Penelope (world)

250 px

Penelope/Five Sisters (Spinward Marches 0533)
Classic Era (1116)	C560642-4 Starport C Routine: No Construction, Major Repair, Unrefined fuel Size 5 Medium (8,000 km, 0.40g - 0.57g) Atmosphere 6 Standard Hydrographics 0 Desert World 0% Population 6 Moderate (3 million) Government 4 Representative Democracy Law 2 Low Law (no energy weapons) Tech Level 4 Industrial (combustion)
See also	UWP
System Details
Primary	F6 V M2 V
Planetoid Belts	2
Gas Giants	3

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Jump map from Travellermap.com

Penelope is a rich, nonindustrial desert world with no free-standing water.

• It requires extensive imports of outside technology to maintain a modern, star-faring society. Having to import most manufactured and high tech goods drives the price up for these items at this world.
• This world is rich with high-grade living conditions, a good climate, and a non-harmful environment. Immigration registration for this world is always in high demand.
• It is a member of the Third Imperium in the Five Sisters Subsector of Spinward Marches Sector in the Domain of Deneb.
• This is a "low technology" world with technology competencies well below standard for Charted Space.
• Penelope is a member of the Spinward Main.
• The world is home to a community of Jonkereen.

Description (Astrography & Planetology)

Stars

Penelope is a binary star system.

• The primary is a white main sequence.
• The secondary is a red main sequence.

Penelope has two stars in the star system.

Primary
	Type	Category		Mass (Sol)	Temperature (K)	Luminosity
	F6 V	Main Sequence (Dwarf)		1.25	6280 - 6350	2.18366
	Unit	Diameter	Safe Distance	Habitable Zone	Jump Shadow	M-Drive Limit
	AU	0.0126	0.1226	1.36 - 2.36	1.26	12.6
	Orbit #	*	0	4	3	7
	Remarks		None
Companion
	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

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

• The mainworld.
• x4 secondary rocky worlds.
• x2 planetoid belts.
• x3 gas giants.

Mainworld Data

Mainworld Size (S)

Penelope 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)

Penelope has a pressure of 0.71 to 1.49 atmospheres. A Standard Atmosphere does not require survival gear and will likely be easy for most sophonts to breathe.

• It experiences high temperatures.

Mainworld Hydrosphere (H)

Penelope has no free-standing water or ice on the surface. Wilderness refueling isn't possible on this world. Water for the inhabitants needs to be imported and extensively recycled. These worlds are classified Desert World or a Hell World depending on their atmosphere.

Mainworld Geography and Topography

No centrally held map of the world exists within AAB Library Data records.

(Blank map, predominantly dry world.)

History & Background (Dossier)

Penelope is a warm but generally pleasant desert world. It is one of the five worlds named by the merchant captain Ignaz Ruffleran after his daughters.

At the same time that the Imperial Ministry of Colonization was initiating the Jonkeereen project to genetically adapt humans to desert environments, it was researching desert world terraforming methods in a parallel project. Penelope became one of several worlds, scattered around the Imperium, that were settled as "test beds" for these methods. Previously unsettled, a colony of researchers and pioneers was established after the Third Frontier War to test the MoCol's terra-formation protocols.

As MoCol began to develop excessive zeal and hubris in the 1000s, the project began to take on grandiose dimensions. The research had produced limited but promising results, and project managers began to expand their efforts from simple research projects into application of it towards real terra-formation. A number of test bed worlds were converted into full terra-formation projects, and of these Penelope was the most hyped and fully funded.

World Starport (St)

Penelope has a Class C Starport, an average quality installation which features amenities including unrefined fuel for starships, some brokerage services for passengers and cargo, and a variety of ship provisions. There is a shipyard capable of doing maintenance and other kinds of repair. Ports of this classification generally have only a downport, unless this is a trade port or system with an hostile environment mainworld.

World Population (P)

Penelope has a population of 3,000,000 sophonts (millions).

• This is a Nonindustrial World, too small to support the complete chain of production of most goods from start to finish.
• It is home to a community of Jonkereen.

Linguistic Topography

The following languages are most commonly heard:

• Anglic, one of the two official languages of the Imperium.
• Vilani, one of the two official languages of the Imperium.

World Technology Level (T)

Penelope possesses a Technology Level of TL–4.

• Common Communication technologies for this TL include: Telephone and telegraphs, widespread printing.
• Common Power Generation technologies for this TL include: Early electricity, hydrocarbon internal combustion.
• Common Transportation technologies for this TL include:
  • Land: Trains and early automobiles.
  • Water: Clippers and steam ships.
  • Air: Dirigibles, balloons, very basic rockets.

