Notes for Fan Fiction

Drakon

Spaceman
I know I haven't really posted here much, but I've been reading threads for quite a long time and eyed many of the debates within this forum with interest. For a couple of months I've been compiling notes for a series of fan fiction pieces, starting with a novel-length story with 3 more planned out. If I make a lot of headway I suppose it'd be worthy of posting, but in the meanwhile my concern is keeping everything canon while still putting to words my own vision in the blank spaces - especially when certain key elements of the plot are in question.

See, I am not well-versed at all in the WC novels. As such, making assumptions about the WC universe would be foolhardy at best. As far as wingnuts go I'm very centered around the timeframe of WC3 and 4, and as a result there are vast areas of knowledge that I won't even pretend like I can grasp atm. As a result, I thought it'd be wise to ask the community as a whole about a few subjects to clarify some... eh, uncertainties. Thanks in advance for your input... I appreciate greatly any help or advice you're willing to give to help answer the following:

1. What do you know about the Concordia-class carrier TCS Invincible? Do you have any information or knowledge of any kind about her assignments, crew, escorts, tasking, or anything of the like?

2. Do you know anything about where the front line was in mid/early 2669 Trk'Pahn Sector and/or the upper two quadrants of Vega Sector, and what forces were in that area and where?

3. Any information about the following systems in particular would be greatly appreciated (especially planet names, the type of star in the system, and whether or not there are any known asteroid fields, nebulae, minefields, or miscellaneous anomolies within them): Eddings, Oberan, Able, Maginot, Draga, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk', K'n'Trell, Hilo Base, Planck's Star, Port Hedland, Aloysius, and Freya.

4. A small, side-campaign I've planned out for the late 2670's in a completely different place and time calls for fleet activity in the Varni's sector of the Beta galactic quadrant. I think I've seen every WC map out there... is it true that this is well removed from the released Alpha quadrant map from WCP?

5. Do you know anything about system names, population density, and the jump-point relationships between the systems in that sector?

6. Is it safe to assume that there would be early skirmishes on the part of the Nephilim against the Kilrathi at the place and time beforementioned in question 4?

7. What is known about the race known as the Varni; their appearance, role in the war, what became of them post-2669 Kilrathi defeat, their technology, sphere of control, society, history, system and planet names, and the like?

8. Who was in command of the fleet that assembled in Freya, just prior to Blair's run on Kilrah? How many ships were there, what were some of their names, and who were some of the captains and heroes of the diversionary battle (or is nothing specific known)? From the cutscene video right before the mission I've concluded that there must be somewhere in the ballpark of 2 Concordias (Hermes and Invincible), 7 Rangers, 15 Tallahassee cruisers, and 30 destroyers and/or frigates. Is this estimate anywhere near accurate?

9. Did that fleet fight the Kilrathi in Freya, or did they jump directly into Kilrah after Blair went in, drawing elements of the Grand Fleet away from the planet itself for an in-system battle?

Since my searches haven't brought up all that much in the first place, I'm sure there won't be many long or complex replies... but one never knows. :p If you know that a certain question has no canon answer to it please tell me so that I can stop searching and begin work. Thanks again. :D
 
Good questions, I can't answer most of them :D

Well, as for the ConFed fleet on the diversionary battle, I believe it takes place in Freya

As for your questions about the systems and jump points, the best map I have seen is this: https://www.wcnews.com/maps/
 
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Drakon said:
2. Do you know anything about where the front line was in mid/early 2669 Trk'Pahn Sector and/or the upper two quadrants of Vega Sector, and what forces were in that area and where?

The Universe Map Houkiboshi linked to: https://www.wcnews.com/maps is the best bet I can think of.. it would be difficult to find if there are differences between this map and 2669 in particular. You could research the timeline and other sources on this site to see how well Confed was doing at a particular time. Certain manuals show maps and who occupies which system (Claw Marks I think and Prophesy has one. I'm don't think there was one with Wing Commander II or III, but I could be wrong.) As with your other questions, other fans might know more specific details.

