Young Writers Society

Okay, so I had a NaNo thread for this, but I guess we're starting a camp version. Using this spot, I can use this spot to work through some of the issues and unanswered questions that kept me blocked from finishing.

Short summary: Our Heroes live in Agalon, the center of an empire built through wormholes of varying size and intensity. Captain Ramsey Carew and the rest of the crew of The Sagan is tasked with exploring the Great Wormhole, a mysterious large one that only appears every 10,000 years. To their knowledge, no one has ever crossed it. When they arrive, they come across a mysterious probe, not unlike the primitive spacecraft they have seen in other worlds. But as they dismantle it for parts, they find a golden disk that holds unexpected secrets, leading them to a planet once called "Earth". There, the people who sent it are long gone, but the avians that have inherited the planet have distant memories of them and may be willing to help understand the mysterious disk. As they explore this land, a rival spacecrew brings their discoveries home, disrupting the Empire and leading the Council into the wormhole to find the Sagan before they find any more evidence of the past the Council was created to hide.

Worldbuildng

To be filled in as time permits

Agalon

-sort of Earth-like planet, except it has 2 stars and 3 moons.
-Geography TBD, but I think there are two habitable areas separated by some large barrier. This means the race currently knows as High Agalonians, who were gifted their technology by the Sky Gods, was separate from the Low Agalonians (who have a different religion and some physical differences I haven't worked out yet) were isolated from each other for a long time until some crisis happened that lead one group to cross the barrier and discover the other. This sparked several wars now known euphemistically as The Encounter, which ultimately the High Agalonians won. As a result, they still see the Low Agalonians as inferior to this day.
-After that came the Expansion Era, where the High Agalonians spread out into the galaxy, starting with Civan, a planet in their solar system. Civanites don't look too foreign to the Agalonians, but nonetheless have some differences and are thus considered inferior, despite their equal intelligence.
-Anyway, from there they went to smaller wormholes to establish other colonies. Enough of the early planets found were uninhabited with loads of resources enabling the Expansion. When there were inhabitants, the explorers/colonizers were not kind to their subjects and often robbed or destroyed important artifacts.
-Then they tried to fight the Ladean system, an isolationist society that nonetheless knew how to defend themselves via observing the Empire's tactics. They had battles galore, but they ultimately agreed to a stalemate because they were too well-matched and people were dying pointlessly. As part of the terms, the Ladeans managed to get the Agalonians to agree to make no more new colonies. Since then Agalon has repositioned itself as a cosmopolitan trade center.
-The capital Nugaya, where our heroes live, has several species coexisting, as former colonial subjects moved here for education and opportunity. Examples include the Bellimides (basically look like Captain Gantu from Lilo and Stitch and they have a very distinctive music genre, that's about what I know about them). There's also the Aquapoids, which are a superintelligent squid-like race. There's probably others but I haven't though super deeply about all the possibilities and creating a bunch of barely-mentioned species isn't my jam.



Future Earth/The Crow Kingdom
About 50,000 years from now, corvids have become the dominant species on Earth, largely by copying what the humans were doing before The Leaving. They refer to the humans as "the Builders". Opinions on them vary wildly, Many think they were irresponsible with the gift of the Earth and don't think they're worth discussing. Some think there are valuable lessons from keeping their artifacts and remembering their legends. These are the Storytellers.

Important note: We're currently in an Ice Age. Though anthropogenic climate change had a major impact, eventually things got back to normal and it all got cold again. This means most of the northern US/Canada/Europe is covered in ice, but coastal areas that were flooded over when the oceans rose are now re-exposed and full of interesting Builder ruins for the Storytellers to argue about.

Societies are divided up into whatever territory they can hold on to, each with a king. As there are now no large mammals, they have selectively bred other species to serve their needs. This is most apparent in the ostriches, which were bred to be more docile and able to carry heavy things. Each clan can vary in how they govern, what they focus on, etc.

The crow economy is based on old Builder coins, though other items deemed shiny or interesting can be useful.

They probably have some sort of writing, but I haven't figured out what that looks like yet.

