The Fifth Frontier War begins in two days
- Thread starter MongooseMatt
- Start date
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
And even less agency. When I saw that years ago, my first reaction was: The Aslan did what?
And even if they did, there would have been great room for adventure in 1117-20, fighting off the Aslan and Vargr hordes (even though the Zhos had been fought to a standstill just a decade before with a much less united command structure - Yes, I know, don't expect reinforcements from Corridor this time around, but... never made much sense, nor did the civil war accept as a God-like reset button).
The fall of Glisten should have been an epic story, but no, it just happened. The end.
Micky
Mongoose
as a complete newbie to the Traveller world the book will probably prove quite nice once I get to getting it. Especially if it is, as interesting to read as other source books and the background/historical material have been to read.
that said.. really hope to see to lots of different types of adventures tied into this. Especially if they work in non standard character such as active duty Imperial forces (the Naval Campaign Sourcebook) or Mercenaries.
not sure how much I agree with individuals really influencing events that are vast in scope, galactic in nature but suppose we can run and modify anything we are given and tone down any Hollywoodesque aspects of it. In running such adventures/campaign and putting characters into the war itself the challenge/ the goal could be seen in winning.. is surviving the encounter to live and fight another day another adventure..
big picture winning and losing a vast interstellar war is for the Admirals and high nobles to worry about as well as influencing the eventual outcome.
The next published product in the FFW line is supposed to be "Flashpoints", which is an actual adventure. We'll have to see if "Opening Moves" and "Riverfront Campaign" are more player-centric. As well as what else comes with the product line.
I don't care if my players can decide the war. But material aimed at making the war interesting to the players and not just a "Hmm, let's go somewhere we won't get targeted with meson bays or PGMPs" situation would be interesting. Convoy raiding, blockade running, evacuations, black marketing, espionage, salvage, and lots of other interesting things going on. Ship designs/deckplans for small raiders, ideas for how customs inspections are different in wartime, what kinds of markets for legal and black market salvage of war material would exist, suggestions on how the war might affect the volume of shipping and/or custom patrols in the surrounding regions, stuff the Ine Givar are getting up to the PCs might mess with.
Mercenary and Naval campaigns need wartime support too. Tickets. Orders. Assignments that might be interesting besides "hang around in a big fleet under direct control of an admiral between big battles". Or a real fleet combat system that helps you make it interesting to be a cruiser or destroyer command staff at the Battle of Too Many Ships.
The Virushi 'priest' and the Vargr mercenary officer are a lot more useful NPCs than Dukes and Admirals for most campaigns, I suspect.
I flat out don't believe the Aslan could have managed the massive surge through the Marches. But the massive overhyping of Ihatei is a wider spread problem than just that.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
But Martin is almost setting the stage for it by calling the Glisten Fleet a dumping ground for well-connected but, um, uninspiring, leadership. Still, Super Norris should have been able to overcome that, unless he was too busy working on developing his jowls and forging Archduke documentation.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
It is still and ever will be my contention that Norris invited the Aslan. The whole "invasion" is a smokescreen for him gaining an awful lot of loyal troops - Aslan will happily swear allegiance to human rulers, they are not prejudiced they just want land.
And the Domain of Deneb has lots of space where Aslan colonies can be established, and everyone swearing fealty to Norris.
And the Domain of Deneb has lots of space where Aslan colonies can be established, and everyone swearing fealty to Norris.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
I don't recall the canon behind that. Trojan Reach yes, but their incursion into the Marches?
G'Naakbusters
Cosmic Mongoose
They take most of Glisten and parts of District 268 and Trin's Veil. Glisten itself seems an odd target; not only is it of course a prominent and powerful system (surely it's defended well enough that there are many more appealing targets, particularly in the non-aligned part of the Marches?) but it's a bunch of asteroid settlements; not exactly prime landhold material. I can only assume some of the ihatei whipped themselves up into a competitive bravado spiral and wound up with a catastrophic triumphant victory? Which I guess might explain how Glisten adapts so readily to being an Aslan-Human fusion society in the later eras; the ihatei may have won the system, but they probably needed to defer to the humans and the females to get anything out of it.
