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[NISYN Aelisha]

Hello,

I have been considering writing a series of journals from the point of view of an astronomer and aspiring writer in the latter years of the Caldari industrial age, during the first intermittent radio contact between the Gallente and Caldari, leading up to the first contact over a slow, periodic progression through updates. 

In the present RP of EVE, these will be presented as the personal journals of said individual, thus open to refutation, narrative bias etc so this doesn't turn into godmodding nonsense.  In fact the theme of these journals should be very different to the current state of affairs, with a combination of HG Wells and Arthur C Clarke style introspection and analysis taking the fore above racial prejudice (as there is little basis for it at this point in history). 

However, though I am crafting a good mental picture of the state of Caldari Prime, the wiki providing a few key pointers on which megas have origins in this period of time, I am shaky on what technological state the Gallente were in.  From what little I have found, they were certainly more advanced, and first contact in the physical sense would most definitely have been a long haul Gallente mission (imagine the kind of effort we would be spurred to if we had contact with other sapient life, indeed human, in our own solar system - that mars mission would be on the cards fast). 

So, looking for some community inspiration here: 

1. How far in advance of the [IRL] modern era were the Gallente in this period?
2. Prevailing political sentiment towards first contact [both sides] (left/right, hopeful/fearful/exploitative)?
3. In there a World Order [both nations] or are the two worlds still divided into states and nations? 

This is the start, no doubt there will be more questions.  In the meantime, i  am going to try some taster sessions writing in an appropriate style. 

Ty in advance for any help.

[Mithfindel]

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Caille

"Caille is the capital of the Kingdom of Central Garoun, a legacy nation and sub-planetary member of the Gallente Federation."

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Hueromont

"By popular vote, Hueromont applied to be registered as a megalopolis not long after the founding of the Gallente Federation. [...] Today, the city is fully autonomous (as per its megalopolis status) so long as it complies with planetary, district and Federal law."

[NISYN Aelisha]

Right ty, that will be a good start.  Now I just need to figure out the state of affairs leading to first radio contact.  I imagine that the Gallente would have developed the requisite optical technology to notice urbanisation and the start of industry on Caldari Prime before the Caldari did, and so may have been blasting radio messages at the planet for quite some time.  This would result in the first truly receptive radio technologies on Caldari prime picking up said transmissions, but with little to no reference between the two languages to start with.  The issue of mass hysteria and the likes on the part of both societies would likely be curbed by the fact that each civilization would have had decades if not centuries to come to terms with the possibility of 'alien life' as they would have had a lengthy period of silent observation via primitive astronomy optics prior to any radio contact. 

Any feed back or criticisms of this line of thought would be appreciated.

[orange]

There may not have been first radio contact.  The prevailing notion is that the Caldari were surprised when the Gallente landed.

1. How far in advance of the [IRL] modern era were the Gallente in this period?
2. Prevailing political sentiment towards first contact [both sides] (left/right, hopeful/fearful/exploitative)?
3. In there a World Order [both nations] or are the two worlds still divided into states and nations? 

1.  I would not put the Gallente to far ahead of early 21st Century Earth.    They clearly had interplanetary capable manned spacecraft, but we are not far from that.  The Caldari are another matter entirely, likely comparable to early 19th Century Earth.  They may have had preventative telescopes, but they did not know that the Gallente even existed.

2. The Caldari did not know the Gallente were there.   I suspect the majority of Gallente were "generally" suppportive of making contact with their neighbors and generally hopeful.  I suspect there were those looking towards exploitation and some who feared what they might do to a culture without various technologies.

3.  I think the Gallente were at least under a powerful hegemony possibly on the way to a "one world" order.  I suspect the Caldari were more or less divided, possibly with a few clear major powers.  First contact rapidly changes this for both cultures.

[Ken]

Neat idea. I portrayed this time period (addressing some of these questions directly) in the Hitchhiker's Guide. Just reposted the Gal/Cal chapter over on the WHG site. Might help with your creative process on this project: http://whgeve.shivtr.com/journals/10103

[NISYN Aelisha]

Excellent!  Thanks for bringing this to my attention I have bookmarked it and will read it tomorrow, it is getting a bit late here atm.  i hope to put up some cursory flavour text so people can yell at me for ruining eve/being a tonyg alt as they wish - It is all about getting the feel right in said flavour text then going into the actual writing.  That way I give no spoilers, but people can tell me if it comes across as 'Steamdari-Punk' which is certainly not what I want to do. 

TY again for that source - No doubt it will provide good insights into the time period. 

[Seriphyn]

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Kaalakiota_Peaks

"In the post-Raata and contemporary eras, the Kaalakiota Peaks overlap the borders of many nation-states on Caldari Prime"

IMO, all preceding references of "Gallente" and "Caldari" in fiction, especially pre-first war fiction, are referring to them as far as their dominant political forces go. I really don't think when it says "the Gallente were oppressing the Caldari" means every single ethnic Gallente was oppressing every single ethnic Caldari. It sounds like, according to the latest fiction, that any mention of "Gallente" refers to their most dominant powers. Maybe there were lesser powers that were sympathetic to the Caldari (and vice-versa); because they had little-to-no-effect on the course of history, they are not accounted for under "Gallente" (and vice-versa).

