Nominations open for Alliance Exploration Initiative space station crew!

drogyn1701 · January 2016

Now that we've settled on a crew list for the Alliance Exploration Initiative space station, we need to assign some officers. I'm inviting everyone to nominate characters for each of the positions below. Once we get enough nominations we'll have a vote for each position. The sliders for these characters will be made available once the project starts, so authors can use them in their missions if they choose.

You can nominate people from any of three categories: original characters from your Foundry missions, new characters you create just for this, or minor Cryptic NPCs that have disappeared due to updates.

Here is the list of character positions we need to fill:

Station Commander
(Captain/Commander or higher)

Command crew
(Commander/Subcommander or lower):

Chief Medical Officer
Chief of Station Operations
Communications Officer
Chief of Security
Strategic Operations Officer

Exploration Contacts
(any rank or civilian)

Astrophysicist (for space phenomena briefings)
Anthropologist (for alien culture/civilization briefings)
Planetary Ecologist (for biology/planet briefings)
First Contact Specialist (for diplomatic briefings)

Please include character name, faction, a picture and a paragraph or so description for each nomination. There is no limit to the number of nominations you may make.

duncanidaho11 · January 2016

Station Commander
Bradden (formerly of the STO website)

Chief Medical Officer
Haasra (from the SSF series)
Faction: Dyson Joint Command

"Would you like Haasra to take a look at that injury? Worry not broken humanoid for Haasra is the very best Doctor in your immediate vicinity! Haasra knows much about anatomy and physiology. Haasra also knows much about dentistry, horticulture, civil engineering, animal handling, Orion law, First Federation cuisine, and impulse drive repair. Haasra is free spirit like that. And Haasra promises, no more mysterious fires. The computers and Haasra have come to an understanding."

Communications Officer
Temple (from Polarity)
Faction: Federation

Temple was developed as an interactive guide to the Andorian campus of Starfleet Academy. However upon the revelation that campus faculty were frequently resetting her holomatrix Temple to prevent "rogue personality defects" she was released from Academy service and granted a Starfleet commission. Integration into an open Federation culture has been difficult, but Temple is still committed to bridging the gap between photonic and organic life in both her career and in her developing personality.

Chief of Security
Ch'that (from Entropy)
Faction: Klingon Empire

Formerly of the I.K.S. Relorum, Ch'that sided with Kohmar in the short rebellion that precipitated the fall of his house. Despite avoiding charges of dishonor Ch'that could never reconcile her actions against so many of her fellow warriors. She now seeks to apply her talents in a more constructive venture, preferably with the Empire far behind her.

Astrophysicist
Zara Dren (formerly of Memory Alpha)

Anthropologist
Dr. Mathias Burke (from Trident)
Faction: Federation

Up until recently, an assistant Professor at the University of New Berlin. Dr. Burke's specialization is the evolutionary and ecological development of humanoid civilizations in M class environments. Though his work has contributed to the science Burke is perhaps better known in his field for an obstinate attitude when faced with a question of principles. He is informally banned from the planet Rethal following an incident in which he provoked a local religious sect for refusing a colleague with "immoral body art" (see. tattoo). Never the less, Burke currently holds a Starfleet commission and is trying to make a difference beyond the comfortable core of the Federation after a long absence.

thay8472 · January 2016

Chief of Security: Lieutenant Mercedes Santiago

She hangs around on K-7 doing nothing,

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Mercedes_Santiago

Chief Engineer: Lieutenant Meyer

This was the dude from the Undine mission 'shut down.' He helps briefly then asks you to put in a good word for him.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Meyer

If you want an Ask'kaar ... by all means. However the Ask'kaar being on the far side of the Zenas Expanse and this station being on the other side of the STO map ... I doubt they would journey this far out of their space.

drogyn1701 · January 2016

@duncanidaho11, does Dr. Burke have a 1st name? And for some reason the picture of him doesn't want to download. Can you upload it somewhere else and PM me a link?

markhawkman · January 2016

Hmm... I just realized I don't have a habit of creating characters from major factions.

Hmm... I DID however make a Lib Borg Romulan timecop character for part two of B'Vat's Legacy.

starswordc · January 2016

You're going to need a project commander, too, actually, a one-star or better (two-star is preferable).

drogyn1701 · January 2016

I figure the station commander does double duty in that regard. Budget cuts, you know how it is

The station XO probably handles a lot of day to day stuff.

