Hell, Ric here looking into the more monstrous creatures from the Star Trek universe, this
time, visiting the quarantined world of Vagra II and its single occupant; the vile Armus.
This being has already proven to be both malevolent and lethal, but technically this isn’t its
fault, it’s not a choice, it just is evil. Literally.
In the Zed Lapis Sector of the Alpha Quadrant. Despite there being a spaceport in this sector,
many of its systems are overlooked, probably because there’s not much of interest to
draw Federation attention. However, the Vagra system was once home to an interstellar power
that had long since abandoned its planet. Due to a shuttle crash, the danger in this
system was revealed in 2364 when, passing close to the second planet of the system,
the shuttle seemingly malfunctioned and was pulled down. The planet itself has a barely
habitable atmosphere for humans and little flora with no fauna, making it probably a
class H world, which is a terrestrial world with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere but no
other requirements for life to flourish or maybe a class L.
The native species had departed an unknown amount of time ago, but it must have been
at least centuries to have never been observed by any of the species that make up the Federation.
We can assume this from the lack of information on the system in the UFP libraries, but the
complete lack of apparent structures on Vagra II suggests it could even have been longer.
Civilizations leave a trace and its must have been millennia for it all to fade to dust.
They were described as a race of “Titans” however this is not even revealed to be in
relation to their size, it could be in reference to their level of achievement, or something.
Either way, they developed a way to literally detoxify themselves of negativity, purging
undesirable emotions and destructive drive. How and why, again has been lost to time,
but this process literally pulled a viscous, black liquid from within their bodies which
they removed. However, this collective pool of negativity
developed a consciousness of its own and the Titans of Vagra fled their world, as more
enlightened and beautiful creatures, casting the remnants to their planet’s surface.
This detritus was completely beholden to the emotions and thoughts that had formed its
being, anger, resentfulness, spite, hatred and so on. As such it was fuelled by a ceaseless
anger about being abandoned while its creators left for their new lives. I suspect that the
complete desolation of the planet may have even been at the hands of this being, now
calling itself Armus. It seems very in character for such a being to lash out and destroy the
triumphs of the society that made it until all that remained was ashen dust.
The being itself had no discernible cellular structure, no blood nor organs, no nervous
system any apparent way to move or communicate. Yet it lived, reacted, emitted audible noise
and even learned to talk, it was therefore sentient in a way. It’s appearance as a
thick black ooze allowed it to shape itself into a variety of forms but it existed as
a pool for most of its time. It was aware of its surroundings in any form and was able
to discern the nature of individuals approaching and technology from organic matter it despite
lacking sensory organs. With the passage of time, Armus’ rage, while
not diminishing (for it could not), became at the very least, focused and controlled
and its intellect returned. It soon discovered that it could exert an energy field around
itself and over time, tested its abilities, learning that it could reach out at least
as far as the orbit of its prison world. This is what caused the shuttle crash of Shuttlepod
13 and the subsequent rescue operation. Within the confines of its energy field domain,
it had extensive power, including the ability to telekinetically throw people, teleport
them around and fire lethal energy blasts. These energy bolts destroyed the synapses,
causing instant death in the target. On top of this, the force field it generated acted
as a disruption to most Federation technologies, effectively a potent dampening field against
transporters, scanners and communications. Weapons still worked in its presence however
that does little good. Firing upon Armus achieved nothing, even on
full power as it seemingly fed of the energy of Federation hand phasers. There’s no explanation
as to how it does this but the idea that it feeds of off aggressive actions is thematically
on point with its nature. All of its abilities seem to focus around the manipulation of energy,
from the synaptic charge of a nervous system, to the power of a shuttle and the absorption
of an energised nadion stream from a phaser. It also showed the ability to envelope humans
into its being, even in its liquid state and absorb knowledge from them. While the victim
was within its grasp, Armus could inflict insufferable pain and harm on them. More than
this through, its spiteful nature ensured it enjoyed harming others, even killing Lieutenant
Tasha Yar just to prove it really was a dick. On top of all of this, it seems to be immortal,
having a form that defied scientific understanding and judging by the ancient departure of its
creators. In terms of weaknesses, it is not all omniscient, even within its own domain
and therefore fallible. It was able to be distracted and was easily incited to rage,
which led to a decrease in the scrambling effect of its energy field. This suggests
that maintenance of the field required its concentration. Also, on a more conceptual
level, it displayed a lack of understanding of more moral and “good” actions and therefore
was unable to predict actions motivated by compassion.
Ultimately, Armus wanted to escape the confines of the planet and find its creators to exact
revenge, as well as inflict a great deal of suffering along the way in an attempt to appease
its incomplete nature. As a result of the danger it poses and the deaths it caused,
Vagra II was placed under Federation Quarantine to all, with not even science teams allowed
down to study the creature. It was deemed that the risk of it becoming spaceborne through
the acquisition of any interstellar craft is too great alongside its inclination to
do harm to others. Armus is undoubtedly one of the evillest creatures
ever encountered in Star Trek, being formed of the worst aspects of an ancient species.
But as I mentioned in the introduction, is it really its fault? It is born form the suffering
of an entire species’ negativity and that is all it has known, and all it ever will.
It is literally an evil incarnate, and therefore, beyond any form of redemption.
Thanks for watching the Trek bestiary on the skin of evil, Armus. There are some other
creatures our there that I am going to take a look at, not all of them hostile such as
the Horta and some, like the Ceti eel are simply creatures, even through they do have
some nasty effects. So until then, thanks for watching this lore video and until the
next, thanks again, I’ve been Ric and goodbye!