What's so terrible about Centrum anyway?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Rene Narciso

3) They don't have a "Prime Directive" (something I always felt conflicted about, as I'm not sure there is a lot of nobility in the kind of moral relativism that will allow Star Trek: Next Generation and up crews to wash their hands on very unsavory worlds or European liberals urging us to "respect" cultures that brutally oppress women and gays). Of course, Infinity isn't as bad as recent Star Trek or European liberals, since they DO try to interfere in very bad worlds.

However, Centrum has no problem with just walking into a primitive world, taking what they want, and ignoring any culture shock they might cause. Infinity at least tries to not destory technologically primitive cultures, though other elements of Homeline aren't so pleasant.

[Rene Narciso]

Originally Posted by Rupert

However, Centrum has no problem with just walking into a primitive world, taking what they want, and ignoring any culture shock they might cause. Infinity at least tries to not destory technologically primitive cultures, though other elements of Homeline aren't so pleasant.

Agreed. They're not nice.

Just saying I have some admiration for Centrum's commitment and (some of) their ideals.

I'm not sure about this, actually I said I was conflicted, it's just that I think total non-interference like that preached by Star Trek or some liberals don't really sound noble to me, it sounds more like some sort of moral cowardice (or perhaps, a huge guilt complex over some of the bad stuff "white folks" did in past centuries. Actually all races and peoples did lots of bad stuff in past centuries, it's just that white folks seemed to do it more efficiently).

But, like I said too, Infinity don't believe in giving Nazis a free pass to rule their world as they see fit, just because they have a right to self-determination or whatever either. They don't interfere more in Reich-5 because they still didn't came up with a way to do it efficiently. I'm cool with that.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Why is Centrum the Bad Guy?

Simple.

Centrum believes it has the One True Answer to Everybody's Problems. Thus, anything they do to get people to adopt that Answer (or at least give up conflicting Answers) is, in their eyes, a pure and simple Good. Thus, no matter what happens, Centrum will be in a state of war with everybody in the multiverse, now and forever. They have no choice. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there might be a Centrum echo where parachronics was never discovered, and the Centrum of that world ended up in a state of civil war over trivial differences in doctrine.

Homeline at least agrees that other persons have the right to have dissenting opinions, and was willing to open peaceful relations with Centrum in the beginning. But Centrum didn't know how to be proper diplomatic liars and aroused too many suspicions for even tenative retaions to be established.

So we have Centrum ("Submit to Our Superior Way of Life or else.") and Homeline ("Hey, we'll trade you a whole case of shiny beads for this island, and throw in a used car too."). Neither are comfortable nighbors, but Homeline would be easier to get along with.

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by HeroPenguin

That it's a neat idea that probably will never work thanks to human greed?

No, that's the rational way of looking at it. The average American would practically rather hang out with a Satanist than a "commie pinko". I say this because communism is pretty much the exact opposite of "Capitalism" which America is very much about.

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

That's a little extreme given that the Gotha plague is treatable by antibiotics since it's carried by the pneumonic plague.

Possibly, but in that case why doesn't Homeline just go in an cure it on all the Gotha Parallels they know of? It's not "carried" by the pneumonic plague, it's a "mutated into (or become symbiotic with) a prion based disease". So, I see it kind of like AIDS. We have come up with many a cure for AIDS, but as soon as the virus starts to be cured, it mutates, making the cure not work anymore (and before it fully has, so the patient still has it). In a way, that's why there's multiple strains... failed cures. I'm not saying AIDS patients should be killed like that, because it's blood-based, so it's not "contagious". But if it were "airborne" like the Gotha virus, where merely breathing the same air as an AIDS patient would infect you, we'd have no choice but to stop it any way we could.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Ragabash Moon

But if it were "airborne" like the Gotha virus, where merely breathing the same air as an AIDS patient would infect you, we'd have no choice but to stop it any way we could.

If a mission to a Gotha is an automatic death sentence, it lessons the utility of those parallels in game terms. You can do whatever you want, but if I run a Infinite Worlds game I am not going to send Patrolmen on a mission to a Gotha and then execute them when they come back. Where's the fun in that?

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

even if you may sympathize with the Irish nationalists or Chechnian rebels the IRA and Al'Queda still are aborrent. What if an RLA to spread the plans for a conveyor allowed Al'Queda to construct one and launch a massive terrorist strike somewhere?

There are also organizations that on the surface one might agree with, but when you see their methods... you realize they are not helping their situation, they are making it worse...

For example, ALF (Animal Liberation Front) has a few good ideas... BUT... when they raid an animal shelter with automatic rifles, kill a few employees and release all the animals... well those good ideas don't mean nothin'. They have reduced themselves to mere terrorists. Point lost.

Same with a few of the more extremist Pro-Life people... Don't kill unborn children! *sets bomb, killing a few doctors and nurses, thus stopping the abortions for awhile* Um... they just KILLED people. Terrorists. Point lost.

Now, let me say I'm not stating opinions on these issues in this thread, I'm just stating that the extremists that go around KILLING for their 'cause' are just as much terrorists (albeit, smaller scale) as Al-Queda, etc.

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

If a mission to a Gotha is an automatic death sentence, it lessons the utility of those parallels in game terms. You can do whatever you want, but if I run a Infinite Worlds game I am not going to send Patrolmen on a mission to a Gotha and then execute them when they come back. Where's the fun in that?

Um... they DONT send people to Gotha as a general rule... and they do have some measures to stop it on Homeline, but I'm sure they had to kill a few people that were too far along, whatever. IF yo go, do your mission, and return, I'm sure they might be able to cure it if they have it waiting when you return. But if the disease has had time to incubate, I'm sure it's too late. Besides, that puts a definite time constraint on the mission, which can be fun... If you spend more than a day there, you risk the disease progressing too far ot be cured. :)

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Ragabash Moon

Um... they DONT send people to Gotha as a general rule... and they do have some measures to stop it on Homeline, but I'm sure they had to kill a few people that were too far along, whatever. IF yo go, do your mission, and return, I'm sure they might be able to cure it if they have it waiting when you return. But if the disease has had time to incubate, I'm sure it's too late. Besides, that puts a definite time constraint on the mission, which can be fun... If you spend more than a day there, you risk the disease progressing too far ot be cured. :)

Or only send teams of those immune to such "diseases?"
Robots, non-mammals, those with fast regeneration, etc.

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Or only send teams of those immune to such "diseases?"
Robots, non-mammals, those with fast regeneration, etc.

The regeneration wouldn't help... well, it would help YOU but you'd still be infected, and so could spread it to others, and I'm not sure what the rules of regeneration and diseases are... I know regeneration doesnt' "cure" the disease.