Ocampa

Ocampa is the home planet of the Ocampans, a fictional race of elf-like humanoids in the science fiction television series '.

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Originally surface dwellers and the dominant species of their homeworld, the Ocampans exhibited phenomenal mental powers far in excess of any similar race in Star Trek canon. Their amazing mental abilities were offset, however, by their extremely short nine-year lifespan, less than that of dogs. (This is in marked contrast to the usual practice of making alien races longer-lived than humans.)

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The development of the Ocampan race was interrupted when an exploratory vessel from another galaxy that chose to visit the Ocampan homeworld. The propulsion system of the intergalactic vessel caused an irreparable chain reaction in the atmosphere of the planet destroying the ability of the atmosphere to carry on a rain-cycle. According to Captain Kathryn Janeway, the planet's atmosphere was "completely devoid of nucleogenics." The intergalactic explorers upon realizing their mistake, took upon themselves the responsibility of taking care of the Ocampans. The Caretakers built a massive underground cavern with access to the only remaining natural water source on the planet, and supplied it with energy via transmissions from a gigantic orbiting station. From this station, the "Caretaker" dutifully watched over the Ocampans, supplying every need and protecting them from every danger. As a result of this life of absolute ease, the Ocampans eventually stopped using their mental powers and due largely to their short lifespans, eventually forgot about them completely. Over time, the Ocampans became completely dependent upon the Caretakers for all necessities of life.

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The Ocampans remained in this state until the only Caretaker remaining on the station began to die. This Caretaker reasoned that only his own offspring would be able to carry on his work of protecting the Ocampans, and so began a galaxy-wide search to find a genetically compatible race through which it might produce offspring. This search consisted of a long series of trans-galactic ship-jackings, which is how the Federation Starship Voyager came to be in the Delta Quadrant.

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During the time of the Caretaker, the planet's deserted surface was inhabited by a subset of the Kazon race.

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Elf: An elf is a mythical creature of Germanic mythology which survived in northern European folklore. Originally a race of minor gods of nature and fertility, elves are often pictured as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and other natural places, underground, or in wells a...

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