Civilizations in Babylon 5
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This article discusses fictional civilizations on the science-fiction television show Babylon 5.
As the Babylon station was conceived as a political and cultural meeting place one of the show's many themes is the cultural and social interaction between civilizations. There are five dominant civilizations represented on Babylon 5, and several dozen less powerful ones. A number of the less powerful races make up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, which assembled as a result of the Dilgar War, which occurs 30 years before the start of the series.
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[edit] Abbai
The Abbai are a race from the fictional Babylon 5 universe. A peaceful, matriarchal society, the Abbai were the central force behind the formation of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. [1]
[edit] Brakiri
The Brakiri are a race in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. They feature heavily in the episode "Day of the Dead", which deals with a mysterious Brakiri religious celebration.
[edit] Centauri Republic
The Centauri Republic was once a mighty empire which has grown decadent and is in a slow decline. [2] The Centauri, a humanoid race similar in appearance to humans, are a proud and aristocratic people governed by an emperor and a nobility-driven senate called the Centarum. Centauri males wear their hair in fanlike crests, the height of which displays the male's rank in society; females are traditionally bald except for a long queue or ponytail.
The Centauri were the first alien race to openly contact humanity. The Centauri initially tried to convince the humans that they were a long lost colony of the Republic. This ruse failed once human scientists got access to Centauri DNA, but Centauri-Human trade and contact led to tremendous technological advancement and humanity's eventual rise as a major power. For instance, it was the Centauri who sold jumpgate technology to the Earth Alliance, allowing humanity to start colonizing interstellar space.
[edit] Dilgar
The Dilgar were an aggressive and warlike species who began a massive expansion of their empire when it was discovered their sun was about to go supernova. This led to a bloody campaign to capture territory and assure the survival of their species between 2229 and 2232. Believing all species that were not Dilgar to be nothing more than potential slaves at best, the Dilgar quickly began attacking and destroying the outposts of many alien worlds.
With the help of the Earth Alliance, the Dilgar were forced all the way back to their homeworld. After the war ended, the Dilgar sun went supernova, wiping out the entire species.
[edit] Drakh
Servants of the Shadows until the older race left Z'ha'dum, the Drakh became major antagonists late in the Babylon 5 series and in its sequel, Crusade. The Drakh were users of biotechnology and were responsible for releasing the nanovirus plague on Earth in A Call to Arms.
[edit] Drazi
The Drazi are reptilian in appearance, with green skin and thick skull bones, although they are otherwise humanoid. They were a member of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and are members of the Interstellar Alliance. Male Drazi have a pouch in one of their armpits; it is actually used as a reproductive area.
The ancient Drazi used to live outdoors, only sleeping inside at night. As a result Drazi houses are constructed with large balconies and a much smaller interior. The streets on the Drazi homeworld are very narrow, reflecting their long history of warfare: armoured Drazi vehicles found it impossible to invade an enemy city without first demolishing its buildings. [3]
Every six Earth years, the Drazi have a "civil war" among two rival factions, green Drazi and purple Drazi. A Drazi's allegiance is decided arbitrarily by choosing a coloured sash which is then worn around their torso, either green or purple. There is no inherent motive or reason for the civil war at all. This "civil war" takes the form of a series of non-lethal contests. A group of Drazi on Babylon 5 station intended to escalate to lethal violence but Commander Susan Ivanova ended the contest through the use of a loophole in the rules. [4]
In 2262, it was revealed that the Drazi had begun several wars of aggression against weaker races.
[edit] Earth Alliance
The Earth Alliance was founded at the end of the twenty-first century after the Third World War, first as a loose coalition of nations, then as a tight alliance of nearly every nation on Earth as well as Alliance controlled colonies throughout the Galaxy, though colonial populations have had a history of independence driven rebellion, especially Mars. The Alliance is a unicameral representative democracy under the leadership of an elected President with a strong military. In one second-season episode ("And Now For a Word"), the Alliance is said to consist of 24 outposts and colonies in over a dozen solar systems.
Since the end of the Earth-Minbari War, the Alliance had prospered in interstellar trade, though some influential factions had become increasingly xenophobic and isolationist. Following the assassination of President Luis Santiago and the rise to power of President Morgan Clark, the new President formed Nightwatch (a pervasive secret police) and dissolved the Senate, turning Earth and her colonies into a totalitarian fascist state. Adding to the milieu is the Psi Corps, an increasingly powerful quasi-military organization which regulates and controls human telepaths. These actions led to the Earth Civil War, itself an offshoot of the final Shadow War, with the forces originating from Babylon 5 seeking to free Earth and liberate the colonies.
