Andorians
The Andorians are an alien species that feature in Star Trek.
Contents |
History
The Andorians were a humanoid species that were native to the icy moon of Andoria. During their early history, a branch of their race diverged into telepathic subspecies known as the Aenar who retreated into the Northern Wastes where they were considered a myth told to Andorian children. (ENT: The Aenar)
Ice-cutters were used by them to navigate their homeworld with the first to circumnavigate it being the Kumari that was a name carried by future Andorian vessels. (ENT: United) Around 50 years ago, official contact with the Aenar people whose existence came to be known to the wider Andorian race. (ENT: The Aenar)
Andorians were considered a neighboring race to the Vulcans though they held a hostile relationship with them. One aspect of this was that the Andorian Imperial Guard came to believe that the Vulcans maintained a covert surveillance installation hidden underneath the monastery at P'Jem in the mid-22nd century. This saw two attempts by Andorians to aggressively force their way into the monastery to uncover the facility but discovered nothing but Vulcan monks at the site. Tensions between Andoria and Vulcan were noted for being high that could only lead to an escalation in hostilities. In 2151, another attempt was made by the Imperial Guard to investigate the P'Jem monastery with this being led by Commander Shran. At this point, the Enterprise NX-01 led by Captain Jonathan Archer of Earth's Starfleet had been visiting the monastery with his Vulcan Subcommander T'Pol. This led to the first contact between Humans and Andorians though the Imperial Guard became suspicious of the arrival as they believed this was further proof of a Vulcan covert program. Despite proclaiming no such installation, it was discovered by the Earth crew that the Vulcans had indeed been using the monastery to hide a surveillance array with this being openly shown to the Imperial Guard by T'Pol. As a result, Vulcan reputation had been severely impact as a result of this incident. (ENT: The Andorian Incident) Following the incident, the P'Jem monastery was destroyed whilst the Andorians came to believe that the Vulcans were preparing for a war against them. As such, they kept watch over Vulcan activities that included covertly observing Captain Sopek of the Ni'Var as he was the chief officer over a region of space that included Coridan. They were also involved in an in-depth operation that covertly placed operatives on the planet Coridan's whose government had allied with Vulcan but faced numerous groups that opposed them. Commander Shran was present on the planet when Captain Archer was kidnapped by a dissident movement and moved to rescue him. However, Captain Sopek accused the Andorians in breaking the Tau Ceti Accords but an attempt on the Vulcan's life by a Coridan rebel was stopped by Subcommander T'Pol thus stopping further hostilities. (ENT: Shadows of P'Jem)
Overview
Their physiology made intravenous injection impossible which forced physicians to administer medication through intramuscular injections instead. (TOS: Whom Gods Destroy) A sub-species of their kind were the Aenar who were noted to be blind but possessed telepathic abilities and they had a lighter skin tone than regular Andorians. (ENT: The Aenar)
They were considered a militaristic, suspicious and volatile species by the Vulcans. (ENT: The Andorian Incident)
Within Andorian tradition was the Ushaan that was a duel to the death where participants found with hand-held ice-cutting blades called the Ushaan-Tor. Under the rules, there was a right of substitution allowing combatants to choose another warrior to fight in their place. There were 12,000 amendments to the honor code that governed the Ushaan with one stating that either combatant was able to postpone the duel indefinitely if the participant was married and had no children to continue their clan. The fight could be settled when a combatant was rendered defenceless. (ENT: United)
The Aenar sub-species were noted for being blind ice-dwellers wo were regarded as mythical to the Andorians for most of their history and had been told as stories to their children until they were officially discovered. Their society was different from that of the Andorians as they were noted for being pacifists who did not believe in violence and were extremely secretive. Though able to read minds, they had strict laws among their people in that no one was allowed to enter the thoughts of another person without their permission. Typically, Aenar communes lacked a person of authority with them assigning a leader only when the need arose whereupon they chose one of their own to serve as Speaker. Typically, this was done so during dealings with off-worlders. (ENT: The Aenar)
Leadership of the Andorian Empire was held by a figure holding the title of Chancellor. (ENT: The Aenar)
Members of the Andorian Imperial Guard that died far from home could count on their companions to transport a part of them back to Andoria's ices. A special honour was the blood of a dead person being taken to the Wall of Heroes located on their homeworld. (ENT: United)
The phonetic patterns in certain Andorian dialects were noted to hold frequency distortions within them. (Episode: Vox Sola) Their species had a concept similar to Heaven which was where all creation sprang forth but the word in their language was not pronounceable. (TOS: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
Members
- Thy'lek Shran :
- Talas :
- Shras :
- Keval : a male Andorian soldier that was under Shran's command during the investigation of the Vulcan monastery at P'Jem in 2151. (Episode: The Andorian Incident)
- Tarah :
- Thoris :
- Lissan : a female Aenar who in 2154 served as Speaker of their commune when Starfleet sought answers about the kidnapping of one of their kind. (Episode: The Aenar)
- Jhamel :
- Gareb :
Notes
- The Andorians were created in Star Trek: The Original Series in the episode "Journey to Babel" (1968).
- Last Unicorn Games produced an Andorian sourcebook for their RPG line named Among the Clans. It stated that the three different visuals of Andorians was due to them being three different sub-races that were identified by the differences in their antennae. These subraces included the Thalassan, the Talish and the Bish'ee. Elements from the book were later incorporated into Star Trek: Enterprise namely the use of the Ushaan ritual.
Alternate Versions
- In the Mirror Universe, it was shown that the Andorians existed in this alternate reality. They were portrayed as being conquered members of the Terran Empire. Some members of their kind participated in the rebellion against the Terran Imperial Starfleet that was broken by Captain Jonathan Archer through the use of the U.S.S. Defiant. (ENT: In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II)
In other media
Video games
- In Star Trek: The Next Generation - Klingon Honor Guard, Andorians appeared in the setting of the video game. A character present was Captain Thress who commanded a freighter named the Kor-Van.
- In Star Trek: Elite Force II, Andorians appeared in the setting of the first person shooter video game.
- In Star Trek Online, Andorians appeared as playable characters in the setting of the MMORPG video game.
Appearances
- Star Trek: The Original Series: "Journey to Babel"
- Star Trek: Enterprise: "The Andorian Incident"
External Links
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