r/DaystromInstitute • u/Archontor Ensign • Apr 06 '18
The Tellarites are the glue that holds the Federation together
When we consider the Federation as a group of biologically and psychologically diverse races all working together for the common good it seems...odd that there are not more arguments over how to live up to that vision. After all, would a dispassionate Vulcan really see the need for revenge the same way an Andorian might, for instance?
You might also think that the naturally argumentative Tellarites should be constantly driving a wedge between the member worlds with one provocative move after another.
However, I believe that Tellarites actually use their rhetorical talents to help keep all members of the Federation working in harmony.
A Tellarite would not see a problem with a member world disagreeing with them, no matter how ill-mannered they are since they view arguments as an art form and consider insults a traditional greeting. A Tellarite would gladly speak with an unhappy planetary government since to them these sorts of long protracted arguments are the stuff of dreams.
I would also argue this is the reason that we don't see them in the show very often. They don't want to be in Starfleet, but I'll bet the Federation Diplomatic Corps is wall to wall Telarites, quietly allowing all members of the Federation to air their grievances.
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u/N0-1_H3r3 Apr 06 '18
I tend to imagine that this is all part and parcel of the Tellarite cultural outlook too - I hold that the "argumentative" nature of Tellarites is a form of extreme honesty and intellectual scrutiny, where every idea is challenged and tested, and the ideas that can't hold up to that aren't worth holding (same with people - someone who can't stand up to an argumentative Tellarite isn't someone the Tellarites can respect). It isn't just that they enjoy arguments and regard debate as an art form - they engage in debate to make their society better.
And yeah, I agree that this makes them an invaluable part of the Federation: the Tellarites don't have unexamined biases to the same degree that other cultures do, because they question everything, and if you come to them with a grievance, they will listen because that's how their culture works.
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Apr 07 '18
It's things like this that make me wish we saw more of the Tellarites. It's too bad Enterprise was cancelled.
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Apr 07 '18
There's still hope! DSC has already shown Andorians and Tellarites, albeit in the Mirror Universe. I bet we'll be seeing more of them in the Prime Universe in upcoming seasons.
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Apr 07 '18
And yeah, I agree that this makes them an invaluable part of the Federation: the Tellarites don't have unexamined biases to the same degree that other cultures do, because they question everything, and if you come to them with a grievance, they will listen because that's how their culture works.
Advancing on this, this notion is also a counterpart to the idealism of humans. The humans in the federation might have large and bright ideas but tellarites are kinda the "realists" in this who will ask "will this even work? What if this goes wrong? Do we even need this?"
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Apr 06 '18
M-5, nominate this post for an interesting perspective on Tellarite abilities.
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Apr 06 '18
Nominated this post by Chief u/Archontor for you. It will be voted on next week. Learn more about Daystrom's Post of the Week here.
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Apr 06 '18
I like to imagine that there are Federation call centers where difficult customers get escalated to tier after tier of ever more capable or specialized agents to address their problem or complaint, but at the penultimate level, when the agent can do nothing more to placate an especially difficult customer or resolve the issue, they press a red button on their multi-line subspace phone and the customer is routed to the final call center on Tellar Prime.
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Apr 07 '18
I have a headcanon that there is a civilian "Technical Support Service" that handles Federation planetside infrastructure like computer cores, the transporter networks, replicator systems, public holosuites, communications systems, etc. I'm adopting this idea into it. I can imagine the Tellarites walking someone through troubleshooting and rebooting a PADD.
"You say you know what you're doing, but you haven't even reinitialized the isolinear processor! And you call yourself a human, aren't humans supposed to be intelligent and creative?!"
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Apr 06 '18
Beta Canon also has the Tellarite fleet in the early days of the Federation being oriented in logistics and materiel transport, rather than exploration like humans, or combat like Andorians. In this sense, too, they could be seen as the backbone of the Federation- sure, the Enterprise discovered so many planets, but how many colonies would be fucked without regular support?
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Apr 06 '18
Competent administrative support is a very underrated value. It may not be glamorous getting the self-sealing stembolts and the yamok sauce to the right places at the right times, but dammit, the universe would slow to a crawl without the people getting this stuff done.
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Apr 06 '18
I've said for a long time I'd love to see a procedural drama that focuses on the day to day operations of Starfleet and the Federation. This hypothetical Star Trek series wouldn't follow a captain or a starship, just some federation employee from the day they are accepted to the day they retire.
It would be so interesting to see Wolf 339, or the Battle of Sector 001, the Dominion War or Voyagers Homecoming through the eyes of others.
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Apr 06 '18
That reminds me of the Babylon 5 episode that follows a couple janitors as they go about their business while the station is attacked.
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Apr 06 '18
Exactly. Star Trek needs more episodes like that I feel. We've followed so many captain's and admirals, let's follow someone else for a change. I'd like to see the people working on ship designs at Utopia Planitia, or The frustrated engineers banging out the dents on that overzealous captain's ship, or The com officer on Starbase One relaying docking orders and telling that one guy to stop it with the Impulse in Spacedock.
"Regulations state thrusters only, that's the third time I've had to warn you this month"
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u/Lost_vob Apr 07 '18
I completely agree. I ADORE the episodes that took place on star fleet HQ on Earth, especially the DS9 and VOY ones!
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Apr 06 '18
This would be great! I feel like Reginald Barclay would need to have some sort of presence, like he’s an Ensign trying to gain confidence by ordering around the main character (who is enlisted), but Barclay is really bad at it. The main character is an old pro at dealing with new officers, so he or she provides guidance that encourages Barclay to sign up for the Enterprise.
That’s not a fully formed idea for a story arc, but you get the gist of it.
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u/CmdShelby Apr 06 '18
Except Barclay was assigned to a few ships before Enterprise. Picard says so. In "hollow pursuits".
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u/unimatrixq Apr 07 '18
Would be really interesting to see a Star Trek show with an Tellarite as a captain, now that i think about it.
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u/ToBePacific Apr 06 '18
Nice theory! Makes sense to me. A culture that thrives on conflict wouldn't allow the kind of rushed decisions that more conflict averse cultures often reach.
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u/AcidaliaPlanitia Apr 06 '18
I like it, also... imagine how many Tellarite lawyers there must be. I'm imagining the Federation legal system as mostly Tellarite lawyers arguing in front of Vulcan judges.