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STORY WORKSHOP 2022 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2


STORY WORKSHOP 2022 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2



Eventually, it is time to plot our story for Episode 2, so I thought I'd open a new Story Workshop thread. I have ideas for what the next Episode will be given the current story projection with Donatra and the Romulan fleet's arrival at the Klingon border, but I bet all of you may have ideas for the storyline ahead as well, so I would like to start a third workshop where we pool our minds into paving the path forward! :)

The conclusion from the last Story Workshop was as follows:

Quote
To summarise, Episode 01 of the new Season will set all of this in motion, with the thelaron bomb in Paris, the message from the Infested, the Praetor ending the Romulan Civil War and declaring war against the Federation and the Klingon Empire both. I think what makes the most sense for Episode 01 besides this build-up of the Season overall, is to focus on Martok and his to-be-decided rival in the Empire. It being in the Theurgy's interest to support Martok, the first Episode could be about preventing war within the Empire and also making sure Martok remains in power.

I would say we did exactly that, didn't we? :) Some of the older writers may have noticed how the methodology of Episode 01: Advent of War, was different from the more linearly progressed Episodes in Season 01, and I would say that the results are mixed. In so many words, I listened to the feedback after Episode 05 and heard how some writers felt that their characters didn't get to have enough "free time" for character building one-on-one threads. This was something I opened up for a lot more, with a lot of In-Character time passing between each development so that people could focus on characterisation alongside the main story development. In that regard, I think it worked really well in my own opinion.

Moreover, there was some feedback on how some writers wanted to have more latitude for side-missions which they could run in support of the Episode's progression. Taking that feedback to heart, Advent of War was built on what we used to call Story Objectives (now Prompts), which had me taking a backseat role in driving those facets of the story forward. The problem that arose was that these side-missions sometimes held back the progression of the main story development since in order to progress that, there were outcomes that needed to be established in the various Objectives. With the Covid pandemic also slowing the posting ratio, Advent of War was not a quick affair, but I would say we finished it in a grand finale!

So, comparing the way I drove the story in Season 1 and how we did it Advent of War, I'd say that in interest of keeping the pace and the path forward clear, some awesome things could be learned from Advent of War, while other things are better to be run like in Season 1. We are over 30 writers that need to have things to do for their characters, so in that regard, the Prompts are a good fallback option, but I think more clear direction is needed, yet without curtailing creative license, so that is my ambition for Episode 2.

I do know there are pitfalls in paralysis-by-analysis, OOC planning sometimes stalling more than helping progression, but I know some need more direction than others in order to feel they have the fodder they need. It's a fine balance, the needs of all different writers quite varied, but I feel that as GM, the challenge is to advise writers without giving too much instruction, but to always help them with ideas for their characters when they don't know what to do next. This, even when too much help could look like I am favouriting them over others, those whom I know don't need any help at all and I am confident can write anything they put their mind to.

Anyway, for those who want to be a part of the development of the story overall, this is the place! The theme for Season 02 is to prevent another intergalactic war, in so many words, and to go after the Infested as best as they might. With this overall peacekeeping theme, the Theurgy will be facing situations where the crew have to deescalate rising conflict that the Infested are trying to seed, and also try to neutralise them on an individual basis.

So! Now, we bring out the big brush and sketch up the overall aim with Episode 02, shall we? No rush, though, because we should take our time and chillax with the major storyline until we've had our fill of the Interregnum. Nonetheless, some starting thoughts of mine, which I take from the old Workshop and add some new things:

  • The UFP President, Nanietta Bacco, managed to survive Paris, but when Starfleet Intelligence cite that Praetor Tal'Aura of the Romulan Empire is the most likely to be behind the attack, she authorises Starfleet to investigate and act on this threat to the Federation. At the end of Episode 01, however, Garak is on board with what is really happening, and may affect what the President and the few survivors of the Federation Council does.

  • The Romulan Star Empire has declared war on the Federation, and Tal'Aura - the Praetor - has implemented the use of thalaron weaponry in order to end the Romulan Civil War swiftly (despite the galactic ban against use of thalaron particles in warfare). Before attacking Federation space outright, she is currently subduing not just the Remans, but has sent the decimated rebel fleet of Donatra's running for the Klingon border. Donatra has ended up a mere renegade leader of a broken fleet instead of the Empress she'd proclaimed herself to be. The Praetor would, since the manipulated Gorka isn't in power, claim that the Klingon Empire are enemies, since they had openly sided with Donatra and even helped give sanctuary to Reman refugees inside Klingon space.

  • Starfleet Command would react appropriate to the Praetor's violation against the ban on thalaron weaponry, and mobilise in reaction to the Praetor declaring war against the Federation. The Theurgy has become a second priority since not only has Donatra been defeated - the alleged ally of the Theurgy and Captain Ives - but they have the Praetor to worry about. Needless to say, with the Infested having infiltrated both Starfleet Command and possessed the Praetor, they have everything they need to begin a war. What will they do now that they failed to put their puppet - Gorka - in power of the Klingon Empire? I'd say, with Martok in open support for the Theurgy's mission and the Infested risking exposure, there is plenty of motivation to attack the Klingons, right?

