My Star Trek Alternate Universe

[steve]

Things that go "bump" in the night - Alt-Universe Edition...

Space is big. Space is empty. It's not what you can see that scares grizzled space veterans but what they think MIGHT be out there... Just past the sensors and the radars and the telescopes.

For as long as sentient beings looked up at the stars from their planet, the fear of deadly space aliens, in one form or another, has existed. Simply because those sentient beings now travel the stars themselves doesn't mean that they don't get spooked every time there's a mysterious sound that they can't immediately identify.

Here are the things that makes the current civilizations make certain that they've locked their doors, windows and pulled the blinds (not to mention sleep with a loaded firearm nearby)...

Romulans - You'd think that the answer would be easy; It's the Hunnarians, right? Nope. The Romulans already know about the Hunnarians and they look just like Romulans because, at one point, they were. Sure, Hunnarians live rent-free in the psyches of Romulans but that's not what really troubles the Romulans. What troubles them are reports of what are called "Icicles." These are long, cylindrical objects that are slightly cone-shaped. They are often "blinding" and are always seen from a far distance. They're exclusively seen from "the backyard" (that area where the Romulans are hunting for the Hunnarians). They are rarely 'visible' for more than a moment before simply vanishing into thin air (or, more accurately, "thin space"). Spooky? You betcha. And, when you're in an area of space where the time it takes assistance to get to you is measured in DAYS... You wish it were just the Hunnarians that you saw.

Klingons - Everyone snickers at the Romulans chasing after Hunnarians that likely don't exist (and when your enemy is paying through the nose to search for them, you let them continue that boondoggle for as long as they want to). Yet Klingons lose a bit of macho, alpha-male bluster themselves when discussing odd, unexplained sightings of "orb-like" vessels. They know it's not the Romulans; They know it's not the Federation. The Orion don't travel anywhere close to where these things have been spotted (the few times that Klingon crews even admit to spotting them). Vulcans and Gorn? Hah... But no. The unofficial, pull-the-guy-off-to-the-side advice is always the same: If you see one, avoid it like The Plague because no one has ever engaged in those things and lived to tell the tale. The Empire has a file on these things and if you ever want to see grown Klingon males wince, this is that topic that produces the desired effect. In fact, this is one of the few areas where regional governments work together quite readily and without hesitation. Whatever these things are... They make a species known for shooting first, shooting often and asking questions later hesitate to even pull their firearms out of their holster, to the point where the Empire has asked the Romulans... "Hey... All that searching for the Hunnarians... Do you have any tips for us...? You know, I'm asking for a friend..."

Federation - The Federation has a lot of little breakaway republics. They even have something called the "Kephan Unity" to deal with. However, like the Romulans and the Hunnarians, the Federation isn't afraid of such things. What spooks the Feds is that they're hearing 'something' from a region of space outside their own and away from the other civilizations. It's not the Orions because the Feds have already pulled them aside and asked if any of them are out there. The Feds know what the Gorn, the Klingons and the Romulans are like. It's also not the Vulcans. And the signs that Star Fleet is spooked to the gills is plain for even the blind to see: Research vessels in the area are now fully escorted by as many as 3 warships. A military build-up has been occurring in that section. Want to even attempt to get near the border to where this is occurring? Forget it. What is out there? Your guess is as good as the Federation and, until they've got some answers, they aren't saying a word... And they're keeping a very, VERY close eye in that direction.

Gorn - The Gorn may be simple, may be truthful, may be a bit daft but they can be spooked along with everyone else. The Gorn are a former slave species and if you don't think that their former masters live rent-free inside of their minds, you'd be crazy. Their explorations are utilitarian but they're also hoping that they DON'T find their former masters. And what do their former masters look like? Good question. Nobody really knows because it's been a really long time since they've disappeared and trying to get the Gorn to tell the full story is like trying to get a Vulcan to perform a comedy stand-up routine right after the Emperor dissolves his Emperorship and allows the Romulan Republic to take over. No dice.

Orion - They've wandered the cosmos so you'd think the Orions have a bit of thick skin when it comes to being spooked. Guess again. If anything, the Orions are more than a bit spooked by reports from wayward caravans of offshoots of their kind having developed into disturbing new civilizations. They've heard rumors of a gargantuan, destructive caravan simply known as "The Locusts" or "The Hoard" that consumes everything it touches and, if you're not them, you don't live for long. They've also heard of a blasphemous offshoot that has built their own planet-sized dwellings who care not to interact with anyone but themselves.

And, if that's not enough... A disturbing new series of sightings have occurred amongst the three main civilizations of seeing dopplegangers of their own ships. Romulans have seen odd Federation-styled ships in their space. The Federation has seen curiously similar but unknown variants of Klingon ships. The Klingons have had odd encounters with Romulan vessels that are quite peculiar in both shape and abilities. The occurrences have been so significant that they've met to discuss the matter and all that they can agree upon is that it's not any of them. A Federation vessel with three warp nacelles? Impossible! They only design them with two or four. Romulan vessels not designed around bird motifs? That hasn't been done since... Before the Empire was formed! Klingon vessels without the familiar "head and neck" profile? The regional governments who made those designs haven't existed in over... 200 years!

It's almost as if some sort of "Inverted" or Mirror Universe is being seen... But that can't possibly be real, can it? Right?

What's going on out there? That's the problem... Nobody knows...

[trynda1701]

Sept 25, 2021 11:00:46 GMT -7 steve said:

Things that go "bump" in the night - Alt-Universe Edition...

Space is big. Space is empty. It's not what you can see that scares grizzled space veterans but what they think MIGHT be out there... Just past the sensors and the radars and the telescopes.

For as long as sentient beings looked up at the stars from their planet, the fear of deadly space aliens, in one form or another, has existed. Simply because those sentient beings now travel the stars themselves doesn't mean that they don't get spooked every time there's a mysterious sound that they can't immediately identify.

Here are the things that makes the current civilizations make certain that they've locked their doors, windows and pulled the blinds (not to mention sleep with a loaded firearm nearby)...

Romulans - You'd think that the answer would be easy; It's the Hunnarians, right? Nope. The Romulans already know about the Hunnarians and they look just like Romulans because, at one point, they were. Sure, Hunnarians live rent-free in the psyches of Romulans but that's not what really troubles the Romulans. What troubles them are reports of what are called "Icicles." These are long, cylindrical objects that are slightly cone-shaped. They are often "blinding" and are always seen from a far distance. They're exclusively seen from "the backyard" (that area where the Romulans are hunting for the Hunnarians). They are rarely 'visible' for more than a moment before simply vanishing into thin air (or, more accurately, "thin space"). Spooky? You betcha. And, when you're in an area of space where the time it takes assistance to get to you is measured in DAYS... You wish it were just the Hunnarians that you saw.

Klingons - Everyone snickers at the Romulans chasing after Hunnarians that likely don't exist (and when your enemy is paying through the nose to search for them, you let them continue that boondoggle for as long as they want to). Yet Klingons lose a bit of macho, alpha-male bluster themselves when discussing odd, unexplained sightings of "orb-like" vessels. They know it's not the Romulans; They know it's not the Federation. The Orion don't travel anywhere close to where these things have been spotted (the few times that Klingon crews even admit to spotting them). Vulcans and Gorn? Hah... But no. The unofficial, pull-the-guy-off-to-the-side advice is always the same: If you see one, avoid it like The Plague because no one has ever engaged in those things and lived to tell the tale. The Empire has a file on these things and if you ever want to see grown Klingon males wince, this is that topic that produces the desired effect. In fact, this is one of the few areas where regional governments work together quite readily and without hesitation. Whatever these things are... They make a species known for shooting first, shooting often and asking questions later hesitate to even pull their firearms out of their holster, to the point where the Empire has asked the Romulans... "Hey... All that searching for the Hunnarians... Do you have any tips for us...? You know, I'm asking for a friend..."

