   			    TRAVELLER Digest 222

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Review of "The Death of Wisdom" (minor spoilers)	by Mark Clark <markc@brahms.udel.edu>
  2) Darrians	by erich@bush.cs.tamu.edu (Erich Schneider)
  3) Legality	by Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc
  4) Re: TRAVELLER digest 214	by "Daniel F. Mendyke" <chadious@netcom.com>
  5) Darrian and Swordworlders and Vargr, Oh my!	by "Salisbury, Tim" <salisbury@ftdetrck-atmo1.army.mil>
  6) Re: Darrians	by Mark Hughes <hughe881@uidaho.edu>
  7) Terra	by "Paul Marini" <pmm118@email.psu.edu>
  8) Solomani Records	by "Paul Marini" <pmm118@email.psu.edu>
  9) Second Rim War - More Thoughts	by pd82495@wapol.gov.au (Michael Bailey)
 10) Loren should read this!	by "Upton, Django" <DUpton@VTRNNTOV.TELECOM.com.au>
 11) Transponders	by Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 11:29:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Mark Clark <markc@brahms.udel.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Review of "The Death of Wisdom" (minor spoilers)
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.950313103351.15116A-100000@brahms.udel.edu>


Just finished reading The Death of Wisdom (DOW) this weekend, so I 
thought I'd give folks a brief review.  I've included some info about 
plot elements, so if you like to be surprised, stop reading now.

Paul Brunette, _The Death of Wisdom_, GDW Press, ISBN 1-55878-181-1, 352 
pages, 1995, $5.95.

DOW is the first volume of a trilogy, and is set in the Reformation 
Coalition.  Action centers around the crew of an upgraded Far Trader 
(good old Empress Marava class), assigned initially to a routine training 
mission.  In the course of the mission, they discover an outbreak of a 
Black War-style biovirus which attacks and kills Hivers.  The crew then 
travels into the Wilds to find the source of the virus and destroy it.

Is it worth reading?  The answer is a resounding maybe.  Fans of the 
Reformation Coalition and the whole New Era setting will enjoy the book, 
anybody else can skip it without regret.

Before going further, I should point out that I am a real fan of what GDW 
has done with The New Era - I like the whole idea of the reformation 
coalition, and I prefer it to Megatraveller.  That said, I still have 
reservations about the book.

First of all, the quality of the writing is extremely pedestrian.  I 
don't know what else Brunette has written, but this book demonstrates 
that he's no master craftsman.  I know I shouldn't expect much, but 
compared to the _Dark Conspiracy_ trilogy that GDW put out a few years 
ago (the first novel had a dynamite introduction where the hero wakes up 
in a bodybag and has to escape before he is dissected), or to the 
Paranoia novels released by West End, DOW is filled with flat dialogue, 
dull descriptions, and characters who are more cardboard-cutoutlike than 
is usual for science fiction.  

Brunette does use a lot more female characters for ship's crew than I've
seen in the Traveller games I've run, so that might strike you as odd, but
it is a nice touch.  On the other hand, he constantly describes hardware
in terms of whatever tech level it is.  It looks to me like he just went
through the Equipment Guide and made sure one of everything showed up. 
This is handy if you want to use the book as a sourcebook, but I very much
doubt if people in the Traveller universe would really talk this way. 
Frankly, it's books like this that made me stop reading popular fiction
and turn to classic literature and history. 

On the other hand, the plot is interesting, though not very complex.  The 
descriptions of space combat are also fairly good, though since I'm not a 
FF&S expert I'll defer judgement to someone else.  Frankly, this whole 
thing would make a better module than a novel.

One thing I didn't like is than everyone, and I do mean everyone, is
stupider than the player characters, oh sorry, crew of the ship.  If the
Merchant Guild is really as stupid as they are in the book, the RC will
have control of the Operation Area in five years or less, just like they 
plan to.

Anyway, overall I give the book a C-.  It's interesting for plot ideas 
and descriptions for some of the planets in the RC and nearby, but as a 
work of literature it's not too great.  Unless you are an RC fan, save 
your money.