Border control is tricky, given that all parties involved can fly right over it.

They brew beer. It's not great to a human palate, but it will serve its purpose well enough in their story.

They probably have ridiculous sports/hobbies, like peacock beauty pageants. I originally had them provoking cougars to fight (more like modern dogfighting) but if we now don't have big land mammals, they probably do this with some other species.

Questions I need to figure out the answer to
-more detailed history of High/Low Agalonians
-how are women and LGBT people treated in this world? We have at least two queer characters (a married lesbian and our bisexual disaster MC), so this needs to be sorted out.
-What evidence could Our Heroes find on Earth that would confirm the truth and eliminate other explanations.

Characters

To be filled in as Time Permits

The Sagan (frequently referred to in this plotting as Our Heros)

Ramsey Carew-Co Captain and our MC
-Age: Late 20s or early 30s
-appearance: I haven't really nailed this down that, but he has blue eyes and is very fit.
-Background: son of Head General Jacobin Carew and a priestess of the Oracle, so grew up wealthy and privileged. Got into the Agalonian Defense Force (ADF) on his own merits, but people assume he did not and that pisses him off. Is somewhat arrogant, but his stills as a pilot make up for it. Enjoys drinking, probably too much. Is bisexual and has had many one night stands and casual relationships, but has been hung up on his presumed-unrequited love for his friend Naveem.

Personality-Cocky, often sarcastic. Has a drinking problem. Curses a lot, especially when drunk. Not a fan of talking about feelings and such. Favorite exercise is weightlifting with loud obnoxious music blasting from his headphones.


Merlina Bedelar-Head Captain

Age-late 40's
Appearance-short but somehow has a big presence. Has a strong jaw and angular face. Dark brown eyes tan skin. Has pink hair in a pixie cut (it just occurred to me that this hair could be a distinguishing feature of Low Agalonians. Or she could just like dying her hair).

Background: Raised by a single mother who worked as a janitor for Armstrong Base. Her mother is a Low Agalonian, and her father is unknown. She got into the Space Academy through hard work and merit that earned her a scholarship. She is notable as one of few Low Agalonians to achieve her high rank, and despite the High Agalonians usual discrimination against Low Agalonians, her experience and aptitude made her a natural choice for captain. Likes high-intensity interval training for exercise. Is generally practical and no-nonsense. She is a lesbian married to Sarai and they own a big floofy sheep dog named Pluto. Her wife really hates her going on missions and is hoping she'll retire soon. Merlina agrees she is getting too old for this, but wants to do this one last expedition, as it's her first chance to truly go into uncharted territory.

Aila Dow
Age: 24
Appearance-I have tried to stop picturing her as Anna from Frozen, I guess because it's like mental plagiarism but my brain keeps coming back to that. So she looks like Anna from Frozen. Except that she probably wears her hair in a messy bun instead of braids. Wears glasses sometimes, but doesn't need them.

Background: Grew up privileged as the daughter of the CEO of Agalon Daily, the Commonwealth's largest new source. Wanted to go into studying history and/or literature, but her parents were pushing for something more lucrative. When she learned about space historians. who work on preserving artifacts from the Commonwealth and make a decent amount of money, she knew she'd found her calling. Is passionate about artifact collecting and doesn't totally understand why not all countries are a fan of this. Favorite exercise is cardio, either running or one of those weird dances she's learned from other parts of the commonwealth.

Iwan Selyf

Age: 35
Appearance: Thin, elf-like, has the characteristic bluish skin and silver hair of the Ladeans.

Background: Space doctor. Comes from a well-off Ladean family that pressured him into medicine and hates that he chose the riskier yet less lucrative space doctor specialization. Did a pilgramage to the home country several years ago. Loves the place and the people, but isn't a fan of the food (not that he will ever tell his parents this).

Personality: Quick-thinking and "wise", if by "wise" you mean "frequently drops Ladean quotes that sound profound but are largely meaningless". Big yoga and meditation fan. May be asexual, but not really sure (all I currently know is that he is uninterested in dating whoever his parents want to set him up with). Tends to squabble with Ramsey, but it's rarely serious. Is generally a calming force in the crew.



