I imagine that us suddenly having the best spies and intelligence agency in the galaxy has caused a lot of changes and dramatically expanded the information we get to look at each turn.
He might be busy figuring all that out. I imagine it will pick up again when everything is settled.
He'll usually close it when he begins to write the next update. Technically it's still open right now but I think it's pretty obvious what's gonna win.
I imagine that us suddenly having the best spies and intelligence agency in the galaxy has caused a lot of changes and dramatically expanded the information we get to look at each turn.
He might be busy figuring all that out. I imagine it will pick up again when everything is settled.
As Nick said, I usually close the vote when I get the time to write the update. I originally planned on writing it yesterday, but then I found Child on Monsters on Spacebattles and wound up reading that instead.
But now that I have time, the vote shall close! And hiding the info wins.
Scheduled vote count started by Daemon Hunter on Jul 6, 2021 at 1:49 AM, finished with 86 posts and 25 votes.
Kaine's arrival is a grand affair. A military procession escorts his guards and him, while the streets towards your palace are lined with civilians celebrating the upcoming deal. It's entirely a show, one meant to give Kaine what he desires, respect and an acknowledgement of his strength.
Allowing his armed guard into your palace serves a similar purpose, it's meant to make him feel in control, to flatter him further. Your pride may sting at this moment, but you're no fool. One of your empire's assets as well as weakness is its size. You are overlooked at this point in time, and you strive to play the part of such an empire, regardless of how much power you truly wield.
When he arrives within your decorative office for these events, you're standing, with a single bodyguard to his squad. Another layer to the meeting, enforcing the status of your respective empires. You catch his eyes as he glances towards Eshu, then to you, appraising and analyzing. It's similar to your own, and you find yourself hoping that this will be far more interesting than you initially expected.
He speaks first, his voice calm and steady. "Thrawn, I hope these talks end with a mutually beneficial arrangement."
You smile, "of that I have no doubt Ardus." And he begins his games as well, understandable after all, if he had called you Emperor Thrawn, you would have several questions to ask. "Take a seat if you would."
You stand aside, sitting behind your desk as you speak, Ardus takes a moment, wondering what game is being played now. Then he sits himself, deciding that your actions just now served no purpose other than to distract him. "My proposal for the two of us." He holds out his hand, and the bodyguard behind him hands him a file. He reaches out, giving it to you before you begin to read it.
A few additions are new to you, along with several minor tweaks to the wording. Both of your diplomatic and economic divisions of government had been working on this treaty for quite some time. You read through it all, soaking in key insights as you piece together a puzzle that your intelligence agency had already solved through other methods. But that was the conundrum of intelligence, if you used it, then others would know that you know.
Ardus Kaine, a masterful politician, one that seeks power and is terrified of losing it. A man that played an entirely different character to gain it, in the culture of the Empire, that told you much of what his goals were. He wishes for a long term stable power base.
Your mind drifts as you simultaneously read through the legalese of the proposal as well as decipher Ardus himself. This is far too passive if he wanted to start an invasion, nor would it allow for a coup. His agent was invested in your economic policies, so perhaps this is a way of undermining you economically? No, it's too generous for that, and you know he knows you would notice if he tried. Informal non aggression?
Hmm, it fits the treaty, but the details escape you. A tad unfortunate that you would have to openly use your intelligence agents to exploit them, but you're satisfied with the level of detail you were able to extrapolate purely from what Ardus let you know. "I'm surprised that you were concerned about an attack from me. You outnumber me 100 to 1."
His reaction is enlightening. He doesn't stand shocked or surprised, instead he scowls. He expected you to discern this, it would seem. "I know you Thrawn, and I don't want you as an enemy." He leaves an implied, 'and you don't want me as yours' hanging in the air as he waits to hear your counteroffer.
"Allow me to increase the tariff to 20% and we have a deal." It's a minor change on paper, but it allows you to gain more income while also making the Pentastar Alignment be a key part of your wealth while also reducting the chance they can subvert your economy.
You see Ardus consider the proposal, debating if revealing his capture of Solus would sweeten the deal. In the end, he slowly nods, accepting the deal.
