Young Writers Society

This is largely a premise in search of a plot but I'm going for it anyway.

I don't have an exciting blurb yet, given that I've only been thinking about this for approximately 24 hours, but here's the short version.

At first, it seemed like any other spacecraft, a primitive probe sent out by a civilization long since dead. But Anna, the historian sent on missions to preserve cultural artifacts, immediately recognizes that the strange gold disc is no piece of scrap metal. After further study, she plays the record and is startled, not by its foreign-ness, but its familiarity. Who made this record, and why do they speak ancestral Agalonian?

After some debate, the crew decides to follow the map set by the probe-builders to find out their secrets. But along the way, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want them discovering the truth. Their communications are cut off, and the crew is forced to scour a dead planet for answers and to find a way back home.

-If you're not familiar, the Golden Record was sent with the Voyager probes as a time capsule of humanityhttps://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/. The entire premise is that some space travelers discover it, find an unexpected connection, and start searching for answers that some currently-unknown entity does not want them to find. There is a lot of plot to be figured out but I'll spew what I have in the next post.

So here is what I have so far. Still about 90% holes but it's a start.

Our Agalonian space crew is out and about on a mission (the "why" is TBD) when they come across an old space probe in an area where they had not previously found evidence of intelligent life. Based on the age, they don't think it's good for anything but scrap metal, and the captain (his name is Glenn in the blurb I found but I might want to change that, the names were all boring Earth names, though maybe that's the point) is ready to melt it all down when Tim (the Lanean) notices the golden record and insists on setting it aside so Anna can take a look. Anna is our MC, a historian from the upper-class of Agalonian society. She's here because Agalon has a history of destroying old but important relics and pissing people off so they now avoid that by having one on every mission. She is in cryo-sleep when the initial raid happens (basically, they survive this mission by taking shifts of being active/in cryo), but Tim wakes her up so she can check out the record before Glenn destroys it (I really need to flesh out who my bad guy is and why he is like this. I have a vague idea that he is related to Anna-not like brother/sister but maybe cousins?). She immediately suspects it is Very Important, because the pulsar-map bit looks like the pin Laneans often wear (they're mostly assimilated into Agalon now but they have a strong attachment to their old ways-will have to flesh out the relevant history) and gold records don't really have any functional purpose in spacecraft. She and Tim do the detective work, and for the first time in centuries, we hear the voice of the late Secretary General of the UN sending out a message of peace and hope and such (the whole record is on Spotify, will have to listen). Two things become immediately apparent-no one knows what a "loozy Anna" is, but more importantly, this language sounds oddly familar-like ancestral Agalonian.

Ancestral Agalonian is an old form of their language, sort of akin to how we'd view Latin or ancient Greek-not spoken, but still has scholarly significance and the upper class is more educated in it. Anna is surprised and intrigued. Using the pulsar map, she figures out where Earth is and an argument ensues about whether or not they should go there and find out what's the deal with this planet and why they know ancestral Agalonian.

Okay so I've been trying to figure out what the Big Conflict is-originally it was just going to be internal between the crew members but now I'm thinking there's an external bad actor-a rival space crew trying to get to Earth first, or some shadowy figure who doesn't want them to reach Earth, tries to diverr them and cuts off their communication when they decide to proceed on.

Part II

Our heroes make it to Earth. They find the aforementioned nuclear doom fields (yay free gas!), ruins of buildings, and...people or the descendants of people? Some other species that has evolved to fill the gap left by humans when they left/were wiped out? I would also have to determine a viable reason why humanity was wiped out and/or how they left. There's also an intriguing possibility that Earthlings aren't actually related to the Agalonians and their language is similar to English for different reasons (coincidence/convergence? Linguistic influence from Agalon picking up broadcast signals?). However, the most straightforward explanation is that somewhere along the line, Earthlings left the solar system, resettled on what we now know as Agalon, and then forgot that there ever was a home planet. Yet some traces of Earth influence would remain, like their names or certain stories/legends.

So our heroes hang out here for some time (maybe a few years) scavenging resources and trying to learn as much as they can about this planet and how it might be connected to Agalon. Eventually, however, they are forced to leave, either due to running out of fuel/food etc or because the shadowy Bad Guy is forcing them to leave.

