HOMEWORLD: Fifth planet in Ocampa System, Delta Quadrant
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Independent
CLASSIFICATION: Preserved Industrial Level
PREMIERE EPISODE: "Caretaker [VOY]"
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| NAME: Ocampa
HOMEWORLD: Fifth planet in Ocampa System, Delta Quadrant POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Independent CLASSIFICATION: Preserved Industrial Level PREMIERE EPISODE: "Caretaker [VOY]" |
The Ocampa homeworld, the fifth planet in its system, is located in the Delta Quadrant about 70,000 light-years from the Badlands. It is a desolate world with almost no surface water. 1000 years ago, Nacene explorers inadvertantly damaged the planet's atmosphere so badly that all nucleogenic particles were removed, thus rendering the atmosphere incapable of producing rain. The Nacene left two of their kind behind to "repay the debt that could never be repaid" to the Ocampa. The male Nacene, known as the Caretaker to the Ocampa, lead the endangered species through tunnels into a vast underground city constructed especially for the Ocampa. The Caretaker provided them with food, entertainment, water from subterranean sources, and power from his space-bourn Array. The Ocampa remained there for 500 generations.
The Ocampa are a relatively short-lived race by human standards. Most only live nine years. Of course, from the Ocampa perspective, this seems a very long time. The Ocampa life-cycle is broken up into major periods of biological change. The elogium is the time of female sexual maturation. During the elogium, which usually takes place between the ages of four and five, a mitral sac forms on the back to serve as a place of growth for a child. The ipasaphor, a sticky yellow substance, appears on the hands for the six-day mating bond. Once the ipasaphor has appeared, mating must commence within 52 hours. The final stage of the Ocampa life-cycle is the morilogium, during which the body prepares for death. The Ocampa bury their dead in the soil and believe that the comra, or soul, moves on to an afterlife. Taper candles are often used in ritual meditations that are part of the grieving process. The Ocampa are natural telepaths within their own species, and can telepathically communicate with non-Ocampa as well.
The Ocampa were ruled by Elders, and these Elders were charged with discovering the wishes of the Caretaker who had taken on a god-like quality to the Ocampa populace. After the Ocampa had lived under the guidance of the Caretaker for 700 years, the female Nacene decided to leave her mate, seeking "more interesting places" and took several hundred Ocampa with her.
By 2371, a dissident movement had grown among the younger generation. They had moved out of the city and begun to provide for themselves. They were fascinated by ancient stories that the Ocampa had once had extraordinary mental capacities. The Elders claimed the stories were apocryphal, but the dissidents believed they had only become dormant after centuries of dependence on the Caretaker.
In 2371, when Kes joined the crew of Voyager, whe began exhibiting signs of advanced psi-abilites. These included precognition, eidetic memory, and mild telekinetic powers. When Voyager encountered the female Nacene, called Suspiria by her followers, they discovered that the Ocampa living on the Array could live for 20 years and had the amazing ability to control objects at a molecular level and to direct the flow of life-energy. Suspiria had been working with the Ocampa to regain their abilities so they could join her in a subspacial realm they called Exosia. After being exposed to the telepathic energies of Species 8472 in 2373, Kes began to hyper-evolve. Eventually she became a being of pure energy and moved to another plain of existence. It is possible that this is the future awaiting all of the Ocampa.
XENOLOGICAL DATABASE
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