Welcome to Ten Forward Fridays, where a new playable species is presented for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game, filling in some gaps until official material can be released.
Ending Star Trek Online month is the Cryptic/ Perfect World interpretation of the Iconian.
First mentioned in episode 2×11 Contagion of The Next Generation, the Iconian Empire flourished 200,000 years ago. Their homeworld lies in the neutral zone between Romulan and Federation space, on the far side by the Shackleton Expanse. Theoretically, the heart of their fallen empire should include regions of all three power’s territory. Archaeological ruins should be somewhat common, albeit likely scavenged for technology.
STO makes some weird claims of the Iconians. Such as that they were the first children of the Preservers/ Ancient Humanoids (despite the former operating 10,000 years ago and the second living 4.5 billion years ago). It seems more likely that the Iconians merely claimed they were the “first children” and ignored the various preceding empire that existed in the 4.2 billion years between them and the biological seeding of the Ancient Humanoids. That or their empire was exceeding long lived…
There are two types of Iconians seen in Star Trek Online: modern one who exist as energy begins and only partially manifest in normal space, and ancient Iconians who are flesh and blood. This write up focuses on the latter, providing rules for temporally displaced Iconians or individuals kept in stasis. There’s any number of methods of time travel that could toss an Iconian into the present. The Iconian’s famed gateways transport individuals instantly across the galaxy, so it would be conceivable that a misaligned gateway could displace someone instantly in time. While Iconians have advanced technology, it’s possible a traveller could be from an earlier era where the species was less advanced, or been a soldier or researcher that knows little about their engineering and the specifics of their technology. Perhaps a survivor of the rebellion raised in what they considered to be a post-apocalyptic world.
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Click HERE for Black Background PDF