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Guest Laarell

Orion Cultural Analysis - 2156

Orion Cultural Analysis - 2156

Compiled by Lt. Laarell Teykier - USS Excalibur-B

 

(Note: This is written from a 24th Century perspective, looking back at the Orion culture in the Challenger era. Most of the information presented would not be known by your characters. Please use for OOC reference only.)

 

Homeworld: Orion (Taarallan)

Race: Orions

Affiliation: Orion Syndicate

Landmass: 62%

Population: 3.9 billion

Land Area: 719 527 000 km

Climate: Mid-tropical.

Technology: Warp capable. Depending on the precise type of technology, equal to or less than Starfleet.

Orbiting Star: Zeta Orioniis (Class F-star, 1.9)

 

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SOLAR SYSTEM:

 

Man'drin - B-class (Geomorteus)

Aldana - G-class (Geocrystalline)

Balvani - K-class (Adaptable)

Taarallan (Orion) - M-class (Terrestrial)

Jivanha - (J-class (Gas Giant)

Er'ihn - I-class (Gas Supergiant)

 

Planetary Description:

 

The homeworld of the Orion people, called Taarallan by its inhabitants, is the fourth planet orbitting the star Zeta Orioniis. The planet has three natural satellites, Tareb, Marivash, and Lento. Tareb, Class-O (Pelagic), is covered entirely in salt water. Marivash is a lush, tropical M-class planetoid, and Lento an ironis similar to Earth's Luna, having no atmosphere.

 

Taarallan is a very temperate world, having no ice caps at the poles and a lush natural ecosystem throughout . Had the reigning political forces seen fit, a profitable tourist resort industry could have been established.

 

Due to the planet's climate, only two distinguishable seasons exist, har, comparable to a rainy fall and winter, and shor, comparable to summer and winter. Har and shor are both then segregated into sixteen divisions.

 

PLANET GEOGRAPHY:

Continents: 4 (Famaara, Dengrolla, Nonevella, Vienha)

 

FACTS:

 

Famaara: The largest continent on Taarallan. Comprising much of the southern part of the globe, Famaara is of a varied climate, ranging from humid and cool at the southern pole to rainforest conditions at the equator. The northern coastal regions are home to the greatest cities on Taarallan, including the ruling district of Tantarrallan.

 

Dengrola: Second largest continent on Taarallan. The coolest of the contients, Dengrola is characterized by grasslands and plains similar to the midwest of North America, Earth.

 

Nonevella: A veritable paradise, Nonevella has the highest population on the entire planet. The coastline is completely developed, and the once-lush rainforest has been completely industrialized. Along with some of the richest Orions owning beachfront property, the poorest workers also live in the urban areas of Nonevella.

 

Vienha: The smallest of the continents, located just north of Famaara. Vienha is thought to have been once part of Famaara before the continents split. Coniferous trees are the primary vegetation on Vienha, as well as swamp-dwelling low plants.

 

The Orion People

 

Physiology: A bipedal, humanoid species, Orions have skin color ranging from pale to very dark green, with a rare few bearing pigment mutations in other hues. Mature Orion males rarely stand less than 6'2'', and may be up to eight feet in height. Orion females also have a wide range of height, ranging from 5'0'' up to 6'3''. Weight is proportionate with the size of the individual, though obesity is more common among males than females. Additionally, most Orion males are very bulky in stature.

 

Sensory perception is comparable to humans, though Orions have better vision and weaker hearing than their human counterparts.

 

Orions have four fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand, though all Orions are double-jointed. Orion females often file their fingernails to sharp points as a weapon, though many slaves are forbidden to and the aristocracy considers it distasteful.

 

Female Orions produce a powerful pheromone which is believed to have developed as a 'defense' mechanism after slavery became more widespread. Causing headaches in many humanoid females around them, the pheromones act to rid Orion females of their 'competition' when vying for power or status. Additionally, the pheromones cause a reaction in males which makes Orions irresistible. The pheromones also ultimately lead to delusional behavior in human males. Vulcans are immune to the effects of Orion pheromones, while they throw off the sleep cycles of Denobulan males.

 

The aristocracy favored a primarily carnivorous diet, with the opposite end of the social scale subsisting on a vegetarian diet.

 

Orions have virtually no psi abilities, though a rare few have powers roughly analogous to low ESP ratings among other humanoids.

 

While the natural lifespan is 85-130 years, most Orions live a considerably shorter life.

 

Language: For outside ears, the Orion languages sounds like a blend of the Earth languages Sanskrit, Arabic, and Afrikaans. The grammar is relatively complex, with twelve noun declensions and over a score of conjugations. Most Orions use translators or learn the languages of their trading partners.

