Comments on the Forgotten Faction

[OldCodger]

Just a quick note to let everyone know that, beginning with the next chapter, I will be starting a "Forgotten Faction, Part 2" thread because wading through all of the earlier chapters to get to the new one is getting annoying for me, so I assume it is getting annoying for my readers--both of you!--as well.

NOTE TO JASONIAN: Those "mountain oysters" weren't so bad now, were they :-)?

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[VulturesRow]

Old Codger,

I love your story. Great stuff. Id be honored to have you put me in your story if there is room I dont care how you portray me if you do decide to do so but Ill give you a little summary just in case. Im a navy aviator and I pretty much fulfill a lot of the stereotypes..abundantly confident, daredevil but I am also a very laid back and caring person.

Again, kudos , your story was great..and the hillbilly faction does so remind me of home..I grew up on a farm for goodness sake!

Chris

[OldCodger]

The Forgotten Faction storyline now has an opportunity to deal with more philosophical issues. The first such issue has now been examined, specifically: What kind of a sick wacko beats up a Barbie doll?

VulturesRow: I truly wish you had joined this forum a little earlier. We could have had some serious fun with your handle and occupation back in the big battle between the Hillbillies and the Usurpers. Unfortunately, the story outline is pretty much set, so all I could really do at this point is work in a token reference. However, things do seem to change, so you are on the list if I need another reasonably major character.

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[Gregurabi]

The Hillbillies shouldn't get a free Rec Commons -- they should get a free Children's Creche.

Why? It would reflect their strong devotion to their "kin". It would also help explain their morale (nobody ever beats 'em in a fight on their own turf ).

And with +2 Growth and a free Children's Creche, they can pop-boom with just Democracy. This is important, especially if they're denied Planned.

OldCodger: this is a great story. Keep it up!

[Wambaugh]

Having registered a few days ago, most of my online time has been taken up reading The Spartan Chronicles and The Forgotten Faction. This is a great story and I can't wait for the next installment. I love the idea of the Progenitors being incapacitated by fiddle music.

[senatus]

Fantastic! I'm sure everyone here was chuckling by the time they got to this....

"The game was so successful that the Raging Mouse Software Company announced that they were releasing an expansion pack that would make the game even more enjoyable. The expansion pack would add five new human political groups and two non-human
groups. Rumor had it that the non-human groups were actually from earth's past. Apparently, not all the dinosaurs had actually become extinct. The tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor species both were intelligent and at odds with each other. Both managed to develop interstellar travel vehicles and left the earth to extend their conflict among the stars. The surviving remnant of both finally decided to return to earth and, when they arrived, discovered that things had changed somewhat in their absence. Apparently the other dinosaurs had died out leaving mammals in charge, and the mammals had left the planet and managed to blow everything up. Now, the mammals had returned to do it all again, and neither the tyrannosaurs nor velociraptors were particularly pleased with the prospect."

[OldCodger]

I'm glad you are enjoying the story. It's been "very interesting" to write.

I thought the description of the "Return to Sol" game would be particularly amusing to people on this forum. Also, I kind of felt that I owed some sort of mention to Raging Mouse since "The Wizard of Chiron" is one of my favorite story lines. Obviously, I enjoy the Alpha Centauri forums here quite a bit, though I do more "lurking" on the strategy forums than posting (there are people there who have a far better grasp of the game than I do). So, a "nod" to my favorite forum seemed to be in order as well.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to mention "The Wizard of Chiron" or the "Spartan Chronicles" in some way, my joy would be complete .

Even better, the mention is not exactly gratuitous...

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[OldCodger]

It's been a while since I posted something new to the Forgotten Faction. I apologize to both of my "loyal readers" for this, but I was on vacation, a most necessary and wonderful experience.

We spent some time on the Gulf coast of Florida where, in addition to marinating ourselves in sun and sea water, I also managed to keep an eye on a Canadian probe team that appeared to be trying to insert itself into US territory. Their disguise was quite good; appearing as four middle-aged geezers in a rubber raft with several fishing poles. However, the small Canadian flag on the stern was a dead giveaway about their nefarious scheme.

However, I digress...

A couple of quick comments about the latest chapter: First, Bugtussle is a "nod" to the old "Beverly Hillbillies" TV show. They always referred to "Bugtussle" as an allegedly large town back in the hill country they came from. It seemed like a story about Hillbillies ought to include something from that old TV show.

