THE FEDERATION

 

The United Federation of Planets is a confederation of unified planetary governments and colonies in the Alpha and parts of the Beta Quadrant.  The peoples that populate the member worlds of the Federation are numerous and diverse. Though most races are humanoid, other life forms are included within the boundaries of the Federation, even ethereal non corporeal beings. Among the vast numbers of government agencies that span the loosely governed network of planets and systems, the most prominent institution is Starfleet.  With an armada of exploring vessels and highly trained officers at their helm, the fleet is dedicated to the peaceful exploration of new civilizations. From their mission logs, the Federation can glean new scientific information, make contact with new races, and expand the frontiers knowledge.

The Federation was established in 2161, on the planet Babel, the result of a need for an agency of defense against the Romulans.  Five races - Terrans, Alpha Centaurians, Vulcans, Tellarites, and Andorians - chartered the United Federation of Planets for their mutual benefit and protection. Individual rights and civil liberties are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets, signed in 2161.  The Federation has expanded rapidly since, and today is composed of some 150 planets, bound together in a voluntary union for trade, exploration, diplomacy, and mutual protection.  The Articles of Federation were signed by the United Nations of Earth, Epsilon Indii, the Alpha Centauri Concordium of Planets, Vulcan and many more, to provide a common defense against the threat of attack from the Romulan Star Empire.  The constitution signed at Babel provided for freedoms and liberties for all races, a representative democratic government with universal suffrage, and established Starfleet.

The planets in the Federation are all governed by the Federation Council. Composed of representatives from each member planet, the Council is based in San Francisco, Earth and reelected every two years.  Presiding over the Council is the Federation Council President, whose office is set in Paris, Earth.  Every member state is entitled to its own military, government system and intelligence agencies.  Localized government is instituted as opposed to a powerful central government, and it is in this way that freedom and individuality of all member states are realized.  However, the Federation law must be observed, and this keeps order within a myriad of different systems that comprise the Federation.  The balanced system of democracy and socialist economy evolved from the early days of capitalism. During the three hundred years since the height of currency based capitalism, the Federation has developed a society where money and personal gain are no longer at the forefront of their citizens' ambition. In place of a monetary based economic system, the Federation utilizes "credits" to govern trade with those worlds that do.  Interstellar trade is largely free and unregulated, apart from certain contraband things such as slaves, drugs, and weapons of mass destruction. Because of its freedom and diversity, the Federation is wealthy and prosperous.

Within the boundaries of Federation territory are many lesser developed non-member worlds whose technology has not reached the point of interstellar travel.   As decreed by the Articles of the Federation, these worlds are strictly off limits, and contact is forbidden until they reach the proper phase of technological advancement.  When that occurs, the Federation sends a diplomatic envoy that makes first contact and encourages the world to join in the Federation.  However, the decision is solely theirs.  Should they decide to decline the offer, the Federation will sign neutral or alliance treaties that serve to smooth out relations.

The extraordinary characteristic of the Federation is that there is no one dominant culture.  Some races, such as the Vulcan's, have a unified society, religion, and cultural base.  Humans, however, are unified as a people, but still pride themselves on their different cultural values.  There are nearly 150 member planets in the Federation, creating a mosaic of cultures and traditions, bound together by their common interests: peace, order, liberty, and the discovery of
new knowledge.

The Federation is not perfect in its organization and function, but when the strong tradition of individual freedom, respect for life, and the pursuit of knowledge is considered, the institution is at the very least one that will leave lasting good.

The human race finds its origins on the planet earth in the Sol system in sector 001.  A humanoid species that has a male and female gender based society.  Physically, Humans are bilaterally symetrical bipeds whos skin and hair can vary considerably between individuals. As with most species there are two genders, male and female, but unusually there are several different racial groups. In most other respects Humans are physically close to the average for an Alpha quadrant species.

