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Post by trynda1701 on Sept 11, 2020 4:48:15 GMT -7
Interesting thoughts on package delivery. Might be problematic for larger cargos, unless you mean it's ONLY for small packages, so the equivalent of the FedEx van delivering to your door while 18-wheeler lorries do large transport jobs. And I agree about Pluto. It's always been a planet in my eyes. I can't get my head around the IAU definition of what constitutes a planet, one condition being that it must have cleared its orbit. That's the one I don't get. Is that because of Charon? In that case, why is Earth a planet with a natural satellite called the Moon? Does that mean only Mercury and Venus count as planets? My head hurts!
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steve
Commander
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Post by steve on Sept 18, 2020 18:33:07 GMT -7
Interesting thoughts on package delivery. Might be problematic for larger cargos, unless you mean it's ONLY for small packages, so the equivalent of the FedEx van delivering to your door while 18-wheeler lorries do large transport jobs. And I agree about Pluto. It's always been a planet in my eyes. I can't get my head around the IAU definition of what constitutes a planet, one condition being that it must have cleared its orbit. That's the one I don't get. Is that because of Charon? In that case, why is Earth a planet with a natural satellite called the Moon? Does that mean only Mercury and Venus count as planets? My head hurts! Granted, if what you have to deliver is an entire spaceship, then, yes, you can go into the solar system and deliver it. However, if you're delivering a vacuum cleaner, there's no need to enter the solar system and take the leisurely route. Drop it off just outside of the solar system and get on with your day. One aspect that escaped me the first time is organizing stuff to go out of the solar system. Suppose you're Space-FedEx. You want to go to one outpost to collect your stuff as opposed to all of the outposts that are bordering the solar system. That makes a lot of sense. Therefore, there's an arrangement for that beforehand so that both sides can plan that only the Space-FedEx truck goes to this particular outpost and the solar system only drops off stuff destined for the Space-FedEx truck to go there. It makes things easier for everyone.
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steve
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Post by steve on Sept 19, 2020 17:40:32 GMT -7
The Federation has their space-steaders. The Romulans have their LPOP challenge.
The Orions have their 'myth' (and somewhat irrational pursuit) of the self-replicating spacecraft.
The Orions, last we left them, are a species of space-faring people who aren't known for their joy of living on planets. They live on starships and cruise the known universe in large caravans that number in the thousands (and tens of thousands). That sort of culture leads to some peculiar traits and efficiencies over time, one of which is the endless pursuit to create a manufacturing process whereby a starship has the capability of completely repairing itself as well as building an exact copy of itself.
The desire for such a starship is not born out of pure luxury. All starships, to some degree, have a means of repairing itself. Starships have workshops and spare parts and raw materials for which they can fashion more specialized parts should those parts need to be repaired or replaced. Starships have additive printing facilities and some starships even have matter convertors that can take matter in one form and turn it into a more easily-manipulated form used for constructive purposes. All that the Orions do is simply pursue such technologies to an almost irrational extreme.
Part of this pursuit is born out of their culture. Caravans are comprised of starships and those starships are in constant need of repair or replacement. The more that a starship is used, the sooner that repairs are needed and the sooner that it may be more convenient to replace it if the repairs become burdensome enough. Having a starship that can literally rebuild and replace itself is quite the fantasy for Orion caravans, akin to a person staying infinitely youthful.
There are, of course, several very pragmatic engineering challenges to overcome in order to achieve this mythical goal.
Powering a starship on anything less than traditional warp drive material (such as dilithium to regulate matter & anti-matter) is akin to trying to power an entire house on nothing more than a standard smartphone battery. It's possible but so many severe compromises must be made that the traditional definition of what a contemporary starship is must now be discarded.
Creating all of the systems needed for even a modest "starship" that operates on extremely low power is an industry in and of itself within Orion enthusiasts but one that is also taken relatively seriously. When your entire life revolves around the mechanical processes of a glorified tin can, one becomes very cognizant of how that tin can works and devotes quite a bit of effort to keeping the tin can working properly. An Orion crewmember, for instance, knows a lot more about the inner workings of their starship than the typical Federation, Romulan or Klingon crewmember knows about theirs.
While it's not a formal contest, caravans do devote a bit of time towards such a project, if only because such a goal has practical applications to other aspects of starship maintenance and upkeep. There's a bit of showmanship & bragging rights in being able to declare that one caravan or the other has pushed the technology for finding the self-replicating starship a little further along. However, like a mirage, the dream of achieving such a lofty goal always seems just a few more years away.
There are some fairly ludicrous claims that such a starship has already been made. The folklore, for instance, of the Hinachi caravan (admittedly, it's spelling has changed over the years) that is comprised of exactly one type of starship that is self-replicating is both fascinating and terrifying. There are versions of the folklore where the caravan is friendly and where the self-replication extends to the Orion crewmembers themselves with an almost Gorn-like mentality. Countless inventors within Orion society claim that they've created such a vessel only for them to malign the definition for what "self-replicating" actually is.
The goal of a self-replicating starship really doesn't extend to other civilizations; It doesn't have pragmatic translations to civilizations that mostly reside on planets and use starships to "hop around" to other planets. At best, the other civilizations simply want a more robust workshop and fabrication facility on other starships but they have no illusions that you can replicate something as hopelessly complicated and precise as a warp drive inside of a workshop and they also have no desire of turning asteroid dust into sheet metal.
In the end, the goal, desire & culture of the self-replicating starship is uniquely Orion, one that they continue to pursue with just enough zeal to be considered politely eccentric and one that, perhaps someday, might be achieved... But probably not. Maybe.