One last note.  The Hiver in the book is not very courageous in the 
conventional sense.  He travels on a rather lightly armed and armored 
starship, which is probably courageous for a Hiver, but he doesn't put on 
combat armor and charge a grav tank or anything like that.  Actually, I 
suspect he is the one responsible for the outbreak of the biovirus among 
the Hiver - there are several clues in the novel that point that way.  I 
think he was using the outbreak to push the RC and the Hiver Federation 
closer together, and in 100 years he'll be hailed as a hero.  Never did 
like those Hiver, except with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, 
onions on a sesame seed bun.

By the way, I'd be interested to know who other folks select as their 
favorite character in the book.  I like Vega Zorn - I'll leave it as an 
exercise to guess why.

Mark Clark

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 95 11:10:46 CST
From: erich@bush.cs.tamu.edu (Erich Schneider)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Darrians
Message-ID: <9503131710.AA27822@ bush.cs.tamu.edu>

Mark Hughes says something that I once said, many moons ago:

>They've had a lot of practice building back up from disasters, so
>they'd probably be, like the Hivers, the "patrons" of their region of
>space.

and I now tell him what I myself was told - this is like saying that
modern Danes would have a natural affinity for raiding the coastlines
of surrouding countries, because their Danish Viking ancestors had a
"lot of practice" doing it. The Maghiz happened _millenia_ before the
"present" of CT/MT/TNE. Probably the vast majority of Darrians learn
about the Maghiz the way we on Earth learn about the fall of Rome, as
a blip (but an important one) in a history class. ("And then there was
the Maghiz, which removed our ability to produce the latest generation
of spare parts for our grav cities, and forced the capital to be moved
to Mire...")

I agree that they might have detailed files in their data archives on
what was done to pick up the pieces after the Maghiz, but that isn't
quite the same as being the "natural patrons" for their area of space.

I also kind of doubt that the Darrians would use something like the
Collapse to "settle old scores" in an antagonistic way. Now,
incorporating them as equals into a new "Greater Darrian" culture I
could see - the concept of the small group helping a larger, more
backward one to achieve great things is also a prominent concept in
their history.

-- 
Erich Schneider  erich@bush.cs.tamu.edu  http://bush.cs.tamu.edu/~erich

------------------------------

Date: 13 Mar 95 10:22:04 MS
From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc
To: xboat <xboat@MPGN.COM>, traveller <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Legality
Message-ID: <9503131722.AA03700@khan.avalon.COM>

>>> t "honest folk don't need to worry about being shot at  
>or seeing things in the dark, so only dishonest folk would 
>want these things. <<

>What a load of balls! If there are dishonest folk with guns 
>then of course the regular guys hafeta worry about getting 
>shot at! 

Yep!  My point exactly.  You can find all sorts of really
odd things in the Congressional Record; it makes a
wonderful resource for making up future societies,
religions or governments.  Take some of the proposals
from the Congress and push them to their logical 
conclusions (whether you agree with them or not).  I 
have even had luck doing this with extremist political
viewpoints and extremist religious beliefs.

scharlto@avalon.com

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 10:53:56 -0800 (PST)
From: "Daniel F. Mendyke" <chadious@netcom.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 214
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9503131049.A158-0100000@netcom16>


I'm looking for more information on a minor race called the 'Keo Neseb'.  
I understand a RICE paper on them can be found on Persephone.  What is 
Persephone and what is a RICE paper?

-Daniel


------------------------------

Date: 13 Mar 1995 14:57:06 -0500
From: "Salisbury, Tim" <salisbury@ftdetrck-atmo1.army.mil>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <traveller@MPGN.COM>, traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Darrian and Swordworlders and Vargr, Oh my!
Message-ID: <n1417015713.63332@ftdetrck-atmo1.army.mil>

From: doc@eznet.com
Subject: Darrian Confederation
>the Star Trigger (once a bluff, but later very real). 
> That kept their stronger enemies at bay.  (Keep your enemies close -- =
>If I remember right, there were both Imperial and Zhdant bases within =
>the Confederation.)  Their weaker enemies, a much greater threat, >were =
the Sword Worlds and the Belgardians.

The Belgardians were introduced in Adventure 4: Leviathan, a long time =
ago.  The had a small navy of 200tn vessles, no class A or B starports, =
and only 3 worlds, two of which couldn't be inhabited without help from =
the main world.  I don't have my book with me butI doubt they would be a =
threat to anyone and probably fell to the Aslan once Norris stopped them =
from crossing the border.

