Jeff Zaitlin:
The Regency will also have the same kind of high-tech center,
because the center did not lose the technology in the first
place. However, the Regency will have access to the Jumpstart
caches, which will allow a more even development of the
technological and industrial base - or, the Regency can do
nothing, and allow the reintegrated areas to develop on their
own. In either case, the Regency is likely to have less of a
ghettoization problem, as they have no need to scavenge high
technology, and their expansion is not driven by a need to import
from an external market. High tech centers will develop, but not
in such a way that they will be driven to focus on serving the
needs of an already extant high-tech area.
What amazes me is the fact that the Regency isn't already expanding
into Deneb and Corridor at a furious rate (or indeed, into Verge
via the Jump-5 route across the Great Rift). Either the Regency
still fears Zhodani betrayal or a war with the Aslan colonies while
its' efforts are concentrated on rebuilding its trailing worlds or
it still believes there to be a strong threat from the Virus. But
since the Virus (except for a few pockets here and there) has
largely disappeared there is nothing to stop it. And with the
Regency's industrial base largely intact it should be able to
expand very rapidly. Frankly, in a contest between the Regency
and the RC I don't see how the RC could win. They are just too
small. Which means that GDW must be planning on keeping the
Regency within its' existing boundaries for some time to come (to
give the RC time to catch up). I don't personally find this credible.
Jeff Zaitlin:
Does the RC know that the Regency and the other Spinward states
exist? Do the Hivers? Does the Regency know about the survival
of the Hive Federation? About the RC?
What about the K'kree? They've always been (pardon the pun) the
dark horses of the Traveller universe. Could they make a bid
for increased living room (bigger, brighter pastures await you
in the ruins of the former Third Imperium). But mabye they just
live too far away...
Jeff Zaitlin:
At this point in time, we must assume that the answer to all of
these questions is "no" and that both the Regency and the RC will
develop in their own way, until they meet. That meeting is
likely to occur due to both states attempting to integrate or
build forward bases on the same planet. With such a fundamental
difference in outlook, we can expect to see armed conflicts, as
the Regency tries to prevent undue interference in the internal
affairs of a client or member state, while the RC is trying to
mold the state into what they feel is an "appropriate" shape for
membership. Add to this mixture the Guild, which will try to
keep both interstellar states out of the picture, and I think
we're going to see the (N+1)th Interstellar Wars/Pacification
Wars/Wars of Integration/Coalition Wars/Regency Wars/Guild Wars.
This depends very much on any future political change within the
Regency. It has already moved towards a more democratic system.
It's connection to the Third Imperium will taint it in the eyes
of most RCers but then, we can't all be perfect. The RCer may
consider the Imperium to have been immoral in some of its'
practices but I don't think that they place it at the same level
as your average TED (basically what the Imps would have called a
barbarian with nukes). The Imperium, whatever its' faults, was
civilised.
I'm not sure from reading Path of Tears to what extent the RC
tries to force a One True Way on the worlds it integrates. The
Federalist faction seems to believe in promoting diversity of
cultures/political systems within the Coalition while the
Feudal Technocrats seem to want to squeeze everyone they re-contact
into their mould. At the moment there is no clear indication which
faction will come to dominate the Coalition. The RC is definitely
opposed to any government/society which routinely tortures, murders,
enslaves and otherwise oppresses its' citizens on a daily basis or
which regards outsiders as 'the enemy' or technology as 'evil'. I
think that a lot of the people in the Regency would also agree
with that. It still leaves a lot of room for different kinds of
government. I think that the RCers think that the attitude of
the Third Imperium towards its' member worlds was 'so long as
you pay your taxes, we don't care what you do to your people' or
'he may be a bastard, but he's our bastard'. This kind of laissez-
faire, amoral attitude is definitely out the window.
As far as the Guild is concerned, while it has high ambitions to
dominate interstellar space I think that it lacks the organisational
structure to do so, and that faced with an opponent like the Regency
it will quickly be removed as a power. I think that it poses more of
a threat to the RC because the RC doesn't have the kind of resources
at its' disposal that the Regency has, and is spread much more thinly.
I expect the RC to dispose of the Guild in the next 10 years (unless
the Guild changes its' structure and becomes much more like a
government).
The next big plot development we can expect to see concerns the
Black Curtain. Path of Tears mentions the "Vampire Highway" that
leads into the Core of the former Imperium (straight to the centre
of Lucan's territory). Obviously the Virus has been busily at work
there for the last 70 years building...something. No doubt that
something will be unleashed on an unsuspecting Universe in the near
future. I would expect the RC and the Regency to put aside their
differences and fight this common enemy (anyone remember Fred
Saberhagen's Berserkers?).
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* Ray Pullar [email removed] *
* "Quantum mechanics? Even I don't fully understand it." - Ian Sales *
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