Traveller:Canon

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Canon is shorthand for the rules and OTU details that keep Traveller consistent. Canon is a useful concept for publishers, who seek to align their materials to be compatible with Traveller rules.

  • Canon is the statement on key concepts about Traveller by FFE, Marc Miller, and/or his designated appointee/s. The most important positions are clearly defined in the Traveller 5th edition core rules.
  • The Canon timeline is clearly defined by Don's Hermeneutic (which see).
  • Canon is a standard for publishers. It was never intended to rule and track all existing publications, and each referee runs Traveller by his own rules, always.

Please also see Traveller Ethos for a related article.

Description (Specifications)

"Canon" refers to consistency with (a) the Traveller rules and (b) the OTU. It typically is concerned with a dozen key concepts and rules.

The final rule on canon is Marc Miller. The standard is useful for publishers, authors, and artists who want to maintain compatibility with Traveller and the OTU.

Content creators are not necessarily bound by canon, although they are bound by license, and are encouraged to stay within the bounds of canon. The OTU (and Traveller in general) grows as new material is published. Some items initially come into existence as canon items and are later de-canonized. Some de-canonized items have later been re-canonized. Changes within the OTU should ideally be coordinated through FFE, Marc Miller, and/or his designated appointee/s.

Foundation

In the 1980s and 1990s, multiple rules systems coupled with uncoordinated publishers created bad data and inconsistent rules in Traveller. In turn, this led to a need to identify some key concepts in Traveller. It also allowed corrections to setting data, such as fixing sector data for Charted Space.

The material principle of Traveller canon lies in a statement echoed many times by fans: 

  ...each person has a point at which she feels that a product with the
  "Traveller" name on it is, in fact, no longer "Traveller."

  ...we all need a common frame of reference when discussing
  Traveller... as with any other topic.  So there /is/ a reason to have
  "canon."  But, how much of the material should be "canon?"

  (Joe Walsh, 17-18 Sep 1996)

In short, products claimed to support Traveller, and yet weren't compatible with each other.

Foundational Rules and Data

Built on those concepts come some invariant rules that describe how things work in Traveller, and specific setting data as well. In the past, these had spawned "holy wars" between fans, who argued different sides to issues. Issues from this category which required a position were decided on. Less problematic issues were deferred.

  • Official sector data. Until 2006, sectors had multiple competing data. Canon-related work resolved these inconsistencies.

Traveller5 states the foundations of Traveller in T5 Book 1, pp14-17. Additionally, it decides on many former "holy war" issues that now have canon status, including:

  • Computers, Robots, Starship Automation, the Kinunir, and Virus.
  • Jump Drives, Jump Interference, Drop Tanks, and Jump Masking. It shows why "tankless" systems don't work.
  • Maneuver Drives and HEPlaR. T5 defines the ecosystems for both.
  • Power Plants. By defining the P-plant as a leaky fusion reactor which can generate huge excesses in overdrive mode, Traveller5 explains why they burn fuel at the rate they do, while being the superior choice to power a jump drive. High-tech Collectors recovers the ANNIC NOVA as a canon design.

Don's 'What is Traveller Canon' Hermeneutic

Don's Hermeneutic is the priority-order system Don used when building his Integrated Timeline. Marc Miller approved of Don's approach, which in a nutshell was to treat the most current sources as definitive unless there's an obvious problem with it.

Preamble

Don in 2015 CE: I'm not speaking for Marc here; I'm drawing from personal experience and observation to infer basic facts to assist. If I talk for Marc online, I'll preface the post with "Marc is asking..." or "Marc wants..." or something similar. Rob Eaglestone also does this. That doesn't mean Rob or I have any special status. If I were writing material for the Spinward Marches, I'd probably have Hans Rancke review it before giving it to Marc for review because I trust his knowledge of things I've forgotten.

Don's Hermeneutic

So, bearing all of that in mind, here are some simple facts about the Traveller canon:

  1. It is, at any given moment, what Marc decides.
  2. Marc reserves the right to change his mind.
  3. The GURPS Traveller Universe (GTU or Lorenverse) and the Official Traveller Universe (OTU) overlap; exactly where they overlap is questionable, depending on who's asking the questions.
  4. The precedent of "mostly recently published source" applies, unless that newer source is wrong about something; it happens.
  5. Never, ever assume that current licensees are not canon; instead, they are always canon unless they print something wrong.
  6. Marc decides who is wrong.
  7. There's no order to the six rules above.

