History Literature / Starsnatcher

* SuperWeight:
** Type -1: [[spoiler:[[FateWorseThanDeath Victims of Cherub]]]]
** Type: 0 [[NonActionGuy Lucas]], Steve, Emma, Mr. Graves
** Type: 1 [[BadassBookworm Crick, Helix]], [[PoliceAreUseless the unnamed police officers seen in chapter 1.4]], dune maws and most other alien animals, [[spoiler: [[StarfishAliens most Primogenitors]]]]
** Type: 2 [[CyborgHelmsman Tesla]], [[{{Cyborg}} Sye]], probably General, Combots used by the Seizers, [[spoiler:[[ZombieApocalypse aggressive victims of]] [[TheVirus the Plague]]]]
** Type: 3 [[HealingFactor Kira]], [[GadgeteerGenius Layla]], [[spoiler:[[BigBad Mustafa Ay]], [[TheDragon Iris]], [[TookALevelInBadass Lucas once he gets his singularity stone]]]]
** Type: 4 [[DeusEstMachina the AI governor]], [[CoolStarship the Firefly, the Dragonfly]], [[SapientShip Starsnatcher]], [[spoiler:[[TheJuggernaut Cherub]], [[EleventhHourSuperpower Ay after having absorbed Iris' and Precog's powers]]]]
** Type: 5 [[spoiler:[[BigGood Fountainhead]], [[EldritchAbomination Götterdämmerung]], [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Lucas by the end of the story]]]]
** Type: 6 [[spoiler:[[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien "They"]]]]

''Starsnatcher -- Trapped in an Alien World'' is a ScienceFiction WebSerialNovel that achieved completion on 13th June 2021. It takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, [[TheUnmasquedWorld just after the existence of aliens and their wormholes has been revealed to humanity]]. Instead of making FirstContact with us though, [[InscrutableAliens they refuse to show themselves]] [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and remain hidden out there]]. The story centers around [[UnlikelyHero Lucas Anderson]], a starving college student who sees the chance of his life in investigating the [[AlienAbduction mysterious abduction of two people in his hometown]]. Through a weird mess of events, he gets abducted by a [[FlyingSaucer UFO]] himself and [[TrappedInAnotherWorld sent on a moon inhabited by]] StarfishAliens. He embarks on an interstellar [[TheHomewardJourney Homeward Journey]] with the goal to survive and [[DrivingQuestion answer a simple question]]: How, by whom, and for what reason was he abducted? While the story starts small in scope, it slowly transforms into a SpaceOpera CosmicHorrorStory the more Lucas uncovers about the mystery behind his abductors.

It can currently be read on [[https://www.wattpad.com/story/227491026-starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world Wattpad]], [[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/35098/starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world Royal Road]], [[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3351376/1/Starsnatcher-Trapped-In-An-Alien-World Fictionpress]], and [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world.920969/ SpaceBattles]].

''Starsnatcher -- Trapped in an Alien World'' is a ScienceFiction WebSerialNovel that achieved completion on 13.06.2021. It takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, [[TheUnmasquedWorld just after the existence of aliens and their wormholes has been revealed to humanity]]. Instead of making FirstContact with us though, [[InscrutableAliens they refuse to show themselves]] [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and remain hidden out there]]. The story centers around [[UnlikelyHero Lucas Anderson]], a starving college student who sees the chance of his life in investigating the [[AlienAbduction mysterious abduction of two people in his hometown]]. Through a weird mess of events, he gets abducted by a [[FlyingSaucer UFO]] himself and [[TrappedInAnotherWorld sent on a moon inhabited by]] StarfishAliens. He embarks on an interstellar [[TheHomewardJourney Homeward Journey]] with the goal to survive and [[DrivingQuestion answer a simple question]]: How, by whom, and for what reason was he abducted? While the story starts small in scope, it slowly transforms into a SpaceOpera CosmicHorrorStory the more Lucas uncovers about the mystery behind his abductors.

''Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World'' is a ScienceFiction WebSerialNovel that achieved completion on 13.06.2021. It takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, [[TheUnmasquedWorld just after the existence of aliens and their wormholes has been revealed to humanity]]. Instead of making FirstContact with us though, [[InscrutableAliens they refuse to show themselves]] [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and remain hidden out there]]. The story centers around [[UnlikelyHero Lucas Anderson]], a starving college student who sees the chance of his life in investigating the [[AlienAbduction mysterious abduction of two people in his hometown]]. Through a weird mess of events, he gets abducted by a [[FlyingSaucer UFO]] himself and [[TrappedInAnotherWorld sent on a moon inhabited by]] StarfishAliens. He embarks on an interstellar [[TheHomewardJourney Homeward Journey]] with the goal to survive and [[DrivingQuestion answer a simple question]]: How, by whom, and for what reason was he abducted? While the story starts small in scope, it slowly transforms into a SpaceOpera CosmicHorrorStory the more Lucas uncovers about the mystery behind his abductors.

