VORTA: Cultural Index 

You misspelled hero.

Agreed an excellent villain but Gul Dukat was the best sci-fi TV villain for me Marc Alamo played him out of this world and his chemistry with Jeffrey was brilliant

Was?

There's a reason they kept bringing him back playing 3 different characters on DS9 (more if you count the various Weyoun clones as different characters) and 2 of which became recurring characters. I'm convinced that the reason that the cloning element was introduced was just so they could continue to bring Jeffery Comb back to play Weyoun. His first appearance as Weyoun ended with him being killed by his own Jem'Hadar soldiers. My guess was that it was supposed to be the end of it, but when they needed a recurring Vorta they decided that Jeffry Combs was the best man for the job and decided to introduce the cloning aspect and bring him back.

@@binnihh think he said was because the show isn't new if it was new episodes every week it would be IS. That's my thoughts on why he said was

just dont invite them to a pizza party...

And either grapes, blueberries, or cranberries.

@@dragonsword7370 But I like Grapes and Blueberries and cranberries

This is sad but brilliant.

Assuming he's trying to screw you over to begin with. In the 2400s relations between the Dominion and the Alpha/Beta quadrant powers became a lot more, well... I wouldn't call it friendly, but at least they're no longer at odds. In fact, the Dominion storyline in STO is based around the Dominion contacting the Alpha/Beta quadrant powers for help against the returning Hur'q.

They just need to stay away from Worf

Lack of aesthetics also serves in the Founders tendencies to punish resistance with obliteration. Even the Nazis were able to be bribed to let prisoners escape and their pillaging of art and priceless museum peices is well documented. If you don't have the ability to see the inherent value in a Rembrandt or a manuscript by Joyce or Salinger, then immolating and entire culture becomes piecework.

In the former case, I doubt that would actually happen. The Vorta's subservience to the Founders is religious in nature, not governmental. Even if they did have an appreciation for aesthetics they would see such anti-authoritarianism as simply commentary on "conventional" governments while still following the Founders' orders.

@@VestedUTuber It happened to Kevan, because he was dying. Bribe one with life ( a vorta with good food) they might sway. Probably another reason for their undeveloped taste.

@@VestedUTuber Even then, you had the cases of Keevan, and the Founder's use of Ketracel White to control the Jem'Hadarr, even though all but two groups of Jem'Hadarr were seen to be fully loyal to the Founders. It would make sense from a Founder's point of view to remove aesthetics as a result.

who worshiped those who had enslaved them

I like to think that they have a cloaked and hidden homeworld in the Delta Quadrant and are more like the Ferengi and Vulcans put together. It looks a lot like The Founders were just abducting other aliens all across the universe and pumped them full of drugs along with good ole fashioned propaganda just to build a space nazi empire.

@Ajax Aidy This comment is so incredibly dumb. The Dominion is a theocracy operating under a strict ethnic caste system. This has absolutely nothing to do with communism. The Founders never claim that "everyone is equal" or something like that - their entire ideology is based around the exact opposite of that, namely them being inherently superior to all solids. I genuinely don't get how you can think the Dominion is communist. Did we watch the same show?

@Ajax Aidy There haven't been any ethnic caste systems in socialist nations, nor was there a religion built around worshipping party leaders or whatever as actual gods. If anything, this has more in common with the Nazis - especially the spiritual/religious aspect, which socialist nations for the most part opposed. In the end this is all fiction that doesn't neccessarily have a counterpart in real life. You could make parallels to any kind of society if you stretch it far enough, whether it is monarchism, socialism, fascism or anything else.

@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus Founders are the chosen ones.

Perhaps, the painting would look better if it was blue?

I would think it would be needed so that they would not be aghast at the way some species look or their social norms. Makes them better diplomats.

Without a sense of aesthetic taste, they don't have a bias. They have to consider and understand, observe and deduce. They can't rest on instinct or shared assumption, which could just as easily be misleading or faulty. They have to *know* because they cannot *feel.* But of course they'd have to be creative, and I think the appreciation for games shows that they are. Problem-solving creativity is different from artistic creativity, as a map is not a landscape and a tactical layout is not a still life.

Having the enemies of the Dominion fearing and hating the Vorta provides perfect cover for the Founders. The same dynamic exists between real world politicians and the oligarchs that control them.

The Vorta seem to have short lifespans since they are replaced so often, and have so many limitations placed on them that they don't have the benefit of experience. To be able to lead one must have a certain confidence. No coward ever lead a group of men into a great victory....so in a sense the "smugness" and air of superiority was very much necessary. The Gem-Hadar would not follow the orders of a trembling coward, and negotiations would also be nearly impossible.

Why did the ferengi beat rikers ass but otherwise always get fucked?

Is that the one with iggy pop?

@@TheoAndHisPedals yes it is.

@@kane357lynch Thats because Roddenbery was a dirty old man by that time and they decided to take the Ferengi in a different direction than Gene wanted. I do believe the quote was, "Gene this is a family show, you cant put that in a family show". The only "sexual" reference the Roddenbery had initially pushed that was left was the whip. The Ferengi would have been insane if Roddenbery had his way.

