It breathed life into Star Trek: Frontiers which had become almost a simple memory and gave us a new chance with new stories.

But with new ideas there is often a lull when people settle in and figure out exactly how all the pieces come together and what the final shape and direction will be.

Well … We have passed through the lull and are now prepared to move forward.

Over the next couple of weeks, look for STF to introduce three different divisions on our website for three different directions without this group.

Each one will appeal to different people … people united by a common love of Star Trek and Science Fiction.

These divisions will be …

• Division One — Writing

Right now, this will embrace two different story arcs … “STF Original” set in our prime storyline from which STF was born as well as “Foundations” series which follows an alternate timeline set into motion with events in the new Star Trek movie.

Within each genre will be the possibility for traditional group-writing units (mission oriented), free-thread writing environments (places where writers share the same space but are more independent), and fan-fiction (more solo) writing.

Some will remain traditional play-by-email writing while others are moving to blog format for their archives with posts also sent to writers by email.

• Division Two — Ships of the Cache

This division embraces the sport of Geocaching and Waymarking with participating adventurers having a bit of fun as they participate in the sport by working in some Sci-Fi creativity.

• Division Three — SF Expeditionary Command ( STO gaming )

This division will offer players the chance to join together in a common fleet that is broken down into task groups / squadrons. It gives them the chance to enjoy adventures together within the new Star Trek shared online universe.

Players can continue to have adventures on their own or they can participate in small to large operations and missions.

Task Groups / Squadrons will have the ability to be broken down by those wishing to do more RP and this just wanting to have fun with the game … broken down by timezone / region (or not) depending on the type of play or people you want to work with on a regular basis.

Offers a place for players to stay in communication and coordinate outside the game.

Will include groupings for both “Federation” and “Klingon” factions.

In addition to the new divisions, we have launched “The Promenade” which is our new community forums where people from all three divisions can come together in one place and hold conversations and share in fellowship.

The “Foundations” website has been moved to the Star Trek: Frontiers domain and will be retooled and themed to represent the overall organization that is STF.

The Bureau of Information website for both “Foundations” and “STF Original” will be altered slightly to become the sites for those writing environments.

In writing, the U.S.S. Soranus has a new captain and is being rebuilt for our original universe as the U.S.S. Pathfinder is picking up her stories to continue the Foundations series.

In addition, Starbase Hatteras is being redrafted into our new premiere free-thread writing environment where players will share the same space while pushing forward with more original and independent stories woven into the STF universe!

U.S.S. Anduril continues as a fan fiction of which we hope to also have more making appearances.

Look for more information and resources to take shape and be put into place over the next few weeks!

Unlike such writing units as the U.S.S. Pathfinder which is a full RPG writing group, the Andúril enters the universe as a fan fiction written by Mike Tripp.

You heard it correctly … fan fiction.

ST:F has opened their doors to not only RP units but now to fan fiction story lines as well with both sharing the same overall universe, with their stories affecting it in the same way.

As for it’s background, the U.S.S. Andúril gets its name from the sword of Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

“From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, “Lord of the Rings”

In the Lord of the Rings, Andúril was the name given the sword forged from the shards of Nasil.

In the Foundations series, Andúril is the name given the ship forged from the shards of Excalibur and Exeter — two Constitution-class heavy cruisers lost in the opening months of the Klingon War.

Want to learn more? Read the stories of the U.S.S. Andúril at its blog website.

Presently, the Andúril makes its debut as part of a joint mission with the U.S.S. Pathfinder.

Following the conclusion of its mission, it sets sail on a course of its own.

Likewise, our esteemed “Bureau of Information” website has shifted into a subdomain of the Foundations website at http://boi.starfleetfoundations.com.

Welcome to our new home … Bet you didn’t even see the shift in space-time, did yah???

CLICK HERE TO CHECK THEM OUT!!!

The U.S.S. Pathfinder makes orbit over a planet within the Hatteran Expanse.

