RICE Paper: Vincennes

Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 13:41:38 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
Subject: RICE Paper:  Vincennes

RICE Paper #DB-1122:  Vincennes

With all the hubbub about "imminent TL-17" Vincennes, I thought I'd pop this 
description in of the Vincennes in _my_ campaign.  I've tried to remain as true 
as possible to the original write-up of the system that was presented in an old 
MegaTraveller Journal.  I've created a pretty detailed set of additional 
background material since Vincennes is the focal system of my campaign.  If 
anyone's interested in any of it, let me know.



Vincennes System

Vincennes (Vincennes:  Deneb/1122)
A899AA6-G   Hi In Cp  213  RE  K7 V  M7 V  G1 V 
G=1.50, Day=33:32:15, Year = 199d 06:28:48 
Atmo=1.50, Weather Control
Temp= +24.7 (7/lat +21 to -49) (season +66.0 to -20.0, 5.32 deg lat) 
Daily temp range:  Special
Ores, Radioactives; Parts, Durables, Weapons; Recordings, Software 
Progressive/Enterprising, Competitive/Neutral, Harmonious/Aloof 
Legal:  6-6A665     Tech  GG-GHHGH-FGGG-GE-G

[NOTE:  The following RICE paper draws heavily upon the information presented in
the Vincennes World Guide featured in MegaTraveller Journal #3.  I would like to
thank and acknowledge author Charles P. Kalina for his outstanding and 
descriptive article.  This RICE paper is intended to build upon the information 
provided in the article and reestablish Vincennes in The New Era.]

Vincennes is the technological jewel of the Regency.  The planet is the 
Regency's singlemost advanced producer of commercial technology, known for its 
unique environmental characteristics and reclusive society.  Many detractors of 
Vincenzi success cite the system's inability to achieve universal TL-17 
technology as indicative of the system's imminent decline.  The growing 
interference of bureaucracies and the aristocracy in Vincenzi entrepreneurial 
interests threatens to derail all that the Vincenzi have built.  The spectre of 
crime and corruption has begun to taint the planet's prospects as well.  The 
upcoming age will not be easy for the Vincenzi, but if their hallowed 
entrepreneurial spirit prevails, Vincennes will continue to shine as a nexus of 
technological and societal wonder.

ORIGINS OF VINCENZI HIGH-TECH

The origins of Vincennes' amazingly innovative and enterprising society are the 
result of the unique properties of the world and its trinary star system.  To 
understand Vincenzi technological innovation, one must understand the hostile 
environment Vincennes presents to its inhabitants.  Vincennes orbits Ember, the 
close companion of system primary, Undraczech.  Because of the proximity of the 
two stars to one another, Vincennes' orbit takes it almost directly between 
Ember and Undraczech.  The weak stellar emanations of red dwarf Ember are 
insufficient to support life on their own.  When Vincennes is in close proximity
to Undraczech, however, intense stellar radiation produces extremely high 
temperatures and inclement meteorological activity on the planet.  The result is
that Vincenzi temperature and weather patterns vary greatly over its 199.27 day 
orbit around Ember.

During Vincenzi summers, when the planet is directly between the two suns, 
temperatures climb to an unbearable 66 degrees C.  Massive convection storms 
sweep the planet and the intense heat releases sulfur compounds from the 
planet's ocean depths, shrouding the entire globe in blustery cloud formations. 
Autumn is the rainy season on Vincennes, with the highly acidic taint of the 
planet's atmosphere producing acid rain storms that force Vincenzi to don 
protective clothing and breathing masks when going outdoors.  During winter, 
when Vincennes is at its most distant point from Undraczech, the temperatures 
drop as low as -20 degrees C.  Icebergs dot the ocean surface around the globe, 
with polar ice caps forming in the southern and northern extremes.  Spring is 
the most pleasant season, during which the temperature is at a comfortable level
and the atmospheric taint is reduced to the point that the normally reclusive 
Vincenzi can actually come outdoors and breathe in the open air.

The extremely hostile environment of Vincennes begs the question, "Why colonize 
such a planet?"  The answer is that Vincennes is rich in natural resources.  
Underneath Vincennes' deep, nearly worldwide ocean (Vincennes features a 94 
percent hydrosphere), rich deposits of ores and radioactives await industrial 
development.  While several sprawling undersea metroplexes have been erected 
over the centuries to exploit Vincennes' resources, many geological surveyors 
believe Vincenzi industrial interests still have only scratched the surface.  
The difficult prospect of doing business on Vincennes spawned an active research
and development community.  Vincenzi innovation in communications, robotics and 
environmental technology have made it possible to operate in an otherwise 
unsuitable climate.

