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plounce · 3 years

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a thing i am doing right now is i am writing a post-canon cardassia garashir fic BUT it is wholly made up of primary sources and secondary sources discussing garashir in later cardassian society because in present canon cardassia is like homophobic so their relationship was kept verrrrry private, so a lot of historians in the future debate over whether garak and bashir were together or not. ambiguity and all that. im a history major. all the secondary sources are post-post-canon when cardassia is like. more socially liberal about certain things, where the writers are reflecting on that period of cardassian history. anyway these are the sections i have written / planned so far

bashir's will that asks for certain documents to be preserved “for the sake of historical preservation, so that future generations may know Elim not just as a patriotic statesman but as a warm and loving man.” <-- homo

a book on present-canon cardassian homophobia, going into the social history. this section got really long because i talked about trans cardassians navigating around homophobia a lot. bc the homophobia is from a place of “you have to have children” but like (binary) trans ppl are okay so like those people who marry in ways that don’t appear childbearing tended to have children really quick to escape that. but yeah i still need to finish this bit bc i need to actually talk about the homophobia not just the trans people

list of cardassian homophobic slurs. yeah lmao i know. we have fun here. one of the ones for “lesbians” is “friend of sapohi” because i couldn’t resist making up lizard alien sappho

first physical letter garak sends bashir post-canon when there’s power shortages and bashir is stationed a long way away. they’re not together yet. sort of an introduction. these letters are one of the only personal documents garak left behind bc he’s paranoid and very private

a federation relief worker’s notes on a briefing about power rationing, which is some further explanation about why the fuck star trek people would be writing letters on paper instead of their weird ipads

second letter garak sends bashir. idk what’s gonna be in that yet but i do know garak says “your doodle of me was charming but inaccurate”. just one side of the conversation bc bashir kept his letters from garak while garak read the letters bashir sent him, memorized them, and destroyed them for security reasons.

record request emails from a cardassian history graduate student to a federation archivist asking for access to any messages from the o’briens about bashir but oh no :( the o’briens only marked for archival some videos of their grandkids :( and also a video of a random cardassian kid from bashir? weird. this one was really fun

one of the last messages bashir sent o’brien through starfleet comms that’s like right before he leaves for cardassia. nothing Concrete but definitely Hmmm-able

an excerpt from a book about the history of offworlders on cardassia, which includes a letter from one of garak’s political opponents as an example of reactionary xenophobia. basically it’s just a letter where this dude is very rude and homophobic about bashir. but it’s fine because he uses fake homophobia

political cartoon where bashir is portrayed as a seducer trying to get cardassia to assimilate into the federation. meant to be kind of funny imo. might commission karin to draw it for me. i think bashir tried to frame it in their house but garak like super hated it but idk if i can squeeze that in

transcript of an interview bashir gave on his views on cardassian politics, trying to be like “haha im just here to be a doctor, im not trying to be a spy or anything, but yeah i do agree with the people who like social programs and the rights of the disadvantaged etc etc”

an excerpt from a speech parmak gives like a decade after that after a piece of orphan rights legislation got passed that thanks bashir for the consultation and support. heheh

third letter from garak to bashir. probably like. subtly indicates that their relationship is on the verge of romantic. the last letter

a negative book review of a book that argues that garak and bashir were together. the review is just like “terrans are just Like That!!” plus some other stuff like “they lived together bc nobody would rent a house to an offworlder in this era!!” and stuff like that. im looking forward to writing this

the entries on garak and bashir from a children’s book on cardassian heroes. very saccharine and glossy and patriotic. bashir especially is like “once he stepped foot on cardassian soil he knew he loved this land” etc etc. amusingly inaccurate

the speech of one of garashir’s grandchildren (they take in some wards - non-blood related adoption is formally recognized on cardassia after the wards are of age) while accepting some medical award that thanks her grandfather elim garak for the support and her beloved elder julian bashir for his advice and support

a foreword from a book of poetry written by one of their GREAT-grandchildren who thanks his grandfather for the love of literature passed down to him. because Oh You Know

idk where this will go but cardassians discussing a federation documentary about The Heroes Of The Dominion War that says “oh yeah bashir went on to become the first naturalized citizen of cardassia. elim garak became an important figure in the new cardassian government. they were common law married” and the cardassians being like THEY REALLY SAID THAT? and some cardassians being mad and some cardassians being like Someone’s Fucking Saying It Finally!

still thinking of other sections that go a bit more into their children/married life. maybe also some other incidents. the thing about this is it’s such a fun little exercise to think of different ways to angle into this relationship and this society through surviving primary sources and variations on secondary sources. it’s a puzzle though because i want a lot of differentiation

im thinking ill conclude it with like their great great grandchild releasing some documents from them that confirm their relationships that were meant to published like a couple centuries later when hopefully cardassia was more accepting. because i want gay people to get the last laugh and assert their places in history and regain control over how society sees them. yk

sorry this post is like so insanely long and also kind of deranged in concept. im kind of fucking tired of my main twitter being this place where i have to remember that 21k people follow me (because i post c*tcrumb art on my main twtter) that im trying to make tumblr a place where i can just run my mouth yk. anyway. hey i got really into ds9 in the second week of march

