#intragalactic

[bolithesenate]

where the real galactic politics are made

Sifo and his gal pals

[harbingersecho]

some short felix stuff. also price is there for a second

[azuremallone]

👇

[intragalactic-brain-bubbles]

Broken Bronze (TTRPG)

The Glorious Age of Bronze has ended, and an age of brittle & ugly iron is now before us. It has been 100 years since the Atala Calamity brought about an age of famine, plague, & war. Now the factory palaces of Hellagro lie abandoned, the wonders of their automata and storehouse of wonders broken & forgotten. The once holy and rich land of Blessed Hapinebu lies divided after the death of its last sun queen, while north of Isial’s Womb, unstable upstarts claim its lands. The Great Syberan Empire retreats to its island leaving Urnin & its great forges to burn, the secrets of Orichalcum & Adamant lost as the once proud fleet of chariots sit rotting in the fields. In this twilight of civilization horrors, beasts, pirates, & raiders grow rampant and wild. Shadowing over all of this is the dread of strange ships in the mist sailing from what is left of Atala with crews more monster than men, leaving little in their wake.

Not since the fall of the First City and desolation of the Sacred Kingdom has the world known such chaos. It is a time in need of heroes, for it is an age of blood and fire, where much has been lost, perhaps never to be regained.

[namorian]

losing my shit bc this episode confirms that there's JUST A BUNCH OF PUPPIES ON THE ENTERPRISE?????????????

[selkra-souza]

There's two variants of zrai recognized by most intragalactic communities. The zrai from this post are a genetically modified variant engineered by nedal as part of the zrai's 'uplifting' and integration into nedal societies (and the larger space community). The main change made was simplifing the chromatophores used to express emotion, and engineering more intricate vocal chords for speech capabilities to match the nedal, all to make communication between the two species easier. GMO zrai also have some modified behaviors, for example, the traditionally territorial females have been mellowed to better corporate with others outside their tribe (to better fit into wider society).

The zrai on the left image are the 'baseline' 'default' morph shared by their ancestors. Zrai traditionally have complex dialogue using more complex chromatophores, as opposed to vocal speech.

Putting a GMO and a baseline in the same room creates a language barrier between the two, since the former relies on vocalizing, and the later relies on color display. To a GMO, the baseline is communicating in an overly ornate and barely recognizable medieval language; while to a baseline, a GMO is speaking in incomprehensibly fragmented LEETspeak.

While GMO zrai are better integrated into nedal society (and as a result other alien societies), the nerf to their traditional communication methods ostracizes them from their heritage and their neighboring baseline zrai. Because baseline zrai are highly tribalistic, most traditional communities are actively hostile to GMO zrai, treating them as a separate species. This is extra belittling to more friendly GMO zrai who seek to form community with them. Baseline zrai mostly live on their homeworld (though some closely knit tribes have formed settlements elsewhere with help of space faring sophants) . Meanwhile GMO zrai are living all across the galaxy, and they live across a wide variety of societies, so whether or not being cutoff from their lineages is a distressing issue will vary across individuals and local populations.

[pinewae]

if we were in the star wars universe people would so accuse dream of supporting the galactic empire and aligning with imperialism and eventually it would come out that dream has force abilities and has been using them to help people or merely in self defense and his fans would be mad that he isn't a jedi and dream would have to be like "yeah guys i've always been able to control the force but for the safety of my family i can't join the rebel alliance, this was my own decision and i don't condone hate towards any rebel forces" and then antis on intragalactic twitter would create conspiracy theories about him having dark side tendencies and they would call dream stans sith apologists. and patches would be an astromech droid

[thatringboy]

Ruan Mei don’t reanimate another extinct intragalactic planet-swallowing invasive species any precent impossible challenge

[leohttbriar]

it is groovy. i also want to connect my nervous system to the intragalactic-vacuum invisible mycelium that subverts the principles of general relativity and dissolves the loneliness of separate bodies spread out over too much space

