                          STARFLIGHT - THE BOOK

Typed by ???  Edited by PARASITE.


BY AKILA J. REDMER OF THE STARFLIGHT ALLIANCE.

PREFACE

    WHAT IS STARFLIGHT  -  Starflight  is  a Star Trek like space
adventure
         game available for 16 bit computers.  It was origianally
         developed by five men from Binary Systems.  They put a total
         of fifteen man years into the development of this adventure.  It
         is being distributed by Electronic Arts, the leader in quality
         entertainment software.  This game is a must for anyone who
enjoys
         science fiction role playing games.  If this is you, go out and
         buy this product NOW!

    WHAT IS STARFLIGHT, THE BOOK  -  This text file that you are reading
is
         a collection of information about the universe and the history
         of man, that  has been compiled by The Starflight Alliance.  It
by
         no means should be considered a substitute for the documentation
         to the game or the cluebook that is available from Electronic
         Arts.  The information in this text file includes, all of the
         continuum fluxes that we have found,  information regarding all
of
         the major artifacts that we know about, information about all of
         the alien races we know about, everything we know about the
         Ancients and The Old Empire, and everything we know about the
         history of the future of man.  (That was not a typo!)

    WHO IS A. J. REDMER  -  A. J. is the founder of the alliance and the
         guy who typed this in.  He is a former game ports specialist who
         was vice president of software development of a game ports
company
         that is now based in India.  (of all places)  He has worked with
         Electronic Arts, Epyx, Strategic Simulations, Broderbund, Muse,
         Avalon Hill, Random House, Millekin and several other software
         publishers.  He is currently considering making an Atari St and
         Amiga version of this product.  He's also a pretty nice guy.

    WHAT IS THE STARFLIGHT ALLIANCE  -  The Starflight Alliance is
         currently a group of nine individuals pooling their resources
         together in order to solve the many mysteries of the universe.
         Together we have come up with the information following this
         preface.  It is by no means complete.  The Starflight Alliance
is
         a member of The Software Review Board.  This is the non-pirate
         information based bulletin board system located in Pleasant
Hill,
         California.  You are encouraged to become a member of The
         Starflight Alliance.  All you have to do is contact us at the
         phone number or mailing address given below. Membership is free.
         We will validate that you are a legal user of the software
         product.  You need not have sent in your registration card to be
         validated.  You'll then receive an account on The Software
Review
         Board that will allow you to receive and send new information
         regarding the universe.

    WHY THIS  -  There is so much to learn when playing Starflight that
we
         feel it would be beneficial to have an extra source of
         information available.  It is also quite rewarding to talk to
         others about the mysteries of Starflight's universe.  After
         reading this, we think you'll agree.

STARFLIGHT
         It is the first week of November 4619.  You are a human living
on
    a world called Arth.  You live there in peace with three other
    intelligent lifeforms. You never really gave much thought to where
you
    came from or where everybody else came from.  In fact, even though
    you've grown up with a mixture of insect-like creatures, reptilian
    beings, and photosynthetic plant-like creatures, you've never really
    thought of them as being any different than you are.

         You've just graduated as an Interstel captain from New Oxford
    University at Pelinoriat, Arth. Arth is the second planet in a solar
    system located at 125,100 on the starmap.

         One day while you're minding your own business you have the
shock
    of your life.  (Later you will grow accustomed to this, because it
    will happen to you a lot)  You receive a transcript from Starport
    Central and the Director of Interstel.  It is a transcript of a
    meeting that for some reason you didn't manage to attend.  The
meeting
    was for starship commander trainess such as yourself.  In the
    transcript you discover that 15 years ago Interstel scientists found
a
    shaft in the crust of the planet that leads to an ancient underground
    empire.  After years of study they conclude that Arth was colonized
by
    a group called Noah 2 that came from Earth.  No one knew anything
    about this before.  The scientists also discovered a crytal substance
    known as endurium in the caves.  After careful research they found
    that this substance can be used to gain the ability to engage in
    superphotonic (faster than light) space flight.  Up until this point
in
    time, no one thought you could travel very far in space.  It turns
out
    that five years ago, Interstel built their first ever superphotonic
    ships and sent out thirteen ships to explore the universe.  Only two
    of them have made it back.  The captain of one of those ships was
    present at the meeting.
         You are quite suprised to find out that your buddy's and
yourself
    are all from different parts of the universe.  It appears that some
    2500 years ago there was an intergalactic empire now refered to as
the
    Old Empire.  The Humans, the Velox (insectoid), the Thrynn
    (reptilian), and the Elowan (photosynthetic) were all part of the
    Empire.  Apparently there was some war that caused the fall of the
    empire.  You and your alien friends are a descendant of the Noah 2
    colonists that escaped from Earth before it fell to the enemy.
         Interstel has since built new ships, and you are to command one
    of them.  Your primary mission is to discover more about the origin
of
    the people of Arth.  You are, however, sidetracked by various
    complications in the galaxy.
         The game starts on January 1, 4620 at the Interstel Starport
that
    is orbiting Arth.  Here is where you assemble your crew, buy your
    supplies, outfit your ship, and receive messages from Interstel.

