Origin: The Bajoran wormhole. Non-corporeal, non-linear telepathic race who built the wormhole adjoining Bajor some 10,000 years ago and worshiped by the natives there as "The Prophets" because of it and the orbs they sent out as contact probes. They viewed humanoids as aggressive, malevolent, and adversarial corporeals at first: use of the wormhole disrupted their own existence, and they initially found humanoids' tactile sensation, emotions, and linear existence of past, present and future inconceivable. In their first contact with the Federation, they took on human forms from Ben Sisko's memory to communicate and understand linear corporeals. Their irritation over the wormhole's use was short-lived, since the contact with Commander Sisko leads to an historic agreement allowing Bajor oversight of the Gamma Quadrant tunnel. Because of this exposure, they viewed Sisko as their "emissary" to the Bajorans and in 2374 preserved his life — and the entire Alpha Quadrant's independence — by defeating the entire invading Dominion fleet that would have overrun it.