Yet another setting by the Coch!

The Zipanji Empire

Homeworld: Zipan
Home region/ Sovereign territory: Spinward Alpha Quadrant, along the Orion Arm, beyond the Cardassians, spans about 400 light years
Fitness 2[5]
Coordination 2[5]
Intellect 2[6]
Presence 2[6]
-Willpower +1
Psi 0[0]
Skills common to the species:
Administration (Bureaucratic Manipulation)
Primitive Weaponry (Sword)
Traits to coose from:
Alertness +2, Strong Will +2, Toughness +2
Arrogant -1, Intolerant -2, Low Pain Threshold -2
Size 1.5 to 2 meters
Standard humanoid race, except skin tones range from pale yellow to dark brown; hair begins life black, gradually turns gray during adolescence, gradually turns white during early middle age. Eye color ranges from grey to black
A militant, oppressive empire, with many enslaved sentient species. Ruled by an Emperor, Prime Minister, and a High Priest. No contact with any other strong empires, influence gradually diminishes so just barely unknown to the Cardassians and the Aba.
After the Dominion war, a federation ship might be exploring beyond the Cardassian Union and discover the Zipanji Empire, which should be used as a fairly dangerous threat race.

The planet Zipan
class M
system data: inner ring, huge outer moon
gravity 1.0 G
year and day, 371 days, 24.1 hours
Atmosphere oxygen- nitrogen, standard density
Hydrosphere one ocean covering 87 % of planet's surface
Climate mostly very cold, 44 % humidity
Sapient Species 7 billion Zipanji, a handful of enslaved Tagolgs and other enslaved races
Tech level upper 6, behind in materials technology and communication
Government theocratic police state ruled by emperor, prime minister, and high priest
culture arrogant oppressors enjoying theater and gladiatorial games
affiliation: capital of Zipanji Empire
resources: sea food, lumber
places of note: capital city called Akoufuf, coral reef as large as the continent with fish, cetaceans, coral, and sponges eaten by the Zipanji
ship facilities: large shipyards orbiting the moon and throughout the ring; two large spacedocks orbiting the Moon.
Zipan has one landmass taking up 13 % of its surface, home to half the world's population, the rest live in ocean floating and ocean bottom cities. There is a large, well concealed underground movement wishing to end the oppression of the subject races. The empire is close to collapsing from within. The corals on this planet possess the intelligence of octupi, and the planet's cetacean species are also about the intelligence of octupi, except that one cetacean species is similar in intelligence to some cetaceans on Earth. The landmass is mostly covered by urban areas, but there is also some tundra and woodlands.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

Alien Species: the Tagalg
Homeworld: Bacald
Home region: several worlds controlled by the Zipanji
Fitness 2 [5]
Coordination 2 [6]
Intellect 2 [6]
-Perception +1
Presence 2 [5]
-Empathy +1
-Willpower -1
Psi 0 [1]
Skills common to the species:
Persuasion (Storytelling)
Life Sciences or Planetary Sciences (choose specialization)
Traits to choose from:
Curious +1, Excellent Sight +2, Rapid Healing +1
Low Pain Threshold -2, Pacifism -1, Weak Will -2
Size: 1.2 to 1.7 meters tall
The Tagalg are short humanoids ranging in skin color from light yellow to dark brown. Their eyes and hair are all a uniform medium shade of brown.
The Tagalg migrated to the Zipanji region 700000 years ago from rimward. They had a union of several worlds ruled by elected judges. They were conquered by the Zipanji 6000 years ago. The Tagalg are presently a passive race, content with their lot in life. Each Tagalg world is ruled by its own Zipanji governor.
The Federation should be sympathetic towards this once great race. Some Federation citizens might secretly help the Tagalg.

