We're the Syrranites. We Don't Lie.

by Matthew Zinno, Logical Designer

15th September 2017

For years, the Vulcans as seen on Enterprise were awful.  Rude.  Arrogant.  Corrupt.  Holding the man down, and thinking they knew everything.  Total jerks.  Complete kneebiters.  

Then something changed.  Something wonderful.  

It began with a sect of maginalized Vulcans called the Syrranites, who espoused the belief that once upon a time, the Vulcans had been shown the right way to be, and that society had strayed from those teachings.  Then a human proved it.  

This (deck) is their story.  

We begin with the Vulcan time location 22nd-Century ShiKahr, which lets the cards report, with one per turn reporting for free.  There is no Vulcan Headquarters; the time location provides the free report itself.  Time travel to the spaceline will need to be provided by another card, in this case Protect the Timeline (which also grants another free report as well).  

The time location requires that we use Vulcan, and this deck uses the Terran Empire version, Deliver Ancient Artifact.  Unlike Observe Ritual, it counts as the Vulcan affiliation homeworld, and so HQ: Secure Homeworld will let us attempt it.  (Espionage can be used as well, benefiting from the Artifact that we'll discuss below.)  Also on the spaceline are two new planet missions, and two Honor missions -- more on those later.  

The time location lets us download one of the three flavors of IDIC, and this deck uses the Syrranite flavor, IDIC: Wisdom of Surak, which confers several benefits.  The first on the card is that teams may attempt Honor missions, regardless of affiliation.  This opens up mission selection for Syrranite decks greatly, and a lot of the major Syrranite personnel have this skill.  This deck has two such missions which also require Leadership, which is another skill in good supply for Syrranites and other dissidents.  

The second benefit is a minor draw engine -- if you use your card play to report a dissident (which includes all of the Syrranites, as well as other individuals in the set like Yuris and Ambassador V'Lar), then you can replace that card from hand via an immediate extra draw.  This can lead to some tough decisions: do you play your dissident for free (e.g. via Protect the Timeline or the time location), and save your card play for an Event or a ship; or do you use your card play for the dissident, and get a draw?  

The third benefit is where the story comes in.  Once per game, you may download Seek Hidden Reliquary.  (It could also be downloaded using Taking Charge, but having the text on Wisdom of Surak allows you to save a seed slot.)  This card represents the quest to find the Kir'Shara.  When you play it on your mission, you get to download and seed the Kir'Shara artifact ... and yes, that's after the opponent has placed dilemmas, perhaps even after you've eliminated some or all of them.  Additionally, when you acquire that Kir'Shara -- which gives you a benefit to mission points and interrupts to hand -- Seek Hidden Reliquary gives a further benefit of bonus points and a personnel.  

(An aside: Seek Hidden Reliquary is named and worded to apply helpfully to other stories as well.  In a Mercenary Raiders deck, it can report for free using Tallera, and help you acquire the Vulcan Stone of Gol.  And I'll let you discover what other affiliation can benefit from its download of a certain objective.)

Adding further to the Syrranite story is The Katra of Surak.  In the show, this was planted by Syrran into the head of Jonathan Archer (who downloads it here).  It helped him find the Kir'Shara, which is represented here by an Archaeology boost and allowing the Objective to play for free.  Among its other benefits is a way for the Vulcans to move towards the "nice" Vulcan demeanor we see in Spock and Sarek, and away from the obstructionist/isolationist "mean" attitude of V'Las and early-seasons Soval: they get to ignore their Treachery.  In game terms, this means that they can still use it when they need it, such as when facing Q Gets the Point, but can also choose to effectively not have it when that's what's convenient, such as when facing Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges.  
 
Coming back to Wisdom of Surak, there's a fourth benefit that shouldn't be ignored either.  The Vulcan Honor skill becomes quite versatile, substituting for any other skill when needed.  The Honor "becomes" the skill you choose, on demand (much like the timiing involved in The Art of Diplomacy), and stays that way for the remainder of the turn.  But each personnel  (technically, persona) can only do that once per game.  Still, you should have plenty of Honor going around, because not only is it printed on several of the Syrranite cards, and downloadable when you acquire the Kir'Shara, but Katra of Surak also gives it to all of your Vulcans present.  
 

