DS9 Stories/News: Bajoran Life Part (4)

Bajorans are a humanoid race from the planet Bajor. Bajorans are a very spiritual people, and their history has produced many great architects, artists, builders and philosophers.

Bajoran civilization has existed for over a half-million years. A contemplative and spiritual people, the early Bajorans saw little need in reaching to the stars. It is known, however, that the Bajoran people held limited interstellar abilities via primitive solar sail space craft.

Site: http://www.ussgalaxy.net/database/species/members/bajoran.htm

Bajoran culture declined greatly during the Cardassian Occupation, from 2328 to 2369 (was formally annexed in 2339), during which time the Cardassian Union dominated the Bajoran people. 10 million Bajorans were killed, but despite the brutality of the government implemented massacres, freedom fighters in the mountains of Bajor never ceased their struggle for independence. The Cardassians made heavy use of forced labor camps and attempted to strip the Bajorans of their cultural identity. Cardassian strip mining of Bajor lead to planet-wide ecological devastation. It was the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor that forced the Bajoran people to throw off their strict caste based culture and actively fight against their oppressors. They have only recently been allowed to rebuild their culture.

The Bajoran people successfully repelled the Cardassians from their world in 2369 and a provisional government was established. The United Federation of Planets was called upon to provide assistance during this time of chaos and turbulence. The Federation assumed control of the abandoned Cardassian mining station Terok Nor (which the Federation renamed Deep Space Nine) and acted as a deterrent to future Cardassian reprisals against the Bajoran people.

The discovery of the Bajoran wormhole (which the Bajorans called the “Celestial Temple”) made Bajor a site of scientific importance. Later, Bajor became a strategically important location when the Dominion began their invasion of the Alpha Quadrant.

Bajorans developed an intolerance of Cardassians due to the recent Cardassian occupation of Bajor. The Bajoran sense of spirituality is so strong that they have developed a very strong will due to their faith. Most Bajorans have studied their religion fairly extensively. Also, most Bajorans with a highly-developed faith are also devoted to the rebuilding of their world.

Bajor

The entire planet, or at least its largest continent, is known by geographic areas such as the Northwestern District, Northeastern District, etc. Those in turn, are divided into provinces such as Tozhat, Dahkur and Hedrickspool, each having its own administrative centre and council of Vedeks but both as subservient to the Capitol. The planet is larger than Terra and so its gravity is about 1.4g. A classical model of a Class M system, the planet has a number of large oceans breaking up the land mass, the water is said by many to be unusually green, probably due to a high concentration of microscopic plant life. The weather on Bajor is tropical over most of the planet, with periods of storms during certain seasons of the year. There are a number of desert areas, although most of the barren wasteland left by Cardassian mining has been reclaimed.

A massive system of aqueducts over the land mass provides both irrigation and an established transit system. Transport centres in major urban settlements often combine water and air transport, to the amusement of many off-world visitors.

The Capitol City is the center of Government, Military and Religion on Bajor. Most of the other settlements have now been fully rebuilt after the destruction of the Cardassian Withdrawal. There are few other large cities as Bajorans prefer small communities to large Urban sprawl.

DS9 Stories/News: Deep Space Nine Races – The Dominion (1)

http://www.freewebs.com/gostartrek/dominion.htm

Facts: 

The Dominion have torpedoes that go through Federation shields.

Motto:

We live to serve the founders

History:

The Dominion attempted to take over the Alpha Quadrant, sending its fleet through the Bajoran Wormhole from the Gamma Quadrant.

However their plan failed as the Federation and its allies soon beat the Dominion and Cardassians.

Ships

 Notes: The Jem’Hadar battlecruiser is the Dominion’s large capital ship, similar in size to a Galaxy class starship, used for fleet engagements and a command ship for high ranking Vorta. Able to inflict major damage on enemies, several Starfleet ships would be required to take a battlecruiser down.

Notes: The Jem’Hadar attack ship is a small agile fighter, manned by a crew of a dozen Jem’Hadar soldiers and a Vorta commander, normally found operating in small hunter packs. Like all Dominion warships, the main weapons of the attack ship are phased polaron beams. When the Federation first encountered the Dominion, these beams were able to penetrate the shielding of Starfleet ships leaving them defenseless. The initial engagement with three attack ship resulted in the loss of the U.S.S. Odyssey, a Galaxy class starship, with all hands on board. Before the start of the Dominion War, Starfleet was able to salvage a crashed attack ship which allowed defenses to be developed against Dominion weaponry. Following their unquestioning loyalty to the Founders, Dominion attack ships will not withdraw from combat and have also shown the obedience to use their ship as a weapon by ramming large slow enemy cruisers.

Notes: The Jem’Hadar battleship was an experimental prototype warship built in the Alpha quadrant for the Dominion conquest. The battleship is twice the size of Galaxy class starship with more powerful weapons then any Starfleet, Klingon, or Romulan starship. The U.S.S. Valiant was destroyed by the prototype on an ill-conceived attack, as a result little is known about the true capabilities of the battleship.