Vincenzi life is generally compared to that of Cambrian-era Terra.  Notable 
among Vincenzi lifeforms are beam, a bamboo-like plant structure that grows in 
Vincenzi oceans, and rockmat, a porous rockhard substance that grows around the 
rocky formations of The Shoal, much like Terran coral.

SOCIETY

Notable among the Vincenzi metroplexes are Kehmed (the capital city), Burke (the
newest of the metroplexes), Markel (dominated by SuSAG industrial concerns) and 
Willis.  All of the metroplexes include scores of arcologies, domed cities and 
satellite gravitic cities that hover above the Vincenzi ocean, serving the ore 
transportation and trade interface needs of their undersea cohorts.  Kehmed, far
and away the most populous metroplex, includes an astounding 77 gravitic cities 
within its dominion.  The gravitic cities come in numerous shapes and sizes and 
generally serve specialized purposes.  Melchen, for instance, primarily serves 
the tourist and entertainment sectors, while Malin Tekhar and Dumorov are more 
industrial in nature.  Remote Foxhunter, an irregular-formation gravitic city, 
inhabits Vincennes' horse latitudes, avoiding the worst of the planet's weather 
by deftly increasing its altitude during the summers.  Many of the gravitic 
cities are lowered to the surface of Vincennes during the more stable winter and
spring seasons.  During these periods, ores and manufactured products are easily
shipped from the undersea metroplexes to the floating gravitic cities via 
submersible.

The solitary archipelago of the world, known as The Shoal, is sparsely 
inhabited.  Due to seismic instability and heavy erosion during the summers, its
rocky surface supports very few permanent habitations.  Only Vincennes Down 
Starport and its surrounding community maintain a large permanent presence.  
During the stormy summers, landings at Vincennes Down would be nigh-impossible 
if it weren't for advanced Vincenzi manipulator technology that enables the 
starport to gravitically guide starships to safety.

The proliferation of high-tech among Vincenzi citizens has resulted in a unique 
society.  Vincennes' advanced communications and computer technology enable most
Vincenzi to perform business completely from their homes.  An entire world of 
telecommuters maintains contact with one another using holographic meson 
communications equipment.  Entire board meetings of some Vincenzi corporations 
are held in virtual boardrooms that exist only in the conceptual sense.  
Holographic representations of one's business associates may be projected so 
that they appear to be in the same room, even though they may be on the other 
side of The Shoal, the planet or even the outer system.

Most Vincenzi have managed to acquire at least a moderate amount of personal 
wealth.  While Vincenzi society is hardly utopian, it can accurately be said 
that advanced technology on Vincennes has paved the path for most of the 
planet's inhabitants to build at least a small personal fortune.

During the pre-Rebellion era, advanced robotics were employed to perform 
virtually all dangerous or undesirable tasks on Vincennes, including mining 
operations, zero-G ops in orbit of Vincennes and deep-sea construction.  The 
antirobotic hysteria that swept the Regency after the appearance of Virus 
greatly injured the Vincenzi robotics industry.  Native Vincenzi, however, were 
not willing to give up the advantages their robots gave them.  Instead, they 
have willingly submitted to RQS regulations that limit offworld exportation of 
Vincenzi robotics technology.  Since then, technology-sharing agreements with 
advanced robotics research groups on Rhylanor and HRD have spawned astonishing 
advances in Virus-proofing techniques.  These developments, along with 
decreasing antirobotic sentiment and aggressive lobbying by `G' (Vincennes' 
largest and most powerful distributor and exporter of high-tech equipment) and 
several Vincenzi industrial consortiums has resulted in a gradual thawing of the
RQS regulations.  Within the last decade, Vincenzi robotics construction and 
exportation has reached about 25 percent of its pre-Rebellion level.

Because of the Vincenzi tendency to utilize high-tech communications for most of
their interpersonal contact, offworlders will discover that most of the people 
they meet on Vincenzi streets are other offworlders.  Just because Vincenzi tend
to be reclusive doesn't mean they're entirely unfriendly, however.  While actual
person-to-person contact is not common, when Vincenzi do get together, they tend
to hold gala events, parties and festivals that rival any in the Regency. 
In the spring, Vincennes' gravitic cities retract their rooves and 
millions of people gather in plazas, parks and the streets to engage in spring 
festivals and celebrations.