  • So, together with a challenged Martok, and possibly a disgraced Donatra, and with a secret alliance with the rebels in the Savi Flotilla, the Theurgy will have to head back into Federation space and try to deescalate the tensions. They need an ally like Ambassador Elim Garak to gain the ear of the President of the UFP, and they have to coordinate with Director Anderson in Starfleet Intelligence to try and be one step ahead of the Infested. As their inside man, Director Anderson would feed intel to the Theurgy that would help them stop further use of thalaron bombs, and help them spread the truth about what's really going on.

  • Lastly, we have the Scion High Council of the Savi Flotilla. The Infested there will have an interest in stopping the Theurgy as well, and to further seed unrest in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. I have already mentioned this before, but in regard to the origin of the Infested, it has been suggested already that someone had to be the first Infested. Someone that made the initial temporal breach into a future where the nameless darkness have reached the Milky Way Galaxy. Now, which species are devoted to science... and tend to push too far in their research?

    A Savi made the breach, which means that the key to finding the breach might be with the Scion High Council.

Just like in the last two workshops, I realise that some might have more than one idea for an Episode, and unfortunately, I will be asking you all to only pitch one plot arch for Episode 02 per writer. I very much would like to avoid everyone throwing as much stuff on the wall as they can just so that something might stick. That won't be constructive at all. Instead, I want you all to pitch one favourite story arch. That way, only the plotlines you really believe in will end up in the workshop, and we go from there.

So, have at it and put forth your ideas at your leisure. No rush though, since the Interregnum has just begun. :)

Best,

Auctor Lucan

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #1
So I myself have been mulling something over:

Within Trek canon we're getting fairly close to when the impending Hobus supernova is discovered. Picard was dispatched to assist in 2382 in the new novel. The Romulans obviously discovered the impending issue first (and it's implied that the Romulans themselves may even be responsible for the nova). My thought's were that we could somehow work the Hobus nova into our story. The Parasites want to return the galaxy to a state of pure energy, and a nova is just a destructive energy wave really. What if the parasites discover the Nova and within our story, try to accelerate it? They'd effectively wipe out  one of the 'big 3' powers in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and also destabilize the entire region with a massive influx of refugees and sparring powers, beyond the two that are already combatting one another within the Empire.

I think the crew could discover this in a huge variety ways. Maybe they're testing the tech on another local star, and the ship or a small team goes to investigate, discovering that they're working on it on a much grander scale. Hobus is one of the oldest stars in the Galaxy, full to burst with raw energy. The damage would be astronomical. Hell, even in KelvinTrek, Spock makes it clear that the only reason the Nova didn't wipe out half the quadrant was because he was able to stop the blast with Red matter.

I'm not certain if it would make a lot of sense for the crew to actually stop the supernova entirely, particularly if they were meddling with it to try and accelerate it. However, I feel like our characters might be able to at least slow it down, to allow the natural progression of evacuation etc. to save as much life as possible. Obviously, there would be a lot to hash out about this, but that's what the brainstorming thread is for!

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #2
Gotta do something with Thalaron radiation. Find some kind of defense against it. I believe that was something that you (auctor) mentioned in Discord Chat, and part of why I made the character that I did.

"We have the need to work on some kind of counter measure for Thalaron radiation weaponry because the Romulans are coming" From Discord General from auctor on 10/22/21.

It will be interesting to see what we do with this, and will have to be something we need to get going on before the end of Interregnum. At least get some theories going for a "thalaron dispersion field" or whatever. I'm working on some ideas that we can develop this with my Nara character. But I'm sure you'll have your own.

We might have to see a full scale Romul;an civil War, especially if the Hobus Supernova happens or is thwarted. I'm not sure we want to see Nero and the Narada make an appearance though? Bip had some good ideas with working towards Hobus being a plot point in the upcoming timescale.

Hell, we might even see part of Starfleet siding with the Klingons against other elements of Starfleet? I'm sure that there's some elements of the Fleet that would have some respect and trust for Martok, knowing him as an honorable man, and maybe having a different view of Kopek wanting out of Khitomer.

We could potentially have the Savi poke the Federation with their own sorta stick, be it diplomatic or otherwise.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #3
Gotta do something with Thalaron radiation. Find some kind of defense against it. I believe that was something that you (auctor) mentioned in Discord Chat, and part of why I made the character that I did.

"We have the need to work on some kind of counter measure for Thalaron radiation weaponry because the Romulans are coming" From Discord General from auctor on 10/22/21.

It will be interesting to see what we do with this, and will have to be something we need to get going on before the end of Interregnum. At least get some theories going for a "thalaron dispersion field" or whatever. I'm working on some ideas that we can develop this with my Nara character. But I'm sure you'll have your own.

