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[zollern]

I know about two Google Docs ([1], [2]) with Rimworld lore by Tynan (found the links somewhere in the forums). Is there any more lore written (aside from characters' backstories)? Are there plans to extending the lore; are we users allowed to make up our own history of Rimworld, thus extending what the game's universe is about (again, not looking at the backstories)?

Specifically, I'm trying to concentrate on history of the planet itself. Something has to have happened in order to get mechanoids on there and hundreds of thousands (looking at the number of raiders/traders/pirates) of humans. We are trying to survive on this world, we should get to know more about it.

[1]: Longsleep Revival Briefing
[2]: RimWorld Universe Quick Primer

[Quasarrgames]

Thank you so much for posting the lore here! i've only read snippets of it, and i've wanted to read it all for a while now.

Did tynan write this? This is amazing! (i'm not suprised, just deeply immersed in this amazing storyworld )

and the other questions, i guess it's up to tynan.

[mrofa]

Trans-squirrels that explains alot. They must be stopped!

[Kirid]

Specifically, I'm trying to concentrate on history of the planet itself.

The planet can't have an exact known history, there could actually be thousands of stories as to how a particular planet became a Rimworld..
The game just takes place with us crash-landing on "a rimworld".
Just like that universe quick primer says, a rimworld is a type of planet, not a planet named Rimworld with a specific history. They are basically crappy planets that are semi-close to nicer systems, so they might get an occasional passer-by who crashes or comes to refuel/trade/explore, but for the most part people who already have a spaceship don't stop on Rimworlds. Mad scientists find them good planets to build labs on, they build those protective robots which roam long after the inventor dies. Humans have probably been getting stranded and surviving for hundreds or thousands of years, resulting in tribes and raider colonies, same goal as you, survive or find a way off the planet.
I love this lore :3

One thing I do wonder about...
A. The game takes place ~3500 years in the future.
B. FLT is impossible
So what is the maximum range humans could expand to with the rimworld lore?
Doing some maths might tell you pretty close where a rimworld might be in our galaxy.
This has to include reaching a tech level on earth capable of leaving en masse, sending robots out to terraform and seed planets, and traveling to and settling on a planet.
It would be impossible to have say a Glitterworld on a planet anywhere near 3500 lightyears from earth, the lore doesn't support that.

[Tynan]

Glad you like what you've seen!

In truth it's actually quite effortful to write and think through decent backstory. I've got notions about the mechanoids and some of the new stuff you'll see in Alpha 5 but they aren't all committed to paper yet.

I wrote the existing backstory on paper during a cottage holiday last summer. It was actually several months before the Kickstarter; I did it because there were no computers around, really. When there is a computer there I always find myself much more occupied with designing the game, writing code, making art, trying to handle all sorts of business distractions - and, of course, chatting with you fine fellows.

I think at some point I should probably carve out another chunk of time to flesh out the backstory some more. I even though of writing short stories and selling them on the Kindle store for a dollar. Might be fun. But again, it's all a matter of finding the time.

As for the rimworld itself, I'm thinking it may not be a specific planet. With future versions of the game likely having a strong element of world generation, which can generate different terrains and different factions and histories (all just theory, but I'd like to do it some day), it wouldn't make sense to say that there is one canonical rimworld where the game takes place.

As for the position of the RimWorld, I imagine 400 years until high-speed interstellar flight, 2000 years of expanding humanity to reach the planet, a few centuries for it to glitter and then collapse for some reason, followed by some more centuries for the ruins to become ancient ruins and for the mechanoids to sleep, before you arrive. The upshot is that it would probably be something like 250-1000 light-years from Earth, depending on travel time, speed, and the directness of the flight.
 
Of course, because of time dilation and longsleep, people could arrive who were born in ~2010 AD (if longsleep is invented soon enough) or ~3500 AD. That's the fun of putting these two things in a universe together. I really seek a sense on the rimworld of exceptionally diverse people and creatures and entities from different times and places being brought together haphazardly to interact. When spaceflight lasts centuries and people can sleep for millennia it makes for fun cross-cultural/temporal encounters.

[mrofa]

What do spacer kind represent in the story ?
Also im kinda stuck with lack of long range communication, dont i get it.

[keylocke]

sorry for the necro, but i was searching for the links for the longsleep revival briefing and the rimworld universe quick primer and couldn't find it stickied in the forum (maybe hoping some mods could include these links in the changelog sticky or something, to make it easier for anyone interested in reading up more on rimworld lore. 

[Kegereneku]

Good idea,
cool topic, it made me remember that time I calculated distance in Rimworld for a Traders discussion. From memory it match and I hadn't seen these numbers from Tynan.

[Jorlem]

Glad you like what you've seen!

In truth it's actually quite effortful to write and think through decent backstory. I've got notions about the mechanoids and some of the new stuff you'll see in Alpha 5 but they aren't all committed to paper yet.

I wrote the existing backstory on paper during a cottage holiday last summer. It was actually several months before the Kickstarter; I did it because there were no computers around, really. When there is a computer there I always find myself much more occupied with designing the game, writing code, making art, trying to handle all sorts of business distractions - and, of course, chatting with you fine fellows.

I think at some point I should probably carve out another chunk of time to flesh out the backstory some more. I even though of writing short stories and selling them on the Kindle store for a dollar. Might be fun. But again, it's all a matter of finding the time.

As for the rimworld itself, I'm thinking it may not be a specific planet. With future versions of the game likely having a strong element of world generation, which can generate different terrains and different factions and histories (all just theory, but I'd like to do it some day), it wouldn't make sense to say that there is one canonical rimworld where the game takes place.

As for the position of the RimWorld, I imagine 400 years until high-speed interstellar flight, 2000 years of expanding humanity to reach the planet, a few centuries for it to glitter and then collapse for some reason, followed by some more centuries for the ruins to become ancient ruins and for the mechanoids to sleep, before you arrive. The upshot is that it would probably be something like 250-1000 light-years from Earth, depending on travel time, speed, and the directness of the flight.
 
Of course, because of time dilation and longsleep, people could arrive who were born in ~2010 AD (if longsleep is invented soon enough) or ~3500 AD. That's the fun of putting these two things in a universe together. I really seek a sense on the rimworld of exceptionally diverse people and creatures and entities from different times and places being brought together haphazardly to interact. When spaceflight lasts centuries and people can sleep for millennia it makes for fun cross-cultural/temporal encounters.

Out of curiosity, have you read Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky?  Rimworld's setting really reminds me of the background setting in that novel.

[keylocke]

or firefly/serenity. i think i've read somewhere that those were part of the inspiration for rimworld lore. (not sure about this)

[Devon_v]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIZyKif0bFbBWten4drrm7kfSSfvBoJPgG9-ywfN8j8/pub

They are in the creative rewards subforum.

[SSS]

Nice bump. I had almost forgotten about this topic. It's hard to believe we were only around Alpha 5 this time last year!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIZyKif0bFbBWten4drrm7kfSSfvBoJPgG9-ywfN8j8/pub

They are in the creative rewards subforum.

That was already posted in the OP.

[Dr. Z]

The fiction primer is actually the top link in the starting menu of the game and has a link to the longsöeep revival brefing.

[Devon_v]

Nice bump. I had almost forgotten about this topic. It's hard to believe we were only around Alpha 5 this time last year!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIZyKif0bFbBWten4drrm7kfSSfvBoJPgG9-ywfN8j8/pub

They are in the creative rewards subforum.

That was already posted in the OP.

For some reason they didn't show up for me when I posted that.