MTU - An Alternative History of the Solomani

[MasterGwydion]

I have loved Traveller for many years, but I have never enjoyed the Solomani. It is too depressing to think that Our future will be more of the same as our current time period, but with spaceships. After railing against this in My head for decades, I have finally decided to break down and rewrite them, diverging MTU from the OTU in a major way. I am posting some of it here to see what the Forummind thinks of it and how it will effect the other parts of Charted Space.

Everything for the Solomani is the same as the OTU as far as anyone outside of the Ancients are concerned up until 3,392AD, when humans of Terra discover an ancient archive base kilometers beneath the surface of Terra's moon, Luna. The scientists studying it name it "The Archive" as it seems to contain a complete record of all interactions between the Ancients and the species on Terra, from the initial observations of proto-humans, to a genetic retrovirus that genetically altered the proto-humans to be predisposed towards the worship / servitude / acceptance of the superiority beings from the sky, to the various abductions of proto-humans as well as various other animal and plant species for study, to a sudden ending of the record when The Archive was abandoned during the Final War. No details of the Ancients, their technology, or their Final War are available in The Archive. The Archive was built using TL-12 technology.

The response is typically human. Once it is discovered that humans entire concept of divine beings is merely a manipulation by an ancient alien race and that the atheists among the humans are actually mutants who have naturally mutated the "Supreme Being Gene Sequence" (SBGS) out of their DNA over the millenia since the proto-humans were altered, it started a Holy War enveloping the entirety of the Terran Mercantile Community nearly overnight.

A guerilla war ensues, as the Atheist manage to design a genetic bomb that turns off the "Supreme Being Gene Sequence", but it is aerosol-based, so not very effective for military deployment. It requires attacks on targets that are unprotected by sealed armors, vehicles, or good filtration systems, so basically rebel bombings and warfare like Star Wars. The more populations the Atheists bomb, the more support they gain as people are freed from the SBGS. The more people that are broken free from the Ancient genetic manipulations, the more desperate and more indiscriminately violent the Deists become, eventually resorting to orbital nuclear bombardment to cleanse planets of the Atheists. In response this tactic, the Atheists finally get organized for the first time. The combined forces of the newly declared Old Earth Union, rapidly crush the remaining Deists. The obedience to, worship of, and promotion of "foreign entities" both real and imagined are now considered Treason.
Atheist psions were used to root out Deists during the war. After the war, many psions join the newly formed SolSec to continue to watch for those with the Deist Illness. Most of the rest of the psions within OEU space, gravitate more to social work where their skills can do the most good. All Security and Intelligence agencies within the OEU utilize psions as well, but they are not common.

After the war, the OEU focuses on rebuilding its planets and its military forces. The OEU never wants to be the underdog in a war ever again, but they are not militarily expansionistic. All civizations within the OEU are rebuilt underground, safe from any future bombardment. This includes most of the buildings, all of the industry, and the entire Downport as well as other spaceports. The planetary surfaces are turned into ecological preserves. the influence of the OEU grows to encompass most of the Solomani Rim Sector.

As of 629 Imperial, Empress Jaqueline I, formed an alliance with the OEU, granting them the Grand Duchy of the Solomani Rim. The OEU renames itself the Solomani Federation. The elected head of the Solomani Federation carries the effective rank of Grand Duke of the Imperium.

I have more written, but what do you all think of that little bit?

 

[G'Naakbusters]

The thing about the Solomani Movement is, it's ironically not exceptional at all.

The Solomani, in my interpretation, are a response to the culture shock of the Vilani contact, even after all these centuries. No-one likes to have their sense of heritage and purpose undermined, and uncertainty or resentment over "clipped wings" seems to be strong in Humaniti -- save perhaps the Zhodani, who have arrived at a peace of mind other Humans haven't. The Vilani themselves implicitly never got over the formative trauma of Ancient machines running amok, and of playing second fiddle on their own world, since they spent the millennia following trying to impose a comfortable conformity over charted space that left them unquestionably supreme. Other branches of Humaniti have similar chips on their shoulders; e.g. the Geonee and their continued insistence that they are the Ancients. There's an insecurity in Traveller Humaniti that drives them to assert themselves, to expand and colonise, to build empires and posture. Of course, there's an insecurity to most species in the setting (Droyne being the exception). Aslan are touchy, territorial carnivores afraid to let go the rigid etiquette that holds them together; K'kree and Hivers work on different forms of "must control our surroundings so things don't eat us". Vargr are all about leading or following, driven to seek belonging and freedom both. Humaniti? They're about a sense of worth, of showing themselves to be worthy, to be in control of their own destiny, to be Legitimate (creeping into Better).

