Deep Space Guardian: FAQ

[Founder]

Deep Space Guardian FAQ

There are many questions that new and experianced members alike always seem to have. Lord Borg had the idea of creating this FAQ so that I would not have to constantly keep answering the same questions over and over. I hope that this will help help quell some questions that frequently keep popping up. I'm going to lock this topic, because I only want my post, which answers questions, to be shown. I don't want it to get lost in a myriad of discussions. If you have additional questions, suggestions to make this FAQ better, answers you felt were not detailed enough, etc., then please PM me and I will immediately answer them.

Format

#. Question

#. Answer

FAQ

1. What is Deep Space Guardian(the RPG)?

1. This is an RPG that is radically different from other RPGs seen on STV. The first and most obvious difference is that it's a station RPG. The second is the episodic format that I created for it, which would later be used in other RPGs on the site. Finally, it's different because of it's rather...serious and organized nature. I wanted an almost tv show type RPG. I didn't want us to randomly jump to mission to mission without any real consequance to the characters and the story. Everything done in the beginning will be remembered and come full circle at the end. That's why I have a season/episode system in place. DSG, while not as formal as some other RPGs on the internet, is still pretty formal as they come. While I wanted a fun RPG experiance with others, I also wanted to create a story and a new corner in the Star Trek universe. I am pleased to say that this was in fact accomplished.

2. What is Deep Space Guardian(the station)?

2. It's simply known as the Earth Space Dock around canon sources. They've been seen in other locations across the quadrant, so they obviously aren't all known as "Earth Space Dock". That is the design that we've used though. Sadly, there is no official name for it's class, which forced me to use a non-canon one. I don't like to use non-canon whenver possible, which I will address later on. I've used the name "Ournal class" as the class of Deep Space Guardian. The station has many functions, besides being the "guardian" of the system. It can create starships, although we haven't really used this function beyond building shuttles and the like for starships in need. It obviously can repair vessels, which is what we've used it for a lot. It also serves as a home to many people.

3. What is the prefix "DSG"?

3. It simply stands for "Deep Space Guardian". Typing all of that out over and over gets tedious and tireseome.

4. Why the name "Guardian" for the station rather then a typical number?

4. The name "guardian" was chosen simply because of it's function in the Elerran System. It guards the system from the Romulans and any other power that may threaten it. Also, it's just something to make it stand out from other stations.

5. Can the station go to warp? If so, does that mean there is a warp core?

5. No, the station can not go to warp. The only time DSG ever did that was under the power of Q and he violated physics to do that. It can't even really go to high impulse. However, the station does have the ability to move, but it's just very slow. Take into consideration how big the station is. If it's any consolation, the station does move: it spins around the planet.

No warp core, but it does a fusion reactor core. That's what powers the station and is the equivalent of one...kind of.

6. Just how big is DSG in comparison to other stations or ships seen in Trek?

6. I have two pictures in the "station" section of the DSG area.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Founder/station-charts.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Founder/spacedock1_scale.jpg

That is very rough estimate at just how big our own DSG really is. It might be too small to see, but it says the Earth Space Dock is 3, 800m.

7. How many ships can fit inside of the station?

7. Obviously, that all depends on the size of the starship. Judging by the interior of the dock as seen in the TOS Star Trek movie: The Search for Spock, it can fit a lot of them. I've heard it can fit a hundred ships, but again, that is subject to how big the ships are. A Borg cube couldn't fit inside, nor could a Voth city ship. I will be bold enough and say that maybe over a thousand shuttles could fit in the interior of the station. A lot of this is just math and comparisons to it. Thankfully, I will never have over 50 ships inside of the interior, as math is a weak subject for me.

8. Can the station fight?

8. Of course it can and in fact, the station is extremely powerful. Not insanely powerful that it's unbeatable, but I'd venture that it could take on a very small fleet and win. However, it does have a monumental weakness: lack of movement. Vessels could swiftly move around the station and fire a lot of shots. The smaller the vessel, the harder it is to hit it, but if it's hit even once...? It's gone. However, that depends on the size of course. One hit won't destroy a Romulan warbird, but it will a Romulan shuttle. I try and refrain from having too many battles against the station due to the complications with it. However, that may all change soon...

9. What is the exact year RPG and how many years have gone by since you've started?

9. The current year is 2382. It's three years after the movie Star Trek: Nemesis. The Dominion War has been over for several years and the USS Voyager has returned to the Alpha quadrant a few years ago. Typically, one season=one year. We begain in 2380, one year after the events of Star Trek Nemesis.

10. What is the exact location of the RPG? Alpha quadrant or Beta quadrant? Federation space or Romulan space? This is confusing...

10. The location of the RPG has always been a bit confusing for members, including myself. Originally, it was in Romulan space. However, as the story went along, I felt that was not really plausible. The Romulans, ever secretive, would not allow a Federation presence this large at their doorstep. In addition, we frequantly have Federation ships coming to the station and the Romulans would never allow that, treaty or not. I was going to put it in Federation space, but I didn't want to really do that either, as I lost the Romulan element. So what I did was say that the line dividing both power literally ran through the system. Depending on the orbit, the station is in both Federation and Romulan space. However, it only runs on the edges of both governments. So the exact location is on the Romulan Neutral Zone and it's in the Beta quadrant. What most people don't really remember is that the Federation extends in both the Alpha and Beta quadrants. So the station can be in the Beta quadrant, yet touch upon Federation space. Here is a pics for point of reference.

http://www.locojaime.org/startrek/images/jpeg/galaxy-large.jpg

I also have this map that I used and it shows the exact location of the station, but it slightly conflicts as in this picture it's in the Alpha quadrant.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Founder/DSG/mainmapII-1.jpg

I will obviously change that last picture, but hopefully it's a little more clear on our exact location. The problem is there doesn't seem to be an official map of the Trek galaxy. I'm kind of forced to go with approximations.

11. Why did the Federation and Romulan officials make such a terrible mistake while creating the Neutral Zone?

11. Simply put, if either side had extended the space, then one side would get more space and another system. Politics can be just as fierceful as a battle agains the Borg. Neither side really wanted to relent an entire system, so they ran the line that divided Federation and Romulan space directly through the middle of the Elerran system. For a while, neither side had any presence in the system until after the Dominion war, when relations became a little better. The two shared the system until the Romulans eventually were forced to pull out.

12. What is the exact distance between DSG and important worlds?

12. You guys are killing me with this math. To be honest, I don't know the distance. The only thing I can say is Romulus is MUCH closer to DSG, then Earth is. There are time discrepancies because of story purposes. There are times when it took us a few days and other times just an hour or so. Why? Because while the Guardian was racing to Earth, other people had a sub-plot going on and I couldn't say a day was going by in one area, when a few minutes was going by in another. It's one of the reasons I'm so anal about sub-plots, now adays. So to answer the question, I have no real answer other then Romulus is closer then Earth. I invite anyone to do the math for me. If you want any specifics on certain worlds, I'd be glad to give them to you.

13. Every episode you begin with a stardate. Are those the official dates of each episode? Are they accurate in the time that goes by?

13. Simply put, no. The numbers aren't nonsense though. They're real stardates and if you translated them on a website, you'd find that they are real dates. However, it isn't accurate to the time passing in the RPG.

14. Why is the command center of the station called Ops and not the bridge? Yet on starships, you go back to calling it the bridge...

14. That's a popular problem new people keep having. They assume the command center is called the bridge, it's not. At least, it's not onboard DSG. I don't know how many new and experianced members have called Ops the "bridge". I'm going based off of DS9, where they called the command center, Ops. Ops is simply Operations and this is Operations center of the station. I don't know why they don't call it a bridge. However, on starships, the command centers are still called the bridge.

15. Is it true the station has anti-cloak sensors? When did Starfleet get that and does that mean the Romulans lost their advantage?

