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Old 02-16-2014, 07:43 PM   #41
Johnny1A.2
 
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
There are some changes in the character. He's now going to be 19 when the Botany Bay blasts off in 1996, thus he's born in 1977. His stats have been slightly changed also.

Backstory: Aidan (full name Aiden Adair MacConnamara) is born in the San Francisco bay area shortly after his father's death. He's pretty much raised until age four by people hired by his mother and mainly experiences live around the University of Califoria Berkeley. Or rather it's daycare centers and nursery schools. At four he's sent to a boarding school in Boston near the home of distant relatives of his father. The school normally didn't except even profoundly brilliant four year olds but Aiden family pulled strings.

Aiden lucked out. His cousins loved him. She was a history prof at Boston U. and he was a Concert Musician, and they were both talented and skilled at raising children having had several of their own. At the school the teachers were understanding and Aiden got the addition bonus of a older classmate, who having lost his much loved younger brother, gloms onto Aiden as a replacement. Aiden thus gets welcomed into the life of the school. Aiden, because he was a loved but not spoiled child, has few of the nastier traits of the other "Eugenic Supermen."

Aiden's mother died soon after he started school. Any plans she had for making sure that Aiden thought like his "peers" was ignored and her estate paid his school bills and other expenses. When Aiden was 13 (by this time he had about the same level of education as a normal Harvard Freshman has at the end of his first year of college), Aiden was pulled form school by his sisters, none of whom had seen him since he was two. He spent the next six years at Khan's court as his sisters confidential secretary, and sometimes handled Khan's household accounts (historians love the details he later gave them, romatics yawned).

Aiden was on the Botany Bay both because he was part of a family that bred particularly true, but also because Khan was aware that Aiden seemed to have measurable ESP. Otherwise Khan had little use for Aiden.

Aiden's last surviving sister was also on the Botany Bay. She was in one of the lifesupport Units that failed.

After the events of Space Seed Aiden asked to face trail and prison rather than to be exiled with Khan. Kirk and Spock, after hearing the young man out, agreed. Khan, though glad to be shed of Aiden, denounced him as a traitor. Aiden called Khan a "Drama Queen."
That Khan was.

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Originally Posted by Irish Wolf View Post
As the governments against which Aiden might have committed crimes have been presumably extinct since the Third World War, it would be an interesting question as to whether Aiden could in fact be charged with anything. He might well simply be released into civilian life, where he could then become a citizen of the Federation and apply to Starfleet Academy...
We don't know that.

The history of this version may not be that of the post-STTNG canon, and even then we don't know what the relationship between the 20C governments and the subsequent Federation is. There might well be legal continuity between the USA (or other states) and the Federation in some form.
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Old 02-16-2014, 07:53 PM   #42
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Originally Posted by martin_rook View Post
Wait... I've actually read this book. There actually is a novel about Gary Seven waging a campaign over the years to prevent Khan and the project that created him and his ilk from bringing about an apocalypse. It's all done secret-history style; the Eugenics Wars happened in the 90s, but most people didn't notice.
I saw that. It was an example of what you end up with when you try to combine the incompatible (i.e. TOS fictional history and STTNG fictional history and actual history). The author tried to recast the Eugenics Wars as something else so as to combine them with the real-world 1990s. I didn't read the whole thing, it was an exercise in futility.
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Old 02-16-2014, 09:27 PM   #43
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
I saw that. It was an example of what you end up with when you try to combine the incompatible (i.e. TOS fictional history and STTNG fictional history and actual history). The author tried to recast the Eugenics Wars as something else so as to combine them with the real-world 1990s. I didn't read the whole thing, it was an exercise in futility.
I just went to look up the relevant quote from "Bread and Circuses", about the number of dead in Earth's Third World War (37 million, but Spock also quoted death rates lower than reality for the First and Second World Wars). It's also noted that in "Space Seed", Spock seemed to treat the Eugenics Wars and WWIII as the same thing, and in another episode (I think it was "City On the Edge of Forever") he mentioned that Earth's records from that period are "fragmentary".

So it's pretty clear that somewhere in there, the old Terran governments went bye-bye, either through being destroyed or through being subsumed into the United Earth government. So either way, even if Aiden had committed a crime (and from the information Astromancer gave, he probably didn't), there would be no one to prosecute him anyway.

