Re: Swarm Authors: Member requesting to join swarm-authors
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Mike Omelanuk
Feb 24, 2026, 12:22:24 PMFeb 24
to swarm-authors
Welcome to our newest member, Liza.
Liza, please tell us a little about yourself. From your note, I understand that you have a story. If you upload a draft here, one or more of us will be happy to edit, proofread, beta read as you desire.
I'm traveling at the moment, but will send you more information later.
Mike {aka Omachuck}
On Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 3:38 AM 'Google Groups' via swarm-authors <swarm-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
--liza.de...@gmail.com has asked to join the swarm-authors group.Message from liza.de...@gmail.comhave a story to tell
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Liza Devereaux
Feb 24, 2026, 5:12:52 PMFeb 24
to swarm-authors
Hey Luvs,
I'm Liza Devereaux author of Geeks Big Break and Here I go again. My life imploded last year and as I've started trying to rebuild from the ashes I stumbled across the Sarm Series and it enthralled me. I love the diversity of all the tales I've read so far. I especially Love the Polyamorous nature of the "Family" structures in the series. As I've been reading them I realized I had a story idea for this series and wanted to tell it. I'm going to be asking questions as I read through the Wiki and would love feedback as the story unfolds. Here's my Idea:
It's about a guy who tested at 14 and scored one of those very rare 10's. They wanted to take him right then but his Grandfather is an Admiral in the DF navy running a special R&D Shipyard. Building a new kind of engine... A inertialess drive engine powered by a stable singularity. They also have developed a kinetic energy shield generator. The shield absorbs all energy from anything that it encounters and uses that energy to increase the power of the shield.
Our hero suggested them to his older brother who went off with grandpa and they built them. They are retrofitting an armada with them with ships from each class and A new type of ship: a small two-man fighter called a bird of Prey. They use the inertial engine and can operate in space and in atmosphere. Our hero is now 18 and the deal he made was to get his pick-up delayed until his high school graduation. Now his time is almost up when he gets caught in a random pick up 3 days before his ceremony. At a family restaurant. His grandfather makes him another offer. If he will sponsor both his own mother and his aunt and their younger kids as dependents the confederacy will offer him 5 extra conks. And make sure he is at his ceremony. Then he will TDS to run a special kind of pick up at several Gamer cons, using Cap Scores and a VR simulator of fighting in the Birds to find pilots. We will follow the pick-ups through training learning to fly their fighters working with their "Flights"
They will be 30 pilots picked from gamer cons and the other fighter pilots will come from Miramax "Top gun" fighter school. Which will be the initial antagonist actual former Navy fighter J pilots versus video game geeks. The gamer geeks will do better because the fighters are set up more like video game controller. The two man crew for each fighter will be pilot and weapons officer. Of course the requisite conk training and pickups will be in play and after training there will be a mission to go to a Sa 'arm infested solar system for battle once training is done.
Anyay that's my idea what do you think? May I join the Universe and tell my story?
Our hero suggested them to his older brother who went off with grandpa and they built them. They are retrofitting an armada with them with ships from each class and A new type of ship: a small two-man fighter called a bird of Prey. They use the inertial engine and can operate in space and in atmosphere. Our hero is now 18 and the deal he made was to get his pick-up delayed until his high school graduation. Now his time is almost up when he gets caught in a random pick up 3 days before his ceremony. At a family restaurant. His grandfather makes him another offer. If he will sponsor both his own mother and his aunt and their younger kids as dependents the confederacy will offer him 5 extra conks. And make sure he is at his ceremony. Then he will TDS to run a special kind of pick up at several Gamer cons, using Cap Scores and a VR simulator of fighting in the Birds to find pilots. We will follow the pick-ups through training learning to fly their fighters working with their "Flights"
They will be 30 pilots picked from gamer cons and the other fighter pilots will come from Miramax "Top gun" fighter school. Which will be the initial antagonist actual former Navy fighter J pilots versus video game geeks. The gamer geeks will do better because the fighters are set up more like video game controller. The two man crew for each fighter will be pilot and weapons officer. Of course the requisite conk training and pickups will be in play and after training there will be a mission to go to a Sa 'arm infested solar system for battle once training is done.
Anyay that's my idea what do you think? May I join the Universe and tell my story?
Mike Omelanuk
Feb 24, 2026, 10:13:51 PMFeb 24
to Liza Devereaux, swarm-authors
Liza - You are already a member of the group. Your proposed story has some elements with stories already published. We can guide you so that ondicts are resloved and usually point you to helpful stories for examples. HOWEVER this is your story so don't let us tread on you.
I'm looking forward to more.
Custom to be revived is to call the newest member the FNG.
Mike
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swarm-authors/66f77b9d-84bf-444e-8275-cf4278e871bbn%40googlegroups.com.
fred daddio
Feb 24, 2026, 10:38:24 PMFeb 24
to Mike Omelanuk, Liza Devereaux, swarm-authors
Welcome Liza!
I, for one, am intrigued, and looking forward to reading your story once you've got it polished up.
I am a sometime proofreader here, but there are many others here who are better qualified to help with conflicts, editing, and to guide you regarding the canon.
Fred
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swarm-authors/CAPn4gSOW_uKtX%2Bagv63Z2Q3CqemD5xJYJd-gA6pL9vRs-DAwZg%40mail.gmail.com.
