Traveller / Characters

Traveller of course has an infinity of possible characters, and a large number even mentioned in Canon. Here however are some of them.

open/close all folders

People

Yaskoydray AKA "Grandfather"

Father of the Ancients, and a genius who left his mark on the Traveller universe untold ages ago. Did sinister experiments on various life forms and transplanted them throughout the stars. Fond of leaving Ancient Artifacts about for intrepid adventurers to find if they are lucky... or if they are not.

Abusive Precursors: Grandfather had around twenty children — each of whom had twenty of their own (hence the name "Grandfather") — and then discovered a few thousand years later that their experiments were interfering with his own. He decided that his original decision to have children was in error and set out to correct that error by exterminating them all. Which he did over the course of a 2,000-year war.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Many of the things Grandfather and the Ancients did remain incomprehensible and unexplained.
Deus ex Machina: Ancients in general are fairly commonly used as this; they are useful in explaining plot devices like earth-like planets and species.
Eldritch Abomination: He's immortal, he lives in a separate dimension, has unimaginable power, considers humaniti beneath his notice though he profoundly influenced them in the past, performed experiments that fundamentally changed his own race and created new ones like the Vargr as pretty much side effects, and he is responsible for many shattered planets throughout charted space which he destroyed in a genocidal war against his children and grandchildren. He's also served by a group of secretive super-advanced self-aware robots who keep tabs on what's happening in real space and eliminate anyone who may be coming close to discovering his continued existence or the secrets of Ancient technology and which are absolutely loyal to him - yeah, Grandfather is pretty much space Cthulhu, except that he isn't prophesied to come back to end the world.
The Greys: Kidnapper of other races — most specifically the dozens of strains of Humaniti scattered throughout Charted Space — but he also uplifted the Vargr because humans were too independent for his taste.
Mad Scientist: As were all the Ancients.
One-Man Industrial Revolution: The Droyne were stuck at 1950's-level technology for sixty thousand years. Then Grandfather was born — combining Marc Remillard's Psychic Powers with Nikola Tesla's Ditzy Genius — and he immediately dragged his species into the stars kicking and screaming. To note;
1. He wanted to do all kinds of experiments, so he conquered his entire species just to have a civilization capable of carrying them out.
2. He realized his species was too stupid to help him with his projects, so he bred them into castes to make them vaguely capable of maintaining a spacefaring society for him.
3. He did this before he grew old, then realized he was going to die and invented a way to live forever.
4. He realized he still wouldn't be able to see even a single percent of the universe before it ended, so he invented Faster-Than-Light Travel.
5. He realized that his species was still too stupid to help him with his projects, so first he had lots of children and grandchildren. They were smart if not quite as smart as he was, and they soon got too involved in their own projects to help his. Then he tried other species: he transplanted Humaniti to hundreds of planets across chartered space and uplifted the Vargr from Terran canine stock, before finally settling for absolutely loyal robot laborers.
6. Then he went to work. He engineered entire species. He reshaped planets like a gardener would a flower bed. He tore apart entire solar systems to build Dyson Spheres.
7. He looked up and realized his children were interfering with some of his projects, so he wiped them all out in a genocidal war that lasted a few millenia; in the process he often turned entire worlds into asteroid belts and sometimes destroyed stars.
8. Finally he built his own universe just so he'd never have to bother with the one of his birth ever again.
Scary Dogmatic Aliens: Knowledge seems to have been Grandfather and the Ancients' ultimate motivation.
Shrouded in Myth: Grandfather is almost completely unknown to the modern galaxy, except for Droyne legends of him.
Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: Many of the things Grandfather and the Ancients did are far beyond anything anyone else can do even 300,000 years later.
Time Abyss: He's over 300,000 years old.
The Unfettered: Grandfather did whatever he decided was necessary to achieve his goals.

Cleon Zhunastu

The founder of the Third Imperium. An industrialist who decided to create more markets for his business by creating a successor to the Second Imperium and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

The Chessmaster: Cleon's Imperium won because he always seemed three steps ahead of his rivals.
The Emperor: The first one for the Third Imperium.
Founder of the Kingdom: Founder of the Third Imperium.
Galactic Conqueror: With the caveat that most of his conquests were gained by manipulation of local economics and politics rather then by military means.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Like found a thousand-year empire.
Shrouded in Myth: In most versions of Traveller Cleon lived a thousand years ago. His legacy has understandably grown in that time.

Cleon III

Great-great-great-great-grandson of the Third Imperium's founder. Aka "Cleon the Mad". The first bad emperor of the Third Imperium.

The Caligula: He had a habit of resolving disagreements in his cabinet by shooting them.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Thanks to Cleon II abdicating the throne he was a minor frontier noble until another emperor died sans issue and he was Offered the Crown by the Moot.
Klingon Promotion: The Moot instituted the Right of Assassination specifically to get rid of him.

Empress Arbellatra

The victor of the Imperial Civil War, and founder of the last dynasty to rule the Third Imperium.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Arbellatra was a fleet admiral in a distant territory of the Imperium who used her fleet to conquer the Imperium.
Awesome Moment of Crowning: After having defeated her predecessor in battle and acting as regent for seven years, Arbellatra finally achieved this.
Cincinnatus: Sort of; she deferred to the Moot's authority knowing she would eventually get the throne anyway. Whether or not she was thinking primarily of the public good or her own is not made clear. Either way she ended the Civil War and re-stabilized the Imperial government.
The Emperor: The 33rd ruler of the Third Imperium.
Just the First Citizen: Arbellatra defeated the last "Emperor of the Flag" Gustus but didn't take the throne as her predecessors had for the last 20 years. She acted as Regent instead until seven years of searching failed to find a legitimate heir to the throne.
Lady of War: Acting as Leader of the victorious Imperial forces during the Second Frontier War was her warm-up to defeating the Emperor and taking the throne.
Offered the Crown: Which she accepted.
Rightful King Returns: Well, return of an acceptable candidate. That was good enough.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: She did most of her most notable deeds before she was technically a royal, but they were very notable.
Succession Crisis: She solved a Succession Crisis and won the crown for it

Archduke Norris

The ruler of the Spinward Marches in the name of Emperor Strephon. His first name is not "Chuck". In the canon timeline he eventually became the closest thing to the winner of the Rebellion, managing to preserve his realm mostly intact.

The Chessmaster: Won the Fifth Frontier War and manipulated himself into the position of Archduke.
The Good Chancellor: In the New Era continuity Norris basically appointed himself Archduke, but Strephon later ratified the appointment.
The Strategist: Proved his stripes during the Fifth Frontier War.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Easily the most sympathetic faction leader in the Rebellion era, seeking only to keep his portion of the Imperium intact.
Royal Decree: He used an Imperial Warrant to remove the obstructive Admirals who were losing the Fifth Frontier War. An Imperial Warrant that he forged, in fact, but the emperor later chose to ratify Norris' actions. In the Rebellion era he forged a second Warrant from the same materials he had recovered to create the first one in order to proclaim himself Archduke of Deneb. Emperor Strephon again later made the forged appointment official.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Won the Fifth Frontier War and in the New Era is pretty much single-handedly responsible for preserving the Domain.
Warrior Prince: See "Won the Fifth Frontier War" above.

Emperor Strephon

The Last Emperor of the Third Imperium. In the canon timeline his assassination in 1116 began the Rebellion Era which eventually destroyed the Third Imperium.

Continuity Reboot: Gurps says he was not the last Emperor of the Third Imperium, at least not yet.
He's Just Hiding: Strephon's assassination is what kicked off the fall of the Third Imperium, but it was a double who was killed — Strephon was off overseeing a secret project, and went into hiding for a time after the assassination.
The Patriarch: Although he ends up with a family of Upper-Class Twit s.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Strephon was a reasonable emperor, if a bit boring. He ratified Norris' actions which saved the Spinward Marches. Twice. His death showed that the alternatives were much worse.
Space Cadet: He was doing service as a Midshipman in the Imperial Navy when he heard his father had died making him Emperor.

Admiral Manuel Albadawi

The most famous Terran from the Intersteller Wars era; he broke the back of the Vilani Imperium.

