Star Trek Species: E to M / Characters

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Edosians

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_trek_edosian.png

Homeworld: Edos

A seldomly-seen species with orange skin and six limbs. For decades, they were only represented by Arex in Star Trek: The Animated Series, but Star Trek: Lower Decks' "Much Ado About Boimler" brought them back.

Bizarre Alien Limbs: A rare three-legged alien species.
Named After Their Planet: The planet Edos.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: They have three arms and three legs.

El-Aurians

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guinan_goldberg_2093.jpg

"As long as there is a handful left to keep the spirit alive, you will prevail. Even if it takes a millennium."

Debut: TNG, "The Child"

An enigmatic race of "listeners" from outside Federation space. They are few in number thanks to the Borg assimilating their homeworld in the mid-23rd century, but the ones that escaped tend to make an impact wherever they go.

The Dulcinea Effect: Something about El-Aurians seems to make people implicitly want to trust them, even their con-men.
The Empath: They are very good at reading situations and emotions, hence their reputation as "listeners". It's unclear whether this is a genuine psychic power.
Homeworld Evacuation: Their homeworld was destroyed by the Borg in the late 23rd century. While most of their population was killed or assimilated, a handful managed to escape and scatter across the galaxy.
Human Aliens: They are identical to humans in appearance.
Immortal Procreation Clause: They're one of the longest lived biological races in Star Trek, and apparently their population was only in the millions when the Borg almost wiped them out.
Long-Lived: Quite an extreme example by Star Trek standards, as an El-Aurian in the prime of their life can already be several centuries old.
More than Mind Control: "Listening" sounds pretty innocuous, doesn't it? But then you meet someone who listens to everything you say, and understands, truly understands. You love talking to them, and even though just met them, you feel like telling them everything about yourself, even your secrets, because you know they'll listen. And if they're gently guiding the conversation to, say, your financial plans, that's fine, you've got some ideas for the future you're really proud of, oh boy you bet they'll be very impressed. And soon enough you're helping your new best friend with his investments or giving him a cut of yours. Because he listens. That's been the M.O. of at least one unscrupulous El-Aurian.
My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Guinan was able to "feel" when the Enterprise had traveled to a parallel universe, and also could be injured by the energy given off by time travel phenomena. Data once speculated that El-Aurians had a higher awareness of space-time compared to most other humanoids.
Poor Communication Kills: Despite knowing full well who destroyed their civilization, the El-Aurian refugees apparently never told anyone about the Borg until the Enterprise was thrown smack-dab into their turf. (Then again, given Picard just ignored Guinan's warnings in favor of poking around the cube, one can see why they didn't bother).
Really 700 Years Old: El-Aurians live for centuries, if not longer, and can control their rate of aging to a degree. Guinan looks exactly the same in the late 24th century as she does in the late 19th (though by 2401 she's started visibly aging to fit in with her human patrons).
Space Nomads: They seem to have been a race of wanderers and explorers even before their homeworld was destroyed by the Borg.
Unreliable Narrator: Much of what we know about El-Aurians comes from Guinan, who — judging from Q's reaction to seeing her on the Enterprise-D in "Q Who" — is not a "typical" El-Aurian. The only other named members of the species, Martus Mazur and Tolian Soran, are both more immoral and far less "above it all" than Guinan ever was.

Ferengi

"They're greedy, misogynistic, untrustworthy little trolls, and I wouldn't turn my back on one of them for a second."

Debut: TNG, "The Last Outpost"

Homeworld: Ferenginar

The used car salesmen of the galaxy, swindling unwary customers and measuring everything in terms of profit. They first appeared in "The Last Outpost", the fifth episode of TNG, as a potential Big Bad, but were quickly downgraded to comic relief villains. Known for their business acumen and rampant misogyny, forcing their women to remain naked (to prevent them from working). Originally a parody of modern-day humans (gee, thanks), the Ferengi gradually began to exhibit some of our virtues, as well.