We might have to see a full scale Romul;an civil War, especially if the Hobus Supernova happens or is thwarted. I'm not sure we want to see Nero and the Narada make an appearance though? Bip had some good ideas with working towards Hobus being a plot point in the upcoming timescale.

Hell, we might even see part of Starfleet siding with the Klingons against other elements of Starfleet? I'm sure that there's some elements of the Fleet that would have some respect and trust for Martok, knowing him as an honorable man, and maybe having a different view of Kopek wanting out of Khitomer.

We could potentially have the Savi poke the Federation with their own sorta stick, be it diplomatic or otherwise.

Nero and the Narada weren't really super critical to the actual nova. In Beta Canon (I think?) they were mining inside of the Hobus system when they discovered the weird readings right before the star expanded and destroyed the system. In the new books though, the Romulan Government was aware of the Nova already so not sure. what they were up to, either way I'm pretty sure they really just 'Witnessed' it all and then took their rage out on Starfleet after the fact since they backed out of the relocation effort, effectively stranding a large number of Romulans. It's more complicated than that but...

Then we'd have to get into the whole mess of the Narada having borg tech from the artifact.

I love the ideas about Thalaron tech though! There's a huge storyline there.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #4
Sporadic thoughts mainly centered on the original Infested species (good luck in tracking the following):

Ba'Ku, Organians, Cytherians, Vissians, Douwd, Pah-Wraiths, Voth, Iconians, Slavers..were all ideas that came to mind for species who were first to be Infested as for each one of these they are noted for being either chaos oriented and highly evolved, highly advanced tech that led to their destruction, evolved too far too fast and those that survived swore off this or that in order to maintain morality, and etc.

If you choose Pah-Wraiths, for example, that could be why they became corrupted and were cast out of the Prophets (very controversial thought of course). The Douwd could've had that incentive to develop their super-duper powerful abilities in order to eradicate the Infested from within their ranks. For the Cytherians, the Infested could be why they changed from being explorers to having folks come to them after they too evolved powers to eradicate the Infested. I'll admit I'm not as well versed on the Voth and Vissians personally, but they showed up as being advanced tech science-driven. The Organians could be similar to the Douwd and the Ba'Ku are always messing shit up (personal opinion).

For the Iconians, that could be why their civilization came to such an abrupt end despite being at the top of their game 200,000 years ago and with how vague they are in the online lore it could work to our advantage to flesh them out further without constraints. The Slaver empire was super duper advanced, aggressive, and hardcore, then poof destroyed itself. With both the Slaver empire and Iconians, folks are still finding tech spread throughout the empire and it is all super powerful and dangerous, so stuff is there but buried and it takes excavations to find them. Same as with Kzinti, if the animated series had continued, they wanted to incorporate Slavers more and if the board accepts Kzinti then Slavers could be accepted because they came from the same creative genius (Larry Niven I believe) and were both featured in the animated series (which interestingly they both appeared in the SAME episode "The Slaver Weapon.")

Not to break minds or anything, but similar to the Forerunners in Halo when they "reset" the galaxy in an effort to eradicate the Flood, perhaps the Iconians or the Slavers did something similar to seal the breach the void that the Infested came through?

As for how they're introduced: Maguffin for Slavers! Literally, the Slaver boxes are things that are found around the galaxy and are sealed to where time does not pass within them and different items are found inside, never the same things. Theurgy could find one such box and there's data in there about the Infested breach and how to seal the void or perhaps even an old school Infested itself? But even if not one of those, finding data, be it digital or physical from an informant, would make sense. Maybe they get a tip from an NPC or an old friend, etc?

Also, Slaver tech is super sought after because so much of modern tech was inspired by them, and peoples who find their stuff tend to advance beyond their neighbors nearly overnight (according to the lore in the episode) so again IF this was something they found they'd be a hardcore target by a lot of folks for more than just being Theurgy and enemies of the Infested. Now they'd be targeted even by supposed allies. Even Martok would think twice about just letting the Federation waltz off with such tech. Also, could be the Savi found a Slaver tech gizmo that caused the breach in this century? Though he is clueless about the manner in which the Scion High Council ended up as Infested, even Echtand suspects they might be the first ones.

Took a break in writing homework and these thoughts spilled forth, so again if you tracked through congrats!

Links for references:

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #5
Sporadic thoughts mainly centered on the original Infested species (good luck in tracking the following):

Ba'Ku, Organians, Cytherians, Vissians, Douwd, Pah-Wraiths, Voth, Iconians, Slavers..were all ideas that came to mind for species who were first to be Infested as for each one of these they are noted for being either chaos oriented and highly evolved, highly advanced tech that led to their destruction, evolved too far too fast and those that survived swore off this or that in order to maintain morality, and etc.

