Back to Welcome to Star Trek Realm of the Gods
Introduction
Welcome to the section where I describe the ancient races of the Star Trek universe as a collective group, which I call the Ancient races clique. There are such a plethora of ancient races in Star Trek, which is why I choose the Star Trek franchise as the setting for this writing project. With Star Trek there is so much ancient race mythology to work with, and that makes Star Trek the ideal setting for writing about making contact with ancient races.
Information on canon ancients can be found online
I will not put already published information in this documentation. I see no purpose repeating here the materials found on websites such as Memory Alpha and its sister sites. For me, adding the information found on these sites to my writings is not only plagiarism but also reinventing the wheel.
The Federation and the ancients
The Federation’s previous relationship with the ancients
The information below pertains to any younger races relationship with the ancients prior to the Realm of the Gods project.
Before the Realm of the Gods project the relationship between the Federation and the ancients was what was seen in the Star Trek TV shows and some other Star Trek media: They had an aloof relationship. They had semi-regular encounters by being in the same area at the same time. Some of the encounters were hostile, some were friendly and some were in between [neutral].
Before the Realm of the Gods project there was no attempt at permanent diplomatic relations between the Federation and the ancients. They had the occasional diplomatic dialogue only when necessary, but nothing that lead to proper official and permanent diplomatic relations. It is like the Federation had a policy of keeping the ancients at arm’s length. In fact the Federation’s legal documentation does not even mention the ancients except for instances of times when there was direct contact with them.
Before the Realm of the Gods project there was no effort to try to get to know the ancients. The Federation did not take the time to learn about and understand the ancients they came across. The ancients have a policy that states that they do not reach out; younger races have to come to them. The ancients are not impressed by those who do not put in the effort.
The Federation had a policy of putting up no trespassing signs near areas known to be inhabited by ancient races and running away at high warp speeds from Ancient race inhabited systems; this is not unusual, all younger race governments had these types of policies of avoiding ancients for fear of taking on beings far superior to them.
As for the ancients, much of their antics in dealing with the Federation and other galactic governments was to try and provoke the younger races into starting a Realm of the Gods project. However, they have to be cryptic about it because the ancients have a policy that they cannot tell the younger races about Realm of the Gods. The younger races have to figure it out for themselves.
The Federation cannot cope with something more powerful than themselves
One of the main ideas I have with Star Trek Realm of the Gods is the idea that the Federation has to come to terms with co-existing with races and individuals more powerful than the whole Federation. One of the core concepts of Star Trek is that the Federation is the top dog, and an unbeatable top dog at that. Star Trek Realm of the Gods turns that idea on its head. Every week the crew of the USS Anracosh meets ancients races and even ancient race individuals more powerful than the Federation. How would Starfleet and the Federation handle discovering they are a small fish in a big pond? [More like an amoeba in an ocean].
Remember that the younger races are not hosting ancients in their backyard, they are playing in the backyard of the ancients. The universe is the territory of the ancients, the younger races are hanging around in it with the ancients tacit approval. [Doing nothing to stop the younger races even though the ancients could crush the younger races without any effort].
Many in the Federation would not be able to accept that the Federation is just another small galactic government to the ancients. The crew of the USS Anracosh have their own reasons to seek out the ancients and make them into allies of the Federation. This is why the greatest enemies to the USS Anracosh and its mission are found within the Federation.
The Federation has already had the precedent of encountering individuals more powerful than the Federation, in encountering the Dauwd and the Q and some of the other ancient races and ancient race individuals. However with the Dauwd [and many other ancients] it is the usual story of the Federation encountering them and forgetting they ever existed and putting a lot of effort into avoiding where they know ancients hang out. Star Trek Realm of the Gods addresses this issue. It is a follow up mission to meet and greet the ancients that evolves into a systematic establishment of diplomatic relations with ancient race governments.
About the ancients
The ancient races clique explained
The ancients are the elder races both encountered by and unknown to the Federation. I.e, the Organians, Dauwd, Q Continuum, Preservers and many others. The term “ancients” covers all sorts of ancient races, non-corporeal life forms [energy beings], immortals, god like entities and beings that qualify as a phenomena. They prefer to be called ancients as a broad term that covers the whole group.
The ancients are not politically organised. They are not allied to each other like the worlds of the Federation. There is no “grand council of the ancients.” Imagine the kind of political and military power an executive branch of government for ancient races would have, and that is precisely the reason it does not and should not exist.
If anything, the ancient races clique is little more than a social circle! There are rules in this social circle, but you can’t classify them as laws because they were not made by any kind of statutory body. All ancient races are members of the ancient races clique. There is a rule of etiquette about there being no rank in the first ones group: A Metron, an Imitari, an Organian and a Q are all considered equal to each other in the clique of the ancients. This rule is more about the fact that the ancients clique functions like a social circle. An Iconian, a Q, a Metron and a Dauwd and could all be close friends with each other.
Anyone approaching the ancients has to do so on a race by race basis. The ancients have no agenda or conspiracy or other secret mission, except for waiting for the younger races to initiate a Realm of the Gods project, and occasionally trying to provoke them into doing a Realm of the Gods project. Apart from that, their mission is to not have a mission. They simply want to live their lives and have an eternity to do it in. Some could interpret this as a lack of focus, but it is usually the case that the ancients have nothing more to prove and want to enjoy the endless time they have ahead of them, provided immortality is not driving them insane.
The ancients are not out to help or harm anyone. On the whole the sane ancients are not hostile, they will not deliberately hurt younger races or other ancients, but renegade ancients do exist and are usually dealt with by the ancient race community, with the same race as the renegade ancient in question normally taking care of the problem. To elaborate, the ancients do not want to upset the balance of the cosmos. There is no morality to this; they just don’t want to clean up a mess that they may have created in changing anything.
