Who will win the Fifth Frontier War?

I'd like to see the Imperium sent reeling. Maybe in the Marches after an armistice their is a (cut off) Regina based polity, several worlds under Zhodani, SW and Vargr occupation (all of whom are frantically reverse engineering captured Imperial technology)and a broad movement on many worlds for more rights/outright independence. In Deneb there is a massive political crisis as the sector sees itself as now on the Zhodani front line as well as the Vargr one and recriminations over allocation of Naval resources explode.
In the Trojan Reach the Aslan see Imperial weakness and prepare to overrun the reach and carry on into the Imperium.
Te Solomani and the K'kree sense Imperial weakness too
In fact the only reliable possible allies are the Hivers. They just have a few ... suggestions ...
So... The Rebellion without a fractured Imperium?
 
Per my earlier post, I'd be okay with the "sent reeling" part if it applies in various ways to all of the factions involved. The Zhodani could just as easily find their focus on the Marches leaving them stretched thin elsewhere, and someone(s) takes advantage of that, plus all of the economic and societal strains involved (enough that the usual pacification measures have a hard time keeping up...) Etc.
 
Hm. The Imperium seriously set back. Deneb and the Spinward Marches cut off and isolated, becoming a (theoretically) independent-but-maybe-allied client state/friendly polity. The Zhodani dealing with the repercussions of a major war which they really didn't want, but felt like they were driven into, in addition to the other strains they were under (their ongoing exploration efforts, and the awareness of SOMETHING approaching from Coreward...). The Vargr and, to a lesser extent, the Aslan both tend to have expansionist drives, but are too internally divided to expect to win against a larger, better organized polity like the Imperium or the Consulate (but hey, those two just beat each other up real good, so maybe...).

The K'kree and the Solomani would both be the major threats to the Imperium in this scenario - both highly belligerent toward the Imperium, both strong enough to be a threat even before a 5FW and its fallout, neither one adversely effected by the conflict... these would be the theatres for the next trouble coming to the Imperium, and, as was pointed out, the only real (possible) allies are the Hivers. But the Hivers almost never do anything this major without there being some benefit for them - they're all about the (hopefully) enlightened self-interest.

Overall, the Imperium could come out of this suffering a ten-to-twenty percent size contraction, even without an outright lost war. The Zhodani probably wouldn't suffer the same degree of setback (they start off less exposed, really), but they would have expended resources they would probably have preferred to use in some other way, and like the Imperium, they share borders with the Vargr and (to a lesser extent) the Aslan, so they would probably be feeling rather more insecure.

The one major race faction which has been largely overlooked in all of this is... the Droyne. Perhaps it's time for them to be heard from? Maybe there's a growing movement for a Droyne confederation of some sort? And if they took the right territory, they and the newly independent Spinward Marches could act as a pair of buffer states between the major states in the region. (I suspect that the Sword Worlds would find themselves becoming a resolved problem sometime in the mid-to-near future; they'd start rattling sabers and causing an alliance between several of the powers in the area.)
 
Honestly? I don't care. I don't want the timeline advanced. I don't want a series of yet more Beyond the Claw books with a slightly different date to reflect changes that may or may not have happened in my own campaign.

I want a framework to help me figure out my own campaign's future and no "canon" future to contradict it. And I would like a variety of different 'starting in 1105' frameworks for different sorts of futures. Or paths to the future.
 
Late Imperial Roman Britain.

Which means secession is treason, unless officially abandoned, and likelihood the Sector Admiral will make a bid for the imperium crown.
 
Honestly? I don't care. I don't want the timeline advanced. I don't want a series of yet more Beyond the Claw books with a slightly different date to reflect changes that may or may not have happened in my own campaign.
This is indeed what we are avoiding. The ending you arrive at will be canon (more info on how that will work at a later date!).
 
We are still finding our footing on social media - don't worry, we won't lock anything crucial behind any walls. This is just a bit of fun.
Discord has been working out just great for a number of game firms. The ones which are thriving moved their mods onto the servers first. So far, I've seen Kelestia, Renegade, The Design Mechanism, Stellagama, and Mongoose represented. I have no doubt there are other game publisher Discord servers, including Onyx Path: but these are the only ones I've stayed on.
 
