Singer (world)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| See also | UWP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
style="width: 220px; height: 250px;"
Jump map from Travellermap.com [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary | M2 V M2 V | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Worlds | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gas Giants | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Planetoid Belts | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cultural Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Balkanization | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Law Level | Moderate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cultural Extension | 5534 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Army Size (BEs) | 300 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Economic Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology Level | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Economic Extension | 965-4
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Importance Extension | -2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resource Units | 162 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GWP (BCr) | 64 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Trade Number | 3.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trade Volume (MCr/year) | 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Starport Details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Class-D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Port Size | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Building Capacity (Tons) | 90,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Port employees | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Port passengers (annual) | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Singer has a scarcity of water and a relatively sparse atmosphere. The system has a population in the 10s of millions of sophonts. It is a Human dominated Non-Aligned world in the District 268 Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector.
Astrography & Planetology
Singer is a poor planet with low gravity (0.6 G), little surface water and a thin atmosphere. The only native flora are stubble grasses, scrub brush, and low, stunted trees, and due to the paucity of water and fodder, the native life forms also tend to be small (none masses over 30 kilograms).
Binary Solar System
Singer Binary Star System Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol) Singer 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 Star Name Hierarchy Category Mass (Sol) Temp (K) Luminosity (Sol) Singer M2 V
Secondary 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)
Singer is considered poorly suited for habitation, and was settled only because in 562 a colony ship suffered a misjump and was unable to leave the system. The colonists nonetheless succeeded in establishing a series of thriving settlements scattered along the shores of Singer’s only ocean - the freshwater ‘Sickle Sea’ that sweeps from north to south across two-thirds of the planet. Only there, and in a few clusters of lakes to the west, was there enough water to support agriculture - and an alternative source of food in the form of abundant marine life.
The colony continued to prosper for nearly five hundred years until rapid population growth outstripped the ‘carrying capacity’ of Singer’s environment and industrial pollution had ruined much of its precious water resources. Efforts to develop sustainable dry-field agricultural techniques proved unavailing since plowing up or grazing livestock on Singer’s arid steppes merely destroyed the grass cover that held the topsoil in place, causing catastrophic wind erosion and desertification. As sea life declined, and growing crops and raising livestock - never easy - became even more difficult, the planetary food supply could no longer keep the entire population adequately fed.
Over the centuries, Singer had developed a balkanized planetary political system with over a dozen nations centered upon the bays and peninsulas of the Sickle Sea and the various lakes. This diverse set of nations proved incapable of agreeing on the necessity and means of halting the planet’s runaway environmental degradation. Thus, instead of abandoning the ruinous practice of dry-field farming and ranching, most countries, desperate to feed their growing populations, kept expanding them into new regions, and thereby accelerated the pace of destruction.
The environmental catastrophe sparked wars as nations battled for control of water, fisheries, and dry-field agricultural land on the frontier. In 1102, a conflict between the great powers of Crella and Malmi Kolma ignited a world war that has sucked in over a half-dozen other nations. Malmi Kolma leads a coalition that includes Agreel, Firmas, Gormlai and Karnak, while Crella formed alliances with Erun and Nejd, and conquered Harzeg and installed a puppet government in that nation. At the time of this writing, the war has cost nearly 2 million lives and shows no sign of ending soon. Much depends upon the behavior of T’neel, the only major power not yet involved in the fighting. If T’neel joins the war, its intervention will almost certainly tip the balance of power decisively in favor of whichever side it joins. For the moment, it seems to be more favorably disposed toward Crella.
World Starport
Singer has a Class D Starport, a poor quality installation which has few of the expected amenities. There is unrefined fuel for starships and a limited variety of ship provisions. There is no shipyard of any kind, but there may be parts and technical support for doing minor services and repair. Ports of this classification generally consist of only a downport, unless this is a trade port or system with an hostile environment mainworld.
Fird Starport
This is the only designated starport on Singer, built as a C-class facility in 979 by offworld investors, but currently operated by the government of Crella. Fird Starport is now rated as a D-class facility due to damage caused by frequent air raids and several naval bombardments. It sees little traffic, and those ships that do visit usually carry weapons, food and water in and wealthy refugees out. E-class landing sites may be found in all dozen nations on the planet, but Crella considers any attempt to land anywhere but Fird Starport as a hostile act. For the moment, it can do little to prevent landings elsewhere, but both it and Malmi Kolma are rumored to be planning to hire corsairs and/or mercenary spacecraft to interdict shipments to the other side.
World Government
Singer has a Balkanized Government. There is no central world government. The world has several governments competing for control of the world. These may be allies, cooperating, competitors, or at war with each other.
