The Cleaved Helm

Sacnoth Dominate Exploring Expeditions

"We stopped expanding three hundred and fifty years ago, when that ship came back to Morglay from the Old Federation and reported what had been happening out there since the Big War. Before that, we were discovering new planets and colonizing them. Since then, we've been picking the bones of the dead Terran Federation."
— Lucas Trask (H. Beam Piper), Space Viking

Into the Frontiers

A Space Viking^[ᚠ]

From 25 D.E. onward the Sacnoth Dominate begins extensive exploration beyond Sworld Worlds space. Formal and informal expeditions are sent to selected worlds in the Pilgrim, Sepireld and Danuuz frontiers. (GT31, p. 11) (Eventually, colonies and outposts would be established on a number of worlds, including Bowman, Caliburn, Dainslaf, Danuuz, Dragvendel, Eriksen, Hoding, Igliim, Lyusing and Skofnung.) Some expeditions are formal, Dominate-sponsored efforts but many informal adventures are also launched into the frontiers, financed by private interests on individual Sword Worlds. There are three main thrusts of exploration from the Dominate.

Rimward Thrust

Exploration rimward is along the Main through the Rim Stars, beyond Caladbolg (Skofnung is five one-parsec jumps from Biter) and into the Pilgrim frontier. Most of these efforts have formal support from the Dominate government.

There are two branches of the rimward thrust into the Pilgrim frontier. Splitting at Caliburn Belt (six one-parsec jumps from Biter), one branch follows the "spinward trace." The second branch of Pilgrim frontier exploration moves along the "rimward trace" from the Caliburn Belt.

Pilgrim frontier: largely unexplored region rimward of the Sword Worlds, originally known as the Rim frontier. The trailing portions of this region will come to be known as the Diadem cluster.

The Margadsson Expedition follows the Main from Biter in 25 D.E., explores Vanaheim, and travels along the spinward trace to Welsung (nine one-parsec jumps from Biter). The Damsgaard Expedition departs from Biter in 29 D.E., explores Nidhog, and travels along the rimward trace as far as Graban and Lydia (ten one-parsec jumps from Biter) in the Hoding cluster. The Khaasira Expedition departs from Biter in 33 D.E. and travels along the rimward trace to explore the Hoding cluster as far as Nothung (ten one-parsec jumps from Biter). The Acharya Expedition departs from Biter in 37 D.E. and travels along the rimward trace to the split at Gullinbursti (thirteen one-parsec jumps from Biter).

Into the Pilgrim frontier^[ᚡ]

The Bowman Expedition departs from Biter in 40 D.E. and travels along the spinward trace to Surtursild and encounters the Lungefisking at Curtana (twelve one-parsec jumps from Biter). The Guerreiro Expedition departs Biter in 44 D.E. and travels along the rimward trace, turning at Gullinbursti to follow the spinward spur (Corrougue is fifteen one-parsec jumps from Biter) as far as Forlade and Sotobosk (eighteen one-parsec jumps from Biter). The Thornom Expedition departs Biter in 45 D.E. and travels along the rimward trace, turning at Gullinbursti to follow the trailing spur (Medham is fifteen one-parsec jumps from Biter) as far as Diadem and Danegeld (nineteen one-parsec jumps from Biter) — making a deep-space jump from there to Lauf in the the Hoding cluster rather than returning via the trailing spur back to Gullinbursti. The Tygalfsson Expedition departs Biter, also in 45 D.E., and travels along the spinward trace to Rømer and Sansamha (fourteen one-parsec jumps from Biter). The discovery of the former Darrian settlements on these two worlds leads the Dominate to declare them — and neighbouring Zulfikar — off-limits to further exploration, effectively ending settlement and exploitation along the spinward trace at Angurva.

Trailward Thrust

Exploration trailward is along the Main through the Rim Stars and into the Sepireld frontier (Albattar is five one-parsec jumps from Biter). Most of these efforts have formal support from the Dominate government as well as informal support from the individual worlds of the Dyrnwyn Spur. The trailward thrust breaks into two branches, one continuing along the "trailing trace." The second branch of exploration into the Sepireld frontier moves along the "coreward trace."

Sepireld frontier: largely unexplored region trailward of the Sword Worlds, originally known as the Trailing frontier. From the native name of the world Sepireld. The coreward portions of this region will come to be known as the Ginnungagap rift.

The Namsmann Expedition departs Biter in 25 D.E. and travels along the trailward main to the split at Chrysaor (nine one-parsec jumps from Biter) and on to Xochitl leading to the "coreward trace" and Skræp leading to the "trailing trace" — encountering the non-Humans at Sepireld along the way. The Zisduurkhaar Expedition departs Biter in 30 D.E. and travels along the trailing trace as far as Skathi (fourteen one-parsec jumps from Biter). The Ilmasson Expedition departs Biter in 31 D.E. and travels along the trailing main and the coreward trace as far as Colding, Garrincski and Hrefna (all fifteen one-parsec jumps from Biter) in the Sköll cluster.

