Quinquennial, Part 6 Released!

Yes, I know that this took a while to make, but it's only because someone decided to release the fabled 1.0 version of Starbound on the same day that some of my cousins spent a few days at my house (both of which are quite enjoyable, BTW).

But my real-life strife isn't why you're here! No, you're here to play the latest part of Quinquennail! This part skips us ahead to the beginnings of the Solar Stage, where the Kleekoonanonis have almost finished the USS Titan and selected Jercy to captain it. But will he accept their offer? (Obviously, yes, thanks to dramatic irony).

The logo for the series, here over the nearly-completed USS Titan.
(Fun fact: The Titan was originally going to be under construction and
have exposed bits and wires, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work).

The Shadow and Zawnty of this time period have a heated
debate about something... or someone...

TheJercy of this time period stares in bemusement at his
future counterpart (although, strictly speaking, this shouldn't
be possible as this is a nonphysical recreation of the past
and therefore nobody is aware of the time travelers).

Jercy sits on the edge of the Kleekoonanoni Needle, wondering if
falling from it will kill him (nope, thanks to Spore).

Commentary: Here, we zip right through the Civilization Stage into the Solar Stage. I was planning something involving the Thistils initially for the next Quinquennial part, but I decided to skip it and instead show how Jercy got started on the Titan.

Sadly, this is the era in which my insipid Artemis Fowl Crossover Madness™ is in full swing, but luckily my old friend Retconning is here to save us! You may notice numerous characters speculating about someone called Holly Short and her existence (not to be confused with the badass, totally awesome, and definitely existent Holly Jenkins); this is because whenever I look back at my old Artemis Fowl-related adventures, it's actually shameful and physically revolts me. Keep an eye out for more retcons that do away with the Artemis Fowl Atrocities™!

Quinquennial, Part 5 Released!

Yes, there was another delay when family got in the way of my creating... but let's not focus on that! Instead, let's focus on this quick little part, which takes us to Epindol's Tribal Stage as the Jonterops (i.e. Zawnty) fight for their freedom.

The series logo, here floating mysteriously
over the Kleekoonanoni's ancient
tribal village.

The nameless tribal protagonist, his war-party, and Zawnty
are on the warpath.

Zawnty shows a Burkenton who's boss.

Shadow and Zawnty (this one from the future) chill out
after the somewhat-big battle.

Commentary: I decided to revisit the Jonterop slave revolt for a few reasons: first of all, the Jonterops and Burkentons were eme12's first contributions to STNL and later the Revolution Universe, and I decided to honor that by showing them first. Secondly, this was when it became clear the Kleekoonanonis are quite powerful, and my personal theory is that this is what got the attention of the Garadreads. Finally, since Zawnty is accompanying these tours, it seemed appropriate that we should look at what he did in life.

Quinquennial, Part 4 Released!

To conclude our look at the beginnings of the Kleekoonanonis and Garadreads, we go to the same space station where several people voted on which cell would become a spacefaring creature!

The logo for the series, hovering atop the cell-containing tanks.

This is... random.

Jercy admires his cellular ancestors.

Archon Prel talks with the scientist from the first STNL part,
who is indeed a reuse of one of those Illusioneering
Industries guys.

Commentary: Quinquennial finally catches up with Part 0 of STNL, as we discover what led to the Kraygans deciding to let other people decide how the Klees became Kleekoonanonis. This will also be the last Quinquennial event shown over several parts, as I'll take a different approach and compact future events into a single part.

In terms of continuity, I explained the aforementioned scientist reuse as the Kraygans outsourcing their work to Illusioneering Industries (why they did that I'll never know) and having them create the cells. Also, you probably don't remember it, but I initially explained the unleashed aspect of the series as a result of the Kraygans telepathically contacting me. Well, I'm gonna tell you in advance I came up with a better explanation! :-D (Ye gods I'm turning into Shadow)

Quinquennial, Part 3 Released!

Our exploration into the origins of the Kleekoonanonis takes us to the planet Baidaan, an arid planet home to the Zukakka species and their Kraygan uplifters. Here, Archon Prel Moka receives a disturbing new report while on vacation, and immediately has to make plans to counter the latest Experimenter plan...

The logo for the series. It's almost as good as the one for one of the
Bloodlust episodes a few years ago.

A random Zukakka.

Archon Prel Moka's reaction to learning that Starbound 1.0
is on the horizon.

