I liked PB Juzyk's idea of the sons and daughters of the former ruling
class in the Regency heading out into the Wilds to found new feofdoms.
This would be quite permissible under the conditions of the Blockade
since it would be a one way trip. However, it would leave the government
of the Regency facing a possible future rival in its' immediate
neighbourhood. Also, the establishment of these colonies would be fuelled
by a drain of people and resources from the Regency economy. If trade
was not permitted because of the Blockade, then the Regency would have
nothing to gain from letting this colonisation take place (except a
more stable and peaceful political environment).
The idea of an official policy of re-colonisation also has promise but
this would come up against the public fear of the Virus making an incursion
into the Regency. This would be easier to achieve if it was a secret,
unofficial policy. Since the TNE manual describes the Regency government's
secret attempts to create a benign form of the Virus it would be quite
in character for this to be taking place at the same time. I would
imagine that the Regency is currently mounting Arrival Vengeance
type missions to explore the Wilds and re-contact the remenants of the
former Third Imperium, possibly with a view to re-integrating them into
itself (Traveller: the Next Generation anyone?)
David Johnson's proposed Regency sourcebook seems like a fair jumping off
point for a discussion about the possible shape of the Regency.
Unfortunately, since I don't have my copy of the TNE manual with me I'm
not in a position to answer some of his questions. I would imagine that
a fierce political debate is currently taking place within the Regency
about whether to attempt to re-contact worlds within the Wilds or not.
Also there will be a fair amount of tension between the new Democrats
and the Old Aristocrats as well as the pro-psionic lobby vs. the anti
psi (anti-Zhodani) faction.
However all of this will just be idle speculation until GDW do something
solid on the Regency. And I don't see that happening in the next two
years (there was no mention, as far as I can recall, of any Regency
sourcebook in the GDW production schedule that was around a few weeks
ago).
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* Ray Pullar [email removed] Coventry University, U.K. *
* "Quantum mechanics? Even I don't fully understand it." - Ian Sales *
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