Armor Hunters #1 Discussion

[ilzuccone]

One thing I found very interesting was when Helix was investigating the Commando armours and she said "False targets not from Earth, culture of origination: Vine. Culture not known. Designating for future investigation."

The Armour Hunters have no idea about the Vine which is odd since they are an ancient far spread race who's culture was based on the Armour.

The Vine already had the Armour for a long time before they picked up Aric in 400 AD, why didn't the Armour destroy the Vine and how could they have it for so long without the Hunters knowing about it? It's not like they kept to themselves, part of their culture was to spread their seed across the universe albeit in secret.

This may have something to do with what I've wondered since the beginning- Why did the Vine have their most sacred relic on a space cruiser as opposed to keeping it on Loam? Did the Vine know about the Hunters?

i really liked that the hunters didn't know who the vine were. lends itself to the vastness of space. Also opens up the universe to even more possibilities.

[ilzuccone]

I read it by my pool and it reminded me of summers past, reading generation one Valiant comics in my treehouse as a kid.

Say what---WHAT?? The pool? I don't like a covered, capped or topped beverage too near my books while reading let alone an entire body of water. Where uncontrolled splashes, sweaty beverage cups or a pop up rain cloud could appear.

I feel like I've just been PUNK'D!!!

I sometimes read my comics in the bathtub. You would HATE what steam does to a comic page!

[hawkeyeps]

One thing I found very interesting was when Helix was investigating the Commando armours and she said "False targets not from Earth, culture of origination: Vine. Culture not known. Designating for future investigation."

The Armour Hunters have no idea about the Vine which is odd since they are an ancient far spread race who's culture was based on the Armour.

The Vine already had the Armour for a long time before they picked up Aric in 400 AD, why didn't the Armour destroy the Vine and how could they have it for so long without the Hunters knowing about it? It's not like they kept to themselves, part of their culture was to spread their seed across the universe albeit in secret.

This may have something to do with what I've wondered since the beginning- Why did the Vine have their most sacred relic on a space cruiser as opposed to keeping it on Loam? Did the Vine know about the Hunters?

The armour was inactive with a few exceptions lasting less than a minute each time. Maybe it was in some sort of stasis or hibernation that kept it from being detected?

Remember at the end of Planet Death when the Vine politician told the Vine Priest that no Vine had ever worn the Armour and he was all ticked off that the priest pushed the situation to that point?

Maybe they knew something that the priests and general Vine culture didn't perhaps that was why they were willing to destroy the Armour as opposed to letting it be "uncontrolled".

Meanwhile they were trying to replicate the Armour ala Wolf and Commando class

I can see now what Venditti meant when he said there would be call backs all the way to the beginning, very well written story.

[grendeljd]

I read it by my pool and it reminded me of summers past, reading generation one Valiant comics in my treehouse as a kid.

Say what---WHAT?? The pool? I don't like a covered, capped or topped beverage too near my books while reading let alone an entire body of water. Where uncontrolled splashes, sweaty beverage cups or a pop up rain cloud could appear.

I feel like I've just been PUNK'D!!!

I sometimes read my comics in the bathtub. You would HATE what steam does to a comic page!

TMI!

[ilzuccone]

I read it by my pool and it reminded me of summers past, reading generation one Valiant comics in my treehouse as a kid.

Say what---WHAT?? The pool? I don't like a covered, capped or topped beverage too near my books while reading let alone an entire body of water. Where uncontrolled splashes, sweaty beverage cups or a pop up rain cloud could appear.

I feel like I've just been PUNK'D!!!

I sometimes read my comics in the bathtub. You would HATE what steam does to a comic page!

TMI!

there is never TMI in my world

[grendeljd]

I read it by my pool and it reminded me of summers past, reading generation one Valiant comics in my treehouse as a kid.

Say what---WHAT?? The pool? I don't like a covered, capped or topped beverage too near my books while reading let alone an entire body of water. Where uncontrolled splashes, sweaty beverage cups or a pop up rain cloud could appear.

I feel like I've just been PUNK'D!!!

I sometimes read my comics in the bathtub. You would HATE what steam does to a comic page!

TMI!

there is never TMI in my world

[kjjohanson]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

[grendeljd]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

Have you ever read the Enders Game series of books? There was the 'Ansible' technology that humans learned from the Formics, which allowed a kind of real-time communication to happen between people travelling at distorted speeds on spaceships & those who were planet bound. In my mind, the Vine ability to communicate via The Collective is much the same thing & would allow for a form of interconnectedness that would help dispel some of that jarring disorientation of being far removed from your home world.

