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Across the Series

Star Trek Novelverse (Humans)

The Federation (non-humans)

Leonard James Akaar

An exiled Capellan royal, who worked his way up the Starfleet hierarchy to eventually occupy the very top post, as Commander-In-Chief.

Ascended Extra: He's the baby from "Friday's Child".
Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: His initial appearances seemed to build him up as an almighty Jerkass, but once the situation calmed his more reasonable qualities came to the surface.
Big Good: Becomes Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet and so is often the one giving Picard, Janeway, Riker, etc, their orders.
Cigar Chomper: Fond of Capellan markah leaf cigarillos, though he points out they are neither toxic nor addictive like Earth tobacco.
Proud Warrior Race Guy
Reasonable Authority Figure: While he's not above intimidation, threats, or surly behavior he will listen to subordinates and give them the latitude they need to get the job done.
Unwanted Rescue: The cause of his estrangement from Tuvok.
We Used to Be Friends: With Tuvok.

Asarem Wadeen

A Bajoran politician who served as Shakaar Edon's Second Minister, and later succeeded him as First Minister of Bajor.

Cort Enaran

A member of the Betazoid government, hero of his planet's resistance against the Dominion, and later Federation Councillor from Betazed.

My Species Doth Protest Too Much: To some extent. The Dominion War and the fight to liberate Betazed have made him harder and less accomodating than most Betazoids. Rather than build bridges through empathy, he's often more interested in standing opposed to anything repressive or oppressive. See, for instance, his opposition to Cardassian aid in Star Trek: Articles of the Federation, or his baiting of the Gorn Imperator in Star Trek: Cold Equations.

Gard

A Joined Trill charged with monitoring and protecting against corrupted Joinings, including an Ancient Conspiracy involving an offshoot of the Trill symbionts.

Hunter of Monsters: His role in Trill society consists of hunting down Joined Trill who have suffered a corruptive joining and thus become dangerously unhinged.
Legacy Character: Every host of the Gard symbiont fulfills the exact same function in Trill society, in contrast to every other Joined Trill.
Punny Name: In fact, the pun has two meanings and a twist. Hiziki Gard first appears as a Trill security officer, and jokingly comments on the coincidental translation of his phonetic name. Later, we learn that Gard is a unique symbiont whose hosts all serve the same role in Trill society - that of keeping watch for "corrupted" Joinings and dealing with the monster that results. Therefore, he is a "guard" of sorts for Trill society as well as using the cover of a literal security guard.

Bera chim Gleer

Long-serving Federation Councillor from Tellar.

The Bore: President Bacco has to try very hard not to shut her eyes and nap when he gets going on one of his long-winded diatribes.
Character Filibuster: He's infamous in-universe for these; a typical speech before the rest of the Federation Council lasts for an hour and a half, minimum.
Hidden Depths: While earlier portrayals stress his wearying or politically irritating traits, Zero Sum Game brings his strong sense of principles into focus.

Ishan Anjar

A politically ambitious Bajoran who serves as President pro tempore of the Federation following President Bacco's assassination.

Dark Secret: Actually a former collaborator during the Occupation of Bajor named Baras Rodirya.

Knight Templar: His approach to keeping the Federation safe.
Our Presidents Are Different: He seems to be a cross between President Scheming and President Jerkass. Eventually, it's revealed that he's not even the real Ishan Anjar.

Lonnoc Kedair

A Takaran, Kedair serves as Chief of Security of the USS Aventine, under Captain Ezri Dax.

Good Thing You Can Heal: Like all Takarans, Kedair can take a lot of punishment due to their distributed internal organs.
Heroic BSoD: Goes through one after her orders cause a friendly-fire accident that killed three fellow officers.

Ranul Keru

A Trill Starfleet officer (unjoined) who lost his lifemate (Sean Hawk, from Star Trek: First Contact) and took a leave to Trill to serve as a Guardian. He later returned to Starfleet to join the crew of the Titan as Chief of Security.

Odd Friendship: With Torvig Bu-kar-nguv, aboard the Titan.

Rennan Konya

A Betazoid security officer, who has trained himself to tap into the motor cortex of others' brains. He was assigned to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, and later transferred to the Enterprise-E as a Deputy Chief of Security.

Martial Pacifist: Doesn't like to engage in physical combat, because he feels every injury he inflicts on his opponent.

L'Haan

A Vulcan agent of Section 31.

P8 Blue

A member of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, belonging to the Nasat race. Basically, she's a giant blue pillbug. She's more commonly known by her nickname, Pattie.

Blessed with Suck: As a "Quiet," she has the ability to communicate with the other sapient race on her homeworld, a talent very few possess. Unfortunately, Quiets have great difficulty with regular language skills (hence the name - as children, they don't speak). Her childhood was therefore difficult, and she was an outcast for much of it.
Humanity Is Infectious: Some of her belief systems are influenced by the humans she works with; she begins to find an interest in history, and even feels slightly maternal towards her larvae, being a little sad when she drops them off at the child care centre, never to see them again.

My Species Doth Protest Too Much: P8 likes to "shake things up" and have adventures, in contrast to the rest of the Nasats, who are super-cautious, conservative and hate taking risks.
Never Accepted in His Hometown: Despite being a perfect ambassador for the Nasat people (friendly, intelligent, kind, brave, humorous), she's actually an outcast on the Nasat homeworld.
Stop Being Stereotypical: Her attitude to her fellow Nasats, when they live up to the expectation that Nasats are timid and highly conservative.

Melora Pazlar

Starfleet officer from the low-gravity artificial planet Gemworld; essentially crippled in normal gravity, she does not like people feeling sorry for her. Serves as Titan's Chief Science Officer.

Graceful in Their Element: Put her in a low-g environment and she can easily function stronger, faster and better than any other officer from a normal gravity environment.
Mind Rape: On the receiving end of a forced mind meld from Tuvok, which makes her temporarily agoraphobic.

Sonek Pran

A political consultant who performs irregular diplomatic duties for the Federation government; a scholar and, in his spare time, a musician.

Alien Arts Are Appreciated: He's both a musician from a family of musicians and a Human/Vulcan/Betazoid/Bajoran hybrid. He's therefore been exposed to a great many styles of music, and can play a particularly broad range of tunes. He joins the crew of the starship Aventine for a therapeutic concert at one point.
Heinz Hybrid: He's one-quarter human, Bajoran, Betazoid and Vulcan.
Omniglot: We might expect Sonek Pran, as a respected scholar and political analyst, to know a few prominent languages, certainly more than the usual. But when it's revealed he can speak perfect Lissepian (the Lissepians being a reasonably well-known trading culture but nothing special), he definitely crosses into Omniglot territory.

Ra'ch B'ullhy

Federation Councillor from Damiano.

Fantastic Racism: Takes a lot of abuse on Damiano for being in a relationship with only one other Damiani (Damiani are usually found in triad relationships). It even leads to one or two assassination attempts when she was elected to higher office.

Ra-Ghoratreii

An Efrosian who served as Federation President in the final decade of the 23rd Century - including the Khitomer Conference and the foundation of Federation/Klingon peace.

Xin Ra-Havreii

An Efrosian engineer who helped design the Luna-class starships, and later served as Captain Riker's Chief Engineer aboard the Luna-class Titan. Involved in a relationship with Melora Pazlar.

Insufferable Genius: A milder example - usually, flattery or appeals to his pride will get him to back down.
It's All My Fault: Blames himself for an accident during the testing of the prototype U.S.S. Luna that resulted in several deaths.

Shenti Yiesc Eres Ree

The formidable but super-polite Chief Medical Officer aboard the starship Titan. A member of the Pahkwa-thanh, a race resembling theropod dinosaurs.

Culture Clash: Occasionally suffers some of the difficulties that might be expected of a predatory dinosaur creature, such as an instinctive need to play with his food, or not getting why Troi's so determined to keep a baby which she already knows is dead when a Pahkwa-thanh would just crack the egg and eat the unborn fetus.
Papa Wolf: Interestingly, to Deanna Troi when he felt her unborn child was threatened. Somehow, her Betazoid abilities activated his species' strong paternal instincts, and he kidnapped her to protect her while she gave birth.

Soloman

Formally known as 110. A Bynar computer expert who chose to continue operating alone after his partner 111 was killed; serves the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

Fantastic Racism: Because he is no longer part of a bonded pair, other Bynars consider him to be defective and refer to him with the slur "singleton".

Punny Name: Captain Gold called him a "solo man" shortly after he decided not to return to Bynaus and be re-paired, and he took it up as his name.

T'Lana

A Vulcan counselor assigned to Picard's ''Enterprise'' for a time. She clashed with Picard over his particular command style and eventually left the ship.

Aborted Arc: The end of her first novel, Resistance, seemed to be setting T'Lana up as a romantic interest for Worf. Then Before Dishonour happened. Worf ended up with Jasminder Choudhury instead.
The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: In the aftermath of ''Before Dishonor', she does a little reflection and figures she's suffering from a number of personality issues, and if she was one of her own patients she'd can her ass in a second.
Depending on the Writer: Difficult but with valid opinions, or a total bigot who thinks she's always right?
Fantastic Racism: Eventually, she has a bit of this towards everybody who isn't Vulcan, and Worf in particular.
Informed Attribute: Her supposed great insight into other cultures never really materializes in any of her appearances.
It's All About Me: Momentarily, during Destiny, she wonders if the Borg invasion is her fault, then chides herself for being so narcissistic.
Killed Off for Real: In Star Trek: Destiny, she dies in the bombardment of Vulcan.

Straw Vulcan: There's a good reason Picard wants her the hell off the Enterprise at the end of Before Dishonour. Even Spock completely washes his hands of her after she fails to hear reason. She does acknowledge her own faults in Greater Than the Sum, and herself admits she was completely out of line, as well as unprofessional in the extreme. Sadly she dies before she can redeem herself.
Sucksessor: Much much less capable in her role as ship's counselor than Deanna Troi.

T'Latrek

The long-serving Federation Councillor from Vulcan.

T'Viss

A staple of the Department of Temporal Investigations, a genius temporal physicist and instructor in same.

Taurik

A young Vulcan who has served on Picard's Enterprise-E for some time as Assistant Chief Engineer.

Mor glasch Tev

An arrogant Tellarite attached to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and eventually assigned to the da Vinci. Brilliant, but has difficulty playing nice with his teammates.

Acquired Situational Narcissism: Whenever he ends up in command. It's a case of Serial Escalation, seeing how puffed-up and full of himself he is in the first place.
Damned by Faint Praise: He does this to his crewmates all the time.
Insufferable Genius: He barely recognizes any contributions from his shipmates, considers his solutions to be the best ones simply because he thought of them, and doesn't work well in the chain of command. It's these last two that finally get him an epic ass-chewing from Sonya Gomez and a formal reprimand placed in his record.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Both averted, and in a strange way played straight. Tev is the stereotypical Tellarite, as teammate Fabian Stevens notes. Yet his difficult manner is often due to his being an Insufferable Genius, not just the Blue-and-Orange Morality of his people. Most Tellarites are shown to be in Jerk with a Heart of Gold territory due to their social customs; Tev, while otherwise fitting the Tellarite mould perfectly, often comes across as...just a jerk.
Pig Man
Mr. Vice Guy: Tev is one of the most prideful heroes around. Of course, he's a Tellarite, so to his culture it isn't actually a vice.

Thirishar ch'Thane

A young Andorian science officer, who had issues with his people's system of arranged marriage and selective breeding. This is intended as a means of reversing their people's slow genetic decline; "Shar" believes it's the wrong approach. He later works on Andor in order to hopefully find a cure.

Arranged Marriage: The foundation of Andorian culture, a result of their low birth rate and general infertility. Having four sexes and a thin window of opportunity for successful births, they need to get their young adults making babies as soon as possible. Quads are brought together after genetic mapping to determine likely success in breeding. Andorians are taught to revere the four-way marriage bond above all else: One alone cannot be Whole, nor two, nor three. Shar resisted returning to Andor to marry and breed, thus endangering the bond and alienating relatives.
Unstoppable Rage: At one point, Shar enters a state of Unstoppable Rage when battling a Kurlan-possessed woman aboard Deep Space Nine. In an earlier book, he enters one while incapacitated by injury and takes it out on the ground by slamming his fist against it repeatedly (and causing himself further injury).

Charivretha zh'Thane

The zhavey (mother) of Thirishar "Shar" ch'Thane, and a powerful politician who represented Andor on the Federation Council.

Torvig Bu-kar-nguv

A young crewman aboard the starship Titan. An eager and somewhat exasperating fellow (though also very endearing). He's a Choblik, a race of cyborg Uplifted Animals whose religion is based on respect for technology and the scientific method. He's the Ensemble Dark Horse of the Star Trek: Titan series.

Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Averted. Being from a race of non-humanoid cyborgs, he owes his intelligence to his implants, his people actually being a form of Uplifted Animal. Upgrades throughout childhood and adolescence are celebrated rites of passage in his culture. Ironically, this means Torvig initially has difficulty comprehending the full horror of the Borg Collective (which plays the trope straight). In Star Trek: Destiny, though, the implications finally hit him, and he ends up perhaps the most horrified of all; this trope, and thus the Borg, are essentially the anti-Choblik, their most primal horror.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Has now discovered these, to his crewmates' horror.
Literal-Minded: His experiments to determine the truth about "gut feelings" consisted of introducing nanites into his crewmate's food, so as to monitor their intestines.

Thank the Maker: Choblik swear on the Great Builders, whom they revere. The Choblik religion also interprets creation in general as the work of a "builder," as Torvig explains:
"It is empirical that we were Upgraded to our current state millennia ago by some technological agency. It is also empirical that the galaxy contains many other life-forms, worlds and phenomena that could not have come into being without technological intervention. And many of the fundamental mysteries of the universe can be resolved by postulating it as a construct of some entity or civilization existing on a transcendent plane. Given the power and pervasiveness that such a creative agency would require, it's logical to interpret all lesser creative agencies in the universe as aspects of the ultimate Builders."

Tropp

A Denobulan doctor who's been part of Beverly Crusher's medical staff from Star Trek: A Time to... all the way through to Star Trek: Cold Equations

Expy: He's a Denobulan doctor, like Phlox from Enterprise. His personality is...basically that of Phlox.

Yevir Linjaren

A Bajoran minister with ambitions to become the next Kai, hoping to replace the late Kai Winn. He's responsible for setting in motion a lengthy character arc for Kira Nerys, when he casts her from the church for exposing the Bajoran public to heretical texts.

Ascended Extra: The Bajoran man who was given the name "Yevir" in the novels first appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as a (very minor) background character. He was actually unnamed in the episode, but Word of God has confirmed that Yevir is intended to be that man.

Good Shepherd: He certainly has his moments. Despite his questionable decisions involving Kira, he truly cares for Bajor's spiritual well-being.
Holier Than Thou: In the first half of the Deep Space Nine Relaunch series, Yevir looks like a re-tread of Kai Winn in some regards (tensions with Kira included). An attitude of Holier Than Thou was certainly part of that. However...he got better later on, particularly in Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Cardassia, talking a 14-year-old would-be suicide bomber into standing down, with an appeal to the virtues of faith, hope and trust.
Jerkass: Despite his Good Shepherd qualities, he fits this one too.
The Power of Trust: In Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Cardassia.

Min Zife

Prior to Bacco, Min Zife held the office of Federation President. His aggressive foreign policy saved the Federation during the Dominion War, but he eventually crossed the line into flat-out illegal (and immoral) conduct. Much of his political scheming was the result of his Chief of Staff's influence — Koll Azernal, the Man Behind the Man.

Alien Arts Are Appreciated: A Bolian, he greatly admired Monet's Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies. He left the painting in a prominent position in the Presidental wardroom, considering it a symbol of all the art and culture of the Federation, which he was intent on preserving.
Flanderization: Some accuse later portrayals (such as in the Star Trek: Vulcan's Soul books) of flanderizing the relationship between Zife and Koll Azernal, with Zife being an ineffective president relying on scheming Azernal to run the government for him. It is certainly more obvious in Vulcan's Soul than in Star Trek: A Time to....

