Pakled
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Pakleds come from Pakled, a geologically active planet in the Alpha Quadrant characterized by rough, mountainous terrain. Scattered throughout the planet's hills and mountains are fertile valleys that have long served as pockets in which advanced life forms could flourish. Surprisingly - given that Pakled's tectonic plates are in constant motion - the planet has little volcanic activity, giving animal life a stable, quiet environment in which to evolve.
Personality
No one encountering a Pakled for the first time would suspect that race of harboring much intelligence. Pakleds speak at a deliberate pace and they react slowly to others' ideas and actions. They are slow to anger, but also slow to laugh; it just takes them a while to understand what's going on.
Pakleds are not an innovative lot. They're not very good at coming up with new and original ideas on their own, and beyond early Industrial Age technologies they have invented very little for themselves. They are, however, very good at scavenging what others leave behind and figuring out how to make use of it for themselves.
Physiology
Pakleds are heavy-set humanoids quite round at the mid-section and wider there than they are at the shoulders. Their faces are characterized by large folds of skin that hang down from above and below the eye, as well as prominent eyebrows that come together in a peak in the middle of the forehead. Their lower lips protrude quite noticeably.
Pakleds' thick, round bodies allow them to carry heavy loads without encumberance. Pakleds' low center of gravity - and yes, their thick cranium - makes it difficult to knock them down and out.
History and Culture
Pakleds have long operated as salvage traders in Alpha Quadrant space not explored by the Federation until the 24th century. During this time they have come into contact with the Klingons, Romulans and the Ferengi but none of the other major humanoid races. Few have acquired much wealth through selling scavenged goods, but most do well enough to scrape by.
The Federation first encountered the Pakleds in 2365, when the Enterprise-D responded to a distress call from the Pakled trading vessel Mondor. When Chief Engineer Lieutenant Geordi La Forge beamed aboard to help effect repairs, the Mondor's crew kidnapped him and tried to exchange him for complete access to the Enterprise-D's databanks. Only a clever ruse by Executive Officer Commander William Riker secured Lieutenant La Forge's release without paying the desired ransom.
The Federation immediately sent representatives to Pakled to lodge a protest over this incident, threatening to treat it as an act of war. Characteristically, it took the Pakleds almost a year to coordinate a proper response. Their chosen representatives issued a half-hearted apology that made it clear that they did not fully understand the significance of the Mondor's actions. The Federation has never invited Pakled to join them as a full member, and the Pakleds have never asked.
Society
Pakled society has always reflected the fact that their prehistoric ancestors spread themselves across their homeworld's sheltered valleys and didn't have much to do with each other after that. Even now, the planet Pakled has only a few major cities; the vast majority of Pakleds still live in agricultural settlements. Many go their entire lives without meeting anyone from outside their valley.
This geographical isolation has created a society in which stresses the importance of family ties. Pakleds feel that they owe loyalty to their extended families (or clans) and perhaps a local leader such as a village mayor, but their social obligations don't extend much beyond that circle.
Pakleds with a taste for adventure and a talent for commerce wander from valley to valley as traders, acquiring useful items (scavenging, often as not) where they can and selling them at the next settlement. These operations are usually family affairs, with several Pakled relatives working together. The most ambitious Pakleds gravitate to the big cities, learn the basics of starfaring and find their way off-planet. They set themselves up as interstellar salvage traders, playing out on a quadrant-wide scale the sort of life that planet-bound Pakled traders have pursued for centuries.
Pakleds speak Paklit and they favor multi-syllabic names full of consonant sounds that are difficult for native Federation Standard speakers to pronounce, such as Grebnedlong and Tlurghonskh.
Reference(s)
- Bridges, Bill, et al. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 5: Aliens, Decipher, 2003. ISBN: 1582369070.