Singer (world)

From Traveller Wiki - Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far future
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Alien Moon 243b-0 Small.jpg
Singer/District 268 (Spinward Marches 0940)
Classic Era (1116)
D553774-6
StarportD Poor: No Construction, Minor Repair, Unrefined fuel
Size5 Medium (8,000 km, 0.40g - 0.57g)
Atmosphere5 Thin
Hydrographics3 Wet World 30%
Population7 Moderate (90 million)
Government7 Balkanization
Law4 Moderate Law (no light assault weapons)
Tech Level6 Pre-Stellar (nuclear)
See also UWP
System Details
Primary M2 V M2 V
Planetoid Belts 0
Gas Giants 1
style="width: 220px; height: 250px;"
Jump map from Travellermap.com [1]

Singer is a poor world.

  • The IISS has issued a travel advisory regarding the system.

Astrography & Planetology[edit]

Stellar Data[edit]

Singer is a binary star system.

  • Both are red main sequence stars.
Singer has two stars in the star system.
Singer
Solitary M Type.jpg Type Category Mass (Sol) Temperature (K) Luminosity
M2 V Main Sequence (Dwarf) 0.44 3470 - 3560 0.0565
Unit Diameter Safe Distance Habitable Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit
AU 0.0041 0.0197 0.25 - 0.48 0.41 4.1
Orbit #  *  * 1 1 6
Remarks None
Singer
Solitary M Type.jpg Type Category Mass (Sol) Temperature (K) Luminosity
M2 V Main Sequence (Dwarf) 0.44 3470 - 3560 0.0565
Unit Diameter Safe Distance Habitable Zone Jump Shadow M-Drive Limit
AU 0.0041 0.0197 0.25 - 0.48 0.41 4.1
Orbit #  *  * 1 1 6
Remarks None

System Data[edit]

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

Mainworld Data[edit]

Singer is a poor planet with low gravity (0.6 G), little surface water, and a thin atmosphere. The only major forms of native flora are stubble grasses, scrub brush, and low, stunted trees. Due to the paucity of water and other resources, the native lifeforms also tend to be small (none masses over 30 kilograms).

It orbits within its star's habitable zone.

Chart Orbit HZ Region Simple.png

Mainworld Size (S)[edit]

Singer is a Meso World between 7,200km and 8,800km in diameter. The world has a standard gravity between 0.4G and 0.57G. The horizon will appear about 4km away.

Mainworld Atmosphere (A)[edit]

Singer has a pressure of 0.43 to 0.70 atmospheres. The Thin Atmosphere does not require survival gear although it may be hard on sophonts not accustomed to it.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)[edit]

Singer has 25-35% of its surface covered by liquid water. It has a few small seas. Wilderness refueling is possible. Water for the inhabitants will be recycled.

  • Vast scrublands ring the coasts. Beyond them are arid, inhospitable deserts.

Garden World Plains 03.jpg

Mainworld Geography and Topography[edit]

A basic map of Singer showing the Sickle Sea and large lakes (blue), scrublands and brush (green), stony arid lands and deserts (yellow), and uplands and mountains (brown).

The locations of nations are indicated by colored dots - major nations are ringed.

  • Coalition nations are marked in red, Alliance nations are marked in blue, and neutral nations are marked in purple.
  • The borders of most nations are poorly defined, with wide hinterlands between each. National borders are rarely adjacent.
  • Nations have colonies, allied settlements, territories, and national holdings far beyond their borders.

World Map Singer Basic 4.png

Nations:

  1. N'Pir (Neutral).
  2. Crella (Coalition, major nation). Fird Starport, the world's only starport facility, lies a few hundred kilometers north of the capital city in an arid region close to the coast.
  3. Gormlai (Coalition)
  4. Nejd (Alliance)
  5. Agreel (Coalition)
  6. Firmas (Coalition)
  7. Harzeg (originally Neutral, conquered by the Alliance)
  8. T'neel (Neutral, major nation)
  9. Karnak (Coalition)
  10. Erun (Alliance)
  11. Izular (Neutral)
  12. Malmi Kolma (Alliance, major nation)

History & Background (Dossier)[edit]

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

Travel Advisory[edit]

Due to the ongoing world war, the IISS has temporarily designated Singer as an Amber Zone. In many nations, offworlders carrying advanced weapons and large quantities of cash or other valuables risk having these confiscated to support the local war effort. Travelers are also advised that most bodies of water are heavily polluted.

