GRWelsh
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History of the ALIEN Universe

Tue 05 Oct 2021, 03:29

Here are my non-canonical ideas about the ALIEN Universe:

The Mala'Kak were (are) an extraterrestrial species of intelligent elephantine, humanoid aliens with adults standing about 25' tall. They have a culture and civilization that is millions of years old, and their origin is mysterious. They may be from another area in the Milky Way galaxy or even from another galaxy -- no one knows for sure. Millions of years ago, they began to visit earth. At some point, they began to take primitive humans away as pets, to breed and experiment upon, mostly in a benevolent way. The Mala'Kak were long-lived but beginning to go extinct, and they thought human species were candidates to take over for them as benevolent and intelligent overseers of the universe. The Mala'Kak placed human beings on exoplanets with conditions very similar to earth, as well as some plant species necessary to human survival like wheat and animal species that could be hunted. This is why there are very human-like creatures and other earth-like life on exoplanets that would later be called Arcturus or Paradise/Planet 4 when later discovered. The Mala'Kak were mostly beneficent or neutral overlords, watching their pet humans develop and checking in on them from time to time, but with a special focus on the humans of Paradise, who were later called the Ossians based upon a tablet of hieroglyphs found on a planet in orbit around Tanaka's Star. More than any other humans, the Mala'Kak tampered with the DNA of the Ossians to try to perfect them -- to make them the best they could possibly be -- and the Ossians developed over hundreds of thousands of years to become 10-12' tall, nearly hairless, muscular, and highly intelligent. The Mala'Kak visited the Ossians on Paradise frequently in juggernaut ships hovering over their cities, and that became part of their religion. Most Ossians continued to hold them in god-like reverence. Some Ossians developed science and technology and with their own disc-shaped spaceships began to visit other star systems. The religion of the Ossians was based upon moral and physical perfection and sacrifice. In 12,000 BC, the Ossians visited earth in one of their disc-shaped ships and one of their number sacrificed himself to give his 'divine' DNA to improve life on earth. This was an age old religious tradition of their world, one in which they tried to visit the worlds of other men and attempted to pass on their gifts. Later, they also visited these lesser men to teach them things they have learned and tell them where they were from. They gave them crude star maps of sorts, and encouraged the men of other worlds to reach for the stars and try to come visit them someday, when they were ready.

[More to come later]
 
Bengt Petter
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Thu 07 Oct 2021, 08:05

Of course, the history of this universe CAN be written as you just did. Your version is as valid as any other. But what is the point from a game point of view? Would this universe be interesting to explore if we really got the entire big picture? I’d rather say that Alien is about the opposite: the universe is vast and unkown. That’s why it’s interesting.

Obviously, we are talking about a fictional construct of the universe, a story written by humans. Alien (and H. R. Giger) were certainly inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and his works. In the Lovecraftian universe humans discover that they are insignificant beings in universe. They will probably never get the big picture. There are other creatures that are much older and more powerful. Humans are just bugs in comparison. In Alien, we find a similar premise. W-Y and the factions have just found a couple of small pieces of a much bigger puzzle...

In a way, I would say that the real universe seems to be similar, even though we can’t be sure there is life on other planets. But if there are any kind of alien civilizations (I think there could be), we might some day with better telescopes or other tools be able to track them. Of course, we will probably not get their full history. Perhaps they have been extinct for millions or billions of years when we are able to track them. The Soviet astronomer Nicolai Kardashev created something called the Kardashev scale. It’s a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is able to use. Maybe Kardashev was wrong, but it’s at least an interesting idea. It gives you an idea of what might actually might find if you spot a real alien civilization. I think it can be used also for creating fictional universe.

Having all this said, you are most welcome to continue writing a full history of the Alien universe. It’s your fiction and you can do whatever you like with it. But I personally think it’s more interesting to conceptualize the vastlly unknown that’s out there...
 
GRWelsh
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Thu 07 Oct 2021, 15:47

From a GM point of view I like to know the master narrative as it helps me to stay consistent and logical in designing and running scenarios.

I agree with you that from a player point of view, the sense of mystery should never be taken away. That would destroy the spirit of the game and the franchise. The player characters should never have a secure feeling that they have everything figured out.

