This is an article about the Tholians as they exist in the Star Fleet Universe and not as they appear in various canon Star Trek sources. If you are seeking information about mainstream Star Trek, see the above link. A Tholian Tholians are a starfaring and extremely territorial race in the Star Trek fictional universe. ... The Star Fleet Universe is the variant of the Star Trek fictional universe as detailed in the series of tactical and strategic interstellar wargames from Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. ... In the context of fiction, the canon of a fictional universe comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. ... Star Trek collectively refers to an American science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series (which comprise 726 episodes) and ten feature films, in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction — all of which are set within the same fictional universe...

The Tholian Holdfast comprises a small number of worlds in former Klingon space, bordering the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, and Federation. The race originated in another galaxy entirely, where they were once masters but were overthrown by the Seltorians, their erstwhile subordinates. This page is about the race. ... Introduction The Romulans, a fictional race in the Star Trek universe, are descended from Vulcans and are characterized as being deceitful, cunning, and treacherous. ... This is an article about the United Federation of Planets as it exists in the Star Fleet Universe and is not the one seen on television. ...

History

It is unknown how the Tholian Will (the Tholian empire in their home galaxy) came to power, or how long it lasted. It is known that it spanned their entire galaxy, and did last for a long time. It is thought that there may have been a number of races that at one time or another held the position of "most trusted subject race", but by around -Y300 this was the Seltorians, who were allowed their own bases and shipyards.

The revolution was precipitated by the accidental discovery of a device that would break Tholian webs, which also allowed it to be successful. The Seltorians modified their ships faster than the Tholians could react to the situation, and soon the galaxy was under the rule of the Seltorian Tribunal. In the final days of the revolution a number Tholians escaped. One large group established itself in a satellite galaxy and attempted to prepare to take back their galaxy. This was quickly detected and eliminated. A satellite galaxy orbits a larger galaxy, due to gravitational attraction. ...

The 312th Battle Squadron escaped as a unit and began a long search for someplace that they could call 'safe' if not 'home', while the Seltorians tried to track and catch up with them.

One provincial capital (a small dyson sphere) managed to move itself out of the galaxy through some inspired engineering, along with the associated shipyard and a handful of ships, escaping Seltorian notice entirely. This capital arrived at the Milky Way Galaxy in Y79 after a voyage of about 200 years. It made it through the energy barrier, but was heavily damaged in the process. A cut-away diagram of an idealized Dyson shell — a variant on Dysons original concept — 1 AU in radius A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper) is a hypothetical megastructure. ... The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Galaxia Kuklos; or simply the Galaxy) is a barred spiral galaxy in the Local Group, and has special significance to humanity as the location of the solar system, which is located near the Orion...

The area the Tholians had arrived in had recently been claimed by the Klingon Empire, which like all races in the Alpha-octant at the time, were much more primitive than the Tholians. The Klingons soon lauched an attack to reclaim their space, it is believed that they actually managed reach Tholia (the dyson sphere) and destroy the two or three military ships that had traveled with it, but lost almost of their available fleet in the process. The new Holdfast was secure, but from now on they would have to rely on the Patrol Corvette design, a small ship for police duties, as that was the only ship the dyson sphere was capable of producing. This page is about the race. ...

It is worth pointing out here that the evacuation of the home galaxy was not a planed thing. While the inhabitants of Tholia are numerous (at least one billion), many essential types of specialists were not among them. They have some good automated equipment, but no one who understands all the involved concepts to a degree that they can be taught, or more than the basics picked up from text books. They have machines to build devices they don't understand, and devices they understand and can repair, but don't have the ability to build. Over the course of the next century, the Tholian Holdfast was to shun outside contact, and make their defenses ever stronger while the rest of their new galaxy caught up to and surpassed their technology.

Not that they didn't learn anything new. Tholian webs became more efficient, they managed to steal disruptor technology from the Klingons to replace the particle cannons they could not build, and they learned how to build incomplete ships which could then be joined together into a new, heavier class. The Federation has seen them as a useful distraction to the Klingons and occasionally provided technical support.

As the General War spread, the Tholians attempted to stay neutral. They were invaded by the Coalition (but primarily by forces from the Klingon Empire, who still wished to recover their lost colonies) in Y177 as part of Operation Nutcracker, which was to provide a more solid communication route between the Klingon and Romulan empires. The arrival of the 312th Battle Squadron (called 'Neo-Tholians' by galactic races that did not know the 'new' designs they were suddenly seeing were, in fact, centries old until well after the fact) in the Spring of Y178 saved a devastated Tholia from Klingon conquest and helped drive the Coalition forces from their space. During this time, and for a time afterwards, the Tholians were a partner of the Alliance but refused to allow Federation ships to fight within their territory. They did eventually allow Kzinti and Gorn ships in to help out, as these races were not neighbors, and therefore not as much of a threat. Their role in the General War came to an end when a Seltorian Tribunal fleet arrived from the home galaxy to attempt to eliminate them in Y182 (with Klingon support). In the fictional Star Fleet Universe as represented in the range of games from Amarillo Design Bureau as well as the first two Star Fleet Command games (and the Orion Pirates stand-alone addon for Starfleet Command II) from Taldren, the General War was an 18-year conflict waged between...

The ISC quickly learned that it was best to leave the Tholians alone during the War of Pacification. The Tholians did join the octant-wide resistance to the subsequent Andromedan onslaught, and Operation Unity to elimate the Andromedan menace. ISC can refer to: Companies or institutions: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, a (defunct) Unix vendor International Speedway Corporation, the owner of numerous American racetracks including Daytona USA. Internet Systems Consortium, an organization that develops Internet software (previously known as Internet Software Consortium) Internet Storm Center, a Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor and...

References

• (R7.1) Tholian Background, Star Fleet Battles Basic Set (ADB, 1999)
• (R15.1A) Seltorian Background, Star Fleet Battles, Module C3: New Worlds III (TFG, 1993)
• Star Fleet Universe Timeline: The Early Period. Star Fleet Battles Module Y: The Early Years (ADB, 2000)