GURPS Traveller Ringworld

[Werner]

I have some ideas for an alternate Traveller Universe that is reachable from the OTU. I imagine you are familiar with the Adventure ANNIC NOVA. The way it was presented, was as something alien an unfamiliar to the OTU, and then it was retconned as a Vilani Starship, its jump drive is quite unique, is doesn't require jump fuel, instead it runs on solar power, but what if it wasn't a jump drive, but a wormhole drive instead?

What if the ANNIC NOVA or something like it originated from a parallel universe instead? One that is one million years in the future, it was built by humans that never developed the jump drive, or did they?

The civilization that built the ringworld, felt that it was important to keep all of humanity in the Solar System, and they were helped in this by the lack of habitable planets, there were no Ancients or extraterrestrial civilizations anywhere in the galaxy, so they build a ringworld to house all the human, and then something happened, civilization collapsed one million years ago.

Genetic engineering, and the vastness of the ringworld produced a number of intelligent species, many derived from human stock, others are uplifted animals such as the vargr and aslan. Some centaurs and merfolk as well. One group of near humans from a newly arisen civilization on the ringworld invented the jump drive, they jumps to other star systems and found a bunch of lifeless balls or rock, gas giants, and icebergs, there was nothing interesting to explore or colonize, and then someone invented the wormhole drive, it was a cousin to the jump drive, but it required a wormhole.

The wormhole connected their universe to the OTU, they jumped and they fell victim to a mysterious disease for which they had no immunity. The PCs find this starship explore it, and while they are on board it jumps right back to the ringworld universe to the ringworld system. It will take them sometime to figure out how to jump back, but in the meantime there is a ringworld to explore.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

That other universe is not OTU. That itself is not a problem, its a parallel universe So do as you like.

The problems are the laws of physics and technology are well defined in the OTU and may not be compatible with your vision of how things work in that alternate universe. But that other verse is yours to do with. Once those outsiders come to the OTU, things may not be so natural for them. Changing the laws of physics in the OTU itself means its not THE OTU, but simply another alternate universe that looks more similar to our favorite grognard home.

Aslan? Sure, culturally the might be the same with that honor warrior culture. Ringworld created analogues but not likely to be naturally genetically compatible with with OTU Aslan. OTU Aslan evolved naturally on their homeworld with different DNA or what passes for it. Also that territory instinct. Why would you 'geneer that in? You now made them highly competitive species that won't really ever play nice.
Vargr? Ya OK you got us there.
Mermen? Could be analogues to minor human race, Luriani.

 

[Werner]

That other universe is not OTU. That itself is not a problem, its a parallel universe So do as you like.

The problems are the laws of physics and technology are well defined in the OTU and may not be compatible with your vision of how things work in that alternate universe. But that other verse is yours to do with. Once those outsiders come to the OTU, things may not be so natural for them. Changing the laws of physics in the OTU itself means its not THE OTU, but simply another alternate universe that looks more similar to our favorite grognard home.

Aslan? Sure, culturally the might be the same with that honor warrior culture. Ringworld created analogues but not likely to be naturally genetically compatible with with OTU Aslan. OTU Aslan evolved naturally on their homeworld with different DNA or what passes for it. Also that territory instinct. Why would you 'geneer that in? You now made them highly competitive species that won't really ever play nice.
Vargr? Ya OK you got us there.
Mermen? Could be analogues to minor human race, Luriani.

Let's just say they resemble those races, some of it was genetic engineering, much of it was just natural evolution, one million years has passed since this thing was built, it has 3 million times the surface area of the Earth, that means 3 million times the genetic mutations, the flora and fauna, some of which has reached sapient, is quite diverse, about as diverse as a space opera galaxy, and all of it stems from Earth. There are AIs inhabiting the ringworld which maintain the structure and life support. There is some unusual form of matter buried within the floor material with the bonding strength of an atomic nucleus. It has superconducting properties, blocks neutrinos and Mason beams, it even blocks psy powers such as teleport, telekinesis, telepathy and the like. There is no longer a single civilization inhabiting the ringworld, but many. A few are technological, but most are not. The walls of the ringworld are lined with giant bussard ramjets, some humans have ventured afar and returned, the source of modern humans are from those slower than light starships. Humans have evolved into many different things, but unevolved humans have returned from the stars and recolonized parts of the ringworld. Visitors from the OTU wouldn't draw too much attention.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

The real issue is what the OTU humans have "in-universe" knowledge of and capability of using, repairing, or reverse engineering. GURPS 3rd Ed and even 4th Ed are not really consistent once you talk of Ultra-Tech. But the OTU is.

The latest version of Traveller (Traveller 5) assigns 33 Tech Levels. No one stays at TL 33 for long because the species soon transforms itself beyond all need of technology (or even corporeality) or devolves and/or destroys itself. Along the way the following technologies are developed.

