#andorian language

[more-better-words]

Behold! A Totally Made-up Andorian Lexicon

I didn't mean to create a bunch of random Andorian words and phrases when I started writing Seeing Blue, but, well...things happen. And then I started writing Under a White Sky, and the list has only grown! So the following is my ongoing glossary of my invented Andorian conlang.

Use or ignore as you will!

Relational

r’eyslen – ‘one who chooses'; refers to the initiating party in a romantic relationship

r'eysleten – ‘one who is chosen'; refers to the accepting party in a romantic relationship

thay'va – term of endearment; contraction of the phrase thay shulv'a, a fire that is constantly tended

sh’tal – term of endearment; a type of candle placed in warming lamps

Ahva – ‘mom, mama’; refers to first or sole female parent; informal

Ahv'atyn - ‘mom, mama’; refers to second female parent; informal

Sha’a – ‘dad, papa'; refers to first or sole male parent; informal

Sh’atyn - ‘dad, papa'; refers to second male parent; informal

Ky’val - sister-in-law; literally, 'sister in the second degree', female spouse of a sibling

++++++++++

Expressions, Greetings, etc.

S'thali'veh – ‘thank you’; literally, ‘all my gratitude’; informal, familiar form

Dev'shatu – ‘you're welcome'; literally, ‘I would regardless’; informal, familiar form

Vesh'ho – ‘hello/good day’; polite form, used as greeting in highly formal settings

Vesh'ho'hu – ‘hello/good day to you’; polite form, a formal response

Sh’valo – ‘cheers'; a salute when drinking

Shev'set - 'be brave'; literally, 'multiply your courage'

M'har'shev - 'we accept/embrace'; first person plural, formal

++++++++++

Misc. Vocabulary

mur’thay – an urban accommodation house that provides both long and short-lodging; literally ‘open hearth'

[indignantlemur]

Hi! I saw all your headcanon stuff on Andorians and since I have a mass of files around the Aenar, I wondered if you knew anything about Andorii? Is there a conlang out there already that you know of? I made one after lazily looking at the barebones wiki- but it is based on the Aenar Conlang I made :)) if you'd like the notes? if Andorii already exists please lmk! Also, love the headcanon ideas- they're amazing!!

Hello! I've been enjoying reading through some of your Aenar headcanons and lore!

With the bare bones of what's available in canon, and even the dubious canon, we know that Andorii consists of extended vowels and a mix of hard and soft consonants. Double vowels - aa, ii, ee, oo - are often either followed or preceded by hard consonants, though rarely both. I've also noted that, rather like Norwegian, they have emphasis on the first and third syllables more often than not, but they occasionally switch that up. The Andorian opera featured in Discovery, for example, while not actually meant to have proper words or a translation, follows these rule at least somewhat, but seems to change where the emphasis on syllables lies. I've been implementing bits and pieces of all of this into Emigre and my headcanons.

The closest I've been able to find to an actual conlang is from a defunct site which records an a priori conlang constructed by Spence Hill back in the 1990s. For the most part, I've spent as much time referencing that as I have inventing words and terminology myself, and I've been keeping the conjugations and tenses very simple for ease of use. I don't rely entirely on Mr. Hill's work, and I draw from multiple sources, but I will say his is the backbone of my own work.

Here's the Grammatical sketch of the Andorian language by Spence Hill and the dictionary he created for your own uses, if you like. The dictionary is not as extensive and comprehensive as I would like, personally, but it gives a solid foundation for creating compound words as needed and the overview of grammar is quite comprehensive. He also has a written script, thought it does not particularly resemble canon Andorii as seen in ENT, or depictions of Graalen found in some of the RPG sourcebooks. I also have a list of words and terms I've created, but some of them are a wee bit spoilery for Emigre.

At some point, I would like to sit down and actually make a dedicated conlang of my own for Andorians, but I'm not fully confident in my ability to do so properly without further education and research.

I'd love to chat sometime about our headcanons, if you ever feel like it! <3

[indignantlemur]

Alright, it appears I've been summoned! I've actually answered something kinda like this before, so I'm gonna rehash it a little. Some context for the folks who don't know me: I write about Andorians. A lot. I take the fragmented, sloppy lore and do my best to make it make sense from a narrative and scientific perspective, while creating the largely absent culture from scratch and inventing everything from food to traditions, religion, fashion, body language, biology, political and social structures, wildlife, etc.

Since this question is for generic information, I'll be keeping my writing specific info/headcanons out of it.

With the bare bones of what's available in canon, and even the dubious canon, we know that Andorii largely consists of extended vowels and a mix of hard and soft consonants. Double vowels - aa, ii, ee, oo - are quite comment, which I've generally interpreted as an elongated vowel sound in each case, rather than a double vowel with a glottal stop in the middle, which would be indicated with a break in the form of an apostrophe, as with Va'Al Trask's name (SNW: Under the Cloak of War). Soft consonants are often paired with soft or hard consonants in the same word, often framing the vowel sounds, but I don't think I've seen as many cases of hard vowels being paired together. Then again, we hardly have a complete lexicon to be working with.

I've also noted that, rather like Norwegian, there seems to be an emphasis on the first and third syllables more often than not, but that's not set in stone and may just be down to my own biases. The Andorian opera featured in Discovery, for example, while not actually meant to have proper words or a translation (which is just so lazy), follows these rules for the most part, but it's not a perfect match by any means.

