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 The Hirogen
The Hirogen
are a deadly race of hunters from the delta quadrant first encountered by the U.S.S. Voyager. Nomadic spacefarers
with no home planet, the Hirogen have considered their ships their home for aeons.
Most often the Hirogen travel alone although they are occasionally encountered in small groups
of hunting packs. Larger than a normal human, a Hirogen individual has strength relative to their size, capable of matching
a Vulcan in hand-to-hand combat. In addition to their natural strengths, Hirogen wear heavy, foreboding black
body armour that allows the wearer to survive many hostile environments.
Driven by the urge to hunt, they pursue their prey across thousands of light-years, never giving
up until their quarry has been captured. This pursuit of prey has become their only way of life; their entire existence based
upon the hunt, including their social rituals, art, and religious belief. The pursuit of prey has carried them across huge
distances.
With all Hirogen subordinate to a single individual, entitled the Alpha, aboard
each ship, they offer no compassion to their prospective prey as they hunt it relentlessly anticipating the final moment,
a face to face encounter in which their target is trapped and exterminated.
A powerful Nomadic species occupying the Delta Quadrant, the Hirogen are very predatory race. They travel in small ships
carrying only two or three persons, seeking out other life forms in order to hunt them. They are obsessed with gathering trophies
- usually in the form of body parts or stolen technology - in order to demonstrate their hunting prowess to other Hirogens.
Although technologically advanced, they have been forced to disperse themselves over a huge area in order to find new prey
for their hunts. This has put considerable strain on the Hirogen culture, and their society is now seriously deteriorating.
Technologically advanced, the Hirogen have shown themselves capable of defeating an injured member of Species 8472. They
were encountered by the crew of the USS Voyager in 2374, when the ship accessed a Hirogen controlled communications array
in order to transmit its EMH to the Beta quadrant. A Hirogen hunting vessel subsequently captured Lieutenant Commander Tuvok
and Seven of Nine. Voyager was able to free the two crewmembers, and was also able to use the array to recieve over a hundred
messages from Starfleet command.
Several weeks after this incident the Hirogen captured the USS Voyager itself. They greatly extended the holodecks and
forced the crew to participate in a variety of combat-related scenarios, including one set during World War II. Eventually
the Voyager crew were able to force a stalemate with the Hirogen, and a ceasefire was agreed. The Hirogen agreed to leave
the ship in return for Holodeck technology; they hope to use this in order to allow themselves to continue the traditions
of the hunt without spreading themselves unduly across the quadrant, so reversing their recent decline.
End.
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