New sub-culture/Minor race - Vagarians

[Jak Nazryth]

I've pondered this for years, but I'm going to take the leap and create a new minor race... or closer to a culture.
This will be part of my background material for my rapidly approaching Traveller campaign.
They are basically Space Gypsies. If Mark Miller's original concept of Traveller was future version of a mid-late 1800's tramp steamer, this new group is future version of the gypsy culture of the 1800's.
They have no true home, but do have a hive or fleet. "Hive" is a very loaded word, so I have to be careful with it's use, because this group is not a hive mind of any kind.
In any case, these wanderers evolved for centuries, originally made up from members of displace cultures, planetary systems, even ex-patriots of long ago lost wars and lost causes. If a loosing side had members who refused to fit in under the rules of those who conquered them, they join this gypsies. So they are a massive hegemony of every eclectic group you can think of.
As of now they are concentrated in and around the client states from the Trojan reach all the way to Vanguard and beyond.
Their ships are mostly rag-tag hand me downs from 100 ton scouts, up to 10,000 ton space hulks that have been refitted and somehow made to fly again. From TL9 to TL13 or 14 at the very most. Some pirates with stolen vessels join the band, but the official induction would be long and difficult.
I'm not to the point where this can be a player character "race", because I haven't considered various careers as a space gypsy. If anything they would be very similar to "drifter" in nature, but with a lot more specialized areas... like a Hindu Cast system. You would have the "engineer cast" or "Bridge Cast" or "Warrior Cast" or "Worker Cast"... even out "outcast or untouchable" somebody that has been banned from their clan, but who at times can still trade with them... this idea is still evolving. For now this will be a large plot hook, and an NPC group only.

As of now, I haven't even settled on a name, but my place holder name is "Vagarians" a very mutilated form of "Vagus" a Latin word for "wanderer" and the route word for vagrant. (there are several other Latin based names including peregrinans, vagabunus, and chelidon)
It's not a very good name, and it's just a place holder until I setting on an official name. It might not be based on Latin or anything else as long as it sounds cool and vaguely mysterious.

The Vagarian culture is composed of many smaller fleets, clans and extended clans basically. As of now I'm using 12 clans, kind of historic, but I don't want it to be too biblical in nature.
How ever many clan fleets I end up with, every 4 years of so, they meet at a designates place in the wilderness for a huge gathering of gossip, trading, celebration, inter clan marriages, settling any disputes, etc..
There is a whole lot to consider and create for an entire new culture and their history, but it's something I'm very keen on doing, at least for my campaign setting.

But before I go any further, is there already a group similar to this in Traveller cannon? Or even unofficial settings? The LAST thing I want to do is plagiarize another's work.

Several other major things are also happening in my campaign setting that is not cannon. For instance, there is more than one set of "ancients" and they are slowly waking up...

 

[PsiTraveller]

Robert Heinlein in "Citizen of the Galaxy" had the Free People/ Free Traders. They were a culture of independent ships that worked as traders and merchants. They worked out past the reach of the Terran cluster of worlds and traded between the various groups out in the wilds of space. They were incredibly wealthy because they had the first pick of all the rarest trade goods.

The Liaden Universe by Sharron Lee and Steve Miller has Free Traders and family ships. They work loops of trade and spend their lives working from system to system. They meet other Looper ships and arrange marriages and swap crew from time to time.

If you do not want your culture to be poor, and the ships hand me down, they do not have to be. Given the profits available your space culture could be very rich. Asteroid mining, freight shipping, speculative trade and passenger transport all pay pretty well, with the chance to make huge profits.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Hmm, FASA's excellent Star Raider's Trilogy of adventures rings a bell, but they were more like Vikings than Gypsies.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Robert Heinlein in "Citizen of the Galaxy" had the Free People/ Free Traders. They were a culture of independent ships that worked as traders and merchants. They worked out past the reach of the Terran cluster of worlds and traded between the various groups out in the wilds of space. They were incredibly wealthy because they had the first pick of all the rarest trade goods.

The Liaden Universe by Sharron Lee and Steve Miller has Free Traders and family ships. They work loops of trade and spend their lives working from system to system. They meet other Looper ships and arrange marriages and swap crew from time to time.

If you do not want your culture to be poor, and the ships hand me down, they do not have to be. Given the profits available your space culture could be very rich. Asteroid mining, freight shipping, speculative trade and passenger transport all pay pretty well, with the chance to make huge profits.

That example reminds me of the wealthy Italian City States and the utra-powerful merchant families of the late middle ages (they're wealth helped to usher in the European Renaissance ) who controlled trade from the near east into Europe. Trued, they didn't "live" on their ships, but they did own and control vast trade networks. Another more ancient analogy to "Citizens of the Galaxy" might be the Phoenicians. And one final historical reference might be the Arabic traders, with their long camel trains and trade routes along the silk road.

