Tamarians, a.k.a. "The Children of Tama"

Planet: Tamarian homeworld. Humanoid race whose seven friendly overtures to the UFP over the 100 years prior to 2368 were thwarted by the inability to communicate; in fact, Tamarians remained to be considered by some as just rumor or legend. Finally, after an encounter in which Capt. Dathon gave his life fighting a native beast on El-Adrel IV, Starfleet's Captain Jean-Luc Picard realized the language -- which had been processed by the universal translator into meaningless phrases -- was based on metaphor: narrative imagery using reference to the people and places of their mythic history. It is now understood that image is everything to Tamarians, embodying their emotional states and thought processes; they possess an unusually high ability to abstract and an ego structure that does not foster self-identity. Their plain uniforms are rich in insignia, which are used in a simple ritual when going to bed, and each officer wears a small ceremonial dagger. Both genders appear to have social parity.