The closest I've been able to find to an actual conlang is from a defunct site which records an a priori conlang constructed by Spence Hill back in the 1990s. He did amazing work, and I really can't recommend reviewing it enough.

Here's the Grammatical sketch of the Andorian language by Spence Hill and the dictionary he created.

The dictionary is not as extensive and comprehensive as I would like, personally, but it gives a solid foundation for creating compound words as needed and the overview of grammar is quite comprehensive. He also created his own version of a written script, thought it does not particularly resemble canon Andorii as seen in ENT, or depictions of Graalen found in some of the RPG sourcebooks. Graalen seems to involve simpler, distinct symbols rather than an interconnected flow ending in a flourish that Andorii features. I've always wondered if Graalen is a more primitive form of writing, or a kind of short-hand - but, of course, we'll never know at this rate.

Hopefully, this is helpful!

Hi Star Trek fans and nerds! Do we know what the Andorian language sounds like? Do you have a headcanon for it? I would love to know all of your opinions and ideas!

[laney-rockin]

At some point y'all, Star Trek needs to do a time travel episode where they time travel to like Vulcan 2023 and the human on the ship is given Hot Topic elf ears in an attempt to blend in.

[unknownfacelessfanfictions]

Part 2: Courtship à la Humans

Pairing: Commander Tysess x OFC Fandom: Star Trek: Prodigy Words: 3.4K Summary: Tysess realises that by human courtships traditions he is requiered to do one more thing to make this relationship "authentic", even though Ophelia believes that it's not necessary.

Body Language Masterlist

Ophelia didn't know exactly where the nervousness came from all at once as she stood outside Tysess's quarters, needlessly trying to smooth out her already smooth uniform.

It was ridiculous.

She was his girlfriend, for fuck's sake. She shouldn't be nervous about going to see him.

At least that was what she was trying to tell herself. Implemented ... there was still some upward improvement to be made.

To be honest, Ophelia and Tysess hadn't really had much time lately to really do anything with each other or just enjoy each other's presence.

The USS Dauntless had been on alert for weeks, chasing the USS Protostar from one star system to another.

Engineering was putting in overtime after overtime to keep the systems running at peak performance despite the circumstances, and Ophelia, deputising for the chief engineer, was spending more time in Engineering and Jeffrey's tubes than in her own quarters.

Nevertheless, this still did not come close to the amount of work that seemed to pile up in front of Tysess.

Janeway relied on him one hundred per cent, which made Ophelia incredibly proud, but she hardly ever got to see him.

After consulting with some of the other engineers, she had been given a change in her shift schedule so that she could work roughly at the same time as him, even though he was still working harder than she was.

And despite everything, they sometimes managed no more than a quick smile at each other in the corridor.

Today, however, she knew that the command staff had been dismissed in time and since the Dauntless was not doing much at the moment for once, Ophelia had not had to stay any longer than necessary either. She took one last deep breath before pressing the buzzer on his door.

For a few moments nothing happened and Ophelia was already afraid that Tysess was not in his quarters, when the door slid to the side and revealed her boyfriend.

Ophelia was startled and just managed to avoid a sharp gasp.

Tysess looked, to put it bluntly, horrible.

Apparently he had been unable to follow her advice to take time for himself. His posture, though upright, seemed less energetic than usual, once again deep eye bags had crept onto his face, his antennae, though trying to stand straight and alert, rocked up and down and even his hair seemed to have lost its usual shine.

"Hi," she whispered softly and took a small step closer, not quite crossing the threshold yet.

Apparently Tysess now seemed to have realised that it was not another officer who was bringing more work, for his body lost some of its tension and his antennae relaxed and a small smile broke the hard line that had been his mouth before.

"Ophelia.“

Her name from his lips sounded like a burst of relief and Ophelia couldn't help but smile at him as well. With a small hand gesture, he motioned for her to come inside, which she gladly complied with.

No sooner had the doors closed behind her than Tysess gently took her hand in his, bent his head and pressed his lips to the back of her hand as light as a feather.

"My love."

It was a greeting he'd grown accustomed to lately, whenever they'd had time, and Ophelia found it heavenly lovely.

This time, however, when he let go of her hand, she didn't press her hand against his cheek as she usually did, but dashed forward to press him tightly against her.

For a moment he did not react, but then finally put his arms around her.

When, after a few moments, Ophelia still did not detach herself from him, but held him tightly in her embrace, his posture, until then still quite stiff and tense, seemed to relax. He rested his chin on her head, why did he have to be so damn tall? and it wasn't long before Ophelia felt his antennae begin to run over her scalp once more.

It was still quite a strange sensation, though not an unpleasant one, and sighing contentedly she pressed her nose against his neck.

"I didn't expect to see you today," he confessed softly and Ophelia had to release the embrace to lift her head and look at him.

"I hope I didn't disturb you? If I have, I can leave as well." She smiled slightly. "I was just thinking that maybe we could use the time?"

Tysess tilted his head and a faint smile spread across his features.

"You are always welcome."

Those four words made Ophelia feel all warm inside, which was quite handy as Tysess' quarters were rather chilly.

Quite logical actually, she admitted as she pulled Tysess towards the sofa. He's used to Andorians and colder climes and probably melted almost every time he had to report for duty.

