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[personal profile] allele_apocalypse
AO3: Marie_L

Welcome, fellow spacer! So sorry about how unconscionably late this letter is. Sick kids + being out of town turns out to not equal exchange letter writing time :/

In general, I like plotty fic and smut equally well, worldbuilding details (make it up if canon does not provide!), “sciency” SF, alien biology & cultures, cultural clashes, telepathy & other mental powers (and problems resulting from them), angst, humor, and premises taken seriously. On the shipping front I tend to have OTCs instead of OTPs, and then am fine with hooking up my fave with anybody, of any gender, including original characters. So if your heart really leans towards, say, Bashir/Garek, go for it. I'm also fine with darkfic, moral ambiguity and bad endings (abusing my faves is also an enthusiastic fic pasttime), although certainly not required.

My only DNWs relevant to this exchange are (a) no explicit, over-the-top, lovingly described violence, and (b) no pure fluff. Usually at this point I'd say no mundane AUs either, but those are against both the rules and spirit of Space Swap anyway. Canon divergence is welcome and encouraged.

I'm fond of all of these canons, warts and all, and am very open to any stories of what other people love about them too. I tried to narrow down the tags to aspects or characters I find particularly interesting, but any angle exploring their worlds would be welcome. All prompts are optional suggestions.

Babylon5
Character: Valen
Character: Lennier
Worldbuilding: Minbari Culture
Worldbuilding: Alien Telepath Culture
Relationship: Lyta Alexander/Kosh Naranek
Worldbuilding: Vorlon Homeworld

So much to love about Babylon 5. B5 and DS9 aired concurrently through most of my college years, and were my first fannish experience both with other RL people and online. I always had a particular fascination with the Minbari, and also interrelations between the Vorlons, organic tech, and the “seeding” of telepathy among the various races as future weapons against the Shadows.

Lennier is a wonderful character to explore the ordinary classes of Minbari, at least of the religious caste, plus possibly Ranger training. Beyond the Brennan book, how do humans and Minbari interact in training on Minbar, and how does Lennier – with his unusual knowledge of human culture – bridge the two? What was Lennier life like prior to his assignment on B5, or after while adapting to living among many different species? (Re: Lennier's ending, I'm in the Lennier would never! camp, but it is canon after all. Ignore, keep or canon diverge in whatever way makes sense to you.)

Valen/Sinclair is a fascinating window into ancient Minbari, molding them into the united force we see a thousand years later. He also is a window into the relationship between the Vorlons and their “client” species, both in the future and the past.

Lyta, Kosh, and the Vorlon homeworld – anything here would be amazing. What's it like, to be an assistant to the beings that, in a sense, created you? What's the nature of the relationship between Kosh and Lyta, or Kosh, Lyta and his ship?

Alien Telepaths – Doesn't have to be Minbari (although you can…), but I'd love to see some contrast between the treatment of telepaths in non-human species vs the human fear and control of the Psi Corps.


Hyperion Cantos – Dan Simmons
Character: Aenea
Character: Rachel Weintraub-Moneta
Worldbuilding: Ousters
Worldbuilding: River Tethys
Worldbuilding: Treeships

Simmons as an author as a deserved reputation as capital-P Problematic, but nevertheless the four books in the Hyperion series are pretty much his magnum opus. The worldbuilding especially is fantastic, so I'd love to hear more about how life beyond the Hegemony/Pax is lived, particularly the Ousters' adaptation to space and their construction of living Dyson spheres. The Treeships, it is implied, used the same or a more primitive version of that biotechnology. The River Tethys is an opportunity to visit many more unusual worlds in the Hegemony, just as it is in the last two novels.

Rachel's character is an interesting one on its own, particularly after her lifetime of traveling backwards through time, and on into the unseen third life traveling forwards again. How exactly does she end up to be Moneta? I could never tell if that bit was planned from the beginning or tacked on at the end of the series. And Aenea is actually one of my favorite characters. I always wanted to hear the story from her perspective – what, mentally, she could really see, even as a child-come-prophet.


Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Character: Julian Bashir
Worldbuilding: Genetic engineering

I was floored by the genetic engineering reveal while originally watching DS9. On the one hand, it seemed an unnecessary plot twist, and didn't necessary jibe with previous canon, such as TNG's Unnatural Selection. On the other hand, it made a fascinating phobia for a utopian society like Star Trek's, which has an ethos of every individual attempting to better themselves, but also followed a horrific war involving so-called “superior” genetically engineered individuals. What's the line between natural and unnatural in a universe where people are routinely ripped apart into subatomic particles and rebuilt on the other end? Where cross-species pregnancies is done as a matter of routine, presumably involving deliberate genetic tinkering to make it work?

Trek routinely depicts genetic engineering – at least when deployed for eugenic purposes – as either catastrophically error-prone or leading to malevolent megalomania, but Julian is an exception to both. What's it like, to be “outed” as some kind of menace to society? How do the other species encountered on DS9 (Cardassians, Bajorans, etc) view it? Are there other non-Federation species that have opposing viewpoints, and what would happen if they wanted to join the Federation?


Star Trek: Discovery
Character: Michael Burnham
Relationship: Michael Burnham/Mirror Philippa Georgiou
Relationship: Michael Burnham/Ash Tyler
Worldbuilding: Adapting to Prime/Mirrorverse
Worldbuilding: Cultural Clash Between Prime and Mirrorverse

Ahhh, Discovery. The latest Trek to deploy engaging characters, actors and premises, and then squander the potential of all of the above by failing to properly develop any of its interesting ideas. Makes more narrative room for fic, I suppose. Burnham is a particular favorite in this show, combining uber competence, emotional constipation and iron woobiedom. I'm pretty down with any pairing involving her – Tilly and prime!Philippa both being popular, for good reason – but here I went for a couple of the darker ships. I tend to imagine Burnham/Mirror Georgiou as dubcony (at the least), what with all the Emperor kneeling and murderous demands of fealty and such. But I can imagine her expressing some latent attraction there too, onto someone who looks like her old captain/parental figure, but isn't.

Michael/Ash was handled terribly by the show, rushing the romance buildup, Ash's breakdown, his mindswitch, and all the emotional fallout for it for both of them...everything. I'd love to see some canon divergence that draws out any of these points and makes it believable for both characters. It would also be great to see stories where Ash doesn't turn out to be Voq, but retains the severe PTSD/rape victim plotline. Or something where Ash does end up retaining Voq's mind, but doesn't snap and try to kill Michael when the memories come. How would the two of them cope, if there wasn't such an obvious betrayal and breaking point?

Adapting and cultural clash between prime/mirror – Wide open here but I can see plenty of angst-filled and/or humorous stories involving our heroes or anti-heroes in the wrong verse. Either version of Lorca at the time of switch would be good, or the whole mirror!Discovery before they get blown to smithereens, or just more of the difficulties impersonating Captains Killy or Burnham.


Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy
Relationship: Luke Skywalker & Rey
Relationship: Luke Skywalker/Rey
Relationship: Kylo Ren/Rey
Worldbuilding: Luke Skywalker's Training Temple

Luke &/ Rey – Hard to go wrong with mentor/student, especially with mind powers. More explicit Force training (which leads to inappropriate feelings?) Compare and contrast to Luke's time with Yoda so many years ago? Compare and contrast to Luke's failure with Ben at his own training temple? (What all happened there, anyway? Before the split second betrayal.)

Kylo/Rey – I'll admit, I was neutral on these two the the first movie, but TLJ sort of sold me on it. Probably the annoyed telepathy across space. Or Rey's endlessly optimistic attempts at redemption, despite having been tortured by Kylo and witnessed his patricide. Some fic suggestions: Rey does try to rule the First Order with Kylo after Snokes' death, only to find out reforming evil empires isn't so easy after all. Rey is successfully delivered to Snokes in TFA… take it from there, darkficcers. Rey (child of nobodies) and Ben (child of definite somebodies) are both at Luke's training temple together, what happens?
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