Discord has been working out just great for a number of game firms.
Discord is good for what Discord is good for, but it should never be used as a replacement for forums (as far too many firms have been doing). Discord is a data motel: data checks in but it doesn't check out (to wit, is not visible to search engines).
 
I'd like to see something that would parallel what happened to the European Empires and their colonies after the World Wars. Colonies, Client States and 'Non-Aligned' states start to become more powerful and form their own associations and alliances.

Looking at the British Empire - Canada, Australia and New Zealand contributed people and resources to help the war effort. After the Empire's (Imperium's) victory, it was almost bankrupt and the colonies and Client States which did the "heavy lifting" were able to have more freedom/power/status.

Neutral and non-aligned states began getting really nervous and looked to build up their own power, look for alliances and/or find powerful protectors.

For example, maybe Collace doesn't become a Subsector Capital of 268? It becomes...say... the most wealthy member of the Plankwell Commonwealth: an association of planets that used to be Imperial Client States, non-aligned planets and neutral planets.
 
Discord has been working out just great for a number of game firms. The ones which are thriving moved their mods onto the servers first. So far, I've seen Kelestia, Renegade, The Design Mechanism, Stellagama, and Mongoose represented. I have no doubt there are other game publisher Discord servers, including Onyx Path: but these are the only ones I've stayed on.
I think Discord is a more 'immediate' platform. We tend to use it not for grand announcements but more 'thoughts from the desk' or mini-updates on things that are happening right that moment. Also, to quickly poll thoughts on things we are working on that minute - we asked for feedback on Adventure Class Ships and the Small Craft Catalogue, for example, and asked for suggestions as to what quote page people wanted to see in the Companion Update (for which someone ca,e up with a suggestion that we should have hit upon long ago :)).

As I say, we are still finding our feet on these platforms, and have not even started with the tiking and the toking, but we are getting there.
 
I think Discord is a more 'immediate' platform. We tend to use it not for grand announcements but more 'thoughts from the desk' or mini-updates on things that are happening right that moment. Also, to quickly poll thoughts on things we are working on that minute - we asked for feedback on Adventure Class Ships and the Small Craft Catalogue, for example, and asked for suggestions as to what quote page people wanted to see in the Companion Update (for which someone ca,e up with a suggestion that we should have hit upon long ago :)).

As I say, we are still finding our feet on these platforms, and have not even started with the tiking and the toking, but we are getting there.

Add me to the list of people who don’t want to have to check any Social Media for MGT2 information, polls, surveys, and the like. Discord is fine for “in the present” conversations and Polls (I have set up a few Polls on some Discord channels I participate in), Id be happy to engage in more “quick” and “short” conversations there. What Discord and many other Social Media platforms are NOT good are for “Q&As”, “Mid- to Long- format writing”, and for finding information that doesn’t disappear instantly, in 3 days, or in a week.
 
I suppose that it will ultimately come down to where the customers are. Or Mongoose having enough staff to be everywhere. Some folks check the Mongoose forums AND the Mongoose discord. But there are definitely plenty of folks who only do one or the other. And you are never going to get all the customers in the same place. I'm sure Matt & crew will figure out how many places they can cover with their existing staff and which places have the most customers and that's where they will put their attention.
 
Hey Bob, have you noticed that there are a lot of Hivers passing through customs lately? Don't they live on the other side of the Imperium?
Eh, maybe so Tony. I think I saw there was a convention or a family reunion or something on Regina.
 
What about the nearby minor powers, such as the Darrians? With their advanced technology, not to mention their animosity towards the Zhodani, they could make a play to neutralise threats to the Confederation. Plus the Darrians have one ace; nobody is gonna preemptively attack them, out of fear of the Star Trigger - this gives them the chance to prepare, view the board from a distance, and then make their play...
 
Will the underground psions of Regina, descended from Psi-Units deployed to balance the Zhodani Nobles before the ban, step up to help the Imperium or act as fifth columnists?
 
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