That's pretty much it.

Primary Sources

On an average day of research for Marc, I'll start [searching primary sources chronologically] with:

  1. MGT (if possible), then...
  2. GT (including IW), then...
  3. TNE (because I have to, not because I want to), then...
  4. MT, then...
  5. CT materials.

The primary publisher is the first source within those materials, but any licensee could be a secondary source.

  • There are probably *golden* sources, but nothing is perfect.

Generalized Research Model

Within the entire literary corpus of Traveller, when you're looking for data on your own (i.e. not for Marc), then the order is:

  1. Traveller5, then...
  2. Mongoose Traveller, then...
  3. GURPS: Traveller, then...
  4. TNE, then...
  5. MegaTraveller, then finally...
  6. 'Classic' Traveller.

As soon as you find what you're looking for, stop; you're done.

Secondary Sources [and Ideas That Marc Likes]

Oh, and yes, 1248 goes in there somewhere. I wouldn't consider it a primary source, but a secondary source. Heck, there's even a couple of Judges Guild items Marc mentions from time to time. Admittedly, I haven't dug much out of the JG / Group One / Paranoia Press materials for Marc, but I've got them to refer to. And even HIWG docs and fanzines COULD be a source if it's an idea that Marc likes. For example, I pay very close attention to HIWG docs written by Clay Bush on subjects. And I've got the TML and Xboat archives set up as searchable because they have clues to things I don't remember.

1. I cannot think of a single source that would be outright rejected with no consideration at all. 2. The Traveller Integrated Timeline isn't a source: it's a list of sources. 3. So, the moral is, don't throw rocks at other Traveller settings. We're all in the same tent, even if we imagine we're not.

Some things Marc has repeatedly said are NOT canon

  1. Anything under 100 tons jumping. 101-ton jump ships work, but 99-ton jump anythings don't.
  2. Almost all Aslan art has the hands and paws wrong. I've repeatedly had this explained to me, but I still don't picture it properly.
  3. There are only six major races within Charted Space, and they are all identified. Don't add another one.
  4. DGP's pre-Ancient Primordials/Sparklers - including some of the material in Knightfall. Come on, Joe Fugate only briefly mentioned them in his goodbye.
  5. Light sabres, a la Star Wars. This might be proof that Traveller and Star Wars have different physics foundations.
  6. Simultaneous FTL communication is never possible. No combination of psionics, science, or magic can produce this in the OTU. There are no ansibles.

History of the use of the term 'canon' in Traveller

Fans always tended to quote foundational material to judge new material as being like or unlike Traveller.

Evolution

The first known use of the term 'canon' is on June 1991 of the Traveller Mailing List, in a post by Hans Rancke. It was used to equate published material in general as canon, regardless of source. Part of the post is reproduced here: 

  ... Can anybody remember any Imperial laws mentioned in the Traveller and 
  Megatraveller canon? I seem to recall something about a definition 
  of murder and some laws about robots. Anything else?

After that first sighting, uses of the term show up more frequently in posts by Mike Metlay, Rob Dean, Derek 'Wildstar', and others. The term grew to encompass rule systems, the OTU, tech levels, equipment. 

  1992: six uses
  1993: ten uses
  1994: 50 uses
  1995: ~100 uses
  1996: hundreds

By 1994, the term had entered general usage, and is found in around 50 posts. It was used to judge whether any rule or item aligned with a consistent view of Traveller and the OTU, rather than simply to defer to material published by GDW. The first known discussion over canon and conflicting sources is in 1994, with a discussion over GDW versus DGP sector data. (Sector data was an area of concern until it was fixed in the early 2000s). This was also the year people used "canon" as an OTU argument to refute published material which was otherwise supportive of the setting. 

  Do yourself a favour, and learn to ignore canonical material when it
  is clearly pretty stupid.  Regina may have had 10 400T SDBs, but if it
  did, ask yourself "Why?" (24 May 1994)

By 1995, canon was further refined as a publishing-consistency standard, rather than a strait-jacket for referees and players. It also began to be applied to competing statements about how things worked in Traveller -- for example whether jump coils and the jump exit flash were canonical. 