The founders of the United Federation of Planets, Humans have become one of the most influential and important species in the Alpha quadrant, Humans originate from the planet Earth in the Sol system. The early history of the planet was remarkable in many respects - chiefly for the number of contacts with alien civilisations which occurred. All of these proved to be of a very limited type however, and it was not until 2063 that the first official First Contact occured. At this point Earth was suffering the effects of a large scale nuclear war and was at a particularly low point. A group of scientists working under Zephram Cochrane had been working on a method of faster than light drive system for spacecraft when the war occurred. Despite having no official funding and poor living conditions the team pressed on with their project, and by 2063 they where able to launch the Pheonix, the first vessel in the alpha quadrant fitted with a warp drive.

Cochranes flight attracted the attion of a Vulcan survey vessel which was in the system; the Vulcans subsequently sent a shuttlecraft down to make contact with Cochranes team. The discovery that they where not alone in the universe had a profound impact on mankind, bringing all the people of the Earth together as never before.

As the only species equipped with warp drive technology, Humanity was able to virtually create the concept of interstellar trade. Human-built spacecraft totally monopolised this trade for over twenty five years, bringing a flood of revenue which rebuilt the war-torn planet and turned it into an economic powerhouse. By 2113 poverty, hunger and war had been abolished from the planet and Humanity was a major power.

Throughout the next forty five years Humanity continued to build an interstellar network of colonies and bases through a significant portion of the Alpha quadrant. Finally, in 2158 they encountered the Romulan Empire; the two powers fought a brief but intense war which was ended in 2160 when the Romulan Neutral Zone was established in order to provide a buffer zone between the two powers.

The Romulan War proved to Humanity that they had over-reached themselves, and they sought to form an alliance of different civilisations in order to provide for greater stability and prevent further conflicts. The United Federation of Planets was established in 2161 when the Humans and Vulcans signed the Federation Constitution. Although the Federation is regarded as a model of inter-species cooperation, Humans have always made up the bulk of its population and have therefore tended to dominate it. 

Vulcan is a class-M planet. it is hot and arid. It has no moon.  Vulcan is a member of the United Federation of Planets.  A Humanoid species native to planet Vulcan.  Vulcans were once a passionate, violent people whose civilization was torn
by terrible wars. The ancient philosopher Surak, revered as the father of Vulcan civilization, led his people some two
thousand years ago to reject their emotions in favor of a philosophy that embraced pure logic.  This remarkable
renaissance became known as the Time of Awakening.  Vulcan society is now based entirely on logic, and any trappings of emotion are considered to be socially unacceptable.
One group did not accept Surak's teachings and instead left Vulcan to found the warrior Romulan Star Empire. Their descendants and offshoots colonized many planets across the quadrant. Tensions remained between the two peoples, and a century-long war once raged between the Vulcans and the Romulans.  By the 24th century, however, a small number of Vulcan citizens sought reconciliation with their Romulan cousins, a movement supported by Ambassador Spock, as well as by members of a Romulan underground.
In the distant past, Vulcans killed to win their mates. Even in the present, Vulcans revert to ancient mating rituals, apparently the price these people must pay for totally suppressing their natural emotions. When Vulcan children are about seven, their parents select a future mate, and the two children are joined in a ceremony that links them telepathically.  When the two children come of age, they are compelled to join together for the marriage rituals.  The time of mating, Pon farr, is when the stoically logical Vulcans pay for their rigid control by experiencing a period of total emotional abandon. In Vulcan adults, Pon farr comes every seven years.  Vulcans who reach a certain
infirmity with age sometimes practice ritual suicide.

Because planet Vulcan has a higher gravity than Earth, and its atmosphere is thinner, Vulcans in an Earth normal environment demonstrate greater physical strength and more acute hearing than humans. The intensity of the Vulcan sun caused the Vulcans to evolve a secondary eyelid to protect the retina.  A Vulcan's heart is where a human's liver is. When injured, Vulcans concentrate their strength, blood, and antibodies onto the injured organs by at type of self-induced hypnosis.

Certain elements of Vulcan prehistory suggest that the Vulcan race may have originated with colonists from another planet, possibly humanoids from Sargon's planet 500,000 years ago. Vulcans have telepathic capacity, as practiced in the Vulcan mind meld.  Located in the mesiofrontal cortex of the Vulcan brain lies the psycho suppression system responsible for the cessation of emotions. On rare occasions, this area of the brain can be disrupted following a mind-meld with a violent individual.

