Andorian Chat With SJohn Ross

 Episode Name:  Andorian Chat with SJohn

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Sjohn

     Aired On:  Sun Oct 13 14:46:31 2002

     Stardate:  52702.6

Time: Sun Oct 13 14:34:32 2002

Ghorev says, "Uh, P'Trell, for the last time, epileptic fits *do not* count as Antennae dance of joy."

Zian make a mental note to unpack her books next weekend so she can finally getting around to READING the copy of Among the Clans that she got from eBay.

Sjohn says, "It's good for reading! Better for gaming!"

P'Trell says, "You know Ghorev...just when I start feeling like less of a freak...."

Starfleet says, "Ok, let's spam off, and get underway, it's now 1:00. :)"

Ghorev says, "And with some lemon-butter sauce...."

Sjohn says, "Among the Clans has the unusual distinction of being the only book I've ever written where I really really really like the cover."

Starfleet says, "Everyone welcome S John Ross, RPG Author Extraordinaire and creator of Anomaly's Canon Smurf- er, Andorians!"

Sjohn says, "I've got a worldbook coming out in November for GOO and I'm already in the 'time to just get OVER the cover and move on' phase."

Starfleet says, "Yay!"

Zian cheer!

Ashilav cheers!

Sjohn attaches some fake prosthetic antennae

Va'tol comes in from the OOC nexus.

Va'tol has arrived.

Blair applauds and hands S. John a white wig.

Zian has been icly dating an Andorian, does that count for anything? :)

Sjohn says, "Why, thank you Blair"

Sjohn says, "Everyone should date an Andorian; they have quasi-kinky habits."

Sjohn says, "It's all those long winter days in the lodges ... Handy bearskin rugs ... plenty of booze ..."

Ghorev says, "Except on THIS station."

Zian laughs. Only cuz Ghorev's a party pooper. ;)

Starfleet hands the floor entirely over to Sjohn. :) Let's try to observe meeting etiquette and keep spam low.

Sjohn says, "I suppose our best approach is a Q&A structure."

Sjohn says, "I could spout design anecdotes all afternoon, but that could feel kind of one-sided."

Sjohn says, "Blurting sounds fine."

Starfleet says, "If you've got questions, just fire them off. :)"

Sjohn says, "I even have my final draft open in Word for easy reference ..."

Sponnek says, "what program did you use to do the Map for Andorian sector?"

Sjohn says, "I also have one absentee question. Somebody emailed to ask about Andorian wedding ceremonies. Apparently there's an IC need for the info ..."

Sjohn says, "I did the map in Photoshop, basing it on a public-domain NASA image."

Sjohn says, "There's a great website ... the Astronomy Photo of the Day"

Sjohn says, "That's where I got the backdrop"

Sjohn says, "I don't have the URL handy but I'm sure it's an easy Google."

Fortunae "Q: When Andorians of different Keths Intermarry, what is the nameing convention for them in the quad; and for their children? Is there a status among the council that determines the priority or some other choice?"

Sponnek says, "It was outstanding. It inspired me to do a whole 9 month campaign, thanks."

Starfleet http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html is the Astronomy site.

Sjohn says, "Naming isn't a political matter as far as personal names go. Clan membership is determined by the quad. Individual adult Andorians maintain their own clan allegiance, but the kids are given one clan or the other. In modern Andoria, kids are often invited to choose as a coming-of-age thing, but in practice, there are often heavy expectations laid on them by one parent or another."

Sjohn says, "And of course, daughters are given more leeway and less pressure."

Va'tol has left.

Sjohn says, "Because Andorians fear their daughters out of tradition"

Sjohn grins

Zian eyes Ashilav and understands why. *duck* ;)

Ashilav says, "Hey, I'm an Umarinist. Gimme a break."

Fortunae says, "So to clarify, each member of the marriage quad retains their own Keth name unless they change keths by virtue of the terms of the marriage contract?"

Turtledove comes in from the OOC nexus.

Turtledove has arrived.

Sjohn says, "When I was writing the history sections, I made a deliberate attempt to weave in some mythic themes. One of those themes was old leaders being murdered by daughters. I think at least two incidents survived the final cut."

Sjohn says, "That's right, Fortunae"

Fortunae "Thanks." makes way for another question.

P'Trell says, "It's been a ridiculously long time since I've seen "Journey to Babel" but I don't remember too much of Andorian culture being gone into. What gave you the idea for the elaborate Andorian culture that you developed?"

