An original scifi universe

I’ve long since gotten tired of criticizing Blizzard’s writing. The original teams who made their games dissolved multiple times years ago. It’s impossible to convince certain diehard fans that the writing has flaws in its basic structure.

So I’ve decided to work on my own original scifi universe inspired by Starcraft, Halo, 40k, etc while addressing their shortcomings. I’ve actually been doing this in fits and starts for years in private, but now I’m gonna be posting my ideas on this blog.

One of my inspirations is this old article titled “The Celestial, Terrestrial, and the Diabolic”. It lays out a common triad structure underlying many popular fantasy and scifi settings. The Celestial is inspired by the Roman Empire and represents an ideal, seen in Tolkien’s Elves, Babylon 5’s Vorlons, 40k’s Aeldari, Halo’s Covenant, Starcraft’s Protoss, etc. The Infernal is inspired by the popular (though inaccurate) stereotype of Mongol hordes and represents our fears and projections, seen in Tolkien’s orcs, Babylon 5’s Shadows, 40k’s Tyranids, Halo’s Flood, Starcraft’s Zerg, etc. The Terrestrial is the audience surrogate, seen in… well, humans.

I’ll be using this structure more or less as is. 

  • My Celestial side is the Theocracy. They’re a religious theocracy and alliance of multiple alien species. Their leaders are the Angels, an energy-based alien race who resemble ancient borderline lovecraftian depictions of angels and other deities. The Angels style themselves guardians of order, imposing their vision of peace on the galaxy and disposing of any xenomorphic threats.
  • My Infernal side is the Ruin. They’re a sentient invasive ecosystem that consumes worlds and species, adding the victims’ biological, technological and even cultural distinctions to their own. They’re a gestalt consciousness and don’t really have individuality as we understand it, but for my audience’s sake they do have characters that give us a window into their thoughts and objectives.
  • My Terrestrial side is Earthlings. They’re humanity in the future, basically. In contrast to other portrayals, I incorporate cyberpunk elements such as cyborgs, androids, and genetic engineering. Unlike the other two sides, they don’t have a single unified government but are divided into numerous colonies and stellar nations jockeying for power and wealth.

I’ll be detailing more in following posts. Stay tuned!

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