Author's Introduction to Land and Sky
Author’s Introduction to Star Wars: Land And Sky
Yes, there will be an update to One Path next week.
Those looking for the much discussed Qui-Gon/Shmi (and Anakin/Dorme and Obidala) AU The Chosen Ones will be a bit disappointed, I’m afraid. This is another little accident. Seems those get precedence over anything that’s planned out intentionally. *sigh*
Several months ago, I had a brainstorm for one of my Stargate: SG-1 stories. That story, entitled The Games People Play, is by far the most lighthearted of my 4 major Stargate fanfictions. It has elements of drama and romance, but it was written at a time when I, as an author, needed to rediscover what I loved about the show that has been my biggest and dearest fandom for a long time. As such, much of it is meant to be humorous, though not on the level of purely outlandish humor of my “Vader’s Cat” series. The fic actually spends most of its time exploring the friendships that first drew me to Stargate and giving the characters and opportunity to proverbially let their hair down. It’s basically a fic that revolves around what SG-1 might do if the galaxy was not in dire peril for a year or so.
In that fic, Teal’c gets to share his love of Star Wars with the rest of the team, and especially with Vala-who, for those who are not familiar with SG-1, has not been on Earth for very long. I had played with the concept of Teal’c being a fic writer before, and I thought to myself, “Why not have T and Vala write a Star Wars epic and drive the whole team crazy bickering over it? Ooh, and then they can get into the story and be sitting around waiting for the chapters…”
Games being what it is, I saw lots of opportunity for spoof scenes, in which Teal’c and Vala wrote, unwrote, and re-wrote each others’ material, making the Star Wars characters do the equivalent of an instant replay except that nothing stayed the same each time. That meant basically a “frame story” in which humorous Star Wars scenes were written inside the larger Stargate story.
I, however, am a perfectionist. In order to accomplish a credible frame story, I felt that it would be necessary to have an actual finished product-a serious (mostly) Star Wars AU story that could conceivably be what Teal’c and Vala ended up with after months of wrangling. So, I set out to create a plot for an AU, which I intended to write myself and then “backwards engineer” for spoof scenes that could be added into my Stargate fic at a later time.
That is what you find here. This is not a crossover. There is no mention of Stargate in this story, and there is no reason that you need to have any knowledge of Stargate in order to enjoy this fic. Portions of the fic will re-appear later, spoofed, in my Stargate AU. I mention it here only to give readers an understanding of what could possibly have possessed me to take on another AU project, and to shed some light on the nature of Land and Sky.
Although it is serious, Land and Sky has the same overall feel and tone as The Games People Play. There are elements of drama and romance here, but where my main Star Wars project, One Path, is often extremely harrowing, this fic endeavors to be more lighthearted. In some ways, although I didn’t initially intend for this to happen, Land and Sky is a response to One Path. It incorporates several ideas, events, and plotlines that were simply not possible to accomplish in One Path.
As with One Path, my respect for the world created by George Lucas compels me to maintain the integrity of his characterizations here, and to follow the events laid out in the canon saga unless the single point of divergence which spawned the AU logically changes those events. In cases where changes occur, they will be approached in a way that is respectful of the intent of Star Wars and the characters created by Lucas. The major themes of Star Wars will be represented here, but in ways that are not quite so similar to canon events as I was able to do in One Path.
This fic explores the possibility that Qui-Gon Jinn was injured on Naboo while attempting to rescue Queen Amidala from the Trade Federation. As such, Qui-Gon is forced to remain on the ship while Obi-Wan accompanies Padme and friends to Mos Espa.
As we are all aware by now (I hope) I ship Obidala. Therefore it is largely inevitable that if Obi-Wan and Padme are thrown together under those circumstances, the result will be profoundly disappointing for Anakin/Padme shippers. I had to ask myself how this relationship might play out differently than the relationship of One Path, since the two characters are in much more immediate contact during the formative stages of their romance. What effects might that have had, both on Obi-Wan and on Padme? What changes might there have been in the rocky relationship of Anakin and Obi-Wan if the Padawan was given an opportunity to meet Anakin and Shmi Skywalker together? And above all, was there any way to avoid a love triangle? Because honestly, folks, I think they are profoundly unhealthy and unappealing either to write or read about. I’m sure that will earn me some flak, but I prefer maturity or at least stability over relationships doomed to destroy more than they create. That is certainly not to say there’s no room for snark. Case in point, two of my OTPs are Han/Leia and Daniel/Vala. It’s just that when it comes down to it, love triangles are not healthy and there is no way to make them healthy, so there is no growth, which leaves me bored or discouraged, or both. So, in a fic that endeavors to present a lighthearted take on Star Wars, could I find a way to either prevent or curtail Anakin’s disastrous obsession with Padme?