The Hawking

Naveem Mujadar (Captain)
Age: 32
Appearance: because I suck at character descriptions, he looks like Marwan Kenzari, aka the "Hot Jafar" from the Aladdin remake.

A Civanite with a couple chips on his shoulder. Comes from a fairly well-off close-knit family with lots of cousins. Has a younger brother and sister who look up to him. Went to school in Nugaya, which gave him a lot of opportunities but also exposed him to a lot of racism, which made him even more determined to succeed. He was accepted into the ADF in a diversity initiative. Though many of the High Agalonians on Armstrong Base were wary of him at first, he quickly won his roommate over and they started going to parties together, which is when he met Ramsey. They quickly became workout buddies/study partners and he developed intense feelings for Ramsey. He assumed this was unrequited at first, but then he started seeing signs that it was truly mutual. He was finally going to tell Ramsey how he felt the night the Civanites summoned him home for a mysterious space program. This was five years ago and it still haunts him. The

Katara (Space defense specialist)
-don't know much about her, except that she has a good relationship with Naveem. She is rather blunt when needed, but also has good judgement on when to push Naveem's buttons and when to just let him drink and brood.

The Council

Lukas Herschel-Our bad guy. In response to learning about the Sagan's mission, he decides to take the folder of files on Earth and share them with Naveem. The motive is personal, as he perceives Ramsey as a romantic rival due to the on and off again romance he had with Tania, even after they started dating. Unbeknownst to him, Ramsey doesn't care as much about all that.

Zechariah Mednach (Head Councilmen)

Councilman Trent
-mainly noted here for being Tania's father and maybe asking some questions at the Council meeting.

Other Agalonians of Note

Greg-Friend of Ramsey's from ADF. Has a more working-class background and initially saw Ramsey as a snob, but eventually warmed up to him. Easygoing sports fan. Meets Ramsey at the bar just before launch.

Gina-The bartender Ramsey hits on at the end of the night before launch. I am undecided if this attempt is successful.

Jacobin Carew-Ramsey's father and Head General of the ADF. Grey-haired and stone-faced with an aquiline nose and brown eyes (I'm picturing Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame for some reason, even though I only saw that movie once when I was like 5 and don't remember it at all). Has aged and under a lot of stress from his job. Has had a poor relationship to his son for engaging him in academic pressure and making him follow in his footsteps. He truly does love his son, but has a hard time expressing it.

Elaine Carew-Ramsey's mother. Petite with blonde hair and blue eyes (think Betty Draper). Has leaned on booze and pills to deal with stress. Insists on joining the retreval missing, even with no form.

Tania Herschel
Age: 27
Appearance: Blonde, thin, blue eyed, very pretty.
Background: Grew up with Ramsey as one of Councilmen Trent's three daughters. Her oldest sister was a classmate of Ramsey's, and she would have him over to "tutor". She was devastated when he inevitably cheated on her, but he was still cocky enough to try getting with the middle sister. Tania had only vague memories of this, so when she got with him on a holiday visit home, she didn't see the issue and they had a good FWB situation, even after she started dating the more respectable Lukas who treated her better. She finally ended it the night she got engaged, but Ramsey was weirdly drunk and out of sorts, going on and on about some classmate of his who just dropped out.

Aila's parents

Iwan's parents

Dr. Houston
Age: 55
Appearance: Looks like Robin Williams, except he wears thick glasses to feel distinguished. Is very confident on his interpretations of history, perhaps a little too confident. Loves being the one on camera, unlike many of his colleagues. Has been a mentor to Aila.

Lisa the Reporter
-40's, blonde hair in a neat blonde bob. Accosts Aila shortly before mission launch to ask for dirt on Ramsey. Aila is unsure how to answer this politely, so she says he loves pickles and gin and tonics.

