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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Pope Francis: Church cannot be 'obsessed' with gays, other bans

From The Chicago Tribune:
Pope Francis: Church cannot be 'obsessed' with gays, other bans

Pope Francis said the Catholic Church must shake off an obsession with teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuality and become more merciful or risk the collapse of its entire moral edifice "like a house of cards".

In a dramatically blunt interview with an Italian Jesuit journal, Francis said the Church had "locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules" and should not be so prone to condemn.

Its priests should be more welcoming and not cold, dogmatic bureaucrats. ...

Francis ... did not hold out the prospect of any changes soon to such moral teachings.

But, in the 12,000-word interview with Civilta Cattolica, he said the Church must find a new balance between upholding rules and demonstrating mercy. "Otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards."

In the interview with the magazine's director, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, he also said he envisioned a greater role for women in the 1.2 billion member Church but suggested it would not include a change in the current ban on a female priesthood. ...

Read more:
Pope Francis: Church cannot be 'obsessed' with gays, other bans

Global Warming Is Very Real

From Rolling Stone:  Global Warming Is Very Real

On September 27th, a group of international scientists associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will gather in an old brick brewery in Stockholm and proclaim with near certainty that human activity is altering the planet in profound ways. The IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report offers slam-dunk evidence that burning fossil fuels is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warn that sea levels could rise by almost three feet by the end of the century if we don't change our ways. The report will underscore that the basic facts about climate change are more established than ever, ...
... The final report has not even been released yet, and already prominent bloggers in the denial-sphere, like Anthony Watts, are calling it "stillborn." ...

... These reports, which are issued every five or six years, are broken into three sections: Working Group I, which covers the physical science of climate change, will be released this month; Working Group II, which explores the impacts of rising carbon pollution on nature and human life, will be released next March; Working Group III, which analyzes various scenarios to cut carbon pollution, is due in April. Finally, a synthesis report that tries to pull it all together in a brief summary will be published next fall. ...

... In 2009, just weeks before the Copenhagen climate summit, hackers broke into the servers of the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit in the U.K. and publicly posted hundreds of private e-mails from climate scientists involved with the IPCC's Fourth Assessment report. Deniers seized on these messages, taking a few barbed comments out of context (in one, for instance, Santer wrote that if he ran into Pat Michaels – a well-known shill for the fossil­fuel industry – he would "be tempted to beat the crap out of him") and claimed they now had their smoking gun, proof of a global conspiracy among scientists to keep out information that didn't fit their thesis that the Earth was warming. The substance of the e-mails was subsequently investigated by five agencies, all of whom cleared scientists of any professional or personal misconduct. ...

... Although the U.S. population as a whole is moving toward accepting the reality of climate change, Congress remains a scientific backwater. One recent analysis by the Center for American Progress found that almost a third of the 535 members of the House and Senate are climate deniers. Not coincidentally, those 161 reps have taken more than $54 million in political contributions from the fossil-fuel industry. ...

... how the denier game works: They seize on small errors and inconsequential factual inconsistencies in a piece of climate research and use it to discredit the science and reassure people that climate change is no big deal. ...

... In fact, since the 1950s, each successive decade has been hotter than the last, and the 2000s were the hottest decade since modern record-keeping began in 1880. ...

... In a more rational world, of course, we wouldn't need any more IPCC assessments. We would have listened to the scientists, built a global consensus and forged international agreements to reduce carbon pollution and head off the risk of climate catastrophe. ...

Read more: 
Global Warming Is Very Real

Friday, September 13, 2013

Art About Feminism (aka "About Feminism, Volume I, Number 2")

As I've said before (here), and will say again in future blog posts, being a judgmental busybody is not what Feminism is about.  Feminism is about freedom to be ourselves.

http://67.media.tumblr.com/bf99e90b5563fe04b46a7c8e1326fe19/tumblr_mso2shzs8s1s64ikho1_500.jpg


The artist later did this:

http://65.media.tumblr.com/5fdbc699b28697363d6fbfdf704ef19e/tumblr_n4a77kbdE21s64ikho1_500.jpg

Except, I never thought she was suggesting that men were making those statements.  I believed then, and I still do, that she was criticizing those who imagine themselves to be feminists by judging other women in a biased manner.  Feminism is not about slut-shaming nor insisting that someone should have a career or that someone should stay home and raise children or any of these things.  Feminism is about the individual woman making her own damned decisions and not being subjected to the biased expectations of others.