If you need a enemy in the area, try the Federation of Arden.  From one =
high population world or TL8, they managed to conquer two other systems =
(one world was used as the start point in Expedition to Zhodane), and by =
the end of the Fifth Frontier War, they had expanded to almost a =
subsector in size (including one TL12 planet) as other worlds joined.  =
Some more details are available in The Spinward Marches Campaign book.  =
We can assume they had some imported jump drives on othrwise TL8 =
warships.  The low tech warships would be vulnerable to Meson weapons, =
but against the small fleets of the SwordWorlds, Darrians, Aslan and =
Vargr raiders, they should be able to hold their own, and they were =
definately expansionistic.

On another topic.  Project Longbow was mentioned in Survival Margin, and =
we hinted about enough to convince us the is what led Strephon away from =
the capital.  Avery (from Arrival Vengence) appears to have been born =
about the time Project Longbow detected whatever was approaching.  =
Strephon also talks about relays and an emperess when he writes about =
Longbow in his notes.  Sounds like a Psionic FTL communications network =
to me.  Anyone else have a theory on this?
0.0
\_/

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 95 14:06:56 PST
From: Mark Hughes <hughe881@uidaho.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Darrians
Message-ID: <199503132206.OAA03995@goshawk.csrv.uidaho.edu>

Erich Schneider spake:
> and I now tell him what I myself was told - this is like saying that
> modern Danes would have a natural affinity for raiding the coastlines
> of surrouding countries, because their Danish Viking ancestors had a
> "lot of practice" doing it.

  No, you completely misunderstood me.  I put it in anthrompomorphic terms (as
"they've had a lot of practice"), but the point is that they've dealt with a
very similar disaster before, and made a more decentralized society.  If the
Danes still had their original culture (as the Darrians do; most SF cultures
are amazingly monolithic and unchanging - who has time to make a thousand
constantly changing alien cultures?) and the English were still defenseless, I
suspect they WOULD be damn good at raiding the English coastlines.

> ("And then there was
> the Maghiz, which removed our ability to produce the latest generation
> of spare parts for our grav cities, and forced the capital to be moved
> to Mire...")

  The Chaos did a bit more than that to them.  They lost essentially everything,
and were left with just the knowledge that it could be done.  Would this leave
a permanent mark on them?  In our world, possibly not.  In Trav (and almost all
SF literature), absolutely.

> I agree that they might have detailed files in their data archives on
> what was done to pick up the pieces after the Maghiz, but that isn't
> quite the same as being the "natural patrons" for their area of space.

  The "natural patrons" is based on their psychology more than anything else.
That they'd likely be the first in their area to recover is just icing on the
cake.

> I also kind of doubt that the Darrians would use something like the
> Collapse to "settle old scores" in an antagonistic way.

  Again, you misunderstood.  That's not antogonism, that's practical.  If your
old enemies are weak, and you're strong, some people would take the chance to
victimize them.  Others would take the chance to assimilate them if possible or
make sure they're not a threat if it's not possible.  And fools take the chance
to give their old enemies all of the technology they need to be a danger again.
(Most people on Earth are either the first or third kind...)
  
> Now,
> incorporating them as equals into a new "Greater Darrian" culture I
> could see - the concept of the small group helping a larger, more
> backward one to achieve great things is also a prominent concept in
> their history.

  Exactly.  And being pragmatic is another feature of their psychology.  I can't
see them suddenly becoming fools...

 -Mark Hughes

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 19:55:21 -0500 (EST)
From: "Paul Marini" <pmm118@email.psu.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Terra
Message-ID: <71726.pmm118@email.psu.edu>

So ... the Imperium has held Terra for @ 100 years prior to 1117 ...
Some points I have to make:

1) Knowing human nature, there must have been some resistance movement.
There's always a resistance movement. I mean, c'mon, this is Terra - Terrans
love their individuality - the 3rd. Imperium represent a threat to that
individuality. And the Terran Rebels gotta have guts ...

2) Status Quo - First of all, Joe Citizen, although loathing the Imperium,
probably would try to stay in line - after all, there is the threat of the
Imperial Marines. Second of all, marriage between Imperial Marines and
Terrans would be looked down upon by the Terrans - it's sleeping with the
enemy.

