#andorian jewellery

[indignantlemur]

What's Andorian jewelry like?

Hello! Sorry it took me to long to answer - it's been crazy busy over here! So, the short answer is: it varies. Andorian jewelry runs the gamut from traditional to modern, with a full spectrum of complexity and styles in much the same way that Human jewelry does.

Andorians don't generally go in for piercings, so their jewelry choices are largely limited to rings, bracelets, necklaces, antennae rings and/or antennae bells, fine hair nets, ornamental belts, and body chains.

Traditional pieces strongly resemble armor. Examples include heavy gorget-like necklaces and collars, rings that evoke images of gauntlets and claws, bracelets that were basically just bracers with decorations, girdles with overlapping plates and all heavily engraved with complex imagery, often specific to the family of the wearer. Hair ornaments in this same tradition tended to be incredibly sharp, be they hair sticks and combs or strings of carved beads featuring a sharpened metal point at the end of the strand. Most of these items originate during the warring eras of Andorian history, where form and function were blended heavily in function's favour. While the original historical artefacts are usually preserved in a Clan's vaults or a museum, recreations are still worn in Emigre's modern era, but as statement pieces more than anything else. That being said, it's considered somewhat... gauche to wear too many such pieces.

Courting and marriage antennae rings have been around for hundreds of years, if not longer. There are trends - this generation favoured rings with embellishments like stones or engravings, while that generation preferred more plain but lustrous metals, and so on - but the basic form stays more or less the same. It's common for high ranking Andorians to have particularly ornate courting and marriage bands, but nowhere is it actually required - a loophole Thoris cheerfully exploits, to his spouses' general exasperation. Likewise, there is nothing stopping a lower ranking Andorian from having complex and highly detailed bands. Unlike most Andorian ornamentations, one cannot tell a person's rank or Clan just from their marriage or courting rings.

More modern jewelry range from plain pieces polished to a mirror shine all the way down to stone-studded and filigreed. Lightweight and delicate ornaments (often perched upon the nose, hung over the ears, or even dangling lightly between the antennae) which emphasize the wearer's face, particularly the eyes, mouth, or antennae, are a newer addition the market and steadily gaining popularity across the board. Some have taken this idea a step farther and created custom works which are moulded to an individuals chitin patterns, which were initially regarded as odd but have since been embraced by the younger generations quite enthusiastically.

Conversely, there's also been an alternative aesthetic growing popular on the fringes which features blocky, unpolished jewelry designed to frame the jaw and lower face almost like a muzzle. Some of these pieces give the impression of jagged teeth, while others more strongly resemble parts of dull, blank masks. It's not the sort of thing one would see often, and never in public spaces; this particular kind of jewelry is considered subversive - and ugly - by many. Humans inquiring after why this is so generally find themselves confounded by vague explanations and exasperated comments of, "Look, you have to be Andorian to understand, alright?"

In terms of other options, body chains are popular due to their versatility, as are hair ornaments and antennae rings, and finger rings of the more ordinary (or rather, less claw-like) variety. Armoured girdles have gone out of fashion entirely, though ornamental belts are still acceptable so long as they remain tasteful.

I don't really have any visual examples for this at the moment, but I might try my hand at jewelry design soon!

Hope this answers everything!

[trekbait]

THIS is why you keep FAILING to blend in on ANCIENT EARTH!

Getting stuck on Earth of the past is a surprisingly common occurrence for Starfleet crews. Between slingshots, Q, Devidians, orbs, Borg, kemocite explosions, rogue temporal agents and stray tachyons stuck in your ablative armour; we estimate 80% of time travel occurrences land officers specifically on Earth in North America in the 100 years between the 1930s and 2030s (give or take).

This is your guide on how to stay undercover until you escape.

What year is this?

Try not to ask this question. It is not something that comes up in regular conversation so it will look weird. Instead, look for a shop with large folded batches of paper on display. These will be newspapers and will invariably show the date in the corner of the front page. 

If you have 24th-century technology, you might also be able to tell from the level of pollution or radiation in the atmosphere, or from astrometric readings.