This is an evolving idea, and these space gypsies I'm working on can have important trade routes, but since they have no true home, and other established governments. various client states and "The Big Three", will view them similarly that the European nations view the Gypsies in our own history, with a little bit of trepidation. So they can be wealthy as a whole, and some individiual clans might be more wealthy that others, but I don't want to stray too far from the core concept.
I have actually heard of "Citizens of the Galaxy" but honestly I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it. Even though I've played Traveller since 1980/81, I've rarely read "pure" science fiction. I have read just about every Michael Crichton book published.

 

[Condottiere]

Anything that's economically successful, either expands into an empire, or gets taken over by one.

 

[PsiTraveller]

You could have the ships 'flagged' out of a liberal planet that allows such things, if you need to have them with a 'home' port. Or you could have them be a space based entity and a virtual home base. Home is where the hull is, as it were.

They could be self sufficient for a lot of things if they have access to asteroids. (blatant plug: Logistics production ship on drivethru). A family owning a mobile asteroid processor could travel along a main and produce high tech items for sale. Your Gypsy traders could have TL 12 - 14 goods in production if you wanted. They just have to negotiate to mine the local asteroids, or maybe they don't negotiate and simply grab rocks floating free in space.

They might have a home system somewhere that is packed with all the tech and gizmos their far flung traders have found.

Their ships might be cutting edge technology because they have spent their lives in space and have solved the issues that arise in space. They stop at high tech planets to get custom items fabbed up and sell the production rights for large sums.

It depends how strong you want the group. If they are at the fringes of society then reduce their self sufficiency and stick to trade. If they are a power in their own right they have invested well and get a percentage from a lot of companies every month and the group has cash coming in.

 

[NOLATrav]

Citizen of the Galaxy is a great read and I think it had more influence on Traveller than it is given credit for.

I love your concept, JN - nothing in existing canon is close to it that I can think of. Never been much of a canonista tho so hopefully others with more knowledge will chime in.

I think this group's biggest asset will be information however... traveling along the fringes, disregarded and often forgotten, hiding in plain sight... these Vagarians probably know A LOT about whose ships are where, what's selling well in this subsector and who's out of favor in that subsector...

Give a PC a Vagarian Contact/Ally and you could have plot hooks galore. I suppose a Rival/Enemy could be quite fun too...

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Thank you for your comments. They encourage me to develop this idea as quickly as possible. Maybe a supplement-level volume one day?
Contacts are a very good option.
Plot hook is the big thing.

Generally, IMTU (and the other rpg's I run) I run a sandbox format with a few MAJOR plots going on in the background and dozens of more traditional plot hooks.
The spaces gypsies will be connected to a major plot line, a big event, and knowledge is exactly what they have that others do not, since they do live on the fringes of wild space. They have knowledge of another VERY non-canon ancient race that has until recently, been in a long hibernation. It is something I developed about 20 years ago and had direct influence from Babylon 5. And I'm not talking about "evil vs good" ancients. But the idea that only one ancient race "Dryone" in Traveller Canon, didn't make much since. So I introduced another ancient race the old Dryone's competed against, and eventually conquered. But pockets of these other ancients went into a very long hibernation process to "live to fight another day". That day is approaching. This will not be a game changing "end of the world" meme, but it they will be a danger, eventually. If the PC's don't follow the leads and don't get involved, then these new ancients will simply become part of myth, wild tales of bogey men from the edge of space, that sort of thing.
But the awakening of the "new ancients" are one of three major plot lines going on in the background.
And the space gypsies will be the conduit for many, many other plot hooks and adventures, but "the new ancients" are one of the big finds.
Of course, I give my players complete freedom to pick their path.
I call my style of GMing a "Sandbox with a plot"

 

[steve98052]

I think any free trader that decides to start a family with a ship as a home will become a "ship is my home" family -- and a "ships are our homes" extended family if they're successful enough to buy more ships.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

True, but this is a specific culture that's evolved over hundreds of years, maybe thousands.
There was a very brief example from Star Gate Atlantis... I think it was SGA... they encountered a group called 'travellers" of all things. I think they were only in one episode but they lived in a ramshackle fleet as well... it's been so long I don't recall the details.
Also to a lesser extent Mass Effect "Quarians" and their migrant fleet. (Their home world was destroyed so the remains of their entire civilization was their wandering fleet... ala Battle Star Galactica)

But my concept is purely and historically based on the European and near east gypsy culture.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Star trek voyager had a group of ships fleeing the borg if I recall. 7 of 9 made a module that would give them renewable energy for their systems.

Larry Niven has tre puppeteer homeworld as a migrant fleet.

In the end it will be up to you if you want people in a ramshackle fleet who are trying to keep things patched together, or a group of spacefaring experts with excellent ships. Whatever works best for your storyline.