Somewhere along the way, Obi-Wan’s birth family began to pop up. So, I began, with the help of my fellow Evil Genius, Aruna7, to ask myself other questions. Where exactly does Obi-Wan come from? Who are his parents? What about that infamous question of a brother? I realized that I would have to take this storyline beyond the limited confines of The Phantom Menace, but since it was designed to be the basis for a frame story, I had to approach it differently than One Path.
What I ended up with was a series. Land and Sky. It currently has three major pieces, and we are in the process of developing some interlocking shorter stories within the steps of the saga. We’ve elected to follow the Star Wars model and refer to each major piece of the story as an “Episode.” This is something of an experiment for me, but if it works out, I will probably approach future Star Wars work in the same way.
Episode I: Happy Endings is set during the events of TPM.
Episode II: New Beginnings deals with events that take place between TPM and AotC, mainly the reasons behind the search for Obi-Wan’s birth family.
Episode III: The Search for Peace is currently set to span the Clone Wars and RotS, however, I may be revamping that idea and placing the Clone Wars in its own category between episodes. Whatever the case, it does end with (or shortly after) the birth of somebody’s twins. I won’t say whose at this point.
Each Episode will have its own link table separate from this post (clickable from here)
Warning: There is some material in this fic, mainly in the dream sequences, which is more sensual (not graphically sexual) than what One Path readers may expect. I believe the fic remains PG-13 at all times, but those scenes deal with Obi-Wan’s acceptance of sensual and romantic experience, and therefore the content may be slightly more “mature” in nature than what readers of my previous fics would be used to from me. Knowing how annoying it is to get invested in a story and then find that it isn’t what I thought it would be, I felt it necessary to alert readers.
Other Points of Interest/References
Episode I: Happy Endings is a partial re-write of the TPM novelization by Terry Brooks. Nothing has been plagiarized, but dialogue and some narrative have been used in the re-write.
Episode II: New Beginnings will contain a partial re-write of the AotC novelization by RA Salvatore.
Episode III: The Search for Peace will contain a partial re-write of (my favorite) the RotS novelization by Matthew Stover
Ka’andesi concepts of time and prescient awareness-and yes, the reference to the smell of cinnamon-are a direct tribute to Frank Herbert’s Dune, although the ideas are not exactly the same. Ka’andesi, however, are not Fremen. They are, in fact, nothing like Fremen. Any parallels with Fremen are purely unintentional. Further, cinnamon has a completely different significance.
The use of a fairy tale within Happy Endings was done for Aruna, and I think that the plot of the children’s story is basic enough that it could be adapted to Star Wars fairly easily if you read onward to learn where Padme heard the story in the first place. I didn’t use a particular version as I have several, so choose your favorite.
The Ka’andesi culture is a re-imagining of a culture I created for an RPG and later took into original fiction. Some of the major elements have been seriously altered to work in the context of Star Wars, but the basis of the culture was mine. I decided to use them rather than creating something from scratch because they are familiar to me-if in different form and without the Dune overtones-and the familiarity will, I hope, lend to a feel of realism for readers. Thanks go to cha_aka and rants_by_james for their help in developing the original language.
There is an intentional adaption of Qui-Gon’s death and the scenes leading up to it from One Path during the correlating scenes in Happy Endings. The reasons for that will become apparent. The explanation is actually in the chapter’s intro if you can puzzle it out. Please refrain from commenting to tell me that I copied my own story. There are differences, albeit apparently slight ones.
Each chapter of Land and Sky contains a short literary quote supposed to have been written by someone in the fic. Questions about the identity of those individuals will not be answered. They will all be explained in due time.
As a final note. With all due respect to anyone who likes Jude Watson, the work of that author will not be reflected in this fic, including and especially Siri Tachi. (No, I don’t dislike her because I ship Obidala. She made me twitch when I still shipped the dreaded A/P.)
