SG-1, a primer

[brainofck]

As mentioned earlier, I am going ahead with the Stargate series. Gonna post it over at stargateslash. However, you are all here for the LOTR RPS. To the extent any of you wanted to read my Stargate thing, I thought I would offer a litte mini-course on what to expect.

However, I did this mainly because alpha_strike and daisy_gamgee expressed interest in it in my poll earlier today. Anyway, hopefully, everything a newbie would want as far as backstory before reading Possession.

The premise: Stargates generate wormholes that allow interplanetary travel in the blink of an eye. A stargate was discovered on Earth. Dr. Daniel Jackson figured out how to make it work. Earthlings go through the gate and learn that the galaxy is dominated by a species of parasite (the goa'uld) that takes over humanoid lifeforms as hosts. Long ago, they came to ancient Egypt by way of the Gate, and developed a preference for human hosts. They used the Gate to take humans from Earth to worlds specially terraformed to support human life.

Dr. Jackson and Col. Jack O'Neill and friends destroy a very powerful goa'uld System Lord named Ra, and Earth comes to the attention of the badguys (who must have forgotten about it. This in not important to our mini-course!).

The Stargate Command (SGC) and it's teams (SG-1 to SG-15), explore the galaxy, looking for weapons and technology to help defend Earth and ultimately defeat the gou'ald. SG-1 (Jack, Sam, Daniel, Teal'c) is the flagship team of the SGC, and spends lots of time seriously pissing off the goa'uld – destroying huge mother ships, starting uprisings, assassinating System Lords, etc.

The players

Jack, with disturbing mustard container Col. Jack O'Neill – a soldier's soldier. Been there, done that, like three times, at least. Not necessarily the braniac in the bunch. But infinitely flexible and resourceful. Knows how to bow to give his team room to work, and is often the idiot savant, whose down to earth observations are the key to victory.

Daniel Jackson, hunky nerd Dr. Daniel Jackson – archeologist, anthropologist, linguist (23 languages). The girl on the team. The voice of calm, reason, and diplomacy. Major tactical liability as the story begins, but learns how to be an asset in the field as the story progresses. Suffers from Convenient Glasses Vision™

Cap. Carter, kicking Hathor's ass Major Samantha Carter – tough as Jack, smart as Daniel. PhD in Physics. A warrior scientist much in the Star Trek tradition. She would be the Chief Engineer on a starship crew. I love her because she is usually not the girl. She rarely needs rescuing, and she almost never plays a love interest role. She's doing her job just like everybody else.

Teal'c in charge Teal'c – a Jaffa and former First Prime (chief military leader) of a goa'uld named Apophis. Rescues SG-1 and joins the Tauri (people of Earth) in their fight against the goa'uld. He is almost fanatically loyal to the members of SG-1. He is known among the goa'uld as the shol'vah (traitor), because he betrayed his "false god" Apophis and now works to incite rebellion among the Jaffa.

Goa'uld, with hand device. Goa'uld, with hand device.

Hand device Hand device, in action

The goa'uld – adult goa'uld inhabit human hosts. The can be recognized by their glowing yellow eyes and their ability to master certain technologies, including various hand devices – usually as powerful weapons. The voice of the host is usually very distorted. However a goa'uld can control the host without showing these manifestations. And a goa'uld can also share a host's body, allowing the host complete freedom. The goa'uld gives it's host extraordinary strength and immunity to disease, as well as rapid healing ability for all but the most serious injuries. Earth's only hope is that the goa'uld, though powerful, fight amongst themselves in such a feudal fashion that they hardly have time to bother with anybody else.

The Tok'ra – goa'uld who choose to share the body of the host, rather than dominate the host and take the body for themselves. The host and the parasite have a true symbiotic relationship.

The Jaffa – genetically engineered humans. They host larval goa'uld in their abdomens. The goa'uld larva acts as the immune system of the Jaffa, and gives great strength, immunity to almost all disease, and very long life. However, without a larval goa'uld, the Jaffa will die. Teal'c has a larval goa'uld, that Jack affectionately refers to as Junior. Larval goa'uld do not control the nervous system of the Jaffa, as the adult goa'uld control the host organism. The goa'uld use these super human incubators as foot soldiers, and the Jaffa worship the goa'uld as gods. Jaffa armies are the basis of the goa'ulds' ability to control large portions of the galaxy.

Thor, representing the Asgard The Asgard – little grey aliens who could kick goa'uld ass, if only they had the spare time. They are, however, very, very fond of Jack.

SG-1: The Glam Shot What can I say. And the Gate in the background.

Other important notes:

The Iris - Earth's stargate is protected by a defensive barrier, the iris, that does not allow incoming matter to materialize. It must be opened for matter to pass through the stargate. Incoming travelers must transmit appropriate codes via a radio transmitter. All off-world personnel carry them, as do certain allies.

ZATs - ray gun type weapons. One shot stuns. Two shots kill.

Staff Weapons - weapon of choice of the Jaffa. Big laser type thing, about 6 feet long.

Ha'tak - gigantic space ship used by goa'uld system lords. Looks like a pyramid. Go figure. Luxurious and gold coated on the inside.

And dang it, not enough icons in this dumb journal to have a Stargate one.

Comments

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

Thanks.
I still can't tell the players without a card, but at least I have the card now.