 

Orion Society

 

History:

 

Before contact with extra-Orion life was made, the Orion people had a civilization dominated by the arts and sciences. Those on the continent of Vienha were renowned for their high level of culture, and the people were known for their compassionate, evolved beliefs.

 

The Orions began their space exploration at about the same technological level that humans did, first visiting their satellite of Lento as a precursor to operating a slave camp, since at the time slavery was still something of a taboo.

 

When the Rigelians made first contact with the Orions, they made the mistake of landing in one of the coarsest areas on the continent of Nonevella. The rugged industrial workers killed and reverse-engineered the technology the Rigelians brought. When a small Rigelian task force was dispatched seven months later to find out where their diplomatic envoy to the planet had disappeared to, they were shocked to find an fleet of Rigelian-design vessels created from Orion raw materials.

 

Within three centuries, the Orion people were enslaved under the Nonevellan Coalition, the organization that would eventually evolve into the Syndicate.

 

Power struggles amongst the various leaders were common in the later part of the 2150s. Many lesser warlords were drawn into the struggles of the women vying for total power. The Coalition's tighter controls on trade only worsened the situation in the Syndicate.

 

Society:

 

The Orion Syndicate dominated all areas of life in the 2150s. From the housing, to the medical facilities, to the businesses on the homeworld, to the trade and piracy for which it was feared, the Syndicate was the sole governing force until the early part of the 24th Century, when a return to the monarchy was established along with the diplomatically correct Orion Free Trade Commission.

 

Slavery was and still is a fact of life, considered morally correct because of the Orion religious beliefs. Many well-off Orions had scores of slaves in their estates with no compunctions about the fact.

 

Few criminal acts were actually considered punishable. The Syndicate allowed most of those it favored to run rough-shod over those under their power. Petty squabbles for that power were frequent, and most Orion officials were killed within their first year of 'service'.

 

Religion

 

It is quite possible that the Orion people have one of the most complex systems of religious beliefs known. The pantheon comprises tens upon thousands of deities, spirits, immortals, heroes, and the like. Orion children can name every god in the religion, and most Orions frown upon those of their kind who reject the teaching of the priests and prophets.

 

Depending on the political climate at the time, Orion beliefs adjusted themselves to allow for large changes in their society, such as extra-Orion life, slavery, and how 'correct' an act is considered.

 

Religious beliefs are essential to the Orion psyche, but have little bearing on the actions of believers. Simply put, any action that benefits an individual is considered morally correct, because there will be at least one deity that will smile upon the action. For example, even if an entire continent was enslaved to make a single person's life easier, that person did benefit, and one of the many goddesses of slavery would consider that act acceptable. Only those who do 'evil for evil's sake' would be sent to the Orion equivalent of hell, Maar.

 

The Orion deities are subdivided by what they provide patronage to, such as nature, emotions, acts, and conditions. Respectively, an example of each would be the kal tree goddess, one of the thousands of love gods, the god of pirating weapons, and the Mother of Poverty.

 

While certainly not all slaves feel this way, many consider their places as property to be almost a sacred calling, and because of this are very offended by being referred to in ways other than 'property', 'slave', or 'servant'.

 

Were one incredibly devout, rituals and celebrations would be performed with no break, due to the incredible numbers of ceremonies performed in honor of the deities. However, some of the more widely celebrated holidays include:

 

Jumageraj

Feast of the Three Moons

 

Celebrating the one time each year the three moons are visibly lit together in the Taarallan sky.

 

Marivashkan

The Feast of the Landing

 

Celebrating the first of the well-publicized extraplanetary landings on Lento, Marivashkan brought the Orion people together for at least a few minutes as the transmissions from Lento's surface were televised.

 

Bintua

The Celebration of the Dead

 

In Bintua, gravesites are visited in commemoration of those who have died. Considered one of the most distasteful traditions by many outsiders, a huge feast is eaten off dishes made from the bones of the family's most revered dead. Ceremonially washed in blood before the feast, the tavmaldaan dishes are considered to invoke both the spirits of the dead whose bones are being eaten upon and the deities presiding over human blood lost in ritual and those of the honored dead.

 

END ANALYSIS

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I am wondering. Did you create this or did you get this from some source? If so what are you referencing as sources? I realize this is mostly non-canon but I was just curious as I'm looking to make an Orion society inside of Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com).

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Aside from a bit about the Syndicate, which is canon and came mostly from the Enterprise series, this is all of my own creation.

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