Star Trek: Celatum

Game Master Lapyd

Star Trek: Celatum

The year is 2369. The fresh Miranda-class science vessel USS Inopia is assigned to its first archaeology exploratory mission in the Yinaya-7 alien colony at the Beta quadrant in Federation controlled space. The Inopia is comandeered by Captain Jay Pasteur, a middle-aged officer whose entire career happened behind a desk until some months ago when he received the letter assigning him to the new ship. The entire new bridge officers, crew and passengers of the ship - totaling around 300 people - don't very much look forward to their 5-year mission, especially considering Jay's fame for being slow, indecisive, bureaucratic and risk averse. But nothing is truly risk free in this galaxy, is it?

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The players will be the bridge crew for the USS Inopia! They can be seasoned or new officers, assuming they can explain why they ended up assigned to the Inopia of all ships. To apply, just submit your profile like the template I put below - no need to actually create a profile if you don't want to, but nothing prevents you from doing so. Since the characters are filling the senior officer seats on the ship, I won't pick more than one player for the same position, so use it to gauge your competition. It's okay to apply with more than one profile but please don't go too far.

2369 is towards the end of TNG and beginning of DSN, but before VOY. There's no system for this game: this is simply a RP-heavy sci-fi. If we ever need a roll that can't be waived based on pure RP, it will be just a request for % of chance that I will gauge depending on the task and abilities of the involved characters. Despite the apparent "quiet" ship and mission, however, don't expect a quiet adventure at all.

Players don't have to know well Star Trek (I don't know everything!) but knowledge will definitely help (and, honestly, it will be more fun to play if you know the environment). If you don't know Star Trek but wants to play, I suggest watching the series and reading about it at the Memory Alpha and other sites.

I plan to leave it open for a week or two, hoping to see at least three good, solid applications. I will take up to 5 or 6 players, if we get this number of solid applications, but will take less and leave people out if I don't feel the player would be a good fit for a RP-heavy campaign. I'm hoping for daily posts during the week days, and a bit slower during weekends or holidays.

Please feel free to ask any questions. Honestly, we will all be winging some things on the fly as I don't why to focus too much on mechanics but more on the characters and storytelling.

OK here is my Star trek submission: Thoss Th'Chiaqis.

I created him for a Star Trek game set in the TMP era, but I could easily modify him to work in the new setting. While I am OK with changing the race to Human I do plan on having him be the Helmsman in any event.

If you decide to allow him as is, then I can flesh him out further.

This is my submission for a chief communications officer for the vessel -- I was brainstorming a lot of ideas as I filled out the form, so I hope it's okay I appended explanatory paragraphs under the one liners. Interested to see what everyone else comes up with. I write a lot, and I love Star Trek, so I may expand this a bit more later, but this is my basic pitch.

Name: Htun Khaing Mg Zeyar
Species: Human (Sino-Burmese or Tayoke (Chinese Burmese ethnicity) and Bamar)
Age: 35
Place of Birth: Yangon
Rank: Commander
Position: Communications Officer
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Concept

Commander Htun is the chief Communications Officer of the Inopia; he is slightly young for his post, but is a savant at language learning (in his previous career, he chiefly served as an exolinguist, but, like Hoshi Sato, in his current position, serves as the communications officer). He is slightly standoffish, though not impolite, just rigid. He wants to prove himself in a mission role, and is curious about the archaeological ruins.
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Appearance and Behavior

Chinese Burmese ethnicity, looks like a male model (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUYq0e3aMAAdz06?format=jpg&name=large or https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/myanmar-model-turned-political-prison er-paing-takhon-named-worlds-most-handsome-face-2021); he has dark, short hair. He also has colorful tattoos, though these are mostly covered by his uniform.

He is slightly standoffish, though not rude, just slightly frigid. Commander Htun doesn't have a great deal of experience on missions, so he's slightly unsure how to interact socially with longtime crewmembers and career Starfleet officers.
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Abilities

*Wide languages ability

**((read/write/speak) university level: English (Singaporean/RP accent), Burmese, Mandarin (can't read Classical texts easily); middle school level: Hokkien; additionally, he can read, write, or speak, with some level of proficiency, all the major non-human languages of the Federation languages listed at bottom of page. Commander Htun has an IQ of something like 200.

*Savant language learning

**Commander Htun is a natural polygot, and is able to quickly learn a new language through immersion for a few days, or teach himself a new language by reading example texts or a grammar. He has served as a diplomatic translator for the Federation Council during the negotiations that ended the Bajoran-Cardassian war and led to the establishment of a Federation presence at Terok Nor (i.e., DS-9).

*Lip reading -- Commander Htun can also expertly read lips.

*Martial arts

***Commander Htun is an expert in Lethwei (Burmese boxing). This is not an ability he advertises, and will be a surprise when it comes out in a potential combat situation. When he trains, he does so, by himself, on the holodeck, or in his quarters. This is an art which he first learned from a beloved uncle, now deceased, and which is, for him, something of a private matter/personal experience.
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Goals

*Explore ruins/learn new languages

((Interested in potentially deciphering any written records in the archeological ruins)).
*Prove himself on a mission

((He does not have a considerable amount of mission experience, mainly having worked in academics and on Earth as an attache to various politicians and officials on the Federation Council. He has only visited other worlds on brief diplomatic trips, and has never before been a part of an extended mission on one vessel where he was a formal member of the crew. He wants to prove himself in a more extended mission to long-standing crew. He anticipates that some will view his appointment to his post, without this experience, as a reflection of political connections from his previous experience -- this may or may not be true, but he wants to prove that his abilities are equal to the task, and will be an asset to the mission)).

*New boyfriend.

((Commander Htun is currently single, having recently had a difficult separation from a partner at Starfleet; one reason he wanted to go on the mission is to get away from this relationship. He is open to having a new boyfriend sometime during the mission, but is guarded about his emotions, having had relationship difficulties in the past)).
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Secrets

*His uncle is his biological father

**The uncle had an affair with the mother right before the wedding ceremony; Htun doesn't know this.

*Commander Htun was visited by a Tal Shiar agent while an exotranslator

**The Romulan spy was seeking to influence Federation business. Though he did not accept the offer, he also didn't report all the details to his superiors, as he thought it might compromise his position. He doesn't want to reveal this because he had a romantic relationship with the Romulan, who was posing as Vulcan science officer (he left out that detail in his report). At one point, they mind-melded (this is not usually a Romulan ability, but this spy was a special case that had gained the ability through biogenetic alterations made by Tal Shiar scientific officiers back engineering captured Borg and/or Iconian tech), and he is unsure what the spy may have learned, and is concerned this revelation might destroy his career.

*He has a crush on a Vulcan officer on the Inopia who works in engineering

**He doesn't know how to go about expressing this, or if the interest in mutual; he doesn't talk about this sort of thing with anyone on the ship, but might acquire a confidant of this sort during the course of the mission. His 'type' is Vulcan/Romulan, though he has had relationships with other kinds of men.