If you choose Pah-Wraiths, for example, that could be why they became corrupted and were cast out of the Prophets (very controversial thought of course). The Douwd could've had that incentive to develop their super-duper powerful abilities in order to eradicate the Infested from within their ranks. For the Cytherians, the Infested could be why they changed from being explorers to having folks come to them after they too evolved powers to eradicate the Infested. I'll admit I'm not as well versed on the Voth and Vissians personally, but they showed up as being advanced tech science-driven. The Organians could be similar to the Douwd and the Ba'Ku are always messing shit up (personal opinion).

For the Iconians, that could be why their civilization came to such an abrupt end despite being at the top of their game 200,000 years ago and with how vague they are in the online lore it could work to our advantage to flesh them out further without constraints. The Slaver empire was super duper advanced, aggressive, and hardcore, then poof destroyed itself. With both the Slaver empire and Iconians, folks are still finding tech spread throughout the empire and it is all super powerful and dangerous, so stuff is there but buried and it takes excavations to find them. Same as with Kzinti, if the animated series had continued, they wanted to incorporate Slavers more and if the board accepts Kzinti then Slavers could be accepted because they came from the same creative genius (Larry Niven I believe) and were both featured in the animated series (which interestingly they both appeared in the SAME episode "The Slaver Weapon.")

Not to break minds or anything, but similar to the Forerunners in Halo when they "reset" the galaxy in an effort to eradicate the Flood, perhaps the Iconians or the Slavers did something similar to seal the breach the void that the Infested came through?

As for how they're introduced: Maguffin for Slavers! Literally, the Slaver boxes are things that are found around the galaxy and are sealed to where time does not pass within them and different items are found inside, never the same things. Theurgy could find one such box and there's data in there about the Infested breach and how to seal the void or perhaps even an old school Infested itself? But even if not one of those, finding data, be it digital or physical from an informant, would make sense. Maybe they get a tip from an NPC or an old friend, etc?

Also, Slaver tech is super sought after because so much of modern tech was inspired by them, and peoples who find their stuff tend to advance beyond their neighbors nearly overnight (according to the lore in the episode) so again IF this was something they found they'd be a hardcore target by a lot of folks for more than just being Theurgy and enemies of the Infested. Now they'd be targeted even by supposed allies. Even Martok would think twice about just letting the Federation waltz off with such tech. Also, could be the Savi found a Slaver tech gizmo that caused the breach in this century? Though he is clueless about the manner in which the Scion High Council ended up as Infested, even Echtand suspects they might be the first ones.

Took a break in writing homework and these thoughts spilled forth, so again if you tracked through congrats!

Links for references:

I really love the idea of bringing in some of the old species in some form, with a caveat -

The Iconians are little...overpowered. That could just be due to my experience with them within STO, but they always come across as a bit much. Maybe with some adjustments they'd work for our story. Now, the Voth and the Ba'Ku I think are both excellent candidates. I think it's a really cool idea to flesh out some of the ancient civilizations that Trek hasn't done too terribly much with, and tie the infested in with them. The Voth, would be hard to do since as far as I know at least, they're strictly a Delta Quadrant species and thus far the only Federation ship that has had contact with them was Voyager, and they only returned in 2378, so only a few years ago. I imagine that Intelligence and the Diplmats at Starfleet are still sifting through sensors, personal logs, etc. regarding the journey in the Delta Quadrant. Might be interesting to see some Voth pop up though. Ba'Ku are much closer, but there are so few of them that are fairly intricately tied in to Starfleet as of the events of 'Insurrection'.

Either way, I think using any of those species at a tie in would be really cool, and maybe through one of them the crew might be able to discover a thing or two about the Infested previously unknown. How they use it, or what they discover however, I have no idea. In any case, really cool ideas in my opinion!

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #6
One idea!  What to choose from???  I kid.

Anyway.  I have to agree that the Ba'Ku in themselves are too little a factor to be a major player on the galactic stage, but they could be forced into events.  With the increased use of Thaloron weaponry, people will be searching for counter measures and the regenerative properties of the radiation surrounding the Ba'Ku planet could be of interest.  I was seeing this as a covert Romulan research outpost is setup on the planet that needs to be seized, or Theurgy gets wind of an expedition to setup the research facility/obliterate the planet and has to send a force to stop it.

If we're also re-introducing other species, how about the infested get a hold of the Gorn and they decide that Cestus III really is worth fighting over as the first shots in a wider war.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #7
The Iconians have a history fleshed out for them due to the works of Star Trek Online which **is** considered canon until CBS dictates otherwise.


It is possible that the Infested were accountable for the multiple race wide rebellions/envious attacks that culminated in their retreat to the Andromeda Galaxy - but other factors would have to be called into question.

If the Iconians do become a factor, I would love to work on that front.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #8
So, after finally giving this thread a read, I have some thoughts. Please don't hate me for them as they are just my opinions.

We don't need the Iconians, at least not at this stage. Perhaps down the line we could have a lost Iconian artefact or weapon be a plot device but for Episode 02, I do not feel that this would be beneficial to us. Also, it was confirmed in the first episode of Picard that it was the Romulan Star that went Supernova, Link 01 and Link 02. Perhaps this could be a plot point for a future episode in preventing the stars destruction, perhaps from that Iconian weapon. At this stage though, Romulus is just too far away and I think this episode would be beneficial with us not jumping in giant strides across the Quadrant at every turn.

