Terran Empire changes

[KawangaKid]

Re: Terran Empire changes

 

Check out Scourges Of The Galaxy for the Void Messiahs of the Church of the Infinite Dark: insane superhumanly-warped worshippers of the Kings of Edom methodically destroying worlds and stars to twist the galaxy into a gigantic spell to free the Kings and bring about universal Armageddon. It doesn't get much darker and more threatening than that.

 

I agree, am cobbling together a campaign with these guys as one of the major villains!

[Voltron64]

Re: Terran Empire changes

 

That's more or less what I mean. The official Terran Empire appears too quickly and disappears with equal alacrity. I think it should have more like a millenial lifespan.

 

Y'know, I had my own idea for the Terran Empire that for an alternate timeline, rather than slowly turning into the Galactic Empire like in canon, it rather evolves into a larger and fairly benevolent entity similar Traveller's Third Imperium. In fact, the whole 3rd Imperium was kinda how I imagined the Terran Empire to be like.

[Susano]

Re: Terran Empire changes

 

If there were any changes or additions you could make to the Terran Empire setting' date=' what would they be?[/quote']

 

M-4Ia Pulse Rifle and Smartguns... oh, wait, that's for Alien Wars.

 

TE needs cooler tech. Like big starships. I mean really big star ships (we're talking Star Destroyers and the like). Mobile Infantry powered armor. Multi-use energy weapons akin to Star Trek phasers. Genetic engineering, custom-made glands, and neural networks akin to Special Circumstances agents from the Culture. Let's really push the limits here and go all out with the Space Opera!

 

I also agree that TE really needs a aliens book that is all about the aliens as a species and not just individuals. One of the best things about GURPS Traveller is the alien books that concentrate on two Major races and several Minor ones. You get a nice in-depth look at the history, society, culture, and nature of the alien race in question, right down to family groups, names, and occupations. Really makes the race come alive for the GM and player.

 

I also think I'd consider some more... "alien" aliens. Giant gas giant life forms, or things like Niven's Outsiders, or some of the stuff you see in Ian Bank's Culture novels.

[RexMundi]

Re: Terran Empire changes

 

Yeah I'd second the BIG ships, heavy on the Submarine and Carrier aspects. Also, a Really good set of Alien books. As for the personal tech, I'd be more for something that set's Terrans apart from the rest of the field. Instead of Phasers, you go for thing like David Webber style Slug Throwers from the Honor Harrington series (gravity flung ultra sonic speed slivers), or like the Side Arms in his Apocalypse Troll novel, and the attendant Missile Technology along those lines as well to get something different then *BEAM* it dies.

 

Definitely, more ALIEN aliens as well. As it stands the Terran Empire aliens are along the lines of the Bumpy Head of the Week. Give me something like, oh, a Planet, populated by critters like Vulture from Jack Chalker's Pirates of Thunder Series. Some Well World style Aliens, Ancient Uber Tech Aliens that are more Markovian, less Space Elf.

 

~Rex

[Nyrath]

Re: Terran Empire changes

 

It's like what I said here:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3ab.html#technologicalprogress

 

When it comes to futures histories in various SF novels, the main failing I have noted is a failure of scope. While you may read novels with orbital beanstalks, immortality drugs, virtual people living in digital cyber-reality, nanotechnology, transhumanity and post-humans, Dyson spheres, teleportation, zero-point energy,matter duplicators,time travel, cloning,and cyborgs; you almost never find an individual novel that has all of these things (although Greg Egan's DIASPORA comes close, and the Orion's Arm project comes even closer).

 

This is because future history SF novels are not meant to predict the future, so much as they are meant to illuminate a specific point the author is trying to make.

 

Jeff Patterson said:

I am once again stunned at the insistence that Star Trek has to be allegorically relevant, but if it must, I'd prefer it take on more scientific/ethical issues, like a justification for banning genetic enhancement. or how a society with FTL, molecular replication, and teleportation has managed to sidestep a technological singularity.

 

Star Trek is considered by many to be the public face of SF, it's flagship. I hold by my belief that to retain that title it needs to take it up a level: travel out into some heretofore unexplored quadrant and find that it is heavily populated by Type II Kardashev cultures, Lovecraftian ancients, Kirby-esque star gods, Matrioshka brain AIs trying to tap reality's source-code, post-singularity societies like Banks Culture, Wright's Oecumene, or Hamilton's Edenists, etc.

 

In short, Trek needs to catch up with the rest of science fiction.

 

[RexMundi]

Re: Terran Empire changes

 

Yeah but it seems like, you need to approach it more by Genre, and Terran Empire, is more of the mold of something like the Honor Harrington Stuff, classic Heinlein Stuff, Forever War / Dorsai flavoring, then the Transhuman stuff, of the digital age and forward. STILL, it should be only a matter of editing really to incorporate it all, as so nicely pointed out in the Diaspora and Orion's Arm Project examples.

 

~Rex