I posted the first part of this in the General Trek Discussion topic "Augments SHOULD be accepted in Federation society...", but I've decided to go ahead and throw all of this out here. I've held on to and developed these ideas for the last 20+ years in my head, but I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm just never going to get around to actually making anything like a finished product from any of it. And so I'm starting this thread to make the ideas available to anyone who might want to yoink any of them as-is or modified as you see fit. If any of them seem worth yoinking to any professionally published Trek novelists, that would be awesome, and I would be glad to sign any releases or quitclaims that might be necessary. If all of it seems stupid or derivative to any of you, well, I'll just ask you to be kind, and also to remember that I had the kernel of most of these ideas over 20 years ago, so they may not be quite as derivative as they have been made to seem by things that have come out in the meantime.
The setting is the mid-2600s.
The human genome HAS been tinkered with in Star Trek. And not just theirs, either. Section 31, the Vulcan High Command, and later, Betazed have been altering genetics and doing other things to humanity and every other species they have come across to make them, yes, somewhat healthier, but also, more docile and able to live in the greater galactic community in peace. And it mostly works - the overwhelming majority of the species end up happy to live on their little utopian worlds, while an inevitable small percentage that still shows drive and ambition somehow just always happens to find their way to Starfleet, colonization programs, or certain other careers that the actual powers that be find manageable. Anyone that falls outside of their scheme is put in a penal colony and/or reprogrammed - or recruited into Section 31.
They adjust medical databases and training as they go so that the genetic changes they make are "how it has always been", and the heavy reliance on scanners and computer analysis helps to insure that this goes undetected even by medical professionals. The occasional professional that does notice something is fed some sort of excuse, reprogrammed not to notice, or criminalized. And genetic engineering - even relatively benign engineering - is "banned" as far as the general populace knows, to minimize the risk of competing adjustments or discovery of their own.
Sometimes it takes them a while to find the right combination of adjustments to genetics and society - the Klingons, for example, are still a work in progress. Sometimes they calculate that they will never manage to make suitable adjustments, and then the species must be eliminated - which explains in part the multiple attempts to completely annihilate the Founders. And occasionally, mistakes are made - the Pakleds, for instance, were an utterly vicious wolf-like species of pirates and scavengers with a society led by a few elite packs. An early attempt to use genetic adjustment to tone down their aggression and cruel intelligence resulted in the species we know today. (One of my envisioned opening sequences involved a Starfleet transport ship in 2180 or so being set upon by them and ruthlessly defeated and their cargo scavenged with no chance and no hope of rescue afterward, only revealing that their attackers were the Pack Led at the very end.)
All of this also explains why the TV hero crews sometimes seem a bit derpy. If you've ever found yourself yelling or wanting to yell at one of them on your TV about a solution to their problems that seems obvious even to your 20th/21st century mind, this is why - some of their ability to use their intelligence and focus has been paid as the price for their peaceful civilization. Well, there are some examples that can be cited of some behavior that seems to run counter to human nature as we know it in the 21st century.
Almost nobody ever acts petty about people they love getting into relationships with someone other than them. We rarely heard anything in the way of political dissent regarding the Federation government, and Jake Sisko wanting to be a journalist was treated more as "oh, isn't that cute, he has a hobby" than him wanting to join the important ranks of those that provide the populace with an objective report on current events. And as I mentioned before, sometimes some of "Starfleet's best and brightest" take WAY too long to figure out some of the things that are obvious to we 21st century viewers right away. And Picard goes on about how we have evolved past some of our petty prejudices and such, but really it doesn't seem like they learned ways to get past them so much as that the drives that cause prejudice - such as fear of the unknown or different - just plain aren't there. Or at least, aren't there as we know them. And all of this is in Starfleet personnel, whom as I said are actually more driven and less controllable than the slobs back on Earth, Alpha Cent, etc.
But you can (and others including Roddenberry himself have) excuse all of that as "humanity learned to be better". Well, I think that's BS, but also to be honest, my main reasons for introducing the idea in my fan fiction ideas were that A. I don't believe there is much in Trek canon that directly contradicts it, and the Vulcans' behavior in Enterprise and then later toward what happened with the destruction of Romulus seem to support it, and B. It gels well with the rest of my theme, which is that the Federation and Starfleet have become a bit more openly tyrannical than they were in the past. The galaxy has been united under one polity that includes the Federation and the Typhon Pact, with its capital on Earth. And there are disparate rebel factions being hunted down as terrorists while making strange bedfellows, as Marquis sometimes find themselves working with groups that would see Cardassia return to its "former glory" and both with angry Jem'Hadar and Vorta that wish to avenge their gods, and so on. Slipstream and Sideholes have opened up other galaxies to exploration and colonization by Farships carrying fleets of traditional starships. And huge starships, somewhere between the size of the two, with names like "USS Triumphant", "USS Righteous", "USS Adjudicator", and "USS Gauntlet" tour with accompanying fleets throughout the worlds of the Milky Way, showing the flag and inspiring shows of patriotism everywhere they go - while quietly reminding potential dissidents of how futile their efforts would be.