No, for Episode 02, I pitch that we focus on the Klingon/Romulan border, perhaps also where the two borders meet with the Federation boarder. We have a ship that is designed to split and operate as individual units for an extended period of time and I feel like we should make use of this for the episode without it being a giant emergency. Thea's subspace link would be active this time unlike in Episode 05 after the Versant's attack, so all three vectors would still be in contact with each other. Perhaps we have to stop a Romulan fleet in one area while dealing with Gorka loyalists in another. There is also the Niga threat to deal with as well if that is still a thing come Episode 02. Maybe the Loyalist Romulans plan to target the Reman world that the Klingons gave them. And it doesn't have to be three different threats. It could be two and we pair Vector 01 and Vector 03 together and have Vector 02 operate independently.

I just think that it would allow for a nice bit of overall development along multiple fronts without us having to resort to slipstreaming, Soliton waving, Savi shipping service to get everywhere.

That's just my two cents. Feel free to ignore them.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #9
How could the Pah-wraiths be infested? Both they and the Prophets, are non-corporeal. @Ellen Fitz
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Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #10
Late to the party ... fashionably  /;-D

So I got two ideas, basically not so much referring to anything new for Episode 02, but rather elaborating on threads started in Episode 01.

First and foremost, the meeting with Donatra, who will arrive at the Klingon border son, likely before Theurgy gets there. The idea floated with Actor previously was that the chief diplomat could lead a delegation ahead, potentially on the Allegiant (though I am not sure on its whereabouts since the Green mission), to greet the Romulan first. Now I have seen in the outline for week 2 of the Interlude that Bartok is already leaving Qo'nos to make his way to the border, so maybe this delegation could accompany the amassing fleet - or warp ahead (which I would prefer) to make first contact with Donator and establish a common ground. All writers interested would be welcome to join where it makes sense.

Secondly, to touch back on the imminent parasitic threat, another idea was floated about how people inside Starfleet Command, who are not infected, would probably pick up on the weird going's on and strange decision making over time. Therefor I had two NPCs created in advance that could serve this purpose. The deputy chief of Starfleet security and a Federation Senator. Both survived the Paris bombing.
Around October/November of 2380, Admiral T'Pel starts noticing changes in the behavior of senior command. Wayward orders, an air of unquestioned loyalty, hushed rumors among their direct subordinates. Having worked in Security all her career, she has developed a sixth sense for things seeming off, even only in the slightest. (AL has offered to provide more detailed instances for concern to be picke dup on)
After following and cataloguing the anomalies for two months, she gets in touch with a SFI Handler in late 2380, whom she had previously cooperated with on various covert Strafleet operations, pertaining to the security of the fleet. They have several undocumented meetings over which they discuss their respective findings/concerns. Subsequently, she casually starts mentioning her suspicions to her husband, Senator T'Pel. Theories ranging from a coup, orchestrated by conservative forces within SFC, over a resurgence of the shapeshifters & Dominion, to a measure of foreign intervention by the Romulans. Just to name a few logical possibilities.
Paris gotbombed, while Senator T'Pel is visiting his wife at SFC HQ. In the immediate aftermath and the subsequent handling of the incident by the leadership in SFC, circumventing the political arm of the Federation, both figure out something is completely off the rails here. They get in touch with their SFI contact Hurley in a desperate plee to help them find the surviving members of the Senate and get them off world to safety.
While the two get to work trying to contact the remaining senators, getting them to a safe place on earth, Hurley calls in a favor from an old 'friend', lowlife Stellan Foster the 1st - Kate and Stellan Fosters miscreant father. He's made a career for himself smuggling contraband from and two earth for decades, establishing a well oiled illegal trade organisation in the process. His private ship can travel under false credentials as various alien freighters and other civilian craft, making it the perfect getaway vehicle.
Together, they get all remaining political figures aboard and leave the sol system, not getting in contact with SFC or the president, figuring either would potentially be corrupted, as the highest echelons in the Federation. Not until they have managed to establish a safe exile government. Which would be any governments main goal after an event such as the Paris bombing.
If they were to travel a speed of warp 9, they could cover the distance of roughly 80ly to the Klingon border by week 3 of the interlude. I've previously been in contact with Ellen to have Enyd acquire classified information from the Federation Embassy on Qo'nos, which could turn out to be records of said flight plan. The assumption by both the Admiral and the Senator is, that the Theurgy crew may be right in their thesis of the infected, and as such they seem to be the logical support and ally to seek out, in their attempt to keep the Federation government operable. Which would, however, require their knowledge of Theurgy's last known position to be in Klingon space, somehow.
If this information was to surface on Theurgy, a team would have to travel and meet with the vessel, to bring the remaining politicians to either Theurgy or a safe place elsewhere.
At the same time, what is going to happen to Garak and the President? Is Starfleet One still in orbit around earth? Should Garak be contacted again as well, to reunite the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federation somewhere? And will they attempt to take back control of SFC trough legal pathways?

