Re: Government

> Vast empires also tend to remain intact due to human inertia:)  In the
> premodern age, empires and such tended to follow the "60 day rule",  an
> Empire could exert its authority as far as it would take messengers to
> reach in 60 days.  This is not an exact rule, of course, but it is a
> reasonable guideline.  Note that this presupposes the empire has the
> resources to send, which is most often unlikely.  The actual number of
> inhabitents is actually a secondary consideration,  in most Empires it is
> the relatively sparsely populated frontier lands (those on the edge of that
> 60 days) which cause the most trouble (like independence movements,
> imperial usurpers, and the like).  I don't think AStromundi is that screwy
> in the government department, though i admit I haven't read it carefully in
> a year or so:)

> Paul Westermeyer,  westermeyer.3@???.edu
> Phd Candidate, History, Ohio State
> Adjunct Faculty, Humanities Department, Columbus State Community College


Fascinating theory.  Are there any good works you could recommend to a
lay reader about this "60 day rule"?

Extending this logic, we could expect many Empires which extend over
every continent on a world, if not the whole world, some Empires which
extend throughout a sphere, or even a whole sphere, and very few
Empires which can exert _control_ effectively over several spheres.

If spelljammers can physicly only land at spaceports on large worlds
then we could expect to see lots of outposts and zones of control around
those outposts, but large areas of large worlds would be beyond the
spelljammer nation's influence.  If it requires a specially enchanted
Reverse Gravity cradle to launch spelljammers from a world, ports will
be very important centers of economic and military control.

If spelljammers require a couple miles of _calm_ sea, lake or river to
land and take off, they will be able to dominate large areas, but
still have difficulty exerting control in areas which are hundreds
of miles from good landing areas.  Also, if calm waters are a 
requirement then there may be a seasonal restriction on trade and
exertion of power.  Because they have a good view of the weather,
spelljammers may be able to find windows of calm weather to land
in.

If spelljammers can land anywhere a WWI biplane could land, then 
basicly 90+% of the arable land can be dominated from above, but
large forested areas or swamps may still be inaccessible.


If the empire has only a few spelljamming ships, then the initial news
of an event will likely travel by slower means than by ship.  Unless
there is a dedicated air postal system, news will have to travel
by horse or ordinary ship until it gets to adminitrative and economic
nodes where news travels faster.


When the Complete Psionics guide came out, I worked out a society
where the psionicist ruling class was connected by a network of
Contacts made permanent by psychic surgery.  Each psionicist would
be connected to at least 3 other psionicists, and could therefore
get into Contact with hundreds of psionicists throughout the nation
in a matter of minutes.

With Sight Link and Teleportation they could immediately summon
reinforcements.

So, the total power of the empire could be brought to bear wherever
a single member of the psionicist class was physicly present to
guide them in.


Now _that_ would be a nasty surprise for any would be conqueror
who thinks that spelljammers give him an unbeatable edge versus
groundlings.  That empire might make a great "Big Menace" as well.
They might have difficulty projecting their power beyond their
home sphere at first, but those spelljammer outposts within
their sphere would be easier prey.


On that subject:
Imagine a sphere that is conveniently located for a stopover to
refresh air, food and water supplies on the route between two
spelljamming active spheres with a lot of trade between them.
Because the outer worlds are far more important for this purpose,
the inner worlds are largely ignored in the first dozen years
or so after this route is discovered.

Perhaps there are even Wayports, life supporting asteroids which
have been moved near the permanent portals in the sphere, so that
detours to replentish air, food, water and other supplies add
mere days to the total travel time.

So, if a "Big Menace (tm)" were discovered on an inner world it would be
difficult to quarantine the whole sphere.  Some traders would still
want to use a lucrative route that enables them to travel with
a larger crew for defense, or simply to have an extra margin for
safety if they hit a slow portion of the phlogiston rivers.


Michael Sandy