This is something I've been dying to show you guys for a while, now: A map of the galactic powers in the Milky Way.
Have a close look! Whatcha see? Anything that suggests past wars/plots/intricacies...or suggests future ones? Post what you think, below: It'll be fun to hear what you can parse out just from the map!
And as we had into the second week of our Double-Dose-of-Drive, let me give a huge 'thank you' to the game masters at
Star Pirates. I'm already getting word back that a lot of Drive readers are trying out Star Pirates'free, browser-based space MMO -- which is awesome. It's a virtuous circle of scifi-lovin' folks!
So post below! Whatcha see? Whatcha think?
Hmm. A lot of these would need some form of FTL travel to achieve or maintain that kind of size...so how unique is the ring-drive, exactly?
In addition, if the Tesskans used 'near-light drive', it would have taken them several thousand years to get to Earth, not 88...
I'd be interested in some clarifications on that...
I am curious why Neuvo Chile is banned from Ring Travel, and what The Monastaries of Yanta hold.
Was the Chilean ban due to some form of Economic sanction, or did the President of NC get caught between the sheets with the Emperor's grand-niece?
Do the Monks at Yanta make tapas to sell at various space ports throughout the galaxy? Or are they silent prophetic monks ruminating over the mysteries of the Galaxy.
Well, the map does suggest some interesting ideas, but the most interesting point to me is that it is imposed over our galaxy, which would seem to indicate that there has been no extra-galactic contact at this point.
I always have a bit of a problem with 2D space maps. Space is so large (and three dimensional) that it seems hard to actually have enforceable boundaries or for a civilization to actually know of/have control of all planets in its domain. At least not in the way that you can control and police a two dimensional region on the surface of a planet. I guess I can suspend my disbelief for this comic though :)
Are the Imperium and the Contiuum the only civilizations with access to FTL travel? It seems like it would be difficult to maintain control over even the smallest region marked here without FTL travel, or at least FTL communication (do we have any information on how FTL communication works in Drive? I can't remember)
Also if I'm reading this map correctly, it seems like most of Continuum controlled space is right in the center of the galaxy, which I find very interesting. Judging by the name, perhaps Circle's End is right on the event horizon of the black hole at our galaxy's core?
Grrrrr. With apologies, I've updated the map. I accidentally left out a few locations which, while not important at the moment, will become more important as the story progresses.
To your questions!
@sfbell09: All we know at this point is that Nuevo Chile is banned. Stranded, in essence.
@MattStriker: Though still not to scale, it's modified with thanks, per your correct assertion. I blame "finishing the map at 3AM". :)
@Aar0n: Drive *does* need a wiki! Re: The Viccans or McBride's wormhole: Can't say yet!
@macsnafu: There's not been any extra-galactic contact that humanity is aware of, no. The ring drive is incredible, but wouldn't make inter-galactic travel possible within a human life.
@agrajag: 2-D maps are incredibly limited, agreed! The Drive Corps creates these versions for the 13- and 14-year olds first entering service...to get them started.
I couldn't help but notice the 2D-nature of the map also. But then, I'm a big math person with a pretty good grasp of spacial geometry.
I also noticed, of course, that a fully 3D map really isn't practical when it comes to a web comic page, so having a 2D alternative makes sense.
Are the Vinn making a deliberate expansion towards human space? They don't seem to be expanding into other, more close space. How much contact do La Familia and the GyFA have with the other powers core-ward? Are there no powers further out on the galactic rim?
Just a guess, but it looks like the League of Kayn and The consortium of Duvell don't like each other, and it looks like earth is more friends with the League (since there's no data on the consortium except the borders).
At this scale, our galaxy is essentially flat, except at the core. You don't lose much by showing it on a flat map.
Actually, it's kind of sad. If this is to scale to our galaxy, then there are hundreds of thousands of empty star systems for every one that's significant enough to label.
Nitpicking aside, I love the map. I'm of the opinion that all books should include maps, because it makes them so much cooler.
@gtyrrell: The spread of the Vinn is addressed in their encyclopedia entry, here [drivecomic.com]. Following the Carina-Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way has been sort of the path of least resistance for them, in their long, slow spread.
@FakeElvis: That's an interesting guess!
@AndyL: As for the labelling of stars and systems: Keep in mind European maps of the "New World" in the 15th Century. You'd have tiny Spanish/Portuguese/English settlements labelled on a map, but sometimes have Tenochitlan or Cuzco left off. It was super self-centered map-making: As is often the case. Map-making tells you more about the people that made the map than it does about the true importance of all the cultures involved. In this particular Drive Corps map, there's a LOT of truly important stuff left off, and truly unimportant stuff included. Addressing @gtyrrell's point, there are indeed a lot of major/minor powers of the far side of the galaxy, but the details in humanity's maps get more and more sparse, the further you go out.