Phew, that was quite a bit lol

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #11
First thoughts off of my head:

1. The enemy is...not really something that can be conventionally fought.  there's no reliable way to prevent possession, there is no apparent internal division, and there's no cure (yet) which means the only way to control the infection is expensive and can't be relied upon too much.  the ONLY upside is it seems it can only get meat puppets occasionally/at a limited rate.  So there is a hard cap on just how many infected there can be, which can be calculated if we can figure out the infection rate,  how it spreads, and how long it's been active. 

2. as such, any immediate efforts to deal with the problem are basically futile long term, but can buy time to figure out (a) what this thing is (b) how it thinks (c) how to cure the infected and (d) how to permakill or seal it away.  Whatever it is has a number of logical flaws in its ideology (chief among them: wiping out life, which increases entropy as part of its existence, to increase entropy in the universe, a goal that is inevitable and pointless to accelerate as far as we're concerned) and has made plans that can be foiled with reasonably low casualties by people who are competent and thinking on their feet, which means it does have a mind that can, to some degree, be understood; it's human enough to be wrong and make mistakes, basically.  But you need the first 3 items, I believe, to be sure of (d). 

All of this is going to be really hard to attain at present.  The political situation is, I believe, the more pressing matter in the short term for reasons outlined above.  Civilian government is, apparently, not infected, which means the enemy made a pretty big mistake; Starfleet is pretty thoroughly subordinated to the civilian government, and historically coup attempts and mutiny, when they do occur, are dealt with swiftly and the status quo reestablished, which means there's never been major popular support for the military overstepping its bounds, even at the height of Founder paranoia. 

So basically, getting the President a list of infected, with proof, is the key.  The enemy cannot, as far as we know, infect sufficient people at sufficient speed to control a significant portion of the fleet.  So a decap strike and the sequestering of infected officers is not just possible, but a short term major victory against the enemy.  The likelihood of anything more than failure to sequester every last infected officer is low, and while there is a pretty good chance there is an infected agent keeping an eye on the President, we have technology that we know works on them. 

It would, I believe, help if we had a quality cloaking device. 

tl;dr:

1. Victory possible in theory, currently practically impossible. 

2. Short term win to buy us time for working out the kinks of 1. entirely possible and requiring only some careful planning to cover major loose ends and avoid "somebody posted the wrong status update to the wrong Facebook" kinds of stupid SNAFUs. 

3. A good cloaking device would make all our lives much easier. 
Really enjoying writing a halfway stable character for once...

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #12
So, after finally giving this thread a read, I have some thoughts. Please don't hate me for them as they are just my opinions.

We don't need the Iconians, at least not at this stage. Perhaps down the line we could have a lost Iconian artefact or weapon be a plot device but for Episode 02, I do not feel that this would be beneficial to us. Also, it was confirmed in the first episode of Picard that it was the Romulan Star that went Supernova, Link 01 and Link 02. Perhaps this could be a plot point for a future episode in preventing the stars destruction, perhaps from that Iconian weapon. At this stage though, Romulus is just too far away and I think this episode would be beneficial with us not jumping in giant strides across the Quadrant at every turn.

No, for Episode 02, I pitch that we focus on the Klingon/Romulan border, perhaps also where the two borders meet with the Federation boarder. We have a ship that is designed to split and operate as individual units for an extended period of time and I feel like we should make use of this for the episode without it being a giant emergency. Thea's subspace link would be active this time unlike in Episode 05 after the Versant's attack, so all three vectors would still be in contact with each other. Perhaps we have to stop a Romulan fleet in one area while dealing with Gorka loyalists in another. There is also the Niga threat to deal with as well if that is still a thing come Episode 02. Maybe the Loyalist Romulans plan to target the Reman world that the Klingons gave them. And it doesn't have to be three different threats. It could be two and we pair Vector 01 and Vector 03 together and have Vector 02 operate independently.

I just think that it would allow for a nice bit of overall development along multiple fronts without us having to resort to slipstreaming, Soliton waving, Savi shipping service to get everywhere.

That's just my two cents. Feel free to ignore them.
Entirely possible IMO to "split the party" and target multiple fronts but it'd be complicated from a writing POV and also would run the risk of writing ourselves into a corner with covering too many plot hooks too quickly. 

Also, each team is basically on their own.  If someone needs to be in two places at once, they're gonna get frustrated. 
Really enjoying writing a halfway stable character for once...

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #13
@GroundPetrel an interesting breakdown of thought there. Let me first say that the Theurgy has access to the finest quality cloaking device available. A Reman Cloaking Device was installed onto the ship just prior to the Battle Of The Apertures. As for your other points, its is an accurate and concise summary of what we have been dealing with. We definitely wouldn't want an easy enemy to defeat as we would then have to find a new opponent.


