For the mirror universe counterpart, see Borg (mirror).
For Benny Russell's creations, see Borg (Incredible Tales).

"Resistance is futile."

The Borg were a race of cybernetically enhanced lifeforms who originated in the Delta Quadrant and spread, as the Borg Collective, throughout the galaxy, aiming to create a perfect race and bring order to the chaos of the galactic population by assimilating them - transforming them into drones of the Collective. (TNG movie: First Contact, et al.)

The Borg are mindless and relentless warriors, controlled by a central intelligence. Totally lacking in personal individuality, they are willing to sacrifice themselves without that the rest of the Collective can learn from their demise.


The Borg never create, they only assimilate. When a vessel or planet has caught the Borg's attention, they would sweep it with their sensors and then transport drones over to investigate the technology up close. If they deemed the vessel and its occupants worthy of assimilation, they would announce "We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile." They would then acquire the vessel by force and transform the occupants into drones, turning their bodies and minds entirely over to the Collective and its purposes. (TNG episode: "Q Who?")

Using nanoprobes, the Borg took control of their new drones at the cellular level, and later in the process, surgically attached larger, more complex cybernetic implants. Once fully assimilated, a drone would be devoid of its original persona, and function only at the will of the Collective. (TNG movie: First Contact, VOY episode: "Scorpion", et al.)

See assimilation for greater detail on the assimilation processes.

Outside the CollectiveEdit

The majority of the trillions of Borg drones in the galaxy were part of the Collective, however there were a few occasions when small groups of Borg became separated from the Collective and developed their own organizations. These included the Independent Nation of Borg, the Liberated, the Borg Cooperative, the Borg resistance movement of Unimatrix Zero, and the Wardens. (VOY - Strange New Worlds II short story: "Seventh Heaven"; VOY episodes: "Unity", "Unimatrix Zero"; TNG video game: Away Team)

Occasionally, individual drones have also been separated from the Collective, the most notable examples being Seven of Nine and Hugh. (VOY episode: "Scorpion"; TNG episode: "I, Borg") Other individuals to be freed include the three-part collective of Lansor, P'Chan, and Marika Wilkarah, and the Borg children rescued by the USS Voyager; Azan, Rebi, Mezoti, and Icheb. (VOY episodes: "Survival Instinct", "Collective") Additionally a futuristic Borg was once accidentally created outside the Collective: One. (VOY episode: "Drone")

Borg speciesEdit

See Borg species designations

Since the Borg began spreading out across the Delta Quadrant, they have encountered and assimilated members from over 10,000 civilizations. Each species encountered by the Borg is assigned a numerical designation, though not all are assimilated, the Kazon for example are not considered worthy of assimilation, they would detract from the Collective's perfection, whilst Species 8472 have so far proved to be completely resistant to assimilation. (VOY episodes: "Mortal Coil", "Relativity", "Scorpion") *In the events of the video game Star Trek: Online, the player encounters the first successfully assimilated "Undine" (Species 8472) and promptly defeat it.

The following species have also been assimilated by the Borg but their designations are unknown: Bajorans, Bolians, Caatati, Cardassians, El-Aurians, Farn, Hirogen, Klingons, Krenim, Norcadians, Pareins, Rasiinians, Romulans, Sakari, Tarkaleans, Vidiians, Voth, and Wysanti.


See main article: Borg history.



Borg vessels came in a variety of forms, most commonly geometrically-symmetrical designs embodying their monolithic mentality and their philosophy of perfection. One of the most common, and earliest, Borg ships was the Borg cube. Borg design was highly decentralized, with no specific bridge, engineering, or living areas. Their ships could analyze an opponent's weapons systems and adapt defenses within seconds and were capable of repairing major damage, including direct phaser hits almost immediately. (ST - Strange New Worlds VI short story: "The Beginning"; TNG episode: "Q Who?")

Borg weaponry, common Edit

  • arm-mounted heavy antimatter-disruptor (short-to-mid-range)
  • arm-mounted neutron projector (short range)
  • "assimilator" nanoprobe-injector (special)
  • shoulder-mounted photon missile-launcher (long range)
  • shoulder-mounted rapid-stream plasma disintegrator (mid-to-long range)


Borg starship classes
Borg assemblerassimilatorcollectorcolony shipcommand shipcubedetectordiamondfusion cubeharbingerharmonic defenderhypercubeinterceptorobeliskpyramidrectanglescoutspheretactical cubetactical fusion cubewedgeworkbee Borg
See also Borg starships.



Delta Quadrant races and cultures


The term "Borg" as a proper name for a cyborg civilization has been used previously in other science fiction literature, such as the Borg mentioned in Marvel Comics Star Wars series, issue #7 from 1978.

External linksEdit