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Post by brickwall on Sept 19, 2020 18:16:56 GMT -7
The Federation has their space-steaders. The Romulans have their LPOP challenge. The Orions have their 'myth' (and somewhat irrational pursuit) of the self-replicating spacecraft. The Orions, last we left them, are a species of space-faring people who aren't known for their joy of living on planets. They live on starships and cruise the known universe in large caravans that number in the thousands (and tens of thousands). That sort of culture leads to some peculiar traits and efficiencies over time, one of which is the endless pursuit to create a manufacturing process whereby a starship has the capability of completely repairing itself as well as building an exact copy of itself. The desire for such a starship is not born out of pure luxury. All starships, to some degree, have a means of repairing itself. Starships have workshops and spare parts and raw materials for which they can fashion more specialized parts should those parts need to be repaired or replaced. Starships have additive printing facilities and some starships even have matter convertors that can take matter in one form and turn it into a more easily-manipulated form used for constructive purposes. All that the Orions do is simply pursue such technologies to an almost irrational extreme. Part of this pursuit is born out of their culture. Caravans are comprised of starships and those starships are in constant need of repair or replacement. The more that a starship is used, the sooner that repairs are needed and the sooner that it may be more convenient to replace it if the repairs become burdensome enough. Having a starship that can literally rebuild and replace itself is quite the fantasy for Orion caravans, akin to a person staying infinitely youthful. There are, of course, several very pragmatic engineering challenges to overcome in order to achieve this mythical goal. Powering a starship on anything less than traditional warp drive material (such as dilithium to regulate matter & anti-matter) is akin to trying to power an entire house on nothing more than a standard smartphone battery. It's possible but so many severe compromises must be made that the traditional definition of what a contemporary starship is must now be discarded. Creating all of the systems needed for even a modest "starship" that operates on extremely low power is an industry in and of itself within Orion enthusiasts but one that is also taken relatively seriously. When your entire life revolves around the mechanical processes of a glorified tin can, one becomes very cognizant of how that tin can works and devotes quite a bit of effort to keeping the tin can working properly. An Orion crew member, for instance, knows a lot more about the inner workings of their starship than the typical Federation, Romulan or Klingon crew member knows about theirs. While it's not a formal contest, caravans do devote a bit of time towards such a project, if only because such a goal has practical applications to other aspects of starship maintenance and upkeep. There's a bit of showmanship & bragging rights in being able to declare that one caravan or the other has pushed the technology for finding the self-replicating starship a little further along. However, like a mirage, the dream of achieving such a lofty goal always seems just a few more years away. There are some fairly ludicrous claims that such a starship has already been made. The folklore, for instance, of the Hinachi caravan (admittedly, it's spelling has changed over the years) that is comprised of exactly one type of starship that is self-replicating is both fascinating and terrifying. There are versions of the folklore where the caravan is friendly and where the self-replication extends to the Orion crew members themselves with an almost Gorn-like mentality. Countless inventors within Orion society claim that they've created such a vessel only for them to malign the definition for what "self-replicating" actually is. The goal of a self-replicating starship really doesn't extend to other civilizations; It doesn't have pragmatic translations to civilizations that mostly reside on planets and use starships to "hop around" to other planets. At best, the other civilizations simply want a more robust workshop and fabrication facility on other starships but they have no illusions that you can replicate something as hopelessly complicated and precise as a warp drive inside of a workshop and they also have no desire of turning asteroid dust into sheet metal. In the end, the goal, desire & culture of the self-replicating starship is uniquely Orion, one that they continue to pursue with just enough zeal to be considered politely eccentric and one that, perhaps someday, might be achieved... But probably not. Maybe. So that would mean in your take on Trek, the Orions would tend to be agoraphobic? They have a fear of open spaces, hence their wish not to be planet-bound.
But it seems they wouldn't want to do space walks when repairing their ships. Why? Space is vast, not enclosed like the ships they dwell in. So it seems to me that they'd use robots to do external ship repairs so as not to trigger their agoraphobia.
Would that make sense to you?
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steve
Commander
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Post by steve on Sept 20, 2020 17:03:54 GMT -7
So that would mean in your take on Trek, the Orions would tend to be agoraphobic? They have a fear of open spaces, hence their wish not to be planet-bound.
But it seems they wouldn't want to do space walks when repairing their ships. Why? Space is vast, not enclosed like the ships they dwell in. So it seems to me that they'd use robots to do external ship repairs so as not to trigger their agoraphobia.
Would that make sense to you? The nature of the alt-Orion civilization is that they had no choice but to adopt a transient lifestyle because their home solar system was going to go "poof!" and they didn't want to go "poof!" with it. I never went fully granular with them but I'm sure that they had an intermediate phase where some of them, after leaving their home solar system went, "This other solar system is fine... Let's stay here!" However, I think that, psychologically, the fact that they escaped going "poof!" had an impact on them and, for as long as they kept moving, they never had to face the prospect of going "poof!" ever again. This is also where they sort of disagree with the few Orions who enjoy being planet-bound because again, mentally, they're thinking to themselves, "Those fools... Didn't they learn the first time?!!!" As for the self-replicating spaceship, no one is expecting for the spaceship to do ALL of the work, only that it has the raw means to do so and that actual Orions screw in the screws and tighten the nuts and install the toilet seats. However, it is expected that a completed self-replicating spaceship can create ALL of it's own parts given the raw materials, thereby potentially creating a whole new spaceship.
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Post by trynda1701 on Sept 21, 2020 4:52:36 GMT -7
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steve
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Post by steve on Sept 21, 2020 17:04:07 GMT -7
I wouldn't say that the Orions are obsessed with it; Just that it's an unique activity of theirs. I suppose that it's the equivalent of the contemporary "flying car": Yes, you've got inventors that continue to pursue the goal and drivers who wouldn't mind flying over morning "rush hour" traffic but you don't see the major automobile manufacturers pouring millions of dollars of research into it. And, of course, every time you've got an inventor who can create something that both flies through the air and can roll on top of asphalt without exploding, they crow as loud as they can that they've invented a "flying car." And, of course, there are some inventors who think that "flying cars" need only fly through the air and be as accessible as cars. And, of course, there are inventors who think that very affordable, very reliable small airplanes are actually "flying cars." Now extrapolate all of that into the phenomenon of the Orions' "self-replicating starship." One aspect that I haven't entirely explored is that, as before, not all Orions enjoy the whole "Let's go from cradle-to-grave being inside of a spaceship and never touching terra firma." Sure, the Orions that inhabit the known Star Trek area have their own pocket of society that enjoys itself a nice large planet with an orbit around a star. Since they're in the minority, they're not exactly looked upon as model citizens of their society. However, remember when I mentioned a post back that there was an intermediate phase of, "Hey, we're not going 'poof!' and we've found this new solar system? Why not stop here for awhile?" Well, I did mention that the Orions are tight-lipped about where they really come from and, outside of known Star Trek space, not all of the Orions have decided that living-and-dying in a spaceship was right for them... In fact, in a certain area of not-yet-known space, Orions who enjoy themselves a planet are the vast majority... And they don't even really consider themselves "Orions" anymore... ...But that's for another post at some point.
