Lieutenant Commander Doctors Danielle Auden Garamond Vanderkemp

Dossier

Player: User:The Inmara game: Star Trek: Mercury

Doctors Danielle, Auden, and Garamond Vanderkemp are a trinary plural system assigned as ship's counselor to the Mercury. They currently hold the rank of Lieutenant Commander. As a highly cooperative system, they've opted to act as a single entity legally and have asked Star Fleet to evaluate them and keep their records as if they are a single individual, or a corporate entity. However, they prefer to socialize as individuals, and introduce themselves according to everyone. They do take responsibility for each other's actions. They have doctorates in Psychology and Xenoanthropology.

Informally, Danielle (she/her) is the one who acts as ship's counselor. Auden (they/them) holds most of their Xenoanthropology expertise, and will act as cultural attache when called upon to do so. And Garamond (it/its) is their "id monster" and likes to party. Incidentally, Garamond is well versed in Star Fleet regulations and does everything it can to help the rest of the system to avoid breaking them.

quirks:

- Danielle needs reading glasses, which they all wear on the top of their head for ease of grabbing when she needs them. The others don't need them. It's a nuerological thing Danielle chooses not to get fixed, because disabilities don't always need to be cured. It's a statement.

- Danielle also tends to have an easy, happy, quiet voiced demeanor.

- Auden usually has a spacy look and doesn't know how to control the volume of their voice when they are infodumping.

- Garamond has an excellent poker face, but tends to hunch over when fronting, and has an impish grin it can flash that neither of the other two system members can immitate.

- All three have distinctively different voices. Danielle's is soft and motherly. Auden's is a bit more nasel and slightly lower register than Danielle's, definitely androgynous. Garamond can immitate both of them perfectly, but drops to its snarky, smokey low notes when revealing itself. The system's overall singing range is barritone.

Biography

Garamond Vanderkemp was born to Julia and Mark Vanderkemp as one of the very few infants delivered at the Starfleet shipyards of Tranquility Base. Both Julia and Mark Vanderkemp worked there, and Julia was visiting during the final weeks of her pregnancy when she went into labor. Otherwise, the family lived in New Berlin, where Garamond would grow up.

By three years old, Garamond had developed two imaginary friends, and by five years old those friends had fully emerged as system members Danielle and Auden. Though, truthfully, it is hard to say that Garamond was the original, just that "Garamond" was the system's given name. Typically, in cases of early plurality, all members are assumed to be siblings born at the same time. Shortly after Danielle and Auden took the front, Garamond was the one being treated as the imaginary friend, a gregarious monster under the bed that kept the other monsters away.

In accordance with their own upbringing and medical knowledge of the time, Julia and Mark rolled with this and treated all three of their children fairly and as the children requested. And when Garamond, Danielle, and Auden reached the age of majority, they decided to register as a corporate system, working in cooperation and taking full responsibility for each other's actions and sharing each other's accomplishments, with no accommodations besides simply socializing casually as separate individuals. This was not unheard of at the time, and is generally the easiest path to take.

Shortly after that, Garamond and Auden agreed with Danielle to undergo transitional medical care to switch to an estradiol based hormonal system and pursue reproductive therapies as well. However, their voice had already dropped to a smooth baritone, which suited the three of them just fine. Danielle and Auden had already trained their voices to their liking, and Garamond's low rumble was soothing and satisfying to all three of them. And surprising to some people with their new presentation!

These childhood and adolescent experiences sparked Danielle's interest in psychology, which she pursued with avid dedication. While the growth of the Federation in the roughly fifty years before the Vanderkemp's birth brought alien cultures to the family's Lunar doorstep, which caught Auden's attention. After Danielle won her doctorate in therapeutic psychology, Auden dove into xenoanthropology and got their second doctorate.

Just out of school, they opened their practice, offering counseling to neurodivergent people of all species living in New Berlin. Garamond, however, had its eyes on Starfleet.

