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Firefly Traveller - From 2004 to 2517… The first bit
Wednesday, February 4, 2004

From 2004 to 2517… The first bit

Once again, we have to make some assumptions. This time it’s about technology and how fast we will progress. Traveller has a pretty well defined set of Technology Levels ranging from 0 (stone age) to 21 (Star Trekish). The rules were originally designed with Tech Level 15 as the highest level in the game, but lower levels are also possible game settings. The idea is that the core will be at a higher level then outer systems (kind of like Firefly).

Right now, in 2004, we are on the edge of Tech Level 7 (deep space probes) and 8 (Space Shuttles and orbital stations). Basically, we have moved from TL5 around 1900, to Tech Level 6 in the middle of the century, to Tech level 7 now. That’s a rate of 1 Tech Level every 50 years. So, let’s just keep that rate of progress as we build the future history for Firefly. There only place where there is a real disagreement between Firefly and Traveller Tech Levels is in terraforming (which Traveller says is TL16, but Firefly needs a lot earlier).

(Note, there is a lot of different fields of technology and tech levels, so this is a gross oversimplification, but there just isn’t space to go through every form of technology, and that’s not really necessary here to build the back story.)

So, here is a rough timeline for Firefly meshed with the Traveller TLs

2004-TL7

2050- TL8 Initial experimentation with Jump drive leads to in system jumps in Sol system

2100- TL9 Jump 1 and Stutterwarp achieved. Initial exploration of near star systems. 30-20-10 solution for future colonization established.

2150- TL10 Terraforming begins in near star systems.

2200- TL11 Jump 2 achieved. Terraforming successful in near star systems. First stage (agricultural development) of colonization begins.

2250- TL12 Jump 3 achieved. Second stage (urbanization and raw material exploitation) colonization on near star systems.

2300- TL13 Jump 4 achieved. Third stage (industrialization) colonization on near star systems.

2350- TL 14 Jump 5 achieved. Magnetic field crisis on Earth (this is a real issue, as the Earth’s magnetic field is weakening significantly and quickly, but scientist think it will not effect life here for about a millennium, so I’m assuming it happens three times faster for dramatic reasons).

2350-2450 The Exodus. Roughly half of Earth’s population is evacuated from the planet. War devastates the population that remains. By 2450 Solar wind has made Earth mostly uninhabitable. Crash program of terraforming begins to create permanent homes for refugees from Earth. Most Earth refugees are living in large temporary camps.

2450 TL15 Jump 6 achieved. Beginning of “The Golden Age.” The core worlds grow rapidly with massive supply of cheap labor. General co-operation pervades, the Alliance takes form. Crash terraforming campaign continues.

2500-2517 Unrest leading to the Unification War. The Alliance wins, establishing dual sovereignty over human space.

Okay, so this gives a framework to flesh out. There are still some issues to be addressed. How did the two current spheres (Sino and Anglo) come into being? Why don’t they seem to be well integrated (there is clearly a lot of cultural cross over, but few Chinese in the Anglosphere)? What were the tensions that lead to the Unification War? Why not terraform in the Sol system?

That’s the meat (at least some of it) to put on this skeleton.

Next, Exploration and Terraforming of the near systems.

COMMENTS

Friday, February 13, 2004 3:10 AM

KUGELBLITZ


Perhaps the total ethnic chinese look by 2450 isn't what we think it is. Certainly positing a strong culture taking precendent could imply some kind of meshing or absorption of the other cultures around it, so future (Han?) culture could be a great melting pot. True blood racial profiles could mark the Alliance aristocrats in the core, with everyone else falling away from that look by degrees, and makeup or fashion attempting to bridge or enhance the differences-corewise. Those who managed to get far away from the Exodus could have become part of fringe cultures that eschew the Alliance values and would also seem more Anglo/Euro/Indian or whatever as their hallmark, despite their degrees of Absorption into the Alliance. Taking the Civil War metaphor into account here, Vicksburg did not celebrate the fourth of July until the 1960s, I believe. Similarly, just because you lose the war doesn't mean you put on the face, customs and clothes of the conquerors. Hence the demarcation could be extreme in places.

Thursday, February 5, 2004 4:22 PM

FORRESTWOLF


I'm sure this has been covered elsewhere, but since I'm new...

Are we sure there IS FTL in Firefly? The whole introduction blurb changed during the series - the early episodes clearly referred to the show as taking place in a "new solar system, with hundreds of planets" or something like that. As a researcher in electric propulsion, I found this fascinating - was Whedon actually positing the idea that there was some sort of nearby solar system with LOTS of planets, thereby eliminating the need for FTL for a long time?

Then they changed the intro blurb - it became "a new galaxy with hundreds of planets", or something like that. Which means he changed his mind, or else his technical consultant(s) explained the difference between a solar system and a galaxy.

Am I the only one who noticed this, and interpreted it that way? Please point me to an earlier discussion if you get a chance!

Sorry for the aside - you seem to be going with FTL. On THAT subject, I'd say I have to agree with Stutterwarp as the way to go. Regardless, the idea of taking a few days to a week to get to the destination fits well with Firefly.


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