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The Confederacy proved very influential in its first weeks of fighting, thanks to their previously unknown energy dampening weapon, in addition to their conventional forces. The weapon proved decisive in the Second Battle of Chin'toka, allowing the Dominion to retake the system after inflicting huge losses on the Allies. This, of course, served as proverbial "salt in the wound," as it followed a surprise attack on the Federate capital. Evenetually the Allies were able to capture an example of the Breen weapon and develop a countermeasure. The Breen continued to fight on the side of the Dominion until the end of the war, demonstrating a willingness to die for the cause comparable to that of the Jem'Hadar. The Breen issue disruptor-style sidearms as standard for military personnel. Current Status. The Breen and UGC currently don't have a relationship of any sort as the Breen refuse to speak to the Council and severely limit contact with any intermediaries on their behalf. As a result, the Council has closed Breen off to the rest of the universe, going so far as to interdict Breen herself for about 10 years. This blockade was eventually lifted when the Confederacy through an intermediary agreed to stay out of UGC allied systems, allowing them to trade with non-Council systems once again. It is generally believed that language is the barrier to diplomatic relations with the Confederacy; What little the Council has gotten out of them indicates that even for native speakers their language is difficult to master. As a possible sign of thawing in this impasse the Confederacy requested T'sentraedi language instruction via third party sources. Nothing has come of these efforts after 75 years, but it's still believed this might be a better sign for the future. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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History And Politics Shrouded in mystery, the Breen were one of the most underestimated races inhabiting the Alpha Quadrant. Historically, the Klingons were among the first to discover the consequences of underestimating the Breen. During the Klingon Second Empire, Chancellor Mow'ga ordered an entire fleet of Klingon warships to invade and conquer the Breen homeworld. The fleet never returned and was never heard from again. Even by the 24th Century, much was still unknown about the Breen and their otherwise politically nonaligned government, known as the Breen Confederacy. The Federation, however, had limited knowledge of the Breen and was aware of Breen outposts located near a black cluster in 2368. In 2370, the Breen participated in a palio held at Deep Space 3, during which the Fereng attempted to bribe the Breen pilot into throwing the race. In 2373, the Breen settlements on Portas V near the Demilitarized Zone dealt with the Maquis, supplying them with cold-storage units. It was noted by Ezri Dax in 2375, when captured by the Breen on a planet in the Goralis system, that they were a long way from Breen space. Other species like the Fereng had developed closer ties with the Breen by the late 24th Century, as both species conducted trade negotiations in 2373. By that same year, the K'Hardishuns Union maintained an embassy on the Breen homeworld. Breen privateers during the 24th Century would often conduct indiscriminate raids against other Alpha Quadrant species. This includes the Breen attack and capture of the K'Hardishuns transport Ravinok in 2366. The survivors of that attack were used for slave labor in the Breen operated dilithium mines on Dozaria. In 2368, Starfleet feared the Breen might have attacked the science vessel Vico. Breen privateers also raided the Bajoran colony of Free Haven in 2372 but were driven away. Alliance with the Dominion In 2375, the Breen moved from a policy of low-level hostilities toward other major powers to one of open warfare when they allied themselves with the Dominion. They were then allowed access to the Dominion militry database. According to the terms of the alliance, the Breen Confederacy received several planets in the K'Hardishuns Union as compensation for joining the war. Shortly after joining with the Dominion, the Breen attacked Starfleet Headquarters on Earth. A short time later they assisted Dominion forces in breaking the lines at Chin'toka. Under orders from the Female Changeling, the Breen allowed escape pods to carry the Federation survivors to safety. This major battle, known as the Second Battle of Chin'toka, was won by the Dominion thanks to a unique Breen device, a kind of energy dampening weapon which could completely drain all the main power systems of a starship. Both of these defeats dealt a huge blow to