Triune is a science fiction game. As such, it has to have neet-o technology of the future: ray guns, rocket ships, that sort of thing. But rather than list all the cool ideas I’ve stolen from other science fiction stories that players can use in the game … well, OK, we are doing that. Equipment lists are fun. However, we’re also listing the obsolete, established, and cutting edge forms of technology that affect the setting.
For example, how do the people of Triune travel long distances? There are three ways:
- Obsolete: Bendships – Ships that bend gravity to travel faster than light between planets are still very much in use as military vessels, but their days carrying people or products are over. Smugglers and illegal groups, such as the Papacy-In-Exile, use them to avoid leaving travel records that the Hegemony can access.
- Established: Locks – The system of airlocks connected by stable wormholes is commonplace. Earth is connected to Luna, Mars, even other solar systems through locks. Visit a lockport, get in the right line, step through … and you are on another world. Larger cities such as Tokyo or Tranquility even have locks connecting different neighborhoods as an updated version of mass transit.
- Cutting Edge: Variable Locks – Currently, a lock connects two fixed points in spacetime and the destination cannot be changed. Research is underway to create a lock that can “dial” into any number of locks, allowing travelers to use one lock for many destinations. This is likely many decades away.
This allows GMs some options when creating a world. Is it a poor society on the fringes of settled space? Then the players have to take a “slow” bendship and spend a week getting there. Is the society rich and state of the art? There might be locks on every corner connected to a Grand Central Station.
Also, We think this trio of tech brings the worlds of Triune to life. Just because it’s the future doesn’t mean everybody has everything. Shiny, perfect tech is fine in Star Trek but we prefer something a little more real.
We’ll be posting some more tech trios in the weeks to come. We’d post them all now but we’re still creating them.