Hi.
A while back, when I was more of a regular here than I am at present, I asked about how the Orieni Empire could be added into the ACTA game - as well as which kind of settings they might be valid for.
For those who are unfamiliar with them, the Orieni are a race of avian beings whose world was taken over by a caste of priest-telepaths, who promoted a fanatical cult of Vorlon worship, and pushed into the stars to forge a multi-racial Empire in the service of 'Order'. They were introduced in detail in the B5W supplement Wars of the Centauri Republic, and have been mentioned in Centauri histories since.
At the time, there was discussion about the kind of 'historical' battles between the Orieni Empire and the Centauri Republic - which are apparently going on as we speak! - and what, if any, kind of role the Orieni might play in the 'current' B5 game era.
The main point of discussion as regards using modern-era Orieni was the option of re-using the material from The Great Crusade - an unofficial expansion for B5 Wars which postulated an Orieni invasion of the Minbari Protectorate and Federation in the late 2260s, at around the same time as the aftermath of the Drakh assault on Earth.
However, it seems that as of the details in books like the Drakh sourcebook for the RPG, it might be a bit much to have the same conflict from TGC break out in the Protectorates on the same scale, or at the same time, that it was originally written up as.
Although, there are some solid ideas from TGC which could well be adapted to fit the current Mongoose setting, and give the Orieni Navy plenty of targets to shoot at!
Basically, my thoughts at present are as follows:
*Have the Orieni make the same kind of buildup they were mentioned as making in TGC prior to the Vorlon departure - as they made their self-proclaimed preparations to fight the hated enemies of their Vorlon gods.
*Have the same kind of dismay at the Vorlons' departure in 2261 break out, especially among the teep-caste - who would consider Vorlon-worship as a key aspect of their dominance in Orieni society. In order to try and stave off political challenges, the priests call for a Crusade against those who denied the will of the 'holy' Vorlons - but perhaps give more relative weight to the secular authorities and to the proportion of the population who might be more willing to set aside such an extreme reaction, and try to reach out to the fledgling ISA.
*Have the priests - just - have enough sway to make preparations for a Crusade into Protectorate space, but delay the ability to make a strike from the 2260s to the early 2270s. According to the Drakh sourcebook, the Minbari by 2270 have largely pushed the Drakh Ifrit clan out of the Protectorate, and were pushing the clanfleet back towards the edge of Vorlon space.
According to the Drakh book, the Minbari found a lot of wreckage near Vorlon space, which they took to be a sign that the Drakh fleet was annihilated by the Vorlon defences - but perhaps only some of the Ifrit ships were destroyed, and the rest slipped into what was, and would by the 2270s be again, Orieni-held space.
So, at the time when the Orieni were about to hit the Minbari Pritectorate, they would not only be faced with the Drakh fleet violating their space, but they would suddenly find the border between the Empire and the Protectorate more heavily fortified and well-defended than it had been for decades.
Therefore, the Crusade fleet is divided into a task force charged with hunting down the Ifrit Drakh, while the rest remains primed to push into Minbari space anyway.
*This point of time would be a crucial one for the Orieni. The emergence of Drakh ships in their space would serve as an untimely reminder that the priests were forgetting about the Shadows' own servants, who would be as much of a threat to the Orieni as to everyone else - despite the irony of both the Orieni and Drakh sharing a sense of abandonment after the First Ones' departure in '61.
Indeed, there could well be a split, or civil war - as the priest-caste launches a strike on the Minbari, while the secularists try to unseat the radicals and call upon the ISA to aid them in isolating the Vorlon-worshippers.
The reduced Crusader fleet causes a lot of trouble in the Protectorate, but eventually gets driven back, as the Minbari and ISA ships on one side, and the Secularist Orieni on the other, close the net on the Crusaders, while also trying to deal with the other issue of how best to get rid of the Ifrit Drakh.
Can the various factions put a stop to the Crusaders before the Drakh can slip away, or entrench themselves on Orieni worlds?
What role, if any, would the relatively active subject races of the Orieni Empire, such as the Rogolons, play in this crisis?
Would the Minbari be willing to accept the Crusade as the actions of a minority, and make peace with the Secularist forces on Orien?
If they did not, what kind of call would the ISA have to make - not least if the Secularists apply for Allaince membership?
And what if some of the Crusaders get away, to try again another day?
I believe that a worthy role for the Orieni can be made for the post-Crusade ACTA setting, and give the Drakh, the Minbari, and the ISA member races plenty of issues to tackle along the way.
Hell, they could even give the Raiders somewhere new to tey and pillage!
So, does this sound like a good idea?
