The Triangle
The following information is from the Triangle Campaign book by FASA written by Peter L Rice and Marcus Mulkins. (This is not my material and if you want more information buy the book)
The Golden Triangle, as it is frequently called by merchants who infest the area, is the space located on the common borders of the 3 major powers: The United Federation Of Planets, The Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire. Less than 200 years ago, thisarea served only as a constant source of conflict between the powers. Colonies were first established by the Klingons and the Romulans. Their expansion was designed to provide each a foot-hold in the disputed territory, but with every thrust, the opponent would counter thrust. The results were numerous isolated colonies, scattered and easily forgotten by their sponsors.
The greatest value these solar systems had to offer, when viewed in retrospect, was the isolation and attendant secrecy for all who sought to live within them. Early colonial life was very difficult. Many colonies were established by settlers attempting to break away from the control and persecution of their home governments. Their dreams often were fulfilled within a year of initial planetfall.
But the separation was very dangerous, for the bordering powers took advantage of this isolation. The Klingons sent campaigns to eradicate the Romulan colonies, hoping to gain the disputed territory once and for all. The Romulans countered with raids and slaughter reaching the into the millions. The survivors became disenchanted with the governments who had failed so thoroughly to protect them. It is interesting the settlers wanted absolute freedom from government intervention, but they were angry when their governments gave them what they wanted.
The survivors were the men and women who became the first of the area’s smugglers. They understood the value of survival, and also understood life was short and it is best to enjoy it while you can. With their rag-tag ships, they organized the neighboring colonies and joined into trading cartels, trading with anyone willing to do business. That is not to say the Klingon and Romulan Empires didn’t attempt to use the tough, ruthless men of the Triangle to stop the smugglers , only to learn that the coin of influence was now of solid gold rather than the plated coin of ‘loyalty’ or ‘Race’.
The smuggling operation grew with the promise of high profit netted from running arms and goods within the void. As is the way with greed, the temptation for even higher profits overshadowed the higher risks associated with running goods between the Klingon and Romulan borders. Even as this early fruit was ripening, Federation Ships and outposts began appearing, and disappearing on the edges of the Triangle. The demand for goods from foreign borders never disappeared and smugglers developed trade with these interlopers as they had with the older governments.
As the colonies and the smugglers burgeoned, the merchants established great
tolerance for their varied clients. As with any good businessmen, the smuggles developed a fine sense of discretion toward their customers as well. One of the sayings taught to the youth within the triangle was “ A man lost in the triangle is lost to all who seek him, but he is found by anyone who needs him.” A number of criminals and men came to the triangle escaping from all types of real and imagined problems, such as execution or marriage. During this period, it was estimated that the number of new settlers exceeded the average immigration of any single known system.
These tainted men who joined the void fit in easily with the founding fathers. Each had reason to lay down the loyalty from the worlds from which they came for the easier mantle of profit. Each had a reason to distrust the government and the clients who became their customers. Each was consumed by the overwhelming desire for profit.
With the final signature on the treaties establishing the Triangle as truly neutral, the colonies were free to create working governments to attend to their needs. These governments served them with the same efficiency their tiny brittle ships had served before. The governments were a vehicle for the single purpose of making a profit. Certainly, the governments did institute laws and projects to improve the populated planets, but only just enough to maintain the necessary forms of government. Commerce was encourage, and neutrality with the major powers proved a strong incitement for growth in the region. Several of the heavily-populated planets soon became known as trading meccas, and with this growth, the smugglers relaxed into the role of merchants, counting the easy profits made from the bazaars. The need to risk life and limb was now
balanced against a profit and loss statement from the exchanges. The majority of the colonist adopted the easy life, but the lessons of the Triangle were never lost on the people. Ruthlessness in business, distrust of governments, discretion in dealings and secrecy of location and activities were never forgotten by the citizens.
Prior to the unification of the United Federation of Planets, each of the races within the current Federation maintained their own military organization. As the development of the Federation evolved, the Orion family groups near its sphere refused to endorse unification with the UFP. The systems bordering the Orions were outspokenly pro-Federation, and the Orions were engulfed.
The Orions are not capable of concerted action. They may present a united front for a while, but, if left alone, they will forget the reason for their unification and fall to fighting among themselves Each family maintains a code of ethics all its own, and primary loyalty resides with the house and its patriarch. The houses while fiercely loyal within the family, are equally distrustful of those Orion or not, from outside. It is for this reasons Orions make such good pirates. They have a deep sense of loyalty and a deep sense of apprehension. They will fight to the death for their own, but they will pass another Orion being dismembered by an angry mob without even turning a hair. To weld this group into a force capable of unified action would take a miracle.