* FirstEpisodeTwist: In Arc One, suspense is being created whether the aliens in the forest are real at all and whether Lucas will be abducted by them. Considering it's heavily implied by the story's full title (Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World) and outright stated in the blurb, suffice to say that it's not a spoiler.

* AdultFear: Lucas has great difficulties finding employment due to his disability and job prospects being limited by increasing automation. Before his Alien Abduction, being poor for the rest of his life is his biggest fear.

Despite the outlandish premise, the story is on the high-ish end of the MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness. There are no HumanoidAliens, no [[SpaceIsAnOcean naval-analogy]] {{Space Battle}}s, and no FTL travel (except through wormholes). The only elements regularly subject to [[{{Handwave}} handwavium]] are various inscrutable technologies created by {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s whose origins and basic functions are explained, but never fully unraveled.

* MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness: A four. Despite the implausible TrappedInAnotherWorld premise, the story uses hard sci-fi tropes. No FTL, other than through wormholes, no humanoid aliens, and no naval analogy space battles feature in this story. Even the more unusual AppliedPhlebotinum, like monopolium and singularity stones, is consistent with known physics, even if we do not understand its inner workings. However, there is a glaring exception, and that is [[spoiler:anything touched by the EldritchAbomination StarfishAliens introduced at the end of the story, such as "They" or Götterdämmerung. Their workings don't fit into known laws of physics in the slightest.]]

Despite the outlandish premise, the story is on the high-ish end of the MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness. There are no HumanoidAliens, no [[SpaceIsAnOcean naval-analogy]] {{Space Battle}}s, and no FTL travel (except through wormholes). The only elements regularly subject to [[{{Handwave}} handwavium]] are various inscrutable technologies created by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens whose origins and basic functions are explained, but never fully unraveled.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Shadowmoon (a TidallyLockedPlanet) has a day-night cycle thanks to its gas giant regularly blocking the Sun, though realistically speaking, it should do so only rarely (that's why lunar eclipses happen only once a month rather than every day).

* BreatherEpisode: Arc 4 has this function. It comes right after Arc 3 [[spoiler:which puts Lucas' life in danger basically all the time and shows a murderous AI slaughtering Seizers like pigs]] and before Arc 5, an arc that has life-threatening fights or {{Wham Episode}}s every second chapter.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"It was humans that abducted us."]]

* AllThereInTheManual: Just read the SpaceBattles thread to see the author give WordOfGod notes on background information that didn't make it in the story or inspirations for the worldbuilding in every second post.

Despite the outlandish premise, the story is on the high-ish end of the MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness. There are no HumanoidAliens, no [[SpaceIsAnOcean naval-analogy]] SpaceBattles, and no FTL travel (except through wormholes). The only elements regularly subject to [[{{Handwave}} handwavium]] are various inscrutable technologies created by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens whose origins and basic functions are explained, but never fully unraveled.

Starsnatcher It can currently be read on [[https://www.wattpad.com/story/227491026-starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world Wattpad]], [[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/35098/starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world Starsnatcher]], [[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3351376/1/Starsnatcher-Trapped-In-An-Alien-World Fictionpress]], and [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world.920969/ SpaceBattles]].

* AdventureFriendlyWorld: For all their faults, the {{Precursors}} did think of being plot convenient before disappearing. They left their PortalNetwork behind for CasualInterstellarTravel as well as their [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Sufficiently Advanced]] SchizoTech that's just intact enough to give our characters awesome superpowers, yet still damaged enough to have enough {{DramaPreservingHandicap}}s.

* BreatherEpisode: Arc 4 has this function. It comes right after Arc 3 [[spoiler:which puts Lucas' life in danger basically all the time and shows a murderous AI slaughtering Seizers like pigs]] and before Arc 5, an arc that has life-threatening fights or [[WhamEpisode Wham Episodes]] every second chapter.
* BrokenMasquerade: While the existence of alien wormholes is known to the general public, no-one ever saw anything else from them until Kira recorded one of their UFOs.