3) Solomani Occupation - The Solomani would treat Terra special - it's the
homeworld. They gotta have SOME respect for the Solomani Homeworld.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 20:00:30 -0500 (EST)
From: "Paul Marini" <pmm118@email.psu.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Solomani Records
Message-ID: <72032.pmm118@email.psu.edu>

I always figured the Solomani Confederation to be balkanized -
planet-states - with a united military. How and why can they keep records on
every citizen? Maybe on a planetary basis - and only on planets with high
governments/law levels - but through the entire Confederation? You're
talking billions of people!

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 1995 09:09:04 +0800
From: pd82495@wapol.gov.au (Michael Bailey)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Second Rim War - More Thoughts
Message-ID: <9503140109.AA09119@phq1002.wapol.gov.au>

Some more thoughts on Solomani performance during the Second
Rim War.  If the Confederation was like most other totalitarian
states, individualism and freedom of expression would not
have been highly thought of, or even tolerated in many cases.
The Confederation in my campaign bears a strong resemblance to 
the old Soviet Union (between 1960 and 1985).

Power in the Confederation (as in the USSR) would rest on three
pillars:  the Party, the secret police and the military.  It is 
in the interests of each group to ensure that no group dominates.
When one gets too strong, the other two combine to pull it 
down (e.g. the CPSU and Red Army join forces to destroy Lavrentiy
Beria and his NKVD following Stalin's death.  The NKVD is split
and weakened - one part goes to the military and becomes the GRU
while the other part becomes the KGB).  Like in the USSR, this 
may have the following effects:

1/  Lack of initiative amongst field commanders.  The invasion
    of the Imperium followed a set plan, where every commander
    knew exactly what he must do.  As soon as events began to 
    deviate from this plan, commanders had to refer to their
    superiors for instructions.  The Imperial forces are 
    analogous to the NATO armies, in that much greater emphasis
    was placed on individual initiative.  Imperial commanders
    were almost always quicker to react than their Solomani 
    counterparts.  Furthermore, by specificly targeting and 
    destroying Solomani command, control and communications 
    assets, they were able to regain the initiative and hold 
    the Solomani.

2/  Political control of military commanders.  Every Solomani
    unit and ship had it's political officer.  His role was 
    to monitor the reliability of Solomani soldiers and 
    commanders.  He would have had the effect of further 
    reducing the initiative ability of individual commanders.

When such a culture is deeply entrenched, it's hard to alter.  
Even after 1125, when vicious infighting caused the Solomani
Party and SolSec to give the Navy a freer reign, they still 
found the going tough.  Despite some outstanding individual 
performances, the Solomani still had too few commanders 
capable of thinking independently and seizing the advantage
of the moment.
Michael Bailey, Police Dept. of Western Australia:  pd82495@wapol.gov.au
                        Any opinions expressed above are strictly my own.
     "..when you list all the qualities that you despise and you realise, 
          you're describing yourself"    Marillion, 'the Rake's Progress'





------------------------------

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 95 15:10:00 EST
From: "Upton, Django" <DUpton@VTRNNTOV.TELECOM.com.au>
To: tml <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Loren should read this!
Message-ID: <2F664143@msmailv0.telecom.com.au>


"Post, D L (Dan)" <PostD%HOST2@WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM> writes:

 -----------------------------
>1. Ammunition. The rules are unclear whether 1 round is used per turn of
>fire or per dice rolled. I will assume 1 round per turn of fire unless
>official clarification is forthcoming.
Striker has a conversion table in the back of the book. It is not 1 for 1 
for
ammo expenditures.  I believe autocanon ammo divided by 10 to get
shots. However striker also allows most inf. weapons to have unlimited
ammo for purposes of the basic game.
 ------------------------------

Oops, I meant 1 SHOT per turn or per dice. The table you refer to converts 
rounds to "shots".
This has evidently confused you sufficiently for you to ignore my question 
and instead tell me stuff I already know.
The problem is as follows:
 - Striker II uses different numbers of dice rolled for hits at different 
ranges.
 - Weapons will fire the same number of rounds at a target regardless of 
range
 - In Command Decision (which most of Striker II's rules came from) 1 shot is 
used per ROF to hit attempt.
 - If the interpretation is as CD then at least one of the vehicles presented 
in Striker II doesn't carry enough ammo for even 1 turn of fire at close 
range with it's main armament.
 - The rules for ammo use for infantry heavy weapons refers to turns of fire, 
NOT dice rolled.
 - The rules of Striker II are totally unclear as to what is intended.

