Borg of the Mirror Universe

the Mirror Universe is home to several threats to the Federation most notorious is the Terran Empire a Dark Twisted version of the Federation built on conquest and subjugation that Empire fell in the early 24th century however to the rising Klingon cardassian Alliance and may or may not rise again depending on what proves Canon to the shows in the Mirror Universe we have seen twists on organizations and people however it's not always as simple as mere opposites just because one force is good in the prime timeline does not make it evil in the Mirror Universe and in the case of today's video unfortunately just because an entity is evil in the prime timeline does not make it good in the mirror if anything sometimes the enemy is darker still as is the case with the Borg the Borg of the Mirror Universe are not encountered in Canon however they are explored in Apocrypha extensively in several areas what might make a good starting point is to assume that the Borg of the Terran Universe had the same start as their Prime counterparts but as that too is shrouded in history it's a bit of a moot point that as a common frame of reference we can assume that their path followed much the same thing until a point of Divergence I've already explored the depiction of the Mirror Universe Catherine Janeway who was basically a ranking officer in the Terran Empire before becoming essentially a Delta quadrant pirate Queen and she certainly had her run-ins with the Borg even reverse engineering their assimilation technology for her own game to make minions in her own hive mind for those Troublesome days where betrayal was Rife but there are some key differences first off let's get them their proper moniker the Borg were ruled over by a king not a queen in the Mirror Universe and referred to themselves as the Borg Kingdom the Mirror Universe Borg still utilized assimilation to grow their hive mind and expand through bringing other species into their Collective Consciousness and for the majority of their victims this would be the outcome however the kingdom was more ready to preserve a large measure of individuality beyond the overriding commands of the collective disallowed certain key Kingdom drones the ability to utilize the traits of particular individuals over a swath of drones rather than disseminating it among the hive mind this has the advantage of allowing something more akin to a chain of command with a Cube's leader still being able to make Command Decisions outside of the collective's reach the Borg Collective will soon to do this in a very mild sense with locutus for example but all he was in reality was a slave to the Queen's will called the man was a helpless Observer while those commanders within the kingdom are undoubtedly bound to the hive mind and forced into assimilated loyalty they retain features of use Keen insights a tactical mind that sort of thing would lead to a strategist being created and what's more the Borg was pretty much an individual referring to itself with I and using a name this degree of individuality allowed for faster and more responsive combat tactics the collective's greatest assets was also its most exploitable weakness but they were bound to the queen while complex and near instantaneous the queen could not track every Cube all the time while vessels under her Direct Control were more dangerous your run-of-the-mill Cube would operate on a set standard of parameters Kingdom Cube had no such guarantees in terms of how they act or the mirror Borg are generally more aggressive and less reserved in the application of their strength more ready to turn to violence burst for example if a prime Universe Borg finds a Target it will weigh the cost of Destruction or assimilation against the resources expended and if it finds a negative result it will ignore them this has led the Borg to make decisions such as not assimilating the caison because they have nothing to gain and feel that the efforts expended would result in a net negative for the collective it also leads to the questionable decision to ignore active Intruders unless those Intruders proved to be a problem the mirror Borg see things in a simpler form all intruders are destroyed if capable while everyone encountered is killed or assimilated as opportunity presents again the word for these Kingdom Borg is simply more aggressive they are more ready to destroy resistance than assimilate it and their tactical actions mirror this it is more common to see these Borg Target priority individuals for assimilation and merely take out the rest although the ball Collective has done the same thing it tends to take them longer to get to that position of Destruction over assimilation the collective only turned to destroying the Federation Through Time Travel when they made the choice that the ufp was causing too much trouble so they settled for assimilating their primitive 21st century Earth just to remove them from the playing field to Star Trek first Contact the Borg Kingdom best exemplifies this with their warning instead of the threat of assimilation and the rebutal that