Four-Star Badass: Albadawi was the architect of the final defeat of the Vilani.
Galactic Conqueror: Overthrowing the Vilani basically made Albadawi the conqueror of most of the known galaxy.
Officer and a Gentleman: Albadawi was going to be an architect until he lived among the Vilani and decided that he hated their stagnant Imperium.
Shrouded in Myth: He is the greatest Terran war hero of the Interstellar Wars, and because his will specified he be cremated there is no monument for him.

Marc Oberlindes

The head of Oberlindes Lines and one of the main players in The Traveller Adventure, a somewhat obscure but interesting NPC. He helped bring the Oberlindes family from an obscure band of free traders to a company that could compete with the biggest lines in the Imperium. In the process he was given a noble title by the Imperium

Feuding Families: With the gigantic Tukera Clan no less.
Royals Who Actually Do Something
Screw The Rules Ihave Money: On several occasions.

The Three Imperiums

The First (Vilani) Imperium

About the time the Roman Empire was collapsing on Earth, humans from Vland were just finishing consolidating an interstellar empire that spanned thousands of worlds. The Ziru Sirka ("Grand Empire of the Stars") was extremely conservative, byzantine in its bureaucracy, and usually quite harsh in suppressing dissent. It also provided peace and prosperity for trillions of sentients for thousands of years. When they met the unruly and ambitious Terrans the Culture Clash and the mutual arrogance of both Terrans and Vilani caused a generations long war between them that would change the face of the Galaxy.

Crystal Spires and Togas: To some extent. Once the Vilani find something that works they refine it for thousands of years until it is very sleak and reliable, rather than making any innovations.
Can't Argue with Elves: Until they met a Barbarian Tribe from an Insignificant Little Blue Planet that is.
Decadent Court: At least by the time the Terrans met them.
Human Aliens: The Vilani consider humans to be the Human Aliens.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: An Enforced Trope. The Vilani bureaucracy was intended to obstruct technological progression and social innovation. Their origins as the abandoned lab rats of the Ancients — on a planet full of berserk machines — have made them terrified of anything the slightest bit unfamiliar, exemplified by their Lightbulb Joke;
Q: How many Vilani does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Six.
One from the ladder carriers' guild of the maintenance bureau to bring the ladder in and set it up.
One from the ladder holders' guild of the same bureau to steady the ladder once it is set up.
One from the clerks' guild of the government bureau to make sure the proper forms are filled out for changing light bulbs and to pay the proper fee to the energy bureau.
One from the lightbulb-changers' guild of the energy bureau to change the bulb.
One from the wick-trimmers' guild because it is traditional.
One from the supervisors' guild because his presence is required by law whenever five or more workers are engaged in the same task.

An alternate version:
A: I don't know. What does the manual say?
Vast Bureaucracy: The Vilani have a bureaucracy actually designed to make sure nothing gets done. With no outside rivals for thousands of years It Makes Sense in Context. Sort of. Things were different when they met the Terrans.
Vestigial Empire: By the time the Terrans emerged at the edge of the Imperium, the Ziru Sirka was incapable of bringing enough force to bear to crush them. Any frontier governor who collected enough strength or political capital to crush the Terrans would either then make a play for power in the Imperial core or be seen as a threat by that core and eliminated.
We Have Reserves: The first few wars with the Terrans were barely line items on the regional governor's budget.

Terran Confederation / Second Imperium.

The Terrans were a Promethean society that valued initiative and individualism. Long before Emperor Strephon's Reign the Terrans and the First Imperium waged war for two hundred years. At first Terra and its outposts fought for survival and freedom from the oppressive Vilani Imperium. Later Terra's war for survival became a war of conquest. Though the canon gives vague details about earlier times, in a way this time is the beginning of the Traveller History. Prominently featured in GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars.

Badass Army: The Terran Army; ludicrously outnumbered by the Vilani Imperium, but still fighting.
Combat Medic: Not only do the Terrans have a Badass Army, they have badass medics. They needed them too, as conquered Vilani hadn't been immunized to Terran diseases.
The Federation: In contrast with the oppressive Vilani Imperium, at least.
Gadgeteer Genius: The Terrans were ahead of the Vilani in science and technology in less than two hundred years. Even at first contact they were ahead in some areas such as electronics, aspects of military science, and medicine.
Galactic Conqueror: What the Terran Confederation became when it turned into the Second Imperium.
Glory Seeker: After they started winning, this almost became the Terrans' Hat.
He Who Fights Monsters: Fighting the First Imperium made them become the Second one.
Terrans Are Warriors: For two hundred years the Terran Confederation was on an almost uninterrupted war footing.
Proud Merchant Race: When they weren't actively fighting wars with the Vilani Imperium the Terrans tried to make every credit they could off of them, incidentally introducing Terran ideas and fostering dependence on Terran products.
The Republic: Until the Terran Navy arranged a coup at the end of the Interstellar Wars.
Rising Empire: Throughout the volume Intersteller Wars which is where we get most of our information. The Second Imperium was almost a Vestigial Empire right after the collapse of the Vilani because of the administrative difficulties in managing so many planets.
Screw You, Elves!: Towards the Vilani — how dare you say we are an Insignificant Little Blue Planet!
Space Marine: Terran marines are prominently featured as a character option.
Space Navy: Two of them. The Terran Navy was innovative and flexible but drastically outnumbered, while the Imperial Navy was massive and powerful but tradition-bound and therefore predictable.
Space Pirates: The Terrans condoned commerce raiding, and letters of marque were issued in times of war. More than a few of the Terran "merchant" ships were designed to be easily converted to commerce raiders for when the next war started.
Techno Wizard: The Terrans were far ahead of Vilani in electronics. For instance the Vilani did not have multipurpose, re-programmable computers. Instead they had concentrated on making one program for each computer. Vilani systems were often efficient-they had built and refined them for thousands of years after all-but the Terran models could do more and be adapted to circumstances.
Tragic Hero: In 400 years the Terrans went from a small state fighting for its freedom to a ramshackle empire not much different from the Vilani at its fall.
United Space of America: The Terrans are close enough to our own time to be culturally familiar.
Won the War, Lost the Peace: The Terrans' fast-adapting society was able to conquer the entirety of the trillions-strong Imperium. However, they couldn't really rule the territory, and when they finally dropped the ball it took two thousand years for interstellar government to re-establish itself.

The Third Imperium

The default setting of most versions of Traveller. The Third Imperium is a vast decentralized state. By its unwritten constitution worlds have internal autonomy but defer to the Imperium in intersteller matters, such as foreign relations and defense. As the Imperium is so vast, it will vary in its atmosphere from place to place and from time to time. There is plenty of room for Referees to place all sorts of unusual worlds and societies to explore.

Badass Army: The Imperial Army is the strongest in known space.
Combat Referee: The Imperium sees "minor" wars as a useful safety valve, and allows member systems to fight them occasionally, so long as they don't bother their neighbors too much and no weapons of mass destruction are used.
Crystal Spires and Togas: Imperial technology is very sleek and refined — antigravity, for example, was first developed thousands of years ago.
Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Inverted. Earth is a border world.
The Empire: Despite the name, averted. The Imperium is generally no worse than any of its neighbors and is much more tolerant of diversity than the Zhodani, Aslan or K'kree, which all make it more like The Federation.
Feudal Future: Because of the time involved in traveling from one side of the Imperium to the other (at least a year) the government is necessarily decentralized, and local nobles govern on behalf of the emperor.
Generican Empire: The laws that govern the Imperium are few. Basically: pay your taxes, the Imperium controls the space between the worlds and how you deal with foreign nations, no slavery, no use of WMDs in any local war. That allows it to have great diversity from world to world, but also means "Imperial Culture" isn't very defined.
The Government: What the Imperium is for 11,000 worlds.
Hegemonic Empire: The Third Imperium has a lot of influence beyond its official borders in areas not claimed by rival interstellar governments, with the Imperial language and currency used widely and many "Client States" which are nominally independent but leaning heavily towards eventual Imperial membership.
Humans are Leaders: The Emperor and most of the nobility are humans of mixed Solomani (Terran) and Vilani ancestry and have been throughout the Imperium's 1,100 year history. The baseline of intersteller culture is a mixture of these two mega-ethnic groups. Humans just have a better talent for building states and colonizing worlds. As well as in fighting.
Multiple Government Polity: The Third Imperium is feudal on the interstellar level, owing to the difficulties of galactic governance, but individual planets are left to govern themselves.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: Sometimes. It really depends on how competent the local nobles are.
Powered Armor: The Imperial Marines use "battle dress", their term for powered armor.
Alien Non-Interference Clause: Zig-zagged. There is no prime directive generally but individual planets are sometimes put under this. It seems to be up to the discretion of the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service whether a world is legally protected or is integrated into Imperial society.
Proud Merchant Race: The Imperium's primary purpose is to protect economic activity for its member planets, and its founder was an industrialist.
Recycled In Space: Resembles a combination of The British Empire and United Space of America.
Space Navy: The Imperium has a gigantic space navy to protect its merchants — usually with a regular and a reserve fleet for each subsector.
Space Marine: The Imperial Marines are an elite fighting force that makes extensive use of Powered Armor. A popular choice for character backgrounds.
Space Police: Mostly absent. The Imperium does have a Ministry of Justice that polices "high crimes", but most regular enforcement is left to individual member worlds or the navy in space.
Space Opera and Space Western: As a Space Opera Traveller is fairly detailed and "believable". The communication time makes frontier sectors like the Spinward Marches resemble a Space Western.
Wagon Train to the Stars: Since the game is usually about getting in adventures on new planets each week, this could describe a typical campaign set in the Third Imperium.
What the Romans Have Done for Us: Despite being a hereditary oligarchy the Imperium provides defense, keeps law (more or less) and assists trade by providing a standardized system of port facilities and measurements as well as regulating local customs charged by member worlds. Not to mention encouraging science and protecting indigenous peoples. At least that's what they say.