Crime has traditionally been a remarkably small problem on Vincennes.  Due to 
the Vincenzi tendency to operate from their homes, reduced interaction between 
people and relative economic well-being have prevented the criminal turmoil that
plagues most high-population Regency systems from developing on Vincennes.  The 
moderate influx of refugee population and arrival of several discreet 
white-collar criminal organizations, however, has tainted Vincennes' crime-free 
reputation since the Collapse.  Many offworlders attribute these problems to the
resurgence of the notorious Humbolt family on Vincennes, whose criminal 
tendencies are legendary.  Vincenzi natives, however, generally point their 
fingers at opportunistic offworlders, who are all too eager to reap the 
financial rewards of doing business on Vincennes and frequently resort to 
criminal pursuits to do so.

OBTAINING VINCENZI TECHNOLOGY

Traders and travellers coming to Vincennes for high-tech goods won't be 
disappointed in the selection but they may be a bit miffed by the amount of 
bureaucratic red tape they have to cut through to buy any of it.  The planet's 
high-tech market sells TL-16 goods primarily at the planet's orbital starports 
and Vincennes Down Starport.

Most would-be tech purchasers are usually surprised by the level of interference
from the Vincennes Trade and Commerce Commission (VTCC).  The VTCC is one of the
more intrusive trade management bureaucracies in the Regency and maintains 
strict guidelines by which sale of high-tech goods may be made.  Regency 
citizenship is required for any purchase and all computer, communications and 
robotic equipment sold on Vincennes undergoes thorough examination by local RQS 
officials before export.  The VTCC's primary concern is quality control and the 
level of technology proliferation.  Most VTCC bureaucrats support a 
controlled-growth economic philosophy.

The VTCC's primary opponent is `G,' the main distributor and exporter of 
Vincennes' advanced technological goods.  G has recently begun to build a 
spin-off company, `H,' whose primary concern is creating venture capital for 
Vincenzi companies working on TL-17 prototypes and marketing these products to 
offworld interests.  Because of the bureaucratic warfare between the VTCC and 
the more laissez faire G, and the rigidity of trade regulations, small lot 
purchases of Vincenzi technology are often difficult to arrange.  Alternatively,
tech-hungry adventurers may want to make friends with the more established free 
traders of the Vincennes Cluster.  Many of them make large-lot purchases of 
Vincenzi tech and given the right price, are often willing to sell small or 
individual quantities of high-tech goods.  Small-lot or individual purchases of 
Vincenzi equipment are therefore made, for the most part, not on Vincennes but 
in nearby systems.

Vincenzi starships are renowned for their quality and ample use of TL-16 
technology.  Because of the planet's proximity to Depot Alpha and Depot Beta, 
Vincennes manufactures very few warships.  A few escort and frigate variants are
manufactured on Vincennes for the purpose of defending tech shipments or 
agricultural products from Paven, but for the most part, Vincennes concentrates 
on producing traders, liners and exploratory vessels.  Perhaps the most 
well-known of Vincenzi starship designs is the 300-ton Gushiken-Class Free 
Trader.  The Gushiken uses TL-16 technology to minimize the volume taken by 
drive and electronic component and maximizes cargo space.  The ship was 
originally intended for microjump transportation of grain from Paven to 
Vincennes but has since been adopted for more universal use.

GOVERNMENT

Up until the formation of the Regency in 1132, Vincennes had been ruled by the 
Marquis of Vincennes for several centuries, a position appointed directly by the
Archduke of Deneb after the controversial fall of the Humbolt family.  The 
Humbolts had ruled Vincennes for almost four centuries when they were removed 
from power and exiled in 628 for several violations of Imperial law, the most 
heinous of which was the exploitation and torture of the native sophonts of 
nearby Perez System.  Following the Collapse and subsequent decline of the 
Imperial nobility, the wealthy Humbolt family made its return to Vincennes and 
reestablished their political hegemony on the planet in 1147.  The largely 
Solomani population of Vincennes was eager to overthrow the Garhik Dynasty, the 
last vestige of the invasive Imperial Nobility on Vincennes, and the return of 
the Humbolts presented them with the opportunity.

