Official Map of the 'Verse at QMX

POSTED BY: micjwelch
UPDATED: Monday, May 4, 2009 10:17
VIEWED: 22446
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JEWELSTAITEFAN

Friday, December 5, 2008 7:29 AM

Shiny news! While ordering my maps via phone, I heard that QMX has been busy keeping up with all the orders. They've had hundreds of maps shipped out. Apparently more than they had anticipated.

Pretty spry for a *off-the-air* show.

I'm hoping Joss got a courtesy copy, or I'd buy one for him before 20 Dec.

LEMMING

Friday, December 5, 2008 9:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:
Quote:
Originally posted by Lemming:

Where were you when they formed the map Brain Trust? :-)

A good question. My first thought when looking at it was "Oh damn, Why was I not consulted?" The answer is: Because I was sitting in cold-ass Indiana and not sunny-warm LA with Whedon and Company. Grr. Arg.

I regard Joss Whedon, grouped with Neil Gaiman and Frank Herbert, to be the greatest storytellers of this age. Honestly, I'd be honored to consult my knowledge out for free. Consider Tycho at Penny Arcade:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/2/20/

On that note the call would come to my phone and go something like this:

RING RING
Me: "Yes Mr. Whedon?"
Joss: "What do you know about astronomy?"
Me: "I know everything."
Joss: "When can you be in LA to consult?"
Me: "Immediately."
END OF CALL

Yea sure, that's a pathetic fantasy. Hope everyone got a giggle.

Well, nobody was actually sitting down with Joss and going through this. His involvement is as the creator of Firefly and Serenity and having approved the original maps designed by Geoff Mandell as used in the film (some of which were not shown on screen, but which QMX had access to, seeing as Geoff was working on this) I have no idea if he has actually even seen the map, though Mutant Enemy gave it their blessing.

Lets be clear. Nobody on the Brain Trust was paid for their time or expertise. It was purely a consultation group composed of folk from QMX, The Signal and several other fans and associates who were invited on the basis of displayed Verse knowledge, attention to detail and because basically, we were asked. No doubt there are many many other fans out there with knowledge that could have been useful, but in doing the research for what would become a commercial product (albeit with fans desires firmly in mind) you can't have an unlimited size team. I was honoured to have been asked and glad that I could contribute in some small way.

QMX didn't have to listen to us. They could have just gone to Geoff and said "knock your self out" But they don't work that way. They are Browncoats too, they listen and they make stuff because they want to make it, they want to see those products made real and they want to do the absolute best job that they can within the timeframe and bugetary limits of being a commercial company who need to make enough money to continue doing what they do. And don't forget, this activity is a revenue stream (small, but real) for the licence holders. That means Serenity is still making money. Studios notice this sort of thing if it goes on long enough. At some point in the future, maybe, just maybe someone with a bit of vision will look at this and think "hey, maybe we should have another go at this". Stranger things have happened. And while keeping the fandom alive and enthusiastic has value in it's own right, it's also what may ultimately achieve the impossible....again.

Nick

BLUESUNCOMPANYMAN

Friday, December 5, 2008 9:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Lemming:

Lets be clear. Nobody on the Brain Trust was paid for their time or expertise. It was purely a consultation group composed of folk from QMX, The Signal and several other fans and associates who were invited on the basis of displayed Verse knowledge, attention to detail and because basically, we were asked. No doubt there are many many other fans out there with knowledge that could have been useful, but in doing the research for what would become a commercial product (albeit with fans desires firmly in mind) you can't have an unlimited size team.

Yea man, I understand. And like you, I'd have consulted for free on the basis of a love for the 'verse and I wouldn't care how much a studio made on it.

So this will be the 'verse. OK then. If Joss says the sun is blue...I guess it's blue regardless of the physics for blue stars. However, I did think of a techno-babble way to explain the presense of a mid-mass blue star. Claim it to be a stellar anomolity with an abnormal metallicity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity

In this ficton, Blue Sun contains elements in a concentration never before seen that makes the fusion shift blue. It's protostar formation occured apart from White Sun and White sun "captured" it during stellar drift. I believe this was the intent. Keep in mind also, that I'm totally...absoutely...100%...making up a "blue" shifted metallicity. There is no basis for this in fact. But this is fiction right? So what the hell.

As far as the non-night on planets...I guess you can play around with the inverse-square law of light:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_square_law

And claim a distance from White sun that makes it shine with the intensity of the moon. White Sun's energy output makes this very hard. Did you guys specify distances on the map? Like does it reference AU distance units or (god forbid) miles? If not, that is a good thing. It leaves room for some calculations to position stars far enough away from other stars to lessen light magnitudes while adressing the need for gravitional strength to promote a White Sun orbit.

And hey, if there is another brain trust forming in the future, I'd love to consult. The things that I ponder about are:
-verse structure
-Craft Technology (fusion vs fission vs chemical)
-Independant army military structure (I have a military background)
-Unification war politics (I'm an ardent libertarian)
-Interplanetary communications
-The nature of the Blue Sun Corp (I have a detailed blog entry)

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Monday, January 19, 2009 5:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by QMxAndy:
BSCM -

Okay, so I think this might make you even happier: There is an extensive white paper on the scientific background of the Verse that one of our researchers prepared so that the designer could make sure the graphics were as accurate as possible. We're prepping it for eventual release and I think it'll answer a lot of your questions. However, we probably won't be able to release it for at least a few more weeks.

Meanwhile, here's what it has to say about the stellar classes of the five primaries:

White Sun – Class A0
Georgia – Class G0
Red Sun – Class G5
Kalidasa – Class F5
Blue Sun – Class F0

What do you think?

When will this white paper be available?

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Monday, May 4, 2009 10:17 AM

BTW, the answer to my question is the White Paper release date was Feb '09.

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