Preserver (race)

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The Preservers were an ancient race of aliens known to have existed within the galaxy. They were known for visiting planets and removing some of the Humanoid specimens from it and transplanting them to another world.

[edit] History

It was theorized that the Preservers were preceded by the "seeders", the group that placed humanoid life throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. (ST roleplay module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook)

Over four hundred years ago, the Preservers were known to had visited the Rigel system in order to trade. They initially began with a small volume which later swelled to the flood their ships after which they faded away like hundreds of races before them. (TOS roleplay module: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge)

One of the first recorded actions was the transplantation of several Native American tribes on Earth. (TOS episode: "The Paradise Syndrome") It was also theorized that the Preservers also seeded 892-IV, or Magna Roma with Earth Romans, who established a parallel Roman Empire which lasted at least 20 centuries. (TOS episode: "Bread and Circuses"), TOS novel: Ex Machina) Despite these suspected involvements with the Preservers, there was very little evidence of their true identities although a Preserver space buoy was analyzed at Starbase 25 in the 23rd century. (TOS reference: Who's Who in Star Trek)

In 2266, a month after the Romulans were visually identified as resembling Vulcans, the Vulcan Science Academy issued a theory postulating the Preservers as responsible for the two races' shared heritage. (FASA roleplay module: Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update) In addition, during this age at a previously unexplored world, scientists from the Romulan Star Empire uncovered a series of ruins that belonged to the Preservers as well as a Stone that contained inscriptions to an unknown chemical formula. (TOS roleplay module: Graduation Exercise)

In the 2370's, there were a number of recorded encounters with constructed duplicates of important worlds which was presumably a part of the species preservation efforts. Starfleet managed to uncover at least three duplicate Earth's, four duplicate Qo'noS's, two of the planet Vulcan and one duplicate Andor. These worlds were kept highly classified by Starfleet for fear of the panic it would create to members of the United Federation of Planets. (TOS novel: Preserver (novel))

In 2376, Julian Bashir theorized that the Preservers, as well as the Founders, could have been responsible for the genetic changes to the Yrythny. (DS9 novel: This Gray Spirit) Late in that same year, a Preserver device used to shrink a planet and save it from its primary's supernova was recovered by the USS da Vinci along with Araneus, the member of the planet's race entrusted with keeping it safe. Araneus reported that the individual from which they received the pyramid-shaped device resembled a member of their own race, the arachnid-like Koas, though this could merely have been an illusion in order to better blend in on their planet. He also reported their people had made a vow to the Koas six million years ago, and though the Preservers were almost gone in the present time, they still upheld their vow through saving their planet from destruction. The planet was successfully expanded at the star Mu Arae by Bart Faulwell, ship's linguist; it proceeded to reshape the entire star system as well, moving a number of gas giants into more stable orbits that would not negatively impact the Koa homeworld, quite blatantly demonstrating the level of their engineering achievements. (SCE eBook: Small World)

By the year 2378, there were many critics and proponents on the matter of whether the Preservers were real or not. However, it was discovered that the Preservers were responsible for placing one of their obelisks at a secret base used by the First Federation in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of Emperor Tiberius Kirk. They were also involved in deploying a much larger obelisk around the Mirror Universe counterpart of Halkan and attempted to destroy the Mirror Universe by channeling a massive amount of energy into the alternate reality but these actions were stopped by James T. Kirk. (TOS novels: Dark Victory, Preserver (novel))

Its possible that the Anu'anshee race may have been the Preservers.

[edit] Controversy

There was much controversy over the existence and actions of the Preservers.

Critics of the theory argued that the preservation efforts that were documented were similar to the colonization as well as the spread of many space going civilizations. They believed that the myth of the Preservers were actually the efforts and accomplishments of dozens of unrelated extinct cultures. These critics thus believed that all their actions were attributed to a single all encompassing civilization.

Proponents, however, pointed out the existence of the Preserver obelisks as proof that a single culture was responsible for the seedings of various planets in the galaxy. But critics were quick to point out that other races may have duplicated the construction of the obelisk and that they served as a universal cultural talisman for the efforts made in preservation.

Those that took the practice of Psychohistory, believed that the Preservers were a guiding force in the development of the Federation. In fact, they were believed to be directly responsible for influencing events as diverse as First Contact between Humanity and Vulcans to the assignment of James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. To the psychohistorians, the Preservers were responsible for choosing such individuals to command positions in order for them to serve unwittingly as their agents. (TOS novels: Dark Victory, Preserver (novel))