Star Citizen: Loremaker's Guide to the Galaxy - Rihlah System

Transcript — every row opens the video at that moment

1. 00:00:36

   Hello. I'm Dave Haddock, lead writer over here at CIG, and welcome to another episode of Lore Maker's Guide to the Galaxy, the show where we talk about stuff. Specifically, galaxy stuff. More specifically, the Star Citizen galaxy. To give you not only look at the system itself, but some of the thinking behind some of the choices that we have made. So, um today we're going to do something a little special. Um last time I stumbled my way through one of these, we did a breakdown of the Vanduul-controlled Orion system. So, I thought it'd be fun to stick with another alien system. Uh as you may have seen from the language video that we released a few months ago, uh we've been working to develop the Xi'an language with Britain, our uh xenolinguistics specialist. And so, anyway, our conversations with him has started to lead to some interesting discussions about um various aspects of the Xi'an culture. Um

2. 00:01:26

   so, he can build a language to make sense of it, cuz you have to, you know, like you know, do they have a word for blank? You know, that that type of stuff. And then in answering that, you end up asking yourself deeper questions. So, it's it's led to some really interesting and fascinating things. So, since I've been delving into a lot of the pits of Xi'an lore, if you will, uh it is fresh on the mind. So, this week uh we are going to head to the Rela system. Uh now, before we get started, it's also important to note that uh as the language has started to come together, uh part of what Britain has been doing in in his work has been going through the previously established systems uh and planets and stuff and sort of modifying them to conform them to the language. Cuz obviously, you know, a lot of these systems and and planets and stuff were made or conceived and named

3. 00:02:14

   years ago. So, at the time, we had no idea, specifically I had no idea, what the the the language was going to ultimately sound like. So, while at the time, you know, the goal was to not make them sound ridiculous, now that we have uh the framework of a language, uh we now can sort of rename them with more authority and make them consistent with the language. And he's done what he can to try and keep them so somewhat similar, so we're not kind of completely, you know, salting the earth type thing. But, uh but anyway, so we're actually going to eventually update the star map to reflect these new names. So, be sure to check back in and uh we'll we'll let you know when they've changed. So, uh with that, we shall I think I've caviated enough. Uh we will drop into the star map. So, again, we'll start on Earth here, and now Sol system, of course.

4. 00:03:05

   Okay. So, uh up here. So, zooming out from Sol, all right. I'm going to go into 2D mode because it is very easy to get turned around. Uh so, coming from Earth, over here, we I always kind of use it as a sort of the eastern systems just to kind of justify it in my own head, even though obviously there's no you know, regimented geography in that regard. Uh but, over here is where you have the Xi'an systems, all of which are all these green bad boys right there, there, and there, and there. So, uh the system that we are talking about today is Rela system, right here. So, you can see uh basically it is situated uh right on the edge of

5. 00:03:56

   uh the Perry Line. So, the Perry Line, which was the sort of very famous demilitarized zone uh that that existed between or no man's land, I'm not sure if demilitarized zone is accurate, but we'll run with it. Uh between human space and Xi'an space, which was sort of like, you know, it was a very dangerous thing and uh area. Uh no one lived there because there was at any moment they were afraid that a war would basically break out. So, uh in the wake of the sort of the Messer despots getting tossed out, um one of the first things that the humans did as a sort of a hey, we're really sorry about that whole, you know, fascist dictator thing uh and threat of war was to to uh dismantle the Perry Line. They basically divided the systems between the Xi'an and the

6. 00:04:43

   and the humans. So, um the blue ones here, uh Tohil, Oya, Gurzil, Horus, are all the human ones. And then Palace, Hader, Indra uh are the ones that were given to the Xi'an. Uh all of which, in case you've noticed, are named after gods of war. So, these are the human sort of military designations of them. So, anyway, so Rela, situated right here, is connected to not one, but uh two of them. a pretty, you know, a dangerous place to be if you're worried that the humans are going to decide to get really ambitious and rambunctious and try to invade you. So, uh sort of unsurprisingly, Rela was a military system. So, they

7. 00:05:30

   they basically kind of shored up their defenses there and and and and turned into a military system. So, anyway, uh dropping into it, the system itself, what is the Rela system? the system itself, as you can see here, is basically six planets. So, uh two of which are inhabited, uh and I'll trust you all you can kind of pick through here uh on your own time if you'd like to get the sort of nitty-gritty specific stuff. But, just to give you kind of a quick rundown, uh Rela one, Rela two here, and Rela three, uh by category, you have a proto-planet, a puffy planet, and a rocky planet, which sounds like a band name. Uh and out here,

8. 00:06:19

   you've got Rela six, which is sort of this lonely dwarf planet that's just kind of out on the rid. as far as the inhabited ones, you have two. There is uh Rela four, which is known as Shorvu, uh had been designated as a military base. So, specifically, um actually, to backtrack a little bit, um Xi'an are very notorious for what we call geo-planning. So, they basically will allocate planets for single use um kind of function. So, they'll have production planets, and they'll have, you know, ag worlds, and they'll have, you know, habitation planets and stuff like that. So, this is basically just was just a military planet. So, it was designed and constructed to house, train, uh and uh hold troops, basically.