[themynock]

they're intragalactic criminals, they have NO money, and they wish to BARTER with YOU

[followcb]

Born in My Soul

intragalactic galaxies

spinning, whizzing, coexisting

alchemy of poetry

transitions mysteries from history

rhythmic synergy of sublime rhymes

the one-two-threes of metaphors

sweet similies like harmonic melodies

overt overtures of silent symphonies

connect, entwine, mesmerize

hypnotize my spiritual eyes

everything my heart's always known

has been born in my soul

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

©️ @followcb ☆ December 19, 2023

[woodfrogs]

another thing that i love thinking about is luke and leia post rotj searching for any information possible about their parents

like they have anakin's name but all they know about their mom is what obi-wan told leia when she was 10. there is nothing publicly connecting anakin to padmé in any way other than a professional relationship. nobody who Knew is alive bc i feel like at most ahsoka suspected something was up but didn't know for sure but i am only at s3 of tcw so i Do Not Know. there's the marriage records but those are on naboo and it would probably take quite a bit of digging to find information on the trade federation blockade or even connect anakin's name to that (given that he was. 9.) but then again they could have also found that palpatine was from there (as well as senator amidala who was associated with bail organa, obi-wan kenobi, AND anakin skywalker. hmmmmm) and realized that this planet is maybe Significant, gone there, and found stuff out.

but also while luke's feelings about anakin/vader are pretty clear i think leia's are way more complicated. people like to say that luke is more like his mother and she is more like her father (and that is true) but she more than anything resents everything they discover about anakin while they still have no clue who their mother is. she gets frustrated over wasting time away from establishing the rebellion and only finding information about her father who tortured her, killed hundreds, and destroyed her home. she tells herself she's only doing this to find out who their mother is. meanwhile luke is happy with whatever they find. so it winds up being mostly luke staying motivated and actively doing research and leia pretending she doesn't care but she chips in ideas and comes along because she really is curious but mostly feels bitter about every new discovery (except for those involving obi-wan because she's curious about this man she met like twice who was important enough to her for her to call him her "only hope". i also think at some point they visit ben's house on tatooine to see if it has any clues and ask around and find out about the boonta eve classic and that there used to be some skywalkers that were slaves and that kinda hits luke hard). plus bail and breha were leia's parents and by searching for her birth parents so soon after their deaths she probably feels a bit like she's replacing them.

of course one of the force ghosts could just tell them padmé's name but where's the fun in that. i want them to go on an intragalactic scavenger hunt for their mom only to discover everything about her has been right in front of them this whole time. i think luke probably asks them at one point and yoda says something cryptic about trusting his feelings and then he never tries again

[elbiotipo]

in my space opera story, there's a character who is the last of her ancient civilization (found in animated suspension) but that doesn't mean she knows ancient precursor knowledge, she was the equivalent of a cringe and fail gamer girl who ate snacks and played videogames all day, and when they ask her "but how did the precursor's intragalactic communications network technology work? where were their homeworlds? how did they went extinct? what does this ancient inscription says?" well, she wasn't paying too much attention, she was pulling gacha, she didn't think too much about how the whole thing worked

I mean, suppose YOU got pulled into the future into a whole different solar system with aliens all around you and you are asked (in technical detail) how did internet connections work or how to get to Earth (in a star map in a completely different language with no reference points) or how to make an internal combustion engine. You'll be fucked.

(unless you're a Wikipedia addict like me, but even then, I'm not even sure how electricity works)

[revginapond]

I've started reading my second book, Unity, on my podcast Tales from Flat Space.

I read these episodes live on Twitch (http://twitch.tv/worthyadvisor) on Fridays at 9 pm Central European Time (3 pm Eastern/Noon Pacific US). The podcast usually comes out a week later.

[lonesomedreamer]

SNW Liveblog: “Under the Cloak of War”

another installment of Grimdark Trek in which SNW tries its hand at “Conscience of the King” without understanding that episode’s ethics.

or: The Wrath of M’Benga

A fantastic look for her! (Finally.)