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Decided to make a copy of this image without the lens flare effects which I feel gives it a cleaner look.

The U.S.S. Pathfinder makes orbit as it arrives at an M-class planet within the Hatteran Expanse.

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This evening after the end of my work shift, I settled in to work on a new logo which required me to make a few renderings of a few different planets using Studio Max.

But before it was over, I found myself dragging the mesh used to represent the U.S.S. Pathfinder into the program and placing it in orbit over one of those planets.

Kevin might frown that I did not get around to writing a response to his post this evening, but it did an excellent job helping me relax after passing through the several mad weeks of photographing spring sports playoffs, festivals and graduations.

It has also done well to inspire me, giving me even more reason to want to write as … for me  as a photojournalist … these images help put an added layer of realism to the stories.

I love it!

Look for more images in the next few days as I have several more just waiting to be worked up!

CLICK HERE TO SEE REGISTRY DATABASE

Basically, it has those that we know about with others added (as well as status changes recorded) as they are developed in story.

Also, we have begun work on the ship class listing pages and even launched a new design template that presents created ship classes in a better looking format.

CLICK HERE TO SEE SHIP CLASS LISTING

As the United Federation of Planets grows and its Star Fleet with it, it stands to reason that the shipyards managed by the Star Fleet Corps of Engineers would see an expansion as well.

After all, times of growth normally mean an expansion in resources.

In this case, we are moving from the standpoint that the Federation inherited and adapted the shipyards in the Epsilon Indi system — a resource once belonging to the Andorians.

Although it has been in use since the days before the Federation, it did not formally change hands until a few years after the Federation and did not change from a simple shipyard to a full fleet yard until 2258.

For us in our writing universe, this will become the home of the Star Fleet Corps of Engineers teams we will use with regards to developing ships, etc.

This does not mean all ships have to come from this location, only that our design team’s headquarters will be based out of this location.

The logo viewed above is the new patch for this and makes use of artwork from a couple of years ago that has been placed within a patch design.

Please note these are not quite finalized but we are getting very, very close!

In the  redesigning of this class, we took into account the debate as to if the ship is indeed larger than the original.

In searching for those answers, I found the following from an interview J.J. Abrams had with MTV.

Check out this quote:

The “Sleeker, Faster Response” Theory: If the new “Trek” gives us the Enterprise equivalent of a Blu-Ray disk, then the ship on the original “Trek” looks like a Betamax tape. One fan theory is that the attack on the Kelvin forced the Federation to build sleeker, faster spacecraft in the movie’s new reality.

“Right,” agreed Abrams. “The idea of the story is that at the beginning of the film something happens that changes the course of history. They cross paths with this futuristic ship, and it changes everything that would’ve been the classic series ‘Trek’ fans are familiar with. … One could argue that, based on the readings they got from the [Romulan] ship that showed up, it inspired ideas and technology that wouldn’t have advanced otherwise.” Hence, the huge difference between the old Enterprise and his version. “On the one hand, you could answer the question by saying that history got a boost, an adjustment, from this moment at the beginning of the film,” he grinned. “And if you don’t want to answer the question, you could say it’s just a movie.”

You will note he speaks of how changes in the timeline cause a scramble to push technology forward.

So … It stands to reason that things change.

And so we introduce what we’ve been working on.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Something I have been considering the past couple of days has been what the dedication plaques aboard the ships of an altered 2265 timeline might looked like.

The Trek franchise has already shown us that the one aboard the original TOS Enterprise was much, much simplier than that aboard those in the later centuries represented in Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager.

However, it felt appropriate not to go quite as simple as what they had in the original show.

So where would the middle ground be? … What would be a look that was simple yet had a foundation that might be slightly more stylish than that original show?

After playing around with a couple of different concepts, I finally ended up going with plan text on a simple plaque design, but you will note that I used the delta insignia for the grommets in each of the four corners.

The image above has had a lighting affect added to it to simulate a spotlight shining on it as might be the case aboard a ship.

The one below is the same, minus the lighting.