OV:TSY takes place during Exile, so that may not be affected too much, yeah?

I'd start by headbutting your way through all the Exile stories (particularly Manhunt and Starcrossed), then all of SoS, then researching most of the main references in those works. It... may take a while. Whilst I cannot speak with anything approaching authority on how it will affect you or what Gryphon's currently doing, it's what I'd do if I'd taken a decade out from a universe as vast and fluid as this one

>and will it affect what I'm thinking/planning?

Almost certainly. New reference pools have to be made use of, nd this is the perfect opportunity to retcon them into UF's earlier days.

>OV:TSY takes place during Exile, so that may not be affected too much, yeah?

...

I can't say with any accuracy, not knowing what you planned, but if I had to guess I'd say yes. Exile's a lot less angsty than it used to be. It's still fairly bleak, yeah, but not My Chemical Romance track bleak. If you don't know MCR... keep it that way, they're absolutely unspeakable.

---
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to hell/But I'll have all the best stories to tell" -- Frank Turner, The Ballad of Me and My Friends

>OV:TSY takes place during Exile, so that may not be affected too much, yeah?

You totally need to read Starcrossed, the Sterling Saga, Redneck's work (including Wilderness), Chance encounter, Aegis Florea 1, and Manhunt. I think that's about...um, 1K of pages, but I could be exaggerating. I guess the question is _when_ during Exile are you putting your story?

have fun! We look forward to seeing what happens...

t.
Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST

These would sort of be my own series of adventures, with brief mentions and relations to SOCCOM, the Hammers, and the ex-WDF in general.

I haven't really got anything to add to the other suggestions you've received while I've been away from my desk, except to note that even in areas where you're not anticipating any direct conflicts, it's generally a good idea to know what's been going on in the universe. You never know when that kind of situational awareness might come in handy, or the lack thereof might bite you. It all ends up interconnected on some level, after all.

But for the most part you're pretty clear in the Exile, yeah. You might want to take special note of the bit in Manhunt where G gets the "while you were out" on the general state of the galaxy. It does a pretty good job of encapsulating how things are in the latter half of the Exile especially. (And for the earlier part of it, as Phil noted, there's Mini-Omnibus 2 and Star-Crossed.)

Anyway, I'm not trying to scare you off or crack the whip or anything; all I'm saying is that a little research now may save us both some tsuris later, 'cause even the simple parts of this pig have gotten complicated in the last, uh, 20 years. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Most of the time, the whole "Where's Gryphon?" thing is sort of the C or D plot of the story. Mostly, it's trying to keep the Regiment in line while being away from it for the better part of a century, and the WDF's basically disintegrated...

So, I'm downloading the txt files, and will be converting to .mobi format for good reading...

Gryphon "Main" Thread:

Eight-Ball Elegy (crosses with Sterling thread)
Where Were You When The Fun Stopped?
Scrapheap City Shuffle
Ronin
Inception (not the movie)
Aegis Florea Pt 1: Commander Moreau
Star-Crossed
Split Infinitive
The Vulcan Heart
Manhunt (crosses with Sterling thread)
Correspondance (into the FI era)

PCHammer/Thunder Force Thread:

Hammer Time Book 2 (starts in GA era)
Hammer Time Book 3
Days Of Thunder - Chance Encounter (Crosses with Gryphon thread)
Days Of Thunder - Dies Irae (includes FI:SOS1 parts)
Days Of Thunder - The Girl Who Knew Too Much
Days Of Thunder - A Time To Be Born, A Time To Die (crosses with Gryphon thread)
No More Innocence (effectively finishes the Hammer thread in FI)

Sterlings/Mars Division Thread:

Sanctuary
The Sterling Saga : Patience and Reunion (beginning and end of Exile multi-part stories)
The Bernard Identity
Travellers on the Shadowed Road

"Other" Thread:

Our Man Bacon

Reading these stories, in approximate order, should give a reader a good idea of what just went down during the Exile.

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Be careful about converting to .mobi format... other people may end up asking for copies... ^_-;"