The Humbolt family had lived for dozens of generations on a frontier world of 
spinward Gushemege Sector, but never lost hope for their eventual return to the 
world of their ancestors.  Fleeing Virus and the effects of the Collapse, the 
Humbolts made their return to the Domain of Deneb scant months before the 
borders were closed.

It has been revealed in the years since their return that a large contingent of 
the Humbolt family remained on Vincennes throughout their exile, operating under
the banner of several shadow corporations.  These corporations may be more 
accurately described as cartels or syndicates whose primary function was the 
consolidation of industrial power under the yoke of the Humbolts.  Five 
centuries of gradual political and corporate power bids gave the Humbolts a 
staggering advantage upon their "public" return to Vincennes.  The current 
patriarch of the family, Gerhard Lewis Tolemi Humbolt III, maintains an 
intimidating presence on Vincennes, frequently interfering in the activities of 
major corporations and dabbling in VTCC operations when he can.

Many Vincenzi complain about the intrusiveness of the Humbolt family in 
corporate affairs, but most are willing to tolerate them.  The Humbolt family 
serves as a symbol of defiance to Imperial and Regency authority, which to most 
Vincenzi justifies their continued presence.

For the most part, actual political power resides with the District Councils of 
each metroplex.  Day-to-day legislative and judicial activities are the realm of
the councils, who owe fealty and give lip service to the Humbolt family.

MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

Before the Collapse, Vincennes maintained their modest military and law 
enforcement requirements through The Special Branch, a relatively small police 
organization and  considerable network of contractors.  The ranks of The Special
Branch have swelled to over 20 million permanent employees in recent years in 
order to combat the increasing presence of organized crime and the illegal 
activities of The Pack, the Vargr crime syndicate.  The Special Branch continues
to employ millions of contract employees in its law enforcement endeavors as 
well.

Traditionally, Vincennes maintained no standing army, but with the return of the
Humbolts, a new emphasis on military strength has been established.  Under the 
auspices of the Humbolts the Vincenzi 1192nd Air Cavalry Division was formed to 
act in the defense of Vincennes in the event of an attack.  The 1192nd 
officially reports to the Vice Marshall of the Regency Army, but the unit 
maintains an obvious pro-Humbolt stance.  Scores of mercenary groups are 
employed to supplement military operations on Vincennes as well.

Though no formal naval base exists in Vincennes System, the Regency Navy 
maintains a large presence at Defense, Paven and Stopover, three of the 
outer-system worlds.  Defense operates a considerable System Defense Boat and 
small Destroyer fleet.  Paven, the primary agricultural producer of the system 
is heavily guarded by a regiment of crack Regency Marines.  Paven suffered a 
horrendous decline in production during a Rebellion-era famine thought to have 
been caused by planted biological agents.  The marine garrison on Paven is 
intended to prevent another such occurrence.  Stopover contains a refueling 
depot for Regency Naval ships.

THE FUTURE

Vincennes' future is uncertain.  The components to achieve the most impressive 
technological power in Imperial and Regency history are present, but many 
detractors and obstacles stand in her way.  The coming decades will be crucial 
to Vincennes' continued development both as a society and as a symbol of human 
innovative prowess.  Most believe Vincennes can overcome these obstacles, but at
best the planet's destiny remains shadowed in doubt.


Vincennes System Details

Orbit      Name    UPP     Remarks
Primary    Undraczech      K7 V
0  Wood Research Station   G000138-G       As Re
1  (Empty Orbit)
2  (Empty Orbit)
3* Ember   M7 V
   0       Friend          F212764-G
      40   Greenwood    YS00000-0       Captured Comet
   1       Vincennes       A899AA6-G       Hi In Cp
4  Bascom  Small GG        Size 40
   4       Turbot          G652239-F       Mining Colony 
   30      Chariot         Y200000-0       Va Ba
   50      Heighat         Y300000-0       Va Ba
5  Shinden                 Small GG        Size 50
   55      Defense         F410367-G       System Defense Base
6-11       (Empty Orbits)
12*        Guazhurniim     G1 V
   0       Craddick        YS00000-0       Va Ba 
   1       Lagahar         YS00000-0       Va Ba
   2       Anashaldi       Y530000-0
   3       Paven           DA77766-G       Ag Ni Mi 
      9    Wharton         HS00246-E
   4       Shozhul         Large GG        Size 220 
      2    (Ring System)   YR00000-0
      7    Plotkin         YS00000-0
      10   Stopover        F320134-F       Refueling Station

* Companion stars.