* GunKata: [[spoiler:Mustafa Ay and Kira]] have their final battle that way with both trying to punch each other's RayGuns out of their hands. Justified, as both have superhuman reflexes and a blaster isn't as noisy as a firearm at close range.

* HyperspaceLanes: [[spoiler:A rare case where this overlaps with the PortalNetwork trope. The Primogenitor civilization uses wormholes for 99% of its interstellar travel. However, Fountainhead has constructed lanes of exotic matter (the same matter used in creating wormholes) to create "secret FTL-paths" that the wormhole-users are not aware of. To use it, a ship needs to be capable of reactionless drives and then use the exotic matter to create an FTL-Alcubierre drive. The mechanism is based on the speculated concept of Krasnikov tubes: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnikov_tube].]]

* PostCyberpunk: While the story has shades of both this and {{Cyberpunk}}, [[spoiler:the ending firmly cements it as PostCyberpunk. Poverty, resource scarcity, war, and even mortality seem non-existed in the technological utopia created by Layla, Kira, and their alien allies.]]

* PowerCrystal: What the singularity stones boil down to. They look like crystals and are the source of their wielders' superhuman abilities. It should be noted that they aren't a source of Mana or energy per se. Rather, they are a source of computation for their owners. Their crystalline interior houses magnets that hold {{ArtificialIntelligence}}s well beyond TheSingularity. These AIs have a Psychic Link with their owners. Their owners give telepathic commands while the AIs give commands to nanomachines of far greater complexity than the human mind could.

* ProHumanTranshuman: The ending has [[spoiler:Layla and Kira spread transhumanism among humanity once they come back to Earth which is portrayed as a good thing. Lucas also becomes this once he [[AscendsToAHigherPlaceOfExistence]] and protects mankind from the horrors beneath the stars.]]

* SpeculativeBiology: While not focused on, we get rich glimpses in the non-sapient biota of both Shadowmoon and especially Eden. The sapient aliens are StarfishAliens and we get brief explanations on how they evolved. Plus, most of the featured aliens are clear [[{{Expy}} Expies]] to creatures from famous spec-bio documentaries.

* StandardSciFiSetting: Downplayed. While there isn't outright FTL, there is CasualInterstellarTravel through wormholes, there are both [[NeglectfulPrecursors Neglectful]] and AbusivePrecursors, a genocidal alien race infected by TheVirus is one of the central antagonists, while a ProudScholarRace on a CrystalSpiresAndTogas planet assists the heroes, with aliens after TheSingularity remaining in the background. There are, however, a few common tropes that are averted. For one, humans are not a significant power. The main conflict is Alien vs Alien with a human POV character [[spoiler:and a human mastermind]].

** The Seizers are about four-foot tall aliens that are best described as a mixture of bugs and walking squids. They walk on six legs, possess six tentacles and have four eyes. Their body is divided into three overall segments. Moreover, they are {{SexShifter}}s that undergo a cycle of three genders overall.

* StarfishRobot: Given how most of the story focuses on Starfish Alien technology, this is to be expected. The most prominent ones have long bodies with lots of pincers and look like millipedes. Others look like Christmas trees while yet again others are good old SpiderTanks.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The story takes place in 2036 where the world is largely the same as today. The only differences are increased technological unemployment, the wide presence of synthetic food, and a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lack of chocolade]].

* TheUnmaskedWorld: The wormhole network has been orbiting the solar system for centuries. However, only a few years before the story starts (2038) have our telescopes become advanced enough to detect it.

It can currently be read on [[https://www.wattpad.com/story/227491026-starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world Wattpad]], [[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/35098/starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world Starsnatcher]], [[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3351376/1/Starsnatcher-Trapped-In-An-Alien-World Fictionpress]], and [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/starsnatcher-trapped-in-an-alien-world.920969/ SpaceBattles]].

** Type: 2 [[CyborgHelmsman Tesla]], [[{{Cyborg}} Sye]], probably General, Combots used by the Seizers, [[spoiler:[[ZombieApocalypse most victims of]] [[TheVirus the Plague]]]]
** Type: 3 [[DeusEstMachina the AI governor]], [[CoolStarship the Firefly, the Dragonfly]], [[spoiler: [[HealingFactor Kira]], [[GadgeteerGenius Layla]], [[BigBad Mustafa Ay]], [[TheDragon Iris]], [[TheJuggernaut Cherub]]]]
** Type: 4 [[SapientShip Starsnatcher]], [[spoiler:[[EleventhHourSuperpower Ay after having absorbed Iris' and Precog's powers]]]]