Star Trek Minus Earth

[Cromwell]

I have a "What If?" scenario to put to you...

Imagine that, all other things being equal, sentient life never developed on Earth after the Voth had left, or that humans did evolve as in our timeline but we destroyed ourselves in one of our many conflagrations.

Either way, imagine that by the time our story begins, in the twenty-third century, and then on to the twenty-fourth century, Humanity has no role to play.

What shape do you see the galaxy taking? Is any state ever formed analogous to the Federation? Who'd be the obvious beneficiary of a galaxy without our presence?

Or, would not much at all be changed? Would some other race come to take Humanity's as leader of the free world (so to speak)?

 

[Christopher]

See my novel Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Forgotten History. A fair portion of the novel takes place in an alternate timeline where human civilization was wiped out in the 20th century and interstellar history unfolded without human influence. So I've already offered one possible answer to this scenario.

There's also Myriad Universes: A Less Perfect Union by William Leisner, set in an alternate timeline where Earth became isolationist after "Demons"/"Terra Prime."

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Probably before a different Federation had a chance to form, the Klingons or Romulans would absorb those territories.

 

[Dukhat]

Actually this was touched upon a bit in DS9's "Past Tense," where because of the absence of Gabriel Bell in the 21st century, by the 24th Earth was just some backwater planet which no one had made contact with, and the nearest outpost to Earth was Romulan. That would lead us to speculate that in the absence of Earth not being part of the interstellar neighborhood, the Romulans never went to war with them and were able to expand unimpeded through what would have been Federation territory.

Of course, I'm not quite sure I buy DS9's take on this. Even without Bell, there still would have been WWIII later, and presumably Cochrane would still have made his warp flight and gotten the notice of the Vulcans. So take this how you will.

 

[Cromwell]

Actually this was touched upon a bit in DS9's "Past Tense," where because of the absence of Gabriel Bell in the 21st century, by the 24th Earth was just some backwater planet which no one had made contact with, and the nearest outpost to Earth was Romulan. That would lead us to speculate that in the absence of Earth not being part of the interstellar neighborhood, the Romulans never went to war with them and were able to expand unimpeded through what would have been Federation territory.

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten about that little tid-bit.

What would you assume the rest of the galaxy to look like? What of the Kilingons, the Vulcans and so on?

...

See my novel Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Forgotten History. A fair portion of the novel takes place in an alternate timeline where human civilization was wiped out in the 20th century and interstellar history unfolded without human influence. So I've already offered one possible answer to this scenario.

There's also Myriad Universes: A Less Perfect Union by William Leisner, set in an alternate timeline where Earth became isolationist after "Demons"/"Terra Prime."

I'll have to check that out.

Probably before a different Federation had a chance to form, the Klingons or Romulans would absorb those territories.

Would there be a war, do you think? A big one? Who'd win?

And what of the minor races? The Talarians? The Bolians? The Tellarites? The Betazoids?

Or the supporting players? The Andorians? The Cardassians? The Sheliak? The Tholians? The Breen?

 

[Chronos]

It's likely that Alpha and Beta quadrants would largely be under Romulan rule by the 2200s if there were no Federation to hold it back its borders.

The Andorians, Tellarites, and Vulcans would still be divided and none would be prepared for the Romulan forces which were building in secret. Also note that it was the Enterprise which discovered that the Romulans were intending to incite a war between the three parties. If not for Earth, the Andorians and Tellarites would have torn one another to shreds, possibly taking the Vulcans with them.

The Xindi don't have the connections with other Alpha/Beta quadrant species required to get any news of the advancing Romulans.

The Cardassians, Breen, and many other species aren't yet great powers in the quadrant, and don't have the firepower to take on cloaked Romulan ships.

 

[Hatshepsut]

Imagine that...sentient life never developed on Earth...What shape do you see the galaxy taking? Is any state ever formed analogous to the Federation? Who'd be the obvious beneficiary of a galaxy without our presence?

Or, would not much at all be changed?

I'd vote for little change beyond the facial features & skin tone. All these other races are essentially human. Each of them emphasizes a different aspect of the human mind: Vulcans for rationality, Klingons for militaristic honor, Ferengi for opportunism, etc. To me, Star Trek takes a look at ourselves, using its inventive backdrop as canvas for morality plays.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Probably before a different Federation had a chance to form, the Klingons or Romulans would absorb those territories.

Would there be a war, do you think? A big one? Who'd win?

Probably the Romulans just because their best people don't murder each other.

And what of the minor races? The Talarians? The Bolians? The Tellarites? The Betazoids?

Passive races like betazoids, probably ignored or just kind of annexed and left alone so long as they don't fight back or quietly conquered and told they'd be left alone if they provide the demanded resources.

Or the supporting players? The Andorians? The Cardassians? The Sheliak? The Tholians? The Breen?

Depends. Races with strong militaries would survive as long as there are bigger threats on other fronts, probably with non-aggression treaties. Or if it's like the Breen who can just kind of defend themselves and don't communicate with anyone else they'd just kind of understand to leave them alone.

 

[Ithekro]

I would assume the Romulans would subvert the Vulcan government and attempt reunification as a cost for assisting Vulcan against the Andorians sometime around the 2150s or 60s.


Actaully, what would have happened had the Voth come back not all that long after the disaster (relatively speaking). Come back in a thousand years or so? Already have transwarp drives by the time the Klingons start going to Empire?

 

[Cromwell]

Actually, what would have happened had the Voth come back not all that long after the disaster (relatively speaking). Come back in a thousand years or so? Already have transwarp drives by the time the Klingons start going to Empire?

That could make for another interesting scenario. What do you think?

The Voth always struck me as being more arrogant than aggressive. I imagine they'd leave the other species alone, unless attacked (which doesn't bode well for a race like the Klingons, who tend not to plan wars cautiously).

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also, Klingons and Romulans would probably be sent back to their own solar system as a dangerously savage child race sometime in the 2360s.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Probably before a different Federation had a chance to form, the Klingons or Romulans would absorb those territories.

I'm thinking the Klingons--they were the big story, throughout Trek. They already had an aggressive, growing empire when humans first encountered them.



It is possible that;

1. The Romulans could have taken over some of the AQ if the Praxis crises occurred. With the Klingons weakened, the Romulans would have quickly took advantage of the situation.

But that occured because of the cold war build up between the Fed and Klingons.

If there were no humans, there might not be a Praxis incident.

2. The Federation could have formed without humans.

3. A Romulan/Klingon alliance occurs. They control most of the AQ.