Tellarite
The Tellarites were a warp-capable pig-like humanoid species from the planet Tellar Prime in the Alpha Quadrant. In 2161, their homeworld became a founding member of the United Federation of Planets.

History

Pre-Federation 
The Tellarites had achieved interstellar civilization by the 20th century. In 1957, a  picked up the distress call of a Vulcan ship that had crash landed on Earth, near Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania. They passed this information on to the Vulcan High Command. ()

In the 22nd century, the Tellarites engaged in conflict with the Andorians. In 2154, Ambassador  recalled being aboard a cruiser as they drove "those blue demons" back into their  territory by force. ()

In April of 2152, a passing Tellarite vessel directed , suffering severe damage after an encounter in a Romulan minefield, to an automated repair facility. Sub-Commander T'Pol then stated that Tellarites were generally considered trustworthy. ()

However, as of the 2150s, some Tellarites were also involved in dubious businesses. By 2151, a merchant operating in the area around the Akaali homeworld was a competitor of unscrupulous, covert mining entrepreneur Garos. In  of 2153, the Tellarite bounty hunter Skalaar, working for the Klingons, captured the Human Jonathan Archer, captain of the Enterprise. However, he later helped him to escape from a Klingon ship. Skalaar's brother, Gaavrin, who worked on a space station at that time, used to run a freighter, the Tezra, together with him. However, the ship had been confiscated and dismantled when the brothers trespassed the Klingon Empire. In May of 2154, a Tellarite was bidding at an Orion Syndicate slave auction on Verex III in the Borderland. ()

In November of 2154, a Tellarite delegation led by Ambassador Gral was being transported to the planetoid Babel by the Enterprise to resolve a long-standing trade dispute with the Andorians. However, the Romulan Star Empire had become aware of the threat posed by a closer partnership between Tellar, Andoria, and its neighbors. The Star Empire's attempts to destabilize the region led to the Babel Crisis, during which a secret mission by the Romulans involved the use of two Romulan drone ships, which were able to camouflage themselves as various other vessels. By destroying the Andorian vessel Kumari under the guise of a Tellarite cruiser, thereby causing the cancellation of the Babel conference and nearly escalating an old conflict between the two races, the Romulans nearly succeeded with their plans. However, Captain Archer of the Enterprise defused the tension between the Andorians and Tellarites by unexpectedly answering a Ushaan challenge on which Commander Shran insisted, Archer thereby protecting Naarg of the Tellarite delegation and deliberately sparing Shran's life by incapacitating him. Archer subsequently allied the Tellarites, Andorians, Humans, and Vulcans to find and destroy the drone ships by forming a joint fleet, thereby altering the result of this Romulan mission to the exact opposite of what it had been intended to achieve. ()

In 2155, a Tellarite delegation attended talks on Earth about forming a Coalition of Planets. Minister Nathan Samuels joked that new universal translators, which the participants were given, were working a little too well when it came to talking to the Tellarites. During the conference, the Coridanites also rejected a Tellarite proposal to enact a trade embargo against the Orion Syndicate. The Coridan representative claimed his people had been trading with the Orions for centuries and that the accusation of Orions attacking Tellarite freighters constituted slander. Despite subsequent terrorist acts by Terra Prime, a xenophobic movement which tried to drive all non-Humans out of the Sol system, the conference was eventually resumed with a passionate speech by Captain Archer, earning the applause of all attendees including the Tellarite delegation. ()

Several species represented at the Coalition of Planets conference became welded together when the conflict with the Romulan Star Empire escalated into the Earth-Romulan War. After the war between United Earth and the Star Empire began in 2156, a humiliating defeat of the Romulans by an alliance of Tellarite, Andorian, Vulcan, and Human forces at the Battle of Cheron in 2160 effectively ended the conflict and led to the establishment of the Romulan Neutral Zone between the two power blocs. (; )

Some time prior to 2161, Shallash gained notoriety as the second Tellarite liberator. ()

Federation member 
See also: Federation history

In 2161, Tellar – along with its old war allies Earth, Andoria, and  – founded the United Federation of Planets in San Francisco on Earth and established a joint Starfleet. (; ; ) As a result, Tellar Prime held a seat on the Federation Council and Tellarites served as Starfleet officers, including aboard the  ( ) and in high-ranking positions as flag officers, e.g. Admiral  by 2257. (; ; )

Some Tellarites, however, preferred to follow more venturesome careers, e.g., bounty hunter Tevrin Krit in the 2250s, who unsuccessfully tried to collect the bounty the Federation had put on Harry Mudd. ()

In 2268, the planet Coridan sought admission to the United Federation of Planets. However, due to the wealth of dilithium available on Coridan and the presence of illegal mining operations, Coridan's admission was a controversial subject between Tellarites and Vulcans. 