Abstract Apotheosis: Raw capitalism at its best. And worst. However, they never went as far as slavery or colonialism.
Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: An entire culture based on that principle. You are expected to pay an entry fee just for entering another person's house (after which you are expected to recite a traditional Ferengi greeting stating you will not steal anything, so yeah, an RPG come to life). On the other hand, even police or government officials going into your house as part of an official inquiry have to pay the entrance fee. Theoretically, everyone is constantly making small micropayments to each other, which keeps the money flowing, and thus fueling the economy. Even worse is public facilities. Think a visit to the doctor's bad as it is? Now add having to charge not only just to get through the front door, but to just to stand in the waiting area. And the elevator?...
Alien Blood: Their blood is yellow.
All Trolls Are Different:
- Butt-ugly? Check. Obsessed with gold? Check. Untrustworthy? Check.
- As the species mellowed out in the nineties, they began to incorporate some hobbit traits, including their dome-shaped clay huts which definitely draw inspiration from Tolkien.
Always Chaotic Evil: Originally portrayed this way on Next Generation, but this ceased to be the case later in that series and on Deep Space Nine.
Believing Their Own Lies: They seem to genuinely consider themselves legitimate businessmen, and resent the fact that the whole Alpha Quadrant considers them a race of Con Men.
Grand Nagus Zek: No matter where we go, our reputation precedes us! A reputation that has been tainted by the lies of our competitors, who maliciously spread the erroneous impression that we are not to be trusted!
Big Bad Wannabe: A Real Life example. The Ferengi were built up as the over-arching Big Bad of TNG, a reflection of humans when they were still avaricious and violent — but they never came across as anything more than buffoons because Roddenberry insisted they were supposed to be enemies to be pitied, not feared or respected ^note. The writers eventually wised up and stopped taking them seriously.
Bizarre Alien Biology:
- Ferengi kids shed their baby ears, instead of teeth. Eek.
- They mention at some point also that Ferengi have ascending ribs (small near the neck and get larger towards the midsection).
- Their body chemistry is different from humans. Trying to inject them with sodium pentothal just gets you a screaming Ferengi (and sore ears).
- It repeatedly is brought up that their ears are erogenous zones. For Ferengi getting their ears stroked is basically the equivalent of a handjob for humans.
Blue-and-Orange Morality:
- The Ferengi value street smarts and business savvy over an honest transaction. They're known for slipping dubious clauses and disclaimers into their contracts (for instance, an obscure provision buried on Page 21, Subsection B, Paragraph 12 stated that Quark was entitled to feel up his Dabo girls). That said, they can justify cheating, tricking, and swindling their customers only within the confines of The Contract. Rule of Acquisition #17 sternly reprimands, "A contract is a contract is a contract." Under Ferengi law, any Ferengi who breaks a signed contract with another Ferengi automatically has their assets liquidated by the FCA and is blacklisted within merchant circles. In a culture where profit-earning ability is everything, this is tantamount to capital punishment.
- The Ferengi and Federation are both at odds in terms of their senses of morality. The Federation believes themselves to have the moral high ground over Ferengi because of the fact that they abolished currency in favor of a society where the needs of the citizenry is met without fail, and everyone is treated as equal. Ferengi, on the other hand, feel superior to the Federation because they are at least honest in their greed and had never, in their history, practiced slavery over another sentient race, unlike humans during the darker periods of their history.
- As a mercantile race, the Ferengi judge everything by monetary value charged for it (the more expensive, the better it must be). As a result, a doctor who doesn't charge anything, not even for standing in the waiting room, must be terrible, even if they're one of those Federation doctors who can cure rainy days.
- The Ferengi don't see the point in racism, as that would deny them a potential new customer base. They also don't see the point in expensive, exclusive products, when you can make just as much profit selling a cheap product to the masses.
Bribing Your Way to Victory: The Ferengi claim they invented warp drive before any of the other Alpha Quadrant species, including Vulcans. Actually, they bought it from somebody else.
Quark: The speed of technological advancement isn't nearly as important as short-term quarterly gains! (Can't this thing go any faster?)
Characterization Marches On: A race that originated as a caricature of the worst parts of capitalism ultimately became more rounded-off and sympathetic as time went on. When the time came to have a Ferengi as a series regular, Quark rejected the whole notion of his people being a 'backward' race. (After all, the Ferengi don't have anything resembling death camps in their history.)
Children Are a Waste: The Ferengi consider pregnancy to be a rental, with the father being termed the lessee.
City of Gold: The Ferengi afterlife is called the Divine Treasury, which is a treasury made entirely of latinum. Possibly; the only time we've seen it is in a dream sequence and the dreamer thinks it's tacky.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: The more successful examples... (Quark's cousin bought his own moon.)
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: They may be crass, short, cowardly, and relatively easily thwarted, but the Ferengi are a surprisingly robust species all things considered. They're immune to telepathy, have incredibly powerful immune systems, possess super hearing, and seem to be a lot stronger than they look (though in most cases it absolutely doesn't compensate for their lack of combat training or fighting spirit).
- On two separate occasions in Season 1 alone, the station was overrun with insanity viruses that affected everyone except for Quark and Odo (as a shapeshifter, he has nothing resembling the genetic materials a virus could infect in the first place). One was a virus that gave everyone aphasia, the other was a virus that over-wrote everyone's personalities with the minds of soldiers from a long-ago war. That being said, Ferengi do have their own diseases (an ear infection can be life-threatening), but their biology seems different enough that most alien diseases (natural or designed) don't affect them.
- For a race not known for militarism or technological achievement, the Ferengi D'Kora marauders are impressive vessels, with capabilities nearly equivalent to the Federation's Galaxy-class starships.
The Dandy: When you're under five feet tall, you have to dress to impress. Ferengi take their wardrobe as another opportunity to flaunt their success; some even wear bars of latinum around their necks.
Dirty Coward: Ferengi are cowardly by nature. Their official hand gesture looks suspiciously like an animal in submission.
Do You Want to Haggle?: A Ferengi's idea of self-defense is to offer higher bribes. Not a bad strategy within the Ferengi Alliance. But the failure rate is quite high with Klingons, et al.
The Dreaded: In the earliest episodes of TNG, the mere mention of the Ferengi made Picard extremely antsy. Then they appeared in person, and were quickly demoted to Harmless Villain.
Early-Installment Weirdness: The original depictions of the Ferengi made them seem base, confrontational, and uncivilized approaching the point of feral in behavior. Armin Shimerman, portrayer of Quark and two prior Ferengi characters, later lamented his earlier character performances as a horrible thing to do to the Ferengi. Later depictions made them much more orderly and civilized, albeit still greedy.
Energy Weapon: Ferengi soldiers are shown packing stun whips (!) on two occasions: Once in TNG and again on ENT. It's got great range and negates the height difference between them and their opponents. In real life, this would seems like a good way to electrocute yourself. Of all the weapons that should be combined with electricity, a whip is definitely one of the worst.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother. Rule of Acquisition #31.^note
Even Evil Has Standards: Genocide and slavery are completely unknown in Ferengi history, nor have they ever engaged in a major interstellar war. They feel this makes them morally superior to the Federation. Because Ferengi society places such emphasis on material success and outsmarting others, violence carries a stigma of failure — to be used strictly when defending family members or when there are no possible avenues of escape. Traveling throughout the Alpha/Beta Quadrants also requires a degree of open-mindedness: While they can be a bit bigoted (there's no love lost between them and hew-mons), racism is an alien concept to the Ferengi. Why would a Ferengi merchant pass up a chance for profit based solely on their customer's race? Equally, revenge and crimes of passion are nearly unknown among Ferengi; again, they rarely see any profit in either.
- Racism is abhorrent to Ferengi: in Season 1 of Deep Space Nine, when mob opinion suspects Odo of a murder purely based on anti-changeling racism without hard evidence, Quark of all people is the only one who openly declares his disgust at everyone else. When it's pointed out that he is Odo's perpetual enemy, he bitterly says he is, but compared to everyone else, that makes him the closest thing Odo has to a friend.
- Oddly enough despite this they're the most sexist race in the series. They finally undergo a women's lib movement on DS9.
- While they may not call it slavery, The Ferengi do practice indentured servitude. Quark explicitly says, with worry, that his mother will be sold into indentured servitude when he catches on that she's been earning profit illegally. Since Ferengi females are forbidden from taking any jobs other than child rearing, there can be only one interpretation to what the servitude is.
- According to Odo, the Ferengi abhor collaborators. He explicitly claims that they won't sell out their world for profit.
Every Man Has His Price: Rule of Acquisition #98, word for word.
Evil Virtues:
- They're extremely industrious, with their leader having worked non-stop for most of his lifetime, and Ferengi are nothing if not penny-wise. Every bar of latinum they spend is invested into further means of generating profit. In fact, going into debt is considered a mortal sin.
  Rom: You don't think we're in that... other place?
  Nog: The Vault of Eternal Destitution??
  Quark: Don't be ridiculous! (terrified) The bar was showing a profit!
- Their belief in "The Great River" (That basically, if you need something, there's someone out there waiting to trade something for it), makes them pragmatic, opportunistic and, despite their reputation as cowardly, brave. Ferengi will take risky deals on the gamble that further down the line they can capitalize on them. And they will entertain risks or possibilities other races will not. Nog best shows this when he does a Chain of Deals for Chief O'Brien that at first all look like carreer enders but ultimately score the chief all he needs to finish a time critical job.
Exotic Equipment: A Ferengi male will invariably try persuading a female of another race to massage his ears. They frequently leave out the part about Ferengi ears being sexually stimulating. This practice is called Oomox, and there are entire Kama Sutra-sized tomes dedicated to it.
Fantastic Arousal: Stroking their ear lobes turns them on. They even have a name for it: oo-mox.
Fantastic Fragility: The sensitivity of the ears, while providing great sensual pleasure, also makes them vulnerable to pain (just biting a Ferengi's ear will immobilize them with pain) and other problems, including some life-threatening infections
Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: They mainly use plasma whips.
Fantastic Slur: To the Ferengi, "Philanthropist!" is tantamount to calling someone a Nazi.
Foil:
- To hew-mons in DS9. TNG meant them as more of an Evil Counterpart, but that... didn't work.
- Out of all the bawdy races of the Alpha Quadrant, Ferengi are the ones Vorta seem to despise the most (Eris, Keevan, Yedrin). It's as though the Vorta resent their inability to con such a streetwise race.
Foreign Queasine: Ferengi are big insectivores, and the jingle for their version of Pepsi is about how slimy it is because it contains algae. Most of their diet consists of things you'd expect to find in the swampy climate of their homeworld: insects, worms, and slugs. Human foods they find the most palatable are shellfish & squid, and they don't have a problem with Klingon gagh (serpentine worms eaten live) as humans do.
Fridge Logic: Invoked by Ishka in her bid for equal rights for Ferengi women. A culture which focuses so heavily on profit, yet which doesn't allow an entire half of its population to participate in the generation of it, makes no sense.
Gag Penis:
- Averted. Gene Roddenberry's initial concept for the Ferengi gave them gigantic penises and wore bulging codpieces to depict that but was eventually dropped.
- That said, Ferengi do judge a man by the size of his lobes. Lobe extensions and lobe enhancement products (fraudulent, naturally) are available for the right price.
Gold Fever:
- Inverted. Like most races in the Alpha Quadrant, they accept gold-pressed latinum as barter, but the latinum carries real value.
- Predictably, their religion is based on the principles of capitalism: they offer prayers and money to a "Blessed Exchequer" in hopes of entering the "Divine Treasury" upon death, and fear an afterlife spent in the "Vault of Eternal Destitution". Several expanded universe sources mention that the Ferengi see Earth's now-defunct Wall Street as some kind of holy site.
Good with Numbers: Even those without the lobes for opportunity will probably be good at math, as evidenced by Rom's engineering skills.
Harmless Villain: In TNG season 1 the script literally calls for them to "jump around like excited hamsters".
Hiss Before Fleeing: Not a very intimidating bunch, these Ferengi.
Honest John's Dealership: Most of them come across as being this, as it seems impossible for them to not cheat their customers in some way. Starfleet instructors specifically warn their fledgling officers about Ferengi hucksters they may come across in ports. Just don't mention this fact in front of them, unless you want to get swindled by an outraged Ferengi, as nearly befalls poor, dumb Harry Kim.
Humans Are Ugly: The very first comment made by a Ferengi upon seeing humans for the first time is that reports of our ugliness were clearly not exaggerated. Although it seems this attitude only applies to human males.
Hyper-Awareness: They might be terrible soldiers, but the prized "lobes" are super-sensitive, making them really good scouts. This grants them incredibly acute hearing, strong enough to cut through electronic interference and sensitive to the point of being able to measure the volume levels of a room in decibels. Similarly, their inner ear is also able to detect minute changes in air temperature and pressure levels, such that they can tell changes in altitude.
I Am a Humanitarian: Early press about the race before The Next Generation debuted was that they were the new Big Bad, and among other things, they ate humans, literally (which is why their design included sharp, pointy teeth.) However, after their debut, they were Too Funny to Be Evil and it was Retconned that it was a rumor.
Ideal Illness Immunity: They possess extremely strong immune systems that can fend off most diseases: when a genetically-engineered virus outbreak struck DS9 in "Babel", Quark was the only humanoid aboard (excepting Odo) who was completely unsusceptible to its effects.
I Gave My Word: Rule of Acquisition #17 - "A contract is a contract is a contract... but only between Ferengi."
Immune to Mind Control: Due to their uncommon four-lobed brain configuration, Ferengi are immune to telepaths. They're apparently not immune to strong empaths though, on the more general level of emotional influence.
Intimidating Revenue Service: The Ferengi Commerce Agency (FCA). These bozos have jurisdiction over any Ferengi business anywhere in the universe. They police Ferengi ideologies, such as union-busting, with zeal seldom seen outside of the mafia.
Jerkass: Even the nicer (or at least more tolerable) Ferengi can come across as this. It is telling that a traditional Ferengi greeting involves telling someone not to pinch your stuff ("My home is my home." "As are its contents.").
Klingon Promotion: As a rule, Ferengi don't encourage this. A man must get into power via the strength of his greed, so that he may be a shining example to others. But there are exceptions. Grand Nagus Zek mentions having had several attempts on his life over the years, and one prior Grand Nagus was assassinated while in office, after having screwed up in an incredibly spectacular fashion. He was, in fact, the only Nagus to be assassinated while in office.
Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: The Ferengi value mercantile skills over all else, and look down on those who can't directly go into business and sales. Heartbreakingly lampshaded by Nog, who explains to Sisko that his father Rom, in the Federation, could have wound up the chief engineer of a starship, but in Ferengi society has wound-up an exploited mechanic scraping to survive in his own brother's relatively low-value bar. This is what pushes Nog to try for something better for himself by joining Starfleet.
Language Equals Thought: In a reference to the old "Eskimos have 200 words for snow" gag, Quark mentions in the episode "Let He Who Is Without Sin" that due to the Perpetual Storm that lashes their home planet, the swamp world of Ferenginar, Ferengi have 187 words for "rain" (he uses the word "glemmening" to describe the rain on the resort world he's currently visiting). He also mentions that they don't have a native word for "crisp", because the high humidity makes all their food naturally mushy.
Mad Libs Catchphrase: The Rules of Acquisition, of which there are over two hundred. Possibly the only code of honor the Ferengi follow.
Meaningful Name: The name "Ferengi" is a corruption of the word "farhang," which was a derisive word used in some parts of Southeast Asia to describe European ~~colonialists~~ merchants.
- Variations are used across Asia, ultimately all distortions of the word Frank, i.e. somebody from France, mistakenly interpreted to mean all Europeans.
- "Ferengi" was also the name of a princess in the Persian Shah Nameh, in keeping with the Star Trek practice of naming races after mythological figures.
Meet the New Boss: The ultimate goal of any underpaid Ferengi worker, being exploited and swindled by their boss is to one day get his job and become an exploitive swindler himself.
Money Fetish: Ferengi ears are said to tingle whenever they sense opportunity. Indeed, you can see them involuntarily stroke their ears when large sums are read aloud... wait, how does one perform Oo-mox again?
Mr. Vice Guy: On their better days. As Jadzia put it, they're plenty of fun once you accept you can't turn your back on one for a second.
Armin Shimerman: The Ferengi are a number of those old seven deadly sins stuck together.
My Sister Is Off-Limits: Rule of Acquisition 112: Never sleep with the boss's sister.
Named After Their Planet: The planet Ferenginar.
Persona Non Grata: Ferengis who violate the law may have their business license revoked by the FCA, leaving them legally disallowed from associating with other Ferengi or returning to the homeworld.
Pint Sized Power House: Ferengi are shorter than the average human, but there are subtle hints that they have Vulcan-level Super-Strength — in one DS9 episode, Quark is shown snapping a bar of gold in half with his bare hands, whilst in another, a startled Sisko finds himself picked up and thrown several meters by a ticked off Ferengi, who did so effortlessly. "Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" seems to indicate that despite their smaller size Ferengi are physically perfectly capable of going toe-to-toe with Klingons in melee combat, but simply lack the combat training or fighting spirit to do so normally. Even in their first appearance in The Next Generation, the Ferengi Leader somehow managed to judo-flip Data while being Neck Lifted by him.
Professional Butt-Kisser: Rule of Acquisition 33: It never hurts to suck up to the boss.
Proud Merchant Race: The most extreme example in Star Trek. Their entire society is based around the pursuit of wealth and conspicuous consumption, with even the most mundane interactions often mediated by the exchange of currency.
Psychic Block Defense: Data says that Ferengi are naturally immune to Telepathy, perhaps because of their four-lobed brains, and Betazoids have been unable to properly read them on a number of occasions. Interestingly, they are not immune to Emotion Control, as Lwaxana Troi, while suffering from Zanthi Fever, unintentionally affects Quark with her powers the same as humans, Bajorans and Trill.
Read the Fine Print: Rule of Acquisition no. 8; "Small print leads to large risk." Ferengi businessmen like to use it on employees, hiding obscure rules and clauses in Ferengi deep in the contract, but they know it giveth and taketh away.
Reconstruction: After being introduced as Big Bad Wannabes, DS9 showed how they could function as an actual society.
The Rich Want to Be Richer: No matter how much wealth a Ferengi amasses, the Rules of Acquisition demand that they continue building greater and greater fortunes.
Rule of Acquisition #18: "A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all."
Roswell That Ends Well: Turns out it was Quark's contraband-carrying shuttle which crashed in New Mexico, sent back in time via an accident. (DS9:"Little Green Men"). Quark actually gets called out by the hew-mons he meets for sounding like an Honest John's Dealership in the process as well.
Rule #1: The Rules of Acquisition, which range from harsh ("A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.") to pragmatic ("You can't make a deal if you're dead.") to Pet the Dog ("Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.")
Scary Teeth: Ferengi teeth are quite horrible looking, almost like the fang equivalent of British Teeth. Angular, uneven upper jawlines, snaggle-toothed tusks and similar twisting of the teeth are quite prominently displayed amongst the Ferengi cast.
Screams Like a Little Girl: The Ferengi have no shame and their scream is very high-pitched.
The Scrounger: Many Ferengi believe in a "Great Material Continuum", likened to a river that can be navigated through wheeling and dealing to obtain the desired product. Nog, the first Ferengi to join Starfleet, demonstrates that even in a moneyless society, good business sense can be a very useful trait to have.
Sentient Cosmic Force: The Great Material Continuum! Ferengi visualize it as a great river flowing throughout the cosmos, bartering goods and services between those that need them. A good Ferengi knows how to "navigate" this river to turn a profit. (O'Brien compared it to rough water rafting when Nog roped him into a risky deal.)
Serious Business: Defraud a business on Ferenginar, and be thrown into the sulphur mines! Understandable, given the perpetrator is lying to scam someone out of their hard-earned money.
Show Within a Show: The Ferengi have their own television shows (ad-supported, of course). These range from a Buddy Cop Show to a mix of Work Com and Rom Com.
Shrine to the Fallen: Ferenginar has a memorial to the financial losses of the Dominion war.
Single-Biome Planet: Ferenginar is comprised exclusively of swamps and wetlands, constantly lashed by a Perpetual Storm that rages across the entire planet.
The So-Called Coward: Whilst it's true that most Ferengi are relatively cowardly; if you do manage to piss one off they are extremely cunning, are perfectly fine with fighting dirty and at least a few possess strength equal to that of a Vulcan (Quark once snapped a gold brick in half using nothing but his bare hands and another one effortlessly threw Riker several meters). They also have an impressive navy, with starship weapons capable of taking out a Galaxy class given the right circumstances, and the best shields money can buy.
Space Jews: In TNG, capitalism is treated into a kind of pathology, espoused by a race that would be easy to mistake for a bunch of stock Jewish stereotypes (even down to ballbusting mothers). Gene Roddenbery, who scripted TNG's first season while high as a kite wanted them to have prodigious penises as well, but he was reigned in by Brannon Braga and Herb Wright. The stuff about Ferengi always trying to steal our Earth women is ripped straight from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
- The writers were so aware of this trope that they specifically had Data compare them to Yankee traders, to try to deflect any accusations of anti-Semitism. It didn't work.
Space Pirates: Their original characterization when they were planed to be serious villains. Implicitly Retconned to be just a few who couldn't make it in "legitimate" business. After years spent getting away from this idea, we meet some Ferengi Space Pirates in an episode of Enterprise.
Stay in the Kitchen: Holy freaking yikes. Ferengi women aren't allowed to earn a profit. Or talk to strangers. Or go outside. Or wear clothing at any time. Their job is to prepare and chew their childrens' food for them, and teach them the Rules of Acquisition. That's it. Any woman that does earn profit is put into indentured servitude. As Deep Space 9 goes on, Quark's mother manages to kick-start a revolution allowing them to become independent. They do apparently have some property rights however, since Rom's backstory apparently has him losing most of his money in a messy divorce.
Strange Salute: Ferengi bow and point their palms outward, like a possum. They also clap by tapping the back of one hand against their palm.
Straw Character: Straw Capitalists to be precise. While later series rounded them off, their "hat" remained firmly in place.
Stupid Crooks: The Ferengi Space Pirates in TNG frequently prove to be no better at crime than DS9 would imply that they were at mercantile pursuits.
Super-Senses: The Ferengi have highly sensitive ears, allowing them to hear sounds outside the range of other species' hearing. In one Deep Space Nine episode, Sisko chooses Nog to relay his commands to the Defiant crew because Nog's Ferengi hearing will allow him to hear Sisko over the din of battle. In another episode, Quark hears a noise coming from a ship's compartment, allowing him and Odo to discover a hidden bomb.
Super-Strength: They're not militant enough to use it, of course, but there are subtle hints that Ferengi are at least as strong as Vulcans.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The females of their species have (relatively) smaller earlobes. This was revealed in an episode where a Ferengi girl wore prosthetic ears to fool the boys' club (and nearly got away with it, too!).
This Loser Is You: The Ferengi are basically 21st-century humans, particularly Anglo-Saxons.
- Turned on its head a little though, if Quark can be trusted, in that while Ferengi are greedy as a virtue and sexist/xenophobic as a culture, they've also never taken it to the same extreme that humans have, citing that the Ferengi never had concentration camps, slavery or massive-scale warfare.
Verbal Tic: For whatever reason, Ferengi seem to have severe difficulty saying "human", instead calling us "hew-mon" most of the time.
To Win Without Fighting: See this comment from "Body Parts":
"We're not Klingons. We're businessmen."
- In particular, Quark states that the Ferengi would have hammered out a mutually beneficial deal with the Dominion (and given them a little something for their trouble, say Betazed), as opposed to the Federation's "independence at any cost" stance. Though in the episode Quark says that in, he guns down a Jem'Hadar soldier who was coming to kill his nephew. This serves as a possible microcosm into Quark's attitude, in that negotiation only works if the other side doesn't find killing you and taking your stuff easier than negotiation.
- In "The Maquis". Quark reasons the Maquis are better off agreeing to a cease-fire than continuing to shoot down the Cardassians' weapon freighters. The logic goes that the Central Command, caught with their hand in the till, will back off on arming their settlers, who in turn will be more open to peaceful coexistence with their Terran neighbors. In essence, the Ferengi are using Game Theory to work out the best possible outcome for all parties; Quark even manages to convince a Vulcan guerrilla fighter that his logic is sound.
War for Fun and Profit: Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34 states "War is good for business". However, Rule of Acquisition #35 rebuts "Peace is good for business." ^note Basically, this entitled Ferengi to sell guns to both sides of a conflict, but also notes that it's a bad idea to lose a customer, and that any war that goes on for too long will have a negative impact on commerce.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: The Ferengi's preferred currency is gold-pressed latinum. The gold itself is absolutely worthless to Ferengi beyond its use in containing latinum.

Gorn

"Like most Humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles. I must fight to remember that this is an intelligent, highly advanced individual, the captain of a starship like myself. Undoubtedly, a dangerously clever opponent."

Debut: TOS, "Arena"

A reptilian species who live in the Alpha Quadrant, known for being highly territorial and vicious. Their government is the Gorn Hegemony.