  Of course, as always, you can do whatever you want in your own universe.
  I think the debate here is simply to iron out what the canon from GDW is,
  how they've changed it (if they've changed it?), and what the relative
  merits/flaws of the old/new canon are.  (Charles Collin, 9 November 1995)

Use of the term canon for the sake of consistency also dates from 1995: 

  It wouldn't be an actual reproduction of said material,
  merely a list of things that have been done in "the canon"
  somewhere so people don't walk over previous material.
  (Ethan Henry, 21 November 1995)

Further evolution on the concept of canon is seen by 1996. This included discussions about how canon is defined, and what canon IS. The release of Traveller 4th edition contributed to this discussion. 

  Nothing becomes "canon" without becoming widely distributed and
  accepted, and there's no better way to see that happens than to get your work
  into an official publication.  (HD Hale, 2 Oct 1996)

  I believe that the real reason why the Core subsector isn't 'according to
  canon' is because Marc Miller has his own view of 'canon' and it doesn't
  necessarily agree with everything that others (e.g. DGP) have published.
  (Andy Lilly, 3 Oct 1996)

Don McKinney further refined what canon is, when he began his timeline project in October 1996. He was forced to rank material as he considered entries for inclusion.

Usage

There were three main uses of the term canon:

  • It was used in discussions to correct a poster, as if canon was binding on the referee and players.
  • It was used in context of a particular rules system, e.g. Classic Traveller canon, or MegaTraveller canon, or TNE canon, or T4 canon.
  • It was also used in the current sense, as a "writers' Bible" to keep Traveller reasonably consistent.

History & Background (Dossier)

As of 2019 CE, Traveller has over forty years of publications, including nearly 2,000 published products, with more coming out every year. Advice to publishers in order to keep consistent with Traveller is a complicated matter -- and one dear to dedicated fans. Consolidating content about how things work in Traveller benefits the game in the long run.

Scope of Canon by Publisher

This is a rough graphical overview of Traveller canon in chart form: 

                      LITERARY TRAVELLER CANON
| Scopes    |<---- Scope of Classic Traveller ---->|<----  Later Trav  ---->| 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Canon     |         Primary Canon                |       Not Primary      |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Timeline  |         -5 bya to 1115 TI            |       1116 to 1902+ TI |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------   
| 2010's CE |         Traveller 5 (T5)             |       Galaxiad         |  
| 2010's CE |         New Traveller (MGT-2)        |                        |       
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2010's CE |         Mongoose Traveller (MGT-2)   |           |     |      |         
| 2000's CE |         Mongoose Traveller (MGT-1)   |   GURPS   | TNE | 1248 |         
|           |                                      |           |     |      |
---------------------------------------------------|           |  T  |  S   |
| 2000's CE |         Traveller D20 (T20)          |           |  N  |  E   |         
---------------------------------------------------|           |  E  |  C   |          
|           |                                                  |     |  O   |        
| 2000's CE | GURPS: Traveller / Lorenverse / Imperium Eternal | TNE |  N   |
| 1990's CE |        (GT)                                      |     |  D   |
|           |---------------------------------------           |     |  A   |
| 1990's CE |   Marc Miller's Traveller (T4)       |           | TNE |  R   |
|           |---------------------------------------           |     |  Y   |
| 1990's CE |   Clay Bush Writing Corpus / HIWG    |           | TNE | HIWG |
---------------------------------------------------|           |------------|
| 1990's CE |               |                 |    |           |            |
| 1980's CE |   Classic     |  MegaTraveller  |    |   GURPS   |  C     GO  |
| 1970's CE |   Traveller   |      (MT)       |    |           |  T     JG  |
|           |   (CT)        -------------------    |           |        PP  | 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That final, open-ended column to the far right, labelled "Later Trav," represents secondary sources, including 1248, HIWG, Paranoia Press, Group One, Judges Guild, et al. Things from which good ideas can come.

Wiki Library Overview

Library entries derived from a canon source are listed below. Any library article not derived from a canon source is in the non-canon category. This includes work produced by other, licensed, Traveller publishers and fan-produced works. The categorization of an article as canon or not is usually irrelevant to gamers. Which articles are essential to your game should be your decision. Canon is important to authors writing for a publisher to ensure they are within the boundaries set by previous authors and approved by FFE.