  • By 1117 the IISS had formally issued an Amber Zone rating for Singer due to the increasing tensions on the world.

World Starport (St)[edit]

Singer 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.

Fird Starport[edit]

This is the only designated starport on Singer, built as a C-class facility in 979 by offworld investors, but currently operated by the government of Crella. Fird Starport is now rated as a D-class facility due to damage caused by frequent air raids and several naval bombardments. It sees little traffic, and those ships that do visit usually carry weapons, food and water in and wealthy refugees out. E-class landing sites may be found in all dozen nations on the planet, but Crella considers any attempt to land anywhere but Fird Starport as a hostile act. For the moment, it can do little to prevent landings elsewhere, but both it and Malmi Kolma are rumored to be planning to hire corsairs and/or mercenary spacecraft to interdict shipments to the other side.

World Population (P)[edit]

Singer has a population of 90,000,000 sophonts (tens of millions).

Urbanization[edit]

Each nation has a capital city, a number of regional capitals, and smaller towns and settlements.

  • Each community produces resources, goods, and materials.

World Technology Level (T)[edit]

Singer possesses a Technology Level of TL–6.

World Government (G)[edit]

Singer has a Balkanized Government. There is no central world government. The world has several governments competing for control of the world. These may be allies, cooperating, competitors, or at war with each other.

The world is divided into two power blocs - the Coalition, led by the nation of Malmi Kolma, and the Alliance, led by the nation of Crella.

  • A number of nations remain neutral.

World Military[edit]

Nation Battalions Allegiance
Agreel
25
 Coalition
Crella
41
 Alliance
(major power)
Erun
30
 Alliance
Firmas
20
 Coalition
Gormlai
10
 Coalition
Harzeg
21
 Alliance
(conquered by)
Izular
25
 Neutral
Karnak
21
 Coalition
Nejd
25
 Alliance
N'Pir
20
 Neutral
Malmi Kolma
42
 Coalition
(major power)
T'neel
30
 Neutral
(major power)

Ground Forces
The distribution of combat battalions, each consisting of around 500 personnel, among Singer's dozen nations is depicted to the right.

These are mostly leg infantry units, but armored and motorized formations are also common (especially in the larger nations). Personnel, training, and equipment vary considerably between different nations and even between units of the same type within the armed forces of the same nation. Readers should also be aware that these figures may not accurately depict the current situation on Singer, since they do not reflect units lost and/or raised within the past year, nor temporary militia formations that have been raised as local defense forces.

Both human and Aslan mercenaries are being employed by both sides in the conflict, although their numbers are unknown.

The force-to-ground coverage ratio on Singer is very low, since even the largest nations field no more than three combat divisions. This makes it extremely difficult for any of the major powers to be defeated outright – controlling the conquered population would require the invader to commit its entire military to occupation duty. However, the "front lines" are actually much shorter than one might suppose, because the scarcity of water makes large-scale ground operations virtually impossible in many areas. Ground fighting accordingly focuses on relatively narrow battlefronts where the belligerents vie for control of coastal regions, and inland water sources and agricultural lands. Vast stretches of front line are ignored by both sides apart from routine patrols and occasional hit-and-run raids. Unfortunately, this means that combat is at its heaviest and most prolonged in the very regions where much of the planet's food is normally grown.

The ground fighting has been characterized by lengthy sieges of key settlements along major transport routes running through arid border regions, combined with broad flanking movements along trails laboriously hacked through the ubiquitous surrounding thickets of dense, thorny scrub brush. On several occasions, major combat formations have been forced to surrender for lack of water after being cut off from their lines of supply. Neither side currently appears to be pursuing any coherent strategy other than wearing the other down through gradual attrition of its armed forces and starvation of its population. With the notable exception of one Crellan commander, General Lixa Coilean, the tactics employed by both sides have generally been crude and uninspired.

Air Forces
Most nations also possess combat air forces, though due to Singer's low Tech Level, indigenous aerospace industries are only capable of producing propeller-driven and jet-propelled aircraft. Since the planet's thin atmosphere significantly degrades both lift and the efficiency of these primitive propulsion systems (and is only partially compensated for by the low gravity), speed and payload performance are unimpressive. All the major powers are accordingly importing grav-propelled vehicles from Kuai Qing (Spinward Marches 1040) and other higher-tech worlds. Thus far, aerial operations have not greatly impacted the course of the war.