The Major Races

The Aslan

Aliens who resemble humanoid lions. They are a warlike people who live in a tribal structure and have a highly developed philosophy about the need for honor. Their males are obsessed with obtaining land, and their females do all of the science and administration.

Anatomy Arsenal: Aslan don't need swords. They have claws. Their hands have a claw on each of the four fingers, and a fifth "dewclaw" that comes out of the palm and looks like a velociraptor scythe-claw^note. When a human duels in Aslan fashion he uses an artificial claw called an ayloi.
A Real Man Is a Killer: Male Aslan are only allowed to be interested in war and ranching.
Cat Folk: Very lion-like, as their name would indicate. In-universe, no one is actually quite sure where "Aslan" came from or what it means.
The Clan: Aslan government is not monolithic, it is tribal. Aslan clans, though, are often as big as human nations while maintaining a tribal ethos.
Code of Honour: The Fteir code, with the proviso that it varies greatly from clan to clan. In fact, the Aslan's true name as a people is Fteirle — those who live by the code of honor. Aslan who don't live by Fteir aren't considered "true" Aslan, and non-Aslan who do live by Fteir are considered "honorary" Aslan.
Cool Sword: And cool everything else. One of their favorite art forms is making carefully crafted and decorated weapons and tools.
Duel to the Death: Aslan often resolve conflicts through duels, and although these are usually to first blood rather than to the death the latter kind does occur.
Exotic Extended Marriage: The natural biological balance of Aslan females to males is roughly 3 to 1. Most land-owning Aslan have multiple wives. Males who defeat other males in duels often take their wives along with their land and other possessions, though the wives get to decide if they will accept their new husband or leave to seek their fortune elsewhere.
Fantastic Caste System: Roughly the males are expected to do work that involves protecting the clan's territory and gaining more where the females do work that actually produces things. Some specializations are only loosely connected. Thus male Aslan are warriors, politicians, sages and judges, as well as estate managers and ranchers. Female Aslan are merchants, artisans, engineers, and the like. Some ambiguities come about. For instance it is fine for a male Aslan to have enough knowledge of computers to handle sensors reasonably well. But a proper Techno Wizard will be female.
Family Honor: Aslan culture views family as more important than individuals.
Feuding Families: Unlike the other races, the Aslan are tribal and their "government" is simply what the 29 most powerful clans can agree to.
Fighting for a Homeland: Aslan are infamous for conquering land they intend to colonize. While this does happen, it is equally common for them to make a deal with natives who have land to spare. A typical deal will be to offer military assistance in exchange for land, and they will regard that as being like a vassalship treaty back home. In this way Aslan have become famous as soldiers for the Darrians, and there are Aslan in the service of other human dominated states including the Imperium.
Glory Seeker: What do you expect of a Proud Warrior Race?
Honor Before Reason: The Aslan are tribal, but their culture is impressively monolithic. Honor is paramount. The Cultural Purge that destroyed any deviants from the honor code was hugely important in the development of their modern society — though it wasn't 100% completed, as the Glorious Empire offshoot still survives (just about) in the Trojan Reach.
I Owe You My Life: An "honor-debt" must be paid — even if it takes several generations.
Known Only by Their Nickname: Few people, in-universe or out, call Aslan by their actual name, Fteirle.
Land Poor: Male Aslan have a biological obsession with land.
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Justified. Being fully carnivorous rather then omnivorous like humans, they are biologically optimized for killing and evolved strenuous cultural rituals to keep that under watch.
Panthera Awesome: They are essentially large, humanoid lions.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Honor is everything to an Aslan.
The Migration: Second son male Aslan ("Ihatei") who won't inherit have to go find their own land.
Sacred Hospitality: A story is told of an Aslan whose own clan attacked the home he was staying at as a guest. He defended the home of his host — to the death.
Stay in the Kitchen: Subverted; because A Real Man Is a Killer, almost all jobs that do not involve killing must be done by females.

The Droyne

Smallish winged humanoids that combine reptilian and insectoid aspects. The Droyne are the oldest major race, but seem to lack the drive that others have, living contentedly in enclaves scattered across known space.

Crippling Overspecialization: The individual Droyne castes cannot survive for long without the presence of others, except the Sports, who are the deliberate exception to this rule.
Eminently Enigmatic Race: Droyne have a mysterious history and behave in ways that make no sense to outsiders. They even seem to have a low-level psionic ability that *makes* them this trope to other races.
Glory Days: They were once the Ancients. Sort of.
Good Old Ways: Their ways are tens of thousands of years old and they don't like changing them.
Hidden Elf Village: Downplayed. They live in scattered, out-of-the-way places and have the power to psionically suggest indifference to their presence in other races. They aren't exactly hidden, it's just that no-one notices them much. Played straight in that Droyne colonies can develop and maintain any Technology Levels up to Grandfather's, which usually results in their neighbors aiding in hiding them to keep their markets from being disrupted by Sufficiently Advanced Alien technology — as well as maintaining a supply of ultratech goodies for themselves. Droyne just rarely feel the need to advance their technology level.
Hive Caste System: A biologically-based caste system, with each Droyne undergoing major physical changes when they are assigned their caste at adulthood. Droyne who do not or cannot caste are called Chirpers, and are only semi-intelligent.
Psychic Powers: Though it's not widely advertized in the Imperium, the Droyne are a psionically gifted race. Their primary power seems to be the ability to make others forget about their existence or consider them of little consequence — followed by joining with other Droyne into a second-rate Hive Mind.
Mysterious Past: Not just being related to The Ancients. They have tens of thousands of years of history and no one knows much about them, even what their homeworld is, and they are not telling anyone. Everything about them is mysterious.
Space Elves: Uncommonly fond of mysticism at least.
Winged Humanoid: They can even fly on planets with lower gravity and higher atmospheric pressure.
You Have Failed Me: Self-inflicted, and happily; Droyne who fail too often or too egregiously will often commit psionically-induced suicide for the good of the community. So more, "I have failed you"..., but it *is* expected by the group that they will do this. It's just that usually the Droyne in question has no objection.

The Hiver

Starfish-shaped, generally peaceful sentients who get their kicks from manipulating others, especially other races.

Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Whenever two Hivers meet they exchange reproductive material using their rearmost arms (humans call this "shaking hands"). After 40 days the resulting larva falls out of its parent and is driven into the wilderness outside of Hiver cities by the adults (who consider larvae to be non-sapient minor pests). Most die. After surviving a year in the wilderness a young Hiver has developed enough that it is accepted and raised by whatever community of adult Hivers it stumbles into. Adult Hivers also regularly produce larvae without having to "shake hands", but they understand that sexual reproduction is better for their collective gene pool and so actively encourage it.
Conveniently an Orphan: Hiver reproduction is such that no Hiver knows who its biological parents are — they are all adopted by whatever community they found their way to at the end of their first year.
Foil: They and their historical enemy the K'kree have, in essence, the same underlying motivation — fear of predation causing them to try and impose control on the universe around them. The Hivers are peaceful, manipulative, largely emotionless, "first among equals" in their empire, and attribute all accomplishments to lone, clever individuals; the K'kree are aggressive, blunt in their attentions, demonstrative and tender within their own society, dominate other species by force, and think and act collectively.
Had to Be Sharp: Their larvae are not held to be intelligent. Rather they are seen as minor pests and shooed out of the civilized areas to take their chances in a wilderness which the adults make sure are stocked with predators. Those who survive to adulthood are adopted by the various Hiver nests. This is because their entire species is unintelligent unless their brains are repeatedly and constantly stressed to solve problems and avoid danger; they need to learn to be conscious at a very early age the same way humans need to learn to speak.
Hive Mind: Averted, despite the name. Although the Hivers were described as this in the very earliest Traveller material, it was Retconned fairly quickly into a misunderstanding based on the look of their cities.
In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race: The Hive Federation did this to their own species deliberately. They long ago established regular "embassy ships" where groups of Hivers journey from world to world for the express purpose of "shaking hands" with all the locals they can. This has resulted in the fairly recent development (within the past few thousand years) of a sense of smell in about half of the Hiver species, and a more or less homogenous genotype throughout the Federation with few variations in traits like skin color.
Manipulative Bastard: What every Hiver hopes to be. "Manipulator" is actually a title they aspire to, like "Doctor".
One-Gender Race: The Hivers have only one gender. Any Hiver can reproduce with any other. In fact, they can reproduce completely asexually, but prefer to use sexual reproduction to help spread useful genetic traits.
The Speechless: Hivers don't have vocal cords. They can use voice synthesizers to speak but use hand gestures among themselves. The Hive Federation's standard spoken language is actually that of the Gurvin, one of their earliest and most important allies/subjects.
Starfish Aliens: Hivers are the major race least like humans in physiology and perhaps mental outlook as well. They even look like starfish.
Starfish Language: Hivers communicate among each other through a combination of written symbols and hand gestures. Because Hivers have six arms it's physically impossible for any species with fewer limbs to "speak" their language.
Technical Pacifist: Most Hivers are psychologically incapable of directly attacking anyone. They have little problem with getting others to attack others for them, though.

The K'kree

Centaur-like herbivores on an everlasting crusade to rid the universe of carnivores. The largest of the major races physically, and the most xenophobic culturally.

Animal Wrongs Group: The K'kree want to rid the universe of meat-eaters, including omnivores. They regularly exterminated any lifeform they encountered who wouldn't stop eating meat, often with no regard to preserving any kind of ecological balance. They nearly destroyed their homeworld before figuring out they had to hand-pollinate all the plantlife and eliminate herbivorous pests.
Claustrophobia: All K'kree are claustrophobic unless they have some form of mental defect — from fragile nerves to violent schizophrenia. K'kree cities don't even have buildings — populated areas are tented with transparent materials with properties separated by fences, with no walls whatsoever unless they are load-bearing components or for shade. Their ships are as similar to this as possible; saucers enclosing a single large open space, with holographic projectors making it seem like they're standing on a planet's surface. This is one of the many things that make them pathetic in space combat; as there are no interior compartments, a single breach in the ship's hull instantly kills everyone aboard not wearing a suit — meaning everyone aboard, as most K'kree are too claustrophobic to wear helmets.
Evil Vegetarian: Their entire culture is based around a "Manifest Destiny": to eliminate every carnivorous species in the universe.
Exotic Extended Marriage: K'kree are polygamous. Female K'kree are expected to focus on raising children and pampering their husband.
Fantastic Slurs: Meat-eaters of any kind are called "G'Naak", which means something like "vermin" (i.e. creatures with no justified purpose which need culling), and even more literally is an emphatic form of something much akin to "frightful nightmare". If a being is g'naak, they are essentially "evil, horrible vermin".
Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: It doesn't matter whether you're pacifist, minding your own business light-years away with no intention of ever bothering or even going close to them, or even a non-sapient animal with hard-coded genetic imperatives: if you eat meat in any way shape or form, they hate you and want you gone.
Flying Saucer: Their ships are usually disc-shaped, as are their open-air attack platforms.
Freudian Excuse: Species-wide; where most sapients developed intelligence to outsmart and consume prey, the K'kree developed it to outsmart and escape predators. They thus have an instinctual horror of anything that consumes meat. This has caused them and their neighbors no end of trouble.
Killer Rabbit: They're an entire culture of vegetarian herd-dwellers who treat each other with the tenderest of care. They also kill every carnivorous creature they can get their hands on, and only slowed their expansion when they realized how hilariously outgunned they were by their more advanced neighbors.
Stay in the Kitchen: The only purpose of K'kree females is to adore male ones. Oh, and produce more males.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: They're nicknamed Centaurs for a reason — they have six limbs, consisting of four hooved legs and a pair of arms.
Xenophobic Herbivore: Their whole crusade against meat-eaters.
1. When they developed technology, the first thing they did was hunt down and kill every predator on their planet. In the process they caused the collapse of every ecosystem on their homeworld, forcing them to manually oversee almost every aspect of nature — such as pollination, or population control for other animals — as the loss of all predators crippled their biosphere's ability to function on its own.
2. When they developed telescopes and discovered their moon was inhabited by sapient carnivores, they invented spaceflight just to invade and exterminate them. They bragged about this to their enemies before they realized how primitive they were compared to everyone else, and now every other race knows how fanatical they are.
3. When the Hivers subtly re-conditioned a number of K'kree colonies to eat meat, the K'kree immediately annihilated every one of the colonists and the worlds they lived on — and have refused to go within a parsec of a Hiver world ever since.

The Vargr

Wolves given humanoid form and uplifted to sapience by the Ancients. Their societies are chaotic.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Vargr societies that get too big for one leader to personally dominate tend to break up.
Berserk Button: Anything that insults Vargr in general. Don't say the word "doggie" in front of them, for instance.
The Horde: Many Imperials see all of Vargr space as a massive barbarian horde. Good thing they infight so much that they've never been much of a threat.
Klingon Promotion: Vargr leaders have to constantly prove that they should be leader, or they will be deposed by someone who can prove that *they* should be leader. Other Vargr consider this completely appropriate.
Magnetic Hero: Or magnetic villain, depending. Otherwise known as charisma. Vargr social life is based to a large degree on this.
Pragmatic Villainy: It's not that they have no moral standards but villainy that is considered to be for rational reasons like avarice or ambition is considered venial compared to villainy done for reasons considered irrational. That is they might admire The Don but they would never admire a Serial Killer.
Proud Merchant Race: Despite the stereotypes, Vargr are merchants just as often as they are corsairs.
Space Orcs: They're a species of uplifted wolves known for their high aggressiveness and warlike natures. Their society is limited to what groups a charismatic leader can hold together, and Vargr leaders need to constantly prove their strength or be deposed and replaced. The rest of the setting's species see them as a vast horde of barbarians, marauders and Space Pirates (and the Vargr themselves do see pirates as admirable cultural heroes), although their ability to threaten the rest of the galaxy is hampered by their constant infighting.
Space Pirates: The Vargr recognize corsairs as a sort of cultural hero archetype. The Vargr Extents have a reputation of being infested with pirates.
The Starscream: Nearly every Vargr leader has subordinates who are waiting for him to show weakness so that they can take over his position.
We ARE Struggling Together: Even more than humans or Aslan, the Vargr have persistent issues with internal divisions and fighting amongst each other. They have never been able to create and maintain an interstellar state much bigger than a sector.
Wild Card: Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes neutral, always chaotic. Although their tendency to switch allegiances is exaggerated by other races (loyalty to charismatic leaders is a Vargr virtue), they have no permanent stake in any political position.

Humaniti

Space Spelling for the most important race of all in the Traveller universe. By chance it is the one to which most PCs belong to. As far as research indicates, most writers do too. The three main human megatribes are the Vilani, the Solomani and the Zhodani. By the time of the standard Traveller campaign setting, the first two have merged. These groupings are divided into umpteen states, clans, factions and sects and there are minor human races as well.