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Relationships

*His uncle/martial arts teacher

**Taught him Burmese boxing had connections to a Triad-like organization; he is dimly aware of this, but not the fact that his family member had unpaid debts; This organization may have connections to foreign powers like the Tal Shiar or the Obsidian Order, or may try to blackmail Commander Htun at some point.

*Htun's last boyfriend was Matthew Enfield, the Commander of a Hawkeye Class vessel.

***He may be patrolling the same region, unknown to Htun, which may result in an awkward encounter.

*Htun's previous Vulcan professor

***is one of the current exolinguists/archeologists at the colony. Htun is not aware of this, because the professor has left academia for unknown reasons.
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Background

Commander Htun Khaing Mg Zeyar was born in 2334 in the city of Yangon -- he lived for a year in a monastery run by a Buddhist-successor organization that preserves some elements of Theravada Buddhism, but dispensed with almost all supernatural elements, and which began to take shape after the Eugenics Wars.

He has a sister who works as a medical officer on a ship in the Bajoran sector, and who participated in the war for Bajoran independence.

His father died very young under mysterious circumstances, and his uncle assumed a father-like position in his life ((his uncle is actually his biological father, which he does not know). His mother is still living.

He discovered his savant language skills when he learned Ferrengi from overhearing a visitor to a cafe he frequented for several days complaining about the service, and eventually defended the proprietor, a friend, in the visitors native tongue, which was a shock to the Ferrengi.

Commander Htun studied exolinguistics at the Univeristy of Tokyo and Harvard University (Dr. McCoy attened UMiss, so I'm not clear what canon we're using for whether certain institutions of higher learning still exist, but that's what I'm putting for now). He has a BA in communications studies and exolinguistics and an MA in exolinguistics.

During his studies at Harvard, he became the student of a professor who translated for the Federation Council, which led to Commander Htun's first professional experience as an exotranslator. Though he he has studied with some famous researchers, he personally has no interest in the publishing/research side of academia besides preparing essentially governmental reports -- if he uncovers something at the archaeological dig, he will write a brief for Federation Council ministers, but he won't have any desire to publish it in an academic journal, though he would help some of his friends and colleagues to do so. He's interested in the subject for professional and relational/social reasons, not to create grammars or publish academic writing.

Please consider my Chief Engineer Commander Di Santos.

Hi there, this sounds fun. How would you feel about a shadier type of character, one who seeks to exploit their status in the Federation for personal gain? A thief, treasure hunter, smuggler type?

I don't know, it doesn't really feel like the characters I'm used to watch on the different series, but I may be wrong. Again, it's mostly about the background and creativity on the story, and if we end up having enough solid concepts to run a table, I'll likely ask for people to make some changes.

For instance, considering the small size and importance of the vessel, it's highly unlikely someone would have a high Fleet rank unless there's an excellent explanation on the background - plus, I'd be expecting someone trying for the higher ranks to write down a lot (maybe roughly one or two good paragraphs for each level?).

Not trying to discourage you at all - please, knock yourself out and surprise me. For now, assume my eyes are those of someone used to watch the series, with some relative knowledge about them, and targeting to do something with that kind of Roddenberry flavor.

Name: Rilena Vax
Species: Trill [Both]
Age: Host 42 / symbiont 203
Place of Birth: Trill
Rank: Commander
Position: Command

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Concept:
A Trill Diplomat who joined Starfleet and has worked in the command branch. An experienced officer with lifetimes to call on. She takes her duty seriously. Works hard but fair and wise SF officer. But also has been drawn into the murky world of Section 31.

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Appearance and Behavior:
IMAGE HERE
A tall slender female host she has a detached manner about her, Still having some of the stiffness of her last host. Black red and long, eyes blue, skin olive.

She has a still manner, she never rushes but is known for the fact she is always measured in her actions. She will always give her ear to others if they wish to talk. There is a wiseness about her, and will always do her best to give good advice.

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Abilities

People Skills
Has extensive interpersonal skills, was placed as 1st officer and counselor on a large star fleet vessel.

Diplomacy
Her many lives mean she has a wide range of knowledge and life skills.
And has spent many years honing her diplomatic skills.

Tradecraft.
She has a wide range of what was called 'The craft' Spy craft to others.

Criminal minds.
She knows the underbelly of the federation, the pirates, and black marketers running scams from the wormhole to the neutral zone.

Pilot
She has learned to fly and drive just about everything the federation has to offer.

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Goals

To Become a captain and command her own ship.

To see more of the cosmos

To help spread the ideals of the United Federation of Planets.

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Secrets

She has had training with Section 31 and has a secret rank and clearances related to that.

She was placed as 1st officer on a Star Fleet vessel by S31 to undertake a spying operation.

Kiroolin Vax was on this mission for them when he was hurt and rushed to Krill to gain Rilena Vax as a host.

She has vowed to herself to never work for Section 31 again.

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Relationships

Mark Brass her Section 31 handler.
[Eyes only]

Roliran ral Brookly
Her lover and wife, who is working as a tech on Star Base 1

Breinon Pol
Her Brother, when she was Kiroolin and before Vax.

Admiral Rincharch
Star Fleet command contact when dealing with Trill matters.

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Background
Many lives mean many backgrounds.
Each host was from Trill and lived there before becoming a training to become a host.

Host 1
Akreeno Vax [Female]
Architect/Designer of technology enables space habitats

Host 2
Heric Vax [Male]
A captain of industry, forming and owning a number of technology importing and development businesses. Both on and off Trill.

Host 3
Pitrel Vax [Non-Binory]
A diplomat and representative of Trill, negotiating contracts and treaties.

Host 4
Kiroolin Vax [Male]
A Star Fleet officer [1st offcer] on the SS Ada Lovelace.

Host 5
Rilena Vax [Female]
Comand officer with diplomatic and counseling experience.

Name: Finn O'Sullivan
Species: Human
Age: 46
Place of Birth: Dublin
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Medical
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Concept

Older among the crew, Finn is a jovial old Irish doctor. He joined Star Fleet Medical mostly for the steady nature of the career, avoiding the politics of privatized medicine. He has been mostly stationed in SanFrancisco, although he did work a few years on a starbase. He has just been called up for his first mission on a starship, and while he can't prove it, he thinks it is punishment for winning big in a poker game with a superior who was bitter. Still, he has no close attachments and didn't fight the assignment. Maybe it will be fun?

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Appearance and Behavior

Finn O'Sullivan is a short, stocky man with very light colored blond hair, cropped short and slightly balding in the back. He looks like he works out with a broad chest and strong arms.

Finn likes to use humor to keep his patients at ease. Occasionally he Irish blood will get the better of him, especially when drinking to excess, and he can come off hot headed. When he feels he is witnessing an injustice, he is quick to anger... but also quick to cool down and forgive. His fighting is generally restricted to an occasional bar fight, although he does also enjoy boxing on the holodeck.

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Abilities

Surgeon, doctor, boxing.

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Goals

Keep the crew alive and healthy
Keep up crew morale, watching for signs of depression

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Secrets

Known, but held close - A friend of Finn's was killed in a car crash when they were only 16. Finn was driving, and blames himself for the death, even though it was ruled to be an unavoidable accident.

