Verstand-Jugartha Colonies
The Verstand-Jugartha Colonies is a name given to the trailing-rimward part of Theta Borealis Sector.
- It is most commonly referred to as The Colonies.
- It has a long history and strong cultural traditions.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
The Verstand-Jugartha Colonies represent the largest concentration of Humans in Theta Borealis Sector.
- They form an economically important area, with many high population worlds with huge markets, industrial worlds producing huge quantities of goods, and a multitude of agricultural worlds supporting them.
- The Colonies has become a catch all term to describe the region of Theta Borealis Sector dominated by fiercely independent high population Human worlds.
The region is named for the Verstand and Jugartha systems, resource-rich asteroid belts. In the earliest days of settlement they were key sources of raw materials, eventually becoming heavily industrialized in their own right, though their importance has decreased as other worlds have bloomed. They constantly require labor, raw materials, and above all food, and produce vast quantities of advanced consumer goods that are in demand throughout the area.
Historical Overview[edit]
A few worlds, including the two asteroid belts, were settled shortly before the beginning of the Long Night, following extremely positive reports from the earliest Terran explorers in the region. These worlds survived the Night and began receiving further waves of immigrants from the core of what would later become the Imperium.
Many of the pre-Long Night settlers had originated in the heart of the Second Imperium, and their post-Long Night descendants, still living among the Old Stars, had romantic notions of what lay waiting for them if only they undertook the long journey to spinward, a belief fostered by the endless retelling of the tales of their ancestor's adventures. The availability of Sylean and later Imperial jump technology enabled waves of immigration to Theta Borealis Sector, though these had ended by the third century when the shifting politics and sporadic conflicts Behind the Claw made the long journey all but impossible.
Internal population growth continued apace within the Colonies and today the region is studded with heavily populated, well developed worlds. The name no longer conjures up concepts of a glittering jewel of civilization on a distant frontier, instead being thought of as a collection of grim, dour, overpopulated industrial worlds and bucolic, rather backward agricultural worlds.
Demographics[edit]
The population of the region exceeds 250 billion.
The highest population worlds are:
- Plustron (population 90 billion).
- Laurens (population 50 billion).
- Saint-Beune (population 40 billion).
- Des Prez (population 30 billion).
Local Cultures[edit]
The worlds of the region are notable for their colorful local cultures and traditions.
The most well-known of these is the Nh'ekul Culture.
- It has a Warrior ethos and places honor and humility as the most commendable qualities a person can have.
- It has a structured social system and recognisable styles of clothing and architecture.
- It has a harsh legal system that employs capital punishment.
The leading families in the region claim to be able to trace their lineages back over three millennia, to the time of the first settlers within the sector.
- Many practise traditions that have Vilani origins.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
The First Explorers[edit]
The first Humans to definitely enter the region were rugged Terran explorers and pioneers, equipped with their still-new FTL drive technology and eager to open up a distant frontier.
- Terrans discovered Jump Drives in -2431 / 2088AD.
- Surviving records indicate that the very first Terrans had entered the sector by around the end of the First Interstellar War, in -2396 / 2123AD.
In under four decades a few adventurous Terrans had travelled many hundreds of parsecs from their homeworld, first heading coreward, somehow managing to cross the entire First Imperium and avoiding the emerging peril of raiding Vargr, finding the path across the Great Rift through Corridor Sector, before pushing on to spinward, into the vast rift-filled wilderness Behind the Claw. While fragmentary records of their journeys survive, for the most part these early pioneers left few physical traces on the worlds they visited. Their ultimate fate remains unknown.
Settlement[edit]
Terran Humans began arriving in Theta Borealis Sector in increasing numbers during the time of the Interstellar Wars and the Rule of Man, particularly after the discovery of Jump-3 drives, though the numbers of immigrants were always low. They were drawn by the fragmented tales of the earliest explorers, which told of distant, unpopulated, resource-rich worlds far from the oppressive control of any interstellar state, and they had the beacon of Theta Borealis to guide them. By the -1900s there were scattered Human settlements across the sector and beyond.
