Looking for Input and Help (longish)

[AslanC]

As some of may know I run a Star Trek rpg offline. I am planning on introducing a new galactic power, operating out of the Perseus arm of the Galaxy. (Ala the Perseus Federation)

Now the idea is to use Hodgkin's Law of paraller development, in that there is a planet called Terra in a system called Sol and the Roman empire never fell, but continued to grow into the major world power.

The Empire eventually became just a republic with a senate and hasn't had an Emperor for at least 500 years by this point.

Much like the humans of Earth they went out into space and met other aliens and became friends. The end result is a Federation type governement (known as either the Alliance or the Star League, haven't decided yet) who share almost identical morals with the Federation. Eaquality of all sentients, individual rights, socialist care for all citizens, etc...the only diference is that they have no Prime Directive. They believe it is their duty to aducate and advance less developed races to help spare them to horror of potential self destruction. They don't force themselves on anybody, but they offer. Most accept. I am planning on calling them the Solomani in honour of Traveller.

Their primary enemies are the Zhodani (again in honour of Traveller) who are decendants of an Arabic tribe who fled Terra after losing a revolution against the Solomani. They are like Khan and his folowers in that they use genetic enhancement, believe in the strong over the weak. Think Khan meets the Fremen (from DUNE). They are also developed psionists.

What I am looking for is just some general feedback and ideas bouncing. I find many of you have great ideas and are great sounding boards for the creative process.

I look forward to the discussion

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Aslan Collas
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Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[Owen E Oulton]

You could do a little more filing off of the serial numbers to make it less obvious to players - change the names to non-Classical (i.e. non-Greco-Roman) mythologies.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Owen E Oulton:
You could do a little more filing off of the serial numbers to make it less obvious to players - change the names to non-Classical (i.e. non-Greco-Roman) mythologies.

Okay I am open to suggestions

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Aslan Collas
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Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[SIR SIG]

Heck if its semi roman based, then why not the Latin League of Planets or LLP! Just all the latin ie roman citystates before and during the early republic.

And if indeed they are romans in space then they are expanding for the benefit of Rome/Terra. et al!

Can you see that I studied Roman History?

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

[Evan van Eyk]

I agree to the Latin thing. I would name more Latin things, e.g. call ships the Celestia ( skylike ) and things like that. You could also make something like a threat from an emperor in the future, turning the more or less peaceful society in brutal conquerers.

[Dan Gurden]

This is a cool idea with plenty of scope both as a Hodgekins Law and alternate universe...

Of course with a totally differing history, it should be remembered that if Rome never fell then civilisation and knowledge would have increased through the Dark Ages, possibly leading to accelerated technologies...

If you make them a few (a few... ha!) years ahead technologicly wise then they are likely to outclass Starfleet vessels in most ways. And those advanced jump engines will allow near instanteneous access to the Alpha quadrant if things break down...

Dont forget the design ethic. Would their ships be the same design as Starfleet? Or something else... The contract numbers (If applicable) could be in roman numerals... Crews probably rounded up or down to even centurys...

And to really throw a spanner in the words... Every 100 crew gets a Centurion... Mention the rank when the Starfleeters are about and I bet they think Romulan...

Im looking forward to learning more about this...

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Dan.

"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"

[AslanC]

Cool thinking to some extent and as such I am going to capitalize on it!

Does anyone know anymore about the Roman military, ranks, titles etc...

Oh and what was the name of that TOS planet that was Roman? I might add a crewman from there

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Aslan Collas
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Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[Don Mappin]

Wow, I take a week off and we're still helping Aslan write his adventures? LOL!

A few thoughts off the top of my head:
The first thing that strikes me is the believability factor. Humans (how did they get there) with a society that mirrors our own so closely? Surely the players are going to suspect something is fishy (even if it isn't). Is Q messing with us again? How did this culture become corrupted to model ancient Rome? Etc, etc.

Essentially, keep the Roman trappings, but don't call them Romans from "Terra" in the "Sol" system. Just as others have said -- try to disguise your intent a bit better.

Okay, here's my Really Far Out Idea For The Day. Anyone who's been around here for awhile knows I love the Fading Suns universe. It's a Sci-Fi fall of the Empire of Earth and into the Dark Ages kind of setting. Essentially, science fiction meets some of the elements of Pendragon and Dune. (No, my description doesn't do it justice.)

If I wanted a complete (and I do mean complete) adversary that is intensely detailed and lends itself well to being "evil," or even just expansionistic, Fading Suns is it. You can pretty much drop the entire campaign world into this spiral arm of the Galaxy with a little work and have a fully-dynamic empire for the taking. (Oooh, I'm getting chills just thinking about it.) The only things you'd have to change/remove are the references to Holy Terra (home of the church) and Humanity's flight to the stars. Easily done.

Wow. I love this idea. If you don't use it, I sure am!


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net


[This message has been edited by Don (edited 03-27-2001).]

[SIR SIG]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AslanC:
Cool thinking to some extent and as such I am going to capitalize on it!

Does anyone know anymore about the Roman military, ranks, titles etc...

