The story universe of the sim is a comical, somewhat warped version of the Star Trek "Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine" one ("Voyager" is DNE - Does Not Exist - to many Trekkies) some years after the Dominion War. Considering things like the "human-looking Klingons," omnipotent beings, aliens that are little more than "humans with bumps," time travel, human-alien hybrids, a socialist economy that works, however, it may simply be simply warped in a different direction.
We try to stay within Trek cannon - * BOOM!! * . Although when there's conflict between humor and purity, humor always triumphs.
We're always open to new players (powergaming characters, however, will be phasered). So drop us a line. If not, read the crew logs for a few laughs. Enjoy.
The USS Freedom - F is a Cardinal-Class science vessel (roughly the size of the Voyager-class) serving the Federation, the seventh ship of the class to carry the name. The pervious six met untimely ends after a brief time in service.
Turnover for the crew is somewhat high for a Federation vessel, due to desertions, medical discharges for insanity, and unexplained disappearances in addition to the attrition of redshirts Starfleet is noted for. The quality of the crew leaves something to be desired. Described by one Admiral, they are "with notable exceptions, roughly equivalent to a group of first-year Space Cadets on the morning after a dorm party."* The ship itself, although spaceworthy, suffers from frequent malfunctions and glitches. The transporter itself is less and less frequently used for fear of mishaps.
Despite the problems, crew and ship alike manage to somehow prevail from crisis to crisis. So somebody on the ship is doing something right after all.
Federation "Flags" through its history
The Federation is the largest power in the Alpha Quadrant. Although it has fought wars with most of its major neighbors, it has never started one. Starfleet serves as its defense and explorers. Even though explorers have been going through the Federation's space since before it's founding, there still remain near-countless places to explore.
Until some decades ago, the Federation was the most economicaly aggressive of the known powers in space. In more recent times, however, the economy has become more socialist due to the rise of certain factions who felt a planned and nationalized economy was more efficent. As this came to be, there has been a corresponding rise in black market smuggling and more recently the rise of Ferrengi trade companies. The Federation's economic planners remain confused as technological developments aside, the average person's economic standard of living on most major worlds, such as Earth, is little better at the present date then decades ago. Some planners feel standard of living should be redefined, in the words of one, "Yes, I know children's rooms on Earth in the year 2000 were filled with toys while today they only have a few, but children's toys are such a trivial use of resources. ... "
Besides economic stagnation, there seems to be social stagnation as well on some worlds, such as Earth and the worlds that mirror it culturally. Current trends show a popularity of Shakespeare and various 20th Century media. But there has been little innovation in Terran literature or music for some time. Despite that Terrans strongly back the Federation mandate of freedom of religion, they themselves seem to have mostly abandoned it.
Curiously, many nonhuman worlds in the Federation have escaped the trends of social and economic stagnation. Most of these worlds have used local laws and statutes to resist the trends toward socialism. The Federation's economic planners and media directors do not understand why.
Scientific research aside, apparently what Humanity does best at the present time is ... grow in numbers, leaving other races to develop ecomomicaly and culturally.
The Federation's government is democratic, with the worlds electing represenatives to the Assembly, whom in turn choose members from themselves for the Council. Unlike in earlier democracies, the media does not serve a "watchdog" function, but instead has been nationalized as well. In theory, a manipulative group of Starfleet Admirals could stage a "crisis" and take over the Federation in a coup. Of course, Starfleet being made up of noble individuals devoted to the public good, such a thing could never happen. After all, the combined millenia of governmental experience of hundreds of worlds would never produce a system so vulnerable.
We mean it, really. Stop laughing.
Trek Culture of the Classical Series.
Trek Culture of the "Next Generation" and "DS9" series.
The Cardassian Union, The Gorn Alliance, The Organians, The Orions, Q, The Tholian Assembly, The Magicks of Megas-Tu, New Vinland
Some notable worlds:
Earth:
One of the founding members of the Federation and the home of Humanity, this world is the location of Starfleet Academy, Starfleet Command, and the Federation Assembly and Council. Although Earth remains a center of scientific development, its status as a center of culture depends on past accomplishments (see The Federation).
Earth's history preceding space travel was that of rapid technological development, going from manorial agricultural economies still subject to famine to space travel in just six centuries. Less than seventy passed from the first heavier-than-air aircraft to manned landings on their moon, a technological pace apparently not matched by any other sapient race. And yet, global society almost destroyed itself despite the end of a half-century cold war and revolutions in communications that made it easier for people around the world to find pornography share ideas. Stranger still, contact with the Vulcans following the invention of warp drive did what all of Humankind's religions and all its statesmen failed to do, bring global peace and political unification.
