Editing Organians (section)

==History==
[[Image:Organian council of elders.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Organian Council of Elders]]

For ten thousand years, they observed a planet that contained a silicon-based virus, and the reactions of species that encountered it, in an attempt to find a species with a higher level of intelligence. Among the species which the Organians observed as they attempted to deal with this deadly virus were the Klingons, the Cardassians, and Humans. 

In 2154, the Enterprise NX-01 investigated a Klingon waste site on the planet, and a landing party consisting of Commander Charles Tucker and Ensign Hoshi Sato contracted the virus. Following their protocol of non-interference, two Organian observers watched the crew's reaction to the situation by inhabiting the bodies of crew members, and subsequently altering their memories so that they had no recollection of the Organians' actions. One of the two observers (apparently the more senior of the two) felt that the Organians' protocols should be followed strictly; the other, who was impressed by the Humans' compassion, felt that the time had come for the protocols to be altered. The less senior being argued that intelligence alone was not a sufficient measure of a species' worthiness to be contacted. The senior observer initially occupied the body of Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, while his associate occupied the body of Ensign Travis Mayweather. All of the senior staff of Enterprise were possessed by the observers at one point or another. 

After a period of rapid deterioration, both Tucker and Sato died from the virus. However, at the moment of Tucker's death, the junior Organian inhabited his body and communicated his admiration to Captain Jonathan Archer, who had become infected himself in an effort to save his crewmen. He explained his mission to Archer, who pleaded for the Organians to save his crew members – to experience compassion, not merely observe it. Although it was a violation of their protocols, the Organians complied and revived Tucker and Sato, as well as eliminating the virus from their systems and Archer's. The crew of the Enterprise NX-01 retained no memory of their interactions with the Organian observers. Before they left, the junior Organian told his superior that they should begin preparations for an official first contact mission, which they felt gave them only about five thousand years. (ENT: "Observer Effect") 

The Organians later took the appearance of a simple pre-industrial humanoid society for the purpose of interaction with other lifeforms. Based on the preliminary Federation surveys, the Organian society rated a class D-minus on the Richter Scale of Culture. When Organia was invaded by the Klingons at the start of the Federation-Klingon War (2267) in 2267, Captain James T. Kirk and his first officer, Spock, attempted to convince the apparently-primitive Organians to accept Federation protection. The Organians seemed completely unconcerned with external affairs, almost to the point of apathy. It was only when Kirk and Spock began conducting a guerrilla war against the Klingon occupation that the Organians abandoned their false humanoid forms and intervened, forcing an end to the interstellar war. They imposed the Treaty of Organia, establishing a framework for interaction between the two enemies, accurately predicting that, in time, they would eventually become friends. (TOS: "Errand of Mercy") This event placed official first contact between the Organians and the Federation much sooner than the Organians had first anticipated.