Major Rakal's Romulan Review #79: Admirals and Vedeks and Guls, Oh my!

(06/16/1999)

Aefvadh! DS9 and The Dominion have introduced a number of cards that affect personnel with specific ranks, titles or other characteristics that aren't skills. The most common question asked about these cards is "who qualifies" as an Ambassador or a Chancellor. Let's take a look at this question and try to sort out all the...

ADMIRALS AND VEDEKS AND GULS, OH MY!

The cards that provoke the majority of the questions are Going to the Top and the various Headquarters cards.

• Going to the Top says, "Plays if you have two [C] personnel together on a facility. Return one to hand OR download a compatible Admiral, Kai, Legate, Chancellor, Emperor, Senator or Nagus there."
• Each Headquarters card allows certain "dignitaries" to report for free (one per turn).
  • Central Command: "...one Cardassian Gul or Legate..."
  • Chamber of Ministers: "...one Bajoran Minister, Vedek or Kai..."
  • Office of the President: "...one Federation Ambassador, Admiral, Vice-Admiral or President..."
  • Office of the Proconsul: "...one Romulan General, Admiral, Senator or Proconsul OR Sela or Tomalak..."
  • The Great Hall: "...one Klingon Emperor, Chancellor or personnel with "High Council" in lore..."
  • The Great Link: "...one Founder..."
• In addition, Natima Lang gets an attribute boost if with another "Cardassian dissident", and Silarin Prin confers a Nemesis icon on all "Shakaar resistance cell members" (not to be confused with the skill of Resistance) in play.

Qualification for all of these characteristics is governed by one simple rule: the rank, title or other characteristic must be given in either the personnel's name (card title) or in the personnel card's lore.

You can't go by the lore on another card (for example, a ship that the personnel might be the matching commander for) or by "common knowledge" of the Star Trek universe. It might seem unfair that Eric Pressman doesn't qualify as an admiral, when you know that he was Admiral Pressman in the episode "Pegasus," or that Mendak likewise doesn't qualify even though his ship the Devoras refers to him as Admiral Mendak. But not all players are familiar with all the episodes, and you may not have a copy of the Devoras handy to prove your point. If it isn't on the personnel card, it doesn't count.

There are a few slightly ambiguous cards. "Proconsul of the Senate" in Neral's lore has been ruled to qualify him as a Senator, on the grounds that the Proconsul may have ascended to that position from the ranks of the Senate. Also, "Admiral" includes variations such as Vice-Admiral and Fleet Admiral. On the other hand, a changeling who "appears as an Admiral" is not an Admiral - he's an imposter.