively discourage for thinking otherwise. They exhibit
and a higher atmospheric density contact with outsiders. Even sports several genetic traits that are dormant
than Terra, and they can fly under encountered away from home will in Terrans or Vilani, producing what
such circumstances. In more Terra- avoid speaking with others, and be many Terrans think of as “ape-like”
like conditions, they are restricted to close-mouthed about their missions features. They are small, averaging
short-distance gliding. when avoidance is impossible. just over 5’ for males and just under
that for females. Both weigh in at 130
The average member of the species SUERRAT pounds, which is quite heavy for their
is 50% smaller than a Human, and size. This is because they are very
possesses a “hunched” quality that The third of the three great Human broad across the chest, and quite mus-
makes them look even smaller. Their races that inhabited the area of the cular – despite the size difference, the
basic external appearance is scaled Imperium prior to the Consolidation Suerrat are about as strong as Terran
and leathery, with a toothless, oval- Wars, the Suerrat are now grudging Humans.
shaped head. Their eyes are multi- subjects of the Vilani. They differ from
faceted like those of Terran insects. the Human physical norm more than More unusually, their feet are
most, and so still retain a strong iden- slightly prehensile. Suerrat shoes are
The term “average member” is a bit tity despite Imperial efforts to bring usually more like mittens to Terran
misleading, however, as the Nugiiri them to heel. eyes, soft and freeing the big
possess several biologically derived toe/thumb from the other toes to allow
castes, again similar to those of Terran History its use. On the right surfaces they are
insects like bees or termites. The likely to go barefoot.
smallest of these is barely 3’ in height, The ancestral Suerrat lived in their
while the largest averages 6’6”. The homeworld’s lush equatorial forests, The most remarkable superficial
exact nature of the castes is poorly and were well adapted to that environ- difference is the coat of fur the Suerrat
understood, and it is not even known ment. Early Suerrat literally lived in grow over most of their bodies, miss-
how many there are, but they seem to trees, having tamed, and then moved ing only on their palms, soles, and
determine the individual’s role in soci- in with, a local predator that made from the neck up. This fur is usually
ety. A few “pre-caste” Nugiiri have burrows in the largest trunks. Over red and quite long, though it’s worth
been encountered, so it is known that time they passed through the stages of noting that the Suerrat don’t actually
the caste is imposed at some point civilization recognizable to any Terran have more hair than Terrans – it’s just
prior to adulthood, but how this historian. that Terran “fur” is much finer and
occurs is also unknown. shorter than theirs. Curiously, Suerrat
The Suerrat paralleled the Vilani in cannot grow facial hair.
Psychology technological development, with one
major exception. The two races The race has one other adaptation
Each individual is shaped by its reached space within a few hundred of note, though it is much more subtle
caste, and in most cases this severely years of each other, but the Vilani than the others mentioned. Their
limits its intellectual capabilities. were the only ones to go on and devel- home world orbits a dim red dwarf,
Within the limits of the individual’s op the jump drive. The Suerrat used and so their days are much less bright-
function in society, it is quite adept, sublight gravitic drives instead. By the ly illuminated than those of Terra or
but without a community to embed time they first encountered the Vilani, Vland. As a result, their retinas are
itself within, it is quite helpless. they had founded a state of about two more sensitive than those of Terrans,
dozen worlds, knit together by vast their eyes are slightly larger, and their
Two castes are exempt from this generation ships. The two civilizations pupils are larger still. Some Terrans
rule. The “leader” caste is rarely traded, and soon the Suerrat had a find their gaze annoying for reasons
encountered away from Kilennur, but considerable empire comparable to they can’t place; this is probably
possesses Human-level intelligence that of their brethren. because their eyes are subtly different
and flexibility. The so-called “sport” from what we’re used to.
caste is even more unusual, and even Like the Geonee, Dishaan, and
more independent. Sports appear to others, the Suerrat were conquered Practically, this means that the
be the Nugiiri designed to handle the during the Consolidation Wars. Like Suerrat are comfortable with a much
unforeseen, dealing with situations some of the others, they retain strong lower light level than a Terran or
that are too quick or too distant for the memories of their golden age of inde- Vilani would be. A Suerrat room might
leader caste to handle. As this includes pendence. Though not as actively be lit by no more than one or two
trading and the rare Nugiiri diplomat- rebellious as the Geonee, the Suerrat bright LEDs, dim but acceptable to
ic mission, sports are encountered by are likely to take up arms against the them, uncomfortable and dangerous
Humans more often than any other Imperium if an opportunity presents to a Terran. On the other hand,
caste. “More often” is a relative term, itself. Suerrat find it difficult to see in the full
though, and the Nugiiri would proba- light of G-class or F-class stars, and
bly never be encountered by Terrans if have to wear sunglasses on planets
their home world wasn’t relatively orbiting them.
close to Terra.

86 THE IMPERIUM

Psychology had much direct contact, there is or otherwise uninhabitable planets
already a growing trade in all varieties are needed as outposts. The Suerrat
The Suerrat have lived in the trees of Terran animal (and not just ones make up a significant minority of the
for their entire history, even in the usually intended to be pets). population on these worlds, helping to
modern period when every group of run the systems, and are doubly suited
buildings is associated with a large Suerrat in the to work in outposts in low or
central tree. Suerrat are more interest- Interstellar Wars zero-G environments thanks to their
ed in nature than most Human races, prehensile feet.
but they balance this with a love of Outside the worlds of their former
crowds and sociability. Their cities are empire, the Suerrat occupy a special This puts the Suerrat in the unusu-
odd mixtures of vast, empty areas niche in the Imperium. Having colo- al position of being able to maintain
needed to support the trees and their nized space first with sublight drives, some of their own lifestyle despite the
associated ecology, punctuated by they were in no position to be picky Imperial tendency for cultural assimi-
densely populated “downtowns” about the worlds they settled, and lation. As the life-support technicians
where they can meet and interact. most of them were heavily flawed. in Imperial space, Suerrat have man-
Over time, they became masters of aged to intermix their ecological views
Suerrat sociability extends natural- living in extreme environments. with Vilani technology; their outposts
ly to other species; a Suerrat’s first are considerably more pleasant than
reaction on encountering a creature When the Suerrat were conquered similar installations in Terran space.
that isn’t obviously violent is to by the Vilani, their environmental The adaptation of Suerrat technology
attempt to communicate. They are technology wasn’t absorbed so much in this field, and of Suerrat to run it,
very good at taming animals, and their as it was co-opted; to this day they are has been a lucrative source of technol-
cities are often home to an astonishing the ones best suited to run it. Vilani ogy transfer since not long after Terra
variety of domesticated creatures. usually live on Vland-like worlds, but invented its own jump drive.
While Suerrat and Terrans have not even with jump-2 drives many airless

