------------------------------ Bundle: 567 Archive-Message-Number: 7121 From: Ray_Pullar [-- REDACTED --] Date: Thu, 31 Mar 94 16:23:08 +0100 Subject: Regency vs. RC Jeff Zaitlin: The Regency will also have the same kind of high-tech center, because the center did not lose the technology in the first place. However, the Regency will have access to the Jumpstart caches, which will allow a more even development of the technological and industrial base - or, the Regency can do nothing, and allow the reintegrated areas to develop on their own. In either case, the Regency is likely to have less of a ghettoization problem, as they have no need to scavenge high technology, and their expansion is not driven by a need to import from an external market. High tech centers will develop, but not in such a way that they will be driven to focus on serving the needs of an already extant high-tech area. What amazes me is the fact that the Regency isn't already expanding into Deneb and Corridor at a furious rate (or indeed, into Verge via the Jump-5 route across the Great Rift). Either the Regency still fears Zhodani betrayal or a war with the Aslan colonies while its' efforts are concentrated on rebuilding its trailing worlds or it still believes there to be a strong threat from the Virus. But since the Virus (except for a few pockets here and there) has largely disappeared there is nothing to stop it. And with the Regency's industrial base largely intact it should be able to expand very rapidly. Frankly, in a contest between the Regency and the RC I don't see how the RC could win. They are just too small. Which means that GDW must be planning on keeping the Regency within its' existing boundaries for some time to come (to give the RC time to catch up). I don't personally find this credible. Jeff Zaitlin: Does the RC know that the Regency and the other Spinward states exist? Do the Hivers? Does the Regency know about the survival of the Hive Federation? About the RC? What about the K'kree? They've always been (pardon the pun) the dark horses of the Traveller universe. Could they make a bid for increased living room (bigger, brighter pastures await you in the ruins of the former Third Imperium). But mabye they just live too far away... Jeff Zaitlin: At this point in time, we must assume that the answer to all of these questions is "no" and that both the Regency and the RC will develop in their own way, until they meet. That meeting is likely to occur due to both states attempting to integrate or build forward bases on the same planet. With such a fundamental difference in outlook, we can expect to see armed conflicts, as the Regency tries to prevent undue interference in the internal affairs of a client or member state, while the RC is trying to mold the state into what they feel is an "appropriate" shape for membership. Add to this mixture the Guild, which will try to keep both interstellar states out of the picture, and I think we're going to see the (N+1)th Interstellar Wars/Pacification Wars/Wars of Integration/Coalition Wars/Regency Wars/Guild Wars. This depends very much on any future political change within the Regency. It has already moved towards a more democratic system. It's connection to the Third Imperium will taint it in the eyes of most RCers but then, we can't all be perfect. The RCer may consider the Imperium to have been immoral in some of its' practices but I don't think that they place it at the same level as your average TED (basically what the Imps would have called a barbarian with nukes). The Imperium, whatever its' faults, was civilised. I'm not sure from reading Path of Tears to what extent the RC tries to force a One True Way on the worlds it integrates. The Federalist faction seems to believe in promoting diversity of cultures/political systems within the Coalition while the Feudal Technocrats seem to want to squeeze everyone they re-contact into their mould. At the moment there is no clear indication which faction will come to dominate the Coalition. The RC is definitely opposed to any government/society which routinely tortures, murders, enslaves and otherwise oppresses its' citizens on a daily basis or which regards outsiders as 'the enemy' or technology as 'evil'. I think that a lot of the people in the Regency would also agree with that. It still leaves a lot of room for different kinds of government. I think that the RCers think that the attitude of the Third Imperium towards its' member worlds was 'so long as you pay your taxes, we don't care what you do to your people' or 'he may be a bastard, but he's our bastard'. This kind of laissez- faire, amoral attitude is definitely out the window. As far as the Guild is concerned, while it has high ambitions to dominate interstellar space I think that it lacks the organisational structure to do so, and that faced with an opponent like the Regency it will quickly be removed as a power. I think that it poses more of a threat to the RC because the RC doesn't have the kind of resources at its' disposal that the Regency has, and is spread much more thinly. I expect the RC to dispose of the Guild in the next 10 years (unless the Guild changes its' structure and becomes much more like a government). The next big plot development we can expect to see concerns the Black Curtain. Path of Tears mentions the "Vampire Highway" that leads into the Core of the former Imperium (straight to the centre of Lucan's territory). Obviously the Virus has been busily at work there for the last 70 years building...something. No doubt that something will be unleashed on an unsuspecting Universe in the near future. I would expect the RC and the Regency to put aside their differences and fight this common enemy (anyone remember Fred Saberhagen's Berserkers?). ***************************************************************************** * Ray Pullar [-- REDACTED --] * * "Quantum mechanics? Even I don't fully understand it." - Ian Sales * ***************************************************************************** ------------------------------