On Closed Ecosystems:
Steve Charlton writes:
>In reality, I was using food as an over-simplified example. What I was
>trying to get at was that a perfect closed ecosystem does not exist, and
>will not exist at TL15. The problem might be due to trace elements missing
>in food, or an inability to crack sufficient oxygen from ice asteroids in
>the Glisten Belt; the cause is basically irrelevant. The effect is that
>Glisten might be militarily powerful, but still be unable to withstand a
>a long-term siege.
Hmm. Yeah, there's no such thing as a perfect closed ecosystem, not even
a planet...there's some lossage somewhere. But if you are implying that
Glisten, as a system, is dependent on, say, oxygen imports because too
much is being lost to outgassing, airlock inefficiencies, and so on, I'm
not sure I can go along with that. There's just too many people there for
that sort of thing to work, I'd think. Besides, how do you besiege an
entire asteroid belt anyway? I suppose you could hold major population
centers hostage if you were ruthless enough.... I guess that I'm not
sure your thesis is self-evident.
Although, come to think of it, Sirius/Dingir was supposed to be like that,
a system with all artificial or "imported" planetoids, moved there for
near-Earth starship traffic purposes, and it had ten million residents.
But that's still barely in the reasonable range for such things, I guess,
and the situation there is a lot different that at Glisten, which is a
big natural belt, mining, and industrial center.
[DGP printed their version of Glisten in TD #15. While I personally
didn't like some details, like why they thought Glisten was named
Glisten, they bring up this issue. Their call was that Glisten could
be self-sufficient in a pinch. Why? Plenty of agriculture/aeroponics/
hydroponics. Actually, I can think of a few benefits to growing crops
even in a traditional manner under a dome on some asteroidal regolith.]
On Norris' headaches, A to Z: :)
[comments on the Vargr incursions deleted]
>This invasion was serious enough to allow the loss of Depot in Deneb
>Sector, a major source of IN reserve forces and equipment.
Are you sure you aren't confusing Depot-Deneb with Depot-Corridor? I
thought Depot-Deneb was about four parsecs behind the lines. If the
Vargr got that, I think all of Deneb sector would notice! Besides, it
still had its entire security force, unlike Corridor.
[comments on Aslan spending practices deleted]
>The females are likely to be the scientific brains of the region,
>but the funding for scientific research will ultimately be controlled
>by the various (male) clan heads. While the males will not concern
>themselves with financial details, they will expect a useful return on the
>investment of clan funds.
A clan ko worrying about clan investments in research?! I don't want
to call you a tahiwihteakhtau, but no. His wife will worry about that
stuff -- the ko can and *must* trust the clan's females's judgement in
all monetary matters. Most Aslan males don't understand "return on
investment" very well, and even if the ko does, he can't exhibit such
knowlege in public for fear of self humiliation on a number of levels.
However, females do understand that war is an extension of politics by
other means. Furthermore, the males do want effective weapons systems
in order to defend the clan and extend the territory. The males just
don't care how much the weapons cost -- it falls to the females to
explain what the clan can and can't afford. So in that sense you are
correct that the males will have an influence on spending. The males
know what they need to win a war, the females tell tham what they can
have.
I'm also sure that the females long ago discovered that wars are usually
a lot more expensive than they're worth. It's just that sometimes, the
code of honor makes warfare unavoidable. Some wars just need to be
fought. But the females understand the importance of basic research,
if they're any good. Especially since if they find something new and
make money with it, then the clan can go *buy* land and not have to
fight for it. This, for some reason, makes the males happy. Aslan
are not Klingons.
There's some other drains on Aslan productivity, in the industrial
sense. The Aslan honor artisans and craftsmen, and prefer artistic
things, even battleships. Also, they dislike using robots. For both
these reasons, mass-production isn't quite the same in the Hierate
as in the old Imperium. This also means that the Aslan view technology
and scientific studies more as a means to an end rather than an
end in itself; they aren't quite inquisitive in the same way as a
Human or Hiver. But with Humans and Hivers around, keeping up is a
end in itself. So is surpassing them! But one has to be careful of
setting off an arms race with the neighbors.
Steve Bonneville
[email removed]