Provider

Starport	B	Good: Spacecraft Construction, Overhaul, Refined fuel
Size	8	Large (12,800 km, 0.80g - 1.08g)
Atmosphere	8	Dense
Hydrographics	A	Water World 100%
Population	2	Low (300)
Government	0	No Government structure
Law	3	Low Law (no automatic weapons)
Tech Level	A	Early Stellar (jump drive)

Primary Star

G9 V

Atmosphere

Dense/Wet

Off-world presence

No

Zoetic individuals

Yes

Source

Reference

Aliens Archive 83-89.

Canon

Yes

Also see

A Minor Race with a non-Humanoid appearance.

The Providers are an aquatic race that dominates their water world. They have developed an advanced form of genetic engineering, and have practiced this for hundreds of thousands of years. Every lifeform on their homeworld has been engineered for a specific purpose by the Providers.

Physical Sophontology[edit]

Providers are large creatures, roughly spherical, between 1.4 and 1.8 meters in diameter. The main body is a mostly transparent sack of gelatin, revealing the various organs and the brain cluster at the base.

They also have dozens of dangling tentacles, up to three meters long, which serve as manipulator limbs. The shorter ones, extending up to one meter from the base of the body, gather food and manipulate objects. The longer ones have little strength but can be extended up to three meters.

Providers have three water jets at the base of the gelatin sack for propulsion.

Archaeological Sophontology[edit]

Historical records show the Providers appearing on their world about 500,000 years ago. There is little archaeological evidence to show details of their evolutionary path.

Cultural Sophontology[edit]

Providers are the apex predators on their world, which otherwise lacks large or sophisticated lifeforms. Due to this, Providers lack a sense of fear and have no flight instinct. Since the Providers do not require others of their species to reproduce, this also leads to a strong sense of individualism.

Linguistic Sophontology[edit]

Providers are mute, lacking any sound making organ. They communicate via a sign language using their tentacles.

Societal Sophontology[edit]

Provider society is an interesting balance between individualism and the desire to be dominant. When most Providers spawn, they embed a sense of loyalty into their offspring.

This situation is not stable. The individualism of the offspring grows over time, encouraging a sense of unrest until a rebellion occurs. This situation breaks out into open warfare, known locally as the Servile Wars, every three to six generations in each community. The offspring breed special war animals which assault and kill the parents. The community then disintegrates as the offspring go their separate ways.

Research and Technology[edit]

Provider technology is based purely in biological forms. They have managed to create a set of organic structures that have limited grav ability. Beyond this their technology is primitive, without fire, metallurgy, or much in the way of medical advances. For most technological items, there are specific creatures created to fulfill particular needs or desires.

Astrography[edit]

Providers are largely limited to their homeworld. They require special transport facilities to keep them humid, or large holding tanks. They cannot use Low Berths, and strongly dislike Jump space travel.

Their world is known variably as Hydractus, Delta Retigulii-3, and Airleas.

References and contributors[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.

Timothy B. Brown. Aliens Archive (Imperium Games, 1996), 83-89.
Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science