My take on the RC government is that it is relatively stable FOR THE MOMENT,
but the struggle between the Federalists and the Centrists, if not settled,
could lead to instability. The Centrists, led by the planet Oriflamme, seems to
be the faction most interested in forcing everyone in the RC to conform to a
standard, theirs being a strong central government built along the Feudal
Technocracy model. The Federalists, currently the "dominant" group and led by
RC headquarters world Aubaine, seem to opt for a more open approach, truly
opposing only dictators who oppress their populace with advanced tech and rule
against the people's will. Things are not as organized as perhaps people might
like. Probably the RC will come to a "compromise" between the Federalists and
the Centrists, and wind up with a government somewhere in the middle.
Someone mentioned the "historical" looks at the "Star Vikings" in the TNE
rulebook and Survival Margin, and took this to mean that they were a thing of
the past by that time. I would agree with this. The RC itself might abolish the
idea if 1.) They complete the major part of their mission and aren't needed
anymore, 2.) It becomes obvious that their intended schedule was impossible to
keep to, which I beleive it is. Just because the RC wants to recolonize three
sectors in four years doesn't mean that GDW will let them. What's that old
line about the "best laid plans of mice and men..." 3.) They run into the
Regency and the RC's expansion is halted. Assuming that there will be war of
at least a limited duration, the RC is frankly doomed. If cooler heads prevail,
they might come to some sort of accomodation. Some of this may depend on what
the Hivers decide to do. Either through an RC defeat, or simply running out of
room, there would come a point where the "Star Vikings" as portrayed would no
longer be needed.
In any event, we need a Regency Sourcebook of the same level of quality as
the Path of Tears book to really be able to make predictions about what the
Regency will or won't do.
By the way, an aside to GDW: a contest was run in Challenge to guess the
identity of the "woman in black" on the cover of the TNE rulebook. It may be
too late. and electronic submissions may not count, but I think it's Seldrian,
true daughter of Archduke/First Regent Norris! Or at least one of HER clones.
Allen