Haneek, a Skrreea female
Cowl a Skrreea male
The Skrreea are a humanoid species from the Gamma Quadrant.
Culture
The Skrreea live in a matriarchal society, as Skrreean males are considered far too emotional to be leaders and are constantly fighting among themselves. It was not unusual for Skrreean females to have multiple spouses.
The Skrreean also have an unusual skin condition which causes them to leave flakes of skin behind. This can cause those who are unused to it to treat Skrreea with disdain and believe that they are "dirty".
The Skrreean spoken language has a very unique syntax and grammatical structure, which caused the universal translator to struggle with it initially before it could establish a translation matrix. (DS9: "Sanctuary")
History
The Skrreea were conquered by the T-Rogorans in the 16th Century. The T-Rogorans slaughtered the Skrreea's leaders and forced the rest of the population in to slavery.
In 2370, the T-Rogorans were themselves conquered by the Dominion. The Skrreea took this opportunity to flee their homeworld in whatever ships they had, in search for the Eye of the Universe of Skrreean legend. One ship, carrying Haneek and her family, discovered the Bajoran wormhole and identified it as the Eye. Arriving at Deep Space 9, Haneek studied Bajoran history, and assumed that Bajor was Kentanna, a planet named in Skrreean legend as a "planet of sorrow" where the Skrrean people were destined to settle. Some three million Skrreean refugees subsequently arrived at Deep Space 9 in search of aid.
With no established government, the Skrreeans chose Haneek as their leader. Haneek petitioned the Bajoran Provisional Government to allow her people to settle on Bajor. The Bajorans refused, insisting that they were struggling to provide for their own people's needs and could not take in three million refugees.
Haneek's teenage son, Tumak, was angered by this decision and attempted to land one of the Skrreean ships on Bajor. Unfortunately, Tumak was unaware the Skrreean ship suffered a high-energy radiation leak. During a short battle with the Bajoran Militia, phaser fire ignited the radiation leak and destroyed the Skrreean ship, killing Tumak.
Realizing that Bajor was not Kentanna, Haneek accepted an offer from the Federation to find them a world of their own to colonize. (DS9: "Sanctuary")
People
Background
According to Michael Westmore, the make-up designer for the Skrreea, their distinctive "bumpy skin" was created by combining little bags of pumice, found in a hobby train shop, with a liquid latex and then stipple it on the actors faces and drying it.