                      CLASSIFIED    DOCUMENT


                Captain's Technical Reference Manual
                ------------------------------------


     This is highly classified information.  Showing this to non-
authorized  personnel constitutes a breach of Interstel  security 
and  is  punishable under code 17,  section 135 of the  Interstel 
Corporate Regulations.


Contents
--------

I. Breifing
       1. Breifing Transcript
       2. Objectives
             a. Information 
             b. Endurium
             c. Artifacts
             d. Lifeforms
             e. Planet Recommendations
II. Building Your Crew
       1. The Races
             a. Elowan
             b. Humans
             c. Thrynn
             d. Velox
             e. Androids
       2. The Skills
             a. Navigation
             b. Science
             c. Communications
             d. Engineering
             e. Medicine
III. Building Your Ship
       1. Considerations - "The right ship for the right job"
       2. Parts
             a. Holds
             b. Weapons
             c. Defenses
             d. Engines
IV. Materials and Items
       1. Endurium
       2. Repair Minerals
       3. Items
V. Starship Procedures
       1. Space
             a. Hyperspace
             b. System
             c. Orbit
             d. Tactical
             e. Starmap
     
       2. The Bridge
             a. Captain
                  - Launch / Land
                  - Disembark
                  - Cargo
                  - Log Planet
                  - Ships Log
             b. Science Officer
                  - Status
                  - Sensors
                  - Analysis
             c. Navigator
                  - Raise Shield / Drop Shield
                  - Arm / Disarm
                  - Maneuver
                  - Starmap
             d. Engineer
                  - Damage
                  - Repair
                  - FTL / Sublight
             e. Communications Officer
                  - Hail / Respond
                  - SOS Drone
             f. Doctor
                  - Examine
                  - Treat
VI. Planetside Procedures
       1. Maps
       2. Movement
       3. Lifeforms
       4. Minerals
       5. Ruins

APPENDIX
--------
A. Ancient Religious Writings of Arth (c. 3650)
B. Excerpt from the Captain's Log of the Noah 2 Expedition
C. Arth newspaper article announcing the new Interstel Spacehub 
D. An excerpt from something called: A Translation of the SSSS 
   Handbook
E. A Timeline of the planet Arth as reconstructed by the Interstel 
   Researchers.












                                                17:00   2-9-4620
                    Breifing Transcript
                    -------------------

Thank you for coming gentlefen, please be seated.