Notes: Little is known about the Breen cruiser. Before the war what little information Starfleet had, reported that the Breen used organic technology in their ships. After the Breen joined the Dominion, Starfleet quickly discovered that the Breen possessed energy draining weapons that leave vessels dead in space. No defense was available until a Jem’Hadar attack ship was stolen which was being outfitted with the Breen energy weapon. Though possessing a terrifying weapon the Breen cruiser’s defenses are not any stronger then the average Dominion ship, easily destroyed by quantum torpedoes.

DS9 Stories/News: Legends of the Ferengi Review

Legends of the Ferengi

Rating: Legends of the Ferengi by Quark, as told to Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe, A Star Trek novel has been rated 4/5 by this<br />
reviewer.” border=”0″ /></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style= Series: Deep Space 9
Author: Quark, as told to Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Published: August, 1997
Review by: CL6 Kali D’or

Found this one in a used book store and couldn’t help myself. The premise of the book is that Quark tells stories based on the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. It is done totally tongue-in-cheek and is a great laugh of a book. I have yet to read the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition which Quark wrote some time ago, but it has to be as good as this one.

..

All 285 Rules are not included, the book would be too long and cumbersome, but Quark has taken some of his favorites and explained the who and how and why they came into being through tale tales, old stories, family fables, lies and other devious means to get his/their point across.

Some examples:

Rule #31: “Never insult a Ferengi’s mother….insult something he cares about instead.” A good insult is a thing of beauty, a work of art that endures long after it’s crafting. Not bad, and the attached list of the 10 Most Famous Insults in Ferengi history are a hoot.

Rule #104: “Faith moves mountains…of inventory.” This has a clever little folk tale attached, about one of the really old guys, Grand Nagus Gint, who died of a tooth sharpening accident. But a clever Ferengi, Yost, came up with a plan to liven up the mourning citizenry with figurines of the Nagus and marketing was born.

Rule #177: “Know your enemies….but do business with them always.” Another short little ditty about the Tholians, silk, bog moss and how things really work. According to Quark.

Rule #94: “Females and finances don’t mix.” Funny picture, reputed to be an old cave drawing, showing a female Ferengi with bags of “profit” while all around her, the men are dead. This stuff is just too funny.

This is not a big book – just a small paperbound one, only 157 pages long. It’s the kind of book you might keep in the bathroom, for a quick page or two every day? Or next to your computer – read a rule while something downloads. It’s up to you. I found the writing to be very clever, totally in keeping with the character. There are pictures of all our favorite Ferengi cast members, and their “victims” to entertain as well. And references into the history and culture of the Ferengi that we didn’t know before, and may well not really have wanted to find out. Thank you for sharing, Quark!

 

DS9 News & Stories: Founders of the Dominion

Site: http://lcars.frontierfleet.net/core/Founders

Quadrant: Gamma Quadrant

Physiology:

The Female Founder

The Female Founder

In their natural form, the Founders exist as a gelatinous liquid and can unite is what is described as the Great Link which they can leave and reform into any any shape whenever possible.

Their ability to shapeshift is so complete that a founder in the guise of another species is virtually undetectable even with scanning equipment. However, should a piece of the Founder’s body be separated from the main body mass, the separated piece reverts to a gelatinous state. The Founders also revert to a gelatinous state upon death.

Starfleet phasers set to a force of 3.5 are sufficient to force a Founder to revert to a gelatinous state.

Dr. Ethan Locken theorized that the Founders were once solids, but their current state was achieved through the same genetic engineering used to create the Jem’Hadar and the Vorta.

History:

The Founder's Gelatinous State

The Founder’s Gelatinous State

The Founders created the Dominion. Some Dominion subjects believe they are a myth. The Founder’s homeworld is a sunless Class-M planet located in the Omarion Nebula.

Long ago, the Founders explored the galaxy, but were persecuted by non-shapeshifters. This persecution fueled their all-powerful drive to control the chaos around them. Beginning some 2,000 years ago, they sought to maintain order out of this chaos with a rule based on strict obedience, enforced by the Jem’Hadar troops they genetically bred into chemical addiction for control, and administered by the cloned Vorta both of whom worship the Founders as gods.

The Founders did not lose their curiosity about the universe. They sent a hundred infant members of their race across the galaxy, implanting in each a powerful desire to return home, so that the Founders could learn of distant places. Odo was one of these infants.

Odo & The Female Founder linking

Odo & The Female Founder linking

Until Odo’s torn loyalties led him to defend the U.S.S Defiant by accidentally killing a Changeling spy in 2371, no Founder had ever harmed another due to their strong link with all other members of their species.

In 2371, the Romulan Tal Shiar and Cardassian Obsidian Order launched a massive attack against the Founder’s Homeworld, bombarding the planet with a fleet of 20 starships. The Founders had learned of the plan, and staged an ambush, by evacuating the planet, and placing a fleet of 150 Jem’Hadar ships nearby to destroy the invading fleet. Both organizations were decimated by the Jem’Hadar.

The Founders also tried to initiate a war between the Federation and the Tzenkethi.

