Star Tracker

*"To go to the galaxy's limits and find what lays beyond"*

-motto of the series-

**Star Tracker** (also known as "The Tesla's Journeys") is a net series made in the Commonwealth about the missions and adventures of real-life scientist and explorer Shen Kuo and his crew on the CSV Tesla. First aired in 2230, it is currently one of the most famous series created in Ortus and a much beloved show amongst those who desire to explore the stars.

Loosely based on the reports of Shen Kuo and his crew, the show is less a biographic depiction of the captain and crews adventures across the galaxy and more a mixture of real events and new adventures invented to help the narrative of an episodic show. Despite this, and the extremelly low budget of the first episodes, the show managed to create quite a following not only across the citizens of the Commonwealth, but also those beyond it, including the Alir  and Shalani.

## Creation and development

### First steps

During the early days of the 23rd century, the Commonwealth saw a new urge to discover the wonders of the universe. Volunteers to man missions out of Ortus flooded the recruitment offices, resources were poured into development of better and faster ships and a hundred different novels began to be written about what humanity would find amongst the stars.

Gene Karlitz was one of those novelists eager to discover what the great unknown had in store for humanity. His life was a procession of refusals and dissapointments, as only a few of his novels made any profit and he was repetedly refused to join the crew of CSV Tesla for their journey out of the system. Even so, he did not give up, the news and reports sent by Shen Kuo inspiring them to try and create a story which would at least inspire others to do what he hadd never been able to do: Explore and see what no human had ever seen.

Despite not being a successful novelist, Gene's contacts and sheer energy allowed him to get the resources and people he needed to try something he had never done before: A net show. Unlike the movies and television shows done back on Earth , the shows and movies done in Ortus were modest things, with low budgets and not as popular as the films saved from the destruction of humanity's old planet. Despite this, Gene and his new partner and co-writer, Patrick Lemor, prepared the story and sets, already having the blessing of the growing exploration program  to prepare something to encourage more investment in vessels of science and exploration.

### Finding the cast and crew

   After adapting the reports of Shen Kuo and his crew to what Gene and Patrick thought would be a fitting script, it was time to find the cast and filming crew to create the series. Due to the lack of money, most of the scientific research was done by the writers who spent several months previous to the show speaking to as many experts and researchers as they could find. Finding a director was a daunting task as well due to the low expectations had towards the show, while most of the camera workers and light experts were students trying to gain experience for future projects, or just fans of Shen Kuo's travels.

Finding the captain himself became the hardest of tasks though, as none of those who agreed to the low pay were able to match the persona of the leader of the CSV Tesla. Only through blind luck did the creators stumble upon Mikael Nielsen, a promising theatrical actor who had retired from the business due to always being casted for roles with little dynamism or depth. After a chance meeting with the creators in a bar, Nielsen accepted to read the script and hear the writers out. Doubtful at first, he was going to refuse the role until he heard the tapes and reports of Shen Kuo. The experience completely changed Mikael's mind.

*"The passion behind his words, how he dealt with danger and faced adversity, the way he kept his crew together even at the worst of times. The fear, the doubts, the determination...would I been able to capture all of that? I wondered. In the end, there was only one way to find out"*

Aside from his own experience as a theatrical actor, the pressence of Mikael Nielsen helped to make more people notice the project. Moreover, thanks to his contacts and the actor's constant (some say obsessive) research of the reports of Shen Kuo and his crew, Mikael managed to procure the rest of the cast and bring some scenary not used by theatre companies to prepare the filming sets.

Still lacking funds, both the pilot and the second episode were done one after the other to then be uploaded to the net. The process was a slow and daunting one, with many technical problems as broken machinery was nearly impossible to replace. The choice of the first director, Andrzej Sawoski, to film the show in black and white as a way to separate it from other net series also caused much debate amongst the cast and crew. Several times, the series was nearly ended, with Gene Carlitz nearly selling his own home to pay the actors.

## Reception

Despite having only a few viewers when it was aired, the show slowly grew in fame, a fact which was helped (to the surprise of many) by the Alir Commune. Wanting to know more about the human race they had so recently discovered, diplomats and Alir researchers joined the Commonwealth's net to quickly find out about the adventures of Shen Kuo and his crew. Sharing it with other members of their race and their new human friends whenever they visited the Commonwealth's borders, the show suddenly became a hit.

Thanks to the extra viewers, the sets were improved, cast members were paid decently and even the creators and Nielsen were able to meet Shen Kuo in person during one of his return trips to Ortus. While he often said many stories in the show had been invented for the sake of drama, and he resented the lack of time spent to show the hours upon hours of research done by him and the crew, Shen Kuo gave his blessing to the show, saying to Nielsen: "Sometimes, I feel you are a better Shen Kuo that I am".

The show continues to be aired, most of the episodes now finally taking place outside sets in Ortus.

  The series would go on to inspire everyone from: The Ice Queen of Curosau Ibrahim (who was pulled out of her state of listlessness by meeting Shen Kuo, and dressed her and her child up at the seventh aniversity of the show's launch), General Aspinaca (who, after immigrating into the Commonwealth with his parents, used Kuo's stand in as a inspiration), as well as several leading members of the Psychi Myrad (including headminister Notwinson York, who uses Shen Kuo's stand in as an example of someone who can truely grasp the stories discovered in Redamon's pyramid).