Once they were seated, Ophelia put her hand on his shoulder blades and frowned.

"You're completely tense."

Tysess gasped lightly. "It's been a bit tiring the last few days." Smiling, Ophelia brushed a strand of hair from his face and he closed his eyes. "I can imagine." For a moment she hesitated a little, but then grabbed him resolutely by the shoulders and pulled him backwards.

"What-?!"

Tysess tried to fight it, however, he let it wash over him after Ophelia whispered a "relax" to him.

With a still sceptical look on his face, but a lot less tense, he finally gave in to her tugging and slowly let himself slide backwards so that he was sitting between her legs with his head pillowed on her chest.

"Ophelia, what are you doing - ohhh."

Tysess's protests gave way to a surprised, albeit satisfied, sigh as Ophelia let her fingertips dance over his head. She leaned forward slightly without taking her fingers out of his hair and briefly propped her chin on his shoulder to whisper in his ear.

"Relax, please, Tysess. You're far too stressed and tense." She laughed lightly as she traced her fingernails gently over his scalp. "I mean, I thought I was already tense and stressed, but you sweetie..."

She squeezed a little harder in one spot, eliciting another relieved and thoroughly satisfied sigh from Tysess.

"You really are beyond the pale."

"It's not really my fault," he murmured softly, closing his eyes almost with relish. "We found data from a proto-jump for the third time. According to the Admiral, three is no longer a coincidence, but a pattern. She has made it her goal to find the Protostar."

"I noticed." Ophelia's fingers moved further back to his head, away from the Andorian's antennae.

Against her own will, when she had told Noum that she and Tysess were together, after his permission to tell on, she didn't want anything to make him uncomfortable, Noum had given her a quick briefing on Andorian biology.

A very detailed briefing, in fact.

She had spent most of the time hiding her increasingly hot face in her hands, but she had picked up a few things. For example, the fact that the area on the scalp around the antennae was very sensitive to touch and therefore called an erogenous zone.

And Ophelia would like to prevent that reaction at the moment.

"However, I can understand her. The Protostar is definitely an important ship, with science that still offers much to explore. And I guess the fact that the captain is Chakotay plays a certain role too, huh?"

"Perhaps."

For the next few minutes Ophelia continued to let her hands roam over his head, neck and shoulders until she reasonably felt that Tysess was a little more loosened up than before. "Better?"

Tysess sat up slowly and nodded before hesitantly opening his arms. Ophelia accepted the silent invitation without hesitation and wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her head in the crook of his neck.

"This is going to sound a bit silly, after all we saw each other every day, but I missed you. I mean, we didn't even have time to go on a date, which I think is kind of a shame. Normally I'm not really the type to do that, but oh well. You always want what you can't have, don't you?"

Tysess's antennae straightened. "A date?" Ophelia frowned. "Yeah? Don't tell me you don't know what a date is. I mean, you've been living among humans, for quite a long time actually."

She noticed that Tysess looked a little embarrassed and instantly regretted her choice of words. "However, I don't think you stick your nose into other people's love lives very often, which is why this is perfectly understandable and okay." She let go of him and sat up.

"A date... a date. How could I best describe it?" She thought about it for a moment. "It's sort of a... romantic appointment, I guess you could say. Two people who are romantically interested in each other go on dates, meetings, to spend time together." Tysess's antennae curled in thought. "That means that ... this is one too?"

Ophelia shook her head slowly.

"No, not really. A date is more something you plan. Some people even do it weeks in advance, especially if it's going to be something special. It's also kind of a tradition to go on a few dates before you get into a relationship, to see if you're, well, compatible? Is that right to say that? It's just to make sure you're a good match and that both parties take it seriously and want to take a step further in their relationship, in this case getting together."

Ophelia nodded slightly, satisfied with her answer. Who would have thought it could be so difficult to explain to an outsider what a date was?

It was only a few moments later that she noticed that Tysess looked terribly pale and that his antennae were standing straight up, if not slightly tilted back, as if he were panicking.

His gaze sought hers and Ophelia was shocked by the true terror in his pale lilac eyes as he reached out with his hands and grabbed hers, even kneeling on the floor in front of the couch in front of her. "Tysess, what-?"

"Have I broken a human tradition of courtship? Did I disregard something I should have? Have I done something wrong or hurt your feelings? Please believe me, beloved, that was never my intention." His eyes widened more and more and he didn't stop babbling to himself until Ophelia had to interrupt him.

"Tysess! Please calm down, you haven't broken any tradition! Just because many take this path does not mean it is a must. There are also very many who have been friends for years, for example, and then suddenly realise they'd like to be more than just friends." She squeezed his hands and smiled gently at him. "'Like us'. So please, Tysess, calm down."

Uncertain, he looked to her. "Are you sure?" "Yes." Her smile was still gentle and she pulled him back onto the couch, secretly touched that he had been so worried that he had done something wrong that would have been important in her culture. His next words came out hesitantly. "But... you'd still like to go on a date?"

For whatever reason, Ophelia felt heat rise to her face. "Well, so... I like spending time with you... therefore, yes? However, I know that both of us, especially you, are very busy right now and we don't really have much time, so-"

She broke off as Tysess smiled and touched her cheek with his hand. He didn't place it against her, much more his fingers delicately ghosting over her skin, leaving a comforting shiver. "Then we'll take our time."

