Armory Cluster/secret
The Astron Project is a secretive expedition planned by the Sword Worlds.
- Its intention is to colonize the Armory Cluster within Astron Sector.
Description[edit]
Note that the events detailed occur after 1110.
Summary: 1116[edit]
Following the disastrous Fifth Frontier War, many in the Sword Worlds feel that their "Grand Experiment", a millennia and a half of settlement and growth in the Spinward Marches, has failed.
The Astron Project is a proposed private effort to restart the Sword Worlds far to spinward, in order to save their way of life. The target region of space is the rimward part of Astron Sector, lying approximately seventeen subsectors (around four sectors) from the Sword Worlds and far from major powers such as the Imperium, the Zhodani, or the Aslan.
The chosen region within Astron Sector is known as the Armory Cluster and contains four barren worlds with reasonably terrestrial conditions.
- The location was chosen based on data from the Imperial Second Survey of 1065, which may not be entirely accurate.
Image Repository[edit]
A basic map showing the proposed route of the Astron Project.
(Chart sourced from Traveller Map).
History[edit]
Planning and Preparation: 1116[edit]
Although it is still in the early stages of development, the planners have tried to make the project more real by giving the worlds names -- Sanglamore, Sauvagine, Chrysaor, and Huiting. The intention is to initially colonize one world and, once that is firmly established, use it as a base to begin settlement of the other three. The world that is to be settled first will be chosen once the would-be colonists arrive.
Rather controversially, the project intends to use state of the art Imperial technology and ships rather than the more basic indigenous Swords Worlds tech. They also have no intention of cutting themselves off from the Sword Worlds: they plan to have an open "migration corridor" between the new colonies and their former home.
By the end of 1110, nearly 10,000 people have signed on to the project.
When the expedition launches, the journey is expected to take approximately a year to travel between the Spinward Marches and Astron Sector.
The project's backers and financiers remain elusive and shadowy. Some may be extremists with a dark agenda, or may see the the Armory Cluster as a useful bolthole or redoubt.
Political opposition from other Sword Worlds interests, largely due to the drain on much needed resources and the depletion of skilled personnel, may quash the project before it gets off the ground.
References[edit]
- Detailed in GURPS Traveller: Sword Worlds (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), "100 Parsecs" campaign, pages 75, 136-142.
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS