Vilani Numbers

Collins on TMP made a wise observation - in miniature modeling, having the numbers for a military unit, especially an alien one, is often more important than having the script (only I will be regretting these words when I finish up my Aslan AFVs...)

A few years ago, I was working on a 1st Imperium army, and needed Vilani numbers.  At the time, there were no images, so I cribbed the numbers from Traveller Adventure 1 - Annic Nova and planned to use them for decals on my Imperial Armour.

The Annic Nova is a ship of non-standard, alien design that the players of Adventure 1 are sent to investigate. One of the discoveries is that the name "Annic Nova" stenciled on the strange nacelles is actually a serial number, in the style of that pictured above.

Looking at the Vilani Font, one will immediately see a similarity, suggesting that these numbers, if not Vilani, are at least Vilani-inspired.

(NB: I can't tell you what I wrote there - it was four years ago.  There's a very good chance it is in Bilandish, or it might be a reminder to drink your Ovaltine...)

Traveller pedants insist that the two *cannot* be related, as the Vilani, as core members of the Third Imperium, would hardly be unknown to player characters.  Others counter that a similar reaction might be had if your average salvage driver saw the Greek alphabet.  I think that the Vilani came later in the minds of the Traveller creators, and they adopted a neat numeric style to fit them.


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