Continue to check the news for more information about this era, its society and historical events that you may be influencing.

Where are you from?

Try not to be specific lest they know the place and ask if you know someone there. Keep it to a general “up north”. If you’re quite far north already, substitute with “down south”.

If you stand out a fair bit, suggest that you are from France (unless you are in France, of course, but this is statistically unlikely). But do not suggest your Vulcan officer had a rice-picking incident or that you are a secret agent; such stories may be read as too outlandish. Plan your cover as soon as possible and research your era and location to get your facts straight.

Funny looking pyjamas

People of this era consider Starfleet uniforms to look like pyjamas. Go with that and say you had to leave your flat in the middle of the night due to a fire or an argument with the “missus”. This is also a good opportunity to appeal for advice on where you can find replacement clothes. 

If necessary, do not be afraid of stealing period-appropriate clothes to maintain your cover. It may not be moral, but you will be less disruptive to the timeline by stealing a shirt than walking around in full uniform. 

You should avoid high-security places when committing theft without technological aid; interacting with law enforcement can be deadly in this era. This is especially true for officers who cannot pass as humans of the local dominant ethnic group; these individuals should lay low as much as possible.

Non-human officers

The unexpected nature of time travel may preclude preparation for non-humans to hide their more obvious alien features. Some species (Betazoids, Deltans, Baku) can easily pass as humans and will have no problem blending in. Others may pose a challenge. Here are ideas of how to stay covert;

Vulcans, Romulans: Wear a hat, sweatband or long hair to cover your ears and eyebrows.

Bajorans: A band-aid over the nose and pass it off as an injury.

Trill: Pass off your spots as tattoos or wear a hood to cover the sides of your head.

Former Borg: Pass off your implants as jewellery or a body mod. Draw on some extra tattoos to add to the effect. Alternative communities can provide great cover to non-humans due to their non-conformity with the dominant society.

Orions, Andorians, Bolians: Add makeup and glitter to your face and say you’re going to a festival (Andorians should also wear a hat for the antenna - pick a flashy one to add to the festival aesthetic).

Cardassians, Ferengi, Klingons etc.: This is a lot harder. These species should stay hidden as much as possible unless there is a “comic book convention” in town. In this case, steal a lanyard and offer to pose for a photo to anyone who gets suspicious. They will assume you are in an elaborate costume seeking attention

These later examples will protect officers in casual interactions but will be out of place if entering more formal environments.

Zippers

Clothing items and bags on Earth often used a device called a “zipper” formed of metal teeth. You placed the ends together then pulled a tog up to close the two sides of the fabric. You won’t be familiar with these because they have been banned by the 2274 Oddenbery Accords after zippers were instrumental in the collapse of space-time in the Kandari sector that cost 6 million lives. 

It goes without saying that 20th-century humans should not be made aware of the mortal danger zippers pose to the universe or you may alter the timeline. Holographic versions are safe to use if you wish to practice their function and blend in.

Currency

Old Earth still relied on capitalist economics and the use of currency which had no intrinsic value. This currency often took the form of circles of decorated metal and printed slips of paper; in later decades it was also electronic, traded via plastic rectangles. The plastic rectangles will be unobtainable to you (and if stolen, would allow your movements to be tracked) but you should be aware of their purpose. 

Currency was required to even access the most essential services such as shelter and food so your first priority should be acquiring some of these scraps of paper. 

Theft: Ideally you don’t want to steal from individuals. Poverty was widespread and you could impact someone's life significantly. Instead, if safe to do so you should aim to steal from an institution such as a bank’s currency dispenser (such companies would not be impacted by small-scale theft due to something called “insurance”).

Trade: If you have on you something that holds an intrinsic value that does not contain components from the future, consider taking it to a “Porn Shop”. Tell the shop owner you have something to sell and you can obtain legal tender from them. 

Labour: Those at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy obtained currency via performing labour for most of the day. Your best bet is irregular work such as cleaning; this will give a very low return of currency despite intense labour but it is your best way to stay under the radar.

