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- <title>Babylon 5 Universe: Setting (season one)</title>
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- alt=" ### SETTING ###"></a><a
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- <strong>Season 1: "Signs and Portents"</strong><br>
- <a href="setting-2.html">Season 2: "The Coming of Shadows"</a><br>
- <a href="setting-3.html">Season 3: "Point of No Return"</a><br>
- <a href="setting-4.html">Season 4: "No Surrender, No Retreat"</a>
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- <p>
- <blockquote><cite>
- It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the
- Earth/Minbari war. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its
- goal, to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens
- could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call - home
- away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers.
- Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons
- of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place,
- but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of
- the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is
- Babylon 5.
- </cite> - Commander Sinclair
- </blockquote>
-
- <p>
- With the completion of the last of the Babylon stations in 2257, the
- galaxy is enjoying a fragile peace. Babylon 5 is functioning as planned,
- defusing disputes among the five major governments and acting as a hub
- for interstellar commerce and communication.
-
- <p>
- <img align=right width=80 height=100 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/chars/sinclair.gif">
- The <strong>Earth Alliance,</strong> headquartered in Geneva,
- is in charge of the station and the
- surrounding space. It is led by President Luis Santiago, a forward-looking
- politician who values Earth's participation in Babylon 5 tremendously.
- Of special note is a branch of the Earth government called
- <strong>Psi-Corps,</strong> responsible for the tracking and training of
- human telepaths. Pictured here is Jeffrey Sinclair,
- commander of Babylon 5.
- <br clear=all>
-
- <p>
- <img align=right width=80 height=100 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/chars/delenn-1.gif">
- Earth's former adversary, the <strong>Minbari Federation,</strong> was the
- major alien contributor to the construction of Babylon 5. An old, highly
- spiritual race, Minbari are humanoid with exterior bone crests on their
- heads. The Minbari are ruled by a body known as the Grey Council,
- three members from each of the three castes of Minbari society. The reason
- behind the sudden Minbari surrender at the climax of the Earth-Minbari War
- is a closely-guarded secret, but what isn't a secret is that the warrior
- caste was none too pleased about the order; even today, it is a source of
- tension within Minbari society.<br clear=all>
-
- <p>
- <img align=right width=80 height=100 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/chars/londo.gif">
- The <strong>Centauri</strong> were the first aliens encountered
- by humanity. Physically, they look nearly identical to humans,
- and in fact the Centauri initially claimed that Earth was a lost
- colony (a claim they later retracted after humans discovered that
- the similarities weren't so great after all.) Centauri women are
- bald; men wear their hair in peacock-style fans whose length indicates the
- wearer's social standing. The Centauri Republic is a fading empire, slowly
- losing control of its member worlds, a decline much like that of the
- British Empire.<br clear=all>
-
- <p>
- <img align=right width=80 height=100 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/chars/gkar.gif">
- Among those formerly under Centauri domination are the <strong>Narn,</strong>
- a reptilian-looking race who fought off their oppressors in a century-long
- war of attrition. Now the Narn Regime is building its military up, trying
- to settle the score through an aggressive expansionist policy. Most Narn
- would like nothing better than to see the Centauri wiped from the face of
- the universe, and from all appearances, they'll shortly be in a position to
- get their wish.<br clear=all>
-
- <p>
- <img align=right width=80 height=100 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/chars/kosh.gif">
- The final major government represented on Babylon 5 is the <strong>Vorlon
- Empire.</strong> The Vorlons are shrouded in mystery. Even though their
- ambassador is on the station, nobody knows what they look like; they dress
- in bulky encounter suits. Whether the suits are there to keep a noxious
- atmosphere in or prying eyes out is a matter of some debate. The Vorlons
- are an extremely powerful race; no expedition into their space has been
- heard from again. They seem to have had dealings with the Minbari in the
- past, though neither the Minbari nor the Vorlons care to discuss the matter.
- <br clear=all>
-
- <p>
- <img align=right width=160 height=100 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/chars/league2.gif">
- Each of the five races has an ambassador on the Babylon 5 Advisory Council,
- something like the UN Security Council. In addition, a number of smaller
- governments are members of the <strong>League of Non-Aligned Worlds,</strong>
- which is also represented on the Council. This group is generally sympathetic
- to Earth, largely because Earth stepped in to save many of them from invasion
- by a hostile race (now extinct.)<br clear=all>
-
- <p>
- The peace is most often threatened by aggressive behavior on the part of
- the Narn, or by lingering tensions between Earth and the Minbari warrior
- caste, a sizable fraction of which wouldn't mind a rematch. And there are
- enduring mysteries to set everyone on edge: the reasons behind the Minbari
- surrender and the sudden disappearance of Babylon 4, the nature and motives
- of the Vorlons, the hint of dark forces moving behind the scenes in the
- Earth government.
-
- <p>
- <strong>Next:</strong> <a href="cast-1.html">The Main Cast</a>
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- <h5>
- Last update:
- October 8, 1995
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