Lore - Revision history

Cholmondely: Added more on OXPs

2025-08-11T09:23:42Z

Added more on OXPs

Cholmondely: /* Canon in the Lore */ Added another source

2025-07-30T07:47:29Z

‎Canon in the Lore: Added another source

Cholmondely: /* Canon in the Lore */ Added link

2025-05-19T12:16:51Z

‎Canon in the Lore: Added link

Phkb: Updating BB links

2024-02-29T02:05:04Z

Updating BB links

Cholmondely: Added Oolite Lore paragraph (from www.oolite.space), and Switeck's GN mod

2024-01-13T20:39:37Z

Added Oolite Lore paragraph (from www.oolite.space), and Switeck's GN mod

Cholmondely: /* On a lighter note ... */ Added another link

2022-11-29T10:25:46Z

‎On a lighter note ...: Added another link

Cholmondely: /* BB threads */ Added another

2022-06-20T14:00:51Z

‎BB threads: Added another

Cholmondely: /* Links */ Fixed link, added note

2022-02-22T17:25:11Z

‎Links: Fixed link, added note

Cholmondely: /* BB threads */ Added another

2022-02-22T17:23:06Z

‎BB threads: Added another

Cholmondely: /* BB threads */ Added another

2021-11-21T16:34:31Z

‎BB threads: Added another

@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 == Oolite's Core Lore ==
+So what ''is'' core lore in Oolite?
-So what is core lore in Oolite?
+*There is Disembodied's description from the Oolite.space website:
-*As regards [[Oolite]] there is the ''official'' Oolite anthology with a mix of short stories from adherents of both schools: [[Alien Items]].
+ Among the seven trillion people who are - at least officially - Cooperative citizens, you are nobody. So far, anyway. You've got a ship, some weapons, and enough spare cash to get started - and one day, you might get the fame, wealth or glory you want. Perhaps one day, everyone might know your name. If, that is, you can survive that long.
 **Then there are Drew Wagar's well known novels and also Clym Angus's [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17247 Chronicles of Shulth] which are both syncretistic - but in ''very'' different ways - regarding Frontier. Drew combines early elements of Frontier into his descriptions of the Ooniverse. Clym portrays a Borgesian multiverse ("The Garden of Forking Paths": 1941) where the Ooniverse (similarly depicted to Drew's above) is purposely transmogrified into a lobstoid-free single EDverse by a mad scientist. Needless to say, the efforts of Drew & Selezen to reconcile the Elite family of games (Elite, Oolite, Frontier, FFE & E:D) were cast aside by E:D (despite Drew's official E:D novels & Selezen's official E:D role-playing game)!
 **Cody's novels are very different, as would be expected (no nascent Empires or Federations for example).
 **Thus, while the ''official'' anthology may be labelled as such, it is too confusing from a purist perspective to retain any canonicity.
-*There are also a bevy of OXPs:
-:Classic Elite lore-based OXPs:
+== Oolite OXP Lore ==
 ::Lave: the old [[Lave OXP]] and the newer [[Lave Academy OXP]].
 ::Tionisla: The [[Tionisla Orbital Graveyard]] collection.
 ::[[New Cargoes]] looks at the planet descriptions from Elite & the associated literature and generates trade items from them (Zero-G cricket bats, Shanaskilk fur, thumpberry juice & noseoid leather).
 ::There is also the [[Deep Space Dredger]] and the [[Generation Ships OXP]].
 :Frontier/FFE/E:D lore-based OXPs: various Empire elements have been added as OXPs - Selezen created [[Imperial Courier (Oolite)|Imperial Courier]] & [[Eagle Mk II]] ships for Oolite, and the mix has been further added to.
-:Oolite lore-based OXPs:
+=== Syncretist (Adding in elements of Frontier/FFE) ===
 ::From Drew's novellae: [[Tianve OXP]], [[Status Quo Q-bomb OXP]], [[Technical Reference Library]], [[Tionisla Chronicle Array]], [[BoyRacer]], [[Torus station]], [[Famous Planets]], [[System Redux (Oolite)]], [[Behemoth]], [[Imperial Courier]], [[SuperCobra]] and [[Snoopers]]/[[GNN]].
 ::From ClymAngus/Wyvern's novellae: [[Kirin]], [[Kirin Sport]], [[Caduceus]], [[Dragon]], [[MilSpec HUD OXP]], [[Automatic Chaff System]] (now in [[Missiles and Bombs]]), [[Missile Spoof]] & [[Military Missile]].
 ::From Cody's novellae: [[Coyote's Run]] & [[Green Gecko]]
-::[[Personalities OXP]] bump into Cody, Selezen, Wyvern, Disembodied, Captain Hesperus, PA Groove ''etc'' in-flight (sadly broken).
+::[[Personalities OXP]] bump into Cody, Selezen, Wyvern, Disembodied, Captain Hesperus, PA Groove ''etc'' in-flight.
-:*But the very nature of OXPs is that they are optional. You decide what to include, and what to exclude, and what to tweak/experiment with. They cannot be "core lore" by their very nature.
 == Some thoughts about Frontier/FE2 ==
 *[[Dylan Smith]] wrote in his page on the [[Frontier]] game that "Many rumours abounded following the release of the game that Frontier was never intended to be a sequel to Elite, and was simply written as a new space simulation. The rumour states that someone suggested tacking the Elite ships onto the game, and the decision was eventually made to include the popular elements from Elite into the game, including Lave and the surrounding systems and the ships from the older game. This, although never confirmed to this author's knowledge, does explain why there are very few other elements of Elite present in the game other than the most well known systems and the ships".

