Tholian

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Tholian
Four Letter Code	thol
Federation Status	Neutral
Planet of Origin	Unknown (guessed to be Y-Class)
Encountered	Encountered by the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 The Tholian Web, TOS. First encountered by the Enterprise, NX-01 Future Tense, ENT.
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	NR
List of Named Tholians
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A highly advanced sentient and apparently crystalline species, non-humanoid in appearance and extremely territorial in disposition. They hail from a hot planet by human standards, probably not Class-M. Together, two Tholian ships can literally spin a web of energy in space in order to trap an enemy vessel, after which the web is then drawn together, constricting and finally destroying the vessel inside. On stardate 5693.2, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 made first contact with this species, though they had found a short battle with the Enterprise NX-01 a century earlier. Tholians are a hive-mind and known for their punctuality. One of the independent border races that could have been dragged into a Klingon civil war, due to their proximity. During a period of renewed conflict with the United Federation of Planets (UFP) in 2253, they attacked a starbase and killed the entire complement, except civilian advisor Kyle Riker, who refused to give up survival. In a battle simulation during his Academy days, Riker figured out the sensory blind spot of a Tholian ship and hid there. Tensions have eased enough for the Tholians to send an ambassador to space station Deep Space Nine.

NON-CANON: The Memory Alpha entry is available here

A more filled history of the Tholians appeared in the first edition of the Board game Star Fleet Battles that was published in 1972.