Anti-Villain: The first time we see the Gorn, they attack a Federation colony and kill everyone present, but as Kirk and co. note they were responding to what they thought was a territorial violation by an unknown aggressor. Doesn't excuse not bothering to check first, but Kirk is still ultimately driven to show mercy.
Big Bad: For Strange New Worlds, as the primary recurring threat whose each appearance signifies a sharp swing to terror.
The Bus Came Back: Aside from a brief appearance in the animated series, they didn't make an appearance in a Trek series after "Arena" until Star Trek: Enterprise.
Cerebus Retcon: In TOS, the Gorn were depicted as Anti Villains who, while unfriendly to the Federation, are otherwise a civilized race with a government, diplomatic relations, etc. In Strange New Worlds, they're a race of Always Chaotic Evil Social Darwinists who raid ships and colonies for prisoners to use for reproduction or kill for sport. Admittedly, Strange New Worlds is set eight years earlier in the timeline, where formal first contact hasn't occurred and the Gorn are still Inscrutable Aliens, but it's still hard to reconcile these two depictions of the species.
The Dreaded: In Strange New Worlds, the Gorn are a largely-unknown race of boogiemen who raid ships and colonies but refuse all attempts at communication, and give even experienced Starfleet personnel the spooks. Even after proper First Contact is made, they maintain a reputation of both ruthlessness and ruthless cunning, and nobody — not even Mirror Archer — relishes the idea of getting into a fight with them.
Explosive Breeder: Judging by a comment Bones makes in Into Darkness, Gorn give birth to multiple young at once. And they're apparently born with teeth already grown out. Strange New Worlds confirms this, with an added dose of Chest Burster traits, that makes Gorn offspring more deadlier in aspects than their adult counterparts.
Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong: They reproduce by spraying other sapient beings with some kind of venom that infects them with Gorn eggs. Within a few days, depending on the host species, these eggs produce hatchlings that chew their way out Chestburster-style.
Genius Bruiser: Arguably their species' hat. The Gorn are far more intelligent than their appearance suggests, capable of exploiting the weaknesses of their "prey" with deadly effectiveness and setting elaborate Batman Gambits to trick their opponent into a vulnerable position. For example, in one encounter the Gorn wiped out a colony but left a handful of survivors on a damaged freighter, correctly predicting that the Enterprise would dock with it to rescue them, at which point they'd be unable to maneuver or raise shields when the Gorn returned guns-blazing. Even their children, not long after emerging from gestation, show a frightening amount of intelligence and—when not trying to murder each other to prove which offspring is the strongest—can cooperate to take down larger prey with far greater ease than expected for something born just mere hours ago.
It Can Think: Those unfamiliar with the Gorn tend to dismiss them as simple brutes incapable of complex strategy, only to be taken by surprise by their ruthless cunning.
- In their first appearance, the Gorn captain was slow-moving (partly because of the constraint of the actor's costume) and didn't speak during their initial brawl. Kirk was in for a rude awakening, which he lampshades with the quote above.
- Slar, trapped on an abandoned ship filling with hostile Terran boarders, was able to pick off his enemies Xenomorph-style while also being smart enough to set booby traps such as bombs.
- In "Memento Mori", the crew believes they've tricked a Gorn vessel into following it into a trap inside a brown dwarf by using their relentless single-minded hunting drive against them. It turns out there were other Gorn vessels using it as bait to determine their location.
Lizard Folk: Think a humanoid Komodo dragon, but with brains and a bad attitude.
Made of Iron: They're tough lizards. Kirk threw a huge rock at the Gorn captain and it barely fazed him. It took multiple shots from phasers for Mirror Archer and his minions to kill Slar.
Mighty Glacier: Kirk notes in "Arena" that the Gorn Captain has vastly superhuman strength and durability, but is lacking in agility. Slar in Enterprise is more of a Lightning Bruiser.
Poor Communication Kills: In Strange New Worlds, their refusal to establish proper first contact with the Federation to at least ascertain their respective agendas and instead blindly attack outlying colonies for breeding and blood sport causes tensions to rise drastically between the two factions. This is somewhat downplayed only in the fact that the Gorn at the time see the Federation as an unknown aggressor engaging in "territorial violations" with their rapid expansion and would be understandably hesitant to make a more respectable opening stance to an another civilization but their extremely hostile reaction is still widely considered a bit of an overcorrection.
Raptor Attack: Slar, the Gorn seen in Enterprise, is far more dinosaur-like than the one in TOS, and Mirror Phlox directly compares him to a velociraptor.
The Social Darwinist: They've been known to cull the "weak" from their own ranks to strengthen the whole.
Standard Alien Spaceship: Their ships, seen for the first time in Strange New Worlds, are very organic-looking, and green and orange in color.
Translator Microbes: Natural Gorn speak consists of hissing and snarling, with translators putting it into something we can understand.
Xenomorph Xerox: The Gorn as seen in Strange New Worlds take quite a few cues from the classic xenomorphs. They reproduce by infesting others with their offspring, who then explode out of the host in classic Chest Burster fashion. The hatchlings then go through a period of molting and rapid growth, during which they hunt each other and potential prey by traveling through vents and skittering along walls and ceilings. They also have prehensile tails, More Teeth than the Osmond Family, and can spit acid that infests the unfortunate target with more eggs. "All Those Who Wander" is a blatant Whole-Plot Reference to Aliens, with a trio of Gorn hatchlings standing in for the xenomorphs.

Hirogen

"The way a creature behaves when it is wounded is the key to its destruction."

Debut: VOY, "Message in a Bottle"

The Hirogen are a Proud Hunter Race in the Delta Quadrant, roaming vast distances in pursuit of worthy prey. Word of God made no bones about drawing inspiration from Predator, which shares their veneration of 'the hunt', the collection and display of hunting trophies, the use of a breathing apparatus for alien atmospheres, and so forth.

Applied Phlebotinum: Their "tetryon" weapons are unfamiliar to Starfleet. Their ships also have "monotanium" armor plating. This plating has the added effect of scattering phaser blasts. (VOY: "Hunters")
Awesomeness by Analysis: Hirogen culture required a hunter to study his prey to understand its abilities.
Battle Trophy:
- Not only for bragging rights, but also an instrumental part of their mating ritual. Female Hirogen are attracted to hunters in possession of rare or unique trophies acquired during a hunt.
- One of them threatens to remove Seven of Nine's intestines as a trophy, as "Unusual relics are prized. Yours will make me envied by men and pursued by women!" Seven, who rivals the Hirogen in the big ego sweepstakes, is unimpressed.
Egomaniac Hunter: Inverted. The Hirogen, as a rule, do not empathize with their prey. However, in keeping with the Native Americans themes, they prefer to kill their targets quickly and painlessly.
Flanderization: In "The Killing Game," the Alpha, Karr, recognizes that this has happened In-Universe; the Hirogen have become so obsessed with the hunt that their entire civilization has began to fall apart, and Karr resolves to bring them back from the brink of extinction.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Their species' hat is hunting down and killing dangerous aliens (sentient or otherwise) for sport. In "The Killing Game" two-parter, a pack of Hirogen ships trapped the crew in a vast WWII holoprogram to better study their battle capabilities.
Lack of Empathy: The Hirogen alpha in "Demons of Air and Darkness", who, like most Hirogen, relates to other sapient beings only as prey. At one point, he reflects on how one of his victims cried that she had a husband and children, "as if the family structure of prey was of any relevance."
Noodle Incident: The Picard episode "No Win Scenario" reveals that at some point following Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant, a Hirogen found their way there and encountered the crew of Picard's Enterprise - ultimately being defeated when Worf builds a trap for them.
Proud Hunter Race: The Hirogen are nomadic hunters who are especially well known for having created high tech suits of powered armor they use on their hunts. Being called "worthy prey" is the highest compliment one can receive from them. One Hirogen character laments that it's effectively destroyed their culture; they basically don't have a civilization beyond roving hunting parties anymore.
Predator Pastiche: The Hirogen lack most of the Predator's overt features, but have the hunting culture down pat. To the point it's shown to be slowly leading to the decline and eventually potential destruction of their civilization.
Putting on the Reich: "The Killing Game" featured the Hirogen capturing the Voyager crew and forcing them to re-enact WWII, with the Hirogen taking the part of the Nazis in occupied France. They wore their Nazi uniforms when outside the holodeck too. Somewhat averted, in that only one of them is truly enamored with the Nazi philosophy— the leader is ready to strike a deal with Janeway in exchange for the holodeck technology.
Space Nomads: Nobody knows exactly where the Hirogen come from, or even if their homeworld is located in the Delta Quadrant. They don't seem to be interested in planets, preferring to roam the stars in small packs in search of worthy prey.
Triage Tyrant: In "The Killing Game", when a crewmember with life-threatening injuries and a Hirogen with minor burns are both brought in, the Hirogen medical officer orders the Doctor to treat the Hirogen patient first. The Doctor protests that this goes against the rules of triage. The Hirogen replies "your rules, not mine" and switches him off when he refuses to comply.
Turned Against Their Masters: In "Flesh and Blood" the Hirogen are using holograms to train for the Hunt. Unfortunately they get smarter and smarter after being hunted down and killed constantly until...
Victory Is Boring: Hirogen have been known to express disappointment when the species they're hunting proves to be unchallenging. (VOY: "Hunters") As a result, being called "worthy prey" by a Hirogen was meant as a great compliment.
Worthy Opponent: Calling an alien "worthy prey" is the closest thing to a compliment you'll hear from a Hirogen hunter.

Horta

"NO KILL I"

Debut: TOS, "The Devil in the Dark"

Homeworld: Janus VI

The first silicon-based race known to the Federation. First contact was marred by an unfortunate incident with deaths on both sides, but things quickly took a turn for the profitable.

Acid Attack: The Horta produce incredibly powerful acid within their bodies, which they normally use for tunneling.
Bizarre Alien Biology: McCoy was able to improvise medical treatment for the injured mother Horta using construction materials.
Bizarre Alien Reproduction: After fifty thousand years the whole race dies out except for one female who tends to the millions of eggs who will become the next generation of Horta.
Humans Are Ugly: The one Horta we meet thinks humans are revolting, though she does like Spock's ears.
Last of Their Kind: Only one Horta remains alive in the interval between generations.
Long-Lived: They live for over fifty thousand years.
Mother of a Thousand Young: Adoptive mother, at least.
Out with a Bang: We don't exactly see how Horta reproduce, it seems to be similiar to fish who spawn and then die.
Super-Toughness: They shrug off blasts from Type-1 phasers, though Type-2s do a bit of damage.
Tunnel King: Thanks to the powerful acid they secrete, Horta move through rock as easily as humanoids do through air, leaving tunnels behind.

Humans

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trek_montage_4514.JPG

"Baseball. Root beer. Darts. Atom bombs."

Debut: TOS, "The Man Trap"

Homeworld: Earth

Also known as Terrans^note, humans are a founding member of the United Federation of Planets and the backbone of Starfleet. Following a century of internal strife and social collapse, Earth became warp-capable on April 5th, 2063 and caught the attention of other Alpha Quadrant races, who had previously dismissed it as an Insignificant Little Blue Planet. All in all, humans are pretty cool.