Sjohn says, "It was a mix of elements and agendas. More agenda than anything!"

Sjohn says, "I began by making careful reference to anything canon. There's very, very little to work with."

Sjohn says, "The second stage was adopting existing LUG material."

Sjohn says, "That boiled down to the racial descrip in TNG corebook, and the Planets of the UFP writeup."

Sjohn says, "Ironically, I had originally been contracted to write the latter, but had to bail!"

Tibbs says, "So we can just call you poppa Andoria :)"

Sjohn says, "So I had to make sure not to contradict Prosperi's basic material. That said, I did all I could to contradict the basic _approach_ Prosperi took."

Ashilav cues Kirk fight music.

Sjohn says, "Kenneth Hite tagged me for the Andorians because of two GURPS books I had written: GURPS Russia and (coathored) GURPS Black Ops."

Sjohn says, "Ken saw the Andorians as Russianesque, and the Am Tal as BlackOpesque, so he figured it'd be a cakewalk for me"

Sjohn says, "Naturally, I made it a point of going in the other direction ..."

Claness says, "Not a ST question, but are you planning a followup to Points in Space? http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/points.htm for those interested."

Zian offers Sjohn her Staplegun of Connectivity +5.

Sjohn says, "Points in Space 2 has been written. The maps are taking a long time because it's a dozen complete (smallish) spacecraft this time around."

Tibbs says, "Woo!"

Ashilav says, "SJohn, when you get a chance, could you expound upon your idea for the Umarinist faith? Where did the idea come from, and what advice do you have for roleplaying a character very immersed in said faith?"

Claness cheers. "Thank you." Novak has left.

Sjohn says, "Points in Space 3 and 4 are already outllined. I really enjoy them ..."

Sjohn says, "The religions are an example of agenda-based design ..."

Starfleet says, "Claness and I have admittedly bought Points part 1 based on S John's work with the Andorians. If you've got a tabletop game that is space-based, you would do well to pick it up! It's good stuff."

Claness couldn't agree more.

Sjohn says, "I very much wanted to make the point that the Andorians weren't a single culture with just one religion. That's one "tradition" of media SF that I've never been a big fan of. I wanted an integrated culture clearly made up of older, disparate ones."

Ghorev says, "Like humanity. Go figure. :)"

Sjohn says, "Far too many SF races are a little too homogenous for my tastes :)"

Ghorev has always found that rather humanocentric -- HUMANS all get to have .... right. Exactly.

P'Trell concurs.

Sjohn says, "Umarinism was my commentary on postmodern religious development, the kind of thing that happens as cultures go through wrenching changes."

Sjohn says, "Umarinism is, fundamentally, a very nice, non-icky kind of jingoism, given a spiritual wrapper"

Sjohn says, "If that makes any sense ..."

Ashilav says, "It does. :)"

Sjohn says, "The Am Tal chapter was another agenda piece"

Ghorev says, "You mean like a Robert Bly Iron John movement, a 'get back to cultural roots and call it religion' thing?"

Sjohn says, "The agenda, in that case, was deliberately going the opposite of my editor's instructions. The entire chapter says 'F*ck you ken!' in letters only Ken can see! But in a playful way. He liked it a lot."

Sjohn says, "Ghorev, something a little like that, yeah."

Sjohn says, "The irony of having me write about the Andorians is that I find military themes a little dull. As Prosperi described the Andorians, it was all honor-grunt-honor-grunt-honor. Starfleet Klingons."

FortunaeQ: "In the last 115 years from its discovery in 2260; what would you suggest has been figured out regarding 600,000 year old three building "ruins" in the warm water lake Emarni mentioned in the AtC book. Such as, progress on determing the origins of the buildings, progresses in Universal Translator technology cracking the maybe art/maybe language on the wall; ... or has the Kethni council since that time opted to prevent further poking around into that mystery? re: p.25 AtC."

Sjohn says, "So I went with that, and then added very little to it, making a point of fleshing out the non-military side. This was probably the best thing that could happen. The honor-grunt stuff is still there, with a lot more context."

Sjohn reads the question ...

Sjohn says, "Ah, the mystery ruins. The Council has officialy discouraged and squelched all research. The Am Tal have officially sponsored moves to contradict this, but they aren't telling."

Ashilav says, "Yeah, that's a double-reader :)"

Sjohn says, "Or rather, they ARE tellling ... those who need to know :)"

Starfleet hehs.

