Posted by: DecepticonCobra
I recently bought the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov and even though there are huge differences between that universe and Halo, I can't help but think that if Earth's colonies had become independent much like the Empire's did in Foundation, for a lack of better words, the Yoink! would've hit the fan.
In Foundation, the Empire encompassed over 2 MILLION worlds. The UEG has a lot less, but I think that would make it worse. The Empire was so huge that when it finally started to collapse, it's worlds broke away only hurting the Empire more and creating a whole new Dark Age in the process with galaxy wide barbarism.
Consider the Halo situation now. Earth and the Inner Colonies were relatively peaceful, it was the Outer Colonies causing trouble. Now let's say instead of resisting, the UEG gave the worlds that wanted independence their own freedom. Would that be the end of it? No. Say all they wanted was freedom, but human nature has shown what happens when newly independent states get their freedom, they expand. What did the American colonies do when they finally became free? They eventually conquered all of the present day Untied States and a bit beyond to. What happened when Rome collapsed? New nations formed and they eventually sought more and more land.
Wouldn't the newly independent planets do the same? If they hate the UEG, they may not have trade agreements with them. Take this scenario, say you have a ship renowned for it's metal deposits and was a a huge ship maker, yet relied on imported food. We now have a world that can build a navy and sack another world, maybe independent or part of the UEG still, for precious resources. Bam, you still have war regardless. Can you also imagine how treaties and alliances would work out? WWI was as bad as it was thanks to the alliance system that got so many nations involved. Span that galaxy wide now and you might have galactic war. Eventually the UNSC would have to be involved and we are back to where we started.
Then take human planets at war and imagine what would happen when the Covenant arrived. Everyone would be separated and divided and the Covenant would have no solid opposition outside of the UNSC, but without the insurrection, no Spartans would've been made. Bye-bye human race.
And we now see what to expect from independent worlds, Venezia. They attacked a crippled UNSC ship asking for help. Just want freedom my -Yoink!-. Frankly, if Venezia is a trend and not an isolated incident and colonies have declared independence and are arming themselves, much like the Empire, the UEG and UNSC may collapse entirely.
(Reposted from Waypoint)
I saw that book in barns and noble classics. Is it good? I can't decide weather to get that or to get the HP Lovecraft book.
also, That may happen, but people have not taken over an entire galaxy yet in halo. They barely took over one arm of it. Now that the war with the covies is over, the outer colonies have no way to attack earth and the inner colonies, but instead would try expanding outward away from earth. And eventually, as more and more colonies are made, the UNSC wouldn't be able to manage all their colonies and eventually, lots of colonies would begin to ignore them completely.
The UEG is like a balloon. Slowly getting larger until it pops. Wouldn't it be better if we just let a little air out at a time?
[Edited on 02.25.2012 5:56 PM PST]