Orion

The Orions are a race of green-skinned humanoids, most of which live outside of Federation space. They were once a proud civilization, but it has since collapsed. Many Orions live outside the law, and their criminal organization known as the Orion Syndicate is renowned for its activities. The Orion homeworld has been lost to time and memory, however, the primary world that they currently occupy is Rigel IV - which has been a major trading center for eons.

Rigel IV

Culture

The Orions are at their core hedonistic businessmen. The rich and powerful are constantly seeking out the finer things in life and looking to find a better deal. They tend to be roguish and brash.

The Orions have established a patriarchal culture. Most males have harems of women (called the lodubyaln), and the larger the harem, the more status and power a male has.

Although from a patriarchal society, Orion women are often cunning and intelligent, and those that have made their way out of the harems are not to be trifled with. Many of these 'free' women have yet to be Tamed (see below), and are spirited and headstrong. Many can be found either running a male's harem, or even the businesses of their own. Many are more ruthless than even the men.

The Orion view of slavery is fairly unique among other intelligent species. While most species would recoil at being slaves, many Orions are perfectly happy to serve in that position. Many are born and bred into servitude, and are in fact proud of their service, and are fiercely loyal. They are trained in the arts of service and pleasure, and many derive their own pleasure from pleasing others. Freedom is an alien concept to most of them that they just cannot wrap their minds around.

Some Orions have conglomerated their power into what is now known as the Orion Syndicate. They are a shadowy organization of dangerous gangsters made up of a wide variety of species. Starfleet Intelligence has had difficulty infiltrating the syndicate. You would be hard-pressed to even see an Orion among their ranks, and many believe that the syndicate has adopted the Orion name just to make the ancient species a scapegoat.

History

The Orions were a people barely out of their neolithic period when they were conquered by an unknown alien civilization. From approximately 40,000 years ago until 20,000 years ago, they were a labor, servitor and warrior species who served more powerful star-faring empires such as the T'kon and the Sugg. Over time, the Rigel system was conquered and reconquered. Many races congregated there, but over time, well over half the population became distinctly Orion.

The Orions figured out that through loyal and honest service, they would receive more education and alien technology from their masters. Over that period, they slowly pulled themselves out of the perception that they were a barbarian race.

Approximately 20,000 years ago, what is known as the Orion Dawn occurred. Having built up the trust of their masters, groups of Orions seized two starships, the Fate and the Revenge. These they secreted away at hidden Orion bases, where over the next two or three decades they seized other ships in order to secretly build up an Orion fleet. During this period they began to tear apart the technology to learn how it worked. Piracy began to run rampant as Orion ships attacked traders. The Orions began to build their own ships.

When the patron races discovered their treachery, they were incensed, and several neighboring worlds banded together to put a stop to a slave-race possessing the ultimate in transportation.  At first, it was heavy-handed trade dealings and backstabbing, but eventually led to a full-blown war. Having fought the wars of their masters for so long, they were well versed in combat and were able to retain control of Rigel and several outlying colonies before peace was declared a half-century later. The Orions were in space to stay.

As the Orions began to build up their civilization and conquer other Orion tribes, they fell into the habits of their old masters and began to operate a profitable slave trade. Orion slaves were still held in high value, especially to those races that the Orions defeated. Despite the treachery of their species, Orion slaves were hard-working and generally loyal to their masters.

Over the next 8,000 years, the Orion civilization grew. They began to stop perceiving themselves as the servants and claimed the role of masters, and set out to conquer the galaxy with trade and business - and what could not be traded could be stolen. At its height, the Orion Colonies spanned well over five hundred worlds and trillions of people. The Botchok Planetary Congress was established (the loose governmental structure of the Orion civilization) and the Orions and their trading partners enjoyed unprecedented luxury. Orion culture spanned an arm of the Beta Quadrant across what is now Romulan, Klingon and Federation territories. They established colonies on almost every world halfway between Rigel and Terra - not to enslave the people but rather to make new business partners out of them.  They established trade routes across the quadrant, some of which are still in use today.

The magnitude of the cultural richness is unimaginable today. Artisans and craftsmen began to make elaborate and grand designs as they tried to outdo one another. Music, art and dance enjoyed an explosion of talent, and education and literacy among Orions moved to greater heights.