The Babel Conference was convened to settle the matter and ultimately approved Coridan's admission. Tellarite Ambassador Gav was among the delegates to the Babel Conference, but Thelev, an Orion infiltrator in Andorian disguise on board the Federation starship , assassinated him and unsuccessfully tried to frame Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, who, at the conference itself, was ultimately credited with achieving a consensus towards admitting the planet to the Federation. (; )

In 2269, a Tellarite was among the followers of Garth of Izar during his attempted escape from the high-security Elba II asylum. () A Tellarite served on the ruling council of the pocket dimension Elysia during the late 23rd century. ()

In 2286, at least one Tellarite was serving on the Federation Council. () In 2293, at least two Tellarites were present at the Khitomer Conference. ()

As of the late 24th century, Tellarite dignitaries were present at the Federation Council and Tellarites were serving in Starfleet. A drunken Klingon at the celebrations for the Order of the Bat'leth in 2373 bragged about having killed the Tellarite helmsman of Laporin's starship. (; ; )

During the 2370s, s occasionally conducted trade through starbase Deep Space 9. ()

Following the fall of Betazed during the Dominion War in 2374, many believed that Tellar could be the Dominion's next target. ()

As of 2380, at least one Tellarite, , was a Captain in Starfleet. ()

By 2383, at least one Tellarite, Jankom Pog, had made it to the Delta Quadrant, apparently having arrived aboard a Tellar sleeper ship. ()

After the Burn
Tellar Prime remained a part of the Federation through the Burn and its aftermath in the 31st and 32nd centuries, in contrast to other founding members Earth, Ni'Var, and Andoria. () At least one Tellarite was part of the United Earth Defense Force personnel. Another, Taahz Gorev, was one of the first class of Starfleet Academy cadets when it reopened in 3190. (). However, due to the Burn, an unknown number of Tellarites are stranded outside of Federation space, and suffer from Emerald Chain raiding party. At least a group is known to operate the Tellarite Exchange within Emerald Chain controlled territory.

Mirror universe 

In the mirror universe, Tellarites had been subjugated by the Terran Empire sometime prior to 2155. By that year, however, some Tellarites had joined a rebellion, which used various non-Terran vessels, e.g., Tellarite cruisers, to fight the Empire.

Major  and Doctor  of the  tortured a Tellarite crewman named Terev in the agony booth as a demonstration of the device for Captain Maximilian Forrest and Commander . Reed's philosophy on Tellarites was that they were "all guilty of something." ()

Sometime later, Archer and an away team under his command stole the , Archer, frustrated with a lack of progress while trying to apprehend the rogue Gorn Slar aboard the ship, raged, "We'd have more luck sending a squad of Tellarites to capture this thing!" ()

Some Tellarites like , along with members of other species like Andorians and Klingons, were still in rebellion against the Terran Empire as of the mid-23rd century. ()

Biology 
Tellarites were a stout humanoid species with an average body height shorter than that of Humans, although some individuals could also be taller than average humans. (; ; ) They had distinctive snouts, often wore beards, and their hands were sometimes hoof-like in appearance. Their lower jaw usually possessed a pair of small tusks. (; ) However, at least some Tellarites possessed more prominent tusks. (; )

Tellarites found Human room temperatures to be cold, indicative of a higher body temperature. ()

Tellarite blood was purple in color as it contained hemerythrins, in common with some marine invertebrates on Earth. (; )

Though a particular medical condition known as dyspnea was normally considered a symptom (i.e., the patient noticed it him/herself) and not a sign (i.e., only a doctor noticed the sign during a medical examination) in most species, it was regarded as a sign when present in Tellarites. ()

Society and culture 

Tellarites were known to be an impatient people. () They were also known for their "stubborn pride." () They had a propensity toward strong emotion. However, they enjoyed a good argument, and they even considered it a sport on Tellar. () Tellarites often began an interaction with a series of complaints; this was how they started arguments with someone they had recently met. If they had nothing to complain about, they would simply insult the person. Because of their ability to argue, Tellarites made excellent politicians. ()

Tellarites sometimes took mud baths. () 

While Tellarite cuisine included raw fruits and vegetables, canines were considered to be something of a delicacy. ()

Tevrin Krit's family owned a sacred cudgel, the theft of which caused him much anger. ()

