iFlow

The Järv is one of the newer, interwar trader designs created on Gram.
The vessel is basically an overgunned far trader with a Sword Worlds twist: The bow of the ship is specially armored for last-ditch ramming attacks.
Armoring the front with a few plates more is more of token measure of course. The main defense during an attack lies in the fuel tanks.
Another defensive measure is the aft gun, which is mainly used for point defense and guarding the entrances to the cargo hold.

Frontal attacks are the preferred mode of operation for any Sword Worlds captain worth his sword, so the main armament – a particle accelerator barbette – is fixed forward.
A ship this small with a gun this big has to contend with some tricky energy ressource management. When firing, the big gun drains nearly all other systems, to the point of taking power off life support.
A famous legend tells of a Järv captain withdrawing from battle after several hours because his controls were frozen.
Stories like these are told in the common room, furnished with two long tables for the different ranks of Sword Society.
That appearances are quite relevant can be seen quite well from the royal set of stairs leading down from the bridge. Shrewd captains use this to impress clients after inviting them to the common room.

This is a business travelers version of a long range shuttle. Designed to travel between inner system planets, it offers reasonable comfort for a 30h flight.
It is built around a basic frame that can be easily converted into a tanker with a capacity of 55dt fuel.

Built with Ministry of Colonization subsidies, this ship is built to deal with water worlds. The jump drive, being the heaviest part of the vessel, is located in the lowest level, together with a set of underwater sensors and torpedo/laser turrets. With its range of three parsecs, the Atlantic can get to its specialist customers reasonably fast. The maintenance hatch on this level is specially secured and can only by physically unscrewing several bolts. It is however necessary to get replacement parts to the drive.

Next up from this is the engineering deck primarily containing the power plant and the maneuver drive. In the middle of the ship, least influenced by the movement of the ship, lie the staterooms. This is not a passenger liner, guests have no special accomodations.
The maneuver drives are equipped to deal in a submarine mode as this level is usually under the water line.

The freight deck is an open space with flexible freight clamps sunk into the ground. Three large freight ramps open out onto any quay or seagoing vessel.

Rising (reasonably) high above the waves, the bridge is surrounded by an open deck, inviting crew to relax on it on sunny days. The aft part especially is full-featured to host small partys for possible clients. The turret on the bow is controlled by the middle seat of the ship. Its use is tightly controlled as it is installed directly in front of the bridge sensor array. This design bug is due to the fact that it was installed as an afterthought after feature drift increased the size of the original design by a hundred displacement tons.
To control the other two arcs, two turrets have been installed on the aft port and starboard sides of the vessel. Due to the curvature of the ship, all three turrets have trouble shooting things very close to it, a quirk that is rarely a problem, though. The turrets are meant to protect the ship in case it needs to flee.

Performance: Jump-3, Maneuver-2, 30 days endurance
Cargo: 155dt
Crew: 7 (Pilot/Captain, Pilot, Pilot/Navigator, Engineer, 2nd Engineer, 2 Gunners/Loaders)
Staterooms: 10

My first go at a Traveller ship created with Campaign Cartographer, a 200dt Luxury Trader/Yacht.
Performance: Jump-2, Maneuver-2, 30 days endurance
Cargo: 40,5dt + 10 Low Berths stacked double + 1 Emergency Low Berth
Crew: 3 (Pilot/Captain, Navigator, Engineer) + Stewards as needed
Staterooms: 4 Middle Passage, 6 High Passage
Air Locks: 4

Your basic miner’s den. A couple of rings around a small star. As the Infodata says:

Zaibon    1825| K205 – B000544-B As   512Im G5 III
This asteroid belt was once the largest deposit of copper on record. but the lode has dwindled to virtually nothing. The facilities are deteriorating. [Supplement 3] This asteroid belt was once a major source of copper for industry in the subsector. The lodes are now played out, and the system facilities are deteriorating. [Spinward Marches Campaign, p. 19-20.]

