[MidnightLich]

Welcome to step 12 of the Will of the Collective! In this poll, you'll vote on the keywords or lore references that will appear on the finished card, based on your nominations.

You nominated a total of fourteen (14) different options (with a few variations more) for our card's lore to use. I've gone through the list and narrowed it down to ten (10) choices for you to choose from. Your job now is to vote on the keywords or references you want to see on the card. This poll will be up for just 24 hours - a single day - ending around 10 AM Pacific on Sunday, February 4th. Each of you will be able to vote for up to three (3) choices, and you can change your vote at any time until the poll closes.

In order for a keyword to be considered, it need to reach at least ten (10) votes; any keyword or lore reference receiving less than ten votes will not be considered. My instructions to the creative team will ask them to guarantee the top two (2) most voted keywords will be in all of the lore options. If there is room and at their discretion, they may include any other keywords in lore in order, from highest number of votes received down.

This poll does not include required species (Human) and gender (male) keywords. Creative goes out of their way to include these traits on all personnel, where possible. Note that the gender may be implied (his, he) instead of directly stated.

Here are some brief notes on the keyword options for your consideration:

1. assassin
This is an existing game term that appears on fifteen (15) personnel. The word would appear as-is, without variation.

2. Benjamin Sisko
This lore reference, if selected, will be in bold. This means the finished card will be a persona of Benjamin Sisko.

3. composer
This word, referring to someone who writes music, would be a new keyword to the game. It does not appear on any personnel card. Creative would be able to consider variations (composed, wrote music) as well.

4. Jadzia Dax
This would be a lore reference only, not a persona.

5. murder
This word appears in the lore of six (6) cards, and not in a context that lends itself to keywording (at least so far). Creative will be able to consider variations (murderer, murdered) of this word as well.

6. pianist
Pianist appears on two (2) personnel and is worded such that it could be used as a hook in the future. The word would be used as-is.

7. Trill
This would be a lore reference only, written in such as a way as to not be a species.

8. Trill with symbiont
This term is used on the mission Symbiont Diagnosis and if selected, would be written in such a way as to make our personnel eligible to use it for that mission.

9. Will of the Collective Easter Egg
If chosen, this option will ask the Creative team to fit in a reference to this process, Will of the Collective. The nominated option was "will and collected memories of Joran," which will be passed along to the Creative team as a suggestion. However, the exact wording of this option will be dependent on the lore suggestions prepared.

10. zhian'tara
This is the ritual from "Facets." It currently only appears in the lore of one card, Jadzia Dax. Memory Alpha indicates it is styled in lowercase (except at the start of a sentence) and appears in italics.

Have fun, and please feel free to post your thoughts and arguments for or against keywords. Tomorrow, we'll decide on attributes and on Sunday you'll get to pick the image!

-crp

[MidnightLich]

Please let me know if you have any questions.

-crp

[BCSWowbagger]

Won't Joran be a version of the Benjamin Sisko persona regardless? It seems to me that would be legally mandatory, given the story.

So bolded Benjamin Sisko would already be "baked in," it seems to me.

(For now, I voted for it, because it strikes me as essential and I don't want to risk not having it.)

[Tim]

Based on the voting he is going to have a Shrouded Assailant? Maybe even a blade weapon?

The Assassin keyword would let him use Assassination Plot, which also allows him to kill somebody. If Joran doesn't already have easy access to Assailant killing then I'm more inclined to give him broader access to all types of killing.

[jadziadax8]

I voted for Zhian'tara as a keyword, along with a couple of other things, as I see it as a cool mechanic in the future. Maybe there could be a cycle of cards from Dax's ritual tied together by an incident that does a cool thing.

[nobthehobbit]

Won't Joran be a version of the Benjamin Sisko persona regardless? It seems to me that would be legally mandatory, given the story.

So bolded Benjamin Sisko would already be "baked in," it seems to me.

(For now, I voted for it, because it strikes me as essential and I don't want to risk not having it.)

I'm in the same boat. I think Sisko has to be in the lore (in bold), whatever the result of this vote, but I also don't want to risk it not being there.

I'd really prefer to have the poll rejigged to remove Sisko from the options, with a note that Joran will be a persona of Benjamin Sisko.

[AllenGould]

Won't Joran be a version of the Benjamin Sisko persona regardless? It seems to me that would be legally mandatory, given the story.

So bolded Benjamin Sisko would already be "baked in," it seems to me.

(For now, I voted for it, because it strikes me as essential and I don't want to risk not having it.)

I had the same thought - although I was tempted *not* to vote for it just to see what happens.

[Zef'No]

He has to be a Benjamin Sisko persona regardless because that's simply how the game works. The community cannot change fundamental things like that. But please everyone vote for it anyway, just in case...

I don't see how we can make him a "Trill" without making it his species. Sure, we can use the word in reference to someone else (like Jadzia); I suppose a future card could reference anyone with "Trill" in lore, but that could get messy (making context irrelevant)

He cannot be a Trill with Symbiont because, as a matter of fact, he wasn't one. If we wanted him to qualify for Symbiont Diagnosis, that would have to have been done with a special skill. We cannot do anything about it now otherwise we might as well make him Hirogen affiliation and give him the TOS icon!

[AllenGould]

We cannot do anything about it now otherwise we might as well make him Hirogen affiliation and give him the TOS icon!

Hey Charlie, can I change my vote?

[Armus]

I wish we could have established the premise that this card is a persona of Benjamin Sisko so we wouldn't have to vote on it. The fact that Easter Egg fun is in 4th place right now makes me very sad.

Why are we Limited to three on this one again?

[KazonPADD]

He has to be a Benjamin Sisko persona regardless because that's simply how the game works. The community cannot change fundamental things like that. But please everyone vote for it anyway, just in case...

Don’t forget he could have the card title “Benjamin Sisko” and just have the Joran stuff explained in his lore. By voting for Benjamin Sisko in lore, that’s also a vote for “card title is not Benjamin Sisko”

[Slayer07]

I tend to agree that it should not be necessary to vote on Benjamin Sisko as it should be a given. We could be losing a valuable keyword by not automatically including this one.

I wish we could have established the premise that this card is a persona of Benjamin Sisko so we wouldn't have to vote on it. The fact that Easter Egg fun is in 4th place right now makes me very sad.

Why are we Limited to three on this one again?

Personally I'm fine with no Easter egg thing though. Again don't want to lose something that could be valuable for something like that unless there is ample room.

[Zef'No]

As I said before, as much as I would like "pianist" or "composer" in lore, I feel this would be an unnecessary use of space. Making such things future characteristics would dilute the already seldom-useful Music skill and we risk having characteristic overload if were not careful! Same with "murder".

Not every little possible lore reference has to be gameplay relevant; we can't keep adding more and more. Remember, selecting up to three doesn't mean you have to select three!

As for Assassin, this is more than basic homicide otherwise everyone would have it. There is no evidence Joran's killings were politically or religiously motivated.

[MidnightLich]

Okay, you all have persuaded me. I've reset the poll and removed Benjamin Sisko as an option. I've extended the poll for another 24 hours, until Sunday, February 4th around 10:15 am.

I apologize for the confusion, and for making you re-vote.

-crp

[frakkingoff]

I don't understand how half of these are options. Words like "pianist" are NOT keywords. There is NO gameplay significance to that term, nor is there EVER likely to be.