Is this your first visit to The Orion Wars?
WELCOME! Thanks for stopping by!
Please take a few moments to read the first part of this page. Otherwise, trying to make sense of the site will only leave you confused. The Orion Wars is a group sci-fi blog novel. It's meant to be a fun diversion for the participants. Please don't take it too seriously or think that we consider this to be great literature. All of us consider The Orion Wars as just creative escapism from real life. The overall name for this series of science fiction blog novels and stories is The Ex-Earth Colonies. This is the second of them. The first was Colony: Alchibah which finished up in late 2007.
The Original Plot:
In the middle of the 21st century, a ship of dissidents seeking freedom from the oppressive world government of Earth land on a planet circling the star Alchibah. There, these colonists begin a new life, a new world, a place where the limited government is subordinate to the citizens. First they had to create that government. Actually, first they had to escape Earth! As in any sci-fi story, there are plenty of other problems as well...
Since then, in Colony: Alchibah, a whole lot has happened. The colonists battled a series of natural catastrophes, monsters, aliens, and each other. The Orion Wars takes up where Colony left off, but twenty Earth years later.
"Yeah, well, the blog entries make no sense to me!"
And well they wouldn't because you're stepping into the middle of an ongoing project. It would be sort of like starting a book on page 172.
A quick reader's guide:
In Colony: Alchibah I (as Historian) would write a chapter and then the participants would put up posts detailing and expanding on the actions of their characters. Each of us fed off of and reacted to what the others were writing.
This time 'round, in The Orion Wars, we each take a turn writing the chapters and the rest of us put up posts ("diary entries"). Sort of a round-robin novel. There are seven of us participating. The idea came from a mystery novel titled, "The Floating Admiral [1931-1932 Doubleday, Doran & Co.] by a who's who of writers including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterdon, and others.
The actual story chapters are listed on the side under -- Story Chapters -- and are numbered in order. Mouse-click a chapter to read such as "1. Prologue", etc.. This is the best place to start. Read chapter 1. Then...
...Well, then you can read the colonists' responses to what has happened in that chapter in the form of diary entries by the colonists themselves in the next category on the right sidebar -- Colonist Diaries -- by selecting the corresponding chapter name.
Then, read chapter 2, and again, the corresponding colonist diaries, etc.
The home page (index page for the site) displays the newest diary entries in the form of a blog with the most recent ones first. Reading those is fine for regulars but will only leave first-timers confused. Clicking a chapter's "diaries" will present them in the order written.
This probably isn't the most logical layout for a project like this but I had to work within the limitations of Word Press, a wonderful -- especially since it's free -- software program that runs many a blog.
There's also a collaborative encyclopedia of information by all of us over at Colony Universe for our creative fun and your elucidation.
Go to / Return to The Orion Wars.
If interested in becoming a colonist: Great!
you may email the Historian (that would be me...) at:
historian -at- alchibah -dot- com
All political persuasions are welcome. Absolutely. Diversity will add greatly to the plot.
Before you offer to join, consider that this project will require several hours a week of your time.
Anyway, you get to create your own character (and family, if you like) and a brief autobiography. We'll weave you into the story and then you're on your own. If at any point you want out -- well, it's like in the TV soap operas -- we promise it will be painless.
I'm also looking for artist/illustrators who might like to contribute.
For those who are interested in the technical stuff, I create most of the graphics using a combination of Bryce (from DAZ) and Photoshop. By the way, the maps were created in Blizzard's World Builder program that comes with WarCraft which I then mess around with in Photoshop. Some of the Bryce "objects" were purchased on Renderosity; Renderosity and PayPal receipts are on file.
Go to / Return to The Orion Wars.
|
