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. The theme was further popularized with the animated series Lower Decks which spent five seasons following the antics of an engaging group of Junior Officers as they carried out missions aboard the USS Cerritos.
This month’s interview is with the writer behind Ensign Alyndra Syrex playing a female Trill/Racoon hybrid Medical Officer assigned to the USS Ronin.
Harford: Tell us a little about the writer behind the character. What part of the world are you from? What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing for SB118?
Syrex: Howdy! I’m from Amera-cauh! Ha! Just kidding of course! My name is Freya, I’m from the United Kingdom – England to be more specific. I’ve moved around a bit in the past few years for my degree, living in the City of Oxford and now finding myself in Leicester. However, my true home is my parents’ attic in Northern Oxfordshire, even if it gets a little chilly in the winter!
When I’m not simming, I am finishing my degree. I am currently doing a master’s in Biomedical Science, having just completed a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Science. Science has always been a passion of mine, which is funny because I used to disdain Biology, I would never have thought I would now be considering doing a PhD in it!
What brought you to SB118? What has been your favorite part of being a part of the community so far and what have you found most challenging?
Physically? I was talking to a friend on a cool summer evening. She had been looking at something for us to do as we’d both just handed control of our beloved university society (It was a Dr Who Society) to our successors and were a bit bummed out. She came across a Star Trek roleplaying game called “Starbase 118”. Looking interesting, we both applied and went through the academy together. Unfortunately she didn’t pass and didn’t want to go through the academy again, which I completely understood. I think the hardest, or certainly the most challenging part of my journey in the fleet so far was probably coming to terms that this was something we couldn’t do together and I’d have to get to know everyone myself. Luckily everyone was so welcoming and the Ronin is a lovely ship that I’m so proud to be a part of. The late night chats in the voice chat mean a lot to me, so I’m glad that if I stayed active in the fleet’s discord, it was for that!
What advice have you been given in the time you’ve been with the fleet? How has that shaped you as a player OOC and as a writer IC? Carrying on from that, what different piece of advice would you pass along to a player who may have just joined?
Oh so much! “Don’t worry” “Maybe you should worry a little”, but honestly the advice from the Ronin staff, specifically Ace, Brian and Liv has been so valuable and honestly changed how I write. I think that in a strange way, the best advice I received wasn’t really advice at all. It was something along the lines of “Whatever you do in-character, you face in-character consequences”. Which allowed me to loosen up a little bit. I was really nervous joining a ship with such a long-history, but hearing that kinda allowed me to let Alyndra come into her own in a way I never would have considered otherwise! So a piece of advice I’d give would be to not let your anxieties hold back your character, if you think they’d do it! Let the towel drop!
Did you come to the community with writing a Medical Officer in mind? What drew you to that duty post and what do you find most enjoyable about writing for Medical?
So that’s actually a long story! So originally I wanted to write for my “bridge crew” persona, helm-officer “Delta”. She was an android of the same type seen in Picard Series 1, but that wasn’t available on the species list when I signed up. Having compiled Delta’s lore a few days prior, I instead selected her roommate, Alyndra Syrex, A Trill doctor. IRL obviously I have a background in Biology as I mentioned earlier, so I was, and still am really excited about bringing more “Realistic” biology into my sims. Although I obviously understand that not everyone has the same background as me, so I try to keep the jargon to a limited capacity!
The Ronin has a bit of a reputation for being a wild ship, some even call it a “zoo”? How has that impacted the way you write a Trill? Do you think that had any impact on the hybridization of your character’s race? How did you develop the reputation as the fleet’s most loved vermin?
Ha ha ha. Yeah I definitely understand the Ronin’s reputation. We have Tribbles, Kitty-Cats, Honey-Badgers, Raccoons, and probably something else I missed. So the chances of being bitten, scratched or otherwise wounded on any given day are never zero.
The Trill as a species are iconic for many reasons, you could probably interview every Trill player in the fleet and they’d all say something different about the species, aside from the obvious symbiosis stans. Personally, I’ve always loved how easy-going and flamboyant characters like Jadzia Dax could be and that kind of chaos is absolutely something I want to see in Alyndra. Given she’s been described as a literal “Chaos-Gremlin” on multiple occasions, I can only assume I’m doing something right.
For the record… Alyndra is only X<1% Raccoon, the hybridisation is greatly exaggerated! In fact her only Raccoon DNA comes from a bite she got on her ankle as a child. So as a raccoon, I proudly stand up out of my dumpster and say to you that “Vermin” is our word, you using it is just plainly blasphemous.
Although also wanting to fully answer your question, yes. It has changed how I play a Trill in that Alyndra has trapped herself in a bin, slept in a pile of sweetie-wrappers and destroyed a sofa since earning the “Raccoon-Title”.
Do you have any specific goals for Alyndra’s career? How do you plan on telling that story and what kind of support do you have from your Chief Medical Officer?
Oh so many! I’m cooking behind the scenes and I hope that people will enjoy what I have in mind. The select few that have had a sneak-preview are very excited for her future and I cannot wait to introduce these concepts in the future!
One thing you need to know about me is that I love writing long-winded stories, really fleshing out the ideas and concepts. So I probably have a good few years worth of content build-up and some more in the solid R&D phase.
Oh sure! Despite his reputation as a ladies man, Beck is very supportive of Alyndra, both IC and OOC. He’s always up for Alyndra’s shenanigans and plays into the “Sofa-bit” really well. I honestly couldn’t have asked to be under a better CMO (and no, that’s not a euphemism).
Thanks for your time, Alyndra!
You can read more about Ensign Alyndra Syrex on the wiki.
