Post by Falconer on Feb 2, 2010 15:27:54 GMT -5
We had a brief discussion here about doing a crossover involving Star Trek plus Burroughs’s Mars. Well, here’s a new concept I’m working on, and I call it A Princess of Orion. The idea is that Orion is the ultimate “Sword & Planet” setting within Star Trek. Just to give you an idea of what I have in mind, I envision an extended campaign there (or frequent return), rather than just a single episode. To begin with, here is what the Star Trek Concordance has to say about Orion:
You’ve got to love ruins, complete with lost technology of an ancient and advanced civilization! The situation is therefore analogous to Mars, or to Dying Earth or Greyhawk for that matter.
Hold it, please! The Rigel system! Is that the same system containing Rigel II, where McCoy met two chorus girls?
Is that the same system containing Rigel IV, where Beratis, a.k.a. Jack the Ripper, preyed on women, just a year before Kirk put an end to him on Argelius II?
Is that the same system containing Rigel V, whose native Rigelians have physiology very similar to Vulcans, so much so that McCoy was able to save Sarek by using an experimental Rigelian treatment?
Is that the same system containing Rigel VII, where Pike fought barbarian warriors and lost some of his crew, immediately prior to the events of The Cage?
Is that the same system containing Rigel XII, that lithium mining planet where Mudd’s women ended up with rich husbands?
Actually, I can’t find any confirmation that Orion is in the Rigel system, but why not go with it? Rigel (Beta Orionis) is a blue supergiant in the Orion constellation. It would not be inconvenient to imagine a system with dozens of inhabitable planets (which is the setup in Firefly, for example). But this is a tangent, so let us return to Orion itself.
(Not sure where the “tailed” idea came from. Both Vina and Marta seem to have perfectly rounded backsides from what I can tell.)
Anyway, you can make the case that there is only one Orion race, but you can also easily make the case—maybe even exaggerate it a little—that there are multiple indigenous humanoid races on Orion, if you wanted to make it Mars-like. Green Orion Animal Women,
Yellow Orions (analogous to Red Martians—they still cling, barely, to civilization?),
and Blue Orion Pirates (analogous to the Black Pirates of Mars)?
And don’t forget to add White Orion Slavers to the list.
Heh, maybe, maybe not! Here is a great hook for a campaign: can you shut down the slavers’ operation? In fact, if I may take this off on a tangent for a second, what if the PCs were Captain Christopher Pike and his crew, and this were their very mission? What if Pike is an NPC, and in an alternate timeline he had quit Starfleet to go to Orion, like he wanted to in The Cage? What if he has become Orion’s John Carter? Christopher Pike, Warlord of Orion!
This scene is burned in my memory, and basically sets the tone for the whole campaign for me.
I wouldn’t make a campaign out of it, since you can’t change anything in the past, so what’s the fun? But as a brief detour fact-finding mission, it might be fun to go into Orion’s glorious past!
Well, that is all the ideas I have for now! Nothing too concrete yet, I admit, though the basic idea would be to mine the John Carter books and just do a lot of adventures in the ruins and stuff. In any case, I probably won’t be able to resist including White Apes:
Well, what do you think?
Dr. Roger Korby improved immunization techniques with information from the Orion ruins, which he translated (LG).
You’ve got to love ruins, complete with lost technology of an ancient and advanced civilization! The situation is therefore analogous to Mars, or to Dying Earth or Greyhawk for that matter.
A planet in the Rigel star system,
Hold it, please! The Rigel system! Is that the same system containing Rigel II, where McCoy met two chorus girls?
Is that the same system containing Rigel IV, where Beratis, a.k.a. Jack the Ripper, preyed on women, just a year before Kirk put an end to him on Argelius II?
Is that the same system containing Rigel V, whose native Rigelians have physiology very similar to Vulcans, so much so that McCoy was able to save Sarek by using an experimental Rigelian treatment?
Is that the same system containing Rigel VII, where Pike fought barbarian warriors and lost some of his crew, immediately prior to the events of The Cage?
Is that the same system containing Rigel XII, that lithium mining planet where Mudd’s women ended up with rich husbands?
