Ursa Major

TRAVELLER

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Ursa Major
TRAVELLER

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URSA MAJOR

Ursa Major is copyright 2011 Paul Elliott, and cannot be republished or

distributed without my consent. The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far
Future Enterprises, Copyright 1977 - 2010 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a
registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and
fan creations for Traveller, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future
Enterprises is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days
notice. This document is for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far
Future Enterprises's copyrighted material or trademarks should not be viewed as
a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.

Copyright © 2011 by Paul Elliott (zozer@talktalk.net)

These add on rules require the following books: Traveller Book 1, 2, 3, 4 and
Supplement 4.

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 Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

MIZAR SUBSECTOR

LIFE IN MIZAR SUBSECTOR

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Introduction
There is a far-flung corner of human-space where men look out toward
uninhabited star systems. This is the edge of civilized space, the Mirfak
subsector. Trapped here by circumstance two hundred years ago, humans have
come together through war and struggle to create the Ursa Major Confederation.
This confident interstellar government has allowed humans to thrive and prosper
in this corner of space. Alien races have been encountered and fought, and today
there are no great battles on the horizon, but recent history has shown that
threats to humans here can come at any time, from any direction and in any form!
So while the worlds of the UMC, both large and small, go about their business,
creating wealth and building a better, stronger interstellar economy, the military
prepare for some future war. Conflict may erupt from an old enemy, or even from
disgruntled humans within the subsector.

A B

C D

A Thule
B Borderland
C Mirfak
D Void

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Mizar Subsector
Name Location UPP Bases Codes GG
Varna 0101 E7A7231-6 Ni G
Argenticorum 0102 A368888-C Ri G
Alkaid 0106 B000630-D N,S Ast A
Ubar 0107 D250684-6 Ni,P G
Gulyangu 0201 C644556-9 S Ni,Agr G
Delphi 0207 C953513-7 Ni,P G
Mizar 0208 E000341-9 Ast G
Alioth 0301 A210845-C Ni, Capital G
Gansu 0302 E624386-4 Ni
Persepolis 0303 A237887-9 N
Quandry 0401 B6657CA-6 N Agr G
Antioch 0403 A884769-C N R G
Shan 0409 C541337-7 Ni,P G
Colchis 0501 B666420-A Ni G
Proteus 0503 D346300-8 Ni G
Gateway 0505 X772000-0 RG
Junction 0506 C56A789-9 S
Kaffa 0507 C200213-B S Ni,Vac G
Phaad 0510 C100450-A Ni,Vac G
Exile 0601 C846675-3 Agr,Ni G
Cinnabar 0607 C463341-9 Ni G
Mesa Lejano 0608 C632456-B Ni,P G
Ixion 0609 B64188A-7 Ind G
Achaea 0706 C78A338-A Ni G
Zama 0708 A663864-B R G
Merak 0710 C200574-B Ni,Vac G
Bagradas 0801 B851510-7 N Ni, P G
Grendel 0804 CAA3533-A S Ni G
Noctis 0805 C658246-4 S Ni G
Talku 0806 D977524-6 S Ni, Agr
Carthage 0809 C68A478-9 S Ni G

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Life in Mizar Subsector
There are 31 worlds within the Mizar Subsector, 27 within the Ursa Major
Confederation and 4 outside of it. There are three rich worlds, four agricultural
worlds and one industrial world within the Confederation. Trade is brisk and well-
maintained though two dangers exist for traders: Yuggoth raiders and human
pirates.

The highest tech level within the UMC is 12 (on three worlds), but three worlds
have tech levels as low as 3 or 4. The highest tech level in the subsector is 13 at
Alkaid, an independent asteroid belt prospering outside of the Confederation. The
yuggoth aliens operate at TL 15, whilst the gaugamelan aliens operate at TL 11.
The subsector is approximately 80 light years away from Earth.

Ursa Major Confederation (UMC)

The Confederation is a human interstellar state of 27
worlds occupying a single subsector of interstellar
space. Humans arrived in the subsector two centuries
ago through an alien hypergate. A dozen hypergates
were discovered through our spiral arm all able to
connect with one found at the moon called Iapetus in
the Solar system. The Terran Colonial Authority began
exploiting the worlds of the subsector, until revolution
sparked a brief war and the hypergate was destroyed,
trapping humans in the Mizar subsector forever.

Faced with terrible alien incursions, the Terran Colonial

Authority and its rival, the upstart Zama Federation,
merged fifty years ago to form the present day Ursa
Major Confederation. The UMC has successfully
defended itself against the alien attacks. There will, no doubt, be more incursions
and new alien foes to encounter. The UMC is prepared to defend itself.

Other enemies are at work within the UMC. The Splinter War created deep-
seated disaffection which still exists, some rebel groups want nothing to do with
the Terran colonial administration, even in its new form, the UMC. Such groups
hope to reform the Zama Federation, which was originally an alliance of colonial
worlds that had broken free of TCA exploitation and domination.

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There are three main religions within the Mizar subsector: the Godstar Union, the
Church of the Heavenly Stigmata and the cult of Mithras. The first is an off-shoot
of shintoism and followers believe that all stars are sentient beings; the Church of
the Heavenly Stigmata has been called 'Christianity updated for the jump drive
generation', positing that Christ's wandering in the 'desert' brought him to the
tough uncompromising worlds of the Ursa Major subsector. Finally, Mithraism is a
traveller's religion, both a code of ethics and a brotherhood of soldiers and
traders. It offers its believers an afterlife if they remain steadfast, courageous and
loyal to one another.