Overall, I think the intention of the Vine was to spread out & 'sow seeds' of their race to all corners of the galaxy/universe, so they were probably socially acclimatized to the difficulties inherent in travelling as they did. And I think it was uncommon for the majority of them to return to Loam anyway - it was treated as a major honour if someone was granted permission to return there. The travelling fleets would be more used to the idea of seeing changes to their home world whenever they returned, IMO.

[BugsySig]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

Have you ever read the Enders Game series of books? There was the 'Ansible' technology that humans learned from the Formics, which allowed a kind of real-time communication to happen between people travelling at distorted speeds on spaceships & those who were planet bound. In my mind, the Vine ability to communicate via The Collective is much the same thing & would allow for a form of interconnectedness that would help dispel some of that jarring disorientation of being far removed from your home world.

Overall, I think the intention of the Vine was to spread out & 'sow seeds' of their race to all corners of the galaxy/universe, so they were probably socially acclimatized to the difficulties inherent in travelling as they did. And I think it was uncommon for the majority of them to return to Loam anyway - it was treated as a major honour if someone was granted permission to return there. The travelling fleets would be more used to the idea of seeing changes to their home world whenever they returned, IMO.

The vine priests on the ship said that when they left on the colony ship they were never to return to Loam. When the armor was stolen, they returned out of necessity because the fleet was being sent to destroy the armor. I don't believe anyone else returns.

As for the slaves, when a new planet is found, it is reasonable that slave ships are sent from Loam to pick up captives and bring them back, while others are kept on the Colony ship. It's also reasonable that along with those ships, soldiers are brought back and forth to the Colony ship.

The comments about the collective would solve some of the communication and adjustment issues for me.

[lorddunlow]

Also, I'm pretty sure we've never been told the normal life expectancy of the Vine. If they live for centuries or longer, then time dilation becomes less of an issue, relatively speaking. <-- see what I did there?

[grendeljd]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

Have you ever read the Enders Game series of books? There was the 'Ansible' technology that humans learned from the Formics, which allowed a kind of real-time communication to happen between people travelling at distorted speeds on spaceships & those who were planet bound. In my mind, the Vine ability to communicate via The Collective is much the same thing & would allow for a form of interconnectedness that would help dispel some of that jarring disorientation of being far removed from your home world.

Overall, I think the intention of the Vine was to spread out & 'sow seeds' of their race to all corners of the galaxy/universe, so they were probably socially acclimatized to the difficulties inherent in travelling as they did. And I think it was uncommon for the majority of them to return to Loam anyway - it was treated as a major honour if someone was granted permission to return there. The travelling fleets would be more used to the idea of seeing changes to their home world whenever they returned, IMO.

The vine priests on the ship said that when they left on the colony ship they were never to return to Loam. When the armor was stolen, they returned out of necessity because the fleet was being sent to destroy the armor. I don't believe anyone else returns.

As for the slaves, when a new planet is found, it is reasonable that slave ships are sent from Loam to pick up captives and bring them back, while others are kept on the Colony ship. It's also reasonable that along with those ships, soldiers are brought back and forth to the Colony ship.

The comments about the collective would solve some of the communication and adjustment issues for me.

Good points, Bugsy - the theft of Shanhara & threat to Loam was certainly a reason to act in an abnormal manner by returning en mass to Loam. Outside of that event, there was mention (specifically to Alexander) that some Vine do return to Loam. That could have also been an aberration due to the threat of Shanhara in Aric's hands as well, but I recall having the impression that it did happen on a rare occasion that certain individuals could be allowed to return.

I like your ideas about transfer ships full of slaves & soldiers

[kjjohanson]

Also, I'm pretty sure we've never been told the normal life expectancy of the Vine. If they live for centuries or longer, then time dilation becomes less of an issue, relatively speaking. <-- see what I did there?

No. Could you explain it.

[kjjohanson]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

Have you ever read the Enders Game series of books? There was the 'Ansible' technology that humans learned from the Formics, which allowed a kind of real-time communication to happen between people travelling at distorted speeds on spaceships & those who were planet bound. In my mind, the Vine ability to communicate via The Collective is much the same thing & would allow for a form of interconnectedness that would help dispel some of that jarring disorientation of being far removed from your home world.

Overall, I think the intention of the Vine was to spread out & 'sow seeds' of their race to all corners of the galaxy/universe, so they were probably socially acclimatized to the difficulties inherent in travelling as they did. And I think it was uncommon for the majority of them to return to Loam anyway - it was treated as a major honour if someone was granted permission to return there. The travelling fleets would be more used to the idea of seeing changes to their home world whenever they returned, IMO.

