Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse

[Mr Ben]

I there folks.. I'm planning a Campaign at the momment and i was planning to basw it in the Betelgeuse star system but for continuity sake i'm trying to find out if this star system has been mentioned in any of the background and is so... which Galactic power resides there?

Cheers

Mr Ben

 

[lastbesthope]

I haven't heard it mentioned anywhere but I haven't read the 3 trilogies of novels yet. I've read the first 9 but not the Psi-Corps, Technomage or Centauri Trilogy. I own them, I just haven't read them.

I've had a quick squizz at the galactic Map in the core book and don't see it. Unless it shows up in the upcoming Galactic Guide, you should be safe.

LBH

 

[scottmage]

http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/stars/proxima.html

The Orion constellation is made up of many stars. Betelgeuse is just one of them. Orion is on the B5 Mongoose Map as being in the Earth Alliance.

Betelgeuse - 427 Light Years from Earth
Bellatrix - 243 Light Years from Earth

So probbly should be fine to use....

 

[frobisher]

http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/stars/proxima.html

The Orion constellation is made up of many stars. Betelgeuse is just one of them. Orion is on the B5 Mongoose Map as being in the Earth Alliance.

Betelgeuse - 427 Light Years from Earth
Bellatrix - 243 Light Years from Earth

So probbly should be fine to use....

Though it should be noted that Orion system isn't in the constellation of Orion necessarily.

[edit]

Best evidence (the Babylon Project RPG's map, on which the AOG and hence Mongoose's map are based) gives the system name as Ross 6148

However; not turning up much on that name. It is, however on the jump route to Epsilon Eridani (Babylon 5) from Sol, so it will be a close star system to Earth's (within 10 light years or so), and it's almost certainly got the name because in the night sky (of Earth), the star sytem lies within the boundries of the Orion constellation (which Epsilon Eridani does pretty much as well).

[edit]
Found it - (after a fashion) The Babylon Project's map is a "bit fuzzy" with most of its labels - it's actually Ross 614B, which is located 13.3 LY from Sol. So a little bit of hyperspace distortion places it a little further from Sol than the Epsilon system, but that's probably the "easiest" way to go in local hyperspace, the direct route from Sol to Eridani (which TBP refers to being investigated at the time) being a bit more turbulent hyperspace wise.

Most of the sytems in the "known Universe" are within 50 LY of Earth (depending upon how much faith you have in the system names given by various sources). Hyperspace travel is fairly rapid though, provided it is along an established beacon route.
[/edit]


Given the distance away, Betelgeuse is probably "off map" past the Yolu, Tal-Konasha and Hyach and a couple of week's (minimum) worth of jumps from Earth.

Virgin territory, go wild with minor (ie New!!!!) League races, but expect a trading presence for the likes of the Brakiri, Pak'ma'ra and Vree.

Quite a good little reference site I found is here...

http://www.solstation.com/stars.htm

[/edit]

 

[scottmage]

When you look in the direction of the Orion constellation it is in the direction of Galatic "North".

The Mongoose map is not 3D and so Betelgeuse could be "in" EA territory, depending on how the map is sliced. Long ways or strait up and down.

 

[frobisher]

The Mongoose map is not 3D and so Betelgeuse could be "in" EA territory, depending on how the map is sliced. Long ways or strait up and down.

It's not really sliced as such - The Jump map is most like the London Underground Map (and even then, that at least has correspondence to a plan view of real London). Some systems (which have known real world names) are not quite in those configurations in real life;

However, the AoG map (on which the Mongoose map is based) had galactic North/Coreward (nominally) to the top, Spinward to the right, Anitspinward to the left and Rimward/South to the bottom.

Betelgeuse is a bit too far out to be encompassed in EA space. Most (if not all) EA systems are within 20 light years of Earth; Proxima, Epsilon, Eridani, Epsilon Indi and Wolf certainly are, which are the ones we can be sure about.

My best guess would be that it is beyond either the Tal-Kona'sha, Hurr or Lumati on the map at the "top". It should be remembered that the map is not complete (ie the whole rest of the galaxy is out there...) and there are jump routes that go off of it.

Because of the nature of the jump route system, having intervening territory doesn't prevent you getting to places beyond, though it may prevent you from popping back into real space at those systems; How far you can go depends upon your consumables and your ability to follow the jump routes.

 

[scottmage]

Betelgeuse would also be above the Galactic Plane, so it could be within 30 lightyears of Earth, only at an angle up from the Galactic Plane.

In the episode Day of the Dead Season 5, they mention that Proxima is about 70 lightyears away from B5.