Less Discussed Star Powers

[Arpy]

What are some of the other aliens out there in local space that get mentioned less? Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Borg, Doninion, sure.

But I’m wondering who else is out there that maybe in-universe are as commonplace knowledge as the Swiss, or Thai, or Chileans.

Some interesting characters that we barely hear mention of but that might be interesting players on the interstellar stage are the…

Yridians: a race thought extinct in the 24th Century until Starfleet Captain Ransom made contact, they’re interstellar information traders.

Nyberrite Alliance: in DS9’s “Way of the Warrior,” as Worf is debating what to do since the destruction of the Enterprise-D, he considers joining the Nyberrite Alliance fleet, who are looking for experienced officers. Are they pirates? A merchant marine force? Fenris Rangers? What exactly?

Mathenites: when Legate Tekeny Ghemor has to flee Cardassia for helping Kira, he’s given asylum by the Mathenites. They must be more than minor players if they can keep him safe from the Cardassian Union. Are they the Space Swiss? (Are Romulan exiles there too?) Or are they allies of the Cardassians they’d never dare attack?

What are some other aliens out there that you find interesting and further flesh out local space?

 

[at Quark's]

I would like to learn more about the Sheliak Corporate. It seems local space is pretty much dominated by humanoids and I wonder whether they shun contact with all of them, or only with the Federation. (I would presume the first).

 

[somebuddyX]

The Gorn. Enterprise could have just made their Gorn a big rubber head man in a suit but no let's make him a CGI dinosaur creature. There's just something wonderfully ridiculous about this 60s lizard man and his insect eyes and I wish we'd seen them in the background of DS9 or Kelvin or something.

 

[Oddish]

The Xindi. What are they up to in the 24th century?

 

[Arpy]

I would like to learn more about the Sheliak Corporate. It seems local space is pretty much dominated by humanoids and I wonder whether they shun contact with all of them, or only with the Federation. (I would presume the first).

Yeah, I love non-humanoids. I wish we’d see more of the Sheliak, Tholians, Jarada, Medusans, Legarans, Edosians/Triexians, and others in the future.

The Gorn. Enterprise could have just made their Gorn a big rubber head man in a suit but no let's make him a CGI dinosaur creature. There's just something wonderfully ridiculous about this 60s lizard man and his insect eyes and I wish we'd seen them in the background of DS9 or Kelvin or something.

We saw a Gorn skeleton in Lorca’s lab that one time. I like the old school Gorn more than giant raptor things we see in Star Trek Online for example. It’s the combo lizard alien with a humanoid body and insect eyes that all create this out-there design. Of course they wouldn’t look like raptors any more than we look like monkeys. They’re the evolved form of that evolutionary path.

The Xindi. What are they up to in the 24th century?

I imagine they’re Federation members by the 23rd/24th Century. Maybe the Suliban too, the Federation expanding in all directions. Unless they’ve been subsumed by the Romulans or other nearby powers that obscured them in later centuries/series.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Tholians, despite seeing the Tholian Web Spinner in space every now an then, we really haven't dealt with them in depth.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The Gorn. Enterprise could have just made their Gorn a big rubber head man in a suit but no let's make him a CGI dinosaur creature. There's just something wonderfully ridiculous about this 60s lizard man and his insect eyes and I wish we'd seen them in the background of DS9 or Kelvin or something.

I'm pretty sure there was a Gorn on Rura Penthe in the ST'09 deleted scenes along with a Salt Vampire.

 

[Dukhat]

The ‘Nyberrite Alliance’ was just a throwaway line about what Worf was going to do with his life as anything other than a Starfleet officer. It wasn’t ever seriously meant to be expanded upon.

 

[Arpy]

The ‘Nyberrite Alliance’ was just a throwaway line about what Worf was going to do with his life as anything other than a Starfleet officer. It wasn’t ever seriously meant to be expanded upon.

? There’s always some throwaway line to something that later is expanded upon or discussed for decades by fans at least.

What are some of your aliens that you wonder about on the broader galactic stage?

 

[Unimatrix Q]

I would like to learn more about the Sheliak Corporate. It seems local space is pretty much dominated by humanoids and I wonder whether they shun contact with all of them, or only with the Federation. (I would presume the first).

And the Grizzelas. They also seemed to be a independent species with some influence, considering that they apparently were a third party in the treaty of Armens.

 

[at Quark's]

I don't think they are actually a party within that treaty. It's just that the treaty allows for the right to call in an arbiter, which apparently may be any party, and Picard chooses the Grizellas which 'unfortunately' happen to be in their hibernation cycle right now.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

I don't think they are actually a party within that treaty. It's just that the treaty allows for the right to call in an arbiter, which apparently may be any party, and Picard chooses the Grizellas which 'unfortunately' happen to be in their hibernation cycle right now.

Think it's very likely that they're independent. If they were Federation members, the Sheliak wouldn't have any reason to respect their decissions.

 

[1001001]

The ‘Nyberrite Alliance’ was just a throwaway line about what Worf was going to do with his life as anything other than a Starfleet officer. It wasn’t ever seriously meant to be expanded upon.

I believe the Nyberrite Alliance was some sort of insurance conglomerate…

 

[at Quark's]

Think it's very likely that they're independent. If they were Federation members, the Sheliak wouldn't have any reason to respect their decissions.

Oh, I agree that they're most likely independent, or at least, unaligned with either of both. I just meant that I think they have no explicit mention in that treaty, but were just a random party Picard nominated.

 

[Annorax849]

So little is said about the Nyberrite Alliance that we don't even know if it's a government.

Anyway, there's the trio of Gorn, Tzenkethi, and Talarians which might be relatively close in size. It's not really clear where the Orions fall in this. Tamarians are worth mentioning too, their ship was clearly stronger than a Galaxy class. Question is how big are they, Picard mentioned they occupy a "region of space."