I'm also beginning to see the Federation as a sort of United Nations Space Command, Systems Alliance, Terran Federation sort of entity, rather than a homogeneous nation. Like how the Amarr Empire is made up of feudal domains under Holders, the Fed is made up of nations. BUT this is my biased interpretation and I might be horribly wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

[Publius Valerius]

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Kaalakiota_Peaks

"In the post-Raata and contemporary eras, the Kaalakiota Peaks overlap the borders of many nation-states on Caldari Prime"

IMO, all preceding references of "Gallente" and "Caldari" in fiction, especially pre-first war fiction, are referring to them as far as their dominant political forces go. I really don't think when it says "the Gallente were oppressing the Caldari" means every single ethnic Gallente was oppressing every single ethnic Caldari. It sounds like, according to the latest fiction, that any mention of "Gallente" refers to their most dominant powers. Maybe there were lesser powers that were sympathetic to the Caldari (and vice-versa); because they had little-to-no-effect on the course of history, they are not accounted for under "Gallente" (and vice-versa).

I'm also beginning to see the Federation as a sort of United Nations Space Command, Systems Alliance, Terran Federation sort of entity, rather than a homogeneous nation. Like how the Amarr Empire is made up of feudal domains under Holders, the Fed is made up of nations. BUT this is my biased interpretation and I might be horribly wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

I had actually the same feeling about the Federation, that it has a central body... but under it, also local goverment/administration which can govern their relativ district (by the way I dont know if district is the right term; I have just started the get my toes in Gallente PF). But as topic, I really love the early stuff.... because it said often more in a shorter version, than wall of text can does (If that makes any sense?).

[Bastian Valoron]

There may not have been first radio contact.  The prevailing notion is that the Caldari were surprised when the Gallente landed.

1. How far in advance of the [IRL] modern era were the Gallente in this period?
2. Prevailing political sentiment towards first contact [both sides] (left/right, hopeful/fearful/exploitative)?
3. In there a World Order [both nations] or are the two worlds still divided into states and nations? 

1.  I would not put the Gallente to far ahead of early 21st Century Earth.    They clearly had interplanetary capable manned spacecraft, but we are not far from that.  The Caldari are another matter entirely, likely comparable to early 19th Century Earth.  They may have had preventative telescopes, but they did not know that the Gallente even existed.

2. The Caldari did not know the Gallente were there.   I suspect the majority of Gallente were "generally" suppportive of making contact with their neighbors and generally hopeful.  I suspect there were those looking towards exploitation and some who feared what they might do to a culture without various technologies.

3.  I think the Gallente were at least under a powerful hegemony possibly on the way to a "one world" order.  I suspect the Caldari were more or less divided, possibly with a few clear major powers.  First contact rapidly changes this for both cultures.

This is curious. So either Caldari had some other technology for long distance communications (falcons?) or that radio transmissions were common but people did not believe in life on other planets and the Gallente signals were dismissed as noise, pranks, information warfare by other Caldari nations etc.

[Ken]

some other technology for long distance communications (falcons?) or that radio transmissions were common but people did not believe in life on other planets and the Gallente signals were dismissed as noise, pranks, information warfare by other Caldari nations etc.

Telegraph? Also possible that the Gallente had advanced radio tech to the point where a very primitive receiver would be useless for listening in. Compare a basic analog HF signal to a modern packet transmission in UHF.

[Bastian Valoron]

Telegraph? Also possible that the Gallente had advanced radio tech to the point where a very primitive receiver would be useless for listening in. Compare a basic analog HF signal to a modern packet transmission in UHF.

Sure. So was it just a coincidence that the technology hadn't advanced further, or could it be that these primitive communication tools were too ingrained to the culture, always taken for granted and generally seen as the best one can achieve? Or maybe the service providers of that time had achieved a monopoly status and there hadn't been any pressure to develop alternative technologies? Gunpowder of the ancient China and columns of the ancient Greece indicate that this might be entirely possible.

[Ken]

I like those ideas. Another possible cultural answer could be that remote communication was seen as disrespectful to the recipient or dishonorable to the sender. Maybe the pre-contact Caldari valued the human touch and simpler ideals of community than they do now. A technical answer, other than a simple disparity in telecom technology due to a Gallente "headstart", could be a serious shortfall in materials needed to produce very precise and high bandwidth radios and more sensitive electronics on Caldari Prime.

[orange]

This is curious. So either Caldari had some other technology for long distance communications (falcons?) or that radio transmissions were common but people did not believe in life on other planets and the Gallente signals were dismissed as noise, pranks, information warfare by other Caldari nations etc.

 

For most of modern human history long distance communications has been handled via messengers of some kind.  Occasionally, depending on local conditions signaling mechanisms could be used.   In other words, a trusted person (or animal) carried the message over long distances.

Different peoples and cultures develop technologies at different rates and may even encounter a scientific phenomena or principle, but not recognize its practical application/lack the technology to use the practical application.  An example of this was the principles behind a steam engine during the Greek Classical era.

My understanding is the Caldari, for whatever reason, were technologically behind the Gallente at first contact.

[lallara zhuul]

For me the problem is the timeframe.

The Amarr Empire has been in space for two millenia, it enslaved the Minmatar before the first contact between the Gallente and the Caldari. At the moment the Empire is less technologically advanced than it used to be (Takmahl had tech that is being datamined for tech 2, who left the Empire way back when.)

To have the nations that make up the Federation be complete upstarts when it comes to technology seems a bit far fetched...

I think its all a bit

I applaud the initiative.

The problem is the lack of information from CCPs part about the actual cultures that are part of this experiment and extrapolating any kind of information is pretty much just wasted talent.

Because CCP just does not give a fuck.

The most awesome stuff about the Caldari are player made, so... 

[NISYN Aelisha]

Glad to seem ore people posting.  I have been at work the last few days, but have some sample entries on the way now - final edit will be coming through by Sunday/Monday.  I am loving the discussion about Caldair long distance comms, I am assuming telegraph for them ost part, but the alternatives are interesting - possibly way more used in the harsher areas of Caldari Prime. 

Keep it going, sorry this message is short but I have to get back to work.  TTYL!