The Dark Wheel - Revision history

Murgh: replace box cover with novella cover

2025-12-12T19:40:45Z

replace box cover with novella cover

Phkb: Updating BB links

2024-02-29T03:35:23Z

Updating BB links

Cholmondely: /* Controversy */ Added explanation

2023-12-29T10:27:55Z

‎Controversy: Added explanation

Cholmondely: Added another link

2023-06-13T04:32:21Z

Added another link

Cholmondely: Better sub-heading

2022-11-28T10:55:28Z

Better sub-heading

Murgh: som MOS and fixes

2022-01-01T22:50:45Z

som MOS and fixes

Cholmondely: /* Download */ Oops!

2021-12-02T20:34:59Z

‎Download: Oops!

Cholmondely: /* External Links */ Changed title to a less confusing one

2021-12-02T10:41:17Z

‎External Links: Changed title to a less confusing one

Cholmondely: /* Controversy */ Added Cody's quote

2021-10-13T14:12:54Z

‎Controversy: Added Cody's quote

Cholmondely: Links!

2021-09-03T16:37:17Z

Links!

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:40, 12 December 2025
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−	[[~~Image~~:~~BBCWheel~~.~~jpg~~\|thumb\|right\|250px\|''The Dark Wheel'']]	+	[[File:TDWcover.JPG\|thumb\|right\|250px\|''The Dark Wheel'']]
	'''''The Dark Wheel''''' , a novella set in the elite universe and distributed with the original boxed elite game, expands upon the universe [[Robert Holdstock]] outlines in the [[The Space Traders Flight Training Manual\|Elite manual]] and introduces many new concepts.		'''''The Dark Wheel''''' , a novella set in the elite universe and distributed with the original boxed elite game, expands upon the universe [[Robert Holdstock]] outlines in the [[The Space Traders Flight Training Manual\|Elite manual]] and introduces many new concepts.

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 Smivs: ... Didn't you once say you'd never read it?
-Cody: Yep, that was me. I never had the novella (or the manual) with my BBC Elite. A few years ago, I found it on Ian Bell's website and set about reading it... basically, I thought it was rubbish, and it didn't fit the game I saw before me at all, so I abandoned it after a few chapters. I believe B&B had minimal input, if any. (B&B are [[Ian Bell]] & [[David Braben]], the developers of Classic Elite)|Source=([http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=170857#p170857 Cody & Smivs (2012)])}}
+Cody: Yep, that was me. I never had the novella (or the manual) with my BBC Elite. A few years ago, I found it on Ian Bell's website and set about reading it... basically, I thought it was rubbish, and it didn't fit the game I saw before me at all, so I abandoned it after a few chapters. I believe B&B had minimal input, if any. (B&B are [[Ian Bell]] & [[David Braben]], the developers of Classic Elite)|Source=([https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=170857#p170857 Cody & Smivs (2012)])}}
 Is ''The Dark Wheel'' part of the Elite/Oolite [[lore]]? On the one hand, the novella came in the boxed set with the original game. But on the other hand, there are a number of glaring discrepancies between the novel and what one finds in Classic Elite. One such is the lack of planet earth and [[Sol]] in Classic Elite, but which is mentioned throughout the novel:
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 === Critique ===
-*[http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16835 Examining "The dark wheel"] (2014)
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16835 Examining "The dark wheel"] (2014)
 == OXPs ==
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 *[[Lore Collection (Classic Elite)]] (2021) includes the relevant oxz's from the Expansions Manager to help transform Oolite into a lore-laden Elite (but see the wiki page for details of unincluded oxp's)
-*[http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9157 Dark Wheel Cobra] (2011)
+*[https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9157 Dark Wheel Cobra] (2011)
 *[[Lave OXP]] recreates the planet texture, the moon, schools of trainee pilots & the advertising droids. (2005?)
 *[[FPO Lave]] recreates the planet texture for the enhanced graphics of Oolite v.1.90 (2020) - included in Lore Collection