   Approximately 15 years ago, on the sixteenth day of Ten-Month,
4604,   a  significant  discovery  was  made.   While  conducting 
research  in the southern Hot Zone a team of Interstel scientists 
happened upon a shaft drilled deep into the crust of the  planet.  
Further  investigation  revealed a vast and  ancient  underground 
network that appears to have been built by... the first colonists 
of Arth. Gentlefen...Please, may I have some quiet.....Thank you.
I  realize this is difficult to believe.   Take my assurance that 
this  conclusion was arrived at only after many years of  careful 
investigation.  There  is little room for doubt at   this  point, 
that  Arth  was,  in  fact,  colonized  by  a  group  who  called 
themselves  Noah  2,  and that this group did indeed come from  a 
planet  called Earth.   I'm sure you can all appreciate  now  why 
this information hasn't been released to the public.   The notion 
that  Earth  was,  in fact,  a real place,  and Noah 2 an  actual 
group,  would be met with skepticism to say the least.   Many  of 
you may still be skeptical, and that is perfectly understandable.
I ask you only to bear with me for now.   After this breifing you 
will  be  seeing some holo-footage that will,  I think,  put  any 
doubts out of your minds.
   As you might well imagine, this discovery has answered a  good 
many questions.   It has also raised quite a few.   It would seem 
that there was, after all, an Old Empire and a Great Interstellar 
War.   From  what  we have been able to piece together  it  would 
appear that during the final stages of the war,  when the  Empire 
was  facing imminent defeat,   an ambitious colonization project, 
Project Noah, was launched by something or someone reffered to as 
MOTI.  The reasons for the war, the final fate of the Empire, and 
the  causes  for  Noah 2's failure to  maintain  their  level  of 
technology have not yet been ascertained.   We have though, found 
several references to "Uhlek",  "Gazurtoid",  and "Phlegmak".  We 
believe  these  to  be names of races that were  hostile  to  the 
Empire  and possibly responsible for its downfall.   We have also 
found evidence that confirms the theory that the Humans,  Elowan, 
Thrynn,  and Velox (reffered to then as the Veloxi) were all part 
of this Old Empire and were all represented in the Noah 2  group.   
   In addition to finding historical information, we have found a 
fair  amount of technical data as well.   From this we have  been 
able   to  re-construct  a  certain  amount  of  the  Old  Empire 
technology.   The most significant area of this  technology,  and 
the  area  on which most of our attention has been  focused,  has 
centered  around some peculiar lumps of crystaline  matter  which 
the  Empire called Endurium.   It was this  substance,  which  is 
unlike any we have ever encountered, on which  their  Faster-Than 
-Light   technology   was  based.    Fortunately   there  was   a 
substantial  amount of this endurium in the  underground  colony, 
enough  to allow us to experiment freely,  and actually construct 
some proto-type starships.....Yes, we have constructed starships, 
and the Faster-Than-Light technology does work.   The next  phase 
of  our  experimentation involves exploration.  We feel that  the 
only  way to answer the questions that now face us is  to  gather 
more information, and to do this we must explore.
   You  have all been carefully selected because of your  special 
skills  and qualities.   In front of each of you is  a  Captain's 
Technical  Reference  Manual.   In  the appendix  you  will  find 
relevant information which our researchers have compiled.  Should 
you  decide to participate,  and aid us in the exploration of the 
unknown,  you will be given the Captaincy of a ship,  the freedom 
to choose a crew,  and a certain amount of capitol to train  your 
crew  and  modify  your ship as you see fit.   As  an  additional 
incentive you will be paid for any discoveries that you make, and 
you may use this money to further train your crew and modify your 
ship,  to purchase necessary materials,  or for whatever else you 
should desire.   Ofcourse I hardly need tell you that all of  the 
information  you have recieved is highly classified.   Should you 
decide to not accept the commission we are offering you,  it will 
be  necessary  that  you see  our...uh..councilors  in  order  to 
facilitate your return to society as minimal security risks.
   One  final note;  you are not the first group to come  through 
our  training program.   The first group was sent out about  five 
years  ago and consisted of 13 ships and 78 explorers.   To  date 
none  of these ships have returned and we have had no word as  to 
their status.   Since each ship was carrying only enough fuel for 
a  three year journey,  we must assume that they are  all...well, 
that they will not be returning.  Ofcourse in the past five years 
we have made significant advances in starship technology,  and we 
feel that you are a much more expend...uh, capable group than the 
first.  We are confident that you will have no major difficulties 
in  successfully completing your missions.   The best of luck  to 
you all.     
                        


























                  TIMELINE

2100  Man discovers endurium.
2150  He discovers its application to FTL and begins exploring.
      Endurium is very limited.
2300  Man meets Velox.
2380  Human-Velox War.
2400  Human-Velox Treaty.
      Decrease in space exploration.
2650  Humans make major endurium find and increase exploration.
      Start of the Golden Era for the Empire.
2675  Human  discover  Spemin in a pre-technological  state  and 
      decide to uplift them.
2770  Humans discover Elowan-Thrynn system (pre-FTL  technology) 
      and begin uplift.
2790  SSSS (Secret Society for Spemin Superiority)  gains  power 
      and there is a Spemin revolt.
3000  The  Empire starts to feel the pressure of the first  wave 
      (Numlox and Phlegmak).
      The Spemin plead for protection.
3120  Empire and Velox make a pact.
3125  Height of battle - The Velox are fored to take the brunt of 
      the fighting.
3260  The First Wave starts to slack off - the  Empire  is 
      much weakened.
      Spemin turn on the Empire.
3330  Empire  takes the Veloxi focusing stone - it  gets  stolen 
      then lost.
      Velox denounce the Empire.
3400  Second Wave hits (Uhlek followed by the Gazurtoid)
      Spemin plead for protection.
      Velox refuse to ally.
3450  Project Noah is initiated.
      Many factions in the Empire (Masses,Diehards,Fanatics,
      Intellectuals, and MOTI [Members Of The Institute].
3480  Earth falls.
3500  The last colonial world is destroyed. Noah 2 (Arth) is the 
      only remaining colony. 
3505  A bomb is dropped on Arth creating Southern Hot  Zone  and 
      causing malfunction of underground life support. 
      Survivors are forced above ground.
3520  Internal problems cause the collapse of the colony.
3520  The Dark Years begin
4400  Arths new era begins - industrial revolution.
4500  Re-discovery of spaceflight (sublight)
4604  Discovery of Noah 2 colony and Endurium.
4615  First group sent out in FTL ships.
4620  Second group sent out - GAME STARTS
4621  Discovery that Arth's sun is unstable.  Start of search for 
      colonizable planets.
4623  Arth's sun flares.