Klingon characters

The Klingons in general

Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: They use modern energy weapons, but are far more satisfied fighting with their blade weapons whenever they're given the opportunity.

Fantastic Caste System: As a result of the Quch'Ha plague (as seen in a two-part episode of Star Trek: Enterprise season four) many Klingon families lost their forehead ridges. A division between those who retained them and those who lost them resulted in an unofficial caste system within the Klingon Empire. The ridgeless Klingons - the Quch'Ha, or "unhappy ones" - were somewhat undesirable in the social hierarchy. Some Quch'Ha disguised their status with artificial foreheads.
Fantastic Racism: The divide between the regular Klingons and the QuchHa in the 22nd century, with the later even nearly being denied citizenship, nearly resulting in a full-blown civil war.
Finders Rulers: Unofficially, the Sword of Kahless. Whatever the law says, anyone holding the sword will more or less find themselves ruler of the Klingon Empire. Fortunately, rightful leader Martok has it.
Honor Before Reason: Reason is often so far behind it might never arrive at all.
Murder Is the Best Solution: So very much. However, there are exceptions, as politics interferes with the warrior ethos of the Klingon people. Killing a member of the influential House of K'Tal, even in legal challenge, is not a wise move at all. Everyone knows they'll send an assassin after you.
No Woman's Land: After Azetbur's chancellorship, the conservative faction that arranged her death blamed her for everything and made it official that no woman could hold political power again, an edict that remained in place up until Martok's time.
Obfuscating Stupidity: The Klingons often demonstrate this trope in the novels; their enthusiastic bluster, casual violence and fondness for drink disguise the fact that they're every bit as capable of cunning manipulation as any other race; indeed, they're actually extremely political, for all their talk of "warrior's honour". Grodak in Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins is a perfect example. Toqel, a Romulan politician, severely underestimates him and the Klingons in general, with troubling results for the Romulans and fatal ones for Toqel. Another Klingon character who illustrates the trope perfectly is General Khegh from Star Trek: Titan.
Prophecy Twist: According to the novels, the Second Coming of Kahless, long predicted in Klingon religious tradition, was intended as metaphorical, not literal. Thus, the clone of Kahless (created in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation) is not in fact the "true" second coming, despite Lady Lukara assuring Martok he is a genuine reincarnation. The actual second Kahless is Martok himself.

You Have Failed Me: Standard procedure in the Klingon Defence Force, although of course all but the most unhinged leaders practice restraint.

B'Oraq

A Klingon doctor, and the love interest of Captain Klag. B'Oraq trained in the Federation, and thus has unusual ideas about medicine.

Awesomeness by Analysis: In ''A Burning House'', B'Oraq wins a death-duel within seconds by simply stabbing her opponent through one of the weakest parts of his armor, penetrating his third aorta. Killed him right in the middle of his monologue, too.
Combat Medic: Of all Klingon doctors, she's more or less the only one who remembers the "medic" part is supposed to take priority.

Only Sane Woman: B'Oraq is very reasonable for a Klingon and frustrated by the rest of her people. Her particular agenda in life is to get the rest of the empire to accept the use of modern medicine. She faces fierce resistance, as the Honor Before Reason Klingon culture tends to view medical care as a low priority, and pandering to weakness.

Darok

A dry and sarcastic Klingon in service to the House of Martok. Featuring in one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he gets a sizable role in the Left Hand of Destiny books.

Battle Butler: The Gin'tak of House Martok, he's essentially a senior administrative servant, but he accompanies Martok on military campaigns and is still a reasonably good warrior despite his advanced age.
Combat Pragmatist: He didn't get to be as old as he is by following other Klingons' exaggerated codes of honour. If kneeing an opponent in the groin works, he'll go for it. Interestingly, while this sort of outlook is usually condemned in Klingon-centred stories (with characters who embrace it typically being villainous), Darok is presented more as the Cool Old Guy or Only Sane Man.

Dying Alone: Interestingly, and unlike most examples of the trope, this isn't presented as a sad thing. He's quite content as he dies.

Davok

A soldier aboard IKS Gorkon.

Devious Daggers: For Davok, he likes the qutluch, the signature dagger of an assassin, which he throws with fantastic accuracy even in close-quarters combat. He claims that he took it off an assassin who tried to use it on him. Wol finds this claim to be dubious, but has no trouble believing that Davok would piss someone off enough to have them put a hit on him.
Hidden Badass: Up until he dies in a battle against the San-Tarah, Davok is not only a Jerkass, but an in-universe scrappy who spends most of his time either getting his ass kicked or bitching at G'joth. However, even he proves his badass credentials when he uses a qutluch to take down one of the Children of San-Tarah ninja style.
Jerkass
Vitriolic Best Buds: With G'joth; of the "equally insulting" variant.

Ditagh

Chancellor of the Klingons in the early-mid 24th Century, a former diplomat (a laughably undiplomatic one, though). A weak and forgettable ruler, he was part of the conspiracy to overthrow Azetbur, the second-longest serving Chancellor.

Goran

A dim-witted but loyal soldier of the Klingon Empire. He is "the biggest and the strongest", and quite an asset in battle.

Defeating the Undefeatable: Goran never loses, because he is 'the biggest and the strongest'. He is very confused when a San-Tarah native bests him in a contest of strength. In fact, he's so ashamed and confused he asks to perform the Klingon ritual suicide. Leader Wol says no. Goran quickly gets over it, as he usually does.
Determinator: Goran does not like to lose and will do near-anything to make sure he doesn't. He even goes into a brief Heroic BSoD when he does have his first ever loss. It genuinely confused him.
The Big Guy: He's even referred to as 'the big man'.
Gentle Giant: Sort of, as long as we keep in mind this is gentle by Klingon standards. He still fights to deadly effect, but rarely shows malice or true blood lust.

Gorkon

Offing the Offspring: In part of the backstory to Star Trek: Vanguard. He killed his son to restore Klingon honour...after Starfleet had gone to great lengths to rescue the younger Klingon. It's one of the frustrating examples of culture clash between the Klingons and the Federation.
Only Sane Man: He knows that the Klingon Empire will only avoid destruction in the long-term if it forges a peace with its neighbours; most of his fellows don't see it.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In Star Trek: Vanguard, Gorkon is attempting to find allies among the Federation and Tholians so that they and the Klingons can work together to avoid pointless war. The other Klingons are his biggest problem, and he well knows it.
Warrior Poet

Gothmara

An ex-lover of Martok, and the twisted mastermind behind an early attempt to overthrow him as Chancellor.

Compelling Voice: Gothmara bioaugments both herself and her son Morjod in order to give them this.

K'mtok

Klingon Ambassador to the Federation as of Star Trek: A Time to... onward. Holds the position through Star Trek: Articles of the Federation, Star Trek: Destiny and Star Trek: Typhon Pact.

Ambadassador: He is, like all Klingon nobles, a warrior.
"Ass" in Ambassador: A particularly hawkish Klingon ambassador, he was appointed as a replacement to the more reasonable Ambassador Lantar. When Federation President Zife went over Lantar's head to talk directly with Chancellor Martok, Martok's political rivals on the Klingon High Council used the opportunity to force their man into the ambassadorship, claiming Lantar had been proven ineffective.
Blood on the Debate Floor: Like most Klingon diplomats, not immune to this. When President Bacco calls the ambassadors from the major galactic powers together in Star Trek: Destiny, K'mtok and Romulan ambassador Kalavak end up fighting. After a series of accusations and insults regarding events in prior novels, the two begin to physically scuffle, until separated by Federation security.
With Friends Like These...: Despite his usual attitude, he represents the nation that’s probably the Federation’s closest ally.

Kaarg

Chancellor after Azetbur's assassination.

Klingon Promotion: Helped kill Azetbur, leaving the way open for him.
Sucksessor: Ambitious enough to murder his way to the top, but not enough to do much once he got the job, going down in history as a pretty lackluster chancellor.

Kamarag

The Klingon Ambassador to the Federation in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country. In keeping with his attitude in the films, he's very much an "Ass" in Ambassador, and thinks very little of humans - Kirk in particular.

Pet the Dog: He has one of these moments in the novel ''Forged in Fire''. He defends Sulu's Military Maverick actions at a Starfleet hearing, probably helping save Sulu's career.

Kesh

Chancellor of the Empire after Sturka and before Gorkon.

The Ghost: Mentioned in Living Memory, but he doesn't make an on-page appearance.

Klag

Our main protagonist Klingon when Worf and Martok aren't around. A hero of the empire, he commands the Klingon warship Gorkon.

A Father to His Men: Insofar as Klingon values and regulations permit, Klag is extremely proud of his crew and does his best to encourage and uplift their efforts to succeed. Conversely, he also had no problem with killing anyone who proves incompetent per Klingon regulations, and he reacts to attempts to usurp his authority VERY harshly.
Artificial Limbs: A plot point - Klag, who lost an arm in a previous conflict, could be fitted with an artificial replacement. He refuses, though, insisting that he's a Klingon, not a Borg. It's one of the Honor Before Reason issues Doctor B'Oraq has to deal with. Eventually, Klag accepts a biological graft - his dead father's arm to replace his own. It's not as effective, of course, but it's a compromise.
Badass Transplant: Subverted originally, because having his father's arm attached where a stump used to be threw his fighting talent off by quite a bit in the first book. Over time he's regained some, if not a lot, of his old edge. However, to be fair, even at his worst (when he was merely a Handicapped Badass in prequel novel Diplomatic Implausibility), his skills were still only kinda off their usual game.

Four-Star Badass: As of the post-Star Trek: Destiny timeframe.
I Gave My Word: Klag promises on his honor to leave the San-Tarah people alone after they defeat his crew in a series of challenges - and their leader defeats him in honorable combat. General Talak, on the other hand, orders Klag to conquer San-Tarah anyway. Klag refuses, and is furious that a Klingon would ask him to break his word.
Klingon Promotion: An important part of Klag's backstory involves his frustration at being unable to take command in this manner. As first officer of the IKS Pagh under incompetent Captain Kargan, Klag had every right, and responsibility, to pull off a (literal) Klingon Promotion, but Kargan was a part of the powerful House of K'Tal, and if Klag killed him he'd have an assassin sent after him for sure. The only reason Kargan remained a captain was by blaming Klag for his own screw-ups. After Kargan died in a crash-landing, Klag finally got his own command.

Kopek

An amoral Klingon politician, and a thorn in the side of both Chancellor Martok and Worf. He led the opposition to Martok on the Klingon High Council.

Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Kopek decorated his office with items of art from across explored space. Among the paintings, artefacts and sculptures were those created by humans, Vulcans, and Betazoids. This despite the fact that Kopek despised those races. To be honest, he probably justified them as "trophies".
Divided We Fall: Usually; but averted when the final test comes in Star Trek: Destiny.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: We don't see his death in Destiny, merely the aftermath as Martok examines the ruins of the capitol.
Good Is Old-Fashioned: Kopek had no time for the teachings of Kahless and the honour codes Martok is trying to re-establish in Klingon society. Kahless condemned him for it:
"You will fall, Kopek, because you live only to hold on to your power and to accumulate more. Martok works daily to restore the empire to the path of honour, and there is no place for you on that path. You will learn the true way, or you will reap the seeds of self-destruction you have so carefully sown”.
Implausible Deniability: Worf knows it was Kopek who was ultimately behind the terrorist siege at the Federation embassy in Star Trek: A Time to..., but Kopek knows he can't prove anything.

Offing the Offspring: One of his most appalling crimes was murdering his firstborn son (which he fathered with a common woman) in order to conceal his disgrace in having fathered the boy.
Redemption Equals Death: Possibly. He lives up to Klingon ideals only during his final moments, leading the defence of Qo’noS during the Borg Invasion.

Kravokh

Chancellor of the Klingons prior to K'mpec (several decades before the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation).

Klingon Promotion: Ended up losing the chancellorship to K'Mpec in a duel.

Kurak

Bad-tempered even by Klingon standards, Kurak hates the Klingon military but was forced into it on pain of losing her legal status as a member of a noble House. She wound up as Klag's chief engineer on the Gorkon.

The Alcoholic: At one point, she refused to believe that she has alcohol poisoning, because as far as she's concerned alcohol is only a poison to "weak" races such as humans. Usually Klingons are resistant to alcohol, but she'd drunk that much it had overcome even Klingon biology.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Thankfully, Leskit serves as her Morality Pet and by the fourth book in the Star Trek: Klingon Empire series, has mellowed her out quite a bit.
Hates Everyone Equally: One of the reasons it took her so long to actually show loyalty to Klag rather than the Gorkon's mutineers; though equally, she had no interest in a mutiny because her disdain for Klag was part of her general disdain for all aspects of the Klingon military.
Insufferable Genius: Up until towards the end of Star Trek: Klingon Empire book three, when she starts to mellow out a little.
Serious Business: Wind-boat racing. She's infuriated when her team loses a contest on San-Tarah, insisting that they've ruined the sport for her.

Lantar

The Klingon ambassador to the Federation in the late 2370s, prior to K'mtok. His son is married to a grandaughter of David Gold, from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. He was replaced when Federation President Zife went over his head to speak to Chancellor Martok directly.

Leskit

Lokor

Token Evil Teammate: Of all the Klingons who consistently follow Klag's authority and have yet to pull a Face–Heel Turn, Lokor is basically the one guy who has the fewest scruples in screwing people over to get them to toe the line and not buck the system, and most of his methods are horrifying in their effectiveness. On the other hand, he's also unbelievably useful and indispensable to the point that Klag trusts him implicitly.

Lugok

A diplomat, involved in the tangled political nightmare that is Project Vanguard. He eventually joins his Federation counterpart in establishing "back-door" diplomatic channels aimed at creating an eventual peace between the Klingons, Federation and Romulans.

"Ass" in Ambassador: Like most Klingon ambassadors. Federation Ambassador Jetanien often acts this way in return, mostly to throw it back in Lugok's face. Funnily enough, Lugok and Jetanien end up in Vitriolic Best Buds territory. And Lugok is genuinely open to a lasting peace.

M'Rek

Chancellor of the Klingons in the 2150s, as seen in the Star Trek: Enterprise Relaunch

King on His Deathbed: By the start of Live by the Code, he's on the way out, and every Klingon in the empire is waiting for the fun to start.

Tabona, Daughter of Jirak

Matriach of a farming family, one of the first notable Klingon characters not to be a warrior.

Vall

An engineer who served on the Gorkon under Klag and Chief Engineer Kurak. He's well-groomed, rather timid and insists on viewing engineering problems as honourable battles. Kurak called him competent once, which is Kurak-speak for "absolute genius".

Kicked Upstairs: In a sense. He didn't fit in on the Gorkon (or among Klingon warriors in general), and rather than have to deal with the... awkwardness... any longer, he volunteered for the role of Emperor of taD. Klag and company swiftly agreed.
Lovable Nerd
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Nothing like most Klingons we see, coming across more like a pleasant if whiny human "nerd". He's referred to as "a Grishnar Cat that survives among the targs" by another character.

Wol

A soldier of the empire assigned to the Gorkon, Wol serves as the viewpoint of non-officer, commoner Klingons in many Klingon-centric novels. Despite this, she's actually of noble birth, but was cast from her house and now embraces a new life as a soldier.

Lower-Deck Episode: Scenes and subplots centred on Wol and her Fifteenth Squad serve as this in the Star Trek: Klingon Empire series.
That Man Is Dead: Wol's previous identity was Eral, a noble woman. When she came of age, her parents had Eral betrothed in order to forge an alliance with another house. Eral, however, became pregnant with the child of a servant, whom she loved. She was banished from her house, as her father could not bring himself to kill her (as honour would have dictated). Her lover, however, was executed, and her child taken away. She became Wol, a common soldier, and embraced the new life. Eral is pretty much dead and gone.

Romulan characters

The Romulans in general.