Vulcans were the first extraterrestrial to be encountered by the people of planet Earth. On April 4, 2063, a Vulcan survey ship passed through Earth's solar system at that same time that Zefram Cochrane made his first faster-than-light space flight test in the Phoenix.  The Vulcan ship detected the Phoenix's warp signature and realized that humans had discovered warp drive. On the evening of the next day, the Vulcan ship touched down near Cochrane's launch site in Montana.  On April 5, 2063, Vulcans made first contact with humankind.  This would later lead to the Vulcans becoming part of the Federation.

SPECIES: ANDORIAN

Andor is a beautiful blue-green planet that circles the orange dwarf star Epsilon Indi.  Slightly larger than Terra, it is a Class M world and home of the well-known race of white-haired, blue-skinned, antennaed humanoids called Andorians. Andor is one of the five founding members of the United Federation of Planets, and therefore holds a permanent seat on the Federation Council. The current population of Andor is approximately 4.1 billion inhabitants.

Andor is the fourth of eight planets in the Epsilon Indi system and has three natural satellites, named Dem. Calk 1, and Calk 2. Dem is a barren ball of rock slightly smaller than Terra's Luna, and Calk 1 and Calk 2, known as the Twins, are small asteroid-like rocks that orbit one another while orbiting Andor. Calk 1 is 1,467 miles in diameter and Calk 2is 521 miles in diameter. The distance between Andor and the Twins is slowly increasing, and it is estimated that they will break free of Andor's gravity within the next millennium. Careful study of this eventuality has indicated that this change will cause no harm to Andor due to the small size of the asteroids.  The diameter of Andor is 10,468 miles, and has an equatorial circumference of 35,517 miles. The surface of the planet is covered by 47% water, making Andor one of the largest water-to-land ratio Class M inhabited worlds in the Federation.  Andor has a total surface area of 344.2
million square miles, which is comprised of 182.4 million square miles of land and 161.7 million square miles of water. Andor revolves around Epsilon Indi at a mean distance of 1.37 A.U.s (127.4 million miles), and completes one orbit in 500.39 Terran days. Andor has a gravity of 1.29 and rotates on its axis-once-every 21 hours 25 minutes. The atmosphere of the planet is thinner than the atmosphere of Terra, usually 590 mm of mercury at sea level, compared to Terra's 760 mm.

Andor is comprised of four major land masses and several smaller islands.  The largest land mass, called Mangea, is the southern continent and makes up 48% of the total land mass, or 87.5 million square miles.  The second largest land mass, called P'lith, adds another 32%, or 58.3 million square miles. Two large continent-sized islands, called Calith and Dor, add another 18% (32.8 million square miles, and the remaining 2% (3.6 million square miles) is made up of several small islands.
The Andorian oceans contain many of the same elements found in Terra's oceans, but has very little salt. However, there is a chemical which is abundantly produced by one of Andor's marine species which can make the water taste and smell very unpleasant to many non-Andorian races, including Humans. (It has been likened to the strong and malodorous taste and smell of Artesian water found on Terra, only much more potent.) When threatened, this fish, known as a gompa, ejects a chemical from a gland behind its anus which will usually make its attacker flee.  Because of this ability, gompas have few natural enemies and have flourished in the Andorian seas.  Gompas, which have been known to swim in schools of several billion fish, can simultaneously release this chemical when danger is sensed.  Once one fish releases the chemical, other fish nearby will release their chemical automatically, without even having to sense the danger itself.  Although the chemical is harmless and dissipates after a short time it can make Humans ill from the overpowering effect if the discharge is from a large school.  Fortunately, gompas prefer deep water and seldom approach close to shore.

Like many of the Federation's advanced civilizations, Andor has installed weather management systems which give the planet a mean temperatures of 64 degrees Fahrenheit at the equator to -23 degrees Fahrenheit at the poles.  Andor once had small ice caps at the poles, but these were slowly melted once the weather management system was installed. The Andorians had to give up approximately 1.2 million square miles of coastal territory as the ice caps melted and the sea rose about 2" overall, but they felt this was a fair trade-off in order to make the southern continent totally habitable.  Despite dire warnings from some Andorian scientists, the temperature rose an average of only 4 degrees
Fahrenheit without the ice to cool the planet and reflect sunlight.