HERE IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
         If you look at your starmap, you will find ten large black
    circles that encompus about two thirds of the universe.  These
circles
    are like spheres of influence.  Each one is dominated by a specific
    alien race.  Arth itself is not in a circle.  The two relatively
small
    circles downspin and coreward of Arth are the home of the Thrynn and
    the Elowan.  The Thrynn are centered at about 130,35 and the Elowan
    are at about 155,60.  Upspin of Arth, the medium sized circle at
    140,150 is the home of the Velox.  (They were known as the Veloxi
    during the Old Empire)  The tiny circle just coreward of Arth is the
    domain of the Mechans.  They are androids that were built during the
    Old Empire to establish colony worlds for the Noah expeditions.
    Upspin and outward of Arth, there is a large circle centered at about
    85,140.  This is the home land of the Spemin.  They are sort of a
    cross between the Ameoba and dung.  They are blobs with tentacles
    sticking out of then.  Just below them is a large circle centered at
    about 85,60.  This area is controlled by the Gazurtoid.  They are a
    water breathing race of squidlike creatures.  The circles at the
lower
    left hand corner of the map and the upper left hand corner are both
    controlled by the Uhleks.  There are two other circles on the map.
We
    haven't figured out who controls them, but we think they are also
    Uhlek territories because the oriental style symbol in them is the
    same as the Uhlek ones.

         The coreward part of the map doesn't have any circles, and
neither
    do the humans.  That's because it was the battle grounds for some
    major wars that pretty much wiped out everything there.  Earth is
also
    out there.  More about the wars later.  At this point in time, the
    only humans known to be in the universe are on Arth.  They are
    probably the least respected race in the galaxy.  We really don't
have
    much of a future.  In fact many other races appear to be surprised
that
    there are any humans alive at all.  (It's pretty depressing, but we
    think we know what to do to remedy this problem)

         The following is a historical account of what has happened in
the
    universe leading up to today.  This information has been gathered
    after several hours of playing time by several people.  We still have
    a lot to learn.

    2100 - Man discovers Endurium.  This is only about 130 years in our
    real life future. Man appears to be the first to have discovered
    Endurium. 50 years later we figure out how to use Endurium to fly
    faster than the speed of light.

    2150 - This discovery starts the Empire.  We started to colonize the
    worlds in our general area, 215,86.  The Humans are the founders of
    the empire.

    2300 - Man meets the Veloxi.  This probably happened because of a
flux
    at 217,80 that goes to 176,123.  It's like a highway between Earth
and
    the Velox.  These are the first aliens we ever meet.  They are
    probably the ones we were the closest to diplomatically before
    everyone discovered what worthless pieces of - - - - humans really
are.

    2650 - A major Endurium find ushers in the golden era.  This find is
    probably the innermost planet of system 180,120.  It is near that
same
    flux mensioned above.  We call the system The Burke System, because
    Tim Burke (A member of the Alliance) discovered this planet before we
    received the cluebook.  (By the way, if you discover something new
    like a flux, colonizable planet, new sentient lifeform, or whatever,
    you can name it whatever you want and we will officially acknowledge
    it as such.)  This major Endurium find allows us to travel to more
    parts of the universe.

    2675 - The Empire discovers the Spemin.  The blob like guys join the
    Empire.  They are real wimps though, and will follow whoever is in
    power.

    2770 - The Empire discovers the Thrynn and the Elowan.  Now the
Empire
    is complete.  The five races of beings act as one large society.  The
    entire thing is set up by the Humans.  This could be considered the
    height of mankind.

    3000 - The first wave starts.  Now things get bad.  There is a race
of
    beings called the Phlegmak that are based in the Axe Constellation
    around 230,20.  Somewhere else is another race known as the Nomlox.
    We don't know exactly where they come from, but we think they are
from
    the upper right hand corner of the map.  Anyway, the Phlegmak and the
    Nomlox attack the Empire.  More specifically, they attack the Veloxi.
    This is what is known as the first wave.

