Orb

Orbs, also known as Tears of the Prophets, are mysterious artifacts that originate from non-corporeal entities known as the Prophets, who reside inside the Celestial Temple (aka the Bajoran wormhole). Central to the Bajoran religion, nine different orbs have appeared in the skies above Bajor in the past ten thousand years. According to Bajoran legend, they were sent by the Prophets to provide guidance and wisdom.

The Bajorans store them in arks to contain their energies, which can induce effects on those exposed to them. Appearing as hourglass-shaped energy fields, the Orbs defy conventional scientific analysis. They produce temporary but intense metaphorical hallucinations on people in the immediate vicinity, which seems to be a form of direct or indirect communication with the Prophets. However, only individuals whom the Prophets permit will experience these visions. These orb experiences often provide some form of personal insight or divination into the future, and many were recorded in the form of ancient Bajoran prophesies. After an encounter with an Orb, individuals sometimes experience continued visions known as orb shadows. Bajorans believe that Orb shadows result when individuals ignore what their Orb experience had told them.

As tangible objects offering communication with their gods, the Orbs are greatly treasured by the Bajoran people. The Orbs are contained inside ornate, jeweled vessels tended by monks, safeguarded inside monasteries. A force field also protects the Orb inside its vessel. Officially, contact with an Orb requires the special permission of the Vedek Assembly, although this is a rarely-followed formality.

During the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, all but one of the Orbs were stolen and taken off-world for study, although the Cardassians never unravelled their purpose or function. The remaining Orb, the Orb of Prophecy and Change, was hidden away by Kai Opaka. The formal peace treaty signed between the Cardassian Union and the Bajoran Provisional Government in 2371 did not resolve the issue of returning the lost Orbs to Bajor, although several were returned under various other circumstances in the following years.

In 2374, a Pah-wraith carried inside Dukat entered the Celestial Temple through the Orb of Contemplation, causing all the Orbs to go dark. This led to widespread panic among the Bajorans, who believed that their gods had forsaken them. The Orbs were restored three months later by the discovery of the previously unknown tenth Orb, the Orb of the Emissary, by Benjamin Sisko on the planet Tyree in 2375. (DS9 episode: Shadows and Symbols) By September of 2376, all nine orbs had been returned to Bajor.

List of Orbs

 * Orb of Contemplation
 * Orb of Destiny
 * Orb of Memory
 * Orb of Prophecy and Change
 * Orb of Souls
 * Orb of Time
 * Orb of Truth
 * Orb of Unity
 * Orb of Wisdom


 * Orb of the Emissary