Wiki History
(We don't need several different "Come here first, this page is what you need" articles. All useful content from the old "Home" page has been added into the official "Main" page at Main Page, which is the article everyone should go to first. I have left the old legacy content here for historical value. ZM User (talk) 06:39, 30 April 2024 (PDT))
(Nota Bene: The below welcome and summary was posted in 2009 when the "Swarm Cycle" was first getting started. Since then, approximately 300 stories have been posted on ASSTR.org and StoriesOnline.net, and the Swarm universe has become a bit more complicated than shown below. -ZM 01/03/2020)
The Swarm Cycle will hopefully be a collection of stories based on an idea introduced by the The Thinking Horndog where he described an invasion of our Galaxy by the Sa'arm . The intent is for this to be a multi-author universe similar to the popular Naked In School stories. The basic concept is this:
- The Sa'arm, a species with insectoid behavior that little is known about, is sweeping across the Galaxy, occupying planets without regard to whether a civilization exists on them or not. They appear to communicate by some form of extrasensory perception; any being incapable of such communication is treated as non-sentient.
- Their projected path takes them through the heart of the Confederacy, a multi-species galactic civilization. The Confederacy's component races are all non-violent; one of the prime requirements for membership is a racial abhorrence for aggressive behavior. The Confederacy's Artificial Intelligences have been handling the interface between the realities of the natural universe and the sensibilities of the member races for nearly a million years.
- Earth, while not on the direct path of the Sa'arm expansion, is destined to become a target approximately nine years after the date of our first contact with the Confederacy. However, this is not why first contact is initiated; the reason has everything to do with our ability to resist the [Sa'arm]] -- something Confederacy member races more or less uniformly lack. (Due to the initial efforts of the humans the first Sa'arm ship doesn't arrive until year 12.)
- The Darjee are assigned duties as the liaison race and resources to be provided are limited to those of the Darjee and the AI's, as the rest of the Confederacy cannot stomach participation in anything so vulgar as combat -- even in the face of certain extinction. This limits the available resources in support of Earth's -- and, ultimately, the Confederacy's -- defense.
- Evacuation of an entire planet is beyond Darjee capability -- approximately thirty percent (corrected to 3%) of the human race can be evacuated to colony worlds in a 'Diaspora'. Priority must go to prime candidates -- who MUST contribute in some manner to the defense. CAP testing is developed as a criterion for selection -- and in order to foster high birth rates and keep the whole thing from becoming a eugenics project, selectees are allowed to evacuate a number of males and females (CAP Score irrelevant) commensurate with their value to the defensive effort.
While we have quite a few stories already published, there are still many opportunities for writers to create new stories both long and short:
- First Contact between the Sa'arm and other races.
- Military sci-fi regarding the fight on other worlds along with technological/tactical measures.
- Non-combatant stories featuring the Civil Service, the Fleet Auxiliary, life on the colonies, and even life on Earth during the Swarm War.
- Evacuation/Extraction stories.
- Colony life.
- Cultural changes on Earth driven by the new facts of life.
- The battle for Earth
- Life in the colonies and in space as we try to turn the tide.
- How the Confederacy deals with the race that is saving it -- and vice-versa.
If you feel you want to have a go at fleshing out any of these ideas and want to know what to do next take a look at the Contact Us page.
Readers of sci-fi will see more than a little Weber and Ringo in the basic scenario. The Thinking Horndog tried HARD not to plagiarize regarding species traits, timeline, etc., and the focus is somewhat different. Beyond that, it's thanks and a hat tip...
The original stories Average Joes and Pickup Number Eighteen by The Thinking Horndog provided quite a bit of background detail, a lot of which can be found here along with a timeline of events.
If you wish to write about some area that is not really dealt with in these stories, contact The Thinking Horndog and you can discuss the general plan for the execution of various stages. He'll try not to cramp your style -- there ought to be a lot of room to maneuver here.
Artie's story, "The Battle of Escalon" for instance, isn't the REAL ending of this saga -- but it IS suggestive, so it was posted -- We're sure there are NIS stories out there that the original author doesn't feel fit the original concept...
(Someday this will be a navigation template. It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links. Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))
