On 8 October 2014 13:05, Tim <tim@little-possums.net> wrote:

The Solomani progressed from their first spaceflight to jump drive in
120 years, started expanding pretty much immediately, and developed
jump-3 in another 150 years.

The Vilani took 800 years to discover jump drive after their first
spaceflight, about 4000 more years to discover jump-2, and didn't
develop jump-3 at all during the subsequent 3000 years.

So I'm not sure where "even more rapid than the Solomani progress"
comes from.

I stand corrected. I was trying to imagine "real-life" Terran civilisation having STL interstellar colonisation before 2159 AD, and just couldn't see it. Of course, comparing fictional apples with fictional apples, the Solomani start sending out STL colonisation missions about 100 years after spaceflight, the Vilani about 200.

Still, comparing the rate of exploration into interstellar space in the first few decades after the development of jump drive, the Vilani compare favourably with the Solomani* ... and the Solomani had the incredible impetus to get out of the nest in a hurry of the Interstellar Wars. The Vilani had no such pressure, and no advanced civilisation to reverse-engineer technology from.

(* I'm comparing the time it took for the Solomani and Vilani to explore their local subsectors.)

So, modifying my statement slightly, while the Solomani were somewhat faster in technological advancement than the Vilani, the Vilani themselves demonstrated (in the early days) a rate of technological advancement which was highly impressive in its own right when compared to most other civilisations. And the Vilani applied their technology to exploration and expansion (and all the strains that puts on society) with an assertiveness that matched the Solomani. Bottom line, these are not features in keeping with the stereotype of the "hidebound Vilani".

On the whole though, I pretty much ignore all of the Traveller
timeline.
...
I love Traveller, in many different ways, but I don't have any faith
whatsoever in 99% of its backstory. So from my point of view, using
that backstory's historical development to extrapolate the mindset of
societies and species in the current setting is totally ridiculous.

Well, of course: becoming overly enthused about any fictional setting can be ridiculous! Some gearheads enjoy arguing about how many angels dance on the head of a equipment design spreadsheet (witness the concurrent discussion about viability of fighters in Traveller). I personally enjoy taking the highly contingent data points that make up the Traveller Timeline, and trying to make a coherent and interesting historical narrative out of it. YMMV; we each are here to feed different passions.

My assumption is that the overview that, say, a Core Rulebook gives of the "History of the First Imperium" is about as accurate as a two-page summary of the Roman Empire. The "facts" are technically correct, but the narrative is simplified so as to imply a homogeneity that "fills in broad swaths of otherwise undefined time" ... and this homogeneity can be contrived, unsatisfying, and at times absurd. The data points in the Timeline often provide little glimpses that things are much more nuanced than the "big picture" implies. As Joseph pointed out, this can then be fun trigger for the plot of a gaming session.

I hope that most list members take my contributions in the spirit in which they are offered - as stimuli that might lead their imaginations down new roads of thought about the Traveller milieu; and if that proves to be an interesting diversion for an hour or so, then I have added something to our community.

Cheers!

Ken "peace, love, and mung-beans" Barns