That means a couple of mining platforms and a moon-base near the gas giant. The asteroid base feature the usual – a huge free-floating space dock above and a small settlement in the rocks below. The port covers most things the spacer needs. A fast-food-diner, a bar and a general store.

Or so they say. In reality this pertains only to the actual belts. Zaibon has become home of three different cultures.
First there is the corporate culture, namely Yutani, LIC, a sub-sectorwide mining corporation. They have their regional headquarters here in a sub-surface arcology. Their employees all wear company uniforms and watch company television. But the pay is good so a number of old miners have signe dup with the Yutani.
Secondly, there is the Democratic Union of Zaibon, effectively the local union turned state. Since there are only a couple of thousand miners present at any moment, there’s not much administration to be done anyhow.
They have a long-standing distrust of Yutani. Past mis-deeds such as claim-jumps and sabotage have never been forgotten. In addition stealthed surveillance sats operated by the company have long been a thorn in the eye of traffic security. Nonetheless, as the company is the main buyer in the system, the miners need to cooperate with it.
The DUZ is a pretty rough place betimes, but normally peace is enforced through the union’s enforcers. The collection of domes and starship derelicts has seen better times, but on the inside it is quite comfy. Some of the station’s sectors of course are off limits to the safety-aware inspector.
The third culture is that of Spirelle. Torkai & Sons, a Spirelle-based space research firm has a small research station here. One objective of theirs is the study of the gas giant and the local sun, while the other is the dismantling and re-engineering of derelict vessels from foreign cultures. These have turned up aplenty when the belts still shone bright red. Miners from all over the Marches once came here. Their trash is researched by the local scientists.

The pop-code changed to 4 in the last 50 years due to the depletion of ore.

Sobald ein Traveller aus seinem Raumschiff auf den PlasBeton des Raumhafens tritt, wird er von der Gewaltigkeit des Gasriesen Youghal erschlagen. Viel zu nah und viel zu groß steht er am Himmel, wie ein titanisches Auge hüllt er alles Leben auf dem Planeten in einen eitrig gelben Schein. Schaut der Wanderer dann über den Rand der PlasBetonflächen, sieht er nur eine weite Leere. Das Land ist flach und vergeblich sucht das Auge nach Orientierungspunkten. Allein das lange Youghal-Grass weht im ewigen Wind. Bald jedoch bemerkt der Beobachter Löcher im Gras, Löcher, die sich langsam fortbewegen. Dort befinden sich die Schwarzen Käfer von Youghal, anderthalb Schritt große Insekten mit feucht glänzendem Panzer. Sie ernähren sich vom Grass, nehmen aber auch jede andere verdaubare Nahrung zu sich, weshalb sie häufig auch in die Siedlungen eindringen. Dann werden sie von den Bewohner erschlagen. Ihr übelriechendes Fleisch wird von den Armen verspeist, wobei aber auch manche Reiche einen Geschmack daran gefunden haben. Der Verzehr soll denjenigen mit offenem Geiste Visionen von furchtbarer oder himmlischer Art offenbaren, je nach dessen Herkunft.

Once, the world was known as the Warden of the Marches. It kept vigil on the border to foreign space and allowed no armed ships in its system, be they corsair or raiding party.

Then came the downfall. About 500 years ago, a civil war erupted on Wardn. It escalated to the point where both sides used their ‚ultimate weapon’. But these were not nuclear as on other planets. Instead one sides used an unknown weapon, crumbling the other sides cities, while the other employed one that affected the weather patterns. In any case, both backfired, reducing the planet to a wind-swept, corroded planet of fallen spires.

The atmosphere in the populated areas reflects this landscape. The people live in small clay and brick buildings resistant against the often occuring seismic disturbances. They are a hopeless lot, resigned to being the meek surviving armageddon. A feeling of doom and lost glory hangs over the place.

New technology is not created here. The TL comes merely from the area around the spaceport and some population centers where ancient technology is kept working with the help of off-world engineers. This job is a quite sought-after in some circles of xeno-engineering students as it is well-paid and comes with some very weird technlogy. The Wardn used a mainly heated gas for power transmission while their computer technology depended on miniaturized cog-wheels for calculations.