*+8% economy from massive trade imports. ~700 income increase due to tariffs and increased tax revenue.*
I'm happy with this, and I would like to avoid a war with Kaine anyway. At least for now. Hell, maybe we'll be able to take over his territory without going to war at all. The ex-Empire officials who work for him have their own smaller bases of power, I'm sure some of them can be persuaded to set up shop elsewhere.
Anything that can help fix our mess of an economy has my approval. And on the issue of Kaine, perhaps we can engineer a little assassination or perhaps a coup d'etat by officers of his that we managed to persuade to our way of thinking? Considering the fact that we've so thoroughly breached his empire through our intelligence services, it seems like something that could at least be theoretically possible.
And on the issue of Kaine, perhaps we can engineer a little assassination or perhaps a coup d'etat by officers of his that we managed to persuade to our way of thinking? Considering the fact that we've so thoroughly breached his empire through our intelligence services, it seems like something that could at least be theoretically possible.
I don't think we want that. Kaine is steady, predictable and isolationist. He's also our closest, richest and most powerful neighbor, and would serve as a powerful buffer-state to more hostile Outer Rim factions like Zsinj and the New Republic. We want a peaceful, stable Pentastar Alignment that we can do business with while we gobble up the smaller, more belligerent warlords. If it were up to me, I would save the Alignment for last, only moving against Kaine when our power base and economic might are so overwhelming that we no longer need to worry about the cost of subjugating his pocket Empire.
No we don't have to fight him ever. By keeping him in power we gain a skilled ally and the only sane Imperial that knows how to run a government. With other options available to him that weren't there in the OTL he will be able to do other things than what he did in OTL. Cause Kaine does not care about Human High Culture or a lot of the Empire's worst traits he only played the part needed.
Also killing him will do nothing because unlike other Empires ours included he made his able to function even if he dies.
While I don't disagree that Kaine is a good buffer to have at the moment and should be kept friendly for the time being. I doubt he'll ever join our empire nor should we let him after all the man has had a taste of power with him being in charge why would he give that up? And even if he did join why wouldn't he want that again and just try to take our position as emperor and rule himself? I just don't see him not wanting to stay in charge with no one above him to ever willing give up said power or join another nation.
I doubt he'll ever join our empire nor should we let him after all the man has had a taste of power with him being in charge why would he give that up?
Well, if we're ever in a position where it's a realistic option, we simply offer him vassalage. Let him keep his territory and the prosperous little kingdom he's built for himself as a semi-autonomous Allied Region, but ensure that he ultimately pays his taxes to us, and that he does what we tell him to do when it comes to military operations. Make it clear that he's not getting a better offer, and that the alternative if he refuses is a full conquest where we do our level best to tear down everything he built and remake it in our own image after he's gone.
He already doesn't want Thrawn as an enemy now. Imagine how much more leery he'll be about the prospect of fighting us when we're the ones who clearly outclass the Alignment. But in any case, that's a problem for the not-so-near future, since we aren't in anywhere near a position to dictate terms like that yet. For now, cut trade deals, build ties, and just generally cooperate with the guy. Knowing Kaine, it's extremely unlikely that he'd be the one to initiate hostilities, so as long as we're making the right noises and not trying to pick a fight, he'll be a good neighbor.
No we don't have to fight him ever. By keeping him in power we gain a skilled ally and the only sane Imperial that knows how to run a government. With other options available to him that weren't there in the OTL he will be able to do other things than what he did in OTL. Cause Kaine does not care about Human High Culture or a lot of the Empire's worst traits he only played the part needed.
Also killing him will do nothing because unlike other Empires ours included he made his able to function even if he dies.
Well we may have to fight him if he does join the revived Sidious ITTL like he did in the OTL. Remember, the starting path we took intentionally diverges from what Palpatine's Galactic Empire was, and Spicy Sheev isn't going to be happy with us.
@Daemon Hunter Here is the first omake of this quest featuring the excitable Farryn and the capable Yewe as they develop an adaptable and modern standard issue Blaster line for the EotH. The title is a reference to the Infantry being called the Queens of Battle along with both Yewe and Farryn being the people who win battles, by developing better weapons in the lab and actually winning battles in the field respectively.
