From: [email removed]
Subject: Those Sneaky Hivers, and Whether Thee Terra
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 93 23:25:53 EDT
>>Why did the Hivers bring about the collapse of the Imperium?
>The question really should be
>Why did the Hivers bring about the collapse of all of their
>large interstellar neighbors (especially those pesky humans!)?
>I'm certain that their friends the K'kree didn't escape from
>Virus. In any case,
Problem: Our neighbors are a violent, anti-social bunch, constantly
warring on each other. How can we change this? Two schools of
thought would emerge (much like they have in the business world of
today). The first approach emphasizes slow, constant improvement/manipulation
(the TQM of today). The second approach deals with doing away with
the current system and rebuilding it from a fresh perspective (re-engineering).
The Hive sponsoring the second approach won. The Hivers counted on being the
only survivors of the Virus, having a ready made friendly Virus to combat it,
and figured everyone else would slip back into larvae-hood, and be tested
by the Wilds (hmmmm... interesting that THAT is what it's called). The
collateral damage to the Federation was an accident: the friendly virus
wasn't distributed quickly enough.
They probably wanted to take everybody out, but didn't know about those
pesky secret x-boat routes that saved the sentients to spinward.
Now that the larvae are returning from the Wilds, the Hivers are setting
out to educate and train them: Humaniti is now a child being adopted by
the nest, in this case the Federation Development Agency.
Did I get it right, James?
I dunno, your explanation seems to easy, and any human who
stopped to think in the RCES could think of it. I have a feeling that
the collapse of the Imperium, and subsequent rebuilding has far greater
reasoning behind it than simply making for more peaceful space.
Personnally the Hivers looked out over the neighbouring 10,000
worlds and saw an empire that was stagnant. It was against AI &
Robotics (cybernetic alteration of humaniti), it was against PSI (one
form of human development) and avoided geneering to a large extent. The
only neighbours that were interested in geneering in the immediate
vicinity (the Solomani) were a relatively fascist race seeking to
subjucate most neighbouring races.
The quickest solution to instigate change, and an advancement
for the galaxy was to dissolve imperium. They probably began the
program after the Psionic oppressions, possibly in about 650 ish. Were
transponders in effect at this time, or was it a brilliant idea that
someone had :).
I think the Hivers have succeeded very well. They have created
an environment which will encourage natural selection, ie in harsher
environments only the really tough will survive. Consider an orbital
city which relies of Psionics to aid in its operation, this has resulted
in a virus induced catharsis of the population. The last vestiges of
the Imperium, ie Regency, are now pro-psionic. Is this all to much a
mere coincedence.
This is just a personal concept put forward, I am unsure how the
feeling of 'That Alien Conspiracy' would go down. It is possibly not
suited to the TNE universe, but it does give some food for thought.
Chow
|-|()()|< : [email removed]
: aka Chris Bray. Of 'Hastur & Fastur' Fame (sort of)
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