A border or territorial claim is meaningless to the ancients. They long ago lost the need for such things. Younger races have territories that they fiercely guard without realising that the “real estate” they possess was once the backyard of the ancient races. The reason the ancients don’t care about territory anymore is that as ascended extremely advanced races they no longer need the resources of a given territory. They may however still want to hold onto a place for sentimental reasons. For example: considering a planet as their home because they lived there when they were still creatures of flesh and blood. They will go where they to want when they want, and do not care in the slightest about anyone objecting to their travels. Complaints about ancients moving across the cosmos will be ignored. Be warned: Constant complaining about the ancients travel habits will result in some form of retaliation.
The ancient race clique has a rule about non-intervention that is similar to the Prime Directive. It is, however, a rule of etiquette as opposed to a codified law. The attitude behind this rule is different to the Federation’s reasons for having the Prime Directive. The ancients feel that if they start helping the younger races that it will never end. The younger races would eventually wind up being completely dependent on the older races and they would never stand on their own two feet. At what point would the ancients have to say “Will you please do things for yourselves?” Having said that, the ancients feel that there is no reason why the younger races and the ancients can’t co-exist. This is what the Realm of the Gods project is for, one of the phases of the project is the ancients and the younger races openly co-existing with each other. Also, if a younger race is doing a Realm of the Gods project the ancients will waive the rule about not helping. The reason being is that the longer term the younger race will join the ancient races clique and thus will not require permanent help.
The ancients do not interfere in each other’s affairs. They feel that what an ancient does is his/her/its own business. For example, Bajor’s Wormhole aliens appear as Gods to the Bajorans, but nobody ever forced the Bajorans to worship the Wormhole aliens. To an ancient this is not seen as a con job, because the Bajorans made the choice to make a religion out of what the Wormhole Aliens told them. An ancient would feel that it is up to the Bajorans to research the facts of the situation and realise the truth. Another example is Q, who the ancients see as a prankster. Because he is only committing what are effectively harmless pranks, the ancients don’t care.
The ancients have a rule of etiquette of not committing genocide, unless there is no other choice because an advanced race threatens the ancients. If the ancients eradicated the Borg, who do not currently threaten the ancients because of the Ancients/Borg cease fire treaty, then the ancients would then have to say “Why not eradicate other problem races, and if we do that, what are the criteria we use to justify their annihilation?” The ancients don’t want to go there; they do not want to be put into a position where they would be killing of entire cultures for even the most trivial of infractions.
Certain things won’t work on ancients: Illusions and mental attacks do not work on ancients, holograms, cloaking devices, the fake things the Q continuum can cook up, mental tricks like the Vulcan mind meld and Vulcan sleep pinch do not affect ancients of any description, be they anything from the Metron to the Preservers/Progenitors. Any ancient will see any type of illusion, no matter what it’s origin for what it is. They can still witness the illusion if they chose to, because it may be used for entertainment or education purposes, and thus ancients may wish to view it. Ancients and some non-ancient races can also sense when the time line has been manipulated. Be warned that many more tricks than mentioned here do not work on the ancients and they will see these tricks for what they really are.
Some ancients are heavily into time travel and have an intimate knowledge of the future. They will warn the ancient race community if there is some upcoming cataclysm to avoid or warn them of any important upcoming event they need to know about, but they are not in the habit of telling the whole ancient race clique about every minor incident that is going to happen.
The ancients always co-operate with each other, and have a rule of etiquette about doing so. They give each other technology and work together in their scientific endeavours and other projects. They have a community attitude in that every ancient pitches in and helps their fellow ancients in whatever capacity that they can. If they need some sort of service or product from other ancients, all they have to do is ask, but there is a catch: Within the ancients community it is preferable, but not essential, to teach the ancient race who asked for help how to do the service or make the product for themselves. This especially applies to less powerful races in the ancient’s clique like the Zalkonians, Akezhek or Imitari. This rule is not hard and fast, sometimes it is simply easier to do things for each other rather than copy each other’s technology and/or abilities.
News travels very fast in the ancient races community. The clique functions like a village, so gossip is commonplace. If one ancient finds something out or invents a new technology, it quickly spreads among the ancients. Gaining a reputation, or ruining one, happens very fast in the ranks of the ancients. Be aware that when interacting with ancients that your actions will be widely known among the ancients in a short space of time.
Who wrote the rules of etiquette? There was no one author, but the ancient races heavily into time travel were a big influence on the content of the rules. The reason for the rules of etiquette are [according to the ancients who are time travel enthusiasts] is to prevent possible futures that the ancients would find disagreeable. That is the only reason. Eons ago the ancients that existed back then looked into the possible futures of the universe and wrote the rules of etiquette based on their findings about the future from that point in time.
What does it take to join the ancient races clique?
There are the three reasons a culture gets to join the ancients: A race having an ancient race social structure/thinking like an ancient [the two go hand in hand], ascension to a higher form of existence, that is, becoming an energy based life form [non corporeal life form], and technological advancement. A race has to have one or more of the above attributes in order to get invited into the ancients club. The three criteria go together. In order to reach the ancients level of technology a race must think like the ancients. The changes creatures must make when they become energy beings also leads to thinking like ancient races.
Once a race is technologically advanced enough, the ancients will approach them and invite them into the ranks of the ancients. Sometimes this means having the technology to turn the race into energy beings, but rarely a race can convert to energy through non-technological means, usually that means evolution. When cultures get to a level of technology that makes them almost God like by Federation technological standards, an invitation to join the first ones is issued.
A culture could be as primitive as one with early 21st century technology, but if they think like ancients and have a social structure like the ancients then they are warmly invited into the ancient’s community. If the invitation is accepted, the new member of the clique is bought up to the level of the ancients.
