Character Motivations

[Bry_Sinclair]

I hope everyone is enjoying the festive season, I'm hoping it'll give me a chance to switch off and work through some things so I can come back in 2023 and smash through all the blocks my head keeps throwing up. To try and help with this, I'm starting to piece together a new idea for a few stories similar to the Orion, in that these aren't going to be the best of the best Starfleet has to offer but folks with issues to address and deal with.

To make it a little different, I've opted to set it on an old G-Class space station (not Starbase 80, they're not that hopeless) in the early 2350s (so skants all around!), but I'm trying to figure out what issues the main cast will have faced in order to end up at this less than stellar posting, so thought I'd throw this out to you lovely folks to get some ideas and inspiration.

I pretty much have the Commander and First Officer decided upon (I have a couple of tiny nuggets of ideas for a couple of others, though I'd need to see if I could build on them and expand into more fully fledged characters), but that does leave pretty much the rest of the senior staff as well as a few civilians onboard as blank slates. So if you any any ideas around what issues, problems, flaws, etc might've led to them getting dumped on this old starbase in a seemingly quiet and unimportant sector, then please feel free to post them here or drop me a message.

Cheers!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

How about a character who actually wants to be there? Who calculatingly annoyed just the right/wrong people in such a manipulative way that they got what they wanted while simultaneously appearing to not want to be there?

Someone hidden there for their own protection/relative obscurity. Like a crew member who's unpopular for being a whistleblower that disturbed the ranks and it's better they're out of the way while the chips fall.

Someone who's going there to watch over someone else. Like an overprotective parent or older sibling.

An ex-con on parole.

An exile from their world for controversial writings.

 

[Hawku]

A golem-type character that's being remotely operated from a nearby planet. No deep personal history. They're just being long-term tested without the crew's knowledge.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

First two replies and already have things I'd never have considered. Thank you @I Played My Lute For Him and @Hawku!

 

[admiralelm11]

How about a Roylan? Small, easy to underestimate, but comes out for his or her crew in the end. Just a thought.
In my mind, Roylans are from a heavy-gravity world and are stronger than a Klingon or a Vulcan. Their four-lobed brains prevent telepathic tampering and they have two hearts.

 

[Bynar0110]

Sent there as punishment instead of the death penalty for blatantly violating General Order 7

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

A sociologist ostensibly studying a nearby indigenous culture, but actually running a nefarious experiment on station personnel and denizens. With a Deltan assistant (not under a celibacy oath) who distracts everyone from what is really going on and recruits experimental subjects into situations they would never volunteer for otherwise.

Thanks!! rbs

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

A sociologist ostensibly studying a nearby indigenous culture, but actually running a nefarious experiment on station personnel and denizens. With a Deltan assistant (not under a celibacy oath) who distracts everyone from what is really going on and recruits experimental subjects into situations they would never volunteer for otherwise.

The mind boggles at just what sort of experiments they could be running!

 

[Bynar0110]

A sociologist ostensibly studying a nearby indigenous culture, but actually running a nefarious experiment on station personnel and denizens. With a Deltan assistant (not under a celibacy oath) who distracts everyone from what is really going on and recruits experimental subjects into situations they would never volunteer for otherwise.

Thanks!! rbs

Sounds like something Section 31 would do.

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

Sounds like something Section 31 would do.

Or the Romulans. Or the abducting aliens from "Allegiance". Or those clicky aliens from another pocket in subspace. Or a Q. Or a changeling...

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Or the Romulans. Or the abducting aliens from "Allegiance". Or those clicky aliens from another pocket in subspace. Or a Q. Or a changeling...

There are definitely more interesting options than Section 31, though some of these might not fit the timeline, but there are lots of options for just what such a researcher is doing and why and for whom.

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

....there are lots of options for just what such a researcher is doing and why and for whom.

Which, as a writer, you don't have to decide in advance. You can just come up with creepy things happening on the station or to its denizens, and gradually pull it together into a coherent plot line.

When I was writing STH, I started having characters mention some conspiracy to suppress federation demographic information as early as Episode 5, and repeated it a few times in following episodes, but didn't understand (as a writer) why it was happening until I was writing Episode 17, where that plot line pays off.

Thanks!! rbs

 

[Bynar0110]

The station turns out to be infested with Tribbles

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The station turns out to be infested with Tribbles

The precursor to bio-neural circuitry

 

[mthompson1701]

What if your captain thinks they're getting command of a New Orleans-class ship, and ends up with a Constellation-class instead. It's not the command they wanted, and feels embarrassed about it at first.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

What if your captain thinks they're getting command of a New Orleans-class ship, and ends up with a Constellation-class instead. It's not the command they wanted, and feels embarrassed about it at first.

Already had something similar on the Orion, but definitely might revisit that another time with another project (though a New Orleans-Class ship will feature in this one).

As for my CO, I already have him figured out for the most part. I don't want to give too much away, but I've decided to go for something very different with the Commander, definitely not the sort that I'd normally feature. All I will say is that he's not the sort of person Captain Benjamin Maxwell would think highly of

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

I've been developing another series - or at least a pilot - with a a much stranger crew than the Hunter.

For a longer form story, I think it's important to have a blend of creepy, zany, heartfelt, mysterious, homework - figuring things out, campy, drama - just like the franchise. The best example is ST First Contact with its creepy A storyline hunting the borg on the Enterprise and the zany B story with the drunken Zephram Cocherine on Earth. It was a perfect blend of horror and humor... Picard going all MacBeth and Riker doing comic double-takes and facepalms.

I'm well behind with the new series. I've got the pilot about halfway written, but won't start publishing it here until I have the first episode competed - and maybe a few drafts for the next 2 episodes. It will probably be some time before their debut.

Thanks!! rbs

 

[Bynar0110]

I've been developing another series - or at least a pilot - with a a much stranger crew than the Hunter.

For a longer form story, I think it's important to have a blend of creepy, zany, heartfelt, mysterious, homework - figuring things out, campy, drama - just like the franchise. The best example is ST First Contact with its creepy A storyline hunting the borg on the Enterprise and the zany B story with the drunken Zephram Cocherine on Earth. It was a perfect blend of horror and humor... Picard going all MacBeth and Riker doing comic double-takes and facepalms.

I'm well behind with the new series. I've got the pilot about halfway written, but won't start publishing it here until I have the first episode competed - and maybe a few drafts for the next 2 episodes. It will probably be some time before their debut.

Thanks!! rbs

I'm looking foward to reading that.

 

[Bynar0110]

The Captain ends up commanding a Garbage Scow and the old space station is a dumping facility.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

Perhaps someone with PTSD, struggling with fear/panic attacks/nightmares. An officer or crew-person who showed exceptional promise and courage, but is struggling with recovering from a traumatic episode. His/her/its superiors see a person worth salvaging and sent this person to a "quiet" billet on a space station to regain confidence and perhaps return to a ship of the line. Maybe it's a good idea. Maybe not.