Part III

They make it back to Agalon, golden record and possibly other fun Earth artifacts in tow. What happens here is unclear, but I think there will be some sort of conflict between wanting to get recognized for the find and not wanting our Bad Guy to continue chasing them. Anna presents her findings to her old advisor who is a trusted mentor but he dismisses that any of it is significant (I don't think he is the Bad Guy but he works with them). However, the museum curator thinks it's hella interesting and makes an exhibit for it (possibly without the consent of the entire crew) which now puts a target on their backs. Obviously this is a giant plot hole because I don't know how this ends-I assume some sort of confrontation with the Bad Guy, but I am not sure how it would play out because i don't yet know what the Bad Guy is or why he's so hellbent on making sure Agalonians don't find out about Earth. Maybe it's sort of a religious thing? Like he doesn't want word to get out that Agalonians are not the uber-special Chosen Ones they have always been taught they are? I also probably need to flesh out the government/religious structure of Agalon (obviously they are/were highly imperialist but I think they've mellowed out a bit since the alliance with the Laneans and they want to now expand through diplomacy rather than conquest)

This sounds really interesting! I've heard of the Golden Record before, but I've never seen anyone actually use it as part of their novel's plot. I'd love to see what connection you end up going with for it, as well as if the people on Earth are actually humans or some other species.

(If you need potential species to replace us, cephalopods - squid and octopi - are a good choice, as well as crows! I saw a post on Tumblr the other day that pointed out that crows are very similar to really early humans right now, so I definitely think they'd be a good choice if you want something that could evolve quickly. And the cephalopod route makes sense if you want them to be protected by the ocean during whatever event wipes us humans out.)

Before my old laptop crashes, here is the flash fic that started it all.

Message from a Dead Land

“See, Glenn! I told you not to go past the galactic speed limit! We nearly lost our left engine!”

“You’re the one who thought Sector 43 was clear!”

“The maps didn’t have anything out here…but you should know to expect the unexpected! No one from the Known Planets has been out here in at least five Agalon lifespans!”

“It looks neutral. A primitive unmanned probe, no signals detected. Looks like we could bring a good haul home. What do you say, Marla?”

“Okay. I’m going to ping Waypoint 627, but it could take a while to hear back even from there. Now if we’d crashed…”

“Well, we didn’t. Go wake up Carl and Anna to come help me on the spacewalk and then prep us for docking.”
As the others prepared, Marla aligned with the wandering probe, launched a grabbing arm and attached it to the probe’s long arm. Those who sent it probably didn’t intend to fuel the Expansion, she thought.

Tethered to the ship and the grabbing arm, Glenn and Anna walked out as Carl and Marla monitored.

“Spiral 6, Unknown Sector 43, one Agalon year out from Waypoint 627. Encountered probe, similar to those of the Early Explorers. As it is no longer operational, we plan to dismantle as it seems to be a rich source of material.” Glenn recorded for the Agalon Space Catalog as Anna photographed the probe.

“Hey, what’s this?” She pointed at a gold disk attached to the base of the dish.

“Oh, is that gold? We could use that!”

“But…but there’s something written on it. These symbols…”

“If the creators wanted it back, they would have retrieved it themselves. Now come help me with the generator.” Anna sighed and helped her boss dismantle the spacecraft, saying nothing until they got to the disk.

“We should keep it. At least look at it before melting it away.”

“I don’t know what galaxy you’re living in, Anna, but in this one we need every little scrap of metal we can get.”

“Well, in my galaxy I was brought on to this mission because of my cultural preservation training. You may not care, but some of us do.”

“Anna, go ahead, bring it in. Glenn, stop wasting our oxygen.” Marla said over the radio.

At the dock, Anna handed Carl the disk. Once she and Glenn brought in the rest of the pieces, they compacted them for the separator. The device that analyzed and separated space junk into condensed cubes was key to the success of the Agalon Expansion.

“Hey Anna, I think I know what this means! Well, part of it anyway.” Carl shouted. As Anna ran over, he pulled something from his suit pocket.

"You see these lines? They kind of look like this." He showed the silver pin to his crew mates, with dashed lines radiating out from the center similar to the markings on the disk. "My grandmother received this from her grandmother, who got it from her grandmother. She said it was so we'd always remember that we are Intercepted, not natives, and so we'd always be able to return to our true home."

"So you're saying this is a Ladean spacecraft?" Glenn asked.

"No, we're not even in the right spiral. But I think this is a map like my pin. If we could figure out even three of these markers, we could find where this probe came from."