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 :Realistically, if you came into Oolite from having enjoyed Frontier or E:D then this approach may well exert an attraction.
-*The second school, the '''purists''', regards the entire exercise as a waste of effort! But they also wish to come up with an argument as to how things in Oolite evolved into what one finds in their Ooniverse. The main purist proponent is [[User:Cim|Cim]], who created an entire history in his [[History#History|Ship's Manual]].
+*The second school, the '''purists''', regards the entire exercise as a waste of effort! But they also wish to come up with an argument as to how things in Oolite evolved into what one finds in their Ooniverse. The main purist proponent is [[User:Cim|Cim]], who created an entire history in his [[History#History|Ship's Manual]]. But [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]] wrote [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=3976 this] back in 2007.
 :If you stumbled across Oolite before the later members of the Elite family of games but prefer a background with historical explanations, this approach may be your preference.
-*The third school, the '''pragmatists''', just want to enjoy the game without getting bogged down in endless detail or a need to force-fit this or that into a rigid history. See [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s quote [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=273999#p273999 here]. The Anglo-Saxon world, in particular,  has often preferred a more pragmatic approach to understanding their Ooniverse! For a pragmatic argument for a pragmatic approach, read through the old debate on G6 (starting with the naming of Regions, and then devolving into lore) between PhantorGorth and ClymAngus which might begin [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=89960#p89960 here].
+*The third school, the '''pragmatists''', just want to enjoy the game without getting bogged down in endless detail or a need to force-fit this or that into a rigid history. See [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s 2021 quote [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=273999#p273999 here]. The Anglo-Saxon world, in particular,  has often preferred a more pragmatic approach to understanding their Ooniverse! For a pragmatic argument for a pragmatic approach, read through the old debate on G6 (starting with the naming of Regions, and then devolving into lore) between PhantorGorth and ClymAngus which might begin [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=89960#p89960 here].
 You will find the relevant histories quoted on the [[History]] and [[GalCop]] pages.
-Some of the keener exponents of the first school have since migrated to Elite Dangerous, whilst those of the second and third schools seem to have gotten lost in inter-galactic space.
+Some of the keener exponents of the first school have since migrated to Elite Dangerous, whilst those of the second and third schools seem to have been chased away by the [[Religion|Witchspace Lobster]].
-=== Table of Contrasts between Elite/Oolite and FE2/FFE/ED ===
+=== Table of Contrasts between Elite/Oolite and FE2/FFE/E:D ===
 {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; color: green;"

