![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
writes_with_digital_ink*waves* So I've been trying to make Orions and Star Trek to make sense (it's okay, you may laugh); this post is to just give you guys a head's up, and run some things by you to make sure everyone is okay with what I'm doing.
First up, Alternate Reality (AR) vs Prime (PR).
From what I can gather from the episodes I've managed to watch so far and various Memory Alpha* articles, the main Orion government (the 'Orion Union' according ST:ID, and I don't see why it'd be different in PR) has consistently maintained a strict neutrality with the Federation for at least two centuries. Yay being Switzerland. At the same time, the Syndicate is running around as a galactic Mafia and a semi-autonomous entity, and general perception of Orions is high on dancing girls and pirates. By the 24th century, there's also the Free Traders, and Federation students can go to the very prestigious Institute of Cosmology. The Orions shown on screen are either men or dark-haired women, and tend to be engaged in trade (including the slave-trade), piracy, or espionage. In addition, I think the only one portrayed as actually being a Federation citizen is the incarcerated Marta from TOS.
In contrast, in the AR (which splits off from PR in 2233, after ENT), the three Orions we see in 2258 are all red-haired. Two are in Starfleet (both Science Division), and one (civilian by her clothes) is in London.
I was thinking of playing with the idea that the red-haired Orions are a) part of a previously little-known-to-outsiders ethnic group, and b) their presence in the Federation is one of the ripple-effects of the alternate timeline. Roughly; due to the USS Kelvin's destruction, events and career paths shifted so an internal ethnic struggle in the Orion Union during the 2240s led to a group of refugees being helped by the Federation. So by the 2250s, the AOS!characters are a lot more familiar with Orions than their TOS!selves would be, and the AR has more Orion Federation citizens than PR's Federation, etc.
Secondly! I'm trying to pull together the very contradictory information we're given on the Orions, and work it into something coherent, alien, and not...as failtastic as 'women have power due to SEXY' (oh, Trek.) Most of what I'm thinking of doing can be found in this post, but the broad overview is:
The Orion Union is a matriarchal republic, although most of the traders who deal with the outside galaxy are men. The Union prefers to be neutral in outside conflicts, and aside from the Syndicate (which I get the impression is a semi-autonomous organisation + culture anyway), trade agreements, and science conferences, they mostly stick to themselves and not much is known. As a general rule, Orion societies are polygamous, highly hierarchical, more conglomerate than uniform, and roughly a quarter of their population is made up of slaves. Sometimes, pirates and con-artists will pretend to be slaves in order to gain access to their targets' ships, such as what happened in the ENT episode Bound. Speaking of Bound, my main post on the Orion pheromones is here, but basically I'm assuming that Orions can mostly control/influence their own pheromone production. What's left means that they tend to be compelling, but it's not overpowering on its own.
So! I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or objections to any of the above, or if you guys were okay with what I'm doing.
:D?
*mostly I am ignoring Memory Beta, except for the occasional interesting idea.
First up, Alternate Reality (AR) vs Prime (PR).
From what I can gather from the episodes I've managed to watch so far and various Memory Alpha* articles, the main Orion government (the 'Orion Union' according ST:ID, and I don't see why it'd be different in PR) has consistently maintained a strict neutrality with the Federation for at least two centuries. Yay being Switzerland. At the same time, the Syndicate is running around as a galactic Mafia and a semi-autonomous entity, and general perception of Orions is high on dancing girls and pirates. By the 24th century, there's also the Free Traders, and Federation students can go to the very prestigious Institute of Cosmology. The Orions shown on screen are either men or dark-haired women, and tend to be engaged in trade (including the slave-trade), piracy, or espionage. In addition, I think the only one portrayed as actually being a Federation citizen is the incarcerated Marta from TOS.
In contrast, in the AR (which splits off from PR in 2233, after ENT), the three Orions we see in 2258 are all red-haired. Two are in Starfleet (both Science Division), and one (civilian by her clothes) is in London.
I was thinking of playing with the idea that the red-haired Orions are a) part of a previously little-known-to-outsiders ethnic group, and b) their presence in the Federation is one of the ripple-effects of the alternate timeline. Roughly; due to the USS Kelvin's destruction, events and career paths shifted so an internal ethnic struggle in the Orion Union during the 2240s led to a group of refugees being helped by the Federation. So by the 2250s, the AOS!characters are a lot more familiar with Orions than their TOS!selves would be, and the AR has more Orion Federation citizens than PR's Federation, etc.
Secondly! I'm trying to pull together the very contradictory information we're given on the Orions, and work it into something coherent, alien, and not...as failtastic as 'women have power due to SEXY' (oh, Trek.) Most of what I'm thinking of doing can be found in this post, but the broad overview is:
The Orion Union is a matriarchal republic, although most of the traders who deal with the outside galaxy are men. The Union prefers to be neutral in outside conflicts, and aside from the Syndicate (which I get the impression is a semi-autonomous organisation + culture anyway), trade agreements, and science conferences, they mostly stick to themselves and not much is known. As a general rule, Orion societies are polygamous, highly hierarchical, more conglomerate than uniform, and roughly a quarter of their population is made up of slaves. Sometimes, pirates and con-artists will pretend to be slaves in order to gain access to their targets' ships, such as what happened in the ENT episode Bound. Speaking of Bound, my main post on the Orion pheromones is here, but basically I'm assuming that Orions can mostly control/influence their own pheromone production. What's left means that they tend to be compelling, but it's not overpowering on its own.
So! I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or objections to any of the above, or if you guys were okay with what I'm doing.
:D?
*mostly I am ignoring Memory Beta, except for the occasional interesting idea.
Tags:
(no subject)
10/6/14 02:48 (UTC)Also, I like to think Pavel is just kind of in platonic love with Gaila anyway and her pheromones do not even register as a Thing To Pay Attention To in his head. >.>
(no subject)
10/6/14 05:16 (UTC)Awwwww, Pavel bb. :D I really can't wait until we thread them.
(no subject)
10/6/14 06:16 (UTC)Since this would primarily affect our Reboot/AOS cast, I'll let them do the talking. But as far as my TNG crew are concerned, and as a general mod note, you've got two thumbs up from me. I can't wait to see where you take her!
(no subject)
10/6/14 06:40 (UTC)Assumption is correct! And also why I'm putting this up to give everyone a head's up.
I'm trying to work within Trek-canon (and Gaila really isn't connected to the Syndicate at all, which is the main source of Orion characters.) This post is generally what I'm holding to - but a lot of the other worldbuilding probably won't actually come up, and so I'm happy to play around if any other Orion characters turn up. And cultural things that turn up can be explained by Gaila being from a different ethnic group to a lot of the other Orions. I'm also more than happy to go 'Alternate Universes are a go' if ideas clash! Because I don't want to tread on toes.
But, :D! Thank you! And I hope it'll be fun.
Gabby from a character journal, because what are tags?
10/6/14 06:46 (UTC)(no subject)
14/12/14 05:14 (UTC)(no subject)
14/12/14 05:24 (UTC)So, yay, glad that all works for you!