Galactica Saga is coming!

Kester Pelagius · March 11th, 2009, 01:21 PM

Rather than go cry in a corner after being told I wasn't welcome to play in certain peoples BSG sandbox I've decided to turn my efforts toward writing a fanfic. Probably not the brightest idea considering everyone is all crazy for podcasts and youtube video but writing's a lot easier to do than all that other stuff.

So far all I've posted is a slightly updated version of that draft promo in script form. Continuity will concern itself solely with Saga of a Starworld and the novelization (as I have no idea if I even still have any of my comics or other BSG material to reference) and the fanfic will be set just prior to, during, and possibly just after the Cylon attack on the colonies. The story will include some supposition re: certain vaguely defined institutions and extrapolation of what sorts of hardware this author feels a starfaring culture would have in-system. But I'll do my best to refrain from drastic departures from established canon. It's all meant to be FUN.

Comments welcome.

http://cosmic-cinema.blogspot.com/20...is-coming.html

ernie90125 · March 11th, 2009, 02:11 PM

I'm pleased to be the first one to wish you all the best in developing this fanfic.....I've read it and its an intriguing intro, let us know how it develops.....

Damocles · March 11th, 2009, 06:53 PM

And I'm pleased to be the second. Kudos to you. Go for it.

monolith21 · March 11th, 2009, 09:10 PM

What can we do to help?

Kester Pelagius · March 11th, 2009, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monolith21

What can we do to help?

Want to draw/render a Starhound?

I have this idea kicking in the back of my head now that I've started re-reading the novel. The idea struck me that would be a great name for a fighter with a retro look.

It would look similar to a Viper but with the cockpit moved further up the fuselage to make room for a oversized top thruster/engine, larger pulse canons, and would only have two wings. The wings would be slighly larger and swept forward with inset aelerons/stabilizer fins that flip up when the fighter is in planetary flight.

monolith21 · March 12th, 2009, 12:11 AM

Would this ship be built as an atmospheric fighter with space capability as opposed to vice versa being true for the Viper?

Sounds like a cool design. Were you a fan of the "ASP" that has been floating around here? Might spark your creative vision as it only had the two wings, however it is much smaller than you are suggesting with much less fire power!

Kester Pelagius · March 12th, 2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monolith21

Would this ship be built as an atmospheric fighter with space capability as opposed to vice versa being true for the Viper?

Sounds like a cool design. Were you a fan of the "ASP" that has been floating around here? Might spark your creative vision as it only had the two wings, however it is much smaller than you are suggesting with much less fire power!

Believe it or not the idea for the Starhound as seperate and distinct fighter just popped into my head when I started re-reading the novel. Next thing you know I'm scribbling notes then booting up my computer to write an entire fragment of dialgoue between two characters. As described in what I have written I suppose you could say the Starhound is a old transitional aerospace fighter whereas the Viper seems to be more of a space superiority fighter.

I wouldn't doubt I've seen the ASP at some point.

As for my "creative vision" here's where the fanfic stands at present:

Currently the idea I have may (or may not) play out as a two part story, each story being broken up into 4 Acts. So far this is what I have for part 1, so consider this a basic outline that's subject to change. --

ACT I - GEMONI

Wherein we meet the dramatis personae as they (more or less) encounter each other in the shipside terminal of a liner docked above Gemoni. One established BSG character puts in a cameo.

ACT II - PHOENIX

Not much written for this yet. This may, or may not, contain foreshadowing elements for Act IV et al. Herein we'll likely meet the crew of the Phoenix and get to know the characters introduced in Act I.

ACT III - DELOS

An space station orbiting Caprica. The characters are coming here to attend, observe, and celebrate events surrounding the Armistice.

ACT IV - ESCAPE

Tentaive title. I've nothing written for this act yet.

Alas it's all pretty boring so far.

monolith21 · March 13th, 2009, 12:04 AM

Hey...ya know what? The script I wrote takes place just post holocaust! A buddy of mine wrote one that take places just after that. We might be able to string all of these together as a sort of "what else happened that day" bit. Not sure if we can, but it might be worth looking into!

Mine has to do with a downed shuttle that was trying to get a few officials and a prisoner off world during the attack. Pretty basic.

How long are your acts going to be?

Kester Pelagius · March 13th, 2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monolith21

Hey...ya know what? The script I wrote takes place just post holocaust! A buddy of mine wrote one that take places just after that. We might be able to string all of these together as a sort of "what else happened that day" bit. Not sure if we can, but it might be worth looking into!

