Star Trek: Theurgy

If you haven't read AL's newsletter yet, do that first.

Then go cry.

There's been a lot of talk on Discord already, but I'm making a thread to discuss our next steps. To sum up the convo over there: we love this sim, there's nothing else like it, and we want this community to continue, even if it's somewhere else.

There's going to be a VC on Saturday July 8th, in Discord.

• 00:00 Australia (sorry Steg and Sqwel) July 9
• 22:00 Taiwan
• 15:00 Western Europe
• 14:00 UK
• 10:00 Eastern US/Canada
• 09:00 Central US
• 06:00 Alaska (also sorry Dume)

Please tell me if I mathed the time zones wrong.

Just as a note the 00 for Steg is Sunday at midnight.

For those who can't participate, I'll happily volunteer to take notes during Saturday's campfire meeting. I'll post a transcript of the meeting in here, so those who can't participate can still read what we've talked about and voice their ideas.

For those who can't participate, I'll happily volunteer to take notes during Saturday's campfire meeting. I'll post a transcript of the meeting in here, so those who can't participate can still read what we've talked about and voice their ideas.

Very much obliged

I do advise that we all write our thoughts and feelings, desires in regards to our characters, as I feel continuing the story without AL doesn't feel right.

We should look into saving as much of our content as possible so our characters' histories can be transferred to what we as a group come up with doing next.

As to what form our group will take to tell our characters stories, I'm open to the many discussions that will be happening.

AL, thank you for all you have done for us and it has been a blast. I hope one day you may be able to give Theurgy a rebirth!

I should be able to be online at that time.
I can drum up some ideas for how the story and/or characters can continue.

 But I don't know how to run a forum or anything like that. So there is that.

I will try to join you on saturday.
But if I can't I would like to present the question if it is possible to get a "copy" of the last backup with all the data from the forum and the wiki, so that would be the lion's share in preserving the legacy of the sim.

I've run, managed forums, designed themes, etc. I have also run group RPGs and been part of several forum based ones with varying capacity.

I won't be able to make the meeting but would love recap of it all.

I'm sad to see AL decision but get it. Family first.

As for the sim, I'd love to continue my characters and the stories and writing with all of you. 

Subject to trains I will be at a convention this Saturday, so cannot attend

As for my characters

In general I want to keep these crazy kids going.      I hear them talking to me daily (I mean that in an abstract sense, not a serial killer documentary sense).    I got a second chance with this community and I want to carry on with it.     

Put me down for whatever.      

Edited to add - whatever happens let’s keep a door open for AL

New beginnings means new opportunities - we have a chance to either continue on in a sequel of sorts; or perhaps create a whole new alternate universe/timeline c:

I won't be able to attend since I'm working during that time, but I'm looking forward to seeing the minutes/notes of the call.  If I see anything to add, I'll toss it towards the note taker.

I'm also tagging @GroundPetrel in case

Things to discuss....


Assuming we keep Theurgy going forward... Captain Ives, the Theurgy Class, Valkyrie, and Valravn fighters are creations of Auctor and the artists... unless we get permission to use those particular assets we'll have to swap ships and equipment.

Things to discuss but something to point out.

Ok, so the above is ansewred...


New topics

Community fund to pay for website hosting and associated services.

Community fund for more art.

Contribution amount for funds. (5- 10 dollar range suggested)

When to contribute... (as necessary, quarterly, etc)

Written agreement for the above? If so I have lawyer friends that can draft something up  if we eant to get formal.

Also i can check with my lawyer friends about tax or monetary implicationsbof a small international effort like this. I think legally we'd count as customers since we're not selling or hosting anything nor functioning as a business. Just friends sharing costs for shit for a fan project.

(unsure of their rates, my lawyer friends don't work for free(

I really propose we don't get ahead of ourselves and wait with these kinds of things until after Saturday's campfire meeting. Right now no one really knows what to do from here on, and we should first get an idea on our bearings before we start going into details. :D

We have 6 months.

I strongly believe that this initial campfire should be simply about ideas how to go forward. A suggestion about a community fund is fine to make but the details (When, how much, lawyers,) should not be discussed saturday. No decision making.

we need to find out what writers want to do before we push too far ahead. There may be writers that do not want to progress without lucan's involvement. There have been discussions regarding the alteration of the forum's rules for characters, and content. But we need a safe and stable forum before any of that can be sorted out.

Campfire Discussion Topics: 8 July 2023

Since everyone can't make this, my suggestion would be to use this as a brainstorming session. Let everyone say their piece, take time to think about it, then come to a decision here on the forum where everyone has a chance to see and comment. Here is a list of discussion topics based off conversations I've seen over the past few days. There are a lot more topics that people have mentioned, but this is a starting point. Please comment or message on Discord with anything you think should be added. Or something I forgot. I'm sure I forgot something.

---

1. Set Speaker Rules: Some people are loud, some people are quiet, and setting some etiquette rules will make sure everyone has a chance to speak

2. How is everyone feeling? Let loose some emotions. Cry session. Don't tell the Vulcans.

3. What’s next? The broad strokes of where our main focus is going to be. Let everyone with an idea have a few minutes to pitch their plan
- Continue the main Theurgy plot
- Stay in the Theurgy Universe but go to a different ship
- Theurgy characters go to a different universe (Merger with Uncharted Frontier / other sims?)
- Hard reset (new sim, new characters, new era?)
- Others

4. Administration: Auctor was doing the work of ~10 people on his own. We need to decide how to run the game now
- Website Maintenance (forum, wiki, website backups, etc)
- New Applicants
- Story progression (plotting, GMing, etc)
- Art
- Old members who want to return to the sim right now

5. Website Infrastructure: Technical shit
- Brutus got a forum backup from Auctor (our heroes) on 4 July 2023. Anything you post on the forum from then on needs to be backed up on your own computer [Show/Hide]- Brutus is also the discord owner now (he’s still awesome)
- New webhosting platform
- Wiki database move

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Here's the list of times for the call again, which I have formatted slightly better this time around.
There's going to be a VC on Saturday July 8th, in Discord.

• 06:00 Alaska
• 07:00 Pacific US
• 09:00 Central US
• 10:00 Eastern US/Canada
• 14:00 UK
• 15:00 Western Europe
• 22:00 Taiwan
• 00:00 Australia (Sunday, July 9)

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Topics for future discussions AKA stuff to worry about later, but it's on the list!
[Show/Hide]

Rae, I think this is 100% on target.  Thank you for getting it out and organizing it.  This will give us a great template for Saturday's meeting.

I suggest Rae play the host to the campfire and probably we should vote on a triad to take the lead on setting the agenda for future discussions.

I host my sims on RPG Initiative which supply free hosting with ftp access, I’m not sure what kind of forums they can supply but they are quite good with support. I’m assuming we are staying with forums as our simming medium???

I mean we could switch to a Discord, it also has a website version, to roleplay on and still text based no mic required. And that’s utterly free.

Email or group type site is also an option. Those are part of the big ones like Google or Yahoo so are free.

I recommend doing polls on every aspect of the decision making process so that way a record of everyone’s voice is visible. Polls will also give us a way to narrow down the many options open to us.

I look forward to the meeting.

I'm hoping to stick with forums as the key writing platform to be honest. Just simpler to respond and have as a outlet. 

As you can all imagine, I have...a lot of thoughts and feelings on this, and I won't be able to make it to the call on Saturday due to an all day commitment. In 2 weeks I will have been a member of the Theurgy sim for twelve years. July 21st, 2011. So to say this is special to me is an understatement of gross proportions. As noted above, discord ownership was transferred to me once we all realized it was an easy thing to do that took very little time or effort. I am willing - happy even - to keep the Discord ownership so that slice of our community continues. I also have a sql file backup of the forum as of 7/4; for now, keep a backup of any post y'all make. I don't want to discourage people from continuing to write if that brings you joy in times of uncertainty. I know it does for me :)

Ya'll bear with me, I'm writing this without my daily dose of coffee. But briefly, I would agree on nominating Rae to oversee the call, given the outline she provided (if she's willing). I would prefer to continue to write on a forum. I've done posting over emails, discord, nova servers and traditional forums and forum RP is what I prefer. I am willing to help admin a forum (this, or another one, depending on how things go) for when we figure out our next steps. I'm willing to try to learn the techincal side of things - some of it is similar to what I do for work, some of it is not, but after a quick chat with my wife to make sure she'd be fine with me spending more time on this project, i'm willing to do it. If we have to get whole new web hosting (or take over the hosting here) I'm willing to put my name on the paper.