Known - Finn's father was a smuggler, killed when Finn was very young. He was always quite embarrassed by this, and never talks about it.

Unknown - He never knew that his father was actually an starfleet officer undercover as a smuggler to discover Romulon secrets and was caught, tortured and killed.

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Relationships

Commander James Dover - friend from a previous position in San Francisco, mostly a drinking and card playing buddy.

Marie Gunderson - a researcher in Microbiology that has been close, and very briefly intimate in the past. They are now more in the "friend" zone.

Commander Dick Porter - the card player that became angry with Finn do to a significant loss in a card game. It seemed to be more of a pride thing, but Porter assumed he was being cheated.

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Background

Finn O'Sullivan was born and raised in Dublin by his mother, due to his father being off-world shortly after his birth, and killed in space when Finn was 4 years old. His mother was distraught, and because her husband was a known outlaw, they kept mostly to themselves. Finn's mother always swore her husband was a great man, wonderful father, and had left because he felt a sense of duty. But he never did tell her what we was doing, just that it was important that it was kept secret.

Finn grew up with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and as he got older, he tended to run with a bad crowd. By age 14, he was a heavy drinker and would race old style cars for money. His best buddy, Freddie Murphy, was his co-pilot and wingman. They two were never seen apart for long. Unfortunately, one night while they were out driving a classic car around town, they came across a sudden slick spot and the car spun out of control, killing Freddie and severely injuring Finn and inducing a coma. When he woke months later, only to find his friend dead and his mother facing medical bills that she could never pay, he became rather distraught. As it happens, he was sharing a room with a Star Fleet Recruiter that suggested it might be a good place to get some structure to his life and be a solid career choice that could let him pay the bills.

The thought of Star Fleet stuck with him, but he still had months of recovery. The doctors, therapists and nursing staff that helped him to recover, both physically and mentally, very much impressed Finn, and he started to develop an interest in medicine. He also felt the need to pay forward these kindnesses, in memory of his friend Freddie, and started looking into medical school. Again Star Fleet came up as a full paid way to get the schooling he would need, and so he joined up.

Years later, after his initial training and commission, he was stationed in San Francisco, and he found he rather liked it. He was able to move his mother there to be close by, and made a few friends here and there, usually keeping his past very much to himself. One brief dating interest turned into his first really close friend, a microbiology researcher named Marie Gunderson. While they didn't prove to be that great of a match romantically, Marie and Finn became very good friends and often remain in contact.

While Finn O'Sullivan turned his life around, he still enjoys a good bout of drinking the night away, and has become somewhat of a gambler, although it is less a vice and more just a fun way to pass an evening. He never plays for very high stakes, and has never gotten in over his head.

Not particularly a fan of space travel, he doesn't necessary mind it either. He is not yet sure what to make of his new assignment, though.

You feel my writing is a bit beneath the rank of Commander, make me a Lt Commander. The rank isn't a sticking point but hey I created an entire race of short humans with a planet and aspects of culture

Here is Name: Rilena Vax

Has an Alt, I will expand with more content as I work through her,

UPDATED

Rilena Vax

A 5-host Trill trained as a Diplomat who then joined Starfleet some 30 years ago. Working their way up the command branch to become an experienced 1st officer. With lifetimes to call on. She is an effective, experienced, and decisive officer. She was placed on the USS Inopia to support and keep an eye on Captain Jay Pasteur in case, as the admiral put it. "That pen pusher breaks under pressure" And as the regs stipulate it is her that goes on away missions NOT the captain, no J T Kirk tomfoolery here.

Rilena Vax
 is an effective, experienced, and decisive officer.

[Think of her like a female 'Riker' from TNG]

Thanks for all that applied so far! Just trying to give some feedback here to the applications so we can all adjust here and there before decisions are made. We're still a good couple weeks away from it so there's plenty of time.

Thoss I guess you didn't modify the profile yet for our game, so I will abstain from commenting until your submission is more mature.

Htun I like the concept, I think you're in to something good. I'd tweak the rank (probably a couple notches) and abilities, and remove the mind-melding with the Romulan (there are other ways for the character to have revealed too much, or even the spy could have copied something from Htun's pad... I don't know!).

Antas Some interesting stuff, good potential for RP! I'd refrain from the custom race - not really the game for it. The rank is also way too high, especially with a single paragraph of background.

Rilena I really like Trills. Still, you may be reducing your chances for applying with a non-Human, but knock yourself out; if you can make the case, you may be the one alien in the bridge. As I commented on the other post, I won't allow any Section 31 references so this has to be fixed. Finally, the rank looks to high as well, and abilities can probably be tweaked down as well.

Finn Very solid application! Finn fits well in the Star Trek universe. He reminds me of O'Brien and McCoy, maybe for obvious reasons.

Thanks for all that applied so far! Just trying to give some feedback here to the applications so we can all adjust here and there before decisions are made. We're still a good couple weeks away from it so there's plenty of time.

Thoss I guess you didn't modify the profile yet for our game, so I will abstain from commenting until your submission is more mature.

Htun I like the concept, I think you're in to something good. I'd tweak the rank (probably a couple notches) and abilities, and remove the mind-melding with the Romulan (there are other ways for the character to have revealed too much, or even the spy could have copied something from Htun's pad... I don't know!).

Antas Some interesting stuff, good potential for RP! I'd refrain from the custom race - not really the game for it. The rank is also way too high, especially with a single paragraph of background.

Rilena I really like Trills. Still, you may be reducing your chances for applying with a non-Human, but knock yourself out; if you can make the case, you may be the one alien in the bridge. As I commented on the other post, I won't allow any Section 31 references so this has to be fixed. Finally, the rank looks to high as well, and abilities can probably be tweaked down as well.

Finn Very solid application! Finn fits well in the Star Trek universe. He reminds me of O'Brien and McCoy, maybe for obvious reasons.

What tweaking of abilities are you specifically looking for?

Name: Joseph T. McCoy
Species: Human
Age: 29
Place of Birth: Atlanta GA
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Security Chief/Tactical
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Concept: Joseph "Joe" T . McCoy is the Security Chief and Tactical officer of the USS Inopia. He is also great Grandson of the legendary Admiral Doctor Dr. Leonard McCoy; which means he is in a very big shadow. Joe is qualified for his field, but seems almost a bit snarky about the assignment being so cozy he could do it with plenty of time in the holodeck or for naps. That said, he thinks boring is best given the alternatives, while trying to improve himself for that chance things get 'not boring'.

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Appearance and Behavior:
Joe McCoy has a family resemblance to his famous grandfather, but is taller, more muscled and has a darker complexion thanks to a mixed ethnic heritage. He has dark curly hair he keeps short, with a beard he also keeps trim and close. Some women think his most striking feature are his grey eyes.

Lt. McCoy is very aware that part of his job is to be a deterrent to bad ideas such as drawing a weapon. So he tries to give an appearance of easy confidence, or intimidating as needed. When off duty though, he smiles easily, laughs at jokes, and is pretty easy going. He has an appreciation for beautiful women, but is careful to never take advantage of rank or position. When in charge of a security squad (Rare on this ship) he's back to no nonsense while still being supportive.

