Children Of Tama.	Children Of Tama (Tamarians).			Children Of Tama.
A Tamarian Flag. The Children of Tama, also known as Tamarians, are a species from the planet Sigma Tama IV. They were first encountered by the Federat in the mid-23ʳᵈ Century. Physiology Tamarians stood at roughly the same size as an average Human and their body shape was similar to that of many humanoid species found in the Milky Way Galaxy, apart from some minor differences. Tamarian hands and fingers were Human-like but their thumbs were elongated and had a sucker-like tip at the end. The Tamarian head also differed from the Human counterpart. Tamarians possessed two long slitted nostrils and had no visible auricles, but instead had two small holes located on the sides of the head, a little higher than the Human ear. A large ridge ran from the top of their nose to the back of the head and several more bony ridges or flaps of skin could be observed on the sides of the skull. Apart from typical sexual dimorphisms observed in many humanoid species, female Tamarians featured the same characteristics. Tamarian skin was colored light brown with several darker red markings, especially on the head. The species seemed to be completely hairless and their blood was white, which shined through in some small arteries of the head. History And Politics Although the species was encountered a total of seven times in the hundred years after first contact, formal relations were unable to be established, due to the complexity and provincial nature of the Tamarian language- Which was entirely composed of metaphors derived from their collective experience and mythology. In 2368, a Tamarian ship sent a general hail towards Federation space, a standard mathematical progression interpreted as a request for communication; A ship was dispatched to El-Adrel IV to establish contact. While there, the Tamarian captain DATHON beamed himself and the Federat Captain to the planet's surface in an attempt to establish a dialogue through the idea of "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra"; The idea of cooperation against an enemy leading to mutual understanding and friendship. To prevent any interference, the Tamarian ship established a particle scattering field in El-Adrel's ionosphere, preventing transporters on either ship from functioning, and fired attenuated energy weapons on a Federate shuttlecraft dispatched to retrieve the Captain. Unfortunately, DATHIN was killed by the creature inhabiting the planet, but not before the Federate Captain was able to gain an understanding of the Tamarian language, and communicate with the Tamarian ship, which was engaged in combat with his ship as a result of the misunderstanding over the Captain's "capture." DATHIN'S sacrifice and the Federate Captain's experiences were remembered as a new "word" in the Tamarian language: "PRIKAHR'D and DATHIN at El-Adrel." After the annexation of the Remulous Homogeny, Tamarian starships had encountered UGC vessels seven times. Each meeting was without significant incident, but formal relations were never established due to Tamarian concerns about UGC intentions ("Uzani, his army with fists open"). Culture Apart from their unique language, Tamarians followed several rituals and some characteristic gestures were observed. Before sleeping, DATHON performed a ritual on El-Adrel IV; He removed five ceremonial objects from the right side of his uniform. He then threw those objects to the ground, gazing at the pattern the objects formed on the ground and repeated the ritual. After each new pattern, he touched his forehead. After finishing the ritual, he took the five objects and placed them on the ground forming a circle around his sleeping spot. Again, he touched his forehead after placing each of them on the ground. The next morning, when the Federate Captain explored the camp, he found two of the objects still on the ground, DATHON having reattached the other three to his uniform. After hearing the news of their captain's death, the two Tamarian bridge officers took their dagger out of the sheath, touched the blade and then touched their forehead in mourning or remembrance of their Captain. The Federate Captain did the same with the knife that was given to him by DATHON after he had returned to his ship and found a quiet moment in his ready room to remember his "enemy." The Tamarian written language consisted of thin horizontal and vertical lines with small letters written in the spaces between the lines. The lines met at right angles in the handwritten form of the language but at an angle of roughly seventy degrees on control interfaces. Tamarians used paper, colored bright green, to write down notes. DATHON took a small book (later understood to be a personal journal, and of GREAT significance in Tamarian religion) down to El-Adrel IV in a leather pouch. His other officers were not seen at the time carry such a book, as this book is not normally carried but left in a place of safekeeping; Only when a Tamarian knows their death is soon to come is the book passed onto another, as this is their life's testimony. They believe that to get to the next realm ( analogous to Jurruuqi), the book must be read, and quickly; DATHON did not know if he'd survive El-Adrel, and hoped that the Federate Captain would read it. (Indeed, he expected to not survive- A decision he made to make the road to communication, if not peace, between the Tamarians and Federate possible.) Tamarian Language The Tamarian language was the spoken language of the Tamarians. The Tamarians spoke entirely by allegory, referencing mythological and historical people and events from their culture. As a result, Federation universal translators, although they could successfully translate the individual words and sentence structure, were unable to convey the symbolic meaning they represented. Without prior knowledge of the Tamarians' history and legends, a word-by-word translation