The more 6
I think of it, Temporal Cold War is the easiest means to weave various strands together.
I think of it, Temporal Cold War is the easiest means to weave various strands together.
A Fan Fic Universe
- Thread starter DarthTimon
- Start date
Okay, so one way to do this would be for someone (one person or a small committee of three to five) to create a timeline of important events, and then open it up for authors to "fill in the blanks".
Let's say instead of Trek, you want a series of WW-2 stories. You have a timeline starting in the 1930's with the rise of the Third Reich, with major events of Pearl Harbor, dates of the North Africa campaign, invasion of Italy, D-Day, etc., etc., etc. People could then write stories about anything they want, as long as it "fits" into the timeline. They might write about one single tank crew or a PT boat. Perhaps they want to write about spies in the French Resistance.
Taking this idea to Trek, important dates could be the launch of Enterprise-B, first contact with the Cardassians, attempts and break-downs of trade/diplomatic talks followed by initial conflicts. There'd have to be a outline of major events during the subsequent war, how the battle lines ebb and flow, with major battles noted.
If someone wants to tackle writing about the major battles, more power to them. I would think most authors would want to write about smaller battles and such. Maybe they'd write a series following one single ship as it moves from battle to battle.
Let's say instead of Trek, you want a series of WW-2 stories. You have a timeline starting in the 1930's with the rise of the Third Reich, with major events of Pearl Harbor, dates of the North Africa campaign, invasion of Italy, D-Day, etc., etc., etc. People could then write stories about anything they want, as long as it "fits" into the timeline. They might write about one single tank crew or a PT boat. Perhaps they want to write about spies in the French Resistance.
Taking this idea to Trek, important dates could be the launch of Enterprise-B, first contact with the Cardassians, attempts and break-downs of trade/diplomatic talks followed by initial conflicts. There'd have to be a outline of major events during the subsequent war, how the battle lines ebb and flow, with major battles noted.
If someone wants to tackle writing about the major battles, more power to them. I would think most authors would want to write about smaller battles and such. Maybe they'd write a series following one single ship as it moves from battle to battle.
I like this. I like this a lot. When I'm not at work I'll take a deeper look.
Why use the Temporal Cold War to link everything? I always thought it ended during Storm Front Part II when Daniels was showing Archer the timeline. Simplest thing to do would be to all agree to a time period, and an event. Whoever wants to participate can. If not, no hard feelings.
At this point, I think the period covering the Enterprise B, through perhaps to the Enterprise C maybe? Lots of scope for exploration and combat stories.
^
I think whatever time period gets the most writers/creators excited enough to want to participate is the one to go with. That being said, I do have a reservation about the Enterprise-B time period only because of "The Untold Era" stories that are being written right now, and that time period could become quickly clogged up. Of far lesser issue is that I am slowly hashing out my own Enterprise-B "Untold Era" tale, but I would have no issue writing it alongside whatever this fan fic group decides, or even melding it into this new effort if need be. And of course my work can stand on its own, and would hopefully not duplicate or interfere with what the group is doing.
All that being said, I think there's other eras that are still largely unexplored to consider here:
-Before ENT: We know that Starfleet predates the ST: Enterprise series. So this is very unexplored territory to write stories. I can imagine that a Kzinti war took place in this era, though I imagine doing a big war or conflict is limited, from a canon perspective. Then again, something could've taken place that just wasn't mentioned by Archer and the NX-01 crew.
-ENT era: "Xindi Wars" if I'm not mistaken, Captain Edison in Beyond fought in the 'wars' against the Xindi which means more stuff was going on than just with the NX-01.
-Romulan War/Birth of the Federation to DISCO/TOS: 2156-2256/57. The Earth-Romulan War would be neat to do something with (I've written a short story during that time but not a full on saga), the Sheliak conflict, and the Federation-Klingon War (as we've seen in DISCO). I'm guessing one of the Kzinti wars took place during this time as well.
-"The Lost Years": The Motion Picture era-2270s to 2278 (USS Bozeman) and then in the 2280s for Wrath of Khan onward. There's not a lot canon that's here.
-Trek movie era: From Wrath of Khan: 2280s to 2293
Though it might be simpler to just go with the Dominion War, though I don't know about the interest to flesh out that war much, and a lot of fan fiction stories have done so. For my Dark Territory series, originally the lead character was Charlie Reynolds (one of Sisko's old friends and the captain of the Starship Centaur during that war), and so I've played around with bringing him into Dark Territory but no story has come together yet. So far I haven't found a way to make him fit into Dark Territory, but perhaps I could for this idea.
Far as I know not that much about the Earth-Romulan War or the Federation-Klingon Wars on DISCO or TOS.
-The Untold/Lost Era: 2293-2364: There is a lot of potential here. There is the Tomed Incident, the wars with the Talarians, Cardassians, and Tzenkethi. Also the Tholians are still around. (I already have one "Untold Era" story under my belt, with the crew of the Starship Robeson, and I could adapt what I'm doing there to this effort if necessary).
-Nemesis to Picard era: though that's getting fleshed out by Lower Decks and also Picard, and if canon is a concern my least favorite option.
-Beyond Picard: Also not a fan of this option especially if this group is adhering to canon. I think what we write would be under greater threat to upended by Picard and Lower Decks. That being said, perhaps the wars in Star Trek Online would appeal. I don't play Star Trek Online but I am intrigued by their takes on the Undine, Iconians, Tzenkethi, etc.
