Creative Firefly fans: Want to help? by Lindley

^That's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, thanks.

I've been making planets (as seen from space) using LunarCell, a Photoshop plugin. It doesn't offer total control over what a planet looks like, but I should be able to find something appropriate for that.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 10:18 AM

I broke the locales I put together into general location categories -- Core, Frontier, Deeps (for settlements way out in the black). Here's a few that I just threw together:

Londinium (Core)
- The center of Western influence from Earth-that-Was, this Core world is ruled over by a monarchy and governed by a confusing tangle of dukes, counts, and earls. It is also one of the primary manufacturing centers of the Core, producing a large number of warships used by the Alliance military. The strong military presence there greatly reduces illicit trade, but legal (and not-so-rewarding) military transport contracts can easily be found.

Sihnon (Core)
- At the heart of Chinese cultural influence within the Alliance lies Sihnon, with its stunning architecture and magnificent vistas. Society here is affluent but complicated, with a broad variety of commercial opportunities available. The capital city, often described but never truly captured by picture, is home to the widely renowned Companions' Academy.

St. Albans (Frontier)
- On the outer edges of what might be considered a liveable environment, settlements on wintry St. Albans are scattered but well-established. Mining interests there provide many opportunities for both legal and illegal commerce, despite the presence of a Fed base along the somewhat more temperate equatorial belt.

Other locales which were mentioned, which I or others may expand on later, include:

the Silverhold Colonies (Frontier)
Whitefall (Deeps)
Persephone (Frontier)
Ariel (Core)
Higgins' Moon (Frontier)
Shadow (Frontier)
Greenleaf (Frontier)
Kowlan Fed Base (Frontier)
Hera (Frontier)
Beaumont (Core-Frontier)
Triumph (Deeps)
Bathgate Abbey (Frontier)
Jiangyin (Deeps-Frontier)
Bellerophon
Paquin
Santo
Bernadette

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 10:20 AM

Or did you already have a lot of the locales for places mentioned in-series filled in?

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 10:26 AM

GUNRUNNER

From a Fic I'm still working on;

Kenindale: A small sparsely inhabited world in the rim. The only major center of population is an Alliance supply station located just outside the only spaceport. In addition to the Alliance presence there are many salvagers who find profitable work despite the heavy Alliance regulations.

Bar: You find the bar covered in Submariner memorabilia from Earth-That-Was. Apparently the bar's owner is descended from a famous naval captain, and he keeps telling stories of how his ancestor tracked something for months.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 10:57 AM

SNEAKER98

Well, there is one planet in the mod I'm working on.

Woojan (woo-shawn) - A rim planet which is gutted, full of canyons and other obstacles. Full of a certain metal which confounds scanning systems.

"I do the job... and then I get paid. Go run your little world."
-Malcolm Reynolds

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 12:40 PM

STARHAND

Hey Lindley

My suggestion is a planet or moon called Mohave. Why? Well many of the landscape shots in the series are shot in the Mojave Desert. An example is the place where Mal and Wash deliver the last of their med supplies before they're taken by Niska in War Stories. Those funny spikey looking plants are called Joshua trees and they're pretty exclusive to the Mohave desert. If you search the web for Joshua Trees or Mojave Desert you'll get all kinds of landscapes that you might be able to use. May be you could name another moon Sonorand, as in Sonora Desert. That's the big chunk of newly terra-formed rock I live in the middle of

Good luck with your project and let us know how it's doing.
~*

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 2:06 PM

Lhasa... a moon around a gas giant, home to tibetan and buddhist monks who took refuge here from the core worlds, bringing with them many of the art treasures from Earth-that-was. Architecture similar has lots of indo/asian influneces. There is a Blue Sun influence here also some sort of secret sect. Buddha was the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, who is usually represented as a man with four arms and his skin is all blue. Blue hands? Hmmm...

Here is a great list of photo galleries of temples and places and artwork.
http://sangha.net/Photo-Gallery.htm

James

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 3:39 PM

ANKHAGOGO

Coober -- a fairly small, unobtrusive planet that's as far out as it can be without actually being considered on the Outer Rim.

