Wow, where to begin... (At the beginning, I suppose.)
(This is where your last critique fell apart before it began, too, Murmur - you haven't bothered to read what's already been written. I'd have thought you'd have learned from that mistake, from the last time you slammed a pie into your own face. The only real reason I bother to reply to your misinformed posts is that it helps me organize my own notes for the Writers' Guides.)
The real reason is much more powerful: There's no market.
Consider the personality-type that goes into Fenspace. Now consider the personality-type that becomes addicted to "hard" drugs. Note how little overlap there is between the two.
Yes, there's going to be a market for alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Alcohol is trivally easy to make from any starch-based foodstuff. The other two are a bit more difficult to obtain, but hydroponic technology makes this a simple problem to solve. Fenspace has the capability to make their own drugs.
The drug problem in Fenspace, as has already been shown in the original "Plotbunny" thread, is the narcotics traffic from space to Earth.
I've written at length about this one already. This time, I'll simply cut-and-paste from the existing source material (which you really should have already read before posting something like this, Murmur):
I remember when I first came into space, five years ago. People
laughed at me for including a single defensive turret in my station,
because they thought I'd never have a need to shoot at anybody except
maybe the 'danes. I remember Kandor-con, when Kohran made a mistake
and everybody found out about kaboomite, and as a result my group
became social pariahs for two years. "How dare they commit the sin of
carrying out weapon research?" was one of the milder comments on the
groups and mailing lists at the time.
Now, be honest: is a society that fosters that sort of attitude really interested in obtaining firearms?
(Yes, my character keeps weapons. However, my character is also usually described as "the richest SOB in Fenspace". Most people in Fenspace don't like the way he acts.)
(And it's "fen", not "fens". Read the source material.)
The average Fenspacer (the unaligned Fen and the Trekkies make up more than half the population) lives in his 'waved car. He's in the driver's seat, his entire wardrobe except for what he's wearing that day is in the trunk, there's a week's worth of groceries completely filling the back seat, and he's got something to keep himself amused in the front passenger seat. Where are you going to put a slave? Where are you going to put the food to keep that slave alive? Even if you figure those out, what is the slave going to do?
Yes, there are slavers in Fenspace. However, their market is on Earth.
The USCG enforces the law at Tranquility Base. The USAF enforces the law on their station. Noah Scott enforces the laws on his station. I assume Wiregeek and Eric Zhu do the same on their stations. The Trekkies enforce their laws throughout their own settlements, ships, and stations, as do the Warsies, the Senshi, the Potterites, and so on. Conventions set overarching laws that apply to everyone, and those laws are enforced by every faction. And the Erisians were specifically mentioned as being judges and arbitrators long before I started writing any Fenspace stories.
I know I'm asking a lot of you, Murmur, but could you please read what's already been written before attempting to point out shortcomings in the setting?
Edit:
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Quote:Add the fact that every business based in Fenspace as of 2012 is privately-owned, and there's no opportunity for "corporate malfeasance".
(personally I think that corporate malfeasance should be there as well but it's not sexy as guns, drugs and slaves).
Quote:If you don't even know the name of the biggest single event in the setting, you really need to do some more research before attempting to critique the setting.
until Operation . . . uh something Justice presumably
(This is where your last critique fell apart before it began, too, Murmur - you haven't bothered to read what's already been written. I'd have thought you'd have learned from that mistake, from the last time you slammed a pie into your own face. The only real reason I bother to reply to your misinformed posts is that it helps me organize my own notes for the Writers' Guides.)
Quote:Those are lesser reasons. (And the "distance" reason doesn't wash. Criminals ship qat from the Middle-East to North America in real life. They can ship it to Pluto in the same amount of time in Fenspace.)
However, it's also not likely that earth-side cartels would get much more than an initial foothold on the fenspace drug market because of two factors: local chemical manufacturing and distance.
The real reason is much more powerful: There's no market.
Consider the personality-type that goes into Fenspace. Now consider the personality-type that becomes addicted to "hard" drugs. Note how little overlap there is between the two.
Yes, there's going to be a market for alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Alcohol is trivally easy to make from any starch-based foodstuff. The other two are a bit more difficult to obtain, but hydroponic technology makes this a simple problem to solve. Fenspace has the capability to make their own drugs.
The drug problem in Fenspace, as has already been shown in the original "Plotbunny" thread, is the narcotics traffic from space to Earth.
Quote:Here we go again...
Guns, however, would be a large market for Fens.
I've written at length about this one already. This time, I'll simply cut-and-paste from the existing source material (which you really should have already read before posting something like this, Murmur):
I remember when I first came into space, five years ago. People
laughed at me for including a single defensive turret in my station,
because they thought I'd never have a need to shoot at anybody except
maybe the 'danes. I remember Kandor-con, when Kohran made a mistake
and everybody found out about kaboomite, and as a result my group
became social pariahs for two years. "How dare they commit the sin of
carrying out weapon research?" was one of the milder comments on the
groups and mailing lists at the time.
Now, be honest: is a society that fosters that sort of attitude really interested in obtaining firearms?
(Yes, my character keeps weapons. However, my character is also usually described as "the richest SOB in Fenspace". Most people in Fenspace don't like the way he acts.)
Quote:You don't know much about governments, do you?
Personally I think that the governments which allow handwavium launches would also be the ones which sells most of the guns to the fens in bulk.
(And it's "fen", not "fens". Read the source material.)
Quote:For the simple reason that there's neither room nor resources to maintain a slave population.
Finally, slaves. This commodity is something that criminals already have a large infrastructure in place ... and is something that fenspace does not have.
The average Fenspacer (the unaligned Fen and the Trekkies make up more than half the population) lives in his 'waved car. He's in the driver's seat, his entire wardrobe except for what he's wearing that day is in the trunk, there's a week's worth of groceries completely filling the back seat, and he's got something to keep himself amused in the front passenger seat. Where are you going to put a slave? Where are you going to put the food to keep that slave alive? Even if you figure those out, what is the slave going to do?
Yes, there are slavers in Fenspace. However, their market is on Earth.
Quote:Since when?
Though it must be stressed that because there is no enforcable law
The USCG enforces the law at Tranquility Base. The USAF enforces the law on their station. Noah Scott enforces the laws on his station. I assume Wiregeek and Eric Zhu do the same on their stations. The Trekkies enforce their laws throughout their own settlements, ships, and stations, as do the Warsies, the Senshi, the Potterites, and so on. Conventions set overarching laws that apply to everyone, and those laws are enforced by every faction. And the Erisians were specifically mentioned as being judges and arbitrators long before I started writing any Fenspace stories.
I know I'm asking a lot of you, Murmur, but could you please read what's already been written before attempting to point out shortcomings in the setting?
Edit:
Quote:None of which are illegal. Certainly, the Swiss banking system may be annoyed about some of their business heading up the gravity gradient, but that's the free market for you...
also: fenspace as tax haven, tax shelter, data haven
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012