Outstanding elements of Babylon 5
This article contains some of the most important mythological elements of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.
Alien Technology
The Great Machine of Epsilon III
The Great Machine is a giant underground structure, located beneath the surface of the planet Epsilon III.
Chrysalis Device
The Chrysalis Device has the ability to transform one species into another by altering the subject's DNA.
Triluminary
The Triluminary is a holy relic of the Minbari religious caste. The device was made from part of Sinclair's commlink, which was keyed to his DNA. after he had taken Babylon 4 into the past to assist the last great war with the Shadows. Because it is keyed to his DNA, the triluminary lights up when a descendant of Sinclair/Valen's bloodline is near it. When Sinclair was taken prisoner during the Earth/Minbari War, his captors attempted to question him using the Triluminary. The fact that it glowed proved to some of the members of the Grey Council that the legend that Valen was half human was in fact true, thus the fact that Valen had descendents who numbered in the tens of thousands meant that the Minbari population were now considered "impure." In order to prevent the Civil War that would have surely erupted on Minbari if the knowledge came out, and in order to prevent Delen from finding out that she was a descendent of Valen, the members of the Grey Council created the fiction that Minbari souls were being reborn into Humans which required an immediate end of the war.
Alien Healing Device
A device used for corporal punishment by an unknown alien race, it transfers life energy from one person to another. The more severe the injury the more life energy it takes to heal the subject.
Jumpgate
A large machine in space that provides a stable portal into hyperspace that any ship can use.
Minbari Fighting Pike
Ancient type of melee weapon frequently used by Minbari warriors and - most prominently during the series - by Marcus Cole, a Ranger stationed on Babylon 5. When inactive, a Fighting Pike resembles a metal tube or cylinder of about 15 by 5 centimetres and is easily concealable. When activated by a sharp, shaking motion, it rapidly extends into a lightweight quarterstaff of about 1.8 metres, issuing a distinctive metallic sliding/clicking sound when its segments telescope and lock in place.
Shadow Death Cloud
The Shadow Death Cloud is a type of planet killer used by the Shadows. As opposed to the Vorlon's planet killer being a ship, which shoots a lightning-like beam weapon to destroy a planet, the Shadow Death Cloud instead is an interconnecting lattice-work surrounded by untold trillions of nanites that form a cloud around the lattices, which can envelop a planet. The lattices contain tens of thousands of thermonuclear missiles that it launches toward the planet. The missiles then bore under the planet's surface, detonating deep underground. The resulting explosions cause violent tectonic upheavals, killing all sentient life on the planet. The nanites then go to work until the planet is rendered completely sterile, unable to support even bacterial life, and stripped of any resources of value. These resources are then converted to support the Death Cloud, allowing it to recharge its power, and build any missiles or other resources used up in the attack on the planet. When the nanites surround the lattices, they have the effect of absorbing any and all attempts to scan inside the cloud, akin to a form of stealth technology. They also have the effect of cooling the surrounding space to near absolute zero, which renders any other technology caught within the "cloud", such as ships' engines and power systems, to slowly shut down because of the extreme cold. Towards the end of the last Shadow War, the Shadows used at least one Death Cloud to attack any planetary populations that had allied with the Vorlons. Instead of using any sort of jump technology, the Death Cloud works much like other Shadow Vessels in that it phases in and out of hyperspace to go from one planetary target to the next.
In addition, the Drakh possessed one Death Cloud, using it in an attack against Earth as revenge for forcing their former masters, the Shadows, to leave the galaxy. The resulting attack was foiled by EarthForce and the Interstellar Alliance's new Victory-class battleships, but not before the loss of one of the Victory-class ships, and the infection of Earth with the Drakh plague.
Earth Alliance Technology
Phased Plasma Gun (PPG)
Datacrystal
A ubiquitous solid-state data storage medium, used for backup and hard copy data transfer and exchange. The total quantity of data stored on a crystal is large, but undefined.
Communication Link
Babylon 5 station personnel use a short range Communication Link (typically referred to simply as a "link") to communicate with each other's within the station. They also have a tracking beacon built in. The links attach to the back of one's hand. The links are bio-coded and designed so they can not be used by anyone except their owner. In the Season Five episode Objects in Motion, however, an assassin kills a security guard, steals his link, and manages to bypass the coding and listen in to security communication.
In that same episode Security Chief Zack Allan finds the link the assassin switched for the guard's link sticking to the inside of a metal box. Chief Medical Officer Stephen Franklin remarks that (the link shouldn't be sticking because) "Links don't use adhesive. It's a molecular bonding material genetically coded to the owner".
In reality, of course, the links had to be glued or taped to the actor's hands. In the cast commentary for the Season 2 episode The Geometry of Shadows the actor who plays Michael Garibaldi complains that having the link glued on and then removed ripped the hair off his hand. The actress who plays Susan Ivanova replies that she used double-sided tape to stick her link to her hand instead of glue.
Organizations
An'La'Shok
Rangers (Minbari: Anla-shok) are a fictional class of warriors.
