Hey, yeah you. Dragons. They’re cool right? And they’re in Star Trek lore
too. Hi, Ric here and well… dragons! One of the first references to dragons, or
at least Dragon-like creatures is from the early 22nd century when T’pol summarises a survey report
from a Vulcan team in the Berengaria system. Specifically, they had been looking over the
7th planet in the system, an M-class world devoid of intelligent life. They had to recall the survey
team because of nearby Orion Syndicate activity but there was a brief addendum noting the presence
of 200 metre long, winged lizards that could breathe fire. This was met with some scepticism by
the crew, but the fact that it was from a Vulcan’s official report sort of negates the possibility
of it being a joke. Later on, in the 23rd century, Spock would also reference seeing these creatures.
What’s more, the world was earmarked as a potential site for colonisation by Starfleet
and by 2156, in apocrypha, it saw the beginnings of a scientific outpost, alongside the Vulcan one.
Turns out, there be dragons. Draco Berengarius was the designation selected for this species and they
varied in length from 15 metres to the reported hundreds. However, despite their appearance,
scaled, reptilian and with six limbs including their wings, their behaviour was rather unlike
the Dragons of mythology. These were primarily herbivores and could not fly based purely on the
lift that their wings could generate. They were aided in lift by their specialised biology. They
could extract hydrogen from the water they drank and stored it in buoyancy glands within their body
in the abdomen and tail. In addition to using the lighter-than-air gas to float,
they could also expel it and ignite it to literally breathe fire. They were mostly docile,
although there are document incidents of travellers being mauled by them.
In 2156, during the opening months of the Earth-Romulan War, Berengaria was attacked
from orbit by Romulan forces that bombed the Vulcan installation and a great number
of these creatures were caught in the blasts as well. Nice to see then that the Dragons managed
to get some measure of revenge when the Romulan ground forces got too close to their territory.
The system was eventually retaken by the Coalition of Planets, but by 2293, Draco Berengarius was on
the Federation’s protected species list. The fascination with Dragons does not end
with Berengaria however. The Hysperian Dragons are native to the planet Hysperia which sees
a human colony on its surface by the late 24th century. Aside from it being an M class planet,
with dragon like creatures on it, the culture of its inhabitants was shaped by humans who sought to
emulate renaissance era Earth, without forfeiting the technological advancement mankind had wrought.
Their technology was given a fantastical flair and as they were not a Federation member world,
it developed with its own unique style. Unfortunately, while much of their culture
is shown, we do not get to see the actual dragons. But they are seemingly tame enough to be used as
pets, although these utterances are spread from word of mouth so mayhap
these truths be feigned. I prithee partake of granules of salt upon ingesting this tale.
Moving on. The planet Maravel also houses some flying reptilian creatures;
however we never see these directly, only a species native to Lactra VII that apparently
strongly resembled them. They are said to be resistant to phaser fire and appear to be more
akin to winged snakes than traditional dragons or wyverns, but they certainly screeched a lot.
The most direct Dragon that we see, now that the animated series has been added to continuity,
is the tale of Kukulkan. In 2270, the Enterprise was dispatched after a probe entered into the
core UFP territories and scanned their worlds, including Earth before beaming its findings
off into space and self-destructing. Kirk and crew followed the trajectory of the signal and
eventually encountered a very powerful and strange alien vessel, one twice the mass of a constitution
class and surrounded by an energy field. Despite approaching at warp, the Enterprise was seized
by a force bubble, generated by the approaching ship that resisted any attempt to push through,
even at warp. It was also noted that the bubble prevented them from also simply splattering
the Enterprise all over it, what with what should have been a trans-luminal collision.
Additionally, their energy weapons could not penetrate it, so we’re talking a very powerful
and advanced level of technology when compared to 23rd century Starfleet. The energy field the
surrounded the belligerent however, then shifted into the form of a giant feathered serpent,
resembling Kukulkan, a Mayan God. In mythology there is a Yucatec and
Itza Mayan diety of the same name, references to this Kukulkan appear to be of both a god and
individuals sharing the name, confusing matters somewhat. Additionally, it appears that the Aztec
god of similar description, and best Final Fantasy 8 summon, Quetzalcoatl also heavily influence
later depictions of Kukulkan. On top of this, many Mesoamerican groups from history have altering
tales of Kukulkan and a variety of mythological stories concerning its place in their history,
not to mention the many appearances of the “feathered serpent” god by different names.