See more from this artist:
my little sketchbook


For About Feminism, Volume I, Number 1:  A Few Comments about Feminism, click here.

For About Feminism, Volume II, Number 1:  Vivi and Gigi - A Love Story, or, Who Is Vivian James and What Is GamerGate? click here.



Thursday, September 12, 2013

Breast Cancer Awareness/Education Links




While we're on the subject of breast cancer, this is taken from an announcement post I made (and try to keep updated) to a PinkRibbon group I manage elsewhere.  Knowledge is a huge part of winning the battle.

Breast Cancer Awareness/Education Links


Hello, friends.

I will update this post with additional links periodically, but for now, here are a few to get us started:

Pink Ribbon Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pink Ribbon Inc.

Pink Ribbon International

Pink Ribbons Project

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Cancer Schmancer

More Breast Cancer Screening Needed in Younger Women





More Breast Cancer Screening Needed in Younger Women

From Newswise:

New Study Suggests Expanded Screening in Younger Women Would Greatly Reduce Breast Cancer Mortality Rate ...

Newswise — A new analysis published online Sept. 9 in Cancer confirms the need for greater use of annual mammography in women ages 40-49 as recommended by the American Cancer Society, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American College of Radiology and Society of Breast Imaging for all women 40 and older. It also confirms that, even with new therapeutics and protocols for treating breast cancer, regular mammography screening is still the best way to significantly reduce breast cancer deaths.

Read more:  ACR, SBI Statement on Cancer Study: More Breast Cancer Screening Needed in Younger Women

Also, remember, breast cancer does not affect women only;  men can get it as well.

10 Foods Guaranteed to Make You Fat

From Care2:

Nearly 2 billion people on the planet are overweight.
The figures are shocking:
  • 2/3 Americans over age 20 are overweight
  • Nearly 1/3 of Americans over age 20 are obese
  • Worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980.
Obesity is now classified as a disease by the American Medical Association (AMA). ...

We can’t afford to be overweight and obese. Let’s learn how to do something about this now! Start with learning which foods make us fat. Many of these you will already know about as it is common sense.

Read more:  10 Foods Guaranteed to Make You Fat

A note from the SuccubaSuprema:
Also remember that portion control is a major factor in weight management.  Stuffing yourself, gorging, binging on foods -- whatever you want to call it, this is bad, because it results in the stomach increasing in size, thereby requiring more food intake in order to feel full.  Fortunately, this can be reversed by practicing portion control (5-HTP, or L-5Hydroxytryptophan, may also help you control your appetite, if you have IBS or an IBD).  Pizza, as those who know me well can attest, is my personal weakness.  I can eat pizza every meal of a day, 7 days a week, 365.25 days a year, and never get tired of it (I do speak from experience, having worked as an assistant manager at a pizzeria for a couple of years in my younger days, although I did successfully escape eating pizza at every meal in that time period).  There are so many variations possible (and not only topping alternatives), that I can avoid getting burned out on it.  I have been known to eat half of a medium pizza in one sitting, and I realize that's just a little too much, even if it's only a pizza margherita (toppings will increase the caloric content, as well as, potentially, add undesirable types of calories).  You (and I) should eat only what you (and I) need, rather than the whole pizza (not even an entire "small" pizza, nor, depending on the size of the pizza and what toppings are on it, a whole "personal" pizza).  Mostly, it's important to keep a positive attitude;  regardless of the claims of a certain television advertisement, you CAN do it on your own.
Related:
Olive Oil May Help With Weight Loss and Weight Management


Sunday, September 8, 2013

Happy 47th Anniversary!!!


NCC 1701 U.S.S. Enterprise

To boldly go ...

Main crew of the Enterprise in TOS (the original series)


Happy 47th!!!

Another shot of some of the main crew from the TOS Enterprise (Sulu and Nurse Chapel have been left out, for some reason;  notice also that Yeoman Janice Rand is in neither photo, although she was a recurring character, rather than a member of the main crew -- but she was in the very first episode ever broadcast, "The Man Trap").

Yeoman Janice Rand in the second episode ever broadcast, "Charlie X."