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 :If you stumbled across Oolite before the later members of the Elite family of games but prefer a background with historical explanations, this approach may be your preference.
-*The third school, the '''pragmatists''', just want to enjoy the game without getting bogged down in endless detail or a need to force-fit this or that into a rigid history. See [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s quote [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=273999#p273999 here]. The Anglo-Saxon world, in particular,  has often preferred a more pragmatic approach to understanding their Ooniverse!
+*The third school, the '''pragmatists''', just want to enjoy the game without getting bogged down in endless detail or a need to force-fit this or that into a rigid history. See [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s quote [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=273999#p273999 here]. The Anglo-Saxon world, in particular,  has often preferred a more pragmatic approach to understanding their Ooniverse! For a pragmatic argument for a pragmatic approach, read through the old debate on G6 (starting with the naming of Regions, and then devolving into lore) between PhantorGorth and ClymAngus which might begin [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=89960#p89960 here].
 You will find the relevant histories quoted on the [[History]] and [[GalCop]] pages.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 different versions of Oolite with .oxp's - and that is ignoring the tweaked/altered .oxp versions (your tweaks will be different from mine...)!
-So to establish a 'canonical version' of Oolite the game is no mean feat! Attempts to do this in the past ([[Realistic Shipyards]] & Oolite Extended) failed [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=132278#p132278 dismally].
+So to establish a 'canonical version' of Oolite the game is no mean feat! Attempts to do this in the past ([[Realistic Shipyards]] & Oolite Extended) failed [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=132278#p132278 dismally].
 == Canon in the Lore ==
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 :If you stumbled across Oolite before the later members of the Elite family of games but prefer a background with historical explanations, this approach may be your preference.
-*The third school, the '''pragmatists''', just want to enjoy the game without getting bogged down in endless detail or a need to force-fit this or that into a rigid history. See [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s quote [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=273999#p273999 here]. The Anglo-Saxon world, in particular,  has often preferred a more pragmatic approach to understanding their Ooniverse!
+*The third school, the '''pragmatists''', just want to enjoy the game without getting bogged down in endless detail or a need to force-fit this or that into a rigid history. See [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s quote [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=273999#p273999 here]. The Anglo-Saxon world, in particular,  has often preferred a more pragmatic approach to understanding their Ooniverse!
 You will find the relevant histories quoted on the [[History]] and [[GalCop]] pages.
@@ Line 76: / Line 76: @@
 *But [[User:Cody|Cody]] & [[User:Smivs|Smivs]], for example, do not see the Dark Wheel as canonical ("''there are too many things that Holdstock got wrong''" - see [[The Dark Wheel]] controversy section).
-:The purist school is thus split between '''ultra-minimalist purists''' who pretty much reject everything apart from the games themselves (''ie'', the code!) and the '''moderate purists''' who accept the [[The Space Traders Flight Training Manual|Manual]] and [[The Dark Wheel]] ''etc''. See for example, [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s view [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=49623#p49623 here] (2008).
+:The purist school is thus split between '''ultra-minimalist purists''' who pretty much reject everything apart from the games themselves (''ie'', the code!) and the '''moderate purists''' who accept the [[The Space Traders Flight Training Manual|Manual]] and [[The Dark Wheel]] ''etc''. See for example, [[User:Disembodied|Disembodied]]'s view [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=49623#p49623 here] (2008).
-:[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20806 User2357] on the other hand sees - not only the Dark Wheel & Imprint but - [[Dylan Smith]]'s [http://alioth.net/Fiction/oolitestory.pdf. The Virtuous Misfortune] as an essential part of the core lore (DS is this wikipedia's host).
+:[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20806 User2357] on the other hand sees - not only the Dark Wheel & Imprint but - [[Dylan Smith]]'s [http://alioth.net/Fiction/oolitestory.pdf. The Virtuous Misfortune] as an essential part of the core lore (DS is this wikipedia's host).
 :For an example of ultra-minimalist lore derived from the game code, see [[Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy]].
@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 So what is core lore in Oolite?
 *As regards [[Oolite]] there is the ''official'' Oolite anthology with a mix of short stories from adherents of both schools: [[Alien Items]].