Federation - The Federation has a lot of little breakaway republics. They even have something called the "Kephan Unity" to deal with. However, like the Romulans and the Hunnarians, the Federation isn't afraid of such things. What spooks the Feds is that they're hearing 'something' from a region of space outside their own and away from the other civilizations. It's not the Orions because the Feds have already pulled them aside and asked if any of them are out there. The Feds know what the Gorn, the Klingons and the Romulans are like. It's also not the Vulcans. And the signs that Star Fleet is spooked to the gills is plain for even the blind to see: Research vessels in the area are now fully escorted by as many as 3 warships. A military build-up has been occurring in that section. Want to even attempt to get near the border to where this is occurring? Forget it. What is out there? Your guess is as good as the Federation and, until they've got some answers, they aren't saying a word... And they're keeping a very, VERY close eye in that direction.

Gorn - The Gorn may be simple, may be truthful, may be a bit daft but they can be spooked along with everyone else. The Gorn are a former slave species and if you don't think that their former masters live rent-free inside of their minds, you'd be crazy. Their explorations are utilitarian but they're also hoping that they DON'T find their former masters. And what do their former masters look like? Good question. Nobody really knows because it's been a really long time since they've disappeared and trying to get the Gorn to tell the full story is like trying to get a Vulcan to perform a comedy stand-up routine right after the Emperor dissolves his Emperorship and allows the Romulan Republic to take over. No dice.

Orion - They've wandered the cosmos so you'd think the Orions have a bit of thick skin when it comes to being spooked. Guess again. If anything, the Orions are more than a bit spooked by reports from wayward caravans of offshoots of their kind having developed into disturbing new civilizations. They've heard rumors of a gargantuan, destructive caravan simply known as "The Locusts" or "The Hoard" that consumes everything it touches and, if you're not them, you don't live for long. They've also heard of a blasphemous offshoot that has built their own planet-sized dwellings who care not to interact with anyone but themselves.

And, if that's not enough... A disturbing new series of sightings have occurred amongst the three main civilizations of seeing dopplegangers of their own ships. Romulans have seen odd Federation-styled ships in their space. The Federation has seen curiously similar but unknown variants of Klingon ships. The Klingons have had odd encounters with Romulan vessels that are quite peculiar in both shape and abilities. The occurrences have been so significant that they've met to discuss the matter and all that they can agree upon is that it's not any of them. A Federation vessel with three warp nacelles? Impossible! They only design them with two or four. Romulan vessels not designed around bird motifs? That hasn't been done since... Before the Empire was formed! Klingon vessels without the familiar "head and neck" profile? The regional governments who made those designs haven't existed in over... 200 years!

It's almost as if some sort of "Inverted" or Mirror Universe is being seen... But that can't possibly be real, can it? Right?

What's going on out there? That's the problem... Nobody knows...

Nice mix of bogeyman. Not all anticipations of later eras races. Love the mention of the Kephans from brickwall in your universe. Plus, are the Klingons baddies your version of FASAs' Kinshaya?

[steve]

Sept 25, 2021 15:48:19 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

Nice mix of bogeyman. Not all anticipations of later eras races. Love the mention of the Kephans from brickwall in your universe. Plus, are the Klingons baddies your version of FASAs' Kinshaya?

Maaayyyybbbbeeee....
Who knows what's out there? If, of course, there's anything out there at all...

[steve]

Beware the Vulcans (or, at least, some of them)...

I haven't written a lot about the Vulcans in my alt-universe. In summary, Vulcans were just intellectual (or "free-thinking") Romulans that broke off from the Romulan Empire when the Romluan Empire began acting a bit too skittish over being criticized for just about anything. Remember - It was the Vulcans (as a part of Romulan society) who helped defeat the Hunnarians (a militant-type of Romulan) during the bloody civil war for control over the Romulan Republic.

When the Romulans "won" the civil war, though, they learned the wrong lessons from that conflict. Instead of keeping their society open, their society contracted in terms of civil liberties and freedoms. The Vulcans were like, "You know... We won... We don't need all of these restrictions anymore..." and the rest of Romulus was like "Um... No! They could be out there... They could strike at any time... We have to build the walls higher! Stronger! With barbed wire!" To which the Vulcans replied with, "Huh." And polite silence. And an eye-roll. And a poorly suppressed sigh. Indeed, as the saying goes, "The Hunnarians may have lost but they never left."

Vulcan-Romulan relations would never truly recover after the civil war and, sensing further discrimination and retribution, they left. However, before they left, they knew that, if they left, they were going to be followed and killed. The Romulan Empire, by this time, was really an empire. The Empire had an Emperor and that Emperor had no qualms about doing whatever it took to keep it an empire. People jumping over the wall were going to be shot before they could even get to the wall. And don't even look towards the wall because that's all it would take for the ultra-nationalists to mistake that you were going to make a run for the wall.

So the Vulcans, if they were to escape, needed to escape in a way that they would not be pursued. Unlike the Hunnarians who tried to create a coup through the classic military route, the Vulcans needed to create such a big distraction that the Romulans wouldn't even know the Vulcans were missing. Therefore, the Vulcans did what the hackers like to call a "fire sale": They shut down and scrambled and destroyed as much of the electronic infrastructure of the Romulan Empire as they could. The power grid was hit at the same time that the water systems were hit at the same time that the radar systems were hit at the same time that informational systems were hit. And, in the ensuing chaos, the Vulcans would leave.

And it worked. In fact, it worked beautifully well. It worked resoundingly well. It probably worked TOO well because it wasn't just the Vulcans (who considered themselves Vulcans) leaving but pretty much a lot of Romulans who looked at the Romulan Empire and went "Ah, Phooey! I've had it with this place!" and left as well.

So what constitutes as "Vulcans" today really aren't "Vulcans" in the "classic Spock" mold; There are 'levels' of 'Spock-iness' from within these Vulcans. Some of these Vulcans just outright don't call themselves Vulcans at all; They're just Romulan Refugees. They've got pointy ears and the classic eyebrows... But they're just Romulans. No Spock-iness whatsoever.

On the other end of that 'Spock-iness' scale are those Vulcans who just can't stand being around anyone who isn't an honest-to-goodness Vulcan. These Vulcans consider anyone who aren't considered them as drunken idiots who are absolutely useless... Unless they were servants which is just a fancy term for, um... 'slave labor.' Yeah. You read that right; There are such a thing as "Vulcan Nationalists."

Now, granted, a majority of Vulcans like their Federation hosts and tolerate them because it's the Federation that is holding back the wrath of the Romulan Empire. And before anyone says, "Well, the Vulcans and the Federation like each other so much that they worked hand-in-glove to defeat the Romulan Empire" but it's really quite simple: If the Federation lost, guess what would've happened to the Vulcans? So, yeah... The Vulcans had a really vested interest in ensuring that the Federation won that fight. They didn't help the Federation out of the kindness of their own heart.

The extremist Vulcans have never stopped envisioning having their own little Empire of their own. Remember, they didn't know the Federation was where they were fleeing off to; They were just fleeing. "Plan A" was to flee as far as they could, set up their little Empire and hope that the Romulans kept themselves busy by spying on one another to not bother with searching for the Vulcans. "Plan B" was bumping into the Federation who were somewhat more tolerable than the Romulans. And some Vulcans would much rather resort to going back to Plan A.

And it's not all fun and games for the Federation, either. The Feds are rather quite suspicious of the Vulcans because of the activities of these Vulcan Nationalists. Granted, these Vulcan Nationalists make up a very, very tiny portion of Vulcans but a little goes a very long way and this IS a rather large alien population inside of an area that Terrans thought would be their own.

And what are these Vulcan Nationalists up to? Well, it's not just the Romulans that can be clever and conniving. It's rumored that these groups have reverse-engineered the cloaking device used by the Romulans and have made their own. And that they've made contact with the "Unicursalists" (the 'religious Vulcans' that are still in Romulan territory) to gauge just how 'Spock-iness' they truly are. And that they know the Gorn are hiding 'something' from everyone and that 'something' could be some very, very high-tech stuff... And if there's any group that can decipher and reverse-engineer it, it's a group of people known for being the very epitome of "Mr. Smarty Pants"...

