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lurkers-guide


								<p>

								The Babylon Project was conceived by the Earth government in the

								aftermath of the Earth-Minbari War. It was finally realized in Babylon 5, a

								diplomatic outpost created to promote peaceful conflict resolution.  Even

								with such lofty goals, its galactic significance has quickly outstripped its

								founders' wildest dreams -- let alone their ability to control.  Babylon 5's

								early years have been marked by a growing sense of foreboding, punctuated

								by successively more immediate threats to the station's safety. Yet as

								rising darkness nurtures galaxy-wide despair, the station begins to become

								the focal point for a number of tiny rays of light.


								<h2>The Shadows</h2>


								<p>

								The gloom is made incarnate by the return of a mysterious ancient race known

								only as the Shadows.  A thousand years ago they were beaten back to the rim

								of known space by an alliance which included relatively young civilizations

								like the Minbari, and a number of extremely powerful older races known

								collectively as the First Ones, who with

								the exception of the Vorlons have all passed beyond the confines of the

								galaxy -- presumably forever.  On the rim, on dead deserted worlds like

								Z'ha'dum, the Shadows hid and gathered their strength for another assault

								(<a href="../guide/038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum."</a>)

								They do not act openly yet, but only through

								proxies like the human Mr. Morden, and the Centauri.  What do they want?

								Only they know for sure.  Chaos, it would seem, and control, and about two

								thirds of the galaxy.


								<h2>The Centauri and Ambassador Londo Mollari</h2>


								<p>

								It is ironic for a people as dedicated to hedonism and frivolity as the

								Centauri to become the facilitators of destruction and despair.  Yet they

								are trapped by their dreams of former Empire and the vainglorious whims of

								individuals like Ambassador Mollari and the machiavellian Lord Refa.  At first

								Londo thinks he can use his new friend Mr. Morden to further his own career,

								and is scarcely disturbed that the price is paid in Narn corpses.

								Disregarding all warnings,

								(<a href="../guide/025.html">"The Geometry of Shadows,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/039.html">"Knives"</a>)

								and the best

								chance for peace the Centauri have ever had,

								(<a href="../guide/031.html">"The Coming of Shadows"</a>)

								Londo

								oversaw the Centauri-Narn War from its inception as a border conflict

								(<a href="../guide/001.html">"Midnight on the Firing Line,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/022.html">"Chrysalis"</a>)

								to its culmination in the

								planetary bombardment of the Narn homeworld

								(<a href="../guide/042.html">"The Long, Twilight Struggle."</a>)

								Yet as his dreams come closer to reality, his enjoyment of them ebbs, and it

								begins to dawn on him the extent to which it is he who is being used in the

								schemes of others.


								<h2>The Narn and Ambassador G'Kar</h2>


								<p>

								The G'Kar who lied brazenly about the preemptive Narn strike against an

								undefended Centauri agricultural colony

								(<a href="../guide/001.html">"Midnight on the Firing Line,"</a>)

								is

								a far cry from the one who was ordered to petition Earth for sanctuary on

								Babylon 5 as the last surviving member of the Narn ruling body

								(<a href="../guide/042.html">"The Long Twilight Struggle."</a>)

								In the intervening years he experienced a religious

								reaffirmation when he discovered on Z'ha'dum the ancient Enemy spoken of by

								the prophet G'Quon

								(<a href="../guide/024.html">"Revelations."</a>)

								He learned futility by watching his

								warnings of the Enemy's return fall on seemingly deaf ears. And he learned

								humility from the greatness of his enemy's emperor

								(<a href="../guide/031.html">"The Coming of Shadows."</a>)

								Perhaps these experiences have prepared him for the heavy

								responsibility he assumes of leading his people's struggle for independence

								in exile.


								<h2>Earth</h2>


								<p>

								Signs from Earth have also grown markedly bleaker in just a few years.  The

								anti-alien Home Guard

								(<a href="../guide/007.html">"The War Prayer,"</a>)

								the squelching of the Mars

								independence movement

								(<a href="../guide/018.html">"A Voice in the Wilderness,"</a>)

								and the increase in

								militarism back home

								(<a href="../guide/032.html">"GROPOS,"</a>)

								soon paled in comparison to the discovery of

								the conspiracy which led to the assassination of the Earth President

								(<a href="../guide/022.html">"Chrysalis,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/035.html">"Hunter Prey,"</a>)

								and the efforts of the insidious Ministry of

								Peace to eradicate the faintest whispers of dissent.  In its most morally

								vacant act, the Earth government chose to sign a treaty of nonaggression

								with the expanding Centauri Empire

								(<a href="../guide/044.html">"The Fall of Night"</a>)

								rather than stand

								up for the sovereignty of the Nonaligned Worlds.