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Abilities
Accuracy- Joe is an amazing shot, not just with phasers . While it's an outdated hobby, he still target shoots with old projectile weapons aka guns (or holographic recreations). He is BEST with phaser weapons, having had the most day to day use with those and aware those are the weapons he needs to use most as security. He doubles as Tactical officer, as many security do, and has worked hard to excel in those as well though he does prefer phasers there as well to photon torpedoes.

Martial Skill- As sometimes security requires hand to hand, Joe keeps an eclectic style of various martial arts. As it seems there are a never ending array of aliens that are stronger than humans, he prefers Akido and other martial arts that focus on redirection of the force others convey. Further more, the medical training he has had means he has an acute knowledge of joints, vulnerable spots and pressure points on other humans. Alas, some other species don't match up, he's trying to learn them in his spare time after an embarrassing incident with a Gorn.

BS Detector- Joe has a good read on Bull$#*t. While no empath, if someone is trying to play him for the fool he usually knows it. This helps him against feints in hand to hand, bluffs in poker, and liars in general. Sadly, his own irascibly sarcastic nature sometimes pops up when this occurs.

Paramedic in a pinch- Despite his difficulties at Star fleet academy in certain medical tests, Joe does have medical training and is good at dealing with injury be they energy burns, broken bones, or lacerations. In short, if he has to, he can keep an injured crewman alive long enough for the real medical staff to get to them.

Replicators? We don't need no stinking Replicators- Not only does McCoy have his family famous recipe for baked beans, he's an amazing cook period. He has actually hunted for his own food before, and enjoyed it more than he thought he would despite the fact some Federation citizens find it barbaric.

Computers need Security too- While neither an engineer or science officer, part of his duties include making sure the computers of the ship are not compromised either. He is adept at computer programming, and best at finding invasive programs or preventing unauthorized access. He does not boast of this part of his job .

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Goals
Protect the crew and the ship
Improve his skills
Settle personal and family issues about his non medical career choices
Decide if he's ready to find 'the one' or continue to enjoy dating many.

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Secrets
Flunked out of Academy Medical Classes, Failed Xeno-Pathogens final three times before he moved to Security training.

Unknown to him, he was assigned Security Chief /Tactical at such a young age thanks to his family name over a more qualified candidate.

He lost a beloved Aunt to the Federation-Cardassian wars, and what he's seen of Cardassians since has him disliking their culture immensely. He worries it biases him.

While not a big secret, he doesn't mention that he enjoys hunting (or at least hunting programs on the holodeck) to many. He knows in a world full of replicators, some would find it cruel.

He keeps a The M1 Garand from World War 2 in his room inside a sealed and locked case. It's an antique but kept in condition to work. It was used in the battle of the bulge.

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Relationships (I'm treating them all on the same ship but that can change)
Nunkash Growg- (FRIEND) a Tellarite in Engineering whose focus of interest is ship weapons but feels under used on a Science vessel. Nunkash and Joe trade insults casually and routinely, and argue just for the heck of it. They are, of course, great friends. Nunkash , like most Tellarites, sees arguing and debate as a way of achieving greater results or getting to the truth of the matter. Joe argues more to unwind but sees merit in it. Both share a common interest in holo target shooting. While Joe is a much better shot, he has to confess Nunkash's makes some great holo programs.

S'lakka Treys- (Romantic Interest) An archeologist in the science department, S'Lakka is an Andorian female who finds human history intriguing. She and Joe have hooked up before, but are not exclusive. Neither is sure they can over come their species and cultural differences enough for anything more serious. That said, he finds her brilliant, and she admits a weakness for his cooking (He's learned some Andorian dishes to woo her with)

Ensign Dakota Reynolds- (Romantic Interest) - Usually found running the transporters, Dakota is an attractive redheaded human woman who leans on the shy side. That said, she also has an interest in Martial arts. She and Joe ended up scheduled for holo use time at the same time, and found they both had exercise programs so shared it. He proved her better in hand to hand, then she brought out the fencing programs and kicked his ass. Turns out she was on the Academy fencing team, Saber a specialty. Now he teaches her some Akido, she teaches him saber. And yes, they date but again not exclusive.

Doctor Travis Whittiker (Annoyance) - Dr. Whittiker is a young doctor who attended star fleet academy at the same time Joe did and while he doesn't know Joe failed the pathogens test three times, he knows the man switched from Starfleet Medical to Security focus and mentions it, and Joe's great grandfather, every time the two meet in Sickbay. Joe would rather be tended by anyone else because the comments like "How weird is it to have a McCoy go to tactical or security instead of medical" make Joe's teeth ache.

Nurse Clarice O'Reilly (Cousin)- Clarice is Joe's cousin, who is in the medical field but as a Nurse. Ironically the lack of the same surname has spared her a lot of pressure to go for that Doctorate. She has a great bedside manner and is the only other person on the ship who knows the secret to McCoy's Baked Beans. Just as few people can fool Joe for long, he finds he can't really fool her either. Joe sees her more like a sister than a cousin and she is not above bullying him when he neglects his health.

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Background:
Through out star fleet, ask anyone for the most decorated medical officer in Federation history and there's a good chance they'll answer "Doctor Leonard McCoy". Not only did he rise to an Admiral, his long life assured he was around to give opinions to shape Star Fleet for well over a century. And boy did he have opinions.

He also had offspring from a first marriage that kept the surname. A lot of McCoys from this venerable patriarch's line followed in his footstep in Medical careers , be they Star Fleet or civilian. Joseph T. McCoy is one of his great grandchildren. Born in Atlanta, no less. Joe was a middle child in a family of five, and had to learn how to navigate against bullying older sibs and opportunist younger ones but in truth there was a lot of love. He was always a little more athletic than some of his family (Akido, marathons, etc) but as they didn't value that it never really drew too much attention.

Joe was curious about weapons of all sorts at an early age. It started when he read vintage books that included how to remove bullets. Well, what the hell is a bullet? Joe thought, and soon he was down a research hole not about the wounds, but what caused them. While he wasn't bloodthirsty, Joe did find the history of combat fascinating.It was just a hobby though then and he made some friends with similar interests.

More than one of Joe's siblings would apply to Star Fleet. And Joe, pressured by his parents and others to try his hand at being a doctor, went to Star Fleet Academy to learn medicine. He failed.. How miserably only a few know. Oh he did fine at tending to injury and anatomy, but xeno-Pathogens and the other more advanced lab work classes kicked his proverbial ass. Stubbornly he tried to keep at it, but when an accidental (thank goodness someone else's fault) medicine over dose in another lab drove a normally placid vulcan into a chemical induced rage, Joe gave the medical students a chance to get to safety while he distracted the vulcan, evaded her blows, and when she charged after another target, he managed to get to a phaser and stunned her from a full thirty meters away.

One gardener on the campus, a very old guy named Boothby, witnessed this, and said "Hell son, you do know Star Fleet needs people who can shoot too, right?"