Fortunae says, "thanks""

Sjohn says, "The possible revelations there are potentially wounding to some egos that don't want wounding."

Sjohn says, "And it's the kind of thing I'd never weigh in on in detail, since the entire point is a GM-driven thing. It'd ruin it to have any kind of official answer :)"

Sjohn says, "The ruins possibly contain the complete lyrics to It Is Logical To Sing. Or not."

Sjohn grins playfully

Blair coughs. "Sounds like Fleety gets to rewrite history again." :)

Starfleet makes notes.

Fortunae says, "I dig it, that actually came from one my table top players who wanted to know what if anything happened with that by the time of our game setting."

Sjohn says, "I'm sure many things have!"

Sjohn says, "But I'm also sure that the Council wouldn't want it spread around unless it just happened to be something they liked."

Sjohn says, "Speaking of secrets, is everyone here familiar with the hidden Andorian-related page on my website?"

Fortunae says, "?""

Blair blinks.

Turtledove ?:)

Starfleet would guess that's a no. :)

Sjohn says, "The process of creating the book was just one big in-joke after another ..."

P'Trell says, "No>"

Sjohn says, "One is the running epigraphs. I made this cover to amuse the staff at LUG http://www.io.com/~sjohn/bell.htm"

Ghorev has the Mirror Universe Prop, of course, but that's about it.

Sjohn says, "There's also the Mirror Andoria page, in Untaken Treks, but that's not secret - there's a public link."

Ashilav says, "Wow, that's really cool."

Tibbs snerks.

Sjohn says, "I really did write lyrics to an Andorian Broadway Musical ... There were even naughty photomanipulated Andorian chicks, er ... or so I hear."

Ashilav laughs.

Starfleet laughs.

Blair snerks.

Sjohn says, "And the entire concept of the Amdalanar - the battle pantomimes - was the result of a DARE by Steve Long."

Fortunae says, "Sweet... uh, the book cover I mean."

Sjohn says, "It ended up being my favorite part of Among the Clans ... the idea of a 'musical notation' for hand-to-hand combat reenactment tied to an artform like that. I wish to god I could come up with said notation for real; it would make a nice font.""

Sjohn says, "I still sing bits from the musical in supermarkets, drawing strange glances."

Sjohn says, "Since we have either a lull or a lag, I can address my absentee question :)"

Ashilav says, "Ooh."

Sjohn says, "Of course, I'm not entirely sure what the question IS apart from 'say something about the wedding ceremony'"

Ashilav says, "Say something about the wedding ceremony, SJohn, please. :)"

Sjohn says, "The ceremony is Eastern ... a product of Kul'Sun culture, and entirely secular. it resembles a combination barn-raising and political inauguration."

Isole comes in from the OOC nexus.

Isole has arrived.

Blair says, "You've now been asked by an Andorian chick, if that helps. ;)"

Sjohn says, "It does :)"

P'Trell says, "Cool"

Isole meeps. I just came to spend XP. But I'll stay for the pie!

Sjohn says, "I say barn-raising because it's a community festival and get-together, a building of something that belongs to EVERYONE ..."

Sjohn says, "Even though its private"

Tibbs says, "Sounds amish. :)"

Sjohn says, "That part of it, yes."

Sjohn says, "It's a political inauguration because each marriage is a promise not just between the quad members, but a promise between the quad and the community"

Sjohn says, "The wedding vows include what amounts to a public pledge to the larger family"

Sjohn says, "While these concepts are more and more traditional and less practical in modern society, it's still held as an ancient trust that works across several levels. Family is a scalable concept to Andorians."

Sjohn says, "There is, in addition, usually a bear rug :)"

Sjohn says, "But that's the Kul'Sunus for you."

Sjohn says, "Nobody asked me what the dare from Steve Long was."

Sjohn says, "hint, hint"

Starfleet says, "Did the lack of nudity taboos spring forth from the naughty photo manips, or the other way around? :)"

Sjohn laughs

Sjohn says, "Neither. That just came from a mix of reading about Vikings, and the Steve Long dare ..."

Zian says, "Hey Sjohn! What was the dare from Steve Long?"

Starfleet says, "Ok, I've gotta ask. What did Mr. HERO dare you? :)"

Sjohn says, "Good question :)"

Blair rings the bell.

Ashilav interested. "Vikings?"