One of Elim Garak's suggested wedding dresses for Rom and Leeta was in the style of Tellarite modern. () A pair of Tellarite shoes, from an unknown date, were discovered aboard an old derelict freighter by the Bajorans and later sold in an auction at Quark's in late 2373. According to Quark, the freighter's "cargo hold was crammed with valuable items of every description," but upon reading the list of items, Quark's nephew Nog mentioned the shoes, upon commenting on the list's comments as being "all a bunch of junk." ()

Technology 
Sometime before the 2150s, the Tellarite freighter Tezra was the first of its class and able to haul one million metric tons of cargo at a maximum speed of warp 4.5. ()

As of 2153, Skalaar considered force field emitters "the latest technology" aboard his shuttle. ()

As of 2154, a Tellarite cruiser was considered to be no match against two Andorian battle cruisers. Ambassador Gral considered Tellarite technology to be inferior to Andorian technology. ()

Starship classes 

 Tellarite cruiser
 Tellarite freighters:
 
 
 
 Tellarite ship
 Tellarite shuttle
 Tellar sleeper ship

Individuals 
 Named Tellarites
 Unnamed Tellarites

Appendices

Appearances 
A list of all appearances of Tellarites (excluding the regular appearances of Jankom Pog):
 
 
 
 
 :

Background information

Design 

The inspiration for the Tellarite was originally described in a section of the  script for  in a section regarding makeup-costume notes for the aliens: 

The Tellarite is short, somewhat thick-bodied. Tellar is a savagely cold planet, and Gav's humanoid body is thickly matted with fur. We will not see much of this, as he is well covered with special clothes which have cold circuits build in for comfort. Gav has an almost human face; but his brows and hair line are especially bushy, and he has a beard and moustache [sic] to match. His nose, however, is wide and square at the end…almost a snout.

The Tellarites were designed by Fred Phillips. Given virtually no notice that he would be required to design their make-up, Phillips had to do so overnight. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 17, No. 2, p. 32) Two Tellarite nose appliances were designed and manufactured for the appearance in "Journey to Babel". (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 27; Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook, pp. 190-192)

The appliances mainly consisted of a one-piece prosthetic appliance, which was made from foam latex and covered the central part of the actor's face. This type of primordial mask was glued on in such a way that the actor's eyes couldn't be seen, and consequently prevented the performer from seeing through its lunettes. This forced the actor to tilt his head back when he was delivering his lines in order to see through his mask. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 48) Gav actor John Wheeler noted, "The makeup department at Desilu […] put a plaster mask all over my head and left me two little straws to breathe through." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

To complete the makeup, a beard and mustache were added. Both these hair pieces were manually applied and were intended to blend into the actor's own head hair. The faux mustache helped to hide the edge of the snout appliance and created an interesting effect with the character's bushy eyebrows. The look was completed with character gloves, worn to represent the Tellarite hands. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, pp. 48-49)

Two Tellarite costumes were created for "Journey to Babel", and both were sold in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction.   

Two images taken from apparent make-up tests appeared in the ending credits of the TOS episodes  and . These tests appear to be for either Gav or his aide. The second image features regular stand-in and background actor William Blackburn.

The makeup for the Tellarites was slightly revised for . For that film, Kirk Thatcher explained that makeup was done by (newcomer to the Star Trek franchise) Richard Snell and, as such, "we played a little bit. We stuck an Andorian in there and Tellarites, but new Tellarites. They don't look so 'rubber masky.' We tried to maintain the Star Trek look throughout, but bring it up to date." ( #111, , p. 40) The Tellarite councilor in Star Trek IV is shown wearing robes that were originally created for the white-furred Kazarite from .

Special effects makeup artist Ed French, who described many of the representatives present at the Khitomer Conference as a "homage to television," explained, "We also threw in a couple of the piglike Tellurites [sic], modified a bit from the old Star Trek episode 'Journey to Babel'." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 22, No. 5, p. 34; Charting the Undiscovered Country: The Making of Trek VI, p. 90)

There was no support, in the writing staff of , for the possibility of a Tellarite or multiple members of the species appearing on that series.  However, Makeup Supervisor Michael Westmore wanted to create an updated version of the Tellarite ever since , a wish he expected would be practical. ()

Finally, with the advent of , a chance to again show Tellarites on screen seemed more feasible than it had before. While working on ENT in , Michael Westmore related, "I've already sent Brannon [Braga] a note and said I want to do them. The eyes probably wouldn't be as deep sunk, I'd probably modify the pig-like nose a little bit, and the hair would be better – we'd probably have a thousand-dollar lace beard on him instead of that bushy thing they wore!" () In addition, he mentioned that he "would like to put a bony ridge on them." ( #311, , p. 33)

