Talk:Dongoukaeg (world)

Notes (2017)

This is a Vargr world with an aerospace, Steampunk feel to it. Referees who want a change of pace can put the local Vargr in Victorian or Edwardian garb and have a very different game on this planet. The Pakkrat (talk) 10:52, 1 July 2017 (EDT)

Character Careers of both Traveller5 and Mongoose Traveller function normally as education may or may not still be up to date with starfaring society though this mainworld lacks the technological capability to construct proper spaceships and starships.

Plothooks (by year)

The following missions can be covered by a single group of Travellers who are subject to anagathics regimen or players can exercise the Genetics chapter rules for offspring, be they natural offspring, natural clones or other generational groups of characters. Else, second or third groups of Travellers can cover these decades of history on Dongoukaeg.

(1105-1120) Scorned The Planetary Minister's wife has divorced him in a media blitz scandal. She then takes up with a sky pirate band after stealing state secrets. Characters can either help her topple the tyrant Minister or arrest the scorned female in possession of the loosely-termed 'football'. A chase to a Corsair hideout is the climax of this battle for the keys to the Downport.

(1105-1120) Fragile "Just one drop is enough to kill everyone in this room." The anarchists faction has hidden a chemical weapon in glass containers and loaded it onto an airship inbound to Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport. Characters must assault the lighter-than-air craft, without shattering the chemical weapon containers. Then the zeppelin must be redirected to the open oceans to release the toxin away from populated areas. Should a deadly mist or rain fall upon the Downport, the city would be easier for anarchist "freedom fighters" to lay siege.

(1105-1120) Lazarus Effect A secret is being kept under a heavy rug and is being exploited by the elite Vargr of Dongoukaeg. Deep below the "Breathing Line" are the listed pharmacological ingredients to anagathics drugs and the compounds are listed next to their sources on encrypted sheaf pages of hardcopy. The characters can be called upon by the elitists to gather such compounds by delving into the high-pressure jungles below 1000 meters. Jungle fauna could be protecting its territory and become a threat to the explorers. The dangers of dense atmosphere aggravate the expedition. Finally, the secret formula for the age-slowing drugs may not be all that secret. Corsairs, rival Packs, journalistic horn-blowers and other interested factions might try to steal the secret to longer lifespans.

(1105-1120) The Big One A nuclear physicist Vargr has teamed with the anarchist faction to build and transport an Early atomic bomb that can level Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport. If the weapon functions, its explosion will leave only rubble and a monadium bell in its radioactive aftermath. Characters are called upon to stop the ticking bomb from arriving by airship. Then the culprits must be arrested or put down lest another attack come from such destructive use of science. Explosives experts can shine as they try to disarm the intricate clockwork timer and detonation device. Stop the wrong gear and a demolitions expert might become ground zero in the clouds.

(1105-1120) Campaign Trail This escort mission aboard a tracked train ride through the steppes countryside is threatened when opposing factions to the newest, charismatic Vargr to seek election as Planetary Minister try everything from fear tactics, to assassination to outright Corsair airship attacks to derail the tour. Characters must keep the candidate Vargr safe and keep the train moving through the canyons and steppes along the route. Though the train is armored and armed with guns, the airships have the high ground. The election begins when the incumbent arrives at Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport, thanks to the protection of the characters.

(1105-1130s) A Perfect Storm Crude meteorologists' warning go unheeded as a hundred-year, Category-5 typhoon bears down on Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport. To make matters worse, more than one airship Corsair band is riding the wake of the storm as a smokescreen before their attack on the capital. The bell will toll for whomever survives the storm of weather and sky pirates. Characters can help with the defense of the canyon Downport or they can be Corsairs using the typhoon as cover for sacking the city.

(1125) Making Bank As the Democracy of Greats lessens its contact with Dongoukaeg, the mainworld is forced to rely on its own specie of currency. Greats currency, the minted gold coin, looses its value locally. The Government must strike new heraldry on the old coins after they are newly minted once more. Characters are called upon to transport a large shipment of the old coinage to a distant machine factory that will fashion new Dongoukaeg coins to match the local economy and yet still be compatible with visiting interstellar traders. But Corsairs have gotten wind of the operation and hope to intercept the characters' airship transport. A sky battle might be imminent.

(1120s) Battle Royale An interstellar Corsair starship has battled past their pursuers, the Democracy of Greats Navy, and seeks to land at Dongoukaeg and hide. But airship Corsairs want to capture the battered Corsair starship for their own use against the capital. Naval airships, sky pirate bands, civilian and corporate zeppelins and a damaged Corsair engage in battle among the clouds for the safety of the mainworld, protection of the Downport, plunder of spacefaring tech, and capture of a likely-grounded starship. It is every Vargr for themselves as the skyways are disrupted by the descending vessel.

(1130s) Falling Stars The race is on to capture what one can from flaming starships falling from the night skies as brilliant, light-show, starship engagements between the Democracy of Greats and infected vampire fleets take place. As derelicts plummet from orbit, airships refuel to track down and recover any surviving tech from crash sites. The Referee must determine what hull, drives, systems, components, weapons, personal gear and portable weapons can be found at each location be they in the continental shallows underwater, high plateau craters, steppes ruinations, dense jungles or upon the landing fields of the only Downport in the entire solar system.

