Independence Fleet Newsletter
September 2003
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=/\=INDEPENDENCE FLEET NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER
2003=/\= -- Opening -- Newbits -- Mission Summaries -- Awards -- Interview -- Thanks * * * * * * * * * * =/\=OPENING=/\= Hello IDF members! This month's issue of the newsletter is relatively short but has several interesting newsbits and announcements as well as the regular interview and awards. Enjoy. * * * * * * * * * * =/\=NEWSBITS=/\= - Oversight from last month (we're very sorry!): Captain Fiona Starling is the new CO of the Washington. Captain Starling was formerly the Chief of Operations on the USS Horatio Nelson. - Captain Kallan Maverik is the new CO of Horatio Nelson. - Captain James Britanicus, formerly CO of the USS Horatio Nelson, is the new Division Director of the DRF. He has been promoted to Rear Admiral. - Lieutenant Kristov Hevanovich of the USS Goliad has refined the new IDF symbol created by Admiral West. The symbol is now more crisp and distinct in color than before. The symbol will be updated on the site soon. Thanks to Lieutenant Hevanovich for volunteering his time and hard work. - The USS George W. Bush reached 1500 posts on August 19th. The post was sent in by Ensign Katagh, recently promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade. - Deep Space 15 reached 1000 posts on August 21st, just under 6 months since it was launched on March 1st, 2002. The post was sent by Captain Victoria Concord, who had this to say: *** Dear Crew, WOW! Post #1000! This is a huge and wonderful milestone. I'm so excited! We couldn't have gotten here without each and everyone of you. You all are wonderful simmers in your own ways. Some are stronger than others, but you all have good qualities (or you wouldn't still be *on* DS15 ;) ). I am grateful to each one of you, and to those no longer with us who were also wonderful simmers. Not all of them were, unfortunately. Hopefully all of our former members have found better homes for themselves, and that our one rl loss is in a better place. I sincerely hope all of you will stay with DS15 to see our next huge milestone, to help us reach it, and to keep learning along with all the rest of us to become even better simmers. And, mostly importantly, to keep having fun! In Simming Love and Friendship, VC *** - The USS Excalibur reached 3000 posts on Aug 27th, the first IDF sim to do so! A joint post by RAdm McCloud and Capt Tolbin, who had to say: *** Well gang, this is it. #3000. Thank you all for this wonderful milestone post. You are without a doubt, the best crew in the fleet. Captain Tolbin and I will be doing a joint post for this one. It will be our first. Mac. From Alayne... This is the first time that Steve and myself have done a joint post. We did this 3000th post which for me was an honor. I am glad to be on this ship with this crew. Congrats to you all for getting us here! *** - The USS Washington is in search of an Executive Officer(XO). To apply for this position and/or to express general interest in future XO positions please go to the IDF homepage at www.angelfire.com/trek/independencefleet and go to the "Apply for Executive Officer" page. - The USS Patriot is in search of a Second Officer/Chief Operations Officer. To apply for this position please visit the USS Patriot homepage at https://www.angelfire.com/trek/patriot26782 and e-mail the Commanding Officer, Captain Henry "Hank" Logan. - To express general interest in any future Division Director, Commanding Officer, or Executive Officer openings please visit the IDF homepage at www.angelfire.com/trek/independencefleet and click on the proper join link. - If anyone has any personal announcements relating to the fleet or personnel within the fleet to submit for future editions of the newsletter, please send them to Rear Admiral Rager at CaptainMyst@a.... We try to gather all important announcements as the month goes by but would hate to miss anything that could be important to someone. Thanks. * * * * * * * * * * =/\=MISSION SUMMARIES=/\= USS Goliad The diplomatic assignment to deal with Human and Tholian colonists on Phalos III has taken some twists. Hazard Team XO Dawn Freeman and Comm Specialist Rtatik (NPC) have been captured by the Tholians. And now one of the Tholian linguists have asked for sanctuary aboard the Goliad, in order to save herself and her daughter. The talks do appear to be going well however... Captain Larakizhaan sh'Harena Commanding Officer USS Goliad NCC-18907-A *** The USS Goliad was the only sim to submit a mission summary this month. Thank you, Captain Zaahn, for sharing this with us. Hopefully next month we'll all get to find out what is going on over on other sims in the fleet. * * * * * * * * * * =/\=AWARD WINNERS=/\= And now we announce the award winners for this month. As always there is tons of excellent work in the fleet but the Admiralty had to pick just one for each award. The winners did an outstanding job! *** Best Character Post Excalibur: Lt. Alexander Hawke Post # 2903 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uss-excalibur/message/3575 *** Best Story Post Lt.Cmdr