Surak's Construct (Star Trek: TOS article)

Meta
Title:	Surak's Construct
Creator:	Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Date(s):	1970
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
External Links:	Surak's Construct (PDF)
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Note: this article is specifically about Lichtenberg's article, not about the Construct itself.

Surak's Construct is a 1973 Star Trek: TOS Kraith article by Jacqueline Lichtenberg.

It was published in Pastaklan Vesla #2 (1970), Kraith Collected #1 (1973), Star Fleet Handbook #1 (1974), Tetrumbriant #1/2 (1974), Pastaklan Sharturus #2 (1975), Back Trekkin' (1975), and The Best of Tetrumbriant v.1 (1976).

The topic is the revered elder Surak's plan to save Vulcans from their own warlike and emotional decisions, a belief system that revolutionized Vulcan civilization and led to the logical, "non-emotional" Vulcans viewers were familiar with on Star Trek: The Original Series. wrote the Construct which revolutionized Vulcan civilization.The article also discusses Lichtenberg's thoughts on the Vulcan Salute.

What is the Construct?

Lichtenberg developed Surak's Consrtuct within the frame of her Kraith Universe.

A fan wrote:

We have been told, on the Star Trek TV series and in Kraith, that the pre-Construct Vulcans were illogical and warlike. Due to their habits they were literally killing each other off. At that point Surak developed the Construct, a logical ethical and sociological system. Despite Kraith and Star Trek Vulcans' denial of its existence within their structure, the Construct states that emotion is a source of meaning, beauty and worthwhileness in life, but for the sake of survival, logic must be of greater importance. Surak's Construct does not state that emotion must be absent, but that it be subjugate to logic. Without it, a source of meaning, beauty and worthwhileness would be completely lost from life, with no other similar channel to recover it in.

Reactions and Reviews

I have a few reservations about "Return from Talos" [in Sehlat's Roar #1]. I distinctly remember that in her article an Surak's Construct, Jacqueline Lichtenberg said that suicide was not an option for a Vulcan. But it is an interesting way for getting Kirk of the hook — everybody would want to hush up something like that fast.

It is no coincidence that there are no other major Vulcan universes in ST fandom. This is not to say that Jacqueline Lichtenberg, or even the team of Kraith writers, set about making that the case. Kraith Vulcan is now not only the major Vulcan series, with the major Vulcan universe, it is now becoming the accepted standard for ST fandom. One needs only look at The Starfleet Handbook, Special Issue: The Aliens of Star Trek, which presents Kraith Vulcan as fact. The only indication that the material they present is from Kraith is the fact that there is a separate article, by Lichtenberg, on Surak's Construct (Kraith's interpretation of the meaning of the Vulcan salute) and that there is an acknowledgment in the front cover of the zine to the Kraith Creator's Manual. However, there is no indication that the 'facts' cited are from a separate fan series. One may suppose that, here again, all fandom is supposed to recognize Kraith when they see it.