The setting of TSAO is a logical outgrowth of 20th century UFO conspiracies:
Set in 2260 AD – two years after the Terrans took Keid and forced the Reticulan Empire to capitulate the book introduces the player characters to the immediate aftermath of the Terran victory in the Terran Liberation War against the mighty Reticulan Empire and its many thralls. For their part, the upstart Terrans, bolstered by their victory against their old masters, now move to become a power to be reckoned with in interstellar affairs. Against this background of espionage, maneuvering, and saber-rattling, and on the new interstellar frontiers, the player characters can forge a destiny of heroes or villains of the new United Terran Republic. (DriveThruRPG)
TSAO is delivered in a 209 page pdf (also now available in a POD option). This meaty setting is explained over six chapters and two appendixes.
Chapter 2 – Aliens describes the humans neighbors, opponents, and allies(?). In the space of just a few pages many races are fully described and (again) are rich with adventure seeds and story hooks for development.
Chapter 3 – Characters and Careers is a great example of how to take the basic character generation system in Cepheus Engine and stretch it to showcase it’s full potential. PCs can be the default Humans or select from several alien races. Careers are taken from 13 civilian careers in Cephesus Engine or an from the 20 new ones in TSAO, including seven (7) alien “careers.”
Chapter 5 – Terran Borderlands is combination gazetteer and Referee’s Information. The worlds of Known Space is detailed, along with many story hooks and adventure seeds. The usual World Generation process from Cephesus Engine is expanded upon here with an Expanded Universal World Profile that adds a bit more detail but also a whole many more ideas that PCs or Referees can grab onto.
Chapter 6 – Patrons describes 12 Patrons that might engage the PCs. The chapter is not only a grouping of ready-made adventures, but also provides insight into the setting as viewed by the authors.
Appendix A – Terran News Agency Dispatches, February 2260 is a call back to the Traveller News Service snippets that were a staple of Classic Traveller and its successors. Again, these short news items can be the start of yet more adventures!
Appendix B – Sources of Inspiration, Literary and Otherwise is TSAO‘s Appendix N. I always look over these lists to see what inspirations the authors took and to see what I may want to add to my reading/viewing.
The last part of TSAO is an index. This is one of the best indexes I have ever seen in a book. However…the pdf is not cross-linked. This highlights some of my pet peeves with so many pdf products; page numbering and no linking. TSAO is paginated like most books, with page 1 being the interior title page. Unfortunately, this is “page 3” of the pdf, meaning if using your pdf page search you will always be three pages off from your target! The publisher could of avoided (or lessened the impact) of this issue if the Table of Contents (or even that great Index?) was linked.
Production quality is very good. Compared to Stellagama’s previous The Space Patrol I can see definite improvement. Get the linking and page numbering issues nailed and I will likely have nothing to complain about….
The authors call TSAO the first in the Visions of Empire (VoE) space opera settings. If TSAO is any indication, the VoE series will be settings rich in background using (and stretching) the Cepheus Engine rules to their finest.
These Stars Are Ours! By Omer Golan-Joel, Richard Hazelwood, and Josh Peters. Stellagama Publishing, 2017.
Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 
It’s all my fault, I knew about the pagination error, fixed it and then forgot I had to add the fix to the other pages..
Glad it turned out nice
Appreciate the hard work. Every product is getting better and better. Doing that just gives me more reasons to spend my money on your products (ah…I see your evil plan!).
Thank you for the wonderful review!
Note that TSAO is not YET in print, only in the print preparation proccess… Fingers crossed, it should be available in PoD in the matter of weeks.
Regarding the Shaka, it’s DNA goes way beyond Firefly. In fact, Firefly was a relatively minor influence. Inspiration came from the dropship from Space: Above and Beyond, the Skyranger in newer XCOM games, and, to a lesser degree, the dropship from Aliens.
Regarding the page and linkage issues – we will definitely look into it once we finish the PoD work.
Omer Golan-Joel
Stellagama Publishing
Thanks Omer. I try not to be too much a fanboy but TSAO! really got me excited.
Now that you mention it, I can see the (obvious) Space Above and Beyond influence on the Shaka. Was looking a bit too much at the deck plans and not the exterior art.
The pagination issues are not unique to you. Another example of digital vs traditional publishing challenges. It’s already hard making two versions. If I had my day in charge, linking the ToC to their sections would be an easy win that gets past most of my concern.
Though the year is early, you already have a strong contender for Setting of the Year. Appreciate all YOUR efforts to make MY gaming great!
Thank you for the very kind words!
Pagination is now corrected.
Wow. Have to re download my copy. Appreciate the effort! Building a loyal customer for life….