Sci-fi References
From SOTS
References and tributes will always abound in Kerberos works...we are always very aware that we stand upon the shoulders of giants. -- Mecron
The Sword of the Stars series of games are full of references to past Science Fiction works, as well as references to mythological figures from several different traditions, Historical references and the occasional play on words. Below is a list of known and suspected references.
Contents |
By Name
Player Names
| Aiken Drum | A main character from Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile, the name of the third book, The Nonborn King, refers directly to him. In turn this character is probably a reference from a popular Scottish folk song. |
| Captain Flandry | Unknown, possibly from "Dominic Flandry", a major character in Poul Anderson's Technic History. |
| Chandra | "Dr. Chandra" from Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey Series. |
| Dillinger | "Ed Dillinger" from Tron. |
| Daystrom | "Dr. Richard Daystrom" Designer of "The Ultimate Computer" in Star Trek: The Original Series. |
| First Imperium | Unknown, possibly from the Traveller role-playing_game. |
| Guardian | From Guardian in Colossus: The Forbin Projec, a supercomputer that controls Soviet nuclear weapons. |
| Gully Foyle | "Gully Foyle" from The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. |
| Hope Hubris | "Hope Hubris" from the Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony. |
| Khan Noonien Singh | "Khan Noonien Singh" from Star Trek: The Original Series. |
| Knight | Unknown, possibly from Knight Rider and Knight Industries, the Company that builds KITT. |
| Legions of Tiberius Magnus | Unknown |
| Marc Remillard | Unknown, possibly from Julian May's Many-coloured land or Galactic Milieu series. |
| Montgomery E. Crabapple | A nom de plume that several members of the Kerberos team used when they were working on Homeworld games. |
| Queen Talleah | Unknown, possibly from Queen of Outer Space, a 1958 Sci-Fi movie staring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell. |
| Revenge Fleet | Unknown |
| Rimward Mercs | From the Traveller role-playing_game. |
| Singularity | From the predicted development of superhuman intelligence in the near future and the consequent orders-of-magnitude increase in the rate of human progress, proposed by Vernor Vinge |
| SolForce | Created for Sword of the Stars. |
| SolForce Renegades | Created for Sword of the Stars. |
| Spengler | "Egon Spengler" from Ghostbusters. |
| The Mule | "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov. |
| United Consortia of Earth | Created for Sword of the Stars. |
| Wu Zetian | Unknown, possibly from Wu Zetian, the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant. |
Ship Design Names
| St. Roch | A Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner built in North Vancouver. |
| VN Bezerker Disks | The Disks different abilities are a reference to Mandarin's ten rings, a character from Marvel Comics. |
Star Names
| Aaryn | Named as a recognition of Ms. Arinn Dembo's hard work. |
| Altair | Named after the planet in the film Forbidden Planet, as well as the real star Altair. |
| Azar | Named after the Azarath dimension in the Teen Titans comics. |
| Barnard's Star | From Barnard's Star, the second-closest known star system to Sol. |
| Beezaro | From Bizarro World, a fictional planet in the DC comics universe. |
| Biiwa | Named after Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan. |
| Bismoll | Named for the Home world of Matter-Eater Lad, a member of the Legion of Superheroes. |
| Bob | The original name of New Earth from Titan A. E.. |
| Bronson Alpha | Named after one of the rogue planets from When Worlds Collide. |
| Caladan | From "Dune" series by Frank Herbert. |
| Downbelow | A planet from "Downbelow Station" by C. J. Cherryh. The "Babylon 5" series also references this name. |
| Durendal | One of the Sword Worlds in the Traveller role-playing_game. May also refer to the Rampant AI in the Marathon Trilogy. |
| Flinx | From Philip Lynx, a character from the Humanx Commonwealth by Alan Dean Foster. |
| Fort | This name is in honor of Charles Fort. |
| Foo | This name is in honor of the Kerberos 2-D artist game nick, Mr Foo. |
| Foundation | From "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov. |
| Geidi Prime | From "Dune" series by Frank Herbert. |
| Gallifrey | The home planet of "Dr. Who", title character of the famous BBC TV series. |
| Gotham | A fictional city best known as the home of Batman. |
| Grayson | A fictional planet from the David Weber Honorverse. Alternatively, Dick Grayson, the first Robin. |
| Hebron | From "Hyperion" tetralogy by Dan Simmons. Also a city in the Middle East. |
| Heegaraa | From Hiigara, the main planet in the Homeworld computer game, which many of the Kerberos staff worked on. |
| Hesperus | From Hesperus II, the largest industrial plant left in the BattleTech Tabletop game. Also a mythological figure from Greek mythology. |
| Hyperion | From "Hyperion" tetralogy by Dan Simmons and the Marvel B-list superhero. |
| Ilmatar | From Finnish mythology, Ilmatar is a figure in the world creation myth of Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. Also a large Main Belt asteroid. |
