Bajoran
The Bajorans are a fictional species in the science-fiction Star Trek franchise. They are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor, who have a long-standing enmity with the Cardassians, owing to decades of subjugation under a military dictatorship which saw many of their species enslaved or forced into exile away from their homeworld. They were first introduced in the 1991 episode "Ensign Ro" of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and subsequently were a pivotal element of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and also appeared in Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Picard.
The shows' writers initially depicted the Bajorans as an oppressed people who were often forced to live as refugees, whom they likened to a variety of ethnic groups. Rick Berman, who helped to originally conceive them, compared them to "The Kurds, the Palestinians, the Jews in the 1940s, the boat people from Haiti—unfortunately, the homeless and terrorism are problems in every age." Ronald D. Moore similarly commented, "depending on the episode, you could also call Bajor Israel, or Iran, or even America and the Cardassians could be Germans, or Russians or several other examples... we don't really try to make Bajor a direct analogy to any specific contemporary country or people."
Various Bajoran characters were included in several of the Star Trek series, including Ro Laren in The Next Generation as well as a number of others in Deep Space Nine, which was set on a space station near to Bajor, and which featured Bajoran characters such as Kira Nerys and Winn Adami.
Storyline
According to the fictional storyline of the Star Trek universe, the Bajorans are an ancient species who developed advanced technology before the evolution of humanity on Earth. They eventually developed space-faring ships, which took them as far away as the planet of Cardassia. In 2318 the Cardassian Union, which had been taken over by a military dictatorship, invaded Bajor, occupying it for fifty years, during which time they forced many Bajorans into slave labor, using them in their various mining operations. This forced many Bajorans to flee and live in refugee camps away from Cardassian domination, while other Bajorans became involved in the resistance movement, organising terrorist attacks against Cardassian targets.The Federation could not intervene in the situation, due to Prime Directive considerations; since Bajor had formally aligned itself with the Cardassians some time before, it was considered an internal matter between the Cardassian Union and a member/subject planet. This caused some resentment towards the Federation by the Bajoran people, especially when the Federation was initially invited to administer Deep Space Nine. This latent anger led to the formation of the Circle, an anti-Non-Bajorian movement which almost succeeded in capturing Deep Space Nine-until the "Circle" was exposed as being secretly supported by the Cardassians so that a Bajor without Federation Support would be severely weakened.
In 2369, the Cardassian civilian authorities ordered the military to withdraw from Bajor, after which the Bajoran Provisional Government invited the United Federation of Planets to set up base on the former Cardassian mining station of Terok Nor, renaming it Deep Space Nine, and requesting membership into the Federation.
In 2369, when Commander Benjamin Sisko was assigned command of DS9, one of his instructions was to prepare Bajor for full membership into the Federation. This was a long-running theme during the rest of the series. In 2373, with the Dominion War on the horizon, Bajor asks to be admitted to the Federation under special circumstances. Sisko, acting as Emissary of the Prophets, warned that if Bajor were to join the Federation at that time, it would mean the destruction of that world. With this warning, Bajor decided not to accept membership at that time. At the start of the Dominion War, Bajor officially declared their neutrality, although many Bajorans joined Starfleet and, as well, a new resistance to the occupation of Deep Space Nine was formed.
Biology
Like many aliens on Star Trek, the Bajorans are human-like in appearance, but have a distinctive symmetrical facial feature: a series of horizontal ridges on the bridge of the nose between the eyes. Despite their human-like appearance, there are several biological differences between the two species.During pregnancy, Bajoran women experience uncontrollable sneezing fits in lieu of morning sickness. Bajoran women gestate for five months, as opposed to the nine months of human women, due to high vascularization between the fetus and the mother. As a result, any attempt to remove the fetus prematurely, especially during the later stages of pregnancy, would cause massive blood loss to the mother and severe distress to the baby. During childbirth, Bajoran women must be completely relaxed. Their body produces endorphins during labor, and thus they commonly feel little or no pain during the process. Typically, labor only lasts an hour, but if it goes on too long, the body stops producing endorphins lest they rise to toxic levels, and the baby will have to be born at a later time.