Forty-seven years ago today, on the 8th of September in the year 1966, the most amazing television series ever broadcast, Star Trek (usually called "Star Trek - The Original Series," or "ST:TOS," but which I prefer to call "Star Trek Classic," or "Trek Classic") debuted on the NBC television network in the USA.

Sulu gone wild, from the episode "The Naked Time."


This series took on pressing social concerns of the day, including racism, sexism, intolerance of dissident opinions, cultural imperialism (the famous "Prime Directive" forbade cultural contamination by Starfleet officers), the possibility of progress without the naïveté of utopianism, etc.

Spock of the Mirror Universe, in the episode "Mirror, Mirror."


The first interracial kiss ever broadcast was in the Star Trek Classic episode "Plato's Stepchildren," as seen in this scene:



Worth noting is that the first episode of Star Trek:  The Animated Series was first broadcast also on the 8th of September, but in the year 1973.

When the new Trek series began in the 1980s, Star Trek:  The Next Generation, it continued the pattern of addressing assorted social concerns, ranging from racism and sexism to homophobia and transphobia, the perils of a police state, cultural imperialism, etc.  Subsequent series have likewise followed this model, taking on social, political, economic, religious, and cultural issues and providing a progressive perspective, showing us what we could become if we strive for such betterment by promoting education and seeking liberty, equality, and justice for all -- and warning us of what we could become if we instead choose to glorify and perpetuate ignorance, intolerance, prejudice, superstition, and irrationality.

More pictures follow, starting and ending, appropriately, with Romulans and their vessels (in an era before the Tal'Shiar had polluted the Romulan Star Empire with their fascist police state mentality).


The "Romulan Mini Skirt Commander," as many have called her, unnamed in the original episode ("The Enterprise Incident"), but named Di'on Charvon in non-canon literature.

A fleet of Romulan D7 vessels (given to the Romulan Star Empire by the Klingons during one of their periods of alliance with the Klingon Empire), commanded by Commander (that is, Fleet Commander) Di'on Charvon, surrounding the NCC 1701 U.S.S. Enterprise in the episode "The Enterprise Incident."
 
The same non-canon literature which names her as Di'on Charvon says that she changed her name after the events of "The Enterprise Incident," taking the name Liviana Charvanek.  Here she meets Kirk and Spock for the first time, on her ship, and under her own terms.

The Klingon-built D7 Flagship of Commander Di'on Charvon, in the espisode "The Enterprise Incident."



Marta, an Orion woman played by Yvonne Craig (Barbara Gordon / Batgirl in the 1960s Batman TV series).


Spock of the Mirror Universe with his bodyguards and the Prime Universe Captain Kirk (masquerading as the Kirk of the Mirror Universe)



Commander Kang of the Klingon Empire, from the episode "Day of the Dove"

Klingon D7 from the episode "Errand of Mercy" (Remastered)



Lieutenant Uhura of the Prime Universe (masquerading as her Mirror Universe counterpart), engaged in psych ops versus the Sulu of the Mirror Universe



Mark Lenard (who also played Sarek, the father of Spock in several other TOS episodes, and likewise appeared as Sarek in subsequent series and movies in the franchise) in his first Star Trek role as another unnamed Romulan Commander (Fleet Commander, or "Riov" in the Rihan language later developed by Diane Duane, a rank equivalent to a Starfleet Captain, if not a Starfleet Commodore), from the episode "Balance of Terror."  Non-canon literature names this character "Keras" (which is "Sarek" spelled backwards).

The Romulan Bird of Prey commanded by "Keras" in the episode "Balance of Terror"


Star Trek Online is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc.. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Star Trek Online or Star Trek art, images, and lore are the property of CBS Studios Inc.


Friday, September 6, 2013

Norah Jones is an Extraordinary Artist

I never thought this could be one of my favorite songs till I heard her Jazz version some years ago.  Now I like it so much that I do it at karaoke from time to time (but only in this arrangement).



Tuesday, September 3, 2013

How Many People Have Died from a Marijuana Overdose?

The Huffington Post has some details:
Here Are All The People Who Have Died From A Marijuana Overdose

The answer is, of course, ZERO.  A big, fat ZERO!