THE IMPERIUM 87

VEGANS the Vegans are cautious by Human actually have a range of emotions
standards, and have never brought a quite similar to ours, surprisingly for
The first truly alien race encoun- plan all the way to the point of rebel- such an alien race. The difference is
tered by Terrans, the Vegans occupy lion. With the right spark from Terra, that their emotions are much weaker
several worlds near the star Vega, just though, this may change. than those of Humans, to the point
outside the current coreward border that they are rarely swept away by
of the Confederation. Physiology what they feel.

History Vegans are roughly humanoid, but As a result, Vegans are much less
they diverge strongly from Human ambitious and driven than Humans,
Like most other subject races, the appearance. Muan Gwi is a small and will think about things rather
Vegans received the jump drive from world, so they are very tall – often over than act. In the Imperium this is prob-
others. Vilani influence was still far 7’ in height – but frail and unable to ably a good thing, as the thoroughness
away when this happened, but traders handle Terran gravity for any length of with which the Vilani put down rebel-
from the powerful Geonee state to time. Their eyes are at the top of their lion would bring disaster if the Vegans
coreward passed the secret on about body at the end of a long fleshy hood; ever acted on their feelings about
1500 B.C. A conservative race, the strictly speaking this isn’t a “head,” in being subjected.
Vegans built up a small state about 10 that it doesn’t contain any other sen-
parsecs in diameter around their home sory organs nor can it turn independ- Vegan society before the
world Muan Gwi, then settled down to ently of the rest of the body. Vegans Consolidation Wars was somewhat
assimilate what they had taken. hear through a series of ear holes similar to that of the Vilani, with citi-
around their shoulders, and a mouth zens divided into castes named tuhuir.
Unfortunately for them, the Vegans pierces the chest. The mouth isn’t dual Despite the similarity, the Vegans find
were the last known spacefaring race purpose like a Human’s, being only for it troubling to live by Vilani ways, as
as one headed to the Rim – in other eating their vegetarian diet; breathing they miss subtleties of the tuhuir sys-
words, they were the obvious anchor slits flank it on either side. tem that matched particular Vegan
on one border of the Ziru Sirka when needs. There is also resentment at the
the Imperium was first proposed. For Muan Gwi is quite arid, so Vegan Imperium’s controls on innovation in
a while they were protected by having legs bear a superficial resemblance to art, philosophy, and mathematics;
the Geonee between them and the those of Terran camels, especially in these three topics are of great interest
Vilani, but after that race was con- their broad, soft feet that can easily to the thoughtful Vegans.
quered the days of Vegan independ- handle sandy ground. Vegan arms
ence were numbered. The Vilani con- split into many tentacles just below Vegans in the
quered the original Vegan Polity by the elbow, producing an odd “hand” Interstellar Wars
about 120 A.D. that makes it difficult for a Vegan to
use Human equipment and vice versa. Though other subject races are
Since then the Vegans have been more obviously opposed to being part
carefully trying to find a way out of Psychology of the Imperium, the Vegans may have
their predicament. While not aggres- made the most progress through sheer
sive, or even particularly resentful of Terrans often characterize Vegans passive resistance. They follow Vilani
the Imperium, they would rather be as stoic, but this is not true. Vegans dictates in letter, not spirit, and only to
their own masters. With lives spanning the minimum extent necessary to keep
several centuries from birth to death, the Imperium from cracking down.
They follow orders, and back down
when challenged, but constantly test
the limits of what they can do. After
2,000 years of practice, they are
masters of being infuriating without
seeming the least bit threatening.

From a Terran standpoint, there
are very few races that would make
better neighbors. Vegans will follow
their own interests without qualms as
long as they think they can get away
with it. They will gladly help Terrans
whenever the help brings discomfort
to the Vilani and doesn’t endanger
Vegan society. As a result, they have
proven to be very useful trading part-
ners and sources of intelligence.
In many ways they are the
Confederation’s window onto the rest
of the Imperium.

