One of the many races native to the Rigel system and going by the name Rigellian (formerly known as Bodas) was a grey-furred and prehensile-tailed species, inhabiting Rigel IV. They had a reputation as master traders, and controlled much of the trade within the Rigel system through the Rigellian Trade Authority.
Biology
Resembling the rat of Earth, the Rigellians were a humanoid species with grey fur, snouts, pointed ears and small, perceptive eyes. They also possessed long, prehensile tails.
Formerly, they were Bodas, a species of intelligent near-humanoid creatures which had been kept as house pets by the race known only as the Masters of Rigel. They were hastily genetically advanced into a humanoid form with an upright posture, while their skulls were enlarged to enable full intelligence, sentience and the capability for speech.
The new Rigellians bore the signs of this crude genetic manipulation, appearing as hybrid creatures barely evolved from animals. Their legs were too short, causing them to stoop and walk with a shambling gait. Their speech was harsh, lacking the capacity for labial sounds such as 'b', 'm', 'p' and 'v' (those formed with the lips), while giving most vowels a buzzing inflection. By the Masters' dubious standards, they also suffered imperfect reasoning and faulty morals. In addition, the race was plagued by muscle and bone problems, a deliberate artifact of the genetic engineering that could not be cured.
- These bone problems may be related to the Rigellian bone-stress condition.
Their population was estimated to be less than a million. (FASA modules: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge, The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)
History
The Rigellians were hastily genetically engineered from the Bodas, creatures that had been kept as pets by the dying race known only as the Masters of Rigel, around 998,000 BCE (reference stardate -10000/00). Their purpose was to succeed them and serve as caretakers for their vast stores of knowledge, memorials and great works of the Rigel system, all telling of their achievement and glory.
They did this for 10,000 years, until they came to a complete understanding of the long-dead Masters, their works, the engineered nature of themselves and the unstable alterations to their home star Rigel, which would eventually nova and obliterate the system anyway. Offended by the sheer arrogance of the Masters, and finding the idea of preserving them to be abhorrent, around 988,000 BCE (stardate -9900/00) the Rigellians destroyed almost every trace of them.
To make amends for the Masters and redeem their own consciences, the Rigellians decided to work to ensure that no one followed the Masters’ way of cosmic vandalism and self-aggrandisement. To these ends, they began by opening the Rigel system to all races for trade and development, and in approximately 968,000 BCE (stardate -9700/00), the Rigellians sponsored several cooperative ventures, with the aim of educating other races, regulating trade and correcting the damage the Masters had done to other star systems. These all failed, with only the Rigel Trade Authority having any success.
The Rigellians learned that they could not teach alien cultures to avoid making attractive mistakes, even if their intentions were noble. By 948,000 BCE (stardate -9500/00), they had withdrawn from public view and settled for making occasional 'corrective measures' from far to sort the more visible and worst problems of surrounding space. Though practically invisible to interstellar affairs, they earned a reputation for their longevity, wisdom and restraint. Even after destroying the wonders of the Masters, they made their own mark on the galaxy, turning Rigel IV into an interstellar crossroads for trade, knowledge and civilisation, and establishing rules for land use on Rigel III that survived into modern times.
By -498,000 BCE (stardate -5000/00), the Rigellians had become cynical and complacent, and increasingly withdrawn from interstellar affairs. When the civilisation of Arret, whose people had also thought of themselves as gods, destroyed itself in war, the Rigellians watched, uninvolved, and were pleasantly surprised. The terrible event renewed their faith in natural justice.
In 148,000 BCE, Rigel had begun to develop signs of instability, as predicted long before. The Rigellians rediscovered the stellar-engineering technology of the Masters and drained the star of its helium ash and replenished its hydrogen atmosphere, enabling it to burn for another million years before it would need fixing again.
When the ecosphere of Rigel IV finally died completely (with not a plant, animal or microbe remaining) in 50,000 BCE (stardate -520/00), the Rigellians accepted this and simply levelled the mountains and paved it over and turned it into a vast starport for trading vessels.
In 33,000 BCE, (stardate -350/00), the Rigellians learned of the frequency of humanoid races around their part of the galaxy, though they didn’t suspect why this should be so, though the Preservers had traded at Rigel 50,000 years before.
On 15th July 17,273 BCE (stardate -192/7307.15), a Glath starship captain named Muark Tan brought to the Rigellians evidence of the sentient humanoid life on Rigel VIII, including photographs, tools, weapons, clothing and three live specimens – Orions. It was already too late to undo the interference, and Orion slaves were already valuable on the open market.