Culture and traditions
Bajoran tradition places the family name before the given name. Thus, Kira Nerys is called Major Kira ; likewise, Ro Laren. Bajorans typically consider it an honor when they are addressed correctly by offworlders.Bajorans' spiritual lives center around the Orbs—alien objects believed to have been sent by the Prophets —each of which has a unique ability such as the Orb of Time, which allows those viewing it to revisit past events. Nine orbs have been discovered over the centuries ; eight were seized by the Cardassians during the Occupation. In the series there are ten orbs although only five are named: the Orb of Prophecy and Change, which was kept on Bajor; the Orbs of Contemplation and of Time, which the Cardassians returned to Bajor; the Orb of Wisdom, which the Ferengi sold to Bajor; and the Orb of the Emissary, which Sisko found. A non-canonical novel names the other five Orbs as the Orbs of Memory, Destiny, Souls, Truth, and Unity.
The Bajoran people were originally divided into castes, called d'jarras, that dictated a person's place in Bajoran society; members of a lower-ranking d'jarra were expected to defer to those of a higher caste. When the Occupation began, the d'jarra system was abolished as the resistance movement encouraged all Bajorans to unite, regardless of caste. When the former Bajoran spiritual leader, Akorem Laan, attempted to reintroduce the caste system, it was rejected because it would have made Bajor ineligible for Federation membership.
Bajorans wear large, chained earrings and ear cuffs called d'ja pagh on their right ears, as symbols of their religious faith. Before the war against Cardassian occupation, the earring also symbolized one's d'jarra. Even after the Occupation, there were still different styles of earrings passed down through families, but they had lost their original significance. When Akorem Laan encountered Major Kira, he recognized from the style of her earring that she is a member of the artisan d'jarra, even though she was a member of the military, and she explained that the different styles of earring no longer signified anything. Ro Laren lost her faith because of her experiences while a Cardassian Prisoner; yet, still defiantly Bajoran, she wears her d'ja pagh on her left ear. It's later discovered that Ro also used her earring as a covert data storage device which she gave to Jean-Luc Picard shortly before her death.
Bajoran cuisine is not unlike that of many other races. Many Bajorans are fond of hasperat, which is almost identical in taste and texture to that of a large Earth burrito prepared in a special brine. Jumja sticks are large, dark red, roughly diamond-shaped popsicle-like sweet confectionery treats, though some other races, like Romulans, have commented that they can be a little too sweet. In addition to various ales, Bajorans have been known to make an alcoholic beverage known as spring wine, which very much like other wines, has vintage years, and the quality of the wine can vary from year to year, and bottles from a particularly good vintage year can become sought-after collector's items among high-ranking Bajorans. Also, humans serving aboard Deep Space Nine would frequently order Terran seafood dishes with Bajoran Shrimp as a substitute, since replication issues aside, transporting shrimp from Earth would be impractical, given the travel time involved.
Bajor
Bajor is the homeworld of the Bajorans. Bajor is a Class M planet with five moons. A day on Bajor lasts 26 hours, and Deep Space Nine also follows a 26-hour day. Bajor's oceans viewed from space appear more green than blue.Bajor, the seventh planet in the system, orbits the star Bajor-B'hava'el in the Bajoran sector. Other inhabited celestial bodies in the Bajoran star system include Andros, a Class K planet and the fifth moon of Bajor, Jeraddo.
Religion
The Bajoran religion, also called The Way of the Prophets, is a major unifying force on the planet. This religion is unusual in that the deities and other phenomena associated with the religion, though treated as supernatural, can also be understood as beings in the material world accessible by scientific observations.Prophets
The Prophets, or "the wormhole aliens" exist within the wormhole connecting the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants, the Alpha Quadrant end being located within the Bajoran system. This wormhole is referred to as the Celestial Temple by the Bajoran people. The Prophets experience time differently, with their first encounter with corporeal beings resulting in a long and confusing conversation as to how linear time works. Their motives remain unclear; on several occasions they proclaim their disinterest in the physical world, though they do repeatedly intervene on behalf of Bajor and its people.The Prophets are the creators of sacred objects called Orbs or "Tears of the Prophets". The orbs induce visions in people.