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 Smivs: ... Didn't you once say you'd never read it?
-Cody: Yep, that was me. I never had the novella (or the manual) with my BBC Elite. A few years ago, I found it on Ian Bell's website and set about reading it... basically, I thought it was rubbish, and it didn't fit the game I saw before me at all, so I abandoned it after a few chapters. I believe B&B had minimal input, if any.|Source=([http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=170857#p170857 Cody & Smivs (2012)])}}
+Cody: Yep, that was me. I never had the novella (or the manual) with my BBC Elite. A few years ago, I found it on Ian Bell's website and set about reading it... basically, I thought it was rubbish, and it didn't fit the game I saw before me at all, so I abandoned it after a few chapters. I believe B&B had minimal input, if any. (B&B are [[Ian Bell]] & [[David Braben]], the developers of Classic Elite)|Source=([http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=170857#p170857 Cody & Smivs (2012)])}}
 Is ''The Dark Wheel'' part of the Elite/Oolite [[lore]]? On the one hand, the novella came in the boxed set with the original game. But on the other hand, there are a number of glaring discrepancies between the novel and what one finds in Classic Elite. One such is the lack of planet earth and [[Sol]] in Classic Elite, but which is mentioned throughout the novel:

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 == Abstract ==
 A young man narrowly escapes from the murder of his father at the hands of a mysterious bountyhunter. Pennyless, he nevertheless vows revenge...
 == OXPs ==

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 *[[Tionisla Orbital Graveyard]] (2021) - included in Lore Collection
-== The Novella ==
+== Download: read it here! ==
-Hosted by [[Ian Bell]]: read it [http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/dkwheel.htm here]
+The novel is hosted by [[Ian Bell]]: read it [http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/dkwheel.htm here]
 [[Category:Classic]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Image:BBCWheel.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Dark Wheel]]
+[[Image:BBCWheel.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''The Dark Wheel'']]
-Novella set in the elite universe. Distributed with the original boxed elite game.
+It introduces the Ryder family, Alex and Jason. Alex watches his father die at the hands of an unknown Cobra pilot and almost dies himself in the process. His journey for revenge takes him to several places, including the fabled [[Tionisla Orbital Graveyard]] and into the hands of the legendary [[#What is The Dark Wheel?|Dark Wheel]] organisation.
-The Dark Wheel expands upon the universe [[Robert Holdstock]] outlines in the [[The Space Traders Flight Training Manual|Elite manual]] and introduces many new concepts.
+== Cast of characters ==
+Though plot caution is intended, there may be spoilers:
 '''Jason Ryder''': commander of the [[Ophidian]] class trade ship Avalonia. Killed during the destruction of his ship by a pirate. Had a secret life as an [[Elite]] combateer.
@@ Line 28: / Line 23: @@
 == Controversy ==
-{{QuoteText|Text=Cody: A very personal opinion: [heresy]I have never regarded The Dark Wheel as canon![/heresy]
+{{QuoteText|Text=Cody: A very personal opinion: [heresy]I have never regarded ''The Dark Wheel'' as canon![/heresy]
 Smivs: ... Didn't you once say you'd never read it?
@@ Line 34: / Line 29: @@
 Cody: Yep, that was me. I never had the novella (or the manual) with my BBC Elite. A few years ago, I found it on Ian Bell's website and set about reading it... basically, I thought it was rubbish, and it didn't fit the game I saw before me at all, so I abandoned it after a few chapters. I believe B&B had minimal input, if any.|Source=([http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=170857#p170857 Cody & Smivs (2012)])}}
-Is The Dark Wheel part of the Elite/Oolite [[Lore]]? On the one hand, the novella came in the boxed set with the original game. But on the other hand, there are a number of glaring discrepancies between the novel and what one finds in Classic Elite. One such is the lack of planet earth and [[Sol]] in Classic Elite, but which is mentioned throughout the novel:
+Is ''The Dark Wheel'' part of the Elite/Oolite [[lore]]? On the one hand, the novella came in the boxed set with the original game. But on the other hand, there are a number of glaring discrepancies between the novel and what one finds in Classic Elite. One such is the lack of planet earth and [[Sol]] in Classic Elite, but which is mentioned throughout the novel:
 <blockquote>
-*Lave, like any other planet, ... was a living, evolving world, and there were folk down below to whom that world was everything that Old Earth had once been to the Human race. Protection. Mother. Home.
+*[[Lave (lore)|Lave]], like any other planet, ... was a living, evolving world, and there were folk down below to whom that world was everything that Old Earth had once been to the Human race. Protection. Mother. Home.
 *And of course, there were advertising Droidships, their catchy light displays blinking out information about ROHAN'S REAL EARTH ALE WITH HONEY, or KETTLE'S CLONE-YOUR- OWN FUNGAL CURES.
@@ Line 45: / Line 40: @@
 '''And''' the mechanics of jumping through [[Witch space]] are also very different:
 *Now you're with the Faraway Orientation Systems Controller; FOSC—or SysCon—sets you up for the big jump. You're going to cover maybe seven light years in a few minutes, and you might think that's a lot of space to get lost in, but that isn't how it works. Faraway is a tunnel, like any other tunnel. Inside that tunnel is the realm called Witch-Space, a magic place, a place where the normal rules of the Universe don't necessarily work. And every few thousand parsecs along the Witch-Space tunnel there are monitoring satellites, and branch lines, and stop points, and rescue stations; and passing by all of these are perhaps a hundred channels, a hundred 'lines' for ships to travel, each one protected against the two big dangers of hyperspace travel: atomic reorganisation, and time displacement.
 *Jump on your own through hyperspace, across more than half a light year, and you'll be lucky to make the same Universe, let alone your destination. You might emerge from Witch-Space turned inside out (which is not a pretty sight). You might be stretched in all the wrong angles, and although the ship keeps travelling, that jelly mass of broken bone and flesh inside the cabin is you.
@@ Line 62: / Line 57: @@
 == OXPs ==
 There are a number of .oxp's which recreate some of the elements of The Dark Wheel within Oolite.
 *[[Lore Collection (Classic Elite)]] (2021) includes the relevant oxz's from the Expansions Manager to help transform Oolite into a lore-laden Elite (but see the wiki page for details of unincluded oxp's)
 *[http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9157 Dark Wheel Cobra] (2011)