resistance is futile the Borg Kingdom suggests submission for assimilation or facing destruction sure the results are the same but the differences in motivation are subtle but there the goal of seeking Perfection seems almost secondary to the kingdom or if it is they have a very different view of things this has led the bulk Kingdom to be more combative and proactive in facing other powers while the collective is more content to grow and thread its way out from the Delta quadrant like a transwarp spiderweb the Borg kingdom was also heavily influenced by the surrounding Powers which were generally more dangerous too such as the Terran Empire and cardassian Klingon Alliance this compounds their aggressive tendencies at bringing them into frequent combat with such Powers their technology also included sizable Klingon Federation and even Dominion Vines which incorporated into their Arsenal they possessed transphasic weaponry and the kingdom had even made it as far as ngozia 3 which in the prime timeline was in ufp space although not a member world the kingdom had assimilated a large percentage of its military personnel this granted the bulk drones the ability to organically hide their life signs so that they could move undetected and when combined with scattering Fields it made ground combat even more dangerous their drones too were not uniform and while the collective created different drone swap repair surgery scouting and so on Kingdom's forces were more combat oriented there were drones that had the sole purpose of carrying particulars that could enhance the regenerative capabilities of other drones who would deliberately overload themselves to create a blast radius bear drones were also more heavily armored and Incorporated energy weapons their cubes too were more powerful than the collectives ones and they had more efficient regenerative capabilities and smaller Starships such as their spheres were known to engage collisions when critically damaged rather than attempt to salvage a situation and persist some even measured over triple the size of your standard Borg Cube which is exactly three kilometers wide now there are several slight variations on the mirror Borg but the commonality is the more aggressive and brutal tactics as well as the focus on warfare alongside the simulation one feature noted however is that the Borg of the Mirror Universe were less restricted by their implants and moved with more grace which is not hard this is to the extreme in the worst of Both Worlds novel which sees them even evading incoming fire this continuity also saw the kingdom raised through cardassian Klingon Alliance space and it assimilated Dr Sue into their version of locutus the alpha quadrants encounters with the Borg Kingdom also mirrors the time frame of the Prime Universe Collective with the El orions falling to the Borg and some tech being discovered later down the line but nothing concrete Annika Hansen lost her parents to the Borg while they were chasing up rumors however she escaped unscathed and unassimilated leaving a trail that mirror Janeway could follow the first major contact was the aforementioned attack on cardassian territory rich in the Mirror Universe claimed much of the former Imperial space in 2371 six years later than in the prime universe overall these bulk have a terrifying take on the collective because they actually eased up on the whole one mind thing sure there is a hive mind that rules joint decisions and the like but they've adapted to become far more tactical and Grant a degree of individuality to their command structure this has led them to become far more aggressive proactive and well adaptable to battle as well as their zero tolerance for being studied themselves boarding parties are annihilated trespassers do not leave and the only option is to submit or be forced to by lessening the grip on the collective they've actually taken a leap from The federation's Playbook and preserves the uniqueness of the species to their benefit in select places instead of disseminating it among the whole whereas the collective adds your distinctiveness to their own the kingdom ends it today use the bulk Kingdom at least with how it is presented in the books and in Star Trek Online is a greater danger than the collective by far but ultimately does have its weaknesses it is less of an Unstoppable non-negotiable force of nature than its prime counterpart and I would say that although more dangerous that makes them slightly less terrifying thanks for watching this breakdown on the Borg Kingdom as mentioned a lot this is non-canonical but makes for a great premise so I've been rig thanks again and until the next one goodbye [Music]

Channel: Certifiably Ingame

Views: 594,936

Keywords: Certifiably ingame, star trek, lore, borg, borg collective, collective, borg kingdom, mirror borg, mirror universe, terran empire, alternate universe, the borg, next generation, assimilation, seven of nine, janeway, picard, voyager, star trek online, sto, history, soong, technology, borg cube

Id: yK0js1RIloQ

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 29 2023