Humans Are Special: Because Humans are Leaders, Humans Are Warriors, Humans Are Diplomats, and Humans Are Survivors.
Transplanted Humans: The other reason Humans are Special; 300,000 years ago, Grandfather transplanted humans all over charted space simply because they could thrive in any environment where they can breathe the air and drink the water. Where every other species in charted space has some kind of environmental dependency and/or glaring weakness, humans had already colonized every corner of their uniquely diverse homeworld when Grandfather found them. He thus staffed many of his projects with a thousand or so abductees — and often made them into projects by dumping them on interesting worlds just to see what would happen. Notice how "eat the food" wasn't mentioned? When Grandfather's war began, a population of humans were trapped on a planet with food they couldn't eat and rampaging autonomous war machines; within a single generation, they'd figured out how to process the local life into edible food and hide from the berserk machines. A quarter of a million years later, the Vilani Imperium had conquered most of charted space.

Characteristics of the individual human races:

Solomani

Humans from Earth. See Terran Confederation / Second Imperium. Solomani in the Third Imperium are often seen as somewhat dangerous racists.

Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Earth varies in political importance but still retains an emotional appeal and a cultural relevance. So far as the Third Imperium is concerned, Terra is third in significance, behind Capital (AKA Sylea) and Vland. To the Solomani Confederation, Terra is first in significance — but they don't control it, since it's on the Imperial side of the border. They aren't happy about this.
Humans Are Bastards: Solomani — especially the Solomani Confederation — are often presented as bad guys. At the least, they are often described as unusually militaristic.
Humans Are Warriors: The ancient Terrans conquered a vast human-dominated empire when they only had a handful of planets of their own. Humans of Solomani descent have also formed a good portion of the Third Imperium's military might throughout its history. They were finally beaten during the Solomani Rim War, however.
Humans Advance Swiftly: When they won the war with the First Imperium they quickly expanded even beyond the First Imperium borders. Unfortunately, they proved unable to actually govern the empire for very long, since only the conseravtive Vilani caste system had kept the Imperium functional.
Insignificant Little Blue Planet: Earth was seen as this until the early Terrans conquered the Vilani empire. After that Terra has always been of at least some importance to galactic politics.
Proud Merchant Race: Along with dominating the Vilani militarily, they also undermined their authority economically during the Interstellar Wars.
Proud Scholar Race: Scientific type rather then mystic type.
Planet of Hats: Probably inventiveness and flexibility, but also a certain racial/cultural superiority by the time of the Third Imperium. In addition, since Solomani are the only humans to have remained on their biological homeworld, they are the only human group to have substantial history of domesticated animals and pets - other humaniti don't have enough in common with their worlds' ecosystems to develop working empathic relationships with animals.
Planet Terra: Earth was re-named Terra pretty early in Traveller history.
Screw You, Elves!: The Solomani are rather insistent that since they are descended from the original human stock, they have a sort of cultural or even biological precedence. Given that the Vilani were the first human race to make it into space — and conquered most of the known galaxy — and often stressed their supposed superiority, it's easy to read the Solomani movement as the equivalent of a spiteful "no, us."

Vilani

Humans transplanted by the Ancients to Vland. See First Imperium. They are known to be very bureaucratic and conservative in outlook.

Fantastic Caste System: Vilani are dominated by three organizations, one for food production, one for government, and one for industry and trade. The jurisdictions over various sub-occupations and things like that are arranged in an complex manner which may be incomprehensible to a non-Vilani.
Good Old Ways: The Vilani are arch-conservatives, believing that any conceivable problem was solved by their ancestors long ago. In some cases they have a point.
Order Versus Chaos: Order.
Sacred Hospitality: Coming from a planet where food requires a lot of preparation to be edible has made guests sacred in their culture.
Supreme Chef: Played With. The Vilani lived on a planet with food that is often actively poisonous to humans without processing, making skillful cooking a matter of survival. Thus chefs (called Shugilii) became glorified until they filled much of the work doctors and clerics would among the Solomani.
Vast Bureaucracy: The First Imperium was one gigantic bureaucracy that was more concerned with stability than growth.
Youngest Child Wins: By Vilani tradition the third child in the family gains the estate. This is to make sure that no position is frozen within one dynasty for too long. It also encourages large (4+) child families.

Zhodani

Humans transplanted by the Ancients to Zhdant. They are the human major race most distant from Earth and most alien in their outlook because of their reliance on psionics.

Brainwashing for the Greater Good: The Thought Police are seen by Zhodani society as basically medical professionals charged with keeping people well-adjusted and happy. They do a good job of this. The Zhodani Consulate is the most stable of the human-dominated interstellar states and has been for thousands of years.
Creepy Cleanliness: To an extent. The Imperium plays it up as part of their propaganda — depicting the Zhodani as soulless, sterile conformists.
Psychic Powers: Zhos are unique among humaniti in that they developed psionic powers into a science early in their history and continue to make use of them. This is in part because they shared their world with Droyne - until they visited their moon and a bio-engineered plague left over from the Ancient's genocidal war killed all of the Droyne and two-thirds of the humans.
Fantastic Caste System: There are three castes; Nobles, Intendants, and Proles. Proles are the bottom rung, and cannot advance unless they display psionic capabilities; prole children are tested for psionic ability when young, and if they're shown to have it, they're promoted to intendants. Intendants can earn noble titles by performing great service to the state, displaying heroism in battle, or winning at the Psionic Games. Proles can only hope for their children to have better lives, but intendants have a strong incentive to perform well and there's a constant infusion of new blood into the nobility.

Minor Races and Random Cultures

Cultural groupings and minor races not yet mentioned, listed for plot importance or just interest. Some are subsets of the above.

Ael Yael

A flying species who became a protectorate of the Imperium after colonial exploitation by a corporate power (which the Imperium eventually censured). They remain wary of their human allies/benefactors and strongly opposed to the megacorporations.

Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Six; two wings, two arms and two legs. The arms are lower down on the torso than those of humans, with the wings serving as the "upper" limbs.

Answerin

A human minor race from a world in the Vilani's home sector. They're famed for their cultural aversion to even acknowledging, yet alone showing, fear.

Named After Their Planet: Either this or the planet was named for them.
Not Afraid to Die: Since fear is believed to be an illness, fear of death is not acceptable to them. This is partly why the Vilani used Answerin as soldiers.
Proud Warrior Race: This isn't the foundation of their culture, but the Vilani First Imperium recruited their fearless troops as marines, leading to this being the stereotypical view of them.
The Stoic: They believe that fear, in any form right down to simple nervousness or lack of confidence, is a pathology. They're conditioned to ignore the emotion entirely.
Transplanted Humans: Like all non-Terran human subraces, they were left on their world by the starfaring Ancients.

Bwaps

Newt-like aliens scattered throughout known space. Known for their skill and persistence at recordkeeping.

Badass Bureaucrat: Their hat. They are widely employed by governments and businesses to keep things running.
Control Freak: Even more so than the Vilani for whom they work. Everyone and everything has its place, and things must be done by the book.
Good with Numbers: Which comes with their bureaucratic outlook.
Henchmen Race: They come close to being this for the Vilani (and are inherited by the later Terran and Vilani-Solomani imperia). Certainly of all the minor races the Vilani incorporated (Geonee, Suerrat, Vegans, etc.), the Bwaps had the most compatible culture and actually benefitted from the annexation. They spread all across Vilani-explored space.
Lawful Stupid: Quite often, we see Bwaps play this up as part of an agenda for the greater good. Since they rarely wield weapons or economic power, this is one of the ways in which they "fight". For example, one piece of flavour text in a Traveller sourcebook has a Bwap deliberately hold up a line through stubborn, overly-literal insistence on the letter of the law, so that Imperial enforcement had time to dispatch specialists to apprehend a dangerous terrorist identified in the crowd. It works because no-one is suspicious, believing this to be entirely in character.
Little Green Man in a Can: A mild example. They need to wear protective clothing to keep their skin wet in human-favorable climates, but it doesn't hide their appearance.
Only Known by Their Nickname: They're called Bwaps or Newts, since humans can't be bothered to say their full name of "Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab".
Order Versus Chaos: Order, but actually more flexible than the ultra-conservative Vilani. The Bwap see the universe as akin to a great mangrove tree, and the various branches tie everything together neatly with everyone in their place — but a tree is a living, growing thing.

Darrians

An enlightened human people that revere arts and sciences.