Queens of Battle
There are very few things Farryn Baidan enjoys more than solving problems, and restructuring the entire military arm of the Empire into the most efficient and dangerous fighting force in the galaxy will be the biggest puzzle of her life. There are so many things to consider, from basic equipment and vehicles to the training and uniform. After hours of debate and brainstorming with Thrawn, we have a clear picture on what the Army and Navy is going to be structured and equipped with. While you were upset at having to redo the uniforms, Thrawn did manage to kick out those naval officers that thought having a bridge that can be blasted by enemy vessels or bombed by X-Wings is a great idea.
Now the subject matter for this quarter is developing a new standard issue blaster for the Empire of the Hand's troopers and a replacement for the E-11. While the E-11 is an great blaster, it does have its short comings in open battle and isn't going to work with your plan to standardize the entire Empire of the Hand's military thus the plan to create new blasters.
You oversee development of the new standard issue blaster and gave the engineers several criteria for the new blaster to accomplish. It needs to be as light or lighter than the Republic DC-15S Carbine, have standardized parts, have two times the muzzle velocity of the E-11, an adjustable stock, and have a quick and easy system to stick attachments to the blaster.
The result is the M1 Assault Blaster, a sleek blaster made with a polymer casing 840mm long and weighing 4.4 kilograms. It is longer and heavier than the E-11 and is more comparable to the DC-15S used in the Clone Wars however its insulating polymer construction makes is much noticeably lighter than a similar blaster of that size. The Tibanna gas cartridge is stored in the stock which can hold 500 shots before needing to refill and the battery pack is attached in front of the trigger and able to hold a charge of up to 100 shots. It also contains a Power Setting for stun, semi-auto, burst-fire and full-auto.
However there are 2 main features that makes this blaster unique, the first is the new Hyper Rail Barrel that allows the M1 to launch bolts at 70 meters per second, twice the muzzle velocity of the E-11 resulting in a more precise and powerful blaster that can hit targets at longer ranges and against moving targets as the troopers don't have to lead their shots as far while also having an effective range of 200 meters, two times farther than the effective range of the E-11. The drawback is that it consumes 1.5x the energy to power the Blaster Module and the Hyper Rail to launch it thus requiring the larger power cell to maintain the same amount of shots of the E-11.
Finally a new feature that you are especially proud of, since you designed it yourself, is the new Farryn Rail system. This will allow the blaster to be easily customizable by making customizable attachments easy to attach from electroscopes, to glowrods, or an angled grip for a comfortable and stable weapon. So long as the attachment have a Farryn Rail, it can be attached to the M1 Blaster. Having the E-11's cooling rail system underneath the Farryn Rail also helps in cooling the weapon.
Of course any Admiral would be satisfied with what the M1 can accomplish, however you are not like most Admirals. You want to push the M1 even farther, how could it be done you may ask? well the idea came about while developing the Farryn rail system and the various different attachments that could be attached and replaced in the field, like a wide open sight for storming buildings in urban areas and then replacing the sight with a high powered optic for engaging enemies outside the building. Then I wondered if it was possible to go even further to transform the M1 from a DC-15S Carbine to a DC-15A Blaster rifle.
Thus you decided to pay Yewe a visit to see if something like what you envision is even possible and to see if it is possible to further optimize the design while your design team work on a carbine for urban and close quarters battles inside naval vessels. Your arrival at the Research Facility goes without a hitch and you quickly get escorted into one of the facility's conference rooms. You make sure there aren't any listening devices anywhere in the room and after that you set up your presentation for Yewe to look over. All those presentation projects the Academy dumped on its cadets finally paid off it seems. After 15 minutes of waiting Yewe arrived in the conference room with a pad in her hand.
You quickly rose from your seat and shook her hand "Yewe, thanks for agreeing to meet with me, I know that you have a fairly tight schedule."
"Yes, I am very sorry for the wait, we were in the middle of running an experiment when you arrived."
"Its fine, gave me time to sweep the room for any listening devices and set up the presentation. Now lets get down to business, the reason for this visit is to ask if you can optimize the design of the new M1 Blaster and to see if it is possible to switch out the carbine barrel with a sniper barrel on the field." You activate the holoprojector to display a model of the new M1 and disassemble it into its various components.