#chirps #long post

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odoes · 3 years

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ive been thinking about my ocs lately and since i saw someone else post about theirs its time for me to infodump, baby.....

captain silja kallas: human, she’s estonian and the youngest of five children, three older sisters and a twin brother that’s 10 hours older than her. extremely charismatic, optimistic, and makes friends with anyone. she clawed her way to the top by doing some not so savoury things, she can be extremely manipulative to get what she wants. but overall, she’s a really nice person. she can play violin like her brother, and she always wears her hair up in a bun tied with a green ribbon. she has a sexual appetite for ferengi men... some say she even dated quark (she says it, because it’s true)

lt. cmdr sulev kallas: chief of security. being the only boy out of five, he grew up with more effeminate interests and practically never left his twin sister’s side. he’s quiet and a bit shy but always looking out for her. gay but doesn’t share silja’s questionable taste in men. he spoke/understood federation standard before the academy but never really spoke it (when he felt like saying something), so he speaks with a bit of an accent. his hair is the same length as his sister’s (very long) but he doesn’t tie it back

commander zarel lejan: first officer, trill diplomat, joined and is the fourth host to the fairly young lejan symbiont. all three of his past lives were female and he was murdered by men in all of them so he has a bit of an issue being around other men, mainly while he’s alone with men he doesn’t know. he was sent to join starfleet and this is his first posting as commander, and he doesn’t really trust the captain initially. however, he is extremely protective of the women he cares about even though he's super uptight and almost unapproachable. he fell in love with his wife at first sight while on his first diplomatic mission to earth.

lt. cmdr qadira lejan: chief engineer, human, an extremely hard working pakistani woman - she’s very strict with keeping her engineering staff in line but off-duty she’s incredibly approachable, witty, and thoughtful. she is very detail-oriented and will remember little things about pretty much anyone. (she knew sulev loves to sew so she gave him tons of pretty fabric she had hoarded) she loves her husband but finds the “diplomat’s wife” aspect of it a bit boring and has been found at many diplomatic functions sitting around and reading tech manuals.

lieutenant venik: chief medical officer, ferengi, and silja’s ex boyfriend. from his youth he was always an outcast on ferenginar, he’s very selfless and his only interests are in healing and helping others, not making any sort of profit. he heard about nog joining starfleet and was inspired to join soon after, proving to be a quite brilliant doctor. he is the only doctor in starfleet with knowledge of how to properly clone vorta. he’s a bit misogynistic and dense but means well.

ensign miros: vorta, during the dominion, he was known as “sadistic miros” and treated his jem’hadar and vorta he outranked quite cruelly. his current clone deviated from his cruel demeanor and realized what he was doing was wrong, he basically had this whole breakdown and defected from the dominion and hid out in the alpha quadrant for a few months. joined starfleet immediately after the dominion war and was ostracized at the academy, only finding a friend in venik, who always stood up for him. they have a friends with benefits deal but caught feelings and won’t admit it to each other! he’s incredibly gentle and patient with others.

lt. cmdr feya amarel: bajoran, ship’s counselor who is very calm and empathic, but a bit scatterbrained and clumsy. she suffers from narcolepsy as a side effect of ptsd from the bajoran occupation. she’s a lesbian and has a thing for cardassian women. cast aside her spirituality years ago and no longer wears the earring, however, she has a great deal of respect for people who can still hold onto their faith.

lieutenant prella jacett: cardassian security officer. very erratic and materialistic, but confident and thorough in her work. she lost her entire family at the end of the dominion war and is extremely wary of vorta, jem’hadar, and changelings. she joined starfleet seeking to make peace with herself and also hopefully help others avoid going through what she did. also she had an older sister that feya had slept with. small world!

provisional ensign solaris: vorta, an incredibly efficient mechanic whose ship got damaged in one of the last dominion war battles and fell off the radar, unable to signal for help or transport off the ship. she kept her ship adrift for 6 years running basic life support and food replication, once in a while landing on a stray moon to stretch her legs and collect provisions, but afraid to make contact with any other life forms. she’s distrustful and snobby, and quite a kleptomaniac, but in turn extremely resourceful. the crew tractored in her ship to let her make repairs in a stable environment, but were so impressed with her abilities they asked her to stay. she had to share a room with prella who initially hates her/is afraid of her but they go from enemies to lesbians pretty quickly

#my ocs

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saintheartwing · 5 years

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DS9 is Best Star Trek. FIGHT ME.

DS9 is, hands down, the best out of all the Star Treks and at the moment, its all available on Netflix and I continue to rewatch it. Lemme explain why.

