World-building fun

[wiseheart]

This is something that fans of the original Battlestar Galactica (the one and only for me) would probably enjoy. I've done a little essay, or, let's say, a trivia table for my "Lost Years" series, which is a never-ending series of crossovers between the original Star Trek and the original BSG.

The Distribution of Sector G-132 shows how the Colonial fugitives, after having met the Enterprise in the first story of the series, have settled in Sector G-132, on the very edge of known Federation space. It gives the planet names, the capital cities, state form, religion, Council representatives, ships assigned to the individual colonies and so on.

Trivia fans, have fun!

Comments

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

VERY interesting. BG is a loooooong way back in my sci-fi TV days (about 30 years ago at this point, come to think of it - I first saw it when we came back to the States) - but you seem to have taken a lot of little tidbits and hints and worked them up into full-blown cultures. The variety in religious and political structures offers lots of possibilities for story lines -- did you invent all of these yourself? I remember you mentioned doing some research on non-mainstream religions at one point. I'm impressed! If I can ever get caught up on all your Tolkfic AND your Andromeda Nietzschean alt-fic AND your Star Trek altfic arcs (and yes, yes, I know: finish my Mary-Sue spoof), I'll be looking forward to this new/old universe of yours.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Actually, Diwesm is the invention of Karen Davis, writer of excellent BSG stories (I don't even add the adjective "original" anymore because the so-called reimaginated series has nothing to do with the classic one, aside of a handful of names), a lot of which are linked to my recommendation site.

Gemonese dualism is something I've developed based on what I've learned about dualistic religions, driven the idea to the extreme. I wondered why their Otori sect was so much against sex that they wanted the socialators (something akin to geishas) killed, and religious dualism, with its rigid division between light and darkness, soul and body, etc., seemed a good philosophical basis to that.

What always angers me in sci-fi is the fact that the PTB seem to assume (automatically, let me add) that all alien cultures ought to have the same norms as our (white, Western) society. That's why I came up with linear marriages, clan marriages, threesome marriages and so on. The BSG tribes lived on twelve different planets without even knowing about each other for millennia, after leaving Kobol, according to canon, so why should they all have a similar culture - or even the same language, for that matter.

To be honest, Karen's stories were very inspiring in this area. She let various Colonial tribes have different languages, and she represented that fact by inserting phrases in French for Aquarians, Russian for Librans and so on. She's very good at this world-building business, it's a shame that some of her WIPs have hung around unfinished for years - just like mine. *ducks*