The other purpose of my trying to write a history of the ALIEN Universe is that I like to try to reconcile all of the different sources. It is fun, like a game. So, for example in the first ALIEN movie we can clearly see the Pilot/Space Jockey with the trunk and eyes on the side of its head would be about 25' tall if it were to stand up based upon its proportionate size to the human explorers. If you look closely, you can also see a mouth with teeth. In PROMETHEUS it is revealed these beings are only about 10' tall and the head is only a helmet. That is a clever idea but it doesn't really fit. Why would a human-like being with stereoscopic vision wear a helmet with eye holes on the side of the head? They wouldn't normally have this sort of design for a helmet. In my mind, the evidence points to them being two different species. The ALIEN RPG rule book makes allusions to both of these sorts of beings as the the Mala'Kak and the Ossians, respectively, and I like that as it allows GMs the most flexibility in how they want to define their own campaign universe. This allows us to draw upon not only the movies but also sources like the Dark Horse comic books. I've been trying to think to how these different sources relate to each other in my version of the ALIEN universe.

I've changed my mind about the Arcturians. I don't like the idea of them being extraterrestrial aliens who just happen to be physiologically similar to humans. I prefer the idea that humanity feels alone in the universe as the only intelligent life they are aware of, and that the Arcturians are a colony of humans from earth, albeit with an androgynous culture or perhaps modifications that have made hermaphrodites more common.
 
Bengt Petter
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Mon 11 Oct 2021, 17:52

Of course, knowing the master narrative or metaplot is what you are supposed to do as a GM. I’m aware of that.

You describe the somewhat strange contradictions in the movies - I’m talking about the Engineers and the very tall fossilized Space Jockey. As you probably know, the internet is full of rants about that. To me, it’s obvious that Ridley Scott just got a new idea and made a movie with that as a starting point. In an interview, he said he wanted to answer a question: who (or what) was the Space Jockey? I’m not sure Scott came up with the most interesting answer. There was once (after the first movie) a much more interesting answer: the Space Jockey seemed to have been grown out of the chair. I know that there are other answers in the comic books. To me, those answers aren’t alien and creative enough.

I see the topic of this thread - the history of the Alien universe - as a question of world building. What do we really know if we look at the sources? The comic book concepts are just a very small part of the possible answer. But we do KNOW that this fictional universe, just like the real universe, is HUGE. Only a very little fraction of it is known. To me, that’s a key theme in Alien. Mankind is exploring the vast unknown. That’s WHY the encounter with the xenomorph in the first movie is so terrible. The space truckers have no idea what they have just found. As I said in my first post, this franchise is about human insignificance in space. It’s so much more than the tall comic book creatures.

I get that many (a majority, I guess) are very focused on being true to various canonical sources. But what is really the TRUE CORE of the Alien universe? I’d say it’s more about HINTING what MIGHT be true than knowing if some comic book story is true or not. It’s more interesting to find bizarre fossilized stuff drifting in space than getting a complete, written history of the Engineers. If something like that would ever be published, I doubt the franchise would be interesting any more. The mystery is the core.

In my opinion, to GM Alien is more about keeping the mysteries alive than coming up with answers. But hey, that’s only my personal opinion.
 
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ExileInParadise
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Wed 13 Oct 2021, 01:29

<snip>
You describe the somewhat strange contradictions in the movies - I’m talking about the Engineers and the very tall fossilized Space Jockey.
<snip>
In my opinion, to GM Alien is more about keeping the mysteries alive than coming up with answers.
<snip>
I'd like to touch on these two points.

First, there is no contradiction in the movies. There *is* an enigmatic parallel and definitely the implication - but there are also differences like scale and presence or absence of sarcophogi in the derelict seen in ALIEN>
As far as I can see, nothing on-screen says that creature in the chair in ALIEN is, in fact, an Engineer as seen in Prometheus.
And until that's on-screen - it's just theory or implication, not canon.
One possible alternate explanation is that the Space Jockey species are patrons of the Engineers, or that Engineers are somehow inheritors of an earlier species' technology and this adopted some of its form and function.

That leads to the second point - I totally agree that GMing ALIEN RPG is about keeping "mysteries alive" - or any other excuse to *keep playing*.
The goal of any RPG game is to play to create more opportunities to play - the story only ends if and when you want it to unlike books, comics, TV, movies, etc.
Deep-mining the franchise background to create timelines and such is definitely grand-scale world building.

But, if it only lives in the GM's notebooks - it's a bit of wasted prep.
All of that historical noodling should lead to plot threads for the players to pursue...
Other derelicts and strange structures in dark corners of space
Artifacts that don't fit previously known clues
A part of a skeleton that doesn't fit ... anything...
A part of a signal, only barely captured
A mad visionary that just happens to be partly right

As they say in screen-writing - show don't tell.
Use these timelines to *show* there is a grander scale of some sort - and keep it straight for yourself to mine story threads from.
But don't tell anyone the secrets.
Let the players earn the crumbs of those secrets, just enough to see there's more if they just keep searching that next moon...
We live, as we dream -- alone. ~ Joseph Conrad
 
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Skillstuntman
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Wed 13 Oct 2021, 06:29

"But, if it only lives in the GM's notebooks - it's a bit of wasted prep."