Oh and what was the name of that TOS planet that was Roman? I might add a crewman from there

</font>

What do you want to know AslanC? Email me for details.

Basic ranks of the top of my head are (ascending order):

Legionare
Tri.... (a corporal, lead a squad of about 8 men)
Optio (Staff sergeant)
Centurion (Centurion was the main rank with lots of grades, depending more on seniority then ability)
Tribunes
Legate

Like I said email me for more specific stuff!

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'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Phantom]

Sig,

I believe the term you are looking for was Triarii. The rank of Optio was closer to a Lieutenant and Centurions were a mix of company commander and first sergeant, they were ranking officers but were also responsible for the discipline of the troops.

Military tribunes were more of a political posting so the senate could keep an eye on certain commanders.

[Phantom]

I'm not sure if this is going to help or not, but there was a TOS ep. very similar to the Roman idea he is using. It mirrored Earth developement to the Roman Empire right to the point where Sejanus plotted against the Emperor Tiberius. On our Earth Sejanus' play for power failed and he was executed. On the other planet Sejanus succeded and overthrew Tiberius somehow securing Rome from falling. The Enterprise arrived on the scene at the beginning of the rise of Christianity, something about "the Son".

My point is they were for all intents and purposes "human" and it was the Roman Empire, said in the ep., so why can't AslanC accomplish the same in his campaign? I really don't think his players will jump to conclusions...Then again I don't know any of them so I am making an assumption.

I have studied the history of the Roman Republic/Empire as Sig has...I very much like the idea of the LLP.

AVE ROMA!

[AslanC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Don:
Wow, I take a week off and we're still helping Aslan write his adventures? LOL! </font>

:P and that's all I have to say about that...

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">A few thoughts off the top of my head:</font>

Okay I snipped here. I have read Fading Suns (our Engineer is in love with the game) An interesting idea, but unfortunately it is not what I am looking for here. Like I said this is a case of Hodgkin's Law so of course they are from Sol and Terra and are Romans. The framiliarity is the sci-fi aspect of it.

The adversary is not evil by any means. They simply are proactive instead of reactive. They adhere to the same precepts as the Federation. They just don't have the Prime Directive. They believe it is their duty to advance lesser species and cultures. Also when a society joins them they also take on the laws of the Senate/Alliance/Confederation/Commonwealth/etc...

Also what they were referring to disguising was Traveler RPG refernces, specifically Solomani and Zhodani.

Still not sure if I will use those or not.



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Aslan Collas
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Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[AslanC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by SIR SIG:
Heck if its semi roman based, then why not the Latin League of Planets or LLP! Just all the latin ie roman citystates before and during the early republic. And if indeed they are romans in space then they are expanding for the benefit of Rome/Terra. et al!</font>

Okay while I am not sold on the LLP name, I like the idea. So instead of a United Federation of Planets, would this be Astris Roma? I mean there is no Emperor (outdated concept), a Senate runs the show. So what would they be, Republica Astris Roma?

I know little to no latin, so any help is appreciated

Also, can someone draw the parallels between Starfleet ranks and Roman ranks so I can get a better idea of who should be a what?

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Aslan Collas
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[This message has been edited by AslanC (edited 03-28-2001).]

[Phantom]

Here's my two Denarius worth:

Astris Roma
Republica Astris Roma

I think they could work, my Latin is not all that strong either. You could also use a motto like SPQR, perhaps something like SAQR (Senatus Astra Que Roma: Senate and Stars of Rome. Just an idea.

As to the ranks that could be hard to find information on. Romans didn't make great sailors. They had to reverse engineer a Carthiginian Galley that washed up on the shores of Italy to make their navy, they made multiple copies of the same ship. When they engaged in naval combat their main tactic was to ram and entangle the enemy, so they could board and fight hand-to-hand on the decks (basically making a floating battlefied).

Renegade Legion, a game series from FASA, put out a list of Ranks, thou not based on ancient ranks, to my knowledge, they are based somewhat on the Greek model. The RL model is as follows:

Naftis jg CPO
Naftis Warrant Officer
Diopos Sub-Lieutenant
Keleustes jg Lieutenant
Keleustes Lt. Commander
Archikelustes Commander
Pluiarchos jg Captain

After Pluiarchos jg there is Pluiarchos, Navarchos, Commodore, Rear and Vice Admirals, Admiral and lastly Grand Admiral. Another title I came with in the last RL campaign I ran was that of Magister Navis (First Officer) I can't remember if it is historical or not, however.

I realize these ranks and titles are rather fanciful, but they have served my games. If anyone has "offical" ancient Roman Naval ranks I would also be interested in seeing them.

AVE!

[Capt.Hunter]

As for starship design, I don't think it'd be similar to that of Starfleet. IIRC, current SF designs were influenced by a merging of both human and Tellarite aesthetics and designs. Without Tellar as an ally, these Roman dudes would have taken a different route.

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"The more top brass briefings I attend, the more I want to take a phaser to the whole lot of them..."

Captain Matt Hunter, USS Tempest, NCC-81205