Sjohn says, "I'll get to the Vikings in a minute."

Ashilav does the Rune dance.

Sjohn says, "Steve Long wrote his chapters after I had written most of mine ..."

Sjohn says, "He emailed me with regular questions, especially about the language."

Sjohn says, "At one point, he created the need for a new vowel structure and some other language bits. The example I gave was a whimsical one about an art form involving naked mimes."

Sjohn says, "Steve dared me to put naked mimes in the book."

Sjohn says, "I countered that I could make naked mimes COOL."

Starfleet laughs.

Sjohn says, "Steve bet me that nobody could EVER make mimes cool."

Tibbs gapes.

Sjohn says, "But Steve relented."

Ashilav says, "Mimes scare me."

Sjohn says, "And ultimately agreed that the Amdanalnar, as I wrote it, was indeed cool."

Tibbs says, "Now naked clowns, then you'd be on a roll."

Sjohn says, "I have limits, Tibbs"

Ghorev says, "That's for the Orion book."

Haven comes in from the OOC nexus.

Haven has arrived.

Tibbs says, "Bozo's getting juggy with i--Nevermind, I'll hush now o.o"

Ashilav says, "lol"

Isole sprays seltzer at Tibbsy.

Tibbs says, "It's the sleep deprivation talking."

Sjohn says, "So, the Amdanalnar tradition was entirely to prove to Steve Long that I could write about naked mimes in a cool way."

Sjohn says, "Paramount, of course, refused to let us use the word naked."

Zian hmpfs.

Zian says, "Naked is good, I say!"

Sjohn says, "But they let us say that they perform in white body makeup ... as an adjunct to the no-nudity-taboos section"

Sjohn says, "Which makes it pretty plain that they do the mimes tackle-out."

Sjohn says, "As for Vikings ..."

Ashilav says, "Vikings!"

Sjohn says, "The concept of the duels is almost entirely drawn from Viking history. Where I deviated was that the Andorians made it work for them. The Vikings never did."

Sjohn says, "The Vikings ran into the problem that every duel just caused a fued."

Sjohn says, "People came out to watch, drunk and passionate, and with tempers hot."

Ashilav says, "Thus the no-watching in ushaan."

Sjohn says, "So nobody accepted the results as anything other than a starting gun"

Sjohn says, "Exactly, Ashilav"

Sjohn says, "I had to come up with a solution to the Viking problem ... And that was what I decided."

Sjohn says, "I decided they had the same problem, and solved it by making it a witnesses-only event, which again led up to the Amdanalnar artform."

P'Trell says, "I've always been a little confused as to the strike order in Ushaan."

Isole will be right back. n.n

Ashilav says, "Thus a way to glorify what happened, which may have /really/ been humiliating."

Isole has left.

Sjohn says, "The bit about blood bouncing on ice comes from Judy Blume. I have no reason to assume she was kidding."

Idrani comes in from the OOC nexus.

Idrani has arrived.

Sjohn says, "And a way to put distance between the moment of passion and the acceptance of the resolution."

Isole has arrived.

Sjohn says, "P'Trell, which part is unclear? I'll see what I can do to clear it up."

Idrani has left.

Sjohn pokes P'Trell with a beshi

Ashilav says, "He's slow. :) But we love him."

Sjohn grins

Ghorev says, "Well, some more than others."

Claness grins.

Ashilav says, "coughcough."

Sjohn says, "Ken never did let me put much detail about the musical in the book ... This is certainly for the best ..."

P'Trell says, "sorry, looking it up now..."

Sjohn says, "But it was another example of the Andorian fascination with Vulcans. An example that Vulcans would certainly find horrible."

Ghorev imagines it being rather like the Pirates of Penzance. Or even 'the Pirate Movie'. ;)

Fortunae says, "Mayhap you should add the musical to your website?"

Claness says, "I'll ask a quick question. How many players per side in a kochek match?""

Starfleet says, "Heh."

Idrani says, "Good question. :)"

Sjohn says, "The thing is, the Andorians made a simple cultural miscalculation ... They watched several Earth musicals and came to the conclusion that a fundamental part of the art form was speaking in a Cockney accent"

Ghorev says, "Andorians love urchins."

Sjohn says, "Kochek teams are teams of 8 each"

Isole says, "Please, sir? May I have some more?"

Sjohn says, "The play in question ..."

Zian dies laughing!