"Well at the rate it was plodding along, whoever sent it is probably long gone. They would have sent stronger Messages by now if they were still Exploring." Glenn commented.

Marla bent over the screen. "Actually, Star 43A630 was marked as an Area of Interest on the old maps. They received scattered radio signals, stronger than background but not decipherable. Several planets, one with water and signs of life. And it’s the right direction from the probe."

"Why didn't they get closer? It sounds like it could be a Waypoint at least."

"This was an early Exploratory Mission, Glenn. They didn't have the fuel or manpower for a stop with potential hostility, and neither do we."

"Well we can at least see what they have to say." Anna held up the disk and needle. "I know what this is now! My professor would play disks like these in my Ancient Communication Methods class! They play sounds if you spin it just right on this thing.” She held up the stylus.

“And how are we supposed to know how to spin it?” Glenn asked.

“Hm…well this looks like the record, so I think those lines are a measure of how fast to spin it. I bet Carl and I can figure it out.”

“Okay, I say we set a course for Star 43A630. That’s about five Agalon years. Think you can figure it out by then?” Anna rolled her eyes at Glenn’s vote of confidence.
A few weeks later, Anna’s delighted shouts woke up Glenn and Marla.

“We figured it out! You see, Carl figured out the time units were…”

“That’s great, Anna.” Glenn snapped. “Can you read anything?”

“Well we still have to interpret the visual signals, but…you have to listen to the audio.”

“Why? It’s not a threat, is it?”

“No, just come listen.”

In the main room, Carl was standing over the disk, stunned. “Okay guys, you ready for this?”

He spun the disk. A voice spoke from the distant past, a remote corner of the universe. “As the Secretary General of the United Nations…it is with humility and hope that we take this step.” Marla’s jaws dropped. Carl paused the record.

“What is a Secretary General? And who cares how many countries are…oh.” Finally, Glenn realized what he had just heard. “But how is that…it can’t be.”

“I’m not sure how either,” Carl admitted. “But that was clearly ancestral Agalonian. Perhaps your people are not as native as you think.”

@Magebird, that's really interesting! I admit I hadn't thought too much in depth about what Earth "now" looks like, probably because the original flash was focused on the moment of discovery, with some hints about the world the explorers came from. I guess I was kind of assuming the Earth would be dead if/when they got there, but it would definitely be more interesting to have a different species taking over. I was thinking dolphins for underwater (I'm assuming sea level rise will be a factor here), but cephalopods are also an interesting possibility.

This also brings up a probable source of conflict: whatever the new dominant species is, they're probably not fans of humans. Even if we've been gone for thousands/millions of years, they will have a cultural memory of us and how disastrous we were almost killing everything. So they will see the human-like Agalonians and immediately have their guards up. So now there's more plot, maybe?

Okay my next three posts are just going to be organizing my thoughts on world, plot, and characters in more detail.

World Building

Agalon


Agalon is the origin planet of our heroes. It is the central hub of intergalactic activity, an empire fueled by rich resources of water, heavy metals, and a cultural desire to dominate. In the distant past, they were brutal imperialists, tearing through solar systems and not caring about what they destroyed or the people they subjugated. The era of expansion was pretty easy, because the intelligent life forms they came across had less resources and were in a more primitive stage of development. But then they met the Ladeans.

The Ladeans were more peaceful, having advanced technology but preferring to observe other warring star systems rather than join in the fray. They weren't as interested in colonization, preferring to use their solar system's resources to enrich their lives. However, their observation of Agalonian tactics led them to have the strongest defenses of anyone the Agalonians had encountered, so the would-be takeover was more of a stalemate that exhausted both sides. Finally, the Ladeans offered a peace plan-they would become allies with the Agalonians and let them use some of their resources and superior communication technology, but they would maintain their independence. Tired of fighting, the Agalonians agreed. In the centuries since the Alliance was formed, many Ladeans have immigrated to Agalon, making them a sizable minority there. Even so, they retain a strong connection to their roots, and it is common for young Ladeans to go on pilgramages to their mother land.

So what's Agalon like now? After the Ladean Alliance was formed, the leadership realized that maybe brutality and destruction wasn't the way to stay in power long term, so they've shifted to being more of a cultural superpower, granting its former colonists full citizenship and emphasizing unity. Still, a lot of their former colonies were not happy because they'd lost artifacts with symbolic importance through colonization that were irreplaceable. So from that backlash, the Agalonians decided they were going to catalog everything they find in their missions, document what happened to it, and train historians for space missions so they have a better chance of recognizing what should be salvaged.

