Alien Inflation in the OTU

[BackworldTraveller]

When the Spinward Marches first came out, there were almost no aliens there. Humans and Droyne (who might be considered Natives from some perspectives).
Vargr existed at the edges. So did Aslan.

The Droyne had travelled 6 whole sectors (5 if they jumped the rift) to find aliens that could be used for gene-experimentation. Presumably, nearer aliens didn't exist or were unsuitable. (The Aslan were just 4 sectors away - Too dangerous in -300,000?)

Since then, every sector has gained its own residents, some being quite sophisticated (TL-1) in -300,000.

Has this inflation undermined the whole justification for the Human/Vargr experiment?

 

[Spinward Flow]

Has this inflation

Hardly.
It's more a matter of "the more you look, the more you'll find" (so to speak).

The aliens were always there ... they just hadn't been detailed in "research papers" yet in publications for peer review.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Hardly.
It's more a matter of "the more you look, the more you'll find" (so to speak).

The aliens were always there ... they just hadn't been detailed in "research papers" yet in publications for peer review.

And yet the history of Regina doesn't even mention a major part of the population of the world - presumably the main market for the early trade routes. It's treated as the tablua-rasa

 

[Grav_Moped]

And yet the history of Regina doesn't even mention a major part of the population of the world

Because nobody had written the aborigines up yet.

Different authors writing at different times for different purposes. Sort of unavoidable when you're trying to assemble (or accidentally do assemble) a coherent history from decades of adventure scenario background material, written by people who hadn't seen all of the other material...

 

[Grav_Moped]

That and not having a sense of just how big Charted Space really is, especially before it transitioned to the Big Ship Universe framework.

Case in point (and mild spoiler for DA1): There"s a bottle of Terran booze on Annic Nova. Even granting it the post-facto capabilities it might have had (but didn't originally), it's one heck of a long haul from Earth to the coreward end of Regina Subsector. Most likely when written, the actual distance hadn't been established yet beyond "a long way off".

 

[Timerover51]

That and not having a sense of just how big Charted Space really is, especially before it transitioned to the Big Ship Universe framework.

Case in point (and mild spoiler for DA1): There"s a bottle of Terran booze on Annic Nova. Even granting it the post-facto capabilities it might have had (but didn't originally), it's one heck of a long haul from Earth to the coreward end of Regina Subsector. Most likely when written, the actual distance hadn't been established yet beyond "a long way off".

While the adventure done mention a bottle with a label in Anglic, it does not specifically mention Terra. There is a 50 kilogram bale of tobacco leaves on the ship. The odd thing is that Marc wrote the adventure.

 

[Krikkitone]

When the Spinward Marches first came out, there were almost no aliens there. Humans and Droyne (who might be considered Natives from some perspectives).
Vargr existed at the edges. So did Aslan.

The Droyne had travelled 6 whole sectors (5 if they jumped the rift) to find aliens that could be used for gene-experimentation. Presumably, nearer aliens didn't exist or were unsuitable. (The Aslan were just 4 sectors away - Too dangerous in -300,000?)

Since then, every sector has gained its own residents, some being quite sophisticated (TL-1) in -300,000.

Has this inflation undermined the whole justification for the Human/Vargr experiment?

The in universe justification isn’t that Humans were the closest available. More that the Ancients had already spread that far before they decided to start doing large scale protosophont/geneering etc. Humans/Terrans just became the standard (like fruit flies). Perhaps at -300k the variety of hominids made for a good research test, and someone picked up canids from the same world for comparison studies.

 

[GypsyComet]

300,000 years is a long time, and some of what is now present may not have shown the same potential, or had other issues.

By the time CT wrapped, there were Crawni in Glisten, Llellewyloly and Ebokin in Aramis, Chirpers in Rhylanor, and Shriekers in District 268. An unnamed "primitive" native population that got swept under the rug and forgotten in Lunion. And of course the Nexxies and Darrians. The natives of Faldor may also date from CT. The art that would later be identified as the Amindii is from CT JTAS.


GT Behind the Claw added many of the rest, but the Marches have had a notable alien selection for ~40 years.

 

[infojunky]

Hum, looking at the various publication dates of the Spinward Marches and then jTas the population seems ok by me...