Actually, I can’t find any confirmation that Orion is in the Rigel system, but why not go with it? Rigel (Beta Orionis) is a blue supergiant in the Orion constellation. It would not be inconvenient to imagine a system with dozens of inhabitable planets (which is the setup in Firefly, for example). But this is a tangent, so let us return to Orion itself.
A planet in the Rigel star system, noted for its traders, its treachery, and its green slave women. It also has pirates....
A world inhabited by a variety of species, at least three of which are humanoid: the intelligent Orions, such as the golden-skinned interpreter of the laws, Devna (Tr/a), the disguised Thelev (JB), and the semi-intelligent, green-skinned, black-haired, tailed Orions.
A world inhabited by a variety of species, at least three of which are humanoid: the intelligent Orions, such as the golden-skinned interpreter of the laws, Devna (Tr/a), the disguised Thelev (JB), and the semi-intelligent, green-skinned, black-haired, tailed Orions.
(Not sure where the “tailed” idea came from. Both Vina and Marta seem to have perfectly rounded backsides from what I can tell.)
Anyway, you can make the case that there is only one Orion race, but you can also easily make the case—maybe even exaggerate it a little—that there are multiple indigenous humanoid races on Orion, if you wanted to make it Mars-like. Green Orion Animal Women,
Yellow Orions (analogous to Red Martians—they still cling, barely, to civilization?),
and Blue Orion Pirates (analogous to the Black Pirates of Mars)?
And don’t forget to add White Orion Slavers to the list.
When Christopher Pike was captain of the Enterprise, some humans were running a slave trade, selling Orion natives, especially the “green animal women” (Me). This vile business was apparently eradicated, to judge from the lack of reference to it by Thelev (JB) and Marta (WGD).
Heh, maybe, maybe not! Here is a great hook for a campaign: can you shut down the slavers’ operation? In fact, if I may take this off on a tangent for a second, what if the PCs were Captain Christopher Pike and his crew, and this were their very mission? What if Pike is an NPC, and in an alternate timeline he had quit Starfleet to go to Orion, like he wanted to in The Cage? What if he has become Orion’s John Carter? Christopher Pike, Warlord of Orion!
Of the green Orion females it is said that they are animal-like in their viciousness but so seductive that no human male can resist them. It would perhaps be unwise to resist, in any case, since the females have long, sharp claws. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Orion females are prized as slaves. Vina takes on the appearance of one of these to dance for Pike in an illusion (Me).
This scene is burned in my memory, and basically sets the tone for the whole campaign for me.
Kirk, Spock, and a historian named Erikson go through the time portal into the past of Orion to study it firsthand. They are careful not to disturb anything that could change history (Yy/a).
I wouldn’t make a campaign out of it, since you can’t change anything in the past, so what’s the fun? But as a brief detour fact-finding mission, it might be fun to go into Orion’s glorious past!
The planet has tried to maintain an air of neutrality, concerning the Federation and everyone else, but in practice this seems a thinly veiled license to prey on everyone without particular prejudice in any political direction (PO/a).
Orion smugglers have been raiding Coridan for dilithium crystals. To protect their illegal operation, they must prevent the Babel Conference from voting Coridan into the Federation. To this end, the smugglers send an agent aboard the Enterprise, disguised as an Andorian, and follow in a mysterious high-speed ship. When Thelev, the agent, is discovered and defeated, both ship and Orion spy destroy themselves (JB).
The sneaky and untrustworthy Orions have had to learn new ways in Elysia, the Delta Triangle region from which there is no escape, and to become law-abiding beings (Tr/a).
Orion smugglers have been raiding Coridan for dilithium crystals. To protect their illegal operation, they must prevent the Babel Conference from voting Coridan into the Federation. To this end, the smugglers send an agent aboard the Enterprise, disguised as an Andorian, and follow in a mysterious high-speed ship. When Thelev, the agent, is discovered and defeated, both ship and Orion spy destroy themselves (JB).
The sneaky and untrustworthy Orions have had to learn new ways in Elysia, the Delta Triangle region from which there is no escape, and to become law-abiding beings (Tr/a).
Well, that is all the ideas I have for now! Nothing too concrete yet, I admit, though the basic idea would be to mine the John Carter books and just do a lot of adventures in the ruins and stuff. In any case, I probably won’t be able to resist including White Apes:
