The World of Orion Skies

TL;DR: An explanation of Orion Skies's world, and an animated "world vision gallery".

   In last month's blog post, I had been working on "visual worldbuilding" – similar to creating a "vision board", I'd been collecting artwork online that gives a strong impression of Orion Skies's universe. The goal was to create an animated image gallery that dynamically shows what the world of Orion Skies looks like & feels like. I find this sort of thing incredibly helpful to visualize the world and, as I build the plug-in, bring that world to life in-game.

   I have now completed that world vision gallery! For this month's blog post, I wanted to share a video recording I made of the gallery, and to describe some key elements of what it shows.

WORLD VISION GALLERY

Here's a link to the world vision gallery video. Please note that most of the artwork in this gallery is not mine– though some of it is photos I took while I was living in Tanzania!

Semi-Hard Sci-Fi

   One question that has to be asked when creating science fiction is, "How realistic should it be?". Or even better: "In what ways should it be realistic, and in what ways should it be unrealistic?".

   Personally, I think there are no wrong answers to the above questions– Star Wars and The Expanse are at opposite ends of the realism spectrum, yet both are undeniably great sci-fi. I think your decisions regarding realism have to be guided by your interests as a creator, and your goals with the work you are creating.

   In the case of Orion Skies, I want to capture some of the spirit of excitement, and engage with some of the questions, of thinking about humanity's future in space– and that, I think, implies some focus on realism.

   At the same time, I think there is a lot of opportunity to use "artistic license" to create amazing experiences, especially in a video game where fun gameplay is highly desireable and often conflicts with realism.

   So, ultimately, I think of Orion Skies as "semi-hard sci-fi"; I'm trying to inject a lot of real-world science into this project, while also being open to taking license as needed to enhance the plug-in. You can see that balance in the gallery, where for example many of the spacecraft are realistic designs, yet there are unrealistic indulgences such as the rocketbikes or the dense nebula fog.

An example of the combination of realism and imagination– probably real-life nebulas don't have many dramatic electrical discharges such as is pictured here; but the spacecraft design is, as far as contemporary science is aware, quite plausible. Image source link.

Africanfuturism

   Orion Skies is, ultimately, a love letter to Tanzania, and inspired by my experiences there in the Peace Corps. Science fiction focused on Africa, and on African themes, is pretty rare – which is unfortunate for myriad reasons. There is a growing field of excellent African science fiction, however, and I'm hoping Orion Skies can make its own contribution.

   Orion Skies portrays a future East African society settled on planets in the Orion Nebula. In this universe's history, the initial impetus was to establish some far-away settlements beyond the direct influence of the galaxy's two corporate superpowers; to this end, the massive TUMAINI Program was created to survey the nebula, terraform habitable worlds, and resettle people from Earth. However, this process was suddenly interrupted when one of those superpowers attempted to invade the nebula, and Orion Skies is about the nebula society in the aftermath of that war.

African-focused sci-fi artwork is pretty challenging to find. This piece is one of the few I was able to come across when scouring the internet. Image source link.

TUMAINI

   TUMAINI (Taasisi ya Utafiti na Mwendelezo wa Ardhi, Injini, na Njia Imara / "Institute for Exploration and Development of Land, Engines, and Stable Routes") was a massive program with hundreds of spacecraft whose purpose was to explore and survey the Orion Nebula, terraform habitable worlds, and facilitate the resettlement of people from Earth onto those new worlds– helping to create cities, infrastructure, governmental institutions, training programs for farmers to adapt to the unique climate & ecological properties of each world, etc.

   Although TUMAINI itself is long gone, its legacy, and artifacts from its active period, can be found throughout the nebula.

   As far as terraforming goes, in this universe it has two phases:

1. The deployment of bio-engineered bacteria to alter a planet's chemistry and produce a breathable atmosphere with the right composition of greenhouse gases to regulate the planet's temperature at a livable level. This stage involves massive, automated, industrial plants that produce the engineered bacteria and pump it into the atmosphere to be carried by the wind across huge swathes of the planet's surface.
   