the Allies' morale. The only ship immune to the Breen weapon was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, which serendipitously survived thanks to a repair the chief engineer had made to the ship's tritium intermix in the warp core (see below) Although the Klingon fleet was able to make the needed adjustments against the weapon, the Federation and the Romulans were still unable to defend against the Breen. When the Federation finally did create a defense against the energy dampening weapon, they forced the Dominion fleet to retreat. The Breen official Thot Pran expressed an extreme distaste for surrender, and required the reassurance of the Female Changeling that, instead of surrendering, they were in fact regrouping and attempting to redouble their shipbuilding and replenishment efforts. With the necessary countermeasures against the Breen's energy dampening weapon obtained, the Federation Alliance was able to go on the offensive once again, choosing to invade K'Hardish Prime itself. In hopes of raising the Breen's will to fight, the Female Changeling offered them control of Earth and Romulus if they succeeded in winning the battle. However, she then told Weyoun this was a political promise, merely designed as motivation. In the interest of maintaining the alliance, the Breen were positioned ahead of the Jem'Hadar. During the Battle of K'Hardish, the Breen were still able to inflict major casualties on the allies, even without the use of their energy dampening weapon. Up to a third of the allies' entire fleet was destroyed during the battle, including the Romulan flagship. The Breen continued to fight for the Dominion until the end of the war, demonstrating a willingness to die for the cause which matched that of the Jem'Hadar. However, when the K'Hardishuns forces switched sides mid-battle, the Dominion and Breen were forced to withdraw to K'Hardish Prime. After Odo convinced the Female Changeling to surrender, the Dominion War ended. As allies of the Dominion, the Breen leaders were present during the signing of the Treaty of Bajor. Physiology Breen physiology is among the most exotic for humanoid lifeforms, which may be due, in part, to their homeworld's climate. The Breen have no blood or other liquid circulatory system. The Breen brain is structured into four lobes; this protects them from the probing of some empathic species, such as the Betazoids, who are unable to detect the thoughts or emotions of the Breen. No outsider had ever seen what a Breen looked like under their refrigeration suits and lived. Even after joining the Dominion, their appearance was unknown to their new allies, who couldn't help but wonder what they look like. Breen appear physically more resilient than most humanoids; When even a Clingohn struck a Breen in the late 24th Century, the Breen proceeded to incapacitate him with a neural truncheon, seemingly oblivious to the assault. The Breen constantly wear refrigeration suits in order to maintain a cold temperature like that on their homeworld. The K'Hardishunss, as a physically warm-natured species that maintained an embassy on the planet, described it as extremely cold and "cold as a Breen winter" is an expression to mean "very cold." Society And Culture The Breen commonly produce offspring at a very early age, at about the equivalence in physical growth of Human third grade children. The Breen entertain their offspring with nursery rhymes. Breen nursery rhymes can be made up of a heterophonic, five-line verse with an alternating tetrameter and pentameter structure. These are nonsensical phrases strung together because they rhyme (at least to the Breen). Some Breen music, which can accompany these nursery rhymes, is written on a Lyxian scale. Treatment Of Prisoners The Breen are known to use slave labor, and at least some of these slaves are captured in raids on other species. When the Breen were using Bajoran slaves to mine dilithium ore, there were always at least eight guards within the mines. The Breen are very prudent when dealing with prisoners. When capturing prisoners, the Breen typically stun them from long range with their disruptors, rather than approaching them and risking close combat. Prisoners are fed diet of algae paste. Aboard starships, the Breen typically send in three guards at a time when they wish to remove a single prisoner from a cell that is being shared with other prisoners. To extract information from captives, the Breen use cortical implants, despite the severe pain and damage it causes to the recipient. Language To Human ears the Breen lanuguage sounds like garbled electronic sounds. Universal translators need to be adjusted in order to properly translate the syntax. Just short of a century ago the Confederacy requested Tśentrædi language instruction, but nothing has come of this to date. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Given that most known humanoid species live on class M planets with an average temperature far above the temperature of Breen, the Breen had to develop refrigeration suits in order to co-exist with others. The Breen were known for their knowledge of sophisticated cold-storage units, summed up in the adage "If anyone knows how to keep things cold, it's the Breen." During the 2360s, the Breen were known for their development of organic technology, which they employed in the construction of their spacecraft; Some of their vessels were fitted with a de facto cloaking device of being semi-organic; Radar and other standard sensors of the era weren't equipped to detect living object is the hard vacuum of space. Breen warships utilize energy dampening weapons. The Breen made use of memory probing technology in the form of cortical implants and neural truncheons for subduing prisoners.
The Breen TARA-Class privateer ships was a vessel used by the Breen Confederacy in the late-24th century. History In 2366, two Breen warships attacked the K'Hardishuns transport Ravinok forcing it to crash land on the planet Dozaria. Its survivors were forced to work in a nearby Breen dilithium mine. In late 2375, the Breen became allies of the Dominion, where they committed a large fleet of warships to join the war effort. The Federate first encountered the ships in combat during the Second Battle of Chin'toka. The K'Hardishuns and Dominion ships held back while the Breen engaged Allied forces. The ships had been equipped with energy dissipators that disabled the Allied ships' engines, weapons, and shields. The weapon was instrumental in defeating the Allied fleet and forcing the Alliance from the Chin'toka system, losing the only enemy territory that they held in K'Hardishuns space. Fortunately, the Klingon Bird-of-Prey IKS KI'TANG was not affected, leading to a defense being discovered. Even without the energy dampening weapon, the Breen warships proved to be formidable. One such ship destroyed Legate Damar's ship during the Battle of K'Hardish, outmaneuvering all Federate ships, displaying exemplary maneuverability. Besides the energy dissipator, Breen warships mainly attack with torpedo weapons fired from at least three forward launchers at the pikes of the ship. Several Breen warships were destroyed during the Dominion's retreat when the K'Hardishunss joined the Allies The Breen refer to their ships as the GOR TAAN (there word for starship); One was known to be the TYKK, CHEL GRETT, GOR PORTAS, and RAV LAEST; They are individually named for their commander. Armaments And Defenses. The TARA-Class are armed with twin Mk 75 photon torpedo launchers, twin Type X Disruptors, and "energy dampening weapon," a cloaking device, and stochastic field emitters shored shields. Up to 14 auxiliary craft can also be included, normally Breen fighters. "Energy Dampening Weapon." Actually, not much is really known about the energy dampening system; The weapon works by draining the energy of targeted ships, disabling their engines, weapons, and shields, thus making them easy targets for conventional weapons. The Breen are not sharing this technology, which is good in some respects; It would make piracy dangerously easy. Unknown to the Breen, however, the UGC long ago developed this same weapons technology, and found the same fatal flaw; Certain mixes of alloys dissipate the energy (it is, itself, a form of energy) too rapidly for it to be effective- It effectively "grounds out" the ship. Critical Analysis. The Atran empires had real reason to fear the Breen forces due to the energy dampeners, but because the REF's technpology base is so vastly different it's of highly limited effect. Judged ability to ability, the REF's technology is equal to or slightly lower than the Breen's, but the technology diffrence has been likened to AC versus DC; The two power types are simply incompatible, and attempts to meet them typically results in one or both systems burning out (occasionally spectacularly). Such is the case when the Breen have attempted to use energy dampeners on REF warships; The dampener emitters crash and sometimes even catch fire. To date only one emitter was able to be brought back on-line, with a second attempt to used the device resulting in an explosive system failure, probably killing several crew members. No TARA-Class ship has been taken intact by the UGC. In fact, only enough parts have been recovered to reconstruct half a ship, and in no way does the UGC truly understand how the ships operate. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Due to the secrecy of the Breen not much is known about their society. This includes their militry; What is known is that it is not a militry in the traditional sense, but rather a militia where all members are expected to serve part time across the totality