								<h2>The Psi Corps</h2>


								<p>

								Whenever the Babylon 5 crew investigates the more disturbing situations

								arising from contact with Earth, they regularly find the Psi Corps lurking

								behind the scenes.  Quite clearly the Psi Corps has no limits on the extent

								to which it will manipulate people in its efforts to obtain power

								(<a href="../guide/006.html">"Mind War,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/029.html">"Soul Mates,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/030.html">"A Race through Dark Places."</a>)

								Among many who view them

								with suspicion, Commander Ivanova's hatred for the Corps is legendary; it is

								also a smoke screen to hide her fear that they will discover her telepathic

								latency.  Within the Corps itself, there appears to be an even more

								dangerous, ultra-secret group operating under the code name Bureau 13

								(<a href="../guide/028.html">"A Spider in the Web."</a>)

								Among other acts of casual manipulation and

								destruction, they are likely responsible for planting the artificial

								personality in Talia Winters which was sent to spy on B5 and which wiped out

								Talia's true personality

								(<a href="../guide/041.html">"Divided Loyalties."</a>)


								<h2>The Minbari and Ambassador Delenn</h2>


								<p>

								Powerful, honorable, the Minbari almost annihilated Earth after their first

								encounter with humans, yet inexplicably surrendered in their hour of victory

								and subsequently helped sponsor the Babylon Project. Of the few humans and

								Minbari who know the complete story, many do not believe it.  When the Grey

								Council war cruiser was poised over Earth during the Battle of the Line, a

								lone pilot attempting to ram their ship (Jeffrey Sinclair) was captured and

								interrogated

								(<a href="../guide/008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars."</a>)

								To their horror, the Council

								determined that Minbari souls were being reborn in human bodies. Besides the

								fact that Minbari refuse to harm their own, an ancient prophecy

								claimed that a great challenge would someday arise which could only be met

								when the two halves of the Minbari soul were joined.  Thus, the Council

								ordered the Minbari forces to surrender

								(<a href="../guide/023.html">"Points of Departure."</a>)

								Many

								Minbari, particularly among the warrior caste, still despise this decision

								(<a href="../guide/036.html">"There All Honor Lies,"</a>)

								and as the warrior caste grows more powerful on

								Minbar, there are signs of schisms appearing in the formerly coherent society.


								<p>

								The prophecy also mentions an individual who will lead the combined forces

								of Minbari and humans.  So strong is her belief that she is this Chosen One

								(<a href="../guide/043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor,"</a>)

								that not only does Delenn refuse the Grey

								Council's selection of her to be the leader of all Minbari

								(<a href="../guide/020.html">"Babylon Squared,"</a>)

								but against its instruction to wait she metamorphoses into a

								human-Minbari hybrid

								(<a href="../guide/022.html">"Chrysalis,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/024.html">"Revelations."</a>)

								Although permitted to

								remain as ambassador on B5, Delenn's confidence is severely shaken when the

								remaining Grey Council decides to remove her from their company

								(<a href="../guide/033.html">"All Alone in the Night,"</a>)

								and even further when she discovers that she is accepted by

								neither humans nor Minbari

								(<a href="../guide/037.html">"And Now for a Word,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/036.html">"There All Honor Lies."</a>)

								She has only her faith in herself, the loyalty of Lennier and her growing

								bond with Captain Sheridan to depend on.


								<h2>The Vorlons and Ambassador Kosh</h2>


								<p>

								Delenn also appears to have the approval of the Vorlons -- although this is no

								easy burden. Enigmatic and extremely advanced, the Vorlons rarely seem to

								take the opinions of others into consideration when they act.  They have

								visited many worlds, but not openly, perhaps to guide the species there, and

								perhaps to manipulate them.  Kosh is willing to aid the few like Delenn and

								Sheridan who merit his attention

								(<a href="../guide/036.html">"There All Honor Lies,"</a>

								<a href="../guide/035.html">"Hunter Prey,"</a>)

								but

								they do not escape the encounter unscathed

								(<a href="../guide/043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor."</a>)

								Since

								he arrived on the station, Kosh remained hidden inside his encounter suit

								for years.  When he finally revealed himself, he appeared as a glorious

								being of light and lore -- different to each species who saw him.  Very few

								realized that it was Kosh whom they saw, but most agree that they witnessed

								proof that the station is blessed

								(<a href="../guide/044.html">"The Fall of Night."</a>)


								<h2>The Conspiracy of Light</h2>


								<p>

								After surreptitiously testing the attitudes of his crew for several months,

								Sheridan involved Ivanova, Garibaldi and Franklin in an extremely dangerous

								plot to investigate and root out the evil they see growing in the heart of

								the Earth government. At first they were all alone, with the exception of

								Sheridan's contact, General Hague.  But as the Shadows come

								and darkness grows deeper throughout the galaxy, Babylon 5 has attracted

								unexpected allies for a great battle that looms heavily on the horizon.  The

								first is Draal, who is the Minbari heart of the great machine and extremely

								powerful weaponry in the planet below the station.  Assistance also comes

								from the embassy on Minbar, where former station commander Sinclair leads

								a growing army of mostly human and Minbari Rangers.  In the vicinity of

								Babylon 5 the Rangers answer to Delenn and Captain Sheridan.  Yet even with

								Draal and the Vorlons among them, by 2260 the fighters for the light seem

								pitifully few and weak compared to the pervasive and terrifying power of

								the Shadows.