Now I am confused. Do you mean the titles in my signature?
Those are the T5 Nobility Patent Cards that I have received to date from Mark Miller.
(So yes, the Rhylanor device is of some interest to me and/or the character they are associated with
)
The Congress of Arden
- Thread starter rancke
- Start date
Now I am confused. Do you mean the titles in my signature?
Those are the T5 Nobility Patent Cards that I have received to date from Mark Miller.
(So yes, the Rhylanor device is of some interest to me and/or the character they are associated with
)Yesterday I was planning to write a post about how it all made perfect sense1. The Zhodani were trying to activate the device on Rhylanor and devastate all worlds for 30 parsecs around, thus making sure the Imperium wouldn't encroach on the Consulate no more. Might be a bit hard on Chronor and a few other Zhodani worlds, but most of the Consulate would escape the consequences.
But now I gather that the Rhylanor device is supposed to protect against the Empress Wave and that the effect spreads at the speed of light. Which means that every three years' delay in activating the device means another parsec's worth of Zhodani worlds hit by the Wave, right? And instead of telling the Imperium about the problem and offering them the loan of the key thingy2, they embark on the First and Second Frontier War, then take a 400 year break before launching the 3rd Frontier War, then wait another 100 years before they try again?!? That's 500 years' delay, or a band of systems four sectors broad hit by the Wave while they were futzing around!!!
Obviously I must be misunderstanding something. Please enlighten me, because as it is now my belief suspenders are not just broken, they're in tatters.
1 Although I still preferred the pre-retcon Zhodani motive for starting the frontier wars.
2 This was before the frontier wars when all that enmity and suspicion wasn't there.
2 This was before the frontier wars when all that enmity and suspicion wasn't there.
How did it get activated? Did the Zhodani have an attack of sanity and give the Key to Norris or did he find a spare key lying around?
Um... what is the Lorenverse? Is it the part of the Official Traveller Universe that Loren developed while he was acting with the full authority to shape the Official Traveller Universe?
Hans
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I believe the Rhylanor device (i.e. the third device) was only discovered by the Zhodani Tozjabr within the 50-75 years leading up to the 5th FW (IIRC).
The Lorenverse is the tongue-in-cheek name given to the GT "alternate" timeline.
In that case I must have misunderstood the claim that the Rhylanor device was the motive for the frontier wars. It's only the motive for the 5th Frontier War. And it's "only" a band of stars 20 parsecs wide that gets lost to the futzing around. That makes... no more sense than the version I previously thought was the true one.
I'll grant that with the suspicion and hatred of the 11th Century, being straight with the Imperium would be more difficult, but with someone like Strephon on the Irridium Throne it might well have been worth a shot.
But if the device can't be shut down once activated, the problem is simply reversed and become smuggling the Key down on Rhylanor and using it to activate the device.
Or planting the Key somewhere and letting the Imperials find it. That one might make for a lovely adventure.
Hans
Indeed, they've had more than 6000 years, and plenty of time for the worlds affected by the first accident to recover. Can we expect that they managed to make a small safe zone in the Zdiedeiant sector?
Still doesn't exactly explain the war. With a fair chunk of Zhodani space already overtaken, the best they can hope for is to secretly turn it on while they're in town, thereby saving the people they just went to war with. Even if they hold onto it, they can't exactly ship the populations of entire worlds into the Marches.
(So yes, the Rhylanor device is of some interest to me and/or the character they are associated with
Nice title then.
As far as I'm aware the Rhylanor 'device' is huge and bigger than the one in Zho space, which would create a larger zone of effect.
I think the Zho's planned to activate their one as well at the same time, which implies two 'keys' (and the keys are pretty big) and enlarge the 'protected' zone, assuming they get their setting right this time.
Regards
David
That is my understanding as well.
That would imply that the Zhodani were willing to gamble that they could capture Rhylanor, send a message to wherever the other device is located, and keep control of Rhylanor -- one specific part of Rhylanor in particular -- for several months. Possibly they could, but it's quite a gamble.
Hans
