Client Races

[Arpy]

I’m rewatching the Circle Trilogy that opened Season 2 of DS9. It was mentioned in the DS9 documentary What We Left Behind now free on YouTube, and something about it stuck with me and made me want to revisit it. I think it was that it’s basically about the unraveling of Bajoran society and our heroes’ attempt to maintain peace and order amid the chaos and breakdown of social structures. Oh, for simpler times.

Anywho, I was reminded of the Kressari and being fascinated by them and other non-major powers we rarely saw but seemed to be “client races” of larger (or at least more powerful) ones.

Another one we only ever briefly heard mentioned were the Barolians who I remember from TNG’s “Unification” were great trading partners with the Romulans.

Also maybe popular with the Romulans (maybe even just regionally) were Corvallen mercenaries from TNG’s “Face of the Enemy.”

What are some others that might have been part of the interstellar community but that got fewer headlines in the star-papers?

 

[Arpy]

Another couple were the Lissepians (who served as intermediaries for the Cardassians), and the Xepolites who were did also but were caught less often.

 

[Finn]

That's the thing, there are probably dozens if not hundreds of races we may have seen in the background, who come from world within other empires. What did Romulans do with all the warp capable species within their territory?

 

[Orphalesion]

That's the thing, there are probably dozens if not hundreds of races we may have seen in the background, who come from world within other empires. What did Romulans do with all the warp capable species within their territory?

That was always kind of a problem in Star Trek starting in the 90s series... what happened to all the other species in the territory of the Romulan, Klingon and Cardassian empires?
Particularly with the Klingons...it wouldn't look good for the Federation to be allied with a Empire that treats everything except Klingons as second class/thralls/slaves or such. Yet if I'm not mistaken, the only time we see non-Klingon species in the Empire on-screen is in Rura Penthe...

 

[Finn]

Why is it a problem? They don’t have to mention it plotwise.

 

[Timo]

Basically every random culture around Bajor is hostile to the UFP and has shady dealings with Cardassia in the early seasons. It would stand to reason that all of those cultures were part of the Cardassian Union originally, and the war with the UFP resulted in this area of space being "liberated" so that Bajor now stands in neutral space. The invasion would have stopped just short of the capital world and its very closest neighbor, probably out of fear of unnecessary bloodshed such as in the Pacific War. But "The Wounded" suggests the Feds were the top dogs and could walk over the Cardassian military (imagine the USN having not only quantitative advantage but also armor that stopped all Japanese shells and shells that pierced all Japanese armor). A massive campaign towards the capital system would be a way to frighten the Union out of its will to fight back, whereas one that actually pushes to the capital would do the opposite.

The subject cultures might not have taken to the liberation kindly, if they had a good working rapport with Cardassia which was next door. We hear of Cardassians being harsh on Bajorans, but perhaps this was a unique case, and in general it was seen as advantageous to side with the local strong man.

We wouldn't get a similar sampling of Klingon or Romulan subject races as those never were liberated - but certain clients would operate around the borders and be visible to the heroes. And then there would be "universal lackeys" such as the Yridian information merchants, and to some degree the Ferengi - they seem to have found it easy to work with Cardassia, but not with the UFP!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Arpy]

Two others I’m fascinated by aren’t client races, I don’t think, but rarely mentioned alt players on the interstellar stage:

The Mathenites (who gave Legate Ghemor asylum from the Cardassian Union post his defection), and the Nyberrite Alliance (who Worf was thinking of leaving Starfleet for to sign onto a cruiser in “Way of the Warrior).

The Mathenites must be powerful enough in military or economic might to defend against the Cardassians yet not necessarily be Federation-aligned. And the Nyberrite Alliance I imagine as a swashbuckling roughhewn sort Worf would try to disappear into.

 

[Tribble Threat]

Does "client races" mean races who are members of an empire but not leaders?
I've seen Nausicaans guard a Ferengi. Maybe Nausicaa is controlled by Ferengi?

And a pretty low-hanging one: Remans. They're dominated by Romulans.

 

[Arpy]

^ I was thinking more like client states in the real world who are independent to varying degrees, but subject states are also interesting. Before PIC mentioned the Gorn Hegemony still being around, I imagined in my head canon that they'd been conquered by say the Klingons, or maybe someone else since TOS. Maybe that's why the Jarada or Tzenkethi were so feared — they’d made names for themselves as belligerents of consequence with more familiar aliens.

I think subject races are an untapped creative goldmine in Trek. There are so many storylines to explore with different levels of subjects. Maybe some are more partners, others more slaves, etc. And each empire could have a different way of treating different levels of subjects — e.g. Klingons more oppressively, Cardassians more symbiotically.

Also, “race” is a loaded word, right? It’s really species we're talking about, but “client species” almost sound more to us like we're talking about horses or cows or cats. But I do mean races as in of sentient species, not races of lighter/darker skinned peoples who are more or less the same otherwise. I imagine that there's a lot more difference in the mental patterns between species than between peoples/“races” of an individual species.

And remember that the internals need not match the externals. White lady Anij of the Baku in INS could, for all we know, ultimately have way more in common with say Worf or a Sheliak than Picard. Think of how much more alien from us the Iyaarans from TNG’s “Liaisons” were from say the Cardassians. They didn’t understand the concepts of pleasure, antagonism, love, and crime, and they were basically white Americans with some bumps on their foreheads — far less “alien” looking than the Cardassians.

Also remember that the fortunes of client races can change over time. Per TOS, the Orions were once maybe the dominant race/state in local space. Come to think of it...they might be again in the 32nd Century. The Bajorans were said to “have spread art and architecture to countless worlds” “while humans were barely walking erect.” The Yridians were thought to be extinct (until, curiously, Captain Ransom from VOY's "Equinox" rediscovered them), then they were seemingly all over the place.