95% of Coober's civilization is underground, as it was originally settled by ore miners. Visiting ships can park either in an underground dock or on the surface itself.
There are farms scattered here and there on the surface, but most farmers' homes are underground as well. Since ore and agricultural products are the largest exports, miners and farmers tend to be the wealthiest. There is no monopoly in either industry, and things between the various mining/farming factions can get a little hairy.
Laverton is the only city, but it's good-sized, and it has all the attributes of a normal city,although the slum areas are rather more dank than those on topside cities.
There are two choices of transportation: your feet, or a rickshaw-like cart. The only motorized transport allowed below the surface is in active mines. Word to the wise: hire a guide that's certified or stay in the city center. It is very easy to get lost in Laverton if you don't know your way around, and there are numerous "streets" which wind around aimlessly leading the unwary into passages that are little more than tunnels.

The topography is spectacularly boring. Although Coober is very green,and has a number of large lakes, it is also very flat -- the highest spot on the planet is barely 50' higher than the lowest -- and there are almost no landmarks with which to orient yourself.

If you've got a hankerin' for a drink, or a less-than-legal job, try Jimmy Dodge's . The beer's barely watered,the whiskey's local, and the girls don't wear much. Just watch your pockets, don't bring a girl of your own in, and don't ask whose head is in the jar.

I do rattle on...edit away. :)

"You are such a boo."

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 6:10 PM

Quote:

Or did you already have a lot of the locales for places mentioned in-series filled in?

For the most part, yes, but there are a few places I haven't gotten to just yet. Thanks anyway; I can always use a different perspective on the planets from the series. Perhaps I can combine elements of your description and mine to make them more interesting than either.

For example, I put the Southdown Abbey on Persephone, but that's not necessarily the case; its unclear whether Book was just starting his travels, or at a waypoint.

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Saturday, February 28, 2004 12:12 PM

Due to being in the middle of two exam weeks, I haven't given this thread quite the attention I should have, considering I started it. :)

However, I've added several of the planets mentioned, and I thought you guys would like to know that I just passed the 100-space-object mark.

I still need more, though. The galaxy map has some empty areas that I'd like to fill in. I could shrink it and make due with what I've got, but I'd rather hold to the current scale-----as it is, it feels too small to me.

I'm making a fair number up on my own, and I've got some other people coming up with them, but any more you guys have to contribute would be welcome.

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Monday, March 1, 2004 8:38 AM

Your thread reminded me that the PC version of Escape Velocity, EV-Nova, became available last year. I ended up downloading the shareware and paying the fee over the weekend... and I'd forgotten how addictive and fun it is.

So where are you planning to put the bulk of the expansion mod? Up to the north and spreading over towards the west, where previously there were all those empty systems and the Krypt's pods running around?

I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying your mod. Please drop me an email at kurukami@comcast.net when you get it done -- I'd love to give it a test drive.

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Monday, March 1, 2004 10:57 AM

Its a total-conversion. The standard Nova universe will be completely overwritten.

Its not a *huge* total-conversion----those typically have 300-500 systems, and mine has just over 100 so far, and probably won't have more than 150 when its done. But a TC nontheless.

The Alpha 1 version---which will have a fairly complete universe, but no other ships, only the standard Nova outfits, only the standard Nova missions, and only minor interface changes----will hopefully be completed before too much longer. Another couple of weeks, maybe. Anyone who contributes a few planet descriptions or is helpful in another way will be included in the testing of that phase.

The full, complete mod----assuming it *is* ever done, and I'm hopeful----probably is still months down the line.

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Monday, March 1, 2004 3:06 PM

Quote:

For example, I put the Southdown Abbey on Persephone, but that's not necessarily the case; its unclear whether Book was just starting his travels, or at a waypoint.

Shepard Book says he was 2 days out of the abbey before happening upon Serenity. He says he had been out of the world and wanted to do some traveling. So i'd say he was just starting.

James

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Monday, March 1, 2004 3:09 PM

RAHNEKAT

I've been working on this for a fic of mine. Edit as needed.

