The 1959 LEO treaty, and the evolution of the UN

If the first major consequence of the First orbital war  was speeding up long term and long range space operations by the superpowers, the second was clearly the initial LEO treaty that was negotiated as a result of the war.    

Before the war, the civilian benefits of satellite/orbital technology had been obvious, and exploitation of this potential was a major goal of both private industries and the non-aligned developing nations (Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa).  While only a few private or Non-aligned powers had lofted satellites, the Orbit war destroyed them all by direct attack, or as a consequence of other attacks. 

Both the run up to the war and the result of the war was an almost complete degredation of orbital infrastructure: in short, no sooner was a satellite lofted than it was destroyed.   

As most space exploitation was military, anything in orbit was potentially a weapon.  Indeed, the main casus bellum for the war was the “neutralization” of a large scientific satellite that proved to be an nuclear platform (from debris analysis); that it was also manned was the stated issue, but both sides knew that the lesson of project Prometheus was that gaining nuclear high ground was decisive. Once nuclear weapons were potentially in orbit, no satellite could be trusted.  Unfortunately, as previously discussed the operations required to control LEO had exhausted both sides resources and personel and was unsustainable, and simultaneously unavoidable. 

The desire for both of the superpowers to disengage from active orbital fighting coupled with  the non-aligned powers desire to have an orbital infrastructure to create the the 1959 LEO treaty.  In its simplest form, the LEO treaty declared that non-military satellites and operations were off limits to attack, but were also completely open to inspection and verification.  Military operations were unaffected, but made responsible for collateral damage.  Secondarily, the UN was tasked to undertake enforcement, inspection and orbital cleanup, a duty vested in the UNPAX forces patrolling the Eurasian DMZ areas. 

Many historians mark the beginning of the estrangement of both the USA and the USSR from the UN, although the 1957 relocation  of the UN headquarters into the BENELUX Mandate  is also significant.  Regardless of the cause, the LEO treaty clearly showed that by unified pressure (economic and political) the non-aligned powers could dictate some terms to the superpowers; increasingly, the UN became the vehicle for such action.  A bipolar world was beginning to evolve into a tripartite world.

ADVENTURER is complete ! Book Three: Races, Realms and Riches is up and posted !

Well, here it is. Book three of three. It's done.

This one covers the equiv of the wilderness and underworld adventures for original D&D. Player and non-player races, animal and fantastic creature generation rules; map, city and dungeon generation rules, plus traveller style profile strings ! analogues for all the major traveller races ! Major geek fest !

All it seems to lack at this point are some easy combat rules for flyers, and a few careers for the same -or at least skills for them.  I'm not sure if I should add them to book two, or remove the flyer construction rules from it, and have a first supplement covering skyships.  The latter is easier, but would leave  book 2 a bit skinny, and entirely devoted to magic.  Any thoughts ?

So, except for the above, this is probably the final version of Adventurer unless I decide to go semipro and actually publish it via POD or PDF.  Or if major problems show up, obviously.....

So, I've got other stuff to blog about, but I've been forcing myself to  finish this off; it's been gratifying seeing the followers increase even in the face of seriously dense and specialized posts.  I hope you all enjoy this.  And I'd love to hear any comments or stories from actual play.  My local playtest has been a long time thing, but somewhat limited in scope and player headcount.  I know more input would be better, so........http://www.box.net/shared/gzu9dcs4c4r61nrx2zo4

New stuff: Alchemy spells 1.

Enhancement of the material form
Cost: 100silver x 2d6 x maximum points chosen.
Difficulty: the chosen maximum Characteristic boost.
Time to prepare 1 day per point of maximum

This spell allows an alchemist to create potions or other medicines that temporarily increase the users natural characteristics. Choose a characteristic from STR, DEX, END,or INT. Specify a maximum number of points to add to the stat; this is the difficulty for creating the compound. If successful, note the final effect. If the effect of the success is less than or equal to the maximum chosen, the compound boosts the characteristic by that amount. The basic duration of a result that is less than or equal to the maximum chosen has a duration of one hour and an effective life of one day.
If the final result exceeds the maximum, the caster may allocate effect points to duration, effective life and any limitations.
Points added to duration extend the potion by one hour per point. Points allocated to life increase the life of the compound by a week. Limitations are a set of words that limit who can use the compound. Each point allows one word. Example: “Me”(1 point) “My friends”(two points) “elves or dwarfs”(three points) “Anybody but that tool, Bilbo” (5 points).
Failure causes an explosion, doing damage equal to the maximum points chosen plus the negative effect (treated as positive for all you clever Nellies). With a blast radius of 1 yard per point of negative effect. Additionally, the cost of the casting is lost.

Note: compounds increasing INT are often highly addictive for spellcasters*. When an INT boost compound expires, a spellcaster user must succeed in an INT test vs dice equal to the boost or immediately attempt to consume another INT compound within (2d6 – boost) hours if available. If after that time a compound was not available, the spellcaster suffers a minus to all spell rolls equal to half the boost (rounded down) for a number of days equal to half the boost (retain fractions). This effect is not directly ameliorated by INT potions , but is effected by magical cures.
*defined as anyone who learns or can inherently cast a spell.