Background aliens on Terok Nor

[Arpy]

Per "Suddenly Human," Talarians used neutral particle weapons, X-ray lasers, and Merculite rockets -- inferior to the Federation, and likely to the weapons technologies of the Cardassians. I'm wondering if during the Cardassians' expansion phase (after the destruction of the Malurians or the dwindling of the Zalkonians), if part of the way they were making a name for themselves was by victories against the Talarians.

The Miradorn are a re-use of the Ktarian makeup from "The Game." Maybe the female captain from the episode (Etana Jol) was a Miradorn by birth, now a Ktarian officer or a mercenary in their employe. I think Naomi Wildman is the closest we got to seeing an actual Ktarian. I kinda like the idea of there being more to the story with the Ktarians, regarding their Federation allegiance and possible histories with other powers. Though maybe part of the reason we never saw them again is that not only was their makeup reused, their ships were already re-uses of the Zalkonians'.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Per Christopher Bennett's works, the Ferengi Alliance suffered a Depression in the 22nd century or so, and only were getting out of it by the TNG era.

I always envisioned the Ferengi opposite Cardassian space, and the Alliance in general focusing their energies farther away from the Federation. Perhaps the pre-Federation power (the Vegan Tyranny? Or more likely just the Vulcan hegemony of the region) did not gel with the Alliance's financial aspirations, and wealthier clients lay the opposite way, especially since we see hints of a Vulcan-Klingon Cold War after 2016 and perhaps the Orion Syndicate (fallen Orion Empire) has a stranglehold on the local black market. Only opportunistic pirates go that way, and the Orions/Nausicaans/Osaarians don't take too kindly to them (plus, the Delphic Expanse caused them grief). Maybe they even need to cross Breen territory, and the Breen no longer do business with Ferengi merchants.

Then the Depression hits Ferenginar, and the cost of latinum tanks. How does a depression hit in a interstellar culture like this? I'm no expert, but I have reason to believe that it affected much more than the Ferengi Alliance. They, like the Orions of old and maybe now Federation near the Alpha-Beta Corridor, have the markets in check, and when they go down, so do the Cardassians, Talarians, Miradorn, Bajorans, etc. Overspeculation on new cultures, ever expansion into new territories, a Nagus who is ordering these massive D'Koras to show off the Alliance's wealth... I have no doubt the Ferengi are the root cause of the Grand Depression, and that this caused alot of pain and suffering that still plagued the cultures into the 24th century (note: late 22nd/early 23rd century is about when Bajor and Cardassia began to have their problems, "solved" by the rise of the Cardassian Military).

The date closely corresponds to the early implementation of replicator-like technologies in the Federation. Perhaps these new technologies made their way into the Alliance (or just the neighbors), who had not yet based their economy solely on unreplicatable latinum (we first learn of latinum in Enterprise, but maybe it wasn't the primary means of exchange). If gold is accepted in the Alliance as a primary means of exchange, and suddenly everyone can make gold from anything, the economy does not do good.

The region seems very backward and poor, with reused ships because shipbuilding died off, and many cultures reverting to militaristic regimes like in developing countries today. Are the Yridians from this region? They are in Enterprise, but are thought to be extinct until Captain Ransom (2360s) discovers them again. Another financial victim of the Grand Depression.

Even the Alpha-Beta Corridor, long plagued by a booming Orion slave trade (seen in Enterprise), is hit by this Depression. The Orions go from these massive slave traders in Enterprise, to being a legendary culture in TOS (but mostly pirates), to being all but disappeared by the 24th century. If they're the primary traders beyond the Delphic, then the effects of the Depression might've crashed their economy.

Then the Federation, uniting cultures as diverse as Tellar and Andoria and the Rigel Colonies, steps up their game, begins a slow expansion (more an expansion of ideas), and by the mid-23rd, have the Corridor on lock and are warmongering (not their fault!) with multiple neighbors (Klingons, Sheliak, Tholians, Axanar?). The Federation's expansion jibes so well with the Grand Depression, that I think they must be linked, ancillarily at least. Either the unknown cause (replication tech) or solution (offering a refuge for depressed cultures) to the problem. Or both, most likely.

 

[Timo]

Per "Suddenly Human," Talarians used neutral particle weapons, X-ray lasers, and Merculite rockets -- inferior to the Federation, and likely to the weapons technologies of the Cardassians.

Also, the characteristic Talarian arrowhead ships and their close derivatives are seen in use by many other species, and their introductory freighter is ubiquitous, too (so ubiquitous that Riker only identifies it as Talarian when spotting a national symbol on the hull). Does this mean Talarians are famed suppliers of low-grade weapons, much like North Korea here - or generic buyers of weapons from a popular supplier? I'd prefer the latter.

I'm wondering if during the Cardassians' expansion phase (after the destruction of the Malurians or the dwindling of the Zalkonians), if part of the way they were making a name for themselves was by victories against the Talarians.

That the Talarians would be proximal to Cardassia is a fairly random conceit in Star Charts, based on nothing much. If anything, they were shoved in a corner where they don't bother anybody and thus can survive despite being inferior. But they could be Cardassian victims if need be, too. Or then a valued buffer state that gives its own share of trouble to the enemies of the Union.

The Miradorn are a re-use of the Ktarian makeup from "The Game." Maybe the female captain from the episode (Etana Jol) was a Miradorn by birth, now a Ktarian officer or a mercenary in their employe. I think Naomi Wildman is the closest we got to seeing an actual Ktarian.

Agreed. I guess the other way to go would be to plead some sort of sexual dimorphism, where the prominent Ktarian horns manifest only on the males, except when the mother is of a different species altogether and has no genes to suppress those of the father. But a Ktarian operative who is either from the Miradorn species, or then pretends to be such for obfuscation and deniability, is the simpler rationalization.

I kinda like the idea of there being more to the story with the Ktarians, regarding their Federation allegiance and possible histories with other powers. Though maybe part of the reason we never saw them again is that not only was their makeup reused, their ships were already re-uses of the Zalkonians'.

The timeline would perhaps allow for the Zalkonian species to split, perhaps into the Ascenders and those incapable of it; the Ktarians might emerge from this a couple of hundred years before TNG, trying to find their place in the universe through various alliances and schemes. But the simpler choice again is that Etana Jol is flying a foreign ship because the one thing she doesn't want to get associated with is her true employers.

Perhaps a woman of extraordinary means would have access to Zalkonian supertech, of which the Game is another example? Basic Ktarian tech might be much more humdrum.

The opposite interpretation is that the Ktarians were not involved in "The Game" at all, and Jol was just spreading disinformation (the first mention of the culture in the episode, a seemingly unnecessary slip of the tongue from the villain), possibly boosting this by flying an identifiably Ktarian ship (the second mention of the culture, after all subterfuge is exposed). The evil Miradorn might have been the culprits all along, and the innocent Ktarians could be staunch allies and indeed members of the UFP as otherwise indicated.

Timo Saloniemi