Aliens of Charted Space Volume 4 - Pre-Order & PDF!

[MongooseMatt]

The next volume (the fourth, in fact!) of the Aliens of Charted Space series is now available on PDF and pre-order!

You can grab your own copy right here: https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/products/copy-of-aliens-of-charted-space-vol-4



Aliens of Charted Space: Volume Four explores four species within Charted Space – the nature-loving Suerrat, the pacifistic Za’tachk, the mercantile Gurvin, and the xenophobic Tezcat. Within these covers, you will discover the culture and society of these species as well as their physiology, psychology and societies.

Suerrat
The Suerrat are a human subspecies transplanted from Terra to Ilelish by the Ancients. They claim to be a Major Race, as they independently developed interstellar travel based on generation ships but as they had not developed jump technology, others do not accept their claim.

Za’tachk
One of the oldest species associated with the Hive Federation, the Za’tachk are a peaceful (some would say cowardly) species. Their natural tendency to structure and organisation have made them invaluable to the Hivers in running the vast bureaucratic machine required for their federation.

Gurvin
The Gurvin are a hexapodal species resembling Terran otters and minks. They were the first sophonts encountered by early Hiver explorers, and their language was adopted as the primary form of communication in the federation. Consummate traders and merchants, the Gurvin are the commercial backbone of the Hive Federation.

Tezcat
A cat-like semi-humanoid species, the Tezcat are violent and warlike, with a xenophobic hatred for any sophont that does not resemble themselves. Much of their history has been marred with war and bloodshed, but through the unification of the Shaper Church, they have established a pocket empire and proven to their neighbours that they are too dangerous to cross.

This book also contains rules for creating Travellers from each species, along with High Guard and Central Supply Catalogue entries.

 

[G'Naakbusters]

And purchased! Now to read through the download...

 

[Vormaerin]

Looking forward to reading it after work today.

 

[Timolution]

Just had a quick scroll-through and wanted to report that the PDF is fully PDFKit compatible it seems. So no missing images for users using the default built in PDF reader engine on macOS and iOS. Now to dig in when I get home from work!

 

[G'Naakbusters]

I'm very satisfied with this -- unsurprising, since it's the setting lore that I like most about Traveller, and Charted Space sourcebooks are my favourite. I was looking forward to finally getting some substantial detail on the Suerrat and the Gurvin and Za'tachk, all races that are rather important or at least notable in-universe but about which we know little. This was very substantial -- nice, extensive, meaty stuff, about all four civilizations featured.

I was particularly impressed with how fun and interesting the Za'tachk were, given that one of the few things we knew about them was, essentially, "they're dull and predictable". Good work!

The art continues to be nice, too. It's good to finally be able to fully picture all four of the Big Federation Races, not just two of them.

I look forward to the physical copy coming out. Tra-Pankif, goddess of successful business ventures, smiles on this one.

 

[Squishtopher10203]

I have just purchased this book and so far have only been looking at the section on Tezcat, as those are the sophonts I am most interested in. Unfortunately, I seem to have noticed a few issues in my brief perusal.

On page 199 there is a box describing the Aum-rhar System, including a list of every planet in the system. None of those planets are T'chaia, which is described in the history of the Tezcat as the nearest planetary neighbour of Aum-rhar and the site of its first colony, this is on page 217. Likewise, the planetary code of the two neighbouring planets of Aum-rhar, Hrn-mhrn and Mrhna, does not seem to let either of them hold a colony capable of creating interstellar ships as T'chaia is stated to have done on page 218.

On the timeline on page 223 it states that by the year 650 the Tezcat control an empire consisting of 6 worlds, but on page 220 it says that by the year 700 the Tezcat controlled 5 worlds. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the paragraph before hand says that they wrested control of Undrelyn on the Aslan in 693, which means that if they owned 6 worlds in 650 they owned 7 worlds in 700. In further reading the exact answer is that the Tezcat owned 5 worlds in 650 as on page 190 the Solar Hegemony is said to control 6 worlds, with Undrelyn listed as one of them.

Is the plural of Tezcat "Tezcat" or "Tezcats"? Most of the time in the write-up Tezcat seems to be its own plural, for instance the sentence fragment "While Tezcat were not pleased to find themselves hemmed in by more powerful alien powers," in some cases "Tezcats" is used. For example on the timeline on page 223 "Tezcats" is used for two of the entries.