The cast is INCREDIBLY diverse, unique and special. They work off each other well and have very good chemistry.

They have changed it up by making it so that the bulk of the series overwhelmingly takes place on a single station at the opening to a wormhole that opens to the other side of the galaxy itself. New threats and old could come around to the station at any time and we’d get a real sense of how ordinary people LIVE in Roddenberry's universe.

It wasn’t afraid to question and point out the problems OF Roddenberry’s universe and the federation. Take, for example, the whole “no money used anymore” thing. Jake Sisko, Captain Sisko’s son, wants to get a special baseball card for his dad, but well...federation citizens don’t HAVE money. Earth basically gave up on material possessions, a fact Nog, his ferengi best friend, brings up. “It’s not MY fault your planet moved away from emphasis on material possessions!” “Hey, don’t knock our way of life! We use the time we could have spent obsessing over material wealth to focus on improving ourselves!” “What does that MEAN, exactly?” “...it means...it means...we don’t need money!” “Then you don’t need MY money.”

See the problem? YOU may not use money, sure...but most of the galaxy still does, so you’re s--t outta luck if you got nothing to trade with! Heck, even replicated food gets criticized. “It just tastes like proteins. Not REAL chicken.” Not to mention the introduction of Section 31, an independent organization designed to protect Earth and the Federation from threats internal and external by hook or by crook, regardless of the means, all for the greater good, utterly autonomous, that didn’t answer to the Federation.

But then again, the Federation didn’t really INTERFERE with it, because it seems to recognize that “We sort of need them to do the dirty things we can’t bring ourselves to do.” That was new, and unique! Never been done before! Along with active critiques of the Federation.

As one of the supporting characters says, “ I was like you once, but then I opened my eyes. Open your eyes, Captain. Why is the Federation so obsessed about the Maquis? We've never harmed you. And yet we're constantly arrested and charged with terrorism. Starships chase us through the Badlands, and our supporters are harassed and ridiculed. Why? Because we've left the Federation, and that's the one thing you can't accept. Nobody leaves paradise. Everyone should want to be in the Federation. Hell, you even want the Cardassians to join. You're only sending them replicators so that one day they can take their rightful place on the Federation Council. You know, in some ways you're worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious... you assimilate people and they don't even know it!”

GREAT line there. And of course, we can’t forget Garak. Just...plain...simple...Garak. This “ordinary tailor” is ENDLESSLY hilarious!

But of course, the show wasn’t afraid to talk about dark issues. We had the occupation of Bajor that resulted in concentration camps and millions dying, a horrific war with the shapeshifting Founders, a “Changeling” race who wanted to impose order on the galaxy who was basically kicking the ASS of the Federation for QUITE a while in the show, making them lose baaaaad. We even had Sisko and his crew forced off the station of Deep Space 9!

And of course, “In The Pale Moonlight” is often on the top 10 list of best episodes of all Star Trek and for good reason. Benjamin Sisko is determined to get the Romulan Empire to join the war effort against the Dominion, and at first he tries to do it normally enough, but that fails. So he has to resort to faking evidence of a planned attack on Romulus, bribery, covering up his crimes, and even ending up an accessory to a double murder. But the most damning thing of all?

“I think I can live with it. And if I'd have to do it all over again... I would. Garak was right about one thing. A guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant, so I will learn to live with it.............because I can live with it...I can live with it...”

Powerful stuff, as is “Far Beyond the Stars”, in which it’s implied that, perhaps, everything in DS9 is the creation of an African American sci-fi writer in mid 20th century NYC! A writer who’s struggling to get his tale published, but...well...because his hero is a “colored man”...

And all of this was done without disgustingly cheap shock deaths or out-of-nowhere swerves or tasteless shock horror. Oh, and unlike in Star Trek: Discovery, the Klingons don’t EAT PEOPLE. I mean, that’s just gross stuff there. Plus it featured the first on-screen lesbian kiss! And the character of Jadzia Dax and the symbiotes could easily be read as a metaphor or coding for being trans or transitioning into a new gender! Really progressive for the time!

So that’s just some of the many reasons I love it. Hopefully you’ll give the show a look over and come to love it too.

#DS9 #deep space nine #deep space 9 #star trek ds9 #star trek deep space nine #star trek deep space 9 #star trek #STD #star trek discovery

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hughesiverse · 6 years

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Star Trek: On non-binary species and sexuality

Please Note: This article is based off of my opinions, and thus does not reflect the views of the Star Trek staff; whilst much of the information here can be supported with references to the series, movies, books and games, I don’t feel it should be necessary to provide them, since this isn’t a debate about continuity (I will provide them on request, but not to support an argument – I will not respond to those). It should be noted that this article shuns heteronormativity, because in a universe that contains species that cannot be defined as heterosexual, heterosexuality cannot be assumed to be the automatic norm; this does not mean characters cannot identify as heterosexual, but this article is aimed at writing relationships and characters that are NOT Heteronormative and being inclusive of other gender identities. This article is by no means exhaustive, but is instead aimed at giving an overview to something I have never seen discussed before. I also intend no offense with anything included or excluded from the article, and apologize for anything viewed as offensive or inaccurate; this is all derived from my own knowledge and understanding at the time of writing. Hann'yyo! (Trans: Thanks)

Jolan’Tru! I’m Hughes, and this is my guide to Non-Binary species and their relationships, in the Star Trek Universe. Let’s face it, this topic is one not often discussed, and certainly is one a bunch of people will not have ever considered; I’m hoping this article will be useful to anyone who writes fan fiction or roleplays/SIMs Star Trek.

