Vorta

From FEInfobase

The Vorta are cloned to serve the Founders of the Dominion in administrative tasks. They are typically employed as diplomats or as officers charged with managing Jem'Hadar battalions. Like the Jem'Hadar, they worship the Founders as gods.

Physiology

Vorta are humanoids with white skin, black hair and lilac-colored eyes. They have excellent hearing, poor eyesight, and are immune to most forms of poison. The Vorta also have a very poorly developed aesthetical as well as sensory taste. About the only things they can taste are certain food items from their homeworld. These sensory traits are due to the genetic manipulation of the Founders, who engineered the Vorta to excel in their role as administrators, but little else.

The Vorta are reproduced by cloning. It is also indicated that the Vorta's loyalty to the Founders is partially genetic (i.e. that the devotion they express has been built into their genetic make-up by the Founders). Unlike the all-male Jem'Hadar (also cloned), there are both male and female Vorta, though it is not specified whether the Vorta are fertile or capable of sexual reproduction. The presence of a Vorta typically denotes Dominion interest or involvement within any given situation.

While only a single telekinetic Vorta has been encountered by Starfleet, reports state that she claimed that it is a trait of her species. As she was later seen to have been deceitful at the time, this may be questioned however, as it remained unsupported.

Vorta have a suicide device implanted within their bodies. If a Vorta is given an order to commit suicide, he or she will activate the device, resulting in death within a matter of seconds.

History

Little is known about the history of the Vorta. They have a legend that they were once a primitive ape-like species, until a Founder crashed on their planet. The Vorta helped the Founder and in turn the Founder promised that they would one day be an important part of a great empire. The Founders then helped the Vorta through genetic manipulation. But with no independent verification of the story, the possibility exists that the story is a propaganda piece.