> 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.
I do not pretend to speak for MJD and will never speak for anyone else other than myself. However, I can offer my observations of what has been said over time.
MJD's primary goal for the Terrans (at least the Terran based polity) was for them to not be racists, species-ists, nutcases, extremists, or anything like that. He wanted their government to be flawed, but overall positive. Apparently the Gabreelists didn't meet that threshold for him.
In his defense, I can only offer my own observations. When I first read the Gabreelists material (on the web, way after publication), I never actually read them as "good guys". I saw them as just another extremist government that was spawned by Terra. This time they were just religious extremists rather than species superiority extremists. I admit that I saw them as nuanced, with both good and bad elements, but that there was still a definite extremist (and dangerous) thread running through them and their government. It wasn't until much later when I saw you posting about it that I finally found out that they were supposed to actually be "good guys". That had just never occurred to me while reading the material. I doubt I was the only one who read it that way.
So, I have to conclude that the Gabreelist foundation of the Terran Republic just didn't work for him. Even if the government is eventually transitioned to a less theocratic form, or even a purely secular government, that foundation would still flavor the polity in a way he apparently just didn't want to go.
Note that none of this is an actual criticism of the setting. It is well constructed and thought out, and contains a tremendous amount of nuance that is really well done. If not based on Terra, and reduced to a smaller size, it would be a beautiful pocket empire. (Moving it from Terra to Home and making it a little over a subsector in size would be extremely cool.) But even as "good guys", I would probably only use such a Gabreelist polity as a destination, not a home base. It would be a wonderful place to set up adventures and let the players worry about the different culture and customs. But I would never expect players to want to stay.
The reason is because I just can't trust theocracies. Even if they appear to be benevolent and benign, theocracies just scare the sh** out of me.
Mike West
> 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.
I do not pretend to speak for MJD and will never speak for anyone else other than myself. However, I can offer my observations of what has been said over time.
MJD's primary goal for the Terrans (at least the Terran based polity) was for them to not be racists, species-ists, nutcases, extremists, or anything like that. He wanted their government to be flawed, but overall positive. Apparently the Gabreelists didn't meet that threshold for him.
In his defense, I can only offer my own observations. When I first read the Gabreelists material (on the web, way after publication), I never actually read them as "good guys". I saw them as just another extremist government that was spawned by Terra. This time they were just religious extremists rather than species superiority extremists. I admit that I saw them as nuanced, with both good and bad elements, but that there was still a definite extremist (and dangerous) thread running through them and their government. It wasn't until much later when I saw you posting about it that I finally found out that they were supposed to actually be "good guys". That had just never occurred to me while reading the material. I doubt I was the only one who read it that way.
So, I have to conclude that the Gabreelist foundation of the Terran Republic just didn't work for him. Even if the government is eventually transitioned to a less theocratic form, or even a purely secular government, that foundation would still flavor the polity in a way he apparently just didn't want to go.
Note that none of this is an actual criticism of the setting. It is well constructed and thought out, and contains a tremendous amount of nuance that is really well done. If not based on Terra, and reduced to a smaller size, it would be a beautiful pocket empire. (Moving it from Terra to Home and making it a little over a subsector in size would be extremely cool.) But even as "good guys", I would probably only use such a Gabreelist polity as a destination, not a home base. It would be a wonderful place to set up adventures and let the players worry about the different culture and customs. But I would never expect players to want to stay.
The reason is because I just can't trust theocracies. Even if they appear to be benevolent and benign, theocracies just scare the sh** out of me.
Mike West