Why did Solomani colonists during the Rule of Man and the Long Night not go rimward?

[Socrates8]

It did actually get explained quite nicely in Gurps Interstellar Wars: the difference between both directions was that Corewards were already settled areas where Solomani settlers would have a social bonus during the Rule of Man. In effect: you go to one of the Vilani worlds and all of a sudden you are at the top of society, just because you are a Solomani and Solomani rule the Rule of Man.
In comparison the areas Coreward are undeveloped and do not have these advantages, so only a certain kind of person would go there. Settlement would still happen, but much slower than into the other direction.
The Solomani sphere is actually not so small. And I guess that a lot more of settlement effort went rimward and dispersed there.

 

[flykiller]

why didn't they go rimward?

because that's where the paper in the original book map ended. "here be dragons."

given 1) a decentralized culture, 2) racist superiority, 3) entrepreneurial spirit, and 4) the high tech resources of the core worlds, rimward would be the spinward marches frontier x10000.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Actually, in MTU they did. It's the origin of my ATU - very far rimward.

 

[77topaz]

There are numerous small states rimward of the Solomani Confederation visible on TravellerMap - this seems to indicate Solomani colonists did go there. There is also the "Operation Perseus" expedition which I believe is mentioned in "Solomani and Aslan".
IMTU, rimward travel did occur, establishing numerous pocket empires, client states and outposts; it's just that these are mostly not very well-known in the Imperium (because of matters of distance and the Confederation).

 

[pennshome723]

You could always use the element that there was/is some yet unknown alien culture out there that destroyed a number of the colonies of mankind, but pulled back when they realized there were alot more of them then they had thought. Maybe the colonies they destroyed are in their buff region, and the #I just has not encountered them yet. Maybe anyone that has, did not survive the meeting. You know shoot first, eat later. Human taste like chicken!!!

 

[kafka47]

Didn't GT have some sort of Alien Race that turned them into zombies or some other nonsense that prevented a massive Rimward expansion. I have always assumed the ROM expanded in all directions but the borders of the Empire were loosely defined just as any interstellar border.

So, yes, I see the potential for all sorts of Lost Colonies that a later Confederation would have to absorb. Given that the Rim has analogues to the South (here we would be talking about the Deep South) - these redneck survivalists would even be difficult for the Confederation to absorb. So, there is mainly a policy of gradual expansion as suggested in the MgT Solomani module. Furthermore, most of these civilizations would have have lost the knowledge of the Jump Drive, as materials and that fall into disrepair. I never underestimate Solomani ingenuity to recreate the Jump Drive but maybe those Jump Lines** are frayed.

Also, the ROM was busy consolidating an Empire on different lines than the Vilani and having a miserable time at that - so resources spent to exploration would be using the "new" Jump-3 engines and establishing waypoints that previously the Vilani could not access, as well as deal with the Vargr and Aslan menace, countering the Hiver incursion and investigating the K'kree as well as keeping the Vilani happy. Kinda reminds one of the old joke - what is the ideal Europe - English politics, French philosophy, German economy...instead, the reality is more like French politics, English economy and German philosophy. I see the ROM as a very Balkanized space very much akin to the Islamic civilization after to the 1700s when the discovery of the New World and better navigation/military technology rendered a fragmentation of the caliphs.

**Jump Space travels in straight lines because the Ancients were also hyperspatial engineers - taking the wild hyperspace and imposing order upon it. They did not have a galaxy wide or warp drive. But, their massive boring machines created the weaves for J1-6 until they discovered portal technology. Much as canals preceded good highways but often followed the same trade routes.

 

[McPerth]

IIRC there are also Rimward Terran (latter solomani) colonies, but the main effort for the Terrans was into the Empire, and I guess most of its colonial ressources and capabilities were used to absorb it, leaving the Rimward nore unofficial colonization, probably by groups fleeing for some reason (political, religious, etc.).

In any case, the Rimward is not a desert, and thre are many small political unities that I guess are the result of this minor expansión from Earth.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

I agree with the general thrust of what others have said.

I'd say that their was a unknown but significant amount of expansion rimwards during the Rule of Man, but few records have survived though to 2000-3000 years of war, strife, and history to be known about in the "present". after the fall of the RoM, then these colonies went their own way, some fading, some managing to hang on, much the same as the rest of charted space.

what's out their now is more or less unknown. the Imperials haven't had direct control of the rim ward edge of the imperium since the year 704, when the Solomani sphere was created. For the last 400 years, the imperials have been getting a watered down and distorted version of what is happening rim ward of terra. you could put pretty much anything you wanted their.