I cannot run the sim in the same way that AL did. I don't have the ability to do the work of 10+ people so it would be the kind of thing where we would all be pitching in :)

Story wise - the ship is half the reason I'm here and id love to continue the story on the USS Theurgy if possible. I have no issues with content warnings - the me of 12 years ago would not understand the need for them in the way that the me of today does. Content warnings are fine. this is a forum, a simm, a community and a story that deal with deep topics, not all of them palatable. Adult content of a myriad variety. Its one of the reasons I signed up to begin with and as I would hope that our ability to write such while telling an excellent Star Trek Story continues. I like that we have the freedom to explore all kinds of content. I want to see that going forward. I dont know if I have it in me to craft as well plotted a story as AL did but I'm happy to help work with everyone to craft whatever we decide comes next. Any notes I have about the original planned plot (or things Id like to think i figured out over 12 years but honestly probably havent) I'll be happy to share down the road.


TL;DR - I like this place, I like all y'all, and i'll step up however I can even if it exhausts me.

I agree that Rae should be in charge of the campfire meeting.
 As for the future... I am a relative newbie to the Theurgy Family, that being said, I really feel welcome here and enjoy writing with you all.  I would like to be able to continue that collaboration.

I will do what I can to help in whatever capacity I am able to ensure this group can continue well into the future.

I concur with everything @Brutus‍ said above and would be willing to help graphics and the technical side. Also I love crafting stories as it leaves me the ability to try new things but I think for sure voting for elements to happen would be great too. I'd love to help be a crafter of it all if that helped too. Whatever way I can be of service basically. I've been here 3 years now so don't want to see it go away either. 

Like I mentioned in Discord, I won’t make the meeting tomorrow, so here are my thoughts on the list published by @rae (ty again)...

#1) Etiquette Rules for VC

There is an old army rule known as the “6 P's: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”

    • Check your gear out tonight, or log in early before the meeting; do a coms check with someone. Adjust your shit as needed (or requested)
    • Round Robin’s work great for large meetings; Rae has been nominated as Speaker – let her run it. Set a topic, call out a name; that person only speaks for an allotted time, or says pass. So on and so on down the list of attendees.
    • Don’t interrupt.
    • Wait your turn.
    • Have an idea of what you want to say beforehand and stay on topic – Rae, you will need to enforce this. Only Rae.
    • This should be a time to express opinions and share ideas, not a time to argue or debate them. That will only eat up time, and everyone deserves a chance to say their peace.
    • Lastly, be mindful of language – some might not be using headphones and might have young ears around, just food for thought. Keep it classy.

#2) How am I feeling?

This week has been rough (more RL issues than anything else) on top of an equally shitty year for me (so far). As anxious as I am about the future of the sim, I also feel a strong desire to see it survive and carry on. I am more than willing to contribute to that end, however I can.

#3) What’s next?

I think we should proceed with the framework for Episode 2 that has been established – finish what Auctor and those that came before have given us. I see no reason to alter ships, or merge with another sim, etc. We have between us the collective creativity to accomplish the objectives we already have, and have a damn good time doing it.

#4) Admin

I have no expertise or ambition to be in anything resembling a leadership role. I am comfortable with helping out with applications, brainstorming plot ideas, and the like. I really wish I had more to offer, but I just don’t.

#5) Website Infrastructure

It took me months to figure out this site. Not much I can offer here, but I’ll cheerlead the fuck outta yall who can.

Future topics will be discussed then. Let's figure out how to get our feet under us first.

So here's what I have been pondering.

We could do various things at the same time.
Forum Index
1. Theurgy RPG
Here we can continue to tell the story of the USS Theurgy and her crew on their mission of defeating the parasites all over known space. Of course with new Gamemasters by election, and they must adhere to as much as Auctor's canon as possible though we as a group can discuss episode plots and so on during an intermission for the next one.

2. Theurgyverse RPG
Here we can explore the various alternatives like a different ship and changing the course of where and how we want to go, though staying within the current set Lore of the original sim. Different Gamemasters should be elected for this as so not to overburden those leading the original.

3. Rebrand RPG
Here we can simply seek out different paths, maybe have different characters, ship, overall story and maybe even different enemies. A fresh clean slate, though some elements of the original could somehow be reintroduced differently, the same or whatever. It all depends on us. Of course I recommend different Gamemasters for same reason as before. Though if players believe they can handle it, then of course run for the position, elected as well.


Of course if people want to take their characters to Uncharted that is completely okay as well. Could treat it as if falling through a dimensional tear that lands them in an alternate universe (Uncharted or whatever it becomes).

The point I'm making is finding infrastructure is simple and with our powers combined LOL we can locate what we need and get it set up in no time. Administration is probably our biggest hurdle. Who leads, who decides and who helps solve conflict within the group. It is also possible that perhaps we elect leaders for various purposes and together they can help the group move forward as well as govern the process for new players.

Like I said in the Next Generation thread, RPG Initiative has free hosting, ftp access and different forms that our RP can be done on and they can install for us. I'll be happy to donate to the project should it be needed.

Oh also a topic for later is the inheritance and additional characters system Auctor was doing. What do we do about this.

Here is an idea for Administration format moving forward:

Storyline Development Committee
- This could be split into Episodes and Chapters subcommittees if needed.
- I think that 3 to 5 people as needed after a brainstorming discussion to offer ideas.

Applicants Committee
- This could have Inheritance, Stasis, Additional and Applications subcommittees.
- 3 to 5 who could also be Mentors.

Technical Committee
- Forum admins and mods
- Wiki admins and content writers

Discord Committee
- Mentors would probably be best here so they can help with orientation and gauging players commitment and so on.
- Admins and mods of course.

Graphics Committee
- Whoever has art skills is welcome to come forward
- We can have avatars, posters, signatures, and so on as separate subcommittees

Hello all,

These are the notes from the campfire discussion yesterday (I must say, I'm terribly disappointed that there was no fire involved, so respectfully request that we either HAVE fire next time or use a different term for the sake of my fellow pyros who also risk devastating misleading-ment):

Campfire Notes for the Future (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ENEuwm2dPAcj4NGlp-Oe0OM85IP24hGF2FVfH_V3zU8/edit?usp=sharing)

There was a fire! It ate my minutes.  :'(

I'm grateful that you kept minutes as well, Ellen! You really saved my butt there.  (L)

Looking forward to reading this all over! 

Forum Copy (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G_eirw_wN4i7Gjk-IuG-OneoFOqu02cG)

If anyone wants it, this is a copy of every board, thread and post of the Theurgy story up to this exact moment, not including the OOC board, just because the OOC board is a monster. The process isn't perfect, to be sure. The formatting hasn't been preserved, and there may be errors. Regardless, it exists. No matter what happens to this site, we'll have a copy of the entire Theurgy story.

Of course, feel free to download the folder and do what you like with it. I'll run the script again in December and update the folder, assuming nothing changes.

You sir are a legend.

Hiya,

It's been a few days since the campfire meeting and since Ellen posted her notes, and there hasn't been a whole lot of discussion here, so hopefully everyone has been thinking about our next steps. As dicsussed, those are:

• The main plot of the sim
• Leadership team

From what I noticed during the meeting (and if I'm wrong, I'm confident this will start a discussion anyway :) ), most of the ideas have changed from 'what we're going to do after Theurgy' to 'how we're going to stay on Theurgy.' I've listed the ones that I felt like had the most discussion.
If you want anything else added, please comment. Then I can make a poll and we can put it to a vote.

• Stay on the Theurgy, fight the infested: The same concept, but we have to make the plot now.
• The Theurgy joins with a fleet of ships that all fight the Infested together Battlestar Galactica style. Multiple PC ships. This was not the original idea, but it seemed to morph into this.
• Stay in the Theurgy universe, but go to a different ship

As for a leadership team, we need a basic organizational structure first. My two cents- we need 1 person, or 3 at the most, who are actually in charge. Then start making teams in the hierarchy beneath them. There needs to be a final decision making authority, or we'll have all these committees/teams without someone setting the main direction. To put it in Star Trek terms, department heads are awesome, but we need a captain (or captain, first and second officers, to continue this analogy all the way through). I nominate @Brutus, because he's been here the longest, he loves this place, and I'm throwing him under the bus.