Joe realized it was the best advise he'd ever gotten, and switched his focus taking training at Tactical helm and Security alike. His family was confused, of course, many of them considering it a step down, but Joe excelled at both. He never defeated the Kobayashi Maru, but he did get noticed, when on his second try, he decided to hell with it, managed to get beamed through the Klingon shields by a talented class mate, and just started shooting up the Klingon bridge. He 'Died' horribly, of course, but one of his professors brought him a beer that night.

Joe was expecting to be put on a security squad for a few years and work his way up, or be 'second tactical' at best if he were lucky enough to get on the bridge of some ship. Instead, what happened was after a brief stint on a Space station, he found himself with a new Assignment as Tactical/Security Chief on the USS Inopia! He was surprised and proud, to be given this chance. It was odd, but he figured it was a safe assignment so they were willing to use it to cut his teeth on. To this day he doesn't know that he got the duty over a more senior option because someone wanted to curry favor with one of his high ranking relatives.

Still, Joe is good at his jobs, and already made friends on the USS Inopia. The Captain is so cautious that it seems few risks will be taken. Joe feels almost inessential.Oh well, he'll sharpen his skills here so he'll be ready if he ever gets a more active assignment.

Laypd, I hope making a character who was a relation to a well known character would be all right. It gave me a hook for a 'cushy' assignment.

I had originally wanted a non human, but seeing Trills and Andorians already on the applicant list I figured it was only fair to go human to not horn in and keep that balance.

I don't know if you intended the jobs of Tactical and Security Chief to be merged but you mentioned you were leaning TNG and that was how they did it if I recall. If you have another applicant for one or the other I can alter or change joe to fit whichever is left if you like.

His abilities maybe a bit too 'built for security chief' type, but I think his BS Detector and Cooking will allow RP and not just combat advantages.

What tweaking of abilities are you specifically looking for?

I just thought some of the abilities were a bit exaggerated, but not a big deal. Maybe there's an explanation why a polyglot, master linguist, expert boxer, with an absurdly high IQ would be assigned to one of the least relevant science vessels in the fleet :) It's more of those things about tuning down a little bit.

Laypd, I hope making a character who was a relation to a well known character would be all right. It gave me a hook for a 'cushy' assignment.

I had originally wanted a non human, but seeing Trills and Andorians already on the applicant list I figured it was only fair to go human to not horn in and keep that balance.

I don't know if you intended the jobs of Tactical and Security Chief to be merged but you mentioned you were leaning TNG and that was how they did it if I recall. If you have another applicant for one or the other I can alter or change joe to fit whichever is left if you like.

His abilities maybe a bit too 'built for security chief' type, but I think his BS Detector and Cooking will allow RP and not just combat advantages.

Perfectly fine to make the relationship, especially if we can keep it that far (TOS was like 100 years before our game anyway!)

Yes, I'm merging Tactical and Security. It's also a small vessel so we may combine some other roles as well if needed.

To everybody: the TV series are all about either the Fleet flagship, other big ships, or an immense highly strategic space station, so we're starting this game in a much smaller scale. The Inopia is very far from the Enterprise!

Alright I will change the short aliens to colonists and make him regular height and off color and tougher due to gravity and I will add more background

Rilena I really like Trills. Still, you may be reducing your chances for applying with a non-Human, but knock yourself out; if you can make the case, you may be the one alien in the bridge. As I commented on the other post, I won't allow any Section 31 references so this has to be fixed. Finally, the rank looks to high as well, and abilities can probably be tweaked down as well.

Going to stick with Trill, I think I can justify it by saying Star Teck is all about Excepting others and building together no matter race or creed, I am just doing what the star fleet was set up to do :)

Section 31 -> all gone

Hosts and abilities reduced, 4 hosts now, abilities reduced

Rank reduced to Lieutenant commander.

Sebecloki wrote:

What tweaking of abilities are you specifically looking for?

I just thought some of the abilities were a bit exaggerated, but not a big deal. Maybe there's an explanation why a polyglot, master linguist, expert boxer, with an absurdly high IQ would be assigned to one of the least relevant science vessels in the fleet :) It's more of those things about tuning down a little bit.

Ridge wrote:

Laypd, I hope making a character who was a relation to a well known character would be all right. It gave me a hook for a 'cushy' assignment.

I had originally wanted a non human, but seeing Trills and Andorians already on the applicant list I figured it was only fair to go human to not horn in and keep that balance.

I don't know if you intended the jobs of Tactical and Security Chief to be merged but you mentioned you were leaning TNG and that was how they did it if I recall. If you have another applicant for one or the other I can alter or change joe to fit whichever is left if you like.

His abilities maybe a bit too 'built for security chief' type, but I think his BS Detector and Cooking will allow RP and not just combat advantages.

Perfectly fine to make the relationship, especially if we can keep it that far (TOS was like 100 years before our game anyway!)

Yes, I'm merging Tactical and Security. It's also a small vessel so we may combine some other roles as well if needed.

To everybody: the TV series are all about either the Fleet flagship, other big ships, or an immense highly strategic space station, so we're starting this game in a much smaller scale. The Inopia is very far from the Enterprise!

I'm going to make a second draft, so let me check some revisions with you

What would seem reasonable in terms of language ability -- I myself have studied 12 languages (though I don't pick them up as fast as this character and they're dead languages), but I know specialist librarians and other academics who know 30+, and at least one central Asian/Slavic librarian could basically speak all of those. I was sort of modeling it on that kind of background. I could drop the IQ to like 150 or something.

I wasn't imagining him to be a Bruce-Lee level martial artist; I could clarify that. Someone that could compete in MMA tournaments, but not win them -- I'm getting the idea from the Sulu and Spock characters, who were also more competent in hand to hand combat than the rest of their character profiles might suggest.

For the compromising secrets -- I just got an idea from an episode of Endeavour on Masterpiece theater; perhaps Htun has a habit of bringing home sensitive work that he shouldn't, and refuses to change his habits because he doesn't like being told what to do, and also is slightly dismissive of the intelligence of the people who came up with the rules (in most cases this would compromise security, but that doesn't apply to me, because I know what I'm doing). So, he had documents on his person, which he wasn't supposed to have outside a controlled environment, and they got lost. As far as Starfleet knows, they just went missing, even though the investigating officers suspect he appropriated them. He lied about that during the investigation, figuring it would end his career since he'd already been reprimanded about similar behavior years before.

He can definitely be smart, good at his job as a communications officer, and a better than average brawler. It's just exaggerated to be fantastic in multiple different things; it's the whole thing about tuning down and finding the right balance. Sulu was a great helmsman and chief of Science with lots of hobbies on the side (and he was a lieutenant aboard the flagship of the Fleet...). Spock was half-Vulcan and one of the most strong and talented characters in all series. I'm sure we can still come out with interesting characters that aren't Wolverine of multiple fields :) your revisions are already sounding a lot better.

What about drawbacks? I was thinking my character would be technologically incompetent always pressing the wrong button or things spontaneously breaking when he touches them - grabs a handle and it jams or breaks off with unusual frequency etc.