Thinking like ancients and having an ancient race social structure go hand in hand. When a group of beings think like the ancients they will develop an ancient races social structure. What does an ancient races social structure and thought processes look like? The best example of a race that thinks like ancients and has an ancient race culture are the Vulcans. They are the classic example of a younger race that looks like an ancient race, however the ancients have good reasons not to invite the Vulcans into their ranks, which is explained later in this document.
Many highly advanced cultures have not been invited into the community of ancients. There are many races much more advanced than the Zalkonians were when they were invited in who have not been asked to join the ancients. The Zalkonians were similar in level to the Federation when they were invited, but the Zalkonians reached ascension by evolutionary means rather than by finding an artificial way to become energy beings. It must be noted that to get to the level of technology required to get invited into the community of ancients it is essential to think like an ancient. Put simply, if you wish to become a God, you must think like a God.
This begs the question, why haven’t Humans, Klingons, Changelings and Vulcans been invited into the first ones clique? There is no single answer, the ancients are choosy as to who they invite into their ranks. Having said that, there has to be a good reason for an invitation not to be issued to a race that qualifies to join.
If Humans or Vulcans did accept an offer to join the ancients they would have to give up the Federation. The Changelings would have to give up the Dominion. The Klingons would have to give up their empire. The ancients have a rule that nobody in their group can be a member of the younger races and their own crowd at the same time.
Changelings, the founders of the Dominion, could not be trusted with ancient race technology. Their track record of conquest and oppression of others proves they are not ancient race material. This younger race accessing elder race technology would put them at such an advantage that they could take over and brutally rule many of the younger races. Changelings would want to harm the younger races, and thus the ancients would not invite them into the ancient races clique. This is not because the ancients really care, it is just that a race bent on conquest would eventually turn on the ancients, so giving them access to ancient race technology is a bad idea, hence no invitation being issued.
Klingons and Humans don’t qualify to join the ancients as they do not have ancient race social structures or think like ancients. The morality Humans have given to the Federation is not consistent with how ancients think; the same can be said of the Klingons and their empire. Also, Humans and Klingons have no plans to become energy beings and do not have the technology to qualify for an invitation to join the ancients.
To the untrained eye, the Vulcans not being invited into the ancients clique is something of a mystery. They qualify as they have an ancient race social structure, and think like ancients. The reason for no invitation is that the Vulcans would try to help the younger races too much. They are kept out of the ancient races clique for the opposite reason as the Changelings, and rather ironically the Romulans, who are cousins to the Vulcans. Vulcans would try to be a guiding light for the younger races. The ancients do not want that to happen as it would eventually evolve into a dependency situation.
Another thing the Vulcans have going against them is that they are very serious. Having no sense of fun is a death sentence for an immortal being. In fact a Vulcan once asked an ancient why she could not join the ranks of the ancients. She was told that because of her serious personality she would live longer in her current form than she would as a non-corporeal being. Being told this drove the Vulcan to renounce logic and become a heretic.
What happens to a race that refuses to join the ancients? Simple answer is that this does not happen. The long explanation is that an invitation to join is kept open for the rest of time. A race could theoretically be invited to join the ancients and take one thousand years to make up its mind to join the ancient races clique. For an ancient, particularly one that has lived for millions of years, a millennium is very short space of time. Then again it has to be said that given what the ancients have to offer why would anyone or any race refuse to join them?
A lot of races that are thought to be extinct are actually in the ancient races clique.
Ancients’ automatically being hostile is utter stupidity
With the exception of psychotic ancients, an ancient being hostile defies logic. It may make for great drama, but makes no sense in a more realistic or at least logically consistent setting.
The ancients being at war with each other does not make sense when you think about it and not for the reasons you think about it
Here’s a thought exercise: Try to find a reason for the ancients to be at war with each other, it’s harder than you think.
A resource war? – Ancients do not need resources
A territorial war? – Ancients do not need territory like younger races do
Taking out a threat within the younger races – given how powerful the ancients are the younger races are not threats to the ancients. Ancients would not see younger races as a threat in the first place.
How do ancients benefit from being hostile to begin with? – They do not
This leads into my other points, namely never confuse ability with intent. Therefore why can’t an ancient or a group of ancients be friendly? Imagine meeting a sincere and friendly ancient who is happy to talk to you and negotiate with your government.
Dangerous things to do concerning the ancients
Here is a list of very dangerous things to do when it comes to interacting with the ancients:
Doing the wrong thing with ancient races technology
Gravely insulting an ancient
Nagging the ancients to become miracle factories
Nagging the ancients so they let you into the ancient races clique
Dishonouring your efforts to do the Realm of the Gods project
Dangerous things to do with the USS Anracosh:
Here is a list of very dangerous things to do when it comes to working with the technology on the USS Anracosh:
Stuffing around with the timestop function of the USS Anracosh
Reverse engineering any ancient race technology without proper preparation
Making weapons out of random ancient race technologies
Ancient races and younger races made specifically for Star Trek – Realm of the Gods
I want to keep new ancient races to a minimum, there are plenty of ancients in the Star Trek universe and I have an attitude of “why reinvent the wheel?”.
To that end, if some generic ancients are needed for a few minor scenes use some ancient race seen in the show at some point. For example if negotiating with some ancients is a “side note” in one of the shows, use some ancients seen in the Star Trek franchise at some point. If an ancient race that isn’t featured prominently in Star Trek Realm of the Gods and is seen once in another Star Trek T.V. show, they can be used for ancients seen but not prominently featured in a Star Trek Realm of the Gods episode.
