Zarn Cluster
The Zarn Cluster is a cluster lying within Canopus Sector.
- It is an astrographic feature and a minor trade route.
- It lies within the Solomani Confederation.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
The Zarn Cluster is a backwater cluster lying on the central-trailing edge of Canopus Sector. A single member world lies within Aldebaran Sector.
- It defines the central region of the namesake Zarn Subsector.
- The Cluster has fifteen member systems.
- It is named for Zarn, a rich garden world and the homeworld of the Zarn sophont species.
A basic overview of the Cluster, right:
- Member worlds of the Cluster are highlighted in tan.
Named Regions[edit]
The Zarn Cluster contains a single named region:
- The Keel Knot, a particularly underdeveloped region that acts as a bottleneck to trade and commerce.
Commercial Data[edit]
The following commercial and economic data is available:
Corporations[edit]
Corporations and organizations active within the Cluster include:
- ConTech, a corporation specializing in life sciences, particularly large-scale bio-terraforming projects, medicine, and cloning.
- Guardian Military Systems, a large corporation involved in defense and armaments manufacture, with its core area of operations within Canopus Sector.
- Lamarck Minerals, a corporation with a relatively small core area of operations in the Solomani Rim, but with growing interests in resource extraction and processing throughout the Solomani Sphere.
- Orion Metallurgy Corporation (OMC), engaged in resource exploration, extraction, and processing throughout the Solomani Sphere.
- Panstellar, a major transport and logistics corporation.
- Probable Technologies, a scientific research organization involved with academia and heavy industry. It works extensively with the Confederation military.
- Rising Phoenix News Service (RPNS), the premier news and media organization within the Solomani Sphere. It has a strong pro-Confederation bias.
- Solomani Maschinenbau (SolMan) AG, a corporation with interests in heavy engineering and starship manufacture throughout the spinward half of the Confederation.
- Solomani Shipping, a major transport and logistics corporation.
- Transstar, a Solomani megacorporation specializing in transport and logistics. It operates across 13 sectors, represented by the 13 stars in its logo.
- ZeeCorp, a corporation with interests in manufacturing active throughout the Solomani Confederation. It is a major producer of robots.
Goods[edit]
Notable local commodities include:
- (none currently listed)
Security & Defense[edit]
The worlds of the Cluster are patrolled by the Solomani Navy. It defends Confederation territory, protects Confederation interests, suppresses piracy, and ensures interstellar trade and commerce.
- Confederation vessels may demand customs inspections.
- Some systems are defended by local naval forces.
Jump Bridges[edit]
Jump Bridges are locations within empty hexes that contain caches of fuel and supplies. They allow lower jump rating vessels to bridge gaps between distant worlds by providing a halfway point. The hexes they lie within are vast, and without exact coordinates to jump to within an empty hex a vessel could end up with empty fuel tanks, in empty wilderness, perhaps more than a light-year away from any hope of rescue. Where they do exist, Jump Bridges are heavily guarded and access is not generally granted to those without the correct credentials.
It is known that a jump bridge existed at astrographic hex location 2416 during the time of the Terran Mercantile Community (between roughly -1800 and -1100). It facilitated Jump-1 travel between the Ariette-Biton Cluster, the Rangiri Link, and the Zarn Cluster, significantly increasing local trade and commerce. As the Mercantile Community shrank to become the Old Earth Union and the financial and technological support it had provided ceased, the facility was abandoned and fell into disrepair. Its current exact astrographic coordinates and condition are unknown.
A basic chart showing the position of the jump bridge, right:
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
High cargo capacity, low jump rating vessels move along the Cluster, carrying large amounts of goods and commodities between its member worlds.
Solomani Security keeps a close eye on things to ensure the security of the Confederation and the well-being of its loyal citizens. Almost anyone could be a SolSec informant, passing on all sorts of useful information: some gain a reward or benefit for their actions, others are coerced, but many see it as an act of duty to help protect the Solomani state and its interests.
Demographics[edit]
Significant populations of the following races (sophont species) reside within this area:
Humaniti (Human races)[edit]
- Mixed or other heritage: Occasionally encountered across the region.
- Solomani (Major Race): Widely spread across the region.
Non-Human Races[edit]
- Zarn of Zarn (Minor Race): Large non-humanoids generally involved in agricultural labor.
- Confederation resettlement programs instituted during the Rim War saw large numbers of Zarn transplanted to worlds across the sector.
Linguistic Topography[edit]
The most commonly heard languages are:
- Native Zarn languages.
- Rim Anglic, a dialect of Anglic and the principal language of the Solomani Confederation.
Timeline[edit]
Major events that have affected this region and the wider area that it lies within:
- -9235: Far to coreward, the Vilani discover jump drive technology. Over the centuries pioneers and settlers gradually spread across Charted Space.
- -4045 to -2204: The Ziru Sirka controls vast territories.
- -2431: Terrans discover jump drive technology.
- -2404 to -2215: The Interstellar Wars. The young Terran Confederation battles against the ancient Vilani Ziru Sirka.
- -2204 to -1776: The Rule of Man administers the former Ziru Sirka.
- -1999: The Aslan gain jump drive technology.
- -1862 to -1110: The Terran Mercantile Community is active within the region.
- -1776 to 0: The Long Night.
- -1118 to 380: The Aslan Border Wars.
- -1110 to 588: The Terran Mercantile Community gradually becomes the Old Earth Union, shrinking to control the region around Terra.
- The Year 0: To coreward, the Third Imperium is founded.
- 300-420: The Imperial First Survey charts the Cluster.
- 380: The Peace of Ftahalr ends the ongoing Aslan Border Wars and establishes understandings regarding Human and Aslan influence.
- 588: The Old Earth Union and the former territories of the Terran Mercantile Community are annexed by the Imperium, moving its border adjacent to the Aslan Hierate.
- 604-622: The Imperial Civil War.
- 624: The Imperial Express Boat Network is established.
- 704: The Solomani Autonomous Region is formed.
- 800-820: The Psionics Suppressions.
- 871: The Solomani Confederation is founded.
- 940: The Solomani Autonomous Region is dissolved.
- 990-1002: The Solomani Rim War.
- 995-1065: The Imperial Second Survey includes data for the Cluster.
- 1065: The Second Survey is published. Information about the Cluster becomes widely available.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)[edit]
This astrographic feature is found in the following areas:
Charted Space – Solomani Confederation:
World Listing[edit]
Comprehensive Second Survey data for all worlds that are members of the Zarn Cluster 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.
AAB library archives contain expanded data about the following systems:
| startbacknext(15 listed) |
Note that some Second Survey data, though only 40 years old, may already be out of date.
- Scouting missions gathering reliable, verified data can receive substantial payment.
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
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- John Harshman, Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman. Classic Traveller Supplement 8 Library Data (A-M), (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), various pages. (Library data entries)
- John Harshman, Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman. Classic Traveller Supplement 11 Library Data (N-Z), (Game Designers Workshop, 1982), various pages. (Library data entries)
- Peter G. Celella, James Holden. Solomani & Aslan (Digest Group Publications, 1991), pages 8-11, various others. (dot map locating the worlds of the Cluster)
- Michael Taylor. Fighting Ships of the Solomani (QuikLink Interactive, 2009), page 5. (background for the region)
- Author & Contributor: IISS Junior Administrator and Master Astrographer Ensign Phillips
- Author & Contributor: MIMIC - Minor Imp of the Ministry of Information and Communication
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science