X_FIREFALCON
Spaceman
LeHah said:Thats the point I made. What proof does Tolwyn have and even if he did have any, why wouldn't he use it as a selling point to restarting the Confed war machine?
LeHah, a man of few words, but good points. The only real arguments around this that I could come up with are (1) Tolwyn didn't know the extent of Black Lance's Operations and thus not the extent of all their intelligence; and/or (2) they knew the Nephilim threat was out there, but were uncertain as to when it would make its appearance, therefore could not justify before the Assembly gearing up to fight a boogeyman they might not encounter for the next several hundred years. Or who knows - maybe Tolwyn just targeted the Border Worlders because they had broken off from the Confederation following the war and so he figured they weren't patriotic enough to be left alive. I still don't like the whole "oh, he just popped his lid" argument for Tolwyn; it seems like a real callous way to cast off a character that was such a central part to WC history. Part of me wants to find a deeper motive behind his actions than him just being a crazy higher-up who's gone off his rocker; it makes him a far more complex character if there was a legitimate reason he was the way he was and did the things he did.
Quarto said:This actually is the case, in the novel. Let's face it, the game's ending taken by itself made no sense whatsoever - how did Blair even get into the Assembly? Wouldn't it be pretty highly protected, particularly with Tolwyn knowing that a Border Worlds carrier is in the system? And of course, why would there even be any debate about war, when a Border Worlds carrier had just jumped in and destroyed a Confed carrier? Tolwyn would've just shown a video of the fight (minus the St. Helens, of course), and that would have been the end of the debate right there. Similarly, assuming Blair did somehow get in, why didn't he bring along any evidence to show?
The book fixes all this, though - Blair and Eisen actually contact Paladin beforehand, and *he* actually brings them into the Assembly.
Now that last point there is an interesting tidbit, and in hindsight, it sure makes a whole hell of a lot more sense, I think, because you're right - there's no reason Blair would've been able to sneak past that security to reach the floor to begin with. Maybe he used his super-secret ninja moves?
As for Tolwyn forging the evidence on the Intrepid's actions to frame Blair, I'm not sure the man ever had the time to cook that up. If he had to splice out the part with the St. Helen's and everything, I'm not sure he would've had the chance since that whole last part was one great big race for time.
As for Blair not bringing evidence with him...at least in the scope of the game, did Blair even HAVE any tangible evidence? I don't think he brought any kind of camera or tape-recorder with him anywhere to document any of Black Lance's operations; about the only thing he'd have is some flight recorder information as he and the other pilots on the Intrepid danced with the Black Lance fighters, but I don't even know if there'd be anything conclusive in there either. The only things presented in Tolwyn's trial just seemed to be a bunch of people on the witness stand condemning his actions, but it just seems like a "he said" kind of ordeal. Of course there's the flashpak, but then again, wasn't that used on either a station or the Vesuvius?