88 THE IMPERIUM

THE VILANI MILITARY

The doctrine of “hit it with a big resistance would be disaster for him. If an enemy manages to put up a
hammer” is indeed crude, but the To this day, the Vilani are likely to good fight, the Vilani are likely to
Vilani have a very large hammer, and open any campaign with a careful stand down and wait for another
have been pounding nails for a very attempt at intimidation. opportunity. Even during the
long time. Of course, it has been Consolidation Wars, the Vilani were
almost as long since any of the nails On the other hand, the bluff needs capable of great patience; they could
have really fought back. to be carried through if called. If a wait for decades to deliver final defeat
weaker force chooses to fight, it must to an opponent. Today’s more compla-
– Hauptmann Heinrich Guthard, be smashed, and collateral damage is cent Imperium is even more likely to
Terran Confederation Marines (2166) not an issue – it’s even a benefit. back down if Terran or allied forces
Wanton destruction produces terror are able to resist the first assault, giv-
THE VILANI and economic hardship, hopefully ing the Confederation a chance to
WAY OF WAR delivering a lesson that will last long rebuild and regroup.
into the peace that follows any war.
It’s been many generations since
the Vilani have faced a threat that The Vilani and Glory
couldn’t be easily crushed by the com-
bined forces of the Navy and Army. The Vilani concept of military glory differs considerably from the
The greatest danger to the Vilani is Terran version.
complacency; being on top for so long
makes it difficult to imagine another The Vilani rarely award medals to individuals for achievement on the
force capable of giving a good fight. field of battle. Instead, entire units are recognized, even if only one or two
soldiers performed heroically. Perhaps it was Private Kikiima who took
In the millennia that the Ziru Sirka out the enemy gun crew after charging 100 yards under heavy fire – but
has ruled the stars, the Vilani have his fellow soldiers gave him covering fire, and his leaders trained him to
developed an efficient military be able to perform the feat. Hence it’s the platoon as a whole that gets the
machine that is dependent on two “attaboy” from a commander.
things: strict adherence to procedures,
and overwhelming force. The Vilani don’t give medals as we think of them. Instead, the unit
receives thanks or a gift from a senior commander. The further the praise
To the Vilani military, “The Book” originates from up the chain of command, the higher its value. Units hold
is everything. The Vilani have these gifts and notes in high regard, and display them proudly. A gift
compiled a vast collection of doctrine might be as simple as a vial of soil from the battle site or a piece of debris
and tactics, some of it stretching back from an enemy ship, or a family heirloom from the commander’s clan.
to before the Consolidation Wars. The rules governing the giving and display of these gifts are quite intricate.
The natural conservatism of the
Vilani mindset makes it difficult for While a Vilani trooper won’t get medals pinned to his chest, he is still
commanders in the field to impro- just as brave as his Terran counterparts. The base motivation for bravery
vise, and their training doesn’t even (“please, don’t let me be a coward and let my buddies down”) is the same
bother with realistic exercises to in both Terran and Vilani units. Vilani are already attuned to the opinions
teach them this critical skill. A good of others in their civilian society; they remain so in the military.
way to look at this side of the Vilani
military is to think of officers as Of course, the Vilani expect any THE
skilled technicians, able to function “barbarian” enemy to use the same VILANI NAVY
within the limits of their training, but tactics of terror and destruction
forced to refer to “The Book” when against them, if given the chance. This The Aasha Ziru Sirka (“Fleet of the
anything goes wrong. There are is one reason why the Imperium tries Grand Empire of Stars”) has been the
exceptions to this rule – officers who to apply overwhelming force; the plan unquestioned master of the galaxy for
can improvise effectively – but these is to keep any enemy far too busy thousands of years. Naval personnel
are rare. defending himself to play havoc with know they cannot be beaten, and any
Imperial civilian populations. If an small losses against barbarians, rebel-
Along with The Book, the Ziru enemy does manage to break into the lious provinces, or other renegades are
Sirka meets threats with overwhelm- Imperial rear, the threat can unhinge written off as bad luck.
ing force. This is an expression of the an otherwise well-planned offensive as
Vilani desire for short, “cost-effi- undefended worlds shout for help.
cient” wars. Even in pre-industrial
times on Vland, actual combat was
considered wasteful of lives and
resources. It was considered far
better form to muster a massive force
and convince the opponent that

THE IMPERIUM 89

Overall Organization A leader who does the job with One of the battleships will be
insufficient resources is said approv- equipped with a specialized com-
The Aasha doesn’t have permanent ingly to be “counting by nines,” where- mand-and-control center, along with
fleets in the sense that Terrans think as the same phrase is used disapprov- stealth and heavy ECM systems, and
of them. Instead, the Vilani assemble ingly of a leader who acts before he is will serve as the battlegroup’s flagship.
fleets as needed from available units, ready. The Vilani say that the Terrans
and place senior officers in charge of always count by nines, and when a The majority of the battlegroups
them for the duration. That being Vilani refers to a “Terran 10,” he are held in the Imperium’s interior
said, there are some squadrons means nine! regions. Given the political situation at
(mashushshi) composed of so many the time of the early Interstellar Wars,
ships as to be fleets by Terran A leader who makes sure that every the shangarim felt a strong need to
standards. detail is taken care of, and who builds keep their strongest weapons close to
up overwhelming force before acting, the centers of power. These fleets were
While this lack of consistent organ- is said to be “counting by 11s.” This is sent to regional governors only in
ization seems odd to most, it serves usually a compliment. times of dire need, and even then only
the Vilani well. Naval assets are found at great political cost to the governor
throughout the territory of a On the other hand, a commander who called for them.
shangarim, and these ships can be or leader who rarely acts, because he’s
quickly assembled into the sledge- too busy complaining that he doesn’t Cruisers
hammer so beloved in Imperial doc- have enough assets to complete the
trine. Also, the lack of permanent job, is said to be “counting by 12s.” Displacing 4,000 to 20,000 dtons,
fleets limits the power of commanders This is not a compliment. the cruisers of the Aasha are the heavy
in the field, making it harder for one ships most often seen on the frontiers.
malcontent to gather enough power to These vessels are equipped for long
be a threat.
Naval Rank
In times of war, regional governors
order their squadrons into service, Rank in the Aasha is complex. Unlike navies built on the American or
and appoint senior officers to com- European model, there is no linear hierarchy of ranks. Instead, every-
mand the fleets. Occasionally a gover- thing is based on function and position.
nor or other shangarim executive of
high rank will take personal command To this end, the names of ranks take full advantage of the tonal
of a task force, but this is not common nature of the Vilani language. For example, Merishmirra6 means cruis-
practice. In many cases, commanding er (merishmir) captain. Merishmirra5 means a senior staff officer on
officers are recommended by their fel- board a cruiser, usually an executive or department head. If a
lows. The non-linear nature of Vilani Merishmirra6 officer was to be transferred to a staff position on a large
ranks makes it easy for a good starship base, his rank would become Gamirirem, with the final syllable toned to
captain to become the equivalent of a indicate seniority. This system is very confusing to Terrans, as the tonal
Fleet Admiral for the duration of a cri- changes are subtle, and the concept of changing rank names entirely
sis, then go back to being a simple with each transfer is unfamiliar.
captain at the end of hostilities.
Because of all the different names, there are more than 50 distinct
Vilani naval forces are usually ranks in the Aasha, and even more if one considers tonal variations.
organized around groups of 10: 10 Trying to remember that Kurmaruushririi3 means “second assistant
ships make up a squadron, 10 jump technician” while the same word toned differently means “senior
squadrons make up a fleet, and so on. fleet engineer” gives most Terran intelligence officers headaches.
Groups of 10 are often broken into
paired groups of five in order to cover Battlegroups patrols (at jump-2, any significant
more space during extended opera- patrolling takes many months) and
tions. This isn’t a rule or formal regu- The heart of the Aasha Ziru Sirka, are quite comfortable. Like battle-
lation, but a simple habit that has the Vilani battlegroups (gaashnarru) ships, they are noteworthy for
become part of Vilani thinking. It is are the force used to enforce the will their large missile magazines.
prevalent enough that Terran com- of central command. The typical Commanders of Aasha cruisers are
manders have developed a rule of Vilani dreadnought or battleship dis- the most independent-minded in the
thumb: “If you see five Vilani ships, places at least 20,000 dtons, and uses fleet, since they spend a great amount
assume there are five more nearby.” massive missile batteries for its main of time away from more senior com-
punch. These ships are organized into manders. On the other hand, they still
Of course, the Vilani aren’t uncon- squadrons of 10, plus escorts and sup- have “The Book” hanging around
scious of their “counting by 10s” port vessels. The escort fleet is small, their necks, and a duty to report on all
foible. Vilani slang includes a set of usually one or two cruisers per battle- actions while out in the field. Few
metaphorical expressions that has ship, along with a handful of smaller take advantage of their isolation.
spread beyond the Imperial Navy into vessels of 500-dton to 5,000-dton size.
Vilani society as a whole. For example,
a formation or organization that’s
been badly damaged is said to be
“counting by eights.”