Absurdly Powerful Student Council:
- Only the best of the best can attend Starfleet Academy (even Wesley Crusher failed his first exam), and out of those hand-picked cadets, only a couple dozen join Red Squad. They only show up 3 times in Star Trek, and it always means trouble. Picard and Sisko, both Starfleet Captains, had no knowledge of a secret clique called Red Squad at the Academy; they had to find out about it second-hand, from other Red Squad hopefuls, which suggested that it was a new addition. In "Paradise Lost", Admiral Layton tapped them to carry out his attempted coup d'état. Layton knew that Red Squad were too overzealous to refuse an order, however treasonous.
- The storyline of "Valiant" strongly suggests that Watters intentionally hid the location and status of a Defiant-class starship from Starfleet. After his commanding officer was fatally wounded, he was given a field commission as (acting) Captain, which he promptly used to promote the remaining Red Squad cadets to officers. By resuming his "mission", he had an excuse to avoid returning to Starfleet and becoming a mere cadet again.
Alien Non-Interference Clause: No contact with pre-warp species.
- On TNG, it was made clear by the Cardassians that any planet which resides outside of the Federation (like say, Bajor or other Cardassian colonies) has the right to turn away their help. Starfleet at least recognizes that Bajor's plight should be heard even if their non-interference policy means they can do nothing about it. Picard wants to address the situation with the Cardassians quietly and behind the scenes, meaning that Starfleet will excuse so long as he doesn't appear to be doing so.
The Assimilator: In-Universe, the Federation is often accused of this by detractors, being a "Homo-Sapiens Only Club" that masquerades as an inter-species alliance and who makes peace with enemies, simply to get them to take their "rightful place" in the Federation council.
Eddington: You know, in some ways you're even worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious. You assimilate people and they don't even know it.
Believing Their Own Lies:
- After ages of peace and literal paradise on Earth, humans have convinced themselves that they truly are free of the vices and flaws of the past. During the Dominion War, when humanity is pushed ever further, many of those old vices start bubbling back up. When they do, the humans don't take it well.
- This exact matter is taken by the nose during Star Trek: First Contact, when Sloane accuses of Picard of wanting revenge against the Borg, he repeatedly insists that humans have evolved beyond such perspectives. Eventually, after being pushed further and further, Picard breaks down, and admits Sloane's right.
Beware the Nice Ones: Quark had some choice words to say about hew-mons in wartime, suggesting that if you take away their creature comforts, fancy technology and put them through the wringer, they've got the potential to be even more frightening than Klingons.
Boldly Coming: It seems that a lot of Federation citizens are fans of Risa. No to mention the several human / alien relationships seen throughout the many series, and the offspring of some of those relationships.
Cloak and Dagger: There exists an obscure provision in the Starfleet Charter, Section 31, which allows for this kind of activity.
Crapsack World: 21st century Earth wasn't good for anyone. After the Eugenics War, society clearly tried recovering, but by the 2020s, unemployment and homelessness in America was so bad that the entire country decided the best solution was to cram all of them into "Sanctuary Districts" (read: Ghettos with none of the charm or comfort) and forget all about them, which somehow didn't work out. Thanks to a seismic event, a large chunk of California (L.A. included) was sunk. Meanwhile, Europe was having its own problems, with mention of "Neo-Trotskyites", and terrorism resurgent in Ireland. Then World War III came along, with six hundred million killed just by the war alone.
Earth Is the Center of the Universe: The first Federation President was human, the legislature is located in the Presidio of San Francisco, and Starfleet HQ is a bit further south. At least two Presidents in Star Trek were aliens, but they still conduct their business on Earth.
Feudal Future: At its peak, the "Great Khanate" covered more than a quarter of the plant's surface, from Australia to Asia to parts of the middle east. The "Eugenics Wars" were highly destructive and plunged the planet into a new dark age, which the Third World War exacerbated.
Future Food Is Artificial: The food replicator is perhaps humanity's crowning achievement, singlehandedly ending world hunger. It is very rare for people on Earth to have food that isn't replicated.
Good Is Not Soft: Despite being physically weaker than Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons and a variety of other alien species, they can be a force to fight when push comes to shove.
Gunboat Diplomacy:
- The Federation can't interfere in the politics of non-member states, but they will often step on their own weaker worlds in the interest of peace. To avoid breaking their treaty with Cardassia and starting another war, the Federation forcibly evacuated settlers in the (Cardassian-owned) Badlands, giving rise to the Maquis terrorists.
- The initial appearance of the Cardassian Union exposes the naiveté of the Federation (Troi states that they have to trust the Cardassians because they are their allies now) and the hypocrisy of it, too (Worf says that their trust has to be earned). The trouble is, neither of them is especially right but there is a grain of truth in each opinion. This tension will come to a head in TNG's "The Wounded", the Maquis struggle and later the Dominion War.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: The Federation values peace above all else, even if it's just the appearance of such. Sisko at one point lampshades that the Federation insists on abiding by a treaty the Cardassians are actively breaking, simply because even that was preferable to war.
Hegemonic Empire: An in-universe point of criticism many races have towards the humans, with some claiming that the Federation is functionally dominated by the humans, and the other races are just "pet" races used to further humanity's own ends.
Humans Advance Swiftly: Lampshaded in Enterprise, where Vulcan Ambassador Soval freely admits that the reason they've been trying to keep them back is because humans are advancing so fast, they are literally scaring the crap out of a race that actively suppresses their emotions. Q echoes the same concerns in the first season of TNG. Humanity jumped into the interstellar community at least a fair bit behind the other major powers, and in just a few centuries Starfleet and the Federation became a military force equal to any of them.
Humans Are Diplomats: One of the founding four races who established the Federation, alongside the coldly logical Vulcans, the emotional Andorians, and the stubborn Tellarites. In addition, the first Federation President, Jonathan Archer, was a human. Made more impressive since these species had been traditionally at each other's throats for hundreds of years, especially in the case of the Vulcans and Andorians. Humanity managed to make earn enough points with each species to unite them into a loose Coalition of Planets by 2155, leading to the Federation officially being founded six years later.
Humans Are Special:
- It's been argued that this trope is Star Trek's defining philosophy. At its core the franchise is meant to depict a utopic future for mankind free of vice, meaning that the writers tend to use alien races to examine (and at times embody) societal ills that exist in the modern world. In practice this means that humans tend to look almost comically perfect in relation to other alien species, being unfailingly generous, progressing impossibly fast in scientific endeavors, achieving breakthroughs in all forms of art and social development, being unparalleled leaders in diplomacy, and commanding a formidable standing military force. The only consistently-mentioned flaw of humanity is that they performed violent and barbaric acts against each other in the past (which they're quick to remind you they've evolved beyond) and that they tend to be sort of patronizing. It's worth noting that humanity's more egregious Utopia traits relative to other species really only came to the fore in Next Generation and after; in Kirk's day, humans were at least as likely to walk away from an encounter with Sufficiently Advanced Aliens like the Organians, Metrons, or even Balok feeling humbled by the experience.
- It's suggested in The Next Generation and then confirmed in Deep Space Nine, that humans aren't as above these vices as they claim to be, being just as capable of backstabbing, deception, and xenophobia as the other races. The primary difference being that humans can be a bit slower to admit it.
Humans Are Ugly:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Home Soil": The ship is taken over by intelligent microscopic crystals that call humans (and every other sentient being on the Enterprise) "UGLY BAGS OF MOSTLY WATER".
- Averted with most other species. The Ferengi pretend to find humans below their standards, but are such deviants that they can't help themselves.
  Lwaxana: They're as bad as humans. Look at that leer on his face.
  Daimon Tog: Actually, his is a look of revulsion. But it is not a feeling that I share. (stares at them pervertedly)
- The first lines we hear from a Ferengi (whose ugly face is filling the viewscreen) is that the hideousness of humans has clearly not been exaggerated!
- Even in Star Trek: Voyager, when a Cardassian double-agent fell in love with her human mark, she still expressed relief that their love-child took after his momma. "Thank goodness he doesn't look too human; you all have such weak foreheads."
- And in Star Trek: Enterprise, although humans aren't aesthetically unpleasing to Vulcans, they do smell terrible.
Humans Are Warriors: Starfleet is an exploratory organization first and a military second, but that doesn't mean they should be underestimated. Starfleet outguns or breaks even with most of its neighbors using ships that are not designed to be combat vessels, and should they find themselves outmatched, their ability to adapt under pressure is second to none.
Insane Admiral: It does have to be pointed out nearly all Federation admirals to engage in paranoid campaigns to get rid of all presumed traitors in Starfleet (including those who think they've gone too far), attempt coups d'etat, mess up the timestream or otherwise wreck the place have been human.
Interservice Rivalry: The Federation would like nothing better than to bury the hatchet and let Cardassia/The Dominion join them, but Starfleet (and Section 31) has other ideas.
Vreenak (Romulan Senator): The Dominion is resolved to win the war at any cost. You and I both know the Federation has already put out peace feelers.
Monumental View: Starfleet Academy enjoys a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, which unfortunately would place it in the middle of a mountain range. Star Trek VI retconned it satisfactorily: an establishing shot of Starfleet H.Q. shows it is built into the mountains on stilts.
Most Writers Are Human: Which is why most Star Trek series to date have centered around a human main character.
No Poverty: A central part of the setting, humanity solved this problem after meeting the Vulcans.
No Transhumanism Allowed: Transhumanism was considered the new frontier of science and humanity's great hope, until Khan Noonien Singh and similar warlords cropped up. Following a ghastly Eugenics War which enveloped the whole world in chaos, genetic engineering was outlawed, and mankind turned to the stars to find a slower path toward evolution. These days, genetic engineers find work on the black market, performing augmentation on mentally-disabled or otherwise challenged children. While Dr. Bashir turned out fairly normal (although he had to hide the truth from Starfleet Academy), "Statistical Probabilities" showed us three individuals who could have lived perfectly productive-if-simple lives had their parents not tried to play God. The result? Social maladjustment, sadistic behavior and a life behind bars (or as good as).
Oddly Small Organization: For an organization that patrols a vast section of the quadrant with the average number of personnel on a starship being in the hundreds, it's rather bizarre that Starfleet can entirely staff their fleet from a single academy headquartered on Earth.
Planet of Hats: Averted; we're the only planet that doesn't have a hat. Unless you count Ron D. Moore's "Starfleet walk."
- Several characters have commented on how relatively fast humanity expanded compared to other species and how quickly humans tend to pick up a skill or job. Humanity's hat is its adapability: The Vulcans are scared of how humanity was able to recover from a total nuclear war in one tenth the time it took themselves, Quark is terrified at how an average human can become more bloodthirsty than a Klingon if driven to the edge, and individuals such as Eddington (who is a human himself, by the way) draw chilling comparisons of humanity to the Borg. In turn, the Borg have taken quite a special interest in humans, whilst humans are one of only two races (the other being Species 8472) to be able to repel repeated direct attacks from the Collective.
- Society is clearly moving in that direction though; nearly every time Star Trek humans end up in modern or near-modern America the amount of cultural diversity freaks them out. This actually comes up subtly in several Expanded Universe novels. Scenes taking place during the Enterprise era tend to explicitly mention different human characters' nationalities in the narration more than scenes set later in the future. This isn't as noticeable in the Enterprise novels themselves, but the flashbacks to that era in Star Trek: Destiny are rather jarring when compared to the 24th century scenes.
Planet Terra: Used a few times (the Mirror Universe has the Terran Empire; the original series occasionally contrasts "Terrans" with "Vulcans").
Psychic Powers: Extrasensory perception is well-known enough among humanity for Starfleet to test and rate its human members on several ESP quotients. It's also heritable, as Gary Michell's ancestors stretching generations back were known espers. However, even espers admit that at best they get flashes of insight (which may explain a few Eureka Moments), and so far there's been a grand total of one confirmed telepathic human in the whole franchise.
Puny Earthlings: Humans are generally portrayed as weaker, less intelligent, and shorter-lived than other major species in the Alpha Quadrant. Vulcans and Romulans, in particular, are downright patronizing in their dealings with humans, whom they regard as dim children.
Renegade Splinter Faction: The Maquis, consisting of Earth colonists who objected to losing their planets to the Cardassians after a treaty redefined the border after the war. Eventually wiped out by the Jem'Hadar when the Dominion allied with the Cardassians.
- Terra Prime in the 22nd Century, a Xenophobic group that objected to alien nationals being on Earth and experienced a massive surge in popularity after the Xindi Incident.
- Section 31, a rogue Black Ops group within Starfleet, dedicated to keeping Earth a paradise by any means.
Science Hero: Since the Federation mines research from throughout the Alpha Quadrant, and they haven't despoiled their territories like the Romulan or Cardassian empires, by the 24th century their tech is considered some of the mightiest in the galaxy.
Swiss-Army Weapon: The Starfleet phaser rifle is bulky, loaded with tacti-cool targeting systems and features, and useless as a field weapon because too much can go wrong with it. Insert Federation joke here.
Took a Level in Badass: Even with the Vulcans supposedly delaying their warp program, Humanity still managed to go from being survivors of a nuclear war, to one of the founders of an interstellar alliance in just under a century. The latter only ten years after the launch of their first Warp 5 vessel, which brought them properly into the interstellar community. In just a few centuries, they jumped from a single planet outgunned by pretty much everyone to the equal of every local power around them.
Utopia:
- The Federation is often presented as a perfect society. In "Time's Arrow", the trope is examined in a rare moment of criticism about the Federation, its lifestyle and principles when Mark Twain struts around the Enterprise-D and is distinctly unimpressed by the future. Conquering this corner of the galaxy with politeness, luxury to the point of indolence, no personality and a lack of any vices... he declares the future a very bland place to be. Perhaps on TNG; had he wound up on DS9 he would be trading raucous stories and getting drunk with Morn.
- Discussed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where it's revealed that some races consider the Federation to be too much of this. Quark and Garak have some fun comparing it to Root Beer, apparently the favourite drink of people from Earth.
  *Quark offers some root beer to Garak, who tries it and gags*
  Garak: It's vile!
  Quark: I know. It's so bubbly and cloying... and happy.
  Garak: *Greatly amused* Just like the Federation?
  Quark: And you know what's really terrifying? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it.
  Garak: It's insidious!
  Quark: Just like the Federation...
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future: Zigzagged, but usually played straight. From a 21st century point of view, yes, most of the big diseases of the here-and-now are gone (though whether they're gone completely or not varies), and with more advanced surgical techniques, things are better... but neurological conditions and congenital defects are still around, and Picard recalls senescence hitting his grandfather pretty hard.
We Will Spend Credits in the Future:
- Averted as the Federation has abandoned money-based economics, at least within its own borders. There apparently is some form of currency used when trading with other races outside the Federation. Note that the "moneyless economy" concept first appears in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and there is nary a hint of it before that; and indeed, the TOS episodes "The Trouble With Tribbles," "Mudd's Women," and even "The Devil In the Dark" make no sense if you ignore all the references to money. Whether this represents an in-universe change in the Federation's economic policy (perhaps coinciding with the development of replicators) or a Retcon meant to change the meaning of those TOS episodes depends on which fan you ask.
- Parodied in the DS9 episode "In The Cards", where Jake actually can't give Nog a justifiable reason why they don't use money anymore, aside from abandoning it when they adopted their philosophy of "working to better ourselves and the rest of humanity".
  Nog: What does that even mean?
  Jake: It means... (Beat) ... it means, we don't need money!
- The DS9 "Explorers" episodes relates the existence of transporter credits, though it is uncertain if it means that transporter use is rationed, or if the use of transporters by Starfleet cadets is intentionally limited.
- Played straight in the TOS episode The Trouble With Tribbles, as Uhura casually makes an offer to purchase a tribble from a Federation citizen on a Federation station. Kirk also mentions docking Scotty's pay in another episode, so clearly money of some form is in use during their era, though many often just chalk this up to Early-Installment Weirdness.
- Revived on Voyager, after a fashion, due to their perpetual energy shortages before the writers got tired of having to remember they were stranded decades from resupply. In order to conserve their ship's power supplies, the crew are issued periodic replicator rations, which serve as a form of credit and even an impromptu medium of trade among them.
World War III: An atomic war broke out in the early 21st century, with a death toll of 37 million. After that came a period in which victims of the nuclear fallout were shunned. A few zealots, led by Colonel Phillip Green, attempted to the cleanse the species of impurities.

Iconians

"The victors invariably write the history to their own advantage. There is an unfortunate tendency in many cultures to fear what they do not understand. It's possible that their enemies, confronted with this technology, were driven to attack the Iconians out of fear."

Debut: TNG, "Contagion"

Homeworld: Iconia

One of the most distinctive species of Precursors in the Star Trek universe, the Iconians were a highly advanced civilization until about 200,000 years ago, when their homeworld of Iconia was carpet-bombed into oblivion. They were known as "Demons of Air and Darkness" in ancient texts, and were said to have the ability to appear on distant worlds without need for starships. As it turns out, this was due to the Iconian Gateways that let them bypass the usual limits of Transporters. They were generally described as a race of conquerors, but several historians believe they were simply envied and demonized by other species for their advanced technology. The Iconians are extinct by the present day, but some samples of their technology remain, and Iconian influences have been seen in some newer languages, hinting that a few might have survived their homeworld's devastation.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: A relatively simple Iconian probe was dangerous enough to destroy a Federation starship, and almost did the same to the Enterprise-D and a Romulan Warbird.
Archaeological Arms Race: These tend to kick off whenever their Lost Technology is rediscovered.
Clarke's Third Law: Their technology was so advanced that it's repeatedly compared to magic even by 24th-century humans.
Higher-Tech Species: They were this, and envy or fear of it may have led to their downfall.
Lost Language: Iconian is one, though it has enough similarities to Dinasian, Dewan, and Iccobar for an extremely rough translation.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: They were known as "Demons of Air and Darkness", though it's ambiguous whether this nickname was deserved or not.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Possibly. Contemporary records show them as dangerous conquerors, but another theory has come to light that they may have been simply demonized by envious, less-advanced species who were fearful of their technology.
Portal Door: Iconian Gateways seem to work like this, allowing the users to literally walk between different locations instantly, regardless of distance.
Precursors: Whether they're Abusive Precursors who conquered a massive territory and were subsequently wiped out by their abused victims banding together, or Benevolent Precursors who were the victims of envious species greedy for their advanced technology is deliberately left open to interpretation. They left a few potentially dangerous Iconian Gateways lying around, but that seems to be due to their being attacked and wiped out before they could do anything about it.
Story-Breaker Power: Iconian Gateways are seen as this in-universe, to the point where even the Dominion will destroy them rather than try to reverse-engineer them for themselves - though that's largely because the first Jem'hadar squadron to find one promptly went rogue and tried to assert their independence using it.
Unusual User Interface: An Iconian console is manipulated by tapping differently-colored pieces of various symbols.
The Virus: Iconian software inadvertently functions like this with more modern tech. If it finds something new it spreads, and starts causing severe malfunctions as it attempts to rewrite whatever system it's gotten into. Fortunately, an easy solution is just... turning everything off and on again.

Illyrians

"My people were never motivated by domination. Illyrians seek collaboration with nature."

Debut: TOS, "The Cage"/"The Menagerie, Part I"

A humanoid race who practice genetic engineering on a wide scale, modifying their physiology to adapt to new worlds and environments rather than expend enormous resources terraforming them. They are generally shunned by the Federation due to the latter's policy of No Transhumanism Allowed.

Early-Installment Weirdness: Their first "official" appearance, in ENT "Damage", depicts them as fairly standard Rubber-Forehead Aliens. SNW "Ghosts of Illyria" retconned them into Human Aliens with an aptitude for genetic engineering. (It's worth noting that the species is not identified by name in "Damage" outside of the script, and the genetic enhancement could explain the chance in appearance as well.)
Fantastic Racism: Often on the receiving end of this due to the Federation's ban on genetic enhancement.
Human Aliens: By default, they look completely human. It's implied that their appearance varies depending on the extent of their modifications.

Jem'Hadar

"As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives. This we do gladly, for we are Jem'Hadar. Remember: victory is life."

Debut: DS9, "The Jem'Hadar"

Genetically engineered by the Founders, the Jem'Hadar are bred to fight and die on behalf of the Dominion. They are all Gattaca Babies (there are no females) and are kept under control due to a genetically-engineered dependence to a drug known as Ketracel-white, also referred to as "white". They are also short-lived, but can be produced by the thousands as needed. The Klingons believe that the Jem'Hadar are just soulless machines bred to kill without honor. But they're not as slavish as they look...

