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Trinity RPG - What is Britain up to?


BertJammin

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Hullo,

I'm trying to get interest started again in the Trinity:UK sourcebook (see the related forum for details) and in my research of the canon materials I came across something which intrigued me.

According to the Technology Manual Britain owns and operates one of the few L-B Novastorm IACs (Intra system assault carrier) space ships; HMSS Victorious, the largest class of combat spaceship currently in use in Human space. Why would a comparatively small nation like Britain have such a huge space investment, without any notable stellar colonies or holdings to protect (as far as I can tell)? Is it connected to the plans for a "London Bridge" beanstalk to low Earth Orbit?

It is “canon” that Prime Minister Basil Gathwick and the British government have a number of grey to black operations projects on Earth but what could they be up to in space?

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Perhaps because although is isn't up there in the top 4 (China, Brazil, UAN and FSA in no particular order) it is certainly in the top ten for extrasolar colonies and industry. At least that would be my position and in support I'd point to the reasonably sized and prosperous Lunar colony of Camelot, which includes several notable companies and institutions (not least being Oxford Luna campus). I think they may have had a reasonable investment in the Esperanza as well?

Alex, each country always pays for their own ships, there is no unified Earth fleet, the closest that there is to that is the relatively small UN fleet (both in numbers and size of ships), and the various 7th Legion fleets (as listed in the Australia book).

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Rorx - good point, I'd neglected Camelot...

Might be as simple as the individual countries each paying for individual war ships.

The thing is that there are only a handful of Novastorms in existence (I can’t recall the exact number and don’t have my books to hand) and the rest are owned by the “big players” such as China. Plus it’s a HUGE investment in resources (probably billions of Yuan) and manpower to purchase, outfit and maintain, even before you include the large fighter complement. When the only stellar holding you have is Camelot what are you going to do? Just orbit around it lookin’ ‘ard? With Britain presented as insular and isolationist I very much doubt that they’d spend that much money “for the benefit of mankind”. Plus why buy a ship like that when the same money could pay for a small fleet of cruisers or many, many naval vessels to protect their Earth borders? One carrier of that size is a huge an intimidating emblem of power, plus it is versatile – the fighters can engage other ships or space targets and they are most likely hybrids so they can enter the atmosphere to attack planetary targets, deliver troops or support ground forces.

Add to this the fact that the only military vehicle of British manufacture mentioned is the “Hedgehog”, a mobile missile launcher (see; Hidden Agendas). Why is this interesting? Well the point is made that since the first Aberrant War military weapons and vehicles have been designed to take down single, powerful targets. This is a time of small unit combat, sometimes powered individuals, sometimes in powered armour (sometimes both) with a handful of individuals fighting battles that determine the fate of nations or even worlds. Why then would a nation such as Britain want to make a missile launcher, the only purpose of which is to fire a lot of missiles, spreading death and destruction over a large area, rather than at specific targets? Do they fear invasion to the point of being prepared to inflict huge collateral damage on their own nation, or are they planning to get a preemptive strike in? If so, who do they plan to attack? I would suggest that they would not be looking to go to war directly with a nation on Earth as they either lack the resources to make an assault worthwhile (e.g. France) or are too powerful to engage in a direct conflict (e.g. UAN, FSA, China).

Also bear in mind the London Bridge project, if built this beanstalk would provide direct and swift access to Low Earth Orbit, allowing swift transport of supplies and personnel to waiting ships. Therefore I could easily envisage the UK attacking a planet or colony within the next few years of the time line.

I realise that this may seem like reading a lot into the material but I feel that the details about those vehicles don’t immediately reconcile with the picture of the UK as presented in the published books. I would far rather try to theorise how they could reconcile, rather than throw out or amend any of the “canon” works. In doing so I’ll hopefully promote a bit of discussion too.

Any thoughts?

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Because Britain bloody well Requires a Flagship. That's bloody why. ::tongue

LOL!

A friend of mine suggested that perhaps the British Home Guard (or I.I.S. from the Trinity Players Guide) know *something* and are preparing for it, or it's return.

That started me thinking that perhaps it could be related to the UK's involvement in the Aberrant era Directive. I'm a sucker for "cross era" stuff like that so I've dug out my copy of the Directive sourcebook for more ideas.

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More thoughts on the subject:

According to Aberrant: The Directive Britain’s trend towards isolationism began in the late 1990s. Perhaps a twist in the tale is that they are having to be like that to protect something very secret and important to humanity as a whole...

The UK is one of the nations that founded "The Directive" during the Aberrant era. Perhaps something that was discovered then is the motivating force for Great Britain's actions in the Trinity era?

Also although most of the data concerning the Aberrant era was "lost" or "reconstructed" by the AEon Trinity in Project:Rewrite if anyone outside of the Trinity holds holds some of the truth of events there’s a good chance it'd be a top secret espionage agency, or the member nation agencies that worked with or evolved from it. Secrets are, after all, their stock in trade.

I do however like the idea of Britain aiming to become an expansionist power again, forging a new British Empire in the stars but perhaps they feel they *have* to do it to protect something, someone, the nation or humanity as a whole. Much like a lot of the home land support for the expansion of the British Empire was the “good work” of taking Christianity and “civilization” to the “savages”

One suggestion is that UK Agents found or worked along side an entity who now calls herself Britannia (after the Roman Goddess often used as a personification of the UK), and her influence is so overwhelming, they feel driven to begin a new glorious empire. "Britannia" could therefore be a powerful Aberrant (an ex-Directive agent Nova from the early 21st century) who went into hiding during the Aberrant War and has been trying to manipulate the British Government ever since. She has fostered their isolationism to prevent her manipulations from being revealed.

The minor issue with that is that it's very similar to the situation in Nippon - but perhaps that explains why Nippon is prepared to help Great Britain? I would also suggest that it could be given a different twist as Britannia is a single Aberrant acting surreptitiously vs. the institutionalized Nihojin Novas and Superiors plus I’d suggest that while those Novas in Nippon are generally seen as “good guys” Britannia’s motives might be good but she may no longer be quite as sane as she once was so her methods and ethics may be somewhat skewed. There’s hope for her yet, but left unchecked she could be extremely dangerous.

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Cool ideas ::biggrin

I'm not sure you need a secret Britannia. The Brits are a funny lot - both fatalist and doing things because 'that's just what you bloody do' - running around and confounding everyone and them/ourselves since time immemorial. They're interesting enough without a secret benefactor.

Or... maybe the benefactor was a seer / oracle type who left behind a body of lore - a roadmap for the salvation of humanity - and the Brits trust no-one else to implement it but themselves. To position themselves to do that they need to ride high again.

Regardless, it would be pretty cool to have a number of 00s running about, flashing their licenses at cops, drinking vodka martinis and capping baddies before, or possibly after spouting pithy comments.

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I think you are seriously underestimating the Uk's holdings in space. Camelot is undoubtably the biggest and most notable but I would give the Uk or Uk based companies a number of other Luna bases, Earth and Luna orbital stations, a few Mars outposts and many miners/colonies in the belt and Jovian system.

Since they are not listed as having significant numbers of frigates they probably put that money into the cruiser purchase. Being one of only ten built at the time of the Tech Man (2120) is both a national prestige item and a virible symbol of commitment to Earth defence.

Personally I wouldn't involve another Aberrant, its too much like Nihon. There is already enough latent xenophobia in the national (sterotypical) character to explain the drift into isolationism and potentially back into expansionism/imperialism.

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Cool ideas

Thanks ::cool

I'm not sure you need a secret Britannia. The Brits are a funny lot - both fatalist and doing things because 'that's just what you bloody do' - running around and confounding everyone and them/ourselves since time immemorial. They're interesting enough without a secret benefactor.

Or... maybe the benefactor was a seer / oracle type who left behind a body of lore - a roadmap for the salvation of humanity - and the Brits trust no-one else to implement it but themselves. To position themselves to do that they need to ride high again.

I’d had similar thoughts actually. Perhaps there is a prophecy document (akin to the “Destiny Diaries” in the X-Men comics) or, if you wanted something a little more mundane, a “100 year plan” written by a mega-intelligent Nova. The document was given to Britain (via the Directive?) during the Aberrant War and it will soon come to fruition.

Alternatively I had the concept of a powerful ex-ISRAn Clairsentient, a waif like woman living in luxury at the top of one of the tallest towers in the London Archology, who provides prophecy for the government but is essentially a prisoner kept under house arrest.

Regardless, it would be pretty cool to have a number of 00s running about, flashing their licenses at cops, drinking vodka martinis and capping baddies before, or possibly after spouting pithy comments.