A while back, when I was more of a regular here than I am at present, I asked about how the Orieni Empire could be added into the ACTA game - as well as which kind of settings they might be valid for.
For those who are unfamiliar with them, the Orieni are a race of avian beings whose world was taken over by a caste of priest-telepaths, who promoted a fanatical cult of Vorlon worship, and pushed into the stars to forge a multi-racial Empire in the service of 'Order'. They were introduced in detail in the B5W supplement Wars of the Centauri Republic, and have been mentioned in Centauri histories since.
At the time, there was discussion about the kind of 'historical' battles between the Orieni Empire and the Centauri Republic - which are apparently going on as we speak! - and what, if any, kind of role the Orieni might play in the 'current' B5 game era.
The main point of discussion as regards using modern-era Orieni was the option of re-using the material from The Great Crusade - an unofficial expansion for B5 Wars which postulated an Orieni invasion of the Minbari Protectorate and Federation in the late 2260s, at around the same time as the aftermath of the Drakh assault on Earth.
However, it seems that as of the details in books like the Drakh sourcebook for the RPG, it might be a bit much to have the same conflict from TGC break out in the Protectorates on the same scale, or at the same time, that it was originally written up as.
Although, there are some solid ideas from TGC which could well be adapted to fit the current Mongoose setting, and give the Orieni Navy plenty of targets to shoot at!
Basically, my thoughts at present are as follows:
*Have the Orieni make the same kind of buildup they were mentioned as making in TGC prior to the Vorlon departure - as they made their self-proclaimed preparations to fight the hated enemies of their Vorlon gods.
*Have the same kind of dismay at the Vorlons' departure in 2261 break out, especially among the teep-caste - who would consider Vorlon-worship as a key aspect of their dominance in Orieni society. In order to try and stave off political challenges, the priests call for a Crusade against those who denied the will of the 'holy' Vorlons - but perhaps give more relative weight to the secular authorities and to the proportion of the population who might be more willing to set aside such an extreme reaction, and try to reach out to the fledgling ISA.
*Have the priests - just - have enough sway to make preparations for a Crusade into Protectorate space, but delay the ability to make a strike from the 2260s to the early 2270s. According to the Drakh sourcebook, the Minbari by 2270 have largely pushed the Drakh Ifrit clan out of the Protectorate, and were pushing the clanfleet back towards the edge of Vorlon space.
According to the Drakh book, the Minbari found a lot of wreckage near Vorlon space, which they took to be a sign that the Drakh fleet was annihilated by the Vorlon defences - but perhaps only some of the Ifrit ships were destroyed, and the rest slipped into what was, and would by the 2270s be again, Orieni-held space.
So, at the time when the Orieni were about to hit the Minbari Pritectorate, they would not only be faced with the Drakh fleet violating their space, but they would suddenly find the border between the Empire and the Protectorate more heavily fortified and well-defended than it had been for decades.
Therefore, the Crusade fleet is divided into a task force charged with hunting down the Ifrit Drakh, while the rest remains primed to push into Minbari space anyway.
*This point of time would be a crucial one for the Orieni. The emergence of Drakh ships in their space would serve as an untimely reminder that the priests were forgetting about the Shadows' own servants, who would be as much of a threat to the Orieni as to everyone else - despite the irony of both the Orieni and Drakh sharing a sense of abandonment after the First Ones' departure in '61.
Indeed, there could well be a split, or civil war - as the priest-caste launches a strike on the Minbari, while the secularists try to unseat the radicals and call upon the ISA to aid them in isolating the Vorlon-worshippers.
The reduced Crusader fleet causes a lot of trouble in the Protectorate, but eventually gets driven back, as the Minbari and ISA ships on one side, and the Secularist Orieni on the other, close the net on the Crusaders, while also trying to deal with the other issue of how best to get rid of the Ifrit Drakh.
Can the various factions put a stop to the Crusaders before the Drakh can slip away, or entrench themselves on Orieni worlds?
What role, if any, would the relatively active subject races of the Orieni Empire, such as the Rogolons, play in this crisis?
Would the Minbari be willing to accept the Crusade as the actions of a minority, and make peace with the Secularist forces on Orien?
If they did not, what kind of call would the ISA have to make - not least if the Secularists apply for Allaince membership?
And what if some of the Crusaders get away, to try again another day?
I believe that a worthy role for the Orieni can be made for the post-Crusade ACTA setting, and give the Drakh, the Minbari, and the ISA member races plenty of issues to tackle along the way.
Hell, they could even give the Raiders somewhere new to tey and pillage!
So, does this sound like a good idea?
