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Bundle: 566
Archive-Message-Number: 7109
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 22:10:07 CST
From: [-- REDACTED --] (David Johnson)
Subject: Traveller Background 3

Gentlesophonts:

[-- REDACTED --] (Roger Sanger) asks:
  
> Who wants a discussion area on the Regency?

I do, for one - but why not just do it on TML?


[-- REDACTED --] (Jeff Zeitlin) writes:
 
>   the psychology that drives the Reformation 
>   Coalition, and a glimpse of the kind of interstellar state that 
>   they (and presumably the Hivers) want.

What's the deal with the Hivers?  Where do they fit in with the RC?

>   The information that we 
>   have on the Regency, though scantier, implies that the Regency 
>   will be fundamentally based on the old Third Imperium model, with 
>   some modifications.

Probably.  Hasn't it already been suggested that the Regency is somewhat more
`democratic' (whatever that means) than the Imperium?  But I would expect this
impression to be `altered' by a Regency sourcebook in a fashion similar to the
way the `star viking' impressions of the RC were altered by *Path of Tears*.
 
>   This will lead to a situation much like we see on 
>   Terra today

I'm not so sure.  Remember that high technology is basically a Western cultural
tradition - other areas of Earth have different traditions that have not led
to the development of high technology.  Now, admittedly, some of this is
due to the advantage in ability to access and exploit resources that early
industrialization has given the West but nevertheless the West enjoys certain
cultural traditions that facilitate high technology.  Look at the efforts
to develop legal structures in the former Soviet states that reduce the risks
to investment necessary for high-tech endeavors.

(I'm not trying to suggest that Western culture is somehow `better' than other
cultures, merely that is is better suited to the practice of technology - that
`technology' is part of the Western cultural tradition.  Whether that is a
`good thing' or not remains to be seen.)

Such will not be the case in the worlds that are `integrated' into the RC.
All former Imperial worlds, to a certain extent, will enjoy a `technological'
cultural tradition.  They will not face many of the obstacles to technological
development faced by non-Western cultures on Earth.
  
>   we're looking at the ghettoization of space, with all of 
>   its attendant problems (again, look at present-day Terra for 
>   examples of what can happen).

Not necessarily.  Had TNE occurred several hundred years after the Rebellion
maybe the technological traditions of the Imperium would have been lost but
in just seventy years, or even 150 if it takes the RC that long to expand a
great deal, those traditions will still exist.  Look at the Renaissance of
Western Culture after the Dark Ages - much of what had been done in the 
Classical Era was quickly reincorporated into the culture.

>   However, the Regency will have access to the Jumpstart 
>   caches

Jumpstart caches?
 
>   we're going to see the (N+1)th Interstellar Wars/Pacification 
>   Wars/Wars of Integration/Coalition Wars/Regency Wars/Guild Wars.

Of course we are.  :-)

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA

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