---

Here are my other opinions. I'm putting them down here so they don't get interspaced in the reporting.

Personally, I really want to stay on the Theurgy. My characters were made for this ship. I've spent my whole time here building them up for the main story, which we're right on the cusp of starting. The plot is an hour away from Azrin getting to activate the slipstream drive. I love slow RPs. The main draw for me joining here was the speed. I enjoyed every second of the 18 months I spent getting them to the point. The real letdown would be rushing to a conclusion.

Random Thoughts:
- If we stay on the Theurgy, how we do that and who the Captain would be can wait until later discussions. We need to pick a direction, then we can start plotting a course.
- Running a sim with multiple PC ships is hard. There's a lot more plot. A lot more drama. You'll get a lot of ships with 4-5 people on it and those are the people you RP with. No variation.
- If we go to a different ship, are we still Star Trek: Theurgy? If we rebrand, we lose the history, establishment, and name recognition that drives most new applicants to the sim.
- We don't need a discord team/committee. I used to run a RP sim on discord with around 200 people. Trust me, our discord runs itself. There are no bots, there's been one new channel in the 1.5 years I've been here, and the only reason Brutus has gotten all these un-ban requests is because of our current situation. It will be a title with no actual duties. Giving some people admin perms is more of a safety measure than an actual job.

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That's all folks. Good night.

Personally, I really want to stay on the Theurgy. My characters were made for this ship. I've spent my whole time here building them up for the main story, which we're right on the cusp of starting. The plot is an hour away from Azrin getting to activate the slipstream drive. I love slow RPs. The main draw for me joining here was the speed. I enjoyed every second of the 18 months I spent getting them to the point. The real letdown would be rushing to a conclusion.

The discussion on discord wasn't the time or place for detailed discussion or debate. I'm hoping that here and now is.

I still think that we can advance the plot without rushing individual plots. We don't need to lock out past plots and chapters until there hasn't been a fresh post in them, in a certain amount of time.

I'm not proposing we advance the posting time policy (currently 10 days, up from 7 when I joined.)

I just think that we should have set time intervals in which we advance the plot a week, a month, or whatever.  I like the sedate pace too, but it would still be nice to let Rae hit that Slipstream drive. With the current pace before the recent message from Auctor that 1 hour might not have happened recently. I WANT to see you do your cool stuff. I want to see people advance their plots and grow their characters. I don't like seeing plots stalled out because there's no advancing of the clock.

Taking time to flesh things out personally its GREAT, it's Wonderful, but I want to see people Accomplish their goals! In a timeframe that makes sense. When I joined the sim I had a plan to make Victor a fighter Pilot after 6 months IC. Because of the pace of the story, it happened in a few weeks IC. YAY I completed my character goals... But that kind of time dilation, doesn't feel organic for me. I want people to achieve their character goals on a clock that makes sense for them.  If making your goals happen in a week IC is for you, great!  But it would be Nice IMO if a Character could have 6 months of IC growth and development in timeframe shorter that 12 IRL years.

Just my two cents on the issue of story pacing. Again to be clear....  Don't reducing the posting time requirements.  Don't Shove people along OOC. But provide regular progression of plot on a set timeframe IRL, and allow them to get to it, and post to it when they like. This is what story objectives are for.

We do X at Time Interval 1, Y at Time Interval 2, and Z at Interval 3.  But that's story and SIM PLOT

Allow personal plot at Intervals 1 and 2 for as long as they wish, and get to PERSONAL plots at Interval 3 whenever.


OTHER LESS CONTROVERSIAL STUFF

Leadership, Brutus, Ellen, Rae

Let's get NPC ships as part of a Flotilla

And by whatever name the sim is, whatever ship, etc, It will be OUR Theurgy form this point forward unless we get plot notes/sketches from Auctor. It would be nice to finish the story that was planned, but we'll need those notes.

Hello all,

Wrote this (https://docs.google.com/document/d/15muM0IcyyOnM54qrjqGFUMNHOneaLZAomeLpGNGA52Q/edit?usp=sharing) while waiting for my car repairs and when I returned home from work, I completed some of the additional documents. Please forgive me, @Dumedion, for stealing some of your thunder with a few supplementary documents.

Commenting on those that already have with my thoughts...

@rae : I choose the stay on Theurgy, fight the Infested option for the following reasons..

•   Using the framework we have established already for plot saves us all time and creative energy (vs. building an entirely new plot/ship(s?)/crew
•   I propose this as a way to hold AL a spot until the end of the year in case his IRL situation improves enough to return. A lot can happen in the time between now and then.

I also second @Brutus for over-all shot-caller. We need someone to step up and steer the boat. While more than one person doing this sounds great on paper, in reality, IMO/experience, it’s a fucking mess and will only cause drama.

Teams and what-not, sure, but one person gives the go ahead. If Brutus has no interest in this role, I nominate you @rae; mostly bc I believe you are capable and have the best interests of us all at heart, but also just to hear you complain about it. :D

@Tae : I apologize, but respectfully, I don’t understand what you are trying to pitch here. How will that work without reducing the 10 day reply rule? How will we maintain cohesion by allowing everyone to post at whatever time intervals they like? That sounds like absolute chaos.

@Ellen Fitz : Interesting ideas but would prefer not to make such changes until after the new year or until we conclude Ep 2; as we discussed – or let the Theurgy die to be reborn again entirely. If we choose to stay for now, then after the end of the year whatever becomes of Theurgy will be ours in entirety. Then we can decide all the things, and make whatever changes we want. (and no apologies necessary; I hope my contributions help maintain the spirit and integrity of this community, whether I play a part in it or not).

That’s all for now. Need more coffee.

I really don't think we need to change the posting time requirements. All I'm really proposing is that we set expectations for when to expect MAJOR progression.

When to or not yo lock out old chapters isn't even something I'm discussing. I'm not proposing we light fires under peopkes asses for posting (lord knows I'd be a hypocrite) it would just be nice to have expectations of how long plot takes to progress going forward and when to expect it.

This is something that matters for me. I don't want characters and plots to float in the aether forever, I want us to chart a course.

@Tae – All progression is subject to external factors:

•   Time to brainstorm ideas
•   Time to share, debate, collaborate
•   Time to finalize decisions
•   Real life (personal issues, work, sickness, mental health, etc.)
•   Some people write quickly, others write slowly
•   Some view ‘expectations’ as deadlines; in a place that is meant to be fun, for escapism from the pressures of RL, this is (IMO) unreasonable and unfair, and can potentially ruin the entire point of the whole affair altogether.

That said, I see no reason why we shouldn’t continue with the Story Workshops and the like, and always throw out ideas for future shenanigans. But to consider concrete ‘expectations’ (in regards to future plot direction) is unreasonable.

Just my fiddly cents. I have to real life now.

I hear what you're saying Dumedion. I didn't want to prose an actual time frame, but now ill do so.

I'm not proposing a 1 year IRL to I year in game time frame. That's patently ridiculous.

I also think the 12 IRL years to 6 IC
months time frame we've had is also patently ridiculous.

I think 2 IRL years to 6 IC months

Or 4 IRL years to 6 IC months might be doable and maintain the integrity we've come to expect. ((I'm not sure even most of the current writers have been in the game for 4 years or longer.))

  It speeds up plot, and hey has the side benefit of letting us to holiday and birthday threads.

There are problems with arbitrary time constraints. It's all well and good to try and match OOC and IC time, but in the end, that causes more problems than it solves. We would no longer have flexibility; each story would need to cover a longer period of time. Episode 05 featured some wonderful storytelling, but since that whole thing only lasted a week IC and 18 months OOC, it wouldn't be doable with the time constraint.

One option is to simply have more big story stuff happen during the Interregnums, assuming we keep that narrative structure.

Well I'd say that whoever writes the plot points, whatever group comes up with that should state how  long we should probably spend on that. 18 months is a long time to spend on a week, but there has to be something we can figure out. 

