the woodland detectives

Thus, I hold no need in my heart to arbitrarily preserve the end-state for the next campaign, unless I feel like the GM/us players have a good hook to start a follow-up.

If I ever get to play Mercy, I will have seen what FL made, and then I can decide what to make my own, be it pre- or post-Mercy.

I just don't have that same strong need to... preserve a campaign end-state, in general?

Or, rather, I have the understanding that Mercy alters the state of the setting so extensively, that the information and hooks present in the core book is hard to use.

Now, I'm not certain if this is due to my already existing lean towards shorter campaigns with clear beginning - middle - end structures, or just my love for the setting, but I would be more than happy to play a campaign of Mercy and go, "alright, wind back the clock, time for a new ship and crew!"

On the one hand, I understand why some people have this feeling of the Third Horizon being "finished" or "ended". I haven't yet played Mercy of the Icons just yet (the group are in talks, though), but I did see a lot of people go, "the setting is 'over'" after TGD launched.

Lovely thread! As someone who adores Coriolis (flaws and all), I think you hit the nail on the head with some of your observations, especially the odd "legitimacy" illusion for a subculture that otherwise is so fond of making and altering to suit their own preferences.

"[...]it had not exactly been gold, or even the promise of gold, but more like the fantasy of gold, the fairy dream that the gold is there, at the end of the rainbow, and will continue to be there forever - provided, naturally, that you don't go and look. This is known as finance." -Terry Pratchett