First Officers in Focus – Taelon, Starbase 118 Ops

StarBase 118 Staff · March 4, 2018

Each month we interview a First Officer or Commanding Officer of the fleet as part of our “First Officer in Focus” and “Captain’s Corner” columns to get to know them better, and learn more about what their positions entail.

This month, we’re interviewing the First Officer of Starbase 118 Ops, Lieutenant Commander Taelon, an El-Aurian male.

Let’s get started!

TRAENOR: Tell us a little about the writer behind Taelon. Where do you hail from, and what are you up to when you’re not simming?

TAELON: I’m a 30-something web designer for the northwestern USA. My hobbies outside of simming are programming, digital art (and photoshopping) and other escapist hobbies.

El-Aurians are not a common species seen around the fleet. What is it about these long-lived people that made you want to try your hand at playing as one?

The El-Aurians are a race that has a very vague but traumatic backstory – with their planet and most of their species taken by the Borg, I thought it’d be interesting to try my hand at a ‘young’ El-Aurian, one who was born after the loss of the homeworld and the loss of the majority of their population. The canonical vagueness about their culture also left things about various ethnic groups open for invention, which has been a lot of fun.

What ships have you served on and what duty posts have you played so far in your Starfleet career?

Just Ops (and the Connie through my secondary character). I’ve primarily served as a science officer, which I’ve found is quite a free position.

Tell us more about your writing style. What’s your process for putting together a sim?

Honestly, it’s pretty simple – I do my best to read over all the other sims relating to my scene (provided my inbox filters don’t fail me!) and then have Taelon react to circumstances in character.

Are there elements of real life that you especially enjoy incorporating into your simming?

I don’t know if I’d say I enjoy it, as such, but my character and I share a major anxiety disorder – and it’s been interesting showing my own experiences through the very different lens of a spacefaring alien while still trying to keep his experiences his own.

What has been the greatest challenge, in character and out of character, with the command experience?

I have a fair amount of OOC experience at RP admin/GMing, but in character…let’s just say there’s reason the IC promotion hasn’t happened yet! OOC it’s been fine and fun, but Taelon doesn’t have a very huge sense of self-worth, so he needs a bit of work before the promotion will make sense.

Looking back on your experience so far, what would be one piece of advice you’d give to anyone who’s just joined?

Join the Science department! I’m ~~not entirely~~ kidding – there’s often the assumption that Starfleet scientists must be devoted to ‘dull’ sciences like weather patterns or geology (which aren’t dull, dangit!), but in reality, science can be anything. Want to play a forensic ballistics expert? Science! A cybernetics mad scientist? Science! A designer of huge [...] bombs? Also science!