I just like having expectations set, and time frames and schedules make sense to me. Even if we don't spend the same amount of OOC time for every IC time block, I do think whoever writes plot should state how much ooc time we're spending on stuff.

Irl months may be too short of a time frame for most stuff. While a year might be fine for an IC week.

These are just thoughts.

@Ellen Fitz - You are a star. My suggestion would be to up the required applicant response time from 5 days to the same 10 day limit we use for replies.

@Dumedion - *Complains*
jk. I also like the idea of one person on top the best. But that can get really exhausting and stressful for that person, which is why I added an option for more than one.

@Tae - There seems to be a disconnect here between what you want, and the ramifications of what you want. You can't keep everything the same except for the speed the plot moves. This sim is currently moving at the natural speed of the writers. When players finish, the plot moves onto the next part. You cannot forcibly speed up the plot without forcibly speeding up the writers. I'm sorry you don't like it, and I'm sorry you think it's ridiculous, but 12 years to 6 months is the pace this sim naturally goes at. If you want to forcibly drop that to 4 years to 6 months, you're telling everyone they need to write 3x faster to make that possible.

As a hypothetical, let's to back to this IC week that took 18 months IRL: Before everything starts, the GMs set the expectation that the Theurgy's wild week will take us a year to finish. But we don't set any new speed rules for players, so the sim continues at it's normal pace. 12 months go by, and we're only 2/3 of the way done. Then you have to ask the question: what do we do now? Do you force the players to wrap everything up immediately, because we said it will only take a year? But you don't want to forcibly end and lock threads either, so you can't do that. You can open up the week 2 anyway, set some time expectations, let people start RPing there too. And maybe some of the faster writers do, people with more thread capacity who can carry a load in both weeks. The rest are either going to feel rushed to start the new thing, or ignore it for 6 months while they finish doing what they were doing. But oops. Our expectation for the next IC week was only 6 months IRL, so by the time most people have finished week 1, week 3 is open.

The longer you go, the more behind people are going to get.

Yeah, well, my idea for moving plot forward isn't ideal @rae but we can at least discuss it and find something that can potentially work. I know I'm not the only one that wants things to move a bit faster. I mean, if i could see one thing change, this is it. I think we can make it work with enough effort put towards the idea. I'm happy to try and come up with a more fleshed out proposal, I will. But If you're telling me to drop it, I will do that as well.

I apologise for presenting the teams/committees idea as it has been received. I intended them to be the support network for the elected gamemasters that want to step up. They weren't supposed to replace the gamemasters, as it seems people took the idea, simply support. Like department heads as it has been said. This is for out of character running the sim only by the way.

So do the nominees accept Gamemasterhood? Does anyone else want to step up?

If the teams/committees are to go ahead, who would like to be on what team?

I need to read up on stuff because apparently I missed a lot. 

I am fine with the proposed leader structure and Brutus being the head. Especially with the tenure here and knowledge of AL and the plot. I also think having department teams / leaders for the sections to manage like the site, applicants, etc is a good idea to not get bogged down.

As badly as I want Pierce to captain a ship and have her own, I am also just as passionate about having my characters stay on the ship. I like the plot and while I agree 18 months to progress is a long time. Real life comes first.

I am in favor of keeping to the status quo with the plot until we find a natural conclusion to wrap the infested storyline up and progress further. Also might be interesting to have the proposed Thea theft and Ives and his characters leave on a shuttle to find her. Even if that means through the looking glass. In that case, the replacement AI would be ideal and if we're getting a new captain, I propose that it's someone who is going to be or one of the up to 3 admin for the sim itself to avoid someone with less knowledge of where this ship is steering from taking things in an unnatural direction.

I'd also want to revisit some character options. With the ship possibly staying or going to a new ship, I'd like to see more ability to move a character's department or get another pip if they've been on the ship a while or options to kill them off. Side note, this for me is Tessa lol. Hence why I was tempted to kill her off multiple times. But we also need a system that if a character is in inheritance lane too long we off them too in some fashion so as to not bottleneck for new applicants or characters from existing writers. Different discussion here regardless but wanted to bring it up while it was in my mind.

So far I am agreeance with everyone's thoughts as it seems we all want what's best for the sim and that's great to see. But as for what I'd like to volunteer for, I am capable in various areas from websites, hosting, graphics for web and some modifications for characters (see Alana on the transporter pad on profile), writing and story concepts (I watch a lot of Trek).

On leadership roles...

@rae - After consideration, I understand better what was proposed and I agree. A triad makes sense insofar as each of the three stick to their lanes (web maintenance, plot, etc.). To me, ideally, the top dog would only have to review and approve/deny crucial decisions; thus alleviating some stress of his/her shoulders. Granted, I've never done such in this setting (with so many people) so I have no idea what I'm talking about.

@Pierce - in regards to character changes for current PCs (position moves/promotions/deaths); I know a few have voiced dissatisfaction with their PCs. I'd think that if yall wanted to make changes then you should be able to do so, so long as everyone is OK with it? Perhaps something to pitch to whatever plot team develops? Or just throw it out there to whoever we decide takes the helm (when we get there). side note, poor Tessa :(

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to post some thoughts here and I hope everyone can bear with me.

1) Leadership.

I believe that overall leadership should go to Brutus (should he accept the role) with Rae and another writer being his seconds. Together, the 3 of them are in charge. Below them we have the departments that either they or others are a part of that get stuff done.

2) Plot Future.

As most of you know, I have been working on a conglomeration of plot ideas that could be used to determine where we go from our current position. While I am not going to post the exhaustive list here, I would like to offer a small summary of what I have so far and how we could progress.

***This summary is by no means an exhaustive depiction of the potential plotlines that could be followed and serves only as a guide to highlight a selection of what the future may hold.***

Option 01 – The Theurgy Remains as the Primary Vessel
•   This option is the easiest upon which to adapt the future of the sim, only requiring the determination of the outcomes for the various characters utilised by Auctor Lucan. Nominally, only Thea and Nicander are plot-wise required; the remaining characters can either be put into stasis, killed, or leave the ship through various means. Alternatively, some may be put up for adoption, per Lucan’s request, or returned to NPC status. (Ideally, I would leave as many of these characters as alive as possible so that Lucan, if the opportunity for his return arises, he has someone he can write.)
•   With the Ives character removed from command, a new Captain for the Theurgy will be required. In the interim, Commander Stark would assume this role, with the potential for it to become permanent depending on plot choices. These choices can be summed up in three ways:
1) Stark remains as Captain permanently, with other characters being promoted to fill roles as needed. This is the easiest as it does not require the creation of any characters or the finding of anyone to fill roles.
2) We undertake a mission to recover Captain Ziegler and she is assumed as a character by a writer or written as an NPC as needed.
3) A new captain is determined by the plot, either sent by Admiral Anderson, or transferred from another ship we encounter along the way.

Option 02 – The Theurgy is No Longer the Primary Vessel
•   This option would see the USS Theurgy removed from the sim in such a way that it could no longer be utilised as the primary means of transport and setting for the crew. Be that as a vessel trapped somewhere, crashed, missing or destroyed. This would require the crew to obtain a new vessel through means TBD that would fulfil the needs of the plot to a minimum degree as follows:
A) It would need to be of a sufficient size to be able to transport 12-18 Fighters of a runabout size within its shuttlebays. It would also need to be able to transport additional shuttlecraft for story purposes.
B) It would need to have a sufficient crew capacity to fulfil the needed ‘redshirt’ positions our story requires. Additionally, it would supply an adequate means of allowing new writers and characters to appear without overt intervention.
C) It would need to have sufficient capabilities (Range, Durability, Speed, Tactical Systems, Science Systems) to fulfil the needs of the plot as it develops.
•   Given the above points, in my opinion, taking in canon ships (Memory-Alpha as well as Theurgy) as well as the ease of art availability and information for the ships, we would be limited to perhaps 6 Federation ship classes: Odyssey, Sovereign, Galaxy, Nebula, Orcus (Vesta subclass) and Akira. Each of these ships comes with various pros and cons that can be discussed at a later stage depending on choices made. Additionally, ships from other states (Klingon, Romulan, etc) could be chosen, again with various pros and cons both within the sim, and without.