The OTU Solomani story is a fascinating one. They wound up conquering the galaxy largely by accident, not even really aware that they were doing it. Even when they were ascendant over the Vilani, they were still in their shadow. Then they backtracked, essentially, and what I find so rewarding about the Solomani Cause is that it's essentially Vilani in nature, and they don't realise it. "We were here first. We are more legitimate than others, because we have precedence." Terrans left the homeworld to discover that space was already claimed, and not even by aliens, but by other humans. That's a blow that they never really got over; inventing the jump drive only to brush up against bored Vilani border bureaucrats completely unimpressed by it.

"Yes, hello. I see you are using the jump drive. We have the patent on that. You owe royalties as outlined in Igsiirdi Decree #6,932. Please submit relevant paperwork."

The only way the Solomani overcome this immense disappointment is to embrace similar thinking, while couching it in a withdrawal/reaction to Vilani (and Vilani-Solomani-Sylean fusion) culture.

"Yes, I see you are using Humaniti. We have the patent on that."

We were here first, so we have legitimacy. We are rightly ascendant, we are not like the rest of you. We stand exceptional. Indeed, we are better.

The Solomani Cause is essentially, "no, us".

And whether a given Solomani movement, government, planet etc. expresses this in terms of cultural chauvinism, non-malicious cultural snobbery, earnest desire to assert an identity against the sprawling Imperium, quiet racism, or full on supremacist racism, they're not in fact exceptional at all. They're behaving like Vilani. Indeed, they're behaving like (non-Zhodani) Humans in general. Asking mainstream Humans to drop the desire to assert exceptional heritage and promise is like asking Hivers to drop curious meddling, or asking male Aslan to maybe not think about land ownership, or asking K'kree to maybe calm down about meat-eating.

As to your alternate version, I'm intrigued by the notion of a conflict over the ability to identify and "switch off" deific thinking, and the obvious upheavals and conflicts that would result. That's a solid angle on a conflict over human identity, especially with the idea that home-grown human religion was a side-effect of an alien species' attempt to "mark" humanity. From a pro-deist viewpoint, there would be division between those who embraced the Touch of the Ancients and believed that those mutating away from it were a degradation, and those who interpreted it as (presumably God-given/gods-given) human will reasserting itself after an unholy force attempted to subvert Humans -- and then feeling betrayed when militant atheists then try to "liberate" other humans from religion. From a "humanistic" viewpoint -- however we might define that -- we could imagine disagreement among those smarting at the thought of alien gods, between those holding the notion that religiousity is inherently tainted VS humans having made it their own and "reclaimed" it from the Ancients.

In other words, the familiar themes of the search for legitimacy and exceptionalism, of asserting oneself and crafting an identity above and beyond the masses, and conflict over what it means to be Normal and Not Normal, Better. So I think your alternate Solomani work well, in keeping with the themes of the original. I don't know if you like that idea, but that's what I take from it. And either way, I find it an intriguing premise!

 

[MasterGwydion]

The thing about the Solomani Movement is, it's ironically not exceptional at all.

The Solomani, in my interpretation, are a response to the culture shock of the Vilani contact, even after all these centuries. No-one likes to have their sense of heritage and purpose undermined, and uncertainty or resentment over "clipped wings" seems to be strong in Humaniti -- save perhaps the Zhodani, who have arrived at a peace of mind other Humans haven't. The Vilani themselves implicitly never got over the formative trauma of Ancient machines running amok, and of playing second fiddle on their own world, since they spent the millennia following trying to impose a comfortable conformity over charted space that left them unquestionably supreme. Other branches of Humaniti have similar chips on their shoulders; e.g. the Geonee and their continued insistence that they are the Ancients. There's an insecurity in Traveller Humaniti that drives them to assert themselves, to expand and colonise, to build empires and posture. Of course, there's an insecurity to most species in the setting (Droyne being the exception). Aslan are touchy, territorial carnivores afraid to let go the rigid etiquette that holds them together; K'kree and Hivers work on different forms of "must control our surroundings so things don't eat us". Vargr are all about leading or following, driven to seek belonging and freedom both. Humaniti? They're about a sense of worth, of showing themselves to be worthy, to be in control of their own destiny, to be Legitimate (creeping into Better).

