Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Red ones go faster.
does Traveller 2E not include aliens?
- Thread starter Kravell
- Start date
Red ones go faster.
Annatar Giftbringer
Emperor Mongoose
The Vargr strike fighter? Supplement 10: merchants and cruisers, p. 122.
steve98052
Mongoose
A lot of this discussion explains why my favorite Traveller aliens are Vargr, Hivers, and Droyne.
Vargr are uplifted wolves plus 300k years of natural evolution gives creatures. The uplift made them bipedal to free the forelegs for use as manipulative limbs, so they're supposed to look like bipedal wolves. The uplift intelligence gave them the ability to override instinct with culture and individual behavioral free will. Their Terran origin gave them a great deal of compatibility with humans -- no special life support requirements for having different amino acids in their proteins, for example. They're good aliens because they're intuitively similar for players (and book illustrators) to what the game says they are supposed to be.
Hivers are the most alien looking of the major Traveller races. To the extent that they look like any Earth creature, they look like a giant starfish with one arm acting as a sensory limb. How is an artist supposed to draw a giant starfish with a sensory limb? Look at the reference drawings. How are you supposed to play a giant starfish with a sensory limb? Players have no idea without looking at an in-game description, so they read the in-game description and follow the guidelines (or play it like a human, if they're not up to following the description). And although Hiver culture is fairly alien, Hiver individual behavior isn't all that different from human individual behavior.
Droyne are a mix of several Earth creatures' attributes. They have the physical specialization of some colony insects, but six specialties (rather than bees' queen, drone, worker trio, some ants' queen, drone, wroker, soldier foursome, or vertebrates' males and females). They have the colonial mindset of colony insects, but their colonies are the small tyafelm and kroyloss, which allow each individual to have more room to be an individual, and a Sport can even act individually for an extended time period. They're inherently psionic, which is unknown in the real world, but resembles the effects of some creatures' senses, such as the pressure sensitive lateral line in fish, pigeons' geomagnetic sense, the electric sense of some fish, etc. -- all senses we understand scientifically, but which are alien to our experience. They look somewhat bird-like, with the wings, somewhat reptile-like with the scales, and somewhat primate-like with the manipulative limbs. But they're not like any one Earth creature. They're distinctly alien.
Vargr are uplifted wolves plus 300k years of natural evolution gives creatures. The uplift made them bipedal to free the forelegs for use as manipulative limbs, so they're supposed to look like bipedal wolves. The uplift intelligence gave them the ability to override instinct with culture and individual behavioral free will. Their Terran origin gave them a great deal of compatibility with humans -- no special life support requirements for having different amino acids in their proteins, for example. They're good aliens because they're intuitively similar for players (and book illustrators) to what the game says they are supposed to be.
Hivers are the most alien looking of the major Traveller races. To the extent that they look like any Earth creature, they look like a giant starfish with one arm acting as a sensory limb. How is an artist supposed to draw a giant starfish with a sensory limb? Look at the reference drawings. How are you supposed to play a giant starfish with a sensory limb? Players have no idea without looking at an in-game description, so they read the in-game description and follow the guidelines (or play it like a human, if they're not up to following the description). And although Hiver culture is fairly alien, Hiver individual behavior isn't all that different from human individual behavior.
Droyne are a mix of several Earth creatures' attributes. They have the physical specialization of some colony insects, but six specialties (rather than bees' queen, drone, worker trio, some ants' queen, drone, wroker, soldier foursome, or vertebrates' males and females). They have the colonial mindset of colony insects, but their colonies are the small tyafelm and kroyloss, which allow each individual to have more room to be an individual, and a Sport can even act individually for an extended time period. They're inherently psionic, which is unknown in the real world, but resembles the effects of some creatures' senses, such as the pressure sensitive lateral line in fish, pigeons' geomagnetic sense, the electric sense of some fish, etc. -- all senses we understand scientifically, but which are alien to our experience. They look somewhat bird-like, with the wings, somewhat reptile-like with the scales, and somewhat primate-like with the manipulative limbs. But they're not like any one Earth creature. They're distinctly alien.
paltrysum
Emperor Mongoose
In my very humble opinion, the Vargr are the most enjoyable race to play. The Hivers are my favorite race overall, even though I have never used them which is really too bad. So alien and rife with story potential.
I have only managed to include the K'kree once, as the subject of a mercenary security ticket. The primary plot point was the mercenary company's requirement to "go vegetarian" for the duration of the ticket. Made for some humorous moments. I'd like to do a lot more with the K'kree and Hivers, and have some ideas about starting a campaign some day in the vicinity of Hingka/Kaa G!'kul, a TL-11 world located in unaligned space between both these races and in the neighborhood of several minor races and independent human polities. Looks like the sector was developed many years ago by Leroy Guatney and Mike McKeown. They did a really nice job.
