The Federation | Michael Burnham | The Klingon Empire | The Mirror Universe | The Emerald Chain
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In General
The Emerald Chain in General
A mercantile syndicate composed (mostly) of Andorians and Orions that arose in the wake of the Burn in the late 31st Century. The Chain controlled a vast territory, including a series of mercantile exchanges and private salvage yards operated by debt-slave laborers forced to work under brutal conditions.
- Balkanize Me: The Chain "fractures" after Osyraa's death, though to what extent isn't mentioned.
- Color Motif: Shades of green. The Emerald Chain have many green-skinned Orions among their number, and their flagship is called the Viridian.
- Cool Starship: Their flagship, the Viridian.
- Decapitated Army: After Osyraa is killed in the retaking of Discovery, the Chain fractures.
- Klingon Promotion: The Chain appears to encourage this if Ryn's attempted rebellion and the challenges to Osyraa's leadership are anything to go by.
- Make an Example of Them: "The Examples" reveals that crime outside the Chain's atrocities was deterred by selecting criminals for life imprisonment, no matter how minor their crimes, as Examples to show the population what would happen to lawbreakers. Even after the Chain's collapse, some post-Chain governments still maintain this barbaric tradition.
- N.G.O. Superpower: The Emerald Chain is a mercantile alliance/crime syndicate with a near-monopoly of dilithium and a vast territory that pretty much makes it the only true rival to what is left of the Federation in the 32nd Century.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Chain enslaves those who are indebted to them and force them to work under brutal conditions, as evidenced by the salvage yard featured in Scavengers.
- Reformed Criminal: If Osyraa was genuine in her desire of an alliance with the Federation, the concessions detailed in the agreement would have eventually turned the Chain into these. Of course, said agreement went down the drain just as soon as it was suggested that Osyraa pays for her crimes as part of the deal.
- The Syndicate: Passes itself as a mercantile group but it becomes pretty clear early on that they are little more than criminals hiding behind a veneer of legitimacy. They have no problem with enslaving sentients and forcing planets to commit genocide in exchange for pesticides, to name just a couple of their atrocities.
Leadership
Osyraa
Minister Osyraa
"My ancestors knew that power is a virtue, and there is no nobility in suffering. You do what it takes to get what you need, or you don't."
Played by: Janet Kidder
A minister (and de facto leader) of the Emerald Chain, and commander of the flagship Viridian.
- Big Bad: Of Season 3, as head of the Emerald Chain and the biggest threat to the remnants of the Federation, also with a vested interest in Discovery itself due to the priceless power its spore drive offers in the post-Burn quadrant.
- Boom, Headshot!: Dies when Michael shoots her in the face with her phaser.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Is essentially the Big Bad of Season 3, and is this to Control, from Season 2. While Control started off as a Federation AI with incredible resources and abilities, Osyraa is a normal, albeit very cunning and highly-ranked, Orion. Control's threat came completely out of nowhere, while Osyraa has been The Dreaded in her part of the galaxy for some time. Control was The Assimilator, Osyraa veers between The Dreaded and a Villain with Good Publicity for some of her underlings. Control was an Omnicidal Maniac, while Osyraa prefers Pragmatic Villainy and really only wants to expand her power base, seeking to do this by "joining" the Federation and becoming The Man Behind the Man. The only thing both have in common is a knack for subterfuge.
- Faux Affably Evil: While Ossyra can be very charming when negotiating, she is a ruthless dictator who won't hesitate to commit atrocities to get what she wants.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: She is an Orion woman, the original green-skinned space babes. Her skin is of a darker shade of green, unlike most of her kin. The "babe" part is downplayed, as she does not dress provocatively or attempt to use her sexuality as a weapon (she prefers to use actual weapons, typically a lot of them in the hands of a lot of Mooks).
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: When she tried to kill Michael with the memory core's programmable matter, she gave her the chance to shoot her dead without being able to see it coming.
- If I Can't Have You…: When Vance rejects her offer, Osyraa tries to destroy the Federation completely.
- It's All About Me: Osyraa offers an alliance with the Federation in There Is a Tide, one that requires the Emerald Chain to make significant concessions at that. She is quite sincere in her overtures for peace according to a holographic lie detector, and Admiral Vance admits that it was a good deal...but when he insists that she stand trial for her own atrocities as part of the deal, she immediately drops the offer because it would force her to personally give something up.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Aurellio is the one person she's seen showing any kindness to. So when she strangles him into unconsciousness for questioning her while telling him that she'll kill him if he defies her again, it becomes clear how utterly insincere her talk of building a better galaxy is.
