Continuing Discovery December in the long mid-season break. This week is the Kelpien species, noteworthy for Commander Saru, the First Officer on the U.S.S. Discovery. Little is known of the Kelpiens save that in the middle of the 23rd Century their homeworld was not a Federation member and that Saru was the first or the species to join Starfleet. More than other people, the Kelpien species write-up is extrapolated and invented for this blog.
Because Kelpiens were not a Federation member race, playing a Kelpien would be difficult prior to the The Original Series. Presumably the Kelpien people survive the events of Star Trek Discovery and members of the species can be found in future eras. It’s possible that they joined the Federation and many more became Starfleet officers; Kelpiens might be as common as Andorians or Bolians by the 24th Century. As so little is known of their culture, it would almost be easier playing a a Kelpien in later decades, as cultural differences could be explained away with the character being raised in an off-world colony or being raised among non-Kelpiens.
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