I've used the Aslan extensively and really like them. They are great foils in any Trojan Reach campaign. I don't see a lot of love for the Aslan on the forums but I've found them to be very enjoyable both to play and as campaign backdrop. The threat of the Aslan invasion provides a nice dreadful pall that hangs over any story in the region.
I haven't used the Droyne before either, but that's about to change...
I have only managed to include the K'kree once, as the subject of a mercenary security ticket. The primary plot point was the mercenary company's requirement to "go vegetarian" for the duration of the ticket. Made for some humorous moments. I'd like to do a lot more with the K'kree and Hivers, and have some ideas about starting a campaign some day in the vicinity of Hingka/Kaa G!'kul, a TL-11 world located in unaligned space between both these races and in the neighborhood of several minor races and independent human polities. Looks like the sector was developed many years ago by Leroy Guatney and Mike McKeown. They did a really nice job.
I've used the Aslan extensively and really like them. They are great foils in any Trojan Reach campaign. I don't see a lot of love for the Aslan on the forums but I've found them to be very enjoyable both to play and as campaign backdrop. The threat of the Aslan invasion provides a nice dreadful pall that hangs over any story in the region.
I haven't used the Droyne before either, but that's about to change...
ShawnDriscoll
Cosmic Mongoose
I've used all the main aliens except for the Droyne. I have books on them, but have not looked through them in years. My thinking at the time was that they'd be a very rare encounter. Very rare. A race that doesn't want to be found.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6egiLH_ag8k
steve98052
Mongoose
There are some things about Aslan that are a constant. Males have that property urge and not much patience for noncombatant jobs. Females do all the brain work. But they're not necessarily just the colonist hordes. Aslan females would fit into Imperial society quite well, including military support jobs; Aslan males could fit into Imperial military well too, as long as land is an attainable mustering out benefit imagine the fun of a conflict between Aslan ihatei hordes and a well-equipped Aslan Imperial unit defending their lands on Imperial worlds.
Aslan can certainly play against type. Although a male Aslan who loves his job as a merchant cargomaster and broker may be seen as a deviant by mainstream Aslan, there's no reason he couldn't exist. He might even prefer Imperial society, once he explains his way past human expectations, which are presumably not as ingrained as Aslan expectations of their own kind.
Aslan can certainly play against type. Although a male Aslan who loves his job as a merchant cargomaster and broker may be seen as a deviant by mainstream Aslan, there's no reason he couldn't exist. He might even prefer Imperial society, once he explains his way past human expectations, which are presumably not as ingrained as Aslan expectations of their own kind.
The Darrians also have a large Aslan population. Most have assimilated and live like Darrians but there is one planet which continues to live like traditional Aslan.
Interestingly while the Hierate despises the Darrian Aslan, there is no conflict between the assimilated and traditional Aslan as each respects the choices they made.
Even in the Hierate there are planets without gender roles. I dont know the name, but one planet in the Troyan Reach started to give out land as reward for accomplishments which over time erodet the gender roles. This is tolerated as long as when dealing with Aslan from other planets they pretend to follow the additional roles by pretending to defer to a appropriately gendered advisor.
Interestingly while the Hierate despises the Darrian Aslan, there is no conflict between the assimilated and traditional Aslan as each respects the choices they made.
Even in the Hierate there are planets without gender roles. I dont know the name, but one planet in the Troyan Reach started to give out land as reward for accomplishments which over time erodet the gender roles. This is tolerated as long as when dealing with Aslan from other planets they pretend to follow the additional roles by pretending to defer to a appropriately gendered advisor.
steve98052
Mongoose
My point about gender non-conforming Aslan is that they might be culturally assimilated into a society that downplays gender roles, even for beings with gender roles that are (believed to be) instinctual, so that culture overrides instinct -- and others might be individuals who are born different, analogous to humans who are not straight and cis.
A female Aslan who owns huge tracts of land might be assimilated, and emotionally she sees the land as a business that needs administration. Or she might be an atypical individual who feels the same land lust that is usually a male thing. Or she might be the sole heir to her late father's land, and struggling to deal with it.
A female Aslan who owns huge tracts of land might be assimilated, and emotionally she sees the land as a business that needs administration. Or she might be an atypical individual who feels the same land lust that is usually a male thing. Or she might be the sole heir to her late father's land, and struggling to deal with it.