New races have joined the Federation. Members of pretty much every intelligent species that has ever been shown in a Star Trek series are now serving aboard Starfleet vessels - as well as a previously unseen species, the Empire/Republic of the Sah-sah / Tipegi. The Tipegi are an animalistic warrior species that appear to have evolved from boars, who have a strong code of ethics that while actually quite different seems superficially similar to that of the Klingons to the casual observer. One aspect of it is actually closer to some human tribal customs - if you accidentally or unjustly kill someone, you must take their place and fulfill their obligations in life. A few hundred years ago, the Tipegi erroneously and all too hastily came to the conclusion that one of their colony worlds had fallen to an attack launched by a species that lived on a single nearby world, called the Sah-sah (the Sah-sah were a species of herbivores with an appearance similar to that of a humanoid lizard/bird). They launched their own attack, and eradicated all life on the Sah-sah homeworld. And then, when examining what remained on the world, realized their terrible mistake. The Sah-sah would not have been technologically capable of the attack on their colony, and would not have been of a temperament to do so even if they had. So in penance, the Tipegi Emperor decreed that forever starting from that day forward, an equal number of Tipegi as the number of Sah-sah that had previously lived on their homeworld, to include all of those responsible for the attack, would live as Sah-sah and continue their civilization. And he then abdicated his throne to join them. As quickly as possible, the Sah-sah / Tipegi learned as much as they could about "their" ways, and pharmaceutical assistance allows them to even live as the herbivores that they now are. The new Tipegi Emperor's first action was to declare that the Sah-sah / Tipegi would forever be under their protection.
New enemies have also emerged, though, and an old one is back in the picture, as well. A shapeshifting and sometimes suicidal species known as the D'Agla Nok has turned up repeatedly with no clear agenda (sabotage? subtle bending of Federation policy? trolling?) and consequences ranging from the destruction of fleets and colonies all the way down to the delivery of upsettingly inappropriate birthday presents and the breaking of a young ensign's heart. (One of my prologues would have involved getting introduced to the new captain and crew aboard the Enterprise-G, only to see a D'Agla saboteur destroy the ship by lowering the containment on the antimatter reactor at the end of the section.) A group of humans of unknown origin with radically different but in some ways strangely familiar customs and technologies - and a burning religious hatred for the planet Earth and the other human worlds of the Federation. (These humans are actually the descendants of an early Farship that was lost in time and space who have come to believe over several millennia that the rest of humanity sent them away to suffer and die.) And, the Kelvans are... less than welcoming to inhabitants of the Farship that has been sent to their galaxy.
I would be happy to answer any questions about any of this, and I will flesh out a few additional ideas as I get a chance to type them up.
The setting is the mid-2600s.
The human genome HAS been tinkered with in Star Trek. And not just theirs, either. Section 31, the Vulcan High Command, and later, Betazed have been altering genetics and doing other things to humanity and every other species they have come across to make them, yes, somewhat healthier, but also, more docile and able to live in the greater galactic community in peace. And it mostly works - the overwhelming majority of the species end up happy to live on their little utopian worlds, while an inevitable small percentage that still shows drive and ambition somehow just always happens to find their way to Starfleet, colonization programs, or certain other careers that the actual powers that be find manageable. Anyone that falls outside of their scheme is put in a penal colony and/or reprogrammed - or recruited into Section 31.
They adjust medical databases and training as they go so that the genetic changes they make are "how it has always been", and the heavy reliance on scanners and computer analysis helps to insure that this goes undetected even by medical professionals. The occasional professional that does notice something is fed some sort of excuse, reprogrammed not to notice, or criminalized. And genetic engineering - even relatively benign engineering - is "banned" as far as the general populace knows, to minimize the risk of competing adjustments or discovery of their own.
Sometimes it takes them a while to find the right combination of adjustments to genetics and society - the Klingons, for example, are still a work in progress. Sometimes they calculate that they will never manage to make suitable adjustments, and then the species must be eliminated - which explains in part the multiple attempts to completely annihilate the Founders. And occasionally, mistakes are made - the Pakleds, for instance, were an utterly vicious wolf-like species of pirates and scavengers with a society led by a few elite packs. An early attempt to use genetic adjustment to tone down their aggression and cruel intelligence resulted in the species we know today. (One of my envisioned opening sequences involved a Starfleet transport ship in 2180 or so being set upon by them and ruthlessly defeated and their cargo scavenged with no chance and no hope of rescue afterward, only revealing that their attackers were the Pack Led at the very end.)
All of this also explains why the TV hero crews sometimes seem a bit derpy. If you've ever found yourself yelling or wanting to yell at one of them on your TV about a solution to their problems that seems obvious even to your 20th/21st century mind, this is why - some of their ability to use their intelligence and focus has been paid as the price for their peaceful civilization. Well, there are some examples that can be cited of some behavior that seems to run counter to human nature as we know it in the 21st century.
