test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Fanfic , "Myrmidons" by Patrickngo, Starswordc, and Knightraider6.

1246

Comments

  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,214 Arc User
    So Nung's the new Comm Officer of Kongo? Seems like Kanril is a belt-and-suspenders type too. I'm betting Nung isn't going to be happy about this! The Vulcan is a shrink, isn't he? He seems to be in need of therapy himself.
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    Bajorans being one of my favorite Star Trek races, I've developed quite a bit of worldbuilding of my own on how their government works. Some of this is going to be in a side story I'm working on that deals with Kalin Tala's rise to power.

    The Third Republic of Bajor is fundamentally a democratic presidential republic, though it has significant theocratic tendencies and trends center-right by Federation standards. At the top, of course, you have the First Minister as chief executive. They're elected by direct popular vote, highest total wins, and may run for a maximum of three five-year terms. Bajorans also vote for the Council of Ministers (or "Chamber of Ministers", translations vary), the government ministry heads who act as the First Minister's Cabinet. Below them are the "governing ministers" (usually shortened to "governors" in Federation media) of the various provinces, who are likewise elected by popular vote and double as state legislators, ratifying basic laws proposed by the First Minister or Council of Ministers; the relevant ministries then handle their implementation. Constitutional amendments have to be ratified by a supermajority of governors and then get a majority in a referendum.

    The First Minister is allowed to use the Bajoran Militia, or the Republic Militia, defensively and domestically without much restriction (they're Bajor's police force in addition to its military), but must seek a vote of approval from the governors for use on foreign soil. This includes declarations of war. The First Minister also appoints supreme court judges, though lower court judgeships are civil service positions.

    The Kai of Bajor occupies a unique place in Bajor's political system. Approximately 90% of the Bajoran population are members of the Temple of the Prophets, and the clergy exercise outsize influence. Bajor's constitution has little to no provision for separation of church and state and the First Minister is sworn into office by the Kai rather than a judge (a holdover from ancient times when they had a monarch backed by the church, before the revolution against the tyrant King Terva the Last and the founding of the First Republic). In order to join the Federation, though, Bajor did have to ratify the Articles of the Federation, which meant passing laws to protect minority religions (some of Bajor's more remote tribal regions still follow old "pagan"--read as pre-Bajora church--practices), atheists, and even the hated Cult of the Pah-Wraiths. Of course, legislating morality doesn't tend to work very well, at least at first, and there's still quite a bit of religious discrimination.

    The Bajoran written language, of course, is canonically ideographic, which can make communication interesting at times: most Bajorans can speak Federation Standard English with some degree of fluency but only the major cities tend to have English signage. To compound this, some areas actually adopted the Cardassian alphabet during the Occupation, and there's also movement to either invent a Bajoran alphabet or adopt a version of the Federation alphabet.

    And I admit of course to riffing on American gun culture somewhat: the aftereffects of the Occupation mean that the individual right to bear arms is considered close to sacred, and protected in the Bajoran constitution (it isn't explicitly protected in the Federation's Article I). Breaking recruits of tendencies towards gun worship is one of the bigger jobs of Bajoran Militia drill instructors, though (they want recruits to treat their weapons responsibly, as very dangerous tools, not toys or "symbols of freedom"), and the right isn't unrestricted: training and safe storage are required, energy and slug weapons have to be registered with the Ministry of Justice and can't be sold to minors or violent felons, and most municipalities don't allow open carry within city limits. (You can register a weapon in your own name and allow a minor in your household to use it--Sheri's uncle did that for her back in Create Your Own Fate--but if they use it in a crime you can be charged as an accessory.)

    On a lighter note, in addition to indigenous sports like springball, thanks to Ben Sisko the Bajorans also took a liking to baseball and maintain their own leagues and world series, and the Northern and Southern Leagues' top teams often play exhibition matches with offworld teams as well. Deep Space 9 also kept the Niners around as a semipro team.
    "Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
    — Sabaton, "Great War"
    VZ9ASdg.png

    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    patrickngo wrote: »
    “Hey! Let’s make the Admiral sing the next one!” somebody yells.

    I turn around in Gaarra’s embrace. “Ohhh, no you don’t.”

    “Whatcha ‘fraid of, Mum?” the clearly inebriated Marine challenges me. He’s young, just like the rest of them. When the phekk was I that young? I almost can’t remember it anymore.

    “C’mon, El,” Gaarra says into my ear, tickling me under my ribcage. “I’ve heard you sing at the Peldor Festival, you’re not bad.”

    ‘Not bad’? Damn him, he’s going for my pride… “Ohh, all right. I’m not doing it for you, though, Marine, I’m doing it for the birthday girl.”

    “Whatever, Mum!” One of the female Marines smacks him on the head.

    I chuckle at that as I disengage from Gaarra and make my way to the microphone. “All right, folks, some of you Starfleeters should know this one, I learned it at the Academy. Computer, play ‘No Hopers, Jokers & Rogues’!”

    I kind of envision Eleya's singing voice sounding kind of like Anette Olzon. Examples: "When Dreams Fall Apart" by Alyson Avenue, "Ever Dream" by Nightwish (audition tape), "Storytime" by Nightwish, "Shine" (Anette's solo album), and the Dark Element song at the close of chapter two. So less classical/operatic than a lot of the female-fronted songs: Eleya was maybe a choir singer as a kid but never had any formal training.
    "Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
    — Sabaton, "Great War"
    VZ9ASdg.png

    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited November 2018
    My own views on war as a concept (with, of course, the caveat that I was unable to serve and have learned all of this secondhand) are... complicated, and Eleya reflects some of that. I think war can be justifiable under a very limited set of circumstances and we should be prepared for it, but it's never fun, nor should it be. The camaraderie between soldiers, the pride in the army, that can be fun (a common thread in war stories I've heard from veterans, including family members, is the hijinks that off-duty sailors and Marines get up to off-duty). The actual fighting never is.* With this version of Eleya, I decided to take that mindset of a soldier who was once trapped in a meandering, misbegotten, mismanaged war (the Masterverse version of the Klingon War, or in real life, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan), and turn her into somebody who decided to do something about it. Frustrating her only makes her fight harder and usually from an unexpected angle, so somewhere along the line MV!Eleya decided to become a reformer of the way the Federation approaches warfare.

    On the flipside, I wanted to include the sequence with the Fek warseed hitting USS Bajor because I worry a lot about making my heroes too effective. Eleya is a flawed character by design: she's very good at her job but she makes mistakes, whether that's interpersonal or, in this case, tactical, by misjudging positions and firing angles in the heat of battle. That warseed should not have reached its target, and the people under her paid for it, her greatest fear.

    * Of course, I'm writing mostly naval combat. It can be easier to have it seem fun if you can't actually see the enemy and comrades' deaths are generally instantaneous. So that's another writing trap I worry about.
    "Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
    — Sabaton, "Great War"
    VZ9ASdg.png

    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Sign In or Register to comment.