The Andorians are the least technologically sophisticated race to join the Federation.  Andorians are one of the few civilizations to have developed warp drive on their own.  Before they had encountered their first Human, they
had established the Andorian Star Clan, formed by each clan contributing some of their best engineers and scientists. This clan, which developed Andor's fledgling space program and began exploring their solar system, eventually went on to acquire an empire of thirteen planets. First contact with Humans in 2118 did not go well, and ended with an Andorian ship opening fire on a Terran exploratory vehicle, killing its four-man crew. Luckily, before either side could gear up for war, they each received a peace delegation from Vulcan, a race that both the Andorians and the Humanshad encountered several years previously. As the Andorians themselves were creatures of logic, the Vulcans were
well-received and war was averted.  Fesoa, their home world, was just entering the space age when they were attacked and conquered by the Romulans. Fesoa, rich in valuable metals, was a perfect place to serve as a military supply base and troop garrison. The Romulans captured and exterminated whole cities and turned them into military industrial complexes. As for most of the races in that area of the galaxy, the Romulans never allowed their faces to be seen by the Andorians. There was no organized government on Fesoa for the years of occupation but their were many resistance groups. Andorian scientists would often back engineer stolen Romulan hardware. In this way, the Andorians taught themselves how to fight back. Finally, Earth forces came and liberated the planet. Over the course of the war, the Andorians did everything they could to aid their liberators. In the last year of the war Andorians, supervised by human engineers, built attack vessels that significantly aided in the final defeat of the Romulans.  Andor eventually went on to join a loose alliance of Terran, Vulcan, and Alpha Centauran merchants.  Several years later, with the admission of Tellar as the fifth member of this alliance, the necessity for a stronger military alliance was realized.
Much that appears bizarre and bewildering about Andorian culture - its violence, territoriality, demanding etiquette, clan based social structure, contradictory sexual morality, oddly primitive religion and art, grim practicality and tendency toward fratricide - becomes comprehensible when one learns the nature of Andorian biology. Andorian culture appears to be shaped almost entirely by biology, and attempts to reach beyond biology meet with only partial success.

The Andorian race is believed to have originated in the glaciers and ice fields that once covered the southern continent. Because of this development, Andorians are to a degree endothermic and have trouble keeping their body temperatures at their normal 57 degrees Fahrenheit when the outside temperature is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Exposure to temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for prolonged periods can cause an Andorian to abandon their logical thought processes and become cunningly violent.
 

Andorians are a comparatively tall species, averaging between 1.7 and 2.1 meters in height. Although obesity is not unknown, it is culturally condemned and most Andorians are quite slender for their height. This often gives them a misleading appearance of fragility, which is belied by their remarkable physical strength. Due to the extreme density of bone and muscle tissue, the average Andorian is quite capable of lifting an object of twice his or her weight.
The most remarkable of the Andorian physical features are the antennae, which are set slightly higher on the head than ears on a human. These are highly sensitive, semi rigid structures of muscle and cartilage, their tips containing directional hearing organs, the long-distance heat sensing organs and the telepathic sensors which play an important part in the reproductive cycle. The antennae also express emotion, far more than do the facial muscles, and are the prime indicators of Andorian body language. They express polite interest by curving toward the object of attention, fear or excitement by standing rigid and quivering, weariness or depression by drooping, confusion or upset by wringing and lashing, sexual arousal by slow writhing, intoxication by wobbling unsteadily in different directions, and rage by pressing back against the skull. Andorians "kiss" by touching the tips of their antennae together.
Because of the importance of the antennae, much of Andorian psychology revolves around these organs. Fear of damage to the antennae is deeper and more widespread than castration-anxiety in humans. Loss of antennae to an Andorian is the equivalent of deafness, muteness, castration and mutilation of the face to a human, and no Andorian will voluntarily survive such an injury.
Subsequently, the uninvited touching of the antennae is considered an unpardonable rudeness, and the threat of injury to antennae is legitimate grounds for assault and murder - as occasional, unfortunate incidents have shown.
Because of the telepathic organs and their relation to the reproductive process, the antennae are also considered proper sites for valuable jewelry, particularly gifts from friends, lovers and mates. The Andorian version of the wedding ring is worn on the left antenna rather than on a finger. To give an Andorian antenna rings or antenna bells is to make a gesture of great friendship, if not of courtship.