When the opportunity finally presented itself for the Tellarites to appear on Enterprise, the makeup was again changed, the species receiving a completely new makeup scheme, in  in , due to improved makeup techniques as well as a greater budget. "The hunter in 'Bounty' [namely Skalaar] was originally a non-descript alien, but making him a familiar species helped jump-start the episode," explained Mike Sussman. () Shortly after completing work on "Bounty", Executive Producer Brannon Braga commented on how the Tellarites had been updated, saying, "We reconceived the makeup a little bit so it's not quite as hokey. They were never really developed, so we also tried to create a little character and culture for them. We [...] wouldn't hesitate to do the Tellarites again." () One thing missing in the Star Trek: Enterprise makeup were the three fingers which some Tellarites have in , though a slight reference to that in ENT can be seen in their cloven fingernails.

In the final draft script of , the Tellarites in that installment were described as "rotund."

Several Tellarite costumes from Enterprise were sold in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. The auction listings also revealed that a fat suit was worn under the Tellarite uniform to give the appearance of added weight.       Also included was a lot of latex Tellarite face, hand, and arm makeup appliances. 

Glenn Hetrick noted about redesigning the Andorians for , "It blew our minds that we were getting to revisit those." ("Creature Comforts", DIS Season 1 DVD & Blu-ray special features)

Trivia and unused material 
A Tellarite named Vashi was to have appeared in  episode "Point of Extinction", though that installment was never produced. In the episode's first draft script, a somewhat lengthy description of the Tellarites referred to them as "short-tempered."

In the first draft script of , a group of Tellarite survivors were referred to in a ghost story told by Charles Tucker. These Tellarites, according to the tale, had survived the crash landing of their Tellarite transport on Pluto but had then eaten one another.

There was apparently a recurring motif of being punched in the gut by a Tellarite in Star Trek: Enterprise. In the final draft script of "Bounty", a visual reaction Skalaar gave to his brother – Gaavrin (also a Tellarite) – revealing to him that Tezra, a freighter Skalaar had owned and loved, had actually been cannibalized by the Klingons was described thus; "Skalaar looks like he's been punched in the gut." Similarly, in the episode , Charles Tucker III comments that he feels like he has been "gut-punched by a Tellarite."

Apocrypha 
Shane Johnson, in The Worlds of the Federation, described Tellarites as being belligerent, but good engineers for all that, and described debate as a favorite form of entertainment among Tellarites. Although neither of these descriptions has been explicitly confirmed on screen, the character of Jankom Pog on  fits them.

In the novel , Bera chim Gleer was a Tellarite representative in the Federation council in the late 2370s and early 2380s, known for his long speeches and opposing Federation President Nanietta Bacco's inauguration. He is also referenced by political figures in Unjoined and A Time to Heal. Articles of the Federation also featured Kav glasch Vokrak, a Tellarite reporter.

A Tellarite named Colv served as an engineer on a cargo freighter in Star Trek: SCE: . The Tellarite people are later referenced in the same novel for their involvement in "the infamous Tellarite bar-fight story," which is popular among the crew of the USS da Vinci.

In the eBooks of Star Trek: SCE, which are eventually printed as paperback novels, a Tellarite character called Mor glasch Tev takes over the position of second officer after Kieran Duffy's death.

In the novel The IDIC Epidemic, Tellarites are listed as composing less than 28% of the Vulcan Science colony Nisus.

In the  game, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy encounter a Tellarite on Pollux V who describes the Krognik demon – a creature from Tellarite mythology. This creature is the traditional shape of the Tellarite devil and his minions. Its physical appearance is described as being decidedly wolfish, with sharp teeth in a long snout.

Tellarites have made two appearances in comics from IDW Publishing. In Alien Spotlight: "Orions", Christopher Pike encounters some on Babel in 2265, when he is being feted as fleet captain. One of these, Administrator Muso, is a wanted criminal and bounty hunter, and is taken into custody with the help of an Orion slave girl. In Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Space Between: "An Inconvenient Truth", Jean-Luc Picard, while investigating a conspiracy in Starfleet, is fired on by a Tellarite in the shadows on the grounds of Starfleet Academy.

The  Starfleet Operations Manual and  supplements characterize Tellarites as having great mechanical aptitude, perhaps due to their greater perception of distance, dimension, and depth, as well as being extensively trained in engineering at every level of the education process.

Female Tellarites are a playable race and gender for the Federation faction in Star Trek Online. Females are depicted as having the same pig-like facial features, but with pointed, wide extended ears.

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Species