15. Yes, the station does have it. Starfleet created a very primitive way of scanning ships that were cloaked. It has a 50% rate of success, making it not very useful at all. Starfleet only approved it's use on DSG so it could be tested on the field. It's rarely used, but I got the idea from a Star Trek game. Romulans still have the advantage though with cloaks, but currently, the Romulans are not the enemy to DSG. So nothing is really affected. Also, the technology does not force any ship to decloak, nor does it full reveal it's location. It simply shows almost a...shadow in space and allows the vessel to fire on it. The Romulans, if they're quick, can easily dodge the incoming hit as the torpedo is flying towards the "echo" of the shadow. It only really works if the enemy ship is immobile. Also, only DSG has it.

16. You mentioned ships that come to the station for repairs. Are any ships there to stay? Does DSG have the equivalent to DS9's Defiant?

16. Yes, in fact three ships are assigned to DSG. The USS Guardian, USS Hippocratic Oath, and the USS Amargosa. The Klingon ambassador, K'Vagh, has a Negh'Var class starship that remains close by as well, but it isn't really officially a part of the station. The Guardian is the equivalent of the USS Defiant, although it's not Defiant class. Currently, the Guardian is debris around Earth and the station has no ship assigned to defend it. The Hippocratic Oath was assigned for relief efforts in the system and all nearby systems. The Amargosa was assigned for scientific purposes and to explore the Elerran System.

17. I'm confused by USS Guardian and Deep Space Guardian.

17. Yes, we've had this confusion a lot, believe it or not. It's not really complicated, but it is if you don't read the posts. Deep Space Guardian=space station. USS Guardian=the starship assigned to the space station. This will no longer be a problem when the new starship assigned to the station makes its debut.

18. What are the uniforms we're wearing? DS9 or VOY ones?

18. I've noticed some confusion with this as well, despite the fact I made an entire topic on this issue right here. We are wearing the Deep Space 9 uniforms. The one with the grey shoulders and colored undershirts.

19. What is the deal with the canon and the limitations seen on the rules? What if I want to be Janeway and control the Death Star, while plotting a course to Halo?

19. How do I say this as nice as possible...? I'll boot your a** if you attempt to do that. Why am I so anal retentive with the canon and new stuff being used in the RPG? Simply put, I want to RP in the Star Trek universe and I want a coherent story. If one of the members had the Andorians create the Death Star, that messes up the story. Why? Because every alien species in Trek would converge on Andoria and wipe those blue skinned bas*ards off the face of the galaxy. No way would they allow them to have a weapon that could blow up planets. You see? All of that affects the story. I don't want Andoria to be destroyed, so I can't really allow something of that magnitude to be allowed. What people don't seem to get is that everything affects the story. What you do on Romulus affects DSG. What you do on Bajor affects DS9/Cardassia. What you do on Earth affects the whole of the Federation. Everything has to be kept in perspective in regards to the story. Think of it, the story has been going on for years at a steady, but really organized pace. Would it be fair to just throw all of that away because someone wants their characters to heal the Phage, create transwarp, etc? No, it wouldn't. I am open to new technology being used in regards to the story, but never for throw away purposes. That's why I also limit new starships or stations never before seen. New stuff must have an introduction.

As for why you can't be Janeway, Sisko, Paris, La Forge, Data, etc. Why would you want to be? Those are people with established histories. Where is the fun in that? The point of RPing is that you create your own character and literally form his past, present, and future. I'll never understand why anyone would want to trade that. Also, I've already seen the adventures of those people. It's time now for the adventures of the DSG crew.

As for the aliens shown, I limit that as well. Why? Because I don't want to have the Shadows invade Earth, I don't want the Cylons to take over DSG, and I don't want the Xenomorphs to puke their acid on Ian's face. I use aliens from those shows strictly as a physical template, absolutely nothing more. I change their societies, their religions, their technologies, their home worlds, their everything. They are physical templates and that is all.

20. What about the Nautolians and tha Yautja? They aren't solely physical templates are they?

20. Actually, as much flak as me and RM have gotten over the Nautolians, they are actually only physical templates. The Nautolans(the SW name for the species) are nothing like the Nautolians. They're just some random fish species in Star Wars. What RM did though was lierally jam pack the Star Wars universe into all of his characters, mostly in the Nautolians. Sad, but a good learning experiance of what not to do for future species.

