Borg Collective

Revision as of 11:21, 23 September 2017

The Borg Collective is the name of the entirety of the Borg race from Star Trek.

History

At one point, they were similar to organics where they deemed themselves as being flawed, weak and pathetic until they evolved to include the synthetic. (Movie: First Contact) For thousands of centuries, the Borg had been developing as a cybernetic merger of biological and artificial life. (Episode: Q Who)

Centuries ago, the Borg attacked the planet of the El-Aurians where they swarmed through the system and left the survivors scattered through space. (Episode: Q Who)

An official level of first contact came between the Borg Collective and the United Federation of Planets when the entity known as Q transported the USS Enterprise into the vicinty of a Borg Cube. The vessel tracked the Enterprise back to the Alpha Quadrant where it was responsible for assimilating Captain Jean-Luc Picard in order to use him as a speaker for the Collective. Using the knowledge of Picard, the Borg vessel was responsible for the disastrous Battle of Wolf 359 which brought about the destruction of numerous Starfleet vessels. The Borg Cube broke through the Terran system's defenses and arrived in orbit around Earth which would have assimilated the planet had the Enterprise crew not retrieved Picard and used his link with the Collective to destroy the Cube. (TNG: Best of Both Worlds)

On Stargate 50893.5, a single Borg Cube was dispatched with a Borg Queen on-board as part of a new attempt at assimilating Earth. Starfleet had assembled a fleet to combat the vessel but these suffered heavy casualties with the Admiral's ship being destroyed. It was only the intervention of the USS Enterprise was a coordinated assault made that destroyed the Cube but not before it launched a Sphere. The Borg Sphere travelled back in time to the year 2063 following World War III to stop First Contact with the Vulcans. The Enterprise had followed the Sphere back into the past to stop the attempted assimilation of the planet and restore the timeline. (ST: First Contact)

At some point, the Collective discovered the means of opening quantum singularities that served as an entrance into Fluidic Space which was the home dimension of Species 8472; a race that was believed to be the apex of biological evolution and that their assimilation would have greatly added to the Borg's perfection. However, this race proved to be immune to the Borg's assimilation tactics and responded violently whereupon they began invading the Delta Quadrant whereupon they began a systematic purge of Borg territory. Planets, starships and entire groups of Borg were killed during the short war. This ended when the USS Voyager made use of Borg nanoprobes as a weapon that forced Species 8472 to retreat back to their realm which ended the conflict though the Borg did not gain the necessary advantage over the extra-dimensional race. (VOY: Scorpion 1 & 2)

The Borg transwarp hub was destroyed when a version of Kathryn Janeway arrived from the future and infected the Borg Queen with a neurolytic pathogen. (VOY: Endgame)

Overview

Physiology

Borg Drones.

In appearance, Borg were a race of cybernetic lifeforms with them being referred to as a species of enhanced humanoids. (Episode: Q Who) Though not entirely organic, like other cybernetic lifeforms the Borg were unable to survive without their organic half. (Movie: First Contact)

After a species has entered into the Borg Collective, they are outfitted with a number of cybernetic components and become Drones. (VOY: Drone)

Their bodies are outfitted with numerous cybernetic components which includes a black exoplating that covers their entire body. Implants are added typically over the eyes which enhance the vision of the drone. Furthermore, their arms are removed and replaced with cybernetic prothestics which are equipped with various tools from medical equipment to engineering devices depending on the drones purpose.

Medical repair drones had servo-armature cybernetics linked to their bodies. These implants contained a range of equipment such as laser scalpel, bio-medical scanner and micro-suture all rolled into one instrument. (VOY: Dark Frontier, Part 1)

One key component was the neuroprocessor that was present in every Borg that operated as a memory chip that contained all the instructions the drone received from the Collective. (Movie: First Contact) Neutral interlink frequencies were used to link the minds of Borg drones and registered as an energy signal on the lower subspace bands with an identifiable Borg signature. (VOY: Infinite Regress)

Another important implant is the proximity transmitter which activates and serves as a homing beacon for the Collective allowing them to retrieve lost drones. (VOY: Drone) In addition, every drone possesses it's on translink signature which can allow outsiders to communicate to a specific member within the Collective. (VOY: Dark Frontier)

Regeneration

A Drone in his regeneration alcove.

When a person was assimilated at a young age, they are placed witin a maturation chamber until they reach the age of thirteen. (VOY: Collective) From that age on, the drone then makes use of an alcove which was specifically designed for the drone in question. (TNG: Q Who)

These alcoves are typicall situated in the corridors of a Borg vessel or a vessel that is being assimilated by the Collective. There are as many regeneration alcoves as there are are drones. When a newly assimilated vessel is taken by the Borg, alcoves are placed in whatever places that were available. (ST: First Contact)

If a drone was separated from the hive mind, it could be detected once again through the use of it's alcove. (VOY: Dark Frontier)

Culture

Assimilation

Assimilation tubules injecting nanoprobes into the body of a Starfleet crewman.

The process of assimilation is one of the most dread aspects of the Borg race. This is achieved through assimilation tubules located in the hands which are capable of firing two strands into a body which begin injecting Borg nanoprobes which begin a rapid process of assimilation. The process is quite evident as the persons skin begins to grow paler and mechanical components seem to be present on the body.