Beware the Vulcans... Just because they don't formally have land of their own doesn't mean that they don't have plans of their own...   

[steve]

Klingon Religion - A Primer (part 1)...

I've been putting off a bunch of posts for long enough but, if I want to get to other "exciting" posts and not have those posts be 90% explanation and 10% exciting stuff, then I need to start writing some of these "explanation" posts and getting them 'out of the way.' This is one such post.

Religion is always a sticky topic to discuss and, bear in mind, this post is about a fictional species' religious history. It has nothing to do with reality.

When last we left the Klingons, they are a species with a "might makes right" mentality. I can punch harder than you, ergo, I'm right and you're wrong. Want to be more right than me? "Git Gud" (as the kiddies nowadays write) and then punch harder than me. Yes, that's overly simplified but it's far more true than it isn't.

But how did the Klingons get this way? Were they always this way? The answer is no but it's a bit more complicated than that.

All societies eventually gain religion at some point in their history as a means to explain things that they can't explain through rational answers. Why the sun rises and falls, why clouds exist, what happens when you die, etc. so forth. The Klingons are certainly no different. On Earth, there have been HUNDREDS of significant religions throughout our history and, in modern times, there are a bunch of "major" religions today. I'm not even going to attempt to get that in-depth with the Klingons.

However, I will write that the Klingons are no different than us in that they went from a polytheistic society (religions with many gods) to a monotheistic society (religions with one god). It's just the nature of the beast to simplify over time for one reason or another. Yes, I know that there are some major religions out there currently with more than one god in that religion but, for the most part, Earth has gone from having religions with many gods to having religions with one god.

In the case of the Klingons, they had a polytheistic religion that had to do with being the "best" Klingon. Each god (and goddess) represented a Klingon that was the "best" at something. One god was the "smartest" Klingon while another was the "fastest" Klingon, etc. so forth. Klingons could worship one, or multiples or even all of these gods. The idea behind the religion was that you needed to worship all of the gods because no one trait could do "everything": Sometimes you needed to be smart and other times you needed to be fast and other times you needed to be strong and other times you needed to be sociable, etc. so forth, in order to be the "best" Klingon.

And, of course, like all religions... this one eventually became radicalized by various elements in Klingon society because... Well, it could. The "pro-simplification" argument went simply as: "Look, we've got all of these temples and all of these gods and all of this lore... It's a mess! People in this city worship this god this way but the people in this city worship that same god in a different way... Some gods are hardly worshiped at all and some are worshiped by most people and there's no way of determining who's 'right' and who's 'wrong'! Argh!"

The "pro-Keep things the way they are" argument went: "That's the way it's always been! When a god gets less worshipers, the adherents of that god amend their lore to make it more desirable. People have always had slightly different ways of worshiping the same god in different areas! It all evens out! Some gods become more popular in time and less popular and vice versa!"

There was a significant attempt to "simplify" the religion and that was to create "major" and "minor" gods within the religion and this attempt was very earnest in alleviating a lot of real-world concerns. For instance, instead of god-specific temples, there would only be two types of temples: One for major gods and one for minor gods. Some of the minor gods were consolidated (because, let's be fair, some of the differences between some of those gods were VERY insignificant) and some of the abilities of the major gods were split from them into becoming minor gods. And all of this was done with the best of intentions and, in some cases, it was all being done "unofficially" already: There were some villages and towns that already HAD multi-purpose temples and in some parts of the Klingon civilization, there were already attempts at combining and cleaving some of the gods already. All that this simplification attempt was doing was taking all of those attempts and combining them into one, unified simplification.

Of course, this attempt at simplification went over like a wet, loud, smelly fart in a crowded room.

"How DARE you treat MY god as a 'minor' god!"
"I'M not going to worship in the same temple as such-and-such!"
"Why isn't my god a MAJOR god! It's the only rational god to worship!"
"My god has always had the ability to do such-and-such! Why was that ability now a MINOR god?!!"

Some regions adopted this simplification and others didn't. Some regions adopted SOME of the simplifications and other regions adopted MOST of them.

This was a turbulent time in Klingon religion and no one was really happy. The people who had adopted the simplification weren't happy with the ones who hadn't. The people who had adopted some of the simplifications weren't happy with those who had adopted other forms of simplification.

Finally after a bit less than a century of general unhappiness, it was decided to just hit the "reset" button and declare the entire simplification process a failure and go back to the old ways.

And it almost, ALMOST worked... Except for one cleric who kept a temple for the god that was "strongest" god. He saw that this chaos had been just the beginning, that it was just the 'first' attempt at simplification and that there would be others. And that those other attempts would lead to more chaos and perhaps even irreparable harm to society.

And so, he hatched a plan. A plan at the ultimate consolidation. A plan to have the "strongest" god be the "only" god in Klingon society. After all, with only one god, there would no longer need to be any simplification. Every temple would be an acceptable temple of worship. One god. One set of abilities. One temple. An end to the chaos and an end to all future chaos.

And then he set his plan into motion.

[steve]

Are the "Servants of Akula" the Klingon's version of the Gorn? No, but it's Complicated...

The Klingon Empire's religious structure consists of a singular god which rules over all of the other gods and goddesses (and, of course, there are lesser deities but that's beyond the scope of this article). Functionally, a member of Klingon society worships that singular god and, although is certainly knowledgeable about the other gods and goddesses, doesn't primarily worship them. Granted, there are such a thing as "Klingon Atheists" but again, that is a bit past what will be examined here.

In modern Klingon society, one simply doesn't worship any of the other gods except for the main god. It's not polite and it certainly isn't something that you discuss with your neighbors. It would be as if you were talking to your neighbor and let slip that you and the family decide that, every day after 5 PM, you don't mind walking around naked inside the house with the window blinds open. You just don't say such things.

Granted, there are rare exceptions. Suppose you live in one of those rare regions of Klingon society where the worship of a now 'minor' god or goddess was particular strong in ancient times. Certainly, you would know a bit more about that god than you would had you been just an ordinary citizen. You may even visit a place of worship where that minor god or goddess gets some small degree of recognition at the place of worship; However, even at such places, the absolute main emphasis is on the singular god. It would be like visiting a house that is entirely painted in red but one tiny, incidental section might be painted in yellow. And these such places are highly uncommon; A lot of places of worship only feature the singular main god and no one else, not even in passing.

Therefore, it's highly unusual and highly unsociable for an entire society to worship not only a 'minor' god but not even acknowledge the main one.

Such is the case with the "Servants of Akula," Klingons who worship the god Akula. First and foremost, the Klingon language has, over the years, given this god several alternative spellings: Akular, Akulaa, Akule... Just to name a few. Despite the alternate spellings, it all refers to the same god. Also, there is a female equivalent of the god, often called Haskula or Haskular. Most worshipers acknowledge both and even saying that you worship Akula often means that you worship both.

Akula is the God of Perpetual Work; He never sleeps, never takes a break, never sits down to watch a fine movie or a sporting event. The Klingons who worship the god (the "servants" in the "Servants of Akula"), in turn, emulate the behavior of constantly working, even if such tasks are menial.

Would you like to emulate how a worshipper goes about their day? Merely write down 200 household chores around your house and then do them. All of them. Constantly. When you get finished them, add another 200 to your list. And should your house be spotless and tidy, go to your neighbor's house and ask what may be accomplished over there. And, of course, volunteering for your town or city is certainly not out of the question.

In recent times (within our equivalent of the past 20 years), worshiping minor gods and goddesses has increased dramatically, as is the tolerance for such activities. As a result, the highest concentration of worship for this god is around 50,000 worshipers on one colony. It has been a trend in Klingon society that religious adherents of minor gods and goddesses go to the farthest regions of Klingon space in order to worship without persecution. Therefore, such a concentration is not rare.

