-
Oh, that's a good one. I like that concept of the Vulcan Empire - you might want to work into it a reformer coalition for the Empire, however. The internal politics there could be intriguing.
It also depends on how divergent you want to get - the further back, the more differences, obviously.
Recent What-If scenarios - Romulan/Vulcan reunification. This becomes even more interesting if you are using the Taurhai. Vulcan pacisfistic tendencies being introduced into the Romulan culture would go a long way into breaching the gulf between the Romulans and the Taurhai. And if the Vulcans ceded to the Romulans, how dramatically would that affect the balance of power in the AQ and the internal politics of the Federation?
No Whale Probe - What if the TOS crew didn't get a chance to redeem themselves by saving Earth? What affect would a rogue Kirk and company have on the history of the AQ? All sorts of spin offs there. Sybok as the avatar of the incarnation of evil that the crew encountered in ST:V. No Spock to initiate diplomatic contact in ST:VI leading to a vastly destructive war with the Klingons.
Oh, and if you are going to have a sliders style campaign, you might want to think about a recurring villian to add spice to the game. After all, there is a strong argument for and Fed characters NOT to interfere in any of these realities, as a corollary to the Temporal Prime Directive.
The Krenim and the Tholians work well as entities seeking to shape alternate timelines to their ends.
-
OOH, I like those ideas, too. You folks are just FOUNTAINS of useful concepts. http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif
There's not a single Vulcan on my crew, though, which could make things even more tense: "What are you SLAVES doing with a starship??"
Maybe the Orion Syndicate is instead the Orion Underground... hmm...
-
Here's an alternate universe I made for Nephilim. It's not very develloped since it was a one shot scenario but here is the idea:
During the 19th century France was under the egyptian fad, everything from egypt, design, hyeroglyph, iconography, was trendy. I pushed it a little more further http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif .
The character suddendly found themselves in Paris 19th century with streets covered with sand, crocodiles in the seine, and a great Pyramid in place of the Louvre with the first Pharaoh Napoleon reigning. I also added an underground led by romantic writers (Rimbaud, Verlaine, Theophile Gautiers, etc... ) helped by Jule Verne's fantastic machines fighting agains the Pharao's army.
Something that could be called a Steampunk egyptian fantasy http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif
The rest is too much nephilim to be adapted or explained in a one liner http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif .
Have fun.
P.S: the aliens in TNG with the serpent thing that can travel through time would be a nice add on to this universe, the cobra staff is very... egyptinan like, maybe they are the power behind the Napoleon Pharao's throne http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif .
------------------
Hoping You'll understand all of this :)
-
Personally, I love alternate universe stories. One very successful one I ran later spawned an ongoing villain for the series I hope to run soon.
The Crew got catapulted to an alternate DS9, where to their shock they found Benjamin Sisko, and Glinn Garak commanding the station!
In this timeline, the Cardassian Hebitian Age never really ended. They develpoed as a peaceful, tolerant and inquisitive species. However, Bajor went the other route-they became a theocratic Empire. They conquered Cardassia roughly the same time as Bajor was conquered in the "real" universe. First contact between the UFP and the Bajoran Hegemony occured roughly 2340, and the Hegemony immediately declared war on the unbelievers. 25 years later, the UFP had pushed the Bajorans back to their home system on their border with the UFP. In the process, Cardassia had been liberated. Finally, a peace was reached, and Starfleet towed Terok Nor out to the Denorios Belt to act as a watchtower of sorts against Bajoran aggression. Terok Nor was an ore refinery where Cardassians and other infidels were worked to death. Then the wormhole was discovered, but Sisko was never named Emmissary. The Bajorans took the Celestial Temple's existence as a sign and prepped for another Holy War against the UFP. Then the JemHadar came spewing out. The UFP rallied and formed an alliance with the Klingon, Romulan and Bajoran Empires, and pushed the Dominion back through the wormhole.
Then they watched as the other ships went in after the Jem Hadar.
The three Empires pursued the Dominion back to the Founder's homeworld and destroyed it. both the Klingons and the Romulans suffered atrocious losses, and some whisper the Bajorans used them as cannon fodder, then turned on them after the battle.
That was the state of things when the PCs arrived. Kira was Kai, Bariel was a general, and Leeta was an admiral. Ro Laren ran a resturant in exile on DS9. Starfleet and the Hegemony were really the only powers left, and the UFP was watching with trepidation. There were no Sovereign vessels yet, the Enterprise-D was under the command of Admiral Picard, and there was no Defiant. Instead, Starfleet had a fleet stationed at DS9.
Needless to say, the situation got messy before they were able to return-esp. when they discovered that the Bajorans had stolen Jem Hadar weapons that this Starfleet hadn't developed a defense against yet.
