If C.J. Cherryh's Compact Space is a good setting for Traveller (see my
posting of 7 July 2023), the Liaden Universe® [LU, henceforth] by Sharon
Lee and Steve Miller must be viewed as better, in most ways.

The LU has room for more than just mercantile campaigns; mercenary,
exploratory, 'technical', and political opportunities abound. The setting
is mostly - but not exclusively - human (though the non-humans are best
limited to NPC roles), but with room for cultural variation at least as
wide as has been seen in both official Third Imperium material and
Traveller/Cepheus Engine 'fanac'.

Most of the novels (there are 21 [so far] and an additional five [again, so
far] compilations of short stories) illustrate challenges that occur when
dissimilar cultures rub against each other, and Lee and Miller have made an
effort to present both sides from their own views, and show how the
challenges are risen to.

While many of the short stories do not follow the main arcs of the novels,
they do throw additional light on Lee and Miller's worldbuilding - which
is, in my opinion, some of the best and most thorough worldbuilding to have
ever graced the speculative fiction metagenre.

The most prominent culture we are shown is that of the Liadens. As a whole,
the Liadens are the most formal, and perhaps the second most rigid culture
portrayed, and most of the stories we are given involve Liadens, often of
Clan Korval, who are perhaps not as rigidly Liaden as those not of Korval,
but who nevertheless are positioned within the stories to give us the best
view of what being Liaden means. Even when the viewpoint character is not
Liaden - such as in _Balance of Trade_, _Trade Secret_, and _Fair Trade_ -
the view of Liaden culture is quite definitely enlightening. In dealing
with Liadens, one _must_ be conscious of "melant'i", which can answer for a
combination of 'face' (in the social sense often mistranslated and
misunderstood in connection with Far Eastern cultures), Social Standing (in
the Traveller sense), and 'reputation' (in a mode analogous to its
variability across the Stack Exchange network, though not numerically
evaluated). (This would make C6 in Traveller-LU a full sub-profile for
Liadens, as one's melant'i as a member of Clan would be different from
one's melant'i in one's role in society or in employment - or even in the
relationship between two individuals depending on the 'mode' of the
relationship.)

One cannot say that there is _a_ Terran culture in the LU; say rather that
those cultures labelled "Terran" represent an assumed heritage. Here, there
is infinite room for variation; if you can imagine it for Traveller,
chances are it will fit well in the LU. It is perhaps worth noting that not
all "Terran" cultures are planet-based; some "Terran" trading families
remain shipbound, coming planetside only for trade and "Festival", whose
description allows for opportunity for genetic mixing.

Looking at the internal chronology, it is only in the earliest and latest
books that we see the fully-militarised culture of the ancestors of the
Yxtrang - and what little we see of the actual Yxtrang suggests, in light
of what we learn from the earliest and latest books, that they have
forgotten their true mission.

Of the non-humans, there are three noteworthy groups: The "Clutch" (or
"Clutch Turtles"), the "norbears", and the "Free Logics".

The Clutch are long-lived, normally slow-moving entities, preferring
caverns as homes and workshops. Their understanding of materials is
unmatched, and their crafting of artifacts is portrayed as being most like
bonsai, though there is ample evidence that they use sound as a tool.

We know little of norbears save that they are empaths that are pleased to
associate with humans; although arguably sophonts (in Traveller terms), we
most often encounter them in relationships that place them as 'pets'.

Free Logics answer to the description of what in current discussion would
be described as Artificial (General) Intelligences. Their status as of the
latest novel is ambiguous at best; until late in the internal chronology,
their existance was illegal, due to what we would call the Frankenstein
Complex (but which term is not actually used in the stories).

Lee and Miller do not attempt to paint any of their characters or cultures
as unambiguously "good" or "evil"; there is always moral ambiguity
involved, even where the portrayals are intended to result in the reader
being sympathetic - or not - to the stated goals. One can disapprove of the
goals and methods of the "Department of the Interior", while perhaps
understanding why those goals may have arisen - and similarly (or opposite)
with Clan Korval, the Scouts, the Council of Clans, the government of
Eylot, and so on.

Even psionics - or magic - can be accommodated in the LU; the talents of
the Healers and the _dramliz_ can answer to either label, and reactions to
their existance and use vary "all over the map", from outright fear and
suppresion to complete acceptance.

As with Compact Space, we are not given any solid benchmarks for
interstellar travel, but like 'book' Traveller, subjective, objective, and
physiological time appear to align. It should be noted that "Terran",
Liaden, and Clutch star drives are suggested as operating by different
principles, and will cover the same distance in differing amounts of time
(ranked from fastest to slowest, Terran, Liaden, Clutch; ranked from least
risky to most risky, the reverse).

Ship sizes and configurations are not clearly described for Traveller-style
visualization; one might get the impression that most ships are larger in
capacity but approximately equal in crew. Jump appears not to be quantized,
nor does there appear to be limitation on how far a ship may jump, save
prudence and risk evaluation.

Note: Even aside from considering the LU as a Traveller setting, the books,
in spite of the sheer volume of text in total, are quite worth reading.
Strongly recommended; they may all be purchased from Baen Books.

®Traveller is a registered trademark of
Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2022. Use of
the trademark in this notice and in the
referenced materials is not intended to
infringe or devalue the trademark.

--
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller
    The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource
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