indignantlemur

[indignantlemur]

In the pilot episode of ENT 'broken bow' after the farmer shot the Klingon, where the Vulcans and Starfleet were arguing that Starfleet ( and by extension Earth) had a right to know what was going on saying it happened on Earth soil, which the vulcans said was irelivent. Now that got me thinking, The Vulcans are technically guests on Earth so why do they have so much say in delaying or shutting down the flight into space? I'm curious on what your thoughts are.

Hello! Thanks for stopping by!

This is actually kinda interesting, because the early relationship between Vulcans and Humans is not depicted as that of allies in equal footing, but that of a protectorate or client state/species and their controlling state/species.

For clarity, a client state is a nation or country (or in this case, an entire species) which is controlled by and reliant upon a larger, more powerful nation for support economically, politically, or in military matters. A client state has very little autonomy in matters of foreign policy or defense.

Meanwhile, a protectorate is similarly influenced by a larger, more powerful nation, but it retains much more internal autonomy. A protectorate is able to manage their own domestic affairs with little interference, though they must still defer to their controlling state/species in some matters.

At the beginning of Star Trek: Enterprise, the relationship between Humans and Vulcans is, in my opinion, leaning much more towards that of a client species, which explains why the Vulcan High Council feels it has the authority to dictate what Earth (and by extension Starfleet) are permitted to know and do.

This actually makes a lot of sense, given that Vulcans only uplifted Humans very recently - by their reckoning, at least. It would be plainly irresponsible to uplift a species, hand them powerful and potentially very dangerous technology, and then fuck off to parts unknown to let them figure things out. It's the intergalactic equivalent of handing a toddler a pistol with the safety off and hoping nothing bad will happen.

So, Vulcans were not guests on Earth at the time of Broken Bow, in that context. If anything, they were closer to liege lords responsible adults coming to investigate why their peasants wards were suddenly murdering aggressively ventilating rogue Klingons in the cornfields. This was well within their rights, at the time, and it was down purely to indulgence that the Enterprise was allowed to launch for its Return To Sender maiden voyage in the first place.

Hope this answers everything!

[indignantlemur]

[indignantlemur]

"i got more help from the andorians" factoid actualy just statistical error. andorians didn't help you at all. Shran, who has a huge crush on you, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

[indignantlemur]

Most of his siblings and children all had a passing-to-strong family resemblance to Abessathaan, from what records and depictions remain intact, but who can say whether that was artistic rendering to indicate a shared bloodline or factual depiction? 😎

He's not as hilarious as Kelenthor the Clanless was, I grant you, but Abessathaan is a strong contender for Most Notable Historical Blorbo in my books. Bless his dumb little head.

Emigre Deep Lore: The Imperial Idiot

I feel like you guys are sleeping on Emperor Abessathaan, so I'm gonna draw more attention to him.

Abessathaan had the horrendous misfortune of ascending to the throne during a time of religious conflict and civil unrest on Andoria, and he chose the dumbest possible approach to handle it. Instead of intervening politically and using the sway the Imperial Clan had over the masses to break up the conflict and find a sensible resolution, he brute forced the problem - and unified every single faction against a single target.

This is what modern historians refer to as a poor life choice.

Abessathaan only compounded the issue when he forcibly declared himself the only religious leader Andoria needed, in what seemed like a fit of megalomania at the time but was probably closer to a very desperate move by a politically obtuse individual. Worse still, his claim was that this declaration came as the result of a vote voluntarily taken by the heads of all the major religious orders at the time. This was demonstrably untrue, as he had the first religious leader to openly disapprove executed on the spot, though it does technically still qualify as a unanimous verdict if all the dissenting parties are dead at the time of the vote.

Abessathaan, as one might guess, was not a subtle creature, and he was much hated at the time.

No, really. The man was challenged to (and fought in) a life-or-death duel forty-seven times in six months. That's literally a duel every 3.8 days. Not only that, but he was also dodging assassins the entire time. Everyone wanted this guy dead.

(Rumour has it his own children couldn't stand him, either. While the rumour cannot be truly verified one way or the other, historians have noted that many of them took it upon themselves to obtain command postings rather far from home, and for very long stretches of time. Certainly, much longer than was usual for the era.)

Now, just imagine how it was back then:

Imagine being the Andorian equivalent to a scheming ex-Pope, desperately trying to kill off an idiot Emperor who has wrongfully stripped you and your faith of their political power, their lands, and their identities. You send assassins. They fail. You send more assassins. They fail. You send even more assassins. They fail. Nothing is working, and soon your coffers are looking increasingly anaemic.

One of the leaders from the Other Religion sends you and someone from the Other Other Religion a secret message, which essentially boils down to:

Detestable Foes, (Desties, if you will) I'm at my wit's end. I've sent thugs in. I've sent poisoners in. I've sent assassins in. Nothing. Nothing is working. I hear your efforts have been equally fruitless, which of course surprises no one. I propose we set aside out differences, many and varied as they are, and work together, or each of us funding our own separate attempts is going to bankrupt us all. Our differences may be profound, but our goal is the same.

This is enlightening, because now it's not just you who has failed to achieve your lofty goals of murdering The Imperial Idiot, but two other equally well-appointed enemies, with equally deep coffers... and it's not like you're bursting with fresh ideas for handling the problem, either, come to think of it.

So, you agree to meet somewhere isolated, somewhere your face isn't known. You agree not to bring guards. You're lying. (That's alright, as it turns out, because the other two agreed to come alone and also lied about it. Typical. Exactly what you'd expect of these people.) Thus, you three desties bitterest of enemies meet under an uneasy truce to kill the Emperor so that you can resume your glorious holy war against these heathen infidels. And the other heathen infidels, of course. Mustn't show favouritism.

