main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit The Essential Atlas and Galactic Cartography: Official Discussion

Discussion in 'Literature' started by CeiranHarmony, Oct 14, 2005.

  1. BobaMatt

    BobaMatt TFN EU Staff star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2002
    I love that everything good is part of NYC and then suddenly we're out in the midwest.
     
  2. iucounu

    iucounu Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2014
    The initial idea for structuring/breaking down GALACTIC ATLAS was to divide the book into regions, so you'd have the Core section and the Inner RIm etc etc. This got ditched when it became clear that like 80% of anything interesting in the canon at that point (interesting to the extent that you could do a map of it) happens in the Outer Rim.
     
    JediBatman and Sinrebirth like this.
  3. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    Did you work on the Galactic Atlas?

    --Adm. Nick
     
  4. iucounu

    iucounu Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2014
    I wrote it, yep. Jason Fry was very helpful with the galactic mapping and helped me sort out the region boundaries, and as it turned out I ended up rejigging the book to work in north-to-south slices just to keep everything even.
     
  5. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    Neat! We always love to chat with the various creative folks behind these works. When I saw you included Bothawui, I got super excited. Until I noticed there was no mention of the Bothans. Was this deliberate since we haven't yet seen Bothans in the new canon?

    --Adm. Nick
     
    Sinrebirth likes this.
  6. iucounu

    iucounu Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2014
    The planet is mentioned in TCW and Tarkin I think, so it's canon. I can't remember the exact entry in the Atlas but it would've been what I called a 'stub', on one of the slice-map pages, and would be very light on details. I think we know that Bothans come from there but not what Bothans are like in the new canon, and also that Bothans stole the DS2 plans, so I probably mentioned that. In most cases I was limited to one or two little paragraphs in the stubs; sometimes that's all we know, sometimes I had to condense lots of stuff where there wasn't nearly enough for a full-blown map but there's a fair bit going on there.

    It's interesting that nobody has done anything with the Bothans in the new canon yet, but I don't have any particular insight into why. It's quite singular for there to be a named species in the film saga that doesn't have a nu-canonical representation as yet - I can't really think of another one. (Anyone? Bueller?)
     
  7. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    I thought we had official word on this that Bothans are considered important enough that TPTB don't want to "casually" establish details about them - they're waiting until something where Bothans actually play a major role.
     
    Sinrebirth likes this.
  8. Elite_Guard

    Elite_Guard Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 7, 2001
    I've always been interested in mapping the galaxy and indexing the planets. My favorite video game back in the day was Rebellion. I have the Essential Atlas Online index pdf file, but I've always wanted a sortable version of it. I've been slowly working on making one that I thought I'd share here. This is just the planets starting with letter 'A.' The list is definitely incomplete, but it's a work in progress. If anyone is interested in it I can post it as I make more progress. I got the info by combining the Essential Atlas with info from Wookieepedia, this thread, and an older Excel file (from around 2002) that I had on my computer. My original goal with this was to create a master list to rank planets by importance to the galaxy so that I could create a map of the top 500-1000 planets for a Stellaris mod (or another space 4x game).

    Anyway, here's the link to the list so far - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=97976335846558528546

    Column Descriptions:
    Name - name of a planet (or body in space)
    System - name of the system in which the planet orbits
    Sector - name of the sector (if known)
    Region - galactic region from Deep Core to Unknown Regions (numbered for sortability)
    Grid - location on Essential Atlas map
    Canon - "Legends," "New," or "Both" - I wanted the list to be totally inclusive.
    Importance - A ranking I created arbitrarily based on what sources the planet appeared in. Movie locations like Alderaan are listed as "Main" planets. EU locations with importance to the galaxy or overall plot of Star Wars like Alsakan are listed as "Major." Planets with a few mentions in the EU like Akrit'tar are listed "Medium." Planets with one or two mentions without a lot of detail like Ampliquen are listed as "Minor." Planets with almost no info could be "Insignificant" or "Uninhabited and Insignificant."
    Other Info - anything noteworthy
    Main Appearance - source that the planet appeared in
     
    PCCViking and blackmyron like this.
  9. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    This is true, though nothing states that they need to be from Bothawui. Right now, Bothawui is a gas giant in canon, so the Bothans are either a different species all together or from another world. The last mention of Bothans that I recall is in Bloodline, where some of their species are noted to be in the New Republic governmental complex on Hosnian Prime. Which implies that Bothans are either members of the New Republic or a species that has diplomatic relations with them.

    --Adm. Nick
     
  10. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Or possibly from a moon orbiting Bothawui? That or, like Bespin, it has floating cities.

    The newcanon page says that humans live there (that some of Tarkin's tutors came from it):

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bothawui
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2018
    vncredleader likes this.
  11. Daneira

    Daneira Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2016
    In Legends, there are two Bothawuis: Bothawui Prime, the gas giant, and Bothawui Proper, the one that the Bothans live on.

    Neither Wookieepedia nor the passage in the Tarkin book from which that information came from says that Tarkin's teacher(s) was/were human.

    "Not six standard months after passing his ultimate test on the Carrion Plateau, sixteen-year-old Wilhuff was sent up the well to begin his training in space combat, his tutelage supervised by an entirely new cast of characters, some of them Tarkins, but others from worlds as distant as Bothawui and Ryloth."

    Luceno was almost certainly referencing Bothawui Proper and not Bothawui Prime, but that's not the way Wookieepedia works. (And the article is wrong in saying "several of the individuals" came from Bothawui. I would change that to "at least one of the individuals".)
     
  12. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    True - it used the term "the human Wilhuff Tarkin" and because I'd only glanced at it, my head read it as "the humans who taught Wilhuff Tarkin".
     
