Non-Player Characters

In addition to the main player characters, there are hundreds of other crew members on the ship. These can be used to enliven the environment and add extra flavor to posts. In fact, players are strongly encouraged to create at least one PNPC outside their department. This gives everyone more opportunities to interact. For posting purposes, these extra characters fall into three main categories.

Background NPC

These NPCs exist in the background and are little more than a name and rank. They effectively appear for a post and then are rarely heard or seen again.

Recurring NPCs

These are NPCs who occasionally show up when a particular type of character is needed, and are available to be reused by anyone. They can be helpful to fill out the lower slots of a department manifest. When creating a recurring NPC, all that is needed is a basic physical description, although you can add in some bullet points as information about them is developed. Because they are not owned by any particular player, anyone can use them, but that should be done in a way consistent with their previous appearances. Please include them as post authors if they have a substantial role.

Secondary Characters (Linked PNPCs)

Secondary characters, also called 'protected' NPCs, are owned by a specific player and are linked to their account. These characters fill the same role as major recurring characters in the Trek shows, such as Garak, Guinan, or Cornwell. They allow players to participate in more types of posts than might be appropriate for their main character, especially since they can be in other departments. PNPCs have a distinct icon on the manifest and have the owner's name attached, ie [Hunter].

Players can have up to four secondaries, as long as the main character doesn't get neglected. You should come up with at least a few sentences of background and personality to work with while creating the character, but you can flesh out more later as you use them. While they can be in any department, it's polite to ask the department head before creating them in case other NPCs need to be rearranged. You also need to let the CO or XO know so that the PNPC can be linked to your account.

Because secondary characters belong to a specific player, you must be sure to include that character in the author list of the post. This brings them in the same way their main does. It also makes sure they show up for the statistics.

NPC ranks

No NPC can be a higher rank than the department head. In general, the highest rank should be lieutenant or chief petty officer. Warrant officer ranks are reserved for specialists.

NPC Author Credit

When using an unliked NPC in a substantial role, please be sure to include who was playing them at the bottom of your post. This helps make it clear who was participating and gets activity credit. For example:

Lt. Zara sh'Kerran, Life Sciences Officer
Played by Hunter