The Alliance: With the Imperium, through several Frontier Wars.
Badass Bookworm: Their cultural icons are all cultured as well.
Can't Argue with Elves: Generally the outcome with any Sword Worlder-Darrian conflict, since the Imperium and their own high-technology ships, not to mention the threat of the Star Trigger, backs the Darrians.
Combat Pragmatist: Because they regard war as rather an unpleasant chore, they could never be suspected of putting Honor Before Reason at least with regard to warfare, and it is feared that they could do almost anything if provoked.
Elves Versus Dwarves: Sword Worlders are like Dwarves to them (course, "manly", industrial), and the two are in regular conflict.
Fantastic Racism: To Sword Worlders, to a degree. Being in near constant conflict doesn't help.
The Federation: But not nearly as big as the Imperium.
Feudal Overlord: They allowed Aslan to settle in their territory in exchange for military service. Despite the cultural difference some of their most loyal soldiers are Aslan. In turn, the Imperium can be interpreted as almost their Feudal Overlord.
Higher-Tech Species: The Darrians are the branch of Humaniti that possesses the highest level of technology, being somewhere between 100 and 200 years further on the tech scale than the Imperium, the Solomani, or the Zhodani. They developed the Star Trigger (see Star Killing below) as a means to defend themselves against the larger empires.
Insufferable Genius: Come across as this at times.
Minored in Ass-Kicking: While they hate war, they are some of the most fearsome fighters on the Spinward Marches.
Perfect Pacifist People: The Darrian homeworld was once something of a garden world where the only survival demand was to breed out bellicosity. When other humans arrived from Planet Terra the Darrians had to adapt to more common human instincts. This is perhaps one reason why Swordies and Darrians not only dislike each other but can't comprehend each other.
Playing with Fire: Their most unique art form involves making sculptures out of flame with gravity manipulators.
Proud Scholar Race: Arts and scholarship are seen as the highest cultural values of the Darrian people.
Reluctant Warrior: Nearly all of the wars between the Darrians and Sword Worlders were provoked by the Sword Worlders attacking the Darrians.
Science Hero: The Darrians consider their advanced technology to be their highest acheivement.
Space Elves: They have pointed ears, a lyrical elf-like language, they value the arts, literature, and scholarship, they were more technologically advanced than the rest of Humaniti until they lost most of their technology in a cataclysm, and they lived in massive trees when first transplanted to Darrian. Yep, they're Space Elves.
Star Killing: The only ones in the Traveller universe who claim to be able to do this, and who did do it at least once (accidentally). The Star Trigger is a major part of their defense, acting as an "ultimate deterrent" to the Sword Worlders and Zhodani.

Floriani

A minor human race from the Trojan Reach, a seedy frontier area — though the Florian League is one of the more civilized and stable parts of that region.

Artificial Human: Secretly this. Not merely transplanted by the Ancients, they were *created* by them. They're biological androids, and while they can breed normally, they also still decant new Floriani behind the scenes.
Brains and Brawn: Their two castes. The ruling Barnai are the brains, the subordinate Feskal the brawn.
Creative Sterility: Barnai are very intellectual but have next to no imagination. Once they get working on something, they can understand and replicate it in no time, but without an example to work from, they're highly unlikely to come up with it on their own.
Fantastic Caste System: They come in two castes, which are also physically distinct. Barnai are short, slim and have large heads; Feskal are large and muscular.
Fantastic Racism: Aside from the Barnai-Feskal division, the Florian League also incorporates a minor human race called Halkans, who were once subject to racial discrimination. This has largely but not entirely disappeared. Other non-Floriani in the League (Vilani and Solomani colonies left over from the Long Night) were better-integrated.
Happiness in Slavery: Feskal are expendable and subordinate to Barnai. No-one, including the Feskal, has a problem with this.
Idiot Savant: Barnai might be the brains of the outfit, but they have no head for the new or the unexpected. The Florian League tends to bumble its way through developments and crises, with the whole thing working out through a combination of their slow, cautious approach and genuine brilliance when the circumstances are right.
My Brain Is Big: The Barnai, to some extent.

Geonee

A human race, known for their short stature and their claim to be descended from the Ancients.

And Now You Must Marry Me: This is the short, easy way that a Geonee man marries; he can, at least traditionally, just "capture" a woman from another family. The longer, more usual method involves gaining the trust of a Chirper (like many worlds, theirs has a population of these un-casted Droyne), which becomes a symbol of the marriage's legitimacy; a man can then approach a woman and arrange a marriage.
Heavy Worlder: Hence their short, stocky build.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Short, known for their engineering and mechanical talents, only the men are seen out and about... they're dwarves. They're not subterranean, but the allied Llyrnian race apparently is, so they have tunnellers on their team as well.
The Remnant: They believe themselves to be this. Scavenging the jump drive from an Ancient starship, knowing that their legends tell them they were transplanted on their world, and finding evidence of human and Droyne/Chirper life on various other planets, they came to what was in fairness not an unreasonable conclusion: that they were descended from the Ancients. They still insist this is true.
Stay in the Kitchen: Very male-dominant, and women tend to remain out of sight at home.
Transplanted Humans: They insist otherwise, but this is their origin.

Girug'Kagh

A client race of the K'kree; submissive before their K'kree masters, otherwise smug. Essentially the K'kree's majordomos.

Comedic Sociopathy: Their humour is based around likeable people getting a comeuppance for daring to buck tradition/act out, etc. Complete with humiliating "reality television". It says a lot about their warped cultural mindset after millennia under K'kree rule.
Fantastic Caste System: Partly inspired by the K'kree version. Girug'kagh take every little distinction in status levels very seriously.
Known Only by Their Nickname: "Girug'kagh" is a K'kree word, meaning "the translators". Their actual name, Savezitaisoh, is almost totally forgotten.
Outside-Context Problem: They had a very primitive society when horse-people in spaceships descended and told them "you're vegetarian subjects now, or else".
Slave Race: For most of their history; their entire culture is artificially imposed upon them. They have it better than a lot of K'kree slave races, though, being mostly trusted as servants to the Great Herd.

Gurvin

A prominent ally of the Hivers, matriarchal mammalians with an obsession for money. Since Hivers don't have spoken language, the standard Hive Federation language is actually the Gurvin's.

Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Apparently, females are intelligent (if miserly and money-obssesed), while males are smaller, have bony protrusions on their arms, and aren't as smart (though still sapient). Males tend to live more rustic lives as hunters on the Gurvin planets, while the females run the government and travel the stars (to make money).
Proud Merchant Race: They're the traders and financieers of the Hive Federation.

Hhkar

Reptilian aliens who fought, and later joined with, the Julian Protectorate (a loose collection of Human/Vargr states bordering the Imperium).

Cigar Chomper: They evolved in a highly volcanic environment and smoke of a caustic variety is like a health supplement to them. They smoke their own cigars for this reason.
Draconic Humanoid: Essentially, complete with breathing smoke (thanks to the cigars).
Gender Bender: They naturally shift sexes at certain points in their lifecycle, complete with different skill sets for each phase.
Long-Lived: They live longer than humans, up to several centuries. It's often mistakenly assumed by other races that they're all but immortal — this isn't true, but they can enter a sort of natural hibernation to extend their lifespan, meaning that an individual Hhkar can still be around long after it would otherwise have aged and died.
The Migration: They left their home region in sublight ships long ago, only to then return en masse and reclaim their worlds, clearing out Vargr and Humans that had settled there. They then came to an uneasy peace and alliance, though, joining the Julian Protectorate.
Proud Warrior Race: They fight among themselves a lot, and generally are comfortable with violence.
Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Hhkar have great control over their various meditative states. It's common for the elderly to die by deliberately triggering their demise while in a dream-phase.
Sssssnaketalk: Implied, what with words like "Ssaaahk" (tribal grouping).

Ithklur

Lizardlike aliens that serve the rather courage-deprived Hivers as warriors when needed. Friendly, but absolutely love a good fight.