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Post by trynda1701 on Sept 21, 2020 17:46:41 GMT -7
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steve
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Post by steve on Sept 23, 2020 16:32:57 GMT -7
Honestly, a little stressed at the moment so thinking creatively is a mite bit harder than usual. I always have thoughts on where the Tholians would fit in but, to be quite honest... I don't know. I mean, it's really tough to add another major player to the field already. They could be a bit player. After all the "other Orions" are poised to be bit players and I've had a few thoughts on them. In fact, if you want a peek behind the curtain as to my current train-of-thought (and it is messy at the moment because I'm dealing with things behind the scenes that I would really not want to be dealing with at the moment): When something really bad happens in your life, there are fundamentally two over-reactions: Avoid it at all costs or try desperately to have it never occur again. the Orions in my alt-verse did the "avoid it all costs" option by becoming one gargantuan series of gargantuan caravans. It turned them into merchants. So, the other Orions would probably take the other tack of, "We are going to move the heaven and stars to avoid this from ever happening again." How that eventually looks remains to be seen but I've got some ideas on them. And these two step-brothers (or step-sisters) are not going to like each other when they meet... There's a possibility about the Tholians that's slightly appealing. They'd be bit players and they'd sort of be a book-end to the Gorn but... I don't know. I was going to post something about Klingons and asteroids but I have to wait until certain off-screen events blow over before that time, so until then...
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Post by thescreamingswede on Sept 24, 2020 22:10:06 GMT -7
The Tholians don't need to be major players in the sense that they have a definitive area of space. Their "Annex" could be a smattering of planets here and there, spread amongst the rest of the main superpowers. Their totally alien make up means they would be more prone to inhabit systems the rest of the humanoid races would deem uninhabitable.
The Tholians wouldn't have to be big in numbers either but they should be powerful enough that nobody really likes to mess around with them. Not so much as in ship strength, but playing more with their willingness to experiment with far more dangerous technologies and materials than the rest of the races in the area.
Added to their normal Xenophobia this would still make them a unique NPC (or carefully played PC) race that would maintain their air of mystery, keep them from being too burdensome to flesh out entirely but keep them relevant enough in the universe to tangle with on occasion.
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steve
Commander
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Post by steve on Sept 25, 2020 17:43:25 GMT -7
Klingons and asteroids.
The Romulans have their "LPOP challenge." The Federation have their pesky space-steaders. The Orions have an unhealthy fetish for self-replicating spaceships.
Klingons have their asteroids. Or, more precisely, they have asteroids that they like to make space-stations out of.
Last we left the Klingon Empire, we learned that the Klingon Empire was really a bunch of different territories that had a singular common thread: They were all dominated by Klingons. As a result, they're not really an unified state. Sure, there's the Imperial Klingon Navy that protects ALL of the territories but it is the Regional Navies, the ones that represent the individual territories themselves, where all of the "day-to-day" action takes place.
When you are a regional navy, you are looking for any tiny advantage over your rivals that you can think of. You are also thinking about any tiny advantage over your rivals that also doesn't cost a small fortune as well.
It is not as though the Klingons are the first to think of the marriage between asteroids and space stations as a great idea. All of the major civilizations (Gorn & Orions not withstanding) have done it to a degree; It's just that the Klingons truly enjoy themselves an asteroid with a space station embedded into it.
There are some advantages to such a contraption. First and foremost, a landmass of any kind makes for a great natural shield. Phasers, disruptors, torpedoes, plasma cannons... they're powerful but are they powerful enough to go through solid rock? A lot of it? Not really. Starship weaponry tends to be geared towards destroying the shields and superstructure of enemy ships and space stations; Not actual landmass.
Placing your space station inside of an asteroid also hides the true size of the space station. Is it big? Is it small? Is there a lot of storage space inside? Has the space station expanded? Are parts of it unused or turned into storage or another purpose? All that your opponents can see is that it's a giant rock with some docking areas slightly jutting out and maybe a few antennas.
There are, of course, a few downsides towards having a space station that is basically a few comfy rooms carved into an asteroid.
Have you ever tried escaping from one of these places during an emergency? Unless you're right by a docking area, you're pretty much screwed in trying to escape.
Also, for some reason, knowing that you're inside of a tin can that is also embedded deep into a rock makes you a bit more stir crazy than just being inside of a tin can. Who knew? Klingon psychologists (yes, there is such a thing) even has a name for it: "Double-Hulled Depression" (The name supposedly sounds prettier in it's native Klingon).
Finally, go ahead and try amending or adding onto that space station. Kinda costly, isn't it? The initial installation is cheap (It's just like asteroid mining except the miners add extra-nice walls and gravity to the shafts) but additional work is a bit more costlier than just a tin can floating around in nothingness.
And yet they continue to build these things with an almost irrational passion. Why? Well, everyone's got a theory. Which ones are good and which ones are the result of someone determined to have a hangover when they next awaken is anyone's guess. One popular conjecture is that the "space-station inside of an asteroid" sums up the Klingon psyche for the most part: Built solid for war, not glamorous, can take a pounding, a bit on the deceptive side, a bit dull to look at & the whole project, from a financial perspective (at least building it), is relatively inexpensive.
How many of these things are floating around in Klingon space is anyone's guess. Private companies can churn these out along with the IKN as well as the regional counter-parts.
There are countless tales of Klingons living the hermit life in these things or small, isolated communities living in them as well. Criminal enterprises love themselves these asteroid fortresses. Who has soured on these types of structures? Apparently the regional navies & IKN, oddly enough. Partially due to the glut of them in the Empire and partially because, frankly... It's not the best idea in the world to build a tin can inside of a rock...
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Sept 26, 2020 17:03:44 GMT -7
The Orions that Stayed Behind
The Star Trek alt-universe knows of the Orions, a caravan-based civilization, comprised of nomadic bands of starships, each band numbering anywhere from the hundreds to the tens of thousands. Yet where they originated from and how they became nomadic has only slowly leaked out through over time and through a little bit of espionage from each of the three main powers (Federation, Romulan & Klingon). The Vulcans, through their means of logic and reasoning, have figured out some of the Orions' origins but are mainly disinterested in pressing further and the Gorn are merely not interested in such details.
There are reasons that the Orions are tight-lipped about their history; Privately, they are ashamed of it.
The Orions started out much like the other major powers but, early in their "modern" era (what we would consider to be our "present" era), they learned that their entire solar system would be destroyed. Quickly, they converted their efforts towards developing the means for escaping their solar system and was able to do so with only years to spare.
The Orions that the Star Trek civilizations know are the space-faring caravans but the Orion civilization split almost as soon as they had escaped the cataclysm from their solar system. Whom the Star Trek civilizations don't know and have never met are the Orions that Stayed Behind... the Orions who never became nomadic. They became 'something else.'