Mine has to do with a downed shuttle that was trying to get a few officials and a prisoner off world during the attack. Pretty basic.

How long are your acts going to be?

Good question. I'm still fleshing things out but the most complete, so far, is ACT I and that's up to . . . roughly 1,200 words. By ACT IV things are probably going to be moving quicker so that may end up being the shortest of all. Not sure yet.

The story, as currently envisioned, follows a group of Socialators and Warriors (two are actually ensigns) from Gemon who go to Delos. Now Delos is obviously an extra-canonical addition but a needed one as this is where the ensigns, top notch pilots who have been tapped to fly Starhouds for the Armistice celebrations (think aerial display with fireworks) over Caprica. But things don't quite work out that way.

I'm currenly deciding what the fate of Delos should be. Having the Cylons blow it up would be the easiest solution, not to mention it can be accomplished with a minimum of verbage. But that doesn't feel right. Besides I may need it, or it's abanded hulk at any rate, for part 2.

While I didn't plan it somewhere along the way I decided to write a story to showcase strong female characters that doesn't rely on sexuality to prove their strong female characters. I never realized how much that bugged me about nBSG until I started writing this. Also I am throwing in some speculations about Colonial history. Nothing too out there just a few remarks here or there to flesh the setting out a bit.

I'm also wondering if I shouldn't put this up here in a folder out of sight from public viewing to get everyone's opinions. Might be useful as those who are familiar with the various novels and fanfics might have suggestions I'd not think of myself. What do you think?

monolith21 · March 13th, 2009, 07:10 PM

Thats a tricky one. I know what you mean. If you're having trouble fleshing things out it might help but if you have a direction you're going in it could confuse things. I'd say you might want to keep each act off here until its within 80% mapped out. Not written, but at least you have the general idea. If you're already there then I'd say whats the hurt in throwing it up here. You most certainly don't have to use any ideas people throw at you.

Kester Pelagius · March 17th, 2009, 10:13 AM

The announcement that NBC Universal is planning to change the name of The Sci-Fi Channel to Syfy has annoyed me. Not just because it sounds like slang for syphilis but because this is corporate America saying words don't matter. Well I disagree. In fact this has moved me to write a primer/introduction with glossary for Galactica Saga.

Yes, I'm going to be defining terms like centon and sectare. In fact I may just make up a few NEW words. Because I can. And, you know what, I'm going to use a dictionary to do it. Scratch that I'm dragging out my UNABRIDGED dictionary to do this.

Take THAT corporate America!

*waves fist impotently at imaginary people*

Damocles · March 17th, 2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kester Pelagius

The announcement that NBC Universal is planning to change the name of The Sci-Fi Channel to Syfy has annoyed me. Not just because it sounds like slang for syphilis but because this is corporate America saying words don't matter. Well I disagree. In fact this has moved me to write a primer/introduction with glossary for Galactica Saga.

Yes, I'm going to be defining terms like centon and sectare. In fact I may just make up a few NEW words. Because I can. And, you know what, I'm going to use a dictionary to do it. Scratch that I'm dragging out my UNABRIDGED dictionary to do this.

Take THAT corporate America!

*waves fist impotently at imaginary people*

They have to do something: Bonnie what's her name and He Who Shall not be Named (the Moore, Ron) destroyed SciFi and reduced it to "Skiffy" a derisive term for a piece of crap product. So now they will be "Syphy" which ranks down there with their previous marketing ploys.

D.

Kester Pelagius · March 23rd, 2009, 09:32 AM

While embarking on this task of mine to provide an intro/glossary I discovered some interesting things. .

1) I do NOT know/have a list of names for ALL twelve Colonies.

2) I do NOT know/have a list of names for ALL the Battlestars.*

3) There's sci-fi references obviously meant to be nods to other series (Ootori sect and their 7 year mating cycle/ritual seems a nod to the Vulcans of Star Trek) that just are there without any further mention/explanation (Orion)**.

4) While we never see more than 5 Battlestars on screen, just as in the book, the established fact in my mind has always been there's 12 Battlestars, one for each colony, and the Qurom/councilors in the meeting with Adar and Adama were commanders of them. Yet there's nothing in the series or book to back this up, yet that's something I've always had as an "fact" in my mind.

5) While we never see anything but Battlestars on screen in the series there's supposed to be support vessels, just as in the book and comics, yet I've no clue what they're supposed to be or look like. Though I think one was referenced by name in bridge dialogue.