The government level of 8 only pertains to the immediate area around the spaceport. The rest of the world is mainly ruled by local families or warlords. That means indeed that the spaceport is placed on the aggressive industrial state on this side of the planet.

In the deserts much treasures remains to be found, but also dangers lurk at every corner. The remaining wild-life has fought a fierce fight for survival against the encroaching desert animals but survived only in isolated places. The rest is no Garden Eden.

A curious feature in this damnation are the giant patterns carved into the surface of the desert lands. These strange runes have attracted many scientists but so far, but it could only be determined that they probably weren’t of ancient origin. Local stories date them to a period before their great cataclysm, but these stories are vague.

In any case, the local Scout station has collected some fairly extensive data about the runes and the cataclysm over the time. Their research now focuses to the earlier civil-war and golden age periods.

Der Planet in kurzen Worten:

Der Raumhafen

Der Raumhafen besteht aus einigen Pads, die in den Fels eines ehemaligen Vulkans geschlagen wurden. Sie halten Schiffe bis zu 1000dt. Die Plattformen liegen in einer Höhe von mindestens 80m, damit sie die Wellen bei Sturmfluten nicht erreichen können. Die Flughafengebäude liegen im Inneren des Felsens. Die Extrality-Linie liegt hinter einem umlaufenden Gang, der die einzelnen Landeplattformen miteinander verbindet.
Gebäude/Abteilungen:

Tenelphi damals und heute

Insgesamt etwas über eine Million Menschen leben auf Tenelphi. Eine alte Kolonie aus der Zeit der Erstbesiedlung durch das Imperium. Die Kolonie wurde im im Jahre 127 gegründet, die Kolonisten waren eine kulturellen Abspaltung der Solomani. In den folgenden 100 Jahren kamen noch ca. 5% Vilani hinzu, die der Kultur ihre Traditionsbewußtheit schenkten.
Heutzutage ist das System ein unruhiges Hinterland des Imperiums. Es liegt nur auf einer tertiären Handelsroute und die Bevölkerung ist dementsprechend mit sich selbst beschäftigt. Es haben sich verschiedene Staaten gebildet, sie sind niedergegangen und in neuen Staaten aufgegangen. Während die vorhergehenden drei hundert Jahre relativ stabil waren – die Staaten waren in einem planetaren Bund zusammengeschlossen – haben die vergangenen hundert Jahre plötzlich wieder an politischer Aktivität zugenommen. Die ersten Großprojekte von Megacorporations wurden von der Bevölkerung mit geteilter Meinung empfangen. Gleichzeitig gab es eine Bewegung für die Abschaffung der Erbmonarchie, zweifellos unterstützt von einer Megacorporation. All dies mündete in gewaltsamen Aufständen, die die Einrichtungen der Megacorporations in Schutt und Asche legte sowie zwei Staatswesen, die heutige Republik von Vugrani und das Fürstentum Mogidra, bis ins Mark erschütterten. Mogidra verlor im Nachhall die Freie Stadt Onidjat und ihren König. Dieser wurde ersetzt von einer Reihe von Regenten, die allesamt Spielbälle ihrer Umgebung waren. Damit war das einst größte Reich verkrüppelt.
Die Republik Vugrani, das ehemalige Königreich Mudrivkaloit, wurde direkt durch die Aufstände erschaffen. Es erstand aus der Leiche ihrer Königin, ein Zug, den die anderen Fürstenhäuser nicht angenehm fanden.
Das Phänomen der selbständigen Arcologie, wie durch die Gedriaski s.a. vorgeführt, ist ein recht neues. Die Gedriaski s.a. wurde mit Geld aus Mogidra und Know-How aus Kyonimi erschaffen. Es handelt sich dabei um ein Firma, die ursprünglich im Erzabbau angefangen hat. Die Vision ihres Gründers brachte sie dazu in alle Gebiete der Unterwasser-Wirtschaft einzudringen, bis sie der unumstrittene Marktführer waren. Sie bauten eine riesige Arcologie fernab der anderen Siedlungen und erklärten sich fünf Jahre später für autonom. Die Vision des Firmengründers ist insoweit aufgegangen, daß jede Imperiale Firma jetzt zwangsweise durch Gedriaski s.a. gehen muß, will sie im Meer von Tenelphi arbeiten.
Doch die nächste Stufe ist schon angelegt: Gedriaski hat vermehrt Know-How von anderen Planeten eingekauft und investiert nun mehr in außerweltliche Schürfvorhaben. So haben sie inzwischen auf Tenelphi Eta eine größere Basis errichtet.
Die beiden Ratsstaaten sind das Ergebnis der letzten großen Umwälzungen vor fast 400 Jahren. Sie waren damals Abspaltungen, in denen sich Bürgermeister zu Räten zusammengeschlossen haben und so die Zentralhoheit ihrer Könige ablegten. Die Freie Stadt Onidja wollte es den Räten gleichtun, bekam aber nicht genug Unterstützung zusammen. Am Ende eines langen Kampfes einigte man sich auf ein Unentschieden.

