The Badi people are historically known as a Romani tribe of Earth. As in any tribal culture, they developed their own way of speaking, eating, writing and living. Their practices were heavily influenced by others as they were a nomadic people. Some would say nomadic nature led to the reputation of the Romani, and others would say the reverse. Either way, they are a unique culture, and little is left of this tribe but some histories, music and art.
History[]
The earliest history of the Badi is not known. They are referred to as a Romani tribe, but genetically they share more in common with the Sinthi. The earliest records of the clan are in a tapestry which is stitched with family icons and carbon dated to 1091ce. The pattern includes a number of Vedic, Christian and Persian symbols. It seems to depict a celebration of family and a royal welcoming.
Histories show that the Badi were known in their own records as "Athinganoi", meaning "untouchable", which caused them to continue a western nomadic travel. These oral histories speak of a finding of people of their kind, and a joining of two tribes. Comparative language study of the oral histories suggest that the Badi was in fact a product of a joining of two smaller tribes, one Roma, one Sinthi that had remained behind in the Ottoman Empire.
Oral histories of the Badi were written into legends and passed from mother to daughter for roughly five centuries before they were stripped of them in repeated purges from the 19th to 21st centuries. Pressured to move repeatedly, the Badi people were seen as all nomads like that. Histories of the world rarely refer to them by tribe, only as Roma or Sinthi, or more likely lumped together as Romani or Gypsy.
Records surface of the Badi clan, one of the smaller of the nomad groups, that attempted to join with larger groups in Germany, and France, but no further records show such an attempt. The Badi have a record of a song in which they claim to be hunted for the actions of another tribe, and since this was a repetition of their history they would never again mix with other Romani. There is also a song about a hundred years of isolation on Mount Kapildui (Part of the Basque Region of the Iberian Peninsula).
Family records were kept in pages of books such as a Latin hand printed bible of the DeLancey family. It clearly showed an acceptance in the Lancey region of France in the late 1600, and recorded the military service of more than half of the Badi Clan that chose to stay for at least a generation.
Later records show the clan fracturing due to some disagreements among family heads. Some moved on to Ireland, some to Scotland and others to parts unknown. There is shown records of the Bodi family specifically keeping to Ireland and assimilating into the nation in the 1700s. Much of these family records show a mass migration cousins to the United states in the mid 1800s.
Genetic profiles can be obtained through some of these surviving family records, not because of their condition as readable still, but because of a tradition of recording the birth of a child and printing a toe with blood on the page. This unique tradition enabled the Badi to confirm familial ties during the gathering initiated in the 2080s. Such were the old superstitions about mixing with Romani tribes, that they were fearful of again being driven away from a new home if they allowed all Romani to join with them. Considering the previous 90 years saw more than 75% of their number killed in wars or purges, many believe they had a right to such a superstition.
<<GENETIC PROFILE ENCODED>>
A New Home[]
In the early 22nd Century, all Badi who had gathered to the call 20 years earlier to come to the east coast of the United States, had pulled together with a benefactor to initiate the journey to Vega star system to seek a new home. Though it would take two flights with their own colony ship the ECS Hieronymus and three more flights chartered after it was lost, the clan successfully moved as a whole to Vega IX by 2160.
The Clan Badi, made their home in a settlement founded on the banks of the Hiddekel River, they would name it Schronienie, unironically, the Romani word for 'Settlement'. Logs and diaries mentioned how such a private joke was a source of joy to them. The first group of settlers from the Clan Badi were their youngest and strongest. Not because they would have a tough time on the ground of a new world, but because they would not settle there.
The Badi, being of the Romani tradition, founded the first space station in the Vega System, naming it simply Badi Transfer Station. They used the training afforded to them by their benefactor before making the journey and resources specifically for the cause. They lived in temporary inflatable shelters on the skeleton of their artificial satellite, having kept the majority of space on their colony ship for resources they could not produce themselves. It was a great risk, for any mistake or disaster could have spelled doom for the entire group.
Being a brave and hearty people, those first 100 survived, and even thrived. Fourteen years saw few casualties, and much productivity. The men of that first mission used their small transport craft to develop several asteroid mines and a refinery to produce materials. They machined them into the plates needed to take their skeleton of a station brought online in 2114, into becoming a fully functional station being capable of housing 400, as well as providing services to ships that would dock there. Their two transport craft they arrived with were joined by a dozen others.
Services were performed to aid other colonies on the planet, trading for food and fresh water they did not grow or collect in space. They provided the capability for resupply ships to safely dock and lower people and supplies without dropping them to risk burning up in the atmosphere. In a sense, they joined in all but name their causes.
When the wives and young women who came on the second crossing seeking husbands among the pioneers arrived in 2128, they found that structures of the small settlement would already be waiting for them on the planet below. The Badi pioneers had formed a close bond with another group who like them had been training for the journey on Titan, and like them, had a history of abuse and persecution at the hands of powerful people on Earth. In short, more in common than not.
Eventually, the two settlements which were on opposite sides of the river, would become one. Intermarriage was not as common, but not shunned. Interaction, trade and community was essential as the settlements of four hundred would grow into into three thousand, then the city East Gideon numbering nearly three million by 2409.
There is still some hope for the Badi, at least one survivor remains, and lists of those who are also Badi are among those that are considered Missing/Presumed Dead after the Borg attack on Vega IX. As the Federation works to try to liberate and rehabilitate drones to their previous life, many do not believe that a culture as unique as that of the Badi Clan can survive such an attack.