9. 00:07:09

   So, in in the event of a human-Xi'an war, they could basically launch relatively quickly and would be the sort of first line of defense against the humans. but, with the dissolution of the Perry Line, now it's not as necessary to have a sort of standing military force this close to the border. So, the Xi'an have started turning it into a industrial world. So, uh basically opening the doorway for a lot of Xi'an corporations uh to move in and set up factories. Uh the other planet, habited planet that is, uh is Rela five, called Zee, uh is a habitation planet. So, its primary function is to provide residences. So, it's basically just a population populated world. so, backstory general backstory for the

10. 00:07:57

    whole system, as to far as how we discovered it, uh it was actually discovered by uh nav explorer Marie Sante, who also discovered the Horus system over here. And uh it was her discovery of Rela in 2542 that caused the government to move into Horus and basically declare it a security risk and seal it to non-military personnel, uh which sent her on a very interesting, kind of unique journey. Uh if you're interested in that story, um we'll post a link. Uh there's a Galactic Guide about the Horus system that goes into it, and we'll post it here-ish somewhere. Uh so, to get back into it, task question, what is the Rela system? So, you've heard the astronomical data, six planets, uh

11. 00:08:49

    a bit of the flavors about each of the planets and stuff like that. But, one of the things that that we like to talk about in Lore Maker's is sort of the what is the character of the system? You know, so what what makes it unique in the Star Citizen universe? And um and we're also going to try something a little different here with this as well. We're going to show basically some of the early concepts that were done a few years ago that were done for some of these planets. Um and just to again throw another caveat out there, like these are pretty old, uh so these might elements of these are probably going to change, but they're really pretty and give you kind of a sort of a sense of what the initial early thinking of it is. So, uh we'll show off one of these. So, the first one here, uh you one of the things you'll notice with both of these, actually, is is there's a lot of verticality. Uh so,

12. 00:09:37

    uh while the actual architectural styles might might differ or be, you know, change completely or something like that, you know, I think that the the the element of verticality has always been something that's that's been tied very strongly with the Xi'an. Uh you know, you see it in the the the Cartuval, and in one of these pictures, you see this sort of hanging bat uh um vertical like ship dock things. I think I think that's the Volper. I'm not sure what ship that is. I really don't remember. I think it's the Volper. I don't know what's happening with it. Anyway, um I don't know if it's in there. Anyway, so um but you can see them kind of flying fleer and and and suspended here. But but like that's one of the things that that has sort of has always kind of stuck with the Xi'an was this element of like verticality. And and we were

13. 00:10:24

    talking earlier today actually about sort of how what was the sort of origin of that. So it was a kind of an interesting discussion. And like I said, we'll we'll kind of start teasing out some of this the resolutions to these conversations uh in the near future. But uh but yeah, there's so So I have a feeling that that's going to be one of the things that kind of sticks with with whatever the the newer incarnations of uh of these concepts are going to be. But So anyway, so we'll we'll talk a little bit about Shoreview. Uh so the uh landing zone on Shoreview is called Yati, which is is uh sort of a business-oriented land. It's supposed to be sort of like a business park was kind of the idea. Uh and it was it was designed to be sort of a place for humans to come to who are interested in in Xi'an products. Uh so MISC has offices here for example, uh a Po'a too.

14. 00:11:15

    Uh and I thought it'd be kind of fun too to also sort of talk about how the Xi'an society handles corporations. Uh we we sort of mentioned it in uh briefly in the the portfolio Jump Point portfolio article we did for a Po'a. So the Xi'an have a very different approach to business than humans do. Uh if you take a look at that article, we one of the things that we talked about there's a sort of bureaucratic branch of the government that the the emperor is in charge of uh that handles sort of the bureaucracy as well as uh the the military. So they're all kind of unified in this sort of one uh one organization. Uh but what they do is is is basically the government assigns specific contracts to single companies uh to be responsible for a single uh manufacturing object or item or or something. So for

15. 00:12:03

    example, uh a Po'a is responsible for uh and the only ones legally allowed to construct a uh light craft in the Xi'an Empire. So the Karthuwal uh is is basically no one else you would not have sort of a competing you know, scout type ship like a Po'a or the ones. They have been sort of deemed the ones to to be able to build this stuff. So it was basically a way for the corporations to feel very different than humans, but also kind of to to dip in the same pots but feel different enough that if they feel like sort of a unique society. Uh and but that isn't to say of course that the that the companies are responsible for the entire construction of them. So a Po'a can could basically subcontract out to smaller companies to