When the Orions escaped from their solar system, they began venturing to the closest solar system. This voyage was done before warp drive technology; The voyage would realistically take several generations. As a result, the Orions began to adapt to starship life. By the time they arrived at the solar system, a social rift had occurred within the remaining Orion population: Those who knew only of starship life and those who wished to restart the terrestrial life that their people once had. The schism could not be rectified and, within a few short years, those who chose the nomadic life did so and those who wished to restart terrestrial life stayed behind.
And, thus, began the birth of two civilizations.
To be continued...
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Post by trynda1701 on Sept 27, 2020 10:21:10 GMT -7
Klingons and asteroids. The Romulans have their "LPOP challenge." The Federation have their pesky space-steaders. The Orions have an unhealthy fetish for self-replicating spaceships. Klingons have their asteroids. Or, more precisely, they have asteroids that they like to make space-stations out of. Last we left the Klingon Empire, we learned that the Klingon Empire was really a bunch of different territories that had a singular common thread: They were all dominated by Klingons. As a result, they're not really an unified state. Sure, there's the Imperial Klingon Navy that protects ALL of the territories but it is the Regional Navies, the ones that represent the individual territories themselves, where all of the "day-to-day" action takes place. When you are a regional navy, you are looking for any tiny advantage over your rivals that you can think of. You are also thinking about any tiny advantage over your rivals that also doesn't cost a small fortune as well. It is not as though the Klingons are the first to think of the marriage between asteroids and space stations as a great idea. All of the major civilizations (Gorn & Orions not withstanding) have done it to a degree; It's just that the Klingons truly enjoy themselves an asteroid with a space station embedded into it. There are some advantages to such a contraption. First and foremost, a landmass of any kind makes for a great natural shield. Phasers, disruptors, torpedoes, plasma cannons... they're powerful but are they powerful enough to go through solid rock? A lot of it? Not really. Starship weaponry tends to be geared towards destroying the shields and superstructure of enemy ships and space stations; Not actual landmass. Placing your space station inside of an asteroid also hides the true size of the space station. Is it big? Is it small? Is there a lot of storage space inside? Has the space station expanded? Are parts of it unused or turned into storage or another purpose? All that your opponents can see is that it's a giant rock with some docking areas slightly jutting out and maybe a few antennas. There are, of course, a few downsides towards having a space station that is basically a few comfy rooms carved into an asteroid. Have you ever tried escaping from one of these places during an emergency? Unless you're right by a docking area, you're pretty much screwed in trying to escape. Also, for some reason, knowing that you're inside of a tin can that is also embedded deep into a rock makes you a bit more stir crazy than just being inside of a tin can. Who knew? Klingon psychologists (yes, there is such a thing) even has a name for it: "Double-Hulled Depression" (The name supposedly sounds prettier in it's native Klingon). Finally, go ahead and try amending or adding onto that space station. Kinda costly, isn't it? The initial installation is cheap (It's just like asteroid mining except the miners add extra-nice walls and gravity to the shafts) but additional work is a bit more costlier than just a tin can floating around in nothingness. And yet they continue to build these things with an almost irrational passion. Why? Well, everyone's got a theory. Which ones are good and which ones are the result of someone determined to have a hangover when they next awaken is anyone's guess. One popular conjecture is that the "space-station inside of an asteroid" sums up the Klingon psyche for the most part: Built solid for war, not glamorous, can take a pounding, a bit on the deceptive side, a bit dull to look at & the whole project, from a financial perspective (at least building it), is relatively inexpensive. How many of these things are floating around in Klingon space is anyone's guess. Private companies can churn these out along with the IKN as well as the regional counter-parts. There are countless tales of Klingons living the hermit life in these things or small, isolated communities living in them as well. Criminal enterprises love themselves these asteroid fortresses. Who has soured on these types of structures? Apparently the regional navies & IKN, oddly enough. Partially due to the glut of them in the Empire and partially because, frankly... It's not the best idea in the world to build a tin can inside of a rock... Very interesting reading! I've always liked the idea of bases within asteroids since that famous pre-production painting done for TMP by Ralph McQuarrie. Shown nicely in the Star Trek Phase 2 fan film "Going Boldly", at about 07:35. The thing about digging out those types of bases is how is it done? Star Trek II said it took the Starfleet Corp of Engineers ten months to dig out the Genesis cavern inside the Regula planetoid. Star Trek VI shows the miners using some form of energy beam digging tools to mine on Rura Penthe. But I thought, wouldn't it be possible using a version of the transporter? Survey the asteroid to determine best placement, allowing for faults and possibly extending natural caverns, then beam sections of rock out! Based on what I thought was suggested in the TOS Constitution blueprints, with material fabricators, you could even convert the raw material now in an energy pattern to some form of construction material.
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Post by trynda1701 on Sept 27, 2020 10:24:14 GMT -7
The Orions that Stayed BehindThe Star Trek alt-universe knows of the Orions, a caravan-based civilization, comprised of nomadic bands of starships, each band numbering anywhere from the hundreds to the tens of thousands. Yet where they originated from and how they became nomadic has only slowly leaked out through over time and through a little bit of espionage from each of the three main powers (Federation, Romulan & Klingon). The Vulcans, through their means of logic and reasoning, have figured out some of the Orions' origins but are mainly disinterested in pressing further and the Gorn are merely not interested in such details. There are reasons that the Orions are tight-lipped about their history; Privately, they are ashamed of it. The Orions started out much like the other major powers but, early in their "modern" era (what we would consider to be our "present" era), they learned that their entire solar system would be destroyed. Quickly, they converted their efforts towards developing the means for escaping their solar system and was able to do so with only years to spare. The Orions that the Star Trek civilizations know are the space-faring caravans but the Orion civilization split almost as soon as they had escaped the cataclysm from their solar system. Whom the Star Trek civilizations don't know and have never met are the Orions that Stayed Behind... the Orions who never became nomadic. They became 'something else.' When the Orions escaped from their solar system, they began venturing to the closest solar system. This voyage was done before warp drive technology; The voyage would realistically take several generations. As a result, the Orions began to adapt to starship life. By the time they arrived at the solar system, a social rift had occurred within the remaining Orion population: Those who knew only of starship life and those who wished to restart the terrestrial life that their people once had. The schism could not be rectified and, within a few short years, those who chose the nomadic life did so and those who wished to restart terrestrial life stayed behind. And, thus, began the birth of two civilizations. To be continued... It will be interesting to hear about these other Orions, plus the major differences between the two societies.
