help needed

I'm finally cracking into chapter 3 of Cowgirls but I need a smidgen of help. Like Buffy and Angel before it, Firefly seems to have some strong fanon (i.e. non-canonical events, backstory, etc which is none-the-less treated as if it were canon). So Mal was always raised by his mother and the farmhands. What I need is a guide to the most common fanon. I need to know the ideas which, whilst as illegitimate as any other fanfic ideas, are generally seen as highly plausible and taken at some level to be 'true'.

This is on account of the fact I need more on Zoe's probable background.

Can anyone suggest some good places to look?

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