thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
#sciencefiction geekery #worldbuilding
In a few settings, there is a treaty of some kind that prohibits the use of relativistic kinetic kill weapons against planetary targets, because it destroys ecosystems for so long that the planet is not recoverable in centuries -- not mere genocide but ecocide.
It strikes me that similar weapon limitation conventions might arise to prevent excessive space hazards.
E.g. only barbarians use unguided missile weapons in an inhabited solar system.
Civilized folk never use explosive or kinetic weapons against targets in orbit.
Weapons inside a pressurized habitat can't use any method with a plausible chance of depressurizing it. (Blades and maces are back in style.)
The fictional advantage of such rules, of course, is that you can set up your villains as really villainous by breaking them, or you can depict your rebels as particularly clever or daring by exploiting loopholes.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
I like the concept, but given the RW history of the banned weapons list just happening to double as a list of weapons which aren't useful (to major military powers), I have some doubts as to its likelihood under most circumstances.
(Now, in a _Traveller_/_Dune_-like scenario where the local Empire permits limited wars among its subunits - while reserving some big exceptions for itself, natch - the rules are on!)