~**~

Nervously, Ophelia played with the zip of her parka. She had to admit she felt a little ridiculous walking down the corridor to the holodeck in thick winter clothing, however Tysess had asked her in his message to dress cold-proof. Ophelia didn't ask for it, but simply followed his request.

After their conversation, Tysess had asked to let him plan their first date and Ophelia hadn't been able to say no at the sight of his begging eyes.

She knew it was ridiculous, however, she was nervous. It wasn't necessary and she knew she would shake her head about it later, however it was her very first date in years. And then with Tysess too, absolutely meant in a positive way.

Ophelia had hit it off with the blue giant right from the start, at least from her point of view, and had, until her confession, been smitten with him for months. The fact that she could finally spend time with him, go on a proper date, was still somewhat obscure to her.

To make matters worse, she had run into Noum, who had just looked at her amusedly, by his standards, leaned over to her and muttered "Remember your promise", which had caused Ophelia to almost run into a wall.

But now, before she went around the corner to the holodeck, she stopped one last time to make sure everything was sitting as it should, though she couldn't change much with her braids as it was. Ophelia hadn't really bothered to put on much make-up either.

A little concealer against the bags under her eyes and some mascara, but that was it. She preferred to leave the eye shadow to Tysess.

She took one last deep breath before turning the corner and her heart immediately beat faster. Tysess was standing in front of her, no longer in uniform but in a thin black turtleneck and dark trousers.

Before her arrival he had kept glancing back and forth between his watch and the corridor, however now his gaze lingered only on her and as he smiled back at her, Ophelia felt her knees buckle.

"Hi," was all she could get out, swallowing her nervousness as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You came." Tysess sounded intrigued and Ophelia took his hand. "Of course, silly. Why wouldn't I come?"

"I honestly don't know," Tysess confessed, scratching the back of his neck before gesturing over to the holodeck. "Shall we." "Quick question," Ophelia interjected. "Why do I look like I'm going to Antarctica and you look like you're going to walk around town in the fall." He smiled and opened the door. "Because that's what we're going to do."

Tysess took her by the hand and led her into the room and instantly an icy wind blew against Ophelia, making her shiver. They are in some kind of ice cave, which made her wonder where the wind was coming from, which was probably only so bright because Tysess had set it that way. Fascinated, she looked around and turned in a circle to take in the size of the cave.

Stalactites of ice hung from the ceiling and indentations in the ice created a variety of patterns. Ophelia laughed breathlessly. "Where are we?"

Tysess stepped up beside her, took her hand again and looked down at her, a small smile on his face. "Andoria." She looked at him in disbelief. "Really?"

"Really. We are in a side cave near the one I grew up in. To be exact, that's where this path leads, if my memory doesn't deceive me." He pointed to a narrow path Ophelia had not seen before and excitement spread through her. "Are we going to see dien home village?!"

To her disappointment, Tysess shook her head. "No. We won't." He brushed a braid behind her ear and pulled her zip completely up to protect her from the cold. "I want the first time you see my home to be in real life."

Ophelia felt her heart flutter and she nodded slightly. "And where are we going then?"

Tysess smiled gently down at her and gestured to a path, which she hadn't noticed before because it was behind some ice rocks. "To a place I spent a lot of time in my childhood."

He led her down the passage and from the position of his antennae Ophelia could tell he was nervous, which in turn stirred her and made her heart beat faster.

He wanted to take her to a place that had been relevant in his childhood. He wanted her to be part of his history, even if he was nervous about doing so. For her. Ophelia truly had to pull herself together not to weep with happiness.

The corridor dragged on endlessly and at some point she felt the need to break the silence. Not because this silence was unpleasant, but because she simply wanted to talk to him.

"Aren't you freezing? It's unbelievably cold!" Tysess just shook his head. "This is almost summer by Andorian standards. Normally, especially at the depths we're at right now, it's much cooler. However, I didn't want you to get too cold."

"You're cute, you know that?" Ophelia was aware of the fact that she sounded like a lovesick teenager, however she didn't care, especially when she saw his cheeks turn purple.

For another five minutes or so, the Andorian led her down the path until it suddenly became wider and more spacious and abruptly opened out into a huge cavern. Ophelia gasped for air and at the same time felt the expectant and loving gaze of her boyfriend on her.

The cave had, for whatever reason, an opening in the ceiling, not particularly large, though she estimated the diameter to be larger than her height if she stood on Tysess' shoulders. Starlight filtered in through this opening, reflecting off the lake, which was mysteriously unfrozen despite the temperatures.

"You can't see the stars very often because of the snow flurries, only every few months of the year."

Tysess had stepped closer and was now standing directly behind her, his hands on her shoulders and his head bent down so that his mouth was against her ear.

"Every time I knew a night like this was coming, I'd run over here and stare at the sky for hours." He laughed that soft, raspy laugh she loved so much. "My parents got terribly worried every time I disappeared and scolded me, however, it didn't stop me from coming back the next time."

Ophelia was at a loss for words to describe the true beauty of the display. "Tysess," her voice was no more than a breath. "It's absolutely beautiful." She thought she heard a certain satisfaction in his voice. "So I can assume I've met your expectations for a date?"

Ophelia turned to him and looked at him out of sparkling eyes. "Oh, you have far surpassed them, love." She wrapped her arms, around him. "Thank you for bringing me here." She chuckled. "I can't believe this programme actually existed and you found it too. That must have been incredibly difficult."

