|
|
|
|
Help build the Orion's Arm Scenario! |
There are several ways you can be a part of this project.
Worldbuilding. You may have ideas for the Encyclopaedia Galactica or the
timeline or some other part of the setting. It could be as brief as a
single line, or as long as an entire essay. It can be about anything or
everything, a planet, an empire, a race or species, a personality, a
historical battle, a piece of tech, a strange artifact, an alien
lifeform, a religion, a lifestyle, a fad, a type of food or drink,
anything, anything at all, provided it fits in with the OA universe.
And the OA universe is big enough that just about anything can fit in,
provided it doesn't break the laws of physics!
(so no warp drive I'm afraid!). See this page for more on how to
go about posting to the Worldbuilding forum
Submitting a post to the
Worldbuilding Group
Stories. You can write a short story (or even a novel or screenplay!) set at any time in this future history (it doesn't have to be at 10,500 a.t. / 12,500 c.e.) We use a different forum for non-worldbuilding fiction, artwork, and music, - the Cafe OA, and this is where this material should be submitted.
Although these should also fit the general setting, there is less requirement for historical rigour (some of the stories are a bit ambiguous and some even make no reference to any OA concepts at all!), but what we are looking for here is, well, what would be like to live in this future reality? How would you tell that story? You could be a baseline or a cyborg or nanite - in fact anything, even an archailect! The atmosphere could be anything from straight SF to rip-roaring space opera to brooding to joyous to "deep space grunge", but always with that certain quality of existential angst that defines life in a galaxy ruled over by enigmatic and seemingly god-like archailects.
Study the stuff already on the website until you get a general idea of what the setting is like, or what specific time periods are like. Then either pick some pre-existing details to 'hang' a story from, or make up a totally new part of the setting for a story (there is plenty of diversity in the OA universe so plenty of areas that haven't been covered yet).
Then write the story and upload it to the Cafe OA. After some creative feedback it will then be sent to the worldbuilding list for final checking. People might critique your work a bit to get it to fit better with the setting (i.e. only wormhole ftl, etc.) but stylistically, pretty much anything goes.
Artwork. We are always on the lookout for art, any style and media is good, again it should fit the general feel of the setting. It can be about anything you want - humans, robots, spaceships, higher toposophic powers, orbital habitats, planets, anything. In addition, you may have noticed from the archives that a new project involves a CCG game (an OA Card Game) and art work will be very welcome. You can see some already submitted artwork here. Please sign up at the Cafe OA if you would like to get involved.
Music. Something we very much need is original music. Here is some Music already submitted
We also looking for:
A few notes on submitting material
For any new material, it is best to join the Orion's Arm egroups mail list for Worldbuilding (the more technical hardcore side of the project) and The Cafe OA List for creative writing (the more literary side), and post it to the group as a whole. That way you get feedback from others. Your input will then be added to the site.
The only requirement with any submitted written material is that it fit into this setting. So certain things are out - e.g. no FTL drive, no humanoid aliens, no hollywoodesque baseline human overthrowing the ai empires, etc. Music or artwork should also in some way invoke the setting.
If you have seen the home page, background to the setting, introduction page, basics, and/or FAQs page, you should have a pretty good idea of the sort of material to submit. You can get further ideas from browsing through the site. Please also see our netiquette page for suggestions on how to post.
And don't worry about fitting in exactly to every detail of the setting, or about precisely following the time-line; after all, the whole scenario is vast and fluid enough to accommodate many stories and outcomes, and the time-line is currently being updated with a few extra entries.
But please, very important, no plagiarism of other already published material (e.g. GURPS, WH40K, TV or movie franchises, novels, anime, comics, etc etc). It is one thing to be inspired by other created universes and settings (and indeed OA wouldn't be possible without the genius of those writers and visionaries who have come before), quite another to copy them with only minor changes. So be inspired by other stories and universes, by all means! But also, be original in your own contributions.
The most important thing is ideas. If your ideas are good, that is all that matters.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Finally, the inevitable legalese stuff...
(sorry about this, but we have had a couple of instances of people submitting material and then later demanding their material be removed, hence the necessity for this sort of legal statement and disclaimer)
Please read carefully before submitting any materials for inclusion in Orion's Arm:
The Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group welcomes all contributions, creative ideas, suggestions, scripts, story lines, fan fiction, characters, drawings, information, suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts, and any other original creative submissions, whether printed (hard copy) or electronic (email or disc), provided these in any way pertain to and/or can be incorporated into the Orion's Arm setting.
By making any Submission to Orion's Arm, you automatically grant to the Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group (OAWBG) the right to use and modify your material. Furthermore, you may not at any later time demand that your material be withdrawn (if you have a good reason you may request it, and we (the OAWBG) will consider the request, but do not guarantee we will grant it).
In other words, by making any Submission, the sender automatically grants, or warrants that the owner of such material expressly grants, the Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, and distribute such material (in whole or in part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed, for the full term of any copyright, trademark or patent that may exist in such material for any purpose that the Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group chooses, whether internal, public, commercial, or otherwise, without any compensation or notice to the sender whatsoever. The sender waives all so-called "moral rights" in all Submissions. The sender further waives the right to make any claims against the Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group relating to unsolicited submissions, including, but not limited to, unfair competition, breach of implied contract and/or breach of confidentiality.
In return the OWBG gives credit to the contributor for any contributed material. Credit will be give in a manner that includes the name and contact information (if so desired) of the contributer. The contributer retains copyright (intellectual property ownership) of their material, but agrees to the OWBG limited rights terms regarding the use of their material by others and/or in the Orion's Arm project.
By submitting any material for use by the OAWBG and inclusion on the Orion's Arm web site, you are affirming that you have read and agreed to the above-stated terms
Related Pages:
How to Contribute - FAQs page - Participating and Contributing.
Legal Stuff FAQs - for those questions regarding copyright, Intellectual Property, and so on
Submitting a post to the Worldbuilding Group - explains in more detail the process for submitting something as a post to the WB forum.
