Q Continuum

The Q are a race of hyper-evolved, immensely powerful entities who exist in a continuum of limitless dimensions. These entities can warp reality to their desire at whim, creating or destroying things, halting time or turning it back. Like many highly evolved entities, they sometimes become curious about the state of affairs of less-evolved beings. One such entity, dubbed merely "Q," has taken a consistent interest in human beings, and has appeared to various starship captains at different times, testing them with some form of paradox or another. He, like others of his kind, are usually surprised at the results, showing that they are not omniscient.

Indeed, a dissident from the Continuum - an entity called "Quinn" who wished to end its life through suicide, something forbidden by the Continuum - has declared that his kind lost their sense of purpose and growth, trading mortality for endless stasis. The yearning for change caused him to defy his own kind, and is surely behind Q's own constant harassing of humanity.

The entities of the Continuum inhabit a unique dimension, not a single world. Nothing is known for sure about this dimension's properties, except that humans can experience it in images familiar to their culture or history.

*NOTE* Per OF Rules & Guidelines, the Q fall within the realm of "non-humanoid races" and therefore are NOT playable as a character in OF.

Personality

Most entities of the Continuum have no interest at all in anything but themselves, having moved "beyond such concerns" with their advanced evolution. They exist changelessly with no heed of the doings of other beings throughout the galaxy. A few of them, however, do take an interest, and watch and observe the goings-on. A few rare entites, such as Q, involve themselves actively in such affairs. Starfleet has no records of any such specific entities except for Q and his suicidal fellow, Quinn. The El-Aurians, however, seem to have encountered more than one, and believe that "some [of them] are almost respectable."

The motives that drive the Continuum entities who involve themselves in galactic affairs can never be fully known. Certainly, curiosity is part of it, as is perhaps a desire to experience some sense of mortality and change, to remind themselves of what it must have been like once. Whether they also do this to advance some sort of evolutionary cause, nudging certain races in certain directions, is unknown and may be unknowable unless viewed from the near-eternal viewpoint of such an entity.

The greatest change to rock the Continuum in millennia was the mating of Q with one of his kind, producing a new child, something unknown in the Continuum before. No new entity has existed in the Continuum in memory, for once they ascended to their state, they did not change from it, except to extinguish the few among them who deviated from their beliefs. Now, there is a new entity, a young entity without any of the weight of millennia to hold him down. Who knows what he will become or what changes he will initiate in others of his kind?

Physiology

Entities from the Q Continuum can assume any form they desire. What native forms they may wear within their own dimension is unknown, but they are surely creatures of either pure energy or pure thought. When meddling in the affairs of lesser sentients, they usually assume the form of the race they are testing, sometimes taking on a historical persona important to that culture and designed to prove a point, either about the race's atavistic love of violence or its stubborn refusal to adopt other viewpoints - all efforts designed to either punish the race or goad it further on the path of evolution.

Q sometimes chooses to follow the rules of his adopted form, in which case he can be punched in the face like any other person. Don't try this, however, unless you're ready for the consequences.

History and Culture

The Continuum does not appreciate its members meddling in the affairs of less-evolved beings. It punished Q for this offense by removing his powers, but another Continuum entity later reestablished them after testing Q's capacity for self-sacrifice (apparently considered a highly evolved trait).

The Continuum does not want its members living among less-evolved beings while retaining their powers; it threatens to destroy those who do not comply with this rule.

Although the Continuum has punished dissidents before, and even extinguished them, they could not allow a suicide for the precedent it might start. Quinn's eventual death sparked a war among entities in the Continuum, with a freedom faction led by Q calling for greater freedoms and change from their static ways. This civil war was experienced throughout the galaxy as a series of supernovae. Whole suns died in the war of the superpowers. Finally, Q conceived a child with an entity he had been courting for four billion years. The child's birth ended the war, causing all amazed entities within the Continuum to reexamine their millennia-old prejudices.

Entities of the Q Continuum can speak any language from any culture from any time period. They don't share this knowledge with less-evolved sentients, and so will not answer questions about extinct civilizations or forgotten races. Whatever means these entities use to designate themselves within their home dimension is unknown.

Reference(s)

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