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Thread: "Aliens" Contents

  1. #46
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    Oh yeah,

    What is a Chelerian and will we ever see Coda Artelines, Pselliads, Palmans, or Harelians?

  2. #47
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    Re: Atreonids

    Originally posted by Cochrane
    What is an Atreonid, and why aren't Axanar, Breen, Flaxians, or Hirogen suited to being player characters?
    Atreonid is the species of the Federation President in Star Trek VI (also the Saratoga's navigator in Star Trek IV, since they used the same makeup design).

    As Jess mentioned, it's not that they're not suitable, just that much more effort may be necessary to do so. In some of the cases you mentioned, this is due to the mysterious nature of the species (especially the Breen).
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  3. #48

    Question

    So Atreonid is the new name for Efrosian then? I know that Efrosian was what the makeup department called that race, but it's not 'canon' 'cos it was never on screen, (yeah whatever). But does anyone know where the name Atreonid come from?
    "And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."
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    and a full load of quantum torpedoes would be quite nice too."

  4. #49
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    Originally posted by AndorMan
    SNIP

    whatever new name you want to call the Caitians...

    SNIP
    I have heard reference to this problem before. What is the issue with using the name Caitians?
    Steven "redwood973" Wood

    "Man does not fail. He gives up trying."

  5. #50
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    Originally posted by redwood973
    I have heard reference to this problem before. What is the issue with using the name Caitians?
    I don't know that it's a problem, but IIRC, Caitians is a FASA term and isn't actually canon.

    Not that that has ever stopped anyone.

  6. #51
    The name Caitian is from the animated series and hence is not 'canon' and so anyone using it will be ritually sacrificed by a crack squad of Paramount Ninja-Lawyers.

    Or something like that.

    To sneak an animated series reference in authors have to be subtler - some of the DS9 and Enterprise writers have managed it. But using the word Caitian is too blatant.

    We know that whatever name is used in any future book that they are really Caitians, and that's good enough for most folks
    "And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."
    "Though a cloaking device, pulsed phaser cannons
    and a full load of quantum torpedoes would be quite nice too."

  7. #52
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    A species of cat people was seen in living color at the hearing at the end of Star Trek IV, and seemed to pretty clearly be Caitians in all but name. The name was never mentioned on screen at any rate, but as Identity Crisis noted, we all know what they're supposed to be.

    As I understand it from some references on S. John Ross's page, they became the Regulans ("We can't call them Caitians, but trust me, they're Caitians!" is, I believe, all but an exact quote from S. John's site), and they should be in the Star Fleet Operations Manual, if I remember the list o' contents mentioned elsewhere on this board correctly.
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  8. #53
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    Originally posted by PGoodman13
    A species of cat people was seen in living color at the hearing at the end of Star Trek IV, and seemed to pretty clearly be Caitians in all but name. The name was never mentioned on screen at any rate, but as Identity Crisis noted, we all know what they're supposed to be.

    As I understand it from some references on S. John Ross's page, they became the Regulans ("We can't call them Caitians, but trust me, they're Caitians!" is, I believe, all but an exact quote from S. John's site), and they should be in the Star Fleet Operations Manual, if I remember the list o' contents mentioned elsewhere on this board correctly.
    That's right, they're in the Ops Manual as Regulans. And they seem rather "Caitian" to me... :gryn:
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  9. #54
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    OK. . .the name Caitian upsets Paramount because it was used in the animated series, and so it can't be used?

    What is Paramounts beef with the animated series? They licensed it, right?
    Steven "redwood973" Wood

    "Man does not fail. He gives up trying."

  10. #55
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    Originally posted by redwood973
    What is Paramounts beef with the animated series? They licensed it, right?
    I've never heard a complete explanation ... but what I have heard suggests that getting unencumbered access to that property would involve a lot of lawyers, a lot of money, and a lot of time. By unencumbered, I mean the freedom to do with it whatever they wished, without paying or consulting anyone else. The contracts were written differently then.

    Remember that when the animated series was created (1973-1974), Star Trek was not the behemoth it is today. Paramount is, by most accounts, *extremely careful* how it writes Trek related contracts now. That may not have been the case then.

    It seems likely that they don't consider the material of sufficient value for the effort required to get at it. Sort of like in the shell pecans.

    And as a rule, I'd agree. It ran 22 episodes of less than 1/2 hour each -- that's only about 11 hours of material, less than half a modern television season.

    There were some interesting concepts, such as the Caitians and the Vendorians (long before the Founders), but there were also some dumb concepts (whatever species Lt. Arex was -- it's extremely unlikely that a tripedal species would evolve along those lines. John Christopher did a better job envisioning such a species in "The White Mountains" series of books -- and those were aimed a young adults!) YMMV.

  11. #56
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    Originally posted by Fesarius
    There were some interesting concepts, such as the Caitians and the Vendorians (long before the Founders), but there were also some dumb concepts (whatever species Lt. Arex was -- it's extremely unlikely that a tripedal species would evolve along those lines. John Christopher did a better job envisioning such a species in "The White Mountains" series of books -- and those were aimed a young adults!) YMMV.
    The only real information from TAS that is considered canon is what was developed of Spock's childhood (Dorothy Fontana wrote? I know I'm messing her name up.). The background that appeared in one episode was taken from the ST bible, and is considered part of Spock's history.

    Lt. Arex was Edoan, if FASA had the species name right.
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  12. #57
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    Basically, if terms like "Efrosian" and "Caitian" don't show up in the movies or the live-action series, we can't reference them. This is doubly true if they've showed up in other copyrighted materials (such as other games or books) but we didn't invent them.
    So, occasionally, we have to invent terms in order to sidestep this difficulty. ;-)

    J.H.

  13. #58
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    Originally posted by Sea Tyger
    The only real information from TAS that is considered canon is what was developed of Spock's childhood (Dorothy Fontana wrote? I know I'm messing her name up.). The background that appeared in one episode was taken from the ST bible, and is considered part of Spock's history.

    Lt. Arex was Edoan, if FASA had the species name right.
    You are referring to "Yesteryear", and you spelled her name right. Thanks for the update; I wasn't aware any of TAS was considered canon, although I use certain races and concepts. For example, I envisioned a story that I never ran, involving Section 31's use of Vendorian shapeshifters to counter Founder shapeshifters.

  14. #59
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    Jesse/Doug/Don,

    Are there going to be any expanded alien creation rules in the Aliens book?

  15. #60
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    I hope one of the next books to be announced is an Aliens Volume Two, including Wadi, Vapulans, other canon Gamma Quadrant races, and/ or newly created Gamma Quadrant species, hopefully some of them would "normally be suitable" as PC species. Along with your regularly scheduled Alpha Quadrant and Beta Quadrant species, and Delta Quadrant species as seen fit, such as Haakonians, Myleans, Baneans, and Briori.

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