Drakon said:
3. Any information about the following systems in particular would be greatly appreciated (especially planet names, the type of star in the system, and whether or not there are any known asteroid fields, nebulae, minefields, or miscellaneous anomolies within them): Eddings, Oberan, Able, Maginot, Draga, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk', K'n'Trell, Hilo Base, Planck's Star, Port Hedland, Aloysius, and Freya.

What I would do for these is look at the game guides link on the www.wcnews.com homepage and click on the Port Hedland, etc. missions, look at the various missions and note if there are asteroids, nebulae, minefields, etc. involved in any of the missions. There's a site (Wedge's I think) that lists some dialogue from some of the first games that might add details to certain systems. You might be surprised what will pop up by searching the archives of these forums for whatever information you happen to desire. Searching "Planck's Star" for instance might turn up some forum conversations (just picked that randomly, I'm not sure if that in particular will).

Drakon said:
5. Do you know anything about system names, population density, and the jump-point relationships between the systems in that sector?

For jump point relations, I would refer to that same Universe Map linked above.

Drakon said:
7. What is known about the race known as the Varni; their appearance, role in the war, what became of them post-2669 Kilrathi defeat, their technology, sphere of control, society, history, system and planet names, and the like?

They are reptilian. They lost the war with the Kilrathi. We know they had fighters because they managed to use them to damage a Kilrathi ship which left the Kilrathi Emporer scarred. There are more details mentioned about them. This is something that might turn up more info by searching the Encyclopedia and these forum archives.

Drakon said:
Since my searches haven't brought up all that much in the first place, I'm sure there won't be many long or complex replies... but one never knows. :p If you know that a certain question has no canon answer to it please tell me so that I can stop searching and begin work. Thanks again. :D

I tried, hopefully this was of some help. I can tell you that there are certainly more details than the ones I mentioned.
 
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CIC's encyclopedia, ship database, and above all the search feature for the forums had a huge part in my trying to answer some of these, and many other questions. Hehehe, the site is the culmination of all information WC. There are some great answers here, especially the suggestion to search those individual systems (while already done in the forums, not done all at in the WC game mission trees :D).

As for up in Trk'Pahn it seems that unless there's something canon I missed going on there that I haven't turned up yet it'd make quite the perfect setting, since the maps (thanks for the links, it's much easier to review via a link than searching folders for cropped clips of it :p) appear to be post-war and just a few months off the initial starting date I need. It seems that as long as invaders are eventually repelled and offensives end up getting dashed everything will even out by the end. If nobody corrects me on this I'll just assume that the line is as-descriped on the map. :)

That still leaves the fuzziest spot though, since the Varni Sector is FAR off even the wcnews charts (off to the right of the map's upper sectors), with borders with a number of other aliens and likely set near of the races on the far side of the galaxy in resepct to Confed. I suppose if a Kilrathi representation of the universe map was made this would be easier, but oh well... I'm glad that there as many resources as I've seen. This part of the fiction will be especially interesting to me since it makes for ideas almost entirely left to speculation and fancied theories.

That said, I'll continue my searches as time goes along. It's amazing how quickly ideas get around here and by the time I'm in need for the information again it may very well have presented itself somewhere in the forum discussions. Thanks you two, and I hope more people respond. :D
 
Howdy!
Good thread - next time I'd suggest posting something like this to the main forum... there are plenty of continuity nuts who don't read the fanfic board frequently but who live for exactly this kind of discussion (... like me!).

1. What do you know about the Concordia-class carrier TC S Invincible? Do you have any information or knowledge of any kind about her assignments, crew, escorts, tasking, or anything of the like?

I believe the Invincible is only ever mentioned as being one of the two carriers the fleet at Hyperion was formed around (the other being the Hermes, which is reference throughout the novel).

