Physiology
The Borg are a race of "enhanced" humanoids native to the Delta Quadrant. Originally completely organic, their evolutionary development led them to create the highly effective hive social structure that achieves a collective consciousness through cybernetic implants.
To the Borg, individual thought and action are considered imperfect and weak. They travel through the universe in their hive cubicles seeking new civilizations to assimilate into their own consciousness, or in their words, "add the biological and technological distinctiveness of to their own". They don't simply assimilate individuals, they devour cultures, races, entire worlds in achieving their understanding of perfection. If a Borg drone dies or is beyond repair, his memory will still be retained by the collective. So in a sense all Borg are immortal.
Each Borg has cybernetic implants that differ with the specific designated task. The assimilated drone has only to listen to the murmur of thousands that transmit into his mind precisely the task at hand, never needing to decide independently nor worry about what course of action to take. The result is an outward harmony and complete cooperation among the drones at the price of surrendering individual thought. Yet such a life of security has prompted Borgs separated from the collective to long to lose themselves within the collective again and return to the hive.
Assimilation is the Borg's means of adding or replacing drones, as well as their sole purpose of existence. New technology and knowledge is gathered by converting all encountered species into Borg and the added knowledge merges with the Collective to increase the knowledge base of the hive. Nearly every species encountered has been assimilated easily, with Species 8427 the notable exception. Assimilation is achieved by injecting nano-probes below the the victim's subcutaneous layer into the bloodstream, whose blood cells are then attacked and subjugated by the probes to work together and lay the groundwork for connection to the Collective. Thousands of such probes can be injected within seconds, making the effects of initial assimilation immediate. Bio-technological interface with Borg cybernetic implants and attachments are also created by the nano-probes in preparation for surgical procedures that may include modified extremities for specific tasks, or optical and aural implants. Constant to all assimilated drones is the neural implant that is unremovable once installed. It is the actual connection the drone has to the rest of the collective, relaying all orders while maintaining records, coordinates, and other information about the drone's activities. The integration of biological and mechanical in the Borg is so complete a Borg cannot survive with all of its implants removed.
The Borg may not need eight hours of sleep a day, but their organic origins still force them to go through a regeneration process regularly to replenish their energy. This is done in an alcove, where the Borg connect themselves to the consule and operate at the lowest energy level. The regeneration process is also regulated by the Collective, but it is considered a low priority function and therefor not guarded as well as other crucial matters like shield generation or repair maintainance.
Society
The immense knowledge of all the assimilated Borg minds function as one, and each Borg is part of a giant subspace communications network called the Borg Collective. All critical information is relayed to each Borg through this network, allowing the instantaneous adaptation and reaction to any outside factors. The hive society of the Borg is extremely specialized: the decisions are not made by the Borg themselves, rather, the needs of the Collective determines their actions.
To the Borg, individual thought and action are considered imperfect and weak. They travel through the universe in their cubicles or spheres seeking new civilizations to assimilate into their own consciousness, or in their words, "add the biological and technological distinctiveness of to our own". They don't simply assimilate individuals, they strip cultures, races, entire worlds of their identity. New species encountered are classified with numbers and referred to as such, further eliminating the distinctiveness of the species. The emptied shells of assimilated individuals are integrated into the hive while their understanding and technology are added into the Collective. If a Borg drone dies or is beyond repair, his memory will still be retained by the Collective. So in a sense all Borg are immortal.
The Collective can be subdivided into three components: A queen to oversee and monitor the hive activity, battle drones [as revealed on Voyager] that concentrate on defense and offense, and the vast numbers of drones whose jobs it is to maintain the hive's efficient systems and carry out orders given by the Collective. The Queen does not function as a breeder of new drones, but rather as the central consciousness which dictates the will and motives of the Collective. She uses the pronoun "I" instead of "We" but does not appear to be truly individual, instead maintaining an awareness above that of that of an ordinary Borg.
History
First contact with the Borg was made in 2365 when the entity Q threw the Enterprise-D into the Delta Quadrant on an intercept course with a Borg cubicle heading for the Alpha Quadrant. That was the first glimpse Starfleet had of the powerful Borg, and they hastily prepared for the imminent attack, designing new weapons and ships capable of fronting the counter-attack. Starfleet placed Lt. Commander Shelby in charge of a project to develop defense strategies against the Borg and a product of the research was the U.S.S. Defiant.
The invasion came in late 2366, when a Borg vessel headed straight for Earth. Though anticipated, it was far ahead of the expected time, and caught the Fleet off-guard. The Enterprise-D spear-headed counter measures, but Captain Picard was captured at the beginning of the offensive and assimilated instead. After the nano-probes and implants did their work, he became Locutus of Borg, the spokesman and intermediary for the Borg and humans. The Borg had wanted to provide the humans with a more acceptable face for the Borg and so they minimized his facial alterations, making Locutus the most recognizable of the Borg, next to the Queen herself.
The Federation desperately tried to fend off the Borg cube hurtling towards earth, amassing a fleet of 40 ships at Wolf 359, a star directly in their path. However, depite being outnumbered 40 to one, Locutus's depth of knowledge in Starfleet regulations and war strategy proved to be a devastating advantage. All but one Federation ship was destroyed and over 11,000 lives lost, among them Jennifer, Commander Benjamin Sisko's wife. The Enterprise crew was successful in rescuing Picard from the Collective after they effectively shut down the Borg cube by accessing the regeneration command sequence and directed all Borg to regenerate. Picard's experience as a Borg allowed the Federation to finally destroy the Borg vessel in Earth's orbit, saving the planet and its billions of people, at least for the time-being.
In 2368, the U.S.S. Enterprise-D discovered other Borg vessels in Federation space that had crash-landed. One survivor, designated Third of Five, was rescued by the Enterprise. Given the name "Hugh", he befriended LaForge and assisted in the creation of an invasive program designed to overload the Collective's consciousness when uploaded. The serious moral issue of using such a device, in truth a weapon of genocide, even when used against the Borg, stirred controversy between Hugh and his friend.
Hugh was brought back to his crash site, where a Borg scout ship rescued him. As expected, the new individuality Hugh attained while on-board the Enterprise began to corrupt the collective. The plurality of minds deterred the Borg from functioning as one. The affected Borg floundered and became detached from the uniformity of the Collective, but this changed with the arrival of Lore, sinister "brother" of Lt. Commander Data. Lore appointed himself the leader of the lost Borg, and promised them he would provide them with the means to become completely artificial life-forms, independent of organic bodies.
In 2369, Lore led his Borg in a major new offensive against the Federation. Utilizing transwarp conduits, they entered Federation space in ships of unfamiliar design and struck first at a Federation outpost at Ohniaka III. These Borg attacked with anger unlike the neutral assimilation campaign of earlier times. This was soon associated with Lore's influence, and the offensive was halted when Data deactivated Lore.
Since Wolf 359, at least three more Borg ships have entered Federation territory, with the most serious incident being a Borg cube that journeyed to Earth. Captain Picard destroyed the cube, but a pod opened a temporal vortex and went back in time. The Borgs attempted to assimilate Earth before the development of a warp drive initiated first contact with an alien lifeform (in this case, we were very fortunate the Vulcans showed up). However, the U.S.S. Enterprise-E was able to follow the Borg ship back through time and thwart the attempt.
The Borg threat has subsided since the last attempt at assimilating earth. In its place, the Dominion has only loomed larger, and ironically, the Defiant class warship, originally designed to defend the Federation against the Borg, became the symbol of resistance against the Dominion.
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