6) There's a difference between mille-centon and mille-secton, yet I never realized this fact (it sounds so similar to the ear) until watching the outtakes from the DVD when Adama starts talking about how long they've been sitting at table eating.

[Addendum]

7) Larson and company must have had a really good series bible to pull all this together and keep track of the references. Wish I had access to it.

(*) The version of the pilot on DVD is truncated and not a great source to mine for information. But between it and the novel I've gleaned a total of 4 names, not including the Pegasus, and one of those Battlestars, according to the novel, was recently destroyed.

(**) I vaguely recollect some one mentioning Orion during the course of the series. However, watching the pilot with sub-titles turned on, I noticed when Adama is giving his speech about who came together to form the ragtag fleet (only 7 colonies are referenced BTW) the way they spell 'Aries' is Aeries. Thus, following that logic, it could be the colony is called Aerion, just as 'Gemini' becomes Gemon or Geminon, which could sound similar to Orion. I just don't recall what episode this reference was in or which character mentioned it to check it out.

Athene · March 24th, 2009, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kester Pelagius

While embarking on this task of mine to provide an intro/glossary I discovered some interesting things. .

1) I do NOT know/have a list of names for ALL twelve Colonies.

2) I do NOT know/have a list of names for ALL the Battlestars.*

3) There's sci-fi references obviously meant to be nods to other series (Ootori sect and their 7 year mating cycle/ritual seems a nod to the Vulcans of Star Trek) that just are there without any further mention/explanation (Orion)**.

4) While we never see more than 5 Battlestars on screen, just as in the book, the established fact in my mind has always been there's 12 Battlestars, one for each colony, and the Qurom/councilors in the meeting with Adar and Adama were commanders of them. Yet there's nothing in the series or book to back this up, yet that's something I've always had as an "fact" in my mind.

5) While we never see anything but Battlestars on screen in the series there's supposed to be support vessels, just as in the book and comics, yet I've no clue what they're supposed to be or look like. Though I think one was referenced by name in bridge dialogue.

6) There's a difference between mille-centon and mille-secton, yet I never realized this fact (it sounds so similar to the ear) until watching the outtakes from the DVD when Adama starts talking about how long they've been sitting at table eating.

[Addendum]

7) Larson and company must have had a really good series bible to pull all this together and keep track of the references. Wish I had access to it.

(*) The version of the pilot on DVD is truncated and not a great source to mine for information. But between it and the novel I've gleaned a total of 4 names, not including the Pegasus, and one of those Battlestars, according to the novel, was recently destroyed.

(**) I vaguely recollect some one mentioning Orion during the course of the series. However, watching the pilot with sub-titles turned on, I noticed when Adama is giving his speech about who came together to form the ragtag fleet (only 7 colonies are referenced BTW) the way they spell 'Aries' is Aeries. Thus, following that logic, it could be the colony is called Aerion, just as 'Gemini' becomes Gemon or Geminon, which could sound similar to Orion. I just don't recall what episode this reference was in or which character mentioned it to check it out.

That's an impressive list that you've got there.
May I suggest you view the movie version fo Saga of a Starworld. I've got that on VHS and DVD. It's different than what's shown in the boxed set.
I think there are references online to the twelve colonies and all their names.
I think I've seen this somewhere. Found it!

Here are some of the colonies mentioned...
http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Th...Colonies_(TOS))
and another site...
http://www.sf-worlds.com/galactica/worlds.html
Hopes this helps you.

Kester Pelagius · March 24th, 2009, 08:41 PM

Athene,

Thanks for the link. However the spellings in that wiki list don't quite match what I've compiled so far transcribing from DVD subtitles and the novel. But I'll keep at it. Honestly I've been having a blast revisiting the series on DVD.

Currently I've been examing the episode THE MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS, which is not just hilarous it confirms the "Orion" reference as being a non-colonial world. Not just that it's apparently a technological trade partner as Siress Belloby has an energizer built there. And here I thought that reference would have come from the casino scene in SAGA OF A STARWORLD. Silly me.

That second article was rather interesting. Though the author missed one alien race reference, the Hasaris. Adama and Sire Uri discuss them- and colonial involvement in helping them regain their nation from the Cylons- as the cause for the current Cylon conflict. Yet one thing that article made me realize is we know far more about the Delphians, an extinct race, than we do about the Hasaris!

Lots of loose ends in BSG.