McGregor Blaine Post # 2956 (Excalibur) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uss-excalibur/message/3640 *** Funniest Post Lt. Cmdr. Orion Tucker (SB10) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Starbase10IDF/message/2187 *** Genesis Award Capt. Concord (DS15) #964, Capt. Absecon (GWB) #1495, JM #10 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DeepSpace15/message/1252 *** Most Valuable Poster: Lt Commander Kiara Rodale (Conqueror) When somebody else does half as much to keep this group running, as this person, they can have the award. Until that time Kiara gets my vote. We would be in deep trouble without her, its as simple as that. She has constantly and continuously busted her butt for this sim, and in every aspect of it. *** Most Improved Poster: Ensign S'Avok (DS15) Slowly but surely making good progress. She finally started interacting heavily with other players' characters last month. She still a bit timid in writing a few of the other PCs, but she's gotten better with the other PC characters and with NPCs. She's even done some good joint posting, including with a member from the GWB during the JM! She's also finally getting involved in missions beyond what is basically given to her, such as jumping on an opening that was offered to anyone and making good use of it with her character. *** Outstanding Simmer: Lt. Cmdr Dane Christof (Washington) The first few weeks of my Captaincy on the Washington have been a success, in large part thanks to Christof. He's IM'ed people, explained things to them, and basically done some excellent behind-the-scenes work. In spite of being suddenly transplanted from the HN to the W, he has quickly familiarized himself with the new cast of characters as well as helping to break in some absolute newbies. His mission ideas and determination that the W "not suck" are an inspiration. I would never have managed this without him. *** Rookie of the Month: Ensign Alain –ATO (GWB) It was hard to choose between all of the Bush’s new recruits. But Alain stood out a little more than the rest. He joined in the last few days of the month of August, but he made the most out of those days. He not only was able to catch up on the story line, which is especially hard in a joint mission—since there are so many posts—but even was dedicated enough to get a biography up on the spot. His dedication and hard work shows his promising abilities in become a very valued member of the crew of the Bush. *** Recruitment Award: Ensign Katagh, GWB, 3 recruits *** Most Posts: Commander Kiara Rodale, Conqueror, 134 posts *** Congratulations to all the award winners this month! * * * * * * * * * * =/\=INTERVIEW=/\= Interviewer: This month we're "sitting down" with the Chief Operations Officer of Deep Space 15, Lieutenant Luica von Erntemond. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us! How are you? Von Erntemond: I'm well, thanks, and yourself? Interviewer: Heh, not as busy as usual. But we're not here to talk about me. Tell us a bit about yourself. Von Erntemond: Well, I'm a life time Star Trek fan, a college sophomore, I love to read, write, and of course Sim, and am quite psychotic but otherwise a rather boring person. I've been in IDF since it started a little over 2 years ago, in various character incarnations. Interviewer: Yes, you're one of the dozen or so "lifers" still around from the beginning of the fleet. If my count is correct, you've had five different characters in the fleet since you joined? Von Erntemond: Um, let me think. (Does a quick count) Actually, I think it's 8, though there might be one more. A few were short lived, though. Interviewer: I see. And then there is of course the one who started out as a new character, and evolved back into the first character you played in the fleet. Do you have a favorite? Von Erntemond: Lol, yes, that was a weird turn about that I really didn't intend to happen, but, *shrugs* My first character has always been one of my favorites, until recently my Very Favorite. I've loved all my characters, they are all archetypes of various bits of my personality, though I'd have to say my first, Reah Santiago, or my other Current, Lucia von Erntemond are my favorites. Interviewer: *nod* Speaking of favorites. You've also been on all different kinds of sims, and with different leadership. Which style if sim is your favorite? Von Erntemond: Honestly, I can't say, they all have their own charm. To choose one would be impossible, they've all been unique experiences. Interviewer: Fair enough. How about instead sharing what you think is important in making a sim long lived, and most importantly, fun? Von Erntemond: Good leadership is a must. Space to grow, as a character and as a writer. It doesn't hurt to have friends and loyalties on the sim to keep you tied down during the rough times, and to make the good times great. Story lines that are a challenge or interesting are a must. And a sense of community often is one of the Vital keys to it. Von Erntemond: If you have the connection to the ship that you aren't Willing to give up when times get rough, when no one's posting for time, when you can mourn for a friend, and depend on