Here is the news Coming to you every hour on the hour Here is the news The weather's fine but there may be a meteor shower -Electric Light Orchestra, Here Is The News Where are we at? We've been working for two and a half years on our website and all the content it needs to be the best it can. In addition, we've been running plots to explore how we go about answering some of the universe's questions. Some of what we've gotten up and running include: The Wandering Star Forums (You're in them now) Getting the forum structure set up and functioning wasn't hard due to our administrators being familiar with forum software, but the biggest problem was innoculating the website against spam accounts. Fortunately, a solution was reached on dealing with spam accounts. Three plots are currently running and some side stories have been written - more on that later! The Wandering Star Wiki Based on previous experience, the need for a Wiki solution was readily apparent. We chose DokuWiki as our wiki solution, and got to work on writing up setting information and creating some templates. We have an outlying structure figured out, and we are in the process of populating that structure with articles on character creation, filling out species/race articles with information, and the Skills guide among others. Wandering Star Discord We initially experimented with using a XenForo chat plugin, but found it too cumbersome for mobile use. We switched to hosting a Discord server, as it takes overhead off our servers, and is more familiar to much of our audience and players. Our administration team as a whole are busy people. We've been taking time out of each of our schedules to work together on the site whenever we can, whether its writing new content, running plots, and more. Who's Who and What's What in the Stars? As part of figuring out our content and writing up locales, species, cultures and more, we undertook a roleplaying plot called the LSDF Herald to explore the effects of Wandering Star's phenomenon of Detranslation. From this plot we discovered and wrote up many properties of Wandering Star's universe - such as the presence of Magic, Psionics, and more. When the LSDF Herald returned from whence it came, the scientific vessel's findings became the groundwork for a mass migration into a new universe, and the first recorded instance of a species Anticipating Detranslation. The new arrivals, the Lorath Matriarchy made their new roost far away from astral clusters of civilisation, and are currently engaged in further examination of the new world's properties before making their presence known on the galactic stage. The Lorath are especially wary of the increased presence of Sourcians within this new world - aliens with more in common to jellyfish and sea anemone than conventional life. Taking numerous shapes from benign creatures and inanimate objects to humanoids with culture and society, these beings have proliferated throughout and become normalised by many societies and populations of this new world. Conflict in the past with Sourcia and their liquid way of being give the Lorath Matriarchy reason to be wary. Far, far away but here and now, the Aleph Cluster of star systems goes about its daily business, with the system Aleph Null shining as its ruby jewel - walled off by hostile red-tide phenomena Aleph Null is accessible only by means of a mysterious megastructure from The Old War orbiting its capital from within, and the guidance of massive space-gates from without. The ongoing threat of Polygon attacks keeps this corner of the world on its toes, giving the cluster a common and persistent foe. Inside Aleph Null, the men and women Kingdom of Albion live comfortably beneath the massive Orbital Object: Null, a space gate and mass-driver stolen during The Old War for Aleph Null's independence. With this, they are able to dictate interstellar trade as a nexus system and defend their neighbours, as they control a sizeable portion of the valuable Red Sheoul used for faster-than-light interstellar travel in the local area. Within Albion's sphere of influence, a gas giant named Traveller and its numerous moon colonies are overseen by the Unity Protocol, a legion of uncanny robots tasked with tending to the needs of their sprawling gardens and its 'wildlife' - the humans, aliens and otherwise populating these plantoids live in a manicured society curated by these Units. Outside of Aleph Null, the warlike Raiconian Alliance has sent out a diplomatic message, broadcasting throughout space and inviting them to a table of diplomacy. After previous aggressions and insularity toward the universe at large, the question on everyone else's minds is what could the Raiken be reaching out for? Could it be hostile Sourcians? Polygons? Something else completely gnawing at their heels? We're yet to see. This is just a taste of what's going on in Wandering Star's universe. What plots are running? I'm delighted to announce that Wandering Star Online has three major plots underway at the moment! LSDF Tropical Paradise Set upon a research facility on an iceball near Lorath space, the Or'ri Ro'ichekky or "Tropical Paradise" as the staff refer to it is an extensive enclosed habitat for research. Players take the role of new arrivals to the station, gleaning the Lorath Matriarchy's research interests and figuring out just _why_ such a facility exists so far away from other contact - amid serving their roles. LSDF Val'ta A one-of-a-kind spaceship which survived the worst effects of Detranslation and was built with Sourcian materials, the LSDF Val'ta exists to the Lorath Matriarchy as an expendable, extensible, long-ranged exploration vessel on a mission to take its motley crew of Lorath and Humans in a hands-on approach in learning about the new universe. Lead by an enterprising captain interested in putting the Lorath first wherever they go, she is spurred by her restlessness and anticipation for the next big discovery to exploit. Phoenix Team Drawn into a web of conflict waged by corporate powers by a Sourcian conwoman, a retired military veteran of the Unity Protocol's self-defence force spurs himself back into action to protect the planetoid of Sargasso from the machinations of Gruppen Tanhauss, an unethical and far-reaching pharmaceutical company based on the Moon-colony of Noir. Putting together a team of 'troubleshooters' for fun and profit and signed-off by the Units as a 'known quantity', the reactivated soldier balances his life and his drilled obligation to Sargasso, courting danger from all angles. Side Stories Not every story in the Wandering Star Universe needs to be so large or grand in scale. At a smaller scale, stories unfold all the time. Two mysterious waifs have been traipsing about the world on a stellar yacht called the Opportunity's Knock, fulfilling bargains for a mysterious and horrifying species of entities and dealing with the drama of family politics and other, far more rapid changes. In the Kingdom of Albion in the boreal city of York, an unexplained monstrosity rampaged its way through the Rightshore district, destroying critical pieces of refinery infrastructure and causing millions of AC worth of damage. An investigation into the creature's origins, and a hunt for more like it is brokered between the three magic universities. A Professor from the boreal city of York has been taking to webcam to talk about his experiences in studying the Weird Things throughout his life. He is accompanied by his Spectral Greyhound 'Billy'. What's Next? Our plan is to keep working on Wiki content, keep running plots, and seek commissions to illustrate our universe's sights and people. We may begin expanding our intake and make with some advertising as the new year comes around. I'd like to offer my heartfelt thanks to the dedicated players and administration team for staying with this project for so long, and for everyone who is supporting us in this endeavour. We won't let you down. -Luca and the Wandering Star Team