Zeus: Terra-formed planet just outside of the Core planets. Zeus has several moons, each named after a different lover of the mythic god. The most notable of these moons would be Hera, where the Battle of Serenity Valley occured.

Zeus's main industry is mining, as it is one of the few locations that has a necessary mineral used in Alliance cruiser engines. The population is mainly descended from Earth-that-was miners, most notably coal miners from what was the Eastern United States.

Illegal trade used to flourish on Zeus and its moons. However, after Serenity Valley, the Alliance increased their military presence and enforced stiffer penalties for smuggling.

Hope that helps.

Is there blubber?

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Monday, March 1, 2004 4:51 PM

GUNRUNNER

Morison’s Moon:
Morison’s Moon is the home of a small colony of mainly farmers. Morison’s Moon produces thousands of tons of food for the Blue Sun Corporation.

New Gotland:
A small colony far from the core that until the formation of the Alliance was frequented by thieves, pirates, and other unfriendly characters. Its small militia still maintains some independence from the Alliance military most likely due to their antiquated equipment.

I play lots of EVN so I would be glad to help in testing if you want me to.

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Monday, March 1, 2004 7:25 PM

WULFHAWK

The toxic moon Polyegmon provides a spectacular backdrop to the night sky of Persephone. Never terraformed, the surface of the moon Polyegemon is a poisonous, overheated hell. Home to an abandoned underground Independent Worlds arms depot, it has become a haven for refugees, smugglers, and scum of the worst variety. Only the desperate and the truly greedy brave the dark corners of this wretched human hive.

Gangs control most of the habitable zones of Polyegemon, with the space docks a kind of neutral territory.

Read more about it at:
http://polyegmon.blogspot.com/

Take my love
Take my land

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Tuesday, March 2, 2004 8:15 AM

Ember: In a (now) binary system ravaged by the long-ago supernova of one of its suns, Ember is one of the few fragments still capable of maintaining some form of life. Though it is only a fraction of the size of a normal world, Ember's mass is substantial (due to its origins as an ultra-dense fragment of the supernova), providing nearly normal gravity. It is composed of many of the more unusual elements formed in the cauldron of the supernova's blaze, and so despite the planet's harsh environmental conditions the Alliance's corporations have extensive mining interests there. Most of its mines are worked by indentured laborers, as few others would be willing to risk the barely-breathable atmosphere and substantial radiation found there.

Hades: Sister planet to Persephone, though far closer to the system's center, this planet is tidally locked so that one face always faces its sun. The dayside is virtually unliveable, as the thin ozone layer provides little protection from the radiation the sun puts out and winds generated by the heat blow without respite. However, several large craters on the nightside of the planet have served for some time as foundations for colonization and mining, allowing life to cling where habitation might otherwise be impossible.

I'll come up with some more later. That's just a couple of ideas loosely based on stuff I've read or considered.

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 6:58 AM

Here's a question for you: in your conversion, does the Sol system even exist? That is, obviously Earth is gone/burnt out/whatever, but what about Europa and Mars? After all, they were in the original one... and all you'd really have to change is to replace the Earth planet-icon with a dead world that was an irradiated wasteland.

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 8:19 AM

Something occurred to me, which is non-Firefly but tied into Escape Velocity.

Are you creating the plug-in for the Mac or the PC? If for the Mac, is there any program which would allow a Mac plug-in to be used on a PC?

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 10:27 AM

GUNRUNNER

Quote:
Originally posted by Kurukami:
Are you creating the plug-in for the Mac or the PC? If for the Mac, is there any program which would allow a Mac plug-in to be used on a PC?

It comes with EV. Look in your EVN folder for a convert plug-ins EXE. After you "un-stuff" (they use stffit expander for plugs) drag them in to the exe, and they are converted. Easy as lying!

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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 2:40 PM

ANKHAGOGO

Well, this is (obviously) not original to me, but what about a place like Bartertown, from Beyond Thunderdome?

