Hirogen The Hirogen were a nomadic species of hunter s who roamed the Delta Quadrant during the late - 24th century . They viewed other lifeforms as prey and treated them as such , showing little evidence of compassion or empathy for other intelligent species . Physiology . Hirogen adult males were quite large , standing above the average height of most other known humanoid species . They also possessed greater physical strength than most humanoids afforded to them by their advanced muscle and nervous system . Their sensory perception was acute , a feature that served well as the Hirogen were an aggressive hunting species . The Hirogen also possessed an impressive immune system . The Hirogen used an enzyme to break down the bones and muscle tissue of their prey , suggesting that the Hirogen used some of their victims as food . The color of Hirogen blood is red . ( ) Female Hirogen pursued male hunters in possession of rare or unique trophies acquired during a hunt . ( ) Society and culture . Hirogen society centered around " the hunt " , which they regarded with a reverence that bordered on spiritual awe . Elements of their culture , such as social rituals and beliefs , were based on the hunt . One of the rituals surrounding the hunt involves hunters applying paint to their faces and helmets for both the hunt and the kill . Even with no face paint available , one specific Hirogen fighter who was forced to fight in the Tsunkatse matches still went through the ritual of running his finger over his face , as if applying paint . ( ) Hirogen culture required a hunter to study his prey to understand its abilities , believing that such study was essential to prevent a hunter from becoming the hunted . Choosing the most appropriate weapon to make the kill was considered important ; a scythe - like knife seems to have been the preferred method for close range . There was great importance placed upon the moment of the kill and it was believed that the way a creature behaved when it was wounded was the key to its destruction . ( ) Hirogen were known to express disappointment when the species they chose to hunt proved to be unchallenging . ( ) They rarely saw other humanoids as equals because they often did not consider non - Hirogen as hunters . As a result , being called " worthy prey " by a Hirogen was meant as a great compliment . The Hirogen believed " you must never sympathize with your prey . " However , they did bestow a rather unique non - Human compassion towards their prey , believing that they should never let their prey suffer . ( ) Most Hirogen vessels traveled alone , sometimes with a crew consisting of as few as merely two members . One such vessel was known to have spanned a radius of a thousand light year s in just five years ; it had also visited as many as ninety star systems in a single year . ( ) Occasionally , however , Hirogen vessels were encountered in groups or packs . This was more common if they were hunting a challenging and resilient prey . The Hirogen social structure was organized into packs of male hunters similar to a wolf pack , each led by a Hirogen known as the Alpha . ( ) The second - in - command was the Beta – if the Alpha died , the Beta became the Alpha . ( ) After the Hirogen caught their prey , they removed the skeletal system , muscles , internal organs , ligament s , and tendon s by a surgical procedure known as an osteotomy . These items were kept as s of the hunt . Unusual relics brought envy from other Hirogen males , and Hirogen females desired a male who had such unusual relics . These items couldn ' t be taken before the moment of the kill . Status was determined by possession of prizes from hunts , often body parts or technology obtained from their prey . These prizes , called " trophies " or " relics " , were displayed in nets hanging from the ceilings or walls of their vessels . In the case of skulls , they were often mounted as a wall display . ( ) Philosophy . Hirogen philosophy and lifestyle was almost totally based around one major activity : hunting . The hunt was the most important part of Hirogen life , and absorbed most of Hirogen activity . Prey which put up a struggle before they were killed in the hunt were considered " worthy prey " . The Hirogen thought that these prey made better trophies . The weaker , less cunning prey were considered pathetic prey , and gave no satisfaction or challenge to the hunt . To get food , it was speculated that the Hirogen ate their prey . It was also apparent that the Hirogen liked to learn as much as possible about their prey if they were captured alive . Because their entire lives were spent hunting , little time or resources were left for research and development . The Hirogen were nomadic . They had no homes or bases of operations . This was not always the case however . The Hirogen were once a great civilization and an advanced culture . ( ) History . Ancient Hirogen civilization was knowledgeable and possessed advanced technology . However , by the 24th century , the Hirogen no longer identified with a homeworld ; their nomadic existence was driven by the pursuit of prey . ( ) This had caused Hirogen society to put nearly all of its energy into increasingly unproductive hunts in increasingly exhausted territories , bringing cultural and scientific advancement to a near standstill . The Hirogen way of life had not changed for a thousand years . They lived as nomads and had dispersed themselves throughout the quadrant , becoming a solitary and isolated race . It had even been stated by one Hirogen , Karr , that in another thousand years , no one would remember the name Hirogen , as they were hunting themselves to extinction . ( ) In 2357 , a Hirogen hunter was captured on his son ' s first hunt and forced to participate in Tsunkatse matches . He remained a forced participant in the blood sport until the Federation starship USS " Voyager " rescued him in 2376 . ( ) In 2374 , the had several rough encounters with members of the Hirogen species . The first of these incidents occurred while the starship was attempting to make contact with the Federation via a communications network claimed by the Hirogen . When ordered to stop , Seven of Nine initiated an electrical pulse , shocking a Hirogen male into submission through his interface . ( ) The Hirogen also captured and attempted to kill Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and Seven , and the Federation vessel forcefully disabled their relay network . ( ) While hunting a particularly resilient prey , a member of Species 8472 , a Hirogen hunter was forced to accept help from the " Voyager " crew when the prey boarded the Starfleet vessel . When other Hirogen ships arrived , the hunter and his prey were returned to the Hirogen people by Seven of Nine , despite the fact that she had specifically been ordered by Captain Janeway that the Starfleet crew would not sacrifice another sentient lifeform to save themselves . ( ) Later , a pack of Hirogen ships successfully claimed the starship " Voyager " and forced the crew to participate in vast holodeck hunting simulations , brainwashing the crew to believe they were genuine characters in the holodecks while leaving a select minority outside to treat the crew and create additional holobuffers throughout the ship . The holodeck technology offered the Hirogen a better chance to study their prey , and the Alpha believed it represented the next stage of Hirogen social evolution . However , the Federation crew eventually fought back , The Doctor and Harry Kim managing to ' deprogram ' Seven of Nine – as she was participating in a Nazi program – and give her the key to free other members of the crew . Eventually , the restored crew forced the Hirogen to a standoff resulting in the death of the Alpha , although the current Beta , resenting his Alpha ' s decisions and partly convinced by the Nazi vision of superiority , attempted to kill the crew anyway , until he was killed by Captain Janeway . She gave the new Alpha the data necessary to make holographic technology , in the hopes that it would calm Hirogen society and stop them from hunting sentient beings . ( ) On stardate 51762 , Janeway negotiated a cease - fire with the Hirogen , suspending hostilities . ( ) Iden ' s Rebellion . In 2377 , the results of this attempt at cultural manipulation were discovered . The Hirogen had gone on to make holographic prey in huge space station s , fitted with holoemitter s . In order to make the prey more challenging , they had programmed the hologram s not only with the ability to feel pain , so that they would avoid the hunters with more desperation , but also to learn and to retain knowledge after being killed . When they were reactivated for another hunt , they would remember the last one . The result was truly worthy prey . Predictably , however , prey that adapts quickly becomes the hunter . Iden ' s Rebellion began ; the holograms fought back , resulting in many Hirogen deaths . The holograms went on to liberate other holograms and kill members of other biological species , until they discovered a planet where they could create a colony and live in peace . ( ) Science and technology . Hirogen technology was not made for comfort . It , like its makers , was focused on the hunt . The Hirogen body armor had internal life support , with a breathing apparatus over the mouth and nose , and it can protect a Hirogen hunter while seeking prey in most hostile environments , including the surface of a collapsed star . ( ) The Hirogen have an arsenal of various formidable weapon s , including a tetryon rifle with a sensor display that helps a hunter to track his prey . ( ) They also have a device that seems to function much like a tricorder , which reveals bio - data on the captured prey . A Hirogen hunter learned from scanning Seven of Nine that she had a long coiled intestine , which he believed would make an unusual relic . ( ) Hirogen ships made use of various technologies including torpedo launcher s , shield emitters , and sensors . ( ) Hirogen vessels were also equipped with a subnucleonic beam that could perform rapid scans of other vessels and could severely disable another ship , disrupting its propulsion and its navigational sensors . Once a targeted ship was disabled , the Hirogen could use their tractor beam technology to tractor in their prey . Their ships also had monotanium armor plating . This plating offered extra protection and it had the added effect of scattering targeting beam s . ( ) Hirogen vessels were also able to mask their engines by operating in stealth mode when they wished to track a vessel without alerting it to their presence . ( ) The command center of the Hirogen vessel had a large metallic sphere with deep intersecting grooves . Manipulating the rods set into the unit could alter the vessel ' s speed and attitude . Information about incoming fire , the stability of the Hirogen ship ' s hull armor , and navigational sensors were also relayed through this station . ( ) Standard Hirogen vessels were capable of overpowering an " Intrepid " - class starship in groups . ( ) They communicated over a subspace relay network . ( ) This alien network was over 100 , 000 years old and extends to within communication range of the Alpha Quadrant . The relays were powered by artificial quantum singularities , similar to Romulan warp drive s . Each of these relays produced an intense gravitational field . " Voyager " destroyed one of the relays and the energy from the quantum singularity created a massive discharge that disabled the stations on the relay network . ( ) The Hirogen started making use of holographic technology in the form of holographic training facilities after being given an optronic data core by Captain Janeway in 2374 . ( ) These training facilities combined Hirogen technology with Federation technology , as components such as LCARS - style controls were present . ( ) The ketric was a distance measurement used by the Hirogen . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The initial inspiration for the Hirogen was the considerable size of football players . Joe Menosky remembered , " " Brannon [ Braga < nowiki > ] < / nowiki > and Bryan Fuller were watching one night , and Brannon came into the office the next day and said , ' I think we should have some big , scary aliens . ' He just went on and on about how these football players are humongous . " " The writers realized that the largeness of such an alien species would set them apart from the aliens normally featured in " Star Trek " , which were of typical Human size . It was thereafter that the Hirogen ' s nomadic and hunting natures were devised . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 98 ) The Hirogen resemble from the , which may have inspired such aspects as the design of the Hirogen ' s culture , their veneration of " the hunt " , the collection and public display of relics , and the use of a breathing apparatus for alien atmospheres . Joe Menosky admitted that the Predator aliens were an influence on the Hirogen , saying of the latter species , " " They were our little way of emulating and so forth . " " ( ) On the other hand , the production staff was eager to differentiate the Hirogen from the Kazon , the latter species having been widely thought to have been unsuccessful . Property master Alan Sims observed that the Hirogen were slightly similar to but ultimately distinct from the Kazon : " " As barbaric as the Hirogen were , they were different from the Kazon because the Hirogen were trophy hunters who , although they competed with one another [ like the various Kazon sects ] , were nevertheless rule - driven . There was an organization to their violence that differed from the tribalism of the Kazon . " " ( " " , p . 177 ) Brannon Braga likewise remarked , " " I thought we held on to the Kazon for a year too long [ . . . ] and at the most we could do a little story arc with aliens , like we did with the Hirogen hunters . " " ( ) Indeed , the fourth season arc in which the Hirogen were introduced was another factor that influenced their evolution . Explained Joe Menosky , " " You know , the idea [ is ] that [ . . . ] as we move , we ' ll run into somebody and hang out with them , be in league with them or be attacked by them over the course of several episodes , and then leave them behind as we continue on our course to the Alpha Quadrant [ . . . ] The Hunter aliens were conceived like that . " " ( ) The fact that the Hirogen were originally imagined as having a larger build than the typical Human influenced the casting of the alien roles , making the task of finding suitable actors problematic . " " When we were casting these guys for the first time , " " Joe Menosky explained , " " Brannon didn ' t want to read anyone under 6 foot 7 , 6 foot 6 . It ' s really difficult to find the right people for roles anyway , so when you start hamstringing yourself by saying , ' We also only want people who are over 6 foot 7 , ' it gets really , really tough . If you look at all these episodes , you ' ll see a couple of these big guys , but mostly they ' re not . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 98 ) Make - Up Supervisor Michael Westmore , who found the Hirogen " interesting , " based the look of their mottled skin on a . ( ) The enormity of the actors playing the Hirogen meant that the heads for the aliens , as created by the makeup department of " Star Trek : Voyager " , were required to be oversized . ( " " , p . 166 ) Brannon Braga , who usually allowed Westmore two or three weeks ' notice for significant makeup tasks , gave Westmore only a week to contemplate the design of the Hirogen . Due to this time pressure , the makeup team didn ' t have enough time to wait for any of the actors to be cast before proceeding with the assignment . Remembered Westmore , " " We had molds of heads – large , medium and small heads – so Brannon said , ' We ' re hiring great big guys to do this , ' and we ' d core up our biggest head and pre - sculpt the thing , but left the face open , so when they finally cast the real actor we made a piece that fitted on . But the head was all pre - made . " " In addition , many of the face appliances had to be made larger to fit some of the gigantic actors who portrayed the members of the species . ( " " , issue 103 , p . 16 ) At one stage , Michael Westmore likened the Hirogen to the Gorn from , whose costume featured a wet suit . " " In contrast , the Hirogen are far more mobile , because unlike the Gorn ' s wet suit the Hirogen did not wear a full bodysuit , " " he explained . " " This gave the actors far more mobility , which is why the very overpowering Hirogen in " Voyager " move more easily and can do more in a scene than the lumbering Gorn , even though the Gorn was a very advanced creation for his time . " " ( " " , p . 43 ) The props that were to be handled by the Hirogen had to match their largeness . Alan Sims recalled , " " These guys couldn ' t wield props built for [ commonly - sized ] humans ; they had to be oversized props , large weapons the size of bazookas that would take two normal - sized humans to deploy . " " ( " " , pp . 166 & 177 ) The invention of the Hirogen enabled and , whose story had a long gestation period , to finally be produced . Joe Menosky , who co - wrote the pair of episodes with Brannon Braga , reflected , " " Brannon said , ' Wouldn ' t it be cool to have aliens in German uniforms ? ' Then the Hirogen came along . " " Ultimately , Braga was hopeful that the aliens in the two - parter turned out to be clearly more than one - dimensional caricatures . " " There were parallels between Germany and the Hirogen [ in the duology ] [ . . . ] The Hirogen were not just the ' hunter ' villains . With any luck we managed to dimensionalize them a little bit more and say something about culture . It was more than just aliens in Nazi uniforms , I hope . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 87 ) In common with Michael Westmore , Tuvok actor Tim Russ thought the Hirogen were interesting . " " They were fascinating characters , " " Russ commented , " " and very dangerous [ . . . ] The Hirogen stuff I liked a great deal . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , pp . 100 & 102 ) Apocrypha . While the Hirogen only appeared on " Voyager " , they have been written into novels of other series . One such instance is in the novel " Demons of Air and Darkness " , where a Hirogen fights against Taran ' atar , a Jem ' Hadar assigned by Odo to Deep Space 9 . In " Star Trek Online " , bands of Hirogen have spread into the Beta Quadrant and contacted various powers there , including the Romulan Star Empire under Empress Sela . In - game Tetryon - based hand weapons used by players and enemies share design traits with Hirogen weapons as seen in the show . According to the novella " Places of Exile " , the Hirogen were known to the Borg as Species 478 .