By 1117 the IISS issues an Amber Zone rating for Singer due to the increasing tensions on the world.
World Law Level
Governments and Law Levels: The governmental types and law levels in each of Singer’s nations are listed below. Many actually enforce substantially lower law levels under normal circumstances, but have imposed martial law for the duration of the current war (including several non-belligerent nations).
- Agreel -- Civil Service Bureaucracy (6)
- Crella -- Civil Service Bureaucracy (C)
- Erun -- Charismatic Oligarchy (A)
- Firmas -- Civil Service Bureaucracy (8)
- Gormlai -- Charismatic Dictator (9)
- Harzeg -- Captive Government (B)
- Izular -- Representative Democracy (4)
- Karnak -- Feudal Technocracy (6)
- Nejd -- Civil Service Bureaucracy (D)
- N’Pir -- Non-Charismatic Dictator (A)
- Malmi Kolma -- Charismatic Dictator (F)
- T’neel -- Feudal Technocracy (3)
World Military
Military:
| Battalions | Country |
|---|---|
| 25 | Agreel |
| 41 | Crella |
| 30 | Erun |
| 20 | Firmas |
| 10 | Gormlai |
| 21 | Harzeg |
| 25 | Izular |
| 21 | Karnak |
| 25 | Nejd |
| 20 | N’Pir |
| 42 | Malmi Kolma |
| 30 | T’neel |
The distribution of combat battalions among Singer’s dozen nations is depicted below. These are mostly leg infantry units, but armored and motorized formations are also common (especially in the larger nations). Personnel, training, and equipment vary considerably between different nations and even between units of the same type within the armed forces of the same nation. Readers should also be aware that these figures may not accurately depict the current situation on Singer, since they do not reflect units lost and/or raised within the past year. Moreover, Aslan mercenaries are being employed by both sides in the conflict, although their numbers are unknown.
The force-to-space ratio on Singer is very low, since even the largest nations field no more than three combat divisions. This makes it extremely difficult for any of the major powers to be defeated outright because controlling the conquered population would require the invader to commit its entire military to occupation duty! However, the ‘front lines’ are actually much shorter than one might suppose, because the scarcity of water makes large-scale ground operations virtually impossible in many areas. Ground fighting accordingly focuses on relatively narrow battlefronts where the belligerents vie for control of coastal regions, and inland water sources and agricultural lands. Vast stretches of ‘front line’ are ignored by both sides apart from routine patrols and occasional hit-and-run raids. Unfortunately, this means that combat is at its heaviest and most prolonged in the very regions where much of the planet’s food is normally grown.
The ground fighting has been characterized by lengthy sieges of key settlements along major transport routes running through arid border regions, combined with broad flanking movements along trails laboriously hacked through the ubiquitous surrounding thickets of dense, thorny scrub brush. On several occasions, major combat formations have been forced to surrender for lack of water after being cut off from their lines of supply. Neither side currently appears to be pursuing any coherent strategy other than wearing the other down through gradual attrition of its armed forces and starvation of its population. With the notable exception of one Crellan commander, General Lixa Coilean, the tactics employed by both sides have generally been crude and uninspired.
Most nations also possess combat air forces, though due to Singer’s low Tech Level, indigenous aerospace industries are only capable of producing propeller-driven and jet-propelled aircraft. Since the planet’s thin atmosphere significantly degrades both lift and the efficiency of these primitive propulsion systems (and is only partially compensated for by the low gravity), speed and payload performance are unimpressive. All the major powers are accordingly importing grav-propelled vehicles from Kuai Qing (Spinward Marches 1040) and other higher-tech worlds. Thus far, aerial operations have not greatly impacted the course of the war.
Most nations have wet naval forces, but heavy combat vessels are rare. Many were either destroyed or damaged in the early stages of the war, and those that remain are being carefully husbanded by the nations that possess them. Apart from some small-scale amphibious and coastal bombardment operations, all parties have switched to using submarines and small torpedo/missile boats to attack enemy fishing and merchant vessels as part of a deliberate strategy of starvation. Due to this strategy and the disruption of agricultural production by ground fighting, the entire planetary population (even in neutral nations) is on short rations and staring into the abyss of utter famine.
No nation on Singer possesses any Space or even Close Orbit defense capability of any kind. However, there are rumors that both sides in the world war are considering the hire of mercenary spacecraft.
Travel Advisory
Due to the ongoing world war, the IISS has designated Singer as an Amber Zone. In many nations, offworlders carrying advanced weapons, and large quantities of cash or other valuables risk having these confiscated to support the war effort. Travelers are also advised that most bodies of water are heavily polluted.
References & Contributors (Sources)
- 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), 73.
- 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
- ↑ "Jump Map API" and map location from Travellermap.com