the superiority of Sofi’s weaponry to anything that a potential opponent could bring to bear rendered a credible threat nonexistent. One of the principal rationales for Sofi’s isolationist stance was to keep things that way.
A consequence of this was the lack of any incentive to create a global trading and communications infrastructure of the kind that had existed before – there wasn’t much out there to trade or communicate with. So, instead of being broad-based and universal, Sofian technologies evolved to be narrow-focused and intensive.
In place of tens of thousands of airliners, they produced a few high-performance aircraft, some experimental space probes, and finally a starship. As the uniqueness of Sofia’s situation consolidated, two opposed movements developed within the political leadership regarding the future course to which they should direct themselves.
The “Traditionalists” kept to the original Sofian position that saw expansionism and the desire to impose one’s own ways as the root of the conflicts that had ended the old world through an endless cycle of resentment, resistance, retaliation, and revenge. Instead, they believed that staying out of the affairs of others, while maintaining an impregnable position at home and setting an example by their own quality of life, would demonstrate the superiority of peaceful and prosperous cooperation. In the same way that the more enlightened and capable individuals came to Sofi of their own accord when they were ready, so would other nations and peoples move to become part of a widening community of like minds. Yes, it would take time and patience, but look what had happened to the world that had tried to rush things.
The other position, that of the “Progressives,” had found its voice later, when Sofi’s pre-eminence was past dispute. It saw an opportunity to unify the world under one system of thought and ideals that would never come again, and should be seized while no force existed that could stop it. The self-immolation of the old world had resulted from a virtually equal power balance between vast political-economic groupings, each believing in its own invincibility, which had guaranteed the escalation of violence to global dimensions. No such obstacle existed to prevent Sofi from asserting its hegemony everywhere today, and establishing a worldwide order of stability that would last. Boldness and resolve had brought the Sofians to where they were. The same qualities would ensure they remained there permanently.
If a division this deep was appearing within Sofi itself, did it mean the beginnings of the same pattern as before, that would spread over the world once again, inexorably and unstoppably, anyway? That was when the Traditionalists, who had originated the starship program as a mission of exploration and discovery, broadened the concept to one of creating their own world elsewhere based on the ideals that they championed.
From records that remained, it was known that, at an undetermined time before the Conflagration ended their interest in such matters, a consortium of scientific groups from the old world – some of them enigmatically sponsored by political blocs that seemed to be rivals – had launched an unmanned star probe to investigate an interesting planetary system revealed by astronomical observations. The information sent back by the probe began arriving during the recovery period, when Sofi was coming together as a nation and gaining experience with fledgling astronomical and computer-communications capabilities of its own. Successful decoding of the data provided an additional stimulus for the Sofians to go ahead with the venture they had been considering – to build a starship inspired by an old-world follow-up design study that had never been taken further. As the plans and charts gave way to the physical reality of the immense structure taking shape in orbit, the concept was expanded to become Sofian
A consequence of this was the lack of any incentive to create a global trading and communications infrastructure of the kind that had existed before – there wasn’t much out there to trade or communicate with. So, instead of being broad-based and universal, Sofian technologies evolved to be narrow-focused and intensive.
In place of tens of thousands of airliners, they produced a few high-performance aircraft, some experimental space probes, and finally a starship. As the uniqueness of Sofia’s situation consolidated, two opposed movements developed within the political leadership regarding the future course to which they should direct themselves.
The “Traditionalists” kept to the original Sofian position that saw expansionism and the desire to impose one’s own ways as the root of the conflicts that had ended the old world through an endless cycle of resentment, resistance, retaliation, and revenge. Instead, they believed that staying out of the affairs of others, while maintaining an impregnable position at home and setting an example by their own quality of life, would demonstrate the superiority of peaceful and prosperous cooperation. In the same way that the more enlightened and capable individuals came to Sofi of their own accord when they were ready, so would other nations and peoples move to become part of a widening community of like minds. Yes, it would take time and patience, but look what had happened to the world that had tried to rush things.
The other position, that of the “Progressives,” had found its voice later, when Sofi’s pre-eminence was past dispute. It saw an opportunity to unify the world under one system of thought and ideals that would never come again, and should be seized while no force existed that could stop it. The self-immolation of the old world had resulted from a virtually equal power balance between vast political-economic groupings, each believing in its own invincibility, which had guaranteed the escalation of violence to global dimensions. No such obstacle existed to prevent Sofi from asserting its hegemony everywhere today, and establishing a worldwide order of stability that would last. Boldness and resolve had brought the Sofians to where they were. The same qualities would ensure they remained there permanently.
If a division this deep was appearing within Sofi itself, did it mean the beginnings of the same pattern as before, that would spread over the world once again, inexorably and unstoppably, anyway? That was when the Traditionalists, who had originated the starship program as a mission of exploration and discovery, broadened the concept to one of creating their own world elsewhere based on the ideals that they championed.
From records that remained, it was known that, at an undetermined time before the Conflagration ended their interest in such matters, a consortium of scientific groups from the old world – some of them enigmatically sponsored by political blocs that seemed to be rivals – had launched an unmanned star probe to investigate an interesting planetary system revealed by astronomical observations. The information sent back by the probe began arriving during the recovery period, when Sofi was coming together as a nation and gaining experience with fledgling astronomical and computer-communications capabilities of its own. Successful decoding of the data provided an additional stimulus for the Sofians to go ahead with the venture they had been considering – to build a starship inspired by an old-world follow-up design study that had never been taken further. As the plans and charts gave way to the physical reality of the immense structure taking shape in orbit, the concept was expanded to become Sofian
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