Within Agalon itself, I think there is a class/race divide. Their origin mythology is that there are high Agalonians descended from great sky gods and low Agalonians descended from gods of the earth. A lot of people don't believe in these gods anymore, but the assumption that the high Agalonians are inherently better than the low Agalonians still plays a fundamental role. In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the high Agalonians are descended from the Earthlings while the low ones were people who were already there when the Earthlings showed up.

i also have to think about what other traces of Earth survive the journey to Agalon. But right now I'm getting tired, so I will figure this out later.

This Story is brought to you by: Wormholes

I have finally figured out how to start this epic journey. So Agalon is able to track wormholes the way we can track comets/asteroids. They've expanded by observing these wormholes-how frequently they open and how long they stay open. The Lesser Wormholes open about every 5-10 years, so they've been able to set up colonies there and go back and forth on pretty routine missions. These are the sort of missions Our Heroes and Their Rivals are used to. But this wormhole is a Great Wormhole, one that opens only about every 1000 years. The last time this was open, no one noticed because the Expansion was just starting on Lesser Wormholes. So this is the first time anyone's been able to map this portion of the universe.

There are some rules I need to figure out about wormholes
-Are they able to communicate to Agalon once they're through the wormhole? Or are they on their own?
-Is time affected by these at all, or just space (Time travel could make this whole thing mind-bending, so for right now I'm thinking this is space-only).

The Sagan

Is it cheesy as hell to make the spaceship named the Sagan? Yes. Am I doing it anyway? Also yes. Anyway, I feel like I need to know something about the environment of the ship itself, even if I don't want to get highly technical. I want to know its capabilities, limitations, what life is like on there.

Things The Sagan can do
-Scan items of interest very quickly and accurately and produce detailed pictures
-Create the documentation of space finds required by law
-Predict standard trajectory of objects (this is how our heroes know something weird is going on with things trying to hit them)
-Autopilot itself in short-term (eg to avoid total accidents when being attacked)
-Store food/fuel/supplies in high-density cubes so that they take up less space
-Sense where useful resources (eg water, iron, methane, uranium) could be

Things The Sagan cannot do
-Set its own course in the long term (eg a human will have to decide where it is going and be ready to man the controls. At least one person will have to keep an eye on the system to make sure everything is running as intended).
-Store infinite amount of fuel/food/supplies. There is a limit, and our crew might very well run out of something
-Unsure if it will be able to communicate with the world on the other side of the wormhole, but I'm leaning towards no atm

The Planet Formerly Known As Earth

[url]https://io9.gizmodo.com/if-humanity-went-extinct-what-species-would-replace-us-5780020
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190715-strange-evolution-the-weird-future-of-life-on-earth

The first species our heroes will run into are various birds, led by the crows (shoutout to @Magebird for this idea because I'm digging this). The crows have developed some human like traits, but probably don't have all the technology to rebuild civilization (because if they don't need it, they wouldn't evolve those abilities). Still, they have some advanced communication abilities and a species-wide memory (that's how they remember the humans even though it's been several thousand years) (maybe they do develop some sort of writing system? It does seem like language/communication would be a useful skill to evolve). Other bird species are less advanced but tend to hang around the crows because they find the best food and stuff (kind of like how dogs/cats/pigeons/rats have adapted to living with us).

One Site of Interest is the nuclear waste fields (look up "Long term nuclear warnings" to see the ideas for demarcating nuclear waste sites so future people don't go digging it up). In this case, our heroes won't need the warmings to know it's a nuclear field, but they'll want to mine it (with proper precautions) since they process this "waste" more efficiently than we can, so it's useful fuel to them (I'm guessing here that Agalon will primarily use nuclear and solar power rather than fossil fuels, since who knows if there's even any oil on Agalon?)

I also like the idea of underwater creatures, like cephalopods, also evolving an underwater society. I think that is what our rival space crew will run into first. I will have to figure this out.

