Welcome back to Tuesdays at Quark’s, this time with a guest author! Community member JtEvans is teeming up with yours truly this month to bring you some NPCs from the various Institutions found in Star Trek. JtEvans writes the fluff, I do the crunch, and away we go!
To start things off we’re looking at the Trill Science Ministry. First introduced in the Deep Space Nine episode “Rejoined” and then later “In Purgatory’s Shadow” the Ministry is a great example of the sort of group we’re looking at this month: an influential and robust Federation group which is totally separate from Starfleet. The specifics of how the Federation works can be a little fuzzy but suffice to say that the Ministry operates within the law of the United Federation of Planets but outside the jurisdiction of Starfleet. This means they might attempt things that Starfleet won’t, they could have projects or expeditions that Starfleet has no idea about, and they could have colonies that they refuse to allow Starfleet access to. Starfleet’s charter says that they have to respect and protect private citizens which can put Player Characters in an awkward position… Just where you want them!
There are many ways you can incorporate Delnar into your story. Trill are by nature a proud people, and very honest. Someone as driven and blunt as Delnar would not be afraid of speaking her mind, in any situation. Here are a few scenarios that Delnar might fit into.
- The players’ ship is ordered to escort a group of scientists from the Trill Science Ministry to study a new dark matter nebula on the edge of the Typhon Expanse near the Romulan Border. The group is being led by Viristia Delnar, who seems to be at odd with the rest of the scientists. Everything goes well, until Romulans show up demanding the scientists findings. What will Delnar and the PCs do.
- Delnar is a visiting Trill scientist on board the crew’s ship, and immediately clicks with the only other Trill on board who happens to be joined (might be a PC or an NPC). The two bond over a shared love of nebulae, until an accident happens, putting the life of the symbiont at risk. The closest Trill ship is a week away, and the Trill may not make it. Does Delnar put her morals at risk to preserve the life of the symbiont, something her culture holds in the highest, or does she allow the memory of her friend to slip away.
- When the crew is on their way to a starbase for repairs, the crew picks up a vessel on long range sensors. It’s a Trill scientific vessel and normally wouldn’t attract attention, except that it’s in a pulsar system that Starfleet vessels are under instruction to avoid. Viristia Delnar, who is leading the group, but when the crew continues on their way they receive a distress signal an hour later from the Till ship. Now they need to figure out why Starfleet doesn’t want them in the system and why the scientists felt they needed to visit.
Click on the image below for the PDF.
