Re: TML nightly: Msgs 7067-7075 V70#18

from Dane's post (TML nightly: Msgs 7067-7075 V70#18)

> -- 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.
>......................<etc etc etc>
>Dane

Nor is this the first time that this has happened with Traveller
venues.  Jim Kelleher (a bay area ref & gamer) generated a character
back in the legendary era of CT, long long ago in the mists of time
(Am I dating you, Jim?) which rolled up, by the then-rules, as
the Countess of Regina.  This causes some small amount of
consternation when later CT/MT materials presented Norris as
the Duke of Regina.  Jim's character is still in play and people who
play in Jim's campaigns cope.  Background is often as pliable as the
rules are...

with regards to:

>TML nightly: Msgs 7076-7080 V70#19
>Is this sort of like letting Exxon or Alcoa come into your country to help
>you develop?  (Or William Penn buying Manhattan for a handfull of beads?)
>Doesn't sound too benevolent to me.
>David Johnson

and also to:

>As for Exxon and Alco coming in. . .the analogy may be valid. Better
>yet, the Penn/Beads deal. AS history has shown, they have their good and
>bad sides. :)
>J Roberson

Uh, er...guys...it was the Dutch who traded 24 Tollars worth of junk
jewellry to the Iraquois for the rights to the island of Mahattan,
in 1625.  William Penn was granted, by the English Crown, the new
world colony of Pennsylvania, mostly to get those troublesome Quakers
to move out of England.  Pennsylvania was officially settled in 1682.

Incidentally, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam had reasonably
good relations with the local Iraquois, much better than the English
colonists who took rather than bargained for land.  The Quakers and
other settlers in Pennsylvania, being takers of rather than bargainers
for land, had a fairly rough time with the natives...  Penn had this
silly idea that the natives could be converted into peaceful co-habitors
of the colony...

In terms of analogies, I would opine that Exxon, Alco, and the mercantile
17th century Dutch are a much happier alternative to the English
Colonists, who were nothing better than opportunistic conquerers.
And while I'm thinking about it, the Journals of Lewis and Clarke would
make excellent background material for an IISS or RCES or generic
exploration campaign.  (What?  _NOT_ read the journals of Lewis and
Clarke?!?  They're better than most modern sci fi...)

Catie Helm (21 days until PhD orals...but who's counting?)
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Catie Helm              lab:[phone removed]
Stable Isotope Lab, Geology Dept, UC Davis
Geology Department Seminar Coordinator
[email removed]