We know that in a universe as vast and diverse as Star Trek, at some point we were going to encounter species with more than two biological sexes, and thus eventually terms would work their way into the Federation Standard dialect to describe attraction to these sexes. In fact, in a universe that contains the ever open-minded Federation, with its Starfleet explorers, it’s pretty hard to imagine that the genderqueer are not accepted on the basis of their gender identity (although Brunt’s response to Lumba in “DS9: Profit and Lace” suggests this is less so on Ferenginar, where there are very definite, and seemingly binary, gender roles). Taking this into account, I’ve decided to provide this short guide to help you define the sexuality of your character/s, or the view you want to take on cannon characters.

Some things to remember; no species, regardless of how many sexes or genders they recognize, are going to identify as the same sexuality. Some sexualities may be perceived as more common, or be viewed as the norm (Cardassian culture, for example, is very focused on being able to produce children, and frown on adoption; heterosexuality is more likely to be the accepted norm here), but as much as there are human lesbians, there will be Klingon lesbians, and as much as there are asexual humans, there will be asexual Romulans (Praetor Gell Kamemor was married to another woman, according to Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire).

It’s pretty easy to infer how acceptable this is seen to be, based on culture, society and openness to new ideas, if there is no official material available on that; just, try to make sure you have something to back it up with, if you want to avoid being challenged.

Firstly, let’s take a look at sexual desire; before we ever get to who we are attracted to, it is important to consider whether or not there is any desire for sex, sexual contact or sexual intimacy. This is considered to be a spectrum, because it’s not a matter of clearly defined wanting sexual intimacy of not wanting sexual intimacy, but how much and under which circumstances; people can fall anywhere between no sexual desire and experiencing sexual desire. Some common orientations would be the following...

SPECTRUM OF SEXUAL DESIRE:

• Asexual – One who does not experience sexual desire or attraction to others, regardless of gender or species. This may be the norm for genderless species, such as the Founders/Changelings or the Xindi Insectoids.

• Grey Asexual – One who experiences very infrequent sexual attraction to others, and often only under certain circumstances. May occur more commonly in species which experience mating drives under specific circumstances, such as Vulcans during Pon Farr, or Ocampa during Elogium.

• Demisexual – One experiences sexual attraction only after establishing romantic or emotional bond. May occur more commonly in species that first establish an emphatic or emotional bond, such as Betazoids with their Imzadi.

• Allosexual – One who experiences sexual attraction towards at least one gender; this appears to be very common among Starfleet officers, Humans and Federation species in general.

• Monosexual – One who experiences sexual attraction towards only one gender; also very common, but usually applies to heterosexuality toward binary-gendered species (though it isn’t necessarily the case).

• Questioning/Exploring/Curious – One who is uncertain as to their sexual orientation; they may or may not actively experiment with their sexuality.

• Omnisexual – One who experiences sexual attraction irrespective of gender or species. This appears to be more common among long-lived species or species capable of changing their gender, such as Joined Trills.

Romantic attraction is a factor in relationships, which determines who we build romantic intimacy with, and develop romantic feelings for; it is related to, but distinct from sexual attraction. Those who have matching sexual and romantic orientations are described as perioriented, whereas those who have different sexual and romantic orientations are described as varioriented. Most romantic orientations have a sexual counterpart, but here’s a list of common ones anyway...

SPECTRUM OF ROMANTIC DESIRE:

• Aromantic - One who is does not experience romantic attraction to others, regardless of gender or species. This appears to be the norm among Xindi Insectoids and the Jem'Hadar.

• Grey Romantic – One who experiences very infrequent romantic attraction to others, and often only under certain circumstances, or at specific times. An example would be the Founders/Changelings, who occasionally show signs of romantic attraction towards certain individuals, such as Odd and the Founder Matriarch.

• Demiromantic – One experiences romantic attraction only after establishing an emotional attraction or bond. Few specific examples exist within the Star Trek Universe.

• Alloromantic – One who experiences consistent romantic attraction towards at least one gender; this seemingly applies to most species, but not all, and is somewhat the norm within the United Federation of Planets.

• Monoromantic – One who experiences romantic attraction towards only one gender; also very common, but usually applies to heterosexuality toward binary-gendered species (though it isn’t necessarily the case).

