Trojan Reach: the sci-fi author planets

[paltrysum]

Okay, so...
Clarke = Arthur C. Clarke
Paal = Pohl
Asim = Asimov
Pourne = Pournelle
Banks (Khusai) = Iain Banks

Who do Blue, Hilfer, and Torpal refer to?

[Condottiere]

[mancerbear]

I'm not seeing how this is helpful...

[Juums]

I'm not seeing how this is helpful...

The actress's name is Tricia Hilfer, who played Caprica Six in the reboot of Battlestar Galactica and voiced EDI in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

A more relevant link would be to http://thirdimperiumfanzine.info/issues ... eaches.pdf, which is from Back In The Day™ and contains a useful reference point for what the Trojan Reach was once baselined at before Mongoose officially adopted it. Hilfer was once upon a time Herbert, which makes a fair bit more sense. Torpol and Blue remain the same in both renditions, so I'm not sure that there was in fact ever a sci-fi reference buried in either of them.

Though a friend more knowledgeable about the Golden Era of Sci-Fi than I has told me Blue might well be a reference to something from Space Viking.

[alex_greene]

And that makes it even less helpful, because they really could have picked the name from a whole long list of female SF authors, such as (Ursula K) LeGuin, (Anne) McCaffrey, (Dorothy C) Fontana, Chesya (Burke), Octavia (Butler), (Andre) Norton, (Connie) Willis, Tanith (Lee), (C J) Cherryh, Melinda (M Snodgrass), (Diane) Duane, (Mercedes) Lackey, (Robin) Hobb, (Sheri S) Tepper, (Pat) Cadigan, and on, and on ...

[Juums]

And that makes it even less helpful, because they really could have picked the name from a whole long list of female SF authors, such as (Ursula K) LeGuin, (Anne) McCaffrey, (Dorothy C) Fontana, Chesya (Burke), Octavia (Butler), (Andre) Norton, (Connie) Willis, Tanith (Lee), (C J) Cherryh, Melinda (M Snodgrass), (Diane) Duane, (Mercedes) Lackey, (Robin) Hobb, (Sheri S) Tepper, (Pat) Cadigan, and on, and on ...

If we're going to apply logic to the situation, one could just as well complain that about how -- in the far future -- only the works of a sliver of the Golden Age of Sci-Fi get a mention, and even then, say, Frank Herbert gets higher billing than, say, Robert Heinlein. To say nothing about later -- but equally influential -- writers, like Douglas Adams. Or folks like Tolkien, who was not a sci-fi author, but who is generally venerated with those who were in the pantheon of speculative fiction's greats.

[alex_greene]

And that makes it even less helpful, because they really could have picked the name from a whole long list of female SF authors, such as (Ursula K) LeGuin, (Anne) McCaffrey, (Dorothy C) Fontana, Chesya (Burke), Octavia (Butler), (Andre) Norton, (Connie) Willis, Tanith (Lee), (C J) Cherryh, Melinda (M Snodgrass), (Diane) Duane, (Mercedes) Lackey, (Robin) Hobb, (Sheri S) Tepper, (Pat) Cadigan, and on, and on ...

If we're going to apply logic to the situation

Non sequitur. There is no mention of Wells, Gernsback, Verne or Shelley. All the names are based on influential male sf writers, and the only female name referenced is an actress who was hired to be eye candy.

Above all, I would dearly have loved to have been in the office where they were deciding the names of these worlds, if only to hear the immortal line "No, I don't care if his, Harlan Ellison's, Ray Bradbury's, Fritz Leiber's, John Wyndham's and Olaf Stapledon's works are the only stories to have survived to this day, you do not get to name any planets after Philip K Dick, do you hear me?"

[Condottiere]

Outside of the Sword Worlds, packing the same subsector with systems named after scifi authors is very close to breaking the fourth wall.

[paltrysum]

Outside of the Sword Worlds, packing the same subsector with systems named after scifi authors is very close to breaking the fourth wall.

On the one hand, they prevent that by obscuring the names a bit. E.g., "Pourne" for Pournelle, "Asim" for Asimov. On the other hand, the MGTv1 Aslan book goes right out and breaks it by saying the planets were named after Terran authors.

[Condottiere]

I had that marked for Porn; I'm sure he'd be honoured.

They specialize in manufacturing skintight spacesuits.

[phavoc]

No love for Piper (sniff)

[Juums]

No love for Piper (sniff)

There's plenty of love for Piper! It's just buried in Adventure 3 of the 1e Pirates of Drinax campaign. And requires time travel to go back to a time before Piper was turned into a radioactive crater.

[locarno24]

Also, to be fair, there are quite a few Asimov nods scattered through Pirates of Drinax and Secrets of the Ancients. From the foundation, to the Vorito Gambit's "ye big psychohistorical map of the future", to the "archaeologist-and-consummate-donkey" amongst the interrogators....

[ShawnDriscoll]

No love for Piper (sniff)

Piper did sort of invent the whole Feudal Technocracy thing that is Traveller. I think he would be pleased.

[Condottiere]

The biggest tribute to Piper are the Sword Worlds,and to Pournelle is Book Four.

[phavoc]

The love for Piper was related to the thread and the authors... MM paid tribute to him by creating the Sword Worlds, which was more or less lifted whole from Space Viking.

long live Lucas Trask!

[paltrysum]

The biggest tribute to Piper are the Sword Worlds,and to Pournelle is Book Four.

I always thought Book 4 was inspired by David Drake, but I guess that puts the chicken before the egg a bit. Pournelle published his mercenary stories first.

[Condottiere]

There's Heinlein, but all he actually contributes are armoured powered suits.

I was looking forward to seeing Denise Richards bald.

[steve98052]

Several Sword Worlds are named for things that Tolkien invented or popularized:

Anduril • Beater • Biter • Mithril • Narsil • Orcrist • Sting

Seven worlds of tribute to his work might be regarded as a bigger honor than one world bearing his name.

The absence of tributes to women is an unfortunate artifact of Traveller's 1970s origins. At least they recognized the problem when they named the emperors; one could make the case that Arbellatra is the most important after Cleon. But why not name her Ursula?

[Condottiere]

It went with the theme; outside of the mythical ones, Tolkien's blades would have been the ones most commonly known.

In fact, I actually can't remember one from another fantasy series. I'm sure there are a couple from Warhammer I should, besides the Widowmaker.