On page 186, in the final paragraph on the section on "xenophobia", there is the sentence: "Less Tezcat-like sophists will likely have their intelligence and capabilities drastically overestimated and those most different to Tezcat will have their intelligence and capabilities underestimated." This does not seem internally consistent. Should the first word be "More" rather than "Less"? I would have thought that the Tezcat would not think highly of the intelligence and capabilities of any non-Tezcat sophont, even if they looked more like them, though that is something that I can easily be wrong on.

I hope that this is useful to you and will let people know if I find any other issues with this book.

I thank you for your time.

 

[Seffix]

W00t!

 

[Grognardia]

Should the Kaath stunners not have 'damage' like other stunners?

 

[G'Naakbusters]

One of the best things about this is that we finally have a complete tool-kit for the dynamics of the Hive Federation as a whole. Setting adventures there and populating it with microfactions is a lot easier now.

The Hiver-Ithklur-Human dynamic is one of my favourite things to explore in the setting, and I've wanted to know what adding the Gurvin and Za'tachk to the mix would do to liven it up further.

Which Hive Federation Race Are You?

There is a crocodile on your front lawn. Do you:

A: Rush outside and exuberantly wrestle with the crocodile?
B: Step outside and try to sell it something?
C: Stay safely inside but take a long stick and lean out the upper window poking at the crocodile to see how it reacts?
D: Hide in the cellar until it goes away and then move to another house where there won't be crocodiles.

A: You are an Ithklur.
B: You are a Gurvin.
C: You are a Hiver.
D: You are a Za'tachk

 

[Sigtrygg]

There is a very dark secret with regards to Hiver-Human relations...

the better Hiver response would be to manipulate the crocodile into becoming a vegan
or
get your Ithklur bodyguard to deal with it
or
get your robot bodyguard to deal with it
or
call in an orbital strike.

 

[Squishtopher10203]

A few more minor pieces of confusion that I have noticed that I thought to share with you.

On page 156 when discussing Gurvin businesses it mentions, in the first paragraph, that the Gurvin do not posses any megacorporations. However, later on the page it talks about corruption in the megacorporations and the listed businesses are specifically called megacorporations. The first paragraph of the page also mentions the two sectors of the Gurvin Interstellar Republic however in later descriptions, for instance on page 162 under Modern History of the Gurvin, the Gurvin Interstellar Republic consists of most of two subsectors, in particular the Aghan and Eloqim subsectors.

The next one could just be a failure of imagination on my part but on pages 145-146, in the section on the Gurvin matriarchy, I get a bit confused. In the second paragraph it mentions that males rarely receive any inheritance but in the penultimate paragraph of the section it says that males are not permitted to own possessions and are not trusted to handle money; how is it they can ever get any inheritance with those restrictions.

I have also noticed that most of the worlds in the Tezcat Solar Hegemony have write-ups in the Great Rift Book 2: Reft. In particular Zamoran has a lengthy section on it on pages 26 and 28, Arnorac has a section on page 30, Gordon is handled on pages 30 and 32, R'Bak is covered on page 37 and Undrelyn is briefly mentioned on page 39. None of these write-ups seem at all compatible with what is written in the Tezcat section of Aliens of Charted Space Volume 4. The Reft book makes no mention of the Tezcat at all so none of the worlds are mentioned as being conquered. Even despite this change of ownership there are inconsistencies throughout, Gordon on page 220 of Aliens of Charted Space Volume 4 had a population of 12,000 humans of imperial descent when the Tezcat arrived while in the Reft book it has a current population of 60 million that descended from colonists from the Rule of Man. On page 39 of the Reft book Undrelyn is described as having a human and Chirper population with no mention of the disgraced Aslan minor clan that the Tezcat spent a long time fighting for control of the planet, as described on pages 220, 221 and 223 of Aliens of Charted Space Volume 4. Finally, a lot of time is spent on pages 26 and 28 of the Reft book on the joint human and droyne population of Zamoran, no human population is mentioned in Aliens of Charted Space Volume 4 and in fact the planet was called Draykoysap before the Tezcat wiped out the Droyne population and renamed it to Zamoran.

