HISTORICAL NOTES Star Surveyor "Olaf Stapledon" was the major large scoutship class of the Galactic Exploration Corps during the early 4th Era. Unlike many other small exploratory starships that served primarily as adjunct vessels to larger vessels such as the "Core of Curiosity Class" Star Explorers, the "Olaf Stapledon" Class was designed specifically to operate independently. "Olaf Stapledon" Class Star Surveyors normally served on exploration missions lasting from one to three years in duration. As early 4th Era starships, they employed star-faring technology from both Human and T'lar sources as well as devices developed jointly. The Human designed reactive catalytic hull shell was embedded with T'lar sensors, navigation equipment, and gravitic directors. Human built weapon systems and T'lar built FTL capable shuttles were mounted to this hull. T'lar shuttle drives were also built into two-level crew modules giving them the ablity to serve as FTL lifeboats. The jointly developed space fold intiator propulsion system and ertrinocom communication system rounded out the major features of this very advanced scoutship. The crews of the "Olaf Stapledon" Class were usually a 50/50 mix of Humans and T'lar, often they were a group of small families. A sentient computer was also usually a crewmember and even a Cybernethi of two would take part in selected missions. A total of 995 "Olaf Stapledon" Class Star Surveyors were built from 1663 FCE - 1715 FCE with the last one retired in 1872 FCE. MODELING AND TEXTURING NOTES The basic hull for Star Surveyor "Olaf Stapledon" was modeled years ago using Sub Division Surfaces modeling in TrueSpace 5. The main hull texture used was modified from one found on the Internet. Universe Image Creator was used for the running lights. Backgrounds for the action scenes came from a Hubble Space Telescope website. CorelDRAW was employed to create the banners. Michael Mobes created the font I used for the T'lar registration markings. CONCEPT Star Surveyor "Olaf Stapledon" was done as a tribute to one of my favorite science fiction authors, Olaf Stapledon (1886-1950). His visionary novels "Last and First Men" (1931) and "Star Maker" (1937) deeply influenced my own visions of our future here on Earth and out deep into space in the ages yet to come.