P'Trell says, "I guess it's the taking turns striking. It seems like many duels could be over before one party had gotten a chance to strike."

Sjohn says, "Called IT IS LOGICAL TO SING ... Is about Vulcans. It's about a young Vulcan on the eve of achieving Kolinahr who really wants to be a song-and-dance man."

Ghorev says, "Don't they all?"

Sjohn says, "Absolutely, P'Trell --- but you are allowed to dodge""

Ashilav says, "And softshoe dancers."

Blair says, "Don'cha know it?"

Ashilav says, "Softshoe tap is very logical."

Sjohn says, "So if you can imagine, briefly, the scene: Andorians, made up to look like Vulcans, singing and dancing and speaking in thick stage Cockney"

Idrani says, "OK, I have a question that I've been kinda afraid of asking. What -did- happen with Keth Idrani getting kicked off the kethni council? My tt group and I extrapolated based upon the political climate going on at that time, but if our conclusions are dead wrong, it kinda blows my character concept. ;)"

P'Trell says, "Ahhh. Okay, I got the impression that it was like the Klingon punch your friend in the face game for some reason. Thanks :)"

Tibbs falls over shuddering.

Sjohn says, "Idrani, never let a random comment from a game designer influence your campaign if you don't want it to."

Idrani says, "Fair enough."

Sjohn says, "P'Trell, the idea behind the structure is mostly to insure that the combat training for the duel isn't actually useful outside the duel. It includes some wicked-good dodging and precise strikes ..."

Sjohn says, "As for Idrani, did you mean WHY were they kicked?"

Idrani says, "Yes."

Sjohn says, "What did you come up with?"

P'Trell nods. "That makes alot of sense actually."

Sjohn says, "As far as I'm concerned, they were noisily advocating a warlike stance at a time that it was very impolitic to do so, and being stubborn about it ..."

Sjohn says, "But again, ignore me if that doesn't suit"

Ashilav says, "Mm, stubborn."

Ghorev says, "Go figure."

Starfleet spends a courage point on Ashilav.

Ashilav doesn't budge.

Sjohn sings the final lines of the title song, including the loud 'Cogito Ergo Sing' bit that brings the house down

Starfleet laughs.

Sjohn says, "They're after me tonight."

Haven bows out of the conversation as she hasn't read the book and is therefore rather lost. "Welcome to Anomaly Sjohn." Waves and steps out.

Haven has left.

Sjohn says, "My choice no longer far ..."

Fortunae "I think therefor I sing." groans.

Idrani says, "Okay, according to the timeline, around the time that the Idrani were kicked off, the P'trell were putting forth the radical idea of removing dueling from politics. Shortly after the Idrani were kicked off, the Kor push through their law that says that the clan chief /has/ to be confirmed through a duel. Therefore, the idea that we came up with is that the Idrani, being a traditional warrior keth, even among a keth of warriors, sent a duelist to the ushaan with Keth Kor over the matter. And lost. The Kor made an example of the Idrani by destroying them politically in the aftermath. Then the Kor push through their own law on the matter. However, if I recall, the Dominion war ground forces General is an Idrani, so that might mean that Keth Idrani can get enough momentum after the Dominion war to be reinstated."

Sjohn says, "I must journey to the masters to attain my Kolinahr!""

Sjohn says, "But deep inside my theatrical pause heart ... I know it's wrong ..."

Sjohn says, "Because my hearts's exploding with a SONG! lights, dancers"

Idrani says, "Er even among a race of warriors, sorry."

Sjohn says, "Sounds great, Idrani. You'd know your clan's history better than I ;)"

Starfleet grins.

Idrani smiles. Thanks. That's what my table top group came up with and it has worked well for us so far.

Starfleet says, "Everyone give SJohn a big hand and thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to be with us today!"

Claness applauds.

Sjohngrins

Ghorev HAND

Idrani applauds, too. =)

Sjohn grins even

P'Trell applauds. "Thanks Sjohn. Very informative."

Blair whoos! :)

Fortunae applauds "Thanks alot. =)"

Isole says, "Sorry I missed most of it, SJ."

Ghorev says, "Thanks muchly."

Starfleet says, "Sjohn, plug the Blue Room!"

Sjohn says, "To close with the usual plug www.cumberlandgames.com - get free fonts, get Points in Space :)"

Sjohn says, "And also www.io.com/~sjohn for lots of other stuff. They connect :)"

Ashilav cheer!