Orions

[Phoenix]

The skin was light green, slightly off from where it was suppost to be (FYI a bit of humor about ST:TAS the person who ended up resposable for coloring was R/G color blind, and that is why the Kzin's ship was pink as well as a few other problems here and there).

Phoenix..

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
-Napoleon

[toadkiller]

A few more bits - I've always kept them to one side but Orions have been a long term part of my game.

Like Imagus my individual Orions can be from most any "culture" they might be a hard working member of the UFP even, though most of these are freed former slaves of their offspring. I've established small communities of Orions on a few worlds in the UFP mostly alongside the Deltans who seem to be most able to understand them. Regardless of their background most of my Orions end up being about power in one way or another. It may be fairly benign - an Orion scientist that must be the TOP researcher in her field regardless of how many papers she has to publish, or very dark the Orion mob boss that will control this market regardless of who has to be killed. Basically I don't always have money drive them - but they tend to compete for *something*.

I've also created "Library" a world, possibly the Orion homeworld, that seems to have been the central repository for a variety of the ancient races mentioned in Trek. However, over a century ago the Orions quarantined it as a dumping ground for discarded slaves and renegades - who for reasons of their own are keeping pretty quiet about what they have uncovered, for now. The PC's know that there is wonderful things there but the main Orion "government" won't allow SF, or anyone else near the place.

Do like those Orions - sometime I'll have to take the time to write up my 1/2 Orion Captain NPC....

TK

[flip]

The novel where Sulu and Chekov joined an Orion Pirate ship was "Prime Directive". They met Captain Krulmadden in the Rigel System, seven or eight I think, and Sulu earned a berth by beating up (with a jug swingin Chekov helping) his two crewmemebers/lackeys/ "loathsome sores", coincidentally Krulmadden's cousins.

The ship was surplus, and was a hodgepodege of, military grade Andorian and Starfleet equipment. The Captain also mentions that he and his ancestors used fissionable materials
for even warp power.

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"Mission? what mission?"
"Save the galaxy."
"AGAIN?!?!?!?!"

[Aedh Rua]

My Orions are modeled on the Carthaginians, more than anyone else, with elements of generic "decadent empire" thrown in. I used some Orion mini-states as minor villains back when I wanted to develop a Kellinnan Reach campaign.

Anyway, Orions are all green. They have very strong patriarchal families, with a very important social role. Lots of property is held by families and not individuals, for example. Families are normally led by the oldest male, or, in some families the richest.

Women are completely subjugated. This is not meant to be some kind of romantic or sadomasochistic "Gor" type of thing. Orion men are usually villains, and are usually plain brutal and mean toward women, though individual exceptions are always possible, of course.

Most Orion governments are republics with a two-man presidency, similar to that of either ancient Rome or ancient Carthage. The governments don't do much but keep the army running, and keep the economy as unregulated as possible. A few Orion statelets have one or more slave-races, and those governments often have a role in keeping the slaves in line.

Orion companies are usually family-owned, with each adult male in the family having some say on how things are run, but with the oldest men having the most power. A few companies are owned by coalitions of families. Most Orion companies are small, but some are huge indeed, particularly in heavily-Orion parts of space.

There are several Orion Syndicates and not just one. Most of them are basically just standard Orion companies whose business happens to be illegal in one place or in many places. Many of these Syndicates are also more greedy and power-hungry than the average Orion business, and, as a result, they often amass tremendous power on Orion worlds.

Many seemingly innocent companies are actually Syndicate-controlled, and the Syndicates also control many Orion governments.

Both Orion companies and the Orion Syndicates have no qualms about employing aliens. Whatever their numerous other faults, Orions have few racial prejudices. Aliens can, and do work themselves into leading positions on many Orion worlds.

Orion religions are usually polytheistic, purely practical in orientation, and characterized by lots of flashy ritual. Generally speaking, an Orion worships a particular deity because that deity promises him or her material success or protection. When you think of Orion religions, at least in my world, think of Robert E. Howard.

Orion culture has little in the way of morals or ethical standards. The typical Orion values things or actions based on how they effect him or his family. Partly as a result, truly depraved behavior, while not common, is more tolerated by Orion culture than most others.

An example of truly depraved behavior? Well, imagine an Orion who purchases several slaves, gives them partial sex-changes against their will, and then rapes them on a regular basis. Depending on the Orion world, such a person will certainly be regarded with some distaste, and will probably be the subject of gossip, but will not be prosecuted unless his homeworld is looking for a trade treaty with the Federation.

Orion culture is very, very old, and some periods of the old Orion Empire (actually at least 10 or 20 different Empires, some of them coexisting) were very advanced. Also, there are many periods of history in which the Orions were not nearly the decadent psychopaths portrayed here.

Even the psychopathic Orions I tend to create do have a few virtues. They are brave, practical, and very curious about the world around them. They just also happen to be, mostly, brutal, corrupt, and treacherous.

A few other notes: Orion styes tend toward the baroque, sort of like Tibet meets Aztec Mexico, with elements of Andy Warhol. Orion clothing tends to the minimal, with lots of tatoos; this is LUG orthodoxy. Orion foods are usually very spicy, but often include "rare" ingredients which other races find to be, ah, an acquired taste.

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Slan agat!

[Sheliak Bob]

The Orions in the TAS episode "Pirates of Orion" had light BLUE skin, both in the broadcast versions I've seen and in the pre-record tape version I've watched. This always made sense to me since the one male Orion we actually saw in TOS was disguised as an Andorian. With a naturally blue skin, all he needed was the white hair and antennae.
So, I've always gone with a sexual dimorphism, Green females and Blue males.
I enjoyed the FASA version with its multi-racial Orions and used a variation of that for years.

[Diamond]

A large part of what looks suspitously like the FASA Orion sourcebook text can be found on the web at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/8067/

I once owned that sourcebook but lost it years ago. So I can't tell if this is the exact sourcebook or if it just sounds darned familiar.

[spyone]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Diamond:
A large part of what looks suspitously like the FASA Orion sourcebook text can be found on the web at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/8067/

I once owned that sourcebook but lost it years ago. So I can't tell if this is the exact sourcebook or if it just sounds darned familiar. </font>

Clearly derived from, but not identical to, the FASA material.
The chapter titles match up, with a few added. ("Orion Beliefs" not present in the original.)

Aslo, much of the text has been subtly altered. Example:
"As a humanoid species, Orions greatly resemble Homo sapiens. Males average 1.7 meters in height, and weigh around 70 kilograms, while females average 1.5 meters in height and with approximately 60 kilograms. They live approximately 150 standard years." -- Web Site

"As a humanoid species, Orions greatly resemble Homo sapiens. Males average 1.7 meters high, and mass around 70 kilograms, while females average 1.5 meters and 60 kilograms. They live about 90 standard years." -- FASA


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You're a Starfleet Officer. "Weird" is part of the job.