Traveller: Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 2

by Martin J. Dougherty

Aliens of Charted Space 2 details three of the most misunderstood cultures of Charted Space – the Solomani, the Droyne and the Hivers. Despite the fact they are the original humans, the Solomani are confusing to outsiders and often portrayed as despicable in Imperial propaganda. The Droyne and the Hivers are alien in both physical form and way of thinking. Both make many outsiders uneasy – and with good reason.

This book contains rules for creating Travellers from each of these alien races, High Guard additions and new ships, and Central Supply Catalogue entries for their new equipment.

The Solomani

The Solomani are the original humans, left behind on Earth when the Ancients transplanted Humaniti throughout Charted Space. The Solomani are convinced of their own superiority and the ‘Call to Greatness’ felt by all their people. They have much to be proud of; inventing the jump drive and conquering the vast Vilani Imperium to name but two of their achievements. Yet there is a darker side to Solomani society, with the ever-present agents of Solomani Security reporting on the words and deeds of every citizen. Aliens of Charted Space Volume 2 reveals the motivation of the Solomani people and why they genuinely believe they are better than everyone else.

The Droyne

Scattered all across Charted Space are communities of Droyne; some voyaging among the stars and others sharpening rocks to use as tools. The Droyne would be among the most enigmatic of all the people in Charted Space even if they were not known to be a remnant of the Ancients. Droyne do not explain their often bizarre actions, but there must be a logic to them. This book reveals the secrets of this strange alien race.

The Hivers

The most physically alien of all people in Charted Space, the Hivers are renowned for their ability to manipulate others into doing their bidding. They are alleged to have manipulated whole starfaring societies, altering the course of their history. Apparently emotionless yet ever-curious, the Hivers control a huge federation in which many races serve a role created for them by the Hivers. Aliens of Charted Space Volume 2 shows the motivations and long-term plans of the Hive Federation.

Genres: Science Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published December 18, 2020

About the author

Hailing from northeast England, Martin J Dougherty is a professional writer specialising in military history. He has been at times a games designer, an engineer, a self-protection instructor, a teacher and a defence analyst. Martin has published a range of books covering topics as diverse as self-protection, medieval warfare and space flight, and has addressed international conferences on anti-shipping missiles and homeland security issues.

Martin's interests include martial arts and fencing. He has coached Fencing, Ju-Jitsu, Self-Defence and Kickboxing for many years at the University of Sunderland, and has competed to national level as a fencer. As a martial artist he holds black belts in Combat Ju-Jitsu, Nihon Tai-Jitsu and Self-Defence. Martin is a Senior Assessor with the Self-Defence Federation and an IL1 instructor/assessor with the Britsh Federation for Historical Swordplay, specialising in the Military Sabre and the Smallsword.

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half of this book is great, the other half is a dumpster fire. The sections on Droyne and Hivers do the job they need to do to make characters both playable as PCs and as NPCs. Arguably two of the strangest races, at least among the major races, of the Traveller setting. There could have been a little bit more here, especially for the Droyne, but what is presented is good.

The reason that the Droyne and Hivers don’t get more pagecount is that fully half the book is dedicated to the third race: the Solomani. Mechanically, what is here is fine, it’s in the “fluff” that things go off the rails. The Solomani are racists. They have always been presented as racists in the past. The “Solomani Cause” that their entire government and society is based on is a statement that Humans of Sol are better than any other Humans or aliens. This results in overt discrimination against any non Solomani within the Solomani Confederation.

Taking a society like this and presenting it in such a way that players can play characters from it requires careful handling. Mongoose is capable of that careful handling, as they showed in their book on the Glorious Empire, another problematic society based ultimately on bigotry. For whatever reason, they chose to punt on this one and instead of handling the topic carefully, decided to say “nah, they really aren’t all that bad.”

This is a quote from the section on “Playing a Solomani”: “The foremost aspects of Solomani culture come not from contempt for other races but from pride in their own.” A. That doesn’t matter to the people being discriminated against, it’s still racism. B. They contradict that with descriptions of Solomani using holidays as an excuse to march intimidatingly through non-Solomani districts. C. This kind of bullshit is straight out of white supremacist literature.

The book literally says they aren’t ‘Space Nazis’, but they are! The Solomani Confederation is clearly a fascist government complete with a secret police and surveillance society based on racist ideology. It needs to be presented as such, and not whitewashed.

So, if I could split this book in half I’d give the Solomani part one star, and the remaining parts five stars. As it is I’ve compromised on 2 stars, because what is bad here is really pretty terrible.