What is Babylon 5?

The galaxy is at a turning point, 10 years have passed since the Earth/Minbari war. The Centauri Empire is shrinking fast, the Narn now free from the Centauri are looking to expand their frontiers. Meanwhile, a fifth race, the Vorlons, merely watches from the side, too ancient and powerful to be concerned with the petty affairs of humanoids. The year is 2259, the name of the place is Babylon 5.
The story of Babylon 5 takes places in the years 2258- 2262, with the Pilot Episode in the year 2257. Babylon 5 is a huge five-mile long space station located in neutral space approximately 25 light years from Earth in an as yet unknown star system. The station was built to try and build a lasting peace between the five great powers of the galaxy; the Humans, Minbari, Centauri, Narn and Vorlons.

Babylon stations 1, 2 and 3 were destroyed through sabotage before they came on-line; Babylon 4 vanished after being pulled through time to be used as a weapon in some terrible war. Babylon 5 is the last station of its kind, it is humanitys last hope to avoid destruction. Babylon 5 is home to many thousands of humans and aliens, around a quarter of a million in all. It contains living quarters, bars, casinos, hydroponic farms and extensive docking facilities. It is a self-contained world and is as much a trading post and port of call for travellers as it is a place for diplomacy and negotiation.

The station was built by the Earth Alliance and is currently under the command of Captain John Sheridan, an Earth-Force officer. An ambassador from each of the five major governments resides on the station, the current commander of Babylon 5 assumes the role of ambassador for Earth Alliance.

What is unique about Babylon 5 is that unlike other contemporary science fiction TV shows such as Star Trek, there is an ongoing story arc that overshadows every single episode. This story arc has already been planned out by the shows creator J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), he has described it as a novel for television. The show possesses a much darker, grittier quality than most others of the genre - it is SF for adults.

What are the main races?

The Humans

Earth Alliance is the Human government, with its capital city, Earth Dome, located where Geneva, Switzerland once was. Earth Alliance includes the planets Earth and Mars along with the Jovian Moons and Orion. It is a democratic system of dubious political values. The Government is currently experiencing difficulties following the assassination of their president and also with the Mars Colonies demanding independence. There is evidence to suggest that the Earth government is beginning to move to a Psi-corps controlled totalitarian regime.

It would appear that we humans have not made a whole lot of progress by the mid-23rd century.

Earth Alliance is still recovering from a devastating war with the Minbari which raged for 4 years. The war started when during a first contact with the Minbari an Earth ship mistook a friendly gesture for a hostile act and fired. The Minbari ship, although vastly more powerful, had no defences active and was destroyed. The Minbari almost brought Earth Alliance to a crushing defeat; however, at the Battle of the Line where the humans launched a last suicidal attempt to protect Earth, the Minbari mysteriously surrendered.

The Minbari

The Minbari are a deeply spiritual people; bar the Vorlons they are probably the most technologically advanced of all the races. Minbari society is shrouded in mystery. What is known is that there are three castes of Minbari, a warrior caste, a religious caste and a worker caste. The worker caste is the least influential section of Minbari society, they are often excluded from important discussions and negotiations. The religious caste wields the most power, though this appears to be changing in favour of the warrior caste. The warrior caste consists of five clans of Minbari, The Star Riders, The Wind Swords, The Moon Shields, The Night Walkers and The Fire Wings.

The Minbari government is led by an organisation known as the Grey Council on which three Minbari from each caste sit. The leader of the Grey council is the overall leader of the Minbari council. Only members of the nine are allowed to enter into the the council chamber.

In recent years there has been friction between the religious caste and the warrior caste due to the religious caste forcing the surrender during the Battle of the Line. Only members of the Grey Council know the real reason for the surrender.

The Minbari strive for perfection in every way; spiritual, mental, physical and technological. They see the use of technology as a means to achieve perfection and not a goal in itself.

The Centauri

The Centauri Republic was once a vast empire that ruled great tracts of their region of space. They are the species closest to humans in appearance and social structure. They are also the first alien race that made contact with humans. When first encountering humans, the Centauri claimed that we were part of a long forgotten corner of their empire that they had returned to. They gave the humans knowledge of their technology in exchange for art and culture which they could trade back home. This allowed the humans to leapfrog a century of technological progress in just one decade.

Centauri society hinges on social standing and family heritage, the family name is highly important. The government is an imperial system ruled by an emperor.

The Narn

The Narn Regime has only been free for the last 100 years. Before that they were held in slavery by the Centauri, but revolted and broke their chains. This has given them a deep-seated hatred for the Centauri; but, in recent years this has twisted into something much more sinister, a feeling that they could overthrow all the other governments. The Narn have invaded and taken control of many smaller worlds that lie on the rim of their territory, and are heavily involved in trying to acquire new technologies. They are the only race not to posses telepaths - they see this as a great disadvantage.

The Vorlons

Almost nothing is known of the Vorlons, other than that they are vastly powerful, and are probably a very ancient civilisation. Whenever they contact other species they do so within heavy encounter suits. They do this under the guise of needing a highly unusual atmospheric mix, although it is suspected that they can survive in almost any atmosphere. It is believed that Vorlon anatomy is radically different to all the other races, which are largely humanoid.

Only two humans have seen a Vorlon. Dr. Ben Kyle and the telepath Lyta Alexander helped save Ambassador Kosh's life in the pilot episode. They were both recalled to Earth shortly after the incident.

When the humans first received audio transmissions from the Vorlons a ship was despatched to Vorlon space (which is HUGE) to make contact. On entering it was destroyed. The Vorlons sent a message of apology for the unfortunate incident and suggested that no other ships be sent in the future.

The Shadows

The Shadows are an ancient race (older than the Vorlons) lurking on a planet right at the very edge of known space, Z'ha'dum.

They are presently, quietly gathering their forces from all corners of the galaxy, they are also seeding mistrust and hatred between the other races. The recent outbreak of Centauri/Narn war was triggered by the Shadows involvement with the Centauri through their mysterious human agent known only as Mr. Morden.

At present very few people actually know of their existence, even fewer know what their ultimate aims are! G'Kar has been warning others of an ancient enemy. The Minbari, and specifically Delenn know but aren't saying anything. Sinclair knows, Sheridan knows and Garibaldi is very suspicious. Kosh and Vorlons obviously know, but it appears that the Shadows are even more powerful that the Vorlons.

Londo has received several "favours" from the Shadows, through Mr. Morden, including the destruction of the Narn colony that triggered the war. It is not apparant what the shadows are going to want in return for their assistence; though we have seen Londo's prophetic dream with him standing on a shattered Centauri Prime, looking up at the sky watching Shadow ships fly overhead...