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Stardate 41153.7: Starfleet proudly launches the fifth U.S.S. Enterprise, under the command of war hero Jean-Luc Picard.
Stardate 41997.7: When needing a diversion from the preparation of a meeting with the Jarada, Captain Jean-Luc Picardgoes to the holodeck and for the first time enters the life of Dixon Hill, Private Detective.
Stardate 43989.1: The Borg advance on Earth, confronting Starfleet’s finest at Wolf 359. Starfleet captains are both saddened and outraged by the fact that their enemy is guided by a Borg calling himself “Locutus,” who before his assimilation had been the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard.
Stardate 47135.2: Believing that Jean-Luc Picard has been killed in a bar fight, the U.S.S. Enterprise pursues a mercenary vessel linked to the incident. To their surprise, the Enterprise crew soon finds itself face-to-face with a man calling himself “Galen,” who bears a striking resemblance to Jean-Luc Picard.
Stardate 50893.5: Disobeying orders, Jean-Luc Picard takes the sixth U.S.S. Enterprise to Earth to defend the planet against another Borg attack. Picard’s knowledge of the Borg helps him thwart the collective’s plan to disrupt humans’ first contact with Vulcans, but his obsessive anger threatens the safety of his crew.
Clearly, Star Trek characters are not static entities. They develop, grow, and change as the series and movies progress. Sometimes — whether voluntarily (Picard as Galen in “Gambit” ) or involuntarily (Picard as Locutus in “The Best of Both Worlds” ) — they pretend to be someone they are not. This course explains how such complex characterizations are represented in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game.
The “persona” concept was introduced into the Star Trek CCG to represent the ability of characters to play a variety of different roles. This concept allows different cards to represent different roles played by certain characters.
Each persona “exists” at a level of abstraction one step higher than personnel cards. If you wish, think of a persona as a discrete sentient entity. Thus, there is one unique individual known to Star Trek fans as Jean-Luc Picard. Throughout all of Picard’s personality developments in the television series and movies, and even through Picard’s “undercover” work as Galen, his escapist fantasies as Dixon Hill, his assimilation as Locutus, and his fictional “life” as Kamin, something discrete and unique to Picard is present. Think of this elusive, discrete uniqueness as “the Jean-Luc Picard persona.” Remember, however, that a persona is a concept residing one level of abstraction higher than personnel cards. Therefore, there is no card that “is” the Jean-Luc Picard persona.
There are, however, a number of cards representing roles played by Jean-Luc Picard. These include two Jean-Luc Picard cards (Premiere and First Contact), Galen, Locutus of Borg, and Dixon Hill; whether we will ever see a Kamin card, only time will tell. Such cards are referred to as “instances” (the early terminology used by Decipher) or “versions” (the more recent terminology used by Decipher) of a particular “persona.” It is inaccurate terminology to say that Locutus of Borg “is a persona of Jean-Luc Picard.” It is accurate terminology to say that Locutus of Borg “is a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona,” or that Galen is a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona, or that Jean-Luc Picard (First Contact) is a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona, or that Jean-Luc Picard (Premiere) is a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona. No personnel card ever “is” a persona. Each personnel card is always a version of some persona.
The only reliable way to determine whether two cards are versions of the same persona is by applying two simple rules. First, personnel cards are versions of the same persona if they have exactly the same name. Second, any personnel name printed in boldface in a lore box names a persona; any card with that name printed in boldface in its lore box, or as the name of the card, is a version of that persona. There is no hard-and-fast rule for reasoning out whether two personnel cards are versions of the same persona.
Nevertheless, the pattern seems to be that personnel cards representing the same physical being in a single basic time frame are versions of the same persona, while personnel cards representing versions of a personality across different universes or time frames are not versions of the same persona. Thus Galen and Locutus are versions of the Jean-Luc Picard persona because they represent the same physical being in the same basic time frame (the Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager “present” ). Admiral Picard represents the same personality, but not the same physical being, since he is part of Barash’s illusion, so he is not a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona. Lt. (j.g.) Picard represents the same physical being, but in a Q-induced alternate timeline, so he is not a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona. Similarly, the 23rd-century Dr. McCoy and the 24th-century Admiral McCoy represent the same physical being, but since they are from different timelines they do not represent versions of the same personas (getting them together would require time travel). Rely on the rules to determine which cards share a persona, but take comfort in knowing that there is a pattern that appears to govern these rules.
Technically, then, every unique character in the Star Trek CCG is a version of some persona. The Mr. Homn card, for example, represents one instance of the Mr. Homn persona; it does not represent the entire persona as such. However, most personas in the game are single-instance; that is, they are represented by only one personnel card. The table below indexes the multiple-instance personas — that is, those for which more than one instance, and hence more than one personnel card, currently exists — along with a few other personnel. The column headings are mostly self-explanatory. The “‘Any’ Name” column shows the name used for that character in “any” phrases (see the explanation below the table). The “Non-versions” column lists cards that might be confusing for some reason, but do not belong in any of the other columns. (This chart is complete through The Borg expansion.)
