State rightsin EoC

Let me see, is there any evidence that Nimue, who speaks Welsh, is from anywhere near Britain, which contains Wales.
Nope, nope, I got nothing.
More seriously, thanks RobertG for actual textev.

Regarding militias, for clarity's sake I should perhaps have specified that I expect Charis to develop militia units after the present war, when there are thousands of men who joined up to fight going back to their homes.
At that point there will be vast stocks of - possibly slightly outdated - small arms. Fostering loyal trained militias to use those arms seems like a better option than stockpiling them or destroying them.

As to the cost, keeping up a smaller standing army in return for funding to militias is going to be a financial benefit; and Crown funding in exchange for Crown inspection gives opportunities to keep the militia well in hand. Add in that many, if not most of the early recruits will be veterans of the current war, and I think the calculus comes out thoroughly in favour.

Incognitia wrote:It has been illegal for a private individual or individuals to have an armed force under their control in the UK since Tudor times.

I think it should be legal, and in fact encouraged by the Empire, for Militias or Corps of Volunteers to:
Obtain rifles and uniforms
Train in marksmanship and tactics
Go on field exercises

As long as they swear allegiance to the Crown.
If they reach certain levels of effectiveness, they should be able to obtain Crown funding for their equipment and facilities.

Once the war is over, this would ideally allow the Empire to downsize its Army a little, while retaining a large reserve of trained, capable manpower which can be rapidly called up and added to the ICA at need.

Private firearms should be pre-emptively restricted to weapons held by militia members and hunting weapons, both of which have a legitimate purpose. Nimue/Merlin, being of British origin, really really shouldn't follow USian dogma on guns, and I will be quite upset with RFC if they do.

Your first point is correct in general but do not forget that the "Atholl Highlanders" still exist as the personal regiment of the Duke of Atholl.

(Most things about the UK have an exception somewhere)

Incognitia wrote:(SNIP)

Regarding militias, for clarity's sake I should perhaps have specified that I expect Charis to develop militia units after the present war, when there are thousands of men who joined up to fight going back to their homes.
At that point there will be vast stocks of - possibly slightly outdated - small arms. Fostering loyal trained militias to use those arms seems like a better option than stockpiling them or destroying them.

(SNIP)

I would be surprised if Charis didn't have a militia now - let alone after the war.

Of copurse, after the war there is going to be an influx of experienced ex-soldiers into the militia, as that's what happens in the real world.

Charisian militias were mentioned in passing in OAR.

MWadwell wrote:

Incognitia wrote:(SNIP)

Regarding militias, for clarity's sake I should perhaps have specified that I expect Charis to develop militia units after the present war, when there are thousands of men who joined up to fight going back to their homes.
At that point there will be vast stocks of - possibly slightly outdated - small arms. Fostering loyal trained militias to use those arms seems like a better option than stockpiling them or destroying them.

(SNIP)

I would be surprised if Charis didn't have a militia now - let alone after the war.

Of copurse, after the war there is going to be an influx of experienced ex-soldiers into the militia, as that's what happens in the real world.

Incognitia wrote:Let me see, is there any evidence that Nimue, who speaks Welsh, is from anywhere near Britain, which contains Wales.
Nope, nope, I got nothing.
More seriously, thanks RobertG for actual textev.

The problem that exists in your premise is that even Nimue's original life was set several hundred years in the future. RFC has never give very much detail about how the political and social situation in the Terran Federation differed from what we have here in the early 21st Century; therefore we cannot simply say "it will be this way because that's the way it is now". And considering that the human race had been at war with the Gbaba for decades, I would expect a MAJOR alteration in the attitudes from our time.

One other thing of note - the two most often referenced 'historical documents' in the Safehold books, by those people who know about them, are The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Whether you think it should or it shouldn't be that way, the USA's influence on the laws governing the Terran Federation was obviously huge; so it logically proceeds to the realization that American culture and attitudes towards many things will have 'rubbed off' even more on other areas of the planet Earth by the time of the war with the Gbaba (that can be both very good, and also very bad, IMHO. Some parts of American culture and attitudes are good examples for others to follow, and some are not!).

And finally, the attitudes and opinions of the characters in the series are determined by the author, even if they might seem to radically deviate from what we, the readers, think that they should be. It is dangerous to assume things that are not in open view already - RFC can do whatever he wants to do with them!

BTW, welcome to the forums!! Enjoy!

Renegade13 wrote:

Incognitia wrote:Let me see, is there any evidence that Nimue, who speaks Welsh, is from anywhere near Britain, which contains Wales.
Nope, nope, I got nothing.
More seriously, thanks RobertG for actual textev.