I had a lot of fun with that one, esp. when the PCs were approached by that realities shapeshifters for help. I had constructed that reality to illustrate the theme that all too often, the oppressed become the oppressors when given the chance. We had a few Bajorans in the Crew, boy were they shaken when they saw Cardassians being brutalized by their own counterparts.
Hope this helps, any questions feel free to e-mail me at verbena76@hotmail.com.
------------------
Is it a good thing if our Narrator is listening to Stabbing Westward while plotting our game?
-
I kinda like the idea of the Bajoran Hegemony as an enemy of the Feds. Puts the shoe on the other foot in the Bajor Sector, so to speak.
My thought on the Orion Syndicate in the Vulcan Empire is that is is still a criminal organization, with LOTS of Vulcan friends.
I was actually thinking about it for a few minutes earlier today. Where would be the headquarters of the leading noble House opposed to the Incarnate of Ket-Cheleb? Rigel seemed obvious.
Now, the Vulcanoid Rigellians woudn't exist in my Vulcan Empire universe, because in my view they left Vulcan to escape the reforms of Surak, rather as the Romulans did but with a different philosophy.
Instead, Rigel was settled by other Vulcans, after the development of warp drive, mostly because it was so valuable as a trade center. The leading family of this group of Vulcans (House K'vec?? why not?) got very rich on trade and formed all sorts of under the table alliances with the local Orions. Enter the Orion Syndicate.
So, in a way you are right. The Syndicate does the dirty work for House K'vec in hopes that Orions will get a better shake in the Empire should House K'vec ever come to power.
In the same way, the Andorians and Klingons act as shock troops for their noble rulers, the Bajorans and Betazoids form local secret police forces for their two ruling families (in ferocious competition with the Kolinahru, of course), and the Humans and Centaurians both are the working class and administrators for House Sekir, which rules Earth and Alpha Centauri.
In case you are wondering, the head of House Sekir is Lord Sarek, who has his capitol in the city of Constantinople, on Earth. His son, Spock, is half-human, but still is his his heir and the head of his Home Guard. This is, of course, totally implausable given the thousands of years of alternate history involved, but it is also basically irresistable.
By the way, I hope that I got Spock's House name correct. I got it out of "The Way of Kolinahr", which is not in front of me right now.....
------------------
Slan agat!
-
So, would Spock be in command of a Star Ship? It would be kind of neat to have him be in charge of the first Vulcan ship the PCs run across. Really throw them for a loop. http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif
Chris
------------------
Shawks Haters Club! Check for Gills!
-
I've got one...
In the year 2377, three Cardassian vessels encountered a temporal anomaly that transported them back to the year 2069. Using their vessels and advanced technologies, they contacted the early Andorians prior to their contact with the Vulcans and made an alliance with the militant humanoids.
Utilizing replicators and other future sciences, the Cardassians "uplifted" Andoria and within fifteen months had constructed their first orbital platform and began producing warp-capable warships. Once a fleet of small, quick, heavily-armed ships had been built and large numbers of Andorian troops had gone through make-shift Cardassian "crash course" military academies to learn how to operate the vessels, they headed to the Sol system where they quickly (and easily) conquered humanity. They enslaved mankind in much the same way they had the Bajorans and forced them to strip mine the already damaged planet.
Despite the quick actions of the Vulcans and Centaurans, the advanced technologies of the Cardassian-Andorian Alliace proved too difficult to overcome and Vulcan and Alpha Centauri, too, were enslaved by the Alliance.
Over the next few years the Alliance conquered several "future UFP" member worlds as well as several worlds destined to become part of the Cardassian Union, bringing them "up to par" technologically and raping them of their natural resources.
In 2114, the Alliance, now by far the mightiest organization in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, turned their attentions to Qo'nos. Realizing the difficulties faced in bringing them into the fold, the Alliance nevertheless offered membership to the Klingons; they refused and their homeworld was saturation bombed from orbit until not a single living thing remained.
In 2121, the Cardassian Alliance traveled to Romulus where they hastily enslaved the populace. In standard Cardassian fashion, many civilians were rounded up and executed until the Senate finally capitulated. Slavery did not sit well with the Romulans, yet every time they attempted an uprising, they were brutally and mercilessly put down.
In 2124, a fleet of nearly 400 Alliance warships traveled through the Bajoran wormhole (the system having long since been conquered) and, under the obfuscation of cloaking technologies, moved into orbit around the Founders' homeworld, raining down fire from above until they, too, were slain. Turning their attention to the Gamma Quadrant, the Alliance invaded system after system, expaning their space to include literally hundreds of worlds and trillions of citizens.
The expansion continued until the Cardassian Alliance from the Alpha Quadrant met the Cardassian Alliance in the Gamma Quadrant, and the Alliance spanned literally 65% of three quadrants.
