Interesting ideas.
A few things to remember:
*The ship classes from WCR which are still in service in the modern era, such as the Paragon and Prophet, have updated ship diagrams compared to the old ones - and new weapons, such as war lances and stuff.
What would you suggest for the modern-day versions of these ships?
*Internal Orieni history - do note the added details in Showdowns 11, where issues such as the integration of the Rogolons, the development of the OISF, and the camapigns in the devastated zones are detailed.
Most of that material is worth considering, too.
*Troubled Times - hmm.
Bear in mind that most of the star systems which had been on the frontiers between the Republic and Empire are now devastated zones, virtually abandoned by both sides, and even after the consolidation of the reborn Empire was still a formidable impediment to any future encroachment on the Centauri sphere of influence.
I guess it would be easier to imagine that the Centauri were keeping as much of an eye as they could on the Orieni, but were not quite ready to see how well they had developed themselves - hence the fleet deployments during the Dilgar War.
But then, what if the Centauri knew about the Orieni expansions all along, and about the fact that the Orieni were (for now) planning to abide by the Treaty of Seliffe - and thus used the re-deployment as a convenient way of keeping the Royal Navy out of the Dilgar War?
The Minbari part would perhaps have been a case of re-doubling efforts - note that Earth itself did just that at war's end, in a desperate bid to catch up to the Federation's technology level. See how one can go from Hyperion to Omega to Warlock in roughly 25 years or so, with the right 'help'...
...and it does not mean that the Orieni would get any farther than the ship diagrams in S11 and TGC indicate.
*Orien and the Babylon Project - Hmm, again.
Perhaps the Blessed saw a conveniently-timed vision, in which they were warned not to send overt pilgrimages to B5?
Of course, there could still have been agents sent to follow the Council meetings, and possibly the odd Blessed trying to sneak his way aboard - maybe even speaking to some of the Council members off-camera - but if the Empire's leaders saw a sense of wisdom in keeping their cards close to their chest in the short to medium term, and were 'persuaded' by a stern telling-off, they might well have focussed mostly on their own efforts.
Perhaps the Vorlons worried about the religious aspect of the Orieni to be disruptive to their plans for B5.
Perhaps they saw the Orieni as a useful reseve card, to call upon if the Shadow War got ugly.
Perhaps the Blessed weren't quite ready to accept a role in a club organised by a species not of their own - or needed more time to adjust to the idea than the galaxy was willing to permit them.
Perhaps the jump routes to Epislon Eridani from Orien arent' stable enough for regular contact - despite the efforts of Orieni jump-route-creating task forces.
Or perhaps the Vorlons simply abandoned them to their fate - and had already dismissed them from consideration in the Alliance of Light.
(One could argue that the Vorlons would, ironically, have been more receptive to Orieni overtures had a secular governeent been in power on Orien at the time - they are supposed to be in the business of helping species prepare for their Third Ages, after all.)
A few things to remember:
*The ship classes from WCR which are still in service in the modern era, such as the Paragon and Prophet, have updated ship diagrams compared to the old ones - and new weapons, such as war lances and stuff.
What would you suggest for the modern-day versions of these ships?
*Internal Orieni history - do note the added details in Showdowns 11, where issues such as the integration of the Rogolons, the development of the OISF, and the camapigns in the devastated zones are detailed.
Most of that material is worth considering, too.
*Troubled Times - hmm.
Bear in mind that most of the star systems which had been on the frontiers between the Republic and Empire are now devastated zones, virtually abandoned by both sides, and even after the consolidation of the reborn Empire was still a formidable impediment to any future encroachment on the Centauri sphere of influence.
I guess it would be easier to imagine that the Centauri were keeping as much of an eye as they could on the Orieni, but were not quite ready to see how well they had developed themselves - hence the fleet deployments during the Dilgar War.
But then, what if the Centauri knew about the Orieni expansions all along, and about the fact that the Orieni were (for now) planning to abide by the Treaty of Seliffe - and thus used the re-deployment as a convenient way of keeping the Royal Navy out of the Dilgar War?
The Minbari part would perhaps have been a case of re-doubling efforts - note that Earth itself did just that at war's end, in a desperate bid to catch up to the Federation's technology level. See how one can go from Hyperion to Omega to Warlock in roughly 25 years or so, with the right 'help'...
...and it does not mean that the Orieni would get any farther than the ship diagrams in S11 and TGC indicate.
*Orien and the Babylon Project - Hmm, again.
Perhaps the Blessed saw a conveniently-timed vision, in which they were warned not to send overt pilgrimages to B5?
Of course, there could still have been agents sent to follow the Council meetings, and possibly the odd Blessed trying to sneak his way aboard - maybe even speaking to some of the Council members off-camera - but if the Empire's leaders saw a sense of wisdom in keeping their cards close to their chest in the short to medium term, and were 'persuaded' by a stern telling-off, they might well have focussed mostly on their own efforts.
Perhaps the Vorlons worried about the religious aspect of the Orieni to be disruptive to their plans for B5.
Perhaps they saw the Orieni as a useful reseve card, to call upon if the Shadow War got ugly.
Perhaps the Blessed weren't quite ready to accept a role in a club organised by a species not of their own - or needed more time to adjust to the idea than the galaxy was willing to permit them.
Perhaps the jump routes to Epislon Eridani from Orien arent' stable enough for regular contact - despite the efforts of Orieni jump-route-creating task forces.
Or perhaps the Vorlons simply abandoned them to their fate - and had already dismissed them from consideration in the Alliance of Light.
(One could argue that the Vorlons would, ironically, have been more receptive to Orieni overtures had a secular governeent been in power on Orien at the time - they are supposed to be in the business of helping species prepare for their Third Ages, after all.)
