Series Resurrecta

Series Resurrecta, Latin for Resurrected Series and colloquially shortened to SerRes or SR, is a FreeSpace mod set during the Reconstruction Era. The name is derived by the fact that its various minicampaigns, two of which have been released so far, all derive from a number of satellite projects to Inferno: Alliance Standalone which entered a limbo phase between 2008 and 2010. The project is aimed at resurrecting these campaigns and get them into playable status, compatible with modern standards.

Background

During the development phase of Inferno: Alliance Standalone in 2006-2010, project leader Woomeister encouraged and supported the creation of unofficial minicampaigns as a way to effectively expand the modpack of said mod. Team member and FREDder Mobius started working on a number of independent minicampaigns, which ultimately entered a limbo phase. In mid 2020, many of these campaigns have been recovered from an old storage and, thanks to the contribution of a newly formed team mainly consisting of FSCRP and Inferno team members such as Admiral Nelson, Nightmare and Nyctaeus, the author managed to get two of these campaigns into working status, with other entering a to do list that will hopefully result in future releases.

Team

• Mobius - Team leader, lead FREDer, modpack maintainer, storyline designer, writer, ModDB support, Wiki maintainer, tester
• Nyctaeus - Second in command, 3D and 2D asset designer, modpack maintainer, writer, storyline designer, tester
• Admiral Nelson - Modpack maintainer, technical support, Knossos manager, cbanim artist, interface artist, tester
• Iain 'Nomad' Baker - Writer, proof-reader
• Lordhood117 - Writer, proof-reader
• Orph3u5 - Internal tester, modpack maintainer
• Nightmare - Internal tester

Shadows of the Great War

The first release of SerRes occurred on October 16th, 2020, under the brand name Shadows of the Great War [SotGW]. The release features the standard modpack that will serve as root for future upgrades, as well as two campaigns, Gehenna's Gate [GehG] and The Spirit of Ptah [TSoP].

Content

Due to its nature of a collection featuring multiple campaigns, all SR releases should be treated as independent stories which don't necessarily contradict each other, but shouldn't be considered part of a single and new continuity within the FreeSpace Universe.

SerRes' modpack is based on the FreeSpace Port, as well as on Inferno: Alliance Standalone, and features extra spacecraft and ships belonging to the various combatant species. Stats and styles resemble those of FreeSpace 1, except for anti-warship armaments, which are a derivation of those used in INFA. Each species relies on its own set of anti-warship armaments: Terrans (railguns), Vasudans (neutron cannons) and Shivans (plasma cannons). Depending on the circumstance, certain warships are equipped with more advanced weaponry.

The collection also features exclusive soundtracks, composed by artists such as Georgios Savvinidis, Electric Trojan, Rich Douglas and Bloodstalker.

Fiction and Lore

Each SerRes mission is preceded by a fan fiction story or transcript, that adds extra lore not only to each SR campaign, but also tries to answer some of the big questions concerning the FreeSpace Universe. Some of the fictions seem completely unrelated to the missions they're linked to, but serve a specific purpose that is somehow implied later on in the campaign.

Many details on SerRes ships, squadrons and characters are available on the FreeSpace Wiki:

Series Resurrecta Ship Database
Series Resurrecta Squadrons

Tributes to Literature

All released and planned SerRes campaigns come with specific tributes to key authors in Literature and Art. All missions are preceded by a loading screen citing an artwork from past times, and the campaigns themselves feature various references to the mentioned artists. This tradition is expected to be carried over to future releases of SerRes as well.

• In Gehenna's Gate, loading screens cite the inscriptions on the Gate of Hell as described in Dante Alighieri's Inferno Canto III. Various ships in the campaign are named after Divine Comedy characters.
  

• In The Spirit of Ptah, the text shown on loading screens cites the summoning of Ptah during the first Act of Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece Aida. Several characters are named after key individuals in said work.

Related Links

Official SerRes - Shadows of the Great War release thread | Hard-Light Productions
Official SerRes Profile | ModDB