This is 100% on point. I know many game masters who wasted too much time on the world, and we're disappointed when their players didn't care about those details. Nothing matters unless the players experience and can interact with it.
 
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Angelman
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Wed 13 Oct 2021, 10:26

I don't believe that "keeping the mystery" is the only way to play the game, but it is certainly a very strong foot to stand on.

Alternatively, you could, for instance, build a campaign around having the players (if not necessarily their PCs) explore and experience the grandeur of the (possibly house ruled) lore, which is definitely a worthwhile endeavor! (And I assume we'll get a lot more lore exploration in the climactic Heart of Darkness story that'll wrap up the cinematic 26 Draconis trilogy plot). A similar approach could be taken to explore and experience the complexities of a conspiracy, for instance, where uncovering the layers of mystery is one of the key points of the story. There are many ways of playing the game (or any game), and saying that some are wrong/righter than others is a bit elitist, I find. It all depends on what you and your group wants to get out of Alien RPG, and if exploring the grandeur of the franchise mythos is your thing, then go for it!

First, there is no contradiction in the movies.
This. The only contradictions are in our interpretation of the films.

That could very well change, of course, if Scott continues onwards in ways that start to blatantly contradict experienced franchise fact, although even that could be explained in-canon. Dallas (or was it Kane?) could be wrong when he declares the Space Jockey ancient and fossilized (they're truckers, not scientists); the discrepancies in the Jockey's helmet & size could have a perfectly logical explanation if they are in fact Engineer Ûbermench (the Xenos, for instance, grow from chicken-to-bear-sized in a matter of hours, so who knows about the Engineers?); and the pods could've been retracted and hidden into the ship somehow. 'Tis all possible and there has thus far been no contradiction in the films. There has, however been loads of contradiction between the films and the vast "expanded universe" lore from the comics and books and games and whatnot, but these have always contained bucket-loads of contradictions and internal inconsistencies anyway.
Last edited by Angelman on Thu 14 Oct 2021, 10:23, edited 1 time in total.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
Bengt Petter
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Wed 13 Oct 2021, 16:23

I guess we have already got more or less out of topic... But I’ll try to sort my thoughts on some of the stuff we have discussed so far in this thread:

1. Contradictions or not. As I’ve said above: the internet is full of (often upset) comments about the similarities and differences between the Space Jockey and the Engineers. They may or may not be the same (they do look alike though). Maybe that could be a topic for a new thread? I’m sure it will last for years...

2. Keeping the mystery alive. I find this much more interesting because it’s something you actually do. Several good ideas have already been mentioned above. In general, if we look at everything that has came out since the first movie, I think it’s too much that isn’t alien enough. And when it comes to this game, most people expect a certain xenomorph with acid blood. It’s a part of the premise. But I do think it would be interesting to develop stuff that feels just as horribly alien as the creature in the first movie. Just creating new versions of the original xenomorph isn’t surprising. What else could be found? I mean something that’s both surprising and worth exploring for a long time. I’d say that it would make sense if the xenomorphs from the movies were just examples of something much bigger and more terrible that’s out there. That would also make sense from a Lovecraftian point of view.

3. What is really the history of the Alien universe? I’m asking because that’s the topic here. A history usually includes a timeline. A timeline of what? What you include is a matter of perspective. In the initial post we got some info of certain creatures that are known from the movies and some comic books. I’d rather say that the actual history of the Alien universe would be something else and much grander. I imagine only a very small fraction of the universe has been presented to us so far. Perhaps it would be interesting to explore several timelines instead of one? I wonder, for example, how would a UPP timeline look? Or maybe just a WY timeline? The more different they would be, the more interesting. Of course, you can include the creatures mentioned in the first post - but perhaps with locations, earlier encounters, and enigmatic findings. Again: it’s a matter of perspective. The various factions will most like know different stuff. The differences could spark new ideas.
 
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ExileInParadise
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Thu 14 Oct 2021, 03:59

3. What is really the history of the Alien universe? I’m asking because that’s the topic here. A history usually includes a timeline. A timeline of what?
Most of the history of the Alien universe was hinted at... then chopped... from Prometheus.

What did the other Engineers say to the Sacrifice Engineer before they left him on prehistoric Earth to make his sacrifice and seed it.

Why did the Engineers make those sacrifices to seed life on worlds?

Why was the goo that the Sacrifice Engineer drank a golden color - not black?

What did the writing that David-8 reads outside of the head room, and then again on the head next to the altar of green goo say?

Just what was that mural about?

Why did the Engineers create the black goo?

Why did the Engineers pass sentence on Earth?