was of no use to someone attempting to communicate with them. This language barrier led to isolation of the Tamarian people after all attempts at communication had failed. For example, instead of asking for cooperation, they would use a phrase such as "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra," because their culture's stories include a tale of two Tamarians, Darmok and Jalad, who were brought together while fighting a common foe on an island called Tanagra. The problem with communicating in this fashion is that without understanding the meaning of the reference, the metaphor becomes meaningless. Some examples of the Tamarian language: "Children of Tama" - Tamarian. "Darmok on the ocean" - loneliness, isolation. "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" - cooperation. "Darmok and Jalad on the ocean" - new friendship and understanding gained through a shared challenge. "The beast at Tanagra" - a problem to be overcome. "Kadir beneath Mo Moteh" - failure to communicate/understand. "Zima at Anzo" "Zima and Bakor" - danger/hostility arising from miscommunication/misunderstanding.. "Kiteo, his eyes closed" - refusal to understand. "Kiazi's children, their faces wet" - do not cry. "Temba, his arms wide/open" - signifying a gift. "Temba, at rest" - when a gift being offered is declined. "Mirab, with sails unfurled" - signifying departure/engines to full/fleeing. "Shaka, when the walls fell" - failure. "Sokath, his eyes uncovered/opened" - understanding/realization. "Kailash, when it rises" - a necessary loss or sacrifice. "The river Temarc in winter" - be quiet/silence; "in winter" is a statement of emphasis and not necessarily required. In point of fact- "The river Temarc in winter" means "Shut up" with every degree of rudeness the counterpart means in Terran. ("The river Temarc" just means "be silent.") "Zinda, his face black, his eyes red" - anger or conflict, also can indicate pain or discomfort, possible indication of inability to survive (either self, or other party). "Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons. Jiri of Ubaya. Ubaya of crossroads, at Lungha. Lungha, her sky gray" - greeting between two different cultures/races. "Uzani, his army with fists open" - to lure the enemy towards you by spreading your forces. "Uzani, his army with fists closed" - to close rank and attack after luring the enemy. "Chenza at court, the court of silence" - not listening. "Kira at Bashi" - to tell a story. "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" - successful first contact between two alien cultures, or to work toward a common goal. These phrases and idioms were often attenuated in conversation: "Shaka, when the walls fell" was heard shortened to "Shaka"; Others followed a similar pattern. Dathon also used "Callimas at Bahar" after experiencing pain in his shoulder, signalling to Picard with a hand wave associated with "stay back," or perhaps meaning "I feel better now" or "the pain is gone." Tamarians have a fundamentally different brain structure to most humanoids, and as such experience concepts such as time and self differently. The story explains that Tamarian children learn the stories behind the metaphors, and thus their meanings, through enactment and repetition. Variations of meaning in metaphors were conveyed through subtle vocal and gestural cues that the universal translator had previously missed. In fields such as engineering and programming, a musical language was used to convey precise equations, numbers and instructions; thus explaining how Tamarians could effectively operate starships. the Tamarian Dr. SHARAK spokeTamarian with Samantha WWILDMAN who had learned the language, adding several new phrases to the known vocabulary. Militry The dominant colors used by the Tamarians as evidenced by their starships, uniforms, and interfaces were shades of green and red. The engines of their starship glowed red and their weapon's beam was green. Consoles on the bridge of their ships were colored mostly red and walls were green. Tamarian computer interfaces were transparent but the writing was blue and green. Tamarian uniforms did not show much variety. All uniforms consisted of several layers of olive green fabric and dark green leather. Several small colorful applications and stripes were only visible when viewing the uniform from a close distance. The full uniform consisted of the trousers and tunic, long dark green leather boots, and a double shoulder-strap connected to a belt, both made from leather as well. A sheath for a dagger was fastened to the front of the two leather straps and a small pouch for a book, possibly the captain's log, was attached to the let side of the belt. A decorative pattern could be seen on the sides of the sleeves. Several small ornaments made from thin metal pieces and small colorful stones were attached to the front right side of the uniform. Dathon carried five such pieces; his first officer wore three. According to the call sheets of this episode, these ornaments were talismans. Every Tamarian carried a dagger. The weapon had a green handle with a smaller yellow inset and the silver blade had one smooth and one serrated edge. Technology Tamarian deep space cruiser Tamarian technology allows Tamarian starships to create a particle scattering field in the ionosphere of a planet. By projecting a particle sustaining beam into the upper atmosphere of said planet, they can effectively inhibit communication technology to or from the planet's surface. The field is created with a polarity coil generator, which is located on Tamarian starships in a heavily shielded section, aft of the warp drive. PeopleNamed Dathon According to the Star Trek: Star Charts, on page 35, the Children of Tama were from the M class planet Tamar. This planet was located in the Alpha Quadrant. In 2368, a cultural exchange with the UFP was established in this year. Tamarians were warp-capable circa 2050.