Having made Cardassia Prime the center of the vast empire, the Alliance prospered like no other. All resistance was met with force, and even the Borg Collective proved no match for the sheer number of Alliance warships; the last Borg Queen was exterminated in 2201. Using technologies taken from numerous species, and combining the scientific genius of scores of enslaved races, the Cardassians freed the drones of the Collective only to conquer and enslave them.
By 2377, this timeline saw literally over two-thirds of the galaxy laboring under Cardassian rule. Spanning nearly a hundred thousand light years, the Cardassian Alliance ruled as the supreme authority in the Milky Way.
Yikes! Imagine THAT scenario. My players are going to that universe on Sunday. Heh heh heh...
mactavish out.
-
Sounds like Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones might be seen as liberators. Call me prejudiced, but I have just never liked the Cardassians.
One could do an interesting variation on the Andorian theme by positing a world where the "New Andoria" flew six months later, but successfully.
The Andorians discover Humanity in the aftermath of the Third World War, and quickly become very influential just by providing aid. They discover the Centaurians, Vulcans, and Tellarites, and don't conquer them, yet.
Then, the Andorians meet the Romulans. Something like the Romulan War results, though the Andorians, having been in space a little longer than the Terrans, might do very marginally better, leaving the Neutral Zone half a light-year or so closer to Romulus.
In the aftermath of the war, and having received little help from its "allies", the Andorians create an Empire. This is a fairly benevolent empire. The Andorians just tax people, give aid to troubled planets, and forbid internal conflicts. The whole thing is ruled by the Kethni Council, and managed by the ADF. Although logically the Am Tal should not exist without the New Andoria disaster, perhaps something just like it evolves anyway, and becomes the Andorian FBI/CIA/NSA.
Eventually, the Empire comes to have a level of control similar to that of the Federation, but with only one race calling the shots, and no prime directive. The Klingon alliance evolves even more quickly and naturally, given that it is between two honor-obsessed warrior races.
Andorian and Klingon tech are very similar, though the Andorians are a little more advanced.
The theme here is a little different from the earlier Empires I have created. Here, the Andorians are mostly genuinely decent, nice people, who simply believe that if they don't "shoulder the Andorian burden" the galaxy will fall to the Romulans, Cardassians, or some other villains.
They might even be willing to listen to Federation visitors, though reform would take time, and a good number of duels.
------------------
Slan agat!
-
Another alternate that I've been aching to use involves the death of Zefram Cochrane before he designed, built, and launched his famous warp vessel, the S.S. Phoenix.
Without the introduction of warp technologies in the Sol system, the Vulcan explorers never bothered to land and make First Contact (sound familliar?). This pivotal event (or rather lack of it) led mankind to descend further into the abyss.
By 2079, the Eastern Coalition had conquered the majority of Eurasia, India, and Africa, leaving only Australia, the disparate nations of South America, and the remnants of the former United States free from its rule. Li Kuan and his successors managed to establish enough control to begin rebuilding the world, now with a distinctly Far Eastern feel.
Late in 2085, the Eastern Coalition launched a series of air attacks on the remaining citystates of North and South America, forcing them to capitulate. The few holdouts surrendered on July 16, 2088. Australia, on the other hand, had remained largely untouched by the nuclear, chemical, and biological attacks of previous years and, with the assistance of the numerous former-American and European military and technological experts that had sought sanctuary there decades earlier, the Australian Confederation had built up its martial prowess to such a degree that only a full-scale invasion would force their surrender... and that's what happened.
The Eastern Coalition invaded Australia in 2096 and, after three years of bitter conflict, the Australian Confederation was dissolved. The Eastern Coalition, under the dictatorial rule of Tsien Li, covered the planet.
By 2112, bases had been established on Luna and the E.C. orbital station Li Kuan served as both a surveilence platform and as a spaceship contruction facility. While still incapable of warp flight, the Eastern Coalition constructed several massive sleeper ships and dispatched them toward Alpha Centauri, Draconis, Rigel, and so on. Though only capable of a fraction of the speed of light, it turned out that the wait wasn't as long as expected.
Heavily-armed Eastern Coalition "torchships" traveled throughout the inner Sol system, protecting the world from some imagined threat. In 2125, the Vulcans sent another survey ship into the Sol system. Whether by skill or sheer luck, the Coalition spaceships managed to down the Vulcan survey vessel over Russia. Quick recovery teams converged on the spot, taking the vessel and the four remaining crewmembers into custody.
For six months, government scientists puzzled over the advanced technologies. For six months, psychologists and "motivational operatives" worked on the Vulcan "guests," attempting to pry their secrets from them. Finally, in 2126, two breakthroughs took place. First, the warp engine designs were finally reverse engineered to the point that they could be built on Earth. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the encryption sequences safeguarding the Vulcan computers were gotten from the commader (shortly before his "accidental" death), unlocking information about literally scores of inhabited star systems.