Sarai
-Merlina's wife. Not sure of her appearance, but she is kind of a happy housewife. She is not pleased about Merlina leaving all the time, but has reluctantly accepted that she has to go on this last mission. She doesn't get the appeal, being more of a homebody. Hobbies include baking and gardening. Has a sheepdog named Pluto and would love to get more animals once Merlina finally retires.

Arno-Civanite, friend of Naveem's, skinny, tall, and nerdy with crooked teeth. Currently doing an internship at the Agalonian Artifact museum. His main role in the story is to examine the record and see what they can do with it.

The Crow Kingdom

Brok (Crow Prince)
Youngest son of the Crow King (though it is implied he might not be the father). Has been ostracized by the family for some reason, with his father giving him some undesired territory to govern. Despite this, he has carved out a loyal Alliance and made the most of it. When he discovered the ship they had been watching above was landing near him, he immediately created a plan with the cougars and his soldiers to capture them and take them to his father.

Eyric (Parrot/Translator)

Krok (Second in Command)

Crow King/Queen

Maach (The Storyteller)
She's an old Storyteller, the guild dedicated to studying the Builders and preserving their artifacts, legends, and warnings. Escorts Our Heroes on the way to Point B. Is fascinated by what she knows of the Builders and has a gizzard feeling they are trustworthy. Old grandmotherly type with a tendency to ramble too much about Builder stuff to crows who don't care.

Hork and Razz (The Unlikely Spies)

The magpie brothers who stumble upon the Builders and crow entourage heading into the Southern Islands. Have a reputation for gossip and overuse of intoxicating substances and are generally looked down on by the rest of their nesting pod. Hork is newly courting a mate Fay, while Razz has been less lucky in those pursuits. They thought the Builders were a weird trip at first, until they sobered up and still saw evidence of their presence. Razz is more scared of the Builders and wants to take the news back home, while Hork is just brave enough to do some fact-checking before squawking all over the kingdom.

The Plot

Here is what I've already written, as I summarized on my NaNo thread Stories Etched in Gold


So plot wise, this is where we're at



I know we need to keep raising the stakes and having more conflict/obstacles for Our Heroes, but I have a tendency to make things too easy.

First thing I need to establish-where did they land and where do the crows want to take them? At first I had them landing at Area 51 because I'm hilarious, but then I switched to the nuclear doom field in France. As for where we would go to find the best preservation, it seems like river deltas are a good place because they will flood but later be uplifed. Sites around the Mediterranean also might be good candidates because, depending on how long a time scale we're looking at, Africa will merge with the Eurasion plate and create more moutains. Some ideas-New York City (location of UN building, which I know is a picture on the Voyager record). Disney World (because I saw a meme a few months ago saying future archaeologists are going to have a hell of a time trying to understand why we were worshipping mice and Florida also seems like a decent location to get flooded and then un-flooded again when the next ice age hits) and New Orleans (not any real justification for this except it's mentioned in Johnny B Goode which is on the record).

But wherever we're starting/going, it involves crossing enemy territory. The crows we meet have some sort of beef with another murder and Our Heroes are caught in the crossfire. So they're dealing with that when The Hawking arrives to retrieve them.

PlanMo prompts-some of this will be covered in the above posts if I update it, but I'll toss the answers here as well.

1) World-building
-Our Heroes are from Agalon, the center of a booming empire based off of "discovering" new planets to take over in the various wormholes around the area. Wormholes in this world work somewhat like comets/asteroids in our world in that you can use math and such to understand when they appear and how long they stay open. The capital itself, Nugaya, is a cosmopolitan city where various species from the colonies live. There's a strong class division between the "High Agalonians" and the "Low Agalonians", the primary difference being what gods you believe in.

-They then make it to Future Earth. A lot of details are fuzzy here as well, but currently I believe that we are now about 50,000 years in the future and humans are now wiped out (exactly how/when is TBD, but I think it was general gradually worsening climate change problems and then some catastrophe happened that the remaining humans couldn't survive). The crows now reign supreme because they are highly resourceful and copied the elite humans preparing for the apocalypse. They then rebuilt their own society based on the ruins left by "The Builders", building alliances with other birds and claiming their territories through tribal wars. Currently, the Earth is in an ice age, so a lot of ruins that got flooded over have been re-exposed, while others have been re-buried in the ice.