Animal Motifs: Birds of Prey and serpents. Spock and Gell Kamemor (herself a Romulan) agree that the Romulan culture is rather obsessed with both.
Dark and Troubled Past: The Star Trek: Vulcan's Soul trilogy explores the trials of their long migration from Vulcan to Romulus, and the political turmoil of their earliest years there. The Star Trek: The Lost Era novel Catalyst of Sorrows tells us what happened next - a terrible plague. The great and expansive Romulan Star Empire is the result of a long and horrific ordeal for the earliest exiles.
Divide and Conquer: V'Las figured their goal via him had been to make the Vulcan people more militaristic in preparation for conquest. Then he changed his mind, figuring what the Romulans had actually been doing was undermining the Alpha Quadrant powers so they could conquer them all when they were weakened. (Given the Romulans, there's the high likelihood these were both their plan.)
Fictionary: Rihannsu, which is used in most Romulan-related stories.
Meaningful Rename: They actually called themselves Rihannsu, before they ran into the Vulcans again. Then they renamed themselves Romulans to throw off suspicion.
Noble Bird of Prey: When Surak's reforms spread rapidly across Vulcan in the 4th century, a minority rejected Surak's ideals. These holdouts marched beneath the banner of the raptor's wings, which became the symbol of the Romulan Star Empire they eventually founded.
Officer and a Gentleman: In the novels, they often come across as dignified and ultra-conservative aristocrats rather then simply as bad guys, though the Romulan commanders that appear on TV sometimes do have that aspect to them. The more 'admirable' ones seem to behave this way.
Proud Scholar Race: Interestingly, they're shown in several novels to be more like the Vulcans than might be expected. Scholarship is valued highly in their culture. Despite or perhaps because of this, only those of higher class can pursue academic careers.
Proud Warrior Race: Along with their scholar tendencies (above), it's a bit of an Alternate Character Interpretation; while the TV series (Star Trek: The Next Generation onward, at least) focused on their sneaky, politically manipulative Chessmaster tendencies, the novels portray the hot-blooded warrior aspect of their culture far more prominantly. They certainly don't lose their Chessmaster traits, though.
Space Cold War:
- With the Federation, ever since the Federation was founded. Praetor Neral's government allied with the Federation during the Dominion War, but he was overthrown a year and a half after the war by Hiren, just as he was about to take steps to render the alliance permanent. Praetor Kamemor's government has come the closest to reconciliation with the Federation, despite being part of the Typhon Pact, an alliance in its own Cold War with the Federation's Khitomer Accord Alliance.
- Before that, with the Vulcans from the minute they rediscovered one another, though with the Romulans taking the occasional pot shot at them just to remind the Vulcans they were still there.
Suicide Attack: Several times during the Earth-Romulan war, in spectacular fashion.
Ungrateful Bastard: Administrator V'Las of Vulcan spent his entire life trying to help the Empire reabsorb Vulcan. When that went belly-up, he tried going back to them. They subjected him to Mind Rape.
Vestigial Empire: Back and forth in the novels, post Star Trek: Nemesis. In the immediate aftermath, the Romulan Star Empire fragmented into factions. Praetor Tal'aura and Proconsul Tomalak were able to reunite most of them, as the Federation sought to maintain peace along the borders. Commander Donatra, however, declared the worlds and fleets loyal to her independent. Between losing territory to Donatra, uprisings on the outworlds, and the damage from the Borg Invasion, the Empire was less than half its former size. It was explicitly stated in Star Trek: Articles of the Federation that the Romulans were no longer a superpower. However, they bounced back thanks to membership in the Typhon Pact. That said, the empire will presumably collapse again when Romulus is destroyed (though we're still a few years short of that in the current timeframe...)
Villain Team-Up: A leading member of the Typhon Pact, an alliance of six previously xenophobic and aggressive antagonist cultures, united for mutual protection as a sort of rival-Federation.

Charvanek

AKA the female Romulan Commander from "The Enterprise Incident". A proud officer and patriot who follows her own sense of Romulan honour at all times, often leading her into alliance with the Federation. She can be counted upon to safeguard the honour of the Romulan Star Empire no matter the personal cost.

Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Her office features Irlani art as well as Romulan.

Left Hanging: So far, her decision to join the Remans and work with Spock on the reunification of the Vulcanoid races.

D'deridex

Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire during the early days of the Romulan War. Not the best tactician, or the most stable of leaders; both to Humanity's fortune.

The Caligula: Not as bad as Dralath, but he definitely fits the trope by the end.
General Failure: He insisted on opening up a second front at Haakona during the war against Earth and its allies. Despite advice from Admiral Valdore and others, he weakened the Romulan war effort significantly. The Haakonan conflict allowed the Human/Andorian/Tellarite alliance to rally, possibly costing Romulus the war.
Shame If Something Happened: He pulls this on Valdore, eventually taking his family hostage.

Donatra

Following Star Trek: Nemesis, Donatra became an important figure in Romulan politics, opposing newly seated Praetor Tal'aura, and eventually forming her own government.

Arch-Enemy: With Tal'aura, who had Donatra's lover executed after he tried to unseat her from the praetorship. Donatra continued to oppose Tal'aura's rule, eventually declaring the fleets and planets loyal to her an independent state.

Mentor Occupational Hazard / Rage Against the Mentor: Interestingly, she loses faith in her former mentor Suran and tires of him. In the end, they reach an impasse and she murders him.
Sacred Hospitality: When Sonek Pran meets with her in A Singular Destiny, she takes personal responsibility for his safety, in accordance with this trope.

Dralath

The most bloodthirsty praetor in recent history, who nearly started a war with the Klingons and Federation.

Blood on the Debate Floor: To the shock of the other senators, he murders a member of the government on the Senate Chamber floor. There's a reason why a character in later books says that Dralath caused more damage to Romulan honour than any other leader she remembers.

Evil Chancellor: Dralath, as praetor, is essentially this to Shiarkiek, the emperor (although the praetor has the real political authority, the emperor's figurehead status is still taken very seriously and his spiritual influence is extreme). Dralath even tries to manipulate public opinion by manipulating a drugged-up Shiarkiek.

Gell Kamemor

A diplomat introduced in Star Trek: The Lost Era, who is known both for her patriotism and her desire for stable relations with foreign powers. She eventually becomes Praetor.

Hero Antagonist: A Romulan patriot who is sometimes in opposition to the Federation politically, she has always sought a diplomatic rather than a military solution to the conflict. She wishes other races and nations no ill-will and has never been portrayed as anything other than well-meaning and thoughtful.

Neral

The Praetor during both the Dominion War and the post-war rebuilding period. A ruthless but honourable man, he came to appreciate the Federation but was assassinated before anything could come of his epiphany.

Face Death with Dignity: He makes a conscious decision to do so, so his enemies, if they're watching his arranged death, won't have the satisfaction of seeing him run and flail.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: His death, and the coup that put Hiren and his supporters in charge, resulted in this for the Romulan Star Empire as a whole. Neral had come to support the idea of permanent alliance with the Federation, but he wasn't able to implement his plans.
Warrior Poet

Rehaek and Torath

Ruanek

A lower-caste warrior who becomes an ally to Spock, eventually living on Vulcan, where he embraces a new role as a scholar. A man with a highly personal stake in the Federation/Romulan peace process. An Ensemble Dark Horse, he first appeared in Star Trek: Vulcan's Forge in a relatively minor role. He proved so popular with readers that he made a reappearance in Star Trek: Vulcan's Heart, his role greatly expanded. He would go to appear in several short stories and the Star Trek: Vulcan's Soul trilogy as well.

Blood Oath: He swore to avenge himself on the murderer of Shiarkiek (it led to a bit of Revenge Before Reason).
Emotions vs. Stoicism: A highly passionate warrior, he tries to fit on Vulcan without losing his Romulan heritage.

You Can't Go Home Again: After helping Spock back across the Neutral Zone to safety, Ruanek is unable to return lest he be tried for treason. He's reluctantly forced to make a new life on Vulcan. In later books (the Star Trek: Vulcan's Soul trilogy), he becomes an academic, and marries a Vulcan healer.

Shiarkiek

The elderly emperor; a spiritual figurehead whose moral power is matched by the praetor's political power. He was eventually assassinated during the Dominion War.

Becoming the Mask: An interesting example. He was always more comfortable as a scholar than an emperor, and over the years "played" at scholar more and more until he forgot his true responsibility as emperor (at least that's how he sees it. He might be being a bit harsh on himself). He also feels that his true identity - defined, as with many Romulans, by his personal honour — is now lost to him.
"I was a fool, a fool, so seduced by my scholarly research I forgot what I was. Never do that, never forget. For once you do, once you begin trusting others with what should be yours, you never, ever win it back."

Eccentric Mentor: He pretty much fits, with his aged body, eccentric personality and odd conversational tangents (plus his preoccupation with flesh-eating fish) combined with a deep wisdom and a good nature.
Reasonable Authority Figure

Tal'aura

Following Star Trek: Nemesis, Tal'aura swiftly claimed the vacant leadership and for several turbulant years ruled as Praetor.

Arch-Enemy: To Donatra. Donatra already hated Tal'aura for several reasons, including her having executed Donatra's lover, and when the Imperial Romulan State was formed, they became political rivals too.

Aventeer Vokar

Karmic Death: He dies in disgrace aboard Tomed, furthering the cause of peace by serving to shock Romulus into withdrawing its forces; the exact opposite of what he'd want. He was so deeply unpleasant most would say he deserved it.

Volskiar

A military command officer who led the infamous assault on Narendra III, slaughtering Klingon colonists. The father of Sela.

Patriotic Fervor: He encourages this in his troops at every opportunity.

Cardassian characters

Cardassians in general

Aristocrats Are Evil: According to the Enterprise novels, the Obsidian Order started off as the most influential families. Somewhere along the way in the next two centuries, this was discarded.
Brainwashing for the Greater Good: At times, they've come close. Notably, one Cardassian agent winds up Going Native among the Tzenkethi, who definitely employ this, preferring their orderly life in which everyone knows their place.
The Evils of Free Will: Not in the extreme, literal form, but Cardassia has very little tolerance for irregular thinkers, and spreads propaganda insisting that those who behave differently are psychologically and neurologically ill:
"People with beliefs like that usually have a disorder that prevents them from understanding loyalty to anything but their own desires. A defect in their lateral cortex makes them abnormally egocentric, and the same disorder keeps them from having any impulse control. I learned about it in socio-deviance."

Fantastic Rank System: The current novels make use of Cardassian ranks listed in unpublished RPG sourcebooks. From highest to lowest, the ranks are Legate (canonically established), Jagul, Gul (canonically established), Dal, Dalin, Glinn (canonically established), Gil, Garresh, and Gorr.

Make It Look Like an Accident: If the Obsidian Order doesn't just "disappear" their victims, they'd usually die as a result of an "argument" with their loved ones.
People's Republic of Tyranny: Way back in the 22nd century, their planet was a wreck. Then the tri-partite rule of the Detapa Council, the Obsidian Order and the military began. And for a time, things seemed okay... provided nobody complained about the quashing of civil liberties too loudly.
Psychic Block Defense: One of the reasons for their intense mental discipline, which extends to being able to deflect telepathic assaults, is revealed to be the result of gradual resistance to the telepathic influence of one of their forebear races' religious castes.

We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: Their occupation of Bajor; as the novels reveal, the Cardassians were allies of Bajor for a decade before finally taking over the planet completely. Those who believed in a benevolent alliance, like Kotan Pa'Dar, were overtaken by the ambitious and amoral — chief among them Skrain Dukat.
Wicked Cultured: The Cardassian intelligence agency, as of the late 24th century, has adopted this as their distinguishing characteristic. Dax even notes that they're playing it up in an effort to be more like Garak, the eventual "winner" of the Obsidian Order's lengthy game.

The Oralian Way

One of the most interesting additions to the Cardassian culture in the novels is the Oralian Way - an ancient religion dating back to the first civilization to arise on their homeworld. The Way is peaceful and encourages a community-oriented perspective that avoids self-centredness while enhancing individual growth. It's seeing a revival on post-Dominion War Cardassia, but is still highly controversial there.

Amplifier Artifact: The original masks on which the recitation mask props are based (see below).
Good Old Ways: The Oralians represent the remnants of the old Cardassia - a far gentler culture.
Mask of Power: Recitation masks, props which the Way uses in its rituals and ceremonies. The masks channel a being's spiritual power. The original masks genuinely do this, being Amplifier Artifacts.
The Purge: Cardassian Central Command moved against its ideological competitors by destroying the Cardassian church. Members of the Oralian Way religion were eventually slaughtered in their enclaves on Bajor. They had fled Cardassia due to persecution there, but of course Central Command had its eyes on Bajor, too. See the Terok Nor prequel series.
Willing Channeler: The Way's leader, Astraea, who allows her body and mind to be temporarily controlled by the guiding spirit, Oralius.

Astraea

Leader of the Oralian Way, an ancient and benevolent Cardassian religion. Astraea is an inherited title for she who channels Oralius, the Guiding Spirit. The current Astraea is a woman named Miras Vara, a former student who revived the Way after a chance encounter with a Bajoran Orb.

Blessed with Suck: Miras Vara's spiritual awakening in Terok Nor may be for the good of Cardassia, but her new life is hardly a happy one, seeing as she has to give up her old identity and live on the run as an outlaw. Then there's her prophetic knowledge of her planet's future destruction, which she knows she is powerless to prevent. She sees it regularly in her dreams, and is haunted by the vision.

Ironic Echo: Her humble greeting, "you're always welcome", is repeated by Elim Garak at the end of ''A Stitch in Time''. It's ironic that Garak, a "night person" should quote the channeler of the light.
Legacy Character: "My mother's name was Astraea. My daughter's name will be Astraea".

Refusal of the Call: Miras Vara tries, but Oralius is persistant. Eventually she gives in.
Talking in Your Dreams: Oralius appears in Miras Vara's dreams to convince her to become Astraea. Vara tries not sleeping to avoid Her, but of course it doesn't work.
Willing Channeler: Part of her job description as Guide for the Way.

Zurin Dakal

The first Cardassian in Starfleet, part of the crew of the Titan.

The Atoner: Possibly, though not for any actual wrongdoing on his part. Jaza Najem worried that Dakal was either trying to be this, or unfairly assumed other people were relating to him as though he was, due to his Cardassian ancestry. Jaza assured him that no-one on the crew thought any less of him simply due to the past actions of other Cardassians. There's some evidence that this isn't entirely true, though.

Ravel Dygan

A young Cardassian officer who serves aboard the Enterprise-E as Operations Manager under Captain Picard, as part of an exchange program after Cardassia signs on to the Khitomer Accords.

Rakena Garan

Cardassia's second democratic castellan, replacing Alon Ghemor.

Alon Ghemor

The nephew of Tekeny Ghemor from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and the first Castellan of Cardassia's new democratic government.

Iliana Ghemor

The long-lost daughter of Tekeny Ghemor from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a former agent of the Obsidian Order who never returned from an undercover mission on Bajor. Her fate is revealed in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch, which shows her to be one of the most disturbed characters in the entire Trek universe.

Berserk Button: Kira Nerys; Any Kira Nerys. Because they're living the life that part of Iliana feels is, by rights, hers.
Gotta Kill Them All: Due to her hatred of them, Iliana Ghemor ends up on a mission to kill every version of Kira Nerys in the multiverse.
"I don't fault you for not seeing the big picture, Captain. After what was done to me, it took me a while to understand what I needed to do so that I could be whole again. But when I meet the Prophets, they’ll see inside me, just as they did with your Emissary. They’ll understand what I need to get my life back. And I'll use the Soul Key to find every other Kira that has laid claim to a piece of my soul."
Heroic BSoD: In Fearful Symmetry, the young and uncorrupted Iliana suffers one of these after her fiancé, Ataan, dies in a bombing on Bajor (which was, ironically, committed by Kira and the Shakaar cell). She begins to hate everything about the way she'd lived her life prior to the bombing and, piling together everything in her room that wasn't property of the art school she was attending, proceeds to set her possessions on fire).
Split Personality: Iliana was implanted with the memories and personality of Kira Nerys as part of an undercover operation. Now, she has both her original memories and Kira's, and considers herself the rightful inheritor to the real Kira's life. Because Kira set the bomb which killed Iliana's bethrothed during the Occupation of Bajor, she also has a split perspective on his death - as both the guilty party and a victim.
Villainous Breakdown: Upon finally reaching the Celestial Temple and meeting the Prophets.

