Hello and welcome to the Cultural Index series where we look into the lore, history and other
junk around a science fiction species, this time we’re looking at the Star Trek fuzzy
cat people, the Caitains. Much of this content is drawn from apocrypha and star trek online
as there is very little to go on from the primary source materials, the shows. The Caitians
have only featured in the original animated show, lower decks and in the background of
a couple of films, and with little background lore.
This species actually shares a lot in common with humans from a lore perspective which
should become relatively clear as we go through their history, but first up, let’s take
a look at them biologically. The Caitians are a felinoid species around human’s height
although being evolved from cat-like creatures, they are naturally more dexterous. They have
a greater jump height from their lithe forms, and some sources depict them with digitigrade
legs, meaning they have animal like legs and walk on their toes. This is not a universal
depiction however so it is probably a matter of artistic licence. Likewise in the Star
Trek Into Darkness film, we see supposed Caitian twins, but they are never defined as such
in film, so we could be dealing with a hybrid species or just an alternate design, because
“film redesigns”. Typically, they have orange, brown or yellow
fur, although there were rarer exceptions that were black, dark blue or golden hued.
Their eyes were almost universally yellow in colour and possessed potent darkvision
of 120 feet- wait, wrong franchise, potent night vision. This is because of the cat-like
slit iris that allowed for greater visual acuity and a high degree of adjustability
in low-light levels. The placement and function of these eyes suggests that they evolved as
predators on their planet, and the prominent canine fangs add to this.
They can also perceive a higher spectrum of frequencies with sound, making them excellent
scouts and communications officers. The fur on the back of their head grew longer than
the fur on the rest of their bodies, with the exception of the tail-ends perhaps and
resembled common humanoid hair. Males could grow out hair around their muzzle to lengths
rivalling primate humanoid beards. Their homeworld is a little more complicated
to explain. In beta lore, there are two tellings that don’t necessarily contradict. One records
their home system as having only two planets, while another source lists over six.
It’s believed that the Caitians, thousands of years ago, shared a common ancestor with
the Kzinti species, another felinoid species, but one markedly different from the Caitians
as Klingons are from the Vulcans. The tales go that their homeworld of Ferasa was settled
by Kzinti ancestors in ages past and went its own way. Around the 17th century, by human
reckoning the Caitians were already a space-faring species with warp drive and were delving deep
into eugenics. They created their own augment program, just as humans did in Trek lore,
and faced similar results. Using the psychotropic Nepeta leaves, they created a more powerful,
but aggressive offshoot, the Ferasans. War ensured and the Caitians were chased form
Ferasa, yielding the planet to its new masters, the Ferasians while they travelled to a new
world in the Alpha Quadrant. This world was in the lynx constellation, an F-type star
called Lyncis 15 with only 2 planets in the system. One was an M class world with a very
near-earth quality, and two moons, Rea and Sura while the other world was uninhabitable.
This move was called the Caitian Diaspora and somehow not mentioned by the species ever
again; it was 800 years before Caitian biologists unearthed this information.
They have colonies on Havelind, Hochlor IV, Macadarna, Narval and the Cait system’s
asteroid belt is rich in minerals and dilithium, giving them a solid foundation on which to
build their society. 2249 was a busy year for the caitians as they
made contact with a series of other species, including the Orions and Ferengi. Then finally
they made first contact with the United Federation of Planets. It did not take them long to join
the UFP in full and some records indicate this happened around 2270. Accurate or not,
there were caitians present in Starfleet from at least the 2250s, which isn’t that strange,
we see examples of species joining Starfleet before their government allies with the Federation.
(Like Bajor) By 2286, the Caitians had members on the Federation
council such as S’rrel. This guy was seen in Star Trek 4 and was responsible for getting
many early Caitians into Starfleet, using his position to swing posts on many ships
for his people, believing wholeheartedly in the United Federation of Planets and the effect
it could have on his people. They continued to be a Federation member world well into
the 24th century. In their own culture, thankfully unlike housecats,
they are actually very sociable and cooperative with their own kind and others. They have
a strong appreciation for arts, philosophy and generally design things to be aesthetically
pleasing. They value these traits far more than their martial prowess, although, as natural
predators, they do make fearsome warriors. Claws, fangs, reflexes and pouncing ability,
you get the picture. Because of this natural draw to beauty and higher thought, many Caitians
pursue an artistic hobby of some kind, such as poetry. Yeah, it’s no wonder the Federation
snapped them up. Their familial network can be vast as they
keep track of their extended families and are born into litters which keep in close
contact throughout their lives. This social bonding through clans leads to families into
the hundreds of members. The native dialogue of the Caitians is still
a spoken one, but generally includes a lot of lower tones, deep in the throat which includes
purrs. As such, many find transitioning to the comparatively higher tones of humanoid
conversation a little taxing. With practice though, it works out fine.
I’m piecing together their naming convention based on observation here as there are some
patterns, but take this with a grain of kitty litter. They do seem to have two names, however
many often simply adopt a single title. Many of these commonly used names included a prefix
letter followed by an apostrophe such as M’Ress, C’Raal or T’Ana with a strong preference
for the prefix with ‘M’. In cases where we learn the two names of a Caitian, the apostrophized
name is the latter, but the one used to address them.
It could be that the last name by itself is enough to signify both their family and individual
name, but who knows. Caitians are adept engineers too, and have
manufactured a variety of starships that Starfleet does generally not specialise in. In Star
Trek Online’s war-shaken setting, they Caitians actually make these ships available to Starfleet
so the organisation doesn’t have to waste time developing its own. These include fighter
ships and carrier vessels, two aspects where Starfleet is lacking.
Such ships included the large Atrox and Aspero class carriers, each holding hundreds of smaller
figher shuttles such as the Stalker stealth fighters. Mirroring their dexterous, predatory
roots, they also developed several low power, near emission less stealth escorts, like the
Shikaris class. These vessels are designed with organic, but cutting curves to give a
sharp yet elegant look to them, I guess kind of like a cat, and definitely in line with
their… indulgence for design. Overall, the Caitians not only live on a planet
with the same climate and near identical gravitational pull as Earth, but they share human’s messy
history with genetic modification, paying a heftier price for it than humanity ever
did. Their ideals of philosophy and an appreciation of artistic expression is undoubtedly what
drew them to the Federation, and vice versa. If the dates can be believed, they could be
one of the fastest joining species in its history going from first contact to members
in only 21 years, until the Dominion War at least.
Star Trek lore around them says that they’re common throughout Starfleet and the galaxy,
even sharing UFP planets with Andorians, Humans and others and they get along with almost
every other species. Unless you meet a perpetually grump cat serving on a ship of little importance.
Mostly they are good kitties Thanks for watching this index on the Caitians
and usual, I’m putting the next species up for vote but not really because it’s
way overdue. So the choices are the Xindi Primates, or the Primate Xindi. So until the
next video, thanks for watching and I’ve been Ric, I’ll see you next time, goodbye!
Khajiit has wares if you have coin? No! Lemme fini-mmmph!