Campaign:SBRD/Library/Coventry (world)

Coventry (RD 3207)/Gulf_Subsector/Reavers'_Deep_Sector

(Note: This article is about the SBRD campaign setting in the year 3731 AD, during the Long Night.)

Coventry (RD 3207) D686720-8 Ag - - 530 9 In F3 V Warm
Size: 9600 km (6), Atmo: Dense, Hydro: 60%, Climate: Warm
Pop: 50 M, Participating Democracy, LL: 0, TL: 8
Star(s): F3 V, 9 Worlds, 3 Belts, 0 GGs, Orbit 4
Independent, No Base

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A quiet backwater world, Coventry has stayed apart from interstellar society for three reasons: 1) the Coventry population's distrust of outsiders, 2) the almost superstitious dread of Coventry implanted in the other cultures of the region during the centuries that the Grand Republic of Warinir operated a horrific penal colony here, and 3) astrographic isolation. Only recently, within the past century, has regular trade resumed, with merchant lines from both Warinir and Woomera competing for markets in Gulf Subsector, including even Coventry.

GM Notes about this place

Conditions/Environment

Note: for Size 6 world to have Dense atmo, the average density of the planet must be higher than Earth average, so planetary mass is probably close to Earth's, and gravity maybe a bit higher due to the reduced radius.

History

This world was colonized by Terran Confederation military forces in 2260 as preparation for an offensive against Warinir, then transferred to civilian government in 2320 during the Rule of Man. Military charts had referred to the world as Base RD:3207, but the new civilian government wanted a more pleasant name for their world and called it Seabreeze, in reference to the position of many of its settlements along the coasts. The world of Seabreeze was a quiet backwater world off of the main trade lanes due to its location, but was a peaceful home for its small but growing population. Even the collapse of the Rule of Man and the beginning of Twilight in 2742 had little impact on Seabreeze, except that as interstellar trade decreased in general, fewer and fewer ships came.

That all changed in 2755 when military forces from the Grand Republic of Warinir came to declare Seabreeze a colonial province of the Grand Republic. The Second Twilight War had just begun, the Wariniri were consolidating their spinward borders, and perhaps some of the more historically-educated Marshals of the Grand Republic remembered the Terran assault launched against Warinir from this world almost 500 years earlier.

The new military government was a constant irritation to some, but for most residents of Seabreeze life continued unchanged until 2898, when the Central Council of the Grand Republic decided to make the world into an exile/penal colony and began dumping its hardest criminals, political dissidents, and prisoners of war there. That was when Seabreeze was renamed Coventry. The name was of Terran rather than Vilani origin, but the Wariniri used it to spite their enemies in the Imperial Realm of Daibei who still respected the Terran-dominated Rule of Man. Life on Coventry became hard, as long-time residents had to adapt to the presence of criminals and rebels in their midst.

Things only got worse over the years as the government of the Grand Republic underwent changes, becoming more militaristic and totalitarian as its struggle with the Imperial Realm continued through the 65-year-long Fifth Twilight War. Certain government officials decided that something was needed to really put fear and even terror into the hearts of their domestic enemies, and created the innocuous-sounding Department of Domestic Education, which operated in concert with the secret police of the Department of Public Welfare to not only take dissidents and rebels off to Coventry, but to subject them to horrendous tortures and experimentation at fortified prisons on the exile world. While publicly denying the existence of such places, the Wariniri made sure to allow rumors to spread, to crush the spirits of any who opposed their regime. These plans worked; the very name of Coventry was enough to inspire fear, and threats of being sent there were extremely effective in breaking down prisoners.

Then in 3198, after 300 years of being used as a place to terrorize enemies of the Grand Republic, the long nightmare ended. The Imperial Realm of Daibei and its allies were victorious in the War of Reconciliation, and as part of its surrender terms the Grand Republic of Warinir was forced to grant independence to all of its colonies. Coventry was again an independent world, free to make its own decisions, and one of those decisions was to keep the name Coventry, not as a badge of shame but out of defiant pride as survivors of an ordeal.

Population and Government

Coventry's current population of about 50 million is of mixed Terran and Vilani ancestry, due to the world's colonization history and centuries of being a dumping ground for dissidents and prisoners.

Coventry has developed a government of participatory democracy, which as used on Coventry means that all government policies and decisions are made by popular vote, and instead of civil service the work of government is done by elected officers and the employees they choose to hire. This can lead to disruption of government services when public dissatisfaction leads to the replacement of an officer and the discharge of a whole department of employees, to be replaced by new hires.

Offworld Connections

Since gaining its independence, Coventry has stayed apart from interstellar society for three reasons: 1) the Coventry population's distrust of outsiders, 2) the almost superstitious dread of Coventry implanted in the other cultures of the region during the centuries that Warinir operated it as an instrument of terror, and 3) astrographic isolation. Only recently, within the past century, has regular trade resumed, with merchant lines from both Warinir and Woomera competing for markets in Gulf Subsector, including even Coventry.

Player Notes (Past Involvement Here, etc)

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

• User:SpaceBadger, SBRD Reavers' Deep Campaign

This article is specific to the SBRD Reavers' Deep Campaign, which is set during the Long Night, beginning in year 3731 AD (-787 Imperial). This information may not be correct for the typical Traveller campaign set during the time of the Third Imperium.

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