I apologise for the length of the last paragraph; I just found it interesting how much of a retcon the new book was to all that we had previously heard about in that region of space.

I thank you for your time.

 

[G'Naakbusters]

Regarding the Reft worlds inconsistancy, which predates this book, of course the real world answer is that the Tezcat and their empire are something you can place there if you like them and want to include them, and if not you can stick with human and Droyne. They're optional, like a lot of the minor races.

As regards the "canonical" answer -- since I'm an unholy combination of Bwap-like cataloguing instinct and Hiver "let's meddle with this to make it into what I find it stimulating to have it" I've made some attempts at reconciling the depictions. I like to make it all work together as one wherever I can. Planets are large places, after all, so it can sort of work if you squint right. It ends up as quite the fun patchwork of human colonists, forgotten human outposts, resurgent Droyne societies, isolationist oytripin, ihatei settlers, Tezcat conqurerors, Tezcat barbarians living in the hills, etc.

On the Traveller Wiki I was a bit cheeky and noted that the Two Little Subsector and its surroundings have a confusing history.

For what it's worth, beyond the overall desire to keep and reconcile everything, I also like the Tezcat, so I choose to have their little empire exist and draped over this part of the Rift.

In the second paragraph it mentions that males rarely receive any inheritance but in the penultimate paragraph of the section it says that males are not permitted to own possessions and are not trusted to handle money; how is it they can ever get any inheritance with those restrictions.

Maybe some Gurvin females of means send on their wealth to unmarried sons or a favoured husband even though that's not officially an option, so has no legal backing? It's probably a sort of eccentric, vaguely embarrassing thing some women do.

"Are you going to leave your wealth to your sub-manager niece?"

"No, I'm going to give it all to my beloved son!"

*Exasperated facepalm*

 

[Tom B]

The next volume (the fourth, in fact!) of the Aliens of Charted Space series is now available on PDF and pre-order!

You can grab your own copy right here: https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/products/copy-of-aliens-of-charted-space-vol-4

View attachment 1297

Aliens of Charted Space: Volume Four explores four species within Charted Space – the nature-loving Suerrat, the pacifistic Za’tachk, the mercantile Gurvin, and the xenophobic Tezcat. Within these covers, you will discover the culture and society of these species as well as their physiology, psychology and societies.

Suerrat
The Suerrat are a human subspecies transplanted from Terra to Ilelish by the Ancients. They claim to be a Major Race, as they independently developed interstellar travel based on generation ships but as they had not developed jump technology, others do not accept their claim.

Za’tachk
One of the oldest species associated with the Hive Federation, the Za’tachk are a peaceful (some would say cowardly) species. Their natural tendency to structure and organisation have made them invaluable to the Hivers in running the vast bureaucratic machine required for their federation.

Gurvin
The Gurvin are a hexapodal species resembling Terran otters and minks. They were the first sophonts encountered by early Hiver explorers, and their language was adopted as the primary form of communication in the federation. Consummate traders and merchants, the Gurvin are the commercial backbone of the Hive Federation.

Tezcat
A cat-like semi-humanoid species, the Tezcat are violent and warlike, with a xenophobic hatred for any sophont that does not resemble themselves. Much of their history has been marred with war and bloodshed, but through the unification of the Shaper Church, they have established a pocket empire and proven to their neighbours that they are too dangerous to cross.

This book also contains rules for creating Travellers from each species, along with High Guard and Central Supply Catalogue entries.

Love it, but I have noticed a few mistakes not mentioned so far.
1) In the table of Contents, High Guard of the Tezcat says Gurvin
2) P228 Soulhunter Mustering out benefits has Dr instead of Cr.
3) Most importantly, the introduction says 'The Gurvin were the first sophonts the Hivers encountered', whereas the start of the Za'tachk says, 'The Za’tachk – Za’tachkosapiens Loza’tchis – were the first alien sophont species the Hivers encountered.'


By the way the plural of mink is mink (your description above and also on P142).

Editing to say that I just noticed the following 'The Gurvin, Gurvinosapien Ofilaqis, were the second intelligent species of interest discovered by the Hivers.' in the Gurvin section.