Anyway, here are a couple nominations from me, will post pictures when I get off work.

For Station Commander:

Admiral Tamara Petrov (Foundry - Sink the Bismarck!) - Starfleet

Formerly in charge of the Artificial Intelligence Division at the Advanced Starship Design Bureau, Admiral Petrov came under fire after an experiment in her division caused the deaths of 1,500 officers. Though an inquiry found no wrongdoing on her part, the incident derailed Petrov’s career for several years. She is eager to once again prove her worth to the Federation with an assignment of consequence.

For Chief of Station Operations:

Commander Degan (Foundry - [ICO] Under Grey Skies) - Starfleet

Degan had dedicated his life to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, but his experience during the war changed many things. After receiving treatment on Earth for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Degan transferred to Starfleet’s engineering branch, most recently serving as an instructor at Starfleet Academy. With new, and hopefully peaceful, opportunities opening up for service on the frontier, Degan is eager to try and put the past behind him.

At current count we have:
1 Station Commander nomination
1 Chief Medical Officer
3 Chief of Station Operation
1 Communications Officer
2 Chief of Security
1 Strategic Operations Officer
2 Astrophysicist
1 Anthropologist
0 Planetary Ecologist
0 First Contact Specialist

markhawkman · January 2016

Well I went back and looked and realized I do have several options of characters that I created for B'vat's Legacy and planned to use in Part 2. They're all Timecops of some sort. First is Hortock, a Benzite who you meet early in the story. One is a Federation Borg char who doesn't show up until the end of part 2. Then there's a char I haven't given a name yet who is a temporal agent who is undercover in the past.

paxfederatica · January 2016

Planetary Ecologist nominee:
Margaret Evans
(Federation, human female, from "Ghosts of War" Parts I and VI)

Margaret Evans is an accomplished civilian exobiologist. She began her career as an intern on Nelris Prime shortly following its first contact with the Federation, studying the Nelri race (humanoids with chlorophyll-based pigmentation enabling them to photosynthesize vital nutrients) and how they and their civilization evolved in harmony with their homeworld's environment.

Later, in 2409, Evans led a team of exobiologists and exobotanists to study the major land-based ecosystems of Verena III, a planet in the former Romulan Neutral Zone noted for its high degree of biodiversity. The team is still on Verena III - Evans once remarked that their work there could conceivably go on for decades - but she herself jumped at the opportunity to join the Alliance Exploration Initiative.

(Note: In the alternate timeline of the Ghosts of War series, Evans and her team were killed in the thalaron attack that sterilized the surface of Verena III.)

Chief of Station Operations nominee:
Rasputin Mozart "Sparky" Halliday
(Federation, photonic lifeform, new character)

Halliday was created as a Starfleet Repair and Maintenance Hologram (RMH) and installed aboard Starbase Magellan. At the time of his first activation, the RMH had no name and a more conventional humanoid appearance than the one pictured. He was, in fact, one of many RMH's active aboard Starbase Magellan during the final stages of its construction, overseeing the installation and testing of its many systems and subsystems.

Seeing that the RMH was already intimately familiar with the facility, the station commander decided to retain him as Chief of Operations - but insisted that he choose, or be given, a proper name for himself. Having become aware of his own sentience - and of the holographic-rights movement that recently roiled Federation politics - the RMH was only too happy to oblige, ultimately selecting a name that was unmistakably unique, yet retained the "RMH" initials. (Note: The Halliday surname is a reference to one of the main characters of the novel (and in-development film) Ready Player One.) While he was at it, Halliday also changed up his appearance to be as unconventional as his name. In fact, as a sentient hologram he can change his appearance at will, so he doesn't have to look the same for every mission, and his appearance can evolve over time.

Like the station's other holographic personnel, Halliday can go anywhere aboard the station where holoprojectors are installed. He also has a mobile emitter which enables him to leave the station for special assignments, including repairs in high, low or variable gravity, and non-Class M environments (for which he requires neither an EV suit nor gravity boots).