    3120 - Velox pact of 3120.  There are three of us that fight back.
    (The Velox, the Spemin, and the Humans)  As far as we know, the
Thrynn
    and the Elowans were not involved in the war.  At the time of the
    pact, we are very close to the Velox and the Spemin.  Although we
know
    of only one specific event, the Humans apparently drop the ball in
    this war.  The Velox and the Spemin apparently do all the fighting
and
    dying.  (Especially the Velox)  The Velox appear to be a reasonably
    powerful race.  (This information is not correct, see Spemin update)

    3260 - The first wave ends.  The Velox defeat the Phlegmak at their
    base in the Axe Constellation.  The Phlegmak and the Nomlox are
    extinct.  Somewhere in between the time of the Velox pact and the end
    of the first wave, a space pirate named Harrison (Yes, he's human)
    stole the Velox most prize possession.  It is the focusing stone that
    the queen used to communicate with her drones.  It is still missing
to
    this day, and the Velox are still irate that it was stolen.  This
    incident had some detrimental effects on the Velox view of humans.
    This could be the single most important cause of the fall of man.
    Now everybody in the Empire voices displeasure with human rule.  This
    causes unstability in the Empire.

    3400 - The second wave starts.  The Uhleks are generally believed to
be
    the most powerful race in the universe.  They are extremely violent
as
    are the Gazurtoids.  The Gazurtoids have this deep religious belief
    that all air breathers should be detroyed.  They are allies of the
    Uhleks.  Actually they are probably pawns of the Uhleks.  The Uhleks
    and the Gazurtoids together attack the Empire.  Now as I mentioned
    before, the Spemin are wimps.  If you check the map, you'll see
    they're not in good shape in this wave.  They therefore defect to the
    side of the Uhleks and the Gazurtoid.  The Empire falls in the second
    wave mainly because everyone turns against the humans.  The humans
get
    slaughtered by the billions.

    3450 - Project Noah initiated.  At this point in time it is obvious
    that the Empire is doomed.  The people on Earth start to send out
    colonial expeditions to try to escape from the war.  It appears that
    Earth was the capital of the Empire with a government that
represented
    all the races of the Empire.   How we exactly did this is not clear.
    We think this is when we built the Mechans.  The Mechans are androids
    that seek out colonizable worlds and then build underground cities
for
    the Noah expeditions.  They guard the planet until their makers
arive.

    3454 - Launch of Noah 2 expedition.  This is significant for a couple
    of reasons.  We know of nine Noah expeditions that were launched
    during these dark times.  Noah 2 is the only one we know of that
    successfully managed to escape the clutches of the Uhlek and the
    Gazurtoid.  Another thing is that this is the group that colonized
    Arth.  You are a direct decendant of Noah 2.  Another thing to note
    is that Noah 2 (as probably the others) was made up of Humans,
Veloxi,
    Thrynn, and Elowan.  The scientists found the captain's log to Noah 2
    in the caves of the underground civilization on Arth.  (Note also
that
    because the Spemin defected to the other side, they are not a part of
    the colonial group.)  These colonies were formed underground,
probably
    to hide from the Uhleks.  During this time, the colonists lose all
    contact with the rest of the universe.

    3480 - The fall of Earth.  This is when Earth falls to the second
    wave.  If you go there now, all you'll find are ruins from the past.

    3505 - Bomb hits Arth, creates Southern Hot Zone.  This is
significant
    because it forces the colonizers of Arth to live above ground.  Now
by
    leaving their underground world behind, the colonists take another
    step away from the past.

    3520 - Arth society collapses and the Dark Years begin.  We don't
know
    much about this time except that it is the second of the dark times.
    The first was the fall of the Empire.  For the next thousand years,
    Arth is in turmoil.  All technology is lost.  There is no knowledge
of
    the past.

    4400 - Arth's new era begins with the new council and the industrial
    revolution.  Now we are coming out of the Dark Years and are well on
    our way to where we are today.

    4500 - We finally rediscover space flight.  This is sublight flight,
    so we can only planet hop in our own solar system.  We have no
    knowledge of whatelse or whoelse is in the universe.

    4594 - Discovery of Noah 2 colony and Endurium.  This is a major mile
    stone in our history and only 26 years from now.  This is when the
    scientists discover the ruins of our ancestors below the surface of
    our planet.  They find Endurium there and nineteen years later they
    rediscover superphotonic flight.  This is also when a lot of
questions
    arise about our past and where we come from.

    4615 - Now that we have the technology, we send out 13 exploration
    ships to explore the universe.  In the following years they
rediscover
    the Thrynn and Elowan home systems.  It is of course a major surprise
    for the Thrynn and Elowan of Arth to discover they come from
somewhere
    else.

