We determined that the low common technology level on Amon Assemon is TL 8, but what about the lower end? We start with that high common TL of 8, add 1 for the lack of crowds to help anyone out and then immediately take it away because the discordant nature of Assemonite society makes it harder for these qweens to share information and knowledge and gadgets and gizmos. Finally, there’s a chart to roll on to account for the various x-factors implicit in technological advancement and maintenance. It’s a 2d6 roll, and the 9 we get is just shy of having an effect. All told, the various things affecting Assemonite’s technological floor cancel each other out, and we determine that it’s low common TL is the same as its high common TL ~ about the level of technology we ourselves enjoy today. Which, by the way, is late TL 7 / early TL 8 in GURPS 3rd edition terms.
Energy technology has no set modifiers, just the die roll for x-factors, so we roll 2d6 again, and get 6, so there’s no change from the high common TL. This means the inhabitants of the Drag Moon get most of their energy by means of hyper-efficient geothermal processes, though solar energy and fuel cells are fully matured. Nuclear fission and, moreso, petrochemicals are older technologies, nearly perfected and obsolete.
Without people to talk to or to share in your labor, computers and robotics become more important, meaning that the appropriate tech level starts out one higher than the high common tech level before we roll for x-factors, which is also as high as it can rise. The 2d6 give us a 5, so that number stands. A computer/robotics TL of 9 indicates that the Assemonites have access to non-volatile processors and supermassive databases accessed by means of fully natural vocal I/O. In Traveller terms, they can build model/3 computers. In GURPS3 terms, these computer technologies are late TL 8 / early TL 9. I daresay much of the physical labor in those homestead mines that dot the moon is done by robots, too. Communications technology closely follows computing technologies, so we just have to roll for x-factors, but a 6 doesn’t change anything. Communications TL 9 includes things like computing paper (that is, computer touchscreens so thin they curl and fold like paper) and intuitive, seamless, error-free direct video communication (kinda like how Star Trek video-comms technologies are just a little bit too perfect).
This allows us to map out the less tangible resources available on Amon Assemon, as those are all based off of their communications TL. The moon will produce recordings if I roll 4 or less on 2d6 (0 for the population, 1 for being a republic, 1 for still being technically of a moderate law level, and 2 for the technology), artforms if a 2 (0, 1, 0, 1), software 3 or less (0, 1, 1, 1), and documents on a 5 or less (-1, 1, 2, 3). The 4 2d6 rolls are 4, 6, 6, and 6. Well, I guess this is a moon of performers, then, sending any number of low-budget films, songs, and remixes of same out across the subsector and beyond. I imagine that “Amon Assemon” is a catchword used to mean something like how “indie” or “artisan” or “bespoke” or “quirky” or “idiosyncratic” or just plain “weird” would be used by us. This is the origin of artfilms and cult classics.
Time to shift gears and look at medical technologies. We start with the computer/robotics TL of 9, leave it alone as this society is the very opposite of xenophilic, and roll that 2d6 for x-factors. A 9 doesn’t modify it all, leaving these qweens with a medical TL of 9, giving them access to limb regeneration, cryogenics, and fast drugs (a class of drugs which dramatically reduce the user’s metabolism, cognitive speed, and motive speed, making the world appear to move faster).
Even more importantly than all that, however, is Amon Assemon’s environment technology level, seeing as the world outside would boil anyone’s body waters if it could. We start at the high common TL (8), and add 1 each for living in such an inhospitable place. The 2d6 roll comes up 8, so that 10 stands, or would if it could, anyway. The maximum medical tech level is 9, so we have to reduce it to that. That allows the moon to have fully functional arcologies (single buildings that meet their inhabitants’ every physical, social, psychological, and economic need) and orbital cities. We also now check for the widescale terraforming of the moon. The Assemonites will have tinkered with the moon’s atmosphere if I roll a -4 or less on 2d6 (2 for the size of the moon, -5 for its vacuumous atmosphere, -1 for its dryness, -3 for the light population, 1 for technology, and 2 for lack of native life), with its greenhouse on a 0 or less (2, -5, 1, -2, 2, 2), and its albedo on 1 or less (2, -5, 2, -2, 2, 2) ~ so obviously none of those have happened. Its hydrosphere will have been modified if I roll 1 or less (2, -4, 0, -2, 2, 3) and its terrain on a 5 or less (4, -4, 1, -2, 3, 3). There’s only one 2d6 roll I need to make, and I make a 5 with it, so the Assemonites have engaged in large-scale transformation of the shape of their moon’s surface to make it more inhabitable. Similarly, if I roll less than a 4 (the moon’s population) on 2d6, they will practice weather control, whatever that means without any air. Rolling a 12 means I don’t have to worry about what it means, as the dice have said HELL NO!
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