History: (Who's Who in Star Trek #2) - The Talosians evolved hyperintelligent brains capable of casting illusions. They found their powers to be a trap, they sought nothing but the sensations of illusion, leaving their bodies to atrophy, and forgetting technological lore, such as how to maintain the machines that their ancestors used to make Talos IV inhabitable. The Talosians moved into underground caves, and hoped to breed a slave species capable of running Talos IV under their command. After collecting a number of alien species, they took human Vina into captivity, and decided Homo sapiens were the perfect race to rebuild Talos IV. They needed a mate for her, and when the U.S.S. Enterprise traveled into Talos space they sent out a distress beacon. Enterprise Captain Pike was lured down, and they tried to break his will with illusions, and force him to be with Vina. Pike and Vina escaped captivity, once Pike learned that the Talosian's mind-reading abilities were suppressed when encountering the primal rage of the human mind. The Talosians realized humanity was too violent and unpredictable for their purposes, and allowed Pike to return to the Enterprise. The Talosians told him that the U.F.P. should never open up trade or diplomacy with them, for any being learning their powers of illusion would surely be destroyed by it. On Pike's word the U.F.P. made Talos IV off-limits on the penalty of death. Years later Pike was crippled by exposure to Delta Rays, and the Talosians beamed his second-in-command Mr. Spock, offering Pike sanctuary and peace on Talos IV. Spock risked a court-martial to get Pike to Talos, where the Talosians assured him he'd live his days in jou, having the illusion of being in perfect health, and consorting with Vina. The warlike Klingons invaded Talos, and tortured the Talosians to learn their secrets of mind control. The Talosians reached out to Spock and U.S.S. Enterprise Captain Kirk, who saved them.