Steeped in history, riven by conflict, and filled with contradiction, The Deep and the Dark covers two sectors at the interface of human and Aslan space, where rival species and civilisations have long contended for influence and power. Here lie the ancient battlegrounds of the Aslan Border Wars and the Cultural Purge. Here are found worlds abandoned or ignored for centuries, which shelter strange, isolated societies that have fallen back to primitive conditions.

 Reaver’s Deep lies on the edge of the Great Rift, with a wide Buffer Zone separating the human systems of the Third Imperium and Solomani Confederation from the Aslan worlds of the Hierate. Within this Buffer independent states and worlds harbour fierce animal life and many alien species, while fierce marauders and petty warlords plague the sector. Into this wild area venture intrepid trade pioneers in search of new opportunities.

 The Dark Nebula is named for the mysterious Celella Nebula, a jumpspace phenomenon that has devilled astrogators for millennia. The sector is also the home of Kusyu, homeworld of the Aslan and spiritual heart of their star-spanning Hierate. The Deep and the Dark also provides an overview of the complex, ever-shifting politics of the Hierate and the nature of Aslan culture.

 Includes a giant two-sided poster map of the two sectors.

Aliens of Charted Space: Volume Four explores four species within Charted Space – the nature-loving Suerrat, the pacifistic Za’tachk, the mercantile Gurvin, and the xenophobic Tezcat. Within these covers, you will discover the culture and society of these species as well as their physiology, psychology and societies.

Suerrat
The Suerrat are a human subspecies transplanted from Terra to Ilelish by the Ancients. They claim to be a Major Race, as they independently developed interstellar travel based on generation ships but as they had not developed jump technology, others do not accept their claim.

Za’tachk
One of the oldest species associated with the Hive Federation, the Za’tachk are a peaceful (some would say cowardly) species. Their natural tendency to structure and organisation have made them invaluable to the Hivers in running the vast bureaucratic machine required for their federation.

Gurvin
The Gurvin are a hexapodal species resembling Terran otters and minks. They were the first sophonts encountered by early Hiver explorers, and their language was adopted as the primary form of communication in the federation. Consummate traders and merchants, the Gurvin are the commercial backbone of the Hive Federation.
 
Tezcat
A cat-like semi-humanoid species, the Tezcat are violent and warlike, with a xenophobic hatred for any sophont that does not resemble themselves. Much of their history has been marred with war and bloodshed, but through the unification of the Shaper Church, they have established a pocket empire and proven to their neighbours that they are too dangerous to cross.
 
This book also contains rules for creating Travellers from each species, along with High Guard and Central Supply Catalogue entries.

The Traveller Companion is a compilation of variant and alternate rules. Variant Traveller creation systems allow specific tailoring, whilst alternate combat rules introduce hit locations and wound severity. Rules for hunger, thirst, temperature, atmospheric and water pressure effects make the universe more realistic, not to mention more hazardous. Encounters with animals and vehicles are also covered, along with the consequences of lawbreaking on personal and starship-operations scales.

The game universe is expanded with advice on using tools such as Travellermap and the Traveller Wiki, interpreting UWP data to flesh out a world, and additional spaceport types. The Companion also contains rules for starship operations in gas giant atmospheres, travelling slower than light and in jump space, and making space travel more hazardous with minefields, missile salvoes, and new starship weapons. Also included are rules for entirely different styles of play such as narrative task resolution and the mundane events resolution system.

The Traveller Companion is a complete toolkit allowing referees to pick and choose enhancements to their own campaigns, giving greater depth and weight to their adventures.

Adventure Class Ships, those vessels of 2,000 tons or less, are the mainstay of Traveller and the most common ships found on the spacelanes by far. This book gives you more than 60 new ships in this class, to be used by Travellers, pirates, traders, government forces and corporations. Each vessel has a specific role in the universe and has been built to accomplish it with the best components available to its builders.

 

In this book you will find:

Exploration Ships: These are the vessels that travel far beyond the frontier, seeking new worlds, aliens, and awe-inspiring stellar phenomena.

Merchant Ships: The backbone of interstellar commerce, in this book you will find merchant vessels of all sizes and for all budgets.

Passenger Ships: While merchant ships carry cargo, these vessels carry people, and Travellers are likely to have been carried by many of them in their lives.

Working Ships: The unsung heroes of space, these ships keep the galaxy turning and include salvage ships, jump cutters, customs patrol craft, prison ferries and more.

