For other uses, see Raven.

The Ravens were a civilization of alien humanoid lifeforms that originated somewhere outside of the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Their name was given to them by fearful space travelers who fell victim to attacks by the creatures in the 22nd and 23rd centuries.

No physical or recorded proof of the Ravens' existence was ever found until the 2260s when the USS Enterprise was attacked by Ravens that had subsumed a Frenni crew aboard a caravan of trading starships. Following this encounter, the Enterprise did laboratory analysis of Raven corpses found in space after the attack.

The average members of the Raven species have two distinct stages of development, as young hatchlings that respond to direct control from a mother creature, and later as independent beings after going through a metamorphosis when they ingest brain tissue from another sentient lifeform. At this stage of their lives, Ravens display personality traits from the subsumed brain's previous owner, but are still sensitive to the needs of the mother creature. (TOS novel: Dreams of the Raven)