GSDF NOTES (for unwary readers) Galactica SDF is an alternate Battlestar:GALACTICA universe, developed in fanfic as a means of explaining various inconsistencies from the show itself (and also with the stated aim of putting a little more excitement into the stories ). Most of the stories can be read by the average BG fan with no problem, but some items may trip up the unwary; hence this list. GALACTICA, Battlestar: the largest, most powerful dreadnought ever developed by the Colonies for warfare. The battlestar is a mobile fortress, acting as master ship and carrier for an attendant fleet. The Galactica is the third oldest of the remaining battlestars, currently under the command of Adama of Caprica. A battlestar carries on it four squadrons of fifty space fighters (models vary; the Galactica carries Viper interceptors, Cobra and Striker fighters, and Scorpion strike-fighters). Galactica's squadrons are RED, BLUE, GREEN and GOLD (other battlestars have different names for their squadrons). Support ships like cruisers and blastships will also usually carry a squadron or two for self- and wing-defense. A battlestar also fields enough weaponry to devastate a planet, but is much slower-moving than most other ships, and consequently more in need of defense in battle. ADAMA, Commander. Currently in command of the Battlestar GALACTICA. Due for promotion to Admiral within another five sectars, max. TIGH, Colonel. Second in command of the GALACTICA. Adama's executive officer, due to be the executive officer of the GALACTICA's next appointed commander. (Battlestar Commanders are a separate line of advancement from Battlestar Executive Officers. Execs are seldom if ever promoted to full command. Instead, a Battlestar Commander--who will usually command the Battlestar's entire wing of ships [cruisers, blastships, supply and maintenance ships, etc.]--is replaced by a new (or another) battlestar commander, and an Executive Office might work with two or three Commanders during his tenure. It's not so bad; while the Commander is commanding the battlestar's wing, the Exec is generally in complete command of the battlestar itself.) ATHENA, Lieutenant. Daughter of Adama, third in command of the GALACTICA. In training for Battlestar command, hence her position. While she does not have the rank to "pull rank" on higher officers, she has the authority to give orders to them nonetheless. OMEGA, Captain. Fourth in command of the GALACTICA. Tigh's executive officer, in training to be a Battlestar exec some day. Has already received approval to be the Executive Officer of the RIKKON, once that battlestar leaves CircumSagitarra drydock in a number of jahren. ARTEMIS, Lieutenant. Bridge operations officer aboard the GALACTICA; frequently takes command of the bridge during 'night' shifts; alter- nates duty with Athena. Daughter of Adama's younger brother Cahan, raised with Adama's children. APOLLO, Captain. Commanding officer of Blue Squadron aboard the GALACTICA. Son of Adama. This is his first off-planet tour (several jahren long now) and second tour of duty since graduation. STARBUCK, Lieutenant. Viper interceptor pilot, Blue Squadron. The squadron daredevil (there's one in every crowd). BOOMER, Flight Sergeant. Viper interceptor pilot, Blue Squadron. JOLLY, Lieutenant. Viper interceptor pilot, Blue Squadron. Boomer's usual wingman. GILES, Lieutenant. Cobra fighter pilot, Blue Squadron. Starbuck's usual wingman. MARDUQ, Captain. Cobra fighter pilot, Blue Squadron. Second in command of Blue Squadron. ZAC, Lieutenant. Newly-assigned pilot to Blue Squadron, Galactica. Freshly graduated as class valedictorian (new grads generally have the rank of Ensign). Determined to make a name for himself, but not certain how to do it. DANNEL. Flight-Sergeant (eventually). 500-jahron old who spent most of that 500-jahren in suspended animation. Just before the Jubilee Destruction (500 jahren back) Sagitarra was conducting experiments in genetics (technology proscribed in the colonies, based on fears from legends of the Last Days Of Kobol), creating psionic/psychic super- soldiers to go toe-to-toe with cylons. The others of Dan's project were missing when he was awakened; but we'll eventually find out what happened to them... DZHILLIN, Major2. Flight-commander, all squadrons, Galactica. SALIK, Major2. Chief Physician aboard the Galactica. WILKER, Major2. Chief Science Officer of the Galactica. SHADRACK, Major2. Chief Engineering Officer of the Galactica. RIGEL, Corporal. Flight controller pulling duty on the bridge. Joined the military to find adventure, and got just a job instead. ADAR, President. Civilian head of the Council of the Twelve, the elected representatives of the Twelve Colonies of Man. SERINA. Civilian, newscaster on ACVi, one of Caprica's world-wide broadcast networks (just not important or famous enough to have been selected for the Press Pool aboard the STAR KOBOL attending the Armistice Talks at Cimtar). OTHER PERSONAGES are explored or delineated as the stories progress. COLONIES: The Twelve Colonies are twelve inhabited worlds colonized approximately six thousand jahren ago by a motherworld called Kobol. These colonies are: Aquaria, Gemon, Leus, Sagitarra, Piscea, Liber, Caprica, Scorp, Taura, Aer, Cantseras and Virg. There are several other marginally habitable worlds in the system, most of which are economic colonies of one or the other Colonies, and there is Borallus, the innermost-habitable world in the system, a desert planet populated by human offshoots called the Gnomen. CAPRICA, GEMON, AER, VIRG: standard Earthlike planets. SCORP, AER, PISCEA: Mountainous--much like alpine Europe all over. TAURA, LEUS: Primeval, lush jungle worlds (think of Venus in the old space opera stories) LIBER: arid to the point