Realism in sci-fi

The Abh, if I recall, consider themselves most fit to govern and believe that bad things will result from humanity being governed by the "unfit" and therefor conquer stuff. So yeah, arrogant altruism. Really damn arrogant.

Verden Empire (which is a human empire) is mostly about ending cultural strife by obliterating the idea of culture/race through forced interbreeding.

The Abh are from Crest of the Stars, and Verden's Empire is my own creation.

Oh, and many empires believe they are doing the right thing - Nazis, British, Spanish, Imperial China, etc. Not all, however, do: Stalinist Russia (not sure here), various South American Dictators (who originated invading people for their oil as a primary reason for war), etc.

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"In literature as in love we are astounded by what is chosen by others." Andre Maurois
Onii7/Frinkruds and his funky forums
macgamer.net

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 04-09-2003).)

Abh principles are usually applied in countries where more advanced technology conquers more primitive technology... read history. It's not arrogant, it's human nature. And if the Abh has more advanced tech, then I would consider it their fiefdom (humanity).

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There are only 3 kinds of people; those who can count, and those who can't.

Psychological profile

I'll be constructing a psychological profile of each star empire. This profile will most probably be useless.. But it does make an easy checking system if and when I choose to implement stuff.

Money loving factor: 1-10.
Greed: How much greed there is in society
Spiritually: Emphasis on religion. Communist states would have 0, while fundies would get 8 (actually, humanity hasn't yet reached a totalitarian pinnacle of emphasis on religion, in my opinion. We're talking about an all-persavisive religion down to the last thought of everyone. I guess mind control would fit...)
Effeciency: how effecient. Democracies and technocracies will rate very high, dictatorships will most likely be lower, and old-style Communism would be very low. I think there is a lower system... not sure. No point in us discovering it, right?
Emphasis on Life: The value of human life. In Christianity there is a high emphasis on life, in communism there is a low emphasis. I think it will help effeciency the lower the emphasis is, ref: when Stalin was constantly purging the communist party the state was very effecient, when the purges stopped, the system began to clot up. A rather bloody... but effective way of reducing beauracracy.
Telepathy: If the race has telepathy, if it can consciously control it, if it can dominate people. I predict there would be some variants of humans who could do the 3rd option.
Power: raw power love. Higher emphasis on power might indicate the presence of an aristocracy or class system, lower loves would approach communist formlessness. Also lower values would probably entail less warlike cultures.
Love of knowledge: Every nationality will have a love of particular knowledge. For example, they're interested primarily in military technologies in the united states. It is possible theorise a race that would not be...

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There are only 3 kinds of people; those who can count, and those who can't.

Let's try that system on my Hialee.

Money loving factor: 1. Hialee have an a perfectly communist internal economy.
Greed (isn't this redundant?): 1. Hialee have a highly disciplined society, and have little beyond what they need and a few decorations/amusements.
Spirituality: 4. Hialee have no real religious beliefs, but they do believe people have immortal souls.
Efficiency: 4. Hialee are a tad whimsical, but their efficiency can shoot up when in great need.
Emphasis on life: 5. Hialee believe in the value of the individual life, but they believe there are things worth more.
Telepathy: 2. Very good intra-group communication, but little more.
Power love: 3. The Hialee dislike having to rule over others. They will, however seek to impose their will from time to time.
Love of knowledge: 10. Hialee are very hungry for information, and they all share it very freely. All their dealings with information are based on transparency - including forcing it on others through hacking.

There are quite a lot of things this leaves out, but it does give a rather fair picture of them.

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"In literature as in love we are astounded by what is chosen by others." Andre Maurois
Onii7/Frinkruds and his funky forums
macgamer.net

(This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 04-12-2003).)

Money loving is very redundant IMHO.

This still isn't enough. I think I will think of things in an RPG way, and see what I come up with. It helps to think of a real life example, for example, my spanish one.

Thinking...

The Mekron are a society with deep internal fractures. They are a mechanistic society where everything has to be run by machines, and organic components can be reduced to a single brain inside a hub. The machines are very powerful and multi-taskful, but there are problems. There is an enormous strain on the economy to update and keep the machines fixed, because Mekron break down alot. This eventually has begun to overwhelm the economy, so that only very high important mekron receive aid in the form of fixing their machinery. Lower ranking mekron have to proof their worth to society. So it is a pyramid where the Mekron have automatically created themselves. The lower ranking mekron eventually break down and a horrible system has evolved where the upper crust have created an entire area of the planet for themselves and it gradually gets worse as you move into the planets basement.

Externally, the Mekron have a decaying fleet also but it is amazingly large and well-engineered (it's weapons are ordinary.) They are based around their homeworld and have large numbers of colonies in 'spirals'.

*mekron is obviously taken from MOO. This isn't a really seriuos piece, just soemthign tom ention.

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There are only 3 kinds of people; those who can count, and those who can't.