Main

A Main is a grouping of systems, forming a chain of worlds, all reachable by a Jump-1 capable starship.

• Please see Rift for a related article.
• Please see Astrography and Charted Space for related information.

Description (Specifications)

This grouping provides a sort of “corridor” allowing jump-1 capable ships to travel to any world along the chain without ever exceeding jump-1.

• Usually a Main encompasses 50 or more systems.
• For ease of reference the main may be broken into arms, or branches.
• Smaller groups of systems, between 5 and 50, all reachable by jump-1 are referred to as a trace or cluster.

Fundamental Astrographic Features

Type	# Systems	Definition	Remarks
Main	51+	A very large grouping of systems	None
Trace or Cluster	5 to 50	Smaller groupings of systems	None

Cluster vs Trace Definitions

There are many ways to define various collections of stars and their associated jump routes, which include:

1. Astronomical Designation: (clusters and traces based upon star formation upon creation and growth of the galaxy and often differentiated by star quantity within the Astrographic Feature)
2. Economic Designation: (trades routes based upon interstellar economic trade activity and often named by colors such as red, green, etc.)
3. FTL Range Designation: (jump routes such as J-1, J-4, etc.)

Obviously there is overlap between the various definitions. And while similarities exist, so do differences. The original mains were named after continuous chains of stars within one parsec of each other traversable by the early J-1 jump engines. Modern jump routes and jump bridges may be as far as six parsecs apart, allowing some merchant craft with greater ranges to use these longer trade routes. Modern trade routes or jump routes in 1115 TI designate these routes with a jump distance indicator of J-1 to J-6 indicating the farthest jumps on the route in parsecs.

History & Background (Dossier)

Many such groupings of worlds exist in the Charted Space.

Mains of Charted Space

Key

• Yellow Dots: Star systems on long (51 or more stars) mains.
• Blue Dots: Star systems on short (11 - 50 stars) mains.
• Green Dots: Star systems not on any main (0 - 10 stars).
• Red Lines: borders. Political borders.
• Bright Blue Grid: sector borders. Organizational borders.
• Dim Blue Grid: subsector borders. Organizational borders.

References and contributors

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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. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 31.
• Jae Campbell. Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag (Signal-GK, 2017), 233.
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science