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Crowd-source project: Create a character and help build a crew.

Have both what? Berellian and Android? No, thanks. I looked up Berellian on Google, and it seems nobody really knows what they are like. They were mention once in TNG, in the passage you quoted, and that was it. As to androids, there are no known viable androids that could be in Star Fleet. Even those from Harry Mudd's planet are too flawed to serve.
 
This ship doesn't have a counselor; it's just a small cargo ship and thus doesn't need one. It'd be hard to get an undercover Klingon past the mandatory DNA checks instituted after the events on Base Station K-7.
 
I don't need one assigned to the ship. Maybe as a recurring character on the supply base they work from. But I don't need to worry about such character yet, nor do I really need full background sheets on them. I still have the ship's crew to fill first.
 
At the risk of being electronically shouted down...that list is way too long. It's fine as a character creating exercise, but you don't need over forty characters with detailed backgrounds to tell TOS stories, so if somebody one day actually wanted to write about this crew they'd be wasting a ton of material...or padding the hell out of the narratives.

The actual show managed to tell stories with three main characters, four or five supporters and a cavalcade of guest stars. The supporters and guest stars were added as needed. I'm pretty sure the powers that be didn't start out with detailed histories of the transporter crewman or each redshirt of the week.
 
Well, I agree, you don't need every character in every story. Or every character in any one story. I was planning a series of stories, not just one story, set on this ship, so this gives the option to pick from a full cast instead of centering everything on the same four or five people. There's a chance that a couple-few characters might never be seen, only mentioned in passing, in the entire series. (By the way, I wasn't planning on writing all the stories myself.)

Do some of these get into too much detail? Perhaps. I got a little more verbose than I intended with the "Lieutenant Parker" background. You're right; we don't really need to go that deep into the life history for most of the enlisted characters. It's not "bad" if you do. But as you pointed out, they might not show up that often.

If I had a ship with a crew of 430, I wouldn't even try to give even just a list of names. But with only 45 on the boat, I don't see why we can't at least list the rank, name, species, and gender of everyone in the whole crew. Add in a touch of "color", and it may give the writer something to hook into when coming up with a plot line.

I hope you don't feel like I'm shouting you down. Not my intent.
 
Sgt_G said:
Well, I agree, you don't need every character in every story. Or every character in any one story. I was planning a series of stories, not just one story, set on this ship, so this gives the option to pick from a full cast instead of centering everything on the same four or five people. There's a chance that a couple-few characters might never be seen, only mentioned in passing, in the entire series. (By the way, I wasn't planning on writing all the stories myself.)

Do some of these get into too much detail? Perhaps. I got a little more verbose than I intended with the "Lieutenant Parker" background. You're right; we don't really need to go that deep into the life history for most of the enlisted characters. It's not "bad" if you do. But as you pointed out, they might not show up that often.

If I had a ship with a crew of 430, I wouldn't even try to give even just a list of names. But with only 45 on the boat, I don't see why we can't at least list the rank, name, species, and gender of everyone in the whole crew. Add in a touch of "color", and it may give the writer something to hook into when coming up with a plot line.

I hope you don't feel like I'm shouting you down. Not my intent.
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No, I'm fine. I get it now. I was just curious about the thread and what kind of characters were being created and I went to the list to see if I might be able to contribute something and was a little overwhelmed by the number. It just would never occur to me to set up that many characters in advance of the actual storytelling...but then, I rarely do any outlining before I write anyway, so if this will help you tell more and better stories, I'll keep my mouth shut.
 
The other thing that surprises me is that nobody's claimed the CO character yet. I'll give it a go.

Name: Rhodia'haan ansi (known as Rodan)
Rank: Lieutenant
Duty Title: Commanding Officer
Roster number: #1
Character created by: Admiral2.

Height: 5'11"/180.3cm
Weight: 115lbs/52.16kg
Age: 29
Species/Race: Andorian
Gender: Female
Appearance: Pretty features, athletic build, hair cut shorter than normal for an Andorian, almost a crew cut.
Languages: Andorian, Federation Standard.

Career history:
Time in service: 9 1/2 years
Time in grade: 4 years
-- Previous assignments: patrol craft weapons officer, patrol craft commander
Decorations: Service Star (two repeats), Master Marksman award, Distinguished Service Citation

Skills:
Primary Specialty: Tactical
Secondary Specialty: Unit Organization

Family status: Married, three children, family living on Mars Colony

Personality / Mannerisms: Lt. Rodan thinks it's her duty to help bring order to a chaotic galaxy. She's a meticulous and exacting commander. Feels there's no such thing as a lowly job. She commands a cargo ship, so it will be the most efficient cargo ship in the fleet if it's the last thing she does.