Tysess cleared his throat slightly and Ophelia looked up, only to see him look slightly embarrassed to the side.

"I didn't find the programme." "What?" "I didn't find the programme," he repeated himself. "I programmed it myself." For a few moments Ophelia didn't know what to say, so she broke away from him and stared at him with her mouth and eyes widened.

"You programmed this... for me? Even though we barely have any free time?" Just the thought that after a hard day's work, instead of sleeping or relaxing, he had sat down to write a complex hologram for her.... She felt like she was bursting with affection and love.

Her voice broke off towards the end and she felt a range of emotions rise up inside her besides love and affection that would have knocked even a Vulcan off his feet. And the only way she knew how to deal with those feelings was to grab him by the collar and kiss him so hard they both had to gasp for breath. "I hate you," she whispered during a pause for breath.

"Mhhh, doesn't quite look like it to me," Tysess countered, wrapping his arms around her even tighter as his antennae went wandering. "Do you have any idea how high you've just set your expectations for me for the next date I have to plan?"

Tysess's eyes gleamed with delight as he looked down at her. "That means you want to do it again." Ophelia grinned and pulled him down a little more, murmuring. "There's nothing I'd rather do," before she pulled his lips down to hers again, not letting him get away so quickly this time.

[doyouwanttoseeabug]

Star Trek crew but they're all different species hear me out:

Jim - Jim has to remain human. He's the humanist human around, and also there is infinite comedy in the idea of a bunch of other species making exhausted eye contact whenever he pulls his bullshit.

Spock remains Vulcan obviously.

I initially thought Tellarite Bones BUT I think Andorian Bones fits better. Adding an extra-spicy layer to his Thing with Spock if their grandparents were literally shooting at each other. Every time Jim is Extremely Jim, Bones pulls out the ushaan-tor with a Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a duellist but DON'T TEMPT ME

Romulan Uhura. No listen, trust me on this. Escaping from the Romulan empire because her love of languages leads her to a love of other cultures and a fiercely anti-imperialist anti-hegemonic stance. Her poise and calm comes from a lifetime of lying to the Tal Shiar, who were aggressively trying to recruit her before she joined Starfleet. How did she become an expert in diplomacy? Well her favourite childhood hobby was not getting dissapeared by the state so the rest came naturally.

Klingon Rand was revealed to me in a dream.

SCOTTY is the Tellarite. Jim rings down to engineering all meek like "hello Scotty can you tell me why the "ship is about to explode" light is flashing" and Scotty's like your mother was a leper and your father was a clown. Yeah the engines are fucked.

Chekov is Orion for The Angst TM

I know I KNOW that the Federation hadn't made contact with the Cardassians in TOS but Cardassian Sulu. He's so nice and smiley and polite :) and he's just saying Captain that if you want anyone poisoned I might know a guy :) the guy is me, Captain :)

I really wanted a Ferengi on here but no one fits so. Ferengi Chapel I guess. She's actually incredibly nice and way more professional than Bones but occasionally there's a gleam in her eyes and you just know she's thinking Oh, if I wanted to, I could rip these suckers off.

[sleepymccoy]

Universal translator headcanons:

Spock speaks English perfectly and is not using the translator, not even when he doesn't recognise a word. He insists on learning it old school style. When he uses a translator he tries to learn the words as best he can for future reference and now has a strange hodge podge of vocab across various languages

Uhura uses the translator to speak, but she does so to practice speaking a different language every day. It's translated into English but she could be speaking Estonian or Andorian. She's happy using the translator cos she basically built it

Chekhov didn't realise you could use the translator at work and is pissed off to discover he's been struggling through conversations that could've just been translated by tech for him. Scotty even says it can keep your accent as a sort of respected identity feature!

Scotty is speaking English but he uses the translator purely to give himself a thicker-than-actual Scottish accent. If you subscribe to the Scotty is Canadian and stuck doing the accent after a bad joke theory, this fits. If you think he's Scottish, this is just him keeping that front and centre

McCoy uses the translator less than you'd think, he's conversational in a handful of common languages like Cantonese, French, and Denobulan. He's learning Vulcan but it's not clicking for him, perhaps because he hasn't told Spock he's trying to learn so isn't practicing as much as he should

Kirk uses the translator when he needs to without worrying about it. His area of expertise isn't languages and he's happy to rely on his crew to supply that if the translator goes down. He does, however, know just about every greeting phrase there is across the galaxy just in casies

Sulu can really only speak english, but when he's talking to someone from home he uses a translator to another language to maintain some privacy. His family are used to having to translate his video messages back into English

Chapel uses the translator when needed, but will always try to have a conversation in English first. She's possibly the most normal about the translator tbh

Rand will invariably try to communicate via mime or grunts or anything else before pulling out the translator. She thinks it sanitises conversations and obfuscates tone. But she will resort to it when needed, reluctantly

[evviejo]

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE // S4E9 Kir'Shara He was a soldier who lived a long time ago. He was standing watch over the gates of the city of Gol and he saw a cloud on the horizon moving toward him. He thought it was a sandstorm, so he told no one. It was an army. They destroyed the city, but they let Nirak live. His name now means "fool" in our language, just as yours will in Andorian!

