SPECIES: BAJORAN

Bajorans are humanoid in form and function with the exception of a ridged nose. Slight deviations from Terran human physiology can be detected through different reactions to body changes. During pregnancy, Bajoran females do not nauseate, instead they react by sneezing. Bajoran fetuses are also irremovable due to the high degree of vascularization in the placental/uterine interface.

Bajoran culture flourished for 500,000 years. In time, the Bajorans became a race of master artisans, architects, and scholars whose lives are centered around their faith. Their deeply religious culture honor the "Prophets" who guide the Bajorans from high above in the Celestial Temple. They believe in guidance from the prophecies revealed to ancient religious men much in the same way as the Greeks believed in Delphi Oracles. Among the prophesies, many are given of an Emissary of the Prophets who is destined to find the Celestial Temple and so become the savior of Bajor. Commander Sisko found himself in the uncomfortable dual role of religious figure and Starfleet officer at once when he boarded the station. It was only after several years had passed that he became comfortable with the demands of both roles. There are hundreds of prophecies concerning the Emissary, some of which could be interpreted to have come true since Sisko's arrival. Within the religious texts of Bajoran faith, safe passage through the Bajoran wormhole is seen as the blessing of the Prophets.  The Prophets are the central figures of the Bajoran faith, transcendent entities who exist in a non-linear time frame. Bajoran faith believes the Prophets to be the embodiment of truth, who reveals their wisdom through visions given by the Orbs. The Prophets are also the ones who replenish the life force of Bajorans, the pagh" that allows existence. Bajorans believe that the pagh is a spiritual force  inherent to all sentient beings and that the Prophets replenish the pagh of the living from the Celestial Temple.

Approximately 10,000 years ago the first Orb, with eight others to follow, appeared in the skies of Bajor. Taken as a gift from the Prophets to endow their followers with wisdom and insight, the Orbs were traditionally housed in sacred shrines at temples and monasteries around Bajor. Each Orb has a different function. After the Occupation, only one from the original nine Orbs remained.  Through the years, three have been recovered and are currently in the hands of the Bajoran people. The four Orbs are:

The Ninth Orb: Green energy form. It places the user into a vivid distant memory
The Third Orb: Blue energy form. It is also known as the Orb of Prophesy and Change. It presents the user with a surrealist projection of the future, open to interpretation but usually correct in some way.
The Orb of Wisdom:Pink energy form It forces overseen knowledge into the user's attention.
The Orb of Time:Purple energy form. It can transfer users back or forwards in time.

Ancient Bajorans lived their lives according to the d'jarra caste system. A Bajoran's social status and vocation was dictated by the d'jarra at birth and usually indicated in part within the design of the earring. Passed on for generations, the system was abandoned during the Occupation, when every Bajoran became subservient of the Cardassian Guls. The identity of Bajorans is intrinsically connected to their earring. The designs is often deeply connected to family lineage and the archaic d'jarra, but some religious figures and Militia officers are known to change their earrings to better adapt to their line of work. The earring is most often worn on the right ear, and is usually diamide-laced birithium in substance.

Bajoran custom places the family name before an individual name. Major Kira Nerys is therefor correctly addressed as Major Kira while her actual name is Nerys. The titles of Bajoran rank also are tied to their religious rank. The Kai is the spiritual leader of Bajoran faithful, and a new Kai is named only when the preceding Kai dies or is incapacitated. The Vedek assembly of 112 influential spiritual leaders is lower than the Kai and acts as assistant and preacher to the masses. The political leadership of Bajor is given to the First Minister, who can be any Bajoran national chosen by democratic election. The current Provisional Government has been in place since the withdrawal of Cardassian forces.

500 millennia ago Bajor was already a flourishing civilization, culturally rich and technologically advanced. Their faith gave the people the peace and harmony of life while fostering the philosophers, architects, and builders that are the pride of Bajoran culture.  10,000 years ago, the first of nine Orbs fell from the sky, and the present Bajoran faith was founded on the wisdom imparted from Orb-generated visions. In between these ancient times and the 22nd century, Bajoran explorers would travel through near-space with their tachyon accelerated space vessels, coming in contact with nearby Cardassia, whose people were then as peaceful and religious as themselves.

Thousands of years passed. Cardassia Prime became a starved planet that was beset by problems caused by its lack of natural resources. When the military, sickened by the weakness of its civilian government, seized control of the state, they believed that only expansion will allow Cardassians to survive. Ruthless conquest of nearby systems followed, and the Empire lost no time in plotting to annex neighboring Bajor.  The Bajoran faith could not have prepare them for the superior military forces of Cardassia, and the planet fell to Cardassian forces in 2328. During the years of Cardassian Occupation, which spanned from its formal annexation in 2339 to the withdrawal in 2369, 10 million Bajorans were killed and many times more forced into slave labor in mines and labor camps by the Cardassian occupational government. In 2351 the Cardassians built the mining station Terok Nor in the orbit of Bajor to process minerals from the surface and prepare them for transport. Throughout the 30 years of the Occupation, the underground resistance relentlessly bombed and sabotaged Cardassia's organized government, knowing full well the Cardassians would retaliate with three times the ferocity. Resistance cells such as the Shakaar, the Higa Metar, the Khon-Ma and the Ornathia cells engaged the Cardassians in guerrilla warfare in the mountains of Bajor, and despite their vastly inferior numbers, somehow always managed to escape Cardassian pursuit. Though millions died during the Occupation, the violent opposition to Cardassian rule finally made the decision-makers back on Cardassia Prime change their stance on Bajor.  In 2369, the Bajor-Cardassia Armistice was signed, and Cardassian Supreme Directive 26/45 issued, which provided for the full retreat of Cardassian presence from Bajor. After some initial chaos and anarchy, the newly erected Bajoran Provisional Government signed the Ilvian Proclamation that exiled all and any person who had collaborated with the Occupation's Cardassian forces. Though free at last from the authoritarian rule of Cardassia, the world of Bajor was left shattered. Defenseless and struggling to recover from the decades of war and deprivation, the Bajoran provisional government requested the Federation to administer to the operations of Terok Nor,  abandoned after the hasty withdrawal. Designated as space station Deep Space Nine by Starfleet, Commander BenjaminSisko arrived on board with his senior officers to help oversee the rebuilding of Bajor and restore the station to working order. Cardassian policy dictates that anything of value which cannot be taken must be sabotaged or rendered useless  and Terok Nor was accordingly trashed by the Cardassians before they left it to the Bajorans.  Shortly after Sisko's arrival on Deep Space Nine, Kai Opaka announced that he was the long-awaited Emissary -- the one who would seek out the Celestial Temple and speak with the Prophets. Though quietly skeptical of the whole idea about being a religious icon, Sisko consequently did go on to discover the wormhole and later spoke with the alien entities Bajorans believe to be their Prophets.

The Bajorans signed a peace treaty with the Cardassians and this promised Cardassian reparations.  The Bajorans halted their admission into the Federation so it could renmain neutral in the war with the Dominion, they ensured their safety by signing a non-aggression pact with the Dominion.  After the war Bajor became a full member of the Federation.