Picture Gallery
| Description | Humanoid, Bipedal |
| Size | Medium |
| Skin Pigment | Unknown |
| Hair | Unknown |
| Distinguishing Features | Wear full masks and environmental suits for survival in non-polar climates |
| Series | Movies: VI, VII TNG: "Hero Worship", "Interface", "The Loss" DS9: "Indiscretion", "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light", "Return to Grace", "The Loss", "For the Uniform", "Business as Usual", "The Magnificent Ferengi", "To the Death" VOY: "Elogium", "Scorpion Part 1". (most of these are just mentions not appearances.) |
| Planet of Origin | Breen (non M-class, with ave. temp -53 C) |
| Quadrant | Alpha |
| Background |
In 2366 two Breen warships
attacked the Cardassian ship Ravinok then forced
it to crash land on Dozaria where they put the Cardassian and Bajoran
crew
and passengers on that ship into a forced labour camp on the surface.
The
Breen were encased in refrigeration suits running a forced labor
dilithium
mine using DS9: "Indiscretion". |
| Editors Notes | The Breen have evolved
with a unique physiology in order to cope with this ultra-cold
environment; although they breathe a fairly standard oxygen-nitrogen
atmosphere at close to normal pressure, the Breen have no blood or
other liquid circulatory system. Instead, their body is permeated
by millions of tiny hollow tubules, which are open to the skin.
These allow oxygen to be carried directly into the body; once there it
is absorbed directly through the skin to be used by the internal
organs. A similar process carries the waste gasses back out
again. The Breen reproductive cycle is also unusual, in that they
commonly produce offspring at a very early age. Given that most
known major space faring species live on class M planets with an
average temperature far above that of Breen, the Breen have had to
develop environmental suits of great capability and reliability in
order to co-exist with others. The average body temperature for a
Breen is -38 C, and exposure to temperatures above -13 C is fatal. Given their nature, it is understandable that the Breen have become one of the Alpha Quadrants leading experts at creating and maintaining extremely cold environments. They are acknowledged experts on cold storage of chemical compounds. Casual visits to Breen worlds by non-Breen are virtually impossible. The Breen strongly discourage visitors, and all those who do visit Breen worlds are confined to purpose-designed encampments. Combined with the fact that the Breen habitually design environmental suits that hide their faces from view, this has given them their air of mystery. A Secretive, non-aligned warrior race. Their home planet is a frozen wasteland, which means they cannot tolerate normal planetary temperatures. Known to have cloaking and disrupter technology, thier ships have also been described as "part biologic", they are expert weapons designers, and masters of refrigeration technology. Untrustworthy and secretive they are also one of the few humanoid races with no form of blood for gas circulation. Thier 4-lobed brain is unreadable by telepaths. There is a Romulan warning very appropriate: "never turn your back on a Breen." The first mention of the Breen race was in the TNG episode "The Loss", where it is discovered that Betazoid telepaths have no reading from them (No appearance). The next mention was as suspects in the destruction of the SS Vico, and were established to possess cloaking and disrupter technology. The first actual appearance by a Breen came in ST VI: The Undiscovered Country. In the Khitomer scenes, a Breen envoy can be seen crossing the screen in the background. (Not positively identified for another 5 years until an alien dressed similarly appeared in the DS9 episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" and was identified as a Breen.) The condition of the Breen homeworld was established in 2 DS9 episodes "Crossfire", "Shattered Mirror" where several quotes along the lines of "Colder than a Breen ______" were used. |
Picture Gallery