The Andorian Empire is the name of the Andorian state. Centered on the moon of Andor, the Andorian Empire was one of the five founding Member States of the United Federation of Planets, having signed the Articles of the Federation on 12 August 2161.
The Andorian Empire is a constitutional monarchy that was established in the 19th century with the unification of the planet from warring clans by Thalisar the Last, who deliberately died childless and created the parliamentary democracy that has governed Andor ever since her death. The position of head of state is thus deliberately left empty, and is represented by the Empty Throne of the Andorian Empire, found in the Parliament Andoria Complex. The head of government is the Chancellor, whose seat is determined by the political party that has a majority in the legislature, the Parliament Andoria. The majority party also determines Andor's Federation Councillor. (DS9 novel: Andor: Paradigm; ENT episode: "The Aenar.") The Andorian Empire's traditional military is the Imperial Guard of the Andorian Empire. (ENT episode: "The Andorian Incident.") The Andorian Empire maintained diplomatic relations with the Aenar on Andor into the mid-2150s. (ENT episode: "The Aenar.")
Presumably, the Aenar at some point became part of the Andorian Empire prior to the founding of the Federation, since one of the prerequisites for Federation Membership is a unified planetary government.
Throughout the 20th, 21st, and 22nd Centuries, the Andorian Empire was constantly at odds with the neighboring world of Vulcan. Numerous wars and cold wars occured between the hostile powers, both of which committed numerous acts of agression against the other. (ENT episode: "The Andorian Incident.")
The Andorian Empire made first contact with United Earth in 2151, when the Human ship, Enterprise NX-01, became embroiled in an attempt on the part of the Imperial Guard to expose a suspected Vulcan spy station on the ancient monestary of P'Jem. The Imperial Guard invaded P'Jem and took the monks hostag along with the visiting Enterprise crew. The Humans eventually uncovered the spy station in the course of freeing themselves from the Andorians, and the Imperial Guard later destroyed the monestary and station. (ENT episodes: "The Andorian Incident," "Shadows of P'Jem.")
One particular sore spot between between Andor and Vulcan was a terraformed planetoid called Weytahn by the Andorians and Paan Mokar. The planetoid was the subject of numerous firefights before a peace treaty was negotiated in 2153 under United Earth moderation. (ENT episode: "Cease Fire.")]] Another sore spot was Coridan, where both the Andorian and Vulcan governments supported opposing factions in a civil war. (ENT episode: "Shadows of P'Jem.")
The Andorian Empire opened full diplomatic relations with United Earth soon after contact, establishing the Andorian Embassy on Earth. The Andorian Ambassador to United Earth became a thaan known as Thoris. Operations between the United Earth Starfleet and the Imperial Guard -- and in particular between Imperial Guard Commander Thy'lek Shran, commanding officer of the Kumari, and United Earth Starfleet Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding officer of Enterprise NX-01 -- gradually became quite close. In 2153, Commander Shran provided intelligence on the Xindi Superweapon to Archer after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the weapons technology for the Empire, and in 2154, the Kumari travelled to Earth and helped defeat the Superweapon and the flagship of the mad Xindi-Reptillian Commander Dolim on 14 February, providing Archer with crucial assistance in saving Earth from the Xindi. (ENT episode: "Zero Hour.")
In 2154, the V'Las, then Administrator of the Vulcan High Command, the Vulcan head of government, attempted to launch an invasion of the Andorian Empire on the basis of falsified intelligence indicating that the Andorian Empire had acquired weapons based upon Xindi technology. The plot was exposed by Soval, former Vulcan Ambassador to United Earth, to acting Enterprise NX-01 commanding officer Charles Tucker, who contacted Commander Shran. On Shran's word, the Imperial Guard assembled a fleet to meet the invading Vulcan forces. Commander Tucker attempted once again to mediate between the two, but a battle erupted between the Vulcan and Andorian fleets. Fortunately, a coup d'etat on Vulcan forced V'Las out of power and exposed his lies, leading to the battle's end. (ENT episode: "Kir'Shara.")
Later that year, the Andorian Empire and Tellar also nearly went to war, as numerous ships from either world were being destroyed by foes apparently from the other side. Once again, United Earth volunteered to mediate the dispute, this time hosting negotiations on the planetoid of Babel One; in the course of escorting the Tellarite delegation, however, Enterprise NX-01 discovered evidence that the Andorian Empire and Tellar were being manipulated into going to war by the Romulan Star Empire. Captain Archer's skill at interspecies negotiations led to the establishment of an unprecedented alliance of Andorian, Vulcan, Terran, and Tellarite ships in the search for the disguised Romulan attackers. The unwilling involvement of an Aenar citizen in the perpetuation of the fraud was also uncovered. (ENT episodes: "Babel One," "United," "The Aenar.")
The Andorian Empire participated in talks in San Francisco on Earth the next year to discuss the creation of a new interstellar alliance. Building upon the work begun by Archer with the temporary alliance to discover the Romulans, United Earth Foreign Minister Nathan Samuels sought to create a permanent alliance for mutual defense and trade to be known as the Coalition of Planets. Ambassador Thoris attended, but when the xenophobic terrorist organization Terra Prime incited numerous anti-alien demonstrations throughout Earth and attempted to hijack the Verteron Array on Mars to blackmail non-Humans into leaving the Sol system, he expressed suspision that the Coalition of Planets could ever function with Humans participating. (ENT episodes: "Demons," "Terra Prime.")
Nontheless, the Andorian Empire became a member of the Coalition of Planets, and on 12 August 2161, its representatives joined those of United Earth, Tellar, Vulcan, and Alpha Centauri in the Candlestick Auditorium in San Francisco to sign the Articles of the Federation, establishing the existence of the United Federation of Planets. (ENT episode: "These Are The Voyages...;" ENT novel: Last Full Measure.)
One of the Andorian Empire's earliest Federation Councillors was a shen named Avaranthi sh'Rothress. Sh'Rothress achieved fame with her numerous debates with Federation President Haroun al-Rashid of United Earth over the qualifications of future worlds for Membership, and in 2177 became the fourth Federation President and the first from Andor. In 2380, one of the presidential shuttlecraft was named after sh'Rothress. (Novel: Articles of the Federation.)
Over the course of the next two hundred years, the Andorian Empire coped with the fact that the unique four-sexed reproductive paradigm of the Andorian species was leading its people towards extinction. Eventually, Andorian law was altered to establish computer-designed bondgroups in the hopes of increasing fertility, even as scientists at the Andorian Science Institute sought for a cure. The Andorian Visionist Party and the Modern Progressive Party came to dominate the Parliament Andoria, and political discourse became extremely divided. In 2376, as Andor was rocked by violent demonstrations, the Andorian Empire finally revealed its people's plight to the rest of the Federation. In the course of events, Federation Councillor Charivretha zh'Thane resigned and was replaced by Kellerasana zh'Faila. (DS9 novel: Andor: Paradigm; TNG novel: A Time to Heal.)
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External Links
- Andorian Empire article at Memory Alpha, the canonical Star Trek Wiki