Based on Uxi's msg:
By the way, Uxi reminded me. Re: Empress Wave, I was having a conversation
with Uxi maybe a year ago about the EW, and I was trying to remember why
the EW wasn't doing more damage and thereby making itself more visible,
and why Strephon's vision of "her" was of a timeless "pregnant moment"
instead of "biff, bam, zowie." In talking to Uxi I did remember and wanted
to drop this out there.
As recounted elsewhere, the EW is a physical effect that changes the
permeability between N-space and Psi-space which allows some
effects/energies to come in from psi-space. But it is not always
immediately destructive. The reason for this is that those energies are
not coming in at a constant rate, they are discrete events that can be
separated by long periods of inactivity, and the picture transmitted to
Strephon's mind was the "test pattern" during a period of inactivity.
Periods of activity would be the result of a couple things.
1) Processes within psi-space itself that we don't understand, because
they are not triggered by events in N-space.
2) Processes within N-space, mostly related to the Zhodani Core
Expeditions. While it would have been nice if that could have been timed
to precisely match dates recorded in the CT Zhodani book, factually that
would have been unlikely, and just really good serendipity if the math
worked out that way. The data points that we have are: distance from
Imperial border to Galactic Core, departure times of Zhodani core
expeditions, and closest approach to GC of each of those. Those
expeditions were not "take a whole fleet out, bring the whole fleet back,"
but successive pushing out of base camps from the far end of the most
recent expedition. In between expeditions settlements or outposts remained
behind along the explored path. Where these were established on Ancients
sites, the "digs" would have continued over time. At any point those digs
could have found or triggered something which would cause Psi-space
activity.
Why, logically, did not the Consulate permanently expand its borders down
the CoreEx path? Probably because their boundaries were drawn on the
original Known Space map and it was easier to leave them that way than
start making all kinds of little red client state bubbles heading off the
top of the map.
The Zho did, obviously have experience behind the EW, much of it
unspectacular, and when it was, the effects were contained way outside its
borders. But one event did affect the Consulate as seen in a TNS article
discussing battle damaged Zho ships, collected somewhere in SM. This was
to ships operating in the CoreEx corridor, maintaining lines of
communication to the outposts. And another bad one happened more recently
leading to the Exodus. I believe this was going to have to do with the
testing of Ancient artifacts with the involvement of a large number of
high-level Zho nobles which backfired.
Also, I was thinking about Longbow in the last couple weeks and how the
main requirement was not total baseline length, it was signal strength and
creation of multiple baseline segments: filling in the holes within the
baseline to create the highest resolution picture. I thought that not only
would IN ships routinely record data from the area being studied and pass
it in (with precise time and location data for synchronization), but the
same way that it was big a few years ago to share your PC's processor time
to help SETI, privately-owned ships could pick up a small subsidy from the
government for turning in properly recorded data as they went about their
business. In order to record this properly and be eligible for the
subsidies, you would have to have a certain quality of EMS sensor
calibrated properly as well as a system that could time and location stamp
it for synchronization. This would probably require installation at a
Scout or Naval base. As I was thinking about TNE, Virus, and BSG's
Nav-based Virus, I thought, "hey, this distributed Auxiliary VLBI
collection system (DAVLBICS) might have been an interesting vector to
think about Virus infection."
However, the problem with all of this is that when you take seriously the
ability of the Imperium to use its physical dimensions and number of
locations to do VLBI, and the kind of advanced image processing algorithms
they'll have then, they will pretty much know what is out around them
without ever having to go there, and the idea of things beyond their
borders being "unknown" is really not true. That tends to undermine the
classic SF assumptions of frontiers and mysteries when you can track
Zhodani CoreEx starships hundreds or thousands of pc away. Granted, that
info is 3.26 years old per pc, so makes it of limited use when tracking
those starships, but for planetary survey that's close enough to real
time. If you were a colonist you could pull up a 3D image of the surface
of a world and draw up a VR homestead on it, even if you won't arrive
there for years.
And the above paragraph accepts the notion that there are issues with how
one interprets the 2D Traveller map compared to the 3D reality it
represents. As a basic embedded abstraction in Traveller, that is one of
the things we try not to talk about, but when you're computing VLBI
baseline segments, the question is begged pretty quickly. Is there really
so Z axis, or is there a small one that is washed out? Who knows.
> I was thinking on your idea of Psionic echos in Jumpspace to let psions
communicate with those long long dead, as well, > though it would only
be apparent in certain extreme misjumps (or behind the Empress Wave).
>
> - Sent from my SM-N900T
> On Mar 26, 2014 2:10 PM, <> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I enjoy that approach as well. History saying, "look, I'm playing out
>> the way I play out. Individuals and details and events don't matter. Silly
>> organic lifeforms. 'Cause and effect.' How droll."
>> I like the Ithklur/Hiver reversal, just can't think of a rejoinder yet.
>> > Or Cleon's little known rival Selcirep takes over Sylea and little
net
>> > change other than a bunch of names in old books a thousand years
>> later.
