Darrians and Sword Worlders

[zero]

@ phavoc - very droll... :roll:

@ rust - I can see the Sword Worlders like that. Its a little annoying that theyre a catspaw to the Zhodani though.

Looking through the history a little more carefully, it seems the Zhodani and Sword Worlds made attempts to persuade the Darrians onto their "side", back in the First Frontier War, however the Darrians didnt trust them and decided to stay a neutral party (At this time their history with the SWs were merely trade rivals as the Darrians and SWs competed for 3I pre-war trade).

I also think the distrust could have been taken (a little) from the Zho if they had just paid some repairations when they were caught out by the Darrians - seems to me the Darrians were more upset that the Zho didnt give them aid more than the lying.

It was this neutrality that led to the SW, mistaking it for weakness and taking the Entropic worlds in 593 (thats not nice :evil: ) that led the Darrians to side with the 3I. And so the current political landscape began.

It is only down to the Sword Worlders annexing the Entropic Worlds that the Darrians became an Imperial proxy at the current time. They could easily have ended up siding with the Zhodani or remain neutral if something different happened.

Politics!!

 

[rust]

They could easily have ended up siding with the Zhodani or remain neutral if something different happened.

In a way they remain neutral in a strange way, it seems all their military
operations during the various wars were directed at the Sword Worlds, at
least I am not aware of any major operation against the Zhodani, and at
the same time the Zhodani seem to have avoided any major operations
against the Darrians. The picture is more "Zhodani + allies versus Impe-
rials" and "Darrians and Sword Worlders versus each other", but rarely
"Zhodani versus Darrians".

 

[zero]

And so I play it like this;

Zhodani = Big Bad

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigBad

Sword Worlders = The Dragon

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon

:lol:

 

[Liam Devlin]

Mssr zero wrote:

I also think the distrust could have been taken (a little) from the Zho if they had just paid some repairations when they were caught out by the Darrians - seems to me the Darrians were more upset that the Zho didnt give them aid more than the lying.

The Zhodani have a thing about dishonesty culturally (see MgT's Aliens:Zhodani ). I do not believe they lied, in as so much as they omitted just how long they'd watched the Darrians.

The Darrians found it inexcusable (on the humanity-level) that they did not extend the helping hand (via trade contact) earlier--like in the same century they did with the SW's. What the Zhodani did admit to, led the Darrians to (correctly) believe that the Zhodani feared them, and the Star trigger, and that did not satisfy the Darrians, ending a 20-year period of open trade and relative good relations between the two States.

 

[zero]

Just trying to clarify all the information;

The Darrians and Sword Worlders were once rivals for Imperial trade. When the Imperials pushed their border-creep too hard, the Zhodani (who were fearful of the Star Trigger, omitted to the Darrians they have been trading with the SWs 100 years before them and did nothing to try and solve the issue as far as I know - ouch :? ) sided with the SWs (beginning to think of the SWs as the galaxy's douches...) against the Imperium.

The Darrians decide to stay neutral, not trusting the Zhos and SWs (understandably) but not siding with the Imperials either, until the SWs make an unprovoked attack on the Darrians, annexing some planets from them.

So, they side with the Imperials and alongside some Aslan wanderers, kick butt. The Zhos eventually back down with the threat of a Star Trigger and instead decide to back the SWs against the Darrians.

Meanwhile, the Imperium do really nothing for the Darrians (ie. them giving up on getting the Entropic worlds back post FFW1 :? ) except keep the Darrians as a future wartime ally and trade partner in peacetime.

Why didnt the 3I force the SWs to give up the Entropic Worlds, well this would probably force the Zhodani hand again and we'd get another full-war, leaving the Darrians to do things themselves against the SW.

Politics!!

 

[rust]

In the GURPS Traveller timeline, a lot of what you hint at did happen du-
ring and after the Fifth Frontier War. If you have an opportunity to read
GURPS Traveller Behind The Claw, this could prove useful for your cam-
paign design.