In the Sepireld frontier^[ᚢ]

The Werlauff Expedition departs Biter in 37 D.E. and travels along the trailing trace as far as Grimes (eighteen one-parsec jumps from Biter), encountering the shipwrecked survivors of a misjumped Vargr corsair at Fenrir along the way. The Strikr Expedition departs Biter in 38 D.E. and travels along the traling main and the coreward trace to explore the Sköll cluster as far as Alene (seventeen one-parsec jumps from Biter). The Lútasson Expedition departs Biter in 39 D.E. and travels along the traling main and the coreward trace and beyond the Sköll cluster as far as Freyja (eighteen one-parsec jumps from Biter).

Coreward Thrust

Exploration coreward is across the minor rift into the Danuuz frontier, beginning initially with jumps to the gas giants at Hart and Flamberge. These efforts enjoy only minimal formal support from the Dominate government and are mostly supported informally by Gram and the other worlds of the Horseshoe and the Dyrnwyn Spur.

Danuuz frontier: largely unexplored region coreward of the Sword Worlds, originally known as the Coreward frontier. Named for Danuuz, a promising potential colony world in the region. The trailing portions of this region will come to be known as the Ginnungagap rift (also the coreward portion of the Sepireld frontier).

Because the Danuuz rift can only be crossed by Jump-2 ships — or Jump-1 ships carrying extra fuel for a second, deep-space jump — exploration efforts in this direction do not reach as far as those into the Pilgrim and Sepireld frontiers. (That some systems in the Danuuz frontier lack gas giants and have worlds with water for refueling that is difficult to detect at interstellar distances also make them poor targets for exploration.) Exploration and exploitation into the Danuuz frontier reaches only as far as Snyrtir in the Danuuz trace (five one-parsec jumps from Isenfang), the single world Fafnir (five one-parsec jumps from Dyrnwyn), and several worlds in the Ginnungagap rift in the trailing portion of the Danuuz frontier (Áleifr and Dakota are eight one-parsec jumps — including four jumps to deep space — from Dyrnwyn).

In the Danuuz frontier^[ᚣ]

The Badawi Adventure departs from Isenfang in 38 D.E. and travels across the rift to Hart and along the Danuuz trace as far as Aroundight. The Eberlein Adventure departs from Dyrnwyn in 39 D.E. and travels across the rift to Flamberge and on to Lyusing. The Xiong Adventure departs from Isenfang in 40 D.E. and travels across the rift to Hart and throughout the Danuuz trace as far as Snyrtir. The Linuuska Adventure departs from Morglay in 41 D.E. and travels across the rift to Dainslaf, encountering the non-Humans sophonts there. The Kruhl Adventure departs from Dyrnwyn in 41 D.E. and travels across the rift to Flamberge, across the rift again to Loki and then across the rift again to Gyllir. The Osferthsson Adventure departs from Dyrnwyn in 42 D.E. and travels across the rift to Flamberge, on to Lyusing and then across the rift again to Fafnir and then across the rift to the Danuuz trace at Aroundight, returning via Isenfang. The Awair Adventure departs from Dyrnwyn in 44 D.E. and travels across the rift to Flamberge and then Loki and then across the rift to Vismand, encountering the primitive Humans at Bordbjerg, and then across the rift to Áleifr and Dakota, also encountering the primtive Humans there.

Survey and Exploitation

In all cases, while expeditions investigate inhospitable worlds, these explorations are nevertheless less extensive than those of more hospitable worlds — those upon which humans can survive without any significant technological interventions — and those worlds where the primary world is a planetoid belt — which can be easily exploited by highly-automated technologies without the energy costs required to dive into a gravity well.

Image credits:
^[ᚠ] Original illustration (detail) by Michael Whelan. No endorsement of The Cleaved Helm has been made or is implied.
^[ᚡ] Original illustration (detail) by David Deitrick. No endorsement of The Cleaved Helm has been made or is implied.
^[ᚢ] Original illustration (detail) by David Deitrick. No endorsement of The Cleaved Helm has been made or is implied.
^[ᚣ] Original illustration (detail) by David Deitrick. No endorsement of The Cleaved Helm has been made or is implied.

Please support Cleaved Helm content at Zarthani.net

The original material presented on this website and in its files is ©2004 - 2024 by Zarthani.net. The contents of this website are for personal, non-commercial use only. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Far Future Enterprises, the owner of the Traveller® game in all forms, or by any of its Traveller® licensees, or by the owners of the late H. Beam Piper's copyrights. Any use of copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this site and its files is not intended to be — and should not be viewed as — a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any material displayed on or served by this site should not be republished or distributed without explicit consent from Zarthani.net. (Viking font made from OnlineWebFonts is licensed by CC BY 3.0.)