Fading Suns
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@TNP said:
That it, and other non-western cultures, are pretty much completely ignored in history classes is a disgrace.
It may be a bit of a blessing, actually. Most of the shit that I was exposed to regarding the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia was horribly skewed to Western History's perspective of anything in Africa at that time.
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Not to mention history classes in high school in general are worthless.
They barely mentioned the Federalists, a party that while brief did a large part of shaping the form of the government let alone anything that is out of the US.
College levels get better if you can get the right professor but that is a chance-y thing until you hit the 300 level of things. -
@ThatGuyThere said:
They barely mentioned the Federalists, a party that while brief did a large part of shaping the form of the government let alone anything that is out of the US.
They also almost never mention the Antifederalists, technically the losers in that particular battle but a faction whose concerns about the power of a federal government are turning out to be quite prescient.
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I still find it crazy that prior to World War 1 the main source of income for the US federal government was tariffs, along with how important that was to the establishment of US industrial supremacy in the early/mid 20th century. But I am huge nerd when it comes to international trade and economics.
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@Packrat said:
I still find it crazy that prior to World War 1 the main source of income for the US federal government was tariffs, along with how important that was to the establishment of US industrial supremacy in the early/mid 20th century.
I don't see why. The Wealth of Nations talks about tariffs an awful lot. They are really good in keeping domestic trade protected from international competition.
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@Songtress said:
Intriguing. So where do the Bennett gesseritt/New Sisterhood types and cool Psionic powers come in. Tribal Great mother's who guide their sons and daughters with silk hiding steeling. Sons who are traded and arranged for marriages. Women who war and dance for the dead.
Well, as people were mentioning earlier, the real-life Ethiopian Empire had a powerful central church, and I was thinking that the Space African Empire (The Judah Empire, although, this name is so clunky and difficult to remember that I'm thinking of changing it - any ideas?) would also have a powerful religious order along the same lines, which would be analogous to the Bene Gesserit people.
I really don't have any set-in-stone ideas, so feel free to improvise the way we did with the Arendelle MU*! Please, go right ahead and worldbuild - that lets me figure out what I want to do with the political setup.
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@Cirno said:
(The Judah Empire, although, this name is so clunky and difficult to remember that I'm thinking of changing it - any ideas?)
Why not just stay with history? This is obviously an alternate Earth setting with Ethiopia (or the equivalent) being a major world power. So just keep their real name: the Aksum Empire? They started as a power back around 100AD. Just make it so they never lost it and continues on to present day.
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@TNP said:
@Cirno said:
(The Judah Empire, although, this name is so clunky and difficult to remember that I'm thinking of changing it - any ideas?)
Why not just stay with history? This is obviously an alternate Earth setting with Ethiopia (or the equivalent) being a major world power. So just keep their real name: the Aksum Empire? They started as a power back around 100AD. Just make it so they never lost it and continues on to present day.
Fair enough! I was trying not to be intellectual lazy, as they say, but I like this idea.
If @Songtress doesn't have any other suggestions, then that's our choice.
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I would say the Lioness Empire with the Lion throne (having awesome Queens who wear fake manes to symbolize their power). ( yes Tina Turner hair from the 80s is back).
I am reminded of the Scene in "How to get Away with Murder" Where the leading actress removes her wig and how.. Powerful it is.
She in her normal everyday powerful life as a Lawyer wears the wig to fit in to appear strong and for a lack of a better term "white and powerful" with a standard of beauty that she can't naturally obtain. And it struck me as powerful just then scene of the removal. Queens and Kings wear masks... So a lion mane & mask to represent kingship visually.
Though I think the Leader should have a term like Sacrifice (something wildly not powerful sounding) that fits the idea that one's leader need not be the biggest physical bad ass. I kinda love the of a king physically being not intimidating.
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@Songtress said:
I would say the Lioness Empire with the Lion throne (having awesome Queens who wear fake manes to symbolize their power). ( yes Tina Turner hair from the 80s is back).
I am reminded of the Scene in "How to get Away with Murder" Where the leading actress removes her wig and how.. Powerful it is.
She in her normal everyday powerful life as a Lawyer wears the wig to fit in to appear strong and for a lack of a better term "white and powerful" with a standard of beauty that she can't naturally obtain. And it struck me as powerful just then scene of the removal. Queens and Kings wear masks... So a lion mane & mask to represent kingship visually.
Though I think the Leader should have a term like Sacrifice (something wildly not powerful sounding) that fits the idea that one's leader need not be the biggest physical bad ass. I kinda love the of a king physically being not intimidating.