Ortegas sucks, is judgy/borderline racist, and insubordinate. What else is new?

The choice to put war in Christine and M’Benga’s backstory still makes very little sense to me. I know Christine was underdeveloped in TOS, but this background has nothing to do with that character.

“Chris needs us [at dinner].” Why, though? They both clearly have pretty bad cases of PTSD (M’Benga almost had an actual heart attack in the previous scene), whereas Pike does not. So why does he need them there, for (lack of) moral support? Christine’s dating a Vulcan—maybe she should call M’Benga out for being illogical.

Protective boyfriend Spock!

“Our captain needs us.” This again? He needs them for what? And as CMO, M’Benga should be well aware that neither he nor Christine are medically fit to represent Pike, the Enterprise, or the Federation at large in their current emotional states.

NOT the Superpower Serum subplot coming back. It was stupid in 2x01, it’s stupid now.

Why do Klingon prosthetics/makeup look worse now than they did in the 80s? His scalp looks like it’s made out of plastic. (Which maybe it is. But that's the problem.)

Christine’s often emotionally unavailable partner is attempting to be warm/supportive/empathetic in his own way, and she’s pushing him away. I do understand that SNW!Christine is traumatized and suffering from PTSD, which may cause her to behave in ways others see as irrational…but she was able to cope with the horrific events of “All Those Who Wander” and to offer emotional support to Spock afterwards despite the likelihood that those events were probably upsetting/triggering. So her behavior here makes no sense to me. Maybe the writers hadn’t thought up this backstory for her back in Season One…

“War changes people.” But this episode isn’t going to explore whether it actually changed Rah, is it? Or whether he is/can be/should be redeemed?

“How can we represent a Federation that believes in peace if we say some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past?” Wow, the writers are actually allowing Pike to be articulate AND correct? Granted that he’s been a total insensitive dumbass so far, but I’m still impressed.

“And when you find whoever’s in charge, you make them pay.” Jess Bush is a very talented actress. So it’s a real shame that this is the material she’s been given. Trek is about people overcoming things like the desire for vengeance and being better humans—about choosing to be better, in fact! Yet this nurse is advocating vigilante justice?

“Don’t let hate ruin your soul.” These are some fundamental Trek ideas! But they're coming from the “bad guy,” so I guess the writers ARE saying that “some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past”...

M’Benga violently murdering someone in flashback...yikes??

I saw a comment about how disturbing it is that SNW keeps making its two medical characters special-op types, and it’s true. McCoy might have had faults, but he honored his oath to the letter. First, do no harm. He was an empath, arguably the conscience of the show—not for nothing do fans very often portray him as the symbolic “heart”/pathos of the TOS triumvirate! Pain, suffering, and death physically sickened him. He could never have fatally stabbed someone, in a rage or otherwise. Justified or not. That’s the kind of doctor I want on my peaceful intragalactic exploratory mission. Didn’t the Rukiya subplot and its highly questionable resolution make M’Benga morally ambiguous enough???

…well, that answers that question.

There are definitely cameras on the Enterprise. Probably even in Sickbay. We know this because of common sense and because they pulled the “tape” when prosecuting Kirk in “Court Martial” and then again when Sarek confronts Kirk in Search for Spock! Christine could NOT cover up the truth here. (And while I’ve seen some people argue that the truth is ambiguous, I strenuously disagree. M’Benga murdered Rah.) Nor should she. Though she’s a traumatized war survivor like M’Benga, and Rah is a criminal from the same war, the CMO of the Federation’s flagship stabbing a (probably-unarmed) diplomat in a time of peace AND while on duty is a most definitely court martial offense. To put it mildly! Even if M’Benga was driven by his severe PTSD to react violently when Rah confronted him, he should be relieved of his duties, placed on medical leave, and treated. He should NOT continue serving on the Enterprise. This is even more severe and alarming than his rash decision regarding his daughter in Season One, and it should be the end of his Starfleet career. WHY did they write this?!!?!

