Assimilation

paradox · December 2020

Why doesn't the Borg assimilate other similar species like the Elachi or the Kobali, these Aliens could improve the Borg's assimilation methods to new frightening degrees, adding Bio-Assimilation could also speed up the process of Borg Drones.

snowwolf · December 2020

paradox#7391 wrote: »

Why doesn't the Borg assimilate other similar species like the Elachi or the Kobali, these Aliens could improve the Borg's assimilation methods to new frightening degrees, adding Bio-Assimilation could also speed up the process of Borg Drones.

The Borg may be unable to assimilate them for some biological reason, it is possible. Such as the Borg were highly unsuccessful in trying to assimilate the Undine at first.

Or they might just be really hard to assimilate, just like the Federation is on the top list of managing to avoid assimilation and combating the Borg.

jonsills · December 2020

Assimilating the Kobali would be redundant - the Borg already take over existing beings and recreate them as part of the Collective.

The Elachi are apparently native to another level of reality, the mycelial realm, and may present their own unique challenges to assimilation (for instance, they may have a distributed neural network rather than having a central brain, leaving no central processor to attack).

jake477 · January 2021

Elachi are creatures in subspace, they would have to break the barrier to get to them and even then they are extremely reclusive. The Borg don't hunt, they take targets of opportunity, the only reason why the Borg took an interest in Species 8472 was because they ran across them in the first place. Unless you are actively seeking the Elachi, they normally never show up on their own accord.

As for the Kobali, to the Borg they would seem like kindred spirits because they take the dead and re-assimilate them into their soceity. They would interrupt said cycle by assimilating the Kobali into their ranks. The Kobali are about as close to the perverse Borg vision of perfection as one could get. So why mess with what the Borg themselves would say is "evolution". Which is why I still stay Starfleet should drop the Kobali like a bad habit and let the Vaadwaur clean up the mess. If the Borg don't get a free pass with their BS then why do the Kobali? Aiding them has Janeway's stench all over it. Only she can be this stupid and morally "justifiable". In some regards to many cultures both violate your soul, one does it while you are alive the other is when you are dead. Depending on who you are, one could interpret it as WORSE then the other. For example, a klingon would call the Kobali worse then the Borg because they would rob them of Sto-Vo-Kor, where as a Human being would no doubt say the Borg is worse since it's a "living-death" It really depends on your point of view. Both are awful as a God fearing man and as a human being. But that is just me.

Besides the memories of the Kobali are so twisted that it would be hard glean any useful intel from them in any case or any distinctiveness because it goes against Kobali nature to be distinct. So in all the Borg would classify the Kobali as another Kazon species unworthy of assimilation. Even the Borg have standards.

jonsills · January 2021

Crucial difference between Borg assimilation and Kobali reproduction, Jake - the Kobali reanimate corpses. They don't, as a rule, go about killing people in order to repurpose the bodies. (They were walking a fine line in the Vaadwaur vault, but they still waited until the vaults failed in order to reanimate the dead, rather than simply shutting them down and getting on with it.) For a time, the memories of the dead person linger, imprinted in the decaying remnants of grey matter, until the new Kobali brain grows and makes a new person.

Borg, on the other tentacle, take their victims alive. They repurpose living beings, apparently without even shutting down their consciousness first (Seven could still remember being Annika, and Picard was able to fight Locutus enough to give Data the necessary clue to stop the Borg cube orbiting Earth). There's a big difference there.

(And given what we're told about Klingon attitudes toward death, I'm still surprised the Klinks didn't earn a few extra darseks selling corpses to the Kobali after the funeral. The entire Kobali government probably couldn't have afforded to buy complete Ferengi corpses, however.)

ryan218 · January 2021

jonsills wrote: »

(And given what we're told about Klingon attitudes toward death, I'm still surprised the Klinks didn't earn a few extra darseks selling corpses to the Kobali after the funeral. The entire Kobali government probably couldn't have afforded to buy complete Ferengi corpses, however.)

This. From at least the TNG-era, the Klingons consider a dead body an 'empty shell', as the warrior's spirit has already passed. That's what that whole 'death roar' is about.

As for the Borg assimilating the Kobali... is there a reason to? I mean, you have the Kobali's genetic technology, etc, but since the Borg believe in cybernetic perfection rather than genetic perfection...

Granted, its not like anything like that has stopped the Borg before.

legendarylycan · January 2021

even as far back as the mid-23rd century, they consider the body an empty shell - albeit one that is paradoxically treated simultaneously with respect (via internment) and disrespect (via using said interred bodies as armor)

jonsills · January 2021

shadowfang240 wrote: »

even as far back as the mid-23rd century, they consider the body an empty shell - albeit one that is paradoxically treated simultaneously with respect (via internment) and disrespect (via using said interred bodies as armor)

Or great respect (giving the dead body one last chance to serve the ship, and thus the Empire).

westx211 · January 2021

> @ryan218 said:
> This. From at least the TNG-era, the Klingons consider a dead body an 'empty shell', as the warrior's spirit has already passed. That's what that whole 'death roar' is about.
>
> As for the Borg assimilating the Kobali... is there a reason to? I mean, you have the Kobali's genetic technology, etc, but since the Borg believe in cybernetic perfection rather than genetic perfection...
>
> Granted, its not like anything like that has stopped the Borg before.

I feel like the klingons would care in that while the body is an empty shell, it could be seen as them forcing the warrior's spirit back into their body and tainting it

Assimilation

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