In fact, long before a person could die from Cannabis poisoning via smoking, they would be dead from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

Now, how many innocent people have been victims of "the War on Drugs"?  I'm not sure there's any official answer, but the slide show at the bottom of the "HuffPo" article discusses a few of them.  Figures from Mexico's "War on Drugs" are available (as noted below with reference to the WSJ).

How many violations of the Bill of Rights have occurred as a result of "the War on Drugs"?  I doubt there are any hard figures on this, but the number would obviously exceed the number of those innocents who died as a result of "the War on Drugs."

How many violent offenders have been released early due to Federal laws requiring "mandatory minimum sentences" for any drug crime, including non-violent possession and use?  The WSJ has some figures on numbers of people incarcerated in the US, connected to "the War on Drugs."

How much money is spent annually on "the War on Drugs"?  Again, the WSJ provides an estimate of this.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Total current spending is estimated at over $40 billion a year. ...
The total number of persons incarcerated in state and federal prisons in the U.S. has grown from 330,000 in 1980 to about 1.6 million today. Much of the increase in this population is directly due to the war on drugs and the severe punishment for persons convicted of drug trafficking. About 50% of the inmates in federal prisons and 20% of those in state prisons have been convicted of either selling or using drugs. The many minor drug traffickers and drug users who spend time in jail find fewer opportunities for legal employment after they get out of prison, and they develop better skills at criminal activities. ...

Mexico offers a well-documented example of some of the costs involved in drug wars. Probably more than 50,000 people have died since Mexico's antidrug campaign started in 2006. ...
Read more:  Have We Lost the War on Drugs?


Most Likely States to Legalize Cannabis Next

From The Huffington Post:

Attorney General Eric Holder gave a green light on Thursday to two states whose efforts to legalize marijuana had been locked in by legal uncertainty for more than nine months. With that announcement, Colorado and Washington -- both of which passed pro-pot initiatives at the polls last November -- can now proceed with establishing a framework for the taxation and regulation of legal weed for adults.

Read more:  These States Are Most Likely To Legalize Pot Next

Monday, September 2, 2013

Ships I Use in Star Trek Online

Prefatory Ponderings (Longish):

The following is a (not too-detailed)  listing of the various ships which are under the command of my three characters in the MMORPG Star Trek Online (aka "STO"), developed by Cryptic Studios and available to play through Steam and Perfect World Entertainment.

I have no idea if any readers of this blog will care in the least about the information I'll be presenting here, but I myself care, or I would not have put much time and effort into naming those ships in ways which resonate with me, and fit the personae of the characters which I have created and developed for use in the game (which is but one of several MMORPGs I enjoy playing -- but as I came along to this world in the 1960s, Star Trek has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and STO is really quite well-done by Cryptic Studios, so STO is, almost necessarily, one of my favorite MMORPGs).

Other Trekkers may well find some of this at least mildly interesting.  Other linguists might find the Orion-language and Romulan-language names in the listing to be of some interest.

Some readers wondering just who this kooky girl is, though, might gain some insights into various aspects of my thought-processes and such by perusing what I have to say in this post (in this preface as well as in the actual listing which will follow).
 
Some time ago, in the STO fora, a thread was made inquiring after the names we players had chosen for our various in-game ships.  I had to go in-game to get the names all right and connected with the correct ships, because I have so many ships in the game that keeping track of which Klingon vessel is named X, and which Klingon vessel is named Y, for example, can be challenging.  Keeping the Orion's ship names separate from the Vulcan's ship names and both of those groups of names separate from the Romulan's ship names is considerably easier.  Without looking, however, I could not tell someone whether my Orion's Kamarag Retrofit is the I.K.S. Seduction, the I.K.S. Seducton II, the I.K.S. Seductress, or something else, although I know that I have Klingon ships with those and other names under her command, and I know that she has a Kamarag or two, among several other vessels of Klingon and Orion make).

After taking notes from what I found in-game at the various shipyards where my non-active ships are kept ready and maintained, I created a somewhat hastily-written post in hopes of getting my reply on the first page of the thread (and succeeded in that goal).  I sought this distinction since many forum-readers seem to tend to read no further than the first page of a thread before posting their own replies, and if I were going to invest the time and energy in gathering these ship names and making sure each was assigned to the right vessel for the list, I would certainly prefer that a fair number of people would at least glance at the list.