[justreckin]

Alright all, SNW Enterprise hits an anomaly that’s got everyone stuck speaking their native language. Who’s screwed?

Personally I’m going with Nyota (we know this from TOS), M’Benga (accent), and Una (didn’t grow up in a Federation colony to the best of my understanding), Pelia (dead language or Lanthanite?), Hemmer (Andorian)

I’m rather on the fence about Spock; figure he has a 50/50 chance of being taught both Vulcan and Federation Standard as his first language and am willing to fall on whichever side creates the most shenanigans.

La’an I also figure could go either way. I can see her family sticking to Standard first because of prejudice against their ancestry, or going the complete opposite way and saying nope, this is our culture/heritage and y’all can deal with it.

Erica is also up in the air for me. We just don’t have enough information one way or the other so I figure she’s also just gonna have to fall the way of shenanigans. Honestly, I could also see Standard being her first language but her messing around with people off duty as if it weren’t.

[lostyesterday]

I finally finished Enterprise season 1!

Things I liked:

The cast is fun! My favorite characters are still Hoshi and T’Pol, but I really like Travis and Phlox too (although the lack of focus on Travis is tragic). I generally like Trip and Malcolm except when they’re written as being really sexist, ugh.

I’m enjoying the development of Vulcan and Andorian culture so far, although I’m really hoping for more focus on the Andorians in the rest of the show. I think I like the mixed/partially negative depiction of Vulcans from the perspective of humans. It’s interesting.

I think Enterprise is doing a surprisingly good job of being a prequel. It feels like the creators of the show put genuine effort into thinking about how the world of Star Trek would have been a century before TOS. I like the way Enterprise retroactively shows how much human and Vulcan society have changed over time. It’s not as if I love every single retroactive bit of world-building, but even the aspects I don’t like I can generally appreciate and see how there was some thought put into them (unlike some of the other Star Trek prequels tbh, I won’t name names).

The crew movie nights and the other little moments of regular life interspersed throughout episodes are great. Phlox teaching Hoshi his language, Hoshi convincing Travis to sit in the captain’s chair – all these moments go a long way toward making the crew feel like a cohesive group even when there’s not much individual development of anyone except Archer, T’Pol, and Trip.

The way the characters feel less prepared and more uncertain than the crew of any other Trek show because they’re the first and they’re making things up as they go is great too. I think Enterprise nailed that vibe for the first season of the show at least – similarly to how I think Voyager really managed to capture the vibe of being stranded far away from home, giving it a different feeling from any other Star Trek show.

My favorite episodes were The Andorian Incident and Fallen Hero.

Things I didn’t like (under the cut because I don’t want to put negativity straight into the tag):

The sexism. I was prepared for it, but it’s annoying how much (arguably) worse it is compared to the 90’s shows.

It wouldn’t exactly be accurate to say that I dislike Archer because I liked him fine in some episodes, but the fact that he’s definitely my least favorite of the main cast is irritating given that he’s the main character. Whenever T’Pol takes command of Enterprise, I find her so much more fun to watch as the captain than I do Archer.

I wouldn’t say that Enterprise season 1 has a higher proportion of bad episodes compared to the first seasons of Voyager, DS9, and especially TNG, but it does have a higher proportion of boring episodes – episodes that aren’t actively bad but that I just found myself having almost no interest in. This is 90% of the reason I took so long getting through the first season.

I’d also like to specifically complain about all the episodes that made it seem like Travis or Hoshi was going to be a major part before switching them out for Trip or T’Pol or even Malcolm at the last second. I thought the sidelining of the characters of color in Voyager was bad, but it’s even worse in Enterprise so far.

And I’d also like to complain about the episode Shadows of P’Jem which tricked me into thinking Shran would be a major part of it only for him to be in like three scenes. I can’t believe how few episodes he’s in, everyone made it sound like he was a much more major character. :(

I already complained about the Trip pregnancy episode, but I’d also like to complain about the Risa episode which was both bad in the normal ways for a Risa episode and also incredibly transphobic.

Idk what I think about Trip/T’Pol yet (I could go either way depending on how things progress), but at least it isn’t Archer/T’Pol. Every single time the writers tried to force a Moment between them was painful.

Overall opinion: I didn’t hate it! I half expected to hate it, so that’s good. So far, nothing has particularly grabbed me, but it’s significantly better than I expected, I think! I’m hoping season 2 has fewer boring episodes.

[more-better-words]

fic author interview

Yoinked this from @ladytharen because it looked like fun. Hope that's not presumptuous of me. <.<

Tagging @deadheaddaisy, @phoenixflames12, @butcharondir, and anybody else who'd like to play.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

60! That's a nice round number.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Currently 593,580 - though in fairness, nearly a third of that is a single fic.

It was a different time back when I wrote that.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The four fics of my Built to Last series (though not in order, lol)

What We Build Here

For the Duration

From the Ground Up

The Place We Call Home

And rounding out the top 5, a Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency fic!

Lay Down the Beat 

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! And because I have very little self-control, I will often do so within minutes of receiving them! 😅

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm. I don't really do angst - I mean, I'll write stories where angst happens, but that's rarely the point of the story. If the plot demands a dash of angst, then, much like a chocolate recipe that needs some salt, it will get its angst. But I don't really set out to write A Series of Sad Events in Which the Characters Are Sad; that's just not my style or my taste.

