UNIVERSE Every science-fiction nerd needs a universe to call his own. Mine was as eclectic as my interests, acting as a springboard for everything from my early poster-child dreams for effective socialism to my fanboyish adulation of various things that had gone before me in what can only be termed light space opera. Alas, I grew older and that older universe has faded away, which is especially annoying because the rather good novel I had written in it was halfway done when I realized how truely sophomoric the whole thing was. So, back to basics using what I've learned in my years in the world. Just like all the truly good universes have their ground rules, I've discovered in the evolution of my fiction that mine ends up having its own as well: 1. Science fact takes backseat to plot but cannot be ignored. I'm not writing Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos here where the Old Ones and Deep Ones can break the laws of reality; I'm writing fiction that can strain belief but should keep suspension thereof to a minimum.
	Overview History (objective) Triumvirate Zone -Culture -History -Species -Technology The Vesh pij Verr -Culture -History -Species -Technology Side Players
	Artwork Rant of the Week

2. People Is People. I'm not writing about heroic heroes of heroism, bucking gender roles for the hell of it, or writing about humans that have somehow evolved beyond being human in mind. I write about real people--even if augmented--that deal with unusual situations as real people would... and this goes for the aliens, too, in their own way. This is a rant for another time...

3. There are no Good Guys, only good guys. In the previous incarnation of this universe, the Weirdo Zone (which is now the Triumvirate Zone) represented all that I thought was good and decent and right--"more Federation than the Federation is our motto." This is still the case, at least for the Federals and those in charge. Still, there's more to the Zone than just the Federals; it encompasses so many ideologies and beliefs that some of them are indeed anathema to me except in that they are at least reasonable. The Zone is just a government, a collection of people; it tries to be Good but is, like all else, morally ambivalent. Such is life. In such a place, they are not the Good Guys... but there are good guys in it, moral individuals who are truly good. Same with the Rayverr--at first, they were just a counter, an alien menace that my Good Guys could fight... until their culture and mindset grew and it became clear to me that they are more than Bad Guys; they are their own people with their own goals and their own alt-morality which I don't agree with but I can understand. It has its own good guys too, and it challenges the Zone simply because their goals are mutually exclusive. Such is life.

4. There is no fault in referencing back to those who went before. There are two extremes in modern fanboi s-f writing: either complete and utter ripping off, a la the infamous Mary Sue, or an overextended attempt to be entirely original, which usually ends up with its own set of internal inconsistencies and stupidities. I borrow, certainly, sometimes blatantly. This is not at all a problem. It simply is--writers, painters, musicians, artists do this all the time... the trick is, they don't tell anyone.

5. It helps to get feedback. All the true, real improvements in this come from me bouncing my stupid ideas off of other people so the stupid falls off. There's a reason I have a contact link down there; if you're reading along and you figure--"Hey, that's odd"--go ahead and bring it up to me. If we're both rational about it, we can discuss it and see if anything needs a bit of tweaking.

6. Niven was right--build it and they will come. I can't write everything, especially not concerning an extragalactic empire. By all means, if anyone is inspired by this--and I am honored if anyone actually is--you have my full permission to write up something to go with it. A new species, some backstory for a current species, ideas for future history or even future future, big or small... write it up, suggest it, do whatever you want. The Triumvirate and how it works is actually the result of about twenty people over three years just doing their thing and bouncing things around on NationStates... so the Federated Segments, which I saw as a sort of retro-Zone, ends up revising its source. Heh heh.

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