TNE Background 7

>What's your take on the organization of the RC government and the issues I
raised above?
  The RC is governed by a representative democracy, with representation based
on population (although all planets are guaranteed one vote). There are many
sub-factions, but the two most powerful are the Centrist bloc, who are in favor
of a strong central government based on the Feudal Technocracy model, and the
Federalists, who are in favor of a looser organization which allows worlds to
develop their own social systems. In all, the RC is a fairly organized
governmental entity (at least for a relatively new government), It doesn't
sound at all to me like the "Space Vikings" of H. Beam Piper fame. (By the way
what's the name of that book? I'd like to read it.)
  The RCES is an organized (although again loosely) group similar to the old
Imperial INterstellar Scout Service in some ways. It has four major functions
according to PATH OF TEARS, pages 30-31:
   DISCOVERY: Basic exploration and information-gathering. The Discovery
Mission Statement reads "Identify and locate key resources neccesary to
establish interstellar commerce." This is performed in two ways. Missions
codenamed "Stardust" are purely scientific missions, such as initial surveys
of systems or unihabited worlds. Missions codenamed "Moonshadow" are missions
of covert contact with intelligent inhabitants of a world for intelligence
gathering purposes.
   RECOVERY: "Secure and preserve those assets currently in the Wilds
neccesary to the establishment of interstellar commerce." These also come in
two brands: Cold Recovery missions, where the tech is abandoned or sentient
resistance is not expected, and Hot Recovery, where those who have the tech
want to keep it. All missions against TED's (Technologically Elevated
Dictatorships) fall into this category. These are the missions commonly known
as "Smash and Grab" missions.
    INTEGRATION: Actual integration of inhabited worlds into the RC. Quoting
from the book, "Diplomacy is the preferred means of integrating a world into
the Coalition". When the people like the government, and it treats them well,
the RC tags the planet TDO (Trade and Diplomacy Only), no SAG's allowed.
A Charismatic Dictator who was loved by his people and benevolent toward them
would not be overthrown.
    A second type of Integration method is Pacification. Only two worlds have
been integrated this way, but there will undoubtably be more. INteresting to
note that the Third IMperium (and the two preceding) engaged in this practice
as well. It's almost neccesary; allowing pockets of resistance within your
space would make as much sense as allowing Missouri to be an independant nation
in the middle of the US, especially if they were hostile. Admittedly, this is
distasteful (as I'm sure it is to many within the RC) and I intend to stay
away from this kind of thing.
     REGENERATION is the final step; helping the worlds to rebuild their
technological base and reestablishing interstellar commerce. This is, as the
book points out, the major goal of the RC. Two operations are used here;
Commerce with Free Traders and RC merchants, and Bootstrap operations, where
the members function much as Peace Corps members do, helping the people relearn
the technology they need.

   I'll post later about our specific campaign activities; this post is long
enough :)
          Allen

First of all, let me take this opportunity to thank David Johnson (a fellow
member of the prestigious 'djohnson e-mail address club') for 'organizing' the
general thrust of discussion...You, sir, are an excellent moderator!

On to other things...

1.  _Path of Tears_ ... This book has made me, in some ways, re-evaluate
the role that GDW sees for the RCES in the future.  In many ways (to me)
it strongly resembles the tone I've seen developing over on the TNE
Pocket Empire mailing list.  That tone is one of empire building and the
forging of an interstellar government out of a group of loosely
cooperating worlds who face unknown dangers at their borders.

All well and good.  In many ways GDW should be proud of this sourcebook.
Again, to re-iterate, it would have made a fine 'beyond the frontier'
sourcebook.

Specifics of the setting:  The Reformation Coalition consists of a
handful of worlds, each self-governed, who have a sort of loose
parliamentary government to handle 'interstellar' details.  I haven't
read the sourcebook closely yet, but the feeling I get is very similar
to that of reading about the 13 colonies in and around the time of the
American Revolution.

Clearly, Traveller: The Fourth Imperium is the logical 'next edition' of
Traveller.  Whether that will be in the form of the RC and the Regency
combining or what, I dunno.

2.  What's going on outside the RC?
	This is a fundamental problem with the way in which GDW is
choosing to support TNE.  The release of the Rulebook saw many shaking
their heads in disgust over the (rather spotty) ethics and modus
operandi of the RCES.  The release of _Path of Tears_ modifies at least
my impressions of them pretty heavily simply because I now have a
clearer picture.  My point?  I needed the Cr18 sourcebook to get an
accurate picture -- What was in the Rules was insufficient (at least for
me).  The Regency is the same way (as are the regions once held by the
Solomani, K'kree, Aslan, and Vargr (mostly)) -- Until the sourcebook
comes out we won't know who Avery was, etc.
	Of course, in many ways, this is a basic marketing ploy on the
part of GDW, and a not-unfamiliar one -- To 'accurately' follow the TNE
continuity will require several 'interlocking' sourcebooks so that we
can see the whole picture.  Unfortunately, for those of us unhappy with
the region of focus at the moment, we are forced to develop our own
information in the almost certain knowledge that our carefully
rationalized explanations will probably not jibe with later published
materials.

	My general disgust with TNE would have been almost entirely
assuaged if GDW had chosen to remove all of the "New Era" specific data
from the TNE rulebook, a la the old 'Basic Traveller'.  Rules and
Background can, in most cases, be safely divorced from one another,
especially in a game like Traveller where Background issues affect
people's enjoyment of the game.  Having only had the 'core rules' in one
place and 'background details' in another would have permitted me (at
least) to have developed a more accurate picture of the background GDW
was painting while enabling me to completely develop my own settings
without having to worry about weeding out the influences of the TNE
campaign specifics (I'm here refering to the disparity of UWP gov't
codes for TEDs in the wilds <Oh, yeah TED = Technologically Elevated
Dictator> and the increased Crew requirements for ships in TNE due to
anti-virus measures).

3.  What I'm planning on doing, in terms of background, is the
development of an Imperial setting away from the standard area but
during the Imperial era.  I've picked Rim Reach as the perfect target --
Close enough to K'kree, Hiver and Aslan space to justify their presence
on the one hand, and removed enough to not have to worry about published
stuff ever impacting me.  Also, I'm going to put a Rosette system left
by the Ancients with a minor Human race on one world, a minor Vargr race
on another and some Droyne on a third.  This lets me get all the major
races in one spot, and I can say that, during the long night, the natives
of the Rosette system were contacted by some of those footloose Solomani
traders/exiles (a la Sword Worlds/Darrians) so that they now have jump
drive and their own hi-tech, politically stable 'pocket empire'.

4.  The revelation of what exactly is behind the Black Curtain is going
to turn out to be on the same order as the revelation in _The Secret of
the Ancients_.  :/


Dane

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TNS Stringer ------ Terra/Solomani Rim (1827 G867975-8)
"My opinions are those of my fuzz-brained, cat-sniffing Norwegian Elkhound."