[edit] First Ones
The First Ones are the oldest races in the galaxy, the first to gain sentience. Most went "beyond the rim" to the darkness between galaxies over the last million years. The rest, with the exception of the Shadows and Vorlons, were gone after the last great Shadow War of a thousand years ago, though some races still are rumored to appear now and then.
[edit] Gaim
The Gaim are an insectoid race and were a member-race of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and are members of the Interstellar Alliance. Their name and costume are a tribute to Neil Gaiman[citation needed], the author of the episode "Day of the Dead". Gaim require an environmental suit in order to function in an oxygen / nitrogen atmosphere.
The Gaim are ruled by six hive-queens who dictate the behavior of all Gaim. The Gaim never believed that anything existed outside of their home planet, N'chak'fah. The Gaim slaughtered Narn explorers immediately after they landed there in the early 2240's. When a Narn assault fleet showed up some time later they met a similar fate as the explorers. Upon appearing in the galactic scene the Gaim quickly joined the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to gain protection from the Narn. The Gaim, for their part, set about procuring as many starship hulls and other parts as possible to begin constructing their fledgling navy.
The Gaim had only been in space briefly when agents of the Shadows began making themselves apparent in the galaxy. They convinced the Gaim to go to war with a nearby xenophobic race, the Descari. The Gaim initially refused to join Sheridan's alliance against the Shadows on the basis that they had not been attacked yet and by joining with Sheridan would invite attacks. They reconsidered their position when the Vorlons destroyed a small group of Shadow vessels thus demonstrating victory was possible.
[edit] The Hand
The Hand are an ancient race and said to be over a million years old and are claimed by those who serve them to be more powerful than the Shadows.
The Hand were imprisoned one million years ago by another as yet unidentified ancient race, said to be a force of light. The ships seen in use by the Hand in The Legend of the Rangers are described by Minister Kafta as being 'toys given to those races which serve The Hand' and yet seem very powerful - there are shown to be capable of taking out an entire colony including several ships of the Interstellar Alliance with relative ease. At no point has an actual member of The Hand's race been seen and nor has their age or connections with the other first ones been revealed. It is known that a pyramid in a city buried eight miles beneath a planet named Beta Durani 7 contains a doorway that leads to another dimension. The expedition studying the billions of years old city sent a probe through which returned distorted and changed.
Servitors of The Hand wear a black cloak and speak in a near mechanical monotone voice.
[edit] Hyach
The Hyach were members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and are members of the Interstellar Alliance. The Hyach are humanoid, though they are slightly shorter on average than a human and have bald, lumpy heads. They are a gerontocracy, with the eldest among them ruling since they have the wisdom to govern.
The Hyach birth rate is declining due to the death of the Hyach-do centries ago, who co-evolved with the Hyach. Today's Hyach are deeply ashamed of this genocide and forbid mentioning it or the Hyach-do to offworlders. The problem is they need to crossbreed with the Hyach-do.
[edit] Markab
The Markab species largely became extinct in 2259 due to the Drafa Plague. They were members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. There may still be some isolated colonies or outposts, but for all intents and purposes the Markab are a dead race.
[edit] Minbari Federation
Already advanced when humanity was young and capable of space travel for well over a thousand years, the Minbari Federation is a caste society, its people divided into the worker, warrior, and religious castes. The Minbari are led by the Grey Council, which contains nine representatives, three from each of the three castes. Minbari are humanoid, usually thin and pale, though considerably stronger than humans of the same size; they are bald, with gray bony crests across the back of their heads. The first encounter between Minbari and Humans was a disaster - a misunderstanding led to Earth ships firing on Minbari ships, killing their leader Dukhat. The result, the Earth-Minbari War. Shortly before reaching Earth, the Minbari surrendered and retreated. At the time the reason for this reprieve was unknown.
[edit] Narn Regime
Another "young race" like humanity, the Narn Regime were previously occupied and enslaved by the Centauri, and bear them deep ill-will because of the brutal methods of control employed. Narns are widely perceived to be primitive and barbaric, a stereotype the Centauri engendered during their occupation.
