MIGUEL HERSZENBAUN 1

The Sartorius heavy grav tank is a mainstay of the Confederation Army’s lift cavalry forces. This armoured fighting vehicle was developed after the Solomani Rim War based on lessons learned during the Battle of Terra and later post-war conflicts to replace the earlier Ziska medium grav tank. Initial versions entered service in 1053 with the most recent upgrades made in 1095. The Sartorius is a back-to-basics approach built around the most powerful high-energy fusion gun available to defeat the usually- superior Imperial armour. The vehicle has three crew members: a pilot in the hull and a commander and gunner in the turret. The commander remotely operates the VRF Gauss Gun.

The tank is named after General Maya Sartorius, who as a colonel commanded the elite 2nd Solomani Guards (‘Black Rose’) regiment during the Battle of Terra which fought the last major tank battle of the Solomani Rim War. After her release from an Imperial prison hospital Sartorius rose to the position of commanding General of the Confederation Army and was instrumental in rebuilding the Confederation’s shattered ground forces.

Vehicle TL Skill Agility Speed Range Crew /

Passengers Cargo Open? Hull Structure Cost(Cr.) Shipping Size

Sartorius 14 Flyer

(grav) +1 360 Unlimited 2 0.125 tons No 30 30 34,964, 000 30 tons

Armour

Weapons

Weapon Location Damage Range Auto Ammo

VRF Gauss Gun Small Turret 5d6 AP Distant 12 20,000

Fusion Z Gun Large Turret 28d6 Ultra-Destructive Distant No N/A

Other Equipment/Modifications:

Advanced Controls, Autopilot (skill 3), Communications (TL 14, v. distant range, encrypted, tight-beam), Computer/5, Decreased Agility, Electronic Countermeasures (standard), Decoys (six uses), Fire Extinguisher, Fusion Plant, Improved Fire Control (+4), Infrared Masking II, Navigation (advanced), Prismatic Aerosol (six uses), Sensors (TL 14, advanced), Short-Term Life Support, Stealth I, Vacuum Protection, Visual Camouflage I.

BioteChnology

During the Interstellar Wars period the beleaguered Terrans found they had an advantage over the Vilani in the biological sciences. Terran genetic engineers leveraged this by modifying terrestrial crops and domestic animals to produce strains adapted to the native ecosystems of particular alien worlds. Certain varieties proved adaptable across numerous worlds; these galactis sub-species were popular with Human colonists and also marketed by Terran traders. These ventures led to more ambitious programs.

Augments

The average Solomani citizen has the same suspicion of cybernetic and surgical augments that Imperial citizens do. All augmentations up to TL 14 listed in the Traveller Core Rulebook are theoretically available in Solomani space but many are limited to the relatively small number of worlds or organisations that approve of cybernetics.

Biological versions of augments are also available. They are both more common and more controversial in the Solomani Confederation than in the Imperium. ‘Eugenic’ genetic augments that still remain within the Solomani norm are philosophically acceptable. This includes physical characteristic and intelligence augmentation that do not raise values beyond ordinary Human norms. More controversial are genetic augments that add abilities that ordinary Solomani never possessed. Purist factions of the Solomani Movement consider such augmented people to no longer be true racial Solomani especially when the modifications involved inserting animal, alien or synthetic genes.

Nevertheless some Solomani Confederation worlds have extensive populations of significantly genetically-augmented citizens. This is a legacy of various ‘genetic assistance’ colonisation policies that date back thousands of years to the era of the old Terran Confederation. Terra’s desperate struggle to expand its territories during the Interstellar Wars saw it resort to every means possible to settle new worlds including the radical genetic engineering of Humans to adapt them to alien environments. Some of these programs failed but others were successful. This has left dozens of worlds in Solomani Sphere who have populations of ‘racial Solomani’ with both clear Terran ancestry and significant hereditary genetic augmentations. These include worlds where the people have physical characteristic augmentations that increase their strength and endurance to survive in high gravity, digestive systems adapted to better consume alien proteins, cat- like enhanced vision for use on worlds with long nights or dim red suns or even extreme modifications like gills and webbed fingers to survive on water worlds.

