Milagro (world)

Milagro/District 268 (Spinward Marches 1632) Milieu 1116 E31178A-7 Starport E Frontier - no facilities Size 3 Small (4,800 km, 0.24g - 0.34g) Atmosphere 1 Vacuum (trace) Hydrographics 1 Dry World 10% Population 7 Moderate (90 million) Government 8 Civil Service Bureaucracy Law A Extreme Law (no weapons) Tech Level 7 Pre-Stellar (electronics)
See also	UWP
style="width: 220px; height: 250px;" Jump map from Travellermap.com
System Details
Primary	M2 V
Worlds	15
Gas Giants	0
Planetoid Belts	2
Cultural Details
Government	Civil service bureaucracy
Law Level	Extreme
Cultural Extension	9579
Army Size (BEs)	20
Economic Details
Technology Level	7
Economic Extension	966+1 Resources 9 Moderate Labor 6 Moderate (9 million) Infrastructure 6 Limited Efficiency +1 Average
Importance Extension	-2
Resource Units	324
GWP (BCr)	102
World Trade Number	3
Trade Volume (MCr/year)	0
Starport Details
Classification	Class-E
Port Size	0
Building Capacity (Tons)	99,000
Port employees	0
Port passengers (annual)	0

Milagro has a trace atmosphere and the little amount of surface water is in a frozen state. The system supports a population in between 10 million and one billion sophonts. It is a Human dominated Non-Aligned world in the District 268 Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector.

Astrography & Planetology

Milagro is a member of the Spinward Main.

Milagro is a decidedly unpleasant planet that seems undeserving of its name -- which translates as “Miracle” in an ancient Solomani language and likely hearkens back to an unrecorded incident of survival against the odds during the earliest exploration of the system. The planet has low gravity (0.26G), only a trace atmosphere, and very little water -- all of it in solid form thanks to the average surface temperature of -25°C.

Monostellar System

Milagro Monostellar System

Star Name	Hierarchy	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temp (K)	Luminosity (Sol)
Milagro Primary M2 V	Primary	Main Sequence		0.44	3470 - 3560	0.0565
	Unit	Diameter	Min Distance	Hab Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0021	0.0197	0.25 - 0.48	0.21	2.1
	Orbit #	*	*	1	0	4

History & Background (Dossier)

In the mid-700s, the ruling dictatorship on Forine (Spinward Marches 1533) established a penal colony on Milagro, and used the planet exclusively to house criminals and political prisoners for over two centuries. However, in 990, the Forinean government's plans to alleviate overcrowding by relocating its excess population to Elixabeth (Spinward Marches 1532) were frustrated by resistance from the existing colonists and intervention by the Imperium -- which forced Forine to grant both Elixabeth and Talchek (Spinward Marches 1631) a large degree of autonomy. Therefore in 992, Forine instead began dumping settlers on Milagro. Because the planet’s environment was known to be so uncongenial, the ‘colonists’ had to be herded aboard their ‘resettlement ships’ at gunpoint.

Nearly a fifth of all those dumped on Milagro died within a few years due to starvation, life support failure, and the diseases that ran rampant in the grotesquely overcrowded domed and underground cities that provide the only shelter against the planet’s inhospitable environment. Nevertheless, Milagro’s population grew steadily as millions of unwilling colonists continued to arrive. Despite brutally repressive rule by a Forinean military governor -- and an absolute ban on private weapons ownership -- uprisings were frequent and food riots an almost daily occurrence.

By the late 1070s, Milagro had become virtually ungovernable with the limited financial and manpower resources that Forine was willing to expend on it. Moreover, the much-publicized suffering of its populace made Milagro a public relations disaster and a permanent source of friction with the Imperium. Accordingly, in 1079, Forine abandoned Milagro and caustically proclaimed that if the Imperium was so concerned about the colonists’ welfare, it should take care of them itself. The sudden termination of food shipments and all government and law enforcement functions predictably led to utter chaos and massive loss of life on Milagro (estimated at 4.3 million fatalities).

The Imperial authorities moved quickly to provide emergency relief and restore a semblance of order. A new planetary government was established (propped up with Imperial funding and advisers) on the model of a civil service bureaucracy whose members are chosen by competitive examination. The repressive practices of Forinean martial law have been done away with, but law enforcement remains strict and pervasive because any relaxation risks another descent into anarchy. The new regime has no popular mandate per se, but most Milagrans recognize that representative government is impractical under existing circumstances and are more concerned about maintaining order than individual rights (they had none whatsoever during three centuries of Forinean rule). The Imperium has announced that it will oversee free and fair elections when Milagro is ready, but that could take several decades.

Milagro’s population of 90 Million is clearly unsustainable at its present Tech Level 7, and could not survive without regular infusions of bulk foods supplied by the Imperial government. Much of the population subsists on highly unappetizing artificial foods produced by Imperial-supplied technology that recycles organic waste and synthesizes CHONP (Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen-Nitrogen-Phosphorous) elements ‘mined’ on-planet and from carbonaceous asteroids. In the early decades of Imperial intervention, mass emigration was seen as the long-term solution for Milagro’s overpopulation. However, the size of the project was daunting, and Milagro’s reputation as a chaotic dumping ground for undesirables made it hard to find suitable systems that were willing to absorb any significant number of expatriates. Indeed, it is widely believed that the Imperial authorities have delayed repairing the starport (reduced to E-class by damage and lack of maintenance) in order to prevent an uncontrolled mass exodus.

Raising Milagro’s tech level is now seen as the ultimate solution to the planet’s problems, but local and Imperial authorities are both determined to proceed cautiously and avoid the social disruption that overly-rapid introduction of advanced technologies often causes. Therefore, as a first step, the educational system is being dramatically enlarged and enhanced in order to produce a new generation of Milagrans who will be capable of building and operating advanced technologies. Once that has been done, the pace will accelerate as the project advances toward its final objective of achieving TL–9 by 1130. The Imperial authorities are enforcing regulations that prohibit technology imports in excess of TL–7 until Milagro is judged to have achieved TL–8, and in excess of TL–8 until Milagro reaches TL–9 -- at which point all restrictions will be lifted. Needless to say, exceptions are made for technologies which are essential for meeting basic social needs such as food and health care.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 18-19.
• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches Campaign (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), 18-19.
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 94-100. (UWP only)
• Rob Caswell. "Domain of Deneb: Sector Data." MegaTraveller Journal 3 (1992): 47-58. (UWP only)
• Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 48-49. (UWP only)
• Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 78.
• Mike West. The Spinward States (Avenger Enterprises, 2008), 110. (UWP only)
• Martin Dougherty. The Spinward Marches (Mongoose Publishing, 2008), .
• Martin Dougherty. Behind the Claw (Mongoose Publishing, 2019), 123-127. (UWP only)
• Contributor: Vendarth