The Starr Verse is a world of interconnecting stories centered around the Starr Family & Organization (though not always). Sometimes the setting has very little to do with the Starr family or their associates depending on the story. The Starr's themselves are basically glorified placeholders for the verse, despite being major players. The world is not that much different from the real world, except for some cultural changes in entertainment here and there. But there's hints of the supernatural, and Urban Fantasy stuff going on, in addition to some low level Sci-Fi as well. But overall on the surface the world is still pretty much the same sometime miserable, sometime divisive place as the real world. And America's politics is still as toxic, and divisive as ever too.
Stories within the Verse are:
- ☯utlaw St★rr- About a very popular Genre-Busting Rock band, comprised of absurdly gorgeous black women. Story touches on themes dealing with fandoms, the music industry and the politics found within, addiction, what is, or is not sexual liberation, censorship, racism/sexism within the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal community, celebrity's place in the world of politics and sociopolitical issues, over sexualization, commercialization, alternative media, fame, and good ole fashioned stereotypical wholesome Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll, and new found obscene wealth etc
- The Scorpion- Centered around the founder of Outlaw Starr, Tishauna Starr. Usually about her place in the Rock, Soul/R&B, and Hip-Hop worlds, her battle with colorism (and the privilege, and condemnation that comes with it), and her adjustment and grappling with being a very powerful businesswoman, media mogul, entertainer, and a tech & industrial-magnate. Also about her navigating the far reaching hidden world of the top 0.1% of the ultra wealthy elite that she now finds herself a member of. Though she's mostly still seen as a outsider (she considers her self an outsider too, so there's that).
- Shadows & Vengeance- A grieving black military family (The Leveaux family) taking on corrupt law enforcement and politicians in the state of Louisiana (and eventually across the globe) with an army of ninja at their disposal. But they might have a shadowy enemy of their own hiding in the background.
- Starr Industries- A very powerful corporation owned by the aforementioned Tishauna Starr, and operated by her and her associates. The story usually deals with the cut throat corporate world, corrupted and compromised politicians, The Government, institutional corruption/racism/sexism and other institutional ills.
Alternate Starr-verse:
- Dying Starrs- An apocalyptic tale spanning the early stages and the in progress stages of a Zombie Apocalypse. Told from the POV of first responders, emergency services and civilian volunteers. However It's a alternate continuity to the rest of The 'Verse.
- Fallen Starrs American Warzone- Set amidst a second American civil war, that gradually spiraled out of control and became horrific. Another alternate setting.
Tropes found within The 'Verse are:
- Alternate Universe: The alternate Starr-Verse
- Batman Gambit: Tishauna is really good at using this on adversaries.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Bureaucrats are usually stuck between the pressure of angry citizens and the pressure to toe the line by powerful political establishments. See also Morton's Fork below.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: From a certain point of view it can be The Hidden/Shadow, or Starr Industries.
- Black-and-Gray Morality/Grey-and-Gray Morality: Very rarely is there any Black-and-White Morality.
- Celebrity Is Overrated: There's some shades of this in the Outlaw Starr stories. Though it's hard to tell due to the luxurious excess masking all of the darker elements.
- Central Theme: Several;
- How far are you willing to go, to topple the status quo? And or maybe how far are you willing to go to use it to your advantage?
- What's the price for ruthless revenge, and how far are you willing to go to inact it?
- Just because something is the law does it necessarily, makes it right or fair?
- Do you have a duty to use your fame, vast wealth and resources for the perceived good? Or are you just doing more harm than good by getting in over your head by interfering in (perceived intractable) complicated sociopolitical/socioeconomic quagmires, regardless of the good intentions? And despite all of that do you still have a duty to intervene regardless.
- Is it possible to use capitalism for socioeconomic good, like ironically socialist like goals?
- Do certain people share blame for enforcing unfair and even harmful government/corporate policies even if they're just doing their job? Do said people deserve any comeuppance or not?
- Is Realpolitik a fair excuse for The Powers That Be to do the underhanded political things they do domestically for the sake of pragmatism? After all it is a Dirty Business, but is that an excuse though.
- Sometimes there is no Hanlon's Razor, sometimes people are just intentionally malicious bastards.
- Laws only works if you have the power to enforce them.
- Laws can be easily undermined through power and resources.
- Wealth and power needs to be fought with equal or more ammounts of Wealth and power.
- Challenging "The System" and Status Quo can become a morally grey endeavor which can also turn associates into adversaries if not outright enemies.