The Andorian social structure is characterized by extended families, which consist of at least four individuals in a matrimonial relationship, and tribes, which roughly correspond to the Klingon houses. The Andorians regard themselves as a passionate, agressive, even violent species, however, their character is much more complex. At first glance, the intelligent, apparently intellectual humanoids give the impression of being deadpan and emotionless, very calm, rational and logical like the Vulcans, but different from them, their indeed existing emotions can emerge with intense psychological and physical reactions. Andorians live for about 180 years. they are egg-hatched and their incubation lasts 11 months.
Their known irritability is caused by the ambient temperature : when it raises over 30°C the andorian body produces an enzym making them easily irritable. This is one of the reasons for their cities to be built underground.  Even though the Andorians also stand out due to their great strength and agility, they are not regarded as an exclusive race of warriors, since they usually exert violence only if there aren't any other possibilities, and even then they act controlled and rationally. The purpose, the pursued profit is important, not the act of violence itself, even if the motif is greed or jealousy.
Andorian currency is based on the value of livestock. The largest denomination is the teeghar, the largest domestic animal, roughly equivalent to the Terran horse or cow. Smaller denominations include the sleemhar roughly value of a domesticated reindeer, the nohagar value of a large pig, the ashklar a value of an antelope, and the mefilhar the value of a small goat.

With the advent of space travel, Andorians began to think seriously of themselves as a species rather than a collection of clans. The discovery of semi intelligent life on the fifth planet of their Epsilon Indi system compelled Andorians to consider the existence of other intelligent species and the possibility of interplanetary warfare. This led, by analogy, to the concept of all Andorians as members of one super clan, faced off against other such super clans. The immediate result of such thinking was that a planetary government consisting of a council of elders, one from each major clan, became feasible. Thus did Andor jump from a fragmented, clan based society to a fairly unified, planetary society - without going through the stage of nationalism. This unique case of rapid social evolution proved remarkably successful for the Andorians, although it did cause some problems with early contacts between the Andorian Empire and the other Federation co-founders of Earth, Alpha Centauri, Vulcan, Tellar.

Indeed, one may say that successful relations between Andor and Earth were the result of the famous Andorian practicality. Despite those lamentable early misunderstandings, the Andorians soon realized that membership in a multi-stellar community held great advantages for them - particularly in technological gains, such as reliable methods of birth control and faster-than-light space drive. FTL drive especially, with its concomitant possibility of interstellar colonization, may prove to be the greatest scientific advance in Andorian history - freeing the Andorians from their age old problem of too much population on too little land. This fact alone would explain the presence of so many Andorian neuters flooding Starfleet Academy and, indeed, all Federation space lines, with applications in a desperate attempt to get out into deep space.

Whether or not these escape attempts will be successful in reducing Andorian population pressure, and whether or not such success will reduce the aggressive tendencies of Andorian nature, is still unknown. Nonetheless, there is much reason to hope that, in time, we shall no longer agree with the famous comment by the lone survivor of the first contact team: "Aliens? Migod, what aliens! These people are so alien that, compared to them, the Vulcans might as well be from New Jersey!"

 
 

The Tellarite race comes from a planet in the Beta Quadrant, named Tellar.  The Tellarites, which belong to the earliest members of the Federation and hail from a bleak planet with few mineral deposits and their home world have a thinner atmosphere than Terra, leading to their overdeveloped nasal openings, which have been unkindly (and sometimes insultingly) compared to the snouts of Terran swine.  Tellarites are a species of sturdy humanoids which are remarkable for their little humanoid, boar like features  with a coarser skin texture and more facial and body hair than Humans. Their hair, covering all but the frontal face and the hands, is not as thick as animal fur, but is more reminiscent of an extremely hairy person. They have a roll of abdominal fat that makes all Tellarites appears to be portly.  Tellarites are slightly stronger and more hardy than Humans, but their appearance and personality combine to give
them a lower charisma.