OH GOD WHAT IS THIS UGLEH BLUE THINGUS

Commentary: I knew that Prel had to learn about the Garadreads before she could create the Kleekoonanonis, and this is what led to that. I considered setting this adventure on their homeworld of Cralofania-3, but I was feeling a bit more creative and set it on Baidaan, just to shake things up.
Also, while making this adventure, I noticed a plot hole: why didn't the Kraygans destroy (or at least bombard) Epindol when the Garadreads were being created? This adventure will solve that plot hole once and for all (now I just need to solve the immesurable plot holes in fungus3's adventures).

Incidentally, the Zukakkas are based off of the Zukakkan, a race of pre-sentient reptilians I found and uplifted in one of my Stellaris campaigns as the human race. Similarly the Zukakka depicted here, they lived on an arid planet called Baidaan III (which I later renamed to Zukakka in their honor) and were strong fighters and industrious workers, but weren't exactly the smartest knives in the drawer...

Quinquennial, Part 2 Released!

To kick off the special proper, Jercy, Shadow, and Zawnty go back to the VERY beginning, to a time before time existed for the series! Yes, they're going back to the moment that started everything (well, in-universe anyways): the creation of the Garadreads!

The logo for the series. Notice that spaceship...

Jercy looks out the window at what will become his
homeworld...

Lord Inzhener, leader of the Experimenters, making a comeback after
unceremoniously getting beaten by fungus3 and a caterpillar.
(Hey, it's the past, so it's okay
if a dead person makes a return cameo).

Shadow is confused for some reason...

On the commentary side of things, I thought that showing the creation of the Garadreads was the perfect way to start the flashbacks. It wasn't established until 2013 that this led to the creation of the Kleekoonanonis and thus the beginning of STNL, and we only knew that some people called Experimenters and Roslians were responsible. And now here we are, three years later and getting to see both of them before fungus3 ruined everything by using a caterpillar to kill them in their prime.

Also, the character of Bayos Flor wasn't created specifically for this adventure. He featured in an Easter Egg for my old "After the End" series, and his description hinted that he helped create the Garadreads. I decided to bring him back for this and expand on what he did to create STNL's first villains, to make his role explicit.

Quinquennial, Part 1 Released!

The 5th anniversary special begins with Jercy's entrance into the Afterlife (following the production of a Michael Bay movie), where he runs into two old friends and sets the barely-existent plot of this special into motion...

Also, I'm sorry this was a delayed a bit. I had a get-together with a bunch of my family members on July 2nd so I was AFK, as they say. But I hope you enjoy!

The logo. Sadly, the format of the template used
prohibited me from having free reign with the camera...

What, were you expecting angels with lyres? Too bad!

She looks familiar...

...and so does he...

So, yes, this special is all about Jercy, Shadow, and Zawnty looking back at the 5 years of the series' history. I know it's not much of a plot and it's much "quieter" than the other specials, but I think having Spore the Next Level go on in some form or another for 5 years is a momentous occasion that deserves a special of its own. In each flashback's release post, I'll post little things on the history of the series and how I got the idea for each part.

The only thing for this part really is that I chose to go to the Afterlife, introduced in eme12's adventures back in 2011, so I could reintroduce the long-running characters of Shadow and Zawnty who were last used (or abused) in fungus3's Search for the Lost Worlds; and I used it to set up a time travel plot that wouldn't harm continuity with time paradoxes. It's a bit like It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol in that respect, albeit celebrating STNL's past instead of Christmas.

Spore The Next Level: 5 Years And Counting

Now I feel really old. Spore the Next Level, as of today, has been going on (more or less) strong for FIVE years now. There are a lot of interactive series that are over five years now, but many of them have long since been discontinued for one reason or another. I've probably said this elsewhere, but I wasn't expecting the series to keep going on one year, much less five.

As frequent players of the series/readers of the blog know by now, I always like celebrating my National FORM A GROUP days (my official name for July 1st, seriously this should be an actual holiday)* by having little celebrations that are different each time. This time, I'm doing something I haven't done before: an entire special, Quinquennial, that looks back on the past 5 years. I'll post more on the first part, and as parts of the special are produced I'll post more about each part and its significance. So let's get this party started!

*Coincidentally, July 1st is actually Canada Day, which fits in well with this whole Canadian arc that I've been developing over the last month or so. For those who don't live in Canada (which I think includes everyone), it's basically their equivalent of the 4th of July, except I don't think there are as many fireworks).