The Orions entered the Triangle before their homeworlds near Rigel were engulfed completely by the UFP to coreward and the Klingon Empire spinward. Since that time, they have developed into tightly controlled family empires with organized armies or raiders and smugglers operating within the region. Seizing the opportunity to enter the high profit world of contraband, The Orions established themselves as ruthless and daring by crossing the boundaries of all 3 of the adjacent powers. In each area, they concentrated on the most expensive and most demanding products. The Orions next refined their contacts into several point-to-point routes, with each leg being a drop off for the goods collected from the previous port. So well-established are these routes, still in effect, that they can be compared with the Triangle Trade of ancient Terran history. Each leg of the route insured a profit for the carriers and also wormed the Orions into favor or at least tolerance of the major powers; continued operation was guaranteed. Not only did the raiders run a closed circuit, but they also freelanced, and, more than once, they made a easy victim of an unsuspecting ship encountered in the vastness of space.
These Orion Raiders and smugglers plunder for the good of the Orion families they represent, turning a percentage of the take to support the construction of newer and better ships. The houses in turn, provide logistical and financial support with bribes to officials within the Triangle. This collusion means that the Orions will be officially unnoticed in their travels, and have even been allowed to establish construction and repair facilities in the far and largely-untraveled sections of the Triangle. The Orions have even established emergency repair facilities on the primary trading planets.
The most recent groups involved with the Triangle are the major powers: the
Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans. Each empire fits into the Triangle uniquely, as they do nowhere else in the universe. Each strives to know the plans of the others and to turn those plans to its own advantage. These plans often are at cross-purposes, and, in the Triangle, with its tentative neutrality, they take on a special flavor of their own.
To understand the involvement of the 3 major powers, each must be reviewed against the others. The Klingons have been the enemy of the Romulan Star Empire since the time of space travel; with each group being aggressive and warlike, this was only natural. The introduction of a new spacefaring race tipped the balance. It allowed, or forced, the Klingon and Romulan governments to develop ties for the common purpose of destroying the Federation . Each race fought a costly and inconclusive war with the Federation, and now they were forced to act in concert for their own survival. The exchange of treaties added to the coffers of the Klingon Empire and forced the Federation to deal with two
possible enemies.
The Romulans viewed this alliance as temporary, in force only until the Romulan forces could be outfitted with ships and arms. Unfortunately the Romulan system is an intractable one, and the wealth of the planets is difficult and expensive to extract. So, following the Federation-Romulan war, the Romulan Empire had need to replace ships and arms lost in the conflict. They came to the Klingons looking to renew the trade agreements for the purchase of arms.
This time, the real price for Klingon support was felt. The Klingons were more than happy to provide the arms the Romulans requested, as long as the Romulans were willing to allow the Klingons all future expansions. If the Romulans were not willing to allow to except this, the cost of the weapons would be high, very high. The Romulans refused to bend to this blackmail. Instead, the agreed to purchase the new weapons at the higher, inflated, price. To finance this order for new ships, they needed more money than the post-war economy could provide. To produce the necessary capital, they turned to the Triangle.
The product for export was Romulan mining equipment. This equipment was
considered to be the best available because, if it mine in the Romulan system, it can mine anywhere. The sale of Romulan ale provided a sideline, and a reasonable profit, but the ale was outlawed officially by both the Federation and Klingons and was not a product open for sale.
The Romulans organized a fleet of merchant ships to operate in the Triangle, with a portion of the profits made by these ships being returned to the Romulan military procurement fund. The Klingons began fulfilling their arms sales despite renewed threats of price increases.
Chief buyers of the Romulan mining equipment were Federation merchants. The Federation had been blessed with planets rich in minerals and ready for easy pickings. The Romulan planets were hostile, the minerals found were few, and it was difficult to extract them. This lead to the development of sophisticated and sturdy mining engines.
It is widely believed that Star Fleet Intelligence was aware of the arms deal between the Klingons and Romulans, and that they were covertly encouraging the military effort of the Romulans. The motivation for this unusual support, to an enemy with whom a major war had been recently fought, was self-protection. If the Klingons were successful in gaining the allegiance of the Romulans in their expansion, the Federation would be the only force standing in the way. Keeping the Romulans wealthy enough to salvage their own pride did not ensure friendship, but it did ensure that here would be no love lost between the mighty empires on the borders of the Federation. Peace was expensive, but it was less expensive than war.
The Klingons , True to form, were now recovered form the Klingon-Federation war, and ready to strike out once more in their manifest destiny role of conquerors. It was still too early to engage the Federation directly, but the worlds in the Triangle offered a tempting prize. Luckily for the Triangle the Klingons had attempted their military might against the Federation first. If they had gone for the Triangle and then the Federation, history could have been very different. The ruthless governments and inhabitants of the Triangle had established their own destiny, and any move against them results in an immediate appeal form the other 2 sides. The Triangle’s governments have been careful to cultivate the value of neutrality.
The Klingons adopted a new technique in their expansionist role. They offered to become builders and developers of the unexplored and unsettled planets of the Triangle. In return for this generous offer, all the Klingons wanted was the right to export a portion of the wealth discovered on the planet as well as immigration rights to the new colonies. With this move the Klingons sought to gain the good will of the Triangle, for future consideration, while at the same time establishing covert listening posts and advanced bases.
Doc
Dammit Jim, I'm a Tuba Player, Not a .....!!!!!!
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Originally Posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
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