Abnormal Ammo: Their phaser weapons also act as some sort of anticoagulant, causing their target to bleed out if they manage to limp away.
Always Chaotic Evil: A rather tragic justified example. Thanks to the Founders' genetic programming, every Jem'Hadar is a bloodthirsty, xenophobic killing machine, and whilst some have moments of nobility and honour, they're still incapable of entirely going against their nature. A Jem'Hadar may refrain from brutally murdering you once, but once is all you're ever going to get. And, sadly, they're still the most moral Dominion core race by human standards.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Their polaron beam weapons completely ignore standard Alpha Quadrant shields. It takes a good year or two for the Federation to adapt their shields to deflect Dominion weaponry.
Badass Creed: "Obedience brings victory. Victory is life!" They are required to recite a loyalty oath in exchange for more white. Subverted by the rote nature of the exercise, as well as the constantly looming threat of having your head torn off should you accidentally run out of the drug.
First: (solemn) We pledge our loyalty to the Founders, from now until death.
Weyoun: (bored, reciting) Then receive this reward from the Founders, may it keep you strong. *Sigh*
Bad Boss: The First, and by necessity when your underlings are perpetually bad-tempered super-soldiers barely kept under control at the best of times. If they're so out of control they won't do as they're told, the First hasn't really got any other choice but to snap their necks.
Battle Cry: "Victory is life!"
Battle Trophy: At least one Starfleet commando was spotted wearing a necklace made of Ketracel-white vials, one for each Jem'Hadar he'd killed.
Blood Knight: This is the race's entire hat. They're imbued with a taste for violence from their creation. Fighting is literally a need for them.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Jem'hadar soldiers, by and large, place loyalty to the Founders, service to their First, and completion of their missions above all else. Any that would jeopardize these is dealt with swiftly and decisively. In the DS9 episode "To the Death", this is demonstrated among a group of renegade Jem'hadar when the First's subordinate and Worf get into a brawl. The First executes his subordinate for violating his orders, while Sisko has Worf confined to quarters while off-duty, with the Jem'Hadar first being astounded that Sisko doesn't eliminate what he believes to be a threat to Sisko's command, while Sisko argues back that killing Worf would rob him of the chance to learn from his mistakes and cost the loyalty of his crew.
Cannot Tell a Lie: To the extent that Sisko completely disregards anything the Vorta say, and only negotiates with their messengers.
Cannon Fodder: They're superb soldiers, but their uniform characteristics, short lifespans, and the ease of replacing them renders the Jem'Hadar disposable in the eyes of Vorta/Changelings.
Chameleon Camouflage: Jem'Hadar use a personal camouflage ability known as a "Shroud" to sneak around and confound their opponents, not unlike that of actual chameleons. It's not as effective as a cloaking device, but it can conceal them in most environments long enough for them to launch a surprise attack. However, they lose this ability if they're suffering from Ketracel-white withdrawal.
Church Militant: They are simply instruments of their gods' wrath, nothing more. In "The Jem'Hadar", one of their ships rammed a retreating Galaxy-class starship (the same class as the Enterprise-D), destroying it. All to send a message.
O'Brien: (baffled) We were retreating. There was no need for a suicide run.
Sisko: They're showing us how far they're willing to go.
The Dreaded: As the mailed fist of the Dominion, the Jem'Hadar are among the most dangerous and feared military forces in the galaxy, fearsome enough to make even Klingons wary of facing them. It's occasionally suggested that even the Founders themselves, although confident that the Jem'Hadar's ingrained loyalty and addiction to Ketracel-white keep them in line (indeed, keeping them under control was the entire point of addicting them to the white), fear what could happen if they ever lost control of the Jem'Hadar.
Sisko: The Jem'Hadar are the most brutal and efficient soldiers I've ever encountered. They don't care about the conventions of war or protecting civilians. They will not limit themselves to military targets. They'll be waging the kind of war that Earth hasn't seen since the founding of the Federation.
Even Evil Has Standards: A group of Jem'Hadar forms an Enemy Mine with Sisko in order to take out a rogue group of Jem'Hadar who had stumbled upon an Iconian Gateway. Using a piece of long lost technology which allows the user to literally travel anywhere in the galaxy instantly was too powerful (and too unsporting) for anyone to use, even by the Jem'Hadar's standards. They knew they could instantly invade and take over Earth with it, but it's just not who they are.
Evil Counterpart Race: To the Klingons. Both are Proud Warrior Race Guys who make fighting a big part of their lives. However, the Jem'Hadar have none of the Klingons' Joie de vivre, their passion for aesthetics, or even their taste in liquor. All they do is fight and kill. As a result, the Klingons come to regard them almost as boogeymen, and General Martok became nigh phobic of them during his tenure in a Dominion internment camp. For their part, the Jem'Hadar relish the opportunity to fight with Klingons, considering them Worthy Opponents.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: First Omet'iklan cannot, for the life of him, understand why Sisko intervenes when a rogue Jem'Hadar was about to kill him, after Omet'iklan had previously threatened to kill Sisko.
Fantastic Diet Requirement: The Jem'Hadar don't need to eat per se, but they need IVs of a drug called ketracel-white, or "white" for short, to survive. This was done on purpose by the Founders them to make them dependent on a resource only they can provide, enforcing their control and dooming rebellions.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: "Jemadar" was a title used by low-ranking Indian officers in The Raj, and the dynamic the Founders have with the Jem'Hadar is similar to the one the British had with Indian ethnic groups they pigeonholed as "martial races" and exploited as a source of military manpower.
Functional Addict: Although genetically engineered like the Vorta, Jem'Hadar loyalty is not as reliable, so all Jem'Hadar are addicted to a drug called Ketracel-white, which only the Dominion can provide.
Genius Bruiser: An unnerving blend of Klingon brutality and Romulan discipline.
Iconic Item: The only distinctive marking on their uniforms is a little pocket for Ketracel-white vials. The drug funnels through a tube which is plugged straight into their necks. Unlike the Borg, making a grab for their neck-tubing would not work since Jem'Hadar can carry on for at least 24 hours without a fix.
Interservice Rivalry:
- Once the Dominion realizes that they aren't getting reinforcements from the wormhole, they design a generation of Jem'Hadar specifically bred to fight Alpha Quadrant species. These Alphas believe themselves superior to "Gamma" Jem'Hadar, who beg to disagree.
- Though they will usually serve them as commanded by the Founders, they also tend to dislike the Vorta, with at least one Jem'Hadar First killing a Vorta who questioned the loyalty of his men.
Killer Rabbit: Jem'Hadar children look like human infants with a small horn crest on their forehead, and are incredibly cute. Their distinct reptilian armored carapace doesn't grow until they hit the human developmental equivalent of puberty. Once it does, however (a process which only takes a couple days from birth) you've got a fully grown Super Soldier with a genetically programmed hatred of and desire to fight anything that isn't a Jem'Hadar, Vorta, or Founder.
Meaningful Name: Related to the ranking system in Kipling's Finest. Jem'Hadar do not have ranks with flashy or self-aggrandizing terms. The highest-ranking in a group holds the rank of "First" (roughly analogous to "Captain", if he commands a ship). The rank below "First" is "Second", behind "Second" is "Third", and so on down to at least "Seventh". Individual Jem'Hadar actually do have names, so we have examples of First Omet'iklan, Third Remata'klan, and Second Ixtana'Rax (an Honored Elder). But while the Jem'Hadar do refer to their squad-mates by name, their Vorta overseers will basically point at them and say "you there, Fifth, make a suicidal charge on that sniper's nest". It emphasizes how replaceable and expendable the Jem'Hadar are to the Vorta.
My Master, Right or Wrong: A loyal Jem'Hadar is perfectly willing to get himself killed following orders that he knows are stupid, wrong or cruel, because that is "the order of things".
Sisko: Are you really willing to give up your life for "the order of things"?
Remata'Klan: (resigned) It is not my life to give up, captain. It never was.
The Needless: They do not sleep and require no nutrition other than Ketracel-white.
Nightmare Fetishist: When Dr. Bashir treats a wounded Vorta on the battlefield, he gets crowded out by the military escorts who are forming a little operating threatre of their own. The Vorta reacts with weary resignation, but not surprise: They've never seen what the insides of a Vorta look like.
Noble Demon: They're violent and fanatically loyal to the Founders, but they have their moments of honor and respect for their opponents and care enough about their fellows that they'd rather kill themselves than become a burden to them. Even if this is a response programmed into them by the Founders, the Jem'Hadar still see this as a Necessary Evil. Sisko gains enough respect for them that he tells Remata'Klan that the Vorta don't deserve their loyalty.
No Social Skills: Jem'Hadar are intrinsically hostile. They're occasionally shown shooting the breeze with each other, as long as there are no Vorta around, but their relations with other races remain uneasy.
One-Gender Race: The Founders reproduce the Jem'Hadar through cloning, so they have no need to sexually reproduce. It is directly stated that there are no female Jem'Hadar (and that the males have no sexual desires). The Founders apparently genetically engineered the Jem'Hadar from some pre-existing stock (similar to how the Vorta used to be primitive ape-like animals before they were uplifted), so it is possible that the original species had binary sexes of male and female. That is, the modern Jem'Hadar are not technically sexless neuters, they are an all "male" race (they use male pronouns), they just don't have female anymore.
Phlebotinum Dependence: Ketracel-white is the only nourishment they need, but in turn, lack of it causes severe withdrawal symptoms, reducing them to berserk rage against friend and foe alike before they eventually die. This dependence further ensures their engineered loyalty. In rare cases, a mutation will cause a Jem'Hadar to lack this addiction.
Poisoned Weapons: Their firearms prevent clotting. Without advanced medical technology to deal with it, you'll eventually bleed out from even a relatively minor wound.
Proud Warrior Race: Like the Klingons, they only feel truly alive when fighting and pride themselves on their discipline and ferocity in combat. Unlike the Klingons, who are Boisterous Bruisers who've given their name to the practice of Klingon Promotion, they indulge in few pleasures and are uncompromisingly loyal to the Founders and the chain of command, making them more of a Proud Soldier Race.
Rapid Aging: They can reach their full growth in a few days. Among the ranks, certain Jem'Hadar that have reached the age of 20 are known as "Honored Elders."
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: They're drug-addicted religious zealots who look like humanoid ceratopsians (or possibly Jackson's chameleons). Despite this, however, they're still probably the most pleasant out of all the Dominion races... which really says a lot about the Dominion.
Scary Black Man: They look more or less like human children of African descent for the first few days of their existence before they begin growing their iconic pale green armored scales. This is largely due to the writers briefly trying to use them as a metaphor for the crack epidemic.
The Scapegoat: The "order of things" states that the Jem'Hadar commander (or "First") disciplines his own men, and the Vorta leader disciplines the First. Since Vortas have no jurisdiction over troops of lower rank, they tend to come down especially hard on the First.
Seppuku: Entire platoons have been known to kill themselves if a Founder dies under their watch, as seen in "The Ship".
Servant Race: Moreso than the Vorta, who at least have some degree of autonomy.
Smarter Than You Look: They're the quiet, obedient muscle for the Dominion. Doesn't mean they're stupid, as demonstrated in "Rocks and Shoals" when Remata'Klan reveals to Sisko that he knows of Keevan's treachery. But even when they know they're being played, their intense loyalty will usually cause them to obey suicidal orders anyway, because the Founders have dictated that they're to obey the Vorta in all things.
"Despite what Keevan may think, the Jem'Hadar are often one step ahead of the Vorta."
The Stoic: They don't emote often. In their dealings with other species, their manner is polished and no-nonsense. Very rarely, they smirk (as one Jem'Hadar did when anticipating a duel with Worf.)
Suicide Attack: Dominion troops love using their ships as homing missiles, making an already-chaotic space battle even worse. During the Battle for Cardassia you can see them zig-zagging and smashing into Klingon and Romulans ships left and right.
Super-Soldier: An genetically-engineered race of them, with enhanced vision, resilience, and strength as well as chameleon-like camouflage, mentally conditioned to be fanatically loyal to the Founders even before birth.
Tragic Villain: The more is learned of the Jem'Hadar, the more it becomes apparent that creating them may have been amongst the Founders' most utterly evil acts. They're completely dependent on a drug that kills them painfully if their supply runs out. They're built to revel in violence and hate non-Jem'Hadar to the point where long-term cooperation with other species is an utter impossibility. Their average life expectancy barely reaches into the double digits (this might not be biology, but due to a stunningly high attrition rate and "fight till you die" set of orders). Perhaps the worst thing is that despite all of this, they're hard-coded to love and obey the creatures responsible for their miserable state, and to see it as the greatest of gifts to serve them.
Tyke Bomb: Created to fight for the Dominion. They age to maturity quickly and can't be dissuaded from seeking out their people and fighting for the Dominion
Undying Loyalty: Zigzagged. The Jem'Hadar are genetically engineered to be utterly loyal to the Founders, but even with the White, the control is not always absolute, something Weyoun begrudgingly lets slip. Occasionally, some Jem'Hadar have gone rogue (in one episode, Weyoun mentions that if the rogue group of Jem'Hadar had gotten access to the Iconian Portal, they'd have been able to convince enough of their compatriots to overthrow the Dominion within a year). That said, the average Jem'Hadar is perfectly willing to do as they told.
Uterine Replicator: Vorta are hatched fully-grown from their cloning pods. Jem'Hadar are grown in birthing chambers, reaching adolescence in only three days, and awakening with all the skills they need to pick up a gun and fight.
Victory Is Boring: These fellas deal out beatings so often that it gets tiresome for them. If the occupying Jem'Hadar are met with meaningful resistance, they compliment the survivors. If the battle is short and sweet, they complain.
Villain Decay: They seem rather easily disposed for such a lethal warrior race, which is explained by Elias Vaughn as the result of those mostly fought being only a few weeks or months old at best with no training and only relying on instinct, whereas the older ones are much bigger threats. Their main strengths are their unbreakable morale and endless reserves; with their supply lines cut during most of the war they could never really bring their numbers to bear in the Alpha Quadrant like they had in early engagements.
Villainous Valour: They take pride in their discipline and prowess and are generally treated tragically rather then as faceless mooks. If they were more chivalrous they would be considered Worthy Opponents. As it is, they are perfect foils for the Klingons.
We Are as Mayflies: See Rapid Aging above. Jem'Hadar rarely live past 5 years, and none live past 30, as one Jem'Hadar explained to Jadzia Dax. This is mostly due to them dying in battle before they can reach that point, but their lifespans seem to be that short. Any Jem'Hadar that manages to live 20 years gains the title of "Honored Elder" - they don't form a ruling council or officially gain a higher rank, they just tend to be respected more for their experience, and because they've served that long they tend to be Firsts in command of ships or army groups.
- Because Jem'Hadar can find themselves "promoted" at any time, they lack any rank insignias or other extravagances on their gear. In fact, it's impossible to tell at a glance who's in charge (apart from the Vorta hanging safety in the rear).
We Have Reserves: Jem'Hadar military approach. Because they do. Short-lived, rapid aging, and insatiably violent means they'll gleefully throw themselves into the meatgrinder to serve their gods, who couldn't care less about them.
You Are Number 6: Designated "First", "Second", "Third" and so on. They do have birth names, however.

Karemma

"Greed leads to misjudgment, and that can result in a loss of profits."

Debut: DS9, "The Search, Part I"

Homeworld: Karemma

A Gamma Quadrant race of tall humanoids with large foreheads who are subjects of the Dominion. While they are a Proud Merchant Race not unlike the Ferengi, the Karemma abhor dishonesty in business transactions. This quality, along with their pacifistic tendencies, makes them worthwhile trading partners to the Federation, despite being within the Dominion's sphere of influence.

Alien Hair: Their hair is combed back, often parted in the front to reveal their foreheads.
Gentle Giant: Tall, slender, and pacifistic.
Honest Corporate Executive: In stark contrast to the Ferengi, who regularly cheat and swindle their customers according to the logic of market value, the Karemma strongly believe in fair value, selling their wares at prices approximating the costs of labour, production, and transport, with a modest margin for profit. Their philosophy is that cheating others will lead to reduced profits in the long term.
Hufflepuff House: Despite being the only named, recurring Dominion race other than the Founders, Vorta, and Jem'Hadar, they only appear sporatically and play no real role in the overarching Dominion War. Justified in that they're merchants who seem to be partly responsible for the day-to-day upkeep of the Dominion, and play no role in military matters.
Named After Their Planet: The planet Karemma.
Proud Merchant Race: Whereas the Ferengi are at best comparable to used car dealers and the Bolians generally represented as waiters and barbers, the Karemma are more like luxury goods salesmen.
Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Their foreheads are taller than those of most humanoid species.
Token Good Teammate: They're the only race associated with the Dominion whose interactions with the Federation have been entirely peaceful.
Unusual Ears: Their ears closely follow the contours of their jaws to the back of their heads.

Kazon

"A fitting end for a people who would not share their technology. Let's see if you manage to survive... without it."

Debut: VOY, "Caretaker"

Another spinoff, another replacement Klingon. The Kazon have a checkered development history, originally inspired by the Crips and Bloods. They represent anarchy, in opposition to Voyager's attempts to carve out a fledgling Federation. However, as the series went on and the actors got older, the "youth gang" theme was thrown out, and they became generic warriors.

