Making the Game: Alien Sociology (February 7, 2009)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
You must read this document! Anyone the least bit interested in the plan for the Nephlim needs to read this 'behind the screens' briefing on their society (they're called "BIG ALIEN NAME" at this point). Learn all sorts of details about their culture that can be found nowhere else! Oddly, this also includes a list of Kilrathi taunts.

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

MTG2_alien_sociologyt.jpg


Alien Sociology
Download (107 kb)

Date: July 23, 1997
Project: Wing Commander Prophecy
Donated By: John Guentzel
Pages: 4

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Original update published on February 7, 2009
 
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Wooaaaaahh-ho-ho-ho this is very interesting!

Now I get what Blair was talking about, with the nephilim testing the confederation, our "ability to kill without remorse".
 
This helps so much. Now it gives us such an insight.

So I'm guessing the Nephilim is that "Prophecy Alien Name", but who is the "Big Alien Name" and the "Third Alien Name"?

Could the Steltek have any role in this?
 
Hmm, has the CIC already released a similar document? Because I think I already read that once. So I am going to probably repeat myself: if the BIG_ALIEN_NAME didn't find a better race than the Nephilim to make warlords, then I think the Confederation is pretty safe. :) Also, I don't think the Kilrathi will settle for "food/slave" status. Hmm, maybe through their assistance in the war against the Nephilim they gained again warrior status and now are again in the race for warlord status. Which would pit them against the Confederation again.

Though a small question, I am unsure wheter I understand the role of the warrior/warlord race. Do the warriors have any real function in the pyramid other than being potential candidates for warlord status and thus offering pressure to the current warlords? At first I thought they were more or less the foot soldiers for the warlords but what I get from WCP, SOPS and this document it's the warlord race itself that goes to war. It's not like the warlords are commandeering the warrior races, is it?
 
This is a very creepy insight into the overall plan for the Prophecy trilogy. With Humans having different ideals, I wonder if the Confederation and other Terran factions would have resisted this BIG_ALIEN_NAME, or would some of the more billigerent ones enjoy the death and destruction that war brings?
 
As far as I can tell the warrior races are whoever are decent in battle, and may not have any idea about the Big Aliens. The Kilrathi were a warrior race because they went to war with everyone and won (perhaps these wars were egged on by the Big Aliens). When the humans defeated the Kilrathi, the Kilrathi moved down to be considered as slaves and food, and the humans moved up to being warriors. Though I get the impression that any race that can fight and hasn't lost is considered warrior race, so perhaps during the war both Kilrathi and the humans were considered warriors.
 
I'm starting to wonder if these "leaked" documents are really just a way to get
some early hype up for a new WC game.

Anyway, this is very interesting especially since we didn't get very much info on the Nephlim's society. Its especially notable that the bugs were actually pawns of a larger more powerful race, and may have just been sent to test humanity not wipe us out. I wonder if the term "Aligned Peoples" refers to the _BIG_ALIEN_NAME_ or the whole enemy social structure. I'm guessing the latter.

So, I wonder what BAN now thinks of Humanity now that we repelled the Nephlim and smashed their wormhole (assuming that any future games will use the background lore).
 
Aligned peoples might mean the people of their class. From what I get, Nephilim could be Warlords ((gotta re-read this)), and the "Aligned" are them and the other Warlord races. Non-aligned could be food/slaves or warriors.
 
Gamer8585 said:
I'm starting to wonder if these "leaked" documents are really just a way to get some early hype up for a new WC game.
Click to expand...

Considering that Captain Johnny no longer works for Origin (well, okay, EA, for those who want to split hairs), and hasn't for quite a while now, that notion might be a bit problematic. :p

Besides that, though, that notion makes little sense. The documents are over ten years old. Those who aren't already interested in WC are unlikely to be drawn by "ancient" docs.
 
It makes everything about prophecy clearer!
It would have been a trilogy of games, starting with Prophecy.

Propechy_Alien_name would be the nephilim, so they are Warlords.
The Kilrathi and the humans were both warriors, until the kilrathi lost the war and they fell to the "Food/Slave" level.
And since there's a open position for warlord, humans are candidates for it.
That's what i understood from that document.
 
