Re: Brian's comments on naming - my (sort of) rebuttal

On Wed, 11 October 2000, "Barclay, Tom" wrote:

> I think it quite possible that a peerage could be
> established in the States and Canada. Heck, Conrad Black is fighting
for it!
> <in joke for Canadians>

Personally, I see the NAC losing this aspect of British culture, or
having it f
ade away like the French monarchy. If you're looking for an analogy to
the Brit
ish monarchy in the NAC, check out how Dan Simmons did it in his
Hyperion novel
s. "Sad King Billy" is actually William, the Kind of Great Britain. Of
course, 
he has no authority and is simply the guy of noble birth who, if you
traced bac
k his ancestors, would have been the king. Instead of the Kennedy's
ascending t
o some sort of nobility or peerage, British royalty would probably be
just anot
her rich family with a legacy. 

Personally (as the son of a rampant Scots Nationalist) I'd be sort of
pleased t
o see the Hanovers... uh, I mean the Windsors equated with the
Kennedy's. Not m
uch difference, really (except the Windsors are better drivers. *grin*).

> 2) The Colonies would be a brilliant place for the peerage -
especially
> people who gain knighthoods and small estates and title from work
civilizing
> the new worlds. Great idea. Increased gene pool for the nobles of the
RH and
> NAC to marry too - fewer inbreedings. Though they'll still end up
hearing
> German in the court every so often...

Historically, the Colonies were NOT the place for peerages. If you
follow Canad
ian and US history, you'll see that aristocracy was loathe to move to
the New W
orld. When they did, they found that their hard earned (that is,
inherited) pow
er translated to a whole lot less in the New World. What you could see
is somet
hing like Ontario's Family Compact, where a small oligarchy took over
control o
f what was supposed to be a democracy. It took the Upper Canada
Rebellion, a co
uple of hangings, and the intervention of Britain to bring that to an
end.

> 3) Between the Royal Colonial Mounted Police (brilliant!) and a
peerage, the
> flavour of the Colonies would be very much "new world with old world
> backing". This would probably lead to the Colonies being mostly quite
nice
> spots - especially the developed worlds like Albion. 

I'll bow to the "Royal Colonial Mounted Police". I was trying to come up
with a
 name based on their original title, the Northwest Mounted Police, but
gave up.
 *S*

> 4) As for Latin America, figure it as somewhat similar to Ireland.
Sure
> there would be some places NAC troops would need riot gear, but if the
> elected government included Latinos, and some were given minor
peerages,
> then you would find the government would probably not have a huge
issue with
> being foreign controlled - not because of a lack of national pride,
but
> because the NAC could very much help bring peace and prosperity to
some
> troubled areas.

I see this follows the Star Trek view of a big, happy nation.
Personally, I thi
nk the racial and economic divide will get bigger before it gets
smaller. Howev
er, I think you'll find fewer racial problems in the colonies though.

> I really really like Karl-Heinz suggestions about NSL being so named
due to
> the city where the League founding negotiations were conducted.
Brilliant.
> Makes the regional name less problematic...

I agree.

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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