Step Two: Environment
Choose the character’s Environment; this is the type of world the character was raised on. Each Environment grants:
A value
+1 to one attribute and
+1 to one department
Regardless of their species, Starfleet Officers come from many places, across many worlds. While many Humans (for example) are born on Earth, there are many more who were born on a colonized world elsewhere in the Galaxy, or on a starbase or a starship.
A character’s Environment grants the character a single value, one point in a single attribute, and one point in a single department.
A player may choose their Environment, or randomly determine it from the Random Environment table by rolling a d20.
Random Environment
D20 ENVIRONMENT
1-3 Another Species’ World
4-6 Busy Colony
7-9 Frontier Colony
10-12 Homeworld
13-15 Isolated Colony
16-18 Starship or Starbase
19-20 Roll Again or Choose
Another Species’ World
The character grew up among another species. They might have lived among a small enclave of their own kind, or they may have been orphaned by some manner of disaster and raised by aliens. Whatever the situation, the character may have unique perspectives on their own species and on those they were raised alongside.
VALUE: At this step, the character gains a single value. This value should reflect the environment and culture the character was raised within. Consider how the character views their own culture, and how they connect—or possibly, don’t connect—to the philosophies and traditions of their people. Considering a value associated with the species your character was raised among can be fitting here.
ATTRIBUTE: Choose or randomly roll another species from Step One, then choose one of the attributes that species increases and increase your rating in that attribute by 1.
DEPARTMENT: Increase one department rating by 1.
Busy Colony
The character comes from one of their culture’s oldest or most prosperous colonies, which may be another world within their home system—such as Luna or Mars for Humans—or one of the first worlds colonized after the culture achieved interstellar flight. These colonies often develop a fiercely independent outlook, often having developed with little direct aid from their home world, and a sense of pride that accompanies being among the first of their kind to tame another world.
VALUE: At this step, the character gains a single value. This value should reflect the environment and culture the character was raised within. Consider how the character views their own culture, and how they connect—or possibly, don’t connect—to the philosophies and traditions of their people.
ATTRIBUTE: Choose one of the following attributes and increase it by 1: Daring or Presence.
DEPARTMENT: Choose one of Command, Security, or Science; the character increases that department by 1.
Frontier Colony
The character comes from a colony located on the fringes of known space, either on the edge of uncharted space or on the border with another civilization. Frontier colonists tend to be hardy and determined, even stubborn, and well-prepared for the dangers that their home may pose.
VALUE: At this step, the character gains a single value. This value should reflect the environment and culture the character was raised within. This is a good opportunity to consider how the character views their own culture, and how they connect—or possibly, don’t connect—to the philosophies and traditions of their people.
ATTRIBUTE: Choose one of the following attributes and increase it by 1: Control or Fitness.
DEPARTMENT: Choose one of Conn, Security, or Medicine; increase that department by 1.
Homeworld
The character comes from the world that birthed their civilization and has been surrounded by cultural and spiritual legacies their entire life. Species homeworlds are often utopian and idyllic, serving as the platonic ideal of that species’ culture, or the recipients of an empire’s wealth and prosperity. They also exemplify aspects of a culture’s most revered traditions and serve as the heart of that civilization’s legal and political landscape.
VALUE: At this step, the character gains a single value. This value should reflect the environment and culture the character was raised within. This is a good opportunity to consider how the character views their own culture, and how they connect—or possibly, don’t connect—to the philosophies and traditions of their people. The sidebars on each species’ values can serve as inspiration here.
ATTRIBUTE: Choose one of the three attributes the character’s species improved; increase one of those attributes by 1.
DEPARTMENT: Choose one of Command, Security, or Science; the character increases that department by 1.
Isolated Colony
The character comes from a colony that is isolated from broader galactic society. Worlds like the Vulcan monastery on P’Jem use the vast distances between star systems as an opportunity for contemplative isolation, while others are settled because they present unique research opportunities. The cultures of these colonies tend to focus on learning and introspection.
VALUE: At this step, the character gains a single value. This value should reflect the environment and culture the character was raised within. This is a good opportunity to consider how the character views their own culture, and how they connect—or possibly, don’t connect—to the philosophies and traditions of their people.
ATTRIBUTE: Choose one of the following attributes and increase it by 1: Reason or Insight.
DEPARTMENT: Choose one of Engineering, Science, or Medicine; increase that department by 1.
Starship or Starbase
The character grew up in space, travelling aboard a starship or living aboard a space station or starbase. While they’re unlikely to have lived aboard a military or Starfleet vessel—only some of them carry families—many freighters, transports, and other civilian vessels have a tradition of family or generational crews, and many officers with families take postings to starbases rather than ships. Those raised in space learn the ins-and-outs of shipboard life as children, and many are groomed for leadership, or learn to fly a shuttle in their formative years.
VALUE: At this step, the character gains a single value. This value should reflect the environment and culture the character was raised within. This is a good opportunity to consider how the character views their own culture, and how they connect—or possibly, don’t connect—to the philosophies and traditions of their people.
ATTRIBUTE: Choose one of the following attributes and increase it by 1: Control or Insight.
DEPARTMENT: Choose one of Command, Conn, or Engineering; the character increases that department by 1.