cthol24601
Mongoose
Ok I've been setting up a campaign in the Dilgar War era for EA. Fits very nicely because so much of the B5 sector of space in unexplored, the tech is so "rough as guts" and the universe is not as ordered as we see in the series, Leaves a lot of room for adventuring.
So I was mulling over the hints and ideas floating around that the Dilgar war was in part set in motion by the shadows or agents of the shadows and I was thinking about their experience compared to the Centauri.
Small empire with imperial ambitions and an official culture of supreme racial arrogance (declining empire with racial arrogance and pretensions for the Centauri) has a crisis and needs to claim new territory. Rather than dedicate their war against a single target, such as the Drazi, that they could probably win fairly easily and settle a new homeworld without other races bothering to interfere and progressing cautiously, the Dilgar go mad and attack everyone forcing otherwise hostile powers to unite. Despite this the Dilgar go surprisingly well until, once EA join, they find themselves overstretched with enormous unsupportable supply lines and their military expansion collapses.
So theory is much like with Londo. An expansionist and the most vicious branch of the Dilgar Junta (ie Jha Dur et al)are offered the "What do you want?" like Londo they rant about imperial ambitions etc and are rewarded with strange unlikely successes that raises their group to the pinnacle of power. The catalyst for war (the sun going Nova) sets them off and they find themselves progressing suspiciously well as the Shadow agents make inconvenient fleets or supply lines just "disappear" which further raises the stakes of the most militant vicious faction. Like the Centauri they are encouraged and easy success leads them to broaden their war beyond the immediate requirements of a home world (and further depleting resources that could be better spent transferring the population before the disaster) until, at a certain point the Shadow agents achieve their aims and leave the Dilgar high and dry (timed to coincide with the entry of the EA to further cover their tracks) when they are massively over extended, despised by all with a new majour power engaged in conflict and huge supply lines. The internal turmoil back home on Omelos further compromises the war effort leading to inevitable defeat and the shadow agents conceal the evidence by setting the sun off. Everyone's eyes have been on the war not on maneuvers behind preparing for the coming war 30 years later and the test run of what will be achieved with a race with more potential (ie the Centauri) in the decades to come.
I think running this will give a bit of a "All's quiet on the western front sort of feel" with an enormous tragedy to hang the campaign off. It gives reasons for why the Dilgar went so bezerk in their campaign when caution was called for, and why a middling technology civilization with only a few worlds managed to progress to suspiciously well against far more sophisticated and powerful civilizations and all why they collapsed against a low tech government like early EA etc. Also there are paralells as to how the Centauri, via Lord Reefa were pressured to attack other worlds willy nilly despite being fully aware of the risks involved and the lack of any real gain. I can also have factions within the Dilgar against, at the very least, the conduct of the war which many would HAVE to know would put them in a position where they would be unable to engage in any negotiations, be able save their people and win the war. There can be paralells with this re: dissent by Hitler's generals against the conduct of the war etc and the burden of obscene racial policies working to the detriment of the Dilgar people etc despite their earlier support when things were going extraordinarily well. I can also have Dilgar characters using the template from "Into the Crucible" as they try to avert the annihilation that is coming even if the Dilgar still hold to the values of racial superiority etc and are ambivalent protagonists etc.
Anyway its an idea I am basing a campaign on and thought it would have potential and even a bit of x-files sort of layers and layers of secrets kind of approach while a horrid war is going on around them. I am also tossing up the Shadow Agents being the Drakh since other races had known of them being around and that they are very clever and manipulative etc (via Londo's comments in Season 4 etc) and so would hint at bigger enemies behind the scenes but the characters would be dealing with the Drakh in this instance etc. I was even tossing up making up another race or the Drakh concealing what they are so the players aren't as in on it as fans of the show would inevitably be.
So I was mulling over the hints and ideas floating around that the Dilgar war was in part set in motion by the shadows or agents of the shadows and I was thinking about their experience compared to the Centauri.
Small empire with imperial ambitions and an official culture of supreme racial arrogance (declining empire with racial arrogance and pretensions for the Centauri) has a crisis and needs to claim new territory. Rather than dedicate their war against a single target, such as the Drazi, that they could probably win fairly easily and settle a new homeworld without other races bothering to interfere and progressing cautiously, the Dilgar go mad and attack everyone forcing otherwise hostile powers to unite. Despite this the Dilgar go surprisingly well until, once EA join, they find themselves overstretched with enormous unsupportable supply lines and their military expansion collapses.
So theory is much like with Londo. An expansionist and the most vicious branch of the Dilgar Junta (ie Jha Dur et al)are offered the "What do you want?" like Londo they rant about imperial ambitions etc and are rewarded with strange unlikely successes that raises their group to the pinnacle of power. The catalyst for war (the sun going Nova) sets them off and they find themselves progressing suspiciously well as the Shadow agents make inconvenient fleets or supply lines just "disappear" which further raises the stakes of the most militant vicious faction. Like the Centauri they are encouraged and easy success leads them to broaden their war beyond the immediate requirements of a home world (and further depleting resources that could be better spent transferring the population before the disaster) until, at a certain point the Shadow agents achieve their aims and leave the Dilgar high and dry (timed to coincide with the entry of the EA to further cover their tracks) when they are massively over extended, despised by all with a new majour power engaged in conflict and huge supply lines. The internal turmoil back home on Omelos further compromises the war effort leading to inevitable defeat and the shadow agents conceal the evidence by setting the sun off. Everyone's eyes have been on the war not on maneuvers behind preparing for the coming war 30 years later and the test run of what will be achieved with a race with more potential (ie the Centauri) in the decades to come.
I think running this will give a bit of a "All's quiet on the western front sort of feel" with an enormous tragedy to hang the campaign off. It gives reasons for why the Dilgar went so bezerk in their campaign when caution was called for, and why a middling technology civilization with only a few worlds managed to progress to suspiciously well against far more sophisticated and powerful civilizations and all why they collapsed against a low tech government like early EA etc. Also there are paralells as to how the Centauri, via Lord Reefa were pressured to attack other worlds willy nilly despite being fully aware of the risks involved and the lack of any real gain. I can also have factions within the Dilgar against, at the very least, the conduct of the war which many would HAVE to know would put them in a position where they would be unable to engage in any negotiations, be able save their people and win the war. There can be paralells with this re: dissent by Hitler's generals against the conduct of the war etc and the burden of obscene racial policies working to the detriment of the Dilgar people etc despite their earlier support when things were going extraordinarily well. I can also have Dilgar characters using the template from "Into the Crucible" as they try to avert the annihilation that is coming even if the Dilgar still hold to the values of racial superiority etc and are ambivalent protagonists etc.
Anyway its an idea I am basing a campaign on and thought it would have potential and even a bit of x-files sort of layers and layers of secrets kind of approach while a horrid war is going on around them. I am also tossing up the Shadow Agents being the Drakh since other races had known of them being around and that they are very clever and manipulative etc (via Londo's comments in Season 4 etc) and so would hint at bigger enemies behind the scenes but the characters would be dealing with the Drakh in this instance etc. I was even tossing up making up another race or the Drakh concealing what they are so the players aren't as in on it as fans of the show would inevitably be.
