Starships & Spacemen 2e for a Star Trek game?

[Juhani]

I think the closest analogue to the Rigel would be the Klingons of TOS, ergo, dark-skinned, vaguely Asian humanoids. Zangids are definitely like the ridge-brow Klingons of later series. The origins of the ridgeless TOS Klingons was explained in Star Trek: Enterprise. This from Memory Alpha:

"In the year 2154, the Klingons gained access to the genetic material of Human Augments and tried to adapt this genetic engineering to improve themselves. The test subjects did gain increased strength and intelligence, but then their neural pathways started to degrade and they died in agony. One of the subjects suffered from the Levodian flu, which was modified by the Augment DNA to become a fatal, airborne, mutagenic plague that spread rampantly among the Empire, from world to world. In the first stage of this plague, Klingons lost the ridges on their foreheads and began to look more Human. With the help of a Klingon scientist named Antaak, Dr. Phlox of the Earth starship Enterprise was able to formulate a cure that halted the genetic effects of the virus in the first stage. This retained the changes in appearance along with some minor neural re-ordering. The neural ordering caused changes in the emotional make up of the Klingons. For example, the infected started to feel fear. Even though the infected did not develop any stage-two characteristics, such as enhanced strength, speed, or endurance they did not die from it. This left millions of Klingons changed. These alterations were even passed on to their children. (ENT: "Affliction", "Divergence") From the 2270s onward, Klingons encountered by the Federation had their forehead ridges restored. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)"