TL 31 - Pocket Universes (accssible via Portals)
TL 28 - Reality Drive
TL 27 - Ringworlds
TL 26 - Stasis (fields, globes,, etc.)
TL 24 - Portals (like Stargate only same universe)
TL 23 and 24 Goos (Nanites/Nanotechnology)
TL 19 Matter - Energy - Matter Transport (requires stations at both ends)
TL 17 Antimatter

The highest TL society in Charted Space are at TL 17. They are somewhat xenohobic artificial beings. Then the Darrians (and perhaps others) at TL 16.

There are no ringworlds within Charted Space. The previously published ones were de-canonized out of existence. Second, except for the rare individual who survives these technologies, no character in Charted Space has ever seen them or built one.

The point of all this is to point out what these OTU characters can use, repair, or bring back.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Let's just say they resemble those races, some of it was genetic engineering, much of it was just natural evolution, one million years has passed since this thing was built, it has 3 million times the surface area of the Earth, that means 3 million times the genetic mutations...

I'm have read Larry Niven's Ringworld series and many other Known Space books a few times over the decades. I also bought the Ringworld RPG and the Companion when they both came out 25+ years ago and the two Ringworld games. I know all about scrith metal, the underlying superconductor grid and rishathra

I forgot you can change YOUR universe as you wish, sorry. But how does the OTU TL work out for you?

 

[mike wightman]

Well the OTU has magic if you visit Thieves World

 

[Nathan Brazil]

He is not likely to answer, but what does Don McKinney say on the matter? :devil:

To our absent friends. 'tis is the season Mexicans raise our glasses to the departed. :coffeesip: Maybe they will visit this week.

 

[Werner]

The real issue is what the OTU humans have "in-universe" knowledge of and capability of using, repairing, or reverse engineering. GURPS 3rd Ed and even 4th Ed are not really consistent once you talk of Ultra-Tech. But the OTU is.

The latest version of Traveller (Traveller 5) assigns 33 Tech Levels. No one stays at TL 33 for long because the species soon transforms itself beyond all need of technology (or even corporeality) or devolves and/or destroys itself. Along the way the following technologies are developed.

TL 31 - Pocket Universes (accssible via Portals)
TL 28 - Reality Drive
TL 27 - Ringworlds
TL 26 - Stasis (fields, globes,, etc.)
TL 24 - Portals (like Stargate only same universe)
TL 23 and 24 Goos (Nanites/Nanotechnology)
TL 19 Matter - Energy - Matter Transport (requires stations at both ends)
TL 17 Antimatter

The highest TL society in Charted Space are at TL 17. They are somewhat xenohobic artificial beings. Then the Darrians (and perhaps others) at TL 16.

There are no ringworlds within Charted Space. The previously published ones were de-canonized out of existence. Second, except for the rare individual who survives these technologies, no character in Charted Space has ever seen them or built one.

The point of all this is to point out what these OTU characters can use, repair, or bring back.

Well for one thing, this ringworld's atmosphere is 10% helium-3, which can be used in fusion reactors, it is also chemically inert, has no odor, you can breathe it in and out and not even know it. When the ringworlders took apart Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, they just left helium-3 to be part of the atmosphere, it will work in a Traveller fusion reactor, since protons hydrogen is harder to fuse than helium-3, that could be of some value. There are parts of the shadow squares (at Mercury's orbital radius the resemble parts of a gigantic jump drive, other parts look like apparatus to induce a solar flare. There appears to be s jump grid on the underside of the ringworld.

 

[Werner]

The real issue is what the OTU humans have "in-universe" knowledge of and capability of using, repairing, or reverse engineering. GURPS 3rd Ed and even 4th Ed are not really consistent once you talk of Ultra-Tech. But the OTU is.

The latest version of Traveller (Traveller 5) assigns 33 Tech Levels. No one stays at TL 33 for long because the species soon transforms itself beyond all need of technology (or even corporeality) or devolves and/or destroys itself. Along the way the following technologies are developed.

TL 31 - Pocket Universes (accssible via Portals)
TL 28 - Reality Drive
TL 27 - Ringworlds
TL 26 - Stasis (fields, globes,, etc.)
TL 24 - Portals (like Stargate only same universe)
TL 23 and 24 Goos (Nanites/Nanotechnology)
TL 19 Matter - Energy - Matter Transport (requires stations at both ends)
TL 17 Antimatter

The highest TL society in Charted Space are at TL 17. They are somewhat xenohobic artificial beings. Then the Darrians (and perhaps others) at TL 16.

There are no ringworlds within Charted Space. The previously published ones were de-canonized out of existence. Second, except for the rare individual who survives these technologies, no character in Charted Space has ever seen them or built one.

The point of all this is to point out what these OTU characters can use, repair, or bring back.