 ------------------------------
>2. ROF dice per TNE ROF. How many dice does a weapon with TNE ROF >4 ( eg. 
a 10 cm autocannon ) get?
Again there is an appendix in the back to convert TNE to striker. |There is
a chart (that is hard to understand) about ROF on the first page of the 
appendix.
You can use the chart to convert TNE ROF to Striker ROF
 ------------------------------

Again you missed the point!
The chart you refer to does not have a position for any vehicle weapon with 
ROF=4.
It does have:
TNE ROF (5 or 10 handheld), all 3 = Striker II ROF 4
TNE ROF 5 fixed = Striker II ROF 5

 -------------------------------

"Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com> writes:

 -------------------------------
Django Upton says regarding mass drivers:

>IMO MD's generally do have superior range and penetration compared
>with CPR  guns but use phenomenal amounts of power to make them
go. >The total weapon  system (gun+power supply+ammo) may
however be more >massive and expensive  than a comparable CPR/ETC
gun.

   My point exactly.  OK, here#s what#s wrong (Loren, please send
this information along to Dave and Frank):

   The formula for determining the weight of a gauss weapon round
(any mass driver with a bore diameter below 20 mm) is as follows:

   (3.1416 times radius cubed) times .02

   The formula for determining the weight of a mass driver round
(any mass driver with a bore diameter 20 mm and above) is:

   (3.1416 times radius cubed) times .1

   Why should you care if mass driver rounds are so much heavier
than their gauss weapon (and CPR gun) counterparts?  Because the
weight of the round is used in calculating the energy requirements
of the gun.
 ----------------------------------

It is also used in calculating the muzzle energy which is used to determine 
the penetration of KE rounds. The above formula produces rounds which are a 
bit heavier than CPR/ETC rounds of the same bore. If you don't like the 
energy requirement then build a smaller bore mass driver!

 ---------------------------------
   I pinned down the weight of the round as a culprit by designing
two weapons, one using the mass driver design sequence, the other
using the gauss weapon design sequence.  Both guns were designed
to be 20 mm.  Without question the gauss weapon consumed less
energy--power requirement for the mass driver was a hefty 4 Mw.

   The official explanation from GDW on the subject has been that
mass driver rounds have a different aspect ratio than a typical
gauss weapon (this makes mass driver rounds heavier, since they
are longer).  While this may be the case, the difference in
aspect ratios is too severe.  I purpose the following formula
to calculate the mass of mass driver rounds:

   (3.1416 times radius cubed) times .06

This will correct the problem and make mass drivers a weapon
that people want to use for anti-tank applications, instead
of an ignored design sequence that is rarely used.
 ---------------------------------

The above will not change the performance of a KE round propelled buy a 
given energy input in the slightest. The energy requirement is DIRECTLY 
proportional to the muzzle energy of the MD which determines the KE 
penetration. The above change will require a larger bore weapon which will 
improve the performance of other ammo types but will require greater storage 
volume for the ammo.

BTW have you tried making an explosive power generation system part of your 
MD design. That way your MD rounds arrive with their power plants attached. 
Also you can probably use the MD's HPG as the EPG's HPG thus saving a bit of 
(mass/vol/Cr). Maybe Loren would like to comment on this?

Django.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 1995 15:13:27 +0100 (MET)
From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Transponders
Message-ID: <199503141413.PAA05766@embla.diku.dk>

Harold D. Hale writes:
>Hans Rancke writes about transponders:
> 
>>>The problem with straight radio communication is that radio
>>>transmissions can be intercepted
>
>>Eh? More easily than transponder radio signals?
> 
>   Actually, yes.  The frequency at which transponders broadcast
>would be a closely guarded naval secret.  Communications bands much
>less so.

How do you keep a radio frequency jammed with signals a secret? 

>>No, it takes someone with the right codes.
> 
>   Normally, yes.  But as has been proven in the past, if you can
>pretend to be someone else well enough, people will believe you.
>Having coded transponders takes the human fallibility (or gullibility)
>out of the process.  