>> >
>> > Or different Terrans/Vilani whoever cause them later by leaving
behind
>> > their trash and the footnotes behind the discovery & development are
>> the
>> > only change.
>> >
>> > Lucky/unlucky PC discover by tinkering with the doowacky on the
thingamajig
>> > that unrefined Droyne in the Jump Drive cause them to Slide into
>> parallel
>> > universes where the main PC's double is seen with a beard and eye
>> patch
>> > (or
>> > without if that's how he rolls)... Where the Ithklur's warrior
servant
>> > Hivers resist the domination of their emotionless masters & insist on
calling Soccer "Football" and have a large repertoire of Hooligan
>> trivia
>> > in
>> > between their warrior - brood larvae gestations.
>> >
>> >
>> > - Sent from my SM-N900T
>> > On Mar 26, 2014 12:09 PM, <> wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> >> However, there must be some kind of rules preventing you from
>> blowing
>> >> up worlds that become Capital, Hub, etc., killing Cleon, destroying
>> all
>> >> the Cymbeline chips... :-)
>> >> > I gained an interesting perspective on this from, of all things, a
>> >> time
>> >> travel novel called "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis, in
which
>> >> > a future time travelling society labors to save historical
>> artifacts
>> >> from
>> >> > Earth's past without altering history in the process. They do so
by
>> >> only
>> >> > grabbing things with have become "lost" to history, often at the
>> last
>> >> second of their known existence.
>> >>
>> >> That gives me an idea for some amusing one-off time travel
scenarios.
>> >>
>> >> Some PCs in Mileu 0 are going to kill Cleon, but that would prevent
>> the
>> >> First Imperium from being established, so the Canon/Time Police have
>> to
>> >> come in and prevent the players from doing so.
>> >>
>> >> Or time-travelling PCs decide to wipe out the Cymbeline chips to
>> prevent
>> >> Virus from happening. Or prevent the Solomani cruiser from ever
>> crashing
>> >> there. But then it turns out that without Virus Lucan would have
won,
>> >> and
>> >> that was even worse, so the Canon/Time Police have to go back and
prevent
>> >> that prevention from happening.
>> >>
>> >> Like Laumer's Dinosaur Beach where all of the successive
>> "corrections"
>> >> to
>> >> the past riddle the "time fabric" with so many holes that it
>> eventually
>> >> goes into heat death. I've always thought that Dino Beach was the
>> last
>> >> word on time travel because it presents its logical conclusion.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>
By the way, Uxi reminded me. Re: Empress Wave, I was having a conversation
with Uxi maybe a year ago about the EW, and I was trying to remember why
the EW wasn't doing more damage and thereby making itself more visible,
and why Strephon's vision of "her" was of a timeless "pregnant moment"
instead of "biff, bam, zowie." In talking to Uxi I did remember and wanted
to drop this out there.
As recounted elsewhere, the EW is a physical effect that changes the
permeability between N-space and Psi-space which allows some
effects/energies to come in from psi-space. But it is not always
immediately destructive. The reason for this is that those energies are
not coming in at a constant rate, they are discrete events that can be
separated by long periods of inactivity, and the picture transmitted to
Strephon's mind was the "test pattern" during a period of inactivity.
Periods of activity would be the result of a couple things.
1) Processes within psi-space itself that we don't understand, because
they are not triggered by events in N-space.
2) Processes within N-space, mostly related to the Zhodani Core
Expeditions. While it would have been nice if that could have been timed
to precisely match dates recorded in the CT Zhodani book, factually that
would have been unlikely, and just really good serendipity if the math
worked out that way. The data points that we have are: distance from
Imperial border to Galactic Core, departure times of Zhodani core
expeditions, and closest approach to GC of each of those. Those
expeditions were not "take a whole fleet out, bring the whole fleet back,"
but successive pushing out of base camps from the far end of the most
recent expedition. In between expeditions settlements or outposts remained
behind along the explored path. Where these were established on Ancients
sites, the "digs" would have continued over time. At any point those digs
could have found or triggered something which would cause Psi-space
activity.
Why, logically, did not the Consulate permanently expand its borders down
the CoreEx path? Probably because their boundaries were drawn on the
original Known Space map and it was easier to leave them that way than
start making all kinds of little red client state bubbles heading off the
top of the map.
The Zho did, obviously have experience behind the EW, much of it
unspectacular, and when it was, the effects were contained way outside its
borders. But one event did affect the Consulate as seen in a TNS article
discussing battle damaged Zho ships, collected somewhere in SM. This was
to ships operating in the CoreEx corridor, maintaining lines of
communication to the outposts. And another bad one happened more recently
leading to the Exodus. I believe this was going to have to do with the
testing of Ancient artifacts with the involvement of a large number of
high-level Zho nobles which backfired.
