Continuation Overview Some Character Bios Writngs Art Encyclopedia Timeline Contributors' Guidelines Contact
The Continuation works as a shared universe by treating all contributions as artifacts within the Continuation universe. Perdita is a historical account written by Nevan West-of-Now, The Hour before Morning, a loosely historically based Ashtorian novel, and so on.
The beauty of this system is that all our conceptions of the Continuation do not have to agree (any more than all fans' fan fictions agree). They're texts, and texts will vary. One account of the life of Elek may contradict another, and that's to be expected.
Of course, for this universe to make sense, there must be some core we all agree on. This core can be considered "hard history." It includes basic scientific and sociopolitical facts, historical events, etc. For example, Ghanior Hastri'nom will always be the one who introduces Jana to Ashtor, unless we're talking about a wildly fictitious "alternate universe" story, which you're welcome to write under an AU heading.
To contribute, tell us where your story is coming from. Is it a "hard historical" account? a quasi-historical story? an ancient myth? a fictional work? A text's in-universe author may be a major character in the Continuation or just a name you make up. Or you could write an anonymous "found" text. Just tell us how it fits in to the Continuation.
Naturally, this "fit" must make sense within the Continuation. For example, a "hard history" work in which no disaster ever happens on Daughter would not be plausible. But an AU "what if" story to that effect would work fine.
How much you have to know about The Continuation to write it depends on what you're writing. If you're writing "hard history" about a topic/era already well-developed, you'll have to know quite a bit and play within quite a lot of rules. If you want to create your own characters and specific setting, you can have near infinite leeway.
Any work will be considered canon as long as the "fit" works: in a historical text, for example, is the history basically accurate? For already better developed characters, there must also be a "fit" in characterization. Is 'Eblia behaving like 'Eblia in a text that is supposed to be by an individual who knew her?
The easiest way to get a non-fit text to fit is to relabel its category. For example, a text that might feel "off" as a serious biography of 'Eblia might work just fine as an avant-garde novel re-evaluating her personality some centuries after her death.
In visual art and music, just about anything can be canon. Here there's less need for in-universe authorial attributions, though they're welcome.
Time and space constraints will limit the amount of work I can post on this site. But I will do my utmost to include as many contributions as possible. I also plan to look into a LiveJournal Community and/or automated archive. Be aware that work posted online is considered "electronically published." Most conventional publishers will not consider previously published work.
If you are looking for particular places where The Continuation offers exciting creative challenges, here are a few ideas:
I have certain characters who already exist as historical entities but have not been much fleshed out. In addition to creating your own characters, you are welcome to develop one or more of these characters. Examples include Talya, Cordec, Mey and Asoiya, and Léyvia, among many others I'll add information about as I have time.
Similarly, I have created numerous planets that are no more than a name and a couple of statistics. You are welcome to adopt and develop one of these planets. (Info. on planets coming soon.)
Finally, there are major historical events that I have not developed as full stories. These include, among others, the colonization and abandonment of Daughter and the terraforming of worlds within the Continuation, the Kiri-Sama War, and the relations at any given time between humans and Ybians.
Please email me if you have questions or, until user interfaces are available, to submit work. (Please no attachments.)
Last update: 1/1/2006