The vine priests on the ship said that when they left on the colony ship they were never to return to Loam. When the armor was stolen, they returned out of necessity because the fleet was being sent to destroy the armor. I don't believe anyone else returns.

As for the slaves, when a new planet is found, it is reasonable that slave ships are sent from Loam to pick up captives and bring them back, while others are kept on the Colony ship. It's also reasonable that along with those ships, soldiers are brought back and forth to the Colony ship.

The comments about the collective would solve some of the communication and adjustment issues for me.

If it's a matter of them never expecting that they will return, then I could buy that. However, the series has been inconsistent with time dilation (e.g. travel to and from Loam for Planet Death does not take hundreds of years).

[BugsySig]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

Have you ever read the Enders Game series of books? There was the 'Ansible' technology that humans learned from the Formics, which allowed a kind of real-time communication to happen between people travelling at distorted speeds on spaceships & those who were planet bound. In my mind, the Vine ability to communicate via The Collective is much the same thing & would allow for a form of interconnectedness that would help dispel some of that jarring disorientation of being far removed from your home world.

Overall, I think the intention of the Vine was to spread out & 'sow seeds' of their race to all corners of the galaxy/universe, so they were probably socially acclimatized to the difficulties inherent in travelling as they did. And I think it was uncommon for the majority of them to return to Loam anyway - it was treated as a major honour if someone was granted permission to return there. The travelling fleets would be more used to the idea of seeing changes to their home world whenever they returned, IMO.

The vine priests on the ship said that when they left on the colony ship they were never to return to Loam. When the armor was stolen, they returned out of necessity because the fleet was being sent to destroy the armor. I don't believe anyone else returns.

As for the slaves, when a new planet is found, it is reasonable that slave ships are sent from Loam to pick up captives and bring them back, while others are kept on the Colony ship. It's also reasonable that along with those ships, soldiers are brought back and forth to the Colony ship.

The comments about the collective would solve some of the communication and adjustment issues for me.

If it's a matter of them never expecting that they will return, then I could buy that. However, the series has been inconsistent with time dilation (e.g. travel to and from Loam for Planet Death does not take hundreds of years).

I thought we had been through this...

The colony ships do not travel at faster than light speed because they do not have a destination. They are in search of new planets to "seed" which they could miss if they just zipped around at faster than light speed.

But we have seen that they have faster than light technology that allows them to travel that way in all other instances (the fleet going to Earth, Aric going to Loam and back, etc.).

If my theory that slave ships are sent to these new planets as the Colony ships find them is accurate, then that explains how earth slaves were transported to loam and lived there for generations before Aric, who was on the colony ship moving at near light speed, freed himself and went to Loam.

As for Vine returning to Loam, I think that was a pipe dream for Plantings to encourage them to continue their missions. The Vine would never actually accept Plantings, who are basically aliens themselves, to return to Loam and live side by side with them.

[kjjohanson]

If the Armor Hunters are unaware of the Vine, perhaps it's because their crusade against the armors is fairly new (by interstellar standards; let's say a few hundred years at most), and since the only armor the Vine possessed was engaged in faster-than-light travel and experiencing time-dilation effects, it was out of the picture.

The whole time dilation thing never bothered me in VH1, especially since it sets up the interesting situation of having a Visigoth in modern times, but it's one of three big problems with the current series. How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years. We should also see some personal struggles of those that were gone to come to accept that the only thing left that's familiar to them is what was on the ship. This could have been addressed by some earlier breakout by the slaves in the first arc, where they take control of the engine room and inadvertently send the ship into faster than light travel without any sort of pseudo-scientific jiggery pokery that prevents time dilation being active (I'll chalk mostly unexplained plot devices up to the fact that we're not as scientifically advanced to know how they made it work).

Have you ever read the Enders Game series of books? There was the 'Ansible' technology that humans learned from the Formics, which allowed a kind of real-time communication to happen between people travelling at distorted speeds on spaceships & those who were planet bound. In my mind, the Vine ability to communicate via The Collective is much the same thing & would allow for a form of interconnectedness that would help dispel some of that jarring disorientation of being far removed from your home world.

Overall, I think the intention of the Vine was to spread out & 'sow seeds' of their race to all corners of the galaxy/universe, so they were probably socially acclimatized to the difficulties inherent in travelling as they did. And I think it was uncommon for the majority of them to return to Loam anyway - it was treated as a major honour if someone was granted permission to return there. The travelling fleets would be more used to the idea of seeing changes to their home world whenever they returned, IMO.

