Supernova: Imperial motivations

[dpadam]

I'm potentially running a "Supernova" adventure for my group. The Empire's refusal to evacuate the system - despite having years to do so - does not seem to be properly explained in the book - other than "oh they're evil".

Have I missed the reason?

[garhkal]

Looking at it, i can only see where it says the Empire stopped supporting the "Keeping enough ships in orbit, to evacuate everyone".. So maybe they didn't bother as they didn't want to tie so many military ships up with 'rescue' ops?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[DougRed4]

BTW, welcome to the Rancor Pit, dpadam!
_________________
Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[dpadam]

Thanks - nice to be a formal member, although I've used the site for years.

I suppose they didn't want to spare the ships. Although the Imperial fleet is vast and they had known about the star for 20 years or something. Maybe I'll say Demophon was known for its rebel sympathies or something!

[garhkal]

Either that or someone felt if that planet was no more, that their planet would rise in stature, whether economically or politically, and used what pull they had to call the empire off.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Zarn]

In my opinion, Supernova states the reason why the Empire's not evacuating the Demophon system pretty right off the bat.

There's ore in dem dar hills.

Demophon system is very rich in ores that are difficult to find other places, and is almost entirely devoted to mining (except for technological projects that are in progress on the moon). There's 43 million Imperial subjects on Demophon Prime, and I assume most of them are miners.

If the Empire is in dire need of ore, and in particular specific ores, they need as much of that as possible - as soon as possible. The potential loss of about 43 million subjects, the vast majority miners (assumed to be a manual job requiring a certain skill set - but not a unique one, given that there are miners all over the Empire), is considered secondary to the inflow of as much ore as possible.

The observation posts in the Demophon system are primarily there to buy enough time to evacuate those people that do have unique skill sets - or a status deemed important enough to save from the impending disaster - as well as collecting data that can be used in other research project. For instance, say, the Sun Crusher, for one.

A more interesting question might be why the Empire is in such dire need of ores. Personally, I tend to consider Supernova to be set between the First and Second Death Star (sorry, Imperial Ore Extractor).

Therefore, the Demophon ore is likely going into the Second Death Star or supporting infrastructure - so indirectly, from a certain point of view, one could argue that it's the Rebel Alliance's fault that 43 million people are in danger from the unstable system primary. It's a straw man argument, though, as we're talking about armed conflict and all that.

It's actually stated fairly explicitly in a throwaway sentence at the end of a paragraph on page 6, under the heading Evacuation, "Most of the larger Imperial vessels are either occupied cleaning up outbreaks of Rebel activity or enforcing the will of the Emperor elsewhere."

So, essentially, I think that the stark truth is that the 43 million Imperial subjects are superfluous to requirements when balanced against the insatiable need for strategic ore and refined metals.

Interestingly enough, if there was sufficient advance notice, the Empire might start to turn its covetous eyes to the neutronium domes that are protecting the heavily industrialized cities of Demophon - if you can't rescue 43 million people, but you have a need for metals, you might as well grab already refined ore if you have the heavy lift capacity to spare. The erupting system primary will burn away all evidence at any rate.

[dpadam]

It could certainly be a combination of those things. The oddness of the situation is a good set up for a mystery for the characters too: "why is the Empire not evacuating these people?" Let's get to the bottom of it!