Message Posted on 2006-03-04
Message Posted by First Lieutenant Richard Rahl (Sec)
IC: As Richard arrived at the TL's office, he smoothed out his uniform, and then knocked at the door and waited for a reply.
Richard, SAS
Saturday, 29 May 2010
First Post: The Mallard Club
Message Posted on 2009-08-20 11:51:54
Message Posted by Voting Member Major Laird Sir Daniel Drabbit (Hunter)
Drabbit entered from the wet street as the heavens opened over London. His ankle length trench coat and wide brimmed hat dripped with cold rainwater onto the marble floors of the club. His recent hunting expedition to Africa had been a succesful one, bagging a few lions and a rogue bull elephant, which had been unfortunate enough to have charged the Scottish Laird head on. Martini Elephant gun, One, Elephant nil.
He signed into the club as was proper and handed his dripping outer garments to the roberoom attendant.
His tweed suit underneath was immaculately pressed by his 'Gentleman's Gentleman', Carruthers. Checking his pocket for his pipe, he nodded to the attendant and headed across the foyer to the bar.
Daniel Drabbit. Laird.
Message Posted by Voting Member Major Laird Sir Daniel Drabbit (Hunter)
Drabbit entered from the wet street as the heavens opened over London. His ankle length trench coat and wide brimmed hat dripped with cold rainwater onto the marble floors of the club. His recent hunting expedition to Africa had been a succesful one, bagging a few lions and a rogue bull elephant, which had been unfortunate enough to have charged the Scottish Laird head on. Martini Elephant gun, One, Elephant nil.
He signed into the club as was proper and handed his dripping outer garments to the roberoom attendant.
His tweed suit underneath was immaculately pressed by his 'Gentleman's Gentleman', Carruthers. Checking his pocket for his pipe, he nodded to the attendant and headed across the foyer to the bar.
Daniel Drabbit. Laird.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
SFHQ Medic's Manual by Katherine Dedul
(Reproduced with permission from Katherine Dedul)
Introduction:
So you're thinking you'd like to try your hand at being a medical officer. Excellent, medical officers have a lot of respect, especially when you're the only thing standing between an officer and them being cleared for active duty.
We're going to start with the absolute basics and go into a bit more complex matters. This manual will cover the basics, but will provide you with links to excellent websites like Memory Alpha which contain more detailed information if you wish to use them. Our goal here isn't to bombard you with a bunch of information that may be of use to you, but rather to give you the tools necessary to succeed in a medical posting on a ship.
Positions in Medical:
There are many different types of medical officers, some environments in SFHQ will contain some unfamiliar names, but for our purposes we're going to go over the standard 24th Century positions. If you're ever in doubt what positions a 23rd Century or Expansion Fleet environment might have, e-mail the CO of that area, they'll be happy to clear up any confusion!
Nine times out of ten, you will be a doctor on the ship, but it doesn't hurt to know what other positions are available to you in this field because if there is nobody playing these positions on the ship, they need to be filled with NPCs(Non-Player Characters, sometimes called NEs or Nameless Ensigns) and you may be permitted to create at least one or two of these characters.
A. Chief Medical Officer
This is the senior most medical position on the ship. The Chief Medical Officer or CMO holds the authority to relieve even the Commanding Officer(CO) of duty if there is just cause to do so. This officer delegates all members of the medical team on any 24th Century ship(and on most military type ships). They are responsible for the health of the crew as well as dealing with any casualties the ship might encounter if they are responding to a medical emergency. The CMO will often work closely with the ship's Counselor(CNS) if there is one to ensure the crew is both mentally and physical fit. CMOs are almost always doctors.
B. Head Nurse & Nurse
This may be a position on a ship. Nurses and other support staff are typically harder positions to play because they are typically more in the background, however if you are up for a challenge, this position may be available to you, even if it is simply you playing a NPC. The Head Nurse is the senior member of the nursing staff, he or she will be responsible for delegating nursing duties to other members of the nursing staff and working closely with the CMO to ensure that the department is operating at peak efficiency. Nurses can preform basic medical duties like crew physicals, fixing minor injuries like broken limbs and cuts and they assist doctors in more complex procedures like surgery. They will also typically preform triage duty in emergency situations while the doctors focus on working on the more serious cases, therefore a nurse must have enough medical knowledge to diagnose how serious medical problems are to determine where in the line these cases must be put. Nurses are under the command of the Head Nurse who is then under the command of the CMO. Nurses for the most part though are played by NPCs.
C. Doctor
This is a typical position for you if you're playing a Medical Junior Officer(Med). Doctors are easier to role-play than nurses and other support staff likely because there a lot more information about what a doctor does than what a nurse or medic does in the 24th century(For example Doctor Crusher got a lot more screen time than Nurse Ogawa). They preform all the basic duties that a nurse might otherwise do as well as more complex things like healing serious injuries, finding cures for diseases and preforming surgery. Doctors are directly under the command of the CMO. On medical cruisers, you may find doctors are further subdivided into specialty such as Surgeon, Virologist, Pathologist, etc.
D. Medic
Medics typically are the first responders to an emergency, they can diagnose and sometimes treat minor injuries. They know advanced first aid and typically are charged with keeping their patient alive until a more senior member of the medical department such as a doctor can get to them. Typically medics are played by NPCs.
Basic Tenets of Medicine:
This section concerns some basic concepts you might want to take with you as you play your medical character.
A. Triage
In an emergency situations, when sickbay is bombarded with mass casualties, triage must be preformed. Usually nurses preform these, but in the beginning stages a doctor may assist the nurses in organizing the casualties before he or she must move on into dealing with the most serious of cases. The process of triage determines which patients see a doctor first and groups patients according to how serious their injuries are.