Over time, I polished my post and added to the lists of ships commanded by my various "toons" (characters) in the game, as well as updated the fleet ranks of two of the toons in question (the other, my Romulan, is the leader of her own fleet, and cannot be promoted further than the fleet rank she has now, "galae'Enriov," which is Romulan for "Fleet Admiral").

I've been thinking of copying that information to this blog for a while, and after my most recent edits to the post there earlier this morning, I thought this would be as good a time as any.

While the list will continue to grow as my characters obtain more ships to command, I'm under no restrictions pertaining to "necro" posting here in my own blog, and can update this blog post when and if I see fit with little fear of a thread being closed, locked, or archived before I finish collecting all the vessels I would like to have, nor any concern over when the last post was made to the thread.

Many online discussion forum sites have rules against "necroing" a thread, that is, posting in a thread which has been "dead" for a certain length of time.  The certain length of time varies from site to site, but I've noticed that many such sites set "one month" as the cutoff (so if the most recent post in a given thread is over 28-31 days old, making a new post in the thread is considered bad form, if not outright prohibited by the rules, although few such sites have any mechanism in place to automatically lock threads once they have seen no activity for x amount of time).  To some extent (and certainly in some specific cases), this is understandable (a Site Owner definitely ought to be able to set rules for his/her own site, after all), although the limitations are somewhat arbitrary, and relative from one site to another.

As already noted, however, I don't have to be concerned with necroing something that I alone own and operate.  I can return to this post at any time and edit it with screen captures of the various ships which will be named here.  I can add new information.  I can update the fleet ranks of any of my characters who might receive a fleet promotion.  And I can do all of this and more whenever I feel like it.

The reader might also be curious about the fleets named here.  "Fleets" are STO's version of what some MMORPGs call "clans" or "guilds" or something similar.  My Vulcan is in a fleet called "Starfleet Military Intelligence."  My Orion is in a fleet called "LGBT of the KDF 1st fleet" (I'm bisexual, for those who don't know or haven't figured it out, but even if I were not, I would support the causes of equality and liberty).  My Romulan is the head of a fleet called "Tal'Diann" (which is a non-canonical Romulan organization corresponding to what would be called "Military Intelligence" by others -- by "non-canonical," I mean that this organization has not been mentioned or acknowledged by the "hard canon" consisting of the various television series and movies under the "Star Trek" banner, but it is part of the "soft canon" which includes the "hard canon" as well as many if not all of the various "Star Trek" novels, production notes for the series episodes and movies, deleted scenes, etc).

Having explained what this post is, why anyone other than myself might care, and why I have copied my own work from a different online venue, I present, with no further ado, the list of ships under the command of my various characters in Star Trek Online.



Ships commanded by my Vulcan character, Vice Admiral G'dessa T'Prell, a Rear Admiral in Starfleet Military Intelligence (in the order obtained):

- the U.S.S. Liberty, a Miranda Light Cruiser with some modifications (self-explanatory name).

- the U.S.S. Luna, a Cruiser, like the Enterprise refit in TMP (name should be obvious to most).

- the U.S.S. Selene, a Cheyenne/Stargazer Heavy Cruiser (both the Greek name for the moon, and the name of Kate Beckinsale's character in the Underworld movies).

- the U.S.S. Sovereignty, a Galaxy Exploration Cruiser like the Enterprise of ST:TNG, the NCC 1701-D (self-explanatory name).

- the U.S.S. Verona, an Ambassador Support Cruiser Retrofit like the Enterprise-C (named for the city and for Silvia Colloca's character in Van Helsing, the first Bride of Dracula) -- I also have the normal Ambassador (for a lower rank than would be of use to G'dessa at this late date in her career), still not unpacked.

- the U.S.S. Venerdi, an Avenger Star Cruiser with modifications (Italian for "Friday," the Day of Venus).

The U.S.S. Venerdi in the Azure Nebula

- the U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson, a Yellowstone Runabout (because TJ just rocks).

- the U.S.S. Roger Williams, a Rhode Island Science Vessel Refit (founder of Providence Plantation, which later became the city of Providence, Rhode Island; he was an advocate of religious liberty and the separation of church and state).

- the U.S.S. Genova, a Nebula Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit (the capital of the Italian region of Liguria).

