Gentlesophonts:
Regarding the `Rape of Trin' and whether the Regency government would have
been able to contain the news of a Virus assault on Trin. This is really
a moot point since the news *is* out and it has served to make the Regency
population wary of the Virus and hesitant to move back into the Wilds of
the Old Imperium.
This serves the interests of the Regency leadership (and those in the
Isolationist bloc) by keeping the Regency from expanding and possibly
encountering a legitimate claimant to the Regency in the Wilds of the Old
Imperium. Whether this is the motivation of the leadership or not, it exists
as a by product of the populace not wanting to venture into the Wilds.
(As for all this talk of the need for the Regency to move into the Wilds in
order to `expand' its stagnant economy - that sounds like a bunch of hooey
called Reaganomics - or `voodoo economics' to use George Bush's phrase. The
Regency is full of undeveloped worlds that provide excellent opportunities
for economic expansion - it was an Imperial *frontier* prior to the Rebellion
and Collapse!)
Furthermore, the above mentioned desire to remain behind the Quarantine Line
*also* serves the interests of the Zhodani if they want to maintain the
Regency as a manageable buffer state on their rim-trailward border.
From Thursday night, Andy Lilly [email removed] writes:
> Someone else said:
> > The Zhos appear to be manipulating the Regency just as the Hivers
> > are doing so to the RC.
Etc.
> Hmmm... Who's actually manipulating whom? [FACT ALERT: No TNE; see above] If
> To take a vague analogy, look at how
> Japan built itself back up after WWII (hope this isn't a contentious issue).
Not a contentious issue (at least not to me and I'd describe myself as that
most unsual of creatures in the US: a Nihonophile) but a better example
might be Western Europe which was on the `winning' side in WWII but has never
quite been able to emerge from under the `800 pound gorilla' of the United
States. It's not a particulary horrid fate (any Europeans want to disagree?)
but it doesn't fit my picture of the sort of interstellar state I'd like
to adventure from.
> Of course a good
> diplomat in the Zhos or Hivers will already have anticipated this and will
> have counter-measures in place
Exactly. Another reason to rush out and buy TNE! :-)
Steven M Bonneville [email removed] writes:
> Heck, since Tobia was overrun by Aslan New Lords fleets, it may be
> *gone* as a duchy.
> Besides, with the fall of the subsector, the position would
> become less important.
Well, not exactly, this is the `wonder' of aristocracies. Even if
Duke Alexander of Tobia died without issue the fief of Tobia, with
all its liegeholders - all those Counts, Marquises(sp?), and Barons,
still remains. All those nobles with all their Imperial patents just
don't `go away' because the *ihatei* show up and seize their fiefs. In
fact, all those nobles have probably been at the Domain court for the
last 80 years clamoring for military action to liberate their fiefs
and generally causing the Archduke and later the Regent all sorts of
headaches. These nobles will be active in the House of Nobles - more
so even than `sitting' nobles because they don't have an estate to run -
and will enjoy the support of the other nobles who will want to ensure
similar relief for themselves should their own holdings be overrun.
These nobles-in-exile will dominate the Aristocratic bloc in the Regency.
> >How do we know this `Sector Governor' is from the *Domain of Deneb*
> >Regency? [FACT ALERT: I don't have TNE!]
>
> We don't, of course. However, I thought that it would make sense,
> especially considering that "Spinward Marches" is hardly an
> appropriate name for a sector containing half of a pocket empire
> and it's capital.
Actually, I wasn't referring to the New Era *name* of *Deneb* at all.
What I meant was how do we know that the `Regency' that has appointed
this `Sector Governor' is the *same* Regency that currently resides
in Deneb and not some *other* `Regency' that has grown up in the Core -
maybe even behind the `Black Curtain'? Maybe the same `Regency' that
the Regency leadership in Deneb finds it so convenient to remain behind
the Quarantine Line in order to avoid?
> On Rebellion-era domain maps, I recall even parts of Regina subsector
> were over-run. However, by TNE the area seems to have been re-taken.
> Of course, this last time wasn't just a frontier war, but things seemed
> to be under control on the Vargr front by the time Virus hit.
Yes, I remember the same `fluidity' of the border during the Vargr incursions.
The important point though is what happened to the fief holders in these
borders regions? How many returned to their holdings and how many were
displaced and are now sitting at the Domain/Regency court and becoming a
general nuisance?
> It probably isn't that bad. Remember, the Quarantine Line has to be
> fairly *wide* in order to work right. Some of those subsectors may
> be buried in the Quarantine Line but still able to function on some
> reduced level -- the RQS probably has bases in there for refueling
> and replenishment. Admittedly, living on a world in the Line and
> traveling into the greater Regency would be a hassle, but possible.
This makes sense but as I don't have TNE I don't know how this jives with
the GDW canon. Can anyone with TNE give us a sense of where the Quarantine
Line runs through Deneb Sector and which fiefdoms have been displaced?
One last note on Regency megacorps. The *MTJ* #3 article on megacorps in
the Rebellion mentioned that in many areas sector and subsector
corporations had begun to challenge the regional branches of the megacorps
in their regions. This would seem to still have been the case in the
Regency. Possibly, by TNE there might be several `mini-megacorps' in the
Regency that are as powerful as the surviving regional divisions of the
megacorps.
Peace,
David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA