Tahal-Isut

The Tahal-Isut are a humanoid species who populated the Delta Quadrant planet Tahal-Meeroj around which, in 2376, USS Voyager became caught in the orbit.

Physiology
The Tahal-Isut were characterized with cranial ridges in the middle of their foreheads that form a round circular shape at the top and extend down the nose in relatively straight lines. Older individuals seem to have less apparent ridges.

The "Sky Ship" influenced culture
On their homeworld, time passes much faster than it does in normal space. One day on the planet is about one second in normal time. When USS Voyager encountered the planet in 2376, they became trapped in orbit due to the tachyon field surrounding it. While Voyager was in orbit of the planet, several millennia passed. The civilization advanced significantly during this time.

Tribal era
During this era, the Tahal-Isut were primitive and superstitious. They lived in small huts in villages protected by wooden barricades. They believed the stars to be gods, and gave offerings to them on altars. The brightest and therefore strongest of these gods was Tahal. It was during this era that the Voyager arrived in orbit. The Tahal-Isut believed it to be a new god. The earthquakes caused by the ship's presence made the people call it the "Ground Shaker".

Renaissance era
In this era, the Tahal-Isut no longer worshipped the old gods, and science started to make people speculate about the true nature of the bright light in the sky. The first ideas that there may be people aboard the object occurred, as well as the first legitimate attempts to contact the object through non-spiritual means. During this time Kelemane was a Protector.

Pre-spaceflight industrial era
The first powerful telescopes were built and the Tahal-Isut now recognized Voyager as a starship. They called it the Sky Ship and many devoted their lives to study it. Astronomers used telescopes in large observatories to watch the ship. The first radio messages were sent to Voyager, but by the time the crew had decoded the messages, the people who sent it were long dead. Also during this period a total of 26 nation-states existed, including the Central Protectorate, which the Voyager crew observed to be a tolerant society.

A series of collectible toys called the Sky Ship Friends was released and became very popular.

Near the end of this era, The Doctor was sent down to the Central Protectorate to gather information about the planet and its culture. He only intended to visit for a few days, which was a few seconds on Voyager however, a transporter malfunction delayed the beam-up for approximately twenty minutes and caused him to stay for over three years. During this time he studied arts and music, and became a fan of the Tahal-Meeroj sport team Mountain which became popular during this time. He also became part of a family with Mareeza and Jason Tebreeze.

During these three years, a short war broke out between the Central Protectorate and one of its neighbors. The neighbors fired cannon shells into the Central Protectorate whose Tactical Air Command responded. A new treaty was signed a few weeks later.

Others who lived during this era were Doric and Torelius.

Spaceflight era
At the beginning of the era was the Orbital 1 mission which, unknown to the Tahal-Isut on the surface, successfully contacted Voyager. The two astronauts were pilot Gotana-Retz and commander of the mission Terrina.

Those on the surface believed the astronauts had been killed, and that therefore, the ship was hostile. They also knew that its presence was the cause of the earthquakes that had plagued them for centuries, so they began to develop weapons including antimatter torpedoes and tricobalt devices to shoot down the ship.

The Launch Control center from the Orbital 1 mission was renamed the Tactical Command Center to reflect its new mission of destroying the "Sky Ship" instead of contacting it.

Advanced spaceflight era
During this era, Gotana-Retz returned to the surface with specifications of the Voyager. The species' scientists now fully understood the situation, and focused their efforts on helping Voyager escape. Powerful new ships were built to pull Voyager from orbit, in which they finally succeeded. The temporal compensator was developed at this time as well as technologies similar to tractor beams and transporters.