Freelance Traveller - Active Measures - The Lost Crèche of Perpethwe

The Lost Crèche of Perpethwe

by Timothy Collinson

This adventure originally appeared in the September/October 2025 issue.

This is an adventure for a group of Bwaps who have access to a suitable ship. The Akwek: A Bwap Ship and Crew, a 300-ton Trader, would work well but is not required. It could be a crack frontline catalogue and classification team, a historical admin unit tidying up loose corners or even a wapawab of philosophers ordering the universe. With some adjustment, the mission could also be carried out by a more typical human crew.

The adventure is laid out in Traveller⁵ EPIC style; tasks and skills are Mongoose 2nd Edition although this is sufficiently rules-light that any edition of Traveller or Cepheus Engine might be used.

There is a fair amount of good information on Bwaps available; see the Appendix: Sources of Bwap Information.

Bwap names have been shortened for the convenience of bawabkaerwa-paaba-a readers.

Once upon a time, during the chaos of the Long Night, a Bwap crèche on the human-dominated world of Perpethwe vanished without a trace. It was presumed that it was wiped out in an anti-Bwap purge. Now, centuries later, records recovered from a damaged Vilani datacore suggest the impossible: the crèche may have survived. The PCs are hired by a powerful elder from the Great Council of Crèches to find out what happened, and if any survivors remain, to bring them back into the universal order.

Theme: Order vs Chaos (Wawathwa-pabessab vs Kabkowekabkade-akasteb). The adventure explores Bwap philosophy under pressure: what happens to their obsession with order when cut off from their culture for centuries? It is a mission of restoration, not just of people, but of cosmic balance.

Act I: The Mandate of the Atapas-atta-wapawab (The Great Council of Crèches)

Scene 1:

The PCs are summoned to a formal mud bath (paesab-webab) on Marhaban by a high-ranking member of the Saha-a-atta-wabapawab (Elders of the Crèche). The Elder presents them with fragmented data recovered from a Ziru-Sirka-era archaeological dig. It suggests that just before the anti-Bwap purges began on Perpethwe, the entire crèche, including its precious females and young, was relocated to a secret, sub-oceanic arcology. “This was an act of profound desperation, violating the protocol that a female must never voluntarily leave her crèche.” The elder looks uncomfortable at even the thought of this.

The Elder tasks the PCs with a mission of the highest importance:

travel to Perpethwe in the Empty Quarter and locate the lost arcology;
assess the state of the lost crèche;
if they still exist, establish contact and bring them up to date on millennia of atapas-atta-wapawab rulings;
arrange for their reintegration or evacuation, restoring them to their proper place in the Tree of Life.

Key NPC: Elder Pa-da Abweba (5B373B, Leader 3, Art 2) - a high-ranking member of the Saha-a-atta-wabapawab (Elders of the Crèche) who is a student of Bwap culture and longs for more structured Bwap presence across the Imperium.

Scene 2:

The PCs are given some discretionary funds to purchase any equipment they feel is necessary. This will need to be justified – as well as being fully itemised and costed of course.

Scene 3:

The PCs can carry out historical research before they leave but will soon find out the Vilani data is incomplete. It is a Formidable Science (history) (14+) task to cross-reference ancient star charts, maps and histories which can be reduced to Very Difficult (12+) at a suitable library by seeking the help of a librarian (Persuade, Average 8+) or at a university seeking the help of an appropriate academic or researcher.

Key NPC: Librarian/Academic Pabpetat Wakewa (265875, Admin 2, Art (write) 1) who is almost too helpful in trying to find relevant material for patrons but doesn’t know when to stop and may quickly overwhelm those seeking help.

Wabbe: a fringe group of Bwap entrepreneurs and technologists who operate with ruthless pragmatism. They believe that the Bwap obsession with tradition and unchanging protocol has led to stagnation, particularly after the technological losses of the Long Night. Wabbe members don’t see the lost crèche as kin to be rescued, but as a potential resource. This pragmatic and profit-driven approach is antithetical to the more traditional order-focused goals of Bwap society.

Scene 4:

Unknown to the PCs a rival Bwap faction learns of the mission. They believe that the lost crèche is a source of pure, uncorrupted Bwap genetics or lost Vilani technology and want to exploit either or both for profit. They view the Council’s mission as inefficient sentimentality. This scene is invisible to the players and characters, but the Referee may wish to sow seeds about the faction in news reports or Library Data they uncover. It would also be possible to run the adventure from this perspective with the Elder’s team as the ‘other faction’. For even more challenge, both groups could be run separately as PC teams acting competitively.

Key NPC: Apbeabek Basawawe (644A69, Leader 2, Advocate 1), leader of the Wabbe faction (see box) who regards technology as the key to restoring Bwap prominence and will stop at nothing to acquire any advantage that can be reverse-engineered or sold to achieve this goal.

Scene 5:

Travel to Perpethwe, 3 parsecs from Marhaban, can be elided over or role played as players settle into their Bwap characters. A mud bath and some philosophy might be in order as well as some careful inventory of equipment.