The vine priests on the ship said that when they left on the colony ship they were never to return to Loam. When the armor was stolen, they returned out of necessity because the fleet was being sent to destroy the armor. I don't believe anyone else returns.

As for the slaves, when a new planet is found, it is reasonable that slave ships are sent from Loam to pick up captives and bring them back, while others are kept on the Colony ship. It's also reasonable that along with those ships, soldiers are brought back and forth to the Colony ship.

The comments about the collective would solve some of the communication and adjustment issues for me.

If it's a matter of them never expecting that they will return, then I could buy that. However, the series has been inconsistent with time dilation (e.g. travel to and from Loam for Planet Death does not take hundreds of years).

I thought we had been through this...

The colony ships do not travel at faster than light speed because they do not have a destination. They are in search of new planets to "seed" which they could miss if they just zipped around at faster than light speed.

But we have seen that they have faster than light technology that allows them to travel that way in all other instances (the fleet going to Earth, Aric going to Loam and back, etc.).

If my theory that slave ships are sent to these new planets as the Colony ships find them is accurate, then that explains how earth slaves were transported to loam and lived there for generations before Aric, who was on the colony ship moving at near light speed, freed himself and went to Loam.

As for Vine returning to Loam, I think that was a pipe dream for Plantings to encourage them to continue their missions. The Vine would never actually accept Plantings, who are basically aliens themselves, to return to Loam and live side by side with them.

I must have missed that conversation the first time around, but if what you say is how things work, then what was the colony ship up to between the time they took Aric and when he broke loose? Based on the criteria you presented here, they should not have been approaching light speed.

[jmatt]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

[lorddunlow]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Magnets.

[hawkeyeps]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Magnets.

And that's why Dunlow wears a Q-Ray bracelet

[grendeljd]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

[lorddunlow]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

It's like you don't even care...

[grendeljd]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

It's like you don't even care...

My wife worries that I care a little too much

[ilzuccone]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

It's like you don't even care...

My wife worries that I care a little too much

my wife has toyed with the idea of creating an account on here. "ilzuccone's wife" for the sole purpose of making fun of me

[lorddunlow]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

It's like you don't even care...

My wife worries that I care a little too much

my wife has toyed with the idea of creating an account on here. "ilzuccone's wife" for the sole purpose of making fun of me

That would be extremely fun. Maybe we can even get another piano recital out of it. (Just try to type S T R I P club and see what happens if you're wondering...)

[kjjohanson]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

I'd be fine with the situation if they ignored time dilation altogether. So many science fiction novels, shows, movies, etc. do, and we just take it for granted that the people traveling have solved that particular problem. But that scientific fact is a key element in Aric ending up in modern times, so I think it needs to be addressed here.

[lorddunlow]

How can a society (the Vine) maintain its society is various members of the population are zipping around and disappearing for hundreds of years? This works if it's a one-way journey to a new settlement where travelers are leaving everything behind, but if they're traveling around, seeding planets, and then returning home, as we've seen happen, we should see some evidence of problems with re-acclimating to a society that's advanced many hundreds of years.

That's a really good question. If Aric experiences time dilation when he returns to Earth, why don't the Vine when they return to Loam?

Bugsy just explained it above - the Vine do not travel at faster-than-light speeds while roaming & seeding the galaxy. But they probably travel at the speed of light (anything less and they would have to be 'generational ships' in order to get anywhere, which they did not appear to be). I'm not really well educated in scientific theory (Chiclo may be able to back me up on this), but I believe the concept of travelling at the speed of light means that time moves at a different rate for anything moving at that speed. Thus there is a time dilation, or difference in the rate of time passing, between the Vine colony ships and the rest of the galaxy.

Now this is maybe getting more into fictional territory, but if those ships have faster-than-light speed capabilities, then when they engage those engines/drives etc, they would counter the time dilation effects - like with warp drives in Star Trek.

So Aric was in a ship travelling at the speed of light while a slave. Subject to time dilation. Skipped 1600 years. Shanhara shot him to earth at faster than light speed. No further time dilation. The Vine ships engaged faster-than-light speed drives to catch up with him (maybe not quite as fast as Shanhara is capable of) - no further time dilation.

Why wouldn't they use those drives at all times? Don't need to? Don't want to? Can't due to energy consumption restrictions? Who knows - it's fiction at this point after all...

I'd be fine with the situation if they ignored time dilation altogether. So many science fiction novels, shows, movies, etc. do, and we just take it for granted that the people traveling have solved that particular problem. But that scientific fact is a key element in Aric ending up in modern times, so I think it needs to be addressed here.

I already explained it. Magnets.