Option 03 – The Sim RESETS to a Different Plot altogether
•   This one is kind of self-explanatory. We can do whatever we want. But it does negate everything we have developed so far to one degree or another. At the bare minimum, all we would keep is the memories of lives no longer relevant to the world they now occupy. (Think Picard 3x01/02 Confederation.)
•   To reset the characters’ histories, interactions and backstories would be a disservice to everything we have done up to now. This should not be an option.

---

It is my opinion that we go with Option 01. We are Theurgy. We need the Theurgy.

That said, I also have random ideas that would have us obtaining an NCC-79854-A USS Theurgy, because reasons.

---

Edited due to below nomination. Thanks Nes.

If it is the will of the people, I will serve.

Hello there!

Here's my two cents regarding my ideas for the future.


-Leadership
I agree that overall leadership should go to Brutus. He’s the longest serving Theurgist and we’ve all come to know and respect him as an amazingly friendly guy who knows how to write a good story. The idea to appoint two others as his seconds to prevent potential burn-outs is a good one, and I would like to nominate Stegro88 and Eirual for those roles; my reasons being that Stegro is also a friendly guy and long-term veteran Theurgist with a solid understanding of the story, and Eirual is a very experienced game master who definitely knows her business when it comes to running a game.

-Plot Future
I would like to propose that we stay aboard the USS Theurgy. Auctor Lucan and every other writer, both current and those who came before us, poured years into developing the ship. We have a solid infrastructure which is, quite honestly, the envy of a lot of other Star Trek games out there and it wouldn’t make sense to just give it all up. In my opinion we’d be throwing away a big part of our identity (we’re named after the ship, after all) and what makes this game so amazing. I mean, why should we re-invent the wheel just because we need to change the rims?

Bad comparison is bad, but I hope you get my drift.

In terms of Captain, I see two options.
-Captain Natalie Stark would be a good choice which I would definitely support if chosen by a majority of the writers. Brutus is a very solid writer and we all know Natalie is an equally solid character. I’m not completely unbiased, but I think I can safely say that I like her.

However, there’s somewhat of a “but…” here and I do want to point out that she’s made incredible progress within the span of roughly one IC year. It’s an attribute to Brutus’ good writing and Natalie’s solid personality and character design that she managed to process everything that came at her like that without cracking under the pressure, but how far should we be willing to push Natalie? From a logical standpoint, Admiral Anderson would give her a burden that most likely even kept Captain Ives up at night, and Jien Ives was someone with a lot of command experience. I’m not entirely convinced that it would make sense if the Admiral were to throw everything and the kitchen sink (I’ve always wanted to use that saying!) onto Natalie’s shoulders, given how we are currently all that’s keeping the infected from achieving their goals.

I’m not saying that Natalie is unsuited for the role though. I’ve called her a prodigy on numerous occasions and I still think it’s amazing that she hasn’t cracked under the pressure of everything that’s thrown at her already. I just think that it would be better if she were to obtain command experience under the mentorship of an experienced Commanding Officer. Given that Edward Jellico was promoted to Admiral and assigned to Starfleet Headquarters, he's not an option but that leaves me with a good alternative…

-Captain Anya Ziegler, who would be my primary choice as our new Captain and Natalie’s mentor. She used to be Theurgy’s original Executive Officer so she knows the ship inside out, she knows the crew and there’s mutual respect; not just between her and the crew, but also between her and Natalie. In my honest opinion, that makes her the ideal candidate as mentor. Not only that, but she’s been on the frontline with us and knows about both the infected threat and about what’s at stake if we fail.

I know that Captain Ziegler was technically killed in Prologue: Edge of Chaos, but I have an idea here. Well, two ideas but I know there’s been some resistance to my original suggestion of introducing StegQ; it would’ve been an interesting rescue mission, but I won’t bring up that idea anymore. Which brings me right to my second idea. In the prologue, Captain Anya Ziegler was apparently killed by none other than Lucan cin Nicander, and even though this Nicander was someone from an alternate timeline, this was never clearly established. This leaves us with an out.

What if it was nothing but a fever dream? Let’s face it, Captain Anya Ziegler has been locked up for months, and she’s now locked up in a prison cell adjacent to a laboratory. She watched how some of her crew were liquified. If the Infested had wanted her dead, they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of keeping her alive just to torment her like that; quite frankly, she would have been killed a long time ago. It is my interpretation that they have use for her. They want to break her for some greater end, and killing her like that is simply illogical. It wastes all the time they’d spent tormenting her.

No, I believe that she’d wake up from her ordeal with a scream, drenched in cold sweat, but still very much alive and still in her prison cell. Maybe very close to mentally breaking down and giving in to the Infected, but still alive. Admiral Anderson would have someone on the inside to keep track of the entire situation and, realizing that Anya is about to reach her breaking point, would finally risk it all to send an encrypted message to the Admiral. At that point, Admiral Anderson would reach out to the crew of the USS Theurgy and present them with a new mission; sneaking in a small, covert team to extract Captain Ziegler and bring her back to the ship.

I can see how this becomes an amazing mission for Intelligence and Security. PLUS, I would imagine that Captain Ives might even lead the mission himself given that this involves his former Executive Officer and what might be at stake if she were to actually succumb to the Infected and their agenda. I can see a huge fight between Captain Ives and the Lucan cin Nicander from the alternate timeline; a fight which Captain Ives wins, but at such a high cost that we have no choice but to place him in stasis back aboard Theurgy.

Just to add to what's already been suggested: a common idea involves Ives leading all of Lucan's old characters on a mission where...er...well, let's just say that "something happens". That's fine, but I have another thought: the Infested get a win. An Infested strike team attacks the Theurgy in Episode 02 and, while they're unable to destroy the ship, they do capture Ives, Thea and the others. The rest of the crew are left to process this shock, giving us lots of yummy story to get our teeth into.

The Theurgy can operate perfectly well without Thea, heretical as that may sound. The ship took on a honking great Borg cube without her, after all, and we can always get another AI later on.

TL;DR: in Episode 02, the Infested board the Theurgy, go on a rampage and capture all of Auctor's characters, leaving them available for the future.

Second: Nat is among my favourite characters, but she just isn't ready to be CO on a permanent basis. Ziegler has baggage and complications. I wholeheartedly believe that we should have a brand new character turn up to be CO.

My thoughts

When I joined first time round I created Vanya.       I had other hobby responsibilities and while Theurgy appealed, I was asked to leave,     

I stepped  back from those responsibilities some time after for other reasons but thought thr Theurgy Bridge was burned       

Then COVID happened and I had gone from one gaming tourney or Sci fi convention 3 weeks out of 4 to…. Nothing     i joined a sim but it wasn't Theurgy.    

Figuring AL can only say "no" I rejoined.     I  created Foval and figured Vanya was someone else's.    So I had a new ID and a avoided linking myself to her.    A few months after that  I got her back and came out about it to everyone.    Since then I've struggled at times (writing with cataracts is tough) but I've only ever gotten friendly reminders from AL as opposed to the written warnings from before.      

All of this is to say its really hard to prescribe time limits on people, but I do respect we need to have some standards of post rates    it I'd caution against a hard and fast rule.           

In terms of mission- I say stay on Theurgy.    I've got no problem with Captain Nat      We aren't exactly in the chain of Command here.      Dead Man and sometimes woman's shoes seems the best.     

I would endorse Bru for the top job in terms of being the GM only if he has a team to support him      

 My super power is a knowledge of Trek (I've been called memory alpha on legs) so if I can help in that regard I'm at your service   

I'll toss in my half-penny since most of this has been quite well discussed already.

1) Leaderahip

All hail King Brutus. I'm also for Rae as the number two. I'd be happy to help with any committees that need the bodies, though my technical and artistic skills are quite lacking.

2) Plots

I'm for staying on the ship. Cobbling to up a new ship sounds like a massive complication and I just flat out don't like the idea of a reset since it would be great to finish the main plot.

I agree with the logic @Griff has on Nat being too short on time and experience for being permanent Captain, but I also think that adds to the spice situation since in-game, there may not be enough time for Anderson to come up with a new Captain that he trusts with the truth of the situation.  He may not have conaidered that Ives was going to disappear. Natalie may have no choice but to grow into it, along with anyone we throw into the exec slot. While Zeigler may be the best option of a Captain available, it's hard to say whether the crew will follow her. If she's unable to cope with the baggage and complications, we'd be staring down the barrel of another mutiny on a ship that has had too many at this point.

