In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 531):
Okay, I make this suggestion
very weakly ('cuz it's kinda
lame)...
So, when we pick this game back up, it's "2 years later". As for the "alien investigation" (and the apparently related "disappearance" of the prisoners off of planet Coventry) -- we say that after the stuff that was found on Duncinae, and maybe some other follow-up on our way to Concorde, the trail suddenly went cold.
In the intervening months, we've found the occassional tidbit of data, but nothing significant. And, suspisciously, on a few occassions it almost seemed like "someone" had been there before us and "sanitized" the scene.
This would bring us to "now", where we still have an interest in the events and are "keeping our sensors hot" for any info, but we're starting to think there really is somebody out there working in competition.
GM can then do something, or not, with that at his convenience.
From memory I would suggest 2 potential "rivals" in this endeavor -- I forget his name, but the Rich Guy from the auction on Duncinae. For whatever reasons of his own, he's looking into these "aliens" and their involvement in the "disappearances" from Coventry (Matter Transmission tech, maybe?)--and, of course, he could be coming at all this from the direction of looking for "lost" Iltharan Tech/Treasures (There
was an Iltharan "research station" on Coventry...What's the
Aliens involvement?)
Also! Recall that, after we escaped the "Pyramid Ship", we went straight to the Imperial Scouts. We "sold" them all the data we'd recorded--we recieved money and signed non-Disclosure contracts.
PLUS, "Active-Duty Scout Serge" had been aboard for a
couple days longer than us ...
PLUS, Serge's
Soutship had been aboard the "pyramid",
as well! Who knows what
it's sensors may have recorded
automatically? And we
left that ship
with the Scout Service...
On another issue:
Yeah, back at the time, Vonon didn't want to get involved with all the "business" and "legal crap" of being a Director for a "corporation" -- his interests were exclusively "running a starship" and "bumming around the galaxy".
Vonon has an
appreciation for Accountants ... he just doesn't wanna
be one.
And on
yet another issue:
Nathaniel Harken:
Hmmm, something that player knows about, but Nathaniel not yet, is the drug samples being researched. Something to slide some small personal batches through? Or would that be Medical Supplies or Biochemicals instead of pharmaceuticals?
Vonon Ronkunu msg #515:
If you're talking about the drug samples we got from the old Iltharan research center on Coventry...we ain't got those, anymore!
We licensed them out to a BioChem company on Invermory -- formulas & all. Once they work out those formulas & go into production, we start getting a return on our investment.
Nathaniel Harken:
Yes that is what I was talking about. I also saw though some discussion of items from that list that would not go into production. Things that the group thought were undesirable to have out in the wild, or that would bring down the wrath of the Imperium. Some more that might be able to be done in small batches for personal use. If the right 'secure' facilities were available to manufacture them. The described Lab Ship would seem to qualify. Once the research and testing is done to make them actually manufacturable.
Sylvester Jinx:
That's true, some of the drugs were borderline 'legal' and couldn't be sold. The Psi drugs were part of that, not sure what else was held out.
Admittedly, the
biggest reason that
we did not pursue the development of some of those formulas -- and we
did/do have some
lab notes that indicated that
a few of the formulas had achieved
some level of success,
800 years ago -- was because, at the time, we did not have anyone with the skills to do it.
That said ... while I like to
believe that
all of us have generally "relaxed" and "open-minded" personalities, I'd point out that
a handful of us on the Crew have a background (
one way or
another) in
Law Enforcement -- we're ex-Cops. AND that we were (for the
most part) "good cops"...
The stuff that was "illegal" we talked about.
Most of us
didn't agree with the whole "psionics is evil" concept, so we had
no issues in
ignoring the Laws about it (by the way, you
did catch the
subtle hinting that the "bioresearch" company we licensed these formulas to
was "associated" with an Underground Psionic Institute on Invermory,
didn't you?
^_^)
As for the other stuff, we chose
not to inflict it upon the universe -- even though
some of it, while
potentially useful to layabouts with
questionable ethics -- like
us -- the lab notes often indicated that there were some
side effects that just plain
scared the hell out of us, so we
passed on
them (Combat Drugs that turn you psychotic didn't sound like "A Fun Time").
Plus, as I recall, there were a few drugs looking into
controlling people or
forcing information out of them, or
painful physical augmentation. Remember,
these guys were research scientists of the
Iltharan Empire!
Y'know, the Traveller
equivalent of
North Korea!
"Friends of Humaniti" they were not...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:41, Fri 11 Aug 2023.