-**Then there are Drew Wagar's well known novels and also Clym Angus's [http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17247 Chronicles of Shulth] which are both syncretistic - but in ''very'' different ways - regarding Frontier. Drew combines early elements of Frontier into his descriptions of the Ooniverse. Clym portrays a Borgesian multiverse ("The Garden of Forking Paths": 1941) where the Ooniverse (similarly depicted to Drew's above) is purposely transmogrified into a lobstoid-free single EDverse by a mad scientist. Needless to say, the efforts of Drew & Selezen to reconcile the Elite family of games (Elite, Oolite, Frontier, FFE & E:D) were cast aside by E:D (despite Drew's official E:D novels & Selezen's official E:D role-playing game)!
+**Then there are Drew Wagar's well known novels and also Clym Angus's [https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17247 Chronicles of Shulth] which are both syncretistic - but in ''very'' different ways - regarding Frontier. Drew combines early elements of Frontier into his descriptions of the Ooniverse. Clym portrays a Borgesian multiverse ("The Garden of Forking Paths": 1941) where the Ooniverse (similarly depicted to Drew's above) is purposely transmogrified into a lobstoid-free single EDverse by a mad scientist. Needless to say, the efforts of Drew & Selezen to reconcile the Elite family of games (Elite, Oolite, Frontier, FFE & E:D) were cast aside by E:D (despite Drew's official E:D novels & Selezen's official E:D role-playing game)!
 **Cody's novels are very different, as would be expected (no nascent Empires or Federations for example).
 **Thus, while the ''official'' anthology may be labelled as such, it is too confusing from a purist perspective to retain any canonicity.
@@ Line 147: / Line 147: @@
 === BB threads ===
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=284016#p284016 Cim on the lack of reverence for the lore amongst OXP developers] (2022)
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=284016#p284016 Cim on the lack of reverence for the lore amongst OXP developers] (2022)
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20806 Metafiction: Dialogues on the Lore of Xlite]: 2020 discussion.
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20806 Metafiction: Dialogues on the Lore of Xlite]: 2020 discussion.
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17671 "Not in the manual" - setting and canon in the eight charts]: 2015 Discussion led by the 3rd Lead Developer, [[User:Cim|Cim]]
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17671 "Not in the manual" - setting and canon in the eight charts]: 2015 Discussion led by the 3rd Lead Developer, [[User:Cim|Cim]]
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16525 2014 Discussion] of "is there a canon"?
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16525 2014 Discussion] of "is there a canon"?
-*[http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13876 Combined index - OOfiction and canon, text searchable] (2013) - pranged by difficulties in definition
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13876 Combined index - OOfiction and canon, text searchable] (2013) - pranged by difficulties in definition
-*[http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11660 What is regarded as canonical in Oolite history?]: 2012 Discussion
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11660 What is regarded as canonical in Oolite history?]: 2012 Discussion
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8913 The Whole Frontier Canon Mess]: 2010 Discussion: some pithy points
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8913 The Whole Frontier Canon Mess]: 2010 Discussion: some pithy points
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1689 Background story of the Elite universe] - musings of a [[Frontier]] devotee back in 2006
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1689 Background story of the Elite universe] - musings of a [[Frontier]] devotee back in 2006
 *[[8#The_Problem_of_our_missing_planet_Earth|The Problem of the missing Earth]] for Selezen's syncretist solution (2010)
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21083&p=279615#p279615 Brainstorming: Adding flavour to the game through Lore] (2021+ - see discussion)
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21083&p=279615#p279615 Brainstorming: Adding flavour to the game through Lore] (2021+ - see discussion)
 === On a lighter note ... ===
 *For something less heavy than the above, try [[Legends of Elite]] & [[List of Oolite stories]].
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2973 The "Oo" puns...] (2007)
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2973 The "Oo" puns...] (2007)
 [[File:Tca.png|thumb|150px|right|Tionisla Chronicle Array]]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | align="center" width="200" height="200"|[[File:Status Quo Edition 2 Cover Small.jpg|130px|thumb|<br>|The first of Drew's Oolite Series]]
 |}
 == Canon in the Game ==
@@ Line 112: / Line 120: @@
 === Example: Space Navies ===
 Take the Navies. The game code for Elite features no navy at all, just a couple of references to it in the missions. There are under a dozen references in the [[The Space Traders Flight Training Manual]]:
-*The Navy Training Manual recommends the following approach and dock sequence;
+*The "Navy Training Manual" recommends the following approach and dock sequence;
-*Though  most  of  the  Thargoid Space Fleet is  currently  engaged  by  the Galactic  Navy in InterGalactic Space,  a few of the smaller  battle  ships make  occasional  destructor-raids  into  human  space. ...