Call it Banyon.It's a rinky-dink planet, one of the last semi-civilized worlds before hitting the rim. There's probably be a lot of settlers making it their last stopover before they got to their final destination. The population is wildly varied,leaning more toward the unsavory/eccentric/socially disillusioned side.

90% of all commerce is carried out via the barter system, and the 10% that's not tends to take place in the smaller outlying towns.
The main town of Jenkins is set in a long valley, surrounded on three sides by mountains of the Rocky type, which is typical of the planet-wide topography. Most merchants accept cash money only when there's no other option, but they'll jack the price up when they do.
Cash or trade is perfectly acceptable for docking fees.

The 45th is a bar run by a Browncoat veteran, for Browncoat veterans & their friends. The owner, McDougal, only hires vets, as well as using only vets for all his business needs. It's clean, if not too well-lit, and there are also rooms to let on the second floor. Being a vet'll get you one free beer, and don't try to b.s. McDougal about it unless you're not too fond of your teeth.

I enjoy the whole idea of the barter system, frankly. Not sure I'd be too good at it --too much of a packrat -- but the idea intrigues me.

"You are such a boo."

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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 6:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kurukami:
Ember: In a binary system ravaged by the long-ago supernova of one of its suns, Ember is one of the few fragments still capable of maintaining some form of life

Sorry to be all uber-physics-geek, but if a star in a binary pair goes supernova, it would become a neutron star or a blackhole. According to Chandrasekar's Limit, a star of 3 solar masses that supernovas would become a black hole, 1.44 solar masses becomes a neutron star. Stars smaller than 1.44 solar masses like our sun don't supernova, but age to become a white dwarf, and it that white dwarf is part of a binary, it could suck material from the other until its mass increased to a point causing it to supernova spewing all kinds of heavy elements and star stuff. That nebula could then provide material for a new star system. Whether or not the other star would survive the nova I do not know. Any planets in the system would be wiped out by the nova and its burnedout remnant might be captured by the blackhole. If you're gonna have a binary star system, better to make it a stable star system.

http://www.synapses.co.uk/astro/blholes.html
http://www.synapses.co.uk/astro/multinov.html

Jaymes

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Thursday, March 4, 2004 12:07 AM

FLAMETREE

Xin Shanghai (new shanghai)

trading, manufacturing, black market goods,
illegal and banned technology.
heavily urbanised with lots of badily built high rise building. surrounded by market gardens.

Local politics is chinese based, organised along clan lines. The alliance allows in to operate because it enables illegal or dangerous technology / medical technology to be developed and tested.

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Thursday, March 4, 2004 12:07 AM

FLAMETREE

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Thursday, March 4, 2004 6:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SamuraiX47:
Quote:
Originally posted by Kurukami:
Ember: In a binary system ravaged by the long-ago supernova of one of its suns, Ember is one of the few fragments still capable of maintaining some form of life

Sorry to be all uber-physics-geek, but if a star in a binary pair goes supernova, it would become a neutron star or a blackhole. According to Chandrasekar's Limit, a star of 3 solar masses that supernovas would become a black hole, 1.44 solar masses becomes a neutron star. Stars smaller than 1.44 solar masses like our sun don't supernova, but age to become a white dwarf, and it that white dwarf is part of a binary, it could suck material from the other until its mass increased to a point causing it to supernova spewing all kinds of heavy elements and star stuff. That nebula could then provide material for a new star system. Whether or not the other star would survive the nova I do not know. Any planets in the system would be wiped out by the nova and its burnedout remnant might be captured by the blackhole. If you're gonna have a binary star system, better to make it a stable star system.

http://www.synapses.co.uk/astro/blholes.html
http://www.synapses.co.uk/astro/multinov.html

No problem. I'm definitely not as up on the astrophysics as you are, but modifying the description doesn't strike me as a problem. Perhaps Ember could be a fragment of the neutron star -- which explains its small size but near-Terran gravity?