- Compromising Centrism and neoliberal moderate political leanings can stall (if not outright kill) progress just as much as conservatism and isn't really a good counter tactic against extreme Far/Alt-right political ideology.
- We ARE Struggling Together in terms of pragmatic liberal activists/voters vs leftist/progressives activists/voters.
- Pragmatic voting doesn't fix local government institutions just stagnates it.
- Is it possible to start a revolution without getting your hands dirty?
- War can be catastrophic to civilians, so best be sure this is what you all really want, cause there's no avoiding getting your hands dirty.
- Unchecked capitalism can comeback and haunt greedy and selfish people in The Government.
- Bleeding edge tech, and advanced Artificial Intelligence isn't inherently bad.
- Rock-n-Roll & Hip-Hop will never die, and all forms of Heavy Metal is valid.
- Music Is Politics hurts art and the artist, or maybe it's a necessary evil?
- Legality is a matter of power, not justice.
- The Dog Bites Back: Pretty prevalent in the setting.
- The Elites Jump Ship: Happens in the setting of Fallen Starrs, cause they feared (or saw) what was coming.
- Fallen States of America: The Verse of Fallen Starrs
- From Nobody to Nightmare: The setting loves giving power to disenfranchised, or marginalized groups of people.
- Specifically The La Résistance forces in the Fallen Starrs verse definitely counts too.
- The Ghost: Down played with Outlaw Starr in the setting's Dying Starrs, and Shadows & Vengeance.
- The Government: Usually, not evil, but highly debatable as to whether or not it's good. If at best they're not out right evil they're still definitely culpable of certain things behind the scenes.
- Hanlon's Razor: Played with, and deconstructed; Instead of actually being this trope, it's usually sometimes disguised as this trope as a form of Plausible Deniability. What's a more plausible deniability than someone doing something out of incompetence rather than malice? For example; The War on Terror, and or The War On Drugs could be a case of malicious intent disguised as a form of "criminal justice". A couple of the characters from Shadows & Vengeance thinks so.
- As mentioned above, The Government may not be outright evil, considering its mostly run by ordinary people that's mostly bogged down with Kafka like bureaucracy, incompetence, inefficiencies, and Interservice rivalries. But it still has it's share of people/organizations with malicious intent due to greed, ideological biases, prejudices, and career self interest.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Tishauna Starr is really good at using this on her political enemies, especially how she uses capitalism and other people's greed to her advantage. See also Batman Gambit above, and Right Hand Versus Left Hand below.
- Unchecked capitalism allowed The Scorpion (and other billionaires and corporations) to challenge the system in the first place.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: There's vague supernatural elements.
- Mission Creep: You can say this is what happened to Outlaw Starr once they got into political activities. Once they got involved deeper into sociopolitical activities the whole band/organization got dragged into a slew of other "missions", not to mention problems as well.
- in the Fallen Starrs verse this is what happens to the 47 Ronin and The Red Lotus.
- Morton's Fork: Because of the pressure of shadowy Outside Context Problems low level bureaucrats (or low level institutions) are forced into a situation where whatever choice they make piss off powerful people.
- This also has put some politicians and officials in a bind in other ways too. For example, The Leveauxs call it the "Scumbags Dilemma", when all of the gatekeepers have closets just as full of skeletons, how do they enforce anything without exposing themselves to the same scrutiny?
- Music Is Politics: Something that Outlaw Starr and their musical peers has to constantly maneuver around.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Of the "Jobsworth" variety.
- Outside-Context Problem: Whoo boy, mostly towards the establishment in the form of shadowy clandestine oppositions, or straight up uprisings. It's a very bad idea to toe the line of the status quo in this setting. Too bad most aren't aware of these problem(s).
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Tishauna and The Starr Group seek out cracks in government bureaucracy to use this to their advantage. In both Fallen Starrs and the main Verse. The Hidden Shadow loves doing this as well. Usually towards LEOs.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Downplayed but still Deconed/Reconed in the Fallen Starrs Verse.
- Spanner in the Works: Politically, Tish becomes super disruptive the more she starts interfering with local democratic primary elections (and nationwide politics in general), thanks in large part due to her SuperPACS. Starr Industries itself is also disruptive in terms of business and industries.
- Urban Fantasy: Mostly found in the Shadows & Vengeance stories.
- We ARE Struggling Together: One of the themes of the setting. Especially in Fallen Starrs
- Zombie Apocalypse: The verse of Dying Starrs