Appendix  A - Excerpt from the Religious Writings of Arth.



The Book of Endurium, 
Chapter 1 : The Years of Darkness (and Chaos) , Verses 1 - 6

"1. In the beginning there was darkness.... or was there light. 
No, there was darkness. Well, there was either light or darkness.
Anyway,  then  Man  came on the scene and verily did he create  a 
great  spacefaring empire and unto him.....  you know I'm  almost 
positive there was darkness in the beginning.

"2.  Well,  so  anyhow  man spreadth wide  and  extended  himself 
amongst  the  heavenly bodies of the universe,  and it  was  good  
(actually  it was great!).  And thereby and thusly did he findeth 
the other races.  And unto his Empire did he take them,  and  yea 
did he accepteth them almost as equals.

"3. And for a time there was rejoicing and forsooth all was hunky 
dorey.  Then,  upon  mankind  was  there  laid  the  greatest  of 
catastrophes and he was bummed.  The lands trembled and the skies 
burned  and  Yea destruction was brought down upon the Empire  of 
Man.

"4. And in the fall of this righteous and glorious empire did the 
other   races  sieze  upon  the  opportunity  to  express   their 
disapproval  of  mankind's  ways and verily  did  they  slaughter 
billions of his number. And following this were the Dark Years of 
Chaos. 

"5.  Woe and Yea and Woe were these years not dark, and were they 
not  also chaotic.  Verily were they chaotic and dark.  In  these 
years was there the darkness of chaos and the chaos of  darkness. 
Both  the  darkness and the chaos were like unto no  darkness  or 
chaos as had been seen before.

"6.  And  from this dark chaos,  which was both chaotic and dark, 
were  born  the colonial world's of Noah,  which were  like  unto 
children  of  the  Empire.  And  among these  worlds,  like  unto 
siblings of each other,  was Arth, and it's moons which were like 
unto children of Arth,  and which were like unto grandchildren of 
the Empire, and first cousins of the other colonial worlds.

Chapter 2 : The Prophecy, Verses 1 - 4 

"1.  And Yea shall Arth be plunged into dark years of chaos.I say 
unto thee Yea.  Yea!  shall these years be dark and chaotic  like 
unto the other dark years of chaos.  Woe, shall they be even more 
dark  and  more  chaotic.  Verily shall they be so  dark  and  so 
chaotic  it  can not even be imagined how dark and  chaotic  they 
shall be.

"2. Long and long shall these years of darkness and chaos be. And 
then from these dark years shall there arise a new Arth and a New 
Council and loe,  they shall be new.  And then, within the bowels 
of  Arth shall there once again be movement.   Yea,  and  proudly 
shall man once again walk the cooridoors of the children of Noah. 

"3.  And within these cooridoors shall he once again findeth  the 
Rock  of  the Ancients,  which was first found by man within  the 
ruins  of  the  Ancients  wherein they did  dwell  and  live  and 
generally hang out, long and long ago. Praise be to the Ancients, 
who  were  like  unto....well,  who were  like  unto  nothing  in 
particular,  and  who  did walketh amongst the stars before  even 
mankind was a twinkle in the cosmic eye of reality.

"4.  Hail  Endurium,  oh holiest of rock-like,  high-yeild energy 
materials!  Oh beauteous shining Rock of Truth! Praise be to that 
holy  legacy of the Ancients for in it shall mankind  once  again 
findeth his destiny amongst the stars! So it is written."