Hastily constructing numerous rocket-powered launch vehicles, nearly 20 warp ships were fired into space. Bristling with newly-developed weaponry and plasma-based defensive shields, these ships traveled to Alpha Centauri, boarding the sleeper ship along the way, upgrading its systems to make it warp capable, and converged on the Centaurans.
The brief, brutal, one-sided war saw the conquest of the Centauran people in a matter of weeks. Thanks to the Eastern Coalition's efforts in the fields of environmental sciences, however, new developments were quickly devised with the fusion of Centauran technologies leading to the speedy clean-up of both Alpha Centauri and of Earth.
Establishing a puppet government on Alpha Centauri, the collaboration between the two races (using the advanced Vulcan technologies as templates) led to the development of highly efficient fusion reactors, particle beam weapons, stronger metals for starship construction, and numerous other advancements.
Within twenty years, the Human-Centauran Alliance spread to include Tellar (viewed as second-class citizens, yet still prized for their engineering abilities), Axanar, and several other (formerly-pre-warp) planets. When the Alliance made contact with the Andorians, a brief war erupted. In the end, however, diplomats from both sides developed a lasting peace agreement that quickly blossomed into an alliance.
The Allies traveled next to Vulcan, arriving in 2149. Though the Vulcans possessed advanced technologies and weapons, the sheer numbers of Alliance ships and troops simply overwhelmed them. Their pacifism made them easy to conquer, and, like the Tellarites, the Vulcans became a second-class client race, their scientific prowess making them invaluable to the Alliance.
Encounters with the Klingons led to a shaky agreement between the two powers. While technically not a client race, the Klingons still served the Alliance in the form of soldiers and resources. The Allies were careful not to let any technologies reach Qo'nos that might lead to their development of warp capability, however.
When the Alliance encountered the Romulans in 2156, they believed that their foe would buckle easily under the massive show of force presented by their fleet. The Romulans, however, were not impressed. The war between the two powers lasted until 2159, when a "mysterious plague" broke out among the Romulan military, leading to the utter decimation of their forces. This disease (a genetically engineered form of Ebola) was fatal over 95% of the time and affected only Vulcanoids (including Romulans, of course). The Vulcans, however, were treated with anti-viral vaccines to prevent their infection; nearly two million Vulcans still died from the disease.
While neither Vulcans nor Tellarites were allowed to serve in the Alliance military, their contributions were many. Development of new techniques and technologies led to the swift pacification of the Romulans. When the Alliance landed on Romulus and Remus, the Senate literally begged for mercy and pleaded for the vaccine to save their people. The Alliance complied only after a complete surrender of the Romulan Star Empire. In all, over 40% of the Romulan populace died from the virus.
The Human-Centauran Alliance of 2377 spans much of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The Allied fleet is similar to the Federation Starfleet, but has a more distinctly Asian feel. Allied military personnel dress in grey and black uniforms, an amalgam of those worn by Japanese forces throughout the ages. Melee weapons (generally
the katana and wakizashi) are traditionally worn by armed forces personnel, though Andorian soldiers prefer the chaka and Klingons the bat'leth. Alliance starships are far more utilitarian than their Starfleet counterparts, remaining spartan, organized, and extremely clean.
Alliance worlds similarly follow the lead of Earth, their cities very Nipponese in design. An Asianesque culture dominates most Alliance planets, even Andoria and Qo'nos (though they also retain their own native cultures and traditions). A form of the Shinto religio-philosophy is also extremely popular, though other Terran (and other racial) religions and philosophies still remain.
The Alliance government has moved away from its totalitarian roots in favor of a more Republican system. While the majority of the power rests with humanity, a Parliament, housed in Tokyo, develops and debates legislation that affects the Alliance. The decision of the Khan, however, still overrules the Parliament. While the laws states that only a pure-blooded human may be the ruler of the Alliance, all races possessing citizenship are granted seats in the Parliament; Vulcan, Romulus, Tellar, Qo'nos, and many others, however, do not.
While there are numerous technologies available to the "standard universe" Federation that are unavailable to the Alliance (including phasers/photon torpedoes, anti-matter power, replicators, and transporters), many advancements are taking place every year, leading to new breakthroughs. Computer technologies in the Alliance, however, are somewhat more advanced/powerful than their Starfleet counterparts.
mactavish out.
-
That is a distinctly cool dystopia. The only change I would make would be to use more Chinese and fewer Japanese themes, and then only because Li Kuan is a distinctly Chinese name.
Alternatively, one could give Li Kuan's successor a Japanese background. Maybe his name was Yoshi Kamakura instead of Tsien Li....
------------------
Slan agat!
[This message has been edited by Aedh Rua (edited 03-07-2001).]