• Questioning/Exploring/Curious – One who is uncertain as to their romantic orientation; they may or may not actively seek to experiment with relationships.

• Omniphilia/Omniromantic – One who experiences romantic attraction irrespective of gender or species. This appears to be more common among long-lived species or species capable of changing their gender, such as Joined Trills.

Then, we move into Sexual Attraction; this is what most people think about when someone asks about sexuality, and refers to the genders that we are attracted to. Some people do not experience sexual desire, and thus to not experience sexual attraction; they may still experience romantic attraction. I have purposefully left Heterosexuality and Homosexuality off of the list, in favour of more universal designations; it becomes very tricky when dealing with multigendered species to define sexuality based on the gender of the person experiencing attraction, so this focuses on the gender of the person who is found to be attractive. Obviously, you can define things however you please, but this is intended to be as inclusive as possible. These are some of the potential orientations...

SPECTRUM OF SEXUAL ATTRACTION:

• Asexual – One who does not experience sexual attraction of desire toward others, regardless of gender or species. This may be the norm for genderless species, such as the Founders/Changelings or the Xindi Insectoids.

• Gynesexual – One who experiences sexual attraction to female or feminine gendered individuals. A male who is gynesexual could also be considered heterosexual, and a woman who is gynesexual could also be considered to be homosexual. An example would be Will Riker or Ben Sisko.

• Androsexual – One who experiences sexual attraction to male or masculine gendered individuals. A male who is androsexual could also be considered homosexual, and a woman who is androsexual could also be considered to be heterosexual. An example would be Kira Nerys or B'Elanna Torres.

• Skoliosexual – One who experiences sexual attraction to non-binary genders, especially intersex, androgynous or hermaphroditic genders. This would be the norm in species who are naturally androgynous, or possess an androgynous gender, such as Hermats.

• Nequesexual – One who experiences sexual attraction to non-binary genders, especially neutral, genderless or neuter genders. Many of such genderless species do not experience sexual or romantic drives, making this less among such species, and more common among gendered species, although it is not unheard of.

• Polysexual – One who experiences sexual attraction towards multiple genders; they might also be considered to be bisexual, with the exception that they are not necessarily attracted to two, binary genders. A Polysexual may be attracted to any combination of genders. This is the most common sexuality among species who require more than two genders to procreate, such as Andorians or Vissians.

• Pansexual – One who experiences sexual attraction irrespective of gender; similar to polysexuals, but gender does not play a part establishing sexual attraction. They are, in essence, attracted to all genders. This may be more common in species which shift genders throughout their lifecycles, or at will, such as Seleneans.

SPECTRUM OF ROMANTIC ATTRACTION:

• Aromantic – One who does not experience romantic attraction of desire toward others, regardless of gender or species. This may be the norm for genderless species, and those capable of asexual reproduction, such as Syraths and Tholians..

• Gyneromantic/Gynephilia – One who experiences romantic attraction to females or feminine genders. See Gynesexual.

• Androromantic/Androphilia– One who experiences romantic attraction to males or masculine genders. See Androsexual.

• Skolioromantic/Skoliophilia – One who experiences romantic attraction to androgynous, hermaphroditic or intersex genders. See Skoliosexual.

• Nequeromantic/Nequephilia – One who experiences romantic attraction to neutral, genderless or neuter genders. See Nequesexual.

• Polyromantic/Polyphilia – One who experiences romantic attraction to multiple different genders. See Polysexual.

• Panromantic/Panphilia – One who experiences romantic attraction irrespective of gender. See Pansexual.

• Omniromantic/Omniphilia – One who experiences romantic attraction irrespective of gender or species. See Omnisexual..

Okay, this applies much less to the real world, but is definitely relevant to the Star Trek Universe; in a world filled with other sentient and sapient beings, it becomes inevitable that cross-species attractions occur. This may be met with positive or negative responses, given some species will have taboos against cross-breeding, and others will consider this as tolerance and equality. Some people will not over think it, and will just be attracted to a person, regardless of race. Either way, the issue of attraction to alien entities is one that should be considered. These may also take the form of romantic attractions. Some of these are fictional orientations, but feel free to use them...

SPECTRUM OF ALIEN ATTRACTION:

• Asexual – One who does not experience sexual attraction to others, regardless of gender or species. This may be the norm for genderless species, such as the Founders/Changelings or the Xindi Insectoids.

• Idemsexual/Idemphilia – One who experiences sexual/romantic attraction exclusively to members of their own species. This is common among species that dislike crossbreeding, or specific sects such as the Klingon Purists from the House of T'Kuvma in Discovery. A less ideological example is Corat Damar, who expresses interest only in other Cardassians.

• Xenosexual/Xenophilia – One who experiences sexual/romantic attraction to species outside of their own; more often than not, it indicates humanoid species attracted to other humanoids, such as Seska’s attraction to both Chakotay and Jal Culluh, or Skrain Dukat’s apparent preference for Bajoran women, even over Cardassian women.

