This entry was on my to-write list for a while, but I had to give it some deep thought first, especially considering that my work for these three universes dates back 1998 and it was pretty much a bunch of different continuities until 2005.
I’ve been working on aligning all the continuities for years, but since the work has been random and I did almost nothing some of the years, there’s still plenty to get fixed or done.
Anyway, this entry is going to give you a rather clear picture of how The Gearshift Family (previously “The Berter Family”), Rolamaton The Robocity (previously “Robocity World”) and Planet Electronia continuities combine.
Because the work on the continuity is in progress, this entry will be updated in the future with new information.
A Few IMPORTANT Notes:
1. All continuities contain some kind of self-insert or person-insert, even though my and my friend’s presence in Rolamaton The Robocity and Planet Electronia is rare. The Gearshift Family stories are mostly narrated from Luisa Polini’s (representing my friend) own POV or that of a family member’s.
2. In my friend’s country (Italy) the minimum age for consent is 14, so it’s absolutely legal when Electronian robot Jack-Par and Luisa get together when she’s 16. They fall in love with a slow burn love, but the relationship remains mostly platonic until Luisa is 17 and there’s a bit of romance here and there. This happens because my friend was 16 in real life when she asked me to write these stories (I was also 16). She was really in love with the character (originally, Optimus Primal from Transformers: Beast Wars), so the stories revolved around her lovey-dovey dreams of herself being with him. If you disagree that a 16 years old has a non-sexual platonic/romantic relationship with a 20-something guy (which is Jack-Par’s age in the story), please keep in mind that there are cultural differences at play. In any case, I repeat: there is NO sex involved here, and even if Jack-Par and Luisa could have it, her imaginary self is exactly like her in real life — she’d only have sex in adult age and after marriage by choice, so it still wasn’t gonna happen.
3. I’ve been asked in the past if I’m going to sell anything related to Rolamaton The Robocity, Planet Electronia or The Gearshift Family. Actually, I don’t have a clear answer for that: there are things I feel comfortable selling and other things I’m not. You see, these worlds are strictly intertwined with my and my friend’s real life, they’re autobiographical in the sense that the Luisa and the Gabriella you read about in the stories is both the real Luana and the real me (when it comes to feelings and some life events) and a fictional us that exists in a parallel universe (story-wise). I don’t want to sell ‘us’, nor our feelings, so I’m not going to put a price on my stories and comics. They’ll always be free to read. However, I can definitely earn a half a living (slowly) through Patreon and Ko-fi (for fans who want to support my stories), get paid to write and/or draw commission work for fans and supporters (but Luana’s the artist, I only write), to produce printed copies of the stories and comics, or sell gadgets. For example, if someone likes my Rolamaton character Talla Netteri, I might draw a commission of them with Talla, or write an ad-hoc short story for them (wouldn’t be canon), or make a keychain with Talla’s head in chibi style and mail it to them. There is a lot of room for creativity in that, and you can always ask.
Year 1993
Rolamaton The Robocity continuity starts:
An 8-year old girl called Luisa desperately wants to help a group of robot friends — Aquila Skies, Speeder Fastery, LadyJet and a few others — be granted a shelter by her town mayor. When the mayor gets to talk to the robots, he’s more likely to give in to her request, and he agrees on assigning the ex-library buildings to her robot friends. The construction works start toward the end of 1993.
When I created Robocity in 2001, I immediately dove myself into writing and creating artwork for the Tales I wanted to tell, without working on them in a chronological order. This is something I still do, because Rolamaton The Robocity is a very personal kind of work, but after more than two decades, I think it’s about time that I started working on the Foundation stories, right? 😉 Worry not, I already got started! Eager to finish them and share them with you (might take a while, but still…). You’re going to love Aquila Skies, I promise!
Year 1994
Rolamaton The Robocity:
The mini-town gets officially opened on February 15, 1994. This is also the year Robocitans meet the their AU versions, the Electronians (but Luisa knows nothing about it until 2001).
In real life, the library is still there (where the fictional Robocity is), and this is intentional: in fact, Rolamaton is also a homage to my friend’s town library for being the place that offered her (and sometimes, me) a shelter from bullying, depression and other terrible times in our life and gave us a chance to immerse ourselves in a world of fiction and knowledge, and even some quiet time to draw and write. I wanted Rolamaton to be very close to us and to our hearts — the library was the perfect place for it. In-story, the library moved a few hundred meters down the road, so Rolamaton and the library would forever be connected even within the continuity.
Planet Electronia:
With the first encounter between Robocitans and Electronians, planet Electronia and its inhabitants are introduced, together with their unique storyline.
Electronia’s storyline involves 3 universes:
1) main storyline (linked to Rolamaton and The Gearshifts from the beginning)
2) first AU storyline (only connects to The Gearshifts at first) – AU-1
3) second AU storyline (only connects to The Gearshifts at first) – AU-2The background story of the main storyline (and the others) are still strongly W.I.P., so I will post updates whenever I have at least a summary and a generic timeline ready. Here’s some information to begin with:
- All three storylines involve a planet called Electronia that is inhabitated by mostly robotic lifeforms. I say “mostly” because some Electronian ethnic groups are more similar to cyborgs, being partly organic. All Electronians, even the non-organic, can process organic food and turn it into fuel.
- In general, Electronians have a more fluid gender system by biology. There are males, females, hybrids (bi-gender and genderless), and every Electronian carries both the “female” and “male” reproductive system. That leads to a unique biological situation that allows for individuals to breed without a partner — which is however considered taboo on Electronia (main storyline, but even mostly in the other two AUs) due to genetic complications. Also, while virtually all cyborg Electronians are enabled for sexual reproduction, the process is somewhat different for non-organic ones, which evolution provided with alternate different systems, either sexual and non-sexual. Fun fact: because Electronians (main storyline) are also sexually compatible with human beings in terms of reproduction, some Electronian philosophers consider humans an extension of their species that took another direction in evolution. At the same time, some humans consider Electronians as ‘robotic humans’.
- There are somatic differences betweet similarly named ethnicities between main-storyline Electronia and AU-1. There are also differences in how political and social power is handled across the three storylines, making for interesting parallels and “shattered glass” situations.
- Main-storyline Electronia and AU-2 Electronia are organized in regions, provinces, cities and districts. AU-1 is organized in city-states grouped under five major counties.
- Most Electronians are born with special talents or powers that slowly develop as they grow old. Powers can go from invisibility to shapeshifting, and sometimes they can be dangerous.
- The substance that flows in Electronians’ veins (their blood) is called Nuhonio.
- Electronians have a real veneration for the concept of ‘soul’, that they call Ktora.
- AU-1 Electronians don’t have last name but birthplace references. Main-storyline and AU-2 Electronians all have last/family names.
It’s entirely possible that there might be more Electronia AUs in the future.
A bit of glossary of Electronian political/social movements:
Explorabots – born from 18th century Electronian thinker and politician Fire-Comet’s ideals of expanding social relationships and cultural interexchange to other people of other planets in the galaxy. Her philosophy inspired many Electronians to get out of their previous closed society and seek contact with other sentient beings. Advancer-One Gearshift is an Explorabot.
Mechawars – movement created by Satellite-One in response to Fire-Comet’s philosophy, to counter her thoughts with a philosophy based on world-centrism and the racist ideal that cyborg Electronians were not real Electronians, as only fully-mechanical bodies made Electronian people what they were. Satellite-One sent his daughter to (attempt to) kill Fire-Comet, but the young Electronian was blocked before she could commit the murder. Meron-Fighter is a Mechawar.
Fierors – movement born from Dastia in the 19th century to combat Satellite-One’s racist ideal that saw half-organic Electronians as inferior to fully-mechanical ones. Jack-Par Gearshift was a Fieror.
Snakeators – a subgroup of the Mechawars dedicated to sabotaging contacts with non-Electronians or turning the interactions to conflict.
Year 2001
The Gearshift Family continuity starts (and links to Rolamaton and Electronia):
Luisa is 16 and upset about the lack of respect she gets for loving robots. Her family continues to not understand, so she asks her good friend, the scientist Limoni, for help. He had recently built an inter-dimensional shuttle and gave her limited permission to use it to explore other worlds and parallel universes.
That’s how Luisa finds planet Rapaza, and how she meets the Electronian team lead by Jack-Par Gearshift. This is also when she learns that Electronians from this universe have met with her Robocitan friends and it’s when things pieces begin to fall into place.
Year 2015
Luisa finds the Electronia AU-1 during one of her travels. She meets Mechawar Skyshadow and takes him in as her son. That leads to a series of encounters that make her aware of another Electronia with different settings and history, some of which explain the somatic differences between these Electronians and the ones she knows from the other universe. Eventually, Luisa goes back home with newly found affections that will be her new ‘adopted’ children.
The main storyline Electronia doesn’t interact much with AU-1, unless it’s through meetings with the Gearshift family, but the situation might change in the future.
Months later, Luisa travels across dimensions with two of her children – Scarlette and Dartride – and finds Electronia AU-2, where she and her children build connections, especially with an Explorabot-turned-Mechawar medic by the name of Pathos and the AG (Attackers Gathering) group members.
The main storyline Electronia also gets in touch with AU-2 via the ‘adopted’ children Luisa takes into the family.
As always, feel free to ask questions. 🙂 I’ll be happy to respond in comments and I might also use the questions to update this entry. Thanks!