2) My actual opening scene is already written from the first NaNo, and I'm not terribly interested in revising it yet. Basically, the Great Wormhole opens, Our Heroes talk about it, I attempt to be witty and fail miserably, and the crew now has 72 hours to launch the mission they have been training for for years. It's also from Merlina's perspective, but she's not the MC so I worry that could be misleading.

As for the first scene I plan to write tomorrow (!), I could start at two places I left off yet
-Naveem is captive in his own ship, forced by the Head Councilman to pilot the retrieval mission. He is having major angst about this because there is a very real possibility that Ramsey will not survive this and he's regretting never telling him how he felt. The ship is approaching Earth and the captors are observing some of the weird things Our Heroes did.

-Meanwhile, on Earth, our heroes have successfully won at least some of the crows over. The Crow King agrees to let the Storyteller Maach (who knows the most about the Builders in their tribe) help them out with the whole weird record thing. Maach thinks the best answer is to go to Point B (place is TBD), where there are some well-preserved ruins from the Builders, but the Crow King is not pleased about this because the journey involves crossing into territory owned by a different tribe that has a contentious relationship with their tribe. The crows are also trying to figure out a way they can move the humans without actually letting them use their lander (currently unclear if horses or other large animals will survive the apocalypse).

Villain-Lukas Herschel/The Council
-The Council is a horribly generic name, but I'm rolling with it for now. I thought about it being called the Council of UN pronounced like "un" (if you've ever seen Idiocracy, think "the UN that came in and Un-Nazied the world"). Anyway, their main purpose these days is to both remember Earth (which has long been forgotten by the other Agalonians) and conceal any evidence that it exists and that the Sky Gods were just people. The claimed superiority rests on them being ordained by the Sky Gods to make a big empire and stomp all over other species and colonies.

-Lukas Herschel is a young Councilman who gives the rival space crew captain Naveem copies of some of the Earth evidence the Council would rater not discuss. Our Heroes have never seen it. His main motive his personal-his wife Tania had a long-running affair with Ramsey and he wants him to be humiliated by the idea of the "primitive" Civanites. He might have other motives like taking the Council down, but the personal stuff overshadows that.

4) Supporting Characters
-Kinda tired, may do this later but I've been struggling with this on my MCs, let alone my supporting ones.

5) The Plot-See my last post for updates on that.

6) Structure. Again not sure I have anything for this. Ooh wait, actually I do! Maybe I could use epigraphs (opening quotes in each chapter that relate to the chapter), kinda like American Gods, except most, if not all, of the quotes will be fictional, from the Oracle or other Agalonian sources. Though this is really something I wouldn't worry too much about until I'm several drafts in and actually know what my chapters are (I have somewhat organized scenes in Scrivener, but I don't know how many would make a good chapter size).

7) Plot/Plot Feedback.
-see above for plot, which I am aware is holier than Swiss cheese. I am still trying to pin down exactly how the stakes get escalated on the way to my desired ending. Suggestions are welcome.

Key Scenes
-I'm really looking forward to having Ramsey and Naveem meet again, though this will probably not be in terribly romantic circumstances. I'm also not sure at all how I will go about writing it. I just know that I want a romantic subplot and I want it now.
-I've already written some fun crow-human bonding and I want to write more of it.

9) The Protagonist

Main MC is Ramsey. Ramsey wants a lot of things. He wants to build an identity outside of being the Head General's son. He never got over Naveem's sudden departure from the Space Force academy, so when he hears Naveem's voice again, he wants to reunite and actually not be a coward this time (though he is still certain this crush is unrequited). He is generally popular and respected among colleagues, but he doesn't have true deep relationships. His stubbornness and tendency to hide feelings with sarcasm and rage are an obstacle, as are his troubling drinking habits.

