The best recurring aliens in Star Trek have a strong core concept that presents a philosophy or disposition that is both clear and different from human values but has room for nuance. This goes for allies and adversaries. They have to be a species viewers want to learn more about, not simply weird looking people that fly around in cool ships acting as plot obstructions.

Though a mildly interesting tribal system developed as the Kazon were explored in Voyager, they were never defined very well, so in Alternate Voyager we’re going to drastically change them. A lot of their new characteristics will echo original premises, and they’ll also play an important role in our alternate first season of Voyager.

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The central idea behind our version of the Kazon is that the species is going through genetic degradation that has been happening for tens of thousands of years. As a result there are multiple distinct Kazon generations that Voyager would interact with, each having significant differences in intelligence, lifespan, and philosophy. I’ll highlight the different groups:
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Caretaker Generation
Yes, that’s right, we’re making the caretakers into Kazon. Specifically they are extremely old Kazon, and there are only a few of them left. The older the generation of Kazon, the longer the lifespan, so the various generations are still interacting with each other to varying degrees. Like in the original, the caretakers will have some powerful abilities. These abilities will have weakened and disappeared in the younger generations. Like the original, the caretakers will have a sense of responsibility over species like the Ocampa, only in Alternate Voyager, it’s an attempt to protect them from the younger Kazon. The caretakers have an enormous sense of shame, and will sacrifice everything to keep the more dangerous Kazon at bay. Due to this shame, the first caretaker Voyager encounters won’t give many answers (like in the original), and Voyager will slowly learn more and more about the Kazon. It will not be apparent to Voyager that the caretakers are even the same species as the Kazon at first.

Colonizing Generations
This generation wouldn’t ever be seen in Alternate Voyager, but what they left behind will. The Colonizing Generations of the Kazon took advantages of being an ultra-advanced species and spread across the uninhabited planets all around the region. They would eventually become the most hated generation by some of the younger Kazon. Some of the younger and more superstitious generations believed this generation was responsible for the “curse” on the Kazon.

Absent Generations
There will be many generations that lived long enough to see how different their species was becoming but unlike the caretaker generation, they decided to remove themselves from the region. While older generations tried to control and even fight the younger generations, and the younger generations had increasing animosity towards the older Kazon, this group decided to abandon everything and allow the younger Kazon to develop how they want.

Chaos Generations
The last generations to see any kind of special abilities. These generations provoked chaos and civil wars as the assets of the Kazon became up for grabs. Most of the big villains rose out of this generation.

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Scavenger Generation
At this point the Kazon didn’t have any signs of powers. They’re the most similar to the Kazon in the original Voyager. They’re like pirates that seek to scavenge the pieces of the ruined Kazon empire. They roam the region finding old Kazon colonies that have now been overrun by the savage generation (see below). They try to salvage what they can to gain power over their rivals.

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Slave Generation
This generation has largely been enslaved by the more nefarious older Kazon. They’re too unintelligent to do very much, but are still violent.

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Savage Generation
Mindless animals. They mainly destroy anything that isn’t like them. While very animalistic, they have a grasp of fear and humiliation of their victims. Everyone is afraid of them.

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