Jack of Harts

A Primer on the Races of Humanity – Arnam

by Betty on May 16, 2017 at 12:01 am

One interesting aspect of the Arnam’s underwater lifestyle is that they don’t wear clothing on a regular basis. They are designed to slip through the water far better in the skins they are born with than in most diving skinsuits, and any looser clothing gets hopeless caught in the ever-present currents of water. All of that changes the moment they go above water. Whether simply to protect themselves from the effects of the hot sun, or because they want to blend in with humanity, the Arnam love to wear clothing of all kinds in the air. Hats of all kinds, fancy sunglasses, scarves, gloves, trenchcoats, dresses, and anything else that can cover the skin, the Arnam love it all. They are the finest decorations they can think of, and the Arnam have a positive passion for coming up with new combinations of colors and fashions.

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Star Trek: Renegades

by Medron Pryde on May 15, 2017 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

I recently watched Star Trek: Renegades. Much like Horizon, it is a fan film, though there are a great many differences between the two. Horizon was made by talented amateurs who did an amazing job while being limited to digital sets that were sometimes very noticeable. Renegades was made by professionals, though they were similarly limited to digital sets or very limited physical sets. Much like Horizon, the space scenes were nearly perfect, while many of the “dungeon” scenes…showed their lack of budget.

Tim Russ appeared as Vulcan Commander Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager and has appeared in various roles on TNG, DS9, and Star Trek: Generations. He has written stories, directed shows, featured in games, and created other Star Trek fan films over the years. He is a life long Trekker who has walked the walk and talked the talk. And he brought many other Star Trek veterans with him to make Renegades. I had to smile while watching the movie as I played a game of “guess that character” as actor after actor showed up and my mind cast about for who I remembered them as.

But all through that, I didn’t enjoy Renegades because I got to see familiar faces. I enjoyed it because it was an interesting story, and it was told well. Yes, there are some examples of wooden acting, and not all of the special effects were as good as I would like, but I have to say that I enjoyed the performance overall. It was a good Star Trek story, and one I think fans of Star Trek should watch. It is a worthy telling.

And that of course is its downfall in some ways. The new Star Trek fan film guidelines make it against the rules to make any more Renegades stories. So much like the crew of Horizon, Renegades has gone their own separate way. They are making new stories, in a universe of their own creation. I suppose that is good in some ways. I certainly hope they are successful and make money doing it. But the Star Trek fan in me recognizes how much they love Star Trek. Star Trek is a world many of us want to live in, and writing or making stories in it is a way for us to do that. And the new fan film guidelines make that difficult, if not impossible. And so, whatever the team of Renegades makes, I will always be sad that we won’t see more of the characters and world that we each independently love.

I will watch the new Renegades stuff. They have earned that with this outing, and I hope to see more of them in the future. Even as I grieve over the lack of new Star Trek I will see because they can no longer do that.

You can find Star Trek: Renegades on youtube.

Or you can see what they are working on now.
Renegades: The Series

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Edwin Case

by Charles on May 14, 2017 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Edwin Case was a football star when the Peloran Treatments’ final stages kicked in and made him Ageless. They augmented his already impressive strength to make him a true superhuman hulk, and cost him his sports career and all of his records and awards. He volunteered to serve after that, and everyone expected him to go the infantry path, but he passed the pilot aptitude tests with flying colors. He became one of the largest pilots to ever fly a Hellcat, which is not a large starfighter. I understand that he was very happy when VMFA-214, the Black Sheep, acquired the much larger Avenger-class starfighters. That was in the early months of The War, shortly after we showed everyone what we could do at the Battle of Fort Wichita. When I put out the call for reinforcements to make up our battle losses, Edwin was one of the first to volunteer. It was due to the work he and others like him performed with stalwart courage that we drove the Shang out of our corner of the galaxy and secured peace.

High res version available for free on Patreon

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Carol

by Jack on May 13, 2017 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Carol and her sisters flew with the Black Sheep during the Fall of Japan and decided to stick with them after. Free Japanese resources were limited at the time, and they’d known each other long enough that they were family. So they adopted American names and the rest is history. Technology and military rules changed over the centuries, and she accepted numerous pilots over the years so she could continue to fly the very best fighters. She and her sisters still fly the modern Black Sheep fighters, but Carol sent one of her shards to join us Cowboys after the first Battles of Earth and Alpha Centauri. Others came in the years to follow, but she was the first of her particular branch of the cybernetic families I had the pleasure to work with. And yes. She was always a pleasure to work with.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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