Alien Hair: Provides the page quote. Kazon hair grows in leaf-shaped chunks, rather than individual strands. It's supposed to resemble an afro, but it just looks like they weave rocks into their hair.
Always Chaotic Evil: A rare completely straightforward example in modern Trek series'. Unlike the Borg or Jem'Hadar, who are given In-Universe justifications for their unbending ways, the Kazon appear to be simply evil on purpose. The fact that they're never given much characterization beyond this accounts for much of their unpopularity.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: The Kazon were once a Slave Race employed by their Caucasian rulers, the Trabe, and it's stated that the entire galaxy now rues the day they earned their freedom. The Kazon are a confused mess of storytelling by writers who intended it as a commentary on redlined city districts and the cycle of crime, but for whatever reason, the species fell back into the famliar "Warlike Alien" role which Trek is used to, and their oppressors were painted with a softer (even sympathetic!) brush.
Big Bad Wannabe: Michael Pillar, who co-created the Kazon, was the major driving force in making them VOY's main adversaries. Jeri Taylor was the first writer to abandon the idea of making them viable villains, later followed by Brannon Braga.
Bond Villain Stupidity: After such a skillfully laid out scheme to hijack Voyager, seems a little remiss for the warlike Kazon to dump the crew on a habitable planet. Must have been an "off" day for Seska.
Disaster Scavengers: Early on, they turn their attention to the Caretaker's Array, but when Janeway destroys it, the Kazon vow to capture and dissect Voyager instead.
Divide and Conquer: One of the Trabe's tactics in keeping the Kazon in line was to encourage in-fighting amongst the clans, or "sects." However, the sects learned to put aside their differences and rose up against the Trabe. In doing so, the Kazon took the Trabe's ships and technology, forcing them to become a nomadic species, and never allowed them to settle on a new world.
Dumb Muscle: The Kazon are big, boisterous, and dumb. A cunning Cardassian agent, known as Seska, was able to insinuate herself into the Nistrum sect in no time flat.
Evil Counterpart Race: As the Jem'Hadar are to DS9 and the Gamma Quadrant, the Kazon are to VOY and the Delta Quadrant. The Kazon are no Jem'Hadar, though... (Or Klingons, for that matter.)
Expy: Of the Fremen in Frank Herbert's Dune. Both the Fremen and the Kazon are warrior races of formerly oppressed people who live on inhospitable desert planets and value water above all other commodities.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: A Kazon prison is a line drawn on the floor that the prisoner is told not to cross. Sigh.
Insufficiently Advanced Alien:
- Their attempt to reverse-engineer something as mundane (at least to the Federation) as a food replicator causes big problems and wipes out an entire Kazon crew. The image of Kazon melted into the bulkheads and floors is quite macabre.
- The Borg found the Kazon so utterly unremarkable that they refused to assimilate them, on the grounds that it would add nothing to the Collective.
Low Culture, High Tech: The Kazon don't exactly inspire confidence with their technical abilities. However, they only recently acquired it, namely by overthrowing their Trabe conquerors.
Meet the New Boss: Not content with looking like the Klingons and acting like the Klingons, the Kazon also have moodily lit ships adorned with weapons… like the Klingons. They were intentionally modeled on the Klingons right down to their makeup, so this comes as no surprise.
No Blood for Phlebotinum: Somewhat bizarrely, in VOY, the Kazon, an oxygen-breathing species traveling in hydrogen-powered ships, will kill, steal, or trade hostages for water. When he first arrives on the ship, Neelix is similarly shocked by Alpha Quadrant species' ability to synthesize water.
Not Worth Killing: The Kazon are so low tech and idiotic, the Borg refused to assimilate them because it would detract from their perfection.
Planet Looters: Basically, the Kazons' advancement as a civilization has come entirely from piracy. They are a primitive people with no understanding of the technology they steal, or how to reverse-engineer it.
A Real Man Is a Killer: In another VOY episode, a Kazon boy wishes to become a man by killing Chakotay. He then explains that killing a person is the rite of passage for the Kazon; apparently, killing a clansman is also acceptable in some cases. Chakotay tries his damdest to find common ground between him and Kar, but the real difference between his uniform and Kar's name is that one is earned in an air-conditioned building and the other is earned by putting one's life on the line to protect territory. That's a bridge that can never be built between these two. At the end of the episode, instead of killing Chakotay, he turns the weapon onto his maj, becoming the new maj in the process.
Space Jews: The marriage of the three sects resulted in an arrangement not unlike the Arab League. According to invokedWord of God, they're also based on white Californians' conception of LA street gang members.
The Spartan Way: When given the chance to kill Chakotay, the children reach for a phaser like kids in a sweet shop. It goes to show how quickly they breed fear and bloodlust in their young.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Kazon were once a subjugated race, used as slave labor by the Trabe, who had conquered their homeworld.
The Usual Adversaries: For a nomadic tribe of brigands, they sure do seem to control a huge diameter of the Delta Quadrant. By season three, even Exec. Producer Rick Berman had had enough:
"If you think about it, traveling for a year-and-a-half through a part of space dominated by one group is pretty amazing! I think traveling at warp speed for a year-and-a-half you would pass through the Federation, the Klingon Empire and a few other places."
Would Hurt a Child: The idea of the Kazon killing their young if they fail in battle, but only after honoring their return, is obscene. The drama works particularly when Kar holds back tears at his reunion with his father.

Kelpiens

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/std_saru.jpg

"We were biologically determined for one purpose, and one purpose alone - to sense the coming of death."

Debut: DSC, "The Vulcan Hello"

Homeworld: Kaminar

A self-proclaimed 'prey species'. The Kelpiens are sapient livestock to a technologically-superior species called the Ba'ul and are universally skittish as a result.

Alien Sky: Kaminar is pretty Earth-like, but has a thin ring system and two moons.
Cowardly Lion: A pre-vahar'ai Kelpien's first instinct is to run and hide whenever danger presents itself, but when forced into a fight their Super-Strength and Super-Speed make them deadly combatants. Post-vahar'ai, they lose their threat ganglia and with them, the contant fear.
Early-Installment Weirdness: In season one of Discovery, Saru describes Kaminar as a Death World with no food web: one is either predator or prey, and the Kelpiens are constantly being hunted by apex predators, hence their Super-Strength and Super-Speed. Season two retcons this into a fairly different situation: Kaminar is an idyllic world, where the Kelpiens live in total harmony with their environment but are ritualistically culled by the technologically superior Ba'ul species when they begin a maturation process called vahar'ai.
Had to Be Sharp: Assumed to be the reason for their Super-Strength, Super-Speed, and excellent reflexes. It turns out that in reality, the Kelpiens are themselves apex predators, and the Ba'ul (their former prey) have been preventing them from maturing past their Cowardly Lion stage.
Horde of Alien Locusts: The Ba'ul claim that post-vahar'ai Kelpiens become this if left unchecked, hence the need for the regular cullings.
My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When a Kelpien feels threatened, their threat ganglia stand out. This sixth sense borders on precognition, to the point where at one point Saru is confident that Discovery will survive a Suicide Mission because his ganglia aren't reacting at all beforehand.
One Head Taller: Kelpiens are much taller than humans.
People Farms: Kelpiens are periodically harvested by the Ba'ul, supposedly for food. The Kelpiens generally accept this as a necessary part of preserving the "Balance of Kaminar". Its gets played with slightly in Season 2, where its revealed that the Kelpiens were originally the predators to the Ba'ul, and they came dangerously close to wiping the latter out. The Ba'ul managed to turn the tide with their superior technology, and prevent their extinction, and began the process of culling any Keplien that went through vahar'ai.
Planet of Hats: Planet of Cowardly Lions.
Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Kelpiens have bald and boney faces with threat ganglia at the back of the head and hooves in place of feet, but otherwise appearing totally human.
Spike Shooter: Post-vahar'ai Kelpiens have these where their threat ganglia used to be.
Super-Speed: Kelpiens can reach a speed of around 80kmph.
Super-Strength: Capable of crushing a Starfleet communicator in their bare hands.
Took a Level in Badass:
- A Kelpien who survives vahar'ai becomes far more powerful and aggressive.
- The entire species takes a level in badass when Discovery induces vahar'ai over all of Kaminar. This eventually allows them to strike a new balance with the Ba'ul, which then leads Kaminar to join the Federation.

Klingons

"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!" ("It is a good day to die!")

Debut: TOS, "Errand of Mercy"

Homeworld: Qo'noS (or Kronos)

The textbook Proud Warrior Race Guys: Huge, bumpy-headed Space Pirates with unlimited strength, and very little in the way of patience. Originally a recurring villain for Kirk's Enterprise, they became wildly popular and have since appeared in all live-action spinoffs, along with obligatory appearances in most of the films. Though technically an ally of the United Federation of Planets in the later series, Klingons aren't entirely housebroken, and are always itching to make war with somebody. Protip: If you're a bartender, it's unwise to try cutting off a Klingon's drink.

