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MysticWind
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In any of the canon background info for SMAC (that is, the instruction booklet, the game box, and the novels) is there much information about the future geopolitics of Earth? I know it mentions several specific countries:
Christian States of America (Miriam's country)
Great China (Sheng-ji Yang)
West Indies Co-Prosperity Sphere (Sinder Roze)
Russian Commonwealth (Prokhor)
Free Scotland (Deidre)
Anything else?
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MysticWind
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Heh. Apolyton¡¦s community is great. I hardly expected anyone to answer my strange, arcane question about SMAC, which has a storyline that hardly mentions earth. I¡¦m interested in future history of games like SMAC, and I don¡¦t know what is ¡§canon¡¨ as far as the story is concerned.
1. Is the online novella the same as the published books, like Centauri Dawn? In the book there are different events mentioned, like the plague on earth. Also, I never knew datalinks were holographic crystal transparencies.
2. Why are the character profiles from the Firaxis site different from the ones on the game box? I remember that somewhere Sheng-ji Yang was named the Executive Officer on Unity, but another source said that he was just a doctor, and the Firaxis profile says he¡¦s Chief of Security.
3. By the way, Prokhor was born in Cherskiy, Russia. He may be ethnically Ukrainian, but that doesn¡¦t mean his country is part of the Russian Commonwealth. This isn¡¦t the Ender¡¦s Shadow series.
Interestingly, in the GURPS Ogre game (I got this from sjgames.com) there is a Twelve Minute war. Since SMAC came after, I wonder if it¡¦s inspired from that.
2020:
12-Minute War. Tel Aviv, Cairo and Damascus are all blasted by concealed nuclear weapons. Interim governments patch up a truce immediately.
Anyhow, I¡¦m trying to come up with SMAC¡¦s history of earth for future reference in fan fiction or mods. Lots of the networknode.org sets have backgrounds that veer strongly from the original SMAC material, incorporating characters from places like ¡§the United East States of America¡¨ and ¡§Montana Free State¡¨. If I ever actually work on a set, I want my stuff to be very close to the original.
Here¡¦s what I know so far:
Countries existing in the 21st century:
Free Scotland (I saw it as Deirdre¡¦s nation, can¡¦t remember from which source)
Great China (Don¡¦t know where I read it from)
Christian States of America (ditto)
India
Switzerland (Go figure)
U.S.
Russian Commonwealth
Norway
Australia
Trinidad, West Indies Co-Prosperity Sphere (nation/alliance? Province/nation?)
Events:
-There were radiation disasters (war?) that caused Deirdre to develop bioengineered-resistant strains of wheat.
-In China there were two Golden Revolutions, involving a Golden Emperor, and then it was followed by a Crimson Succession. I¡¦m assuming that it were two failed attempts to reestablish the imperial system with mysticism (a la the Taiping), and the Communists won.
-There was a reason for Combat Engineers to be posted along the Bering Strait.
-The Sahara Burst Wars happened.
2058- Russian economic system crashed again.
2034- East Side Riots in Mexico City. Santiago joined Jade Falcons, survivalists who
would one day rise again in MechWarrior.
-There is a New Los Angeles, and it is scary enough to create a community security force, the NLA Red Panthers. Also, there was a City Guard; perhaps it was a rebel city state. Anyway, the city imposed martial law in 2050.
-What is a psych chaplain, anyway? And why are librarians significant on Alpha Centauri?
-There is an Evangelical Fire in Georgia, whatever it is. Appears to be a church group.
-There are countries decimated in Crusader Wars, where nuclear arms were used.
-Radiation-involved fighting in the Twelve Minute War and the India Border Conflict.
-Markethack Crash of '49 happened.
-The Pax Decay wars happened to the U.S., leading to the disastrous 2053 Battle of Baffin Bay. Clinton is named after not just a ship but an entire group of ships.
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Quezacotl06
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Free Scottland (Deidre).
And, considering the state of afairs today, India and China will become very powerful nations in the future. "Russian Commonwealth" sounds pretty cool. Maybe its from pan-slavism and the Yugoslav breakup. Russia has a few separatist groups within its borders as well. I love Zakharov.
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Ossettian
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Caracas, Venezuela
Aug 2004
time: 01:34
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quote:
China has grown for sure, but nothing is known in what direction (Siberia? Japan?) Certainly not towards India. |
It's not a secret that China is becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world (it's the most atractive market in the world: more than a 1,000,000,000 habitants, and has the cheaper labor force).
However, to support such a big population you need a lot of energy!!, so if China needs to expand itself it will be towards central Asia (Old Soviet republics, Kazahkstan has huge oil reserves) and by doing this they will have access to the middle east too (another player there!!, I won't be too comfortable if I l were there, seriuosly, for me the ecuation: Israel+Arabs states+United States+CHINA sounds to me like WWIII)
quote:
There are countries decimated in Crusader Wars, where nuclear arms were used. |
Look back and there you have your "Crusader Wars" or maybe "Holy wars"
quote:
The Sahara Burst Wars happened. |
For me, I don't see this happening, maybe a "Sub-Saharian Burst Wars", most the The countries of Central Africa have a lot internal conflicts.
