I'm sorry if I seemed to imply that you shouldn't be leading this discussion;
you're quite welcome to talk about anything you like. And I agree that GDW is
NOT the final authority regarding any of these issues; WE are. If you want to
play the RC as a divided governmental entity, you can! If you want to throw out
the Virus and drag out the Rebellion for 70 years, or for that matter throw
out the Rebellion and let the Third Imperium live on, go ahead! I was under the
impression that we were discussing the TNE background as written, due to some
desire on the part of those participating to understand it. I can see where you
are looking for inconsistencies in the TNE set-up. That's good, actually; I'm
sure Frank and Dave would appreciate the help! Keeping fictional universes
consistent is never easy, especially when more than one person contributes.
And especially when that development is spread over 17 years and involves a
lot of open-ended stories resolved by thousands of people in 1000 different
ways!
Before I abandon the RC for the developing Regency discussion, let me say
that I treat the RC as neutral leaning towards good. The PC's in my RCES
campaign want to be good guys; they'll shortly be running into some Lancers
with a very different view. The RC is currently under the leadership of the
Aubani, with a few concessions to the Oriflammens. such as the "official"
limitation of activities to the primary AO (which both sides violate rather
frequently). The Hivers DEFINITLEY have an ulterior motive, and when the
humans find out, it may cause some serious questioning of the RC's goals and
purpose. There is one Pocket Empire in Diaspora which may cause trouble for
the RC (the Covenant of Sufren), and two more developing. There's also a
60,000 ton Vampire ship with LOTS of vampire fighters and cyborged/Virus
infected Solomani troops on their way to the RC to cause my players SERIOUS
trouble.
And now, on to the Regency. I agree with Roger; let's develop the area
ourselves! Sure, we may wind up with many different versions of the Regency,
but that's okay; all campaigns are different to some extent. You may even
decide that what we develop is better than the "official" stuff that comes out.
That's okay, too; as gamemasters, we have the right to draw from whatever
sources we choose. I will say one thing, though; I think we should say that
GDW is free to use whatever ideas they wish to from our Regency discussions
without hassle. After all, it is their game. If they use enough of our ideas,
obviously credit would be nice (and I'm sure they would do this). I don't
want to see them do a Regency sourcebook somewhere down the line and have a
bunch of people complain "They stole ideas from us!" As far as I'm concerned
they can have mine, if any are worthwhile enough to be used.