The Third Imperium - eBook & Pre-Order

[MongooseMatt]

Good news - the long awaited Traveller sourcebook covering The Third Imperium is finally here! Written by Chris Griffen, this mighty tome is your guide to the greatest empire of Charted Space and its heart, Core sector.

You can grab your own copy right here: https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/the-third-imperium.html

North American Travellers can find theirs here: https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/us/the-third-imperium.html

The Third Imperium is the greatest interstellar empire in the history of Charted Space. Its Emperors have reigned for a thousand years, building a utopian society based upon the pillars of duty, honour, free trade and a powerful navy that protects its worlds and enforces its laws.

Despite all of its grand achievements, the Imperium has a dark side. It has committed genocide on its own worlds. Its leaders have assassinated and murdered each other in battle to obtain the throne. A civil war nearly tore it apart, ending the dream of its visionary first Emperor. Yet with all the Imperium has been through, it has somehow endured. The Third Imperium is at a crossroads, and choices made now will determine whether it survives or crumbles.

Into this realm enters a bold group of Travellers, seeking fame, fortune and adventure in hallowed the Core sector, the ancient centre of human civilisation, where dreams are made and broken. This book contains everything Travellers and Referees need to travel and adventure in the heart of the Third Imperium, including:

• A huge poster map of the Core sector.
• Detailed descriptions of the people, society, military forces and power brokers of the Third Imperium.
• The complete history of the Third Imperium as it has never been told before.
• The Core sector, the heart of the Imperium, including playable human and alien races and world descriptions for all 16 subsectors.
• New starships, vehicles, weapons, armour and gear for use in Core sector campaigns or anywhere else in the Third Imperium.

The galaxy is rich with opportunity, nowhere more so than at the heart of the Third Imperium. Travellers need only be bold enough to claim their share of the fortune.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The Imperium...

a utopia???

Lol

Ok I will buy it and see if this is just Imperial propaganda, or the biggest retcon to date.

 

[Darren66]

I’m about a third through this now. Damn it’s an impressive piece.

I have noticed one or two very minor typos, but nothing to be worried about.

 

[steelbrok]

It has always been my understanding that Lift Infantry referred to those equipped with grav vehicles and Jump Troops dropped from orbit. Third Imperium is referring to Jump Troops as Lift Infantry. Is this a change?

 

[Sigtrygg]

I think it is a pretty good stab at an almost impossible topic - you are not going to please everyone with a sourcebook like this.

I've noticed several changes to the OTU and the omission of canon setting elements...
did the author read the CT JTAS TAS News articles, and the plots, rumours and library data from the early adventures/double adventures and choose to ignore them?

But it is an excellent read and there is lots of good stuff in it - even Bland pops up

 

[G'Naakbusters]

But it is an excellent read and there is lots of good stuff in it - even Bland pops up

Being very fond of that novel, I very much enjoyed the references to the Maaruur incident.

Overall, most of the established snippets about Core locations were included and expanded upon, which was welcome. A lot of existing sources have been mined for this, even as 80% of the material is new; I especially liked the exploration of the later/modern implications of Chanestin/Sylean/Interstellar Confederacy/Vilani/Solomani interactions during the founding years of the Third Imperium. Carrying that established history forward to show how it echoes through subsequent Core politics was a good call.

On the opposite end of the significance-scale, as an absolutely non-important piece of trivia mentioned in a single line in a single planetary description, but relevant to my interests (as it were), I note that Kamsii (AKA DisneyPlanet) has added a K'kree Land to their Hiver and Droyne attractions. I wonder how they managed that? But I'll be sure to make a visit.

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

I got about 20 pages in before I nearly fell off the chair - Imperial Marines Battle Dress, complete with amazing artwork and a full list of standard mods?! Happy
I imagine two two rifle slots are for whatever rifle type the current mission requires, along with any hand-held weapons of mass destruction?

Soon after comes a bunch of Imperial grav tanks?! Yay!

Gonna have to read this book very thoroughly the coming days....

 

[tempest13]

Just noticed the first real typo - On the Core map it states it is Reft Sector copyright 2017 down in the bottom left corner.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Just noticed the first real typo - On the Core map it states it is Reft Sector copyright 2017 down in the bottom left corner.

Already seen, will be corrected this coming week

 

[AndrewW]

Just noticed the first real typo - On the Core map it states it is Reft Sector copyright 2017 down in the bottom left corner.