- Offing the Offspring: When she fed Tolor to a trance worm. Granted, Tolor was actually her nephew and not her child, but she took him in and practically raised him...right after she killed his father for challenging her.
- Older Than She Looks: Appears vaguely middle-aged (Janet Kidder was born in 1972), although she is apparently old enough that the two children she had taken under her wing (her nephew and a human who would eventually become her chief scientist) are fully grown adults by the time Season Three rolls around, the latter being middle-aged himselfNote .
- The Social Darwinist: Appears to have shades of this:Osyraa: My ancestors knew that power is virtue, and there is no nobility in suffering. You do what it takes to get what you need, or you don’t.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She genuinely wants to make a better galaxy, in spite of her far more brutal methods. However...
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: She wants to make a better galaxy if she's the only one allowed to do so.
Members
Tolor
Tolor
Played by: Ian Luke
Osyraa's nephew and the administrator of an Emerald Chain salvage yard.
- The Bully: Is labelled as such by Georgiou, and like all bullies, he crumbles like a cookie when he is presented with an even bigger bully in her.
- Offing the Offspring: Is fed to a trance worm by his aunt, Osyraa.
- You Have Failed Me: Allowing Ryn to escape captivity is what let to Tolor being fed to the aforementioned trance worm.
Aurellio
Aurellio
Played by: Kenneth Mitchell
A human scientist who works for the Emerald Chain, brought in by Osyraa to figure out how the spore drive on Discovery works.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Enjoys Andorian opera and observes Orion tradition by having three piercings behind his ear in honour of the three children he has with his Orion partner.
- Genius Cripple: Has a genetic disorder that has left him confined to a wheelchair but he is still the finest scientist of the Emerald Chain.
- Heel–Face Turn: After realizing how evil Osyraa and the Emerald Chain truly are, he decides to join forces with Discovery.
- Token Good Teammate: Aurellio is a genuinely nice person who believes Osyraa wants a better future for the galaxy, even if her methods can be distasteful at times. Stamets educates him on just how cruel she can be when he isn't there to see it, and he gets a front-row seat when she murders Ryn in cold blood just because he mouthed off to her.
- Undying Loyalty: Osyraa took Aurellio under her wing when he was still a child and cultivated his talents in science while ensurng that his disorder didn't kill him, thus earning his unquestioning loyalty. It becomes a little less unquestioning after Stamets informs him of all the shady things Osyraa has been up to. After Osyraa strangles him for questioning her, he realizes how she's been manipulating him and helps Discovery escape the Chain after Ossyra dies.
Zareh
Zareh
Played by: Jake Weber
"You've got a mouth, and I've got a gun. We're gonna make this go real slow."
A human officer and courier of the Emerald Chain.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: During his fight with Book, he gloats about how he is going to kill Grudge. This turns out to be a fatal mistake on Zareh's part.Book: She...is a queen!
- Disney Villain Death: Book throws him into the gap between the Discovery's turbolifts. We see him hit a structural member at a lethal velocity on the way down.
- Evil Cripple: Lost a couple fingers to frostbite after being forced to go to the surface and brave the parasitic ice.
- Jerkass: He's a remorseless murderer who takes pleasure in hurting those weaker than him.
- Never Found the Body: At the end of "Far from Home", he is forced to walk through parasitic ice without protective gear and was presumed dead. However, he returns in "There is a Tide..." minus a few fingers.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: He talks in a quiet voice while causing extreme pain to anyone he doesn't like.
Former Members
Ryn
Ryn
Played by: Noah Averbach-Katz
An Andorian male who was born into the Emerald Chain before he tried to rally others to rebel against Osyraa and was subsequently made into a slave.
- Cruel Mercy: Instead of being executed for trying to rebel against Osyraa, she instead cut off his antennae and condemned him to a salvage yard where he was forced to implant explosive devices on the other slave laborers.
- Deader than Dead: Is vaporised by Osyraa after he mouths off to her.
- Hated by All: Because his job is to implant explosive devices in the other slave laborers, he is easily the most hated person in the yard.
- Mark of Shame: His antennae have been amputated. Curiously enough, they haven't grown back. note
- Secret-Keeper: His escape from the salvage yard vexes Osyraa because he knew her secret: that the Emerald Chain was running out of dilithium.