You know, I'm actually kinda relieved the rest of the trilogy didn't materialise. All that alien stuff is just way too far from WC's "World War II in space" roots.
 
It's different, yes, but intriguing all the same. I suppose it does seem quite 'out there' compared to a lot of other WC stuff... but then I see that sort of thing coming up all the time outside of the games.
 
Quarto said:
You know, I'm actually kinda relieved the rest of the trilogy didn't materialise. All that alien stuff is just way too far from WC's "World War II in space" roots.
Click to expand...

I agree that it's far from WW2 in space but I think that ended with WC 3 already. They just had to move on.

And Priv already had that "alien"-feel I think.
 
Quarto said:
You know, I'm actually kinda relieved the rest of the trilogy didn't materialise. All that alien stuff is just way too far from WC's "World War II in space" roots.
Click to expand...

While I do prefer World War II in space to this concept, I think it would be very hard to defend the idea that *nothing* is preferable to something that doesn't follow that theme.

* - and in all fairness, the most important practical aspect of World War II in space would have be present... the 1940s-styled dogfights.
 
Mekt-Hakkikt said:
I agree that it's far from WW2 in space but I think that ended with WC 3 already. They just had to move on.
Click to expand...

Yeah WC3 killed it.

What bothers me is that most of the post Prophecy stories, with the possible exception of Arena are all lame generic sci-fi stuff about armies of crazy clones being confused about their emotions, time travel, planet rebuilding, and ancient alien super-tech all over the place.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
While I do prefer World War II in space to this concept, I think it would be very hard to defend the idea that *nothing* is preferable to something that doesn't follow that theme.
Click to expand...
Hmm. I'm not sure.

We all love WC, and we all love it when new WC games are released. But, there's much to be said for a good ending. It's that problem that was mentioned in that Star Wars thread a few weeks ago - if producing endless sequel novels that have nothing to do with the original theme is bad for Star Wars, then would we really want Wing Commander to go on forever?

I mean, I seriously think that's one of the biggest problems with today's media - books, games, films, TV series, anything with a story. If it's successful, it's continued for just as long as it sells (no, this is not a rant against corporations - books are written by individual authors, and still the same thing happens). We're all guilty of this, because we're the ones that demand it - I might say I'm relieved the WCP story didn't continue, but I certainly would have bought the sequel anyway (and heck, I've worked on UE, I'm working on Standoff...). That still doesn't make it right, though - stories should have an ending at some point.
 
But do you consider WC as a whole a story that should have an end? Because you could say that the story about Blair ended with WCP - and a new story arises with WCP.
 
Yeah, in that aspect WC is different to Star Wars - theoretically, it could work like a mythology does (as a set of interconnected but stand-alone myths). But even myths have a prevailing theme. Going from fighting the Japanese-in-space to fighting evil sci-fi space bugs is like going from Hercules fighting the centaurs to Hercules sitting in a Chinese monastery discussing reincarnation with Buddha.


(...which, I suppose, could be quite interesting :p )
 
Quarto said:
Hmm. I'm not sure.

We all love WC, and we all love it when new WC games are released. But, there's much to be said for a good ending. It's that problem that was mentioned in that Star Wars thread a few weeks ago - if producing endless sequel novels that have nothing to do with the original theme is bad for Star Wars, then would we really want Wing Commander to go on forever?

I mean, I seriously think that's one of the biggest problems with today's media - books, games, films, TV series, anything with a story. If it's successful, it's continued for just as long as it sells (no, this is not a rant against corporations - books are written by individual authors, and still the same thing happens). We're all guilty of this, because we're the ones that demand it - I might say I'm relieved the WCP story didn't continue, but I certainly would have bought the sequel anyway (and heck, I've worked on UE, I'm working on Standoff...). That still doesn't make it right, though - stories should have an ending at some point.
Click to expand...

Id say one of the main problems with expanding established settings with additional stories is a conflict between artistic creativity and staying true to the established setting. That is especially true if there are multiple writers that contribute to it. Its probably already problematic for a single writer to continue an established franchise without becoming entangled too much in what he already set up. The wingcommander "canon" already is a bit messy with multiple incarnations of what probably was meant to be the same (the animated series and the film borrowed parts of the established gamestorylines).
 
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