At the age of the 35, they closed their practice and signed up, with the goal of becoming a counselor in Starfleet. The three of them together made an excellent team, but they took their time, exploring their avenues and did not make their cadet voyage until 2256, when they were assigned to the U.S.S. Discovery (NCC-1032) where they spent their service working under Captain Lorca. When their assignment was complete, they immediately took a desk job at Yorktown. Lorca's command was stressful and even a little traumatizing, so the Dr.s Vanderkemp felt a stable career path on a busy and populous space station would be the healthiest change of pace.

There, they worked diligently and dutifully for 9 years, eventually achieving the rank of Lietenant Commander for their exemplary service and the excellent mental healthcare they provided for Starfleet personnel and their families. And Yorktown continued to provide Auden with ample opportunity to interact with other cultures.

This meant that they were present to witness the events of 2263, when James T Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise, then piloting the Franklin, intercepted Krall and interruped his plan to commit genocide.

Work was extra plentiful the years following that.

In 2266, upon the completion of the U.S.S. Mercury, Lieutenant Commanders Vanderkemp were assigned to the ship as counselor at the age of 51, being told, "This is a small short range vessel that does not normally warrant a counselor. However we think you will find working with this crew to be very rewarding, and the ship would benefit from your assistance. Here are the relevant files." They accepted the assignment, glad to have the opportunity to once again leave a place of recent traumatic events for their own health.

Distinctions

(use as or with a plot point)

"I am not exactly your mom..."

Danielle (ship's counselor), knows everyone's stories and is usually the person to go to for any sort of help. She's kind and friendly and rather astute and pretty good at solving problems. Especially social problems. But she's not you mom. But she's not not your space mom, either. Any time Danielle is fronting, we'll use this distinction, whether it fits the situation or not.

"OK, so..."

Auden (cultural attache), tends to drone on, but they know a lot about whatever they're talking about. So long as it's not human culture. Ask them anything about alien cultural practices and you'll get an answer, in the form of a lecture. You'll have to tell them to stop. Not so good about doing things with their knowledge, though, that's Danielle's job. Any time Auden is fronting, this is the distinction we'll use.

"By the letter"

Garamond (id monster), largely exists to make sure the system's base needs are met. And one of those needs is to not get in trouble. So, as it goes looking for fun, it knows all the regulations to follow to avoid getting in trouble. If anyone wants to know if what you're all doing will get you in trouble, ask Garamond. It will even tell you how to keep doing it "safely" and "legally", and then join in! In other words, it's really good with the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit of it. And that's specifically Star Fleet law. It doesn't care about anyone else's rules. Whenever Garamond is fronting, this is the distinction we'll use.

Disciplines

Discipline		Focus
Command		Filing The Right Paperwork
Conn
Security
Engineering
Science		Xenoanthropology
Medicine		Psychology

Values

Value		Statement
Agency		D: "How would YOU resolve this conflict?"
Crew		A: "Understanding is our strength."
Discovery		G: "Anything can be an experiment!"
Logic		A: "It's simple, listen..."
Passion		G: "The reason for living is what we're doing!"
Peace		D: "Can you identify the conflicting needs?"

Talents

Medicine Talent

• The Counselor's Advice
  When in a scene with another player character, can exchange up to 3 pp with that character. The player must agree to receive or give the plot points. Take 1 anxiety stress for every PC beyond the first you make the exchange with for that scene.

Open Talent

• To Be The Bigger Monster
  When dealing with an unruly and dangerous subject, increase Anger stress by one in order to reduce Afraid stress by one. Spend a plot point to reduce Afraid stress by two.

Resources

• Access to Crew Personal Records
• Proto-Holodeck Equipment designed to use with The Box for Psych purposes

Milestones

Cooperation

• 1XP… when you step aside for someone else who has better expertise in the moment (this may include headmates)
• 3XP… when a crew member utilizes an asset that you created in addressing a crisis
• 10XP… when you help a deeply estranged person connect with their surrounding culture OR when you assist them in asserting their independence

Expertise

• 1XP… when you manage to talk at length about what you know in the service of solving a problem
• 3XP… - when you reference something important you learned from a previous scene that you were in
• 10XP… when your knowledge plays a critical role in saving the day OR when your admission of ignorance averts total disaster

Advancement

XP: 0

Spent XP

• a talent?
• maybe a focus
• the sky's the limit