Names of races?

kirbykibble · Post by **kirbykibble** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:37 am

i have realized that many of the races in FC are closely related to constellations.
for example, there is a Lyra constellation (Lyran)
Hydra constellation (Hydran)
Andromeda constellation (andromedan)
Orion Constellation (Orion)
And others.

Were they named this because they were located in the constellation> or was it just for other reasons?

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:41 am

I think you discovered the secret...

kinshi · Post by **kinshi** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:05 am

I don't spose the 'WYN' star cluster is not actually the NGC-253 super-star cluster observed by astronomer Dr. Garret Wynn-Williams

kirbykibble · Post by **kirbykibble** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:07 am

geez..

kinshi · Post by **kinshi** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:10 am

kirbykibble wrote:geez..

ok I confess I google'ed that

not something I would have committed t memory LOL

kirbykibble · Post by **kirbykibble** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:23 am

can someone please give me an answer????

Carthaginian · Post by **Carthaginian** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:37 am

kirbykibble wrote:can someone please give me an answer????

I think everyone is kinda hinting you are possibly correct in a way.

kirbykibble · Post by **kirbykibble** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:46 am

okay

geez... just a question.....

Post by **Jean** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 11:29 am

The only person who can answer that question with any degree of authority is SVC and he is at home, resting from Origins which was a minimum of 13-hour days (and frequently 15 hours). He'd also just put in about three weeks with a minimum of 12-hour days, excepting Sunday where he put in five-hour days. Please allow him time to respond.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:27 pm

There is no relation between constellations and empires.

empires are NOT in the direction of a constellation except by dumb luck or accident.

Andromedans are from the Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is named such because it's in the constellatiion of Andromedan. We didn't name the constellation or the galaxy.

Hydran is not named for a constellation, neither is Lyran.

WYN was originally intended by Mike Thompson to mean "wealthy neighborhood" and nothing more.

Orion is a random astro-word that Star Trek assigned to the pirates. I doubt they were linking it to a constellation.

If there are other empires with the same names as constellations (I am not aware of any) then it's just happenstance.

kinshi · Post by **kinshi** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:25 pm

OK I can buy that..you are the designer after all, only you know what was in your head at the time of the race naming, as such are THE definitive source.

Though as far as the WYN go..that is a bit of 'astronomically' high amount of coincidence that the WYN star cluster as described can be correlated to an actual star cluster with similar properties which was observed by a guy name Wynn.

That's "go buy a lottery ticket" sort of dumb luck.

and yea, its true, the Lyra and Hydra constellations do NOT line up at all with the Lyran or Hydran spaces in the game (in face the primary star of Lyra (Vega) is right in the middle of core Federation space).

Orion, however, is right where it belongs (of course the original Franz Joseph map of the galaxy in the Star Fleet Technical Manual is based on the real deal.)

Still, having no less than 5 races who happen to share a name with the constellations in a starship combat game is also pretty unique as far as coincidence goes. A couple are coincidence, 5 is a streak but I imagine its hard to be in this genre and NOT be influenced by cosmology, even unconsciously.

pinecone · Post by **pinecone** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:43 am

Didn't all of this come from some mysterious air force tapes in the first place? Who knows what the intentions of the prankster who recorded those tapes were?

Oh, wait... NO! I've said too much...

semperatis · Post by **semperatis** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 4:17 am

I wonder if Isis had a paw in it too.

terryoc · Post by **terryoc** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:21 am

I think the Hydrans are called that because they look like fire hydrants. Dirty, rotten, low-down, methane-breathing fire hydrants.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:52 pm

Nope, the WYN cluster had zero relationship and zero connection to anyone named Wynn.

Orions are just an astro name that Paramount used and someone (I don't think it was Franz Joseph, probably me) decided to put where the "Orion Arm" is.

Hydran and Lyran are just astro names.

There simply is no "streak" here. You'd do better finding random names of fighter aces in WW2 compared to random streets named for unrelated people in Philadelphia. Or Dayton.