Military Ships: These are ships with guns, designed to out-manoeuvre and outfight any enemies they come across. Pirates and corsairs use similar vessels, though for very different purposes.

Traveller-built Ships: What happens when Travellers with millions of Credits decide to design their own ship? This chapter explores the expansive and often highly specific ships that can result.

Aslan, Sword Worlds and Vargr Ships: Beyond the Third Imperium and its affiliated states, other empires can have very different takes on ship design, but these vessels might just be the perfect ride for a group of Travellers.

Plus rules on how your Travellers can get their hands on any of these ships after their careers are completed and they are ready to voyage across the stars.

A request for help from an old contact leads the Travellers into the mysterious and sometimes downright bizarre world of the Ancients Hunters. Among the weird and often deluded notables of the Hunter community there are those who seem to know something concrete. Those individuals are convinced that something is coming.

Mysteries of the Ancients takes the Travellers from the whacky Museum of the Ancients to the doomed planet of Calefaction, and finally to a showdown with agents of the Ancients themselves. Their guide is a horribly-written book, long thought to be fiction, which tells of an ambushed convoy and the survivors’ fight for survival in a wondrous technological palace. There, under the mountain known as Twilight’s Peak, the Travellers find their proof.

 Something is coming.

 Mysteries of the Ancients leads into the Secrets of the Ancients campaign in an epic story that concludes with Wrath of the Ancients.

What lies beyond the Solomani Confederation?

Humans are great explorers, and the Solomani are the greatest of them all. Ever since the days of the Interstellar Wars the people of Terra have felt the call of the great Rimward Frontier, and they have answered. This outward urge has taken Solomani explorers right to the edge of the spiral arm… and beyond.

The Lubbock and Xuanzang Enclaves are little havens of civilisation out in the big black. Just keeping these forward exploration bases supported is adventure enough for many, but beyond them lies the unknown; the mysterious Rammak, the civilisation to reach and investigate the curious region known as the Spinner, and of course the long voyage out to Point Cetus – the most distant installation yet built by the Solomani people.

There are many challenges on the Rimward Frontier. Rival Aslan and Hiver exploration missions, strange alien races, and the mysterious Hordes advancing out of the Flous Nebula. The greatest danger may come from other humans, descended from Rule of Man and early Terran colony missions. Some are glad to greet their long-estranged kin; others are territorial and aggressive. Far from home, with no support likely for months or even years, the Travellers must face whatever comes their way. Who knows what wonders await just one jump plot away?

Includes a poster-sized map of the Kruse sector.

Robots have been a staple of science fiction for a hundred years, fulfilling every role from near mindless worker, to faithful sidekick, to comic relief, to sinister villain trying to take over the world. They range from remote-controlled drones to super intelligent beings who have far exceeded the limits of their biological creators. Robots may be stationary objects equipped with a single arm or nothing more than a radio to control other machines. They may move across the ground, sea or sky, equipped with limbs, tools and weapons of all kinds.

 The Robot Handbook is designed to be both quick and easy to use, and configurable to customise all aspects of a robot’s functions, capabilities and skills; a standard robot can be built in just a few minutes. The Robot Handbook also includes rules for making nanorobots and microrobots, androids, clones, biological robots and brains for both vehicles and spacecraft. And what is a cybernetic limb but a robot part? The Robot Handbook covers everything from a cybernetic arm to a whole mechanical body with a live brain inside.

 The Robot Handbook comes complete with an immense catalogue filled with robots built using these rules, acting as a springboard for your own designs and allowing you to begin using robots right away to be tools, companions or opponents for your Travellers to encounter.

Welcome to the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society, your indispensable guide to adventuring in the Far Future.

Each volume is a treasure trove of information and game additions for Traveller, including adventures, new ships, alien creatures from across Charted Space, philosophical musings on the big empires, histories, different takes on familiar equipment, new vehicles, characters to be met in starports, playable alien races, and much, much more...

In Volume Nine, you will find:

• Adventure: Rat Patrol
• Adventure: Icebox Found at the Exe Cutoff
• Aliens: The Amindi
• Bestiary: Jreine
• Central Supply: Zadony-Tessen Survival Armaments
• Charted Space: Aasamiaga - A Reserve Like No Other
• Charted Space: Briefing File - Avastan
• Encounters: Alkisatl
• Encounters: Captain Mreni
• High Guard: Telchine and Rhea
• High Guard: Belvedere Station
• Travelling: Code Duello 'Fallisepi' 882
• Travelling: Criminal Organisations of the Marches
• Vehicle Handbook: Vindicator Logging Heavy Walker