We the Safe Ones, the Spathi High Council, would like to welcome you to the Pages of Now and Forever. They are based on the Star Control games from . Star Control is a science-fiction wargame which pits the forces of the Alliance of Free Stars against those of the predatory Ur-Quan Hierarchy. The games are designed so that you can ease into play, familiarizing yourself with menus, options and player controls. The Alliance and Hierarchy each possess different types of warships. Each vessel has its own maneuvering and firing characteristics, plus a unique special power that you can employ when circumstances dictate. In Star Control II the player gets to do all these things, plus have conversations with 18 intelligent, star-faring species as the player navigates space collecting resources, trying to prevent the Kohr-Ah Ur-Quan from carrying out their Eternal Doctrine. In Star Control III the Ur-Quan have been defeated, but hyperspace travel has stopped working and the galaxy is collapsing. The League of Sentient Races travels to the Galatic Core in search of the Precursors and a way to stop the galaxy from collapsing. When they arrive in the Kessarri Quadrant, they find the Hegemonic Crux, and the trouble starts.

Within the Pages of Now and Forever, you can find pictures and information about the races in Star Control I, Star Control II, and Star Control III along with the ships they employ. We the Safe Ones maintain files on the Sentient Milieu, the Precursors, Dnyarri, and other extinct races. Also here, the Melnorme can help you find places scattered throughout hyperspace, or commonly know to you Hunams as the Web. They will also offer you upgrades for your planet lander (files) for a nominal credit fee. Check back with us from time to time for more information, and thank-you for visiting Hunam!

Please note Hunam that these Pages were designed while using 800 x 600 screen resolution. They were also tested with and designed for Netscape 4.0+. They have been tested with MS Internet Explorer and should look exactly the same with that browser. For these pages to look absolutely Splendid, use 16-bit high-color or better. Thanx !

Star Control, Earth Defense... Star Control is humanity’s space defense in the Ur-Quan Conflict, and it is also the name of a game, or is it the name of a story? What other myriad of meanings does Star Control have? To some of us it is only a game, only a story, to look at and enjoy, but never take part in. To others Star Control, the community, is like a way of life which we work in and enjoy. What is the Star Control community though?

We are a fan based community where we come together for just the enjoyment of sharing a universe, the enjoyment of a great plot, the outcome of the world frungy championships, and the gossip of who insulted who on #StarControl (on EFnet). Some of us enjoy the chatroom, or others prefer the message boards, and some of us are completely engrossed in their little corner that they don’t notice the rest of the community. Even I do not see all that there is. Star Control 2 has managed to hold together a community since it was released in 1992, and this ability for it to capture the minds and heart is what I like about it the most.

The community is a free community, you can come and go as you please, it requires no name or password, or even mention of your passing if you simply want to take a look around. There is no one to shut you out of the entire community, because no one owns every website. We laugh and sing and *dance* and pass along chain posts saying “VOOT!” We are together though, not because of the community, but because of another reason which is the game.

The game though, will wear thin and one day it’s greatness will fade from our minds. We can not replace the game with any website, because the websites will only be about the game, and limited to it. We can not replace the game with any chat or message post because we would have no direction to the community, or reasons to put up the websites. We need another Star Control game to share that we can talk about and will challenge our minds and meddle. We need another epic story to dream about and discuss. We need mystery and intrigue that will hold us in rapture and capture our hearts.

This though, is not easy to do. There are four clone projects that I can name, Time Warp, Expanding Realities, Free Star Control Project, and Relics of Empire Old. Only Time Warp so far has a working melee released, and even that’s not been perfected. Making a clone isn’t easy, especially with a small team. For a single person, it isn’t hard to contribute a few renderings, some music, whatever your skill is it might be needed. The problem isn’t so much as people not wanting to do a large amount of work, but any amount of work in general.

Everyweek over a thousand different people visit TPONAF, but you can find only a few of these people active in the community; working on pages, posting on boards, wreaking havoc on #starcontrol. I think that there is a lot more people out there that can contribute to the cause. Do just a little, but if everyone does something, we as a community would become so much more prosperous and so much better. We must be careful not to burn ourselves out. What good are a thousand different pages about SC, when each of them sucks? It would be best if we kept TPONAF as a communications hub, and had just a few great and well-celebrated pages, if we kept just a few clone projects, but made them great. We should all work towards a single goal, and in reaching that goal we should work as a single community unified in our efforts! Whatever we do we will then be able to do it better and with more efficiency. Then we will all be able to share something, as we share Star Control 2.

I have given you a question, but I still need to give you an answer. This answer is my opinion, and will work if we all work together. I’m sorry if you think that we should do other things, but if you oppose me, then you will split the community and cause both efforts to fail. Follow me, please, because together and united we will stand where apart we would fall.

We can all contribute in a small part to the get back rights campaign to buy back the rights to Star Control from Infogrames. To do so we will need to revive GBR, find out how much the rights would cost, and then each pledge a certain amount of money. When the pledges add up to the cost, we all give the money then.

We should also be willing to contribue a small effort to a cause whenever it is requested. So many people come by here and look at TPONAF, where requests are made weekly. So many of us look at these requests and think that we do not have time to help, and that is ok, but when we look at it and we simply feel lazy or think that someone else will do it, that is counteractive. So few of us actually respond to these requests, and so many of us come, it seems everyone thinks that they do not need to help, and so no one helps, and nothing happens. Try please, it is not hard, and the benefits to gain are more than you put in.

This united effort will not work unless we are united. Every person must be willing to help. Step out from the background and contribue to the community. You don’t need to say your name if you want, just try. Project managers too, I think we need to adapt to the new situation which the Star Control community is. You may be telling yourself now that others will do the work, and you’ll just let it pass by you. Do not do this! If we all say that then my efforts are in vain, and this great community I love will fall from the ravages of time. If we all contribute, all of us, including you, then the community will become greater, and you will be able to enjoy the profits of all.

My ideas may sound communistic, and they are. I believe in a society where everyone is welcome to help, where all people are treated fairly and equally, and if people are not equal it is because they are mistreated. I believe that people should work together for the people. It need not be by the people, but always for the people. You may think this dream naive, or foolish. This dream though, will only fail if people scoff at it. These people who laugh at the dream though, are those who really choke the dream and are the only fools. So enjoy the dream because it is beautiful, and join the cause that is Star Control. We can only do this together, do not fail the community comrade. Star Controllers of the World, unite!

Deep-Reep