Editing Hirogen (section)

==History==

Ancient Hirogen civilization was knowledgeable and possessed advanced technology. However, by the 24th century, the Hirogen no longer identified with a homeworld; their nomadic existence was driven by the pursuit of prey. (VOY: "Hunters") This had caused Hirogen society to put nearly all of its energy into increasingly unproductive hunts in increasingly exhausted territories, bringing cultural and scientific advancement to a near standstill. The Hirogen way of life had not changed for 1,000 years. They lived nomadically and had dispersed themselves throughout the quadrant, becoming a solitary and isolated race. It had even been stated by one Hirogen, Karr, that in another 1,000 years, no one would remember the name Hirogen, as they were hunting themselves into extinction. (VOY: "The Killing Game, Part II")

In 2357, a Hirogen hunter was captured on his son's first hunt and forced to participate in the Tsunkatse matches. He would remain a forced participant in the blood sport until the USS Voyager rescued him in 2376. (VOY: "Tsunkatse")

:<small><strong>It would seem that the Hirogen were first assimilated by the [[Borg]] sometime after Seven of Nine was rescued from the Collective in 2374. In "Hunters" she notes that the Borg encountered members of Species 5174 killed in a style later discovered to be Hirogen work, but the Borg did not know what happened, nor did Seven of Nine recognize the Hirogen species. Seven's statement regarding the Hirogen's impending assimilation by the Borg in "The Killing Game" would seem to confirm this. However, a Hirogen could be seen during the mind meld scenes in "Infinite Regress", indicating that Seven of Nine herself, or at least the Borg as a species, already had assimilated Hirogen before Seven's liberation from the Collective. Indeed, later in "Unimatrix Zero" and "Unimatrix Zero, Part II", several Hirogen were part of Unimatrix Zero.</strong></small> 

In 2374, the [[Federation]] [[starship]] USS Voyager had several rough encounters with members of the Hirogen species. The first occurred while Voyager was attempting to make contact with the Federation over a communications network claimed by the Hirogen. When demanded to stop, the Federation ship responded with hostility, shocking a Hirogen male into submission through his interface. (VOY: "Message in a Bottle") The Hirogen also captured and attempted to kill [[Rank|Lieutenant Commander]] Tuvok and Seven of Nine of Voyager, and the Federation ship forcefully disabled their relay network. (VOY: "Hunters")

While hunting a particularly resilient prey, a member of [[Species 8472]], a Hirogen hunter was forced to accept help from the Voyager crew when the prey boarded the Starfleet vessel. When other Hirogen ships arrived, the hunter and his prey were returned to the Hirogen people by Seven of Nine despite her orders from Janeway specifically saying they would not sacrifice another sentient life form to save themselves. (VOY: "Prey")

Later, a pack of Hirogen ships successfully claimed the starship Voyager and forced the crew to participate in vast holodeck hunting simulations, brainwashing the crew to believe they were genuine characters in the holodecks while leaving a select minority outside to treat the crew and create additional holobuffers throughout the ship. The holodeck technology offered the Hirogen a better chance to study their prey, and the Alpha believed it represented the next stage of Hirogen social evolution. However, the Federation crew eventually fought back, The Doctor and Harry Kim managing to 'deprogram' Seven of Nine as she was participating in a Nazi program and give her the key to free other crew. Eventually, the restored crew forced the Hirogen to a standoff resulting in the death of the Alpha, although the current Beta, resenting his Alpha's decisions and partly convinced by the Nazi vision of superiority, attempted to kill the crew anyway until he was killed by Captain Janeway. Captain Janeway gave the new Alpha the data necessary to make holographic technology, in the hopes that it would calm Hirogen society and stop them from hunting sentient beings. (VOY: "The Killing Game", "The Killing Game, Part II")