Except when your opponents have the ressources to fake the signal. Then
you leave out the human intuition to spot the fake.

    >Fake someone out by having a merchant vessel in your hold?  Perhaps in 
>wartime.  It would probably work too, the first few times.  Eventually the 
>bad guys would figure out what you were up to and blow you out of space.

Together with every legitimate merchant they own? Wonderful.

 
>>Face it, if it's electronic, it can be faked. 
> 
>   And if its human it can be faked out.  All depends on how much
>faith you put in your people and in your equipment.  Apparently the
>Imperium put some faith in the former, and a bit too much in the 
>latter.  Ideally you would use a combination of human and transponder.
>In wartime, this would be critical.

But a code provide just as much security as a transponder. 

>>You don't NEED those silly transponders at all. If your Virus is 
>>magic, then it's magic. 
> 
>   The transponders are what literary types call a #plot device#.
>They help explain why it is that the Virus gets to be interstellar
>in scope (its rapid, prolific spread is explained through other
>plot devices).  Either you buy off on the concept or you don't.
>Some people think that matter transport is #magic# (among other
>things) and don't buy off on the whole Star Trek concept because
>of it.  Some people feel the same way about the Force in Star Wars.
>I can explain to you why I think it works, but that's all I can do.
>If you don't buy my explanation, you don't, and I can't make you
>believe in it.

Nor do you have to. I agree completely. If you define a new physical
effect or mechanical dingus then I should accept the explanation as a
ground rule (Provided, of course, that there are no glaringly obvious
corrolaries that you have missed). But when you tell me about how an
_existing_ factor works, then you damn well better be realistic. In
this case I'm talking about human nature (Or government nature ;-).
 
>>The thing about a black box is that _anything_ can be concealed
>>inside it.  Worse, this is a black box that is constantly spouting
>>coded radio signals.
> 
>   This fact doesn't stop black boxes from being mounted in practically 
>every airliner used on Earth.  Do you honestly believe that Lufthaunsa 
>(or any other major airline) could get away with deciding not to cooperate?

Two things: Everyone knows what's inside one of those black boxes. Secondly:
You're turning the example the wrong way round. Imagine that no such boxes
existed and that the US suddenly announced that no planes would be allowed
inside the US without such a box, made and sold by an American firm, sealed
and not to be opened by anyone else. They'd have a perfect right to do so,
of course. But I think many other nations would inform the US that in that
case no US planes would be allowed inside their airspace until further
notice.

>>Who said anything about agreeing with the other states? I think each
>>of would do it on their own. Flatly forbid any ship mounting such a
>>secret spy dingus from jumping into any of their systems.
> 
>   The transponders were shared technology.  The Imperium went to
>other governments said, #OK, here it is, this is what it does.#
>Of course they would want the black box ripped open and thoroughly
>analyzed.  They would probably insist that they make their own.
>The Imperium would agree, provided that their version broadcast
>on the proper frequency while in the Imperium. That would be that.

You mean the Imperium told all its neighbours how to make those things?
In that case they also learned how to fake them. Kinda ruins the whole
idea, dosen't it? Where does it say that they did so, btw?

>Hans Rancke also writes about Terra and the Solomani:
> 
>>Someone else said that Terra was special and rated special treatment.
>>That's right! Terra IS special, and rates special treatment. For one
>>thing, Terra rates a big say in running the Confederation. But do you
>>think the Confederation leaders on Home like that idea? 
> 
>   This is true, except that remember where many of those leaders
>on Home came from Terra (of course).  

Several generations ago. They would be Home-boys (;-) by now.

>The situation would be very
>analogous to that faced by Taiwan.  Ruled by leaders that were
>kicked off the mainland by the Communists, These same leaders and
>their successors refuse to even consider the possibility of declaring
>their island independent--because that would mean giving up their claim
>to be the legitimate government of all of China.

It hasn't been long enough for a Taiwan-born generation to assume control
of Taiwan. When that happens they may well drop their claim.



      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     rancke@diku.dk
------------
        "A  subsector  official  pompously states that the
        subsector  armed  forces  have  four Kinunir class
        ships in service,  each with enough troop strength
        to put down any military operations that threathen
        the peace of the Imperium."

                        ---Adventure 1, The Kinunir

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 222
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