Another one which rarely gets talked about are the Zalkonians. They were clearly advanced, though not known by the UFP during the 2360s. Plus who knows if they lasted long beyond the episode. Another I just recently noticed was Palamar, from the episode with Quark's cousin. They mentioned multiple planets, and the Regent refers to his "empire"

 

[at Quark's]

Another one would be the Vissians. Met by Archer's Enterprise in the 22nd century, their home planet was only 25 light years from where they met, so for 24th century standards they would have been very close to the Federation (if not actually surrounded by it). Highly advanced too, their technology was superior to the 24th century Federation in at least a few aspects. They seemed quite peaceful too, it's just that first contact was screwed up.

 

[Arpy]

And the Grizzelas. They also seemed to be a independent species with some influence, considering that they apparently were a third party in the treaty of Armens.

Yeah, the impression I got was that the treaty permitted either side therein to choose whichever third party to arbitrate, and Picard either scoured the databanks for a suitable intelligent species for his cause (regardless how advanced or sophisticated they might be), or maybe even made one up(!) that the Sheliak didn’t want to deal with.

So little is said about the Nyberrite Alliance that we don't even know if it's a government.

Anyway, there's the trio of Gorn, Tzenkethi, and Talarians which might be relatively close in size. It's not really clear where the Orions fall in this. Tamarians are worth mentioning too, their ship was clearly stronger than a Galaxy class. Question is how big are they, Picard mentioned they occupy a "region of space."

In the best of all possible worlds, the Tzenkethi are non-humanoid. It’d be cool if they showed up in a future series in some capacity.

The Gorn were mentioned twice in PIC. I wondered if they weren’t conquered by the Klingons or the Romulans between TOS and TNG, and that’s why you did hear from them anymore. Maybe the were by the Romulans, and then were liberated after the fall of the Star-Empire.

The Talarians are another one to update the makeup on and see more of. Why not?

The Orions, reintroduced as the Orion “Syndicate” in DS9, were interesting. They seemed more primitive in TOS…if they were even a society and not just “alien trash” traded on fringe slave markets…but later on they seemed to have developed into maybe the leaders of a sophisticated interstellar mob comprised of various other aliens too.

Another one which rarely gets talked about are the Zalkonians. They were clearly advanced, though not known by the UFP during the 2360s. Plus who knows if they lasted long beyond the episode. Another I just recently noticed was Palamar, from the episode with Quark's cousin. They mentioned multiple planets, and the Regent refers to his "empire"

Yeah, I guess I think of the Zalkonians as being in the middle of the metamorphosis epoch of their species and too preoccupied to care about other aliens nearby. I think the Romulans were going through massive internal change between TUC and TNG too and that’s why they disappeared. The forehead ridged “Northerners” overthrew the “Imperial”(?) Spock/Nanclus-looking ones in charge earlier, and there was civil war and ethnic cleansing and whatnot. Then, “We, are back…”

Another one would be the Vissians. Met by Archer's Enterprise in the 22nd century, their home planet was only 25 light years from where they met, so for 24th century standards they would have been very close to the Federation (if not actually surrounded by it). Highly advanced too, their technology was superior to the 24th century Federation in at least a few aspects. They seemed quite peaceful too, it's just that first contact was screwed up.

Yeah, I wonder about the Vissians sometimes. If they’re “gone” for whatever reason, or if they’re (exponential growth of technology over time and all that) on another level by the 24th Century like the Metrons or whomever and don’t like to get involved in the going’s on of “younger races” (i.e. the Dominion War).

 

[Orphalesion]

Nyberrite Alliance: in DS9’s “Way of the Warrior,” as Worf is debating what to do since the destruction of the Enterprise-D, he considers joining the Nyberrite Alliance fleet, who are looking for experienced officers. Are they pirates? A merchant marine force? Fenris Rangers? What exactly?

I don't think Worf would join space pirates or something like the Fenris Rangers.

I'm gotta be boring and just say they are a Alliance of systems/species who have a fleet like the other polities in the Quadrant. They might be relatively new and so they like to hire experienced officers from the other powers. But yeah if they are a merchant alliance like the Ferengi Alliance, then their fleet might have a merchant marine character.

 

[Arpy]

I think there was a line in a TOS movie where Kirk says something about “whatever fleet we end up in” or something like that. (Maybe when they steal the Enterprise and he thought they’d be kicked out of Starfleet.) I wondered what he meant by that. If they’re out of Starfleet, surely he couldn’t mean the Klingon or Romulan fleets could he…maybe he did, jokingly, as it was meant to be a funny line…but could it have meant another fleet(s) out there of yet other powers they could maybe choose to join? Whether the Nyberrite or some other…again, the teasing of a fuller universe than we are privy to.

 

[Arpy]

Also something to consider is the localities & reach of different aliens. Maybe the big boy Federation of 150+ different memberworlds stretches far and wide across two quadrants, maybe the Klingons who’ve been around for at least a thousand years since Kahless left Qo’noS for Boreth (maybe using Hur’q technology that catapulted the Klingons ahead of some of the younger, if more scientifically-minded, species), but what about everybody else?

We didn’t see the Ferengi, Talarians, Tzenkethi, and others till the 24th Century. Maybe because the Federation hadn’t made first contact with them yet. (Of course, some of that changed with ENT.) But maybe some of the smaller players are more localized. We saw Corvallen traders doing business near the Romulan border. Maybe they don’t generally reach distant Cardassia. So the Cardassians use the more local Lissepians and Xepolites for trade. Maybe the Hupyrians don’t get far passed Ferengi space, and even the Tholians don’t get as far as Bajor all that often.