- the V.S.S. T'Pau, a D'Kyr Science Vessel (named for the Vulcan High Priestess seen in the TOS episode "Amok Time")

- the V.S.S. Kuramano Spahkh, a Tal'Kyr Support Vessel ("Kuramano" is Vulkhansu for "Ambassador," and "Spahkh" is the actual name of Spock in Vuhlkansu).

The V.S.S. T'Pau, with a more typical Federation vessel, at Starbase 381.


- the U.S.S. Ambassador Spock, an Obelisk Carrier (the origin of this vessel is currently unknown).

- the Izh-Sahriv, a Breen Plesh Brek Heavy Raider (the name means "Snowstorm" in Vuhlkhansu).

- the U.S.S. Lanka'gar, a Gladius Escort Refit (the name is Vulcan for "Bird of Prey")

U.S.S. stands for "United Star Ship," referring to the United Federation of Planets.

V.S.S. stands for "Vulcan Science Ship."


Each of the ships above also have a registry prefix, NCC whatever-number-goes-here, which I selected myself.  Several of them have a -G suffixed to the number in the registry prefix, because I like the letter G -- for reasons which those who know my forename (and my nickname) already know, or can guess easily enough.  (G'dessa has not yet quite settled on a flagship, but switches between the Verona and the Venerdi often;  she'll likely experiment a bit with the Genova as well, once she has it outfitted to her -- or actually my -- satisfaction.  Eventually, she'll obtain a definitely better ship, possibly a carrier or escort, and make that her flagship.)




Ships commanded by my Orion, Lieutenant General Gessa G'ian the Succuba, Chief of the Department of Military Intelligence for the LGBT of the KDF 1st Fleet (again in the order obtained, as far as I recall):

- the I.K.S. Seduction, a Norgh Bird of Prey.

- the I.K.S. Seduction II, a K't'inga Batte Cruiser.

- the I.K.S. Seductress, a Vor'cha Battle Cruiser.

- the I.K.S. Lodubyal Ot, a Kamarag Battle Cruiser Retrofit (I have the ordinary Kamarag as well, still not unpacked); the name is Kolarese/Kolaric (Orionish) for "Mistress of Pleasure 'Slaves'," since she once posed as such for purposes of espionage.  It should be noted in this context that the so-called "Orion slave girls" are anything but slaves, due to the potency of their natural pheromones and their mastery of various techniques of seduction and hypnosis, which, combined, result in their presumptive "masters" coming under the control of the "slaves" (as explained in the Star Trek:  Enterprise episode, "Bound").

- the I.K.S. Seductress II, a Vor'cha Battle Cruiser Retrofit.

- the O.S.S. Tabadi, a Marauder Flight Deck Cruiser; the name is Kolaric for "Matriach," as in "female head of a Caj" (a Caj is a "Great Family, Clan, Tribe"), because she is the Matriarch of the Ninth Tribe of Kolari (Orions).  This ship is an Orion-made vessel and carries Advanced Orion Slavers in her hangar;  apart from the Tabadi and her hangar vessels, the other ships listed under Gessa G'ian the Succuba are all Klingon-made vessels.  (This is Gessa's current flagship.)

The O.S.S. Tabadi with Advanced Orion Slavers, in the Boreth system

- the I.K.S. Cluros Ot, a K't'inga Battle Cruiser Retrofit; the name is Kolaric for "Mistress of Coolness" (Cluros, or "Coolness," is an Orion standard of conduct).

- the I.K.S. Kolarivaj, a To'Duj Fighter; the name is Kolaric for "Orion Empire."

- the I.K.S. Temptress, a Phalanx Science Vessel (this ship is of Gorn manufacture).

- the Thakolarivaj, an Obelisk Carrier;  the name is Kolaric for "Great Orion Empire" (the origin of this vessel is currently unknown).

- the I.K.S. Slethi, a B'Rotlh Bird of Prey;  the name is Kolaric for "Winged-Torturer," which refers to a predatory animal species native to Daros-IV.

- the Kolar, a Breen Plesh Brek Heavy Raider;  the name is Kolaric for "Orion" (the Orion homeworld as well as an Orion).  This vessel is of Breen manufacture.

- the I.K.S. Vixen, a Qorgh SuQob Raptor.

I.K.S. stands for "Imperial Klingon Ship."

O.S.S. stands for "Orion Syndicate Ship."



