What is the USS Dauntless?
The Dauntless is a Star Trek fan club based in Cape Town, South Africa. We're a Starfleet-style club, complete with ranks, titles and uniforms.
We're also a chapter of STARFLEET The International Star Trek Fan Association Inc. STARFLEET is the largest Star Trek fan club in the world, and being one of their chapters connects us to hundreds of other Starships, and thousands of other members across the world.
The Dauntless is described as a "correspondence chapter", which means that the bulk of our official activities take place online. But groups of crew-members in a number of cities around the world get together often for social events and Away Missions like game days, hikes, camping trips, paintball, picnics, movie nights and lots more!
Our crew-members have the opportunity to earn rank promotions by volunteering for service at the chapter, region and fleet level, or simply by engaging with their crew-mates in day-to-day activities aboard ship.
What the Dauntless Isn't
We're not a role-playing group. Although some of our members do enjoy some role-playing games from time to time, our ranks and titles are earned through real-life activities, not just by pretending.
We're not a cosplay group. Our members take great pride in the uniforms they wear, after having spent, in some cases, decades earning the privilege of wearing them. Although some among us do enjoy cosplaying from time to time, our uniforms are professional attire, not costumes.
We're not a business. The Dauntless is a non-profit, volunteer organisation. We charge no membership fees, and all our expenses are paid for by anonymous donations by some of our members. The Dauntless does have affiliations with several for-profit businesses (such as our equipment fabrication supplier, FairyFountains), but the Dauntless itself will never charge a fee.
STARFLEET's Region 8 includes Africa and the Middle East. The Regional Coordinator, Admiral Owen Swart, serves aboard the USS Dauntless. That makes us the Regional flagship.
Why Call It The "USS Dauntless"?
STARLFEET uses fictional elements inpired by Star Trek as the organising metaphor for its internal structures. Specifically, STARFLEET chapters are referred to as "Starships", and their chapter-presidents are referred to as "Commanding Officers".
There's no actual space-vessel called the USS Dauntless. That name refers to the organisational structure that binds us together as a group. The "Starship" isn't a ship at all, it's the crew.
The ship's imaginary design and technical specifications are an extension of the metaphor that helps us to define various thematic elements, including which set of uniforms our crew wears.
Our name was inspired by the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, named for the fictional British warship depicted. As homage, we have adopted the pirate theme in our naming and insignia.
How Do I Get In Touch With You?
If you're interested in enlisting with the USS Dauntless, and joining us for the great human adventure, visit the Join page and fill out the enlistment form. We're looking forward to welcoming you to the Dauntless family!
If you have any additional questions regarding the USS Dauntless, feel free to Contact Us.