Well, here are your CoE spoilers:
1. The Terrans in 1206 would run into a massive vampire fleet at Ganesh. Well, "run into it" isn't exactly the correct word, they knew it was coming and went willingly. The Priestess of the Faith Shoshanna had seen its arrival in a psionic vision and that it was intent on nuke carpet bombing Dingir for "disloyalty to Lucan". Whether the vampire fleet originated from the Black Curtain, or some place else was left open. What was certain however is that had the Terrans not intervened, sacrificing about 20% of their navy in the process, it was unlikely that the Dingir League would have able to stop it in time, and the League would have effectively wiped out. Ganesh becomes a turning point in Terran-Dingirian relations. It also causes the Terrans to effectively stop further expansion coreward shortly thereafter (no contact with the RC therefore for an extended period), and instead concentrate on expansion into the Bootean Cluster and into the
Aldebaran Sector. [Note: I didn't want the Terran interacting with the RC until GDW, or whoever took over the RC story in the future, was ready for it]
2. At some point down the line, I envisioned the ruling families of Dingir and Terra would unite and the Dingir League merge into the Terran Republic. I also saw the Terran Republic evolving over a period of decades to be more secular--indeed Shoshanna preferred to stay out of government affairs, only intervening when she felt it was necessary (as with Ganesh). Eventually the Priestess of the Faith be someone like the Pope today--influential, lot of followers, but able to muster the power of a state? Not so much. No Ayatollah, that's for sure.
3. As stated elsewhere, I was perfectly comfortable with people concluding that the Terrans were "bad guys", but with respect, I saw them as good, bad, and ugly. The US in its history has been all those things. Great Britain in its history has been all those things. Mostly I sought to create a setting that wasn't "paranoid racists in space", and all too often the Solomani came across as just that.
On Monday, May 5, 2014 4:53 PM, Mike West <> wrote:
Ø Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.cgi101.com/~lkw/AskDave.txt Also, hello.
Yes, that’s the one. That will probably give you the best outline of what Dave was thinking way back when.
Ø FYI: I don't know that Dave (or perhaps Martin for that matter) ever really understood where I was going with the Terrans.
On Martin’s side (no spoilers here, really) IIRC he was driven by the desire to make the Terrans a force for good. For much of Traveller’s history the Terrans were actually *bad* guys. Which was pretty cool and forward-thinking at the time it was done. (Making the Terrans/Solomani the bad guys was something that helped Traveller stand out.) But, by the time of 1248, Martin thought that idea had been played out and it was time for the Terrans to be a force for good. (Or at least mostly good. He liked to work with flawed heroes and flawed forces.) Children of Earth didn’t seem to go in that direction.
Another problem I think you ran into was that many people who read the “Children of Earth” didn’t realize or understand that they were supposed to be the good guys. With their heavily regimented mandatory state religion and neo-theocratic government, I imagine that many readers just immediately lumped them in with the bad guys. I know that was the way I original read it. I doubt I was unique.
Mike West
1. The Terrans in 1206 would run into a massive vampire fleet at Ganesh. Well, "run into it" isn't exactly the correct word, they knew it was coming and went willingly. The Priestess of the Faith Shoshanna had seen its arrival in a psionic vision and that it was intent on nuke carpet bombing Dingir for "disloyalty to Lucan". Whether the vampire fleet originated from the Black Curtain, or some place else was left open. What was certain however is that had the Terrans not intervened, sacrificing about 20% of their navy in the process, it was unlikely that the Dingir League would have able to stop it in time, and the League would have effectively wiped out. Ganesh becomes a turning point in Terran-Dingirian relations. It also causes the Terrans to effectively stop further expansion coreward shortly thereafter (no contact with the RC therefore for an extended period), and instead concentrate on expansion into the Bootean Cluster and into the
Aldebaran Sector. [Note: I didn't want the Terran interacting with the RC until GDW, or whoever took over the RC story in the future, was ready for it]
2. At some point down the line, I envisioned the ruling families of Dingir and Terra would unite and the Dingir League merge into the Terran Republic. I also saw the Terran Republic evolving over a period of decades to be more secular--indeed Shoshanna preferred to stay out of government affairs, only intervening when she felt it was necessary (as with Ganesh). Eventually the Priestess of the Faith be someone like the Pope today--influential, lot of followers, but able to muster the power of a state? Not so much. No Ayatollah, that's for sure.
3. As stated elsewhere, I was perfectly comfortable with people concluding that the Terrans were "bad guys", but with respect, I saw them as good, bad, and ugly. The US in its history has been all those things. Great Britain in its history has been all those things. Mostly I sought to create a setting that wasn't "paranoid racists in space", and all too often the Solomani came across as just that.
On Monday, May 5, 2014 4:53 PM, Mike West <> wrote:
Ø Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.cgi101.com/~lkw/AskDave.txt Also, hello.
Yes, that’s the one. That will probably give you the best outline of what Dave was thinking way back when.
Ø FYI: I don't know that Dave (or perhaps Martin for that matter) ever really understood where I was going with the Terrans.
On Martin’s side (no spoilers here, really) IIRC he was driven by the desire to make the Terrans a force for good. For much of Traveller’s history the Terrans were actually *bad* guys. Which was pretty cool and forward-thinking at the time it was done. (Making the Terrans/Solomani the bad guys was something that helped Traveller stand out.) But, by the time of 1248, Martin thought that idea had been played out and it was time for the Terrans to be a force for good. (Or at least mostly good. He liked to work with flawed heroes and flawed forces.) Children of Earth didn’t seem to go in that direction.
Another problem I think you ran into was that many people who read the “Children of Earth” didn’t realize or understand that they were supposed to be the good guys. With their heavily regimented mandatory state religion and neo-theocratic government, I imagine that many readers just immediately lumped them in with the bad guys. I know that was the way I original read it. I doubt I was unique.
Mike West