 

[Squishtopher10203]

I am sorry about this but I spotted another minor inconsistency, that should at least be easy to change if it is deemed necessary. In the section on Suerrat history on page 46, first paragraph, it mentions that Empress Margaret sent a veiled threat to the Geonee in the year 737. However, in the last paragraph of page 114 of Aliens of Charted Space Volume 3, the section on Geonee history, the threat occurred in the year 736. Likewise the Third Imperium book, on page 96, had Empress Margaret die in the year 736. I suppose 737 could be when the Suerrat heard news about what happened with the Geonee, but that does not seem to be what the wording indicates.

I thank you for your time.

 

[JustEastOfTheEdge]

@Tom B. the plural of mink is either mink or minks, so they got that one right.

 

[MongooseBella]

I am sorry about this but I spotted another minor inconsistency, that should at least be easy to change if it is deemed necessary. In the section on Suerrat history on page 46, first paragraph, it mentions that Empress Margaret sent a veiled threat to the Geonee in the year 737. However, in the last paragraph of page 114 of Aliens of Charted Space Volume 3, the section on Geonee history, the threat occurred in the year 736. Likewise the Third Imperium book, on page 96, had Empress Margaret die in the year 736. I suppose 737 could be when the Suerrat heard news about what happened with the Geonee, but that does not seem to be what the wording indicates.

I thank you for your time.

I just spoke to the author, the threat did not arrive until 737. I'll change the text to clarify this!

'On the timeline on page 223 it states that by the year 650 the Tezcat control an empire consisting of 6 worlds, but on page 220 it says that by the year 700 the Tezcat controlled 5 worlds. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the paragraph before hand says that they wrested control of Undrelyn on the Aslan in 693, which means that if they owned 6 worlds in 650 they owned 7 worlds in 700. In further reading the exact answer is that the Tezcat owned 5 worlds in 650 as on page 190 the Solar Hegemony is said to control 6 worlds, with Undrelyn listed as one of them.'

Going to copy his reply here : 'The number of worlds controlled by the Tezcat has fluctuated over the centuries. In 700 they controlled six worlds. Undrelyn changed hands a couple of times, hence the differing numbers ( 6 worlds in 650 when they first conquered Undrelyn, 5 worlds in 700 when they lost Undrelyn, and then 6 worlds again from 997 when they wrested control from the Aslan again).'

I hope this helps! I'll clarify the first one in the text with corrections

 

[Jakovian]

"Terran humans exhibit up to 0.3% of Neanderthal genes in their genome, Suerrat have up to 65% of their genome in common with Neanderthals. "


There are a few factual errors. First, Homo sapiens (mainly of the white race) have 2-4% of their genome directly descended from Neanderthals. This is why we are white, have blonde hair, and have a significant chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. Asians have a significant admixture of Denisovan blood.
Secondly, there's a difference between shared genomes and genomes inherited from ancestors. We share 60% of our genome with bananas and 70% with spinach. We share 97% of our genome with chimpanzees.
I understand that the author is suggesting that the Neanderthal is to the Suerrat what Homo erectus is to Homo sapiens - an ancestor. Therefore, Suerrat would have 65% (or rather something closer to 98%) of Neanderthal genes, not a 65% shared genome.

 

[Sigtrygg]

It's one of the forbidden topics of science.
The different "races" of humans on Earth today have different genetic legacies...

 

[Jakovian]

Human "races" are not biologically races in the way that, for example, dogs are. The fact that Europeans interbred with Neanderthals and Asians with Denisovans does not make them different races biologically, because the genetic difference is too small. Phenotypic differences (e.g., skin color) are surprisingly minimal, although visible. That's why "race" is used in a cultural or sociological context, not a biological one. Interestingly, in the context of racism and white supremacy, it's Africans who are the purest form of Homo sapiens, not Europeans.

However, I'm talking about something else. The figures you provided are inconsistent with current scientific knowledge (in recent years, the genomes of several extinct primitive human races have been sequenced). If the Suerrat have 65% of shared genes with the Neanderthal (rather than 65% directly descended from the Neanderthal), they are as related to them as we are to potatoes.
I suggest reading about single nucleotide polymorphism.

 

[Condottiere]

As I recall, there's supposedly more genetic variation in sub Saharan Africa, then in the whole of anywhere else.