Quote:
Originally Posted by ak_aramis
My take...
The long night starts with massive amounts of Second Imperium naval forces blasting rebels back to TL 4 or below. And the extremes of punishment being grounds for further insurrection, until the point that the IN was both too thinly spread and the locals arming in preparation...
Paranoia, Nationalism, and long command lines result in fragmentation... as locals become more insular, trade outside their local cluster drops, and as trade drops, nationalism soars...
hundreds of small polities, most only a few systems. And for many, a time to hide from the "conquerers from the sky"... after the first about 150 years, becoming a matter of myth... and by 1000 after, assumed to be a propaganda bit.
It's not so much trade goes away, as nationalism leads to stagnation and xenophobia. And those lead to turning trade away.
A wildland of local protection rackets and small polities.
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My take: HIGHLY varied. Extremely specialized worlds may be reduced tremendously or even become what amounts to Raonokes-as is mentioned in Mileau O by the way. In other places there will be chaos. However it will not be as great or as uniform as Imperial propaganda paints. That does not mean there is no long night, or that there is an evil conspiracy to hide wonderful civilizations then simply that the bias in education is toward oversimplification. In spots there are on the other hand places that go through the Night unaffected and are even glad of it as it gives them room for ambition. And anywhere in between. Basically there are islands of civilization that retain the highest Terran-Vilani cultural and technological mix under a competent political system. In between there is-everything. And some of "everything" is one kind of mess or another.