The colony is fairly tidy because, obviously, they do not have an aversion to work. If anything, they have an obsession with it.

Worshiping is not without it's hazards, though; Adherents do claim increased number and severity of headaches, joint pain and other occupational hazards from constant work as opposed to the run-of-the-mill Klingon.

There are various schisms in this religion, partially because of the vague nature of what "constant work" really means. Are you a general laborer? Are you highly specialized? Does having a full-time 'normal' job count as constant work? If you take money for your work, does that count as constant work?

The schisms generally tolerate one another and, with the exception of a few radical extremists, disputes are high-brow and intellectual rather than with fists and rhetoric.

Generally speaking, it is most desirable in the religion if you are considered a "generalist," someone who has enough skill to be helpful in a wide array of physical and/or menial labor. You can drive a bulldozer one day and weed a garden the next day and rake leaves after that and then help out in an industrial kitchen the next day and then assist in constructing a building after that and then work in a call center taking phone calls after that.

As a woman, there is an emphasis on the 'female' list of chores. Less helping with constructing a building and more knitting socks, baking, cleaning, gardening, etc. There is a schism that considers a woman's role in the religion to almost exclusively raise children; You're a nobody until you've had at least three of them.

There is a hierarchy in the religion. The older you get, the more likely you become an "organizer" more than a "laborer" and you're assigning servants to perform tasks. Not all tasks are created equal (although there is a schism that pretty much preaches that but, the less said about that schism, the better) and organizers are there to ensure that work is performed on those tasks deemed more beneficial than others. It's all great and good that your sock drawer is organized properly but raking leaves or keeping the gutters free of obstructions usually ranks a bit higher than that.

Men are more drawn towards the religion than women although it's not by a significant margin. Men want to work and a lot of the men who join up are generally not skilled labor and aren't very good at throwing a punch. Women, on the other hand, enjoy not getting the snot kicked out of them by boyfriends or husbands and there is a fair bit of equality within the religion. You can go quite a bit far in the religion as a woman and the glass ceiling is constantly getting pushed upwards. Has it broken at the highest levels? No, although there really isn't a ton of ambition to truly break all the barriers, either; The whole point of the religion is to work on a somewhat local level, not aspire to rule over the masses. Alpha males and alpha females will soon find that the masses will look upon them, say "that's nice," and go help their neighbor rake their front yard.

Politically, servants tend to skew center-left to left for obvious reasons; It's a non-violent religion and it's core teachings are to help others whenever and however possible. Amongst whole colonies of servants, there is what would be considered as universal health care, mass transit, and the living in apartment buildings as opposed to individual homes. There really aren't "casual" members of the religion; Either you're in or you're not. The best way to be "casual" and get away with it is to be a missionary and go out amongst "normal" Klingons and show them that, despite being a 'servant,' you still enjoy drinking yourself under the table and smashing an empty beer can on your forehead from time to time. Most servants don't do such things but new recruits generally don't know that until they're well within the indoctrinating process.

The schisms have their own unique spins on the religious process but, in general, you go to a temple, you confess on what you've done for the week, you confess what you want to do and then an organizer of some rank will say, "To heck with that, this seems to be the most important things you need to do with your life this week; Do those things first and then come back and tell me your progress." There's usually a part where people proclaim great things that they've done throughout the week ("I changed my car transmission!") to which people congratulate one another. There's usually a speech by an organizer about the dangers of being selfish or lazy.

The afterlife aspect of the religion is that you become the subconscious of others around you. You worked hard; That inspired others to work hard and, now that you are gone, people will ask, "What Would [fill in name] Do?" to one degree or another. Some schisms think that you go off to a heaven-like land where you help Akula himself with tasks. There really isn't an underworld. A few schisms have a pseudo-underworld where the lazy are forced to watch their friends and family suffer because you didn't inspire them to work as hard... But there is no "Fire & Brimstone" styled underworlds.

If I'm a modern, young Klingon, I would regard a servant as a nice but daft person. I get that they don't want to poke someone's eyes out but I'm not going to bust their hump over it; I've got better things to do. I'd regard them much the same way as you politely blow off some guy who wants to convince you that there are hidden microchips in umbrellas recording every time that you sneeze because... You know, conspiracy. They're dingy but they're harmless.

Older Klingons don't cotton to servants very well and may sometimes use them as punching bags. It's an affront to worship any other God except the Strong one and, you stupid fool, why are you weakening the Great Klingon Empire with your bullcrap?! If I'm a servant, I'm not advertising the fact that I am one to anyone over the equivalent age of 45 because I know the crap storm that would happen if I did. There are tolerant older Klingons and their position would be, "You're a stupid idiot but, as long as you get off my lawn, I don't care how stupid an idiot you are. Go away."   

More later...

[trynda1701]

Oct 2, 2021 5:26:54 GMT -7 steve said:

Klingon Religion - A Primer (part 1)...

I've been putting off a bunch of posts for long enough but, if I want to get to other "exciting" posts and not have those posts be 90% explanation and 10% exciting stuff, then I need to start writing some of these "explanation" posts and getting them 'out of the way.' This is one such post.

Religion is always a sticky topic to discuss and, bear in mind, this post is about a fictional species' religious history. It has nothing to do with reality.

When last we left the Klingons, they are a species with a "might makes right" mentality. I can punch harder than you, ergo, I'm right and you're wrong. Want to be more right than me? "Git Gud" (as the kiddies nowadays write) and then punch harder than me. Yes, that's overly simplified but it's far more true than it isn't.

But how did the Klingons get this way? Were they always this way? The answer is no but it's a bit more complicated than that.

All societies eventually gain religion at some point in their history as a means to explain things that they can't explain through rational answers. Why the sun rises and falls, why clouds exist, what happens when you die, etc. so forth. The Klingons are certainly no different. On Earth, there have been HUNDREDS of significant religions throughout our history and, in modern times, there are a bunch of "major" religions today. I'm not even going to attempt to get that in-depth with the Klingons.

However, I will write that the Klingons are no different than us in that they went from a polytheistic society (religions with many gods) to a monotheistic society (religions with one god). It's just the nature of the beast to simplify over time for one reason or another. Yes, I know that there are some major religions out there currently with more than one god in that religion but, for the most part, Earth has gone from having religions with many gods to having religions with one god.

In the case of the Klingons, they had a polytheistic religion that had to do with being the "best" Klingon. Each god (and goddess) represented a Klingon that was the "best" at something. One god was the "smartest" Klingon while another was the "fastest" Klingon, etc. so forth. Klingons could worship one, or multiples or even all of these gods. The idea behind the religion was that you needed to worship all of the gods because no one trait could do "everything": Sometimes you needed to be smart and other times you needed to be fast and other times you needed to be strong and other times you needed to be sociable, etc. so forth, in order to be the "best" Klingon.

And, of course, like all religions... this one eventually became radicalized by various elements in Klingon society because... Well, it could. The "pro-simplification" argument went simply as: "Look, we've got all of these temples and all of these gods and all of this lore... It's a mess! People in this city worship this god this way but the people in this city worship that same god in a different way... Some gods are hardly worshiped at all and some are worshiped by most people and there's no way of determining who's 'right' and who's 'wrong'! Argh!"

The "pro-Keep things the way they are" argument went: "That's the way it's always been! When a god gets less worshipers, the adherents of that god amend their lore to make it more desirable. People have always had slightly different ways of worshiping the same god in different areas! It all evens out! Some gods become more popular in time and less popular and vice versa!"

