Iconia
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One of the true legends of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, Iconia’s civilization was destroyed by planetary bombardment over 200,000 years in the past. However, the legends of these “Demons of Air and Darkness” have been passed down from generation to generation, making the discovery of Iconia in 2365 one of the landmarks in archeology… and very nearly one of the most dangerous discoveries of all time.
Before Starfleet discovered the Iconians, the Vulcans or Andorians may have references to the ancient Iconian civilization, and even the most minor of Iconian artifacts may include technological keys unknown in the Galaxy in that era. Iconia was a legend during the 23rd century, and Iconian artifacts might be found (and fought over) on any number of worlds. It is possible that the Guardian of Forever was Iconian in origin. By the 24th century, the Federation had discovered a few Iconian remains, but the empire remained enigmatic. The destruction of the Iconian gateway may have signified the end of the greatest threat, but neither the Federation nor the Romulans can afford to let the other mine Iconia for archeological secrets. The discovery of an Iconian gateway in 2372 on Vandros IV in the Gamma Quadrant both highlights the range of Iconia’s reach and the ever-present threat of letting their technology be exploited by other powers in the Galaxy.
Iconia is the fourth of nine worlds orbiting a yellow sun. It is located deep in the Neutral Zone between the Romulans and the Federation, and is closer to the Romulan side of the zone. As it is within the neutral zone, neither the Romulans nor the Federation can claim Iconia, nor send expeditions to develop the planet save jointly. And, given the nature and value of Iconian technology, the likelihood of a joint archeological mission is slim at best.
Climate
It is hard to tell what Iconia’s climate once was, but it’s likely the planet once possessed significant water presence and a temperate climate. However, the bombardment of Iconia destroyed most of its biosphere. While the world continues to be Class M, and is capable of supporting life, there is little vegetation left on the planet. Radiation persists on the Iconian surface even after all this time, masking scans and making long range surveys of the planet difficult at best.
Geography
Iconia is an old world, sadly made barren by an assault so old no one knows who even destroyed the planet. With little living on the planet, the weather has had a chance to smooth over the terrain unimpeded. Long, featureless plains are typical on this world, and mountains have mostly been laid low. The rare exceptions are those ranges formed by a convergence of the tectonic plates or rare volcanic activity. Oddly enough, the last known power source and gateway on Iconia was in one of those mountain ranges, protected from the weather by the mountains and having avoided destruction both by the initial assault on Iconia and the slow movement of tectonic forces.
Civilization
Almost nothing definite is known of the Iconians. On hundreds of worlds, legends tell stories of their near-magical technology and their warlike ways. However, there are some theories that the Iconians may have been peaceful, but their destroyers may have been so frightened of their technology that they destroyed what they could not understand. There are even some who say that the descendents of Iconia still live in the galaxy, though who those descendents might be remains unknown.
What is known is the sophistication of their technology. The Iconians possessed transporter portal technology literally capable of reaching from the Beta Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant — a trip of over seventy thousand light years — instantaneously. Iconian computer technology was so sophisticated that a single exposure to an interface probe was capable of rewriting the software of every computer on board the U.S.S. Yamato instantly, and so pervasive that even just downloading the Yamato’s log infected both the U.S.S. Enterprise-D’s computer system and that of the Romulan Warbird Haakona, to the point that complete memory purging and reloading was necessary. The Iconian gateways imply Iconia may have possessed transwarp technology as well, and given their computer probe was sufficient to destroy one Galaxy class starship casually and nearly destroy two other starships with one contact, one can only imagine how destructive Iconian weaponry was.
History
So little is actually known of Iconia that it is impossible to separate history from folklore. The high Iconian civilization existed some 200,000 years or more in the past, and at that time Iconia had the technology to spread out across the galaxy as easily as a Starfleet Cadet might beam from Starfleet Academy to New Orleans in 2265. Literally hundreds of worlds have evidence of Iconian influence or visitations in their past, and the legends have come down describing the Iconians as warmongers and conquerors. According to these stories, the other worlds of the galaxy finally banded together, journeyed to Iconia, and finally destroyed the “demons of air and darkness” by bombardment.
However, it has been pointed out by many that the winners write the history books. Was Iconia truly a warlike power? If they were, how did the technologically inferior races of the galaxy destroy their oppressors so completely? And were the Iconians truly wiped out, or did some escape? For centuries, there were no answers to these questions. There were merely worlds with similar language structures, artifacts that were as puzzling as they were intriguing, and the mystery of where the planet Iconia really was.
That mystery was finally solved in 2365, by Captain Donald Varley of the U.S.S. Yamato. Finding an ancient Iconian star chart and adjusting for stellar drift and parallax, Captain Varley was able to pinpoint Iconia’s location. Unfortunately, it pinpointed it deep within the Romulan Neutral Zone.
Captain Varley had his archeological and scientific interest turn to horror. If even one tenth of the legends of Iconia were true, the race that gained access to Iconian technology would vastly outstrip the other galactic powers. If the Romulans were the ones to gain that technology, then Starfleet and the Federation were doomed.
Deciding the risk was too great even to respect the treaty, Captain Varley violated the Neutral Zone and went to Iconia. There, the Yamato was probed by an automatic system that launched to meet the ship. This probe was some kind of energy construct which, upon reaching the Yamato, attempted to interface with the Yamato’s computers. In so doing, it infected the Yamato’s computers with a deadly computer virus that literally rewrote the ship’s control software to Iconian standards. Of course, Federation systems weren’t designed to operate under Iconian software, and system failures began to move across the ship. As the Yamato’s crew became endangered by malfunctions, Captain Varley sent a distress call to her sister ship, the U.S.S Enterprise-D. Tragically, the Yamato lost warp containment before the Enterprise could assist them.
Recognizing the value — and potential danger — of Captain Varley’s discovery, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise decided to also violate the Neutral Zone and investigate Iconia. Discovering that the Iconian probe had infected the Yamato’s computer systems — and that the infection had spread to both the Enterprise and the Romulan Warbird Haakona via the Yamato’s log — the Enterprise destroyed any Iconian probes launched against it. After battling progressive system malfunctions and computer failures on both ships, the Enterprise and the Haakona managed to purge their computers by erasing them and restoring all default control programs from protected backups.
During this time, Captain Picard led an away team to Iconia’s surface, where they found an Iconian gateway capable of spanning the Galaxy. Rather than let this technology fall into Romulan hands, Captain Picard managed to destroy the gateway and the last known base on Iconia. (TNG: "Contagion")
It is worth nothing that while no ship has explored Iconia since, a second Iconian gateway was discovered, some sixty thousand light years away on the planet Vandros IV in the Gamma Quadrant. Captain Benjamin Sisko, commanding the U.S.S. Defiant, led a joint strike with Dominion forces to prevent a renegade group of Jem'Hadar from controlling the gateway. In the process, the gateway was destroyed. (DS9: "To The Death")
Places of Interest
There are no known power signatures remaining on Iconia, but it is highly likely that artifacts, technology and many interesting secrets remain buried under two hundred thousand years of sediment, waiting to be freed.
Reference(s)
- Burns, Eric, Kenneth A. Hite & Doug Sun. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 7: Worlds, Decipher, 2005. ISBN: 1582369097.