The typical stages of triage are as follows(most ships will follow this or some variation of this):
i)Red - The patient is still alive, but they will not remain so unless they are seen soon by a doctor. Such injuries that a red patient might have include massive internal injuries and other life threatening injuries. Typically if the patient's respiration or heart rate is compromised the results could be fatal.
ii)Yellow - The patient requires medical attention within six hours. Their injuries are potentially life threatening, but they can wait until the Red patients are stabilized. The patient will require monitoring while they wait.
iii)Green - Sometimes known as the "walking wounded", these patients can wait until the red and yellow patients have been stabilized and taken care of. Some may require monitoring, others may not. These are minor injuries that are not-likely to compromise the patients health further than they already have.
iv)Black - These patients typically are so seriously injured that treating them would compromise the treatment of red and yellow patients or the patient simply is so injured that there is no medical technology available to save them. They are beyond hope and a member of the medical staff should see that they are made comfortable.
If you aren't certain as to what system you should be using, check with your CMO, if you are the CMO, then it would be your choice.
You can read more at great length about triage through wikipedia if you so desire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triage
B. Hypocratic Oath
Doctors are sworn from the moment they receive their medical license to preform their duties ethically. The basic tenets of the oath are that doctors are to provide the very best that they are capable of giving to their patients and to respect their privacy. For our purposes, it is important that you recognize that this is a very ethical profession and that if you are playing a character who takes their job seriously(Sometimes we all like to play the black sheep of the ship, but not always) you have to consider that your character would very likely take this oath seriously and ensure that they provide the best care that they can for their patients.
You can read at great length about the history and modern interpretations of the oath via wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocratic_oath
C. Other
Crew Physicals - All new members of the crew will require a trip to sickbay to ensure that they are healthy enough to assume their duties on the ship. As well, if you've noticed the CO of your ship hasn't been in sickbay in awhile, you might want to chase him down for one as crew are required to have one done periodically.
Diagnostics - If you're bored, you can always have your character check over the equipment in sickbay to ensure it's all ready to go. Faulty equipment does not save patients and therefore it's important to ensure this is done. Typically nurses would assist in this as well.
Tools of the Trade:
This section will briefly introduce you to tools that you'll need to use as a medical officer and provide you with links to where you can find much more detailed information.
A. Medical Equipment aids a medical officer in treating a variety of ailments, transporting patients who cannot move on their own and diagnosing ailments.
Check out Memory Alpha's extensive listing of equipment:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Medical_equipment
B. Medicines are used to treat a variety of symptoms, help stabilize a patient's vital signs, put a patient to sleep, wake a patient up, etc.
Check out Memory Alpha's extensive drug wiki:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Drugs_and_treatments
C. Ailments, you'll be treating these in order to keep your patients happy.
Check out Memory Alpha's listing for Medical Conditions:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Medical_conditions
This isn't everything, sometimes a GM will give you a made up disease, for example, but this listing will at least give you a starting place if you happen to be given the name of the disease.
There's a New Mission, but you're not directly involved...Now what?
You may sometimes find yourself waiting around for action in a mission, medical often takes a back seat unless the mission involves providing aid to a colony or ship that took on heavy casualties.
This chapter is designed to provide you with some ideas on what you can do if the main mission isn't keeping you busy. This is important because you are promoted based on the quality of your in character posts, which doesn't seem fair when you are in a department that doesn't often get much action.
It can be as simple as having a clumsy NE who constantly comes into sickbay from falling in the jeffries tubes or burning themselves with a plasma torch. Maybe there's a shy NE who likes your character and constantly comes in complaining of various maladies to hopefully grow closer to you.
It may seem silly, but you may find that your side plot grows on you. Start simply and you may even find that your little subplot will become a complex and elaborate back story for your character.
Some suggestions to get you started:
-A hypochondriac NE that you always seem to get stuck helping.
-A lovesick NE who keeps coming in with made up symptoms in attempts to get your attention.
-A clumsy NE keeps breaking parts of their body and you always seem to be on duty whenever they stop by with their latest injury.
Conclusion:
This concludes our lesson on the basics of playing in the medical department. Hopefully you found this informative and are even more excited at the prospect of playing a medical officer out there in SFHQ!
Testing Materials:
The following are scenarios that the medical course instructor may use when testing the cadets on the Academy ship. Instructors may come up with an entirely new scenario for you, but these should give you a pretty good idea of what will be expected of you when you are tested. It's up to you to make up any details that are not otherwise provided in the scenarios.
A. Emergencies:
i) You are the CMO and your ship is the first responding vessel to a Federation Colony of approximately 20,000 citizens. A massive storm system has caused massive destruction. Their medical facilities have been wiped out and their sick and injured require care.
ii) You are the Head Nurse and your ship has responded to a desolate planet which was the site of a fierce battle between the Klingons and the Romulans. Nobody knows why they were fighting over this world or who started it, but your job, as directed by the CMO, is to have yourself and four of your nurses conduct triage.
iii) You are the CMO and your ship has responded to a distress call from a Federation Civilian Transport Vessel. They have a major hull breach and have casualties from all parts of their vessel. While engineering assists in repairs, you must conduct triage and assist the injured.
B. Physicals & Other Routine Matters:
i) It's a quiet day on your ship, one of the engineers comes in with a burnt hand, he was working in the Jeffries Tubes and got himself zapped by an exposed panel. You're the doctor on duty.
ii) You're the doctor on duty and the surly security chief has just come in for his regularly scheduled physical exam. The CMO is not on duty and the nurse has just left for her dinner break.
iii)You're the duty nurse on night watch, it was a quiet night so the Doctor told you to hold down the fort while he went and grabbed a coffee, leaving you alone in sickbay. A civilian patient comes in complaining that his left arm has been hurting for the past two days. He collapses on the deck shortly after, unconscious.