"The idea of turning a carbine into a long ranged rifle is certain a new one. What brought this about?" You and Yewe spent the several hours discussing the various points of the M1 and the both of you somehow managed to design a quick release system to change the barrel and upper receiver with a Sniper variant named the M1-LR.
It has all of the features the M1-AB, but improved capabilities specialized for long range. To convert an M1-AB into the M1-LR, the marksman have to activate the quick release mechanism and remove the upper body and barrel from the lower body and stock and replace it with the LR segment from the marksman's pack. It is estimated that a Marksman can convert the blaster in 30-40 second and can go much faster with practice or having someone else help. It is estimated that the M1-LR can reliably hit a humanoid target of up to 400 meters away with its longer barrel and high powered electroscope. The best part is that M1-AB and M1-LR have 75% of their part be interchangeable reducing the strain on logistics to supply specialized parts and even then, the Marksman can make do with an M1-AB if an M1-LR is unavailable.
Once the both of you are satisfied that there is nothing that can be improved upon until better technology is developed the both of you decide to finish the meeting. Farryn will have the Engineering department built several prototypes of testing and submit the test data for Yewe to analyze in greater detail at a later date. And so you left the research facility with satisfaction as you helped shaped what is most likely a new era of warfare.
The next piece of equipment to reform is for the Imperial Army and Stormtroopers is close quarters blaster for urban and boarding actions. However you feel that the E-11 can do the job just fine and you can wait a couple years before having to replace it, those years would be better spent reforming other aspects of the military first, most notably the navy. You feel that you'll need all the time you have to reform the navy in the event of delays due to idiotic old timers wanting to die to rebels than staying alive.
AN: Special Thanks to Generation Tech youtube channel for a lot of the Star War's military info I need for this omake, especially the reference to someone from Wired who calculated the velocity of a blaster to be 36 meters per second (from "10 Reasons why Firearms are BETTER than Blasters"). The M1 is based on the US's M27 IAR and M1-LR is based on the the Sabre Assault from Future Weapons but I couldn't find a picture so I had to settle for the H&K G28 which is the DMR version of the M27 and is from from the same manufacturer. I had to google search the effective ranges of the E-11 and half the effective ranges of the M27 and the G28 to simulate blaster tech having horrible range compared to slugthrowers. The speed of a blaster was 36 meters per second which is slower than a Delorean or a fast ball, its probably the reason Jedi had an easier time deflecting it. Having a faster blasters would at least make it harder for the Jedi to keep up. Let me know what you think of this omake and if you spot any mistakes in the lore.
Well we may have to fight him if he does join the revived Sidious ITTL like he did in the OTL. Remember, the starting path we took intentionally diverges from what Palpatine's Galactic Empire was, and Spicy Sheev isn't going to be happy with us.
Because he had no other options then. All the other major warlords were gone and what was left was under the control of Palpatine. He knew if he did not join him then his Pentastar Alignment was going to be considered or destroyed by the NR who was the dominant power at that point. This time things are not the same and the OTL events are no longer going to happen. There will be other powers left in the galaxy and the warlords are not going to submit to Palpatine. And as for Kaine and the taste for power not really. He believes in the ideals of the New Order the actual ones not the shit that Palpatine said but never did and just used to justify committing warcrimes. He wants order, security, and peace. If he has other options to achieve that he will take it.
Kaine and the Chiss are going to be our two most important neighbors and allies so we make it worth it to them to stay with us.
I'm rather excited about what to do about the new republic.
I honestly think it would be possible to get people to defect to us after a while.
As long as we are genuinely reforming the empire into something that's actually functional and not blatantly stupid evil then we become a perfectly viable alternative.
The new republic was rife with corruption and obstructive bureaucracy. The only reason it survived at all were the ridiculously heroic actions of the heroes and a fairly decent military branch. Politically it brought back all the faults of the old republic.
If we become a legit force for good in competition with the new republic we might get people jumping ship to join us. We might have been the empire at one point but darn it we get RESULTS and we aren't doing any of the stuff that made the empire horrible.