Since multiple versions of a single persona conceptually represent the same individual in a single time frame, each player in a Star Trek CCG game may have only one version of any given unique persona in play at any given time. No player may have Galen and Jean-Luc Picard in play at the same time, for example, because they are versions of the same persona.
In order to represent the fluidity with which some of these personas operate in the storyline, however, different versions of a single persona may be “swapped” for one another during the course of the game. At the beginning of your turn, if you have a card in play that (a) you played and (b) you control, and you also have a card in your hand that represents a different version of the same persona with your card in play, you may replace the card in play with the card in your hand. For example, you could “swap” your Jean-Luc Picard in play (whom you played and whom you control) with your Galen in hand. This replacement happens at the beginning of your turn; it does not constitute playing a card or reporting a card for duty. Any cards affecting the version in play are transferred to the new version if applicable; inapplicable cards return to their owners’ hands.
Example: Suppose you have (Klg) Jadzia Dax and Worf Son of Mogh in play. On a previous turn, both survived a losing battle, and your opponent played Discommendation on both. If you replace (Klg) Jadzia Dax with (Fed) Jadzia Dax, the Discommendation would return to its owner’s hand, because Discommendation targets a Klingon; (Klg) Jadzia Dax is a valid target because of her affiliation, but (Fed) Jadzia Dax is not a valid target because she is not Klingon in any way. However, if you replace Worf Son of Mogh with (NA) Worf, the Discommendation would transfer to (NA) Worf because he is a valid target, being Klingon by species.
Persona replacements involving dual-personnel cards must involve both personnel. For example, to replace The Trois in play, you must have a different version of the Deanna Troi persona and a version of the Lwaxana Troi persona in hand.
No personnel marked [univ] can share a persona with a personnel not so marked. Thus The Doctor and the [univ] E.M.H. Program are versions of different personas, as are Lal and [univ] Soong-Type Android.
The incident cards Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission (from the Voyager expansion) and Clone Machine (from the Holodeck Adventures expansion) create some flexibility in the personnel uniqueness rules. Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission allows you to have up to two copies of each unique [DQ] personnel and ship card in play. Clone Machine allows you to play duplicate copies of unique personnel under certain circumstances.
In order to use these cards properly, it is important to distinguish between copies of a card and versions/instances of a persona. A personnel card is a copy only of another personnel card that has the same name and identical game text (images, copyright dates, lore, expansion icons, affiliation border colors, and property logos are irrelevant). Thus, Jean-Luc Picard (premiere), Jean-Luc Picard (First Contact), Galen, Locutus of Borg, the Picard on Data and Picard, the Jean-Luc on Jean-Luc and Beverly, and Dixon Hill are all instances or versions of the Jean-Luc Picard persona, but they are not copies of each other. Only Galen is a copy of Galen; only Jean-Luc Picard (First Contact) is a copy of Jean-Luc PIcard (First Contact), and so on. Even Jean-Luc Picard (premiere) and Jean-Luc Picard (First Contact) are not copies of each other, but rather two different versions of the Jean-Luc Picard persona.
The persona uniqueness rule states that you may not have more than one instance (version) of the same non-universal persona in play at the same time. Clone Machine and Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission do not really alter this rule. They do not make it possible for you to have multiple versions of the same non-universal persona in play at the same time. Rather, they allow you to have multiple copies of the same version of a single non-universal person in play at the same time.
Keeping this principle in mind will answer the two most frequently asked questions about Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission and Clone Machine. First, you cannot use either card to report a different version of a persona already represented by a version you have in play. For example, you cannot use either card to report Captain Chakotay if you have Chakotay in play. Second, if you have multiple copies of a personnel in play thanks to either Clone Machine or Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission, you cannot exchange any of those copies for a different version of their persona in your hand. For example, if you have used Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission to get two Chakotays into play, you cannot “persona swap” either of them for Captain Chakotay.
Remember: if an action you wish to perform would result in more than one version of the same non-universal persona in play at the same time, you cannot do it. (The only exception to this is when a Persistence of Memory regenerates personnel from your discard pile by reversing an Anti-Time Anomaly.)
Infiltrators were introduced in The Dominion expansion as Founders “morphed” to impersonate specific personnel. The impersonated personnel’s name appears in boldfaced italics in the impersonator’s lore. However, this does not make the impersonator a version of the persona represented by the impersonated personnel. See The Dominion rules supplement for more details about impersonation.
