History Main / AlienNonInterferenceClause

* Fanfic/SunsetsIsekai: The Isekai does have one of these:

* In ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', the protagonists have a self-imposed "No meddling" rule that's summarized as "Don't let anybody know you're from another world" and "Don't interfere in the normal affairs of the world you're visiting". They refer to it as "keeping the world order". The only exceptions allowed is when it would go against not stopping the bad guys which are using dimension-invading monsters you're supposed to be fighting. This rule is mostly forgotten in subsequent games, mostly because at this point the villains have meddled ''so much'' that [[AlreadyTheCase the jig is already up]], and not meddling further would probably lead to the collapse of the universe. In an interesting twist, the villains actually play to this more than the heroes do, at least in ''358/2 Days'' where several levels have {{Stealth Based Mission}}s. By the time of ''II'', however, their plan is almost complete and they can afford to be much more open in their manipulations. It comes up again in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' though, to the point that "Order" is even one of the entries in the game's glossary. The world order is also the reason why when visiting certain worlds, Donald uses his magic to transform the party. In other words, when visiting [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Monstropolis]] the entire party becomes monsters and when visiting the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] they become various animals, with Sora as a cute little lion cub.

** The lengths to which the Federation might go to ensure the sanctity of the Prime Directive seem to vary by era. In ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'', what with its CowboyCop protagonist Captain Kirk, the crew could decide to break the Prime Directive if the ship or its crew would otherwise be in serious danger ("[[Recap/StarTrekS2E5TheApple The Apple]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E23ATasteOfArmageddon A Taste of Armageddon]]"), the crew needs to do so to fix a problem humans created to begin with (or other entities like the Klingon Empire -- don't want them arming the primitive worlds), or when dealing with a society whose development is stifled because it's run by computers ("[[Recap/StarTrekS1E21TheReturnOfTheArchons The Return of the Archons]]"). If a pre-warp civilization has already been contacted, regardless of their tech level, the Prime Directive doesn't apply and the Federation is free to intervene; after all, the cat's out of the bag already ("[[Recap/StarTrekS2E17APieceOfTheAction A Piece of the Action]]"). The Prime Directive got a lot stricter as time went on: in "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E8ForTheWorldIsHollowAndIHaveTouchedTheSky For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky]]", Kirk tells the people of Yonada that they're on a [[GenerationShip spaceship]], figuring that the alternative under the Prime Directive would be to exterminate them (as said spaceship is on a collision course with a Federation planet), and Spock declares this to be logical, but by the time of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', they would have no problem with using invasive brain surgery to induce LaserGuidedAmnesia in such situations.

*** In the second season, this trope is discussed along with FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow as Neera, Una's lawyer defending her for breaking Starfleet's NoTranshumanismAllowed rules, points out that Starfleet's vaunted Prime Directive is constantly broken at a captain's whim yet they are willing to throw a valued member of Starfleet under the bus because of who they were under the skin.
** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Geordi cites as to why Starfleet had to retrieve [[spoiler:the ''Enterprise''-D saucer section from Veridian III after her destruction during ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'']]. As per the Prime Directive, they couldn't leave it behind to contaminate the pre-warp civilization's development. [[spoiler: With the ship's remains back in space, and with his broad salvage authorities over ships in mothballs for his job as Fleet Museum Curator, Geordi naturally seized the chance to restore his old ship.]]

*** ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' also explored the Organians, a species of EnergyBeings who had evolved that way out of extreme disgust at pain and violence and picked up a non-interference clause in part so that they wouldn't have to see it; but then they stop the Klingon-Federation War because they found the potential bloodshed even worse[[note]]They never interfered again, even when one would think they would (i.e. whenever the Federation and Klingons were on the verge of breaking the Organian-mandated peace), which has required more than one HandWave through the years[[/note]].

*** ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' also explored the Organians, a species of EnergyBeings who had evolved that way out of extreme disgust at pain and violence and picked up a non-interference clause in part so that they wouldn't have to see it; but then they stop the Klingon-Federation War because they found the potential bloodshed even worse[[note]]They never interfered again, even when one would think they would (i.e. whenever the Federarion and Klingons were on the verge of breaking their Organian-mandated peace), which has required more than one HandWave through the years[[/note]].

*** ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' also explored the Organians, a species of EnergyBeings who had evolved that way out of extreme disgust at pain and violence and picked up a non-interference clause in part so that they wouldn't have to see it; but then they stop the Klingon-Federation War because they found the potential bloodshed even worse[[note]]They never interfered again, even when one would think they would, which has required more than one HandWave through the years[[/note]].

*** In the TNG episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E21Symbiosis Symbiosis]]", the Ornarans are suffering from a fatal disease and have become dependent on Brekkian-supplied medicine. Turns out they were cured ages ago -- the medicine is just [[FantasticDrug super addicting]]. The Brekkians have profited stupendously off the addiction, and Ornaran society has basically collapsed. But Picard refuses to intervene, citing the Prime Directive, even though ''none'' of the "newer" rules applied -- both societies were clearly in contact with each other, it's not a purely internal affair, and the Ornarans didn't cause their own plight. And the Ornarans had ''asked'' for help, because their fleet was falling apart and needed Starfleet help to keep making supply runs. Picard was indeed ready to intervene until the last minute, figuring (against all logic, given what else he interacts with) that the Brekkians had "centered their entire society around exploiting the Ornarans" and ''that's'' why he can't intervene. (Cue Ornaran freighter crash).