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Sept 28, 2020 16:52:13 GMT -7
"The March into Darkness"
Everyone knew that not every ship that started the voyage towards the new solar system was going to arrive there. In fact, everyone who started the voyage would die before they could reach the new solar system.
The Orions didn't escape their solar system to save themselves; They escaped their solar system to save their civilization, their people and as much of the flora, fauna & animals that they could.
Despite popular opinion, the Orions did not evacuate all at once in one large caravan but, instead, in waves of ten to twenty space ships at a time. Eventually, all of these waves would coalesce into one large caravan, not from planning but out of necessity. They left knowing that they would spend the remainder of their days in space. They would die in space. Their children would die in space. Likely, their grandchildren as well. But their great-grandchildren, should they be so fortunate, would find themselves at the new solar system.
The voyage to that solar system has since been given many names. "The Dark March," "The Sad Voyage," "The Journey to Salvation."
One name stuck.
"The March into Darkness."
And, almost immediately, calamity began to strike. The Orions, unfamiliar with the rigors of space travel, began to succumb to their inexperience. Space ships fatally malfunctioned. Murderous & psychotic 'cabin fever' emerged. Ideological differences exploded. Spare parts for repairs couldn't be found. Spare parts for repairs couldn't be made. Disease ran rampant amongst the ships. Malnutrition. Illness.
But from hardship came adaptation. With each passing year, those who survived grew stronger. Smarter. Braver.
Deaths became less frequent. Innovations led to better maintained ships. Better techniques led to happier crews, more well-adjusted crews.
And, partway through the March into Darkness, a first: The first spaceship to be constructed while in transit to the new solar system. It was called "The Beacon." And it was chosen to be the lead ship.
And it was the lead ship when the Orions finally arrived at the new solar system. But, by then, the Orions had changed and a split was already beginning to emerge...
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Sept 28, 2020 16:55:05 GMT -7
The Tholians don't need to be major players in the sense that they have a definitive area of space. Their "Annex" could be a smattering of planets here and there, spread amongst the rest of the main superpowers. Their totally alien make up means they would be more prone to inhabit systems the rest of the humanoid races would deem uninhabitable. The Tholians wouldn't have to be big in numbers either but they should be powerful enough that nobody really likes to mess around with them. Not so much as in ship strength, but playing more with their willingness to experiment with far more dangerous technologies and materials than the rest of the races in the area. Added to their normal Xenophobia this would still make them a unique NPC (or carefully played PC) race that would maintain their air of mystery, keep them from being too burdensome to flesh out entirely but keep them relevant enough in the universe to tangle with on occasion. Haven't lost track of how to fit the Tholians in. They'll likely be bit players. For now, I'm concentrating on the "Other Orions." I've got some good material on them already. They'll also be bit players, at least, for now...
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steve
Commander
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Post by steve on Sept 30, 2020 17:36:03 GMT -7
Not everyone made it...
The March into Darkness was not for the faint of heart. Spaceships broke down or catastrophically malfunctioned. Living quarters were tight, privacy was limited at best. Disease, at times, ran rampant. Medical services were inadequate. Nutrition was paltry. Working conditions were hazardous.
If you were a 20-year old on one of these vessels, your chance to living until 60 was 25%. Your chance to live until 70 was just under 10%.
Your chance to live until 80 was 3%.
If you were a typical crewmember on board one of these vessels, you did not have a room; You had a bunk. And it was not "your" bunk but what was considered a "hot bunk," or a bunk that you merely slept in at a certain time. You ate either one or two meals a day and "meal" was a generous description. Food replication was primitive; You had flavored liquids, you had flavored pastes and you had crackers of varying consistencies, usually hard and not very tasty.
You washed yourself once per week by means of a sponge and you had to be quick about it because others were waiting in line.
You were allowed a certain amount of time in artificial gravity but most people spent less than half an hour in artificial gravity per day and you certainly didn't eat your meals or sleep in it.
There was no drinking and smoking. Such habits were considered detrimental towards the goal. Illegal booze was manufactured and, of course, there were incidents where such concoctions turned deadly. Not even the collapse of the a solar system could collapse the alcohol and drug industries.
Cryogenic hibernation was not an option; Spaceships needed to be constantly maintained which required crews to be awake and aware constantly. Hibernation came with it's own challenges, none of which were resolved by the time the March began.
Unlike an orbiting space station, there was nothing to view outside of windows and there were no windows on board many of these ships because windows were not needed. All that could be seen was darkness.
It is a popular myth that these vessels never stopped moving. Nothing could be farther from the truth; These vessels stopped frequently for a variety of reasons and sometimes for days (and weeks) on end. The vessels generally moved together as one but they would frequently drift apart from one another in groups only to converge into one caravan again for no other reason than happenstance.
If you were a woman, you were expected to bear children and as many children as your reproductive system could bear. Reproductive rights were not a priority; Abortions were not allowed unless the child was deemed defective. Handicapped participants need not apply on board the vessels. The March simply couldn't afford those who could not pull their own weight.
Madness and despair occasionally surfaced. Some ships simply broke off from the pack and never returned. Sixteen vessels, at one point, decided to go back to their doomed solar system, insistent that the very outer planets could be lived upon. They were never heard from ever again.
Suicide occurred, especially amongst women. And, of course, there was the untold shameful crimes of rape and assault that went unacknowledged for far too long.
Of all of the ships that set sail to the new solar system, about 30% finally made it to their destination.
And that was where the real challenges began...
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steve
Commander
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Post by steve on Oct 1, 2020 15:27:15 GMT -7
"The Museum of the March"
[NOTE: I had to get this out of my system. No clue if I'm going to continue with this particular style or not.]
"Hello and welcome to The Museum of the March. I shall be your tour guide for today. The museum is quite large as you can clearly see. It is, in fact, a series of buildings and there are many buildings that one may peruse. It may even be thought of as a sort of intellectual 'theme park' although, I can assure you, there are no amusement rides in the tradition of a roller coaster or a water slide."
"There will be plenty of rest breaks throughout the day; Rest breaks, bathroom breaks, meal breaks... All sorts of breaks. However, we do have quite a bit of museum to get through so let us begin in haste."
"As you can see, we are in the main building here, the Main Museum. A little bit of history is in order about the museum. First and foremost, it was established in 16A, the A is for 'Arrival,' for when the Orions arrived at the solar system. This was not the first structure built, though. That structure is the Library and that structure started construction in 18 and finished in 19. That structure was the original museum and it has since been converted into a library. It is a research library and materials there are not available to the general public but there is a tour available for that building should you be so interested."
