Yridian

[[File:File:Yridian.jpg|350px]] Yridians Basic Information Quadrant Alpha Home System Yrda Government Language Urd

The Yridians were a warp capable race regarded as information merchants and smugglers and were generally considered devious and untrustworthy. Yridians come from Yrda, a Class M planet located in the Alpha Quadrant, about halfway between Cardassian and Romulan space. Its most noteworthy geographical features are its vast plains, which are home to the Yridian yak, a huge beast that the Yridians have domesticated for food, hides and dairy products. Many exotic species of fruit also evolved on Yrda, all of which are distilled and blended in various combinations into Yridian brandy.

Personality

Some might call them practical and eminently sensible, others cold and utterly ruthless. On the surface, Yridians are calm and measured and in extraordinary instances they can even summon a hint of amiability. But no one who has any experience in dealing with them doubts that Yridians have much feeling for anything other than their own interests.

Yridians speak their native language, Urd. Since very few non-Yridians know it all, it functions as a secret code among Yridian spies.

Physiology

Yridians were humanoids who were usually bald, others possessed black or brown curly hair. They had heavily wrinkled skin with a fold along the top of their heads. They also had large rodent-like pointy ears but small eyes and noses. All Yridians had an indented ridge running across the full length of their heads and extending down their nose. Yridians also had no thumbs, and possess just four fingers on each claw-like hand. They also had a stooped posture that makes them look shorter than most other humanoids.

History

Deep in their prehistory, the Yridians' ancestors lived as scavengers on a homeworld filled with large and menacing predators. This sense of their own marginality lives on in their collective unconscious and lies behind their focus on shadowy, extra-legal ways of making a living. Yridians are not great builders or thinkers, but they know instinctively how to be successful sneaks, spies, thieves and assassins. They are always on their guard, and they trust few outside their own kind.

Yridians have spied, smuggled and conducted all other manner of illicit activity in the area of the Alpha Quadrant between Cardassian and Romulan space since before either race made first contact with the Federation. Since first contact, they have extended their operations deep into Federation space, even into UFP worlds in the Beta Quadrant.

It was not known if the Yridians had a central government. The Yridians encountered by the Federation appeared to be loosely aligned and concerned with their own interests, often serving as hired agents for other races and operating as groups or individuals. They were often unwilling to reveal information they collect without payment. Despite their reputation, the Yridians were often seen on space stations and planets within Federation space. However, the shady dealings of some Yridians earned them arrest warrants issued by governments such as the Klingon Empire and their trading goods were often confiscated.

At some point before the 2360s, the Federation believed that the Yridian race became extinct. This disappearance was so total that it even convinced the Borg, who designate the Yridians as Species 6291, that the species was no longer in existence. However, Rudolph Ransom, a Starfleet exobiologist, discovered that there were some still alive and carried out first contact. For this he was awarded the post of captain of the U.S.S. Equinox.

After this point Yridians were encountered throughout Federation space again. A group of Yridians learned of the research of Dr. Richard Galen sometime prior to 2369. The Cardassian Gul Ocett purchased the information they had obtained and the Yridians later attacked Galen's shuttle to steal further data. Their ship was destroyed by the U.S.S. Enterprise-D before it could return to the Cardassians with its findings.

No one suspects Yridians of playing favorites, though, and in 2370 they were widely suspected of smuggling weapons to the Maquis, a group of militant Federation colonists living in the Demilitarized Zone between the UFP and the Cardassian Empire. The Maquis hoped to provoke a new war between the two by conducting acts of sabotage and terrorism against Cardassian targets.

Culture

A Yridian called Paltriss created several rings, later known as the Rings of Paltriss. They became extremely valuable and, as such, were removed from the Yridian homeworld over time. In 2370, Quark came into possession of forty-two of them.

Oddly enough, Yridians have also gained renown for their native beverages, including Yridian Tea, Yridian Ale, and Yridian Brandy.

Technology

The Yridians operate their own design of starship, seen used in both destroyer and freighter roles. Others were known to operate small warp capable shuttles.

Reference(s)

• Bridges, Bill, et al. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 5: Aliens, Decipher, 2003. ISBN: 1582369070.