Going Native

by Matthew Zinno, Staff Writer

26th June 2019

The new card Preserver Obelisk looks great for its downloads and bonus points … but who exactly are the personnel involved?  The card introduces a new kind of connection between different cards, which the on-site card database has been listing as "native".  This is not an actual term in the game -- it appears on no cards and in no rules.  But it's a handy way to describe the relationship. 

Here's the text spelling out which cards are really connected in this new way.  Preserver Obelisk's benefits are related to:

personnel who name in lore a planet you seeded.

So for example, let's look at the new personnel Claudius Marcus, from the episode "Bread and Circuses".  His lore states that he comes from Planet 892-IV … gotta love those TOS planet names, eh?  (As another aside, this means that despite appearances, under the species rules he's not human … neither are Tepo or Mea 3.)  And that is the name of the planet on the mission card Clandestine Search.  So if you seed that mission, that means that Claudius Marcus can interact with Preserver Obelisk: he's an personnel, and he names in lore a planet you seeded.  If he helps solve that mission Clandestine Search (that is, contributes toward the mission requirements), Preserver Obelisk says he scores an extra 5 points.  Preserver Obelisk can also download him, either when you play it during your turns or when you seed it (in which case you can get a second person as well).  Note that neither download is specifically to that planet -- he's got to report somewhere he ordinarily would, usually your outpost.

There are a lot of those "native" connections in the cards in this set … and also some in earlier sets, such as both Nilz Baris and Captain Koloth mentioning Sherman's Planet (Agricultural Assessment).  There are also a lot of examples that seem like they fit, until you look closely.  Here are several examples that do not qualify as natives:

• Lt. Dax and Trill (Symbiont Diagnosis): Her lore says "Trill" and the planet is Trill, right?  But let's remember that the "named in lore" rule contains a proviso that context matters.  It's not enough that the lore only mention a word, it has to actually be talking about that thing.  In the case of Dax, her lore is talking about her species, and not specifically the planet Trill.  So by context, the planet is not named in her lore.  The same argument applies for the various personnel who mention the species "Vulcan". 
   
• Vanderberg and mirror Janus VI: One of the newer rule adjustments, to be found in the CRD (Current Rulings Document) under "mission", says that when a card refers to a planet (in either gametext or lore), it means the regular-universe version of the planet, not the mirror one, unless the first card has the icon somewhere.  So even though Review Mining Operation and Incapacitate Inhabitants both have "Janus VI" as the planet name, Vanderberg's lore is not talking about the mirror version. 
   
• Vina and Talos IV (Investigate Quarantine): Even though she is from the same episode, her lore doesn't actually refer to the planet. 
   
• Commodore Stone and Planet M-11: This one might be valid in the future, but at present, we don't have a mission corresponding to Planet M-11 from "Court Martial". 
   
• Klaang and Earth:  If it takes you a second to realize why this one doesn't work, it's just that he's not an personnel. 
   
• Claudius Marcus in a DQ deck: It's not strictly enough that he refer to the planet in his lore ... remember that you also need to have seeded that mission.  In the wrong deck, the right personnel will have no Obelisk connection. 

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