As for the Yautja, there are a lot of striking similarities between them and the other Yautja(The Predators). There are enough differences that I'm not really bothered by their inclusion. However, as of late, I have vocally stated I want differences, strong ones, of alien species taken from other Sci-Fi series.

Again, we must not only focus on the physical. I'm sure if we had the resources to create an entire new look for an alien species, we would. As of now, we do not and we are forced to use templates.

21. Will there be a replacement vessel for the Guardian?

21. Eventually, yes. A "template" has already been chosen. In the story, it has not been featured yet, only mentioned.

22. Is it really plausible to believe that a Starfleet first officer would betray Starleet like Fito did? Was his entire history in Starfleet just a big fat lie?

22. It's almost impossible to answer this as Sit Fito's past was never really revealed. I can say that due to the story, Fito was not originally evil. He had his reasons for turning evil and in a sense, it was almost out of his control.

23. Have all the current crew been here since day 1 of DSG?

23. Nope, not at all. We've undergone tons of different changes. Some well thought out, some just flat out leaving with no real explanation within the RPG. There are some members that have been here since day 1 though still in the RPG.

24. How many people are actually on DSG and how many officers within each department?

24. Damn you math! Tough question to answer, actually. According to the, sadly non-canon, source I have, the Starfleet crew compliment is at 85, 000 on any given day. This obviously varies, but that is the standard. Which means that each senior staff officer has possibly over 5, 000 people working under them. I'm sure some are just non-coms and marines. It is a scary thought that Blake Robitaille has a small army.

25. What is the difference between Guardian City and the Federation Colony on Elerra Prime?

25. Guardian City is a set of decks that were split apart so that it's giant one giant city. It's not seperated by decks, but is one giant open city. It's where the civilians live, the habitat level. This is on the station. It's a unique look soley for DSG, not on every station.

The Federation colony, unlike Guardian City, is on Elerra Prime, not the station. It's run by governor Al-Firdos, not Ian Xavier.

26. Is Jonathan Archer the one from the tv series Enterprise?

26. Nope. He is the descendent of that Archer. I don't know if he is the DIRECT descendent or just from another Archer in the original Jonathan Archer's family. It's probably the latter as I have a rule of not being a family member of one of the main cast. Distant relative is slightly acceptable, except in certain cases. Like TNG established Jean Luc Picard is the last Picard, so one can't be his cousin or whatever. It tends to be a slippery slope when we delve into this, which is why I frown on using the names of other characters or being related to them.

27. Why does T'Sa look like T'Pol? Why does Melina look like Kira? Why does Zevek look like Dukat?

27. No real reason. It goes back to what I said earlier about physical templates. They are not really related to these people, nor are they those people. Often, I'll use a picture of some no-name random security officer on DS9 or VOY or whatever to be killed. That doesn't mean that is that officer from the show that was killed.

I kind of would prefer if people used completely different faces or at least, faces of no-named people from the shows if not just to avoid the confusion. However, it doesn't really kill the RPG for me.

28. I'm completely confused about Sophia and the mirror universe...

28. Most new people are. Sophia Xavier is the mirror universe version of Sophia Findlay, the original helmsman of the USS Guardian. Sophia Findlay is in a coma and has not been featured in the RPG for a long time. Sophia Xavier is essentially a refugee from the mirror universe and now lives in the "real" universe.

29. Section 31 plays a big role in DSG it seems. What is their role in all of this?

29. That is definitly complicated to answer. I can't really say what their role is in the future, but they're featured heavily because one of the crewmen of DSG is a member of S31, Blake Robitaille.

30. Did S31 purposely send Blake to DSG for a certain reason?

30. Who knows...?

31. Ian Xavier's father is frequently mentioned in the RPG. Is there some type of future importance to him in the RPG?

31. It's certainly possible. His importance isn't necessarily to the RPG as much as it is to just the character of Ian Xavier.

32. Speaking of fathers and mothers, will T'Sa ever reconcile with her father and will more be delved into her mother's death?

32. I can only say...maybe to both...

33. What is N'Tran's place in all of this? He has a dark past as he's part of the Tal Shiar, but he seems to have a sense of honor as he helped the DSG crew and even hates Sela.