Breen forces are always seen with their exposure suits (with cooling equipment included), body armor, and sidearm. It's unclear if they have long arms at this time, though they've been seen in the past. Breen Militia Ranks. Not much is really known about the Breen militias, but the following has been observed extensively. Domo Supreme LeaderHead of the Breen Council. Tha'thot is a title in the Breen space and is supreme thot. The title roughly means, "chief leader of the battle forces. A tha'thot was elected by the ruling Breen council and as such if political winds changed so could the tha'thot. This could cause problems when the Breen Confederacy is at war if a replaced tha'thot chooses to defy the council. Tha'Thot: A militia commander. They are 'roughly' equivalent to a Commodore (a senior ship's Captain), in that they command several ships, but may not hold the equivalent rank of "Captain" (Colonel in the ASF, Army, and Marine). Supreme CommanderChosen to lead the Breen navy. Uthot Commodre/Fleet Captain Sub-fleet commodore. Each tilga'kar (sub-fleet) fell under the command of an uthot appointed by the thot of the fleet. Thot: The thot of a species, or his appointed representative, commanded a fleet of mixed race, subject to the orders of the tha'thot. Commadore, or commander a task force subject to the orders of the tha'thot. A high-ranking military officers (usually commanding officers of ships) in the Breen Confederacy. The Thot hold significant political power. Chot: Executive officers. Varnc ta'Honn is a title in the Breen ground forces that means 'Master of the Legions'. They were appointed by thots to command a state's legion. They commanded with the thot's authority but could still be overruled by the thot. Uthot is a rank in the Breen space forces and means, 'Junior Thot' or 'Sub-Thot. Uthot's commanded tilga'kars and were appointed by the thot in command of the fleet. Compared to Starfleet ranks it is the rough equivalent to a low-ranking admiral or a tactical wing captain. Relk (plural relkyh) is a rank in the Breen space forces and was roughly equivalent to a starship captain. Nareg is a rank in the Breen ground forces above grelek and below thot. It was roughly equivalent to a colonel in the Starfleet Ground Forces and Romulan Ground Forces. Grelek is a rank in the Breen ground forces above ak'trun and below nareg. It was roughly equivalent to a Major in the Starfleet Ground Forces and Romulan Ground Forces. Ak'trun is a rank in the Breen ground forces above vel'sh and below grelek. It was roughly equivalent to a captain in the Starfleet Ground Forces and a captain in the Romulan Ground Forces. Vel'sh is a rank in the Breen ground forces above ak'ched and below ak'trun. It was roughly equivalent to a lieutenant in the Starfleet Ground Forces and Romulan Ground Forces. Vel'sh: Junior officer, such as scientists and tacticians. Ak'Hhed are senior enlisted soldiers. Commonly observed duties including medics and bio-engineers. Ak'ched is a rank in the Breen ground forces above h'ren and below vel'sh. It was roughly equivalent to a lieutenant (jg) in the Starfleet Ground Forces and a sublieuntenat in the Romulan Ground Forces. H'ren is the lowest rank in the Breen ground forces and is below ak'ched. It was roughly equivalent to a ensign in the Starfleet Ground Forces and a trooper in the Romulan Ground Forces. H'ren: Entry level common soldiers. Common duties include soldiers and guards. Breen Adaption Suit: The Breen homeworld is extremely cold, and thus their species evolved accordingly. The Breen therefore need a suit capable of maintaining the kinds of temperatures they can survive in. The adaptation suit serves this purpose, in addition to serving as medium weight body armor. Due to the need to keep the cooling systems working, Breen fighters can only fight for about an hour at a time, a major shortcoming of the suits. The helmet has built in sensors roughly on par with Rakatan NiteSite Infrared Motion Sensor. Breen Body Amor: Over the adaptation suit the Breen can add additional armor. The armor they've been seen to use is of excellent protection, but very heavy and not quite as good as REF armor but better than average Atran body armor. Breen Phaser: Before the Dominioon/Federate War the Breen were seen to carry long arms, but since then have stopped. All Breen are seen carrying a sidearm, a fairly standard phaser for the Atran galaxy's tech level. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
