in thread "Patchwork city states ?": I think the key problem is that in mr Burja's "empire theory" terminology, you are describing a decentralized declining empire, but what we actually have is a centralized declining empire. In decentralized decline, pieces break off and become free of the f... 3w ago (collapse hidden) retry 12 12 I think the key prob (view hidden) retry 12 12 Eventually the system fails, but only after the substrate. The taxation and political security logic is the last to go. The parts have become dependent on the system, and molded by the system to lack the capacity to rebel. The system only dies because it k... 3w ago (collapse hidden) retry 3 3 Eventually the syste (view hidden) retry 3 3