Windhorn Rift

The Windhorn Rift is one of the four major rifts in Charted Space.

• It is an astrographic feature.
• It is a major obstacle to interstellar trade and commerce.

Description (Specifications)

The heart of the Windhorn Rift lies over the Windhorn Sector, immediately to coreward of Vland. Between the Windhorn Rift and the Great Rift, access to the spinward sectors of the Imperium (and beyond) is greatly restricted, with only a narrow, heavily fortified, band of stars (the region of space known as Corridor) serving as a bridge to those sectors.

A simple map showing the general extent of the Windhorn Rift.

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(Chart sourced from Traveller Map.)

• Lair, the Vargr homeworld, is marked in red.
• Vland, the Vilani homeworld, is marked in green.

The nature and limits of the rift may be determined by different criteria in different regions.

• Generally, its boundaries are based on jump performance.
• Areas may traditionally be considered rift regions, even though all of their worlds are accessible to ships equipped with high performance drives.

Rogue Worlds

The rift is believed to contain many rogue worlds, frigidly cold, eternally dark planets that have no primary star.

• These may be tiny worldlets, larger rocky worlds or gas giants.
• Some rogue worlds may retain one or more moons.

Proposed Jump Bridge

The Windhorn currently has no jump bridge traversing it, although several consortiums of Imperial and Vargr Extents interests would like to see one built.

Windhorn Chain Jump Bridge

The Windhorn Chain is the name given to a proposed jump route across the Windhorn Rift. It would pass through Khonsu, Uroez, and Tsougak Subsectors of Windhorn Sector.

The concept is to construct a jump bridge, consisting of one or more deep space refuelling facilities located within Uroez Subsector, deep within the Rift.

• The jump bridge would facilitate trade and travel between Provence Sector and Lair, the Vargr homeworld, and the Vargr-dominated sectors to trailing.

The intention is to build the Chain using one or more Rogue Worlds, which would serve as deep space refuelling points.

• Although the preferred hex locations are known, there is no evidence that any such suitable worlds have yet been found within them.
• If suitable bodies can be found and the facilities are constructed, the Chain would facilitate crossing the Rift, taking months off of travel times between the spinward and trailing sides.

Proposed Designs

Two variant proposals exist: a jump-4 bridge and a jump-6 bridge.

A basic map showing the proposed location of the jump-4 Windhorn Chain Jump Bridge.

(Chart sourced from Traveller Map)

• The Bridge facilities would lie within interstellar hexes 1811 and 2211 of Uroez Subsector.

A basic map showing the proposed location of the jump-6 Windhorn Chain Jump Bridge.

(Chart sourced from Traveller Map)

• The Bridge facilities would lie within interstellar hex 2011 of Uroez Subsector.

Issues and Concerns

Objections to the concept as proposed include:

• It would incur massive expenditure and require considerable amounts of materials to set up and get operational.
• It would require advanced ships, as well as support and maintenance facilities to keep them running. Few such ships are available within the extents.

Ownership and control of the proposed route is a contentious topic and negotiations to resolve it have been extremely fraught.

Despite these issues Gzugzo Lines, a major shipping interest within the sector, continues to support the idea.

Many believe that the jump bridge, in one of its two proposed forms, already exists.

History & Background (Dossier)

The Vargr homeworld of Lair is situated on the far coreward edge of the Windhorn Rift, as seen from the perspective of Imperial space.

• This was fortuitous for the Vargr, as it prevented the early Ziru Sirka from discovering and absorbing the world, thus allowing the Vargr to independently develop into the Major Race that they are today.

250 px

250 px

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This astrographic feature is located within the following areas:

• Fa Dzaets Sector
• Gzaekfueg Sector
• Meshan Sector
• Provence Sector
• Windhorn Sector

References & Contributors (Sources)

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.

• 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)
• J. Andrew Keith, Marc Miller, John Harshman. Classic Traveller Vargr (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), IBC. (Rift depicted)
• James Holden, Joe D. Fugate Sr., Terrance McInnes. Vilani & Vargr (Digest Group Publications, 1990), pages 11, 48, 49. (Dot maps and charts indicating the locations and allegiances of worlds within the region)
• Rob Caswell. "Life Under the Vargr: Snapshots of the Occupation." MegaTraveller Journal 2 (1991): page 47. (Background for surrounding sectors)
• David Burden, Stuart Dollar, Andy Lilly, Joseph Walsh. T4 Aliens Volume 1 (Imperium Games, 1998), pages 91-182. (The Vargr Extents)
• David L. Pulver. GURPS Traveller Alien Races 1 (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), pages 64-99. (The Vargr Extents)
• Simon Beal. Mongoose Traveller: Vargr, (Mongoose Publishing, 2009), various pages. (Background for the Windhorn Rift region)