@worldbuilder released a prompt today in The World Building Community which really piqued my interest as I read the prompt.
Here's A Link To The Prompt Post If You'd Like To Check It Out.
How Far Can You Go?
I found it really interesting because as the prompt says, this can be referring to the distance you can travel in your world, galaxy, or universe. It could also be about morality or human advancement and adaptability.
But, as far as distance - while I don't have a map of the exact light years or parsecs - I've got a border of my Galaxy and haven't put a lot of thought into what may, or may not be beyond. Not that there is nothing out there, of course like our own knowledge of space, the people in my world know of other Galaxies, both distant and close, but as far as creatures, planets, or aliens from there, they have not been contacted.
The idea of a cosmic stranger is pretty cool though, an entity or even an entire race from the outside arriving would be cool, especially when thinking about it from the perspective of these people living in an advanced sci-fi world being afraid of the idea of people visiting from beyond their borders.
In our own world, the idea of visitors, and inner/extraterrestrials can be a pretty scary thought, and I can see some humor in an advanced galaxy-spanning society having those same fears of the outsiders. Although, in saying that, the funniness of the predicament isn't really a necessary reason to include something like this.
Star Wars: The New Jedi Order
The idea of an outsider race showing up in an already established Galaxy as a threat was covered already and done really well in this series of novels which took place 21 years after Return of The Jedi.
It saw the characters from the series years after the Empire was defeated, and as the Galaxy was getting back to normal with The New Republic era, there is an invasion from a race known as the Yuuzhan Vong who are hell-bent on the destruction of every world and the eradication of all life in the Galaxy. I liked the series, and it was kind of cool that the remnants of the Empire and Rebellion and all the factions in between had to kind of work together to defend themselves against them.
I think the idea of a third party is good because in a war between two major factions, it can kind of get resolved easily enough and one faction can tend to get the better of the other. However, three factions can turn a conflict in a story interesting, as there will always be a pull in either direction at any time. Kind of like the Three Kingdoms period in China. After the Han empire fell the entire country fell into chaos and multiple small warring factions until Three factions came from the shattered warring states, Wei, Wu, and Shu. Between these three factions a constant power struggle ensued, where alliances would form and, break, and the balance of power would constantly shift until the war stagnated and the Jin Dynasty was established.
Human/ Alien Advancement
The Thing I like about the worlds that I write about is that in their recent past, some of them have been known to be very advanced; some have made strives in robotics, cybernetic enhancements, A.I - Which is known as A.A.I, Advanced Artificial intelligence, ship technology, space travel, and warfare. With all of these advancements, and many more like them a lot of lives have been affected and enhanced due to them, but the only problem is a lot of these advancements are seemingly lost, in part, due to the war, and in some cases due to worlds being destroyed by their own creations/ tampering's.
However, just because these ideas and creations aren't exactly available to the public anymore, it doesn't mean that the knowledge is completely gone and there are still pockets in the Galaxy where progress is still being made under lock and key.
From a writing standpoint, I think that's good because it offers me a lot of freedom while staying within the bounds of the "Rules," of the world.
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I like this ! I can think of at least three different ways to answer this prompt, because each of my three current settings will have a very different response.
Your idea of bringing a third party into a conflict situation is fascinating ! It's very Orwellian - "We're at war with Eurasia; we've always been at war with Eurasia" kind of vibes as the pattern of alliances shifts on a regular basis.
I might have to write a response of my own to this one, although it might be a few days before I get the chance !
You have pondered on nice topics and I am more interested on the Human/Alien Advancement. Well, I love the Artificial intelligence because it is very useful but I want to say no to it because of a few reasons.
You're free to ask me why
I'm a big fan of the kind of worldbuilding you do (which I also do), being the idea of former glory having a large place in your setting. Things aren't the best they've ever been, and in some ways the golden age of advancement is in the past... or at least, that's how it can seem. As you mentioned, it's really nice to have spots where the loss of knowledge hasn't happened and progress continues unhindered.