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Encyclopedia Galactica

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
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(Redirected from Books of Kobol)
Encyclopedia Galactica
Encyclopedia Galactica
A book of the Original Series reference line
Book No. 1
Author(s) Bruce Kraus[1]
Adaptation of
No. of Pages {{{pages}}}
Published September 1979
ISBN 0525610391
Chronology
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The Official Battlestar Galactica Scrapbook Encyclopedia Galactica none
Paperback Version
Available at Amazon.com – Purchase
Available at Amazon.co.uk – Purchase
Available at BOOKSAMILLION.COM - Purchase
Available at Half.com by eBay - Purchase
Audiobook Version
Available at iTunes – [{{{itunes}}} Purchase]

Encyclopedia Galactica: From the Fleet Library aboard the Battlestar Galactica (Windmill Books and E.P. Dutton 1979, ISBN 0525610391), edited by Bruce Kraus, is an encyclopedia of the Original Series.

Encyclopedia Galactica is presently out of print, although copies of it, at times, are available either through Amazon.com or eBay.

Due to its various inaccuracies, misspellings, and contradictory information, it is not considered a fully canonical source text for the Original Series. Battlestar Wiki does aim to note the difference between this text and aired information however, though makes no guarantees on its status in Battlestar canon.

Errata[edit]

A listing of errata in the book that deviates from already established canonical material, ordered by appearance.

  • In general, the timeline given in the book does not correspond to the date Starbuck gives in "The Man with Nine Lives" (yahren 7322).[2]
  • The book mentions that after serving with distinction in a dozen major engagements during the "Great War," he "returned to Carillon a hero," instead of Caprica.[3]
  • The book mentions that Zac is short for "Zaccariah," although there is nothing to support this.[4]
  • The book mentions that Adar was born in 6368, but contradicts this date by saying he became a staff assistant to the Quorum of Twelve in 5997, almost 400 years before he was even born.[5]
  • The picture of the alleged Agro Ship is actually a picture of the Mining Ship seen in both the Original and Re-imagined Series.[6]
  • The picture of the launch bay is referred to as a "ready-room" in the caption for the picture.[7]
  • The picture of the landram from Saga of a Star World is referred to as a shuttlecraft.[7]
  • The caption for a picture of a battlestar repeats the error of there only being twelve battlestars before the Battle of Cimtar.[7]
  • The Borellian Nomen are referred to as "Borallians".[8]
  • The laser bola are referred to as the "Laser-Bolt".[9]
  • The top picture of a Boray is, in fact, the appearance of Count Iblis without special effects.[10]
  • The Borays are said to be inhabitants of Equellus; they are inhabitants of Sectar. Equellus is the planet that Apollo crash-lands on in "The Lost Warrior".[10]
  • According to Commander Cain's entry, he had Pegasus on "ready alert" which prevented his ship from being destroyed during the Battle of Cimtar. However, Cain was at Gamoray in an attempt to circumnavigate Cylon forces between Molecay and the Colonies at the time, and did not hear about the attack until well after it happened.[11]
  • Carillon is said to have been discovered by human settlers nearly 200 yahren before the fall of the Colonies, but this is inaccurate as the planet was discovered by Baltar's agents; they later reported that the planet held nothing of value, and no humans went there to mine tylium (as claimed in the book).[12]
  • The word Geminon is misspelled "Geinon".[13]
  • The "dreadnought" depicted in the book is, in fact, a Cylon basestar over Carillon when Apollo and Starbuck ignite the tylium during the Battle of Carillon.[14]
  • The term "drone" is defined as "compact, pilotless spacecraft" developed by humans. The term "drone" as defined in the series refers to robots, like Muffit II. Additionally, the small gallery of pictures depicting a drone are the Cylon Mines in the Straits of Madagon.[14]
  • Count Iblis is called "Ibley".[15]

Other items[edit]

These are items that cannot fit in any other location, due to the lack of canonicy.