Some questions I need to answer-
-What parts of the world will still be above ground/discoverable to our heroes? This would involve looking at long term climate patterns and how they might impact what is underwater and what is a desert (the most likely environment to find Important Clues, imo). Plate tectonics may also play a role, depending on exactly how far in the future we are.
-What traits would our sentient species have evolved and which would have died with the departure of mankind?
-What knowledge of manmade ruins would our sentient species know about? Would they want to destroy, want to preserve, or be indifferent to them?
-What wiped people out exactly? Who was able to get out and who was stuck on Earth? I'm guessing Agalon was populated by the most privileged Earth people, but I need to figure out this timeline a little more.

-

The Plot

Idea Graveyard (where I am putting ideas I have currently abandoned in case I want to un-abandon them)



For now, I'm outlining in what is perhaps a haphazard way, summarizing a scene in 2-3 sentences and then thinking about what could happen next and summarizing that. I'm doing this handwritten for now, though I will eventually have to commit some of it to keyboard. Right now, this is working better than trying to find a Big Plot Arc or Moral of the Story, because I don't know those yet. Heck, I don't have a definitive villain decided yet, though I have some ideas of what they want to/are able to do.

So anyway, here in the non-spoilered part, I will post the Cliff Notes version of the plot so far.

Opening Scene: The Great Wormhole opens (see Worldbuilding for explanation). The crew makes last minute preparations and says their goodbyes (this will hopefully give us some character development). They take off, followed shortly by a rival space crew (name/origin TBD).

A Fateful Crash: The rival space crew gets too close, violating The Rules of Engagement. The Captain decides to avert instead of attack bak, but they get thrown off course and nearly lose control of the ship. That's when they run into the Voyager

The Mysterious Disc: The Voyager is taken apart, and The Young Pilot almost melts away the record. Luckily the Medic is able to wake The Historian up in time for her to examine the object. She tinkers around with it and eventually figures out how to play the sound/display the pictures. She's surprised to understand any of it and has the rest of the crew listen. They argue about the implications of this and what their next course of action should be. Eventually, they decide to follow the map and head towards the source of the probe.

A Solar System Defense: As they head into the Kuiper Belt, they find themselves dodging asteroids. This isn't unexpected, given that they're in an asteroid belt, but it seems like objects are going off course to hit them, like they're doing it on purpose. Meanwhile, the rival space crew runs into the Voyager 2, but vaporize it on site. Nonetheless, they also decide to head to Earth as it seems like the most prominent source of water and other resources (we will get to know them a little better here).

We Come In Peace: Back to our heroes, the Sagan lands on Earth, possibly near Area 51 because I want to be as cheesy as humanly possible. They suit up and go outside to start investigating when they are attacked by birds. The Medic attempts to communicate to them using a technique he learned in Ladea, which doesn't go over well at first, but eventually the birds calm down enough to "talk" (the crow leaders can't really vocalize in a human way, but they can use their parrot friends as translators). The humans try to explain what they are looking for, and an old crow explains that they are wary of humans due to warnings passed down over the centuries.
-after some thought, I probably need to drag this reveal out a bit more. Like maybe their initial attackers don't know what the deal is, but they take the humans to the King Crow who explains the history

Okay we're skipping a bit to a possible third act
-So as established below, the RSC (I have some potential names for it, but I'm sticking with this until I decide) brings the Voyager 2 record and other evidence Earth is the unknown homeland back to Agalon, causing an uproar. Because of this, the RSC goes back out to retrieve/silence our heroes, this time with council members aboard. They might be able to conceal/spin the evidence they have to regain control of the narrative, but if our heroes come back with more, they might not be able to recover, so they want to stop them from coming back (except maybe as prisoners). So they descend upon Earth, hoping to either a) convince our heroes to return home safely in exchange for silence b) tell them they're best off staying on Earth or c) fighting/killing them with the rest of the planet(this is a last resort but it may come to this).

So there's a confrontation (probably verbal at first, though fighting is probably inevitable). Ramsey is defending the planet and its animals, or at least taking a step in the right direction. He's not sure why, but there's something about this place that calls to him, makes him interested in something the way he hasn't been in a long time. When he realizes his father and the Council want to destroy Earth, he knows he has to stand up to them, but he feels conflicted because he's worked hard to live up to his father's lofty expectations. So now I guess is battle time, which might be hard because I tend to skim battle scenes because I just find them boring and hard to follow. Naturally, I want to make it a happy ending somehow, but I feel like the story would be more interesting with a more ambiguous ending. I'm thinking that even if they win, Ramsey might end up staying behind because he's found more purpose in being here. Or maybe they'll all go home and preach against space imperialism. This would also be more consistent, as staying would be creating yet another Agalon colony.