Perpethwe (Empty Quarter 0728 C6656AB-8) is a garden world of only 7,000,000 people. It is governed by a charismatic dictator who insists on the rigid control of civilian movement. For Bwaps, it’s perhaps worth noting that its Efficiency Rating is Good (+2).

Clearance to land is straightforward (Admin, Routine 6+) even on a Law Level 11 world. Crossing the extraterritoriality line may be a different story; the Customs agent will ask what their purpose is [Average (8+) Admin]; it will be necessary to convince the customs agent (or possibly one or more levels of his supervisors) that their activities will not be disruptive of good order or otherwise in conflict with the government’s desire to maintain control. Any mention of seeking a Bwap crèche will make the task even harder (Admin, Difficult 10+ and either Diplomacy or Persuade, Difficult 10+).

Key NPC: Herben Ghanj (525AA7, Electronics (comms) 3, Flyer 2) – Perpethwe Customs agent who is a stickler for following procedure. If desired, may be replaced by a Bwap, Pebwaas Wabas (121AA7).

Act II: The Silent Ocean

Scene 1:

Perpethwe is a much drier world than Marhaban and Bwap characters will need hydrosuits or constant hydration. Humans might feel a hydrosphere of 5 is quite comfortable; Bwaps will see it as “just 5” and find it uncomfortable if not dangerous. They will need to acquire a submersible to explore the vast, shallow oceans where the arcology is believed to be. Alternatively, they might choose to use their own ship as an underwater vehicle which may involve some tense pressure tests by the engineer (and possibly additional discussions with customs officials). The search will need to be methodical, requiring careful scanning and investigation of geological anomalies. (Electronics (sensors), Difficult (10+) made a level easier with an average (8+) Science (geology) task). A sluggish manoeuvre drive such as the Akwek’s will make navigating underwater canyons particularly hazardous.

Scene 2:

Perpethwe’s oceans are not empty. The crew may encounter, should encounter, aquatic predators or difficult underwater terrain (perhaps volcanic activity). Indeed, these creatures and their land equivalents may be the reason for Perpethwe’s Amber Zone. Perhaps an awahallapah or depwethawa might be suitably formidable although some explanation for their presence might be required. If their presence is considered unlikely then another possible reason for the Amber Zone might be the restrictions over civilian movement and the problem for PCs, perhaps more in keeping with the generally peaceful Bwaps than defending against marauding critters would be negotiate the bureaucracy and controls that are imposed on them.

Scene 3:

The PCs will find the vast, sealed arcology in a remote part of Perpethwe. Its architecture is an odd mix of Bwap organic forms and stark Vilani utility. The Referee may wish to play up its oddity and wonder. It is running on minimal power and shows signs of damage from centuries of neglect. Any initial neural activity scans show life signs but comms are offline.

Scene 4:

The engineer will need to jury-rig the ship’s systems to interface with the arcology’s ancient Vilani-era power grid to gain entry. Language and Electronics (computers) skills may be able to assist with this. Someone with Imperial Navy experience might recognize design features from old Ziru Sirka schematics.

Scene 5:

The PCs will need to decide how they make first contact. A diplomat, steward or similarly skilled character should be able to research and prepare a formal greeting based on ancient protocols but should be aware that culture may have drifted in such isolation.

Act III: The People of the Still Water

Scene 1:

The PCs will have the opportunity to explore the arcology where they will find a perfectly preserved if partially decaying slice of pre-Long Night Bwap society. The inhabitants, descendants of the original crèche, have survived. However, their culture has not remained unchanged. It has become a microcosm of Bwap philosophy intensified by isolation. Curved corridors and ovoid doorways are typical although the latter may be ill-fitting. PCs might note the risk of supposedly watertight compartment hatches no longer being entirely fit for purpose. Larger spaces have tree-like columns supporting the ceilings but in places they are coming away from their underpinnings and beams are sagging. Several areas are sealed off as they have become too dangerous to inhabit.

Scene 2:

The society is fanatically ordered, even by Bwap standards. But it is an order born of desperation. Their wawathwa-pabessab (proper way of doing things) has become brittle and inflexible. They are led by a council of elders who view the outside universe as the ultimate source of kabkowekabkade-akasteb (chaos). They are deeply suspicious of travellers from outside, even if they are Bwaps. They see them as a profound disruption to their carefully maintained existence. They fail to see the signs of chaos in their own environment. Having ‘shut the door’ to sealed off areas, they are out of mind.

Scene 3:

The crèche leaders will refuse to leave. They believe their isolation is their sacred duty. They want to preserve Bwap purity from the chaos that destroyed their creators (the Vilani) and threatened them (the humans). To leave would be to invite chaos in. Furthermore, their regeneration ability has atrophied in some genetic lines. Actually, that’s not quite right. Due to the limited gene pool and environmental factors in the arcology, the genetic trait for regeneration has been bred out or suppressed in many family lines. This is a mark of shame which they hide, viewing it as a flaw in their pattern. After making the refusal clear, the elders, with no ill will, will invite the PCs to go away and rest and return for formal mud bath before their (assumed) departure.

