>I just realized, I don't understand how New Avalon works. Is it on a
>planet/planetoid with in the Sphere? Is it like the pre-Columbian
>ideas of Earth - flat, stretching towards the horizon?

It's on a pseudocontinent suspended from the inside of the sphere by a complex system of plot mechanics which cause it to, among other things, turn so that there's day and night, and tilt so that there are seasons.

I have no intention of figuring it out any further than that.

>How was New Avalon built? And why does Gryphon continue on as it's
>head of state and not Lord F? Is WDF the offical miltiary force of
>New Avalon, or are they still independent?

The Republic of Zeta Cygni and the Wedge Defense Force are separate political entities. The WDF are, and in fact have always been, mercenaries; it's just that they've only ever had one customer (the United Galactica before the Exile, the UFP afterward).

The Republic is an extremely free-form state, whose inner workings I haven't gone into for the same reason I've never bothered defining precisely how the day/night/weather thing works on the Avalon pseudocontinent - because it's fiddly crap that's not important to the story.

>Also, I admit total ignorance on how a Dyson Sphere is suppose to
>work. I understand that it harnesses the power of a sun (in this case
>Zeta Cygni) to create the Sphere...but what is the advantage of having
>a Sphere? Militarily, does it make a good shield? Why use a Dyson
>Sphere at Zeta Cygni? Is it just something that's cool?

It's a Nifty Thing, and it also makes for very easy system defense. Its original purpose was to shelter the (massively expanded) Utopia Planitia Naval Shipyards complex during the build-up for the War of Corporate Occupation, a function it performed most adequately.

Out-of-story, it was a keen idea I didn't think through very well, and if I had UF4 to do over again, I wouldn't use it. It's given me far too many headaches since.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/