In theory you can bring back the entire ringworld along with its Sun, there is evidence of an astronomical scale jump drive capable of producing a jump bubble 1 au in radius, a wormhole drive is very similar to a jump drive, all it needs is a wormhole and a few minor modifications, that is what the engineers and scientists would tell the PCs after examining the mission data upon their return, of course this is in theory. The tech level of this thing is very high and it is one million years old. (The Niven version of the ringworld had a hyperdrive built by the Ringworld engineers to save it from attack by Earth forces using antimatter weapons.) In theory it could make a wormhole jump to the OTU carrying everything within a 1 au radius of the Sun, which would include the ringworld, the shadow squares, and everything within the radius.

In order to make the jump, the 10 shadow squares would expand, closing the gaps between them to protect the ringworld from the Solar flare they are about to magnetically induce, the Sun increases to ten times its normal brightness and produces a tremendous solar wind of protons creating the jump bubble, and the ringworld will spend a week in darkness while passing through the stretched out wormhole. Of course getting the AIs to do this is another matter. The Jump drive was built as a defensive measure. A very good story reason needs to be supplied before this would happen. The AUs normally don't interfere unless the survival of the ringworld itself is at stake.

 

[Werner]

Most of the tech on the ringworld is comparable to the OTU, its in another universe mostly to minimize the effects on the OTU, the ability to access this universe is through one ship with one wormhole only, so there is a bit of a bottleneck in getting there, the PCs will be on their own when they arrive. It is one of many universes rhe Imperium is investigsting, the one ship bottleneck prevents it from colonizing or conquering these places, so for now the objective is pure science, maybe later when it learns to clone wormholes might it try to conquer alternate Earths, but not yet.

 

[inexorabletash]

There are no ringworlds within Charted Space. The previously published ones were de-canonized out of existence.

Leenitakot (Hinterworlds 1432) was not decanonized.

 

[whulorigan]

Leenitakot (Hinterworlds 1432) was not decanonized.

As I recall, it is an "unfinished" Ancients' Ringworld.

It is mentioned in:

• CT Adv. 12: Secret of the Ancients
• CT Alien Module 5: Droyne

 

[Werner]

it is just a bit of high tech space junk, now my version of the ringworld was build in a parallel universe in our Solar System where there were no Ancients except for humans. In a way this makes more sense than Niven's alien built ringworld with humans on it.

 

[whulorigan]

In a way this makes more sense than Niven's alien built ringworld with humans on it.

The hominids on Niven's Ringworld and the hominids of Earth's paleontological record had a common source in the Niven Universe: They both originated as Pak-hominids which evolved on a planet close to the Galactic Core and were galactically spread by Pak-Protectors. But because Tree-of-Life required an abundance of Thallium (present on the Pak-homeworld and transplanted to Ringworld when they built it, but rare on Earth), the plant died out on Earth (and was in limited supply on Ringworld) and Earth's Pak-Hominids (= Homo habilis) remained in a Pak-Breeder state for their entire lives (well past the age when they should have succumbed to Tree-of-Life hunger and transformed into Pak-Protectors who would have weeded out genetic mutants/variants among their own descendants). Thus, the Earth Pak-Breeders were free to evolve thru natural selection and eventually ended with Homo sapiens as the sole remaining descendant of the original Pak-hominids. Various groups on Ringworld likewise evolved in different directions and became the plethora of hominid species that were found there.

 

[Werner]

That's a complicated explanation as to how hominids ended up on a giant alien artifact, requires ancient astronauts, in my case, I just set it in the distant future, and invoke a parallel universe so we can have an outsider perspective. Also to make the Ringworld plausibly "alien" he gave it 30-hour days.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

The hominids on Niven's Ringworld and the hominids of Earth's paleontological record had a common source in the Niven Universe: They both originated as Pak-hominids which evolved on a planet close to the Galactic Core and were galactically spread by Pak-Protectors....

In addition, most "earth-llike" planets in Known Space presumably are derived from the same elementary DNA. The Slavers seeded their planet estates with the gift species provided by their Pnuctipun servitor race. They all had to be compatible to some extent, as the Thrint liked eating all of them. When the Slaver War killed of everyone (except the Bandersnatch), anything else left alvive came from that same helix.

 

[Werner]

In addition, most "earth-llike" planets in Known Space presumably are derived from the same elementary DNA. The Slavers seeded their planet estates with the gift species provided by their Pnuctipun servitor race. They all had to be compatible to some extent, as the Thrint liked eating all of them. When the Slaver War killed of everyone (except the Bandersnatch), anything else left alvive came from that same helix.

Good ideas to keep in mind, this ringworld however is a future ringworld, instead of there being an Ancient Precusror race, humans are the Ancient Precursor race, they evolved on Earth which has presumably been dismantled to build this ringworld or has been moved to another system, there are Earth like planets spread throughout the galaxy, many of the ecosystems in these have been derived from Terran stock, although many of the species appear quite alien due to the environments they evolved in, they are compatible with Earth life, and have DNA in their cells.