• Omnisexual/Omniromantic – One who experiences sexual/romantic attraction to others, regardless of gender or species; this term does not imply that attraction is limited to similar forms. An example would be a Caitian with an interest in a Pahkwa-Thanh, or Lwaxanna Troi’s interest in Odo.

And finally, the types of relationships that people have; of course, many relationships are undefined, and that certainly remains a possibility, but I am focusing on defined relationships. This is especially relevant in regard to species with specific courtship rituals, or that require more than two genders to procreate, such as Andorian Bond Groups. I do recommend researching the species that you intend to use, as more specific information may be available, but if not, then this brief overview may be helpful. This list is definitely not exhaustive, so please bear it in mind...

SPECTRUM OF RELATIONSHIP MODALITIES:

• Monoamorous/Monogamos – People open to having committed relationships with only one person. These are one of the most common forms that relationships take, and are seen in all four Quadrants; Betazoids and Bajorans typically practice these relationships.

• Polyamorous – People open to having committed relationships with multiple others simultaneously; these may be open or closed. Andorian Bond Groups ate an example of closed polyamory, whereas Denobulans practice open polyamory.

• Orbital – The relationship between individuals who have a partner in common, but do not have a sexual/romantic relationship with each other. An example would be Bolian Co-Spouses, and these relationships are also common on Denobula Triaxa.

• Queerplatonic/Quasiplatonic – A relationship founded on emotional, but non-sexual and non-romantic bonds; it is seen as akin to a romantic relationship. Queerplatonic relationships may be more common among genderless species, and examples include Odo’s relationship with Laas in “DS9: Chimera” and Lwaxana Troi in “DS9: The Muse”. It is the typical state of affairs between Bynar.

• Non-committed – A short-term fling, or non-exclusive relationship, founded primarily on sexual attraction. These relationships are typical among Effrosians, Risians and Deltans.

• Prearranged – A long-term commitment, arranged by somebody external to the relationship; often involves marriage, or production of offspring; usually for reasons of status, diplomacy or genetic compatibility, but may be cultural. These relationships are common among Ferengi, who marry for wealth and production of offspring, often for predetermined periods.

One last thing before I go; it feels as though the article would be incomplete if I didn’t add this non-exhaustive list of species that doing not conform to the gender binary. This should, with any luck, show that these phenomena are more common in the universe than is necessarily represented on the show (which had to conform to censorship demands).

LIST OF NON-BINARY SPECIES:

• Vissians (One masculine, one feminine and one neutral gender)

• Andorians (Two masculine and Two feminine genders)

• Undine/8472 (Five incomparable genders)

• Tholians (One intersex/hermaphrodite gender)

• Hermats (One intersex/hermaphrodite gender)

• Xindi Reptilians (One intersex/hermaphrodite gender)

• Xindi Insectoids (Genderless)

• Borg (All existing genders; especially intersex/hermaphrodite)

• Axanar (Genderless)

• J'naii (Genderless)

• Syrath (Genderless)

• Founders/Changelings (Genderless, but posses gender identity)

• Sulamids (Twelve masculine genders)

• Rigellian Chelons (One Intersex/Hermaphrodite gender)

• Rigellian Jelna (Two Masculine and Two Feminine genders)

• Marmosans (One masculine, one feminine and one neutral gender)

• Hydrans (Two feminine and one masculine gender)

• Jem'Hadar (One masculine gender)

• Pak'Shree (Gender Morphing)

• Seleneans (Genderless & Gender Morphing)

• Chameloids (Gender Morphing)

Thanks for reading my two cents; this doesn’t cover everything, because I’m unfortunately no expert on sexuality and romance, but this should provide a basic outline on how to handle non-binary species and their relationships. For more information on orientations and identities, I recommend visiting AVEN, where you will find plenty of resources aimed at allosexuals and asexuals, and plenty of helpful members who will be happy to answer your questions. Bedah!

#star trek #roleplay resources #sim resources #sim & roleplay #non binary #gender queer #relationships #sexuality #orientation #how to write #strategies & tips #writing tips

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chronotopes · 6 years

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Winn Adami? 🎃

AW FUCK YEAH!!

