"Assuming you ignore MJD's 1248 work for that portion of space, I think it might be reasonable to think that refugees fleeing Imperial Civil War #2 (or Rebellion), the tyranny of Terra, and Virus would head rimward and build PEs. So what if life is tough? At least no one is shooting at you or trying to assimilate your toaster. And while Virus does go as far rimward as Aldebaran, we know that the focus of viral activity (or would that be "locus" in this case) is Core and Cymbelline and the route that connects them. The world density in Aldebaran is thin, especially when compared to the juciness of the Vilani Main and the Imperiun as a whole, so Virus might get bored or find that the technological meat on the bones of these worlds isn't worth gnawing on."
CoE looking forward:
I'd like to do multiple settings. Three prequels, one centered on the final days before the Collapse (c.1120-1130), one centered on Terra during the Terran Civil War era (1133-1163), and one that takes place during the Conquistador era (c.1167-1195) as the Gabreelists are first heading out into the Sol subsector and bumping into things and other people--this latter setting would have more of a "Pirates of the Caribbean/Seven Voyages of Sinbad" feel to it. The two former ones may or may not be full blown RPG settings, but instead may be BL/Striker II scenarios with some background, sort of like the old Avalon Hill Panzer Leader/Panzer Blitz/Arab-Israeli Wars games. A reboot of the primary setting c.1202 of course...though it might be interesting as well to do something set in 1227 (25 years after events in the original write up). Looking "far future" (no pun intended), it could be interesting to revisit the Solomani Rim post-Empress Wave (c.1402?), then again c.3130 (2,000 years after the Collapse). Now I'm getting all Babylon 5/Arthur C. Clarke....
Of course all this assumes that one has the *time* to do them all, which is unlikely. Maybe in the novelizations.
Aldebaran would indeed probably get its share of Terran Republic outcasts before the Terran Republic actually reaches there, also Solomani Party holdouts, rogue AIs, TEDs, and other assorted good/bad/ugly types. What I picture though is something more akin to the American West, which fits given the stellar density of the region (that also makes the Terran Republic the "settlers and railroad men" I suppose). If it ends up looking like "Firefly", I blame Dave. It's always the "go to" answer.
As for MJD's 1248 work, we talked at one point before he got it published, and he shared what he had in mind. I have a lot of respect for him personally, but I think he dismissed what I had envisioned for the Solomani Rim far too quickly, didn't seem interested in any sort of compromise between my vision and his, and that was that. Pity, because there was absolutely no reason why the CoE setting couldn't have fit with what he was doing, and it would have interesting to see what he would have done with it, given that by that point I was near starting back to school and likely wouldn't have had time to do all the writing necessary to bring CoE up to 1248.
A hint of what that might have looked like would be something like this: The Terran Republic would have gone through a period of secularization as Shoshanna had envisioned following the Battle of Ganesh. It would have taken a number of years, and once successfully completed there would have been a clear separation of faith and state that would have been enshrined in a new constitution. The Republic and the Dingir League would have eventually became a single political entity, either called the Terran Republic or something else (I had thoughts that the Republic would become an Empire but that's a bit too Star Trek mirror universe for me...). The focus on the Terrans would have been on establishing control of the old Solomani Confederation territories, giving Martin plenty of room to do whatever he wanted with the old Imperium. Of course a Terran fleet would have been there to take down "CyberLucan" and his minions. Indeed I thought it would be an interesting bit of plot twist if the Terrans committed at least some of the atrocities during the war that the Star Vikings got blamed for, adding a bit more justification for why some of the Star Vikings decided that they were leaving--no one wants to accused of crimes they didn't commit.
At any rate, whether CoE stands as a parallel universe and a branch off the canon tree much like GURPS Traveller, stands to become canon, or is simple heresy (which would be ironic given the nature of the material), or whatever, what's important is that exists at all. Indeed perhaps it's best to let the players decide where it belongs.
"Do you plan on having this stuff hosted on a website somewhere?"
Yep. Indeed, I planned on starting on that once the CoE was in a more complete state of revision. I might want to finish that project too, eh?
CoE looking forward:
I'd like to do multiple settings. Three prequels, one centered on the final days before the Collapse (c.1120-1130), one centered on Terra during the Terran Civil War era (1133-1163), and one that takes place during the Conquistador era (c.1167-1195) as the Gabreelists are first heading out into the Sol subsector and bumping into things and other people--this latter setting would have more of a "Pirates of the Caribbean/Seven Voyages of Sinbad" feel to it. The two former ones may or may not be full blown RPG settings, but instead may be BL/Striker II scenarios with some background, sort of like the old Avalon Hill Panzer Leader/Panzer Blitz/Arab-Israeli Wars games. A reboot of the primary setting c.1202 of course...though it might be interesting as well to do something set in 1227 (25 years after events in the original write up). Looking "far future" (no pun intended), it could be interesting to revisit the Solomani Rim post-Empress Wave (c.1402?), then again c.3130 (2,000 years after the Collapse). Now I'm getting all Babylon 5/Arthur C. Clarke....
Of course all this assumes that one has the *time* to do them all, which is unlikely. Maybe in the novelizations.
Aldebaran would indeed probably get its share of Terran Republic outcasts before the Terran Republic actually reaches there, also Solomani Party holdouts, rogue AIs, TEDs, and other assorted good/bad/ugly types. What I picture though is something more akin to the American West, which fits given the stellar density of the region (that also makes the Terran Republic the "settlers and railroad men" I suppose). If it ends up looking like "Firefly", I blame Dave. It's always the "go to" answer.
As for MJD's 1248 work, we talked at one point before he got it published, and he shared what he had in mind. I have a lot of respect for him personally, but I think he dismissed what I had envisioned for the Solomani Rim far too quickly, didn't seem interested in any sort of compromise between my vision and his, and that was that. Pity, because there was absolutely no reason why the CoE setting couldn't have fit with what he was doing, and it would have interesting to see what he would have done with it, given that by that point I was near starting back to school and likely wouldn't have had time to do all the writing necessary to bring CoE up to 1248.
A hint of what that might have looked like would be something like this: The Terran Republic would have gone through a period of secularization as Shoshanna had envisioned following the Battle of Ganesh. It would have taken a number of years, and once successfully completed there would have been a clear separation of faith and state that would have been enshrined in a new constitution. The Republic and the Dingir League would have eventually became a single political entity, either called the Terran Republic or something else (I had thoughts that the Republic would become an Empire but that's a bit too Star Trek mirror universe for me...). The focus on the Terrans would have been on establishing control of the old Solomani Confederation territories, giving Martin plenty of room to do whatever he wanted with the old Imperium. Of course a Terran fleet would have been there to take down "CyberLucan" and his minions. Indeed I thought it would be an interesting bit of plot twist if the Terrans committed at least some of the atrocities during the war that the Star Vikings got blamed for, adding a bit more justification for why some of the Star Vikings decided that they were leaving--no one wants to accused of crimes they didn't commit.
At any rate, whether CoE stands as a parallel universe and a branch off the canon tree much like GURPS Traveller, stands to become canon, or is simple heresy (which would be ironic given the nature of the material), or whatever, what's important is that exists at all. Indeed perhaps it's best to let the players decide where it belongs.
"Do you plan on having this stuff hosted on a website somewhere?"
Yep. Indeed, I planned on starting on that once the CoE was in a more complete state of revision. I might want to finish that project too, eh?