ShawnDriscoll
Cosmic Mongoose
If players did Solomani chargens, they'd have a better understanding of their culture. Same goes for the other races.
The Imperium and Dystopian Worlds
- Thread starter ottarrus
- Start date
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
'They've changed the code! I've changed as well, Aura. And so have I. Oh, it's okay. I...' - Flash Gordon
Princess Aura: [attempts to use her ring to open the door, it doesn't respond] They've changed the code! Prince Barin: I've changed as well, Aura. Princess Aura: And so have I. Dr. Hans Zarkov: Oh, it's okay. I think I can work it out. [starts to use Princess Aura's ring at different angles...
clip.cafe
Princess Aura:
[attempts to use her ring to open the door, it doesn't respond]
They've changed the code!
Prince Barin:
I've changed as well, Aura.
Princess Aura:
And so have I.
Dr. Hans Zarkov:
Oh, it's okay. I think I can work it out.
[starts to use Princess Aura's ring at different angles on the door]
Prince Barin:
I love you. Will you marry me?
Princess Aura:
I don't know; we'll try...
[breaks away as Barin moves in to kiss her]
Princess Aura:
Not now, Barin...!
Prince Barin:
You haven't changed at all...!
Princess Aura:
If I'm not at the wedding, I'll be shot!
Dr. Hans Zarkov:
[Finally manages to picks the electronic door lock with Aura's ring]
A-ha! I thought it was one of the prime numbers of the Zenith series. *I* haven't changed.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
Yeah, the whole point of playing another race /culture is to understand and play that culture.
That doesn't mean you have to play the stereotype... not all elves are Legolas ... but at least try to make that culture influence your character beyond the mechanical differences.
In the case of Sollies, if the character is built so as to just be experience life outside the Confederation for the first time they need do need to play the trope for a little while. While they don't need to act like a Nazi per se, acting like a condescending Colonial official is certainly on the menu.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Shadowblayde99
Banded Mongoose
I just got the whole Flash Gordon reference 
The Imperium can be thought of as a Roman thing with the Scottish as the frontier.
Britain had a Roman governor who mostly lets everyone do what they want except you had to pay tributes. Systems in the 3rd Imperium can do what they want but someone still pays to the Imperial throne.
Thinking of the European Union as the Imperium is interesting because a certain country decided to leave it. What would the Imperium do if a bunch of worlds, say in the Regina sector, chose to leave the Imperium?
As an aside, I don't think the Imperial Navy is as big as people think. And most of them will be patroling specific areas e.g. the borders with the Aslan or the Zhodani etc. Would we expect there to be a lot of Navy all over systems deep in the Imperium?
Some places will have a lot of inter system trade. Some won't. Trying to think of the Imperium as homogeneous doesn't work. It's a lot more like the world today. Some places in the Imperium are like major metropolitan cities. Some are like small villages. Some have the wealthy on one side and the poor on the other side. Some are at war with others..... so long as it doesn't interfere with trade, why would the Imperium care?
And borders only exist on the map for politicians and for paying customs fees.
So, for movies and TV shows with dystopian world's that could fit with Traveller would be: AI like Terminator salvation or Battlestar Galactica (but before the uprising.) Blade runner (of course), Dune (but a smaller scale), or Hunger Games or Killjoys or Firefly or Logan's Run or Ming's Empire, or the world of Warhammer 40k or the Expanse or Divergent or Mortal Engines or Space Precinct. Planet of the Apes would be interesting in the 3rd Imperium.
All these could be in Traveller. The economic or social systems are only limited by our imagination. I might even do a system like the premise of the video game High on Life
The Imperium can be thought of as a Roman thing with the Scottish as the frontier.
Britain had a Roman governor who mostly lets everyone do what they want except you had to pay tributes. Systems in the 3rd Imperium can do what they want but someone still pays to the Imperial throne.
Thinking of the European Union as the Imperium is interesting because a certain country decided to leave it. What would the Imperium do if a bunch of worlds, say in the Regina sector, chose to leave the Imperium?
As an aside, I don't think the Imperial Navy is as big as people think. And most of them will be patroling specific areas e.g. the borders with the Aslan or the Zhodani etc. Would we expect there to be a lot of Navy all over systems deep in the Imperium?