folks, on and off ship, you're much more likely to stick around and work for it. Von Erntemond: Folks also have to know when to throw in the towel, and care more about the ship than themselves. Interviewer: Sounds like there's a lot of wisdom there that wasn't easily learned. Von Erntemond: Wisdom is Never easily learned, and what is probably wouldn't be worth it. Interviewer: lol, well said. Interviewer: Can I then extrapolate a bit of advice for our readers to be that we all should keep ourselves open to learning as we progress in simming? Von Erntemond: You learn So many things in Unexpected places. I've learned a lot from these sims, I've learned a lot from the people I've met here. You have to Stay open to lessons coming from Unexpected Places. Don't turn your back on knowledge because it came from a Sci-Fi rpgbe. The things that will affect you and who you are come subtly, weather they be in writing style, character, or Real Life. Profound Impacts can come from the most mundane of Places Interviewer: So true. Let's get back to you again for a moment. You said Lucia von Erntemond is one of your two favorite characters (thus far). Why is she? And what makes her different from your other favorite? Von Erntemond: Lucia's more, hmm, how do I stay this... Lucia is probably the most Stable of any character I've ever had. Their is a reliability about the character that endears her to me, and also the character is in the perfect milieu for her. DS15 is an excellent sim to be on. Probably one of the main ways she differs from Reah, my other character, is in her stability, and that she's a lot more balanced than Reah. She's also Esper-blind, which is just a fun thing to have in a Star Trek Character. Von Erntemond: Telepathically invasive enemies or plot lines are rather common, so it's a nifty thing to have about her. Interviewer: lol, yes, they do tend to be. For those who don't know, here's the definition of Esper-blind (from off Lucia's bio): "means the character does not have the slightest trace of telepathic or psychic ability, and that even the strongest Telepath's cannot sense her telepathically or read her thoughts or emotions. Psychic phenomenon will not effect her. Esper-blindness stems from a lack of both the ability to transmit or receive anything related to the psi. (For More information on Esper-blindness, read the novel The Lost Years, an Original Series book, by J.M. Dilliard)" Interviewer: A very interesting, and unique, character trait there. Usually people want telepathic abilities, you went completely opposite in this case. Von Erntemond: *Nod* Yes, Lucia's my first character NOT to be telepathic, I realized I was dealing in that too much with my characters, and tried to challenge myself by having a character who wasn't telepathic. Von Erntemond: It's worked out quite well, so far. Interviewer: That's wonderful to hear. Interviewer: I'm curious. You've been in the fleet so long, yet have not advanced, or even tried to advance, to becoming a CO of your own sim. May I ask Why? Von Erntemond: Certainly. The honest answer is, I've made it clear pretty much from the get-go that I don't want command. I've come close before, been XO on several ships, but those jaunts, lets just say they didn't go well. I know my limitations, and as of now, I know I make a better regular player and 'Supporting Cast Member' if you will than a captain. I wouldn't want to be responsible for successfully running a sim that other players would enjoy and failing. Von Erntemond: I do better as a background, behind the scenes person than I would in a position of authority. Interviewer: Alright, I have one final question before I let you go. Being here from the beginning, you've seen all the many changes the fleet's gone through since it started. Care to share some of what you've thought as things changed over the years? Von Erntemond: Changes can be scary, for good or for bad, and I've noticed that. But I've also noticed that in the end, everything seems to work out. Oh, I won't say that ALL changes are good, but things always seem to work out Best for the Fleet. Sometimes it's happy, sometimes it's sad, and sometimes things take us by surprise. But surprisingly enough, we remain cohesive, mostly because a majority of the folks Care about the Well Being of the Fleet. Even folks who left it, are never really gone. Ships and people who have departed somehow still remain with us in the lessons and changes they have given us, taught us. Von Erntemond: I guess the biggest lesson I've learned through the changes would be that good friends never really leave, as long as we remember what we learned from them. Interviewer: I only hope we all can learn that for our real lives as well. Thank you very much for sharing with us tonight. Von Erntemond: Thank you for the interview. Interviewer: You are quite welcome. * * * * * * * * * * =/\=THANKS=/\= Thank you to Rachael Rager, James Britanicus, Krol son of K'Targ, Luica von Erntemond, Kristov Hevanovich, and Larakizhaan sh'Harena. * * * * * * * * * * =/\=END TRANSMISSION=/\= ************************* Admiral James West Director of Operations Independence Fleet ************************* |
