Here’s a link, but the details are very vague. They are a deus ex machina.

As a former writer for 2020 I can say that the idea for exotics came from other source material and not the furry “culture” as it were.

There isn’t really a consensus. There are as many “haters” as well as “lovers” of each timeline and ideas. I didn’t much care for IW, but I know and respect people who do. For me, a little chaos in the Imperium was sorely needed.

There are three major dislikes, and all of them came from MegaTraveller and The New Era. The Empress Wave, the Assassination of Strephon, and the Virus. All of these are catastrophic changes in the setting, they rob the players of agency, and remove huge chunks of continuity.

Of course that’s possible, but it could be that the smaller development team had a more unified approach.

RPGs, much like SF, have always been a mechanism to explore social issues in philosophy, governance, and thought. In Human society I don’t personally believe that “politics” can be avoided in any group anywhere. —of course that’s just one man’s opinion.

I have never met a dice-pool mechanic I didn’t dislike or despise. What makes your compelling?