The great admiration that the modern Solomani Confederation have for the deeds of old Terra make it difficult for their purists to argue such genetically-altered Solomani are less than ‘true Humans’. They were created during the great heroic era of Terran victories that the Solomani look back to with pride. Thanks to this attitude the Solomani Confederation charter includes legal protections that treat ‘naturally-born’ genetically-augmented Solomani Humans as

Current controversy focuses on whether programs similar to these millennia-old projects should continue in today’s era or whether it was a desperate expedient that that is no longer needed today. Due to purist Solomani Party opposition such augmentation is uncommon in the Confederation. It is limited to a minority of worlds, corporations and Party factions that support genetic engineering. Most of these are expansionist Solomani Party factions that wish to facilitate rapid Solomani development of the rimward frontier by following the old Terran policy of adapting people to alien planets rather than the slower process of changing worlds through terraforming. A fringe group include Solomani Party radicals who believe that it is mankind’s destiny to transcend mere limits of Terran genetics and create perfect, augmented Solomani master race or that genetic engineering can modify lesser Human or alien races to create tractable subject peoples.

Due to the controversial nature of these programs, the Secretariat has passed laws that give the Solomani Confederation’s Ministry of Genetics the authority to impose numerous onerous regulations intended on new augments to ensure they are safe, reliable and relatively uncontroversial. In order for a baby to receive Confederation-certified identity papers that pass them as ‘racial Solomani’ their biological augmentations must be on a Ministry of Genetics-approved list.

The list of approved augments grandfathers in the various millennia-old genetic upgrades that were created by the Terran Confederation and which Confederation citizens on such worlds may be born with. It is far stricter regarding brand new programs or procedures that parents can voluntarily choose for themselves or their children. Any commercially available augments must undergo a lengthy and highly-politicised ‘ethical review’ process under the Ministry of Genetics that can require many years to complete. In addition to safety issues these reviews are infused with Solomani philosophy and include strict rules against excessive use of non-Terran genetic material. Under current policy genes derived from alien life forms that perform essential tasks such as modifying the metabolism to cope with tainted atmospheres or better digest native plants and animals are usually acceptable. Augments for other purposes or created using genetic material derived from non-Human intelligent races, such as Aslan or Dryone are totally illegal. That does not mean that these guidelines are always followed: every few years Solomani Confederation or planetary authorities end up raiding laboratories that the Ministry of Genetics consider damaging to the Solomani race and Solomani cause.

Even if a corporation or research lab does navigate the convoluted maze of permissions required to legally engage in exotic genetic augmentation programs it can still get into trouble. Anyone engaged in or created through new types of genetic augmentation may be boycotted or harassed by purist Party factions and investigated by intrusive media looking to uncover the latest tabloid scandal. At times conflicts between radical pro and anti-genetic engineering factions of the Solomani Party have led to riots, terrorist attacks by militant groups and

Solomani spacecraft are very similar to those of the Imperium. Indeed, many standard Imperial designs had their origins in the Solomani Sphere.

Encounters

Space encounters in the Solomani Confederation are generally similar to those in the Imperium and the same encounter tables can be used.

Military patrols may be from either the Confederation Navy or the world’s Navy Home Guard. Navy Home Guard patrols are often funded by multi-world electoral districts and thus may have equipment and ships of a higher TL than the local world or contain personnel drawn from several nearby worlds.

Solomani warships routinely conduct boarding operations to check ship identities and confirm individual identity papers. As the Solomani Confederation believes itself to be surrounded by enemies and rivals, foreign ships are subject to rigorous identity checks. So are some domestic vessels, especially if there is tension or trade disputes between rival Confederation worlds! During searches, Solomani Confederation military personnel often segregate foreign or domestic crew or passengers on the basis of race: ‘everyone of Solomani descent, into the lounge; all others into the cargo hold’. Non-Solomani tend to be subject to less polite treatment and more invasive search procedures. Confederation Navy vessels may also carry SolSec agents or Ministry of Justice personnel, who will occasionally conduct their own checks in addition to those of the Navy. ‘You have been cleared by the Navy, but SolSec is still conducting its own investigation’ is a phrase no merchant captain likes to hear. The Navy is looking for pirates and terrorists, the Home Guard for smugglers and SolSec for dissidents or traitors.