There was a significant attempt to "simplify" the religion and that was to create "major" and "minor" gods within the religion and this attempt was very earnest in alleviating a lot of real-world concerns. For instance, instead of god-specific temples, there would only be two types of temples: One for major gods and one for minor gods. Some of the minor gods were consolidated (because, let's be fair, some of the differences between some of those gods were VERY insignificant) and some of the abilities of the major gods were split from them into becoming minor gods. And all of this was done with the best of intentions and, in some cases, it was all being done "unofficially" already: There were some villages and towns that already HAD multi-purpose temples and in some parts of the Klingon civilization, there were already attempts at combining and cleaving some of the gods already. All that this simplification attempt was doing was taking all of those attempts and combining them into one, unified simplification.

Of course, this attempt at simplification went over like a wet, loud, smelly fart in a crowded room.

"How DARE you treat MY god as a 'minor' god!"
"I'M not going to worship in the same temple as such-and-such!"
"Why isn't my god a MAJOR god! It's the only rational god to worship!"
"My god has always had the ability to do such-and-such! Why was that ability now a MINOR god?!!"

Some regions adopted this simplification and others didn't. Some regions adopted SOME of the simplifications and other regions adopted MOST of them.

This was a turbulent time in Klingon religion and no one was really happy. The people who had adopted the simplification weren't happy with the ones who hadn't. The people who had adopted some of the simplifications weren't happy with those who had adopted other forms of simplification.

Finally after a bit less than a century of general unhappiness, it was decided to just hit the "reset" button and declare the entire simplification process a failure and go back to the old ways.

And it almost, ALMOST worked... Except for one cleric who kept a temple for the god that was "strongest" god. He saw that this chaos had been just the beginning, that it was just the 'first' attempt at simplification and that there would be others. And that those other attempts would lead to more chaos and perhaps even irreparable harm to society.

And so, he hatched a plan. A plan at the ultimate consolidation. A plan to have the "strongest" god be the "only" god in Klingon society. After all, with only one god, there would no longer need to be any simplification. Every temple would be an acceptable temple of worship. One god. One set of abilities. One temple. An end to the chaos and an end to all future chaos.

And then he set his plan into motion.

For the bold italicised bit...dun, dun, dun, duuuh! Can't wait to what that brings!

[steve]

Oct 11, 2021 15:17:52 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

Oct 2, 2021 5:26:54 GMT -7 steve said:

Klingon Religion - A Primer (part 1)...

And so, he hatched a plan. A plan at the ultimate consolidation. A plan to have the "strongest" god be the "only" god in Klingon society. After all, with only one god, there would no longer need to be any simplification. Every temple would be an acceptable temple of worship. One god. One set of abilities. One temple. An end to the chaos and an end to all future chaos.

And then he set his plan into motion.

For the bold italicised bit...dun, dun, dun, duuuh! Can't wait to what that brings!

Well, the whole point of setting up the religion is to sort of 'explain' why the Klingons are the way that they are. Again, in the alt-universe, no one is really 'bad' in the "black top hat & handlebar mustache" sort of way (although some civilizations are far more sympathetic than others). Sure, the Klingons aren't very desirable but there's a reason for why they act the way that they do and I wanted the reason to be somewhat rational. In the Klingons' case, it was this perversion of their religion that greatly skewed how they perceived their environment. With the Romulans, it was their history with 'coup' attempts (the Hunnarians, the Vulcans). The Orions had their exploding home solar system. The Gorn are former slaves. And the Federation? Well, I haven't really focused on them yet but there have been some broad hints in how they operate (a sort of laissez-faire democracy... Live and let live... That kind of thing). Something that I really need to write down is how finding other civilizations have affected each civilization.

As for the Servants of Akula, I have to go back and add to that post or create another post. I just wanted to get it out of my head while I had the chance.

[steve]

Breaking News - The United Federation of Planets Invokes an Emergency Session of the Security Council

The Federation has invoked an article in the mutual defense treaty that all of the major civilizations (The United Federation of Planets, The Romulan Star Empire, The Imperial Klingon Empire, The Orion Constellation, and The Gorn Collective) have agreed to uphold. The Kephan Unity and the Vulcan Confederacy, per treaty rules, have not been invited to the Emergency Session. However, they shall each receive a non-classified briefing of the session by the Romulan Star Empire (to the Kephan Unity) and the UFP (to the Vulcan Confederacy).

No further official information is available at this time although Federation border authorities have closed the borders in Sector 2 and there is a very heavy presence of military and law enforcement starships in the region. All exploration vessels traveling outside of the officially-recognized Federation border have been withdrawn back inside of the border. Star systems near that part of the border have been on high alert and no interstellar travel is being allowed unless under special permit. The Orion Constellation has suspended all travel by it's caravans near the affected border area, per Federation request.

This is a breaking news story.

[trynda1701]

To quote a character from Laugh-In "verrry interesting". Or another dun, dun, dun, duuuh moment!

[steve]

NEWS ARTICLE - LAST-MINUTE DEAL AVOIDS SESSION SNAFU; PHYSICAL DELEGATIONS REQUESTED.

(AP) - In a last-minute deal brokered by the Gorn Collective and the Orion Constellation, the UFP & the Romulan Star Empire have agreed to cancel any consultations with the Vulcan Confederacy and the Kephan Unity regarding the upcoming emergency security council session. In a short statement released by all those involved with the negotiations, the statement reads that all treaty rules have agreed to be followed stringently and in the spirit of how they were written.

The Imperial Klingon Empire has declined comment on the situation.

The brief situation emerged when the UFP announced that they were going to advise the Vulcan Confederacy of the non-classified contents of the session. The Romulan Star Empire immediately countered, announcing that they would, in return, advise the Kephan Unity and requested to physically meet with Kephan authorities on Petrus, one of the three "home planets" of the Kephan Unity. The UFP protested, saying that the Kephan Unity is not a member of the mutual defense treaty and that the Vulcan Confederacy was a "dependent state." A member of the treaty is allowed to advise a "Dependent State" of non-classified materials that is not available to the general public. The Romulan Star Empire countered that the Kephan Unity may, thusly, be regarded as an "Emergent Civilization," another category of organization that may also receive non-classified briefings by a member of the treaty.

The existence of the Kephan Unity and the Vulcan Confederacy are constant concerns for the UFP and the Romulan Star Empire, respectively. The Kephan Unity is a regarded as a breakaway republic from the United Federation of Planets. It already regards itself as it's own civilization but is only conditionally recognized by the Romulan Star Empire and a few caravans of the Orion Constellation (but not of the entire Orion Constellation and, more importantly, not formally by that civilization). The Vulcan Confederacy is comprised of a type of Romulan refugee who call themselves "Vulcan," who fled persecution from the Romulan Star Empire for their philosophical views. The Romulans claim that the Vulcans grievously sabotaged their civilization in a coup attempt and fled when the coup attempt failed.

Following the resolution of the situation, the UFP has requested that physical delegations from member civilizations are necessary. The process for clearing the personnel for that delegation, as well as support staff for those delegations has already begun. Under present rules, a delegation is relegated to five pre-approved starships. Their starships must have main shields and all weapons deactivated during the entire time that they visit another member civilization. Auxiliary shields may be functional and it is the role of the civilization that they visit to provide all forms of security during that visit. Such language usually means a heavy starship escort to wherever that delegation must travel.

No further details are available as to when these delegations will arrive or what routes they will take, pending security concerns.

[steve]

NEWS ARTICLE: ANALYSIS OF WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

The UFP stunned the known universe when it called for an emergency session of the security council. This call was more alarming in that it was done under the Mutual Defense Treaty that all five major civilizations (The United Federation of Planets, The Romulan Star Empire, The Imperial Klingon Empire, The Orion Constellation & The Gorn Collective) have signed. Organizations such as The Kephan Unity & The Vulcan Confederacy, both of whom regard themselves as civilizations, have not been included in the treaty, as inclusion of a new member must be unanimous with all existing members. The Romulan Star Empire has continuously blocked the inclusion of The Vulcan Confederacy and the UFP has equally been persistent not to include the Kephan Unity.