First Contact specialist nominee:
Sutek
(Federation, Vulcan male, new character)

Sutek's ancestors include T'Pol (Vulcan liaison officer aboard the original U.S.S. Enterprise, NX-01) and one of the Vulcans involved in the First Contact with humans in 2063 CE. As such, he has an affinity and a unique perspective on first-contact situations and best practices, in addition to his training and expertise in official first-contact protocols. Although only Starfleet personnel are officially bound by these protocols, KDF, Romulan Republic and other allied personnel involved in the Initiative may also seek Sutek's guidance for more pragmatic reasons, such as avoiding entanglements in alien conflicts.

captainhunter1 · January 2016

Could we make the base commander a Fleet Admiral for once?

This is an extremely important project for all galactic powers and would justify having someone of this rank.

Besides, I am soooo sick of having subordinate officers ordering my Fleet Admiral characters around. (This is the can of worms Cryptic opened up not capping us at Captain

)

duncanidaho11 · January 2016

captainhunter1 wrote: »

This is an extremely important project for all galactic powers and would justify having someone of this rank.
)

Actually I'd rather it not be. It's a station at the end of known space with no known strategic interests, and this is coming at a time during or following (presumably) massive post war recovery (with a lot of good arguments for why resources shouldn't be dedicated to a far-flung project like this.) It's going to be a hard sell even for the FED to make it a top agenda item from the very start. Eventually we can imply greater importance for the Starbase given its role in exploration missions, but I definitely think that should be something to develop over time rather than state up front.

Think DS9 (without a Bajor). But even after the wormhole was discovered Commander Sisko still had a very important role to play. :P

starswordc · January 2016

captainhunter1 wrote: »

Could we make the base commander a Fleet Admiral for once?

This is an extremely important project for all galactic powers and would justify having someone of this rank.

Besides, I am soooo sick of having subordinate officers ordering my Fleet Admiral characters around. (This is the can of worms Cryptic opened up not capping us at Captain )

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

captainhunter1 wrote: »

This is an extremely important project for all galactic powers and would justify having someone of this rank.
)

Actually I'd rather it not be. It's a station at the end of known space with no known strategic interests, and this is coming at a time during or following (presumably) massive post war recovery (with a lot of good arguments for why resources shouldn't be dedicated to a far-flung project like this.) It's going to be a hard sell even for the FED to make it a top agenda item from the very start. Eventually we can imply greater importance for the Starbase given its role in exploration missions, but I definitely think that should be something to develop over time rather than state up front.

Think DS9 (without a Bajor). But even after the wormhole was discovered Commander Sisko still had a very important role to play. :P

I agree with @duncanidaho11 that fleet admiral far outranks the job of project leader. FADM is a top-level planner billet, ideally one that only the Commander, Starfleet would hold. (And what the hell do they expect to promote everybody to next? Secretary of Defense? Congratulations, you just resigned your commission. What if they raise the level cap again? President? What's next, Q?)

However, an O-5 commander strikes me as too low for the job. Let's rank everybody appropriately for once in this game and just ignore the stupid overranking of the player character. My suggestion: Captain for the base commander (likely somebody with a background in the Materiel Supply Command, Starfleet's logistics arm), RADM (2-star) for the project leader. The station CO would be written as a coworker of the player character; the project leader is the PC's actual superior officer.

Side note, Sisko is actually a perfect example of what I said about splitting the jobs of station commander and project leader: he's just the CO of Deep Space 9 and later Defiant. Starfleet operations and fleet direction in the theatre are handled higher up the chain by admirals like Nechayev, Ross, and that goldshirt admiral who turned up in "The Die Is Cast". There's a good reason for this division of duties: you can't afford the project leader having to break off what s/he's doing with ships assigned to the project to deal with an on-station crisis, so that job falls to a subordinate officer. It's the same reason you have a flag captain on an admiral's flagship: the admiral can't afford to split his attention between fighting the ship and directing the other ships involved.

markhawkman · January 2016

I kinda head-canon that my ship's XO is actually a captain.

But yeah, having an admiral's office on the base seems like a must, but not as the actual base commander.

captainhunter1 · January 2016

I'm okay with a DS9 vibe for station commander. He better not expect to ORDER me to do anything for him though (and had better show proper respect). You never saw Commander Sisko order Captain Picard to do anything when he was visiting.

In the case of a lower ranking station commander, there should be some kind of liaison office that has that authority over Fleet Admirals, because boy, there are gonna be a lot visiting the station.

starswordc · January 2016

captainhunter1 wrote: »

I'm okay with a DS9 vibe for station commander. He better not expect to ORDER me to do anything for him though (and had better show proper respect). You never saw Commander Sisko order Captain Picard to do anything when he was visiting.

