Johannes wrote: > This is one option for a SG like background. It is not entirely compatible > with SG canon, and it does not always pick the options i like best, but i > think it neatly combines some issues discusssed here to a consistent > picture.
Dodging the SG canon is a feature, I'd say. That makes it easier to avoid IP violations. > There is a race of high tech Amish. Amish in the sense of community, pastoral lifestyle, etc.? http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/20/us/amish-beard-cutting-trial/index.html > They have a psi power, that kicks in, > once there is a critical mass of them around (somehow defined by > population density and number of people, the exact mechanics are likely > not game relevant). It enables them to find a compromise solution for the > interests of everyone in reach of the ability, and forces them to adopt > that solution. An extremely powerful ability. But I dislike powers which alter the mind of player characters. Do you really need a psi power to make it happen, or is it enough to have a society which believes in its own rules and due process even for people who abuse loopholes? > Propably the ability works also on aliens (such as humans), either fully, > or it just includes them in peoples, who's interests need to be > considered. > > For most of them, this means a happy peacefull life. However among them > are also sadistic individuals, who derive pleasure from the suffering of > others. They are a minority, so their interests are ignored, making them a > supressed minority, unhappy with what society forces them to do. You wrote that the psi power enforces a compromise solution in the interests of everyone. This minority is part of the community, so their interest would be part of the solution ... > Then came interplanetary space travel, and that allowed them to venture > outside of the influence of the dreaded psi power, to lead a lifestyle > appropriate to their nature among alien primitives. > > Mainstream society is forced to supply them with some equipment, when they > come home, since if they are there, but their alien subjects are not, > their interests factor into the great compromise, while thoose of absent > aliens do not. If the psi power is strong enough to force the majority to aid the monsters after diaspora, wouldn't it force some accomodation to their wishes before? Say the mainstream knows and dislikes the minority, but the lawyers argue that the alien subjects are not covered by civil rights laws. Unfortunately a budget dispute produces total gridlock and the laws can't be adjusted right now. Or next year. Or next century. > (at least if they have something to pay for the equipment > they buy) They will however dislike going home under the spell of the > great compromise, so most of them will try to stretch the intervals > between purchases as long as they can, and only buy what they really need > or want. > > Which can explain weired gaps in equipment. > > That society will likely originally not have developed many advanced > weapons. After their equivalent of antiquity likely warfare became > obsolete and weapon development stopped. Hunting weapons at higher TLs are going to be more effective than military weapons at lower TLs, at least for man-portable stuff. > The expatriates will then have > started again, with ultratech at their hands, but based on weapons > technology, where crossbows propably have not been invented yet. > > They also might see their empires as going back to the good old days, > explaining other antiquity look and feel. > > They also will live in constant fear, that they will be forced out of > their sadistic lifestyle again, by their subjects. So they will prefere > thinly populated empires, with many remotely managed outposts, they will > avoid their own kind and they will promote sadism and cruelity among > their subjects, the closer they are the more, to preserve a sadistic > majority. > > The last can explain putting villiany over ecconomic sense. Economic "sense" depends on how you assign value to things. The Evil Overlords value control, and they don't value more economic output than they can personally use. A happy and well-fed population isn't on their list. > All in all, it gives a reason for isolated little empires of card carrying > villians, that have great technology, but do not use them effectivly. How does the mainstream society affect the adventures? Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