Alien Gender Confusion: There is little physical or cultural distinction between the two sexes, so a human might not be able to tell which a given Ithklur is.
Blood Knight: They know what they're good at and they love to do it.
Boisterous Bruiser: They not only know that they're good at fighting, they actively enjoy it.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Ithklur culture is interested in finding the self and in meditation — they just feel that fighting is the best way to do both. They also like cultivating flowers and generally come across as very nice people.
Klingons Love Shakespeare: A lot of Ithklur appreciate human cultural trinkets like snowglobes, because they resemble philosophical aides in traditional Ithklur culture, but with fun or interesting twists.
Mirroring Factions: For all that they seem impossibly different, and as often trying to get one over on one another than living harmoniously, the Ithklur and their Hiver "bosses" are alike in one very important way — stimulating and interesting is always valued over dully pragmatic.
Our Orcs Are Different: They are probably the closest thing to Traveller orcs but they are more like some of the later varieties then like Tolkienite orcs, not being evil but simply energetic and ferocious when called upon.
Proud Warrior Race: They're not really proud so much as just happy with their lot, but most of the trope holds.
Slave Race: Not really a Slave Race for the Hivers, but fill the same niche so to speak. They like to say that the Hivers are their "taxi drivers", doing the boring work of getting them to places where they're free to engage in spiritual self-discovery and/or mayhem.

Jgd-il-Jagd

A race of tentacled beings native to a gas giant planet, and who have colonies spread across the Imperium and beyond, but who established them without jump drive (which they can't tolerate)

Bizarre Alien Psychology: Their sense of causality is different from most species, partly because they can experience shared memories through direct transfer. Also, they're obssessed with the notion of symmetry — to the point that when they reproduce by fission, the rare Jgd with an odd number of tentacles soon dies, implicitly unable to handle the abomination that is its existence.
Living Gasbag: Essentially this. Their spherical central bodies are full of hydrogen.
Really 700 Years Old: Slow-paced and long-lived. Since they can't handle jump travel, this was what helped them establish a presence in multiple star systems.
Starfish Aliens: Very distinct both physically and psychologically, being natives of a gas giant.
Starfish Language: The Jgd have two means of communication, the first being a long-distance language using infrasonic tones, made by vibrating the entire surface of the body. Much more effective, they pass information by direct physical contact memory transfer.
Too Many Mouths: Half a dozen, though they're not obvious.

Luriani

A human race, slightly amphibious, and known for their passionate, emotional ways. They were repressed by the Vilani during the First Imperium, and haven't forgotten it.

Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Given their nomadic, ocean-going ancestry and their free-loving culture, there's something very Polynesian about them.
Hot-Blooded: Infamous for it, being known for their fiery tempers despite being otherwise a peaceable people.
Human Subspecies: Humans adapted by the Ancients for a somewhat amphibious lifestyle.

Schalli

A race new to the galactic community, an aquatic people who were subject to an attempted cover-up and genocide by a human colonial government.

Fish People: Very fish-like, with little bits of dolphin, cuttlefish and crustacean in the mix.
Named After Their Planet: An odd example, in that they're named for the planet Schall, on which their sapience was discovered, but they're actually from the planet Vras. Some people in-universe insist that they should be the "Vrax", but "Schalli" had already basically stuck.

Suerrat

A hirsute human race, along with the Geonee one of the early rivals to the Vilani, then incorporated into the First Imperium as subjects, and in time the Second and Third Imperia.

Arboreal Abode: Their primitive societies were built in very large trees.
Generation Ships: Their interstellar nation was held together loosely by these. Because they hadn't invented the jump drive, the Vilani dismissed them as a "minor race", not a legitimate counterpart.
Human Subspecies: Their thick body fur and semi-arboreal adaptations cause them to look a bit "ape-like", but they are humans, not apes.
Transplanted Humans: The Ancients transplanted them on their homeworld (Ilelish).

Sword Worlds

Mostly Solomani, descended from soldiers of Scandinavian and German descent who fled from Terra during an ancient civil war. Known for their admiration of the Vikings. Known also for their curmudgeonly behavior but also for their sheer resilience. Divided into the Sword Worlds Confederation, a small rival Federation to the Imperium, and the Border Worlds Authority, a recently established Puppet State of the Imperium. Both in turn are minimal states with most power being local.

The Alliance: The Sword Worlds Confederation to Zhodani. Also internally; their central government is minimal.
Apron Matron: The Sword World female ideal is somewhere between this and Silk Hiding Steel.
Barbarian Tribe: Subverted. Although they sometimes act in a rather barbaric manner, they are an advanced if rather eccentric civilization.
Determinator: Their chief virtue. They are stubborn, quarrelsome, and widely accused of Testosterone Poisoning. But they can also survive anything life throws at them.
Determined Homesteader: And every determined variant thereof. The ideal Sword Worlder.
Elves Versus Dwarves: To the Darrians; Darrians are like elves making Swordies like Dwarves. Also swordies do have some traditional dwarvish characteristics.
Fantastic Racism: To the Darrians. They have fought several wars with each other and the Entropic worlds are a constant source of friction. Darrians see the Sword Worlders as barbarians while the Sword Worlders see Darrians as stuck-up space elves.
The Federation: The SWC is a small federation, compared to the Imperium, but yeah.
Fire of Comfort: They consider hearthfires sacred.
Had to Be Sharp: Swordies have lived for centuries dealing not only with nature (and some of their planets would qualify as a Death World), but with the Darrians, the Imperium, and not least each other.
Hidden Depths: Despite their backward seeming appearance, they are an industrial powerhouse. They also have made splendid if obscure artwork (notably the Hall of Planets on Tizon), and even possess a number of geeks, though their stereotype runs more toward Bruiser with a Soft Center.
Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Played with. The Sword Worlds are of course an advanced civilization capable of starfarring and they do have an intellectual class, which as it happens does get some respect. The chief love of Sword Worlders, though, is for soldiers and farmers, so their technology lags behind that of their neighbors.
Made a Slave: Played with. There is no mention in canon of a chattel caste or of institutionalized kidnapping or the normal things associated with this, in Sword World culture. However some Sword World governments have judicial thralldom as a punishment for certain offenses.
The Migration: Their founders arrived in an epic Migration.
Mr Fix It: While they are hardly as technologically advanced as the Imperium, let alone the Darrians, they make large quantities of cheap, durable equipment that is intended to be easily modified by a clever Determined Homesteader.
Named Weapons: most of the planets are named after swords from tale and legend.
The Patriarch: The Sword World male ideal.
Planet of Hats: Subverted. They follow an ideological ideal that admires vikings. However they are in fact very little like vikings; for one thing Sword Worlders don't travel much and idealize farmers rather then voyagers. For another Sword Worlders live in an advanced society which is capable of supporting an interstellar civilization. Aside from all that, the Sword Worlds have numerous variations based on the environment of their various planets and regions thereof, as well as their famously fractious politics. Let's just say they think they are a Planet of Hats but they really aren't.
Proud Warrior Race: Sword Worlds in general.
Proud Merchant Race: The planet Tizon more specifically. They are more urbane and sophisticated then most Sword Worlders and trade widely through the Spinward Marches. However when they are put upon, the Tizonian Navy will most certainly show that they are are still Sword Worlders.
Puppet State: The Border Worlds Authority. The Imperium conquered several of the Sword Worlds during the Fifth Frontier War and didn't know what to do with them, so it formed the Border Worlds Authority as a rival government to the Sword Worlds. That did not work out particularly well; the best that can be said about the idea is that the Imperium does not have to spend lives maintaining an occupation force in hostile territory.
The Remnant: The founders of the Sword Worlds were from the losing side of a war back in Terran space, and left the region rather than settle down/accept reintegration.
Shout-Out: Lifted almost entirely from Piper's Space Viking. In verse they make Shout-Out s to Vikings and to J. R. R. Tolkien, as several of their planets are named after swords from his writings.
Space Police: The Confederation Patrol, a sort of space coast guard which chases pirates as well as criminals who wish to flee from planet to planet.
Terraforming: One noted movement on the planet Orcrist (which is something of a Death World, difficult for agriculture) is a series of experiments called the Orcrist Soil Manufacturing Project. This is a populist movement rather then one funded by a Vast Bureaucracy. The more geeky Swordies on the planet of Orcrist will do experiments in their own gardens, and enter it on the planet's internet to be processed and discussed.
Trademark Favorite Food: Beer. Swordies make some of the best beer in known space. It is the only true manly drink according to Swordies.
Space Cossacks: Although it's been awfully long since they arrived in the Sword Worlds, the Solomani maintain independence in the face of the Vilani Imperium. The "100 Parsecs" sample campaign from the Gurps volume highlights their militaristic side.
Stay in the Kitchen: On the whole yes, but traditional provisions are made for women who want to get out and the kitchen is theoretically considered a very dignified position, because tending hearthfires is a sacred task.
The Stoic: Traditional nordic courage means the Sword Worlders stay stoic.
Silk Hiding Steel: The theoretical ideal of a Sword World female. Female influence is often considerable behind the scenes. Two examples the volume Sword Worlds notes are high class diplomat's wives talking "secretly" to each other in the kitchen to informally help their husbands, and Sword World women getting their Love Interest out of a rash and dangerous promise by providing the face saver of reminding them of their point of view which argument he can in turn plead to other sword world males.

