Bowman (world)

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Alien Moon 137-0.jpg
Bowman/District 268 (Spinward Marches 1132)
Classic Era (1116)
D000300-9
StarportD Poor: No Construction, Minor Repair, Unrefined fuel
Size0 Asteroid/Planetoid Belt
Atmosphere0 Vacuum
Hydrographics0 Desert World 0%
Population3 Low (8 thousand)
Government0 No Government structure
Law0 No Law
Tech Level9 Early Stellar (fusion)
See also UWP
System Details
Primary M0 V
Planetoid Belts 3
Gas Giants 1
style="width: 220px; height: 250px;"
Jump map from Travellermap.com [1]

Bowman is a ring of many small worldlets (planetoids AKA an "asteroid belt"), not capable of retaining an atmosphere or water, and is also a low-population vacuum environment with a population of less than 10,000 sophonts, warranting hazardous environment precautions.

Astrography & Planetology[edit]

Stellar Data[edit]

Bowman has a solitary primary star.

  • It is a red main sequence.
Bowman has a solitary primary star.
Primary
Solitary M Type.jpg Type Category Mass (Sol) Temperature (K) Luminosity
M0 V Main Sequence (Dwarf) 0.57 3770 - 3850 0.13982
Unit Diameter Safe Distance Habitable Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit
AU 0.0055 0.031 0.39 - 0.74 0.55 5.5
Orbit #  *  * 2 1 6
Remarks

System[edit]

Bowman Prime

The worlds of the system have been surveyed. They consist of:

Bowman Prime[edit]

The only actual planet in the system is the large gas giant Bowman Prime, whose moons are designated by Greek letters. Bowman Prime’s major satellites are Gamma, Epsilon and Zeta (all qualifying as secondary worlds). Its minor satellites are Alpha, Beta, Delta, Eta, and Theta (qualifying as secondary worlds) and the tiny planetoids Iota, Kappa, Lambda, and Mu.

  • Alpha is home to a small IISS base and also to Garrison Starport. It has a total population of around 3000 people.
  • Epsilon is the site of an archaeological expedition to record the remains of a 2,000 year old Darrian outpost.
  • Bowman Prime also has a spectacular ring system that is occasionally mined for ice.

There are three space stations in system. Prometheus and Epimetheus are situated in Alpha’s Trojan points and are owned and operated by Ling-Standard Products (LSP), a major mining corporation with fingers in a lot of pies. Bifrost is located near the outer edge of Bowman Prime’s ring system and is used as a base for mining the rings.

The leading and trailing Trojan points of Bowman Prime also contain asteroid clusters. The leading Trojan is known as Jarlsson’s Doom, while the trailing Trojan is owned and operated by LSP, which has a large base of approximately 2000 people on the asteroid, Tygalfsson. The Law Level on Tygalfsson is 4, unlike the rest of the system.

Mainworld Data[edit]

Bowman is an asteroid belt mainworld.

Asteroid Belt 01.jpg

The Bowman system is home to one of the most extensive planetoid belts ever discovered. The planetoid belt, known imaginatively as The Bowman Belt, occupies the equivalent of five planets’ worth of orbits in one contiguous belt. The Bowman Belt is home to an unknown number of Belter communities as well as other less salubrious types – pirates, renegade Sword Worlders and similar no-goodniks.

It lies across the inner system, the habitable zone, and extends into the outer system.

  • Different regions of the belt receive different levels of stellar energy.

Chart Orbit All Regions Belt Simple.png

Mainworld Size (S)[edit]

Bowman is an Asterioid Belt or Planetoid Belt consisting of a few very large objects with diameters of hundreds of kilometers, thousands of bodies of a few kilometers in diameter, and millions of smaller objects. Asteroid Belt is used when the belt is the mainworld of a system. Planetoid Belt refers to any non-mainworld belt within a system.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)[edit]

Bowman is an Asteroid Belt, where all the bodies are in vacuum conditions requiring the use of a Vacc Suit. TL–8 or more advanced survival gear is required to settle a belt.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)[edit]

The Bowman belt contains a few icy bodies. A few belt objects have frozen volatiles on their surfaces.

  • Wilderness refueling is possible within the belt, provided a suitable icy object can be found.
  • Water for the inhabitants is generally imported and is extensively recycled.