It may be worth noting that even after they'd awakened Khan Noonien Singh, and knew precisely who he was, the Enterprise was still on course to take the Botany Bay to the nearest starbase, and no one was being held in custody on the way (had they been, it would not have been so simple for Khan to come so very close to succeeding in his attempt to seize the ship). So even the big guy wasn't being treated as a criminal.
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Old 02-17-2014, 05:45 AM   #44
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Originally Posted by Irish Wolf View Post
It may be worth noting that even after they'd awakened Khan Noonien Singh, and knew precisely who he was, the Enterprise was still on course to take the Botany Bay to the nearest starbase, and no one was being held in custody on the way (had they been, it would not have been so simple for Khan to come so very close to succeeding in his attempt to seize the ship). So even the big guy wasn't being treated as a criminal.
Neither would Napoleon nor Alexander be treated as criminals if they showed up today. They'd still be dangerous.
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Old 02-17-2014, 06:21 AM   #45
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

To finish what I started.

There are some changes in the character. He's now going to be 19 when the Botany Bay blasts off in 1996, thus he's born in 1977. His stats have been slightly changed also.

Backstory: Aidan (full name Aiden Adair MacConnamara) is born in the San Francisco bay area shortly after his father's death. He's pretty much raised until age four by people hired by his mother and mainly experiences life around the University of Califoria Berkeley. Or rather Berkeley's daycare centers and nursery schools. At four he's sent to a boarding school in Boston near the home of distant relatives of his father. The school normally didn't except even profoundly brilliant four year olds but Aiden's family pulled strings.

Aiden lucked out. His cousins loved him. She was a history prof at Boston U. and he was a Concert Musician, and they were both talented and skilled at raising children having had several of their own. At the school the teachers were understanding and Aiden got the addition bonus of a older classmate, who having lost his much loved younger brother, gloms onto Aiden as a replacement. Aiden thus gets welcomed into the life of the school. Aiden, because he was a loved, but not spoiled child, has few of the nastier traits of the other "Eugenic Supermen."

Aiden's mother died soon after he started school. Any plans she had for making sure that Aiden thought like his "peers" was ignored and her estate paid his school bills and other expenses. When Aiden was 13 (by this time he had about the same level of education as a normal Harvard Freshman has at the end of his first year of college), Aiden was pulled form school by his sisters, none of whom had seen him since he was two. He spent the next six years at Khan's court as his sisters' confidential secretary, and sometimes handled Khan's household accounts (historians love the details he later gave them, romatics yawned).

Aiden was on the Botany Bay both because he was part of a family that bred particularly true, but also because Khan was aware that Aiden seemed to have measurable ESP. Otherwise Khan had little use for Aiden.

Aiden's last surviving sister was also on the Botany Bay. She was in one of the lifesupport Units that failed.

After the events of Space Seed Aiden asked to face trail and prison rather than to be exiled with Khan. Kirk and Spock, after hearing the young man out, agreed. Khan, though glad to be shed of Aiden, denounced him as a traitor. Aiden called Khan a "Drama Queen."

Aiden was hauled up before the authorities who decided to run him through the normal battery of tests. Meanwhile scholars got wind of the fact of Khan's survival and the fact that one of the ES (Eugenic Supermen) was availible for study. The politics of this landed Aiden at the Vulcan Science Academy. Aiden excelled at his studies but the Vulcans realised Aiden's temperment wasn't suited to life on Vulcan. Thus he was transphered to Starfleet Academy. Now, eight years after the events of Spaceseed Aiden is a Midshipman in Starfleet. Lingering doubts about Aiden's background and the complex way he got to Starfleet have slowed his progress, but he no longer has to prove himself to the brass (at least not beyond normal limits).

Aiden is part of a group of Psions working in starfleet. (these details are still in flux).

Note: although Aiden has 345 points in primary and secondary Attributes, the other PCs average about 200 points. Aiden has fewer points in PSI powers and skills, and far fewer points in Social Status advantages like Rank, contacts, and positive reputations. He also has the lowest skills in Martial Arts.

Aiden is 6 feet 5 inches tall, Fair complexed with intense blue eyes and black hair with silver highlights.

ST 17

DX 14

IQ 17 Per 20

HT

Psionic Powers

Psi skills after Psi powers and in Italics.

Psi Sense 1 [8] Sense Psi-18 {1}

Emotion Sense 2 [9] Sense Emotion-18 {1}

Mind Shield 10 [40] Mental Shield-16 {2}
Expansion-15 {6}

Mind Clouding 1 [6] Cloud Minds-16 {2}

Psi Perks (I was allowed to buy ten for complex reasons)

Telepathic Perks [I Know What You Mean, Tactical Reading]
Probability Conc. Perks [Good Neighbor, Moneyclip Magnet, Shopper's Blessing]
PK Perks [Hydrokenesis, Ignition, Small-Scale TK]
ESP Perk [Card Sharp]
Teleport Perk [Coin trick]

Mindshipman Rank 3, Status 1

Advantages

Language Talent [10]
Voice [10]
Handsome [12]
Intuitive Mathematician [5]
Eidetic Memory [5]
Longevity [2]
Ambidexterity [5]
Very Fit [15]
Musical Ability 1 [5]
Recovery [10]