You can add them for quirky flavor! Again I'd go with the "don't exaggerate" rule of thumb. There are no mechanical advantages on having them in a game without a true system. It's really mostly about making the characters charming and looking like ST characters.

Well, I tried to make some of Joe's abilities with restraints but please let me know if you want me to tone any down in particular to increase my chances of acceptance.

Okay I am currently working on Thoss's background, still a work in progress but I am working on it little by little. Think he will be a Lieutenant at this time. Let me know what you think Lapyd!

Here's my revision of my submission, let me know if that's toned down enough yet (and if you want me to expand, explain anything more, I like to write and I'm happy to do several additional revisions)

Name: Htun Khaing Mg Zeyar
Species: Human (Sino-Burmese or Tayoke (Chinese Burmese ethnicity) and Bamar)
Age: 27
Place of Birth: New Yangon
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Communications Officer
---------------------------------
Concept

Lieutenant Zeyar is the chief Communications Officer of the Inopia. Unarguably, he is slightly young for his post, but his unusual natural abilities, he is something of a savant at language learning, perhaps help to justify his appointment at such a young age. At least, Lieutenant Zeyar hopes that this is the case. He has not previously served in a formal mission role, or been a commissioned member of Starfleet. In his previous career, Lieutenant Zeyar chiefly served as a diplomatic exolinguist, but, like Hoshi Sato, in his current position, serves as the communications officer, despite his training more naturally tracking him for a different division of Starfleet. Because the majority of his life has been spent in civilian functions, Lieutenant is not yet well-acclimated to the professional culture of Starfleet, and has already unknowingly committed several breaches of professional etiquette in his role on the Inopia -- this behavior is not a reflection of intentional malice, but rather a combination of Lieutenant Zeyar's previous lack of experience and his natural tendency to a slightly stand-offish social persona. However, some of the other staff of the Inopia, none of whom know him well, have interpreted this behavior as a dismissive disregard for an storied organization that he has been an officer within for only a few months.

Beneath this slightly awkward exterior are several driving motivations -- Lieutenant Zeyar wants to prove himself in a mission role, and is curious about the archaeological ruins. Additionally, he is genuinely curious about Starfleet, despite his breaches of professional decorum. Though he has not mentioned it, he has already had the sense he might stay on in the service beyond this expedition, whereas he originally conceived of it as a brief divertissement to escape some personal and professional difficulties that have recently arisen in his life (see below). However, the impression many members of the staff will have is that Lieutenant Zeyar is simply a tourist or happy weather visitor with an undeserved post who will return to civilian life the moment he steps off the Inopia after the mission has been completed.
---------------------------------
Appearance and Behavior

Lieutenant Zeyar is of Chinese and Burmese ethnicity, and has the good looks of a male model (some representative models: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUYq0e3aMAAdz06?format=jpg&name=large or https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/myanmar-model-turned-political-prison er-paing-takhon-named-worlds-most-handsome-face-2021). He has dark, short hair that is exceptionally healthy and lush -- he often gets compliments on it. Lieutenant Zeyar also has colorful tattoos, though these are mostly covered by his uniform. These body decorations reflect the martial arts tradition in which he was inducted by his uncle.

Lieutenant Zeyar is slightly standoffish, though not rude, just slightly frigid. He doesn't have a great deal of experience on missions, so he's slightly unsure how to interact socially with longtime crewmembers and career Starfleet officers. This has already led to some breaches of etiquette.

Lieutenant Zeyar has a verbal habit which many of his coworkers find abrasive -- he tends to speak in long paragraphs, half to himself, and to continue through attempts to interrupt his stream of self-talk. This is also sometimes a social shield in uncomfortable social circumstances, such as if his interlocutor is attempting to confront him about a failing, etc.
---------------------------------
Abilities

*Wide languages ability: Lieutenant Zeyar can read/write/speak at a university level the following Earth languages: English (Singaporean/RP accent), Burmese, Mandarin (can't read Classical texts easily) and, at a middle school level, Hokkien. However, he can additionally, read, write, or speak, with some level of proficiency (a couple phrases to full fluency), all the major non-human languages of the Federation languages listed at bottom of this wiki page: https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Federation_Standard. Lieutenant Zeyar has an IQ of about 150-160 (over the 99th percentil).

Diplomatic experience: Lieutenant Zeyar has served as a diplomatic translator for the Federation Council during the negotiations that ended the Bajoran War of Independence, and led to the establishment of a Federation presence at Terok Nor (i.e., DS-9). This experience has given Lieutenant Zeyar contacts with high-level officials in the Federation that may prove useful -- it was instrumental, for example, in securing Lieutenant Zeyar his post on the Inopia.

*Martial arts: Lieutenant Zeyar is trainined in Lethwei (Burmese boxing). This is not an ability that Lieutenant Zeyar advertises, and will be a surprise when he initially uses it in a potential combat situation. When Lieutenant Zeyar trains, he does so, by himself, on the holodeck, or in his quarters. This is an art which Lieutenant Zeyar first learned from a beloved uncle, now deceased, and which is, for him, something of a private matter/personal experience. He is not a champion, but is competent to compete in an MMA contest, and to overpower many opponents who do not have similar training.
---------------------------------
Goals

*Explore ruins/learn new languages: Lieutenant Zeyar is interested in potentially deciphering any written records in the archeological ruins. He has been interested in manuscript studies since his days in university. One of his major term papers was on a previously unknown Prakrit text of the extinct old-Earth Ajivika religion.

*Prove himself on a mission: Lieutenant Zeyar does not have a considerable amount of mission experience. Prior to his current foray into Starfleet operations, Lieutenant Zeyar mainly worked in academics and as an attaché to various politicians and officials on the Federation Council. Lieutenant Zeyar has only visited other worlds on brief diplomatic trips, and has never before been a part of an extended mission on one vessel where he was a formal member of the crew. Nevertheless, he wants to prove himself in a more extended mission to long-standing crew. Lieutenant Zeyar anticipates that some will view his appointment to his post, without the expected previous Starfleet experience, as a reflection of political connections from his previous professional life. There is some truth to this concern. However, Lieutenant Zeyar wants to prove that his abilities are equal to the task, and will even be an important asset to the mission. Some of his recent attempts to demonstrate his language abilities have come off as expressions of arrogance as opposed to his sincere attempt connect with his coworkers on the mission goals.

New boyfriend: Lieutenant Zeyar is currently single, having recently had a difficult separation from a partner at Starfleet. In fact, one reason he wanted to go on the mission is to get away from this relationship. Lieutenant Zeyar is open to having a new boyfriend sometime during the mission, but is also guarded about his emotions, having had relationship difficulties in the past.
---------------------------------
Secrets

*His uncle is his biological father: Lieutenant Zeyar's uncle, his father's older brother, had an affair with his mother right before the wedding ceremony. Lieutenant Zeyar doesn't currently know this, but his sister does.

