New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

How long does "fragmentation" take? Is there any problem with gaming in a period where that is happening?

It's actually a cool idea. The American Revolution, the Latin American Revolutions, the Irish Troubles 1916-1921, are all examples of fragmentation of the type you're speaking of. One man's traitor is another man's founding father.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Historically, governments have had a maximum functional range equal to three to six months communication (depending on how much autonomy the rulers could tolerate)

Historically, governments at TL4 and below took 6 months to get half-way round the globe. It's not immediately obvious that the same would apply for TL10 governments with TL10 bureaucracies, TL10 militaries and TL10 record-keeping and administration.

On the other hand, a typical modern-day democracy changes leadership on the order of 5-10 years, so a star-spanning federation might have a new prime minister before the outer reaches had even heard that the previous one had started.

[ericthered]

I think that the colonial empires had to deal with the longest functional distances between the capital and the far reaches. I think they mostly dealt with this by making the colony's rulers culturally dependent on the ruling country. Spain demanded that the upper level of rulers be born in Spain, not just from Spanish parents. A steady stream of fortune hunters with ideals, culture, and loyalties from europe were sent to rule the colonies. Some other countries accepted being born of proper parentage but were much harsher about making sure your parentage was correct.



If you are certain of loyalty, some autonomy in local rulers can be acceptable.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by ericthered

If you are certain of loyalty, some autonomy in local rulers can be acceptable.

This could be achieved by all sorts of means at TL10. (This is TL10, innit?)

- Colonial governors and personnel are graduates of the Academy of Governorship, trained in memetic technology, psychohistory and mass distraction. They are intimately familiar with all the instruments of government, fair and foul.

- The colonial governors are addicted to dependium, a nanodrug that the central government regularly dispatches.

- Governors share their skulls with loyalty monitoring AIs.

- Governors are replicants.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

- The colonial governors are addicted to dependium, a nanodrug that the central government regularly dispatches.

That leads to some plot points itself, like what happens when the ship that's supposed to be carrying supplies of the drug fails to arrive...

(Accident, piracy, governmental collapse, and other things might be the reason, but along with investigating that, the governor and whomever else is addicted must deal with their supply being cut off.)

[AlexanderHowl]

What happens when a criminal organization/revolutionary group figures out how to grow it or synthesize it? Suddenly, the criminal group/revolutionary group offers freedom to the governors who are very far away from the central government who made them drug addicts...

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

This could be achieved by all sorts of means at TL10. (This is TL10, innit?)

- Colonial governors and personnel are graduates of the Academy of Governorship, trained in memetic technology, psychohistory and mass distraction. They are intimately familiar with all the instruments of government, fair and foul.

- The colonial governors are addicted to dependium, a nanodrug that the central government regularly dispatches.

- Governors share their skulls with loyalty monitoring AIs.

- Governors are replicants.

Governors are carefully groomed/programmed clones of the ruler.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The most active colonizers of the period, the USA, the EC, India, Indonesia, the East Asian Alliance, and United Africa, have set up a fairly wide variety of colonies and regularly send inspectors to analyze the communities from Anthropological, Sociological, and Psychological, perspectives.

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Governors are carefully groomed/programmed clones of the ruler.

That's at least six colonial empires, so we only need one more method of loyalty.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

That's at least six colonial empires, so we only need one more method of loyalty.

Let's make this more complicated. Let's say the USA, Indonesia, and United Africa, aren't acting as empires. They may be deeply flawed but they've got honorable intentions if sloppy execution. Thus rebels seen as honorable have unsteady and unreliable allies. I'm not saying these guys are saints, but they aren't imperialists. Meanwhile, the EC has a bad case of "Civilizing Mission" and sees themselves as the only moral arbiters. It fits much of later European Colonial History for this to be the case. I'd need to read up on India and my proposed Union of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, to really know their faults and sins.

The beauty of this messiness is that neither the Colonial governments nor the rebels can rely on the reactions of their neighbors. Your co-conspirator is your rival, your friend, a stern judge, and something of a clown car letting off passengers.

[Astromancer]

Try this idea, a breakthrough in pedagogy vastly increasing the scope of what can be taught. Most mental advantages can now be taught, as can things like Voice or most Talents. This would radically alter the balance of power within and between societies. Nations like Finland or Taiwan that stress educating their people would build great advantages. Nations like Russia that has trashed it Education system or the USA where we retain 17th century funding methods will be relatively weaker.

All kinds of strife can come from changed power relationships. Wars are often fought by fading powers to prevent their fading. Within a state, political revolts up to and including violence might be fought to either get the improved education or to withhold it from the masses.