Crossover, crossover, crossover...

B.B. Rain

Well-Known Member
#1
So, there've been crossovers, where up to some halfway point, two similar series had never encountered each other, despite existing in the same universe (in-story), and moving in similar circles. Then the good guys team up, the bad guys get taken down by the sudden appearance of new people, skills, and tech, and then everythingÆs gravy, sometimes after the bad guys team up for mutual protection or necessity and get their ass kicked anyways.

Or fusions, where the two universes were integrated from the start, and the author is re-hashing canon from this altered backstory, or massively derailing canon from the above-mentioned point where the good guys start interacting.

But usually, it's one or two crossovers, maybe with hints, references, or cameos from other canons that don't amount to much, or you get a new crossover added as the previous conflict is dealt with, or goes into a decline, or the story is getting a bit boring, or...whatever.

So I'd like to set up a challenge for two versions of the same story, one version where the bad guys and precursor societies and friendly aliens never encountered anything outside there own canon until the story starts, or brings them into contact; and a story where all these different groups did exist, and ran into each other, or at least elements of each other's canon, when they logically would've, thus altering the way they exist as the story starts.

The basic idea is this: Around the 1990's-Early 21st Century, Earth starts encountering races of aliens, experiencing paradigm-shifting revelations about their own history and origins, gain new technology and experience, find was to adapt or use their existing technology to punch way above their weight-class in an interplanetary/intergalactic conflict, and get sucked into a war of survival against enemies that vastly outnumber them with allies who are of limited use, are unwilling or unable to intervene and solve the problem themselves, or actually make the problem worse for their own purposes. In some cases, the enemies and allies are the same species acting in seemingly conflicting ways for their own purposes, or different factions of the same species or organization continuing their conflict by way of proxy species.

All classic Sci-Fi plotline, very standard, seen it, done it, bought the box set.

Problem is, this keeps happening. With multiple groups of aliens and precursors and worldviews revealing themselves just as humanity encounters the previous group. Or simultaneously. Whatever.

So, for the basic setting of the challenge, I've got five basic canon's I'd strongly like to see, mostly because they're the only "Humanity-encounters-Aliens-then-plot-happens," stories I'm familiar with that take place in, or start around, the time period I mentioned above. Y'know, within the last twenty years.

1. Stargate.
2. Legacy of the Aldenata.
3. X-Com.
4. Macross.
5. Voyage of the Space Bubble.

Yes, two of them are by John Ringo, I'm well aware of the "OH JOHN RINGO, NO!" meme/phenomenon, but frankly, these aren't Paladin of Shadows, and I find them interesting universes in their own right.

I also specifically said Macross, not Robotech, and I'm at least generally aware of the differences, if not informed enough to argue.

My five mentioned, however, are just personal suggestions, not firm requirements. If you know of a different series or would prefer not to use a specific canon or version I mentioned, feel free.

I merely want to see at least five, not more then twenty, different series entering the picture, at least two of them having galaxy or universe-spanning absent precursors.

If you want to use a fanfiction version, such as, say: Hotpoint's XSGCOM series, or one of Vathara's Stargate cultures, feel free so long as you provide a working link, a brief summary, and where possible, get the author's permission (or just fulfill their stated requirements for borrowing their fanfiction).

I'd prefer if you didn't use the total/focused magic-supernatural series, such as Buffy or Dungeons & Dragons, although I would be ambivalent about a magitech series such as MGLN or CthulhuTech.

Also, I'm looking for a story set in one unverse/reality, within thirty years of 1999. Obviously, you'll reference much further back for the history of the factions involved, but I wouldn't want to see folks like the Master Chief, River Tam, or Ciaphas Cain (Hero of the Imperium!). Expies are okay, within limits or as brief cameos, and Time Travel could be used to bring in a character from a future/past-dated series, although I'd prefer them to be an altered reflection of the changed history, rather then a straight rip of their canon selves from within their singular series. Given how Stargate, as I suggested, brings with it the Quantum Mirror, that can still happen, and I wouldn't have a foot to stand on if I tried to naysay it, I just would prefer it didn't happen, or was warped to reflect the warped nature of the story.

And if you want to have this happen to an Earth that has some forms of fiction in its backstory that might still be around, such as Airwolf or Knight Rider, which could give Earth an edge or level of advancement that RL Earth wouldn't have; or a different sort of series, great in its own right and genre, that might provide some minor characters or cameos, but probably wouldn't have a major effect on the plot, such as East Enders, or Something Positive; that's just fine.

Or if you'd like to throw in elements of future series, such as the Covenant, or the Borg, keep in mind that this is an earlier, or later, version then what was dealt with in their native series, and that the specific heroes that defeated or otherwise dealt with them shouldn't be around, even in an altered state, since they wouldn't have been born yet, or would've been dead for a while, if the series you've yanked from came from the past. Also, if the 'fic is the latter of the two suggested versions, they'd have probably encountered, and fought with, been defeated by, conquered, or otherwise been influenced by contact with another race or group of races.

Of course, this is a challenge, meaning I'm pitching an idea out there to see what happens. If you want to disregard my specific requests, and take it in a vary different direction then what I'm suggesting, feel free. I'll probably still read it, and probably still enjoy it, and so will others; it just won't be what I was specifically requesting, something differently right rather then something horribly wrong.

EDIT: Oh, and if you're willing to think it out, I'd be very interested, from a complete layman's point of view, how you try to explain, exposit, or technobabble some of the distinct conflict between each series distinctly different, and sometimes mutually incompatible, universal laws and physics and science.

And I don't necessarily require that various series be nerfed or boosted, either in technology or scale, to make them seriously worthy of attention by the other series. I'd just like to see how Earth & Terran-Humanity manages to survive, thrive, or at least make a significant historical chapter for themselves as they're wiped out, or enslaved, or assimilated, or Assimilated.
 
Top