Danig Kell

Kell (Legate Kell for most of his appearances, though we see him as a Gul and a Jagul too) represents the unflinching nationalism and egotistical tyranny of the Cardassian Central Command.

Good Is Old-Fashioned: Kell dismisses the Oralian Way out of hand, claiming that its adherents' devotion to a peaceful faith and their opposition to imperialism are weaknesses modern Cardassia can't afford.

Akellen Macet

The cousin of Gul Dukat (a pseudo-Casting Gag, as the same actor played him during his single TV appearance). Unlike Dukat, Macet is an honourable man. He commands the Cardassian warship Trager, and becomes an ally to the crew of Deep Space Nine.

Evil Twin: Dukat is this to Macet due to their identical appearance, who constantly has to deal with people mistaking him for one of the Alpha Quadrant's greatest war criminals. Ironically, Macet is implied to have grown the Cardassian equivalent of a goatee to try and distinguish himself from his cousin.

Crell Moset

The infamous Cardassian doctor who experimented on Bajorans during the Occupation of Bajor - and who continues the habit in the novels, by experimenting on Betazoids during the Dominion War and on human colonists in its aftermath.

The Butcher: Crell Moset is referred to as "the Butcher of Bajor" at several points.
Faux Affably Evil: His mild-mannered persona disappears quickly when doing his experiments and sees thousands of Bajorans and Betazoids nothing more than expendable research material.
For Science!: His justification for whatever medical impropriety he's currently up to.
It's All About Me: He seems to think that the Betazoids were incredibly selfish for taking back their planet from Dominion occupation, preventing him from continuing his experiments there.
Smug Snake: Was especially this when he had the full backing of the Founders into creating telepathic Jem'hadar.
Villainous Breakdown: He eventually experiences one of these, in Enemy of My Enemy. In fact, his old foe Kaz deliberately induces one in him, as a form of vengeance.

Rugal Pa'Dar

Another loose end from the TV series, a Cardassian boy who was raised Bajoran before being reluctantly repatriated to Cardassia, a nation he had learnt to despise. He got his own novel, The Never Ending Sacrifice.

Double Consciousness: By the end of his arc, he's a Cardassian by species who is both Bajoran and Cardassian by culture, and who is also part of the Federation. Learning to accept his Cardassian identity without losing sight of his Bajoran identity drives much of his late adolescence. In the end, he's really just concerned with being himself - whatever that may be.
Dressing as the Enemy: At one point in The Never-Ending Sacrifice, he wears a Romulan uniform briefly, sneaking past the Romulan encampment while deserting from the Cardassian army. It works because everything's somewhat obscured anyway, on account of the blizzards.
Earn Your Happy Ending: He might be one of the most triumphant examples of this in Trek fiction.

Kelas Parmak

A gentle doctor, who becomes Garak's most important personal advisor.

Morality Pet: For Garak.

Sa'kat

Two Aliases, One Character: Secretly both a member of the Oralian religious underground and a Central Command officer. Both roles use his real name, with the twist being that the narration for one role is on a First-Name Basis, and the other on Last-Name Basis. Thus, The Reveal is as simple as him saying his full name.

Leej Terrell

A villain in the Star Trek: Millennium books, a fanatic who seeks to unlock the power of the Red Orbs of Jalbador.

One-Steve Limit: Averted. Her family name is the same as that of a minor Cardassian character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The Right of a Superior Species: She considers the Bajorans little more than cattle, and refuses to accept that Cardassia was doing anything wrong in enslaving them. Indeed, she tells Sisko that humanity's biggest problem is its refusal to distinguish "truly sapient" races like the Vulcans from "stock" like the Bajorans.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sisko wonders if Terrell is this. At first she seems nothing more than a megalomaniac, but Sisko begins to consider if she's actually serious about her proposed "pax Cardassia". The golden age she says she's working for might be a genuine dream — not that it excuses her actions.

Other characters

Alizome

A Tzenkethi agent who directly serves the Autarch of the Tzenkethi Coalition. She's a masterful behind-the-scenes manipulator.

Light Is Not Good: Like all Tzenkethi, she glows with soothing lights, but she's not to be trusted.

Derro

From Star Trek: A Time to... through A Singular Destiny, Derro serves as Ferengi Ambassador to the Federation.

Cowardly Lion: Like most Ferengi, he's a mass of nerves around the more aggressive races...but when it's time to string them along with his fine grasp of commerce, he shows great cunning and confidence. Reluctant to commit to an alliance with the Federation, he comes through for President Bacco by hiring the Breen as mercenaries, adding them to Bacco's coalition while depriving the Tholians of a potential ally.

Devna

A low-ranking Orion woman who serves as the sympathetic point of view within the ranks of the Three Sisters' crime organization in Rise of the Federation.

Femme Fatale: Trained to use sex and seduction to further her owners' aims.

Lack of Empathy: Not a lack, but being in the Syndicate means most of it was burnt or beaten out of her years ago. An encounter with some Deltans gives it a reboot, much to her alarm. Even then, she has no problem throwing another Orion under the bus to deflect suspicion.
Only Sane Employee: Post-empathy check, Devna has some serious problems trying to get it through to her master how trying to conquer or enslave the Deltans is a no-go in a way he can understand. She doesn't succeed.

Ganz

An Orion merchant prince in Star Trek: Vanguard. Actually works for Neera.

Laas

Currently more-or-less supreme leader of the Dominion (alongside Odo), though has little interest in dealing with non-shapeshifters if he can help it.

Fantastic Racism: He's never learned to treat "solids" with respect.
Reluctant Ruler: Not out of humility, but due to his desire to have nothing to do with the Solids if he can help it.

Maltuvis

The Basilius of M'Tezir in Rise of the Federation; a dictator on Sauria, who will become as infamous as Hitler or Khan Noonien Singh.

Karma Houdini Warranty: The Enterprise relaunch novels stop with him still in charge on Sauria. However, the fact Sauria is a Federation member by Kirk's day shows his empire never lasts. Living Memory confirms he decided to pick a fight with the Acturans which didn't end well for him.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: In a sense. He's the first Saurian we've met who isn't a friendly and well-meaning person. Quite the opposite.
Smug Snake: Not quite as smooth an operator as he thinks he is, being assisted by either luck or backers with more connections.
Take Over the World: His goal, in a nutshell, is to take over Sauria. He succeeds, and then decided he wanted to take over other worlds as well.

Sozzerozs

The Gorn Imperator in the 2380s, an eventual ally of the Federation.

Taran'atar

A Jem'Hadar soldier assigned to Station Deep Space Nine by Odo in the aftermath of the Dominion War. It was hoped that he would learn to respect the ways of the Alpha Quadrant, so as to help his people eventually liberate themselves from their narrow role as disposable soldiers.

Crisis of Faith: As time goes on; it gets that much worse when the Founder Leader tells him she is not divine as he's always believed.

Genius Bruiser: Kira Nerys is used to seeing him in the holosuite, spending his spare time training himself for battle. Usually this consists of fighting hideous and powerful opponents; but on one occasion she finds him studying advanced mathematics - at a level far beyond her comprehension.
Gone Horribly Right: In a sense, Odo got what he wanted; Taran’atar broke free of his training and conditioning as a slave to the Founders. Too bad his doing so caused him to go on a violent rampage.
Hallucinations: No breakdown is complete without them.
Happiness in Slavery: At first. A large part of his Character Development is both the realization that he is a slave, and his finding a form of freedom acceptable to both himself and others.
Heel–Face Turn: The first protagonist character from the Dominion.
Heroic Sacrifice: To save all of Bajor from the Ascendants.
Humans Through Alien Eyes: At times. Among the more notable examples is his visit to the nursery in Twilight, as he tries to comprehend the behaviour of the human children. Confronted with typical child-like irrationality, he wonders if they are defective. Also, he is intrigued and somewhat discomforted by their complete lack of fear, in stark contrast to the attendant adults. When one small boy brushes up against him, disrupting his invisibility shroud and exposing his presence, he is even somewhat humiliated. In all, he leaves considerably more confused than enlightened.
The Mole: Later in the series.
Odd Friendship: His relationship with Kira was heading towards this.
Old Soldier: by Jem’Hadar standards; at 22 years old, he’s been an “honoured elder” for two years already; most Jem’Hadar die in battle before they reach 15.

Tezrene

The Tholian Ambassador to the Federation; later Typhon Pact Ambassador to the Federation.

Arch-Enemy: To President Bacco, in the political arena anyway.

Thot Tran

A Breen military official, director of the Special Research Division. His complex and ambitious plans are foiled, leading to increasing desperation. Eventually, he defects to an allied nation.

Treir

An Orion woman who winds up on Deep Space Nine, becoming Quark's deputy manager, a position she holds for many years. The first female employee Quark truly respects.

Zett Nilric

An assassin (official title was "Business Manager") for the Orion crime lord Ganz. Appears in Star Trek: Vanguard.

Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: He always dresses in a perfectly tailored suit, cleans his weapons carefully to maintain appearances, and generally has a certain flair.

Monochromatic Eyes: Black, like all Nalori.

Alien species

The Agni

A race who intruded on Klingon and Federation territory in the 2260s, fleeing a cataclysm that had rendered their world uninhabitable.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: Somewhat. They have entirely different values due to their radical biological requirements, along with their desperate situation, but they're not completely alien that Kirk couldn't eventually find some common ground.
Fantastic Racism: Bad experiences with "cold races" (i.e., carbon based lifeforms who live on Class-M worlds) mean they're not particularly trusting.
Known Only by Their Nickname: Called "Agni" by the Federation, but what they call themselves isn't said.
Outside-Context Problem: At first, for the Federation, their weapons tech is utterly unlike anything they've seen before. Combined with their apparent unwillingness to explain who or what they are and what they want, and Starfleet loses several people to initial hostilities.
Racial Remnant: The ones the Federation meet were fleeing from something that reduced them to a scattered fleet, and repeated bad experiences whittled that down even more.
Starfish Aliens: Phew-ee. They manage to edge out the Tholians for Starfishness. They're some mix of an octopus and snail creature that can only live on Class-N planets. That's planets like Venus. Anything else is no good for them. This also means they don't have what we would consider the usual senses, and as a result most lifeforms in the Federation are almost invisible to them, not from ignorance, they just lack the actual ability to see them. Even after the Federation manages to come to a peaceful accord, it's concluded that both sides are so alien to one another they can't benefit from sharing anything, because of the radical differences in species requirements mean their tech isn't good for the other.
Translation Convention: Part of the problem they had with the Federation at first. It's hard to convey peaceful intentions to a species who just don't have any means of grasping the concept you're trying to get across. Like "sight".
Unrealistic Black Hole: Their ships are powered by singularities.

The Alonis

A minor aquatic race with membership in the Federation.

Fantastic Naming Convention: From what we can tell, Alonis have long names like Quirmirkis, Nerramibus or Liezakranor. When off-world, they add a shorter additional name to the beginning to designate their function (“Tel” is diplomat, “Los” is soldier), and split the name in two (e.g. Admiral Los Tirasol Mentir is probably Tirasolmentir back home, Ambassador Tel Ammanis Lent is probably Ammanislent).
Hufflepuff House: They seem a stable, sensible member of the Federation, and their diplomats in particular are often mentioned. They never really have a major role to play, though.
Making a Splash: The Alonis have no opposable digits. In order to build a civilization, they instead use their limited but effective telekinetic control over water. They essentially "shape" the water into "tools". The exact limit on the ability hasn't been determined (yet) but possibly it depends on the individual.
Our Mermaids Are Different: They have quasi-humanoid (though scaly) upper bodies, albeit with fins instead of arms, and a fish-like lower body. The mermaid comparison is made at least once.

The Andorians

The blue-skinned Andorians have been explored in depth in the novels, with their four-way marriage system interpreted as a four-sex biology. While this interpretation initially clashed a bit with portrayals in Star Trek: Enterprise, more recent novels have reconciled the two approaches into one consistant view of the race.

Alien Blood: Their blood is blue.
Armor-Piercing Question: "Are you Whole?" Supposedly asked of the mythical hero Thirishar by all-powerful Uzaveh (AKA Andorian God), the question drives the modern Andorian culture in its entirety. To be truly Whole requires both reassembling in unity the four genders derived from the hero Thirishar (essentially, bonding with three others in an marriage quad) and gaining knowledge of the "missing piece", an elusive aspect of racial knowledge hidden to the Andorian people.
Arranged Marriage: The foundation of Andorian culture, a result of their low birth rate and general infertility. Having four sexes and a thin window of opportunity for successful births, they need to get their young adults making babies as soon as possible. Quads are brought together after genetic mapping to determine likely success in breeding. Andorians are taught to revere the four-way marriage bond above all else: One alone cannot be Whole, nor two, nor three.
Beneath the Earth: Most of their communities have extensive subterranean districts; geothermal energy warms many of their cities.
Bizarre Alien Senses: Their antennae are sensitive to electromagnetic fields, gravitational fluctuations, and subspace frequencies.
Bizarre Alien Sexes: Andorians have four sexes. Chan and thaan are similar to males, while zhen and shen are female equivalents (the shen conceives the embryo while the zhen carries it to term in a pouch).
Butt-Monkey: Some Andorian characters sourly reflect that their race seems to be this for the universe in general.
Byronic Hero: Brooding, passionate, promoting duelling as a legitimate means of resolving disputes...
Creation Myth: An Andorian creation myth referencing the sundering of their race into four genders is essential to the in-depth exploration of their culture.
Despair Event Horizon: Leads to their temporary Face–Heel Turn in the 2380s, after Andor has been heavily damaged by the Borg, and the Andorians learn that the Federation has been sitting for a century on the technology that might have solved their genetic crisis.
Dying Race: The books establish the Andorians as this, at least by the 24th century. Their complex four-sex biology is failing them and their window of fertility has dropped to only four or five years. Unless their genome can be repaired, they face extinction within fifteen generations. Events in later books - Star Trek: Destiny most notably - make the problem even worse. As of Star Trek: The Fall, though, they're finally cured. A story arc that lasted over a decade.
Fantastic Fighting Style: Shan-dru-shaan. It's noted by Tuvok that in the pre-Federation years, feuding Vulcans and Andorians also borrowed from each others' traditions, meaning Andorian techniques have influenced his own culture's Suus Mahna.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Andorians have a given name and a surname, with their surname containing a prefix indicating which of the four sexes they belong to. For example, Shran's full "Imperial name" in the novels is Hravishran th'Zoarhi (he's a thaan), with his better-known full name Thy'lek Shran (originally referring to his Mirror Universe counterpart in the TV series) apparently being the Aenar translation of his non-Imperial, home-culture name. The character Kanshent Shelav, from a highly traditionalist branch of her clan, insists on using this (her native Dreshna name), even though Andoria officially registers her by her Imperial name, Trenkanshent sh'Lavan. Her cousin answers just as readily to Aranthanien ch’Revash as to Thanien Cherev. The four gender suffixes are th', sh', zh' or ch' (e.g. Thirishar ch'Thane, Sessethantis zh'Cheen or Kellarasana zh'Faila, whose shorter "familiar" names are Shar, Thantis and Kell — although the latter's Mirror Universe counterpart prefers Sana). An additional prefix for an outsider adopted into an Andorian clan was recently introduced.
Fictional Political Party: The Parliament Andoria is generally split between the Visionists (who are conservative and somewhat isolationist), and the strongly pro-Federation Modern Progessive party (liberal). Later stories introduce further parties and new, coalition governments.
Hot-Blooded: A prominent Andorian trait.
Instrument of Murder: The Andorian flabjellah is a combination sidearm and musical instrument.
Occupiers Out of Our Country: As of the late 24th century, a vocal minority of Andorians have come to view the Federation as essentially an oppressive force manipulating Andor for its own ends at the expense of the planet's own national and cultural identity. The idea is encouraged by the Tholians, who arrange to drop a proverbial bombshell at just the right (wrong) time.
Overly Long Name: Andorians often have very long names, and combined with their fondness for lisping sounds can be quite a mouthful. Luckily they have a shorter "familiar" name that can be used instead.
Pronoun Trouble: The four-sexed Andorians have a multitude of gender-specific words but usually accept male or female pronouns so as to avoid confusion among offworlders.
Science Is Bad: As of the late 24th century, the Andorian population are up in arms over the nature of the research rumoured to be undertaken by the Science Academy; the re-engineering of the Andorian genome. In an attempt to solve the Andorian fertility problems and genetic crisis, the possibility of re-engineering four-gendered Andorians as two-gendered beings is being discussed. Such a project would tear the traditional Andorian culture to tatters, and the idea is condemned by many.