He never really needed to. But had the station, for example, come under attack by the Cardassians while Picard was visiting in "Birthright", then by virtue of his position as CO of the station he would have had that authority (the practical reason for this is primarily because he knows his command better than Picard does). This is a little thing called "positional authority" (though in this scenario I imagine Sisko would limit it to "get to your ship").

Another couple of examples of this: My mom, a nurse and a retired Navy officer, attended a dinner with the surgeon general of the Army a couple of years back. This woman was in the Pentagon on 9/11 and was one of the first on the scene, so as a medical officer she took charge. This included the part where a general turned up and wanted to know who was in charge, she spoke up, he goes, "Who are you?" She answered, "Sir, I'm a nurse," and he promptly asks her what she needed him to do.

There's also a couple of the Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries to consider:
2) A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3) An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.

Granted, though, the apparent use of positional authority in this manner in-game is ridiculous: admirals aren't supposed to routinely be taking orders from captains.

captainhunter1 wrote: »

In the case of a lower ranking station commander, there should be some kind of liaison office that has that authority over Fleet Admirals, because boy, there are gonna be a lot visiting the station.

There's two much simpler options. Either just treat every player character as no higher than an O-6 (if you care, cite DS9 if people complain about your use of "Captain"), or put it in text that Starfleet Command ordered you to place yourself under the authority of the project leader. I personally find it simpler and less headache-inducing to do the former (which means don't use [Rank] tags ever) and just ignore the whining about "I'm an admiral"; most people I've talked to say Cryptic should have stopped at captain to begin with. Besides, using [Rank] means seeing "Rear Admiral, Lower Half John Smith" every freaking time; it just looks clunky.

duncanidaho11 · January 2016

captainhunter1 wrote: »

I'm okay with a DS9 vibe for station commander. He better not expect to ORDER me to do anything for him though (and had better show proper respect). You never saw Commander Sisko order Captain Picard to do anything when he was visiting.

Ditto Martok. The way I'm handling it (with a few other people ATM, not the Starbase crew) is that you have orders to participate with the Exploration Initiative from Starfleet/Republic command. The lower ranking officers aren't ordering you themselves, they're simply participating with the mission and helping to see that higher orders are being carried out.

guljarol · January 2016

I don't have a character yet, but I sure am going to create one. This starbase needs some Romulan/Reman representatives! :P

guljarol · January 2016

starswordc wrote: »

There's two much simpler options. Either just treat every player character as no higher than an O-6 (if you care, cite DS9 if people complain about your use of "Captain"), or put it in text that Starfleet Command ordered you to place yourself under the authority of the project leader. I personally find it simpler and less headache-inducing to do the former (which means don't use [Rank] tags ever) and just ignore the whining about "I'm an admiral"; most people I've talked to say Cryptic should have stopped at captain to begin with. Besides, using [Rank] means seeing "Rear Admiral, Lower Half John Smith" every freaking time; it just looks clunky.

I simply try to use "Sir" whenever possible. Not always possible, but removes some of "Captain/Commander" vs. game rank problem.

starswordc · January 2016

Another example of positional versus rank authority? Babylon 5, "A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2". An Earthforce cruiser CO, a captain, tries to take lead in the alien acropolis clusterfrak on Epsilon Eridani III. He pulls rank on Commander Sinclair to do this. However, as commander of B5, Sinclair has jurisdiction over Epsilon III and refuses (politely), and, key point, the Earth Alliance admiralty backs him up once they get communications with Sol back online.

This is precisely a scenario we could have seen between Sisko and Picard, but they only had the two minor crossovers. (Blame B&B hating what Behr and Moore did with the series, especially the Dominion War.)

captainhunter1 · January 2016

Well, when it comes to rank and positional authority, I'm in full agreement - - unless the person in positional authority starts handing out idiotic orders. ("Go fetch me 3 hyrdospanners from the cargo bay, Fleet Admiral")

The best rank example I can cite is from the TOS episode Doomsday Machine. Commodore Decker pulls rank and takes command of the Enterprise despite both Spock's AND Kirk's protests. It isn't until later when it's clear he is unfit for command they are finally able to remove him from the captain chair. Rank matters and trumps positional authority....unless acquiesced (as in the pentagon example cited above) or proven otherwise (Decker's incompetence).

