One of the most unnerving, yet intriguing episodes of Star Trek was TNG’s Schisms. If
you recognise the name, then you know why. Also, the thumbnail probably gave it away…
This event saw the one and only appearance of some strange subspace dwelling lifeforms that
were kidnapping members of the Enterprise crew and running detrimental, sometimes lethal experiments
on them. These creatures are technologically savvy, intelligent and seemingly have a complete
disregard for life. First up, I’ll cover what we know of them in canon, which really isn’t
much before diving into their more extensive lore in apocrypha, such as Star Trek online.
They appear to resemble crustacean, a sort of cross between insectoid and lizard like, but it’s
difficult to tell from their appearance as the ones seen stand shrouded in hooded robes. They
were around the same height as standard humanoids, and appeared do have the same basic form,
two arms, legs and a head. Their face was the only visible section and while they appeared purple
on screen, this was down to the lighting as the actual masks used in the show were green. We know
very little about their biology, despite the fact that they can seemingly survive in both subspace
and regular space time, at least for a while. Their biology was solanagen based, which appears
to be a compound or maybe and element not commonly encountered in the galaxy. In apocrypha, this is
what led to Starfleet giving them the moniker, “Solanae”, rather than Solanagen-based lifeforms.
They have clawed like hands and communicate through clicking of their mandibles, which
are just about visible on their carapaced faces. So, as mentioned, they lived in a subspace layer,
meaning that whatever biology and physiology they had, it did not have to conform to the laws
of regular space time. They were discovered by accident when warp power was supplied to
the long-range sensor array, causing the active scans of the Enterprise to pierce deep into the
depths of the subspace realms. This alerted these creatures to the presence of the starship and they
began to focus a tetryon based device upon the origin of the sensor sweeps, opening up subspace
rifts on board the vessel. Tetryon particles are unstable in our realm and can only remain stable
within layers of subspace and we’ve seen creatures such as the caretaker utilise such particles in
their technology. It’s worth noting that they too were masters of manipulating subspace.
There may be a correlation between their inhabited subspace layer and a location in the galaxy,
however subspade distances do not directly add up to lightyears so it’s hard to judge. In case
it’s relevant though, the Enterprise was in the Amargosa Diaspora, a globular cluster of stars.
In such a location, perhaps there is some subspace warping, or a weakening of the veil between the
layers, or it could just not matter at all, and it was merely the fact that the Enterprise caught
their attention which brought the Solanae over. Just in case, the exact modifications made to
the sensor system were disseminated throughout Starfleet with a warning to… well… not do that.
Their subspace rifts were accurate enough to target sleeping individuals and abduct them
when they were isolated, with little ability to be detected, which means that they must have had some
way to observe our reality through their multiple layers, to know when to take people. On the far
side of the rifts, the Solanae had formed a pocket of relative “normal” space to allow the abducted
to exist within the depths of the strange realms, normally incompatible with most life. We have seen
what happens when you bring a species into a realm it is not native too, it’s not just a case of
the atmosphere being a hazard or anything, it is literally just an incompatibility with existence.
Strangely, the Solanae seemed able to operate within this pocket of our realm, perhaps through
some tech, or maybe they just can survive it. They experimented on the crewmembers they took,
exploring anatomy through surgical dissection and reattachment of still living people and while
those that they took were sedated, snippets of the experience filtered through into their minds,
leaving vague impressions upon returning to the waking world. The experimentation eventually
escalated to lethal levels, when a crewman had his entire blood supply replaced with some form of
polymer. Yeah, that killed him outright and the reasoning behind their actions are still unknown.
They’re such a mysterious species, that it’s no wonder books, comics and games tackled them,
attempting to flesh out the empty spots, so let’s take a look at these interpretations
too. Some speculate that their experiments were to thoroughly explore the humanoid biology, to
learn how to fully survive within our space-time continuum. In further stories
gateway and unconquered, we learn that there are two factions of these Solanae,
one that wants to invade and one that does not. Little more was gleaned from the encounters,
except that one faction was peaceful. In 2386, the warp field of an experimental
ship drew the attention of them once more and the USS Titan was sent to investigate. It eventually
also discovered that the Solanae were seeking a new home because their own domain was falling
to entropy and that the experiments had the aforementioned purpose of understanding, but also
with the aim to develop weapons. Again, while all factions among the Solanae wanted to escape their
dying dimension, not all wanted to use violence to steal a new home and proved amenable to dialogue.
However, my favourite depiction is in Star Trek Online, but it is the least likely to
be acknowledged in canon material as it is all tied to the Iconian invasion of 2410. That is
a lot of baggage to drop into the main continuity of the shows, so I doubt we’ll see it implemented,
but nonetheless, here’s their backstory. During the heights of the Iconian Empire,
some 200,000 years ago they created Servitor species to do their bidding. When they vanished
from the galaxy, overthrown by an alliance of species who wanted their technology,
the became warlike and continued their plans to rebuild, still using servitors aliens.
One such selected species were the Solanae who are also the species who developed the Dyson Sphere
encountered by the USS Jenolan. These solar-system sized spheres could transition through subspace
to move when fully powered and active and were full of advanced technology
that ran on both Tetryon and Omega energy. The Solanae acted as observers and scientists for
the absent Iconians alongside another species, the Elachi and conduct their experiments to collect
data on the more advanced species of the galaxy. They also created a number of bioengineered
lifeforms to be used as weapons for Iconian use in softening up interstellar powers in preparation
for their return. One such creation was the Neural Parasite, which I have done a bestiary on.
The Solanae resided deep in subspace as a way to remain hidden from the rest of the galaxy and
could use their advanced tetryon tech to spy into multiple locations from their shrouded domain.
These two apocryphal approaches differ slightly and while I do prefer the more nefarious one,
I cannot deny that their appeal lies pretty much solely in the unexplained,
close encounters style abductions. The idea that these creatures, cowled and clicking,
scuttle about the depths of subspace, peering up at the surface until an accidental explorer delves
a little too deep and draws their attention. There are dark things that lurk beneath the surface of
the ocean that is space, things so alien and strange that they might never be understood, and
woe betide us if they realise there is more above the surface than they can see from their depths.
So what do you think of the other works shedding answers on their motivations and origin? One
paints them as just aliens who want to explore how anatomy works in regular spacetime, in order
to adapt themselves to survive. The other has them collecting information and forging monstrosities
to be used against all powers, in preparation for some arrival. Neither of these is canonical,
and honestly, I’d be happy not finding out for sure, but I would like to see them turn up
again at some point, but maintain that mystery. Thanks for watching this video on just what the
Solonagen based lifeforms are. I’ve been click, I mean Ric… and I’ll see you… soon. Goodbye.