Imperiallines Seven Dummy

starport will be busy, many outlying towns may subsist In This Issue: on luxury agriculture, and that getting government help Welcome to Imperiallines! will be annoying (think lots of red tape). Harrassment by Lookback: Planetary Governments in Traveller law enforcement will be both expected and routine. Nobility in the Third Imperium (Part I) Finally, they will be able to easily acquire TL 12 WalkThrus: Two Barons components. Understanding that the UWP is built for player Creating Amindii Words experience, the referee is therefore freed to speculate Traveller News Service: 3Q 1099 about the world at large if desired, and may use the TravellerMap: PosterMaker UWP as a guide without being bound to it, with the reasonable exception of world population. This ties in to … a minor theme in Traveller5, called Map Only As Really This issue addresses nobles in Traveller5 – but as Necessary (MOARN). The idea is that details usually do usual, learning about one portion of the Traveller not need to be generated. Therefore, a “first pass”, rough system helps the player enjoy Traveller as a whole. For estimate, or immediate in-game effect is sufficient for example, both Marc’s article on planetary governments typical game purposes. and Jim’s article on nobles state that the concept of a This issue also walks through the creation of two feudal interstellar state has been a fundamental idea of nobles using Traveller5 rules. Actually, it only generates Traveller from the start. A less-understood, but just as one character, but those rolls are re-used (well, 95% re- fundamental, concept is that the codes in the UniversalSample used) file to generate a second character as well. The result World Profile (UWP) are inherently player-character- is two casual encounters for the price of one character centric. They are there to tell players what characters generation: an Amindii, and a human, both barons on will directly experience on that world. The actual Regina. workings of planetary government may in fact be quite Two short articles in this issue were written by Marc different – and that in and of itself may be a “plot hook”. Miller: Planetary Governments, updated with two more Since the trade codes and the social characteristics codes for Traveller5, and the Word Generation article, of the UWP – Population, Government, Law Level, and which is almost identical to the article written up in Tech Level – are geared toward player experience, the MegaTraveller. It is inserted here to explain the word referee knows immediately how to describe the general generation table in this issue, newly minted for making populace encountered by the players. For example, Amindii words. when landing on Regina, the referee knows that the Artists Editors and Contributors Tim Osborne Donald “Grima Wormtongue” McKinney Ian Stead Gregory “Aramais” Lee Andrew Boulton James Kundert Liz Danforth Robert “Thor” Eaglestone “Lady” Andrea Vallance Publisher Marc “Traveller” Miller Copyright © 2014 Far Future Enterprises. Published under license for Traveller. The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Imperiallines is Far Future Enterprises' trademark for its science fiction game magazine devoted to Traveller5. Imperiallines No. 7 Transmissions from the Empire Edited and slightly updated term monarchy becomes nonsense when one attempts to from the original article in JTAS 9 apply it to a widespread classification system. Another reason for the labels that are provided in the government classification system is as an aid to PLANETARY imagination. The unaided imagination of even the most inventive referee can go dry after generating a few simple GOVERNMENTS worlds. Using die rolls to create the individual factors for planets jogs the imagination, forcing the referee to think of rationales for the combinations that occur. The use of too FOR TRAVELLER familiar terms (such as monarchy) can stifle imagination by One of the social factors in the Universal World Profile is allowing the referee to settle into old lines of thought. called government type, and it purports to indicate the style The list of government types given in Traveller can, by which the local government rules itself (or is ruled by however, sometimes seem obscure. The following is that others). The list of government types is long and spans the list illuminated by examples. available options from the simple participating democracy to the esoteric charismatic oligarchy. Most notable, 0. No government structure. In many cases, family however, is the absence of some routinely expected bonds will predominate. Examples: The early American government types; types such as empire, presidency, or West, Indian tribes, or frontier situations. monarchy. Similarly, breakdowns such as aristocracy, 1. Company/Corporation. Ruling functions are plutocracy, or matriarchy are also omitted. assumed by company managerial elite and most citizenry are company employees or dependents. Examples: Oil The reason, in reality, is that they are not omitted or drilling rigs at sea, and company towns such as mining absent; the many varied types of