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''Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War'' is a '''''. For contractual reasons, FreeSpace 1 was called '''''Conflict: FreeSpace — The Great War''''' in Europe. HISTORY The original title, ''Descent: FreeSpace'', was released in mid-1998. It had one expansion pack in the form of ''Silent Threat''. ''FreeSpace 2'' was released in , publisher Interplay released the GotY edition as a limited edition of 2000 copies with the title "20th Anniversary Edition", celebrating Interplay's own 20th anniversary. In reality however, this second re-release was considered a fairly obvious attempt to capitalize on the shortage of copies of the game, which were going for upwards of $50 at the time on auction houses like EBay , and would have generated a quick hundred-thousand dollars for the ailing Interplay. Although the ''FreeSpace'' saga was officially exclusive to Windows , it was ported to Linux after the source code to ''FreeSpace 2'' was released in 2002. A Mac OS X port has reached a playable beta status. ''FreeSpace'' was heralded by game reviewers, having assimilated the best points of other space combat simulators like '' Wing Commander '' and adding its own features. ''FreeSpace'' offers intelligent wingmen the player can command, an intricate storyline, multiplayer and capital ships over 2 kilometers in length. It also includes the ''FRED'' (FReeSpace '''ED'''itor), a mission editor used by the game designers themselves, allowing users to produce many of their own campaigns and missions. ''FreeSpace 2'' is a polished successor to the original with practically identical gameplay and interface but featuring enhanced graphics, nebula effects and beam weapons for larger ships that radically alter the battlefield. Even though ''FreeSpace 2'' was lauded by the gaming press, it failed to sell very well, effectively marking the end of the era for this style of the space simulation video game. After ''FreeSpace 2'' Still, the ''FreeSpace'' saga lives on in the work of mission designers and "modders", some of whom have become veritable experts and are training younger members of the community. New, user-made campaigns sport custom ships and weapons, detailed storylines and decision-based mission branching. Another project, the ''FreeSpace Source Code Project'' (also known as "FS2Open"), was started after Volition released the ''FreeSpace 2'' source code, which has elevated the features of the game far past its original capabilities. Although many improvements are graphical in nature, there are also a number of beneath-the-hood improvements for modding the game. This has helped spur the development of mods for other sci-fi universes, such as '' Babylon 5 ''1, '' Battlestar Galactica ''2, '' Star Wars ''3, '' Wing Commander ''4, and '' Star Fox ''5. An active developer and modding community is gathered at the Hard Light Productions Forums . PLOT ''Descent: FreeSpace'' is set in 2335. At the beginning of the game, the Galactic Terran Alliance (GTA) have been at war with the '''Parliamentary Vasudan Empire''' (PVE) for fourteen years. Without warning, a third species, known as the '''Shivans''', appears on the scene. The Terrans and Vasudans are directly threatened by their massive fleet, led by the flagship, designated ''SD Lucifer''. As a result, the feuding races formed a hasty alliance to defeat the technologically-superior Shivans. A group of zealous Vasudans called the Hammer of Light tried to interfere with the alliance, believing that the Shivans were gods. The lore of a fourth, extinct race, known as the '''Ancients''', detailed their war with the Shivans and thorough knowledge of Subspace portals that linked the universe's systems together. These portals are a natural phenomenon that are used to connect planetary systems to each other and allow quick transit between them through the use of "jump nodes". Both Terran and Vasudan fleets showed to be no match against the superior weaponry of the Shivan fleet, led by the ''Lucifer''. The ''Lucifer'' possessed a special type of energy shielding technology which made it impervious to any weapons used by both Terrans and Vasudans. Despite several minor successes on the side of the Terrans and Vasudans, both sides are pushed back. During the course of the game, Terran and Vasudan systems are systematically obliterated as the Shivans move deeper into their space. The Shivans eventually reach the Vasudan homeworld of Vasuda Prime and render it uninhabitable. The final mission of ''Descent: FreeSpace'' takes place in subspace, after the ''Lucifer'' enters a jump-node on its way to Sol . Due to the inability of the ''Lucifer'' to use shields in subspace, the GTA plans to assault the Lucifer with the GTD Bastion, but when it appears the Bastion will never make it in time, the Bastion sends a small strike force of fighters and bombers through the jump node as the ''Lucifer'' enters it. The strike force is able to destroy its five main reactors, thereby destroying the flagship just as it exits through the Sol jump node and ending the first Shivan invasion. The resulting explosion closes the Sol jump node, severing Earth's connection with the rest of the Terran and Vasudan systems. ''Silent Threat'' is set after the collapse of the Sol jump node. It chronicles the fall of a rogue faction of the Galactic Terran Intelligence (GTI) which was attempting to use Shivan technology to destroy the GTA. The GTI managed to construct the ''GTD Hades'', a new type of superdestroyer incorporating Shivan technology and weaponry. It was destroyed at the end of the campaign and the rogue GTI outfit was defeated. RACES Terrans In the ''FreeSpace'' universe, Terrans have spread across some of the galaxy thanks to their development of subspace technology, through which humanity has laid claim to many star systems. The expansion of their sphere of influence eventually put them into conflict with the Vasudans, which became a 14-year-long war. Terran factions are organized under the Galactic Terran Alliance (GTA), which later evolves into the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance. Terran vessels Terran ship design during FreeSpace 1 is still reminiscent of designs of the 20th/21st century and common themes of fiction involving early space travel where design necessity overrides beauty. Large ships tend to be boxy while fighters can still trace their lineage to their atmospheric counterparts, with Bombers blending the two together. FS2 Terran designs take on a slightly Vasudan influence with the strengthening alliance. Fighters Terran Fighters in the T-V war era were under powered in terms of engine output, but made up for it with superior armour and firepower. Great War designs were faster and more adaptable without losing much in firepower. FS2 era ships blended high performance and strong defensive and attack capability, with most craft able to perform a variety of roles. Vasudans The Vasudans are a tall, bipedal race evolved to thrive in the harsh environment of their homeworld Vasuda Prime. They are a civilization of philosophers, artists, and scholars. They immerse themselves in the teachings of those who came before them, perceiving history not as a linear chronology of events but as a space inhabited by both the living and the dead. Their name may have been taken from the Hindu name Vasudeva . To the Terran outsider, Vasudan society appears convoluted and ritualistic. The Vasudans themselves may seem arrogant, treacherous, and superstitious. On the other hand, Vasudans tend to view Terrans as aggressive, paranoid, and stupid. Thirty years of peaceful interaction between Terrans and Vasudans has helped to deconstruct these stereotypes. The crowning achievement of the Vasudan civilization is its language. For the average Terran, the formalities governing its usage are beyond comprehension. Syntax and vocabulary are dictated by such factors as the speaker's age, rank, and caste, the time of day and the phase of the Vasudan calendar, and the relative spatial position of the speaker to the Emperor. This is further compounded by the existence of several alphabets, dozens of verb tenses, and thousands of dialects. It is thought that a mishandling of this language by Terrans was one of the factors that caused the 14-year-war. A translation device is now standard on all GTVA communications systems, enabling Terrans and Vasudans to understand each other. Because the Vasudan homeworld was primarily desert, the Terrans used Egyptian names to designate Vasudan warships during the Terran-Vasudan War and the Great War. After the defeat of the Shivans, the Vasudans insisted on maintaining this convention. The Emperor strongly identified with the history of Ancient Egypt, particularly the longevity of its civilization. Following their Emperor's example, Vasudans will take on what they call a Terran name from the myths and history of Ancient Egypt. Shivans The Shivans (named after the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration Shiva ) are an ancient, destructive race that has exterminated countless spacefaring races and recently fought two destructive wars against the Terrans and Vasudans. It has been confirmed that Shivans are in fact Xenocidal . Shivans have a black exoskeleton, five legs, compound eyes, and are apparently some form of cybernetic organism, with both organic and inorganic components including an integrated plasma weapon. They are physically extremely strong and well adapted to a microgravity environment, possibly having evolved in it. The typical Shivan specimen is roughly 4m to 5m long and its height varies between 2.5 and 3.5m depending on its posture. It is theorised that the integral plasma cannon, inorganic materials, and cybernetic components can be explained by the use of an artificial exoskeleton of sorts (''Descent: FreeSpace'', Disc 2, the video featuring the boarding team). Only a handful of Shivans have ever been captured, and all research on live specimens ended with the rebellion of the intelligence branch of the GTA at the close of the Great War. The results of these studies remain highly classified. In ''Descent:FreeSpace'' the narrator (an Ancient) speculates that the Shivans are closely tied with subspace; they apparently are native to subspace, and take notice of any species that travels through it, acting to exterminate them. At the end of ''Descent: FreeSpace'', it is theorized that the Shivans are the Galaxy's Immune System , a premise similar to that in Starflight 2 . They appear and exterminate any species that develops subspace technology. By doing so, they prevent any one species from spreading across the entire galaxy and dominating all other races. It is theorized that humans would never have developed if not for the Shivans, because the Ancients would have been allowed to spread and eventually conquer Earth. Likewise, the Ancients would not have been able to develop, as they would have been conquered by the races that came before them. At the end of ''FreeSpace 2'' a vast Shivan fleet destroys one of the Capella system's suns for unknown reasons. However, it is theorized by Admiral Petrarch that the Shivans themselves may be exiles, and that the explosion of a star may serve as a gateway to their own dimension. The Ancients The Ancients were a species that conquered a large portion of the immediate region of the known galaxy, including parts of current Terran and Vasudan space and beyond who were exterminated just under 8000 years ago. Thanks to their advanced technology, no enemy was ever able to withstand their might, until they encountered the Shivans. All of the Ancient's weapons and technology proved futile against the Shivans' seemingly invincible shield technology, and they were eventually exterminated after a prolonged war. The Ancients eventually discovered a weakness in Shivan shield technology — their inoperation while in subspace — and developed a means by which vessels could be tracked through subspace. This was too late, however, to save the Ancients from the Shivan incursion. During the course of the single-player campaign of the first game, the records of the Ancients are recovered by Vasudan archaeologists and used by Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance to defeat the ''Lucifer'' and win the Great War. It is speculated that the Terrans and Vasudans themselves would not have survived if the Ancients had been allowed to propagate and expand at will, and thus, in a strange reversal, making the Shivans the saviors of then still planet-bound humanity. In ''Descent: FreeSpace'', the story of the Ancients was narrated through the usage of several in-game cutscenes showing scenes of starfields, planets, and the like, while a narrator calmly intoned dialogue explaining the rise and fall of the Ancients' empire. The Ancients apparently believed the Shivans were a race of cosmic destroyers, and that the extinction of their species was an act of retribution for striving beyond their ordained place in the cosmic order. Due to Interplay's going out of business, it is not likely the story will be officially concluded. NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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