Native Species: Trill, Trill symbiont

Location: Trillius system, Alpha Quadrant

Trill is an M-class planet in the Trill system. It is the homeworld of two sentient species, the humanoid Trill and the non-humanoid Trill symbionts.

History
Trill's first contact with alien life was in the early 21st century, when a Vulcan ship landed, proposing friendship and cultural information exchange. Trill society was deeply divided by this development, with many fearing the outsiders represented a threat to the symbionts. The ruling council eventually allowed for limited contact with Vulcans, but no other alien races. This first contact also led to increased security around and secrecy regarding the symbionts.

Circa 2063, Trill was visited by the L'Dira. Trill's refusal to deal with the unknown race led to an attack on the planet, killing over fifty. This tragic error in understanding convinced the ruling council to increase their knowledge of the galaxy.

The planet joined the United Federation of Planets some time around the early 23rd century; before that the planet's military was the Trill Private Service. (TNG novel: Intellivore) Madza Bral, a Trill politician, was elected Federation President not long afterwards.

Government
In the 21st century, Trill was governed by a ruling council, composed solely of joined Trills, and primarily males. The council was lead by a head councilor, addressed as "Mr. Speaker". The council met in the council chambers, at the time one of the oldest and largest spaces in the capital city, adorned with acelon desks and capped by an opaque dome. As early as the mid-21st century, debate raged over abandoning the historic chamber for more modern building.

By the 24th century, Trill government was run by a President and a Senate, both housed in the Trill Senate Tower, in the city of Leran Manev. That government nearly collapsed when a terrorist attack killed or seriously wounded thousands of symbionts, including that of the president, Lirisse Maz. The Maz symbiont was successfully unjoined, and Lirisse Durghan was able to maintain her position.

Geography
The largest mountain range on Trill is known as Ayai'leh-hirh. The largest mountain is Bes Manev.

Caves of Mak'ala
Ganses Peninsula
Lake Ograls
Manev Bay
Tenaran ice cliffs

Cities
Gheryzan
Leran Manev - planetary capital
Mak'ala

Important Buildings
Devritane Museum
Kem'alta Institute
Najana Library
Trill Senate Tower
Tenaran Music Academy

Fauna
Trill feather-ape
Ilrienh

Points of interest:
Caves of Mak'ala
Hoobishan Baths
Tenaran Ice Cliffs

Institutions and agencies:
Trill Science Ministry
Symbiosis Commission
Trillian government

Hosts and Symbionts

The symbionts are helpless, worm-shaped lifeforms who contain the memories of their previous hosts, and who inhabit the abdomens of the humanoid hosts. When a host and a symbiont are joined, the resulting individual is considered a new being. When a host dies, the symbiont is transplanted into a new host. Ninety-three hours after the joining, the host and symbiont are completely interdependent, but up to then, the joining may be reversed without killing the host. A symbiont who is neither implanted into a new host nor returned to their habitat (pools of nutrient-rich liquid on the Trill homeworld) will quickly die, as will a joined Trill host within one to two days of the symbiont being removed. In rare cases, Trill symbionts can be joined with non-Trill humanoids, but the differences in biology means the results are often unstable. Commander William Riker was briefly joined to the Odan symbiont so that Odan could complete peace negotiations, and to keep Odan alive until a new Trill host could arrive. While this effort saved Odan's life, it nearly caused Riker's death.

It was originally assumed that only a small fraction (0.01%) of the Trill population was capable of being joined, a myth that the Trill government continues to perpetuate. This is because the joining of the Dax symbiont with the host Joran (Curzon's predecessor) was a disaster - Joran was insane and a murderer. Joran's joining with Dax was covered up and all records of it were erased. The Trill government attempted to blame the failure on Joran's unsuitability as a host, but the truth was that Joran had passed the host screening tests and was technically a stable host - as was almost half of the Trill humanoid population. The government dares not let this information become public, lest the symbionts become a commodity to be bought, sold and fought over by the public; as long as it is widely believed that only a small fraction can become hosts, the government reasons, then such widespread hysteria can be avoided.

A joined Trill is known by the given name of the host followed by the name of the symbiont: for example, when Ezri Tigan was joined with the symbiont Dax, her name became Ezri Dax.

Trill society has a taboo against resuming relationships with loved ones from one's past joining, on the principle that each life must be unique. This taboo apparently does not extend to non-romantic relationships (or perhaps non-Trills), since Jadzia Dax renewed Curzon Dax's friendship with Benjamin Sisko and others without comment, as Ezri Dax renewed Jadzia's friendship with the crew of Deep Space Nine.