Angel I was the inhabited first planet of its star system. The system was located close to the Romulan Neutral Zone. Angel I was a M-class planet and the homeworld of a humanoid species. The planet supported carbon-based flora and fauna and was sparsely populated with intelligent life. The planet had no platinum deposits. (TNG: "Angel One")
Political
Angel I had evolved into a constitutional oligarchy that was governed by the Parliament, an elected matriarchy consisting of six Mistresses and an overall leader, called the Elected One. Society was established around the idea that males were second-class citizens. Women were the hunters and the soldiers. In 2364, the Elected One was Beata.
Angel I made use of the death penalty to punish criminals, and it was carried out with a device described to be "swift and painless".
Within Starfleet, there was a hope that Angel I would one day become a member of the Federation due to its strategic position in the quadrant. (TNG: "Angel One")
History
In 2302, a Federation vessel visited Angel I. At the time, the native civilization had reached the technological equivalent of Earth's mid-20th century.
In 2357, the Federation freighter Odin collided with an asteroid near Angel I. After five months in rescue pods, the survivors of the Odin landed on the planet. Over the next seven years, the survivors took wives and had children. The influence of the survivors on Angel I exacerbated a situation that had been developing for years in that there were people who were dissenting with the majority view that males were second class citizens and were now calling for greater rights with men. The survivors had become symbols of this growing movement.
The USS Enterprise-D arrived in the system in 2364 on an investigation into the fate of the freighter. During the course of the investigation, the Odin survivors and their families were captured. The planetary legislature determined that this group had promoted heretical beliefs that were inconsistent with the beliefs of the ruling majority. The legislature ruled that the children were to be separated from their parents, and the parents were to be executed. After consultation with an away team from the starship, the legislature reversed its earlier position and ruled that the parents were not to be executed and were to be reunited with their children. However, this group was to be exiled to a remote and unpopulated region. (TNG: "Angel One")
Appendices
See also
- Cygnet XIV, another female-dominated planet
Background information
The original planet model for Angel I was used later to represent Minos in TNG: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Theta VIII in TNG: "The Royale", and Legara IV in TNG: "Sarek". The matte painting of the capital city was also used to represent Starbase 515 in TNG: "Samaritan Snare" and the surface of Banea in VOY: "Ex Post Facto". With some alterations it was also used to represent the surface of Krios Prime in "The Mind's Eye".
The matte painting first used here for a city on this planet was later used for Starbase 515 ("Samaritan Snare"), a Malcorian city ("First Contact"), a Kriosian city ("The Mind's Eye"), Klaestron city ("Dax"), and a Banean city ("Ex Post Facto".
According to the Star Trek: Star Charts (pg. 66), the Angel (Alpha Gruis or Al Nair) system was located in or near Federation space. This system was a binary star system. Angel A was a B class star with a magnitude of +1, which was a hundred times brighter than Sol. Angel B was a B class star.