Lore

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Classic Elite startup screen
Classic Elite's Instruction Manual
Holdstock's Dark Wheel
Frontier (Elite 2) Box
The first of Drew's Oolite Series

Canon in the Game

There is Strict Oolite - and then there are the over 12655723162254307425418678245150829297671403862274660768187828858528140823147351237817802795619571074765208532598060224803240903782164769430795025578054271906283387643826088448124626488332623608376164081221171179439885840257818732919037889603719186743943363062139593784473922231852782547619771723889252476871186000174697934549112845662596182308280390615184691924446215552586523740084932807259056238962104689731522587564412231618018774350801526839567367444928206231310973619440354723718012867753019556135721376207959558860559933052856914157120622980057169891912595926540427596853441276985006724869558201930657900240943007657817473684008944448183219124163017666607770667585082169598239230274035517738648065600492702095732843492708856036920219883363111527988109277392696562776813446645651238419301586157342867860646666350050113314787911320639668510871569846664873595017518995670958477806411667505346462590471136862647349666243426242677175204732314281064417939041868653741187423064985189556742640111598580035644021835576715752869397465453828584471291269955890393294448315746500268702149708808053100406398480942695623586049403348084970064668900206251516968479727515576425962392136269169089884609794271331061018895634421094082310408889752954265842691732460538911784,960,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different versions of Oolite with oxps - and that is ignoring the tweaked oxp versions!

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 dismally.

Canon in the Lore

IF we turn from the game to the lore, we find instead a sustained argument.

There have been at least two major schools of thought:

  • The first school, the syncretists, seek to link in Classic Elite/Oolite with the Frontier family (which includes Elite Dangerous). It includes those working to incorporate elements of Frontier in Oolite either in the game itself (though writing OXPs) or in literature or writing background material - most notably Selezen and Drew Wagar.
  • The second school, the purists, regard the entire exercise as a waste of effort! It includes Cim & Smivs.

Some of the keener exponents of the first school have since migrated to Elite Dangerous, whilst those of the second school seem to have gotten lost in inter-galactic space (except of course, Cody/El Viejo, who seems luckily to have quaffed from the chalice of eternal life.

Feature Classic Elite Oolite Vanilla game Frontier/Elite 2 First Encounters/FFE2 Elite: Dangerous
Number of "Universes" 8 8 1 1 1
Existence of GalCop Yes Yes No No No
Existence of Federation & Empire No No Yes Yes Yes
Thargoids Enemy Enemy Inexistent Neutral Neutral
Non-human races: felines/lobstoids etc Yes Yes No No No
Planet Earth on map? No No Yes Yes Yes

What would count as the core Lore?

  • As regards Classic Elite, we have what we see in the game (see table above) and then there is the material in the Instruction Manual and that in The Dark Wheel.
    • But Cody, for example, does not see Dark Wheel as canonical ("there are too many things that Holdstock got wrong" - see The Dark Wheel controversy section).
    • Andy Redman's Imprint was released together with PC Elite Plus in 1991 instead of Robert Holdstock's "The Dark Wheel.
    • User2357 on the other hand sees - not only the Dark Wheel & Imprint but - Dylan Smith's The Virtuous Misfortune as an essential part of the core Lore (DS is this wikipedia's host).
  • 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 novels and also Clym Angus's 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-universe Froontieverse by a mad scientist.
    • Cody's novels are very different, as expected (no nascent Empire & Federation etc).
  • There are also a bevy of OXPs: The Tionisla Orbital Graveyard collection and the Tionisla Chronicle Array, the old Lave OXP and the newer Lave Academy OXP. There is also the Deep Space Dredger and the Generation Ships OXP.
  • It should be mentioned that both Drew & Selezen also see a lore-based disjunct between Elite Dangerous and its predecessors.

Definitions

The Lore (accumulated knowledge or beliefs held by a group about a subject) can be defined by the Canon. Thus arguments about Lore often end up as arguments about the Canon.

Links

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