By Commander Rhys Bejain
This week, we look to one of the darker of our new recruits, LtJG Anthony Creed, Intelligence Officer on the Duronis II embassy. Behold, as we lay bare the soul of Anthony Creed for your inspection.
Rhys Bejain: How did you become interested in Star Trek?
Anthony Creed: I used to watch a show called Space Precinct, about a group of police officers (mixture of Humans and other aliens) who work as police officers on a space station set in the not too distant future. But when it was cancelled I needed something to fill the gap and the closest thing I could find was DS9…(which in all honesty was much nicer lol) the rest as they say is history!
RB: Nicer? I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard DS9 described as nice. I’m thinking of one particular sixth season episode called “In the Pale Moonlight.” In what way would you say DS9 was nice?
AC: Ha ha. By nice I didn’t mean a teddy bear’s picnic. By nice, I mean interesting nice; much more intelligent if you will.
RB: How did you find out about UFoP?
AC: I have a friend in my college (who sims as Michael Soul). Every day I would see him reading and replying to what I assumed were scripts. Because I was a nosy so and so, I would read over his shoulder and find out about the things his character got up to. I kept bugging him to explain to me what was happening, so eventually he succumbed to my constant nagging and told me about UFoP.
At first I was sceptical but as I was doing some research for my Media Studies, which involved a section on internet communities, I decided to give a 1 month trial run…that was over five months ago…
RB: Tell me about Creed.
AC: Creed is a “special” character. He is blunt, unfriendly, occasionally (admittedly not always intentionally) rude. He dislikes verbal/physical contact (eg. handshakes) …of any kind with anyone (which is counter productive if you are an intel officer) and often goes out of his way to be difficult with the other officers he comes into contact with.
RB: How did/do you find other characters react to an abrasive character? Have you experienced much IC/OOC bleed?
AC: Creed does seem to frustrate everyone. Admittedly, the way he does is not how he originally intended but somehow he tends to step on everyone’s toes. But, that said, the J.G couldn’t care less.
RB: Why did you decide to make Creed as he is?
AC: Before I started simming, I used to visit the UFOP forums and saw how well everyone got on and saw how friendly they all were, from Sims I read a majority of characters were very friendly to their fellow officers…so just to address the balance I decided to create a not so friendly character.
RB: Nice. Do you sim Creed as rough-but-with-a-heart-of-gold, or as just a nasty piece of work?
AC: Erm lol, rough-but-with-a-heart-of-gold would be better to describe him. Though he does all the I-don’t-need-anyone act very well, there are moments when it often becomes obvious that he is more vulnerable than the average person and half the time, there is the suggestion that he can prove himself to be the caring person he so clearly wants to hide. But the J.G will do almost anything to hide that.
RB: What do you see as the difference between Creed and the various heartless villains of the Star Trek Universe? What’s stopping him from just being a villain?
AC: That’s actually a brilliant question, it is possible to argue that the way I’m creating him, he is heading down the dark side. However the principals of “doing the right thing” that he holds dear to his heart will often contradict that plan. There is also the matter of the NPCs who are looking after him, I’m sure they will keep him on the striaght and Narrow…for now…*Grins*
RB: What were your initial impressions of the Duronis II Embassy?
AC: To be honest, I had originally prepared myself to work on a ship and was happy about this because it meant you could go from place to place and see new things and people each mission, so I was a little suspicious when I found out I would be on an Embassy, with the same scenery and same species. But after a couple of months of being there, I’ve grown quite fond of the Embassy and see an abundance of opportunities in terms of character development.
RB: Opportunities for character development? Like what?
AC: Well there are certain things that the planet can present to the character that he won’t be familiar with, because the J.G had a VERY sheltered upbringing he won’t be familiar with certain concepts like racism, (some of the people of Tilhon are not too keen on non-Laudeans) poverty or better yet the concept of caring about anyone/everyone including himself.
RB: What’s happening at the Embassy now?
AC: At the moment we are starting a mission, which will see us heading into the more poorer parts of the planet (think third world earth). We are to find out how the people live their everyday lives and find non-intrusive solutions to their problems…this obviously should improve the Leaudeans’ opinion of the Federation. But that’s easier said than done because the Romulans and Zalkonians, who also want to impress the Leaudeans, also have their own plans…
RB: And what part is Creed playing in this?
AC: As an intelligence man, it will be his job to create contacts that are friendly to the Federation, and to get any needed information by the embassy from official sources and some…not so official sources. Its also his role to be up to date on the actions of the Romulans and the Zalkonians so if they are planning anything, i should have knowledge of it before hand…emphasising the word “should” lol :).
RB: What advice would you give a new ensign arriving on a new ship?
AC: Brace yourself kiddies, cos all hell’s gonna break loose!!! lol joking, My advice is just to have fun, remember that everyone in the crew is there to help each other so if you are ever in doubt about anything, eg. what you are suppose to do, what to do next etc. don’t be hesitant to ask questions…make friends with the other officers…you’ll never know when you’ll need them to bail you out from a sticky situation 🙂
RB: What mistakes did you make as an Ensign that you’d want to warn others?
AC: Haha, erm…because Creed is sociophobic (He is incapable of handling big crowds) during his first mission, the Ensign decided to break away from the away team to get some air…which sounds harmless but then put into consideration that the freighter they were on at the time was at any moment going to explode. After wandering around on the foreign freighter, the Ensign realised he was lost and almost didn’t make it back to the group before they left…Needless to say the officer in charge of the away mission did not take kindly to Creed walking out on the team. My advice? If you want to stay on the good side of your commanding officers, listen to what they say. lol it’ll keep you alive!
RB: What are your future plans for Creed?
AC: I have an abundance of plans for Creed, firstly he has to learn some manners and social skills, (I have a couple of NPCs helping with that part) and the fact that he’s an intel officer means he’ll often come into contact with the less “respectable” parts and people of Tilhon…which, let’s face it has a endless amount of possibilities so…the future seems bright for the young J.G…