Ekos (M43 Alpha IV) was a Class M planet in the M43 Alpha system of the Beta Quadrant. It was the homeworld of the Ekosian people, the sister world of Zeon, and the site of one of the worst violations of the Prime Directive in Federation history. (TOS: "Patterns of Force"; FASA: The Federation; The Worlds of the Federation; Decipher: Worlds)
The Ekosians bore a striking resemblance to pre-warp humanity, both in physiology and psychology. They were crafty and tough, and tended to be suspicious of strangers. They were skilled at setting elaborate ruses and traps to test strangers' intentions. Ekosians also had a long history of internecine warfare, and were skilled fighters who did not shy away from confrontation.
Traditional Ekosian society exhibited a mixture of tribal and feudal characteristics. Individuals typically identified most strongly with their clans or extended families, which in turn owed allegiance to a local feudal lord or tribal chieftain. Each local leader owed fealty to a regional overlord, and at every step of the social ladder, those below owed their superiors a tax (whether in the form of money, goods or service) in return for protection and aide. This structure remained in place until the mid-23rd century, when outside intervention changed the course of Ekosian society irrevocably.
History[]
For most of their history, the Ekosians lived as a collection of warlike tribes or semi-feudal states. These simple political entities fought each other constantly, leaving Ekos globally in a state of perpetual anarchy.The Ekosians' own historical accounts proudly describe them as a ferocious, warlike people who organized themselves into tribes, and then semi-feudal states led by warrior-kings. These political entities fought each other constantly. Technologically, they had barely left the Iron Age when the Federation first discovered them in 2260.
Shortly thereafter, historian John Gill came to Ekos as a UFP cultural observer and precipitated the calamitous Gill Interregnum. The warlike Ekosians shocked Gill, and he made the fateful decision to violate the Prime Directive and take their social evolution into his own hands. Capitalizing on their respect for him as a visitor from a more advanced civilization, he swept aside their entire history and condensed into several years political developments that took centuries on his native Earth. He also gave the Ekosians industrial technology. He even persuaded them to abandon their native tongue in favor of Federation Standard. His efforts created a totalitarian world government through which he tried to replicate the orderliness of Nazi Germany without its intrigue and genocidal hatred of outsiders.
The experiment failed disastrously, for Gill had failed to unravel the generations of experience that had taught the Ekosians that force validated the exercise of power, and that hatred served as a powerful rallying point. In 2268, Deputy Fuhrer Melakon seized control of the government in a daring coup. He used Gill as a captive figurehead, and united his people behind a genocidal war against the Zeons, a technologically advanced and peaceful civilization based on Zeon, the outer planet in the M43 Alpha system. Only active intervention by crew of the USS Enterprise, with the help of armed dissident Ekosians, toppled Melakon’s regime. John Gill was killed in the process, sparing him the trouble of answering for his gross violation of the Prime Directive.
- Various sources give different versions of Ekosian reconstruction after the death of Gill and Melakon.
Geography[]
The planet has a single supercontinent that stretches across both sub-arctic bands, the only other landmasses being a few small islands. The planet's sub-arctic regions were mostly frozen tundra and only marginally habitable, while the sub-tropical areas were fertile agricultural plains where most Ekosians resided. The equatorial belt was mostly dense rain forest and mountainous terrain. (Decipher: Worlds)
About 33% of the planet's geological makeup was usable metals, with an additional 12% made up of radioactive elements, with trace deposits of crystal, gemstones and other special minerals. (FASA: The Federation)
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External links[]
- Ekos article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Ekos article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- Ekos article at Star Trek Expanded Universe, the fanon and fanworks Star Trek wiki.