Imprint
Imprint is a short story by Andy Redman, set in the Elite universe.
Imprint was released together with PC Elite Plus in 1991 instead of Robert Holdstock's "Elite: The Dark Wheel", and as part of the Elite Plus Manual rather than a separate book.
Abstract
The story itself is again set in the Elite universe, and tells the tale of a newly-qualified pilot, Rif Hood, and his early skirmishes in space.
This story continues to set out the details of the Elite universe; how pilots obtain their licences, the decisions they have to make regarding their way of life, and the gut-wrenching reality of combat in the vastness of space. It also emphasises the huge importance of Galcop in all matters including trading and combat, and introduces the concept of a galactic band of terrorists known as the Knights Templar. Despite a lack of clarity regarding the terrorists' aims and a slightly rushed and implausible romance, Imprint is an excellent piece of official Elite fiction (Text taken from frontierastro.co.uk).
Canonical Considerations
Imprint makes a number of assertions about The Eight Galaxies: there is a strong GalCop which enforces its laws and maintains a strong Galactic Navy eventually moving to Galaxy 3 to fight off an invasion by the Interstellar Sanction, another empire/federation of worlds some of which can be found in the eight galaxies - but which have been left off the maps by GalCop. GalCop is run by a decemvirate, etc., etc.
Imprint does not have to be accepted as canon. Even if one does, it takes place 20 years or more before Oolite. GalCop's decemvirate may have since been replaced by something else, the Galactic Navy disbanded, the Sanction's worlds conquered and incorporated into the Eight (maybe that's where most of the anarchies came from!), etc.
In this case, you can have your cake - and eat it too!
Downloads
Imprint can be downloaded here.
Note: the story is copyrighted to Andy Redman and Rainbird Software, and is provided here without their authorisation under the terms of EliteWiki's GNU FDL.