When the Treaty of Kammzdast was signed in 15,956 BCE (stardate -179/56), governing the use of Orion slaves by alien races, the Rigellians became signatories too, in order to preserve peace in the Rigel system. However, they never traded or used Orion slaves, passing up a potential fortune, which inspired a deep and reverential awe in the Orions.
In 9050 BCE (reference stardate -110/50), the Rigellians detained an Orion slave, a Grey named Talduk Sik who was part of a technical 'working group' about to leave the Rigel system, and kept him for a few days of interviews, questioning and study. This was the first Orion that they the Rigellians examined, and they began to feel forebodings about them. The Grey Orions found it to be a mystical experience, and to the modern day some continued to think of the Rigellians as their Makers. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)
When the Orion Dawn of 1508 BCE (stardate -35/0811) saw fledgling Orion pirates steal their first ships, the Rigellians had complete information on the event, but claimed ignorance to the other Kammzdast Signatories who asked their aid. The Rigellians later used their subtle influence to allow Orions to work as clerks in their Trade Halls, giving the slaves more influence.
At the founding of the Federation in 2161 CE (stardate 0/8706.06) the Rigellian delegation requested 8 billion credits to cover their administrative costs of joining. Instead, in their terms, crude threats of Andorian reprisals forced their signature to the Articles of the Federation. (TOS novel: The Final Reflection) They were accompanied by the Orion delegation, who requested 10 trillion. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge)
Ninety standard years later, the Rigellians computed that the original amount, invested at a modest rate of four percent annual interest and compounded annually, would come to equal 273 billion credits. However, the Federation still refused to pay, believing it to be a request for a bribe. (TOS novel: The Final Reflection)
On stardate 0/9101.13, Starfleet Lieutenant Kathleen Wenzel became the Federation citizen to meet the Rigellians on Rigel IV. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)
Following the Organian Peace Treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in 2267 (stardate 2/0801.24), the Rigellians engaged in a heated and pointless debate with the Organians over it, concerning some matter in their ancient records. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)
Culture
Psychology
With a million-year-old culture, the Rigellians were known for longevity, and they had a reputation for wisdom and restraint. However, their ancient history had also left them reclusive, cynical and complacent.
At the core of Rigellian beliefs was a strong sense of humility, which found the arrogant self-glorification of the Masters to be abhorrent and utterly offensive and led them to destroy all trace of them. Even after millions of years, they never became comfortable with their genetic alterations, not even intelligence and language. They saw themselves as living testimonials as a triumph of pride over dignity and purpose.
The Rigellians possessed complete records of the history of the Rigel system and the Masters, the identity of the Preservers, the true origins of the Orions and so on - and kept this knowledge secret from everyone. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)
Society
Rigellians managed the Trade Halls of Rigel IV and the Rigellian Trade Authority, and through these they controlled the majority of trade within the Rigel system.
Orions legends told of faithful Orion servants being allowed into the depths of Rigel IV to meet with ancient and wizened Rigellian elders, or even millennia-old Masters kept on heavy life-support or uploaded into a computer. They would be gifted with wisdom and knowledge: mainly financial advice or confused accounts of Rigel’s history, which would form the tenets of various Orion religions. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)
Fashion
They decorated their tails with silver ornaments. (TOS novel: The Final Reflection)
Language
The Rigellian language was adapted by the Rigellians from some older tongue (probably that of the Masters) to suit their needs and speech difficulties.
A simplified form of the Rigellian language was Rigellian Trade Lingo, which was often mistaken for an Orion language. It was used by all merchants dealing in the Rigel system. A simple tongue that was easy to learn and use, hard to misunderstand, and quick to communicate, it had a large number of adjectives and adverbs designed for describing cargoes, and each word had a single, unmistakable meaning. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge). It was also called Rigellian Trade Dialect. (TOS novel: The Final Reflection)
Rigellian Trade Lingo even absorbed the word 'okay' from Earth's English language, with the word spreading to worlds a thousand parsecs from Earth. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Common Knowledge)
Relations
Orions tended to revere and hold in awe the Rigellians, due to the subtle aid that they gave them during their long slavery, and by never trading in them and passing up a potential fortune. Some Orion religions thought of the Rigellians as their Makers. (FASA module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)