government which can be towns or self-contained manufacturing towns. imagined all fit into the basic scheme given in the 2. Participating Democracy. Ruling function decisions Traveller government tables. To understand this, it is are reached by the advice and consent of the citizenry important to remember just what purpose the government directly. Examples: New England towns (town meeting), factor is meant to serve. Traveller players and characters many clubs with parliamentary procedure by-laws, or are rarely involved with governments on the international Scientific Associations. and interplanetary level. That is to say, they do not deal 3. Self-perpetuating Oligarchy. Ruling functions are with kings or presidents or heads of state; they deal with performed by a restricted minority with little or no input individual members of broad government mechanisms, from the mass of citizenry. Oligarchy means rule by the they deal with office holders and employees whose few. Examples: Monarchy, especially a hereditary attitudes and actions are shaped by the typeSample of monarchy, file matriarchy or patriarchy, plutocracy, and the government they serve. As a result, travellers are rarely communist party, in the sense that membership is interested in the upper reaches of government; they want restricted, and the party, rather than a single individual, to know what they can expect from the governmental rules. structure at their own level. For example, if a group of 4. Representative Democracy. Ruling functions are travellers were to journey across the United States from performed by elected representatives. Examples: The coast to coast, they would be interested in the degree of United States, each individual State, the United Kingdom responsiveness they could expect from local governments, (a constitutional monarchy), and many corporations (shareholders elect a board of directors). in how easy the local court clerk would respond to 1,2 information requests, or in the degree of difficulty that 5. Feudal Technocracy. Ruling functions are could be expected in obtaining certain licenses. As they performed by specific individuals for persons who agree to moved through Nebraska, the fact that that state has a be ruled by them. Relationships are based on the unicameral legislature would be of little or no importance. performance of technical activities which are mutually For this reason, among others, labels such as monarchy beneficial. The lower levels of government (all the way to have been eliminated. Calling a government type the citizens themselves) support the upper levels of “monarchy” would conjure up images of a king and his government for as long as the general system provides a retinue, but still leaves a lot of information unrelated. Within living for all. Examples: Japan (in that companies tend to the Traveller system, such a government could be hire employees for life, and strong loyalties are formed), classified as a self-perpetuating oligarchy (hereditary and the United States (in that some populations have monarchy), representative democracy (constitutional strong party loyalty in return for local assistance by the monarchy), feudal technocracy (enlightened feudal party in the form of jobs and handouts). monarchy), captive government (puppet monarchy), civil 6. Captive Government. Ruling functions are performed service bureaucracy, or any of several others. The simple by an imposed leadership answerable to an outside group. - 2 - Imperiallines No. 7 Transmissions from the Empire A colony or conquered area. Examples: The military expect to encounter. Looking at the individual classification (especially military bases with dependents; they have little can provide a springboard to usable information for an or no say in local government). Manchukuo. France under adventure or a campaign. the Nazi occupation, or prisons and prison camps. By the very nature of the classification system, it is also 7. Balkanization. No central ruling authority exists; rival possible for the referee to create and add additional governments compete for control. Examples: The Balkans, government types for any specific campaign. Remember 1910 to 1920 (as a result of the power vacuum created by that the generation system is intended primarily as a prod the breakup of the Ottoman Empire). Iran during to imagination. For example, a referee may wish to define Meirislamie Revolution (as rival factions each claimed a specific type of government more fully, and to establish a power and authority and then attempted to consolidate specific factor or code for it. their holdings), and Earth. M. Military Rule. Although it is possible to envision a 8. Civil Service Bureaucracy. Ruling functions are military government within several of the existing codes, it performed by government agencies employing individuals is also possible to define one specifically – perhaps as the selected for their expertise. Examples: Imperial China result of a coup, or as the rule of a militaristic society (where selective tests determined the fitness of the similar to that of Sparta.

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