Entirely possible IMO to "split the party" and target multiple fronts but it'd be complicated from a writing POV and also would run the risk of writing ourselves into a corner with covering too many plot hooks too quickly. 

Also, each team is basically on their own.  If someone needs to be in two places at once, they're gonna get frustrated. 

We have written across multiple fronts in the past. Episode 05 of Season 01 had the ship separated into its 3 vectors, as well as having characters aboard the Savi ship Versant, and aboard the Allegiant as it was on it's own mission. We would of course have to manage the plot points for writing but we already do that. And I am not suggesting something as expansive as 3-5 locations. Even just being in two places at once would be enough to heighten the drama. And yes, each group would be on their own, that would be the point. Each group would have to deal with events within their arena with what they have. Each writer would know exactly where their character was from the beginning. So I don't see how that would be a point of frustration. Each writer would have to be a little creative in writing within the limitations of their locations and available characters.

That is the challenge and fun for writers.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #14
Awesome discussions! I will be weighing in here soon, but I will let more writers post their ideas for the coming Episode first now that the Newsletter has reminded about it. Just a quick amendment!

Let me first say that the Theurgy has access to the finest quality cloaking device available.

The Theurgy itself does not have a cloaking device any more, since if you recall the Battle of the Apertures, the technology didn't quite mesh with Thea, causing somewhat of an engineering nightmare mid-battle. The cloak wasn't operable. Instead that Reman cloak was installed on the Allegiant, which was of the size that the cloaking device could work on.  :)

Best,

Auctor Lucan


Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #16
May I just say add that there is no problem with finishing off the big baddies of the Infested within the first round of the next season as there is the aftermath "mop up job" of dealing with the political and social ramifications therein. Also, moving on to other bad guys and incorporating more exploratory-type prompts in the season could be a nice breather as well.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #17
@GroundPetrel an interesting breakdown of thought there. Let me first say that the Theurgy has access to the finest quality cloaking device available. A Reman Cloaking Device was installed onto the ship just prior to the Battle Of The Apertures. As for your other points, its is an accurate and concise summary of what we have been dealing with. We definitely wouldn't want an easy enemy to defeat as we would then have to find a new opponent.


Entirely possible IMO to "split the party" and target multiple fronts but it'd be complicated from a writing POV and also would run the risk of writing ourselves into a corner with covering too many plot hooks too quickly. 

Also, each team is basically on their own.  If someone needs to be in two places at once, they're gonna get frustrated. 

We have written across multiple fronts in the past. Episode 05 of Season 01 had the ship separated into its 3 vectors, as well as having characters aboard the Savi ship Versant, and aboard the Allegiant as it was on it's own mission. We would of course have to manage the plot points for writing but we already do that. And I am not suggesting something as expansive as 3-5 locations. Even just being in two places at once would be enough to heighten the drama. And yes, each group would be on their own, that would be the point. Each group would have to deal with events within their arena with what they have. Each writer would know exactly where their character was from the beginning. So I don't see how that would be a point of frustration. Each writer would have to be a little creative in writing within the limitations of their locations and available characters.

That is the challenge and fun for writers.
WRT. the cloak my concern is that I don't recall if it covers all three parts if the ship's split. 

Otherwise, fair points.  :)
Really enjoying writing a halfway stable character for once...

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #18
May I just say add that there is no problem with finishing off the big baddies of the Infested within the first round of the next season as there is the aftermath "mop up job" of dealing with the political and social ramifications therein. Also, moving on to other bad guys and incorporating more exploratory-type prompts in the season could be a nice breather as well.

As much as I would like to see that occur, I think the issue with the infested could easily take up all of Season 2.  Here are some of the issues as I see it and feel free to disagree.

1. The current Romulan offensive has to be turned away.  Diplomatically would be the best, but could involve heavy fighting to force an operational pause and possible stalemate.
2. Breaking the stalemate to get to Romulus in order to get at Tal'Aura.  Creating the environment for what amounts to a mad dash at Romulus to remove the infestation from Tal'Aura
3. Development and deployment of the temporal technologies in the story prompts with as little interference as possible
4. New technologies to detect infestations throughout the galaxy
5, Gathering the necessary strength for a drive on Sol in order to deploy the new technologies while Starfleet could be hella confused as to what's going on and possibly fighting each other.
5a. This also assumes we're not dealing with other infested baddies like with the Cardassians, Dominion, etc. or other non-infested factions who are looking to take advantage of Federation confusion for their own gains.
6. Highly theoretical, but a dimensional barrier to prevent further infestation.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #19
And just saw the follow up convo XD

Yeah, we could ask Martok for some spares to install on our segments? Could be useful for not getting caught by infected agents if we go for Earth. 