The Androssi

A race of scavengers and engineers who live in a society with a brutal, highly stratified class system.

Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Recurring Androssi villain Overseer Biron doesn't understand the Federation or its Starfleet heroes, in particular their compassion. Why Starfleet officers and captains expend valuable resources helping "expendable" crewmen or those of lesser station is beyond his comprehension. Biron is a highly intelligent being, but a product of a brutal and calculating culture that assigns worth to people based only on how productive and useful they are.
Fantastic Caste System: A vertically stratified example. Worker caste Androssi can be killed on a whim by the Officer class.
You Have Failed Me: The fate of a worker class Androssi when an officer is dissatisfied with his or her performance.

The Arkenites

A minor Federation member race, with a strong sense of duty and a physiological sensitivity to magnetic fields.

Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": An Arkenite character in Star Trek: Titan describes his dead pet, which is clearly a cat. Not literally — it's a fictional animal given a made up name — but it's obvious that what we're talking about is an Arkenite cat.
Hat of Power: In a sense. Arkenites are adapted to a strong magnetic field and the tidal effects of their planet, and become disorientated if removed from this environment. When offworld they wear special headgear that reproduces their homeworld's magnetic field and compensates for their balance problems.
Honor Before Reason: The Arkenites take their debts very seriously. So much so, that when Klingons save an Arkenite outpost from a disaster in Star Trek: Vanguard, in exchange for the outpost swearing allegiance to the Klingon Empire, the residents then refuse to back out. Even though they don't want to leave the Federation or help the Klingons, they all willingly keep to the promise even when Starfleet shows up trying to "liberate" them. To choose gratification over duty and refuse to repay their debt would, their leader explains, be unthinkable.
Mind over Matter: Some Arkenites have limited telekinetic powers. Arkenites have the "paracortex" that allows for psi abilities, but it's underdeveloped compared to, say, Vulcans or Betazoids.
Pointy Ears
The Stoic: Despite being a part of the Andorian Empire, pre-Federation, they contrast with the Hot-Blooded Andorians by being generally stoic, patient, and reserved.

The Ascendants

A culture of religious fanatics who worship the wormhole aliens, part of a trio of faithful cultures alongside the Bajorans and the Eav'oq. They destroy all who worship falsely...or they did, anyway. Introduced in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch, the conflict with the Ascendants became a Noodle Incident by the time of Star Trek: Typhon Pact. The Ascendants have also made a cameo in a certain Original Series novel.

Dying Race: They're far less numerous than they once were.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: They’re characterized by deep-set, fiercely glowing eyes. Their gods are also said to possess "eyes of fire".
Noodle Incident: For a while, though the details were filled in eventually. As is fitting for a Deep Space Nine-centric arc, the story was somewhat non-linear.

Star Killing: The Ascendants are revealed to have a weapon capable of destroying stars. An artificial supernova in Dominion space is revealed to be the work of Ascendant forces, part of their ongoing effort to destroy all who worship falsely.

The Balduk

A minor race who usually show up as bodyguards, thugs or other tough guys.

A Day in the Limelight: The Star Trek: Stargazer novel Three.
Dumb Muscle: When Balduk appear, they're almost always this.
Fantastic Caste System: They're divided into High Order, Middle Order and Low Order, with demotion to a lower order a common penalty for failure.
Pet the Dog: Although their aggression and xenophobia are well known, during the first Federation contact with them in Rise of the Federation we see a more beneficent side to them. They help defend others against the predation of the Ware.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Apparently one of Trek's many variants on this.

The Benzites

Industrious Federation members who breathe an unusual mixture of gases.

Control Freak: Benzites are highly meticulous, a characteristic reflected in their regulations, which state that no officer on a Benzite ship is to report on anything without providing a full detailed analysis and solution.
Depending on the Writer: Various writers seem to have their own take on Benzite physiognomy. A short story in The Sky's the Limit states that Benzites breathe in a gas heavy in chlorine, while the early Deep Space 9 novel Devil in the Sky claims that their blood is both orange and rich in mercury and platinum. One thing everyone seems to agree on though, is that their physiology is unique and complex, and transplants, etc, don't take easily.
Fantastic Naming Convention: A single name, almost always two syllables and with hard consonants. Examples include Cardok, Veldon, Linzner, Salmak, Mendon.

Nerves of Steel: In their cheerfully self-disciplined way, they display the traits necessary to excel in such Federation agencies as the Department of Temporal Investigations.

The Betazoids

The telepathic humanoids retain their pacifistic, emotionally supportive culture, but aren't quite so naive after their ordeal during the Dominion War. Their planet is a respected member of the Federation.

Fantastic Naming Convention: Male names are usually single-syllable (Cort, Tam, Sark, Hent, Ven), occasionally two, while female names are multi-syllable and tend to end in "a" (Lwaxana, Nerissa, Damira). Surnames tend to end in "n" (Enaren, Kaldarren, Povron, Okalan, Tevren) or "x" (Grax, Mryax, Xerix, Xerx).
Mind over Manners: Due to their telepathy, Betazoid culture can embrace honesty to a point considered rude by other cultures; Betazoids can be paradoxically very sensitive to others' feelings... and astonishingly blunt.

The Betelgeusians

A highly competitive race who wander space in nomadic communities. Most Betelgeusians encountered in the novels (all minor supporting characters so far) are younger males who've joined Starfleet to gain experience and training, which they'll take back to their people in order to win a place in a pack.

Boisterous Bruiser: The default Betelgeusian characterization.
Fantastic Naming Convention: They almost always have an "uu" sound, an "i" sound, a "t" sound and an apostrophe, e.g. Kuu'iut, Uuvu'it, Hru'uith, Chi'iot.
Pride: Theirs is strong, but also easily damaged if they feel they've been slighted or denied a chance to prove their worth.
Rite of Passage: For Betelgeusian males, their entire adolescence is essentially one long Rite of Passage. Chased from the pride by elder males as they approach puberty, they spend their teenage years and early manhood surviving alone in the wider galaxy, often winding up joining organizations like Starfleet to earn experience. Then they return to a pride and fight its members to win acceptance, and membership.
Too Many Mouths: Betelgeusians have two; a beak-like one for speaking with, and a toothy one which they use to eat.

The Bolians

The blue-skinned, bald Federation members who show up so frequently.

Alien Blood: As blue as their skin.
Exotic Extended Marriage: Lots of "co-husbands" and "co-wives".
Extreme Omnivore: Bolian cuisine is regarded as being quite tasty, but the preparation of some dishes involves the use of rotten meat, and they're capable of eating foods that are toxic to many other species. Even certain Starfleet ration packs carry the label "Warning: May Be Toxic To Non-Bolians".
Hidden Depths: Despite their prominent portrayal as service industry workers, the Bolians are a major economic force in the Alpha Quadrant, and an essential member of the Federation.
Proud Merchant Race

The Boslic

Ruled by the Triumvirate of Cort, the Boslic are a politically neutral race, though many (such as Xintal Linojj of the Enterprise-B and Ellec Krotine of the Titan) serve in Starfleet.

Occupiers Out of Our Country: They fought off a Romulan occupation, which contributed to their modern commitment to independence.
Team Switzerland: In Star Trek: Typhon Pact, they're chosen to host a conference between the heads of state of the various major powers because everyone knows they're dedicated to political neutrality.

The Breen

The Star Trek: Typhon Pact series finally established some concrete facts about Breen culture. They're a multi-species organization who hide their true identity by wearing body-concealing suits (some are refridgerated, because one of the major Breen races lives in sub-zero environments).

A Day in the Limelight: The Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel Zero Sum Game.
The Alliance: Are themselves an example (a confederacy, specifically), and are also part of the Typhon Pact.
Beneath the Earth: One of the reasons why it's so hard to get reliable information on the Breen is because their cities are hidden underground.
Combat Pragmatist
Dark Is Not Evil: The Breen salutation "Night and silence protect you", and its reply "may darkness bring you fortune". Breen like darkness - or anything that aids you in hiding - and are, at their best, a perfectly "decent" people. At their worst, they're an...
Evil Counterpart: Like the Federation, they draw on multiple races and cultures, and no race is legally subordinate to another. Where the Federation celebrates its diversity and the potential for new perspectives, the Breen fear bias to an extreme degree, and insist on hiding their diversity even as they utilize it. The Federation is open and bright, the Breen are secretive and dark.
Fantastic Rank System: Breen ranks include Thot (canonically established), Chot, and Ghoc. They're attached to the front of a Breen's short-hand name, so that the Breen Deshinar Tibbonel, for instance, is known as "Chot Nar".
Fictional Currency: Sakto.
Green-Eyed Monster: They envy the Romulans' power and spend as much time trying to wrest the dominant position within the Typhon Pact from the Romulans as they do plotting against the Federation. And since they do the latter almost constantly lately...
Meaningful Name: The Fenrisal, a wolf-like species.
National Weapon: The neural truncheon.
People's Republic of Tyranny: The Breen regime enforces legal and social equality between all member races through forced public homogeneity, and concealment of Breen diversity even as it's utilized.
The Starscream: They're eager to wrestle the dominant position in the Typhon Pact away from the Romulans.
With Friends Like These...: They treat their Gorn and Kinshaya allies as tools, despite the supposed equality of the Typhon Pact, and are constantly trying to undermine the Romulans. They seem to have a better relationship with the Tzenkethi, if only because the Tzenkethi share their paranoia regarding the Federation.

The Bynars

Small, androgynous beings who appeared in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Their computer-dependent society is explored in greater detail in the novels, particularly the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Bynars are named both for their close relationship with computers and resulting tendency to think/communicate in binary, and their social structure: linked pairs forming a single Bynar unit.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Bynars have no moral or metaphysical issues with ending life because they value life only insofar as it can contribute to society. Good is defined as productivity, fulfilling one’s assignment, furthering the progress of the planet. There’s no codified commandment on ethics or behaviour beyond the on and off branches created in binary language.
Fantastic Slurs: "Singleton" is a terrible slur among the Bynars, signifying one who is unfit for bonding with another; a rejected person. To the Bynars, who (almost) always operate in pairs, this is the ultimate insult. Protagonist character "Solomon" is on the receiving end of such abuse due to his decision not to take another mate upon the death of his partner.
Pronoun Trouble: They use "this unit" in place of "I" or "we", neither of which quite work for them.
Turned Against Their Masters: The Bynars reverse the usual situation; they're a race of organic beings bio-engineered by machine intelligences, and who later rebelled against their robotic masters.

The Caeliar

Advanced and secretive aliens whose biology has been converted into nanotechnology. They appeared in Star Trek: Destiny, their history being tied to that of the Borg Collective.

Absolute Xenophobe: Though they hide it behind a mask of serenity, the Caeliar are a species of agoraphobes utterly terrified of strangers.
Actual Pacifist: To the extent that they'd rather die than allow harm to come to others even through lack of action on their part. When the human characters they're holding captive rebel, they're convinced to co-operate when one of the humans shoots his own colleague.
Advanced Ancient Acropolis: Their capital city, Axion.
All-Powerful Bystander: They can resolve the Borg crisis in Star Trek: Destiny relatively easily. Convincing them to actually care about the outside galaxy, and confront their own stagnation as a people, is far harder.
Can't Argue with Elves: They've evolved almost completely beyond the need for physical bodies, have no crime, poverty, or want, and are devoted completely to artistic and scientific pursuits. They have just enough respect for others' beliefs to refrain from insisting that their way is universally correct, but no amount of cajoling will convince them that their way is wrong. They are severely isolationist, but are complete pacifists, which leads various characters who stumble upon their home planet to become permanent "guests". Not a bad place to be, all things considered, but don't argue too much. Make too much noise or disrupt their work and the Caeliar will teleport you to a nice uninhabited planet a few billion light years away, just to make sure you never get home with information about them.
Civilization Destroyer: They're not above displacing entire species to other galaxies just go get them out of the way. The only reason they don't do this to the Federation when the Titan finds them is because they realize this would just turn into a Revealing Cover Up, since they'd have to disappear everyone else who knows about the Federation in the process.
Crystal Spires and Togas
Dying Race: They lost the ability to reproduce when they advanced to their current form. They didn't think it would be a problem, until 98% of their people were lost in an Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
Eldritch Abomination: Although benevolent, they come close.
Freudian Excuse: Their bad experiences with other "younger" species is what fuels their isolationism.
Hidden Elf Village: Their homeworld of Erigol is kept isolated from the rest of the galaxy, and anyone who stumbles across it is taken prisoner, never allowed to leave.
Hive Mind: A benign, low-level version called the Gestalt. They're all full individuals though.
Horror Hunger: A Caeliar deprived of their advanced tech becomes a mindless thing of all-consuming hunger, which feeds on whatever's nearby until it's sated.
Insistent Terminology: You're not a prisoner of the Caeliar. You're a guest. A guest who is never allowed to go home ever.
Perfect Pacifist People: They see themselves as such.
Space Elves: Isolationist, peaceful, convinced of their own superiority and not afraid to express it, and dedicated to scientific and philosophical pursuits while ignoring the wider galaxy.
Stable Time Loop: Their history. A group of Caeliar travelled to a distant galaxy with some time travel, and when the Caeliar of the 22nd century tried contacting them, blew up their home system in response so as to create the circumstances that caused them to jump in the first place.
Sufficiently Advanced Alien
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The example mentioned in Stable Time Loop also kicks a Caeliar city back a few hundred years to a backwater planet in the Delta Quadrant. The remaining Caeliar goes mad from hunger, and becomes the foundation for the Borg.

The Caitians

A feline race introduced in Star Trek: The Animated Series, who in the novels have a tendency to leave and rejoin the Federation apparently on a whim.

Action Girl: The females are the hunters, as with Earth's lion.
Cat Girl: The most prominent example in the Star Trek universe.
Jabba Table Manners: Being predators, their metabolism requires they "play" with their food before eating it. Thus, the mess they make of eating isn't to portray them as abhorrent but simply as alien.
My Instincts Are Showing
Never Heard That One Before: Caitian officer M'Ress grouses that she's heard all the cat-related jokes in existence.
"So let us be clear with one another, Admiral. I have one life, not nine. I have never been killed by curiosity, my parents do not live in a cat house, my mother did not rock me as an infant in a cat's cradle, the preferred Caitian method of self-defense is not cat-boxing, I do not deposit my earnings into a kitty, if I am trying to be delicate about a subject I do not pussyfoot around - shall I go on?"

The Capellans

A tribal warrior culture, whose members reject medicine and comfort as pandering to the weak. They look like humans, only much larger and stronger, and they're a long term Federation protectorate, although they hate Starfleet, due to the organization's acceptance (and eventual subordination to) exiled Capellan royal Leonard James Akaar.

Berserk Button: Suggesting that they have lied or betrayed their word.

Psychic-Assisted Suicide: A self-inflicted example, in fact. Capellans can utilise their biofeedback capabilities to trick their bodies into permanently shutting down.
Sacred Hospitality: Although their guests need to take care not to cause offence by violating any of the local taboos.
Strange Salute: Their ritual greeting, "I welcome you with an open heart and hand" involves one; the hand is placed over the heart and then extended.
Will Not Tell a Lie: Keeping to your word is the very foundation of Capellan ethics. They automatically take a stranger at their word. Be revealed as a liar, though, and their retribution will be swift and fatal.

The Carreon

An aggressive race near the Deltans, who gained warp technology shortly before the 2160s, and decided to try and make an empire of their own.

Blatant Lies: They run on contradictory claims about what Deltans do to All Good Carreon.
Immediate Self-Contradiction: Carreon propaganda claims truly good Carreon are immune to those shifty Deltans and their tempting ways, but warns about how Deltans excel at corrupting those same truly good Carreon.
Technology Uplift: They didn't invent warp for themselves. Someone gave them it, making a pretty good Exhibit A for why the Federation is against this kind of practice.

