Re: A new power to deal with, (Stranger Than Fiction)

Laserlight wrote:

> >I can see the OU being a very heterogenous group of island- and
> >asteroidal- states, only united by foreign policy and a common
currency.
> 
> Hey, that's MY concept!  : )	 see the Alarishi Empire at
> www.geocities.com/Area51/Dreamworld/7643/index.html --> FT -->
Alarishi
> Empire.

Great Minds Think Alike. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I
hadn't seen the site before.
 
> >Maybe all those completely useless, planetless M-type stars that are
all
> >over our neighbourhood are "claimed" by the OU, as no-one else wants
> >them, and no-one else is silly enough to place 30-200 colonists in a
> >system to call it home.
> 
> Likewise, we love M stars (or anywhere else that has a rock to call
home).
> Thrity colonists?  Hey, if there's one guy and he wants to claim it,
why
> not?	Of course, he's responsible for defending his claim if needed.

And there's the difference. The OU fleet, pitiful as it is, would engage
in a guerilla-style commerce raiding campaign against anyone other than
one of the 4 major powers who claim-jumps. Usually in places nowhere
near the territory under dispute. Often using covert or cyber-war means.
A network of treaties means they'd always have help from at least one of
the big 4 if anyone bigger tries it on.

Sort of a "Better for someone small and neutral like the OU to have this
useless rock, rather than it be a (insert 3-letter acronym here) base.
Though why Anyone would want it is questionable."

I can also imagine the OU's relationship to the Alarishi empire to be
rather schizoid. They'd be a) The fleet most likely to give active aid
to any Alarishi system under attack, but b) Doing everything they can to
subvert any Alarishi system so that they can move in themselves.

Of course b) also applies to the Alarishi, and they've probably pruned
off a few ex-OU independents.

Just a thought.
 
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