And then one of you - and which one will vary, as all three will take credit - has a moment of realization:

The best way to kill the Emperor is to do it legally.

Of course! It's so simple! The Emperor's absurdly effective guards, who now haunt your nightmares at this stage, can't intervene during a lawful duel! They won't like it, they'll try to stop it, but they can't! The rules are the rules, and nowhere in the Codex does it say that none can challenge the Emperor to combat by Ushaan. So, the three of you start sending duellists instead of assassins - champion duellists and Clanless brawlers and disgruntled soldiers, everyone and anyone at all. And there are so many to send.

Abessathaan was not a popular man at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times.

It takes time, as all good things inevitably must, but The Imperial Idiot begins to look haggard, jumpy - positively paranoid. His guards are increasingly irritable and all too quick to strike first and ask questions never. He's wearing down under the onslaught of challengers. He'll slip up any day now, you can feel it in your bones. The time is approaching at last! Your long awaited goal is finally within your grasp-!

-And then the son of a bitch adds the Right of Substitution to the Codices of the Ushaan.

This thoroughly foils your plans. Your desties fellow conspirators are given pause, now uncertain, and withdraw their support to fall back and consider their options. You alone try to stay true to the course, but it's all for naught. You're back to square one, without so much as a third of your starting funds and no working plans at all. Your fury is boundless; you show none of it.

The Imperial Idiot returns some of the lands and a handful of rights to the religious orders he previously offended, a transparent peace offering if ever there was - but not yours, no. Your order remains beggared and in disgrace. It would feel targeted, a pointed exclusion, but for the fact that several smaller orders are also left in the lurch. (It was absolutely targeted.)

The other religious leader and the other other religious leader start pretending they don't know you. One of them claims ill health and retreats to some Clan holding in the far south, after which she never emerges back onto the political scene again. The other stops going out in public entirely. So fixated on The Imperial Idiot as you are, it never occurs to you to question why. (Neither lived out the year. Knowing this would not have saved you.)

Clan Kavros has been bankrupted by your exhaustive efforts, just as your religious order is because they are one and the same. There is no further recourse - no resolution, no way out of the pit you've dug yourselves into. By some miracle, The Imperial Idiot hasn't connected that your Clan was responsible for many of the attempts on his life. (He definitely had.)

You may be safe for now, but if your numerous acts of treason ever come to light, your entire Clan will be purged. (Preparations were already being made at the time.)

So you head out into the Northern Wastes in an unprecedented move, and do not question your good fortune when no one stops you from leaving. (The 'officials' sent to 'handle' Clan Kavros were waylaid and failed to intercept their mass exodus in time.)

And hundreds of years later, some know-nothing historian from a Clan barely warranting the status will note down your sole contribution to that era was to turn your Clan into a bunch of scattered, nomadic families in some sort of ineffective political protest. Insult to injury will be the added note that The Imperial Idiot who ruined everything went on to live a relatively happy life while making everyone else around him quite miserable.

If you had a grave, you'd be rolling in it.

[indignantlemur]

This is a matter of significant debate (read: no holds barred, throat-punching, hair-pulling, eye-clawing throwdowns that get people banned from symposiums and roundtable conferences alike) between historians, half of whom claim the Am Tal were founded and very active as imperial bodyguards and spies by Emperor Abessathaan's time, and the other half of whom deny the Am Tal's existence entirely.

That being said, the facts are what they are, and one has to consider what the likelihood was of every single assassin hired by three different factions being plainly incompetent...

Emigre Deep Lore: The Imperial Idiot

I feel like you guys are sleeping on Emperor Abessathaan, so I'm gonna draw more attention to him.

Abessathaan had the horrendous misfortune of ascending to the throne during a time of religious conflict and civil unrest on Andoria, and he chose the dumbest possible approach to handle it. Instead of intervening politically and using the sway the Imperial Clan had over the masses to break up the conflict and find a sensible resolution, he brute forced the problem - and unified every single faction against a single target.

This is what modern historians refer to as a poor life choice.

Abessathaan only compounded the issue when he forcibly declared himself the only religious leader Andoria needed, in what seemed like a fit of megalomania at the time but was probably closer to a very desperate move by a politically obtuse individual. Worse still, his claim was that this declaration came as the result of a vote voluntarily taken by the heads of all the major religious orders at the time. This was demonstrably untrue, as he had the first religious leader to openly disapprove executed on the spot, though it does technically still qualify as a unanimous verdict if all the dissenting parties are dead at the time of the vote.

Abessathaan, as one might guess, was not a subtle creature, and he was much hated at the time.

No, really. The man was challenged to (and fought in) a life-or-death duel forty-seven times in six months. That's literally a duel every 3.8 days. Not only that, but he was also dodging assassins the entire time. Everyone wanted this guy dead.

(Rumour has it his own children couldn't stand him, either. While the rumour cannot be truly verified one way or the other, historians have noted that many of them took it upon themselves to obtain command postings rather far from home, and for very long stretches of time. Certainly, much longer than was usual for the era.)

Now, just imagine how it was back then:

Imagine being the Andorian equivalent to a scheming ex-Pope, desperately trying to kill off an idiot Emperor who has wrongfully stripped you and your faith of their political power, their lands, and their identities. You send assassins. They fail. You send more assassins. They fail. You send even more assassins. They fail. Nothing is working, and soon your coffers are looking increasingly anaemic.

One of the leaders from the Other Religion sends you and someone from the Other Other Religion a secret message, which essentially boils down to:

Detestable Foes, (Desties, if you will) I'm at my wit's end. I've sent thugs in. I've sent poisoners in. I've sent assassins in. Nothing. Nothing is working. I hear your efforts have been equally fruitless, which of course surprises no one. I propose we set aside out differences, many and varied as they are, and work together, or each of us funding our own separate attempts is going to bankrupt us all. Our differences may be profound, but our goal is the same.

This is enlightening, because now it's not just you who has failed to achieve your lofty goals of murdering The Imperial Idiot, but two other equally well-appointed enemies, with equally deep coffers... and it's not like you're bursting with fresh ideas for handling the problem, either, come to think of it.

So, you agree to meet somewhere isolated, somewhere your face isn't known. You agree not to bring guards. You're lying. (That's alright, as it turns out, because the other two agreed to come alone and also lied about it. Typical. Exactly what you'd expect of these people.) Thus, you three desties bitterest of enemies meet under an uneasy truce to kill the Emperor so that you can resume your glorious holy war against these heathen infidels. And the other heathen infidels, of course. Mustn't show favouritism.

And then one of you - and which one will vary, as all three will take credit - has a moment of realization:

The best way to kill the Emperor is to do it legally.

Of course! It's so simple! The Emperor's absurdly effective guards, who now haunt your nightmares at this stage, can't intervene during a lawful duel! They won't like it, they'll try to stop it, but they can't! The rules are the rules, and nowhere in the Codex does it say that none can challenge the Emperor to combat by Ushaan. So, the three of you start sending duellists instead of assassins - champion duellists and Clanless brawlers and disgruntled soldiers, everyone and anyone at all. And there are so many to send.

Abessathaan was not a popular man at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times.

It takes time, as all good things inevitably must, but The Imperial Idiot begins to look haggard, jumpy - positively paranoid. His guards are increasingly irritable and all too quick to strike first and ask questions never. He's wearing down under the onslaught of challengers. He'll slip up any day now, you can feel it in your bones. The time is approaching at last! Your long awaited goal is finally within your grasp-!

-And then the son of a bitch adds the Right of Substitution to the Codices of the Ushaan.

This thoroughly foils your plans. Your desties fellow conspirators are given pause, now uncertain, and withdraw their support to fall back and consider their options. You alone try to stay true to the course, but it's all for naught. You're back to square one, without so much as a third of your starting funds and no working plans at all. Your fury is boundless; you show none of it.

The Imperial Idiot returns some of the lands and a handful of rights to the religious orders he previously offended, a transparent peace offering if ever there was - but not yours, no. Your order remains beggared and in disgrace. It would feel targeted, a pointed exclusion, but for the fact that several smaller orders are also left in the lurch. (It was absolutely targeted.)

The other religious leader and the other other religious leader start pretending they don't know you. One of them claims ill health and retreats to some Clan holding in the far south, after which she never emerges back onto the political scene again. The other stops going out in public entirely. So fixated on The Imperial Idiot as you are, it never occurs to you to question why. (Neither lived out the year. Knowing this would not have saved you.)

Clan Kavros has been bankrupted by your exhaustive efforts, just as your religious order is because they are one and the same. There is no further recourse - no resolution, no way out of the pit you've dug yourselves into. By some miracle, The Imperial Idiot hasn't connected that your Clan was responsible for many of the attempts on his life. (He definitely had.)

You may be safe for now, but if your numerous acts of treason ever come to light, your entire Clan will be purged. (Preparations were already being made at the time.)

So you head out into the Northern Wastes in an unprecedented move, and do not question your good fortune when no one stops you from leaving. (The 'officials' sent to 'handle' Clan Kavros were waylaid and failed to intercept their mass exodus in time.)

And hundreds of years later, some know-nothing historian from a Clan barely warranting the status will note down your sole contribution to that era was to turn your Clan into a bunch of scattered, nomadic families in some sort of ineffective political protest. Insult to injury will be the added note that The Imperial Idiot who ruined everything went on to live a relatively happy life while making everyone else around him quite miserable.

If you had a grave, you'd be rolling in it.

[indignantlemur]

Emigre Deep Lore: The Imperial Idiot

I feel like you guys are sleeping on Emperor Abessathaan, so I'm gonna draw more attention to him.

Abessathaan had the horrendous misfortune of ascending to the throne during a time of religious conflict and civil unrest on Andoria, and he chose the dumbest possible approach to handle it. Instead of intervening politically and using the sway the Imperial Clan had over the masses to break up the conflict and find a sensible resolution, he brute forced the problem - and unified every single faction against a single target.

This is what modern historians refer to as a poor life choice.

Abessathaan only compounded the issue when he forcibly declared himself the only religious leader Andoria needed, in what seemed like a fit of megalomania at the time but was probably closer to a very desperate move by a politically obtuse individual. Worse still, his claim was that this declaration came as the result of a vote voluntarily taken by the heads of all the major religious orders at the time. This was demonstrably untrue, as he had the first religious leader to openly disapprove executed on the spot, though it does technically still qualify as a unanimous verdict if all the dissenting parties are dead at the time of the vote.

Abessathaan, as one might guess, was not a subtle creature, and he was much hated at the time.

No, really. The man was challenged to (and fought in) a life-or-death duel forty-seven times in six months. That's literally a duel every 3.8 days. Not only that, but he was also dodging assassins the entire time. Everyone wanted this guy dead.

(Rumour has it his own children couldn't stand him, either. While the rumour cannot be truly verified one way or the other, historians have noted that many of them took it upon themselves to obtain command postings rather far from home, and for very long stretches of time. Certainly, much longer than was usual for the era.)

Now, just imagine how it was back then:

Imagine being the Andorian equivalent to a scheming ex-Pope, desperately trying to kill off an idiot Emperor who has wrongfully stripped you and your faith of their political power, their lands, and their identities. You send assassins. They fail. You send more assassins. They fail. You send even more assassins. They fail. Nothing is working, and soon your coffers are looking increasingly anaemic.

One of the leaders from the Other Religion sends you and someone from the Other Other Religion a secret message, which essentially boils down to:

Detestable Foes, (Desties, if you will) I'm at my wit's end. I've sent thugs in. I've sent poisoners in. I've sent assassins in. Nothing. Nothing is working. I hear your efforts have been equally fruitless, which of course surprises no one. I propose we set aside out differences, many and varied as they are, and work together, or each of us funding our own separate attempts is going to bankrupt us all. Our differences may be profound, but our goal is the same.

This is enlightening, because now it's not just you who has failed to achieve your lofty goals of murdering The Imperial Idiot, but two other equally well-appointed enemies, with equally deep coffers... and it's not like you're bursting with fresh ideas for handling the problem, either, come to think of it.

So, you agree to meet somewhere isolated, somewhere your face isn't known. You agree not to bring guards. You're lying. (That's alright, as it turns out, because the other two agreed to come alone and also lied about it. Typical. Exactly what you'd expect of these people.) Thus, you three desties bitterest of enemies meet under an uneasy truce to kill the Emperor so that you can resume your glorious holy war against these heathen infidels. And the other heathen infidels, of course. Mustn't show favouritism.

And then one of you - and which one will vary, as all three will take credit - has a moment of realization:

The best way to kill the Emperor is to do it legally.

Of course! It's so simple! The Emperor's absurdly effective guards, who now haunt your nightmares at this stage, can't intervene during a lawful duel! They won't like it, they'll try to stop it, but they can't! The rules are the rules, and nowhere in the Codex does it say that none can challenge the Emperor to combat by Ushaan. So, the three of you start sending duellists instead of assassins - champion duellists and Clanless brawlers and disgruntled soldiers, everyone and anyone at all. And there are so many to send.

Abessathaan was not a popular man at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times.

It takes time, as all good things inevitably must, but The Imperial Idiot begins to look haggard, jumpy - positively paranoid. His guards are increasingly irritable and all too quick to strike first and ask questions never. He's wearing down under the onslaught of challengers. He'll slip up any day now, you can feel it in your bones. The time is approaching at last! Your long awaited goal is finally within your grasp-!

-And then the son of a bitch adds the Right of Substitution to the Codices of the Ushaan.

This thoroughly foils your plans. Your desties fellow conspirators are given pause, now uncertain, and withdraw their support to fall back and consider their options. You alone try to stay true to the course, but it's all for naught. You're back to square one, without so much as a third of your starting funds and no working plans at all. Your fury is boundless; you show none of it.

The Imperial Idiot returns some of the lands and a handful of rights to the religious orders he previously offended, a transparent peace offering if ever there was - but not yours, no. Your order remains beggared and in disgrace. It would feel targeted, a pointed exclusion, but for the fact that several smaller orders are also left in the lurch. (It was absolutely targeted.)

The other religious leader and the other other religious leader start pretending they don't know you. One of them claims ill health and retreats to some Clan holding in the far south, after which she never emerges back onto the political scene again. The other stops going out in public entirely. So fixated on The Imperial Idiot as you are, it never occurs to you to question why. (Neither lived out the year. Knowing this would not have saved you.)

Clan Kavros has been bankrupted by your exhaustive efforts, just as your religious order is because they are one and the same. There is no further recourse - no resolution, no way out of the pit you've dug yourselves into. By some miracle, The Imperial Idiot hasn't connected that your Clan was responsible for many of the attempts on his life. (He definitely had.)

You may be safe for now, but if your numerous acts of treason ever come to light, your entire Clan will be purged. (Preparations were already being made at the time.)

So you head out into the Northern Wastes in an unprecedented move, and do not question your good fortune when no one stops you from leaving. (The 'officials' sent to 'handle' Clan Kavros were waylaid and failed to intercept their mass exodus in time.)

And hundreds of years later, some know-nothing historian from a Clan barely warranting the status will note down your sole contribution to that era was to turn your Clan into a bunch of scattered, nomadic families in some sort of ineffective political protest. Insult to injury will be the added note that The Imperial Idiot who ruined everything went on to live a relatively happy life while making everyone else around him quite miserable.

If you had a grave, you'd be rolling in it.

[indignantlemur]

I debated on sharing this since it's not really much to do with my usual writing shenanigans, but I think perhaps I should.

Recently I was given the written work of someone who is a total stranger (TS for short) to me but acquainted with a friend of mine. My friend has been struggling to give constructive criticism and feedback due to being a little overwhelmed with life a the moment, so he asked me if I would be willing to take a look.

The work was for a fandom that I am aware of and have explored a bit, but not one that I write for or dabble in beyond just enjoying the material. The folks who run the show for the fandom, creators and content-makers, occasionally select from submitted fan works and publish their choices in monthly magazines to be shared around. I figured I was familiar enough with the premise and the universe that I can catch most mistakes and offer decent enough advice, so I said yes.

Then I got the file, and my very first thought was: I am going to break this man.

It was, objectively, one of the worst things I've ever read. There were the bare bones of a good story in there, but it was mired in bad grammar and structuring, bizarre dialogue, utterly absent character development of any kind, and further crippled by a 5k word limit for something that needed a bare minimum of 20-30k words to tell the story it wanted to tell. Entire chapters, dialogue included, were crushed into two-to-three block paragraphs. Dialogue where a degree of decorum and formality would be expected in the setting would have been better suited to a locker room or a pub. No descriptions of any kind were present, leaving the entire story to take place in a shapeless grey void. And this was something TS genuinely hoped to publish in an official magazine.

(For the record, I don't even think my work is good enough to be published without significant rewrites and adjustments.)

In the end, I eviscerated it.

I went through, section by section, chapter by chapter, and laid out what was a problem in terms of character actions, the dialogue, the descriptions, and the overall impressions given versus what appeared to be the intended result. I made it very clear that if TS genuinely wanted to be published at some point, he needed to significantly expand his horizons in terms of technical proficiency and prose.

I was not kind. I was not gentle. I was, objectively, cruel at times and I fully admit to this - witty, yes, but cruel. However, I was cruel with purpose. Every bit of feedback I gave was backed with examples on how to improve and suggestions for resources to review and learn from. Every criticism was explained in detail, with my reasonings as well as my thoughts on possible solutions. I gave examples of accomplished, properly published authors who wrote in similar genres/styles, and who have been very successful and praised for their writing. I suggested movies and TV series that featured the dynamics TS was aiming to portray. I emphasized in particular that the story he was trying to tell could not be crammed into 5k words without sacrificing quality, and if he was determined to keep to that limit to get the story published in a magazine, he needed to pick a single scene - two, at most - and focus solely on that part of the tale.

When I was finished, I sent the veritable tome I had written off via our mutual friend, and waited. I didn't hear anything for a few days.

I worried that perhaps I had been too harsh, that I had crushed this person's desire to write instead of challenged them to improve. I second guessed my choice of words - though not my choice of criticisms, which even in the throes of self-doubt I was firmly convinced were valid. Valid criticisms or no, I soon started to feel that I had been little better than a bully. I wondered if I was perhaps not a safe person for a new writer like TS to send their work to, if I should make a point of declining in the future to prevent further harm. I felt very conflicted on multiple levels.

Then, after several days had passed, my friend sent TS's first rewrite over to me.

TS listened to everything I said, and he genuinely took it to heart. While I was worrying over carelessly crushing a creative soul, he was apparently absolutely thrilled to get honest, detailed feedback instead of the bland, polite 'it's good' commentary that he'd been getting from his peers. No one had ever done that for him before. He was motivated to improve, and by god did he ever.

Even at first blush the rewrite is a massive improvement on the first draft. It's not perfect, it likely won't be for some time yet, but the sheer amount of improvement alone was remarkable.

I am so, so proud of him. The man got a dissertation on everything he was doing incorrectly, poorly, or just generally wrong - and instead of giving up or getting upset, he sat down, read it all the way through, and thought to himself: Finally!

There's not really a specific lesson here. I will probably be more mindful of my phrasing in the future, certainly, but I am also very aware that if I had held back those criticisms and complaints TS would not have improved as much as he did. I would have been just like all the folks he'd shown his work to previously, who could hardly have glanced at it at all before giving an impersonal thumbs up and sending him on his way.

There is merit, I think, to being cruel in order to be kind - but balance must be maintained to avoid devolving into something closer to outright bullying. Some lessons are hard, and the ones that involve our creative endeavours are some of the harshest. I learned the hard way, by running the gauntlet of cruel reviews and downright spiteful direct messages in my early days, and I wished very much that I had had someone who could have just told me what I was doing wrong before I ever hit 'publish' and opened myself up to attack.

Equally, there is a kind of power and resilience in receiving harsh criticism and meeting it with renewed motivation and determination, as TS did. That takes a particular kind of internal fortitude that is not often cultivated by young writers when they initially start out, and I respect the hell out of TS for it.

With time and practice, I genuinely feel that TS will be a solid writer. If he can keep on learning from his mistakes, including taking advice and putting in the hard work, I think he has real potential to become a published author of original works in his own right.

So: keep up the good work, TS.

(You're not on tumblr and you will never read this. If you found this anyways, no you fucking didn't. Go read some Tom Clancy and James Clavell like I told you to.)

[indignantlemur]

reblog if you don't mind being tagged in tag games even if you're not a mutual

[indignantlemur]

This is absolutely true! I picked up Emigre again after 12 years because @the-lady-general binge-commented on my fic and made me fall back in love with it again. We've been friends ever since.

Never under estimate the power of chapter-by-chapter comments as fuel for motivation!

Nothing beats the feeling when you start getting comments on every fic in a fandom or ship from one person, and it’s clear that they’re going on a fic-binge. 

[indignantlemur]

[indignantlemur]

How do you approach worldbuilding? Where do you start and how do you develop a culture/history/customs/ecc. from there?

Hello!

So, my approach to world-building is a little all over the place, upon reflection! 😅 I seem to take multiple approaches to the task.

What I generally lean towards is narrative-driven worldbuilding, for the most part, where the story itself drives the worldbuilding. There's a degree of constructive, top-down world-building involved as well, but that's more to provide a skeleton for a world that I can flesh out as I need to as I write (or as folks ask questions) rather than a step-by-step, minutiae-focused process for every little thing.

When the story itself isn't the driving force for my worldbuilding, I often find that I start with a question and work to create something that feels original, but also not completely unreasonable. It can be something like 'What kinds of foods do they eat, and how?' or it can be 'How does this society function in these conditions, and how have those adaptations affected how they see the rest of the world?'

Other times, ideas come to me after I've gotten distracted by something else - like learning about the dying traditions of fibre crafts and textile arts in the UK and the rest of Europe - and I decide to see if I can incorporate those ideas with the details I've already established. This is how the Artisan Guilds came to be, in part.

For things like culture and history... I don't believe that there's such a thing as a truly new and original story. All the stories that have ever and will ever be told already exist, in fractured bits, in history and in folklore and mythology. So, I turn to those things for inspiration. Often, real world history can serve as a useful framework for how a civilization might develop over time - positively and negatively.

Even just looking at a rough timeline of, say, Western civilization, you can start to modify it to your own writing purposes by asking yourself: what would I change? What would I add? What if X event never happened, or if Y event happened 200 years earlier? Even if you don't end up with anything really usable, it's a good exercise to get into the habit of!

Now, sometimes I draw more obviously on some aspects of real-world culture, such as the Bulreeng Taal festival and its very clear parallels to the Hindu holiday known as Holi, but whenever I do go that route I try to change it to fit my world and make it feel as properly alien as I can in whatever scene it features in. Am I always successful? Probably not - but it's still important to make the effort to make an idea your own rather than ripping it wholesale and just slapping a sticker on it.

To be perfectly honest, though? Sometimes I just go off of vibes. This isn't helpful for anyone hoping to learn from this, I know, but it's true! Sometimes, I'm writing and I'm in the groove. The words are spilling out onto the page, the story is flowing, everything is weaving together, and some random detail will get worked in that works really well with the scene - and suddenly I have a new thing to add to the lore.

It helps that I am, by nature, a lore hound. I love lore. I love learning about the lore behind a world or a character, be it a book or a movie or a game. I consume vast quantities of media in almost all formats and across genres, and my profound desire to learn more about some obscure apocryphal short novella vaguely related to something else I was learning about has led to me to places I wouldn't have gone with a taser, a Maglite, and a very large dog.

In consuming and absorbing so much lore, I think I've also managed to internalise some kind of... world-building wine barrel? Cheese cellar? It's not a perfect comparison, either way, but essentially raw, half-assed ideas go in, they sit and age, and I occasionally revisit them and turn them this way and that, and then I put them back in the barrel, maybe with something new thrown in. This can repeat a dozen times, easily. Vague notions and barely thought out plans slowly become more and more complex the longer I leave them, and then one day I check the barrel and there's a really good idea in there. (Give or take a few duds, but no one's perfect.)

And the thing is, my brain is always doing this. Always.

Regardless of how I come about an idea, I try to make sure all of my ideas are grounded in an imperfect reality, rather than creating something that requires an impossible utopia to exist. Universes like Star Trek tend to present this idealized future where all of humanity's problems are things of the past, even when they demonstrably aren't, and I actually find that distasteful as a writer. The world thrives on conflict. Societies and cultures grow in adversity. If you remove struggle, all you're left with is stagnation, and there's no place for a story in that kind of world.

I think that more or less covers it? Sorry if this got a bit rambling!

[indignantlemur]

My brain has had more thoughts that are questions:

Assuming the Am Tal can successfully finagle an Andorian to Human operation so they can spy on Earth (for normal Am Tal things), how badly would they (the Am Tal) flip out if their operative was caught at whatever point of entry they used because the Humans were hiding some of their non-Human species that look so very Human that even Humans can’t always guess right?

Am Tal operative going through spaceport security when the werewolf/shifter/siren/etc. is like “No, this one is wrong,” to their fellow customs agents. And the customs agents are 100% deferring to that even though all the paperwork is in order and registered and official! Clearly this is a *random* security check.

Non-Human equivalent of Janice the Secretary who chews gum while filing her nails and typing 200 wpm: *Insert Am Tal Agent’s normal Human name here* needs a form BH-90210 at gate 30… I need a form BH-90210 for *ATAnHn* at gate 30.

-Horta-in-Charge

Hello, Horta!

This is outside of my wheelhouse as I don't deal with supernatural creatures outside of myths and folklore in my writings, but I can tell you that in any situation a compromised Am Tal agent - or one who even suspects they may be compromised - would remove themselves from the situation by any means necessary. Yes, any means.

Additionally, the Am Tal would not blindly send in an agent and simply hope they got past Terran security. They would investigate the workings and failings of Terran security, first by sending in perfectly innocuous citizens whose paperwork may be slightly flawed in some minor fashion, with increasingly nuanced changes. By observing the processes through which these individuals are detected and detained, including what attracts more attention and who is most likely to be detained, plans can be made.

Remember that first and foremost, the Am Tal are concerned with the gathering and collation of information. They're not going to throw their version of James Bond to the wolves on Day 1 with zero prep - they're going to observe and quietly probe a target's defences in both the physical and digital realms. Why send an agent when a self-deleting virus will do? Why use a virus when Jim-Bob from Accounting at Big Scary Corporation logged in to work remotely from his far less secure home setup and forgot to terminate the connection properly - and with full admin privileges still enabled too?

Still, entertaining something like the scenario you've proposed, being stopped at a security checkpoint for no reason, particularly in the face of good paperwork - forged or otherwise - would set off dozens of red flags. Depending on the agent's task and whether or not they are carrying physical evidence of Am Tal activity, their options vary. An agent carrying no suspicious materials and having engaged in nothing untoward or illegal would first try to navigate the situation through social means to maintain their cover before resorting to other methods. An agent who was carrying suspicious materials or who had engaged in clandestine activities, however, would not take the risk.

Unfortunately, removing oneself from the situation intact may not always be entirely possible, and the members of the Am Tal are fully prepared to protect their secrets by choosing suicide over capture. At the very least, Am Tal agents do everything in their power to ensure that they cannot be interrogated, but if possible this will be done in such a fashion as to destroy their bodies and all physical evidence besides.

Collateral damage, while far from ideal, is nevertheless considered an acceptable loss so long as operational security is maintained.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Andorians do not fuck around.

[indignantlemur]

Hi! I hope you’re doing alright! I was wondering if you had some sort of timeline of Andoria’s history and if there were any historical periods you thought about in particular

(Oh, also for Emigre, if you had to make a historical au based on Andoria, in which the characters are largely the same but the context that Sorrounds them is vastly different, when would you base it and what would be the changes in the cast?)

Sorry for the weird question! I’ve been searching up Andorian history lately and I noticed that there isn’t much, except for the first Empress murdering all her family and then unifying Andorian under her power (which is kind of disappointing)

Hello! Sorry I'm a bit late in answering - time sort of got away from me!

If I had to make Emigre a historical AU, I'd probably do something in ancient history, possible even medieval history, but I can't deny there's a strong temptation to lean towards either Edwardian or Victorian AUs depending on how much I want to torture Dagmar. 😆

As for your other question: Andorian history is really, really spotty in canon sources, and even the Empress you've mentioned is from a single DS9 novel. There's really not a lot to work with, so my timeline for Andoria and its territories is a bit of a mishmash of canon and apocryphal sources and me just making things up, as I do.

Officially, using only canon sources, we have a timeline that looks kinda like this:

Creation (???) -> First Contact (Vulcan) [early 20th century] -> Vulcan-Andorian hostilities [1950s onwards] -> Colonization of Weytahn [2050s] -> First Contact (Coridan) [sometime pre-2155] -> First Contact (Orion) [sometime pre-2155] -> First Contact (Tellarite) [sometime pre-2154] -> Aenar discovered in Northern Wastes [2104] -> Coalition of Planets formed [2155] -> Earth-Romulan War [2156-2160] -> United Federation of Planets formed [2161] That's... not really a lot. As usual, I must pick up the slack. Now, keep in mind, I'm playing loosey-goosey with some of the dates here, and they are by and large approximate dates rather than specific ones, especially for ancient history all the way up to early modern.

So, here's MY timeline for Andorian history:

(I'm using Terran BC/AD year markers because trying to figure out equivalent Stardates makes me want to crawl back into bed and cry. Sue me. Actually, please don't. )

ANCIENT HISTORY to MIDDLE AGES:

Prehistory [no surviving records, lost to time]

Rise of Clan-centric feudalism, intermittent conflicts [4000 BC - 3000 BC]

Pre-Unification Clan Wars [over 1000 years of near constant warfare, approximately 3000 BC - early 2000 BC]

Unification, establishment of Imperial Dynasty by Empress Byssathir the Just [early 2000 BC]

Establishment of major underground settlements and trade routes [approx 1900 BC]

Rise of imperialism and planet-wide expansion [2000 BC - 900 BC]

First iteration of the Ushaan Codex by Clans Ivos and Sannev, sanctioned by the Imperial Clan [2000 BC]

Establishment of elected provincial governing systems to replace Clan governance [1900 BC]

Establishment of the first Arbiter's Guild by Clan Sannev [1000 BC]

Second, third, fourth, and fifth iterations of the Ushaan Codex [1000-900BC]

Age of Exploration and Expansion, characterized by the expansion of territory and absorption of unaffiliated Clans across Andoria [900 BC - 0 AD]

Establishment of Artisan Guilds [900 BC]

Andorian/Kelenthoric Renaissance [900-600 BC]

Andorians officially settle and populate all habitable landmasses on Andoria [500 BC]

MIDDLE AGES to EARLY MODERN:

The Fracturing Era, characterized by religious schisms and intermittent conflicts thereof [500 BC - 300 AD]

Major religious conflict between three factions, civil unrest, interruption of governance [330 AD - 335 AD]

Newly ascended Emperor Abessathaan intervenes in religious conflicts after civil servants fail to contain it, strips all religious orders of authority and land [335 AD]

Emperor Abessathaan establishes Imperial Clan as highest religious authority, 'unanimously' chosen by former religious orders to prevent further conflict [336 AD]

Emperor Abessathaan survives multiple assassination attempts, forty-seven Ushaan-tor duels in first sixth months [336 AD]

Emperor Abessathaan introduces fifteenth iteration of Ushaan Codex, most notable for introducing the Right of Substitution [336 AD]

Emperor Abessathaan returns much reduced land rights and equally reduced authority to select religious orders, censures the others [337 AD]

Clan Kavros departs in its entirety from Imperial rule and becomes nomadic in protest; no significant changes follow [337 AD]

Establishment of centralized government systems [400 AD]

Andorian Industrial Revolution [100 BC- 400 AD]

Sixth through fourteenth iterations of the Ushaan Codex [700-500 AD]

Kumari, first ice cutter to circumnavigate Andoria [650 AD]

Age of Discovery, characterised by invention and innovation of early modern technology and medicine [650 AD - 900 AD]

Second Industrial Revolution [900 AD]

First aircraft flight [1000 AD]

First submarine launch [1075 AD]

Initial discovery of nuclear power and later development of atomic weaponry [1100 AD]

MODERN ERA:

First Andorian Space flight achieved [1200 AD]

First Planet colonized (Cimera III) [1500 AD]

First Andorian Warp flight achieved [1800 AD]

Empress Thalisar 'the Last' attempts to die childless, to forcibly transfer Andoria from Imperial rule to a democracy under an elected Chancellor [1880 AD]

Imperial Clan continues via cadet branch, Clan Zaa'Kor, a scion of which claims the Empty Throne after a year of interim leadership by the previous Empress' closest advisors [1881 AD]

Emperor Vyvresh ascends, implements sweeping changes to governance including reducing the role of the Emperor in day-to-day governance and creating the Ministries, headed by a Chancellor [1881 AD]

First Contact (Orions) [1901 AD]

Orion Invasion of Andoria, first deployment of atomic weaponry in combat [1911-1913 AD]

First Contact (Vulcan) [1920 AD]

First Contact [Coridan) [1922 AD]

First Contact (Tellarite) [1926 AD]

Andorian-Vulcan hostilities begin [1950s AD onwards]