| Ixion | The main Chig shipyard/naval base planet From Space:Above and Beyond. Also a Greek King from Greek mythology. |
| Junction | Planet in the Solomani Rim in the Traveller role-playing_game. Also from the Spacing Guild headquarters and training grounds in the Dune series. |
| Kaprica | From Battlestar Galactica, where the colony of Caprica is considered the most important of the twelves colonies of Kobol. |
| Krankor | The planet from which the villain from Prince of Space came. |
| Kreelar | From Kree-Lar, the capital of the Kree Empire, for a time. |
| Koozebane | Sometimes Koozbane, from several Muppet skits with Kermit the Frog. |
| Lagash | A reference to Babylon 5. Also a Sumerian city and a planet in Isaac Asimov's short story Nightfall. |
| Lusus | From "Hyperion" tetralogy by Dan Simmons. |
| Madyha | From "Hyperion" tetralogy by Dan Simmons. |
| Melnitz | From Janine Melnitz, the secretary and confidante from the Ghostbusters movies. |
| Metaluna | From the alien planet in "This Island Earth". Also as a nod to the MST3K Movie. |
| Midway | From both the real Battle of Midway and a pivotal planet in the GDW spacewar boardgame 'Imperium'. |
| Mjolnir | From the name of Thor's Hammer Mjöllnir. |
| Mon El | From Mon-El from the Legion of Superheroes. |
| Nemesis | From the hypothetical companion star of the Sun. Also the ancient Greek goddess of retribution. |
| Pacem | From "Hyperion" tetralogy by Dan Simmons. |
| Parvati | From "Hyperion" tetralogy by Dan Simmons. Also a Hindu goddess. |
| Procyon | From the cool planet of the cool bad guys from the cool Treasure Planet:Battle at Procyon game, which many of the Kerberos staff worked on. |
| Roche | From Rocheworld, a science fiction novel by Robert Forward. |
| Salusa | Salusa Secundus from "Dune" series by Frank Herbert. |
| Scaramouche | From the Traveller role-playing_game. |
| Serenity | The name of the main ship from the Firefly TV series. |
| Shamballa | A comic reference, probably to the graphic novel Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa |
| Silvaril | Named for forum and wiki contributor Silvaril as a reward for garnering 60 Dog Soldier Points. |
| Sting | Named after the sword from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings |
| Thundara | Unknown, possibly from Thundera, the home planet of the ThunderCats. |
| Trantor | From "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov. |
| Tunguska | From the Tunguska event in Russia. |
| Tupile | From "Dune" series by Frank Herbert. |
| Tirol | Named for Chief Tyrol for the new Battlestar Galactica. |
| Tully | Named for the Louis Tully character from Ghostbusters. |
| Unicron | From Unicron, a character from the Transformers universe. |
| Venkman | From Peter Venkman, a character from Ghostbusters. |
| Vilani | From the Traveller role-playing_game. |
| Wester | Named after Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester. |
| Wundagore | From the Marvel Universe mountain in the fictional Eastern European nation of Transia. |
| Xanthu | Named for the home planet of Star Boy from the Legion of Superheroes. |
| Yith | From the HP Lovecraft race. |
| Zhadum | Zha'Dum from "Babylon 5" series. |
By Source
Dan Simmons "Hyperion" tetralogy
| Star Names | Hebron, Hyperion, Lusus, Madyha, Pacem, Parvati |
Frank Herbert "Dune" series
| Star Names | Caladan, Giedi Prime, Tupile, Salusa |
Fred Saberhagen "Berserker" series
Isaac Asimov "Foundation" series
| Player Names | The Mule |
| Star Names | Foundation, Trantor |
Other
When hitting the space bar to switch between the political view and the "normal view" on the strategic map, there is a small chance of hearing a sound clip from a episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 of a chorus singing (with increasing intensity) "normal view... Normal View... NORMAL VIEEEEWWW...".
Avatars
Several of the avatars included with the game or in one of the updates are visual references to fictional or historic characters.
| Egon Spengler | "Egon Spengler" from Ghostbusters. |
| Peter the Great | Peter the Great, ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire. Cited as one of the greatest rulers in the 17th century |
| Fyodor Ushakov | Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov, the most illustrious Russian naval commander and admiral of the 18th century. |
| Pavel Nakhimov | Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov, One of the most famous admirals in Russian naval history. |
Badges
According to Mr.Foo, several of the badges are tributes to Sci-Fi and pop culture. He has said that there are (as yet unidentified) tributes to Punky Brewster and Breakin`2: Electric Boogaloo.
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This is very similar to the circuit board dream the main characters shared in the movie Explorers. |
Races
According to Erinys she "chose Liir because Lir is the name of the Celtic sea god. Kind of an obvious choice when working with an aquatic race."
Name of the Morrigi possibly comes from the Morrigan, a figure from Irish mythology who was able to take various forms including a crow.
