The childlike humanoid villagers of Gamma Trianguli VI, who lived without ageing, illness or children while feeding the serpent-headed machine Vaal that controlled their paradise world.
The Vaalians, who call themselves the Feeders of Vaal, appear in the Original Series episode The Apple. They are a small tribe with reddish skin and white hair who spend their days gathering fuel and carrying it into the mouth of Vaal, a great stone serpent's head that is the outlet of an underground machine.
Vaal regulates the climate, keeps its people healthy and unageing, and forbids touching and love, since replacements are never needed. Their leader Akuta wears small antennae behind his ears and is known as the eyes and voice of Vaal.
In 2267 Vaal drains the Enterprise's power and orders the villagers to kill the landing party; they have to be shown how. Kirk stops the feeding and has the ship's phasers exhaust the machine. Spock questions whether Starfleet has just driven these people out of Eden, while Kirk tells them they will now learn to work, love and raise children.