What did the Last Engineer say to David-8?

Many of the answers have slowly creeped into the light since 2012 and can be found from the production scripts before final rewrites as well as interviews and commentaries.

All of it is fair game to be mined as well - providing loads of motivations to the Engineers as well as some hints why they have been gone so long only now to return...

And all of this is just one possible direction... as well as others in the thread including various other alien species.

But remember as you go - the core theme of Alien is that even your own species ... and its creations ... can be just as (or more) alien as some extra-terrestrial life form.

Personally - there are two aliens implied by the original 1979 movie that we don't really get to know:
The Space Jockey species (which I will always see as seperate from the Engineers)
The xenomorph species itself.

The Alien pre-production and Dan O'Bannon's original design for the xenos were that they were intelligent and at least to temple building and ritual sacrifice levels of intelligence and civilization.

Orginally the SnarkLeviathanNostromo landed - found the derelict ... and then found a seperate temple off in the distance.

The implication was that the Space Jockey derelict was some previous encounter with the xenos and simply a victim that had left a warning before its chestburster finished its work.

The Nostromo crew was infested during the exploration of the temple... Scanlon's Book of Alien and Dan O'Bannon's commentaries and inteviews cover some of this.

Now - that's still plenty for the originally planned B-grade low-budget movie O'Bannon intended to make originally.

Now we can layer far more into it ... sticking with the core themes: promote the wonder of the science-fiction future and space flight ... while promoting the journey into the darkest heart of space.

Look through Giger's art ... and his game The Dark Seed ... there is tons of alien-looking lifeforms and imagery to meld into your game.

Everything Lovecraftian as well... and look how far back in time the Lovecraft Mythos reaches.

So, in 2183 (160 years from now) ... Humanity has spread a paltry 15 or so parsecs into the infinite vast ... and the xenos and Engineers are just the first (and probably not the worst) we've encountered as we've left the nest.

Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence would be a good read to get your head around the massive scope and scale of a possible timeline or universe backstory to set ... everything you like against.

A simple example is for the players to find a derelict full of Event Horizon or Pandorum style victims ... all triggered by exposure to some temple millions of years old ... made by the smarter ancient xenos implied by the golden goo Deacon of the Engineer's scrapped backstory notes.

That puts the "ancient Deacon xenos" millions of years back just to start ... before the Engineers seeded Earth millions of years ago.

Birdlike species that inspired the Nazca lines ... definitely!

Cthulhu monsters? Indeed - they fed *into* ALIEN to begin with as inspiration for Giger and many others involved with the Alien universe.

And remember you don't have to explain why it is - or even what it is ... it just is and it has the capacity to drive players mad, or make them greedy to the point of killing each other.

Investigate the questions ... let the players make whatever answers they want from it.
We live, as we dream -- alone. ~ Joseph Conrad
 
Bengt Petter
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Re: History of the ALIEN Universe

Sun 17 Oct 2021, 10:52

To me, the really interesting question is: what kind if timeline would be most useful in this game? And to answer that question in a meaningful way, you would need to know what the game is all about. I’d say it’s NOT about aliens. Rather, it’s about mankind’s encounter with alien life. That’s quite a difference. With that in mind, it would make sense if the timelines - the history of the Alien universe - described those encounters (and the key events leading up to them). Of course, the xenomorphs and the Engineers have their history too, but their complete history is far beyond the knowledge of mankind. From a conceptual point of view, it’s not meaningful to write their complete history. They are the mysteries. If they aren’t mysterious (partly also to the GM), they aren’t interesting. The GM should then, I think, work with staging mysteries, rather than getting (writing) the full story.

Another important theme in this setting - besides mankind’s encounter with alien lifeforms - are human factions. To conceptualize the timelines, I would make a separate timeline for each faction. It would make sense if they all had their own secret discoveries and/or alien encounters. There could also be stuff that they know about each other - a huge web of secrets - but probably also some discoveries that are unique to each faction. And of course, the factions with more resources probably know more. It’s more stuff in their timelines. As I’ve already suggested in other threads, I think it would be interesting if the UPP knew more (a bigger starmap), but didn’t have the resources to fully explore what they have found.

I’d say that the corporate (and UPP) timelines also should have a spatial dimension. The knowledge of each faction is growing. They get further out in space year by year. They all have their own secret star maps (those maps could also be ancient or of Engineer origin). I imagine some of them are much bigger than the map in the basic rules. That would make Star maps (and timelines) something cruisal for the world building in this game. You would get chronologies and maps full of secret locations, lost crews, bizarre alien encounters, strange signals from remote locations etc. From a hands on point of view, you would just take stuff from the official time line and add more stuff. It would be a good tool for building your own campaigns.

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