Strange Species: Dehnir, An Orion

StarBase 118 Staff · February 24, 2018

Most rosters in the StarBase 118 fleet are filled with members of well-known and allied species – humans, Vulcans, Betazoids, Klingons, Trills. But what about the lesser-known species, and the writers who create characters from those races? In this series, we explore fleet officers from unusual species and the writers behind them.

From Starbase 118 Ops, Ensign Dehnir, an Orion female serving as a medical officer.

SHAYNE: Tell us a little bit about yourself- where in the world do you hail from?

DEHNIR: My name is Richard and at present I live in Germany.

Tell us a little bit about why you chose to play an Orion female- an intriguing choice by any means.

I wanted a character that would challenge me, to push me outside of my comfort zone. I didn’t want one of the primary species so I stayed away from Klingons, Vulcans etc. After trawling through the ILI and narrowing down the species I wanted, I finally settled on an Orion. Something about their checkered history along with the recent demise of the Orion Syndicate and the potential there drew me in.

Dehnir is your second character- your primary, Jarred Thoran, is a male human security officer. What are some of the differences you notice when writing for them (process, approach, etc.)?

Jarred is essentially for the most part me. When simming for him, I put myself in his shoes and ask what would I do. Dehnir started off in a similar vein; however after only a couple of sims, she started to develop her own personality. She has become a softer, gentler character who doesn’t always think before speaking. Because she is wildly different from what I’m used to writing, I’ve found that I really have to put myself inside her head, to get in the zone as it were.

Are there challenges to playing an Orion in particular? Advantages? Unique opportunities?

Although a familiar species, there is not much known about Orion society, other than the darker side we have seen on screen, specifically the Orion Syndicate. How much influence did they hold, what impact does their destruction have on the homeworld, what was life like for an ordinary Orion, these are all things that are open and could potentially create some excellent simming opportunities. There is also the issue with Orion females and their pheromones, along with them once being a highly advanced civilisation, which are things I’d like to explore in the future.

Though you’ve only been playing her for a relatively short time, do you have any advice you’d like to offer to others who may be interested in writing for an Orion?

Let your imagination run wild, but make sure you do your homework. Watch episodes they appear in to see how they behave and act, read the information both on our wiki and Memory Alpha.

Thank you for your time!

You can read more about Ens Dehnir on the wiki.

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