Canon Classifications

  1. CANON: One of the definitions of canon is: a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works. Primary canon. Part of the OTU.
    1. Canon items may be paraphrased or otherwise modified from their original form. The core content should not be modified, although you can add to it later. Lightly modified or edited is the order of the day. This can be highly subjective.
    2. The Traveller canon includes books published by Game Designers' Workshop, Imperium Games, BITS, Steve Jackson Games, QuikLink Interactive, Avenger Enterprises, ComStar Games, Greylock Publishing, and Mongoose Publishing among others.
    3. Ironically, not everything designated canon is included in the OTU. Most of it is, though.
  1. DEUTEROCANON: A number of other publishers, including Seeker Gaming Systems, Gamelords, FASA, produced their material under license. This material is referred to as deuterocanonical or secondary canon.
    1. These companies no longer produce for Traveller.
    2. They may or may not be a part of the OTU.
  1. APOCRYPHA: Some publishers' products, though approved for use with Traveller at one time, have been de-canonized and removed from the canon list: Judges Guild, Group One, and Paranoia Press. Tertiary canon.
    1. Traveller canon excludes periodical articles published in Journal of the Travellers Aid Society, Challenge, and Travellers' Digest magazines, unless the articles have been re-published in another canon source or otherwise designated canon.
    2. Some de-canonized items have later been re-canonized.
    3. Apocryphal items may be mostly de-canonized yet retain some canon elements included in the OTU. As a rough rule of thumb, most apocryphal materials have been de-canonized and are not included in the OTU.
  1. NON-CANON: Not officially part of the OTU.
    1. Elements of it might still be unofficially included in the story line or even later canonized.
    2. Please also see Category:Non-canon.

Wiki Library Warning

The Traveller RPG Wiki is not considered a canonical source for any Traveller materials. As an author or pedant, if you need to cite the Traveller canon, we encourage you to refer to the original primary source materials. When researching your game or writing project, please get in touch with the Research Department or a Master AAB Librarian about your needs to ensure the articles are updated with appropriate sources and background information.
- Master AAB Librarian & Traveller Wiki Editorial Team

Wiki Category Templates

The Traveller RPG Wiki uses a set of categories marked at the bottom of each article. These help to make articles more accessible and searchable. The Category Templates insert a standard set of categories for each page depending upon the intended use.

  1. Each article in the Library namespace should use either the LE (canon) or the LEN (non-canon) template.
  2. Each article in the Dictionary namespace should use either the DE (canon) or the DEN (non-canon) template.
  3. Articles not in the OTU or in an ATU and are not officially "in story" should use LEA (non-canon) or MET templates.
  4. Some articles may mix canon and non-canon data or otherwise mix categories. These are usually marked both LE and LEN, although other combinations are possible. Whenever possible, inline citations are used to designate canon and non-canon sections.

The Category Templates are:

  • DE: Dictionary Entry Template, Canon
  • DEN: Non-Canon Dictionary Entry Template
  • LEA: Alternate TU Library Entry Template (ATU or IMTU)
    • Sometimes LEN articles will be redesignated an LEA article when it has strayed too far from the OTU.
    • This can be a subjective matter decided upon by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team.
  • LE: Basic Library Entry Template, Canon
  • LEN: Non-Canon Library Entry Template
  • MET: Metastory: Articles about Traveller that are not "in-universe" and pertain to rules, authors, and such. May also include non-canon materials, although these are more typically organized under LEA.

Wiki Category Template Overview

Please note that some Traveller data may exist as both a dictionary entry and a library article. Other articles may mix canon, non-canon, and semi-canon elements.

Wiki Category Template Overview
Template/s
...or Tag/s 		Name Canon Class Format OTU Remarks
DE Canon Dictionary Yes Canon Dictionary Yes Published terminology and alien languages.
DEN Noncanon Dictionary No Deuterocanon Dictionary Maybe Not published terminology and alien languages. May or may not be OTU.
LE Canon Library Yes Canon Article Yes Official and canon AAB library articles.
LEA Alternate Library No Apocrypha Article No Fan-created or de-canonized materials. ATU or IMTU. Not OTU.
LEN Noncanon Library No Deuterocanon Article Maybe Not official, non-canon, and/or semi-canon AAB library articles. May or may not be OTU.
MET Metastory n/a n/a Article n/a Metastory, ludography, bibliography, community history, publishers, publications, periodicals, authors, artists, game terms, game mechanics, wiki mechanics, background, etc.

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 Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
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