I will note that most people who like the Zuma thus far aren't playing in realms that actually have to deal with the Zuma, except only very sporadically, or through proxies. For those who actually have to deal with them, it's another story.
You call it a fantasy, I call it trying to have an RPed plot. And, yes, I have accounted for the Zuma in things Hireshmont does. But the Zuma act without reference to anyone else's RP.
And yet Gornak not only is a member of D'Hara, allied with Barca and Terran, but he has visited the Zuma and sold them 200 bushels of food. No, not a large amount, it was mostly a feasibility study. And as the player of Gornak, I think they are fun.
A very few, isolated players, without much influence with anyone anywhere.
Haktoo went to war, from all appearances, over one region being taken that nobody knew the Zuma claimed when identical things had been done in the past without Zuma responses, then opened up a second war because of a message from a commoner who nobody had heard of before the incident.
And yet, many of the players in D'Hara (those there the 18 months I have played, at least) were well aware that Barca needed to get permission from the Zuma before taking Eregon, and thought the Barcans stupid and reckless for not talking to Garret beforehand. Were they not aware that D'Hara needed permission to take Paisly? Barca is a Terran colony, and I know that Terran has had incidents as well. I think the Zuma responded to Eregon's takeover and corresponding military presence in a consistent manner.
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