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life IN TERMS OF how you construct a villain . god. obviously i don’t like her personally but i’m keeping this categoryhotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (i’m going for those double houses hard i guess. she did preach during the occupation! and is also a Schemer if ever there was one) best quality: as fucky as her own moral code is she does abide by it for most of the show - like when she finds out the circle is being funded by the cardassians she stops supporting it? like idk if that’s a Positive trait necessarily but i do think that’s something that puts her in a more interesting category than Pure Evil. she does care about bajor i think butworst quality: it’s her egoism. that fits into her hypocrisy i think, and into her insecurity which leads her in turn to make like extremely terrible decisions. like i think the centricity that she builds around herself - as savior and as victim - is rlly what defines all her most vilainous attributesship them with: you know what? block me for this but uhh . young winn/young but slightly older opaka... a whole, uh, hero worship thing if you will.. a whole “disciple going astray” thing... occupation-centered theodicy stuff even if the show’s framing DOES fuck it up.... the lesbian nuns vibe. um i could be convinced is all i’m sayingbrotp them with: uh idkneeds to stay away from: i don’t think you’ve seen the finale arc yet but uhh. thatmisc. thoughts: the show should have written the end of her arc better AND i want a fic about sisko hanging out with the prophets explaining to them how they lowkey fucked her over. and she can be in it as well idk

#my worst character trait is having grown so used to using hyphens instead of dashes that i barely ever use proper dashes #asks #trek talk #I LOVE WINN I DON'T TALK ABOUT HER ENOUGH #squidong

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zenosanalytic · 7 years

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DS9: Tribunal to Prophet Motive

Overall S2 wasn’t really that much better than S1, though it did have a handful of eps that were genuinely “good” television. S3’s also spotty but slightly better. One S3 trend I don’t like is the SUPER heavy-handed selling of Kira/Odo from basically the first ep on, and how it comes entirely out of nowhere. Also, Keiko is royally and consistently shafted and ignored, which is frustrating as hell. They FINALLY give her something to do, and not only is it presented as a “gift” from her husband(which, Ick! Like she’s not following the going’s on in her own damn profession???), they use it to effectively write her off the show! Ridiculous >:(

Tribunal: Bad. What’s the point of doing a courtroom ep that isn’t a courtroom ep? Sure, I can understand the theoretical appeal of the irony of a trial episode about a show trial, but you really need to embrace the absurdity of the concept for it to work and they didn’t. Also, the Cardassians are one-note(like all the non-human species in ST), and their one-note is “Order”, so Cardassian law, even if entirely show-trials in practice, really ought to be procedurally meticulous. An ep about Odo, skilled in these procedures from his time as a Cardassian security chief, out bureaucrating a culture of military bureaucrats to stall for time while the DS9 crew finds dirt to blackmail the Cardassians with would have been great and probably darkly funny; this was just dull. Also, there’s no way the Fed would stand for a Starfleet officer being snatched out of a Fed shuttle in Fed space like that, smuggling weapons or no, or believe for one second the Cardassian claim weapons were on the shuttle in the first place, given their past experiences. This would have caused a major diplomatic incident, and the Fed embassy corps on Cardassia Prime would have been all over O’Brien like ants on a summer picnic.

The Jem’Hadar: Fun and Good. Trying to do something simple and succeeds. Quark’s rant to Sisko about Ferengi history is obvsl convenient writing rather than fact -in TNG they’re aggressive, needlessly violent cruel pirates who, I’m pretty sure, are explicitly slavers as well- but it SHOULD be right. They’d be more interesting as a culture built around a capitalism that never saw any profit in compulsion. Historically, while slavery pre-dated capitalism in Earthican societies, slavery as we think about it -dehumanization, brutality, murderous forced labor- has nigh-universally been associated with capitalism, and quite frequently with commerce(Greek, Roman, and American slavery were all basically built around ag production for commercial markets[though slave-artisans based in cities was a significant part of the Greek and Roman systems as well]). That internal contradiction, attached to a larger ethical distaste for direct, personal violence(and valorization of tattling that’d go along with the instinctive distress-cry DS9 gives to Ferengi), while still being the profit-driven thieves and schemers they are, would have been Compelling.

The Search is… OK. I mean, as television it’s fine. The plot doesn’t make any damn sense though. The Dominion makes it clear they don’t want the Fed entering their territory and the Fed’s response is… to infiltrate deep into their territory to find the Homeworld of their leaders and confront them with the only warship in the Fed fleet? This move is basically designed to start a war. Also, they seem to forget that they’ve had Odo come to the Gamma Quadrant before, so his whole “I feel drawn to this nebula” deal seems out of left-field. Also Also, they should have used The Defiant to add the Romulan liaison as a regular cast member, instead of bringing on Eddington and doing nothing with him. Having Sisko, who has had an excellent relationship with Odo until now, suddenly giving this speech about how he doesn’t like that Odo isn’t “a team player” is pretty ridiculous as well(and out of character. Sisko’s not a team player. His WHOLE CREW is made up of square pegs just like himself). Also Also Also, a Romulan security officer who spends a season or two building up relationships with the maincast, sashaying around being arrogant and cynical in Romulan kimonos during her off-time, gradually developing Maquis sympathies, becomes Sisko’s evil!Valjean and remains so until nearly the end of the series would have been a genuinely surprising character-arc requiring consistently good writing to sell, and kind of explain why, in later eps, the Romulans wouldn’t require one of their own to protect and operate the cloak. Or hey! Maybe her becoming a Maquis could begin as a plot to foment rebellion in the Fed, that’d be neat.