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Thursday, March 4, 2004 6:57 AM

Quote:

Here's a question for you: in your conversion, does the Sol system even exist? That is, obviously Earth is gone/burnt out/whatever, but what about Europa and Mars? After all, they were in the original one... and all you'd really have to change is to replace the Earth planet-icon with a dead world that was an irradiated wasteland.

I haven't decided on that yet. Most likely, I'll include it, but the visbit setting will be off to start with (so the location of Earth is "lost".)

Perhaps there'll be a mission at some point where you're hired by an archeologist to try to find it.

Maybe it'll be dead-center of Reaver territory....oh, the possibilities.

As for Mac/PC: I'm developing on a Mac, but as stated, converting to a Windows-usable format is pretty much just drag-and-drop.

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Thursday, March 4, 2004 7:16 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kurukami:
Perhaps Ember could be a fragment of the neutron star -- which explains its small size but near-Terran gravity?

Hmmm... Or better yet, a fragment of neutronium becomes the core for the planet... the gravity of neutron material would be too intense, but put it in the core and have thick enough layer of dirt around it and you could have 1 g gravity on a small moon-size planet.

Jaymes

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Thursday, March 4, 2004 7:35 AM

That could definitely work. And (correct me if I'm wrong, but this is kinda where I based the idea) supernovas tend to form all kinds of unusual, rare and/or exotic elements when they go up. That explains the numerous mining interests there...

Place it in a nebula, where there's kind of a proto-system, and it could serve as a well-protected Fed foundation out on the frontier.

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 5:15 PM

Some very interesting ideas in this thread, thanks all.

I'm taking a bit of a break from this project this week, since its spring break, but I'll let you all know when Alpha 1 time is approaching.

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 5:31 PM

VAMPIREFAN

sounds like a very interesting project. i will be trying out the game you posted the link to.

good luck and can't wait for the finished product.

laura

come out to the browncoat ball! chicago: sept 17-19, 2004 :: http://www.browncoatball.com for more info

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 6:58 PM

WYDRAZ

Quote:
Originally posted by SamuraiX47:
... Any planets in the system would be wiped out by the nova and its burnedout remnant might be captured by the blackhole. If you're gonna have a binary star system, better to make it a stable star system.

I disagree. That's boring. Besides, you're not taking into account a few things. (1) An outer planet could conceivably survive such an event, and even as a burnt husk it might be reclaimed through terraforming. (2) Cosmic disasters take a loOOOong time to occur. With a window of stability as small as a few hundred years (e.g. after the supernova and before the development of a black hole) it might be worth terraforming a planet or at least colonizing a system purely for its mineral wealth.

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 7:01 PM

WYDRAZ

3 Systems for submission:

Zircon Gamma

Known commonly as the Robot Planet, Zircon Gamma is owned and run by Zircon GmbH, an old and propserous corporation with headquarters in the core worlds. Zircon Gamma is a research and development lab, located outside Alliance territory for legal reasons. In the past, Zircon GmbH has been slapped on the wrist by the Alliance a few times, for crossing legally ambiguous territory in their robotic and cybernetic experiements. Although they do nothing the Alliance wouldn't do in its own secret labs, the simple fact is that they are on the Alliance's watch list because of Zircon's secrecy and monopolist business practices. But out here, they are free to develop as they please. The planet exports standard issue robots for the entire sector, yet robot factories comprise of less than than half of their facilities. The majority are devoted to secretive R&D projects.

Cretaceous

This terraformed world, located just outside of the core worlds, is owned by an Alliance biogenics conglomerate. Cretaceous has been made into a recreation of prehistoric Earth, complete with dense jungles and genetically reconstructed dinosaurs, created in Alliance labs. The planet serves not only as a giant experiement, but has also become something of a cash cow. Wealthy hunters pay plenty to get a shot at bagging a Tyrannosaur, and dino-meat is a delicacy for those who can pay.