Or a good game loosens up the other, making "friends" for better results from diplomacy

I never thought of that, certainly probable. Diplomacy is very often alikened to poker or chess, or even baseball. Rules, players, application of game theory, statistics and averages, etc I’d think if I wanted a bioaugmented race to be my lieutenants and ambassadors, I’d make sure they have a healthy sense of competition and game theory.

That's right! He's terrified of the Federation and has a nightmare while dozing on the runabout. So they definitely dream.

Don't mix Star Trek and Star Wars, jesus. Nothing to do with each other.

@@Hylebos75 It's a joke about 2 popular sci-fi franchises

No artistic merit? So you have chosen... Lower Decks

@@solomonreal1977 dang man

@@solomonreal1977 Solomon Réal*

Perhaps this is because the Founders themselves do not understand humanoid creativity, and therefore couldn't engineer it into their servants either.

@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus No because odo has creativity as its shown in the way he administers his "job" on DS9 so I feel the founders just felt it was better not to install in a creation aka Vorta only what was necessary to accomplish their duties and nothing more.

Yeah this is the same reason I suspect the skirmishers in XCOM defected. Every soldier of ADVENT is a clone under mind control, but perhaps to allow their commandos (the skirmishers) more tactical creativity, they lessened their psychic grip on them too much.

they were just written that way

@@scottmantooth8785 *engineered

The founders weren’t evil. They were scared. They were so scared of the solid and everything they did that they subjugated an entire quarter of the galaxy to feel safe and secure. The only objective evil in the series was the Pah wraiths.

@@DoctorProph3t Trauma victims really. A Trauma they chose to never deal with. That doesnt make them evil, just foolish, like the rest of us.

@@DoctorProph3t agreed.

If they don't have the body of the previous one its impossible to make memory transfers. I think they simply make logs and read the important logs of the previous one.

I would pay good money to see a battle between the Borg and the Dominion. I have no idea who would win in the long run and I'm definitely curious to find out.

@@AprilGabrielle I don't think the Borg would be interested in ketracell addict soldiers unless nanoprobes can reverse that, then Jem'Hadar would become an ultimate form of Borg drone. But seeing harmony of the Great Link as perfection they could be interested into assimlating the Founders. Good luck with that... THe Borg would then decide to just eliminate the threat and bombard their planet from orbit.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Dominion and Borg have had border skirmishes in the past. The Borg transwarp network crosses the Delta/Gamma border and actually goes pretty far into the Gamma quadrant.

They may have engaged before, and if not, the Founders know about them from downloading the Federation's database anyway and will be ready for them.

Borg would win.

R. Connor they might use robots or slaves

Makes a lot of sense. Your men of gold, men of iron, and men of stone. Your lieutenants, your soldiers, your engineers. The trifecta of any effective military force.

😂😂

Possibly species 8472, though too mysterious about numbers and intentions to be sure. Wonder if the Icononians should win the apex spot of most powerful military? Seems like the Voth dominate over Borg.

It's hard to gauge the strength of the Dominion as we saw very little action within their own borders, and what limited action we saw was within the fringes of their border. Their empire should extend vast distances, years of high warp travel in diameter at least. The amount of ship building strength and genetic clones to be built would be in such high enormous numbers. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of ships could be constructed, with even billions of potential Jem'Hadar soldiers ready to fight to till the death in an endless supply.

@@HotPinkst17 i wished they would have showed a war between the borg and dominion that would of been awesome

@@joshknight3607 Would be so next level if the Great Link hacked the collective and waged guerilla war from Unimatrix Zero.

Dont forget the strength of the fluid space inhabitants: species 84762.

😂

"Oh My Founders, They Killed Weoun!" "YOU BASTARDS!!!"

@@weldonwin Scwew yoo geys, erm gering herm!

@@DMSProduktions *(Deploying Biogenic weapons)* RESPECT MAH AH-THORATAH!!!

@@weldonwin Erm not feht, erm jus big boned!

rippleberries and kava nuts lol

Heh, heh, heh. They could be. They have the technology. After all, we got to see Miles O'Brien from the future meet up with the other Miles O'Brien that wasn't suffering from radiation sickness, and... I hate temporal mechanics, as well.

Because weyoun 6 was defect.

@@katharina8963 - If Vorta can be defective, then they can dream. The question is "Do Vorta dream of defective sheep?"

Even if you don't write it it is a great idea. It would be just like the asshole founders too. Also I always wondered why telepaths couldn't find them. I mean if a chair is thinking its a bit of a giveaway.

