Metafiction: Dialogues on the Lore of Xlite
Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:41 am
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The dramatic date of the dialogue is set around 3150 CE, on the expansive polo fields of the Dark Desert of Digebiti, littered with broken sedan chairs, inter-city palanquins and a functioning cocktail bar. The chairmen have gone home. One lonely barman is waving his cocktail shaker lackadaisically over the till. It is early evening and the star of Lave has just risen over the horizon.
Characters (so far) in the dialogue:
• User2357 a peripatetic pyrrhonist investigating the mysteries of meta-physics
• Cholmondeley of Digebiti, a strident sophist
The dramatic date of the dialogue is set around 3150 CE, on the expansive polo fields of the Dark Desert of Digebiti, littered with broken sedan chairs, inter-city palanquins and a functioning cocktail bar. The chairmen have gone home. One lonely barman is waving his cocktail shaker lackadaisically over the till. It is early evening and the star of Lave has just risen over the horizon.
Characters (so far) in the dialogue:
• User2357 a peripatetic pyrrhonist investigating the mysteries of meta-physics
• Cholmondeley of Digebiti, a strident sophist
User2357 My interest is specifically focused on the original 1984 Elite/Oolite and immediate derivatives, their real and in-universe history/lore, game mechanics, and just generally trying to make some sense of all the confusion and contradiction that exist out there in the real world and in the game universe in terms of the details of all these elements, and others perhaps also.
I am of the opinion that, Dylan Smith's depiction of Commander Damon Winston's hyperspace displacement from the Frontier universe to the Xlite universe in his novella "The Virtuous Misfortune" is probably the most logical explanation of the relationship between the two universes.
The Frontier games represent an alternate universe, and, as such, at least the non-existence of the other GalCop species in Frontier Space, can physically, logically and practically not be reconciled with the in-universe history of Xlite [X = "E-" / "Oo-"], as has been attempted by other researchers, such as Commanders Selezen and Wagar.
Cholmondeley (earnestly) I have yet to come across Mr. Smith's attempt at harmonization - I shall certainly have to look it up. The one attempt which I found most intriguing was that of Clym Angus: The chronicles of Shulth - Apocrypha, some 40 or so chapters here on this bulletin board (https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17247).
Your term Xlite is most useful – well-coined! Xlite, seems however, a trifle incoherent (not too surprisingly).
1) One might wish to include several 'core/lore OXPs' such as the Tionisla quartet (the triplet for the cemetery and then the Array), the Generation ships, etc.
2) There are occasional references in the original Elite which were possibly not followed up in Oolite. The statement on p11 of the Pilot's Reference Manual: The Galactic Cooperative is only one - although the largest - of several planetary federations... which might include the association mentioned in the Commies OXP, but also gives room for a nascent Empire & Federation.
User2357 Mr. Smith's "The Virtuous Misfortune" can be found at http://alioth.net/Fiction/oolitestory.pdf.
According to all indications, it was the very first piece of Oofiction (copyright 2006), and, IMHO, a worthy one at that. I believe it deserves an honorary place among all the tomes, and that no collection is complete without it. It stands together with Holdstock's "Elite: The Dark Wheel" and Redman's "Imprint". These three, along with the various pilot manuals, including Bell's "Elite Players' Guide" (version 7 --- 24 March 1984), form the foundation of all Xlite lore. ...but that's just me.
I will look at "The Chronicles of Shulth" ...if I have not done so yet! I have read much Oo- and Frontier fiction over the years, but have not done so recently, and have forgotten much of it. Perhaps I have seen the Chronicles before; perhaps it will be pleasant to revisit them.
Yes, there are many OXPs which contribute constructively and enhance the Xniverse. It is also one of my many goals to determine exactly which OXPs best support the concept of a consistently coherent and consolidated Xniverse, and which actually outright contradict the definitive, foundational lore, or at least have no basis for inclusion in it.
IMHO, there seems to be some significant explanation required to consolidate the possibility of a nascent Empire & Federation in Holdstock's statement at the top of p. 11 in the original 1984 (SBG38/B1) "FIRST EDITION" "Space Trader's Flight Training Manual" regarding "several planetary federations" - especially since GalCop and Federation Space apparently intersect directly, even with some few systems of the former being contained in the latter - and even by name and relative location! - but not vice versa... Much explanation seems to be required indeed.