    4620 - Now its today.  You get your chance to explore the universe.
    By the way, when you start encountering aliens in space, you are
going
    to find that no one has any respect for the Humans.  It's up to you
to
    change all of that.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ALIENS
    Humans - There aren't many of us left in the universe.  We of course
    originated from Earth and were wiped out after we apparently betrayed
    our allies.  Actually we're in pretty pitiful shape.

    Velox - These guys are all male except for their queen.  They have
six
    legs or arms depending on how you look at it.  They basically
resemble
    man sized grasshoppers.  Their home planet is Sphexi.  It is the
    guarded planet in the system 132,165.  They are very stuck up.  the
    only way you'll get anywhere with them is to brown nose them.  (Be
    obsequious)  They think they are the greatest race in the universe.
    This turns out to be not uncommon.  Remember that they were once your
    allies.  If you play your cards right, you can become very good
    friends with them.  (I am an honorary Veloxi even though I am
    merely human)  They also have a lot of information that they can give
    you.

    Thrynn - The Thrynn are scaly creatures with long necks and tails.
    They are the wheeler-dealers of the galaxy.  They seem to know where
    several inportant artifacts are located.  They are always trying to
    trade with you.  Although they pay well, you should consider what
    items you might need for yourself in the future.  Remember that these
    guys were also members of the Old Empire.  You shouldn't make ememies
    of your old allies.

    Elowan - The Elowans are plant like creatures.  They are very weak as
    far as physical strength goes.  However, they make up for it with
    tremendous interpersonal skills and excellent learning rates.

    Thrynn vs. Elowan - For some unexplained reason the Thrynn have
always
    harbored animosity toward the Elowan.  In turn the Elowan don't like
    the Thrynn.  Both empires are very close to one another and even
    overlap in one area.  The Thrynn appear to be the aggressors in this
    relationship.  One thing we noticed is that the Elowan homeworld is
    located virtually in the center of Thrynn space.  This leads us to
    believe that the Thrynn forcibly moved the Elowans out of their
    territory.  When communicating with either of these guys, you can't
    have a member of the opposing race on board your ship. (More info on
    this below.)

    Mechans - The Mechans are only androids.  They occupy a small portion
    of the universe that they are defending for the arrival of a Noah
    colony that never made it there.  They've been waiting for over a
    thousand years.  You can learn a lot about your past from them if you
    can convince them that you are the Noah group that they are waiting
    for.

    Spemin - These blobbies are pathetic.  They speak very highly of
    themselves but they are all talk and no action.  They'll give you a
    lot of crap at first, but if you show them who's boss, you'll get a
    lot of information from them.  Remember (although at times it will be
    hard) that these guys were your allies in the first wave.  If you can
    establish good relations with them, you will receice a tremendous
    amount of imformation about your enemies.  The Spemin were allies of
    your enemies in the second wave, and although they claim not to know
    much, they hold the key to your confronting the Uhleks.

    Gazurtoid - These guys are squidlike creatures that have no feeling
    for your kind.  They're are two ways to deal with them.  If you're in
    Gazurtoid territory, they will surround you.  If you show no
    aggression and hail them constantly, they might not fire on you.
This
    is important early on in the game, because they can easily destroy
    your ship.  Once you have your ship fully outfitted, you can take
them
    on one on one.  But they'll probably attack you in numbers after
that.
    Eventually they'll kill you, but you can take a lot of them with you.
    Once, you have the cloaking device, you can deal with them easily.
    The Gazurtoids are allies of the Uhleks.  We have not been able to
get
    any information from them.  The Spemin tell us that they get along
    with the Gazurtoids by fooling them into thinking they're water
    breathers.  They do this by communicating with them in pools of
water.
    We don't know how to do that yet.

    Uhlek - For a good portion of time, the Uhleks are a mystery.  All
the
    other races seem to acknowledge that they are the most powerful.
    Everybody avoids them as much as possible.  If you fly into their
    territories, you will probably be instantly surrounded by a mass of
    their warships and detroyed with weaponry that far surpasses yours.
    We have discovered that the Uhleks are in fact just one being.  They
    are controlled by a mind-ganglion planet somewhere in the
territories.
    Most races refer to it as the Uhlek Brain World.  We found out from
    the Spemin where it is and we have since detroyed it.  This is pretty
    much where we are in the adventure.  We are now exploring their
    territories.

    Phlegmak - They are an extinct race of another time.  They attacked
    the Old Empire in the first wave.

    Nomlox - They are in the same predicament as the Phlegmak.  They were
    also killed in the wave.  The only difference between the two is that
    we don't know where the Nomlox came from.