I think whatever time period gets the most writers/creators excited enough to want to participate is the one to go with. That being said, I do have a reservation about the Enterprise-B time period only because of "The Untold Era" stories that are being written right now, and that time period could become quickly clogged up. Of far lesser issue is that I am slowly hashing out my own Enterprise-B "Untold Era" tale, but I would have no issue writing it alongside whatever this fan fic group decides, or even melding it into this new effort if need be. And of course my work can stand on its own, and would hopefully not duplicate or interfere with what the group is doing.
All that being said, I think there's other eras that are still largely unexplored to consider here:
-Before ENT: We know that Starfleet predates the ST: Enterprise series. So this is very unexplored territory to write stories. I can imagine that a Kzinti war took place in this era, though I imagine doing a big war or conflict is limited, from a canon perspective. Then again, something could've taken place that just wasn't mentioned by Archer and the NX-01 crew.
-ENT era: "Xindi Wars" if I'm not mistaken, Captain Edison in Beyond fought in the 'wars' against the Xindi which means more stuff was going on than just with the NX-01.
-Romulan War/Birth of the Federation to DISCO/TOS: 2156-2256/57. The Earth-Romulan War would be neat to do something with (I've written a short story during that time but not a full on saga), the Sheliak conflict, and the Federation-Klingon War (as we've seen in DISCO). I'm guessing one of the Kzinti wars took place during this time as well.
-"The Lost Years": The Motion Picture era-2270s to 2278 (USS Bozeman) and then in the 2280s for Wrath of Khan onward. There's not a lot canon that's here.
-Trek movie era: From Wrath of Khan: 2280s to 2293
Though it might be simpler to just go with the Dominion War, though I don't know about the interest to flesh out that war much, and a lot of fan fiction stories have done so. For my Dark Territory series, originally the lead character was Charlie Reynolds (one of Sisko's old friends and the captain of the Starship Centaur during that war), and so I've played around with bringing him into Dark Territory but no story has come together yet. So far I haven't found a way to make him fit into Dark Territory, but perhaps I could for this idea.
Far as I know not that much about the Earth-Romulan War or the Federation-Klingon Wars on DISCO or TOS.
-The Untold/Lost Era: 2293-2364: There is a lot of potential here. There is the Tomed Incident, the wars with the Talarians, Cardassians, and Tzenkethi. Also the Tholians are still around. (I already have one "Untold Era" story under my belt, with the crew of the Starship Robeson, and I could adapt what I'm doing there to this effort if necessary).
-Nemesis to Picard era: though that's getting fleshed out by Lower Decks and also Picard, and if canon is a concern my least favorite option.
-Beyond Picard: Also not a fan of this option especially if this group is adhering to canon. I think what we write would be under greater threat to upended by Picard and Lower Decks. That being said, perhaps the wars in Star Trek Online would appeal. I don't play Star Trek Online but I am intrigued by their takes on the Undine, Iconians, Tzenkethi, etc.
Last edited:
I think we could maybe do a poll? See what people would prefer to do.
In defense of the Temporal Cold War idea, since it is a time war, when it ends or starts can be fluid. Further, if we set our stories/series somewhere within this war before its seeming end in "Storm Front Part II" then we can still have all kinds of stories set in different eras, but still be connected, however loosely. It gives each creator a lot of leeway to write in the era or about the characters/times they want the most while still being part of the larger effort.
Going this route, perhaps a kind of unifying character or set of characters like Daniels, Captain Braxton, Gary Seven, or Roberta Lincoln could be used here.
^ You have a valid point. The Temporal Cold War, I just didn't like it, but I still enjoyed Enterprise. I could see where it would be a way to unify things together.
There was a time when I would have absolutely written in the Enterprise-B era, but not anymore. I still have some stories planned for TUE, and working on those when I can.
I could be persuaded to do the Dominion War, but to be honest, I'd rather do the Earth-Romulan War or the TOS era. Those eras I could really get on board with. I'm really dialing in on the Earth-Romulan War that I want to try rewriting something I posted here in 3007.
There was a time when I would have absolutely written in the Enterprise-B era, but not anymore. I still have some stories planned for TUE, and working on those when I can.
I could be persuaded to do the Dominion War, but to be honest, I'd rather do the Earth-Romulan War or the TOS era. Those eras I could really get on board with. I'm really dialing in on the Earth-Romulan War that I want to try rewriting something I posted here in 3007.
This is why I suggested having an outline defining the known parts of the universe. Existing stories would have to be included into the initial framework to prevent continuity discrepancies. If that can't be done for some reason or other, then those stories would be forced to live in their own alternate / parallel universe, kind of what we have now.
Definitely understand your feelings about the Temporal Cold War. It wasn't well thought out or executed, but I did like some aspects of it. I thought Future Guy, Silik, and the Na'kuhl weren't bad villains. I also like that the Tholians were also involved.
Also I have no problem with the Earth-Romulan War. I think it's an time period that hasn't gotten a lot of attention so there's a lot of room there. Comparatively it feels, IMO, like the Dominion War has gotten written about a lot in fan fiction. I've written some Dominion War stories myself for Dark Territory/United Trek.
My thinking exactly.
As mentioned before, TUE is currently fleshing out the early to mid 24th century. I did some research on Memory Alpha and indeed the 2270s is a largely unexplored era. Interesting to note for those in favour of the TCW: the Department of Temporal Investigations was founded in the 70s.
This could be a very interesting decade to dive into.
This could be a very interesting decade to dive into.
The Dominion War has been done to death.
While this is my entry for the current fic challenge, it's also intended to be a start in stories that will fit into this universe we're building.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/august-september-challenge-maybe-again.305495/
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/august-september-challenge-maybe-again.305495/