We help them out with legitimate threats to everyone, remain reasonable and approachable, don't do anything capital EVIL and they will eventually break up and parts may come right to us.
A shame we've got this potential Sith running our force stuff. That may definitely cause some friction.
The new republic was rife with corruption and obstructive bureaucracy. The only reason it survived at all were the ridiculously heroic actions of the heroes and a fairly decent military branch. Politically it brought back all the faults of the old republic.
Reason No. 134 why Legends was not as great as People always claim it was: Most Authors were completely unable to write conflicts without resorting to tired old "Republic incompetent and corrupt; Democracy sucks" concepts.
Seriously, this was SO annoying. At least in the original Thrawn Trilogy (which basically started the expanded Legends-Universe), the New Republic WAS genuinely competent.
Also, I kinda have to Question how valid it is to criticize a Government for being "unstable" when they get slammed Crisis after Crisis after Crisis in their Faces non-stop with barely a year of Pause between them.
Sorry, sorry, Rant over. Just something that utterly frustrates me about Legends to this day.
I just think it's a inherent problem in trying to have any government controlling that many worlds. It's completely unmanageable.
So much will be ignored, corruption can happen fairly easily, whatever is in the minority will be completely overshadowed by the majority and yet can still be a fairly huge chunk of the galaxy.
Either the highest level needs to focus on the most broad and accepted stuff with minimal influence on actual worlds unless there are extreme circumstances or the government needs to be broken up into several much smaller areas of the galaxy with aligned interests with mutual defense pacts or something.
Trying to have a huge and powerful democracy in Coruscant run everything is just asking for trouble.
I'll say the same thing about us if we get that large and unwieldy but that might be a long way aways.
You know what they say. The best form of government is a benevolent and competent dictatorship (Us currently). You just run into major problems when it's time for someone else to take over.
It's worth remembering that canonically, the Old Republic lasted for thousands of years.
From the perspective of History? That's bloody amazing. How many regimes, how many nations, can claim to have lasted for so long?
The days of Chancellor Valorum are further away from the time of Revan than President Biden is from most the formation of ancient Greece. That's incredible.
I just think it's a inherent problem in trying to have any government controlling that many worlds. It's completely unmanageable.
So much will be ignored, corruption can happen fairly easily, whatever is in the minority will be completely overshadowed by the majority and yet can still be a fairly huge chunk of the galaxy.
This^. Also, considering that you had a pervasive culture of bureaucratic and governmental corruption in the final century or so of the Republic's existence, followed by a period where the Empire didn't do away with that culture, but rather expanded and partially formalized it. Then you have the New Republic come in and take over, and you expect them to solve all of that overnight? Not happening, especially since historical revolutionary governments are some of the most susceptible to corruption early on in their rule due to the chaos inherent in overturning the established order to make something new.
Either the highest level needs to focus on the most broad and accepted stuff with minimal influence on actual worlds unless there are extreme circumstances or the government needs to be broken up into several much smaller areas of the galaxy with aligned interests with mutual defense pacts or something.
This is literally, almost word-for-word, the rationale for the Ruusan Reformations. The consolidation of the thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of Republic Sectors into just over 1000 larger ones, and the decentralization of military power were both attempts to address exactly the problems you're talking about. By all accounts it actually worked pretty well for a number of centuries. It's not the most thorough or efficient way of doing things, which is what ultimately doomed it when it started to face serious stress tests, but it can work.
It's worth remembering that canonically, the Old Republic lasted for thousands of years.
From the perspective of History? That's bloody amazing. How many regimes, how many nations, can claim to have lasted for so long?
The days of Chancellor Valorum are further away from the time of Revan than President Biden is from most the formation of ancient Greece. That's incredible.
Well, it survived in one form or another. Personally I suspect that it collapsed and had to be rebuilt a fairly large number of times over the course of its long, long history. I mean, in all seriousness, even the Imperial period will be little more than a quasi-important footnote in the historical record of the Republic after a couple thousand years.
Future Republic Historians: "Oh, you mean that twenty-or-so year period where the Republic became a dictatorship? Meh, small potatoes. You want to know about a real historical crisis? Let me tell you about the time the Republic spent a millennium as a brutal crusading theocracy!"