Tellarites are usually regarded as peaceful, however, they are well known for their impulsive, emotional character.  With a frequent, irrational expression of emotions and the blind trust in intuition rather than logic they are more "human" than the human beings.  It is told that they quarrel for the sake of the quarrel.  Often, Tellarites are persistent and pig-headed, and they react very intensely if they don't get their own way and if their wishes are not fulfilled.  Particularly, their are problems with the Vulcans, whose stoic calmness and similar stubbornness often still stirs up their quarrelsomeness.  Occasionally, if they have been infuriated sufficiently, the emotional outbursts are accompanied by physical violence, but the Tellarites can hardly be regarded as a race of warriors because of this.  For that, the acts of violence are too much spontaneous reactions rather than planned, well aimed procedures.  Surprisingly, some Tellarites make good diplomats - they do not give in easily, Tellarites enjoy a good argument.  Tellarites are fond of food and drink.  Fortunately, alcohol has a little adverse effect on them, only making them more stubborn. Nevertheless, they are capable of going twice as long without food or water as the average Human, living off their fatty deposit for quite a while.

Tellar is the home planet of Tellarites, called Miracht in the tellarian language.  Tellar is a class M planet, the V out of nine in the 61 Cygni system.  It is a medium temperate world with 53% surface water, and a gravity of 1.25 g.  The population is 7 billion people.  The planet circumference is about 26.700 Km.

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SPECIES: ALPHA CENTAURAN

The Centaurians come from Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years from Earth.  The Alpha Centauri Concordium is made up of planets from three stars systems in close proximity to each other.  The Centauri call the worlds of Proxima Prime in the Proxima system, the third planet of the Alpha Centauri A and the third and fourth planets of the Alpha Centauri B system home.

SPECIES: BOLIAN

Bolians are humanoids with blue skin and a vertical ridge running down the middle of their face and body, along
with some ridges on the back of their head.   All Bolians are completely hairless except for young females who
may have a little, but only on their scalps.  Evolved from an aquatic race, they love water, although fully comfortable on land.  Their homeworld is Bolarus IX, a member planet of the United Federation of Planets.
Bolians seem outgoing, affable, and, apparently, love to give advice. This can take the form of good-natured
suggestions to patronizing busy-bodiness.  Bolians are very social and will make friends with almost anyone.
They also seem to be quite cowardly and don't make good security officers.  Their talkativeness can get them in trouble with less tolerable races such as the Klingons.  Bolians are staunch allies of the Federation.  Several have risen to positions of great importance in the Federation and in Starfleet.  Many turn their liability of racial curiosity into an advantage by occupying research or investigative jobs.  They have only recently made peace with the Moropans, a rival race, although this peace is a fragile one.  Perhaps as a consequence for being hairless, a few Bolians display an odd fascination for humanoid hair, and go on to become hairdressers.

Betazoids hail from the Federation member planet Betazed.   A peaceful race that have developed highly telepathic abilities, the Betazoid people appreciate fine arts, literature, and philosophy.  As all Betazoids are telepathic, they usually do not need to vocalize their thoughts to one another in order to communicate, but can do so for the benefit of offworlders.  It is a natural ability, and likewise the strength of the skill varies from one to another.  Most develop the ability in adolescence, but a few have congenitally active telepathic abilities that may cause severe mental problems due to their inability to screen out other peoples minds.  Screening is a skill that is absolutely necessary for the well-being of a Betazoid, particularly for those with keen telepathic sensory skills.

Externally, Betazoids are among the most humanoid species on record, and are indistinguishable from humans in every aspect.  They can reproduce with humans, although this often dilutes the telepathic abilities of the offspring.  The children of such a union often develop empathic rather than full telepathic abilities, though they can still communicate telepathically with their Betazoid parent and a bonded mate. Full Betazoids are unable to read the minds of Ferengi, Breen, Ullians or Dopterians due to their unusual brain lobe formations, but some half Betazoids have been occasionally successful in sensing the emotions of these species.
The telepathic and empathic abilities of Betazoids need strict discipline to control and confine to oneself. In more mature Betazoids, medical conditions such as "Zanthi fever"can occur and a breakdown of control mechanism allows empathic thought to influence surrounding people by projecting their emotions onto those in close proximity and in long duration of the condition. For even the most disciplined Betazoid, the ability to feel what thousands of people are feeling can be too much, and a mental block must be firmly placed between the Betazoid and the outside sources.