World Government (G)

Penelope is governed by a Representative Democracy where government leadership is by representatives elected by eligible voters. What determines an eligible voter varies. The representatives determine policy, including selecting members of the bureaucracy. There can be referenda, votes by eligible voters on specific subjects.

World Law (L)

Penelope has a low law level. There are few laws, covering only important areas. There may be few or no law enforcement officers, the expectation is citizens will bring law breakers to the attention of the Judicial system. Legal proceedings will be fast, with few people involved. For interactions outside of the framework of the laws, cultural norms dominate. Portable energy weapons, body pistols, explosives, and poison gas are typically regulated or prohibited.

Imperial Landed Nobility

Penelope, as a member world of the Third Imperium, holds the estate of an Imperial Landed Knight who acts as an Imperial representative to the world, and the fiefdom of a member of the Imperial Landed Nobility, who oversees affairs regarding the world at an Interstellar and Imperial level.

• It holds the estate of an Imperial knight, the Imperial representative to the world.
• It holds the fiefdom of an Imperial baron.

Trade Data

• Importance: -1 (unimportant)

World Economy

• Resources: 8 (moderate)
• Labor: 5 (hundreds of thousands)
• Infrastructure: 3 (very limited)
• Efficiency: -5 (extremely poor)

World Culture

• Heterogenity: 2 (monolithic)
• Acceptance: 5 (very aloof)
• Strangeness: 1 (very typical)
• Symbols: 1 (extremely concrete)

World Timeline

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

• The Year 0: the Third Imperium is founded.
• 300-420: the Imperial First Survey charts the system.
• 589-604: First Frontier War.
• 604-622: the Civil War.
• 615-620: Second Frontier War.
• 624: the Express Boat Network is established.
• 979-986: Third Frontier War.
• 995-1065: the Imperial Second Survey charts the system.
• 1065: the Second Survey is published. Information about the system becomes widely available.
• 1082-1084: Fourth Frontier War, also known as the False War.
• 1107-1110: Fifth Frontier War.

Later Historical Eras

History-Milieu: New Era

Penelope had the unlikely role, in the last years before the Civil War, of being the downfall for the Imperial Ministry of Colonization.

The ministry is estimated to have poured multiple trillions of credits into various mega-engineering projects, despite objections from their own scientific staff, the IISS, and the Ministry of Science over their scale, cost, dubious methods, and feasibility. Many projects bogged down in bureaucratic stonewalling and inter-agency disputes.

But Penelope had the benefit of its remote location and the support of the local nobility to keep it going. Under MoCol supervision from its offices on Iderati, the world was bombarded with redirected cometary debris. Vaporaters extracted subterranean water and expelled it into the atmosphere. Massive "groomers" altered the world's albedo to reflect more sunlight. A sulfide haze was created to further cool the world surface. Plant life was introduced around reservoirs to provide shading. And an extensive underground network of cisterns and canals were constructed, criss-crossing the world. There was even talk of using Meson Guns to heat the world's interior to induce volcanism, thereby bringing more moisture to the surface.

In the end, after nearly a century of work, the Penelope had yet to create a single natural body of water, and the planet was scarred by worthless construction projects and their debris. Disgusted with MoCol, the First Regent terminated the program in 1134. Citing Penelope as clear evidence of the Ministry's ineptitude and superfluousness, Norris sacked it, merging its personnel with the Ministry of Conservation in 1136 to form the Ministry of Interior.

With the termination of the project, Penelope's population was suddenly unemployed, but were buoyed up by development money released from the appropriation funds for the project. Ironically enough, the world's emergence into an integrated member of the Regency was overseen by chastened former project managers now working for MoI.

The local economy is now self-reliant thanks to dry agriculture methods and mining of its under-developed mineral resources. To aid in the world's development, Jonkereen were permitted to settle the world in the 1140s and now make up 12 percent of the population.

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.

• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 10-11.
• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches Campaign (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), 18-19.
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 94-100. (UWP only)
• Rob Caswell. "Domain of Deneb: Sector Data." MegaTraveller Journal 3 (1992): 47-58. (UWP only)
• Dave Nilsen. The Regency Sourcebook (Game Designers Workshop, 1995), 48.
• Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), 53.
• Mike West. The Spinward States (Avenger Enterprises, 2008), 109. (UWP only)
• Martin Dougherty. The Spinward Marches (Mongoose Publishing, 2008), .
• Martin Dougherty. Behind the Claw (Mongoose Publishing, 2019), 98-102. (UWP only)
• Peter Gray - BARD OPAL 9517