Welcome to the first of a series of holiday-themed Featured Crew articles! Today, Guinan drops in, as she did for Picard’s Christmas celebration in the Nexus (Star Trek Generations). Guinan is a familiar sight as a bartender aboard the Enterprise-D, but she is more than meets the eye. A member of the El-Aurian species, who are ‘listeners’, she advises the crew on personal problems. Her relationship with Picard goes ‘beyond friendship’, likely beginning with the 19th century incident in Time’s Arrow and Time’s Arrow, Part II. A very long-lived enigma, Guinan had encountered Q before, who called her an ‘imp’ and warned Picard that “where she goes, trouble always follows”.
She has some notable hobbies and talents: extraordinary aim (she was able to best Worf in target shooting); fencing (a new hobby introduced to her by Picard); and she even picked up a souvenir from Magus Three, an impressive weapon that she keeps behind the bar. She is not above deception to prove a point (e.g., lying to Beverly Crusher about a tennis injury when she didn’t even know how to play, or feigning an injury in fencing to show Picard the dangers of misplaced mercy). She can keep a secret for centuries, such as her role in the events of Time’s Arrow.
Guinan has a sensitivity to changes in the universe, especially when it comes to temporal anomalies. This is partly her El-Aurian heritage, but also likely tied to her Nexus experiences, and an echo of her remains in that place outside of normal time and space. An alternate version of her was instrumental in correcting the timeline in Yesterday’s Enterprise.
I present three versions of her, using the species write-up here: the young Guinan of Earth’s past (PC version), the familiar Guinan of Picard’s present (PC version), and the Guinan of alternate futures (Major NPC version). I recommend using the PC versions in normal play, and if there is an alternate timeline, use the Major NPC version of Guinan to give your players a hand in correcting time to its rightful shape. The 19th century version can also be used for earlier versions of her, until her rescue from the Nexus by the Enterprise-B.
Guinan (19th century PC version) PDF
Guinan (24th century PC version) PDF
Guinan (alternate timeline Major NPC version) PDF
Featured Crew articles spotlight familiar characters not currently covered by official stats. Each article will typically feature a Major NPC version of the character, as well as a playable Main Character version (Core Rulebook compliant, or with fan creations here) that you can hand out to a player for immediate play (such as for a demo or convention game).
What? Nothing in her datasheet about how she stopped a Q in his tracks???
Q Continuum Focus on an Intimidation, and Nexus Experience likely did it.