@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 *[[Tionisla Orbital Graveyard]] (2021) - included in Lore Collection
-== External Links ==
+== Download ==
 Hosted by [[Ian Bell]]: read it [http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/dkwheel.htm here]

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 Although I have tried to keep this as safe as possible, there may be spoilers.
-'''Jason Ryder''': commander of the Ophidian class trade ship Avalonia. Killed during the destruction of his ship by a pirate. Had a secret life as an Elite combateer.
+'''Jason Ryder''': commander of the [[Ophidian]] class trade ship Avalonia. Killed during the destruction of his ship by a pirate. Had a secret life as an [[Elite]] combateer.
 '''Alex Ryder''': Son of Jason Ryder. Survived the destruction of the Avalonia and dedicated himself to seeking revenge on the unknown pirate.
-'''Elyssia Fields''': a clone from the "clone world" Teorge. Rafe paired her with Alex because she was an excellent pilot but could not claim the honours of that for herself due to her clone status.
+'''Elyssia Fields''': a clone from the "clone world" [[Sector1/Teorge|Teorge]]. Rafe paired her with Alex because she was an excellent pilot but could not claim the honours of that for herself due to her clone status.
 '''Rafe Zetter''': a former friend and business partner of Jason Ryder's. Also a senior member of the Dark Wheel organisation.
-'''Patrick McGreavy''': a shady trader and associate of Rafe Zetter. Often trades in illegal goods or exotics. Has a known base on one of the stations in orbit around Xezaor.
+'''Patrick McGreavy''': a shady trader and associate of Rafe Zetter. Often trades in illegal goods or exotics. Has a known base on one of the stations in orbit around [[Sector1/Xezaor|Xezaor]].
 == What is The Dark Wheel? ==
 The Dark Wheel is a secret organisation about which very little is known. They are known as dream chasers or legend seekers, since many of the stories about them involve them searching for legendary places or artifacts.
-One of the legends they chase is the planet Raxxla. It is fabled to be a gateway to other universes, or at the very least a portal to somewhere else in the galaxy. Many parties actively search for Raxxla, but no-one has ever found it.
+One of the legends they chase is the planet [[Raxxla]]. It is fabled to be a gateway to other universes, or at the very least a portal to somewhere else in the galaxy. Many parties actively search for Raxxla, but no-one has ever found it.
 == Controversy ==