GOW

A few centuries before, Orions had the most advanced civilization in the quadrant. They had the fastest ships with weapons and shields beyond what any other race had yet dreamed of. They traded goods with many but kept their technology private to themselves. Then came the days of darkness where Orion turned on Orion and greed got in the way of everything. The Wise Ones from each "tribe" gathered to decide what to do. It was decided that all advanced technology was to be buried, hidden away, and not used. Orion would revert back to a very simple time where life of people, animals, and nature were revered and held as the most important aspect of daily life rather than greed and profit. There were those who disagreed with this, they were exiled from Orion and they set up a "new" Orion where they could continue to use the advanced technology and practice slavery, power, and profit over life etc. In the remade Orion, life turned to balance and only simple technology, below even warp capabilities. Tribes were changed in to smaller groups and spread out across the planet. The Greens took the northern third of the planet. The Reds took the middle third of the planet. The Blues took the southern third of the planet. The cities were allowed to grow wild and become one with the jungles, marshes, cliffs and bluffs and forests. Then the men and women divided into different clans as they tended to kill each other given the chance. All children were raised by the female clans until puberty and then the male children were given to the male clans. Children are taught young how to both use and defend their wild natures and natural urges. Everyone learned to survive in the wilderness and taught the children how to survive. Hunting and avoiding slave hunters became the way of life. The first slave hunters were former Orions looking for the specialties they had before but didn't have anymore, like the healers, teachers, and wise ones. So those three specialties became the protected ones and were the most vicious in avoiding hunters and defending the new way of life. The Breeders were the ones without special gifts and they became the protectors of the clans and tribes and the protected ones. Beads replaced written words. At birth each Orion is given three sets of beads, one for the ankles, one for the wrists, and the last for the neck. A bead is added for each year lived. Another shape of bead is added for milestones in an Orion's life. There are special beads made for the protected ones and one that indicates someone is a breeder. Protected ones don't usually breed because the breeding grounds, safe places where males and females meet for play and breeding, are in areas where the hunters frequent. The clan dwellings are protected by different natural barriers. Special traits always breed true. Healers will always birth or sire healers. Teachers will always birth or sire teachers. Wise ones will always birth or sire Wise Ones. There are certain bloodlines that can breed all three in one, those are extremely rare and the ceremony to allow them to breed is very difficult. Healers are those who have the touch to heal, the knowledge to use nature to heal and cure, and the instinct to preserve life. Teachers are those with the gift to remember everything they hear or see and repeat it back perfectly and in ways that those listening want to remember and make part of their daily lives. Wise Ones are those with knowledge beyond the simple technology and history stories now told to the "wild" Orions. There is a prophesy known only to the Wise Ones that speak of a time when a bloodline with all three gifts would restore the advanced technology but not give into greed and usher in a new golden age. This bloodline is looked for, feared by some, hoped for by others. The Orions are a very sexual race, the children are taught very young how to control it and use it as needed. Everything in the new Orion culture is based on ceremony. When children are born, they are taken from the mothers and raised communally by those with the teaching gift of the very young until they are three and weaned and potty trained. Then the children are put into classes where they learn hands on everything they will ever need to live and survive and thrive on Orion. Children are never told who their parents are and the parents are never told which child/children are theirs. So each child belongs completely to the clans and the clans belong completely to the child. When children come of age, they go through their first ceremony to be inducted into whatever clan they are to be part of. Exactly what happens in those ceremonies are kept completely sacred and secret from all who are not born Orions. And those that split from the new Orion are not considered Orions anymore by those that stayed on Orion. The Universe considers all of them Orions and makes no deference between the two different types of Orions. After a hundred years of the new society on Orion, a small group of traders came in and reclaimed three cities for trading, but mostly for the slave trade and then they hunted the Orions who called this world home for millennia. The Orions learned to avoid the cities and those in the cities stayed out of the wild except for the hunters as the land itself seemed to protect the Orions who called it home. Mardel was smuggled off of Orion when she hit puberty at 12 years of age as Orions measure age, about 7 years of age as the Federation measures it. She underwent the ceremonies making her an adult and part of the clans, as well as the ceremonies for being a Healer and Teacher before leaving Orion. It isn't unusual for Healers to have the Teaching gift and vice versa. Mardel then had to learn how to wear clothing, especially shoes, how to interact with those who didn't understand her and her culture and judged her on things she either had no control over or the actions of the traitor Orions who did everything for greed, profit, and power. It took her years to acclimate to the Federation way of life. The entire time she had to stay hidden so the slave hunters didn't find her. Then she joined Star Fleet and went through the academy. As a protected one from Orion, Mardel aced all security/tactial classes as even the wild life on Orion shied away from Mardel. Her normal daily work out routine intimidated even the most warlike races and most athletic races at the academy. Because of her Healing talents, she also aced all medical and science classes, choosing to go into the healing fields of counselor and doctor. She was very shy as she was still uncomfortable with the Federation way of life and the way she was treated by both students and teachers at the academy. But Star Fleet has given her the protection she needed from the hunters. She was able, through blood work, to find out who her mother was and also who her blood sister was. She was able to get her sister off of Orion and into the protection of Star Fleet as well, but not as an officer, but married to an officer. She also has a brother that she hasn't found and who is still on Orion. She has taken natural Orion healing plants and converted them into usable cures for all in the Federation. For a list of these cures, contact Captain Mardel Shayron-Connor on the USS Aldrin.