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Odo Played By: Rene Auberjonois Position: Security chief, Bajoran Militia, DS9 detachment Species: Founder Changeling Given Name: Odo'ital Date of birth: Discovered ca. 2337 in Denorious Belt, Bajoran system Place of birth: Founders Homeworld, Dominion, Gamma Quadrant Education: Bajoran Institute for Science, as specimen: 2356-63 Office: Security Office, Promenade Found adrift and alone in the Denorious Belt in his natural gelatinous state with no clue to his origin, this unique shapeshifter was returned to Cardassian-occupied Bajor in 2356 and given to Dr. Mora Pol at the Bajoran Institute for Science to research under much pressure. However, after a lifetime of wondering, it was not until early 2371 that Odo discovered he was one of 100 changeling Founders sent out at an unspecified earlier time as an exploratory contact mission from the Dominion, implanted genetically with the need to return home someday. Initially it was only the formative Odo's duplication of his container, a Krokian Petri beaker, that alerted Mora to his sentience. Even after gaining intelligence, communication skills and a refined morphing ability he'd had trouble with "social integration," Mora noted. His name stems from the Cardassian words for "nothing" - the literal translation of "Odo'ital," which Dr. Mora's Cardassian overseer took as the meaning of his intended specimen label "Unknown Sample" that was affixed to his container. After he was known to be sentient, the native scientists as a joke "Bajorized" it into "Odo Ital," and later just "Odo." The irony of the name "Nothing" was not lost on the homeless, friendless alien then, who turned the self-image around after the coming of Kira and the Starfleet crew. SOURCE: STAR TREK CONTINUUM |
