TNE: Regency Military and Government

Gentlesophonts:

Everyone seems to be getting into our TML Regency Sourcebook, *Shall Not
Perish*.  Fantastic.  Some broadly ranging comments:

Steven Gott [email removed] writes:

> I think that the rebellion's influence is minimal compared
> to the influence of the black war and Virus.

Does this mean you think the regular military will have a role in fighting
the Virus rather than this just being the responsibility of the Quarantine
Service?

> Dealing with this threat
> will profoundly change the Regency.  Think of all of the computers and
> electronic they must have.  Why to convert them to safer configurations
> could take decades...

An interesting concept.  Does this mean *every* military asset in the
Regency must be retrofitted in some fashion?  With that sort of government
spending going on I can't see the Regency economy `straining' for decades.
(Of course, the rumored `need for economic expansion' of the Regency in
TNE has always sounded too much like rehashed Reaganomics to me.)

> The also might have a few nasty viruses in bottles to
> unleash on opponnents.

You think so?  I would have thought that use of this sort of weapon would
have become quite inconceivable after the Viral Collapse.

> Subject: Military threats to the Regency
>
> can anybody think of any others?

Sword Worlds :-)

A `true' heir to the Iridium Throne showing up with a Unification Fleet?
(Rebellion II).

Regency nobles upset at the `democractic' reforms taking place (Rebellion
III).

Regency `democracts' upset at the slow pace of `reforms' (Rebellion IV).


PBJuzyk [email removed] writes:

> FICT/SCEN/AHIS : Shall Not Perish - Government

> I think there would be some basis for Planetary
> Courts either in place of or in addition to these District Courts.

Again, keep in mind that the judicial function was performed directly by
the nobility under the Imperium.  How might the nobility have come to
forfeit this right/responsibility?

> At any level are jurors chosen in a manner similar to that in the
> United Sates?

At this level of court system we're not talking jury trial but rather
courts presided over by judges - like the US Supreme Court and Circuit
Courts.

> or does the court travel to
> the different planets to hear cases?

This was the original practice of the US Circuit Courts.  (The judge
travelled around the `circuit'.)  Now, folks tavel to these courts.
I suspect the Regency model might be more akin to the early US model
(assuming the nobles have forfeited their judicial function which I'm
not sure should or could be the case).

> - - Senate term length: 10 years seems like a long term.

Not if you keep in mind the travel times involved.  A senator from
Dunmag in Deneb is going to spend a lot of time just travelling back and
forth to Mora.  This is also the speed at which communication about issues
will travel between the capital and the home district.

> - - Military: I agree that the military is not one of the branches of the
> gov't but it does have some influence in the governing of the Regency

Keep in mind that the separation of the military from the political
process is a decidedly modern, Western idea.  For most of human history
and still in many places today the military is a key player in the
political process.  This is also a part of the Imperial tradition.
Remember the Civil War and even the Rebellion.  This latter though,
might have led to some poltical efforts to *limit* the influence of
the military.  This might have been one of the ways the power of the
nobility was weakened.  Much of the power of the nobility has been
embodied in the military in the past.

> BTW does the Regency (and formerly the Imperium) have a
> separate police force or is the military, particularly the army and
> navy, given the task of enforcing laws?

Police operations *per se* were the primary responsibility of local
worlds.  The Imperial military serve in police roles with respect to
piracy and the like but most of what we consider to be `crime' (robbery,
theft, assualt, embezzlement, etc.) was handled by local authorities.

> Subject: GEN - Swold World bickering

> I'm not entirely sure I understand the feudal technocracy govt
> but suppose it allows for a large amount of 'infighting' among the
> junior levels of the technocracy on each world.

Possibly.

> Suppose every so often these small manueverings among the
> technocrats build to a particularly large crescendo that results in a
> large loss of the economic/industrial infrastructure with a
> corresponding drop in TL.

Again, possibly, but this would have to be a *major*, traumatic event.
I don't see how it could occur very often or across several different
worlds.

> Furthermore perhaps this postulated internecine rivalry may be more
> prevalent on some worlds (such as Sacnoth) than on others (Gram) which
> causes more of an introspective world-view and prevents Sacnoth from
> gaining political control of the Sword World governing body despite a
> higher level of technological achievement.

Yes, of course, but is this somehow more plausible than the mere fact of
Zhodani assistance to prop up Gram?  I don't think so.  It also doesn't
present as interesting of possibilities as the Zhodani explanation if the
role of the Zhodani changes in TNE.

> Just an idea that occurred to me while enjoying the "The Hans and David
> Show."  :)

I'm glad somebody is enjoying it.  :-)


Bryan Borich [email removed] writes:

>     Therefore the best thing to do is maybe forget the TCS vs 5FW debate
> and start anew by testing the TNE figures givenn in the RCEs sourcebook.

This is a good point.  Since we're examining the Regency it makes since
to use the *POT* figures, doesn't it?

> The population figures are given in millions.
> Gross product is in trillion Imperial credits. (TL 15 credits.)
> All Gross Subsector Product figures are given in Imperial Credits,
> using the conversion table in Striker Book 2.
>
> Starport ship capacity is given in millions of displacement tons.
> Shipyard Capacity formula: capacity = total pop * (GM = 1) / 1000

Les Howie [email removed], is this the sort of information we need?
Thanks, Bryan, for making this available.

Happy Travelling,

David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA