My theory on the Breen, which will probably be proven wrong by Thursday:
The Breen homeworld has an eccentric orbit around its primary, giving it extremely long, harsh seasons. The Breen have evolved to be able to take two forms, each adapted to a different climatic stage.
The ordinary humanoid stage is adapted to the long summer, which is temperate, while the fluidic/gelatinous form is adapted to the long winter, when the planet Breen is a frozen wasteland. What they're made of I don't know, but it's something that's stable at subzero temperatures and breaks down or evaporates at higher temperatures.
The shift to summer happened only a relatively short time before the 24th century, and it's still summer in the 32nd. This explains the contradictory accounts of planet Breen by outsiders; the tales of the frozen wasteland are out of date.
The winter form is stronger and more resilient than the summer form in the right conditions, but can't survive in normal class-M environments. At some point, the Breen learned to be able to shift between the forms at will, and decided their winter form was superior. They developed their suits to keep themselves cold, just so they can stay in their "superior" form all the time.
Perhaps the ship we saw in "Mirrors" is an environment just for dealing with other species, or perhaps they keep their ships in class-M conditions and stay in their suits all the time out of a cultural imperative.
Eventually, maybe with L'ak's help, they'll learn that neither form is superior, merely adapted to different conditions.
La'an Noonien-Singh stood at the window of her small office with her arms crossed in front of her chest and looked out over the gloomy city while streams of raindrops cascaded down the window pane.
The environmental control system has been in need of a repair for a long time, leaving the city struggling under a sky full of heavy dark gray clouds with non-stop rain washing any color from the filth-littered streets for most days. Corruption at all levels of city government led to the funds intended for the colony's maintenance to end up in the pockets of unscrupulous politicians while survival in the city became increasingly difficult with each passing month.
A bloody war for control and territory between the Orion Syndicate and the Noonien-Singh Clan raged in the streets with Starfleet barely doing anything about it. Crime flourished in the city while hopelessness spread on every corner.
From Una's bar downstairs, the soft and smoky voice of her newest musical protige reached La'an's ears, the melancholic melody mixing with the sirens echoing in the distance. Robbery, a shoot-out, murder... There was no crime cruel enough that it wasn't commonplace in this city.
For a long time La'an had been a part of the corrupted system and had worked in the family's business, turning a blind eye to the people suffering at the hands of her relatives, but she could no longer do that. The day a young girl, whose parents had been murdered by the Gorn in the same brutal way as her own family, showed up on her doorstep and begged for help, she realized that law and order would only return to the city if she took care of it herself.
She held no delusions that she could change the system, but someone had to do something!
So she left her dark past behind and become a private eye and started to help all those poor souls abandoned by Starfleet and in need of help.
A polite knock on the door broke her from her straying thoughts. While she expected another client, she remained cautious and reached for the phaser strapped to her thigh beneath her dress. Instead, a Vulcan entered the office - tall, dark, handsome, just her type, dressed in a fancy suit with matching fedora. She recalled his name as S'Chn T'Gai Spock, Govenor Sarek's son. La'an has crossed path with him a few time with him working as a forensic scientist for Starfleet. If they weren't standing on different sides, she might have started a fling with him.
Her watchful eyes narrowed into slits as she regarded him with a quick once-over to estimate if he had come to start troubles. If so, he would quickly find out that she wasn't someone to mess with.
"I don't do business with dirty Starfleet pigs!" she spat at him, holding her phaser behind her back at the ready. Despite his proper and pristine appearance and non-threatening attitude, there was no doubt the tall alien was armed as well, and with Vulcans being three times as strong as humans, she would be damned if she would fall for his pretty face and underestimate him.
"You may want to hear my proposition, Miss Noonien-Singh," he replied calmly, his deep voice sending a shiver down her spine. "Your prejudgments against Starfleet may be warranted, but there are still people in this city that believe in Federation values. Who want to protect the citizens as much as you do. You must be aware that your efforts to save this city are doomed to fail without help. I am here to propose a partnership."
La'an studied him warily as she contemplated the truth of his offer. While Vulcans prided themselves on their logic and honesty, they were equally mendacious and selfish as any other scum.