2. Do you know anything about where the front line was in mid/early 2669 Trk'Pahn Sector and/or the upper two quadrants of Vega Sector, and what forces were in that area and where?

There isn't much information here. It shouldn't be *too* different from the 2679 WCU Map, which is roughly how the war ended. We do know that Alcor, which is Confed on the map, was held by the Kilrathi at that point (and obviously the Border Worlds were all Confed systems then).

There's plenty of room to play around, though (you can kind of see the intention in terms of how the names are layed out in Trk'Pahn. It's all Kilrathi names, with a thin line of human-named systems at the bottom... including 'Maginot', after the heavily armored border between France and Germany created after World War 1).

3. Any information about the following systems in particular would be greatly appreciated (especially planet names, the type of star in the system, and whether or not there are any known asteroid fields, nebulae, minefields, or miscellaneous anomolies within them): Eddings, Oberan, Able, Maginot, Draga, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk', K'n'Trell, Hilo Base, Planck's Star, Port Hedland, Aloysius, and Freya.

Several of these are names created for the WCU Map/Privateer Online concept: Able, Maginot, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk' and K'n'Trell all fall into that category. Additionally, Eddings was a similar 'filler' system from the original Wing Commander's Vega Sector map (which you can use to calculate it's actual distance from other stars, if you so desire).

Oberan is a brief reference in End Run. The system's star is a Red Giant, and it is near the "Cardagular Globular Cluster".

Draga (referenced in Fleet Action) has an inhabited world which is a "famous" hunting reserve for Kilrathi coming of age rites. It's notable for having especially dangerous carnivores, including the "Nalga" which has large teeth, four heads and claws the size of human arms. The planet is described in conversation as "wild and woolly". A Tiger's Claw pilot, Vanderman, ejected over Draga and survived for several years there before being rescued by a human raiding unit.

Hilo Base is the system the Johnny Greene is relocated to to recieve its covert ops orders in "Milk Run". It's located "thirty-two degrees right ascension, seventy two degrees east, sixteen light-years outward" from the Xanadu System. The inhabited planet has "a couple of big lakes... an inland sea." The planet is described as desert-like - "bland, tan, and arid with only a few dots of blue and a crescent of azure at its rim". Weather is "forty degrees Fahrenheit with a thirty-knot breeze, kicking up a lot of loose sand". The base has two R&R domes which simulate various environments - one is a tropical casino and the other is a ski resort.

Planck's Star has an unidentified human colony. It's referenced several times in the original Wing Commander - Iceman once had a dogfight with Dakhath Deathstroke here, and if you lose the game it's one of the last human colonies in Vega to fall. The WC1/2 Guide mentions a Kilrathi attack decimating Confederation fuel storage facilities in Planck's Star in 2654.

Port Hedland has an inhabited Terran world - a water planet named Hurricane. We fly there in the original Wing Commander, and it is where the famous 'captured Ralari' was captured. The system has at least two asteroid fields and (in 2654) a minefield - you can find maps in the Game Guide for Port Hedland here: https://www.wcnews.com/guides/wc1porthedland.shtml.

Aloysius is a system on the Kilrathi border from Pilgrim Stars. It is used by the crew of the TCS Olympus to interact with smugglers. The inhabitable planet is called Aloysius Prime. A description from the novel: "They would meet their contacts on one of the northern continents, where lush, tropical terrain stretched to escarpments overlooking a turquoise sea that rivaled Earth's Caribbean in its beauty. While the planet's gravity remained slightly higher than the Earth standard reproduced on board the carrier, her atmosphere fully supported humans. Sure, the slightly denser air would take some getting used to and oxygen masks might be required for the first day or so on planet, but adjusting would be far easier than some of the other places Paladin had visited. Aloysius stood as one of those rare gems in the Confederation, a world whose exotic species of flora and fauna flourished under Confederation protection from colonization and tourism." The system was not actually colonized, but it was routinely visited by Confederation patrols. If you're interested in the planet itself, there are some more elaborate descriptions of the flora and fauna in the same book.