Kester Pelagius · March 28th, 2009, 07:46 AM

Greetings All,

This is a mini progress report, a state of the Galactica Saga if you will. Note that the format I've chosen for the stories presents each in 4 "Acts", much as you'd expect to find in a episodic series, though length and time are fuzzy. When it "feels right" that's when I'm calling each chapter done. Here's where Galactica Saga stands at the present:

Galactica Saga - Phoenix Rising, Part 1

Roughly 75% Complete. The narrative spans events from the Armistice to Cylon attack on the colonies with some minor conjecture used to extrapolate necessary details of colonial life. Now including 'cameos' from THREE established BSG characters.

Galactica Saga - Phoenix Rising, Part 2

Roughly 50% Complete. Post Destruction scenario set, primarily, in the Orion system. Highly conjectural account of what might have happened elsewhere in the region after the destruction of the 12 Worlds given the power void created in the wake of the colonial exodus. Includes an speculative/alternate account of the fate of the Pacifica. Likely to introduce conjecture about Orion culture, technology, and military readiness.

Why Orion? It's referenced in the novel and series multiple times, thus one assumes it's one of the 12 Worlds primary non-colonial trade partners. Unless anyone has information to the contrary (?) I'm establishing them as a primarily human settlement.

Galactica Saga - Dance of the Star Maidens

Roughly 20% complete. So far it's just lots of sketched out dialogue between characters in script format that will need to be edited into a proper narrative.

The story is set in the Artemis system, being a former colonial settlement that broke away from the 12 Worlds hundreds of yahren ago. This continues the speculative account of what the surviving humans left behind- based on hints dropped throughout the series there were many human inhabited worlds besides the 12 Worlds of the colonies- do once they discover that the 12 Worlds war fleet has been annihilated and they are left to stand against the Cylons alone.

This adjunct story was inspired by a recent viewing of War Goddess. You really should watch this movie. It's fascinating.

Galactica Saga - Glossary

Added a few new terms, doing my best to stick as close to BSG naming conventions as possible. Bogged down a bit on the time measures. But it's getting there.
#

I've already run into a few stumbling blocks due to the lack of back story detail in the BSG canon. For instance, the further into conjecture the narrative delves, the more I have to expand upon extrapolations. However I've been trying to avoid just making things up, but as Dance of the Star Maidens is precipitated upon the planet of Artemis being a settlement that literally was "lost" at the outset of the thousand yahren war there's details that I need to spackle over that may require me turning to non-canonical sources. Especially where ship types are concerned. Any ideas or suggestions for good sources of pseudo-canonical detail about colonial history and ship types are welcome.

Speaking of which comments regarding this project are also welcome.

Kester Pelagius · April 8th, 2009, 09:29 AM

Posted the first Act of Galactica Saga, part one and, as is tradition on CF started a discussion thread for it in the Library section.

You can read Act 1 here: http://cosmic-cinema.blogspot.com/20...ng-part-1.html

I'll likely post the glossary between parts 1 and 2, if necessary. I've been trying to unobtrusively work explanations into the narrative where possible.

Enjoy.

Kester Pelagius · April 9th, 2009, 08:39 AM

Curious to see where in a Google search Galactica Saga might pop up, if at all, I started playing around with search parameters. Color me shocked when one of the hits was this: http://privacyact.blogivists.com/200...-part-1-act-1/

I'm not sure what that is. Looks like some sort of automated reposter put the first post of my fanfic through a couple of translation programs and spat it back out as something virtually incomprehensible. Even so it's still content theft.

Should I be alarmed? Any other fanfic writers have this happen to them, or am I just 'lucky' because I posted this to my Cosmic Cinema blog?

I ask because, honestly, if people are going to steal my content like this I can just as easily create a PDF and just upload it here.

Kester Pelagius · April 26th, 2009, 10:01 AM

Act IV of Galactica Saga, part 1 is set and ready to go live this Wednesday (the 29th) at around 3 AM. I've made some last minute edits/alterations and hope I've caught any/all inconsistencies and/or grammar errors caused by using auto correct during spell check. However if you notice any cite the paragraph where the problem is to be found and I'll fix it ASAP. Thanks.

For those who'd like to book mark these (or save them to their HDD) to read at leisure here's links to all parts of the story posted to date:

Galactica Saga is coming! (Faux promo script w/ poster mock up.)
Galactica Saga: Phoenix Rising - Part 1, Act 1
Galactica Saga: Phoenix Rising - Part 1, Act 2
Galactica Saga: Phoenix Rising - Part 1, Act 3
Galactica Saga: Phoenix Rising - Part 1, Act 4 (forth coming)

The discussion thread for this series can be found here: Galactica Saga is here!

Have fun!