    Minstrels -  We are assuming that the creatures that float around in
    space, especially the coreward regions, are the Minstrels.  You can
    talk to them.  They only communicate in riddles and rhyme.  They
    appear to have tremendous knowledge of the universe.

    Mysterions - We think the large rodnium balls are the Mysterions.  We
    don't know anything about them yet.

IMPORTANT ARTIFACTS
    Black Egg - We have found three so far.  They are explosive devices
    that allow you to blow up planets.

    Crystal Cone - This device will show you where to land on the Crystal
    Planet.

    Crystal Pearl - This is some sort of source of power.  If you get
into
    a situation where you are about to be destroyed, it will hyperwarp
you
    out of the area.

    Crystal Orb - This device will allow you to land on the Crystal
Planet.

    Dodecahedron - This device somehow attracts ships in your area.  You
    will have a lot more encounters with aliens if you have this.

    Flat Device - For sale at Starport.  This object will put a shield
    around your terrain vehicle that will counter attacks from agressive
    lifeforms you might run into on the surface of various planets.

    Red Cylinder - This device is worth its wait in gold.  It will help
you
    find all of the other artifacts that you are looking for.  It will
show
    you approximately where artifacts are located on various planets.
This
    cuts down significantly on search time.

    Ring Shaped Device - This device is found on Mars.  It supposedly
helps
    you to identify continuum fluxes, but we haven't noticed any
difference
    by having it.

    Shimmering Ball - This is a cloaking device located in Gazurtoid
space.
    It will work automatically when you're in combat.  It will make you
    extremely powerful, but you have to get through the Gazurtoids to get
    it.

    Tesseract - This device double the efficiency of your engines.  This
is
    useful early on if you can't afford too much Endurium.

    Veloxi Focusing Stone - This is the object that Harrison stole.  We
    managed to find it, but haven't been able to return it.  It doesn't
    appear to serve any useful function to us.  The Veloxi say that they
    will reward whoever returns it to them, but they immediately attack
us
    any time we go near them.  We think that you will have to timeworp
    back to the Old Empire with it and return it then.  This could
    conceivably prevent the Fall of Man.  Since Man doesn't have much of
a
    future, it might be the logical thing to do.

    Whining Orb - For sale at Starport.  Some sort of communications
    device.  We haven't discovered it's specific use.

    ARTIFACT                   SYSTEM         PLANET    COORDINATES
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
    Black Egg                  145,118        1st       28N x 4E
                               234,20         2nd       35S x 99E
                               238,189        3rd       52N x 16W
    Crystal Cone               20,198         1st       29S x 55W
    Crystal Pearl              56,144         1st       28N x 13W
    Crystal Orb                132,165                  46N x 14E
    Dodecahedron               118,146        4th       16S x 20W
    Red Cylinder               112,200        3rd       59N x 64W
    Ringed Device              215,186        4th       90N x 0W/E
    Shimmering Ball            68,66          1st       12N x 32E
    Tesseract                  18,50          5th       15N x 43W
    Veloxi Focusing Stone      81,98          1st       44S x 137W

REVISIONS AND OR UPDATES:
    SPEMIN UPDATE:  It turns out that the Spemin were almost as bad as
    the Humans back in the Old Empire.  They had no real technology when
    the Humans dicovered them.  The Humans taught them pretty much
    everything.
    The Spemin became copiers of other races.  They would observe other
    races' technological devices and copy them.  They did a poor job of
    this.  Anyway, when they thought they learned enough, they attacked
    the Empire (The Fools).  Shortly after they attacked, the First Wave
    started.  The Phlegmak and the Nomlox attacked the Spemin.  At this
    point, the Spemin pleaded with the Empire to help them defend their
    land from the attack.  Like idiots, we took them back in.  This
seemed
    to work because we won the war, but after the First Wave was over,
the
    Spemin attacked the Empire again.  Then the Second Wave happened, and
    the Spemin pleaded for our help again.  This time we told them to go
    - - - - -  themselves.  They inturn pleaded to the Uhleks and
    Gazurtoid to join them in the attack.  That's why there are no Spemin
    on Arth and why they know about the Uhleks.

    THRYNN vs ELOWAN UPDATE:  We think we know what the root (excuse the
    pun.) of the matter is in this conflict.  It turns out that the
    Elowans are born from seeds.  They start as plants in the ground and
    grow head-fruit.  When the head-fruit develops, they uproot
themselves
    and become Elowans as we know them.  Well it just so happens that
    head-fruit tastes real good, especially to the Thrynn.  It also makes
    you smarter.  I think you can probably figure out the rest.

End.
