Lesser developed humanoid species from the planet Ri'eje. They possess only the rudiments of warp travel, but have highly advanced medical technology and medicines. They are ruled by a Council that was headed in 2381 by a man named Hi'lam.

The true Ri'al homeworld was once a planet called Ri, but it had been attacked by the Borg and the Ri'al had to flee at warp 1 until they found Ri'eje. Possessing advanced medicine and cloning techniques, they decided that the only humane thing they could do was to make genetic copies of the Borg drones they encountered so at least their clones could live a full life.

The Potemkin came in contact with the Ri'al during the events of "Echoes" when they had come to open trade negotiations with the Federation. Eventually the crew found out about the clone colony built underneath a mountain and persuaded the Ri'al to stop their cloning efforts.