Thanks to nrg_bunny and Profsilverback for beta.
Yes, there will be an update to One Path next week.
Those looking for the much discussed Qui-Gon/Shmi (and Anakin/Dorme and Obidala) AU The Chosen Ones will be a bit disappointed, I’m afraid. This is another little accident. Seems those get precedence over anything that’s planned out intentionally. *sigh*
Several months ago, I had a brainstorm for one of my Stargate: SG-1 stories. That story, entitled The Games People Play, is by far the most lighthearted of my 4 major Stargate fanfictions. It has elements of drama and romance, but it was written at a time when I, as an author, needed to rediscover what I loved about the show that has been my biggest and dearest fandom for a long time. As such, much of it is meant to be humorous, though not on the level of purely outlandish humor of my “Vader’s Cat” series. The fic actually spends most of its time exploring the friendships that first drew me to Stargate and giving the characters and opportunity to proverbially let their hair down. It’s basically a fic that revolves around what SG-1 might do if the galaxy was not in dire peril for a year or so.
In that fic, Teal’c gets to share his love of Star Wars with the rest of the team, and especially with Vala-who, for those who are not familiar with SG-1, has not been on Earth for very long. I had played with the concept of Teal’c being a fic writer before, and I thought to myself, “Why not have T and Vala write a Star Wars epic and drive the whole team crazy bickering over it? Ooh, and then they can get into the story and be sitting around waiting for the chapters…”
Games being what it is, I saw lots of opportunity for spoof scenes, in which Teal’c and Vala wrote, unwrote, and re-wrote each others’ material, making the Star Wars characters do the equivalent of an instant replay except that nothing stayed the same each time. That meant basically a “frame story” in which humorous Star Wars scenes were written inside the larger Stargate story.
I, however, am a perfectionist. In order to accomplish a credible frame story, I felt that it would be necessary to have an actual finished product-a serious (mostly) Star Wars AU story that could conceivably be what Teal’c and Vala ended up with after months of wrangling. So, I set out to create a plot for an AU, which I intended to write myself and then “backwards engineer” for spoof scenes that could be added into my Stargate fic at a later time.
That is what you find here. This is not a crossover. There is no mention of Stargate in this story, and there is no reason that you need to have any knowledge of Stargate in order to enjoy this fic. Portions of the fic will re-appear later, spoofed, in my Stargate AU. I mention it here only to give readers an understanding of what could possibly have possessed me to take on another AU project, and to shed some light on the nature of Land and Sky.
Although it is serious, Land and Sky has the same overall feel and tone as The Games People Play. There are elements of drama and romance here, but where my main Star Wars project, One Path, is often extremely harrowing, this fic endeavors to be more lighthearted. In some ways, although I didn’t initially intend for this to happen, Land and Sky is a response to One Path. It incorporates several ideas, events, and plotlines that were simply not possible to accomplish in One Path.
As with One Path, my respect for the world created by George Lucas compels me to maintain the integrity of his characterizations here, and to follow the events laid out in the canon saga unless the single point of divergence which spawned the AU logically changes those events. In cases where changes occur, they will be approached in a way that is respectful of the intent of Star Wars and the characters created by Lucas. The major themes of Star Wars will be represented here, but in ways that are not quite so similar to canon events as I was able to do in One Path.
This fic explores the possibility that Qui-Gon Jinn was injured on Naboo while attempting to rescue Queen Amidala from the Trade Federation. As such, Qui-Gon is forced to remain on the ship while Obi-Wan accompanies Padme and friends to Mos Espa.
As we are all aware by now (I hope) I ship Obidala. Therefore it is largely inevitable that if Obi-Wan and Padme are thrown together under those circumstances, the result will be profoundly disappointing for Anakin/Padme shippers. I had to ask myself how this relationship might play out differently than the relationship of One Path, since the two characters are in much more immediate contact during the formative stages of their romance. What effects might that have had, both on Obi-Wan and on Padme? What changes might there have been in the rocky relationship of Anakin and Obi-Wan if the Padawan was given an opportunity to meet Anakin and Shmi Skywalker together? And above all, was there any way to avoid a love triangle? Because honestly, folks, I think they are profoundly unhealthy and unappealing either to write or read about. I’m sure that will earn me some flak, but I prefer maturity or at least stability over relationships doomed to destroy more than they create. That is certainly not to say there’s no room for snark. Case in point, two of my OTPs are Han/Leia and Daniel/Vala. It’s just that when it comes down to it, love triangles are not healthy and there is no way to make them healthy, so there is no growth, which leaves me bored or discouraged, or both. So, in a fic that endeavors to present a lighthearted take on Star Wars, could I find a way to either prevent or curtail Anakin’s disastrous obsession with Padme?