The first step in the assimilation process were injection tubules that emerged from the hands. These tubules were capable of penetrative any known alloy or energy field. Once inside the skin, they released a series of nanoprobes into the bloodstream. The first tissue that was attacked by the nanoprobes was the victims blood with assimilation being almost instantaneous where they took over the blood cell functions like a virus wit them bring efficient assimilators. An assimilation mechanism inside the nanoprobes was the recoding mechanism that governed it's functions. (Episode: Scorpion)

After this is accomplished, the newly assimilated organsm is taken by Drones into the Hive where cybernetic components are added onto their bodies. They do this willingly as their minds have now been subsumed into the collective with their individuality lost among the sea of the Collective. (ST: First Contact)

While the Borg regularly made use of the standard mode of assimilation, they were practicing new methods to be deployed against highly resistant species. (VOY: Dark Frontier)

Hive Mind

The central processor of a Borg Sphere

Members of the Collective were not individuals but part of a singular mind with no single leader. (Episode: Q Who)

Once a species has been assimilated, their thought processes were linked across a subspace network which forms a collective hive mind. Here there exists billions of voices that all act as one and exist in harmony with the sole intention of assimilating more species as well as seeking perfection. (VOY: Drone)

The sheer size of the collective mind is huge which was why secondary structures are present among the Borg which help regulate it. One such instrument is the Vinculum which lies at the heart of every Borg vessel which structured the hive mind by interconnecting each drone through a neural interlink frequency. (VOY: Infinite Regress)

While typically an unyielding and uncompromising entity that sought the assimilation of other races, the hive mind was capable of being reasoned with in times of danger. (VOY: Scorpion)

Natural phenomena such as powerful electrical storms could disrupt the link to the Collective. (Episode: Unity) A Borg could also experience traumatic physical damage that could cut them from the hive mind. (Episode: I Borg)

When severed, drones had secondary objectives that were listed in their command structure that governed the actions of the individual Borg over a length of time. (Episode: Survival Instinct) A Borg Queen could re-establish a severed drone's connection to the rest of the Collective though this could only happen at close proximity. (Episode: Unity)

Perfection

The ultimate goal of the Borg Collective was achieving a state of flawless perfection and sharing that with other races. The lure of such an achievement is a powerful force and has an appeal to Borg drones with no memory of their former lives. (VOY: Drone)

The Borg believed that Species 8472 were the apex of biological evolution and that their assimilation would have greatly added to the Collective's own perfection. (VOY: Scorpion)

Society

It was believed that Drones from different sub-units did not interact with one another unless they arrived to terminate a damaged Drone. (VOY: Dark Frontier) Drones that were seen as being damaged were not tolerated in the perfection of the Collective and were immediately destroyed. (VOY: Infinite Regress)

Upon establishing themselves at a site, the Borg moved to quickly create a hive that served as the central point for the Collective. (ST: First Contact) On some occasions, the Borg were known to assimilate specific individuals of a target culture and designate them as a speaker. This was an attempt at bridging the gap between the Collective and the target civilization. (TNG: Best of Both Worlds)

One of the highest authorities within the Collective was the Borg Queen. (ST: First Contact)

The Borg were stated to be utterly without mercy or compassion with the needs of the group as a whole being considered and this utilitarian calculation of unrival Borg collective society almost always overriding any other considerations. (VOY: "Scorpion")

The greatest advantage the Borg had was their ability to assimilate which meant what they could not assimilate resulted in them not being able to understand such targets. (Episode: Scorpion)

Technology

Within distribution nodes on their vessels, the Borg disseminated information such as tactical data. (Episode: Scorpion) Data nodes were used for the storage of information such as drone manifest, tactical information, long range sensor telemetry, assimilation logistics and vessel movements. (VOY: Dark Frontier, Part 1)

Interplexing Beacons were subspace transmitters that could be used by the Borg to send a message and connect to the rest of the Collective. (Movie: First Contact)

When their vessels were critically damaged then all its vital technology self-destructed thus preventing them from being used by other species. One such component that was part of their drive systems was the Transwarp Coil. (VOY: Dark Frontier, Part 1)

Members

• Locutus :
• Hugh :
• Seven of Nine :
• One :

Notes

In other media

Video games

• In Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force, the Borg featured as antagonists in the video game.
• In Star Trek: Elite Forces II, the Borg briefly featured as antagonists in the video game sequel.
• In Star Trek Command III, the Borg were a playable faction in the video game.
• In Star Trek: Armada, the Borg featured in the story of the video game and were a playable faction.
• In Star Trek: Armada II, the Borg featured in the story of the video game and were a playable faction in the sequel.
• In Star Trek Online, the Borg featured in the story of the MMORPG. It was mentioned that the Borg Collective had not been seen in a decade. However, the Collective began a wide scale invasion of known space in the year 2409.

Appearances

• Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Q Who"
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Best of Both Worlds"
• Star Trek: Voyager: "Scorpion"
• Star Trek: Voyager: "Infinite Regress"

External Link

• Memory Alpha Wiki Entry
• Memory Beta Wiki Entry

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