I just don't want to end up in the same situation Cryptic put us in with the clearly incompetent Klingon Captain in charge of the Iconian campaign. My characters would have removed him from command in a heartbeat because of his clear 'Decker syndrome'.

I really wished Cryptic had rank capped us at Captain, the true hero rank of Star Trek. But since the can of worms is open, looks like we have to deal with it.

drogyn1701 · January 2016

Think of it like this. Maybe your orders originate at Starfleet Command, New Romulus Command or whatever the Klingon military high command is called. The station commander will merely be the person who coordinates everything once you get out there.

In any case, most of this will be up to each individual author, since this is an anthology project and not a cohesive story arc like Purity/Photonomy. My goal with the station, the crew, etc is to provide resources people can use, rather than create restrictions they must operate under.

Anyway here is the current list:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17kaot5JKpVh1hoAeb31QdNzuDE2MakUdNXNMAPrVog4/edit?usp=sharing

Still room for a lot more nominations. We definitely need some more Romulan and KDF characters put forward.

markhawkman · January 2016

Maybe the Klingon version of Emani? She was my old Tribble Foundry character. I used her as an NPC in Sehlat Barbecue(which was erased in the LoR tribble wipe... along with Emani). http://marhawkman.deviantart.com/art/Emani-465006042 Emani's specialty was transwarp physics. One of the things she did in Sehlat Barbecue was to triangulate the location of the transwarp gate the Feds had in orbit of Pluto, then hijack it.

starswordc · January 2016

Station CO nomination (new character): Captain T'Chir, Vulcan female, black or Latina-looking. Served as Operations Officer, USS Challenger NCC-71099 in the 2390s, then commanded a supply base in the Archanis area during the Klingon War.

drogyn1701 · January 2016

Do you want to design the character visually for us?

Also, one of these characters will be Section 31... or are they?

markhawkman · January 2016

I actually created the Benzite guy to be an alleged Section 31 operative.

His costume is boring. Black/grey Sierra with the Benzite breathing tube thing.

starswordc · January 2016

drogyn1701 wrote: »

Do you want to design the character visually for us?

Can do. I'll work something up.

drogyn1701 wrote: »

Also, one of these characters will be Section 31... or are they?

I got one for you. Grell, a Ferengi agent I made for "Bait and Switch".

I can email the sliders to somebody; for some reason the forums didn't like me linking directly to Google Drive. The uniform there was something I cobbled together years ago before we got actual Section 31 uniforms in the Foundry. His preferred cover, though (the one he'll be using in "The Hydra's Head" if I ever manage to finish the thing), is "a sales rep for Universal Exports*. I sell booze, guns, and water filters."

* Yes, as in Sean Connery!Bond's shell company. :P

markhawkman · January 2016

Universal Exports was used in the new Bond films too. I need to upload pics...

starswordc · January 2016

OK, I built the character. I guess whoever's making the mission can PM me an email address since the forum doesn't seem to like me linking to Google Drive files.
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lincolninspace · January 2016

My two cents is that it would be nice to see the station headed By a more ethnically diverse crew. Especially the captain. So far Trek has had mostly Americans and one French guy as captain. Why not give the big chair to an ethnic minority for a change.

lincolninspace · January 2016

thay8472 wrote: »

Chief of Security: Lieutenant Mercedes Santiago

She hangs around on K-7 doing nothing,

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Mercedes_Santiago

Chief Engineer: Lieutenant Meyer

This was the dude from the Undine mission 'shut down.' He helps briefly then asks you to put in a good word for him.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Meyer

If you want an Ask'kaar ... by all means. However the Ask'kaar being on the far side of the Zenas Expanse and this station being on the other side of the STO map ... I doubt they would journey this far out of their space.

I like the idea of using stock npcs it saves the costumes for the actual mission.

markhawkman · January 2016

lincolninspace wrote: »

My two cents is that it would be nice to see the station headed By a more ethnically diverse crew. Especially the captain. So far Trek has had mostly Americans and one French guy as captain. Why not give the big chair to an ethnic minority for a change.

Do Suliban count as an ethnic minority?

Nominations open for Alliance Exploration Initiative space station crew!

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