What is considered canon in Alpha Centauri?

[JeroenDStout]

With regards to the later starting dates of the other factions and canon... that confused me about SMAC. Ideally you would play with all 14 factions and have the split-offs happen later, perhaps give the progenitors a head start, and such. I feel the same starting date is mostly a technical thing more than a 'may be read as canon' thing.

Even the start year of 2100 is suspect. Who would launch a space vessel to arrive at such a nice round time

[Yitzi]

@BUncle ah ok. In that case i agree.

I wonder how the novels are. I havent read them

They are okay. They end up in a very dark place:

(click to show/hide)

Basically, the novels end with a Conquest Victory for Miriam and Yang's daughter. Their pact ends up acquiring Singularity weapons from the University, and they use it to carve a swath of destruction across planet. Ultimately, the surviving faction leaders retreat into hardened underground bunkers, where they plan to undergo Clinical Immortality treatment in order to give themselves another 200 or so years of life, which they plan to spend within the Virtual World.

Which is not what I consider the "standard"/"canon" story of SMAC, which ends with the Gaians achieving transcendence.

[BeyondChiron]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

[Buster's Uncle]

Incidentally, the motion comic thing at the bottom of the Story page on the official mirror is still linked through the WayBack Machine, because I and no one who spoke up could figure out how to get the file to host - so pain in the butt slow WayBack load there, and I don't trust it not to disappear someday the way pictures do on the WM.  Help with that would be appreciated, if anyone could figure out how.

It's worth a view, BTW, even in its present arrangement.

[Yitzi]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

I don't see either as happening; I think of  as being an ever-more-ignored voice as time progresses, but never quite disappearing and eventually making a minor contribution to the Planetmind as well as contributing a substantial number of those who keep their human forms after Transcendence.

[Buster's Uncle]

Stubbornness is SO fundamental to  's nature.  I suppose you could put her in a Masada situation, but I can't see her just giving up, for sure - and suicide is a sin - Full stop.

[JeroenDStout]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

I don't see either as happening; I think of  as being an ever-more-ignored voice as time progresses, but never quite disappearing and eventually making a minor contribution to the Planetmind as well as contributing a substantial number of those who keep their human forms after Transcendence.

I don't think the tech quotes even really say who it is she is sending through. Or even whether the other end is just a null. We can spin it into meaning anything, which is why those two quotes, which most players will rarely hear, are so terrifying. She could also be brainwashing other faction's citizens by presenting it as a miracle to a promised land.

[Yitzi]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

I don't see either as happening; I think of  as being an ever-more-ignored voice as time progresses, but never quite disappearing and eventually making a minor contribution to the Planetmind as well as contributing a substantial number of those who keep their human forms after Transcendence.

I don't think the tech quotes even really say who it is she is sending through. Or even whether the other end is just a null. We can spin it into meaning anything, which is why those two quotes, which most players will rarely hear, are so terrifying. She could also be brainwashing other faction's citizens by presenting it as a miracle to a promised land.

That quote actually looks far too optimistic to be mass suicide; "the time of miracles is upon us" is not what you'd say before mass suicide.

I think that is the last thing she told her followers before abdicating her position in the wake of Transcendence, which she sees as God's method of returning humanity to Eden.

[Buster's Uncle]

I've always found the dichotomy between the thoughtful science ethicist Miriam in the tech quotes & project movies, and the petulantly hostile Miriam of faction diplomacy interesting.  That's probably just poor creative coordination, but in-universe, it hints at a complex personality...

[firebomb173]

I've always found the dichotomy between the thoughtful science ethicist Miriam in the tech quotes & project movies, and the petulantly hostile Miriam of faction diplomacy interesting.  That's probably just poor creative coordination, but in-universe, it hints at a complex personality...

That's an interesting way of seeing her, and you're not the only person who thinks of her that way. I personally always saw her as a sanctimonious lunatic whose concern for others was warped to the point where it was little more than an excuse to destroy anything she believed was deviant. To me she's basically like the mother from the movie Carrie, except in charge of a nation. Then again, when I saw even the messed up cinematic for secret projects like the Self-Aware colony all I was thinking was "just think of the potential"!
Oh, and I found a great article about Alpha Centauri and the meaning of what Miriam was saying about technology. Even though I don't agree with it it's still an excellent read.
http://quinnae.com/2014/04/19/but-for-the-grace-of-tuche-why-writers-should-avoid-the-temptations-of-caricature/

[BeyondChiron]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

I don't see either as happening; I think of  as being an ever-more-ignored voice as time progresses, but never quite disappearing and eventually making a minor contribution to the Planetmind as well as contributing a substantial number of those who keep their human forms after Transcendence.