The Characters

Of course the most important part is also the least fleshed out. I don't even have good names for my characters, let alone actual descriptions or backstories that would make us care about them. One thing that is weird (for me at least) is that right now this feels like a third person story, when in almost all of my adventures in prose, I write in first person. Usually I am very much in the MCs head, when right now I'm not even sure who my MC is. I said in my opening post that it was going to be Anna (this is a name I really need to change because right now I'm picturing her as Anna from Frozen and I don't want to just copycat my characters), but at the moment I'm struggling to come up with her backstory and how she's going to grow/change over the novel. In fact, the flash made me wonder if Glenn is a good MC (a name I also really need to change but I'm rolling with it for continuity's sake). Right now I have him as kind of an arrogant blowhard (a slightly less cartoonish version of Zap Branigan), but he has some potential for growth, possibly more so than Anna. But from the flash, I immediately like Marla, and I probably hate her name the least.

Anyway, here is the cast, names TBD

The Historian

Name from the generator I kinda like-Aila Dow

Female, late 20s. Comes from a middle-upper-class background. Idealistic.

Backstory: Showed promise in science/math as a child, but was more interested in history/the humanities. Her parents disapproved due to perceived bad career prospects, so she ended up on a more science/engineering career path. But then she discovered the profession of space historian, a niche made necessary by the laws requiring Agalonian space missions to categorize/document everything they find and preserve things that might be important. And she was like wait, so I can study cool history, make a living, and maybe go into space? Seems like a win-win. With the guidance of her advisor, one of the pioneers of space history, she becomes skilled in deciphering ancient artifacts, drawing attention to her when the time comes to find a historian for the latest mission.

Doing the full profile for all four characters, and I really do think she is now a side character



The Young Pilot

Name from the generator I kinda like-Ramsey Carew

Male, late 20's. Born privileged, conventionally handsome, has generally lead an easy life up to this point. Arrogant and self-centered, but perhaps not irredeemably so.

Backstory: It was basically determined that he would be a space captain before he was even born. His family has a long history of leading space battles, and his father is the current Head General of the Agalonian Defense Force. Almost flunked out of school, but good looks and his family connection saved him. Nepotism did help him get here, but he is very good at space navigation and battle tactics. The name recognition and his skill made him an obvious choice to be second-in-command (he tends to act like the Captain, but he's still too young)

Full questionnaire:



The Captain

Name: Merlina Bedalar

Female, mid-40s. Comes from a less privileged background and had to work her way up to the top ranks. Has a tough exterior, but ultimately cares deeply about her crew, even if they can be very young and silly sometimes. Doesn't usually care when The Young Pilot acts like he's in charge, but she will put her foot down when he crosses a line.

Backstory: This is less fleshed out, but I'm thinking she is going to be at least partially a "low Agalonian" (this is going to be something more fleshed out in the Worldbuilding section). Unlike the rest of the crew, her family started out serving the Agalonian elite, but her natural aptitude, ability to work hard balancing her menial jobs and the coursework required to get into the Space Academy, and a scholarship to diversify the Space Academy recruits got her in the position to enter the Academy, get top marks, and serve on several space missions of increasing importance. Her experience and leadership ability made her a natural choice to lead this crew of promising young recruits.

Full profile:


The Medic

Ugh I accidentally deleted what I had on this character, but anyway, he's a space doctor, he's Ladean (which is a mostly-assimilated minority), and he's a bit more of a free spirit than the others. Here's the full profile.

This is to keep the regular plot thread a little cleaner. This concerns our rival space crew (name TBD, will abbreviate as RSC for now) and the group of villains currently known as The Council (not the most creative, but eh it'll work for now).

The RSC is funded by a Rogue Agent in the Council. I'm not sure, but I think the Rogue and the crew are from a former Agalon colony and they have an axe to grind.
\
-Someone (maybe not the whole Council but like a rogue agent) tells the RSC what to look for (though it's possible they don't get the whole story and just think they're looking for cool treasure)

-The RSC ends up in a different direction from the Sagan and comes across Voyager 2 record (or something else idk)

-instead of going to Earth like our heroes, they decide to go straight back. They might not even bother trying to decipher the record.

-Now, the RSC wants all the money/glory of finding this for themselves. So they show the record just to their backer, who confirms it's what they're looking for.

