Prev: Re: Salvo Missile Batteries <NEW> Next: Re: United States Civil War

[OFFICIAL] Background thoughts...

From: jon@g... (Ground Zero Games)
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 14:08:07 -0400
Subject: [OFFICIAL] Background thoughts...

I've been reading the various threads on "our" background over the last
few
days with both interest and amusement, and thought I'd like to share a
few
thoughts with everyone.

The FT/DS/SG background (or "GZG Universe" if you like) certainly seems
to
generate some very polarised reactions, and rattles more than a few
patriotic cages in several parts of the globe! While most of the
comments
seem to be in the right spirit (ie: very tongue-in-cheek), I do get the
feeling that just a few people are genuinely miffed by the way their
respective countries are treated in the timeline!! So, to clear up a
couple
of things first:

1) We (that is, myself (Jon) and Steve Blease, a friend who contributed
a
great deal of the original timeline ideas) wrote the background when FT
was
still a small system destined (we thought) to sell most of its copies
within the UK; this was long before our distribution deal with GeoHex to
cover the US, and the game was written mainly with the UK market in
mind.

2) Like any author of an SF novel, we designed the timeline to suit the
sort of military/political situation we wanted to end up with; in our
case,
to give lots of excuses for various nationalities to still be fighting
each
other 200 years in the future, with enough variety and racial variations
to
allow maximum flexibility both for us as writers and for the players. We
specifically DIDN'T want to have a simple two-sided war situation, of
the
"Earth against the Colonial federation" type, or a two-superpower
faceoff
with all the other players in very minor roles. The idea was that
humanity
is to be just as fragmented as it is now (maybe even more so), so that
players could take virtually any two fleets/powers and find at least
some
reason, somewhere in the timeline, for them to need/want to fight each
other!
So, that is ALL the background is: a SEMI-serious set of excuses for
loads
of fun battles!! If we can have you all accept FTL travel, then I'm sure
you can accept the NAC.... :)

Oh, and it is Free Cal-Tex because a) it is easier to say, and b) it
doesn't sound so much like an oil company....

On the subject of the NAC, we chose CNS (Confederation Navy Ship) as
being
just a bit less Anglo-centric than HMS, though on reflection we could
always revert to HMS when we do FTIII (hey, it's our universe...).
Incidentally, NAC was originally going to stand for New Anglian
COMMONWEALTH rather than Confederation, and even I'm not quite sure how
or
when it got changed...

There were several powers/nations/parts of Earth that were "left out" in
the FT timeline - some by accident, some deliberately and some because
we
just couldn't fit everything in! As has been mentioned, Scandinavia is
one
such area - the ideas of a Scandinavian Commonwealth/Federation/League
sounds a good one, and any further feedback from the residents of these
countries on the list would be very useful.

I'd quite like to detail a bit about religion within the GZG universe as
well as politics (especially as it is responsible for so many wars), but
I
realise we're treading on tricky ground here - I don't think we can
approach this with the same tongue in cheek attitude as we do the
political
side without risking actually upsetting some people, which I certainly
don't want to do. Opinions, anyone? [Vatican MegaCorporation, with its
Military arm, MafInc. .....hehehe]

Someone mentioned that the ideas behind the formation of the NAC were
"silly"; sure they are - as I mentioned above, they were the means to an
end. However, I think they are a good bit less "silly" than the sort of
situation in (say) Star Trek, where all the peoples of Earth live
happily
and peacefully together with no greed or rivalry.... yeah, right.

One important point about the GZG timeline is that there are NO GOODIES
OR
BADDIES (at least not in an absolute sense). Even though it might seem
that
we soemtimes treat the NAC (and more specifically their British side) as
the good guys (hey, I'm as nationalistic as anyone), the assumption is
that
ALL powers have good and bad in them (OK, maybe not the French... ;) -
all
the governments are probably corrupt to a greater or lesser extent, and
NAC
Military Intelligence have likely as not had their sticky little fingers
in
many cases of "political unrest" elsewhere in settled space.... As they
say, Guy Fawkes was the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest
intentions...!!
One good friend even suggested to me once that of all the powers, the
Islamics are probably the most "moral" (by their own standards) of the
lot,
because they would be most likely to adhere unwaveringly to their own
beliefs and ideals rather than resort to underhand and hypocritical
methods
for their own gain!

Just don't take ANY of this too seriously! 

OK, there are a few thoughts. I'm working on "fleshing out" the
background,
both for future publication and to provide writers' guidelines for
anyone
who wants to submit anything in the way of scenarios and/or fiction set
in
the "official" timeline. If any of you would like to submit any ideas on
how you see your personal favourite powers in the background, please
feel
free to email them directly to me - everything will get read and go into
the general melting-pot from which hopefully something will emerge in
due
course!

Jon (GZG) - feeling especially patriotic right now, having been watching
the Funeral most of today.... Goodbye, England's Rose.

Prev: Re: Salvo Missile Batteries <NEW> Next: Re: United States Civil War