What Happens After Serenity?

[morse]

Hello people of 'the verse', I am Morse, head admin of your Firefly Affiliate 'Firefly Forum RP'. I had a question run across my mind, and its one that I thought I could pose to all of you. I figured the discussion could help us build a stronger bridge of connection between us at the very least, so lets see where it goes.

- I've searched across the web and found a handful of Firefly RPs (as I'm sure you're all aware, there really aren't many and yours is by far the largest). But I noticed a trend on all of them, which ours doesn't share.

Ours is the only site that doesn't take place prior to Serenity. But what was more was that our people are in a unanimous agreement that Miranda wouldn't effect much of anything, and we're also the only ones that don't believe a second war would begin, let alone one the Independents would win.

I set up a discussion on Fireflyfans.net, and they overwhelmingly shared our opinion. This site however works off of a different idea. Now before I go throwing out why we think the way we do, I just want to know what and why you guys think.

1 - What do you think Miranda would really do?
2 - Why do you think it would start another war or uprising?
3 - Why do you think the Alliance would not come out victorious again?

[Roger Davis]

Ours is the only site that doesn't take place prior to Serenity

I think you mean "does".

Alright, grammar Nazi aside, yeah I've always just kind of accepted the very loose storyline around here. Very little actually happens plot-wise about politics so it doesn't really matter all too much. That being said I would love to have more explanation as to what exactly happened and what the current state of affairs is.

1) I think people would get really pissed off. Old Browncoats would be saying "I told ya so" and a lot of Alliance would be regretting their support for the central government.
2) Yes, very likely if enough people are agitating (although it's not a certainty that it would result in conflict). It's an excuse for the Independents to try again and for those within the Alliance to try for something better.
3) Maybe. It all depends on a lot of factors. How many of the core Alliance population also are rising up? If it's just Core vs. Rim then the Alliance will obviously win. It's inevitable just like the American Civil War that the series is based on. They have the technology, manpower, and industry to fight a prolonged war and will wear the enemy down.

The only way for an uprising to succeed is if there is dissension in the Core. If enough of the populations of places like Shinon, Londinium, Osiris, etc. are revolting then one might expect a government to willingly give up rather than kill their own people. Of course if the Alliance is the evil monster it is often portrayed to be then they might just fire on their own people and wreck their own backyard in the name of order and power. If that happens then I would expect there to be widespread mutiny within the military. At best entire capital ships would switch sides and at worst units would end up just killing each other in revolt. Either way the rebellion gains strength and the Alliance loses buttloads.

In this possible scenario the Alliance might have to retreat. Their advantage in manpower, industry, etc. is gone if their people are also in revolt: no recruits, taxes, or production. Their existing military could be devastated by surprise attacks and mutiny. Meanwhile the Independents have comparatively a strong base in the rim with their previously meager resources. They also have a flood of support from the Core. Their irregular forces would combine with the mutinying Alliance troops to form a force that would be strong enough to stand against the remnants of Alliance control and at least prevent them from just steamrolling every planet.

It is a scenario where several things have to go right or else it's not going to work but I can totally see it happening. In the end though it would end up totally screwing the Alliance over and removing them from the picture as anything more than a roving military force like the Enclave in the Fallout universe.

[morse]

And here's the problem with that, because it works off of a few key factors which are so unlikely it's nearly impossible.

People in the Alliance don't even recognize Reavers exist, so the likeliness of them being swayed by a video talking about how Reavers are made, is next to nothing.

Also, the Miranda video isn't very high tech or revealing. Its just like a low budget webcam thing. It would be like saying the entirety of the U.S is swayed by a youtube video. In addition to that, the video comes from the Rim, which no surprise. How many times were you swayed by a video Usama Bin Laden put out, or Ghadafi, or Sadam? Its just some stupid little threat that sounds extremely far fetched. The Alliance gives medicine, and aid, and brings peace, but the idea of creating monsters like Reavers doesn't seem likely.

