We’re here with another interview with a newer member of our community. The title of this column is “Lower Decks,” hearkening back to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled “Lower Decks,” in which junior officers aboard the Enterprise-D speculate on the reasons for recent unusual actions taken by the command crew near the Cardassian border.
This month’s interview is with the writer behind Lieutenant JG Sevantha Saa playing a Betazoid Medical Officer assigned to the USS Astraeus.
Nilsen: Tell us a little about the writer behind the character — where in the world do you hail from? Any Hobbies? Anything you’d like to share!
Saa: Hello! I’m Lynn, it’s technically Caitlynn, but since there’s a ton of them out there I usually go by Lynn. I currently hail from Austin, Texas with my partner who most know in the fleet as Morro Caras over on the Octavia E. Butler with our three Frenchies Lulu, Beatrix and Penelo (All named after Final Fantasy characters). I work currently as a Massage Therapist but have had an extensive voice-over career in animation dubbing in the past, and have been a performer for most of my life.
As the above hinted I’m an avid gamer with a wide range of genres I like from cosy games like Story of Seasons, Fields of Mistria, and Palia to more active RPGs like Fallout, Diablo, Skyrim, etc. I am also a very avid tabletop RPG player and DM, and absolutely adore world/lore building as well as discussing characters with people.
Were you a Star Trek fan before joining UFOP: StarBase 118? If so, what were your favourite shows and/or movies?
I was! My mom used to watch Next Generation and Voyager regularly when I was young, so I got started back then. I have some rose-tinted glasses about Voyager just because it was the first time I’d seen a female Captain at the centre of the show and Seven of Nine, of course. But in TNG anything and everything that revolved around Data was instantly a favourite episode of mine, and I’ve seen First Contact probably triple the amount I have seen any other Star Trek movie due to that fact alone.
After a long break from watching anything Trek after Enterprise, my partner recently got started watching Star Trek TOS and that led us to watching Strange New Worlds, then Discovery, Lower Decks, and I finally have seen DS9 which I am shaming my mother for never watching as a life long Trekkie herself.
Is this your first simming experience, or have you done other forms of role-playing before? & What brought you to SB118?
So I have been roleplaying for a very long time… way back in the days of AOL chat rooms and Neopets. Since then I’ve been on forums, discord, MMOs, and VoiceProximity RP (RedM), but UFOP: Starbase 118 is my first email experience which has been really fun.
Jess, who plays Gwen’ora Tasen, actually found this place after we had a talk about Star Trek in another server and linked me here. We both decided to join and here I am! Then shortly after my partner joined and it’s become a fun activity we share despite not being on the same ship currently. I really missed writing creatively with others.
Why did you choose this specific character and duty post?
I chose Doctor due to thinking there were probably too many Security players already, and with my experience as RPing as a Doctor in RedM I figured it’d be fun to go from 1900s medicine roleplay to Starfleet Future tech. Quite the jump in technology.
My last several characters have been very bubbly extroverts so I wanted to return to playing an introvert (a little closer to home for me). I also didn’t want to play just a human, so I went Betazoid, and over my application piece, Sevantha took shape. Then I realized I was also pulling inspiration from Judge Anderson from Dredd and decided why not just use Olivia Thirlby as her face claim also. Everything else has just developed the more I’ve gotten to know her which has been a lot of fun.
Making a doctor with a specialty in Telepathic Development and Medicine has really given me a lot of ways to uniquely interact with characters and I hope to continue doing so.
Where do you see yourself and Saa in a few years? Have a taste of command of your own? Or maybe planning on joining one of our great OOC groups?
I am someone who enjoys being in supporting roles. I don’t think I’m someone bound for my own command but I’d love to be in the position of Second or First Officer one day, and be able to help mentor others. One of the things I love is reading how people come up with their characters, bring them to life, and what parts of their characters come directly from themselves. I am a big believer in collaboration and the art of making your partner look good in a scene, and I think being a Mentor would expand my ability to do that for those who are just getting settled in. I am hoping to join either the Image Collective in the future or another team here in the future OOCly as well.
As for Saa, I think she may eventually make a decent CMO, but I’d love to see her grow some confidence in the future to take a more command position so she and I can have a long career together. I look forward to entangling her in others’ stories to help bring their visions to life and eventually run my own little plot with her. Until then she’s just trying to help everyone and not be in the way.
Looking back on your experience so far, what would be one piece of advice you’d give to anyone who’s just joined?
Honestly, I think looking at everything so far, I’d have to say let things cook. With the possibility of being in the fleet for years, do not be afraid of a good slow burn and build to something bigger overtime. It’s very easy to immediately want to throw your character into the fray and immediately traumatize them to invoke change… but see what everyone is doing, and if everyone is in the middle of traumatizing their character, step back and try to take the grounding role. It may seem like you’re denying yourself the chance to change but making your scene partners look good and feel good, helps build a bond between writers that is incredibly rewarding. Eventually, when it is your time to pull the trigger on something big, it also means those writers will be there to help put meaning to your scenes because you did the same for them.
This experience I have found to be most rewarding when players are able to collaboratively create and feel like their stories matter to those around them. Which if you ever want a JP, I am always happy to write with folks.
Thanks for your time, Lt JG Saa!
