Star Trek: Sigils and Unions--Mathenite species design

This is a species design for Star Trek: Sigils and Unions, my fanfic work.

Petty Officer (1st class) Te-Mae-Do represents the Mathenite species, an ordinarily neutral world mentioned in the Deep Space Nine episode "Ties of Blood and Water," but never seen. I thought it would be interesting to make them a more unusual species than those typically seen on the series. So, I gave a vague description of the Mathenites as quadrupedal in my off-site work "A Weaver of Lives," but here's a lot more detail.

The average Mathenite is similar in size to a greyhound. The forepaws are really fists--similar to a gorilla, they walk on padded knuckles. The stubby, clawed fingers of the forepaws are good for basic grasping work (such as to grasp a bone), but serve little for more delicate work. Instead, the prehensile tail, which in more primitive days was used in whiplike fashion as a weapon against larger predators, is used to grasp tools for more subtle work.

Typical Mathenites have sleek, greyish-hued fur with shades of lavender or blue being visible. In the rare cases when they serve in Starfleet, rank and department is indicated on a "bandanna" worn around the neck. The communicator is worn around the wrist (though in this case, Te-Mae-Do wears a Cardassian model, which you'd have to read The Thirteenth Order for the reason behind). Weapons are used with the tail.

Sigils and Unions stories (so far) may be read at fiction.hopestation.net or at the TrekBBS under the name of Nerys Ghemor (currently Nerys Dukat at TrekBBS, for the Halloween season).