CREDITS

THANKINGS

I’ve been planning Distant Vista for a long time now, and running it for nearly 4 years. I’ve not been as organised as I’d have liked, and this guide isn’t as ‘all encompassing’ as I’d hoped. Some of the ideas are original. Some are ‘borrowed’ from other places, and a few were plucked out of the ether just before some Hollywood blockbuster came up with the exact same idea. 

Take a look at the credits below - the thanks-yous are exactly that, dedications to pople who helped me with the initial , larval stages of DV. Below that are the inspirations that I (think) I drew on for DV. 

A large number of people helped me with this, either by contributing ideas, support or enthusiasm, so in no particular order...

I’d like to thank Ken Mackreil, for his early input into the ‘feel’ of some of the universe, and the creation of the System Defense force (as well as helping me name Pax Humanis). 

Heather Macdonald, for her ideas on the Companions and the numerous offers of props, costume and the like.

Beth Armstrong, for an interesting take on the Fayls, and helping me make them more than just intergalactic Sluts…

Tecee and G, for boundless enthusiasm and random idea bouncing. 

Martin Jones for, as ever, helping above and beyond the call of duty on the admin and money side (with some help from TC). 

Steph Beason, for her thoughts on education, slavery and rights.

Big thanks to Tim Birkbeck, for coming up with the name for the game. 

Of course, a big thank you to my lovely wife Llana, who tolerated many late nights of keyboard bashing from me, and let me bounce ideas off her mercilessly. 

Finally, a big thank-you to all those who were enthusiastic enough to support the idea, and to not bail just because the world-guide didn’t materialise when I said it would.

INSPIRATIONS

A few bits of media that have inspired me and may help inspire you regards Distant Vista.

TV

Farscape – One of the 2 greatest tele-fantasy series ever. Superb effects, stories and cast. Believable aliens and environments. The biggest single influence on DV. You owe it to yourself to watch all 4 series.

Firefly. – The other greatest tele-fantasy show. Cruelly cut down before it completed a single season, the 15 episodes of this western in space are pure genius. Forget Buffy, this is what Whedon should be remembered for.

Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop – disparate shows, but give you an idea of what the credit hungry universe is really like to work in.

Babylon 5 – Multi-cultural society and the earth cruisers. Just ignore the whole telepath thing…

FILMS

Star Wars trilogy – the tech levels in DV are somewhere between this, Farscape and Firefly. Besides, the films are great. Not too much of a jump from the empire to Pax Humanis.

TITAN AE - Criminally underrated animation  - the sections on the junkers space station and early on in the Valkyrie illustrate a hominids place in the universe very well.

Chronicles Of Riddick –A Fantastic Movie. With the exception of the ‘destroying worlds’ issues (and the stupid name) the Necromongers and their arrival on a planet could easily be Pax Humanis, the Mercs are ideal representations of a fee-tracker crew, and Aereon could almost be one of the Tyrie.

Starship Troopers - A good example of how Pax Humanis wage war – brutal, bloody and in your face.

BOOKS

Death Stalker Series-Simon R Greene – Interesting ‘pulp’ view of an intergalactic human empire. The central characters get irritating after 4 books, but an enjoyable read.

Warhammer 40,000.-Games Workshop. –It may have been lobotomised into a sale vehicle for Citadel, but the background is fantastic – the marines could be viewed as religious versions of Pax Humanis.

SLA Industries -Nightfall games. - The integration of Alien cultures in a Hominid dominated society is a nice touch, this is whats likely to happen if Pax get their way, you know.....The environment could easily be any Pax SDA production world or corporate controlled hominid city-state

The Culture novels of Iain M Banks. Sure, the culture is probably the absolute antithesis of Pax, but few novelists do justice to humanity in the wider universe.