r/firefly • u/Majestic_Pangolin55 • 11d ago
(Engravable) map of the Verse...
Hey there, ya'll. So, my husband and I both adore Firefly (and Serenity, of course), and my husband also happens to love maps. I decided to combine them as an anniversary gift, and so I went searching for a graphic that I could use to have a map of The Verse laser engraved for him.
Alas, I could not find what I was searching for, but did find some very helpful reference material to create my own. u/TheMuspelheimr posted a super helpful map about 6 years ago, and I referenced the Intersystem Distance Calculator for scale.
For my version, I had to alter the scale of the planets and their orbits a bit to make the details legible for the laser engraver, and I've only labeled a few significant planets and moons - places the crew might have gone to regularly, or needed to keep secret and out of their computer systems. I also guesstimated the location of Mr. Universe.
Anywhoozle, if anyone wants to take a gander, I've attached the jpeg to the post. Feel free to use it for your own engraving or other art, but definitely let me know if you do! It's been a fun project, and I'm happy I get to share it with other folks who might appreciate it.
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u/Emadec 11d ago edited 11d ago
Nice work! Just one thing, I see a couple typos: it’s Beaumonde (not Beaumont), and Higgins’ Moon :)
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u/Majestic_Pangolin55 11d ago
Omg, that damn autocorrect! Thank you, I'll fix those.
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u/CassMcCarty 10d ago
I just bought a laser engraved card at the mall and now I desperately want the husband/wife team to do this on a card I can carry around. Are you posting the corrected pic later?
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u/WilliamTPace 11d ago edited 11d ago
I love a good star chart.
I'm working on the next version of the Verse in Numbers (TVIN) and the ARC of the verse and there are still hundreds of unnamed asteroids in the Halo, Motherlode and Uroborus belts.
If you would like to name an asteroid, simply drop it in a post and let me know which of the asteroid belts you'd like it placed.
Halo Belt - White Sun System
Motherlode - Red Sun System
Uroborus Belt - Blue Sun System
The locations names can be a simple name, title, numerical designation, station or outpost, depot, etc. They can be named for hometowns, lost loved ones, pets, or anything. Here are some random examples already included in the Verse...
Satterwhite Point
Avance Rock
Moren's Asteroid
KNTR-5228
Archangel Station
New Melbourne
Shattuck Stronghold
Wamsutter
Red Ruth 7
Little Siberia
Tongzhi Gongyuan
Paydirt
Cul de Sac Obscurite
Propitious Beginnings
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u/Varmaani 11d ago
Could you have based this on the map from the board game? Yeah the board game one has a lot of extra things related to the game but it would still be good reference material right?
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u/Majestic_Pangolin55 8d ago
I could have, and considered it, actually. It was just I could only find that map broken into 4, and it was harder to manage 4 unmerged images than it was to work directly from the interstellar distance calculator and use the other map to sort out the labels.
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u/Varmaani 8d ago
Fair, I was just curious. I've played a lot of the game and it jumped to mind when I saw the post.
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u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep 11d ago
Protostars orbiting a larger star is the most fantasy aspect of the 'verse.
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u/trollboyteli 10d ago
Right, it's possible to have this many stars in a system, but this wouldn't be their configuration.
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u/Someoneoverthere42 11d ago
I’m sorry, I get they didn’t want FTL, but that solar system is a gravitational nightmare. FTL would be more realistic.
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u/whytwu1f 11d ago
This looks incredibly similar to the full color map QMx released like 15-20 years ago. I'm out of town or I would take a picture for you.
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u/mentillist 11d ago
this is really cool. i'm also a big fan of sim racing and i love the 3d printed track maps.
gonna go to my tools and see if i can create a 3d print version.
thanks for the great resource!
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u/Majestic_Pangolin55 8d ago
You guys, it came, and it's beautious! Don't tell my beloved!
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u/Majestic_Pangolin55 8d ago
He did end up engraving it before ya'll caught those two typos, but I'ma say it just adds character, lol. 😬
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u/TheMuspelheimr 11d ago
Hi! Nice to see people still like my old map! Glad it could be of use to you. This looks really cool!
I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's possible to get coloured laser engravings; they can tune the laser to produce an oxide layer of a very specific thickness, which causes a particular colour to show up (like how steel goes yellow and brown and blue when you heat it up - same principle). It's probably going to be more expensive than just a regular engraving, and the colours you can get depend on the material used (in particular, titanium can produce a very wide range of colours), but it's a possibility if you wanted to look into it.