Based upon the details known thus far, many experts believe that the United Federation of Planets has discovered a new space-faring civilization. Samantha Kinson, of the InterGovernment Study Group (IGSG), explains:

"The emergency session was called by the UFP. It was endorsed by no other government. It was called under the auspices of the Mutual Defense Treaty. You can't just call an emergency session unilaterally for any old reason; You have to provide specifics. You have to provide evidence. Let's go down the list of options:"

"1). The UFP is being attacked by a significant space-faring civilization, akin to any of the members of the security council. This scenario is unlikely. We aren't seeing mass evacuations. We aren't seeing the types of martial law that would suggest an attack or a sudden preparation of an attack. In the area that has seen a significant build-up, we notice that it is also next to the Gorn [collective] and the Gorn have had an exceedingly small build-up on their affected border. The Gorn are not passive; When they receive appropriate information, they will apply defensive measures as much as any of the other civilizations. We haven't seen that. So this option in unlikely."

"2). The UFP is being attacked by an insignificant space-faring civilization, akin to Earth in the late 22nd century. This scenario is extremely unlikely. The build-up and the martial law is absolutely overkill for that kind of a response. If this option is true, there should be an extremely compelling reason that is beyond mine or practically anyone else's imagination. We can safely put this option aside."

"3). The UFP has discovered an insignificant space-faring civilization, akin to Earth in the late 22nd century. Again, fairly unlikely based upon the response. Also, you don't NEED a physical delegation from each of the governments for this type of announcement. It's just not necessary. You would certainly tell the other civilizations about it so that they are aware of them and to avoid them. However, unless this new species as absolutely captivating in some biological or technological manner, there is just no reason for the type of delegation request. At best, you may request purely scientific delegations for that scenario and that has not happened here."

"4). The UFP has discovered a significant space-faring civilization, akin to any of the members of the security council. This is the most likely scenario. The UFP has likely discovered this civilization and may even have established First Contact with them. We don't know that type of detail. Evidence suggests that the UFP has had significant military and scientific assets in this region of space for quite some time. It is not out of the question that the UFP has been studying whomever might be out there for quite some time, most likely from very afar. It is certainly possible that the delegation request is for a Second Contact, which could have any range of uses such as establishing embassies to the simple 'meet-and-greet.'"

"Of the diplomatic situation earlier, it was expected and it was resolved as expected. The Romulans do not like the Vulcans; The UFP does not like the fact that the Kephan Unity is recognized by anyone. It was typical 'tit-for-tat' that we have seen before several times and did so here. Of note was how quickly the two sides dropped their dispute and, more importantly, how quickly the Romulans dropped the dispute without any residual circumstances (removing embassy personnel, economic sanctions, etc. so forth). That could suggest many scenarios and the most likely one is that the Romulans simply wanted to remind the UFP that their shielding of the Vulcans from Romulan persecution is still very much an issue. In the end, this situation won't matter: The Vulcans will learn of the details from the UFP and the Kephans will learn of the details through Romulan ambassadors or even from Orion officials."

"I would also like to point out how quiet the Klingons have been. The Klingons have been virtually silent thus far except for a few boilerplate statements. That's a new direction and that's from the Emperor. This is an Emperor who is not interested in their neighbor's backyard as so many other Emperors have been but their own. The Klingons would very much like to simply concentrate on their own problems at the moment, for which they have many, including religious upheavals, economic reforms, and, above all else, a significant deceleration of state-sponsored slavery. The Klingons know that, if you live in a glass house, you don't throw stones."

This is a developing news story.

[trynda1701]

Love how you've presented this, as well as the dispute involving the Romulans distrust of the 'Vulcan' refugees who fled persecution/prosecution, and the UFP upset with the Romulans wanting to inform the Kephans, who are apparently a thorn in the UFPs' side in steve s' alternate universe as well, brickwall !

Looking forward to see what this involves, steve . I have my thoughts on what this might be, but am keeping quiet to see what you come up with.

[brickwall]

Oct 28, 2021 10:27:11 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

Love how you've presented this, as well as the dispute involving the Romulans distrust of the 'Vulcan' refugees who fled persecution/prosecution, and the UFP upset with the Romulans wanting to inform the Kephans, who are apparently a thorn in the UFPs' side in steve s' alternate universe as well, brickwall !

Looking forward to see what this involves, steve . I have my thoughts on what this might be, but am keeping quiet to see what you come up with.

Well, the Unity sees the Prime Directive as "inherently immoral" among other things. The Feds aren't going to stand for that.

[steve]

NEWS ARTICLE - ANOTHER DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT RESOLVED, THIS TIME BETWEEN ROMULANS AND KLINGONS

(AP) - The Gorn Collective and the Orion Constellation were once again busy, resolving another diplomatic incident, this time between the Romulan Star Empire and the Imperial Klingon Empire. Sources indicate that the two sides became involved in a heated exchange concerning the United Federation of Planet's approval of a Klingon request for a sixth starship to be included with their delegation into UFP territory. The UFP has requested physical delegations to be briefed on an emergency security council session with regards to the Mutual Defense Treaty. Experts now believe that the call for the emergency session stems from the discovery of a new spacefaring civilization of significant size and capability. Per Treaty rules, delegations are normally limited to a maximum of five starships for this type of situation although more may be allowed by the host.

The IKE requested that the sixth starship, the IKN Koskla, be included with their delegation. The IKV Koskla is regarded as a "Living Museum Exhibit," a historical D4 class battlecruiser that is kept and maintained at museum-quality condition. The starship has made several visits to Federation space in the past as part of diplomatic efforts to ease tensions and build relations. As with all prior visits, the starship's weapons, it's disruptors and photon torpedoes, are physically rendered inoperative by Star Fleet personnel during it's visit to Federation space.

The Romulan Star Empire immediately countered this request, wanting to include with it's own delegation the V8-class (otherwise known as a "Bird of Prey" class in the Federation) Jolton. The Jolton is of similar historical quality to the Koskla. However, retired veterans and families of former Star Fleet members opposed the Jolton entering Federation space. The difference, according to sources, is that the Jolton was an active service vessel during it's service history, being responsible for several battle engagements with Federation starships that resulted in Star Fleet casualties. The Koskla was a training vessel that never entered battle, transitioning over into a historical artifact.

The Romulans immediately mounted a protest, citing Klingon testimony that several significant parts of the Koskla were, in fact, from other D4-class battlecruisers that did engage in active combat with Federation starships. The Romulans also produced evidence that much of the Jolton has been replaced over the years with new equipment but made to historical specifications with no cannibalization of significant parts from other V8-class vessels.

The Klingons then made a protest of their own, citing that the Jolton advertises itself within Romulan territory as a great battle vessel that successfully engaged Federation starships and that, technically, it's still regarded by the Romulan Star Navy as an active service vessel, albeit in the reserves. The Klingons added that they make no such claims about the Koskla and openly admit both it's history and the fact that they use parts from other D8 vessels that have since been decommissioned.

The dispute was resolved by a contingent from the Gorn Collective & the Orion Constellation. The resolution, made alongside with the Veterans of Star Fleet Personnel, allowed both vessels to enter into Federation space without further restriction but to include at the meeting site the USS Galvant, a historical USS Constitution-class Federation starship that is of same historical quality and function of the other two vessels.

The resolution will allow for only the second time in history that a Romulan, Klingon & Federation starship of historical nature are in the same area at the same time in peacetime.

"I think that this arrangement is a 'win-win-win' for everyone," Tolk J'Holnn, a historian for the Federation War Museum said in a statement, "Any time that you can expose current generations to these types of experiences are absolutely priceless. The chance to tour a Romulan or Klingon starship, especially one of historical nature, is unique and a 'once-in-a-lifetime' event that anyone who has the capability ought to engage with. No amount of simulations of virutal reality can replace the real thing. These are real vessels that experienced real historical events. Even though the Koskla may have been only a training vessel, it still trained several prominent Klingon captains who went on to achieve considerable successes in their careers. The Romulan [starship] Jolton is a legitimate war hero in it's own right and saw actual combat against Federation starships. This is a wonderful opportunity and the fact that this gathering isn't even considered the main event is simply stunning. On any other day, this event would be positively stunning and wonderful news."

