Treaty of Kammzdast

The abuses of arming Orions went on until it became clear to the dullest of races that unless limits were put on the practice, well-armed Orion barbarians would overrun every culture within reach of Rigel. Delegates from every Orion-using race gathered at a great conference on Kammzdast from which came the Treaty of Kammzdast. It is the oldest known treaty in galactic history, and its signature, on Stardate -28945.1, began what is now referred to as the Orion Era.

Kammzdast exceeded its need admirably. Tehnological transfer to the Orions was now regulated, every signatory watching the others for violations. Orions were not to be armed outside the Rigel system, though slaves could still be lifted out for other purposes. Combat was allowed only on the unsettled worlds, Botchok included. As a peasce treaty, it stands far above the majority, for it channelled the urge to combat into less-destructive courses without harming any complying power and allowed the cultural and material enrichment of the signatory worlds. However, it did so at the expense of the Orions, whose homeworld and homesystem now became the only legal place to settle disputes, their people the proxy soldiery for other people's battles. Kammzdast and its modifications at the succeeding Rigel Conferences would keep a general peace for more than 10,000 years. It would also, indirectly, give the Orions the very tools they needed to end it.

It is impossible for non-Orions to determine exactly when the Orions began to envision a time when they would not be the playthings of technologically advanced aliens-modern Orions refuse commentary on the issue unanimously. It may not have become a recognized hope until alien schools brought new ideas and different perspectives to the primitives. Regardless, the Orions would never relax their grip on that hope, though 15,000 years of occupation and repression would pass before it's fufillment. As the late Dr. Thelanius Richter, Drummond Professor of Xenoarchaeology at the University of the Ocean of Storms on Luna said in his seminal work Archaeology of the Orions, "Orion history is a prime example of why the Federation has a Prime Directive-to protect everybody".

When the Orions were rounded up and disarmed, revolts became common, and not just on Botchok. The Orions resented their demotion to simple servitude. Only rigorous policing kept order, and most slave-holding races did not have the manpower to spare. Educating and preparing the Orion slaves for more responsible tasks proved to be a less-expensive and more enduring alternative. Orions were forced to learn the language and culture of each of their owning patrons, and slowly, the number of revolts decreased.

As the Orions learned more about their masters, they became more familiar with their weaknesses, racial tendencies, and blind spots. Now and again, a cabal of educated Orions would rise up against their masters, but the might of the aliens or their allies always prevailed. As yet, the Orions had no opportunity to learn the art of government or diplomacy and were at the mercy of alien invaders who did. Orions learned the hard way that their civilization, hardly out of savagery, was no match for the starfaring aliens. Weapons were not as important as they seemed-certainly not once the fighting was over. Until the Orions mastered themselves and the arcane ways of civilization, they could never hope to dislodge the alien master races. Therefore, the revolts again faded away-another dire signal the aliens did not correctly interpret.

While the Orions collectively swallowed their pride and ceased to resist captivity, the Rigel system was finally enjoying the fruits of peace. With a more 'civilized' means of settling territorial disputes, the races now planned and built cities on the more fruitful Rigel worlds. The vase majority of holding were on Botchok itself, for it was the source of not only Orion slaves, but also of industries to serve the needs of educating Orions to be good slaves and warriors. The invaders divided the entire planet into arbitrary states-much as Terra's Europeans, would subdivide the African continent tens of millenia later. They built cities not just to live in, but to place the natives in more civilized urban surroundings where they could be controlled. Botchok became a greenhouse, or slave academy, where Orions were taught from the cradle to respect and obey their generous and powerful masters. If anything, this only fed the Orion longing for freedom and enlightened the the Orions to the peculiar politics of being one thing while seeming to be another. For a people who had only recently been cavemen, it was a heady education.

Using the Orions and Botchok for proxy warfare turned out to be more difficult than the framers of Kammzdast had imagined. For one thing, disputants might not have adjacent Botchoki holdings; intervening lands might belong to races unconcerned with the dispute, who might have to be placated or bribed to allow the treaty-mandated struggle to take place. In addition, when negotiating and fighting, the diplomats and generals brought along their Orion translators and servants, who knew, learned, and shared more than they told their bosses.