Vegans

A peaceable people who are important in the Solomani Rim region... so long as the often-racist Solomani Movement isn't too dominant.

Bizarre Alien Limbs: They have a set of three snaking prehensile trendils on the end of each arm, rather than hands.
Known Only by Their Nickname: Humans call them Vegans since their worlds are in the vicinity of that star. They are rarely referred to by their actual name, Tyui. (Similar to how few people, in-universe or out, call Aslan by their actual name, Fteirle).
Lightworlder: They prefer planets with lighter gravity than Earth. They also prefer drier worlds; essentially, their preferred environment is somewhere between Earth and Mars in its characteristics.
The Stoic: They're not as passionate as humans, being generally less demonstrative and aggresive.

The Virus

A living computer virus launched during the Rebellion which ends up destroying the Third Imperium. Doesn't appear in the Gurps alternate timeline.

Always Chaotic Evil: Most Virus will start killing everything around them as soon as they have possessed a new computer system, without regard to their own continued existence. Some of the more "evolved" strains will show a little more caution, but generally still want to kill.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a computer virus — though see below.
Hollywood Hacking: Virus can get into nearly any computer system just through radio waves. Somehow. Word of God speculates that it may actually be a psionic life form and therefore doesn't obey the normal laws of physics.
The Virus: Yeah, pretty much, but only for computers. More complicated computers result in more intelligent Virus, while some systems are so simple that they can't host Virus, but can host an "egg" that will infect any more complicated system that connects to it.
Weapon of Mass Destruction: Virus was a re-engineered silicon-based life form designed to destroy an enemy and then self-destruct. The designers weren't finished with the self-destruct part when it was released.

Virushi

A race of massive, rhino-like herbivores with a pacifistic outlook. They didn't develop much of an advanced civilization themselves, lacking the drive required by less naturally secure species, but they happily adapted to the human-led interstellar society of the Third Imperium.

Gentle Giant: They lack a drive to aggression, and getting them to fight is extremely difficult — to the disappointment of many Imperial army officers.
Herbivores Are Friendly: While the K'kree may avert this massively, the Virushi — who unlike the K'kree had no real natural predators — play it straight.
The Medic: The stereotypical Virushi role. They don't join the armed forces proper (besides their pacifism, they also don't recognise the concept of taking orders, only friendly suggestions), but they come along as civilian support staff, to provide medical assistance. The Emperor also has a personal Virushi physician.
The Stoic: Being all but invulnerable on their homeworld, they're gentle and non-aggressive, and tend to respond to hostility with pleasant patience.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: They have eight — four thick legs, two sturdy arms and two thin, manipulative arms.

Others

There are many other minor races in the setting.

Beary Friendly: The Murrians, a peaceful people from the Vanguard Reaches. Note that actual (uplifted) bears, the Ursa, are usually portrayed as more prickly.
Beware My Stinger Tail: Nenlat have a venomous sting on a tail-like appendage.
Bizarre Alien Sexes: Lurent and Nenlat have three, Souggvuez have five, Threep have six.
Commonality Connection: Minor races in the Vargr Extents tend to be miserable — except for those who have social instincts mirroring the Vargr's own. The chaotically flexible Hlanssai and the charisma-chasing Souggvuez fare far better than most others, being more adept at living by Vargr norms.
Crazy-Prepared: The Gl'lu, who always have redundant systems in their technology, a result of the common geological disasters on their homeworld.
Exposed Extraterrestrials: A lot of the less humanoid species don't use clothes. Most of the common species (Aslan, Vargr, Bwap, Droyne, etc.) are clothed, as are all the humans. Perhaps the most humanoid race to wander around naked are the Hlanssai, who look a bit like very thin, stretched bipedal cats.
Extreme Doormat: The "Ladybugs", who are happy serving the Solomani as domestic workers.
Extreme Omnivore: The Beree, who will eat anything, grabbing it instinctively and stuffing it into their central mouth. This includes things like potted plants and the odd pet.
Gentle Giant: Besides Virushi, there's also the Crenduthaar, a fearsome-looking race who are actually pacifistic — except where Vargr are concerned, due to the Vargr occupation of their homeworld.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The Sydites, traditionally at odds with the Imperium, stereotyped as rather brutish, and sporting four arms.
Octopoid Aliens: Several, most notably the Githiaskio.
Uplifted Animal: Aside from the Vargr, there are also populations of Dolphins, Orca, Apes, and even Bears in Human space, uplifted by the Solomani during the Interstellar Wars era.

Notable Institutions

Imperial Interstellar Scout Service

The Third Imperium's agency for exploration, intelligence, and frontier diplomacy. Its missions include long exploratory voyages, local planetary surveys, and purely scientific endeavors as well as espionage, border patrol and dealing with the natives. Also handles the carrying of strategic messages. Sometimes even acts as Space Police, notably when an interdict is placed on a planet. Being scouts is one of the favorite settings in Traveller.

Adventurer Archaeologist: The Scout service is likely to be involved in any excavation of alien ruins within the Imperium, with Scouts providing security as well.
Ambadassador: One of their primary missions.
Badass Bookworm: The Scout career in original Traveller made three attributes important: Strength and Intelligence modified your chance of enlisting, while Endurance modified survival rolls. Scouts notably had the most difficult survival roll of the careers included in Book 1, and were tied for the highest attribute requirement to improve their survival chances. A good Scout is smart, strong, and TOUGH.
Bold Explorer: One of their primary missions.
Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Scouts supposedly have no rank. Whatever that means.
Courier: The Scout Service maintains the mail system in the Imperium. Each Xboat has a high-performance jump drive, a sophisticated communications system, computer storage, and nothing else. They are the 57th-century equivalent to the Pony Express.
First Contact Team: The IISS are the ones who are supposed to do this and have elaborate procedures for doing so.
Knight Errant: Scouts who have mustered out are often given a scout ship they can operate by themselves with only the obligation to report in occasionally. This gives the Imperium another source of intelligence while the scout gets to keep travelling.
Mildly Military: Notably they don't have any rank in the field office.
Space Police: Some of the time.
Walking the Earth: Scouts mustered out of the service are often put on "detached duty" — they get a free scout ship to wander the galaxy with as long as they make occasional reports on their activities.

Imperial Marines

The Marines of the Third Imperium

Badass Army: The Imperial Marines are the elite of the Imperium, and have the gear and training to match.
Cool Sword: Marines love cutlasses. For ceremony, sport, and duelling, not for war.
Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: this is a tradition of the Imperial marines.
Space Marine: It's in the name.
Powered Armor: Imperial Marines use battle dress, a form of powered armor that doubles their strength and gives them enough armor to shrug off small arms fire.

Imperial Guard

The Elite Mooks of the Third Imperium.

Badass Army: The absolute cream of the Imperium's forces.
Godzilla Threshold: The Guard is, by Imperial Law, the only formation that is exempt from being charged with war crimes^note, because by the time they're called out, what they're combatting is probably capable of much worse in the way of atrocities.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: This is what the Guard specializes in. They are only called out to combat in circumstances where the situation has deteriorated so much that nothing short of killing everyone will rectify things.

Sol Sec

Solomani Security. The Secret Police of the Solomani Confederation

State Sec: They uphold the authority of the Solomani Party, and have broad and somewhat repressive powers.
We Are Everywhere: Subverted. In the time-lag of the Traveller universe they cannot possibly be everywhere. They are only thought to be so.

Confederation Patrol

The intersteller police of the Sword Worlds Confederation.

Proud Warrior Race Guy. They are Sword Worlders after all.
Space Police: A necessity, since the Sword Worlds are a maze of local jurisdictions. Criminals would just flee to other planets without them.

Characters / Traveller

Edit Locked