Pegana IV

Due to a lack of terraformable planets, the Pegana system is pretty much uninhabited. In its outer (seventh) planet, an scientific outpost run by an independent genius listens for signals from the outer rim. Doctor Vernon Lu-Hawkins and his team of assistants are out here in nowhere land hoping to find proof of alien intelligence. Even after hundreds of years of space exploration, it seems some few scientists still believe there may be extraterrestrials out there. Until recently, Pegana IV has been ignored. But then a wormhole appeared to open near the systems' outer boundary, and a signal is coming through. Dr. Lu-Hawkins and his team have not yet been able to translate it, but he claims it is proof of the existence of ETs. Though no one believes his claim, it is rumored that the Alliance has taken an interest...

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 8:33 PM

PYROPHORUS

Allright, I thought I might give this a shot.

My first planet is pretty simple. A core planet with a moon circling about it.

Terra Novus (or new earth): Was the first planet created by the terraformers, to mimmic the best of climates earth that was had to offer. It is the pride of terraformation offering a climate ranging from -5 degrees celcius to 20 degrees allowing for amazing swept beaches as well as beutiful skiing. It is the settlment of the terraformers ancestors and is only accessible through a port on its moon (altera luna), due to its surrounding defence grid.

Altera Luna: Circles Terra Novus. Although it has no atmosphere, it includes one of the most heavilly defended alliance spaceports in the Verse. It is the only access point to Terra Novus.

The Xhao-Leverson Asteroind Belt (Frontier): Named after two of the most prominent terraformers of the new Verse. The asteroid belt was an essential component in elements needed for the terraformation of the new Verse. It is still home to a large mining colony today.

Rupert (Deeps): This planet is home to a colony of estranged individuals. They see it as their objective to monitor going's on in the Verse and know a great deal about whats happening. This planet is home to The Restaurant at the End of the Verse and proves itself that the bible aint the only book to have survived this long.

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004 9:35 PM

MELLOWFLOYD

Nova Canadiana: A core colony whose population claims to be descendents of the ancient nation-state Canada back on Earth-that-was. Their mascot of the beaver and heavy export of maple syrup seems to reinforce their theory. A heavily wooded planet, Nova Canadiana's cities coexist rather well with their great forests. Their heavy dependence on dams for hydro electricity, however, causes them to often be called the most backward of the more 'civilized' core planets, as anything less than nuclear power is seen as primitive. Their population is a diverse mix of cultures, although anglophone, francophone, and asians are the most dominant groups. Their chief exports are their grain, timber, and other natural resources. Their most valued product however, is their famous maple syrup, a staple in all wealthy families' diets.

You're hilarious. Sadist.

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Monday, March 15, 2004 2:58 PM

Quote:

Zeus: Terra-formed planet just outside of the Core planets. Zeus has several moons, each named after a different lover of the mythic god. The most notable of these moons would be Hera, where the Battle of Serenity Valley occured.

Zeus's main industry is mining, as it is one of the few locations that has a necessary mineral used in Alliance cruiser engines. The population is mainly descended from Earth-that-was miners, most notably coal miners from what was the Eastern United States.

Illegal trade used to flourish on Zeus and its moons. However, after Serenity Valley, the Alliance increased their military presence and enforced stiffer penalties for smuggling.

Hope that helps.

It just occured to me that it doesn't make sense for Hera to be near the Core worlds. The Independent back was broken at Serenity; that implies a large number of the Independent leaders had a base there. They would be more likely to set up on the Rim.

Still, I like your idea well enough.

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Tuesday, March 16, 2004 12:27 AM

RONALDRAYGUN

Earth-that-was DEEP

Dark billowing clouds hide the planet surface from orbit. Fantastic lightning displays arc across the cloud tops constantly. A dense debris ring encircle's the Earth with larger chunks of rock that orbit further out from the rings. Two Blue Sun Archaeologic outpost's are in orbit as well as an unmarked and unregistered space station. The Alliance has restricted access to Earth's solar system, only extremely desperate and foolish treasure hunters dare to brave the two month trip through reaver territory only to find a dangerous and hostile environment on the Earths surface. However, priceless relics of Earth-that-was can still be found if your up to the task.

Background (for fun!)