Scene 4:

A medic such as Weta should have the opportunity to discover the regeneration failure and discover the cause of it (Science (biology), Difficult (10+)). He should be able to come up with not so much a cure for the atrophy but more a genetic therapy or supplement that can reactivate the dormant ability (Medic, Difficult (10+)) perhaps involving the use of tech such as Regenerax. This could be a powerful bargaining chip showing that engagement with the universe brings restoration, not disruption.

Scene 5:

Not everyone in the arcology agrees with the elders. A younger generation, chafing under the rigid conservatism, sees the PCs as a potential route to a wider existence. The travellers should have the opportunity to meet some of this faction and must navigate this internal conflict without causing a societal collapse (which would be a complete failure of their mission to restore order). An extremist such as Paka might see this faction as the most pragmatic path to success, risking internal strife.

Key NPC: Eb Pee (465CA5, Carouse 1, Recon 1) – a younger Bwap in the arcology who wants to join with the wider universe.

Scene 6:

The formal mud bath is a grand affair. Here the PCs will be able to engage in a philosophical debate where they can argue that true order lies in being a functional part of a greater cosmic whole (the Tree of Life), not in isolation. They can speak of their own experiences and the benefits and joy of being part of that greater whole. They can point out the dangers of remaining in the declining habitat. They may even make promises on behalf of the Council on Marhaban as to what place the crèche might have in a new future. (Players with foresight may have already negotiated such promises with the Elders at the outset.)

Final Resolution

Depending on the PCs’ actions and task results, there may be several outcomes. Referees might have the players, in character as Bwaps, enumerate the possibilities in detail!

Ideally (Total Success) they will persuade the elders. The crèche agrees to reintegration. The final scenes could be a complex logistical and diplomatic operation to evacuate hundreds of Bwaps and protection from the Wabbe faction who make their move. The PCs return to Marhaban as heroes who have restored a lost branch to the Tree of Life.
The pragmatic outcome (Partial Success) is that the PCs cannot convince the elders but manage to evacuate those from the younger faction and any females willing to leave. The PCs have saved the genetic line but fractured a society. This is a bittersweet victory: a mixture of order restored and chaos created. The Council on Marhaban would view this as a necessary, if imperfect, outcome.
The tragic outcome (Failure) comes about if the PCs’ presence splinters the society into civil war or the Wabbe faction manage to seize control of the arcology. This could be the moment for a pompous and self-serving lecture from Apbeabek Basawawe. The PCs will be forced to flee, leaving the lost crèche in a state of greater chaos than when they arrived. This is profound philosophical failure that will mark them as a Source of Disruption.

Author’s Notes

My thanks to Space Corsair for Bwap names, TravellerMap for the Jump 3 map for Khalidah. Thanks also to Darren Bulmer for writing such an engaging chapter on the Bwaps in AoCS3 – it’s difficult not to read a page without being inspired by something Bwappish.

For even greater challenge, the adventure could be set on Khalidah rather than Perpethwe where the desert atmosphere might prove deadly to Bwaps. The arcology might then become a barely surviving community in underground caverns turned into a dismal swamp that even by Bwap standards is uninviting – however, much its inhabitants feel it is home.

Additional Bwap NPC names if required:

   We-sobab Ta-weap
   Wabwethwe A-atfabwat
   Aspebpa Wa

The latter is likely to note that the word crèche appears 18, no, 19 times in this adventure.

Appendix: Sources of Bwap information

Recommended reading:

“Contact! Newts” in The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society [GDW], no.11 or for a fuller treatment (and dictionary of Bwap terms) The Bwaps in Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 3.

Further Reading:

Other books giving more details on Bwaps are GURPS Traveller Alien Races 4, Aliens Archive for Marc Millers’ Traveller (T4), GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars, and, briefly, 1248 Sourcebook 3: The Spinward States for a post-Traveller: The New Era Charted Space. Stellar Reaches, no.1 is a Bwap themed issue complete with Traveller²⁰ character generation, Library Data for the Empty Quarter and adventure, Special Delivery to Gudina. Xboat Special Supplement 1: Contact! has a short section on Bwaps for Traveller⁵ as well as quoting the Oberlindes Lines Employment Diversity Statement: Ea-ke-kattar-databbapawath oe kapkatabwas – All people are born free with equal dignity and rights.

Glossary of Bwap Terms Used In This Adventure

Atapas-atta-wapawab: the Great Council of Crèches
awahallapah: primitive amphibianoid carnivore chaser native to Marhaban
bawabkaerwa-paaba-a: Humaniti; any sophont that is not a Bwap, dry-skinned chaotics
depwethawa: amphibianoid carnivore pouncer native to Marhaban; marsh lion
kabkowekabkade-akasteb: a criminal; mental illness; chaos
paesab-webab: mud bath
satha-a-atta-wabapawab: Elders of the Great Council of Crèches
wabbe: resource, or in cooking, recipe
wapawab: the Tree of Life; a philosophy; a grouping of Bwaps
wawathwa-pabessab: ritual or the proper way of doing things

‌