We see Freya in Wing Commander III, including the planets surface (which seems to be desert-like). It's the system where you blow up a Kilrathi sheid emitter on the surface of the planet - it isn't discussed overly much. False Colors makes a slight reference to a covert operations action on Freya in 2668, which involved the Confederation Security Bureau and Zachary Banfield of "The Guild". In-game mission maps are here: https://www.wcnews.com/guides/wc3freya.shtml

The WCU Map included with Prophecy shows nebulas - there don't seem to be any in the area you're talking about.

4. A small, side-campaign I've planned out for the late 2670's in a completely different place and time calls for fleet activity in the Varni's sector of the Beta galactic quadrant. I think I've seen every WC map out there... is it true that this is well removed from the released Alpha quadrant map from WCP?

5. Do you know anything about system names, population density, and the jump-point relationships between the systems in that sector?

To clear up some map confusion first - this is the 'canon' map: http://download.wcnews.com/files/wcp/wcum.jpg The one at wcnews.com/maps (which I did) adds some speculative things from the novels, but it isn't necessarily official. The "old Varni Republic" (discussed below) would be part of the Kilrathi Empire on this map, either with the systems that aren't named or in a slice 'above' or 'below' the current map. Based on the location defined in the novel (described below), I put the Varni Republic in the Trk'Pahn Sector. It's hard to tell exactly what's what, but the current map seems to be mostly 'Alpha', with some possible spillover into 'Delta'. Anything we actually *see* in WC will go into that same area - Beta is the other side of the galaxy, unexplored by either Terrans or Kilrathi.

6. Is it safe to assume that there would be early skirmishes on the part of the Nephilim against the Kilrathi at the place and time beforementioned in question 4?

No - the Nephilim arrival at Kilrah is their first appearance in the region for thousands of years. It was an intentional 'big entrance' on their part, arriving at the place where they had set Kilrathi culture in motion millenia earlier.

7. What is known about the race known as the Varni; their appearance, role in the war, what became of them post-2669 Kilrathi defeat, their technology, sphere of control, society, history, system and planet names, and the like?

We don't see the Varni after the war - so far they've only appeared in Action Stations, a novel about the start of the war.

They're described as being a lizard-like species which is highly evolved - they have ten to twenty million years of evolution which has eliminated a lot of their primal fears. They believed combat to be an extremely distasteful action of last resort. Their government is referred to as the Varni Republic, though no details have been specified beyond that.

Varni territory was made up of ten planets in an unknown number of systems. Possible names for some including Turing and Karing, from references to the names of battles they fought with the Kilrathi. The Kilrathi expanded to the borders of the Varni Republic in 2594. After a brief period of peace, the Kilrathi launched a massive campaign which defeated and enslaved the Varni within thirty days. Despite this, Varni resistance was unexpectedly heavy - years later, many Kilrathi considered them near equals. In one most famous incident, the Varni launched a suicidal attack on the Kilrathi flagship which severly injured the later Emperor (it was the source of his artificial leg and eye).

The Varni region of space is described as being directly opposite the 'left' flank of the Confederation, a region known sometimes as Etruria or the Yorin Sector (if you were standing on a map at Earth facing Kilrah, it would be on your forward-left and directly opposite the Landreich).

As of 2634 the Varni were a slave race wholly subjigated by the Kilrathi. Varni slaves did everything from factory work to scientific development to serving as attendants to the assembly of Barons (the latter with their eardrums pierced). A large number of Varni refugees ultimately arrived in the Confederation, where they warned of the Kilrathi. Some of these ended up serving with the Confederate armed forces.