"This main museum may be considered as an overview for the event known as 'The March into Darkness.' The Orions had to leave their original solar system due to an astronomical event that caused their sun to prematurely collapse, thereby realistically causing that solar system to become unsustainable for life. They left their solar system in a series of space ships and headed to the nearest available solar system which was this solar system. This entire museum compound is dedicated towards documenting that voyage."
"I would like to point out, at this time, that the tour that we are about to take is not intended for persons under the age of 18 years of age. The reason for this is that this museum is dedicated towards having an unvarnished view of that voyage. We shall be discussing many mature themes that younger museum guests and their parents may find disagreeable. We whole-heartedly recommend, to those patrons who do not want a direct assessment of those mature themes in their visit, to please partake in the Children's Museum which is located elsewhere on the compound. It is a wonderful facility, I highly recommend it for our younger guests. It is far more 'hands-on' and conveys many of the same issues addressed here but in a family-friendlier format."
"Without further ado, let us begin and we shall begin over here in this room."
"In this room, you can clearly see that this is a representation of a temperate, outdoor, suburbia setting. Children are playing in a field. The mossy-covering on the ground is what is considered 'grass' by many. You can see what would resemble a 'tree.' Several items in this room, in fact, are authentic artifacts from their home planet before it was destroyed while several others are very faithful reproductions. In fact, the 'road' that you are standing upon right now was constructed using the same type of materials and construction techniques at that time. Even the smell of the room closely matches that of a typical field with a slight breeze. If you stand over to this side of the room, you can even smell a small whiff of outdoor cooking."
"This scene is based upon actual photographs and video and you can see that media on your portable devices. Granted, this room is a composite of about 5 of those photographs in order to save space and to more conveniently convey the sense of society. For instance, the housing is closer as opposed to more distant. There is a pet in this room running with these children when it is, in fact, running with a separate child."
"This is how society once was about 700 years ago, just before it was learnt that their solar system was doomed. This was the precipice; The point of no return. The eve before the great realization. The children are carefree, running about as they would have been. This room gives you a sense of what the world was like before."
"We have a few more rooms such as these to go through, so let us proceed to the next room."
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Post by trynda1701 on Oct 1, 2020 16:01:10 GMT -7
I'm curious about how long the journey took, but I'm sure you will let us know as the story progresses. I find it a bit odd that the caravan might actually have stopped, losing the velocity they had built up. Can you say what propulsion technology the ships were using during the March? I know that in real life, the British Interplanetary Society had detailed a proposal for an interstellar probe (Project Daedalus) using nuclear propulsion (a fusion rocket) that would reach a speed of about 0.12c, using current/near future technology, back in 1973-78. That vessel accelerated up to that speed, and would have been seen as a flyby mission to the star system (Barnards Star, travel time 50 years) it was aimed at.
More about that here...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_DaedalusIn the case of the March, depending on the technology used, you wouldn't want to get too fast, as you had to slow down to enter your potential new home system. I'm of course assuming the Orions evacuated using slower than light technology! As for the museum tour guide commentary, I say keep going with that if you like, I find it an interesting way to continue to tell us your story.
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Oct 1, 2020 16:38:18 GMT -7
I'm curious about how long the journey took, but I'm sure you will let us know as the story progresses. I find it a bit odd that the caravan might actually have stopped, losing the velocity they had built up. Can you say what propulsion technology the ships were using during the March? I know that in real life, the British Interplanetary Society had detailed a proposal for an interstellar probe (Project Daedalus) using nuclear propulsion (a fusion rocket) that would reach a speed of about 0.12c, using current/near future technology, back in 1973-78. That vessel accelerated up to that speed, and would have been seen as a flyby mission to the star system (Barnards Star, travel time 50 years) it was aimed at.
More about that here...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_DaedalusIn the case of the March, depending on the technology used, you wouldn't want to get too fast, as you had to slow down to enter your potential new home system. I'm of course assuming the Orions evacuated using slower than light technology! As for the museum tour guide commentary, I say keep going with that if you like, I find it an interesting way to continue to tell us your story. The "museum guide" style was something that I just had to get out of my brain. And so it now is. I don't know for how long it will last (if it does) but it's out of my brain now. In terms of The March, I want to convey that it was a slog. These were a people who were ill-prepared for the voyage even knowing what was ahead of them. And that inexperience shows almost throughout the entire voyage. This voyage tests the physical and mental endurance of the entire civilization because there just isn't a whole lot of happiness to be found. It is cramped. It smells. Civil liberties are trampled upon to keep the entire civilization alive. Spaceships break down. Some become damaged to the point of being destroyed or abandoned. People go stir crazy. "Mob rule" takes over on some of the ships. The food is terrible. The Orions (I'm going to separate them out into Nomads & Settlers for simplicity sake) have a terrible time. The Orions that the major Star Trek powers know are the Nomads; They're the ones who eventually go, "You know what? We've kind of finally got a handle on this whole 'living on a spaceship' thing. We can hack this. We don't need a planet anymore." The Settlers are the "It's our obligation to re-settle just as how our ancestors wanted it. How can we continue to endure space living after what we've just been through?!" Orions that the Star Trek powers don't know of yet. The vessels are slower-than-light and any technology advances during The March are really limited to absolute necessity for the voyage. It's akin to being born in 1810 and the technology from that time period really doesn't change much through, say, 1980. Part of their inexperience is that they had to stop frequently. They didn't know how to repair ships "on the fly" or capture asteroids to harvest them or any of the other techniques that the Nomad Orions would eventually be known for. They had to learn the basics of those techniques during The March. When they built 'The Beacon,' they had to stop to build most of it because they had no 'moving drydock' that the Nomad Orions now possess (and are very adept at using). Of course, after the two sides part ways, the Settler Orions develop their own unique type of civilization... But more on that later...
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steve
Commander
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Post by steve on Oct 3, 2020 8:29:08 GMT -7
"The Tour Continues"
"Now, as was told before, there were three main continents followed by a few island-nation continents. Clearly, these rooms do not represent all of the diverse array of what all of society was like before the Great Realization. This is just a taste of what it was like beforehand. If you want to get a true glimpse of pre-March Orion civilization, may I suggest the Antiquities Museum complex that is on these grounds. It is an excellent array of facilities and I highly recommend that you partake in that tour. You will not be disappointed."
"And now let us go into this room here. Follow me."
"As you can clearly see, this room is blank. It is purposely painted black. It has one word on this wall. Very large letters. A single word. And that word is, 'Defy.'"