C. Lab Work:
i)You're the virologist on board when doctors and nurses are overrun with patients complaining of uncontrollable twitching. This is rapidly becoming an epidemic, your task is to collect and analyze cultures taken from each patient to try and find a cure.
ii) A Federation colony is under seige, not from any discernable enemy, but rather by a strange disease that is dehydrating the citizens. You're one of the doctors trying to determine the cause.
iii) You feel like you're on a ship of fools...literally. You are the CMO and everyone around you is falling victim to mental instability. You were playing host to a party of scientists(The team consists of a Human, Andorian, Trill, Betazoid and a Napeean) who were isolated the last five years in an experimental deep space isolation experiment.
Introduction:
So you're thinking you'd like to try your hand at being a medical officer. Excellent, medical officers have a lot of respect, especially when you're the only thing standing between an officer and them being cleared for active duty.
We're going to start with the absolute basics and go into a bit more complex matters. This manual will cover the basics, but will provide you with links to excellent websites like Memory Alpha which contain more detailed information if you wish to use them. Our goal here isn't to bombard you with a bunch of information that may be of use to you, but rather to give you the tools necessary to succeed in a medical posting on a ship.
Positions in Medical:
There are many different types of medical officers, some environments in SFHQ will contain some unfamiliar names, but for our purposes we're going to go over the standard 24th Century positions. If you're ever in doubt what positions a 23rd Century or Expansion Fleet environment might have, e-mail the CO of that area, they'll be happy to clear up any confusion!
Nine times out of ten, you will be a doctor on the ship, but it doesn't hurt to know what other positions are available to you in this field because if there is nobody playing these positions on the ship, they need to be filled with NPCs(Non-Player Characters, sometimes called NEs or Nameless Ensigns) and you may be permitted to create at least one or two of these characters.
A. Chief Medical Officer
This is the senior most medical position on the ship. The Chief Medical Officer or CMO holds the authority to relieve even the Commanding Officer(CO) of duty if there is just cause to do so. This officer delegates all members of the medical team on any 24th Century ship(and on most military type ships). They are responsible for the health of the crew as well as dealing with any casualties the ship might encounter if they are responding to a medical emergency. The CMO will often work closely with the ship's Counselor(CNS) if there is one to ensure the crew is both mentally and physical fit. CMOs are almost always doctors.
B. Head Nurse & Nurse
This may be a position on a ship. Nurses and other support staff are typically harder positions to play because they are typically more in the background, however if you are up for a challenge, this position may be available to you, even if it is simply you playing a NPC. The Head Nurse is the senior member of the nursing staff, he or she will be responsible for delegating nursing duties to other members of the nursing staff and working closely with the CMO to ensure that the department is operating at peak efficiency. Nurses can preform basic medical duties like crew physicals, fixing minor injuries like broken limbs and cuts and they assist doctors in more complex procedures like surgery. They will also typically preform triage duty in emergency situations while the doctors focus on working on the more serious cases, therefore a nurse must have enough medical knowledge to diagnose how serious medical problems are to determine where in the line these cases must be put. Nurses are under the command of the Head Nurse who is then under the command of the CMO. Nurses for the most part though are played by NPCs.
C. Doctor
This is a typical position for you if you're playing a Medical Junior Officer(Med). Doctors are easier to role-play than nurses and other support staff likely because there a lot more information about what a doctor does than what a nurse or medic does in the 24th century(For example Doctor Crusher got a lot more screen time than Nurse Ogawa). They preform all the basic duties that a nurse might otherwise do as well as more complex things like healing serious injuries, finding cures for diseases and preforming surgery. Doctors are directly under the command of the CMO. On medical cruisers, you may find doctors are further subdivided into specialty such as Surgeon, Virologist, Pathologist, etc.
D. Medic
Medics typically are the first responders to an emergency, they can diagnose and sometimes treat minor injuries. They know advanced first aid and typically are charged with keeping their patient alive until a more senior member of the medical department such as a doctor can get to them. Typically medics are played by NPCs.
Basic Tenets of Medicine:
This section concerns some basic concepts you might want to take with you as you play your medical character.
A. Triage
In an emergency situations, when sickbay is bombarded with mass casualties, triage must be preformed. Usually nurses preform these, but in the beginning stages a doctor may assist the nurses in organizing the casualties before he or she must move on into dealing with the most serious of cases. The process of triage determines which patients see a doctor first and groups patients according to how serious their injuries are.
The typical stages of triage are as follows(most ships will follow this or some variation of this):
i)Red - The patient is still alive, but they will not remain so unless they are seen soon by a doctor. Such injuries that a red patient might have include massive internal injuries and other life threatening injuries. Typically if the patient's respiration or heart rate is compromised the results could be fatal.
ii)Yellow - The patient requires medical attention within six hours. Their injuries are potentially life threatening, but they can wait until the Red patients are stabilized. The patient will require monitoring while they wait.
iii)Green - Sometimes known as the "walking wounded", these patients can wait until the red and yellow patients have been stabilized and taken care of. Some may require monitoring, others may not. These are minor injuries that are not-likely to compromise the patients health further than they already have.
iv)Black - These patients typically are so seriously injured that treating them would compromise the treatment of red and yellow patients or the patient simply is so injured that there is no medical technology available to save them. They are beyond hope and a member of the medical staff should see that they are made comfortable.
If you aren't certain as to what system you should be using, check with your CMO, if you are the CMO, then it would be your choice.
You can read more at great length about triage through wikipedia if you so desire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triage
B. Hypocratic Oath
Doctors are sworn from the moment they receive their medical license to preform their duties ethically. The basic tenets of the oath are that doctors are to provide the very best that they are capable of giving to their patients and to respect their privacy. For our purposes, it is important that you recognize that this is a very ethical profession and that if you are playing a character who takes their job seriously(Sometimes we all like to play the black sheep of the ship, but not always) you have to consider that your character would very likely take this oath seriously and ensure that they provide the best care that they can for their patients.