8. Who was in command of the fleet that assembled in Freya, just prior to Blair's run on Kilrah? How many ships were there, what were some of their names, and who were some of the captains and heroes of the diversionary battle (or is nothing specific known)? From the cutscene video right before the mission I've concluded that there must be somewhere in the ballpark of 2 Concordias (Hermes and Invincible), 7 Rangers, 15 Tallahassee cruisers, and 30 destroyers and/or frigates. Is this estimate anywhere near accurate?

We don't really have much information. We know that the battle group was based around the carriers Hermes and Invincible. A Captain Morgan was the commander of the Hermes.

All we learn in the novel is that the engagement lasted for "several hours" before the Victory broke off to deploy the Excaliburs. Eisen covered this by pursuing the KIS Ghordax, a Kilrathi destroyer, towards the jump point (which the Kilrathi didn't know had been discovered). The Ghordax returned to Kilrah to report to Thrakhath that the battle was going well and that reinforcements would not be needed.

As for ship number, your guesses for the CGI sequence are reasonable... the game's script, considered canon because it was published with the Making of WC3 CD-ROM, says: "WE’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE: HUNDREDS, POSSIBLY THOUSANDS OF SHIPS. IT LOOKS LIKE THE CONFEDERATION HAS GATHERED UP ALL ITS FORCES FOR ONE LAST, DO-OR-DIE STAND . . ." The novel describes the fleet as being "...a powerful force, but nowhere near the size of the fleet that had held the Kilrathi at Terra."

9. Did that fleet fight the Kilrathi in Freya, or did they jump directly into Kilrah after Blair went in, drawing elements of the Grand Fleet away from the planet itself for an in-system battle?

The engagement actually occured in Hyperion. The Terran fleet massed at Freya and then jumpd to Hyperion for the diversion. We don't know what formed the nucleus of the initial Kilrathi fleet, but we do know that Thrakhath did not want (or need) to dispatch reinforcements from his Grand Fleet being readied at Kilrah.

That still leaves the fuzziest spot though, since the Varni Sector is FAR off even the wcnews charts (off to the right of the map's upper sectors), with borders with a number of other aliens and likely set near of the races on the far side of the galaxy in resepct to Confed. I suppose if a Kilrathi representation of the universe map was made this would be easier, but oh well... I'm glad that there as many resources as I've seen. This part of the fiction will be especially interesting to me since it makes for ideas almost entirely left to speculation and fancied theories.

I think you may be confusing the Varni and the Hari. The Varni were the last species the Kilrathi fought before the humans, in a war lead by their current Emperor. THe Hari were a race of insect-liike hive creatures that moved from planet to planet devouring resources... the Kilrathi conquered t hem h undreds of years earlier, prompting all surviving Hari to commit suicide.
 
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Good questions man! As a fellow WC fan who is currently writing a fanfic, just wanted to give you a little off-topic advice:

While it's awesome to stay as accurate as possible I just wanted to humbly give a little piece of advice: be sure to spend a lot more time in developing your characters and plot then you do on the more specific technical details. This will keep you focused and hopefully allow you to make better progress.

If you need to construct a general outline of plot events first and then fill in some smaller gaps later, maybe that will be worth a shot as well. I found that my chapters flow much better if I just sit down and write! Sometimes I can even work around the details that I'm not too well-versed in.

Anyways, I think the research you are doing is great; I just don't want anyone to make the same mistakes I have in the past (and present...)
 
Yeah, the information is more like background so that I have a general idea of what I can and can't do. As was implied, good stories are about the people and their lives, not the cold, hard facts that make them possible so much. As I've done all the research it's also served as time well-spent deciding what I intend to do with various characters, I'll take your advice Cook and spare myself the mistake of focusing too much on the little, trivial details. While I won't stop researching the many loose ends I see at the moment, it makes complete sense that the wisest approach would be to focus on keeping the words flowing onto the page and maintaining steady progress. Even if I do bump into problems it's not like I can't revise after all. ;)

I have enough to start, especially now that Loaf has provided such insight and spared me from a few foolish mistakes I would doubtlessly have made. Now I know, for example, that poor Invincible would have been the next Varyag, fighting all by itself in Freya taking on the cats with the rest of the Confed fleet in Hyperion thinking "wtf are they doing?". *Laughs and adds "TCS Varyag" to his ship list* :rolleyes: Well, even though I had the Varni's region very misplaced, the correction actually made some of my ideas much easier to realize on paper (making something character-enriching like racial diversity within flight rosters and naval crews not just plausable, but quite probable).

