Quote:Mark Skarr wrote:If the IST world is no longer dependent on fossil fuels for their energy needs, but you want the Middle East to still matter, Bob just has to handwave a new demand for petroleum products. Perhaps oil is a key ingredient in whatever super-substance makes up the newest generation of lightweight armor. America's oil reserves make it a military powerhouse, while the entire world struggles for access to the Middle East's oil supplies so that they can make their own super suits and armored vehicles and fortified buildings. This may also explain how despotic Middle Eastern regimes remain in power despite a fraction of their populations having super powers; they're using their oil to produce crude knockoffs of the armor produced by the major industrialized nations and using that to outfit their soldiers.
But, really, with the removal of fossil fuel dependency, the Middle East will atrophy... Sure, there’s always a place for petroleum byproducts, but it’s not going to give them all the wealth they enjoyed in our world.
And in case it matters, I release any and all rights to these ideas to Bob Schroeck, and expect no remuneration of any sort.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV