The Prolog

[Webmaster 20]

(Webmaster's Note: This post is by Lo'Ami.  I am posting this subject on his behalf.  The work contained herein is his, and all personal references like "I" and "me" are to refer to his character.)

 

Arphazad sat alone in the science lab.  He looked around and surveyed the remaining equipment that he had knocked on the floor earlier.  It was not that he had suddenly become an incompetent scientist.  He looked down at his belly and thought about how he'd worked his way through school and advanced himself as a promising scientist; he had at least twenty papers published in prominent physics journals, and his ideas were discussed by the scientific heavyweights of his time; he even had a D.Sc. from the prestigious Daystrom Institute - all before Lo'Ami.  So why couldn't he maintain his composure in front of the ship's brass?  Arphazad pondered his position.  He was chief of science aboard the USS Arcadia, one of the most advanced ships in Starfleet... and he was not ready to handle command - not without Lo'Ami.

 

"My door will always be open to you."  He remembered Cmdr. Alces' words.  He had never felt that comfortable with Cmdr. Alces on a personal level, but perhaps he was the only other person on the ship who would understand his predicament.  Both had obtained their symbionts through unconventional means.  In his rush towards wishful thinking, Arphazad thought: Perhaps in Alces' four centuries of experience, he had seen or heard of something similar, and knew of a treatment or cure.  The alternative might be that Alces would report Arphazad's state to Captain Moose.  Then, his career would be over; or, he would be transferred to a dead-end job in the science department where he could succeed as he was, minus the pressure of command.

 

Arphazad found himself ringing Alces' doorbell.  At first no one answered, and he thought he could hear music coming from within.  Finally the door opened and Arphazad was face to face with ... Marlene Zukko?  "I didn't mean to intrude," he said awkwardly.

 

"It's ok," she said, popping her gum.  "I was just leaving.  Thanks for the wine, boss," she called over her shoulder as she left.

 

"Lo'Ami, mon ami," came the affiable voice from within.  "You're just in time for chocolate souffle.  Come, sit.  Would you like to sample the Liebfraumilch?"

 

"No thank you."

 

"Oh," said Alces in a disappointed tone.  "The pate then?"

 

Arphazad shook his head, already regretting his entry in Alces' culinary world.

 

"Please don't tell me you came to retreive the IS3000 replicator chip?"

 

Arphazad thought a moment, and decided that he would press that issue later.  He went straight to business.

 

"No, not the chip.  You were right, commander, there is something going on."  Arphazad let it all spill out.  "It all started after the accident in the cargo bay.  After I woke up on the Blue Note, I haven't been ..."  :: pauses :: "myself.  Or, maybe the problem is that I've been too much of myself.  "  :: another pause ::

"What I'm trying to say is: Lo'Ami is gone.  Well, it's still there, but I can't remember anything of the previous hosts.  I'm alone."

 

"You remember nothing?" asked Alces?  "Not even Phedra Lo'Ami's bachelor party in 2315?  That's a pity.  And a bit of a relief actually ..."

 

Arphazad shook his head.  Even upset as he was, he was not really convinced that Alces wasn't making that up.

 

"The first thing you need to do is visit sick bay," said Alces.  "You need to make sure that the worm is healthy.  If there are no medical problems, then your situation is easily solved by a zhin'tara."

 

"A zhin'what?" asked Arphazad?

 

"A zhin'tara.  The 'Trill Rite of Passage'.  You must have participated in dozens of them.  Ah yes," he said, chuckling suddenly.  "You wouldn't remember those, would you?  That's part of the problem."

 

Arphazad gave Alces a stern look.  He wasn't laughing.

 

"It isn't serious," Alces replied.  "A zhin'tara is a simple thing, acutally.  Round up your friends on the ship.  One by one, we'll extract the essence of one of your prior hosts and it will possess your friend for an hour or two.  You sit, you chat, you share a little nosh, and you get to know yourself.  It will reconnect you with your past.  When it's over you'll be whole again."

 

Arphazad scrutinized the other Trill.  This sounded just as implausable as the bachelor party.  "Are you taking advantage of my condition?"  he asked.

 

"Of course not," said Alces.  "You've done this before; every time you've had a new host actually.  You'll remember it all once it's started.  Now, go get your physical and round up your friends.  I'll make all the other arrangements."

 

"Thank you," said Arphazad, not entirely sure of what he letting himself in for.

 

..................................

 

And so begins Lo'Ami's zhian'tara, modeled on Dax's in the DS9 episode "Facets."  In short, another person comes in and is temporarily possessed by one of Lo'Ami's previous hosts.  This way, we define Lo'Ami's previous hosts.

 

And here is where you are invited to come in.  Any STSF member, whether assigned to Arcadia or not, may participate.

 

Post your responses and logs to the Create A Character forum.

 

You may temporarily "borrow" my character to ask your host questions.  I will post the first log, as an example.

 

At the end, I will try to incorporate all of them into Lo'Ami's bio.  Your host may show up in a future episode of Arcadia!

 

In sim time, we will assume that the zhian'tara ended before stardate 10305.21, Arcadia's next mission.  Logs may be added after that point, for about two weeks.

 

 

A few tips:

 

Lo'Ami has been around for over 450 years.  This means that hosts may range in time from Earth's 19th century until the 24th century.  Please use the whole range.

 

The previous hosts may be male or female.  They should be Trill, and over 18 years old, the minimum age of a proper joining.  Assume that the average lifespan of an individual Trill is approximately 100 years, decreasing as you go back in time.

 

Please do not make any of the previous hosts famous.  While they may have been involved in important events, they should not have been the driving forces behind them.

 

The only things I've said about Lo'Ami's previous hosts were:

 

• The last one was Lt. Nemrod Lo'Ami.  I will post his entry.  
  
• None ever practiced modern (24th century!) medicine.
  

Please abide by these restrictions.  For now, we will ignore that I said in my bio that there were 10 of them.  There's an edit button for a reason :-)

 

Have fun, and thank you for participating!

[Travis Kroells 0]

Im confused, do we write a log using our own made character or what?

[Vex Xiang 0]

I think you write a log about your character coming in to meet Lo'Ami, and then your character gets possessed by one of Lo'ami's ex hosts and you play that host.

[LoAmi 0]

Vex got it right.  You enter the room and get posessed by a previous host, who talks to me about him/herself.  You can use my log for Nemrod Lo'Ami and Vex's for Esrelda as guides.

 

By the way, Vex, I laughed out loud all the way through reading yours.

 

One thing I forgot to specify - you do not have to give specific dates for when your host lived, I'll fit that all together when I update my bio to include all of your submissions; if it is time dependent though, an idea of the century would be good. :-)

 

Oh, and, for credit where credit is due:

The Prologue post should be signed:

Lt. Arphazad Lo'Ami

Acting Chief Science Officer, USS Arcadia

and

Cmdr. Zar Alces (aka Captain Moose's alter-ego)

Chief Engineer, USS Arcadia

[ens_sivok 0]

Hey when do we have to post are stories by?

[Cptn Moose 0]

We were thinking that we'd loosely keep this out here for about two weeks, which ends sometime this weekend.  But we'll keep it out here longer if folks are planning to jump in.

 

If the folder is suddenly gone, then webby moved it to the Arcadia section where it can still be accessed.

 

Don't let the arbitraty deadline get in your way.  Feel free to participate.  We'll keep the light on for you. ;-)

[LoAmi 0]

Hey when do we have to post are stories by?

If you plan on posting, please do so soon.  As this is supposed to be a "special feature" -- it can only be around for a limited time.  

 

As Cpt. Moose said, the two weeks was kinda arbitrary, so it'll probably stay up for at least another week - hopefully, corresponding to an increase in activity.  :)