Incoming Canon: Picard Season 2

On Thursday May 5th, the 10th and final episode of Star Trek: Picard season 2 aired. Back in March I notified the fleet that the Lore Office would be watching the show, but that we wouldn’t be implementing any of its major lore until the season was over. I didn’t want to jump on incorporating a new development, only for that to be fleshed out in later episodes.

This news post will include spoilers for all of Picard season 2! Read on at your peril.

It’s all, I think, good news. There aren’t really any seismic shifts; PICS2 didn’t vastly alter the status quo and hasn’t forced us to do major rewrites of current fleet canon. Season 2 also starts and ends in approximately Sept-Oct 2401. Any events which transpire are not relevant to Bravo Fleet canon until our timeline catches up, which is likely to not happen until after the release of Picard season 3, the end of the series as a whole, and hopefully more information on developments such as the ‘new’ Borg and the transwarp conduit. The key updates relevant to Bravo Fleet are as follow:

• New ship classes! While the Sagan-class Stargazer was explicitly stated to be the first of her class, and thus will not be hitting fleet canon yet, our tech team are working on articles for the Excelsior II, the Ross, the Gagarin and the Sutherland-classes. We have also learnt more about the Reliant-class and the Inquiry-class (notably, its size) and will be updating articles accordingly. The status of some non-canonical ship classes, such as the Resolute, will be under consideration to prioritise canon ships. Expect to see not just additions to the available ship classes, but changes to the ranks at which certain ships are available. We have also learned of a variety of new, canon, minor ships, and will be including them in the registry.
  • We will be enforcing, in all reasonable circumstances, changes to ship names and classes to match those identified in canon. Holders of such ships will be approached for discussion by the Lore Office.
  • Ships of a retired class are liable to be removed from the registry only when they are unclaimed/a member relinquishes them.
  • If a class’s rank eligibility changes, current commands will be grandfathered in.
• New uniforms! These were implemented at the start of season 2 because we were, frankly, over-excited. You can see the new uniforms in the rank insignia and in much of the new artwork being released by the graphics team.
• In S02E01, Admiral Picard explicitly identifies Elnor as the first full-blooded Romulan at Starfleet Academy in 2401. This is, for certain, a bit of a pickle of specificity, and I know various members of the Fleet (including me!) have written Romulan characters who’ve been through the Academy. I have significant issues with it as a piece of writing (did Oh not attend Starfleet Academy while undercover? It also feels a bit ickily biologically essentialist with regards to past Starfleet officers with Romulan heritage) and taking it at face-value feels like a decision that would restrict enjoyment. The official stance of the Lore Office is that this is a statement where loopholes may be exploited wherever possible, such as:
  • On-screen Trek has always acted as if Starfleet Academy is only the San Francisco campus, which is, in brief, wild. Bravo Fleet canon has long-interpreted that when characters on-screen say ‘Starfleet Academy’ they often mean the San Francisco campus, which is the most prestigious and for the best students, but there are many satellite campuses. In this interpretation, Elnor would be the first full-blooded Romulan to attend San Francisco campus – a notable achievement and showing him to just be a Romulan in Starfleet, but an exceptional cadet. Bravo Fleet Romulan Starfleet officers can be graduates of other campuses, such as the Fourth Fleet’s own Mellstoxx campus.
  • Many Romulan characters may have or may have claimed to have Vulcan or human heritage upon joining Starfleet. The Romulan Supernova may have rendered many records too incomplete for this to be easily challenged.
• BF Canon Policy states: ‘The Bravo Fleet timeline advances one year for every two years that pass‘ – meaning that over 2020 and 2021 OOC, only they year 2399 passed IC. With season 2 setting itself in late-ish 2401, and Bravo Fleet’s timeline still being in early-2400, this will change. We will not do a time-skip; instead, the IC/OOC timeline will advance at a rate of 1:1. When 2022 ends OOC, 2400 will end IC. This means we will not reach the events of the season 2 finale until Q3/4 2023.
• Episode 1 confirmed that synthetic lifeforms are becoming accepted again in the Federation, with the hard work and lobbying of activists such as Soji Asha. It seems unlikely any would yet be Starfleet officers, but they’re out there.
• Seven of Nine asserts she was forbidden from joining Starfleet after Voyager’s return, despite the lobbying of Admiral Janeway, due to being a former Borg drone. However, Icheb was shown as a Starfleet officer in the 2380s. This discrepancy was not explained and the official stance of the Lore Office on writing former Borg as Starfleet officers remains that it is permitted. Unofficially, try to not suck at it.
• Episode 1 shows Starfleet Academy flying flags for the home governments of the various cadets. Presumably for the Romulan Elnor, the Romulan Free State flag flies – suggesting the Free State to be, by late-2401, the most significant and powerful Romulan faction, and the de facto heir to the Romulan Star Empire (of course, it’s possible Elnor’s non-Vashti homeworld simply lies within Free State territory). Still, this has urged the Lore Office to prioritise the Free State as the Romulan faction, rather than the Rator-based ‘new’ Star Empire. I guess we better do a story about that.

As you see, nothing here is earth-shattering; inconsistencies can be reconciled, many things won’t be important for some eighteen months. The big change is the timeline advancing faster, which I’m excited for; characters can advance and develop quicker! Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled for updates to ship classes (and names), and IDK, maybe something about Romulans? The times, they are a-changin’.