90 THE IMPERIUM

Smaller cruisers operate in “wolf
packs” of 10 ships. They patrol togeth-
er and attack targets of opportunity.
Terran commanders quickly learn to
be wary of such tactics. The larger
ships are used as a reaction force, held
at a fleet headquarters until word of
an attack comes in. They are also
deployed as heavy, short-legged
patrollers, securing a small number of
worlds (usually along a main).

Destroyers and Escorts

The Vilani place little faith in
smaller vessels. They don’t fit into the
“big hammer” strategy, and few of the
Vilani’s opponents can muster a cred-
ible space threat, making the need for
a small escort minimal. The few small-
er ships the Vilani do use are for
escorting civilian vessels and conduct-
ing what is best described as customs
duties: boarding ships and searching
for contraband.

There are larger escorts, displacing
1,000 to 4,000 dtons, which accompa-
ny capital ships and cruisers to protect
them from missiles and fighters.
These ships and their crews carry little
prestige, and are held in contempt by
those serving on other ships.

Fighters fighters for EW, ground attack, and carriers displace up to 40,000 dtons.
recon. Each holds hundreds of fighters,
The Vilani rely heavily on their organized into 10-ship squadrons.
fighters, short-range ships displacing To transport the wings of fighters, Fighter squadrons do not necessarily
from 10 to 50 dtons that are used for the Aasha uses massive carriers. More use a single type of fighter; in fact,
everything from in-system patrols to like mobile bases than warships, the dhue squadrons are organized around
massed assaults on battleships. Vilani their pilots, not the vessels they fly.
fighters (dhue) usually carry one or
two missile racks, with a few point- Support Ships
defense models carrying a laser
weapon. In smaller fighters, weapons The Aasha Ziru Sirka uses hundreds
are in fixed mounts. The largest fight- of different classes of support ships.
ers carry turrets and crews of two or Given the nature of the Imperial gov-
three men. There are also specialized ernment, many of them are simply
“civilian” vessels given a new set of
The Vilani Marines? orders. Most common are freighters
that have been converted to serve as
There is no organization in the Vilani military comparable to the troop carriers or other combat support
Terran Marine Corps. The line between Army and Navy is strictly drawn, ships.
and neither service can conceive of a force under the control of one that
would execute some of the duties of the other. The closest thing the
Imperium has to an elite Marine force is the Shigniid Dia Ugkin, the
“Legion of the Frontier” (see p. 94).

The Aasha does have security troops for shipboard actions and guard-
ing naval institutions, but these are considered naval personnel.
Meanwhile, the Army has a few interface craft.

THE IMPERIUM 91

92 Naval Bases

The Vilani rarely settle unpleasant
worlds unless they are important to
transportation routes. Logically, then,
the Vilani should put their naval bases
in the same locations, as by definition
their outposts are at chokepoints for
fleet movements.

This theory, however, depends on
the false assumption that the Vilani
worry about stopping fleet move-
ments. It has been almost 2,000 years
since anyone fielded a large group of
ships against them, and in that time
the bases have shifted to protecting
individual worlds of importance.
Naval bases are therefore almost
always placed on Garden worlds,
which also solves the problem of leave
for stationed personnel.

Naval Strategy

The Vilani expect to know about
trouble before it brews, but placing the
bases at important planets is intended
to guard against times when they do
not. In the first stages of a war, the
fleets defend their bases and associat-
ed worlds. Individual units are
detached if the opposition is sufficient-
ly weak, or if a target of opportunity
presents itself, but in general system
defense is the squadron’s first purpose.

While deployed units carry out sys-
tem defense, other units gather at a
convenient eshiimar (“marshaling
yard”) for orders. On average, there is
one depot per 10 naval bases, and they
are in mothballs for long periods of
time, activated only when hostilities
begin. The Vilani eshiimar closest to
Terra is at Dingir; with the constant
threat of warfare on the rimward fron-
tier, the Vilani have taken the unusual
step of keeping it open continually
(though ships still only gather there
when the shooting starts).

Once a sufficiently large number of
units has gathered, they set out from
the marshaling point to demonstrate
that one does not challenge the
Imperium. The usual tactic is to pick a
main that runs from the depot to the
source of the trouble, mopping up any
resistance along the way with over-
whelming shows of force. If this is
enough to end the fighting, so much
the better, but the Aasha is perfectly
willing to blast opposing vessels into
marble-sized pieces.