Also, @Ellen Fitz , while I think you make good points, even wrapping up the immediate infected threat in the next couple of seasons, there would still be a lot of "how tf does this thing even work?" to do before proper security against said threat is established.  We just have a great opportunity to deal with the bulk of the immediate threat because the enemy has basically completely overextended itself and left an exploitable weakness, probably because it thinks it understands the Federation better than it really does, at least IMO. 
Really enjoying writing a halfway stable character for once...

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #20
I'm really enjoying all these discussions on the content at hand. So I think the Ba'ku or Iconians I'd rather not see here. Iconians I'd have too much issue being so involved in STO to make it make sense and they were defeated by arrogance and lower races and Sela. So in turn they destroyed the Hobus. Ba'Ku I do like the instance of their regenerative planet as a counteractive for the thalaron.

I do like the Infested manipulating the Hobus to terminate it and create havoc across the quadrant. Also like the possibility that the infested's arrogance is their downfall in overplaying their hand. I like a lot of what @stardust posed.

Also don't think Narada or it's crew matter in this.

So my thought is if we are able to have a remote secret location for the un-infected diplomats to coordinate with the various powers and those not among the infested. That the Allegiant could have a small task force with one or two intelligence, diplomats, security to escort them to the location. Which would put some of those Theurgy crew in direct danger with the infested and command.

Otherwise I'm in agreement with a lot of what Stardust and AL proposed. I like a lot of the ideas though. Would like to see some covert ops missions however to further their own infiltration of the infested's chain of command.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #21
It occurs to me: in Episode 01, the Theurgy brute-forced an end to the civil war. They took on a Klingon fleet, fought to get Martok to Qo'nos, fought to save Praxis, succeeded at Andoria and so on. For the entire episode, the Theurgy was in a position of strength as the biggest baddest badass of them all. They achieved a major victory, secured a powerful ally, and are now more badass than ever.

So what if we flip it? The Romulans can't out-fight the Theurgy crew (the Klingons tried that and it didn't go well), so instead they out-think the Theurgy crew: cloaking devices, hit-and-run attacks, diversions, ambushes. Perhaps Scimitar-class warbirds comprehensively defeat the Theurgy, forcing them to abandon a mission and run away or risk destruction. Heck, make it a Kobayashi Maru no-win situation. We don't even need to do heavy damage to the ship to make that work.

The crux is that while Episode 01 focused on the Klingons, Episode 02 will (apparently?) focus on the Romulans and their historical enmity with the Federation and Klingons. The Romulans rarely use brute force, instead winning by other tactics. It might be interesting to see the Theurgy crew try to accomplish their mission while being the underdog, so to speak.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #22
It occurs to me: in Episode 01, the Theurgy brute-forced an end to the civil war. They took on a Klingon fleet, fought to get Martok to Qo'nos, fought to save Praxis, succeeded at Andoria and so on. For the entire episode, the Theurgy was in a position of strength as the biggest baddest badass of them all. They achieved a major victory, secured a powerful ally, and are now more badass than ever.

So what if we flip it? The Romulans can't out-fight the Theurgy crew (the Klingons tried that and it didn't go well), so instead they out-think the Theurgy crew: cloaking devices, hit-and-run attacks, diversions, ambushes. Perhaps Scimitar-class warbirds comprehensively defeat the Theurgy, forcing them to abandon a mission and run away or risk destruction. Heck, make it a Kobayashi Maru no-win situation. We don't even need to do heavy damage to the ship to make that work.

The crux is that while Episode 01 focused on the Klingons, Episode 02 will (apparently?) focus on the Romulans and their historical enmity with the Federation and Klingons. The Romulans rarely use brute force, instead winning by other tactics. It might be interesting to see the Theurgy crew try to accomplish their mission while being the underdog, so to speak.

This might be fun with undercover espionage with particular crewmembers undergoing physical modifications to appear Romulan and infiltrate their ranks to help from the sidelines.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #23
I disagree with the use of the scimitars based on current Reman backstory. Otherwise, absolutely agree with most of the above. But I think we could stretch this across 2 or 3 episodes here.

Re: STORY WORKSHOP 2021 | EPISODE 02, SEASON 2

Reply #24
Two pennies from a newb incoming...

If I were the infested trying to sow chaos and confusion amidst an unsuspecting galaxy, my biggest guns would be subterfuge, misinformation, and misdirection. With that in mind, while we are playing with the Romulans (separating the ship or otherwise) to deal with all of the known threats: thalaron, impending war with klingons/Federation, donatra and her band of rebels, I'd play the ultimate switch-a-roo and have my own thalaron production facilities in fed space (seeing as how the Praetor is one of us, and more than likely shared everything about the WMD's to her fellow glowworms) building and planting more bombs on one or more fed capital worlds - or Romulan. Regardless what we do/or dont, in the end, world(s) will burn.

Point is, like Griff said, the Theurgy has pulled off some pretty impressive victories already - by the skin of its teeth, and not without cost - but a wins a win. So while I really dig Stardust's idea, and really don't have much else to contribute at the moment - it seems to me a pyrrhic victory might be due to us.  

 
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