Race Profile: The Gorn
By
E.L. "S'faret" Crisler
This article originally appeared in
Hailing Frequencies issue 4. It has been recreated here from the
original material.
Ask a player about
the Federation in Starfleet Command, not the ships or
the way they play, but about the people of the
Federation, the government, and their ideals. That
player will be able to quickly provide an answer. As the
same player about the Klingons or the Romulans, again an
answer is easily forth coming. These three races have
been well defined over the years by the Star Trek fans
around the world. Their cultures, ideals, even their
languages have been fleshed out. Playing these races it
is easy to immerse yourself into the game. To BECOME a
Romulan, a Klingon or even a Starfleet officer.
Sadly the same
cannot be said about the other races in SFC. The Lyrans
have a bit more culture definition; a lot of stuff was
done about them in SFB. The Hydrans have some but in
many ways they are very background poor. Then we have
the Gorn, a race that actually made the show for one
episode. We know what they look like and where they are
from. Tidbits of background have leaked out but while
SFB provided some material, the truth is the Gorn are
largely undefined. At least they seem that way to me.
When I started
playing SFB all those years ago, this aspect of the Gorn
bothered me. I would grab every piece of Gorn fiction
that was published in the old Captains Logs. I would
devour them and try to flesh out the race I loved the
play. But the more I read the more it read like
Federation material. Oh true they where giant lizards
and some difference where seen, but their culture was
left undefined and the stories felt like Federation
stories with the characters having a different costume.
Well after a while I
found this boring and felt cheated. However rather than
run to play another race, I took it upon myself to
correct this lack of information. And so about 1985 I
started on what you see today. Until a few weeks ago
this collection was a bunch of notes, scattered on
various pieces of paper and mental notes that where
buried under years of other material.
This material is
based on information garnished from SFB, the original
Star Trek Series and the FASA Star Trek game. These
various sources where used as a base for my work here,
not as definitive sources. All material here is
unofficial at best. I freely release this material into
the public domain. All I ask in return is proper
recognition of the author.
Contact the web master at
sfaret@msn.com