Hobbies / Interests: Has an affinity for Andorian "jazz" music. Frequents a nightclub that features Andorian bands whenever she's at home.

Background: Her parents are both artists and distrustful of the military. Rodan joined Starfleet ROTC at her homeworld's military academy during a rebellious phase, intending to get out after serving her required time, but ended up going career instead. Met her husband after being transferred to Sector 001. Has a daughter and twin sons.
 
Admiral2 said:
a little overwhelmed by the number
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The crew size is what it is for two reasons. First, it was the smallest I could get and still keep it realistic for a ship that needs a 24/7 crew while in space. Second, I thought more people would be interested in contributing, so I wanted enough slots to go around. Early on, I thought this project would go fast. {sigh}

There are two character left that I want in-depth backgrounds on: the commander and the chief boatswain. I'd like backgrounds on the two engineering officers, too, but not as deep as I did Parker, more like that of Dashpande or Woodbridge. As to the rest of the crew, I'd love to get some history on everyone; however, as it looks like that won't happen anytime soon, I suppose I'll have to setting for just name, species, and gender for each, and if I can get it: age, height/weight, and brief description (hair/eye color, etc.). I hate coming up with names. Good thing I never had kids.
 
Sgt_G said:
The crew size is what it is for two reasons. First, it was the smallest I could get and still keep it realistic for a ship that needs a 24/7 crew while in space. Second, I thought more people would be interested in contributing, so I wanted enough slots to go around. Early on, I thought this project would go fast. {sigh}

There are two character left that I want in-depth backgrounds on: the commander and the chief boatswain. I'd like backgrounds on the two engineering officers, too, but not as deep as I did Parker, more like that of Dashpande or Woodbridge. As to the rest of the crew, I'd love to get some history on everyone; however, as it looks like that won't happen anytime soon, I suppose I'll have to setting for just name, species, and gender for each, and if I can get it: age, height/weight, and brief description (hair/eye color, etc.). I hate coming up with names. Good thing I never had kids.
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So...you didn't like the idea I posted for the commander?

Anyway, I wasn't overwhelmed in terms of crew size, just in the idea that all of them had to be fully realized before the actual stories got written. You don't need more than forty-odd people to run a cargo ship. It's just, like I said earlier, I don't think you need to give 'em all backgrounds first either.
 
We cross-post. Yeah, I do like the character. My initial reaction was "Great". The more I think about her, tho, the more I think that's the type of person I was hoping for as the Chief Boatswain. One thought that popped into my head is perhaps the commander is a human born and raised on Andro, and he knows Chief Rodan and thus asked for her to be on his boat.

EDIT: On second thought, she and Parker might be the perfect Ying-Yang team.

EDIT TWO: Confirmed, Rodan is the commanding officer. I wrote some background notes and PM'd them to Admiral-2 for review. I'm backing off on the plan to have her know the Chief Boatswain.
 
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If you keep Rodan as CO you can still use the same idea. You just flip it. A human male that grew up on Andor and made chief, it's just then Rodan is the one doing the asking.
 
The other problem with giving too much info on a character early on is that it hampers what you can do with them; what kind of secrets about their past you can later reveal and have it be believable.

Julian Bashir is a great example of a character nobody knew much about but eventually had his life-altering secret revealed to everyone. (See http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Bashir,_I_Presume_(episode)#Background_information)

Too much backstory could also lead to continuity errors (when you change something to fit a story or simply because you forgot) that would haunt you the rest of your born days, if this were a TV show or movie. ;)
 
Laura Cynthia Chambers said:
Too much backstory could also lead to continuity errors (when you change something to fit a story or simply because you forgot) that would haunt you the rest of your born days
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I'm of the opposite opinion. Ideally, the reader / viewer would never see the background sheets, which would be "living documents" adding material as the story develops. I believe this should help the author avoid continuity errors. If there is a conflict of "facts", these will flag it to the author as something he has to explain. For example, if a character told someone "my parents are dead", and then his father show up in a story, the authors needs to "fix" that somehow. The father might become an uncle or step-father, or the character finally admits he lied for some reason. Without the background sheet, the author might miss this.
The other problem with giving too much info on a character early on is that it hampers what you can do with them; what kind of secrets about their past you can later reveal and have it be believable.
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Yes, and no. I agree you don't want to spill all the beans to the reader up front. The sheets can be edited / amended to change data that has yet to be revealed to the reader. However, as part of the idea behind this experiment is to allow multiple writers set stories on this ship, the sheets should have enough data that the characters don't flip-flop too much as they change hands.
 