New ancients made for Star Trek Realm of the Gods:
Akezhek
The Akezhek are a reptilian race that has been in the ancient races clique for a century. They were a race that was born with razor sharp teeth and claws. Having everyone born armed to the teeth literally and figuratively has profoundly affected their culture. They got lucky a few centuries ago in having one of their people being their answer to Albert Einstein/Isaac Newton/Stephen Hawking. It was this individual that discovered how to make their race energy beings. Becoming energy beings got them into the ancient races clique.
Imitari
They are genetically enhanced humans [Human Augments] who refused to follow Khan Noonian Singh during the Eugenics wars. Instead, they fled Earth using a faulty Iconian wormhole that was visible to the unaided eye and settled on a very remote world once owned by the Iconians near the edge of the galaxy. Upon reaching their new home the wormhole collapsed and the ancients invited them into the ancient clique. The big difference between Khan Noonian Singh’s followers and the Imitari is that the Imitari are mostly adult Humans who were upgraded whereas Khan’s people were mostly born as Human Augments.
Nomadic ancients
These are an ancient race not indigenous to our galaxy. They have built a starship larger than an Earth sized world and their whole civilisation travels the universe in it. They are a very open and welcoming people who are perfectly fine with people travelling with them and joining their community. The do not have a conventional name for their race as they welcome anyone to travel with them and consider their guests part of their race. The prefer to be called Nomadic ancients.
Reharsha
Ascended proto-Romulans. When the Romulans split off from the Vulcans this Romulan group settled in what is now the neutral zone and began to experiment with the full abilities of the Vulcan/Romulan mind. In a few generations they became very powerfully psionic and that attracted the attention of the ancients, who invited them into the ancient races clique. The Reharsha are the Debrune. When the Debrune attracted the attention of the ancients they recalled their race to their new home world and had all the Debrune join the ancient races along with the Debrune on their new home world. After that they renamed themselves the Reharsha.
Vop
A race as old as time itself. These are the beings billions of years old. They have all but forgotten what it means to be a younger race. They sometimes call on other ancients to help them relate to the younger races. They have forgotten what it means to have a physical body. The way they get around it is to copy and impersonate the younger races they meet so the younger race has something to talk to at their own level. The Vop [full name Vopbrelek] are not evil, they are just hindered by having been an ancient race for billions of years. Added to this, they were never humanoid to begin with, they were a race of sentient spider like creatures.
Yertolhm
An ascended warrior race that has not given up the ways of the warrior after becoming non-corporeal. Their aim is to prove that any warrior race can become an ancient race without “selling its soul” by giving up their warrior ways. They are the race that the Jem’Hadar soldiers of the Dominion are based on.
Note on the Progenitors/Preservers [two different names for the same race].
They are a canon Star Trek race with one important piece of information seen here: They are comparable to the Dauwd, the Organians and the Q Continuum in terms of power. The Progenitors/Preservers have for eons been one of the most powerful of the ancient races with influence that extends over the universe. Also, in the Progenitor/Preserver language preserver and progenitor are the same word. They call themselves those names because both meanings of their word for Progenitor/Preserver describes exactly what their race does in the ancient races community.
New younger races made for Star Trek Realm of the Gods:
Rumwerta
A younger race with social policies that kill off anyone who they deem worthless. This is done via technology. They use an additive in their water systems that makes illegal drugs in carcinogens inside the body so an illicit drug user dies of cancer within a year. They lock up use people with anger management and use disinhibiter type drugs on them so they go into a permanent rage state and kill their fellow inmates and themselves.
Stathjol
A younger race that has a mating cycle akin to cats and dogs. They were invited into the ancient races clique while having a technology level about the same as that of early 21st century Humanity. They were invited into the ranks of the ancients because they have an ancients style social structure like what the Vulcans have, it’s just that the Stathjol have a sense of humour.
Theredo
There is a race in a small galaxy orbiting a much larger galaxy. They are a copy of the Preservers. They have discovered that their galaxy was a major base of operations for the Preservers and one of the Preservers projects was their creation. They used to be a race of scavengers who went through ancient Preserver sites to gather technology to reverse engineer. When they stumbled across a way to contact the ancient races they called the ancients and were invited to join the ancients clique.
A list of all the canon ancients in star trek is available online
For a list of canonical ancient race beings and ancient races look up Memory Alpha Star Trek on the internet. Search Memory Alpha online for the list of canon ancient races in Star Trek.
The Realm of the Gods project
Realm of the Gods project is above politics
Whatever issues the ancients have with each other in terms anything from philosophical outlook to clashes of personality one thing is an unbreakable rule with the ancient races clique:
Realm of the Gods projects are above politics.
Whatever is going on with the ancients takes secondary importance to Realm of the Gods. The price of immortality, which creates the need to have new ancients, is the reason why Realm of the Gods projects areso important to the ancients.
However, that is not to say that the ancients drop everything to do a Realm of the Gods project. Realm of the Gods is but one of many things the ancients do.
There are plenty of other ancient race activities both known and unknown to the younger races. For example…
…the barrier that existed for a time at the edge of the galaxy.
…the extra-dimensional beings of the temporal cold war.
…the probe sent to Earth to talk to whales.
…ancients hanging out on worlds that they don’t need.
…the rescuing of the Augmented Humans from Earth that became the Imitari.
…and much more.
Co-existing with the ancients and the ROTG project
The current situation with the ancients in the Milky Way Galaxy is that the ancients and younger races are separate and don’t interact much with each other. [Except for those younger races who qualify to receive an invitation to join the ancients.] This is because until recently no younger race attempted a systematic public effort to establish permanent diplomatic relations with them. The ancients call this a “Realm of the Gods” project, because the younger races who attempt it are entering the realm of the gods, which has several stages. Right now stage one is in progress.