So I can't really say that ANY of my stories have an angsty ending. Oh well.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

With the above in mind, happy endings are basically a guarantee, at least up to a point. 😆 I let my darlings be happy, I let them get married and have things work out, because it's fiction, dammit, and I can.

That being said, probably the happiest of all would be just about any of my Trip/T'Pol fic, because I let them get married and have kids and successful careers and be surrounded by friends and family who love and support them because SCREW YOU CANON.

7. Do you write crossovers?

No, I don't think my brain's wired for that. I just...can't seem to.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Never on AO3 (okay, I once got snippily told I'd mistagged something, but that wasn't hate). I have gotten hate here on Tumblr, though never anything specific, just general "u suck" which...whatever.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

For a long time, I did not.

That answer has since changed.

As for what kind...the sweetest, fluffiest, most loving, happy, vanilla, tooth rotting smut ever.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, and I seriously doubt I ever would. I'm rather niche.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, niche. Haven't yet, doubt I will.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Years ago, I worked on an AU fic project with a friend that was very cool and a lot of fun. None of it ever got published, though.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Which ever one I'm writing right now. 😁

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I wouldn't mind finishing my Shadowrun: Dragonfall fic The Haven. Maybe some day.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, baby! I can have two characters sit and talk to each other FOREVER.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action and physical description. Even when I can clearly see a room where action is occurring in my mind, I have real trouble describing it on the page.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I used to not have any, then I started making up words and phrases in my own version of Andorian for my Trek fic.

And I still don't really have many thoughts, because I'm sure I'm doing it wrong.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Hmmmm. Pretty sure there's some BtVS fic of mine still existent on LiveJournal. 😅

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I'd love to write Discworld (I adore Carrot/Angua), but Discworld is already so perfect. It would have to be an absolute gem of an idea.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Whichever one I just finished. 😄

[indignantlemur]

Hello lovelies! Who wants a nice, cozy kitchen scene? I'm not back up to snuff, but as part of my physiotherapy I've been encouraged to draw and write and generally give my arm and hand a good work out with all kinds of horrible contortions and exercises. I'm far from at my previous level, and I can't tolerate the kind of shading I preferred before my injury, so for this piece I experimented with a more cell-shading like style this time. I think it turned out alright! A bit rough, sure, but not bad for a first attempt!

I still can't draw a smooth lines without leaning pretty heavily on stabilizers, but I am improving a little more every day. While I'm not completely happy with parts of the overall piece, I think I managed to more or less hit the target!

Detail shot and rambling below the cut, as per usual!

So the main idea behind all of this was a series of slice of life snapshots that felt cozy and comfortable, focusing heavily on the interactions between characters over drama and big scenes. I didn't have a particular location in mind with this one, but I have always thought that Dagmar's Andoria apartment would be conspicuously corporate-bland, the way a lot of common spaces are in Star Trek - and probably the most common examples Andorian architects would draw from without knowing any better.

In the background, we have Dagmar's little notes and reminders, as she's always struck me as the sort of person who uses her fridge like a personal calendar and organizer rather than a showcase for sentimental things.

Transcribed, they read:

[To Do: - Groceries!!! - New books ] [Language Lessons - High Vulcan!!! (<-Email Comm Lorik @ embassy again) - Coridanese - Refresh Klingon - Aenar dialect?] [DRINK WATER - NOT coffee] [Appointment w/ Miraal @ [indecipherable]]

Food in all its varieties has been a big part of Emigre from the very beginning, and I thought in particular that it would be nice to capture a scene with Dagmar and Thelen focused around that point. After all, if Thelen can teach Dagmar the ins and outs of Andorian cooking, why can't Dagmar return the favour?

So, working off of that, I wanted to try for a scene that feels mostly familiar. As much as I wanted to feature familiar objects and tools, owing to Dagmar's past origins and preferences, I also wanted to add little things that are just a tiny bit alien, too. We have the half-drunk drinks of familiar blue ale; the datapad, forgotten, going into screen-saver mode; the cream tarts in unusual shades; and even some odd little fruits that look like cherry tomatoes and come in dull Skittle colours, for example. Then, there's the ulu-style knife just at the edge of the frame. It's an unusual choice over a standard santoku knife or any other perfectly serviceable kitchen knife, but given its resemblance to a ushaan-tor it feels oddly appropriate. Providing my recovery continues to go well, I'm hoping to do a few more cozy scenes, but I can't promise anything just yet!

[dutchesscapybara]

This is my version of an Andorian female in the Andorian Imperial Guard. There's not a whole lot of reference images for Andorian females but I noticed that Andorians typically have very layered haircuts with short almost micro bangs. They also have triangular eyebrows and pronounced facial bones above their eyes that lead to their antenna.

Some Andorians have more pronounced facial and body plates that are a result of their partial exo-skeletons. For this reason I decided to give her a slightly hooked nose because I thought it would suit Andorians more angular features.

The symbol on the bottom is of the new Andorian Guard. Andorii is the primary spoken language of Andoria. Graalek is the written form of Graalen which is considered the root language of Andorii. There's no official chart for this but I found a very well fan made one to write Andorian going down the side.

Andorians are such a fascinating species and I want to research them further.