Alien Blood: Though Klingon blood usually appears red, there are a few works (specifically Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: Discovery, and Star Trek: Lower Decks) that show it as a bright, bubblegum pink.
Alien Sky: Qo'noS has a much greener sky than Earth's, and as of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country its only moon, Praxis, is a Shattered World.
Always Chaotic Evil: Klingons are generally portrayed this way in Kirk's time, but not so much in the others. Even in the 24th century, the Klingons walk that very fine line between being a warrior poet and complete child; the politics in Qo'nos comes down to little more than playground shoving (the blue bloods vs. the rank-and-file) and the military structure isn't much better. It proves that despite their fighting prowess and instincts they are still prone to childish tantrums.
Always Someone Better: In Star Trek, Humans Are Special, but Klingons are ass-kickers. Every time the Federation gets into a straight-up, all-out war, the Klingons are winning. In Discovery, the Federation nearly resorted to outright destroying Qo'noS to win, and in TNG an alternate timeline has the Federation on the losing end of a twenty year long war. The only times humanity is depicted as outright besting the Klingons is when they resort to being as ruthless as their enemies. The Terran Empire in Discovery destroyed Qo'noS (that being where the Federation got the idea) to cripple the Empire for a generation, and the Confederation of Earth in the alternate timeline of Picard likely prevailed for similar reasons.
Arch-Enemy: While their feuds with the Federation are perhaps of greater galactic import, it's actually the Romulans that the Klingons generally hate most. Most Klingons will grudgingly acknowledge Starfleet officers as Worthy Opponents who keep their word; the Romulans, by contrast, have a tendency toward secrecy and espionage, which is completely antithetical to Klingon notions of honor and integrity. (Not that the Klingon High Council is immune to that themselves, but still.) Thanks in part to numerous Romulan sneak attacks on Klingon worlds, most notably Khitomer and Narendra III in the mid-24th century, the Romulans are widely hated across the Klingon Empire.
Artistic License – Martial Arts: The consensus among weapon enthusiasts is that the Bat'leth is an extremely terrible weapon. On top of holding it two handed, with the blade out, not allowing much use of Kinetic Linking to maximize power, using it otherwise basically just turns it into a giant, curvy axe.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Political candidates seeking to be elected Chancellor must first duel each other to the death. (Well, that's one way of making the election cycle exciting.) This weeds out any chickenhawks from the election pool; the Chancellor can't blithely declare war without prior field and hand-to-hand combat experience.
Back from the Brink: In the mirror universe, the Klingons were nearly exterminated when the Terran Empire blew up Qo'noS. A century later, they've not only rebounded but have become an equal partner in the Alliance, the dominant power of the Alpha Quadrant.
Badass Bandolier: Gold in TOS, chainmail in TNG. And they're actually baldrics, not bandoliers.
Battle Couple: Klingon Mythopoeia is about the first two Klingons pillaging the heavens. Later legends tell of Kahless and Lady Lukara. And Klingon couples are often found fighting side by side.
Big Bad: For TOS era, they are the most reoccurring foe encountered by Kirk and his crew in both the television series and the movies, as well the biggest enemies to the Federation in the 23rd century (along with the Romulan Empire).
Bizarre Alien Biology: Klingons are loaded with redundant organs.
Bling of War: From TNG onward, the Chancellor wears a resplendent overcoat with humongous lapels, each weighed down with medals, and a sash.
Brawn Hilda: As shown above, even the most refined Klingon women are still very hairy (particularly their eyebrows).
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Targs are similar to boars but with spikes on their backs. They are not hunted, but rather used as bloodhounds by Klingon hunters.
Characterization Marches On: The original series had the Klingons as being mostly warlike with few redeeming traits. Gene Roddenberry didn't like them being the "Black Hats" of the saga so in The Next Generation he made a Klingon a regular cast member and established the "honor" aspect to their society.
Cleavage Window: Female Klingon uniforms often have these.
Combat Pragmatist: In war, Klingons can be just as underhanded as they are ruthless. In Discovery, their use of the cloaking device allowed them to destroy Starfleet's war infrastructure and drive them to the brink of defeat, which was only reversed by a desperation threat that could have destroyed their homeworld. It also helped that each Klingon house was acting independently, so Starfleet couldn't mount a unified defense against what was effectively a couple dozen enemies all attacking with no rhyme or reason.
Conlang: Provided one of the earlier examples of a completely fictitious language, and Klingon holds the distinction of being the most widely spoken fictitious language on Earth (with Tolkien's Elvish coming in second). If you're going to any Star Trek convention worth its salt you'll see at least a few Klingon cosplayers conversing in the tongue.
Cultured Badass: Klingons are passionate opera lovers.
Death of the Old Gods: According to their legends, Klingons slew their own gods. According to some other legends, they did so about five minutes after being brought to life.
Worf: They were more trouble than they were worth.
Death Wail: For the Klingon death ritual, it's traditional for those on hand to howl into the sky as a warning to the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is about to arrive.
Democracy Is Bad: The Klingons' brief foray into representative government is treated by their historians as a kind of Dark Age.
Jadzia: ...but, it's interesting to note that this first and only experiment in Klingon democracy actually produced several reforms that—
Lady Sirella: You are straying from the saga!
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The mythological first Klingon Battle Couple sacked the heavens. They read the story at weddings. That's what Klingons consider romantic.
Dies Wide Open: The Klingon Death Ritual involves holding the eyes of the deceased open to allow their soul to exit the body, then let out a loud howl to alert the warriors in Sto-vo-kor that a new warrior is on their way.
Drunken Master: "Even half drunk, Klingons are among the best warriors in the galaxy."
- The Drunken Sailor: And even the greatest of Klingon heroes are not allowed to receive their honors until they have proven that they can hold extreme amounts of Blood Wine.
Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The most obvious "weirdness" is their early appearance, which consisted mainly of a spray tan and evil hair.
- When they are first introduced, they are described as a military dictatorship, with conquered planets being strictly controlled and dialogue even suggested the presence of a Secret Police to ensure loyalty and compliance. Later works softened the Empire as a collection of mostly autonomous satellite planets, and the Secret Police concept (along with others exclusive to Errand of Mercy) was instead pushed onto the Romulans as the Tal Shiar.
- Klingon women were far more passive in the original series. In later installments, the role of women in Klingon society was considerably more egalitarian, as Klingon mythology included Kahless and his mate Lukara slaying 500 warriors together.
- While Kor seems like a fairly typical Klingon retroactivly, in the Orginal Series he seems more of the exception to the rule. While the other Klingons rib the Federation for laking a martial culture, they come off as "all bark, no bite" more than not. Usually the Klingons are sneaking around abusing the terms of the peace treaty to get more worlds on their side rather than fighting directly. Far from the warriors that would rather face death than dishonor, they become uneasy when the odds aren't in their favor.
Enemy Mine: Their own riff on the book of Genesis had the first Klingons, Kortar and his mate, dueling to the death with bat'leths. Kortar's adversary had him at swordpoint, but chose to spare him because, "If we join together, no force can stop us." And thus the Gods speaketh, "Oh, Crap!".
Even Evil Has Standards: Klingons and Romulans once shared an alliance for a number of years. Big mistake. A number of disasters — including the Khitomer Massacre, the result of failed encroachments on Klingon colonies — led the Klingons to develop a deep-seated hatred for the Romulans. The Romulans are probably the species that Klingon society in general despises most of all. (TOS: "The Enterprise Incident"; TNG: "The Neutral Zone") They hate the Romulans so much that a single Federation starship coming to their aid against a Romulan attack meant the difference between a lasting friendship and all-out war with the Federation. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise") Worf once angrily berated Alexander for being a school bully on the Enterprise-D, as it is the lowest form of dishonor for a warrior to bully those weaker than he is.
Worf: They have no honor! They consider Klingons and humans to be a waste of skin!
Evil Is Hammy: Veteran Klingon Robert O'Reilly told all neophyte Klingons that the most important part was to say their lines with utmost belief, and "go all the way." Qapla'!!
Exotic Equipment: Guess what Klingon males have two of... and now imagine what their females must have two of...
Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: Klingons are proficient with multiple kinds of bladed weapons, but they're mainly seen wielding the batl'eth, a kind of crescent-shaped, pronged blade held from a hilt placed in the middle of its outer curve.
Fantastic Slur: Crossing one's arms across the chest outside of a discommendation ceremony is a grave insult in Klingon culture.
The Farmer and the Viper: Ironically for an honor-minded society, Klingons find excuses to kill each other and steal their land, or betray their Federation allies. It's less to do with greed than the Klingon propensity for violence: Chancellors are constantly directing hostilities outward, rather than face civil war at home.
The Ferryman: Klingons who die without honor aren't allowed into Sto-vo-kor (esssentially the Klingon version of Valhalla), but are instead sentenced to Gre'thor, their version of Hell. The Barge of the Dead is the mythological ship to Gre'thor, captained by Kortar, the very first Klingon. When Kortar became more powerful than the gods who created him, he destroyed them, and, as punishment, he was condemned to ferry the souls of the dishonored for all eternity.
Feudal Future: The culture of the Klingons is a hodgepodge of western stereotypes of the samurai, the Zulu, the Vikings, and various Native American nations — a proud, warlike and principled race. Klingon society is based on a feudal system organized around traditional Great Houses of noble lineage, to which various parts of the population owed fealty. The Great Houses are represented in the Klingon High Council, which is led by a Chancellor. Unusual for Trek, Klingon women aren't treated as equals (except as soldiers in the field). They are prohibited from serving in the High Council and can't inherit control of their Houses unless they have enough money — and no male successors. On other hand, women have a tremendous degree of clout regarding what goes on within the Houses. (This was Ron D. Moore's concession in DS9, as he felt there was next-to-zero Klingon women being represented in the series.)
Fire-Forged Friends: With the Federation, first predicted by Ayelborne and then fulfilled by Gorkon and Azetbur after the Praxis explosion. According to Crewman Daniels, the Klingons will eventually join as full-fledged Federation members.
Flanderization: Originally depicted in The Original Series as calculating Warrior Poets akin to Samurai. Later became Vikings IN SPACE!.
- Lampshaded in Enterprise, where 22nd Century Klingon doctors and lawyers comment that they're finding themselves increasingly under the thumb of the Warrior Caste. By the 24th Century, the Warriors are all that's left.
Foreign Cuss Word: "PetaQ!", the go-to Klingon cuss word. Exact translation never given in the show, but evidently somewhere equivalent to "bastard".
Foreign Queasine:
- Live, squirming racht and gagh! (Gesundheit.) Served fresh, of course. Interestingly, gagh is actually more palatable to humans than Klingons, who hate the taste but love the feeling of something dying inside of them.
  Jadzia: You haven't touched your racht.
  Arjin: No, I have. It's (gags) interesting.
  Jadzia: No, you've been moved it around your plate to make it look like you've touched it.
  Arjin: I didn't have to move it. It moved itself.
- There are actually 51 different types of gagh, each with its distinct taste and texture, including Bithool gagh (which have feet), Filden (which squirm), Meshta (which jump), Torgud (which wiggles), and Wistan which is stuffed with targ blood. Yum yum.
- Sins of the Father suggests that Klingons in general don't see the point of cooking their food, so their bodies might naturally imitate the sorts of processes that unlock additional nutrition when humans cook theirs.
God-Emperor: The Klingon treatment of Kahless the Unforgettable, whom they have canonized as the pinnacle of Klingon society, and whose deeds have become legendary.
Glory Seeker: As a rule, the Klingons seek glorious battle and glorious death above nearly all else, reveling in the notion of dying in battle to join the honored dead in Sto-vo-kor.
Hand Cannon: The visual design of Klingon Disruptors is based on an antique flintlock pistol.
Hand Wave: The Klingons' varying appearance used to be the single most popular piece of fanwank among Trekkies. The real reason for the discrepancy between TOS Klingons and their feature film and later television series counterparts was a lack of budget. Kang, Koloth, and Kor each gained a ridged forehead when they reappeared on DS9. Worf acknowledged the continuity holes when the crew of DS9 visited Kirk's Enterprise in the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," but offered no explanation, saying merely, "We do not discuss it with outsiders."
- A canonical reason was given for the change on Star Trek: Enterprise, revealing that it was caused by a failed attempt to create Klingon Augments, due to their fear that Starfleet were creating super soldiers after encountering some relics from the Eugenics War. Due to one of the test subjects having an alien form of flu, it mutated into an airborne plague that swept across the Empire, killing many until it was finally cured, but causing them to lose their ridges as a side-effect.
Hard Head: It's repeatedly been shown that being whacked in the face with a sword is no more harmful to a Klingon than being whacked in the face with a staff. Those bony ridges seem to be pretty impressive natural armor. They're much more vulnerable to being stabbed in the gut.
Honorable Warrior's Death: The greatest goal of any Klingon warrior is to die a glorious death in battle. Problems start when Klingons go around causing fights just so they can get there.
Informed Ability: Perhaps unsurprisingly, thanks to The Worf Effect, their status as mighty warriors is this, seeing as they're routinely defeated in hand to hand combat by Humans, who are supposedly several times weaker than Klingons and have no redundant organs. This is particularly noticeable in the Deep Space Nine season 4 opener "The Way of the Warrior".
Jabba Table Manners: The Klingons of the Star Trek universe universally gulp and slurp down food like slobs. In their case, it is to show how tough and free of pretentious "good manners" and straightforward and honest their society is, not to show how "evil" they are.
- Inverted in a TNG episode, when Riker joined a Bird of Prey as part of an officer exchange. As part of his hazing, he wolfed down some gagh.
Kick Them While They Are Down: Painstiks are also used in the "Sonchi" ceremony to confirm the death of an old chancellor: Contenders seeking to become the new chancellor take turns jabbing the corpse with a painstik while issuing verbal challenges. The lack of response to these insults is taken as confirmation.
Klingon Promotion:
- They're the Trope Namer and Trope Maker. In one episode, Dax explains the intricacies after hearing O'Brien and Bashir talk about the trope. Only a direct subordinate can make the challenge, and only after a severe infraction (cowardice, extreme failure, dereliction of duty). To be clear: you can't simply "assassinate" your superior officer, you have to challenge him to a formal duel.
- The Imperial High Council is more civilized, but not by much. Gowron was once challenged by a member of the High Council while he was in the midst of a civil war against the Duras sisters. They have a duel to the death right there on the council floor, which Gowron wins. After which...
Gowron: Now the war... may continue.
Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Partly justified. After all,
Martok: Klingons make great warriors... but terrible doctors.
- We actually see this work during the birth of Molly O'Brien, in ten forward. Worf acts as the midwife, blandly announcing the cervical dilation and getting agitated by Keiko's screaming.
  Worf (to Keiko): "You may now give birth!"
- Lampshaded in Enterprise, where 22nd Century Klingon doctors and lawyers comment on being increasingly overruled by the Warrior caste and worry about the flanderisation of their species. Towards the end of the show, in "Affliction", it's bemoaned that Klingon science suffers from the warrior mentality.
- Apparently, by the 24th Century that philosophical social problem was resolved in Klingon society: as long as you can frame your profession as a battle in at least some abstract way, such as a lawyer working in his case against an opponent in court, that's good enough for a true Klingon.
- One episode of Enterprise has an elderly Klingon lawyer explain that the obsession with honor through combat is actually a recent cultural shift, telling Archer that when he was a boy honor was earned through "integrity and acts of true courage, not senseless bloodshed." Given how long lived Klingons are, this would put their cultural revolution roughly around the early 2000s. ^note
Klingons Love Shakespeare: Trope Namer, first seen in the sixth movie. You can see why they'd enjoy his work, given the many plays that deal with wars and nobles, and the poetic language used.
Lady of War: Klingons have Bridge Bunnies, too, but they tend to be a little more butch. Klingon noblewomen are tough cookies, also.
Life of the Party: According to Jadzia and Worf, at least, Klingon women are actually pretty good fun at parties. Though probably so long as you don't try to cut off the bloodwine.
Long-Lived: Klingons seem to have comparable lifespans as Vulcans, living two or three times as long as humans do. Many of the Klingon commanders that Kirk tangled with back in the day were still alive and kicking and only in the begin of their old age by the time of Deep Space Nine a hundred years later.
Mad Libs Catchphrase: Much like Vulcans and their endless permutation of "logic", it's impressive just how many things Klingons will dub honorable or not honorable. Even some Klingons think it goes a little far sometimes.
Ezri: It's very sweet.
Worf: Not exactly a Klingon word.
Ezri: It's very... honorable?
Worf: Better. Albeit a little obvious.
Martyrdom Culture: The greatest glory for a Klingon solider is to die in battle. Ritual suicide is often preferred over living life as a cripple, especially if you're a veteran. Even if you aren't a cripple, to allow oneself die of natural causes is a profound disgrace for a military family. No wonder Klingons are constantly hungry for the next big war. A key point, however, is that a Klingon must die by the hand of (or with the assistance of) another. Unassisted suicide is considered completely honorless, and a one-way ticket to Gre'thor (hell).
Men Don't Cry: Spock said once that Klingons lack tear ducts; however, Klingon myth states that Kahless once filled the ocean with his tears, and at least one Klingon, Kurn, has produced tears.
National Weapon: The Bat'leth.
- Also the Mek'leth, a short sword curved inward.
- Honorable mention goes to the "Painstik," which is self-explanatory. Unlike the Bat'leth, the painstiks are used mostly for ritualistic purposes. During the Rite of Ascension ceremony (essentially the Klingon bat mitzvah), a young Klingon must walk between two lines of Klingons prodding him with electrical shocks.
Nay-Theist: As the Klingons believe it, their creator gods were destroyed by the first Klingons.
Never Gets Drunk: Downplayed. While Klingons certainly can get drunk, and a few drunk Klingons have been seen onscreen, they take a lot longer to get drunk than humans. Perhaps this is because, as stated once, they have two livers.
Noble Demon: While their society is cruel, vicious and violent by human standards, Klingons also value Honor, Courage, Honesty and Loyalty above all else.
No Indoor Voice: Klingons consider it a sign of disrespect to speak softly. They like to make their presence felt.
Persona Non Grata: Klingons who dishonor themselves gravely may be "Discommendated", wherein their status in society is reduced to the point where they are barely considered living, sentient beings.
Prefers Raw Meat: When a Klingon comes aboard the USS Enterprise as an exchange officer, he says "I will try some of your burned replicated bird meat".
Proud Warrior Race: Easily the Trope Maker (at least in televised science fiction). We don't often see them interact with Alpha Quadrant races other than humans, but when they do, stand back and watch the fireworks.
Romulan: (haughtily) Romulans don't believe in luck.
Martok: All the better! It leaves more for the rest of us!
- To prove why they fit this whenever it's not an Informed Attribute making them more a race wide version of Miles Gloriosus, consider the fact that the Klingons utterly embarrassed the Cardassians during their war, enough to make the arrogant Gul Dukat admit that they'd been reduced to a "third rate power."
- They also are shown to have the Federation on the ropes in one bad alternate universe, have conquered its imperial counterpart with the Cardassians in another, and for a period of the Federation-Dominion War, bore the vast brunt of the fighting.
Real Life Writes the Plot: Klingons became the primary antagonists of Kirk's crew, in part because the makeup necessary to make Romulans was too time-consuming and costly.
Retcon: Star Trek: Discovery makes a massive change in how Klingons look and dress, looking far more "alien" than their previous Rubber-Foreheadedness.
- This is scaled back by a wide margin in the second season in giving them their hair and (for the males) their beards back. Burnham explains (via convienient Hand Wave) that since the Klingons are no longer at war, they've decided to grow their hair out... though that never seemed to bother them before or since.
Ritual Suicide: A Klingon who is unable to fight, and hence is unable to live as a warrior anymore, has the traditional obligation of committing the hegh'bat. Tradition dictates that the eldest son or a close personal friend must assist. That person's role is to hand the dying Klingon a knife so that he can plunge it into his heart, remove it, and then wipe the blood on his own sleeve.
Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Not at first, as Star Trek: The Original Series showed them as Human Aliens. The rubber foreheads came with the movies and TNG-era shows. Star Trek: Enterprise (a prequel to TOS) would include the rubber foreheads and then explain the difference as a genetic-engineering experimant gone horribly wrong. Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek: Discovery came up with different rubber foreheads.
Shoot the Medic First: Klingons are notorious for targeting field hospitals and doctors in their raids. From a Klingon's perspective, they are rewarding their wounded enemies with an honorable death. So it's not uncommon for Klingons to go around a ward stabbing each patient with bat'leths one-by-one.
Sins of the Father: A serious issue for dishonorable Klingons, because their dishonor is passed down for generations, at least until their grandkids, or until someone atones. And it cuts both ways - a parent can be sentenced to Gre'thor for the sins of their children.
Skyward Scream: Klingon death rituals include holding open the eyes of the recently deceased, then letting loose a mighty roar to the sky, warning the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is on their way.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Klingon foreplay... is energetic. When choosing a mate, it is traditional for a female Klingon to bite the male's face, allowing her to taste his blood and get his scent. Actually, the male comes out looking the worse for wear. Worf once tells Wesley Crusher that per the Klingon mating ritual, "Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects." Of men, Worf says "He reads love poetry. He ducks a lot."
Sneaky Spy Species:
- In Star Trek: The Original Series, espionage is a specialty of the Klingons (influenced as they were by Cold War-era Russia). Of course, this was prior to the dramatic shift in depiction that saw them portrayed as the Proud Warrior Race we know today.
- Subverted in Star Trek: Discovery, where espionage and infiltration turns out to be the specialty of House Mo'kai, the leading faction of the Klingon Empire, rather than a species-wide hat.
Soldier vs. Warrior: An interesting mix of both. Like warriors, Klingons devote their lives to preparing for battle and way of life. They place a strong emphasis on individual achievement and individual glory. Like soldiers, they devote themselves to a greater cause namely the empire. Individual glory or goals are second to the greater good of the empire. They are willing to retreat when necessary and not waste resources on individual glory that could jeopardize the war effort. Disobedience and stupidity is punished with a dishonorable death. Generally, they consider themselves soldiers first and warriors second especially in times of war. After all, the Klingons have a saying, "Only a fool fights in an burning house", though at least one Klingon found it "exhilarating".
Space Orcs: Classic aggressive, warlike aliens with a culture focused entirely on war and Might Makes Right. They've even gone through a similar arc as orcs have in fantasy, from the Tolkien-orc-like nearly-Always Chaotic Evil antagonists of Star Trek: The Original Series through their softening and fleshing-out in various films and ultimately to the Blizzard-orc-like sympathetic Proud Warrior Race of Star Trek: The Next Generation and later.
Spare Body Parts: There is a good deal of multiple redundancy in their organs, a novelty they call brak'lul. This allows Klingons to survive severe injuries in battle. They have twenty-three ribs, two livers, an eight-chambered heart, three lungs, multiple stomachs, and even redundant neural function. It's best not to wound a Klingon unless it kills him outright, although the episode that introduced this concept also noted that having so many biological redundancies has the drawback that it also means extra chances for something inside the body to go wrong. Funnily, Klingons are comparatively ignorant about their own biology as their medicine is poorly developed. This was largely due to warrior tradition: a wounded Klingon is expected to use the last of his strength to slay the enemy, or to kill themselves honorably.
Strong as They Need to Be: Though they're stated to be somewhat stronger than humans, their strength varies wildly throughout the franchise; often they don't seem any tougher than any other Mook, though Worf often performs one-handed Neck Lifts against people who displease him and Kruge clearly came across as much stronger than Kirk when the two of them fought at the end of The Search for Spock.
Theme Naming: Klingons love the letter K. The Original Series gave us the iconic triumvirate of Kang, Kor, Koloth, and Kahless; and the movies have Kruge, Klaa, Koord, and Gorkon. And on the Enterprise, there's Worf. In the Expanded Universe, their home planet used to be called Klinzhai, but the official canon later renamed it Qonos (pronounced with a K sound).
Used Future: In contrast to the sleek and cutting-edge feel of Federation ships, Klingon ships tend to feel industrial with dingy colors and little emphasis on crew comforts. This is often paired with cloaking abilities, making a ship analogous to an attack submarine.
Vestigial Empire: They went through a period of this between the 2150s and 2256, as the Great Houses' in-fighting reached a breaking point and left the Empire in a state of perpetual civil war. T'Kuvma eventually snapped them out of it via a Genghis Gambit against the Federation, which is what sets the events of Star Trek: Discovery into motion.
War Is Glorious: The whole point of Klingon society.
Warrior Heaven: Sto-Vo-Kor, where Kahless awaits those who die honorably in battle.
Warrior Poet: It turns out many of William Shakespeare's works (particularly the histories, which are quite bloody and violent) are quite popular throughout the Empire, which ends up becoming the Trope Namer for In the Original Klingon.
Wild Hair: Most Klingons, especially those seen in the TNG-era, allow their hair to grow long and wild. That Worf combs or ties back his hair drives home his reserved nature and the effects of growing up around humans.
With Friends Like These...: When allied with the Federation, they are an awesome ally! Unfortunately, their government system is incredibly violent and possibly even unstable, with transfers in power occurring often with outside intervention for the sake of maintaining a modicum of order in the Alpha Quadrant.
Yellow Peril: TOS Klingons are portrayed with dark skin and Fu Manchu facial hair suggestive of Asian peoples. In fact, the only physical description of them in the script for "Errand of Mercy" (the Klingons' first TOS story) is "oriental" and "hard-faced". Then again, budget constraints limited creativity.
- Oddly, the Klingons typically fill the Dirty Communists role, with the Romulans standing in for China. This became more apparent on TNG, when the Romulans adopted more severe hairstyles while the Klingons took up drinking, not to mention the series' Token Heroic Orc being literally adopted by humans in Minsk.

