Droyne Book + More General Droyne Thoughts & Questions

[heron61]

Does anyone know if the December release date is accurate for Alien Realms: Doyne?

Also, I'm wondering what people's thoughts are about Droyne & high technology. We know that prior to Grandfather, the Droyne reached a maximum of TL 5, but now, with Grandfather long gone, there are Droyne worlds like Andor (TL-9 and with starships) and Auitawry (TL-15, in the Trojan Reaches). So, why & how would a species that stagnated at TL: 5 for tens of thousands of years reach TL 15 (or even TL 9 for that matter) and how would these high tech world be different from other high-tech worlds.

Given how rare really high tech worlds are in Traveller, it seems likely that maintaining a TL 14 or 15 TL is a fair amount of work, unless the planet is importing its tech from elsewhere, which clearly isn't the case for Red Zone planets. Thoughts?

Also, Droyne Sports are pretty much set up to go rogue and leave their world and their culture behind. So, do people think that Droyne sports can occasionally be found working on Free Traders or working as freelance spies or perhaps even as mercenaries? That's always made sense to me (at least for a few sports), but I don't remember ever seeing any droyne sport NPCs like this in any Traveller book. Thoughts?

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have always figured that the Droyne are just as varied as humans, so they have lots of TL worlds, some even pretty close to each other.

They don't seem to have the desire to spread out and conquer the universe like Humaniti, but on their own worlds, they can be either low tech or high tech.

I always felt that Droyne got a bit of a short shift in the OTU. I thought that playing a Droyne "Family" on a Free Trader would be great fun. I used Droyne as NPCs quite a few times.

 

[Reynard]

As far as I remember, Sports don't regularly go rogue unless one only focus on player characters. That would be saying a French diplomat will always 'go rogue' once they become an ambassador in a foreign country. A Sport is hard wired to be flexible and capable of greater interaction with the outside world for the benefit of their Droyne society. The player Sport is either still performing an agenda for the oytip or, for a player game standpoint, gone to see the universe in the company of any number and type of aliens (its POV) on the ship.

The sources I found related to Auitawry actually list it as TL 12 not 15 so it's at least Imperial average. From the Imperial Encyclopedia Traveller : "This remote world was always the subject of major Imperial interest since its contact in 776. The former Ancient sites are well preserved despite Final War damage, and the local Droyne community is one of the most advanced and well organized known in antebellum times." So a combination of access to an ancient site and contact with the Imperium for centuries guarantees at least TL 12. Not all Droyne are pastoral villagers as attesting to their star travels on their world with high enough technology just like any other race out there. It seems as if Droynes are overall pastoral and low tech but they also have miniscule populations compared to any other race skewing their qualities.

 

[heron61]

The sources I found related to Auitawry actually list it as TL 12 not 15 so it's at least Imperial average.

I think that's from GT (where 12 = Traveller TL 15), I've seen TL F in several places, including the listing here: http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Auitawry_(world). I'd also somehow missed the write-up in the Aslan book, which includes this fascinating bit:

"Auitawry is one of the best-preserved Ancient sites ever discovered.
The Droyne population dwell in a city of wonders. Everything is
controlled by psionic impulses, from basic facilities in every nest
to huge automated factories capable of assembling starships."

From the Imperial Encyclopedia Traveller : "This remote world was always the subject of major Imperial interest since its contact in 776. The former Ancient sites are well preserved despite Final War damage, and the local Droyne community is one of the most advanced and well organized known in antebellum times." So a combination of access to an ancient site and contact with the Imperium for centuries guarantees at least TL 12. Not all Droyne are pastoral villagers as attesting to their star travels on their world with high enough technology just like any other race out there. It seems as if Droynes are overall pastoral and low tech but they also have miniscule populations compared to any other race skewing their qualities.

That makes a great deal of sense, thanks.

 

[Reynard]

"I think that's from GT (where 12 = Traveller TL 15)"

You're bloody well right! That GT document was the last reference I looked at then it stuck in my head as I wrote the post. Explains why I didn't get GURPS Traveller. Still the rest makes sense as to why it is actually TL 15.

 

[EvilDM]

To be honest, I always thought of high TL Droyne as "technological barbarians" like the Imperium in Warhammer 40K.
They remember enough from their past golden age to build and maintain high technological items (although some aspects of it might be ritualized), but they do not understand the scientific principles behind them so they could not advance their tech level even if they wanted to (which they don't, they only want to preserve their way of life as it is without any advancement).

 

[Reynard]

I don't know, going from bombed back to the stone age TL 5 to uber advanced above Imperial norm TL 15 doesn't sound like 'maintaining'.

 

[dragoner]

The Droyne are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; and then fried in a flour flauta, if you are Vargr.

 

[Reynard]

Look at them face foreword in dim light and you see the Grey men. I wonder.

 

[heron61]

To be honest, I always thought of high TL Droyne as "technological barbarians" like the Imperium in Warhammer 40K.
They remember enough from their past golden age to build and maintain high technological items (although some aspects of it might be ritualized), but they do not understand the scientific principles behind them so they could not advance their tech level even if they wanted to (which they don't, they only want to preserve their way of life as it is without any advancement).

I think that's often the case. Looking at the map data we have, Andor (TL-9) & Auitawry (TL-15) both have large Ancient sites, as does, Candory (TL-8), all of which are red zones because of the ancient sites.

However, there are other droyne worlds that aren't red zoned Ancient sites. I just noticed the Droyne merhant company Dhoylezhokka (http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Dhoylezhokka), which is based on Mulyosh (Ilelish 1923) - A99A411-F, which is not a red zone or even an amber zone. I can't find any mention of it having an Ancient site, and it's a fully accessible Imperial world, so I'm guessing the Droyne there simply kept their tech, rather than living next to functional Ancient tech, like on Auitawry. However, as a general rule I think your likely correct and even on Mulyosh, the tens of thousands of Droyne living there presumably kept the knowledge, even if they don't have any Ancient tech doing most of the work for them.

 

[heron61]

I don't know, going from bombed back to the stone age TL 5 to uber advanced above Imperial norm TL 15 doesn't sound like 'maintaining'.

Actually, looking at the info we have (mostly from the old CT Droyne book), what seems to have happened is that the Droyne got bombed back to the actual stone age, and eventually lost the ability to caste, leaving them as TL 0 (or maybe at best TL 1) chirpers, who could barely manage agriculture on a good day. Then, around -75,000, on 20 worlds the Droyne "rediscovered" casting and started using Coyns (in reality, Grandfather gave them Coyns and helped them learn to caste).

At this point, my thought is that Droyne on worlds with lots of Ancient tech like Andor or Auitawry were now sufficiently intelligent to make use of the Ancient tech that still existed. However, chirpers were simply too mentally limited to make use of hypertech. It's unclear how much the droyne on some of these worlds understood the tech they were using, they they did use it to go from TL 0 to (in a few cases) TL-15, but may not have been able to reach TL-15 w/o all the Ancient tech they had available.