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I have been meaning to some story building for quite a while now. Over the years I have given my captains casual treatments ranging from a character concept that never made it out of my head to a rough outline in the bio section of the character UI.
At some point in the last couple of weeks I decided that I wanted to do something more. My intent is to commence a story project that will allow me to have my own little piece of Trek canon within the STO universe by creating a common thread to allow all of my characters to share and join their stories into one.
The factional hurdle was probably the greatest deterrent to doing something cohesive. Since the canon STOverse has advanced to 2410 and there is now an alliance among the factions it became possible to bind them all within a common purpose. Task Force Chin’toka is the home for all of my characters in the STOverse. A Coalition Task Force aasigned a multidisciplinary mission with the Delta Quadrant as it’s theatre of operations.
The next detail was the manner in which the narrative would be delivered. I thought it would be the easiest to document from a third person perspective. I didn’t want to write a fictionalized blow-by-blow from the perspective of my captains; I wanted to place some distance between the players and the narrative. I decided if I wanted their dialogue it could be in the form of after action action reports or captain’s logs. The main reason I wanted to avoid first person was the number of voices I might have to include; My cast of characters is outside my abilities as a writer. The snap shot format allows me to focus on particular events and stories I find interesting and allows for errors in continuity either by accident or design.
Setting and narrative style out of the way I needed to introduce a voice for the narrative. I needed an observer and didn’t want omniscience. To get thing rolling I thought I’d introduce Pheyid Muir by transcribing the rough character sketch I threw into a notebook and the first finished “prop”; an old pers photo from the 2370s.
Pheyid Muir, Denoubulan, Former Starfleet Medical Officer
-Born in early 2310s
-Retired from Starfleet shortly after conclusion of the Dominion War
-Ship Counselor posted to USS Curtana, Saber class escort
-Fellow of the Daystrom Institute: Considered an expert in the field of Xeno psychology
-Married human musician/composer Daniel Muir. Took last name. Prior to Dominion War.
-2405 Contracted by Starfleet Intelligence to develop a psychological profile for Undine to assist in detection of possible Undine infiltration; possible “tells” that might give them away.
-Daniel Muir died recently (2408?) Degenerative neural condition or old age.Star Trek is full of symbols and meanings the writers seem to throw in for fun. It amounts to little more than trivia but I do it too because I think it’s fun and feels more trek to me.
U.S.S. Curtana: As a Saber class vessel I gave Curtana a “sword” name. As a nod to role Pheyid would play in my story I wanted a choosing sword as opposed to a killing one. The Curtana or Cortana is the legendary sword of Ogier of Danish myth but also the name for the ceremonial sword used for coronations of the English monarchy.
Pheyid: At first I wanted my observer to be a human male. Then I changed my mind and wanted a male denoubulan like Phlox. Unfortunately I only have one alien character to body double for photo shoots and that’s a female. I used two of Z’Lehyr’s costumes at the tailor and made a 2370s and 2410 Pheyid. The Only thing that remains of the human observer is his first name adopted by Pheyid’s deceased husband.
I’m doing this for my own amusement but comments and criticisms are always welcome. If you have any questions feel free to ask. If you read this far did you see anything you liked or didn’t? I do like providing a director’s cut exposition like the Curtana bit but if you don’t want that sort of thing maybe I shouldn’t bother. Hopefully this was worth taking your time to read.
Cheers,
horridperson
Yes was worth it, always like a little background. I once toyed with the idea of tying my three main captains together with a ‘true’ Trek story, all three alien females blending in with the Fed and KDF faction and following the respective cultures but ultimately following their own common agenda.
Needless to say that story got buried deep and never popped up again.I like that Saber / Sword tie-in, nice find.
Not trying to hijack your thread, but I was always intrigued by this picture, one of the first of STO I ever saw and which inspired me to roll an Andorian female captain. As they say, a picture says it all.
"Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."No worries, thanks for the reply. Just looking at the picture says cold. Is that why you picked the Andorian?
Just as a quick addition here is the Chin’toka Accord. Not much to it. Just a unilateral agreement in principle to forming the task group. When I first wrote it up it was more complex but I realized most of the particulars would have been covered in any larger treaties governing the alliance and it wouldn’t be necessary detailing them; It was a boring bit of legalese anyway.
Chin’toka is hardly an obscure reference. The first battle of Chin’toka was the first allied offensive by the Federation, Klingon and Romulans during the Dominion War. It’s also one of the only allied effort between the three factions period so I was hardpressed to find an alternative name for the task force. I’ll tell you more about the individuals who signed the document later but for now…paperwork.
Horrid, I like direction you are taking. Those small details like 3 different signatures really make this compelling story. It is actually very inspirational for me as I also have backstory of my characters in mind but never decided to take one step further. Thanks for writing it.
When I play story missions with my Fed, I imagine that my Reman is cloaked somewhere and spying for his government. Although they are allies, D’Tan still chose someone to watch what other factions are doing. I’ll start working on this and develop it to higher detail. I think I’ll leave my kdf character out of this for now. He may appear later in the story but he will have minor role.
It’s been a while since I visited this thread. I looked over it again and realized I still liked the idea and still wanted to form a common thread for my captains. Some day when my cats are older and STO has been folded up I’ll want to show them how their Dad wasted his time back in the day 🙂 .
I am by my own admission a horridperson. While I like to make up stories I’m also a terrible control freak and expect complete creative control. This is probably why I don’t play particularly well with others and can’t participate in collaborative story telling so much that it is really fair to others involved. There I said it. I’m sorry about the holo novel thread because sov and damix put so much good work into it but I had a lot of difficulty with it and didn’t find the activity enjoyable. I’m more in my element creating my own project. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy other people’s ideas or don’t appreciate feedback or criticism of what I do.
Moving forward I’d like to wake this project back up again and see if I can present some captain dossiers and some material that links them all together.
Cats aren’t amused.
Whaaat?! The NX-01 Refit is übercool ! If only it made its official appearance in ENT back in the day…
Horrid, if you write a story, I’d read it. And comment. And pick at it ad nauseum 😆
"Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."I think it’s ubercool too! Ignorant cats are spoiled and just don’t get it. The only, “wonder of technology” in their life they seem to appreciate is their filtered drinking fountain I bought them.
The NX refits never made it to screen but there is a pretty solid series of three books so far that concern these ships. Reed and T’Pol are both Captains and Archer has reluctantly left the chair and assumed the duties of an admiral. I really enjoy and recommend them. Author (Bennett?) is a much better writer than that snortastic hack David Mack.
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