@@franconnorton7087 My idea has had a bit of expansion. It involves a greater "Pathfinder" idea of the Federation retraces Voyager's steps into the Delta Quadrant as a sort of goldrush coventure by the the Federation and Klingons. The accords that prevented expansion into the other quadrants as mentioned in Voyager by Chakotay (Jinkata, Gyncata? Gin.. That one) broke down as a result of the Dominion War, so the race was on to plant a flag. The Dominion ominously show up unexpecedly just before the launch to add a Vorta and a small guard of Jem'hadar as a Dominion representative for the mission. Odo himself makes the demand, having a moment on DS9 to touch on some fan service slightly. Stopping by what was Quarks to find a clinical clean museum of Bajoran history. He hurrumphs shaking his head, finding it ironic that the Bajorans chose this place to put a museum. Has a gift shop no doubt. But he secretly wanted to find Quark there. The Vorta joins the mission but is aloof and distant. Until their Jem'Hadar are no longer alive to protect them. thousands of lightyears away after a bad first few days. The Klingon spearheading their end is actually Martok's replacement. He took over when Martok realised he wasn't a politician. They preached co operation with the Federation and were out moved by a rival faction by a mysterious upstart that played him into essentially "taking the black" and plunging into the Delta Quadrant. Leaving the Empire at the Mercy of this Mordred type Arthurian figure. Spoiler alert for a non existent novel; it's Gowron's bastard. He\She it doesn't matter, have grown up. They have no feelings for Gowron. He was absent and only appeared at night occasionally flanked by strangers, but they will regain their honour. Making them a mirror but at odds with Worf but thats another whole thing lol. This story is about the Delta Quadrant and retracing a familiar trail as blazed by those who came before, but do you measure up to them? Your stories and the future are sat firmly on the shoulders of those before. As any pioneer. Archer to Janeway, Kahless to K'tarn. The Founders to Jetaan. Star Trek to this story. Edit -I sound like a silly buffoon reading that back

@@joegrimes9232 Write it even if its just for your own writing experience. Don't have so many plots at once. Write a short reddit story first exploring one plotline, maybe the Vorta having to survive without the Jem'hadar. If it goes over well then work on a longer story or your novel.

We definitely see Weyoun 6 dream once - he had a nightmare in the runabout while trying to escape with Odo.

nobody knows, but the Founders already would know of their existence, if not from own experience or through their download of the Federation database. The Founders would see the Borg as solids, and Odo knew of the horrors of the Borg so would ensure to reinforce that these were "bad" solids that need to be annihilated.

I wouldn't think any better then the federation.

We know that many are clones, but we do not know if they reproduce sexually or not.

@@michaeldriggers7681 Its said on at least one occasion, during the episode The Magnificent Ferengi that the Vorta don't have sex, though mostly is was the fact they don't have any money that was shocking to them.

​@@michaeldriggers7681 I'm 50/50 on them sexually reproducing, and in balance, I would say no, they don't sexually reproduce. We have heard many times that they are all clones, and we've not heard once that they reproduce. Now, the Founders need LOTS of Vorta to administrate their empire. How many do you think are needed? 1,000s? 10,000s? 100,000s? That's a lot of clones. In some ways it might be easier if the Vorta get to sexually reproduce, but only select Vorta. That hot female Vorta, and Weyoun would be a match made in Heaven!

@@weldonwin I'll have to rewatch that episode.

Her name is Kilana, and I wouldn't mind if the Founders sent me a copy for study...

I would imagine they have little need for a labourer species being honest. The amount of ships it's implied they pump out in the timespan they do I would say suggests a level of automation where your "labourer" species are actually more like engineers that keep the machinery maintained.

Liam Johnson Hmmm good point! Forgot to consider how the Dominion might be far more advanced than alpha quadrent powers, considering the advantages founders had in terms of technology.

@@archontiverius Good point. In the TV show Alien Nation (excellent show by the way) a similar point came up. The aliens that crashed on earth were a genetically engineered slave race that were much faster, stronger, smarter etc than humans. When the question was asked why the slaves were made so intelligent the answer was "some of us had highly technical tasks in our culture, we weren't all miners or labourers" A lot of that shows cast ended up on star trek over the years too.

With all the technology in Star Trek, why would there even be a need for physical labour?

@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus For setting up the infrastructure for extending supply lines, especially on worlds that have negligible industry. Sweep through, set up a base here, a factory there, a Ketracel production facility maybe, or at least set up the machines that would build such eventually, maybe industrial replicators? Deploying prefabricated installations on conquered worlds quickly or on non inhabited worlds of strategic importance?

The Vorta don't have a rigid lifestyle at all. They are the favored slaves who enjoy all the luxuries of Dominion society that the Founders themselves don't have a need for. They also have basically unlimited freedom to act once delegated outside the direct control of the Founders, like that Vorta who surrendered after letting his Jem'Hadaar be slaughtered. Their slavery is no different from that of the wealthy and powerful clergy of medieval Europe towards the God of the Catholic Church. Unlike the Jem'Hadaar the Vorta don't actually have a reason to release themselves from servitude because they are effectively the Dominion's ruling class in the absence of the Founders' direct involvement in governance. In any case, much like the Jem'Hadaar they're no longer a viable species outside Dominion control. As far as we can tell the Vorta can't breed, as hinted by Weyoun himself.

Most of this gameplay is from Star Trek online. There's an ok-ish quest line with the Vorta and Dominion in it.