  • Age of the Philosophers: an era of the Second Millennium, likely similar to the Renaissance period of Earth's history, when the Books of the Lords of Kobol were written.[16]
  • antiscientific period: the period where the Colonials rejected technology after the exodus from Kobol.[17]
  • Astralon: high-velocity particles, similar to meteoroids and micro-meteoroids, that are grouped together like a cloud. Armored battle craft are shielded from astralons, but they can cause damage to unshielded civilian vehicles, compromising the hull and ship's atmosphere. Smaller astralons are said to be undetectable by low-power scanners.[18]
  • Books of the Lords of Kobol: semi-mystical books complimenting the Book of the Word, chronicling the events of the exodus from Kobol. They were composed during the Second Milennium's "Age of the Philosophers". The written style is described as "uneven and various," with "beautiful poems telling the loss and separation of the final days [... interspersed] with stark lists of individuals and their possessions". In comparison to the Book of the Word, the later Books contain "proverbs and parables" that have nebulous and varied meanings depending on the person reading the text. This so-called ambiguity "cannot be held to be a flaw," for it "reflects the greater uncertainty about the universe and the fate of humankind felt during the last days of Kobol".
    After the establishment of the Colonies, the books became influential in creating the many religious sects, mainly because of Kobol's destruction due to science and technology. These sects created "elaborate mathematical interpretations of particular words, even particular sequences of symbols," believing that the fate of the entire universe was coded into the Books, and that it was the "mission of humankind" to decipher them. A majority of these sects died out by the Seventh Millennium.[19]
  • Buzzer: While we know canonically that homemade buzzer can and has been made locally on one planet, the book says that "buzzer" is the general term for a variety of alcoholic beverages native to the "outer Colonial provinces," essentially a form of moonshine made of local plant life and "usually aged less than one yahren". Additionally, "excessive consumption" of this substance is a "serious medical and social problem in these lonely outposts, though no cure has been found".[11]
  • Caprica City: a city on Caprica where Boomer was raised.[20]
  • Cygnus: an asteroid containing an outpost of the Picon colony, in addition to a tylium mine owned by Baltar's family. It was captured by the Cylons a century before the Battle of Cimtar and held for five yahren until the Colonials retook it. Baltar later turned Cygnus' tylium mine operation into the "largest intercolonial Tylium trading firm in the Galaxy".[21]
  • Eagle Squadron: a legendary Viper squadron assigned to battlestar Prometheus. Prior to assuming command of Pegasus, Cain led this squadron, gaining "intercolonial fame" by doing so.[12]
  • Era of Darkness: the time period that followed the settlement of the Twelve Colonies after the humans' exodus from Kobol. During this period, technology pertaining to interstellar travel and other higher-end electronic science were forgotten, for these were blamed for the fall of Kobol. As a result, each colony was cut off from the others, and the humans reverted to a "simpler, agricultural way of life". This is stated to have lasted for as long as two millennia.[13]
  • Fifth Millennium: the time period when the Capricans led the colonies into the scientific renaissance, well after the Era of Darkness.[13]
  • Final Destruction: a name of the final, decisive Cylon strike against the Twelve Colonies of Man.[22] The canonical name for it is the Battle of Cimtar.
  • Intercolonial Strategic Council: the body governing the Colonial war effort against the Cylons during the Thousand-Yahren War. Commander Cain dominated this council for years before his debacle at Molecay.[11]
  • Interstellar Age: presumably the age that humanity rediscovered interstellar travel.[20]
  • Long Peace: a 500-yahren period of "unparalleled prosperity" after the rediscovery of interstellar travel amongst the colonies; this occurred prior to the onset of the Thousand Yahren War.[23]
  • nutron cased laser torpedo: a Cylon weapon included in the basestar's armament; upon detonating, it not only inflicts physical damage, but also emits rays that break down the cellular structure of both food and human tissue, likely similar to pluton poisoning.[7]
  • Pan-Colonial Unification Party: a social and political movement that sought to unify the Colonies under one government politically, economically, and militarily; it was prominent on the colonies on Picon and Virgon. Adar worked to develop this party on Virgon, which ushered him into a role of president of this organization and later the presidency of the Quorum of Twelve.[24] Baltar also generously contributed to this party and was influencial in bringing the party to power on his own colony of Picon.[21]
  • Prometheus: battlestar that Cain served on as leader of Eagle Squadron.[12]
  • Scientific Renaissance: period in Colonial history dealing with the rediscovery and advancement of science.[23]
  • Second Millennium: the second millennium of time, insinuated to be 2,000 years (or more) after the exodus from Kobol; a period during this time saw the creation of the Books of the Lords of Kobol.[16]
  • University of Picon: an educational institution on Picon where Baltar studied "political economy".[21]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

Please note that page numbers reflect the numbering in the PDF file that is linked above, and not in the actual encyclopedia itself, as the pages are not individually numbered in the actual book.
  1. ↑ Due to the nature of Kraus' entry on page 7, it is unknown whether or not the name is a pseudonym.
  2. ↑ Kraus, Bruce (1979). Encyclopedia Galactica, p. 59.
  3. ↑ Ibid. 11.
  4. ↑ Ibid. 12, 57.
  5. ↑ Ibid., 12.
  6. ↑ Ibid. 13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Ibid. 19.
  8. ↑ Ibid. 22-23.
  9. ↑ Ibid. 23.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Ibid., 23.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Ibid., 25.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Ibid., 26.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Ibid., 27.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Ibid. 34.
  15. ↑ Ibid. 39.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Ibid., 20.
  17. ↑ Ibid., 24.
  18. ↑ Ibid., 14.
  19. ↑ Ibid., 20-21.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Ibid., 20-21.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Ibid., 16.
  22. ↑ 'Ibid., 35.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ibid., 28.
  24. ↑ Ibid., 12.

Original Series definition: unit of time akin to a "year" (see: Yahren)

Original Series definition: a title of nobility (e.g. Count Iblis)

Re-imagined Series definition: mineral that can be refined to a powerful fuel, see: tylium

Original Series definition: a highly combustible fuel (see: tylium) (TOS: "Fire in Space")

Original Series definition: a term for a robot, such as Muffit II (TOS: "Saga of a Star World")

Galactica 1980 definition: Moonstone looks this up after Colonel Jack Sydell mentions that he used to be an Eagle scout; there is subsequent humor over the term as it literally means "a large bird," and does not provide the definition of the Boy Scout level (1980: "The Super Scouts, Part I")

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