Children Of Tama.	DATHON-Class Space Cruiser.			Children Of Tama.
Tamarian DATHON- Class Deep Space Cruiser Starboard Bow Ventral Aspect View. Port Bow Dorsal Aspect. Affiliation: Tamarian. Type: Cruiser. Active: 25ᵗʰ Century. Armament: Phasers; Particle Scattering Field. Defenses: Deflector Shields. Powerplant: Tamarian Inversion Reactor. Length: 2,107̶ feet, 11⅗ inches (XXm). Beam: 1,521 feet 5 inches (XXm). Clearance: 320 feet 3⅝ inches. Crew: 2,500. Speed: Warp 8. Auxiliary Craft: 12 shuttles or 15 fighters. Schematic View. Plan View. The DATHON-Class Space Cruiser the Tamarian's main battlecruiser at the time of the UGC's arrival; Named for a Tamarian cruiser Captain who, eight generations prior, had died to bring the first steps of communications between the Federate and the Tamarian Republic, the DATHON-Class was little more than an upgraded variant of the previous ships. They are generally symmetrical; The only way to be sure one is looking at the port or starboard, bow or ventral aspect is to look to the bow. A small outcropping about 1/3 of the way from the bow to the first athwartships spar indicates roughly the forward sensor compilation node (the main bridge). Astern views are often unidentifiable (one must be at a 53 degree relative to the Tamarian ship's centerline or you won't be able to see the bridge, and thus will have to guess). The design came out early in the 25font size=-2>th Century. Information on this class was sparse, as the Tamarians tried to keep a low profile after the invasion of the Federate, but it is known they were armed with phasers and and equipped with deflector shields; Upon the UGC's attempted first contact, the Spacy VEROCHA-Class Frigate TWENTYDAIE'S Captain Doh N'JIHNSIEN requested a defensive systems report. The Lt. (jg) manning the sensor systems replied "Supposedly," prompting a response of "Say again, Ensign?" (The jg then gave a proper report, but the incident became so widely heard about that the phrase "twentydaie" became short hand for "a brutal reply to a rude, inappropriate, or sarcastic remark.") Systems The DATHON-Class was designed to be surprisingly self-suffient; Provided the hull frame remained intact, a ship could, at least in theory, transfer all of her equipment to the surface of a planet and rebuild each component from scratch provided the raw materials were available. Indeed, this seems to be the point of the ships; A kind of "manned" von Neumann probe. Oddly, the equipment needed to refine metals is NOT present on any Tamarian ship. No explanation of why has ever been forthcoming- The Tamarians themselves really don't know why such equipment isn't in inventory, and worse don't have the specifications to build such equipment on board. Armament: The DATHON-Class possesses a reasonably (for the Atran Galaxy) powerful phaser array, but more interesting is their particle scattering field generator, which makes transfer of continuous data beams (in other words, radio signals) impossible; While a few megabytes might get through, the signal will still be so degraded as to resemble snow. It somehow works with and ionosphere (and, as such, does not work on an airless world). While not unprecedented, the design has rarely otherwise been seen. The field is not a deflector; In fact, solid energy beams (lasers, phasers, particle beams, etc.) can pass through it as if it wasn't even there, and at Jaddan VI 3, this 'weakness' was exploited by smugglers by pointing a phaser array at their comrades and intermittently firing (on a low setting), making it an improvised Morse Code transceiver/receiver array. The field does however interfere with the electronics of any physical object attempting to pass through, such as ships, shuttles, and missiles, and though they've never been recorded to have destroyed such an object, they have been recorded to disable them, up to the point that shuttles have crash-landed (as was the fate of the Jaddan VI 3 smugglers when they attempted to break the interdiction there). The DATHON-Class' phaser array is reasonably impressive by Atran Galaxy standards, though the one occasion of Tamarain/UGC confrontation left UGS DISTANEE not significantly damaged (a radar array was essentially destroyed, and the aft shield buckled towards the end of the confrontation, but DISTANEE took the day, and the Tamarian ship in tow.) Defenses: By Atran Galaxy standards, the DATHIN-Class has excellent deflector shields for defense; It is in fact believed they "might" be powerful enough to survive a confrontation with the Beorge, and they HAVE BEEN recorded as surviving Reflex weaponry fire for an impressive 5 to 8 hits (as the case of DISTANEE). However, no shield is forever