Yes, all of my background is written with the idea that the Rebellion does occur, and indeed, the Virus is unleashed as well.
Originally posted by daryen:
To make epicenter's idea work requires Norris to be taken out around 1140. Doing it earlier (pretty much any time prior to 1130 or so) would cause the DoD to flat out collapse. Besides, he wanted the representation reforms to be the catalyst. That did come out until 1140 or so.
No, to make epicenter's idea consistent requires just one minor change: the young girl is not Norris's daughter, but rather his granddaughter. Just have Seldrian get jiggy at the right time (so the granddaughter is the age you want), and there you are. Just be sure to kill Seldrian in a "separate and unrelated" incident.
(Or, better yet, if you are a vile and disgusting slimeball, make Seldrian one of the conspirators. In that case, she is taken out by one of the loyalists, if not Strephon himself. That would give him clear bill to care for the granddaughter.)
Whoops. Yeah, I've never really gotten into the geneaology of Norris and such - I don't really buy very much
Traveller gear beyond the basic books.
If it's his granddaughter, that works out even better. The democratization reforms of Norris are what prompt the nobles to knock him off. To get into a little more detail:
Everyone (even Strephon) knew about Norris' hidden leanings. They knew he's in favor of democracy. They knew he's gay (remember IMTU - a gay Norris just makes the guy more realistic and believable to me) and therefore less likely to produce an heir. After he starts seeing Dilgaadin, they know he's in favor of psionic reform. However, it's the Emperor's job to know his nobles, and there's no stigma in IMTU for being gay - but it made Norris more controllable and predictable. And the guy did get results, so more power to him.
Of course, his pro-psionic leanings also meant his downfall. Since the 5FW, the INI has had a a series of powerful psionics, always female, with the best psionic gear the 3I could produce hanging around Norris in some capacity. The gal was there at first to protect Norris (covertly) against the Zhodani and to make sure the Zhodani hadn't made a "Manchurian Candidate" out of Norris. The gear was added after Dilgaadin started hanging around to make sure that Dilgaadin nor any of the psions around Norris ever knew this agent was psionic. The woman's job was to periodically do a "loyality check" of Norris due to his pro-psionic leanings (being that close to the Zhodani it always pays to make sure). The INI operative was always a woman because that'd ensure that Norris would be cordial and friendly with her and she could be quite close, but without sexual attraction, he'd never pry too much into who she was or what she was doing besides being some Naval liaision to the Duke. No few of these became such good friends with Norris that they'd get "Holiday Cards" from him after they'd been rotated out of their posts.
It's one of these sweeps that detected the imminent "democracy reforms" that Norris planned to spring on the DoD. The officer reported it to her superiors, her superiors (naval nobles) discussed it with their friends, and so on.
If Seldrian doesn't work due to timeline constraints, then Seldrian would be one of the conspirators (the players haven't worked their way out to the Regency yet so I can still change stuff). No doubt she was a strong-willed noble and was probably pretty sure she's some distaff clone of her father. The reading of Norris I had was that the guy might be a brilliant and charismatic man in public, he always seemed a bit akward in intimate and personal settings (probably a holdover from the "stigma" of trying to figure out he was gay) - no doubt it required the psionic Dilgaadin to make Norris open up, and he probably never did publically come out of the closet. All this points (to me) that Norris probably wouldn't have been a good father (only partially his fault - he was indeed very busy but loved the limelight more than his "necessary" clone), but instead a rather distant one who overcompensated by being an overly protective one. No doubt he was "saving" her to be married off to some oppurtune noble or something and severely limited her contacts. Her contacts with the world would probably have been various noble contacts, her tutors, and a few dozen social "sightings" a year to help her father out.
Such a daughter, steepled in the nobility of the Imperium would be as strong-willed as her father, but be strong-willed for other causes. She'd join in with the group overthrowing her dad as a "regrettable but necessary" action. After Norris' fall, a lot of the political wrangling would be between Delphine and Seldrian. Seldrian would probably marry some suitable man and get to producing an heir, but in this case, the apple wouldn't fall that far from the tree and their daughter would be raised by Strephon as my original plan.
The entire point of this wrangling is because I don't envision the Regency as England of the 1920s. I envision it as the Byzantine Empire - a fragment of old Rome left after the fall of the Western Empire. Or in this case, the Eastern Empire. I require a firm believer in the nobility to rule the (now) opulent Regency in a world without Avery. An empire that prefers to live in the gilded dreams of a bygone era than face reality.
To the north and east, you have the former Empire now overrun by howling Vargr, homicidal computers, and savages. The Virus plays the role of the Mongols, incidentally. The Vargr the "barbarian" tribes like the Vandals and such.
To the west, you have the inscrutible threat of the Zhodani who fulfill the role of the Islamic states of the period.
The displaced Vilani play the role of Georgians, Armenians, and similar groups displaced and often petitioning the Domain for this, that, and the other thing (as well as providing a good core of troops).
The Empress-Regent has followed her grandfather's plan of co-opting the Aslan - so much so that she's now has her version of the Varangian Guard - the Hirakyiir, the "Sword Bearers" - the matriarchal clan-commanders of Aslan who dwell within the Regency (in the new Aslan society, these females - of which there are 29 of course - are negotiators and diplomats to the human government of the Regency but also wear 'court armor' and serve as an incorruptible bodyguard to the Empress-Regent). These guys fulfill the role of the Turkopoles and such as a sort of
pronoiai - that is, in return for fighting against the Domain's enemies, they're granted a small plot of land with a feudal requirement that when the Regency calls again, they and their sons have go and fight. However, when that campaign ends, the
ihatei can be assured they will be granted plots of land of their own. The Domain has used these guys to tremendous effect against Vargr. However, a side-effect is that non-ethnic human armies of the Domain are dwindling and becoming more of a glittering show-force whose elan and effectiveness are in decline (however, their battledress is becoming ever more elaborate and impressive looking).