* Features in the ''Franchise/StarWars''/''Franchise/StarTrek'' crossover series "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13573406/1/Star-Ablaze-Episode-1-Destinies-Entwined Stars Ablaze Episode 1- Destinies Entwined]]";

** In "Mad Idolatry", Kelly violates the non-interference rule to cure a sick child which leads her to being [[DeityOfHumanOrigin deified by a primitive culture]]. They keep worshipping her for millennia, with all manner of [[ChurchMilitant religious wars]] in the process.

** The lengths to which the Federation might go to ensure the sanctity of the Prime Directive seem to vary by era. In ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'', what with its CowboyCop protagonist Captain Kirk, the crew could decide to break the Prime Directive if the ship or its crew would otherwise be in serious danger ("[[Recap/StarTrekS2E5TheApple The Apple]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E23ATasteOfArmageddon A Taste of Armageddon]]"), the crew needs to do so to fix a problem humans created to begin with (or other entities like the Klingon Empire -- don't want them arming the primitive worlds), or when dealing with a society whose development is stifled because it's run by computers ("[[Recap/StarTrekS1E21TheReturnOfTheArchons The Return of the Archons]]"). If a pre-warp civilization has already been contacted, regardless of their tech level, the Prime Directive doesn't apply and the Federation is free to intervene; after all, the cat's out of the bag already ("[[Recap/StarTrekS2E17APieceOfTheAction A Piece of the Action]]"). The Prime Directive got a lot stricter as time went on: in "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E8ForTheWorldIsHollowAndIHaveTouchedTheSky For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky]]", Kirk tells the people of Yonada that they're on a spaceship, figuring that the alternative under the Prime Directive would be to exterminate them, and Spock declares this to be logical, but by the time of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', they would have no problem with using invasive brain surgery to induce LaserGuidedAmnesia in such situations.

* In ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', the protagonists have a self-imposed "No meddling" rule that's summarized as "Don't let anybody know you're from another world" and "Don't interfere in the normal affairs of the world you're visiting". They refer to it as "keeping the world order". The only exceptions allowed is when it would go against not stopping the bad guys which are using dimension-invading monsters you're supposed to be fighting. This rule is mostly forgotten in subsequent games, mostly because the villains have meddled ''so much'' that the jig is already up, and not meddling further would probably lead to the collapse of the universe. In an interesting twist, the villains actually play to this more than the heroes do, at least in ''358/2 Days'' where several levels have {{Stealth Based Mission}}s. By the time of ''II'', however, their plan is almost complete and they can afford to be much more open in their manipulations. It comes up again in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' though, to the point that "Order" is even one of the entries in the game's glossary. The world order is also the reason why when visiting certain worlds, Donald uses his magic to transform the party. In other words, when visiting [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Monstropolis]] the entire party becomes monsters and when visiting the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] they become various animals, with Sora as a cute little lion cub.

* Inverted in one instance of ''Literature/TheShipWho''. The [[StarfishAliens Corviki]] are never seen away from their methane-ammonia homeworld but have quite advanced technology. They broker a trade with [[TheFederation Central Worlds]] - [[KlingonsLoveShakespeare a performance of Romeo and Juliet]] in exchange for a major advance in FTL technology - and even provide the human-led Central with RemoteBody technology so that the actors can [[MyselfMyAvatar inhabit Corviki bodies made for them]] and perform on the planet. But it turns out that while they're not malevolent, they have quite alien psyches and TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody - in ''Honeymoon'' one character says that allying with them closely to benefit from their technology will cause too much damage to humanity. At the end of the story, Helva agrees and wants the Corviki system interdicted, though while talking to the aliens she was told that they would know and take punitive action if their FTL technology was misused.

** Apparently non-interference isn't a general rule in the setting. ''[=PartnerShip=]'' details a FirstContactFauxPas in which humans thought that the "Loosies" subsisting with difficulty in their tidal mudflat ecosytem might be sapient and starving, and arranged for massive deliveries of NastyNondescriptNutritious food. The Loosie population boomed far past their ability to support themselves in their shifting environment and their cultural practices deteriorated as they became dependent on the handouts. After two generations they were cursorially surveyed and deemed non-sentient, in part because they didn't use or understand spoken languages. Blaize, [[ReassignedToAntarctica assigned with the task of feeding them]], idly taught one sign language and found that they ''were'' people and painfully aware of how badly humanity screwed them over.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' brings this back with the episode "Crisis Point" where Ensign Beckett Mariner frees a world where lizards are being opressed and eaten by the ruling rat people and is promptly chewed out by Captain Carol Freeman for breaking the Prime Directive. Mariner's problem is that trying to solve things involving the Prime Directive and other things just takes ''too long'' with the Federation's VastBureaucracy and she'd rather solve things ''now''. The next episode has Freeman realize that the Prime Directive has problems. For example, the people of Beta III are back to worshiping Landru, and the main crisis of the episode involves the "walking joke" Pakleds suddenly being highly dangerous. Freeman says afterwards that these problems could have been avoided had Starfleet bothered to check back more frequently rather than let the Prime Directive limit them.