[scifimademequeer]

Vulcan Gender Thoughts (copied from my twitter)

You know how andorians have four genders? What if vulcans have more than two as well. Bc I'm loving lately the idea of spock using she/her pronouns but otherwise masc-coded terms. So the statement "she is a Vulcan male" would be correct. What if this is a translation of an alien gender?

Hello, what if Vulcans invented femboys and Spock was assigned that at birth??

Or more realistically I feel, if most vulcans have intersex characteristics ranging across a spectrum with two mildly overlapping bell curves, and in the center of each bell curve is "male" or "female" and there exist genders for each section of the spectrum.

So Spock was assigned "male" at birth but children are raised with an expectation that they will developmentally differentiate across a small range of presentation categories, some more populated than others.

I've actually been cooking on this concept for a while and it's even present in the background of my published PWP but I think I know how I want to use it for Heavy Braid now.

Spock spends her time on earth and then in starfleet letting humans assume she is a man by their category terms bc she sees it as just another part of Vulcan culture that is inaccessible to humans. Like, she's already masking all the time with everyone, is it even misgendering if there's a planetary language barrier? Etc. But unfortunately it makes her drop her femme side for a while lowkey.

I'm gonna have a event in the first month or two of the 5yr mish that more or less outs Spock as femme and kind of forces her to negotiate a little bit on what would actually make her feel more comfortable for everyone to say or do. And the rest of the crew realize they might have written her off. Scotty in particular is sad that they aren't friends and that Spock never told him, bc they've both been on the enterprise for years now as colleagues.

McCoy, Kirk, and Uhura all explain to her how coming out of the closet is important and how humans place a positive value on it, and they're grateful to like. Have an opportunity to show her decency and respect.

And it triggers introspection for Spock ofc, and she starts wearing more makeup and maybe non-pants clothing more? Earrings? And everyone notices and it creates an awkward, mild positive feedback loop.

And Kirk Notices notices. Spock is obsessed with him as soon as they are in the same room for the first time, she's seen his pic but in person there's a huge spark for her and it alarms and confuses her and she only realizes it's an attraction much later. At first Spock is like, I just find him compelling, he's a high caliber person and a surprising leader...

But anyway Kirk thought she was cute on sight but doesn't let himself think about that as a new captain, he's too busy.

[unknownfacelessfanfictions]

Body Language ~ Masterlist

This is a collection of works and short stories about Commander Tysess and my OC Ophelia.

It is not and probably won't be canon compliant with season 2 since this all was written before it came out and I will likely not have the opportunity to watch it.

Body Language Tysess has been acting weird lately around Ophelia. Well, at least his antennae have. Courtship à la Humans Tysess realises that by human courtships traditions he is requiered to do one more thing to make this relationship "authentic". To be near you A reminder that time is precious A Symbol of Love Ophelia has to learn something more about the culture of her significant other as well… A Year in the Blink of an Eye Time rushes when you're with the people you love Late Mornings Sometimes all you need, is a little bit of "us-time" Ace of Hearts Tysess has been fighting with something over the last weeks and can't hold it in anymore Part 8: Taking the next step Moving in together was surprisingly more easy than either of them thought.

-> in work

Part 9: History Ophelia is ready to answer the question Tysess posed years ago. "Why don't you live in San Francisco anymore?" (....)

Artwork:

Ophelia Zubira ( by @indignantlemur )

[soylent-crocodile]

Klingon (Race)

(Artist Unknown, taken from the Klingon Core Rulebook)

(After vulkans, klingons are THE Star Trek race, so I had to do 'em. Also, I hate gamebooks that list all their artists in one big clump at the start without also giving credit to individual art pieces. Makes sourcing damn near impossible.

Also, if it's not clear, I'm not fond of klingon's near-fascism.)

Klingons are a race that pride themselves on a strong warrior code and strict adherence to honor. A klingon’s life is expected to be given in its entirety to battle and strength; he will train from adolescence, and seek an honorable death so as not to shame his family. Horrifically, a klingon who is no longer able to fight is considered useless and a burden on their kind- they are expected to commit ritual suicide. While almost all klingons pay lip service to the ideals of their code, the fact is much of their leadership prioritizes gaining power for themselves rather than acting with honor and honesty, and will gladly stab someone in the back if it means advancement for them. 

Klingons who hew close to this culture tend towards law and evil, although there are klingons who have escaped it and choose to define their own ideals.

Ability Scores: Klingons are tough and powerful, but consider intellectual pursuits to be dishonorable. They get +2 to Strength and Constitution and -2 to Intelligence. Medium: Klingons are medium creatures that get no bonuses or penalties based on size. Speed: Klingons have a base speed of 30ft. Languages: Klingons start play knowing Klingon. Klingons with a high intelligence score may choose from Common, Orc, Andorian, and Tellarite. Redundant Organs: Klingons have redundancy in their anatomy, meaning no one injury deals critical damage. They take half precision damage and get a +4 racial bonus to AC against critical confirmation checks. Honorable Death: Once per day, when brought below 0 health, a klingon may make a melee attack as an immediate action before falling unconscious. Weapon Training: Klingons are proficient with the Bat’leth.

Bat’leth Exotic Two-Handed Melee Weapon Cost: 100gp Damage (S): 1d4/1d4 Damage (M): 1d6/1d6 Critical: 19-20/x2 Range:- Weight: 12lb Type: S, P Special: Double, When wielded by a proficient user the Bat’leth grants a +1 shield bonus to AC.