We’re here to day with a game option you can’t resist! From the first season of Picard, “The Artifact” is a Borg cube that was abandoned and studied by the Federation and remnants of the Romulan Star Empire. This evocative setting detail was a great part of the series and also captured the mind of Hye Mardikian over at the Ohniaka III Project.
Though abandoned, the Artifact was full of ex-Borg drones (“xBs”), the subject of scientific scrutiny and also the victims of the Borg Collective’s horrific assimilation practices. This is the basis of the fantastic Ohniaka III Project website, exploring both the abilities of the XB and what it would be like to build a new life after your who self and world are erased.
The website is created by nonbinary Armenian and xB-in-spirit Hye Mardikian, The Ohniaka III Project website came about because someone likes xBs too much and thought former Borg deserved one of those cool lore sites Trekkies built on the back of Geocitites and WordPress. Filling in the gaps between 2368-2399,The Ohniaka III Project operates under the setting that this faction of xBs (former Borg) is named the “Liberated Borg Cooperation” ( simply “Cooperation” for short), their home planet is Ohniaka III (as seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter episode “The Descent”), and the Cooperation’s space-faring extension is the Reclamation Project (as seen in Star Trek: Picard). This xB species sheet for Star Trek Adventures can be used for any campaigns that take place during/after 2379, and the complimentary Ohniaka III Project lore packet can help provide setting/location info or character background supplement! While theohniaka3project.com is free for all to utilize, if you would like to somehow support, they have a Ko-fi link accepting tip donations as well as a Reclamation Project badge/enamel pin for sale on Gumroad, with part of future proceeds donated to rotating LGBTQ+ organizations.
The site’s artwork is part of what makes it so great, with character art/Vulcan xB by smoothandroid and banner/Ohniaka III art is by Shannon Kao ( as well as typesetting and layout work by Hye Mardikian). Here on Continuing Mission we’ve had a longstanding version of Liberated Borg but that predates Picard and I think this version captures some of the nuance in that show. I love how the artwork on the site is both intensely other and nicely pastoral, right in line with some of the considerations by Picard writers on how they wanted to portray the xBs. Before Picard, the Borg were always cold and calculating enemies. Sometimes they were chillingly effect (Wolf-359 comes to mind) and other times they are bumping into walls like broken Roombahs. Only occasionally (mostly with Seven-of-Nine‘s run on Voyager) did the show get into what it was like to be Borg. In Picard, the xBs being helped by Hugh take the next step to look at what it’s like to be assimilated. It’s a violation, it’s horrific and devastating. And afterwards all of the xBs need to take the time to deal with that violation. That’s where the colony of Ohniaka III comes in, a place of healing full of liberated former Borg drones helping each other to grow.
There is a ton of information on the site, go check it out! To whet your appetite, here’s the species template for xBs from the site. Go there and check it out for more!