The Jindarians have been in space for perhaps 100,000 years, while the other empires of the Star Fleet Universe have been in space (more correctly, traveling between stars) for as little as two centuries. This history, plus their nomadic lifestyle and their long individual lives, gives them a decidedly disinterested view toward events around them. They do not form alliances or take part in wars simply because they consider all such affairs to be transitory in nature and of no real relevance to their lives.

The Jindarians have no known homeworld (or indeed, no known "national government") and have been encountered throughout known space. To some extent, the Jindarians appear to operate as "Gypsies", establishing themselves in a system's asteroid field and later moving on.

The larger Jindarian ships are built from asteroids, riddled with tunnels and fitted with warp engines and other systems. These asteroid ships are virtually indistinguishable from other asteroids, at least until they start moving or fighting. The Jindarians appear to operate in groupings referred to as "caravans", which can be anywhere from 3 to 12 of their asteroid ships. Without bases or a true homeworld, Jindarian asteroid ships carry complete family units.

The Jindarians conduct mining operations in asteroid belts of planetary systems (or sometimes the Oort clouds). This is virtually their only activity and is the basis of their economy. The Jindarians use much of their processed ores themselves, but are not unwilling to trade some of the extracted minerals to outsiders. Most Jindarian caravans operate in systems that are not inhabited, and hence their activities go on almost unnoticed. When they move into an inhabited system, however, problems quickly result.
All Jindarian ships use a seven-dot emblem, but the colors vary from caravan to caravan.