You can read at great length about the history and modern interpretations of the oath via wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocratic_oath
C. Other
Crew Physicals - All new members of the crew will require a trip to sickbay to ensure that they are healthy enough to assume their duties on the ship. As well, if you've noticed the CO of your ship hasn't been in sickbay in awhile, you might want to chase him down for one as crew are required to have one done periodically.
Diagnostics - If you're bored, you can always have your character check over the equipment in sickbay to ensure it's all ready to go. Faulty equipment does not save patients and therefore it's important to ensure this is done. Typically nurses would assist in this as well.
Tools of the Trade:
This section will briefly introduce you to tools that you'll need to use as a medical officer and provide you with links to where you can find much more detailed information.
A. Medical Equipment aids a medical officer in treating a variety of ailments, transporting patients who cannot move on their own and diagnosing ailments.
Check out Memory Alpha's extensive listing of equipment:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Medical_equipment
B. Medicines are used to treat a variety of symptoms, help stabilize a patient's vital signs, put a patient to sleep, wake a patient up, etc.
Check out Memory Alpha's extensive drug wiki:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Drugs_and_treatments
C. Ailments, you'll be treating these in order to keep your patients happy.
Check out Memory Alpha's listing for Medical Conditions:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Medical_conditions
This isn't everything, sometimes a GM will give you a made up disease, for example, but this listing will at least give you a starting place if you happen to be given the name of the disease.
There's a New Mission, but you're not directly involved...Now what?
You may sometimes find yourself waiting around for action in a mission, medical often takes a back seat unless the mission involves providing aid to a colony or ship that took on heavy casualties.
This chapter is designed to provide you with some ideas on what you can do if the main mission isn't keeping you busy. This is important because you are promoted based on the quality of your in character posts, which doesn't seem fair when you are in a department that doesn't often get much action.
It can be as simple as having a clumsy NE who constantly comes into sickbay from falling in the jeffries tubes or burning themselves with a plasma torch. Maybe there's a shy NE who likes your character and constantly comes in complaining of various maladies to hopefully grow closer to you.
It may seem silly, but you may find that your side plot grows on you. Start simply and you may even find that your little subplot will become a complex and elaborate back story for your character.
Some suggestions to get you started:
-A hypochondriac NE that you always seem to get stuck helping.
-A lovesick NE who keeps coming in with made up symptoms in attempts to get your attention.
-A clumsy NE keeps breaking parts of their body and you always seem to be on duty whenever they stop by with their latest injury.
Conclusion:
This concludes our lesson on the basics of playing in the medical department. Hopefully you found this informative and are even more excited at the prospect of playing a medical officer out there in SFHQ!
Testing Materials:
The following are scenarios that the medical course instructor may use when testing the cadets on the Academy ship. Instructors may come up with an entirely new scenario for you, but these should give you a pretty good idea of what will be expected of you when you are tested. It's up to you to make up any details that are not otherwise provided in the scenarios.
A. Emergencies:
i) You are the CMO and your ship is the first responding vessel to a Federation Colony of approximately 20,000 citizens. A massive storm system has caused massive destruction. Their medical facilities have been wiped out and their sick and injured require care.
ii) You are the Head Nurse and your ship has responded to a desolate planet which was the site of a fierce battle between the Klingons and the Romulans. Nobody knows why they were fighting over this world or who started it, but your job, as directed by the CMO, is to have yourself and four of your nurses conduct triage.
iii) You are the CMO and your ship has responded to a distress call from a Federation Civilian Transport Vessel. They have a major hull breach and have casualties from all parts of their vessel. While engineering assists in repairs, you must conduct triage and assist the injured.
B. Physicals & Other Routine Matters:
i) It's a quiet day on your ship, one of the engineers comes in with a burnt hand, he was working in the Jeffries Tubes and got himself zapped by an exposed panel. You're the doctor on duty.
ii) You're the doctor on duty and the surly security chief has just come in for his regularly scheduled physical exam. The CMO is not on duty and the nurse has just left for her dinner break.
iii)You're the duty nurse on night watch, it was a quiet night so the Doctor told you to hold down the fort while he went and grabbed a coffee, leaving you alone in sickbay. A civilian patient comes in complaining that his left arm has been hurting for the past two days. He collapses on the deck shortly after, unconscious.
C. Lab Work:
i)You're the virologist on board when doctors and nurses are overrun with patients complaining of uncontrollable twitching. This is rapidly becoming an epidemic, your task is to collect and analyze cultures taken from each patient to try and find a cure.
ii) A Federation colony is under seige, not from any discernable enemy, but rather by a strange disease that is dehydrating the citizens. You're one of the doctors trying to determine the cause.
iii) You feel like you're on a ship of fools...literally. You are the CMO and everyone around you is falling victim to mental instability. You were playing host to a party of scientists(The team consists of a Human, Andorian, Trill, Betazoid and a Napeean) who were isolated the last five years in an experimental deep space isolation experiment.
Monday, 24 May 2010
SFHQ Scientist's Manual by Katherine Dedul
(Reproduced with permission from Katherine Dedul)
Introduction:
This manual will help you becoming one of the more important positions on a starship. The Engineers, Security Officers and Medical Officers typically get all the glory, but scientists arguably are some of the smartest folk on a starship. One of the orders of a starship is to explore new worlds and seek out new life...you can't do this effectively without a scientist!
We're going to start with the absolute basics and go into a bit more complex matters. This manual will cover the basics, but will provide you with links to excellent websites like Memory Alpha which contain more detailed information if you wish to use them. Our goal here isn't to bombard you with a bunch of information that may be of use to you, but rather to give you the tools necessary to succeed in a science posting on a ship.
Positions in Science:
There are two main types of science officer, the Chief Science Officer(CSO) and the Science JO(Sci). However, a science vessel may further specify their scientists into categories like "Geologist", "Biologist", "Chemist", etc.
A. Chief Science Officer
This is the senior most scientists onboard. They generally have a specialty, but have enough knowledge in all areas of science to act as an expert in that field if required. They represent the science department in senior staff meetings and will delegate tasks to the scientists assigned to their team. Typically, the CSO will also be part of the away missions if the Commanding Officer assigns a science officer to the mission.
B. Scientist
These folks are junior officers who report directly to the CSO. They will have one or two key areas of specialization(ie: Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, etc) and will work to advance their work in that field when permitted. They will also be called upon when the ship is facing a problem that fits within their field of specialty, particularly if the CSO merely knows the basics of that field.
You may also hear terms like "ranking biologist" or something similar, this has nothing to do with the rank of the officer in question, but rather the depth of their understanding. A ranking biologist for example would mean that this particular scientist is more experienced in the field of biology than anyone else on the starship.
The Fields of Scientific Exploration:
This section concerns some basic concepts you might want to take with you as you play your medical character. I've included some links to the articles on Wikipedia and Memory Alpha, but you can always google these disciplines for a lot more articles and information. These fields and sub-fields are not how everyone would describe science, but rather one way of many. The field of science is constantly changing, with each new discovery in fact. It's not important for our purposes that you learn all you can about the field(s) of expertise you might choose for a character, but rather that you learn what types of work they might do in a day-to-day situation. Scientists are concerned with answering questions, making comparisons and furthering our understanding of the universe in general, but each scientific field is concerned with one particular area of the universe. Once you're through this section, you'll see why, there's simply not enough time in the span of the life of a typical Humanoid to learn it all!
A. Basic Scientific Fields
i)Physics - Basically defined as the study of matter and its motion through the universe. It can be further subdivided into the branches of:
a. Classical Mechanics
b. Electromagnetism
c. Statistical Mechanics
d. Thermodynamics
e. Quantum mechanics
f. Relativity
More information on Physics can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Physics (Memory Alpha)
ii)Chemistry - Defined as a study of matter and the changes it undergoes. It differs from physics because it studies primarily the composition, behavior, structure and the properties of matter. It can be further subdivided into branches of:
a. Biochemistry
b. Inorganic
c. Nuclear
d. Organic
e. Physical
f. Theoretical
More information on Chemistry can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Chemistry (Memory Alpha)
B. Spatial Sciences
i)Astronomy - Defined as the study of celestial objects and other associated phenomena. Some people may refer to this field as "Astrophysics", generally they are seen to be one and the same. It can be further subdivided into the branches of:
a. Stellar/Solar
b. Galactic
c. Extragalactic
d. Cosmology
More information on Astronomy can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy (wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Astronomy (Memory Alpha)
Note: While not required, it is highly recommended that your character have at least a secondary specialization in this field, particularly if you're on a starship as this field would get the most "screen" time since the bulk of discoveries on starships involve spatial phenomenon. Most scientists on a starship would have a fairly solid grounding in this field.
C. Planetary Sciences
i)Geology - is the study of physical matter that constitutes a planet. It includes the study of composition, structure, properties and history of a planet's physical material and the processes by which it is formed, moved and changed. It can be subdivided into such categories as:
a. Economic
b. Engineering
c. Hydrology
d. Natural Hazards
e. Regional
More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Geology (Memory Alpha)
ii)Geography - Geographers are typically concerned with the study of the spatical and temporal distribution of land forms, processes and features as well as the interactions Humanoids have with their natural environment. The main branches of Geography include:
a. Physical
b. Humanoid
c. Environmental
d. Geomatics
e. Regional
More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Geography (Memory Alpha)
D. Life Sciences
i)Biology - Concerned with the study of life and living organisms. There are quite a few distinct branches of biology, some of them are:
a. Biochemistry
b. Agriculture
c. Botany
d. Entomology
e. Genetics
f. Paleontology
More information can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Biology (Memory Alpha)
ii)Archaeology - Is the study of past Humanoid civilizations through recovery and analysis of material remains. Some sub-disciplines include:
a. Historical
b. Ethnoarchaeology
c. Experimental Archaeology
d. Archaeometry
More information can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archeology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Archeology (Memory Alpha)
iii)Anthropology - Is concerned with the study of humanity. It looks at the origins of humanoids, how they developed culture and language. There are various subfields of Anthroplogy, some of which include:
a. Social
b. Cultural
c. Ethnology
d. Forensic
e. Urban
More information can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Anthropology (Memory Alpha)
Tools of the Trade:
As stated in the previous section, you don't need to know everything about the field you've selected as your characters area of expertise. You don't even need to study up on principles that the field is concerns with. Scientists have their own form of "techno-babble" that differs from engineers in that they're concerned with explaining the universe. This section will cover the common problems a scientist will be faced with on a starship.
A. A Strange New Phenomenon
Typically this is a new type of nebula, star, gaseous cloud, etc. Astronomers typically handle these types of problems(Hence why it's recommended that your character at least have a secondary interest in this field. Chemists and physicists may also see some use of their field here as well and if the new phenomenon is a space faring creature, then likely biologists may also be called upon.
This heading is also where you'll discover that wonderful five letter word...Probe. Probes will extend the sensor capabilities of a starship, it's important to keep in mind the specs of your ship(certain ships will have a certain set of probes in their inventory). Probes come in different classes and sizes, smaller ships will likely have only basic probes in their inventory and their number will vary based upon the space the ship has. When in doubt, consult the specs, if that doesn't clear up any confusion, check with your CSO or CO, they'll give you a definitive answer.
Typically the GM will provide you with details of the new anomaly. Your job will be to role-play your character checking the ever so useful Federation database for similar spatial phenomenon for comparison. GMs will typically base their creation off of something similar they've read about or seen on television, putting their own little "twist" on it, so they will typically give you details of the "original" phenomenon(or at least a link to where you can view it yourself!)
B. Planetary Story-lines
Another common science use is exploring a new planet or revisiting an old planet that is faced with a new problem(for example, a Federation world we know quite well facing a new weather phenomenon they haven't faced before).
Earth-based and life scientists will likely be involved here(physicists and chemists as well, depending upon the problem their involvement will manifest in different ways). Like spatially based problems, it will involve comparing the new problem with similar problems faced prior by other crews and starships by searching the Federation Database. Comparison is the basic method of understanding something new, by doing so, it may be possible to predict the behavior of the lifeform, predict the use of each part of a set of ruins or predict what may work to contain a phenomenon for further study.
C. Some Things to Keep in Mind
Scientists may not be able to relieve officers of duty like medical doctors and counselors can, but they can sometimes convince a superior officer to do as they wish by using their smarts.
Some scientists may come across as a bit arrogant(think: Nella Daren from the TNG ep "Lessons"), others can be more humble(think: Samantha Wildman from Voyager), both officers were certainly skilled in their area of expertise, but had different personalities. So it's up to you, whether you want to have an egomaniac of a character who thinks that his or her specific field of scientific study is the most important thing since sliced bread, or someone who is a bit more willing to listen to other fields of scientific research.
Don't be afraid to be creative, COs don't promote you based upon whether or not they believe the ideas of your scientist have solid academic grounding, they promote you based upon your ability to both post in response to specific direction from the GM and avoiding going AWOL when the mission doesn't involve you directly.
What to do When You're Bored:
You may sometimes find yourself waiting around for action in a mission, particularly if you are on a combat or diplomatic vessel. This section deals with some hints and tips on how to keep yourself busy when the mission isn't otherwise providing you with chances to post.
The idea is to create a few little sub-plots that can be easily ignored when the mission is keeping you busy, but ones that you can consistently turn to when the mission storyline isn't providing you with enough posting chances.
Some suggestions:
-Character development. Have your character do some independent research on their favorite topic.(Read our Article on Posting IC and Developing a Character)
-Visit the holodeck.
-Run diagnostics on all the lab equipment.
-Have a get together with other scientists in the messhall.
Conclusion:
This concludes our lesson on the basics of playing in the science department. Hopefully you found this informative and are even more excited at the prospect of playing a science officer out there in SFHQ!
Testing Materials:
The following are scenarios that the science course instructor may use when testing the cadets on the Academy ship. Instructors may come up with an entirely new scenario for you, but these should give you a pretty good idea of what will be expected of you when you are tested. It's up to you to make up any details that are not otherwise provided in the scenarios. All answers to these scenarios on the academy ship must be written by way of a IC post.
A. Exploring A New World:
i) You are the ranking biologist on your starship and as such the CSO has picked you as part of the away team to go down and explore the new planet.(Hint: As a biologist, what might you be interested in collecting and exploring?)
ii) You are the ranking geologist on your starship and as such the CSO wants you to head down on the away mission to a new planet.(Hint: What sorts of things might you be interested in as a geologist?)
iii) You are the ranking archeologist on your starship and the away team has discovered some ancient ruins, so naturally your CSO wants you to beam down and join the away team.(Hint: What sorts of things might you be looking for as an archeologist?)
B. Exploring A New Spacial Phenomenon:
i) You are the ranking astronomer on a starship and the ship has just discovered a new nebula, the CSO has put you in charge of the research on it.(Hint: What sorts of things might you want to start doing with the scans of that nebula?)
ii) You are the CSO on a starship that has been assigned to examine a new expanse of space. Delegate your staff appropriately.
iii) You are the CSO on a starship that has been trapped by a strange phenomenon, what are some of the things you'll need to do to begin to help the ship free itself?
C. Keeping Busy On Your Own:
i) You're on a mission and guess what...the science department literally has nothing to do....how are you going to keep yourself from being bored out of your mind?
ii) The CSO of your ship is busy with the away team, you're on the ship because as a astronomer, you aren't needed on the planet's surface, what might you do to keep yourself busy and productive?
iii) The CSO of your ship is busy helping the space based scientists map a new nebula, you are a anthropologist, you aren't needed. So what are you going to do to make sure you remain productive in the department?
Introduction:
This manual will help you becoming one of the more important positions on a starship. The Engineers, Security Officers and Medical Officers typically get all the glory, but scientists arguably are some of the smartest folk on a starship. One of the orders of a starship is to explore new worlds and seek out new life...you can't do this effectively without a scientist!
We're going to start with the absolute basics and go into a bit more complex matters. This manual will cover the basics, but will provide you with links to excellent websites like Memory Alpha which contain more detailed information if you wish to use them. Our goal here isn't to bombard you with a bunch of information that may be of use to you, but rather to give you the tools necessary to succeed in a science posting on a ship.
Positions in Science:
There are two main types of science officer, the Chief Science Officer(CSO) and the Science JO(Sci). However, a science vessel may further specify their scientists into categories like "Geologist", "Biologist", "Chemist", etc.
A. Chief Science Officer
This is the senior most scientists onboard. They generally have a specialty, but have enough knowledge in all areas of science to act as an expert in that field if required. They represent the science department in senior staff meetings and will delegate tasks to the scientists assigned to their team. Typically, the CSO will also be part of the away missions if the Commanding Officer assigns a science officer to the mission.
B. Scientist
These folks are junior officers who report directly to the CSO. They will have one or two key areas of specialization(ie: Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, etc) and will work to advance their work in that field when permitted. They will also be called upon when the ship is facing a problem that fits within their field of specialty, particularly if the CSO merely knows the basics of that field.
You may also hear terms like "ranking biologist" or something similar, this has nothing to do with the rank of the officer in question, but rather the depth of their understanding. A ranking biologist for example would mean that this particular scientist is more experienced in the field of biology than anyone else on the starship.
The Fields of Scientific Exploration:
This section concerns some basic concepts you might want to take with you as you play your medical character. I've included some links to the articles on Wikipedia and Memory Alpha, but you can always google these disciplines for a lot more articles and information. These fields and sub-fields are not how everyone would describe science, but rather one way of many. The field of science is constantly changing, with each new discovery in fact. It's not important for our purposes that you learn all you can about the field(s) of expertise you might choose for a character, but rather that you learn what types of work they might do in a day-to-day situation. Scientists are concerned with answering questions, making comparisons and furthering our understanding of the universe in general, but each scientific field is concerned with one particular area of the universe. Once you're through this section, you'll see why, there's simply not enough time in the span of the life of a typical Humanoid to learn it all!
A. Basic Scientific Fields
i)Physics - Basically defined as the study of matter and its motion through the universe. It can be further subdivided into the branches of:
a. Classical Mechanics
b. Electromagnetism
c. Statistical Mechanics
d. Thermodynamics
e. Quantum mechanics
f. Relativity
More information on Physics can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Physics (Memory Alpha)
ii)Chemistry - Defined as a study of matter and the changes it undergoes. It differs from physics because it studies primarily the composition, behavior, structure and the properties of matter. It can be further subdivided into branches of:
a. Biochemistry
b. Inorganic
c. Nuclear
d. Organic
e. Physical
f. Theoretical
More information on Chemistry can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Chemistry (Memory Alpha)
B. Spatial Sciences
i)Astronomy - Defined as the study of celestial objects and other associated phenomena. Some people may refer to this field as "Astrophysics", generally they are seen to be one and the same. It can be further subdivided into the branches of:
a. Stellar/Solar
b. Galactic
c. Extragalactic
d. Cosmology
More information on Astronomy can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy (wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Astronomy (Memory Alpha)
Note: While not required, it is highly recommended that your character have at least a secondary specialization in this field, particularly if you're on a starship as this field would get the most "screen" time since the bulk of discoveries on starships involve spatial phenomenon. Most scientists on a starship would have a fairly solid grounding in this field.
C. Planetary Sciences
i)Geology - is the study of physical matter that constitutes a planet. It includes the study of composition, structure, properties and history of a planet's physical material and the processes by which it is formed, moved and changed. It can be subdivided into such categories as:
a. Economic
b. Engineering
c. Hydrology
d. Natural Hazards
e. Regional
More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Geology (Memory Alpha)
ii)Geography - Geographers are typically concerned with the study of the spatical and temporal distribution of land forms, processes and features as well as the interactions Humanoids have with their natural environment. The main branches of Geography include:
a. Physical
b. Humanoid
c. Environmental
d. Geomatics
e. Regional
More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Geography (Memory Alpha)
D. Life Sciences
i)Biology - Concerned with the study of life and living organisms. There are quite a few distinct branches of biology, some of them are:
a. Biochemistry
b. Agriculture
c. Botany
d. Entomology
e. Genetics
f. Paleontology
More information can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Biology (Memory Alpha)
ii)Archaeology - Is the study of past Humanoid civilizations through recovery and analysis of material remains. Some sub-disciplines include:
a. Historical
b. Ethnoarchaeology
c. Experimental Archaeology
d. Archaeometry
More information can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archeology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Archeology (Memory Alpha)
iii)Anthropology - Is concerned with the study of humanity. It looks at the origins of humanoids, how they developed culture and language. There are various subfields of Anthroplogy, some of which include:
a. Social
b. Cultural
c. Ethnology
d. Forensic
e. Urban
More information can be found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology (Wikipedia)
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Anthropology (Memory Alpha)
Tools of the Trade:
As stated in the previous section, you don't need to know everything about the field you've selected as your characters area of expertise. You don't even need to study up on principles that the field is concerns with. Scientists have their own form of "techno-babble" that differs from engineers in that they're concerned with explaining the universe. This section will cover the common problems a scientist will be faced with on a starship.
A. A Strange New Phenomenon
Typically this is a new type of nebula, star, gaseous cloud, etc. Astronomers typically handle these types of problems(Hence why it's recommended that your character at least have a secondary interest in this field. Chemists and physicists may also see some use of their field here as well and if the new phenomenon is a space faring creature, then likely biologists may also be called upon.
This heading is also where you'll discover that wonderful five letter word...Probe. Probes will extend the sensor capabilities of a starship, it's important to keep in mind the specs of your ship(certain ships will have a certain set of probes in their inventory). Probes come in different classes and sizes, smaller ships will likely have only basic probes in their inventory and their number will vary based upon the space the ship has. When in doubt, consult the specs, if that doesn't clear up any confusion, check with your CSO or CO, they'll give you a definitive answer.
Typically the GM will provide you with details of the new anomaly. Your job will be to role-play your character checking the ever so useful Federation database for similar spatial phenomenon for comparison. GMs will typically base their creation off of something similar they've read about or seen on television, putting their own little "twist" on it, so they will typically give you details of the "original" phenomenon(or at least a link to where you can view it yourself!)
B. Planetary Story-lines
Another common science use is exploring a new planet or revisiting an old planet that is faced with a new problem(for example, a Federation world we know quite well facing a new weather phenomenon they haven't faced before).
Earth-based and life scientists will likely be involved here(physicists and chemists as well, depending upon the problem their involvement will manifest in different ways). Like spatially based problems, it will involve comparing the new problem with similar problems faced prior by other crews and starships by searching the Federation Database. Comparison is the basic method of understanding something new, by doing so, it may be possible to predict the behavior of the lifeform, predict the use of each part of a set of ruins or predict what may work to contain a phenomenon for further study.
C. Some Things to Keep in Mind
Scientists may not be able to relieve officers of duty like medical doctors and counselors can, but they can sometimes convince a superior officer to do as they wish by using their smarts.
Some scientists may come across as a bit arrogant(think: Nella Daren from the TNG ep "Lessons"), others can be more humble(think: Samantha Wildman from Voyager), both officers were certainly skilled in their area of expertise, but had different personalities. So it's up to you, whether you want to have an egomaniac of a character who thinks that his or her specific field of scientific study is the most important thing since sliced bread, or someone who is a bit more willing to listen to other fields of scientific research.
Don't be afraid to be creative, COs don't promote you based upon whether or not they believe the ideas of your scientist have solid academic grounding, they promote you based upon your ability to both post in response to specific direction from the GM and avoiding going AWOL when the mission doesn't involve you directly.
What to do When You're Bored:
You may sometimes find yourself waiting around for action in a mission, particularly if you are on a combat or diplomatic vessel. This section deals with some hints and tips on how to keep yourself busy when the mission isn't otherwise providing you with chances to post.
The idea is to create a few little sub-plots that can be easily ignored when the mission is keeping you busy, but ones that you can consistently turn to when the mission storyline isn't providing you with enough posting chances.
Some suggestions:
-Character development. Have your character do some independent research on their favorite topic.(Read our Article on Posting IC and Developing a Character)
-Visit the holodeck.
-Run diagnostics on all the lab equipment.
-Have a get together with other scientists in the messhall.
Conclusion:
This concludes our lesson on the basics of playing in the science department. Hopefully you found this informative and are even more excited at the prospect of playing a science officer out there in SFHQ!
Testing Materials:
The following are scenarios that the science course instructor may use when testing the cadets on the Academy ship. Instructors may come up with an entirely new scenario for you, but these should give you a pretty good idea of what will be expected of you when you are tested. It's up to you to make up any details that are not otherwise provided in the scenarios. All answers to these scenarios on the academy ship must be written by way of a IC post.
A. Exploring A New World:
i) You are the ranking biologist on your starship and as such the CSO has picked you as part of the away team to go down and explore the new planet.(Hint: As a biologist, what might you be interested in collecting and exploring?)
ii) You are the ranking geologist on your starship and as such the CSO wants you to head down on the away mission to a new planet.(Hint: What sorts of things might you be interested in as a geologist?)
iii) You are the ranking archeologist on your starship and the away team has discovered some ancient ruins, so naturally your CSO wants you to beam down and join the away team.(Hint: What sorts of things might you be looking for as an archeologist?)
B. Exploring A New Spacial Phenomenon:
i) You are the ranking astronomer on a starship and the ship has just discovered a new nebula, the CSO has put you in charge of the research on it.(Hint: What sorts of things might you want to start doing with the scans of that nebula?)
ii) You are the CSO on a starship that has been assigned to examine a new expanse of space. Delegate your staff appropriately.
iii) You are the CSO on a starship that has been trapped by a strange phenomenon, what are some of the things you'll need to do to begin to help the ship free itself?
C. Keeping Busy On Your Own:
i) You're on a mission and guess what...the science department literally has nothing to do....how are you going to keep yourself from being bored out of your mind?
ii) The CSO of your ship is busy with the away team, you're on the ship because as a astronomer, you aren't needed on the planet's surface, what might you do to keep yourself busy and productive?
iii) The CSO of your ship is busy helping the space based scientists map a new nebula, you are a anthropologist, you aren't needed. So what are you going to do to make sure you remain productive in the department?
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Power Vacuum in SFHQ as CCP Granger resigns
SFHQ is in the midst of a power vacuum.
Following William Smith's discover that the Council Chairperson, Peter Granger, had gone AWOL, Silent Hunter proposed a motion to impeach him.
In the end, it proved unneeded, as Mr. Granger submitted his resignation via email to President Giesbrecht.
Peter never appointed a Vice Council Chairperson. Ty Shanahan, the previous vCCP, has offered to step in, but he was never appointed by this administration- and does not have a character in the club.
Legal clarification is awaited, but it's not good news for the troubled club.
Following William Smith's discover that the Council Chairperson, Peter Granger, had gone AWOL, Silent Hunter proposed a motion to impeach him.
In the end, it proved unneeded, as Mr. Granger submitted his resignation via email to President Giesbrecht.
Peter never appointed a Vice Council Chairperson. Ty Shanahan, the previous vCCP, has offered to step in, but he was never appointed by this administration- and does not have a character in the club.
Legal clarification is awaited, but it's not good news for the troubled club.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
An Baile Ùr is open
Robert Longtin, CO of An Baile Ùr, officially opened the sim at 10:06am PST yesterday.
It looks like it's going to be very successful.
Please, come and join us for some spectacular craic!
It looks like it's going to be very successful.
Please, come and join us for some spectacular craic!
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Editorial: Katherine Dedul creates a Medical Manual
As part of the planned Academy, Katherine Dedul has drafted a manual for Medical characters and posted it in Starfleet Command (time code 2010-05-11 16:48:49).
I have to say it is an excellent document and should be posted in Member Support as soon as possible.
I have to say it is an excellent document and should be posted in Member Support as soon as possible.
Monday, 3 May 2010
IKV Vindicator Closes after CO resigns
Appointment #90
Silent Hunter is relieved of command of the IKV Vindicator, as previously announced.
The IKV Vindicator is hereby regrettably closed as well.
Kat
C in C
****
The sim had been in serious trouble for a while, with the CO having a GM vanish and having to dual-hat as GM. Activity was too low and he finally resigned on 30 April.
Silent Hunter is relieved of command of the IKV Vindicator, as previously announced.
The IKV Vindicator is hereby regrettably closed as well.
Kat
C in C
****
The sim had been in serious trouble for a while, with the CO having a GM vanish and having to dual-hat as GM. Activity was too low and he finally resigned on 30 April.
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