Some places will have a lot of inter system trade. Some won't. Trying to think of the Imperium as homogeneous doesn't work. It's a lot more like the world today. Some places in the Imperium are like major metropolitan cities. Some are like small villages. Some have the wealthy on one side and the poor on the other side. Some are at war with others..... so long as it doesn't interfere with trade, why would the Imperium care?
And borders only exist on the map for politicians and for paying customs fees.
So, for movies and TV shows with dystopian world's that could fit with Traveller would be: AI like Terminator salvation or Battlestar Galactica (but before the uprising.) Blade runner (of course), Dune (but a smaller scale), or Hunger Games or Killjoys or Firefly or Logan's Run or Ming's Empire, or the world of Warhammer 40k or the Expanse or Divergent or Mortal Engines or Space Precinct. Planet of the Apes would be interesting in the 3rd Imperium.
All these could be in Traveller. The economic or social systems are only limited by our imagination. I might even do a system like the premise of the video game High on Life
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
I just got the whole Flash Gordon reference
The Imperium can be thought of as a Roman thing with the Scottish as the frontier.
Britain had a Roman governor who mostly lets everyone do what they want except you had to pay tributes. Systems in the 3rd Imperium can do what they want but someone still pays to the Imperial throne.
Thinking of the European Union as the Imperium is interesting because a certain country decided to leave it. What would the Imperium do if a bunch of worlds, say in the Regina sector, chose to leave the Imperium?
As an aside, I don't think the Imperial Navy is as big as people think. And most of them will be patroling specific areas e.g. the borders with the Aslan or the Zhodani etc. Would we expect there to be a lot of Navy all over systems deep in the Imperium?
Some places will have a lot of inter system trade. Some won't. Trying to think of the Imperium as homogeneous doesn't work. It's a lot more like the world today. Some places in the Imperium are like major metropolitan cities. Some are like small villages. Some have the wealthy on one side and the poor on the other side. Some are at war with others..... so long as it doesn't interfere with trade, why would the Imperium care?
And borders only exist on the map for politicians and for paying customs fees.
So, for movies and TV shows with dystopian world's that could fit with Traveller would be: AI like Terminator salvation or Battlestar Galactica (but before the uprising.) Blade runner (of course), Dune (but a smaller scale), or Hunger Games or Killjoys or Firefly or Logan's Run or Ming's Empire, or the world of Warhammer 40k or the Expanse or Divergent or Mortal Engines or Space Precinct. Planet of the Apes would be interesting in the 3rd Imperium.
All these could be in Traveller. The economic or social systems are only limited by our imagination. I might even do a system like the premise of the video game High on Life
That has been tried in the OTU's past, and it didn't work out well for the 'rebels'.
In the 400's, a subsector-sized group in the Illelish Sector tried to secede taking several High Pop/High Tech worlds with it, including the world Illelish, the homeword of the Suerrat sub-species of Humaniti. The Imperial Navy spent two decades grinding down the resistance via trade embargoes and the occasional cruiser battle. In the end, the rebels capitulated under the stress of their own economies breaking down. The Imperium then brought the Core and Illelish Fleets to the world of Illelish and ordered everyone clear of the equatorial zone by a certain date. On that date the fleets scrubbed the entire equator of the world down to the bedrock, destroying most of the major cities and industrial areas. This devastated the ecology of the world and the Suerrat have spent the last 600 years recovering.
The Geonee of Shiwonee/Massilia tried a different tack, attempting to finagle votes in the Moot to give them an almost completely autonomous Geonee Cultural Zone. In the reign of Margaret I [684-736] this was completely legal but was obviously detrimental to the Imperium as a whole. This was detected by agents of the Iridium Throne and the entire Massilia Fleet jumped into Shiwonee. One shuttle landed on the world and one emissary visited the Duke of Shiwonee, offering the an Imperial Sunburst banner taken directly from the Imperial Palace on Onon. The emissary then returned to the shuttle, which returned to the Fleet. Twenty-four hours later the Fleet departed without docking, granting shore leave, doing the customary show-the-flag visits and so forth. No maintenance nor victualling supplies were taken aboard and the Fleet conducted wilderness refueling. Not a single credit was spent by the Navy in-system, costing local businesses millions in additional revenue. The Geonee took the hint and their petition never reached the floor of the Moot and their finagaling of the vote proxy system was declared illegal by Margaret's successor, Paulo I. [This was detailed in MM's novel, Agent of the Imperium.]
