BARD PAPER: GAIL2012 | Home | Traveller | BARD | GAIL |
BARD PAPER: GAIL2012 | Home | Traveller | BARD | GAIL |
Arkidgi: The dreaded "Thunder Gods" of Vilani myth. These are largely thought to have been inspired by Ancient juggernauts and automated fortresses that survived the Final War. At any rate they are terrible firebreathing and earthshaking giants, oblivious to the destruction they inflict upon normal people. Because of their indestructible nature, Vilani cultures tend to lack the heroic myths of overcoming a monster or demon that flourish in traditional Solomani legends. In many ways the Arkidgi benefited the Vilani, as it caused early communities to focus upon nature in less superstitious and adversarial ways, helping to ease their transition from gilded captivity under the Ancients to the difficult yet hospitable countryside. Nowadays the term "Arkidgi" has a pair of meanings: usually it means a blind, blundering idiot; but more rarely it refers to a person who moves ponderously but with great patience and thoroughness, so that resistance is slowly worn down through attrition rather than messy confrontation. Generally the emperors of the old Ziru Sirka were titled Arkidgi.
Muriisdi: Helpful angelic beings of Vilani myth. Often they are confused with angelic or 'Elohim' of Terran Middle Eastern origin, but in reality they are more down to earth than those. Where the former are supernatural beings of oftentimes terrible divine power, the Muriisdi are more like supernatural good citizens. They are more similiar to the Solomani Japanese 'Tenshi', beings who interact directly with human communities and intervene daily through propitious fortune. Because of the horrible depredations inflicted by the Arkidgi, Vilani religious and folk tradition tend to emphasize communal deeds rather than supernatural powers. Muriisdi are usually depicted as thin whispery spirits with soulful eyes, elfin ears and beak like noses. They lack mouths as they feed vicariously off of their good deeds. They have long bony hands and misshapen feet, though in reality they are usually depicted with no locomotive features at all, and appear rooted to a shadow or dark corner. While ancient folk beliefs tend to embarrass Vilani elders, Muriisdi stories are a common rite of passage for their children, and artworks and prayers commemorating their good deeds are commonly found in traditional Vilani households.
Operation Skybolt: The Regency pacification and annexation of the Islands Subsectors in 1140. After the decision to secure the Islands was reached, elements of the 19th, 74th and 128th Fleets moved to forward bases like Tonnurad, and assembled into two main battle groups: Task Forces Oliphant and Crocodile. The combined forces jumped off from Zuflucht (Reft 0921) and quickly overawed the decimated inhabitants of Serendip Belt (Reft 1323) into surrendering without a fight. The two groups stopped to wait for their supply trains; resupplied they moved into the bloodiest fight of the entire campaign: the pacification of New Colchis (Reft 1327).
After a brutal six week battle, the two task forces parted, with Oliphant moving to take Joyeuse (Reft 1628), New Home (Reft 1925, in what was another short but brutal fight), Colchis (2026) and Amondiage (2325). Crocodile overran the cluster of worlds adjacent to New Colchis, moved to take Topas (1522), Neubayern (1822), Sansterre (2322) and rejoined Oliphant to capture Amondiage. Skybolt continued for another six months total, as Neubayernian and New Colchisian soldiers on Elysee (1525) temporarily set aside their differences and attacked the small Regency Army and Marine Garrison assigned to patrol the world, and these forces broke up into guerilla units after being repulsed by Regency Marine reinforcements.
Rainbow Vale: Center of Magash/Sabine's (Deneb 0316) powerful biotech industry. Originally the Vale was a deep excavation and drilling site for research into the mysterious life that exists far beneath the surface in the Sunless Sea. Thousands of bore holes were drilled by various technologies in a vain attempt to tap the Deep Sea layers.
