Singularity - musings

[Sigtrygg]

This thread will be me thinking out loud about what I am continuing to describe as possibly the most important campaign ever written for Traveller, the Third Imperium and the whole Charted Space meta...

 

[Sigtrygg]

First off, I have to congratulate Chris and the entire Mongoose team for the effort and attention to detail that has gone into this campaign.

I have now read through the two books released so far, and I am now starting a chapter by chapter note taking deeper dive.

Only one thing so far bothers me. Dr. Pruta and her knowledge of certain Zhodani Ancient artifacts.

If she know, then there are more in the Imperium who know, so why is the FFW happening with the wave on the way...

she is 40 years old...

"A brilliant academic, Dr. Pruta is originally from the Old Expanses but made her way to the Core to study the archives at Reference and eventually to Capital, where she served on various advisory councils for the Moot.
She has joined the cruise to have a luxurious passage to Depot where she intends to meet with her research team from the University of Brygella, a water world inthe Cadion subsector.
Note to Referee: Optionally use mixed data from Mysteries of the Ancients, Secret of the Ancients and Wrath of the Ancients to convey the depth of her knowledge. If the Travellers have not experienced any of these campaigns, be sure to keep it vague so they can enjoy them at a later date without spoilers."

There is something we are not being told about her...

"Few Imperial citizens know the secrets of the Erdriap Chensh but Dr. Pruta is one of them.

Dr. Pruta can provide more information about the Erdriap Chensh, which, at the behest of the Qlomdlabr – the leader of the Zhodani Consulate – was taken to Qrekrsha where a similar artifact had been found.
The devices were activated in -5248, causing a massive catastrophe. The devices transmitted a signal at the speed of light that affected all systems
within a 30-parsec radius from Qrekrsha that caused the people there to lose their will to live, starving themselves in short order and blighting a gigantic portion of the Consulate."

So by the age of 40 she has studied at university, earned a PhD, travelled from Old Expanses to Core, has been involved with many excavations and happens to know the most closely guarded of Zhodani secrets and other information only participants of the Ancients trilogy could know.

A "brilliant academic" with an Int of 9?

Has travelled a lot

studied at Reference

served advisory councils for the Moot...

knows Ancient secrets that no one in the setting could know without participating in adventures (prior to Twilight's Peak the Imperium had not made the link between the Droyne and the Ancients, Grandfather et al have never been revealed in setting apart for the adventure participants, original Secret of the Ancients and the Mongoose trilogy (which should actually be taking place at the same time, or in alternative universes, or alternative Sims...)

is she a human synthetic Ancient construct agent...

 

[Sty0pa]

Mainly, I supported it to support MgT.

I'm not going to use it pretty much at all, I don't think.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Another Singularity thought - at the end of Act 1.

What if the PCs are killed during the apotheosis... and are rebooted into clones from back up copies that Naalir has stored for such an emergency? Do the players realise a copy of them is now functionally immortal so long as Naalir persists? Why did Naalir not plan ahead to have PC copies already en-route with a new ship?

 

[Tforbes]

If she know, then there are more in the Imperium who know, so why is the FFW happening with the wave on the way...

Unless I'm mistaken, Mongoose has told us that the true cause and outcome of their version of the FFW is still undisclosed so, technically, could be entirely unrelated to the wave...

"Few Imperial citizens know the secrets of the Erdriap Chensh but Dr. Pruta is one of them.

Dr. Pruta can provide more information about the Erdriap Chensh, which, at the behest of the Qlomdlabr – the leader of the Zhodani Consulate – was taken to Qrekrsha where a similar artifact had been found.
The devices were activated in -5248, causing a massive catastrophe. The devices transmitted a signal at the speed of light that affected all systems
within a 30-parsec radius from Qrekrsha that caused the people there to lose their will to live, starving themselves in short order and blighting a gigantic portion of the Consulate."

So by the age of 40 she has studied at university, earned a PhD, travelled from Old Expanses to Core, has been involved with many excavations and happens to know the most closely guarded of Zhodani secrets and other information only participants of the Ancients trilogy could know.

While it is not always the case, I have to hope that if the author is expecting the Referee to provide more information on a topic (through an NPC) that the author would provide the "more" information in question.

Therefore, my assumption is that the following paragraph is All Dr. Pruta knows: There was an artifact, it was brought closer to a similar artifact and caused a massive catastrophe. She has enough familiarity with what it looked like to draw a similarity and knows what it DID but not why or whether that was what it was supposed to have done.

A "brilliant academic" with an Int of 9?

and an EDU of 13, don't forget.

