Chal (meaning "heaven" in tlhIngan Hol) was a Class O planet in a binary star system on the edge of the shared border between the Klingon and Romulan Star Empires, and the home of the Chalchaj 'qmey. It was the location of a joint colony established by those two powers in the 23rd century, the site of weapons and eugenics experiments undertaken to prepare for an expected war with the United Federation of Planets. When more peaceful relations were established, the colony and its experiments were abandoned and virtually forgotten by the Empires.
Environment and geography[]
Chal was approximately ninety percent water, its planetary ocean a brilliant azure blue. A small number of island landmasses, including four archipelagoes, dotted the surface. They were formed out of volcanic rock, but covered in lush vegetation and contained only a handful of animal species. (TOS novel: The Ashes of Eden)
The planetary biosphere had been largely engineered by the Klingons and Romulans, and most of the animal life had been transplanted from other worlds within the empires. Among these included ordovers, horned, horse-like beasts originally native to another Romulan colony world, which were used both as mounts and as beasts of burden on the planet's farms. (ST novel: Avenger; TOS novel: The Ashes of Eden; ST novel: Spectre)
The original colony was founded on the largest island, in the archipelago closest to the equator. It was the first and only city on the planet, and in the 2290s, was home to a population of almost one thousand. The population was small enough that the people of Chal had minimal impact on their homeworld's ecology; food was plentiful, and only a few weeks worth of agricultural work was necessary in any given year. The colonial infrastructure and architecture itself was robust and durable, and much of it was capable of self-repair.
History[]
During the mid-23rd century, factions within the Klingon and Romulan Empires were planning for what they saw as an inevitable all-out war with the Federation. They founded Chal as a secret supply base, and stored enough munitions and equipment in the Armory there that in case the Federation overwhelmed the Empires, the hidden world could supply any surviving forces with enough weapons to continue the fight.
In the late 23rd century, a journey from Earth to Chal would take approximately three weeks at maximum warp. (TOS novel: The Ashes of Eden)
In 2293, following the Praxis incident and their own attempted exploitation by remnants of the cabal that had assassinated Gorkon, Chal applied for Federation membership. After considerable deliberation and investigation, their application was approved circa 2298. (TOS novel: The Ashes of Eden)
In 2372, the planet was one of the worlds infected by the Symmetrists virogen plague. Efforts to contain the spread of the disease backfired and it spread through the colony like wildfire, propagating and mutating more quickly than the Federation's medical and science teams were able to combat it. A year later, most of the planet's indigenous species had gone, or were going, extinct, and the vast majority of the Chal themselves were dying. Even after a cure was developed, it took many years for Chal's ecosystem to recover. (ST novel: Avenger)
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External links[]
- Chal article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.