Almost nobody ever acts petty about people they love getting into relationships with someone other than them. We rarely heard anything in the way of political dissent regarding the Federation government, and Jake Sisko wanting to be a journalist was treated more as "oh, isn't that cute, he has a hobby" than him wanting to join the important ranks of those that provide the populace with an objective report on current events. And as I mentioned before, sometimes some of "Starfleet's best and brightest" take WAY too long to figure out some of the things that are obvious to we 21st century viewers right away. And Picard goes on about how we have evolved past some of our petty prejudices and such, but really it doesn't seem like they learned ways to get past them so much as that the drives that cause prejudice - such as fear of the unknown or different - just plain aren't there. Or at least, aren't there as we know them. And all of this is in Starfleet personnel, whom as I said are actually more driven and less controllable than the slobs back on Earth, Alpha Cent, etc.
But you can (and others including Roddenberry himself have) excuse all of that as "humanity learned to be better". Well, I think that's BS, but also to be honest, my main reasons for introducing the idea in my fan fiction ideas were that A. I don't believe there is much in Trek canon that directly contradicts it, and the Vulcans' behavior in Enterprise and then later toward what happened with the destruction of Romulus seem to support it, and B. It gels well with the rest of my theme, which is that the Federation and Starfleet have become a bit more openly tyrannical than they were in the past. The galaxy has been united under one polity that includes the Federation and the Typhon Pact, with its capital on Earth. And there are disparate rebel factions being hunted down as terrorists while making strange bedfellows, as Marquis sometimes find themselves working with groups that would see Cardassia return to its "former glory" and both with angry Jem'Hadar and Vorta that wish to avenge their gods, and so on. Slipstream and Sideholes have opened up other galaxies to exploration and colonization by Farships carrying fleets of traditional starships. And huge starships, somewhere between the size of the two, with names like "USS Triumphant", "USS Righteous", "USS Adjudicator", and "USS Gauntlet" tour with accompanying fleets throughout the worlds of the Milky Way, showing the flag and inspiring shows of patriotism everywhere they go - while quietly reminding potential dissidents of how futile their efforts would be.
New races have joined the Federation. Members of pretty much every intelligent species that has ever been shown in a Star Trek series are now serving aboard Starfleet vessels - as well as a previously unseen species, the Empire/Republic of the Sah-sah / Tipegi. The Tipegi are an animalistic warrior species that appear to have evolved from boars, who have a strong code of ethics that while actually quite different seems superficially similar to that of the Klingons to the casual observer. One aspect of it is actually closer to some human tribal customs - if you accidentally or unjustly kill someone, you must take their place and fulfill their obligations in life. A few hundred years ago, the Tipegi erroneously and all too hastily came to the conclusion that one of their colony worlds had fallen to an attack launched by a species that lived on a single nearby world, called the Sah-sah (the Sah-sah were a species of herbivores with an appearance similar to that of a humanoid lizard/bird). They launched their own attack, and eradicated all life on the Sah-sah homeworld. And then, when examining what remained on the world, realized their terrible mistake. The Sah-sah would not have been technologically capable of the attack on their colony, and would not have been of a temperament to do so even if they had. So in penance, the Tipegi Emperor decreed that forever starting from that day forward, an equal number of Tipegi as the number of Sah-sah that had previously lived on their homeworld, to include all of those responsible for the attack, would live as Sah-sah and continue their civilization. And he then abdicated his throne to join them. As quickly as possible, the Sah-sah / Tipegi learned as much as they could about "their" ways, and pharmaceutical assistance allows them to even live as the herbivores that they now are. The new Tipegi Emperor's first action was to declare that the Sah-sah / Tipegi would forever be under their protection.
New enemies have also emerged, though, and an old one is back in the picture, as well. A shapeshifting and sometimes suicidal species known as the D'Agla Nok has turned up repeatedly with no clear agenda (sabotage? subtle bending of Federation policy? trolling?) and consequences ranging from the destruction of fleets and colonies all the way down to the delivery of upsettingly inappropriate birthday presents and the breaking of a young ensign's heart. (One of my prologues would have involved getting introduced to the new captain and crew aboard the Enterprise-G, only to see a D'Agla saboteur destroy the ship by lowering the containment on the antimatter reactor at the end of the section.) A group of humans of unknown origin with radically different but in some ways strangely familiar customs and technologies - and a burning religious hatred for the planet Earth and the other human worlds of the Federation. (These humans are actually the descendants of an early Farship that was lost in time and space who have come to believe over several millennia that the rest of humanity sent them away to suffer and die.) And, the Kelvans are... less than welcoming to inhabitants of the Farship that has been sent to their galaxy.
I would be happy to answer any questions about any of this, and I will flesh out a few additional ideas as I get a chance to type them up.
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