The Thinker

The Thinker
The writer at work on a grand work of fiction.... :)

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Kinth Universe Commentaries Part 2 - Galactic Defense Force Musings

Something that remains unclear and obscure in science fiction settings is the size of armed forces. Different Sci-Fi settings exhibit varying sizes of respective defense forces, whether they be space-based or land-based. In Star Wars, the Empire at its peak under Emperor Palpatine counted more than 25,000 Star Destroyers of various classes, not to forget the Death Star itself, although the Imperial Navy is not specifically divided into fleets and task forces, rather into several generalized formations and groupings which allow a certain leeway in the way of numbers. In Warhammer 40,000 the Imperium's military forces consists of thousands of genetically altered warriors such as the Space Wolves, millions of ordinary soldiers, hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of mechanical armor and a certain unspecified number of spaceships, perhaps numbering in thousands given the backdrop of an Imperium-wide Crusade. In the popular Star Trek television series Deep Space Nine hundreds of Starfleet ships can be seen fighting against the combined Dominion and Cardassian Fleets and it can be inferred that hundreds of such ships form a single fleet.

The Kinth Universe does away with such obscurity in the form of specifically classified naval defense forces and ground forces. As it emerges over the course of the Kinth Legacy Trilogy, each faction has a certain amount of (space-based) fleets which vary in their sizes and compositions from faction to faction (not within the faction itself) and are divided into specific fleets and task forces and such with a finite amount of ships and fighters. The same follows for the ground forces in the Kinth Universe where each military is divided into a finite number of groupings consisting of certain specific numbers of men and material.

For example, the Ranisian Empire has 10 space-based fleets, which consist of approximately 9500 ships larger than a starfighter and nearly 36,000 fighters, while the land-based forces are made up of 10 regimental groups of various sizes which consists of hundreds of thousands of soldiers/commandos, armor and artillery and atmospheric fighters.

I believe that in order to write a novel, it is not enough to pick up a pen and start writing away. Rather, this creative process requires research and understanding of what is to be written. In that regard, I have attempted to hammer down sizes of the military forces in the Kinth Universe so that I have an established pattern of how things are while I write the story.

While my ideas on ground forces are woefully undeveloped, my ideas on space fleets are very precise with regard to vessel types and classes. In this matter my greatest inspiration and research material comes from Star Wars with its hundreds of types of vessels and classes which provide a rich and action-packed experience when reading the novels and comics. Starfighters, capital ships like Picketships, Gunships, Corvettes, Frigates, and Destroyers, and larger super capital ship designs such as Battlecruisers, Dreadnoughts, Juggernauts, Carriers, are just some of the 'outline' designs that I use. Crossover designs such as Battleships, Super Star Cruisers and Cruiser Carriers also make an appearance throughout the Kinth Universe.

As depicted in Star Wars, starfighters are very crucial instruments of space warfare with dozens of designs for as many purposes, something that is reflected on a smaller scale in the famous television series Battlestar Galactica. This is a style that I made a point of specially including in the Kinth Series since these one- and two-man small attack craft offer a host of plot points and twists and turns. Therefore in the tradition of these shows, the factions of the Kinth Universe employ several designs of these attack craft in their fleets with many more existing otherwise, used by neither major faction but by fringe groups and private security forces throughout the Kinth Galaxy.

As in all other science-fiction works, the space fleets of the Kinth Universe work much the same as the naval fleets of today, although there exits a far greater range of ship designs in this day and age than in the science-fiction settings we all know.

Kinth Universe Commentaries Part 1 - Overview, Random thoughts

A unique aspect of the Science-Fiction and Fantasy genres is their scope - a backdrop of greatness, variety and great size. Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation novels take place in galaxy of human expansion and dominance. George Lucas' Star Wars franchise takes place in a galaxy with millions of varied species, billions of planets, intrigue and action. Raymond E. Feist's Midkemia/Kelewan novels take place on worlds alive with magic, political intrigue, savagery and an eternal battle of good versus evil. Frank Herbert's legendary Dune Universe is another example of the issue at hand; the stage that Frank Herbert set all those years ago is a universe dominated by humans, extolling a feudal system of rulership that has survived for thousands of years after humanity leaves Earth.

In the Kinth Universe, our stage is no less grand than any of the aforementioned settings. The Kinth Series travels from one end of the galaxy to another, encountering wonders and things unknown. It all begins with dozens of species, hundreds of planets, thousands of characters and naval fleets numbering in thousands of ships from the first installment of the Series - the Kinth Legacy Trilogy, of which The Hunted Prince is the book. With the establishment of the Ranisian Empire more than ten thousand years ago, the (semi)feudal system of rulership has once again emerged as an important form of major interstellar governance.