Why is the Imperial Navy so bad at indoctrinating recruits?

[aramis]

Refusal to obey an unconfirmed Emperor is a dicey game - If Craig had a thought in his head that Lucan COULD emerge the one clear emperor, he'd have sent token ships, instead.

His Homage isn't mentioned in MT's RebSB. His sector's POPULAR support is. (MT RSB p64)

Duke Craig leads the 1118 refusal to obey. He starts the disobedience by sending an appeal (apparently as a stall for time) and then promptly leads a council to reject the Imperium of Lucan if said appeal isn't granted. (ibid.)

There is no question that the nobility of Diabei are, per RSB, NOT "loyal" to Lucan in any way.

 

[Carlobrand]

I can't help thinking that if the Imperial Navy was as regionally factionalized as is claimed, then Corridor would not have been overrun by Vargr. Corridor fleet followed its orders, and Corridor paid the price for it.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the men in uniform are TOO well indoctrinated. The rank and file follow orders, even as the sector admirals fling them against each other in fratricidal combat. If their first duty was in fact to the people and the Imperium as a body, rather than to a dysfunctional chain of command that terminates at the first influential noble who sees advantage in pursuing his own ends, we might have seen greater resistance to commands that ordered fleets to destroy fellow fleets and lay waste to civilian targets.

Maybe that's the reason so many of us retirees decide to flout the law in our various retirement adventures: after serving honorably for many years, only to see our comrades suffer and our own career prospects curtailed as a consequence of petty political maneuvering and self-serving hypocrisy among the nobles and flag staff, we'd become cynical.

Or maybe that's just me.

 

[travlar]

Whatever is true about Lucan's illegitimacy is even more so for her.

Um, not really. Lucan's 'illegitimacy' comes from suspicion in Varion's death, and then his subsequent actions, which arguably indicate guilt on his part, and certainly aren't the actions of the emperor you want to support. Whereas Margaret only has distance of relation, and is a reasonable choice if both Lucan and Dulinor are rejected. IMO, from the events described, it's quite probable that Lucan did, in fact, kill Varion, or have him killed, and whether he did or no, he then used heavy-handed maneuvers to take control.

I could well believe admirals and nobles hearing about that deciding against supporting Lucan, particularly in the cases where there is a hostile power on the border. If the Corridor Fleet had also refused to leave, Corridor wouldn't have fallen. (Although it still seems iffy to me that it did, unless a bunch of Vargr states actually agreed to launch attacks at the same time, or something.) Antares is, perhaps, a bit odd, since they had no hostile power, but they could have decided that there was no emperor to support, because the moot hadn't confirmed anyone, and Dulinor arguably didn't take the appropriate actions to claim right of assassination, which means it isn't entirely unreasonable to sit out. Remember, loyalty to the emperor is NOT the same as loyalty to Lucan or Dulinor, both of whom would, I think, seem like very poor choices to follow.

 

[rancke]

Dulinor arguably didn't take the appropriate actions to claim right of assassination...

Is there any canonical indication that anyone other than Dulinor recognized the Right of Assasination as being valid by the time of the Classic Era? Even theoretically? I know there's a quote from a library data entry, but IIRC that was a database controlled by Dulinor's partisans. Were there any other references?


Hans

 

[travlar]

Is there any canonical indication that anyone other than Dulinor recognized the Right of Assasination as being valid by the time of the Classic Era? Even theoretically? I know there's a quote from a library data entry, but IIRC that was a database controlled by Dulinor's partisans. Were there any other references?


Hans

I'm not sure. The MT library data, though, is supposedly from the point of view of the Domain of Deneb, I think, and there's also Referee's information on it that should be written from an out of universe perspective. IIRC, it wasn't ever expected to be used again, and the precedent is a little complicated, and further complicated by the fact that the Barracks Emperors were never confirmed by the Moot, adding the question of whether or not it's necessary. I don't remember ever seeing anything that suggested that people thought it was invalid, but neither do I remember for sure anything saying that it is considered valid, either. I would guess, though, that it's one of those traditions that no one thinks about, and would only be expected to be used again in the case of an insane Emperor, or something like that.

 

[Whipsnade]

In your opinion, why do the uniformed services of the 3I so readily divide into separate factions?

For the same reason the nobility, megacorps, and hi-pop worlds all readily divided into separate factions: POETIC LICENSE.

As with the Alien Incursions, you cannot read too much into a deliberately chosen design element of the Rebellion because, when you do, all you'll see are the fingerprints of the game's designers and not a plausible in-game explanation.