While WC having so many unknowns can be quite annoying for a fan-fic writer, I suppose it's more of a blessing than a curse... after all, it means fewer restrictions and freer imagination. Anyway, I hope that people will keep trying to answer questions, debate ideas, and correct any misguided notions I'm prone to get (heh, that's what I get for trusting everything I read :p). As always I'm appreciative of the assistance and advice. Most of it is quite helpful to me, and the parts that aren't so much still make for an enjoyable read. If I come up with more questions I won't hesitate to offer them to you for speculation. :D
 
Several of these are names created for the WCU Map/Privateer Online concept: Able, Maginot, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk' and K'n'Trell all fall into that category. Additionally, Eddings was a similar 'filler' system from the original Wing Commander's Vega Sector map (which you can use to calculate it's actual distance from other stars, if you so desire).

Hmm... would taking in-game features of Able, Maginot, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk' and K'n'Trell from WCU (or are they in Gemini Gold perhaps?) and from Oberan in WC Saga be advisable? Or are their guesses just as good as mine when it comes to this?
 
Hmm... would taking in-game features of Able, Maginot, Trk'Pahn, Trik'Kha, Sakah Trk' and K'n'Trell from WCU (or are they in Gemini Gold perhaps?) and from Oberan in WC Saga be advisable? Or are their guesses just as good as mine when it comes to this?

They aren't even guesses in WCU - they just added in the names and jump points for the Universe Map and then auto-generated material for them. They don't appear in Gemini Gold, since they aren't in the original Privateer.

Saga's guesses are technically as good as yours, but it's not unheard of to allow for some inter-fan-project continuity when it doesn't affect your overall story... I think Saga and Standoff, for instance, share some class names.

Well, even though I had the Varni's region very misplaced, the correction actually made some of my ideas much easier to realize on paper (making something character-enriching like racial diversity within flight rosters and naval crews not just plausable, but quite probable).

Yes - although we mostly see humans in the games, the Terran Confederation includes half a dozen or so races... and refugees from Kilrathi slave races serve with the military.
 
Hmm... I've been making some good strides with this information and I've gotten quite a bit of writing down. It didn't take long once I got into it though to find this new questions. I was wondering, how does Confed. lay out their ships design-wise for compartments? I get the basics on places like the lounge, bridge, flight deck, berths, mess, galley, and the like, but does anyone more versed in canon know where such compartments (and others I perhaps haven't heard of) are placed on large ships? The one I'm thinking about specifically is a Concordia class carrier, but since the layout is probably just like the Ranger's and a few others perhaps it doesn't matter?

Also, maybe a bit silly, but how are decks on a ship named? Trying to research this little bit part-way through a chapter has slowed me down enough that my curiosity is taking priority over progress. Who would have known a subject could be so vague and confusing to google, much less dig up without getting the WC novels. Hehehe, reading Victory Streak though revealed something called a "boot deck," but the only one I actually understand the location of is the Flight Deck. :p As always, my thanks in advance for any enlightening infromation. :)
 
I've got the plot all set out. 64 pages done so far with about about two or three hundred to go. I've been having a block of sorts though for about a month. I'll have to see if I can find a way to start making progress again. I might post it all at some point, but I'll need to go back and proof a lot of this. Thanks for asking. :D
 
64 pages is really great! I'm only around 4 chapters into mine and it's no where near as long... if you need help proofing I'd love to help, in fact I'm a pretty good editor. Let me know if you want some help out or vice versa. Keep it up : )
 
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