Stage one …is a younger race or more than one younger race opening up to the ancients and expressing the desire to make the ancients part of their lives. This involves younger races running meet and greets and establishing official ties with the ancients.
Stage two …is when the diplomacy evolves into the ancients and the younger races openly interacting with the ancients as if the ancients were just another younger race. The ancients become an active part of the galaxy and are involved in the affairs of the younger races.
Stage three …lasts several centuries. This is where the ancients quietly assess the younger races. They gauge how well the younger races would fit into the ancient races clique as they are. This is a slow carefully done process executed with absolute precision. There is no margin for error because the ancients know the dangers of immortality and how it can be a death sentence, and they don’t want to risk creating potentially abusive or psychotic ancients. Having said that, it is not a perfect system; sometimes mistakes are made and a younger race gets ascended and become abusive, socially withdrawn or psychotic ancients.
Stage four …starts when the assessments are done. This is when invitations are issued and younger races that fail the assessments are told why and offered a cure for their failings in their assessment. When many younger races are recruited to the ancient races clique it starts a domino effect. The younger races who do not qualify take the cures and join the other younger races that have recently become part of the ancient race community. The end result is the galaxy devoid of advanced younger race civilisations because they all have joined the ancient races.
Stage five …explains why in Star Trek lore there are regular occurring eras where ancient advanced civilisations all disappear without a clear explanation as to why. In stage five evidence that the younger races started a Realm of the Gods project is erased. This is because the ancients want younger races to figure out for themselves that they should do a Realm of the Gods project. They should not just be given the answer, it is something they must figure out for themselves.
Stage six …is where early warp capable species appear in the galaxy and find it inexplicably empty with plenty of room to expand and find other early warp capable species and sentients who have yet to invent warp drive. They will also encounter ancients who do not appear to have an active role in the galaxy. It is up to the younger races to figure out that they should engage with the ancients and establish diplomatic relations with them. This is where Realm of the Gods projects are launched and it all cycles back to stage one.
Ancients and the consequences of immortality
The best way to understand immortality is to do a thought experiment. Imagine your need for sleep is removed. You will remain conscious indefinitely. Now imagine sitting somewhere bored out of your skull for ten minutes. Now try sitting somewhere bored out of your skull for an hour. Now extended that out to a day, a week, a month, a year and then ten years, and remember that for all that time you never sleep, you are conscious the whole time. How long do you think you could go on before you completely lose your mind?
That is the true danger of immortality. The risk is that when you realise you have an infinite amount of time ahead of you that you will not be able to find a way to use that time, and literally get bored to death. Many proto-ancients discover how to become immortal, they think it’s amazing, give themselves immortality and then over the next few decades face a horrendously high suicide rate. They lose a lot of people and learn the hard way that immortality is not for everyone. Another option is the ancients in question go dormant, which is worse than suicide, and it is explained below.
The way to cope with immortality is to be able to amuse yourself and be happy within yourself. For someone who is too serious and has no sense of humour, immortality is a death sentence [pun intended]. When proto-ancients become immortal and join the ranks of the ancient races the ancients advise the proto-ancients that the best thing to do with those who cannot cope with immortality is to let them die. Trying to save them is delaying the inevitable. It is a brutal way of doing things, but anything else simply won’t work.
For an ancient who can’t bring themselves to commit suicide the next – for want of a better word – “best” option [or worst depending on how you look at it] is to go dormant. Going dormant means to almost switch themselves off, leaving a tiny amount of their awareness up and running. Be aware that these ancients are in a very bad mental state and should not be approached. They are irrational and will usually lash out if disturbed. The best thing to do with them is to leave them to their self imposed purgatory [or hell would be a better description]. It is sad, but there is nothing else you can do with them.
For ancients who can cope with being immortal the sky is the limit. They have an infinite time to work on whatever they want to work on. They will be quite a fun bunch to hang around with because all the drab serious ones are dormant or dead. The frosty greeting that younger races sometimes get from the ancients is usually just for show because the ancients just want to get back to whatever they are doing to amuse themselves.
That is not to say all the ancients are a jovial bunch that are a hoot to hang around with. Some of them are halfway to going dormant or committing suicide. Many ancients are living on a knife edge barely hanging on to their sanity, or even failing to keep their sanity. Be aware when dealing with ancients that you may be encountering individuals who not too many steps from being dysfunctional.
Immortality ties in very closely with a younger civilisation running a Realm of the Gods project.
If your government is running a Realm of the Gods project then that is a game changer. The ancients will welcome you with open arms / tentacles / wings / or any other prehensile appendage. This is because you have expressed the intent to hang out with the ancients and join in the fun and that you think that the ancients are worth your time. The ancients are always looking for ways to amuse themselves, and if you can help them with that it means the ancient are far more likely to offer you help and give help you if ask [within reason]. When your government is running a Realm of the Gods project, the ancients also have the long term [several centuries] aim of bringing your civilisation into the ranks of the ancient races.
Conversely if your government isn’t running a Realm of the Gods project they are saying that the ancients are not part of your life and that you don’t want to interact with them. Therefore they will not put in the effort to reach out to you.
The ancients are utterly unimpressed with any space faring government that has a large fleet of starships and can’t organise one starship painted in diplomatic seals and insignia and one crew and a team of diplomats dedicated to meeting and greeting the ancients. The ancients want you to get off your lazy butt [or anatomical equivalent] and actually do what they see as the easiest job imaginable, which is running a Realm of the Gods project.
This phrase neatly describes what it is like to hang out with the ancients:
Everyone is insane; it’s just that some are better at managing their insanity than others.
The above phrase sums up dealing with the ancients on a personal level. They are all insane, it’s just some are able to manage their insanity better than others.