"Now I note that some of you in the group are Dysonian Orions, otherwise known as 'Dysorions.' To those who are not, let me explain the significance of this word. This was the unofficial motto of The March into Darkness. People who were in The March would use this word to motivate themselves and others for when they felt that they could no longer mentally or physically or psychologically complete a necessary task. Whenever there was doubt, they would utter this word to themselves. Defy. When they would attempt to motivate others to continue their tasks, they would use this word, either alone or in a sentence. Defy. When they had to motivate themselves to wake up in the morning or attempt to complete a difficult and dangerous task. Defy."
"You will note that the word is changing color. It goes from brown to green to blue and back again. The sequence is inconsequential but the colors are not. Brown, green & blue were the official colors of the Unified Space Program. The Unified Space Program was set up by the Orion civilization to research & implement their escape from the solar system. The colors has since subsequently been adopted by the Dysorions in the use of their civilization flag. It is interesting to note that 'Defy' is not their official motto but instead it is 'They who transplants, survives.' That's an English translation and the most direct meaning should be clear. However, the words used by the Dysorions have several subtle meanings and we can derive other meanings of that phrase by using them. For instance, it may also mean, in a sense, that they who performs a necessary task pushes the entire civilization forward."
"Defy, though, is a very emotional motto for a very emotional time. Strangely enough, it is up to considerable debate as to who popularized it and when. Conventionally, it is regarded that Vice Commander of the Unified Space Program first used it in a speech to national leaders where he used it in a series of sentences, and I quote, 'We shall defy the bounds of our knowledge to propel our societies to safety. We shall defy the breadth of our differences to work united towards the preservation of our society. We shall defy the depths of space in our quest to continue our species.'"
"The first known use of the word 'Defy' as a motto, as a rallying cry, did not occur until several years into The March, however, when the Supreme Admiral used it during a speech to fellow crewmembers in a pep talk. It is reasonable to think that he did not take this word from whole cloth but, by then, the word was already being used in some form as an unofficial motto."
"At any rate, it's very fascinating but we have a lot more to get to. In the next room, you will see and smell and hear the world that our Orions have thrust themselves into..."
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Oct 4, 2020 17:26:23 GMT -7
"The Tour Continues"
"It is important, at this time, to acknowledge some of the ruthless acts involved in saving an entire civilization. This museum is dedicated towards the preservation of all aspects of The March into Darkness. Some of those aspects involved unsavory events that are now considered highly shameful and, dare I mention, disgraceful. If we are to preserve history then we must preserve all of it, including those historical events that we can only look back upon with shame and disgrace."
"It is naive to think that the plan to save the Orion civilization was to build rocketships right onto the planet and hurtle them out into space. Such a plan would have been ridiculous. However, what was not ridiculous was to build orbiting infrastructure that would be, in fact, the factories that would construct those spaceships. The plan was to build the spaceships in orbit and then launch them from orbit, thereby saving valuable space and resources. The raw materials would be supplied from the moon and nearby planet. The fuel and resource costs of this plan was immense."
"Yet the orbiting infrastructure had to be built. Mining had to be increased. Factories on the planet had to be produced. A massive infrastructure investment would need to be partaken across the entire planet and it had to be done quickly. Without delay. Without regard to life, be it animal or sentient."
"The scenes playing out before you on the screen in this room are, to be polite, unfortunate. Forests were bulldozed. Entire villages, suburbs, houses... Razed to the ground without any legal recourse. Some families had only moments to move before their whole life would be wiped out to make way for that infrastructure, be it mining or the construction of a new facility or some other related purpose."
"There were protests and those protests, sometimes, were brutally put down with lethal force. There was armed opposition and that armed opposition was fought with weaponry in kind, with several innocent bystanders either wrongly accused of being part of that armed opposition or killed in the crossfire. People were wrongly placed into prisons. People were wrongly tortured."
"The first victim of the collapse of the Orions' home solar system was not a plant, or animal or person but the civil liberties that separated animal and person. We must never forget that some communities, some families, some individuals did not have a choice as to how much to sacrifice... They were forced to do so with a firearm pointed right at them and, sadly, unfortunately, tragically, sometimes, that firearms was used."
"At this time, in the tour, I would like for all of us to have a moment of silence. A moment of silence to those who were unduly wronged by this process. The acts against these individuals, regardless of circumstance, was cruel, unforgiving, and intolerable. As your tour guide and, speaking as an official member of this museum complex, I would like to extend my heartfelt and sincere apology to those whose ancestors were wronged by this process. Every Dysorion must live with this horrible aspect of our history and let us hope that we may never be forced to make such dreadful decisions ever... Ever again."
"And now, a moment of silence, please, in honor of them."
"Let us now continue on our tour."
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Oct 25, 2020 17:03:36 GMT -7
Hello. This is not a post with new material about my alt-universe but it is a post just to indicate that I have been working on new material that, hopefully, someday, will be displayed.
I haven't abandoned "The March into Darkness"; What happened was that I was going through a turbulent time (I guess that, technically, I still am) and so writing about a depressing topic was not helping with dealing with that turbulence. I will get back to it. The material is still there; It's not going anywhere.
In the meanwhile, I've been working on a more positive, upbeat aspect of my alt-universe: "Unknown Space." I'm currently writing it in the style of a rough transcript of a television production. It's far more upbeat and it chronicles the differences and similarities of how the major civilizations (Feds, Roms, Klings, Gorn & Orion) all deal with the concept of space that is beyond their own borders.
There have been other ventures as well: Detailing a solitary community of pacifist Klingons; A diary of a young, female Romulan in the Star Navy; Trying to squeeze the Tholians into my alt-universe... All sorts of little things. I may roll some those other projects into the Unknown Space one or not. We'll see.
