Imperial Regional Cultures and Books Detailing Them: Continuation Thread

[actionman]

The Third Imperium was always aggressive. Trade was the carrot and war was the stick.

As Sylean Federation:

• The Sylean Federation wanted the trade routes of the Interstellar Confederacy, and fought wars against the IC for 300 years until the IC was conquered and destroyed.

As the Third Imperium:

• "the rebellious Santry cluster" was pacified by Imperial Marines. I guess once a world joins the Imperium it has to shoot its way out.
• The Imperium "never wavered from its designs upon all of the territory formerly held by the Ziru Sirka and the Rule of Man."
• "Artemsus adopted a more aggressive approach to realizing the Warrant for Restoration. He initiated the Pacification Campaigns, a massive effort to integrate... all of the worlds that had been held by the previous empires." The nobles were encourage to use diplomacy before military force, but if a world simply wanted to be left alone, then military force it was. Inciting rebellions, staging coups, and assassinations first, then full scale invasion if necessary.
• "One way or another... the regions claimed by the Warrant for Restoration would be integrated, whether they liked it or not."
• "The Lancians were brought into the Imperium by force... cleansing many worlds of their entire populations."
• "By any means possible, Artemsus intended to prosecute the Warrant for Restoration."
• The Julian War.
• The Vargr Campaigns
• The Ilelish Revolt. Ilelish declared independence and the Imperium crushed it. "Nearly seven centuries later, Ilelish remains a... devastated world."
• "The destruction of Ilelish was intended to be an abject lesson: defy the Imperium at your own peril."
• The Hidden War.
• The Solomani Rim War. Another case of vote your way in but you have to shoot your way out. I don't consider it a civil war because the Solomani were a separate nation that accepted political unification for a few centuries then seceded.

So, the Third Imperium was always expansionistic and aggressive until it was surrounded on all sides by neighbors that were too strong for it to conquer. Only then did it settle down.

 

[Jame Rowe]

Mongoose clearly intends to make money on its acquisition. They have authorized 3rd party CT products now and even released a new CT book. So it seems unlikely that they are intending to write off all the old material.

I like that Mongoose is putting out a lot of different ways to play the game even if you stick to Charted Space. Pirates of Drinax, Fifth Frontier War, Deepnight Revelation, Mysteries/Secrets/Wrath of the Ancients, Singularity, etc are not really intended to be all true at the same time in the same campaign.

I liked that CT had single planet campaigns (Tarsus boxed set), Single System Campaigns (Beltstrike Boxed Set), and support for adventures with starships and adventuring without a starship.

Honestly, I'd rather they do this instead of combine everything into one discrete whole.

 

[actionman]

Something I'd like to see is how the Imperium would fare against the Zhodani Consulate if the Imperium started the war in a state of full offensive readiness rather than reacting to Zhodani / Outworld Coalition invasions.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Something I'd like to see is how the Imperium would fare against the Zhodani Consulate if the Imperium started the war in a state of full offensive readiness rather than reacting to Zhodani / Outworld Coalition invasions.

They would squash them. Too much of the Zhodani military is protecting the Core Expedition Route.

 

[Sigtrygg]

So far the Zhodani have fought limited wars to curtail Imperial encroachment in the Spinward Marches.

If the Imperium began to mass the forces necessary to launch a full on invasion of the Consulate I would imagine the Zho intel agencies would learn of it.

They would then use rather nasty methods to ensure such an invasion never happens...

 

[actionman]

They would squash them. Too much of the Zhodani military is protecting the Core Expedition Route.

I think the Imperium would be reasonably secure on most of its flanks, with only the Solomani being a threat worth considering. The K'Kree, Hivers, and Aslan wouldn't try anything, nor would the Julian Protectorate. The Vargr might get up to raiding as they do, but that could be held at bay with current garrisons. Strong fleets would be needed to keep the Solomani from trying anything, but aside from that, interior fleets could be shifted to the Spinward Marches for a major offensive.

 

[Sigtrygg]

And as soon as the Zhodani became aware of the fleet movements and troop concentrations they would send out teams of psionic PCs to conduct acts of sabotage, empower Spinward Marches home rule groups, targeted strikes on IN bases, infiltrate fleets etc.

Get a group of players, get them all to generate a psi12 Zhodani, give them access to cyber augmentation, drugs etc and send them into the Imperium to cause havoc.

 

[actionman]

And as soon as the Zhodani became aware of the fleet movements and troop concentrations they would send out teams of psionic PCs to conduct acts of sabotage, empower Spinward Marches home rule groups, targeted strikes on IN bases, infiltrate fleets etc.

Get a group of players, get them all to generate a psi12 Zhodani, give them access to cyber augmentation, drugs etc and send them into the Imperium to cause havoc.

I wonder why they didn't do that before and during each of the five frontier wars. Probably because they feared the greatest asset in the Imperium's arsenal: plot armor.

Edit: Such a special operations offensive could spark a wave of public outrage and a holy crusade against the evil psionicists. Considerations about loss of life could be pushed aside, enabling Imperial forces to devastate Zhodani worlds without restriction. It would be interesting to play out.

 

[Condottiere]

In terms of threat assessment, if a pack of dogs can overrun a naval depot, Imperium Naval Intelligence seems somewhat lacking.

 

[Anstett]

For the Aslan, I have an inkling that clever pressure could be applied for them to expand Spinward rather than through the Trojan Reach.

Lots of territory there to take it seems.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I wonder why they didn't do that before and during each of the five frontier wars. Probably because they feared the greatest asset in the Imperium's arsenal: plot armor.

Edit: Such a special operations offensive could spark a wave of public outrage and a holy crusade against the evil psionicists. Considerations about loss of life could be pushed aside, enabling Imperial forces to devastate Zhodani worlds without restriction. It would be interesting to play out.

I would tend to agree with it becoming a nearly holy war to wipeout "those who stole the free will of Imperial Citizens and want to enslave us all!"

An overly done trope, but an accurate one.

 

[CordwainerFish]

For the Aslan, I have an inkling that clever pressure could be applied for them to expand Spinward rather than through the Trojan Reach.

Maybe they tried that and there's a reason they're going in other directions...

 

[actionman]

I would tend to agree with it becoming a nearly holy war to wipeout "those who stole the free will of Imperial Citizens and want to enslave us all!"

An overly done trope, but an accurate one.

Especially given the Imperium's anti-psionic sentiment. A Zhodani special operations offensive would provide plenty of lurid media coverage to populations that are otherwise isolated from information. The intellectual argument that the Zhodani were acting defensively wouldn't go over well with frightened angry populations, given the Outworld Coalition's repeated aggression in the Spinward Marches. The use of psionics would especially motivate populations to support a holy war against the Zhodani because unlike fleets or armies, psionics are not something the average Imperial citizen would think he has a chance to defend against.

 

[Condottiere]

"Zhodani mind control forced me to cheat on my wife!"

 

[actionman]

"Zhodani mind control forced me to cheat on my wife!"

Reality shows in the Marches must be wild.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Reality shows in the Marches must be wild.

Real Housewives of Mora?

 

[Condottiere]

 

[actionman]

Real Housewives of Mora?

And a stock character would be the Zhodani lothario who's the cause of all the drama, but because of his Psionic Powers(tm) no one ever figures it out.

 

[Terry Mixon]

And a stock character would be the Zhodani lothario who's the cause of all the drama, but because of his Psionic Powers(tm) no one ever figures it out.

Or it's a lady Zho seducing all the men. Lotharia?

 

[Condottiere]

Lola.