The idea of so called “enlightened” ancients is totally ludicrous as being serious is a death sentence to an immortal mind. If someone is expecting the ancients to be serious enlightened beings with a stuffy attitude and static outlook on life, then they will discover that the ancients are the opposite of that. The ancients that survive immortality are fun loving, have a happy go lucky attitude and are happy within themselves.
Serious ancients eventually kill themselves or go dormant. These are the ancients who do meet the “enlightened” stereotype. These are those who have ascended in last few decades. These beings are incredibly lucky if they last a century. They realise they an infinite amount of tomorrows before them and either destroy themselves or come to terms with their existence and lighten up. Being serious however makes them very dangerous as they can be utterly psychotic and can [and likely will] lash out if approached.
There is another saying which is very apt about the ancients: “What does not bend will break.” If an ancient can’t get into a happy mindset they will reach and surpass breaking point.
All of the above means that an ancient could be hanging on to their sanity by a thin thread. Every kind of coping mechanism can be seen among the ancients: Everything from burying their emotions with humour to appearing emotionless by suppressing their emotions to simply not coping in the first place.
The ancients who survive more than a century are the fun loving ones; even then they can still be in a battle to keep their sanity.
Are the ancients are fun to be with or completely dysfunctional and dangerous.
This is the choice Q [and all the ancients] face. He either keeps up his prankster persona or goes insane and goes on a rampage of destruction across the cosmos that becomes a threat to the rest of the ancient race community. Being a super powered immortal being is not all fun and games.
Ancients as individuals
This only applies to ancients who can cope with being immortal and can at least have a functional mindset
Ancients that can cope with being immortal can be surprisingly normal in their outlook on life and how they live it. They were usually once organic creatures and can maintain the habits they once had as biological beings. The ancient races clique is a very large and very diverse group and the individuals in the group reflect this.
The same can be said for groups or factions of ancient races. They can have agendas that sound very much like the agenda of a younger race group.
Ancients can form groups/factions not affiliated with their races. They are not considered rogue unless they do something illegal/unethical/harmful. Groups of ancients can get together to work on their own projects and nobody cares.
Remember that the ancients are very loosely organised. This means there is not a lot of control over ancient race citizens, unless they turn rogue and become a threat. In short they can live their eternal lives as they see fit. Their lives are defined by a lack of rules. It is up to the individual ancient to make decisions for themselves and to pick what ancient community to live in, or to go it alone, the choice is theirs.
What you will find when encountering an individual ancient is just about anything. They are as much individuals as members of the younger races are.
The dial a deity system
The dial a deity system is a communication system between the ancients and the younger races. It allows the younger races to access the communication systems the ancients use with equipment that a younger race being can use by themselves.
Ancient race technology is designed assuming that an ancient race being is using it, and its controls reflect this design philosophy. This has the added bonus that it stops powerful ancient race technology from being misused if it falls into the wrong hands.
The main uses of the dial a deity system
Keep contact between younger races and the ancients.
A distress call system to call for help, but only in distress situations that the younger races can’t solve by themselves.
Organising the ancients to do tasks that the younger races can’t do for themselves, such as pulling a planet into a new orbit, stabilising a star or something that breaks the laws of known physics.
Arranging for ancients to join science research endeavours where having an ancient around would be really helpful. Note that the ancients are not going to give us all their technology all at once, that would not be in their interests or in the interest of the younger races. The ancients are wise enough to know that most younger races have to be eased into the ranks of the ancients, this is why the Realm of the Gods project is the way that it is.
Ancients, Borg and the First Federation
The Ancients vs The Borg
The Ancients have an uneasy truce with the Borg. This was brought about by the Borg trying to assimilate a non-corporeal species that they named species 5973.
The ancients feared that if species 5973 was assimilated the Borg would learn far too much about the ancients and may succeed in assimilating other non-corporeal races. This means that the Borg could assimilate low grade non-corporeal races and work their way upwards to more powerful non-corporeal beings. If left unchecked the Borg could become a serious threat to the ancients.
The Borg found out that when they tried to assimilate species 5973 that other non-corporeal species would band together and attack them. Notably the Borg realised they would be facing off races like the Organians, Dauwd and The Q Continuum. The Borg realised that they were about to face an alliance that could destroy them. It would be a war the Borg could not win as they would be facing attacks they find extremely difficult to adapt to, namely very powerful beings wishing parts of their collective out of existence.
Both sides could become a serious threat to each other, or even eventually destroy each other. After the ancients came to the aid of species 5973 and saved them from the Borg, the ancients and the Borg negotiated a truce. This was a truce with a mutual assured destruction clause. If the Borg try to assimilate non-corporeal races the most powerful of the ancients will retaliate and obliterate the Borg. If the Borg can find a way to assimilate powerful ancient god like beings they will do so. Both sides agreed that if either side attacks it is case of succeed in defeating the other or be wiped out.
The Borg will not attack the ancients unless they know they can successfully assimilate them without being annihilated, however, if the ancients attack the Borg the Borg will nullify the truce and will assimilate any ancients that they can and hope it is enough to beat the ancients back without the Borg being destroyed.
This truce was made a long time ago and both sides are maintaining it. This is why prankster Q once said to another Q “Don’t provoke the Borg.” He said this in order to maintain the truce agreement. Having said that, if the ancients were to help younger races fight the Borg it would be in effect a proxy war with the ancients supplying younger races with super weapons the Borg can’t adapt to.
Important: The Ancients/Borg ceasefire agreement has a clause that forbids the Ancients from rescuing Borg drones and turning them back into their previous selves, i.e. de-assimilating them. This is an important plot point in the T.V. shows grand finale.