Mike Omelanuk
Feb 25, 2026, 2:26:20 AMFeb 25
to swarm-authors
Welcome - More later. I'm traveling. Mike (aka Omachuck)
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From: 'Google Groups' via swarm-authors <swarm-...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 7:02 AM
Subject: Swarm Authors: Member requesting to join swarm-authors
To: <swarm-autho...@googlegroups.com>
From: 'Google Groups' via swarm-authors <swarm-...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 7:02 AM
Subject: Swarm Authors: Member requesting to join swarm-authors
To: <swarm-autho...@googlegroups.com>
royoliva...@gmail.com has asked to join the swarm-authors group.
Message from royoliva...@gmail.com
I’m excited to join this group because collaborative world-building in a shared universe is one of the most dynamic and rewarding forms of storytelling. The opportunity to write within Swarm Cycle offers a chance to contribute to something larger than a single narrative — a living, evolving tapestry of ideas, characters, and conflicts.
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z...@tampaad.net
Jul 5, 2026, 10:13:33 PMJul 5
to Liza Devereaux, swarm-authors
Hi, Liza!
I enjoyed your other stories, glad you are here. Um, the Swarm Cycle exists because The Thinking Horndog figured out that if he opened this universe up to other writers, he could goof off and enjoy reading fun stories that he didn't have to go to all the trouble of writing first.
We've mostly self-organized, as TH is a benevolent dictator. Really, the rules are simple:
-Don't ruin the story-line for everyone else. That means, don't end the war, don't kill off other writers' characters (unless you have their permission), etc. We're sposta play nice. I must admit that I skirted rather closer to that line than we wanted with my ETM. Neither me nor TH wanted it published, we didn't like that it showed a no-shit possible way to win, but the other writers were using it as a reference and it was getting out anyway, so I posted it and now it's canon.
-The playground is huge, with as many planets/stations/posts as you want to invent. Officially, all of the Military Districts are independent of Earth because Earth is run by egotistical beancounters. The real reason, though, is to allow each writer to come up with their own unique colony or whatever, with whatever culture you want to build. It has to fit the basic Confederacy rules, but they're pretty open.
-As was pointed out, we have documents and all, but 'canon' is created by publishing a story. My own view of the CAP system isn't of an intelligence test, it's a measure of how the Darjee feel about each prospective recruit. Will he/she help the war effort? Will he/she be trustworthy? Would any sane sophont want him/her to be in the same system with a gun?
I enjoyed your other stories, glad you are here. Um, the Swarm Cycle exists because The Thinking Horndog figured out that if he opened this universe up to other writers, he could goof off and enjoy reading fun stories that he didn't have to go to all the trouble of writing first.
We've mostly self-organized, as TH is a benevolent dictator. Really, the rules are simple:
-Don't ruin the story-line for everyone else. That means, don't end the war, don't kill off other writers' characters (unless you have their permission), etc. We're sposta play nice. I must admit that I skirted rather closer to that line than we wanted with my ETM. Neither me nor TH wanted it published, we didn't like that it showed a no-shit possible way to win, but the other writers were using it as a reference and it was getting out anyway, so I posted it and now it's canon.
-The playground is huge, with as many planets/stations/posts as you want to invent. Officially, all of the Military Districts are independent of Earth because Earth is run by egotistical beancounters. The real reason, though, is to allow each writer to come up with their own unique colony or whatever, with whatever culture you want to build. It has to fit the basic Confederacy rules, but they're pretty open.
-As was pointed out, we have documents and all, but 'canon' is created by publishing a story. My own view of the CAP system isn't of an intelligence test, it's a measure of how the Darjee feel about each prospective recruit. Will he/she help the war effort? Will he/she be trustworthy? Would any sane sophont want him/her to be in the same system with a gun?
A '10' merely means that, to the Darjee AIs who first created the test, that person is perfectly suited for use as a sacrificial monkey to defend the Confederacy. A score of '0' means that there is absolutely no possibility of this person ever being of any use to them whatsoever. And, they have always refused to divulge any of their testing criteria.
Anyway, the CAP test is something the Darjee AIs came up with to select allowable volunteers. They came up with the test and the grading scale, and set the cutoff at 6.5. No humans were involved with this at any point. Our only input was to set levels at which the volunteers could leave Earth with more companions, using up precious lift volume back in the early days when we didn't have many transports. Once you leave 1MD, the First Military District, no one cares about your CAP score. All that matters is your performance.
So, no one will blink if you come up with a story about another Perfect 10. There have been several now, after that story about the first one. But, now you have to justify that score by showing the reader that this person really deserves that score. How can a 14-year-old be a perfect soldier/sailor/strategist? I submit that it would be far easier to have him score in the high 8's when he's 14, with an expectation that he will be over 9 before he's 16, and may well make 10.0, a 'Perfect 10', after he has a couple years of actual experience out at the sharp end of the spear. But, at that point, who cares? To the humans, that only means that your hero can leave Earth with 10 companions. Once he's left the planet, there are no limits.
-ZM
So, no one will blink if you come up with a story about another Perfect 10. There have been several now, after that story about the first one. But, now you have to justify that score by showing the reader that this person really deserves that score. How can a 14-year-old be a perfect soldier/sailor/strategist? I submit that it would be far easier to have him score in the high 8's when he's 14, with an expectation that he will be over 9 before he's 16, and may well make 10.0, a 'Perfect 10', after he has a couple years of actual experience out at the sharp end of the spear. But, at that point, who cares? To the humans, that only means that your hero can leave Earth with 10 companions. Once he's left the planet, there are no limits.
-ZM
(Of course, the space around Earth is still filled with high-CAP elitists for a long time. If he stays in Earthat space, having a high CAP gives him a higher status. A lot depends upon when in the timeline* you want to set your story.)
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have a story to tell
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