Still for the idea that someone else won that caused Ives to depart, whether it's the Infested, or even the Romulans, maybe as the cats paw for the Infested.

We could also find a way to grab a new AI to give everyone something new to contend with, raise and even teach. Cough Azrin and Ops Cough

As for posting times, life happens, so all we can ask for is patience with each other, but to also keep your partners in the loop so they don't think they've been ghosted. I'd still keep the response time as strongly recommended for most threads. If it's plot/reward critical, then it should be a harder deadline unless it's publicly stated life is getting in the way.

 So I’ve caught up on this and wanted to interject my thoughts on a couple of the topics that have popped up.  
 
 
Direction of the SIM
Been thinking a lot about this one and I am also of the camp that we are probably best suited to stay on board Theurgy as we know her.   Whether we keep the continuity as is, or do a ‘soft’ re-start, I think we’re best served on this ship that we’ve come to know and to love. 
 
Leadership Team
Add me to the list of supporters for a Brutus, Rae, and third Writer leadership team with committees ‘below’ them that they oversee.   It makes the most sense to me and allows multiple people to help make this sim run without overwhelming any single one.
 
Post Interval
I also agree that keeping the ‘standard’ expectation at 10 days is appropriate.   That said, I’d also like to suggest that there be leniency when agreed upon by the writers of any given thread.   For example, I was working with a writer on a 1 on 1 thread.  We were both at very busy times in our lives.  We spoke many times on discord and agreed that if things went longer than 10 days for either of us on that thread, we understood and neither minded nor cared.  However, that was always tempered by the fear, and yes I will use the word fear, that AL would discover our lagging thread, and come down on us for not maintaining the pace as prescribed. 

I’m not sure there’s an elegant fix to this, and group threads are certainly a different animal.   But I really think that if all the writers in the thread agree to a different posting deadline that may be longer than the standard 10 days, that should be permitted as well.
 
Timeline Skips – AKA “The Natalie Stark Problem”
(TL,DR: Planned time skips in between episodes or chapters within an episode should be considered in order to permit characters to progress on story arcs that would naturally take longer.  There is precedence for this in Trek canon, and by not permitting any form of time skip, some of these longer arks are being made to feel a bit awkward.  Planned and plotted time jumps could be very beneficial)
 
First and foremost, please know that I have spoken to Brutus about using Natalie as an example and he is fully on board. 

I would be lying if I said I fully understand the ins and outs of the timeline conversation, and I do agree that trying to align game time to IRL time is a failing formula.  But at the same time, we can not ignore the fact that this sim has been running 12 years and barely 6 months of game time has been covered.  So, in that regard, I do agree that accelerating the timeline a little is a worthy discussion to have. 

I have a suggestion for that.

Lets look at Natalie Stark as an example.  According to Brutus, Natalie was made Acting First officer somewhere around the “end of the Aldea Arc” and was in place in that role when Season 2 Episode 1 began.  She was then promoted sometime during the interregnum between Episode 1 and 2 of Season 2.

Auctor’s thread that launched “Advent of War” started on June 17, 2020, almost 25 months ago to the day. 
 
As writers, we have been working in the mindset of “Natalie Stark is our Executive officer” for over two years.   But… According to the in-game calendars, she has only been executive officer for 25 days.  Advent of war spanned 4 days.   Qu’Nos shore leave has spanned 21 days.    But therin lays the problem.   In game, Natalie has only a “time in grade” of less than a month.   Which, under most circumstances is far too short a period for her to serving as an executive officer (with no prior experience) and be considered qualified as a commanding officer.  There are certainly exceptions both in practicality and in canon, but for the purposes of this, let’s put that aside.
 
I believe the cause of this issue was, in part, due to AL’s hesitation to skip time between episodes, or between chapters within episodes.  Since I joined in November of 2019, every single day that has passed on Theurgy, has been accounted for.   I do not believe this is necessarily necessary.
 
I believe that we can (and should) plan for skips in time between the end of one episode and the start of another.  I believe we can (and should) not be afraid to skip time within an episode.  This would allow us as writers to help build out some of our character arcs that are stagnating because “not enough time has passed in game for X to happen” despite the fact we’ve been writing for months.  Over the course of three game days, my own character has come to believe her spouse is dead, mourned her, moved on, and started up a new relationship.   That doesn’t seem very practical as an outsider looking in (even for a Vulcan), but it’s accepted because it took months to write those three days.  If we permit planned time skips between chapters and entire episodes, it would be easier to allow our characters to grow “behind the scenes” so we can propel story lines that work better on a longer-term scale.
 
There is plenty of precedence for large gaps of time being not accounted for in Trek canon.   I’m looking at “Year of Hell”.  I’m looking at “Thirty Days”, as well as the 3 month jump from the end of Season 5 of DS9 to the start of Season 6 as well as the multiple month jump between Season 6 and 7.  I’m looking at “Lessons”.  I’m looking at “The Inner Light” and “The Visitor”; episodes that used time jumps in the narrative to span an entire lifetime.   I’m looking at the entire third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, as well as the time intervals between Star Trek’s II, III, and IV. 
 
The passage of time can be a very effective narrative tool when used properly.  It is one that we have shied away from here on Theurgy, but I strongly encourage it to be considered going forward.  I do not believe it should be done willy-nilly, nor do I believe it should be up to each individual writer to just magically pass a week of time for their character(s) whenever they feel like it, because I do agree it will lead to eventual chaos.  But if utilized between episodes or between chapters of an episode, I believe it could be a very useful, and welcome tool for the sim as a whole.

Perfectly elucidated what I was trying to communicate what the problem was. Thank you as always PC.

 
Timeline Skips – AKA “The Natalie Stark Problem”
(TL,DR: Planned time skips in between episodes or chapters within an episode should be considered in order to permit characters to progress on story arcs that would naturally take longer.  There is precedence for this in Trek canon, and by not permitting any form of time skip, some of these longer arks are being made to feel a bit awkward.  Planned and plotted time jumps could be very beneficial)
 
First and foremost, please know that I have spoken to Brutus about using Natalie as an example and he is fully on board. 
I would be lying if I said I fully understand the ins and outs of the timeline conversation, and I do agree that trying to align game time to IRL time is a failing formula.  But at the same time, we can not ignore the fact that this sim has been running 12 years and barely 6 months of game time has been covered.  So, in that regard, I do agree that accelerating the timeline a little is a worthy discussion to have.  I have a suggestion for that.
Lets look at Natalie Stark as an example.  According to Brutus, Natalie was made Acting First officer somewhere around the “end of the Aldea Arc” and was in place in that role when Season 2 Episode 1 began.  She was then promoted sometime during the interregnum between Episode 1 and 2 of Season 2.

Auctor’s thread that launched “Advent of War” started on June 17, 2020, almost 25 months ago to the day. 
 
As writers, we have been working in the mindset of “Natalie Stark is our Executive officer” for over two years.   But… According to the in-game calendars, she has only been executive officer for 25 days.  Advent of war spanned 4 days.   Qu’Nos shore leave has spanned 21 days.    But therin lays the problem.   In game, Natalie has only a “time in grade” of less than a month.   Which, under most circumstances is far too short a period for her to serving as an executive officer (with no prior experience) and be considered qualified as a commanding officer.  There are certainly exceptions both in practicality and in canon, but for the purposes of this, let’s put that aside.
 
I believe the cause of this issue was, in part, due to AL’s hesitation to skip time between episodes, or between chapters within episodes.  Since I joined in November of 2019, every single day that has passed on Theurgy, has been accounted for.   I do not believe this is necessarily necessary.
 
I believe that we can (and should) plan for skips in time between the end of one episode and the start of another.  I believe we can (and should) not be afraid to skip time within an episode.  This would allow us as writers to help build out some of our character arcs that are stagnating because “not enough time has passed in game for X to happen” despite the fact we’ve been writing for months.  Over the course of three game days, my own character has come to believe her spouse is dead, mourned her, moved on, and started up a new relationship.   That doesn’t seem very practical as an outsider looking in (even for a Vulcan), but it’s accepted because it took months to write those three days.  If we permit planned time skips between chapters and entire episodes, it would be easier to allow our characters to grow “behind the scenes” so we can propel story lines that work better on a longer-term scale.
 
There is plenty of precedence for large gaps of time being not accounted for in Trek canon.   I’m looking at “Year of Hell”.  I’m looking at “Thirty Days”, as well as the 3 month jump from the end of Season 5 of DS9 to the start of Season 6 as well as the multiple month jump between Season 6 and 7.  I’m looking at “Lessons”.  I’m looking at “The Inner Light” and “The Visitor”; episodes that used time jumps in the narrative to span an entire lifetime.   I’m looking at the entire third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, as well as the time intervals between Star Trek’s II, III, and IV. 
 
The passage of time can be a very effective narrative tool when used properly.  It is one that we have shied away from here on Theurgy, but I strongly encourage it to be considered going forward.  I do not believe it should be done willy-nilly, nor do I believe it should be up to each individual writer to just magically pass a week of time for their character(s) whenever they feel like it, because I do agree it will lead to eventual chaos.  But if utilized between episodes or between chapters of an episode, I believe it could be a very useful, and welcome tool for the sim as a whole.

Hi Everyone.

Finally getting to read whats being posted. I am not sure my thoughts will be helpful but for what its worth here they are.

Leadership

I'd be happy to see Brutus in charge. Fun, kind and a good laugh with excellent writing skills. If Brutus wants the job I am all for it. Much like Rhys I am happy so long as I am not taking the lead as being nominally in charge of anything is the kind of thing we both have nightmares about.

Future Plot/ Fate of Theurgy

I think it would be best to stay on the ship as is:

1. It gives a bedrock of law and history for people to drawn upon in future stories.
2. If people want we can still draw a close to the parasite Arc and do a sort of soft reboot and move on to something else.
3. It has no influence on charchters moving positions etc if they want to.
4. We don't have to worry about debating what the next ship should be or trying to invent a new class. We can just move on.

Personally I am happy to carry on as we are or call an end to the parasite Arc (writing a close for it). I have faith in the writers around me to continue to produce interesting stories and posts in whatever circumstance.

Time skips could be fun, and I have no objection to seeing where are charchters are in 12 months or whatever. That to could be interesting.

Charchers

I know some people have had problems with how thier charchters have ended up.  I am also in this camp. Rhys was originall intended to be an OPs officer, but I took so long in writing him there were only spaces to be a counsellor. I love Rhys but it does mean he can be tricky to get involved in the main plot. I find it easiest to write him in interregnums and down time. Which leads to a lot of personal interactions and sexy time. Which is fine, but sometimes it would be nice to be in a more active role. Threads with him taking place in a full episode, it often feels a bit disconected or secondary to the main plot.

So perhaps we ought to think about what primarily non-combatant and non senior members of the crew can do. Sometimes it feels very restrictive.

Post timings

As a person who regularly broke the 10 day deadline (and actually got removed once and had to beg to be let back on). (Sorry to everyone I've written with). I don't think it should change from 10 days. I think thats reasonable, with exceptions here and there for people having real world issues. I would suggest in main plot lines it might be a good idea to if there is a long gap.

Anyway I am not sure if anything I said was helpful. But I hope so.

Posted for @BipSpoon :

My opinion is just have the “time skip” a forum board that takes place over a chunk of time that people can write either their own short stories or whatever or threads in within a certain set of “rules” (ie: where is the crew during time skip?) and it runs concurrently with the main story. So it’s a chapter that doesn’t actually take up writing time and people can either handwave certain character changes or if they decide on them at some point in writing the new chapter they can write about it in the time skip chapter if they so please. Just my two cents!

On an unrelated note, over the next couple weeks I will endeavor to wrap up/fin most (if not all) of my threads. Those who wish to continue please PM/DM me at your convenience.

Based on some conversations in the discord it was pointed out that anyone 'nominated' to fill any sort of role should probably expressly state that they are in fact willing. Since y'all keep dropping my name like its going out of style ;) I am willing to oversee things either on my own or as part of some structured team, etc. I think I said that in my previous post but i'll repeat it here for clarities sake.

Updates!

Leadership Nominations:

@Brutus has accepted the nomination as head bossperson. He's winning by default right now, so definitely not going out of style :)

Seconds/Underlings/Minions/Title TBD (2 positions available):
@rae - accepted nomination
@Ellen Fitz - conditionally accepted nomination
@Stegro88 - accepted nomination
@Eirual - accepted nomination
@RyeTanker - accepted nomination

I'm going to give everyone a few more days to comment on here before I make polls this weekend.
- One for leadership
- One for staying on Theurgy or not (everyone is talking about staying, but I said I was going to make a poll last week, so now I feel obligated to figure out how?)

I accept the Nomination

Edited  ( good )

I'd suggest surveymonkey or something similar for voting, PM/DM the link to keep randoms from contaminating the counts. Just for consideration.

I'd suggest surveymonkey or something similar for voting, PM/DM the link to keep randoms from contaminating the counts. Just for consideration.

Good idea. A link shared on discord and sent in a message to the active members here is a good idea.

Fwiw we used to have the ability to post a poll thread on the forum...

Fwiw we used to have the ability to post a poll thread on the forum...

We still do, just create a new post and click add poll.

Here is the first poll. (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php?topic=3517.0)

I'll make the next one tomorrow if this poll is running ok.

I do think that the inherited characters that AL has could be put back up for adoption.

My thoughts:

--WRT. Natalie Stark as Captain: If you save the Federation and Starfleet Command thinks your leadership was a key part of that, brevet promotion to O-6 being made permanent is IMO certainly plausible.  From a Doylist POV, having the Captain be the main referee works well too. 

--WRT. the infested plotline: This has not really served as the main plot so far.  The infested are a handy narrative tool to drive the plot (e.g. by having one drive the Klingon civil war, or by exiling our crew, etc.), but we've had little progress on their story at least since I showed up mid-pandemic.  Most of our stuff has been stopping infested side-plots rather than going for them outright. 

as such, IMO it's entirely reasonable to say, "ok, we are going to end the infested plotline by revealing them to the galaxy and imprisoning all the infested leaders, then figure out where to go from there", and we can either write out negotiating what to do (are the parasites themselves legally people?  the Federation doesn't do the death penalty for the most part, how do they approach the Klingons probably wanting to kill the parasites and their hosts both just to be sure?  how do we de-infest people long-term?) or make it exposition as we go out on a new mission. 

With respect to new missions: these guys did a lot of damage in a short time.  Romulan space is going to be chaos.  The Klingons might have another civil war just for kicks, you know, since the last one ended pretty fast and not many folks had a chance to win all that glorious honor.  What about the Tholians, Cardassians, Dominion, Tzenkethi?  Internal Federation drama is a thing, too.  Depending on who exactly was infected and when, people might want to re-try a bunch of recent civil rights cases or toss recent laws. Augments still can't do much openly, maybe we want to get involved with a campaign with Dr. Bashir in the name of civil rights? 

this could be a general plot driver going forward.  Need a plot thread?  Well, you poor Theurgy grunts did the hard work of saving the Federation.  Now the galaxy's still on fire and somebody needs to put out those fires.  And what do you know?  Starfleet Command just called with your mission of the week, you lucky sinners. 

passage of time could be solved like this, too.  have a dedicated interlude subforum for "sometime in between Episode X and Episode Y" and put anything like promotions, sin you can't get out of your head but can't fit into the regular story, relationship progression you need but can't fit in, etc. in there. 

Just my 2 cents.  :)

Honestly, well said.... the flight of the Theurgy is the main plot. Not dealing directly with the Infested in any way, aside from on a very small scale.

Deal with the aftermath and move on. The Romulans, Klingkns, and Federation are all smart. They might be misled for a bit, but honestly, even TNG only had this for a single episode as bad as it was.

They couldn't make it work for a major story arc. We haven't used it as more than set dressing and chaos being cause. Other things have been a direct and immediate threat.

My thoughts:

--WRT. Natalie Stark as Captain: If you save the Federation and Starfleet Command thinks your leadership was a key part of that, brevet promotion to O-6 being made permanent is IMO certainly plausible.  From a Doylist POV, having the Captain be the main referee works well too. 