The Chelons

One of several races to call the Rigel system home, the Chelons are based on the green "sabre-toothed turtle" Rigellians of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The most notable Chelon character is Jetanien of Star Trek: Vanguard, a Federation diplomat.

Fantastic Naming Convention: Chelon names have lots of short, sharp syllables that sound like wet clicks and snaps - "i" and "t" are common (e.g. Rinsit, Latanum, Simmerith, Jetanien, Miltakka).
Hermaphrodite: Naturally hermaphrodite, centuries of influence from their Jelna Rigelian and Zami Rigelian neighbours have led to their use of gendered identities. The most traditional Chelons disapprove of this.
Noble Savage: How at least some of the other Rigelian species tended to view them. They're historically less quick to embrace technology.
Poisonous Person: When under stress, Chelons secrete a poison through their skin. Ambassador Jetanien explains this to his Klingon diplomatic counterpart in order to warn him off; another Chelon posthumously kills a Hirogen hunter with his poison in Star Trek: Destiny, and in Rise of the Federation the same happens to a Malurian criminal.

The Children of the Storm

Introduced as a Sequel Hook in the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy, the Children starred in a follow-up novel from the Star Trek: Voyager Relaunch. They're a powerful non-corporeal race who defended their region of space against the Borg - one of the only races ever to do so.

Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Their individual skill set is determined by their resonance, which gives a unique color for each.

Mind over Matter: They're an example of the non-corporeal subtrope; their primary interaction with the outside world is via telekinesis. This includes travelling through space in "ships".
Mother of a Thousand Young: Their planet of origin, an intelligent stormy gas-giant.
Scary Dogmatic Aliens: At first, they look to be this. But the trope is later averted.

Suicide Attack: The Children try a few of these. One of the advantages of travelling in a highly-compressed sphere of noxious gases held together by the power of thought is that you can blow it up and take much of your surroundings with you.

The Damiani

Members of the United Federation of Planets, known for having three genders. Recurring character Ra'ch B'ullhy is a Damiani.

Bizarre Alien Biology: They have three sexes.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Damiani names have two syllables separated by an apostrophe, followed by a letter, an apostrophe and ullh, ullho or ullhy depending on sex (they have three). Examples include Ra'ch B'ullhy (female), Je'tran T'ullh (male) and Ne'al G'ullho (the third sex).
Horned Humanoid: With the number of horns signifying sex. One horn on the forehead distinguishes males, three (one on the forehead and one on each temple) signifies a female, and two (the temple horns and no forehead horn) mark the third sex.
Monochromatic Eyes: Their eyes are solid silver/white.

The Deltans

Introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, much is made in the novels of both their attitude to sexual intercourse (put simply: a normal and non-troubling part of interpersonal relations) and their emotional maturity.

Crystal Spires and Togas: Deltans casual wear tends to be skimpy dresses which, funnily enough, can be easily removed in case anyone wants some sex.
Emotions vs. Stoicism: Actually somewhat avoided. As part of the whole “emotionally mature” thing, they embrace their passions fully yet also demonstrate a calm and reserved demeanour much of the time.
- Their conflict with the Carreon is partly this, though; Deltans are a flexible Ethical Slut culture, free with their emotions and desires (albeit also strongly disciplined), while Carreon are stoic and reserved, and rather intolerant of such openness. The Carreon also have a tendency to hypocritically show great interest in the Deltans' sexual nature while loudly condemning it.
Ethical Slut: Sexuality is an important part of their lives, and they have few emotional hang-ups over it. Always their love of sex is portrayed as a healthy aspect of a mature culture, not as something dirty.
Foil: The Star Trek: Titan book Sword of Damocles introduces the gloomily pessimistic Thymerae as a foil for the Deltans, represented in that novel by Peya Fell. The Carreon also serve this role to some extent.
Free-Love Future: Deltans are pretty open about when and where and who they'll have sex with, provided those they're doing it to can survive the ride.

Interplay of Sex and Violence: The Deltan armed forces draw from those Deltans who have a...more combative...element to their sexuality. This being Deltans, it's usually well-controlled and healthy, but, put simply, the Deltan armed forces equate controlled force with sexuality. As a Deltan character says, if their rivals the Carreon insist on wanting conflict, who are the Deltans to deny it, particularly if some of their own can find a healthy outlet for their desires in the process?
Living Aphrodisiac: Like Orions, they give off pheromones as a matter of course. They usually use it for calming others down, but the effect on humans who get the amorous effect full-blast is bad; either severe dissociative jonesing for more, or just becoming an Empty Shell. Only humans with an insane level of Heroic Willpower can ignore or survive it, which is why Deltans politely try to avoid sex around humans.

This Is My Name on Foreign: They're not actually called Deltans, that's a corruption of their actual name by the early human crew who found their system. Deltans were just too polite to bother correcting them.
Vestigial Empire: A willingly vestigial one. They turned inwards centuries ago and now control only a few star systems, considering space travel and colonization a “noble savage” sort of concept. They still get annoyed when the Carreon try to settle their old holdings, though.

The Eav'oq

A long-lost "sister species" to the Bajorans; non-humanoids living on the other side of the Bajoran wormhole, also guarded and guided by the Wormhole Aliens, who are known as "Siblings" in Eav'oq culture. The Eav'oq's rediscovery provoked a reinterpretation of the Bajoran faith.

Actual Pacifist: They certainly claim to be total pacifists, and so far their behaviour supports it. They refused to fight and kill even when faced with potential genocide at the hands of the Ascendants.
Hidden Elf Village: The Eav'oq city on Idran VIII, hidden within subspace to protect the Eav'oq survivors from the Ascendants' genocidal rampage.
Rule of Three: The number three appears to have considerable significance for the cultures involved with the Wormhole Aliens; the Eav'oq, the Bajorans, and the Ascendants (who themselves make three, obviously). Connected to this, we have the trio of the Voice, the Hand and the Fire. Further, there are nine orbs (three times three), and nine Emissaries. The Wormhole Aliens certainly like the number three, though for what reason (other than this trope, of course) is as yet unclear.
You Can't Fight Fate: They seem destined to face the Ascendants. It will no doubt be revealed as part of a greater plan, because it's notable that after having hidden in subspace to prevent their total extinction at Ascendant hands, they come out of hiding just as the Ascendants are preparing to come back.

The Efrosians

The species to which the Federation President in The Undiscovered Country belonged. Members of the United Federation of Planets, from an ice-covered world.

Disappeared Dad: They're raised by mothers alone, and most never know their father. Efrosians aren't monogomous, and women take many lovers who often help with the children. The "seed-donor" (their closest term to father) is rarely among these later partners, though.
Ethical Slut: In Efrosian culture, respectful sexual contact between work colleagues (or anyone you find attractive) is perfectly acceptable, indeed celebrated.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Efrosians tend to use a "Ra-" prefix on the surname (Ra-Yalix, Xin Ra-Havreii, Ra-Ghoratreii, Satlin Ra-Graveness), but not always. Ni- and Hu' prefixes have been see as well (e.g. Ni-Jalikreii, Fellen Ni-Yaleii, Hu'Ghrovlatrei). A classic Efrosian name is "(prefix)-(something)eii".
Heaven: Their version is named "Endless Sky".
Starfish Language: Their spoken language is actually based on music; they can also communicate complex schematics and diagrams through song.

The Elabrej

A race new to spaceflight who made the mistake of antagonizing the Klingons. They were defeated, with the Klingons unsure if they even wanted to bother annexing the Elabrej homeworld.

Asshole Victim: The Klingons are in their region of space on a mission of general conquest; Klingon Captain Klag and his crew are nonetheless the protagonists of the Star Trek: Klingon Empire novels. The Elabrej government is oppressive and they're close to societal collapse anyway, with their general Crapsack World status making it easier to get behind the Klingon attempts to stomp all over them.
Bizarre Alien Biology: That said, in the scenes from their point of view they evaluate the humanoid Klingons along these terms. The Elabrej oligarchs are shocked to hear that Klingons can only see what is in front of them (or to the immediate side), due to having only two small organs on the front with which to experience vision.
Extra Eyes: The Elabrej apparently have eyes, or equivalent, all over.
Fantastic Caste System: They have a vertically stratified caste system. There are also the lowly non-strata beneath everyone else. Only the very highest caste, the Vor, are traditionally permitted on the government council, though in recent times the next caste down has claimed a few seats. There's also a growing revolutionary movement.

The Gnalish

Grumpy lizard people, who have been a part of the Federation for many decades and show up periodically all over the place. Only one is a major character, though; Phigus Simenon of Star Trek: Stargazer.

A Day in the Limelight: The second novel of the Star Trek: Stargazer series visits their planet.
Cross-Cultural Handshake: They greet others with a ritualistic movement of the hands; extending them outward, palms down.
Disappeared Dad: As a matter of course. Males have no role to play in rearing young.
Fantastic Naming Convention: A first name of one or two syllables, a surname of at least three. Examples include Sar Antillea, Phigus Simenon, Qur Ontallium, Ganris Phrebington, and Gorus Gelemingar.

The Gorn

In the novels, the reptilian Gorn become a member of the Typhon Pact. Territorial and wary, they're one of the Pact's moderate members, but their various castes often have different outlooks and agendas.

A Day in the Limelight: The Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel Seize the Fire. Before that, the graphic novel The Gorn Crisis.
Betrayal Insurance: The Breen leadership tries to pull this on the Gorn, telling them that the Gorn Hegemony is the weak link in the Typhon Pact because of their previously almost-friendly relationship with the Federation (the Breen, along with the Tholians and Tzenkethi, view the Pact in part as a means of triumphing over the Federation). In the novel Silent Weapons, the Gorn agree to serve as a distraction as part of a Breen plot, by seeking a private summit with the Federation President at which they drag out proceedings pointlessly, but they have misgivings when it becomes clear the Breen see them as expendable. When confronted about it, the Breen tell the Gorn Imperator that they suspected his people would eventually seek to form a relationship with the Federation anyway, but if he ever tries to get close to the Federation again, they'll remember the fiasco that took place this time and reject them. The Breen call it "a preemptive investment in your loyalty". This backfires when the Gorn privately vow to repay the Breen for their treachery and start channelling intelligence on Breen politics to the Federation, while seeking to strengthen their ties with fellow moderate Pact member, the Romulans.
Fantastic Caste System: Including Political, Warrior and Technological castes. The castes were established so long ago, they're now practically distinct subspecies.
Fantastic Rank System: Gorn ranks include the Ozuk, and Warrior Caste units are led by a First Myrmidon.
Fictional Currency: Szeket.
Honor Before Reason: Very frequent.
Thrown Out the Airlock: The Gorn Hegemony is shown to practice this as a form of execution. The prisoner is entitled to an official trial, but that doesn't stop some commanders spacing traitors there and then.
The Unfettered: Once the Gorn have an objective, nothing comes between them and achieving it. Anything that does is brushed aside, ignored or destroyed.

The Grazerites

The species to which Federation President Jaresh-Inyo belonged; peaceable herbivores, hence the name.

Descriptively-Named Species
Fantastic Naming Convention: Grazerite names, following the formula established onscreen by Jaresh-Inyo, are two names joined by a hyphen (e.g. Severn-Anyar, Torvis-Urzon, Lonam-Arja, Amster-Iber). They sound ponderous and each of the names is typically two syllables long, very occasionally one. The first name is shared between siblings or herd members - Jaresh-Inyo's brother is Jaresh-Uryad.
Hufflepuff House: Never explored in any depth.

The Huanni

A hyper-emotional race who embrace their passions to the full. Unlike the Proud Warrior Race Klingons or Byronic Hero Andorians, Huanni are pacifists. They have a darker side, though; deliberately hiding their history as slavers and the oppression of their sister-species Falorians.

Elves Versus Dwarves: They're willowy and ethereal, while Falorians are stockier and more industrial.
Emotions vs. Stoicism: The Huanni celebrate and embrace emotion to the full. Their offshoot race, Falorians, are in contrast stoic and controlled (and take pride in this).
Expressive Ears: They can learn to keep them under control, but usually the ears change position in response to emotional shifts.

The Indign

A collection of races native to the Delta Quadrant. They live alongside Borg space, though the Borg rejected them as unworthy of assimilation. Their religion is based around reverance for the Collective, and they seek to immitate the Borg by achieving full interdependence. One day, they hope, they will finally prove worthy of being assimilated.

The Assimilator: The Indign consist of six races literally joined together.
Bizarre Alien Biology: Definitely; they're a collective race consisting of six species integrated together symbiotically. Only one of the six is humanoid.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: They're quite reasonable and not overtly hostile, aside from their religious beliefs, which involve the Borg Collective as a model of divinity. The Indign capture spacefarers and "sacrifice" them to the Borg - condemning them to A Fate Worse Than Death - but they actually mean well.
God Is Dead: In the aftermath of Star Trek: Destiny, the Indign are dealing with this; the Borg Collective is no more.
Starfish Aliens: The Greech, and many other components of the race.

The Kaferians

A race of insectoids. In contrast to the stereotype of the hive mind, Kaferians are individualists and libertarian to the point of near-anarchy. Allies of the Federation, they aren't members (see previous sentence).

Retcon: Inner Kaferia and Outer Kaferia, resolving the issue of how the Kaferia that is Tau Ceti IV and a human world exists in the same continuity as the Kaferia that is Tau Ceti III and the Kaferian insectoid homeworld.

The Kalar

The non-spacefaring inhabitants of Rigel VII. Not remotely friendly.

Absolute Xenophobe: After what happened to them long ago, they decided they weren't having with any of those aliens coming to their turf. Anyone who sets foot on Rigel VII tends to get killed the minute they're found. Their name "Kalar", is because it's about the only thing anyone hears. It's their battle-cry.
The Exile: Species-wide. They were originally native to Rigel IV, but after the development of interplanetary travel there was a war, which they lost. The end result was the entire species getting dumped on Rigel VII.
Freudian Excuse: The Kalar's bad attitude toward aliens comes about from their history with their planetary neighbours. Hearing it explained to him, Sam Kirk acknowledges they've got pretty good reason to be pissed.
Human Aliens: Physiologically, they look human, aside from having a full mouth of pointed teeth.

The Kinshaya

Their name and several other details taken in homage from earlier Star Trek works, the Kinshaya of the modern continuity are a race in near-continuous war with the Klingons. Their nation, the Holy Order, is a member of the newly formed Typhon Pact.

A Day in the Limelight: The Star Trek: Typhon Pact novella The Struggle Within.
Church Militant: Their nation is a militant theocracy, and their warships are commanded not by captains but by bishops.

Hufflepuff House: The least notable member of the Typhon Pact, with the least attention paid to them by the novels. Then again, they're the only member not introduced to the Trek 'verse onscreen. They did eventually get attention in the Prey trilogy.
Lady Land: Both genders have important roles, but these are segregated. Political leadership falls into the female half of their culture's duties.
Our Gryphons Are Different: Kinshaya resemble gryphons of myth, being mammals with four legs and a pair of wings.
Strange Salute: They flare their wings to salute, revealing the colored patterns on their undersides. These signify family lineage, reinforcing the hierarchy in more ways than one.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Four legs and two wings.

The Kurlans

The "Blugill" parasites from Star Trek: The Next Generation season one make a reapperance in the modern novel continuity, and are revealed to be Kurlans (an ancient race previously known only by name and a few snippets of culture). They're involved in a feud against the Trill.

Evil Counterpart: To the Trill symbionts.
Gone Horribly Wrong: Their creation resulted from medical experiments designed to make their original forms immune to a terrible plague.

The Right of a Superior Species: Humanoids are simply "meat" to them. Whenever someone tries to reason with a Kurlan, it responds only with sneering contempt for a lesser being, mockingly explaining that humanoids "think with their glands" and know nothing of true intelligence.

The Mabrae

A culture with a symbiotic relationship with plants; somewhat prickly and territorial but not aggressive. They've appeared in Star Trek: The Lost Era and the Star Trek: The Next Generation Relaunch.

