Orellius system

The Orellius system is the star system, its primary being Orellius Minor. It was relatively close to the Bajor system, but (at least in the 2260s) far away from any trade route. The system contains one M-class planet, located at an orbital distance of 160 million kilometers.

In the 2260s, a Federation colony ship on its way to found a Colony on Gemulon V, the SS Santa Maria landed on this planet in order to fix problems that had arisen in its Life support system. Once on the planet, an apparently natural duonetic field disabled all technology, including the Santa Maria, and the colonists became stranded.

Under the impulse of comunity leader Alixus, a prolific writer and self-proclaimed philospher, attempts to overcome the field and thus escape or send a distress signal were soon abandoned, an instead the colonists dismantled the Santa Maria for material and started their planed colony on this planet. They embraced the absence of technology and created a primitive but seemingly well-functioning society.

However the absence of technology also resulted in multiple deaths, most notably as the result of dangerous insect bites that proved difficult to treat using only herbal medicine. Also a punishment box was in use, a small and claustrophobic box barely large enough to hold a human where colonists were locked in for some amount of time, without water, as punishment for crimes like stealing. However despite these issues, the colonists were in general very happy with their new life.

In 2270 the crew of the Starfleet runabout Rio Grande, prospecting the area for potential new colonies, also got stranded on the planet. They discovered that the stranding of the Santa Maria was not an accident, but rather an elaborate plot by Alixus. She planned everything in advance, and used a generator to create the duogenic field herself, in order to bring her social theories into practice and create what she perceived as a perfect comunity. Alixus tried to manipulate the two starfleet officers into joining her community, using sexual favours and torture in the punishment box among other means. She also tried to auto-pilot their runabout in orbit into a star in an effort to evade further discovery, but it missed the target and when it was located by Starfleet they were able to extrapolate its starting point. As a result the Federation officialy re-established contact with the colony. The deception by Aixus became known to the colony too, but most thought that the perfect comunity they had was worth the price. (DS9: "Paradise")