--WRT. the infested plotline: This has not really served as the main plot so far.  The infested are a handy narrative tool to drive the plot (e.g. by having one drive the Klingon civil war, or by exiling our crew, etc.), but we've had little progress on their story at least since I showed up mid-pandemic.  Most of our stuff has been stopping infested side-plots rather than going for them outright. 

as such, IMO it's entirely reasonable to say, "ok, we are going to end the infested plotline by revealing them to the galaxy and imprisoning all the infested leaders, then figure out where to go from there", and we can either write out negotiating what to do (are the parasites themselves legally people?  the Federation doesn't do the death penalty for the most part, how do they approach the Klingons probably wanting to kill the parasites and their hosts both just to be sure?  how do we de-infest people long-term?) or make it exposition as we go out on a new mission. 

With respect to new missions: these guys did a lot of damage in a short time.  Romulan space is going to be chaos.  The Klingons might have another civil war just for kicks, you know, since the last one ended pretty fast and not many folks had a chance to win all that glorious honor.  What about the Tholians, Cardassians, Dominion, Tzenkethi?  Internal Federation drama is a thing, too.  Depending on who exactly was infected and when, people might want to re-try a bunch of recent civil rights cases or toss recent laws. Augments still can't do much openly, maybe we want to get involved with a campaign with Dr. Bashir in the name of civil rights? 

this could be a general plot driver going forward.  Need a plot thread?  Well, you poor Theurgy grunts did the hard work of saving the Federation.  Now the galaxy's still on fire and somebody needs to put out those fires.  And what do you know?  Starfleet Command just called with your mission of the week, you lucky sinners. 

passage of time could be solved like this, too.  have a dedicated interlude subforum for "sometime in between Episode X and Episode Y" and put anything like promotions, sin you can't get out of your head but can't fit into the regular story, relationship progression you need but can't fit in, etc. in there. 

Just my 2 cents.  :)

I concur with everything about by @GroundPetrel‍ and @Tae‍ 

Kind of feeling it'd be best to wrap the plot and move on with the crew remaining after the aftermath. Allowing Auctors characters to facilitate the capture and diplomatic portion of this so the crew can move on to new exploration opportunities. 

I quite honestly disagree.

Creating an entirely new storyline takes time and might take Theurgy into a direction that might alienate some of the community. Why? Because not everyone will enjoy fighting the Borg, getting trapped in a dark alternative timeline or exploring the Gamma Quadrant. With the infested storyline we know what we have: something which appeals to the entire community.

That aside, wrapping up the infested storyline in one or two threads would be an immense disservice to Auctor Lucan and the story which he tried to tell. After ten years of exploring his carefully laid-out narrative, it doesn't sit right with me if we were to simply approach the Federation News Network to reveal our findings and wrap up the entire storyline like that.

Just my two cents.

I quite honestly disagree.

Creating an entirely new storyline takes time and might take

Everything else aside, after the results of the poll, leadership will have 4 months to work something out. Which they'll have to do anyway.

Time is very much on their side.

You know, this is a very unfair way of having a discussion. If you're only going to focus on the first fourteen words of my opinion and completely disregard the part where I tried to explain why I feel that particular way (which I added just so there would be additional food for thought and constructive discussion), I guess you're not interested in what I have to say so I'll just not voice my opinion here anymore and simply wait until the poll results are announced.

You know, this is a very unfair way of having a discussion. If you're only going to focus on the first fourteen words of my opinion and completely disregard the part where I tried to explain why I feel that particular way (which I added just so there would be additional food for thought and constructive discussion), I guess you're not interested in what I have to say so I'll just not voice my opinion here anymore and simply wait until the poll results are announced.

Generally you can assume that if I only quote specific parts of a post only specific parts are addressed. I find your opinion the rest to be valid in and of itself. But also not something that I can address as I won't be one of the ones running things.

Just to toss this in: I don't object to polishing off the Infested story. That was Auctor's story, and it wouldn't feel right to try to continue it. However, if we do resolve it, I believe that it should be done properly with a satisfying climax as its own action-packed dramatic episode to close off Season 02. Episode 02 would continue as planned (with tweaks as necessary), then Episode 03 would end the Infested story, then we could start Season 03 with something fresh.

Just to toss this in: I don't object to polishing off the Infested story. That was Auctor's story, and it wouldn't feel right to try to continue it. However, if we do resolve it, I believe that it should be done properly with a satisfying climax as its own action-packed dramatic episode to close off Season 02. Episode 02 would continue as planned (with tweaks as necessary), then Episode 03 would end the Infested story, then we could start Season 03 with something fresh.

Hear hear. Finish it off, next chapter... or the one after. Don't drag it out and turn it into a shambling corpse of someone else's story.

Hear hear. Finish it off, next chapter... or the one after. Don't drag it out and turn it into a shambling corpse of someone else's story.

Mate, have a little more respect for the work that WE have all put in over the past years. WE have all worked for this story. Many of us have dedicated multiple YEARS to this story through various episodes.

Referring to it as a zombie is not the way to sway people to your point of view.




I am not against ending the infested storyline. As long as it is done respectfully and realistically.  Season 02 was already about the Theurgy being proactive in their fight against them. Season 01 was 'The Flight'. Season 02 was 'The Fight'. Unfortunately, life and world events slowed everything down.

We have the opportunity to vote now to have a collective view of what the future could look like. Let's all just take a moment and wait and see. We don't need to campaign for what we want to see. We are all adults here and smart enough to be able to decide for ourselves.

Apologies, no disrespect was intended to any of my fellow writers with the effort put forth by all of us.

Quote

Hear hear. Finish it off, next chapter... or the one after. Don't drag it out and turn it into a shambling corpse of someone else's story.

Mate, have a little more respect for the work that WE have all put in over the past years. WE have all worked for this story. Many of us have dedicated multiple YEARS to this story through various episodes.

Referring to it as a zombie is not the way to sway people to your point of view.




I am not against ending the infested storyline. As long as it is done respectfully and realistically.  Season 02 was already about the Theurgy being proactive in their fight against them. Season 01 was 'The Flight'. Season 02 was 'The Fight'. Unfortunately, life and world events slowed everything down.

We have the opportunity to vote now to have a collective view of what the future could look like. Let's all just take a moment and wait and see. We don't need to campaign for what we want to see. We are all adults here and smart enough to be able to decide for ourselves.

I disagree with the premise that the main plot with the Infested should be wrapped up so rapidly and even skipped over. The flight of Theurgy from the Infested is only the beginning of the saga which is to first ensure the survival of the heroes.

A progression follows where it is necessary to gather the resources and allies to combat the identified threat. This is the stage I believe we are at. The Klingons are on side and the next episode was probably to bring the Romulans on board as well. The temporal and dimensional technologies are also being developed to keep the universe safe. The time for running is over and the board is being set up for confronting the Infested.

While it is not the story that Auctor would have written, it is the story that we create together and there should be growth, failures, and triumphs in the progression of the ship and her crew before a final climactic battle to seal the fate of reality. Those aspects should be written out or the story of the crew is incomplete.

Finishing the story within the current season or even the next one is a reasonable.  We don't even have to make the seasons as long as the previous ones were.  They can be far more focused with more direct engagement of the Infested and their proxies.

This is basically what I was getting at. Not that we should end it abruptly but to continue as logic dictates and then go in another direction. No disrespect meant, I mean I have been here 3 years now but the plot would feel wrong without it's architect here to run it. 

I do feel we're about over half life with the infested plot much in the way the Dominion War worked out. So not saying to end and throw it all away. But I do get the vibe if we don't tread carefully we'll be be in this state of trying to keep us in it when it really could continue with the ship itself and it's crew in more adventures. But this again would have to be done respectfully and tastefully to not rush that resolution. 

Why not do both? We have the “What If” board, why not expand on it to have the other exploration stories set after the Infested are defeated, or at least exposed so unable to influence galactic powers, and the episode boards can continue fighting the Infested?

We can do more then one storyline at a time right?

Maybe do an exploration story for an episode then back to fighting infested then a science story then back to fight infested. I mean why be limited in our storytelling to just one major storyline when we are capable of collaborating on multiple in many boards at the same time?

Just my 2 cents