Disadvantages

Broad Minded [-1]
Congenial [-1]
Curious on a 6 [-10]
Duty on a 12 [-10]
Overconfidence on a 12 [-5]
Proud [-1]
Slow Riser [-5]
Sense of Duty
Federation [-10]
Starfleet [-10]

Complusive Behavior ("Self Improvement") [-5]
Reputation ("Eugenic Superman" -2, large numbers of people, mainly humans, 1/2) [-5]

Languages {Modifed by Language Talent}

English (Native) [0], French[4], Latin[4], Classical Greek[4], German [4], Gaelic [4]. Learned in school.

Chinese (Mandarin) [4], Arabic [2], Urdu [2], Swahili [2], Indonesean [2], Farsi [4]. Learned at Khan's court, the first and last improved later.

Vulcan [4], Andoran [4], Klingon [4], Romulan [2], Gorn [2], Orion [2], Betazoid [2]. Learned after his voyage on the Botany Bay.

Perks: Sanitised Metabolism, Classic Black Irish Looks, Blue Eyes!

(Aiden's eyes are an odd intense Blue, Aiden's combo of very dark hair, fair complexion and blue eyes was once seen as probverbially handsome and classically Irish)

Quirks: [Avoids Bars and any risk of a Brawl], [Sounds Old Fashioned, Formal, and Refined, unless he makes a serious effort not to],
[Hums, Whistles, and Sings to himself], [Bisexual], [Celtophile, especially anything Irish]

Cultural Familiarities: 20th Century West, Late 20th Century South Asia, Vulcan Science Academy, Starfleet.

Skills: Tomorrow.

Do feel free to Kibbitz. Tell me where points are wasted, which and what is simply not Star Trek: OS, stuff like that.
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Old 02-17-2014, 11:49 AM   #46
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Neither would Napoleon nor Alexander be treated as criminals if they showed up today. They'd still be dangerous.
Of course they'd be dangerous - but it's not like we'd be putting Alexander on trial for what he did in, for instance, Persia. Legally speaking, the government that he fought no longer exists, for all that the Peacock Throne is still there.

And we certainly wouldn't be putting some random courtier on trial. Although historians would be lined up around the block to talk to him...
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Old 02-17-2014, 12:34 PM   #47
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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To finish what I started.

Aiden's last surviving sister was also on the Botany Bay. She was in one of the lifesupport Units that failed.
Are you sure you want to go with that?

After all, a living sister would provide a character hook for later developments. Melodramatic, yes, but it's a cliche for a reason. What would hsi sister have thought of Aiden if she had lived? What did she think of Khan?
Presumably a living sister would have gone with Khan into exile...but maybe not.

What would a living sister have thought of Aiden?
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Old 02-17-2014, 12:37 PM   #48
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Of course they'd be dangerous - but it's not like we'd be putting Alexander on trial for what he did in, for instance, Persia. Legally speaking, the government that he fought no longer exists, for all that the Peacock Throne is still there.

And we certainly wouldn't be putting some random courtier on trial. Although historians would be lined up around the block to talk to him...
Napoleon, though, if he turned up alive today, might be another issue. There just might be some call to try him for something, since several of the governments he fought against are still very much in buisness, and the time gap from Napoleon to us is about the same as from Khan to Kirk.

Probably there would be no trial of a revived Napoloen in 2014...but his legal status would be kind of iffy. There are some nation-states he would be wise to avoid visiting even today, just on general principles.
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Old 02-17-2014, 03:25 PM   #49
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Are you sure you want to go with that?

After all, a living sister would provide a character hook for later developments. Melodramatic, yes, but it's a cliche for a reason. What would hsi sister have thought of Aiden if she had lived? What did she think of Khan?
Presumably a living sister would have gone with Khan into exile...but maybe not.

What would a living sister have thought of Aiden?
Aiden had little idea of what his sisters thought of him. He was loyal to them, but now he realises that he knew nothing about them or their motivations. He is afraid they might have been monsters, but he doesn't know.
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Old 02-17-2014, 03:26 PM   #50
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Default Re: A character type for a Star Trek game

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Napoleon, though, if he turned up alive today, might be another issue. There just might be some call to try him for something, since several of the governments he fought against are still very much in buisness, and the time gap from Napoleon to us is about the same as from Khan to Kirk.

Probably there would be no trial of a revived Napoloen in 2014...but his legal status would be kind of iffy. There are some nation-states he would be wise to avoid visiting even today, just on general principles.
Agreed. England and the USA would be safe. Russia or Spain would be asking for humiliation and worse troubles. France would be the most complex case by far.
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