'Imperial Culture' (non-canonista)

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by RainOfSteel

Also snagged. (I will probably be borrowing a bunch from here on.)

I will have mine set up along the Concourse of Monuments* north of Imperial Palace.

* A gigantic concourse over ten kilometers long filled with various monuments and museums dedicated to the history of Charted Space and the Imperium. My Imperial Ministries Plaza is on one end, and the Imperial Services Plaza is on the other. Dulinor's body rested in state here in the largest viewing hall before his body was sent home after he was assassinated.

Monuboxes. These are dedicated computers containing data stored in the Concourse of Monuments. As they are designed to handle an extreme amount of data, they are the size of a palmtop PC or larger. They can be linked to almost any PC though though larger or more sophisticated devices will be needed to actually download all the data. They range from the generic which can be bought at prices available to most tourists, to highly decorated systems with software and hardware that are to expensive for use other then as diplomatic gifts. It is not unknown for merchants to buy several monuboxes and sell them far away as speculative cargo.

Adventure thread: The House of x and the House of y are in the midst of a feud. There is a leak in the Xers household. An Xer agent gives the PCs a Monubox and tells them to deliver it to the Xer spymaster telling the source of the leak.

Variant: the PCs no nothing about the feud and are just mules.
Variant: The PCs are being blackmailed into carrying the message.

[RainOfSteel]

Now we're getting down into adventure material. Better and better.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Hmmm...maybe some go to one of those private Imperial estates on Sylea/Capital. That way, the retired agent is close at hand in case the Emperor needs to call him back into service.

Sounds like the 3I version of "The Village" from "The Prisoner".

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Sounds like the 3I version of "The Village" from "The Prisoner".

A bit like that, yes. The idea echoes things that were actually done by the Roman Emperors and some later European monarchs.

[Whitestreak]

My only regret about the Grey Hats is that the original PCs never ended up in the same area with them again. There was sooo much possibilities they could have encountered if they hadn't gone to Capital that one trip... ;)

PCs... Can't trust 'em to go where they should...

[jason taylor]

Cleon's Gazelle

An animal bred for high-class hunt's. It is in fact clearly mammalian and clearly related to the Terran Gazelle. It was known in the days of the Zira Sirka and no explanation is proferred for this other then "Ancients mucking about"-that ubiquitous explanation for such anomalies. It goes by many names and is found widely throughout the Imperium and beyond but the most common is Cleon's Gazelle because of the number who were hunted and captured at the coronation.

These animals are bred and trained specifically for princely hunts and are noted for their swiftness and cunning. Their expense is to great for them to be slain; they are only hunted with tranq darts. They are also at birth, fitted with a transponder implant and another implant to shock into unconsciousness to allow the rancher to find them again.

The lineage of notable Gazelles is traced meticulously in the manner of the most famed Terran racing horses.

Cleon's Gazelles are almost never eaten because of the expense involved. When they are they are served at a noble feast and considered an ostentatious display of power.

[combatmedic]

Eek, that's ghoulish!
Pretty cool, though.

Hunting as a noble sport certainly makes sense in my view of the Traveller Universe.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Eek, that's ghoulish!
Pretty cool, though.

Hunting as a noble sport certainly makes sense in my view of the Traveller Universe.

Actually, I got the idea from DS9 Captive Pursuit. Except in that one the game trained to be hunted was actually sophant and it was to be killed in the process which makes it really ghoulish. This is no more ghoulish then any other sport involving animals as usually the Gazelle is taken home and given a nice meal as a reward for giving good sport.

[Astromancer]

Genetically engineered or even uplifted animals for hunting would be a source of plot hooks. The Count loves to hunt, and he loves a challenge, so he's had his biotechs give his favorite preditors human level intellegence. The Count is having a ton of fun, the peasants hate it.

The uplifted preditors are deadlier by far, and the Count's wild and reckless hunts are running people down and destroying property. Especially bad is the fact that the uplifted preditors know that leading the Hunt pack and party through villages and farms both gives the preditors a better chance to escape and weakens the defenses of their prey later.

The Count is a disgrace to the nobility, but local politics, especially the vanity and reactionary fury of several highly placed young nobles who are fanatically anti-Solomani, shield the Count.

Something has to give, but what?

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Genetically engineered or even uplifted animals for hunting would be a source of plot hooks. The Count loves to hunt, and he loves a challenge, so he's had his biotechs give his favorite preditors human level intellegence. The Count is having a ton of fun, the peasants hate it.

The uplifted preditors are deadlier by far, and the Count's wild and reckless hunts are running people down and destroying property. Especially bad is the fact that the uplifted preditors know that leading the Hunt pack and party through villages and farms both gives the preditors a better chance to escape and weakens the defenses of their prey later.

The Count is a disgrace to the nobility, but local politics, especially the vanity and reactionary fury of several highly placed young nobles who are fanatically anti-Solomani, shield the Count.

Something has to give, but what?

"Count X has had a sudden heart failure on his visit to Capital. His family and friends are gathering for services in a week. No one knows the cause of his condition..." -Imperial News Blog