THE IMPERIUM

Army Rank nadshemi do the hard job of taking
and holding ground. The Vilani
Compared to the Navy, the Gisadia uses a simple rank structure. infantry are vehicle-poor, with light-
There are only six enlisted ranks and eight officer grades. There are also skinned APCs as their only means of
the amrimkhar, the equivalent of warrant officers without command transportation and support.
duties, who hold technical jobs that require status. See Chapter 6 for a
summary of Imperial Army ranks. The battalion commander has a
relatively large staff. Along with the
Convoy Escort General Doctrine “normal” staff positions such as oper-
ations, intelligence and supply, he has
The Terran Confederation has The Gisadia relies on large, heavy additional staff for public relations
offered the first notable threat to formations to establish superiority and security. He also has a number of
Vilani lines of trade in over 1,000 quickly, then tries to defeat the enemy officers holding the uniquely Vilani
years, so the Imperium is relearning in detail. This requires space superior- position shugilii, acting as a sort of
how to protect its shipping. ity, which the Ziru Sirka has enjoyed chaplain’s corps.
Unfortunately for them, the parts of for its entire history.
“The Book” devoted to the topic Each battalion has six companies:
assume that the enemy is limited to The Vilani don’t make frequent use five infantry and one for command
jump-1 ships, which is not the case of “drop troops,” forces trained to and support.
for most of the Interstellar Wars. For make re-entry in individual capsules,
the first time since the Consolidation as a regular part of their force struc- Tank Battalions
Wars, The Book needs a new chapter. ture. A few special operations units do
To date, the Vilani have been use this tactic on occasion, but it is The Army also deploys ishkaaim,
abysmal at coming up with tactics to rare. Instead, orbital bombardment is or “tank battalions.” The Imperium
deal with the situation; this is fortu- applied to suppress local defenses, still uses ground vehicles for its heavy
nate, as once the Aasha gets rolling then landing craft are used to shuttle tanks. The largest are wheeled or
there’s not a lot for Terran units to do whole battalions down at one time. tracked, but the majority of them are
besides commerce raiding. ground effect vehicles. Vilani tanks
use missiles and rapid-fire cannon to
destroy the enemy. Imperial armor

THE Ever wonder what goes on inside a Vilani
VILANI ARMY officer’s head? No? Neither does he.

The Ziru Sirka has successfully – Common Terran Army joke (c. 2160)
held onto an empire of thousands of
worlds, for thousands of years. Much The reason the Vilani do not make tactics resemble classic cavalry tactics
of the credit can be given to the use of this tactic isn’t technological, of the pre-industrial era – probe for
Gisadia Ziru Sirka – the “Army of the but psychological. In any sort of drop, weakness, then get into the rear area
Grand Empire of Stars.” be it from a low-flying aircraft or a to raise havoc.
ship in orbit, the forces being dropped
Over the centuries the army has will experience disruption of com- Because of the difficulty in trans-
gone from being little more than a mand lines due to troops being scat- porting ground vehicles, armor units
mob to a highly professional force, tered. Terran troops deal with this by make up a very small percentage of
then back again. These changes have training such forces to act with indi- the forces used on the offensive. More
always been dependent on the current vidual initiative until command is often than not, they are found in the
state of security in the Empire. During reestablished. To the Vilani, it is defense, where they can prepare for
times of relative peace, the Army has inconceivable that a soldier could land enemy attacks. Tanks are also used to
usually failed to maintain its funding and fight alone without direction. occupy particularly restive worlds; the
against encroachments from the Navy Vilani are not above using armored
or the shangarim. When war looms, or Unlike the regulars, the Shigniid formations to literally crush civilian
when (as has been the case recently) Dia Ugkin (p. 94) does make effective uprisings when necessary.
rebellions have flared, the Army gains use of drop troops.
stature. Tank battalions consist of three
Infantry Battalions oversized companies along with a
Currently the Army is on the command and support company. The
upswing, although in many regions The base formation of the Gisadia battalion commander has a smaller
the level of training remains little bet- is the nadshemi, or “infantry battal- staff than his infantry counterpart, and
ter than that of a heavily armed police ion.” The 1,200 or so troops in one is dependent on higher command for
force. Conservatism and the lack of a intelligence and much of his support.
real foe has left many units composed
of “parade ground troops” – troops
who look good during drill, but per-
form poorly in combat.

THE IMPERIUM 93

Larger Formations motto: “Diduma inshaiirshurla aipgia supplies, and they tend to always be
ginagkhuuirkake kakiiinkhish khiik- under-stocked. To counter this, the
Gisadia forces rarely move in ishela ad.” (“We have come here to die, Legion has developed a tradition of
groups smaller than division strength. and only the gods and officers know looting and adaptation. Shigniid Dia
Units of this size, called lurkugi, are when that will happen.”) Shigniid Dia Ugkin units carry a wide variety of per-
made up of six combat battalions, Ugkin units operate their own space- sonal weapons, gear, and even
extra artillery (mostly missiles), and a craft, and can be used as privateers in uniforms.
support battalion. war.

The next larger unit is the kuearda, The Frontier Legion’s motto starts, “We have
a corps-strength group of three to five come here to die . . .” I think ours should be
lurkugi. Extra forces are added as “Always happy to oblige.”
needed. A unit of this size is only
moved when a grave threat is – Staff Sergeant John Sevdalian (2165)
perceived.
Recruiting for the Shigniid Dia One unifying factor in the Legion
Beyond the kuearda is the sukau- Ugkin is difficult. Unlike Terrans, who is its love of bladed weapons. From
uaashdug, or “supreme army group,” a find units like the Foreign Legion the kiikag (a dagger with a brass
collection of forces that haven’t been romantic, the typical Vilani sees the knuckle-like guard) to the khapsish (a
used on the offensive in centuries. Legion as the equivalent of a prison heavy, cutlass-like blade), no member
Each sukauuaashdug has several sentence. Indeed, many of the of the Shigniid Dia Ugkin feels com-
kuearda and whatever support its Legion’s recruits are accepted directly fortable without his blade. Those who
commander feels necessary. An Army from prisons, or are given a choice have survived assaults by the Shigniid
officer commanding such a unit is one between service and “hard time” when Dia Ugkin describe howling mobs
of the few who can confidently give convicted of crimes. Others are waving swords, even when boarding
orders to the Navy. encouraged to join by families who spacecraft!
wish to hide a “black sheep.”
The Shigniid Dia Ugkin Members of the Shigniid Dia Ugkin
Legion officers are theoretically know their reputation, and work to
Occupying a unique niche in the assigned from the regular Army, but enhance it. They tend to decorate any
Ziru Sirka military, the Shigniid Dia here too the Shigniid Dia Ugkin is seen vehicles they come to possess with
Ugkin (“Legion of the Frontier”) is as a convenient dumping ground for images of skulls and fire, wear as
the wild card in the otherwise pre- junior officers who fail to conform to much ammunition as possible (along
dictable Vilani armed forces. Made the Vilani way. This results in the with the knives, of course), and even
up of subject-race troopers, malcon- Shigniid Dia Ugkin being, by far, the go to extremes in personal grooming.
tents, and outright criminals, the most versatile force in the Imperial
Shigniid Dia Ugkin is a cross between Army. It is on par with a good Terran Although the Shigniid Dia Ugkin
a penal battalion and the French unit with regard to innovation and can be found almost anywhere along
Foreign Legion. tactical flexibility. the Imperial border, it is organized
into units no larger than a company.
The Shigniid Dia Ugkin is com- One difficulty faced by the Legion There is usually one group of five
posed solely of assault troops. In train- is supply. Shigniid Dia Ugkin store- Legion companies per frontier sector.
ing and temperament, the force is houses are always the last to get
unsuited to almost any other role. It is
thrown into battle with little regard for
casualties, since its members are not
what the Vilani consider ideal citizens
in any case. The troops of the Legion
have developed a fatalistic attitude that
is best summed up by its unofficial