+*Though  most  of  the  Thargoid Space Fleet is  currently  engaged  by  the "Galactic  Navy" in InterGalactic Space,  a few of the smaller  battle  ships make  occasional  destructor-raids  into  human  space. ...
-:Additionally,  most  Thargoid  battle ships carry  several  small,  remote-controlled "thargons", killer-craft each equipped with a single, but highly advanced,  pulse-laser.   The Galactic Navy are developing their own  deep-space  RemCraft,  and  pay a large bounty for any thargon  craft  that  are brought to them.
+:Additionally,  most  Thargoid  battle ships carry  several  small,  remote-controlled "thargons", killer-craft each equipped with a single, but highly advanced,  pulse-laser.   "The Galactic Navy" are developing their own  deep-space  RemCraft,  and  pay a large bounty for any thargon  craft  that  are brought to them.
 *ASP MK II
-:Galactic Navy vessel designed and manufactured in government  workshops, incorporating secret self-destruct devices which are primed to activate when the astrogation controls are used by unfamiliar hands.  Integument has chameleon  properties enabling the ship to assume effective  camouflage in any type of environment.  Intended for reconnaissance and the transport of high-ranking military personnel from combat it is very fast and maneuverable.
+:"Galactic Navy" vessel designed and manufactured in government  workshops, incorporating secret self-destruct devices which are primed to activate when the astrogation controls are used by unfamiliar hands.  Integument has chameleon  properties enabling the ship to assume effective  camouflage in any type of environment.  Intended for reconnaissance and the transport of high-ranking military personnel from combat it is very fast and maneuverable.
 ''etc''
 The original novels have a little more.
-So, at various stages, people have started writing Navy oxp's for Oolite. None of these are currently on the in-game Expansions Manager (Galactic Navy lacks a license, HIMSN was banjaxed by E:D's emergence in 2014 and still needs a couple of finishing touches).
+So, at various stages, people have started writing Navy oxp's for Oolite. None of these are currently on the in-game Expansions Manager (Galactic Navy lacks a license, HIMSN was banjaxed by E:D's emergence in 2014 and still cries out for a more complete version).
-Matt634 & Nemoricus wanted to create a strong powerful Navy. They did. The [[Galactic Navy]] has a strong powerful presence in the eight galaxies with lots of SecCom Navy bases, patrols, battleships, ''etc'' ''etc''. If you add it to your
+[[User:Matt634|Matt634]] & Nemoricus wanted to create a strong powerful Navy. They did. The [[Galactic Navy OXP]] has a strong powerful presence in the eight galaxies with lots of SecCom Navy bases, patrols, battleships, ''etc'' ''etc''. If you add it to your Ooniverse, it totally changes the feel of the place!
-Others reacted against this. On the one hand, Reese249er wrote [[249th Naval Reserve Wing OXP]] which uses civilian patrols to supplement an invisible navy off fighting Thargoids elsewhere. On the other hand, others who wanted an actual navy, created [[Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy]] instead. Much more self effacing (off fighting the Thargoids in InterGalactic Space, not much encountered otherwise), and a more modern oxz, using newer graphics techniques, ''etc''.
+Others reacted against this. [[User:Switeck|Switeck]] has just published a more modest version of the Galactic Navy OXP. Reese249er wrote [[249th Naval Reserve Wing OXP]] which uses civilian patrols to supplement an invisible navy off fighting Thargoids elsewhere. Others who wanted an actual navy, replacing GN, created [[Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy]] (HIMSN) instead. Much more self effacing (off fighting the Thargoids in InterGalactic Space, not much encountered otherwise), and a more modern oxz, using newer graphics techniques, ''etc''.
-These three probably all work together with some minor tweaking. But the lores and underlying philosophies are quite different - and GN clashes with HIMSN & 249th Naval Reserve Wing in this respect.
+These probably all work together with some minor tweaking. But the lores and underlying philosophies are quite different - and the original Galactic Navy clashes with HIMSN & 249th Naval Reserve Wing in this respect.
 === Conclusion ===

@@ Line 149: / Line 149: @@
 *[[8#The_Problem_of_our_missing_planet_Earth|The Problem of the missing Earth]] for Selezen's syncretist solution (2010)
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21083&p=279615#p279615 Brainstorming: Adding flavour to the game through Lore] (2021+)
+*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21083&p=279615#p279615 Brainstorming: Adding flavour to the game through Lore] (2021+ - see discussion)
 === On a lighter note ... ===
@@ Line 162: / Line 162: @@
 *Tionisla: [[Tionisla Orbital Graveyard]] & [[Tionisla Chronicle Array]]
 *Tianve: [[Tianve OXP]] (old - but you can pick up a nice bumper sticker!)
-*[[Deep Space Dredger]] & [[Generation Ships]] from the original Elite manual discussed above
+*[[Deep Space Dredger]] & [[Generation Ships OXP|Generation Ships]] from the original Elite manual discussed above
 *[[New Cargoes]] links the newer cargoes to planet descriptions (zero-gravity hockey sticks ''etc'')
 *[[Kirin]], [[Caduceus]] & [[Dragon]] - [[Über|über]]-ships with their own fiction ([[Rise of the Kirin]], etc.)