Andorian-Tellarite hostilities begin [2000s onwards]

Andorian-Vulcan ceasefire and territorial accord negotiated [2050s AD]

Andorian-Tellarite conflict dies down to occasional border skirmishes [2100s]

Aenar discovered in Northern Wastes of Andoria [2104 AD]

First Contact (Human) at P'Jem [2154 AD]

Andorian-Tellarite ceasefire conference at Babel One [2154]

Coalition of Planets formed [2155]

Earth-Romulan War [2156-2160]

Federation of United Planets formed [2161]

EMIGRE-SPECIFIC:

Dagmar arrives in Modern Era [2168]

Emigre Chapter 1 begins [2174]

UNKNOWN/UNVERIFIED EVENTS:

Establishment of the Am Tal, highly contested [speculated to be shortly after 2000 BC, or closer to 1000 BC, or even as late as 300 AD - or not at all, in some academic circles]

[indignantlemur]

Thanks for the tag, @the-lady-general!

My favourite scene? Oooh, this is a tough choice. While I've written a lot of scenes that I'm very pleased with, I think I'm gonna have to go with the Bulreeng Taal scene in Emigre (Chapter 41: Grace and Poise) for my current reigning favourite. I had the opportunity to do a lot of world-building in a way that felt alive and organic with the festival and its traditions, and it was a joy to write from start to finish.

Are there things I would go back and tweak or add to? Sure! I'm always looking to improve, after all, and part of that is revisiting older works and chapters and considering what could be made better or more immersive. But all in all, the Bulreeng Taal remains a strong scene in an otherwise very solid chapter, I feel.

No pressure tagging: @more-better-words, @horta-in-charge, @emilie786, and whoever else would like to chime in!

Favorite scene

@curator-on-ao3 tagged me to share a favorite scene I’ve written. Thank youuuu! <3

I mostly have one shots on AO3, so answering this feels a little like I'm cheating. They all have something special going on. When I started this draft I was going to pick Jankom's Dogs, because I have a very soft spot for the tiny former child slave/abrasive engineering genius. But now I want to pick The Way You Shake and Shiver because I love Finn bullshitting and Chewy seeing straight through it.

I'm going to answer a bunch of these in a row, so I'll try to alternate tagging people to try and not become too annoying for any one person. But please, if you see this and you want to play consider yourself tagged!

No pressure tagging @indignantlemur @strivia

[indignantlemur]

Thank you for the tag, @the-lady-general <3

Most Hits: Emigre (Star Trek, active) is the all-time winner for hits, at 17,280 hits total.

Second Most Kudos: Inexplicable (RoTG, permanent hiatus) has the second highest number of kudos, at 226 kudos.

Third Most Comments: Emigre 'Verse Artwork (Star Trek, active) comes in third here, at 32 unique comment threads.

Fourth Most Bookmarks: Emigre 'Verse Artwork and Deck the Halls (and Not the Vulcans) (both Star Trek, active) are tied for fourth place, at 8 bookmarks.

Fifth Most Words: Deck the Halls (and Not The Vulcans) comes in fifth for word count, at 13,821 words.

Least words: And the Art gift A Symbol of Love [Gift Art] (Trek, complete) has the least words, at a grand total of 8.

No pressure tagging: anyone who wants to participate, mutual or otherwise - go for it!

Numbers Tag Game

rules: give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the least words (feel free to interpret however you would like; if not on AO3, can be on Tumblr or FFNET!).

Tagged by @rivalhughs !!!

Most hits: The Town of Anywhere, with 3493 hits!!! I’m surprised it has that many, honestly. I always thought of it as kind of a niche thing but ig people read it? (Also, I swear I haven’t abandoned it!!! The next chapter is in the works and I’ll get around to it eventually)

Second most kudos: A Burning Question, with 184 kudos! My Encanto/Disney Hercules crack crossover one-shot that I wrote in one sitting while heavily caffeinated one night.

Third most comments: Ties of Blood and Water, with 57 comments! My offering to the Hetalia fandom that I’m also surprised got as much attention as it did (also my personal favorite to reread……ngl I kinda cooked with this one)

Fourth most bookmarks: Falling, with 27 bookmarks! Another one of my one-shots, this time a ship one with AE-3803/U-1146 from Cells At Work! I’ve noticed that this fic got a resurgence in popularity recently, possibly because of the Cells At Work fandom becoming active again? (Speaking of, I really hope the live action movie comes to the U.S. eventually bc I wanna watch it so bad)

Fifth most words: Tales from the Labyrinth, with 19,336 words! A one-shot collection based in the world of my other fic Unto the Labyrinth — and a world thats canon status has been absolutely decimated by the release of Sunrise On The Reaping! Yay for me! /s

Least words: Midnight Snack, with only 228 words! A little Legend of Korra one-shot fic I wrote for a challenge.

I tag @toxic-luck, @elephant-in-the-pride-parade, @chibidashie, and @yumiribbon, as well as whoever else wants to do this!

[indignantlemur]

Heads up, in light of the recent rumblings about AI scraping AO3 for data, I've locked my fic on AO3 so that only registered users can access them. If you're a long-time reader without an account, I think I have four invitation codes that I'm not using and can give away. Let me know if you're in need.

[indignantlemur]

Emigre Deep Lore Snippets & Headcanons:

Tumblr wouldn't let me add any more links to the master post, so I'm breaking all my headcanons up into sections.

Writing Thoris

The Thelen Problem

Thelen's Childhood Fear

How Shral Became The Love Interest

Andorian Historical Timeline: The Imperial Idiot

-> RETURN to Master Post -> GO TO Various Andorian Headcanons -> GO TO Emigre General Discussions