    Jedi Knight Fett likes this.
  13. Elite_Guard

    Elite_Guard Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 7, 2001
    I've been slowly combing through to make this list. I finished A-C (available here - http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=34616627477267729850) and have surpassed 1200 planets already. If anyone is interested I can continue to upload every few letters as I have time to complete them.
     
    Landb and AV-6R7 like this.
  14. AV-6R7

    AV-6R7 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Dec 9, 2014
    Impressive. Most impressive.
     
  15. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    I could use help - preferably from @jasonfry because he wrote the book I'm using as my source, but seriously, anybody who has TEH SMARTS can jump in. :p

    Having seen that Roon has been recanonised, I re-watched the four episodes of Droids it appears in to try and refresh my memory, since I'm using it in a story. I realised that nothing, absolutely nothing in the cartoon indicates the following:

    - tidal locking;
    - Tawntoom being a city and not just a synonym for the citadel.

    I get it that the earlier can be explained by random day and night switching, depending where on the Bantha Graveyard and the Roon Sea Mungo Baobab & the gang are on and I did some research and it turns out that, yes, tidally-locked planets with temperate climate can exist in specific conditions, so the planet's biomes themselves are plausible.

    But in the RPG book, "Geonosis and Outer Rim Worlds", the phrase "event horizon" keeps on popping up. I assume that it's used erroneously and that it has something to do with the twilight zone of the planet being somewhere in the middle of Bantha Graveyard, which has been made into a no-fly zone?

    I could use some clarification, I want to get things right. I <3 Roon, as much as I love Endor, Sacorria, Vagran and Aurea.

    If this is beyond the scope of the theme and needs to be somewhere else, please, err, put it there. I'm half-asleep and I don't know what I'm doing.
     
    Findswoman and Gamiel like this.
  16. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    You know, Geonosis and the Outer Rim and Coruscant and the Core Worlds are still two of my favorite sourcebooks ever. IIRC, both Dan & Jason wrote entries for both.

    Alas, poor Anaxes didn't make it into the new canon intact... :_|@};-

    I keep praying that @jasonfry will create "New Anaxes". That world perished before we got enough time to properly know it.

    --Adm. Nick
     
    jSarek, Ewok Poet and Sinrebirth like this.
  17. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    The earliest description of Roon appears to be the old Essential Guide to Planets and Moons; it does indicate being 'tidally-locked' there.

    'Event horizon' does appear to be used incorrectly in GORW - I assume it refers to the boundary between the light and dark side of the planet.

    Their 'tidally locked' status is very much space-opera - it's ironic that Ryloth, another tidally-locked planet (and more accurate to how one is supposed to be like) appears next. Roon's light and dark side are still very much livable, which I suppose we could chalk up to the Cloak of the Sith Nebula, or something. [face_dunno]
     
    Ewok Poet likes this.
  18. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    I found them rather lacking myself
    [face_devil]

    I think they explained it with that the heavy cloud covering Roon had created an rather even temperature all over the planet
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2018
    blackmyron and Ewok Poet like this.
  19. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    You found them lacking? I'm... lost for words. These guides are jam packed with information, you're insane. I say that respectfully, of course. :p

    --Adm. Nick
     
    jSarek likes this.
  20. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    I am slowly catching up with who is who in the Star Wars community - so, now I have to find out who Dan is. Is he on the board, too? Thanks. :)

    That's what I thought they meant, too - the twilight zone being the "right" term.

    Thought that, too.
     
  21. jasonfry

    jasonfry VIP star 4 VIP

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2003
    That's both way down in the weeds and a very long time ago. I'll leave it to those who are younger and stronger.

    Re the "recanonization" of worlds, though, I don't think that concept really exists. I understand that lore-minded folks want a reference in new canon, but LFL uses the same map. Everything being in the same place "now" as it was "then" is a safe assumption unless something overrules that.

    To clunkily respond to a separate question re New Anaxes (or Anaxes Minor or whatever), I'm not the one you gotta convince.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2018
    AV-6R7, Ewok Poet and Sinrebirth like this.
  22. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    I found much of the information given rather uninspiring, unhelpful from a gamer perspective and/or focusing on the wrong things. But this is just my perspective.
     
  23. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    Well, I can't speak to the gaming aspect, as I purchased them for the wonderful lore that they included. They were great repositories of information on the histories, cultures, and key places of each of these worlds.

    --Adm. Nick
     
  24. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Thank you so much for responding and sorry if I was nit-picking. Sometimes, fanficcers are crazier than gamers. I know I'm crazy. And...who are those people?

    Thanks. :)

    I would never ever say that around people who wrote it, but maybe it's just me.

    Agreed. :) And most of it appears to be still relevant, apart from, correct me if I'm wrong, the whole thing about Ryloth?!

    Oh yeah, and the bizarre idea of Paploo succeeding Logray and Wicket succeeding Chirpa. Paploo was a last-minute addition to ROTJ and all, never meant to be the weird one of the bunch. We all know who the weird one is. [face_love]
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2018
  25. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    As I said, I found them rather lacking myself. To me they lack much of what I needed (both as a gamer, a writer and somebody just enjoying reading the lore) for describing the worlds and many of the adventures/adventure suggestions/example places on the worlds felt like they did not really use the setting and could just as easily be put on any other world with no real changes. They feel like your standard adventures/adventure suggestions/example places from a gaming magazine where part of the idea is that they can be used wherever the game group is roaming. Now I'm not saying that all adventures/adventure suggestions/example places do that but many enougth for me to complain.

    If I don't say it when they are around, how are they to know what I think ;)