The Regency Sourcebook
p.50:
'Glisten was a site of extensive Ihatei incursion but unlike many such systems, the Aslan presence was completely rooted out'
p.8
'1117 Civil War. Vargr cut Corridor in two, Domain of Deneb cut off from Imperium.'
'1119 Intrusion of Aslan Ihatei fleets in Domain become stronger and more numerous.'
'1131 Joint Aslan-Domain fleets destroy vampire fleets attempting to cross Great Rift'
p.68
'By 1120 the entire Tobia subsector along with the Sindal subsector to spinward had fallen to Ihatei invasion, although most of these worlds retained human majority (although now subject populations). The arrival of Regency forces in 1131 was greeted with delirious joy by the human inhabitants after a over a decade of Aslan occupation...restoring its antebellum boundaries'.
So the 1119 Aslan advance was due to the diversion of Imperial forces from the Marches and Reaches to fight the Vargr in Corridor.
However the Regency then appear to have reconquered the former Imperial worlds in the Reaches in 1131 - it is the belt of former non-aligned and client states and The Glorious Empire beyond the old border that passes into Hierate control - although even then the populations may well remain predominantly human.
And as the Hierate and Regency are allies from 1131 onwards I presume that the great clans of the Hierate also collaborate with the Regency in suppressing the most ambitious of the Ihatei.
The TNE rulebook adds for 1132 'Aorlakht and Football worlds incorporated into Regency'
The Aorlakht are Aslan New Lords so are the Ihatei from 1119.
As my copy of TNE is not searchable no idea which are the Football worlds.
TNE also talks about some of the worlds the Regency reconquered in 1132 remaining under the rule of Aslan clans who maintain their traditional ways so clearly some of those Aorlakht submitted - why wouldn't they as long as their land holdings are recognised.
The Aorlakht are Aslan New Lords so are the Ihatei from 1119.
As my copy of TNE is not searchable no idea which are the Football worlds.
TNE also talks about some of the worlds the Regency reconquered in 1132 remaining under the rule of Aslan clans who maintain their traditional ways so clearly some of those Aorlakht submitted - why wouldn't they as long as their land holdings are recognised.
Alqualonde
Banded Mongoose
I've checked the MT map of the Marches and the Aslan invasion really seemed to have captured Glisten. They conquered (among other worlds) Mithras, Bicornn, Crout, Dodds & Tenelphi. They stopped short on Collace & Forine.So they fought for/around Glisten but never took it...
Check the date Norris formed the Aslan staffed Patrol...
It was a Norris plot all along
Pretty big invasion, knowing they also gobbled most of the Trojan Reach's to reach the Spinward Marches. That would require a lot of fleets & troops.
But I really like the Norris's Plot idea. Makes more sense than having a flood of Aslan Ihatei reaching that far in barely a few years (how long would it take for the information to reach the main part of the Hierate & Ihatei banding to get past a rift, thru the Reaches and into the Imperium.
For Glisten, if you don't have a fleet to protect you, Alsans just need to divert a few asteroids toward your stations/population centers. Just the threat could be enough force a surrender.
Alsan don't care for Glisten itself, it is not land for them, just a collection of rocks floating in space. Only the females would recognize the importance. Males would just see it as keeping a potential threat in their back...
collins355
Banded Mongoose
DGP explained it thus...
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
Glisten was never taken.
Look carefully at the worlds that are "taken" in the Spinward Marches.
How many are Imperial worlds...
what was the population of the worlds before the Aslan "invasion"
how does a fleet of second hand TL12-13 ships defeat the TL15 forces that can be brought to bear by Norris? Glisten monitors could wipe out any Aslan threat.
Look carefully at the worlds that are "taken" in the Spinward Marches.
How many are Imperial worlds...
what was the population of the worlds before the Aslan "invasion"
how does a fleet of second hand TL12-13 ships defeat the TL15 forces that can be brought to bear by Norris? Glisten monitors could wipe out any Aslan threat.
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