94 THE IMPERIUM

CHAPTER FIVE

THE KNOWN
UNIVERSE

January 15, 2171 – Uruk star Christie, “One day-night cycle will take about 47
system, in Imperial space: the navigator standard days. The local weather pat-
and an expert terns must be dominated by that cycle
“Now, that’s impressive.” astronomer, read rather than by the seasons. Native life
Captain William Blake stood watch- figures from the panel before her. “This will be quite hardy, and accustomed
ing the viewscreen as Cutty Sark made is a double-planet configuration, like to very long periods of darkness.”
its final approach to the world called that of Terra and Luna but with much
Uruk. To everyone’s surprise, the screen less difference in size between the two “It doesn’t sound very hospitable,
displayed not one world, but two. The components. Uruk has about 0.63 but the Vilani put their subsector cap-
nearest sphere was blue-white, with Terran masses, its companion Ishkar ital here. I wonder what makes the
touches of brown and green, the colors about 0.4. The distance between them is place worth living on.”
of a habitable world. The more distant a constant 320,000 miles. The two
was white and reddish-brown, the col- worlds are in a state of mutual Christie shrugged. “I couldn’t
ors of a Mars-like desert world, but with tide-lock.” speculate, sir.”
the faint haze at its limb that denoted a “Long days, then,” observed Blake.
significant atmosphere. Christie nodded, not bothering to “Well, there’s only one way to find
refer to her panel as she made the out,” Blake grinned. “Let’s go see.”
necessary calculations in her head.
Interstellar Wars adventurers will
spend a lot of time traveling among
the stars, visiting worlds held by
Terrans, Vilani, or other interstellar
civilizations. The Traveller universe is
a vast one, with many thousands of
individual worlds to visit and explore.

This chapter covers the nature of
Charted Space, the region of the galaxy
that has been mapped by known
spacefaring civilizations. It includes
rules for describing worlds, and for
generating new worlds on which
adventures can be set. It also includes
a detailed look at the region of space
nearest to Terra – the primary battle-
ground for the first half of the
Interstellar Wars era, and the region
most familiar to Terran explorers and
Free Traders.

DESCRIBING WORLDS

This book uses a specific format to Mapping the Galaxy two-dimensional plane. Star maps are
give thumbnail descriptions of worlds. thus oriented with the coreward direc-
The terms defined in this section will Following Traveller and GURPS tion at the top, toward the center of
be used both to describe specific Space, we use the parsec as a standard the Galaxy. The opposite direction is
worlds in the Interstellar Wars uni- unit of measurement for interstellar rimward. The direction of galactic
verse (for example, see The Terran distances. One parsec is equal to about rotation is toward the left edge of a
Neighborhood on p. 101) and to help 3.26 light-years, or 19 trillion miles. standard map, designating the spin-
the GM design his own worlds (see ward direction. To the right edge of a
Placing Main Worlds and Placing Space is three-dimensional, but standard map is the trailing direction.
Populations, starting on p. 127). Traveller simplifies star-mapping by
projecting the galaxy onto a

THE KNOWN UNIVERSE 95

The map of the known universe as light as hydrogen gas. A smaller originally had has probably escaped to
(p. 100) covers a region of the local world may be unable to hold onto space, perhaps leaving behind a few
arm of the galaxy, about 200 parsecs compounds such as water, free oxy- buried deposits of water ice. The fore-
“wide” (spinward-to-trailing) and 240 gen, or carbon dioxide. Worlds closer most example in the Terran system is
parsecs “deep” (coreward-to- to their primary star will have more Mars.
rimward). This region stretches difficulty retaining volatiles. All of this
roughly from Vland to Terra, and has a profound effect on the world’s Garden: The main world is very
takes in the main body of the Vilani surface environment, particularly suitable for Human habitation. It has
Imperium. Vilani astrographers including whether or not it is capable a significant atmosphere, plenty of liq-
divide space into sectors, rectangular of supporting Human life. uid water to form oceans, and a pleas-
regions that are exactly 32 parsecs ant climate. It also has extensive life,
wide and 40 deep and contain rough- In Interstellar Wars, the following either locally evolved or imported,
ly 400 to 500 stars. Each sector is fur- world types are relevant. including photosynthetic organisms
ther subdivided into 16 subsectors, (plants) that can maintain free oxygen
which are eight parsecs wide and 10 Asteroid Belt: The “main world” of in the atmosphere. Terra itself is the
deep. Terran astrographers have the star system is actually a settled best example of this class of world.
picked up these conventions and use asteroid belt. The bulk of the system’s
them in their own maps of the galaxy. population lives in artificial habitats, Glacier: The main world has a thick
floating freely in space or built inside atmosphere and plenty of water –
In Traveller, space is mapped on a the belt’s largest asteroids. Inhabited indeed, the world may have much
hexagonal grid, with each “hex” being asteroid belts are often major mining more water than a typical “ocean
one parsec across. Hence a sector is 32 and industrial centers. world” like Terra. However, the world
by 40 hexes, and a subsector is eight is so cold that most of this water is
hexes by 10. Each hex on the map is Barren (Ice): The main world of the frozen, covering the rocky surface
either empty or contains one star sys- star system too small to retain signifi- with a thick coat of ice.
tem. Each star system is considered to cant atmosphere, but it is far enough Photosynthetic life is rare or com-
have a single “main world” that is the from the primary star that it can have pletely absent, so the atmosphere has
focus of Human or alien rich deposits of water ice and similar little or no free oxygen. There is no
activity; in Traveller the frozen volatiles. Most Barren (Ice) example of this kind of world in the
details of the rest of the worlds are actually large moons orbit- Terran system.
star system are often
ignored. ing gas giant planets. Examples in Greenhouse: The main world began
the Terran system include its existence with a thick atmosphere
PHYSICAL Jupiter’s moons Callisto and and a good supply of water, but at
DETAILS Europa. some point it became too warm to sup-
Barren (Rock): The main world port a habitable environment. As the
The first few parameters given for is too small to retain an atmos- oceans began to boil, the atmosphere
each main world have to do with the experienced a “runaway greenhouse
world’s physical properties: its overall phere, and too warm to have much effect.” Some Greenhouse worlds
type, size, surface environment, and ice. The surface is almost entirely com- (“wet greenhouses”) still have oceans
potential value to colonists. posed of naked rock, pocked with of surface water, trapped by intense
craters. Some Barren (Rock) worlds atmospheric pressure. Others (“dry
World Type (Type) are large moons, while others are plan- greenhouses”) have lost all of their
ets in their own right. Examples in the original water to space. In either case,
Terrestrial planets, the small Terran system include Mercury and the surface environment is extremely
worlds occupied by Humans and sim- Luna. hostile, the air unbreathable and fur-
ilar species, fall into several general nace-hot. Venus (a “dry greenhouse”)
types. A world’s type depends on what Desert (Ice): The main world is is the only example of this class of
volatiles the planet can retain over bil- large enough to hold onto an atmos- world in the Terran system.
lions of years. Volatiles are chemical phere, although that atmosphere may
compounds with low melting and be very thin. It is cold enough to have Pre-Garden: The main world has a
boiling points; they make up the bulk a great deal of ice and other frozen significant atmosphere, plenty of
of a planet’s atmosphere and hydros- volatiles. It may even have liquid water, and a hospitable climate.
phere. Hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, “oceans,” although these are very However, photosynthetic life has not
water, carbon dioxide, and a number unlikely to be composed of pure water yet evolved or been established on the
of other familiar compounds are all – they may be full of hydrocarbons or surface. As a result, the atmosphere
volatiles. other odd substances instead. Most contains little or no free oxygen. There
Desert (Ice) worlds are large moons are no examples of this class of world
Over long periods of time, heavy orbiting gas giant planets. The sole in the Terran system, although Terra
volatiles tend to stay in the planet’s example of a Desert (Ice) world in the itself fell into this category a billion
atmosphere while lighter compounds Terran system is Saturn’s moon Titan. years ago.
escape into space. A large, dense
planet might be able to retain volatiles Desert (Rock): The main world is Subgiant: The main world is very
large enough to hold onto an atmos- large and cool, and was able to retain
phere, but that atmosphere is proba- helium and even hydrogen gas from
bly very thin. The world is not large its era of formation. However, for
enough to retain water vapor. As a
result, any water that the world