Yuggoth
These aliens entered human space as if from nowhere, without the use of the
jump drive. Captured ships revealed that they operated with some kind of
antimatter powerplant, as well as a type of FTL drive much akin to the smashed
and barely understood hypergate that brought humans to the Mirfak subsector
200 years ago. Ergo: the Yuggoth ships use some kind of portable hypergate, a
hyperdrive.

When ships have been captured and

inspected, onboard aliens have
always resembled blobs of goo,
disintegrated at the point of death, so
that humans do not know what they
look like. They certainly aren't
humanoid from typical corridor sizes
and the types of floor-hollow control
beds that are dotted around their
spacecraft. Colonies attacked by the
Yuggoth are often littered with
headless human corpses.

There is some evidence that these aliens can land on planets from space without
ships, indeed that the aliens can survive unprotected in space. There is also
evidence they have some kind of light emitting cells allowing them to look like
humans, but touch with give them away. Once killed or badly wounded, they turn
to mush resulting in no alien body to be examined.

What do they want? It could be that the Yuggoth mine exotic and barely
understood or detectable minerals or particles - perhaps the totally theoretical
hypermatter. Infiltration of human colonies by Yuggoth agents occurs as well as
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the alien excavation of very ancient artefacts considered curiosities by human
archaeologists. On some occassions the extermination of vulnerable colonies or
ships have taken place. Sometimes aliens are encountered in a human system,
and if the humans pose no real threat the aliens continue about their business...
Currently there is a 'cold war' between the Yuggoth and the UMC. The location of
the Yuggoth homeworld, in fact the location of any populated Yuggoth worlds, are
not known. Yuggoth agents still try to infiltrate human societies on occasion, and
Yuggoth ships can sometimes be detected, mining or carrying out unexplained
manoeuvres. The UMC military forces drive out or destroy such ships with rigour
if found.

These red bat-winged creatures somewhat resemble lobsters in that they have
many legs, feelers, and eyestalks, and forearms that end in great pincers.
Though they appear to be crustaceans, they are actually fungus creatures.

Yuggoth are about 6' long and 8' tall. They cannot speak, but communicate by
clicking their pincers. Creatures of superior intelligence from beyond the borders
of our galaxy who mine certain areas on prime worlds for minerals not available
on their home planet. The Yuggoth are pinkish in color, with crustaceous bodies
bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membranous wings and several sets of
articulate limbs. The Yuggoth have a sort of convoluted ellipsoid where its head
should be, covered with a multitude of very short antennae.

The Yuggoth genus is unique in its ability to traverse the heatless and airless
interstellar void in its corporeal form, though some of its variants do require
mechanical or curious surgical transpositions to do so. The Inzeladunian variety
have organic wings which allow them free flight in space, though flight in our
atmosphere is rather clumsy. Telepathy is their main means of communications.
With surgical alterations of the vocal chords the Yuggoth are able to speak
human languages, though their voice is buzzy and irritating. The Yuggoth are
advanced in the sphere of surgery and can successfully remove the brain of other
species into silver cylinders for transportation to other worlds through space. The
Yuggoth are physical beings and therefore killable, bleeding a strange, green
ichor as blood.

Gaugamelans
Emerging en masse into the Mirfak
subsector on board huge sleeper
ships, the gaugamelans took
humanity by surprise. They were
refugees from their home system,
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survivors of a planetary catastrophe, and once in Mirfak subsector, they awoke to
begin a war for the resources the humans were jealously guarding. The UMC
beat back the gaugamelans; despite the warrior tenacity of the aliens, their
technology lagged significantly behind that of the humans.

Survivors of the Gaugamelan Incursion have settled on worlds within and without
the UMC. Some have formed mercenary companies that fight for nations,
corporations and worlds within the law, others have formed an underclass of
disreputable hustlers, traders and conmen. The gaugamelans are mistrusted by
many humans.

A gaugamelan is a 6' humanoid, with a brown-hued, leathery skin and an almost

Neanderthal-looking face. It is hairless, has long pointed ears and a heavily
muscled body.

Alkaid Republic
The Alkaid Republic is a single-system state dominating
worlds outside the UMC. Its five million citizens inhabit a
bustling asteroid belt and live within fabulous O'Neill
cylinders and hollowed asteroids. The technology level of
Alkaid is 13, higher than the UMC high (12). The Alkaid
Belt, was a major centre for resource extraction in the days
of the ruthless TCA. High tech manufacturing was also
based here, and while the TCA fought its wars against the
breakaway Zama Federation, the Alkaid Republic was
formed, not only an independent power, but one that
retained significant levels of high technology which it
jealously guarded and continues to develop.

In the past two years, when it was discovered that the Alkaid Belt was been used
as a refuge by Zama freedom fighters, the UMC jumped in to interdict the system.
UMC naval and scout bases have been established to control access into and out
of the belt, but such a strategy is doomed to failure. A military governor acts as
liaison and ambassador to the Alkaid Republic, though many secretly believe the
republic has been supporting the Zaman terrorists. Overawed by the UMC
military that suddenly took up occupation in the system, the hereditary
magistrates of the republic must tolerate its presence. The republic is helping the
UMC with its interdiction and search.

END

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