Plant Aliens: They're actually animals, but they live symbiotically with plants that grow on their bodies and are tailored to each individual. Security guards have tough bark as natural body armour, diplomats and politicians grow exotic colourful flowers. These plants are essentially the Mabrae's clothes. They consider segregation between leaf and flesh barbaric.
Shout-Out to Shakespeare: Named for Queen Mab.
Show Some Leg: Their diplomats like trying to use this tactic.

The Manraloth

An incredibly advanced, immortal race who once controlled the entire galaxy, during a long-past "golden age." Master manipulators, the Manraloth united the entire Milky Way in peace, using their talents to prevent conflict and bring people together. Their civilization collapsed when an experiment in breaching the boundaries between the mortal realm and the "higher" dimensions went horribly wrong.

Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Everyone in the galaxy did this simultaneously a quarter of a billion years ago, the result of that Manraloth experiment gone wrong. Trying to unite the multiverse as they had the galaxy, the Manraloth and their allies attempted to tap into the higher dimensional planes with their minds. The resulting surge of energy proved too powerful, overloading the telepathic centres of every Manraloth and transmitting it to any other brain capable of receiving it. The entire galactic population was forced into a state of pure energy, long before most races were ready. At the end of The Lost Age, the remnant woken up in the modern day decide to go for a smaller, gentler version.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Manraloth's methods of bringing about peace and unity conflict with those of the Federation, and they are very, very sneaky and manipulative. Always, though, their intentions are good and noble.
Can't Argue with Elves: They try invoking this, but Picard is not having any of it.
Compelling Voice: This is only one technique of many with which they subtly influence and guide the thinking of others.
Everybody's Dead, Dave: Something modern-day revived Manraloth have to deal with.
Everything's Better with Sparkles: One of many artificial changes to their appearance bred into Manraloth biology.
For Your Own Good: Anything the Manraloth do, ever.
Immortal Procreation Clause: Being immortal, Manraloth rarely need to reproduce; when they do, they can alter their own physiology to bring their body back into breeding mode, although it takes some time to completely undergo the changes.
Omniglot: They engineered themselves that way.
Overly Long Name: As an example, Giriaenn Lilaeannin eb Vairan Gela-syr.
Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Their living ships can outpace anything the mid-24th century Federation has, thanks to having transwarp capabilities. In their heyday they had supspace tunnels (implied to be the corridors the Vaadwuaar and Borg use), which went all the way to some of the satellite galaxies around the Milky Way. They're so advanced they regard the Borg as idiotic upstarts.
Teenage Wasteland: The Manraloth see the modern galaxy as this. The races of today have grown up without the oversight of the Manraloth and their galaxy-spanning alliance, and are frequently at war. These unruly, rather brutal child races require Manraloth guidance to mature healthily. Or so the revived Manraloth believe.

The Malurians

A reptilian species with a fondness for infiltration and subversion.

Doomed by Canon: The Malurians are a minor criminal power in the 22nd century, with their agents making trouble for the nascent Federation. "The Changeling" established they're gone by the 23rd century.
Lady Land: Malur is ruled by the larger, angrier females, who don't tend to leave home.
Master of Disguise: Malurian skin-suits are exceptionally well-made, which they use to aid in their disguise efforts.

The Nalori

A tribal people who govern a small interstellar alliance called the Nalori Republic. They tend to dislike the Federation, but wind up in an exclusive trading relationship with it regardless.

Alien Blood: It's blue.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Ritual scarring is used to mark important life events, at least in males. For example, manhood, marriage, fatherhood.
Monochromatic Eyes: Black.
Stay in the Kitchen: Men work outside the home, women work in the home. Nalori usually take exceptions to these gender roles rather poorly; there is "men's work" and "women's work".

The Nasat

Members of the Federation; cautious, conservative beings resembling giant pillbugs.

Amazing Technicolor Population: Nasats can be red, blue, green, yellow or brown.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: They can survive for an hour or so in hard vacuum.
Exposed Extraterrestrials: Being Insectoid Aliens, they're protected by their exoskeletons.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Among the Nasats, names are letter-number-shell colour, e.g. P8 Blue, Z4 Blue, C29 Green or V1 Red. These are actually shortened versions of longer designations (strings of numbers and letters) with shell colour added on.
Hungry Jungle: Their homeworld.
Insectoid Aliens: Nasats resemble giant pillbugs. They therefore look like crustaceans, but are actually arachnid (eight limbs).
Named After Their Planet
Planet of Copyhats: They're based on a character from Star Trek: The Animated Series, one who was an overly-cautious coward. In the novels, their hat is indeed "being overly cautious". However, the lead Nasat character, P8 Blue, is a straight-forward case of My Species Doth Protest Too Much, as she loves shaking things up and taking risks.
Tree Top Town: The Nasat civilization originated on the forest floor, but now resides in the canopy.

The Neyel

Descended from a human colony lost in deep space, the Neyel are genetically-enhanced humans who altered their genome to better survive in their new environment.

Batman Can Breathe in Space: For a brief period; Neyel have engineered themselves to survive vacuum for a time.
Dark and Troubled Past: Their racial history is one long traumatic struggle for survival, later transformed into a violent imperialism.

Evil Counterpart: A mild case; Neyel are to humans what Romulans are to Vulcans; an imperialist, xenophobic offshoot.
Fantastic Racism: Towards Tholians, whom they consider non-sapient "Devils."
Fantastic Rank System: "Drech'tor" is the equivalent of captain and "Subdrech'tor" is the equivalent of commander; these have obviously evolved from the titles "director" and "sub-director". There's also "subaltern", an archaic British term for any commissioned rank below captain.

The Orions

The green-skinned Orions are known for three things: their neutrality in all galactic affairs, their mercantile and criminal empires, and their females' reputation as attractive dancers and sexual companions. Who's truly in charge in any Orion operation can be difficult for outsiders to decipher.

Amazing Technicolor Population: Mostly green, though there are the odd blue-skinned Orions here and there, useful if, say, you need someone to pretend to be an Andorian.
Appropriated Appelation: Obviously, they didn't call themselves Orions to begin with, but they thought the idea of being named after a great hunter was pretty awesome, and just ran with it.

Dark and Troubled Past: Early in their history, Orion was invaded and the locals enslaved. They lost a lot of their historical records in the process.
Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Orions, or at least the higher-ranking ones, like to run their criminal empires in style.
Green-Skinned Space Babe: The females.
The Man Behind the Man: That dancing girl or prostitute is enslaved to a man who is in turn enslaved to a woman of the elite lineages, who in turn owes allegiance to a man who runs an entire branch of a crime syndicate, who is himself in turn a servant of the woman who runs the entire syndicate from behind the throne...
Privately Owned Society: Orion Prime is libertarian to the extreme, in a negative way.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: The royalty are businessmen who control their merchant empires directly. The government is far weaker than the cartels.

Pacifican "Selkies"

Called Selkies due to their two-stage lifestyle (human-compatable air-breather moving to fully aquatic), this race is from the ocean planet Pacifica.

Ethical Slut: The race exists in two life phases - an amphibious youthful/breeder stage and an aquatic form later on. The aquatic form is an Ethical Slut culture, but those in the amphibian stage are supposed to dedicate themselves to family life and avoid such behaviour.
Fish People
Ironic Name: Sort of. The term "selkie" brings to mind a being who, despite an aquatic nature, forms relationships with humans on land before later returning to the sea. This is indeed how visiting humans relate to Pacifica's natives (Starfleet officers on shore leave particularly); however, in Pacifican culture it's the late-stage aquatic form that's supposed to be sexually available. The younger air-breather stage is the one that's supposed to distance itself from potential sexual partners in order to focus on raising children. "Selkie" is a name that obscures and contradicts the reality...or the reality of the Pacificans themselves, if not the human visitors' perceptions.

The Pahkwa-thanh

A recent member of the Federation, the Pahkwa-thanh are a cross between a komodo dragon and a dromaeosaur. They're known for being very, very polite... and very carnivorous. Dr. Ree in Star Trek: Titan is a Pahkwa-thanh.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: A little from human perspective. Being egg laying beings, a Pahkwa-thanh's attachment to their young only starts at hatching, and they have difficulty wrapping their head around mammalian pregnancy. If a Pahkwa-than has a stillbirth, they'll just eat the egg rather than spend time lamenting.
I'm a Humanitarian: They believe their prey animals are sapient, and would eat a human if it thought it were prey. However, humans and most other races believe themselves separate from nature, so to actually attack them would be rude. Pahkwa-thanh are never rude.
Jabba Table Manners: Being predators, their metabolism requires they "play" with their food before eating it. Thus, the mess they make of eating isn't to portray them as abhorrent but simply as alien.
Papa Wolf: Male Pahkwa-thanh raise the young, and can enter a paternal protective mode that is extremely intimidating.
The Paralyzer: Their bite contains a venom to incapacitate prey so they can drag it back to the lair without killing it. Live food tastes better. It can also be used in a medical emergency to sedate uncooperative patients, though admittedly this is a bit "last resort".

The Pandrilites

A minor Federation member race who rarely leave their world. Vigo from Star Trek: Stargazer is a Pandrilite. They're polite, humble and very bulky in build.

Alien Blood: It's a very dark blue, almost black.
Fantastic Caste System: Supposedly, the Elevated Castes no longer oppress the Lower Castes due to society-wide adoption of the three virtues, but some Pandrilites believe the virtues are instead used to justify the inequities of the system, e.g, stoicism is a virtue so that the lower castes will accept their lot without growing rebellious.

The Saurians

Federation members who have a great many trading partners due to their famous brandy. Physically, they're powerful, goggle-eyed lizards.

Bring It: Their Hat, as Patterns of Interference actually states.
Cool Shades: One of their first inventions, in order to protect their sensitive eyes.
Expy: In Rise of the Federation, the Saurians are fresh new faces on the interstellar scene; optimistic, eager and ready to make waves, potentially of great importance to the future of the established spacefaring powers, and thus the subject of much debate over how they should be handled. Essentially, they're expies of Humans, filling the role Humans played only a decade prior.
Fantastic Racism: Their natural hardiness means that some of them tend to look down on "weaker" species. Maltuvis exploited it for all it was worth, blaming exposure to aliens for the plague he engineered.
History Repeats: They had their fascists before the 22nd century. Maltuvis wasn't the first.
Weaksauce Weakness: They're immensely strong, can breathe almost anything, have incredible stamina...but being nocturnal and having huge, sensitive eyes, they can be rendered helpless by shining a bright light at them. Saurians serving in Starfleet wear protective lenses.
We ARE Struggling Together: During the reign of the dictator Maltuvis, the various resistance factions had trouble opposing him because they were incapable of getting along.

The Seleneans

Members of the United Federation of Planets; a stoic race bred in various "batches" for different tasks.

A Form You Are Comfortable With: In their natural state, they are only semi-Humanoid at best, and rather ferocious-looking. The Selenean Pod Mothers, who have great control over their offspring's genetics, have bred certain broods designed specifically for off-world contact. These individuals, Y'Lira Modan of Star Trek: Titan among them, take a form more pleasing to humanoid eyes, but retain the ability to shift into their natural state if need be.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Creche or batch name comes first, followed by individual name.
Monochromatic Eyes: All Seleneans have solid green eyes.
Oh, My Gods!: "Spines of the Mothers!"
The Stoic: Highly analytical five-lobed brains make them this.
Will Not Tell a Lie: Not for moral reasons but because their usual form of communication makes it pointless.

The Shedai

An advanced race who once controlled a vast empire in the Taurus Reach region. They were roused from hibernation in Star Trek: Vanguard, when the Federation stumbled across their technological relics. Finding younger races meddling on their worlds, the re-awakened Shedai lashed out in vengeance. Their technology casts a long shadow, being relevant to novel arcs long after the Vanguard situation was resolved.

See Star Trek: Vanguard

The Tellarites

The pig-like aliens from the TV shows are defined in the novels by their pride and their unusual sense of manners. It was established onscreen that they argue and bluster for the sake of it, and the novels expand on their morality to show them finding delight in clever and witty opponents. It's less Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and more like a system whereby having a heart of gold is demonstrated through being jerkish.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: "Civil Conversation" is their equivalent of polite formality, and involves blustering insults and cutting remarks as a means of encouraging argument.

Fantastic Naming Convention: Tellarites have three names, usually of one or two syllables, the middle being a non-capitalized connective that appears to be chosen from a small pool. Examples include Bera chim Gleer, Bersh glov Mog, and Mor glasch Tev. Typically, they're referred to by the final name, which is shared among close family members (Rif jav Balkar and Sagar bav Balkar are a married couple).

Paper Tiger: It's been noted that they are often a rather insecure people behind the bluster.

Pride: Mentioned as a defining trait of the race.

The Thallonians

Introduced in Star Trek: New Frontier, which mostly takes place in their former territory, the Thallonians later show up for cameos in other novels. Many are refugees, following the collapse of the once-powerful and isolationist Thallonian Empire.

Balkanize Me: The struggle to hold the worlds of Thallonian space together in the aftermath of the Thallonian Empire's collapse drives much of Star Trek: New Frontier. Without the iron fist of the Thallonians imposing peace, the many worlds of the region revert into old hostilities, and countless little wars flare up. Eventually, protagonist Thallonian Si Cwan and his allies succeed in establishing a New Thallonian Protectorate, uniting most of these worlds into one nation. Then the Protectorate ends up having a civil war...
Decadent Court
The Extremist Was Right: The Thallonians brought peace to the warring races of their sector by conquering them all, forcing squabbling factions to settle on different planets, and generally ruling with an iron fist. They were a harsh and often brutal empire...but they did keep the peace. With the empire gone, Si Cwan rightly fears all the old conflicts will start up again.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Thallonians often use the honorific "Si" between their first and family names (Zoran Si Verdin, Jang Si Naran, etc.) Royal Thallonian Si Cwan appears to use the honorific itself as his first name.
Green-Skinned Space Babe: Both sexes are attractive, and their only real distinction from humans is their red skin.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: Once the revolution and subsequent collapse of the empire puts an end to the Decadent Court, anyway.
Stay in the Kitchen: They seem to have rather strict gender roles; males are statesmen, females are relegated to the domestic sphere. A certain paternalism is often evident in their treatment of women.

The Tholians

From their relatively few appearances on-screen, the Tholians have become a major part of the novel continuity. Their racial Backstory is essential to the plot of Star Trek: Vanguard, and they are now part of the Typhon Pact.

Absurdly Sharp Blade: A particular weapon established in Star Trek: The Lost Era, later appearing in Star Trek: Vanguard. Its primary use is in honour duels between members of the warrior caste.
Arch-Enemy: Of late, they seem to be this to the Federation.
"Ass" in Ambassador: Averted with Kasrene, but very much played straight with Tezrene.

Fantastic Naming Convention: Almost always their names end in "ene"; examples include Tezrene, Yilskene and Kasrene. The few exceptions appear to be from the lower castes like the technicians; the higher-ranking politicians, warriors, diplomats, etc., are rarely without the "ene".
Freudian Excuse: Their xenophobia and territorialism are informed in large part by their history as slaves to the Shedai, and the memory of Shedai psychic violations.
Genetic Memory: Encoded in their crystalline molecules is every memory of their people, dating back to the first moment of sapience. Many are buried deep, of course, not generally available to a given individual unless they're brought to the fore by powerful emotional or psychic triggers. Due to the short lifespan of members of many Tholian castes, memories and experience are often "uploaded" to the next generation from the pool of ancestral memories. This is one reason why Tholians hold grudges for an uncomfortably long time - the memories are fresh in their minds for generations.
Hive Mind: While they're all individuals (and indeed have just as many dreamers, dissenters, seditionists and individualists as any other Trek culture), Tholians have a version of this on the instinctive level. The Tholian lattice connects their minds, distributing basic race-knowledge to all and allowing individuals to commune with one another. The lattice is regulated carefully, with different castes having different degrees of access. On occasion, it can indeed cause the entirety of the Tholian race to share an experience, as was the case with the telepathic assaults of the Shedai.
Informed Attribute: The Tholians are famous for being punctual. Except their diplomats are always showing up late to make a childish (if effective) point about how their government feels. In fact, this is lampshaded in both Star Trek: Destiny and Star Trek: Vanguard. "Tholians are punctual" is to the novel verse what "Vulcans never lie" was to the TV shows.
Sins of Our Fathers: Several generations after the disaster that was Project Vanguard, many Tholians still hold a grudge against the Federation. They're totally willing to let the Borg burn down the entire Alpha Quadrant in spite rather than lift an appendage to help them, and were seriously considering helping the process along.
Starfish Aliens: Tholians are six-legged, crystalline beings who can live comfortably in a 300-degree Centigrade environment.
Uplifted Animal: They gained their sapience artificially, after being used as living batteries to boost Shedai communications.