Also there's the problem of the people. In the Core, everyone loves the Alliance, and they vastly outnumber the border and rim. Now the relationship between the border/rim, and the core can only have improved since the war. Because the border and rim went to the furthest extent of hostility in fighting a war, which they lost. They have either improved in their perception of the Alliance, or they are still there, which like last time, they lost horribly.

Then there's the Alliance military, moving everywhere to put down uprisings. Their Navy and army is in every corner of the galaxy for the purpose of maintaining the populace, and their stronger now then ever.


So how could the Alliance possibly fall apart, due to something like Miranda?

[Roger Davis]

What do you mean they don't recognize they exist? Maybe they don't want to believe it and have never experienced it themselves but there is undeniable proof that they are out there. It would be like a gated community that ignores the crime problem of the inner city.

If there is no chance of the Miranda video causing any trouble then why did the Alliance go through so much trouble to try and stop its release? Thousands died in Serenity over that little video and it was enough to convince the most gung-ho Alliance operative to switch allegiance. The similarities to a Bin Laden video are miniscule. This video is not some rant about how bad the Alliance is by some former Browncoat hiding out someplace while the Feds search for him. It is an official video from an Alliance team talking about an Alliance operation. Is it undeniable proof? No, but it's enough to raise eyebrows and get people asking questions.

Yes, people in the Core are less likely to turn on their government but you can't honestly think it's beyond the realm of possibility. If the Alliance is revealed to have committed atrocities do you think that people are just going to shrug it off and get on with their lives? Hell no. It probably wouldn't be open rebellion but there would be serious efforts to arrest the "top government officials" beyond those programs and reform the Alliance overall. That type of change could easily lead to an Alliance that is less aggressive and pulls back from worlds that don't want them there.

You talk about the military as if it's comprised of purely robots who follow all orders without wavering. The number of soldiers that would actually be like that are in the vast minority. Militaries are in the business of fighting other armies and protecting civilians. They do not enjoy putting down uprisings and they especially don't want to be firing on civilians. If people get upset because the Alliance created Reavers then you better believe that people are going to get pissed when the Alliance military rolls in and starts exterminating people because they are protesting. The people aren't going to allow that and neither will most soldiers.

[morse]

Actually the Alliance is mentioned having not recognized the existence of Reavers in Serenity. The Alliance officer mocks Mal for saying "reavers did it", and seems very set on the idea that Browncoats like him would do and had done, the same thing. If Reavers were even a remote possibility, why would he be arresting them with something so obviously are Reavers? Its because they don't think their real. Simon says that Reavers are camp fire stories, not real. And the best example of it, is in Serenity when a child says flat out in the first 120 seconds of the movie "Reavers aren't real!"

Reavers are not recognized by them, and are hidden. The operative was out to protect any damage that could be done to those parliament members. They have money and the resources, of course they'll try and stop it before it becomes a potential problem.

Now the "official video", there's no way verify that since the woman is dead, and no ones really said anything about it in the last 10 years.

- For reference, Animal Planet released a documentary called "Mermaids: The Body Found". And detailed an incident where evidence of a mermaid was discovered, and was very convincing. However the entire thing was just a mock documentary, but people thought it was real, to the point where the U.S Government had to release a statement saying 'there has been no evidence found to date which suggests mermaids really exist'.

The same principle can be applied to Reavers. The problem was mainly River was a weapon they lost control of, and some parliament people could get in trouble, its just dirty on the fringe of government.

As for not caring about peoples lives? I direct your attention to Shadow. I point out they weren't even going to look for the missing medicine in train job. They killed everyone that Mal was contact with, even everyone with book. They use the military tactics that the Chinese used in Korea, just keep sending troops until they give out. And it works. Human life is relative to the Alliance.

But even if the video got out, even if it did damage, they would scape goat some people that were involved and everything stays pretty much the same.