This trickle of Humaniti slowed and then stopped during the Long Night. As the Night deepened interstellar travel within the sector all but ceased and many worlds became barren. Some worlds, however, flourished during this period, particularly those within the trailing-rimward part of the region. The habitable worlds in this area had gained substantial populations and even some of the more marginal settlements were well established. This part of the sector later became known as the Verstand-Jugartha Colonies.
Towards the end of the Long Night the Colonies, far off, half-remembered, mythically idyllic worlds, served as the focus for waves of settlers originating in what later became the Imperial core. They had gained access to Sylean jump technology, they were seeking empty worlds of their own, and were prepared to undertake the long and dangerous journey to the island of civilization they believed existed far to spinward.
It was only a hundred jumps, it was dismissively said, a journey that in reality could take years (and many more jumps than just a hundred). Typically the journey involved considerable hardship, expense, and risk, and required a long diversion around the emerging and isolationist Muirimi Culture in Iphigenaia Sector. The availability of jump technology opened up an era of expansion and settlement for locals too, for generations stuck on a single world. By the end of the first century domestic colonies originating from the long-settled worlds of the sector had been founded on worlds across the region.
Effective Isolation[edit]
In the Year 0 the Third Imperium was founded. The flow of Humans of Imperial origin continued to move to the region, spreading their improved technology and re-establishing the routine use of jump drives as they did so. Many of those who undertook the journey were individualists with a strong sense of personal freedom, who opposed the perceived oppression of the new Imperium and its Pacification Campaigns. Some of these later arrivals, like their Terran predecessors, carried on to spinward, seeking other habitable worlds within the region that they could claim.
This slow inward trickle of Humaniti had effectively ceased by the end of the third century, largely due to the emergence of polities (and hostilities) in the various sectors Behind the Claw -- a situation in part caused by some of their own founding settlements within the regions they passed through, and by their casual disbursal of jump technology. By the beginning of the twelth century, nearly a millennium later, many of these outposts had grown into heavily populated worlds with distinctive cultures of their own. The inhabitants remember their ancestral homes, now within the Imperial core, as the Old Stars.
Aslan Migration Route[edit]
The Aslan may have established an exploration route along the coreward edge of the Great Rift, bypassing the heavily populated and potentially hostile Human dominated worlds of Theta Borealis Sector.
- They appear to be using hidden fuel caches, likely located within hex 1705 of Styehfyeao Subsector (Subsector C of Khaeaw Sector) and hex 2604 of Ihohea Subsector (Subsector D of Khaeaw Sector).
- If it really exists, the route relies on Jump-5 vessels.
A simple map showing the likely Aslan exploration route along the Great Rift and into Theta Borealis Sector, right:
- Rift regions are shown in blue.
- Known Aslan outposts and settlements are ringed in red.
- Collaborating Human worlds are ringed in green.
Aslan would likely use the route to communicate with and supply their explorers, pioneers, and scattered outposts within the region.
- The existence of the route and the fuel cache have not been proven.
Timeline[edit]
- -2431: Terrans discover Jump Drives.
- ca -2396: A few Terrans, eager to find an uncharted frontier, begin exploring the region.
- ca -1900: A trickle of Humans, drawn by the stories of the explorers from centuries before, settle worlds in the area.
- -1700s: The Long Night begins.
- ca -1500: The Long Night deepens. Interstellar travel gradually stops within the region.
- ca -100: Access to Sylean jump technology allows settlers from what would become the Imperial core to travel to the region.
- ca 200: The increasingly complex political situation Behind the Claw halts the flow of settlers into the region.
- 300-420: The First Survey charts the region.
- 995-1065: The Second Survey charts the region.
- 1065: The Second Survey is published.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)[edit]
This region covers parts of the following areas:
World Listings[edit]
Comprehensive Second Survey UWP data for all the systems and worlds lying within this region is available.
- The primary source material for all data is Traveller Map.
- Other sources may differ: some elements of the data may be contradictory or incorrect.
- Data is occasionally updated as new information becomes available.
- Scouting missions gathering reliable, verified data can receive substantial payment.
AAB library archives contain expanded data about the following systems:
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Note that some Second Survey data, though only 40 years old, may already be out of date.
- Verified updated data is constantly sought.
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
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- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS