Can Ocampa actually be a soldier species?

[BohandiAnsoid]

I have been thinking anout the Ocampa for quite a long time and I came with a theory: what if the Ocampa were actually a soldiers species like the Jem'Hadar, but abandoned, and also with ability to reproduce themselves (if limited)?

Let's examine it. We know almost nothing about the species' past. They grow quickly, and the short lifespan is irrelevant to a soldier as they are likely to die in combat before they would die of an old age. They have good memories, remember almost everything in details and can sudy quickly, wgich decreses taining time. They have innate telekinesis and telephatic abilities and can be weaponized, so they are still dangerous even if they have no equipment. They Ocampa also seems to be both dtermined and ingenious, but they also seems to have a natural tendency toward obedience and loyalty... As shown with Kes' obedience and loyaty aboard Voyager, the same with the Carektaer and Suspiria. This sounds lot like they were designed as a soldiers species. Also, if they were initially bred lie the Jem'Haar, it would explain them only having children once, althought I still maintain Ocampa have many children in one birth. Also, since they can only have children once, once this occur, these Ocsampa are no longer in the species' reproduction pool and can be safely sent off to die in battle.

hat do you thing about this?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

There are plenty of other reasons a species might live short lives and possess these qualities - military, dangerous labor, livestock, harsh living conditions. Perhaps they might live longer if they lived in different conditions.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

I've read similar theories, and it's disturbingly plausible. Ocampa 90% of their lives in their prime, yet only procreate once. They clearly seem designed to be of some kind of service to someone. (The real answer to that being TV writers.)

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

No matter how bad "Fury" is, at least it shows how dangerous is one Ocampa that is not even all that trained for combat. Now, you imagine a battalion of such Ocampa, and much more disciplined... It is a chilling thought. You cannot stun then, you cannot disarm them... Their abilities are very powerful. They can practically kill with sight.

 

[Oddish]

Maybe they were a failed attempt... they reproduce too slowly, and they're not much on killer instinct.

My head canon is that the Tosk were one of the early attempts at Jem'Hadar. The Founders handed the template over to the hunters in return for being loyal subjects.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

The Tosk are indeed too... similar to the Jem'Hadar. I read that they intended this to be so, but somehow it went unmentioned.

A do have a feeling that Ocampa (or at least modern - day Ocampa) are a bit too pacifistic... So they're either a failure or gnerations of peace removed it. Maybe Caretaker removed said insticsts deliberately.

 

[fireproof78]

Or a possible an unintentional side effect of oy having one child in the reproductive instinct cycle. The population would never really grow, meaning the need to protect the species might override any need to fight beyond what's needed.

 

[at Quark's]

Their mental capabilities would make them a most fearful adversary.

Other than that, I don't know. They don't seem to have aggressive tendencies (or, as Oddish calls it, 'killer instinct'), they aren't large and there's no indication they possess any outstanding physical attributes, and it's a mystery how they are supposed to exist in the long run, given the females supposedly can only get one child in their lifetimes.

I could imagine them to have been an engineered and then abandoned species, but why would it need to be a soldier species? There could've been designed with many other purposes in mind.

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

I imagined soldier species due to the fact that their fast growth and fast learning reminded me of Jem'Hadar. But they may be made for something else. the bottom line is: they did not evolve naturally. They were shaped into what they are by some outside force to serve a specific purpose.

 

[at Quark's]

Another thought I had is that perhaps the Nacene didn't just accidentally damage the Ocampa planet with whatever it was that caused it to become a desert but their species as well. Perhaps before that disaster happened, they didn't have the short lifetime or the 'one child per woman'-limitation. Kes might have been born so many generations after the fact that the knowledge it didn't use to be that way was long lost (except maybe to Ocampa actively studying history).

 

[BohandiAnsoid]

That's a fair assumption.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Or a possible an unintentional side effect of oy having one child in the reproductive instinct cycle. The population would never really grow, meaning the need to protect the species might override any need to fight beyond what's needed.

With one child per female, assuming a 50/50 male/female split, procreation at 3 years old and a 9 year lifespan, a population of 15 million would be extinct in less than 80 years, assuming everyone capable procreates. A 1.5 billion starting population would last about a century.

 

[Lynx]

No, the Ocampa isn't like the Jem' Hadar. Not at all.

The Jem'Hadar is a species which were more and less constructed and breed for only one purpose, as warriors whose only purpose is to fight.

They have no constructivity, no interests, no culture, no talent to build or invent, nothing besides war. They obey the orders from The Founders and are ready to die from them.

The Ocampa is a peaceful people with certain mental abilities. They might defend themselves if necessary but they are no warriors like the Jem'Hadar. They can't even be compared with them.