Johannes replied to me: > There also is the matter of how many ships in total exist. That can change > due to ecconomic conditions. A space gypsy culture will most likely mean, > that there will be little reaction to short term market fluctuations. But > it will have to react to long term trends. And if their social model fits > well to a certain trend and the trend changes, things can get interesting.
Ships get considerably faster, say, and it becomes possible to leave the families at home. > > If there was a central authority, population control > > wouldn't be the first thing on my mind. If they provide > > insurance for ships, they're already in the ship-buying > > or shipbuilding business. Again, there would be years, > > even decades, of lead time before the new generation > > needs their own ship. > > > > Sure a central authority would not be there purely for family planning. A > central authority would be one obvious answer on how the total number of > ships is regulated. If you want to use it actually in a game, you'd have > to additionally answer what they are (council of elders,priesthood), where > they are based, and what powers they actually have. If they organize for mutual benefit, the only powers are what the individual ships are willing to give to them. > > * Even galley slaves were more fiction than fact, with a > > few notable exceptions, and rowing was relatively easy > > to supervise. Would you really trust a slave watching > > the fusion reactor? Ten lashes if it explodes, double > > wine ration if not? > > > > There'd be positions better suited for new slaves, where misbehaviour > would be less catastrophic. I suppose the first job of a slave would be to > clean non critical parts of the ship. And the crew learns how the slave > reacts to sticks and carrots and based on that might promote him, or > eventually throw him out of the airlock. Is there a safe job on a starship, that wouldn't be better done by simple robots? Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