“ We are Rangers. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge, and no one may pass. We live for the One, we die for the One. ”
Grey Council
Ruling body of the Minbari Federation as created by Valen during the Shadow War one thousand years before the events of Babylon 5. Comprising nine members, three from each of the Minbari's three castes (Worker, Warrior, religious). Among Minbari therefore also known as 'The Nine'.
The Kha Ri
The Kha Ri was the ruling body of the Narn before the fall of Narn by the Centauri.
The Centarum
The Centarum seems to be the equivalent of the British House of Lords as the Centari society seems to be based on the equivalent of ruling caste of Nobels this is a reliable deduction from how the series talks about the Centarum
Bureau 13
Bureau 13 was a secret organization operating in Earthgov. They were mentioned in the episode S02E06 "A Spider in the Web". After hearing of a role playing game with the same name J. Michael Straczynski promised never to use that name again.
Locations
Sigma 957
Home of the 'Walkers', a species of First Ones who were consummate explorers. Cmdr. Ivanova persuaded them to fight in the last battle of the Shadow War by playing on what seemed to be an old rivalry between the Walkers and the Vorlons.
Z'Ha'Dum
Planet with ruins where The Shadows had their headquarters in the last galactic war 1000 years ago, is too the last place of residence of their assistants, the Drakhs and other beings. The Shadows decided to capture the human expedition group in the planet where Sheridan's wife was traveling to use them as messengers and guide events to your interests, and start the plans to force a new war. Sheridan go to the planet for understand the conflict, and after decide destroy the headquarter with thermonuclear bombs. In this place Lorien, the last of the First Ones, take contact with Sheridan, saving their life and helping to understand the conflict between the Vorlon and the Shadows and make a plan for solve the end of the war. When Lorien convinces Vorlon and the Shadows to leave the galaxy. they leave the planet definitely. When Deleen, Sheridan, Lita and Bester go to the planet to find some technology to remove bioimplants in the telepaths captured for the Shadows, Lita decides to activate with his telekinetic powers the self-protection system of the Shadows in the planet, the Drakhs and other beings on the planet escape massively when the cruiser of Sheridan if near and Lita reports that no feels any life, the world destroys itself fully with all the technology of the Shadows that Drakhs did't take.
Hyperspace
Hyperspace is a parallel environment of the physical universe apparently under the physical laws of the dark matter and dark energy, which do not affect the structure of normal matter or normal energy. Apparently it is infinite as space itself, and contains no solid matter concentrations consistent as those seen in normal space. Opening channels of access to this environment are made by applying a specific energy flow, artificially generated by a kind of locks or machinery control on spacecraft, normally reserved for big military cruises or research ships. Inside the room the distances and time of travel agency points of normal space are much lower, so civilizations set jump points, near its checkpoints and settlements.
Rituals
The Morago
An honor duel to the death between two members of the Centauri duelling society known as Couro Prido ('proud knives' in the Centauri language). The winner of the Morago is honor-bound to accept the family of the loser into his own and care for them as if they were his own blood.
Other
Quantium-40
Unstable elemental isotope not found naturally on Earth. Essential for Hyperspace Jumpgate construction.
G'Quan Eth
The G'Quan Eth is a flowering plant burned as a ceremonial incense by the Narn people during the ritual which ends "The Days of G'Quan"; the flower being the very symbol of the G'Quan faith. The plant is described as being difficult to grow, expensive to transport (and even to own), but is nonetheless vital to the Narn ceremony. When the seeds of the plant are mixed with the right ratio of alcohol it allows "whole new universes [to] open up" because of its narcotic properties (although the Narn seem to look distastefully upon those who use the plant for such purposes). Although never seen on-camera, the plant serves as the plot-point of a sub-plot in the episode "By Any Means Necessary" in which Ambassador G'Kar must find a replacement for his upcoming ceremony after the original shipment is destroyed in a cargo docking accident. G'Kar's search leads him to Londo Mollari, who, having the only viable plant obtainable before it is too late for the ceremony, demands an exorbitant amount of money for it only to reveal to G'Kar that he has no intention of selling it and was only dangling the G'Quan Eth before him so as to vex him as vengeance for the Narn invasion of Ragesh 3, where his nephew was imprisoned and abused. G'Kar is finally able to obtain the flower after bringing the affair to the attention of Captain Sinclair, who informs Mollari that because of the flower's chemical properties it is considered a controlled substance by Earth law (with the exception of use in medical or religious practices), Sinclair must confiscate it. Mollari, however, willingly surrenders the flower to the Captain as he believes (like G'Kar) that it is too late for the ceremony. Sinclair, however, provides a loophole for G'Kar's ceremony; the ritual must be performed when the sunlight touches the G'Quan mountains—however, because sunlight also travels through space, the sunlight that touched down on the G'Quan mountains 10 years ago is still 12 hours away from reaching Babylon 5, and as the ritual pre-date's Narn space travel, G'Kar is allowed to use that traveling sunlight to complete his ritual after the Captain turns the G'Quan Eth over to him.