brnicholas wrote:You are right about that Arcana's actions sharply increased tensions and made fighting much more likely and that Arcana acted as it did because it was expecting anyone it met to be hostile. There is a simple and clear reason for that.
The Arcanan Army has made first contact before, with Mythal!
The Arcnan Army's institutional memory is that of the Andaran Army and as a consequence in planning for first contact the assumption was that the most likely first contact was with someone like the Mythalans (armies always plan for the last war) and their actions were completely correct if they had encountered Mythalans. Mythalans would take all the suggestions made for making peaceful contact as signs of weakness and try and exploit them. That is why the Arcanan Army's orders put such a strong emphasis on not looking weak.
Is that stupid yes, but I don't see it as any stupider then the fact that the Sharonans had no first contact procedures at all! Both sides screwed up but it was the Arcanans screw ups that led to violence.
Nicholas
First, I didn't see anything that fits with the 'First Contact was with Mythal' scenario. Arcana has been civilized a long time, and if the Mythalans tried to conquer the world, or even Andara, it wasn't mentioned. It is mentioned (in the notes in the back of HHNF) that Andarans conquered much of the Americas, so the idea that they're traumatized by the memory encountering the nasty Mythalans is something I find hard to believe.
Second, absence of evidence is
NOT evidence of absence (something everyone should be required to memorize with the alphabet in kindergarten). It's quite possible that the PAAF had a First Contact procedure, but that Faslun isn't thinking about it. Both were absolutely certain that they'd never encounter other intelligent beings. Both blew it, out of fear.
But it was what happened at every fresh encounter that I found interesting, and nobody really discussed.