These are just a few notes I've put together after my first 2 or 3 bundles
of messages. . .
PHILOSOPHER KINGS AND UTOPIA
I could be wrong, but I believe Plato was one of the first Utopians.
He wrote extensively on society and politics, and founded a colony to put
his ideas into practice. It failed after a few years. Among other things,
Plato had no use for artists, especially story-tellers and thespians, for they
produced no tangible resources for the state; they only consumed. One reason
I don't like Plato, that.
At any rate, remember that Utopian societies have historically been an
expression of the human quest for the ideal. As long as they are founded
and controlled by humans (which the Zhodani are) they will be flawed.
MOON SHOT
This is really interesting! I'm glad whoever started it brought it up.
Well, I just got my copy jumbled, but it seems you've defined the resources
a little bit better. I take it they crashed on the planet and their ship
is irreparable. Are the computers intact? A starship's computing power would
go a long way to computing the requisite angles, consumption rates, etc needed
for the trip.
BTW, even if they didn't have the computers, grunt labor to build a primitive
way of measuring the movement of heavanly bodies (ala Stonehenge, or Mayan
methods) could probably land them near enough that they could steer by
sight once there.
RE:Timothy Little
". . .I'd like to see someone plot a decaying orbit around the moon! No
atmosphere to slow the guy down means little chance of orbital decay. . ."
I was under the impression that orbital decay occured because of gravity,
at least for objects short of geosychonous orbit.
What about the contragrav units on the ship? Are they functional? The
stuff on the ship can become very important. . .I doubt it's completely
destroyed, since they seem to have landed safely.
Natives and Anagathics: The party had better keep tight control of the
knowledge of and use of those anagathics. If the natives got wind of them. . .
well, the GM has a whole new set of situations to throw at the party.
J Roberson