Comments on Beginnings

[Hydro]

It’s nice to see some new work at the Fiction section! And some new ideas, too.

A couple of quick items. Most are nit picky.

When is this happening? As I recall Santiago’s cell woke themselves early to stage a coup, and then all h*ll broke loose. There certainly wouldn’t be time for liaisons (of any kind) when Unity was breaking up. Is this a prequel some time in the middle of the voyage? If so, what about the comment on damage to Unity?

Dee is a democratic, granola munching pacifist. Santiago is a blood-makes-grass-grow survivalist. To me these are oil and water. Do you see these characters differently?

I’m not sure there were ‘Miriam’s followers’ other than her staff as a psych officer on Unity. My understanding is that whoever happened to be in the pod from Unity was influenced by the dominant leader in that pod. Or perhaps this is a hint that fractionalization started long before Unity’s breakup?

Yang was the Chief of Security. Santiago was one of his underlings.

Lastly, assigning someone the honorific of hero and villain largely depends on whether you agree with that philosophy. Thus, if you are devoutly religious then Yang is a villain since he wants an atheistic police state - likewise for an agnostic University, where religion will be firmly placed down the rungs of society. For me having opposed ideologies is the key to SMAC and keeping it fresh, and conflict prone as each ideology competes for resources. So I’d disagree with your statement that there are no villains or heros – I’d argue that it is relative but that they certainly exist. Without conflict SMAC would be pretty boring.

I look forward to future submittals!

Hydro

[Illuminatus]

“Journey to Alpha Centauri”, as we all know, is the official Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri backstory and I, personally, don’t agree with it. Mostly because Yang and Santiago (but especially Santiago) are set up as the villains and SMAC has no villains. So I’ve been playing with the idea of writing my own little AU version of the Unity’s voyage. I probably won’t, but if I did it’d probably contain a scene very much like this one.

This fic can also be considered to be a prequel to “Love”, so expect a certain amount of affection between Deirdre and Santiago.

Seems that most of your questions Hydro can be answered by the first paragraph in the thread.

Here are links to Love and comment thread for additonal reading. Same theme, same author.

[WotanAnubis]

Yeah, what he said.

This story takes place on a totally AU Unity voyage that isn't quite as disastrous as Ely's version (or at least, not right from the word go).
And the story, Santiago *is* the villain, because of her violent uprising and Yang is considered as a villain for killing a crewmember in cold blood.

I do not agree with this.

Also, in the first draft of the story, I did have Yang as the chief of security. Unfortunately, I then actually started a game of Alpha Centauri and saw in the datalinks that Yang was the "Executive Officer" and Santiago was the "Chief of Security". This caused a hasty rewriting of a certain little segment, unfortunately. (Santiago as one of Yang's direct underlings would've made the scene flow easier, in my opinion.)

As for the differences in Deirdre's and Santiago's personalities, yes they are there. I'm not even trying to deny that. But I honestly fail to see why, just because two people aren't alike in almost every way, those two people can't fall in love. Case in my point: my very own parents with their incredibly stable marriage.
And yes, they will argue and they will bicker and they will fight over whether or not it's a good idea to declare war on the Believers, for example. But that doesn't mean they can't love each other. I mean, heck, just look at Aki: if love was reasonable and rational, she wouldn't have those population problems!

Also, while yes, Santiago believes in guns and armies, she is not Aggressive (OK, she's pretty damn aggressive, but not as bad as Yang or Miriam). Because of this, I do not believe she's truly militarist, but, well, survivalist. She needs to survive, she needs to be safe, she needs to know that tomorrow she'll still be there. To me, this translates into quite fragile person who's erected an enormous amount of steel walls all around herself.
In that sense, the more open Deirdre is a *perfect* counterpart for her, to help break down the walls, or at least put a door in them.

[MysticWind]

Hm. I'm not sure if I agree with the love affair. I'm glad that you didn't sensationalize it, but Santiago and Deidre? For all intents and impressions, they may not hate each other, but they are certainly quite polar opposites. In any case, they represent fundamentally different departments on the ship.

[WotanAnubis]

Originally posted by MysticWind
Hm. I'm not sure if I agree with the love affair. I'm glad that you didn't sensationalize it,

How could I possibly 'sensationalize' it? While also staying more or less in character, I mean.

What is sensationalizing of a relationship anyway?

but Santiago and Deidre? For all intents and impressions, they may not hate each other, but they are certainly quite polar opposites. In any case, they represent fundamentally different departments on the ship.

What is it with people saying "it's not possible because they're not alike"? I am aware, of course, of the fact that 'opposites attract' is a terrible cliché, but at least there's a reason it's a cliché.

And fundamentally different deparments on the ship? I beg to differ. Santiago ensures people's day-to-day survival by making sure people don't shoot each other a lot and Deirdre ensures people's day-to-day survival by making sure everybody has something to eat.
They're eerily similar, in fact.

[Mark123jansen]

Opposites attract Mystic

[Hydro]

I seem to recall that Miriam and Domai were paired as the 'Believing Drones' way back in the Spartan Chronicles, and that I actively colluded to **ahem** engage these two rather unappealing characters. What was odd is that it ended up softening the edges of both, and made them less stereotypic more sympathetic because they ended up having more depth and motivation besides the obvious.

So, you never know! Perhaps this will allow both characters to grow in unexpected directions!

Hydro