The Trill

The Trill were explored in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which established that their society was partially built on a lie - that far more Trill humanoids are capable of joining with the long-lived Trill symbionts than is commonly believed. The novels explore the political conspiracies and cover-ups of Trill society in further detail. Eventually, they're gripped by civil unrest, and a diplomatic crisis unfolds concerning Trill's relationship with the rest of the Federation in general and Bajor in particular.

Can't Live Without You: Ninety-three hours after the joining, the host and symbiont are completely interdependent, and once that threshold is passed, the joining can't be reversed without killing the host. However, over the course of the novel 'verse, a drug is developed that allows for safe separation.
Depopulation Bomb: The Trill homeworld is eventually hit by a series of pulses harmless to the vast majority, but deadly to Joined Trills, who form a priviliged minority. Many of the Joined are killed, with the average citizen completely unaffected.
Empire with a Dark Secret: Trill is a Federal Republic with a Dark Secret. The generational conspiracy among the Trill government is revealed to be more extensive than merely lying about the number of Trills suitable for Joining. It also involves a cover-up of a shameful time in the Trills' history, records of which were destroyed.
Government Conspiracy: Trill has so many that eventually they can't suppress all the secrets anymore, there's a general uprising, much political embarrassment and almost a conflict with Bajor as a result.
Hypocrite: The Trill culture is based on respect for knowledge and memory; their society is built on a generational conspiracy and cover-up.
Living Forever Is Awesome: Joined Trills have a big legacy to live up to. With that in mind, the most important quality looked for in candidates (after high intelligence and aptitude in their chosen field) seems to be a bon vivant personalty that has a good chance to nurture a noted scientist, artist, or politician.
Occupiers Out of Our Country: Unjoined political groups come to see the symbionts as a manipulative race of overlords controlling Trill society; after all, the Joined hold all the positions of overt political authority, and as far as some unjoined are now concerned, the humanoid Joined are puppets of the symbionts.
Really 700 Years Old: The Trill symbionts were already established as a long-lived race, but the novels expand on their life-cycle considerably. The Annuated of the symbionts, their eldest egg-layers, are thousands of years old. Even the relatively young Caretaker symbionts like Memh are over six thousand. Dax, at slightly over 300, is essentially still a baby. When Memh and Dax meet, Dax is surprised to learn that six thousand-year old memories she accessed from the Annuated feature the same symbiont she's currently communicating with.

The Tzenkethi

A reclusive race whose government joined the Typhon Pact. They're morally opposed to the Federation's democratic ideals.

A Day in the Limelight: The Star Trek: Typhon Pact novels Rough Beasts of Empire and Brinkmanship, though they play important roles in other books of that series.
Artificial Gravity: They manipulate gravity on a local scale so they can use every surface of a room for work or recreation. They consider using only the floor to be a foolish waste of available space. Also, they're psychologically uncomfortable with open spaces and prefer the sense of enclosement that comes from having workstations on every wall, floor and ceiling. The effects are shown in the Terok Nor and Star Trek: Typhon Pact series.
Brainwashing: Tzenkethi who deviate too far from their designated place in society are sent for "Reconditioning". Those who cannot be "fixed" via the Reco process are designated as "nulls" and used as the most menial of laborers.
Democracy Is Bad: This trope defines their cultural worldview, and determines Tzenkethi hostility to the United Federation of Planets. They believe democracy is a destructive ideology that must be opposed, and relate to it in a way similar to how the West viewed communism.
Fantastic Caste System: They're divided into echelons determined through universal tests and genetics, with the individual best suited for a position being placed there. They object to outsiders calling it a "caste system," though.
Fantastic Naming Convention: Their naming conventions involve four segments - a given name, the individual’s job, their echelon, and their level of accomplishment within that echelon. The Tzenkethis’ initial ambassador to the Typhon Pact, for instance, was named Alizome Tor Fel-A, with “tor” indicating a position as special agent to the Autarch, “fel” being her membership in the “problem-solver” echelon, and A indicating the second-highest proficiency in that role (but AA ratings are extremely rare).
Glamour: A mild example. Every non-Tzenkethi who sees one comments on their grace and ethereal beauty. They're frequently considered almost mesmerizing. The lower ranked Tzenkethi clearly experience a similar effect when in the presence of their betters.
Light Is Not Good: They are considered stunningly beautiful by other races, and literally glow with soothing light. They're often extremely manipulative, though.
Manipulative Bastard: Their role in the Typhon Pact.
Order Versus Chaos: Order. Everyone knows their place, being ranked by exact occupational duties and proficiency level. Chaos is anathema to Tzenkethi.

The Vedala

A group of incredibly powerful and extremely isolationist feline aliens.

Cat Folk: They look very feline. A major difference between them and the Caitians is that the Vedala don't stick to being bipedal.
Hidden Elf Village: If they have a homeworld, no-one ever sees it. Any dealings with them are done on planetoids they've rejigged into mobile bases.
Nothing Is Scarier: The Vedala tend to be very polite, if firm, when dealing with outsiders. Making them press an issue is not advised. Apparently there are legends about what happened to people who decided it was a smart move to piss them off.
Organic Technology: Which is also implied to be slightly alive (their representative notes the DTI's misuse of it made it "sick").
Precursors: Just narrowly edging into it. They're one of, if not the oldest space-faring races who are still around.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After the newly formed DTI misused some of their tech, the Vedala showed up, took it back, scolded the "young" species for their misuse and then quietly packed up all their stuff and left Federation space.
Space Elves: They're powerful, far beyond the capabilities of the 24th century Federation, isolationist, and more than a little condescending toward all the "young" species they meet.
Sufficiently Advanced Alien: They have tech capable of traveling through time and dimensions (technically. Dimensional travel isn't the intended purpose of some of it, but it can do so.) They're also capable of erasing any knowledge of themselves with ease. They can also remotely disable a Starfleet vessel in an instant if they feel like it.

The Vertians

Bizarre mushroom-looking aliens, nicknamed "Shroomies", encountered by the early Federation.

Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Vertians find the idea of harming one another abhorrent.
Bizarre Alien Senses: They "see" in infrared, partially due to the nature of their homeworld, which is incredibly far from its native sun.
Evil Is Not Well-Lit: What with seeing in infrared, their ships are pretty dark by human standards.
Fantastic Racism: Because of the way they see, they don't regard other lifeforms as being sentient. Those beings fighting them or composing messages? Ignored as basically a tiger trying to claw your face off because you shot it, not a sentient being reacting in self-defense.
For Science!: Why they do what they do, they're just conducting scientific experiments.
My God, What Have I Done?: They're horrified to realize they've been abducting and killing actual sentients.
Nothing Is Scarier: Vertians never explained what they were doing, outside of messages they re-edit. They also make no noise, and don't even give off cries of pain, adding to their unsettling atmosphere. Eventually, T'Pol and Hoshi determine it's an evolutionary trait from their homeworld.

The Watraii

A race descended from Vulcan colonists, escapees from the prisons of Remus shortly after Vulcan exiles settled Romulus. Shortly after the Dominion War, they made themselves known with an assault on Romulan territory.

Malevolent Masked Men: The Watraii are introduced as a band of masked aggressors threatening Romulan colonies; their masks are noted as making them particularly sinister. This isn't why they wear them (the actual reason has more to do with their own feelings than an attempt to install fear in others), but their blatantly threatening manner and concealment of identity are clearly linked.

The Xenexians

A tough, often warlike race from the backwater desert world, Xenex. The most famous Xenexian is M’k’n’zy of Calhoun, AKA Mackenzie Calhoun of the Excalibur. He’s The Captain of the Star Trek: New Frontier series.

Human Aliens: Xenexians are almost indistinguishable from humans, aside from having additional eye colours such as Calhoun's purple.

Punctuation Shaker: The male names in particular, e.g. C'n'daz and M'k'n'zy.
Warrior Heaven: The Xenexian afterlife of Kaz'hera is a single battle, repeated ad infinitum, basically analogous to Sto'vo'kor, Klingon heaven. In Kaz'hera, there are no regrets, no grudges, no responsibilities; only endless mayhem and the ability to fight and die over and over. Calhoun apparently believes in it; his human wife does not.

The Zakdorn

Although not explored in any detail, these fussy and dour aliens are portrayed as commonly involved in the Federation beaurocracy, building on their characterization from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which showed them to be both meticulous record keepers and master tacticians. The most notable Zakdorn character was Koll Azernal, the immoral Chief of Staff to the Zife Administration, but they show up in minor positions (usually beaurocratic ones) in many novels.

Fantastic Naming Convention: Zakdorn possess both a given name and a surname, the latter almost always longer than the former, with choppy syllables and lots of "k" sounds yet also oddly melodic (e.g. Koll Azernal, Klim Dokachin, Myk Bunkrep, Virum Kalnota, Rujat Suwadi, Gruhn Helkara).
Insufferable Genius: Very often this.
Nerves of Steel: With greater mental discipline than humans, they're more common in the Department of Temporal Investigations, and other agencies of the Federation that require a disciplined mind.
Proud Scholar Race and Proud Warrior Race: An interesting example; the latter is an extension of the former. They're masterful armchair tacticians, though they're untested in actual conflict because their reputation for analytical brilliance means others are wary of attacking them (or, for races like the Klingons, unimpressed and not considering it worth the time to engage them).
With Friends Like These...: Allies of humans, although the human characters who have to spend time with them (like Quinn and Pennington in Star Trek: Vanguard) grimace at the thought. Zakdorn have a reputation for being difficult, complaining often.

The Zaldans

A race whose culture considers any form of deception immoral, including polite lies.

A Day in the Limelight: The novel A Singular Destiny is their most notable appearance, and the first to explore their culture and history to any degree.

Human Outside, Alien Inside: Apparently, their internal physiology is different from that of humans, although the only outward distinction is that Zaldan hands and feet are webbed.
Jerkass: Zaldans are practically required to be one by their culture (at least to human eyes). From their viewpoint, of course, other races are rude for engaging in falsehood.
Will Not Tell a Lie: They find falsehood of any kind disgusting.
With Friends Like These...: Zalda's relationship to the rest of the Federation. No one really likes the Zaldans due to their prickly and extremist social norms. They play an important role within the Federation, though, facilitating trade with the Klingon Empire.
Wrongly Accused: In A Singular Destiny, evidence suggests that planet Zalda is refusing refugees; this isn't true, but the faked records are convincing enough. Their representative is outraged at the very idea of being Wrongly Accused, of being lied to and made to look like a liar, and storms off rather than defending himself. Eventually, it's revealed the faked records are part of a plot to destabilize the Federation.

Worlds and Cultures

Coridan Prime

Butt-Monkey: Once a leading nation in local space, its fortunes plummet after its devastation during the Romulan War; it's left an underpopulated, crime-ridden, often exploited world which never regains its original power and is eventually all but wiped out by the Borg.
Doomed by Canon: In Enterprise, it was initially a part of the groundwork for the Coalition of Planets. By the time of the Original Series, though — a hundred years later — it was an underpopulated, exploited world only now being considered for Federation membership. The novels therefore portray Coridan as suffering a devastating series of events that cause it to drop out of the Coalition and out of prominence.

Farius Prime

Rigel System

Basically the Federation's Hub City or City of Adventure; home to the highest number of populated planets in known space, with three native species and dozens more as long-settled colonists.

Bizarre Alien Sexes: The Jelna Rigelians have four sexes - endomale, endofemale, exomale, exofemale. Contrast with Zami Rigelians, who have the usual two sexes, and Rigelian Chelons, who are hermaphrodites but accept gender identities due to centuries of cultural imposition by the Jelna and Zami.

Risa

Tezwa

Iraq in space. Tezwa is an independent planet on the Klingon-Federation border which plays a central role in a story arc that is essentially an analogy for the Iraq War.

Fantastic Racism: Between the trinae and elininae tribes.

Typhon Pact

An alliance of six powers formed in the aftermath of the final Borg Invasion, as a rival to the Federation, though based on its example. Members are the Romulan Star Empire, Breen Confederacy, Tholian Assembly, Gorn Hegemony, Tzenkethi Coalition and Holy Order of the Kinshaya.

The Starscream: The Breen Confederacy, which has come to lead the aggressive faction of the Pact and seeks to undermine the power and influence of the Romulans, who lead the moderate faction.
Villain Team-Up: Essentially; all the member nations are historical antagonists, though the degree of hostility varies wildly.

Worlds of the First Quadrant

Organizations

Department of Temporal Investigations

The Federation agency that guards against attempted Cosmic Retcon.

Double-Meaning Title: The Department of Temporal Investigation is itself a double meaning. During the creation of the department, it was set up to both investigate temporal incursions and lawbreaking, and to investigate (research) time itself. The research aspect gets massively curtailed soon after (following a dangerous experiment), and now the department is almost entirely restricted to purely theoretical work along with observation of known temporal anomalies.
Felony Misdemeanor: They hate jokes. The opening of their first novel suggests that, to them (or at least to Lucsly) making a pun is as bad as committing an actual crime.
Nerves of Steel: An absolute necessity in the Department of Temporal Investigations, if you're to handle the existential uncertainties of it all. It's noted that humans are a minority in the department - other Federation species more renowned for mental discipline, like Vulcans, Zakdorn, Deltans, Benzites and Rhaandarites, are much more common.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Department keeps records protected by phase discriminators, shielding the data from alterations in the timeline. Although the agents themselves will have no knowledge of the previous history, they can research their own files to determine if changes have been made.
Secret Government Warehouse: The Vault on Eris is where the DTI stores all its confiscated time travel tech, including among other things, a large blue box and an antique temporal carriage.
Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Often.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between the DTI and their 29th-century, 31st-century, etc. equivalents. And between the DTI and Starfleet themselves. It's not so bad with their 31st-century counterparts, but the 29th-century's Starfleet are massively gung-ho about time travel being a good fix for all problems (and more than a little fascist).
Time Police: Sort of. Though the DTI only use time-travel as a last, last, last resort.
Time-Travel Tense Trouble: It's concluded that the simplest solution is to look at things from the perspective of someone outside time and pretend everything is happening at once, and as such simply use present tense for everything.
Time Travel: Sometimes, but it's important to note that the DTI wants to avoid it wherever possible. The department exists to protect against time travel and clean up the mess that results, not travel in time themselves. In fact, if they're time traveling, something has already gone wrong.
Weirdness Magnet: Temporal anomalies turn you into one of these. Once you're exposed to one, probability is altered such that it becomes likely that you end up exposed to more.

Memory Omega

The brainchild of Emperor Spock, this Mirror Universe organization brings his planned revolution to fruition.

Beware the Nice Ones: They can be absolutely ruthless in crafting/protecting Spock's vision of a better Mirror Universe.

United Federation of Planets

The protagonists: the familiar alliance of civilizations whose representatives meet on Earth to form a Council, and who maintain Starfleet.

Four-Temperament Ensemble: Arguably, the major participating races slot into these blocks.
- Humans, Bolians, Denobulans and Saurians are Sanguine (optimists, energetic, friendly, talkative, extroverted)
- Tellarites, Rigelians and Zakdorn are Choleric (realists, strong-willed, dominating, practical, thriving under criticism, determined, hot-tempered, stubborn, harsh, arrogant, rude)
- Vulcans, Andorians and Efrosians are Melancholic (cautious, cynical, often introverted concealing intense emotion, carrying overly high expectations, deep, thoughtful, sensitive, self-sacrificing, analytical, moody)
- Betazoids and Deltans are Phlegmatic (dependable, easy-going, patient, pleasant, gentle and calm, compromising).

Characters / Star Trek Novel 'Verse

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