Ships commanded by my Romulan, Vice Admiral Gessatra ir'Virinat t'Prell, Fleet Admiral of the Tal'Diann (Romulan Military Intelligence) -- again in the order obtained:

Starships
- the R.R.W. ch'Rihan, a T'liss Light Warbird -- the Rihan (Romulan) name of the planet Romulus.

The R.R.W. ch'Rihan

- the R.R.W. Senorix, a Dhelan Warbird -- Gaulish name meaning "Ancient King."

- the R.R.W. Sirona, a Mogai Heavy Warbird -- Gallic Star Goddess.

- the R.R.W. Memenda, a Kamarag Battle Cruiser -- non-canon name of the Klingon-made D7 flagship flown by the female Romulan commander in "The Enterprise Incident" (see also the R.R.W. Susse'Thrai, the A.R.W. Sienae, the R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek, and the R.R.W. Di'on Charvon).  This is a Klingon-made vessel.

The R.R.W. Memenda

- the R.R.W. Senua, a D'deridex Warbird Battle Cruiser -- Gallo-Brittonic Goddess name variation, means "The Ancient One"

- the R.R.W. Ssaedhe, a Ha'apax Advanced Warbird -- Romulan for "Steadfast"

- the R.R.W. Susse'Thrai, a Koro't'inga Battle Cruiser D7 -- Romulan for "She-Wolf" (or "Bitch"), an appropriate name for a ship that looks like the flagship of the Romulan commander who almost seduced Spock (see below under the R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek and assorted other ships named here under Gessatra ir'Virinat t'Prell).  This is a Klingon-made vessel.

On her maiden voyage, the R.R.W. Susse'Thrai, preparing to warp out of the Qo'noS system.




- the A.R.W. Sienae, a Mirror Ha'feh Assault Warbird -- Romulan for "Talon" (it should be noted that the same non-canonical source for the name "Memenda" also called that ship the "Talon" -- although "Memenda" is not found in the Romulan language sources I use, which give "Sienae" as a female Romulan given name meaning "talon").


The A.R.W. Sienae




- the R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek, a T'varo Light Warbird Retrofit -- named for the Riov (Romulan Fleet Commander) Liviana Charvanek (then known as Di'on Charvon, although neither name is canonical), who led a squad of Romulan D7 Battle Cruisers in an effort to seize the Starfleet Flagship, the U.S.S. Enterprise (N.C.C. 1701), then under command of Captain James T. Kirk, whose First Officer was Commander Spock, later Ambassador Spock. (This is Gessatra's current flagship, and I have outfitted it as a stealth torpedo boat.  It also doubles as the current flagship of the Tal'Diann.)

The R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek in the Maiewski system

- the A.R.W. Dhael'Temarhkh, a Mirror Ha'apax Advanced Warbird -- Romulan for "Nocturnal Bird" (the closest I could come to "Night Hawk" in Romulan, since there were no members of the genus Accipiter or the genus Buteo to be found on ch'Rihan).

- the R.R.W. Eshaeno, a T'varo Light Warbird (recently got this for the console, so I could put on the T'varo Retrofit, which I have done with delightful results, and have not even taken the Eshaeno out of spacedock yet) -- Romulan for "Ferocity."

Small Craft
- the R.R.W. H'Levreinnye, a Tiercel Shuttle -- Romulan for "Love-Devil" or "Lust-Devil" (a Romulan term of endearment).

- the R.R.W. Ri-Hhvaeh, a Kestrel Runabout -- "Spy" (more literally, the "Female-Spy," this is a term that can only be applied to a living being, so it seems odd that a spacecraft would be given this name, but the runabout was named for the woman commanding it, since Fleet Admiral t'Prell is herself "the Female-Spy").

The R.R.W. Ri'Hhvaeh, a Kestrel Runabout, in the atmosphere of the Rhi colony.

And that's an old Romulan ship list, before I got the 3 dreadnoughts (whose names, apart from the Tulwar Science Dreadnought Warbird, I haven't picked yet, since I'm still outfitting them and have yet to take them on their maiden voyages) and Mirror Ha'nom (not even unpacked yet).  Note that I have separated her vessels into "starships" and "small craft," because I don't remember exactly when I got the small craft vessels in relation to the starships.


