When did Trill join the federation?

[Timo]

Odan probably would fart in the general direction of those who wrote the "no continuation of liaisons begun while within an earlier host" rule. Or make its current host fart, at any rate. It sounds like the sort of slug who has lived a long life or a dozen, no longer cares much for being nice to its hosts, and doesn't even bother to include the name of the host in its name. Its most common pastime at this point might be thrill-seeking, up to and including finding maximally interesting ways to die. That is, ways for the host to die.

Younger, less experienced slugs might stick to the rules more. And be friendly to their hosts. And only choose hosts who don't suffer unduly from being possessed. And be cautious with their own lives, and with state secrets.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Pavonis]

I thought the Trill taboo against re-association was only to keep symbionts from forming long-term (centuries long) cliques in Trill society. I thought that was made clear in the DS9 episode "Rejoined".

Evidently, symbionts can reacquaint themselves with non-symbiont-hosting friends. Sisko knew Dax through three hosts, and never once was it mentioned that Dax befriending Sisko again and again was taboo. IMO, such a taboo wouldn't even be a practical; surely the Trill society wouldn't think that symbionts would have non-hosting friends across three hosts' lives, if only because hosts are expected to live for decades joined, and non-hosts wouldn't often run into a symbiont who has had multiple hosts that they can remember.

The Sisko-Dax friendship must be a rarity, I think. For instance, Dax met Sisko towards the end of the Curzon-Dax pairing, then met Jadzia-hosted Dax at what would normally be considered the early point of a multi-decade joining. It was only bad luck that Jadzia died so early, and Dax ended up in Ezri.

 

[Myasishchev]

I thought the Trill taboo against re-association was only to keep symbionts from forming long-term (centuries long) cliques in Trill society. I thought that was made clear in the DS9 episode "Rejoined".

Evidently, symbionts can reacquaint themselves with non-symbiont-hosting friends. Sisko knew Dax through three hosts, and never once was it mentioned that Dax befriending Sisko again and again was taboo. IMO, such a taboo wouldn't even be a practical; surely the Trill society wouldn't think that symbionts would have non-hosting friends across three hosts' lives, if only because hosts are expected to live for decades joined, and non-hosts wouldn't often run into a symbiont who has had multiple hosts that they can remember.

The Sisko-Dax friendship must be a rarity, I think. For instance, Dax met Sisko towards the end of the Curzon-Dax pairing, then met Jadzia-hosted Dax at what would normally be considered the early point of a multi-decade joining. It was only bad luck that Jadzia died so early, and Dax ended up in Ezri.

I like this. It's not spelled out quite as clearly in the episode, and made to seem a lot more irrational and pointless than you've explained it.

It makes sense especially from the standpoint of the non-joined, who would probably fear being ruled over by a dynasty of a few million (more like a few billion) gut-slugs. Keeping the parasites dissolved in the (somewhat) greater mass of Trill society would prevent the extremely rapid and easy concentration of property and power in the hands of the worm crowd.

 

[Kegg]

It makes sense especially from the standpoint of the non-joined, who would probably fear being ruled over by a dynasty of a few million (more like a few billion) gut-slugs. Keeping the parasites dissolved in the (somewhat) greater mass of Trill society would prevent the extremely rapid and easy concentration of property and power in the hands of the worm crowd.

A paragraph like that really makes me wish we'd had more interesting Trill episodes than the series actually got. We probably got more intriguing material with the Jem'Hadar, and they were basically the Klingons if the Klingons were nastier and took drugs.

 

[Thestral]

It makes sense especially from the standpoint of the non-joined, who would probably fear being ruled over by a dynasty of a few million (more like a few billion) gut-slugs. Keeping the parasites dissolved in the (somewhat) greater mass of Trill society would prevent the extremely rapid and easy concentration of property and power in the hands of the worm crowd.

A paragraph like that really makes me wish we'd had more interesting Trill episodes than the series actually got. We probably got more intriguing material with the Jem'Hadar, and they were basically the Klingons if the Klingons were nastier and took drugs.

I agree. There's a lot that could have been done with the Trill, and I think it's a pity that we got as little as we did.

For what it's worth, the DS9 Relaunch addresses some of this in a book that focuses on Trill and Trill society. Especially the idea of a Joined "elite" and an unJoined "mass" and the danger of a society built on secrets.