Kromsapiods

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kromsapiod.png

Debut: LD, "The Least Dangerous Game"

Sapient predators possessed of a biological urge to hunt, the Kromsapiods nonetheless deeply respect life and satisfy their biological urges through ritualized, catch-and-release hunts.

Alien Blood: Their blood is bright green.
Blade Below the Shoulder: They have sharp blades growing from their forearms, which they can tear out for use as weapons.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Their ritual hunts can and will target intelligent beings, although in these cases they make a point of only going after aware and consenting targets.
Predator Pastiche: They're heavily based on the Yautja, being intimidating eight-foot-tall animalistic aliens whose culture revolves around finding prey to hunt using advanced harpoons and boomerangs, changed just enough to avoid copyright.
Proud Hunter Race: They're hulking sapient predators with a deep-seated urge to hunt that becomes deeply frustrating if left unaddressed for too long. However, they also respect life above all else, and as such use ritualized, non-lethal "catch and release" hunts to sate their instincts by pursuing willing sapient prey, subduing it non-lethally (although they have no particular qualms about causing reversible injury, which in the 22nd Century can be quite a lot), and taking a few pictures to commemorate the occasions before releasing it. The hunt's setup is an involved affair where the prey is given an hour's head start while the Kromsapiod undergoes a ritual, paints their face, and inhales vapor from special candles.
Serious Business: Hunting is everything to them, to the point that they'll go mad if they don't hunt every so often.

Kwejian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cleveland_booker.png

Debut: DIS, "That Hope is You, Part 1"

Homeworld: Kwejian

A race of Human Aliens from the planet of the same name. They were a pre-warp civilization until the late-31st or early 32nd century, when the Emerald Chain syndicate "uplifted" them via a Leonine Contract.

Detonation Moon: Their homeworld is destroyed in "Kobayashi Maru" when a gravitational Negative Space Wedgie shatters their moon and sends the debris raining down on the planet's surface.
The Empath: Some Kwejian have psychic powers, focused through a kind of ritual, to communicate with plants and animals.
Human Aliens: Identical to humans. The first one we meet even has a human name, but that turns out to not be his birth name.
Leonine Contract: Their deal with the Emerald Chain. In return for exporting their already-endangered trance worms to the Andorians and Orions, the Chain provides repellant for the sea locusts devouring Kwejian's crops. Said repellant is toxic in the long term, but it beats starvation.
Named After Their Planet: The planet Kwejian.
Nature Hero: The Kwejian have a strong affinity for nature, and consider themselves the stewards of their planet rather than its masters.
Power Glows: Empathic Kwejian have glowing yellow runes on their foreheads while using their powers.
Trauma Conga Line: Hoo boy. First, their moon's orbit shifts following the Burn, disrupting their tides and unleashing hordes of sea locusts onto the surface, devouring their crops and threatening mass starvation. Then the Emerald Chain shows up and offers them a Leonine Contract, demanding the Kwejian hand over their trance worms in return for pesticides. And then, a few months after both problems are solved, their moon gets blown up by a Negative Space Wedgie, showering the planet in debris and stripping it of life, Kwejian included. The only survivors are those who happened to be off-world at the time, and given their level of technology, that's not many.
World Tree: Their homeworld has one, with a root network that spans much of the planet. Kwejian who come of age will take a small sample of sap, add a drop of their blood, and wear it in a vial around their neck.

Kzinti

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2008_05_03_slaver_weapon.jpg

"If we are captured, the Highest of Kzin will repudiate us. But if we succeed, you are meat for our tables!"

Debut: TAS, "The Slaver Weapon"

Homeworld: Kzin

A group of warlike cat-looking aliens, who had some bad run-ins with Earth and, later, the Federation. Originally appearing as Canon Immigrants in an episode of TAS written by their creator, Larry Niven, rights issues prevented the Kzinti from appearing elsewhere, until an episode of Star Trek: Picard established them as still being around, and Star Trek: Lower Decks added a semi-recurring Kzinti ensign to the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos.

Always Chaotic Evil: From what little we see of them, they're constantly on the lookout for anything they can use to go to war with humanity again.
Sulu: The Kzinti fought four wars with Humankind, and lost all of them. The last one was two hundred years ago, and you haven't learned a thing since!
Big Bad Wannabe: For all their tough talk, they've been almost completely demilitarized since their last war with Earth, meaning they can't really back it up with force.
Bizarre Alien Biology: For a start, they've got different rib arrangements from humans. They also have telepaths, and the females of their species aren't even sentient ^note.
Canon Immigrants: From Larry Niven's Known Space novels.
Cat Folk: In a different way from the Caitans. They don't purr at the end of sentences, for one. This is different from the novels they're from, where they're not actually feline, they just look sort of like them.
Continuity Snarl: Their introductory appearance is, even by early Trek's shonky continuity, difficult to reconcile with what's established elsewhere. Apparently they fought (and lost) four interstellar wars with Earth in the late 21st century, mere years or decades after humanity's first warp flight in 2063.
A Dog Named "Dog": According to Known Space, that Kzinti are not named at birth; they must earn their names through advancing the interests of their government. Unnamed Kzinti have lower status, and are referred to by the name of their profession, such as 'Telepath'. While "The Slaver Weapon" doesn't explicitly confirm this, it does appear to remain consistent with it.
Early-Bird Cameo: Before being officially introduced in the Slaver Weapon, the Kzinti were namedropped by Keniclius 5 as one of the great threats of the universe in Infinite Vulcan, and a Kzin appears as a member of the Elysian Ruling Council in the Time Trap.
Fantastic Racism: Taking Does Not Like Spam to its heights, they hate vegetarians. Even thinking about vegetables can give their telepaths a case of the screaming oojahs.
Great Offscreen War: Apparently got into several rumbles with humanity in the late 21st century, which the fuzzballs lost decisively. It's worth noting that, as depicted in Star Trek: First Contact, humanity was barely warp-capable at the time.
Lean and Mean: Kzinti are tall, and have gangly arms and legs compared to humans.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: So much so that if a Chuft-Captain gets beaten in a fight by a veggie, he won't dare call for back-up, because what sort of proud meat-eater gets beaten by someone who eats spinach? (At least, not before he's made sure the veggie-lover won't tell anyone what they did.)
Stock "Yuck!": Like toddlers, the Kzinti hate vegetables.
Telepathy: Some Kzinti are capable of this, though it seems to take a lot out of them. Particularly if the person whose mind they're reading starts thinking about eating vegetables.
To Serve Man: They will eat humans, given half a chance.

Letheans

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_trek_lethean.png

"You're staying right here, trapped on this station, watching while I destroy you piece by piece. And when all the best parts of you are gone, when there's nothing left but a withered shell, then, and only then, will I put you out of your misery."

Debut: DS9, "Distant Voices"

An imposing race of tusked telepaths, Letheans are greedy thugs-for-hire who are equally adept at physical and mental force.

Genius Bruiser: The mental projection a Lethean can insert into another's mind draws upon the victim's own memories and fears to become a brilliant, taunting juggernaut, even if the Lethean in question is Dumb Muscle (like the real Altovar was).
Glass Cannon: As mentioned, a Lethean's mental projection is dangerous, but if their victim can regroup and remember that a mind under attack is still their own mind it goes down like a socially-inappropriate simile.
Horned Humanoid: As you can see from the picture, they've got a bunch. And since they're jerks, it counts as Horns of Villainy.
Lightning Can Do Anything: The scripts describe and the finished episodes demonstrate the Letheans mental attacks as electrical discharges.
Mind Probe: One aspect of their mental powers.
Mind Rape: Lethean mental attacks plunge their victims into nightmare scenarios, and their Mind Probe doesn't look too fun either.
Only in It for the Money: The only Letheans we've seen so far were greedy opportunists who've been shown to be willing to use their powers to make money unscrupulously.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: They've got red eyes, and they're pretty nasty customers.
Shock and Awe: They appear to have the ability to produce bioelectricity from their hands, which is tied to their mental powers.
To the Pain: The above quote describes the way Letheans destroy minds.
Your Mind Makes It Real: Most people don't survive the Mind Rape experience, but Bashir managed to by recontextualizing his situation in a way that allowed him to wipe out Altovar's mental projection. Apparently that's the trick.

Lurians

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9b555008_52f1_4bc8_8c1c_092fffb9df67.jpeg

"You know Morn, he never shuts up."

Debut: DS9, "Emissary"

Homeworld: Luria

A humanoid race from the Ionite Nebula, Lurians are easily recognizable by their mottled grey-brown skin, puggish noses, and wide, droppy mouths. They aren't big players in galactic affairs, but individuals crop up in places of importance from time to time.

Amusing Alien: Their appearance and demeanor are often played for laughs, even though they don't have any lines.
Named After Their Planet: Their homeworld is called Luria.
Perpetual Frowner: Justified; that's just how their face is shaped.
Retcon: In "Who Mourns for Morn?", Quark comments that Morn has lost his hair. Every Lurian we've seen since is as bald as he is.
Spare Body Parts: Two (apparently metal-resistant) stomachs, more than one heart, and at least four lungs.
Spear Carrier: The only regular Lurian character is Morn, Quark's best customer on Deep Space 9. Others appear in background shots but don't do much of importance on their own.
The Voiceless: A Running Gag in Deep Space Nine is that Morn the Lurian is a chatterbox, but never actually speaks on-screen. Discovery continues this tradition with other Lurian background characters.

Malon

"Their ships are poison."

Debut: VOY, "Night"

Homeworld: Malon Prime

Fat, leprous waste extractors hailing from Malon Prime in the Delta Quadrant. Sporting the most noxious line of ships NOT named Exxon Valdez, and the social responsibility of Looten Plunder, the species lags far behind other civilizations in their handling of starship by-products; namely theta radiation, the cause of their skin problems.

Always Chaotic Evil: Their first two appearances ("Night" and "Extreme Risk") portray them as bog-standard bad guys who pollute space just because they want to. Subverted, however, with "Juggernaut", which fleshes them out a bit and shows that at least a few of them are sympathetic.
Captain Ersatz: Taking inspiration from a certain David Lynch film, eh? ...Ah, Eraserhead, of course!
Dangerous Workplace: Waste disposal is one of the most lucrative jobs in their society, because all that radiation is not good for your health. It's even worse for the core laborers. Their deaths are practically guaranteed, but they make in one run what the grunts make in a year, benefiting their families.
Evil, Inc.: Evidence suggests the Malon could recycle their energy if they so desired, but technological advancement is being stonewalled by giant energy companies, et cetera. After all, the Waste must flow....
Evil Redhead: Chalky-looking gingers, in oversized rubber suits.
Green Aesop: Ah, the subtleties of late-90's environmental messages.
Landfill Beyond the Stars: Malon Prime is supposedly the jewel of the Delta Quadrant. It's kept that way because they have an entire industry dedicated to dumping their waste output in other star systems.
Named After Their Planet: Yep, Malon Prime.
Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: The Vihaar is a bogeyman in waste exporter parlance: A foul creature who skulks around Malon garbage scows and is undetectable to sensors. The myth was proven to have some basis in reality when a core laborer become theta radiation-resistant (a rare occurrence), went mad and started picking off his co-workers. His resistance to the radiation allowed him to soak up so much of it that he couldn't be distinguished from the ambient radiation.

Medusans

"While the thoughts of the Medusans are the most sublime in the galaxy, their physical appearance is exactly the opposite."

Debut: TOS, "Is There in Truth No Beauty?"

A telepathic, non-corporeal species renowned for their navigational skill. Their appearance is so utterly bizarre (or "ugly") that simply seeing one without taking appropriate precautions can induce permanent insanity. Originally a one-off species created for TOS, Prodigy brought the Medusans back in a big way by making one a main character.

Bad Powers, Good People: The two Medusans who've appeared in the franchise are fairly amiable and non-malicious, even though their very existence is highly dangerous to corporeal beings.
Brown Note Being: Their most famous attribute. Looking at one without a filter of some kind will drive most humanoids mad. Even glimpsing a reflection of one can induce Laser-Guided Amnesia of the event.
Energy Beings: Medusans are non-corporeal and resemble a swirling ball of energy.
Hive Mind: Their society consists of numerous hive minds, although they do have individual personalities.
Informed Deformity: Everyone on the Enterprise refers to Medusans as being so ugly it drives people insane, but as Miranda Jones points out, it might as well be insanity-inducing beauty.
Meaningful Name: Named after the gorgon Medusa, who is similarly dangerous to look at. Presumably that's not the species' true name, just one coined by humans.
No Biological Sex: Medusans, being non-corporeal, are genderless.
Telepathy: Medusans can read the minds of humanoids around them, and presumably communicate this way among their own kind.

Characters / Star Trek Species: E to M

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