2. The careful fostering of an ecosystem of Terran plants and animals, introduced one species at a time, ultimately creating a healthy environment for humans to live. Much of this work is done by rangers who monitor the environment's progress up-close and help manage its growth.
   

A terraforming facility, seeding engineered bacteria into its planet's atmosphere. Image source link.

 

Nyerere

   Shortly after the first TUMAINI expedition arrived at the Orion Nebula, they discovered a highly habitable world on the nebula's rim. They set up a base of operations on this world, and soon thereafter established the first civilian settlements on it.

   It was named "Nyerere", for Tanzania's first president after gaining independence from the British Empire in 1961, and became the most highly populated and most industrialized world in the nebula. It was not only the location of TUMAINI headquarters, but also the seat of the Orion Regional Government.

   Although Nyerere's influence in the nebula has greatly diminished after the Armstrong War, it still plays a significant role in safeguarding and supporting the nebula civilization.

Nyerere's population was originally housed in several arcologies, before the world was fully terraformed; since then, a number of more traditional cities, towns, and villages have sprung up around the planet. Image source link.

Villages

   Aside from the major, high-tech cities like Nyerere, there are many traditional villages throughout the Orion Nebula. In these villages, people mostly live off the land self-sufficiently, using comparatively limited technology to grow their own food, build their own homes, etc.

   With that said, these villages are not totally cut off from the wider nebula community. Some villagers, and some village governments, have their own spacecraft– and even the ones that don't are visited by offworld spacecraft on a regular basis. There is a two-way flow of people, materials, and supplies between these villages and regional towns and cities on other planets.

The yellow-and-red buildings in the center are the school where I lived and taught for my first two years in Tanzania. Village communities like this will feature prominently in Orion Skies. (This photo is one I took.)

Aftermath of War

   The galaxy as a whole is dominated by two corporate superpowers– Armstrong Ltd. and Proxima Corp. These two megacorporations are locked in intense competition with each other as they vie for control over territories, resources, populations, and local governments.

   Programs like TUMAINI were often created by governmental coalitions to establish settlements far from Earth, beyond the influence of the megacorporations – but that freedom was short-lived, as the corporations' area of influence quickly caught up.

   Several decades ago, when TUMAINI was at the height of its resettlement activity, Armstrong Ltd. launched a full-scale invasion of the Orion Nebula. The Nyerere government was forced to scrap TUMAINI altogether as it pivoted to defense activities.

   The war was relatively brief, and the nebula was able to maintain its independence, but it experienced great disruption. Many settlements had their infrastructure destroyed; many others were left in a partially-terraformed state; and yet others became cut off from the wider nebula community. In all of these areas, people have had to adapt to harsh conditions, and create new ways of living with limited resources.

   Long-lost TUMAINI facilities and artifacts, as well as numerous old combat craft and weapons from the war period, can readily be found throughout the nebula.

A planet whose terraforming process was never completed amid the chaos of the Armstrong War. Image source link.

Proxima Corp

   In more recent times, Proxima Corp. has been making its own advances into the nebula, though with different methodology than Armstrong Ltd. – instead of an overt military invasion, Proxima has entered the nebula via a combination of trade agreements, smaller-scale "security operations", and "partnerships" with various local governments.

  Proxima Corp. now owns an extensive network of mines, drilling rigs, refineries, and other resource-extraction operations throughout the nebula, with an active system of transportation routes to ferry these commodities to the edge of the nebula, to be transported from there to distant regions of the galaxy.

   Many of their facilities exist far beyond the now-limited influence of the Nyerere government, making Proxima the de-facto governing body of major nebula territories.

A Proxima Corp. industrial facility on a remote world. Image source link.

NEXT STEPS

   Now that I have this gallery in place, I'm going back to working on the Tech Generator for a while. The goal is to add a few miscellaneous helpful features, then the major "modifier" system, and then finish using it to produce outfit expansion plug-ins for EVC, EVO, and EVN.

   Once that's done, I want to make a few upgrades to the Galaxy Generator based on this Tech Generator work, and then I'll focus my time on learning to make 3D graphics for Orion Skies, hoping to acquire the skills to make artwork even 10% as good as what's showcased in this blog post!

   As always, thanks for reading, and happy modding!