Somewhere along the way, Obi-Wan’s birth family began to pop up. So, I began, with the help of my fellow Evil Genius, Aruna7, to ask myself other questions. Where exactly does Obi-Wan come from? Who are his parents? What about that infamous question of a brother? I realized that I would have to take this storyline beyond the limited confines of The Phantom Menace, but since it was designed to be the basis for a frame story, I had to approach it differently than One Path.
What I ended up with was a series. Land and Sky. It currently has three major pieces, and we are in the process of developing some interlocking shorter stories within the steps of the saga. We’ve elected to follow the Star Wars model and refer to each major piece of the story as an “Episode.” This is something of an experiment for me, but if it works out, I will probably approach future Star Wars work in the same way.
Episode I: Happy Endings is set during the events of TPM.
Episode II: New Beginnings deals with events that take place between TPM and AotC, mainly the reasons behind the search for Obi-Wan’s birth family.
Episode III: The Search for Peace is currently set to span the Clone Wars and RotS, however, I may be revamping that idea and placing the Clone Wars in its own category between episodes. Whatever the case, it does end with (or shortly after) the birth of somebody’s twins. I won’t say whose at this point.
Each Episode will have its own link table separate from this post (clickable from here)
Warning: There is some material in this fic, mainly in the dream sequences, which is more sensual (not graphically sexual) than what One Path readers may expect. I believe the fic remains PG-13 at all times, but those scenes deal with Obi-Wan’s acceptance of sensual and romantic experience, and therefore the content may be slightly more “mature” in nature than what readers of my previous fics would be used to from me. Knowing how annoying it is to get invested in a story and then find that it isn’t what I thought it would be, I felt it necessary to alert readers.
Other Points of Interest/References
Episode I: Happy Endings is a partial re-write of the TPM novelization by Terry Brooks. Nothing has been plagiarized, but dialogue and some narrative have been used in the re-write.
Episode II: New Beginnings will contain a partial re-write of the AotC novelization by RA Salvatore.
Episode III: The Search for Peace will contain a partial re-write of (my favorite) the RotS novelization by Matthew Stover
Ka’andesi concepts of time and prescient awareness-and yes, the reference to the smell of cinnamon-are a direct tribute to Frank Herbert’s Dune, although the ideas are not exactly the same. Ka’andesi, however, are not Fremen. They are, in fact, nothing like Fremen. Any parallels with Fremen are purely unintentional. Further, cinnamon has a completely different significance.
The use of a fairy tale within Happy Endings was done for Aruna, and I think that the plot of the children’s story is basic enough that it could be adapted to Star Wars fairly easily if you read onward to learn where Padme heard the story in the first place. I didn’t use a particular version as I have several, so choose your favorite.
The Ka’andesi culture is a re-imagining of a culture I created for an RPG and later took into original fiction. Some of the major elements have been seriously altered to work in the context of Star Wars, but the basis of the culture was mine. I decided to use them rather than creating something from scratch because they are familiar to me-if in different form and without the Dune overtones-and the familiarity will, I hope, lend to a feel of realism for readers. Thanks go to cha_aka and rants_by_james for their help in developing the original language.
There is an intentional adaption of Qui-Gon’s death and the scenes leading up to it from One Path during the correlating scenes in Happy Endings. The reasons for that will become apparent. The explanation is actually in the chapter’s intro if you can puzzle it out. Please refrain from commenting to tell me that I copied my own story. There are differences, albeit apparently slight ones.
Each chapter of Land and Sky contains a short literary quote supposed to have been written by someone in the fic. Questions about the identity of those individuals will not be answered. They will all be explained in due time.
As a final note. With all due respect to anyone who likes Jude Watson, the work of that author will not be reflected in this fic, including and especially Siri Tachi. (No, I don’t dislike her because I ship Obidala. She made me twitch when I still shipped the dreaded A/P.)
Thanks to nrg_bunny and Profsilverback for beta.