"The Observer" was a higher lifeform engaged in studying the "limited beings" that populated the United Federation of Planets. As part of these studies, the observer viewed a December 2380 edition of Illuminating the City of Light. As a higher life form, the observer created his own taxonomy for beings and planets in the Federation. Some examples of that taxonomy are as follows: * gender-two - shen * gender-five - female * gender-seven - male * AC1 - Andor * AQ1 - Vulcan * AV9 - Krios * BT5 - Earth * DO3 - Delta (ST novel: Articles of the Federation)