 

[McPerth]

An interesting aside :

Let's assume some of those colonies were founded during the IW and lost contact as the main Terran effort was directed towards the Vilani Empire. They prospered in their own zones while the ROM and even while the Long Night, but losing any tenuous contact they had with the former Imperium, and keeping more or less a socitey not tainted by the Solomani superiority ideology, but more close to today's societies (of course evolutioned with the time).

What will be their posture when recontacted by Solomani scouts in the "present" of CT?

What steps would SolSec take to avoid those more "pure" Terran cultures reach the Solomani sphere, as they might be quite dangerous to the Solomani stablishement for people to know how really was Terran cuture before IW?

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

by simply denouncing them as "deviant colonies that have corrupted the True Solomani Way while isolated form Sol", or something similar.

After all, if everyone already knows what Solomani history is, why would they question just because some hicks on a backwater planet no one as even heard of say different?

when you control the mainstream, it's fairly easy to, well, control the mainstream. All it would it take would be enough government sponsors historians to nit-pick the evidence, and find "inconsistences" or "anomalies", and hey presto, your lost colony is just projecting it's current ethos and culture onto the past in order to justify it's present (ie. what the Solomani are doing!)

 

[kafka47]

Building upon this, these would be scarred societies and utopian at the same time. They have been scarred by creating a society based upon fleeing political, religious, or whatever persecution - otherwise, why not join the great war effort against the Vilani. But, the same time tried to create idealized communities without Vilani taint.

So, as I said, these are good ole boys from the Deep South/Rim. And, I do not want to offend Southern Pride, but, there are some within that movement that take things to the extreme, as viewed by outsiders. Conversely, the colonies could be landgrabs set up a victorious ROM awarding these territories to noteworthy service personnel (as they dictated they wanted something closer to Terra not Vland) - thus, these settlers could be akin the Freikorps and we all know that those people were capable of. Now, imagine entire Pocket Empires populated by said individuals - growing a Dynasty of multiple interlocking power bias only to find their sphere of influences contracting before just limited to a couple of systems.

Then, the Refugees from the War of Solomani Liberty recontact them. Sure, we will provide you the muscle for your weakened armed forces but there is a price to be paid. And, blood will be paid with blood.

On the issue of the Sphere, I always viewed that as an appeasement tactic of Margaret. Give the Solomani nobles, a sandbox in which they could create a parallel Imperium - take the best ideas and incorporate it into the mainstay Imperium. But, as Solomani Nobles grabbed power, so did the Solomani populace. This usually came through the heretical practice of electing their Nobles (sometimes for life or sometimes for a short time) but in anyhow - the Solomani Party has its roots in Nobles trying to sway a population of rebellious Solomani worlds and Solomani worlds trying to change the Imperium. And, it is not be construed as a modern political party until after the Solomani Rim War. And, even afterwards, party is more of a debating society. It then takes on more meaning as republicanism takes hold, but, the Sphere/Confederation is just that a loose association of worlds/pocket empires that is only slowly consolidating. And, when the Rimward boys see this ramshackle affair they are determined to do something about it.

Hence, the Rimward colonies play a critical role in restructuring and reorganizing the Confederation into a viable political polity but their price is being applied. And, that is where scarred and utopian (however distopian they may seem to us) comes into play.

 

[mike wightman]

The Terrans launched sublight colony ships in a couple of direction, notably towards the Islands subsectors and the Hinterworlds/Spica.

It's probably ok to speculate some stl colony ships were launched rimward also.

No effort was made by the Rule of Man to intercept the colony ships we know about so there could well be pocket empires based around the rimward colony ships that have had no contact with the Imperium/Solomani.

Now consider the rimward expedition that in mentioned in Rats and Cats, I forget how many of those expedition ships are still unaccounted for.

What if they have discovered a lost colony similar to the Islands set up. A loose confederation or independant worlds maintaining contact via stl ships. What would the Solomani expedition commander do I wonder?

 

[kafka47]

First Contact procedures, for the Pocket Empire, can be taken from the Department of Homeland Security and NSA doctrines on the subject: Assess, Evaluate, Assimilate. Failing that fall back to Naval Doctrines - Exterminate or Isolate. MgT has quite a bit of things between the lines on how the Solomani deal with outsiders. As human is quite broadly defined in the far future - but the Solomani have their own definition.