Nationen

Kultur

Behausung
Die Arcologien auf Tenelphi sehen aus wie unregelmäßige Haufen von Blasen, die an Felswände geklebt wurden. Die Städte selbst erstrecken sich dann tief in den Berg. Da viele der Berge auf Tenelphi vulkanischen Ursprungs sind, ist die Hauptenergiequelle des Planeten die Erdwärme. Die Städte liegen zumeist in Tiefen zwischen 50 und 400 Metern. Ein anderer Typus von Stadt ist der einer ausgedehnten Fläche von Druckkuppeln auf einem flachen Teil des Meeresgrunds.
Arbeit
Die Menschen ernten Algen und fangen Fisch. Darüberhinaus haben sie eine recht gut funktionierende Unterhaltungsindustrie. Letzteres wird natürlich von der des nahen Trin überschattet, aber nur Leute, die ständig unterwasser leben, können auch fühlen wie das so ist. Insoweit bringt diese Industrie ein wenig Farbe unter die Kuppeln der Tenelpher. Sendungen über Planeten mit viel Erde haben einen gewissen Witz dort.

Tenalphi is a wilderness planet on the Jump-1 Main towards the Sword Worlds. That about sums it up for the casual passenger.

On a closer look, the system reveals some remarkable features. The curious traveller usually first ventures to the orbital spaceport over Tenalphi Prime. This spaceport, built to TL-14 specs, is a marvel of technology in a sea of lo-tec crudeness.

HiTec Outpost

Being a showcase for Imperial advances was the driving goal behind the construction of Tenalphi High. The port is part of a project to promote trade and the reputation of the Imperium in one go. Since its construction in 1112 it succeeded in both endeavors to the satisfaction of Duchess Delphine of Lunion as well as the Imperial Border Office. In the few years since the final habitat module was added, thousands of travellers have enjoyed the station’s amenities, met sophonts from the strange space beyond the border and generally used it as a neutral ground to conduct business.
Trade Hub

It’s location on an X-Boat route enhanced this role as an interstellar marketplace considerably. Investors from Spirelle and elsewhere use the quicker access to information to their advantage. Likewise the Imperial Border Office uses the station to conduct meetings with Sword Worlders on home ground. But aside from being an informational and diplomatic hub, it is also a transport hub for the region. Many Jump-3 and Jump-4-Passenger Vessels dock at the port to pick up transients from the surrounding systems on their way to far-off planets.
Tenalphi Hospital

With ownership comes responsibility. This gained the TL-14 port certain other duties. For one, it contains the best hospital in three parsecs distance. Naturally, this ensures many visitors coming for aid, most of them endowed with the strangest diseases. As diseases are the natural enemy of enclosed environments, the SpA installed a special quarantined habitat section for the use of Tenalphi Hospital. In addition, only those who are referred by licensed doctors may hope for aid – the security risks posed by biological hazards is too high to simply ignore. Nonetheless, every year some hundred patients without proper papers come to the station to seek help. This is one of the major problems the Port Director faces onstation.
Dagelli & Co., Construction and Maintenance