The problem that exists in your premise is that even Nimue's original life was set several hundred years in the future. RFC has never give very much detail about how the political and social situation in the Terran Federation differed from what we have here in the early 21st Century; therefore we cannot simply say "it will be this way because that's the way it is now". And considering that the human race had been at war with the Gbaba for decades, I would expect a MAJOR alteration in the attitudes from our time.

One other thing of note - the two most often referenced 'historical documents' in the Safehold books, by those people who know about them, are The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Whether you think it should or it shouldn't be that way, the USA's influence on the laws governing the Terran Federation was obviously huge; so it logically proceeds to the realization that American culture and attitudes towards many things will have 'rubbed off' even more on other areas of the planet Earth by the time of the war with the Gbaba (that can be both very good, and also very bad, IMHO. Some parts of American culture and attitudes are good examples for others to follow, and some are not!).

And finally, the attitudes and opinions of the characters in the series are determined by the author, even if they might seem to radically deviate from what we, the readers, think that they should be. It is dangerous to assume things that are not in open view already - RFC can do whatever he wants to do with them!

BTW, welcome to the forums!! Enjoy!

Try this little tidbit about the US Constitution. When it was first ratified in 1789. there were in power IIRC an:
Emperor of China and Japan
Tsar of Russia
Holy Roman Emperor
Kings of Spain France and England
and a President of the USA

now who is left with real political power

Incognitia wrote:Let me see, is there any evidence that Nimue, who speaks Welsh, is from anywhere near Britain, which contains Wales.
Nope, nope, I got nothing.
More seriously, thanks RobertG for actual textev.

[/quote]

Let me see, I speak at least a bit of, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek and Italian. So where am I from? Gee, I must be a mongrel, I guess? (Or maybe I'm from New York; E Pluribus Unum and all that!) Seriously, you want to spot where somebody is from by what language she can speak? I guess my sister-in-law's birthplace is going to shift East by a few thousand miles once she finishes her Mandarin course then.

saber964 wrote:Try this little tidbit about the US Constitution. When it was first ratified in 1789. there were in power IIRC an:
Emperor of China and Japan
Tsar of Russia
Holy Roman Emperor
Kings of Spain France and England
and a President of the USA

now who is left with real political power

None of the above - given the present attitude of Congress

Randomiser wrote:

Incognitia wrote:Let me see, is there any evidence that Nimue, who speaks Welsh, is from anywhere near Britain, which contains Wales.
Nope, nope, I got nothing.
More seriously, thanks RobertG for actual textev.

Let me see, I speak at least a bit of, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek and Italian. So where am I from? Gee, I must be a mongrel, I guess? (Or maybe I'm from New York; E Pluribus Unum and all that!) Seriously, you want to spot where somebody is from by what language she can speak? I guess my sister-in-law's birthplace is going to shift East by a few thousand miles once she finishes her Mandarin course then.[/quote]



A person who speaks three languages is trilingual. A person who speaks two languages is bilingual. A person who speaks one language is an American.

Don

Randomiser wrote:

Incognitia wrote:Let me see, is there any evidence that Nimue, who speaks Welsh, is from anywhere near Britain, which contains Wales.
Nope, nope, I got nothing.
More seriously, thanks RobertG for actual textev.

Let me see, I speak at least a bit of, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek and Italian. So where am I from? Gee, I must be a mongrel, I guess? (Or maybe I'm from New York; E Pluribus Unum and all that!) Seriously, you want to spot where somebody is from by what language she can speak? I guess my sister-in-law's birthplace is going to shift East by a few thousand miles once she finishes her Mandarin course then.[/quote]

Well English French and German are world languages spoken by tens of millions of people in multiple countries, which makes them pretty useless as clues. Greek is slightly more meaningful, but by the time someone speaks 4 or more languages none of them is massively indicative.
Welsh gives quite a lot of evidence, because there are (OTL present day):
720k total, of which
560k (over 75%) in Wales
150k in England
That's about 98% of all Welsh-speaking people still in Great Britain. The remaining 2% are split between Argentina, US, Canada and NZ, but are fewer than 10,000 total.

Add that to the textev which exists (the wiki says that Nimue's dad was Welsh, but I'm not sure what the source is), and I'd say that was pretty conclusive.

The only plausible theory I can come up with for Nimue speaking Welsh without being culturally British is if NEATs make learning languages so easy that she picked it up on a whim. However, I would then expect her to know a lot more languages, and so far she has shown evidence of knowing English and Welsh only.

Anyway, this is a big sideslip from the topic; and I think it's going to be very interesting to see how the EoC develops. At the moment the people at the top will be squelching most intra-Empire conflict, they all have deeply personal motivation to make sure things work. What will be really interesting is in a generation or so, if some of the realms of the Empire have differing interests and the key players from the jihad are no longer on the throne. That's when it might get...sticky.