This was until the finale of Star Trek – Realm of the Gods, when the Borg declared war on the Federation and the ancients. During that war the Borg hope they can force the ancients to retreat by bloodying their noses enough that the ancients back down and let the Borg go on with business as usual, or if lucky assimilate enough of the ancients that the Borg become a serious threat to the ancients that can defeat them, or even have the Borg defeat the ancients.
The First Federation and the Ancients
Known members of the First Federation: The Talosians, the species seen in piloting the starship in the original series, the Metron, who pitched the Federation against the Gorn in a one on one dual situation between two starship captains. There were other races in the First Federation, but they are now in the ranks of the ancients as ascended beings.
The Vulcans knew of the First Federation, but did not qualify to join them because at the time they were too primitive for the First Federation.
A race wishing to join the First Federation had to be very advanced to qualify to join the group.
Some of the ancients encountered by the USS Anracosh were members of the First Federation.
The First Federation were a loose coalition of worlds that occupied an area centred near the Federation, Klingon border and with the Vulcan, Romulan and Klingon worlds formed a triangle around the First Federation’s territory.
By the time of the TOS era the last of the First Federation was in the process of joining the ancient races clique. The starship Kirk’s USS Enterprise encountered was one of the last starships the First Federation was running before the last of the First Federation’s races ascended. This is why the captain of the First Federation acted the way he did when he encountered Captain Kirk. Why hang around talking to Kirk when he can become an ascended being instead? As for the crew member left on the First Federation ship, give him the tour and teach him about the First Federation then return him to the United Federation of Planets.
It was in the century before leading up to the Star Trek: Enterprise era that the First Federation started its own Realm of the Gods project. The difference is that the First Federation made a couple of mistakes. The first was they assumed that establishing diplomatic relations was exactly that. They were just trying to establish some kind of mutually beneficial relationship with the ancients. The second was keeping the diplomacy with the ancients a secret to all but the high ranking members of the First Federation government.
Here’s why the above mistakes are mistakes:
When the First Federation started diplomacy with the ancients they were not aware that doing so meant eventual recruitment into the ancient races clique. When the ancients told them the truth of what the First Federations Realm of the Gods project would lead to the First Federation quickly accepted the challenge of getting themselves to qualify to join the ancient races clique. Many younger races make this mistake, they assume diplomacy with the ancients means diplomacy with the ancients, instead it means joining the ancient races clique, so the ancients were forgiving on this point.
For some ancients the other mistake is a deal breaker. Keeping your Realm of the Gods project to yourself is frowned upon in the ancient race community. The point of the Realm of the Gods project for the ancients is the mass recruitment of younger races into the ranks of the ancient races clique. The more younger races joining the better, but the younger races must initiate the contact. The ancients won’t give you the answer, you have to figure it out for yourself.
As for the risks of immortality, which is why the ancients have the Realm of the Gods project, the First Federation government was willing to accept the dangers of being immortal. Their populations would be told of the dangers when their races qualified to join the ancients. The First Federation felt that the gains of being god like beings with god like abilities was worth the risk of the pitfalls of being immortal.
Once the First Federation government learned of the real the nature of the Realm of the Gods they secretly put in plans to make their member races qualify to get into the ancient races clique. The general public of the First Federation was never told the truth until invitations to join the ancients were issued. The First Federation kept the secret only to themselves, not sharing it with anyone outside their government, even after the ancients told them Realm of the Gods was a mass recruitment drive and asked if they willing to change so they could join the ancient races clique as “newly made” ancient races. The First Federation was amazed at learning this and eagerly did what they needed to do to become ascended beings.
The ancients did not like the First Federation being so secretive about running a Realm of the Gods project, hiding the fact from their own populations. This worked against them when dealing with the ancients, but since the First Federation was sincere about joining the ancients, the ancients agreed that the First Federation should be given a chance to prove themselves worthy of being ancient races material.
The First Federation started programs to change their ways to meet what the ancients wanted them to be. All ideas were tried: Changing their cultures, technological advancement and becoming energy beings. Technological advancement and becoming energy beings proved beyond the capacity of the First Federation, but changing their cultures was successful through various means. These methods mostly included alter genetic behavioural predispositions so their populations would think like ancients. The logic the First Federation government was that because of their willingness change and do whatever it takes to join the ancients race clique, the ancients would let them in.
The ancients begrudgingly had to acknowledge that the races of the First Federation were putting in the effort to qualify to join the ancient races clique. It took more than a few decades to do but having made themselves meet the criteria to join. With no reason to keep them out the ancients issued the invitation to the First Federation to join the ancient races clique. It was after the First Federation joined the ancient races that the First Federation disbanded because the government had no more reason to exist now that the member races of the First Federation were ancient ascended races.
Important plot point:
The ancients don’t class the First Federation’s efforts to join the ancients as a true Realm of the Gods project because it was not in the eyes of the ancients a mass recruitment effort. Ancients do not acknowledge the First Federation as starting a galaxy wide recruitment drive for the ancient races clique. The important reason for this is that the First Federation kept their Realm of the Gods project a secret. This is also why the First Federation never got an equivalent to the USS Anracosh, the USS Anracosh was a reward for the Federation publicly launching a Realm of the Gods project and making it an option anyone can pursue. The First Federation keeping it secret meant they were not rewarded except for getting an invite when they qualified to join the ancients.
Why did the First Federation keep it a secret?
Centuries before the First Federation launched their Realm of Gods project they saw the rise of the Klingons and the banishing of the Hur’q. At the time that happened the First Federation freaked out at how the Hur’q were kicked off the Klingon home world. How could a primitive race like the Klingons beat the Hur’q? Centuries later this is what inspired the First Federation to seek out the ancients in secret. At that time they did not want ancient race technology falling in the hands of the Klingons. If the Klingons could reverse engineer Hur’q technology what other technology could they reverse engineer? The races that were in the First Federation [now ascended] know differently now.
