(Continued from previous message)
Regency-Vargr border must be protected. Even if some or most of
the Vargr states in the area adjacent to the Regency act in
concert with the Regency, this actually increases the number of
systems that must be blockaded. And such cooperation can not be
counted on, due to the fractious nature of Vargr society. This
means that the Zhodani Consulate must also blockade _its_ borders
with the Vargr Extents. That alone will be a major undertaking,
and it is unlikely that the Zhodani (or any interstellar state)
would have the manpower and ship power to create a blockade on
this great a scale. The matter is further complicated by the
fact that we cannot logically assume that population and travel
stop at the coreward extremes of either the Vargr Extents or the
Zhodani Consulate. This means that there is a high likelihood of
the Virus being able to make an "end run" around the Zhodani
Blockade. Which means that the Zhodani must blockade their
_entire_ border, all the way around, to prevent the Virus from
entering from Coreward, then Spinward, then Rimward (the Vargr
blockade was already discussed; that is the prevention from
Trailing). It also means that the Regency and the small states
in the area must also be prepared to blockade the spinward area,
as well. The area from the spinwardmost point of the Zhodani
Consulate all the way down to the Great Rift shows various human
and Aslan states, and possibly some alien states as well. This
covers an area that appears to be _at_least_ as large as the
Third Imperium at its greatest extent. Could even the Third
Imperium have blockaded its own borders in their entirety?
I would like to see an alternative history which did not involve
the Virus; I feel that the Virus did _too_ much damage to the
former Imperial area. I very much like the idea of the
shattering of the Imperium; it allows for much more variety in
play. The idea of allowing a retrogression is also appealing; it
gives a frontier feeling to the environment, and the creation of
the smaller polities (and to a lesser degree the faction "safes")
gives a feeling, even in the "core" worlds, that the frontier
isn't all that far away, and that a certain kind of toughness is
needed - an attitude which will "infect" almost everyone. Trade
is reduced, but still present, and with _more_ opportunity for
the independent entrepreneur (and more risk to go with it, but...
that's why the major companies pulled back, remember?), for both
goods (obtained either legally or illegally) and services (to
protect ships and systems from the latter). Certainly, some
"Wilds" can be accommodated, for the GM who likes the bootstrap
campaign, as well.
With such an alternate history in mind, I would be willing to
work with others on this, either here or on another list (with
summaries posted here). If we elect to go to another list, I
cannot manage it; I am on a DOS-based BBS with none of the fancy
stuff for news handling that most other Internet sites have.
If there isn't interest in such a project, I'll try to work out
one on my own, and post the pertinent information in the form of
"TNS news stories", "magazine articles", "personal diary
entries", and straight out "referee's information".
==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin [email removed]
* QMPro 1.01 * People who live in glass houses shouldn't.