TZENKETHI: Cultural Index
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2021
- The Tzenkethi have never been seen in canon, but we have seen them in Star Trek Online and they are a fairly prominent presence in the books. But these two appearances are incompatible for the most part.
This is the Cultural Index a series aimed at exploring various Science-Fiction species.
For outsiders to a series to get to know the basics and maybe even hardened Sci-fi nuts might discover something new.
Thanks for watching!
How to VOTE on what happens next:
Over on the Community tab there will be a voting option for one of the two species next up on the Index!
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This Video is for critical purposes with commentary. - เกม
FYI, the STO Tzinkethi were envisioned as descendants of a proto-Tzinkethi turtle/rhino like alien creature. They have evolved to have lost their shell, and thus employ shields on their backs as an almost instinctual defense.
Honestly I hope they keep their star trek online appearance. Not every inteligent species has to be a guy with makeup
When I first watched DS9 and had to imagine them I legit just pictured discount klingons... Not even my imagination believed Star Trek would be more ambitious. :P
Honestly I hope some Star Trek series at some point brings in some more obviously alien aliens, like maybe space-faring land octopi.
The way the books described them, I always think of humanoid balloon animals.
Also in the books, they made a point where they utilize all surfaces on their ships by having consoles on the ceilings as well as around the walls.
Just have pop up panels and be easily reachable while standing for them.
Elites with Grunt faces and Hunter bodies haha
I think this is my favorite comment lol
I was gonna say, Covenant aliens in a blender
And Eldar/Aeldari paths… lol
Hint of (343 era) Jackal faces, too...?
Larger elites with grunt faces.
The rotary device line got me rolling.
Thay are Basicly Humanoid the Body's Anatomical layout is mostly the same, thay could be another one of the Life seeded races. Due to the High Gravity less of the Genetic codeing was passed on and more enviromentaly useful Genetic Trates for suvival on there home world were passed on. "Life finds a way!"
Whose to say that Tzenketh was the planet they came from? Maybe they made it their capital early after becomming a space faring civilization because thier actual home planets high gravity sucked as a command center, and they handled lower gravity just fine. If the original Tzen-keth was like their Kahless then there's a good chance they'd name their new planet after them.
unless they are all born and grow up on that homeworld, they're eventually going to adapt to more Minshara-style gravity norms and lose the high-gravity advantages.
They are literally the star trek Cabal. Though with less of the conquering and bioluminescence... And more arms.
Honestly, I'd love to see a battle between a Cabal Colossus and a Tzenkethi with no armor on either, just melee and brute strength.
Least they don’t throw their superweapons at a planet
@@sithtrooper1948 who knows.
The Virgin Post-Nemesis novel Tzenkethi vs. The Chad STO Tzenkethi
Can you do a video on the Hur'q, I still don't really understand who/what they are supposed to be? Love your videos by the way.
From what I can tell from the Star Trek Online Story Series and some tours through MemoryBeta, the Hur'q are an insectoid species of germanium-based lifeforms. Their whole biology was based off utilizing hibernation cycles to avoid extinction due to their star's properties (it was a pulsar), and they also required a specific nutrient (or enzyme?) from a fungus on their homeworld to maintain some sort of biochemical balance, otherwise they would become "feral" and insane. The Female Changeling (She really needs a better name, so I just refer to her as "The First Founder") thought that this reliance on the fungus could be used to pressure them into cooperating and acting as a military force, either through genetic tampering or more or less enslavement. This backfired hilariously spectacularly and their rampages were used as an excuse to spread the growing dominion.
In general, they're more or less a spacefaring culture that was reliant on a specific chemical (think of it like medication for schizophrenia or depression, but on a species-wide scale), and when they lost access to it, their minds were unable to stabilize and they essentially reverted to instinctual lashing out. We know the Hur'q isn't the name they had, but instead the designation the Klingons gave them, and I guess translators just replaced whatever local term for them with that and the species themselves aren't there to really tell everyone what they call themselves. The STO Hur'q are, like most other things in STO, mostly just a creation of the authors using a name and broad strokes of previous content, though that goes for most of Star Trek and Science Fiction in general.
“Once the effluence strikes the wind displacement device” 😂
I think games tend to be better at giving us interesting-looking aliens than TV. Probably because games just have to work within the limitations of the computational power of the platform they're being developed for, while you have to work within the limitations of what a human actor can wear for TV.
I would love to see this species on screen! Maybe in lower decks!!! 🖖🏻😎🖖🏻
At first i thought maybe there was a hierarchy or caste system that would allow for both descriptions; the grunts or masses are the tanks, and the lithe, attractive ones were still tall and substantial, but more "pleasing?" to the eyes of other species. Then i thought maybe they are just some cousin species (like neanderthals and us) that could be equal under the Autarch, but more useful in political arenas and diplomacy?