Well the work which Psi Gate quotes is called Last Testament. Add to that  "walking to the garden of God" and "casting off sin" sugests that whatever it happened, it was definitive.

Her lack of concern for planet (Promised Land) and her Christianity probably clashing with the Cult of Planet that arose late game leads me to think she isnt one for transcendence. And the "with luck we shall meet on the other side" suggest death in my opinion. I can almost picture her in a podium in New Jerusalen, beseeching her flock to go through and them going unknowingly and bindly to it. She seems like the kind who would find transcendece sacrilegy and would get a shitton of people killed to "save their souls"

[Dio]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

I don't see either as happening; I think of  as being an ever-more-ignored voice as time progresses, but never quite disappearing and eventually making a minor contribution to the Planetmind as well as contributing a substantial number of those who keep their human forms after Transcendence.

Well the work which Psi Gate quotes is called Last Testament. Add to that  "walking to the garden of God" and "casting off sin" sugests that whatever it happened, it was definitive.

Her lack of concern for planet (Promised Land) and her Christianity probably clashing with the Cult of Planet that arose late game leads me to think she isnt one for transcendence. And the "with luck we shall meet on the other side" suggest death in my opinion. I can almost picture her in a podium in New Jerusalen, beseeching her flock to go through and them going unknowingly and bindly to it. She seems like the kind who would find transcendece sacrilegy and would get a shitton of people killed to "save their souls"

Her planet penalty never really made much sense to me from a flavor perspective. What would make her faction more disruptive of planet's ecosystems than, for example, Morgan Industries or The Spartan Federation? Also, I do not think that the SMAX factions backstories should be mixed with the original seven factions backstories since the game was orignally developed with only the original seven factions in mind.

[BeyondChiron]

According to the gurps book, they have some dificulties adapting  their activities to the planet ecology (whatever those activities are) and their beliefs tell them planet is their promised land to be used as they see fit. I guess they didnt blink once to remove fungi.

Also according to the book she is sympatheyuc on the outsude but terribly intolerant of views differentt of hers in the inside so i guess that explains it

[Yitzi]

Ok i'll just ignore all that

I refuse to believe an ending where Miriam wins, becausr mass suicide throug a psi gate is cooler :p i wish i could read them nonethelesz

I don't see either as happening; I think of  as being an ever-more-ignored voice as time progresses, but never quite disappearing and eventually making a minor contribution to the Planetmind as well as contributing a substantial number of those who keep their human forms after Transcendence.

Well the work which Psi Gate quotes is called Last Testament.

Yeah, before she abdicated.

Add to that  "walking to the garden of God" and "casting off sin" sugests that whatever it happened, it was definitive.

True, and Transcendence is definitely definitive.

Her lack of concern for planet (Promised Land) and her Christianity probably clashing with the Cult of Planet that arose late game leads me to think she isnt one for transcendence. And the "with luck we shall meet on the other side" suggest death in my opinion. I can almost picture her in a podium in New Jerusalen, beseeching her flock to go through and them going unknowingly and bindly to it. She seems like the kind who would find transcendece sacrilegy and would get a shitton of people killed to "save their souls"

Except:
1. That doesn't fit with the "age of miracles" part of the quote.
2. After Transcendence, Planet (for those who didn't join the Planetmind) is very much a Promised Land and a return to Eden (just read the epilogue), fitting very nicely with the language in that quote.
3. None of the main faction leaders like the Cult of Planet, and I suspect it fizzled out once the Voice of Planet was operational.

[BeyondChiron]

Yeah, before she abdicated.

True, and Transcendence is definitely definitive.

 
Except:
1. That doesn't fit with the "age of miracles" part of the quote.
2. After Transcendence, Planet (for those who didn't join the Planetmind) is very much a Promised Land and a return to Eden (just read the epilogue), fitting very nicely with the language in that quote.
3. None of the main faction leaders like the Cult of Planet, and I suspect it fizzled out once the Voice of Planet was operational.

1- I think the only leader hinted to have abdicated is Morgan, since while Morgan industries keeps showing up, Nwabudlike doesnt.

2-It is, but like i said before, she doesnt appear to me like the kind that would accept it (once again, her intolerance and her lack of concern for planet) 

3- I feel like going to Heaven does fit the bill though (and to go there being dead is kinda a requirement) and I feel like that line is about that (You really cant cast off sin until you are dead)

4-It does. And it equally fits what i said too :s

5- Im not talking about the faction, I'm talking about the literal cult, like the worshipping. In late game, you can Temples of Planet and according to the gurps book worshipping Planet became a religion (a very pagan style one). I feel like that just the existance of any religion more popular than Christianism would be enough to make her shut down to any further reasoning, much more one that sees her "Promised Land" as a God