All this makes me think: ¿What will happen in South America?
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Ossettian
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Caracas, Venezuela
Aug 2004
time: 01:34
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Heh, I bet Latvia won't make it either
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MysticWind
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quote:
Originally posted by Quezacotl06
"Russian Commonwealth" sounds pretty cool. Maybe its from pan-slavism and the Yugoslav breakup. Russia has a few separatist groups within its borders as well. I love Zakharov. |
I don't think so. I think it's just the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) from our present day, except maybe as one nation.
I've never understood this about Sheng-ji Yang:
quote:
Taught joint lock techniques to Chinese military during the Second Golden Revolution, then commanded Golden Emperor's personal security force. Vanished for several years following the Crimson Succession, to resurface in United Nations security training force. Selected Chief of Security, U.N. Alpha Centauri Mission.
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The inconsistencies between the novel and the game and other sources regarding the ranks of the characters aside, I'm not sure what this means about China. It seems that he was at first a teacher of joint lock techniques (pressure point attacks?) for the legitimate military of China. I assume that it's today's PRC. Then he switched sides for a Golden Emperor, probably just a rebel usurper. Then, the Communists struck back, reconquered China, and Yang ran away.
Anyone else care to try to interpret this?
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Illuminatus
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Salvaging Unity Fusion Core
Jul 2003
time: 06:34
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Interesting. This thread is closely related to a fiction project I am doing right now.
quote:
Originally posted by MysticWind
I don't think so. I think it's just the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) from our present day, except maybe as one nation.
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From what I managed to reconstruct, Russia went through a period of nationalist revival fighting skirmishes against other powers. After that it seems Russian Commonwealth was created. It presume it probably encompases CIS teritories into a single, federated state (just as you suggest) .
quote:
I've never understood this about Sheng-ji Yang:
The inconsistencies between the novel and the game and other sources regarding the ranks of the characters aside, I'm not sure what this means about China. It seems that he was at first a teacher of joint lock techniques (pressure point attacks?) for the legitimate military of China. I assume that it's today's PRC. Then he switched sides for a Golden Emperor, probably just a rebel usurper. Then, the Communists struck back, reconquered China, and Yang ran away.
Anyone else care to try to interpret this? |
If you refer to Ely's novels, I never took them as canon, as they were rated very negative by most SMACers. I used combination of ingame data, leader profiles and GURPS handbook to reconstruct "canon" data.
Yang was was recognized as a master of the Five Excellences: calligraphy, poetry, painting, traditional medicine, and martial arts during his study at Beijing University. He earned degrees in Chinese literature and military history, and took part in the Great Revival of traditional culture which swept the People's Republic at that time.
Some time after that communist regime collapsed, and a period of civil unrest followed under a weak democratic government. During this period Yang turned to pursue military career. Yang was part of military forces that supported Golden Revolution. Apparently, he personal confidante of the Golden Emperor and commander of his personal guard in 2032. He fled during very violent and bloody Crimson Succesion of 2039 and vanished for a few years before appearing at Geneva and joining UN forces.
China "history" can be fairly well reconstructed, other parts of the world are troublesome. Europe (with the exception of UK area) and South America are not mentioned at all, and there are big inconsistencies about CSA and USA - from what I can tell, CSA probably originated as a union of states that were granted some kind of greater autonomy than other federal states and later splintered from USA.
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MysticWind
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quote:
Originally posted by Illuminatus
Some time after that communist regime collapsed, and a period of civil unrest followed under a weak democratic government. During this period Yang turned to pursue military career. Yang was part of military forces that supported Golden Revolution. Apparently, he personal confidante of the Golden Emperor and commander of his personal guard in 2032. He fled during very violent and bloody Crimson Succesion of 2039 and vanished for a few years before appearing at Geneva and joining UN forces.
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Good history. I think the Golden Emperor/Revolution are simply the attempts to bring back Confucianism with a dynasty. Dnno what the Crimson Succession is- either it's a rival dynasty called Hong or simply the Communists returning to power. Also, I think the civil unrest can lead to the Revolution, there's no need for a weak democratic interlude.
I'll post my thoughts on the USA/CSA/XSA imbroglio later.
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29-07-2004 00:17
)
Democracy did not last for more than a few years before Golden Emperor took over, supported by military (or part of it). Golden era did seem to last for a minimum of seven to eight years. Don't know anything about Crimson succession, but I presume it was most likely takeover by a group who imposed a somewhat less crude form of totalitarian regime, rather than a rival dynasty.
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