I agree, also, at some point the Typhon and Kitamor power's established peaceful relations and "threw open their borders to trade" which would be the closest the Tzenkethi and Federation came to coexistence.
I'm not sure how things went with them in STO so I'll do my research and get back to yeah.
Thanks.
It's worth a go, but they are pretty radically different.
Maybe it's like with metamorphs, and they breed some, to look humanoid? But that wouldn't match them being in such senior roles.
Given their excessively hierarchical mindset, I think they would more likely rank the species and subspecies within their space just as much as they rank their social position.
What if their are TWO classes of Tzenkethi, the warrior/trade caste most of the universe sees and the more beautiful humanoid ones that are aristocratic and artist amongst them??
would fit the idea of a "Coalition"
Another way to reconcile it would be that they have some kind of pheromone, technology, or psychic ability that basically pings your brain for what you want them to look like and then makes you perceive them like that. That's not unprecedented in Trek, the salt vampire wasn't very intelligent but had that ability.
The Star Trek Online depiction of the Tzenkethi is one of my favorite species in all if Star Trek alpha and beta cannon. I just love their aesthetic, tech, and culture.
I just read Picard's autobiography and there was an encounter in there with the Tzenkethi. They're described much the same as STO's version.
I would like to see more cultural indexes from the Stargate universe
Fantastic Video as always!
Also I would be remiss if I didn't voice a suggestion for doing the Silurians from Doctor Who at some point.
I wonder what STO will do if we meet the Tzenkethi in Strange New Worlds and they're just people with weird foreheads?
RETCON AHOY
They've done that before, and they'll probably do a good job. But it's said that CBS likes a lot of the work done on STO, so we may see a good CGI effort done.
I voted for them and loved how they were shown in your STO playthrough. I just hope STD or Picard never ruin it.
That coup may or may not have been real. 1:26
Founder's lies is what it probably was.
I like their society from the books. It’s interesting to the point of being fascinating.
It would make sense that the gravity on the ships would be lighter to accommodate the gear and weaponry
That they Carry.
Lower Decks is most likely to use the Tzenkethi at some point, probably as a gag. My guess is that they will be the STO version.
Yes !!!!! Finally thank you !!!!
What about the Sheliak. Do 1 on them
Given their power level they MUST be non-cannon. Wonder if they got mentioned anywhere else though.
@@UrbanTheFox they are canon to the main memory alpha content
If so I will "nominate the Grizzelas"
@@UrbanTheFox You mean Star Trek Online Sheliak? Because the Sheliak actually appear on TNG lol.
How op are STO Sheliaks?
Damn I was thinking of the Chodak, the focal race of the Star Trek The Next Generation: Final Unity PC game.
I would absolutely love to see you do a video on the Batarian Hegemony.
The STO version could appear on _Lower Decks,_ after all not being people in prosthetic make up isn't an issue on a animated show, whereas anything that isn't Human with bits stuck on is…
"Doug Jones can't pull this off, can we afford Andy Serkis ?"
It's also possible that the STO lizard-tanks are a military caste, and other castes, with different physical forms, don't fight in space/crew starships.
Star Trek Covenant
@@DATWagonator that was basically The Dominion.
Great video! But I've got a couple of questions:
- What's with the German book covers?
- What do their women look like?
(The Tzenkethi; not the Germans.)
😉
The green-copper skinned Tzenkethi depicted during most of the video is female, and is the playable character in a mission string in STO. Sexual dimorphism within the species seems to be minimal, though not really sure how horns or variations in size fit in given our limited information.
i mean, there a better interwoven and represent a series better than the more boring, generic english covers
they were in a book I recently read that took place near the border and included both of the Captains Sulu, but considering how close the setting was to their space, they seem to have but a minor role.
When they have their shields equipped they remind me of giant space turtles.
I got an idea that could accommodate the vastly different depictions of the Tzenkethi in various media. What if the "Caste" system is more than just forcing people into certain roles arbitrarily by some ruler with a fancy title. What if some of the early ancestors of the tzenkethi genetically altered their bodies for certain work roles. the ones that were attractive graceful humanoids could be the base variant that could change to the other variants that underwent the respective changes (through a long discipline-requiring process, akin to what we would need if we wanted to change our bodies appearance; dietary change, appropriate exercise routine, or surgery and some genetic tailoring that likely takes a lot more time than some changeling that can look like whatever they want relatively quickly) to the 4-armed behemoths in STO (which are probably more the military/worker/utility class)
a society that would endorse such genetic tailoring, such as this would probably have a philosophy of committing to a path, because undergoing that kind of process would require a lot of conviction to it because deviating from it would make you end up disfigured, disabled, or dead. it could be a physiological situation similar to the Varimorphs of the Battleborn game; ergo, having a biology that allows you to alter their biology over time (including adding extra limbs and changing physiological appearance)
Both descriptions could be true,
A ruling caste and a warrior caste while the same species with vastly differing forms
Federation council is also unwilling to change their minds according to Odo
Judging by how they look when they walk, I think they walk on their rear and forelimbs and use the midlimbs as true arms.