The Bacald system
Affiliation: controlled by the Zipanji
System Type: GV (yellow main sequence)
Inhabited Planets: Bacald, Ilol, and Ceu
Other Planets: one earth sized barren world, one gas subgiant, one earth sized ice world
Other Stellar Objects: many asteroids in trojan orbits, a small kuiper belt, and a very large oort cloud
Artificial Objects: several stations orbiting inhabited worlds, in the oort cloud, and in inclined orbits, all to exert control over the Tagalg
System in a Sentence: home system to the oppressed Tagalg

The planet Tagalg
class M
system data: a system of rings
gravity: 0.9 G
year and day: 371 days, 20 hours
Atmosphere: oxygen- nitrogen, standard density
hydrosphere: 79% ocean coverage
climate: 1 degree axial tilt, hot and humid
sapient species: about 900 million Bacald, about 1 million Zipanji government officials
Tech level: high 6, advanced in biotech and terraforming, backward in space propulsion, communication, and social science
Government ruled by a Zipanji governor, as a police state, with a large bureaucracy
Culture passive, content to being subjugated, forced to worship Zipanji gods
Affiliation subjugated by the Zipanji Empire
Resources Snake- Dragons, Tagalg slaves
Places of Note: capital island called Kayzin, spectacular coral reefs, The Great Open Ocean
Ship facilities: one fairly large orbital Zipanji spacedock
Other details: no true continents, thousands of large and small islands, one Great Open Ocean devoid of any islands for hundreds of miles. All relics of pre- Zipanji Tagalg society have been destroyed by the Zipanji.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

Creature: Snake Dragon
10 to 100 meters long
a land dwelling reptillian with dozens of legs, brightly colored with a large head. Native to several Zipanji worlds that are inhabited by Tagalg. Used as battle mounts by the Zipanji, who are forcing the Bacald to research the possibility of engineering the Snake Dragons to live in open outer space, for military purposes.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

The idea just came to me today. Any and all comments eagerly awaited. Hopefully no one will be offended by any similarities to actual earth cultures.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

Oh C'mon! Someone comment! Say *something!*

Here's a few names of more Zipanji subject races. I figure it's a very "fertile" little region of space.

Manchans, Hamog, Kaila, Aiu, Kamcha, Gumians, Tonans, Samons, Fijins, Papuns, Bornoans, Miday, Eastees, Krissmis, Maui, Bayareans, Orane, Teans, Nuyorers, Samerians, Puruans, Saups, Toronese, Victories, Latios, Nordis, Tysk, Austi, Ares, Naka Moors, Yamats, Scatoyans, Huang, Hikarans, Niles, Tigers, Ins, Pacifists, Tahi, Kings, Centaurs, Andornas, Felons, Mizramis, Vans, Mesas, Butus, Pars, Luns, Saliciti, Portolans, Ceats, Tekans, Tincians, Huzins, Dallas, Santonians

I plan to pick a few to write up and maybe give brief descriptions of several more. If Sheliak Bob or anyone else wants to knock themselves out, go ahead, I don't care one way or the other.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

Something http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/biggrin.gif

Seriously, though, it looks interesting, possibly something worth an extended campaign. What's the feasability of the Romulan Star Empire moving in and subjegating all of them lock, stock and barrel?

Holy Christmas Cochrane! As if I'm not busy enough pilfering and perverting your Perseus Federation stuff!
sigh. The Sheliak's work is never done!
Okay! Right off, that's a pretty darn big Empire. Not a little patch of space. Given their location, the Zipanji would make superb foils for anyone utilizing the available Cardassian materials for an all Cardassian campaign. That's what I'd do with them.
Set before the Dominion War, and you have a "worthy enemy" that Cardassians can tackle with the full force of iron-fisted Cardassian cunning, and with a clean conscience! The Federation will never know the menace that Bold Cardassia has been protecting the rest of the Quadrant from for decades! Well. not until after the War, anyway!
After the Dominion War, you have a new power on the board, trying to move into the weakened Cardassian sphere of influence. Good setting for multi-species campaigns. Give one player a Klingon ship, another a Romulan warbird, add PC Starfleet and Cardassian ships, all working together against a common foe. (I've run All-Captain campaings before. It works splendidly as long as everyone has a common enemy and a common goal. Solves the old "Who's going to be the Captain?" question and lets everyone have the fun of running a ship in multi-ship combats.)
Had some serious misgivings about space-worthy snake-dragons, then had the image of a starship crew trying to deal with the snarling THING that has wrapped itself over the hull and is GNAWING through the plasma conduit struts. SOMEONE is going to have to go OUTSIDE, in suits, to "discourage" it. Only volunteers, please. Special Hazard Duty replicator rations. Bonus Holodeck time. Somebody? Volunteers?

Hmm. Fairly busy with the PF stuff, but if you want to toss a couple of subject species my way, I'll see what I can do. Just let me know which ones you're not developing yourself. Always willing to bash out a template or two. Keeps me awake!