However, it was not to remain so - what took 8,000 years to build collapsed in a short 300. A period known as the Reverse took place, and Orion power began to slip. They had expanded too far. Resources began to thin. Piracy, from within and without, was rampant. Trade began to wither, and maintaining the colonies became unprofitable. This time was so turbulent that there are very few records remaining from this time. Piracy had grown to an all-time high, and the Orions turned inward on themselves. They soon abandoned their outlying colonies and withdrew inward as their civilization collapsed, shrinking their once-proud civilization to a mere dozen worlds, which had become relatively resource-poor through their many years of aggressive expansion and over-production. The BPC lost what little power it had and Orion corporations and rich families came into their own.

The Romulans were the first modern power to encounter the Orions, but after a few years of raiding them, they realized their resources were better spent elsewhere. The Klingons were next, and they subjugated many of the outlying colonies that were still struggling for survival. The Orions knew that their navy was no match for the Klingons, so they welcomed them and began to trade with them, and even allowed them to place a Klingon governor on Rigel IV. They paid their tribute on time, which allowed them to stay out of conflict with the Klingons. When the border wars between the Klingons and Romulans began to come to a head, the Klingons withdrew their resources.

The Orions met Tellarites next, and from them heard of the newly forming alliance of worlds spinward of Rigel. They attended all three Terran Conventions as interested observers and non-signatories. Soon after the foundation of the UFP, however, the differences in philosophies became obvious between them and the Orions. The Orions viewed the UFP as too inflexible, and the UFP saw the Orions as nothing short of anarchy. Minimal trade was established, but the Orion corporations were leery of the Federation. The UFP began to crack down hard on the pirates in their space, which stabilized the Rigellian system but which cut into the profits of the Orion corporations.

The Federation views the Orion's penchant for slavery as repulsive. Several decades after the foundation of the UFP, the Orions signed a non-slavery treaty. The Orions figured that if it would settle down the UFP's hostility, they'd be happy to sign a piece of paper. Once it was signed, they just went back to business as usual - just more low-key as far as the Federation was concerned. Federation patrols would stop slaver ships and find ships with papers in perfect order, with holds full of 'perfectly free' Orions that were headed toward slaver markets. After a time, Starfleet simply stopped wasting their time with these searches. The present-day relations are tenuous at best. The Federation has expanded around the Orions, and while the Federation conducts no official trade with them, the Orions are content to continue to do business with whomever comes their way. Many Orions have turned 'legitimate' and engage in trade with the Federation, but even this is a shallow cover to their real operations.

The Federation often points to the Orions as a good example for the reasoning behind the Prime Directive.

Physical Characteristics

Orions are a humanoid species. They have a green cast to their skin, from pale-green to a deep emerald. Their hair tends to be naturally black or dark chestnut, but some dye their hair to different colors.

Orion females emit a pheromone that makes them irresistible to other humanoids. Females of the species tend to be willful, that is until they become pregnant. During pregnancy, hormonal urges drive them to a nesting instinct. Once they have selected their mate (which is not necessarily the father of their child) and coupled with him, they become more docile and passive. It is for this reason that when their women reach puberty, most Orion slavers have the young women impregnated (either by themselves or from a select stock of 'studs' kept for this purpose). This would create a whole new generation of slaves, and make the women more appealing as slaves. The Orions call this the Taming. Even after being Tamed, the Orion women still emit the pheromone. A rare condition among Orion women is a hyperactive pheromone condition where the emitted pheromones double or even triple. These women are highly prized by Orions.

Orion Pheromones can be suppressed with a chemical called ciliscobasin.

Names

Family Names:  Only males have family names. Evanginor, Kirosa, Amador, Shalivan, Corisinar

Male Names: Minos, Herad, Mortan, Dreyan

Female Names: Bela, Casya, Kyla, Omish, Drette 

Proverbs

"Control is power."

"An enemy can easily become a slave, but a slave can easily become a master."

"Green is the color of pleasure."

"Naked ambition is its own reward, and its own punishment."

"Take what you can own and own what you can take."