(1135) Tech War Early Doomslayer Strains aboard vampire ships of less than 1000 tons come intermittently to Dongoukaeg and decide to exterminate what they can if infection of this mainworld is impossible. The airship fleets, military and civilian must unite with sky pirate Corsairs to shoot down the advanced starships as the eroding Government offers the downed craft as spoils of war. Various items and gear of higher technology can be the carrot to signing up in defense of the Downport. Anti-tank rounds versus starship lasers and missiles seems suicidal though failing to act could mean extermination.

(1137-1148) The Witching Hour Many Psions on Dongoukaeg lack proper psi-shielding technology and are largely caught unaware of the psychic phenomenon that would be later called the Empress Wave. Additionally, without full mastery of psioncology, the Psions of this world fail to come to grips with what has driven their Mentalists mad. After several reported outbreaks of psionic violence, Dongoukaeg begins a witch-hunt. At first, the missions involve capturing affected Psions as peaceably as possible. But then the witches and wizards become defensive and use their powers to hide, fight back, deceive or otherwise avoid capture. When these Psions' devotees rise up in defense of their Mentalist leaders, the mission changes to a pogrom. Infiltrations into the government, factories, farms, Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport and the military are but ruses to capture the last knowledge of psionics left at the canyon library. It is the hope of the Mentalists that removal of all knowledge of their existence will help them survive long enough to rehabilitate from the maddening Wave and be forgotten to history. The characters can be called to action by either side, (or be a Psion), to destroy the Mentalists or help them fade into obscurity.

(1157) Warlord Strain Shot down from the night skies above Dongoukaeg, a vampire ship is desperate to preserve its Viral intelligence. When the only survivor of the crash is a Vargr-shaped, vampire robot, will the characters let it ally with Corsairs as their next admiral who can make tactical and strategic decisions for the sky pirates far faster than any Navy admiral? The Warlord Strain seeks to destroy all opposition in its path to the Downport and eventually convert the planet into a Military Rule state though it lacks the coding knowledge of proper planetary administration. Can the characters stop this mad rush for the capital by a blood-thirsty Virus? Airship battles, ground engagements and a hunt for a mad automaton ensues. If the characters are aiding the Warlord robot, what happens when the military machine learns it cannot infect anything planetside?

(1160s) Shiny Metal Boxes A wave of kidnappings of learned, local Vargr points to sky pirates in airships who are meeting in the clouds with visiting vampire ship(s). The Corsairs are selling slaves to the infected vessels in return for tech, weapons and other gear to use in their air flotilla. Characters are called upon to save the kidnap victims before the hidden vampire ship lifts to the stars. Then they must punish the flesh-and-fur traders by assaulting their hidden hideout.

(1170s) Multiplicity From the depths of forgotten sciences comes early medical cloning in a time when the population of Dongoukaeg is still declining in addition to the eroding Tech Level of the mainworld. Though rudimentary, the modality dredged up from preserved books stemming all the way back to early colony years, natural cloning could ease the Marriage Laws to optional rather than mandatory. But anti-cloning purists are shocked and disgusted by the suggested solution. Characters are called upon to either sabotage the proto-cloning facility or defend it from angry mobs of purists.

(1200) A Curious Hobby A TL-14 vampire starship inhabited by a curious Hobbyist Strain calling itself the Librarian, lands without a crew and is effectively grounded. Projecting a holographic image of a Vargr avatar matching the fashions of the locals, the Librarian (featuring an advanced Library per High Guard) offers its technical and administrative advice in exchange for water for its purification plant. The Librarian can then offer technologically uplifting schematics and designs as a Patron of the local characters. Many historians, scientists, technicians and architects will want to pilgrimage to the Hobbyist Strain's ship and take the Librarian's dictation. Yet not all are happy that the local government at the Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport canyon is enjoying the stabilizing effect the Librarian has on its callers. Corsairs may try to strafe the grounded vampire ship and destroy it. Since there is no technology more advanced than the vacuum tube, the ship's Hobbyist is stranded unless defended or a crew volunteers to help operate the Librarian's vessel in defense. This can be a springboard to the stars aboard a seemingly 'harmless' vampire ship.

(1220) Space Shot A returning starship has just jumped in-system. Signaling by radio to the antiquated Dongoukaeg, it is not streamlined and thus is incapable of landing and lacks smallcraft. Fortunately, a well-to-do billionaire and corporate adventurer seeks characters aid in crewing a rocket he intends to launch and deliver goods to the orbiting starship. Will the clockwork rocket make it off the ground? Can the characters pilot such a craft for a snug fit to the Democracy of Greats starship? This ride into space can be a springboard to the stars and further adventures in Dongoukaeg's solar system or beyond.

(1200s) First Contact? After almost a century, Dongoukaeg becomes host to the Zhodani Exodus as a battered starship descends through the clouds. Will the sky pirates aggravate the descent in hopes for loot? Vargr Emissaries have a chance to shine in this meeting of two Major Races after the long decades of communications silence over the Virus Era. Meeting with Zhodani Envoys from the ship, can an enclave for the humans be set up and give them a new life planetside?

(1200s+) Renaissance Though largely consisting of Proles, the Zhodani Exodus immigrants possess the means of re-instituting psionics testing and training. Lobbyists for and against, who remember the witch-hunts, debate heatedly in Dongoukaeg Belfry Downport whether to allow a resurgence of the mental powers. Assisting the Zhodani are the secret societies and lone wolf Psions who survived the hunts. When a second library is revealed to contain preserved works of Vargr psionics, can the characters keep the peace on one side or the other? Advocates, Functionaries, Emissaries and Envoy-Diplomats excel in this revision to the local constitution on Dongoukaeg.