, but I've always had a desire to try and propose something and this came from a little campaign we ran, oh, Lord, I don't want to think how many years ago. The idea is a small, Juggernaut product/article, maybe 12-16 pages of text, focusing on avoiding the need for any new rules, and coming up with a reason why they dno't impact the setting.
Being a historian, I love fluff, and so here would be, more or less the introduction explaining how these ships, many of them speculative, showed up in simulators and on Tri-di's across the galaxy:
Setting idea: A small, article, perhaps a captain’s log article or maybe a PDF only product.
Length: 12-16 pages.
Setting idea: A small, article, perhaps a captain’s log article or maybe a PDF only product.
Length: 12-16 pages.
The Juggernauts were one of the first widely known extra-galactic invaders, and in the years before the Andromedans became a threat, were a source of worry for many governments, wondering if the juggernauts were the vanguard of a immense wave of colonists. Indeed, most Alpha Quadrant governments developed a number of hypothetical simulator “classes” for the Juggernauts, assuming that eventually they might be confronting a fleet.
This never occurred and as information was accumulated regarding the juggernauts, it became plain that their AI’s were, for the most part insane, likely due to the death of their crews and colonists. (Some evidence indicated that those colonists might have been killed by their own ships). Regardless, the juggernauts remained a solitary, if dangerous threat, one that had a number of weaknesses that became all the more serious as fighters and later PFs proliferated, allowing for even small forces to quickly get the “up the tailpipe” shots that could quickly destroy a juggernaut.
Had nothing else happened, the juggernauts would have quickly been relegated to the dustbin of history, not even that common in simulators, as most cadets were well aware of their weaknesses, although they were sometimes used as an example of how technology could radically change the dynamics of combat.
However, the end of the General War happened first, then the Andromedan Invasion, and the two events granted the juggernauts a lease on life from a most unexpected direction.
Previously in the Federation, the General War had resulted in a vast amount of… Dubious entertainment. As one critic said: “Every major show has the Dastardly Klingon, the Honorable-But-Loyal-to-the-Empire Klingon, the crazed warrior Kzin, oh, and an improbably beautiful and morally ambiguous Orion Pirate.” But with the end of the War, the Federation (one of the largest producers of entertainment media) found a certain war weariness among the people, with many old standbys of the General War losing popularity. The ISC, despite being the “enemy” of most empires, was hard to put in the same position as older antagonists, as their whole mission was that of a stuffy and entitled police force, which while irritating, did not quite stir the blood as the Dastardly Klingon did (and the Federation government, not wanting to push matters to an open conflict with the ISC, quietly tried to discourage anything that might stir the voters up).
And it was in this media environment that the juggernauts were remembered. They were real, so the movies and tri-di series could be dressed up as dramatic re-tellings, or sober examinations of what might be, and they allowed for a wide range of stories from the serious to the ridiculous. (The Dastardly Klingon, Captain Klang-Korath made his return in “the Juggernaut’s Revenge,” as did his beautiful if somewhat gullible Orion consort. While a commercial failure in the Federation, the Juggernaut’s Revenge continues to be a staple of Klingon comedy, the audience often providing their own adlibbed dialogue. )
The second impetus to juggernaut films was the Andromedan invasion—an invasion that for many years, looked like one the Federation was going to lose, and the Andromedans were evidently not interested in occupation as opposed to extermination. In this, the various juggernaut books, films and games provided a release from the all too grim stories of Andromedan victories. During this period, much of the media verged to the fantastical, often including “Sane” juggernauts that actually could be negotiated with. One of the longest running children’s shows in the Federation during this period was “Captain Carla and the Juggernaut” a tale about a ship of Federation orphans that were rescued from a Dominator by a Juggernaut warship, and went on to battle the dastardly Andromedans, including taking part in Operation Unity and having further adventures in the Magellanic Cloud and Omega Quadrant. With a changing cast and excellent effects, the shows popularity survived the enraged screams of “That’s not how it works!” from fleet officers of every nationality. Calmer officers merely pointed out that they were getting worked up over a children’s show.
With the end of the Andromedan War, the “juggernaut genre” faded, but has never gone quite away, leaving these strange remnants of what must have been a glorious attempt at colonization to have made a mark that their creators never imagined they would. From serious and sober attempts to analyze their culture to wild tales where juggernauts worked with pirates and fought the Andromedans, these mysterious ships continue to influence popular culture on many worlds.
Jason Willis, An Overview of Popular Culture Y220.