Mainworld Geography and Topography[edit]

No centrally held map of the belt exists within AAB Library Data records.

  • Locally, detailed maps may be available.

Blank World Map Asteroid Belt.png
(Placeholder chart, asteroid belt.)

History & Background (Dossier)[edit]

Comp-Prog-Dav-R-Deitrick-Starter-Trav-Page-16 16-July-2018a.jpg

A massive power failure on Bifrost in 1098 caused the collapse of antiradiation shielding, resulting in the deaths of nearly 200 people.

The system is administered by the Imperium as a client state, but LSP put in an application to take over administration in 1109. This application has not yet been resolved, largely because of the Fifth Frontier War. If LSP do take over then they will effectively control the system and the belters will have to sell all of their finds to LSP, probably at rock bottom prices. This assumes that LSP permits any independent operations in the system. It seems likely that there will be trouble if LSP does take over.

Repeated travails with Ling-Standard Products led to the formation of a government on Koenig's Rock in 1142. The new government is an effective participatory state, as the population take turns in the local virtual parliament according to a rotating assignment system. Because of the system's scattered settlements, most government is by long range video conferencing. Suffrage is dispensed by residential registration, which obligates an immigrant to staying at least two years in system in order to fully enjoy their rights.

Trivia[edit]

Red Ink Trading Company operates in the Bowman Belt.

World Starport (St)[edit]

Bowman 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.

World Population (P)[edit]

Bowman has a population of 8,000 sophonts (thousands).

  • This is a Low Population World and the population would be too low to sustain itself without a little outside assistance. This may represent the home base of a sizable but mostly transient population such as the base of a major starship expedition, the last generation of a dying colony, the first generation of a new colony, or a large outpost that will probably evolve into a colony if not stopped.

Urbanization[edit]

Koenig’s Rock is in the middle of the belt and is home to a settlement built into the centre of the asteroid. It has a permanent population of around 800, while the belt is thought to have around 3000 people in it in total. Koenig’s Rock is where most of the independent Belters go to sell their cargos and restock with supplies as well as to relax and chew the fat with their compatriots. The main offices of the various companies and the supporting infrastructure are based in the Rock, which has the atmosphere of a frontier or boomtown. Fist fights are frequent, as is drunkenness and debauchery. On the other hand, killings are rare because justice is informal and swift.

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World Technology Level (T)[edit]

Bowman possesses a Technology Level of TL–9.

  • Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Fiber optics and satellite communication and data networks.
  • Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Early fusion power.
  • Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
    • Land: Ultra high-speed trains and early grav vehicles.
    • Water: High efficiency sailcraft, multihulled seacraft, improved artificial gills.
    • Air: Tiltrotorcraft, exotic VTOL's, PARWIG, and rocket-assisted suborbitals.
    • Space: SSTO spacecraft, early military spacecraft (System Craft), and interstellar STL starships
    • FTL: Prototype Jump Drive-1.

World Government (G)[edit]

Bowman has no central government or substantial government apparatus; an Anarchy. The largest governmental structure would be a family, tribe, or single clan. The largest group will be between 50 and 100 individuals, and there may be dozens to hundreds of them. This governmental structure can be stable over long periods of time if the population remains small or geographically separated.

World Law (L)[edit]

Bowman has no law in practice. It is an Anarchy. On many worlds, this by itself justifies an Amber Zone advisory. There are few laws, covering only important areas. There may be few or no law enforcement officers, the expectation is citizens will bring law breakers to the attention of the Judicial system. Legal proceedings will be fast, with few people involved. For interactions outside of the framework of the laws, cultural norms dominate.

Trade Data[edit]

  • Importance: -2 (very unimportant)

World Economy[edit]

  • Resources: 9 (moderate)
  • Labor: 2 (hundreds)
  • Infrastructure: 0 (non-existent)
  • Efficiency: -5 (extremely poor)

World Culture[edit]

  • Heterogenity: 1 (monolithic)
  • Acceptance: 1 (extremely xenophobic)
  • Strangeness: 1 (very typical)
  • Symbols: 4 (concrete)

World Timeline[edit]

Major events that have affected this world and the wider region that it lies within:

References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]

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 Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
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