If they're really from a high gravity world, I could imagine that. It looks like they might 'knuckle walk' like gorillas or otherwise use their large arms to propel themselves, and that their legs are more like crutches for support. Their middle limbs being useful for fine tool use. They needed their heads to be able to see what both sets of arms were doing.
I never really liked the Tzenkethi in STO. I really liked the way they were portrayed in the Typhon Pact novels. In fact those novels delve deeper into Breen, Tzenkethi, Gorn and Romulan cultures.
Isn't in the books, the Tzenkethi also like to use every bit of a 3-d space including using the roofs as a second floor? Or am I thinking of some other Scifi species.
The Tzenkethi were a work around to make a race sound like the Kzin without having to appeal to the Niven Estate to use the rights as CBS/Paramount did in the 70's for The Animated Series.
Elcor with guns
I hope future ST canon combines the two somehow.
Maybe they are like the Gorn with two or more subspecies that work together.
Hi, Rick! Play Star Control 2, I think you'll find some fascinating (and tongue-in-cheek funny) cultures in there. I'd like to see indices on them!
A possible reason as to why they might use lower gravity in their vessels than is present on their homeworld could be that they use technology acquired from outside sources, which aren't built for their higher gravity. They share borders with the Federation and Cardassia, which would be their main trading partners. Using advanced tech acquired from other cultures would require adaptations, and it could be easier to just lower the gravity than it is to rebuild an existing system to withstand higher gravity.
Maybe CBS [probably not though] will go with something similar to Planet Dac [or even Naboo] from Star Wars or the Xindi from Enterprise. On Dac the most famous species are the Mon Calamari, but the just as numerous [if not more] are the Quarren. Maybe the STO Tzenkethi are a warrior caste or similar, where the novel Tzenkethi are a subordinate or reclusive species. Wasn't something similar done with the Rigellians to retcon different descriptions of the species and world with like 5 species and 7 habitable worlds in the Rigel system?
do you think you will talk about tetryon energy/weapons? havent seen much on it yet.
What if it's like the Xindi, more than one species, that would explain the differences away, and it would also explain a caste system, where the more humanoid ones perform a different role in society to the ones shown in this video, eg a warrior cast, a worker cast, a science/engineer cast etc, based on each member species best attributes, capabilities, interests or attitudes.
I like the STO design. They're sort of at the edge of what could be considered humanoid IMO, what with the stocky legs, four arms, and very inhuman head shape and placement.
About their physical description.
We literally only see Tzenkethi SOLDIERS in STO.
Plenty of races in the star trek universe engineer their various classes go their roles. So both descriptions could be cannon at the same time.
Well beauty is subject by individuals, and species
Wait, did that coup happen? I thought the Changeling who tried to hijack the Defiant to attack their homeworld made that up?
I would think the Orions could have been a better analogy than Asari given that the former is part of Star Trek.
Also, while the Typhon Pact seen in the _Destiny_ timeline is impossible in STO due to the Romulan Empire being replaced by the Romulan Republic, the Gorn being absorbed by the Klingons, & both these being part of the Khitomer Alliance; with the Breen & Tholians still active & hostile to the UFP, perhaps a Typhon-like Pact could form. A good episode/arc name for it could be _Fire & Ice_ .
At this point, if and when they do the Romulan Republic 'sequel' (just as Year of Klingon was a sequel in some ways to the Federation-Klingon War) it will probably have Admiral Oh in it with a rebuilt Tal Shiar.
Thanks, Batarians can come next.
Honest. I’ve always loved Star Trek, but I LOVED 8472 because of how indisputably alien they are. The Tzenkethi definitely hit the same marks as 8472 for being indisputably “alien,” which is probably why I love them so much. Even the Gorn, as humanoid as they are, tend to be very alien and they certainly drew my eye in TOS. That is, back when I was young enough for the costumes to seem believable. And for the sake of the show (and having been raised with the original Lost In Space and Battlestar Galactica), I still consider them less “goofy” than most. Although I can admit they’re pretty dang goofy in TOS.