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Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
Probably more appropriate in the Solomani Rim. An uplifted batch gone wrong.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
Well, many Apes fled after the Gene War and subsequent reprisals, some into the Imperium and some to Rimward.
But yeah, a planet full of Humaniti-hating Apes is more likely outside of either the SC or the 3-I. And you just KNOW the Sollies would completely lose their minds at the idea of uplifted Apes using Solomani humans as slave labor....
I very much agree with the original posters description of the 3rd imperium. One of the things I think most people miss is the imperium is not a classic government if it even is a government. The imperium is more a Trade protection organization than a government which explains its attitude toward member worlds. It doesn’t uplift worlds Tech Level because that’s not its job it does make the knowledge available but since tech level is more about infrastructure than anything else that’s left up to the individual worlds to deal with. There can be any number of factors slowing or even preventing raising a world’s technological infrastructure.
He very right about the way the citizens view the imperium the order of importance for most citizens would be Family, friends, local communities, nation/world, than the rest of their system. The Subsector, Sector, and finally the Imperium as a whole. The thing is the longer the communication lag the less real/important things are.
He very right about the way the citizens view the imperium the order of importance for most citizens would be Family, friends, local communities, nation/world, than the rest of their system. The Subsector, Sector, and finally the Imperium as a whole. The thing is the longer the communication lag the less real/important things are.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
DigrizJB
Banded Mongoose
I think a better analogy might be working for a corporation. There are good managers and bad managers, and as long as said manager produces the results that the corporation demands they are left to their own devices. Represses the population? Check. Overzealous use of punishment? Check. 98% of the population living in poverty? Check. Is the local Baron a dependable member of the Moot caucus for Economic Freedom? (also called the Self Enrichment Caucus)? Check.
Those unfounded rumors should still be investigated, we'll budget 5,000 credits for the investigation, and expect a full report in 3 years.
In the developed world we can leave the corporation. Not always the case in other places.
Which raises the question, what kind of permission / permit does the average imperial citizen need to leave a planet? Since it is a feudal form of government, would you need a passport? How much does said passport cost? The passport itself should be free to all citizens, but the bureaucratic costs of getting the passport are probably extraordinary on high population worlds. It may be free, but it will take 68 years to process your application, if life expectancy is 62 years. Unless you can pay for expedited service.
Imagine your DMV with only one service window.
(Division of Motor Vehicles - where Americans get our driving licenses and register our cars.)
Those unfounded rumors should still be investigated, we'll budget 5,000 credits for the investigation, and expect a full report in 3 years.
In the developed world we can leave the corporation. Not always the case in other places.
Which raises the question, what kind of permission / permit does the average imperial citizen need to leave a planet? Since it is a feudal form of government, would you need a passport? How much does said passport cost? The passport itself should be free to all citizens, but the bureaucratic costs of getting the passport are probably extraordinary on high population worlds. It may be free, but it will take 68 years to process your application, if life expectancy is 62 years. Unless you can pay for expedited service.
Imagine your DMV with only one service window.
(Division of Motor Vehicles - where Americans get our driving licenses and register our cars.)
CordwainerFish
Emperor Mongoose
Trivia: in New Mexico, it's MVD. Just to be different.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
Ah, Albuquerque...
Fun fact: Albuquerque is kind of a dumping ground for a lot of people in Federal Witness Protection. One mob guy is quoted as saying 'Albuquerque is where they send you if you eff' it up in Iowa'.
Smartasses like me also like to note that it's just 150 miles from Truth or Consequences NM.
To our foreign friends, yes, there REALLY IS a 'Truth or Consequences NM'. Feel free to look it up.
CordwainerFish
Emperor Mongoose
There was a TV series a few years back about WITSEC set in 'Burque. One episode shot a scene at the apartments where I lived at the time.
AndrewW
Emperor Mongoose
In Plain Sight? Thought of that series while reading this thread.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
You know what this needs?
A drive through window.
eu.chieftain.com
A drive through window.
Pueblo County opens first drive-through DMV in Colorado
The new DMV, located at 1228 Routt Ave., offers another option for Puebloans to quickly and conveniently obtain services.
eu.chieftain.com