Discuss this article in this thread.

Decklist

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• Live Long and Prosper Release
• Vulcan Player
• Vulcan Victor

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemmas
Total Dilemmas		18
[P]		5 (28%)
[S/P]		12 (67%)
[S]		1 (6%)

Seed Deck
Total Seed Deck		29
Dilemma		18 (62%)
Doorway		2 (7%)
Event		1 (3%)
Facility		1 (3%)
Incident		3 (10%)
Objective		3 (10%)
Time Location		1 (3%)

Draw Deck
Total Draw Deck		34
Event		2 (6%)
Incident		1 (3%)
Interrupt		7 (21%)
Personnel		21 (62%)
Ship		3 (9%)

Q-Tent Side Deck
Total Q-Tent Side Deck		13
Artifact		1 (8%)
Doorway		1 (8%)
Equipment		1 (8%)
Event		2 (15%)
Incident		2 (15%)
Interrupt		2 (15%)
Objective		1 (8%)
Personnel		1 (8%)
Ship		2 (15%)

Skills
Acquisition		0
Anthropology		5
Archaeology		5
Astrophysics		5
Biology		5
CIVILIAN		4
Computer Skill		9
Cybernetics		0
Diplomacy		6
Empathy		0
ENGINEER		6
Exobiology		4
Geology		6
Greed		0
Honor		13
Law		1
Leadership		6
MEDICAL		3
Music		2
Navigation		3
OFFICER		4
Physics		3
SCIENCE		6
SECURITY		5
Smuggling		2
Stellar Cartography		2
Transporter Skill		1
Treachery		1
V.I.P.		2
Youth		3
Rare Skills
Barbering		0
Cantankerousness		0
Guramba		0
Mindmeld		8
Miracle Worker		0
Orion Syndicate		0
Resistance		0

Skill			On # Missions	Skill Dots	Classifications	Total
Acquisition						0
Anthropology			3	5		5
Archaeology			1	5		5
Astrophysics			1	5		5
Biology				5		5
CIVILIAN					4	4
Computer Skill				9		9
Cybernetics						0
Diplomacy				6		6
Empathy						0
ENGINEER			1	2	4	6
Exobiology			2	4		4
Geology			1	6		6
Greed						0
Honor			3	13		13
Law				1		1
Leadership			4	6		6
MEDICAL				2	1	3
Music				2		2
Navigation				3		3
OFFICER			2		4	4
Physics				3		3
SCIENCE			2	3	3	6
SECURITY				1	4	5
Smuggling				2		2
Stellar Cartography			1	2		2
Transporter Skill				1		1
Treachery				1		1
V.I.P.					2	2
Youth				3		3
Rare Skills
Barbering
Cantankerousness
Guramba
Mindmeld				8		8
Miracle Worker
Orion Syndicate
Resistance
Intelligence Skills
FCA
Intelligence
Klingon Intelligence
Memory Omega
Obsidian Order
Section 31
Tal Shiar
V'Shar				2		2
any Intelligence				2		2

Traits
Card group
Capturing-related card		2
Infiltration-related card		1
Vulcan espionage		1
Vulcan-related Artifact		1
Vulcan-related interrupt		4
Dilemma group
murder-related dilemma		1
SCIENCE-related dilemma		2
Equipment group
ENGINEER-related equipment		1
SCIENCE-related equipment		1
Mission trait
Asymmetric mission		1
Homeworld		1
Mission II		1
Nebula		1
Personnel gender
Female		3
Male		19
Personnel group
U.S.S. Equinox-related personnel		1
Personnel trait
Ambassador		1
Bodyguard		2
Captain		3
Dissident		9
Minister		1
Mission Specialist		2
Nurse		1
Priest		2
Syrranite		6
Ship class
Shuttlecraft		1
Ship equipment
Tractor Beam		4
ship trait
No staffing requirement		1
Ship trait
Scout		1
Ship with a Skill		5
Vulcan ship		5

Icons
Era
		27
Faction
		1
		1
Quadrant
		2
		1
Special
		1
		31
		2
		1
Staffing
		9
		8