 

[doctorfoto]

In short, while it's acceptable for a joined Trill to maintain relationships with a non-joined Trill or other single-lifetime humanoid, the practice of perpetuating joined-joined relationships would be discouraged, as it would undermine the entire idea of forming varying relationships and experiences over the centuries.

While Curzon, Jadzia, and Ezri all maintained friendships with Sisko, each offered a variety of different types of relationships for Dax. (mentor/friend, fellow officer/friend, mentored/friend)

 

[Myasishchev]

It makes sense especially from the standpoint of the non-joined, who would probably fear being ruled over by a dynasty of a few million (more like a few billion) gut-slugs. Keeping the parasites dissolved in the (somewhat) greater mass of Trill society would prevent the extremely rapid and easy concentration of property and power in the hands of the worm crowd.

A paragraph like that really makes me wish we'd had more interesting Trill episodes than the series actually got. We probably got more intriguing material with the Jem'Hadar, and they were basically the Klingons if the Klingons were nastier and took drugs.

Thanks.

I never got why the Jemmies were supposed to be clones, but somehow were all different. I mean, we saw like five Vorta, all of whom presumably had different competencies and were designed to be used in different roles. Yet there were hundreds of different Jem'Hadar, all of whom seemed basically interchangeable.

That said, I'd almost rather have seen more of the Jem'Hadar than the Klingons. It's amazing that a species of clones with one reason for their existence is almost less of a one-note civilization than that possessed by a species that has appeared in some form in something like 90% of all televised Trek.

 

[lankyknight1990]

To Be honest I Believe it is assumed that by the time of DS9 the trill are members of the federation. In one of the star trek movies (cant remember which one) One of Jean Luc Picards crew is a Trill. They appear way too important to have no ties to the federation.

As for why they didnt share information in Next Generation with Odan is I don't think they reallyy believed they would make the Trill into a major race. Until DS9 they were extremely minor role, the only people who would actually know who the Trill were would be deep space nine fans and hardcore trekkies.

Another reason she may remove her spots was because she didn't want to stand out. remember they are trying NOT to change the flow of history. If at that time not many members of the Trill were in starfleet (doesn't mean they were not federation members) she would stand out like a sore thumb at a very small space station and ship. The last thing she needed was attention. It would be like in today's terms a westerner visiting Saudi Arabia. They would stand out. Period.

Joshua

 

[Jbarney]

So I know this is a thread that is very old, but I was just reading A Choice of Futures and I don't think this topic has been tackled by anything on screen....so here goes.....CLB might be kind enough to respond as well....

On page 249, in the final paragraph or so, there is a scene where the Dr. Liao is examining Tobin Dax and learns about the true nature of the Trill. I am wondering if the final paragraph, which reads: "She'd been trying to broaden her horizons, to accept the aliens that were part of the Federation now".....I am not sure if this is just a reference to races we already know about.....

However, the book also pretty much establishes when Mars became a member of the UFP (page 93), unless this was referenced somewhere else.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It seems likely that Trill is a member of the UFP but not proven. If they are not they are probably mostly surrounded by Federation space and have a close relationship with the UFP.

Besides the obvious discrepancies between The Host and DS9's Trills, the strongest evidence they may not be is that Ezri's family suggests Trill is a capitalist planet.

I tend to discount The Host as being the same Trill as we see at DS9. The Trill parasites we see in DS9 are slavers, and those Trill that completely subjugate the host would never be accepted in the Federation. Odan says "That parasite is ME, that is what must survive," not even considering his host a person whose life has value even though we see his replacement is quite sapient. She was probably coerced by the government, perhaps her family was threatened or best case, her family was paid for her to go into permanent slavery. If the Bajorans would be rejected from the Federation for caste discrimination, the Trill would certainly be rejected for that.

 

[kkt]

But the Tigans weren't on Trill, they lived in New Sydney, which was not part of the Federation (own police, Starfleet had to operate covertly, capitalist economics...)

 

[TheSeeker]

I tend to give new members who are not familiar with the rules a bit of a break when bringing back old threads, but this one has been dormant for the better part of a decade. Feel free to start a new thread on the subject, but I am closing this one.