Postal Union

A Postal Union is a group of political units associated to a greater or lesser degree for the purpose of communication among citizens, businesses, and governmental units over interstellar distances.

• They are more properly known as Interstellar Postal Unions.

Description (Specifications)

Nearly all star systems are members of one postal union or another. Governments cooperate along their borders in order to allow the efficient flow of communications between them. Members of a postal union forward mail through their astrographic territories (subject, of course, to local security needs, acts of war, and so on) to their proper destinations. On the average, communication is at the speed of the fastest available transportation, about three or four parsecs per week, also known as the speed of travel, the maximum speed of the jump drive on a starship.

Speed of Travel

The Speed of Travel is the maximum speed of interstellar travel that a starship may achieve. In the case of Charted Space in 1105, that practical means that speed of a J-6 rated Jump Drive although a J-4 is the practical maximum for the majority of civilian traffic.

Postal Union Network Systematics

Postal Unions are usually rated by the highest average jump drive used by regular interstellar traffic within a union. Most systems strive for at least a J-4 rating, but for many interstellar backwaters, a J-2 may be the practical limit except for very occasionally higher rated jump traffic.

History & Background

No information yet available.

Technological Overview of Interstellar Postal Unions

• Runners → Smoke Signals → Heliograph → Pony Express → Telegraph → Satellite Communications Network → Interstellar Postal Union → Express Boat Network → Ansible?

Early Interstellar Postal Unions

Despite feverish research into the Ansible and other FTL communication technologies, STL technology is still the maximum speed at which information may travel the starways. This led to starship captains being frequently asked to take message capsules on their interstellar voyages. Eventually custom and tradition developed into the current Postal Union system.

Imperial X-Boat System

The Imperial X-boat arose from the more informal Postal Union system when the Third Imperium realized that it wanted a more formal messenging system to cover the breadth of Imperial Space and beyond.

Non-Imperial Interstellar Message Networks

Almost every Supra-polity has taken note of the great success of the Imperial X-boat system and instituted a similar system of its own within the limits of its own society and civilization.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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• Classic Traveller Library Data (N-Z) (Supplement 11)
• MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia