Welcome to Loremakers: Community Questions, a series focused on answering your lore questions. We’ve done a deep dive through the lore Ask A Dev section and selected ten questions to answer about the Star Citizen universe. All questions were slightly edited for context and clarity but you can click on the topic to go directly to the original post and join the conversation. Also, the Narrative team plans to do one installment of Loremakers: Community Questions every quarter with the next entry scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th, so please join the discussion and drop any other questions you might have about the universe in our Ask A Dev forum.
Who was behind the assassination attempt on Imperator Costigan?
Question: Were the perpetrators ever caught or is there still an open bounty out there?
Answer: Sorry bounty hunters, but there's no open bounty related to the attempted assassination of Imperator Costigan. The Advocacy identified Maurice Vano, who was killed fleeing the scene, as the sole attacker and considers the case closed. Still, some find it hard to believe that Vano acted alone, particularly in circumventing strict security measures, and wonder if accomplices might still be out there.
For a quick recap, news first broke during an Empire Report that revealed shots were fired at Imperator Costigan during the Banking Federation Summit in New York City. Imperator Costigan escaped unharmed, but one member of his security detail, the elite 1st Marine Combat Battalion, was killed and several Marines and civilians injured in the crossfire. Two weeks later the Advocacy held a press conference where they identified Maurice Vano as the assailant. They didn't reveal much past Vano's name and that his system contained a significant amount of e’tâm, a Xi'an drug known to produce intense and dangerous side effects in Humans. A New United investigation into Vano revealed him to be a former Navy Starman turned mercenary with ties to several xenophobic organizations. The assassination attempt occurred amidst debate around the Human-Xi'an Trade Initiative (HuXa) leading some to speculate that Imperator Costigan's support for HuXa motivated Vano to attack.
Since the press conference, the Advocacy has remained tight-lipped about the incident and investigation. This silence has only fed conspiracy theories, several which firebrand Parker Terrell floated on an episode of Plain Truth. Could Tevarin separatist or a Xi'an crime syndicate have financed and helped plan the attack? Parker asked the question but doesn't seem too interested in answering it himself. Instead he railed against the Advocacy for using the incident as cover to access financial records and files of businesses or groups that had even a passing association with Vano.
All that said, the incident is considered closed by the Advocacy, but there's a chance unnamed co-conspirators might be out there. And if their ultimate motivations truly were against the further opening of trade between the UEE and Xi'an Empires, then they're probably even more displeased with current Imperator Addison, who wants to strengthen ties between the two empires even more.
How common are Esperia ships?
Question: Seems weird having a re-creation of a 400-year-old alien ship as one of the most powerful, affordable, and common ships in the game from arguably one of the most expensive and high-end manufacturers.
Answer: From a narrative perspective, Esperia is definitely still a high-end manufacturer. They began as a small, niche company that collected and archived old ship blueprints until the company transformed in 2877 when Esperia's founders, brothers Jovi and Theo Ingstrom, successfully repaired a broken Glaive. The UEE Navy (UEEN) quickly hired them as consultants to build and repair Vanduul ships to be used in training exercises. When original Tevarin ships models were discovered in Kabal, Esperia was given special access to them, leading to the release of the Prowler and eventually the Talon. So, though they may make specialized ships, the company is definitely big enough and popular enough to produce the large number of replicas seen flying around the empire. As for the price point, while they consider their pieces “functional collectables,” the brothers have always wanted to make history as accessible to as many people as possible when the manufacturing allows for it.
Exactly how prominent Esperia ships will be in-game is still to be seen. Part of it depends on how popular their ships are with players, which is something we can't predict. It's great if you're seeing a lot of Esperia ships in-game because it means players are attracted to their unique design and function. The variety of ships and frequency with which you see them around the verse will always be in flux, but the goal is to create a diverse group of ships so players aren't encountering the same few over and over again. Esperia's fleet of unique ships definitely helps diversify the field. The hope is to eventually be able to further diversify the ships you will encounter as we continue to expand the presence of NPCs in the universe and the ships they will fly.
Voting in the last Imperator election
Question: Since I voted in the Imperator elections, does that mean I am a citizen of the United Empire of Earth? From what I understood, I thought we had to do something to earn citizenship? Have those plans changed?
Answer: Plans have not changed. Only citizens will be able to vote for Imperator in-game, though specifics around how this will be handled still need to be determined. Still, we just thought it would be an opportunity for players to participate in the recent Imperator election and help shape the future of the UEE. Holding a vote on the RSI website was a fun way to get the community engaged without the election being held in the game world where that pesky citizenship rule would be enforced. Hopefully, the process was something people enjoyed and might even motivate some to attain citizenship in-game to participate in future elections.
)/75/cloudimperiumgames-starcitizen-anvilcarrack.jpg)
Imperial Cartography Center & the Carrack
Question: The Imperial Cartography Center (ICC) is described as being a government organization that's responsible for overseeing virtually all of the major mapmaking operations in the verse, including charting newly discovered jump points & star systems. Was the Carrack strictly a UEE Navy pathfinder before it was declassified or did the ICC also use it for their cartography needs?
Answer: The UEE Navy (UEEN) exclusively used the Carrack until a civilian variant was released in 2938. Leaving the ICC to use other exploration ships for all their cartography needs until then. The ICC is an extremely vital government organization though, so the Navy would have most likely shared new mapping data with them until they landed their own Carrack.
If you're interested in more Carrack lore, we published a Whitley's Guide focused on the Carrack in Jump Point 8.2. It touched upon the complications of bringing the ship to the civilian marketing, which included a complete rewrite of the ship's sensor suite, and mentions several notable Carracks and their discoveries.
Food flavors
Question: I have been working on replicating food from the game for fun and there are three fruits I can't find any flavor details on. Can you describe the flavors of lunes, chibanzoo, and blue bilva?
Answer: Of course! To say the Narrative team took great joy in developing new food for the game would be a gross understatement. Here's the specific flavors called out for each fruit.
Lunes: When ripe, the Lunes is a very sweet and juicy flavor and have become a very popular summer delicacy, commonly found in ice cream and other desserts.
Chibanzoo: It is a sweet, extremely tart berry that is high in tannins and has a mouth drying effect when eaten. The cluster of small black, pointy seeds in each berry’s center are not eaten as they are very bitter.
Blue Bilva: The Blue Bilva is known for its distinctive rich flavor; which is highly astringent, aromatic and very high in fructose. It is commonly eaten dried or turned into brandy.
Enjoy your culinary journey through the Empire!
Quantum sensitive materials
Question: As a game mechanic, quantum sensitive materials make sense, but I'm curious what its role is in the universe. Can we get more lore behind quantum sensitive materials?
Answer: Here's the lore behind the quantum sensitive material currently being slowboated around Stanton:
Diluthermex: An extremely heat resistant epoxy often used in the mounting and repair of ship thrusters. It is considered very difficult to transport in its uncured state as it becomes explosively unstable when exposed to Chan-Eisen fields during quantum travel. Specialized containers must be used to safely transport the epoxy long distances. Once set and cured, the Diluthermex is no longer reactive.
So items using a processed version of diluthermex have no issues with quantum travel. As development continues, the narrative team will keep working with design to create materials that lead to diverse and interesting gameplay scenarios.
Why is the Xi'an ship named the San'tok.yāi not San'tok.yāi-al?
Question: Aopoa gave the Qhuire Khartu the "al" designation to distinguish the Human export version of the ship. Why wasn't "al" also used for the San'tok.yāi?
Answer: This is an interesting question because it gives insight into how the Xi'an language was developed. The Khartu was named prior to the development of the Xi'an language and the "al" added to make a clear distinction between the Human and Xi'an variants. When the language was developed, we shared everything established in lore with Britton Watkins, who developed the language and produced the extensive Xi'an Language Overview. Check out page 117 and you'll see that "al" can be written and used in several ways including "outgoing; external; projecting externally; depart; exit; export." So "al" can mean "export" but is also used in a lot of different ways. One of the team’s personal favorites being "āl" with the macron over the "a" denoting a slightly different pronunciation and meaning "subconscious meditation; fuge meditation; reverie." A really wonderful way to tie the word to the Xi'an tradition of deep meditation taking them out of space and time.
Now, the in-lore reason behind the ship being named the San'tok.yāi instead of the San'tok.yāi-al is pretty simple. That's how Aopoa's marketing team decided to sell it to the UEE. Having now spent years exporting ships to the UEE market, Aopoa seems content to move away from using "al" on their export models, as neither the Nox or the Nox Kue carry the designation either. This could be a sign that the Xi'an and their language are becoming more entrenched in UEE life, or that they simply wanted the literal translation of San'tok.yāi (ship that creates genuine fear) to stand on its own.
)/75/whammers.jpg)
Founding date of Whammer's?
Question: Whammer's makes delicious food and was founded in 2801. That makes this year its 150 year anniversary. What was the exact date that Whammer's was founded so that we can celebrate in style?
Answer: Being in business for 150 years is definitely worth celebrating. Since we haven't established a founding date, now seems like the perfect time to do it:
August 7, 2801
To celebrate Whammer’s sesquicentennial, be sure to visit a location and grab some grub. Know I'll be enjoying #2 Cravin' Meal, which comes with a Whamburger D-Lux, Zesty Whirls, and a soda.
Who or what is Lorville named after?
Question: How'd Lorville get its name?
Answer: Good question. First, the name Lorville was picked because we thought it sounded cool while also evoking the idea of company towns that inspired the location. Once we had chosen something that captured the feel we were after, we went ahead and explored why Hurston Dynamics would have made the same choice. Here is the never before seen history of how the city got its name:
In 2865, Hurston Dynamics purchased the planet that would come to bear its name, and thoroughly scanned it to locate the most resource rich sectors. Areas with little resource value were repurposed for factories, research centers, and weapon testing, or in the case of one particular large swath of land, filled with cheap structures to house on-world workers. Hurston assigned this area the three letter designation LOR for "Local Occupational Residency" and required all on-world workers to live there. No one knows who first called the location LOR-ville but the term quickly became popular among workers, many of whom were locked into long term work contracts and knew they wouldn't be leaving it anytime soon.
By 2877, the Hurston family realized their vision of building large, lush estates for members of the family across the planet would significantly reduce their ability to extract resources, pollute, and/or test weapons on the land around it. Instead, the family decided to make the LOR both the business and residential center for the entire planet, and construction on the Central Tower began. By then the name Lorville was so ubiquitous that company records even used it, and as far as is known, no real consideration was given to changing it.
The Indefatigable-class battleship
Question: This post mentions the UEE Navy having an indefatigable-class of battleships. Is that still a thing or just a myth?
Answer: The Indefatigable-class of battleships were used by the UEE Navy against the Vanduul early in the conflict, but are now outdated and no longer in service. Which goes to prove that the ships themselves were not in fact indefatigable.