96 THE KNOWN UNIVERSE

some reason it failed to undergo the Atmosphere that particular atmosphere, the equip-
process of “runaway accumulation” ment will fail after 2d hours. Insidious
that would normally have given rise to One of the most important ques- atmospheres represent environments
a gas giant planet. The end result is a tions any visitor to a world will have that are so hostile as to overwhelm
world with a very dense atmosphere of is, “Can I breathe the air?” “off-the-shelf” protective equipment,
helium, hydrogen compounds, and or that are capable of somehow get-
(for the largest worlds) hydrogen gas. Breathable atmospheres, com- ting around the protection offered by
Unlike a gas giant planet, the subgiant posed primarily of nitrogen and oxy- such equipment.
world has a well-defined solid surface gen, are defined by their pressure. A
and may have oceans of liquid water breathable atmosphere can be Very Hydrographic Coverage
mixed with other substances. There Thin, Thin, Standard, Dense, or Very (Hyd)
are no examples of this class of world Dense. A Standard atmosphere has no
in the Terran system. special effects; the other pressure cat- Planets are also described in terms
egories are defined on p. B429 and of their hydrographic coverage, the
Size (Dia) have effects as described there. portion of the world’s surface that is
covered by “oceans” of some liquid
A world’s size is described in terms A breathable atmosphere may be material. On a Terra-like world, the
of its diameter. Some “worlds” are Tainted. A Tainted atmosphere con- oceans will be composed of liquid
actually asteroid belts, composed of tains some contaminant that makes it water; on more hostile planets the
hundreds of small objects no more dangerous to breathe without a filter oceans may be composed of more
than a few hundred miles in diameter. mask or some other simple protective exotic substances.
Other worlds are planets or large device. A tainted atmosphere is mildly
moons, single solid bodies thousands Toxic (p. B429), usually requiring a Many worlds that have no liquid
of miles across. HT roll no more than once per hour to oceans on the surface may be rich in
avoid 1 point of toxic damage. Most water or other ices; they may also have
Planets are also sometimes tainted atmospheres can be breathed extensive underground water or ice.
described according to their density, safely while wearing a filter mask These features do not count toward
the average mass per unit volume in (p. 167). For more detail on Tainted the hydrographic coverage, but may
the planet’s body. A Terra-like world atmospheres, see Atmospheric Taints, be of interest to visitors.
will usually have an iron core of very p. 125.
high density, overlaid by a thick layer Surface Climate
of less-dense rock and stone (the very Unbreathable atmospheres present (Climate)
thin layer of water and air is almost varying degrees of danger to unpro-
negligible on this scale). A planet with tected Human visitors. They can be The fastest way to describe a
a smaller iron core would be less Suffocating, not actively poisonous but world’s overall climate pattern is to
dense; a planet with more iron and lacking in free oxygen. They can be talk about the average surface temper-
less rock would be denser. Some large Toxic, actively doing damage when ature for the world. Local tempera-
moons have bodies that contain a breathed directly. Or they can be tures will naturally vary widely from
great deal of ice, which is even less Corrosive, attacking exposed tissues this average. Rather than give a single
dense than rock. and requiring full-body protective precise figure, it is more useful to give
gear. All three of these categories are a range of “most typical” tempera-
World density is expressed as a pro- as described on p. B429. tures, which can be understood as rep-
portion of Terra’s density – a world resentative. The temperature ranges
with a density of 1.0 is exactly as dense Interstellar Wars defines one cate- used in Interstellar Wars are given in
as Terra and probably has a very simi- gory of unbreathable atmosphere that the World Climate Table.
lar composition. Density normally does not appear in the Basic Set. An
ranges from 0.3 (a world with a great Insidious atmosphere is considered to
deal of ice in its body) to 1.4 (a world be Corrosive, requiring full-body pro-
that is almost a ball of solid iron). tection. However, unless protective
Some textbooks and game source- equipment is specifically designed for
books prefer to give density in grams
per cubic centimeter (g/cc); to get den- WORLD CLIMATE TABLE
sity in these units, multiply the density
rating by 5.5. Climate Temperature Temperature

