The Essential Atlas

There is a "Closer Look" exploration of Hutt Space, similar to the Gazetteer treatments of Endor/Moddell and Hoth/Javin that Dan and I did with Craig Carey. Moralan gets a brief, standalone mention there. I also hope to flesh out Moralan's history a bit in an ATLAS-related project I can't talk about quite yet. (The Hutt Space write-up, FWIW, is one of my favorite parts of the ATLAS.)

Not sure if Taivas is a moon or planet from DH's description. Definitely in Zhar.

Re the appendix, if it goes forward as planned (and one way or another we'll get it accomplished) it'll address the galaxy at a star-system level -- so you'd get a listing for Zhar, but not one for Gall or Kile or Taivas. Our goal is to assign every system to a sector, but there's a fair amount of work to be done yet to meet that goal, so we won't be able to turn to that for a bit. Right now it's all about the maps.

ATLAS update: In the last couple of days I've been tackling some additions/substitutions that we need for the ATLAS text, mostly to reflect new information from FORCE UNLEASHED, CLONE WARS and finishing up the LOTF narrative. That does include a couple of new planet profiles done with CLONE WARS in mind. I don't think there should be much more text needed -- we've got a paragraph reserved for MINDOR, which I haven't seen, and I don't know what MILLENNIUM FALCON or Allston's new book might bring to the table. Also trying to track down some hyperobscure sources, as noted above. Sometimes new star systems are hiding where you'd least expect them.

On the art front, we're down to about 15 maps that need to be roughed out.

Colonies, near Borleias. For the ATLAS, we better defined trade routes in that area and how things fit together. The Road to Coruscant map is one of the closest to being finished, and absolutely beautiful....

"Road to Coruscant" is about the Rogues' advance. But there's also "The New Republic Advances." That second one isn't so gorgeous, because it's still roughed out with my laughable Photoshop skills. We'll get there....

This morning we sent Del Rey some new bits of text regarding sectors. The text for the ATLAS should now be done, pending changes/requests from Del Rey and LucasFilm (of course), and any new material that emerges before lockup that simply has to be taken into account. With the ATLAS's changing pub dates, we've gone from wondering how much of LEGACY OF THE FORCE we could cover to giving a nod to FATE OF THE JEDI. (And then there's the epilogue about the LEGACY era.)

The bit about sectors is designed to tackle the small question of sectors in Wild Space, as well as doing more work on the far larger question of those 1,024 prequel sectors vs. the millions of WEB-style sectors. Our attempt to get all that in order is one of the things I'm proudest of in the book. Looking forward to see what you guys think of it, in about nine months or so....

Un utilisateur (Senator_Cilghal) a écrit:Rodia is in the Outer Rim acc. to the most recent CW episode. Contrary to all previous EU. Even the Podcast mentions it being (correctly) in the Mid Rim.

I put it in the Outer Rim for Clone Wars Visual Guide, following the script's lead. Given that the script is pretty emphatic about it, I'm inclined to ooch it over to just inside the ORT for the ATLAS. ("Ooch" is a technical term, you understand.) But hasn't been settled yet.

That wasn't the biggest ATLAS change forced by the TV show.

Let me guess -- Ryloth's going to be in the Deep Core now, right?

I guess it shows my priorities that of all the things in CW cartoons the things that bother me most are the Carto mistakes...I keep thinking, that will RUIN the Atlas!
I take it, Jason, your decision is based on the fact (IIRC) the current cartoons have a higher canonicity level than the literature and RPG?

So if Rodia is in OR, does that mean the locations of Falleen and Ando are also changed, to keep the order of invasion by the YVH consistent? Not that its impossible to think of them "backtracking" a little...space is BIG. (10 brownie points for Douglas Adams ref).

A possible thought...considering the generations of books which have placed Rodia in the Mid Rim, is it possible the MR/OR border was CHANGED between 22 BBY and 0 ABY? Do those regional borders even change? I know the OR/Wild Space/Unknown Regions borders change, but that is a different animal altogether.

I thought of changing the border, of making a Rodia Minor, etc. And one of those things may still happen. But even though it makes me unhappy, I think in the end the least harm is done by simply moving Rodia. LFL, Del Rey, Dan and the ATLAS's map maker may feel differently, though. And YMMV, of course.

Korriban is in the book. The other ancient Sith stuff is cool, but I suspect we'll leave it for another author. To me this and the Mindor revelations about Shadowspawn in the Unknown Regions all but cries out for Abel. (Star Wars should have the Abelsignal lighting up the skies of Continuity City.)

My latest thinking is we'll list the truly unknown Unknown Regions systems (sheesh, I sound like Donald Rumsfeld) in the appendix but not give them coordinates. They're unknown, after all. Thoughts?

ATLAS is starting to shift into high gear, with art and maps moving ahead, page layouts, etc. We've got time for one more round of text tweaks and after that we're locked. So Dan and I are trying to get all the forthcoming MSes, scripts, etc. that we can -- I want this thing to be as up to date as possible and stay that way for a bit. One question that will soon get decided is what happens with the appendix -- with nearly 5,000 star systems, there may not be room for the appendix, unless we want the ATLAS to come with its own high-powered magnifying glass. If the appendix is cut, though, we'll do everything we can to get it out there in another form. (Downloadable PDF? Hyperspace resource? Open to ideas.)

BTW, I'll be at the New York Comic-Con if anybody's going. Will be on the Del Rey panel at 530 on Saturday (where I hope we'll show off a map or two), and signing Clone Wars Visual Guides at the DK booth from 4 to 5 Saturday and again from 2 to 3 Sunday. So if you're around, come say howdy.