Specifics about who can tour these starships, when and how has yet to be determined.

[steve]

NEWS ARTICLE - KLINGON AND ROMULAN SHIP WATCHERS PREPARE TO BE DELIGHTED... AND DISAPPOINTED

(AP) - His house is filled with Romulan memorabilia. Upon entering the small two-story home, one sees a portrait of Emperor Grassou, who reigned over the Romulan Empire for nearly eighteen years. The entire house is decked out in Romulan fashions and design, so much so that a recent Romulan refugee (who asked to remain anonymous) remarked, "I honestly felt as though I was visiting a real Romulan house of middle to maybe upper-middle class status."

Meet Henry Watkinson, age 58. He was born on Asimov IV... And has absolutely, positively, no Romulan ancestry.

Watkinson is so enthralled with Romulan culture that he has been targeted and interviewed by the Federation Bureau of Intelligence as well as local and regional authorities on suspicion of "Being in collaboration with, assisting, aiding, abetting or otherwise cooperating above an insignificant degree to foreign powers and interests." Watkinson and his attorney are quick to point out that he has never been charged with any crime or even cited. The FBI declined to comment about Watkinson for this article.

Watkinson says that it is foolish for others to think that he somehow wants to aid the Romulan Empire in overthrowing or undermining the UFP.

"I'm the worst spy in the universe," Watkinson jokes, pointing to his house, "I live in a house like that and I dress like this. How many Romulan spies dress like a Romulan spy inside of the UFP?"

For Watkinson, the recent emergency session has been an absolute blessing because it gives him a chance to see Romulan starships up close... At a distance.

Security precautions dictate that no vessels are allowed within 100,000 km of the Romulan starship delegation and that includes the security perimeter that Federation starships provide, meaning that the perimeter could be as much as 450,000 km. Still, Watkinson may well be there on a private ship-watching vessel, a specialized starship decked with a multitude of high-resolution cameras that can zoom in with tremendous magnification.

If so, expert Vlass Mnufert of the Hennings Research Institute, an intergovernmental consultation firm specializing in intergovernmental affairs, says that he may be in for some disappointment.

"The Romulans are not going to arrive in vessels that are unusual or cutting-edge in any particular way," Mnufert explains, "They know that they are going to be watched and studied from the moment that they arrive until the moment that they leave. From their perspective, they aren't going to want to give their opponents any sort of advantage in knowing about a ship's capabilities. The ships that the Romulans are going to arrive in are going to be very common, very mundane and may even be stripped of certain sensitive equipment on the off-chance that they are captured, incapacitated or even boarded or scanned in any substantial way."

Mnufert goes on to explain that the Klingons take a decidedly different approach.

"Klingons, traditionally, are the polar opposite. They want to impress. They want to intimidate. They want to show off. When they arrive with their delegation, it's always an event because you're either seeing new variants of an existing starship or even a new starship entirely. And the Klingons don't think of such a display as a disadvantage because they want their opponents to psychologically fear them. If you're already filled with anxiety or fear or trepidation, that makes the weapon all the more effective to use against your opponent."

Klingons, though, are not without their own brand of cunning. Mnufert elaborated on a favorite Klingon diplomatic tactic.

"One thing that Klingons love to do in these types of situations is try to pass off prototype starships or highly-modified starships as being production starships. The most famous example was the 'D22-class' Katusha, which was a prototype torpedo starship. It had four forward torpedo mounts, two aft torpedoes and another four covering other arcs. The ship never went into production but the Klingons displayed it constantly to the Federation to give off the impression that it was a production vessel. The hope was that the Federation would have to plan for such a vessel in their battle maneuvers and waste other types of resources in researching and tracking such a vessel."

For Watkinson, such facts do not matter. He's already planning on trying to get as close to a Romulan starship as he can legally get.

When asked if there were Romulans in the RSE who fanatically emulated Terrans, the Romulan refugee politely shook their head.

"A person would never be that bold," the refugee replied, "In Romulan society, you never want to have any kind of extremist position. Extremism is not socially acceptable. If a Romulan were to do what [Henry Watkinson] has done, they'd probably be visited by law enforcement or some type of psychological service... And then forcibly detained for something. It would not end well."

[steve]

NEWS ARTICLE - SUSPICIONS FALL ONTO THE ORIONS; THE GORN GET CAUTIOUS

(AP) - The Gorn Collective and the Orion Constellation, two governments that emerged early on as dealmakers are each coming under increased scrutiny in recent days following emerging developments about what has become known about the emergency session.

Experts now widely believe that a sentient, space-faring civilization has been discovered by the UFP in unclaimed territory nearest Sector 2. Several experts believe that the species is advanced enough to travel between solar systems.

Hank Peterson, a legal analyst for the Thompson Strategy Group, a think-tank that concentrates on intergovernmental affairs, says that, by now, the various other governments know something about the species.

"You don't just call an emergency session with physical delegations without telling the other governments SOMETHING," Peterson explained, "It's not 'we're only going to tell you something once you arrive.' It's not a surprise. The UFP has likely sent some information to the Romulans, the Klingons and everyone else about what they've found. Especially if [the UFP] expects other governments to send physical delegates. The other governments want to know who to send and how many."

And what the UFP may have revealed may be affecting how the Gorn are responding.

Initially, the Gorn made only minimal if modest military and security build-up along the affected borders to where the new space-faring civilization may be originating from. However, they have since ramped up security throughout their entire civilization, even temporarily halting all commerce with the UFP. A protest by the UFP through an economic freedom treaty forced the Gorn, with mediation by the Romulans and the Orion, resolved this stoppage with a compromise that all commerce must now temporarily be transacted through large, pre-approved cargo ships and escorted by Gorn vessels. Further details of this compromise are forthcoming.

It is not just the Gorn that are now feeling the strain of the emergency session, however.

The Orion Constellation are now facing increasing scrutiny as their caravans may have traveled close to this suspected origin of this new space-faring species, possibly knowing about it long before the UFP became interested in the area. Such speculation began gaining momentum when several caravan commanders openly admitted that their caravans have traveled near the suspected area in the past, although all of them have stated that they did not detect anything unusual.

"We are merchants," one of them stated, "If there is a customer or the potential for a new customer... Why not investigate?"

Yet the Orion Constellation sent out a stern, brief statement later stating that all caravans protected by the Constellation Constitution have a legal and ethical responsibility to, when they detect clear and unmistakable communications from an unknown origin, to report such findings to the appropriate authorities. No such reports have ever been filed and the Orion Security Committee has even gone so far as to request the testimony and further data from said caravans in order to investigate such claims further.

Obb Noksso, a senior news reporter for the Orion Beltway, a news organization that extensively covers Orion politics for Terran audiences, made these comments:

"The Orions are very libertarian in nature. Caravans are, essentially, their own nations. Simply because the Constitution says something doesn't mean that a caravan is going to perform that action or not. A lot of these caravans have an unofficial motto: 'It's only illegal if you get caught.' While a lot of caravans do strive to stay on the right side of the law, a lot of other caravans are looking to make a quick sale. A lot of caravans may have detected unusual communications and merely dismissed them as encrypted UFP or Gorn communications. They may have detected ships of unusual nature and simply dismissed them as civilian UFP or Gorn ships. I'm thinking that maybe a few of these caravans did that, saw something unusual but merely dismissed the data; They may have even thought that what they were seeing were other caravans. In the end, until the [security committee] receives the data in question, we just won't know that level of detail."

Another Orion organization, the League of Reputable Merchants, made the following statement: "All caravans who are signed members of our League have taken a vow to uphold all legal laws, treaties and other rules as duly bound. Such a vow explicitly includes the notification to all relevant authorities the significant discovery or suspicion of unknown species. We, the League, have since questioned, under oath, all such caravans. No caravan currently signed as a member of our League has, in the past or recently, detected a species within the area as currently estimated by news sources as the possible area for which this species is residing."