*Lieutenant Zeyar was visited by a Tal Shiar agent while an exotranslator: the Romulan spy was seeking to influence Federation business. Though he did not accept the offer, Lieutenant Zeyar also didn't report all the details to his superiors, as he thought it might compromise his position. Lieutenant Zeyar doesn't want to reveal this because he had a romantic relationship with the Romulan, who was posing as Vulcan science officer -- he left out that detail in his report. Lieutenant Zeyar has a habit of bringing sensitive work to his quarters, and has been reprimanded for this behavior in the past. He views these restrictions as pointless micro-managing, and would prefer to do his work in the comfort of his own quarters. However, the Romulan spy took advantage of his continued cavalier attitude about these restrictions, and stole some important documents about Cardassian military capacities. Lieutenant Zeyar did not report the theft of these documents as he took them, without asking, from a colleague, because he believed he possessed greater insight, as well as reading ability in official Cardassian legalese. His coworker was punished in his stead, and Lieutenant Zeyar is concerned that, if the truth were to come out, it might end his career. He struggles with intense guilt about the entire episode, and is trying to pull strings with some of his diplomatic contacts to get his friend pardoned and/or reinstated, but is still reluctant to own up to his own role in the affair, since it might severely compromise his own position.

*Lieutenant Zeyar has a crush on a Vulcan officer on the Inopia who works in engineering: he doesn't know how to go about expressing this, or if the interest in mutual; he doesn't talk about this sort of thing with anyone on the ship, but might acquire a confidant of this sort during the course of the mission. His 'type' is Vulcan/Romulan, though he has had relationships with other kinds of men.

---------------------------------
Relationships

*His uncle/martial arts teacher: Lieutenant Zeyar's uncle taught him Burmese boxing had connections to a Triad-like organization. He is dimly aware of this, but not the fact that his family member had unpaid debts. This organization may have connections to foreign powers like the Tal Shiar or the Obsidian Order, or may try to blackmail Lieutenant Zeyar at some point.

*His last boyfriend was Matthew Enfield, the Commander of a Hawkeye Class vessel: Commander Enfield may be patrolling the same region, unknown to Lieutenant Zeyar, which may result in an awkward encounter.

*Lieutenant Zeyar previous Vulcan professor: this individual is one of the current exolinguists/archeologists at the colony. Lieutenant Zeyar is not aware of this, because the professor has left academia for unknown reasons.
---------------------------------
Background

Lieutenant Htun Khaing Mg Zeyar was born in 2326 in the city of New Yangon. He lived for a year in a monastery run by a Buddhist-successor organization that preserves some elements of Theravada Buddhism, but dispensed with almost all supernatural elements, and which began to take shape after the Eugenics Wars. This experience has led him to have a continuing academic interest in ascetic Old Earth traditions like Jainism and Ajivika, the latter which he wrote a paper about in a Master's program. This interest sometimes is expressed when he draws on ancient philosophy to answer contemporary moral and ethical questions. Lieutenant Zeyar might mention, for example, that these traditions considered flora to possess a degree of animacy when debating issues around environmentalism with other crew members.

Lieutenant Zeyar has a sister who works as a medical officer on a ship in the Bajoran sector, and who participated in the war for Bajoran War of Independence. He admires her as a more principled selfless individual than he has ever yet managed to be.

Lieutenant Zeyar's father died very young under mysterious circumstances, and his uncle assumed a father-like position in his life. Lieutenant Zeyar;s uncle is actually his biological father, which he does not know. His mother is still living.

Lieutenant Zeyar studied exolinguistics at the Univeristy of Tokyo and Harvard University. He has a BA in communications studies and exolinguistics and an MA in exolinguistics.

During his studies at Harvard, Lieutenant Zeyar became the student of a professor who translated treaty documents for the Federation Council. This academic connection led to Lieutenant Zeyar first professional experience as an exotranslator.

Though he has studied with some famous researchers, he personally has no interest in the publishing/research side of academia besides preparing essentially governmental reports -- if he uncovers something at the archaeological dig, Lieutenant Zeyar will write a brief for Federation Council ministers, but he won't have any desire to publish it in an academic journal, though he would help some of his friends and colleagues to do so. Lieutenant Zeyar is interested in the subject for professional and relational/social reasons, not to create grammars or publish academic writing. He does have a sincere, though not academic, interest in ancient philosophy.

Again I'd go with the "don't exaggerate" rule of thumb

ok is this more the flavore

Name: Rilena Vax

Species: Trill [Both]

Age: Host 42 / symbiont 203

Place of Birth: Trill

Rank: Lieutenant commander
Position: Command
---------------------------------

Concept:

A 4-host Trill, trained as a Diplomat who then joined Starfleet. Working their way up the command branch. An experienced officer with lifetimes of wisdom to call on. She will always help others if she can, even if it's just an ear to their problems. She takes her duty seriously. Works hard but is fair with fellow crew. An effective, experienced, and decisive officer.

---------------------------------

Appearance and Behavior:


IMAGE HERE

A tall slender female host, Dark hair, eyes blue, skin olive. She likes to be well presented.

A focused manner, A quick keen mind, and good people skills. She is decisive and able to assess a situation quickly and then act on it. She is always measured in her actions. She will always give her ear to others if they wish to talk. There is a wiseness about her and at times melancholia.

---------------------------------

Abilities:

Sharp mind
Her mind is sharp and she has the ability to assess others and situations quickly.


Trained diplomat.
Over many lives of her hosts and years in Starfleet and the trill diplomatic core, she has developed good People Skills and has built up many friends and connections.

A Good Pilot

She is a trained pilot who has clocked up many hours flying in space and on planets.

---------------------------------

Goals:
To Become a captain one day and have her own command.
To see more of the cosmos and cultures
To help spread the ideals of the United Federation of Planets.

---------------------------------

Secrets:

Her son is adopted, but she does not tell others this, even he does not know.

Her last host was mortally wounded while being on an outpost raid, it is suspected that Klingon tech Cloaked craft was behind this.

Unknown Secret
Admiral Rincharch ordered Rilena Vax onto the USS Inopia in the hopes she can keep an eye on Captain Jay Pasteur and help him as best she can.

---------------------------------

Relationships.

Roliran ral Brookly
-Vax
Her lover and wife, who is working as a tech on Star Base 1

Hector Brookly
-Vax
Her son with Roliran Brookly


Admiral Rincharch

Star Fleet command contact when dealing with Trill matters.

---------------------------------

Background:


Many lives mean many backgrounds.

Each host was from Trill and lived there before becoming a training to become a host.

Host 1

Akreeno Vax [Female]

Architect/Designer of technology-enabled space habitats
Loved cooking and held many parties. Relaxing she loved to spend time in space alone in a long-range shuttlecraft just exploring.
hobbies:
The Trill Piano
Pilot/Flying

Host 2

Pitrel Vax [Non-Binory]

A diplomat and representative of Trill, negotiating contracts and treaties with the federation and others.
Spent some time on Valcon and Earth, leaned to like Vulcan Opera and earth Heavy Metal music.
hobbies:
Cocktail making
Fine Dining

Host 3

Kiroolin Vax [Male]

Left the Trill Deplamatic service and joined Starfleet, An Exslpirey student.
Rase in the ranks over 20 years to Lieutenant commander and on the SS Ada Lovelace, on which she served for 8 years.
hobbies:
Parascending
Freediving

Host 4
Rilena Vax [Female]

An officer with extensive command, and diplomatic experience.
Meet and Married a human woman, and have an adopted child with her.
hobbies:
F1 car racing on the holo-deck
Alien Music [klingon Opera + Earth Hevry metal]

Rilena Vax has spent 20+ years in Starfleet. She has been asked a number of times to be on missions because of her Diplomatic skills.