The Narn are led by the Kha'Ri council. Their religion venerates philosopher prophets, and most Narn draw strength from various different holy writings, the most noted being The Book of G'Quan. Narns are tall and have a stocky build; they are bald, with a yellowish complexion, mottled with brown and/or green spots. Although they appear reptilian, they are in fact marsupial and at least presumably mammalian, in nature.
[edit] Pak'ma'ra
The Pak'ma'ra were members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and are members of the Interstellar Alliance. For religious reasons, they are dedicated carrion eaters, partly because the Pak'ma'ra consider themselves superior to other races. The pak'ma'ra are generally considered stupid and lazy by members of other races, who are also generally disgusted by their eating habits. They have the reputation for scavenging not only their foods but also technologies.[5]
Broadly humanoid in form, the Pak'ma'ra have tentacles around a mouth cavity containing an inflexible beak, somewhat reminiscent of the mind flayers or Cthulhu. As this combination renders their mouths incapable of forming words in most other species' languages, they rely on machine translation for interspecific communication. However, Durhan commented once that they refuse to learn any other language than their own.
The Pak'ma'ra were one of the few other races to be susceptible to the Drafa Plague, though, unlike the Markab, their numbers were not threatened by Second Outbreak in 2259.
[edit] Shadows
The Shadows (a name given to them by the younger races, as their true name - at ten thousand letters - is unpronounceable) are the most ancient of the surviving First Ones, the second to gain sentience in the Galaxy. The Shadows are believed to be the first to discover and manipulate Hyperspace. For more than a million years, the Shadows warred with the remaining First Ones, and suffered their greatest defeat ten thousand years ago. One thousand years ago the Shadows returned, and were barely defeated by the Vorlons and First Ones, led by the Minbari with the help of Valen. They dispersed throughout the galaxy, waiting for an opportunity to come back into power.
[edit] Thirdspace aliens
The Thirdspace aliens are large, octopus like creatures. Little is known about the species, but they appear to be powerful telepaths. The aliens also have a concept they call "The One." It is not clear if this is the leader of the aliens, their deity, or perhaps a unified race consciousness. Their philosophy is that they are the only ones worthy of existence.
Over a million years ago, the Vorlons, decided to build a jump gate to open a doorway to what they believed was the source of life. The gate actually opened up into the Thirdspace alien's dimension. The aliens took control of many Vorlons with telepathy and in the ensuing battle, the Vorlons, forced the aliens back into their own dimension, and sealed the portal. A group of Vorlons, still under the control of the Thirdspace aliens, captured the artifact and jettisoned it into hyperspace, hoping to recover it later. The Aliens were trapped in their own dimension but they waited until the time when the gate would be found and opened again.
[edit] Vendrizi
The Vendrizi, like Drakh keepers, are symbiont life form that joins with a host. The Vendrizi symbiont is a creature less than one meter long. When a Vendrizi is joined to a humanoid host, it wraps itself around the spinal cord. Unlike the Drakh keepers, the Vendrizi symbionts do not forcefully take control of the host.
The Vendrizi symbionts history begins half a million years ago when their species was created by an unidentified race. They were created to be living records of history. The Vendrizi have existed since that time, traveling the galaxy from one host to the next. The Vendrizi decided to go into hiding because of the growing Shadow War.[6]
[edit] Vorlon Empire
The Vorlons are an ancient and technologically advanced race, one of the last of the First Ones. Little is known of Vorlon history, except that they have played significant roles in defeating the Shadows in the previous great wars over the past million years. For thousands of years Vorlons have been observing and manipulating younger races. Little is known about their appearance - when interacting with other races they wear complicated encounter suits which seem to preserve their natural atmosphere.
[edit] Vree
The Vree were one of the first races that made contact with humanity. The Vree had visited Earth fairly regularly since the 1950s. They had decided not to make formal contact, but to simply observe the humans for a time. The Vree had kidnapped humans from time to time to do further studies on them. Vree look much like Greys, the aliens reported by some people connected to the Roswell alien sightings of the late 1940s.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Graw, B. and Glass, R.: "Babylon 5 Wars Second Edition Rules Compendium.", pages 211-216. Agents of Gaming, 2000
- ^ "The Gathering." Babylon 5. 1993-02-22.
- ^ "The Ragged Edge." Babylon 5. 1998-04-08.
- ^ "The Geometry of Shadows." Babylon 5. 1994-11-16.
- ^ Voltayre's Encyclopedia Xenobiologica. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
- ^ "Exogenesis." Babylon 5. 1996-02-12.