Another role played by the port is that of an interstellar garage. The station contains the highest rated commercial dockyard in 10 parsecs distance. That means a lot of ships from the Lunion subsector as well as the Borderworlds simply come to get their inspections. The dock is usually too booked on maintenance to accept building contracts, but small craft construction does occur. The skyport’s fleet of TL-14 fighters is entirely self manufactured, for example. This is reflected in their increasingly flamboyant designs. As a matter of fact, the dockyard is operated by Lazarus Dagelli, an engineering help who had originally come from Spirelle. When Ling Standard refused to take the contract for the docks – they were booked but not overbooked in their construction sites at Strouden and Lunion – the SpA sweetened the deal by offering a discount on freight costs for parts. Before the regional director of L/S could react, Dagelli had stormed the Port Director’s office, babbled something about local production, and subsector development and managed to get a deal off the SpA. Within the next two weeks he got several dozen of his wealthiest family members to invest in this scheme. As additional crew he elected to employ Vargr engineers – a sometimes tricky but arguably cheap practice.

Niccolo’s Casino

The fifth and last role of Tenalphi High is pleasure. All the visitors from other worlds need some entertainment during their stay. The skyport has some excellent and some less excellent places to shop, play and sleep. Notably among them is the Tenalphi Casino. Occupying half a habitat module, it features lounges, conference rooms, observation decks and of course several ongoing backroom games.
Of special interest is the BlackBoard on the main promenade. It used to be a provisory wall on which the construction workers happened to write the chances of meeting required deadlines. Today it is an electronic betting display where everyone may place bets of any kind. People offer bets on surgical procedures, merchant runs through pirate infested areas or the chances for another Frontier War. As such it is a pretty good indicator for subsector politics and economics. The ‘Board draws gamblers from all over the subsector and beyond, further bolstering the stations transients.

All in all, there are some 2000 permanent residents and some 4000 transient ones at any moment onstation.

Tenalphi – The Planet

The planet itself is a hot wilderness with a large variety of plant and animal life. It is largely unexplored since preliminary studies found no signs of indegenious sophonts. This does not mean there are no signs of civilization at all. Tenalphi has been sitting on the forefront of interstellar warfare for several hundred years. This accounts for all kinds of remains of starships, bases and more on the surface. Rumour has it there even is an Octagon-shelter somewhere in the wilderness.

Doing wilderness refueling, while being prohibited, is also dangerous. The atmosphere is hardly breathable, containing severe irritants that produce allergic reactions in most sophonts. In addition, the local fauna poses considerable risks to the unprepard visitor. Large predators, predatory bugs and poisonous plants make wilderness travelling a dangerous proposition.

Spirelle government is closely tied to its city structure. This is due to the fact that 90% of the populace lives in one of three great cities. These cities are sectioned up into locs, quarters with the flair of the barrio. The locs are administered by gangs with a political message. Of course, the gangs fight among themselves, something the Spirelle take for granted. The general non-fighting gang members will switch loyalities with the fall of a good argument, so stability has never been a trait in Spirelli politics.

The gangs use streetvehicles of all kinds and weaponry depending on the circumstance. That in turn depends on the type of duel being played. Everything from ‚Get the Flag’ with paint-balls to a One-on-one death duel is permitted. The games have been attributed elaborate meanings and are used for specific instances, like turf claims, votes, or the gladiatorial law system.

Spirelle is also the most vibrant planet in the subsector. With the influx of new technology in the last three hundred years, Spirelle has been transformed from an ancient colony fallen back to medieval times to a thriving, colourful place with an entertainment industry that rivals that of core worlds.

Needless to say, Spirelle enjoys a large number of Vargr tourists and traders that seem to fit right in.