Betazoid society tends toward more formal and elaborate traditions and ceremonies than most cultures in their present evolutionary stage.  Some of the rites often make the more conservative Federation offworlder uneasy at first, most notably the traditional wedding ceremony in which no clothing is to be worn. Though there are no official gender-based restrictions in place within Betazoid society, women have traditionally held many positions of authority.  "Imzadi", the proper Betazoid wedding is rich with symbolism. It is customary that all people, guests and participants, attend the ceremony nude, to symbolize that, physically and spiritually, there is nothing to hide, that all are sharing in complete cooperation in the spirit of harmony and unity. The ceremony itself is also rich in symbolism. The groom walks in, followed by his mother, who pulls on his arm, trying to stop him. The groom keeps walking, and his father steps into his path, holding up a hand in a signal for the groom to stop. The groom gently but firmly pushes his father out of the way and walks to the front of the room. At this point, the bride's parents enter, the bride's mother sobbing loudly. The bride sits in the front row. A woman who is equivalent to a maid-of-honor enters and walks up to the bride, saying "I summon you to the place of marriage." She then escorts the bride to the side of the groom and the ceremony proceeds. The bride wears a white band in her hair, which she tosses over her shoulder to a crowd of waiting women, much like the Terran tradition of tossing the bridal bouquet. To the woman that catches the band, it means that the love of her life is at the gathering.

Many Betazoids find occupation in the Federation as counsellors and captains aids aboard starships.  Many are part of Starfleet as their telepathic abilities are used for the Federations benefit.
A Federation member, Betazed has enjoyed a relatively untroubled history for the last few centuries.  This peaceful existence came to a halt in 2374, when the Dominion invaded and occupied the planet.  Little was known of how the planet was faring under the rule of the Founders.  Since the end of the war Betazed has been returned to Federation control.

 

 

SPECIES: TRILL

Trill is a member of the Federation and is a Alpha quadrant world.  The Trill are humanoid in appearance, with a series of brown spots that start at the temples and work downward along the side of the Trill's body.
Some Trill have a slug-like creature called a "symbiont" implanted in their abdomen.  The Trill consider it a great honor to be joined with these creatures but very few Trill are considered "compatible" for such joining.

When a humanoid Trill (called a "host") is joind with a symbiont, the two beings function as one in all respects. Humanoid trills without a symbiont are basically identical to humans except for the spots.  The symbiont lives for about 500 years and during these years is joined with many hosts as the symbiont far outlives a humanoid Trill.  The symbiont retains the personality, memories, and skills of all its previous hosts and these traits are passed on to any future host it
may join with.

A symbiont will die within twelve hours if seperated from its host, unless it is returned to its natural environment on the Trill homeworld (a silty, subterranean pool).  The host usually dies within a few days and welcomes death as the emotional trauma of being seperated is usually too much for the humanoid host to bear.

Today, the joining of a symbiont with a host is managed by a group of sages called "The Symbiosis Commission," a branch of the Trill government.  Many trill never receive a symbiont as they are not considered "compatible", and many symbionts spend their lives in the silt pools underground.  The joining of a host and symbiont usually occurs during the early adulthood of the humanoid host, though it could occur at any time after the host reaches physical maturity.

Trills are one of the very few joined species known in the alpha quadrant. Two separate intelligent species have evolved on the Trill homeworld - the hosts are a humanoid species who have two distinct races. The first, or alpha race, comprises approximately 10% of the Trill population; they are distinguishable by their pronounced foreheads, but in most respects their physiology is similar to that of the beta race who comprise the remaining 90% of the population. These are easily identifiable by a pattern of skin markings which extend from the forehead down the side of the face and all the way down the body. These spots move and change gradually over time, although they remain in the same region of the body. Both of these races are known as the Trill Hosts.
The second species is known as the Symbionts. These are relatively small, sluglike creatures who live underwater for most of their life. The Symbiots are extremely long lived and very intelligent, but lack any kind of limbs or tool-using ability.