Note to Referee: Optionally use mixed data from Mysteries of the Ancients, Secret of the Ancients and Wrath of the Ancients to convey the depth of her knowledge. If the Travellers have not experienced any of these campaigns, be sure to keep it vague so they can enjoy them at a later date without spoilers."

I didn't take this to mean that she knew any of the critical secrets / discoveries from the Ancients adventures themselves. I read this to mean "use the notes in Mysteries / Secrets / Wrath about what the scientific community knows and speculates because Dr. Pruta would know all that but we're not going to waste page space by re-printing it here"

 

[Tforbes]

Another Singularity thought - at the end of Act 1.

What if the PCs are killed during the apotheosis... and are rebooted into clones from back up copies that Naalir has stored for such an emergency? Do the players realise a copy of them is now functionally immortal so long as Naalir persists? Why did Naalir not plan ahead to have PC copies already en-route with a new ship?

yea... that ending section leaves me a little confused and underwhelmed and simultaneously overwhelmed with questions. I have to assume all will become clear with the reveal of Act 2.

It seems to be implied that the Reverie occurs randomly whenever Naalir's project happens to complete. Why wouldnt Naalir have a plan for this to it happens at an opportune time? I can kinda understand it not caring about the passengers but there's no indication Naalir gives the Travellers any heads up. Not only is that rude to people it's trying to use for the next stage of its plan, it seems like a stupid risk to needlessly draw attention.

Maybe TL16 Naalir had a plan, which it shared with the Travellers, but TL17 Naalir "recalculated" the plan in the instant it came into being and determined a new one. Then the tension / danger can come from the Travellers trying to follow the original plan while dealing with the curveballs new Naalir is throwing at them.

I can kinda get behind TL 17 Naalir not caring if it killed the rest of the passengers ("for the greater good") but the Travellers should never be in any real danger. No matter what they choose to do, if it looks like it's going to fail then they should be "saved" at the last second as everything goes according to the new plan they weren't privy to. Really highlight the exponential increase in Naalir's capabilities.

-------------------------

I also completely missed how and why the Travellers have become fugitives at this point...

 

[Vormaerin]

They are fugitives because they are allies of Naalir, who is flat out illegal in the Imperium. If they aren't allies of Naalir, then they wouldn't be fugitivies, just victims of the rogue AI.

 

[Sigtrygg]

We are going to get rules for if the players decide to go against Naalir.

Another random thought.

Naalir's creators... their technology can hold Ancient war machines at bay, indicating that they were more advanced than the particular strand of Ancients that built the war machines...

What is Naalir's real TL? What is the TL of their creator?

Does the re-appearance of a race that pre-dates the Ancients mean that the sparklers/baddies from the core/Primordials may make a comeback?
They were never retconned from MTU

 

[Tforbes]

They are fugitives because they are allies of Naalir, who is flat out illegal in the Imperium. If they aren't allies of Naalir, then they wouldn't be fugitivies, just victims of the rogue AI.

So it's the assumption that after the ship is destroyed, the authorities show up to interview the survivors and the Travellers tell them everything? Just confess?

 

[Sigtrygg]

We don't know yet...

 

[Galadrion]

Naalir's creators... their technology can hold Ancient war machines at bay, indicating that they were more advanced than the particular strand of Ancients that built the war machines...

They weren't necessarily more advanced than the Ancients - as advanced could easily do the job, or even less advanced but much more numerous. Remember, the actual Ancients numbered, canonically, less than 450 individuals.

That brings me to a related though which occurred to me last night: The Ancients aren't/weren't really a civilization, either in numbers or in behavior. Think about the behavior of Grandfather and his children. Even when they were working together as... well... as they ever did, it was mostly Grandfather issuing directives and then the kids doing... well, basically whatever the hell they chose to do. Rather than a civilization, they more closely act like Gru and the minions...

 

[paltrysum]

First off, I have to congratulate Chris and the entire Mongoose team for the effort and attention to detail that has gone into this campaign.

Thanks, Sigtrygg. I think I speak for the whole team when I say we really appreciate the kind words.

I'm enjoying this discussion and will chime in here and there. Cassie's working on Act Two now. It's a big departure from Act One as you might guess. I'm looking forward to seeing it in its final form.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Mainly, I supported it to support MgT.

I'm not going to use it pretty much at all, I don't think.

Sorry missed this yesterday.

There is a lot of material in the Sourcebook and in Act 1 that can be used regardless of the adventure itself. The xboat network, more detail about the worlds of Core and a lot more.