of dessication. Think of Mars with air. CANTSERAS: gloomy, cloud-shrouded, humid, cool, monster-infested. AQUARIA: a water-world, with very few low-lying islands. The Colonial System is composed of five stars, thirty-four planets and two asteroid belts. The largest of these planets is Cimtar-Mephis, a Jupiter-like gas giant with several planet-sized satellites (one of which, Thule, houses a Colonial Military station and gas-cracking refinery). The outermost of the Colonies is Sagitarra, perched on the edge of the central stars' Life Zone; the innermost (excluding Borallus, which is actually out of the Life Zone) is Aquaria (which nonetheless manages to be an ocean-covered planet). Two of the colonies, Scorp and Taura, are twin worlds, tide-locked and circling together. The politics of the Colonies are complex, varying between the restrictive new-wave democracy of Caprica to the age-old monarchy of Aer to the clan-structured Sagitarra to the family-group-anarchy of Gemon. Scorp, easily the most warlike of the Colonies, a hundred jahren back occupied Taura (as an "army of liberation") and currently controls a puppet government there. Four hundred jahren before, the Scorps attempted the same thing on Sagitarra, only to eventually be thrown off the planet. Aquaria and Virg have long chafed at the high cost of the so-called Millenium War, and were the loudest to insist on peace. Sagitarra, the best-defended, was the most opposed to the proposed Armistice. Caprica underwent substantial social upheaval in the past thirty jahren, and many there are calling their new culture the Caprican Rennaisance. Most offworld really wish they'd stop hyping it so obnoxiously. CYLON: The Cylons are an incredibly old race of reptilian beings who long ago embraced cybernetics as the way to advance their race into the future (and galaxy). Relatively few 'pure' Cylons are born any more; most of the existing such are already more machine than living being. The Cylons have created a stellar empire encompassing several hundred worlds and several dozen races of living being (and are credited with the destruction of numerous worlds and at least twelve other intelligent races). The Cylon Empire first became aware of the human race when the initial exploration parties from Kobol located what would eventually become the Colonial System some six thousand jahren ago, and took very little notice of them. (Historical records are still unclear as to whether the first fall of humanity during the Long Night of several thousand jahren, several thousand jahren back, is due to anti-technological movements on the Colonies, or Cylon intervention.) They would likely have continued to ignore humanity for another few thousand jahren had humanity not attempted to interfere in internal Cylon affairs. The Cylons undertook to discipline the upstart aliens, and humanity, taking umbrage at this, escalated things until it turned into what humanity called the Millenium War. Following the defeat of humanity, the Cylons have undertaken (for reasons none of the few surviving humans are aware of, but which are buried in surviving records) to exterminate humanity completely--and they may well be able to do this. MILLENIUM WAR: (aka the Thousand-Jahren War) War between the humans of the Twelve Colonies of Man and the Cylon Empire. Started by the humans almost an even thousand jahren ago, this war has been a steady decline for humanity, as the Cylon Empire, more and more irritated by the pesky humans, devote more and more energy to pacifying them. Five hundred or so jahren ago, the Cylons dealt a truly crushing defeat to humanity, actually devastating parts of the Central System itself. It took another three hundred jahren for humanity to get back into space seriously, and only another fifty after that before they picked another fight with the cylons. The cylons responded with ever-increasing force until an incident some thirty jahren or so ago resulted in the complete destruction of a cylon world (including a bunch of billions of living beings). At this point, the Cylons decided that humanity had moved from being a pest to being a danger, and set out to destroy them (rather than pacify them). Thanks to the intervention and actions of human insiders, the Cylons were able to defeat humanity and (so they thought) wipe it out to the root. TIME AND DISTANCE: Colonial Standards. Local standards apply on individual Colonies and their ships. MICHRON: a 'second' CENTRON: a 'ten-second' CENTON: a 'minute (a hundred michrons) CENTAR: an 'hour' (ten centons) CYCLON: a 'day' (seldom used; 'day' is more common; ten centars) SECTON: a 'week' (ten days) SECTAR: a 'month' (five sectons) JAHRON (pl. JAHREN): a 'year' (ten sectars) DEKKON: a 'decade' (seldom used; ten jahren) CENTURON: a 'century' (one hundred jahren) MILLENIUM: an 'era' (one thousand jahren) MILLIM: (millimetron) a 'millimeter' CENTIM: (centimetron) a 'centimeter' DECIM: (decimetron) a 'decimeter' METRON: a 'meter' DEKAM: (decametron) a 'decameter' HECTAR: (hectametron) a 'hectameter' KILOM: (kilometron) a 'kilometer' MILLIN: a 'milligram' DESCILON: a 'decigram' KILON: a 'kilogram' MEGAKIL, GIGAKIL: megakilon, gigakilon. Et cetera. A Colonial Warrior might be "thirty-one jahren old," or a baby might be "a jahron five" for one jahron and five sectars old. A woman might be "forty-seven kilons twelve" indicating that she is 47.12 kilons in mass. Explosions can be measures in (usually) megakil or gigakil. NOTE: each individual Colony (excepting Scorp-occupied Taura) has its own sets of measures. Only Liber has adopted Colonial Standard for local means (and that's only because they invented it in the first place). Further questions? Ask 'em on the BG List or email directly to Davey Jones at homyak@erols.com.