Earth now is uninhabited. Located in the old frontier sector of the 'verse, mankind's planet of origin met with disaster almost 400 years ago. Interstellar space travel was entering the colonization age with the advent of terra-forming. It seemed everyone who was wealthy enough to leave for clean new worlds in the "Core" of the galaxy did so.
The Earth's moon having been the first stellar body that was successfully terra-formed was aggressively mined of it's iron. Although the law restricted how much could be mined, corporations were able to circumvent government monitoring which ultimately doomed the Earth. Scientist's found that the moon's orbit had begun to decay and within ten years the moon collided into the Earth killing billions.
For ten years millions of people fled the Earth but passage on starships was expensive for those with little or no money. Indenturing became lawful to lure corporations that had ships capable of ferrying people off world. Free passage in exchange for years of labor on one of several core planets.

The Firefly verse is such fertile ground for Fanfic. I love it!!

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Tuesday, March 16, 2004 9:09 AM

See, my theory on Earth-that-Was for an EV mod went something like this:

What causes an enormous population to flee not only a planet, but an entire system? It has to be something of overwhelming magnitude, something which would easily destroy everyone if they were caught by it. Solution? Some corporation or government, caught up in its own designs, accidentally released a powerful nanotechnology-warfare agent that, lacking its normal cut-off trigger, quickly began to assimilate and kill nearly every organism it encountered on the face of the Earth. It spread upon the prevailing winds like a plague, bringing panic and destruction wherever it landed.

Before the other planets in the Sol system were truly aware of the threat, many of them had also been infected by the nanotech agent. The refugees of Earth's nations and Sol's colonies fled in spacecraft cobbled together from a variety of technological levels, leaving the plague-ridden domains of mankind far behind and striking out towards what one day would become the Alliance's systems.

But behind them, something happened which they did not anticipate. In a tiny fraction of creatures and organisms, the nanotech-plague did not kill its hosts. Instead, it granted them strength and speed and toughness, enhancing their resistance to disease and radiation so that they could survive in the wastelands that had been left behind. Many of those kept a substantial portion of their intelligence as well, and salvaged spaceworthy craft from the ruins of Earth's civilization. They banded together to form clans within deep space, always seeking to and find uninfected individuals who might swell their ranks.

Centuries after the fall of Earth, long after the truth of the exodus had been lost to tale and myth, they finally found Earth's refugees, and began to prey upon the edges of the society those refugees had built.

Such is the history of the Reavers.

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it is difficult for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel."

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Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:19 PM

RONALDRAYGUN

Not a bad idea, I like the nanotechnology angle. All good except for the whereabouts of Earth, lost to tales and myth. It's unlikely the location of earth would be lost after only 400 years. It may be lost to frontier settlers but certainly not to governments in the Core. Simon had his universal encyclopedia with him so information would still be accessible and cataloged.

My reason for the human race leaving was because Earths orbit became eratic after the collision and thereby altering the orbits of not only Mars and Venus but eventually all the solar planets.This would make it impossible to create the stable environment needed for terra-forming.

P.S. If you haven't yet, read "Prey" by Michael Crichton. A great story about nanotechnology!

Good Luck

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Thursday, March 18, 2004 8:10 AM

I guess I've got several problems with the "moon mined of its iron begins to fall from its orbit" thing.

First, if one removes enough iron from the moon to actual alter its orbit, you're making it less dense, and therefore decreasing the gravitational attraction between it and the Earth. The moon would therefore wander away from Earth, not towards it.

Second, if the moon's orbit took ten years to degrade (stepping right past the decaying orbit issue) I have difficulty believing that billions would still die in the collision. With a "disaster" that took that long to manifest, and of which there was clear sign beforehand ("Hey, is the moon gettin' bigger or is it just me?" "Don't tell me you're believing them governmental newscasts about the sky fallin', now..."), if indentured servitude had made a comeback virtually all of the population would've been evacuated for one reason or another.

Third, if the disaster was so small as to only strike the Earth (the moon crashing into it), why are there no colonies or space stations on other planets in the Sol system, like Mars or Jupiter's moons?

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it is difficult for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel."

