XENOLOGY: TALOSIAN

Dominant humanoid life-form on planet Talos IV. The Talosians were nearly made extinct by nuclear war, and the few survivors clung to life underground, where they became dangerously dependent upon the illusion-creating technology developed by their ancestors. By the mid-23rd century, the Talosians resorted to capturing passing space travelers to serve as sources of illusions. A human woman named Vina was so captured in 2236 when her ship, the S.S. Columbia, crashed on Talos IV. In 2254, the Talosians subsequently captured Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike in the hope that he would establish a permanent human community with Vina, but Pike demonstrated that human resistance to captivity was so great as to make his people unsuitable subjects for their needs. Nevertheless, in 2266, the Talosians invited Pike to return to their world after an accident left him severly disabled. At Talos, illusions made it possible for Pike to live out the remainder of his life unfettered by the damage to his physical body.