Talk:Mariner:Season One

Right. I'm going to make up a few ground rules for Mariner's first season. They aren't too many, I don't think, but should give us an overall feeling of how to go. Ready?

• The Assessors and R'Zikk must each make at least one appearance.
• The Antilles Cluster must show signs of some ancient empire or nation now gone. Think Larry Niven's Slavers or the Iconians

[1] [2] on TREK. Please, let us come up with something interesting along these lines. They should feature in one way or another in at least five episodes, but they must not make an appearance this season at all (if ever) and we must remain full of questions about them at season's end.

• Our heroes should encounter a new antagonist race, but NOT a race of super-warriors a la the Klingons, Scarrens, Nietczeans, Kzinti, etc. These new antagonists should appear in at least five episodes, and they may not appear until Episode Ten at the earliest. And they are not the Goracii (Professor Gideon's people).
• No large settlements of living Goracii may be discovered this season.
• The actual other two Argo-class ships must not be discovered this season (clues about their fate, or of their crews, are oakie-doakie).
• The Mariner may encounter other Starmada ships in up to four episodes in the entire season (including the premier). No more.
• No killing off of any regular without clearing it with me, first. Same for adding a new regular (although recurring is fine).

Please feel free to discuss the above, and made suggestions. Methinks the Antagonists in particular we can have a lot of fun with. Zahir 20:34, 1 February 2006 (PST)

The Ancient Race

I have taught you well, my son. I don't think we should start writing this until later this year, personally. As for the Antagonist race or Ancients, let me suggest the following process of events:

• • Ancient Ruins Discovered
  • Ancient Runes Discovered
  • Ancient City half-buried/submerged; signs of battle, no life.
  • Ancient Crystal/Orb/Mystic whosamawhatsit discovered.
  • Ancient device that causes some sort of change/mayhem on Mariner. (Like the D'Arsay Archive in the TNG Episode "Masks")
  • There should be a lingering sense of awe, wonder, question, and a feeling of immense depths of history, science, and knowledge that this society that once straddled hundreds and thousands of

For the other argo ships, I think one episode should be called "Bread Crumbs" and give Mariner the knowledge that one of the Argos with its argonauts (couldn't resist, sorry) have gone off, following a string of clues into seeming oblivion. BoArthur 21:08, 1 February 2006 (PST)

Oh, yeah. We're just in the planning phases here. But a word of caution--the Ancients (and with thoughts of Stargate SG-1 let us call them Old Ones shall we?) and the Antagonists/Adversaries are not the same folks (at least not culturally--biologically, perhaps they're identical). As for your "process of events" I'd say you've caught the idea perfectly. We're talking here about a civilization wildly different and more advanced than ourselves, akin in some ways to B5's First Ones (only not quite so godlike). If you've ever read Andre Norton's Witch World novels, the so-called Old Ones of High Hallack are pretty close to what I had in mind, but of course skewed in the direction of science fiction rather than fantasy. Zahir 22:39, 1 February 2006 (PST)

I called them the Ancients only to imply age. Instead, let us call them the Vivoprinceps (the first living)? Or maybe we can come up with a better name? BoArthur 23:39, 1 February 2006 (PST)

How about "The Elder Race?" Don't we have enough mouth-twisters in this already? Zahir 00:52, 2 February 2006 (PST)

That could work, but it's soo....bland. And speaking of tongue twisters, at least I didn't make all sorts of funky apostrophed names like the R'Zikk! ;) We can call them the Elder Race until we "discoover" the real name. I'm not going to argue one way or the other. :) BoArthur 00:57, 2 February 2006 (PST)

Okay, but in the interests of less blandness, how about "Species Prime" because they were evidently the first sentient species to arise in the Cluster? Zahir 07:08, 2 February 2006 (PST)

Elders/Ancients/Old Ones?

I'm still wondering about a generic name for these guys (gals?). It occurs to me we already are using "Prime" for something (i.e. Gorac Prime) so how about something like The Eldren? Zahir 16:29, 13 June 2006 (PDT)

Adversaries

I just wanted to open the floor for suggestions regarding the Adversaries in Mariner. Remember, no super-warriors. They must not resemble the Magog, the Klingons, the Sontarans, the Kzinti, the Daleks, the Scarrens, the Nietzceans, etc. Zahir 22:39, 1 February 2006 (PST)

Are we then looking for "petty criminal" races? Like the Ferengi? Races who show up, annoy, and otherwise block the progress of our heroes? BoArthur 23:41, 1 February 2006 (PST)

No, just a race or civilization that is not defined by its military the way (for example) Farscape's Peacekeepers and Larry Niven's Kzinti are. In other words, no Klingons or Quasi-Klingons. Which is not to say they don't have a military at all. Some examples that come to mind:

• The Ferengi, who were potentially far worse than they turned out. The idea of a ruthless corporation is really an archetype of villainy, and needn't have been played for laughs as did TREK. Consider for example a race who are basically drug smugglers and/or slavers and/or arrange to foreclose on the mortgage of whole planets.
• The Nebari on Farscape were simply terrifying. They used covert means to conquer, always in the name of peace and order, and filled with serene benevolence brainwashed anyone who came into their clutches.
• TREK:VOY it seemed to me missed a huge opportunity when they did so little with the concept of a race suffering from a terrible degenerative disease. In order to survive, they had to harvest organs from other species, which in turn would eventually fail requiring still more harvesting. The race was few in number but their technology was vast.
• Parasites, like a kind of evil Trill or the title characters in Heinlein's Puppet Masters. A similar device of course is central to the 1950s classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• Not so much a race but a religion? Perhaps a strange cult has arisen among telepaths, one that glorifies death and suffering and urges its members to psychically force others to "cleanse" themselves through pain?

The possibilities are many, imo. Zahir 00:06, 2 February 2006 (PST)

Crivens! "Yes, we're sorry, but you're late on your mortgage payments, and we're declaring galactic imminent domain and are going to be destroying your world to make way for an hyperspace express bypass. Before your demise, however, we'd like to introduce you to our Psychic Friends Network who will help you show penitence and atone for your sins in preparation for your afterlife. Those of you who are lucky enough not to go to your eternal demise may be chosen by our Continuing Education Staff and re-educated via evil slug-implants that will take over your mind, holding you hostage while it serves our needs. I'd say that any resistance is futile, but that would anger the multiversal lawyers, so I shan't say that. Now, while we wait for our Psychic Friends to contact you, I shall regale you with one of my finest poems..."  :) I see possibilities!

Let's hold off introducing any monetary scaries until they're deep in the Antilles Cluster...but I like the religious bogeymen... and the Plasmoids from SV2245 are my version of the Vidians with their Phage. (the degenerate dna people you mention). BoArthur 00:31, 2 February 2006 (PST)

Speaking of freaky zealots...I think the Monfareen will show up to aid their Messiah, Normandie.

I like the way you think. Soooo...

• The Monfareen will show up, following the Mariner into the Antilles Cluster. Methinks we can use them for Ye Olde Religous Zealots of Outer Space. Yes?
• EvilCorp can be the pervasive antagonists, eventually. They can be the way Ferengi were supposed to be, not big-earred little trolls with bad teeth. Methinks they'd probably be multi-racial. Zahir 21:23, 12 February 2006 (PST)