I blame the Hivers it was a manipulation. Part of their disinformation campaign.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Was it the Hivers that brought a technology that doesn't exist in the OTU and produced it in rifle form?

Or the Hivers that invented a TL15 personal energy screen but forgot to provide rules for vehicle and starship scale energy screens?

 

[AndrewW]

Or the Hivers that invented a TL15 personal energy screen but forgot to provide rules for vehicle and starship scale energy screens?

High Guard has energy screens in the High Technology chapter (page: 69).

 

[adzling]

I note that a fraggin' battleship has only 10 armor...

 

[Sigtrygg]

Or the Hivers that invented a TL15 personal energy screen but forgot to provide rules for vehicle and starship scale energy screens?

High Guard has energy screens in the High Technology chapter (page: 69).

So now they are baseline for the Third Imperium setting...

who got this one past 'the inner circle'?

 

[AndrewW]

High Guard has energy screens in the High Technology chapter (page: 69).

So now they are baseline for the Third Imperium setting...

who got this one past 'the inner circle'?

Not exactly. The High Technology chapter generally contains stuff that isn't in the OTU. Though the Mongoose version of the OTU does contain some of it.

 

[Sigtrygg]

You raise a good point about a glaring omission from this Third Imperium sourcebook - which technologies in the MgT2e HG, Vehicles and CSC exist within the Third Imperium setting.

Don't get me wrong - I think this is a very good book, but by including every technology in the MgT 2e corpus within the MgT Third Imperium then the MgT Third Imperium becomes even more divergent from the OTU.

 

[NOLATrav]

the MgT Third Imperium becomes even more divergent from the OTU.

What is the OTU?

I know what the term means. Between GURPS and T5 and Agent of the Imperium and Mongoose - how do you know what the OTU is?

Does the ‘inner circle’ know what the OTU is?

 

[paltrysum]

It has always been my understanding that Lift Infantry referred to those equipped with grav vehicles and Jump Troops dropped from orbit. Third Imperium is referring to Jump Troops as Lift Infantry. Is this a change?

The writer (ahem! Yours truly) inadvertently conflated the two terms. I'll fix that up for next week's revision. Thanks for the comment.

I've noticed several changes to the OTU and the omission of canon setting elements...
did the author read the CT JTAS TAS News articles, and the plots, rumours and library data from the early adventures/double adventures and choose to ignore them?

Could be a little of both. I tried to be pretty comprehensive in my research, but full disclosure: I might have missed a few things here and there.

Was it the Hivers that brought a technology that doesn't exist in the OTU and produced it in rifle form?

Or the Hivers that invented a TL15 personal energy screen but forgot to provide rules for vehicle and starship scale energy screens?

Blame the hivers. But seriously, wait for High Guard 2.5. I'm ambivalent as to whether we should just make them an extension of the optional energy shield tech listed in the current version of High Guard or make something entirely new. Keep in mind, this is new tech from the labs of Sabsee, which were touched upon in MegaTraveller and that we have added more color to here. One of my reviewers warned me that introducing personal energy shields was dangerous, but, well, fools go in where angels fear to tread, right? I figure they're a nice add and if individual referees don't care for it or consider it a game breaker, they can always ignore them and simply say that they do not exist in their Traveller Universes. I do love that illustration the artist came up with, though.

As for slipping it past the inner circle, they were well aware of my heresy and one of the "old guard" simply posted the comment: "I want one!"

I note that a fraggin' battleship has only 10 armor...

Oh, those cheapskate Vilani-influenced designs! On a more serious note, we're going to address the armor issue in a big way in High Guard 2.5. I think we have a solution that works nicely. We're trying to design systems that do not invalidate previous ship designs, but also make it so that capital ships can carry significantly more armor and not be so vulnerable to say,...10-ton fighters.

 

[Sigtrygg]

RIP OTU

So you admit you haven't done basic research into the setting and that you have included technology that has never existed in the OTU prior to now, technology that makes Ancient era toys look pretty useless by comparison. :lol:

Like I have said, it is a good book, but it it no longer anything but an ATU.

A very good ATU

 

[paltrysum]

RIP OTU

So you admit you haven't done basic research into the setting and that you have included technology that has never existed in the OTU prior to now, technology that makes Ancient era toys look pretty useless by comparison.

Like I have said, it is a good book, but it it no longer anything but an ATU.

I beg to differ, but hey, I respect your opinion and appreciate your comments.