My research on these is likely to do the topic a disservice so I won’t dive too deeply into them
all. Under the interpretation of Quetzalcoatl, he was associated with learning, writing, wind,
fire and the creation of civilization. Generally, his actions were seen as severe, occasionally
duplicitous but ultimately benefiting humanity and aspects of forming society.
This feathered serpent in Trek, is the last surviving member of his own species,
who had succumbed to war-like behaviour and either destroyed themselves, or been wiped out. Kukulkan
left his desolated homeworld and struck out on his own, extremely long-lived, perhaps immortal,
he eventually succumbed to the intense loneliness of his existence and began to visit other species.
Back in 2270, now, he abducted members of the Enterprise and held them in a simulated
environment aboard his ship. This was no holodeck however, but an elaborate illusion created in the
minds of the abducted using the hyper-advanced telepathic technology that Kukulkan had at its
disposal. This appeared to be how he controlled his vessel, which was also home to many species of
animal from all across the galaxy that he had taken an interest in protecting. However,
they were all held in a similar state of mental illusion, while their bodies were kept healthy
through life support. Still don’t think that’s all that great, guy literally made the matrix as
a zoo. Anyway, he revealed to Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Walking Bear, that he had indeed visited Earth
in its pre-warp days and taken an interest in humans. He and descended upon them, teaching
them peaceful ways to guide their society over several centuries. Based upon the civilisation
that he had telepathically shown to Kirk and crew, he had influenced several societies on Earth,
ones separated by continents. The exact dates were not given, but it was during the formation of
at least the Mayan civilization, potentially as far back as the early dynastic Egyptians,
some 5200 years ago. From Kirk’s time. He then left instructions with each civilisation
he visited on how to construct a utopian city, that would have required their cooperation,
gifted them an accurate calendar to record the passage of time, and departed, presumably to
find another species to guide. The schematics he had left were not only for a city, but a structure
that could double as a transmitter. His plan was; that when mankind united in peace to build this
city, it would signal him to return, perhaps to evaluate his children or rule…
However, this never came to pass, because humans weren’t exactly ready for that level
of cooperation. And still aren’t to be fair. So it was that time passed, memories of Kukulkan
faded into mythology and were interpreted a myriad of different ways by differing cultures.
With no signal arriving from Earth, and to be fair he waited at least two and half millennia,
he eventually sent a probe to find out what was up, the probe encountered in 2270.
He was upset by what he had found, seeing how far mankind had developed, but how they had
also developed powerful weapons and he ultimately assumed the worst. Hence this big display he was
putting on in an attempt to humble and cowed mankind into following his lessons once more,
the path to peace that he had meticulously planned out for us. Kirk argues, quite correctly that we
are not children to be handheld to a peaceful solution, and that it would be meaningless
anyway if we did not achieve it on our own. Eventually, Kukulkan is persuaded that he needn’t
interfere in the direction mankind had taken, and he retreats with his menagerie once more.
Putting aside the story, this is a direct reveal that a powerful entity once meddled
in the cultures of Earth as other have been documented to have done. The difference is, this
one went on to inspire countless legends and myths across Earth, including the Mesoamerican gods,
as well as the images of the Dragon, the Chinese Lung in particular.
At least according to in-universe Trek lore. In addition to the alien fauna seen here, there
are numerous other designs and renditions around the galaxy of Dragons and dragon like creatures,
such as at Bahrat’s Space Station, which had dragon styled tables. Naturally, the real-life
reason for this is, you know, cheap props, but in universe I like to believe this signifies
that the pervasive dragon mythos of Earth is in fact as wide spread as the Delta Quadrant. With
creatures such as Kukulkan out there, as well as entities fond of posing as myths such as the Q,
the spreading of the mythology of dragons is not so unbelievable. So perhaps,
alongside these noted alien creatures, there is a race of monstrous beasties out there,
exactly like the ones from the fantastical tales. If not, there’s always the holodeck.
Thank you for watching this video on Dragons! Oh and Star Trek. I didn’t just make this video
because Dragons are cool and I wanted to talk about them ever since I found
out they existed in Star Trek too. Ok, I’ve been Ric, thanks again and goodbye!