Some thousands of years ago the Trill began living as a joined species - the Hosts developed the ability to physically join with the Symbionts, linking their nervous systems together. The effects of this are different between the two races of Host; with the alphas the Symbiot totally submerges the Hosts personality upon joining, essentially using the body as a home for its own mind. Alphas tend to be less physically robust than betas; for example, many alphas are extremely sensitive to the energy processes involved in transporters, and using this technology would cause fatal damage to the Symbiont. For this reason betas are the preferred recipients in the joinings.
Betas also have some difficulties due to the joining process. Betas become physically dependant on the Host within 93 hours of the joining; after this period, removing the Symbiont is fatal to the Host. After a joining the mind of a beta is not submerged by the Host; the two separate minds merge, forming a new personality who is a combination of both the Host and Symbiont. This can cause severe psychological problems if the two minds are incompatible, resulting in rejection of the Host after only a few days - a rejection which often causes the death of the Host. Only one in every few thousand Hosts are suitable to be joined, and these must go through an exhaustive series of tests and training in order to qualify.
After the death of the Hosts the Symbiont is removed and placed into a new Host, carrying into the new joining all the personality and memories of the old. Many Symbionts have lived in this manner for centuries, accumulating experiences from many different lifetimes.

SPECIES: DELTAN

Delta IV is located in the star system Delta Triciatu and its indigenous name is Seyalia.  This Federation member world, Delta IV is the home world of the Deltans.  It is located in the Alpha Quadrant.  It is the 4th planet of 8 and has two moons: Seyann and Cinera.  It is a class M world with a slightly thinner atmosphere than Earth's.

All Deltans have a totally bald head, but do have eyebrows. Deltans are also highly developed sexually, so much so that it is said that a normal Terran would be unable to survive a sexual experience with a Deltan. All Deltans wishing to join the Federation on mixed crew ships must take an Oath of Celibacy.  This is meant to prevent any unfortunate incidents while on board any Starship. As well as being highly developed sexually, they are also highly developed socially.

Deltans tend to be open and gregarious by nature, and tend to be Sensualists.  This can also account for their proclivity towards consensus and cooperation and being team players. They make excellent teachers, athletes, scientists, engineers, Counselors, Helm/Navigation officers, and system specialists.  Due to their overall good nature, they will wish to avoid conflicts unless they see them in a constructive sense. Deltans can and will defend themselves excellently with either bare hands or weapons. They enjoy most sporting forms of combat, but do not make good Security officers.
Deltans generally live in group/line families and are intimately attuned to each other and the psychological whole. This leads to having an empathic dependency, so that Deltans serving on a mixed crew ship always want at least one other Deltan on board.  If this number is larger, they prefer to be quartered together, commonly in modified quarters either connected or communal in nature.

Deltans also have a pheromone control system in their bodies which allows them to produce pheromonal chemicals naturally. It is assumed that this system is used during normal courtship rituals between Deltans, but they can also control other pheromones besides the erotic enhancing ones.  Among the pheromonal abilities of a trained Deltan is
 the ability to produce a pheromonal chemical which seems to reduce pain in most humanoid races. Deltans  generally produce the pheromone associated with sexual arousal on a day-to-day basis. They are usually considered very attractive physically as well.  This makes for bad psychological effects on other species.
 Deltans serving with mixed race crews often  chemically alter their pheromones with a special chemical application.

SPECIES: MEDUSAN

Medusans are a species of highly intelligent noncorporeal beings.  Federation members, whose sensory systems differ radically from humanoid sensory systems, which makes the Medusans particularly well suited for space travel, they are excellent navigational officers. While noncorporeal, Medusans still have a physical form, which when viewed by humanoids, is said to be so ugly, that it will cause madness unless that humanoid has the protection of a visor. In contrast, for those with telepathic capabilities, the Medusan mind is said to be remarkably beautiful.

SPECIES: MEGARITE