It's likely there's a vampire highway there, but probably more diffuse than
the one by Cymbelline. Black Curtain swallows up anything as close to
Capital as the Diaspora highway was to Cymbeline, though.
___
>From my T989
On Oct 19, 2012 12:05 PM, "DED" <> wrote:
> **
>
>
> Thanks, Eamon.
>
> I got the impression from /The Flaming Eye/ adventure that even vargr
> ships along the Imperial border carried the Deyo transponders. Many just
> chose to operate with them turned off when it suited them. IIRC, the
> Deyo was a requirement for foreign ships in order to operate within
> Imperial space. As cross border commerce was common up until 1120, I
> would think that there would still be enough ships out there by 1130
> that they'd get infected.
>
> More importantly, the transponders were just the /initial /means of
> infection, not the sole means. Allow any infected ship dataport access
> and you're toast. I know you know this so I'm confused as to why you'd
> drag starports and bases and their possible lack of transponders into
> this. The ships were just the vector for transmission, not Virus' only
> host. Once a ship was able to transmit data to other computers, they too
> were infected, no matter their function. The only criteria was that the
> computer have enough memory and processing power. Infection and
> destruction in Meshan would've been thorough.
>
> After infection, what they did next would obviously depend on what they
> were infected with. Anything suicidal would likely stay relatively close
> to it's infection point, depending on what sort of incubation period was
> required for the virus to compromise these slightly different vessels.
> But once those suicidal impulses were abandoned for "destroy everyone
> else" urges (doomslayers, et al), then their range expands greatly. I
> don't know if there's a timeline for the mutations. I know that the main
> TNE book says that by 1140 almost all vampire ships are Puppeteers.
>
> Anyway, at some point that outward flow of ships is going to reverse
> direction. I think Meshan gets hit with lots of Doomslayers. I don't
> know if you have a copy, but MJD's /Out of Darkness/ talks about the
> Vargr Extents being hit hard (Meshan included). It states that "by 1140
> most of the old Extents was deep Wilds with the odd island of
> civilization..."
>
> While Meshan's stellar density is less than its rimward neighbor,
> Lishun, it still looks dense enough to me that the whole sector
> collapses. While there are some gaps that require jump-4, these worlds
> have enough closer neighbors that ruin the effectiveness of these
> astrographic buffers. They just require Virus to take a longer route to
> its victim (unless it's in a J4+ ship). I believe a small PE could arise
> from the *rubble*, but not that a fragment of an old state survives.
> Whatever's there, it's going to be weak. Unlike Vland, there aren't any
> buried Ancient war machines to come to their rescue. ;-)
>
> On a separate note, we know about the Vampire Highway that ran from Core
> to near the RC. Could there be others, perhaps one that runs coreward
> through Lishun and Meshan?
>
> \_/
> DED
>
> ================
> Eamon Watters wrote:
>
> A general reply here.
>
> On the effects of Virus on Meshan, one of the factor favouring the
> Domain of Deneb will apply, I think. That is that there will be a net
> flow of raiding ships outward, though it may be less focused on the
> Coreward direction, going spinward toward the Villani periphery. That
> said, there may be rich picking all around.
>
> There's also probably going to be a lack of Deyo transponders on raiding
> ships, and probably on a majority of ships in Meshan. It's also arguable
> if facilities like starports, bases, and small craft are going to have
> the transponder.
>
> States in Meshan may also have had to subsidize shipping to cover
> traders going raider and leaving a deficit in transportation. Will this
> subsidized shipping have Deyo transponders? Are they still being
> exported from the factions of the Imperium?
>
> I'd say given these factors that there's a chance of some state or
> states in Meshan surviving in some reduced form, especially if advanced
> warning is received, or the astrography is favourable to it.
>
>
the one by Cymbelline. Black Curtain swallows up anything as close to
Capital as the Diaspora highway was to Cymbeline, though.
___
>From my T989
On Oct 19, 2012 12:05 PM, "DED" <> wrote:
> **
>
>
> Thanks, Eamon.
>
> I got the impression from /The Flaming Eye/ adventure that even vargr
> ships along the Imperial border carried the Deyo transponders. Many just
> chose to operate with them turned off when it suited them. IIRC, the
> Deyo was a requirement for foreign ships in order to operate within
> Imperial space. As cross border commerce was common up until 1120, I
> would think that there would still be enough ships out there by 1130
> that they'd get infected.
>
> More importantly, the transponders were just the /initial /means of
> infection, not the sole means. Allow any infected ship dataport access
> and you're toast. I know you know this so I'm confused as to why you'd
> drag starports and bases and their possible lack of transponders into
> this. The ships were just the vector for transmission, not Virus' only
> host. Once a ship was able to transmit data to other computers, they too
> were infected, no matter their function. The only criteria was that the
> computer have enough memory and processing power. Infection and
> destruction in Meshan would've been thorough.
>
> After infection, what they did next would obviously depend on what they
> were infected with. Anything suicidal would likely stay relatively close
> to it's infection point, depending on what sort of incubation period was
> required for the virus to compromise these slightly different vessels.
> But once those suicidal impulses were abandoned for "destroy everyone
> else" urges (doomslayers, et al), then their range expands greatly. I
> don't know if there's a timeline for the mutations. I know that the main
> TNE book says that by 1140 almost all vampire ships are Puppeteers.
>
> Anyway, at some point that outward flow of ships is going to reverse
> direction. I think Meshan gets hit with lots of Doomslayers. I don't
> know if you have a copy, but MJD's /Out of Darkness/ talks about the
> Vargr Extents being hit hard (Meshan included). It states that "by 1140
> most of the old Extents was deep Wilds with the odd island of
> civilization..."
>
> While Meshan's stellar density is less than its rimward neighbor,
> Lishun, it still looks dense enough to me that the whole sector
> collapses. While there are some gaps that require jump-4, these worlds
> have enough closer neighbors that ruin the effectiveness of these
> astrographic buffers. They just require Virus to take a longer route to
> its victim (unless it's in a J4+ ship). I believe a small PE could arise
> from the *rubble*, but not that a fragment of an old state survives.
> Whatever's there, it's going to be weak. Unlike Vland, there aren't any
> buried Ancient war machines to come to their rescue. ;-)
>
> On a separate note, we know about the Vampire Highway that ran from Core
> to near the RC. Could there be others, perhaps one that runs coreward
> through Lishun and Meshan?
>
> \_/
> DED
>
> ================
> Eamon Watters wrote:
>
> A general reply here.
>
> On the effects of Virus on Meshan, one of the factor favouring the
> Domain of Deneb will apply, I think. That is that there will be a net
> flow of raiding ships outward, though it may be less focused on the
> Coreward direction, going spinward toward the Villani periphery. That
> said, there may be rich picking all around.
>
> There's also probably going to be a lack of Deyo transponders on raiding
> ships, and probably on a majority of ships in Meshan. It's also arguable
> if facilities like starports, bases, and small craft are going to have
> the transponder.
>
> States in Meshan may also have had to subsidize shipping to cover
> traders going raider and leaving a deficit in transportation. Will this
> subsidized shipping have Deyo transponders? Are they still being
> exported from the factions of the Imperium?
>
> I'd say given these factors that there's a chance of some state or
> states in Meshan surviving in some reduced form, especially if advanced
> warning is received, or the astrography is favourable to it.
>
>