Gravity (Grav) Type Range (F) Range (K)
Frozen Below -20º Below 244 K
Each world’s surface gravity is Very Cold -20º to 0º 244 K to 255 K
measured in Gs, multiples of the sur- Cold 0º to 20º 255 K to 266 K
face gravity of Terra. A world with sur- Chilly 20º to 40º 266 K to 278 K
face gravity of less than 1 G has a Cool 40º to 60º 278 K to 289 K
weaker “pull” than Terra, while a Normal 60º to 80º 289 K to 300 K
world with surface gravity greater Warm 80º to 100º 300 K to 311 K
than 1 G has a stronger “pull.” Tropical 100º to 120º 311 K to 322 K
Hot 120º to 140º 322 K to 333 K
Very Hot 140º to 160º 333 K to 344 K
Infernal Above 160º Above 344 K

THE KNOWN UNIVERSE 97

Climate Type is a descriptive name Allegiance (Alg) 10. For example, a world with a pop-
for the world’s overall surface climate. ulation between 1.0 million and 9.9
Temperature Range (F) gives the associ- A world will usually have an alle- million has a PR of 6; a world with a
ated range in degrees Fahrenheit. giance code that indicates who “owns” population between 1.0 billion and
Temperature Range (K) gives the same the world. Each allegiance code can 9.9 billion has a PR of 9.
range in kelvins, an absolute unit of have a “subcode” indicating that the
temperature that is often used by world is inhabited by a specific sub- Starport Class (Port)
scientists, and which can be used in culture or unusual population. The
certain computations in worldbuilding. most likely examples are given here; Starports are graded by their abili-
GMs designing their own regions of ty to provide fuel, spare parts, and
Note that Frozen and Infernal cli- space for adventure are encouraged to repairs to visiting starships. The fol-
mates are considered uninhabitable come up with more allegiance codes lowing classification applies to the
for Humans; those climate ranges are and subcodes as needed. main starport on any given world;
typical of barren worlds outside the most worlds will have several ports of
“life zone” of a star system. Most Im (Imperial): The world is claimed lower class than the main starport.
Humans will find Very Cold, Cold, and governed by the Vilani Imperium.
Hot, and Very Hot climates to be An Imperial world without a subcode Class A (Excellent quality installa-
uncomfortable, so worlds with those is inhabited by the mainstream tion) starports are the largest and best
climate types will be difficult to live on. “Imperial Vilani” culture. equipped, with facilities for even the
largest starships. Visiting crew and
Resources (RVM) Im-K (Imperial-kimashargur): The passengers will find hostels, recreation
world is populated primarily by and training facilities, warehouse
Every world has some value to kimashargur Vilani (p. 18). space, and so on. Refined fuel will be
Human or other settlers: mineral available. There will be a shipyard
resources, native plant or animal Im-Ve (Imperial-Vegan): The world capable of constructing new starships,
species that generate useful products, is populated primarily by Vegans and an extensive repair facility.
even something as simple as arable under Imperial rule (p. 88).
land on which crops can be sown. Class B (Good quality installation)
Interstellar Wars uses the Resource Cs-Im (Imperial Client State): The starports are somewhat smaller, but
Value Modifier (RVM), a number world is aligned with and subordinate still well equipped. Services for visit-
between -5 and +5, to describe the to, but not officially a part of, the ing crew and passengers are present,
overall resource value of a world. Vilani Imperium. but less extensive. Refined fuel will be
available. There will be a shipyard
An RVM of +0 indicates a world of Te (Terran): The world is claimed capable of constructing non-starships
average resource wealth, likely to and governed by the Terran from scratch; the shipyard will be able
attract settlement only if it is reason- Confederation, and is populated pre- to provide repairs and maintenance
ably habitable. An RVM above +0 indi- dominantly by Terrans. overhaul service for starships.
cates unusual resources, which may
attract settlers even if the local envi- Te-V (Terran-Vilani): The world is Class C (Average quality installation)
ronment is hostile. An RVM below +0 populated primarily by Vilani, and starports are common on low-popula-
indicates a world unlikely to offer any was conquered or annexed by the tion or backwater worlds with limited
resources worth exploiting. Confederation. interstellar trade. Services for visiting
crew and passengers will be basic, and
Affinity (AFF) Cs-Te (Terran Client State): The many visitors may simply choose to
world is aligned with and subordinate live aboard ship. Only unrefined fuel
The Affinity score for a given world to, but not officially a part of, the will be available. Basic repair facilities
is a summary of all the factors that Terran Confederation. will be present, but complex repairs (or
might make the world attractive to a ship’s annual maintenance overhaul)
Human settlement – whether the sur- Ve (Vegan): The world belongs to will have to be done elsewhere.
face environment is hospitable or not, the independent Vegan Polity (after
the level of local resources, and so on. 2236 in the official history; see p. 36). Class D (Poor quality installation)
The Affinity score is a number between starports are common on worlds that
-5 and 11, and is closely related to the Na (Non-aligned): Independent see almost no starship traffic. There
Resource Value Modifier. neutral world without affiliation. will be almost no services for visiting
crew and passengers. Only unrefined
SOCIAL Population fuel will be available, and there will be
DETAILS no significant repair facilities.
Each world’s population will be
Each world is also described in given. A world’s listed population Class E (Frontier installation) star-
terms of its social environment: the alle- includes both permanent residents ports are usually found on worlds that
giance and size of the local population, and long-term transients; “temporary” have been explored but have almost
the size and availability of starport facil- workers at the starport or a naval base no outside contact. The starport is
ities, details of the local government, are included, but short-term visitors essentially a marked area of open
and the size of the local economy. are not. Population is always given to ground. There are no services for visi-
two significant figures (i.e. “1.3 billion” tors, and there are no refueling or
instead of “1.265 billion”). repair facilities.

Each world also has a Population
Rating (PR). This is the “order of
magnitude” of the world’s population;
increasing the PR by one multiplies
the actual population by a factor of

98 THE KNOWN UNIVERSE