Hoping nobody flames me for this, but:

Name: Lydia “Bonnet” Miller
Rank: Crewman
Duty Title: Corpsman
Roster number: 45
Character created by: Laura Cynthia Chambers

Height: 5ft 3inches
Weight: 112 lbs
Age: 18
Species/Race: Human
Gender: Heterosexual Female
Appearance: Short and slender, blue-gray eyes, long wheat colored hair. A small scar on her right temple where she cut it as a child falling off a swing.
Languages: English, Pennsylvania Dutch, a bit of Vulcan (from a playmate in school)

Career history:
Time in service: 7 months (first mission)
Time in grade: same
-- Previous assignments: First assignment
Decorations: A grandfathered (given after the fact) award – for pushing her future CO out of the way of a malfunctioning drone

Skills: Grade 8 education. First aid, natural medicines and herbs, cooking, sewing. Excellent at target practice.

Family status: A large extended family living in Pennsylvania, including a father, Matthias (who re-married out of necessity rather than love), a step-mother, Ruth, an older brother, Enoch (24), and 4 younger half-siblings (2 brothers, Jonas, 8, and David, 6, 2 sisters, Lizzie, 4 and Rhoda, 3). Single. A childhood friend, Nate Troyer, has an unrequited crush on her. Has a distant cousin, Lukas King, who’s currently posted on the Enterprise as a relief navigator.

Personality / Mannerisms: Always ready to help using her gifts. Afraid of creepy crawlies. A bit on the shy side, but her crewmates are trying to draw her out gradually. Didn’t join her church but believes in its tenets. Wears her head covering while on duty, and occasionally an apron if it's messy. A sponge as far as learning goes. Gets the hiccups when she’s really nervous. Braver than she gives herself credit for. Modest, uncomfortable with praise, blushes easily. Thinks she didn’t really deserve her medal (attributes her actions to "right place, right time") and buried it in a drawer of her quarters under her personal effects. Occasionally suffers from headaches if she’s been reading too much. Sometimes lapses back into Pennsylvania Dutch when excited or upset, earning confusion from crewmates.

Hobbies / Interests: Reading, sketching her crewmates and anyone else she meets, medicines, stargazing, bird watching, hockey

Background: Lydia left her conservative Amish community a year ago during her rumspringa with dreams of a different life. It’s the boldest thing she’s ever done; her step-mother was jealous of her as she was her mother’s only daughter and still lived at home.

Lydia apprenticed under her mother’s tutelage as a healer, learning the properties of herbs until her mother’s death from an alien virus that their natural remedies couldn’t heal. Since then, she partly blames herself for her mother’s death. Though she loves her father and siblings, she felt she had to leave to get away from Nate Troyer’s attentions (he was getting a bit creepy stalker-ish, following her around her community, culminating in a rough kiss that scared her) and to avoid her step-mom’s critical nature (Lydia can’t do anything right in her eyes).

She packed her bags and boarded a passenger shuttle-bus, not particularly caring where it went, as long as it was away, and woke up in San Fran to grab something to eat and plan her next move. While crossing the street, she noticed a drone about to fall on someone and tackled them to the ground (something she’d never done before). It was her future CO, who thanked her and bought her lunch, eventually offering her a spot on the ship if she wanted it.

She is treated like a little sister to the crew, who call her “Bonnet” for her kapp. She regards her CO as a parent figure, but is a little intimidated (needlessly) by the doctor she works with. Until she stepped onboard the ship, she had hardly ever seen an alien humanoid, except for a female Vulcan, T'Nala, she was close friends with in school before dropping out as Amish do at 8th grade.

She sends letters often to her family but suspects her stepmother intercepts them and deletes them, but isn’t willing to confront her about it. Though she denies serious interest in the Academy publicly, she often studies the course catalogue and allows herself a silly dream or two. She’s not interested in romance right now, but hopes her future husband will love her as much as her father loved her mother. Her biggest fear is running into Troyer again.
 
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I like it. A lot. And I have a niece named Lydia. :) The thing is, don't really need another medic / corpsman (which would be the proper title, not physician's assistant). My first thought was make her a science lab tech specializing in botany. But the ship doesn't really have a science lab. And given that she is in training and one of the most experienced combat medics is on the ship, yeah, let's just leave it as is. If you would, please, edit the duty title to "Corpsman". The only other minor item is the height/weight doesn't seem right for "short and slender". Otherwise, it looks great. Thanks.
 
I think they probably will. I grew up just north of Amish country. They tend to keep to themselves, of course, but the few that I knew were very set in tradition. I don't see that going away anytime soon.
 
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