The Mirror, Mirror expansion introduced another twist: Mirror Universe “opposites” of familiar personnel. Like impersonators, Mirror Universe opposites have another personnel’s name in boldfaced italics in their lore; they also have a “Mirror Quadrant” icon identifying their universe of origin. For example, The Intendant has the name “Kira Nerys” in her lore. The Intendant is not an instance of the Kira Nerys persona; she is, instead, the opposite of (any version of) the Kira Nerys persona. You may have both Kira Nerys (or Kira) and The Intendant in play at the same time, since they are not versions of the same persona.
Some cards use the term “any” alongside a reference to a Star Trek character. “Any” is a larger concept than a persona. If a card refers to a specific character using the word “any,” it refers to any personnel card representing that character. Unless specifically stated, this is not limited to a particular persona representing that character. For example, “any Scotty” (referenced on Blended) can be satisfied by Montgomery Scott, Mr. Scott, or Chief Engineer Scott. Montgomery Scott, Mr. Scott, and Chief Engineer Scott are not versions of a single persona, but they are all “Scotty.” Hence any one of them satisfies “any Scotty.” The table above shows which names are used to refer to “any” groups representing a single character, and which personnel cards belong to that “any” group. Note that impersonators (who have another personnel’s name in boldfaced italics in their lore) do not count as “any” such character (the O’Brien Founder is not “any Miles,” as referenced on “Pup” ). Mirror Universe opposites, however do count as “any” relevant character; The Intendant is not a version of the Kira Nerys persona, but she does count as “any Kira.” Note also that Q-Type Android does not reference “any William T. Riker” (for which Admiral Riker would serve) but “any version of the William T. Riker persona” (for which Admiral Riker may not serve).
The Voyager expansion introduced a new twist in personnel representation. Many personnel cards in that set are dual-affiliation personnel. For each such personnel in the Voyager expansion, Decipher printed two versions of the card: one with each of the background colors appropriate to that personnel’s multiple affiliations. Thus Seven of Nine, who is dual (NA)(Fed), was printed in both a gold-backed (NA)(Fed) version and a blue-backed (Fed)(NA) version. Some confusion arose as to how these mulit-colored cards relate to the persona rules. In short, the (NA)(Fed) Seven of Nine and the (Fed)(NA) Seven of Nine are exactly the same card, just with different background colors and icon positions. (NA)(Fed) Seven of Nine and (Fed)(NA) Seven of Nine are considered to be duplicates, and are thus both the same version of the Seven of Nine persona, just like two identical copies of Maques would be considered the same version of the Maques persona (in this case, the only version that exists). You may not use the persona swap rules to exchange a (NA)(Fed) Seven of Nine in hand for a (Fed)(NA) Seven of Nine in play, because these are both the same version of their persona, and you may only use persona-swap when the version in your hand is a different version from your version in play. This applies to all multi-colored multi-affiliation personnel.
The Motion Pictures expansion introduces the first card that caused there to be multiple instances of a ship persona. Ship personas work exactly like personnel personas. The ship card Starship Enterprise from The Motion Pictures has exactly the same card title as the ship card Starship Enterprise from The Trouble With Tribbles. As such, they are instances of the same persona, and you many only have one of them in play at any given time. The U.S.S. Enteprise-A, however, represents a completely different ship and is not a version of the Starship Enterprise persona.
(If you should happen to be wondering, from a “Trek sense” point of view, why the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was defined as an instance of the Starship Enterprise persona, making it conceptually the same ship as the Starship Enterprise from the original series, the rationale seems to be all storyline. According to the storyline, the Enterprise that went out to meet V’ger was a refit of Kirk’s earlier Enterprise. The same kind of relationship does not exist between, say, the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and the U.S.S. Enterprise-E; the latter was a completely new ship, not a refit of an older one.)
As a joined Trill whose symbiont was also implanted in another Star Trek character, Ezri Dax presents an interesting persona issue. Odd as it may seem, Ezri Dax basically has two personas. Ezri Dax is an instance of the Jadzia Dax persona, as shown by the boldfaced “Jadzia Dax” in Ezri Dax’s lore. However, Ezri Dax is also an instance of the Ezri Dax persona, as shown by the boldfaced, italicized “Ezri Dax” in the Mirror Quadrant Ezri’s lore. However, the mathematical transitive property does not apply here; Ezri (MQ) is not a version of the Jadzia Dax persona. Handling these overlapping personas should be easier for you in gameplay than it was for Ezri in the final season of Deep Space Nine. Just follow the basic persona rules: two personnel with identical names are versions of the same persona; a personnel with a boldfaced personnel name in their own lore is a version of the persona named in boldface; you cannot have two different instances of the same persona (here Jadzia Dax) in play at the same time; a personnel with a boldfaced, italicized personnel name in their own lore is a Mirror Quadrant opposite (or impersonator) of the persona named in boldfaced italics, but is not a version of that persona.
Colonel Kira (mentioned on Treaty: Romulan/Bajoran)
Thomas Riker (if there is ever a card reference to “any Riker” or “any Will Riker” )
Yeoman Rand (named in boldface in Commander Rand’s lore)
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