Second, as a matter of style, I actually feel kind of bad about the abruptness that the story line has come to. I wish I could have spent more time with some of the factions, such as the Cult of Planet and maybe the Cyborgs. The problem is that if I spend the kind of time I would like to spend on each chapter, the story would be *significantly* longer and I'm afraid I would never get it done. I just don't have the time to do that, so it is what it is. Even though I have an outline and know exactly how this story will end, it still takes a long time to write and still throws a surprise or two at me.

Still, it's too bad because there may be a rather good story lurking around in there somewhere...

Enjoy, and I will make an effort to be more timely with the remainder of the tale.

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[OldCodger]

A few comments on the background for the current storyline in The Forgotten Faction.

First, the relationship between the Morganite mines and the J-Mart stores is modelled from an actual event in U.S. history. The Appalachian region has large deposits of coal. As mining operations were opened to mine this coal, the mining companies basically built towns and opened "company stores" that would allow the miners to purchase goods on credit. No retail competition was allowed in mining towns, so the company store could charge what it wanted and keep the miners in perpetual debt. This contributed to the formation of the United Mine Workers union, one of the largest trade unions in the United States. Many of the mines have since closed and the "company store" was eventually closed by legislation and negotiation. But the Appalachian region is still one of the most impoverished regions in the United States as a result of its historical domination by the mining companies.

Second, the legal assault tactic attempted by CEO Morgan was actually used to drive the company that made the Stanley Steamer, a steam-powered automobile, out of business. Every time they made a technical improvement to their vehicles or production methods, one of the other automakers (I won't mention the name since I don't know for sure which one it was) filed a patent infringement suit that forced the makers of the Stanley Steamer to stop using that improvement and pay massive legal fees to defend themselves. They were eventually forced into bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the Hillbillies' solution to this legal assault would not work in the American judicial system... However, one could always wish...

Third, the "Dreadnought 3000 AD" flamewar is based on what I think is surely the longest running flame war in internet history, the "Battlecruiser 3000 AD" flame war. This game was originally developed by Derek Smart and published in the 1995-96 time frame. It was literally "dead out of the box". It also sparked a flame war that is continuing even to this day. If you want to see what this is like, read the following newsgroup:

comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic

This flame war has spilled over into several other newsgroups as well. There are days when at least half the messages in this newsgroup are contributions to this flame war. This flame war has had a sustained negative impact on that particular newsgroup. It is without a doubt the nastiest newsgroup I read on a regular basis. Incidently, a newer version of this game has been released and may be found in bargain software bins at a variety of outlets. This new version is rumored to be at least playable.

It still floors me to think that a flame war has continued basically unabated for about five years now all because of a 40 dollar piece of software...

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[Jasonian]

quote: Originally posted by OldCodger on 07-26-2000 01:41 PM I apologize to both of my "loyal readers" for this, but I was on vacation, a most necessary and wonderful experience.

Heh, you know I'm one of those two readers. This story remains my favorite one on the forum right now, combining humor and Alpha Centauri concepts quite nicely.

Haven't heard from ole Andrew Jasonian for a while. I guess since I served my purpose to win over the Cyborgs, I'm out of it now. Ah well.

Keep up with the great work! I'm dying to see how the Hillbillies deal with the Morgan/University/Peacekeeper block!

[OldCodger]

If you are reading both "The Forgotten Faction" and the associated comments thread, go read the latest chapter before you read any further in here. You should always do that anyway.

Back already? Good.

I just wanted to point out something that may have gotten lost over the weeks: Gayle Storm and Paula Forbes are both pen names used by Googlie to post stories to this forum (or the old OWO forums). So, in essence, one of Googlie's handles is now trying to hunt down and kill another of Googlie's handles.

Way back a long time ago when I asked if I could use various forum "handles" for the names of story characters, I actually split a character in two to set up this precise situation. Why did I do that? Well, it seemed like a suitably crazy thing to do. Even more interesting, Googlie is on vacation at the moment is doesn't know what's going on.

Perhaps this will cause some degree of neurosis when he finally returns...

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[Rynn:]

Ha:

You wish (I'm lurking, reading, taking notes, plotting....hehehe)

Rynn

[OldCodger]

Rynn (a.k.a. Googlie):

Nice to hear from you again. I thought you would be gone for a bit when this hit. Now, I find out that, not only are you still here, but you're scheming, plotting, and taking notes.

Sounds like my plan is working!

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, eh?

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Old age and treachery: the perfect cure for youth and ambition...

[Googlie]

OC:

Gone in a week (for six weeks)

G.

[fluffy]

OldCodger:

if you're still around, I hope you don't me dredging your story up from the depths! I thought it was too good to be hidden any longer...