 

[dupersuper]

That was always kind of a problem in Star Trek starting in the 90s series... what happened to all the other species in the territory of the Romulan, Klingon and Cardassian empires?
Particularly with the Klingons...it wouldn't look good for the Federation to be allied with a Empire that treats everything except Klingons as second class/thralls/slaves or such. Yet if I'm not mistaken, the only time we see non-Klingon species in the Empire on-screen is in Rura Penthe...

We know the Kriosians were struggling for independence from the Klingon Empire.

 

[Arpy]

We know the Kriosians were struggling for independence from the Klingon Empire.

Right. I never understood if those Kriosians from “The Minds’s Eye” were the same as those from “The Perfect Mate.”

 

[Timo]

Odds of that are really low IMHO.

The Kriosians we saw, the spotted ones, had been waging a war for centuries, over the spoils of "a vast empire". They now allow the UFP to help sort out the mess.

The unseen Kriosians under Klingon rule were considered a "colony" fighting for independence. Klingons did not tolerate outside interference there, until it became useful to frame the UFP for involvement.

The backstories thus seem mutually exclusive in all parts. Oh, we can argue that the Kriosian empire was a petty one and the Klingons don't mind the locals fighting over details as long as they bow to the Klingons. But it's clear that the UFP is getting involved for the very first time in both adventures. For there to be two firsts, there have to be two planets Krios.

Which may still be perverted into claiming that the species on both are the same. Perhaps the skies are littered with places named Krios because those were part of the "vast empire" mentioned in "The Perfect Mate"?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[publiusr]

the Nyberrite Alliance (who Worf was thinking of leaving Starfleet for to sign onto a cruiser in “Way of the Warrior).

The Mathenites must be powerful enough in military or economic might to defend against the Cardassians yet not necessarily be Federation-aligned. And the Nyberrite Alliance I imagine as a swashbuckling roughhewn sort Worf would try to disappear into.

I think he might go for stability. They probably have some new routes that might need security, but operate well outside either Federation or Klingon space. Galactic rim...few worlds...lots of space/time to lose yourself, or find yourself.

Worf’s walkabout.

The Yridians strike me (what with the wrinkles) as perhaps the oldest species... maybe close to that nu-Who species that adapts well to being invaded. No that was the dude fastened up wit Picard and Esparza

The Yridians? Think “I, Claudius”

“You go right on thinking me a fool. I’ll just sit here and species watch...another drink, barkeep.”

 

[dupersuper]

Right. I never understood if those Kriosians from “The Minds’s Eye” were the same as those from “The Perfect Mate.”

Yup. Also Enterprise: Precious Cargo, and the novel Cast No Shadow.

The MA and MB entries are interesting reading.

 

[tesral]

It's a mine. One Jay and I have been digging in to two decades. I'll bore you not with a long list of the stuff we have come up with not to mention the Canon references.

AISI: Yes, the Romulans and Klingons have client races. (Species, races, the later is easier to type) People that in their Empire are not first class citizens if citizens at all. Life in variety is as dense in those areas as in the Federation, or any place else. Neither Empire has anything like the Prime Directive so over running primitive planets and occupying them is called "Sunday".

Yes I concentrate on the Romulans and Klingons, but other "Empires" would do the same. We also encounter Alliances, Confederations Republic and more. All places where a seed of warp travel has created a bubble of interstellar life that has not encountered other bubbles, yet.

 

[Arpy]

I’m fascinated by non-humanoids especially. There should be way more of them but Trek’s become a victim of its own success. The assembly line of aliens of the week has overpopulated the galaxy with humanoids and done it for so long that people don’t expect much else.

I wonder if maybe more of the subject races we never see in the various empires (Klingon, Romulan, etc) are non-humanoids. There’s a bigotry against their distasteful forms, and it’s easier to “dehumanize” and subjugate them for imperial/majority gain.

 

[tesral]

I wonder if maybe more of the subject races we never see in the various empires (Klingon, Romulan, etc) are non-humanoids. There’s a bigotry against their distasteful forms, and it’s easier to “dehumanize” and subjugate them for imperial/majority gain.

That is one take on the idea, and the observation that due to [actors] we see humanoids. As mentioned the advantage to not doing TV is you get an unlimited budget for FX and I can have any race I want. I have such things as arthropods, theropods, several Handicapped species, land cephalopods, and much much more.

One thing I do stick to is O2 breathers for the simple reason that those of differing atmospheres would have a difficult time having society with people that breathe poison. This is not to say that chlorine breathers or methane breathers are not in the Federation, you do not seen them much.

 

[Arpy]

I’m currently reading Dark Veil, the PIC novel about Riker on the Titan, and a few Romulan subject/client races have been mentioned so far. They are:

Remans (NEM)
Garidians (from the game Final Unity)
Norkanians (Alidar Jarok’s “Norkan Campaigns”?)
Taurhai (from multiple Trek Lit titles)

Additionally, I remember the Elohsians from the book The Romulan Stratagem also joined the Romulan Star Empire

 

[TommyR01D]

The absence of other species from "empires" is a little confusing, but then a lot of the planets "conquered" may well have been uninhabited before the higher beings landed there. We often speak of establishing "colonies" on the moon or on Mars, but we don't expect to find anyone else when we arrive.

 

[dupersuper]

The absence of other species from "empires" is a little confusing, but then a lot of the planets "conquered" may well have been uninhabited before the higher beings landed there. We often speak of establishing "colonies" on the moon or on Mars, but we don't expect to find anyone else when we arrive.

A colony doesn't imply a native population. Conquering an area does.