tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 19 11:33:11 2003

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Re: Skybox cards



STAR TREK: FAJO COLLECTION, Qapla' CARD:

> >>>     DuHIvchugh ghol vaj qaStaHvIS may'vetlh HoSDaq
> >>>     ghob luchel quv ghajbogh tlhInganpu'lI'.  (vI'be'.)

ngabwI':
> >> "If an enemy attacks you, then during that battle, your Klingons which
> >> have honor add ethics in/at strength. (It does not accumulate.)"

Voragh:
> > IIRC the {qaghwI'} "Interrupter" card was part of a role-playing Star Trek
> > card game, so it sounds like it's talking about accumulating "ethics" or
> > "strength" points.

qurgh:
>In the card game all the characters have 3 statistics. Integrity, Strength
>and Cunning.  When you play the "Qapla'" card (it's a qaghwI' - Interrupt
>card which can be played at any time) it lets you add the Integrity
>value of your Klingon characters to their strength values, making them
>harder to kill in a battle. IE: Kurn has integrity of 6 and a strength of
>7, he gets in a battle, you play the Qapla' card and his strength becomes
>7+6=13, really tough :)

Aha!  Thanks for the explanation.  (I'm always impressed by the expertise 
on this List.  If you ask a question, almost always someone will know the 
answer!)

Does "it does not accumulate" mean that the increased Strength value does 
not carry over to the rest of the game; i.e. the extra points are good only 
for that one battle?

{ghob} "ethics, virtue" is a pretty good translation for "integrity. Okrand 
discusses it at some length in the Introduction to TKW:

   A "virtue" is a particularly valued quality or a form of behavior that
   exemplifies moral correctness, as defined by a society... Indeed, the
   Klingon word {ghob} may be translated as "ethics" or "virtue", linguistic
   evidence that the concept is not unknown or never discussed among the
   Klingons themselves. It is probably significant that the Klingon word
   for "do battle", or "wage war" is likewise {ghob}. Though some, perhaps
   many, of a society's virtues are represented in its legal codes, a virtue
   is not a law. A violation of a virtue need not carry with it any legal
   sanction. A virtue does not even have to be followed all the time to
   still be considered a virtue. What is important is that members of the
   society agree that the virtue represents what *should* be done, even if
   it is not done. When a virtue is ignored, all recognize the transgression,
   even if there are no immediate consequences.  [TKW p. vii]

>Hope that explains what the card actually does in the game. The story
>behind the card was that they wanted to do the entire set in Klingon, but
>there were some major words missing that they needed.

No kidding!

>So instead they just did one custom one. Would have been cool to see the 
>whole game in Klingon
>though :(

Indeed.

So, revising ngabwI's translation gives us:

   "If an enemy attacks you, then during that battle your Klingons who
    have honor add Integrity to Strength. (It does not accumulate.)"

which means that the tlhIngan Hol isn't bad - except for the odd phrase 
{quv ghajbogh tlhInganpu'} "Klingons who have honor" instead of the simpler 
{tlhInganpu' quv} "honorable Klingons".  Is "Honor" another measurable 
character value which might explain the use of the separate nouns {HoS}, 
{ghob} and {quv}?  It sounds like you have the game.  Is Okrand mentioned 
anywhere in the credits?



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons 



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