Ask Graf Fujita

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Zor
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Ask Graf Fujita

Post by Zor »

In hopes of helping to enlighten the Galaxy, Jade Fujita (25th Graf Fujita) has taken it upon herself to respond to questions that you might have about the Terran Sphere.

Fujita-So, do you have anything you would like to ask me?

On a similar note and in the spirt of fairness, Captian (retired) Olav Jackson of the Commonwealth Joint Army will be on hand to respond from a Non Novan perspective.

Jackson-So, lay onto me your quandaries.
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Magister Militum
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Re: Ask Graf Fujita

Post by Magister Militum »

Two questions. First off, what has been the most advanced alien civilization that has been encountered? Secondly, it has been mentioned that the Novan Empire, with its forty some odd planets, is one of the largest nations in the Terran Sphere and could challenge the Core States in terms of military power. It's also been mentioned that virtually all of the star systems within 100 light-years of Sol have been split up between the seven Core States. Considering the fact that there are close to 14,000 star systems within 100 light-years of Sol and that those states have had a long time to exploit the sheer amount of resources available relative to the Novan Empire, how is it that the Novan Empire can hope to even remotely challenge any one of the Core States in terms of territory or military strength?
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Zor
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Re: Ask Graf Fujita

Post by Zor »

Fujita-In regards to your first question, the most advanced non terrragen civilization which has been discovered are the Grendals of Vinland. Their most advanced civilization had devised the blast furnace, block printing, oceangoing sailing ships and basic gunpowder weapons. More or less comprable to that of Terra in the third century BT.

Jackson-Ha! I wish the Novans only had forty worlds, i was rather attached to that leg. They have about three times that number of heavily populated planets (more than half a billion people). But onto your question, most of the systems in the Terran sphere are not colonized to any major degree, even near the core. Not every star system has planets and most that do don't have planets that are habitable or terraformable. Even in the core, these minor systems rarely have populations greater than thirty million.

Also, the Core states don't control the entirity of the Old Systems. Their influence tends to run short about 75 light years from Sol. That said, the Novan Empire can (and i pray to the Gods that it stays this way) has a military which is at most comprable to one of the states and on the whole, its only been able to do this for the last fifty years. As to why they have so much territory, they had a manpower, technological and industrial advantage over all the systems around them.
Last edited by Zor on Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ask Graf Fujita

Post by Magister Militum »

Zor wrote:
But onto your question, most of the systems in the Terran sphere are not colonized to any major degree, even near the core. Not every star system has planets and most that do don't have planets that are habitable or terraformable. Even in the core, these minor systems rarely have populations greater than thirty million.

Also, the Core states don't control the entirety of the Old Systems. Their influence tends to run short about 75 light years from Sol. You could fit the area which is split between them in the Novan Empire. That said, the Novan Empire can (and i pray to the Gods that it stays this way) has a military which is at most comprable to one of the states and on the whole, its only been able to do this for the last fifty years. As to why they have so much territory, they had a manpower, technological and industrial advantage over all their surrounding powers.
That still doesn't make any sense. Even if said systems in the Core were mostly not colonized or didn't have habitable planets, they still have a metric asston of resources within their sphere of influence ready to exploit. Unless the Core States have a gargantuan case of technological stagnation, it doesn't seem possible for the much younger Novan Empire to match the stronger of the Core States. Unless, of course, the total number of systemsand not planets is significantly higher than the Core States. They may have lots of inhospitable systems that are good only for resources, which would then explain the disproportionate size of their military relative to the Core States, or why only a fraction of the 80 light years they control appear to hold settled planets.
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Re: Ask Graf Fujita

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Fujita-Technological advancement in the Terran Sphere has decelerated. Not stagnated, but at a slower pace and is much more of a matter of refinement than re-inventing the wheel as it was around the First Century. There was also the exchange of information via laser before the FTL age. And yes, their was a technological gap despite this. However, you left out a few major points.

First of all thing to realize is that the core states took some time to really emerge as truely formalized political entities. The first interstellar political bodies were loose hegemonies, alliances led by one of the first few Hyperdrive powers based on treaties and trade. It took the Foundation War and several other subsequent conflicts nations to formalize them into nation states. As an intersteller power, the Novan Empire is less than a century younger. Also, in the last two centuries the Novan Empire has made efforts to bridge the gap by trade with the core states, accademic exchanges and even admittedly a bit espianage...

Jackson-Yeh, "a Bit"...

Fujita-Yes, something your Commonwealth has itself have done. We also managed to bypass a few intermediary stages of development. We did not make the same mistakes that the engineers which made the first through third generations of Core Produced hyperdrives made.

You are correct on the matter of the Empire being more diffuse than the core states. However, to say that it is absurd that our glorious Empire has become a major power is like saying that it was absurd how the United States of America to develop from a collection of largely rural settlements with a tiny population to a World Power in two centuries.
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Re: Ask Graf Fujita

Post by Magister Militum »

Zor wrote:You are correct on the matter of the Empire being more diffuse than the core states. However, to say that it is absurd that our glorious Empire has become a major power is like saying that it was absurd how the United States of America to develop from a collection of largely rural settlements with a tiny population to a World Power in two centuries.
Did I flat out say that? All I'm trying to understand is the pecularities that led to the Novan Empire to be one of the main powers of the galaxy. Oh, and If I was enough of a nitpicky prick, I would point out the differences between the two examples and factors that would not be necessarily applicable to the Novan Empire, but I'll be nice. :)

Anyways, reading through the the article on the Imperial Novan Navy, I noticed that nobles tend to rise through the ranks much faster than commoners. Why is this?
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Re: Ask Graf Fujita

Post by Zor »

Jackson-You have to ask why members of the Nobility, a body of people which have been born with prominence, priveledge and status with political powers because of something their great grandmother did, tends to be favored in promotion over the Lowly peasants of the Empire?

Fujita-Oh go shove it up your Republican ass Olav.

...

Alright to be fair, he is partially correct. Nobles are favored over commoners to a degree in promotion somewhat because they are nobles. That said, its not the only reason. Many nobles tend to send some of their children, either at the child's request or because of the parents being firmly in the Samurai catagory to specialized schools with military heavy Curricula. By the time they graduate they generally know a fair bit about tactics, military history, theory, technology and so forth and if they graduate from the accadamy (not all of them do) they are expected to know a bit more about this sort of thing than the average commoner. The second is the factor that because the higher ranks are biased towards the Nobility, any commoner which aquires high rank generally is pretty exceptional to start with and will be likely to receive a title him/herself. Most Nobles in the Navy get stuck commanding a frigate or a destroyer.
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