That’s exactly the concept that got me started on this (and I hope to start running an associated campaign next month). I’d run an all too short Norça espionage campaiagn where one of my favourite reoccurring antagonists was a British I.I.S. agent. I thought it might be interesting to tell the same stories from the British perspective and then go from there. Added to this the BBC have started showing the new Spooks (M.I.5 for our American associates) spinoff show “Spooks: Code 9” which will hopefully provide some further inspiration.

I think you are seriously underestimating the Uk's holdings in space. Camelot is undoubtably the biggest and most notable but I would give the Uk or Uk based companies a number of other Luna bases, Earth and Luna orbital stations, a few Mars outposts and many miners/colonies in the belt and Jovian system.

I disagree – they are portrayed as an insular nation who doesn’t like foreigners coming into their borders, they have struggled to make industrial progress and essentially survive the devastation of France. I think it far more likely that they have pulled all the resources they can back home (even to the point of discussions about selling off Camelot) in order to stop the nation itself from going under. In my interpretation of the setting it is only now, after all that hard graft that they can even begin to contemplate additional holdings in space.

Since they are not listed as having significant numbers of frigates they probably put that money into the cruiser purchase. Being one of only ten built at the time of the Tech Man (2120) is both a national prestige item and a virible symbol of commitment to Earth defence.

I agree, and I’m not saying that they don’t have some frigates as well (I can’t believe it would be the sum total of Britain’s space fleet – we’ve always taken pride in our Navy) however it’s one flippin’ big brick in space. It’s not suitable for patrolling a number of holdings, it’s designed for offense. For deterring attack and striking at opponents.

Also I noticed last night (in Alien Encounters: Invasion) that the five Leviathans that jump to Chrome prime each take two L-B Novastorms, which would make it likely that that HMSS Victorious is involved in the assault (some more may have been built/purchased since the ten mentioned in the Technology Manual but I doubt that there are many more). Could the Brits be coming out of their shell or are they thinking that the attack on the Chromatic home world could be their first step towards a new set of stellar holdings?

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A friend of mine just made an interesting observation:

My personal favourite theory is that the HMSS Victorious was commissioned as the iconic celebration of a special anniversary to the British people. I'm thinking of it as the latest in a long line of colossal expenses by a British Government wanting to outdo the Millenium Bridge, Millenium dome, the London Eye and the Olympic Park! We certainly have a history in buying expensive stuff that either fail completely or that we cant actually find a proper use for. I'm amused by that idea a great deal. Remember that British drone we sent to Mars recently? It's the most expensive trashcan the Martians have ever had.
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I'd assumed that the space holdings would have been owned/built by companies of Uk origin and hence Uk territory rather than being a drain on the public purse. Added to which if it is a UK populated station/colony/ship why should their xenophobia be a problem, they are within their borders unless they let someone else on-board.

Its pretty cheap to get a hybrid and a bunch of MHU's that you bury into an asteroid to make a belt colony. Indeed a Resource 4 character who takes the ship option rather than houses can set up a colony like out of his resources in a year or less.

I'd say the Uk would have some frigates, but probably less than a dozen or so with a reasonable number of hybrids for doing the patrols. The cruiser would spend it's time flying the flag in a circuit patrol of the system, which since it isn't VS 5 is going to take it quite a while. If you have some place to go quickly withit you strap it to a Jumpship as the 2 week recharge before the Jumpship could take you to the appropriate part of the system is going to be faster than you could get their by the cruisers speed. Ideally you would have a Ferryman with a WEAR handy to do it even quicker.

Given the choice I'd go for the Clear in a tower telling them of Gyres that affect the course of the UK. However, unless she is very patriotic and doesn't consider it a prison how do they control her so that she gives them the info they want? Also it is fair to assume that Otha can tell the situation of every Clear, and so would have found out about this. So he either considers this a necessary thing to occur, or the first group of returning Starcrossed are going to get a job to do/send a snatch job on this Clear.

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I like the idea with the British trying to found a new empire best, although a bit to much ::happy

Take a look at Britains situation: All nearby nations have much problems and Britain itself no means of expansion on earth.

So expanding into space is a good option for them ... with the Beanstalk and Camelot etc. But they need the power to back up their expansion. Such a big warship would be a good visible sign that the British are ready to defend their property, I think.

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