Curiously, many races bear a strong resemblance to humans. Many of those encountered in the time of Captian Kirk looked exactly like humans. Some theorize that an ancient race known as the "Preservers" transported humans to other planets. Exactly why they would choose humans and not other races has not been theorized. Of the vauger resemblance between humans, Vulcans, Klingons, and other major races, it has been theorized that millions of years before an even more ancient race seeded these planets with their DNA. Exactly why they would do this is unknown. Critics dismiss these theories, calling them "like a cheap explanation to explain lousy make-up jobs in a second-rate 20th Century science-fiction show."
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Vulcan: The Vulcans are the second most widely represented race in the Federation, with only humans being more numerous. The planet itself, called T'Kashi by the Vulcans (they prefer outsiders refer to it by the Terran label rather than butcher the word), is a borderline Class M planet with little rainfall and a hot climate (the common expression in the Federation "hot as Vulcan!" certainly wasn't inspired by it's media). It's gravity is almost twice that of Earth, but oddly has a thinner atmosphere. The normally logical Vulcans have not been able to give a logical explanation for this. (full article)
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Cait: Cait is a terrestrial (M class) world with a somewhat warmer climate than Earth, giving it a greater percentage of tropical regions. It is most noted for being the home world of the Federation's most widespread felinoid race, the Caitians. The planet has 2 moons, and its sun is in the Lynx constellation (no pun intended). (full article)
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Planet Jusenkyo: A class-M planet settled by small number of Japanese Terrans intending to make it a tourist attraction, they later abandoned it following the numerous disappearances of settlers and visitors. It's most notable feature is a large collection of hot springs.
*ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CLASSIFIED BY STARFLEET - ACCESSABLE ONLY BY CLEARANCE LEVEL D AND UP*
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New California: New California was settled by colonists whom wanted to build a society around the ideals expressed by certian university professors in the 1990's and early 21st Century. It is most noted for the University of Neo-Berkley, where many Federation politicians and beaurucrats have recieved their education in the past several decades, especially those in economic boards and committies. Despite it's fertile farmland, it has to import most of its food.
*Updated overview of New California, recently declassified*
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Alternate Earth (circia2000) : In Stardate 030505, The USS Freedom came across a wormhole that led to an alternate Earth almost exactly like our own Earth in the year 2000. It seems that at least one human from our universe named Gene Roddenberry visited this place before as a popular science-fiction media series bore a powerful resemblance to our own universe, specifically the USS Enterprise ships under Kirk and Picard. But the key difference was there was a secret organization devoted to repelling all alien presences "by any means necessary," and keeping the existance of them secret from the public by the same means. The fate of this organization, and the course this alternate Earth has taken since the USS Freedom visit is unknown.
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Planet Cid: "Cid" is a terrestrial planet far from the space lanes. It was discovered about two centuries ago by a mostly human exploration ship, whose captain named it after a designer of several successful computer strategy games.
*ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CLASSIFIED BY STARFLEET*
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Mynesia: Mynesia is a terrestrial world slightly warmer than average compared to other Class-M planets. It is populated by humanoids whom all developed cultures very similar to Terra's Polynesian peoples. As with the "American Indian world" Amerind that the Enterprise under Kirk came across, and the "African world" the Enterprise under Piccard found, xenologists are often at a loss to explain as to how a culture so close to one on Earth developed. Some say the world is further evidence of the theoretical "Preservers" who supposedly transplanted Terran peoples and others to different worlds. However, the Federation's Time Investigations Unit supposedly found on the world the wreckage of a centuries-old shuttle with empty packages that once held holo's of several 20th Century Hollywood films and "Don Ho" music recordings.
As with their Terrestrial counterparts, shamans held a great deal of power. But over the years there have been a number of disapperances and strange happenings tied to a few. Durring a port call, the USS Freedom recovered an alien artifact from one that reportedly had similar emmissions to the "luck machine" found on Deep Space Nine. Unfortunetly, the artifact was lost in a mishap.
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Risa: Risa is the most popular tourist destination in the Federation, having a reputation as a "pleasure planet." Early in Federation history, it only got a fair number of visitors as Argelia had a more widespread reputation for welcoming visitors. After the Argelians' "Jack the Ripper" incident when the USS Enterprise made a port call created some bad press, Risa was the world that rose to number one.
The best thing about Risa is that it has virtually every pleasure that can be imagined available. The worst thing about Risa is that it has virtually every pleasure that can be imagined available. Besides the beaches, ski lodges, and amusment parks, Risa also boasts an adult entertainment industry. A number of porno media companies have set up there, where any woman with a good body (and no sense of shame) could potentialy become a star for a short time. A small number are remembered after their brief glory days, such as Bianca Xixi and S'lutt.
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Planet Survivor: A Class-M planet with mostly tropical terrain. The world is Starfleet Property and for it's exclusive use. It is not inhanited by any permanent sentient population.
*Updated overview, recently declassified*
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Last Updated: July 29, 2006