Canopus Sector: Design Document
My goals for regenerating the Canopus data were to (1) reconcile the few canonical sources about the sector, and (2) produce “new” sector data in the T5SS format using the T5 system generation rules.
The old dataset was designed by Rupert Boleyn after a dot-map in Solomani and Aslan, from The Zhodani Base. As with other sectors, it seemed easier to start from scratch than to adapt the Rupert’s data to T5.
Background
Classic Traveller Alien Module 6 - Solomani names the sector. The map on the inside rear cover shows that circa -2204 the Terran Confederation borders encompassed much of subsector D, and at least two Terran settlements were located far outside the borders of the Terran Confederation. One was located in subsector G, while the other was located in subsector I.
The DGP supplement Alien - Solomani and Aslan provides a dotmap of the sector and two canonical world names: Pieri, mentioned as home of “Vanalen Travel” (5), and Sulawesi, which is given a brief writeup with UWP and location. (As usual, the location does not correspond to the dotmap.)
The dotmap shows four small interstellar polities beyond the rimward border of the Confederation: Oleaiy'fte controls 1 system in subsector M, both the Trita Brotherhood and the Jurisdiction of Nadon have 3 systems each in subsector N, and the Malorn Union has 4 systems in subsector P.
Only two subsectors have canonical names: Yanos, subsector B (shown on a map of Magyar/Blackjack in Traveller’s Digest 14, p 28) and Nanfeng (by inference based on Sulawesi’s location, subsector J).
A handful of published maps of Charted Space locate the real-world star Canopus in the sector. The T5 core rules, for example, shows Canopus located in subsector K or L in the map on page 394. The same map shows a cluster of stars labeled “Hyades” in subsector A. These details are problematic: the real Canopus, the second-brightest star in the Terran sky, is an F0 II/Ib star some 95 parsecs distant from Earth, but the map places it within the 50 parsec border of the Solomani sphere. Further, the real Canopus is located at 261.2° galactic longitude, which would place it trailing and rimward of Terra, rather than spinward and trailing—most likely in Drakken or Mikhail sectors. Similar, the Hyades are located in the same vicinity as the star Aldebaran and as such would be expected to be found directly rimward of Terra.
This situation is not without precedent: the real-world stars Alpha Crucis and Deneb are also highly unlikely to be found in the sectors that share their names, but are instead much farther off and in different directions. I have therefore assumed that the star labeled as Canopus on the map is unrelated to the real-world star. I have instead placed an F2 IV “Pseudocanopus” at hex 2928. I have named subsector A “the Hyades” and named several worlds there after the mythological daughters, and assumed the subsector’s name is based on the worlds and not on the real-life stars, several of which I had already placed in Aldebaran.
The sector Canopus is briefly mentioned in GURPS Traveller: Rim of Fire: “Conflict between the Solomani and the Aslan also dates from . . . [the Solomani Autonomous Region]. The original treaty between the Imperium and the Aslan Hierate had established a wide buffer zone running from Reaver’ s Deep rimward to the Canopus sector. Many Solomani states existed within this zone, but the Imperium had agreed to allow these states to reach their own accommodations with the Aslan” (58).
Fighting Ships of the Solomani Confederation mentions that, during the Rim War period, “The [Solomani] Canopus Sector Fleet [of the Rim War period] (also responsible for the defense of Solomani worlds in Ustral Quadrant Sector)” (5).
The Mongoose Traveller Solomani Alien module has the most information on Canopus, but even that is scant.
The Gamopedes of Canopus [a primitive indigenous race], while peaceful, failed to adapt to a high-technology lifestyle and stopped reproducing altogether (28).
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The Solomani Autonomous Region’s quasi-independent status created friction due to differing interpretations of its duties and privileges. In theory, the Solomani were not supposed to exercise their own foreign policy. In practice, the Imperium wanted to keep the peace on the Aslan border while the Solomani sought to provided military aid to their brethren outside the Imperium and in so doing expand the reach of the Solomani Movement. Imperial Naval forces in the region found themselves ordered not to intervene as Solomani colonial navy squadrons struck into Aslan space, only to be called into action to defend Imperial worlds against Aslan retaliatory raids. The situation was becoming untenable. In 835 empress Paula II ordered the Imperial Navy to pull back entirely from Dark Nebula, Canopus and Ustral sectors leaving defence there entirely to Solomani colonial fleets.
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In the sparsely populated rimward regions of Aldebaran, Canopus and Alpha Crucis the levels of Solomani voluntary military enlistment and service in the interstellar merchant marine [during the Rim War] were so high that they threatened to cause a labour shortage” (70).
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[The sector is a] lightly-settled frontier region to rimward of Magyar. Parts of Canopus were unexplored until the last century and some worlds are still largely terra incognita. Commercial interest in Magyar and Aldebaran was renewed in the last half-century. Land-hungry Aslan clans from Ustral sector have also attempted to colonise worlds in what is ostensibly Confederation territory. This has resulted in sporadic border conflicts between Confederation and Hierate vessels (120).
Process
All told, I went through the following steps:
[1] CT Supplement 10: The Solomani Rim notes that “Solomani naval bases include a scout base” (45), a point also mentioned in Rim of Fire (62). The CT Alien Module notes that “Worlds are generated in the same manner as in basic Traveller,” suggesting naval bases occur only at worlds with Starports A or B at the same frequency as the Imperium. The Mongoose alien module notes that “Solomani Confederation military bases exist on important or strategic worlds throughout the Solomani Confederation. There are no scout bases although some naval bases may be oriented toward exploration, survey or Xboat system operation” (116). The Mongoose Solomani Rim supplement notes that “in the Solomani Rim the Confederation Army’s main bases are co-located with those of navy bases” (31). A review of T5SS data shows that Solomani bases are consistently located in systems with class A or B starports and Naval and Army bases are almost always found together. (The only exceptions are in Ustral Quadrant, which has a handful of systems with only one or the other base.)