--- On Fri, 10/14/11, Norman wrote:
> If anybody has any knowledge or even interest maybe we can
> talk off forum as it's technically Traveller but not
> TNE. Maybe you could also give me the quick rundown on
> TNE as the virus...I am assuming it has something to do with
> a Vampire fleet? I've got this book called Vampire
> fleets...it's not really gelling in my brain though.
>
> thanks
> Norm
Vampire Fleets were caused by Virus.
Virus was originally a silicon based life form that was molded into a weapon by the Third Imperium. They figured that if you redesigned the lifeform into a chip, you could fire the chip into an enemy ship, and the silicon lifeform would take over the enemy ship, shut it down, and you would capture it. It had a high mutation rate to get around
Sounds easy?
It got loose, and was unfinished. The only real directives it had understood was suicide. The first version was the Suicider virus, which only sent out a couple copies before killing whatever it was in. Ships crash, life support systems on a colony shut down, pest control robots eliminate human vermin, etc.
It soon mutated into a virus tat caused other stuff to suicide, instead of suiciding itself.
>From there, there are other variants that exist, due to mutation causing philosophy changes in the virus code/structure.
As a result, the interconnected network of technology that we take for granted cannot exist. If the comm system is connected to the computer core 24/7, all it takes is a single Virus infected unit (referred to as Vampires) to transmit the code into your comm system, and it is running in your computer, and your own ship will try to kill you.
Hope this helps. Here is the Traveller wiki site on Virus:
http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Virus/TNE
Todd Kes