Remember, always use gravity wells while fighting Tzenkethi ships. 😉
The STO version do indeed seem like reptilian gorillas for their size and body structure. The high gravity world concept seems reasonable, albeit, one could argue that gorillas didn't need high gravity to evolve! LoL Ships using lower gravity than the home planet isn't unreasonable, it would not be the first time that I've heard of a space faring race with artificial gravity to use lesser gravity onboard a starship. The Ab from "Crest of Stars" being the example I'm thinking of.
They might well use tech that has a lot of graviton emitters? Their suits might have an ability to manipulate gravity to aid those giant leaps or reduce the fall of a jump? On a high gravity planet, they might have had to develop antigrav just to get off the planet? Of course, it might be that MOST space farers did that first as opposed to developing chemical propellants? "You, you humans went into space riding on balloons emptying their gases?"
The Tzenkethi come across as smart and perhaps even technologically obsessed; but not very sophisticated. I love the idea of them using their enormous bodies and strength to haul heavy duty weapons, shields and tools. Their talk of the metaphors of 'paths' does hint at a spiritual side, and one of--again--a gorilla-like nomadic history and lifestyle, a communal life or exile.
Don't forget that they use site-to-site transporters instead of turbolifts.
@@Janoha17 That seems really dangerous for simple travel, but with bulky and ponderous bodies that are often further weighed down, it makes more sense. It does occur to me that they sort of intrude on the slow but strong reptile aliens trope that the Gorn have going on. But, with dozens of humanoid races that look virtually identical to humans, and even more that look mostly like humans, several reptile races don't bother me.
If their were a new Tzenkethi design for shows in Memory Alpha canon then I have an idea. The Tzenkethi from Star Trek Online are augments while in the books they are regular unaltered Tzenkethi.
The square cube law means you don't want to be massive in high gravity. You'd want to be built like an Olympic gymnast, not a power lifter. But it is an odd reverse cliche in fiction for some reason.
Can't go wrong with a Star Wars race. Quarren next please.
dear cultural index please explain the tau from Warhammer 40k
the way they're built, it wouldn't surprise me if they evolved to run on 4 limbs, and still could, but refrain from doing so; it may be a taboo to do so.
Quarren and losing a vote, name a better combo!
I understand the Tzenkethi excel at ballet!
How do you think they get along with the Gorn? Anyone know?
The description of their skin made me think of synapsids, the animal lineage that lead to mammals.
Lets see the Quarren
They should have had them in live action.
I really want either onscreen (STO) Tzenkethi or just playable Tzenkethi in STO
Both are probably impossible but one can dream
weren't they in Starfleet command III to?
Can you do The Replicators at some point thanks respect and keep up the epic work.
Lol I love the POE nod here XD
It's possible they prefer human level gravity because it lets them be lighter than usual while still having gravity.
They somewhat resemble the aliens in Mass Effect which were bulkier because they lived in a higher gravity world.
👍🏾
Good Soldiers follow orders. Said everyone of these space turtles.
Is that below the lows in the background?
Huh. Radically different from what the post Nemesis books depict them
Yeah they were much more interesting in those novels.
It funny how they look a bit like the arbitrator from halo. Tzenkethi seems to crossover, I wonder where exactly? Perhaps a in a multiversesal Sifi clash?
Can we play as them?
I💜Ric! 🖖🏻
Quaren
I suppose we could pretend that the two depictions could be differing subspecies.
Intriguing species and their "path"
Is it just me or do they kind look a bit like dinosaurs.
Batarians please.
I bet the Tzenkethi could build HS2.
Perhaps a better description instead of lizardish would more like an overgrown salamander, which could explain the lack of scales.
Batarian, hands down.
Their depiction in STO really irks me as a Trek book reader they are described as the most beautiful creatures in the Quadrant but then we get this.
So... This path stuff.... They're craftworld Aeldari lol
I really want a Forerunner Index?
Space dinos.
Kinda sounds like a mix of Eliksni and Cabal
Big blue bois
Quarran
So in STO. They are four-armed walking tanks. That nearly have the look of an Elephant if the Elephant lost its long nose.
While in the books. They are silver-skinned sexy Orions (kind of-ish-ish)? Who made a deal with other anti-federation factions that is named after a planet in Star Wars.
Yeah...I guess two completely different universes where one has never heard of Star Wars. While the other has........no I am not Apologizing for it. As I find it funny and adds more grounding to the lore in connecting with Earth's timeline lol.
Vs Elcor lol
or you know just attack them from the top of bottom..you know you have 3 dimensions in space you can move which you never see in the shows
Quarren
larry niven kzin
I always thought they was a insectoid race🤔..... Like large preying Mantis