Blurb from an early scene that enscapsulates this: Between plays, he caught up with his old buddy. Greg had gotten a promotion lately and was getting serious with some girl named Betty. Ramsey was never sure what to say in conversations like these—his life had been so monotonous the last few years that there was rarely anything of note to report. That was part of why he’d accepted the mission despite the dangers, hoping it might jolt him back to life like a cup of coffee in the morning.

10) Questions

I mean I have a lot of questions, but I'm not sure if anyone on here could answer them given that I've only managed to type a teeny bit up.

Thoughts on possible landing sites/interesting destinations would be nice. Some I've had
-Area 51 (just because it's funny really)
-New Orleans (might be well preserved due to being flooded then un-flooded, but mainly because of Chuck Berry)
-nuclear doom fields-essentially, present-day humans need to get their crap together and put our nuclear waste underground, and then we have to come up with future-proof warning signs so future humans don't dig it all up again, like making spikes or covering the area with concrete so people don't go near it. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-time_nuclear_waste_warning_messages. Our Heroes might be drawn to these because they use nuclear power and know from previous encounters with other colonies that tried this that they can likely use it more efficently and so want to retrieve it while wearing proper safety equipment.
-New York City-might get preserved, has a lot of buildings and other interesting stuff.
-Washington DC-lots of potentially good information (eg the Library of Congress), so long as it gets preserved well.
-Anywhere near a volcano that could preserve some people Pompeii style.
-Disney World, because I saw a meme about future archaeologists thinking we worship mice
-

Okay, nite, this sounds so interesting! Just the blurb is giving me hints that this story will hurt my brain and I'm all here for it. Do you have a goal for Camp Nano or are you just sorta going with the flow? Either way, I'll be rooting for you and this story!

Thank you @Vincian! Glad you’re excited for it. Current goal is 500 words a day and hopefully completing the first draft. Also nailing some of the details down about world building and characters (I have more than I’ve gotten typed up above, but there’s still parts that confuse me).

Not a bad first day of writing! 894 words, and we've established some interesting thing about the crow world. For one thing, we now have domesticated ostriches that can carry heavy things like people. You can technically ride an ostrich in the present day (this is most common in South Africa), but there are weight limits and not really great for the bird. Still, the crows could guide selective breeding to make them more docile and able to carry heavy loads. I mean if we went from wolves to Chihuahuas in 20,000-ish years, they can probably handle in 50,000 years.

So I have tentatively decided they're going to Disney World. That's also close enough to Cape Canaveral which is possibly more relevant but less fun.

This chapter was written from Maach's perspective. She's an old Storyteller, the guild dedicated to studying the Builders and preserving their artifacts, legends, and warnings.

Choice paragraphs



[spoiler]
“That depends, Storyteller. Where do you plan to go, and for how long?”

“South and east, to the Mouse Kingdom.” The place had been studied for a few hundred years since the Great Freezing sunk the oceans so it was visible. The flooding had preserved it well, though there were no Builder remains there as they had long since fled north as the Great Warming got worse in the time before The Leaving. Still, the landfills around the area suggested this was a popular gathering place for the Builders, with tons of plastic mouse ears and those strange metal and glass rectangles that cropped up in nearly every Builder city. The area was filled with twisted metal sculptures, not unlike the metal tracks that crisscrossed the continent. At the center of it all was a giant castle, its tallest tower now eroded away and its colors lost to time. Surely a great king had lived there, but the sculptures were all of a mouse. How could a mouse in Builder clothing have claimed power over them? She had always wanted to visit for herself, and now the chance to go with the Builders themselves seemed like a strange and wonderful dream.
[/quote]

Hey niteowl!! Super intriguing premise!! I always admire you sci-fi/fantasy people and all intricate planning and worldbuilding that go into these stories. 500 words per day is a great goal! How long is the whole book so far and do you have a target word count for when it's finished?

Hi @Carlito, glad you're interested! Right now I'm at about 38,000 words (I say "about" because the word counter on Scrivener is not currently working lol). I was originally trying to hit 50,000 to finish the NaNo goal from November, but I feel this story properly fleshed out would be considerably longer (I have some early scenes where too much is revealed too soon, so I will have to revisit that if/when the first draft is finished). Right now I want to get to a point where I can confidently say "The End". I have a vague feeling of what that looks like, but I need to work out how to get there.