Because of its remote location and the outrageous science that this work seemed to encourage, the Vale is rather out of place for a world still dominated by staid Vilani politics. It was also independent of the vicious inter-city politics that turned the world into a seething powderkeg for most of the antebellum period. In many ways the local political elites simply left the eccentric scientists alone, allowing them to build some very non-Vilani expertise in advanced biotechnology. Today the Vale is a semi-autonomous research and development enclave of about two million people. It has an advanced research university, its own police and militia, and a strong sense of disdain for politics of any kind. The local elite are practically of celebrity status on Magash, and many senior executives are List A political figures in their own right, and hold most of the real power in Magash's convoluted government. Their steady accumulation of wealth allowed Magash to bankroll its unification after the Collapse, and helped modernise its industry to keep pace despite the TL-15 cap.
The Vale takes its name from the kaleidoscopic mineral assemblages that were unearthed by past drilling operations. The community is actually built into the sides of a large crater complex, with the crater floors left open for the shipyards and starport.
Red Pelts: Pirate group of Suedzuk Vargr that blundered their way through Corridor Sector and into Millions Subsector (Deneb D) in the mid-1140s. As remarkable as their survival against the great odds of the Wilds was, they proceeded to harry isolated Wilds worlds along the Regency Frontier from several bases in Millions, in spite of active opposition from the RQS and several Pack groups. Making common cause with the insane "King Tut" of Rroerruerz (Deneb 2001), their raids reached a fever pitch in 1144-45, with several bloody incursions into Antra and Namidshur.
Their preferred tactics were brutal to the point of massacre. Unlike most pirates, however, they seemed to work mainly as mercenary for warlords and TEDs scattered throughout the Wilds. They operated under a strange honor code that forbade looting and pillage, but at the same time those restrictions freed them from treating captives or civilians with any kind of mercy, and the slow summary executions they preferred made them the bane of Hell's Hairpin during their short reign of terror. An alliance of Pack assassins and RQS covert personnel finally tracked them down to their lair, and they were wiped out to the last dog.
Sidhe: Pronounced "Seeth". Ancient Solomani Irish word for fairies or fey creatures, in this case those supernatural entities that ranked below the "tuatha de danaan", the gods and masters of the Irish Isles. Though largely an obscure term nowadays, certain psionic subcultures use the word in reference to wild or renegade psions who violate their licenses and commit illegal acts with their abilities. The current context of the term seems to stem from a famous Solomani science fiction movie trilogy that involves psionic characters motivated by dark supernatural power.
Spinward Defense Complex: Multiworld Regency defense installation found in Gulf Subsector (Deneb M) and comprises the worlds of Inkekush (Deneb 0233), Saguenay (0235), Maricutin (0534) and Preslin (0633). The SDC dates back to the Third Frontier War, following the poor performance of Imperial forces against well motivated and led Outworld Coalition forces.
The poor quality of training and logistics, and regressed state of military arsenals BTC led to the creation of several military ranges on the worlds listed above in the 1010s. These ranged from automated factories, advanced technical and gunnery training facilites, and test ranges for proving a variety of new technologies. The 2nd Experimental Fleet (Gizmos and Black Smoke) is assigned specifically to the SDC, testing new ships that issue forth from the yards on the two Deneb Depots. The 303rd Fleet (The Valkyries) also uses the SDC, but for different reasons: it constantly works against an aggressor training force that teaches Regency naval personnel in foreign tactics and equipment. Proficiency gained against simulated vampire fleets is spread throughout the rest of the Regency by Valkyrie exchange crews. Unlike most training units, which are often overworked and resented by rank and file personnel, the Valkyries numbers allow for better disemination of new techniques and tactics.
In antebellum times the Spinward Branch of Naval Intelligence maintained their main instruction and training academy on Preslin; one of their most famous graduates being the future First Regent, who credited his successful prosecution of the Fifth Frontier War in large part to the intensive and demanding training he received there.
