This is part of an ongoing campaign. You can find the other sessions over on the sidebar. This session was run on November 3, 2022. This session contains secret communications between me and the individual players. This means that these recaps do not cover everything that happened in the session. I will be reporting only the information that all players had access to.
This session recap will be fairly short since most of this session was taken up by character creation for the Mars 2040 portion of the campaign. This campaign will cover a lot of different eras in the Traveller Universe. The framing device for the campaign is the events that unfold in the Third Imperium starting in 1116. As you have probably already realized, the players take on the role of high-level nobles, sector dukes and archdukes, for this portion of the campaign. Those of you who have some experience with the Traveller Universe will recognize this particular era as the transition from Classic Traveller to MegaTraveller. Over the course of the campaign, I plan to hit many of the major eras of Traveller history, including several that have never been officially supported. We will be returning to the events of 1116 and later many times throughout the campaign.
In fact, the next section of the campaign takes place approximately 3500 years in the past in 2040 AD. It will center around the Terran humans’ early exploration of Mars. I will be using Zozer Games’ Outpost Mars (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/295056/Outpost-Mars-for-Cepheus-Engine). Parallel to this, the archdukes’ section of the game will continue. As most of the characters started months long interstellar journeys at the end of the last session, this will mostly take place via posts on our Discord and email. If there is any action, we will take part of the session to resolve it. When the Mars section of the campaign has ended, we will jump back to 1116 full time for a bit before jumping to another historical era.
These will not be blind jumps to the past. The stories told, decisions made, and secrets uncovered will effect or reveal information about the 1116 game.
133-1116
Before making characters for the Mars section, we needed to make sure we had a full understanding of what every character was doing in 1116.
Archduke Ishuggi, who publically declared his support for Duchess Margaret’s claim to the throne, is heading back to Vland. This trip will take him 15 jumps at Jump-4. He will lose another couple of weeks for refueling between jumps over the course of the journey and arrive some time around 250-1116. In contrast, the news of the assassination will reach the average person on Vland on 237-1116 using the Jump-4 X-boat network, which uses a relay system with no refueling time loss. The Jump-6 Naval communication system will get the news to government officials on Vland by 202-1116. The speed of information will be an important element of this portion of the campaign. Some characters may know things months before others.
Duchess Margaret chose to have her ship travel to Vland under Ishuggi’s protection. This means she is trading immediate security for long-term flexibility as this will put her assets in Delphi around 30 jumps away. Ishuggi does have far more fleets at his disposal as the ruler of a domain though.
Archduke Brzk started his journey back to his domain capital in Antares. He can expect to arrive there some time around 245-1116. He will arrive around two weeks after the average person has the news of the assassination, and 50 days after those with access to Naval messages know.
As the Speaker of the Moot, Archduke Tranian is staying on Capital. Archduke Adair, who calculated that the Domain of Sol was likely to be dangerous before he could get return, decided to stay on Capital as well.
Since the session, time has advanced to 140-1116. Ishuggi and Margaret are refueling at Morii. Brzk is refueling at Shudusham. Tranian and Adair have just been released from the lockdown that was initiated after the assassination.
The following Traveller News Services dispatches are available to all characters because they either received them before they left Capital, or they have reached their current location on the X-boat network. Tranian and Adair have access to later dispatches since they are present on Capital.
· Capital/Core 132-1116
o Emperor Strephon was assassinated this morning by Archduke Dulinor of Ilelish in the throne room of the Imperial Palace. In the ensuing firefight, the Empress Iolanthe, the Grand Princess Ciencia Iphegenia, and the Aslan ambassador were also killed.
o Reports indicated that there was a simultaneous attack on the Imperial Apartments. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Princes Varian and Lucan were killed as well.
o In the following minutes, Archduke Dulinor appeared before the cameras, claimed the crown of Emperor by right of assassination, and left.
o System Control Central reported tracking the Archduke’s cruiser leaving the system slightly more than an hour later.
o Fighting has been reported in the Grand Palace as the Imperial Marines attempt to regain control of the palace.
o Capital has been placed under martial law. Off-planet transportation has been suspended. Rioting is reported in several cities on the surface.
o Duchess Margaret issued a statement declaring herself empress. System Control Central tracked her ship leaving the system, accompanied by Archduke Ishuggi’s cruiser, moments after the statement was issued.
· Capital/Core 133-1116
o The Imperial Palace Public Affairs Office has issued a statement that Prince Lucan is still alive and that the Imperial Marines have regained control of the Imperial Palace.
o Independent reports indicate that fighting continues inside the Imperial Palace.
o Reports indicated that 32 members of the Moot were killed in the Throne Room yesterday when guards loyal to Archduke Dulinor opened fire on the crowd.
o The Moot Spire has been placed on lockdown for the safety of those inside.
Mars
The characters for the Mars section of the game are:
· Mildra Ryante: A somewhat shady scout who is very adept at surviving on the surface of Mars.
· Zaxxon: An electrician
· Unnamed: An archaeologist
· Unnamed: A computer technician and programmer with an interest in out-of-date computer technology.
· Unnamed: A scruffy geologist
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