16. 00:12:51

    try and fulfill the sort of component needs that they need in order to deliver the ship and stuff like that. And uh you know, the end result being that if you are the company that's been given these sort of lucrative contracts, then you're getting government aid and support, which is something that obviously, you know, bolsters your company's power and influence and stuff like that. Um So that is that's sort of a little bit about the Xi'an business. So now to flip the script, we will head over to Xi uh to talk about their landing zone. So they they actually have a uh uh landing zone called Korea, uh which is much more of a sort of a training's post crossroads type thing. Uh and basically it's mostly known because it's a community haven for UEE expatriates and political refugees who

17. 00:13:41

    had basically built lives away from the reach of the Messer. So they came out here kind of like what we had talked about before with with Levski. You know, in the height of the Messer era, basically there were humans who were just like, "I'm done. I'm out. I you know, I I I cannot be a part of this and I don't want to live under this sort of tyranny." And so they just basically fled. And um you know, interestingly enough the Xi'an would take some in. Uh so there was uh on this planet was basically a little kind of enclave of these uh political refugees. Now, one of the things that's interesting to sort of think about with this is is you know, how indicative of the human Xi'an relationship uh this sort of situation is. I mean, if you look at it sort of on the thing,

18. 00:14:28

    it's like it seems really great like, "Oh, they have this sort of business thing where humans can come to to set up businesses and trade and stuff like that." And then they have this other planet in the system where uh humans, if they want to live out here, they can they can come live. But the important thing is again to go back to this the star map, is look at where it's situated. It's like barely within the Xi'an Empire. So in a nutshell, sort of what they've done is they've eliminated the need for humans to expand inside their territory. So the idea was that basically they would say like, "Oh, you know, why would you want to live further in? We have this awesome planet here." Or no, you don't need to set up a planet in Kabari. Like we have a place in Rela that's perfect. Why don't you just set up there? So it was sort of a a really savvy approach on their part to

19. 00:15:16

    kind of like kind of Cuz again, you know, they've they've a lot of these the Xi'an because they lived much longer were around for the Messer. So they remember how bad humans could be. So they're like, "Ah, it's great. You guys, you know, that's awesome you want to live over here. So why don't But why don't you just live right there so we can kind of keep an eye on you and we can you know, kind of stem your spread into our territory." So it's I don't know, it was always one of the things that was that was very fun about kind of how they approached it. It seemed really nice, but it was a little you could argue that it was a little duplicitous. Um But anyway, so we've mentioned the sort of expatriate community uh that set up in the Xi'an territory in the past. Uh but but this actually was sort of seemed like a fun opportunity to talk about another asset of uh aspect of their sort of integration. Um As I just mentioned like, you know,

20. 00:16:03

    humanity we've always said that the Xi'an have kind of kept humanity at a distance, stuff like that that and they tend to be very stoic and reserved and they don't show emotion because that seems like a sort of youthful thing, you know, so so they they tend to be very controlled and very thing. You know, but and it feels like that sort of implies that that the Xi'an are sort of resilient to human influence, whereas we're kind of enamored with them. So there's like again, expatriates moving out here and stuff like that. Um but one of the things that we've been sort of kicking around is that it's that's not as common place as you might think that there are actually elements uh you know, among the the young in the Xi'an Empire that that are sort of attracted to our culture that that have started to reject the sort of very rigid heavily organized compartmentalized element of Xi'an

21. 00:16:50

    culture and have started to embrace some of the things that humanity does. So there's sort of a kind of a give and take. And you know, within the Xi'an, they might be like you know, it it it could be scandalous if you, you know, want to go Victorian about it like that these they would want to do this. But But again, there's that sort of give and take between the two. So the the two cultures are are kind of are affecting each other and stuff. Um Now the exact levels of which that we're still sort of working out right now. You know, as I said in the beginning, you know, we've been really cranking away on on a lot of these these history and society docs and are sort of you know, getting them through the various stages of of approval. Um so if you're hungry for more Xi'an lore, you know, it's it's it's definitely coming. Uh so just just just hold tight. Um

22. 00:17:37

    but that's that's pretty much it. That's sort of Rela in a nutshell. So uh that will do it for this episode of Lore Maker's Guide to the Galaxy. Uh as always, you should check out the fantastic star map, which I'm sure we'll have another link for in the link area. and you know, if you want to know about more about the the systems and planets in the Star Citizen universe, you know, this is a great sort of resource to get started and kind of start to delve into it. Uh also on another note, you should definitely check out the the new Spectrum platform if you haven't already. It's a really kind of cool fun way to chat with backers and devs and and just kind of, you know, stay connected and stuff. Um but yeah, so again, finally, thank you to the subscribers who you know, keep us producing shows like this and Bugsmashers ATV, Citizens of the Stars and stuff like that. Uh and of course, a big thank you to all

23. 00:18:24

    the backers who have you know, contributed to this game with their time, energy, and passion and stuff like that and are really making it sort of this incredible thing that we're building. Uh but yeah, I'll see you next time. My name is Dave Haddock and I will see you in the verse. Thank you for watching. So if you want to keep up with the latest and greatest in Star Citizen and Squadron 42's development, please follow us on our social media channels. See you soon.