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Thursday, March 18, 2004 10:19 AM

I would agree with Kurukami. But also it would take millions of years to mine up enough iron mass to affect the moon's gravitational orbit.

I heard something about a prologue that was used in the broadcast versions, Nathan Fillion doing a voice over that said humans used up the Earth... That must mean we used up all the natural resources and probably irreparably ruined the environment.

Now the question of why no colonies on Mars or jupiter? Why leave the solar sytem completely?

The population of Earth in 100 years could be so huge that what ever planets and moons we could terraform in our solar system would still not be enough room for everyone so they head out to a star that has dozens of planets many of them in the temperate zone and able to support life. The core ones probably don't need much terraforming where as others and moons around gas giant planets need more work.

Jaymes

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Thursday, March 18, 2004 2:09 PM

We're thinking along similar lines. I've been entertaining the idea of Reavers being the descendents of those left behind on Earth for a while now.

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Sunday, March 28, 2004 9:32 PM

Just an update: I've finally found the time to add all the suggestions that have been given so far into the mod.

Well, except one. I didn't include Terra Novus, because in proper Latin, that should actually be Terra Nova, and that's the name of an ENT episode.

Besides, I've already got several worlds that duplicate portions of Earth; don't need one that duplicates the entire thing! :)

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Monday, March 29, 2004 8:45 AM

Huzzah! Well, it'll certainly be interesting to see how your EV Galaxy map comes out... I've been tinkering with one myself, based on small little hints that were given in various episodes (like Jiangyin being nearly a month's travel from Persephone, as mentioned in passing in "Safe", which means that assuming 2 days per jump Jiangyin must be at least eleven or twelve jumps away from Badger's hole). I'll have to throw together an approximation of my map in a .jpg and show what I've got.

Are you planning to have a timeline, as in, starting the game before the Independents attempt to break away and playing through the five-plus years of the War? Could pilots be on either side of the confrontation -- joining either the Feds or the Independents?

Hmmm... off to tinker with my would-be map in Photoshop...

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it is difficult for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel."

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Monday, March 29, 2004 4:55 PM

When I originally conceived this project, my intent was to have the player be Mal, and follow him from his enlistment, through Serenity Valley, through his early adventures and aquisition of Serenity, and finally end at Objects In Space.

(Well.....ORIGINALLY I had wanted to go even further, but when news of the movie came, I decided not to. But the final decision on that is still a *long* ways off.)

After putting in a good deal of work on this, I've decided that, as a starting point at least, I'm only going to include events post-Serenity Valley. It would require most of the planets in the mod to have alternate versions for me to include the war years, unfortunately.

I may still add that; I'm not at the storyline-writing stage *just* yet. But I'm trying to shoot for an attainable goal first.

As for my galaxy map, I'm afraid I haven't put overly much thought into it.....I just plopped things down, and tried to avoid any outright contradictions with the series. :) I won't be able to get an exact match; because of the way the engine works, its not possible to put Greeneleaf 18 hours from Jiangyin. It would be *possible* to put it 1 day away, but then there couldn't be an Alliance cruiser closer, so it has to be 2 days away.

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Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:26 PM

DIGITALOUTBREAK

Sanctus: The new home of the Holy See, Sanctus offered hope to the homeless Catholics. The world is covered in a desert, the only water must be distilled from the air or drawn up from underground wells. The papacy has teraformed a small settlement and turned it into a new age garden of eden.

Bar: Alchohol other then the wine pressed from from the grapes grown in the Sanctus orchards has been forbidden. The partender serves only non alcholic beverages... it doesn't look crowded.

No, I'm not catholic. I just thought that the Catholics wouldn't give up that easy.

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Thursday, April 1, 2004 7:50 AM

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Waybreak: Waybreak is the result of an early terraforming attempt gone wrong, the atmosphere changes constantly going from inhabitable to deadly overnight. Constant temperature changes mean that the ice caps freeze and re-thaw every month, resulting in a complete flooding of the planet. There is only one port at Waybreak, the space-station Excession orbitting it which provides refueling, ship parts and a bar.

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Wednesday, July 7, 2004 4:52 PM