roseandheather wrote:All signs rather do seem to be pointing toward the League's imminent demise, don't they?
That said, it would not be the first time that RFC has set the signs all akimbo just for the fun of laughing at us when we misread them.....
The blunt fact is, though, that the League as it stands is untenable. It is bloated, rife with corruption, and sparking rebellion around every corner. Sooner or later, the whole, termite-ridden house is going to fall over. I'm reminded of NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel's analogy for the countries of the Middle East: while the dictators were in charge, the houses remained standing, even if they were so rotten a stiff breeze could knock them over. But when a bulldozer in the form of the U.S. military came trundling in, down the houses went, with all the rot, infestation and ugliness exposed to the outside world. And now we're on cleanup duty.
Methinks the Grand Alliance is about to perform a similar service to the equally-rotten League's crumbling edifice.
I wonder what cleanup is gonna look like....
I greatly doubt the defeat would be all that complete. Far more likely is that a lot of planets leave, a real lot. But there are close to 1800 of them now. So what happens if they lose even a thousand? They'd be far larger than anyone else.
Of course, by losing a lot of planets and we can certainly assume protectorates, a major source of League income, will be leaving, they lose the funds needed to operate the government and the navy is probably the largest expense.
And, of course, they'd lose the revenue they get from a lot of inter-planet transport fees.
But I'd guess there will still be a League and it will still have a lot of influence. But it might only be a 200 pound gorilla instead of an 800 pound one.
