Plot holes

This page contains known plot holes, errors, or other such problems with the story, as well as possible solutions to them.

## Communications breakdown with Earth

The civilization in Sol were able to develop and fund at lease 3 Odyssey missions to nearby star systems. When the colonists arrive at Epsilon Eridani, they remain largely uncontacted by Sol in the nearly 300 years the lore spans. Why have they been allowed to become autonomous, with a complete severance of communications between the two human societies?

#### - Earth has collapsed in the years since the mission was launched

By the late 2100's, the empire of Earth is at a breaking point. Overcrowded, overburdened, and losing grip on it's colonies of Mars, Venus and Jupiter, the Empire of Earth launches the colonization program as both a propaganda effort, and an attempt to create jobs and exert it's influence. Secretly, Earth has no expectation of the survival of the colonists, and thus does not expect to need to contact them in the future. The empire ultimately collapses a few years after the missions launch, and the ensuing chaos and potential regression of society results in them never attempting to contact any of their colonies.

#### - Contact HAS been attempted, but they have been kept secret from the general population.

The AI and high-council members want to avoid a repeat of the colonies of Sol, and so avoid communications that may reveal the success of the mission. If Earth thinks the colony did not survive, there is no need to send follow-up probes.

## Epsilon Eridani is a relatively young star, and does not seem old enough to have a planet as developed as in the story

Epsilon Eridani is a K2 main-sequence star 10.5ly from Sol that is approximately 1 billion years old. While a long time in human years, this star is still in it's infancy, and has solar wind 30 times higher than Sol does. Epsilon Eridani was chosen as a location due to it's relative proximity, as well as the idea that the Eridian's power comes from an unusual output from the star that is not seen in Sol.

The main problem with using Epsilon Eridani is it's age. It only took a few million years to form the planets after the formation of our sun, meaning the solar system's planets are roughly the same age as their parent star. After the formation of water on Earth, it only took 500 million years for simple life to develop. It then took another half-billion years for photosynthesis to develop, and then 1.5 billion years after that for complex multicellular life to develop, and then another 1 billion years for that to develop into complex animal life, which was approx 450 million years ago.

In other words, it took 8 times longer for animals (not even humans!) to evolve from pre-existing unicellular life, than it took unicellular life to evolve from *nothing.* This implies that life, if given the right conditions, should be a fairly common occurrence in the universe, but intelligent life is much, MUCH more rare. Epsilon Eridani as a star is simply too young to have a planet with intelligent life orbiting it, assuming that the planet was made around the same time the star formed.

## What is the players motivation?

The setting is post-apocalyptical, but it is *not* grimdark. Society has continued to exist despite the collapse, and is slowly rebuilding itself. Given ARES' motivation, what is stopping the players from simply agreeing with his actions and avoiding progressing the story further? If the world is not in immediate danger, why should they care about what he is doing?

## How did the Odyssey survive reentry?

The Odyssey is a colossal, several-hundred million ton pillar of steel, titanium, and ceramic. It's length is measured in kilometers. While there are many ways to explain how it deorbited in the first place (natural atmospheric drag decay, sabotage by ARES, etc...), there are very few to explain how it managed to land in the desert in largely one piece. The Odyssey would have reentered the atmosphere at at least 7km/s, and the sheer size of her would have meant that she would be subject to tremendous aerodynamic forces. Furthermore, as the size of an object increases, it's structural rigidity decreases. Her superstructure would not be able to support the extraordinary strain and if it were to happen in real life, would cause her to almost certainly disintegrate in the upper atmosphere. Even if she somehow survived the atmosphere, there's still the issue of landing the damned thing without breaking up into a trillion tiny pieces.

With all that said, how the HELL did she end up in the desert, on her side, in mostly one piece?!?