Gambling: Humans of this century gambled a great deal more than they had the resources to. If you have an unfair natural advantage in the games they play then you should find people willing to place a wager. Humans bet on anything, from animal races to elections or their whole economy.

Humans were particularly attached to their money and gave it names like “Abe” or “Benjamin” to create a bond with it. You should come up with your own (human) names for any money you obtain to blend in with capitalist exchanges.

Note that this region was fond of “tipping”. This is when low-wage staff were given extra money by the customer beyond the stated value of the service to compensate for their employer paying their staff less than that needed to survive. This will often be indicated by holding out a hand or a quiet cough.

Colourful metaphors

Profanity is common on old Earth in a way that is seen as inappropriately aggressive today. Nobody pays any attention to you if you don't swear every other word. So you may need to employ some yourself in casual conversation to truly blend in. Many words used then are now automatically censored by our universal translators such as ****, ****, ***** him, go **** yourself up your ******* *******, **** ** ***** **** then ***, and *. 

Transport

North America of this era was obsessed with a highly inefficient and dangerous form of personal transport known as the automobile (or “car”). These will likely end up being your primary form of transport and being a proficient driver of these vehicles is important for blending in. So you best spend an hour on the holodeck familiarising yourself with the control scheme of its interior.

Mass transit also existed, though due to chronic underinvestment in the regions you are statistically most likely to arrive in, you may find it difficult to obtain. The most common of these are “buses” which are large automobiles capable of moving around 50-100 people at a time along major routes. Usage will require currency; be sure to check the fare before boarding as some may require “exact change” to be provided.

And the timeline?

Let’s leave that side of things to the boys at the Department for Temporal Investigations. But what we will say is that this era is particularly savage. You may be tempted to right injustices left, right and centre (there are a lot) but if you, say, save a woman from getting killed by one of those deadly automobiles we mentioned then you could find out that the whole timeline is thrown off course. 

So follow these tips, keep your head down and look for a way home. That is unless you cause the death of a pivotal revolutionary figure and need to take their place to restore the timeline. Naturally.

What tips do you have for passing as a local on ancient Earth? Let us know below and Follow us for more essential tips in your Starfleet career!

[sideshowkaz]

When I heard about Kelenthor the Clanless from @indignantlemur he reminded me of a character I’ve had kicking around for a wile and in the last year I’ve managed to develop. More of a Picard sort of time Andorian. He’s an artist though a holo artist and one of the creations he’s most proud of is the fairy who acts as his interpreter as due to some damage to his jaw he finds it more easy to use sign language. A lot of his art mixes the real and the false and the old and new along with different peoples cultures. This shows in his clothes as well with the earth style goth skirt and shirt put with a traditional Andorian belt. And though he likes stabbing holes in his face he’s smart enough to use silicone and plastic for jewellery as it’s safer if theres an accident as he’s on ships a lot. The only exception to that is one ring with crushed LuAG decoration as the material is a very good radiation indicator. This outfit is very subtle club wear. Lots of blue though so you can tell he’s still going to make a bad decision and regret it next morning. The freckles are just tattoos and his logic in getting them was he was raised on earth and it’s fun to find out how many humans think they are real. He also has no patches of chitin and this is intentional.

Thank you @indignantlemur for the post about Andorian clothinig and for inspiring me to draw my little rebel.

This is Rynass, and his creation Tink.

[idonotbitemythumbatyou]

from Heaven for the Soulless (affectionately called "bby Julian")

He didn’t have enough Cardassian currency to buy food every day, and though the wide gleaming streets were full of it - restaurants, grocery stores, food stalls, and vending machines - none of it went to waste.

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As for violence, he’d heard his share of bigoted remarks, and his store of slurs and insults made for an impressive ratio of his overall Kardasi vocabulary.

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He took inventory of the room. Mostly Bajorans - men women and others - but there were other workers as well: two Orion men, an Andorian woman, a Gorn of indeterminate gender glaring around from the corner and adorned like a jewellery store.

This week’s word is…

✨ STORE ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.