------------------------------ Bundle: 568 Archive-Message-Number: 7136 Date: Fri, 1 Apr 94 12:39:03 -0500 From: Derek Wildstar [-- REDACTED --] Subject: TNE:What Does the Future Hold? [-- REDACTED --] (Jeff Zeitlin) writes: > 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? > > At this point in time, we must assume that the answer to all of > these questions is "no" [...] I'm not so sure about that. Let's take a quick look at what each major group knows about the rest of the universe: o Does the RC know that the Regency and the other Spinward states exist? No; they're not aware of the Regency (or rather, have almost certainly assumed that all of known space looks more or less like the area around the Reformation Coalition does). They have no evidence or indication to assume otherwise, so they're almost certainly working off of the premise that the largest "opposition" that they are going to encounter is the Guild and/or other Pocket Empires. Given their Hiver technical assistance, the RC should be a match for any pocket empire they encounter. o Do the Hivers? The Hivers probably have a clue. They know the most about the former Third Imperium - the "History Club" that toured the region during the end of the Rebellion for example. They are certainly aware that the Domain of Deneb existed (relatively) untouched by the Rebellion. They can assign a probabiliy (and I'd guess a high one) to the chance that the Domain still exists in some form. Furthermore, since the Hivers managed to muddle through the Virus without suffering complete collapse, either the Hivers are so ethnocentric that they believe no other race could have done it, or the hivers consider it probable that other races or regions could have survived in a condition similar to the Hive Federation. o Does the Regency know about the survival of the Hive Federation? Because of the Regency's closed border policy, they probably know very little about what the universe at large looks like. However, they will have to concede the possibility of other regions taking measures similar to the ones that they have taken, and surviving with a similar situation. Presumably, there is currently an ongoing debate in the Regency over the probability of such other surviving areas, and whether it would be better to expend some of the Regency's resources to attempt to contact other regions, or remain behind the Regency's secure borders until other areas attempt to contact the Regency. o About the RC? Not at all. The Reformation Coalition is a pocket empire (perhaps even a typical one, except that it is recieving Hiver technical assistance). There's no way the Regency could know about it at this point. [-- REDACTED --] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Science-Fiction Adventure In the Far Future ------------------------------