Wet Navies
Most nations have wet naval forces, but heavy combat vessels are rare. Many were either destroyed or damaged in the early stages of the war, and those that remain are being carefully husbanded by the nations that possess them. Apart from some small-scale amphibious and coastal bombardment operations, all parties have switched to using submarines and small torpedo/missile boats to attack enemy fishing and merchant vessels as part of a deliberate strategy of starvation. Due to this strategy and the disruption of agricultural production by ground fighting, the entire planetary population (even in neutral nations) is on short rations and staring into the abyss of utter famine.

Space Forces
No nation on Singer possesses any Space or even Close Orbit defense capability of any kind. However, there are rumors that both sides in the world war are considering the hire of Starmercs.

World Law (L)[edit]

Singer has a moderate law level with laws covering many areas of government and interaction. These laws are simple enough that most people can act as their own advocate, though for serious issues a professional is recommended. Law enforcement officials will be present, but not in great numbers. Light assault weapons, and anything more destructive, are typically regulated or prohibited.

Governments and Law Levels: The governmental types and law levels in each of Singer’s nations are listed below. Many actually enforce substantially lower law levels under normal circumstances, but have imposed martial law for the duration of the current war (including several non-belligerent nations).

Alliance Nations

Confederation Nations

Neutral Nations

Trade Data[edit]

  • Importance: -2 (very unimportant)

World Economy[edit]

  • Resources: 9 (moderate)
  • Labor: 6 (millions)
  • Infrastructure: 5 (limited)
  • Efficiency: -4 (very poor)

World Culture[edit]

  • Heterogenity: 5 (harmonious)
  • Acceptance: 5 (very aloof)
  • Strangeness: 3 (somewhat typical)
  • Symbols: 4 (concrete)

World Timeline[edit]

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

Historical Data[edit]

Singer was considered poorly suited for habitation, and was settled only because in 562 a colony ship suffered a misjump and was unable to leave the system. The colonists nonetheless succeeded in establishing a series of thriving settlements scattered along the shores of Singer’s only ocean - the freshwater ‘Sickle Sea’ that sweeps from north to south across two-thirds of the planet. Only there, and in a few clusters of lakes to the west, was there enough water to support agriculture - and an alternative source of food in the form of abundant marine life.

The colony continued to prosper for nearly five hundred years until rapid population growth outstripped the ‘carrying capacity’ of Singer’s environment and industrial pollution had ruined much of its precious water resources. Efforts to develop sustainable dry-field agricultural techniques proved unavailing since plowing up or grazing livestock on Singer’s arid steppes merely destroyed the grass cover that held the topsoil in place, causing catastrophic wind erosion and desertification. As sea life declined, and growing crops and raising livestock - never easy - became even more difficult, the planetary food supply could no longer keep the entire population adequately fed.

Over the centuries, Singer had developed a balkanized planetary political system with over a dozen nations centered upon the bays and peninsulas of the Sickle Sea and the various lakes. This diverse set of nations proved incapable of agreeing on the necessity and means of halting the planet’s runaway environmental degradation. Thus, instead of abandoning the ruinous practice of dry-field farming and ranching, most countries, desperate to feed their growing populations, kept expanding them into new regions, and thereby accelerated the pace of destruction.

The environmental catastrophe sparked wars as nations battled for control of water, fisheries, and dry-field agricultural land on the frontier. In 1102, a conflict between the great powers of Crella and Malmi Kolma ignited a world war that has sucked in over a half-dozen other nations. Malmi Kolma leads a coalition that includes Agreel, Firmas, Gormlai and Karnak, while Crella formed alliances with Erun and Nejd, and conquered Harzeg and installed a puppet government in that nation. At the time of this writing, the war has cost nearly 2 million lives and shows no sign of ending soon. Much depends upon the behavior of T’neel, the only major power not yet involved in the fighting. If T’neel joins the war, its intervention will almost certainly tip the balance of power decisively in favor of whichever side it joins. For the moment, it seems to be more favorably disposed toward Crella.

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.
Retrieved from "http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/index.php?title=Singer_(world)&oldid=960399"