Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Organising the aliens

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

I noticed a lot of people are coming up with their own alien races for creating ships, societies, etc. This is a good thing, since it strikes me as a lot more creative than posting a Starfleet kitbash or something like that. Unfortunately, what to do with them can be a problem - if you make one a "Trek" race, you generally can't do much with it that would be relevant to the Trek universe. OTOH, if a race/civilisation isn't associated with anything, you'd have to come up with a lot of background/surrounding information for it to be interesting.

To solve this problem, how about our own Grand Unified Sci-Fi Universe? You can create a civilisation of pretty much any size, allocate it space on the Grand Unified Sci-Fi Universe galaxy map, and do with it just about anything you'd like. You can simply design ships or races, or you can write actual fiction if you're creative enough. Since everything is happening in the same place, your ships can be constructed in response to the threat of the proverbial next-door neighbor, or you can collaborate with someone to orchestrate an epic war! Or something in between. Also, keep in mind the scope of what's involved...if you're the fiction-writing type, you can write about one planet, ship, or person, and establish the civilisation through your stories.

The question is, would anyone be interested in anything like this? I can explain further, but there's a lot of flexibility involved.

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Frank's Supernifty Page

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

I like your idea, Frank. I don't have any current aliens to swap, seeing how, as you said, my Holy Imperium needs most of the galaxy to play in, but I'll see what I can come up with.

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"Something I can't comprehend. Something so complex and couched in its equation. So dense that light cannot escape from."
--
Soul Coughing

Posted by Sunspot (Member # 77) on :

So, is it like an RPG, only instead of posting to a chatroom or emailing list, we respond with images of ships and stories of the civilizations?

If I am wrong, please correct me, as this sounds interesting!

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"Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have ... before"

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Well...not quite like an RPG, because here there's no set goal or purpose in the traditional sense. You're sort of on the right track, though.

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Frank's Supernifty Page

Posted by Sunspot (Member # 77) on :

So if I go into this collective, are my alien creations available for ANYONE to use w/o my permission in any media that is not-for-profit?

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"Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have ... before"

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Well, not unless you want them to be.

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Frank's Supernifty Page

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

What if we've created fictional Human empires that are an integral part of our universes?

Anyway, while I was designing my RPG, I came up with everything from cultures to a few scattered ships (which, if Cargile EVER gets around to posting my Trek ships, I may ask him to scan up next) I even created a historical timeline from 5 billion ybp to the 2490's, extra "mystery" races for my species' to encounter, an intractable enemy from another Galactic Arm, one long-vanished ancient race, and (just for fun) some expatriate Atlanteans.

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"We shall not yield to you, nor to any man." -- Freak, The Mighty.

Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :

Stories? Funny you mention it, I'm writting my 'Synia' race into a story I have. I only have a trailer and 1 chapter, but it's still underway. Address you say? Here ya go:
http://www.expage.com/page/The359

(not much to look at on the site)

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"I am Sci-Fi"
-The 359

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

It's great to see there's lots of interest...to clarify things a bit, I'll be writing up some guidelines to keep in mind. If anyone has any questions, arguments, or vehement arguments, feel free to post them.

Guidelines to a realistic self-consistent sci-fi universe, Part I: Species and Societies

- Mono-personality species are unrealistic. The members of a species will be varied to some degree, whether by genetics or upbringing. No matter how a society is structured, individuals will have different goals, preferences, lifestyles, etc.

- As a result, species without previous or extended contact with other civilisations will not be unified as a society. They would have some sort of government divisions with different philosophies on running things.

- Species with extended contact with other civilisations will not be unified, either. If they've been travelling the galaxy for a significant period of time, a number of individuals are likely to have left to join other societies or form their own elsewhere. Some species will be spread throughout the galaxy.

- Most large, older societies will be made up of multiple species. A civilisation is generally defined by culture, laws, ideals, etc., not species.

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Frank's Home Page, which you've never seen before and want to visit right now

[This message has been edited by The Shadow (edited August 30, 1999).]

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Sol's Corollaries:

Individual members of an alien species are likely to be indistinguishable to outsiders. Less, shall we say, cultured humans have trouble picking out people of different races, and that's just a difference of skin color!

Our human concept of individuality is extremely limited, as it is based on observations of only one intelligent species; us. An alien civilization might seem entirely chaotic to us, governed by instincts we can't even begin to comprehend.

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"Something I can't comprehend. Something so complex and couched in its equation. So dense that light cannot escape from."
--
Soul Coughing

[This message has been edited by Sol System (edited August 30, 1999).]

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Right, but there will be some degree of variation in different forms, even if some of those forms are only apparent to the species itself.

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Frank's Home Page, which you've never seen before and want to visit right now