-They announce their discovery at a big press conference and explain the significance of what they have found. News media throughout the federation are losing their minds because this means the colonizers aren't actually superior beings destined by the sky gods or whatever, they're just an offshoot of a different colonizer. It would be kind of like Native Americans thinking Europeans had been there the same amount of time as them, only to find out they were newcomers in comparison.

-Still not sure how the Agalonians themselves feel about this news, but this revelation raises tension, and there might even be war by the time our heroes get back home?

PlanMo journal challenges.

1) Agalon, a sci-fi world, and Earth in the distant future. See "Worldbuilding" post for more details.

2) The opening scene will be when the wormhole opens, meaning the team has just a few days to prepare for launch. Even though they've seen wormholes before, this one seems different in size/shape/color so it's very striking.

3) The "villain" is a shadowy body called The Council (kinda cheesy, yes, but not a terrible filler name). This council actually knows that the "sky gods" were settlers from a different world, though there is debate about which wormhole the ancestors came from. They don't want this information to get out because they believe it would delegitimize the empire if they did this. One of the most important members of the council is general Jacobin Carew, Ramsey's father, who doesn't trust his son with the secrets of the Council yet. One rogue agent thinks this could be the wormhole and tells the RSC to look for evidence of this (e.g. the structure of our solar system, artifacts like the golden record). None of this is terribly original, but hopefully writing the B plot will flesh them out a little more.

4) See above-I did this for all of my big 4 characters. I think Ramsey is going to be the MC now, though maybe Aila could be if I get into her more when I start writing. I like Merlina and Iwan, but I feel like they're side characters, though this being third person, I may use their POVs at times.

5) I don't feel confident enough in either my plot outline or my drawing skills, so I'm going to pass on this one for now.

6) This might be dumb, but I've thought about pairing certain scenes with songs from the Record (though that really seems like the sort of thing one would do several drafts in once they know what's important and where things are going. You don't work on the soundtrack before you have the script). I've also thought about using if/then chapter openers. Using the flash as an example, I might say "If Glenn hadn't zoomed past the galactic space limit, perhaps the probe would have never been noticed, but he did, and so it was." Or maybe other interesting opening lines for scenes.

7) Skipping for now, you can see what I have for plot so far above. What I need now is a third act to close things up. I have a small idea for that, but I'd have to think about it a little more.

The discovery of the record itself, but more importantly, the realization they're speaking a recognizable language. Also, when they reach Earth and get attacked by the crows.

9) Right now, Ramsey is the MC. He wants a purpose, an identity beyond being a space captain and his father's son. What's getting in his way is a busy space travel schedule, his own insecurities, borderline alcoholism, shallow friendships, pressure to live up to the family name, and being easily frustrated by trying things he is not naturally good at.

As a possible secondary MC, I will also briefly explore Aila. She wants self-acceptance, the world (including her family and advisor) to be proud of her accomplishments, and to find a love like the great love stories she reads. What's in her way is her own imposter syndrome, fear of not fitting in, and inability to be honest with herself about what she wants (ie does she want a real partner or is she just in love with the idea of love?).

10) Not sure if these are meant to be questions for myself or other people lol. I'm still questioning if any of this will work, but I'm open to general comments/questions.

I was not familiar, but when I was reading your premise I was like "ooh, ancient human connections" AND BEHOLD, I WAS CORRECT. This sounds amAZING (and I love the title too, even though I know you're not sure about it!)

I also love the idea of pairing scenes with songs! I agree it's,,,probably tough to do before writing the story and seeing where you are, but considering the record I just think it's such a cool idea.

Wow thanks @BluesClues! I'm not sure if it's a good thing that the connection is that predictable. but I mean that reveal is pretty early in the story so it's not like it's meant to be this insane plot twist. I think their time on earth is going to be finding interesting things that connect to their own world (like they'll see the American flag on the moon which seems familiar), but what those things are I'm not sure yet.

I also think maybe I thought the title wasn't bad so much as it doesn't fit the storyline. I feel like "Stories Etched in Gold" implies more random interconnected stories, which has now led to the side idea of a collection of possibly-interconnected short stories based on the record. I think I'm going to keep going with my main idea, but I suppose that is a decent fallback if I get bored/stuck on the main plot.

Stuffing this here for future reference. I left off at around 35k words and I'm trying to figure out what the third act is going to look like.