impervious, and they can not regenerate as easily as others do, giving their attackers an option to exploit by firing quickly with many lighter weapons, thus overwhelming the system. Powerplant: The DATHON-Class use a unique "Inversion Reactor"; Whereas most reactors work by bringing two unstable elements together, the Tamarian reactor works by separating them (fission). Under the right conditions, the split elements then naturally rejoin (fusion). These "rejoined" elements then can be recycled back into the reactor. The system is not perpetual, however; The ship looses 0.0001% of it's reactor fuel mass for every terawatt of power produced. It is, however, highly efficient, and unusually for fission based reactors does not produce significant radiation; A year's exposure to the power core, without shielding, would result in a very bad sun burn, which is of course bad for the crew (especially over the course of several years one might be aboard a ship), but is not the relative catastrophe that other design's suffer during a core breech. It is said the Tamarians developed their design both from the mathematical language (with is very complex and highly precise), and from their nominal language, of "Dunath and Vand at Vohm. Dunath and Vand to Jone. Dunath and Vand at Jone." This is the allegory of two men, Dunath and Vand, who were powerful together but went spate ways, finding they weren't as powerful apart as the were together, and re-combined their efforts later on. It is curious, since the fusion part of the process IS critical for the overall system; You can't "just" inject the fuel into the reactor, then dump it out the ship, even though it seems no energy is recovered from the fusion process.
Children Of Tama.	Character Study: Wh'infeild Puhl DATHON:			Children Of Tama.
In a species of elitists, Wh'infeild Puhl DATHON was a rouge, a renegade; Tamarians are MUCH more intelligent that 99.982% of the species of the known universe. They know this. And it makes them somewhat contemptuous of the rest of civilization; As a result, they did not, as a general rule, believe that any other species could communicate with them, and generally didn't believe any non-Tamarian had anything worth hearing in any case. Wh'infeild Puhl DATHON felt differently; He had argued that contact with other civilizations was inevitable and desirable; When told so many times it was impossible, he stated, "I'm not listening" ("Chenza at court") when he wasn't being patently rude about it ("Chenza at court... The court of silence"). This "irked" his superiors; One finally commanded him, "Fine, go and establish communications with one of the lesser. Here- Try these guys. They're sufficiently stupid for you" ("Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Ubaya of crossroads, at Lungha. Lungha, her sky gray. Kadir beneath Mo Moteh, Shaka when the walls fall"). He picked the orders up and ran with it. He spent one full year doing nothing BUT figuring out how to communicate with the Federate representative who he'd be making contact with; He selected El-Adrel IV for the presence of a creature so dangerous, that El-Adrel IV was considered quarantined; No one was even to enter that system, let alone land on the planet. Captain DATHIN had to receive special permission to do so. Then he began transmitting to the Federate a signal to indicate the Tamarian's interest in meeting. He knew this mission might well be his last; Had his superiors known his intentions to deliberately antagonize "the beast of El-Adrel," they may well have cancelled his orders. Captain DATHON knew that if he could make the Federate representative understand a few key phrases, he could open the door to communications on a much larger scale; Getting past "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" by FORCING the Federate representative to fight for his own life alongside DATHON'S would make that message very clear. DATHON'S sacrifice at El-Ardel IV did NOT go unnoticed; Indeed, his Helm ("surname") is now a somewhat common boy's name. Each success in the arena of improved communications with other species has been exploited to develop more improvements in communications; This culminated in 2381 when Federate Tamarian Dr. SHARAK was stationed on a the V'GER-Class starship V'GER; He found himself speaking Federate Standard, but was still using Tamarian to convey emotions, until a full range translation metric became available from the Proctors.
				Affiliation:	Tamarian Defense Forces.
				Species:	Tamarian.
				Gender:	Male.
				Rank:	Captain; Commander Officer, Tamarian Starship DARMOK.
				Born:	April or May, 2317̶.
				Died:	September 2368.
				Height:	6 feet 1.625 inches.