What do you we know about the Trill culture and what you do thing about it?

[BohandiAnsoid]

I know I was saying quite a lot about Jadzia (and especially Jadzia/Julian recently). However, this is not, at least not exactly, what it is about. And it in itself was an attempot to diversify my postings, as something not about Kes and the Ocampa.

I would like to know what do you ypou know and what do you think about the Trill culture. The ideologies above are ideologies aviavblt in the game Galactic Civilziaiutons IV, and I would like to know which do you think the Trill cutlure embraces. What values do you think they like and dislike. And, above all, what kind of fiction they would create. I was always fascinated by the idea of alien fiction (or fiction written as if by aliens) being made, but in Star Trek, we really only got a glimpse at Cardassian and Klingon (and maybe somewhat on Vulcan and Najoran), as far as I know. What do you think the Trill would do? What do we know they did? If you have something to say about other cultures, you may say as well. Also, about Trill chaartcers and their relationships too, especially about how it would contradict or comply with the culture, but I don't want it to be the focus.

 

[at Quark's]

Certainly not egalitarianism. They know far more hosts are capable of joining than they actually admit- it has to remain a rare honor, in order to not destabilize society. In that sense, they also embrace traditionalism - they don't like to change their society.

On the individualism/collectivism line I think they are at the midway point. They stress that every trill/host are unique personalities, but they sometimes expect the individual to defer to the greater collective good. I don't think they are particularly totalitarian, every trill is free to pursue whatever he likes, in different societies such as the Federation - except perhaps when an individual's action threatens Trill society as a whole. I don't think they are opposed to scientific progress (but neither are they technocrats). I don't know whether they are pacifist but they don't seem particularly belligerent to me. And as for nihilism, I don't see any inclination of that (though individual Trill may be nihilistic).

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

Just to clarify, I put out all ideologies present in the game of Galactic Civilziations IV, as to not create any preconceptions.

Also, what do you think they would write? How would they fiction look like (and non - fiction too)?

 

[at Quark's]

And I have to clarify I don't know that game (at least, not that version of the game), so I might have a slightly different interpretation of those ideologies than the interpretations used in the game.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

Well, your interpretations I see above are correct, as far as I see.

 

[at Quark's]

Just to clarify, I put out all ideologies present in the game of Galactic Civilziations IV, as to not create any preconceptions.

Also, what do you think they would write? How would they fiction look like (and non - fiction too)?

An interesting question and I have no idea.

I do think their exploration of questions such as mortality vs immortality would be slightly different from ours. After all, trill hosts may only live human-span lifetimes, but the symbiont can live for thousands of years. Same holds for the question what individuality ultimately is. In most of their science fiction, I suppose individuality would be a more malleable concept for that reason.

I also wonder whether Trill hosts are less likely to believe in reincarnation for that reason - tracking personalities in Trill society is messy enough as it is already

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

I would encourage you (and everyone else) to think about this. Maybe we should talk about this in a conversation.

As for reincernation - you're probabl;y rioght, althought the opposite may also be true (actually, I once read a fanficiton in which Trill do believe in reincarnation - and there, they're pretty totalitarian too. It's an old fanfction from the original DS9 run).

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I have no clue what this game is, and I have no desire to look it up. However, this is an interesting question.

Trill identity seems entirely located within the joined elite. The rules seem to bind those who are joined. And those who are not joined are either envious or isolated from Trill culture. Prodigal Daughter shows Trills, who either were disaffected from the joined or had no clue how the society worked. I suspect that the unjoined separate themselves, if not outright migrate to other planets. The view we see in Disco only makes me think that the social stratification was more extreme.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

Just to be clear, I only mentioned that game for you to know where I took the list of ideologies from. I do not excourage anyuone to look it up.

As for the Trill, yes, I feel they are very focused on joining. It feels like all Trill are expected to want to be joined. I mean, people (even non - Trill) looked surpsised when Ezri wa saying she idn;t wish to be joined and only reluctantly agreed, to save Dax. I think it's pretty telling.

but, do you have any idea how it would influence the fiction, loike litarature, arts, films, holo - pgregms, etc...? For example, we were told that Cardassian litarature is often repetitve and foicuses on the duty to the state, and also in mystery novels, every suspect is always guilty. There is a clearl link to Cardassian ideology in it. Hpow would that work for the Trill?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

A lot of characters searching for that missing piece in their lives and not finding it in vain pursuits. Perhaps a lot of joined authors giving advice from their past hosts' lives. Certainly their history books would emphasize host-to-host lineage over familial ties. Trills using Vulcan mediators to transfer symbiont knowledge from a joined Trill to non-hosts for a price.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

All seems well. Could someone elbaorate on one idea?

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

Also, I noticed Trill culture has some similarities to Vulcans. Both of them are pretty traditional... And both have quite "ends justify the means" mentality. Not that humans don't... But there were many times (Valeris, Sakonna, P'Jem name a few) where Vulcans used logic to justify unethical acts. And so did the Trill Symbiotic Commision with Joran Dax... It makes me wonder how did their first contact made, and watever Trill and Vulcans often are on the same side in the Federation's politics... Also, I think Vulcans and Trill would be some of the best recruits for Section 31 because of that.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

The novelverse puts forth some great ideas about the Trill that I've taken as my personal canon:

• The Trill are evolved marsupials! Hence why they have that kangaroo pouch in their tummies. Unlike Earth marsupials though, both sexes have pouches, and carry part of a pregnancy.
• Trill overall doesn't have a such violence in its history as Earth does. Not that there's no violence at all (we know they've had at least one serial killer), but face it, humans have a uniquely violent history. Trill don't. I personally suspect this is related to both sexes partaking in pregnancy, which isn't result in Trill males being generally more nurturing and less violent than human ones.
• Trill symbionts continuously grow in size. They stop being joined to hosts when they simply get too big to fit inside anyone. Then when they retire to the Pools of Mak'la, they keep growing, reaching the size of whales

Then there's "Fanon," stuff that's not canon, but that many fans tend to agree on:

• The bumpy-headed Trill from TNG are a different subspecies to the dominant spotted Trill, like Neanderthals were a subspecies of Humans.
• Some dark-skinned Trill have pale spots (popular in fan art)

And finally, my personal speculations/head-canons:

• Before Trill got a unified planetary government, different nations and cultures had wildly different rules about how to decide who gets to be Joined. Some had trial by combat; others gave symbionts to the wisest elders; others were against Joining altogether. Now that the Symbiosis Commission exists, they ultimately decide who gets joined; but random citizens still have their cultural opinions and biases.
• Royal joining was once a thing, and is the reason for the modern laws against re-association. A Joined emperor dies; his Symbiont is passed to his son...who, upon Joining, now wants to keep his previous queen. This led to centuries of royal incest and inbred insanity, until the peasants violently revolted.
• Bumpy-head Trill culturally believe the Symbiont should be dominant, and train Hosts to repress their own personalities. The Bumpy-heads had control of the planetary government during the TNG episode they were introduced in, but soon after the power dynamic changed and the Spotted got back in charge.