Definitely just dusted off my Evil Mod Powers to un-archive this thread since I'm working on it again. Not sure if I have a word count goal, but we're currently around 42,000 words, about 2000 of which are new from the last couple days.

The core settings and characters haven't changed much, but I've fleshed out some of the background info. Will have to edit it in here as time permits.

Okay so I was just going to edit the posts above, but given that we're in a new year, I should probably make a new post for current progress/new changes.

Two significant scenes have been written

-Naveem, who has been captured by the Council and forced to fly back to Earth to hunt down Our Heroes and kill them, has a heart-to-heart with Herschel to try to understand why the hell he betrayed his own Council by giving Naveem (aka "the enemy") critical information. Turns out Herschel wants Ramsey to lose because he believes his wife is in love with Ramsey and if the Sagan loses, then she will lose interest and come back to him. Naveem drops a bomb on him--his wife may love Ramsey, but does Ramsey love her?
-Wishlist item, add Herschel's POV after this scene.
-2nd wishlist item-figure out who exactly is on the ship with them for this return mission

-Aila has a strange revelation about "The Bachelor". It is still running in the far future--rumor has it the producers want Ramsey to be the 40,000th Bachelor. And yet when her reporter "friends" ask her to dive into the Archives, everything before the 1000th season (which aired a few years after the wars known as "The Encounters" ended), is top secret classified. And while the Voyager record sadly did not include any information about reality TV, the English on the tape/in the written material on the record is in the same language as the ancestral Agalonian of these early news articles.

Worldbuilding items/questions that are somewhat answered.

What are gender roles like/how are LGBT people treated in this world?

So the answer here depends on your social class. The highest class High Agalonians (like Ramsey and Aila) have stricter gender roles. Being descended from colonists (though they don't know this thanks to the history gap), they have the philosophy of "be fruitful and multiply" ingrained in them. They're expected to marry a partner of the opposite sex and have babies. That said, no one really cares if you have a same-sex lover, so long as you're married on paper. As for gender roles, women are allowed to participate in the Council if they wish, though they're usually in certain sectors (an analogy would be how women might teach Sunday School but only men can preach in most Christian sects).

For middle class Agalonians and subject species, the rules are a lot looser. Each species sort of has their own sex/gender identities and marriage/family structures, so the Council gave up trying to control it outside of their First Families (the highest class) a long time ago. If there are any conflicts (like a member of Species X engages in a relationship that species considers taboo or illegal), that issue would be handled by the species' sub-Council.

What is the Council/who is on it/who makes the decisions.

Okay, so there's several levels of the Council. Level 1 is the lowest, and level 7 is the highest. Level 1 is having the ability to vote on things, and generally just requires being an Approved Citizen. All Agalonians are in this group by default, as are notable members of the subject species (e.g. doctors like Iwan, space captains like Merlina).

Levels 2-4 are able to attend some Special Meetings and have floor time, depending on their level. People of the First Families like Aila and Ramsey are level 2 just by existing, though participation is not mandatory. Other Agalonians/Approved Citizens can get to these levels, though they have to jump through more hoops. Higher ranks are attained by Council activity levels or working in certain jobs. Aila is level 3 and goes to meetings sometimes-Ramsey is level 2 and almost never goes.

Levels 5-7--These are the leaders, the ones who write the laws voted on and discussed at the lower levels. Generally, unless you have really good connections, you're not getting here before the age of 50. Almost all of these members are from the First Families--up to this point, I've only mentioned male characters up here though it's possible there are women at this level.

Okay so I started writing a scene and now I think some people are going to die. Which is probably a good thing to add some drama to the plot but I still don't like killing these characters when I barely know them.

Am impressed by the detailed worldbuilding, @niteowl! Hah, I can definitely relate to the feeling when stories take an unexpected turn when writing a scene. Best of luck with Camp NaNo!