(sorry for the length; habit 
).Of all the aspects of Freespace modding I have seen, there are two that I have always warmed too; creating fanon to strengthen stories in games, and collaborative projects with others. Naturally, STR, and especially it’s linking to the canon of Blaise Russel’s “Shrouding the Light”, represents in my eyes a true thing of beauty for these reasons, and is an example of the sort of cross-campaign linking I gladly encourage more of (my still-in-planning SAH retcon, for example, links to TVWP, with pirates and civilian factions using their ships, and the legacy of those Unification-war factions playing a major role in the story).
I have recently considered a second campaign, set mostly in the reconstruction era and named “Tests of Faith” that will look at once aspect of FS1 canon that I feel can be weak at times; the Vasudans. Though we have plenty of background material for this side and its culture from GTA eyes, it is rare that people have had the chance to really delve into the race and bring them truly to life due to a lack of assets (head ani’s, interface art etc) compared to the GTA. This has given me the idea of converting my campaign into a quasi-community project, open to all those fans of the Vasudans and interested in exploring the FS universe from their perspective.
While ToF will be the project’s flagship campaign, my hope is for the focus of the project to actually be new assets for current and future Vasudan-based campaigns, such as a separate set of wingman messages for when the player is playing a Vasudan, guides to Vasudan culture and attitudes for campaign makers, more Vasudan weapons (including unique capital guns), possibly even a Vasudan HUD and menu interface. I am especially interested in the project linking with those with already existing Vasudan-focused campaigns, such as SHL and eventually the TVWP when they begin looking at the T-V era Vasudans.
The campaign I am brainstorming at this time consists of three acts, set in three different points of Vasudan history; straight after the Lucifer, Operation Templar (one of my favourite campaigns) and finally Khonsu II’s rise to power. However, it will be open to project members to discuss and modify as the project grows.
So yeah, I thought I’d present this now and see what people’s opening reactions are and how many were interested in the project. To summarise, ToF shall hopefully serve as a hub for Vasudan fans and campaign makers to share their ideas, decide on canon and fanon to adhere to, and pool their resources together. Asset creation will be the primary focus, with the creation of a campaign to showcase the fruits of the labour.
I expect it will be a long-term project, with production proper not starting for some time, though there may be the odd task done here and there (such as a design for a Vasudan station I recently completed, and may ask a modeller to have a shot at some point).
Thanks. Comments/opinions/ideas welcome!