Equilibrium: Meh

Second Skin: Good in some parts, but that the journals would be what starts cracking Kira up isn’t believable and it just isn’t mindfucky enough. Also, Kira’s warmth towards her fake dad at the end of the ep didn’t feel earned. Maybe if they’d had her bond with him over having lost family in the Occupation.

The Abandoned: pretty offensively essentialist, really. Especially given the plotline later in the series(iirc) about a Jem’Hadar trying to break his people’s addiction to ketracel-White, which kinda undermines this eps whole “the Jem’Hadar have no will of their own and are genetically programmed soldiers that it’s useless to reason with” line.

Civil Defense: good. It remains unbelievable to me, though, that Starfleet wouldn’t have done a complete refit of the whole station the minute the Cardassians left, especially given the Star Trek obsession with hard-wired, analog computing.

Meridian: a noxious pile of garbage all round. The subplot is skeezy, but at least it’s in-character, well-written, and believable which the main plot certainly is not. I kinda wish that, if they were going to include such a scummy sub-plot in the ep, they’d at least made it a bit interesting by subverting expectations. At the end, have Tiron be at first taken aback, and then surprisingly pleased with Kira’s modifications to the program. He walks out, “deeply satisfied” with the program and pays 20% extra for it, compliments Quark on his “creativity” as a holodesigner with a slightly amorous look, Quark is clueless and confused yet pleased, Kira and Odo are absolutely mortified. Then maybe leave it around as a Chekov’s Gun; Quark makes a secret copy(of course), offering it to only his best customers, it leads to a small but noticeable increase in custom, then someday in a later season he checks it out and is Horrified to find he’s unknowingly made himself one of the most popular porn-performers in the sector :|

Defiant: fine as it is, except there should have been a bit about HOW the Maquis found out about the Defiant and knew about its cloak. This would be a good time to introduce the long-arc of the Romulan officer’s Maquis sympathies/attempts to use her position on DS9 to co-opt the Maquis and undermine the Federation.

Fascination: dumb and really Skeezy, Ferrell’s is the only entertaining performance in the ep, but, again, the smooch-directing of this series is uncommonly good. Also: Miles is not just a bad dad, but also a bad husband. Also Also: Bajor’s only 3 hours away in a runabout or shuttle for Frak’s sake? You can’t be bothered to go visit her?? People in Texas regularly make three hour drives every DAY.

Past Tense: One of my favorite eps of the series; heavily Nostalgic for me. Having now read To Say Nothing of the Dog, however, I do wish ST writers treated Time and Causality as more robust and stubborn than they tend to.

Life Support: The inevitable killing off of a past love-interest to free Kira up for Kirdo. Bareil was bland and boring anyway, even if his performances in S3 were much improved. Why the heck is the Kai negotiating treaties??? That the Kai and Vedeks plays a direct, institutional role in Bajoran politics needed to be established before jumping into a plotline about the Kai negotiating a secret peace pact with Cardassia. The subplot with Jake and Nog, which reduces the question of female personhood to a “cultural issue” in the context of Nog’s misogyny ruining Jake’s chances with a girl who never appears again(iirc), is repulsive in about a half-dozen ways.

Heart of Stone: Ho-hum. The Nog in Starfleet storyline is good, but they should have built up to it in previous eps. Wesley spends pretty much all his time before acceptance doing science experiments and apprenticing in various departments on Enterprise to build up his resume just to qualify to take the exams; having Nog accomplish the same task with a letter of rec is kinda |:T Also: wouldn’t Sisko have pointed out that, in the Fed and Starfleet, Nog’s “gift” would be interpreted as an attempted bribe and get him immediately arrested? Seems like an important cultural rule to point out to a Ferengi |:T |:T

Destiny: Good. Ulani and Gilora are obviously lesbians and I won’t hear another word on the matter u_u

Prophet Motive: Fun and Good, though the “evolved” talk re: social constructs and cultural modes was annoying.

Why are S3′s subplots so much better done than it’s main ones? I imagine the discipline of having limited time to complete them in has something to do with it. Some other observations:

A-plot B-plot structure is entirely standard in S2 and S3, probably because it’s an obvious way to include such a large cast, but then all the plots revolve around the same handful of characters, so the opportunity is wasted.

It’d have been nice if every species was given the same variety of clothing the Ferengi get to have. Having Caradassians wear mil uniforms IN THEIR OWN HOMES, and when they are scientists, is absurd.

DS9 continues the Trek tradition of having a real nebulous and unexplained relationship with money.

DS9 really needed more women writers and head-writers on staff. Why are male writers so bad at this???

I really need to get in the habit of taking notes while I watch so I can give more detailed reactions later -__-

#Star Trek #ST: DS9 #DS9 S2 #DS9 S3 #DS9 Rewrite #TV Reviews #zA's Outside Viewing #Literary Criticism

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