The OTU Solomani story is a fascinating one. They wound up conquering the galaxy largely by accident, not even really aware that they were doing it. Even when they were ascendant over the Vilani, they were still in their shadow. Then they backtracked, essentially, and what I find so rewarding about the Solomani Cause is that it's essentially Vilani in nature, and they don't realise it. "We were here first. We are more legitimate than others, because we have precedence." Terrans left the homeworld to discover that space was already claimed, and not even by aliens, but by other humans. That's a blow that they never really got over; inventing the jump drive only to brush up against bored Vilani border bureaucrats completely unimpressed by it.

"Yes, hello. I see you are using the jump drive. We have the patent on that. You owe royalties as outlined in Igsiirdi Decree #6,932. Please submit relevant paperwork."

The only way the Solomani overcome this immense disappointment is to embrace similar thinking, while couching it in a withdrawal/reaction to Vilani (and Vilani-Solomani-Sylean fusion) culture.

"Yes, I see you are using Humaniti. We have the patent on that."

We were here first, so we have legitimacy. We are rightly ascendant, we are not like the rest of you. We stand exceptional. Indeed, we are better.

The Solomani Cause is essentially, "no, us".

And whether a given Solomani movement, government, planet etc. expresses this in terms of cultural chauvinism, non-malicious cultural snobbery, earnest desire to assert an identity against the sprawling Imperium, quiet racism, or full on supremacist racism, they're not in fact exceptional at all. They're behaving like Vilani. Indeed, they're behaving like (non-Zhodani) Humans in general. Asking mainstream Humans to drop the desire to assert exceptional heritage and promise is like asking Hivers to drop curious meddling, or asking male Aslan to maybe not think about land ownership, or asking K'kree to maybe calm down about meat-eating.

As to your alternate version, I'm intrigued by the notion of a conflict over the ability to identify and "switch off" deific thinking, and the obvious upheavals and conflicts that would result. That's a solid angle on a conflict over human identity, especially with the idea that home-grown human religion was a side-effect of an alien species' attempt to "mark" humanity. From a pro-deist viewpoint, there would be division between those who embraced the Touch of the Ancients and believed that those mutating away from it were a degradation, and those who interpreted it as (presumably God-given/gods-given) human will reasserting itself after an unholy force attempted to subvert Humans -- and then feeling betrayed when militant atheists then try to "liberate" other humans from religion. From a "humanistic" viewpoint -- however we might define that -- we could imagine disagreement among those smarting at the thought of alien gods, between those holding the notion that religiousity is inherently tainted VS humans having made it their own and "reclaimed" it from the Ancients.

In other words, the familiar themes of the search for legitimacy and exceptionalism, of asserting oneself and crafting an identity above and beyond the masses, and conflict over what it means to be Normal and Not Normal, Better. So I think your alternate Solomani work well, in keeping with the themes of the original. I don't know if you like that idea, but that's what I take from it. And either way, I find it an intriguing premise!

Yeah, this does tend to bring the Solomani closer in line to the Zhodani with their views on mental health. The loss of the "genetic predisposition" towards worship and accepting things as truth, based on faith and emotion instead of reason, would change many things. Much of the violence in human history is due to some form of worship, be it of a "Supreme Being" or hero worship of some other sophont. Without that drive in humans, I am not sure what would happen. It would make them almost the diametric opposites of the Vargr with the culture being focused on Charisma, which is a form of hero worship. What all would be changed by this massive shift in cultural thinking and identity, makes My brain ache trying to identity how different aspects of Intra-actions among humans as well as interactions between humans and non-human species. Would We all be vegan ecologists if We considered all life forms to have equal validity to humans? I have no idea...lol...

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Learn human history first before suggesting how 57th century humans should behave.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Learn human history first before suggesting how 57th century humans should behave.

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