I'm assuming that there has been no known contact with the Zipanji by anyone, then, right? Or have the Ferengi had contact but not said anything because no one paid them for the information? How far beyond Cardassian space are they? Have there been contacts with the Cardassians that the Cardassians did not survive to report? (This is significant because it will help indicate their own preparedness level. Are they building up a defensive border near Cardassian space or are they simply colonizing?) I assume they have no knowledge of the Borg and vice-versa?

I'm asking because at tech level 6, they should have a considerable space presence and warp capability. If they're close to known space, there's a good chance they'd already have been discovered by someone. That's why I ask.

As I said, I don't care one way or other if people contribute. I think the Rommies are too far away to have much contact. I said these were small because I see the Feds, Roms, and Klings being much bigger. Now that I think of it, the Cardies are probably smaller. Using them in a Cardie campaign is a good ideer. Its possible that the Zipanji don't realize how unfeasable space snake dragons are.

Th subjects subject to me are the Manchans, Hamog, Kaila, and Aiu. Designing any of the subjects, you should try to figure out where I got the name from. They are variations on things relating to Japan, in my mind anyway. They are based on cities, islands, states, countries, peoples, and Trek aliens in eastern asia, the pacific, North and South America, and Europe, as well as some trek characters and actors.

Thanks for the comments thus far and hopefully others will chime in. Hmm, maybe if I were to comment more on others' creations, mine would get more comments...

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

[This message has been edited by Cochrane (edited 08-15-2001).]

Thought so. The similarity of "Zipanji" to "Zipang", a former name of Japan (And a HECK of a goofy-fun Movie, I might add!) was too close.
Truthfully, I gotta tell ya', I'm not particularly in favor of designing Trek aliens modelled quite this closely on identifiable human history. Kind of gimmicky.
Doing a "loosely inspired by X-culture" species is not quite the same as recreating Terran Topography in space. It's a matter of personal preference, I suppose.
First off, I'd ditch the direct parallel names or mutate them significantly more into an "alien" flavor. Then, I'd add some descriptive elements to the Zipanji to make them more alien as well. There's lots of jokes about the "funny forehead syndrome" of Trek aliens, but those bumps and wrinkles and such are shorthand visual clues that these ARE supposed to be aliens. In TNG era Trek, I'd say almost all aliens should have some physical descriptive mark distinguishing them from humans. In TOS, it's not as big a deal. TOS aliens tend to be perfectly human in appearance, but "dress funny". Then there's the Revised Movie Canon view, that even TOS aliens always "really" looked alien.
For the Zipanji (I've no particular problems with that name. It's obscure enough that most players won't get it.) I think I'd go with Japanese actors with flat overlapping scales over the bridge of the nose and up the forehead. Not the bumpy crests of Klingons, but something like it, only flatter. Then I'd give them long hair with braids. That's what I'd do. Maybe even fangs to emphasize that "draconic" personality.

I really like the idea of what exploring
what lies "on the opposite side" of the
Federation's neighbors.

Consider: a lot of the Germanic barbarians
invading the ancient Roman empire were driven
to do so because of pressure from the
steppe-dwelling Huns, out on *their* eastern
frontier. Something analogous might happen
in the "Star Trek" universe, if *somebody*
started gnawing on the "opposite side" of
the Klingon empire...

My idea was that the Zipanji are just berely far enough away that no one from our neck of the woods has heard from them. Until the time of an adventure about them, of course. Or maybe the Ferengi know about them, as suggested. I doubt that they know much about the Borg so far. All of this is subject to alteration, mutilation, or corruption by anyone who sees fit.

The entire empire may be as far down as TL5 when it comes to space propulsion.

You're right, Bob, I will have to do extensive modifications. Hey, I didn't give it much thought, it all came to me in one day. It's true that elements of human history have been used in trek, but thickly veiled and normally as a mixture of more than one culture. Although there is that little matter of Hodgkins' Law of Parallel Planetary Development, what I've don is not in the best of taste.

I had planned on most, but not all, of the subjects to be near- human, but that's gotta go too.

I've thought about saying the Star Fleet Universe ISC borders both the Romulans and Klingons opposite the Federation.

I like adding new threat races for in case the canonical ones cease to be a threat.

I have no problem whatsoever with revising the Zipanji empire to be in better taste.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!