Navigator's Quarters

Hej!

quaternion here.

I just wanted to say thanks to every single one of you who have taken the time out of your day to support this project. Y'all are the best. Really. That this shout into the void reached your ears and you took the time to listen is amazing and it truly means the world to me (even if I may have twisted a few of your arms along the way*). 

A special thanks are in order to Jade, Liam, and Augie. The three of you put your collective boots in my backside to turn this stupid idea into a reality. You endured the miserable disaster that was the Pre-Alpha, Alpha, and Beta versions of this ArQive, put up with, and continue to suffer, my glacial pace, and motivate me to keep churning these things out (whether I want to or not). Though I do this for everyone, I did it first for you. You're the best. I love you. Don't ever stop being amazing.

With all of your support and feedback, I'm even more inspired and motivated to keep going, keep growing, and to add new ArQivists to the credits list. Only time will tell what QSI wil become. Thanks again for joining me on this journey and keeping the fire under my rear-end well tended.

Until the next Transmission, Head ArQivist out.

*You know who you are, and you're that much more awesome for suffering my nagging and whingeing on top of this mess.

A1:T.0 is in the final stages of production. Core articles have been passed off to a team of editors for review and is scheduled to be released on November 15th, 2024. A1:T.0 (Orkidea Part 1) will be a focused, faction-specific deep-dive into the Orkidean subtype of the Herbalist Faction. Articles include Tales of Ash Part 1: Encounters, The Ëchüha Incident Part 5: The Nadir of Her, Er Alaþ, and Silund's Indiscretion.

A1:T.1 Freyja's Own (Working Title) is planned to follow A1:T.0 Orkidea tentatively within 3 Lunes of A1:T.0's release. Requested by fans of the ArQive, A1:T.1 is another faction-focus deep-dive into the Mythica's Valkyrie subtype. For a primer on the Mythica and Valkyries see the following Articles:

MTT Section 12

Description: Valkyries

Tentative Release Date: February 15th, 2025*

*Release date subject to change.

Hej,

quaternion here.

This section will feature ArQivists (as they come and go) to describe the process of creating their entry/entries into the ArQive, as well as general discussions and blog posts from The ArQive. Entry q.0000 will go live following receipt of Array 1: Transmission.0.

Until then, Head ArQivist out.

A1.T0: First Flowers

Developing the Lolhinælhi (Orkidean) subfaction began far earlier than Into Infinity’s inception. In fact, the seeds of this group go so far back that describing how they came about defies any attempts at conciseness. This attempt is going to fail almost as hard as all the other attempts and I expect it will elucidate next to nothing. Sorry about it.

Before developing the world of Into Infinity, I had previously worked on a project similarly inspired by a mix of science fiction and fantasy. The fewer details given about that project, the better, but it is within that world that the seeds of what would later become the Lolhinælhi were planted.

Informed by the cultural zeitgeist of the early 2000s and into the 2010s, especially surrounding online culture, scifi, fantasy, gaming, and pop-culture commentary, I was inspired to create the Glisaan people. Predominantly feminine, matriarchal, and about as basic and two-dimensional as things get, they were an embarrassment. The texts they were present in have, mercifully, been lost to the ravages of hard drive crashes and the realities of moving cross-country. As if to really salt the wounds of my embarrassing past, the whole idea of them was influenced by, perhaps, the most insufferable, obnoxious, and routinely intolerable mouthpieces on the internet. So to describe the Glisaan and the narratives they inhabited as being caricatures as unendurable as Vogon poetry would be generous at best.

After creating the idea for Into Infinity as something of a joke, the world of the Glisaan was quickly scrapped for parts and mostly chucked into the rubbish bin as being a horrible, abject, copycat failure bordering, at the best of times, on direct plagiarism. We all start somewhere. Fanfiction barely masquerading as an original idea was mine and I thank my lucky stars none of that trash has survived. Instead, you get this. Which is also fanfiction barely masquerading as an original idea. I am doomed to repeat my mistakes forever.

The Herbalists were originally conceived of as the magical space elves who could solve a bunch of real-world problems when it comes to the inescapable realities of galaxy-spanning civilisations. Then I kind of missed the Glisaan idea, so I separated the Knotworx from the Orkideans—the name of the latter having come from some botanist I found myself in the company of who prattled on at some length about how orchids were supposedly the oldest flowering plants. At this point, I hadn't developed much beyond the core concepts of what these two subfactions were supposed to be. The names weren't originally meant to be placeholders, but when doing some final checks on the research front, I discovered two unfortunate things at once. First, the name I thought was so clever was not, in fact, so clever. The second was that my understanding of the science backing up the whole idea in the first place was woefully inadequate. And by woefully inadequate, I mean categorically wrong. I am an idiot sandwich, beset on both sides by a toasted slice of stupid and the stale heel of a loaf of ignoramus. You may throw tomatoes and unleash the boobirds.

Thankfully, due to some good friends giving me the idea to put this transmission together in the first place, I did finally get off my fat, lazy duff and get around to developing the endonyms for both the Herbalists (i.e.; Alaþilhinë) as well as their various branches (i.e.; Uhayn). Enter Lolhinælhi, the Sisters of the Flower, alongside Lolhinlafhæë, Ereher Lafhæë, Tykëfhi, and Asiyn. (Read A.1:T0x1a for what those are).

Going back in the timeline, after the Orkidea-Knotworx schism, I decided to add the Foresters and Shift to make things a little more interesting and slightly more practical. Defenceless space pixies with a burning disdain for clothing seemed to tick a few too many boxes on the “civilisation too stupid to exist” list than I was comfortable with. Not that this civilisation wouldn’t still qualify. It just qualifies less than it did beforehand.

What the Lolhinælhi are and what they are there to do within the setting of Into Infinity went through many iterations. First they were peacemakers and diplomats, then they were wise women and sages, then a combination of those two things mixed with a bit of subtle political intriguing, then I realised all of that was stupid and actually started thinking about what someone would actually do with an eternity at their disposal. How would that shape their outlook, their culture and civilisation, and how they interacted with other people? Would social structures and hierarchies familiar to mere mortal men make much sense to such a people? The interrogation of this group and how they would actually be went on for so long enough that the Mythica were introduced and created a whole new set of problems whilst also solving a bunch of others and establishing a framework upon which to build and develop a wide range of similar societies. Now, in large part thanks to a conversation with a dear friend that could not have come at a better time, the direction has more or less solidified. For now, at least. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't actually know what I'm doing. I do know that Lolhinælhi are free spirits following Aisling’s Path.

What’s Aisling’s Path?

Good question. Read A.1:T0x1a to find out.

Or don’t.

I’m not your boss.

Till next time, peace, love, and flaccid platitudes, my nerdy friends.

quaternion out