AFTERWORD

Enjoy this slightly disjointed rant that is half makings-of and half-infodump.

Stardust is a passion project that I expect to stick with me for decades. But when I had just started writing this, I still did not think it would get far. It is only with help from my editors and feedback-givers that I could ever have made it to the end. There will be more books, and perhaps video games and so on. However the next book will be released chapter-by-chapter as I feel I got enough experience to do so. I thankfully didn't do that with this book because I had to go back and edit half of it into shape. And I had to do that again half a year later, whoop de doop.

The conversation on Kamo, between Kayden and Ray, about cellular automata, had to be edited twice. Originally, instead of an indestructible still-life, there was a search for a period-19 oscillator (look up these terms if you don't know). This period had been vigorously searched for for decades by the Game Of Life community, and some prominent members of it had thought there wasn't one. It was suspected to be so messy that people could indeed search for centuries.

A p19 was discovered the day after I wrote that conversation. I laughed and changed it to the other holy-grail period: p41. Not a week after, a p41 was discovered. Then I was seriously doubting my sanity. I'm not making this up. Honestly I share Kayden's opinion on a glider-indestructible still-life: it most likely doesn't exist.

I also didn't choose 2230 because it's now 2023 (like 1948 and 1984). I started writing this in late 2022 so it's a fun coincidence.

Speaking of Kayden, I somewhat based him off someone in my life. But I'm not going to say who.

Chapter 7's timeskip montage originally had a Simulacrum scene but it was cut because it was padding. I will eventually write a book set mostly inside Simulacrum (I Can't Believe It's Not Ready Player One). Bleh no stakes and RPO sucks.

Amani was added later, after I realized at Chapter 14 that I had written myself into a corner. Kayden, Nheka, and Ray performed the investigation by themselves and had to get unbelievably lucky to do so. Lai was a useless space hippie. He still has the same personality now as he did then but at least he has more depth now. Chapter 2 was longer and they directly stumbled onto the thieves, they were not the only people in the ruins (the invisibility cloaks alluded to at the end were more prominent), and Nheka nearly got shot (another stroke of luck).

Chapter 14 originally had a much gorier scene where there were several enemy combatants, Nheka butchered them, and Kayden got injured. I realized that I didn't want to bog down the plot with inevitable hospital and trial scenes. The gore was slightly toned down and moved to Chapter 19– executed (no pun intended) by a different four-armed edgelord.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The abrupt jump from Hephaestus to Earth was done because I kind of ran out of plot and decided to wrap the story up rather than pad it more with e.g a second subplot. I had said everything I wanted to say about these 5 people (OK Tiik is still kind of a mystery but shhh).

You will likely see Ray, Mbuyu, Fenix, and possibly Lai and Amani again, eventually. The others I'm not so sure about. You will also directly see the BFR, the Kseldani Collective, the Iywkaa Unity (aka Iywkaa Republic), and the Chohjozra Nrukhrizchaa soon. Also, the next book mentioned a few paragraphs up will be more actionized, most likely. I have several ideas.

Now, some setting details that aren't fully explained:

* The only well and truly impossible thing (handwavium) in the setting is the Ugolnikov Drive. Dubious but not strictly speaking physics-breaking things (unobtanium) include: powerful genemodding that works on adults; torch drives; sapient AI being only quantum; and the existence of a lot of aliens within the Oval.

* Nobody knows why and what the Oval is. It is theorized that since the Ugolnikov Drive lifts up a bubble of space into something that is similar to, but not quite is, a fifth dimension, the Oval is like a three-dimensional oil slick that allows superluminal 'sliding' (yes ik there are probably a lot of holes in this but shhh you're not meant to think about FTL too hard). The out of universe reason is that I feel more comfortable worldbuilding if there's a boundary– and it helps box the Alliance and Hegemony in with each other. Not to mention that the whole galaxy is simply too much to wrap one's head around.

* The Terran Federation is a human-led state of about a hundred colonies and 2000 claimed stars. It formed after the Accords of 2183 granted the offworld colonies home rule following a devastating rebellion/civil war. It is more tolerant and equal than any modern-day country on Earth, and while capitalism still exists, it does so in a reduced and semi-atrophied way. Freedom of form is considered a basic 'human' right, and thus in effect the Federation is a coalition of human-derived species.

* About 35% of former humans are now genemods immediately recognizable as non-humans. Most of those are anthros, because I am biased if you look at my username, but there are also augments (extra arms, IR vision, etc), near-humans (Saera), Laterals (Mbuyu, arguably Fenix), and other, weirder kinds you had not seen in this book (Yig!). This tech is all-pervasive and has revolutionized medicine, agriculture, terraforming, and other fields.

* The Alliance is a loose coalition of civilizations, united only by having some measure of democracy– even the Chohjozra Nrukhrizchaa does. In effect it acts a bit like Cold-War-era NATO, with its motivation for existence being the threat of the Hegemony. Much like their inspiration, they do a lot of cloak-and-dagger stuff at times.

In April 2024, I have edited this book to heavily tone down the irritating accents the aliens had. I also edited much of the afterword here to reflect the new plans and new lore, striking out the obsolete parts and italicizing the stuff I added.