When I started the Flight of the Raven Series, I knew I would need to create my own universe. And beyond the galaxy, I needed to have political organizations, alliances, enemies, different species and starships. The list went on and on. What was always clear to me was that I couldn’t use someone else’s universe as my own.
Creating your own universe is complicated and daunting. I had only to read a few of the Honor Harrington books to realize how tough this was going to be. But being as pig headed as I am, I didn’t let that stop me. As first conceived, Tucker McLeod is an officer in the Star Alliance, while Raina Wolfe serves the Central Federation.
My original notes when outlining Twin Worlds look like this:
The Central Federation was formed in Stardate 2315.4 as a security and safety treaty organization for worlds in all four quadrants of the galaxy, though the worlds are concentrated in galaxy center.
The Star Alliance was formed 58 standard years later (Stardate 2373.2) primarily of farther flung worlds in the Beta quadrant. They are a somewhat looser confederation of worlds, and also a voluntary treaty organization. These two major organizations have never been at odds, but have deeply ingrained cultures that make forming a single organization all but impossible.
A few key events served to bring them together for the first time. In Stardate 2408.8, Shan Confederacy ships attacked the lone Alliance-affiliated world in the Gamma Quadrant. Shortly afterwards, Federation fighters arrived to assist the planet. The fighters ran a supply blockade until a flotilla of Star Alliance ships could arrive, thus saving the planet. At almost the same time in the Beta Quadrant, a Federation world suffering major tidal issues broadcast a wide appeal for help. Two Galaxy-class ships from the Star Alliance answered the call. Based on these events, in Stardate 2408 the Executive Council of the Star Alliance approached the Prime Minister of the Central Federation in an effort to seek non-competitive pacts and military cooperation against both specific and non-specific enemies. From this beginning, now known as the Graf Accords, the federation and alliance have been cooperating. Their central tenant for cooperation has been the defense of federation and alliance worlds from tyranny and to ensure their ability to freely associate with either organization. In addition, the Alliance and the Federation unite to protect unaffiliated worlds from the tyranny of their recognized enemies.
I had to create a lot more things to make the new universe work, including create some bad guy organizations and flesh out background stories for each organization. Some of these background stories have helped me develop two more novels, so this hard work was definitely worth it.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