Cholmondeley (looking around in the hope he can persuade someone else to join in the discussion, to cover his abysmal ignorance of the subject under discussion) Would I be correct in presuming that there is a rift between Commanders Selezen & Wagar (who wish to tie Xlite in with the Frontier universe) and the Quite Grand Sub-Admiral Cim who seemingly disagreed? The differences between the two sets of universes (sentient species, role of Galcop, obviousness of the existence of the Federation/Empire/Alliance, existence of our known universe as seen from planet Earth, bizarre structure of 8 parallel galaxies), seem quite emphatic. Without a deus ex-machina such as ClymAngus's in his Chronicles, it seems unlikely that the circle can be squared. It does not seem to me that Mr. Smith's "The Virtuous Misfortune" manages this.
At this point Sir Cody of El Viejo struggles into view having just escaped the ball celebrating his assumption of the Officership of the Order of the Opulent Ooniverse. He is leaning on Redspear who was a guest at the event. Sir Cody (Bart.) of El Viejo O.O.O.O. staggers to the bar to order a single malt. Stranger and some sort of robot (?) can be seen in the distance making their way towards the tergiversatory throng.User2357 The year, 3150, 50 years after the launch of the first Cobra Mk III in 3100, is significant. I have seen a document somewhere (?) which seems to indicate that, based on many in-universe and real-world dates associated with the Xlite simulators, the lore (and "meta-lore", as Commander Wagar sometimes refer to it) can all be explained by assuming that there is a 1,130 year difference between our mythical, RL pre-history and that of the current xniverse.
I think I might have read some of the Quite Grand Sub-Admiral Cim's perspective on the relationships between the Xlite and Frontier universes somewhere, sometime long ago, and if a very vague memory serves, I believe that I was, and still am, inclined to support his side of the argument, i.e. separate Xlite and Frontier universes, rather than Commanders Selezen & Wagar's perspective, i.e. the same universe. I agree: from what I recall, the rift does seem to be quite emphatic between the two sides.
On the other hand, I am willing to concede the existence of an alternate universe (or universes, plural) which combine(s) various elements from both Xlite and Frontier in various ways, but from what I've seen so far, at least the historical dates associated with various events, will require some significant consolidation in order to make better sense in terms of our current, human perception and understanding of the flow and order of cause-and-effect, and in terms of plausible time-scales for said events. Personally, I would like to see a single, consolidated explanation, linking the two separate universes (as Smith does), and which includes ALL the original, authentic, fundamental lore elements from both sides.
To be honest, I started reading "The Chronicles of Shulth" (again?), but could not really get into it, because of my present prejudices against what I currently perceive to be the true explanation of events within the Xlite universe.
If you will forgive my indulgence, I would like to refer briefly to a pet peeve of mine, which might serve as an example of the type of arguments involved in this discussion between the two major schools of though on the subject, and to which you also briefly refer: the eight "galaxies" cannot be, and are not, galaxies, as such, in and of themselves. At best, they might merely be regions within different galaxies. (...but comparison of the orders to magnitude between local, 7ly interstellar distances and 2.5 million light-years to our nearest galactic neighbour, Andromeda, seems to prohibit a true "intergalactic" hyperdrive, and merely allows for some kind of max. 200ly, galactic-"class" hyperdrive as opposed to a max. 7ly, stellar-"class" hyperdrive, similar to how one might distinguish between "Cobra Class ships" and "Viper class fighters", as mentioned in the original, 1984 (SBG38/B1) "FIRST EDITION" "Space Trader's Flight Training Manual", on pp. 18 & 24.) Probably, though, the "galaxies" are merely separate regions within our own, single Milky Way Galaxy. It seems that Holdstock originally (mis?)interpreted "Galactic Chart 1" on the simulator's navigational computer to mean "the chart of the first Galaxy", when it might rather have been better interpreted as "the first chart of [a region of] the [Milky Way] Galaxy".
Yes, I agree. "Some squaring of the circle required." ...and, at present, I am (still) of the opinion that Smith's suggestion in his "Virtuous Misfortune" regarding alternate universes, with some kind of hyperspace misjump possibly presenting a means to link the two, might be our best explanation at the moment.
) but it seems to me that when we reference only our knowledge we meet barriers and limits very quickly.
I have no any preconceived opinion about witchspace because I nave no any knowledge about this matter.