Such statements are cold comfort to many detractors of the Orion, who see the Orion as living off the efforts of other civilizations, such as the UFP, the Romulans & the Klingons. Already, some areas of the UFP & the Klingon Empire are trying to enact restrictions on movement of Orion caravans, such restrictions already meeting resistance both outside and inside of court rooms.

This is a developing news story.

[steve]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

I can not help but note that, for an "emergency" session, there have been nothing but delays and diplomatic sniveling from all sides. As someone who lives in "Sector 2" as many publications like to call this section of Federation space lately, let me remind our courageous politicians that it would be nice if they explained to US first, the taxpayers who live in the UFP, who exactly that they've found. It is our taxpayer money that funds Star Fleet, after all. Last I checked, Romulans & Klingons don't pay Federation taxes.


Dear Editor,

If only this much attention had been paid to the Kephen(sic) Punity(sic) when it was first causing trouble, we wouldn't have to deal with their "We hate the Federation this week because [fill in random reason here]" antics. Maybe when the Klingon delegation arrives, we can pay them to finally get rid of those idiots; At least they appear to have the backbone to pull it off. All Star Fleet ever does is find new enemies instead of defeating the ones that they've already discovered.


Dear Editor,

We have one species that is always trying to sell us garbage. We have another species that is always trying to bully us. We have another species constantly spying on us. We have yet another species that looks like an overgrown pet. We have another species that is always reminding of us of just how much smarter they are in comparison to the rest of us. Do we really need another stupid species in this universe? Can't we get rid of one of those other ones first?


Dear Editor,

I, for one, welcome our new mystery overlords. They can't be any worse than the current batch of idiots presiding over us.

[trynda1701]

LOVE the 'Dear Editor' letters. Great idea!

[steve]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Klingon Edition)

[Note: Translated from it's original Klingon. Usages of idioms, figures of speech and context have been translated to their best approximations. Slurs, other forms of profanity and significant threats of violence have been removed or edited.]

Dear Editor,

I see no reason for why we must cater to Terran demands to physically enter their territory before learning what they have discovered. Appeasing their interests puts our people in a position of weakness. I have no interest in placating them, nor should our government. As the saying goes, the strongest part of the statue is always the base and the top is always the weakest.


Dear Editor,

I understand that we are at "peace" with the Romulans and, with gritted teeth, I must admit that they have not attacked our people for many years. I even know a few people who show no aversion to their kind. Yet I would feel no sorrow if this mysterious new race brought an end to their kind and their lizard puppets, something the Terrans were too inferior to accomplish themselves.


Dear Editor,

As a Navy veteran, I take offense at the notion for the IKN Koskla entering Terran space. A symbol of Klingon pride should not sully itself with the humiliation of being hauled into Terran space for "peacetime diplomacy." Let the Terrans dare travel into Klingon space to see what real warships look and sound like. Only then should they feel fortunate that they escaped the war with a truce. The next time will be different.


Dear Editor,

Are we to ignore the hidden story behind this fiasco? The Terrans and their Vulcan slaves knew of this mysterious race for quite some time before deciding to tell us about them. That must mean that they were of no use in their quest to gain an advantage over us. Therefore, they must either be militarily feeble, like the Gorn and the Orion, or intellectually feeble, like the Romulans. Or maybe both, which would mean that the Terrans are merely looking at themselves in a mirror, in which case, we should turn our delegation around and not bother with this event any further.

[steve]

NEWS ARTICLE - DELEGATIONS BEGIN TO ARRIVE - GORN SENDS ONLY ONE VESSEL - ORIONS STILL PLAYING DEFENSE

Assembled from various reports

(AP) - After diplomatic wranglings over protocols, delegations from the Romulan & Klingon Empires have begun to arrive into Federation space. The Romulan & Klingon Empires entered Federation space with six starships each, one more than the treaty allows but accepted per diplomatic negotiations. The extra vessels, the IKN Koskla & RSN Jolton, are historical vessels meant for public viewing and touring by Terran citizens.

The Gorn, meanwhile, have only sent one vessel as it's delegation and it is being escorted by a Romulan vessel, the RSN Vettici. The unusual arrangement was approved by the UFP and the Klingons after some last minute diplomatic negotiating from the Orions and the Romulans. No official explanation was given for the unusual request. Sources believe that the unusual request may be connected to the sudden and severe reaction that the Gorn enacted shortly after the emergency session was called, when the Gorn closed all of their borders, including to the UFP. The border closure has since eased but is still significantly restricted in comparison to prior to the announcement of the emergency session.

The Orion, meanwhile, continue their damage control as evidence mounts that some of their caravans may have wandered into an area suspected of containing a new species, the new species being the supposed (but not official) reason for the emergency session. The Orions have already given a formal denial to the allegations but several caravan commanders have already stated on the record that they've traveled in the general area, although none would admit to knowing about any new species in the area. The Orion Constellation is a collection of caravans but each caravan is their own entity and enforcement of the Orion's Constitution varies from caravan to caravan.

The UFP continues to receive criticism for not providing more detailed explanations as to the nature of the emergency session despite widespread spculation and acceptance that the reason for the session is the discovery of a new, space-faring species. The UFP is also receiving considerable criticism for severe travel restrictions and a significant military build-up in Sector 2, the section of Federation space closest to where the supposed new species resides.

The Vulcan Confederacy, the official governmental body of the Vulcan people, has not commented about their exclusion from the Emergency Session. However, the Vulcan Nationalist Organization has since released a statement calling the exclusion "politically-based" and "not of sound reasoning."

The Kephan Unity, a breakaway region of the United Federation of Planets wanting to be it's own civilization, has finally released a statement about it's own exclusion from the Emergency Session. It called the exclusion "Federation interference" and vowed to continue it's pursuit for the intelligence needed to assess it's own security against the new supposed species.

[Out of character note - I will be intensely busy for the next two days. There will likely not be any further updates until late Friday at the earliest. Until then...]

[trynda1701]

No problem, steve. Post when you can, and it's very intriguing and suspenseful the way you're building up to something affecting all your Empires to some extent.

[steve]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Romulan Edition)

[Translated from the original Romulan. All idioms, figures of speech and contextual phrases have been translated to their closest approximation. Some editing has been applied for additional clarity.]

[Editor's note - It is common in Romulan society to express opinions, especially critical or sharp ones, with quotes from philosophers, satirists, former emperors or even prominent scientists or other prominent public figures (although philosophers are the most common to be quoted). It is regarded as being a socially-safe method for stating an opinion without explicitly 'owning' that opinion. Should they be challenged upon it, they may merely deflect the allegation, saying that the allegation misinterprets the quote.]


Dear Editor,

"Those who worry about distant lands should travel towards them. Those who worry about distant peoples should write to them. Those who worry about what lays in the shadow should shine their lanterns upon the darkness as best as they may. Those who worry without action are neither cautious nor clairvoyant; They are fools to be ignored."


Dear Editor,

"Haste with expectation is a symptom with many causes. I prefer the relaxed approach of being invited for it puts the emphasis on the host as opposed to the guest."


Dear Editor,

"There is no defeat where there is no conflict. There is no conflict where there are no enemies. There are no enemies where there are no people. Therefore, there is only constant victory with constant isolation. May the Romulan Empire be ever victorious."


Dear Editor,

"It is the burden of the host to invite the guests. It is also the burden of the host to invite only amiable guests, both to the host and to one another. It is the burden, though, of the guest to be amiable regardless of the circumstances. As a result, the weight of burden is equal amongst guest and host."

[trynda1701]

Oh, those quotes are VERY relevant, and yet carefully chosen. Love it!

[steve]

In case others have not noticed, I greatly expanded the "Servants of Akula" post here today. Go back and read it if that would interest you.