Also, I was thinking about Longbow in the last couple weeks and how the
main requirement was not total baseline length, it was signal strength and
creation of multiple baseline segments: filling in the holes within the
baseline to create the highest resolution picture. I thought that not only
would IN ships routinely record data from the area being studied and pass
it in (with precise time and location data for synchronization), but the
same way that it was big a few years ago to share your PC's processor time
to help SETI, privately-owned ships could pick up a small subsidy from the
government for turning in properly recorded data as they went about their
business. In order to record this properly and be eligible for the
subsidies, you would have to have a certain quality of EMS sensor
calibrated properly as well as a system that could time and location stamp
it for synchronization. This would probably require installation at a
Scout or Naval base. As I was thinking about TNE, Virus, and BSG's
Nav-based Virus, I thought, "hey, this distributed Auxiliary VLBI
collection system (DAVLBICS) might have been an interesting vector to
think about Virus infection."
However, the problem with all of this is that when you take seriously the
ability of the Imperium to use its physical dimensions and number of
locations to do VLBI, and the kind of advanced image processing algorithms
they'll have then, they will pretty much know what is out around them
without ever having to go there, and the idea of things beyond their
borders being "unknown" is really not true. That tends to undermine the
classic SF assumptions of frontiers and mysteries when you can track
Zhodani CoreEx starships hundreds or thousands of pc away. Granted, that
info is 3.26 years old per pc, so makes it of limited use when tracking
those starships, but for planetary survey that's close enough to real
time. If you were a colonist you could pull up a 3D image of the surface
of a world and draw up a VR homestead on it, even if you won't arrive
there for years.
And the above paragraph accepts the notion that there are issues with how
one interprets the 2D Traveller map compared to the 3D reality it
represents. As a basic embedded abstraction in Traveller, that is one of
the things we try not to talk about, but when you're computing VLBI
baseline segments, the question is begged pretty quickly. Is there really
so Z axis, or is there a small one that is washed out? Who knows.
> I was thinking on your idea of Psionic echos in Jumpspace to let psions
communicate with those long long dead, as well, > though it would only
be apparent in certain extreme misjumps (or behind the Empress Wave).
>
> - Sent from my SM-N900T
> On Mar 26, 2014 2:10 PM, <> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I enjoy that approach as well. History saying, "look, I'm playing out
>> the way I play out. Individuals and details and events don't matter. Silly
>> organic lifeforms. 'Cause and effect.' How droll."
>> I like the Ithklur/Hiver reversal, just can't think of a rejoinder yet.
>> > Or Cleon's little known rival Selcirep takes over Sylea and little
net
>> > change other than a bunch of names in old books a thousand years
>> later.
>> >
>> > Or different Terrans/Vilani whoever cause them later by leaving
behind
>> > their trash and the footnotes behind the discovery & development are
>> the
>> > only change.
>> >
>> > Lucky/unlucky PC discover by tinkering with the doowacky on the
thingamajig
>> > that unrefined Droyne in the Jump Drive cause them to Slide into
>> parallel
>> > universes where the main PC's double is seen with a beard and eye
>> patch
>> > (or
>> > without if that's how he rolls)... Where the Ithklur's warrior
servant
>> > Hivers resist the domination of their emotionless masters & insist on
calling Soccer "Football" and have a large repertoire of Hooligan
>> trivia
>> > in
>> > between their warrior - brood larvae gestations.
>> >
>> >
>> > - Sent from my SM-N900T
>> > On Mar 26, 2014 12:09 PM, <> wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> >> However, there must be some kind of rules preventing you from
>> blowing
>> >> up worlds that become Capital, Hub, etc., killing Cleon, destroying
>> all
>> >> the Cymbeline chips... :-)
>> >> > I gained an interesting perspective on this from, of all things, a
>> >> time
>> >> travel novel called "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis, in
which
>> >> > a future time travelling society labors to save historical
>> artifacts
>> >> from
>> >> > Earth's past without altering history in the process. They do so
by
>> >> only
>> >> > grabbing things with have become "lost" to history, often at the
>> last
>> >> second of their known existence.
>> >>
>> >> That gives me an idea for some amusing one-off time travel
scenarios.
>> >>
>> >> Some PCs in Mileu 0 are going to kill Cleon, but that would prevent
>> the
>> >> First Imperium from being established, so the Canon/Time Police have
>> to
>> >> come in and prevent the players from doing so.
>> >>
>> >> Or time-travelling PCs decide to wipe out the Cymbeline chips to
>> prevent
>> >> Virus from happening. Or prevent the Solomani cruiser from ever
>> crashing
>> >> there. But then it turns out that without Virus Lucan would have
won,
>> >> and
>> >> that was even worse, so the Canon/Time Police have to go back and
prevent
>> >> that prevention from happening.
>> >>
>> >> Like Laumer's Dinosaur Beach where all of the successive
>> "corrections"
>> >> to
>> >> the past riddle the "time fabric" with so many holes that it
>> eventually
>> >> goes into heat death. I've always thought that Dino Beach was the
>> last
>> >> word on time travel because it presents its logical conclusion.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>