Guys, you know that I love the Third Imperium. When Megatraveller came out with its vision of a 3I already fallen, and the history of its destruction from the Assassination of Strephon to the Virus, I kind of lost it for a bit. It was like watching the B5 episode "Sleeping In Light;" a sad event that you never quite forget, and yet wish you had never got to see.
Much though I'm pretty resigned to the ultimate end of the 3I, you know what? I would like to see its ending take a good couple of centuries, and begin gradually rather than explosively with Strephon's death.
Megatraveller's Rebellion plotline came too suddenly. The only reason why that happened at all, other than MWM's authorly fiat, was that the seeds of the Rebellion has been planted a long time before. The 3I, rather than being this lovely place to live in a Golden Age of Humanity, was like an overtaut drum membrane that somebody had tuned too high. Something stretched to breaking point. Something that had to give. One drumbeat too hard, in the right place ...
Strephon's death, taking place hundreds of light years away, was not that drumbeat. The drumbeat that ruptures the Third Imperium should have three very specific characteristics.
One. It should appear innocuous, at least to the witnesses. A plane crashes, killing everybody on board; an Imperial J-6 X-boat Misjumps into the wrong system, its pilot dead, carrying a cargo not meant for the locals. It is only much later, when the rip spreads across the stars, that history will record this incident as A Step Too far - e.g. the plane was carrying an Imperial Diplomat on a mission to end a war; his failure to arrive meant that the war would continue, and spread throughout the 3I ultimately bringing it down: or the X-Boat's message might have contained a warning to the local Duke or Archduke which, because it never arrived, went unheeded, meaning that the Duke blithely walked right into a trap set by his enemies - a death which had profound repercussions rebounding throughout the Imperium).
Two. The event should happen within an adventure, whether as part of the adventure or as an event that takes place in the story that happens to be incidental to the adventure, e.g. the plane crash happens a mere ten kilometres from the characters' location, forcing the characters to get drafted by the local LEOs to participate in Search and Rescue operations: or maybe the characters encounter the stricken X-boat while exploring the outlying reaches of the star system looking for salvage or an icy comet to mine for fuel.
Three. The event should involve the player characters at some point, whether incidentally as eyewitnesses ("Honestly, it just seemed to turn in mid-air and then just go into a tailspin, billowing black smoke from its engines!") or centrally ("Getting no response from the pilot, Captain. Maybe it was an automated X-boat." "They haven't built technology that advanced back in Capital. Take no chances. Assume the pilot's incapacitated, not missing or dead. Alert Status Seven: Ship In Distress. We're going in.")
In any event, the characters must be right at the scene, whether they have a chance to try to put things right or not. Let's not have something happening a thousand light years away, and suddenly it all turns to dust.
Don't have Strephon assassinated in Capital. Have him visit the Marches and die there, on the steps of the Ducal residence in Regina, or wherever in the Imperium the characters happen to be adventuring in.
The rest can then proceed as originally outlined. At least the characters can say that they were there when it all went toes up.
Much though I'm pretty resigned to the ultimate end of the 3I, you know what? I would like to see its ending take a good couple of centuries, and begin gradually rather than explosively with Strephon's death.
Megatraveller's Rebellion plotline came too suddenly. The only reason why that happened at all, other than MWM's authorly fiat, was that the seeds of the Rebellion has been planted a long time before. The 3I, rather than being this lovely place to live in a Golden Age of Humanity, was like an overtaut drum membrane that somebody had tuned too high. Something stretched to breaking point. Something that had to give. One drumbeat too hard, in the right place ...
Strephon's death, taking place hundreds of light years away, was not that drumbeat. The drumbeat that ruptures the Third Imperium should have three very specific characteristics.
One. It should appear innocuous, at least to the witnesses. A plane crashes, killing everybody on board; an Imperial J-6 X-boat Misjumps into the wrong system, its pilot dead, carrying a cargo not meant for the locals. It is only much later, when the rip spreads across the stars, that history will record this incident as A Step Too far - e.g. the plane was carrying an Imperial Diplomat on a mission to end a war; his failure to arrive meant that the war would continue, and spread throughout the 3I ultimately bringing it down: or the X-Boat's message might have contained a warning to the local Duke or Archduke which, because it never arrived, went unheeded, meaning that the Duke blithely walked right into a trap set by his enemies - a death which had profound repercussions rebounding throughout the Imperium).
Two. The event should happen within an adventure, whether as part of the adventure or as an event that takes place in the story that happens to be incidental to the adventure, e.g. the plane crash happens a mere ten kilometres from the characters' location, forcing the characters to get drafted by the local LEOs to participate in Search and Rescue operations: or maybe the characters encounter the stricken X-boat while exploring the outlying reaches of the star system looking for salvage or an icy comet to mine for fuel.
Three. The event should involve the player characters at some point, whether incidentally as eyewitnesses ("Honestly, it just seemed to turn in mid-air and then just go into a tailspin, billowing black smoke from its engines!") or centrally ("Getting no response from the pilot, Captain. Maybe it was an automated X-boat." "They haven't built technology that advanced back in Capital. Take no chances. Assume the pilot's incapacitated, not missing or dead. Alert Status Seven: Ship In Distress. We're going in.")
In any event, the characters must be right at the scene, whether they have a chance to try to put things right or not. Let's not have something happening a thousand light years away, and suddenly it all turns to dust.
Don't have Strephon assassinated in Capital. Have him visit the Marches and die there, on the steps of the Ducal residence in Regina, or wherever in the Imperium the characters happen to be adventuring in.
The rest can then proceed as originally outlined. At least the characters can say that they were there when it all went toes up.