Re: Odd FT Idea

On 2 Jul 98, at 8:11, NVDoyle@aol.com wrote:

>  Here's a strange one...
>      The Federal Stats Europa consists of France, Spain & Italy, and
their
> clients/colonies.  Those 3 nations are heavily Catholic (may be an
> understatement).  Rome, seat of the Roman Catholic Church, is in
Italy. 
<pedant> The seat of the catholic church is in the Vatican. In terms of
nationality, I think 
that's a separate state. It's not actually (politically) *in* italy,
evben though it is 
geographically. There have been periods of history when the church and
the Italian 
government haven't got on at all..</pedant>

> Could it not be feasible that by this point, the RCC would be rather
> powerful?  The NAC is probably heavily Protestant/Episcopal, The ESU
is
Not necessarily true.  A large proportion of Uk residents are catholic -
and the IR is one of 
the most catholic nations on the planet. Whether the church has any
secular power is a 
different issue to this but the UK is a significantly catholic country,
more as you head 
north. I think it would depend on how much power you think the Royal
Family represents 
within the NAC - since technically the RCC and the Brit Royal Family
don't have a great 
history together.. 

> Communist (a religion all its own), the NSL is probably a
> Protestant/Catholic mix, and the Romanovs are Eastern Orthodox.  With
all
> of the politics going on, I can see the RCC holding great sway in the
FSE.
>  The alliance with the ESU was on of convenience, and was more to
balance
> the NSL than representational of any political proclivity.  
>      What I'm getting to is, couldn't the RCC have colonies of their
own,
>      and
> even a small fleet by now (manned by Swiss, of course)?  FTLs are
cheap,
> and surplus warships are probably available, especially from the FSE. 
I
> just can't help but like the idea of the Vatican Fleet, puttering
around
> the stars, doing missionary-type stuff, and occasionally busting
heads.	I
> think it lends a nice historical flair to the whole setting.	And they
> would be cool to paint.
I think you're talking something similar to the United Nations, but with
a social / religous 
rather than political mandate? Hy, would this give me an excuse to use
my GW Battle 
Sisters for StarGrunt? Kickass!

I know of several cyberpunk 'worlds' where the vatican holds
considerable political clout, 
so it's certainly within the realms. Although, rather than having a set
of mouldy old 
rejects I think a better case might be a very small fleet of very fast
light ships - with the 
understanding that they can call on bigger help if need be. In SG you
could have very 
small squads of highly trained troops operating in liason with your main
force - the 
requirements in terms of battle competence for the Swiss Guard are
actually pretty high, 
to the point where they are facing a bit of a recruiting crisis. Why
does the phrase 
'Vatican Commandoes' pop into my head? Is that a game I've played?

			TTFN
				Jon
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