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Post by trynda1701 on Oct 26, 2020 8:38:58 GMT -7
"The Tour Continues""It is important, at this time, to acknowledge some of the ruthless acts involved in saving an entire civilization. This museum is dedicated towards the preservation of all aspects of The March into Darkness. Some of those aspects involved unsavory events that are now considered highly shameful and, dare I mention, disgraceful. If we are to preserve history then we must preserve all of it, including those historical events that we can only look back upon with shame and disgrace." "It is naive to think that the plan to save the Orion civilization was to build rocketships right onto the planet and hurtle them out into space. Such a plan would have been ridiculous. However, what was not ridiculous was to build orbiting infrastructure that would be, in fact, the factories that would construct those spaceships. The plan was to build the spaceships in orbit and then launch them from orbit, thereby saving valuable space and resources. The raw materials would be supplied from the moon and nearby planet. The fuel and resource costs of this plan was immense." "Yet the orbiting infrastructure had to be built. Mining had to be increased. Factories on the planet had to be produced. A massive infrastructure investment would need to be partaken across the entire planet and it had to be done quickly. Without delay. Without regard to life, be it animal or sentient." "The scenes playing out before you on the screen in this room are, to be polite, unfortunate. Forests were bulldozed. Entire villages, suburbs, houses... Razed to the ground without any legal recourse. Some families had only moments to move before their whole life would be wiped out to make way for that infrastructure, be it mining or the construction of a new facility or some other related purpose." "There were protests and those protests, sometimes, were brutally put down with lethal force. There was armed opposition and that armed opposition was fought with weaponry in kind, with several innocent bystanders either wrongly accused of being part of that armed opposition or killed in the crossfire. People were wrongly placed into prisons. People were wrongly tortured." "The first victim of the collapse of the Orions' home solar system was not a plant, or animal or person but the civil liberties that separated animal and person. We must never forget that some communities, some families, some individuals did not have a choice as to how much to sacrifice... They were forced to do so with a firearm pointed right at them and, sadly, unfortunately, tragically, sometimes, that firearms was used." "At this time, in the tour, I would like for all of us to have a moment of silence. A moment of silence to those who were unduly wronged by this process. The acts against these individuals, regardless of circumstance, was cruel, unforgiving, and intolerable. As your tour guide and, speaking as an official member of this museum complex, I would like to extend my heartfelt and sincere apology to those whose ancestors were wronged by this process. Every Dysorion must live with this horrible aspect of our history and let us hope that we may never be forced to make such dreadful decisions ever... Ever again." "And now, a moment of silence, please, in honor of them." "Let us now continue on our tour." It's interesting that you brought up this aspect, which of course is what might happen in such circumstances, despite the horrific nature. I seem to remember, when I read the novel "When Worlds Collide, that it covered that matter a bit more than the movie version did. Hello. This is not a post with new material about my alt-universe but it is a post just to indicate that I have been working on new material that, hopefully, someday, will be displayed. I haven't abandoned "The March into Darkness"; What happened was that I was going through a turbulent time (I guess that, technically, I still am) and so writing about a depressing topic was not helping with dealing with that turbulence. I will get back to it. The material is still there; It's not going anywhere. In the meanwhile, I've been working on a more positive, upbeat aspect of my alt-universe: "Unknown Space." I'm currently writing it in the style of a rough transcript of a television production. It's far more upbeat and it chronicles the differences and similarities of how the major civilizations (Feds, Roms, Klings, Gorn & Orion) all deal with the concept of space that is beyond their own borders. There have been other ventures as well: Detailing a solitary community of pacifist Klingons; A diary of a young, female Romulan in the Star Navy; Trying to squeeze the Tholians into my alt-universe... All sorts of little things. I may roll some those other projects into the Unknown Space one or not. We'll see. Of course, if it's getting hard to write about such matters, it's only proper you give yourself a break. Yourself first is the way to go. Looking forward to whatever you post next.
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steve
Commander
Posts: 538
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Post by steve on Dec 17, 2020 17:12:08 GMT -7
The Klingons Who Live In Asteroids
If you are a Klingon who lives on (or, most likely, in) an asteroid, you are not well-regarded in Klingon society. There is a stigma attached to Klingons living on asteroids and it is not a kind one at all. The stigma, to be fair, is not entirely undeserved; As with all generalizations, there is a tiny kernel of truth to it.
Klingons who live in asteroids are sort of like our contemporary situation of people who live in remote cabins far off in the wilderness, usually in cabins that have no electricity or running water. You wonder about the psychological state of those people. The same can be said of Klingons who live in asteroids.
These Klingons tend to be religious but not of the main or majority religions by Klingons. In Klingon society, there are many religions but all of those religions are tied together. They are interconnected, sort of like the sects of Christianity; They may be different but they have some fundamental similarities to them. In Klingon society, the minority religions (those that do not connect together with the majority religions) are looked upon very negatively. They are almost considered as cults and it is certainly not a topic that you bring up in polite conversation.
Klingons who live in asteroids tend to be male, older (but not elderly), with not a lot of money or high-technical skills. They are not necessarily hermits (although quite a few of them functionally are) but they do not go out of their way to be social. They are the people who never keep their lights on during Halloween nor do they put up Christmas lights but they will wave to their neighbor (maybe even smile) should they see you when they walk out to their mailbox.
Women also live in asteroids and, unlike the men, they do tend to skew on the hermit side and not even acknowledge you should they see you when they walk out to their mailbox.
A lot of the asteroids that they live upon tend to be in asteroid fields, logically enough. Unlike science fiction, the asteroids are plenty far apart so that you would need magnification to even see one from another. However, an interesting dynamic is that this community uses unconventional visual communication in order to communicate with one another. Imagine, if you will, a kind of satellite dish that points to another and flashes light (much like semaphore) extremely quickly. This form of communication is very cheap, somewhat secure & very reliable. Sensors on the dish know when others want to communicate with you and turns towards that direction to receive a message. It's almost as though they communicate almost exclusively by telephone answering machine (although sometimes they communicate directly in real-time).
These Klingons do not live lavish lifestyle. They live fairly spartan; Opulence of any kind is rarely seen.
It is fairly amazing that the Orions have a somewhat robust trade with them. Although these Klingons do not purchase any luxury goods, they do certainly buy staple items.
Revenue for a lot of these Klingons comes from the asteroids themselves; When they dig out the portion of the asteroid in which they want to live, they sell that material. They may also be willing to be a "weather station" or have remote listening stations independently installed upon their asteroid and rent out that ability to others. Since these Klingons live a spartan life, they don't need a lot of money to lead an existence.
In recent years, the Imperial Navy has struck upon a rather interesting strategy in dealing with them: They are merely nice to them. If the Navy is cruising by, they'll be more than happy to supply medical services and, in conversation, the Klingons will tell the Navy about local happenings and gossip which is often far more valuable than whatever incidental medical services are rendered.
And these Klingons certainly have no qualm about being indirect explorers, either. There have been several times when the Imperial Navy has asked them if they want to relocate outside of known Klingon space and just so happen to be placed on an asteroid that houses automated listening and surveillance stations. The answer is far more "yes" than "no" and crews are amazed at how little these Klingons will live on and shun modern types of entertainment and luxuries.
If you're nice to the strange, eccentric old codger who believes in silly cults, you can get them to do some pretty valuable things for you. Who knew, right?
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