Sometime before 2373, the Founders replaced Klingon General Martok in hopes the Dominion could gain control over the Klingon Empire. The Founders then led Odo to believe that Gowron, not Martok, had been replaced by a changeling. However, the truth was discovered, and the original Martok was eventually rescued.

In 2373, The Founders entered into an alliance with the Cardassian Union, giving the Dominion a significant foothold in the Alpha Quadrant. The agreement resulted in a reinstatement of the Khitomer Accords.

Cardassians, members of the Dominion

Cardassians, members of the Dominion

New Info:

Founders have to return to their natural state every 18 hours to regenerate. (DS9: A Man Alone)

Founders do not eat. (DS9: The Forsaken)

Contributed by: Clare Bradley

DS9 Stories/News: Some ‘Deep’ Talk with Alexander Siddig (3)

Cont.

Cairo Time

Jordan Hoffman: So let’s talk about the new movie Cairo Time, which I think is the first time you’ve played a romantic lead, is that correct?

Alexander Siddig: It is indeed, it is. Since I was at school, that’s the first time I’ve played a romantic.

Jordan Hoffman: How much fun is it to woo the hearts of audiences like that? To lay on the charm thick for the sake of the audience?

Alexander Siddig: It’s pretty great. It wasn’t so much, I have to confess I wasn’t really thinking of the audience when I was in Cairo but I – to gaze into that lady’s eyes [Patricia Clarkson] is quite thrilling.

Jordan Hoffman: Your character sort of welcomes this woman into the Egyptian culture and the city of Cairo; how much familiarity did you have with Cairo prior to making the film?

Alexander Siddig: Well, you know it’s one of the places that’s sort of been in my reference library all my life in the sense that I was born in the Sudan which is the neighboring country and up until – I mean forever we’ve had a treaty with Egypt and immigrants come and go; my whole family lived in Cairo for years. And so it was a familiar place and I’d been there in the 80’s as a kid really, so I knew my way around and I felt very comfortable and relaxed there. So it was easy to make the little leap from a Sudanese man to and Egyptian man which I had no problem doing.

Jordan Hoffman: So you didn’t have to think it too much.

Alexander Siddig: No, I really didn’t. It’s a really honest city for all its evils. It can be quite filthy – that’s not exactly an evil is it by world standards. But it lays itself out to you as a tourist. London for example, is an impossible city. You need to know people in London to find out where things are and what’s going on and you can’t make friends here unless you were kind of born here. So, Cairo is much more friendly and available to people.

Jordan Hoffman: So when you were shooting this film, it was a Canadian production, but it’s still a large western production and there isn’t too much of that on the streets of Cairo. How were you treated by the general population?

Alexander Siddig: They were completely puzzled by us. They were like, ‘what the Hell is that?’ they just couldn’t quite make out what weirdness we were doing. This was bigger than an ordinary video camera, we weren’t just saying hi in front of a landmark we were doing scenes, so when they could they would sort of jostle into the frame to get involved. Which was fine on some levels, but as soon as they started looking into the camera and stuff it was a total nightmare.

Jordan Hoffman: So that shot of nearly getting hit by a motorcycle, was that actual?

Alexander Siddig: We really did – well it was a stunt, but the interesting thing was that the stunt guy had never done a stunt in his life – was not a stunt man. He literally tried to run her over. And I must have buried my nails deep into her arm to get her out of the way she was absolutely – she was shaking afterwards. She wasn’t used to that.

Jordan Hoffman: Was it all Egyptian crew? Or was it Canadian crew?

Alexander Siddig: It was a beautiful mix actually. It was a whole jumble of different people. The Egyptians were brilliant, I mean really brilliant; and kind of cool and cosmopolitan and wanted to take us all out to cool places to hang out in the evenings. Egyptians – thank God you know Cairo is not a dry city and is not massively fundamentalist.  It’s got fundamentalist aspects, but you can still have a really swingin’ time.

Bashir and O’Brien

Jordan Hoffman: Who from the old days that you don’t get to see do you like to hang out with the most at conventions?

Alexander Siddig: You know I love hanging out with Nicky deBoer.

Jordan Hoffman: I see.

Alexander Siddig:  She is just hilarious; great, great girl. And um if I see Colm Meaney we’ll have a drink and bitch at each other. That’s all we do. I realize looking back at my history with him, I went out with him twice a week every week for seven years – drinking. Boy, he can pack em away.


Jordan Hoffman: I would imagine.

Alexander Siddig:  And all we did was fight. And I guess that’s what they did on the show too. But we fought in real life all the time. He would set me up, he’d take me to Irish bars where they hated English people. I would think they were being racist about the fact that I’m black and they weren’t. The just hated the English people, they would just hear my accent and they’d – and he just laughed his head off.

Jordan Hoffman: Did you ever actually play darts, though, is the real question.

Alexander Siddig:  No. No. That would be very weird.

Jordan Hoffman: There needs to be a separation between art and life.

Alexander Siddig:  Yes, because that was the only separation, the dart game.