As some of you probably know, I’ve written a sci-fi series called Next Star Over that (so far, at least) contains two novelettes (available on Amazon) and five short stories (available on this blog). Because this little “universe” of mine is starting to get bigger than I had ever expected it to, I thought it made sense now to take the opportunity and clarify some of the lore, rules, world-building, etc.
…So here you go:
MISSION STATEMENT
My initial idea when creating this universe was to make something that felt as big and expansive as possible, with just the bare minimum of rules to “keep it all together.” This will make sense as we go through all of the following sections.
BASICS
This universe uses “Star Wars rules.” In other words, it’s completely disconnected from our own universe, but just so happens to have humans who can speak English, etc. Most worlds have advanced tech, at least during the time in which most stories (thus far) take place. That said, the entire universe itself is rooted in magic, so humans (and other species, for that matter) may have magically originated on multiple, isolated worlds.
FACTIONS
Those who have already read some of the stories in this universe will know that there are two main factions of characters. The first are called Star-Drifters (commonly abbreviated to just Drifters). These people are basically “space temps.” They move from place to place and do any odd job just for the sake of getting by and/or having an excuse to go on an adventure. Each of them carry something called a driftcard; a small, thin, metallic card with a tiny button that, when pressed, emits a holographic projection of all planets, moons, livable asteroids, etc. nearby. Each world may be accompanied with a text message from a local looking for a Drifter to do a job for them. Jobs can be anything from stealing a secured artifact (heist story) to scaring away an outlaw that’s terrorizing a small town on a barren moon (western story). Drifters can choose whether or not they value morality over money, or vice versa. Locals usually carry something called a callpad; a pocket-sized keyboard that can be used to send a message out to any Drifter that may be nearby. Drifters themselves may also choose if they want to hitchhike from place to place or get their own starship. If they want a ship big enough to live in, they’ll have to shell out more cash for it. Otherwise, three are plenty of hostels, etc. Most Drifters tend to lean on the nomadic side of the spectrum, though some may also be willing to save up enough money for a permanent residence. Most Drifters also tend to wear red (particularly burgundy), but it’s not a hard rule.
The other main faction is The Wiseones. They’re all about studying/ uncovering “the secrets of the universe.” In other words, they’re always trying to figure out how the universe “works.” Most of them wear leather trench coats of “rustic” colors (like brown or grey or certain shades of blue), but again, no strict dress code. Wiseones often operate in pairs; teachers and students. In the main galaxy, there’s an immortal being made of stone simply known as “the oracle” who exists on a barren world. When a Wiseone feels they’re ready to take on a student, they visit the oracle and she gives them a name, and where the potential student can be found. A pupil chosen by the oracle can decline the offer if they want to. If they change their mind later, they would have to wait to be assigned to a new mentor.
In the other galaxies, wannabe teachers just pick their own students at random. In almost every galaxy, the Wiseones all live in a huge, heavily-guarded space station known as The School of the Wiseones. They sustain themselves financially using a patron system, where supporters can donate money to either the Schools or individual Wiseones they may be fans of. A Wiseone can choose if they wanna quit/rejoin at any time. However, the moment you become a Wiseone, you’re immediately obligated to begin a series of “probing exercises” where your brain is “engineered” to retain more information. Such exercises impact one’s speech, demeanor, etc., and are difficult to reverse. Some Wiseones also choose to get face tattoos that symbolize how much their brain has been “worked on” (a concept that an ex-friend of mine came up with). A teacher may decide when their student is no longer a student, or a student can decide that for themselves. Everything the Wiseones learn is saved onto a virtual cloud that gets backed up in multiple secret data farms across various worlds, in case any of the Schools are ever destroyed.
Drifters and Wiseones can accompany one another on “missions,” for various reasons. In fact, they may have even originated from the same ancient organization. Furthermore, there may be “overlaps” between a Drifter’s motives and a Wiseone’s motives. For instance, while Drifters are mainly concerned with either money or “the thrill of adventure” (if not both), a part of them may also be concerned with “knowledge for the sake of knowledge” or “the greater good” like Wiseones usually are, or vice versa. This may be revealing too much, but the inspiration for all this came from the fact that Star Wars can never seem to decide whether or not the Jedi are supposed to be adventurers or peaceful monks (stuff like The Clone Wars directly acknowledges this, to be fair).
