Beastpower

Beastpower is a raw measure of force and energy, typically within an engine or power plant.

• It is a standard Imperial metric.
• The same metric is known as horsepower to many Solomani and Terran-originated cultures.

Description (Specifications)

Beastpower is a frequently used unit of measurement of force and energy. It is measurement of the rate at which work is done.

• 1 watt is broadly equal to 0.00133 beastpower
• 1 beastpower is equivalent to approximately 750 watts, or 0.00075 Megawatts.
• The standard abbreviation is bp.

One beastpower is sufficient force to move 4500 kilograms a distance of 1 newton meter per second per second.

The Energy Point, in use since the time of the Vilani Imperium and an invaluable tool for Naval Architecture, is a generalized metric similar to beastpower in its usage.

• 1 EP is equivalent to 33,333.3 beastpower.

Image Repository

1. A Terran horse, the foundation of beastpower.
   

Term Usage Example

A finely tuned TL–5 3-liter engine, burning refined hydrocarbon fuel, can produce hundreds of beastpower, propelling a light vehicle at speeds of hundreds of kph.

History & Background (Dossier)

On Terra, horsepower evolved as a defined concept around the year -2600 to quantify the amount of work that could be done by a horse, a large domesticated native beast, over a set period of time. Horses were widely used as the motive power for carts, carriages and other primitive vehicles, as well as acting as a power source within basic industrial processes.

During the period, Terra was undergoing a period of rapid technological advancement and the need for a standard metric defining the power produced by an animal proved necessary. Horsepower was originally used to compare the output of horses to mechanical chemical-fueled steam power plants, which were being developed on the world at the time. Technologists found horsepower useful as the concept of the Technology Level and standardized ideas about sophont society development began to take form. Though archaic, it continued to be used as a metric on Terra and later throughout Charted Space, particularly among those who utilized vehicles on a regular basis.

Horses are not ubiquitous throughout Charted Space - other species of beasts fill the same role on other worlds, and it is not uncommon to hear terms such as Ponipower or Drakarpower. Horsepower has been widely referred to as Beastpower certainly since the end of the Rule of Man, around -1776, though the two terms remained interchangeable throughout much of Imperial space. Beastpower was officially adopted as the standard terminology within the Imperium following the Solomani Rim War to avoid the use of specifically Terranocentric metrics .

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. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), 615.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science