Personally, I love maps, so this is great! And the galaxy is flat at the arms, not at the Galactic Core, so Continuum space could be much larger than it looks in 2d.
Something I noticed is that pretty much every planet or "place" on the map has actual names. But then you get things like "The Shaping", "Circle's End", "Edge of Light", and "Soul's Grasp". These are more descriptions than names and somewhat ominous sounding. It almost seems like by the descriptive names you should be able to follow some kind of logical order, but it eludes me exactly how.
Oooh, a map. Nice stuff, as it's always helpful to put things into perspective when simple comics don't really do the job. So, thoughts on the map:
-Given that it sounds like we're headed to Slaughter, outside of El Imperio, can we expect further trouble with whichever groups occupy The Wash? Or perhaps with the Grasskan Empire?
-How exactly did humans every find out about the Kiln or the Viccans? Even with access to ring drives, we're still talking about parts of the galaxy that would impossible to reach in 143 years...
-With how many groups there are listed on this map that haven't be mentioned (the League of Kayn, the Consortium of Duvell, the Gannath Alliance, and the aforementioned Grasskans, Viccans, and Kiln, to say nothing of all the unaffiliated planets), are you planning to keep Drive going for another decade or two? The Enciclopedia Xenobiologia entries alone (one of my favorite parts of the strip, not to discount your humor or great art) could fill another month or two of posts.
Anyway, just some thoughts that popped in my head. Keep up the excellent comic writting!
I realize the galaxy is relatively flat. And I didn't mean it as an insult against our our fearless leader. It's more of an observation on the Imperium's propaganda, or perhaps blindness. Just sorta wanted to point out that there's probably tons of undiscovered, populated worlds inside the "boundaries" of the various galactic powers. The "inside edges" of the map, to borrow a phrase from the Wise Man's Fear. And unless these races have some kind of advanced tech we don't know about, it is probably trivial to enter and leave enemy controlled space without them noticing.
It definitely looks like the Vinn and the Imperium are going to be butting heads soon, if they're not already. And the Imperium may have gained information about the further away races from the original ring ship they captured from the Continuum, who I assume know a lot more about the galaxy and would have navigational charts on all their ships.
Oh also, I really like how the long/lat lines (or their space equivalents) are centered on Sol, and not on the actual center of the galaxy. A nice touch. I'd be interested to see maps created by the other races...
It is very cool to have the map, both for reference and for foreshadowing. Also nice to have TWO drives per week.
And for those of us already pirating away, it is good to have new cousins by the boat load. A bunch have settled in the [FAM] la Familia fleet, and we hope that some will stick around, grow strong, and join the FAMazons running [GFA] La (Grand y) Felicisima Armada, our dedicated war fleet.
-Pagan (here and there)
Longtime reader, first time poster. Drive might be my favorite webcomic-- more than Girl Genius, right up there with XKCD.
This map is way, way WAY cool! It looks amazing, and holds your eye, which is a critical, critical thing with maps. But it's missing a couple things, in my humble opinion.
First, we need an arrow pointing the way to the galactic center, which is (roughly) galactic north too in a 2D map. It seems like the center is in Continuum space, but it could be a bit clearer (meaning bring up the background just a bit to increase contrast-- or just a label for the galactic north pole). North's important for celestial navigation. It would be difficult to use Sol as a fixed point for navigation because it's actually moving (along with all the the other stars, at different speeds and different directions, plus the whole galaxy is rotating too). That doesn't mean the graticule centered on Sol included is incorrect-- it could also be distances in light years or ringdrive travel times from Sol (which would be cool-- how does the Empire hold together with extended communication times-- same problem Rome had only the distances are bigger!)
Second, The Orion Arm, the galactic spiral that the Solar System and the Local Interstellar Neighborhood are located in, aren't labelled. The Solar System on this map appears to be in the Sagittarius Arm, which wouldn't be accurate, but the actual spiral the Solar System is in isn't distinct anyway... so it's still unclear. Regardless, Sol's in the Orion Arm.
Thank you for such a cool map! It really helps bring Drive to life-- and maps are incredible timesucks to make well, so I know how much time you put into this!
@dakinburdick: This is very, very true.
@tigertail: Shadetail nailed it.
@RLRaby: Re: Slaughter, we'll find out soon enough. Re: The Kiln/Viccans, humanity has a verrrrrry nebulous awareness of them, to put it mildly. Re: Future plans, let's just say I love the Drive universe enough such that further stories are starting to percolate past the current 7-year arc. I'm glad you're enjoying the encyclopedia entries!
@agrajag: We are the center of the galaxy. According to us. :)
@pagan: I'm so glad to see more folks giving it a try! That's rad.
@GreatCircle: That's a high compliment, to hear it might top your list! Thanks! Re: The map, Sol is definitely placed in the right spot in the Orion Arm...but you're right: The contrast could definitely stand to be increased!