Not only does no one properly investigate, Pike kind of shrugs and side-eyes M’Benga slightly before closing the case. A diplomat was killed on his ship under suspicious circumstances while alone with two people that Pike knew were struggling emotionally as a result of said diplomat’s presence… and he just takes their word for what happened and moves on?!

tl;dr They’ve ruined M’Benga. Twice. The Rukiya subplot was pretty bad, but at least his ultimate goal was for his daughter to live. This is also bad, but it makes M’Benga—a DOCTOR—a cold-blooded killer (both in war and in peacetime) in a universe that has always stood against violence and vengeance and for dialogue and reconciliation. It’s still a “war is hell, peace is the way” message, but it’s weakened by the choices made by its characters. War is bad because it irrevocably traumatizes and destroys people. Healing doesn’t exist, not even in the utopian twenty-third century with all its advanced medicine. What kind of message is that?

Thanks, I hate it.

The Good: Babs Olusanmokun and Jess Bush both give amazing performances (better than the script/character arcs deserve by far), and Robert Wisdom was also great as Rah—Spock being a supportive boyfriend! ♥—a nice allusion to TNG: Spock mentions Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” (quoted by Riker in TNG S1)

The Bad: wildly out-of-character/unethical behavior and violence that contradicts and undermines the whole spirit of Star Trek!!! Babs’ excellent acting is undercut by an abysmal story (again)—an unnecessary war backstory for Christine so that she, too, can be Traumatized™—pointlessly sabotaging Christine and Spock’s relationship after just two three episodes* for, idk, drama?—bad Klingon makeup/prosthetics—Ortegas is a terrible officer—Pike is a terrible captain—no exploration of whether Rah was actually a changed man

I won’t comment on the war flashback scenes except to say that I don’t think they needed to be as gory or as drawn-out as they were to be effective. That’s on-brand for SNW, though.

Season 2 Pike is a completely ineffective leader who appears to command very little respect and even less authority. He really is the Sitcom Dad of captains—well-meaning, oblivious, and kind of bumbling.

Finally: I’m really confused about what motivated the writers/showrunners to pursue the Spock/Christine storyline for, what, 16-17 episodes only to now have Christine be reluctant to even call their relationship…well, a relationship. She also seems to be the one undermining said relationship. Just to refresh: in TOS, Christine was the one who admitted to being in love with Spock; who signed aboard the Enterprise out of loyalty to her missing fiance (!); who loved Spock so much that she let his consciousness be placed in hers in order to save his life. And in THIS VERY SHOW, Christine stole a shuttlecraft and engaged in interdimensional travel in order to beg some aliens to repair Spock’s broken genome!

Not only do I support Trek’s decades-long promotion of peace 110%, I also support SNW’s (apparent) goal of fleshing out the underdeveloped female characters from TOS. That said, there was no good reason to put full-blown war in Christine Chapel’s backstory! Girl was studying to be a bio-researcher and dating a professor before she became a nurse, not serving as a combat medic! If the creators wanted this show to feature original characters in the Trek universe, they could have done that—just like every other (pre-Discovery) Trek has done before them. But what they actually wanted was to use familiar names to get more views/higher ratings. So those names got assigned to characters who are still, essentially, OCs. It is endlessly frustrating to me.

But still not as frustrating as what they’ve done to M’Benga. The writers of this episode really need to watch “Conscience of the King” again. On a loop.

*I skipped 2x07 because Lower Decks is not my thing, but I know the S/C sabotage actually begins in that one. :|

EDIT: After thinking about it more and sleeping on it, I think that even if it WAS ambiguous and Rah killed himself or it was somehow self defense, M'Benga and Chapel have a moral obligation to attempt to save the life of a man with a giant knife sticking out of his chest. Instead, they both stare at him as he dies on the floor. Reprehensible behavior either way.