How this relates to the modern Realm of the Gods project started by rogue elements in the Federation:
The Federations efforts in their Realm of the Gods project will result in eventual mass recruitment of countless races into the ancient races clique. The First Federation’s efforts merely resulted in a handful of civilisations joining the ancients.
The ancients don’t care why the crew of the USS Anracosh sought out the ancients. The crew started the mission to get an advantage over enemies of the Federation. At the time the crew started the mission they made the same mistake as the First Federation – they did not know that the Realm of the Gods project lead to younger races joining the ancient races clique.
In the centuries to come many races will join the ancients, and for an ancient being millions of years old, a century is a short amount of time. The ancients have the Federation to thank for bringing in so many races into the ancient races clique. Thus giving the USS Anracosh to the Federation is a way to thank the Federation for bringing countless billions into the fold.
Diplomacy and treaties with the ancients
How to handle official diplomatic dialogue with the ancients
This is a general overview that covers the basics of making contact with the ancients, remember that each ancient race has its own quirks, but will mostly follow what is written here. Each ancient race has to be approached individually because they are not politically organised. There is no “Federation of the Ancients”; therefore each ancient race has to be dealt with independently of the other ancient races.
Do not be afraid to ask the ancients you are visiting if they know of other ancients that are open to the idea of first contact. It is very likely they will be able to give you information about other ancients who would like to meet you.
You can ask if your race can join the ancient races clique. However, the ancients decide who is welcome into their club. If your race meets one or more of the three criteria to join the ancients, the three criteria being technological advancement, thinking like an ancient/having an ancient race social structure and becoming a non-corporeal being, then you do not have to seek out the ancients. They will find you and give you an invitation, unless there is a good reason not to do so.
If you still want to persist and keep asking for your race to be invited to join the ancients the ancients will tell you that you have to meet the criteria to join the ancients. Your race can do that if they want to and the ancients are willing to help, but think of the price paid to join and the consequences of giving your race immortality. Any race can be bought up to the level of the ancients, but the cost of changing culture, technology and re-inventing the whole of a races society is very high. Are your people willing and ready for such changes? Even if you get to be ancients think about the suicide rate or going dormant from being immortal. Yes, you can have your race join the ancients, but the cost is so high, so is it worth it?
Try to remember when greeting an ancient that you are most likely interacting with a creature at least several million years more advanced than you are, or if not, has quick access to beings who are super-advanced. Even though the ancients completely outclass the younger races in every way imaginable, and that is simply being honest about it, please don’t be intimidated or scared. The ancient will be happy to talk to you and more than willing to help you if what you ask will not wind up turning them into wish granting machines.
The obvious thing to not do is anything hostile or deceptive. The ancients will sense it immediately and be very insulted and quickly retaliate. Considering the ancients can crush entire younger civilisations like insects, doing a hostile or deceptive act is a really stupid thing to do.
Having said all of the above it is important to remember that you should never confuse capability with intent. Just because an ancient is god like and could destroy a civilisation as advanced as the Federation without much effort does not mean they will ever do so. They may have the powers of god, but that does not mean that they are hostile. The may be god like and very friendly and approachable at the same time. An ancient could be like a deity and still be a nice person.
Telepaths are warned not to try and read the minds of a first one. There are two reasons for this. One, it will not work, ancients have powerful blocks in place on their minds that make them unreadable. That is for the protection of the telepath! The reason for the protection is the second reason why telepaths should not read the mind of an ancient. The amount of information in the mind of an ancient is staggeringly large. If an ancient dropped the mental block and its mind was read, the telepath reading the mind could potentially go through a very damaging version of sensory overload. Depending on the situation, the telepath might have a reaction from anywhere between becoming slightly dizzy to the effect being instantly fatal. It’s better not to run the risk of such horrible outcomes.
Finally, think of the ancients you are visiting as your friends. They will try to accommodate you as best they can. Remember that in the majority of cases, they were once organic beings like yourself, so they will feel empathy towards you. Don’t try to reach them on their level. They have enough experience to communicate with you at your level of development. They do not expect you to think like an ancient, and do not demand that you act like one either. So remember: When you go to them they will talk to you on your level and not expect you to try to talk to them as if you were an ancient yourself.
Friendship treaties with the Ancients
In the context of Star Trek – Realm of the Gods a friendship treaty with any individual or group in the ancient races clique is a legal document recognising the god like being or god like civilisation/society/social group/whatever as a legally recognised entity to the younger race government the ancients signed the treaty with.
As stated elsewhere in the document the ancients are not politically organised. Friendship treaties have to be negotiated with individuals and groups within the ancients because there is no government that encompasses the whole ancients’ community, or comes anywhere near to doing so.
Friendship treaties are called as such by the ancients because they can be between individuals and governments, not just government to group or government to government. The reason it is done this way is that a younger race government could be signing a treaty with an individual more powerful than their entire civilisation. How is a treaty between an individual more powerful than an entire civilisation and a government any different than a treaty between two governments? Answer: It isn’t!
What are the contents of a friendship treaty with an ancient or group of ancients?
The legalities in the treaty entail formal younger race government/diplomatic recognition of the ancient or ancients group that signed the treaty and establishing lines of communication between the younger race government and the ancient race/individual signatory of the treaty. Other items involve help between the ancients and the signatory younger race government.
Help usually refers to the “dial a deity” system of help in disasters and various projects, and other aid only the ancients are capable of providing to the younger races. Lines of communication are usually done via the dial a deity communication system.
Other clauses in the treaty can involve items specific to the ancient or ancients signing the treaty, such as recognition of a territory as belonging to an ancient, restriction of the ancient’s movement into areas heavily guarded by the younger race signatory and specific requests made by the younger race government or the ancient or ancients.