Re: TML nightly: Msgs 7143-7150 V71#7

In-Reply-To: [email removed]
Loren on the GDW/TSR deal:
Unwanted speculation on GDW's future apart, I'm in agreement with those
people who believe that the death of DJ is generally a good thing for
Traveller (or rather, what Traveller has become ...). One point I'm not
clear on, does this mean the unlamented demise of 'Journeys' and the
movement of Challenge back to a monthly schedule?

Cynthia and Dave on the outbreak of democracy in the RCES:
(shouting: let me through, I have a politics degree!)
Well, to start off with, modern democracy really starts with John Locke
and the 17th Century; Locke's descriptions of the relationship between
the individual and government led to the liberal philosophers of the
enlightenment, such as Paine and Rousseau. Classical models influenced
it, but not as much as Christianity and mediaeval tradition.

Anyhow, that departure apart (and thanks to everyone for letting the
social scientists have a chance to take over the role of pointless
discussion on this list from the hard sciences); why no aristocracy in
the RCES? The easy answer is that there's none in Twilight:2000 either,
so given that this is the same game ...

On the other hand, if you look at the UK as an example, we have an
aristocracy, at least to a certain extent. Now, I think very few people
would have that now if we were to design it from scratch; but for
various complex reasons we're stuck with it (at least until the Labour
party gets in for a couple of terms or so). The RCES people *are*
rebuilding from scratch, pretty much, so they have that option. And I'm
sure that the hivers would have discouraged the development of a new
aristocratic tradition, given that much of the blame for the Collapse
(or at least its nature) could be associated with the constitutional
arrangements of the Third Imperium.

By the way, I get the impression that most of the Imperial nobility was
not of long standing. Extrapolating from the tradition of both refs and
scenario writers of knighting adventurers after (or in the case of DGP
midway through) a long campaign, most of the lower nobility (ie the
mass of it) was probably created in the last couple of generations, and
probably wasn't strong enough to counter any determined movement to
overthrow it.

Jeff Freeman on the future of TNE:
Best place that I can see for post TNE speculation is the introduction
to Survival Margin. By NE65 we have "former black sphere" and "former
Domain of Deneb" (though this latter may only be a reference to
pre-Collapse arrangements). The inference I make from the passage is
that by 65 the area of the former Imperium is, in one form or another,
reunited (or rather, it is sufficiently peaceful that individuals can
travel across its span). The Star Vikings are long gone. Kuniholm,
writing in 1235 (NE35) speaks of them in the past tense. In general, it
would appear that the Regency survives (doesn't it still have TL15?
maybe I missed something), perhaps as part of a new Imperium (sans
nobility). Whether this means the return of the D6 and a decent
character generation system is another matter (he says bitterly).

Jeff Zeitlin on the K'kree:
Yes, the K'kree were caught in the Collapse with no way out. But why
shouldn't the Hivers help the K'kree as well? The K'kree, unlike
humaniti, weren't responsible for the collapse of hiver civilisation.
If the hivers intervene, they can establish a more pliable, less
extreme K'kree civilisation to coreward.

Roger Sanger on a Regency list:
Hi Rodge. I'd much prefer if all traffic was kept to TML. The schism of
TML was a Bad Thing from which the list is only just beginning to
recover (I can tell this by the fact that my Windows based newsreader
has recently started to complain again that the messages are too big).
By the way, it would be nice if someone started reposting digests of
the Genie discussions to TML (Do GDW realise that Genie does not have
points of access in the UK? And for that matter, do they care?)

Finally, anyone spotted Path of Tears in the UK? Challenge 72?

Cheers
Mark Watson