Thiopa was an inhabited planet, centrally located between the Federation border and the Ferengi Alliance fringe systems. (TNG novel: Power Hungry)
History[]
Thiopa, a planet rich in fossil fuels, experienced its last ice age 22,000 years ago, spawned the Thiopan civilisation.
Nuarans had visited and traded with Thiopa before its planetary goverment leader, Ruer Stross, took power. The relationship became more active after. The Nuarans valued Thiopa’s natural riches and location. Thiopa allowed the Nuarans to find and exploit various resources, and the Nuarans used the planet as a port facility. When Stross took control, Thiopa had just begun industrialisation. In less than forty years, they progressed from steam engines to nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, and intrasystem spaceflight. However, the abundant Thiopan resources were running out. The planet experienced a greenhouse effect due to a fifty percent increase in carbon dioxide levels caused by the combustion of fossil fuels in energy production and transport vehicles. The mean temperature rose by 4 degrees Celsius in just 50 years. It was projected that by 2415, almost all Thiopan land masses would be uninhabitable by anything more than a small population, condemning Thiopan civilisation to a dark age.
In 2365, the Thiopans disengaged from their long-standing association with the despotic Nuaran Imperium. Starfleet discovered that the Ferengi Alliance had designs on the sector where Thiopa resided in. It was hoped that a convoy of food and other desperately needed supplies would alleviate Thiopa’s crisis and give the Federation a chance to establish formal ties with the planet before the Ferengi could exploit the chaotic situation. Ambassador Frid Undrun of the Federation Aid and Assistance Ministry was sent on the Flagship USS Enterprise, accompanied by a convoy of five cargo drones.