Since compiling the above list, my Romulan has obtained some additional vessels, as noted hereafter.

Gessatra now has these additional ships (in the order obtained):

- the R.R.W. Ri'Alha (Romulan for "Miistress"), an Elachi S'golth Escort, built by the Elachi, a fungal, or fungal-appearing, race which apparently lives in subspace and serves the Iconians.

- the R.R.W. Ri'Unhaiynen (Romulan for "Temptress"), a R'Mor Temporal Science Vessel.

The R.R.W. Ri'Unhaiynen on her Maiden Voyage, near DS9 and the Bajoran Wormhole


- the R.R.W. Hvei'Khenn (means "Storm" in Romulan), a Tal'Shiar Adapted Destroyer reskinned as a Tal'Shiar Enhanced Destroyer.

The R.R.W. Hvei'Khenn begins her maiden voyage, leaving the Drozana system.

The R.R.W. Hvei'khenn entering the Kahless Expanse to hunt Federation Starfleet vessels on her maiden voyage.

ch'M'R Hvei'Khenn plhere oahh ch'Mol'Rihan ieliu'edh dha riien havraen ih'hwin. (The R.R.W. Hvei'Khenn enters the New Romulus system at the end of her maiden voyage.)




She has also named her Tulwar:
- the R.R.W. Di'on Charvon (see above under "- the R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek" for an explanation of this name).

The R.R.W. Di'on Charvon with her Scorpion Fighters in the Kern system, on her maiden voyage

Gessatra also now has additional ships:
- the R.R.W. Laseiyyari, a Talvath Temporal Destroyer (the name is poetic Rihan for "Destroyer, Ruiner, Demolisher").
- the R.R.W. Temkeshall, an Obelisk Carrier (the name is Rihan for "The Escape");  the origin of this vessel is currently unknown (not built by Vulcans, the UFP, the Klingon Empire, Orions, Gorn, Letheans, Andorians, the Romulan Star Empire, the Imperial Romulan State, the New Romulan Republic, the Reman Resistance, Borg, Elachi, Cardassians, Bajorans, or anyone else we know of in our own space).

The R.R.W. Temkeshall, an Obelisk Carrier, with her Advanced Obelisk Swarmers, patrolling the Kern system, on her maiden voyage.

- the S.C.S. Mhiohs, an Helix Omega Suliban Cell Ship;  the name is Rihan for "Success."
- the R.R.W. Lhao'Le, a Breen Plesh Brek Heavy Raider;  the name is Rihan for "Coldness."
- the R.R.W. Ri'Kaishaasi, a Mirror Ha'nom Guardian Warbird;  the name is Rihan for "Dominatrix."
- the I.K.S. Fvuras, a Qorgh SuQob Raptor;  the name is Rihan for "Moon."


Her Scimitar and Falchion dreadnoughts currently still have the names which were auto-generated by the game.  These auto-generated names usually look like Romulan words/names, but seldom can be found in any Romulan language resources.  This fact, coupled with my preference to give my characters' ships names of my own choosing so that they are meaningful to me, means that the other two dreadnoughts will almost certainly also be renamed when the time comes (and this post will be updated sometime after that with that information).  Uncommonly enough, the R.R.W. Di'on Charvon had an auto-generated name that did mean something in Romulan, but it didn't make much sense as the name of a ship, unfortunately.

Unless otherwise noted, all of Gessatra's ships were constructed by the Romulan Star Empire, the schismatic and now-defunct Imperial Romulan State, the secret laboratories of the Tal'Shiar, the Reman Resistance, the New Romulan Republic, or the Romulans of the Alliance in the Mirror Universe (i.e., apart from any Klingon vessels and the one Elachi ship, all of her ships are of Romulan and/or Reman manufacture).  Ships built under the Romulan Star Empire or the Imperial Romulan State were either older vessels still in use in those colonies that banded together to form the Republic, or captured vessels (older or not).  The ship built under the direction of the Tal'Shiar was captured.  The Elachi ship was captured.  The Alliance Romulan Warbirds were either salvaged from battles and repaired, or captured.

R.R.W. stands for "Republican Romulan Warbird," referring to the New Romulan Republic.  A.R.W. stands for "Alliance Romulan Warbird."  S.C.S. stands for "Suliban Cell Ship."


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