I really should know not to look too closely at the Traveller universe. But I can’t help myself…
The illustration
Anyway, this train of thought started with this picture.
I was looking through Trail of the Sky Raiders, looking for illustrations to use in my forthcoming review. (I’ve written the review, but it’s a bit spoilery, so I’m waiting until my players have worked their way through it before publishing it.)
I saw the illustration (on page 44) above, and thought, “Ahah, yes, trucks. Very TL 7.” Qarant (E558261–7), the planet upon which part of Trail is set, is TL 7, so at first, it made sense.
Then remembered that Qarant has fewer than 1000 inhabitants – its population code is 2. And most of those are archaeologists and their support teams. So it doesn’t have a significant manufacturing base – pretty much everything will be imported.
And then I thought about where it would be imported from.
Qarant
Qarant is an interesting world. The Traveller Map shows it as being within the Descarothe Hegemony borders, but technically, it’s shared between them and the League of Suns.
The League of Suns’ capital is TL 12 Alzenei, while the Descarothe Hegemony’s capital is Desaekhe (TL 9). Both are a single parsec away, and both are their empire’s highest tech level.
So if Qarant is importing anything from anywhere, it’s from Alzenei and Desaekhe. So that suggests that its TL should be 9/12.
However, with fewer than 1000 inhabitants, Qarant doesn’t manufacture anything – so perhaps its TL is 0? Or just “-“ or “not applicable”?
I’m not sure how TL is defined, anyway. According to the SRD, Technology Levels measure the scientific capacity of a world and the complexity and effectiveness of a piece of equipment. (And the Traveller Wiki thus: A world's tech level is the degree of technological expertise, and thus the capabilities of local industry.) But what about places like Qarant, that import everything?
Or to put my question another way, what is the tech level of the Isle of Man?
So realistically, everything is imported. So why would the Descarothe Hegemony import trucks when they can import air/rafts?
The Descarothe Hegemony mystery
And looking a little harder at the Descarothe Hegemony reveals that it is punching above its weight.
The hegemony’s highest TL is 9, which means they can construct jump-1 starships. Yet their “empire” looks like this:
So that’s really awkward. Without buying longer-range ships (which they can’t easily service and maintain), travelling around the Empire is slow.
Trade and Zhodani spies
Luckily, the Descarothe Hegemony doesn’t have to rely on its own shipyards, as Trail’s library data tells us that, Though not aligned with any other government, the Hegemony has followed a policy of aggression towards the League of Suns (an Imperial client), while acquiring equipment, ships, and technical support from the Dominion of Alntzar and other nearby Zhodani clients.
The Zhodani influence isn’t covered in any detail in Trail of the Sky Raiders. I suspect it would be a different adventure if it did.
Worshipping random numbers
But I can’t get over the logic of Traveller’s random results, and the insistence that those numbers are treated as gospel. The dice said Qarant’s TL is 7, so we’re going to give it trucks, ground cars, and the like, even though there’s no local infrastructure. No fuel refineries, steelworks, or factories to produce the thousands of parts that make up a typical trunk.
So it must all be imported. And if you’re going to import a truck, why not import something better?
(In a similar vein, in this old post, I examine the puzzle that is Rethe/Regina.)