Sunless Sea: The series of deep subterranean seas that lie under Magash/Sabine (Deneb 0316). Magash is a rocky cored world that formed with an enormous amount of water in its crust and mantle. Over time this water pooled and collected due to tidal attraction and tectonic flexing into massive water bodies that contain more aggregate liquid than most water worlds. The sea actually consists of several layers at various depths: a layer of hydrated minerals and saturated dirt and rock at a depth of four to seven hundred kilometers beneath the surface; An Artesian zone of deep vertical water tables trapped by impermeable rock or within natural faultlines between nine hundred and fifteen hundred kilometers; and the Deep Sea itself which surrounds the core, creating a four hundred kilometer blanket of high pressure water.
Biological samples taken from the upper zones indicate that the Deep Sea is rich in life. But technical limitations prevent direct research and observation of these lifeforms, and hundreds of years after their discovery basic questions about this ecosystem are still largely unanswered. The Deep Sea is much hotter than normal oceans due to residual heat from the core, too hot to normally support the creation of proteins for life to propagate. Also high pressures exists at levels thousands of times greater than normally encountered by terrestrial life. Research into these lifeforms is controversial, as the limited information tends to cause local scientists to bend the rules of acceptable theory with bizarre experiments and hypotheses. In spite or perhaps because of this freewheeling "gunslinger" science, Magash has accumulated a significant biotech industry that is one of the largest in the Spinward Extents.
"Tutankhamen": Insane TED who briefly controlled Rroerruerz (Deneb 2001) in the aftermath of the Abandonment. Rroerruerz, formerly known as Filanger, had been the site of several resorts and estates that were frequently patronised by both Imperial and Vargr elite and wealthy before the Imperial Civil War. Most of these facilities were heavily automated, with robot and computer populations in the tens of thousands. Most of these robots were destroyed or disabled and were either dumped into the sea or stored in deep warehouses. The first wave of virus infection found few systems beyond infrastructure to infect or destroy, and the world suffered few losses.
However, a systems engineer for one of the resorts who had refused transport outsystem took over one of the abandoned resorts, and deliberately exposed its deactivated robotic staff to a Priest strain Virus egg he had acquired from an unsuspecting free trader. After rallying the newly infected robots to his godly rule, Tut began to pacify the world under his control in a brutal campaign of conquest. The Vargr rulers were in a severely disorganised state following the Collapse, and Tut's armies quickly overcame their feeble resistance and rounded up the island bound population into concentration camps. Several Vargr escaped the sweeps, however, and were able to alert nearby RQS and Regency Navy operatives of their grim circumstances. An undercover team were able to sneak on the world, recapture one of the isolated camps, and arm its inmates with heavy weapons that enabled them to destroy Tut's army in a quick campaign.
Tut himself barely survived his overthrow, and fled to a surviving deep water mining facility. In the meantime the newly liberated Vargr fell to conflict among themselves, enthusiastically using their new weapons upon each other in internecine wars, giving the recalcitrant dictator time to reorganise his forces. Eventually he contacted and secured the services, through both money and charisma, of a roving Suedzuk corsair fleet in nearby Millions Subsector. The Red Pelts began to raid Rroerruerz, and Tut was soon back in control of the major settlements. However resistance to his rule was better armed and coordinated, and he was beginning to suffer from a psychotic mental state. After a Regency raid destroyed the Red Pelt base on his world in 1144, his sanity crumbled entirely, and he was summarily executed by a Vargr warlord.
Warm Jupiter: A gas giant found in a solar system's habitable zone. The mild temperatures and solar radiation of this region moderates the violent climate and conditions of gas giants. Generally these worlds have a high amout of water vapor in their upper atmospheres, and nearly all gas giants that boast life are these kinds of worlds. Warm Jupiters are highly prized, for their moon assemblages have a high percentage chance of possessing one or more habitable worlds. Ship crews also prefer the gentler cloud layers of these worlds as frontier refuelling stops, as they lack the temperature and climate extremes of more normal gas giants.