Updated background done

We already have some submissions, so I will give it a deadline now for anyone who still wants to apply - As soon as it is Saturday July 16 anywhere in the world, we can consider the recruitment closed. So we now have roughly a week to go, for anyone still wanting to apply or to do adjusts to the current submissions. I hope we end up with at least three that I feel could be a good fit for the game!

We already have some submissions, so I will give it a deadline now for anyone who still wants to apply - As soon as it is Saturday July 16 anywhere in the world, we can consider the recruitment closed. So we now have roughly a week to go, for anyone still wanting to apply or to do adjusts to the current submissions. I hope we end up with at least three that I feel could be a good fit for the game!

I updated my submission above. It's about 5 pages worth of material now -- I copied it into a word doc to check. Do you want more, or is that enough detail? Is it toned done enough yet, or do you want me to go back through it again. I could easily do another couple of versions before the deadline.

Interested to see what happens with selection -- I think this style would be a good fit for me since I mostly approach PbP as a creative writing exercise, and I'd find it easier to smash out a few paragraphs a day without having to worry about looking up rules. I also have watched a lot of ST -- I have ideas for things already.

I think it's fine Sebeclocki! I also don't want to be "that guy" fine tuning/trimming the players' creativity. It gets to a point that it butchers the concept too much and is not fun to the player applying anymore (plus, I don't want to be the ones creating the characters... We're telling the story together!). I'm just setting some parameters to better fit on the narrative I have and the game feel I want to imprint. Plus, if it fits, we can always make adjusts together later on. I will be reviewing all characters one week from now :) If there are any specific questions, though, just throw them my way.

I think it's fine Sebeclocki! I also don't want to be "that guy" fine tuning/trimming the players' creativity. It gets to a point that it butchers the concept too much and is not fun to the player applying anymore (plus, I don't want to be the ones creating the characters... We're telling the story together!). I'm just setting some parameters to better fit on the narrative I have and the game feel I want to imprint. Plus, if it fits, we can always make adjusts together later on. I will be reviewing all characters one week from now :) If there are any specific questions, though, just throw them my way.

I'll just leave it at that then for now -- definitely interested to see where this goes if I end up being in the crew.

I haven't tried an extended example of free-form, and I've recently thought about doing that for fantasy and seeing if that worked better than more rules-intensive games -- that or trying out some different kind of format like doing combat real time on discord to move stuff along better.

I think it works better for things like Star Trek and the stuff from White Wolf than the run of the mill D&D, but let's see :)

Hmm. I'll see when I have time to write something up.

had a good think, and im out, just dose not feel right for me.

Hello, I am pondering a submission.

Question: Do I have it right that the Inopia is going on an archaeological mission?

Corollary questions: I do not see in the profile template "science officer" position (there is medical but not science). Someone with skills relevant to archeology--xeno-paleontology, forensic anthropology, history, etc. etc.--would they be a welcome member of this crew and where would they serve? Could they be an NCO or civilian specialist? Or are the positions and ranks limited to those listed for a reason, such as the key archeologist expert is an NPC?

Welcome Jesse and DeathQuaker.

@DeathQuaker: Yes, it's an archaeological mission. I think it would make sense to have a "chief science officer" separated from the others (although in small ships they usually combine multiple roles). Some of the people submitting, besides the different position, have scientific background. In Star Trek, some character were "officially" the chief science officers onboard ships (like Spock) and in other instances, another character was referred as such (like LaForge, which was the chief engineer officer). I like either approach - if you want to be focused as a science officer, please feel free to consider this a new position on the list. Otherwise, it's okay to submit for another of the positions and accumulate the roles.

@Rilena: sure thing, you do you, mate! Not the game for everyone.

How are things for my Engineer now, would you like to see more?

How are things for my Engineer now, would you like to see more?

I like the direction you took him! The rank is still bloated for the background, but these are all likely minor things we can adjust once we get a group going.

Alright mates! Just doing a roll count on who already completed submissions, to make sure you’re still interested. The interest seems slow so I’ll likely cut the recruitment short by Wednesday so a group can be picked and we can start already. Other words - if you’re still interested, say “yay” here or I’ll consider you gave up :)

Still interested!

yay

still here!@

Here

Interested!
Still that is :)

We will be closing recruitment tomorrow, so I wanted to give you guys a last feedback before we pick our crew!

If anyone is still willing to apply, there's still time until tomorrow. I'll probably just decide and close recruitment towards mid afternoon EST.

Thoss The profile is incomplete, unfortunately. It's missing goals, secrets, relationships (all of those had a minimum quantity to be provided), and the background is way too incomplete to justify anything (sorry for the sincerity, but it feels quite rushed), especially the race.

Finn You're fine.

Antas I like everything, except the rank. I don't feel there's enough background for it, and he seems a bit too young. You should probably drop a rank or two to better match the profile!

Zeyar You're fine.

Joseph You're fine, other than maybe too many abilities. Besides that, I'm just not sure if the math works with McCoy (he was born in 2227 and we are in 2369 - roughly 142 years after he was born; Joseph has 29 years. I mean, everybody in McCoy's life, he included, could have had their children when beyond 40 years of age, but it feels a stretch - I think we need at least one more generation of separation for the math to work).

Okay I understand and I do agree with you. Thoss probably fits in better with one of the earlier eras here so I will respectfully bow out.

Time is slipping away from me and I am not getting together a submission I like quickly enough. I'll drop out, but thanks for the opportunity. Love the idea of a more freeform game on here and hope to see more.

@Thoss: Yes, mate, that's what I figured; that the game you actually wanted to play was really in earlier, "Kirk/Spock" eras, and didn't push yourself to build for this game here (you even kept the old stuff in the bottom, "just in case", I imagine!). Regardless, best of luck for the future :)

@DeathQuaker: No harm done. We might have other openings in the future, but I just can't keep holding the recruitment for long; interest had been low, and I want to honor the people that applied and are waiting for the game to start. Wish you fun here in the forums!

Alright I added a couple of cadet cruises and the bump to Ensign as well as one of his secrets I had yet to add to an assignment in background (forehead smack]

Alright peeps, closing recruitment here! Finn, Antas, Zeyar, and Joe, you're in. Let's iron some last details on discussion (please feel free to ask your questions there!) and hopefully we will start very soon. Excited to have you all onboard!

For anyone else, I may open recruitment again in the future to bring up some more bodies to our bridge crew. Please feel free to message me if you want to still apply or discuss details as we still have the chance to get more one or two people in this bridge.

Cheers!