33. N'Tran's past is complicated and like everyone else on DSG, he's not black and white good or bad. As for his role, it's obviously because of Kiris and his wife. N'Tran is going to make a home for himself on Elerra Prime and it is possible he'll have a future role for Romulus.

34. Does Al-Firdos love Sophia as something more then a daughter?

34. Ew, no. Al-Firdos is double her age. He's taken a liking to her because Sophia reminds him of his daughter. She's the only family he now has.

35. What happened to his daughter?

35. That will eventually be revealed in the future.

36. Will the Federation join the Klingon civil war?

36. Depends on how convincing K'Vagh can be, now doesn't it? Not to mention, Starfleet is in no condition to fight the Klingons.

37. How bad was the Nautolian war? Worse then the Dominion war?

37. Very bad. It wasn't worse then the Dominion war, but because the Dominion war had just recently occured, the Nautolian war simply made bad things worse. In the Dominion war, Starfleet even broke out ships that were like a century old or around that. With the loss of so many ships, Starfleet is under a MASSIVE shortage of starships, which we will reflect in the coming war between the Federation and...the Federation.

38. What do you mean by that? The Federation is going to be plunged into a civil war?

38. Hey look! It's a Klingon! *runs while they're distracted*

39. I'm confused by Ian's rank. He was a captain, but now a commander?

39. That's correct. He was a captain when the RPG started, but demoted, unfairly I might add.

40. Will he regain his old rank?

40. It's possible.

41. What is the deal with Admiral Smith? He doesn't act like a real Starfleet admiral at all. He constantly abuses his power and hates the DSG crew because they don't go along with his stupid and corrupt plans. Why is he even still in uniform and what does he have against the DSG crew?

41. Starfleet has become corrupt and he's simply one of the products of the corruption.

42. Is Admiral Russ Blake Robitaille's father?

42. They have different last names, so no However, Russ is connected to Robitaille through S31.

43. Why is Elerra Prime so important? Aren't there other worlds in the Elerran system?

43. It's important because Starfleet made their starbase there. It's where there colony is located. It's where the Elerrans use to live. The other worlds are not explored at all.

44. Why can't the planet be scanned by sensors? Why is there trouble beaming down to the planet without transport devices?

44. An alien force implanted something to the planet. Why? To punish the Elerrans. Julianna Roberts and her team is tasked with exploring the planet for Starfleet. An obvious huge undertaking...

45. Who were the Elerrans and who did they work for? How long have they been on Elerra Prime?

45. An alien species who fled their home world because of an alien organization. However, like everything they said, it's possible that story is a lie to decieve Starfleet.

Who do they work for...? That will be answered in the future...

They've been on Elerra Prime for both pre B.C. Earth era and only ten years at the same time. Weird stuff....

46. How many alien species have lived on Elerra Prime and are there any true indeginous species?

46. Unknown and unknown. Many for the first question though and the Zalbogians MAYBE the only real species to have evolved there.

47. A mysterious group of aliens keep popping up throughout the RPG but no explanation of them. Who are they?

47. That'll be explained in the future...

48. Who created that powerful time traveling device on Elerra Prime?

48. Unknown.

49. Why are non-corporeal aliens trying to both hurt and help Ziona? What is the deal with this prophecy?

49. A war amongst the non-corporeals is raging and Ziona is at the center of it all. There aren't really anymore details beyond that other then she and Ian are to have a baby that serves a great importance.

50. Why her? Why choose her out of the trillions of sentients in the galaxy?

50. Why not her? In the words of the Prophets when Sisko asked "why me?" "Because...it can be only you and no other."

51. What the hell is going on with Starfleet and the Federation!?!?!? They're doing terrible things and you've changed them from Roddenberry's vision!!!!! Are we expected to believe that because of going through some recent hardships, they're all mean and evil and don't care anymore?

51. Actually, it's not really all that simply. By the time season III ends, we'll finally find out why Starfleet and the Federation had changed so much.

(I invite more questions as I'm sure I didn't fully answer everything.)