I like the idea of the Star Empire having a female Empress. Not everything needs to be a male-dominated Patriarchal society, and it's a nice reference to the historical African Queen of Sheba. Definitely going to work that in, along with the other regal paraphernalia you have described, such as the symbolic mane. That, too, is refreshingly original and makes a nice change from just wearing a crown, or a circlet.
So, the Bene Gesserit analogue you wanted - I suggested that they should be the central religious order in the Empire. You are invited to work out how this would work, unless you have any alternative ideas that you may have been fermenting in the meantime.
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Not sure yet, I'll have to sit down an sketch ideas. Ifyou have ideas toss them my way.
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So I've been sorta following along with the thread. Is this actually happening?
I'm more curious than interested in stepping back into the realm of MU*s but I would be interested to see the results of this little experiment.
One recommendation to Cirno is to exclude the Asian faction entirely for the time being and introduce them at a later date. Otherwise, all that hard work into a cogent theme is going to be wasted by dual katana-wielding knights and crusaders dressed in school uniforms and tentacles before your eyes return to the screen. If the neglect of African history and culture riles up people on this thread, the gross misappropriation and misinterpretation of Asian history and culture into a very weird fetish is just as insulting. This also allows for the game to open up without the need to write cogent theme for an entire group of players and decreases factional OOC angst.
But I wouldn't put too much stock into my words. I actually tried to get into MU*s for a hot minute and... I mean. The amount of time that is freed up for RL is pretty ridiculous once one drops the hobby. The free time to play Skyrim and Crusader Kings II, of course.
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@Apollonius Which? Cirno's? Or mine?
I assume yes and Already happened in that order.
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@Alzie said:
@Apollonius Which? Cirno's? Or mine?
I assume yes and Already happened in that order.
My FS project is on hold as @Songtress and I are busy working on the World War 2-themed game we mentioned a while ago. It's mostly on hold because I have been ill and unable to relay 100% of my energy towards our project, as well, but this should change.
It's now more like a 1950's Alternate Universe Magic/Steampunk period piece, rather like the book series His Majesty's Dragon, or Leviathan, or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. It's also kinda like Kohta Hirano's "Drifters" in that there are magical creatures fighting !Nazis. You could potentially say it's like One Piece played straight, without the ridiculously overpowered people. I'm not sure how @Songtress stands on people doing wacky shit like causing earthquakes or chopping battleships in half.
She's doing most of the work with the fantasy element, at any rate; I'm busy drawing political lines on the map of the world, and figuring out what the Not!Nazis use for money, what imports and exports their country has, if they should have a Reichstag or not, and if they did, how it would work (because Not!Nazi land is a monarchy and not a dictatorship).
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@Cirno Great! Ideas.
At the moment that's a pretty accurate estimation. Did I mention that religion is Matriarchal and Divine Feminine is a good thing. Also Kanzerlin Wilhelima (!Elsa) is amazing.I do think we should definately draw things together. I'be been kinda been eaten by work. (two Jobs).
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@Songtress said:
@Cirno Great! Ideas.
At the moment that's a pretty accurate estimation. Did I mention that religion is Matriarchal and Divine Feminine is a good thing. Also Kanzerlin Wilhelima (!Elsa) is amazing.I do think we should definately draw things together. I'be been kinda been eaten by work. (two Jobs).
What will the Mermaids be doing?
I want them to be a large, powerful nation like in One Piece. Also they should have a queen who is pretty and has large breasts...like in One Piece.
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@ Cirno
Well 'duh', well she's gotta be busty, but not grossly so. Did we mention Mermaids? We have them.They definately perhaps they're the Kanzerlin's navy?
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Haha! If that's the case, maybe we could call the Mermaid Queen-Admiral Alberta Speer, after the German admiral.
Or she could be called Tirpitz, the Lonely Mermaid Queen of the North, after the battleship.
In One Piece, mermaids are like fifty times the size of an ordinary human. I'm not saying we should do that, but I got the image in my head of the Mermaids being Living Battleships, and they have complements of Reich Marines sitting on their backs. Or between their breasts, lmao.
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Here is the easily frightened Giant Mermaid Queen from one piece. Luffy, the little guy, made her cry.
As you can see, she's easily the size of a Cruiser or a Destroyer, or a small Battleship.
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@Cirno Yes Actually 'living battle ship like could be cool, and different. So maybe different 'castes of mermaids.