Also, because this universe is rooted in magic, Wiseones in particular may try to learn magic for themselves to further increase their understanding of things. Drifters may also learn magic for their own benefits. Any other inhabitant may be able to learn it as well, but one thing to note is that simply knowing how to use magic itself is not a profession in this universe. You can’t make money from just knowing spells and whatnot. You need to either apply it to a real profession, or do something else on the side. Magic itself is also very hard to master, so finding beings who are proficient at it is very rare.
MAGIC SYSTEM
This universe uses a “soft” magic system. In other words, there are no “hard” rules. Magic here is vague and mysterious, and can vary from being to being, world to world, etc.
SCALE
At some point after both Drifters and Wiseones were established in the main galaxy, they began exploring other galaxies using a wormhole network that was discovered, at some point or another. Eventually, the main galaxy lost track of its connections to all the others (wormholes come and go, in this universe). Therefore, the presence of Drifters and Wiseones in other galaxies became myth, until the main galaxy rediscovered the wormhole network in the year 9007 A.V. From this point onward, all the different factions of Wiseones worked to merge all their knowledge together. They also began projects to try to invent new ways to travel conveniently between galaxies without the need for wormholes.
POLITICAL SYSTEM
There is no central political system for most of the galaxies (let alone the entire universe). For the most part, each individual planet, moon, etc. has it’s own independent government, and all of them try to co-exist with one another. It’s possible that a cluster of planets may be united under an alliance, of some sort, or maybe a planet may have full political control over its own moons. Living beings and robots are still allowed to migrate between places, though.
CURRENCY
Despite there being no core political system, most worlds use a standard system of coins to make trades, exchanges, and other economic factors easier for everyone. Conversions to lesser-used currencies are possible too. The coin system was already established before the spread to other galaxies happened, so most of them use similar, galactic-wide coin systems too (especially the galaxies that maintained connections to one another).
CALENDAR
Just like with the politics, there’s no one central calendar system that any particular galaxy uses. Each world, or cluster or worlds, use their own unique calendars. The novelettes Next Star Over and Next Star Over: Into the Past heavily reference a battle between a demigod and a demon that took place long ago on the planet Detrid-7. Therefore, all stories that I write in this universe use the Detrid calendar as a framing device for the audience. The “A.V.” stands for “After Victory,” referencing the day in which the demigod Jove the Great became victorious over the demon Ivo. The founding of both Drifters and Wiseones, their spread to other galaxies, and the main galaxy’s connection to others becoming lost, all occurred before the establishment of this calendar. Detrid was one of the last societies to evolve from a primitive state. Also, just so it’s clear, a year on Detrid is about the same as a year on Earth.
REALMS
There are three primary “realms” to this universe. The physical realm in which all the aforementioned stories take place is commonly known as The Mid Realm, whereas The Upper Realm is the home of gods and goddesses (or angels, as some societies call them), and The Lower Realm is the home of demons (or devils, if you prefer). Every now and then, a demon is able to make their way into Mid Realm, though these occurrences become less and less frequent the older the universe gets. When a demon does appear on a world in Mid Realm, the society of that world usually finds a way to defeat them. In absolute worst-case scenarios, a god or goddess may enter Mid Realm themselves, to intervene and assist the society at stake. In even rarer cases, a demon might manage to make their way into Upper Realm. Such a scenario has occurred at least once, when Ivo entered Upper Realm disguised as a god, in the hopes of shedding his dark past. He briefly fell in love with a goddess, and bore a child with her (Jove), before deciding to return to his evil ways. He was banished back to Lower Realm, and the child was sent to live in secret on a world in Mid Realm (Detrid-7), so that he could be protected from other gods and goddesses that may not have accepted him due to his demon heritage. UPDATE: Just so it’s clear, “side realms” of different kinds are also possible in this universe (alternate realities, etc.).
INHERITANCE
I’ve gotten some questions about this, because the main character of the novelettes Next Star Over and Into the Past, Vira Nova, is established early on as a young adult who, initially, is living off of an inheritance. Yet later in the first book, we find out that her mother is actually still alive, and has maintained a relationship with Vira. Some of my readers speculated that inheritance works differently in this universe, because of this. I would like to take the opportunity here to clarify that this is not the case. Inheritance does not work differently in this universe. Vira’s parents simply divorced some time before the events of the first book, and shortly thereafter, her father died of an illness, and chose to leave all of his money to his daughter, who was already of age at that point, due to bitterness he still felt over his ex-wife.
FUEL
Yes, fuel is a thing in this universe, and it ain’t free. Just like here in the real world, there are different kinds of fuel (fossil energy, solar, energy, etc.).
Welp, that’s that!
Peace!
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