In response to Hans Rancke on the Sword Worlds:
>>PI
>> -420 Sword Worlds (colonists of Scandinavian origin) leave Terra
>> -399 Sword Worlds settle Gram.
>Where did you find the date for leaving Terra?
Solomani and Aslan : Its listed on the Solomani History in Pre-Imperial
times Timeline.
> ... I'd like to know if the bit about
>coming from Terra itself is official. I've always assumed that they came
>from a scandinavian-settled world, not Terra.
If you consider DGP official then the date for Terran departure is correct.
It states "-420: Sword World colonists leave Terra"
Now JTAS 18 states that the Sword Worlders are descended from "Solomani
exiles" whatever that means... I personally haven't decided on the
context of the the statement "leave Terra". It could apply specifically
to Terra or be a reference to the Terran Mercantile Union which was
now the Old Earth Union and had been in existence for almost 700 years.
>Possibly the Syleans and Vilani didn't want them around (or the Sword-
>worlders didn't like the conditions for settling down, ie. subordinate
>themselves to another government). Still, both Syleans and Vilani were
>'Rule of Law' adherents, so they didn't want to attack a peaceful
>colony fleet. Instead they welcomed the Swordworlders, gave their ships
>a free refit, and then escorted them to the other side of their sphere
>of influence with instructions to keep moving.
But if they didn't like governments why go that way. Corewards is where
the Terrans knew that there were lots of governments. If you really want to
get away you head Rimwards.
Also to be kept in mind is the apparent Sylean desire not to reintegrate
Terra till later. Terra didn't join the Imperium till 588 well after the
First Survey (420). Vland was contacted and had join the Sylean Confederation
by -30.
One theory that fits some facts is that they sought political asylum but
were refused. Still doesn't explain why they did not drop anchor somewhere
in Deneb. Instead they marched into the Marches ....
>Piper's original explanation makes as much sense as anything: They were
>the loosers of a war and fled to somewhere far away from their successful
>enemies.
Hmmm....There is hardly any reference to Old Earth Union and its activities
between -1100 and 588. There *could* have been a civil war lead by a core
of worlds settled by a specific culture. There is also the "Gene War"
which strangely has no date attached to it. The reference to Confederation
implies that it
happened after the Solomani Confederation was formed but it could also be a
reference to the Terran Confederation. In that case the Sword Worlders could
be the survivors of the Gene War, the super men with super intelligence but
no genius. In that way they appear closer to the Saurons of the WarWorld
series by ....Drake?? Pournelle??
In either case that could give a reason for heading corewards. To gain
asylum.
The asylum could have been denied because in those early days neither the
Syleans nor the Vilani may have wanted or needed to deal with more
troublemakers. Additionally if they were super-beings they could have been
used as mercenary units for a period of time, which would explain the
length of time it took them to get to the Marches.
Eventually they had no asylum and decided to get far away from the Terrans
who would
know their source and would hunt them down. And since all human exploration
rimwards has been done by the Solomani that would also be a reason to head
towards the core.
>How many settlers left Terra?
I'd suspect atleast 50,000. I know other people have done various population
growth models but by my rough guesstimate thats what you need to get to their
current population levels in 1500 years with remarkably little external
molestation or intervention.
>>Why did it take them 21 years? At jump 2 it takes about 6 years to get from
>later Vland, about permission to settle somewhere. They finally decided
>that if they wanted to do things their way without interference they would
>have to go somewhere far away from established areas.
The only catch is that neither the Syleans nor the Vilani controlled enough
space to be in such a position, unless the SW wanted to settle on pre-
developed worlds..... If so then why the sudden change of mind? If the SW
in -420 had the tech (10-11) to travel from Terra to Gram then they had more
then enough tech to take over the many worlds that had fallen behind. At this
time the Syleans controlled a few subsectors and their total influence was
restricted to that sector if that. The Vilani being the ever cautious probably
had even less.
Ameer