The systems' TER ratings are coded. The central symbol is Tech. Angara is T1; Volta is T2. Environment is the ring around the center. Angara is E2; Danube is E-1. The central color is, of course, Resources. Rhine is R2. The number in parentheses is the date of discovery.
One of our tenets (we used the tenet procedure you suggested in the GM-less document) was that the first system was settled by a colony ship from Earth. So, after preliminary aspects were decided upon, the table decided Angara was the original colony. (I did another diagram where Congo was the first). I drew it out this way to give some idea of how settlement took place through the cluster.
A few of the slipknot aspects are described as well. The dotted line is not generally known outside of government agencies. All the slipknots into Paraná are occulted. The Euphrates>Congo slipknot is super efficient, resulting in much less severe vectors.
Breaking the cluster into Core/Inner/Outer zones was useful for the organizations that we've drawn up (I've allowed each player to create three as they like.) I've used the FATE 2.0 rules for organizations. The zones help you think about influence and scope.
Low Tech, Low Res--it's been hella fun recreating that sentiment of gazing into Traveller UPPs and coming up with the story. Tech fluctuates non-catastrophically (that is, without reaching Tech 4 collapse). Reasons are political or simple lack of interest. We set up a high-level campaign (Phase V of char gen is "Masters of the Universe." On one hand this is a crappy-looking cluster. On the other, the stage is set for these very powerful PCs to make it less crappy.
http://www.vsca.ca/Hollowpoint
Hollowpoint is out! Be a bad man.