Her experience and instinct told her not to trust Spock, but he was right about one thing.
She couldn't save the city on her own...
Star Trek: Strange Noir Worlds
Fanmade Spocklaan poster inspired by the news that we'll get a Hollywood murder mystery in season 3. I really hope it'll be a noir episode.
Royals have multiple layers of servants but there is no set of servants most important that their protection. Royalty are never without some kind of protection and palaces are usually guarded to the teeth. So how do we write royal security. This is for @jamie-ties-writing
Recruitment
Royal guards aren't just any person plucked from the street and put into a uniform. They are usually recruited from within the royal army, from within particular regiments across the army (a mixture of calvary, naval, artillery, infantry). The Royal Guard is usually made of of multiple regiments, not just a single one. These regiments would share and rotate duties. The British Royal family are currently guarded by the Coldstream Regiment, Welsh Guards, Grenadier Guards among others. Royal guards will be selected for their skill, sometimes their birth (they may be chosen if they rank higher socially) and of course, loyalty to the Crown. Royal guards were intended to be a show of force, strength, Majesty so they were usually impressive specimens meant to instill some power to their monarch.
Duties
A royal guard's first order of business is the protection of the family. They may have sentry duty around the palace, guarding doors or patrolling palace grounds or corridors. A Royal Guard may be assigned to one member only but most likely they will rotate through the family as needed. Of course, a royal can request a guard to always be assigned to them if they want. They may escort their charge of the day to their engagements. If assigned a certain royal to protect, they would tail them throughout the day. A royal guard may even perform ceremonial duties such as the changing of the guard or riding in coronations or state funerals. A royal guard is expected to remain vigilant but never speak of what they see, they are meant to keep an ear out for threats but never repeat whatever is said, they are expected at all times to uphold a professional countenance and respect protocol. They will be expected to give their lives if needed, and be loyal to the last.
Rank
Royal guards are a military division and rank is a part of their lives. Their supreme commander would he the monarch first but there would be an appointed commander. Depending on how you want to write Royal Guards, each regiment would have it's own captain and leaders. Of course, not all regiments may adhere to the same ranks but this would be a basic outline for you to follow.
Colonel: Colonels actually have no duties, they are more an honourary figurehead. Many members of the royal family would have a regiment to be colonel of. This usually requires nothing more than a ceremonial role, the wearing of the uniform while inspecting the troops for example.
Captain: The Commander of the regiment. They would undertake managerial duties, issuing commands from the monarch, assigning duties, approving the induction of new guards into the Household Division. The Captain would decide who would guard which member of the royal family.
Lieutenant: The Second in command. They will assume command if the Captain is not available. They would take on a large portion of duties and aid the Captain.
Sergeant: The sergeant would be next in command.
Guardsman: The lowest rank. They will have the least experience but usually the most duties. They would be the ones patrolling and standing sentry.
Uniform
Of course, no royal guard is complete without their uniform. Royal guards would have to stand out, especially in ceremonial duties. This uniform would be distinctive, not only because it is a great honour for anybody to be named to the guard but also as mentioned above, to add a layer of might to those they protect.
Notable Royal Guard Units
Dahomey Mino (the inspiration of Black Panther's Dora Milaje)
New Spocklaan AU idea inspired by the last DISCO episode.
So we learn that after Mirror Spock became Terran High Chancellor, was assassinated for making reforms which let to the ISS Enterprise's mutiny and the ship crossing universes.
What if... the ship's junior science officer mentioned in the episode, Doctor Cho, was actually Mirrorverse La'an and she and Mirror Spock were in love which is why she was on the Enterprise and decided to flee to the prime universe after his death?
We have no idea what'll happen to prime La'an yet so who knows, Cho could have pretended to be La'an's long lost twin sister.
If you squint, you can pretend the woman in the picture is La'an (or at least someone resembling her) assuming that's supposed to be Cho.
Cho meeting La'an and Spock would very interesting. She would have to deal with seeing the face of the man she loved and lost again and maybe something would spark between her and prime Spock. Or she could be the catalyst of La'an and Spock getting closer by telling them what a great pair she and Mirror Spock were.
Also for a moment, I thought that stuffed toy was supposed to be a Gorn.